Move over Sydney Opera House, Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Mumbai has a new entertainment venue that will rival many a global address.
As with the last 37 years, this year too the India Day Parade in New York saw thousands of Indian Americans throng Manhattan's Madison Avenue to celebrate India's Independence Day. For the thousands of Indians who turned up, it was a once in a year chance to showcase their country's rich cultural diversity.
Few of these highly sought-after socialising and networking hubs are seeing much activity as regulars are missing in action.
'The objective is not to make India into a one religion place, but to ensure that there is harmonious and peaceful co-existence of all faiths with each of them having their cultural personality.'
United States President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr Jill Biden on Monday hosted a Diwali reception at the White House in what they called the largest since the People's House started celebrating the festival during the George Bush administration.
The Supreme Court had last week stayed a Bombay high court order and allowed Maharashtra government to hold the event at the Chowpatty.
'For us, North Indians, who are habitual late comers and lackadaisical in our temple attire; who go to temples in jeans and shorts; who keep our temples dirty; where deities are placed amidst all prasadam and where rotting flowers are strewn on the pathway -- Manipur teaches us grace and discipline,' says Tarun Vijay.
We Indians simply cherry-pick those aspects of other cultures we like and reject what we consider unsuitable. Most of us recognise it as globalisation, says Kanika Datta.
This comes hours after Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra issued a "24-hour ultimatum" and threatened to send the police after him.
During the trip, Mukherjee will hold bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on civil nuclear cooperation, defence ties and partnership in higher education.
He also said that India was a parliamentary democracy and the decision to abrogate Article 370 provisions, which accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir, was taken after detailed discussion in Parliament and with the support of majority of the members.
The proclamations came after various Hindu organisations in the US announced the addition of another major festival, an entire month of festivals, in October as the Hindu Heritage Month.
'...and all of us need to do more to give it a happy Bollywood ending. I used to be a huge optimist but now I have become somewhat of a pessimist. As a country, we don't seem to want to get things right,' Sanjoy Roy, producer of the Jaipur Literary Festival, the biggest free annual literary event in the world.
'The point about arranged marriages is -- because I come from a progressive family -- the idea was completely alien. But I have realised over time that there are instances of assisted marriages working very well. If you look at it, really, in a microcosm, it is the same thing as Tinder, isn't it? I mean, if you are trying to meet -- yes, no, yes, no, no.'
Major mosques and idghas, which see tens of thousands of people offering namaz on Eid and then embracing each other, remained mostly empty perhaps for the first time on the festival as the government has prohibited all kinds of religious gatherings to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The shows will take place on March 14 and 15 in Mumbai.
For teams that work on projects to make art, culture and travel accessible to the differently-abled, the experience of seeing faces light up is reward in itself.
'If we selected a political film or a film on a specific cultural event, they could easily be bypassed if they don't match with the political ideologies of the people viewing the film at the Oscars.'
Musicians from across the world will gather in Goa for the Ketevan World Sacred Music Festival.
Amid a rise in coronavirus cases and the threat of the Omicron variant, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Wednesday directed district magistrates to ensure no Christmas and New Year gathering takes place in the national capital.
Diwali fashion is taking a new meaning this year.
The Federation of Indian Associations in Central Ohio marked its silver jubilee at its 10th annual India Festival, organized September 20 at the Veteran's Memorial facility in downtown Columbus, and attended by more than 13,000 people.
Next up -- the Trafalgar Square dance festival to mark the occasion of Diwali.
Modi praised Tamil Nadu as a special place and lauded the Tamil language as eternal and its culture as global.
'We didn't know where the story was going. But I knew I was telling the story of an extremely lonely journalist.'
Credit card issuers saw significant erosion of their card base during the July-September quarter as the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) norms mandated deactivation of cards that have been inactive for a year. The second quarter of the current financial year saw outstanding cards-in-force decline by 2.55 million to 77.7 million. Prior to this, the industry, on an average, was witnessing a net addition of over 1.5 million credit cards a month as players became aggressive on the unsecured lending business after the pandemic.
'J&K continues to have the highest concentration of military personnel anywhere in the world and the alienation of the Kashmiri has increased in the last ten years than ever before.'
Brands in India are finding newer, more innovative ways to engage with a wider audience during festivals. But they still have a long way to go before they match global campaigns.
As the countdown begins for the Durga Puja festival, a section of Trinamool Congress supporters have put up a hoarding in Kolkata bearing various photographs of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee with a caption in Bengali -- 'Modishahsurmardini', punning with 'Mahisasuramardini' (demon slayer).
In his message to the people on the eve of 58th Statehood Day, Ravi, the interlocutor for the Naga peace process, said the essence of India is its unity in diversity, on the demand for integration of Naga inhabited areas in other states, especially Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.
The 19th edition of the Commonwealth Games kicked off with a spectacular opening ceremony at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Delhi, on Sunday.
India Now' festival that commences on July 16 in London and continues for three months is London's attempt to attract increased business investments from India
The 37th India Day Parade organised by the Federation of Indian Associations.
Manipur needs an integrated politico, military, socio-economic approach, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
'The Iranians are very resilient people. So even when they are throttled, they try their best to survive.'
The event was given a miss as the relations between the two countries are strained at present.
'If you don't have children, that's also a problem.' 'There's no right way to live because everybody has an opinion about your personal life, and how you should live.' 'You have to listen to them, unless you can pick a fight with everyone.'
'Of the people here in Europe who have watched The Story of Film: A New Generation, the most talked-about clip is the one from Ram Leela.'
'The images of mass cremations and crowds of people at hospital doors brought me to tears.' 'I started this initiative because at the end of the day India is my home.'
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