Imagine growing up in a big multigenerational family. There's always someone's birthday coming up -- whether it's your kid's 5th birthday, your husband's 40th or your mother-in-law's 75th.I find our Hindu culture to be somewhat similar. With so many deities...
The haze of primary colors raining down on joyous, dancing crowds right around the time when the dreary final weeks of winter are giving way to the dewy hopefulness of spring -- it’s an image that even non-Hindus the world...
We often hear South Asians in media and entertainment, or even South Asians in kids literary world talk about the lack of diversity and representation. "You can't become something you can't see, right?" So, ahead of the Super Bowl this...
I didn’t grow up celebrating Thanksgiving – or any other major American holidays, for that matter. The closest I got to having a Christmas tree was when I drew one on a large construction paper and taped it to the...
WHAT IS ONAM By: Ann Ittoop (@thefamiliarkitchen) Every year in the South Indian state of Kerala, a major harvest festival occurs called Onam. Like most major Indian festivals, of course, there is a mythological story behind this 10 day festival...
Children’s parties have taken over my toddler’s social calendar. For some reason, summer seems to mean even more birthday parties. Therefore, children’s parties have taken over my social calendar. Every weekend, we schlep to a party filled with balloons, delicious...
"Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code: Unnatural offences: Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a...
When I was younger, we’d often go to family friends’ houses for pujas. The kids would hole away in a bedroom upstairs, watching cartoons, playing games, catching up – we didn’t understand Sanksrit, after all, and we just got restless...
I didn’t have a traditional coming-of-age ceremony – I like to think I left my childhood behind when I got my first zit, freaked out about it, very vocally blamed it on my parents and then locked myself in my...
If you’re ever going to take some time off from work for a religious holiday – mostly so you can have a cup of coffee on your couch uninterrupted for once – early spring is the time to do it....
I am the type of person that, once I hear a superstition, I never forget it. In my construction zone of a city, I’m constantly stepping around ladders on the sidewalk – even if it means hurling myself in front...
