Nilosree Biswas

Mumbai

Author, Filmmaker, Columnist at Freelance

Finding intersection writing about #History #culture #cinema #food of #Asia | Author recently of 'Calcutta on Your Plate' | Filmmaker fueled by #coffee ☕️

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Articles

TRT Global - The painter of petals and power: Jean-Baptiste Vanmour and the Ottoman Empire’s most ornate age

1 week ago | trt.global | Nilosree Biswas

At this time of the year, Istanbul turns into a mosaic of colour. Sprouting from their bulbs in full bloom, tulips spill across parks, mosque courtyards, and along the Bosphorus promenades, dancing in shades of red, violet, saffron, and white. But tulips are more than ornamental. Historically, they were political symbols, luxury goods, and emblems of identity. In the early 18th century, they came to define a distinctive period known as the (1718–1730), or Tulip Era.
Mughal Arts Influence on Rembrandt

2 weeks ago | aramcoworld.com | Nilosree Biswas

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669), popularly known as Rembrandt, is arguably one of the greatest artists ever, famed for his myriad creations, which include biblical scenes, resplendent portraits of European elites, and a multitude of self-portraits, intense and nuanced. He was also a printmaker, draughtsman and a keen and voracious collector, acquiring from the world over. As his career progressed over the years, Rembrandt’s collection grew noteworthy.
MasterChef Australia's Matt Preston: 'Cuisines are like children - I love them all'

1 month ago | khaleejtimes.com | Nilosree Biswas

The author, food critic and curator on making it in the food businessThe Speaker’s Lounge at Jaipur Lit Fest (JLF) was filled with the delectable aroma of freshly baked chocolate au pain as the pale afternoon light filtered through the curtains and into the space where I was supposed to meet Matt Preston, one of the MasterChef Australia jury members who happened to be my co-panellist in an upcoming session.
TRT Global - Postmarked nostalgia: The quiet return of Eid cards

1 month ago | trt.global | Nilosree Biswas

That year, Eid–a national holiday– fell on August 18, at the peak of monsoon. At home in Kolkata, the stout looking olive-green phone, its thick black wire vanishing behind the ornate legs of our teakwood side table, rang like a rooster with no snooze button. It was Nani, my maternal grandmother, calling us over for lunch. I remember setting off to hers guarded by my favourite big red umbrella.
TRT Global - The scent of bread at dawn: A journey through Kashmir’s living bakeries

1 month ago | trt.global | Nilosree Biswas

As the Fajr dawn call to prayer drifts across sleeping cities like a sacred breeze, an irresistible aroma begins to stir the bylanes of Srinagar—bread rising in wood-fired ovens. In Indian-administered Kashmir, where time itself seems to begin with the scent of freshly baked bread, the day starts with a visit to the neighbourhood bakeries, or kandurwaans.
Eid-e-Gulabi: When Holi painted the Mughal Empire in colours of pluralism

2 months ago | trt.global | Nilosree Biswas

Nilosree Biswas8 minutes agoSapphire blue, emerald green, fuchsia pink, and golden yellow—clouds of colour swirl through the air as laughter echoes in the streets. Hands reach out, smearing faces with powdered hues, while bursts of liquid dye arc through the sky from playful squirt guns. The air is thick with music, joy, and the scent of spring. This is Holi—the festival of colours, a celebration that transforms cities and villages across India into living, breathing canvases of riotous hues.
The Fragrant World of Oud

2 months ago | aramcoworld.com | Nilosree Biswas

A once little-known treasure of the Arab world now gets top-shelf space in chic perfumeries across cities of the West as markets embrace the centuries-old scent called oud. Known as agarwood or agaru (in the East), the resin of a particular Asian and South Asian heartwood, oud possesses an earthy, animalic and leathery aroma that makes it a coveted ingredient in luxury perfumery.
Community-Based Research Explores Roti’s Global Histories

2 months ago | sapiens.org | Mariam Durrani |Nilosree Biswas

Roti, an unleavened flatbread, originated with ancient peoples of the Indus River Valley on the Indian subcontinent. Known by many names, including chapati and parotta, roti and the practice of roti-making has traveled the globe to become a culinary mainstay across many foodways in the “Global South.” Today roti and its many varieties connect cuisines and peoples across South and Southeast Asia, in East and South Africa, in the Caribbean, and their respective diasporas.
From $1 to $63k: Rare Indian 'Hajj note' spotlights unique history

Jan 29, 2025 | trtafrika.com | Nilosree Biswas

By Nilosree BiswasEarlier this month, a humble one hundred-rupee note from India (the equivalent of $1.15) fetched an astonishing $63,314 at a private London auction. And last year, two 10-rupee currency notes from the World War I era – recovered from a 1918 shipwreck of an Indian ship carrying British Indian currency, marmalade and ammunition – sold for $7,987 and $6,714, respectively.
From $1 to $63k: Rare Indian 'Hajj note' spotlights unique history

Jan 22, 2025 | trtworld.com | Nilosree Biswas

Earlier this month, a humble one hundred-rupee note from India (the equivalent of $1.15) fetched an astonishing $63,314 at a private London auction. And last year, two 10-rupee currency notes from the World War I era – recovered from a 1918 shipwreck of an Indian ship carrying British Indian currency, marmalade and ammunition – sold for $7,987 and $6,714, respectively.