The Good & The Bad
In one of Facebook posts, I mentioned the idea of writing my memoir. Will that book talk about all the good ideas that were expected of me in the past? I am a bad Canadian. I neither support political images of the Great White North nor do I buy hockey tickets. My book Fame in Hollywood North will tell us why. I am also a bad Bengali. I neither buy fish nor do I have to marry. Sometimes we conflate our belonging to a geographical place, a linguistic community or professional setting with what we are expected to identify. Often these expectations are associated with a sense of collective...
Read MoreFrom Manhattan to Mumbai
It has been just over nine weeks since I came back from Manhattan, where I hosted the last Centre for Media and Celebrity Studies (CMCS) conference on journalists, personas, and celebrity culture. We received such a phenomenal response that I am now sponsoring the next conference Bridging Gaps: What are the media, publicists & celebrities selling? in Barcelona. A huge thanks to my co-chairs Dr Jackie Raphael and Dr Celia Lam for organizing this exciting conference series. I will be working on the conference as I travel – flying to Mumbai and Kolkata today. I am also excited to...
Read MoreRed Light Express
Can a red light become just light? I think so. I am not talking about traffic lights or electromagnetic radiation. I am talking about red light districts, where girls are trafficked in sex trade. My cousin Trina Talkudar, co-founder of anti-trafficking NGO Kranti, empowers Asia’s most infamous red-light area in Mumbai and turns daughters of sex workers into agents of social change. I was in awe and admiration when I heard personal stories during her graduation in Washington D.C. last month. I was also pleased to meet and share time with Sheetal Jain, one of the revolutionary daughters who...
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