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Sujata Assomull
London-based Divya Lalvanis tells Sujata Assomull about her love for food, yoga, and meeting Princess Diana.
Divya Lalvani is the daughter of two of London's most prominent NRIs. Her mother is Vimla Lalvani, a well known yoga trainer whose clients include actress Joan Collins and model Jerry Hall; and her father is Gulu Lalvani, who besides running Binatone, one of UK's most successful companies, was also rumoured to have dated Princess Diana at one point. And now, 22-year-old Divya is trying to make her own mark in the world of catering.
Divya, who has featured in Hello! magazine, is fairly well known face in London's high Society. And though she enjoys going out with her friends, Divya spent a lot of time last year on food. Her mother is from Hawaii's best known Indian families, the Watumalls, and so she grew up eating a lot of Japanese food. But when she came back to England, she found that most Japanese restaurants were too expensive to frequent on a regular basis. And decided to London-based Divya Lalvanis tells Sujata Assomull about her love for food, yoga, and meeting Princess Diana.
Divya Lalvani is the daughter of two of London's most prominent NRIs. Her mother is Vimla Lalvani, a well known yoga trainer whose clients include actress Joan Collins and model Jerry Hall; and her father is Gulu Lalvani, who besides running Binatone, one of UK's most successful companies, was also rumoured to have dated Princess Diana at one point. And now, 22-year-old Divya is trying to make her own mark in the world of catering.
Divya, who has featured in Hello! magazine, is fairly well known face in London's high Society. And though she enjoys going out with her friends, Divya spent a lot of time last year on food. Her mother is from Hawaii's best known Indian families, the Watumalls, and so she grew up eating a lot of Japanese food. But when she came back to England, she found that most Japanese restaurants were too expensive to frequent on a regular basis. And decided tobring her own favourite food to London.
Divya worked in restaurants while studying her bachelors in Boston. And later spent a year working with her cousin (Bina Ramanis daughter) on a food show she produces in New York. "I enjoyed working, and it was a great way to earn extra cash," she says, convinced that she now has good foundation in the business. And it made her determined to open an Oriental cafe that appealed to the young professional crowd. But when she returned to England, both she and her dad decided she still needed further training.
So she is now a management trainee at Pret a Manger, one of Englands most popular eating joints with office-goers. In the evening she runs Bonsai, her home catering service that serves healthy Oriental food. By next year she hopes to have opened her own restaurant, Bonsai, that will serve healthy Oriental food -- like noodles and sushi. Divya hopes her grand opening will be sometime next year.
"I am already talking to venture capitalist and looking atsites," she says. She had even discussed her plans with Princess Diana shortly before her demise and Princess Diana had promised to attend her opening. "I first met her last year. She and dad met at various charity functions and clicked as friends, they were just friends. She was very lonely and would come for dinner all the time," she says.
But the tabloids only came to know of their friendship when Gulu took Diana out for dinner and then they blew the whole relationship out of context. "It was awful, the press just followed my dad everywhere," she says. She says that the death of Diana did shock her, as she had fond memorises of the Princess. "She was very open and a nice lady," says Divya.
But right now all she can think of is Bonsai. "It is food for living. Food that is healthy and tasty," she says. It is not surprising that the daughter of one of Englands best known yoga instructors believes in eating healthy and wholesome food, and obviously yoga is a part of her daily regime. She has even appearedon Breakfast TV with her mom a couple of times, helping to promote yoga. So she her works off all she eats through yoga, as Divya says she loves to eat. She even plans to bring her food to India one day. Not that she has been to India often or even has many Indian friends, though she is very close to her cousin Malini Ramani. "The last time I was In India was for the Godrej wedding. It was great fun. And what wonderful food there was!" she says. Divya regrets that she doesn't know her country better, and some time soon would like to take time out of her career and just travel around India.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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