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Arundhati Kumar

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South Asian students are financially insecure in the United States.

South Asian students are financially insecure in the United States.

It was Rudra Vora’s dream to study in the United States. He grew up watching influential adverts of educational consultants selling the quintessential “American dream”. And the dream seemed even more inflated to him since he was from a small town in India called Anand in the state of Gujarat and Vora was relatively lower-middle class. Posters of professional Indian students smiling widely, (almost like they’d made it in this co
Pavement Pieces •

A day in the life of a chess hustler in NYC

This is the story of a chess hustler named Marcel “Marty” Anderson. A 58-year-old man who was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. Marty and his eight siblings were brought up by their single mother. His father died right after he was born in 1964.

He learned to play chess as a child in 1977 and fell in love with the sport. That’s when he first started hustling. He played for money and claims that competitors sometimes bet up to $300 per match. Marty’s style was 2-minute games, and even the
Fifty Grande •

SF Beer Week 2024 | Festivals

One of the first cities ever to host a “beer week,” SF Beer Week is an extension of San Francisco's thriving craft brewing culture.

One of the first cities ever to host a “beer week,” and called home by many of the pivotal breweries in the craft beer scene, including Anchor Brewing Company and 21st Amendment Brewing, San Francisco has long been known for its thriving craft beer culture. Organized by the Bay Area Brewers Guild, this fest kicks off with an opening gala at seaside Pier 35, followe
Fifty Grande •

Miami Beer, Wine and Spirits Festival 2024 | Festivals

For all those who hate the pungent aftertaste of bottom shelf tequila and find bliss in a smooth drink then the Miami Beer, Wine and Spirits festival is your carnival.

For all those who hate the pungent aftertaste of bottom shelf tequila and find bliss in a smooth drink then the Miami Beer, Wine and Spirits festival is your carnival. It’s reportedly a common sight to see people getting lost while taking in the aromas. You get unlimited samples of bubbly, fine wines, craft beers and signature co
Fifty Grande •

Beer, Bourbon and BBQ Festival 2024 | Festivals

The Tampa stop of the touring Beer, Bourbon and BBQ Festival is like a summer day party right at the end of winter. Set up next to the ocean, the aroma of wood fire and roasting meat imbue the festival air, accompanied by notes of flowing bourbon. Each ticketed guest receives their own complimentary glass for unlimited spirit sampling. Usually, you have to wait until June to feel this smoky and good.

The festival grounds host an array of vendors, from renowned distilleries to hand-rolled cigars
Fifty Grande •

Miami/Brickell Art Festival 2024 | Festivals

With shark-mouth bubblers, great art and international food, this unpretentious Miami art festival passes the vibe check.

The Miami/Brickell Art Festival easily passes the vibe check. Bubbles drifting from a shark-mouth bubble blaster gently alight past beautiful paintings, while colossal pans sizzle with world cuisines. Live music, drum circles,and street performers fill Brickell. With more than 150 artist stalls showcasing a wide array of artwork, from Venetian Plaster masterpieces to intrica
Fifty Grande •

Big Texas Beer Festival 2024 | Festivals

Hoards of thirsty beer lovers from middle-aged men in bermuda shorts to nonchalant 20-somethings, eagerly queuing up to get that crisp first sip of craft beer.

Picture this lively scene: robust guys with beaver beards and beer barrel hats, ladies adorned with pretzel ring necklaces and siblings sporting Boy Scout uniforms, a funny dude with a bandana proudly donning a “Bernie Kosar for President” T-shirt, middle-aged couples on double-dates saying cheers a little too loudly, and the air is fill
Fifty Grande •

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo 2024 | Festivals

If you love petting Alpacas, country music superstars and a bucking rodeo show, then get yourself down to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Just like San Diego’s Comic-Con and New Orleans’s Mardi Gras, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (HLSR) is Space City’s crowning glory. Taking place at NRG Park, home of the Houston Texans football team, it wouldn’t be an understatement to say that this event has close to everything you could want in an live event: live music, carnivals, barbecue cook
Fifty Grande •

Beyond Existence 2023 | Festivals

Heady combination of bass music, community, spirituality and oh, free camping too.

Beyond Existence Festival is, almost paradoxically, a bass-heavy electronic music festival for those who hate huge concert crowds. This is a party on a smaller scale, where one can meet like-minded, community-centric people. Now, it’s a well-known, PLUR cliche that ravers have almost instantaneous, deeper connections with people they meet in the pit, but at Beyond Existence, you will reportedly never bump into a
Fifty Grande •

Eat Drink SF 2023 | Festivals

The 10-day San Francisco food festival that is long on multi-course avant-garde food, short on the wallet, and surprisingly greasy.

When you first see the Eat Drink SF venue, you’re likely to think it’s a bougie, wine sipping, avant-garde food festival where you won’t have to wipe food grease off your face. But, here, Michelin star chefs and food truck cooks whip up delicacies, highbrow and lowbrow, behind live cooking counters under the same roof.

It goes down over three days at the festival’
Fifty Grande •

Annual Winter Carefree Fine Art & Wine Festival | Festivals

The Annual Winter Carefree Fine Art & Wine Festival brings everything from handcrafted wooden furniture to hand-thrown pottery and mixed media paintings to downtown Carefree, just outside of Phoenix.

Just outside of Phoenix, the Thunderbird Artists bring 165 talented creators to the charming downtown Carefree for the 31st Annual Winter Carefree Fine Art & Wine Festival. The artists make everything from handcrafted wooden furniture, fiber sculptures and woven art, to hand-thrown pottery, metalli
Fifty Grande •

Florida Seafood Festival 2023 | Festivals

The Florida Seafood Festival is back for its 60th year to celebrate the maritime history, fishermen and local community of Apalachicola.

What does Apalachicola, Fla. have that New York City doesn’t? Better local seafood and strangers with a low risk of snarling at you. That’s what you’ll get at the 60th Florida Seafood Festival in Apalachicola: a slew of white tents with delicious seafood-y smoke wafting from their grills, cooked by locals who genuinely smile — an experience far better than goi
Fifty Grande •

'Greatest Hotels Ever' Awards: And the Winners Are...

In September of last year, when we asked our discerning readers to submit nominations for our first Greatest Hotels Ever awards, we were really asking: “What are the most notable hotel experiences in the U.S., ones with a bit of attitude, for under $350 a night?” We received a flood of submissions that were then vetted to arrive at the 50 in our inaugural list. In short, these are the hotels that our readers say are the best experiences you can find for under $350 a night, and we agree. You’ll f
Medium •

Anthony Bourdain’s dream: an Urban hawker center in NYC

New York’s first-ever authentic Singaporean and Malaysian street food joint has opened in Midtown, NYC. It is called the Urban Hawker Center. Hawker was the late chef Anthony Bourdain’s vision; he wanted to open a global market comprising Southeast Asian street-style food.

In 2013, he first met with street food guru K.F. Seetoh at the World Street Food Congress in Singapore to discuss workable strategies to open the Bourdain Market. He envisaged a massive street food junction in the city’s hear
Medium •

Mental health and Acculturative stress of South Asian Immigrant students in the United States…

Mental health and Acculturative stress of South Asian Immigrant students in the United States: Reported memo

Despite rising costs and inflation rates, which are now at 6%, South Asian students continue to immigrate in large numbers to the United States for a better quality of education. A report by Open Doors 2022 shows that the number of Indian International students in the United States grew to 199,182 between 2020 and 2021, representing nearly a 20% increase.

But, the transition to a new co
Medium •

A homely place in the overwhelming New York City - A reported piece on the McSorley’s pub in New…

A homely place in the overwhelming New York City - A reported piece on the McSorley’s pub in New York City.

​​Amid the steely spires of New York, in the heart of the East Village, is a bar that has remained

unchanged for nearly two centuries. Established in 1854, McSorley’s Old Ale House has witnessed some of the most unfathomable slices of history. There’s the wanted poster for “the murderer,” John Wilkes Booth, from 1865. There is also another poster of a revolt by the Irish Brotherhood in M
Medium •

In the best company of both kinds of spirits, a fictional story about McSorley’s Old Ale House, an…

In the best company of both kinds of spirits, a fictional story about McSorley’s Old Ale House, an old-timer pub in New York City

It was pouring heavily, like one of New York’s unpredictable weather days. While I was trying to wade through sidewalk potholes, raindrops dripped hurriedly down pedestrians’ black umbrellas. It was dark, and there was hardly any color except for the large displays of marijuana dispensaries. I was trying my best to get to 15 East 7th Street. McSorley’s was the place
Medium •

Q/A Article profile about the South Asian immigrant experience, mental health, and racism.

Q/A Article profile about author Suketu Mehta's South Asian immigrant experience, mental health, and the racism he experienced growing up

When Suketu Mehta was 14, his family immigrated from Bombay to New York in 1977 — to set up a business as diamond merchants (as most people in the Gujarati community from India do). He was put into an all-boys Catholic school, where he endured bullying and racism to no end. Being part of the early waves of immigration from India, the racism he experienced was especially bad. He recounts an incident from h
Medium •

A free, rickety ferry ride on the most expensive island — My experience on the Staten Island Ferry

A free, rickety ferry ride on the most expensive island — My experience on the Staten Island Ferry

“We were very tired, we were very merry, and we went back and forth” — a verse from a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay — is emboldened on Whitehall ferry terminal. Written over a hundred years ago, it still captures the essence of the New York ferry, except for the “merry” part. As if a testament to that, I witness hoards of fatigued commuter faces trying to go home, dragging their feet along to ge
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