Madhavpriyadasji Swami applauds role of 'Garavi Gujarat' in uniting the diaspora
Swamiji emphasised the importance of such platforms in maintaining connections to heritage
H H Madhavpriyadasji Swami's visit forms part of an ongoing engagement with diaspora communities
AMG
By Mahesh LiloriyaJun 12, 2025
His Holiness Shree Madhavpriyadasji Swami, spiritual head of the Gurukul Parivar – Shree Swaminarayan Gurukul Vishwavidya Pratishthanam (SGVP) – is currently on a spiritual tour of the United Kingdom. Recognised for his leadership in promoting values-based education and spiritual growth, Swamiji continues to inspire followers across the world.
During a visit to the Shri Kutch Satsang Swaminarayan Temple in Harrow, Swamiji was presented with a copy of Garavi Gujarat, a leading publication within the global Gujarati community. He acknowledged the publication’s longstanding efforts in preserving the cultural identity and heritage of Gujaratis living abroad.
Cultural evolution of the community with integrity and pride.AMG
Expressing his appreciation, Swamiji noted that Garavi Gujarat occupies a special place in the hearts of Gujaratis worldwide. He praised its commitment to reflecting the values, milestones, and cultural evolution of the community with integrity and pride.
Swamiji emphasised the importance of such platforms in maintaining connections to heritage, particularly for younger generations growing up outside India. “The paper plays a vital role in keeping our traditions and identity alive, especially for the younger generation growing up abroad,” he said.
His visit forms part of an ongoing engagement with diaspora communities, promoting unity, spirituality, and cultural continuity.
Lord Meghnad Desai, who has died, aged 85, was one of the most erudite members of the House of Lords. But he carried his scholarship lightly and with an engaging sense of humour.
The Times noted he turned 85 on 10 July, only 19 days before his death on 29 July.
He was known as a distinguished economist who had taught at the London School of Economics, where he remained an emeritus professor after his retirement, but his knowledge of Bollywood films was also impressive.
He admitted whistling songs from Guru Dutt movies in the corridors of the House of Lords.
His favourite song, he once said, when launching his autobiography, Rebellious Lord, was Mera Joota Hai Japani from the 1955 Raj Kapoor starrer, Shree 420.
That’s because deep down despite travelling and lecturing all over the world, he felt Indian, and the line that summed him up was, “phir bhi dil hai Hindustani”.
He had many books on economics and politics to his credit, among them Marx’s Revenge: The Resurgence of Capitalism and the Death of Statist Socialism, The Rediscovery of India, and The Poverty of Political Economy: How Economics Abandoned the Poor.
Desai (sixth from left) with Jo Johnson, Sajid Javid, Rami Ranger, David Cameron, Lady Kishwar Desai, guest statue sculptor Philip Jackson and Priti Patel
But he was also the author of Nehru's Hero: Dilip Kumar in the Life of India. He had a wide range of interests and also wrote a crime thriller, Dead on Time.
He was born in Baroda and had his early education in India, but though he had an enjoyable enough spell in America, he chose to settle in the UK because he felt his spiritual home was the LSE.
“I have been to more than 50 countries to give lectures,” he said. “In America, I could have earned much more money, but being at the LSE was much more fun. Because I’m interested in many things I can talk to people about what they are interested in. Basically, I like reading and writing. I’ve been to three countries I consider my own – US, UK and India. I think I belong to all three in some form or another. Everybody has been nice to me. I have had a lovely life.”
On one occasion he said his greatest achievement was possibly raising money for the statue of Mahatma Gandhi that went up in 2015 in Parliament Square, facing the Palace of Westminster and not far from that of Winston Churchill.
He said: “I would say that Gandhi is relevant not just to Indians or British Indians – he is relevant to everybody. Gandhi is universal and still relevant as an alternative way of launching a struggle in a century that has continued to have violence. It’s astonishing what he achieved. Indians born here (in the UK) may know of Gandhi from their parents but they would only know a stylised bit of Gandhi. If, as a result of this statue, they are inspired to explore Gandhi more thoroughly and read about his life and look at what he did, that will be great. I hope lots and lots of schools come to look at the Gandhi statue and people carry on teaching a bit more about Gandhi because he is a fascinating, very complex character. You can criticise him quite a lot and there are a lot of critics there but on balance he is the most unique person of the 20th century.
Desai during the Mahatma Gandhi anniversary in Parliament Square on October 2, 2019
“Attenborough’s movie is a remarkable classic movie – the movie that more than anything else introduced Gandhi to the world. More people have learnt about Gandhi from the movie, especially people outside India, than anything else. Attenborough’s movie made Gandhi a much more known person round the world for a new generation. I don’t think any Indian would have been allowed to make a movie like that given the restrictions that the Indian government places on film making. You see they only want hagiographies.”
In Rebellious Lord, his autobiography published in 2020, he explained why he did not always do well in exams in India: “One of my problems was that I could not give the standard answer which was what got you the marks. I deviated from the straight and narrow and showed off my reading or tried some jokes. None of this helps you in an Indian examination where you have to display memory and rote learning.”
He said that “in early January 2004, I was at my desk in the House of Lords when I got a call. The call was from Delhi, asking me if I would accept the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, awarded to an expatriate Indian. I said, of course, I would. They must have thought that being left-wing, I might publicly refuse to accept an honour from a BJP-led coalition government, but any government elected by the Indian people was acceptable to me.
“So it was that within a couple of days, I was off to Delhi to receive my award. When I met Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, I was in for a pleasant surprise. After he gave me the award, I asked him, ‘Why did you choose me? I have criticised you so much.’ As in any conversation with that marvellous man, there was no immediate response. Then he smiled and said, ‘You criticise everybody.’ That reply made me happy, as I was particular about my non-partial standpoint.”
One of the abiding friendships he made while at Berkeley in America was with fellow economist Amartya Sen, who was later to win the Nobel Prize.
“I was 24 and he was 31,” recalled Desai. “I had, of course, heard his name while I was a student in Bombay. People talked about this young Indian whom his Cambridge teachers – Joan Robinson and Nicholas Kaldor, authors whose books we read – were praising very highly. Amartya was visiting Berkeley in my second year. I went to hear him at a seminar he was giving in the economics department. The original venue was too small for all the people who had come to listen so it was moved to a much larger hall on the campus. I was thrilled when I heard him speak. The topic was about peasant behaviour in developing countries. It was technical but also full of insights into the political economy of the problem. Dale Jorgenson played the part of the acerbic critic and Amartya stood up to him easily. We met up afterwards and then many times during the year he was there. Amartya was there with (his then wife) Nabaneeta, who had a literary background and became a famous Bengali author subsequently. We got on very well and have done so ever since.
“Amartya is a great person. I guess he is my longest acquaintance among Indian economists, because I met Amartya in Berkeley in 1964. He’s a nice man, a very nice man. I think I think he’s slightly cross with me because I’m much softer on (Narendra) Modi than he is. But then you know, I’m me. And he is he. But I don’t think those things are serious for either.”
Desai had three children with his first wife, Gail Wilson, an LSE colleague whom he married in 1970. He met his second wife, Kishwar Ahluwalia, a literary editor, in India when he was working on the Dilip Kumar biography, The couple married in London in 2004.
Desai with Amartya Sen (right)
Desai has talked of his love of Bollywood films.
“I began to be taken to see movies at the age of four,” he said. “I could never understand people who try to intellectualise films. All the critics who wrote about films intellectually hated Hindi films. And I loved them. To this day I love ordinary, commercial Hindi films. I like Guru Dutt because he made commercial films which had content.
“The thing about Guru Dutt is he is thought to be one of those amazing art film directors because most people have only seen Kaagaz Ke Phool. I myself did not like it very much. I still don’t. I think it is a badly made film, very, very confused.
“When he started Guru Dutt had a slight racy reputation. When he appeared in Aar Paar as a hero, the Times of India wrote a very angry review that he was bringing values down, singing love songs in a dingy garage with a heroine. There was Guru Dutt putting forward as hero a car repair man who had been a criminal. People were shocked that the hero was no longer a noble hero.
“He made Mrs & Mrs 55 which is a fantastic film. He actually discovered that Madhubala had a flair for comedy.
“In Mrs & Mrs 55 – I remember seeing it at the National Film Theatre in London –there is a little episode where Kumkum, who plays the hero’s sister-in-law, tells this girl Madhubala that, yes her husband beats her up but that’s not bad, you know, husband do beat up wives – you could see the frisson of disappointment in all the trendies who had come to see the great Guru Dutt. They hadn’t realised he was very much a conservative.
“Then, he made Pyaasa – and Pyaasa just hit me like a ton of bricks. It was basically Devdas, made beautifully, written by Abrar Alvi, music by S D Burman, that redeemed his reputation as a serious film maker.
“Then Chaudhvin Ka Chand is another absolutely fantastic film. It is one of the greatest ‘Muslim socials’ ever, something an entire Muslim family could see.
“Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam is another great film – wow! What a beautiful, beautiful film, made with great understanding of Bengali society. He trained with Uday Shankar, the dancer, in Calcutta. He married Geeta Roy who became Geeta Dutt. He was a man of great sensitivity.
“I was at Ramnarain Ruia College in Matuna, studying BA economics. I can tell you Aar Paar in 1954 made an impact absolutely. Once you have experienced life, you become a bit cynical and you can distance yourself whereas, when you are young, films have an immediate impact on your sexual and ethical consciousness. I am a fan of all Hindi films of the 1940s and 1950s. I am an Indian until the 1950s and then later I came to England and eventually became a ‘Brit’.
“One day I will write a story about the cinema houses I frequented in Bombay: Arora at King’s Circle; Chitra and Broadway near Dadar; and Surya and Bharat Mata near Parel. I still believe, not because I was young then, that that was the golden age of Hindi cinema.”
Desai with wife Kishwar
Desai has made many speeches in the House of Lords, which he joined in 1991, the first Asian man to be given a peerage in contemporary times. He was then a member of the Labour party.
In his maiden speech on 19 June 1991, he spoke of the decline of British manufacturing: “I well recall that as a child I thought that it was axiomatic that British manufacturing was the best. Of course, I learned the lesson under somewhat advantageous circumstances for British manufacturers, for in those days Japanese or German manufacturers were synonyms for shoddy goods. I never thought then that I should rise so many years later on my first occasion in this House to speak on the manufacturing industry in this country.”
He switched to education: “I was surprised when I first heard many years ago before I touched the shores of this country that there is widespread here a kind of contempt for education, a glorification of the untaught genius—someone who cannot read a book but who can innovate. If that was ever true, that time is past. Innovation is no longer the privilege of the single, lonely person. It is a corporate activity which requires sustained investment in high-powered scientific and technical knowledge.
“We must raise the general level of education and knowledge in this country and continue to invest in the education and training of everyone from age five onwards. We must not drop people at 16 or 19. Let us make sure that there is no conflict between basic research and applied research. Basic research is extremely important to innovation. There is no false dichotomy between basic science and applied science. Unless we invest much more in education—primary, secondary and tertiary—and in research and development, we shall not be able to have the sustained foundation that we require for manufacturing.”
Last year he spoke in the Lords about the Palestinian problem: “The Israel- Palestine problem, or the Israel-Hamas problem, did not start in October 2023; it started in November 1917, and we still have it. Some here may remember Arthur Koestler, who was a communist and then became an ex-communist and was one of the few people who worked on a kibbutz in the 1920s. He said that: ‘One nation solemnly promised to a second nation the country of a third.’
“That was very much the message. Before Palestine had fallen from the Ottoman Empire, it was signed over to welcome Jews from all over Europe and America to come and make a nation.
“It is a fact—I have been reading lots of books about this—that at no stage did we say that the Palestinians had any claim on the territory where they had been living for several centuries. That is the dilemma: two communities of very ancient origin can claim, truthfully and simultaneously, that it is their country and no one else’s. It has taken 100 years to prove who is right, and neither group is. We have to solve this problem because for a long time, not just since October 2023, there has been a lot of killing and damage done to both communities, carried out with a passion that is quite surprising. Obviously, being an atheist, I blame religion for this. The children of Abraham have quarrelled with each other now for about 2,000 years. After all, anti-Semitism was not invented recently; it was invented by the Christians, and the rest we know.
Desai said, “Everybody has been nice to me. I have had a lovely life.”
“We need to think about how to stop the Israel-Palestine war right now, as soon as possible, and then about how to rehouse the refugees scattered throughout Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and all those places, as well as people who are being thrown out of Gaza, the West Bank and everywhere else.”
His voice will be missed not only in the Lords but the wider British Asian community where he was a familiar figure at book launches and political and cultural functions.
Desai said he has never faced racism: “Everybody has been nice to me. I have had a lovely life.”
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10 iconic Ozzy Osbourne songs that prove legends never really die
Ozzy Osbourne didn’t come into music to chase fame or play safe. He arrived like a storm, scraping his voice against the sky, dragging darkness and vulnerability into sound, and setting fire to what rock thought it was. He was messy, wild, broken, brilliant, and in that chaos, he changed everything.
With Ozzy, it wasn’t just the bat bite or the reality show or the outrageous headlines. It was the sound, the howl in your chest when War Pigs starts. The goosebumps from the first haunted notes of Mr. Crowley. The punch of recognition when Crazy Train hits the chorus. His songs crawled into your head, grabbed your guts, and shook you. It was the sound of being lost, pissed off, scared, high, in love, and staring into the damn void, sometimes all at once. He gave misfits an anthem, outcasts a home, and music a pulse that refused to die.
This isn’t just a list of songs. It’s a map of what made Ozzy Ozzy. Here are 10 recordings that turned a Birmingham dropout into a goddamn legend.
1.Black Sabbath (1970)
The day metal was born.
That first unholy riff. Church bells. Thunder. And Ozzy’s voice, terrified and terrifying. “What is this that stands before me?” he asked, and no one had heard anything like it before. This was heavy metal being born, screaming into the Birmingham gloom. And it marked the start of something new and unstoppable.
Forget subtlety. Ozzy spat venom at the suits sending kids to die: "Politicians hide themselves away! They only started the war!". It was a scream against war, greed, and lies. Every time this plays at a protest or blares through headphones, it reminds us that metal could tear down empires.
Kids who never listened to Sabbath still know that riff. The story of a time-travelling metal outcast? Bizarre. Genius. Ozzy narrated it like a tragic ghost story. But underneath it all is Ozzy, telling the story of someone broken by time and turned into steel. It crawled out of the metal dungeon and infected everything. Pop culture never stood a chance. Sad, scary, unforgettable.
He got kicked out of Sabbath. He could’ve disappeared. Instead, he teamed up with Randy Rhoads and came back louder, faster, and fully unhinged. Ozzy’s "All Aboard!" wasn't an invitation; it was a threat. "I'm going off the rails!" Cold War dread met a chorus that punched you in the chest. His solo roar back. The sound of a madman finding his power.
That creepy organ. Ozzy whispering about dead talk and dark arts. Then Randy Rhoads… oh, man, RANDY. That first solo was pure mournful beauty. Then the second one? Like demons shredding through the ceiling. Pure dark magic. He’s not mocking the dark; in fact, he’s inviting it in for tea.
This is Ozzy at his most raw. A drug song that doesn’t glamorise anything. It’s bleak, slow, and numb. When he says, “I feel the snowflakes freezing me,” it’s not poetry; it’s what addiction felt like. Ozzy admitted the drug didn’t set him free; it froze him. That honesty hit hard then and still does now. You’re not dancing to this; you’re sinking with it.
He was the Prince of Darkness, sure. But this ballad, co-written with Lemmy, stripped away the theatrics. Ozzy got personal. A soft acoustic start leads into a powerful, aching ballad about love, loss, and coming back. When Ozzy sang it in Birmingham weeks before he died, seated and fragile, there wasn’t a dry eye in the crowd. Hits harder now, doesn't it?
Before Slayer or Metallica, there was this. Raw speed, wild drumming, and Ozzy pushing every boundary. He wasn’t trying to invent a genre. He just did. Ozzy’s voice is chaos controlled, shouting about cosmic love while the band races like it’s chasing the end of the world.
The original version was about divorce. The re-recorded one, done with his daughter, was about something bigger. Time. Ageing. Loss. This wasn’t just a duet; it was a father and daughter grappling with growing up and letting go. The original was sad. The re-recording was devastating. And it gave Ozzy his only UK #1. Ozzy’s voice cracks, Kelly tries to hold it together, and the result is oddly pure. It’s not perfect. And maybe that’s why it works.
10.Take What You Want (Post Malone feat. Ozzy, 2019)
The voice that wouldn’t quit.
At 70, Ozzy landed on the rap charts. Ozzy jumped on a trap-metal track and made it his own. He sounded ghostly, powerful, and weirdly perfect: "I’m the nightmare you won’t forget!". Teenagers who’d never heard Paranoid suddenly wanted more Ozzy. That says everything.
Ozzy didn’t leave this world quietly. He left it the way he lived: loud, raw, and unforgettable. His music was the sound of someone staring into darkness, chaos, and the terrifying beauty of life and screaming back with everything he had.
When Ozzy sang Mama, I’m Coming Home one last time in Birmingham, he wasn’t just saying goodbye to a crowd; he was saying goodbye to his own story.
Ozzy Osbourne, the godfather of heavy metal, redefined rock with his haunting vocals, wild persona, and anthems that shaped generations.Getty Images
The thing is, he didn’t play by this world’s rules. But for 50 years, he gave us everything he had.
BASHABI FRASER tells me she flew from her home in Edinburgh, where she has long been an academic working on the poet Rabindranath Tagore, to Kolkata to be with her “critically ill” father Bimalendu Bhattacharya (whom I have met on one of his annual trips to be with his daughter in Scotland).
But Bashabi returned home for a few days for the unveiling of a Tagore bust in Edinburgh, which has long been one of her ambitions. Following the unveiling of the bust in the garden of Sandeman House near Edinburgh’s historic Royal Mile, Bashabi went back to Kolkata to be with her 96-year-old father.
Bashabi Fraser with the new Tagore bust in Edinburgh
Tagore’s bust has been placed facing that of his longtime friend, Sir Patrick Geddes, a Scottish biologist turned innovative town planner.
Edinburgh University has published a book on the correspondence between Tagore and Geddes, who held the chair of sociology at the University of Bombay from 1919 to 1924. Bashabi, who is professor emerita of English and Creative Writing at Edinburgh Napier University, compiled and edited the correspondence.
The Tagore bust, sculpted by Ram V Sutar, was gifted by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations to the Scottish Centre of Tagore Studies, where Bashabi is director. It was unveiled by Indian high commissioner Vikram Doraiswami and Lord Provost of Glasgow Robert Aldridge.
Singer-actor behind viral hit Sadqay reflects on his breakout year
New track Dheema Dheema hits 170K views in just two weeks
Opens up about juggling acting and songwriting, and his 2025 plans
Stresses importance of enjoying the process and learning from early mistakes
Draws inspiration from iconic Pakistani music and Punjabi roots
From viral sensation to balancing dual careers
The young artist behind the runaway hit Sadqay, which has now clocked over 44 million views, says the song’s success took him completely by surprise. “We had no idea it would go global,” he shared in a candid conversation, adding that while he always believed in the track, the scale of its reception was “overwhelming”.
What followed was a year of fast-moving highs, with growing recognition both within his home country and internationally. “You work towards something, and when it happens, you almost don’t know how to react.”
- YouTube YouTube/ EasternEye
A lighter, dance-driven follow-up: 'Dheema Dheema'
His latest release, Dheema Dheema, has already picked up over 170,000 views within two weeks. In contrast to his more emotionally resonant previous work, the artist describes this new song as “pure vibe” — a carefree, dancey track born out of an in-studio jam session with friends.
“After doing a string of love songs post-Sadqay, I felt like going back to that Afrobeat-inspired, danceable sound,” he said. “This track gave me the chance to actually dance in a music video, which I really wanted to do.”
Writing music vs. acting: which feels more fulfilling?
Having grown up in front of the camera, transitioning into music might seem like a leap, but he sees both worlds as creatively rewarding. However, he admits that songwriting offers a different kind of fulfilment.
“With acting, you’re relying on the director, the edit, the audience’s perception. Music is more personal. When you write a song and get it right, you already feel like you’ve won,” he said.
Navigating fame, pressure, and shared responsibility
When asked whether he feels the weight of representing young South Asian creatives, he responded humbly: “If I were the only one, maybe I would. But the burden is shared. Artists like Hassan Rahim and Young Stunners are doing amazing work. That makes it lighter.”
He credits the current wave of South Asian talent for building a sense of community, rather than competition.
Looking ahead: acting projects, music collaborations, and live shows
With a busy 2025 already underway, the artist shared that he’s learning to balance both acting and music. A television drama featuring him is set to release next month, alongside plans for new music collaborations.
He also teased a full live show season later this year, with performances lined up for November and December, marking what could be his first proper tour in his home country.
Offstage, grounded and reflective
When asked what fans might not know about him, he pointed to a key lesson he’s learned the hard way: “Don’t take too much stress too early. It affects your decisions and journey. You need to enjoy what you’re doing — that joy is what others feel too.”
He also shared his deep connection with old Pakistani music, citing classics like Adat by Atif Aslam and Aitebar by Vital Signs as favourites. “Those songs shaped my sound,” he said, adding that he draws heavily from Punjabi influences as well.
A poignant evening unfolded at The Chambers, Taj 51 Buckingham Gate, where storytelling met soul-searching in an unforgettable conversation between Bollywood icon Manisha Koirala and creative visionary Manish Tiwari. Hosted by Here & Now 365, the event wasn't just a rendezvous of film lovers and cultural figures; it was a moment of collective pause, reflection, and renewed strength.
Actress, activist, and cancer survivor Manisha Koirala’s presence radiated both dignity and depth. Her journey, marked by painful valleys and soaring recoveries, became a guiding light for everyone in the room.
“Resilience isn’t a heroic burst,” Manisha said softly, “it’s a series of small choices, made moment by moment.”
These words captured the essence of a woman who had once faced death and emerged with more life than ever before. Her candid recounting of her diagnosis, treatment, and emotional tumult was far from a scripted memoir; it was raw, real, and quietly transformative. “When the doctor told me I had ovarian cancer, I thought, ‘This is it. I’m going to die.” The room fell into an uneasy silence, broken only by her own calm voice. “But by the grace of God, I didn’t. I learned to live again.”
Now cancer-free for over a decade, Manisha wears her scars not as symbols of suffering, but of survival. “Cancer taught me how fragile life is, and how full of grace it can still be.” Her message to the community was loud and clear: take nothing for granted, guard your health, value your people, and embrace life… not with fear, but with fullness.
A life shaped by legacy and loss
Manish Tiwari opened the conversation by tracing her journey from Nepal, born into the influential Koirala family, known for producing four Prime Ministers, to the dazzling heights of Indian cinema. Raised partly in Banaras, partly in Kathmandu, Manisha’s early life was woven with politics, activism, and cultural richness. But the cinematic leap came unexpectedly. “I hadn’t even finished Class 12,” she laughed, “and suddenly I was standing next to Dilip Kumar and Raj Kumar on a film set!”
She described her debut with wide-eyed wonder, calling it “Alice in Wonderland… but scarier.” Though she had no background in acting, her performances quickly earned critical and commercial success. Yet fame, she said, was only one layer of the journey. “I burned out. I was working 18 to 19 hours a day… no holidays, no boundaries. Slowly, I started making bad films. I lost direction.”
When stardom faded, the soul spoke louder
And then came her diagnosis. “It shattered my world,” she admitted. From being the darling of millions to lying in a New York hospital, confronting her mortality, the fall was brutal. But the rise was even more beautiful. Her account of choosing life again of surrendering, healing, and seeking purpose, brought moist eyes and standing applause.
Throughout the talk, she emphasised how the real journey began after her illness. “I’m a Koirala woman — strong, stubborn, a little rebellious. Our women worked the fields and shaped history. That fire is in my blood.” She spoke about feminism, finding meaning in the roles she played, and how her heart sought characters that carried purpose.
“Even if the film didn’t do well, it didn’t matter. If the script opened my eyes, if it moved something in me, that’s what I lived for.”
For the soul, not the spotlight
She admitted to hitting rock bottom, professionally and personally, and spoke of rebuilding her identity from “minus and zero”. But never once did she sound bitter. Instead, there was acceptance. Grace.
Manisha also touched on Nepal’s political instability with cautious honesty. “I love my country deeply. But I worry- there’s a longing for dignity, for stability. We need to rebuild institutions, not just governments.”
A masterclass in living
The audience, a mix of diaspora professionals, art lovers, and well-wishers, sat rapt. They didn’t just meet a film star that evening. They met a truth-teller, a woman who had faced darkness and brought back light.
Her final takeaway? “Life is here today and gone tomorrow. So live it — fully, bravely, kindly.”