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Fat wedding gets bigger
Accessories for the perfect click
PACESETTER: Priya Kath
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Fat wedding gets bigger
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bit of information comes with a statutory warning, “Don’t mention the details of the client or it would lead to monetary complications.” Point taken. So everything is censored, but even the residue is equally intriguing. And how it can’t be when it is about the big fat or rather obese Punjabi weddings gaining weight when overfed with opulence and extravagance! There is a constant search for virgin locations for destination weddings, demand for wedding photography that borders on art and elements that pledge the larger-than-life wedding. As India’s one of the leading couturiers, J. J. Valaya, recently said while promoting the Vogue Wedding Show, “Punjabi weddings contribute the maximum towards the industry’s annual growth.” Delhi-based Vinayak Das of Wedding Tantra is amused and appalled at the recent project of underwater shooting of the wedding couple that he has bagged. “The best part is that the bride doesn’t even know how to swim, so apparently she is taking swimming lessons, which will be followed by diving lessons.” The shoot will be held in Phuket, which is also the destination for the wedding. When it comes to Punjabi weddings, ostentation, he says, is an understatement.
Chartering flights, using helicams to shoot and booking an entire five-star property have become a norm. Valaya substantiated his claim by sharing his recent experience of attending a Punjabi wedding in Monte Carlo, “The two five-star hotels at a distance of 200 metres were booked and the whole area was barricaded because the groom led the baraat on an elephant.” While making a landing by helicopter or a crane has been happening for quite a while, this certainly has a royal feel to it. Vinayak adds that the budget of the weddings now go up to abysmal amount of Rs 20 crore as people are looking for innovating ways to spend money. “It is a regular demand from my clients as to how we can make the wedding different, which translates into shelling out big bucks.” The effects of money-pumped weddings, like everything else, have percolated to cakes and wedding invites too. Gold-plated leaves are used to decorate cakes, the cost of which goes up to a couple of lakhs and wedding invites are accompanied by leather briefcases, (usually, a replica of Louis Vuitton’s briefcase) each costing a minimum of
Rs 10,000.
Anand Shahani co-founded the blog, Wedmegood with his wife Mehak, which soon became a hit, and they graduated to becoming wedding planners. Anand still introduces himself as a fresher in the industry but he has to his credit some of the big-scale Punjabi weddings held in Delhi. “The scale of these weddings was on the magnitude that cost the client a staggering amount of Rs 35 lakh only for the décor of the venue.” People wish to customise the wedding as much as possible, he says. It is the new-found craze. As a result, there has to be posters of the couple on every table, on the invitation cards and where ever else possible. A wedding day has now got extended to a wedding week, where in the celebrations are held for five days. Traditional sangeet and youngsters night and similar such events are a part of it all. DJ Suketu, who worked behind the console at one of the richest Indian family’s wedding functions, has seen the wedding industry spiral in the last one decade. “I flew to Switzerland a couple of years back to play music at a youngsters’ do.” And that’s not where it ended for this family from Ludhiana. “The party was held at an igloo constructed on one of the snow-capped mountains there. It had one of the best light-and-sound systems I have ever seen.” While he says that destination weddings are no more a novel concept, it’s now the search for virgin locations that people insist on. “Nothing less than the wedding ceremony to be held at a palace in Prague that can surprise me.”
If exclusivity of invites is important, so is that of the return gifts, which at the high- profile weddings usually is either a designer watch or a bag, or even a piece of jewellery. Alpana Gujral, a jewllery designer from Delhi, recently delivered a consignment of earrings sets for the baraatis of her client. She has designed and delivered bangles and bracelets also for this purpose many times. “People want to return a gift that has value, and which also ensures that the wedding will be remembered and talked about always,” says Alpana. Now that the couture weeks have become a staple on the calendar of Indian fashion industry, bespoke fashion has gained further significance. A Manish Malhotra lehenga bought from Delhi and worn at Park Plaza, Ludhiana, by a bride belonging to a village near Abohar in Punjab or a Raghavendra Rathore sherwani worn by the groom in Muktsar is no more surprising.
As India’s leading couturier, Raghavendra Rathore has a suggestion, “When so much of money is pumped into a wedding, it is important to ensure that the aesthetics of the traditional affair are maintained.” Designing select weddings is a part of his profile now and what he designs bears and flaunts the royal RR signature. But he explains the lavishness of Punjabi weddings in the form of bespoke buttons from his design studio that is made for the groom’s sherwani. He recalls the wedding of a Punjabi hotelier’s son in the US, held on a massive scale, yet was very classy. And that is what, Alpana hopes, is paid attention to beside the flaunt-it-if-you-have-it business. “If you want the weddings to become an affair to remember, personal touch is required as much as the money wand.” While getting bigger and fatter, sensible is another requisite adjective needed for Punjabi weddings.
Designer obsession
It’s a new-found obsession with everything designer. Designer bridal wear has been here forever now and the groom wear is gradually catching up. What’s interesting are the new additions, from invitation cards to sweet boxes to wedding sets to trousseau packing to trousseau…just about anything to do with Punjabi weddings need to have a designer label hanging to it.
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Accessories for the perfect click People who thought that smartphones would overshadow the popularity of point-and-shoot cameras were so wrong. The art of photography is alive and kicking. Global brands are peddling their shutter boxes remorselessly by digitalising the Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera. Despite the emergence of smartphones, taking pictures with a camera has retained its enduring appeal and still enjoys a fan following. Much like the mobile cameras, the Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera captures images electronically and stores these in the memory. The pictures can be previewed on the LCD screen of the camera and can be transferred to a computer or a pen drive and printed with the help of a digital printer. You don’t have to bother yourself about storing negatives or film rolls. Add-ons that matter There was a time when the only accessories available were tripods, lenses and lens cleaners. Today, the market is inundated with gizmos that aim at enhancing the quality of a picture and turn yesterday’s impossibilities into today’s photographic realities. From polarising filters that remove unwanted glare from pictures and make colour contrasts sharper to devices that help you capture ultra-high-resolution images, the market of camera accessories promises to elevate casual photography to an art form. The most common accessories in a DSLR camera are the detachable lenses. Usually the kind of photography you are interested in determines the type of lenses you would require. If you are heading for a wildlife safari, you may need a lens which has a 70-300mm telephoto lens. Its pricing begins from
Rs 6,500 and goes up to Rs 45,000. Though a 70-300mm lens is adequate for bird photography, it is better to go in for a 500mm F4 lens, which can cost you more than
Rs 50,000. For scenery and people shots, your purpose can be adequately served with a standard 50mm lens, costing between
Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 and a wide-angle lens that will cost you a minimum of Rs
5,000.
For a clear picture When you have a variety of lenses for different occasions and photographic needs, you would also need appropriate filters to go with them. Though some people are of the opinion that that in the age of Photoshop, these are not required, a professional will tell you that there is absolutely no substitute for clicking pictures with the help of filters that deal with colour saturation, lighting, glare and can even add special effects to the picture. The next vital accessory is the tripod. You can buy an image-stabilised lens but that is a very costly proposition. A steady tripod will do the job as well. For landscape photographers, the importance of a lightweight tripod cannot be undermined when it comes to shooting with heavy, long and wide lenses. Since working with a hand-held camera can produce shaky and blurry results, a tripod not just steadies pictures but also makes it easier to clip them together on a computer. The cost of a tripod can vary depending on the quality. While you could get a Wiefeng Mini Tripod for just around
Rs 500, a Gitzo 2580TQR tripod would set you back by almost Rs 70,000. However, it would be best to go for brands like Vanguard, Fotopro or a Joby costing between
Rs 5,000 and Rs 7,000 that can support a camera and its lens. The third basic accessory that you need is a camera case. There is an over-abundance to choose from, so you should buy one that caters to your demands. Take your pick from some of the world’s leading names like Cannon, Lowpro, ThinkTank, Acme Timbuk2, Tamrac and a host of others. Though camera bags can range between
Rs 600 to Rs 25,000, you can get a decent one between Rs 3,000 and Rs 5,000.
Pack and move However, if you plan to travel long distance then go for a backpack, which not just stores the camera and all the accessories but also balances and distributes the weight comfortably on your back. Most of the leading companies make backpacks that are spacious enough to hold a camera and have plenty of space for smaller lenses as well as pouches for filters. Most also have a quick-clip tripod-attachment system. A good backpack from a known brand like Lowpro will come for
Rs 5,000. These are, of course, the bare-minimum accessories required for modern-digital cameras apart from batteries, battery chargers and memory cards. The world of photography is moving at a frenetic pace and is coming up with add-ons that move beyond the basics and add immense value to the art of clicking still pictures and videos. Some models of the Nikon camera, for example, come with their own dedicated GPS units to record the longitude, latitude and other geographical locations from where a picture has been taken. There are special flashes for shadowless pictures; there is a variety of photo-editing software that can go a long way in ‘dressing-up’ a picture and eliminating the flaws in it. Then there are special stereophonic microphones that can be mounted on a camera — when used in the video mode — to capture sounds, music or conversations perfectly. Indeed, the market for camera accessories is booming. And even though a majority of youngsters might have taken to ‘phoneography’, digital cameras still enjoy popularity, owing some of it to the user-friendly add-ons.
Smarphone apps for photofinish Makers of Samsung, IPhone, Sony and other brands of smartphones are introducing in the market dedicated accessories like zoom and fisheye lenses and ultra-up-close macros. These make the pictures look like the photography results of professional cameras. American online retailer Hammacher Schlemmer has launched an iPhone case that improves the quality of its camera with fisheye, telephoto and wide-angle lenses. The hard plastic case fits the phone and its three-lens dial rotates to cover its inbuilt lens with the desired attachment. A new device called Snapzoom attaches a binocular to the smartphone and uses the high quality optics to maximize the range of the camera. Costing around Rs. 4,000 it guarantees that pictures taken with it will match the quality of those taken by a top-end telephoto lens. Shooting in sunlight has always been a challenge for smartphone camera users as the light reflects off the screen and makes it difficult to view the subject. The daylight viewfinder has solved this problem. It attaches to the phone's screen to become an eyepiece and works like a camera viewfinder. Smartphones also have their own tripods made by companies like iStabilizer and Joby that give these the desired stability to click pictures. Once you have taken the pictures, you can attach your smartphone to a range of palm-sized wireless printers,available in the market, which print high-quality photographs directly.
Ideal for storage Gone are the days when pictures were measured in megapixels. This is the era of gigapixels. Gigapan Epic Pro can capture photos for one big stitched-together shot. It is designed to meet the challenging needs of the professional photographers who have to capture ultra-high-resolution images.
Super Pro 14 by US-based photography equipment manufacturer Tamrac is a shoulder bag equipped to carry multiple SLRs, lenses, and even a laptop. The all-weather shock-proof bag features a double lens-bridge divider system that secures the cameras, lenses and other delicate photography gear.
For a dust-free lens
To control the flash
Promise of a dual benefit
A polarising filter is a must-have accessory for photographers interested in subjects of landscape and architecture as it reduces glare and reflection from mirrored surfaces. The B+W 77MM Slim Kaesemann Circular Polariser is designed keeping in mind its use under extreme climate conditions.
Getting smart with technology
The Tiffen 52mm UV Protection Filter protects lenses from dust, moisture, scratches and other damages. The filter can be kept on the camera at all times. It not only protects your lens from accidental damage, but it also makes it easier to clean lenses.
This MeFoto DayTrip Mini tripod is the perfect size for stabilising low-to-the-ground macro shots, portraits, and tabletop photography. It is just 9.4 inches tall but grows to more than twice that size. It can hold a camera weighing up to 4 kg and has a reversible centre column for super-low photography. It looks like those flying-squid robots that we saw in the film Matrix, but the Polaroid all-terrain tripod is a very useful accessory. The legs use locking ball-head joints and changeable thread-mounted feet for stability. Despite its being only 12 inches in size, it can support all the DSLRs and even zoom lenses.
Balancing act
The think tank pocket rocket memory card carrier is a handy, compact pouch that is used to carry the camera memory cards. Small enough to fit easily into your pocket, it can be attached to your clothes, belts or camera bags. It is a convenient and portable accessory for professional lensmen and photography enthusiasts. The Opteka FB 10 DSLR digital flash flick bracket is ideal for all levels of photography. It will let you turn your camera from horizontal to vertical mode with a flick of the wrist while still keeping the flash centred above the lens. As a result, your photos will receive optimum light regardless of the camera's placement.
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Transcending the taboos Working on sexual and reproductive health with Kashmiri adolescents hasn’t been a smooth ride but Priya Kath is determined to bring a change Mehak Uppal Priya
was once travelling in a local bus in Kashmir wearing a pair of jeans with a long kurti. An old woman came up to her and asked, “Are you a Kashmiri?” She nodded in affirmation but the next question was something she wasn’t really prepared for, “Then, what kind of clothes are you wearing?” the woman asked. Priya Kath, who launched an NGO in the region by the name of ALL STATE — You are in good hands last year, just didn’t go back to this culture but took one step ahead. There she is working on sexual and reproductive health, a subject still considered a taboo in the society. The seeds of this work were sown during her university days in Chandigarh as she began work as a volunteer at the Family Planning Association of India. “I have held more than 150 sessions with adolescents in schools, institutions and within various communities. In Srinagar, the major challenge is that girls are shy to talk about this subject because they think it to be forbidden by their religion. Thus, discussions about family planning methods also demand skillful handling”, shares the 25-year-old, who has done her Masters degree in Social Work from Panjab University. She had to work hard with her volunteers to convince the authorities to let her conduct sessions on reproductive health and rights with the students. “I had to show them our modules to help them understand that only age-appropriate and beneficial information is given out in these sessions,” says Priya and adds in a determined voice, “In Srinagar, I have only been able to hold these sessions with girls till now but these have been immensely satisfying. Many a times, they don’t even have the basic knowledge about the changes in the body that come with age, menstrual cycles, etc.” She goes on to narrate an incident of a girl who thought she had a disease and was therefore, bleeding every month. Once they get over this confusion and know exactly what is happening to their body that they become confident of themselves, Priya says. Apart from working at the local level, she has also been representing the voices of young people at international forums, both regional as well as global. She is the general secretary of the South Asia Regional Youth Network in the International Planned Parenthood Federation. Recently, she was selected to represent India at the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH) Partners Forum in Johannesburg, South Africa, where she made a case for comprehensive sexuality education to 800 delegates. Propagating something at open-minded global forums is relatively easy but, she feels, doing the same in your local community is quite another. “I don’t know why but I have never been scared of working on this issue. I just wish I had a magic potion to simply reach out to everyone in one go”, she smiles. As for the pair of jeans, she uses it for her benefit as many tend to look at her as an outsider ‘madam’ in Srinagar, whose official queries must be responded to quickly and efficiently.
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Accessories go kitsch
Price: Between
Rs 4,500 and Rs 9,900 (Between $75 and $165)
Spreading warmth
Price:
Rs 45,000 ($750)
Fit workdesk
Price:
Rs 2.34 lakh ($3,900)
Phone-in chair
Price: Rs 2.40 lakh ($4,000)
Equestrian time
Price:
On request
Scent of a box
Price:
Rs 1.56 lakh ($2,600)
At home dry cleaning
Price:
Rs 30,000 ($500)
Clutch of cosmetics
Price: From
Rs 30,000 to Rs 90,000 ($500 and $1,500)
Raising a toast
Suggested auction price per set:
Rs 6 lakh ($10,000)
Defender to the rescue
Price:
Rs 10,800 ($180)
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From polarising filters to devices that help you capture high-resolution images, the market of camera accessories promises to elevate photography to an art form
Working on sexual and reproductive health with Kashmiri adolescents hasn’t been a smooth ride but Priya Kath is determined to bring a change
The all-weather Lowepro Flipside is a large-capacity backpack for professional photographers. It delivers an ideal solution in terms of comfort and protection. It keeps expensive photography kit secure and shockproof. It offers professional photographers a mix of features that facilitate carrying all the equipment.
The cleverly designed Joby ultrafit sling strap tucks the camera under or behind the arm when not required and easily extends when you pull it out. It keeps the camera safely by your side and then smoothly glides it up to the eye level. It has a connector with a handle for screwing it to the tripod mount.
Dust is attracted to lenses and filters like a magnet is to iron and it is important to instantly remove it if you want good pictures. The Giottos Rocket air blower is a great solution. It is durable, powerful and easy to use. Available in small, medium and large sizes, it just requires a blast from it to clean a lens thoroughly.
The fotodiox square flash softbox works on the harsh light coming from the external flash of the camera. It diffuses the light while staying out of the way of your lens. It is a very helpful accessory for on-the-go photographers who can control the light of the flash vis-à-vis the external conditions. 
Treat your lenses with utmost care with this Lenspen NLP-2 lens cleaner. It works by using a dry carbon formula on one end of the lens, which cleans away any fingerprints or wet marks. The retractable brush on the other end is used for removing dust. 
The triggertrap mobile dongle lets you use your smartphone as a remote-shutter release for digital SLR cameras. It also allows you to trigger the shutter release, which comes in handy when paired with its flash adapter for high-speed photography. It is available both for iOS and android phones. 
To click quality pictures, it is important to hold your camera straight. The level cube fits easily into your camera's hot shoe. It balances the camera and is especially useful when you are not using a tripod. The cube measures one inch on all sides and is very simple to carry in the kit.
The Rode VideoMic Pro for DSLR cameras raises the bar by combining broadcast quality audio when the camera is used in the video mode. The lightweight microphone significantly reduces ambient noise and delivers professional video quality sounds. Best of all, it requires no dedicated battery.
Technology has spawned its own uniquely designed accessories and mobile phones, tablets and laptops are acquiring distinct pop-culture influences. Italian fashion luxury house Moschino recently created a buzz at the Milan Fashion Week with its whimsical collection covering a range of cases for smartphones, laptops, flash drives and other tech toys emblazoned with food iconography and cartoon-inspired images of bears, frogs, rabbits, cows and ducks. The quirky collection also draws design
inspiration from melting ice-creams and McDonalds French fries that are guaranteed to satiate you with their creativity. 
These days, Paul Smith, Britain’s foremost fashion designer, seems to have everything on his mind, except couture. Earlier this year came the Paul Smith lamp, which was a dramatic re-interpretation of the classic Anglepoise lamp. Then he launched the Paul Smith printed football, a tribute to the FIFA World Cup. Now comes a blanket with wool and cashmere-blend, tasselled ends neatly folded in a snazzy case for long distance frequent fliers. The warm ultra-luxe blanket is guaranteed to have you feeling like a first-class passenger no matter which cabin class you are flying in.
Most fitness experts say that sitting for long hours on the desk can ruin your health. Many doctors are now equating sitting to smoking. So what do you do if your job is to squat from morning to evening hunched in front of a computer? The solution is the stir kinetic desk that switches from sitting to standing configurations on its own. Its computers sense your presence and record how long you stand versus the amount of time you sit. It even calculates how many extra calories you burn when standing instead of sitting. It also has built-in wi-fi and bluetooth connections for hook-up to wearable fitness devices and mobiles making it a very smart workdesk.
Don’t we sometimes crave for privacy when we receive a personal phone call? Most of us do though it may not be possible all the time. You can now shut out the world with a new chair designed like an old-fashioned phone by Dutch company called Firstcall. The chair’s backrest is inclined in such a way as to hide your face and mute your voice. Its sound-absorbing upholstery blocks surrounding noise ensuring you can concentrate on your conversation. But if you are in the mood to chat for long durations, you will be disappointed as the chair is built to encourage short conversations. Blabber mouths will have to give
the chair a miss.
For years now Hermès has found inspiration in unique forms of art which manifest itself best when it comes to designing watches. This year, the French luxury house is displaying a marked predilection for oriental art in its stunning new watches. The company has applied traces of the art in miniature to the timepieces using a fine-tipped brush and creating an equestrian theme for dream-like scenes from the Orient. Called Arceau Cheval d’Orient, the watches are available in three versions with each limited to 24 pieces. These not just showcase deft Oriental strokes but also the fine art of French lacquer. The result is a collection of limited edition masterpieces.
Lunch packed in a cylindrical shoulder bag may be the ultimate symbol of babudom in India but in the hands of Parisian leather brand laContrie, it has become a piece of creative art. The company has collaborated with French wax house Cire Trudon to create a stunning scented candle box. The hand-crafted shoulder bag has been inspired by vintage camera lens cases and available in a variety of colours. The leather bag, which is a luxurious take on a stylish clutch, can later be used to carry your essentials like mobile phone, credit card and cosmetics but should certainly not used as a lunchbox.
It’s a dream come true for any stylish man or woman who cares about clothes. American upscale department store Bloomingdales has introduced a revolutionary new home appliance called Swash Express clothing care system, which is an at-home gadget that banishes wrinkles, refreshes fabric and puts new crackle into apparel. It virtually eliminates the need for ironing and saves considerably on cleaning chores. With the push of a button, the device releases a spray that cleans the garment of all dust and dirt. Then dries it up with a thermal heating function and removes all wrinkles. And voila, within 10 minutes out comes a crisp shirt, trouser or any other piece of clothing.
For stylish ladies, it's always been a challenge to find a trendy cosmetics pouch that will match with their Birkin or Fendi handbag. Now Lancôme is about to end this dilemma with a serious upgrade to an otherwise boring bag. The French luxury perfume and fashion house is releasing three different limited-edition makeup sets that include L'Absolu Rouge Lipcolor, Hypnôse Star Mascara, Hypnôse Eye Palette and a cosmetics case that's worthy of being your new go-to clutch. The Lancôme collection is strictly limited edition with just 50 bags from each category available in handpicked stores worldwide. 
If Ferrari is the gold standard for racing cars, Veuve Clicquot is a toast to champagne. So what happens when the two team up? The result is a limited-edition three-piece Maranello Champagne set. The iconic gold label bottles come dressed in the same handcrafted leather used in Ferrari car interiors and include a uniquely numbered plaque. Each set is composed of lacquered handmade wooden gift boxes containing a limited edition Jeroboam of Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label. Want one of these three-piece sets? You’ll have to hurry and make a bid on the internet as only 20 sets have been created worldwide.
Even as crimes against women escalate, there is a spike in demand for self-defence gadgets that spray, shock and jab a potential attacker into submission. The Defender being developed by American company Indiegogo is one such wonder device that gets attached to a mobile can be a saviour in a life-threatening situation. In case of an attack, the victim just has to push a single button and the Defender will release a powerful pepper spray, take a photo of the attacker, switch on a flashing light and set off a loud alarm. The device instantly sends the photo, along with your location to a person of your choice. To be launched in September, the slim, pocket device already has a long advance booking.