Social media in 2011

A great recap of the world of social media by Videoinfographs

India is flashmobbing!

We've been waiting for a great flashmob in India for a while now and are sure this one will put smile on your face.

Brewhouse ♥ Sanjay Patel

Notcot recently reminded us of the amazing Pixar animator and illustrator Sanjay Patel. Please do watch the interview with him on the making and inspiration for his book "Ramayana: Divine Loophole", an amazing contemporary version of this epic story. 
To check out more of his work or order the book go to GheeHappy.

 

Brewhouse ♥ NorBlack NorWhite

Another stunning collection by NorBlack NorWhite, this FW11 collection is inspired by Banaras & Lucknow, UP.


In their own words:
"Focussing on a region per collection, NorBlack NorWhite explores India through textile and art. We pay our respect, documenting & designing through adventure."


images from NorBlack NorWhite and more on their website.

Nano Home

Tata has recently announced their new project called the Nano House. This project will make it possible for people to own a house for the first time ever and do so for just about $750. Made from coconut and jute fibers, the nano house is expected to have a life expectancy of 20 years.

Normally, we dont get excited about such things, but come on, this crib costs less than a car- even less than the TATA NANO- the cheapest car in the world.

And while this little house might solve homelessness worldwide, we're not sure how the Indian folks will react. You see while most people value sense, Indians value status- its the same reason why the TATA NANO isn't flying of the shelves- because no one in India would ever want to appear to be cheap or have the cheapest car or for that matter buy the cheapest house.

Brewhouse ♥ Dileep Sharma

Please enjoy the adventures of Kunwarji, the artist's pseudonym, and his muses in a world where urban pop meets ethnic mythology and stereotypes cease to exist. sexy and funny, we ♥ Dileep Sharma's watercolors.

All images are copyright of the artist, and courtesy of the internet.

Changing face of Social media

Look what happens to India between June 2009 and December 2009!
Facebook now has 30 million Indians online.

Indian Young: Neil Quraishy (Social Entrepreneur)

Indians and Social Media

Interesting new social media research from nielson.

Indian Young: Something Relevant (band)

Indian Young: Abish Mathews, Comedian

Brewhouse ♥ Besharmi Morcha

On Sunday July 24st the first Slut Walk will take place in Delhi. Hooray! Many Slut Walks have been held across the world, but never in Delhi. And we certainly need one. Not because we want to be able to wear short skirts, but because we need to help change the mindset. 

So what is a slutwalk?

The phenomena started after a police officer in Toronto made a comment at the York University that 'women should avoid dressing up like sluts in order not to be victimised'. Two months later on April 3, 2011, the city witnessed a thousand people on the streets protesting against this derogatory remark in the form of Slut Walks. The women got down on the streets wearing revealing outfits and T-shirts with the word 'slut' written on them. Soon, people in North America, Australia and Britain began organizing slut walks on their own raising their voices against the men who blamed women for being raped.

Why Delhi?

In India, and especially Delhi aka "India's rape capital", sexual harassment and rape are commonplace. In India every 26 minutes a woman is molested, every 34 minutes a rape takes place and every 43 minutes a woman is kidnapped (source: the home ministry's national crime records bureau). The brunt of this happens in Delhi with 489 rapes reported last year. 

Dates

On the 16th of July a special debate will be organized at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi from 4-7pm to talk about the issues related to sexual harassment, rape and eve teasing with experts, activists and parents. 

The actual SlutWalk will be held on 24 july. For the walk women can wear whatever they want, because the point of the walk is that it is not the clothes you wear that cause harassment. 

We love this initiative not because of the walk itself, but because of the debate it has opened. It has kicked off the kind of discussion — about personal safety, sexuality and class — that is seldom heard here. 

Find out more on Facebook

Read more in this NY Times article

The Indian Young

Last year while still at Wieden + Kennedy Delhi, I and the cool Ms. Pooja Bakshi set out to find the quintessential Indian Youth. What we found and came back with instead, were 20 stories of individuals doing interesting things and influencing everyone around them. We created a documentary that weaved a story of originality, about self belief and about following your heart and never looking back.

These are 20 interviews with young Indians- not how we see them, but how they see themselves.
We will publish one interview a day, so look out for posts titled "Indian Young." Enjoy!

Indian Young: Yamini Shenoy, Radio Jockey

To Chew or Not to Chew

Every now and then we come across a product that we know will change the world forever. Such products we call "game changers." Congrats to Bubbaloo and it's decision gum- a true game changer. It make decision making easy-peasy. Pop it in your mouth and wait for your tongue to turn red or green. Red means no and green means go. Like we said easy-peasy.

A word from the wise

A wise man once explained us the concept of making money. He said that everywhere in the world, money followed a “three-generation” cycle where the first generation started to make the money, the second generation started to accumulate it and the third generation would spend it. And then the cycle would begin again. He told us that at any given stage you knew exactly where your family stood and what your role in life was to be.

It is no surprise then that a recent article in Yuva (a magazine for the young India) found that most young people rate “being rich and financially secure” as the highest priority in their lives. A significant second is “to make their family proud.”

We think this is very interesting…if we were to look at India through the same perspective as the three-generation cycle, it would seem that as a country we are clearly in the second phase- in need of accumulating money. Why do we say that, well close to 60% of India is under the age of 30 and we have 450 million people from the middle class hustling for better. As a country, our hustle has gone from putting food on the table to securing a brighter future.

Perhaps in 30 years, the third generation would consider “finding the right partner” or “a happy married life” as the top priority, till then lets make our families proud and lets make that cheddar!

Made in Jail - TJ's brand

In most countries - and movies - inmates make matches, stick stickers and do other manual labour to pass their time. But in Tihar Jail New Delhi they are doing things a little bit differently. Instead of merely doing manual labour, the inmates learn skills with which they could start a small business or find a job once they get released from jail. They make a whole bunch of stuff ranging from snacks to breads, from  soaps to mens shirts. Not only do they learn a skill, but part of the profit generated from these products go to support the inmates' families. And the best part of it all, instead of anonymously producing all these things, Tihar Jail has started its own brand, TJ's. The brand is sold in TJ's brand stores and the brand is also seeking franchise opportunities. Soon all government run booze shops in Delhi will exclusively sell TJ's chips, so why get magic massala when you could be munching on a criminally tasty potato delight with a story instead?

Dowry Calculator & the Kitty Party Subculture

We came across this app built for the quintessential Indian Auntie. It calculates the right amount of dowry to ask for when getting married. We think this is the next big thing after shaadi.com, and it certainly has the chutzpah and the social currency to make headlines in the kitty party* circuit. The real genius, a point that cannot go unmentioned, is that this algorithm leaves little hope for people that didn't make it to Harvard, IIT or IIM. But for those who did, can check out their dowry worth here.

* Kitty Party = A congregation of wealthy housewives that get together once a month to discuss matrimony, food, fashion and jewellery. And of course its not unusual for such discussions to turn to gossip- as commonly associated with kitty parties. However, much to their credit, the kitty party phenomena is largely responsible for keeping afloat restaurants which are past their prime. Moreover, they represent a large network of matchmakers responsible for many Indian weddings. And last but not least, these ladies have an astonishing ability to save large amounts of money- the very reason of how it all started.

Bollywoods fleetingness

This morning I came across some cool and poetic images of fading Bollywood posters by Mark Oakley. Enjoy!

Please Mend The Gap

Where I do actually enjoy the relative zen of traveling in the “women only” carriage of the Delhi metro - though I could do without the hot pink sanitary towel/toilet signage - there is a lot to say for and against it.

The girl that sighed and commented “what planet do they think they’re from?” or the auntie that single handedly shouted a group of 5 men out of the carriage were fun to observe. Yet these incidents make it easy to forget that it is actually very sad that it is necessary to dedicate a carriage to women in the first place. There was also an embarrassing incident where a man wondered into the ladies’ carriage and started to insult two hermaphrodite ladies telling them that if he wasn’t allowed in this carriage, they certainly weren’t and none of the other ladies interfered.

The creation of separate carriages creates a whole new set of problems and tensions between men and women. Does a ladies only carriage mean that the other carriages are for men? Should the  ladies’ carriage be considered positive or negative discrimination? The ladies carriage may guarantee women’s safety but it simultaneously creates inequality. It makes for a separation instead of a change of mindset. 

And that’s exactly why “Please Mend The Gap” has been started. “Please Mend The Gap” is a volunteer-led initiative to promote gender equality in public spaces. Sporting yellow T-shirts with hand painted messages, they organize flashmobs in the Delhi metro to raise awareness. With their peaceful protests they want to close the divide and demand respect and a pleasant public transport experience for both men and women. This is the first flash mob idea I've come across that doesn't just entertain people, but makes them think.

Join “Please Mend The Gap”  on Facebook, participate in their flashmobs and become part of this great movement.

Wallpaper* Reborn in India

The June issue of Wallpaper* is all about India! Wallpaper* shifted to Delhi and Mumbai for a while to seek out our coolest and most stylish stuff. Wallpaper* describes India as “the most eye-popping, synapse-snapping, pulse-pushing place on the planet”. Can’t wait to see the issue! Until it hits the shelves you can check out the Reborn in India page where news and guest blogs will be added over the next month.

The saree - a state of affairs

Visiting Delhi fashion week and seeing Sabyasachi’s show got us thinking about the saree. What is the state of one of the most traditional and elegant dresses in India? Does the younger generation wear sarees? And how have they made them their own? 

There are some landmark saree fashion moments which seem to have given the green light to messing with such a traditional piece of clothing. What started off with innovative prints and blouse cuts has now spun off into different ways of draping, new materials like jersey and lycra, sarees with jackets, belts, leggings or jeans, sarikini’s, poncho sarees, trouser sarees, readily draped zip-up styles, drapy saree-inspired dresses and so much more. The saree 2.0 is ideal for stylish women on the go or for women like me who aren’t that good at tying them. 

The verdict: 

Traditional doesn’t have to be old-fashioned.

It’s a time of innovation and experimentation.

Sarees are very much alive and kicking!

Landmark saree moments:
1 +2 Satya Paul, pop art sari’s, 2007 / 3 Nida Mahmood, saris over jeans / 4 Wendell Rodricks, saree-gown, 2009 / 5 Anamika Khanna, pyama saree, 2009 / 6 Sabyasachi, chotu saree (shortened skirt)

Sarees with jackets and belts and cool new ways of draping: 
1 Abraham and Thakore AW11 / 2 Satya Paul / 3 + 4 Tarun Tahiliani AW 11 / 5 Shantanu Nikhil SS11 / 6 Anupama Dayal / 7 Anupama Dayal AW 11 / 9 Masaba SS11

Innovation in blouses and skirts and sarees worn over jeans:
1 Dev R Nil SS11 /  2 Anand Kabra SS11 / 3 Sabyasachi AW11 / 4 Tarun Tahiliani SS10 / 5 Nida Mahmood SS11

Office sarees with trousers or skirts and beachy resortwear sarees:
1 Abraham and Thakore AW11 / 2 Shrivan Narresh 10 / 3 ? / 4 Masaba SS11

Awesome saree-inspired dresses, long and short: 
1 Rabani & Rakha AW11 / 2+3 Shantanu & Nikhil AW11 / 4 Wendell Rodricks 2010 / 5 Gaurav Gupta AW11 / Rimzim Dadu AW11 / 7 Gaurav Gupta AW11 / 8 Anand Kabra AW11 / 9 Masaba SS11

Sareeholics unite on

www.sareetimes.com

www.sareedreams.com


Draping for dummies

www.sariapp.com