A tiny storefront without a sign. A food truck. A gas station. Indian cuisine is showing up in unexpected places. The Malabari Kitchen in Minneapolis, Minn., has been in operation since last December, in the tiny storefront previously occupied, in quick succession, by Korean, Thai, and multi-ethnic Southeast Asian restaurants. There’s no sign above the door, just an awning that says Asia Kitchen, left behind by the previous tenant. And even if you do discover the true name of the restaurant, unless you are a geography major or a serious foodie, you might not know what kind of cuisine to expect. The Malabar coast is the legendary spice coast of southern India, from whose ports traders have exported cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, turmeric and more for centuries.  The cuisine of the Malabar coast is rich with those spices, as are the dishes on the Malabari Kitchen menu. I’ve only sampled a few so far, including the palappam (lacy rice flour pancakes) with egg curry ($9.

A grand opening ceremony heralded the start of the sixth season of the Indian Premier League at Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium, April 2. The venue resembled a star-studded galaxy with embellished lightings, the world’s cricket stars and performing entertainers. Renowned artists including international rapper Pitbull and Bollywood actor and co-owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders, Shah Rukh Khan, along with Katrina Kaif and Deepika Padukone performed to a packed audience. Besides the celebrities performing, the stage was also set on fire by flying drummers, Chinese percussionists and breathtaking fireworks. Amid all the glitz and glamour, captains of the nine participating teams took center stage when they joined hands to pledge adherence to the belief, ‘Play hard, Play fair’ by signing on the MCC Spirit of Cricket board. Former India cricketer and current commentator, Ravi Shastri administered the oath, the Press Trust of India reported.

When the Cardinals met at the Vatican and elected Jorge Manuel Bergoglio of Argentina as Pope on March 14, they appeared to acknowledge the fact that a majority of the 1.2 billion Roman Catholics live outside Europe today, a shift from a century ago when an overwhelming majority of Roman Catholics were Europeans. The new Pope named himself after the revered Saint Francis of Assisi who identified with the poor and marginalized, giving lay Catholics and clergy renewed hope of rejuvenating a faith facing numerous challenges from allegations of widespread sexual abuse and pedophilia, to lagging behind the times guaranteeing equal rights for women and recognizing gay marriage. Third World Pope Indian Catholics feel very comfortable with a Pope from the Third World according to Bishop Mar Jacob Angathiath of the St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Catholic Diocese of Chicago. “We hope it will boost membership of the Church and people will experience the true nature of the Church.

For an institution that has been defunct for almost 150 years, the East India Company still evokes powerful reactions across the world. Last year, when the Indian government debated allowing foreign companies to open supermarkets there, protesters shouted: "This is the return of the East India Company!" In Britain, the East India Company's extraordinary rise and fall have uncanny parallels with the stock-market bubbles and government bailouts that have shaken the economy over the past decade. And little wonder: At the heart of the company's story are eternal questions about how to cope with the powers and perils of large multinational corporations. Established by royal charter in 1600 with a monopoly on all trade with Asia, the East India Company had many incarnations in its almost 275-year run. For the first half of its existence, it remained a commercial supplicant, exporting bullion to pay for Asia's luxury goods: first spices, then textiles and tea.

Women who drink, long portrayed as less than respectable by Bollywood movies and still wary of entering most watering holes, are becoming big business in socially conservative India. Makers of alcoholic beverages, including global No.1 Diageo, are taking notice of this small segment of India's $10 billion drinks industry that is growing more than twice as fast as the overall sector and presents a significant, if delicate, market opportunity. With more women in the organized workforce, gaining financial independence and interacting with their male counterparts in social and professional settings, the idea of them drinking is slowly gaining acceptance. "As recently as in my mother's generation it was frowned upon, and it is now perfectly acceptable to have a glass of champagne or white wine," said Rajeev Samant, founder and chief executive of Sula Vineyards, the largest domestic wine maker.

Wills India Fashion Week 2013 kicked off on a vibrant note with both established and new designers showcasing their fall collections. More than 128 designers participated in the five day fashion event, which began March 13 at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. Known names like Tarun Tahiliani, Shantanu and Nikhil, Vineet Bahl, Nikasha Tawadey, Namrata Joshipura, Abraham and Thakore, Anju Modi, Manish Malhotra, Rajesh Pratap Singh, and Nida Mahmood splashed the ramp with their creations. Dominated by India-inspired themes, the fashion week, an initiative of the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), will also have a solo show by youngster Aneeth Arora, while Manish Arora has been named the grand finale designer. Another high point of the show is Abraham & Thakore’s show that is sponsored by The Development Commissioner Handlooms, Ministry of Textiles, according to information on the FDCI website.

A middle-aged man cleaning his motorcycle in a quiet Indian neighbourhood is distracted when he hears the repeated cries of a woman being beaten by her husband in a first floor apartment nearby. Unsettled, he walks into the building, climbs the stairs and nervously rings the doorbell of the apartment the cries are coming from. The screams stop and the husband opens the door. "May I use your phone?" he asks the husband. Just then the mobile phone in his shirt pocket rings -- making it clear the Good Samaritan had used the phone as an excuse to intervene. As the one minute television advert ends, a male voice says: "Bring domestic violence to a halt. Ring the bell.

"A man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh." This verse on marriage from the Book of Genesis in the Bible is meant for men in general. For Indians, it becomes especially pressing when they reach a certain ‘marriageable’ age, with concerned parents, relatives and friends urging them to settle down. Still, some decide to take the road less travelled. Rahul Gandhi, the 42-year-old scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and perhaps India’s most famous bachelor, hinted this week he may shun marital life to stay away from dynasty politics. “If I get married and have children, I will be status-quoist and will like my children to take my place,” he told Congress party lawmakers.

A baby girl in Mississippi who was born with HIV has been cured after very early treatment with standard HIV drugs, U.S. researchers reported on Sunday, in a potentially ground-breaking case that could offer insights on how to eradicate HIV infection in its youngest victims. The child's story is the first account of an infant achieving a so-called functional cure, a rare event in which a person achieves remission without the need for drugs and standard blood tests show no signs that the virus is making copies of itself. More testing needs to be done to see if the treatment would have the same effect on other children, but the results could change the way high-risk babies are treated and possibly lead to a cure for children with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. "This is a proof of concept that HIV can be potentially curable in infants," said Dr.