Priyanka Joshi-Navneet, owner of Foot Fetish

If your heart goes pitty-pat upon spotting the most adorable pair of footwear, then Priyanka Joshi-Navneet should become your new best friend. This chirpy, spunky Chennai lass is making the womenfolk fall in love with traditional Indian foot gear, ie, kolhapuris and mojris, all over again. Foot Fetish, her brand of inexpensive and uber attractive footwear, is reaffirming the belief that old school IS new school – and how!

Lest the thought of ‘kolhapuri’ bring to mind the bland yellowish slippers, please, clear your mind’s eye and take a gander at some of Priyanka’s wares. Pretty pinks, glorious reds, cool greens, electric blues, sparkling jewel tones… her kolhapuris taken on such ravishing avatars that you cannot see yourself buying any other kind of footwear from now on. Why would you when you have the blend of traditional and sexy in such wallet-friendly prices?

The colourful range of Kolhapuris

“Stylish, Casual, Comfortable footwear for any and every occasion” is the brand’s motto and I have to say, that is spot on. Priyanka’s Kolhapuris are so comfortable that I often forget I have them on! Kolhapuris also have the unique advantage of suiting saris, salwar-kameezes AND jeans. And – this is the biggest plus – for the vertically challenged, Priyanka also sells these delectable goodies with square heels that make you stand tall and proud! Foot Fetish also has an extensive collection of camel-leather mojris as well as kolhapuris in wedge heels. More awesomeness is around the corner, she assures me, even as I go into paroxysms of glee upon catching sight of a nifty off-white, wedge-heeled number.

Even as I eye a pair of kolhapuris in pale pink, I cannot resist wondering what made Priyanka start this venture. Why Foot Fetish? I ask.

“To keep myself occupied, primarily. When I was living and working in Dubai, I had full 12 hour work days or maybe even more, on certain days. When I moved to Chennai last year, I was conscious to keep myself occupied: moving to a new place without knowing anyone can be a bit depressing. To add to that, no work or interaction with colleagues / peers / like minded people can get to you… and lastly, I wanted to challenge myself and do something I’ve never done before i.e., try my hand at entrepreneurship. While I was keen to start working, I was also conscious not overdo it as it (Chennai) was a new place. So getting to know the city, setting up the household and learning the language or at least the basics, were more of a priority. With all this, there was a part of me that also wanted to take a break as I’ve worked for nearly 9-10years. I did want to have some free time for myself and enjoy it. The opportunity of starting a home business seemed very possible and practical to me.”

Blingingly beautiful - customised with crystals for a client!

And the reason behind going with some as mundane as Kolhapuris? “Well, those are the ones that I wear regularly,” she says. When she moved to Chennai from Dubai barely a year back, she really missed buying her favourite kolhapuris of good quality. Spotting a gap in the market, she jumped in, put her own spin on it and came up with Foot Fetish. She sources the items directly from a supplier in Kolhapur. “I work with him closely – we create new dye colours and styles like the wedges.”

Marrying a Kolhapuri with a Wedge Heel

She loves meeting people and having a home business makes it easy for her to strike a great work-life balance. Being a people person, she prefers her customers to drop in personally. Whilst she delivers for out of town clients, she doesn’t deliver in Chennai as she feels meeting her customers helps her understand their preferences better. Thanks to Facebook, she has a strong online presence which helps interacting with potential customers and advertising her wares quite easy. Her customers make appointments to drop in at her gorgeous home and leave with a bagful of shoes, wrapped up in the equally gorgeous Foot Fetish signature bags. What could be more fun?

“A high tea!” she laughs. Come May 4, Priyanka will host a high tea evening at her home, for friends and prospective customers. Warm summer evening, a bunch of women, finger foods, hot beverages and a whole lot of footwear – as if this wasn’t a potent enough mix, a dress designer friend of Priyanka’s has also been roped in, to display her gear and tempt the assembled. As far as ideas go, this one is a winner!

What’s next, for Priyanka and Foot Fetish?

“I aim to continue the same way and will probably work on some more styles”, says Priyanka. “I want to extend my reach by supplying to stores. Right now it is available in all the Taj Hotels and Hilton.” She also has couple of things brewing, which can only mean exciting times ahead!

All the best, Priyanka! May be it is time you started issuing  Loyalty Cards!

If you are interested in buying Foot Fetish products, join the Facebook group for the brand. You can contact Priyanka personally through the page.

Past year has brought many upheavals to my family, chiefly because of The Move. After living abroad for 10 long years, we packed our bags and moved to Chennai last summer. My two children, 10 and 3.5, have been coming to grips with the various quirks that are to be found in the city, as to be expected. But, one thing I underestimated badly was the degree with which the aspect of child safety – both physical and personal – will be altered. I had had to re-educate my two on everything, from crossing the road to stranger awareness.

I look back and realise I had it easy in England. Practically everyone was a stranger – the circle of familiars was select and finite so the children knew who their friends were and who weren’t, so telling them to be wary of new people was as simple as stating “don’t accept sweets from strangers”. Not so anymore. For one, no one respects personal space. So anyone can just walk up to your children, pinch their cheeks, offer them sweets and call them ‘baby’ or ‘cutie’. The first time this happened, it shook my son greatly and he still isn’t comfortable around new people, especially those that call him ‘baby’.

Secondly, you just don’t know anymore what is going to hit you next, from which direction. Recently, on a family trip to Auroville, my niece, who’s this chubby, effervescent 7-year-old, found herself to be the object of a stranger’s attention. Here she was, sitting surrounded by her family and suddenly, this 20+ year old man plonked himself next to her, put his arms on her shoulder and asked her own uncle, quite earnestly, if he could get his picture taken with her!

And – this, in my mind is the worst bit – the regular folk are so unaware of the sleaze that my mother-in-law found his request quite innocent and just took it as an acknowledgement of her grand daughter’s vivacity!

With smartphones and cameras in the most basic of phones, it doesn’t take much for someone to whip out their phone and invade our children’s privacy. Creeps are everywhere and our children are like bright morsels of candy to them. So please let us be aware of them at all times. Let everyone adapt a ‘no touch’ policy and make it easy for our children to understand what is not okay.

Similarly, let them reciprocate the favour – they may not touch or pinch anyone themselves, even in retaliation. It isn’t enough anymore to just teach our children how to defend themselves – we must teach them how not to offend too!

Visit the CSA-AM 2012 website for more insightful articles and advice

My precious! Image courtesy Pradeep Kallayil

This post is mainly for those that think that Chennai is dead as far as fashion or shopping is concerned. Let me tell you – I thought so too! (Please don’t shoot me!) I mean, I love my city and all that but we don’t have a Linking Road or Dilli Haat to slake our shopping lust.

Well, recently a whole bunch of events took place that made me change my idea about the local shopping scene – this is also the reason why my wallet has gone on a permanent diet. I was inducted into a Facebook group for fellow shopping aficionados and from a bunch of women gabbing about their idiot tailor and the newly opened jewelery store near their workplace, the thing just exploded into a 4000+ strong group of people, all with Shopping as their middle name. Some of them, in fact, were bright young things that had decided to do little bit more than just talk the talk and open boutiques offering interesting wares, either in a proper store format or from the comfort of their own homes. Great or what?

So, in the spirit of Chennai, I will feature one such bright spark fortnightly. If you are coming to the city on a visit or you are a resident, sit back and watch me unearth some gems just for you.

Aren’t I nice?

A Chimp at Vandalur Zoo

Often, it is the spur of the moment plans that really work out when well drafted ones fall by the wayside. Thus, a chance remark: “shall we go to the zoo tomorrow?” led to a day trip that was throughly enjoyed by the children. My 9 year old cousin and P’s bum chum was also drafted in for the same and off we all went to Vandalur zoo (or Arignar Anna Zoological Park, to give its proper name), some 31 kilometres away on a rather hot Saturday morning.

As it has been years since any of us adults had been to the zoo here, we were as excited as the children. The entrance fee was pretty nominal at Rs 20 for adults and Rs 10 for children. The zoo authorities, in their bid to reduce on plastic refuse, were making the patrons throw away any ready-packed snack items and were providing old newspapers in which one could repack the same. An excellent idea, we thought, as we proceeded to roll our Krackjacks into the paper cones. As we walked in, we were talking about when was the last time we visited the zoo and how it has changed since then.

I really couldn’t remember when I was there last but I could remember far fewer trees and dirt tracks, instead of the leafy trees of today that lined the neatly paved roads, which made walking around on a hot sunny day much less strenuous. For those that find it difficult to walk the 3-odd kilometres, there are battery-powered vehicles and eco-friendly cycles for hire, again for a very nominal cost. But typically, the demand far exceeded the supply and there were long queues for both and we decided to just walk slowly.

Once the children saw their first monkey, the “waah we want a cycle” chant was forgotten. The white tigers cage and the lion enclosure were closed for maintenance but enough and more monkeys, a variety of birds, hippos, bears, otters, crocs, snakes, tigers, panthers, elephants, giraffe, zebra and even a ‘jaguvar’ (sic) awaited their pleasure and they came to a halt in front of the aquarium, bone tired but sated. They wolfed down their lunch, reciting tales of bravado: “did you see the size of the tiger?” “I saw the tail of the lion – it was orange!” and other tall tales.

There are lots of shady picnic areas dotted all over the zoo area and you can make a grand day of it, packing food and having it under the trees, with elephants lumbering in the distance. There are also two snack and drinks parlours and a TTDC restaurant (located rather inconveniently near the entrance) and even a Sangeetha restaurant situated right opposite the entrance if you want to close kitchen for the day.

With the summer coming up, you’ll be wise to visit our four-legged and winged friends as soon as possible for a wallet-friendly day out with the whole family!

The march past – - or rather, the march in place – started and we could see her in the distance, still having fun, peering into the crowd to spot us. We waved to her merrily.

Next came the drill. She walked out with her colourful ring, stood in the front row.

And started bawling.

And ran to me. And that was that.

No amount of pleading or hissing, on her brother’s part, would make her budge. Still, he tried. He almost convinced her to participate and took her back to her teachers. Then they did something she hated – they dragged her by clutching her arm and set her off again. We could see her run her race, sobbing loudly. So we brought her back with us and we all watched her friends run, skip and do other assorted kiddie stuff together. After 5 minutes, when she realised she will not be compelled to run again, she was in her element. Chatting away to glory, laughing loudly and generally being a belle of the ball without actually going to the ball.

A few days later, P’s school had its Annual Day celebrations and as he was acting in the English play, we all trooped to the school to see the programmes. The Theatre Club has been practicing for weeks now and P, we knew, was a ‘Shaolin Scholar’ and as the school makes sure the dialogues are recorded before hand (to prevent having mikes and wires tripping up the children and the actors forgetting their lines on the day), he was pretty confident. The play was second in the day’s order and we watched with quiet pride as he did his bit competently. He has no stage fear – even when he was in Foundation Stage, 3 months shy of his fifth birthday, he still spoke his Nativity Play lines clearly and paced himself well so we actually understood what he was saying. No mean feat for a small child! So to see him do justice to his role — albeit, a small one — wasn’t surprising.

Afterwards, he got changed and sat down with us to watch the other programmes and was roundly teased by his sister for wearing makeup. When it was the time for Tamil dance drama ‘Meenakshi’, he suddenly burst out laughing! The character Lord Shiva entered the stage and he pointed and went: “that is a girl, Mummy! I saw them practice the other day and was shocked to see two girls getting married. Rather progressive, I thought – then I heard Girl 1 is Shiva! tee hee!”

Kids!

Kiran Manral

Unless you have been living under a virtual rock, you cannot but know that one of our own, blogger and uber Twitterer Kiran Manral, is now a published author and her first book, The Reluctant Detective, is now available in all bookstores. She is doing various book reading sessions across the country – she is at Happy Planet, Powai on 29 January and in Gurgaon on 4 February. She is also planning to come down South to Bangalore and Chennai! Before she starts whizzing around the country, she happily answers a few questions for my readers.

Read on!

First of all, congratulations! How does it feel to see your name on the spine of a book?

The second Kay story is with the editor to decide whether they want to publish it or not. I’m working on a third book which is about a young working girl in Mumbai, living alone. Also in the comic genre. And there’s a dark story about two sisters I have half written which I keep going back to, which no one I’ve shown it to likes, but which I seem compelled to keep writing.

Yes, planning to come to chennai. Dates being finalised.
All the best, Kiran! On behalf of my readers, I’d like to wish you the very best of luck and hope your book becomes a massive success!

I don’t think we have ever been the “Best Frnds 4 Eva” kinda friends. Throughout the years, we have survived growing up and the random shuffling of students that left us alone that we remained in the same class year after year. When her dad, who worked as a bank manager, got transferred in the summer hols after our VIII standard exams, we figured it was the end of things as we knew. I went with my brother to say bye to her, her younger sister and her parents and we promised to remain in touch. Little did we know that we would! We sent proper snail mails to each other regularly, month after month. It was from one of her letters I learnt the expression “in the pink of health”! We met a few times afterwards, when she came down to Chennai to visit her grandparents. Then with email and phone, we continued keeping in touch. When I got married, she travelled down from Bombay just for my reception.

Unfortunately I couldn’t go for her wedding because it was 4 days after the birth of P, in India. She then moved to US, doing a PhD and becoming a professor no less and became a mum – twice over! Throughout, we kept up with each other’s lives and finally, thanks to me living in Chennai now, our hometown and where her folks have retired to, we met each other and our children.

It was priceless, walking into her parents house, her dad telling me I look the same even as he touched my head and silently blessed me. An emotional hug with her mum. A room full of our children. Her parents telling stories from our school days. Pushing our daughters on the swing set even as we jabbered away.

Good times. Oh and as the old saying goes, old surely is gold!

Old Tamil Writing found in the Big Temple, Thanjavur

You know, when it comes down to it, so far my children have been dealing with R2I really well, if I say so myself. Despite being born and having lived abroad for most of their young lives, once transplanted into a totally different culture, they hunkered down and did their best to gel. My son doesn’t balk at using public restrooms anymore, which, in India, can only be described as a triumph! My daughter still does though and turns up her nose but will be brought around slowly.

But there were still some things beyond their scope and when the maternal half of my family decided to go on its annual temple jaunt, I decided that this was the best opportunity for them to have a taste of a life totally different to their own and signed us up. And so, in a mini van, chock full of conservative relatives and puliyodarai, we left on an early morning last week. After stopping at various temples along the way, we stopped for the night at the Andavan Ashram guest house at Oppiliappan Temple, Kumbakonam. The place was much more modern than I remembered, with proper beds and mattresses, attached baths with WCs etc but it was still basic, as per my children. M let out a squeal when I asked her to use the loo! Over the course of the following days, we ate in proper agraharam houses, simple everyday fare, seated on the floor and though my daughter was indignant at getting her dress dirty by sitting on the floor and was frankly horrified at the sight of the roach that peeked out, the response of the lady who served us our breakfast summed it up perfectly – for my son and me. “It is just part of nature, it will let you be if you let it be. What can I do about it, maami?”

The trip was an eye-opener for them and me, as last week, I was wondering why I didn’t fuss overmuch in Auroville. I realised it was for the same reason I didn’t at the Andavan Ashram. You don’t go to such places expecting the Ritz-Carlton. You go for the ethos of the place, for the atmosphere. And sometimes, they come with roaches. But as my children learnt,  just because they all don’t smell of roses, it doesn’t mean you cannot have a jolly good time. They copied their cousin when he did sashtanga namaskaram, learnt to do thoppukaranam, ate off banana leaves, watched various temple festivals, listened open-mouthed to the story of Kal Garudan, walked around centuries old temples and forts, ate prasadam without any salt in it and in short, learnt that you can have a ball just about anywhere.

Enjoyment can be found in the oddest of places, as long as you are open to it.

Sitting on a cannon