They Call it Little India

The air is heady with the fragrance of cardamom, cumin, roses and incense. The markets are crowded with women clad in flowing saris and men wearing caftans and intricately-wound turbans. Shop windows display glittering gold jewelry, statues of Krishna and lacquered sitars. Sidewalk vendors proffer bunches of fresh herbs, sticky sweets and copies of the Koran.

This is Jackson Heights, also known as Little India. It has been said that this section of Queens is not really like Bombay (or even Mumbai) because there are no cows wandering the streets. But Little India certainly isn't like anyplace else in the United States.

This is the place to go for books, newspapers, CDs and videos in Urdu, Hindi, Tamil and Gujarati. Catch the latest releases from Bollywood at the Eagle Cinema. Bang on a tabla, have a salwar kameez made to measure, fill your arms with colorful glass bangles, get a mehndi tattoo, drop a coin in a beggar's cup, have your eyebrows threaded or your handlebar moustache groomed.

The grocery stores and pushcarts overflow with the spices, herbs, fruits and vegetables of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Intrigued by curry leaves, purple yams and ridge gourds but unsure what to do with them? Just ask (you'll be inundated with "secret" family recipes) or leave the food in the hands of the professionals and fill yourself -- cheaply and deliciously -- at the local sweets shops and restaurants.


Fresh Pan, Kulfi


Outside a toy shop


Bejeweled necklace


Gold bracelet


Gilded statues of Hindu gods


India Sari Palace


Selling saris


Silk on display


Bolts of silk in a sari shop


Stacks of glass bangles


Vegetables piled on a pushcart


Grocers with cases of mangos


Okra and karela (bitter melon)


Methi and palak


Tiny eggplant


Cloth bags of rice


Delhi Palace Sweets


Sweets with cherries


Pistachio burfi with silver foil


The Eagle Cinema

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Time Out New York: 74th and Broadway

Jackson Diner