Crystal Radio Sessions Upstate is the new, local outpost of the NYC reading series, committed to showcasing the work of both established and emerging writers from our region. Come hear short stories by David Rabe, Ashley Mayne, Harris Lahti, Courtney Maum and Rhea Dhanbhoora, read by AOH audience favorite actors. Crystal Radio believes in the power of the spoken word and is devoted to transmitting compelling literary expression through the ether.

They can't book the baug because they're from a mixed family and the husband hasn't had his Navjote, but their eight-year-old wants to be like the other children in the colony, so they decide to have a ceremony on the terrace instead. She's more interested in gifts than prayers, she says, twirling desperately in her polka dot dress...

All the other images fade, but for the orange flags. Stiff nylon, fighting lazily against a balmy breeze. Orange. Always the strangest in the spectrum. A colour, a fruit, a flower — all rolled into one lazy word. As if there were no other way to describe the ghastly coalescence of red and yellow. A marriage of pigments, arranged quite conveniently between colours I have mixed feelings about. There was red, a reminder of period blood and bindis and rage and lipstick, muddled with yellow, a seemingly duplicitous shade that spits up images of Wordsworth’s daffodils as quickly as it will Eliot’s yellow fog.

My mother had been an entomologist. It seemed almost fitting, for a small, wiry woman who looked like an insect herself. She saw herself as a 20th century Maria Sibylla Merian, but apart from her fondness for insects, had nothing in common like the formidable, accolade equipped naturalist from Germany. Instead, she was a mildly respectable professor, who often came home with a stack of papers that she insisted...

ISSUE-XVII November 2012 Page 9 Battleground By Rhea Dhanbhoora The battle-axe prepared to strike, upheavals heavy in the murky air. Let the tears drip like the pitter patter of raindrops as they sink below rays of light

Psychological thriller novel by author Sumit Pramanik, edited for Pirates Publications, India, 2017

Mosaic tiles, steam rising up from deep square marble blocks, splashes of colour sending you into what seems like a psychedelic wave as your vision blurs and strong hands knead tension out of your neck and shoulders — the Turkish hammam is not for the faint-hearted, especially in the most traditional format (with a more public steam than most of us would like!). This is why L’Occitane makes for a good place to get an introduction to the therapy.

Prime zip code aside, the wood flooring, platinum grey upholstery, subtly fragmented (designed to resemble a beehive) panel lighting and icicles dripping down from an arched ceiling lend the entire space a proud patrician air. Those who prefer warm, cosy spaces will not really feel at home in the slightly steely space, but if you’re looking for a swanky dining experience, there’s nothing quite like it. Like most restaurants so obviously built to cater to the upper echelons of society, Jia too will leave your wallet a little lighter. However, the food does stand out enough to warrant the exorbitant prices on the menu, making it more of a worthy indulgence than an extravagance.

Three-time Grammy nominee, New York-born singer Shemekia Copeland is a force to reckon with in the industry. Rhea Dhanbhoora finds out more about her music and the inspirations behind her sound

If you, like most city slickers, breathe a sigh of relief courtesy cooler weather and open skies outside city limits, roll down your windows and take a deep breath in Akluj. Over six hours of alternating between smooth highways and bad roads, snaking through picturesque villages and looping around lakes can leave you euphoric and exhausted in equal measure. Once we found the sharp curve in the road leading to the vineyards, all traces of trepidation were swept away by the breeze swinging over the rolling hills...

Tasting food is serious business, or at least that’s what I’ve learned over what has been close to a decade sampling all the flavours that Mumbai has welcomed with open arms. If you spend enough time on the task, you can train your palate to identify whether dishes are good or bad, al dente or raw, and whether your soup has packet purees or the real deal. And, while I can’t claim to have a finely-honed palate (or even honed enough to pass the most basic litmus test for chefs), it’s hard to miss a mouthful of mustard in your mousse or a dash of dill in your dessert.

When you turn to see if the signal has broken, a man in khaki flashes a smile, tobacco-stained teeth on display. You avert your eyes but feel him staring, trying to engage the girl next to you, who scurries away. You follow. You’re competitors for the next rickshaw but in that moment, there is solidarity...

Lazy white sand beaches, ridiculously cheap alcohol, terrible hangovers, butt-burning spicy food; a typical Asian holiday! It turns out though that Asia has plenty of hidden gems to offer the music enthusiast. Picture camping out in the open, listening to some super chill music and rocking out under the stars. If this sounds like your scene, it’s time to look Eastward for your next music fix! Here are some super awesome music festivals in Asia.

Ivory beaches glistening under the sun and a hot breeze whistling past — it’s great on a strandkorb on the sand, but a whole new experience on the balconies at Planet Hollywood, says Rhea Dhanbhoora

With a brand new 12-part series called Anjum’s Spice Stories on TLC, Anjum Anand, known for her popular show Indian Food Made Easy, is taking viewers through the culinary scene in Australia. She showcases a fresh and healthy take on Indian food as she travels through the beautiful cities, picking ingredients from local farmers markets and showing us how to create recipes from her favourite cookbooks...

Two days in the wine capital of India and you’ll forget all about a week in the city. Rhea Dhanbhoora tells you why you should pick Soma Vineyard Resort for your next weekend getaway

No, that’s not our attempt to create a quirky new word; it’s the name of a delivery joint in the city that focuses on Sindhi meals. Rhea Dhanbhoora tries a few dishes from Sindhful to see what they’ve got to offer

I popped in unannounced on a weekday evening, happy that something so charming was just a short ride away from the office. Glass tables and sofa seating, pretty desserts and dangling lights — the romantic aura they promise does soar gently through the two-level dessert bar. The paper menu draws you into the rhythmic theme of the space even after the introductory poem, with the origin story that most menus are doing these days...

Closed cultures and the rigid purpose of inform-and-teach versus encourage-and-appreciate may be behind poetry’s gradual decimation in India more than publishers’ difficulty selling volumes...