Author: Lavina Melwani

an orange sun set over the Hudson River on Manhattan’s Chelsea Piers, over 450 guests had gathered at Pier Sixty for the event of the season, the CHI 30th Anniversary Gala. It was a gathering of New York’s rich and famous, the beautiful and the creative. There was Hollywood film director M. Night Shyamalan, his lovely wife Bhavna and their three talented daughters.

Neena Gupta just turned sixty – and she’s having the time of her life. As she says, “It’s a great time to be a woman in the film industry!”

Ganesh Chaturthi in a time of coronavirus – check out the steps to visiting the temple safely – and we also share memories of past joyous celebrations with thousands of people

The menu included everything from malpuras (sweet breads) to pakoras, vada pav and ragda pattis (snacks) to main courses including Paneer ki Khurchan and dessert of rich kulfis served in little clay pots. There were mounds of jalebis and multicolored mithai. Fresh puris made of green peas were being fried on the spot.

Do we even know our own history? Are we even aware, for instance, that African rulers, generals and nawabs once reigned in India? Many of them were former slaves who rose to the highest positions in India through skill and bravery, a meritocracy which was not color-based. A story about Africans in India

This year on India’s Independence Day, we pay tribute to the wonderful Homai Vyarawalla, India’s first woman photojournalist (1913-2012) who captured the nation’s ups and downs in a series of remarkable photographs.

We are fortunate that the Rubin Museum of Art hosted a retrospective of her work right through January 2013, with free tours every day. Visitors could catch a glimpse of the India that was, and also see the work of a woman who captured history as it was being made. Her images include those on the historic meeting of Gandhi and the Congress Committee on the 1947 plan for partition, of a changing India as well as of many dignitaries who visited India including Queen Elizabeth, Ho Chi Minh, Zhou En-lai and Jacqueline Kennedy.

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen we were young, there was one lesson we learned early from our parents – a respect for knowledge. If we dropped a book by accident, we not only had to pick it up but touch it to our foreheads and our eyes in a mark of contrition.

All learning was sacred.

You’ve heard of Versace, St. Laurent and Prada – now here comes Temple Fashion! If you can dress for social events, then why not for God? When it’s Ganesh Chathurthi, the nine-day festival dedicated to that most beloved of Gods, Ganesha, people go all out to look their best.

For all those who’ve watched King Khan, the Badshah of Bollywood, dance and sing and romance over the years, Shah Rukh Khan’s talk at Yale was one of a kind, a look at the real man, rather than the reel man.

Un-awed by the pomp and ceremony of being honored with the prestigious Chubb Fellowship, he was down-to-earth and funny, talking one on one to Yale students, as someone human and humane, a striver, a dreamer and a parent.
Here, Shah Rukh Khan, in his own words….

Designer Shriya Bhupal’s eponymous label ‘Shriya Som’ is so coveted by brides that it’s probably one of the reasons to get married! Chic and very contemporary, her unique color palette and silhouettes create a global look that is uniquely Indian.

She was born in Mysore, Southern India in undivided India. She grew up in pre-Independent India but died in New York, an American citizen. Y.G. Srimati is one of India’s forgotten artists and a Renaissance Woman.

Along with the swaying fields of golden mustard and a folksy gulguppa philosophy ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’, an official Indian adaptation of the iconic Hollywood film ‘Forrest Gump’, has its own colorful personality.

The khadi that the Mahatma wove on his charka is the inspiration behind the collection of the iconic Japanese avant-garde designer Issey Miyake. So it is appropriate that in the month of India’s independence, the noted design house has launched ‘Khadi: Indian Craftsmanship’, an exhibition at its sleek Tribeca store which will run through August 22nd.

With so many hot spots bubbling over around the world and with so many international tragedies taking place, Afghanistan is not always in the front and center of our minds. Now suddenly it’s right here with us, right in Times Square, as close as a seat in a Broadway theater – with its sounds, griefs and struggles enveloping us.

‘The Kite Runner’, one of the most popular novels about Afghanistan, is now on Broadway, playing at the Helen Hayes Theater through October.

Can the child of a security guard and a homemaker make it to medical school? Jyotsna, a student at CHI-Eklavya, became the first in the school’s history to be awarded a seat in medical school.

Can the daughter of a driver and a home-maker, mired in poverty, not only finish school but make it to college? Kaveri, also from the same school and with a scholarship from CHI, has gone on to win a seat in the prestigious NIT-Jalandar.

ow do we protect our youngest and most vulnerable children against COVID-19? An eye-opening video for parents of young children as health experts led by NYC Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan and Senior Ambulatory Care Dr. Ted Long and other experts answer all the questions you may have had about COVID-19, vaccines and children 6 months and older.

Have you ever tried Makhana bhel or chaat? This low calorie health food can be quite an exciting edition to your menu!

We all know India has an infinite amount of wonderful products from spices to foods to crafts and textiles but do we know what part of the country they really come from?The Consulate General of India in New York, in partnership with the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and Invest India, held a Roadshow on One-District-One-Product (ODOP) to showcase India’s best.

Indian doctors are everywhere but you wouldn’t have expected one to be right on the glittering stage of the 2021 Academy Awards!  Dr. Meena Makhijani was in the elite group receiving the Jean Herscholt Humanitarian Oscar. This year the winner  of this prestigious award was the Motion Picture and Television Fund (MPTF) where Makhijani is physician and the Chief of Staff. Yes, she actually held the iconic Oscar in her hand and recalls with delight:  “It had heft!”

Yes, we have a Miss World, a Miss Universe, a Miss America, a Miss India – so why not a Miss Immigrant?
Well, I found that title does exist and appropriately enough right in the Immigrant Capital of the World – New York!