India may be celebrating 67 years of independence this year, but its culture is 3,000 years old. Another ancient culture flourished in China. And the two countries share a common thread – thanks to a monk called Bodhidharma, who travelled from Kanchipuram in South India to the Henan province in China. The circle of history was completed when a Shaolin monk came to India and spent a whole month with a family in Chennai. Turn to ‘In Focus’ for the full story.
September is a time when celebrations are in the air - this month marks the start of a series of festivals, with Onam and Dussera just around the corner. Onam, the harvest festival of Kerala, is a time when the people believe that their beloved mythical King Mahabali pays them a visit. This calls for a special feast - one with 18 dishes, no less! ‘In Your Kitchen’ features a recipe for ‘aviyal’ - one of the key dishes in the feast. Dussera, a 10-day festival, involves re-enactments of scenes from the Ramayan - an epic that portra
