We got featured by easyvoyage.co.uk

Hey guys we got featured on the India Travel Blogs page of EasyVoyage, a UK website. Here is what they have to say about us –

Comments: Featuring talented up-and-coming artists, performers, and entrepreneurs doing unique work, this blog is a great resource to know the city of Mumbai.  

Strong point: Their interviews give you a look at young Mumbai residents and their passions.

There some other great blogs on this page too. You can check out the page here - http://www.easyvoyage.co.uk/india/blogs

Welcome to Mumbai

The ‘Maximum City’ – Mumbai, is one of the most vibrant cities that you will come across. Everything about this city is so intense, from the overcrowded public transport system to your usual hangouts like Marine Drive and Chowpatty.  Every experience is magnified a hundred times - Mumbai, it’s always in your face! Life is fast paced; this is no place for the slow and laid back! Sights – seas of people, sounds – every driver is honking for no damn reason, even smells – you know you are in Mumbai the moment you step off that plane/train. Everything is extreme, to the max! If you are a tourist, there are too few places for sightseeing; but there are infinite unique experiences to be relished here. We love our city this way, we were born and raised this way and we don’t want it any other way. But what about foreigners who are planning to move to Mumbai? How must they handle the intensity and extremity of this city?

With this question in mind we set out in search of expats who have recently moved to Mumbai. As luck would have it, we didn’t need to travel far - we found some in blogosphere. Before long we were in a coffee shop having conversation with a British expat couple, Paul andJulia Smith. Paul has been managing a consumer magazine here since February and Julia joined him in June after giving up an accounting job in London. We were very excited to learn about their experiences of Mumbai so far.

Kids trying to make a human pyramid (all pictures are from Julia's blog - BombayJules)

Paul had first visited India in June 2011, on a weeklong business trip slap bang in the middle of monsoon. The heavy and unending downpour did not impress him and he looked forward to the day of his departure. Happily back at his home in London, Julia surprised him with a question, “What if your company asks you to move to India?” But that is exactly what happened - after a few more business trips to Mumbai, his company finally asked him to move to India for a yearlong project. By this point he had already grown to appreciate the city and its people and had started to really enjoy doing business here.  Paul and Julia discussed the move in depth and as they were seeking new life experiences, decided that they would take the plunge.

The first task was for Paul to find accommodation in a nice locality in Mumbai (as Julia was still back home in the UK finishing her contract). After having seen over 80 properties he finally settled for one in Bandra – a neighbourhood that came highly recommended. Even though there are many expats to be found in Bandra it was not this that was the deciding factor. Instead, it was the cosmopolitan atmosphere with the area’s many restaurants and services and the foods to be found on Pali Market that would help them mix a western lifestyle with the Indian experience. After Julia joined her husband in June on a spousal visa, she was determined that she did not want to spend her time dwelling only in the expat community.  So prior to coming out, she arranged a placement with an NGO that works to improve mother and child health and nutrition in underprivileged parts of the city. Julia admits that she doesn’t have any ‘save the world’ ambitions, but working for the NGO provides her with the opportunity to explore the city better, meet local people, understand Indian culture and traditions, whilst also giving something back to the community. “This gives me an insight into aspects of Indian life that you would not otherwise get”.

“As a tourist there is not much to see in Mumbai. In London you could go to a new place every day of the year! I was worried that Julia would get bored in Mumbai if she did not work”, says Paul.  Both are very frank to admit that Mumbai was not the first place in the world that sprung to mind for places to relocate to. Maybe they would have preferred New York, Tokyo or Barcelona. However, they had been living in London for a long time and things were becoming a bit predictable. They were seeking change and that was the time that the opportunity to move to Mumbai came along. They did have some worries about climate and sanitation but they were nonetheless very excited to move to Mumbai.  Not only that, they have no regrets.

We were interested in knowing what perceptions they had about Mumbai prior to living here and so we put forth this question to them. “Horrendous!” was the prompt reply that came from Julia. A lot of western perceptions are borne out of the film ‘Slum Dog Millionaire’, (wrongly or rightly). When her friends learnt that she was moving to India, some were impressed but most thought she was crazy! But having been here for two months, she now realizes how wrong some of her perceptions and those of her counterparts back in London were. She now writes a blog called ‘BombayJules’ to change these perceptions. Through the blog she wants to let friends and family back home know about life in India. She says “Every day has something new to write about.  Every day I hear of something fascinating about Indian life or I see a hundred interesting things on the street as I pass by.  Really there is not enough time to write about all of it!”

For Julia, the abrupt change from being a Financial Controller in private sector to a volunteer at an NGO has been a very challenging transition.  The pace of work is different and there are many decision making processes that can delay progress.  However, she still enjoys every minute of it and has great respect for the people surrounding her.  Julia never thought that she would visit a slum after coming to Mumbai, yet due to her work at the NGO, she ended up on a tour of Dharavi on just her third day in the city! Calling it an eye-opener would be an understatement. The experience had a deep effect on her and helped her to realise and communicate to friends and family that Dharavi is a huge enterprise, not just an impoverished home for many thousands of people.

Paul on the other hand has had a completely different experience of work life:  a more modern, corporate and fast paced side of the city. Most of his time is spent at the office or travelling to meetings. Unlike his wife, he has had little time to explore the underbelly of the city and see how the majority lives.  Concerning corporate life, Paul remarks “The management structure here is so vertical, back in UK organizations tend to be more flat. Even though both countries are English speaking, some of the terms, phrases have a completely different meaning in India”. He opines that one has to be very sensitive about religion as it is such a big part of life here and people are so very sensitive about their faiths. Till now they have experienced only one festival – Janmashtmi . They found the experience truly enthralling and they are looking forward to the numerous other festivals lined up in the coming months.

Julia and Paul both already loved Indian food. “Being from Britain we are very much used to Indian food. In fact these days, Indian food is almost the national cuisine of Britain!” One thing that they have noted is that whenever they go out with locals, they will recommend dishes they feel will be suitable for the expat couple, the less spicy ones. “They don’t think we can take it!” says Julia. One of the things Julia loves is the way people come together during their lunch break and share their tiffin. “At lunch time in the UK I tended to go out, grab a sandwich, sit at my computer, have the food and carry on working” says Julia.  However, there is one thing about our eating habits that troubles them a little. They feel it can be difficult to host a dinner party for a group of Indians due to the many eating preferences that we have. “Some eat beef, some don’t. Some eat egg, some don’t. Some are strictly vegetarian. It seems the best thing to do is only eat with one couple at a time!”

The fact that a large chunk of population in Mumbai speaks English makes their life a lot easier. However, they admit that is has made them lazy in trying to learn the local languages Hindi and Marathi. Instead they have read quite a few books about the city and Indian life, such as Maximum City, Shantaram, and A Fine Balance. “Mumbai is a very complex city. And I have decided that I will just enjoy it for what it is rather than trying to figure the city out!” says Paul. “It’s such an exciting place, there is so much happening contrary to my initial beliefs”, adds Julia.

Now that they have grown to love the city (the bad and the good parts) they are hoping that they can stay here for a longer duration than originally envisaged. In the meantime, they have plans to do as much travelling as possible, visiting places like Rajasthan, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and at least one tiger reserve. Paul is very keen to see the varied wildlife that India has to offer. They say that having spent time in Mumbai they now feel happy that they are here rather than in New York.  We too hope the couple gets to stay here longer so that they can explore and discover more of Mumbai and India.

You can follow Julia and Paul's journey on her blog - BombayJules

In Chat: Mumbai Tips - Vipul Sodha

You have heard the term ‘Mumbaikar’ being thrown around by almost everyone from politicians to the common man. But what is the definition of ‘Mumbaikar’, who is this ‘Mumbaikar’? Have you ever wondered what makes a person a ‘Mumbaikar’? Well, you don’t need to put on your thinking cap to come up with an answer. Just head to Facebook and look up the page called ‘Mumbai Tips’. There could be no better explanation of a Mumbaikar’s characteristics. ‘Mumbai Tips’ defines the traits that are unique to a ‘Mumbaikar’ in a humorous manner. This amazing page was started by Vipul Sodha, an engineering student and resident of Mumbai with the objective of spreading some smiles among Mumbaikars. Within a short span of time the page has seen a meteoric rise to fame. ‘Discovering Mumbai’ caught with Vipul to talk about his fabulous creation. Here is our brief chat with Vipul Sodha – ‘Mumbai Tips’ -

Hello Vipul, please tell us something about yourself?
I am Vipul Sodha, currently doing my B.Tech From Mukesh Patel  School Of Technology and Management.

Why Mumbai Tips? Whats the objective behind Mumbai tips?

Nothing like objective, it was just started by me to have fun and to spread Smiles.
 

So how did the idea to start Mumbai tips occur to you?

It was 4^th April, 2012 at around 11.45 pm. I finished with my studies for the day and was surfing on Facebook and found that many communities and cities have their own tips page, so I thought of creating Mumbai Tips. People in Mumbai are so busy with their daily schedule that they don’t get a moment to smile. So the main objective behind this page is to display Mumbaikars their own activities in a humorous way. Majority of Mumbaikars on an average use Facebook at least once a day so after reading my tips they get a chance to be proud Mumbaikars!!!

Are these tips your own creations? What makes these tips so popular?

I am born and brought up in Mumbai, so I have experienced each and every tip I publish. Every tip is not my own creation, majority of them are suggested to me by fans of “Mumbai Tips”. You can notice that we give credits to the person who suggested the tip by writing the name of the person at the right hand corner of the tip post. What makes my tips so popular is that it is Mumbaikars own daily activities which I publish in my tips in a humorous way.

What were the initial responses and what is feedback that you receive now?

Frankly speaking, initially in the first two days I didn’t get any response I hardly got around 200 likes in two days but after people started sharing and liking my tips my likes increased to around 1000 likes per day and in 32 days we crossed 30000 fans!

How does it feel having created something so popular?

I never thought that I would get such a huge response. But now that it’s a big hit I feel proud to say that it’s my own creation.

So what are the next steps for Mumbai Tips?

Next step is I am thinking to come out with t-shirts printed with Mumbai tips. I got many offers for advertisements on my page too. But my aim is not to make money through Mumbai tips but to spread smiles.

Anything else you would like to share with us?

Just want to convey the message to all Mumbaikars to keep smiling and keep sharing my page.

You can check more tips on the 'Mumbai Tips' Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/mumbai.tips or their Twitter account @MumbaiTips

Paint the Wall

Remember the days when you were kids, armed with crayons in your hands, you went around trying to paint on anything you could lay your hands on! The whole world was a canvas then. Some of us ruined our walls, well that’s what most parents felt, and then we got a good rap from them. Those were the days! Some never gave up that habit of painting the walls; they grew up wanting to paint walls with their creative ideas. For people like Jas Charanjiva, the entire world is still a canvas. She still has that childlike feeling inside of her, and this is what makes her such a great wall artist. This is the story of how Jas Charanjiva became a successful wall artist and is promoting this modern art form in our city of Mumbai. Let’s paint some walls!

'Smokin is for Villans' - Jas's wall art on Chinchpokli Road, Bandra

Jas was born in Kent County, UK, the same place where her childhood hero Mick Jagger was born. She spent half of her childhood in Toronto, Canada, after which her family moved to California. At the age of 6 she discovered David Bowie, the English pop legend known for his distinctive voice and style. Bowie’s style and his works had a significant impact on Jas; she has named her studio ‘Life on Mars’ after one of Bowie’s songs. “He's so conceptual. Costumes, make up, characters. His music was real cool and later I realized how sophisticated it was and appreciated how ahead of his time he was”, says Jas about her idol. At 12 she discovered the world of street art; she was mesmerized by this style of art. Eventually she ended up making a career in street art.

Jas was introduced to the world of street art at the age of 12, when she got her first professional skateboard. The artwork at the bottom of skateboard caught her eye. She started checking out these skateboard artworks in a popular magazine called Thrasher, a magazine dedicated to skating. Her initial trysts with street art where simple works of chalk on sidewalks. Once on her way back home from school, she wrote names of her favourite bands on the sidewalk with chalk. She did this for about a quarter of a mile before her Mom caught her and reprimanded her for this act! Her first wall art was a recreation of an album cover on the walls of a record shop opposite the Church of John Coltrane. On Sunday’s the church would see huge crowd and she wanted to paint something cool with a message for the people waiting in queue to get inside. Her work, commissioned by the record shop, was only an album cover and she could not put any message on it. However, the urge to paint something meaningful with a cool and witty message got her into further exploring this genre of art. She did some legal and some illegal works in San Francisco, California. Most of her works were messages about people living their lives in a bubble.

Few years ago she moved to Hyderabad, when her husband’s company sent him on a three year project to India. After the project was over they decided to stay back in India. The transition from New York City to Hyderabad was not so bad for her; in fact she found it cool to be somewhere different. The only issue was that street art was in a nascent stage in India and Hyderabad, especially, didn’t have anything worthy to be called a piece of art at the time. Mumbai on the other hand had a fair amount of good street art. In places like Chapel Road, Bandra, there is a waiting list of businesses and shop owners who want their walls painted. “Mumbai streets have some good pieces of art but there's not enough of it. Majority of the best work is from artists outside the country. We have some regular artists that visit often to paint here. Like Rock from France and Loomit from Germany”.

Her first solo show was all about bringing street art indoors. She had a huge room of raw concrete to paint. Jas spent 10 days and nights painting the room. The room was very hot and this inspired her to create the theme ‘Fire wall’ for her solo show. This show launched her as an artist in India. Her second exhibition Diamond Dogs + Super Creeps was inspired by David Bowie’s songs and characters. GQ magazine was coming out with a 6 page article on David Bowie, so the online editor of GQ suggested to Jas that she create some event around Bowie the same month. The show happily sold out.

So what is about street art that makes it so special for Jas? “I love the rawness of it, I love that there's no intention of making money out of it. I love that it's based on the love for it. I love there's an unpredictability to it as in one stumbles upon it and it can be painted over the next day or remain there for years”. She also loves the fact that street art is so smart, clever and sometimes witty. Jas feels that there is still a lot to be done to promote street art here in India. She feels that all the talented artists we have in the city should contribute at least one piece outdoors. People in India get to see so little of street art. When they do come across one, they are amazed, but what they can’t understand is “Why someone would do such a thing for free?”

Having established herself as an artist, she now runs her own studio ‘Life on Mars’. The name is derived from one of David Bowie’s songs about a girl who wonders if there’s life on mars, as she feels that life on earth is all messed up. Like the girl in the song Jas too gets affected by the things happening around her and that’s how the messages in her murals come about. Now she is expanding her work to murals for kids. Most of her current works have angry annoyed characters, so now she has to work on making happy characters. Jas plans to continue her street works in Mumbai and all the places that she is invited to. She is also working on selling original art. She would also like to create a few illustrated books in the future. There are a lot of things she wants to do and she is trying her hand at all of them. Given a chance she would like to collaborate with Buff Monster an artist from US and she would also like to work with the Rolling Stones or Bowie on a project. For the time being we just hope that she does more and more street art around Mumbai. The city needs more artists like Jas to change the face of this city, to make it more beautiful through their art! We hope Jas’s works will inspire other talented beginners to take up street art.

You can check out Jas's exciting artwork at - http://about.me/jascharanjiva and http://jascharanjiva.carbonmade.com/

In Chat: Malini Agarwal - RJ and Celebrity Blogger

Over the last fifteen years, Malini Agarwal has established herself as a leader, innovator, and trendsetter in the Indian media and entertainment industry. Starting as a professional dancer while attending Delhi University, Malini soon joined MTV India as a Channel Head, where she was charged with creating engaging television and digital content for a national audience.

She later joined GO 92.5 FM as a Radio Jockey, and although private radio in India was still in its infancy, she quickly drew a large and loyal following. After 8 years in the radio business, where she rose to the position of Programming Director at 94.3 Radio One, she accepted a role as Head of Digital Content for Channel [v], where she oversaw all of the channel’s online content. During this time, Malini founded the pioneering lifestyle and entertainment blog MissMalini.com, which has quickly established itself as the leading voice in India’s online lifestyle space. The Huffington Post, the world’s most popular and authoritative blog, has called Malini Agarwal “without a doubt, India’s most famous blogger”.

Here are some excerpts from Discovering-Mumbai’s interview with Malini Agarwal

Malini can you please shed some light on your personal background?

I’m a bit of a tumble-weed! I was born in Allahabad and then grew up all over the world (courtesy my dad who was in the Indian Foreign Service) as a diplobrat in Germany, Somalia, Greece, Lebenon, Ivory Coast and Bulgaria. After college I was a professional dancer for many years with Ronica and the Planets in Delhi and then moved to Mumbai where I created the Mid Day website content framework and eventually moved to MTV India online to run their romance channel. Eventually I joined Radio and was an RJ for 9 years after which I moved to Channel [v] to run digital content. That’s when I started my blog as a hobby and within 6 months realised that is what I want to do full time!

So how did you get around to becoming an RJ? When you started off private radio stations were quite young in India, what changes have you seen in Radio over the years?

I was with MTV at the time and a friend of mine suggested I go for an audition, since it was close by I went and luckily got offered a spot right away! I started as an RJ when private radio had just come to India so it was all very new and exciting. We made a lot of it up as we went along and really created the first ever commercial radio experience for the Indian ear. Over the years I’ve seen radio change a lot, sadly because the initial license fees were very high a lot of stations collapased or switched to Bollywood to survive. As a result there is very little variety on the air right now and it seems to have lost a lot of it’s flavor and soul.

What was your first show? What was it like going on air for the first time? What were the feedback that you got from people and your close ones?

My first show was the nightshift on WIN 94.6 from 9pm to midnigh. I used to go do my show live every night after working all day at MTV but I loved it. I was quite nervous the first time and my hands were shaking! Over time though it became my favorite moment of the day, when I’d put the faders up and say hello to my listeners. My friends all listened to me and were very supportive, it was an even bigger high to know that the ones you love are listening and I’d always give them a shout out!

Keeping the listeners engaged for hours must be a tough job? How do you manage it?

The key is really to be yourself and be engaged in what you’re doing. Don’t fake it because it shows. The best advice I ever got was imagine that you are speaking to just one person and that creates a bond between you and every single person who is tuned in. I also loved researching trivia about the songs I played and coming up with games to play on the air. In fact I even started a radio network called Going Solo where some of my listeners and I would actually meet every week and do something fun!

How has your style evolved over the years?

Over time radio has become second nature to me and I switch on my “radio voice” pretty easily. My style is peppy, up beat and conspiritorial. Like I’m telling you something I wouldn’t tell anybody else!

Who are the RJs you look up to and what do you like about their work?

I look up to a lot of International RJs. I like Ryan Seacrest and find Shock Jock Howard Stern very entertaining even though he’s almost 100% talk radio which is very hard to do! I loved listening to Jaggu & Tarana, Genesia, TMan Nadir, Savio, Glenn… all my old Go 92.5 FM co-stars!

What’s the best thing about being an RJ?

I guess the best thing about being an RJ is the fact that you’re creating a live connection over the air with so many people all at once, and the fact that it’s the theatre of the mind and you can create a magical world with your words and music that each person experiences in the way they chose to. (This is why most people picture their favorite RJs as drop dead gorgeous even if they might not be!)

You have interviewed a lot of people on air. Tell us some of your best memories from these interviews?

Some of my favorite memories are from Pirate Radio, which I started at 94.3 Radio One with Imran Khan, I’d get Bollywood celebrities to come hang out in the studio with me for a few hours and play any music they wanted and just chat, no agenda no rules. It was SO much fun and I loved doing it! I also remember getting super star struck around Abhishek Bachchan once and asking him if he’s ever been in love!

A lot of people call up on Radio, have you had some bad experiences with callers on air? How do you handle such a thing?

Well I had a weird radio stalker for many years who thought he and I were in a relationship. I had to take him to the police station and his mom came and slapped him in front of everyone there!

Most of the time though you get to screen your callers so you know if they’re going to say something crazy you don’t put them on the air.

What talent does one need to be a good RJ? What advice would you give to someone who wants to be a RJ?

To be a good RJ you need a great personality more than a good voice. My best advice to anyone who wants to be an RJ would be to be yourself, remember to talk to just one person in your head (picture your best friend is setting opposite you and talk to him/her) and have fun, it’ll show!

You also started a networking club called Friday Club, can you tell us something about this club?

Yes I started Friday Club 7 years ago and it’s still going strong. It’s basically a group of fun interesting people from Indian and other parts of the world who like meeting new people. I’ve always felt that after school or college people stop trying to make new really close friends but at Friday Club we’ve forged amazing friendships and even though it’s not a “singles” club as such several people met their life partners, including myself!

When did you start blogging and what was the thought behind starting your own blog?

I started blogging in 2008 as a hobby at a friend’s suggestion. I did it for fun because I love writing and at the time I had stopped doing my column in Mid Day for a short while and was missing writing it. I had no idea at the time that it would soon become my whole world!

How has your blog evolved over the years?

My blog has evolved into a one stop entertainment destination for all things Bollywood, Fashion and Lifestyle realted with a desi girl twist! Now I have a team of writers and photographers who cover events and write about everything relevant to my audience. So it’s more of a proper online brand now from the single person’s musings it used to be.

You also write gossip column in newspaper. How different it is from writing a blog? What things do you consider when writing for a newspaper?

Newspaper columns are less interactive but there is a charm to print writing that will last forever feel. My column in Mid Day is usually about upcoming celebrity events and hot happenings whereas the blog takes you inside those parties and events and gives you a fly-on-the-wall perspective!

So what next for Miss Malini?

Like I always say to my team, it’s to the moon! MissMalini is definitely going places so stay tuned

Falling In Love With India

This is the story of how one foreign national fell in love with the rich history, culture and traditions of our country that she could never go back to her homeland. This is about her journey across India, discovering the diversity and exploring the numerous treasures that India has to offer. From the banks of the Ganges in North India to the majestic temples of South India, she has travelled and seen more of India than most Indians themselves! Along the journey she made many friends, found the love of her life and rediscovered herself. India left such a mark on her heart and soul that she could never return back to her country. Discovering Mumbai brings to you the story of Sharell Cook. Sharell writes and manages About.com India travel page, she is settled in Mumbai with her Indian husband.

Sharell grew up in a middle class family in rural Australia. Like most Australian teens she worked at a supermarket to help herself financially. Her family lived on a five acre plot which was full of animals like cats, dogs, ducks, geese and goats; she even had an aviary full of birds. A typical Australian family, they enjoyed pool parties and barbeque in summers and went skiing in winters. Sharell spent the first 21 years in her hometown before she moved to Melbourne for her job. She graduated in Business and got an accounting job in Melbourne. However, she never really enjoyed her job much, apart from the report writing part of it. Her travels to India inspired her write about India. She started submitting these articles to an article library website. One fine day she received a call from a stranger, who liked her articles, about a vacancy at About.com. They were looking for someone to write and manage their India travel website. After a few gruelling tests she was hired!

Her first encounter with India happened in the year 2000. While returning to Australia, from her first overseas trip, she did a stopover in Bangkok where she realized that eastern countries were much more fascinating than west. Even some of her friends were raving about their experiences in India. Finally she got brave and decided to travel to India. The decision was not easy for her. She was daunted by the thought of visiting India, having heard so many stories about people getting sick, getting robbed and whole lot of other such stories. Like many foreigners her perception about India was also the ‘land of snake charmers’. Sharell spent hours on research trying to make sure that nothing would go wrong on her maiden voyage to India. On her first trip she travelled through the northern parts of India – Delhi, Agra, Varanasi and Rajasthan. The depth of the culture, the history and architecture of the country left her astonished.

An obsession for India was born out of this first trip, she couldn’t stay away as there was so much more to explore and experience. Two years later she returned to spend some more time. Her second trip would be through South India. This was followed by another trip three years later but this time her reasons to travel were a lot different. Her life was going through a rough patch; she decided to come down to India to do some community work to take her mind off the things troubling her. Also she wanted to get herself out of her comfort zone, become more independent and assertive and she felt that India was the perfect place for this. While in India, an Australian friend offered her to take care of her guesthouse in Kerala for the tourist season, this made her stay back in India. It was also during this journey that she unexpectedly fell in love!

She has a lot of great memories to share from her trips like the wacky camel fair at Pushkar, spending time on houseboats in Kerala’s enchanting backwaters, driving a rickshaw from Chennai to Mumbai as part of a charity event, a village to village yak safari in high altitude Spiti and having dinner with the Maharaja of Udaipur at his palace! However, her most meaningful experience has been attending the Ganga Aarti at Haridwar, it was a very strong spiritual experience for her; something which she had never experienced before. India has played a major role in redefining Sharell, it has made her more flexible, spontaneous and assertive.

India, is the place where she finally found her true love, they decided to get married and are now settled in the city of Mumbai. They met in Kolkata, she asked him to accompany her to the guesthouse in Kerala which she was managing and after that they did some more travelling. They fell in love and finally they got married, but only after the entire horoscope matching was done and his parent’s approval was obtained! Coming from a small village in Australia she finds life in Mumbai too intense! Initially she saw Mumbai as an Indian city trying to be western. But over time she has fallen in love with the city. She loves the cosmopolitan nature of Mumbai and also the fact that it is the safest city in India for women. She finds peace in the beaches of Mumbai. Sharell also loves the Ganesh festival’s grandeur. What she does not like about the city is the poor and shabby state of its infrastructure. Also she feels that the city’s nightlife is being threatened by fanatical policing. She also dreads the city’s traffic and feels that it takes too long to get anywhere!

Sharell writes a blog titled – ‘Diary of a white Indian housewife’. When she was deciding on moving to India, she scoured the net looking for blogs by people who were in a similar situation as hers. She didn’t find many such blogs and so she thought that she should start her own blog to share her experiences with others. Lot of people ask Sharell about moving to India, about her experiences. She believes that anyone who has a genuine interest in India will surely enjoy their time here as India has so many things to teach you. “India can be challenging, but if you have a greater sense of purpose here, then challenges matter less”, says Sharell. She also advises people not to replicate their western standard of living in India. “Anyone moving to India must be ready to make a lot of adjustments”, she believes. For Sharell the journey has been an enriching experience. From travelling India to writing about India, finding the love of her life and getting married, India has given lots of good memories to cherish. And she too has very kind words for the country that has given her so much. “To sum it all in one line – India is a remarkable teacher!”

You can check out her About.com India travel page at - http://goindia.about.com/
and her blog 'Diary of a White Indian Housewife' at - http://www.whiteindianhousewife.com/

The Digital Artist

The dawn of computers has rapidly transformed our lives in the last two decades. Things which we can do today were only dreams a decade ago. Remember the first time you used a computer? How excited you were to lay your hands on this machine and if you were a kid then you definitely must have spent hours on a painting application colouring a digital canvas with lots of colour and creativity!

Fast forward to 2012 and the humble paint app has been overtaken by serious, technological marvels like Adobe Photoshop, Corel and a host of other applications. These mean machines and software’s have spawned a new generation of artists, armed with a tablet computer and an electronic paintbrush; these artists are charting into new worlds through their work and in the process have created a new form of art – the digital art. Discovering-Mumbai (DM) came across one such upcoming, extremely promising, unbelivably talented artist - Vasundhara Prakash.

Vasundhara who is a script writer by profession and is currently working on a movie which is supposed to go into production by end of this year, did not start off wanting to be an artist. She is also working on two more scripts. Vasundhara did her Bachelors in Philosophy from Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi and Masters in Arts and Aesthetics from JNU, Delhi. With her thirst for knowledge not satiated she set sail for the distant land of America for her PHD in communication at the University of California, San Diego. However, things didn’t turn out the way she wanted and she came back to India. It was at this point of time that the lure of Bollywood started to beckon her and she decided to pursue a career in Bollywood.

Vasundhara's manipulation of her own picture

Her first assignment in Bollywood was working as the Assistant Director on a film; she also worked on an Indo-French documentary ‘India by Song’ which was aired on TV and also went to Cannes. Later she went into advertising, again as a Director’s Assistant, but she didn’t really enjoy the stressful world of advertising. This is the time when she started writing movie scripts. So how did Vasundhara, the script writer, become Vasundhara the artist? It happened two years ago when she was pondering over a very peculiar issue; the question was how to make her Facebook profile pic stand out. This led her down a path which resulted in her discovery of softwares like Dotmatrix, Pixelmator and Photoshop. Initially she was a bit intimidated by these softwares but she quickly worked her way around them and started churning out some great pictures. She started out working on her own pictures and later she also tried her hand at manipulating pictures of her friends. When her friends saw her work they were amazed and started using her works as their profile pictures on Facebook. Soon what had started out as a pastime started to develop into a passion. Her initial attempts were simple manipulations of photographs. Later she started adding different elements along with the photos and her distinctive style started to develop.

One of her works, displayed at The Bagel Shop, Bandra

Vasundhara’s digital artworks are a blend of photographs and drawings, and a host of other elements. She mixes these elements elegantly to create stunning visuals. Her works are peppered with lots of bright colours. A female subject is central to almost all of her paintings. When asked to explain one of her works she replied, “My paintings are very instinctive, I do not think about a particular theme when I draw. I don’t even label my works as it makes them very restrictive and makes people think about the work in a particular way”. Vasundhara has made almost 160 pieces of digital paintings so far, out of which she is displaying 15 at her first solo exhibition at ‘The Bagel Shop’ in Bandra. The exhibition runs till July 15th. She is visibly excited about her exhibition, because when she started out, the thought that one day she would be exhibiting her work to the public never crossed her mind. A lot of her excitement also stems from the positive response that she has been receiving from people. So far she has been successful in selling eight of her fifteen works and a lot of requests for reprints of these sold works. A lot of people have told her that her works are actually underpriced!

Friends and family were the ones who motivated her in going public, they also happen to be the ones who constantly give her the feedback she needs. Her brother, in particular, is one of her biggest critic. The first time she displayed her work was at a fair at Mocha Mojo, Bandra. She had displayed three of her works at Mocha Mojo alongside a host of other artists. One of her works has been used as the cover of a book and she has also designed one specifically for a book. Post her solo exhibition she has got an offer from a lady in Denmark who organizes online art exhibitions. She is also looking for other venues in Mumbai to display her works but she admits that she would not really like her work to be put up in some art gallery. As an arts student she knows that it can get very intimidating for people to go to a gallery. She is grateful to 'The Bagel Shop' for providing her the opportunity to display her works with such openness and warmth.  There are very few genuine places in Mumbai, like 'The Bagel Shop', which provide a platform to upcoming artists for presenting their work

The artist, who was never really interested on a real paintbrush and canvas, says that in India digital art is not given its due credit. A lot of people still don’t take it as a serious form of art. People do not understand the time, creativity and hardwork that goes into making a digital painting. But such perceptions are not going to let her down, for sure.  Post her successful exhibition, her confidence is sky high and all that she is thinking about is taking her passion for painting to the next level. Vasundhara wants to continue doing both scripts and digital paintings, she really can’t choose between the two. With her movie ready to go into production we understand the excitement that she is going through. Her successful exhibition must have taken that excitement to cloud nine levels. We wish her all the best for her movie project and hope to see more of her works soon.

You can check out more of Vasundhara's works on her flickr page - http://www.flickr.com/photos/vasundharaprakash/
or at the Bagel Shop at Bandra before her exhibition ends on July 15.

A walk around town...

Mumbai, the vibrant and dynamic city, renowned for its art-deco style of architecture and the grandeur of the Gothic and Victorian structures built during the time of the British. Born out of colonial era, the southern part of the city also popularly called the ‘Town’; harbours some very old and astonishing pieces of architecture. The old city holds within itself so much of history which todays common Mumbaikar is totally unaware of. In today’s modern life, Mumbaikars preoccupied with their daily routines are losing touch with the city’s rich past. Well, the good news is that there is one organization which is trying to change this; it’s called ‘Raconteur Walks’ and it is trying to make Mumbaikars understand their hometown better by walking them through its history.

Born out of a need for better tourism infrastructure, ‘Raconteur Walks’ (RW) is a theme based walking tour company that aims to provide a professional touring solution for both tourists and locals. Their aim is to take tourists and locals on a journey to uncover the hidden secrets of Mumbai. Their tagline says it all, ‘Live the city’!

The famous Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai

Viraat Kasliwal, the founder of RW, is only 24 years old. He was born in a family of entrepreneurs; in fact he is the fifth generation entrepreneur in his family! A graduate from HR College, he was born and raised in South Mumbai. Growing up among the beautiful buildings of town, he developed a attraction towards Mumbai’s history. The architecture of certain buildings like the University campus and the Town Hall captivated him since his early days. Viraat is a true blue Mumbaikar who deeply loves the history of his hometown. It is this love for the city that makes him the apt person to run a tour company that enlightens people about Mumbai’s past. “This city means the world to me and nothing would want to make me leave it.  It’s always been home for me and there’s a warmth that emanates out of this city and her people that makes everyone always feel like they’re at home”, says Viraat.

The idea to start RW struck Viraat after a few trips to the US and Switzerland made him realize that India is actually a treasure chest of history, but due to the poor tourism infrastructure India was not a big tourist destination globally. He saw an obvious lack of good quality tourism options in India and thus RW was born to fill this gap. He says a lot of tourists come to Mumbai after hearing stories about the grandeur of India, but due to the poor tourism facilities many of them return disappointed! Through RW he set out to change this major lacuna.

Having an idea is one thing, but starting up a company is a different ball game altogether and Viraat too went through those tough early days that all entrepreneurs have to go through. The first thing he did was to meticulously research about the city’s history. He started out his research in September 2009 and it lasted almost till December 2010. During this time he researched 40 books, 55 magazines and periodicals and countless websites. His vision was clear, to start a good quality touring company he would need at least 100 times more knowledge than what a guide book like lonely planet can provide! His family was always there to support him both emotionally and financially. He would turn to his father when in need of some financial advice and his mother always stood behind him like a rock. His biggest challenge however, has been the perception that people in India hold about tourism companies. People failed to understand the difference between RW and any other local guide at the ‘Gateway of India’. Changing this perception has been one his biggest challenges.

A walking tour at the Flora Fountain

As of now RW organizes three walks based on history theme, all of which are conducted in the Fort region of South Mumbai. A walk is about 2.5 Kms and lasts about 3 hours. A walking group consists on no more than 10 people. Viraat is very cautious when it comes to hiring his guides. The parameters which are of paramount importance for a person to become a guide at RW are command over English, charisma, extrovertness and self-confidence. He tries to keep his team youthful, in fact at 24 he is the oldest member of his team! Most of the guides are young college students who are either pursuing education or have just passed out. He also looks out for part time actors from English theatre. “Language and formality will never be a problem if you walk with us”, says Viraat. Walking groups are not allowed to be larger than 10, so that the guide can give personal attention to each tourist. The company strives to ensure that it’s not just about walking, it is about creating an experience for your customers, and it is about making people really live the city!

Viraat enlightened us with some really interesting facts about the city’s history. The name Bombay was derived from Bom Bahia (The good bay), a name given by Portuguese sailor Francis Almeida in 1508. Neither the Portuguese nor the local rulers had any major interest in the area which is today know as South Mumbai. It was only the British who realized the importance of Mumbai Harbour and began developing the Bombay island. Nobel Laureate Rudyard Kipling who wrote Kim and The Jungle Book was born in Mumbai. Such pieces of info assured us as to how little the average Mumbaikar is aware about the history of the city he calls home!

The next step for RW is to increase the number of walks it organizes from 3 to 15 and also add newer themes to the walks. The bigger aim, however, is to take the company pan India. Viraat wants RW to become a household name in tours. He wants to provide people across India an honest, professional and organized touring option. “The quality of our walk and the smiles on our guest’s faces are what is most important to us”, says a candid Viraat. Given his dedication to his work and his passion Discovering-Mumbai believes that RW will surely achieve the goals that it has set for itself. We are all praise of our true blue Mumbaikar Viraat Kasliwal and we wish him all the very best on his future endeavours. May you keep enlightening the people of Mumbai about their history!

You can check out more about them and their latest walk on their website http://mumbaiwalkingtours.com/

Evolution of a Band...

Nothing beats Mumbai’s passion for music; the city’s thirst for music is insatiable! How else do you explain the need for almost 10 radio stations pumping out music, non-stop, 24 hours of the day! People walking around with headphones sticking out of their ears as if it were part of their bodies! There is no escaping music in this town, any kind of music. There is a market for all genres of music, pop, hip hop, rock, techno, Bollywood. The city is a haven for all kinds of music and those who create such music.

The rock music scene especially, has been thriving strong since a long time. The younger section of population has been hooked on to the sound of guitar and drums. Today the number of bands in the city is beyond count. Some are formed for the sake of fun; some on the other hand are serious ventures of rock fanatics. Very few are able to last for a significant amount of time. Further, very few are able to rise above this clutter to make a mark.

Discovering-Mumbai (DM) found one such band, which we feel has the potential to break through the clutter. Oddly, we found them playing in a place where you would least expect a good rock band, in a suburban mall on a Sunday evening; where people are more interested in the latest sale than the entertainment the mall has arranged for them. We loved their music, in fact we didn’t move from our seats for the full 2 hours that these guys played. Mesmerized by their music, yes we were! Having enjoyed their music so much we decided to catch up with these guys. The name of the band – ‘Winter Shift’

The band of four; Rahul Mistri (Vocals & Rhythm guitar), Colin Vyas (Drums), Vivek Date (Bass) and Neeraj Bundel (Lead guitar); is only a year old. These guys are not childhood or college friends; they found each other on the internet. Their passion for music brought them together; they found that they got along well, and finally it culminated into ‘Winter Shift’. Colin and Neeraj are old hands, Colin has been playing drums for almost 8 years now and Neeraj has been fiddling around with the six-string for almost a decade. Rahul has been at it for 4 years now, he wanted to be a lead but after a while he realized that he hasn’t got that innovation and improvising facets that are requisites for a lead, so he decided to go for singing instead and he is quite good at that. Vivek has  been playing bass guitar for 2 years now, recently he has also started playing the six-string. 

From left to rigth: Neeraj, Colin, Rahul and Vivek. Winter Shift performing at Infiniti Mall, Malad.

 One thing which everyone wants to know about any band is the meaning of the band’s name, and we too were interested in finding it out. As per the bands members there is no philosophy behind the name. After having gone through a lot of brainstorming and coming up with almost 50 odd names they finally settled for the name ‘Winter Shift’. ‘Winter’ because the band was formed in the season of winter and ‘Shift’ because they say that their style of music keeps changing. They are still to settle down, still to decide what kind of music they want to play. Right now they are playing whatever interests them. For e.g. Colin started his musical journey with metal, later he moved on the heavy rock and now he is playing classic rock. Classic rock actually seems to be their favourite. They all are fans of Red Hot Chili Peppers and their RHCP covers are fabulous! They also play Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix. These guys are into the melodious sounding music rather than the head banging kind. This, we believe, is what separates them from the rest of the wannabe bands.

Formed just one year ago; the band went live for the first time two months ago. Vivek and Colin who have played at iconic places like Blue Frog and Hard Rock Café urged the others to move out of their studio and on to the stage. Performing in front of crowds is the best way to improve one, is what they believe. Their first gig was at an architecture college in Prabhadevi, this gig gave them the confidence they needed. The second gig was at Cool Chef Café, Worli. They were able to draw crowds even on the eve of a Mumbai Indians IPL semifinal match. To their surprise people paid Rs. 300 entry fee to listen to them! Their latest gig at the suburban mall however didn’t start out too well for them. On the first day they came ready with a playlist full of English songs and that too their favourite classic rock songs. The crowds just couldn’t relate to their music, they understood that the crowd wasn’t enjoying much. Even the anchor constantly kept on prodding them to play Hindi songs to entertain the crowds. Some in the crowd even did a bit of garba on rock, which had the band completely shocked!

Winter Shift at Cool Chef Cafe, Worli

 Armed with the knowledge that to entertain such a crowd hindi songs are a must; the band returned the next day prepared. The only catch was that their equipment was at the mall, this meant that they didn’t get to practice any of the songs; they just heard the songs once before going out to play. But believe us, when we heard them play ‘Jo bhi main’ from Rockstar we thought these guys must have put in hours of practice in the song, such was their performance. So it was a big surprise for us when they revealed that they hadn’t practiced at all! Second day at the mall turned out to be complete opposite of the first one. The crowds enjoyed their gig thoroughly. The band must have surely heaved a sigh of relief!

Winter Shift is a breath of fresh air; there aren’t many bands that play classic rock, fewer who play as well as them. Neeraj’s work on the guitar is simply enchanting, Colin’s talent on the drums is fascinating, Rahul’s vocals are so smooth, and without Vivek on the bass they won’t sound as good as they do. So the big question now is, ‘where will Winter Shift go from here?’ The band has a clear intention. They have done enough covers. Now they want to get down to creating original music. Rahul, Vivek and Neeraj have been working on this. Neeraj has been a constant source of motivation, urging the band to start working on originals. Post the mall gig they have a lot of offers in hand from many events companies. But they are in no hurry, rightly so, as they should keep their focus on making originals now.

DM is expecting a lot from these guys and we can’t wait for them to come out with their first original! Hopefully they will invite DM for their first public performance of the original! We wish ‘Winter Shift’ all the best in their future endeavours. We intend to keep tracking the evolution of this band.

You can view their videos and follow Winter Shift on their Facebook page (Click here).