Author: Lavina Melwani

Our Communities  Diwali Prelude: Chants, Caring and Community Every evening in New York is different. This one was a harbinger of the Diwali to come with joy in community. The waiting audience saw flickering candles and Indian musical instruments on the floor. This evening at Asia Society was organized by Anu Sehgal of The Culture Tree, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, and centered around community, beautiful chants by Grammy winner Chandrika Tandon, and an unopened lotus. The Honorable Shekar Krishnan, New York City Council member for District 25, gave the keynote speech. He is the first Indian American…

Mayor Zohran Mamdani celebrates Durga Puja in New York New York Diary New York City is a place of many faiths and the fervor and beauty of Durga Puja spills out from hearts and homes to temples and streets, and now New York’s mayor, Zohran Kwame Mamdani, has also joined in to make it truly a New York festival where everyone knows the joy of celebrating Ma Durga. Here delightful photos from his participation in a Durga puja ceremony at Om Shakti Temple in Queens on Tuesday, October 20, 2026. You see members of the Bengali community dressed in their…

Kavery Kaul’s The Bengali is Every Immigrant’s Story Under Our Sun – Sharing our Stories. You. Me. They. We immigrants each have a story and the further back we venture into our histories, the more surprising the revelations there are, almost like the layers of an onion. Award-winning documentary filmmaker Kavery Kaul’s latest film is The Bengali, and it keeps you intrigued, glued to your seat, almost as if it were a mystery adventure. We follow Fatima Shaik, an unsmiling African-American writer from America traveling to India on an impossible quest: a journey to find the past of her dead…

Our Communities: Sarina Jain – Celebrating Joy and Fitness through Masala Bhangra There was a time when Bhangra, a folk dance of rural Punjab, was hardly known in America. Immigrants loved it but in the 70’s, many were shy of doing it in public places or drawing attention to it in mainstream America. Along came Sarina Jain, born and brought up in America and not a Punjabi, who not only made it a touchstone for young Indians as well as for mainstream Americans by unleashing a fitness frenzy using this village dance as the vehicle. Masala Bhangra practiced first in…

CHI Gala Celebrates Education, Caring and Community in New York Even in this age of AI, it all begins with the written word. At its gala this month CHI celebrated the future of our children with the power of the written word. You’ll rarely find books at a gala, but the evening was a tribute to education and the power it has to enrich the potential of every child. There were stacks of beautiful books on the stage, on the elegant dinner tables and there was an actual stem and robotic display set up in the cocktail area, along with…

New York Diary 25 Years Later, Thinking about 9/11 9/11. It’s hard to believe but 25 years have passed since the horrific day the world seemed to end. It was a day few of us can forget, the fabric of nightmares. Just a few days back I was on the East River waterfront. I always tend to look at the sky during my walks, and this made me catch my breath. It was a perfectly nice summer day yet there were rain clouds in the sky. To me the ominous dark clouds reminded me of the billowing black smoke and…

How Far Would You Go for Love? How far would you go for love? How about 6000 miles, from India to Sweden, cycling alone through rough and unknown countries on a ramshackle bike, with no money in your pockets, just longing to unite with the one you love? In a world of AI and fake news, it’s refreshing to see and hear a real love story and actually meet the couple who conquered impossible caste and race differences, and financial barriers to live happily ever after. ‘The Cycle of Life’ is a love story/documentary/adventure which will keep you in your…

New York Diary       India @80 – A Massive Celebration of Independence   It was a pilgrimage of sorts, a journey of the heart.  They came by car and by train, by bus and ferry from the tri-state area. New Delhi is very far from New York, but hundreds of Indian-Americans turned up at 8 am on August 15 to salute the tricolor they had grown up with and loved since they were children. August 15 was always a joyful day in India, no matter which corner of the country you were in. You watched the magnificent parade…

  New York Diary NBA’s Larry O’ Brien Trophy Unveiled at the American Museum of Natural History After the Knicks spectacular victory, New York is definitely Knicks Country, with great excitement even among the non-sports fans who don’t know the first thing about basketball! There’s an increased sense of community and shared ownership, of pride in New York. And so, at New York’s iconic American Museum of Natural History, there was a coronation of sorts, an unveiling of NBA’s Larry O’ Brien Trophy, first to the press and then to the general public. The Larry O’Brien Trophy is owned by…

    JLF Spotlight: Are Immigrant Writers the Outsiders in America?   While the Jaipur Literary Festival USA happens only once a year, a new initiative now brings the JLF to New York every month in a special reading series. This is the start of year-round literary salons that will bring together readers and new and noted authors. This reading series had its inaugural in Dumbo, Brooklyn at the cozy Fontainhas which is named for the famous Latin Quarter in Goa, India.  It is a natural gathering place for young South Asian-Americans with its desi-inspired vibes and eats like Bhel…

  New York Diary  A Mountain of Books for Book lovers at Jaipur Lit Festival USA If you can’t get to the iconic Jaipur Literary Festival in India, the festival is coming to you! Like a traveling caravan, the writers, poets and dreamers of JLF are crossing continents to various parts of America, bringing exciting new fiction and nonfiction to readers.  Last month at the SreeRoopa Salon – Sanjoy K. Roy, Suraj Dhingra and their team announced the tenth JLF USA. Registrations are now open 29 – 30 September 2026 for JLF New York   Jaipur Literary Festival USA Schedule…

  New York Specialty Food Show Sense-Maxes Flavors, Heat and Spice For the American Consumer  The 2026 Summer Fancy Food Show from the Specialty Food Association (SFA)  brought thousands of specialty food innovators, buyers and distributors for three days in June. This massive event at New York’s Jacob Javits Center was almost a graph of the changing tastes of the American food consumer, celebrating the current hot trends of ethnic tastes, spices and global flavors along with a demand for healthy and organic foods. According to Fancy Forecast Specialty Consumer Outlook 2026 from SFA, the 2026 trend is sense-maxxin: “Sense-Maxxing…

I came to the US in the 80’s, as an immigrant via India, Hong Kong and Africa, and landed in Astoria, a gritty Greek neighborhood in Queens. I fell in love with the prosaic neighborhood with its heart of gold, and it was here that I discovered my own private America.The part which never fails to amaze me is that when I take the N subway from Manhattan to Astoria – glancing at my fellow passengers I see a virtual United Nations – Latinos, Chinese, South Asians, Blacks, whites all wedged together, sitting side by side on the Great American Journey. If Lady Liberty was to see them, she would definitely shed a tear – because this is exactly what America is all about. And on this day after the Fourth of July, with the firecrackers still ringing in our ears – we can say amen to that.

    The Michelin-starred Musaafer bursts onto the New York Fine Dining Firmament  Meet Musaafer’s Fabulist Food Narrators Mithu and Shammi Malik   By Lavina Melwani   Musaafer, the Michelin starred restaurant, is a noted marker of Indian culture and cuisine right in the midst of bustling New York City. It’s like traveling in a time machine to an ornate palace where an authentic feast from many regions of India awaits you – if only you could get a reservation!  Since its opening, diners have been lining up for the unique ambiance and tastes. As one who has been there,…

Yoga and Yogis Take over Times Square Have you ever laid yourself down in the middle of bustling Times Square with traffic flowing furiously all around you? Well, I have!  Lying flat on the ground, looking up at the swirling clouds, the towering skyscrapers, and giant billboards above me, it was truly surreal. Normally this kind of behavior could get you arrested!  But on Sunday it was all legit – even the cops were smiling! This was because Times Square was in the midst of its annual yoga fever, and thousands of people had come to indulge, to participate, and…

Op Ed: India Asks: Will You Return Home Via PMRC?  By Adil Zainulbhai “What PMRC is asking is whether the people who trained in India, built careers abroad, and carried that question about contribution somewhere in the back of their minds are ready to do something about it. Not someday. Now, while the window is open and the positions are real.” The Prime Minister Research Chair (PMRC) Scheme, launched this month by the Ministry of Education, is asking questions about age-old dilemmas and answering with possible solutions. India has spent decades watching its best scientific minds build careers abroad. It…

THE NEW YORK KNICKS ARE NBA CHAMPIONS! New Yorkers are feeling united and unbeatable due to the new NBA Champions – the New York Knicks! “THE NEW YORK KNICKS ARE NBA CHAMPIONS! Yes, you read that right. The Knicks just won their first NBA championship since 1973!1973.That’s 34 years before the iPhone was invented! Richard Nixon was president the last time the Knicks won a championship! (I barely even know who that is!)Anyway, you get it. It’s been a long time. Knicks fans have suffered long enough, and the wait is finally over!Shoutout to Jalen Brunson for saving the franchise.”-…

    New York Diary Meet the Amazing Queen Behind ‘The Lion King’ – A True Fan Moment!   Sometimes you meet a genuine celebrity when you least expect it – among the nameless crowd in the push and tumble of a packed theater foyer. Julie Taymor is the Queen behind the magnificent Lion King which continues to draw audiences to Broadway. She is the Academy Award nominated and Emmy and Tony Award winning director whose productions range from musicals and Shakespeare plays to classical operas and films. We have all seen The Lion King and her creativity and magic…

New York Diary Jack Kennedy Schlossberg Meets and Greets Desis Believe in Something Again Yes, there’s another idealistic young changemaker from Camelot and his name is Jack too. Like his iconic grandfather, JFK, he too wants to bring about change in troubled times. Jack Schlossberg, son of Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg and Edwin Schlossberg, is running for Congress in the Democratic Primary. Recently, long time New Yorkers Aroon and Indur Shivdasani had a Meet and Greet for him in their Upper East Side townhouse for about 60 of their friends. Meet and Greet for Jack SchlossbergMeet and Greet for Jack Schlossberg…

  New York Diary The Sa Dancers RISE Again In A Strong Performance. Some things just get better with age. The Sa Dancers are one of them. Started in 2008 by Payal Kadakia Pujji, the Sa Dance Company came at a time when Indian immigrants and their children were still finding their bearings, long before all things Indian become cool.  Payal, a spunky Indian-American brought contemporary Indian dance to the stage, often in mainstream settings. It celebrated all movements Indian from classical to folk to Bollywood and helped give them a space in the American landscape. I had last written…