BOLDFACERS

Take a Momo

Who better to ask about the city’s ethnic cuisine than a couple with Nepalese, Indian, and Tibetan roots? “The Indian restaurant on Newbury Street, Kashmir, is always good — their rack of lamb is out of this world,” says Puni. “There are several Tibetan restaurants in the Greater Boston area, and they are all very good. My choice dish is, of course, the famous Tibetan momos.” The dumplings are popular in many kinds of ethnic cooking from the region; they’re made steamed or fried, with myriad fillings.

Kashmir
279 Newbury Street
Boston, MA
(617) 536-1695
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Exotic Home 101

Incorporating something ethnic or exotic into more traditional décor can sometimes be a challenge. Puni suggests some training-wheels approaches to spicing up your home’s look. “One can use pieces sparsely around their already beautiful homes,” she says. “For example, we have old saris and textiles from India, Tibet, and Nepal that work very well draped over furniture, couches, and walls. I suggest that one start with a few pieces and see how well it works. We also allow people to try pieces on approval, so there is no pressure at all. The ethnic and tribal vintage jewelry from Tibet, India, and Nepal work as decorative center display pieces because they have a lot of richness.”

Buying Local, 7000 Miles Away

“Buy local” is a popular mantra these days, as people look to support small businesses, organic farmers, and the like — real people doing real work. But with exotic or ethnic goods, it’s even trickier to pull off, as human-rights issues and corrupt governments often come into play (not to mention how much harder it is to buy local when “local” is half a world away). Luckily, boutiques such as Karma take much of the hassle out of the equation. “We buy products directly from craftspeople themselves, through craft cooperatives, or through intermediaries who are committed to fair-trade practices,” Puni says. “We also try to find individual artists who share our human-rights and social-justice values.”

Karma Boutique
57 Union Street
Newton Centre, MA
(617) 965-8251

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Do you have good Karma?

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By the time Daja and Phuni Meston met and fell in love, they had been through slavery, monasteries, abandonment and war; in short, the stuff of epic films. But this was not fiction but fact, not plot but destiny.

They own Karma Boutique in Newton, far away from the south Indian refugee camp where Phuni spent her childhood and what might as well be a planet away from where Daja grew up—in a Nepalese monastery, where his mother left him as a toddler and where he became an ordained monk at 16. No, Newton, draped in double-mocha lattes, Range Rovers and couture cocktail sheaths, is easily the last spot Phuni and Daja imagined finding meaning. But there you go. Life’s a trip that way.

But the vision behind Karma Boutique transcends the nearby nail salon. The extravagant beaded bridal headdresses, embellished Tibetan tapestries and hand-etched ink drawings each tell a story about heritage, culture, beauty and, often, hardship. It’s heavy stuff, which you’ll probably end up discussing at length with Phuni and Daja (you just thought you were picking up a pretty necklace) who delight in sharing their stories of discovering the women of the Brazilian D’Ipanema tribe, whose straw-tent livelihoods depend upon selling dazzling beaded bracelets in earthy tones of olive, cocoa and bronze. Gorgeous, Phuni might exclaim, and you can stack them to go with jeans!

How did Phuni and Daja cross paths? One day in between high school and Brandeis University, Phuni strolled into a Buddhist bookstore. She met a gentle, soft-spoken man named Daja. They chatted about their crazy childhoods, love of reading and when he walked out of the store, she felt strangely empty. We all know what happened—they met again, married and formed a union without borders but common ground: love. And that’s good Karma.