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

MasterChef Australia's Matt Preston: 'Cuisines are like children - I love them all'

2 weeks 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

3 weeks 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

4 weeks 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

1 month 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

1 month 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

1 month 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

2 months ago | 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.
A requiem for Kolkata’s trams

Dec 18, 2024 | hindustantimes.com | Nilosree Biswas

Arati has just lost her job; Subrata was already unemployed. The camera holds them tight as they walk away from her erstwhile workplace, one of the many office buildings in Dalhousie Square, Calcutta. As the background score sets the culminating note, viewers see a close up of the mast of an electric tram pass by as the couple disappears into the crowd.
The beacon of hope

Dec 18, 2024 | journals.sagepub.com | Nilosree Biswas

Author and filmmaker NILOSREE BISWAS reflects on the tranquility of Hazrat Shah Waliullah Public Library, situated in a divided DelhiOLD DELHI - or Purani Dilli (its local name) - is chaotic, with its congested lanes, honking rickshaws, crumbling buildings housing generations of families, rows of shops which sell almost everything under the sun and the whiff of spices and oil in the air from delectable Mughal dishes served by century-old eateries.