Tag: ritika bhandari parekh

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Campaign

Go back to your roots

We discourage the use of our mother tongue. But using your native language has health benefits, especially for Alzheimer’s patients.
by Ritika Bhandari Parekh

It feels that the Hindi proverb, ‘ghar ki murgi, daal barabar’ fits perfectly when someone attempts to use their local dialect.

Have you ever tried speaking in your mother tongue in public? Do you cringe when a fellow traveller speaks in theirghar ki bhasha? Why do parents ask their kids to speak in Hindi or English when they are dining outside?

The warmth brought in by speaking in the mother tongue is suddenly lost in the bevy of so-called manners. On a recent episode of the Minute To Win It game, a contestant said it was weird hearing her mother talk to the host in English because the family always used their native language, French, for daily conversations. It made me think of talking to my mother in Marwari and how when she uses Hindi, I immediately feel that something does not sound right.

HindiMother tongue or native language stands for the first language learnt at home in childhood. It lends a cultural identity to an individual and shapes his accent and approach to varied thoughts. In a world as diverse as ours, the native language binds communities in harmony. Living in a cosmopolitan city like Mumbai has its perks – you are aware of Gujarati, Bengali, Marathi and many other languages. But it is depressing to see that most parents today prefer speaking English even at home.

While taking classes in languages like French, Spanish and German is a delight, speaking with your toddler in anything but English is frowned upon. Bilingualism or speaking two languages fluently nowhere includes the learning of Indian languages. While one may proudly flaunt the French merci, getting a shukriya in Hindi is difficult.

Research shows that bilingual children have a better ability to focus on a task while tuning out distractions. Also, bilingualism may delay the onset of age-related dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease in adults. So increase your brain power and become more perceptive by talking with your loved ones in your native language. Forget the ‘p’ language and speak in Sindhi, Urdu, Telugu, Kannada with your child. The grasping power of a child is higher and hence, learning native words will be a cake walk once you start speaking.  In a small way, do your bit to keep the language alive or like the dodo, this too shall be extinct.

German author Elias Canetti, who won the 1981 Nobel Prize in Literature said, “There is no such thing as an ugly language. Today I hear every language as if it were the only one, and when I hear of one that is dying, it overwhelms me as though it were the death of the Earth.”

The quote reminds me of the Busuu language from Cameroon. As of 2005, only three speakers of the language were alive. A website called ‘Save Busuu’ was started in a bid to take its heritage forward. It is time that we take pride in our local language and use it as often as possible. When PM Narendra Modi says ‘Look East!’ then let us emulate them too. Countries like China and Japan have built their economies by preserving their language and maintaining its importance.

Back home, the Kerala government has started the Malayalam Mission in the city, wherein they teach the Malayali language for free to non-resident Malayalis. The natives are not only happy but are making the most of this opportunity as it will help them get past bus signboards in Kerala.

As Indians, we need to conserve our beautiful languages and their literature. If each of us takes pride in our mother tongue, then not only does the language survive, but also our brain benefits. Every Mumbaikar will agree that Government offices work smoothly for the person who knows his Marathi. Papers get processed at a faster speed, all because you are one of them i.e. the local. Sure, that’s biased, but it shows how language can open doors.

As British writer and critic Giles Lytton Strachey said, “Perhaps of all the creations of man, language is the most astonishing.” What, then, stops us from amusing ourselves and immersing in the etymology of cohesiveness, bonding and intimacy via our native language?

(Pictures courtesy www.sevamandir.org, www.indoamerican-news.com. Images are used for representational purpose only)

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Wellness

How meaningful is your nostalgia?

With the ever changing nature of our metropolis, will getting nostalgic lose its meaning, or simply evolve into something else?
by Ritika Bhandari Parekh

RainfallLast week it rained for the first time this season, the way it rains only in Mumbai. And yet the leaking Metro train, the flooded roads and the emergence of a sea of black umbrellas didn’t excite my heart. When I think about it, it has all got to do with missing the earthy smell brought by the first showers. Maybe it is the fact that I live on a higher floor now, or that I no longer live at the place where I grew up, but that wonderful fragrance of the earth which heralds the Mumbai rains is gone.

Nostalgia is such a heady concoction of familiarity, not only through smell or taste, but also sight. Ask any newly married girl and she will vouch for how different the food tastes at her new home, just because it is not served in the same type of katori as she is used to. Who knew that stainless steel katoris could hold such strong memories? As for the married man, not only he has to appreciate the new style of cooking but the same ‘katori’ with a different flavour definitely needs some adjustment.

The beauty of nostalgia lies in its quality to penetrate us, unknowingly yet in a known manner. Remember that song your mother hummed while making rotis, doesn’t it stop you in your tracks even now? Or the firm handshake of your father which acknowledges your academic or sports success? Speaking of sports, the start of Wimbledon has to coincide with the monsoon in India, or else it really doesn’t hold the same thundering success for old timers. A bit of pitter-patter with some serve and volley and an all-white uniform code, and you are right there in England.

Research shows that nostalgia has evolved from a malady to being accepted as a universal feeling.  From helping the village boy cope with the pressure of finding a job in the dreamland called Mumbai, to giving emotional strength to newlyweds – nostalgia is good for humans, in general.

This New York Times article points out that “Nostalgia counteracts loneliness, boredom and anxiety. It makes people more generous to strangers and more tolerant of outsiders. Couples feel closer and look happier when they’re sharing nostalgic memories. On cold days, or in cold rooms, people use nostalgia to literally feel warmer.”

So what if the rains of today are different from the ones you were used to? Go ahead and take a splash in the rains, click a photo in your mind, make it your moment and relive it every time Mumbai is flooded. Let our buildings be torn down and our few public spaces disappear in the cosmic universe of malls and traffic, for as long as it rains, our chai pakoras are enough to transport us in the realm of a heaven called Bombay.

(Pictures courtesy physicsworld.com, lightnarcissus.com)

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Become

Luxe styling at your doorstep…every month

Authentic, global brands arrive in a bag at your doorstep every month. For the fashion-conscious Indian, Fab Bag spells delight.
by Ritika Bhandari Parekh

There is a new bag in town and unlike the faux Chanel tote you may be flaunting, every item in this bag is authentic and luxurious. This bag – FabBag, for the uninitiated – comes from a startup that relies on creativity and hard work to deliver in a fast-growing Indian beauty industry.

FabBag was conceived as a beauty and grooming discovery service based on the subscription model. One can sign up online to receive a monthly bag of the best products from top global brands right at their doorstep.

Vineeta and KaushikWho started it?

When IIM-A alumni Vineeta Singh (31) and Kaushik Mukherjee (31) were enjoying their evening coffee at a Powai-based café, little did they realise that the idea of FabBag will be a major talking point among fashion lovers. The idea grew on them, and they decided to launch operations in 2012 with a 13-member team handling sourcing, customer delight, operations, technology, marketing and accounts.

Lancome, Sally Hansen, Burt’s Bees, Clinique, and Dior are just a few brands that have joined hands with the FabBag team. Members are entitled to receive both full-size and travel-sized products worth more than thrice the value for as low as Rs 333.

FabBag’s appeal lies in its simple promise of making expensive or hard-to-find niche brands more accessible to prospective buyers. “With newer global brands entering a fast-growing Indian beauty market, we just felt that we were in a ‘right-place-at-the-right-time’ situation that had to be taken to the next step,” says Kaushik.

“Both of us had a very different view of the business – while Vineeta was excited about the beauty and grooming angle, I was supercharged about building an Internet product that could revolutionise the way brands reached out to customers in India,” adds Kaushik. The company was started with an initial investment of Rs 10 lakh and managed to raise funding in its first year of operations.

Their prior experience of working on startups helped fine tune FabBag and garner the support of over 1.2 lakh fans on Facebook. Its member base is increasing on social media platforms such as Twitter (2100+ followers), Pinterest and Instagram.

Putting the bag together

Whoever thinks that procuring the cosmetics for each month’s FabBag is a simple task, should meet Vineeta to get the clear picture. She says, “Planning a FabBag involves more January fabbagscience than one can imagine. If there’s anything we’ve done in the last two years, it is learning from every box and every bag that we have shipped and collecting data points from our members for every new product that we have shipped.”

While signing up, each member fills up a fun quiz that tells the company a bit about their beauty preferences and helps them deliver products they are most likely to love. The team’s planning process starts two to three months in advance, where they take a look at the last three months’ collection of products, the audience segmentation and the brands.

Vineeta says, “We don’t repeat products, and hand-pick specific problem-addressing products from members who flag a beauty need. Lastly, we’re very selective about which brands we allow into a bag. Each brand is rated on multiple parameters of price-point, SKU mix, quantity, exclusivity, before we decide on that.”

The fashion-conscious Indian

The bag which includes a skincare product, a beauty product and a fragrance or bath product. While a large share of their subscriptions come from beyond the metros, they realised that despite being value-conscious, the Indian female is fiercely loyal and a vocal evangelist of anything she finds happiness in.

Kaushik explains, “A flip-side is that, since purchase decisions are largely emotional, a breach of service is treated akin to a breach of trust – in a way, this is good for young companies like ours. It teaches us the discipline of being sensitive to every member’s needs.”

They believe that the Tier II and Tier III cities’ demographic is a tough nut to crack but has already shown enough proof of the fact that a huge market exists for products that fall in to the ‘prestige’ and ‘premium’ brackets.

On challenges and future plans

The FabBag was earlier known as Velvette; the re-christening happened when prospective members found it difficult to locate them in the first attempt. “Our product has been fairly viral and when our members told their circles of influence about us, it was tedious to spell out the brand name every time,” Kaushik says, “By October 2013, we knew that we had to rebrand it to an easy to remember name and with ‘FabBag’ – we knew it was exactly what we had been looking for.”

The team now offers a Men’s FabBag, too. With the emergence of men’s grooming products in almost every brand and research that indicates 40 per cent of beauty salon revenues are attributed to men – they decided to run a pilot for a smaller batch of men’s bags. “Sure enough, we sold out in four days flat,” says Kaushik.

So why should everyone have a FabBag? They explain through one of their member’s words – because “it’s like receiving a carefully-selected surprise birthday gift every month of the year!” And a gift is always welcome!

(Pictures courtesy Fabbag)

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Guest writer

Why I’ve wanted Sachin Tendulkar to retire

A cricket fan explains her love for the man in Jersey No 10 and why he should have retired earlier.
by Ritika Bhandari Parekh

I was a cricket fan first and then a girl. When we cousins played together, I got three chances to be called ‘out’ completely and still prefer that arrangement. Sachin Tendulkar is my hero. He is the sole reason for me to watch cricket, enjoy it and understand too.

When I was seven years old, an India-Australia match was being telecast live. It was dinner time for my dad and he liked eating in front of the TV. It was a Saturday and since 3 pm that day, while my mom was watching Swabhimaan on DD, I’d wished the match would start soon. Now it was 9 pm and I was completing my Maths homework.

Green grass, our men in a light blue jerseys, a few of them had moustaches and there was Shane Warne. He was bowling to the man whom today we refer to as ‘God’. His greatness was recognised by the likes of Donald Bradman, another legend. Despite the commentary, something about the noise on the field made me stop scribbling my homework and watch. Or maybe it was my mother’s “I hope aisa ek six maare Sachin ke inki vaat lag jaye.” It was a tense over, followed by a cool Pepsi ad.

“Why are people crazy about cricket, Papa?” I asked.

“Just watch the game,” he said.

sachin tendulkarSo I did. Every time there was a ball hit for four runs, I felt happy. Sachin’s quick two runs made my heart skip beats. And slowly, I was able to identify that there were 11 players in total on one country’s team. India lost the game for a few runs that day. But I was very proud to be able to talk cricket now. My favourite player had to be Sachin Tendulkar.

As I became a teenager, a few glances were cast over Ganguly as he and Sachin made some awesome opening batsmen entries. But only humble Sachin in all the wonderful ads, especially the ‘Roz khaao ande’ one took my heart away. I remember how he later partnered with Sehwag and went on to form new alliances.

Better still, his jubilance on taking five wickets in a match with Nayan Mongia as the wicket keeper is still etched in my memory. From his recent wins, the T20 match that bashed Shoaib Akhtar and finally, picking up the World Cup is fresh in my mind. But the Master Blaster doesn’t hold the charm he held once.

The media waited for his 100th hundred in ODIs, with every match India played reduced to just the man with Jersey No. 10. It stopped being about winning matches, it just became about how Sachin was always so close, yet so far. It was unfair to blame Sachin, as he never proclaimed his own greatness or thought he was God. But diehard Sachin fan that I was, I still felt that he was a legendary senior player and the youth did deserve a chance to show their caliber. As a fan, I thought he should retire. Would his retirement guarantee more wins? Maybe not. But the cynics would stop blaming him for our losses.

I wanted him to retire gracefully, to at least bid goodbye to the one-day matches. I was still a fan, a fan who never put up any Sachin Tendulkar posters, who still does not remember his runs accurately or even the Series he won his best plays in. Yet I am a fan, because I can’t watch cricket if Sachin is not playing. I do not seem to care where he is playing, but more on how.

And now that it’s time…

Dinner table conversations with a cricket match on, will never be the same again. Sachin’s decision to retire has sent a ripple of relief mixed with shock amongst his fans and naysayers. This November 14 will not be just another Children’s Day in India, it will be a day when the legend will say goodbye.

Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium will witness an atmosphere of euphoria like never before. How can we predict that? Days before Sachin’s last test match, every billboard is saluting the Master Blaster. If music is your constant companion, then tune in to any FM channel and the RJ will regale you with Sachin trivia. Are you in front of the idiot box? Shows like Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma have a ‘We will miss you Sachin’ theme for the storyline.

It is hard and a bit impossible to not know that the God of Indian cricket is bidding adieu. And for the iPhone generation, there cannot be a better chance to be a part of history in the making. Everyone wants to grab a ticket.

And there is a sinking feeling that no one can ever again make me watch a cricket match. My reason to experience a match in the stadium has vanished with Sachin’s retirement announcement. I was seven years old when I first saw him play. His humility and smile still make me swoon like a teenager.

Sachin Tendulkar – one man who was born great, achieved greatness and had greatness thrust on him by a nation of cricket fanatics. And yet, so little has been heard from him. Of him and for him, a bevy of celebrities, athletes and sporting stars from other fields have given their sound bytes. But it is the curly haired man’s thin and delicate voice that will boom this Thursday. It’s time to paint the town with the awesome and humbling effect called Sachin Tendulkar.

Ritika Bhandari Parekh is a closet writer, who hopes you stumble by her writings. Currently she is exploring the bylanes of Lalbaug, searching for a thin crust pizza base, preferably whole wheat.

 (Pictures courtesy www.cricketdawn.com, www.mirror.co.uk)

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