Author: Lavina Melwani

‘For Here or To Go?’ is the anxiety-driven roller coaster ride of H1 B visa holders in America as they wait to find out where home and their life is in uncertain times.

India is the land of many cultures, many people – and many foods. Vikas Khanna’s ‘Utsav’ captures the many festivals of India and the unique dishes associated with each religion and region. Here’s a chance to experiment with different dishes and celebrate all the wonderful festivals of India!

“As creative people, I think we get tired of seeing the same thing over and over again. I’m a firm believer in the idea that excellence exists everywhere,’ says Antonio Ciongoli, director of Eidos, whose Spring 2017 menswear collection is inspired by Jaipur in India, and who used all Indian models in his NY collection.

Ritesh Batra proves himself adept at distilling people’s lives, no matter what their background. He captures, as in his previous film ‘The Lunchbox’, the minutiae of ordinary lives superbly, the subtle touches, a glance, a gesture. He manages to convey the complexities of the novel in the short span of the movie

‘From Today I have No Future’ – A solo show by M. Pravat at Aicon Gallery in Manhattan is almost a blueprint for loss, life and living – it is about streetscapes and mindscapes, of memories and the past but also about re-imagination, and new layerings added to the scaffolding of what we remember.

Sometimes ads do get it right such as this United Colors of Benetton one which touches upon equal rights for women. Sometimes images convey what words alone cannot, and sometimes commercials can sell more than clothes or jewelry – they can promote ideals and ideas.

“I wanted to have a story behind the dress, and the story to point to the environmental work that we were doing.” These dresses use sustainable and innovative material, constantly pushing boundaries.” – Suzy Amis Cameron, founder of Red Carpet Green Dress Eco-friendly initiative at the Oscars

Did You Know? Lassi with Lavina’s Fact of the Day Mumbai is the richest Indian City with 46,000 Millionaires & 28 Billionaires… Well, well – the Maximum City is also the city with the maximum wealth, maximum billionaires and maximum millionaires – and that’s the maximum truth! Mumbai has become the richest Indian city with around 46,000 millionaires and 28 billionaires, and a combined wealth of US$ 820 billion, according to a report by New World Wealth quoted on ibef.org Delhi follows next with 23,000 millionaires and 18 billionaires, and Bengaluru with 7,700 millionaires, eight billionaires. The full list is…

‘Growing Up Smith’ will surely hit a sweet spot – almost every Indian immigrant child has a memory of being the only brown-skinned student in the class, the one with the unpronounceable name and a lunch box from which emanated curry smells. ‘Growing Up Smith’ is a love poem to all those little kids who struggled to become ‘American’ and tried to straddle two cultures.

Strolling through the Chocolate Show in Manhattan (and munching as I went) I thought I had seen it all – chocolates with a hundred different flavors, chili chocolates, chocolates mixed with bacon, even chocolate lotions, lip glosses and potions. – until I came to the most unexpected – camel milk chocolates!

4902 people reached on Lassi with Lavina  Pooja Vishwakrma, Aeayat Khan and 71 others  Like it on Lassi with Lavina Barack Obama, Thank you for the Memories… We were all together when you pulled off that first victory, that wondrous miracle. It showed us that America had a vast heart, there was place for reconciliation, for change, for new beginnings  – and hope. We smiled a lot, even when things were tough. Together we would pull through all those nightmarish days, days of crisis and financial problems.  We had got so accustomed to your voice, your smile, your…

Published articles by Lavina Melwani in The Hindu, Scroll, Quartz, Outlook, Beliefnet and other publications.

Once upon a time there was a young Indian-Canadian porn star who decided to reinvent herself and see if she could make it in Bollywood, India’s vaulted film industry where heroines are chaste and where even a kiss is forbidden. Meet Sunny Leone!

Some of the most poignant testimony of a culture in flux is Thomas Kelly’s ethnographic work of marginalized, landless communities. He has lived with the Badi people where the young women have had to sell themselves to keep their families out of poverty. Once they were singers and dancers and entertainers at weddings and other ceremonies – now these women have to use their bodies as a source of income.

Using a Gates grant, Kelly looked into the lives of fallen angels in various parts of Asia, from ‘maalish’ or massage boys in hotels to sex worker communities, analyzing what drove them to this work and how they could be helped by the organizations.

For immigrants in New York, there’s a particular comfort in being in the multicultural capital of America under the glow of Lady Liberty’s lamp. The city and state government has come up in support of all immigrants. “If anyone feels that they are under attack, I want them to know that the state of New York – the state that has the Statue of Liberty in its harbor – is their refuge,” wrote NY Governor Andrew Cuomo in an open letter to all New Yorkers.

Disney’s ‘The Hundred-Foot Journey’ is produced by Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey and Juliet Blake and directed by Lasse Hallström; it has the music of maestro AR Rahman and the beauty of South of France; it’s a delightful comedy with enough gourmet food in it to get the mouths of all foodies watering, with Manish Dayal as the young culinary genius Hassan.
In this film Dayal gets to interact with topnotch stalwarts like the remarkable Helen Mirren – and the equally wonderful Om Puri, both embroiled in quite a rowdy Indo-French food fight. A report on the special tribute to Om Puri at the Museum of the Moving Image.

The scourge of cancer, the threat of a damaged environment, poverty and joblessness are some of the problems which endanger our world. However, instead of tales of gloom and despair, we share with you three wonderful stories of hope for our small planet.

Meet young entrepreneurs, all from California, who have come up with creative solutions to problems with their bold out-of-the-box thinking.

The dawn of 2017 – it’s the time for resolutions and advice from the experts! So here are New Year tips from Mumbai! No, not from the city but from the canine. This little bit of fluff, a Havenese, is as tiny as the megacity is big.
Mumbai’s philosophy of life is something we should all emulate – apart from chasing pigeons, that is. So usually you have Influencers and Movers and Shakers giving you their tips about living the perfect life in the new year. Well, let me tell you something – we all would be better individuals and have a better 2017 if we were all a lot more like Mumbai, the Philosopher-Dog.

‘Lion’ is a wonderful film which shows us that even the most nightmarish journeys can end well and if there’s a will, there’s a way to recover the past, to return home. Based on the compelling true story of Saroo Brierley who was lost as a child, the film tracks the journey the five-year-old must undertake alone in a relentless, uncaring world.

Would you be willing to give up your life, your family and your name? Would you renounce love, marriage and parenthood forever? Could you live with the prospect of never seeing your father and mother again?

Bhavesh Choksi, 27, has done exactly that.

This high-achieving young Indian-American, forsaking all, has taken ‘diksha’, monastic vows, and is on his way to becoming a swami in BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, a socio-spiritual Hindu organization. For those of us still embroiled in the trappings of the material world, this decision can be wrenching. Breaking all ties with his past life and giving up even the smallest of luxuries, he is turning his back on what most people fight tooth and nail for. Bhavesh is following his dream, walking into a joyous light which most of us cannot even comprehend. He is obtaining ‘moksha’ and guiding others to find it too.