Biba Singh combines two worlds – medicine and music. Yes, this Punjabi pop singer is also a doctor! The daughter of a physician, Biba, who lives in New York, has been singing since the age of 7, and first started out singing shabad in the gurudwara. She has two albums of popular music and is hugely popular. Here she talks to Monica Marwah for the Single Desi blog on pop music, careers, and the single life.
Guest Blog

She’s a captain in the US Military, has served in the war-torn hell-hole of Iraq and been awarded several honors, including the Bronze Star – but she has never fired a shot. She was in the combat zones of Northern Iraq for 12 months, surrounded by the cacophony of bombs and mortar attacks – yet she has never carried a gun.

She says simply, “My defense is God.”

Meet Pratima Dharm, 42, the first-ever Hindu Chaplain in the US Army. She has served five years in the US army, has been deployed in Iraq and gone wherever her soldiers have gone. While they have safeguarded the country, she has safeguarded their souls, offering them spiritual strength in tough situations.

“I have to say that I was very blessed as a child as I grew up in a family that was blessed with great cooks! My dad is amazing at making meat based dishes, my mother – I think she should be called the Vegetable Whisperer – has a delightful way with vegetables and pretty much my entire extended family either cooks well or knows where to take you for a great meal!

My fondest memory as a child is sitting in the kitchen with my dad and watching him cook his legendary butter chicken. Not only did I know the dish would turn out amazing (it always did) but it was a time for us to connect and talk about his world travels. I adored listening to his stories and was thrilled whenever he would make this dish as it meant he would be in a mood (and have time) to talk!”
Monica Bhide chats with the Single Desi on Food, Family – and recipes for the perfect date!

Assemblyman Upendra J. Chivukula of New Jersey is very much a people’s man, rubbing shoulders with the person on the street and well aware of the difficulties the middle-class faces. He’s been there and he’s walked in those shoes. He is running for US Congress from New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District but he’s come up the hard way and understands the concerns of his constituents.

He was born a continent away in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh in a lower middle-class family. He and his five siblings, parents and grandmother lived in a mud hut with thatched roof without electricity where schoolwork had to be done outdoors under the street lights, and life had to be lived on a fixed income. The family even moved to Chennai in search of work.

“My father held many jobs including that of cashier and teacher and was a very honest man who taught us good values,” recalls Chivukula. “My mother was a music teacher, teaching classic Karnataka music and she played the veena. We still have the veena back home and when I visit her, I see that she is still singing. She is 83 years old and I wish I had the gift and talent that she has!”

Maneet Ahuja, 27, certainly knows a thing or two about hedge funds. In fact, she is CNBC’s hedge fund specialist and a producer on Squawk Box, the noted morning program for the business world.
“The level of coverage we’ve developed for hedge funds did not exist in any business news TV outlet,” she says. “Our viewers definitely want to hear what these hedge fund managers have to say. They guide the smart money, and we’ve been able to carve out a niche for ourselves in an industry that wasn’t previously covered.”

The world knows of Dropbox, which is estimated to be a $ 5 billion company but few know that its genesis happened at Y Combinator, an incubator of start-ups which also nurtured the $1. 3 billion Airbnb.
“Y Combinator has become the central place to see where the next huge companies will be born and this makes it tremendously exciting to be a part of,” says Harj Taggar, 29, who is part of the core team at Y Combinator.

Since 2005 Y combinator has funded over 380 startups, including Reddit, Scribd, Disqus, Dropbox, ZumoDrive, Justin.tv, Posterous, Airbnb, Heyzap, Cloudkick, DailyBooth, WePay, Bump, Stripe, AeroFS, and Hipmunk.It has been called the most prestigious program for budding entrepreneurs and has created an entirely new method of funding early stage startups.

Salman Khan is moving to New York! Uh-oh, before you get over-excited, I’d better add it’s the waxwork Salman Khan that is moving to Times Square, New York, joining his buddies Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan in the Bollywood Zone set up in Madame Tussauds famous atelier.

One has to say, it’s about time! After all, Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has such a fevered fan following across the world and his latest film Bodyguard is the second highest grossing Bollywood film of all time.

The grand unveiling of the Salman Khan figure is on August 2 and fans should catch him while they can, as this waxwork is on loan from the London Madame Tussauds and will surely add punch to the Bollywood zone which has the other two biggies, Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan. Two lucky Lassi with Lavina readers can win tickets to see their hero in the wax-flesh.

What can be more American than the motels which dot the vast expanse of America? They are a part of the road journeys which almost every American takes, the summer vacation memories that are part of the collective experience of the nation. Small mom and pop places, bigger franchises of known names and of course upscale hotels – and often they have an Indian-American connection. It is a well-known fact that Indian-Americans are very dominant in the hospitality industry in the US. In his new book ‘Life Beyond the Lobby’ , Pawan Dhingra explores the Indian hand in these rest stops which we all are so familiar with.

Can’t get to South Beach? Come to the next best thing – Children’s Hope India’s much anticipated annual Spring Lunch – Miami Beat! Over 250 women are expected at this fun event poolside at the beautiful Crest Hollow Country Club in Long Island. Ranjana Khan, the noted designer, will be honored as Woman of Distinction for having achieved success and balanced the worlds of work and family perfectly.

What better insurance for a home’s peace and prosperity than installing an image of Ganesha or Buddha within it? For the spiritually inclined and the stylish, jewelry designer Amrita Singh has introduced a home collection line which includes some beautiful icons for the home. Singh who was recently in Bali, came back inspired by the sheer joy of having a touch of spirituality in one’s home.