Vintage watches becoming the new Bitcoin

Next-Generation Collectors See Old Timepieces As Hot New Asset In Their Investment Portfolios
Alex Williams

As tattooed rockers, tech bros and Instagram influencers pile into the tweedy world of watch collecting, prices for sought-after classics from brands like Rolex, Omega and Patek Philippe are shooting up. In some cases, they have doubled in just a couple of years.

These next-generation collectors see old timepieces not just as a subtly stylish way to dress up a T-shirt and jeans, but also as a hot new asset in their investment portfolios. In a market where stocks, bonds and real estate seem at an unsteady peak, do vintage watches present a bitcoin-in-2017-like growth opportunity? Or are they in a bitcoin-in-2017-like bubble?


Time — elegantly monitored — will tell.

Even though his investment in watches has doubled in value in just 18 months, Peter Goodwin, a private investor in Charlottesville, Virginia, who also collects watches, said he is concerned about frothiness in the vintage market.

“It’s much like momentum investing in stocks,” he said. “You see them rising and you want to jump on.” “The question,” Goodwin said, “is when does it stop?”

Watch collectors hide in plain sight. John Mayer’s watch collection is nearly as famous as his guitar work. His bank vault contains a vast array of collectibles, including sapphire-encrusted gold Rolexes a nd Luftwaffe watches from World War II, that he has said is valued in the “tens of millions.”

Silicon Valley heavyweights like Kevin Rose, the Digg founder Matt Jacobson, have museum-worthy Rolexes and Patek Philippes, helping to establish a head-turning timepiece as a techworld style flourish to rival the hoodie.

Ellen DeGeneres wore a holy-grail Paul Newman-model Rolex Daytona from the 1960s, now worth perhaps $250,000, while bantering with Jerry Seinfeld in an episode of “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” last year.

What even makes a watch valuable? Consider the bezel insert from a 1957 Rolex Submariner. A bezel insert is the featherweight aluminum disk with numbers on it that surrounds the dial of a diver’s watch.

On Submariners made in 1957, the bezel insert was made with an unusual red triangle at 12 o’clock and slightly different typography on the numerals. Because it is rare, that insert is so sought after by collectors that it can fetch more than $30,000 these days, said Eric Wind, a dealer of fine vintage watches in Florida, up from maybe $10,000 just a few years ago.

The rebound may seem intoxicating. But people who think of their watch collection as an alternative to an ETrade account may be in for a rude surprise when they discover that watches often come with sizable dealer fees, not to mention substantial outlays for insurance, secure storage and other hidden costs, Khoo said.

In other words, newcomers to the watch world may want to heed the warning attached to brokerage advertisements on television: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. NYT NEWS SERVICE


Guitarist John Mayer estimates the value of his watch collection in the tens of millions

‘Foreigner’ with skull cap unearthed in 6th-century Vishnu temple in MP

The discovery of a mysterious ‘foreign face’ engraved on a brick in a 6th-century temple in MP’s Singrauli has created a sensation among archaeologists. The engraving, of a bearded man in ‘foreign attire’ and a skull cap, was found in an early Kalachuri Dynasty temple at an ASI dig site in Nagwa area. Researchers have no idea whose face it depicts.

RARE 6TH CENTURY FINDS IN MP

A brick with a bearded face, a skull cap and foreign attire have been unearthed during an excavation of a 6th century Kalachuri Temple at Nagwa in Singrauli (MP) by the ASI, Bhopal. Among the other rare finds is an idol of Vishnu (above), which has a drum tied to the waist


“Thismeans that a foreigner was allowed into the religious activities of the day. Such examples are extremely rare,” superintending archaeologist Dr Madhulika Samanta, who is leading the excavation, told TOI. “Clothes of this type were not worn by people of the region those days. The drawing shows the presence of such a person at a Vishnu shrine. The attire and features indicate a resemblance to such things found in West Asia,” she added.

The closest example is the ‘Heliodorus Pillar’. The 6.5m stone column was built around 113 BCE in Vidisha’s Besnagar by Heliodorus, an ambassador of Indo-Greek king Antialcidas of Taxila to the court of Shunga king Agabhadra.

This site was discovered in July 2018 when ASI was alerted about “villagers carrying away bricks from a mound”, which turned out to be the temple’s garbhagriha. What has emerged after excavation is a statue of Vishnu so unique that only a handful exist. It has a drum tied to the waist, and the left hand resting as if He were playing it.

It probably indicates the influence of ‘Matta Mayuri’ cult — which propounded an amalgamation of other cults, such as Vaishnava and Shakta, within the Shaiva cult, say ASI officials. The statue is also holding a ‘Beejapuraka’ (grapefruit). So far, ‘Vishnu with Beejapuraka’ images have been found from Pala Period (9th-10th Century CE), but this statue is the oldest ever found.

Full report on www.toi.in


A brick with the face of a ‘foreigner’. Clothes of this type were not worn by people of the region in those days

New social network is the old newsletter

My favorite new social network doesn’t incessantly spam me with notifications. After using it, I don’t worry about ads following me around the web.

That’s because my new social network is an email newsletter. Every week or so, I blast it out to a few thousand people who have signed up to read my musings. Some of them email back, occasionally leading to a thoughtful conversation.


The newsletter is not a new phenomenon. But there is a growing interest among those who are disenchanted with social media in what the writer Craig Mod has called “the world’s oldest networked publishing platform.”

The shift toward newsletters is part of a broader change. For years, Mark Zuckerberg asked us to live in a more “open and connected” world. And billions of us did, posting status updates, photos and videos on social networks. Now, more of us are moving toward private modes of sharing.

A new crop of start-ups like Sub-

Getty Images

stack and Revue has emerged to cater to this desire to make direct connections with others online. They do it by making it easy to start a newsletter, offering dead-simple writing programs and insights into what’s getting read.

Media start-ups like The Skimm, a daily newsletter has grown from dozens of readers to millions. Other big media companies — Vox, BuzzFeed, CNN — have latched on to the trend as they seek a deeper bond with readers.

Direct connection creates a sense of loyalty between writer and reader. Establishing such a bond, Martijn de Kuijper, Revue’s chief executive said, increases the likelihood that people will read you what you have to say.

It can be more than just a creative endeavor: Newsletters can make a oneperson business. Writers can charge readers a monthly fee. Substack takes a cut of that fee; Revue charges writers using a tieredpricing system based on the size of the base.

Luke O’Neil, an independent writer, charges $6.66 (Rs

450) a month for a subscription to his newsletter. He has 4,000 subscribers, 700 of whom pay for his regular dispatches.

“I want to be myself, which is weird, angry and aggressively depressed,” O’Neil said. “It turns out, there are enough people out there who also like the same things as me.”

Why your photos are now better than reality

The phrase “the camera never lies” has never been so wrong. Artificially intelligent smartphones are now editing pictures in real time to create images that can’t be produced by conventional cameras. These enhancements, known as computational photography, are changing the way we view the world.

The goal of digital photography was once to approximate what our eyes see. Computational photography goes beyond this, automatically making skin smoother, colours richer and pictures less grainy.


These photos may look better, but they raise concerns about authenticity and trust in an era of fakeable information. “The photos of the future will not be recorded, they’ll be computed,” says Ramesh Raskar at the MIT Media Lab.

Early computational photography efforts focused on improving bulkier professional cameras, says Raskar. But as sales of smartphones started outpacing those of standalone cameras, more energy went into using digital enhancements to compensate for the poor quality of phone photos.

Phone companies have given their cameras multiple lenses and more advanced hardware. At last month’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Nokia released its 9 PureView with five cameras that can produce photos up to 240 megapixels in resolution.

Many of these AI-equipped smartphone cameras take bursts of photos, using multiple lenses. AI algorithms can then combine the best of these images, or create new images that no single camera captured.

The growing popularity of instantediting cameras raises concerns about authenticity, particularly as photographs are used in news reports or as evidence in courts of law.

These technologies also introduce the social temptation to continuously beautify one’s image. “It’s become a necessity of contemporary social life, typically for younger people, to have to have their face and their photograph circulating,” says Michelle Henning, a cultural historian at the University of West London.

Chinese company Meitu, best known for its photo ‘beautification’ apps with some 350 million active monthly users, has recently introduced AI-powered photo editing. Take a selfie with a Meitu phone and it locates facial landmarks, builds a virtual mesh over your face, and segments the skin so it can adjust features accordingly, removing imperfections like dark circles and pimples. It moulds your face to aesthetic proportions, widening your eyes or slimming your jaw.

Such alterations might be doing more than just prettying up your Instagram feed. Tijion Esho, a London doctor who performs cosmetic procedures, says he has seen a rise in people requesting treatments based on edited photographs of themselves.

“People were creating very chiselled jaw lines, ones that couldn’t be created [in reality] because it wouldn’t be possible to move your head,” he says. “In some cases, people wanted their eyes widened in a way that some filters do.”

How a 100-yr-old instrument is wowing music lovers

Enayat Khan’s beautiful old surbahar gets a new lease of life, thanks to his grandson


As unseasonal clouds gathered over the massive ramparts of Qila Mubarak, a question mark hung over the evening concert at the Patiala Heritage Festival. Would the rain hold off for the Khan string trio comprising brothers Irshad, Nishat and Wajahat to come together for a rare ensemble of surbahar, sitar and sarod?

As frantic parleys began, Irshad Khan sat in a corner of the green room, brows furrowed, and protective hands running tentatively over his surbahar. There was no way he could risk venturing out with his saaz, an heirloom of the Imdadkhani-Etawah gharana that goes back seven generations.


His surbahar had been crafted nearly 100 years ago at Kanailal and Brother, a legendary music shop on Kolkata’s Upper Chitpur Road in the Burrabazaar area whose illustrious clientele included Enayet Khan, Vilayat Khan, and Ravi Shankar.

Sometime in the early years of the last century, the surbahar-sitar genius, Ustad Enayet Khan, had stood over the luthiers at Kanailal and instructed them as they shaped this mighty surbahar, an instrument that’s often called the bass sitar. It had been an extravagant investment — somewhere between Rs 10,000-20,000, his son Imrat Khan, brother of the sitar maestro Vilayat Khan, was to later recall.

Imrat handed it down to Irshad.

Beautiful and fragile, the squat surbahar with its almost flat tumba (gourd) is a work of art in itself, and if you heard its deep, mellow sounds, you could understand what the fuss was about.

In a television interview, Imrat Khan recounted the tale behind the survival of the antique instrument. Enayat Khan had died young, in 1936 at age 43, leaving the family in disarray. By 1942, with the threat of Japanese attack over Kolkata looming, life had got even tougher for the family.

The surbahar now stood forlorn. Vilayat Khan, at 14, had picked the sitar and was already a prodigy with it. Despite hardships, their mother, the doughty Bashiran Begum, refused to put the surbahar in the market. The matriarch then decided on its next owner — Imrat Khan, then all of seven. He went on to become one of the most renowned players of the instrument, often sitting in on a duet with his brother on the sitar.

Irshad says he himself was just a bit more than a toddler when he was started on the surbahar, impressing his father and uncle with the strength with which he pulled the strings. In a sort of historic parallel to his father and uncle’s choices, Nishat plays the sitar, while Irshad plays both the surbahar and sitar. Wajahat, the youngest, took to the sarod.

With its grand, low sounds — gambhir (serious) rasa, as Irshad puts it — the surbahar is increasingly fading from the popular classical landscape. Its grandeur shines through in grave ragas such as Malkauns and Darbari and when accompanied by the deep notes of the pakhawaj. The sitar is far more of a crowd pleaser, with its ebullient notes that lend themselves to fast taans and sawal jawab with the equally perky tabla.

“Contrary to popular views, the surbahar is not a big sitar. It is closer to the rudra veena — deeply resonant but a heavy, hard instrument to handle. This is why we are now down to half a dozen specialists. It takes a lot of riyaaz and hard work,” says veteran musicologist Lalita Khanna who recalls seeing the old surbahar in the Shimla home of Vilayat Khan.

Irshad has a doubly tough task of getting his grand old surbahar to stay in the fray. “It sounds great but its volume has declined over the decades. So playing it solo itself is hard work. Then if I play with another instrument, it becomes really problematic (because it will be barely audible). So imagine the balancing act of playing it with the sitar and the sarod and then having a pakhawaj and tabla in the mix,” he says.

Barely a fortnight before, the brothers had played their first trigalbandi (trio) at the NCPA in Mumbai to rave audience reviews. Irshad is still uncertain the almost centenarian surbahar could make itself heard in an ensemble. As it happened, rains did wash out the Patiala concert that evening.

But wrapping the antiquated surbahar in cotton-wool and leaving it on a shelf is the last thing Irshad wants to do. “There is no way you will get this sweetness of sound out of any other instrument. Given its special power, you have to literally wring the music in it. You actually need physical prowess to coax it,” he says. So while Irshad, who divides his time between Kolkata and Ontario, has a new surbahar, he is increasingly bringing out the heirloom to play at public concerts.

“I usually travel with both a surbahar and a sitar and play both or one. The surbahar, however, needs an audience that can sit, listen and savour music. This is not fast entertainment. It never can be,” he says.


MUSICAL LEGACY: Enayat Khan (below) had the surbahar crafted in a legendary Kolkata music shop. Grandson Irshad Khan now plays the heirloom

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Nirav Modi’s art collection to go under the hammer on March 26

A Raja Ravi Varma is among the highlights of the sale. The painting is expected to fetch between Rs 12 and 18 crore

That diamantaire Nirav Modi likes to live the high life even as a fugitive was evident from a recent viral video that showed him walking around London in the now infamous Rs 9-lakh ostrich leather jacket.


Before he fled India, the jeweller had built himself quite the reputation as an art connoisseur, often posing for the media with his collection of masters as a backdrop. Now, the enviable art collection he built as a status symbol is going under the hammer in Mumbai on March 26. In a first, the income-tax department has engaged the services of Saffronart, a professional auction house, to sell 68 works that include works by some of India’s priciest artists such as V S Gaitonde, Akbar Padamsee and Raja Ravi Varma.

A Saffronart representative said the artworks had been put up for sale on behalf of the government of India through the tax recovery officer, income tax department, Central-3, Mumbai.

A proclamation of sale issued by the I-T department showed that the auction was aiming to recover Rs 96-crore dues from Camelot Enterprises, a shell company set up by Modi. Saffronart has set the approximate estimate value for the auction at Rs 30-50 crore though it remains to be seen how much the collection will go finally go for.

Dinesh Vazirani, Saffronart CEO and co-founder, said they were appointed as official auctioneer after a selection process. “The auction includes some of the most eminent names in modern and contemporary Indian art with a historically important work by Raja Ravi Varma being one of the highlights of the live sale,” said Vazirani.

Ravi Varma is known for his intricately detailed portraits of the rich and the royal. This particular work shows the Maharaja of Travancore and his younger brother welcoming Richard Temple-Grenville, third Duke of Buckingham, on his official visit to Trivandrum, and is estimated to sell for between Rs 12 and 18 crore. Besides works by noted artists such as Jitish Kallat, Rameshwar Broota, Atul Dodiya, Rekha Rodwittiya, and more, Modi’s collection also includes works by Chinese artists ranging from detailed ink works to sculptural digital paintings.

People Are Keeping Art Journals To Express Their Emotions And Record Experiences

A slipped disc kept Aarthi Sivaramakrishnan confined to her bed for a month. And that’s when she realized that making little sketches about what she felt and feared helped her cope with her pain and distress.

“The only part of my body I could move were my hands, and I began making little sketches every day. The Inktober challenge, where artists all over the world do one ink drawing every day during the whole of October, was on and I got accustomed to it,” says Aarthi, founder of The Colour Company. “For instance, I needed a scan but had a morbid fear of the MRI machine and I found that expressing my fear visually actually helped.”


Since then, she has been keeping an art journal, a visual diary of sorts where she captures the day’s experiences and emotions not through words but through art, using various mediums. Art journaling is getting popular in the city, with people using sketches, mixed media and even words to keep a visual record of their lives.

Bengaluru-based artist Shilpa Nagaonkar, for instance, has been teaching art journaling for the last five years. “When I work on it, I am expressing myself through art, and colours. It’s also a way to practise and perfect my art and try new techniques,” says Shilpa, who has been keeping an art journal since 2009.

You don’t need to be a skilled artist to keep an art journal, she explains. “Anyone can do it, and you can use acrylic or watercolour, crayons or even pens,” says Shilpa, who recently held a workshop in the city.

While some do it on a daily basis, others turn to it to record special experiences. Aditi Maithreya, creative director, The Phoenix Company, uses it to record her travels.

“When I went on a trip to Europe in 2016, I carried a sketch book, and started drawing places I visited. If I went to a monument, I made a quick sketch, with pen and ink. The idea was to keep a visual diary and capture my memory of the place so that years later it would be something I can remember,” says Aditi, who also posted it on Instagram and Facebook with detailed captions.

For many, it is a way to express their emotions. “It has become a routine. I spend five minutes on it every day at 5am. It’s a case of my hand following my heart,” says Aarthi. “I used to post my work on social media but now I keep it private.”

Magdalene Jeyarathnam, founder of the Centre for Counselling, says art journaling is an integral part of art therapy. “It’s a good way of keeping a record of your emotions and thoughts. I usually ask my clients to keep an art journal in between our sessions. So they make little sketches or drawings every day, date it and we discuss it when they bring it to the next session,” she says.

The drawings say a lot about the person’ state of mind. “Only the person doing it knows why they have used certain colours or symbols. It is a great way of recording what’s going on without words as it conveys the emotions they are dealing with, such as anger or anxiety,” says Magdalene.



MEMOIRS: (From top) Aarthi Sivaramakrishnan captures her day in sketches; Aditi Maithreya created a series, ‘Little things I see in Madras’

Rainmakers of engg services boost biz

Indian Tech’s Fastest Growing Segment Runs On Execs Whom Customers Trust

When former chief digital officer at Rolls-Royce Neil Crockett wanted to identify a service provider to accelerate its IoT (internet-of-things) capabilities three years ago, he floated a request for proposal (RFP). The company wanted to use IoT to get a lot more data from customers and use that to provide long-term service contracts.


Reguraman Ayyaswamy, global head of IoT & engineering and industrial services at TCS, saw it as a great opportunity for the company, and he knew he had his task cut out. Roll-Royce specialises in highperformance power systems engineering and aircraft engines. It was a decade-old-customer for TCS. But this was a different kind of engagement, one that impacted the core operations of Rolls-Royce, and TCS would really have to prove its capabilities. Other IT players too were participating in the RFP.

Ayyaswamy presented TCS’s IoT platform, called Connected Universe Platform (TCUP), that helps develop and deploy IoT applications. Having worked with Rolls-Royce, TCS had a deep knowledge of its engines, blades, compressors and exhaust. “We were able to characterise what we could do for them. Our strength was contextual knowledge, digital platforms, information security, core engineering, capability around services. We were able to bring the might of TCS into making their business goal a reality,” Ayyaswamy says.

TCS won the deal. Ayyaswamy declined to mention the deal value, but independent sources estimate it is around $20 million annually. The platform today captures and analyses data to reduce the cycle time for Rolls-Royce to develop new products and services.

Getting customers to outsource core engineering work is very difficult, but Indian IT companies today have built significant expertise in the field, and it has become the fastest growing business for them. Deals above $10 million are considered large in this space. It is also a high-margin business. Industry body Nasscom in its 2018 strategic review called out engineering and R&D and product development as the fastest growing segment in IT services, growing at 12.8%, led by demand for connected cars, mobility and connectivity.

Pareekh Jain, founder of Pareekh Consulting, says the growth in engineering services is not a demand problem, as much as a supply problem. “Of the over $1-trillion R&D spend, only $60 billion or 6% is currently outsourced. There is a huge market but someone needs to go out and make it happen. That’s why the role of key executives and rainmakers are important,” he says.

L&T Technology Services, Persistent and HCL each won an over $50-million deal in the last two years, signalling a psychological threshold that would open up upstream, high-end engineering opportunities.

Nude ‘Mona Lisa’ likely a Da Vinci too

Paris:

Nude ‘Mona Lisa’ likely a Da Vinci 

A nude drawing that bears a striking resemblance to the “Mona Lisa” was done in Leonardo da Vinci’s studio and may be the work of the master himself, a French museum said Monday.


Experts at the Louvre in Paris have been examining a charcoal drawing known as the “Monna Vanna” which has long been attributed to the Renaissance painter’s studio.

But the charcoal preparatory work for a painting of a semi-nude woman, held at the Conde Museum at Chantilly, may now have to be reclassified. “There is a very strong possibility that Leonardo did most of the drawing,” Mathieu Deldicque, a curator at the Paris museum, said.

“It is a work of very great quality done by a great artist,” added Deldicque, who initiated a investigation over several months by historians and scientific specialists.

The large drawing has been held since 1862 in the huge collection of Renaissance art at the Conde Museum, once the home of one of France’s oldest noble families.

“It is almost certainly a preparatory work for an oil painting,” Deldicque said, with the hands and body identical to the “Mona Lisa”.

Microscopic examinations have shown it was drawn from the top left towards the bottom right — which points to a left-handed artist. Leonardo is the most famous lefthanded painter in history.

Steal these from your BAE!

QUICK TIPS
Pay attention to volume and proportion. Always pair a boyfriend piece of clothing with a fitted/semi-fitted piece. When going for a boyfriend jacket or a shirt, narrow down on the denims and vice versa.

Anti-fits often fit right when altered to complement the feminine form.

Highlight the classic hourglass look by clinching the waist with oversized belts.


There are some sassy fashion essentials in your boyfriend’s closet, and it’s time to steal and style them


Ever borrowed or stole your partner’s button-down shirt or tee to use as a quick fashion fix? If yes, you already know how these oversized boyfriend pieces help put together a killer, menswear-inspired look.

“The whole boyfriend style guarantees ultimate comfort and ease. As opposed to the idealistic womenswear, this trend complements any and every body type as it is based on anti-fits. The exaggerated shape of the oversized silhouette is enough to make a statement,” says designer Aniket Satam. Moreover, sharing your partner’s clothing allows you to flaunt your current relationship status subtly. “Wrapping yourself in your partner’s clothing is quite an intimate thing; it assures personal comfort when your loved one is away. In a way, it makes up for the physical distance,” says Satam.


Boyfriend chic is definitely here to stay. “The menswear cut breaks the monotony and gives you an edgy look. Boyfriend clothing is usually one size bigger than a woman’s actual size, and gives a very flattering look,” says designer Priyanka Gangwal.

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Give your man’s concert tees or vintage band tees a fresh spin by pairing them with your girly accessories. Wear this oversized item with distressed ripped denim shorts and booties — just the right outfit for fashionable weekend getaways. For an allgirls luncheon, go ultra-cute with simple white crew T-shirts with DIY badges or embroidered patches and a pair of chic converse shoes. Those patches add some colour to your ensemble.

HIS JACKET

Jackets like bomber jackets, tuxedo jackets and duster coats are versatile pieces that are shared from men’s classic wardrobe. A denim jacket is a testimony of every man’s adventure. Go easy chic by teaming it up with simple, neutral tank tops and denim shorts for daily whereabouts. You may also play dress by teaming up an oversized denim grunged jacket with super-feminine and flirty white lace dresses or Hakoba prairie sundresses and tan brogues for a romantic getaway.

HIS SHIRT

Whether it’s thin pinstripes or crisp white buttondown, a classic men’s formal shirt looks great when paired with almost anything in your wardrobe. Just roll the sleeves up and stack some gold pendant chains. Team it with tan gladiators and reflector glasses for a perfect beachwear ensemble. You can also sport an oversized pinstripe banker shirt as a dress; remember to cinch the waist with a leather band. Finish with white sneakers and a fedora for a casual day look.

HIS SWEATSHIRT

No movie night or date is complete without a classic, anti-fit chunky knit sweatshirt. Think XXL and chunky patterns like cable knits in neutral colours. Layer them with fitted ribbed dresses for a classy appeal, or you may also go grunge by teaming distressed sweaters with fitted leather tights or disco sequin skirts and boots for clubbing nights with your friends.

Celebrate Maha Shivaratri with Sonu Nigam’s new singles

Singer Sonu Nigam releases his two new spiritual singles, Shiv Shankara and Bam Bhole Bam, on the auspicious occasion of Maha Shivaratri, in association with Times Music. Composed by the young and talented Bollywood composer-singer Shreyas Puranik and penned by the lyricist from Nepal, Basant Chaudhary, these singles are simply overwhelming.

Shiv Shankara has been shot in the scenic Himalayan region in Pokhara, Nepal and features Sonu himself. The video encapsulates the essence of celestial Shiva. It showcases the fact that Shiva is realised through helping others and also through self-realisation. The song is about overcoming the five weaknesses of human personality, which include Kam (lust), Krodh (Rage), Lobh (greed), Moh (attachment), and Ahankar (conceit) to awaken the inner self and attain moksha. The two new tracks are Times Music’s exclusive releases and are available on Times Music Spiritual YouTube channel and Gaana app.


Watch Shiv Shankara on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2H5a08t Hear the song on Gaana: http://bit.ly/2NAzr31

RADHIKA SEKSARIA’S ARTWORKS TAKE YOU ON A SOULFUL JOURNEY...

Let the beauty of what you love be what you do’. These words by Rumi are reflected in Radhika Seksaria’s work. An accomplished artist with a career of more than 20 years, Radhika has now created her distinct identity in the art world.

Over the years, her many shows nationwide and internationally have been well-appreciated by art lovers and collectors. Art aficionado Sangita Jindal describes Radhika’s soulful creations as “Luminous shadow plays of light and dark.” She initially experimented with forms and motifs, but is now moving more toward the abstract. For Radhika, art is a spiritual process. Her fluid strokes are inspired by Sufism, a philosophy that emphasises love in all forms – love for the self, nature, people, and the Divine.


One of the most popular voices of Sufism, Rumi has also influenced Radhika’s work. “Rumi’s couplets evoke ideas of deep love and devotion. His allusions to dance and circular movements depict ecstasy, union with the Divine, and a sheer celebration of life,” she says.

Radhika’s upcoming collection, titled Sukoon, portrays the search for peace and tranquillity in a chaotic world. She believes that peace is lost in the hustle and bustle of our daily lives. Through her paintings, she gives the viewer a few moments of calm. Her unique use of light and mysticism, have found appreciation from the art fraternity. Creative director of Tao Art Gallery, Sanjana Shah says, “Radhika’s artwork stills the mind and heals the soul... I’m looking forward to Sukoon, which is an ode to the eternal quest for peace.”


Jannat – Paradise


Mussarat – Bliss


Radhika Seksaria and Sanjana Shah

POST OSCARS, IS PINK SET TO BECOME THE NEW BLACK?

You may as well call it 50 shades of pink. For, this hue can be seen in so many variations — baby pink, light millennial pink, coral, soft shell enamel, fuchsia, and more. And at the recent Oscar Awards, it was another shade of the colour that stood out as the most popular fashion trend for the night — bright pink! There was almost a sea of gowns in the hue — in poufy frills, netted ruffles, princess-style trail gowns, bubble-gum hued tulles and more. It’s being described by fashion analysts as ‘joyful’ and ‘what modern couture should be like’. As it upped the sartorial ante, it got fashion pundits asking: Is pink the new black?

HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY GIVES IT THE NOD


The attention-grabbing pink dresses were seen on a bunch of stars. ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ star Gemma Chan wore a voluminous gown in magenta. She also snuck a cookie into her pockets to probably munch on during the whole event. While Linda Cardellini seemed to pile on pink stylishly, Kacey Musgraves stole it with her cotton-candy-pink tulle net ensemble and Sarah Paulson opted for a billowy, cutout-style fuchsia gown. But it was veteran actress Angela Bassett who was the reigning queen of the night as most sites called her. She turned heads in her exaggerated hot pink shoulder gown with its thigh-high slit and a gem-shaped clutch. Also in close running for wearing the hue stylishly were actresses Helen Mirren and Julia Roberts. Mirren swished in with her frothy pink tulle and Roberts dished up Oscars chic in her flowy-but-fitted one-shouldered bright pink dress with an asymmetrical leg slit. And guess what? Pink wasn’t for the women alone. Aquaman Jason Momoa’s pink tuxedo, complete with a scrunchie, much to fans’ delight!

YES, MEN ARE WEARING IT, TOO

Who says pink is just for the ladies?Men can look just as hot in the hue. Jason Momoa wore a pink velvet tux with a matching scrunchie to the awards and Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman also chose the hue for the Oscars after party.

HOW TO WEAR THE HUE IN YOUR DAY

While shocking pink and its cousins heated up the red carpet at the Oscars, you can just as easily wear the hue in your daily life. Here are tips to do so:

z Pink is the colour for any season — it adds vibrancy to winter and lends a lovely hue to summer. So, go with skater, shift dresses and other styles in it, for the upcoming season.

z Yes, this is a pretty shade, but you don’t want to look too girly in it, so break the monotony of the hue with black, navy blue and grey.

z Since pink is also a light shade, it is perfect for those ruffles, frills and poufs.

z Keep away the stiff, black heels and make pink your new neutral footwear. Opt for pumps, peep toes, kitten heels and stilettos in bright or baby pink.

z Planning to wear all-black? Pink comes in as the perfect complement. Wear pink stud earrings or hoops as well a pop pink clutch or quilted bag to go with the rest of the look.

z Love athleisure? Weave pink into your gym wear with pink keds, tracks with a neon pink stripe or even a fuchsia top over those black leggings.

z Team a pink halter with white jeans for a day outdoors.

z Grab a pair of sunnies with a pink frame to complete the look. Dab on the eyeshadow to match.


Julia Roberts dazzled in a vibrant, one-shoulder pink gown, to present the award for Best Picture at the Oscars


Gemma Chan in her high-neck ruffled gown


Sarah Paulson’s princess-like gown had edgy, side cut-outs


Kacey Musgraves blows a kiss in her threetiered net number


Helen Mirren looked stunning in her A-line dress with contrasting pink hues


Linda Cardellini chose a poofy, bubblegumhued gown


Angela Bassett’s vivid fuchsia gown with a massive bow and pretty clutch became the talk of the night


Jason Momoa


Chadwick Boseman