Category Archives: Events

Arjun Rampal all praise for Dharam ji during deo launch & bloggers meet

I attended the #SniffSniff product unveiling event by BlogAdda in association with Nivea.

By: Keyur Seta

We have heard male actors praising their female counterparts numerous times. Even female actors praising the looks of actors from their own gender is a common occurrence. But a male actor being in awe of another male actor in terms of looks is a rarity, which was witnessed recently during a bloggers meet and media interaction with actor Arjun Rampal.

Picture shared on Twitter by dwitiy125 (handle)

When Rampal was asked how it feels to be one of the most handsome actors, his answer pleasantly surprised many. “I feel Dharam ji (Dharmendra) is the most handsome actor. I was with him in a flight three days ago. He still looks beautiful and he is a beautiful human being too.”

Rampal was speaking during the launch of the Nivea Men Body Deodorizer, a deodorant for men. The event was organized by BlogAdda and was attended by bloggers, who got a special candid session and photo op with Rampal. The actor spoke extensively on the issue of body odour and shared his experiences, which included a funny incident with his female friend.

“She has a big problem about body odour. I was wondering how to tell her about it as it can be awkward. So, I just said that some people have a terrible body odour. To this she said, ‘Oh yes. I am glad I smell good naturally’. What to say now?”

Before Rampal entered the scene, the bloggers got a chance to interact with Animesh Gupta, a Psychologist, Stress Management specialist and Trainer, about everything related to body odour; how and why it occurs, how to deal with it and, most importantly, how to tell someone that he or she has a bad body odour. But the interaction was funnier than serious, thanks to Gupta’s sense of humor.

But the most hilarious moment arrived when the spoof of a news debate show was played. It is a smartly-written and well-performed act, which is shared below.

The entire #sniffsniff experience was interesting but my family members found it surprising and, at times, weird to see somebody sending things like a clip, coffee beans and mask at my doorstep so religiously. It took a lot to finally make them understand that it is a promotional activity to build anticipation.

For me, the word ‘deodorant’ brings back bad memories of not only body odour but also those pathetic deo advertisements, where females start getting turned on by the good smell of men. I find such ads completely an insult to women as it shows them to be so dumb that they will have physical pleasure with anyone who smells good.

I wasn’t expecting Nivea to advertise their product in this way. But I wasn’t entirely sure given the advertisement scenario in India. Thankfully though, their ad, which was played at the event, doesn’t support this ridiculous theory. It was a case of Happy Ending.

Picture: BlogAdda

Kala Ghoda Festival 2015 Photos

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By: Keyur Seta

The Kala Ghoda Arts Festival is back in 2015, like every February. Although the place is thronged by people from all walks of life, it is the art lovers who wait for every February just to get a high for the artistic keeda inside them.

Here is a Photo Tour by one such art admirer:

(Click on the photos to enlarge.)

Author Shubha Vilas: Shivaji gained knowledge from Ramayana and Mahabharata

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By: Keyur Seta

He also speaks about airplanes during Ramayana era and other interesting things related to mythology during the launch of his book Shattered Deams.

Author Shubha Vilas explained the importance of epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata by highlighting that such books were the only source of learning even for great emperors. “Shivaji Maharaj gained knowledge and wisdom only from these epics. How can a great emperor like him rely only on two books? So I feel it is now time to show how exciting and enlightening these epics are.”

He was speaking at the launch of his book Shattered Dreams, the second in the six part series on Ramayana. The first titled Rise Of The Sun Prince released last year. Prominent columnist Anil Dharker was the guest at the event, which took place at the Kemps Corner branch of Crosswords in Mumbai on Thursday.

Shubha Vilas (centre), Anil Dharker (right). Picture: Newssuperfast.com

Vilas spoke about the mixture of entertainment and enlightenment produced by such epics. “The heart requires entertainment but mind requires enlightenment. When there is a mixture of both, it becomes a complete experience.”

In his book, Vilas has described an airplane called Pushpak Vimana. There have been a lot of talks and debates currently over whether there were airplanes in India thousands of years ago. So, obviously, Vilas was asked about this. His answer became the highlight of the event.

“NASA has appointed two Sanskrit scholars on their payroll. Their job is to interpret Vedic texts, especially Vimana Shastra, which was written during Ramayana by Maharishi Bhardwaj. Vimana Shastra has detailed descriptions on how to make a flying machine. So, if NASA believes in it, there has to be some truth in it,” he said.

By referring to his book, Vilas also described the dissatisfaction among people these days. “Villagers look for something more promising in cities, city dwellers look at America for the same reason and Americans look at the moon. The wise prefer to be satisfied in the existing.” He also criticized the attitude of people living in cities when it comes to reading epics. “They ask, what is in it for me and how will it help me if I invest two hours in it?”

During the course of the discussion, Dharker pointed out about the growing interest among authors in mythology. “Few years ago, you (Vilas) wouldn’t have thought about writing such a book. Also, nowadays publishers have opened up to different types of literature. It is good that people like Shubha are modernizing our epics and teaching life lessons through it.”

Layman’s View: Features of Tata Bolt

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(Note: The following article is not a car review. It lists down the author’s opinions on the features of the car.)

This post is a part of the Get. Set. Bolt. activity at BlogAdda.

By: Keyur Seta

The mention of Tata Motors instantly brings to my mind the Tata Zest experience, which was an interesting and memorable bloggers’ activity in Goa in association with Blog Adda. The same memories were revived when I came to know of another Blog Adda activity with Tata Motors, this time about their upcoming car Tata Bolt.

As per the exercise, we, the bloggers, had to visit a mall, where the Bolt is displayed for the public, and inspect the car and write down its features. To be honest, I hardly possess any knowledge about cars. So my description about the features is more like that of a layman.

Picture provided by Ankit Jain

Space: The comfort of the passengers holds high importance as it is the first thing that a passenger notices. It holds more importance if one goes on a long drive. I found Tata Zest to be well spacious. But I found Bolt even better on that aspect as I was able to stretch my legs well forward, both in front and back seats. Talking about wideness, the back seat is also as wide as in the Zest.

Dickey: You realize that the makers have cut down the space of the dickey in order to make it spacious. But when you do check the dickey, you realize they have compromised its space on a lesser degree only. Plus, its design is such that it doesn’t make much of a difference in terms of the space.

Body: The body of Bolt is smooth, shining and attractive. It feels good to caress it. What’s more important is that apart from the looks, it also appears strong.

Engine: Without going into the technicalities of the engine, let me tell you that the look of the engine was a pleasant surprise for me. Its super stylish looks made it very attractive, which isn’t the adjective we use to describe engines of normal cars. It looks somewhat similar to the one we see in sports cars.

Steering: Bolt has a modern electronic steering, which is comfortable to operate.

Modes: You can switch on any of the three modes. 1) Sport: As per the name, it is useful when you just wish to zoom ahead fast. 2) Eco: Helps in fuel efficiency. 3) City: This one is a balance of the first two.

Entertainment: It has eight speakers that produce impressive surround sound. And as expected from a new age car, its music system has gadget connectivity features with touchscreen facility.

Technical Aspects:

Petrol Version: Revotron 1.2T with Max Power of 90 PS @ 5000 RPM
Diesel Version: Quadrajet 1.3L with Max Power 75 PS @ 4000 RPM

(The mileage and price are not revealed yet. They shall be revealed later this month at the launch [January].)

Picture Source: carkhabri.com

Vivekananda gave me another birth: Kangana Ranaut

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By: Keyur Seta

Actress Kangana Ranaut has spoken about herself during her innumerable interviews. However, very few of us know that she considers Swami Vivekananda as her biggest inspiration and motivation. She spoke about this little known aspect about her life during the 153^rd Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda at Ramakrishna Mission, Mumbai.

Kangana Ranaut. Picture Source: Sonam Budha @sonambudha1

“There was a time in my life when I couldn’t face tough situations. I was a lot confused about a lot of things. One day, my Yoga Guru gave me few books on the teachings of Swami Vivekananda. That changed everything. His book on Karma Yoga provided me with a lot of inspiration. Only I can understand how his teachings gave me another birth. I am Vivekananda’s product,” said Kangana with a broad smile.

She added, “I always wanted to connect with R K Mission. I am happy that I finally got a chance to be here and speak.”

As always, the address by Swami Sarvalokananda, secretary of RKM Mumbai, contained messages for the youth. “When Swamiji went to the west, he used to proudly say that he is from India. But today’s youth show a lot of hesitation to reveal that.” While speaking on leadership, he said, “We need servant leadership.”

Arunagiri Mudaaliar, Chairman and Chief Mentor of E Cube India, pointed out how Vivekananda’s teachings also help management students. “His most important teaching which the management students adhere to is – Before managing external environment, manage yourself internally.”

Dr R Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Advisor at BARC and Dr Srikumar Banerjee, from the Atomic Energy Commission, Mumbai also spoke about the relevance of Vivekananda’s message in today’s times.

A large number of school and college students were invited for the event since Vivekananda’s birthday is also celebrated as National Youth Day in India. This time, his birth tithi coincided with his birthday.

iGenius Singing Stars: Glimpses of future talent

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By: Keyur Seta

Earthen pots turn out to be the finest only when they are made from wet clay. Pots from semi-wet clay don’t turn out to be that perfect as it is difficult to shape them.

Similarly, the right time to nurture any talent in an individual is during his or her raw childhood. This task was carried out by the singing contest iGenius Maxlife Young Singing Stars. The contest provided training in singing for children passionate in the art and also a platform to showcase their talent in a city like Mumbai. It was wholly organized by Max Life Insurance.

Winners with their trophies

The final phase took place on December 17 in the city with the first phases being round up some time back. The children were divided in two categories – junior and senior – according to their age. Hence, winners were declared from each group. They winners were declared by the jury, which consisted of well-known Hindi film composer and singer Salim Merchant (from the duo Salim-Sulaiman) and singer Shraddha Sharma.

The 10 kids selected for the final round received mentoring from both the judges. The work carried out on them by the jury was visible through their impressive performances. Almost all performances oozed high level of confidence and dedication. It was a pleasant surprise to see few of these kids recite songs from the classic black and white era. Naturally, this made the task of the judges that more difficult, but, naturally, they didn’t mind it.

Finally, after a lot of discussions and debates, two winners were declared from both the groups in the form of Shraddha Shreya, from the senior group, and Shivam Ahuja, from the junior. In this way, the two young singers bagged a lucrative album contract from Universal Music Group much to the delight of their parents and those present at the venue at Taj Lands End.

The event took place just a day after the disturbing tragedy that took place in Peshawar, Pakistan. As the world was still to come out of the grief, Salim Merchant said he wasn’t willing to perform at the event, as per the plan. But he carried on and presented a pleasing rendition of ‘Ali Maula’ from Kurbaan, among a couple of other tracks, and dedicated it to the victims and their families. Before the commencement of the contest, a minute’s silence was held to pay tribute to the victims.

Swades: 10 Years of Simplicity (Memorable Scenes Included)

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By: Keyur Seta with valuable inputs from Padmanabh Subramanian

Whenever a list of most memorable films from a particular country or film industry is made, it is obvious that it will only contain names of box office successes. However, there are quite a few films, at least in Hindi cinema, which have become cult classics over the years despite the fact that they didn’t succeed at the ticket window when they released.

Films like Jane Bhi Do Yaaro and Andaz Apna Apna are classic examples of such films. But they slowly started gaining huge appreciation in the following years after they were screened on television and cable channels, so much so that now they are labeled as ‘classics’. Over the last decade or so, yet another Hindi film has achieved this status in spite of its box office fate.

Ashutosh Gowariker’s Shah Rukh Khan starrer, Swades found a lot of takers when it released in December 2004, especially the lovers of meaningful cinema, despite its strictly average box office performance. Like the aforementioned two films, its appreciators kept on increasing over the last decade at a rapid pace and the film gained a respectful status of Gowariker and Shah Rukh’s one of the best works.

Today, Swades completes exactly 10 years of its release. The film is known for striking an emotional chord with the viewer without or hardly saying much. It is this simple visual narration that is largely responsible for the film gaining such applause.

So let’s have a look at the film’s most memorable scenes, which say a lot without saying much:

– The first one that comes to our mind is the one where Mohan Bhargav buys a glass of water from a child vendor. In fact, this can even go down as one of the most memorable scenes from Bollywood. By just showing the character purchase and consume the water, the writer and director have portrayed Mohan’s massive change of heart, or hriday parivartan, since, before this scene, he strictly drank only packaged water. Of course, SRK’s brilliant expressions also say it all.

– The climax sees Mohan returning to Charanpur, India forever after quitting his lucrative job at NASA. But such major story development is shown without any rona dhona and by just a sweet Kushti scene. In spite of this, it succeeds in moving you.

– The village of Charanpur strictly followed caste system, wherein the members of the ‘upper caste’ stay away from the ones of a ‘lower caste’. In the song ‘Yeh Tara Woh Tara’, the protagonist gives an overwhelming message against this division by making the kids, sitting at the area reserved for ‘lower castes’, pass over and sit in the area reserved for ‘upper castes’. Once again, a strong message without dramebazi.

– The film also speaks about Indian culture. This was seen the most in the pre-climax as Geeta (Gayatri Joshi) gives a teary farewell to Mohan. But as per the intelligent narration in the rest of the film, there is no gyan giving on Bharatiya Sanskriti. Geeta makes her point about the same by just presenting a box to Mohan with few items that would enable him recall India.

From the Facebook page: 21 Fools

– In this particular scene, Melaram wants to point it out to Mohan that there is no point going away from our near and dear ones in our country and serving some other country. But all he says is, “Apni chaukhat ka diya and giving light to neighbor’s house.” It says all!

– Kaveri Amma hands over Mohan the task of recovering money from Haridas, who stays far away from Charanpur. Mohan is deeply hurt to see the abject poverty Haridas is facing. However, he hardly expresses this and lets his expressions speak. Even while he is returning, he keeps the same expression throughout the journey.

DDLJ 1000 Weeks: When Maratha Mandir became Wankhede

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By: Keyur Seta

Moviegoers going wild with excitement inside a cinema hall (especially a single screen) is a regular feature in India. Over the years, Rajnikanth and Salman Khan movies have become known for this. However, the excitement during a show of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge during its 1000^th week inside Mumbai’s Maratha Mandir was something never experienced in any movie ever before.

In fact, I have seen this kind of response from the crowd (consisting people of all age groups) only in a cricket stadium and that too only when Sachin Tendulkar enters and, later, scores a century. In short, one has to experience it to believe it.

Here is a tour of the experience:

Ticket Queue: As seen in the second picture, there was literally chaos to get a ticket for this film; a film that is 19-year-old. I can’t remember when was the last time I witnessed such desperation for a newly-released film. Black marketers were selling Rs 20 ticket for Rs 100 but the fans had no problems with it.

Unthinkable Response: I was naturally expecting regular cheers and whistles during the film. But what actually happened during the screening gave a pleasant shock to me and my brother. The cheering commenced even before the Censor Certificate was shown and continued till the rest of the film. In fact, there was a loud reception not only during Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol’s entry scene but also during each and every important dialogue by all actors and also during their important acts. And mind you, majority of the crowd wasn’t tapori.

Watch it for yourself in this video if it is difficult to believe. Shot and edited by Fenil Seta.

Non-Stop Clicks: We all must have seen pictures being clicked inside a cinema hall during a movie, but not as much as it happened during this screening. There was continuous clicking from all sides throughout the duration, as if it was a press conference.

The Finale: The ending moments made us feel as if Team India won the World Cup. It is difficult to put it any other way. Just watch the last part of the video and you will realize. As soon as Thakur Baldev Singh (Amrish Puri) left Simran’s (Kajol) hand, the audience erupted in the same manner when Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit the winning six during the final of 2011 World Cup.

Given the scenes and the kind of box office response DDLJ is still getting, it is needless to say that the film will continue running for few more years for sure. Also needless to say, this is definitely not my last viewing of it at Maratha Mandir.

Patient Solidarity Day: Demand for healthcare access to all

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By: Keyur Seta

The ever-increasing medical cost is fast becoming a big reason for increasing number of deaths currently in India. Sundari Raju lost her husband due to the same reason. After being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, his troubles started increasing and with that, his medical bills too. “There came a time when he was required to take four injections per month and each cost Rs 8,000. So it was impossible for us to afford it. I wish I could have afforded. He would have been alive then,” she said.

Sundari Raju

She was speaking on the occasion of Patient Solidarity Day in Mumbai, where doctors, patients, members of patient groups, pharmacists, bloggers and laymen had assembled for a round table discussion on how to provide proper access to healthcare for all patients across India. The event was organized through the efforts of Dr Bejon Misra, Partnerships for Safe Medicines (PSM) India, Consumer Online Foundation and International Alliance of Patients’ Organization (IAPO).

When it comes to the high cost of medicines and treatment, the mention of multinational companies, which manufactures medicines, shouldn’t come as a surprise. “MNCs are here to make money. Philanthropy is not their goal; it will never be. Government wants to do something about this. But they won’t unless we and various NGOs keep pushing. They also have to listen to courts so we should use that option too. Medical Council of India can also help,” said Dr Salunke.

Another doctor present at the discussion raised the point of new doctors forced to recover the enormous amount they spent to study medicine. “People spend around Rs 1 crore in private medical colleges. So obviously they won’t do any social service. Government also keeps spending more on private colleges rather than government run colleges. The ratio of both types of colleges is very high in favor of private colleges.” He also stressed on the need for qualified nurses, who can take away half of the headache of the doctor.

India has also become home to diseases like Fibromyalgia. Anuradha Khanna Pentapalli, who is suffering from it, expressed the need to spread awareness about it as hardly anyone in India knows about it. Fibromyalgia is a chronic disorder characterized by widespread musculo-skeletal pain, stiffness and tenderness of muscles and joints and also psychological issues. “Today I am at this event. So tomorrow or day after I might have to take bed rest. There are cases where parents ask their daughters to be active despite being diagnosed with the disease and not disclose it to their prospective grooms. But the daughters don’t wish to lie. There is an urgent need to include study of Fibromyalgia in medical curriculum,” said Anuradha and her demand was agreed upon by Dr Misra.

Dr Ketan Parekh

Since recent times, there has been a constant demand of making generic medicines available to patients as their cost is much lower. “Generic medicines are available in Tamil Nadu. So if they can be made available in TN, why not in Maharashtra? Our ex-Health Minister Suresh Shetty also didn’t do anything for this in 10 years,” continued Salunke. Dr Jahangir also echoed his sentiments and expressed bewilderment at some doctors criticizing it. “I can’t believe a doctor criticizing generic medicines. Rather than letting a patient die, let him get treatment.”

The situation in rural areas was also described. Said Dr Ketan Parekh, “Twenty percent districts in Maharashtra don’t have a pediatric surgeon, whereas 2% of all new born babies require immediate surgery. A list of 80 doctors, who were willing to volunteer, was given to the government. But there was no response.” Salunke also added an incident he witnessed at a village. “A doctor was giving just 1 cc injection dose to patients. When I asked him the reason for giving such a tiny dose, he said they have just one bottle of dose and the number of patients is 35.”

This wasn’t one of those events where people would discuss and then just disperse. Dr Bejon Misra announced and assured that the discussion will be followed by action. “We will collect evidences and each one present in this room (for discussion) will come together to make sure our voice reaches to the people in power. If they don’t listen, we will be compelled to go to courts. Universal healthcare should become a reality and not just remain a dream.”

More pictures from the discussion:

Dr Bejon Misra

All pictures courtesy: Partnership for Safe Medicines India

“High time we clean up our country” – Prasoon Joshi during Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

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By: Keyur Seta

We are well aware that well-known lyricist and script writer Prasoon Joshi has penned a heartwarming song/ slogan for the ongoing Swachha Bharat Abhiyan by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Sung by Kailash Kher, the song is called ‘Swachh Bharat Ka Irada’.

But he didn’t want his contribution to be limited to this. He was keen to contribute physically too by literally cleaning up a locality. So he took up the task of cleaning the garbage laden compound of Sofi Mahal Building in Mumbai’s Lalbaug. He was joined by bloggers – myself and Heena Shah Dedhi and few volunteers. This particular event was called Clean Sweep and it was in association with IndiBlogger.

Children in Lalbaug’s Sofi Mahal building were unable to play cricket in their compound since long due to the presence of huge amount of garbage being dumped there. But after Joshi’s initiative, the kids were finally able to resume play much to their joy. The occasion was celebrated with a professional cricket match between the two teams of the locality.

Picture: Radioandmusic.com

“This initiative has induced consciousness in the country regarding cleanliness. It’s not that people didn’t know what cleanliness is. But in spite of that, there was this inertia regarding this issue. Even in this locality, it wasn’t that people were unaware about keeping their surroundings clean, which would also enable these kids to play. But I am glad that our PM’s initiative has spread awareness about this,” says Joshi.

An interesting thing about the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is that the celebrity, who cleans up a locality, should nominate 9 people for the same task. “I was nominated by Anil Ambani. I have nominated Kiran Rao (producer and Aamir Khan’s wife), Venu Srinivasan (CMD of TVS Motors), Mr Birla, Shankar Mahadevan (composer and singer), Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev (spiritual guru), Irrfan Khan (actor), Jeev Milkha Singh (golfer), Nitish Kapoor (CEO Reckitt Benckiser [Dettol]) and Aman and Ayan Ali (music composers).”

There is always a section of the public that is cynical for every social movement. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is no different. Joshi has a message for people with such a mindset. “To those who keep saying that we will gain nothing from this, I would like to assert that if I am asked to choose between doing something and not doing anything, I will always choose the former. Of course, there won’t be change overnight. But there will definitely be some difference. In our culture, we are asked to keep our hearts clean. But now it is high time we clean up our country too.”

Obviously, the success of this initiative largely depends on whether the masses would stop littering the roads. Like many others, Joshi too feels they should be penalized. “There is a need for a law. If there is fear of getting caught and fined, people will stop doing it. Plus, they also need to be taught the difference between dry and wet waste and how to separate it.”

Even the most humongous task starts with a single step. Here’s hoping that this single step is followed by million more.