Author: Lavina Melwani

The 2022 Booker Prize Goes to ‘The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida’ by Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka When Ghosts of the Past Grapple with the Ghosts of the Present… The literary world is a-buzz with the news that ‘The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida’ by Shehan Karunatilaka has won the 2022 Booker Prize – a powerful story about the many tragedies and political unrest in Sri Lanka told in a remarkable way. Here are some snippets from the Booker site, including questions answered by Karunatilaka. What was the starting point for The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida? Was it a…

Always immersed in the past, Sabyasachi’s store is embedded in the Romanesque Revival architecture of The Archive Building which is listed in the National Register of Landmarked Buildings in New York. Walk into this space and you are transported into another world – a small museum, a mansion or an intimate palace.

3,713 people reached on LinkedIn – 70 Likes – 10 comments 421 people reached on Instagram – 32 Likes How the Vegetarian Raj Conquered the British Raj How Saag Paneer took over the Empire…. Imagine living in a carnivorous – and coronavirus – world in the heart of London – and yet exploring soul-satisfying vegetarian food for 20 days! A diehard vegetarian, I was visiting from New York in November 2021 and staying with relatives who all are meat-eaters. Since I would rather starve than eat anything that moves, the challenge was to find the British essence of what vegetarian…

ith the Diwali season approaching you do want to give the family something traditional – and something new! How about Ras Malai Cake Jars which give them the best of both worlds and are quite easy to prepare. And guess who’s doing the teaching – PB! Yes, that stands for Patel Brothers, the amazing genie-like store which always saves us when it comes to ingredients that we must have to make our Indian goodies.

Imagine meeting your saree-clad ancestor in Central Park! And not only is she 18 feet tall but has a cluster of heads in her hand! She it the Ancestor by British artist Bharti Kher, a reimagination of the universal mother.

We all want chocolate but we also want our traditions – and we want them quick!
This chocolate barfi satisfies all the conditions!

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.