Pervaiz Alam

Producer, writer, journalist and broadcaster, Pervaiz Alam is a s a professor and dean, Journalism & Mass Com at Apeejay Stya University based in Gurgaon. He is the award-winning director of the immensely popular BBC radio-drama series in Hindi called, Life Gulmohar Style. The series, which dealt with gender issues like equality and sex-selective abortion reproductive health and violence, were broadcast by more than fifteen FM Networks across India.

Pervaiz has worked as a senior broadcast journalist with BBC World (Television) where he produced programmes like India Business Report, Mastermind India and HARD talk India, amongst others. Prior to this he was a producer with BBC World Service (Radio).

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/litfest/litfest-2017/speakers/pervaiz-alam/articleshow/61115413.cms

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Why podcasters are betting on desi content

In the past two years, Gautam Raj Anand says he’s read more books than he has in his 27 years — and that’s because he’s listening to them, not actually poring over every word. The founder and CEO of Hubhopper a Delhi-based podcasts aggregator, says it’s his own experience of the ease of using audiobooks that convinced him of audio’s potential as a medium.

Anand started Hubhopper as a social network in 2015, but pivoted over time to an AI-enabled repository of podcasts, and he’s now aiming to create a community of podcasters in regional languages. “One way to do that is to disassociate the medium from the word ‘podcast’. We need to escape the niche and elitist impression it creates,” he says. Audio content has been popular for decades in India, and it’s just a matter of reviving it, he believes. Hubhopper has raised four rounds of funding, including an undisclosed pre-series A investment from a VC firm. It receives close to 100 creator requests on its platform every week, but only 25% of the leads make the cut.

Early trends indicate that 2019 may be the year of audio, say experts. In 2018, Amazon launched its audiobooks platform Audible in India, Google Audiobooks opened access to Indian users, and last year Sweden-based audiobooks firm Storytel started an Indian arm. Global media reports suggest that streaming major Spotify is set to look beyond music and enter the podcasting world, with India on its priority list. Audioboom India, an on-demand audio platform, gets 15 lakh listens on an average each month for podcasts, with 80% of its listeners are in the age group of 18-34.

Yogesh Dashrath, country manager, Storytel India, said the group took almost “a courageous leap” betting on India’s audio space in 2017. “The Jio effect on smartphones and Netflix’s effect on the subscription business model has helped increase appeal of audio in India,” he says.

The convenience of podcasts is at the heart of its popularity. Increasing commute times, faster data, smartphone penetration, and the country’s preference for passive content that doesn’t need one’s full attention make the audio space ripe for entrepreneurs to venture into. IVM, Audiomatic and Indicast are other startups that host narrative audio content across news, sports, pop culture and entrepreneurship. Media enterprises too are tapping podcasts as an additional touch point to reach users.

Audiomatic, co-founded by Rajesh Tahil and Tariq Ansari in 2015, pegs itself as a spot for quality narrative content and hosts five shows across culture, current affairs and food. Tahil, who also heads operations at a digital media enterprise, admits that Audiomatic is currently in a phase of “market discovery”, and is trying to spread podcasts beyond the niche audience it currently enjoys. While he refused to disclose listener metrics, Tahil said the self-funded Audiomatic’s adoption has grown close to 300% in three years.

One of the most popular genres is startup-themed podcasts. From Reid Hoffman’s Masters of Scale in the US to The Indian Startup Show by Neil Patel, entrepreneurs are lapping up insights on leadership, innovation and productivity via podcasts. “Given an entrepreneur’s hectic lifestyle, podcasts are a huge resource for growing your enterprise,” says Hubhopper’s Anand, noting that podcasts have been his single source of support in scaling up his own business. Audiomatic's Tahil agrees: “It’s a great forum for discussing challenges and sharing experiences as an entrepreneur.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/trend-tracking/why-podcasters-are-betting-on-desi-content/articleshow/67001341.cms

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An interview with India's jeweller to the stars Farah Khan

Farah Khan's fine jewellery is unique. Like her flamboyant personality, it is intricate yet striking, bold yet feminine. Her signature style incorporates majestic tigers, snakes, insects, floral motifs and Egyptian heads, encrusted with the finest diamonds and gemstones, and she has designed for some of the top Bollywood and Hollywood stars and India's foremost families.

Crowned one of India's most renowned jewellery designers and gemologists, Farah insists that every single design should be a masterpiece. So it is hard to believe that she found her way into jewellery making quite by chance. Coming from a famous Bollywood family, there were expectations that she would pursue a career in acting or filmmaking. But all that changed when she enrolled herself on a gemology course at GIA. It marked the start of a journey that today spans 20 years, with many accolades earned along way.

Farah's journey took another momentous turn recently with the opening of her flagship store at Turner Road Jewellery Boulevard in Bandra, Mumbai. Spread over two floors, it is a visual delight, with jewellery themed around a story that will change every few months. The inaugural "Alice in Wonderland" theme, with its vivid orange windows and quirky displays, is designed to create an emotional connection with the customer, making them - just like Alice - curiouser to find out more. "I believe that anything is possible. Just like Alice, I daydream, except I make those dreams come true," says Farah proudly.

In an exclusive interview for The Jewellery Editor, Preeta Agarwal (PA) spoke to Farah Khan (FK) about her decades-spanning career and passion for jewellery design:

PA: What made you pursue the GIA course?

FK: My initial idea was to go to LA and party for six months, so I was shocked when I realised the course was no joke. So, the only way out was to learn. It left me inquisitive, so I enrolled into the GIA's Jewellery Design course next.

PA: You graduated back in 1993, when jewellery design as a concept was unheard of in India. What were those initial years like?

FK: During those first years I worked with various jewellers in Mumbai, interacted with Indian craftspeople and gained a lot of hands-on knowledge. But unlike most jewellers, who took the route of safe jewellery designs, I itched to make something original. How will a customer know they have a taste for the different if they don't have the opportunity to see something different? I started designing for family and friends and had my jewellery manufactured by a close friend/jewellery manufacturer. The combination of my designs and his manufacturing worked for many years, and I launched my label "Farah Khan Fine Jewellery" in 2004. Then I started my own jewellery design workshop, which houses 80 craftsmen and a skilled design team. Today, with the launch of my new store, I have a retail presence in Delhi and Mumbai.

PA: You are the daughter of a famous Bollywood family. How has that affected your career?

FK: To begin with there were benefits. The Bollywood angle encouraged customers to walk through the door, but my designs made them stay. Adversely, most potential buyers who like my work think my jewellery is super-expensive. To break this myth, my new store is in the biggest high-end jewellery retail market in Mumbai. In the midst of all that competition, I hope that even if guests walk in just to browse, they will realise that my jewellery is equally affordable as my neighbours'.

PA: You are often referred to as a 'jeweller to the stars'. Did you set out with that aim?

FK: Being from a famous Bollywood family, it did give me fame initially as I have many celebrities who wear my jewellery. But I see jewellery as an artform; I make it for those who appreciate art. If they love my work and feel like a princess wearing it, it doesn't matter if a customer is a celebrity or a housewife.

PA: Your designs are more contemporary Indian than traditional. Where do you get your inspiration from and how do you go about designing pieces?

FK: Designs need to have a definite language. I believe in reinventing the past along with creating something new. I make jewellery to suit not just Indian garments but also Western outfits. Most of my inspiration comes from nature. I absolutely love designing bejewelled, three-dimensional animals and insects so that they apear almost alive. I use only gemstones that are lively and have a beautiful lustre - stones that sparkle and leave a twinkle in the eye.

Source: http://www.thejewelleryeditor.com/jewellery/article/an-interview-with-indias-jeweller-to-the-stars-farah-khan/

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7 classics of Hindi literature you must read right now

It's a reservoir that can never go dry, and neither is it possible to ever do justice to any list of top classics. Still, here's a humble attempt at making you appreciate the range of the language, and also at the same time evoke the deep feelings of joy, pain and love their authors have evoked in their readers.

Gunaahon Ka Devta (by Dharamveer Bharti)
One of the most-touching romantic novels ever, it was first published in 1949. Gunaahon Ka Devta is a complex love story that defies the general concepts of romantic relations, taking it way ahead in the realm of human existence. Chander and Sudha, the lead pair, love each other since childhood but do not get married to each other. The books traces the love lost and found in the process and beyond.

RashmiRathi (By Ramdhari Singh Dinkar)
First published in 1954, Rashmirathi is a novel take on the Hindu mythological epic Mahabharat. The character of Karna, the son unmarried Kunti (Pandu's wife) had with Lord Son, is portrayed as the hero in the poem. It is interesting to read the perspective of what is otherwise an unsung hero in Vyas's Mahabharata.
From the injustices meted out to Karna as a 'shudra-putra' to the self-righteousness of the Pandavas and even Kunti, Dinkar points them all out in his poetic style.

Madhushala (By Harivansh Rai Bachchan)
One of the most-quoted works of Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Madhushala was first published in 1935. Madhushala has gems of philosophical wisdom using the symbol of alcohol and alcoholisms. Interestingly, the poet was a teetotaller.

Nirmala (By Munshi Premchand)
First published in 1928, Nirmala is one of the many novels where Premchand takes a dig at the evil practices plaguing Indian society. The USP of Premchand's works is the usage of colloquial words and referrences. Nirmala is the story of a young woman married to a widower and her struggles thereafter.

Raag Darbari (By Sri Lal Sukla)
Raagdarbari, first published in 1970, is a commentary on the disconnect between what we practice and what we preach. Rangnath, a history student visits his village and stays there to notice the stark differences between the ideals he learnt at university and the practices of his uncle, the village head and his practices.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/books/7-classics-of-hindi-literature-you-must-read-right-now/story-cN1KGVSWpQ9SYVJ6NzBEDL.html

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