Artist Aloud Music Awards 2015: Hungama Maangta Hai!

Music they say transcends beyond boundaries, compartments and horizons. India is renowned worldwide not only for the diversity in its languages, customs and cultures but also the immense plethora of talent you’ll find in India. And not just in its roots, but Indians have performed exemplarily in the various forms of associations and fusions too.

In order to celebrate this community especially the independent and underground artists, Artistaloud.com initiated the Artist Aloud Music Awards in 2010. Interestingly, it is an online voting forum where listeners can log in and then listen to their favourite artists as well as explore new artists not only Indian but artists from the global platform.

This year will see the fourth edition of the Artist Aloud Music Awards sponsored by Hungama and public voting is on till the 6^th of May, 2015 respectively at the website itself. It is interesting to see the likes of popular artists such as Shreya Ghoshal, Shankar Mahadevan, Honey Singh and Raghav Sachar alongside superbly talented artists.

There are various genres of music such as Pop, Rock, Fusion and Global Music. Further, there are various sub-categories for each such as Best Song, Best Female artist, Best Male artist and Best Group respectively. 

In the Pop category, my favourite artists are Shankar Mahadevan, Raghav Sachar, Sayani Palit, Bharat Leppard, Itida, Ninad Mulaokar,  Ranajoy and Soulsmiths. You’ll be amused to note, television actors like Rajev Paul and Veena Malik have also been nominated in the categories.

In the Rock category, I liked Wine Stains ( love the name as well as the name of their song, Kiss My Ass and say Goodbye :P ), John Mpamei, Sheldon Pereira and Parikrama among others.

Fusion is my most favourite category and I personally feel that fusion represents talent in the most extraordinaire manner. Shruti Pathak, Viraj Bahri, Lalitya Munshaw, Rimita (love the folk fusion) are some awesome artists in this category. The semi-classical and South Indian tracks are quite transient too! The international artists have conjured up some interesting fusion tracks too! Do have a look for sure!

Last but not the least is the Global music. The mixes and globalised conceptions are out of this world! Tagore Trance, Helge Krabye, Abiogenesis, Ed Degenario, Utsav Dan and Topshe are some of my favorites from this category!

Call me biased but I am suppressing this proud smile of witnessing such awesome Bengali music being created and felicitated.  I am one of those few people who manage to hum along music and one of the rare Bengalis who isn’t trained in music but have a knack for music.

I think Artist Aloud is a wonderful platform. I wish more and more people listen to these amazing artists! I have voted for my favourite artists. Hop in to artistaloud.com/aama now and vote!

 May the best rhythm win and let music take over! Make music quit war!

ZOVI Hai, Sahi Hai !

Here here here! Let us all take this moment to appreciate the transitions in Nature we are often too busy to explore! And while the moms and grannies are busy washing and drying off the winter clothes and the fathers and grandpas are busy packing ‘em all up on the top most shelf of our closets, it is that time of the year when we let our skin breathe and look breath-taking of course!

Which simply means… MORE SHOPPING!

Considering the internet boom we’re all experiencing, buying clothes online is the trend of the day. This is most definitely a welcome break-away from the taboos and negatives assumptions we’ve held about getting the right size, the right material and the issues about how real really can the virtual diaspora get?

The answer lays in the wind my friend.

Online shopping is no more the future of internet but rather the very present! And if you happen to visit good websites then the measurements, the money backs and the materials are all for you to choose from. It gets as real as it would be in real. I was provided an opportunity to visit one such website called ZOVI ,  addressed at www.zovi.com and was asked to choose my summer/spring look from their collection.

I’ve always believed in the spirit of fashion than fashion in its magazine covers and paraphernalia of what is in and what is not. Beauty is what you feel and when you express that beauty with the poise and comfort that you feel within, that is my sense of the word FASHION.

THE WOMEN’S COLLECTION

As I strolled through the women’s section first, what caught my eye is how ZOVI has kept the Indian working woman in mind while putting forth their collection. From a collection of kurtis and leggings to formal shirts and trousers and the informal shirts and tees and jeans, cotton pants and skirts, the website is splashed with the zest for life and reflections of the youth.

 Some features that you'll love about the website:

Measurement concerns:

We've all had those moments of anxiety when we've looked at a dress online and were unsure of whether it'll fit us right or not! But here's one such problem, busted and away!

Ease of access: everything is detailed and moving from one product to another or from product to cart and back, is all very simple.

Sidebar to shortcut: There is a sidebar which can help you filter out to your specific search in a few clicks. Such specifications help in saving a lot of time.

Drag and Select to view later: One can drag his/her choice of clothes and accessories to a window down below and can then look at the shortlisted items. This helps in choosing an entire ensemble at great ease.

 P.S. Found this really pretty dress in there too. But I added it to my wishlist because I want to fit in an M and not buy an L. Hence, I'm all up for losing a few inches! But you must check this out fast before it goes out of stock!

THE MEN’S COLLECTION

The Men’s collection is even more vibrant I feel, contrary to what most fashion trends boast of- How fashion is mostly for the womenfolk. I completely disagree and ZOVI seems to agree with me on this! You have to check out the beautiful splash of colors available for the men’s collection-be it linen semi-formal shirts or the formal cotton ones, the khakis and the suede trousers, the peach and navy blues, all immaculately displayed.

 In absolute love with the ZOVI linen and cotton shirts collection. My favorites would be:

I love how spring and summers represent a plethora of colors. Then why must girls have all the fun? :) Men have a whole lot to choose from!

Why just western and formal/semi-formal wear? Time to be Indian, the Zovi Way! Look at the beautiful kurtas that can make anyone look handsome paired with casual jeans or even churidar-pyjamas!

WHITE PYJAMAS

OFF-WHITE PYJAMAS

There are size options for men too.

FOOTWEAR
Interestingly, even the footwear has a lot of variety for men as well as women! Here's a sneak peak!

On that note, let me flaunt some of the amazing stuff I bought from the Zovi website and let me remind you… When it comes to beauty, let size not dominate your sense of fashion. Fashion is what you construe, not what the world defines for you.

This was super fun and I am sure with exclusive features such as

Shopping at Zovi has become super comfortable and of course, super fun!

What's more... the order was delivered to me in 2 days! Isn't that awesome?

Hope you liked my choices and I insist that you guys explore the website. Check out the amazing ongoing discounts and let me know if I must pick something I may have missed! Love the weather and love yourselves!

GO SPLURGE ladies and gentlemen!

This blog post is initiated for the #BlogForZovi campaign and the views, images and opinions expressed above are entirely personal. All the images are lyperlinked to their respective ZOVI links so that you can directly go and buy them! Click on the images to visit the online store!

For more offers and information, do visit ZOVI at www.zovi.com