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When my fishmonger, Samuel Babu, changed his WhatsApp DP to the Aam Admi Party (AAP) logo six months ago, I sent him a congratulatory message. I’m always impressed by friends who enter the rough and tumble of electoral politics. When he changed this DP again earlier this month, this time to feature a photo of […]
Last month, State Bank of India (SBI) managing director Alok Kumar Choudhary flew into Ahmedabad to hand over the keys of a new bus to the Blind People’s Association (BPA) with much fanfare. Priced at Rs 28 lakh, the 25-seater Force Motors bus is now used to transport children to and from BPA’s schools in […]
The late Ela Bhatt was a leader par excellence, one who inspired her people, developed them to their full potential, and championed gender equality. Aspiring leaders in every field could do no better than to understand and emulate her. Here are 10 key features of Ela Bhatt’s leadership style: Never Compromise on Values: In the early […]
The parallels between the Morbi Footbridge tragedy on Sunday, October 31, and the tragedy that occurred in Seoul just the day before, on Saturday, October 30, are many. The stampede in a narrow lane in Seoul’s Itaewan area left 154 people dead. The Morbi death count has also crossed 150, though the final figure is […]
The season of Wanderlust is upon us and everyone is making travel plans. But where should you go? How about skiing in Davos? A Safari to Kenya’s Masai Mara maybe? A trek around pristine Bhutan? VO! decided to ask some of our CEOs what their favourite travel destinations are and we got an interesting array […]
One of the contentious issues Ahmedabad’s new Municipal Commissioner, M Thennarasan will need to resolve concerns the 200-odd Amul parlours attached to parks in the city. These parlours were set up by Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) under a barter agreement with the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA), whereby GCMMF committed to look after […]
While the Delhi High Court prepares to hear a series of petitions seeking recognition of same-sex marriages on 3rd December, many affluent gay Indians are flying abroad to get married. The favourite destinations seem to be London and New York, though a number of other countries also offer marriage services to tourists. These marriages are […]
Having studied Lean management (then known as the Toyota Management System) under the Japanese guru Masaki Imai, consultant Dilip Somaiya sought to implement what he had learnt in manufacturing companies around Bangalore. This was the 80s, when he had just returned from the USA, and Japanese management was all the rage among companies all over […]
Love it or hate it, Ahmedabadis can’t ignore the work of architect Kamal Mangaldas and engineer Devendra Shah. As partners in Design Associates, they built hundreds of buildings in the 40-odd years they worked together, which are a hallmark of the city today. They are the ones who introduced the ubiquitous row house (a concept […]
It was a cool, breezy evening as the creme de la crème of Ahmedabad society came together for the launch of Mallika Sarabhai’s book “In Free Fall: My Experiments with Living” on Friday. The Darpana Academy of Performing was decked up for the event, with live music to greet the guests as the made their […]
Gandhinagar is set to host its annual LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) Pride March on Sunday, 25 March. The three-kilometer march will start from Satyagraha Chavni in Sector 6 at 9 am and conclude at Suryajot Lake in Sector 1. “We expect at least 1,000 people to be there for the march,” says Kunthu Banthia, a member of […]
Khanjan Mer was drawn into the cat world when a stray cat turned up at his veranda with two kittens. He began feeding them and they soon settled in and took up permanent residence. Eight years later, the 36-year-old textile trader has nine house cats, who share space with his parents and elder brother in […]
Over 100 high-breed cats were registered with the Feline Club of India (FCI) at Ahmedabad’s first Cat Convention at the banquet hall of Hotel Mann Residency on Sunday. It was a visual treat for cat lovers, with some magnificent looking young felines making their debut in Ahmedabad’s cat society. Some peeped out of boxes, others […]
It’s ironic that an institution like Gujarat Vidyapith, a bastion of Gandhian austerity, has always had a swimming pool, while the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), a symbol of the high-flying corporate lifestyle, has never had one. This has now been rectified with the inauguration of the new IIFL swimming pool at the new […]
Dressed in saris, salwars and kurtas, Ahmedabad’s Japanese expatriate community turned up in numbers for the “Kem Chhe – Konnichiwa” event organised by the Indo-Japan Friendship Association on Thursday. The occasion was the visit of a delegation from Hyogo, Japan, and the Zen Garden at the Ahmedabad Management Association played host to the event. Speaking […]
After four eventful years as the Director of Alliance Francaise (AF) Ahmedabad, Gael De Kerguenec is set to move back to Paris on 31 August. VOI! Caught up with the 48-year-old Frenchman at his glass walled office at the AF Centre in Manek Bagh for one final interview, where he talks about the challenges of […]
Upon receiving an invitation for the opening of an exhibition of photographs at the Hutheesing Centre on Thursday, I lazily typed in the name of the photographer into Google, Parvez Shaikh is a pretty generic name (I know a doctor by that name in Mumbai) and even with “documentary photographer” added, I wasn’t expecting much. […]
Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, reportedly wakes up at 3:45 am and uses the early hours, when his energy levels are highest, for uninterrupted work. After 75 minutes, at 5:00 am, he heads off to the gym. By the time the rest of the world is up, Cook has finished nearly half the day’s […]
At the WaghBakri headquarters in Ahmedabad, one wall of the conference room is taken up by the reproduction of a “certificate” given to the group’s founder by Mahatma Gandhi. The handwriting and unmistakable signature attest to the fact that the Mahatma “knows Narandas Desai to be an honest and experienced tea estate owner in South […]
On a hot Sunday morning, when most people are chilling at home, a group of 25 intellectually challenged youngsters are busy putting up a lively show at a bungalow-turned-school in Ahmedabad, which is being broadcast live to an audience at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) in Delhi. Some of them are engaged in […]
