Monica Saigal with Chef Vikas Khanna
Chef, filmmaker and author Vikas Khanna hosted a dinner at his home to celebrate the release of author Monica Saigal’s new book, The Lotus Blooms Twice: Stories of Love, Loss, and Redemption, published by Indie Press.
The evening brought together a diverse gathering of authors, writers, journalists, publishers, podcasters, food personalities, artists and friends of the author, for an evening centred around literature, food, relationships and the many ways in which life changes us.
Among those present were Monica Sadhu, VP Commercial Partnerships, Major League Cricket; Jaya Gursahani, Senior Scientist, Regeneron; Ritu Kamal Singh, Founder, Durga Entertainment and Director-Producer-Actor; Kanika Gupta, Jasmine Kaur and Kavita Gupta, podcasters; Namrata Tripathi, President, Kokila; Shweta Ghuge, CEO, Stradit; Suhasinee Patil of Laxmi Foods; Neera Patel, publicist; Sree Sreenivasan, Founder, SAJA; Anu Sehgal, Founder, The Culture Tree; Anjali Dhir, food influencer; Monica Mahajan, TV producer; Yoshita Singh, PTI; Ramin Ganeshram, journalist and author; Barbie Patel, high-end wedding planner; Rashmi Gill, photographer; Shruti Kapoor, L’Oréal DEI Ambassador; Raakhee Mirchandani, WSJ; Sonali Fry, Random House; Albeli Ritu, food influencer; Aarti Virani, freelance writer and Vogue India contributor; Kat Kinsman, Senior Editor, Food & Wine; and Niv Mani, food writer, among others.
The gathering saw conversations around the themes of the book, personal journeys, relationships and the role of food and memory in shaping our lives.
The Lotus Blooms Twice brings together fourteen short stories and a bonus novella, exploring the lives of women at different stages of adulthood. The stories look beyond conventional narratives of love and relationships to examine what happens when people find themselves confronting loss, change, caregiving, grief, desire, friendship and the need to begin again.
The women in Saigal’s stories have already lived full lives. They have loved, raised families, cared for others, made mistakes and experienced loss. Yet, they find themselves at moments when the life they know no longer fits quite as neatly as it once did.
Monica Saigal
Some are reckoning with betrayal and grief. Others encounter desires they did not expect to feel again. Some are caring for people they love while confronting difficult truths about themselves. And for many, there comes a deceptively simple but deeply difficult question: What now?
Food and memory also occupy an important place in the collection, reflecting the ways in which meals, flavours and shared tables can become repositories of relationships, nostalgia and lives lived.
For Saigal, the book is ultimately about the possibility of renewal—about discovering that life can take an unexpected turn even after we believe we know the shape of our story.
The dinner also marks another chapter in Saigal’s literary journey. Her previous book, A Kiss in Kashmir, gained attention after Anne Hathaway was spotted holding the book, bringing renewed visibility to the author’s work and her exploration of love and human relationships.
With The Lotus Blooms Twice, Saigal turns her attention to a broader and more layered landscape of women’s lives, asking what it means to start over, redefine oneself and find meaning in the chapters that come after loss and change.
On the occasion Monica shared:
“I am deeply grateful to my dear friend, Michelin-starred Chef Vikas Khanna, for opening his beautiful home for the launch of my 14th book.” She added that it was an unforgettable evening with friends, writers and journalists.
Vikas Khanna said “It was my absolute pleasure and honor to host my dear friend Monica Saigal. To see her truth and strength shine through this beautiful collection is incredibly moving. He also felt that this was just the beginning.”
Copies of the book were presented to guests, and the evening concluded with a special dinner curated by Vikas Khanna, and Monica Saigal spoke about the book and her writing journey.
