Chef Gyanendra Gupta | Raas | Global Indian

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

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

Written by: Minal Nirmala Khona

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 on the gas burner as a child.”

Chef Gyanendra Gupta, founder, Raas

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.

Raas, Chef Gyanendra Gupta, Global Indian

Raas is located in a 100-year-old heritage home in Lewes, Delaware

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.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Gyanendra Gupta (@chef.gyanu)

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.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Gyanendra Gupta (@chef.gyanu)

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

Follow Chef Gyanendra Gupta and Raas on LinkedIn and Instagram

Name*

Email*

Name*

Email*

0 Comments

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments

Published on 12, May 2024

Share with

ALSO READ

Meet Mangesh Ghogre, the only Indian to construct crosswords for New York Times and LA Times

(November 2, 2021) The next time you attempt solving an NYT or LA Times crossword, do keep an eye out for the byline. It’s quite likely that the crossword you’re attempting to solve would have been constructed by a young Mumbai-based investment banker, who’s had a passion for crosswords since his engineering days. Meet Mangesh Ghogre, the 41-year-old executive director and head of equity capital at Nomura Holdings, who has been the only Indian to have his crosswords published in some of America’s top publications and is the first Indian to have judged the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament directed by New York Times. At a time when most of his peers were busy cracking the GRE and GMAT to go to the US, Ghogre was busy solving crosswords least expecting the puzzle to one day transform his life in ways he could only imagine. Today, while most of his peers are settled either in the US or UK, it is Ghogre who holds the unique distinction of being the only Indian to earn prime spot in some of America’s top publications. The Panvel boy who made it big Born in Panvel, on the outskirts of Mumbai, in 1980, Ghogre led the life a typically middle-class Indian in the 1980s would. His father worked at the Reliance plant there and his mother was a homemaker. Their lives revolved

0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}">

Global Indian Mangesh Ghogre

The Panvel boy who made it big

Born in Panvel, on the outskirts of Mumbai, in 1980, Ghogre led the life a typically middle-class Indian in the 1980s would. His father worked at the Reliance plant there and his mother was a homemaker. Their lives revolved around Mumbai and Nagpur (their hometown) and there was little to no exposure to a world outside of India. This was after all an era with no internet connectivity, cable TV or Hollywood films in the country. After his schooling, Ghogre opted to study Mechanical Engineering from VJTI in Matunga and moved into a hostel to avoid long commutes.

It was around this time that he and a few friends got together and decided to move to the US after their engineering course in search of greener pastures. There was a hitch though: English was not their strong language, most of them were more fluent in Hindi. Their go-to resource back then while preparing for GRE and GMAT, was the Barron’s word list. “But these were not words that we used in everyday lives,” Ghogre tells Global Indian, “It was around this time that I began trying to solve the crosswords that would appear in The Times of India in a bid to improve my vocabulary.”

For the love of crossword

The crossword though was no easy feat and many of his friends eventually gave up. But Ghogre kept at it. “In retrospect it was my motivation to crack the GMAT and also the fact that I was curious about the answers which I would refer to the next day,” he explains, adding, “It was only much later that I realized that these crosswords were syndicated from the LA Times. We didn’t have any exposure to American culture, let alone American slang, back then. And the crossword is usually a reflection of society and its culture.”

Ghogre would religiously try to solve the crossword every single day and would check the solutions the next day and make elaborate notes. His diaries were divided into neat sections: slang, animals, religion, geography, flowers, etc. He’d created his own mini-Wikipedia. Over the years, he began to put two and two together and was finally able to begin solving the crossword completely about eight years later. By this time, it had become a habit that he couldn’t do without.

Global Indian Mangesh Ghogre

The crossword had opened up a whole new world for him: of American culture, society, geography, food, wildlife and even cinema. American slang like dough, grand, hero (sandwich), break a leg etc became commonplace for him. It also introduced him to the rivers in the US and animals like coyote, llama, and emu. “I’d never heard of these animals before, let alone seen them. When internet finally came to India, I went to a cybercafé to look these animals up to see what they looked like,” he recalls.

Life changing grid

The crossword had fascinated him and he’d carry it with him everywhere. “In the process, I was thrown out of class for solving the crossword mid-lecture, I’d carry it to the canteen and even the washroom. My friends would laugh at me,” smiles Ghogre. “Now they’re in awe of what the small black and white grid did for me.”

The crossword had truly changed his life; he is now considered an authority on it. As time went by, Ghogre got better and better at solving the puzzle. Though he didn’t manage to crack the GMAT and move to the US, he did land a good job when he graduated in 2000. However, a few months later, that job offer was withdrawn due to the dot come bust. “I spent a year at home jobless because of the market situation. I prepared for CAT to do my MBA but didn’t get into the IIMs; it wasn’t a great time. That’s when I took to crossword more strongly. It was my solace; it was addictive.”

Global Indian Mangesh Ghogre

He eventually did his MBA from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies and embarked on a career as an investment banker with ICICI Securities. He also worked with SBI Capital and HSBC before being appointed by Nomura as executive director in 2016.

Through it all, his love for crossword was going strong. “But I also began noticing that all these crosswords had American bylines, there were no Indian names on the scene. I began researching and came across blogs that analyse the puzzle and also spoke about how to construct one. So, I thought why not give constructing a crossword a shot,” says Ghogre.

The only Indian constructor

He sent his first one to the editor of LA Times. Though it wasn’t selected, the editor did encourage him to keep at it. That’s when Ghogre came across a lady Nancy Salomon, a veteran crossword constructor. The two began corresponding by email and she coached him through the nuances of the making a good puzzle. Several tries later, Ghogre’s first crossword was published in the LA Times in September 2010.

Since then, Ghogre has had several of his crosswords published in international publications. The ultimate though was when his work was featured in New York Times, which is considered the Holy Grail of crosswords. Today, he is counted among the top crossword constructors in the world and has been invited to judge the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament as well. That was when Ghogre finally got on a plane to visit the continent he’d learnt so much about through his 15x15 black and white grid. “It was a fantasy come true for me. I finally saw so many of the things I’d learnt about,” he says.

Global Indian Mangesh Ghogre

Bringing in the desi flavour

In his own way, Ghogre also ensures that he educates Americans on some Indian nuances. In 2019, on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary, he designed a special crossword with the word Gandhi and a few other Indian terms that was published in New York Times. “There is no other icon as Global Indian as Gandhi and I, in my own way, had the world celebrate him on that landmark occasion,” he smiles.

A typical crossword takes Ghogre about a year or 1.5 years to construct, due to the complexity involved. “Each crossword has to have a specific theme, has to pass the breakfast test (words that one would be comfortable using at the start of one’s day), and conform to the grid’s symmetry. So, it is rather time consuming to construct a crossword; it is a solitary activity,” says the father of two, who has had his crosswords displayed at the prestigious Kala Ghoda Arts Festival.

“Crossword didn’t just change my life, it is my life,” says Ghogre, who has been an investment banker for 17 years, but has been solving crosswords for 25. “My nirvana moment was to be able to sit on the same local train that I used to all those years ago in college and solve a crossword with my byline.”

Follow Mangesh Ghogre on Twitter

Reading Time: 10 mins

Visit Health: How Vaibhav Singh disrupted healthcare in India

(February 13, 2023) One day in the summer of 2016, when Vaibhav Singh and his three pals walked in to the New Delhi office of marquee tech company MapmyIndia to seek guidance from its owner Rakesh Verma, for their healthcare startup, the final semester students from BITS Pilani left a lasting impression on Verma. A BITS-Pilani alumnus himself, Verma was moved by the youngsters’ zeal to bring about a change in the country’s healthcare systems. Less than 24 hours later, Vaibhav’s phone rang. The caller was Verma, who offered to fund their healthcare startup. Pleasantly surprised, the four friends got down to work. That was the birth of Visit Health — a holistic healthcare service platform that provides quality healthcare experience anytime, anywhere. [caption id="attachment_34959" align="aligncenter" width="484"] Vaibhav SIngh, co-founder, Visit Health[/caption] Holistic healthcare “The wide gap in wellness and primary health care in India is what led us to start Visit Health. Today, we stand as a full-pledged primary health care service provider and have filled that gap,” smiles Vaibhav Singh, managing director and co-founder of Visit Health, in an exclusive conversation with Global Indian. From wellness to diet plans, management, nutritionists, dermatologists, general physicians and psychologists — the

er of Visit Health, in an exclusive conversation with Global Indian.

From wellness to diet plans, management, nutritionists, dermatologists, general physicians and psychologists — the fully-integrated 360-degree healthcare platform, now has the best fleet of medical experts across the country.

“We have more than a 2000 plus specialists across 20 plus verticals. We built our own network of 36,000 plus doctors who are sitting in the OPD department of hospitals or at the private clinics,” informs Vaibhav, who was named in Forbes 30 under 30, Asia, in the field of Healthcare & Science.

Born in Patna, Vaibhav wanted to become an IAS officer. “There were quite a few people in my family who were bureaucrats. So that was the passion back then,” informs Vaibhav, who completed his schooling from DAV Public School. He was strong in academics and was a die-hard cricket fan who spent hours each day playing the game.

Transformation on campus

After completing his 12^th grade, he got into BITS Pilani from where he did his Master of Science (Hons) Chemistry and Bachelor in Pharmacy between 2021 and 2016. He describes it as the transformational period.

“BITS Pilani was very different from the traditional colleges. It had a flexible curriculum, and you choose your own timetable. It had everything for the overall personality development and there was a strong entrepreneurial environment in the campus,” says Vaibhav, pointing to the large number of startups coming from BITS.

The prestigious institution also has a strong alumni connect. “You will come across BITS alumni in almost every field, who will be ready to pull you up and give you guidance,” says Vaibhav, who also stood for students union elections in his second year and was elected general secretary.

Since all the activities in the college were student-run, it enabled him to have interactions with people both on and off the campus. “I was involved in raising sponsorships, inviting colleges from different cities, give presentations among other work. All these experiences played a big role in my career,” says the passionate billiards player, who was also the captain of the Pool team in college.

Foray into entrepreneurship

When he began his fourth year, he and his friends decided it was time to get down to some serious business. “We started selling ERP (enterprise resource planning) solutions to Ministry of Defence. People would charge crores for it but we offered the solutions for a few lakhs,” says Vaibhav, who also interned for two months as a Product Manager at Biocon in Bengaluru. During this stint, he visited seven metro cities in India to study the market before the launch of a new product. He also assisted the business development team in deciding the key parameters of the product.

Finally, in 2016, Visit Health happened. “There were lots of challenges. Primary healthcare was not very well known when we were first setting up. There was only one other company doing it,” recalls Vaibhav. However, he teamed up with three close friends - Anurag Prasad, Shashvat Tripathi and Chetan Anand, who combined their expertise and launched the company.

“We initially started with mental health support. So we built a Visit app where you could come and talk to a psychologist or a counsellor in complete privacy and at convenient times,” says Vaibhav who was awarded as the “Youth of the year” in the field of healthcare services by the Bihar government in November 2016.

Disrupting the healthcare space

He says the chief responsibility at Visit Health is helping users make important decisions about their own health and well-being as well as that of their loved one’s health. “Finding the best doctors and organisations to collaborate with is our second responsibility which is tied-in with the first,” says Vaibhav, who feels that the inconvenience of travelling and the hassles of meeting up with a doctor often ends in people self-medicating. “People tend to postpone their visits to the doctors for one or the other reason until it becomes absolutely necessary.”

Their clients include 260-plus large, medium and large corporates including IBM, Axis Bank and Oracle who have deployed Visit app for giving primary healthcare benefits to their employees. “We also have more than 6000 plus SMEs who use the app. Anything you do on the platform, you get rewarded for that and redeem those rewards for multiple day to day products of your choice from our marketplace. So that creates a lot of engagement,” he points out.

What started with four people is now a 220 plus member team based out of Gurugram, Noida, Bangalore and Mumbai.

Hope during the pandemic

They saw the full potential of their company during the pandemic, when people began to take their health a lot more seriously. “During covid, we were doing more than 240 consults every day. We deployed hotline numbers for the ones who were not able to use the app,” says Vaibhav.

Along the journey, Visit Health went on to raise more investments from some of the reputed companies including Snapdeal, Murugappa group and Policy Bazar. Even the Co-founder of Twitter Biz Stone invested in the company.

When he’s not working, Vaibhav likes to travel, play pool and watch “raw and real series” like Blacklist.

Padma Bhushan Madhur Jaffrey: The lady who made Indian cuisine global

(December 11, 2022) “When my programme came on air, there weren’t any Indian cookery shows, it was an immediate hit,” Madhur Jaffrey told the BBC, talking about her ground breaking cookery programme that premiered in the United Kingdom 40 years ago. The Padma Bhushan 2022 awardee grew up in Delhi and left for London in her 20s to study at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She became an actress and later, turned to writing cookery books and presenting cookery shows. Little did she know that this career transition would turn out to be a significant step towards introducing India’s soft power to the western world. [caption id="attachment_32663" align="aligncenter" width="656"] Madhur Jaffrey, culinary expert[/caption] Indian food is a magical world where the art of using spices is so advanced that we’ve created a cuisine that exists nowhere else in the world! Her debut cookbook, an Invitation to Indian Cooking (1973) introduced Indian food to western hemisphere for the first time. It was later inducted into the James Beard Foundation’s Cookbook Hall of Fame in 2006. When she was hired by BBC to present her cookery show - Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Cookery, it was meant to be an educational programme. The

ter" width="656"] Indian Cuisine Madhur Jaffrey Madhur Jaffrey, culinary expert[/caption]

Indian food is a magical world where the art of using spices is so advanced that we’ve created a cuisine that exists nowhere else in the world!

Her debut cookbook, an Invitation to Indian Cooking (1973) introduced Indian food to western hemisphere for the first time. It was later inducted into the James Beard Foundation’s Cookbook Hall of Fame in 2006.

When she was hired by BBC to present her cookery show - Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Cookery, it was meant to be an educational programme. The aim was to make people learn about Indian culture by introducing them to authentic food cooked in different regions of India. The show mesmerised people so much that Madhur soon became known as ‘spice girl’, thanks to the plethora of South Asian spices she introduced to the western homes. She was popularly called ‘the actress who can cook.’

Building respectful image of South Asians

“Until then, the South Asians were not represented the way they would have loved to see themselves on the television and cinema,” she said, in the interview with BBC.

Madhur Jaffrey

Madhur’s career transition had filled in the much-desired space with elan. Her show was the first mainstream series about Indian food to be broadcast in the UK and also the first one to be presented by an Indian.

Characteristically dressed in a crisp cotton saree, Madhur Jaffrey became the face of the South Asian diaspora in the UK. She knew this, tailoring her image to that of an attractive Indian who is modern, yes, but remains tied to her roots. That was the pre-internet era, so Madhur used to get flooded with letters of appreciation from her fans.

Ruling the supermarkets

If Madhur was exotic, the food she cooked seemed even more so to the uninitiated Western audiences. In fact, her recipes became so popular that Indian food was "tried by everybody all over England and beyond’. “The day I cooked chicken with green coriander, they ran out of green coriander in Manchester,” laughs the food expert.

The demand for Indian spices and ingredients grew so much that supermarkets started overstocking the ingredients that the Global Indian used in her cookery show.

[caption id="attachment_32666" align="aligncenter" width="653"] Indian Cuisine Madhur Jaffrey Madhur Jaffrey presenting her cookery show on BBC in 1980s[/caption]

The spice girl from India

In the introduction to her cookbook, At Home with Madhur Jaffrey, she writes, “The techniques used in Indian cooking are not any different from those used the world over: roasting, grilling, steaming, frying, stewing, braising and so on.” Yet it is distinct she emphasises.

What gives Indian cuisine its uniqueness, its tingling excitement, and its health-giving properties is the knowledgeable use of spices and seasonings, ancient in its provenance.

The food expert has authored close to thirty bestselling cookbooks on Indian, Asian and world vegetarian cuisine, and has appeared in several related television programmes. Apart from Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Cookery that premiered in 1982, she presented Madhur Jaffrey's Far Eastern Cookery (1989) and Madhur Jaffrey's Flavours of India (1995).

[caption id="attachment_32665" align="aligncenter" width="617"] Indian Cuisine Madhur Jaffrey Cover of one of Madhur Jaffrey's books[/caption]

What made her shows and books relevant for decades was the fact that she adapted to the time constraints of her fans. In one of her book introductions, Madhur shared, “My own cooking has changed over the years. I am often as rushed for time as perhaps you are. I am often asking myself is there an easier way to do this?”

Madhur made sure, therefore, to simplify her cooking to match with the times.

I now try to reach real Indian tastes by using simpler methods and fewer steps

The seven times winner of James Beard award wrote in one of her books.

As she made a huge name for herself in the traditional yet novel segment, Madhur went on to associate herself as food consultant of one of the most popular Indian restaurants in New York City - Dawat.

Madhur has also written three children’s books and two memoirs – Sweet Memories (2002) and Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India (2006).

Strengthening cultural relations between continents

Before becoming a television personality and delving into the domains of food and travel writing, Madhur had made a mark for herself as an Indian-British-American actress, starting with minor acting roles on BBC television and radio. One of her notable works is the film, Shakespeare Wallah (1965) for which she won the Silver Bear for Best Actress award at the 15th Berlin International Film Festival.

[caption id="attachment_32667" align="aligncenter" width="1027"] Madhur Jaffrey Global Indian Madhur Jaffrey in one of her television shows[/caption]

During the course of her acting career, she enthralled audiences with her performances in television, films, radio and theatre. Perhaps this background contributes to her eloquence as a food presenter.

Her cookery shows have always been lively with powerful punchlines like:

Each grain of rice should be like brothers, close to each other but not stuck together.

After a divorce from Sayeed Jaffery, the notable actor who is father to her three daughters, Madhur married an American violinist. The couple have now been together for 56 years.

In recognition of her contribution to cultural relations between the UK, India and the United States, through film, television and cookery, Madhur was named the honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2004. This year’s Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award from the Government of India, is a testament of her service to Indian culinary art.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2GKfjaZQZE

At 89, the workaholic is far from slowing down. One of the biggest living authorities on Indian cuisine, Madhur keeps herself busy by educating Gen Z and Gen Alpha through her recently launched Masterclass on digital media. “Nobody knows spices like we do, we are masters,” she announces proudly in the trailer.

Follow Madhur Jaffrey on Twitter

Reading Time: 5 mins

Making sense amidst Quantum Chaos: Tamil-French mathematician Nalini Anantharaman is changing the world of numbers

(September 22, 2022) The archaic belief that "mathematics is not for women" has contributed greatly to the gender gap in the field. While girls are being encouraged to take up a career in science and technology, many steer clear of pure mathematical studies. Breaking all the stereotypes is Tamil-French mathematician, Nalini Ananthraman, who is decorated with three major awards in the field - Henri Poincaré Prize, Salem Prize, and Jacques Herbrand Prize. The Chair of Mathematics at the University of Strasbourg, Nalini was awarded the Infosys Prize (2018) recognising her path-breaking work in quantum chaos and allied areas. In 2020, the mathematician received the Frederic Esser Nemmers Prize in Mathematics “for her profound contributions to microlocal analysis and mathematical physics, in particular to problems of localization and delocalization of eigenfunctions”. [caption id="attachment_29690" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Nalini Ananthraman, mathematician[/caption] "I work with questions coming from physics but with a mathematical perspective. For the last 10 years, I’ve been working on equations describing how waves propagate—these could be sound waves, electromagnetic (light) waves, water waves, or waves in quantum mechanics," the Global Indian said during a press interaction after winning the Infosys award, adding, "It is a privilege to create beautiful things without

| Nalini Ananthraman | Global Indian" width="640" height="640" /> Nalini Ananthraman, mathematician[/caption]

"I work with questions coming from physics but with a mathematical perspective. For the last 10 years, I’ve been working on equations describing how waves propagate—these could be sound waves, electromagnetic (light) waves, water waves, or waves in quantum mechanics," the Global Indian said during a press interaction after winning the Infosys award, adding, "It is a privilege to create beautiful things without having to worry about their applications."

Inspired by her parents

Born to a Tamil father and a French mother, who were both distinguished mathematicians, Nalini started in the world of numbers with a strong advantage. Speaking about her family, Nalini had told Bhavana magazine, "My father studied at the Tata Institute (TIFR) in Mumbai, and he left for France at the time of starting a Ph.D. to work. My parents met in Paris at the end of the 1960s. My mother still has a letter from her friend, the mathematician Michèle Vergne, who writes in that letter that she wanted to introduce her to a young Indian who had just then arrived in France."

[caption id="attachment_29691" align="aligncenter" width="478"] Mathematician | Nalini Ananthraman | Global Indian A young Nalini with her mother, Claire[/caption]

A very bright student, Nalini rarely required any help with her studies. As her parents were professors at the University of Orléans, the young mathematician remembers having free access to the library, a place she "loved to spend her time the most." Interestingly, while she was drawn to numbers from a very young age, music, and not maths, was her first choice of career. She wasn't too keen on taking part in any mathematics competitions as well. "I wanted either to be a pianist or a researcher, but not necessarily in math. Physics, and even biology, also fascinated me then. I never participated in math competitions. No one suggested it, and I didn’t even know those competitions existed. I’m not sure I would have liked the idea of 'training' for such a competition," she said during the interview.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ASu98tR8Kg

It was during her high school years that she decided to pursue an undergraduate course in mathematics at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris in 1994. Intrigued by the subject, she did her post-graduation from the same university and later completed her Ph.D. at the Pierre and Marie Curie University in 2000, under the supervision of François Ledrappier. It was during her years in Paris, that the mathematician noticed the stark gender gap in her class. "For a long time, I did not think of the difficulties involved in being a woman doing mathematics. Only as I was preparing for my Ph.D. thesis, did I realise how few women there were at conferences, without being particularly affected by this fact," she told European Women in Maths magazine.

Tackling the world of numbers

At 24, when most scholars are still looking for their research subject, Nalini has already earned her doctorate. What made her research papers even more interesting was that her ideas had a healthy overlap of topics from theoretical physics to pure mathematics. Her paper on understanding the fine topological features of geodesics on negatively curved manifolds fetched her the prestigious Henri Poincaré Prize in 2012 'for her original contributions to the area of quantum chaos, dynamical systems, and Schrödinger equations, including a remarkable advance in the problem of quantum unique ergodicity'.

[caption id="attachment_29692" align="aligncenter" width="658"] Mathematician | Nalini Ananthraman | Global Indian Nalini, with other distinguished mathematicians at the Infosys Award event, 2018[/caption]

"I liked theoretical physics and studied it together with math while I was an undergraduate. But some visits to an experimental lab convinced me that I actually preferred math. When I looked for a Ph.D. subject, I did not particularly want it to be at the interface with physics. My Ph.D. was in the field of dynamical systems. It was only in 2012, when I won the Poincaré prize, that the words “mathematical physics” became attached to my work," shared the mathematician, who worked as visiting faculty at the University of California and Princeton, between 2009 and 2014.

In 2013, Nalini received the CNRS Silver Medal and two years later was elected as a member of the Academia Europaea, and was the plenary speaker at the 2018 International Congress of Mathematicians. Now a mother of two, the mathematician is a vocal advocate of women's rights. Encouraging young girls to take up a career in maths, she added, "I would tell a young woman that the career of a mathematician is rather well suited for a woman; of course, it requires a lot of work but it provides some flexibility since one can organise one’s work. Right now, the scarcity of positions penalises women. I nevertheless do not see how one can think that a career as a mathematician is not appropriate for women."

She added, "Now that I have children, I wonder more about these issues and realise the differences in the ways women and men view their careers. Sharing with my male colleagues the questions that come to my mind, such as the difficulty to come back to mathematics after maternity leave, is difficult, if not impossible. After a child’s birth, men intend to go on working as before, whereas women are ready to reorganise their schedule and dedicate less time to research. Having received prizes, at the time my children were born, it was expected that I would get back to research straight away. However, during my maternity leave, topics on which I was working were the object of research, and led to publications I was not invited to join."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2Ii6nmS7d8

While she loves her research, she enjoys teaching young minds even more. "Were I to choose a career now, I think I would choose medicine. Medicine incorporates a human component that I somewhat miss in mathematics, particularly since I like working on my own. The human aspect of teaching provides a little compensation for this lack. In my professional activity, I enjoy the freedom we feel in understanding things. Doing mathematics is a creative work that emanates from person, which another person would not have done in the same way. In doing mathematics, I express something personal. It is a source of joy to know that, despite this personal aspect, the fruit of my work can be of interest to other mathematicians," she had expressed during a press interaction.

Follow Nalini Ananthraman on Twitter

Reading Time: 7 mins

Jasleen Kaur wins Turner Prize for art inspired by her Scottish Sikh heritage

(December 13, 2024) In the 1950s, amidst the turbulence followed by India’s Partition, Jasleen Kaur’s great-grandfather left Punjab to seek a new beginning in Glasgow, Scotland. Decades later, his great-granddaughter, Jasleen Kaur has carved her place on the global art stage by winning the 2024 Turner Prize—one of the art world’s most prestigious honours, named after Britain’s celebrated artist J. M. W. Turner and awarded annually to a British national. With her standout installation Alter Altar, Jasleen earned this coveted accolade and a prize of $32,000. The 2024 Turner Prize celebrates its 40th anniversary. Each year, four artists are shortlisted, with one ultimately chosen as the winner. This year’s nominees included Claudette Johnson, Pio Abad, and Delaine Le Bas. The Scottish Sikh artist’s journey is deeply rooted in her family’s migration story. Jasleen Kaur has a unique ability to weave everyday objects, cultural memory, and sociopolitical commentary into thought-provoking art. Born in Glasgow to Sikh parents with roots in Punjab, Jasleen’s work exemplifies how personal and cultural histories shape artistic expression. “I was brought up in a very religious Sikh family in Glasgow and although my work is not hugely autobiographical it is about meeting points,” she shared in an

c expression. “I was brought up in a very religious Sikh family in Glasgow and although my work is not hugely autobiographical it is about meeting points,” she shared in an interview. “I do think of myself as a cobbler. I pull together unlearned and culturally acquired knowledge in my work,” she added.

[caption id="attachment_61626" align="aligncenter" width="841"] Indians in UK | Jasleen Kaur | Global Indian Jasleen Kaur with the central piece of her her award winning installation 'Alter Altar'[/caption]

Winning the Turner Prize

The Turner Prize ceremony, held at Tate Britain, celebrated Jasleen’s ability to transform ordinary objects into expressions of community and cultural inheritance. Presented by actor James Norton, the award highlighted her work’s innovative approach. Her installation, Alter Altar, which combines sculptures, prints, music, and everyday items, stood out for its ability to animate the mundane through sound and meaning. The solo exhibition was unveiled at the Tramway in Glasgow in 2023, exploring the intersections of personal identity and broader sociopolitical themes.

A series of kinetic sculptures prominently features worship bells, while Scottish Irn-Bru soda bottles conjures memories of cherished gurudwara meals in Glasgow. A harmonium, the instrument on which she learned devotional music from her father, sits on the floor, evoking a deeply personal connection to her history. The centrepiece that draws significant attention is a red Ford Escort draped with a hand-crocheted doily (an ornamental mat made of lace). The car represents her father’s first vehicle and his migrant aspirations, while the expansive four-meter doily intricately ties material culture to the legacies of the British Empire, the cotton trade, and the migration of labour to British textile mills post-World War II.

[caption id="attachment_61628" align="aligncenter" width="853"] Indians in UK | Jasleen Kaur | Global Indian The central piece of Jasleen's award winning installation 'Alter Altar'[/caption]

In the background, soundtracks from her childhood play—a fusion of Sufi melodies by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and the reggae beats of Bob Marley—creating a rich, immersive auditory experience reflecting her diverse influences. The jury praised her exhibition for its “ability to animate objects through sound and music, reflecting themes of belonging and tradition.” It wasn’t just a win for Jasleen but also a nod to the power of art in addressing complex narratives of migration, identity, and belonging.

Art rooted in fusion, history and identity

Jasleen’s journey into art is deeply tied to her Sikh upbringing in Glasgow, a city her family has called home since her great-grandfather’s migration, post-partition. Reflecting on her connection to the city, the artist who now lives in London shared, "Whenever I go back to Glasgow, it feels like I feel their presence. My dad worked in hardware shops and in cash and carries, and these were the worlds I spent a lot of time in growing up. That fundamentally influences how I make art." This blend of heritage and environment forms the backbone of her creative process, as she seeks to renegotiate tradition and challenge accepted narratives.

“There's this particular theory that I grew up with from the Sikh tradition, which talks about Miri Piri—the balance of the political and the spiritual," the 38-year-old artist explained. This philosophy has always manifested in her art as a balance between personal intimacy and public commentary.

[caption id="attachment_61606" align="aligncenter" width="790"] Indians in UK | Jasleen Kaur | Global Indian A portion of Jasleen's award winning 'Alter Altar' installation[/caption]

Jasleen's work most poignantly captures a complex cultural fusion in the quest to reconnect with her heritage across continents. For example, in her 2010 degree show at the Royal College of Art in London, she presented Chai Tea Stall, a mobile tea stand featuring small clay cups. While exhibited as conceptual art, for her community, it served as a familiar and nostalgic touchstone—her way of bringing India’s vibrant tea-drinking street culture to the UK.

In 2019, she collaborated with Glasgow Women’s Library on Be Like Teflon, a publication made through conversation with women of Indian heritage living in the UK. Later, in her 2021 filmed performance piece Gut Feelings Meri Jaan, she invited Rochdale residents to engage with the ‘ethnic minorities’ section of the local history archives at the Touchstones Museum and Art Gallery, sparking conversations about identity and representation.

Sikhs in Scotland

The Sikh community in Scotland, of which Jasleen is a part of, embodies a unique identity while seamlessly blending into broader society to coexist peacefully. Sikhism in Scotland encompasses all aspects of Sikh life, dating back to the arrival of Maharaja Duleep Singh in 1855. Early migrants from the Bhat/Bhatra community settled in Glasgow and Edinburgh in the 1920s, while the majority came during the late 20th century. Despite representing a small percentage of Scotland’s population—just 0.2 percent in the 2022 census—Sikhs have maintained their cultural heritage while contributing to the fabric of Scottish society.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jasleen Kaur (@_jasleen.kaur_)

One of the most significant expressions of Sikh culture in Scotland is the annual Nagar Kirtan procession held in Glasgow to celebrate Vaisakhi, a major Sikh festival. First organized in April 1992, the procession has become a cherished tradition, drawing participants from across the country. It showcases the Sikh commitment to sharing their faith and culture with fellow Scots, promoting mutual respect and understanding while enriching Scotland's multicultural landscape.

The influence of family and tools

Jasleen Kaur credits her father’s ingenuity and her exposure to tools for shaping her practical approach to art. Recalling an incident, she shared, “Once, I wanted to prop up a ladder but failed due to a stairwell in the middle. My dad used masking tape, a paintbrush, a plant cane, and an upside-down feather duster to solve the problem.” This resourcefulness became integral to her process, where objects are reimagined not just as materials but as tools to find solutions.

Jasleen’s studio is a reflection of her upbringing, filled with items collected from Glasgow’s markets and family memories. She described, “There’s so much religious ephemera everywhere—photos, calendars, cassettes. These aren’t mass-produced histories; they tell a different version of my lineage.”

[caption id="attachment_61630" align="aligncenter" width="790"] Indians in UK | 2024 Turner Prize Winner | Global Indian An old picture of Jasleen at her studio[/caption]

The personal is political

Jasleen’s passion for preserving pluralistic traditions shines through her exploration of Sikh-Muslim devotional music. Apart from being a visual artist Jasleen is also a singer. She explained, “My singing practice today tries to salvage compositions and songs from a time when Sikhs and Muslim Rababbis would play and compose devotional music together. That time when things were more plural gives me a sense of hope for how to live now.”

Similarly, her art embodies a longing for coexistence, presenting a counter-narrative to divisive histories. By reimagining traditions through a contemporary lens, Jasleen creates a dialogue that bridges past and present, offering insights into how art can inspire societal change.

A legacy of creativity and hope

“I’m drawn to the hidden, intangible bits of history,” Jasleen reflected on her journey as a Scottish Sikh artist from the streets of Glasgow to the global stage. Winning the Turner Prize cements Jasleen Kaur’s place among contemporary art’s most innovative and transformative voices.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jasleen Kaur (@_jasleen.kaur_)

For Jasleen Kaur, the Turner Prize is not just a recognition of her talent but a reminder of art’s ability to transcend boundaries. By using her creativity to redefine what it means to belong, she passes on the message that, we can build bridges and reimagine a better world.

Follow Jasleen Kaur on Instagram
Read more fascinating stories

Reading Time: 5 mins