Author: Lavina Melwani

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!

123 people reached on Instagram – 13 Likes New York Diary Photo of the Day: Manhattan Sky and Waterworks  Nothing quite as powerful as the canvas of sky and water in the concrete jungle of Manhattan – walk away from the traffic and the rush of humanity and you see nature put on quite an electrifying show every day. Its calming and all-encompassing and makes you realize there’s more to life than our small wins and failures. The sky has always been there with its many colors and moods and the river flows on and on.  East River in Manhattan…

Here’s a delicious recipe for chaat from Maneet Chauhan – call your friends for an all hands on deck summer chaat party!

We hear of Indian-American success stories but there are other stories to be told too. So many forgotten immigrants labor in low-paying, thankless jobs: essential workers, restaurant staff, nannies and nail salon workers. The pandemic tightened the screws further as so many found their lifeline receding with loss of jobs, home schooling of children and the inability to pay rent or the grocery bills.

Ritwik Ghatak’s films are frenetic, heartfelt and heartbreaking, as agonized and without any final answers as life and existence itself. Yet with their tales of partition and loss, of refugees and homelessness, of changing families, of pain and ultimately hope, they touch a chord within contemporary audiences and are relevant even – perhaps especially – now.

What can you, an immigrant who came with nothing but a battered suitcase filled with bits and pieces of a disappeared life, offer this new country? What gift can you give America on its Independence Day celebration? A Punjabi immigrant love story.

Widows have had a hard lot in India and other South Asian countries. The breadwinner is the male and the whole community revolves around him.

New York is the city for reinvention, for doing old things in new places, unexpected things in unexpected places and so here was I, right in the middle of Times Square with about a million other unknown people standing and doing surya namaskar in the middle of traffic – honking cars, buses and an unending stream of pedestrians.

Women photojournalists highlighted at the Newswomen’s Club of New York Spring Photography Show and Auction.

Calling all yoga devotees! It’s the International Day of Yoga and your chance to learn more about this healthful life-affirming practice which is so highly regarded around the world.

“Pride was so powerful for many of us. We Bhangra’d and garba’d our way through the gay district of Chicago, Boystown.  Not only has it been 50 years since the riots at Stonewall, but it is the first pride for me after IPC 377 was overturned,”

They are summer’s dazzling foot soldiers – nothing can keep them down. Having lain dormant in the soil through winter, snow and deprivation, they rise and rise, showcasing their beauty and color.

There are several Indian-American chefs and restaurateurs shortlisted for the James Beard Foundation Awards – the Oscars of the food industry

RRR takes you back to when you were a kid and movies were the real deal, a magic potion where you were held totally captive by action, high drama, enchantment and raw emotions.

Children’s Hope India Celebrates Spring and Strong Women
Mona Sinha honored as CHI Woman of Distinction

Portrait of a mother – as this young artist, who is very close to me, has depicted in this art from the heart, may the flowers always bloom for you, the sun shine on you and your lives always be full of love. Roses, gifts, visits to the spa, jeweled baubles, lunches and dinners, lots of pampering – you deserve them all! A perennial post I love to share on Mother’s Day.

A perennial favorite that I like to share on Mother’s Day.

Mothers, Sons and Daughters…

To all the wonderful moms – Happy Mother’s Day! As this young artist, who is very close to me,  has depicted from the heart, may the flowers always bloom for you, the sun shine on you and your lives always be full of love. Roses, gifts, visits to the spa, jeweled baubles, lunches and dinners, lots of pampering – you deserve them all!

Sharing a wonderful video tribute to mothers by SNL’s Tina Fey!

The much-awaited New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) which is presented by the Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC)  – a must-see during the summer – is once again coming to town. This time, with the changing times, it is a hybrid model with films being shown by zoom and also in person.

It entailed a helicopter ride from Washington, secret service personnel and caused traffic jams in New York but in spite of all these hassles, the most powerful man in the world, President Barack Obama, still made it to a Broadway show, ‘Joe Turner’s Come and Gone’, right in the heart of Times Square. As he told reporters, “I am taking my wife to New York City because I promised her during the campaign that I would take her to a Broadway show after it was all finished.”

Such is the lure of Broadway, that all-American icon of theater!