Global IndianstoryFrom Paris to Kyiv: The foreigners bringing Brand India to the world

From Paris to Kyiv: The foreigners bringing Brand India to the world

Curated by: Darshana Ramdev

(December 28, 2023) Indians are excelling across the globe, making an impact around the world. In the same way, India has cast a spell on the world in so many ways, whether it’s the thousands who gather for a group practice on International Yoga Day, or the year-long wait list for rural Tamil cuisine at the Michelin-starred Semma in Manhattan. India has found its way into the hearts of people from everywhere. Today, Global Indian takes a look at some of the foreigners who are taking Brand India global, from the local cacao bean to Bharatnatyam, and proudly call India their home.

Mai and Asuka Hatta: The Hasora project

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Mai and Asuka Hatta, Japanese twins from Chiba Prefecture, have created a unique narrative in India with their venture, Hasora. Forgoing opportunities in the US and Japan, their journey in India began with Mai’s job in an NGO in Dehradun and Asuka’s decision to join her sister. In 2016, they launched Hasora to address a gap they observed: the difficulty expats faced in finding fresh, safe Japanese vegetables. Simultaneously, they sought to improve the plight of local farmers affected by intermediary exploitation. Hasora partners with organic vegetable farmers, aiming to revolutionize the supply chain with a farm-to-table model. They also engage in the “Oishii Nippon Project,” helping farmers cultivate Japanese vegetables, thus merging cultural appreciation with agricultural innovation.

“It was my destiny; I followed my passion, my heart,” Mai says, of her deep bond with India. The name Hasora, meaning ‘green leaves under the blue sky’ in Japanese and resonating with the Hindi ‘Hasna’ (to laugh), captures the essence of their venture—promoting growth and happiness. Beyond their online platform, their Gurgaon outlet is a cultural fusion hub, offering a range of Japanese and Korean specialties alongside Indian staples. With Mai’s culinary skills and a Japanese chef, they cater to a diverse clientele, while championing sustainable farming practices and economic empowerment for local farmers.

Viktoria Burenkova – Tandava in Kyiv

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Viktoria Burenkova, known as Vijaya Bai on stage, is a dedicated Bharatanatyam dancer and teacher in Kyiv, Ukraine. Despite the challenges of Russia’s invasion, she continues to uplift spirits through this ancient Indian dance form. For ten years, she has been a key figure at Nakshatra, a ‘National Studio’ recognized by Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture.

“Our lives were steeped in classical music, dance, and yoga,” says Viktoria, reflecting her deep connection with Indian arts. She credits her guru, Ganna Smirnova Rajhans, for her Bharatanatyam journey. With Ganna’s relocation, Viktoria now leads Nakshatra, adapting performances to Ukrainian audiences.

Her classes, both online and offline, have been a source of strength during the war. Bharatanatyam is central to her life; she even sews dance costumes. Viktoria’s admiration for Indian culture runs deep, evident in her study of Hindi and Telugu. She aims to promote Bharatanatyam in Ukraine and beyond, hoping for a growing community of classical dancers and greater appreciation of the art form.

Read more here.

David Belo – ‘Bean’ there, done that

David Belo

David Belo’s Naviluna, based in Mysuru, is a trailblazer as India’s first bean-to-bar chocolate house and the world’s first to solely use Indian-origin cacao. Belo, originally from South Africa, found inspiration in India’s rich cacao diversity. “The relationship between South Africa’s early beginnings, my own community, trade, food, and drink is as rich as it is deep,” he says, indicating his diverse culinary influences.

Naviluna’s approach to chocolate making is terroir-centric, aimed at highlighting the unique flavors of Indian cacao. This focus extends to their café in Mysore, situated atop their factory in a heritage bungalow, which Belo and his team spent six years restoring. The café emphasizes traditional coffee experiences, featuring classic 1950s Italian-style coffee and chocolate drinks, using premium Arabica coffee sourced from Chikmagalur.

Belo’s vision and dedication have steered Naviluna through early challenges, shaping a brand ethos centered on craftsmanship and quality. Naviluna not only crafts fine chocolates but also offers a holistic sensory experience, marrying the art of chocolate making with India’s cacao heritage.

Read more here.

Karl Rock – A love story with India

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At the age of 17, Karl Rock ate canned butter chicken for the first time. “It was horrible stuff compared to what indian food really is but it blew my mind,” says Karl Rock, who is now a top tier content creator with over 2.77 million followers on his YouTube channel and over 184,000 on Instagram.

Whether it’s a traditional malpua recipe, or masala chai prepared with his own handground concoction of spices, this adventurous New Zealander can teach most Indians a thing or two about the diversity and history behind our native cuisine. That, and he also speaks fluent Hindi. He swears by the Chhole Bhature from Gopalji’s in Pitampura’s Delhi and while the owner guards the recipe closely, Karl has reverse engineered it, saying his version is ” 80 percent close to the original.”

From traditional recipes, to remote, little-known dhabas dishing up exquisite fare, remarkable places (like the meteorite crater in Maharashtra), Karl Rock does it all. And his enthusiasm is infectious, coming as it does from someone who was born more than 15,000 miles away, in a culture apparently far-removed from our own…

Mango and Basil: Marriage beyond borders

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What do Italians and Indians have in common? Quite a lot, going by Suprateek Banerjee (aka Mango) and his wife, Daniela Barone (basil), the content-creator couple behind @aamandbasil on Instagram. For starters, they “both wake up in the morning thinking about what they’re going to eat,” as Daniela puts it. Close family ties are another similarity – Suprateek was thrilled to learn that Daniela’s grandmother lives at the family home in Naples – “I was like, wow, this is just what we do. Our grandparents live with us in India as well, and we love them like crazy.”

Mango and Basil are an Instagram sensation, with 120k followers and counting, although they only opened their account in February 2023. Their aim – to bring humour into all our cultural quirks, and to bring out similarities you didn’t know exist. Basil is shocked to see Mango cooking ‘Indian pasta’ in a pressure cooker, and downing a cappuccino after lunch. At the heart of it, however, is love, as this star-crossed couple do their best to learn about the culturally rich land to which the other belongs.

Read more here.

Paris Laxmi: Bridging cultures through Bharatnatyam

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Born in 1991 in Aix-en-Provence, Paris, whose full name is Myriam Sophia Lakshmi, was born into a family of Indophiles and began training in Bharatnatyam at the age of nine, there was no looking back. She came to India to train, too and and adopted ‘Laxmi’ as her stage name. It also drew her to her now husband, Pallipuram Sunil, a famous Kathak artist, whom she first watched performed at the age of seven. They became friends years later, united by their love for Indian classical dance and Paris Laxmi made India her home for good in 2012, after her marriage.

The couple run the Kalashakti School of Arts, where they teach their respective dance forms and organise performances and workshops. Their production, ‘Sangaman – Krishna Mayam’, a fusion of Kathakali and Bharatnatyam, showcasing stories and manifestations of Lord Krishna, has toured all over India, Europe and the Gulf. “So many people from foreign countries wish to learn Indian classical dance now. It is something very rich and unique that India has,” she says.

Read more here.

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Published on 28, Dec 2023

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Mafat Patel: Building the Patel Brothers empire

(October 22, 2022) When Mafat Patel left home at the age of 23, back in the year 1968, his mother wept to see him go. Mafat had grown up sheltered, spending his childhood on a farm in a village named Bhandu, in Gujarat's Mehsana district. The farthest from home he had ever been was the neighbouring district of Patan, where he earned himself a degree in Mechanical Engineering. When a friend, who had just returned from the US, asked Mafat's father to consider sending his son, the old man jumped on the idea. As did Mafat. And so, in 1968, Mafat arrived in the United States of America, where he studied in Ohio. Global Indian takes a look at the story of Mafat Patel, his brother Tulsi and his sister-in-law Aruna and how they built the Patel Brothers grocery empire. There was no inkling then, in the minds of his family, or even in the farthest reaches of Mafat's own imagination, that he would go on to build an empire in America. Recently, as I chatted with a friend about the years she spent living in Hoboken, New Jersey, her mother demanded: "Did you tell her about the Patel Brothers

an empire in America. Recently, as I chatted with a friend about the years she spent living in Hoboken, New Jersey, her mother demanded: "Did you tell her about the Patel Brothers supermarkets?" The chain of Indian grocery stores is an absolute go-to for every South Asian in New York, Chicago and Atlanta, a thriving business worth over $140 million. Mafat Patel, now in his seventies, still walks through the aisles, meeting his customers and addressing many by name as they sip on steaming chai or order hot chapatis.

After his business degree, Mafat moved to Chicago, where he had been offered a job in quality control at Jefferson Electric. "When I came here, there weren't too many Indian families. We were two roommates from India, here together. Both of us were vegetarian and it was difficult to eat. We would cook on our own." Although he had a good job and lived a comfortable life, Chicago just wasn't home. The already overwhelming loneliness was only heightened by the fact that he didn't have the one thing for which he wanted most - a hot, home-cooked Indian meal. "He would talk about how difficult it was, to come home in the cold and the rain on the bus and think, now what do we do about dinner," said a friend of Mafat, Ramesh Vitha, in an interview.

[caption id="attachment_30969" align="aligncenter" width="648"] Mafat Patel[/caption]

The Devon storefront

In 1971, Mafat's wife and children joined him in America. That year, he received an offer from a businessman named Ramesh Trivedi, who had a storefront on Devon Avenue that he was looking to sell. It was a dilapidated place but Mafat, whose business acumen kicked in instantly, leapt on the opportunity. He wanted to open an Indian grocery store. Mafat got in touch with his brother, Tulsi and his wife, Aruna, who left Gujarat and joined him in America.

In 1974, they got things up and running. "We started a small grocery store, in an 800 sq foot space," Mafat said, in a 2018 episode of Zee TV's Those Who Made It. "I was working and my brother was running the store. We did two shifts and Aruna was working from 10 am to 10 pm." Mafat's wife handled the domestic affairs and making sure the home ran smoothly. "If it wasn't for Aruna, we wouldn't be here right now. She was controlling the business then. We were two brothers and two sisters, all living together. We would stick together and worked very hard." Mafat would arrive at the store after work, interviewing suppliers late into the night. Early the next morning, he would go back to the office.

Cultivating relationships

The Indian diaspora was miniscule, limited to around 150 families. "We opened the store and would go one or two days without a single customer," Tulsi Patel said, in 'Those Who Made It'. They held things together, though, with impeccable customer service. Tulsi would carry huge bags of groceries in cloth bags and deliver them to customers. "There were about 150 families and whenever they called, even if they were 10 miles away, we would go, in rain or snow. That's how we maintained relationships," said Mafat. Tulsi recalls, "Even if it was after 10 pm, I would make the trip, up to the third floor, just to deliver milk."

They genuinely cared for their customers and that held them in good stead. Moreover, Mafat Patel was a far-sighted man - he predicted, correctly, that in 20 or 30 or even 40 years, there would be a lot more Indians in America and that they would need groceries.

As the business grew, Patel Bros needed external funding. That came from Ramesh Ajawani, a banker, whom the brothers still count among their closest friends. "He was still working as an engineer and trying to get a foothold in Indian groceries," Ramesh said. "He said he had high energy levels, could work 24/7 and had a lot of passion for what he wanted to do. I liked his entrepreneurial attributes and we started doing a lot more."

By 1976, Mafat recalls, they started expanding the business. "We bought another supermarket in Chicago. In 1977, we built other stores on Devon Avenue. In 1981, we went to Atlanta and a year later, to New York. Then the whole family came and we had lots of hands." Mafat stayed with his day job for 16 years, finally quitting in 1985 to devote himself full time to the import/export business. Patel Bros had arrived, bringing Indian grocery stores into the mainstream, to compete with mega stores like Walmart.

The next generation

Today, the reins are held largely by Mafat's son Swetal and his nephew, Rakesh. Swetal Patel was born to Mafat Patel and his wife in Chicago, growing up in a family of 10. Although business was thriving, life wasn't always easy for Swetal, Indians were still decidedly a minority in the US. Like most immigrants growing up in a foreign country, he struggled to balance two identities - the America he saw every day at school and the close-knit, Gujarati joint family to which he returned every day. He didn't want to carry Indian food for lunch every day, because of how it smelled, according to Intertwined Cultures.

Every day after school, all the Patel children would help out with the family business. As his American peers went home to a PBJ and chocolate milk, Swetal Patel helped his parents make bhel puri. Evenings and weekends were spent bagging groceries, talking to customers, sweeping floors and loading and unloading goods. He recalls helping customers wheel their grocery carts in winter, winding his way through the snow. Back home, his mother continued to hold the fort, keeping meals ready for the ever-growing family and for the stream of guests and visiting relatives.

[caption id="attachment_30966" align="aligncenter" width="696"] Swetal and Rakesh Patel[/caption]

Today, Patel Bros is every bit the organised supermarket. Back when Swetal lent a hand, though, the place was chaos. Even that lack of organisation held a sense of Indian-ness, the smell of spices pervading through the cloth bags, all stacked along the shelves as customers stood around and pointed to what they wanted. Every morning at 10 am, the store would open with an hour of 'bhajans'.

Branching out

They have thriving stores in 51 locations across America and the Patel Brothers haven't stopped there. They also own Patel Air Tours, Sahil, a clothing boutique for Indian weddings, Patel Handicrafts and Patel Cafe. In 1991, they also launched Raja Foods, a Patel Brothers subsidiary, which offers readymade foods like chapatis and samosas.

Much of their success, they will readily admit, comes from remaining connected to Indian family values. A large section of their employees still comprises members of the family. "I have brought more than 350 families here and they are all well-to-do," Mafat said, in the Those Who Made It episode. The families come there, learn the trade and in time, Mafat will help them set up their own store.

"Whatever you get in India, you will get in Patel Brothers," Mafat smiles. "People from everywhere come to Devon Avenue or New York and say, 'let's go see the Patel Brothers'. Asian immigrants know their needs will be met in a single store. We are essentially grocers. From ingredients like turmeric and red chilli powder, to snacks like khakras, gathias and theplas, we are a truly Indian brand and cater to almost all NRIs in the US."

Brittany to Benaras: The journey of Alain Daniélou

(February 11, 2023) Recently, I began reading Ilango Adigal's third-century Tamil classics, Shilapaddikaram and its sequel, Manimekalai. The man behind the exquisite translation is Alain Daniélou , a name I had heard before but hadn't really noticed. Still, the depth and beauty of the writing made me wonder. Why was a Frenchman translating Tamil epics? Was he another remnant of Tamil Nadu's colonial past? An Aurovillian, maybe? He was neither. Pulling at the thread led me on a journey into a life that he himself describes as ‘labyrinthine’, beginning with his birth into Norman nobility and Roman Catholicism that led him, from the avant-garde circles of Paris to Banaras. Global Indian takes a look at the maverick genius who took Hindu philosophy, music and architecture to Paris, New York and the world. Daniélou, who received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, the highest honour bestowed by the institution, remains nearly unmatched as an Indologist and Musicologist. A dancer, he spent time in Paris, as an intellectual, he rubbed shoulders with the likes of George Steiner and Anthony Burgess and in India, with Rabindranath Tagore. Here, he studied music, Sanskrit, literature and Hindu philosophy at Banaras Hindu University and lived in

an Indologist and Musicologist. A dancer, he spent time in Paris, as an intellectual, he rubbed shoulders with the likes of George Steiner and Anthony Burgess and in India, with Rabindranath Tagore. Here, he studied music, Sanskrit, literature and Hindu philosophy at Banaras Hindu University and lived in Varanasi on the banks of the Ganges. He was an exponent of the veena, and translated the works of Swami Karpatri who initiated him into Shaivism. After his conversion, he took the name Shiva Sharan or 'protected by Shiva.

Daniélou translated the Tirukkural, Shilapaddikaram and Manimekalai when was working at the Adyar Library and Research Centre in Madras and went on to join the French Institute of Pondicherry. His website is extensive, maintained by the Alain Daniélou Foundation but aside from that, there is very little literature available on the man (in English) from the media, aside from a 2017 documentary ‘Into the labyrinth’ and a beautifully written obituary by James Kirkup for The Independent.

[caption id="attachment_34939" align="aligncenter" width="408"] Alain Daniélou [/caption]

Early life

"I was a sicky child," he writes in his autobiography Les Chemins du Labyrinthe. "I was never sent to any of those noisy places called schools... for a boy without a future, this was considered a useless ordeal." He was born into an aristocratic Norman family – his father was a "noted anticlerical and a minister in the Third Republic," Kirkup writes, while his mother "was devout to the point of being called a fanatique." She founded schools and the Order of Sainte-Marie, receiving the blessing of Pope Pius X for the latter.

Written off by doctors at an early age, Daniélou spent his early years in a "large, very uncomfortable stone house" bought by his father in Brittany. Daniélou would spend his time in the thick woods on the property, creating small sanctuaries that he "adorned with sacred objects, symbols of the forest gods." Needless to say, this didn't go down too well with his mother. He was baptized, according to custom, although it left him “sad and indifferent.”

Daniélou did, however, learn piano and singing, encouraged by his father. He wrote poems, became fluent in English and practiced translation. At the time though, Daniélou loved to dance and went on to perform professionally. He had many friends in the ballet circles too, until, Kirkup writes, he "abandoned the dance for more serious matters."

[caption id="attachment_34941" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Photo: www.alaindanielou.org[/caption]

Arrival in India

Daniélou had great wealth to his name and travelled extensively across Europe and Asia. Still, India held a special fascination. In the early 1930s, Daniélou 's partner was the Swiss photographer Raymond Burnier. The pair were fascinated by Indian art and culture and decided to go on an adventure. So, they left behind their Bohemian high life in Paris to make their way to Banaras.

They were among the first Westerners, it is believed, to see the now famous erotic sculptures in Khajuraho. Burnier took many photographs, which were featured featured in Paris in 1948 and a year later, in an exhibition at New York's Metropolitan Museum. That took place in 1949 and Ajay Kamalakaran writes in Scroll.in, "a photo exhibition of medieval Indian sculptures was the talk of the town among New York's intellectual elite." Burnier even went on to become an Honorary Officer on Special Duty of the Archaeological Department of the government of India.

He had become more or less estranged from his family, apart from his older brother, Jean, who was kind to him. In the eyes of his family's religion, he admits, he was a heretic. However, among the "Hinduists," and with the Hindu religion, "which welcomed me among its members, there is nothing reprehensible about my style of life or my way of thinking." In India, finally, the troubled young man had found a home.

Shantiniketan, Shaivism and a new life

In 1935, Daniélou enrolled at Benares University, where he would spend the next 15 years. He studied music, Sanskrit, Indian philosophy and Hinduism and remained in the University for the next 15 years, after being appointed research professor. He also began performing professionally on the veena.

[caption id="attachment_34940" align="aligncenter" width="462"] Alain Danielou with his veena. Courtesy: https://www.alaindanielou.org[/caption]

Danielou immersed himself in the Hindu culture and even took offence at what he perceived to be its dilution by foreign rulers and English-speaking Indians. He is a vocal critic, of Nehru and Gandhi and even of philosophers like "Vivekananda, Radhakrishnan, Aurobindo or Bhagwan Das." He found instead, a scholar named Vijayanand Tripathi and would attend the discourses he led outside his house every evening. For many years, Danielou only read Hindi and Sanskrit. He also became a "strict vegetarian, observed all the customs and taboos," he writes, and wore "the spotless, elegant and completely seamless dhoti and chhaddar."

As Burnier was a great admirer of Rabindranath Tagore, Danielou accompanied him to Shantiniketan. Tagore went on to become one of Danielou's greatest influences. Danielou even painted a portrait of the man. Tagore, on his part, was very impressed by the French scholar. 'Tagore's Songs of Destiny' is still a part of The Danielou Collection.

He converted to Hinduism and adopted the name 'Shiva Sharan', which means protected by Lord Shiva. Les Quatre sons de la vie (translated as The Four Aims of Life in the Tradition of Ancient India), Le Betail des Dieux (1983), La Sculpture erotique hindou with photographs by Raymond Burier (1973) and La Musique de l'Inde du Nord (1985). His translation of the Kama Sutra, according to Kirkup, is "one of his great masterpieces."

Journey to Madras

In Madras, Daniélou , now an accomplished Sanskrit scholar, decided to study Tamil. Working with local experts, he translated Ilango Adigal's third-century epic romance, Shilappadikaram. It was also published in America under the title 'The Ankle Bracelet. All this time, Daniélou was working at the Adyar but found "the puratanical atmosphere and the various taboos extremely difficult to bear." In 1956, he ended his association with the library. Three years later, he went to Pondicherry and became a Member of the French Institute of Indology.

Controversy

Trouble followed Daniélou all his life, as he rebelled constantly against any puritanical form of thought. He even went up against Nehru and Gandhi, when the latter spoke out against eroticism in temple statues. Controversial or not, Daniélou 's contribution to Indian culture - and to the world - is immense. His books have been published in twelve countries, in several languages, from English to Japanese.

He returned to Europe in the last days of his life, living between Rome, Lausanne, Berlin and Paris. He died in Switzerland on January 27, 1994, leaving behind instructions for his remains to be cremated, according to Hindu tradition.

Afza Tamkanat continues her family’s artistic legacy, from Hyderabad to Sydney

(December 21, 2023) Art is an exploration of the present moment, as far as Afza Tamkanat is concerned. Whether it was painting the streets of Hyderabad, her city by birth, or the sights of Sydney, where she is curently based, Afza takes inspirations from the the things that surround her. Her father, the celebrated artist Fawad Tamkanat, never wanted to impose his thoughts and dreams on his children, but for Afza, who grew up surrounded by canvases and paintbrushes, and her father hard at work, art seemed to be the only way. Her challenge is to establish her own voice as a painter, without losing touch with the work that has so inspired her - that of her father. She paints imagery that is close to her heart - the sparrows her grandmothes used to feed, the streets of Hyderabad and the landscapes of Sydney, where she lives with her husband. Her canvasses have a distinctly vintage feel, which she works hard to achieve. Now, at 33, Afza Tamkanat's art is a reflection of her journey, from childhood memories to getting married, motherhood and moving countries. A family of stalwarts Born into a creative family where children were encouraged to

tive family where children were encouraged to choose their own professions, Afza had many examples of living one’s passion at home. Her great-grandfather, Syed Hafeezuddin, was a famous Hyderabadi playwright; her grandfather (Shaz Tamkanath) was an accomplished poet; and her father is one of Hyderabad’s best-known contemporary artists.

[caption id="attachment_47690" align="aligncenter" width="598"] Afza Tamkanat with her father[/caption]

“Unfortunately, my grandfather passed away before I was born, but I know him through his poetry, his radio and television interviews, newspaper articles, and most importantly, how his colleagues, friends, and students speak about him,” Afza tells Global Indian.

As a young girl, she has been deeply influenced by her father’s work. She says, “My father, who is my best friend, is the reason I do what I do. He has always encouraged and supported me in whatever I chose to do, be it learning to play the keyboard or designing my own clothes, and most importantly, painting.” Her fondest memories are of her father would giving her his brushes and colours to paint, and then print her drawings as new-year cards to send to galleries across India.

Growing up, she was a soft-spoken and quiet child who preferred painting over playing with toys. She reflects, “I was also one of those kids who was never good at communicating; I was the silent observer and had a deep passion for painting and listening to stories. The joy and happiness that I felt when I was painting were like no other, and I knew I would be more than satisfied doing this for the rest of my life.”

Finding her feet

For Afza, there is no greater influence on her work than her father. She agrees, “Ever since I can remember, I have seen my father paint. His immense body of work, his hard work, and his dedication to his work have been inspirational. I was always in awe of his craft and wanted to paint like him, secretly wishing to do even better.”

As Afza started painting academically, she slowly evolved her own style and language. Working with different mediums, her realistic renderings create an interesting space that is subtle and sensitive. Her subdued colour palette and an element of fantasy that is present in her work infuse a streak of surrealism into her canvasses.

“I like to believe that art was always a part of me,” shares Afza and adds, “I feel I paint the way I look at the world. The memories and nostalgia of an ever-changing world are what I aim to capture. The sparrow sitting on the window sill, dipping its beak in the bowl of water on a hot summer afternoon, the ride in my grandfather’s old fiat, or the evening ritual of my family with Osmania biscuits with chai—my work is a pictorial diary of my life.”

A recipient of the Devi Award by The Indian Express Group for empowering women through Art, the artist has showcased her work internationally, and has created a niche of her own. The artist states, “When I started, a lot was expected of me by my teachers because of my surname. It was the biggest challenge to move away from my father’s shadow and create my own language and style of work.”

A new facet to life

Afza Tamkanat moved to Sydney after her marriage to Muqhaddin Javad in 2018. The Pucca Hyderabadi in her had to adjust a lot, especially when it came to food! She smiles, “I miss my totapari kairi (raw mango), jamun (black plum), and aam (mango), as well as my favourite spots for biryani and chicken 65. But there is a little India here, in Harris Park, where we have Hyderabad House and Pista House (both popular eateries), so we sort of manage. Still, I crave the Hyderabadi hospitality and tehzeeb!”

Sydney has influenced her work in more ways than one. She has exhibited at the affordable art fair in Melbourne and adds, “I love visiting the new South Wales art gallery and the Chau Chak wing museum at the University of Sydney.” Afza shares that the city has a lot of white windows, which have found their way into her work! She shares, “It’s from here that my window series started! As an artist, it’s become my second nature now to observe my surroundings, and sometimes unconsciously, when I am working, things flow on canvas. Currently, Sydney is seeping into my canvasses!”

The mother of two kids, four-year-old Inara Javad and toddler Anaiza Javad,Afzz Tamkanat is juggling being a mom and trying to find time for work. When free, she loves going on bush walks and treks to experience the great Australian outdoors with her husband.

She explains, “I don’t know how I do it. At times, I don't get the time to paint for months together, but my sketchbooks have little drawings of my ideas. As they say, where there is a will, there is a way!” She has passed on her love for art to her young children. Her elder daughter has her own set of colours and sketchbooks and loves sit and paint with her mother. Having just finished a show in London, she is working on a solo show to be exhibited in Europe, Australia, and America soon.

Padma Bhushan Madhur Jaffrey: The lady who made Indian cuisine global

(December 11, 2022) “When my programme came on air, there weren’t any Indian cookery shows, it was an immediate hit,” Madhur Jaffrey told the BBC, talking about her ground breaking cookery programme that premiered in the United Kingdom 40 years ago. The Padma Bhushan 2022 awardee grew up in Delhi and left for London in her 20s to study at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She became an actress and later, turned to writing cookery books and presenting cookery shows. Little did she know that this career transition would turn out to be a significant step towards introducing India’s soft power to the western world. [caption id="attachment_32663" align="aligncenter" width="656"] Madhur Jaffrey, culinary expert[/caption] Indian food is a magical world where the art of using spices is so advanced that we’ve created a cuisine that exists nowhere else in the world! Her debut cookbook, an Invitation to Indian Cooking (1973) introduced Indian food to western hemisphere for the first time. It was later inducted into the James Beard Foundation’s Cookbook Hall of Fame in 2006. When she was hired by BBC to present her cookery show - Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Cookery, it was meant to be an educational programme. The

ter" width="656"] Indian Cuisine Madhur Jaffrey Madhur Jaffrey, culinary expert[/caption]

Indian food is a magical world where the art of using spices is so advanced that we’ve created a cuisine that exists nowhere else in the world!

Her debut cookbook, an Invitation to Indian Cooking (1973) introduced Indian food to western hemisphere for the first time. It was later inducted into the James Beard Foundation’s Cookbook Hall of Fame in 2006.

When she was hired by BBC to present her cookery show - Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Cookery, it was meant to be an educational programme. The aim was to make people learn about Indian culture by introducing them to authentic food cooked in different regions of India. The show mesmerised people so much that Madhur soon became known as ‘spice girl’, thanks to the plethora of South Asian spices she introduced to the western homes. She was popularly called ‘the actress who can cook.’

Building respectful image of South Asians

“Until then, the South Asians were not represented the way they would have loved to see themselves on the television and cinema,” she said, in the interview with BBC.

Madhur Jaffrey

Madhur’s career transition had filled in the much-desired space with elan. Her show was the first mainstream series about Indian food to be broadcast in the UK and also the first one to be presented by an Indian.

Characteristically dressed in a crisp cotton saree, Madhur Jaffrey became the face of the South Asian diaspora in the UK. She knew this, tailoring her image to that of an attractive Indian who is modern, yes, but remains tied to her roots. That was the pre-internet era, so Madhur used to get flooded with letters of appreciation from her fans.

Ruling the supermarkets

If Madhur was exotic, the food she cooked seemed even more so to the uninitiated Western audiences. In fact, her recipes became so popular that Indian food was "tried by everybody all over England and beyond’. “The day I cooked chicken with green coriander, they ran out of green coriander in Manchester,” laughs the food expert.

The demand for Indian spices and ingredients grew so much that supermarkets started overstocking the ingredients that the Global Indian used in her cookery show.

[caption id="attachment_32666" align="aligncenter" width="653"] Indian Cuisine Madhur Jaffrey Madhur Jaffrey presenting her cookery show on BBC in 1980s[/caption]

The spice girl from India

In the introduction to her cookbook, At Home with Madhur Jaffrey, she writes, “The techniques used in Indian cooking are not any different from those used the world over: roasting, grilling, steaming, frying, stewing, braising and so on.” Yet it is distinct she emphasises.

What gives Indian cuisine its uniqueness, its tingling excitement, and its health-giving properties is the knowledgeable use of spices and seasonings, ancient in its provenance.

The food expert has authored close to thirty bestselling cookbooks on Indian, Asian and world vegetarian cuisine, and has appeared in several related television programmes. Apart from Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Cookery that premiered in 1982, she presented Madhur Jaffrey's Far Eastern Cookery (1989) and Madhur Jaffrey's Flavours of India (1995).

[caption id="attachment_32665" align="aligncenter" width="617"] Indian Cuisine Madhur Jaffrey Cover of one of Madhur Jaffrey's books[/caption]

What made her shows and books relevant for decades was the fact that she adapted to the time constraints of her fans. In one of her book introductions, Madhur shared, “My own cooking has changed over the years. I am often as rushed for time as perhaps you are. I am often asking myself is there an easier way to do this?”

Madhur made sure, therefore, to simplify her cooking to match with the times.

I now try to reach real Indian tastes by using simpler methods and fewer steps

The seven times winner of James Beard award wrote in one of her books.

As she made a huge name for herself in the traditional yet novel segment, Madhur went on to associate herself as food consultant of one of the most popular Indian restaurants in New York City - Dawat.

Madhur has also written three children’s books and two memoirs – Sweet Memories (2002) and Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India (2006).

Strengthening cultural relations between continents

Before becoming a television personality and delving into the domains of food and travel writing, Madhur had made a mark for herself as an Indian-British-American actress, starting with minor acting roles on BBC television and radio. One of her notable works is the film, Shakespeare Wallah (1965) for which she won the Silver Bear for Best Actress award at the 15th Berlin International Film Festival.

[caption id="attachment_32667" align="aligncenter" width="1027"] Madhur Jaffrey Global Indian Madhur Jaffrey in one of her television shows[/caption]

During the course of her acting career, she enthralled audiences with her performances in television, films, radio and theatre. Perhaps this background contributes to her eloquence as a food presenter.

Her cookery shows have always been lively with powerful punchlines like:

Each grain of rice should be like brothers, close to each other but not stuck together.

After a divorce from Sayeed Jaffery, the notable actor who is father to her three daughters, Madhur married an American violinist. The couple have now been together for 56 years.

In recognition of her contribution to cultural relations between the UK, India and the United States, through film, television and cookery, Madhur was named the honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2004. This year’s Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award from the Government of India, is a testament of her service to Indian culinary art.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2GKfjaZQZE

At 89, the workaholic is far from slowing down. One of the biggest living authorities on Indian cuisine, Madhur keeps herself busy by educating Gen Z and Gen Alpha through her recently launched Masterclass on digital media. “Nobody knows spices like we do, we are masters,” she announces proudly in the trailer.

Follow Madhur Jaffrey on Twitter

Reading Time: 5 mins

A global engineer: Meet the Gordon Prize winner, Indian-American scholar Dr. Azad Madni

(January 4, 2024) "We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organise and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too." President John F. Kennedy's words inspired millions of Americans the day he made this speech at Rice University in the September of 1962. But who would have imagined that a young boy sitting by the radio in his house in Bombay, India, would be so inspired by this speech that he would decide to become an aerospace engineer, and go on to win the prestigious Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education - often referred to as the 'Nobel Prize of Engineering Education'. "President Kennedy's speech really fascinated me," shares Dr. Azad Madni, as he connects with Global Indian for an exclusive interview, adding, "I too wanted to contribute something to the aerospace industry, and that's what motivated

"https://stage.globalindian.com//wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GP_5874-scaled.jpg" alt="Engineer | Dr. Azad Madni | Global Indian" width="551" height="827" />

"President Kennedy's speech really fascinated me," shares Dr. Azad Madni, as he connects with Global Indian for an exclusive interview, adding, "I too wanted to contribute something to the aerospace industry, and that's what motivated me to pursue a career in this field. I have worked for Rockwell International Space Shuttle, which was NASA's first, manned, re-usable spacecraft. And today, I have several aerospace engineers under my guidance at the University of Southern California."

The flight to the USA

A Bombay lad, Dr. Madni was always fascinated by how things around him worked. But, while he loved to learn, the aerospace engineer's father was more interested in how were things being taught at his school. "My father was very interested in my education, right from the beginning. I remember, he would just show up at my school, St. Mary's High School, and would enquire about how various subjects were being taught to us. He wanted to ensure that I did not just get the knowledge from the books, but also by engaging with the equipments or machines directly," he says, adding that this influenced his life path a lot. "The Gordon Prize is all about education. My father's quest to make sure that I got practical knowledge of things had a big impression on me. Now that I am a teacher, I too ensure that my students get more than what is written in the books," laughs the engineer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i99SqN_G5eY

Playing with his erector set in the backyard, Dr. Madni never thought that one day he would be using his toys to teach several young students. "I used to play a lot with the erector set and build airplanes, buses, and trucks. Back then I did not realise how important that was in developing critical thinking and creative skills that can help you in later life,” Dr Madni says. Now, he encourages hands-on learning his classroom too, using Digital Twins, a “virtual replica of the physical system for people to experiment with, explore, and learn how the system behaves. And that all had its roots in the early hands-on learning that I had with the erector set," shares the engineer.

He was in school when President Kennedy made his famous speech 'We Choose to Go to the Moon', and it was then that he decided that he would move to the United States of America, so after finishing his intermediate. "That was the only goal back then - to study in the USA. So, I moved to the country in 1965. Back then, India and the USA were very different worlds, and not many Indians chose to come to the USA," shares the engineer, who has also authored several books.

[caption id="attachment_47988" align="aligncenter" width="550"] Dr. Azad Madni | Global Indian Dr. Madni with the President of the National Academy of Engineering[/caption]

Pursuing a bachelor's in engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Dr. Madni didn't face much problem adjusting after arriving in the US. However, "I couldn't get used to the American food. I missed Indian food so much," he laughs. Dr. Madni went on to pursue a master's and later earned a Ph.D. from UCLA for his work in the fields of engineering systems, computer methodology, and AI.

A scholarly journey

The year that Dr. Madni finished his graduation was the same year that Neil Armstrong first set foot on the lunar soil. However, as the US rejoiced, Dr. Madni faced new challenges. "Well, the plan was to find a job soon after graduation and start earning. However, it was a challenging period for the country facing an economic downturn. A few of my friends, who studied with me, gave up looking for a job and went into selling real estate or working in restaurants," he shares. Even though things looked bleak, Dr. Madni decided to stay the course. "The thing was, while I was studying, I lost my father and had responsibilities towards my family back in India. I had to earn.” It took him a while but he found his first job as an engineer, starting his career in the USA. “While I was pursuing my doctorate, I was interviewed by Rockwell International and soon started working on NASA's space shuttle programme. So, it was kind of dream-come-true moment for me."

[caption id="attachment_47989" align="aligncenter" width="550"] Dr. Azad Madni | Global Indian Dr. Madni accepting the prestigious Bernard M. Gordon Prize[/caption]

In 1994, the engineer also founded a company - Intelligent Systems Technology, Inc, which is an award-winning hi-tech company specialising in model-based approaches for addressing scientific and societal problems of national and global significance. "The idea is to advance the field of augmented intelligence and human-machine teaming to maximise the joint performance of human-machine teams," he shares.

But then, how does someone with so much industrial experience move to academia? "My company's success was possibly one of the reasons why the University of Southern California approached me to take over one of their flagship programmes, Systems Architecting and Engineering. So, I have been teaching since 2006-07 academic year," he says. Dr. Madni is currently USC's most accomplished multidisciplinary faculty with significant achievements across multiple technical fields. He holds the Northrop Grumman Fred O’Green Chair in Engineering and has received many awards for his contributions. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of IEEE. Dr. Madni has led 97 research projects and received over $100 million in funding from government agencies and companies like NASA, NIST, Boeing, and General Motors.

[caption id="attachment_47990" align="aligncenter" width="550"] Dr. Azad Madni | Global Indian Dr. Madni with his colleagues, Dr. Ram Sriram and Dr. Dereje Agonafer at USC[/caption]

A recipient of over 100 awards, including the most recent 2023 NAE Gordon Prize, the AIAA/ASEE Leland Atwood Award for excellence in engineering education and research, the 2019 ASEE/INCOSE Outstanding Systems Engineering Educator Award, and the 2013 IISE Innovation in Curriculum Development Prize, Dr. Madni shares that he is far from retirement still. "Currently, I am working on several research projects, including autonomous self-driving cars, unmanned aerial vehicles, and game-based simulations for STEM education. These researches will take me at least six to eight years and are being funded by both the government and private sector.”

Dr. Azad Madni | Global Indian

But the engineer is not just an academician. Dr. Madni has a rich history of giving back and has been honoured with various awards for his charitable efforts. In 2021, he was presented with the Benefactor Award by the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) in recognition of his many years of philanthropy and mentorship to engineering students worldwide. This marked only the second time in 31 years that INCOSE granted this award. In 2020, he was also honoured with the IEEE-USA Entrepreneurship Achievement Award for his lifetime of contributions to innovation, mentorship, and philanthropy. Additionally, he holds life memberships in the NAE Marie Curie Donor Society and the NAE Albert Einstein Donor Society.

Follow Dr. Azad Madni on LinkedIn and his website

Reading Time: 7 mins