A Walk For Cause!
A Walk For Wellness!
A Walk For Happiness!
Happy to walk for the 22nd Annual TTEC Wellness Walk – the annual event of supporting social causes, promoting wellness and celebrating goodness!
Love the energy and vibes emerging from great participation, live music, cheer leaders and of course, impromptu garba!
Special cheers to our dear friend Kaushal and Parul Mehta, TTEC Team and volunteers!
Apexon Ignite is happy to be the consistent proud sponsor of the great cause!
Apexon’s Got Talent: Exemplary Show Of Apexers With A Heartwarming Performance By Ignite Ahaan Kids
Apexon’s Got Talent is the showcase event of exemplary talent of Apexers in all fields. Its Grand Finale coincided with the opening of our brand new office at Ahmedabad’s prime location. The sheer brilliance of the Apexers and their powerhouse performances made judging the winners a very difficult job! Congrats to the winners!
Apexon’s Got Talent also featured the special performance from Ahaan Kids at the grand finale. Watch these kids rule the stage and win hearts!
One of the most beautiful aspects of our culture is the close integration of Ignite and Ahaan in our Apexon fabric.
Our Apexon family does not include 5500 hearts in our office, but also more than 2000 hearts whose lives we touch through our Ignite initiatives. Our Apexon events and celebrations become bigger with the warm presence of our Ignite kids and youth – at ICL finals, festival celebrations or cultural events.
Intoxication found at Gujarat Vidyapith premises! Intoxication of love, respect and admiration for Prakash N Shah (પ્રકાશન. શાહ ka નશા)
The occasion was the public felicitation of Shri Prakash N Shah – the many with many roles! The auditorium was overflowing with double its capacity and people occupying the aisles, areas between dais-chair, service area – whatever space one could find. The Saturday evening distractions or the 40 degree heat did not stop the admirers to throng at Gujarat Vidyapith. The audience grabbed every word like a gem and the 2.5 hour event ended too soon – never mind the endless sweating!
Prakashotsav – The festival celebrating Prakash N Shah was organised by his friends, well-wishers and Sarthak Prakashan team.
The evening started with a mock court where the most loved culprit Prakash N Shah was produced in the court of judge Hashmukh Patel. The lawyers Ketan Rupera and Urvish Kothari conducted the proceedings with the help of Ashish Kakkad. The public prosecutor Urvish Kothari produced a stellar list of witnesses to prove the charges against Prakash N Shah. Ratilal Borisagar, Ashwin Chauhan, Ashish Mehta, Binit Modi, Biren Kothari, Nayanbahen Shah and other stellar figures accused Prakash Shah of several crimes – the burning ambition of being a prime minister, torturing the world with his cryptic and incomprehensible language, creating a cult of his own, communist leanings, hidden acting skills etc. The court proceedings were ably proved with strong logic, evidences and confessions of the witnesses.
The mock court was followed by the release of Urvish Kothari’s book on Conversations with Prakash Shah. Prakash N Shah was felicitated by a section of citizens of Ahmedabad.
The grand finale was the speech of Prakash N Shah. He expressed his gratitude for the great gesture.
He recounted his journey. His central thought was – Yukta and Mukta. He spoke about Gandhi. He spoke about the impact of three primary books on his life. The audience was listening as hypnotised by David Copperfield but time came calling….
Prakash N Shah’s intoxication and values will remain…An evening to remember for a human to never forget …..
Prakashbhai & Ash:
The white clothes, the simple spectacle and the straight from the heart laughter is how I visualise him whenever we say Prakashbhai. His simplicity, his vision, his clarity and his friendliness is his magic that drives us to him again and again.
Thanks to Vipool Kalyani and Gujaratilexicon, I have the greatest fortune of spending lot of time with him and knowing him. The Nireekshak Digitization and other initiatives got us working together. Gujaratilexicon briefly operated from his residence during a difficult time in our journey.
Prakash N Shah is a towering personality but he is our Prakashbhai. Our DadaGuru….Sri Sri Sri Dada Guru…Not many can see the Halo behind him…So you see he does have a cult! He is also the business partner of my spouse – they are still searching for their Eureka moment!
United States Of Pada Ni Pol celebrated its 100th show at Ouroboros – The Art Hub. A great milestone as the light-hearted play has succeeded on the strength of word of mouth alone.
Saumya Joshi’s United States Of Pada Ni Pol is a play which celebrates the lives of people living in Pols (cluster of houses). The people living in pols have their lives intertwined and how they help each other. The play delivers the importance of simple life values as it entertains and makes you laugh.
The main protagonist is a senior citizen widow who dreams of visiting United States of America. How the entire community helps her to actualize her dream forms the main crux of the play.
Actress Jigna Dave is a class as she plays the main protagonist Mansi and shares the stage with Prem Gadhvi and Saumya Joshi. The support cast is equally amazing. The play celebrates Ahmedabad and Gujarati language and is a tribute to both of them.
Ouroboros – The Art Hub gives the feeling of Sanjana Kapoor’s Prithvi Theatre to Bombay Souls like me. The connect and bond between artists and audience is complete and it elevates the experience.
The 100th show today also marked the beginning of new tradition – felicitating the real life heroes. The first felicitated Sanjaybhai and his colleagues from Jay Bhim Vividh Lakshmi Trust, Gandhinagar. They may be auto-rickshaw and car drivers, but they are driving the future of many poor kids by opening a school and educating kids.
Mughal-E-Azam is a landmark classic of Indian cinema. The movie was the costliest movie and broke all box office records to become the highest grossing Bollywood movie of all time. Its record was broken by Sholay. Its footfalls were higher than Baahubali and Hum Aapke Hain Kaun.
K Asif’s Mughal-E-Azam is a milestone of Indian cinema. It has been reinvented and redesigned by Feroz Abbas Khan as a musical play. Set in the style of Broadway, this musical play accentuates the greatness of original Mughal-E-Azam.
The play was launched in Mumbai and has travelled to Delhi. It was in Ahmedabad for four days and we grabbed the opportunity to see it.
Mughal-E-Azam means grandeur. Feroz Abbas Khan gives Broadway treatment and royal grandness to the play. Each and every aspect of production is impeccable and majestic. The set design and the digital play is the highlight. The choreography is awesome. Manish Malhotra’s clothes and Naushad’s music steal your hearts.
The live music and the singing by actors is terrific. Audience had multiple queries of it being recorded or lip-sync. The actors sang live to clear all doubts.
Parda nahi jab koi khuda se, Parda nahi jab koi khuda se
Bando se parda karna kya, Jab pyaar kiya to darna kya
Wow!
Mughal-E-Azam has a story is timeless and appeals to the broader audience. It is a story that brings out the secular nature of the nation. It has class conflict, love conflict and many other dimensions.
Shapoorji Pallonji produced the K Asif version and they brought it back in theatrical form. This is also a classic in making.
Big cheers to Feroz Abbas Khan. The magic of Feroz Abbas Khan is the grand visualization and courage to reinterpret India’s milestone movie. To contemporaries it for Instagram generation. A timeless love tale in Tinder times.
Watch it!
YouTube Glimpse:
Special note for the Ahmedabad event organizer: It was one of the worst experiences. The basic promise was broken. The seating arrangement was not as promised. The cancellation of two lower categories and they placing them at the top of the ladder was a stupidest mistake. The show started one hour late, and police intervention was required to start the show. Total chaos. Many people came from other cities to watch it and the experience was shameful. Senior citizens had to stand for hours. We watched the 60% of the show standing inspite of my friends paying a bomb for the tickets.
On Ahmedabad’s 597th Birthday, I had undertaken the Ahmedabad Heritage Walk. It was a great experience. Since then, I got the opportunity to revisit the same walk multiple times with friends and guests. Heritage Walks are a great way to know the city and experience the treasure of our culture. It is a great connector between past and present. Now there is Gandhi Walk, Kids Heritage Walk and Art & Craft Walk as well.
On The World Heritage Day on April 18, 2014, I participated in the Jain Heritage Walk Organized by ‘The Times Of India’. The concept of TOI Heritage Walks is to merge music with the walk.
The warm-up for the walk was the beautiful classical music by Genius Sitarist Manju Mehta. She gave a great spiritual and uplifting experience in the early morning at Diwanji-Ni-Haveli in Sankhdi Sheri at Manek Chowk.
After that great start, it was time for Jain Heritage Gaurav Yatra of the Walled City. The walk covered 33 temples made in marble and wood loaded with jaw-dropping carvings and yet retaining simplicity, the core value of the Jain way of life. The walk traversed through Ashtapad temple in Doshiwada ni pol, Ajithnath temple in Choumukhi ni pol, temples in Vaghan ni pol and the underground temple of Sambhavnath in Zaverivad.
Related Links:
Ahmedabad Heritage WAlk
Ahmedabad Heritage Walk Photos – 2008
The Vodafone Gujarati Literature Festival had a great debut in Ahmedabad. It was wonderful to see the galaxy of Gujarati intellectuals, writers, artists and lovers of language. The most heartening fact was to see more young enthusiasts.
The sessions saw a heady mix of literature, art, music, drama, film and folk art. More than 100 creative people interacted with the discerning audience.
Ahmedabad got itself one more annual event worth waiting for ! It also put the city on Literary Festival circuit.
Cheers to the organizing team of Gujarati Literature Festival!
Saptak Annual Music Festival Is Back !
Time To Enjoy The Best Of Indian Classical Music ! More Than 50 Sessions of Soul-Touching Bliss ! Theme Of Saptak 2014 Is Sankrant !
This Year, The Saptak Annual Music Festival 2014 Will Be Held In Two Parts
Part-1: 01-1-2014 To 13-1-2014
Part-2: 27-1-2014 To 28-1-2014
The List Of Artists For 2014 Include:
Smt. Manju Mehta – Sitar
Pts. Rajan Sajan Mishra – Vocal
Pt. Krishna Mohan Bhatt – Sitar
Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia – Flute
Pt. Birju Maharaj – Kathak
Smt. Shubha Mudgal – Vocal
Shri Rahul Sharma – Santoor
Pt. Shivkumar Sharma – Santoor
Shri Zakir Hussain – Tabla
Pt. Jasraj – Vocal
Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt – Mohan Veena
Pt. Umakant Gundecha – Dhrupad
Pt. Ramakant Gundecha – Dhrupad
Anoushka Shankar – Sitar
Event Venue:
Amrut Mody School of Management, Opp. I.I.M.A., Ahmedabad.
Full Calendar
Saptak Annual Music Festival
Get Ready For The Wonderful Music In Cold January Evening With Hot Milk And Banarasi Paan ! This Is Bliss Not To Miss !