F for Fashion

I am currently working on a project that involves styling and fashion designing (will be announcing soon). While trying to explain my ideas to the people involved, I started sketching – which is perhaps the best way to explain your design or look. Shuffling though my sketch book I found some old sketches which I had made. My favourites were Archie, Betty, Veronica and ‘Josie and the Pussycats’. Visualizing playing for a rock band was fun.

Sometimes, sketching helps with writing

One of my first sketches

Add caption

Can you see the details? My first encounter with fashion

I have always loved fashion. From playing with a Barbie to throwing tantrums for more clothes to dressing up in my mom’s sari’s and ornaments, I have done it all. One afternoon, when I was around 7, my bestie Marisha, who is a year older, and I were playing and she was dressing me up with whatever we could lay our hands on. I didn’t have a nose piercing that time, and hence we thought let’s make the most of it and on my insistence she shoved a small pearl right into my nostril. We thought, it would suffice as a nose pin. Yes, fashion made us go crazy (and stupid) right from the beginning.

Everybody panicked and my dad made me sneeze by inserting threads and sticks in my nostrils. Thankfully, the pearl came out as I sneezed, but I was dragged to an ENT specialist nevertheless to check for “anything else” that we may have inserted and were scolded for many days to come. Marisha was instructed to keep a “low profile” and just try and avoid crossing paths with my family members till the situation improved. (We still have this mutual understanding, and “sis code”, whenever I mess up)

My mom stopped taking her noon naps as she was afraid to see me looking like this after waking up.

A cowboy in a Pink hat :P

Add caption

The miss world with milk teeth

Dont stop posing even if you are crying

So that was my first photo shoot and I rocked it!

Sweet friends Marisha and Priyanka who were forced to dress up and pose

The towel pose

With my lovely ladies

Navratri is coming, and all men (and women) must dance or die

With mom and dad

My love for fashion only increased as I grew up and when I was in 12^th Science, I brought NID entrance form. My parents made me drop the idea like a hot brick telling me I was very late to start preparing. I am glad as if I had started preparing; I would have not only ever made it but would have also failed in 12^th.

The love affair with fashion continued. Just like true love which finds a way through thick and thin, it continued even though I was studying computers. I would read a lot on styling and experiment even more. All the tailors in Ahmedabad hate me, and some don’t even let me enter their shops. As I can’t afford a stylist (I am always in a dire need for too many clothes), I approach very simple minded tailors and screech my ideas passionately while they helplessly look on without understanding me while also losing other clients. Except for Babubhai, the owner at ‘Challenge Tailors’ who as the name goes, fearlessly takes up the challenges I throw at him.

I marvel at the intricate designs on a Sabyasachi lehenga, love Manish Malhotra’s designs like so many Indian women(he knows how to highlight their best features) and love to read Coco Chanel’s notes. Fashion is not just a word but a lifestyle. A way to express yourself. Like every brand has its story. My favourite is Versace - The Versace logo is a head of Medusa, a Greek woman transformed into a monster by the goddess Athena for her wrongdoings. The Medusa became an iconic motif in fashion as it evoked authority, attractiveness and fatal fascination. While Prada taught us to be devils, ASOS (As Seen On Screen) helped us to imitate the stars. Big or small, every brand resonates with different moods and aspirations. I love reading Elle, Bazaar and Vogue and can endlessly watch FashionTV and can’t stop scrolling down some awesome Instagram accounts high on fashion.

All fell in place when I started blogging and writing for Femina and found a way to express my love, finally.

For me F has always been for fashion. 

Raju e wrong turn lidho ne Gujarati Film Industry sidhe pate chadhi gai

As a Gujarati girl from an English medium school and college, I would be like “Kevi Rite Jaish” if someone would ask me to go watch a Gujarati movie. A movie should walk with the present times or throw factual light on history. Our industry was kind of stuck somewhere in between. Gujarati’s are one of the most modern people I know; hence it was a shame that our movies didn’t portray the wonderful culture. That was a few years back. Until this wonderful movie about this guy wanting to go to study abroad released. It was a milestone, and I knew times would change now. The movie was ‘Kevi Rite Jaish’, by Abhishek Jain. Mark the ‘sh’ here. Thanks for it. I have been scolded every time I say ‘s’ instead of ‘sh’ at home, hence Gujarati movies were confusing. So after this movie I felt have badhu saru ‘thai jashe’.

Gujarati films were all about ‘gamda’; now we are talking about and showing our modern cities and people.

Source

Watching a good Gujarati movie is like eating our famous ‘chikki’ for me. Wholesome, sweet, satisfying and somewhat salty – but most of all familiar. What a gratifying feeling to see a movie in your mother tongue which you can connect to! I definitely want to see great films come out from Gujarat. It felt amazing to see everyone come together for ‘Wrong Side Raju’. The fact that Mikhil Musale’s movie was co produced by Phantom is definitely great news!

The movie is no doubt a very good effort. The protagonist Pratik Gandhi’s dialogue ‘sheher ma raste rakhadta kutrao karta amir baap na chokrao vadhre che’ sums up the classic panorama of our dry but jugadu city – with its bootleggers, rich sons, their rich dads and the ‘kadak badshahi’ that we are synonymous with. Oh and our love for ‘gori’s’. I am sure almost all of us have atleast once seen a guy roaming around with a foreigner gori around the old city, Natrani café and especially during Navratri and Uttarayan. Only people living in a dry city would know how guys like Raju are indeed transformers – the underdog heroes who transform from bootleggers to travel agents to drivers to tourist guides and what not. The city can’t do without all these Raju’s.

When Raju corrects his client saying “it’s not business, but start up” you know that the movie scene is also catching up with the times in a city famous for its business acumen- even Jason Statham would start a “side business” if he ever came here apart from his job of being a transformer. ‘Tari aankh no afini’ being sung on the karaoke, a drunk version of ‘chapti bhari chokha’ and ‘gujarati ma selfie etle potiyu’ catch the humor in just the right proportions, at perfect timings. The ‘pol nu ghar’ with the mandatory chowk, traditional handicrafts on the blue wall and a store room full of empty liquor bottles is simply fabulous – a typical Gujarati household.  

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that this is the right kind of cinema. From the same old love stories to the ones glorifying the underdog, we have indeed come a long way. Hence I say Raju e wrong turn lidho ne Gujarati Film Industry sidhe pate chadhi gai. 

For my dad,

And all dads of only daughters

This is no propaganda of ‘Save the girl child’, nor is it any Fathers Day or special day post. For I believe each day should be lived as it comes, and today came with a thought of writing this one. For this is about what happens once you are a dad to an only or more daughters.

Can you see the seesaw in this picture is too big for me? Still I am on it, thanks to the man who is holding me. That’s me – always raring to go and that man is my father. I am the only daughter of my parents. Everyone was very happy the day I was born. My dad never wanted a son instead of me that is for certain but, he might have wanted to raise one- he was a terrific sportsman; if no one asks me to move I can sit in a corner for 24 hours straight. Not that I don’t like sports, I am sportier than most people I grew up with, but yes sitting in the corner with a book or “just thinking” is the preferred activity. He was this rough and tough guy who would get into physical brawls. Now what happens in such a scenario is, daughters are indeed raised like sons -not entirely but yes there is the expectation bit, so is the being independent bit – actually its exactly like a son, until the daughter grows up. Its then that the parents treat her as a daughter. It is confusing sometimes, as by then it’s too late to change who you are.  

My first beer was with my dad, so was my first whiskey. It was at our favorite restaurant in Mumbai called Sea View at Juhu. We would talk about everything under the sky. No topic was ever barred. I could talk what I felt; in fact I was prodded to discuss the things I learnt at school and from friends. We have watched a lot of movies together, and would always discuss those at length. I would steal his books and read them, even when I was too young to read those books. I would myself confess in time, like I always do after my mischief's. He would ask me if I even understood the story and I would tell him what I had understood, and then he would tell me, “Now that you have started reading fiction so early, don’t stop reading other stuff.”

I would keep hearing stories about the fights he had gotten into during his college days and hence always asked him to teach me to fight. I remember one such incident where he was teaching me to fist fight; I was about 7 or 8 that time. He pushed me from behind and I dashed into the dressing table. The edge of the mirror pierced through my neck and it started bleeding. It was a minor gash, but the blood made me feel proud. As now, it was a real fight. A real fight has real blood. I went to mom, smiling with pride and told her what happened. She got mad at my father and said, “She is a girl.” He replied, “Which is exactly why she must learn to protect herself.”

Now, I can safely say I can knock down atleast one opponent quite easily. Also, I was beaming ear to ear as I had just experienced what equality felt like. Equality – in its true sense. Yes I was a girl child. And I was being raised to defend a man, if I ever needed to. It made me feel that the world was a good place to live in. Also, this incident was the root of my strong belief today that men and women are equal. There is no need for feminism. All you need to do is learn to defend yourself.

I am both a son and a daughter. As I am all they have. My dad has kicked my ass like anything on so many occasions(figuratively speaking) He has pressurized me like any other father would pressurize his son to be completely independent, earn money, pay his own bills, be self reliant, be able to provide for his children and the rest of all these things that a son hears from his father.  He has scolded me like any other father would scold his daughter to not hang out with so-and-so-kind-of-guys, to not act irresponsibly, to act with maturity, to not talk foolishly and so on.

He has always taught me to give my best, has always criticized me and hardly appreciated me. I have been taught to not just learn my math but also understand the history of math and the future it promises. I have been taught to not just sing a song, but also dance on it and to write my own songs. My dad has given me his best, all he could – to a daughter. I can never be enough thankful for that. It’s been hard and unpleasant too at times, but it’s because of him that I am who I am.

To all the fathers with only daughters, I would just say, give her your all. As being happy with a girl child is not enough, you also need to tell her the world is hers like you would tell your son and raise her up to be a fighter.

Today, I can swing on all the big and small seesaws of the world, without him holding me. But I know he would always be there to hold me, whenever I ask. 

Exercise with Jazzercise!

One fine morning, at around 9.00am, just as I drag my wobbly legs (thanks to my sleepy head) to Sports Club, Ahmedabad; the sound of upbeat music streaming from the studio excites me. Not being a morning person, I push myself to make way to the 2^nd floor of the gym. As I step in a thunder of tremendous energy, I feel passion of Arti, the trainer and a power of positivity bustling in the room where a bevy of wonderful women were swaying, singing and dancing to the tunes of ‘I am sexy and I know it’. It was thrilling to simply watch them!

Arti Shah at the studio in Sports club

Having tried several fitness regimes myself, I found there was something very appealing and unique about Jazzercise. This US based pulse-pounding, beat-pumping fitness program gets fast results, and helps one lose fat and upto 800 calories/session. A hot playlist to groove and sizzle on helps one feel fit, sexy and confident. A perfect way to kickstart one’s day, isn’t it?

Arti Shah, the owner of Jazzercise, has moved to Ahmedabad from US recently with her family. She has a B.S. in Law and Business and also a Masters in Finance. She gave up her prosperous career in the US to be with her kids and followed her heart to become a trainer. Arti says, “My vision is to help and motivate women achieve their goals, feel confident and fit.” Her current campaign is ‘real women, real results’, and takes tremendous pride in the results of her fellow Jazzercisers. “Their results are mine,” she adds. Her competence, empathy towards them, and amazing charisma is what struck me the most. Arti has taught in the US for 5 years before moving back while being the ONLY INDIAN woman ever to be certified with the Jazzercise program! She trains for several different fitness formats with a predefined choreography and different dance mixes, strikes, cardio kickboxing, HIIT, Plyo, fusion, yoga, strength and core building exercises. The passion with which she teaches makes the ambience lively and whole experience unparalleled.

 Ask her about her source of inspiration and she quips, “Back in the US, I had put on almost a100 kgs during my pregnancy and struggled with weight like most women do. I felt disconnected with my own self and being active helped me gain my self-confidence back. Jazzercise was my answer to a fun, safe, effective fitness program. Once I came across a Jazzercise studio, I couldn’t resist walking in and got hooked since then. A year later I got certified and the rest is history.”

Arti has helped many women change lives, helping them not only lose weight but also regain morale and happiness. Loved the way she interacted with the women while on the go and cheered them to push their limits, albeit with a smile on her face. I could make out that she paid attention to every woman on the floor. Arti pays fine consideration to severity of medical history and keeps a tab for all her clients, modifying their exercise routine accordingly.

Arti has happy clients from all different age groups – starting from 16 to 64! I took the opportunity and spoke to Jazzercisers post their session.

One of her clients, Ashini Bhatt has a seven month old baby. Recently while she had been on a vacation to the US, she ended up buying a lot of plus size clothes post pregnancy. To her astonishment, within two months of starting Jazzercise, she could slip into her medium clothes once again, never having to look back on the plus sizes anymore. Rinky and Pinky, the twin sisters, love their morning sessions. Pinky says Arti is my “sunshine” and Rinky adds she is the most positive person one could ever meet. Alisha has lost 20 kg after joining Jazzericse and Sharmeen says this is the longest fitness regimen that she has stuck to. She was able to gain lean muscle mass and add that other trainers don’t understand the needs of the clients and fail to give the required personal attention. Siddhi said she woke up to a message from Arti reminding her not jump too much at the sessions to help her recover of the pain in her knees. That level of thoughtfulness clients received was something we never get to experience here. I was in disbelief when I learnt there was absolutely NO one in the room who didn’t have results.

Arti is one of the most passionate women I have ever come across. I describe her as a stunning woman with a soul just as luminous who loves helping women achieve their fitness ambitions. She has created a Jazzercise community and invites more people to join their civic with ‘open for all’ workshops. Make sure to attend one, I bet it’ll keep you yearning for more and certainly change your life for good!

Check out her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ArtiShahJazzercise/