When the Hazelnut Chocolate Mousse Creates a Symphony

It was a Google conference and I was invited to attend the same in The Westin, Rajarhat , just one stop before the State of the art Biswa Bangla Convention Centre.

Thanks to Google not just for sharing knowledge with innovators like us. But also paved the way to get into Westin for the first time and tasting their spread of cuisine in the process.

Fine dining was not new and The Westin was no different. There were assorted salads, breads, 4-5 veg preparations, two non veg items. But the ones which actually tickled my taste buds and literally swept away from my feet was their dessert spread.

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Taste their Hazelnut Chocolate Mousse. It is simply out of the world. I’ve tasted Chocolate Mousse in at least 10 more places of world class repute. But this one, to me, is really different and unique. A soft press with your jaw on the nuts and the magic begins! The chocolate and the nuts create a symphony within your mouth an you go mad!!

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Then I liked their Mixed Berry Cheese Cake. It tastes different. And it is awesomely beautiful. The small pieces melt in your mouth in no time leaving a sweet aroma within.

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I kept on avoiding Mong Dal Halwa in previous cases. But here I could not check myself to have a go. And it was delicious. An overture of ‘ghee’ is certainly there to make the taste more dramatic. But then, sometimes, one needs to forget the health hazards to taste an item, what can be termed as “sinfully bliss”.

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Reading upto this, if you come to a conclusion that I’ve sweet tooth and hence I’m highlighting their desserts. Then you’re completely mistaken. I’m a pure non veg guy who does not have the least little liking for desserts. But since it was really a “PRODUCT” worth mentioning, and I enjoyed a lot, I had to pinpoint those items.

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ASICS Hits Kolkata to Establish a Strong Foothold in the East

The Japanese Sports Performance brand, ASICS hits the “City of Joy” with a bang in an aim to expand its retail footprint to strengthen the brand’s foothold in India.

ASICS has been operating in India since last 3 years. In 3 years’ time, they have been able to come up with 34 stores in 16 Indian cities including metros, tier 1 and tier 2 cities. The target is set up 6-7 more stores by the end of 2018. Kolkata outlet is the outcome of that “joining dots”.

But why Kolkata? As per Gautam Raheja, the Marketing Head, ASICS India, ‘Sports and fitness are expanding in Kolkata. The consciousness has grown. So, we thought, opening an outlet in Kolkata can certainly help us foraying the eastern India market.’

The brand opens its store in one of the finest malls of the city, the south city mall. The outlet is all packed to provide the best products for the running, training, and the core performance sports shoes, apparel and the accessories both for men and women. The main aim of the brand is to extend their family in India for bolstering sales and also the marketing support mainly for the retail stores. This will benefit them with the increase in the consumer awareness of health and fitness and rise in spending of the power.

The Managing Director of the ASICS India, Mr. Rajat Khurana said “Given the potential and growing demand for fitness and sports, India has emerged as an important market for ASICS. This year, our focus is to expand our footprint in the both tier 1 and tier 2 cities and offer our best in class products ranging from running, sports, for gym and other fitness related gear. Kolkata is a very key market for us considering the large audience for sports and fitness in this market. We are hopeful that our products designed keeping core performance in mind will be able to cater to the needs of sports and fitness lovers in the city.

The store outlet in Kolkata will be showcasing their latest of the ASICS AW18 collection that will present the newest of the collections like the Kayano 25, Nimbus all featuring FLYTEFOAM which have the lightest ever midsole technology. The best thing about the FLYTEFOAM series of the brand is that it basically works with the wearer’s foot to deliver superior cushioning every step of the way. Another thing is that it about 55 % lighter than the industry standard midsole material which gives the runners with the comfortable fit with a fast and the responsive feel.

There are many features when it comes to having the best of the ASICS light show collection. It delivers a 360-degree visibility while running in a low light condition. ASICS has been derived from the Latin phrase “Anima Sana in Corpore Sano” which means “A sound mind is a sound Body” which also makes it the brand’s fundamental platform. The company was first founded by Kihachiro Onitsuka 60 years ago which has now evolved to become one of the leading designers and the manufacturer of the running shoes along with the other of the athletic footwear and as well as the apparel and the other accessories.

 

Why This Blogging Workshop Came out Handy For Me?

 Written by Deesha Bhatia

 

One fine afternoon, I was browsing through my Facebook page, when I came across a post which had an attractive content named ‘Blogging Workshop’ and I stopped. For a second it hit me that since I started my blog 2 months ago , why not learn more about it. So there I gave my email id and then in a while I received a mail by Mr Subhasis Chatterjee, the one who posted on Facebook about it.

The mail contained all the topics and key points to be covered in the workshop . While reading it, I was getting all excited and curious and in my mind I was like “yes I want to learn this, I want to know what’s more in there” and so on . So I enrolled my name and got all the details on venue and time.

It was asked to reach the destination by 4.45 pm, but since I’m a very enthusiastic person, I planned to reach there by 4.15 pm. Turned out, I reached there by 5 pm since it was difficult to locate the place. And when I reached , I saw other people also faced the same problem as this area was new to them.

Then by 5.30 the session started and it was hosted by Mr Subhasis Chatterjee himself, who’s the founder and CEO of an IT company called ‘ConnectIndia’. He started by introducing himself first and then telling us about different nuances of blogging, which was very handy for a newcomer like me.

It was planned that this workshop would be divided into two sessions. First session was all about how to find an inspiration for the words and ideas and choosing your blogging niche. There I realized that blogging as a career is passionate yet serious option. When I started my blog , I had just two things in my mind, that is, to show people how creative I’m in my designing field as an interior and to source work opportunities out of it.

But there was more to it when 2nd part of the session started. It was presented by Mr Sumanta Dutta, who is also a blogging expert. He guided us on where to blog, how to gain traffic, how to promote your blog and most importantly how to earn money out of it without any investment. In-short, he taught us how to make a career out of it. After attending this workshop, I learnt so many strategies, outlines and tips that can help me.

I would like to appreciate Mr Subhasis Chatterjee for coming up with this workshop and boosting my career out of this . As my blog is new, I will be implementing all these tips and make my blog more useful and creative on the other hand.

Author Bio: Deesha Bhatia, born and brought up in Kolkata, is a Freelance Interior Designer | Interior Stylist | Blogger & 3D Visualizer. She started her own interior designing start up venture under the name ‘A Green Door ‘ where she aims to showcase her creativity on interiors.

Supreeta Preaches Important Lessons of Life through Grace

She is a born optimist and she sprinkles positive vibes. She loves to celebrate life and she speaks from the bottom of her heart. She takes life in its own stride and believes in relationship. That’s Supreeta Singh for you in a nutshell.

The moment we met each other, she smiles. And it is ‘Grace’ in the truest sense of the term. A full-fledged print media journalist turned into a PR person, who decided to come up with her first novelette on love and human relationships is all ‘Grace’. “My career in journalism and PR have probably helped a lot in coming up with this novel and choosing the subject line. Connecting and interacting with different cross section of people helped a lot.” She quips.

‘Grace’ by Supreeta Singh, is an immaculate attempt to unbox “LOVE” and set it free for readers’ choice to look at it from its different facets. Representing Gen Y, she made her novelette a fast read without a traditional introduction. That certainly had struck the chord beyond boundaries. The urban, conversational tone spelled a charm on young minds as if the two lead characters of the story, Kavita and Rana are echoing the readers’ mind, their heartbreaks, disillusionment and bitterness in the pursuit of finding “the one.”

Supreeta percolates a wonderful lesson through her 97 page work. As life doesn’t have all the answers in store, love is also not all about winning someone’s heart and living a life of fulfillment. Rather it teaches you forgiveness, acceptance and a lot of sacrifices through your course of journey. Through four romantic sagas of Kavita, which she has experienced, Supreeta toys with some brilliant attributes of human values…”affection, friendship, heartbreak, loss and self-discovery that men and women are facing today.” And there only ‘Grace’ becomes universal…for all ages.

Life poses a lot of challenges. Whether you fight it out or not, it leaves a lot of “grey and undefined areas.” Supreeta’s unfathomable eyes are seriously on a quest to define those faded areas.

The quest continues while she aims for her next two titles, “Bani” and “Kolkata Kitty”. Stay tuned.

“Grace” is available on Amazon, Flipkart, Barnes & Noble and also at www.gracebysupreetasingh.com

Flipkart: https://www.flipkart.com/grace/p/itmf49szysg5kp4s

Amazon: https://www.amazon.in/Grace-Supreeta-Singh/dp/154370266X

 

Does the Middle Class Decide on “Good” or “Bad” Food?

Written by Nandana Bhattacharjee

A true Bengali is one whose life seems incomplete without some deep fried ‘luchi’ and potato curry in the breakfast table. Bengalis just like many other communities of India are known for their food habits and of course for their immense good cooking.

Now, we are standing alongside with globalization, everything online and almost all types of restaurants near us. No more do we go to Darjeeling for authentic momos and to south India for dosa and uttapam.

Before talking about the so called Bengali middleclass food habit we should understand the class itself. This middle class has really gone through a lot of things. Earlier middle class families where those who had very little savings and at the end of the month there was an inevitable shortage of money. Situations have changed now, middle class have gone up the ladder and the definition of middle class has also shifted its epicenter.

Middle class is actually a very hegemonic class and has well drawn its boundaries to not let working class and people from other classes enter it. Food habit just the other daily things is going through a lot of change.

Earlier it was a delicacy for Bengalis to have food with lots of spices and oil too but how we are shifting towards a healthier food type where luchies have been replaced by cornflakes and prawn curry by grilled chicken breast.

I remember when I was very small Sunday afternoon meant good mutton curry, French fries (aloo bhaja) , dal and steaming hot rice. But now, the scenario has gone through immense change. Mutton is almost a forgotten story now in most of Bengali families.

Eating healthy is something that the world is focusing towards and middle class Bengalis has historically responded to each and every change. Looking at the lower strata of the society we can well say that they have not shifted that much in their food habit because apparently healthy food is costlier and the very rich section of the society is so less in number that what they about their food habit is unknown. Middle class just as the name suggests falls in between and have made its position well enough in this transition.

Pattern of food consumption well indicates the social class one belongs to. Researches have shown that mothers of the middle class families are more concerned with the nutritional and food value they give their children. For lower class it is primarily the cost and general family preference.

Pierre Bourdieu, had studied middle class very thoroughly and he suggested that it is actually the middle class who decides which food to be labeled as ‘bad’ and which one as ‘good’. People from other class follow these tags and form their food habit.

Something that can be well concluded is that food habit is not a subjective choice, there are actually some laid down pattern and one can do nothing but follow them. Middle class which has been a very influential class and also trend setters in certain areas have a huge impact on others food habit too.

Author Bio: Nandana Bhattacharjee is a student of Presidency University, Kolkata. She is in her final year of under graduation, with sociology major. In her first year she had done a summer internship with Hope Foundation, Kolkata. Being primarily interested in gender studies she is to work on ‘gender and body image’ for her upcoming dissertation.

Blogging Meet Up in Bangalore: A Remarkable Day in My Life

 

Written by Nithisha Obbu, 2nd Year, CMRIT, Bangalore 

“A SMALL PIECE OF ART FORM, BE IT LITERATURE,DANCE, MUSIC OR ANY KIND, CAN DO BRING A GREAT CHANGE INSIDE THE SOUL”.

When you have some art form as your passion, no external force can stop you from reaching heights of success. It alone doesn’t make oneself satisfied but also makes the world around you glow and charming by your art form. In particular, when it comes to literature, you are not just a poet or writer, you are that one person who can depict one’s life. You infuse life to the thing which has no life in real. If a musician is admired by a group of people, that shows how passionate he is and how hard he works towards his passion.

 

All this to enlighten the one within you.

“IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO START WHAT INTERESTS YOU AND THE PASSION YOU HAVE. IGNITE THE PASSION UP AND WORK ON IT HARD”.

My passion is writing and I started writing at the age of 7. My sword is my pen, with which I started conquering people’s heart. My journey is not too easy. I spent sleepless nights and fire in my belly to come up to what I am today. Since the teen, I had no platform where I can showcase my passion. But now, I got the platform through “Connect India” and “Inklings” to show my talent. I never thought of communicating through this poem I love.

 

A MOMENT OF PASSION
A MOMENT OF PASSION SO EASILY SHARED,
WITH NO FEAR OR REGRET.
THE MEMORIES FLOOD THROUGH MY MIND,
A MOMENT OF PASSION I’LL NEVER FORGET.
A MOMENT OF PASSION IS LIKE A DRUG, IT TAKES ME SO HIGH.
NEEDING ME TO TAKE ANOTHER FIX,
A MOMENT OF PASSION CAN NEVER LIE
A MOMENT OF PASSION WHEN YOU ARE ALONE,
YOU DESIRE IT TOO.
UNABLE TO CONTROL IT,
A MOMENT OF PASSION SHARED WITH YOU.

1st April 2018 was a remarkable day in my life with a plenty full of memories and new friends. We had a great interactive session with Subhasis sir and Ankush Tiwari and along with Nitheesh, Abhinav, Vaibhav and many more who were tremendously motivated and passionate.

“WE CAN NEVER AND SHOULDN’T COMPARE A POET WITH OTHERS BECAUSE EACH ONE HAS HIS OWN GENRE AND HIS WAY OF EXPRESSING THINGS”. A dream came true, me performing before people who know what goes on in life of a poet. It’s like I am flying with colours. Many thanks to Subhasis sir and Ankush to be so loving and encouraging towards young talents to come and showcase their inner beauty. How can I forget , thank you Abhinav for the meet up and the team which is simply amazing.

Sumit Agarwal: The Name Which Inspires the City

Passion, ambition and a brave heart are the 3 things one needs to have to achieve something meaningful in life. It’s all in the mind and self courage that makes you different from others. And if you have talent and a strong will to get what you want then nothing can stop you. This has been proved with an impactful example by a city boy, Sumit Agarwal.

The name may seem an ordinary one but the person is not. The founder of one of the most promising city-based PR companies, PR Signal, Sumit Agarwal is a man with pure ambition and a strong will. A management post graduate entrepreneur, he is a man with brain who aims to improve the PR vision with new and innovative ideas.

What makes him different and special? He is a special individual. Born with cerebral palsy, he had to undergo four major operations and now 70 % of his movements are restricted. But his medical and physical deficiency had never ever put an impact on his will to excel and make a difference.

Every man has a woman behind his success. And for Sumit, it was his mother who supported him all through the hardships of life. Being specialized in managing non profit organizations and advising them, he aims to increase both the efficacy and efficiency of the PR companies with his remodelling ideas.

A simple boy from the city of joy, he possesses a pure and soft heart. Not only does he rule the business in the PR segment but he loves carrying on with his social deeds listening to his heart.

Being an active member of the Help Age India foundation, he has visited over 10 old aged homes in order to convey a survey consisting of 300 respondents. His survey and contribution have raised funds which ultimately improved the quality of life in the old age home.

The list of his achievement is endless. And not a single one is less impressive. A man of excellence, Sumit became the first cerebral palsy individual from India to score a 9.05 CGPA from IBS. He has been presented with the state award of role model for academic excellence by Governor of West Bengal. He even has bagged “The Surendra Paul Memorial Award for Courage” by the Telegraph in the year 2008.

He is a master of chess and imbibes a weakness towards planting and gardening. His powerful brain knows the binary language of R, Java and SPSS and has a good hand in the cloud computing programs.

In their free time when people freak out for vacations, he invests his quality time with different organization he is a part of, i.e. the general secretary of international human rights, life time member of rotary means business, national advisor at national media confederation and many more such things.

“The Jack of all trades and the master of none” is the fitting proverb to describe his excellence. PR signal boasts of a unique strategic approach towards the public relationship and its management. And it makes all the work easy and smooth.

A great man with a greater innovation can really make a difference. Sumit Agarwal comes from that legacy. Bless him by paving the way.