During the day, he’s a suited, booted wealth management professional in a global investment bank, but by night, he’s a paanwalla. Clad in a kurta pajama, he dishes up the most amazing paans for the Indian community, be it charity fundraisers, weddings or celebrations. No Indian event is complete without a juicy paan put together by Ankit Narula.

Share Market Live

NSE

Not only is Narula in demand in New York and in other cities in the US but has also flown out for destination weddings in Mexico where his unusual paans add panache to the evening.

Narula has set up a team of diehard paan lovers who create this much loved delicacy for Indians living far from home and for whom a festivity isn’t complete without the flavor of a paan. Some Indian professionals play golf in their free time, others collect red wine but for Narula his passion is paan.

The Paanwalla of Wall Street - Ankit Narula has a passion for creating unusual paans.

Delhi Boy

Growing up in Delhi, his father would often send him to get paans from Panditji, the neighborhood paanwalla, and in the process, the boy fell in love with the fine art of paan-making. Now in New York, he wants to give every homesick Indian a delicious taste of home.

Narula’s repertoire includes Calcutta Meetha, Lucknowi Saada Paan, and even chocolate paan and Choc ‘O Latte Paans, which infuse coffee and chocolate inside a paan. New York parties often end with his paan-flavored truffles or with an even bigger paan-tasty – Kulfi Faluda paan and Jalebi Rabdi Paan!

For those hankering for global flavors in their paans, Narula offers Mango Margarita Paan and Tiramisu Gelato Paan which he describes this way: “Cross breeding Italian and Indian desserts is how this Mona Lisa level of a masterpiece was created – fresh Tiramisu crème syrup, fresh Lady Finger crumbs and a spoonful of Tiramisu Gelato married perfectly to the flavors of our classic sweet paan.” Viva Paan!

$431,000 Raised by 23,000 Walkers in 76 Cities

BAPS Charities celebrates a partnership with The Nature Conservancy through its Green Walk Initiative.

What can be more satisfying than transforming your adopted country for the better? With climate change and environmental concerns becoming big issues, especially in California, an Indian organisation has put money and support where it’s needed most. Young Indian volunteers from BAPS Charities have made environmental renewal their mantra by participating in walkathons to raise funds for The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in Chino Hills, California. A whopping $431,000 was raised by 23,000 walkers in 76 cities throughout the US to plant 300,000 trees.

“Tree planting and reforestation are the most rewarding ways to improve wildlife habitats and cities, foster clean and abundant waters, and mitigate carbon emissions that cause climate change,” noted Chris Topik, Director of Plant a Billion Trees Initiative. “Thanks to the contribution of BAPS Charities volunteers we’ve been able to replant longleaf pine trees in the southern US, which have a natural resilience to catastrophic storms, but only 3% of this once common forest-type remains.”

As he pointed out, these volunteers have also planted thousands of shortleaf pine trees in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley in areas which have been deforested due to overdevelopment.

Erin Daly of TNC noted an important reason for the success of this venture: “BAPS Charities volunteers have engaged the next generation of children and young people in passionate ownership of environmental stewardship, unlike any other organization I have seen.” Indeed, the young participants got as much out of it as they gave. As 19-year-old Rucha Modi said, “Participating in the BAPS Charities Walkathon is a tradition for my family, Walk Green is a focused effort to make a measurable impact in the world.” A great move which can be emulated by other organizations to bring small, meaningful changes to their environment and keep the second generation aware and involved.

The Brooklyn Delhi Love Story

Chitra Agrawal receives the FABI award from the National Restaurant Association in 2018.

Will Tomato Achaar be the next Sriracha? At least the judges who tasted the product felt that it would. And forget about putting ketchup on your fries – now America has Curry Ketchup! And why would you put mustard on your hot dog when you can get Curry Mustard enriched with turmeric and tamarind, garlic and ginger? Both these products have won national distribution for Chitra Agrawal, and her Tomato Achaar has been added to Blue Apron Mealkits.

It looks like you can take the girl out of Delhi but you can’t get Delhi out of the girl! Chitra Agrawal is a longtime resident of Brooklyn which has a lot of delis but she’s the one who came up with Brooklyn Delhi, a fast growing food company which combines the flavors of her two favorite places. She and her husband Ben Garthus have turned her childhood memories of spices and pickles into quite a hot commodity and have made it a marriage of east and west with Indian condiments fitting perfectly with American pizzas and burgers. She and Garthus travel to India every year to create new and wonderful products from all the tastes and flavors they experience on their wanderings.

This year their Roasted Garlic Achaar and Tomato Achaar won FABI awards at the National Restaurant Show and the Specialty Food Front Burner Competition. “Brooklyn Delhi reflects my identity as an Indian-American,” says Agrawal, who is also the author of ‘Vibrant India: Fresh Vegetarian Recipes from Bangalore to Brooklyn’. “ The food we produce is inspired by Indian cooking techniques and American farmers here in New York. I learned to cook from my mother who is from Bangalore and my father who is from Delhi so I like to mix the North and South Indian styles in my recipes.”

And there’s good news for Brooklyn Delhi as a New York business: it is a Brooklyn-Made Award Winner by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce in the Food Category. The awards recognize companies and entrepreneurs that manufacture their goods in the borough, growing the Brooklyn brand while promoting local economic development.

Lavina Melwani is a New York-based journalist who blogs at Lassi with Lavina.

First Published:Aug 31, 2018 2:15 PM IST