1. In a must-see for weather-report junkies, CBC meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe will broadcast her segment LIVE from the Dr. Sun-Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden during the Indian Summer Festival opening gala on July 4. The evening also features world music band Rajasthan Josh.

2. Do you hate summer, parks and movies? No? Then check out Indian Summer in the Park (July 5) for two hours of food, dancing and yoga followed by a dusk screening of Little Zizou. Set in Mumbai’s Parsi community, the acclaimed 2009 comedy is about two feuding families and a young boy’s dream of meeting his soccer idol Zinedine Zidane. It’s been described as “Bollywood meets Fellini meets Mel Brooks.”

3. Health and wellness. Put on those sheer Lululemon Luon pants and break out the moves for a hip-hop yoga class. Or sign up for a day (or two) of Well-Being Weekend, and treat yourself to meditation classes, listen to some sacred sounds (warning: may include didgeridoo), and sample several types of yoga, including laughter.

4. Shake your booty and the Bodhi (a Buddhist term roughly meaning “enlightenment”) will follow. The Indian Summer Festival is one of the few local events that has one foot on the dance floor and another in geopolitics. Not only can you take Bhangra lessons, you can also listen in on a discussion about what makes a happy city (we’re guessing it’s not more dollar stores), get to know the world of novelist/Giller Prize finalist Shauna Singh Baldwin, catch a conversation with Midnight’s Children filmmaker Deepa Mehta and share an insider’s view of India with writer/journalist Sudeep Chakravarti.

5. Vikram Vij. Sure, this guy is everywhere — he’s the Rob Feenie of Indian cooking. But the award-winning chef knows his way around a curry, and you can bet wherever he is the foodies are going to follow. Catch Vij as he curates a tour of South Asian cuisine at the opening gala, double-parks Vij’s Railway Express mobile restaurant at Victory Square Park (for Indian Summer in the Park, July 5) and hosts an exclusive dinner with guest of honour Sanjeev Kapoor, responsible for the longest running cookery show in India, Khana Khazana.

Indian Summer Festival

July 4-13, various locations

Tickets and info: indiansummerfestival.ca/