Fendi's Summer Fur Collection

Gone are the days when Fur used to be exclusively worn in the Winter. Fur-lovers all over wanted to be able to ooze the sophistication that fur brings to an ensemble, and keep the style stakes up, while keeping the temperatures down. The answer to their desires was Summer Fur. Companies all over (being led by Fendi of course) started to make short fur jackets, gilets, boleros and capes, for the "in-between"months where temperatures are cool enough for a sweater, but not really for full-on snowman coverage.

Here I've photographed two of my sister's jackets (yes, I am going through her closet!) in two different colours and styles, both by Fendi-

I have taken a picture of her gilet up close to show you the delicate chiffon lining under the mink.

Again, the shaved, shaded mink above shows the lining that allows for the fur to be very lightweight and easy to wear in the summer.

And when I say summer, I mean summer when you're travelling. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT attempt to try this in Dubai, unless you want people to throw things at you! And they won't be doing it as members of PETA!

Say it aint so!!

Gadget lovers over the past 48 hours are facing not one, but TWO bits of terrible news! Microsoft yesterday confirmed the shelving of it's extremely innovative "Courier"project (pictured below). While details weren't really firm on what the device would actually do, it was the most innovative looking thing that's come out of Redmond in a while. I mean c'mon.. just look at it! So pretty!

And today Tech Crunch is reporting that their much talked about HP Slate has also been shelved! The rumour is, that after HP bought Palm, they might be more interested in making a WebOS tablet, rather than a Windows 7 one. I am not too sure about this one though, as I thought HP was a month or so away from launching the Slate device, and wouldn't create as much buzz and hype about it, if they weren't coming out with something. Maybe their recent surprise acquisition changed their strategy and product line-up a bit, but I'm guessing they would have to have had many things already in place for a worldwide launch of a product few months away? Then again, who knows... Only time will tell. I'd linked up to the Slate Video some time back, but I'll post it again. Just to let you know what you're missing.

Haute Shoe Couture- Rickard Shah

"You've NEVER heard of Rickard Shah??" my sister tut-tutted to me last evening. "Erm... No?" I said meekly. "Never? Not even in Vogue??" she said, her eyes going wider. "Is he Indian?" I asked, trying to move the focus away from my obvious state of fashion oblivion. "Please Kiran.. Rickard Shah is not a HE. It's a THEY!" Soooo.. apparently wearing regular shoes like, oh I don't know, Manolo Blahnik and Christian Louboutin, are so last season (or was that last year? I better keep track!) One look at my sister's pair though, had me lusting for more. Husband and wife duo, Elizabeth Rickard and Binith Shah, that together make up Rickard Shah are offering handmade, custom shoes for the discerning woman, who wants her shoes comfortable and stylish, yet unique. With their bespoke service, they take a measurement of your foot followed by them preparing a last, to which you can then make changes and order your shoe according to your preferred colour, heel size, material, heel height, etc. The bad news however, is that they live in Florence. Anyone heading to Italy anytime soon?

(My sister's initials, "KCW" appearing on the back of her customized shoe)

The drama about the iPhone 4G

Gotta love Dilbert!
For those not in the know, the drama started when tech blog Gizmodo found the newest (not yet released) Apple iPhone in a bar. In a few hours, the internet was RED HOT as Apple fans everywhere, logged on to have a sneak peak of the device. To put it mildly, havoc ensued, and it ended with Gizmodo giving the phone back, and Jason Chen's (Gizmodo's Ed) house being raided by the Police, and his computers and servers, seized. A lot of people (including a few tech-obsessed friends of mine) thought this was a brilliant marketing ploy by Apple to create some hype around the iPhone. I just figured, that could only be true under two huge assumptions- One, the leaked iPhone would help the sales of current/future iPhone  and two, Apple was God-like and beyond human error. Assumption number 1 wouldn't hold true as I believe current iPhone sales would definitely take a beating, as a newer, and better device would be available to consumers in a few, short months. And as for assumption number 2... well... despite popular belief (see below) I'm still betting on that human error part.

 The discussion is now on whether Gizmodo is legally protected for it's actions as it purchased (for $5000) the lost/stolen iPhone and did not make any attempt at giving it back. Read this interesting article on the Time blog if you want to know more about the case.


The above strip was taken from Scott Adam's Dilbert blog

The Mystery of "The Loiterer" Continues- Part 2

So now friends let me rewind
To the night Loiterer blew my mind
Coz the sea of hookers parted
And that's how it all started
And long-lost Loiterer I did find!

So the news with Nadia I had to share
She had christened him and would care
"Loiterer!" I texted, "At Cavalli in Dubai!
Sending a friend over to say 'Hi!'
So happy he's still there!"

And friends, as you already know
I sent someone over to say 'Hello'
Who found his name and occupation
And returned to give me a summation
Which just made my curiosity grow!

"Architect???!! Is that what he said??
Doesn't make sense!!" I scratched my head
The rest of the night passing in a haze
Vodka and Confusion contributing to the daze
Later that night, I crawled into bed.

Nadia called me a few hours later
Urgency to find out much greater
than mine, Who energy-depleted
Remembered, and feebly repeated
The Occupation of The Loiterator

For a moment, thoughtful, Nadia dwelled
"I've got it!" then she practically yelled!
"The weird clothes! The stocky build
Wow this Loiteror is pretty Skilled!
He's really George from Seinfeld!"

"Eh?" I said rubbing my eyes
My friends head was clearly compromised!
"When unemployed, wanting to impress"
she explained, "Before his situation can be guessed
ARCHITECT is what George lies!"

So with the mystery solved (Hooray!)
Well... sort of anyway!
We're leaving it all up to you
to find The Loiterer (with picture too!)
Posing as Dubai's very own Art Vandalay!



 To find "Part 1" Click here
I also found that "The Loiterer" seems to live in my friend's building, Oasis Towers on Sh Zayed Road. We found this out only after she read my post and commented on it! The descriptions match.
Another commenter who was unsure if they had spotted him, asked if he dresses like a magician (he does!) Hence the choice of pic. 
Oh and "Art Vandalay" is George's fake Architect name. The Loiterer's name also begins with an A. Hmmm....

Blackberry OS6- video!

Will be available in the 3rd quarter this year- sometime between July and September. Can't wait!

Don't talk and drive warning: GRAPHIC!

These ads from the Bangalore Traffic Police touch on a very important issue of people talking on the phone and driving at the same time. While I try to put my ringer on silent every time I get behind the wheel, so as to not be tempted to take a call while driving, I do it for reasons other than safety. I love to get into my car, play my music really loud, and bop my head while listening to the latest tunes. And every once in a while I'll find myself right behind some idiot swerving out of  lane, driving rash or going at a snail's pace on the fast lane, whilst chatting on their mobile phones. Not cool and definitely not safe. Please head to your nearest Jumbo outlet and ask them for different bluetooth headset options or car kits you can install, so as to talk and drive if you must at the same time.

While I'm not a huge fan of graphic Public Smoking Announcements (the cigarette pack covers in Singapore would make a non-smoker reach for a drink) I think the creativity behind this ad is quite cool. While it's making waves on the internet for its controversial imagery, it helps put India on the map of the Ad World.

I WishWIshWish upon a star!

A few days back I'd covered Carrie from WishWishWish as a part of my "blog corner." I love seeing pictures of her quirky-yet-beautiful things, and I find myself wanting to be much more girly after spending a few minutes on her site.
The other day, I went shopping to the home section of Gallerie Lafayette in Dubai Mall, and I discovered this brand called "La Marelle" that just had the CUTEST stuff. They had a mixture of stationary, bits of jewelry, brooches, notebooks, pocket mirrors... a little of everything. I couldn't help but pick up a bunch of things for myself, including the colouring book, pictured below. Yes, yes, I know I'm not a child, but I just couldn't get past the gorgeous picture outlines they had in there to fill, and like a child, I wasn't leaving the store till the book was coming with me, so...
Very whimsical... Very Carrie!

 I just wish I could get the same vintage picture look like her.

Check out the website for La Marelle at www.lamarelle.net

Aston Martin One77- Exclusive Sneak Peak!

One lucky friend of mine got to see the Aston Martin One77 and was kind enough to send me pictures and let me post it up on my blog. I don't know too much about this car other than it costs 1.3M GBP and that only 77 will be ever made of it. Since production hasn't begun yet, this is the only one of it's kind in the world, it's whereabouts a top secret within the walls of Aston Martin. Enough to even make James Bond curious!

Introducing Alexandra- The Future Fashion Victim!

Remember baby Sofia? The 5 year old who gives me closet envy? Well here's the newest addition to her family- Baby Alexandra. Her mum Eka, my gorgeous Russian friend from High School, sent me a picture of her one month old baby (Sofia's littlelest sister) and her cute little fur coat. While other newborns rely on baby warmers to keep them warm, Alexandra has her gorgeous pink mink jacket to keep her cozy in style. There will be no unfortunate baby pictures in this family!

I know you guys are dying to get a sneak peak into her mother's closet, as am I! I'm hoping by a stroke of luck I might be able to take time off and make it to Moscow at the end of May for Eka's thirtieth birthday bash. I know exactly what I want my return present to be!

Christies in Dubai

Last night I attended the Christies dinner at the Emirates Towers, and was pretty impressed with some of the stuff on display. While I'm not really into jewelry too much, I loved some of the watches that were being auctioned, and LOVED this one piece of art.

It is entitled, "Faces of the Other" by Zakaria Rahmani from Morocco. Can you see all the faces within the face? Also, I don't know how clearly you can see how the painting has been done, so I took a closer shot-

The entire piece is done with calligraphy!

Here is a print I thought was quite interesting too-

LOVE!

Heard this at Cavalli Club on Thursday night. Between Loiterer-spotting and this, it was definitely a good night!



For those in Dubai without access to YouTube, hang in there! Apparently Etisalat is going to solve the problem by the 27th. You're going to want to bookmark this and come back to it!! Amazing tune!

The Mystery of "The Loiterer"- Part 1

So one day I was having lunch with my friend Nadia at the Emirates Towers when she, in an unusually excited tone (seriously, nothing excites this girl), turned to her husband and said, "Oh look! It's 'The Loiterer' again!" "Who?" I must have asked, as I was then told of the tale of the Mystery Man at the Emirates Towers- The Loiterer.

The Loiterer walks the passages of the Emirates Towers (shopping boulevard only) always wearing very interesting clothes- once in a powder blue jacket, often with a cravat around his neck, and I believe has even been spotted with red trousers on (or was that a jacket? You get the point- he wears red). He shops alone. He eats alone. He's almost always alone, and he's almost always at the Emirates Towers. Nadia's husband works at the Office Towers there and comes down to take a stroll or have lunch almost every day- and there is The Loiterer, loitering or eating or shopping, alone, almost every single day. He thought nothing of it, till his wife noticed that even during her shopping excursions, at work hours during the middle of the day, The Loiterer would be there, Armani and YSL shopping-bag laden hands, alone. Once this story of The Loiterer had been told to me, I too spotted him at every visit there, and shared in their fascination of wanting to know more about the man. Once Masood (husband of Nadia) spotted him chatting with the Manager of Patchi, and we were so excited to have some clue about him, we jumped the gun and assumed he was the Heir to a large Chocolate Empire. That thought too didn't quite add up as Mr Patchi (if there is such a person) would have hundreds of retail outlets all over the Gulf, and why would Junior Mr Patchi (who looks like he's in his mid-forties) be loitering around one of their smaller stores in Dubai? Another evening while at drinks at Cin Cin at the Fairmont, Nadia and I spotted him and were so excited to see him with friends, we struggled to contain our excitement and kept ourselves from going and giving him a hug and telling him how proud we were of him for having learnt to mingle. Yet, the mystery of The Loiterer continued, and Nadia and I had many an angry word with Masood who, in ordinary circumstances, could strike up a conversation with a fly (and I mean that in the best possible way). Yet, his friendly demeanor somehow never extended to The Loiterer.

I left town in Late January this year and was in the US for approximately a month and a half, and Nadia was in and out of town that entire period herself. On returning, I made a few trips to Emirates Towers and was very upset to find The Loiterer had gone missing. A few weeks later when Nadia was back, she confirmed my worst fears- he was nowhere to be found, and we assumed the recession had affected whatever business he was in (Loitering/Chocolate Empire/whatever else) and he had upped and moved. We mourned his loss and remembered him fondly on dark nights.. especially when Grey Goose was involved.

Last night I went with a few friends for drinks to Cin Cin and then headed down to check out Cavalli Club (yes, I'm a loser and had never been). (Note: For those who haven't either, think large, tacky Vegas strip club meets Disney World's  Haunted House ride, minus the strippers or Mickey). A few hours of much fun and copious amounts of Ciroc later, the sea of mainly hookers parted, and Lo and behold! I spotted the mystery that is The Loiterer. Dressed smartly, sweating it out in a white jacket, stood the man himself, sipping on his drink, alone in the mela that is Cavalli. I turned to my friend and insisted (read: begged) for him to strike up a conversation with the man and put us out of our misery. After much coaxing (read: pleading) my friend finally went up to The Loiterer and struck up a conversation with him. He returned, five minutes later, with not too much info, but with one part of our mystery solved- What The Loiterer did for a living.        ...To be Continued...

What is your top guess for The Loiterer's "occupation"?

CLICK HERE FOR PART 2- http://www.kiranscorner.com/2010/04/mystery-of-loiterer-continues-part-2.html

Talk about a tantalizing visual!

Peony flower / timelapse from munich timelapse on Vimeo.

The Blog Corner presents WishWishWish

I don't exactly remember how I stumbled upon www.wishwishwish.net, but I'm glad I did. The gorgeous 19 year old Carrie, has an eye for design, a love for vintage, a real talent for blogging and taking pictures, and a sense of self way beyond her youthful years. While I guess WIsh Wish Wish would classify as a fashion blog, it really is so much more. There are gorgeous vintage-y pictures, ideas on places to go shop, a couple of how-to's (like how to make a hollow book treasure box) and did I mention the gorgeous vintage-y pictures? She has supplemented these pictures with breath-taking videos that are shot by her live-in boyfriend Miguel (whom she has been dating for four years now) that look like they're a film reel for a French Perfume Ad.

If you're thinking, "Really?? What could a 19 year old old have to blog about that could possibly be of interest to me?" I dare you to take a look and find out. You'll be glad you did.

(Image taken from a blog post at WishWishWish)

Chintu and my Canon 5d Mark II

Guess who crawled into bed with me this morning?
I'm LOVING my new Camera!!!

Creator of Kiran's Corner Avatar and Logo

All my friends have absolutely been LOVING the new look of my blog! I thought it only fair to not hog all the credit, and hand some of it back to the person who is responsible for creating the header and logo of "Kiran's Corner." This pretty young girl pictured above, Anoushka Valrani, is a new import to Dubai, as she has recently married and moved here a little over a year back. I was looking for someone to create a cool header for my blog (my own photoshop creation with my face on it was just not doing it for me!) and I wanted someone talented and fun, who could really understand and represent my style.. and Me. My friend Tehzeeb suggested I meet Anoushka, and I'm so glad she did. She understood exactly what I wanted, gave me a few suggestions, kept changing it till I was happy and then kept changing that till SHE was happy. Even now, she sends me emails to change around stuff, like the image I'd put up on my Facebook Fan Page. She is an extremely talented Illustrator who has worked for the likes of Disney, and has recently collaborated on an effort to create a childrens book based on Sammy the Whale Shark (who apparently has been either freed, is missing or...)
She is fabulous to work with and is super talented (as you can see from her creations for me) and without me asking for it, designed this gorgeous logo to bring my "spiritual element" into the header. She also does not know I'm going to be posting anything on her, so it's not a case of quid pro quo or anything... although, for the level of detailing she goes into, she is very reasonably priced.

To contact Anoushka for any Freelance work, you can get in touch with her at kharees@gmail.com

Latest Toy- Canon 5d Mark II

It doesn't hurt to hand over one toy (the Olympus EP2) when you have a bigger, more interesting, and unfortunately much more expensive toy to play with! Last month, in my pre-blogging days, I had tested out the Canon 5d Mark II and absolutely fell in love with the camera. I had done a lot of research on my favourite photographers in the blogging world, and the one thing The Sartorialist , Garance Dore and The Photodiarist had in common, was the 5d. Now while an amazing camera does not an amazing photographer make, it really can't hurt, and I've found a great lens matters much more than the camera it's fitted on. The quality and clarity of the Canon L lenses made me want to happily sell my Nikon D90 and make the jump over to the dark side.. or lighter side, depending on where you're standing and your ISO settings. The 5d is a little too professional for my needs, but I figured it would force me to pick up the pace on my learning curve if I wanted to get the most out of it. So, with my wallet a little lighter, I'll be leaving the office today a little happier, with my 5d on my arm and a smile on my face :)

The Canon 5d Mark II is available at the Jumbo Outlet in the Mall of the Emirates 

Elle Arabia- 1st Issue!

Elle Magazine launched their first ever "Arab World" issue in English this April. I was quite excited to see yet another International magazine gracing our local magazine stands, till I noticed who was on the cover. Freida Pinto??? Really??? My mum's secretary said it best when she described her as a "Sandra from Bandra!" For the non-Indians, or non-Bomayites for that matter, who don't know what that means, you just need to know this- it's not a good thing.

Otherwise the magazine is not bad, but I've definitely seen better. Give me a Harper's Bazaar, Grazia or Viva to flip through any day. All of them should take a page out of Vogue India's book  magazine though. That's real local content with International standards, done right!

"Life attracts Life"- The Alchemist

"Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure. You have to find the treasure, so that everything you have learned along the way can make sense."
Ever feel like you are in direct communication with the Universe? I love love LOVE Paulo Coelho, and the above quote is actually my all time favourite EVER. Like the quote in the title, it is also taken from 'The Alchemist' by Coelho. I picked up his latest book, "Inspirations" (a selection of others' works) from Borders the other day, and have been reading it over the past 2 days. I wanted to get a bit more into it before I could write a review on it and so I read a bit before bed last night, and intended to carry it with me to the salon this morning. The parlour close to my house has shut down for renovations, so I decided to try one out five minutes away. I went in and as I was tilting my head back to get my hair washed in the basin, a girl standing next to me, chatting with her friend seated beside me, immediately spotted at my book and asked to have a look at it. From the way her eyes lit up on seeing it, I gauged she must, like me, love Coelho and his work. We exchanged a few words on where I got the book from and I wanted to advise her to pick up his biography (I mention it here) so I asked her, "Are you a fan of his?" She simply replied, "No, I'm his agent." I cannot explain how shocked and excited I was on hearing that! Talk about being at the right place at the right time! She was a sweetheart and promised to make me meet him the next time he is in town. I can't wait!! Readers, watch this space!

Back to "Inspirations,"it is actually a lovely book that has excerpts from other classics, and makes for a very interesting read. Some of the classics I haven't read before and know I'm going to want to pick up after this book, "Tales from the Thousand and One nights" being one of them. There is an excerpt from the Rig Veda, Lady Chatterly's Lover, Frankenstein and a poem by Rabindranath Tagore in there. Hardly a collection of works you'd ever even think to find bound together! Makes for very interesting reading.

Available at Borders in Oasis Center

PS: While meeting Paulo Coelho would be great and all, it's been my life long DREAM to meet Vikram Seth, authour of "A Suitable Boy." If anyone knows him, or knows someone who knows him or knows the lady who is the aunt of his niece's dog-walker, PLEASE hook it up!

EP2 at the Le Reve gym, Dubai

I stayed back for 10 minutes after the gym yesterday, to take pictures of the Spa area outside. As serene and beautiful as it is, the light there is very dim, and is an excellent place to test out a camera. As you can see for yourself, my Olympus EP2 gave me gorgeous shots even with the low light and have not been retouched in any way. If anything, their quality is lower than the originals due to the uploading.It hurts me to hand this camera over :(

Grazia Style Awards 2010

Have you voted yet? Click here to vote!

Here are my picks for the best in fashion, 2010!

Best Boutique- Soiree (naturally!)

Best multi-brand store- Boutique 1 (am loving their new website by the way- see it here!

Best Department Store- Debenhams

Best shopping experience- Dubai Mall (have you checked out both my stores there? The Sony store and   Jumbo Unwired are great places to shop at!)

Best Shop to spend Dhs 500-Zara

Best Shop to spend Dhs 1.500- DKNY for lack of a better choice. I'd rather save my money!

Best Jewelry Brand- Bulgari.. but I wish they'd had Theo Fennell in the list

Best Regional Designer- Ayesha Depala all the way!

Best International Designer- Lanvin

Best accessory Designer- Chanel

Best shoe Designer- Giuseppe Zanotti

Best Grazia Insider Value for Money- I put Topshop, but I really don't know what the question means!

Best Window Display- S*uce


Who are you voting for??

Loving the Olympus EP2!

Am absolutely loving playing with this camera. Not only are the quality of the pictures great, the art effects are amazing! Here are some quick shots I took with a few of  the effects, with my dog Chintu as my model. How gorgeous are the pictures, and how CUTE is he??

Here is the Pop Art effect:

Then there is the soft focus effect which makes Chintu look dewy.. like he was photographed by Indian photographer Gautam Rajadhyaksha

Here is the Cross Process Filter:

And the Pin hole camera effect:

And gritty black and white:

For those who don't know what the EP2 is, it's a micro-four thirds camera by Olympus. It basically is a new form of camera that is slightly bigger than a point and shoot (regular camera that as the name suggests, you use to point and.. well.. shoot!) and smaller than an SLR (one of the large clunky cameras photographers carry). You can interchange lenses with this camera like in an SLR, but the entire package is a lot smaller and lighter, while giving you the same image quality as in an entry level SLR.

I also took some pictures of the reception area of my gym today, to show how well the camera performs in low light. I'm supposed to actually give the camera back after playing around with it, and was telling my secretary, I'm going to hate seeing it go. Am very tempted into buying and keeping it, for the occasions I don't want to lug an SLR but still want great quality shots. Will keep you posted on what I decide!

The Olympus EP2 is available at the Jumbo store in Mall of the Emirates only

Profile on Soniyaa Punjabi of Illuminations

"It is better to be beautiful than to be good, but it is better to be good than to be ugly," said the famous poet Oscar Wilde on the subject of beauty. "Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder," is another famous saying on the subject. And of course, "beauty is only skin deep." Each of these sayings suggest beauty is either a virtue possessed from within, or an eye pleasing outward manifestation of the physical form- hardly ever both. Anyone who knows Soniyaa Punjabi will agree with me, she completely defies this logic.

Soniyaa is gorgeous. Not just, "pretty girl" gorgeous, but Bollywood movie-star gorgeous. In fact, had life not had other plans for her, that is exactly where we might have seen her- on the silver screen. When Soniyaa graduated from studying Visual Communications at college in London, she moved to India to pursue her dreams of being a Bollywood starlet and a model. It is ironically there that she found Yuvraj Kapadia who introduced her to the world of spirituality and Hypnotherapy, and her life has since, never been the same. Instead of being found on the big screen, Soniyaa can now be found leading meditations, teaching Hypnotherapy or organizing Spiritual events all over the UAE and Oman. She is the owner and founder of Illuminations, a company and a movement that revolves around bringing awareness and joy to people's lives.

My own spiritual journey would not have begun if it wasn't for Soniyaa and Illuminations. Having wondered about the presence and role of God, Karma, past lives, astrology, angels, etc, almost all my life, I had become a voracious reader on the subject, and was looking for answers to my questions that would make sense to me. I met Yuvraj through Soniyaa a few days before my twenty-eight birthday, and as had been predicted by uber-astrologer Suneeta Mennon, a birthday that would represent a major turning point in my life. Our meeting lasted a little over an hour, during which Yuvraj was be able to satisfactorily answer all my questions using science to draw that fine line between fact and popular fiction. While Yuvraj and his wife, Neeta, would return to Dubai every now and then to conduct therapies and workshops on the subject, it was Soniyaa I turned to for guidance and understanding in their absence. A strange occurrence considering, up until then, I viewed her just as being my good friend Aarti's younger (and spoilt) sister.

Soniyaa's name made regular appearances in my Khaleej Times column, as I'd often quote her views on life or small tidbits of advice she had for me. That's the type of friend she is- the one that cares, listens, empathizes and then imparts tiny nuggets of wisdom you can then incorporate in your life... if you so choose. It is not uncommon for Soniyaa to incorporate spirituality into absolutely EVERYTHING in her life, which can be extremely frustrating for some people (ie: Me!). Having a particularly stressful day? Expect Soniyaa to turn to you and ask, "Ask yourself, why are you attracting this?" Nervous about something? "Don't operate out of fear!"  Just the other day I was poking fun at her about an incident that occured in her younger (and more naive) days when she had just been bitten by the spirituality bug. After a few drinks at dinner I was not very happy to find her getting behind the wheel of her car. "Don't worry! My angels will protect me!" was her curious (and frustrating) response. While she's definitely learnt the difference between right action and faith over the years, she has continued to stay on track and bring so much change to the lives of so many people. I've been so fortunate to watch her come into her own and explore the beauty of the Universe, while herself growing more and more beautiful every day- both, inside and out.

- The incident which has had the biggest impact on my life has been... Perhaps when Ali, one of my closest friends in London at the time passed away in a car accident when we were 19 years old. It brought a lot of questions to my mind about life, death the afterlife, past lives. It made me realize how short life really is despite the illusion of permanency we live in by fighting, living in fear and holding on to so many things. His death triggered me to look for answers beyond what we understand in the physical world. I never really got to say goodbye to him, but if I had the chance I would like to thank him for this gift because that is how I began my spiritual journey. 

- The person living, dead or imaginary I'd like to have dinner with is... My future loving husband… :)

- I'd take him/her/it to dinner to... my house to meet my mother so she can stop worrying! My mom always feels that I am too self involved and too career oriented, and I know settling down would make her the most happiest person in the world. I would love to give that to her and of course for me too!!  

- My definition of God is… Everything which is removed from fear…it then allows divinity to shine through every person, place and object! 

- The one aspect of my life which Spirituality has not affected is... my ability to sometimes behave like a brat with my family, or my annoyance at having to share my things with my sister/brother, when they have always been so kind, loving and generous towards me! Not very spiritual of meL but in my defense I am the baby of my family.  

- The most defining moment of my journey in this "work" has been... Every time I have been able to face my greatest fears in situations where I have come out a much stronger, wiser person. For those who know me well, have also known that many times I have allowed a stammering issue that I was born with to define me. Therefore I would use it as an excuse to limit me or hold me back mainly in the area of my work. When it comes to everything else, I act like star!

However, the though of speaking in front of so many people, is probably what scared me the most! So when I gave my first awareness talk in front of 40 people, or when I taught my first hypnotherapy course, and most recently when I was sitting in the private reserve of the six senses in Oman, about to address a group of  40 corporate men from all over the world, I had prayed harder and meditated most sincerely then I have ever done in my life! This was also at a time when I was questioning whether this work with all the drama that I had gone through in the last one year was even right for me. All of a sudden there was a wave of strength that came over me and I went up there to give the best workshop I have ever done. At that moment, with deep gratitude, I knew that I owed this sense of accomplishment at having coming this far despite so many challenges, to this “work”. It was quite a dramatic moment with the sea breeze hitting my face, this lovely yellow butterfly fluttering around me against the beautiful rustic background.

People may define spirituality or holistic healing as a tool which can heal all diseases, levitate, or perhaps a route to enlightenment. I cannot comment about all of the above since I am still apprehensive about my stammering once in a while, I still act like a bit of a brat and I cant move objects with the power of my mind. Forget that, I cant even use the power of my mind to stop me from eating chocolate cake :)

For me spirituality and all the tools I have experienced, has helped strengthen me at the very core of my being, by establishing a deep connection with the divine, and the confidence of knowing that everything that’s happening in my life right now is happening through divine sanction. And most importantly, the power of self love, self belief and self awareness.

So that I can look myself in the mirror every morning and say, SONIYAA YOU ARE DESTINED FOR GREATNESS!   

To know more about Soniyaa and Illuminations, go to www.illuminationsworld.com
Also, don't miss the opportunity to hear Dr Yuvraj Kapadia speak in Dubai at "The Awakening"- A talk on the 27th of April at MOE. Email info@illuminationsworld.com for more info.