Ashoka Bearsden Spices Up Burns Mela   Ashoka Bearsden, part of Harlequin Leisure Group, Europe's largest chain of Indian restaurants, helped spice up the first ever Burns Mela recently when it provided a massive buffet for more than one thousand concert goers at the Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow. Part of the Celtic Connections programme, the Burns Mela featured a celebration of Scots and Asian culture and, appropriately enough, the Ashoka Bearsden buffet featured a novel fusion of traditional Scottish and Indian dishes. Imtiaz Aslam of Ashoka Bearsden said, "They say that music is the food of love, so it was only right that we should reflect the musical fusion of Scots and Indian cultures with a culinary equivalent. Starter dishes included neeps and tatties samosa and haggis pakora while main courses featured mince and tatties, Chettinad curry and Tarka Daal." The Ashoka Bearsden was invited to cater for the event by one of its regular customers - Donald Shaw, organiser of this year's Celtic Connections festival. "I'd like to thank Donald for giving us an opportunity to spice up this year's Celtic Connections festival. In the event, all dishes proved popular with the audience and performers alike - particularly the haggis pakora! And although this was the largest audience I've ever catered for, it proved to be a great success - fortunately we didn't run out of any dishes!" Performers at the Burns Mela included Sushil K Dade, Indian drummers Dhol Foundation, singers Sheila Chandra and Michael Marra, DJs Tigerstyle, piper Iain MacInnes, Indian Bansuri flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia, whistle player Michael McGoldrick, early music ensemble Concerto Caledonia and author Alasdair Gray.