Author: Lavina Melwani

Lavina Melwani is a New York-based journalist who writes for several international publications. Twitter@lavinamelwani & @lassiwithlavina Sign up for the free newsletter to get your dose of Lassi!

The sadness of 9/11 persists. Today morning watching the names being called on television, I remembered the sheer helplessness of that day, the surreal quality of the world. Today too I go to New Jersey for a memorial for the beloved son of dear friends whose life changed forever on this day. I share with you an earlier piece about 9/11 and how we must never forget.

Read More

The event was the outdoor IAAC Erasing Borders Festival of Indian Dance which showcased topnotch talent from India and New York, turning the waterfront into a dance arena with hundreds of New Yorkers learning about the intricacies of Indian dance. Even Lady Liberty watched!

Read More

What better way to start a new blog than with Ganesha, the Lord of New Beginnings? Give him whichever name you choose – He is that consciousness that is within us and around us and in the very breath we take.

Read More

Some people infiltrate a country to conquer it. My invasion was simply to – eat it! To swallow it whole, the foods, the tastes, the spices – to make it a part of me.
I’ve been popping pieces of India into my mouth since childhood – and it’s an insatiable hunger for more and more. This year my trip to India was about reliving the past and enjoying the present, when it comes to the ever changing and unchanging world of Indian food.

Read More

News That  You Can Use: You could get an annual scholarship of $4000 to study in India  Are you Indian American? Want to learn more about your family’s culture? Interested in studying abroad in India and meeting Indian students? Need a scholarship for higher education? If you answered yes to any of these questions, Mother India is thinking of you!  There’s now a Scholarship Program for Diaspora Children and a chance to study at a top university in India. India hosts a range of highly developed higher education facilities, many of which are not well known to students pursuing undergraduate…

Read More

initial feeling when I spotted these very Indian hands laden with gorgeous red wedding bangles and mehndi was one of disorientation. I must be in a Bollywood movie or at some Big Fat Indian Wedding. Or at least in a street in Colaba or Kalbadevi! But no, I was not even in Jackson Heights or any ethnic enclave but in the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Read More

Lassi with Lavina India Blog: An Idea for a Hungry World Feasting and Fasting I’ve been on a month-long visit to India and everywhere I go, there is food, food and more food. We’ve eaten so much at people’s homes, tasted so much of the famous Indian hospitality. We’ve been to parties and clubs and restaurants and always there is abundance, a surfeit of food. It’s hard to forget that we are in a country of great extremes – cities, towns and villages where there is great hunger – and great feasts.  You are at a wedding party…

Read More

‘Family Life’, Akhil Sharma’s new novel, is devastating – about the unpredictability of life, of how 3 minutes can change it forever.

Yet it is also about the resilience of the human spirit and how we can keep raising the bar on the amount of grief and pain we are able to tolerate – all for love. And sometimes for guilt.

Deceptively small, ‘Family Life’ comes with a lot of turbulence packed into it – each page takes you into human lives which are raw and conflicted.

Read More

Lassi with Lavina Guide to Upcoming Events – TiEcon New York  In New York, it’s all about Invention – and Reinvention. [dropcap]C[/dropcap]alling all entrepreneurs and wanna-be entrepreneurs. Are you a closet inventor or disrupter? Do you think startups are something magical that only other people create? Do you have questions about mentor-ship, incubators and funding? Do you want to conquer the social media world? [dropcap]H[/dropcap]ere’s your chance to mingle with the best thinkers and creators at the TiEcon NY at Convene Conference Center. The theme of this full day conference is ‘Invention and Reinvention: A Celebration…

Read More
Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is the city’s largest art museum, has always been New York’s crown jewel. Now along with its iconic Fifth Avenue space and the Cloisters, it has a new avatar, Met Breuer (pronounced Broy-er) on Madison Avenue.

Read More

806 people saw this on FB Lassi with Lavina The story of a Dark Village [dropcap]S[/dropcap]ome villages run on agriculture, others on craftwork. But this village survives and thrives on the sex work of its women.  Imagine an entire village running on prostitution with no future for its children. There are 1600 women who sell sex to 3000 men everyday. In the picture are 300 children who call this home. Check out this video, courtesy of The Guardian, to see a dark, stark life without too many options. Thankfully, there are NGOs which are trying to make a difference. But can…

Read More

1845 people reached on FB Lassi with Lavina page (All Photos: www.DigitalMemoryStudio.com ) Opportunity. Success. Compassion. Giving. Sharing.  CHI Woman of Distinction – Ritu Banga, co-founder  Zoomdojo [dropcap]O[/dropcap]ver 250 women came together at the annual Children’s Hope India Spring luncheon to celebrate warm sunny weather and the future of  children with a fun fundraiser which connected friends and allowed them to shop for a great cause- the education of children in the slums of Indian cities and the homeless in shelters in New York City. The afternoon featured a lively cocktail, luncheon, beautifully designed baskets of special gifts for raffle, and a lot…

Read More