I honestly am, I'm like such a diehard Indian.
I love everything.
I think there's just so much to be inspired by.
My art is very Indian inspired.
It's just Indian been immersed into streetwear culture.
Bakwaas basically means bullshit in Hindi or Punjabi.
It's just something where it's like people
how know what it means, they just look at
it and they laugh.
I will do anything to get a reaction out of people.
But I don't know if I'm rebellious.
I feel like, I'm a normal kid.
But for a lot of people they look at me,
and they're like "Oh my god you're such a bad ass."
And I am just like, I'm literally a five foot one Indian girl just like, trying to,
make her dreams come true.
I'm currently visiting L.A. for work,
and I wanted to reconnect with other Indians like
myself, who are embracing the roots in different,
and unique ways.
How are you?
I'm good, how are you?
Hello, welcome.
So I have a L.A. ritual.
I have to, have to, have to see my friends
Arjun and Nakul over at their restaurant Badmaash.
So these guys are doing something really amazing.
They're trying to redefine what Indian restaurants
really look like here North America.
And like myself they're also Canadian and Punjabi.
Tell us what you are cook today for us.
The fried butter chicken sandwich.
Alright.
First things first.
We got to get the dredging right.
Okay.
So I'm just going to mix this all together.
You want to mix a figure eight.
Figure eight.
Infinity bro.
This shit is forever.
It is.
So now that our dredging is perfect.
Enter the chicken.
Alright drop that shit man, let's go!
It's Refinery29.
And here's the magic.
A little shake, into the egg, a little flip.
And the next step is to drop that shit, in the fryer.
Okay so who thought of the name Badmaash and why?
And what was the story behind that?
I'll take claim for that.
Almighty.
I'll take claim for that.
And then tell me what Badmaash means.
So Badmaash means, naughty rascal, the kid
who's running around flipping tables, and
looking up skirts.
Basically we are badmaashes.
And we're taking Indian food, and were being
badmaashes with Indian food.
I mean we also wanted to like, to make, make Indian
culture approachable to America.
We felt like it was being represented incorrectly.
Like I mean being Indian, and say if I say if I'm Indian, and I have a girlfriend.
You are Indian.
I don't wanna take on the Taj Mahal roti hut.
I don't want to take them to halal cut meats,
but in the back there is a grocery store.
I started to realize that, you know, the French chef,
or the Italian chef, or the American
kitchen was always so respected.
Yeah.
But then Indian food and Indian restaurants are just like, yeah.
Yeah.
You know $9.99, all you can eat buffet, and so–
You don't have garlic knots.
Yeah, you know.
So that was something that we wanted to change.
We are the safe place for all of the badmaashes.
Yeah.
The people who aren't the doctors, the lawyers,
the engineers.
Case in point.
You’re not any of those Babbu.
You're none of those!
But your totally that.
Don't tell my mother please.
She refuses to believe.
Auntie, we got her.
This chicken looks mad crispy right now.
Although this has a lot of flavor.
We're going to dunk these fried chicken thighs,
in butter chicken sauce.
Okay tell us why.
Why, why, why.
Why not?
Just get it right in there.
Dunk that.
Throw this bad boy right on top.
We aren't allowed to say good.
This is really good guys. Babbu approves!
It was so inspirational to have a conversation
and the space with Arjun and Nakul about their
point of view.
They also fed me butter chicken.
So that was nice.
But let's head over to Haati Chai now to meet
my friend Stella and talk jewelry.
Stella has taken the love of her culture,
as a creative fuel for her jewelry line.
And I just wanted to hear more about it.
Why she feels so passionate about jewelry,
and how it connects to her roots.
Jewelry in our culture it's such a big crucial
part of just all of our traditions, and our
form of self-expression.
Yeah.
But for me jewelry has been an extension of myself.
It's a form of expression, in terms of identity.
So by that I mean, you know, we get passed
on a lot of pieces, and they come with stories.
So I have a quite a lot of pieces from my grandmother or just my aunties.
Yeah, I feel like my mom has hinting at
me that I'm growing as a woman, by just
giving me little pieces of gold.
Oh cute.
Cause she thinks I can be responsible for them.
Oh my god I love it.
So far, I've made it to two rings.
Yes.
This is our pearl signet ring.
When my dad married my mom he was given a pearl signet ring.
He actually lost his ring, and so I redesigned his ring.
And then after that I created a variation, which is what we're selling now.
I love it.
And then lastly, this is, our anna coin.
While I was designing like that piece I really wanted a unique coin,
my grandmother was alive, but she ended up passing.
So it's like an intimate experience for me.
So tell me more about the coin, is this an actual coin–
Yeah, it's like the real coin that was in India, in 1935.
And it was also called the anna coin ...and we call it the anna coin pendant.
But, my grandmother's name was Anawara, and
we called her Anna for short.
I try to do this a lot with my work but it’s like,
I try to enforce my culture into the
western space because we need to, have that.
And I know that people appreciate our culture,
but it just needs to be done the right way.
My day been great with my friends sharing
stories on food, tradition, and jewelry.
I'm ready to experience something new about my culture.
So I'm headed over to Rasa Veda Healing to
meet with Sheila, an Ayurveda practitioner,
to learn about traditional ayrvedic medicine.
So thank you for having me in your space.
You’re so welcome.
I am super excited about it, I feel already very relaxed.
What I've cultivated here is the practice
of my ayurvedic practice.
It's a, it's a 5,000 year old practice from India.
The technology and the, the treatments and
the herbs, they, they haven't changed.
And it's a practice that brings someone back into their balance.
Okay, and would you say it's more mental,
or like to do with more emotional well-being,
or more so like, I don't know, stomach, or like-
Sure.
Or a physical.
All, all of the above.
So ayurveda medicine, ayurvedic medicine,
I should say it is the combination of mind, body, spirit.
I just wanted to get to know a little bit
what we're going to do today, before we get started.
So, it's a pizhichil, which is a drenching
of the body with the medicated herbal oil.
Okay.
And then there's marma abhyanga, so if you've
ever had acupuncture medicine.
And then you experience shirodhara.
So the shirodhara is a copper vessel
or any type of vessel that has a hole, and it drops
oil on the forehead.
And there are different patterns that happen.
And there will be a lot of oil on you girl.
I mean, oil on your hair, oil on your body,
you'll be like, "Oh my gosh, I'm like drenched in oil."
Let’s go.
At any given time about 5 liters of oil.
An Indian girl knows oil.
You know what I'm saying?
Thank you my dear.
That was an experience for sure.
So I hope to see you again.
Yeah.
I really want to continue, and I guess even
this practice, and just kind of getting to know.
I'm so happy you came to and visited Rasa Veda Healing.
And I'm wishing you such a beautiful journey
in your life, and your art, and to who you
are coming to that.
So thank you.
Thank you for sharing space here.
Of course.
I'm so fortunate to be surrounded by amazing
talented creative individuals.
I feel so blessed to share the love of my
culture, and traditions with my friends.
To see others owning their culture, and really
celebrating it in so many different ways,
makes you want to continue to push the boundaries,
change stereotypes, and teach others about
a culture that I find so much beauty in.
Thank you so much for watching.
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