A Labor Day ritual in Houston

It's a Blast: Miller Outdoor Theatre sizzles with Bollywood masala

Bollywood dancers
Photo by Roswitha Vogler
A scene from Bollywood Blast.
Photo by Roswitha Vogler
Mahesh Mahbubani speaks at Miller Outdoor Theatre.
Photo by Roswitha Vogler

It has become a Labor Day ritual for Houston’s desi community to celebrate the long holiday weekend with some Bollywood fun. Approximately 8,000 people from a diverse cross section of the Bayou City turned out for the sixth annual Bollywood Blast Once Upon a Time.... musical extravaganza last weekend at Miller Outdoor Theatre.

Set against the backdrop of popular Bollywood songs, the two-hour musical began as Subodh Bhuchar (playing the father) narrated a bedtime story to his young daughter.

“The theme this year is inspired by fairy tales, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Red Riding Hood and Sleeping Beauty, with plenty of Bollywood masala," explained Bollywood dancer/choreographer/teacher Mahesh Mahbubani, who has directed the Bollywood Blast for four years.

Singing and dancing is an important part of Indian culture. It serves as a means to express human emotions. And the success of Oscar winner A. R Rahman, composer of the music in Slumdog Millionaire, has brought Bollywood into mainstream focus for American audiences.

“I feel Bollywood dance is fun, has a mass appeal and is easily identified by the masses for its simplicity of dance movement," Mahbubani said.

The show, presented by the Samskriti Society for the Performing Arts, featured a vibrant display of Indian culture, with colorful costumes custom-designed in Mumbai. The production was a culmination of 10 weeks of rehearsals and four months of planning.

The 60 dancers, ranging in age from five to 50, are students at Mahbubani's Bollywood Dance School and have been training with him for the past three years.

Ruchi Mukherjee is a lifestyle feature journalist for TV Asia and host of Lights Camera Action, on online magazine that covers Houston Indo-American society news.

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h-town tenacity

Houston punches in as one of 2026's most hardworking American cities

Photo by Jeswin Thomas on Unsplash

Houstonians are hard workers.

Houston and its residents are proving their tenacity as some of the hardest-working Americans in 2026, so says a new study.

WalletHub's annual "Hardest-Working Cities in America (2026)" report ranked Houston the 37th most hardworking city nationwide. H-town last appeared as the 28th most industrious American city in 2025, but it still remains among the top 50.

The personal finance website evaluated 116 U.S. cities based on 11 key indicators across "direct" and "indirect" work factors, such as an individual's average workweek hours, average commute times, employment rates, and more.

The U.S. cities that comprised the top five include Cheyenne, Wyoming (No. 1); Anchorage, Alaska (No. 2); Washington, D.C. (No. 2); Sioux Falls, South Dakota (No. 4); and Irving, Texas (No. 5). Dallas and Austin also earned a spot among the top 10, landing as No. 7 and No. 10, respectively.

Based on the report's findings, Houston has the No. 31-best "direct work factors" ranking in the nation, which analyzed residents' average workweek hours, employment rates, the share of households where no adults work, the share of workers leaving vacation time unused, the share of "engaged" workers, and the rate of "idle youth" (residents aged 16-24 that are not in school nor have a job).

However, Houston lagged behind in the "indirect work factors" ranking, landing at No. 77 out of all 116 cities in the report. "Indirect" work factors that were considered include residents' average commute times, the share of workers with multiple jobs, the share of residents who participate in local groups or organizations, annual volunteer hours, and residents' average leisure time spent per day.

Based on data from The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), WalletHub said the average American employee works hundreds of more hours than workers residing in "several other industrialized nations."

"The typical American puts in 1,796 hours per year – 179 more than in Japan, 284 more than in the U.K., and 465 more than in Germany," the report's author wrote. "In recent years, the rise of remote work has, in some cases, extended work hours even further."

WalletHub also tracked the nation's lowest and highest employment rates based on the largest city in each state from 2009 to 2024.

Source: WalletHub

Other Texas cities that earned spots on the list include Fort Worth (No. 13), Corpus Christi (No. 14), Arlington (No. 15), Plano (No. 17), Laredo (No. 22), Garland (No. 24), El Paso (No. 43), Lubbock (No. 46), and San Antonio (No. 61).

Data for this study was sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Travel Association, Gallup, Social Science Research Council, and the Corporation for National & Community Service as of January 29, 2026.

austin reports wallethub