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Items in ‘24/7 Talk is Cheap – The Blog’

Asema Ahmed, Wizard of Weddings

By Lavina Melwani • Aug 31st, 2010 • Category: 24/7 Talk is Cheap - The Blog

For all those hankering for details about the Chelsea Clinton wedding – at least one cat is out of the bag! We can say with definite authority that the linens at the wedding of the year were designed by Asema Ahmed’s Magnolias Linens.

Indeed, Middle Eastern royals, Hollywood stars and blue blooded society princesses have all turned to Asema when they need some high drama in their lives, be it a glittering wedding or a black tie gala.



Saran Kohli: Fashion That Rocks

By Lavina Melwani • Aug 31st, 2010 • Category: 24/7 Talk is Cheap - The Blog

He’s designed togs for Jay Sean, Fugitive, Mumzy Stranger, Juggy D, Ameet Chana, Bikram Singh and several other musicians and actors. Now he’s designing for the new film ‘London Town’ and soon the staff of Bloombury Hotel in London will be wearing uniforms styled by him.

Meet Saran Kohli, 24, a fashion designer from London who translates musicality into a fashion statement with an urban collection of menswear launching in New York.



Unemployed Engineers – Does Age Matter?

By Vivek Wadhwa • Aug 29th, 2010 • Category: 24/7 Talk is Cheap - The Blog

“The harsh reality is that in the tech world, companies prefer to hire young, inexperienced, engineers. And engineering is an “up or out” profession: you either move up the ladder or face unemployment. This is not something that tech executives publicly admit, because they fear being sued for age discrimination, but everyone knows that this is the way things are.”



Ayurveda – an American Story

By Lavina Melwani • Aug 27th, 2010 • Category: 24/7 Talk is Cheap - The Blog

Will students be heading to American universities to get their degrees as Ayurvedic doctors? Will patients seek out practitioners of this 5000 year old system of medicine from India when next they have health problems? And will Ayurveda form the basis for new health and beauty products, even of restaurant menus, in the US?



In Dharavi Slums, A Stranger Discovers Truths…

By Alex White Mazzarella • Aug 25th, 2010 • Category: 24/7 Talk is Cheap - The Blog

GUEST BLOG by Alex White Mazzarella
“It’s occurred to me that the way we measure what people want and need to be happy, healthy and fruitful is relative to the context and messages our world delivers to us. But one thing seems certain to me, and that is that people who live as part of a genuine community larger than themselves can identify their individual humanity.”



Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai Rises Again

By Lavina Melwani • Aug 24th, 2010 • Category: 24/7 Talk is Cheap - The Blog

For all those who sat horrified and heavy-hearted as the terrorist drama unfolded on television, watching firsthand the destruction of the iconic Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai, there is good news: you just can’t keep a good hotel down. The Taj is resilient – no doubt about it. This Independence Day, the 100 year old hotel is back in business with a beautifully restored wing.



‘Hiding Divya’ Stirs Up a Taboo Topic

By Lavina Melwani • Aug 18th, 2010 • Category: 24/7 Talk is Cheap - The Blog

‘Hiding Divya’ is a provocative Indie film which takes on hard issues – and delivers. Mental illness is a taboo word in the Indian-American community – it’s about loss of face, ‘bad blood’ and failure – and is often kept under wraps. Filmmakers Rehana Mirza & Rohi Mirza Pandya get the dialogue going…
Above: Pooja Kumar and Madhur Jaffrey in ‘Hiding Divya’
WATCH THE VIDEO



The Software Patent Wars

By Vivek Wadhwa • Aug 7th, 2010 • Category: 24/7 Talk is Cheap - The Blog

Software patents are just nuclear weapons in an arms race. They don’t foster innovation, they inhibit it. That’s because things change rapidly in this industry. Speed and technological obsolescence are the only protections that matter. Fledgling startups have to worry more about some big player or patent troll pulling out a big gun and bankrupting them with a frivolous lawsuit than they do about someone stealing their ideas.



Wisdom from the Chocolate Gurus

By Lavina Melwani • Aug 4th, 2010 • Category: 24/7 Talk is Cheap - The Blog, The Buzz

Forget the Vedas, forget the Bible, now we are getting infinite wisdom from chocolate wrappers! When did we start consulting our chocolates for knowledge about life and living?



Good Food In Bad Times

By Lavina Melwani • Aug 4th, 2010 • Category: 24/7 Talk is Cheap - The Blog

In a bad economy such as here and now, it helps to have always been creative with very little. Every day at lunch break at the Convent of Jesus and Mary School in Delhi, India, hordes of ink-stained white-uniformed schoolgirls would surround me, salivating for a taste of my home-made lunch: aam ke achaar ke sandwiches.