Light
Dark
Everyone coped with the lockdown in their own way. Aparna Piramal Raje, for one, wrote a book on her struggles with mental illness. “Chemical Khichdi: How I hacked my Mental Health” tells the story of Aparna’s struggles with bipolarity, from her early days as a student at Oxford and Harvard Business School, to her induction […]
RS Sodhi, managing director of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), is set to be discharged from Zydus Hospital Anand, where he was admitted after a road accident yesterday. Speaking with VOI, Sodhi’s personal assistant Priyank Bhatt said, “We are in the process of completing the formalities required for discharging Mr Sodhi. His driver Jayeshbhai […]
There’s nothing better than a good conversation to light the creative spark. Films are made, businesses strategies are formulated, books are written and scientific innovations occur as a consequence of a single great conversation. Nitin Nohria, former dean of Harvard Business School, once told me in the course of an interview that some of his […]
There’s no dearth of LGBT stories in the media these days. Celebrities in various fields are coming out in numbers. The courts are stepping in to protect LGBT rights. The month of June, which is gay pride month, will see marches organised in cities across India. Mumbai is currently hosting its annual Kashish Queer Film […]
When Urvashi Vaid first met with the Federation of Indian Associations in the US to demand that the South Asian Lesbian and Gay Association be allowed to march in New York’s India Day Parade, a rather bewildered official introduced her to the group as “the head of all gays.” The description wasn’t off the mark […]
Whether its Kavita Krishnamurthy, Anup Jalota, Suresh Wadkar or Hariharan, when Indian singers need a tabla player for a concert in London, they call Alok Verma. The Ahmedabad-born maestro has even performed with Ian Anderson of the legendry rock band Jethro Tull and classical flautist Rakesh Chaurasia. Today, he’s pushing the boundaries of percussion, using […]
In the mid-90s, when Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner Keshav Verma brought in renowned urban designer Allan Jacobs from the University of California Berkeley to help redesign CG Road, it provoked mixed reactions. India was still a socialist nation then and many believed it was an elitist project. The city should be focusing on serving the city’s […]
Antipasti Bruschettas. Mushroom Tartine. Avocado Toast. All priced at less than Rs 350. All made by French chefs Flavien Lafosse and Brahim Messaoudene. It was once the prerogative of Ahmedabad’s luxury hotel chains to import Chefs from Europe to serve in their restaurants for limited periods. But now we have La Maison, a casual café […]
With less than three months to go before the nationwide ban on single-use plastic straws comes into effect, beverage makers are scrambling to come up with alternatives. The plastic straw pierced into Tetra Pak cartons has become one of the most common modes of consuming cold beverages in India and the ban will majorly impact […]
Google Bhupen Khakhar and for the longest time, a website called bhupenkhakharcollection.com would be at the top of the list. Even today, the website created by American professor Brian Weinstein is among the top five go-to sites for information on the late artist. It incorporates not only images from Brian’s collection of Bhupen’s work, but also articles […]
Jivdaya Charitable Trust (JCT) has ended an otherwise lean financial year on a bright note, with two of Ahmedabad’s leading corporate houses donating three brand new ambulances for its animal care operations. Fully-fitted for emergency care, the three Maruti Eeco ambulances are valued at just over Rs 7 lakh each, and have been donated by […]
The IIMA logo change has sparked some lively debate, especially among the institute’s alumni. Vo! tapped into the views of IIMA’s batch of 1989, to find out their views on the issue: Venkatesh Kini, former head of The Coca-Cola Company, India: In any logo design exercise, the most important criterion is visual impact and instant […]
The big winner at the Academy Award ceremony on Monday was CODA, a low budget film about the deaf. Produced by Apple, CODA (which is an acronym for Child of Deaf Adults) became the first movie made by a streaming to win the Best Picture Oscar. Troy Kotsur, who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, […]
When he was named President of Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) five months ago, Deevyesh Radia joined a roster that includes illustrious personalities like Vikram Sarabhai, Prafull Anubhai and Indravadan Modi. But the 64-year-old alumnus of BK School of Business lays no claims to being a big-time businessman. As executive director of a small-scale enterprise named […]
Over the years, IMDB (Internet Movie Data Base) has garnered a huge following, making it a force to reckon with. Today, IMDB’s influence extends beyond the world of movies to politics as well. Look what happened to The Kashmir Files, a political film. Within a day of its release, it received a 10 on 10 […]
The handloom sector has to carve a separate identity from the mechanised sector and concentrate on making products machines can’t produce, says Archana Shah of Bandhej Retail. Speaking at the launch of her new book “Crafting a Future” at Ahmedabad’s Latitude book store on Sunday, Archana said that it is a myth that the young […]
Punjabis are a very distinct community, wherever they may be settled, and Ahmedabad’s Punjabis are no exception. We asked a cross section of the city’s Punjabi population what they thought of the Aam Admi Party (AAP) winning a thumping majority in the Punjab elections today. They say they weren’t surprised by the results. Varun Maira settled in […]
On the occasion of Ahmedabad’s birthday on Saturday, VO! Interviewed the chiefs of three major companies to find out how they view the city’s prospects. All of them agree Ahmedabad is a great place to live, but they also say the city needs to become more “outsider friendly.” People from other places are not too […]
Samir and I met in June 1991, a year of heavy monsoon in Ahmedabad. He moved in with me within a month and we’ve been together ever since. The love has endured for over 30 years and if India recognised marriage between two gay men, we would have been legally married. Samir and I are […]
America’s NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has gone on record to say that a sense of humour is a must-have attribute for a good astronaut. Now more and more companies have come around to the view that it is a quality to be valued in managers as well. Some have gone so far as […]
