Author: Lavina Melwani

Leila Chirayath Janah, 29, recently bagged a whopping $ 1. 25 million in funding from Google for her company, Samasource. Add that in, and this small, non-profit has got close to $ 5 million from several major giant corporations including Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, Ebay, Cisco, Facebook, LinkedIn and even the US State Department.

Why have so many blue chip organizations put their faith in this little-known non-profit?

The idea behind Samasource is audacious – that the poorest of the poor are equal to the larger world community and quite capable of doing good work when they are entrusted with it, rather than just being given handouts and pity. In fact, Sama means equal in Sanskrit and it is Leila’s way of bringing the poor into the hi-tech world.

Meet Senator Elizabeth Warren’s India connection – her Indian-American son-in-law from Uttar Pradesh and her three grandchildren of mixed Indian-American heritage.

Zarna Garg, who had been a practicing lawyer, left the field for 15 years to bring up her children. At 44 she was looking to jumpstart her career – but once again on her own terms – now as a writer and stand-up comic.

It started like a whispering rustle around the world, a soft rumbling and become this mighty force of marchers from Paris to Washington DC which also poked its way into my quiet apartment in New York. It seemed almost sacrilegious to be just spending a cerebral work afternoon at my computer when right on my streets so much action was taking place.

“we’re both fighting for something universal and something specific, and the specificity is about being an Indian-American, a desi Muslim American running to represent our communities which have been shut out of the conversation for far too long.”

Dr. Nirmal Mattoo may be far away from the Vale of Kashmir, the place where he was born,  but its sheer beauty, sense of community and native customs have stayed with him, even in far-off New York. He has tried to bring the wisdom and beauty of India, including that of his hometown, to share with the larger world.

The 800 lb gorilla in America is still the issue of immigration and affects so many lives. Be it the construction of the border wall, detention centers, the elimination of chain migration and the visa lottery and the limbo lives of so many green card hopefuls – most of them Indian and the possibility they may still be waiting 50 years later.

Yet as South Asians turn to political activism and support civic organisations that fight for immigrant rights and human rights in America, we see some famous names in the arts taking on these issues on television and on the big screen.

“We should never forget the roots of America’s Gay Liberation, which is the Stonewall riots of ‘69. My family immigrated to America from Kuwait in 1997. I was 18 and started college. I struggled with coming out publicly for many years.”

We all know about the birth of a restaurant – but what happens when a restaurant closes and reopens after several years – is that a rebirth?
Back in 2015 when restaurateur and chef  Anita Trehan announced she was opening the  Chaiwali in Harlem there was a lot of buzz about it. The name  wasn’t the ‘chaiwala’ but ‘chaiwali’, a rare phenomenon in those days and to have a woman chef or chaiwali move into Harlem and seek her fortune that was even more exciting!

Director Swati Bhise and actor Devika Bhise have brought the story of Lakshmibai, The Warrior Queen of Jhansi to the big screen, a tribute to Indian womanhood.

When young Hindu girls go to school in the morning in Sindh, Pakistan, their parents are never sure whether they will ever see them again: a report on the refugees who have escaped to Jodhpur from Sindh and are starting a new life in India.

Meet the Boss Ladies of the 2020 Elections, creating a new political narrative.

Adoption from India – one family shares its experiences in bringing a child from India to America

Lassi with Lavina reaches 100.5 k monthly visitors on Pinterest with evocative images from Indian art, Bollywood, celebrities, food & travel for the India lover

Deepika Padukone stars in ‘Chhapaak’ a true-life story of an acid survivor. It co-stars Vikrant Massey, is directed by Meghna Gulzar & co-produced by Padukone.

Senator Kamala Harris has pulled out of the US Presidential Race

Senator Elizabeth Warren’s daughter, Amelia, is married to Indian-American entrepreneur Sushil Tyagi. He opens up for the first time about Warren, calling her a fighter who knows exactly what families go through every day in America.

Nazanin Boniadi in Hotel Mumbai: “It is a face-off between good and evil, one that was emotionally and physically exhausting for me to portray.”

4180 people reached on Lassi with Lavina FB page – 33 Likes – 302 post clicks Sunita Saxena Manjrekar, Ap Ny and 18 others like it on Lassi with Lavina FB page Hotel Mumbai Finally Releases in India Hotel Mumbai: A Story of Courage, Hope and Survival [dropcap]H[/dropcap]otel Mumbai is so much more than a film – it is a nightmare brought to life.  You sit in your seat reliving the horror of this real event which blasted the city of Mumbai in 2008 when terrorists seized the iconic Taj Mahal Hotel and several other key locations, holding…

the first time in a generation, the swing state of Virginia went completely blue  and this is partly thanks to the strong showing of two Indian-American candidates – Suhas Subramanyam and Ghazala Hashmi.