Several years ago it dawned on me that the ‘uh-oh’ song, a.k.a. Lumidee’s ‘Never Leave You,’ sounds a whole lot like Jay Sean’s hit ‘Get Busy‘ and Wayne Wonder’s ‘No Letting Go.’ All three tracks lean on the Diwali riddim, and so do tens of others:
Greensleeves Rhythm Album #27: Diwali, commonly known as the Diwali […]

My first rangoli: the Obama campaign logo in pink beans, great northern beans, and rice with blue food coloring. Happy Diwali.

Three questions.1. Is it somehow cooler to write “da” instead of “the” and “nd” instead of “and”?2. If not, how difficult can it be to key in an extra letter?3. What kind of twisted mind abbreviates words like “the” but spells out “illu…

I’m still recovering from a quickie trip to SAIFF in Manhattan, where I saw The President is Coming, Kissing Cousins and, at a regular theater, Jimi Mistry in RocknRolla.
My family lights diyas every Diwali, but it’s never been our tradition to do rangoli / kolam. Just for fun, I’m going to try an Obama rangoli […]

Two friends sent over a couple of anguished takes on the Diwali holiday. First, Vikram Seth’s poem ‘Diwali,’ pre-India Shining (thanks, Filmi):

The Moghuls fought and ruledAnd settled. Even whileThey hungered for musk-melon,Rose, peach, nightingale,The land assumed their love…
I know that the whole worldMeans exile of our breedWho are not home at homeAnd are abroad abroad… […]

Courtesy of my cousin and a Whole Foods bakery. Happy triple D: Dussehra, Dhanteras and Diwali.

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