Lisa Ray Instagram – @funkymaharani “Last December, rushing through Mumbai airport, I made a last minute dash into a bookstore. As I was leaving to board my flight back to Singapore, I saw, out of the corner of my eye, #CloseToTheBone, the @lisaraniray autobiography. I quickly picked up the book.⁣ ⁣ In mid-March this year, one day as I was rearranging my bedside drawer, I chanced upon the copy of #CloseToTheBone that I had purchased months earlier. As I opened the book, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had purchased a signed copy. I began to read, and immediately felt a kind of kinship. Both Lisa and I are Indians who grew up in Canada. Both of us felt a tremendous pull to India. Both of us were obsessed with memorising world capitals growing up. As I was getting more into the book, I did a quick google search to see where Lisa now lived, and to my utter shock, I found out that she lived in Singapore! I reached out to Lisa and eventually my wife Sapna and I were able to catch up with Lisa and her husband Jason for dinner. It was a beautiful evening with two very genuinely lovely people.⁣ ⁣ The book is beautifully written and shines a light on a life well-lived, one that has never been bound by convention, and one that promises always to surprise those that are let in. Lisa has written a beautiful memoir filled with tales that inspire, illuminate and lift. The entire book is written in such a way that you always feel its light shining through. ⁣ ⁣ One of the themes for me that kept presenting itself was the concept of Serendipity, an unplanned fortunate discovery. Me, randomly purchasing this book, finding out it was signed, discovering Lisa was here in Singapore, were little examples for me. And then there’s my favourite one: I was reading in the book that Lisa, on a trip back to India was shooting for @vogueindia and @anaitashroffadajania had gifted her a silver chain with an Angel Wing. An hour after I finished reading that, I received the final specifications for our Angel Wings Maang Tikka. Serendipity. ⁣ #CloseToTheBone is now available to purchase in North America. I highly recommend reading this beautiful book.”⁣ ⁣ @sjhangiani CEO and Co-Founder, Funky Maharani⁣