The Lotus Festival held on Nov. 14, 2021 raised over $300,000 to support the various programs that are run by the Desai Foundation. Suketu Mehta, author of Maximum City: Bombay, Lost and Found gave the keynote address for the evening. The event was held at the Peabody Essex Museum. 

Following a brief welcome message by Megha Desai, the executive director of the Desai foundation, writer Chandu Shah introduced the keynote speaker for the evening, Suketu Mehta. Mehta described life in the busy suburbs of Mumbai and expressed his political views on India. 

During the Covid Pandemic, the Desai Foundation implemented a Heroes for Humanity project where local women were trained and hired to provide help to families in the villages. The project is supported by Karam Hinduja, CEO of S.P. Himduja Banque Privee S.A who talked about the importance of the work done by the Desai foundation. Mittal Gohil, Executive Director of The Desai Foundation Trust in India talked about her personal life story and importance of empowering women. 

Several items were auctioned including an art piece titled “Ganesha” by Mark Rathaniraj, bottles of Taquila and Scotch, vacation in St.Johns and American Airlines tickets. All the donations were matched 2:1 by the foundation. A musical presentation by Sonali Rao brought the evening to a close. 

For more information on the Desai Foundation, please visit www.thedesaifoundation.org.