Garba Trends

It’s that time of the year…when we dance the night away for nine continuous nights, Navratri, by doing the Garba. The gaiety and the enjoyment cannot be matched by any dance pub, disco or rock concert. In fact the comparison is sacrilegious, it is beyond compare. Every year new trends arise in Garba, someone or the other will try to introduce new concepts to banish the boredom which might arise, if the same old routine is followed year after year. So what are the trends this year? Let’s see what I have observed so far…

The Rain Garba – the Navratri this year started under a cloud, or rather a cloud burst. So the enthusiastic Garba denizens rushed to buy raincoats of all colours. After all, the main feature of Navratri is the celebration of different colours on each day. So we had the ladies put their best raincoats forward, and dance away the night in fervour.

The Swimming pool Garba – The other day, I was surprised to see a unique Garba on the social media. The ladies were dancing away, but not on firm ground, but in a swimming pool. Perhaps they were missing the rains! So there was lot of splashing of water and Garba in slow motion. So much for uniqueness.

The Train Garba – Trust the ladies of Mumbai to start a Garba in the unlikeliest of places. So you have 10 ladies go around in circles with the grace of ballet dancers, in the confined space near the local train doorway, with somebody’s mobile belting out the latest trending songs. You have to see the sheer enthusiasm on the faces of ladies to believe it! After all, most of you must be aware of the rush during the mad hours of the mornings and evenings, in the lifelines of Aamchi Mumbai.

The Salsa Garba – The Salsa originated in the Caribbean but found its soulmate in Garba this year. So it’s the trending dance form this year across cities in western India, from Mumbai to Aapro Ahmedabad.

Yatindra Tawde

Royale Atmos by Asian Paints - A Game Changer in Indoor Paints

A restaurant in a neighbouring country started charging its customers for the air they breathe inside the restaurant. There was a huge hue and cry against this and finally the government stepped in and asked it to stop charging for the air. The reasoning put forth by the restaurant was that it had invested in an expensive air filtration system for the benefit of its valued customers and they were recovering the cost from the customers. Coming to think about it, does this news denote the progress made by man! 

First man was a hunter gatherer and he used to kill or grow his own food and this was his daily routine. But then he grew ambitious and compartmentalized his activities, and food growing or gathering activity was allocated to a few, and other men started paying them for food.  Water was freely available, whether from rivers or lakes. Then the cities started growing and it became more and more difficult for man to manage all activities requiring water, from only one source. Hence alternate sources were created by means of dams or reservoirs and for bringing this water to the cities, pipelines were laid. All this required resources and man started paying for water.

Now Man has struggled a lot and has put in great efforts, to ensure that the air he breathes is also made as polluted as possible. For this you don’t have to step out of the house. The house that you live in or the Office where you work, are polluted too. There are many different types of air pollutants inside any house.

1. Most of today’s furniture is made by using pressed wood and laminates. For binding these, resins are used which contain Formaldehyde, which has a distinct pungent smell. At room temperature, it emits a gas which causes irritation of the eyes, nose & throat, coughing and fatigue. At high density, it can cause cancer too. It can be kept in check by reducing the humidity by means of exhaust fans and moderating the temperature.
2. In today’s age, there are many gadgets like printers, photo-copiers, marker pens and certain building material as well as many fluids like common cleaning solutions and pesticides, which contribute Organic gases. These Organic gases can affect humans by causing same effects like Formaldehyde. Try to store these in clearly demarcated areas, far from your sleeping and sitting areas. Also don’t buy these in huge numbers.
3. You may think Carbon Monoxide, that poisonous gas, is only limited to roads but how wrong you are. Gas burners, chimneys and stoves contribute Carbon Monoxide too, and this can kill if the ventilation is not proper. And in small quantities, it can make you feel sluggish, lethargic and can cause headaches. To reduce this gas, exhaust fan is the answer.
4. You and your pets are but a mass of cells, which die quite rapidly. These dead cells are shed, which remain inside your house and whenever you breathe, these can enter your respiratory system. In addition to this, if there is excess moisture, it can result into mold and mildew. All this causes havoc with your body causing asthma, fevers and respiratory diseases. And if there are smokers in the house, the secondhand smoke is a killer. Keep your home clean by daily cleaning and wiping with wet cloth.
5. And the cherry on top are the AC’s which for today’s generation are a must. AC’s keep circulating all the above pollutants throughout the house or office to affect all inhabitants uniformly. Centralised AC’s preferred in Office areas are a nuisance since they can carry the localised pollutants over a larger area. To reduce their effect, regularly open the locked windows so that fresh air can enter.

The pioneers at one of India’s largest Paint Company, Asian Paints, put in long years of research to come out with a solution to overcome these very problems highlighted above. And finally they are ready. Royale Atmos is a first of its kind paint that not only looks beautiful, but also cleans the air, making it purer than before. It reduces formaldehyde, one of the above dangerous pollutants. It absorbs other household foul smells, improving the air quality inside. Not only that, it’s game changer or its Value Proposition, that it releases a pleasant fragrance. The normal chemical smell associated with paints, is hit for a six out of the ground, to be replaced by the serene fragrance. Its Activated Carbon Technology is a revolutionary development which helps Royale Atmos in purifying the Indoor Air, whether in an office or at home.

And all this is capture very beautifully here https://www.asianpaints.com/atmos , which will also enable you to order Royale Atmos for your valued dwelling. To top it all, its Brand Ambassador is the Vivacious and Charming, Deepika Padukone, who herself comes as a breath of fresh air with her dimpled smile and twinkling eyes.

The Fine

The city; Chennai. A bus conductor is fined for not doing his duties. Now what are the duties of a bus conductor. To dispense tickets to the passengers, maybe help them sometimes, help the driver when reversing, so on and so forth. But this particular conductor did all these tasks perfectly. Then why was he fined. You won’t believe it, he was fined due to that common pest, a puny pigeon. Read on...

It so happened that a drunk got on the bus. Being a good citizen, he swayed down the aisle towards the conductor to get his ticket. The conductor, being a very compassionate person, first asked the drunkard to sit. The drunk plonked himself in a window seat, perhaps expecting himself to puke the excess alcohol, directly outside the bus. See, how concerned he was about his fellow passengers. The conductor gave him a ticket dutifully; and that’s when his troubles started. The drunkard started making cooing noises; the other passengers withdrew from him, perhaps expecting him to puke. But no, the other denizen of the world, which excels in cooing, joined him on a window grill. Yes, a pigeon made itself comfortable on a perch outside the window. For the next 20 minutes the other passengers were treated to a show of PDA between the drunkard and the bird. The drunkard used to hold a few nuggets of food in his mouth, which the pigeon picked with its beak. And so it went on for some time, when a bus ticket inspector came in for inspection of the passengers tickets. And when he saw this spectacle, he asked the drunkard for the tickets. The drunkard produced one ticket in a jiffy since he was so civic minded. But the inspector loitered in front of the drunkard, expecting him to produce a ticket for the pigeon. Yes! A ticket for the pigeon, since they also charge the animals boarding the bus. But in vain. Finally he summoned the conductor, who told him that the pigeon was taking a ride on the outside and it was not accompanying the drunkard. But observing the PDA between the bird and the birdbrain, the disbelieving inspector fined the conductor for dereliction of duty. Alas! One more human victim of that pest, called a pigeon, had fallen by the wayside.

Yatindra Tawde