Dancer | Dr Malini Ranganathan | Global Indian

Global IndianstoryKathak dancer Dr. Malini Ranganathan is India’s cultural ambassador to the world

Kathak dancer Dr. Malini Ranganathan is India’s cultural ambassador to the world

Compiled by: Namrata Srivastava

(February 14, 2023) It was 1986 when Dr. Malini Ranganathan faced one of the most difficult challenges in her journey to teach Indian classical dance – Kathak – to young French girls. She had been living in France for over two years by then and was teaching her students in English. However, her appointment at the Maison de la Culture de Loire Atlantique (MCLA), Nantes, changed the game. This was a town where no one spoke English, so the only medium of instruction she could use to teach her students was French. Not the one to be scared of a tough job, the eminent Kathak dancer took the challenge head-on and learnt to speak in French, while teaching several French dancers.

Dr Malini Ranganathan receiving the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman from former President, Dr Ramnath Kovind

Dr Ranganathan has dedicated her life to propagating Indian art and culture in France and across Europe. In 2019, she became the first woman from France to be honoured with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman. Speaking at a press conference after being conferred with the award by former President of India, Dr. Ramnath Kovind, the Global Indian said, “This award, which I accept with great humility reinforces the responsibility of carrying forward the glorious legacy of Bharat, not only with its unbroken tradition over centuries but with a renewed vigour. Whether in India or abroad, it is our Indian identity and culture that helps us strike the right balance between being Indian at heart and living as global citizens.”

The dancer added, “My parents’ message had always highlighted the importance of assimilating with whichever country we live in, guided by respect for local customs and protocol and simultaneously orienting them with our unique Indian culture. I thank them and my sisters immensely for their guidance as well as my husband and children for their patience and encouragement, thus enabling me to continue my passion in France. I also thank the Embassy of India, Paris, and the members of Association Bindi in Nantes, led by Mr. Rostaing and Mrs. Mazenot for extending their full support to all my Indo-French cultural activities.”

The land of love

While not much is known about the dancer’s initial years in India, Dr. Ranganathan moved to France in the early 80s as a young bride of 24. With a textile design degree from the well-known Sir JJ School of Art in Mumbai, it wasn’t difficult for the dancer to find a job soon after she arrived in Lyon. She started her career at the Textile Museum in Lyon – which is also known as the silk hub of France. Not too good at French, the young dancer was shy and hesitant at the beginning of her career, however, her dedication and handwork helped her not only get recognised, but also handle several prestigious projects. At the Textile Museum, Dr. Ranganathan curated one of the first ‘India Year’ exhibitions, along with famous Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake.

However, while she was climbing higher at her workplace, the dancer inside her was waiting for an opportunity to take on the stage. A disciple of Roshan Kumari of Jaipur gharana and Damayanti Joshi of Lucknow gharana, Dr. Ranganathan started taking weekend classes at the National Conservatory of Dance in Lyon, and soon joined the Merce Cunningham School of Dance as a professor. Interestingly, her lack of local language proved to be quite beneficial for her students, who would also use her classes to practice their English skills. During this time, the dancer also got opportunities to perform across Europe, including the inauguration of the Royal Mughal Jewellery Exhibition at Sotheby’s.

Dr Ranganathan performing at the Routes Indiennes International Festival with her French students

After two years in Lyon, the couple shifted to Nantes, where she eventually brushed up on her French skills and took over 300 French kathak aspirants under her wings. In 1990, the dancer presented 30 of her senior students in a two-hour performance titled ‘Prayas’ at the National Stage in Nantes, with costumes and props made in-house. Her affair with French continued as she went on to complete her M.Phil and Ph.D. in ‘Didactics in Cross-Cultural Teaching as an Educational Science,’, which helped her qualify as a Researcher-Professor in Humanities and Educational Science to MBA students in ISG, Nantes.

Spreading her wings

In 1996, having trained over 400 dancers, Dr. Ranganathan established the NGO Association Bindi with the single aim of pedagogical transmission of classical Kathak and Bollywood dance to thousands of French students. The dancer is the pioneer in creating a new teaching protocol for Kathak dance recognised by the French University, which combines traditional teaching contents with new methods of transmission tailored especially for non-Indian students.

Over the years, the NGO has organised several cultural festivals in France, giving a stage to veteran as well as new Kathak exponents from across the globe. For the last 15 years, the dancer has single-handedly organised the Indian and Asia cultural components of the Summer Festival of Nantes and Routes Indiennes International Festival. She regularly presents new choreographies — in 2011, she presented ‘Parampara’ with presentations on the mother-daughter family parampara and the guru-sishya parampara. The dancer was honoured by the French government for her extraordinary cultural service and contribution to the promotion of India in France from 1983 with the “Medal of Excellence” in May 2019 (French Ministry and the City Council of Nantes) and the “Certificate of Recognition” by CID-UNESCO, Paris, France.

Dr. Ranganathan has several international scientific publications to her credit, both in English and in French, besides paper presentations at international conferences. While the dancer’s vision towards global recognition for Indian dance is driven by her passion for performance, her mission to share the benefits of the art is driven by her passion for teaching, grounded as she is in Indian art and culture.

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Published on 14, Feb 2023

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Nikita Karizma: From dressing Lady Gaga to crafting a fashion legacy

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lobalindian.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Global Indian, and that's exactly what she helps them do through fashion. "Your style says a lot about who you are and what you stand for in the world." Nikita has scaled up her business with a commercial line, KARIZMA, and recently purchased her first property to house her collections. To her, fashion is expression and empowerment combined, her style a fusion of understated Western influences and the bold, colourful cuts and prints of Indian design.

[caption id="attachment_57652" align="aligncenter" width="267"] Nikita Karizma | Indian fashion designer in UK | Global Indian Nikita Karizma[/caption]

A legacy in fashion

For as long as she can remember, Nikita Karizma's life has been about fashion and textiles. She even recalls the day former Miss America Nina Davuluri, the first Indian-origin woman to hold the coveted title, walked into her mother's store in London. "We dressed her too," she says. "In one campaign, my mum had Aishwarya Rai before she became Miss World." Her mother's store specialised in wedding lehengas, and often styled celebrities for Asian magazines. The business of fashion was dinner-time conversation, and Nikita also began working for her parents early on. Even today, Nikita is at the intersection of creativity, entrepreneurship and profit, and of bridging her family’s rich, varied cultural heritage, with roots in India, Kenya and the UK.

Fashion is in her DNA, and the family has been in it for some six decades now. It began with Nikita's grandparents, who ran their own clothing store in Kenya. When they migrated to the UK, they resumed operations there, specialises in Indian sarees, catering to the ever-growing Asian community in London. Although the family has strong ties to Kenya, Nikita was born and raised in the UK, growing up on London's Ealing Road, "which feels like Mumbai," she laughs. "A lot of immigrants live in this neighbourhood, you can hear Indian languages being spoken around you."

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Nikita Karizma | Indian fashion designer in UK | Global Indian

The celeb life

If Nikita were to claim a niche, it would likely be designing for musicians and pop stars. "I love celebrity and popular culture," she says. "I love seeing music spread around the world like wildfire, especially when it spreads a positive message." Her exposure to celebrity culture came fairly early, starting with her parents. When she was 16, Nikita began working for Sony TV as a presenter. "I was sent to music video sets and would interview celebrities." She was very shy then, but used the opportunity to build confidence, going on to interview stars like Hrithik Roshan and Rakesh Roshan, Celina Jaitley and Rishi Rich. "I began to understand this world and also to understand celebrities as human beings," she says. "It's hard for them to connect with everyone but at the end of the day, everybody wants to be loved and understood."

The business of design

A natural leader and entrepreneur, Nikita understood, by the time she went to college, the practicalities, the cash flows and the costs of running a fashion business. It stood her good stead. "A lot of designers go into fashion school and become very strong designers. But they don't really train you on how to run a business at fashion school. For me, that came through my upbringing," she says. When the time came for university, she chose the London College of Fashion.

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Finding strength in diversity

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Nikita Karizma | Indian fashion designer in UK | Global Indian

The young designer remained unfazed by the fact that she was different. "My family prepared me for it. They told me not to worry about being in a minority and to just focus on my talent and skillset," she says, adding, "That's the only thing which matters in the long term. Ultimately, it comes down to your product." These were also the early days of social media, and influencers weren't really a thing. "It wasn't a desirable career path and a job. People didn't understand the path I had taken." This was also before the world had taken to posting every detail of their lives on social media. With very little documentation, the fashion industry remained insulated from the rest of the world. Things have come a long way since, and now, being a fashion designer is a highly sought-after job. "These days, when I post videos of what I do at work, they are seen as aspirational. But it's also a saturated and competitive market," she says. She kept her head down and focussed on her skillsets, and on creating the best products. "Ultimately, if your work is good, people want to wear them. As long as that happens, I know I can carry on in the long term."

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Speak easy: Meet Chris C, the American Instagrammer teaching Malayalam

(February 15, 2024) Chris C is an anomaly on Instagram. An American who speaks Malayalam, his feed stands out in the minefield of social media due to its funny and relatable content, as well as the novelty of a foreigner speaking an Indian language. Started by Christopher (he prefers to go only by his first name) in 2023, the account has grown by leaps and bounds to over 91,000 followers now, with Indians walking up to the young creator and asking for a selfie, that ultimate test of popularity! Some of his most popular videos include Survival Malayalam (the first one to go viral), Malayali Uncle Vocabulary, and Finding the Most Difficult Words from Kerala. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Chris C (@mr.christopher._) Even as a child, Chris was especially interested in language, history, music, the humanities, literature, art, and philosophy. Around the time he was completing his studies, he was looking for a sense of home and belonging. He found it among his Malayali friends who then became his extended family and community. He recalls, “I needed time to figure out what I wanted life to look like before I started working, so

Even as a child, Chris was especially interested in language, history, music, the humanities, literature, art, and philosophy. Around the time he was completing his studies, he was looking for a sense of home and belonging. He found it among his Malayali friends who then became his extended family and community.

He recalls, “I needed time to figure out what I wanted life to look like before I started working, so essentially I took a gap year. When I did so, much of that time was spent visiting different friends in my newfound community. They really helped support and encourage me at a time when I really needed such things. They welcomed me in and treated me as a friend and brother. I couldn't see my life today being in any way the same without them.”

‘Nalla Vellakkaran’

The videos began as a fun way to hit upon relatable moments Chris and his Malayali friends had come to share over the years. Armed with humor and broken Malayalam, the Instagram star wants to be a positive presence in the social media environment. The irony is that the creator always had a minimal presence on social media, being a private person!

“I certainly never expected it would go viral!” he exclaims and adds, “When I saw how well-received those first videos were, I knew I needed to do something about it. Now I really see it as an opportunity to share my gratitude for my ‘adopted’ community and decided to address myself as ‘your nalla vellakkaran’. It’s a bit of a pun on ‘nalla ayalkkaran’ (good neighbor), which is a connotation I enjoy.”

There is no formal process the content creator uses, and being a one-man show, his turnaround time from settling on an idea to scripting, recording, editing, and posting is pretty short—around a week.

“Usually I just mark down possible ideas as they come. When I’m creating content, I try to mix things up by switching between funny and informative content. To be honest, often I just go with what I feel like posting,” he tells Global Indian.

When sharing content that is more technical, he usually buries his head in a Malayalam dictionary or grammar to fact-check himself—and candidly admits that he still makes typos! “Mistakes don’t bother me, however, and I think that helps my creative process. I just like to make videos. There’s no hidden incentive behind it or a need to get things perfect. I do the best I can, as regularly as I can, and I learn as I go,” he notes.

Ask him why he zeroed in on Malayalam, and he quips, saying, ‘Because my community is Malayali!’ and adds, “I speak other languages as well (Spanish, Japanese, and French) with varying levels of fluency, but I began learning Malayalam both as a challenge (since I love learning languages) and as an opportunity to connect with more people in my ‘adopted’ community.”

Chris visited Kerala several times over the years, with his longest trip being in 2019, and he traveled extensively in the state, with his favorite places being Kochi, Kottayam, and Thiruvananthapuram, as well as the mountains up north in the Kannur/Kasaragod area.

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A post shared by Chris C (@mr.christopher._)

Positive ripple effect

As the influence of social media grows, much of it is used for bullying and toxicity, but Chris’s videos have mostly a positive reception, barring a very small minority.

He says, “In the beginning, Malayalis were just amused that some American guy would know their language and culture so well. Then, over time, people became more curious. They’ve often expressed that they’re pleasantly surprised that I am doing this out of gratitude to the people I care about—the community that took me in and helped nurture me.”

As the audience grows, so do expectations. For instance, when Chris makes spelling, grammar, and pronunciation mistakes in Malayalam, the internet makes sure he knows it. He simply takes them into his stride, adding, “I’m a learner, and mistakes and failures are opportunities, not setbacks.”

Winning over the Tik-Tok generation

At a time when attention spans are growing smaller and smaller, the Instagrammer has understood the golden rule—that there is no replacing a good idea. He has also learned some things from watching other professionals who have mastered short-form content creation and gained insights.

“There are certain tricks, to be sure: how you edit and cut, your hook, your presentation style... but you have to understand what you want to share with others and why they should hear it. That’s easy for me, because I’m very interested and passionate about the things I share, so my goal is really to pass that interest on to others,” he says.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Chris C (@mr.christopher._)

What motivates Chris are the genuine connections he makes with others and working with other creators. He is one of those few creators who engages with people commenting on his feed and is now getting used to being asked for advice by others.

He says, “I appreciate when I’m able to just have an authentic interaction with others online—usually in the comments. I think it really warms my heart when people say things like ‘you’re so kind,’ ‘you’re so genuine, you’re a real person,’ or ‘wow, you really do care.’ That’s the kind of environment I want to try and grow in.”

As for the future, he committed to starting a YouTube channel if he crossed 100,000 followers, which he will do very soon. Besides, juggling his passion with a full-time job (in medical IT) is not easy, but he manages it because of his interest.

When not doing either, Chris loves hiking, cooking, music, reading, and video games. His immediate plan for the future—to visit Kerala again!

Follow Christopher on Instagram

Rupee Beer: Van and Sumit’s flavourful journey to introduce Indian craft beer to the world

(June 16, 2023) What began as a trial in their family’s Indian restaurant in the US state of Maine, Vanit (Van) and Sumit Sharma’s Rupee Beer has evolved into a prominent brew. Now available in twelve states in the US, their brew is not just a lager, but was specially crafted by a world-renowned master beer brewer to pair and complement Indian cuisine. Starting out during the COVID-19 pandemic, and choosing an iconic name for their brand, the brothers have set out to honour their Indian heritage, commemorate their family’s entrepreneurial legacy and to showcase the magnificence of the Indian culture to a global audience. “It is just the beginning,” they say and have been nurturing their dream to extend the reach to more states of the US. A plan to introduce Rupee to the UK and EU market is also on the cards. Proud of their brand name ‘Rupee’, the entrepreneurs feel that their crafted beer befittingly pairs with the exquisite tastes that Indian cuisine offers. “Rupee started in 2020 and went live in the market in 2021. In 2022, we were honoured to be named in the inaugural 40 Under 40 list presented by MaineBiz,” Vanit tells Global Indian.  [caption id="attachment_40052" align="aligncenter" width="547"]

befittingly pairs with the exquisite tastes that Indian cuisine offers. “Rupee started in 2020 and went live in the market in 2021. In 2022, we were honoured to be named in the inaugural 40 Under 40 list presented by MaineBiz,” Vanit tells Global Indian. 

[caption id="attachment_40052" align="aligncenter" width="547"] Indians in USA | Van and Sumit Sharma | Global Indian Van and Sumit Sharma[/caption]

It started when...

When the pandemic struck in 2020, Vanit (an alumnus of Northeastern University) and Sumit (an alumnus of Boston University) were working in London and Australia respectively. Amidst the uncertainty of the pandemic, they returned to Maine– where they had grown up after their parents relocated there from Europe. In this unexpected turn of events, they found themselves once again working at their parents’ restaurant, just as they used to do in their younger days.

During the pandemic, like many restaurants in the area, their long-standing Indian restaurant was also encountering difficulties due to the global supply chain’s logistical issues. The most difficult part of all was to procure popular Indian beer brands like the Taj Mahal and Kingfisher. Shipments from India were badly affected and even when they arrived at ports in New York City and California, priority was given to larger states with higher volumes.

Turning adversity into advantage

The challenges that they were facing sparked a new idea in the duo’s minds. They started contemplating the possibility of creating a domestically brewed Indian beer that could genuinely complement Indian cuisine. However, they didn’t have any know-how of the brewing industry. Fortunately, they discovered an ideal collaborator in Alan Pugsley, the British founder of Shipyard Brewing Company, who happened to live nearby.

Pugsley, who is popular as the ‘Johnny Appleseed of craft brewing,’ boasts of a remarkable career spanning close to 45 years, during which he has played a pivotal role in the launch of more than 80 global craft beer brands. He was the ideal person to guide them about the intricacies of the brewing business.

Van and Sumit had extensive tasting sessions at their family restaurant with Pugsley and staff to find out what kind of beer would pair well with different Indian dishes, the fundamental concept behind Rupee, and most importantly what should be avoided to ensure the standards.

[caption id="attachment_40053" align="aligncenter" width="748"] Indians in USA | Van and Sumit Sharma | Global Indian Rupee Beer pairs well with Indian cuisine[/caption]

Van and Sumit knew that pairing heavy dishes like chicken tikka masala and butter naan can be quite filling with highly carbonated mass-produced beers which leads to discomfort, burping, and indigestion. “It wouldn’t create a pleasant experience, leaving an uncomfortable feeling of fullness after an Indian meal,” they explain.

The entrepreneurs’ goal was to create something that was exceptionally smooth, had its own distinct character, and truly complemented the Indian food they grew up with in a family business in curry spanning half a century. After excessive and minute experimentations, the final Rupee Beer was crafted. It has a lower level of carbonation compared to most beers. Every single batch of Rupee is brewed and fermented with top quality rice, maize, malted barley, yeast, and three types of hops ensuring their signature crisp and herbal tasting notes. “Rupee is slow brewed to a traditional Indian recipe, remaining all natural for an unforgettably smooth taste and finish,” Vanit says. The smooth flavour harmonizes with and enhances the robust flavours found in Indian cuisine, rather than overpowering them.

Finding a foothold

The spirit of entrepreneurship flows in the Sharma family. The journey of Van and Sumit’s immigrant parents is a quintessential story of Indian diaspora finding a foothold in a foreign land and making it one’s own. From India, they travelled to Germany and UK (where the brothers were born), and eventually to Maine in Portland, USA in 1990s where they established a chain of three of the first Indian restaurants. Their flagship restaurant ‘Bombay Mahal’ holds the distinction of being the oldest Indian restaurant in Maine.

The Sharma brothers remember how they were one of the very few Indians in Maine while they were growing up in Portland, the state's largest cosmopolitan hub, and the only Indians in their school. But the fifth-generation entrepreneurs have held the family legacy and kept Indian heritage alive in their hearts. They credit it to the upbringing of their parents. “Our dad always emphasised how we need to strive to be good cultural ambassadors for India in a place miles away from it, and show Mainers that Indian food is approachable and our culture rooted in deep traditions," they tell.

[caption id="attachment_40054" align="aligncenter" width="839"] Indians in USA | Van and Sumit Sharma | Global Indian Packaging of Rupee Beer in progress[/caption]

Rupee Beer finely crafted with care is distributed at Indian and South Asian restaurants, select Whole Foods, Costco, and Trader Joe’s, and is exclusively featured at their parents' restaurant as the only Indian beer. Brewing, packaging, and shipping of Rupee Beer are handled through a partnership with Dorchester Brewing, with a current monthly production of 150 barrels (around 1500 cases). In just two years of its launch the brand has set a benchmark winning at 2021 Food and Drink Awards, being named Best Beer For World Food, and love and appreciation from the connoisseurs of beer.

After college, Van and Sumit took different life-paths: Van did a master’s in International Relations and Political Science, while Sumit studied business with a focus on Entrepreneurship. The pandemic played an unlikely catalyst in bringing them back to their homespun culinary pursuits, and their legacy.

Vanit lived and worked in London for decades before moving back to America. He worked in various global sales roles and had another startup within the co-working space arena in central London he exited right before the pandemic. Sumit headed to Latin America and lived in Colombia before relocating to Australia where he was working in the hospitality industry. 

The family legacy

“We are Punjabis and from a family of entrepreneurs. Our grandparents hailed from a successful agricultural family business in Punjab, India as well as Kenya. Our family has been in the Indian restaurant trade for half a century,” Vanit says. The brothers have always been involved within the startup landscape from coworking, ecommerce platforms, and real estate ventures. 

Their dad relocated to Germany and lived there for over a decade until the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, then moved to London where Vanit was born and eventually shifted to Portland, Maine to launch three Indian restaurants in the early 90s. Their mom was born in Kenya. “Our grandmothers on both sides were also from Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania where there has been a sizable Indian diaspora for decades,” Vanit explains.

"Growing up we got to travel a lot. We'd go to India on holidays - usually to North India in Punjab and Delhi to see all our cousins, visit our grandparents’ farm, and attend family weddings. We grew up speaking Punjabi fluently at home,” Vanit says.

After tasting success with Rupee Beer, the fifth-generation entrepreneurs look forward to fulfilling their mission of introducing more iconic India-inspired products to an audience seeking to savour spice, flavour, and distinctiveness while dining out.

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Chef Gyanendra Gupta: Creating desi food with a twist at Raas, Delaware

Restaurant: Raas Founder: Chef Gyanendra Gupta Cuisine: Blend of Indian, vegan, Pan Asian and original creations Service options: Reservations required · Serves vegan dishes Address: 210 Savannah Rd, Lewes, DE 19958, USA (May 12, 2024) Chef Gyanendra Gupta’s restaurant Raas in Delaware is a happy blend of Indian, vegan, Pan Asian and original creations. His purpose is to introduce real Indian flavours to Americans, who think Indian food is mainly curry, and dismiss it as too spicy. Chef GG serves up creatively thought out delicacies like Tandoori stuff potato, Asian spiced salmon cake, biryani and Rigatoni Aglio Olio with Chicken Tikka Masala. Chef Gyanendra Gupta, the fourth sibling among five brothers, grew up helping his mother prepare food for family dinners. He starts the interview with Global Indian by saying, “I was a mama’s boy. She would dictate a paragraph for me to write while cooking; and when she’d check my spelling, I’d check on what was being cooked. None of my brothers had any interest in cooking but since I did, she took me to the markets, and I spent most of my time at home with her in the kitchen. I remember getting excited seeing the roti puff up

k on what was being cooked. None of my brothers had any interest in cooking but since I did, she took me to the markets, and I spent most of my time at home with her in the kitchen. I remember getting excited seeing the roti puff up on the gas burner as a child.”

[caption id="attachment_51601" align="aligncenter" width="458"] Chef Gyanendra Gupta, founder, Raas[/caption]

Indian Roots, Overseas Experience

Chef GG as he is known, grew up in Lucknow, and would even cook for his mother so she could eat with them instead of eating last. All this time spent with her led to him dropping out of medicine at the last minute and joining the Indian Institute of Hotel Management in Lucknow, which was just five minutes away from his home. This was in 1993 and during his third year, he got a job at the Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai as a hotel management trainee. He recalls, “I worked there till 1998, after which I got a chance to work in the Caribbean islands with a London-based hotel group. They had hotels in Granada, St Lucia and many other islands. I used to train people there and on other islands also.”

In 2007, he moved back to India and joined the Landmark Group, a Dubai-based company that was trying to set up hospitality operations in India. He joined as Brand Chef and developed several brands and kiosks for the group in different parts of India including Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune, to name a few. One of the restaurants in our franchise was Yellow Chilli by Chef Sanjeev Kapoor and Chef Harpal Singh.”

This assignment gave Chef GG the background he needed in the backend logistics of running a business, which would later help him with Raas, the fine-dining Indian and Pan-Asian restaurant he now owns and runs in Lewes, Delaware. He says, “We had a 5500 sqft kitchen for R & D and we set up the first franchise for Gloria Jeans, an Australian coffee shop chain in Bandra, Mumbai. Though I quit after a year, it had been a great learning journey, where I understood the economics behind the business.”

Dream jobs galore

Other assignments at the Royal Orchid in Bengaluru followed and he was back with the Taj group for their launch of the brand Vivanta for the Taj in Goa. He says, “Though they had earlier launched Vivanta in Bengaluru, the Goa branch was the real launch and it was quite successful.” From there, in 2011, he moved to the Jai Mahal Palace in Jaipur, where he infused new energy into that property. Chef GG created an international menu, launched Frangipani, a Mediterranean restaurant along with Giardino, an Italian restaurant by the poolside, and elevated the culinary level by training his team at Jai Mahal Palace.”

“I believe every trainee has to be as good as you; and on every second Saturday of the month, anyone and everyone in the team had the liberty to prepare any dish they wanted. It was a wonderful exercise because even those who were not in the kitchen, would participate and make so many different items.” This property and the nearby Jaigarh Fort were the locations for several high-profile destination weddings, where the food was overseen by Chef GG.

[caption id="attachment_51600" align="aligncenter" width="547"] Raas, Chef Gyanendra Gupta, Global Indian Raas is located in a 100-year-old heritage home in Lewes, Delaware[/caption]

Then, in 2015, he represented India at the Mid-Atlantic Wine and Food Festival where 24 chefs and 70 winemakers from all over the world participated. He says, “I got a lot of exposure and met with a friend who was a medical student when I was a chef in the Caribbean at Dupont Hotel, Wilmington, USA. He showed me around the place, and I loved Lewes, which is a historic city with beautiful beaches in Delaware, the first State. He suggested I should open a restaurant here as no restaurants were serving Indian cuisine in that area, so the seed was planted in my brain at that time.”

In April 2015, Chef GG moved back to Taj Holiday Village in Goa but during a vacation in 2017, he went back to Delaware. He says, “That is when we decided to open a restaurant there and bought this historic building. It is a Queen Anne-style Victorian structure built in 1899 and we launched our first restaurant called Raas here.”

Dance of destiny

The website for Raas describes the name as a traditional folk dance from Gujarat in India – the garba and dandiya raas of the Gujaratis performed during weddings and Navratri. He has also added a medical acronym for Raas which is the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, the hormonal system responsible for blood pressure, fluid, and electrolyte balance in our bodies. Chef GG and his team renovated the building and launched in August 2019.

The restaurant, which was listed among the 100 best restaurants by Yelp and published in Forbes magazine, was also featured in the Wall Street Journal and has won many awards.

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He says he wanted to introduce Americans to Indian flavours as many of them consider Indian food as spicy and that it comprises of curry only. “We plated our food interestingly to intrigue their palates.”

Unlike other Indian restaurants of its kind, Raas has at least 17-18 starters and 28 main course dishes each on the menu. Most places list half that number of options. Chef GG runs a tight ship where he is on the floor meeting guests, explaining the food philosophy of his creations, and reiterating that all the calls to the restaurant are always forwarded to him. He says, “Within a few months of opening, Covid had us shut down, but we started takeout options, which kept us going.” Lewes in Delaware has a lot of folks who own second homes here as the city is barely three hours away from Washington DC and New York. Several of the city folk had never had Indian food before so it was a challenge to get them to try something new. “But I believe in Atithi Devo Bhava – the guest is god – so I interact with each guest and help them decide what they’d like to eat,” he adds.

Raas has some interesting options on offer in the fairly extensive vegetarian and non-vegetarian menu. They also have a full vegan and gluten-free menu which is in demand with locals. The Dal Lalla Mussa, Chef GG’s version of Dal Makhni is a popular favourite. As are the Saag Paneer Kofta, Lamb Shank Rogan Josh, Malai Chicken tikka Arancini, and Duck Breast Korma. He has dishes which are not on the menu but could be prepared on the guest’s request and the spice levels, even in the Pan Asian dishes are mild. He adds that 90 percent of his menu is gluten-free with the Chilli Olive Naan and Missi Roti as fast-moving items.

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Now that Raas is an established brand in Delaware, Chef GG is currently thinking of opening a branch in other parts of the US and in the Caribbean islands where he has spent a fair amount of time in the past.

As for global food trends, Chef GG believes that with current lifestyles being such that people eat out a lot, and the US being the multicultural hotpot that it is, people are open to trying food from different cuisines.

While travelling, Chef GG likes to eat at:

Cultured Pearls, a Japanese restaurant in Rehoboth, Delaware: Sushi Boat
Mediterranean Aroma, Rehoboth: Kebab Platter and Falafel
Touch of Italy, Rehoboth: Antipasti platter
Rasika, Washington DC: I love their lamb chops
The Capital Grille, Philadelphia: They do lovely steaks
Roadside Caribbean Jerk Barbeque on St. Lucian Island is his favourite among all of them

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Indian-origin life coaches helping people transform their lives

(December 21, 2022) Come May 2023, life coach and author Jay Shetty will embark on his first-ever world tour Jay Shetty: Love Rules, four months after the release of his second book 8 Rules of Love: How to Find It, Keep It, and Let It Go, and India will be one of the pit stops. The British Indian for years has shared pearls of wisdom to help people maneuver their lives. And now he is ready with his second book. How many times have you come across a life coach who has spent his life as a monk? How many times did you hear about a British-Indian teen following a monk to India? How many times have you seen a former monk turn into a media mogul? And it's this rarity that makes Jay Shetty a prominent face in the personal growth industry. An award-winning storyteller, podcaster, former monk, life coach, author - the 34-year-old juggles several hats. But it's his purpose to inspire people and help them find their calling that has made him popular across the globe. It's personal transformation that's Shetty's dharma. He made a 180-degree shift in his life more than once and now he's on

ore than once and now he's on a mission to transform others' lives.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu6gBqDu_Qw

A North London lad, he was the perfect child until he decided to go rogue in his teens. From drugs to violence, Shetty dabbled in all and was thrown out of his school three times. But after a little bit of soul searching, he enrolled in a business school to make it big. Inspired by the stories of self-made entrepreneurs and the CEOs, it was the success that Shetty was chasing after. However, a chance encounter with a monk, Gauranga Das, changed it all for an 18-year-old Shetty. At 22, he decided to trade his suit for robes. He left London and moved to an ashram outside of Mumbai to become a Vedic monk. The next three years were filled with service where he built sustainable communities, fed the homeless, and taught meditation. He meditated for 4-8 hours a day and learnt ancient practices of breath and mind control. He studied Vedas and philosophies of the east in great depth, and knew he wanted to impart the knowledge in the real world.

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Having learnt from the monks in India, the author of Think Like A Monk is now helping thousands across the world get on the journey of self-discovery and helping people discover their purpose. "I want to help people find stillness, purpose, peace, and clarity in their daily life, by adopting the mindset monks have developed over thousands of years. I want to show people that thinking like a monk isn’t just about being still and calm, it’s a lot more about seeing patterns and connections; seeing things in mainstream culture that remind you of wisdom," the life coach said in a 2020 interview.

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Global Indian turns the spotlight on the Indian-origin life coaches who are opening the world to the concept of consciousness and self-awareness.

Sadhguru

When Hollywood actor Will Smith made his first public appearance in Mumbai in May post the infamous Oscar slap gate, murmurs of him meeting Indian spiritual leader and life coach Sadhguru in search of "healing" and "correction" echoed across the globe. It's no secret that Will Smith hosted Sadhguru at his LA home in 2020, where the two discussed life and spirituality. Stoked by Sadhguru's 2016 book Inner Engineering, he called the mystic to greet his family as he wanted them to meet "spiritual people, who are not hooked on the material world." This beautiful rendezvous touched upon the understanding of "one's suffering" and left Will amazed. But he isn't the only one that's enamoured by the teachings of Sadhguru.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL8sCf0qYHI

Born as Jagadish Vasudev, his tryst with yoga began as early as 13 years of age, and in 1992, he founded the Isha Foundation with a mission to transform the lives of millions with his wisdom. His ability to make the ancient yogic sciences relevant to contemporary minds has made him one of the most sought-after life coaches in the world. Helping people navigate through life by making them craft their destiny by embracing the "technologies of well-being" is what makes him popular. Talking about the concept of Karma, he said in an interview, "The things you have done with your body, with your mind, with your emotions and your energy since the time of your birth is deciding what kind of a person you are, how you see things, how you experience things. Is it not? The impressions of that are what cause the bondage. Because you can have only limited exposure in your life, you will be limited. So unless you free yourself from this, you cannot look at all the enormous possibilities out there. The past is ruling the present and future. You are recreating your future just like the past."

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Vishen Lakhiani

If it's about striving to elevate the key systems that shape humanity's future and to unlock the highest potential, then it's game on for Mindvalley founder Vishen Lakhiani. Born and raised in Malaysia, he moved to the Silicon Valley in the late 90s, but things were hard. However, one meditation class changed it all for him, and that's when his quest for personal growth began. Soon, he became a meditation instructor, a decision that led him to creating his own form of meditation - the six phase meditation. In 2004, he founded Mindvalley, then a tiny company building websites for various authors in personal transformation. But things shifted in 2016 for Vishen when he released his first book The Code of The Extraordinary Life, and all of a sudden became one of the leading brands in human transformation.

Life coach | Vishen Lakhiani

Today, Mindvalley offers more than 30 courses on personal mastery including health, wealth, relationship, and productivity that are set to raise human consciousness. As an entrepreneur and life coach, his biggest advice is to have a real passion for your calling.

"I believe that a person can only realise their fullest potential when they're in a constant state of growth. And through my work with Mindvalley, transformation has become the primary driver of my life," the author of The Buddha and the Badass said in an interview.

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Robin Sharma

The bestselling book The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari gave admission to Robin Sharma in the literary world, but his book wasn't run-of-the-mill stuff, but an almost bible on personal mastery. That's what made Sharma an overnight star. The 57-year-old former lawyer is considered to be one of the top life coaches in the world with clients like Nasa, Microsoft, Starbucks, Oracle, and Unilever, and his purpose is to make everyone live to their full potential.

Life coach | Robin Sharma

At 25, he self-published his first book MegaLiving. But it wasn't until the success of The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari that he quit his job as a litigation lawyer and became a full-time writer. Soon he ventured into public speaking, and was approached by CEOs on personal mastery and leadership.

"There are a lot of people with a lot of money but money is all they have. It's very inspiring to see how many people want to be the heroes of their lives, and how many people want to grow and rise above their circumstances. One of the keys to my longevity is that I want to help people, I don't just write books but I am putting down the information that is not superficial but really creates change," said the author of The 5 AM Club who believes in the power of transformation.

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Deepak Chopra

A pioneer in introducing the west to the wonders of meditation, Deepak Chopra has been at the forefront of the meditation revolution for the last 30 years. At 45, he quit his career as a prominent physician in Boston and started his centre in California, focused on integrative medicine. Merging meditation with medicine is what his expertise lies in. The 75-year-old has coached some of the biggest leaders and corporate giants, and for him, it's more about "deep reflection" than "giving advice."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm29bAYaJoQ

"The idea is for them to work toward taking responsibility for not only their well-being—social, emotional, physical, financial, professional—but also that of others. I teach them how to harness creativity, whether they’re artists or scientists—intention, information gathering, analysis, incubation, insight, intuition—and how to serve the people they influence. Those are the basic elements. If they’re receptive, I then take them into meditation practices for tapping into higher consciousness," the life coach said in an interview.

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