In LOVE with Asos!

As you've probably figured reading this blog, you'll know I LOVE to shop. I'm an absolute shopping junkie and there's nothing I love more... unless it's good food we're talking about, which is really ironic as it directly impacts my shopping abilities!! As you know I also love things that are unique so whether it's high end or high street, I like having things that are a bit.. well.. different. My favourite brand is Chanel and I get a lot of my stuff sent to me from New York as I find their stock a bit different from stuff they have here (not to mention finding sizes is not a problem as it is here!) And while I'm absolutely MAD about high street shopping (H&M is very conveniently located below my apartment building in NYC) I find the stuff in Dubai to be a bit drab compared to the stock a lot of the stores carry in the UK or US. To give you an example, I could spend HOURS browsing around Topshop in London whereas I've only been able to find one or maybe two things in the stores here over years! A few months back, I noticed a lot of bloggers wearing stuff by a brand called ASOS and after I kept repeatedly seeing a lot of clothes by them, I decided to investigate where their store was. Turned out they were an online store that not only sold their own brand of clothes but also stuff by various other designers including Karren Millen, Miss Sixty, Paul and Joe Sister, River Island, Whistles, etc. I was more interested in their clothes though so I haven't really poked about the other parts of the store too much, although I did manage to find a pair of Preen Aviators a few months back that were sold out in Selfridges and everywhere else, which ASOS had on sale.
As I said on the heading of this post, I LOVE ASOS- the website and the brand. I've ordered a whole bunch of things from them and their quality for the most part is extremely good and so is their range of clothes. I started by ordering a lot of t-shirts and basics and then got a bit adventurous with their clothes with some dresses, and I've always been really happy with what I've bought. Also, the stuff i don't like, I try on and then ship back which works out to be very convenient. If you like high street shopping and want to try something new, especially if you want to try on a new trend but don't want to spend crazy amounts investing in it, ASOS is definitely the way to go! Here are some of my fave picks from what they have online now. These are not necessarily some of the pieces I have or would buy, but that could be as I wouldn't wear a particular style or colour.. but I'd love to if I could pull it off!

Love this simple and beautiful dress.. can easily take you from day into night! The full skirt reminds me of a gorgeous Alaia number

Very Prada-esque and perfect for the summer. Am a huge fan of the full skirt as you can tell! Wish I could carry it off though!

Just got this tunic top with my last order and love it!

And I think this 2-in-1 floral dress is so girly and fun for the summer

All of these clothes range between 20 and 50 GBP which isn't expensive, especially for the quality of what you're getting. If you do decide to order from them, do let me know what you think! Just to clarify, this post isn't sponsored by ASOS or anything.. I don't think they know I exist.. except for their shipping department of course! Happy Shopping!
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Book Review- The Brightest Star in the Sky

 Marian Keyes is without a doubt the Queen of "Chick Lit." Her last two books that I'd read, The Other side of the Story and This Charming Man were fabulous reads that I literally could not put down. As an Author she has the unique ability to make her reader laugh out loud and/or cry from the very depths of their being- sometimes at the same time. Her stories are complex, yet simple, touching yet hilarious, unbelievable, and yet somehow utterly realistic and by the time you're done with a Marianne Keyes book, you're utterly in love with her characters and are miserable they're gone. With such an introduction to the Author you can imagine how excited I was when I saw her latest book, The Brightest Star in the Sky. I picked it up immediately, cracked it open and started to read what I thought, would be my pick for the best summer read. Boy, was I wrong.

As I mentioned earlier, Keyes' ability as a writer is to be able to come up with loveable memorable characters and make you want to follow their stories. Her latest book however, featured some of the most miserable and drab characters that I've ever encountered in what is supposed to essentially be, a quick, fun read. Not only were they not fun, but it's taken me around a month to finish this book. It was slow (painfully so) and starts off with a certain entity that goes into the building of 66 Star Street to find out about it's residents. You don't find out what the entity is till the end of the book, but by then, you're FAR from really caring to figure that mystery out. There are way too many characters in the book and it just jumps around so much that every time you start a new chapter, even though you're 3/4ths your way through the book, you think to yourself, "WHO?" I don't know if this is because the novel is over-populated or as I said earlier, that boring that you don't really care to figure out who is who. I don't know what miserable phase the Author is going through in her own life to make her produce something as bad as this. Laugh out loud bits? You'll be lucky if this book makes you crack a smile! All that got me through is the fact that I HATE leaving books halfway and especially if they're fiction, finish them no matter what. 

Am still searching for that fast-paced addictive summer read! The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and subsequent books in the series were my last year's pick. Any recommendations for must-read books for this year?

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Review of Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel

Last evening I decided to head to dinner with my family to the Shanghai Chic restaurant at the Ibn Batuta Gate Hotel. My sister and my mother had I guess, heard lots about the new hotel and this specific restaurant and we decided to try out something new rather than revisiting Bice, La Petite Maison or Zheng He's for a meal, which are standard favourites for everyone in the family, including my 5 year old nephew. Since my Mother and I go for a movie together every Friday, we decided to go to the Ibn Batuta Mall for a movie and head to dinner from there. Oh by the way, Ibn Batuta movie goers, and here I'm speaking to the ones with kids... please for God's sake keep your children in check! If your 3 year old is going to stand above my seat and yank my hair, don't be a shameful cow and ignore them and continue watching your movie!!! Yes, that's precisely what the woman behind me decided to do and when my Mother complained, she glared at her and sat back while her brat of a child yelled in our ear. Why are toddlers allowed in 3 hour long Hindi movies anyway?? Have decided to never go back there... Thank God for Mercato!!

 (Pic taken from TimeOut Dubai)

Anyhow back to the Gate Hotel and the Chinese restaurant... We should have figured that maybe the moron-trend would have carried on from our movie into dinner it being Friday the 13th and all that mumbo jumbo about the law of attraction and all. You know, like when you stub your big toe and get into a bad mood, you "attract" one horrid incident into your life after another? Well, after the obnoxious child and bratty mother (or was that the other way around?) we should have just packed up and gone home! But we'd heard that the Chinese restaurant had hired the chef from Zheng He's and really wanted to try some place new and have a nice dinner.  On reaching there we tried to ask questions of our waitress only to soon realize her broken English didn't carry her far enough to understand what we were actually saying.
Mother: "We hear the chef has come from Zheng He's?"
Waitress: "Yes! Shanghai!"
Mother: "No, no.. Zheng He's from Madinat!"
Waitress, "Yes! Shanghai!"
So apparently the Management thought they were hiring for a restaurant in China Town and didn't think the woman needed a language skill beyond Chinese. When we finally tried to order, we kept requesting the lady write down what we wanted as my Mother and Brother in law are vegetarian, my sister's on a diet and my nephew is fussy. Despite asking her 5 times to put it on paper, she kept insisting she'd remember, only to later bring out a dish that we hadn't ordered but had inquired about. The food was average, the cutlery strange and my soup spoon looked like a baby spoon which would probably take me half an hour to get through my bowl of soup. The service was slow and they took fifteen minutes after bringing out the main course to bring us plates, which meant our food was pretty cold by the time we got to try any of it. Oh and during this 15 minute wait, they decided to come out and talk to us about the dish we hadn't ordered (but they'd brought anyway) despite us repeatedly telling them to bring our plates first! Anyhow, the food was average and not exactly value for money. They didn't seem to think so though, as my Mother's card got swiped twice over and if it hadn't been for the SMS notifications she gets on her phone, she'd probably have headed home not realizing she'd paid double for a very average meal. They took another 10 minutes to try to figure out what had happened and bring her another slip of paper to sign to void the transaction.
After all that drama we were happy to be leaving and going home and had decided while we wouldn't return to the Chinese restaurant, we may decide to try the Indian restaurant there which seemed quite full as we were walking out. We handed our tickets to the valet which took 15 minutes to bring my sister's car, and 15 minutes after that showed no signs of bringing mine. After the half an hour wait, my Mother and I started to lose our heads to the valet drivers over there who seemed extremely clueless and didn't know what was happening. The valet desk was a MESS with keys and papers lying everywhere and they kept asking me for the smaller portion of my valet ticket which they hadn't given me in the first place. I even posted a pic of the Valet desk on my Twitter account as I was shocked to see how badly organized they were. Another 2 ladies were standing there yelling their heads off as well as they'd been waiting since before us and hadn't gotten their cars either. After another 10 minutes of yelling my Mum and I decided to go down with them into the parking lot to see what the problem was. Turns out they couldn't locate the car. We scanned their entire wall of keys for my car keys to no avail and were informed then they finally found the car but not the keys. The Valets seemed annoyed and pissed off with us and, apart from one apologetic soul, seemed irritated by OUR presence. The Manager of the Service was Filipino, the Valet drivers Indian, and there seemed to be lack of communication there as well, not only because of the language barrier, but because they had no walkie talkies or devices to be able to speak to each other. So if one guy went down one level in the parking lot to find the car, and one went up to the main entrance of the Hotel, 2 others had to be dispatched after them to find out WTF was going on. Not smart. Anyhow, long story short, one hour later they found the keys and the car, and when I was yelling at the Valet while getting into my car, he decided to slam my car door on my face. Oh and the poor ladies waiting for their car? The drivers had screwed the car up which had stalled it in the middle of the lot and it wouldn't start. Thank God I was able to get out with my Vehicle working fine!
On reading the restaurant review on TimeOut Dubai they didn't seem too impressed with the restaurant either, but have made no mention on the service in the rest of the Hotel. They probably won't be going back to Shanghai Chic but I don't think I'll be going back anywhere in or around Ibn Battuta Mall or Hotel anytime soon. I remember another friend telling me a story about how the valet driver in that very same Mall was using my friends car (a Rolls no less!) to transfer people from one part of the mall to another, as he'd been told by my friend that he'd return in 2 hours but was back in 15 minutes. I don't know what Valet company both the places employ, but they might want to rethink their strategy!!
If you want GREAT Chinese in Dubai, go to Zheng He's at the Madinat for a great meal that is slightly expensive, the Shang Palace at the Shangri La for something in between and Nanking in Bur Dubai for the BEST Indonesian and Indian Chinese for an amazing value for money meal! And most definitely give Shanghai Chic and the Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel a skip!!
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Giambattista Valli to design couture!

A few days back I was so thrilled to hear that one of my favourite designers, Giambattista Valli, will be showing his first ever Couture line in either July 2011 or January 2012. The Chambre Syndicale has invited him, along with 9 other guest Couture members to show as part of their Couture line up. These guests are chosen by the 15 houses that are established haute couturists (if there is such a thing) including Giorgio Armani, Chanel, Dior and Maison Martin Margiela. Did you know a designer has to be a guest couturier for a minimum of 5 years before they can officially be called a Couturier?? I can't wait to see what stunning creations Valli comes up with for his first show!
He had his first ever ready to wear show in Paris only in 2005, and in this short period has established himself as a force to be reckoned with! Although he hasn't up till now had a separate Couture show, he's designed often for the red carpet and bridal collections, often with STUNNING results. I remember seeing a picture of the very fashionable Charlotte Dellal in Vogue a couple of months back, and being amazed with her gown- a Valli cream coloured creation that took my breath away!

There is something about this dress that's stuck in my memory and is, I think, one of the most beautiful wedding gowns I've seen. Not only is the gown perfect, but I LOVED the look of it for the wedding reception. Since I couldn't find another picture of the transformed reception gown, I had to make do with a scanned picture of the Vogue article that I was talking about, which had that one on there too... You've got to love the internet!!! If you look at the bottom (and click on the picture to zoom in enough to read the accompanying article) you'll see that she just took of the layers of tulle skirt to show an elegant figure skimming dress inside that was perfect for the evening. Did I say LOVE before??!! J'ADORE!!!!

Ok so the chances of me having a white wedding are slim to none but this dress has haunted me for AGES (I just googled and saw that she was married in June 2010!) and you can understand now why I think Giambattista Valli is SO talented and why I can't wait to see his couture line! I don't know if you guys remember me posting pics of the Valli for Moncler collection here? Check it out to see what he's done with ordinary jackets. Yes I'm a HUGE fan.. can you tell?
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Customized Macbook Air!

I've said it before and I'll say it again.. I love products that are absolutely unique and have some personal touch to them. Remember my M&M's?? Well, since I personalized my chocolate, you obviously would think I'd do SOMETHING to my computer right? Right!
As part of my birthday present to myself, I decided to buy myself a New Macbook Air. My old one was the 13 inch but since I visit coffee shops A LOT (I'm practically furniture at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and Shakespeare outlets near my house) I wanted a smaller one that I could tote around to blog on as my iPad doesn't quite do the job. Enter 11 inch Macbook Air and Steve Jobs had me salivating to pick one up ASAP!
Since I wanted to play around with the look of it, I was contemplating between having 2 companies customizing the product for me. Colorware is a company that customizes the entire look of the product for you so you can pick your own colours and finishes and make your phone, ipad or computer look exactly the way YOU want it to look. A friend of mine had gifted me a blackberry that they'd customized into an orange-berry and I LOVED it and used that phone for the longest time! Another company that I love is Gelaskin who do stickers or "skins" on a whole variety of products, which is how I'd redone my old iPad and iPhone. Since Colorware is very expensive to use, I'd resisted getting a computer of mine done since it would mostly be used at home, but since I'd be toting my 11 inch quite a lot, I figured I'd splurge and allow myself to customize the computer since I'd been lusting after them for a WHILE now. Then I decided to splurge a little more and get the Gelaskin as well as I was ordering them for my new phones and iPad2, and they had a "buy 3 get 1 free" offer. Anyhow, I can pull off the sticker anytime I like and amazingly, the skins don't leave any gunk behind so I wasn't worried at all. This is what the finished product looks like!

I absolutely LOVE my little computer and think Colorware have done a fabulous job... and since colour-blocking is SO in, but latest gadget is also SO on trend ;) I think the Gelaskin is also such a fab addition to the look. I'll post up the picture of my other devices soon so you can see how the skins have completely transformed the look and feel of them! By the way, if you already own a device and want to have it customized, Colorware allows most of the products to be sent in and shipped back with it customized. However that service is available for the US only, so if you're visiting the States over the summer, definitely something to think about sending your favourite Jumbo-bought (natch!) gizmos for a quick facelift to them! A little nip and tuck could take you a long way!
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Simpsons Couture!

While searching the net to look for an appropriate "Lanvin for Kids" accompanying picture, I came across the Simpsons spread that Harpers Bazaar had carried back in 2008 and thought it was SO fitting and SOOOO cute! While I posted the Lanvin one, I just HAD to post the rest of them up too!
Loving Homer doing the Karl Lagerfeld look best! The spread was called, "The Simpsons go to Paris with Linda Evangalista"

And yes I'm behind on my Paris blog posts, but nothing I could post could surpass the cuteness of the Simpsons in Paris! Did you spot Maggie sticking out of JPG's Birkin?? LOVE!!
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Lanvin for Kids!

Parents of ultra-stylish kids rejoice! Alber Elbaz is now all set to design a Lanvin Kids line! The collection will be out in November in time for the Spring/Summer 2012 collection. The 25 piece collection will be girls-only, so all stylish little boys will unfortunately have to get their designer duds elsewhere. The collection will be sold in New York, LA, Paris, Beijing and Hong Kong, and looks like won't be making it over to Dubai... although I'm sure all our local fashionistas will have access to all the Lanvin boutiques worldwide and can have them shipped over.
I can never really talk about kids fashion without thinking of my friend Eka's darling daughter, whom I've crowned the most stylish little girl in the world! If you've come onto this blog recently and haven't read about her, you MUST click here to have an overdose of cuteness! And who said fashionistas aren't born but are made??
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(Picture from a spread in Harpers Bazaar, August 2007)

Missoni... Now available at Target!!

Here comes yet another high end designer-wholesale retailer tie-up! Missoni, the Italian brand known for it's colourful garments as well as knitted textiles and prints, will have a line designed especially for the American superstore Target. Vogue magazine just announced this collaboration and it's interesting to see how this new trend of tie ups is taking on a life of it's own. Unlike the manic hysteria that takes place in a few other collaborations where  a limited number of items are made in a limited number of pieces, this will be one of the largest projects that Missoni has undertaken with around 400 products to be re-designed in the company's signature print. The products included will be women's, men's and kids clothing as well as bedding and dinnerware for the home!
Sounds super exciting and I'll keep you guys posted as and when more information becomes available!
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The Royal Reception!!

So apparently 2 billion people watched the Royal Wedding go down on the 29th of April, but only 650 were invited to the Royal luncheon following the service and only 300 were invited for the celebrations later that night. Details emerged that Kate Middleton wore another dress by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen for the reception, and her picture (above left) were circulating moments after she made her grand entrance. Here are some other tidbits that I've gathered from different sources about what all went down-

Prince Charles' speech at lunch apparently stole the show. He gave his speech while standing on a platform and remarked, "The thing about growing older is that your children get taller than you so they can see your bald spots. Now in my case, I can see his."

The Telegraph reports on what happened later that night- "It looked absolutely stunning," said one guest. "There must have been at least 30 round tables, with 10 people on each, decorated with beautiful white flowers and candles.

"When we had arrived earlier, we were each given a little envelope with our table name on it, and the tables had a personal touch too - they had clearly been named after places that were special to the couple and their friends."

Table names included "Lewa" -- after Lewa Downs, the family home of Miss Craig, at the foot of Mount Kenya, where Prince William spent several months during his gap year and where he returned several times during his courtship of Miss Middleton.

Another table was "Tetbury" after the town in Gloucestershire which is close to Highgrove, Prince Charles's country home, and several Welsh-themed table names in a nod to their current home in Anglesey where the Prince works as a search and rescue helicopter pilot.

There was also, of course, a "St Andrews" table, after the Scottish university where the couple began their romance.

On the menu for the evening was a 3 course dinner by Chef Anton Mossiman including terrine of dressed crab and tiger prawns, Aberdeen Angus beef fillet, Welsh lamb from the Highgrove estate, spring vegetables grilled and blanched and a trio of chocolate puddings.

Prince Harry gave the best man speech as well, often calling his brother, "The Dude" as a pun on his title of the "Duke of Cambridge." He also told Kate that he felt sorry for her for not marrying the good looking brother, referring to himself! Harry, also famous for his impersonations, did a high pitched one of Kate calling William "Billy" and Wills referring to her as "baby" to much amusement of the guests!

Eventually, guests were herded into the Throne Room, which was decked out with a dance floor, stage, bar, strobe lights and sofas. The entertainment was provided by English singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding and according to the Daily Mail, Prince William and Kate set their first dance as a married couple to a cover of Elton John's "Your Song." However, according to the Telegraph, it was Goulding's hit "Starry-Eyed." Their last dance of the night: "She Loves You" by The Beatles.

Later, Prince William gave a speech describing his bride as his "rock" and telling her how beautiful she was, right before the guests started to leave at 4 AM.

Other reports suggest that Harry danced on windowsills and stage dived into the crowd, and another suggests that apparently William and Kate did a dance to "You're the one that I want" from the Grease soundtrack! I don't know how true those reports are, but overall it really does sound like SUCH a fab wedding reception, and I really envy the lucky few who got to be a part of it.. not to mention, the lucky bride who snagged herself a Prince!!! Who says Fairytales don't come true??

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This song gave me goosebumps!!

I don't know if you guys have seen this version before, but I just came across it yesterday and it gave me GOOSEBUMPS! Thought the music was beautiful, the Indian touch just right, and her voice, AMAZING! I thought it was a fantastic tribute to Indian music... what do you guys think?

Hermes Heaven in Paris!

Guys sorry I've been MIA for a while but just been extremely tied up. I have quite the backlog of Paris posts to catch you up on so I'm going to try posting them as soon as I can!
One of the things I enjoyed most in Paris was obviously the shopping! Even though I didn't buy too much (quality over quantity always!) I snapped up a lot of things to show you guys, including the latest Hermes store that has recently opened up in the chic Saint Germain area of Paris. Saint Germain is to Paris (I feel) what Soho is to NYC... very chic and trendy but also very artsy and funky at the same time. I could be totally wrong, but at least that is the vibe that both me and Payal (who lives in NY) got of the place. This gorgeous Hermes store opens up to such a glorious sight that you'd never imagine from the outside that it could be so huge within. The lady at the boutique told me that it used to actually be a swimming pool and sort of showed me around a bit. It's a good thing too, since they had very little stock of anything really, and I'd felt terrible walking out without getting SOMETHING! So, I got out having all these lovely pictures that they let me take! I really felt that THIS is what Hermes heaven must look like!

The entrance to the store

 

 

 

Don't miss the Hermes horsey on the side!!

How incredibly adorable is that?!

Sony Tablets announced!!

After almost every single brand out there had come out with an Apple iPad competitor, it was strange for one of the most innovative brands in the area of consumer electronics to be mum on the issue of tablets- Sony. There were murmurs of what the Japanese giant would be launching, with online blogs have few leaked details of a dual-screen tablet, while others were talking about a larger, Samsung Galaxy-esque 10 inch model. Well, finally it has been revealed that BOTH will be manufactured by Sony, and I for one can't WAIT to see what the finished product looks like!
In the meantime, here are some pictures and a short video of the tablets, called the S1 and the S2. They run 3.0, which means they'll have the most up-to-date Android Honeycomb goodness installed. The S1 is a 9.4 inch media tablet with both, front and rear facing cameras and a curved wrap design that looks something like a folded magazine. The second, the S2 is the one that has the dual screens that each measure 5.5 inches. Both the S1 and S2 are "PlayStation Certified" and are WiFi and 3G/4G compatible.
I will give you more details about the tablets as and when I get them, but in the meantime here is the launch video that gives you an idea of all the sexiness Sony is looking to offer!-
  

Interview with Amish Tripathi, author of "Immortals of Meluha"

You may remember a few months back I had done a review on a book called the Immortals of Meluha on my blog, and highly recommended it. For those interested in spirituality and Hindu Mythology, I'd promised that it would be one of the best books you'll ever read on the subject. Hopefully a lot of you would have bought a copy and read it since then, or encouraged others you know to have read the book. I have given my copy to my Mother, who doesn't particularly like to read, and she is slowly making her way through the book, which tells the story of one of the most powerful deities for Hindus- Lord Shiva.
I was SO fascinated with the book, I nosied around on the internet and managed to contact the author, Amish Tripathi, and requested him to answer a few questions that I had for him. If you've read the book, I'm sure some of the questions will be ones that you yourself might have had! He took some time getting back to me as he is currently busy working on the sequel to IOM and also busy with his day job... believe it or not, the famed author who found his first book top the national best seller list in India, actually works in the Insurance industry! He is also a graduate of the famed IIM Kolkata.
He kindly took some time out to respond to all my questions-

1) First of all Amish, thank you for writing such an inspiring and informative book! What is it that prompted you to write a book fictionalizing Hindu Mythology, and what percentage of it is fact and what percent have you allowed yourself creative liberty to tell the story of Shiva?

Honestly, I can't say that I planned this book. I had never even dreamt of being an author. Before The Immortals of Meluha, I had written no fiction. Ever. So I am as surprised as anyone else that I ended up being an author.
The book began during a conversation between my family and me. We were watching TV together and there was an interesting historical programme being broadcast, where we discovered something surprising. We all know that for ancient Indians, Gods were called Devas and Demons were called Asuras. What we don't know is that for ancient Persians, Gods were called Ahuras and demons are called Daevas - the exact opposite of the ancient Indians. This triggered an interesting conversation. Maybe if the ancient Indians and the ancient Persians met, they would probably be calling each other evil - because one person's god was the other person's demon. Now both the groups cannot be right can they? So who is evil? Both the groups? Neither? But what can't be denied is that evil does exist. It rises again and again. And it has to be destroyed. A philosophy occured to me on this topic and I started writing it down. Then my brother and sis-in-law gave me some good advice that readers will be more interested in a grand adventure where the philosophy happens to come across with it rather than a pure philosophy book. And hence I started writing the present novel with a hero whose journey conveys the philosophies I want to talk about. And since the story is about the destruction of evil, who better to be the hero than the destroyer of evil Himself, Lord Shiva!


2) The book goes into so much detail about the background of so many Hindu traditions, customs and phrases. As a Hindu, I found myself having many "aha" moments thinking, "THIS is where such and such tradition comes from!" How much research did you do before beginning to write the novel?


There are 2 aspects to the research in this book. First is the historical data and the second is our collective Hindu myths. On the historical data, I didn't do any specific research for this book. Or another way of looking at it is that I have been researching this book for the last 25 years! Because I have always been deeply interested in history and have been a voracious reader all my life. Some of the books that have helped in the historical interpretations for my book are Graham Hancock’s path-breaking Underworld and even primary research books like Gregory Possehl's brilliant treatise, The Indus Civilisation. As for our collective Hindu myths, I have depended a lot on what I have heard from my family over the years. My grandfather, besides being a teacher, was also a Pandit. Both my parents are very devout and religious. And we heard a lot of stories about Hindu myths from all of them when we were children. And of course, as for most people in our generation, the Amar Chitra Katha comics have been a fantastic source of knowledge to me of our fantasies. Anant Pai had done a great job!

3) For those wanting to study more about Shiva and Hindu Mythology in general, are there any books you can recommend? Any that you may have turned to while researching "Immortals of Meluha"?

Like I said, I have depended more on what I have heard from my family for the myths on Lord Shiva. But all those who want to learn more about the Lord, should read up the Shiva Purana.

4) Speaking of which, what is your favourite book (fiction or nonfiction) book of all time?

That's difficult to say. There are so many. I really do like reading and my favourites change as I read more. But at this point of time, I am reading a book called Shiva, the wild god of power and ecstacy. It's brilliant.

5) In another interview of yours, I read that before beginning to write this book, you were a non-believer, and now are a true devotee of Lord Shiva. What specifically caused that transformation? Do you have any message for atheists out there?
Yes, it's true. I used to be a non-believer. But today I am a devoted Shiva Bhakt. Within the story of The Immortals of Meluha which shows the simple man behind the myth of a god, I discovered my devotion to the divinity in Him. But I have also discovered the beauty of other religions. I think I've finally understood what my father used to say when I was young. There is beauty and ugliness in every religion. The choice before us is what do we want to see...

As for a message for atheists, I would certainly not say that there is anything wrong with being an atheist. Every person has the right to follow philosphies that give him peace - as long as he does not try to impose them on others. But I will certainly say that I have found a lot of peace through faith. Mental peace is worth more than all the money in the world. If there are atheists who are unhappy, they may want to explore the path of faith. It may help answer some questions - as it did for me.

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Facebook: Connect with Amish Tripathi OR Shiva Trilogy OR join The Immortals of Meluha group
Twitter: Follow @amisht
Trailer film of book: http://www.shivatrilogy.com/theimmortalsofmeluha.html
www.shivatrilogy.com

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Carine Roitfeld to launch own Label?

Someone by the name of Amber Atherton on Twitter has caused quite a stir by tweeting the following photograph of what looks to be like an outfit with a "Carine Roitfeld" label on it with the comment, "Carine Roitfeld's new Womenswear label?! @vogue_london or just an odd HK label mishap?!"

Ms Atherton seems to be based between London and Hong Kong, and given HK's proximity to China, it wouldn't be surprising if not only Carine Roitfeld, but Anna Wintour-ed labeled outfits were being sold everywhere. Having said that, the popular I want to be a Roitfeld blog that obsessively follows the first family of French fashion around, pointed out a picture tweeted by Derek Blasberg at the Wolseley in Britain having tea with Carine, hairstylist Luigi Moreni and photographer Iango Henzi. Could we be seeing the team behind the first lookbook of the CR collection at work? If only wishes were horses...

Review of the Hotel de Crillon- Part 2

I'd done a review of the rooms at the gorgeous Hotel de Crillon where I've been staying for the past week in Paris, and I'd promised a review of the entire hotel with some lovely pictures. I'd ended the post saying the Hotel is one of my favourites and there really are many reasons for that. The service was excellent, the food divine and most importantly, the Hotel is located right in the centre of all the shopping. Let's just put it this way, 5 steps away you had the landmark Hermes store at the Rue de Faubourg which made things very easy for me! If you are thinking of staying here and haven't checked out the pictures of the room, I urge you to hit the link above and go check them out.
Here are some more pictures I'd taken-

The exterior of the hotel was being given a facelift, but instead of boring old ugly scaffolding, they'd done it up by matching it up to the look of the hotel! Thought that was very cute.

       I just loved the old European charm of the entrance of the hotel and the lobby. Gorgeous!

In my previous post i'd mentioned about the Afternoon tea we had received with the American Express fine hotels and resorts package. The tea could be had in the very pretty sitting area they had outdoors, or in the lovely area they had indoors. As it was too cold in the evening, we decided to have ours indoors, but the outside was too pretty for it to not be photographed.

And when I said the High Tea deserved a post of it's own, I wasn't joking. It was INCREDIBLE. I'm a huge fan of High Tea and I've had it at a few places in London, and almost in all the popular Hot Spots in New York- The Plaza, The Carlyle, Bergdorfs, London Hotel... seriously NOTHING could even come close to the High Tea I had here. It's a meal by itself so if you're in Paris and even if you're not staying at the Crillon, I can't recommend the Tea enough!

Ok so High Tea is really very rarely about the tea itself (I usually take coffee with mine!) and it's really allll about the food. The sandwiches were very filling and very, very tasty. I can't remember what the first one in the baguette is (chicken maybe?), then there was ham and cheese, and the last one on the right is the foie gras pate.

And then there was the plate of mini deserts! Seriously lets not even get me started on these as each one was magnificent, and am at the Lounge at the airport and I'm seriously about to lick my computer screen. I'm also exhausted out of my mind and delirious so I may even do it!
Aah.. talk about timing! Time to board my flight! I think the lady at the counter saw my face inching towards my screen and figured she HAD to get me out of here!
More from Dubai peeps!
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Review- Room at the Hotel de Crillon

As I mentioned in my earlier post here I'm currently in Paris for my birthday. I'd mentioned there that I'm staying at the Hotel de Crillon for my birthday and had taken a picture of the divine chocolate cake as well the champagne they had sent up to my room to celebrate my big day. I know it makes sense for me to write a review about the hotel AFTER I leave, but I've been here for 5 days already so can safely write a review without expecting too much to change my thoughts on the hotel before I leave in two days.
I've stayed at the Crillon both other times I've visited Paris- once when I was very young with my entire family, and once again a few years back with my Mother and older (middle) sister. While booking my hotel room I was researching the other hotels in Paris and looked into availability and prices of the top 3 (in my opinion anyway)- The Ritz, George V and the Crillon. My eldest sister frequents the George V, the second one, the Ritz and as I mentioned, I'd only ever experienced staying at this hotel. As luck would have it, the Crillon was offering the best deal for my stay, and I decided to return to the hotel that was tried and tested.
While the Hotel de Crillon is quite expensive, I had booked my room through my American Express Centurion Concierge service which gives its users a lot of perks at the hotels that are part of the Fine Hotels and Resorts program. While the rates are the regular rack rates (that can be found on the website here) the perks I got with my room were plenty. The program gives the same package for all hotels which is the free room upgrade depending on availability, guaranteed late check out till 4 PM available and free breakfast for 2 per room. Some hotels add on extra perks and the Crillon added not only a one way airport transfer but also a 50 Euro credit per day to be used for food and drink in the hotel. It couldn't be accumulated and the girl while checking in had told us to either "use it or lose it" which of course we had found hilarious. We thought that was a lot of money till we had a look at their room service menu and realized a portion of hommous cost 20 Euros. Not that I was going to come from Dubai and order Hommous in Paris, but I was quite tempted to just to find out what 20 Euro Hommous would taste like!! The Crillon also gave us an Afternoon Tea for 2 (once per stay) that we used up the first day we arrived. That deserves a separate post by itself! Anyhow, I thought the perks with the hotel were amazing, so Amex deserves a pat on the back for hooking that one up.
Without further ado, here are some pictures of my room that I took immediately upon getting in. This is the room before we unpacked, so that it wouldn't look like a tornado had run through it!

The room was absolutely gorgeous and was extremely spacious. I'm pretty sure they did upgrade my room since I don't remember the room being this large when I visited last.

The sitting area was really nice to have as it was so convenient to use while chatting, or in my case, while blogging. The TV can be viewed from either the bed or the sofa too, which would be nice if they had many English channels to watch. What Payal and I both thought was very interesting was that apart from the news channels, there was very little to watch in English, but there are 5 or 6 Arabic channels on there! When we went down for breakfast on our first morning here, we understood why.

More important to me than the room is a spacious bathroom! The bathroom here has a shower and a tub and unlike other hotels that have been renovated but forget to give the bathroom a facelift, this one feels brand new.

Eau d'Hadrien by Annick Goutal remains one of my most favourite perfumes till today, and it's actually the Crillon that had first introduced me to it on my first trip to Paris. I remember being really young and being so blown away by this gorgeous scent and purchasing my first bottle from Paris then. It slowly became popular all over the world and a few years back I was shocked to find it being sold in Dubai as well! I was so happy to see them still sticking by their signature scent that thanks to them had become MY signature scent for many years (followed by Lime, basil and Mandarin by Jo Malone for ages, and has currently been Spring Flower by Creed for a few years).

When I start posting my food reviews, you'll understand why I avoided this devil device shown above like the PLAGUE!

                              There was generous space for a walk in closet in the room as well.

These are just some pictures of the room I've put together... As mentioned, I'll review their Afternoon tea and the rest of the hotel too. I didn't want this post to become too picture heavy.
All in all, if you're visiting Paris, I can't recommend the Hotel de Crillon enough! When I post the rest of the pictures of the Hotel, you'll understand why. Look out for Part 2 of the review!
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