30 days of yoga classes in TorontoI finished my 30-day Yoga Challenge at Lila Yoga Studio, Toronto, on Monday, March 19 — finished as I started, with a class by owner and yoga teacher Shelly Rowen. I am proud to say that I never missed a day. There were days I didn’t want to go — the sun was shining or I was tired or I just didn’t want to face myself — but I went, and I did the yoga class with those thoughts and feelings. Yoga is not about being a specific way; it is not about being perfect, or looking like the cover of a magazine, or feeling calm and compassionate at all times. At the ashram I go to in India, there’s a sign that says, “All life is yoga.” And that’s what I experienced during my 30-day Yoga Challenge.
For part 1, read: My 30-day Yoga Challenge
For part 2, read: Travelling within
For part 3, read: Journey of acceptance
To read about my last 10 days, and what I learned and gained from the experience… (more…)
Shahrukh Khan and me dancing on stage at RaOne premiere in Toronto. Photo by Andrew Adams of Katha Images.
Yet again, I found myself in the eye of the Shahrukh Khan storm when he was here in Toronto for the opening of his new film, RaOne, at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. If you follow my blog, you will know that I wrote Shahrukh Khan and me about my love for his film Paheli and my thwarted chances to meet him; and you will remember that I finally did meet him during the IIFA Awards, which I wrote about in Bollywood in Toronto: Fave moment #1 – Meeting Shahrukh Khan. (more…)
Bollywood actress Mallika Sherawat at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel during the IIFA Awards. Photo courtesy Andrew Adams Photography
The pillars of excitement at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel during IIFA were definitely the stars. Every time a Bollywood star entered or left the hotel, a bubble of excitement burst in the lobby, resulting in a chorus of near-hysterical cheers. I had a media pass, so I was able to gain access to off-limit areas, and it became normal for me to see stars like Anil Kapoor, Sonu Sood, Ritesh Deshmukh, Arshad Warsi, Priyanka Chopra, Boman Irani, R. Madhavan, Dia Mirza, Zayed Khan, Sharman Joshi, Shabana Azmi and Harman Baweja milling around the hotel. (more…)
Bollywood actor Sonu Sood and fans in the lobby of the Fairmont Royal York Hotel during the IIFA Awards. Photo courtesy Andrew Adams of Katha Images.
Bollywood in Toronto
Staying at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, the host hotel for the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards in Toronto, gave me a unique and close-up look at both the behind-the-scenes action and the fans. I have lived in India, so I was not at all surprised by the fan frenzy: Indian movie stars have the biggest and most loyal fan followings in the world. Hands down. No comparison. (more…)
Shahrukh Khan arrives at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel for the 2011 IIFA Awards
Some of my readers will have no doubt, others will be totally surprised to learn: Shahrukh Khan (often known as SRK or King Khan) is the world’s number 1 movie star. By far. Any number or metric you want to use to measure — loyalty, fan base, power, influence, sheer hysteria — will show SRK way out in front. He is NOT the Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt of India. We do not have stars in the west the way they do in India. There are probably 1 billion people — that’s about one-quarter of the planet — who would give Shahrukh their kidney, if he needed it. (more…)
Sonu Nigam, Anupam Kher, Bipasha Basu and Ritesh Deshmukh at IIFA press conference
Bollywood lays it on thick
It’s only Day 1 of the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards extravaganza in Toronto, and there’s already enough hype, madness, feuds, controversy, gossip and stars to fill the most epic Bollywood blockbuster. If you read my post, Bollywood primer, you’ll know that Bollywood operates like a big family, with all the drama that entails.
Mallika Sherawat at IIFA press conference
Here at the epicentre of it all, the grand Fairmont Royal York Hotel — I’m calling it Bollywood ground zero — the action never stops. Twice a day, planes from Mumbai land, carrying a dozen or more stars. In fact, two airlines actually changed their flight schedules to accommodate IIFA — which is unbelievable. When they arrive at the hotel, there’s a media and fan frenzy. (more…)
Deepak Chopra at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto
Thanks to MyBindi, and about 25 Facebook friends, I won front-row tickets to see Deepak Chopra at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto — and I also won seats from Zoomer Media, which I gave to well-deserving friends. Almost two years ago, I wrote a blog post about why I admire Deepak Chopra, and how I feel we have the same mission, which is Sharing India’s wisdom with the world.
Deepak Chopra walked very simply on an almost-empty stage wearing jeans, thick-soled boots, a black jacket and jeweled glasses. With no fanfare whatsoever, he began speaking directly to the audience in a straightforward and down-to-earth manner. He spoke extemporaneously for about 90 minutes, with ease, intelligence and an absolute grasp of his material. (more…)
Saying namaste to the Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project
The joy of cross-cultural mash-ups
In some ways, India and Canada could not be two more different countries: Canada is new, India is old; Canada is cold, India is hot; Canada is efficient and orderly, India is chaotic and spontaneous. Yet these cultures are really mixing it up in many different spheres — and certainly in my own life over the past five years. Recently, I attended several India-Canada cultural mash-ups that left me noticing the similarities, the differences — and the misperceptions that Canadians, and westerners, seem to generally hold about Indian culture. (more…)
sari power
It may look like India (well, perhaps not the buildings in the background), but these pictures were taken at the recent Ratha-Yatra parade in Toronto, organized by the good folks at ISKCON.This is an annual event, part of the Festival of India, which is usually held on the Toronto Island — though not this year because of the municipal strike. No ferry pilots to take us all over!
[Note: This was originally published on CBC.ca's Citizen Bytes on July 9, 2009]
I am a long-time yoga practitioner who just took up jogging. This morning I went to my local park as usual, and began walk/jogging in circles around the track that runs the perimeter of the park. Now that summer vacation has started, there is a lot more activity in the park, a lot more kids, and I had a lot more to look at than usual.
As I ran around the small park, I noticed a row of about 50 kids, in brown or pale pink t-shirts, each kicking a soccer ball down the length of the soccer field. It was a controlled melee with little ones sending the ball in all directions, including into the gulley; and one tall girl with long legs striding down the field, her pony tail flying behind her.
On the morning of April 14 approximately 10 million people streamed into the sacred town of Haridwar in north India to bathe in the Ganga on the most auspicious day during the 2010 Kumbh Mela. I was one of them. Find out how I found myself alone, and at home, at the world’s largest spiritual gathering.
In Varanasi, where the veil between life and death seems very thin, a boat ride on the river can become a journey to the other side. Come along with me on a boat ride on the Ganges River in India’s oldest, holiest city and pierce the veil.
The Ganges / Ganga River is the Mother of India. The River speaks in many voices as she travels from the high Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal. At the source, her song is joyous, full of the the jubilance of youth, the rush of fresh mountain streams, the sincere chanting of pilgrims and the excitement of the onward journey.
