MaxLife i-Genius Young Singing Star Grand Finale!!!

Date: 17 December, 2014

Venue: Taj Lands End, Bandra, Mumbai

Website: http://www.igenius.org

Every child is blessed with one or the other talent, an amazing vocal, theater skills, a hidden author or anything for that matter. Its we parents who need to recognize their hidden talent and nurture them to better their future. 

MaxLife Insurance has taken up such an initiative to recognize the hidden talents from across the country. i-Genius programme which was launched in 2010, has become a benchmark initiative in the country to recognize young talent. They have connected with over 20 lakh children across the country through their i-genius Scholarship, Young Authors Hunt programme and this year's Young Singing Stars. MaxLife Insurance along with leading music label Universal Music India, launched ‘i-genius Young Singing Stars’ programme, a nationwide search for young singing talent. This unique competition provided exciting platform for aspiring and talented young singing stars, giving children aged between 8- 15 years the opportunity to have their songs heard by industry professionals and a chance to have their own music album. Through a rigorous three phase selection process the panel of jury shortlisted many top performers. The video conferencing round resulted in the final short listing to top 10 who went through mentoring sessions with Salim Merchant and Shraddha Sharma. 

Few of we bloggers from Blogadda, were invited for the grand finale of the i-Genius Young Singing Star, which was held at Taj Lands End, in Mumbai. As always, I was there quite on time to the event, joined other bloggers. 

The event started off with mesmerizing performance by host for the evening Mansi Scott. Mr. Rajesh Sud CEO and Managing Director, Max Life Insurance and Ms Anisha Motwani, Director & Chief Marketing Officer, shared the journey of i-Genius YSS. How the platform was made available to all children who dream big and aspire to achieve greater heights. Out of 1.26 lakh entries, 9,000 plus entries were by under-privileged children as a result of a special inclusion drive conducted by Max Life in 7 cities. Devraj Sanyal, Managing Director - Universal Music Group and EMI South Asia said, it was the most amazing talent he had witnessed in his career. And those Young Singing Stars were truly the future of India and Universal & EMI were proud to be an integral part of the process of discovering and nurturing those future stars. He added, he was excited and eagerly waiting to start recording the albums and singles and introduce the Young Singing Stars to the world at large.

Salim Merchant and Shraddha Sharma performing for the evening

Then was the introduction and performances by the jury for the evening Shraddha Sharma, a Youtube superstar who has over million fans following her music on Youtube, and Salim Merchant, a leading composer and director who has directed over 40 movies.

The super talented i-Genius Stars

Panel of Jury Devraj Sanyal, MD - Universal Music Group and EMI South Asia, Salim Merchant, Music composer and director and Youtube SuperStar Shraddha Sharma

Followed by two rounds of performances by top 10 finalists who kept everyone engaged with their amazing vocal. To add to the melodies for the evening, were the performances by Kavitha Seth and Raga Trippin', a unique band of six, who perform non-instrumentally music, solely depending on the sounds and rhythm created by their voice. 

Mansi Scott and Kavitha Seth

Raga Trippin'

The Top 10 finalists

The event ended with the announcement of the two winners, Shrada Shreya amongst the seniors and Shivam Ahuja amongst the juniors who won an album contract, whilst the 8 finalists won 'single song' contract with Universal Music Group.

Himalaya Herbals enters Guinness Book of World Records

Date: 29 November, 2014

Venue: Jashoda Rang Mandir Grounds, Near NMIMS, Vile Parle, Mumbai

Website: http://www.himalayaherbals.com

Its a proud moment for anybody to be part of a Guinness Book of World Records, event. As part of Media, few of we bloggers were invited by Himalaya Herbals, when they set a record for conducting the maximum number of facials.

Beauty expert, Veena Desai moderating the event

I reached Jashoda Rang Mandir in Vile Parle by 11:45, registered at the media registration counter and entered the venue. The podium was all set in bright greens, with Himalaya logo and the Himalaya Pure Skin Neem Facial kit at the backdrop and huge cut-outs of Himalaya Facial kit(Purifying Neem Face Wash, Neem Scrub and Neem Pack). And 286 students from various colleges of Mumbai were in salon chairs, getting a complete facial - starting with cleansing, toning and moisturizing routine followed by a Purifying Neem facial, done by 286 professional beauty experts from Mumbai.

286 college students getting facial done simultaneously

Beauty Expert, Veena Desai on the podium moderated the activity and interacted with the audience explaining the step-by-step facial routine. She also shared interesting tips on skin care and demonstrated the process of cleaning, toning and moisturizing.

Bollywood Actress Shraddha Kapoor and Mr. Rajesh Krishnamurthy, Business Head - Consumer Products Division, The Himalaya Drug Company, with the Certificate of Guinness Book of World Records

The record of 286 facials was certified at Shri Rang Mandir Grounds by Guinness Adjudicator, Ms. Fortuna Burke. On the occasion, Mr. Rajesh Krishnamurthy, Business Head - Consumer Products Division, The Himalaya Drug Company shared, it was proud moment for Himalaya to be recognized by Guinness Book of Records, and it was their responsibility as a leading brand to create awareness for healthy skin and help young girls and boys address common skin problems.

Then was the moment, everybody in the gathering were eagerly waiting for. Bollywood actress Shraddha Kapoor, made her entry, congratulated the brand for the achievement and interacted with students and guests. 

As part of media, we had lunch and were given a goodies bag of Himalaya Herbals winter regimen products and Pure Neem Facial kit. 

About Himalaya Pure Neem Facial Kit: 

 

Pack Contents:

• Purifying Neem Face Wash 50ml
• Purifying Neem Scrub 50g
• Purifying Neem Pack 50g

Actual Price Rs. 195/- Sale Price Rs. 175/-

Himalaya Purifying Neem Face Wash, is a soap free herbal formulation that gently removes impurities and prevents pimples. Neem, well-known for its antibacterial properties, kills problem-causing bacteria and turmeric effectively controls acne and pimples. 

Himalaya Purifying Neem Scrub, works with a dual exfoliation and purifying action. Neem, well-known for its purifying and antibacterial properties, kills problem causing bacteria, combined with exfoliating Apricot granules, it gently scrubs away blackheads, dead skin cells and embedded impurities, leaving skin soft, clear, refreshed and problem free.

Himalaya Purifying Neem Pack, helps regulate excess oil secretion, cleans clogged pores and prevents the recurrence of pimples. Neem, well-known for its purifying and antibacterial properties, helps in controlling acne and pimples and their recurrence. Combined with Turmeric, it helps remove acne causing bacteria. Fuller's Earth(Multani Mitti) cools and soothes the skin, improving skin texture and leaving with clear, problem-free skin.

Godrej Interio - TRANSFORMING Lives!!!

Date: 8 November, 2014

Venue: Godrej Interio Showroom, Godrej Experience Center, L.B.S.Marg, Vikhroli (W), Mumbai

Website: http://www.godrejinterio.com/Godrejinterio/index.aspx

Of memories and reality, home is the place where you stay with your own people, people close to your heart. Every space of your house has lots of memories associated with, while your living and dinning rooms get the whole family closer, the bed room lives the intimate moments with your partner. Space is no bar when it comes to the moments spent with your loved ones. 

So how can you make your living, and moments more interesting and memorable?? Does your space reflect your interests, or are you still in the misconception of the thought, Bigger is Beautiful? Worry not, a proper planning can just not transform your space but your life too. Godrej Interio is all with a mission to transform lives, by transforming homes. Their recent "Upload and Transform" contest has transformed many lives. Where people upload the pictures of the space they want to have a transformtion of, and the dream of the lucky one's is turned into reality by Godrej Interio.

The whole transformation starts with the interaction of expert panel with the customer, knowing their interests and listing out their expectations. The panel of interior designers carefully guide the customer through every process of the home's amazing transformation, right from choosing the coolest colour combinations to selecting the latest state-of-the-art Godrej Interio furniture, paired with the quirkiest new accessories they have at their store!

Mr. Anil Mathur, COO Godrej Interio addressing the audience

Few of we bloggers were invited by Godrej Interio in association with Blogadda for a recent meet and greet with the Bollywood star, Sonu Sood at Godrej Interio experience center in Mumbai. Where Sonu Sood, who got his house at Chandigarh transformed by Godrej Interio, shared his experience.

Bollywood star Sonu Sood interacting with Bloggers

The event started off with a talk by Mr. Anil Mathur, COO Godrej Interio, who shared about "Upload and Transform", followed by a series of questions flooding Sonu Sood, by his eager fans. Right from how he shifted his career from Engineering to acting, to how he maintains his physique even after following a pure vegetarian diet. Sonu Sood, joyfully answered all the questions and then was a photo session with the celebrity. 

Just when rest of the people left for refreshments, we bloggers had a special interection with Sonu Sood, knowing the transformation of his house. He was so well satisfied with the way the whole transformation process went on. How the expert team took every care to give him the perfect space he was looking for, in just 25days. He shared with us, he is a person who believes in family life, he would like to spend time with his family, over those late night parties and so is his living room his favourite space in the house, where he can just sit, relax and spend some time with family. He has loads of memories of his lost mother, associated with the house and he is happy with the transformation, and feels that's how even his mom excepted her home to be, and her dreams have come true with the transformation.

After the interaction with Sonu Sood, we took a tour of the experience center. The experience center takes you through a tour of the home spaces, the living room, dinning room, the kitchen and the bedroom. The lower floor has the living, dinning and kitchen spaces and the first floor has the bedroom section. You can experience the set-up and shop the one which suits your interest, space(area) and budget.

The kid's bedroom

 

And the next three pics are of a bedroom set-up of a travel enthusiast, where there is space to showcase your travel memories. So you know Godrej Interio takes care of every individual's interest.

So if you haven't visited the Godrej Interio experience center yet, go have a tour soon, relive the moments you have been dreaming of a perfect home and get your home TRANSFORMED!!!

PS: This post is a part of Godrej Interio activity at BlogAdda.com

Launch of Arrow Imprint Collection

Date: 2 April, 2014
Venue: Arrow Linking Road Store, Shop #3, Anand Villa, Linking Road, Santa Cruz, Mumbai
Website: www.arrowlife.com
Yesterday I was invited for the launch of Arrow Imprint Collection. Arrow NewYork, styled by GQ brings Spring Summer'14 Prints Collection of Men's formal shirts. Now you can play up your personality and go bold with the trend of the season. Tweeting Birdie to bust bubbles or Spicy chilli to bonding leaf, each print can be dressed up or down to carry you from boardroom to bar with ease. So let your look speak your mood and personality this season.

Manohar Kumar, marketing head Arrow presented the Imprint collection. Designer in Chief Prasenjit shared his thoughts on bringing prints to the shirts. How safe they could play with patterns to keep the trends not getting feminine. All shirts which look plain from a distance highlights your personality through prints, as you get closer.

Greg and Jason in  #ArrowImprint

Pick your Print:

The Maverick/Chilli Print:

You know you spice things up at work when.. you're a tad unpredictable, like a sneaky chilli!!

Forever the newsmaker, spicing up conversations with your energy.

The Geekster/Byte Print:

You know you are the resident geek when .. we are the smart cookie talking in facts and know-it-all comments. Love all things nerdy – from gizmos to space exploration.

The Mediator/Leaf Print:

You know you help people bond when... ..you’re the one people count on anytime for anything.

The bridge that makes work smooth between teams

The Socialite/Birdie Print:

You know you’re popular when... ..you know everybody in office by their name. Super active in social networking - offline and online!

The Analyst/Bubble Wrap Print:

You know you're the go-to-guy one when... .. you love ideating and troubleshooting. You dig deep to understand issues and come up with apt solutions. 

Seemed Birdie Print to be trending amonge most of the bloggers in the launch, though my opt for my hubby is the Bubble Wrap Print as he is a Thinking Man, who digs deep to understand the issue to come up with apt solution

Win Win Win!!!!

Here is a chance for you to participate and win a wardrobe makeover worth Rs.10,000. All you have to do is sign up for Imprint Awards, choose a print that suits your persona and get votes and testimonials.

Apple Launches iPad Air and iPad Mini with Retina Display in India

Date: 7 December, 2013
Venue: Phoenix Mills, Mumbai

Website: http://www.istoreindia.com

The Atrium at Phoenix Mills, Mumbai was full when the countdown began for the launch of  iPad Air and iPad Mini with Retina Display. Loyal Apple customers gathered hours before the launch, to be one of the first to own the product. Due to large crowd in previous launches, Apple had online registration for the event days before the launch, and customers with invites were allowed inside the sales area. Few of we bloggers had received exclusive invite for the event.




Customer having demo of iPad Air

The customers had the demo of the two products before they could own them. The limited launch stock was sold out in no time. The event had stunning performance by Bollywood singer Aditi Singh Sharma.

iPad Air

This model gets new features of 64-bit A7 chipset and thinner look over the previous iPad version.

Features:

• 9.7-inch LED-backlit Multi-Touch
• A7 chip with 64-bit M7 Motion coprocessor
• 5MP iSight camera with 1080p HD video recording
• FaceTime HD camera
• Upto 10hours of battery life
• Built-in Wi-Fi(802.11a/b/g/n) dual channel and Bluetooth 4.0 technology
• Over 300,000 apps on the App Store
• iOS 7, iCloud, Airdrop and Airplay
• Available in Black & Slate or White & Silver

Price:

Storage	Wi-Fi	WiFi + Cellular*
16GB3	Rs.35900	Rs.44900
32GB3	Rs.42900	Rs.51900
64GB3	Rs.49900	Rs.58900

*Data Plan sold separately for Cellular models



THE iPad Mini with Retina Display

iPad Mini with Retina Display

This gets an upgrade of Retina display and 64-bit A7 processor, over its previous make.

Features:

• 7.9-inch LED-backlit Multi-Touch
• A7 chip with 64-bit M7 Motion coprocessor
• 5MP iSight camera with 1080p HD video recording
• FaceTime HD camera
• Upto 10hours of battery life
• Built-in Wi-Fi(802.11a/b/g/n)
• Over 300,000 apps on the App Store
• iOS 7 and iCloud
• Available in Black & Slate or White & Silver

Launch Price:

Storage	Wi-Fi	WiFi + Cellular*
16GB3	Rs.28900	Rs.37900
32GB3	Rs.35900	Rs.44900
64GB3	Rs.42900	Rs.51900

*Data Plan sold separately for Cellular models

"Tiger as a metaphor for all of nature" A Panel Discussion by Aircel

Date: 25 October, 2013

Venue: Press Club of India, Glass House, Azad Maidan Fort, Mumbai

Website: www.saveourtigers.com

I was invited for a blogger's meet on "Save Our Tigers" by Aircel. Aircel in partnership with various Non-Government Organizations, conceptualized, designed and began impactful capacity building and awareness campaign on Saving Our Tigers in 2008. The slogan 'Just 1411 left, Save Our Tigers' awoke the conscious of the nation. Awareness of the plight of our national animal reached every corner and made people take notice. Aircel began active on ground work in late 2008 with WWF- India.

Here is a brief introduction to Tiger, (ref: The Illustrated Tigers of India, by Valmik Thapar).

Tigers: Zoologists and other animal experts call the majestic striped big cat commonly known as the tiger, Panthera tigris. Panthera is the name given to the group of four big cats in the world that have ability to roar with spine chilling effect: the tiger, lion, leopard and jaguar. The roaring is made possible by vibration of thickened vocal folds just below the vocal cords in the larynx. The origin of tiger trace back some fifty million years.

Threat to Tigers:

Around two thousand years ago, the Roman Empire was at its peak. Use of Caspian tigers in games and slaughters in amphitheatres introduced the first significant threat to the tiger's existence. One thousand years ago, Europe entered the Dark Ages. With people far less numerous and lethal than they are now, tiger populations maintained an equilibrium and enjoyed wide distribution.

The tiger population suffered unprecedented decimation when the proliferation of firearms and cars from two hundred to one hundred years ago facilitated hunting for sport or purely medicinal purposes. People also hunted the tiger's prey, leaving tigers with less and less to eat. Humankind encroached upon the tiger's natural habitats, converting them to agricultural lands.

In the fifty years between 1875 and 1925, eighty thousand tigers were killed in India alone. Probably an equal number were injured and died later of their wounds.

Photo credit: Save Our Tiger-An Aircel Initiative, facebook page

Back to today's meet, the meet was a panel discussion among activists and founders of Tiger Conservation Trusts. The panel shared how they have been invloved in the conservation of Tigers. Dr. Anish Andheria, a Mumbai born motivational speaker shared his experience of how his visits to Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai during his childhood, brought him close to nature and motivated him to work on conservation of Tigers. Poonam Dhanwatey shared how she pursued her passion for tiger conservation by quiting her successful career as an interior designer. She also shared how they have turned a seven acre farm into a forest that now partically supports two tiger families with cubs, wild dogs, leopards, wild pigs and birds of every description. They have helped mitigate human-wildlife conflicts and aid with the voluntary relocation of villagers away from critical tiger habitats. As per records, the Indian or Bengal tiger is found in 13 countries and India has more than 50% of their world population. And with forest area available in our country this count can be increased by 3 to 4 times if we stop poaching and forest degradation. Also discussed, how we bloggers could raise voice to help these tigers roar, by spreading awareness about the need of conservation of Tiger, our National animal. And pressurizing the concerned government bodies to take necessary action.

Profiles of Panelists,

Bittu Sahgal, an Environmental activist and writer,the founding editor of Sanctuary Asia, India's premier wildlife and ecology magazine. A member of National Board of of Wildlife of the Ministry of Environment and Forest(India). He founded Sanctuary Asia in 1981, to make city people learn and appreciate wildlife and do less damage to them. He has authored numerous books on wildlife which include, India Naturally, The Bandhavgarh Inheritance, The Sundarbans Inheritance, The Bharatpur Inheritance, The Kaziranga Inheritance, etc and has produced over 30 conservation related documentaries.

Dr. Anish Andheria, the President of Wildlife Conservation Trust. Prestigious Carl Zeiss Conservation Awardee 2008. He pursued a Masters Degree in Wildlife Biology and Conservation. He is a large carnivore specialist with field knowledge on predator-prey relationships. He runs wildlife rescue center in Mumbai and is a trustee of  'The Conservation Wildlands Trust' and also 'The Climate Project, India'.

Poonam Dhanwatey and Harshawardhan: The couple founded the organization TRACT- Tiger Research and Conservation Trust, to address critical problems and find long term solutions, dedicated to tiger protection.They are among the Tadoba Tiger Reserve's most dedicated defenders and one of the ten Tiger Defenders identified by Sanctuary Asia.