Pink Is The New Chai

Kashmiri chai from NY’s New Naimat Kada (traderjanki.wordpress.com)

According to The Gourmet Cartographer (a.k.a Janki Khatau), you should try Kashmiri chai. I wouldn’t mind trying any of the vegetarian delicacies described on her blog, which include foods from roadside stalls in India, homemade recreations of street food, and treats from various cities in the U.S. In fact, I went to Papalote for a great burrito after reading about it there. But it was this “very lickable” drink that caught my eye the other day, with its flash of color peeking through the cup’s white cover. It’s also salty. Who knew that salty chai could be tasty?

More: all the food that’s fit to print; Food; Kashmir(i)

Shaheen’s Tune In Top Ten

Update on “Shaheen a STAR Candidate”—Shaheen Sheik’s song “Wildflower World” beat out over 400 contestants this past week to make it into the top ten round of a contest held by mainstream Los Angeles radio station 98.7 STAR. Listeners can show their support for Sheik and her song by participating in the final round of online voting now through September 26. The final vote will decide the Star Lounge featured song and artist who will also get to perform live on the radio.

Previous Star Lounge artists include Dave Matthews, Alanis Morrisette, Coldplay and Norah Jones. The top ten round this year includes the following artists in addition to Shaheen Sheik: Ken Oak Band, Adrina Thorpe, Jordyn Taylor, Joseph Vincent, Lady Danville, Jeff Stauning, Waiting 4 Wyatt, Larissa Lam and Michael Celedon.

More: The video for “Wildflower World” is up now on Shaheen’s site.

Now featuring more ghungroo: Video for “Here and Now”

Update: The pop folk acoustic trio Lady Danville—Michael Garner, Dan Chang, and Matt Frankel—won the competition with their single “Tired Magician.”

Pillow Talk

(Style Court)

The September issue of Domino magazine profiles Montreal-based textile designer Anupama Swaminadhan, whose years-ago stint overseeing the production of couture fabrics in India informs her current work. Swaminadhan’s new line of pillows, stoles and other home accessories are created through kalamkari, an ancient Indian printing technique. The dyes used in the line are all-natural and come from vegetable and mineral dyes. For inspiration, Swaminadhan draws on India’s “[t]raditional temple art depicting mythological scenes and narratives.”

Domino also features Swaminadhan’s line in its back-of-the-book “Domino Deals” section.

More: Anupama Swaminadhan’s official site.

You Can Be My Brown Kate Moss…

The inaugural issue.

Condé Nast’s Vogue launches in India tomorrow under the helm of Priya Tanna. Of the launch, Tanna told Reuters recently, “We will raise the bar because we are the ultimate style-bible. More and more confident, successful women are moving from the ‘we’ culture to the ‘me’ culture.”

The inaugural issue is Bollywood-themed featuring a write-up by Sukhetu Mehta about the film industry. The issue also includes an article about an up-and-coming socialite on the scene, style advice from Bipasha Basu, Priyanka Chopra and Preity Zinta and a reportedly gorgeous photo spread shot by Patrick Demarchelier of Gemma Ward frolicking on the set of Saawariya. (Though, when I heard the news of this shoot I have to admit to feeling a bit annoyed: I would have loved to see a desi model photographed by such a legend.) The cover itself features Bipasha Basu, Gemma Ward, Priyanka Chopra, Monikangana, Preity Zinta and Laxmi Menon.

Anyone waiting for the launch with bated breath? Are you excited to read it? I will try to find it in New York. Until then, report back!

More: Read an interview with Vogue India’s Editor-In-Chief, Priya Tanna on Forbes.com.

Shaheen a STAR Candidate

Shaheen Sheik’s “Wildflower World,” a soothing pop single with folk undertones and introspective lyrics, has a shot at being selected for a lounge CD from southern California’s modern adult contemporary radio station STAR 98.7. If selected the newly wed Sheik would perform live on mainstream radio and her track would be included on the CD. Voting runs 9/13 — 9/19. You can watch the video and show your support for Shaheen’s single by voting online. This multi-faceted artist gave some insight into her songwriting process in an interview with Mahiram.com.

“You know, I study the Sarod (north Indian classical instrument) and within Hindustani music there is such an emphasis on how time of day affects the raga you should play. I believe that 100%. The time of day, climate, surroundings are so key to the tempo of the song, the key, whether it’s major or minor and the topic of the lyrics.”

Previously: “A Tune of Her Own”; “How Sweet the Sound”; Jungli & Shaheen

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New Media & NY Fashion Week

Naeem Khan Spring 2008

New York’s Fashion week wraps up this Wednesday and if you weren’t personally invited, blogs might be your best bet for coverage of what’s happening and who’s showing up under the tents in Bryant Park. According to Women’s Wear Daily new media still only accounts for 10% of the overall issued media credentials at New York’s Fashion Week. But there’s no doubting that it’s a whole lot easier for the average fashion-watching web surfer to click into the blogosphere than it is to get into a designer’s show.

WWD‘s list of blogging bigwigs (Sartorialist, GoFugYourself) and relative newcomers (Fashionista–“style like you mean it,” Fashionologie–“the musings of a twentysomething American girl who wishes she could have a Freaky Friday incident and switch bodies with Phoebe Philo”) includes writers with fashion industry experience and those offering a perspective for women of color, size or limited budget (The Fashion Bomb–“all urban fashion…all the time,” Too Fat for Fashion—“fashion beyond sample sizes,” The Budget Fashionista–“an Ivy League-educated epidemiologist who had a love of fashion and lack of cash”). See the full article for more blogs that got on the list this year.

Hillary’s Handler: Huma Abedin

Abedin poses at the Watergate.

Vogue’s Age Issue (August) interviewed political insider Huma Abedin as a fashion exemplar in her 30s and offered a peek at the contents of her closet, suitcase and BlackBerry. The piece adds to the mystique surrounding Abedin, who was profiled this spring in The New York Observer‘s “Hillary’s Mystery Woman: Who is Huma?”, while placing her stage-center in two red dresses, a Vera Wang and an Oscar de la Renta. De la Renta often hosts Abedin and her employer Hillary Clinton at his Dominican Republic vacation home and, as he told the Observer, does not “want to die without seeing [Huma] in a strapless dress.”

Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, into a “very traditional family” with a Pakistani mother and an Indian father, Abedin moved at age 2 with her family to Saudi Arabia where her father started an institute devoted to religious understanding and her mother helped create a private women’s college. With aspirations to become the next Christiane Amanpour, Abedin made her way as an intern to the White House in 1996, hoping to be placed in the press office. An assignment to the First Lady’s office hooked her to Hillary’s rising star, where she now plays an integral role in the presidential hopeful’s daily campaign schedule.

“I’m not sure Hillary could walk out the door without Huma.”—Mandy Grunwald, Clinton advisor.
“Huma does make the trains run on time.”—Bob Barnett, the Clinton’s longtime personal lawyer.
“I don’t know if it’s a chicken-or-the-egg thing—Hillary affecting Huma or the other way around—but together they work.”—Mary Steenburgen, longtime Hillary friend and actress.

Elsewhere: Gawker; Jezebel; Live Beautifully

Huma spotting: At a corn boil in Iowa. At Hillary’s side in KC.

Previously: “Hillary Brings Tanden On Board For ’08″

Insane On the Plane: Harold and Kumar 2

A scene from Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle

The comedic duo John Cho and Kal Penn reprise their roles as Harold and Kumar for a trip to Amsterdam in the sequel to their White Castle flick. That’s what the title of Harold and Kumar Go to Amsterdam would lead you to believe. But the recently released trailer highlighting their misidentification as terrorists on the plane and detainment in an interrogation room may leave you wondering if the pair ever makes it to the city of frites and canals, or if they end up at Guantanamo.

Previously on NIRALI: “Five Questions for Kal Penn”; “Film Review of H & K”; “Kal Penn Goes to Hollywood”

Also insane on the plane: Dishad Husain’s Viva Liberty! features a character named Woody Ali who is misidentified as a terrorist when he tries to go on holiday and ends up at a notorious US detention center.

More: While the passenger who freaks out at the sight of Kumar in the movie trailer may be an exaggerated caricature/plot device, a recent amendment seeks to shield from lawsuits airline passengers and others who report suspicious activity to authorities (“King bill aims to protect terrorism tipsters”). Proposed in response to the 2006 case of six Muslim imams removed from a plane after a passenger raised concerns about them, the bill has faced opposition from those who argue that it encourages racial profiling (NPR).

Zerobridge: Debut Music Video & EP

Zerobridge, profiled in NIRALI‘s November 2006 issue (“Band of Brothers”), is coming out on September 18 with their latest EP named after its title track, “Havre de Grace.” The name comes from a town in northern Maryland, close to where the brothers grew up. “It means Harbor of Grace,” explains lead singer/guitarist and songwriter Mubashir “Din” Mohi-ud-Din. “I always just loved the sound of it and what it could mean. The tune itself sounds fresh and defines who we are right now and where we have been as a band.” The rock band is gearing up for release parties in the tristate area to promote their new album. Keep a look out on their myspace for all the updates.

For now, check out their first music video, directed by Musa Sayeed, winner of the best documentary short at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival for his film, A Son’s Sacrifice.

Previously: Don’t Miss Zerobridge at CMJ

Update: Snaps and clips from the release party for their new album, at Mercury Lounge in Lower East Side.

Hamid on Hate

Mohsin Hamid (Photo: Carolin Seeliger)

Earlier this week the Washington Post offered four opinion articles featuring perspectives on America from Muslim writers, including “Why Do They Hate Us?” from Mohsin Hamid, author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Moth Smoke. Being born in Pakistan, raised in the States from age 3 to 9, going back to Pakistan and returning to the States for his college and graduate education, in addition to working in NYC provides him with a “textured” view of the U.S. and its foreign policy.

While the main topic is Hamid’s diagnosis of and advice for dealing with anti-Americanism, the piece also offers a glimpse at his own identification as partly “they” and “us.” The encounter he describes in a Dallas bookstore—an elderly gentleman with Hamid’s book in hand points to the man on the cover and asks, “So tell me, sir. Why do they hate us?”—may be seen in contrast to a typical reaction he noted receiving after the publication of his second novel, a work focused on an extended encounter between a Pakistani man who tells his story to an American stranger in a Pakistani cafe: “People often ask me if I am the book’s Pakistani protagonist. I wonder why they never ask if I am his American listener.”

Read the full article for Hamid’s analysis and a transcript of the subsequent chat between Hamid and Post readers.