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Plans announced for South Asian Heritage Month 2023

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South Asian Heritage Month (SAHM) runs from 18 July – 17 August and seeks to commemorate, mark, and celebrate the culture and history of South Asia, with a particular focus on the intertwined histories and cultural exchange of diasporic communities within the UK. Lincoln’s Inn has longstanding and proud connections with many South Asian nations and we will be sharing stories from our past and present to recognise this enduring transcontinental bond.

The Inn’s celebrations will begin with the Diversity Dinner, held on 17 July. Our catering team have created a bespoke menu showcasing the flavours of South Asian cuisine, including a Sri Lankan jackfruit and cashew nut samosa, red lentil parripu and a new mocktail designed especially for the evening, the ‘Passion and Ginger Zinger’, which contains staple ingredients of the South Asian spice trade.

Composite image featuring sitar player Tommy Khosla and ghazal singer Mehtab Malhotra.

Entertainment will be provided by acclaimed sitar player Tommy Khosla, accompanied by live tabla. We are also honoured to have ghazal singer and Lincoln’s Inn member, Ms Mehtab Malhotra, perform on the night. In addition to being a practicing barrister in family and immigration law at chambers in Lincoln’s Inn, Ms Malhotra has performed in over 650 solo concerts in the UK and abroad, and in 1998 recorded with the late Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, a huge name in the Asian world of music, whose work influenced the likes of Jeff Buckley and Peter Gabriel.

We are fortunate to have one of the co-founders of SAHM, Jasvir Singh CBE, speak at the event. Mr Singh is an established family law barrister who has been in practice for over 15 years, and is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day.

A signed black and white photograph of Cornelia Sorabji. She wears a long, flowing dress and sits in a chair.

From 17 July to 18 August, the Lincoln’s Inn Library will display an exhibition focused on prominent figures from South Asian history with ties to the Inn. Archival documents and photographs relating to Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Pakistan’s first Governor General), Cornelia Sorabji (the first woman to practise law in India and Britain, pictured right) and Satyendra Sinha (the first Indian member of the House of Lords) will be on display amongst others. A selection of treasures from the Archives will also be on show at the Diversity Dinner.

Additional festivities will continue across the Inn: Members’ Lunch and the MCR Restaurant and Bar menus will both feature South Asian inspired creations, and we will be shining a light on members of South Asian heritage across our social channels.

There are plenty of ways for members and guests alike to partake in the celebrations – book your place for our hotly anticipated Diversity Dinner (booking closes on 10 July), drop into the Library to browse our exhibition (open to non-members via a self-guided tour), follow Lincoln’s Inn on our social channels, or visit the Great Hall and the MCR to try a selection of delicious food and drink from our talented catering team.