(a.k.a. Harold and Kumar Go to Chai Castle)
After gorging on kati rolls this weekend, my cousin the orchestra conductor decided he just had to have some masala chai. I vaguely remembered a Midtown chaat house I’d been to once six years ago which began with the letter ‘A.’ We texted GOOGL and settled on Amma […]

You know what goes well with arugula? Steak.

Strolling through my local megagrocery, I noticed the salad dressing aisle has been taken over by questionable vegetarian. Don’t believe me? Check the labels: a third of the dressings are made by Wishbone, named after a bone you wish upon and break after gnawing on a dead chicken. […]

Tavalon is movin’ on. Sonny Caberwal, he of the Kenneth Cole campaign, has closed his Union Square tea bar. Apparently the future of tea is online, which makes this Feb. 22 India Today story a little stale:
He co-owns the… Tavalon tea bar in New York and also runs a consulting business in San Francisco. [Link]

As a follow-on to Jabberwock’s post, here’s a gloss on envio lawyer and author Rishi Reddi’s Karma and Other Stories:

In “Lord Krishna,” a teenager is offended when his evangelical history teacher likens the Hindu deity to Satan, but ultimately forgives the teacher against his father’s wishes. In the title story, “Karma,” an unemployed professor rescues […]

Vegetarians are often subjected to snide insinuations of effeteness, whether it’s ‘veg’ (clean) jokes or the gentle epithet of ‘ghaas-poos’ (grass-eater). For many years now, the island residents of Phuket, Thailand, have set out to change that image.
The Phuket Vegetarian Festival puts Thaipusam to shame with a festival-long conversion to vegetarianism and […]

Where some of that Indian temple hair ends up: in wigs in Harlem.

Sundal Roy of Rawalpindi, Pakistan, says she will discard her duds and streak through Pamplona for PETA’s annual Running of the Nudes. The protest against animal cruelty happens before the traditional bull run. Roy says:
“… the abolition of bullfighting is a really good cause to fight/party for… I’ll try to learn some Spanish, pack […]

The Hare Krishnas held a fair at Washington Square Park by NYU yesterday…

… asking the eternal spiritual questions:

The fascinating Steve Jobs bio iCon says that among the many issues over which Jobs refuses to compromise, is his policy of not serving critter flambé:
Steve’s marketing team set up an important dinner for key buyers.. The salad plates were cleared, and the wait staff then came out — with dessert…
… someone had slipped and […]

One of the things I dug about living in London was how custom a fit the Asian subculture was. Similarly, and somewhat tautologically, there are loads of little cultural conveniences in Bombay, like keychains and nameplates which actually have your name:

Cards with the rakhi built in: