Author: Lavina Melwani

“Muhammad Ali was The Greatest. Period. If you just asked him, he’d tell you. He’d tell you he was the double greatest; that he’d ‘handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder into jail.’

Lassi with Lavina Guide to Upcoming Events – TiEcon New York  In New York, it’s all about Invention – and Reinvention. Calling 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? Here’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…

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.

806 people saw this on FB Lassi with Lavina The story of a Dark Village Some 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…

Indeed this passion, this madness for excellence is what Jonathan Hollander has acquired from his many visits to India, and he has used this mantra globally – with varied countries, with young children and with dancers and musicians across the world stage, always with a New York sensibility.

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 Over 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…

Film festivals are always a draw – so say you come just for the movies but admit it, you’re also there to see the actors and the directors, to rub shoulders with celebrity and perhaps share a drink with the Starry Ones!

Over 250 women turned up for a fabulous Spring Luncheon at Swan Club organized by Children’s Hope India to support the children living in homeless shelters in New York City. A highlight of the 2015 spring luncheon is the Woman of Distinction Award, given to a woman who has managed to balance the challenges of the workplace, home and social responsibility. This year we honored Ila Paliwal who is a classically trained vocalist, song writer and producer. She was presented the award by Sadhna Shanker, wife of the Consul General of India, Ambassador D. Mulay.

Now comes a heroine of the road, Melba Pria, the Mexican ambassador to India, whose vehicle of choice is the humble phat-phatti or auto rickshaw. If a highly-placed diplomat can do it then why not our affluent Delhites?

Spellcheck needed – or you won’t get a coat, pant or shirt, says Lassi with Lavina during this jaunt in a Delhi market. You may end up with a cot, paint and something called a sirt!

Lassi with Lavina Video of the Day – TinderIndia Tinder Comes to India The West is rushing into the East -and probably traumatizing a whole lot of people. The latest entrant is brave, bold Tinder! Watch this video to see it treading on social eggshells as generations react to it in the land of prudery and the Kama Sutra. Can they live together in harmony with Tinder? Indian parents expect you to marry someone if you so much as look at him – and now suddenly things are getting racy! Can Tinder become a comfortable part of the Indian household, as…

Predictably, the 16th Annual NYIFF (May 7 -14) is going to play havoc with your sleep cycle and your work life (and maybe even your love life) because you’ll want to sit zombie-like and see all the unexpected 40-plus offerings. You may as well give up your real life for a week!

The well-off population is the one gaining the most from subsidies on gold, train fare, aviation fuel, kerosene and small savings schemes in India. The rich get richer!

 Trumping Up the White House  What would a Donald Trump White House look like? Will it be the end of history as we know it? Will it be Trump Redecoration 101?  I’m sure he can’t rebuild and put the Trump logo on the White House head, but a great many changes will seep in.  As Patricia Leigh Brown wrote in The New York Times, “Trump is like a one-man Gilded Age, carrying opulence wherever he goes. We’ve never had someone running for president who is a bling artist.” Would love to know what you think are the changes one would…

Without language, there is emptiness, a void. Each of us has a unique memory of our earliest words, the numbers, nursery rhymes. In invoking those we get a word picture of our childhood, our deep joys, our irrational fears. The language that we speak gradually becomes a layering, a part of us, an extension of everything we do. ‘In Other Words’ is Jhumpa Lahiri’s first book in Italian.

Lassi with Lavina Guide to Upcoming Events: 2016 Asia Week Celebrates the Best of Asian Art With the new year lying ahead of us as an exciting blank slate to be filled in, it’s good to know that  you can pencil in some exciting art activities in the month of March! Yes, for all you Asian art lovers, March 10-19 is Asia Week, with its big celebration of Asian Art. A recent press cocktail announced that 46 international galleries and 5 auction houses – Bonhams, Christie’s, Doyle New York, iGavel, and Sotheby’s – will once again be…

On International Women’s Day, we share this wonderful inspiring video from Oscar winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy which shows that men can be women’s best friends and strongest allies. It is with such simple, quiet stories of courage where people do what’s right, where men and women encourage each other and share the traumas of the world that a viable way of life, a decent society can emerge.

Maha Shivaratri – “Himself creates. Himself preserves. Himself destroys.”

For millions of Hindus Mahasivaratri is a very meaningful day, a day of oneness with the Supreme Being. Why do Hindus observe it? What is the Sivalinga? And do believers fast or feast on this day?
If you’ve ever wondered what the different rituals signify, the editors of Hinduism Today share an all-comprehensive report with readers of Lassi with Lavina, dispelling the myths and clarifying the power behind this observance.

Manning the cash register at a 711 or a gas station is no laughing matter – especially at night when the crazies and the desparadoes come out. Many an immigrant tale of striving and dreams has ended in a hail of gunshots. Here is one fiercely brave Indian immigrant who changed the outcome – but was she foolhardy or just plain lucky?

 9786 people reached on FB Lassi with Lavina  Atul Tolia, Jyoti Marwah and 6 others Like it. Lassi with Lavina Video of the Day Priyanka Chopra in her many avatars… Few of us would have thought that a Bollywood actress would one day be on the Academy Awards red carpet in Hollywood,  coolly bantering with an HBO Asia reporter – in Hindi! The full of surprises Priyanka Chopra who’s pulled off so many tough things from beauty queen to Bollywood superstar to pop performer to super model to the lead in a hot new TV series,  is capable of doing…