Destination: Mumbai
Jan Morris Reveals her Favorite Cities
by Michael Yessis | 11.19.09 | 3:41 PM ET
She fields this question in the Guardian: What is her favorite of them all?
Dear God, what a question! To my mind cities are distillations of human life itself, in all its nuances, with all its contradictions and anomalies, changing from one year to another, changing with the weather, changing with history, changing with the state of the world, changing above all in one’s own personal responses. How can I have a favourite? Sometimes I prefer one city, sometimes another. Inconstancy governs my responses to cities—fidelity in personal matters, promiscuity in civic affairs.
Morris does have a ready answer, though, when asked about her least favorite city: Indianapolis. (Via @ben_coop)
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Yahoo! BuzzPhoto We Love: Praying for Rain in Mumbai
by World Hum | 09.09.09 | 5:03 PM ET
REUTERS/Punit Paranjpe
Hindu priests sit inside water-filled barrels as they pray for rain in Mumbai.
The Luxury of Solitude
by David Farley | 08.11.09 | 11:23 AM ET
Photo by David Farley In a Mumbai greenmarket, David Farley hunts for the Indian city's most precious commodity
‘The Hangover’ Gets Bollywoodized
by Eva Holland | 07.29.09 | 4:18 PM ET
Publicity still via IGN Here’s an unexpected bit of cross-cultural synergy. This summer’s funniest travel movie involving a Vegas bachelor party, Mike Tyson, and a tiger—OK, OK, this summer’s only travel movie involving all of the above—is getting its very own Bollywood remake.
After he had time to think it over, Get the Big Picture’s Colin Boyd decided he approves. “You’ve seen ‘The Hangover,’ right? It’s full of non sequiturs from Mike Tyson to the chicken to the tiger in the bathroom to the baby to the missing tooth,” he writes. “And where better to find humorous non sequiturs than Bollywood?”
Photo We Love: Unruly Umbrella in Mumbai
by World Hum | 07.29.09 | 11:25 AM ET
REUTERS/Arko Datta
A woman tries to control her umbrella along a stormy seafront in Mumbai, India.
Danny Boyle Can’t Quit You, Mumbai
by Eva Holland | 06.04.09 | 3:27 PM ET
Yup, the Indian city has its hooks in the Oscar-winning director of “Slumdog Millionaire,” and it isn’t letting go. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Boyle has bought the film rights to Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found, Suketu Mehta’s Pulitzer-nominated travelogue about Mumbai’s seedy, sometimes-violent subcultures: dirty cops, exotic dancers, religious hitmen and more.
The Heat Seeker: Spicier, Please!
by Alison Stein Wellner | 05.13.09 | 10:34 AM ET
iStockphoto Alison Stein Wellner likes her food hot and spicy. To find out how hot and spicy, she searched the world for heat. Part three of five: Into Kumarakom.
The Heat Seeker: ‘This Raita Will Be Your Savior’
by Alison Stein Wellner | 05.12.09 | 10:46 AM ET
Alison Stein Wellner likes her food hot and spicy. To find out how hot and spicy, she searched the world for heat. Part two of five: Getting Hot in Mumbai.
Video: Alison Stein Wellner: The Heat Seeker
by World Hum | 05.11.09 | 11:16 AM ET
Alison Stein Wellner traveled around the world to eat the hottest food she could handle, a quest she chronicled for World Hum
Slumming It: Can Slum Tourism Be Done Right?
by Eric Weiner | 03.16.09 | 11:57 AM ET
REUTERS/Punit Paranjpe Global Positioning: On the intersection of place, politics and culture
Hollywood Heads to Bollywood
by Eva Holland | 03.10.09 | 3:12 PM ET
Turns out, it really is a small world after all. Kylie Minogue has wrapped up filming for an upcoming Bollywood flick, “Blue,” making her one of the first big-name Western stars to land on a Mumbai sound stage. “I don’t feel that I’m necessarily at the forefront of a Hollywood-Bollywood crossover because I don’t consider myself Hollywood,” Minogue told the Telegraph. “But I do think this could be the start of something. The fact that I’m here shows it could be the start of something.”
Early signs suggest she’s right—Sylvester Stallone is set to do the Bollywood thing later this year. And—rumor has it!—Arnold Schwarzenegger will be joining him. Could the Bolly/Hollywood fusion become another wonder of our shrinking planet?
I’m all for it.
All the ‘Slumdog’ News That’s Fit to Print
by Eva Holland | 02.27.09 | 11:25 AM ET
If I hadn’t already used the unstoppable Slumdog line a few weeks ago, you can bet I’d be putting it into play now. Since its big win at the Oscars, the name has been popping up everywhere, and frankly—despite the fact that I loved the movie—I’m reaching my saturation point.
Let’s briefly review the latest developments, and then (I promise) I’ll clam up on this movie-turned-full-blown-phenomenon. Here goes: the two young stars may or may not be the leads in a real-life love story, flats are being rented and trust funds set aside for the youngest child actors (who are slum-dwellers in their off-screen lives, too), and amidst all the media noise the film’s box office haul has just passed the $100-million mark. Oh, and did I mention that there’s a Broadway musical in the works?
Whew. With all the gossip flying around, it’s easy to lose track of the things that got everyone talking “Slumdog” in the first place—namely the movie’s unforgettable sounds and colors, and the universality of its fairy-tale story. So for my last word on this subject, I’ll call on rapper M.I.A. She’s got a video reminder, after the jump:
A Very International Oscars
by Eva Holland | 02.23.09 | 2:38 PM ET
Last night’s Oscars ceremony is likely to be up for debate for some time—among the most contentious issues, for me, is the fact that the cast of “High School Musical” got more screen time than most nominees—but one thing is certain: it was the most international Oscars since 2004, when Charlize Theron thanked everyone in South Africa, and the winners from “Lord of the Rings” managed to name-drop just about everyone in New Zealand, too.
In the 2009 edition, there were acceptance speeches smattered with Spanish (Penelope Cruz, for “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”) and Tamil (A.R. Rahman, the composer for “Slumdog Millionaire”), there were shout-outs to Mumbai (from the assortment of “Slumdog” winners, who took home 8 awards between them), and there were two separate winners from Japan.
My favorite globally-flavored Oscar moments, after the jump:
Taking Black History Month to ... India?
by Julia Ross | 02.19.09 | 2:24 PM ET
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is apparently making good use of cultural diplomacy early in her term. Before she departed on her current Asia tour, Clinton sent a delegation of U.S. congressional representatives, civil rights leaders and musicians, including Herbie Hancock and Chaka Khan, to India to commemorate U.S. Black History Month. The group includes Martin Luther King III, who is retracing a trip his parents, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King, took 50 years ago to study Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence.
Meanwhile, Hancock, Khan and jazz students from New Orleans will perform at concerts in Mumbai and New Delhi, then jam with students at the Ravi Shankar Institute of the Performing Arts. I’m pleased to see the group continue a long tradition of U.S. jazz ambassadorship abroad.
Morning Links: Holidays in Banda Aceh, ‘Slavery Theme Park’ and More
by Michael Yessis | 02.17.09 | 9:15 AM ET
- Passengers can no longer kiss at England’s Warrington Bank Quay Station.
- Is Marlon Jackson supporting a “slavery theme park” in Nigeria?
- The Mumbai attacks have apparently “put the brakes” on tourism in India.
- State and local governments to travel booking sites: Pay up!
- Daisann McLane: “Until I learn a place with my feet, I never really feel like I know it.”
- John Aglionby says Banda Aceh “has arguably become one of south-east Asia’s hidden holiday destinations.”
- Spud Hilton sifts through language-study options for travelers.
- In typo news: There’s one on the Manhattan Supreme Courthouse. It only took 82 years to discover it. Hooray!
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