Monday, October 26, 2015

TataLitLive MumbaiLitFest


Indian Bloggers


My college XIC ( Xavier Institute of Communication ) boasted the most excellent faculty for journalism. Revered Journalist Kumar Ketkar sir who taught us Political Journalism acquainted us with the exemplary, versatile writing style of Mr. Anil Dharker. Yes, the same Anil Dharker who edited Debonair , Midday. The Independent , The Illustrated weekly of India , headed India TV, wrote columns for TOI , The Hindu , The Economic Times, , Khaleej Times , Gulf News , The Scotsman, The Sunday Observer , The Asian Age , The Financial Chronicle, The Huffington Post etc. Since then, I wanted to interact with Anil Dharker sir to understand his social, cultural and political views. On 20th October , this most sought after opportunity appeared in the form of an invite, thanks to dear friend Manjulika  


Cafe Zoe, was literally Lit Live, when we arrived for the Bloggers Meet. It was fun clicking pictures of quirky art decor.


Post the welcome-drinks , Ms. Priyanka of Writersmelon did a brief intro of the distinguished panel members, Mr. Anil Dharker (Director : Tata Literature Live), popular author Ravi Subramanian and Deepa Gahlot. The real fun began with 'Freedom Of Expression'. This is the most controversial as well as the most popular topic. 


Generally everybody in India and particularly in Mumbai loves to express their myriad views about everything under the Sun and above Earth. Tata Lit Fest Bloggers meet was free for all as Literature is our First love.


We the Literature Lovers are eagerly waiting for Tata Lit Live! The Mumbai LitFest to begin. In Mumbai, Our Diwali starts earlier than usual with the heralding of Tata Lit Fest, which is on from October 29 - November 1 , 2015. 

Our Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest will bring together an exciting mix of over 120 celebrated writers, thinkers, and literature lovers, from more than 14 countries across the world. What's more the entry is free and on a first-come, first-served basis for the four-day festival, which will be held at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Nariman Point, and the Prithvi Theatre, Juhu. Outstanding literary works will be recognised with seven literary awards in various categories and the winners felicitated. 

The star-authors who will dazzle the Tata Lit Fest are : Vikram Seth , Germaine Greer, Guillermo Martinez , Ofir Touche Gafla , Jon Turney, Nick Davies, Hussain Zaidi , Kiran Nagarkar , Mona Elthahawy, Siddhartha Gigoo , Meena Kandswamy, Rohan Murty, Malavika Jayaram.

That's not all, there will will be Performances — plays, performance poetry, dances based on stories and poetry, and storytelling with music — are an integral part of the festival. An invigorating line-up of debates and talks will dot each day, interspersed with book readings and conversations with eminent authors and poets. Other vital ingredients include exciting workshops for both adults and children, including a special Harry Potter workshop and one on writing for young adults by Canadian writer S J Laidlaw, and the Tata LitliveMyStory Contest, which invites entries from unpublished writers and is live on the festival’s Facebook page and website. The jury will pick three winners from a shortlist of 10 entries, based on public votes.






Dr Mukund Rajan, member, Group Executive Council, and brand custodian, Tata Sons, says, “The Tata group is pleased to bring the sixth edition of Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest, yet again, to audiences not only in Mumbai, but also those who visit us every year from around India and the world. Over the past five years, the festival has grown from strength to strength, attracting well-known authors and performances, and delighting literature lovers with an invigorating line-up of events that celebrate the finest literature worldwide. This year’s edition promises no less but much more, and we hope that you’ll join us in the coming days to enjoy the exciting programme that the festival team is putting together.”

Follow the Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest on Facebook Twitter Instagram



Thursday, October 22, 2015

MyGlamm at Home

My Glamm, N. M. Joshi road, Lower Parel, Mumbai
Khushboo, my Brilliant Blogger-friend invited me for this Brunch Up with MyGlamm. It was an unique opportunity to experience MyGlamm  first hand, to know more about the celebrity style offerings and review it for my blog ' Spirit Of Mumbai '.



MyGlamm is situated so near LowerParel station that all 3 taxiwalas gave me puzzled expressions. Why would anyone need a taxi for such a short distance?. Ok,fine, it's just 7 minutes walking distance that too right on N. M. Joshi road. You can't miss it even if you try to.

  MyGlamm has its own artist incubator where they train their artists before adding them to the MyGlamm team. You can also opt to get your service done at their Incubator in Lower Parel instead of your home if you like.


MyGlamm offers bespoke beauty services at your doorstep, pamper yourself with on-demand hair, beauty and grooming services by expert artists from the industry at your convenience. First time in India, an incubator that helps artists to connect with potential clients is specially designed at the MyGlamm studio.

Doorstep services are convenient. You don’t have to leave the comfort of your home to experience a beauty service of your choice. It saves you the time and effort that goes into commuting and if you have a special event coming up, you can just call the beautician over to your place to help you glam up!

The service menu is fairly extensive. You can get hair cuts, blow dry, hair spa, manicures, pedicures, gel/acrylic nails, massages, facials, clean up, waxing, threading/bleach and makeup done. The MyGlamm personnel bring all the tools and products needed for the service.

Oh...My! MyGlamm is grandly huge. I was totally zapped by it's spacious interior. It's aptly called the 'Incubator' for the trainees.



The MyGlamm Team that has brought you the French L’OCCITANE Spas, the New York based Warren Tricomi Salons and the fashionable ELLE Spas and Salons, are now bringing to you MyGlamm, a mobile App for on-demand hair, beauty and glamour services at your doorstep.

The hospitable staff treated us with welcome drinks and assorted starters to make us feel luxurious. The P.R. Executives gladly informed us about MyGlamm. We started with manicure and nail-art. The Manipuri beautician was doing her job pretty professionally.





Khushboo selected Peach-shade for her nails and the beautician suggested the glitter on 1 finger. The final result was sort of modern art with cute little flower-stickers on nails. 

You can book MyGlamm service via either a phone call or by contacting them through the MyGlamm websiteThe details of the beautician are shared with you prior to your appointment



Pedicure was next on our agenda, after manicure. Meghana relaxing, while the beautician was removing cuticles. Sherna , Saachi had already got their swish hairstyles from senior beauticians. Look, how glamorously they are posing .






















More on their site here: http://myglamm.com/ or Call 1 800 3000 4526 to order a MyGlamm service.

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Real Togetherness with Mother Earth



Friends are the extensions of our family. I am blessed with the best friends in the world , right from school, Mass communication, to the present set of blogger-friends plus many more. We the school-friends were rare example of Real Togetherness but had grown apart after joining the college. 

We were learning Engineering , Medical , Mass Communication etc. but due to advent of virtual technology , we missed on Real time Communication i.e. Real Togetherness  We wished to but could not meet for many years as we were buried under the heavy-load of business. 

Landlines made our lives easier but the next invention Smart phones made our lives busier. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram , Whats-app etc. have increased the number of our friends, followers and specs-numbers but decreased our humanity-quotient. Smart phones have converted us into Fast n Furious machines. We have lost Human-touch, calm mind, fit body and gentle emotions due to the advent of smart phones. Serenity , Greenery and Family-celebrations are seen only in Karan Johar's NRI-centric movies. Farmers are sacrificing their own lives due to poverty, droughts, loans and misery . Global Warming is the worst result of modernization which is taking us away from Mother Nature i.e.  Real Togetherness and leading us towards extinction. 

Are science and Technology the main culprits for the destruction of humanity. NO, Capital No. We the people must realize the importance of Nature and we must be able to balance both Nature and Technology-Science ( eg. Smart phones) in our day-to-day lives. 

My first school-friend Shubha is still very close to me thanks to mother Earth. We loved to play farming in the backyard by digging tiny wells and filling them with mug-full of water. Sowing Methi ( fenugreek seeds), Vaal ( butter beans ) , Dhane ( coriander seeds ) and Zendoo ( marigold ) etc. in the dug-up soil was our favorite game. These homely seeds were easiest to grow in Mumbai soil without any chemical fertilizers. It gave us immense pleasure of dirtying our hands and surveying our handy-work. We bonded happily in Real Togetherness . 

It was the most marvelous sight in the whole universe, when tiny shoots made grand appearance above the  ground. We basked in the glory of our flourishing farm, as if the produce of our farm was to be our very next feast. Many of my colony-friends joined us in this wonderful farming game. We shared the duties and responsibilities of farming in our friends group. Some of us were to dig wells and soil, while the others had to bring seeds and sow them, remaining were watering the soil and building fences for the farm. We learned to plan, to share, to take care, responsibility, to love and to enjoy our childhood in the coolest company of Mother Nature

But alas, as we grew up, we grew apart from each other as well as from Mother Nature. We sacrificed Real Togetherness  , while running after money , money and more money 

Thanks to Whats-app feature of smart phone, last month we the school-friends got in touch and had a Refreshing / Rejuvenating Re-Union at our school. So yes, the technology has made our lives easier and connectible, to an extent. Granted that smart-phones with their addiction , had driven us apart from our near and dear ones, but at the same time they have enabled us to remain connected to all 24*7, 365 days a year.

It's up to us , how we reap the benefit of technology and crop out the demerits by controlling our dependence on smart-phones for useless FarmVille game.



One of our school friend Sandeep Manchekar is a very talented and an accomplished artist. He has a gorgeous Green farm at Indapur. He surprised us by taking a Green-pledge. He has noted down the names of our favorite trees and birth-dates. He plants a sapling on our ( school friends ) birthdays as per our wishes / choices at his Indapur farm. That's not all, on the very birth-day of a respective school-friend, he posts a photo of that sapling-planting on Whatsapp with a name-tag. He has named his farm as 'Maitri Van' ( Friendship Garden ). Fantastic ! Is not it ? This is the Real Togetherness  , we wish for . 

I am sure , you all are eager to embark on this Real Togetherness  with your friends and family. Have a look at Kissan's Kissanpur "Real Joy of Togetherness" Video . If you wish you can order seeds online from : http://www.kissanpur.com/.

Follow  @KissanIndia for daily updates

Friday, October 16, 2015

Messy to Miss Jasmine with Vatika


First thing's first. As soon as I spotted #FrizzFreeHair Vatika Women's IndiBlogger Meet at IndiBlogger website, I posted it on forum and dashed to twitter. I tagged as many IB-twitter buddies in my tweets and rushed them to register.


Being the journalist, 'Breaking News'  is my forte. Wherever and whenever I get any good news, I love to congratulate the winners first hand and share their joy. 


  1. THANKU! so surprised you get all news so fast, have a hotline with these guys? Ha ha!

  2. Heena ShahDhedhi
Heena ShahDhedhi said 1 day ago
Oh Sujata you do have a hotline here...



Almost all of us , Bloggers reached the venue ( B.J. Hall, VileParle ) by auto, not by BMW as Anoop wild-guessed and wished for. It has become a ritual now to click group photos with banners and blogger-buddies at all the blogger-meets / events. This photo-session gives us an opportunity to break the ice with brand-new IndiBloggers and bonding with branded-bloggers. Did I just say Branded-Blogger ? 

Well ... meet Geetha Sridhar aka Geetamaa ( 1st left ). We have won lots of Facebook contests 2 years ago but met first time face to face thanks to IndiBlogger  Vatika meet  . Please read this about Geetha's tribute to her father and am sure you all will applaud Geetha ...  here  




Post-registration , the bloggers were welcome with Pina colada and Coco lemonade plus assorted starters. Refreshed and Rejuvenated , we were ready to go GaGa ... literally with IndiBlogger band 


The IndiBlogger Rock Stars Renie , Anoop , Nihal , Jesuwin and Saurabh set the stage afire and how! What a groovy feast with Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the wall- part 2 - 'We Don't Need No Education' and Lady Gaga's 'Poker Face' ! 


The above picture does Speak Thousand words and Sings Million Melodies as well... Letting the hair loose had never been so Soulful ... so Surrealistic .


The 30 seconds of Fame for bloggers is worth a whole blog-post. Ever enthusiastic, brilliant blogger, pro-photographer Divyakshi Gupta introducing herself and her blog. This blogger-introduction session at  Vatika #FrizzFreeHair meet was totally inspiring for us as well as for freshers. This was the 1st IndiBlogger meet of Geetha Sridhar and Saudamini Naik ( GladRags Mrs. India 2015 ). We are so very proud of you and honored to have you both Geetha n Saudamini, among IndiBlogger community.


 Finally ... Finally , the moment arrived , which we were waiting for ! The launch . the unveiling of ' Dabur Vatika Jasmine non-sticky coconut oil ' , which guarantees #FrizzFreeHair. The huge replica of Dabur Jasmine non sticky coconut oil bottle made a spectacular appearance on the stage a la Bollywood star, accompanied by fluorescent light-beams, soft, sweet and enchanting Jasmine fragrance.



The Marketing Head of Dabur Vatika spoke about Dabur's rich history in Health care sector. The 1st branded hair oil , Dabur Amla hair oil was launched in the year 1940. We were astonished to know that Dabur is a Rs. 1000 crore international industry. Dabur Vatika Jasmine non-sticky coconut oil is a light, non-greasy hair oil which has mineral, silicon oil base and a little share of coconut oil. This wonderful combination offers easy spread over the hair and our hair doesn't look sticky, oily and dull. It has minerals, vitamins and silicon oils which locks moisture and voila... we have #FrizzFreeHair.

Frizz is a condition of damaged, unmanageable, unruly, dull hair because of high or low humidity, malnutrition, dandruff etc. If all this sounds a bit over the top ( the pun is intended ) , just try  Vatika Jasmine on top of your own head and you will be happy with the result.  Say bye to Frizzy hair and Hi to Silky, Healthy hair with Dabur Vatika Jasmine non-sticky coconut oil


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Next was a home-remedy contest. The bloggers shared tips and secrets for #FrizzFreeHair. The home-remedies ranged from application, consumption of flax-seeds ( Alsi ), Amla, Fenugreek ( Methi ), Jabakusum , Currypatta, Curd, Eggs etc. to living / enjoying stress-free life. Ekta, Heena , Saudamini ( Gladrags-Mrs. India, in the above picture ) won this contest.


Dabur Vatika Jasmine non-sticky coconut oil is the best to have #FrizzFreeHair and to live #FrizzFree life we need #BFF ( Best Friends Forever ). Anoop , Swati and Jesuwin demonstrated how to play 'Rock-Paper-Scissors'. We played this game with our BFF and as a prize the winner is awarded an opportunity to mess loser's hair full on. I am very touchy, literally about my hair. I guard my hair as if it's Samson's. My nephew says, I must have hidden my Swiss Bank account no. in it. So I played to win as if my life was at stake. Alas ! I lost in the 3rd round. I bargained with the winner , that I will give her my passport size photo as a prize if she messed my hair. Totally alarmed by my blackmailing , that brand-new blogger kept away from me for the rest of the #FrizzFreeHair event.

 All bloggers were presented with Dabur Vatika goodies bag ( 1.Dabur Vatika Jasmine Hair Oil 2. Dabur Vatika Coconut Hair Oil 3. Philips Smooth and Shine Hair Straightener )
Italian and Indian , yummilicious lunch was served. Most of all, I loved the Ferrero Rocher ice-cream. 

Free Hair-Styling , champi , shampoo , hair-spa session for #frizzFreeHair was arranged at the specially constructed champi-station.


Messed Up To Made Up

We, the bloggers had arrived at the #FrizzFreeHair meet with messy / frizzy hair due to Mumbai special weather and auto-ride. Our hair had further messed up courtesy headbanging with Lady Gaga, Pink Floyd and our very own BFF's mischief . Thanks to Dabur Vatika  massage, shampoo, hair-styling i.e. complete hair spa we all gained Made up hair , smelling and feeling like Miss Jasmines, we returned home to brag n blog about Dabur Vatika Jasmine non sticky coconut oil.


Tuesday, October 6, 2015

FameStarsLIVE

Blogmint, India’s 1st Influencer Marketing Platform that connects influencers with brands invited a select few bloggers for #FameStarsLIVE event at Novotel , Juhu, Mumbai
on 30th September. 



Novotel, Juhu was lit up with exquisite chandeliers for the #FameStarsLIVE event.
The event was in association with #fame, a first of its kind LIVE video mobile application that allows you to go Live and stream/beam your talent to the world.




You can connect with your fans, make new friends, chat and become famous. Video is the new text and talent is the most powerful currency in this digital age. This is your stage and the whole world is your audience.




The #FameStarsLIVE event was a learn and unlearn session about how live streaming is the next big thing. There were sessions including how you can be innovative in this space to make an impact with your audience / followers, engaging panel discussion with known influencers along with group activities.



If you are camera friendly and willing to perform and interact live with your fans, this is the platform for you. You can sing, juggle, hack, dress up, make up, cook up, chat up, dance, party, sleep and then some more. This is your stage and the whole world is your audience. Fame was never this easy.




I would love to share with you that this activity has been catching up big time. On the android platform the #fame app has already crossed over 1 million downloads, plus a number of big names from Bollywood have been beaming live on the app already.




The number of influencers / bloggers was restricted to 50 exclusively, the scale of the event was such that it was trending on social media and our insights were promoted by #fame on its channels too. The hastag #FameStarsLIVE was trending all over India on 30th September


#fame, a first of its kind LIVE video mobile application that allows you to go Live and stream/beam your talent to the world. Here the blogger Lady Kha Kha sharing her opinion about #FameStarsLIVE with Gadgetwala : Ankit Vengurlekar



Celebrity Fitness-Guru Mickey Mehta confessed that he is OmniPresent on numerous platforms of Social Media as well as on Western Railway.


The highlight of the event #FameStarsLIVE was star-studded panel discussion with Ankit Vengurlekar ( Gadgetwala ) as a host and TV star Gaurva Gera , Bollywood star Radhika Apte , Star Radio jockey Rangeeli Ruchi. Gaurav's impromptu mimic ( with just lipstick and wigs ) of shoppkeepper - shoppkeepper received loud applause from audience.


Sunny Leone not just read out fan-mails but replied to them honestly to the point of being too blunt at times. She won audiences hearts as well as cheers a plenty.




It was our pleasure to be present as well as participate in #FameStarsLIVE event with special invite from Blogmint