Collaborators

Anil Thakraney

Anil is the ‘non-state actor’ of the Indian media. And he’d shoot anyone if the editor is willing to pay the right price. Celebrities constitute his favourite target practice. Naturally therefore, he boasts of the dubious distinction of being the most uninvited guest at Page 3 parties. The quote he lives by: "If you can't annoy somebody, there's little point in writing."- Kingsley Amis.

Anil's blog: anilthakraneyonsunday

Ananth S Kodavasal

Trained as a Chemical Engineer from IIT Madras, specialized in Wastewater Treatment from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. I enjoy both Country music and challenges in wastewater treatment in equal measure.  Love traveling and travelogues.  Suffer from an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder to enforce discipline at work in self and others at all costs.  Currently engaged in educating the masses on the benefits of water conservation, wastewater treatment, water recycling and reuse.

Ananth’s blog: Travels of an educated engineer

Anirban Mallik

Anirban is an HR professional serving the insurance industry. He is a photographer by passion and hobby. Talk about politics and movies and you will see him delve into discussions that may want you to read a little more on your views. When he is not doing all of this, he is either wearing the chef’s hat or exploring gadgets.

Anuradha Shankar

Anu is a mom, traveller, bookworm and blogger, not necessarily in that order. Travel is her present passion, and she aims to visit as many places in India as possible in her lifetime.

Anu's blogs: A Wandering Mind, Stories For Children

Arundhati Banerjee

Arundhati is an Advertising and Media professional, a Mom and, last but not the least, a Bong foodie… no matter in what order you read. Currently, she has started her own Market Research Agency, in partnership with a friend, and finds it emotionally rewarding to work on social and developmental projects. 

Arunima Lahiri

Arunima is a mother, daughter, wife and friend in that order. She has been a communications professional for 29 years and enjoys sharing her thoughts with youngsters. After so many years of managing image for corporates she felt it was time to do so nearer home. Arunima's mission in life is to ensure that every child gets to live with dignity. It is time Indian parents realize that if you keep stacks of money for generations to come you are in reality keeping crutches handy for them. She believes that the world would have been a beautiful place to live in if there were less negative emotions. She hopes kids today understand our value system and make it part of their DNA.

Arunima Mukherjee

Arunima was born in the land of Indian music, Banaras and spent a lot of her time in the land of real scenic beauty, Dehradun. She luvs to sing and capture the nature's beauty thru her paint and brush. Currently, staying in Gurgaon and juggling between different roles of mother, wife and employee.

Gets very little time for her first luvs, painting and singing, but tries to keep the relationship going by spending some time during the weekends!

CSA Awareness

Child Sexual Abuse is a topic which is rarely discussed in India thanks to the social stigma and cultural taboos associated with it. The CSAAM April 2011 is an effort by a group of bloggers, both parents and non parents, to bring this topic to the fore, to generate discussion and awareness and remove the shroud of silence that covers it.

CSA Awareness blogs here.

Chhavi Sachdev

A background in psychology and journalism has pushed Chhavi into searching for the truth – and into multimedia journalism. Her work in print, web and radio has covered grounds (and the air) for her clients in Europe, USA and India. Chhavi now runs Sonologue, an audio production house that creates intelligent content for talk radio – for commercial FM, public radio, and podcasts, from India.

Chhavi’s website: Sonologue

Claude Renault

Although Claude obtained a degree in sculpture from Ecole des Beaux-Arts, France, his interest in photography flourished after graduating. A self-taught photographer, Renault began his career working as a corporate photographer before going freelance in 1994. In recent years, travelling to India has been his greatest inspiration. His passion for documenting the soul and colour of India through his lens is evident in every photo.

Claude’s photography can be found on Flickr and on Facebook.
 

Debashis Chatterjee

Debashis is an author (7 books on leadership), a leadership coach, and a pioneer in the field of Asian models in leadership. He has taught leadership at Harvard University and at the Indian Institutes of Management, Lucknow and Calcutta. He is currently the Director of the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode (IIMK).

Debashis’s website: debchat.

Desiree Alemao

Desiree is the archetype for the “inside woman” who doesn’t really belong. A niche she has carved for herself to protect her fiercely independent perspective of the world. Gifted at voicing the unspoken and making invisible elephants appear large, white and palpable – she uses the medium of word and image to communicate the relentless real.

Desiree’s blog: an epiphany, a me
Desiree on Flickr: artisteek

Devinder Sharma

Trained as an agricultural scientist, Devinder is a journalist, author, thinker and researcher, well-known and respected for his views on food and trade policy. He travels extensively, spending most of his time in the villages. He uses his regular columns to disseminate the analysis among the masses. Devinder chairs an independent collective, in New Delhi, called the Forum for Biotechnology & Food Security.

Devinder’s blog: Ground Reality.

Gwyneth Rasquinha

At this moment, Gwyneth, is exploring her passion for painting even as she still does the odd design job…  Her inspiration is nature in all its forms and colours. Water …the varied shades of aqua, marine…shells. Flowers, scents like vanilla, lemon and orange. A beautifully written phrase or poem. Children inspire her… their smiling faces, their laughter, their innovative antics. Music …chants, folk and classical music, single instruments like the flute and piano…percussion.

Gwyneth’s website

Jayanta Sen

Jayanta “Joy” Sen is in Bangalore, intently watching through soda-bottle glasses as life drifts by as history onto storage disks.

Birds and scrutinizing roadside signboards are his perennial interests, as is photography. His role model is the phoenix and his favourite quote for some time has been from Hunter S Thompson - The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over…

Jigar Brahmbhatt

Jigar has had a constant love-hate relationship with his profession, which requires him to develop software applications. He was in Chennai for five years before moving to Mumbai, a sojourn that has allowed him to know himself better. His idea of a joyous rainy afternoon is a cup of hot ginger tea, a bowlful of snacks, and an intriguing Hitchcockian thriller. He finds pleasure in movies, literature, art, rock music, eastern philosophy, and obsolete esoteric sciences, among many other things. His mind occasionally swings from one thing to another like a yo-yo, but he finds consistency in expression. His stories are always in-progress.

Jigar's blog: Walking the Labyrinth

Hailing from the land of good food, better beaches and the best booze (and no, it’s not Jamaica), Joanna Lobo is an epicurean, and is, in every sense of the word, a true Taurean. A dog-lover, lazy photographer and when need be, a fierce defender of women’s rights, she’s not afraid to voice her opinions. A Sheldonist by day and journalist by night, Joanna, at present, has two great aims in life – to find a good-looking Indian guy and to find a way to make vegetarian food taste, well, less vegetarian!

Joanna’s blog: my family and other animals!
Joanna on Twitter: @lobo_joanna

Kajal Chandiramani

‘Dog is man’s best friend’ and Kajal is blessed with many such friends. She is extremely passionate about the strays who have adopted her. An avid reader, gregarious by nature, she loves to broaden her horizons and travel extensively as she believes that ‘life is a learning curve’. She’s an athletic professor who is constantly running to complete the marathon kilometers, and to absorb as much knowledge and information as possible.

Kiran Manral

Kiran Manral is a writer and blogger based in Mumbai. She is also the founder of IndiaHelps, a volunteer network to work with disaster victims. In her spare time she shops.

Kiran’s blogs: thirtynineandcounting, karmickids, indiahelps, kiranmanral

Twitter: @kiranmanral

Luke Sequeira

Luke is a Toronto-based Digital Marketing Strategist and is immersed in marketing brands through social, mobile & realtime tech. He hails from the sunny shores of Goa and really misses the warm waters of the Arabian Sea.

Luke’s website.

Madhumita Sengupta

Madhumita is a trained Bharatnatyam artist who has performed both in India & abroad. She also performed contemporary ballet with Ananda Shankar and Tanushree Shankar. A mom of a 12-yr-old son, she is a dance instructor at a reputed school in Gurgaon. She loves to paint, sketch and let her hair down with friends. She has a knack of picking up different languages very quickly and can converse in 6 different languages.

Madhuri Agrawal

Like most people who are fond of reading, Madhuri too cannot keep herself from dabbling with the pen occasionally. In these online spaces, she expresses what she sees of the world through different windows – sometimes in books, current happenings, movies, plays or just random trains of thought running through her mind.

Madhuri’s blogs: Momento Mori, Wanderlust, Shifting Sands

Mayur Milan

Simple is the word for Mayur. He believes everything and anything in his life can be defined by this one word. His world is a mixture of reality and fantasy. In fact, it is fantastically real. Expressing himself is the prime reason for blogging. He thinks, if human expressions are more elaborate, then the chances of a fight breaking out are lowered. He believes there is no argument that cannot be resolved by talking.

Mayur’s blog: mayurspeaks

Monika Manchanda

Monika is a bundle of contradictions, a mom, a wife, a daughter, a friend, a traveller, someone transformed from a fiercely independent woman to a SAHM who tries to juggle some freelancing and blogging to balance her life. A foodie to the core. Every bit a Leo, good and bad. Wanting to live like the queen and being pampered is a trait running in her veins. Extremely fun loving party animal…Really patient at times and extremely volatile in the next instance…. And, last but not the least, a strong feminist who wants to fight for equality for women at every walk of life.

Monika’s blogs: Monika’s World, Sin-A-Mon, Thru Monika’s Lens, Life of Our Darling Prince     Twitter: @monikamanchanda

Nehal Shah

Nehal, a true Gemini, is many things to her many selves. She is a visual artist, a Kathak dancer, an intuitive healer, and a professional sound/voice artist. When she isn't seeing things the way they are not, she is either doing Yoga, or Sufi whirling…or just mulling over the various processes of personal alchemy occurring currently.
 

Nisha Jha

Indian woman, solo backpacker & travelling the world. That’s Nisha. She has travelled to 20+ countries and still jumps up at the smallest pleasures of life. Always eager to learn, enjoy and relish new places, people and cultures. Travel is both her weakness & strength and her idea of travel is counting no. of memories, not places. She is a regular author & contributor; her articles being published and featured at a no. of travel sites/magazines including some in-flight magazines.

Nisha’s website: Le Monde - A Poetic Travail
She can be connected at Facebook, Youtube and
Twitter: @cemonde
 

Pushpa Moorjani

Pushpa, a writer and blogger from Mumbai, manages nine blogs (of which three are private), and contributes to a quarterly magazine called ‘Beyond Sindh’, published from HongKong. As a trustee and managing committee member, she also dedicates her time to the cause of the mentally challenged through her work with Swami Brahmanand Pratishthan, centre for mentally challenged, in Navi Mumbai.

Pushpa’s blogs: Whispering Behind a Canvas Veil, Unroasted Thoughts, Welcome To Mumbai, Aarushi, Kiddy Corner, Swami Bramhanand Pratishthan

Rajiv R Menon

As a seasoned creative professional with an advertising and management background, Rajiv believes in twisting conventional thinking, often waking up smelling an idea!

Besides his passion for advertising, brand communication and marketing, he enjoys music, writing short films/songs/poetry, painting, travelling and photography.

Rakesh Kumar

I am a wanderer. For two reasons - my job forced me to be one and also my interests. I am a retail professional and am in love with India. Having worked and lived in all regions of the country, my interest in the unfathomable depths of the culture, history and above all the cuisine has increased with every day of travel to its various parts. My job too has helped me as my role is all about knowing, observing and understanding people and places very closely. In my blogs, you should hope to get some flavour of India unknown or may be little known to most.

Ramesh Nair

Professionally a design and advertising person, Ramesh’s fine art is a hobby – one that he holds very close to his heart. He uses anything from pen and ink to charcoal, pencil, colour pencils, dry pastels, watercolours, acrylic, oil… and more. His style focuses and emphasizes on the traditional, decorative and ornamental elements of life.

Ramesh's website and Flickr profile.

Ideasmith aka Ramya Pandyan

Ideasmith is a pseudonym for Ramya, a former number-cruncher, sporadic rebel, occasional artist, always panipuri-lover and currently a novelist-in-progress. Check out her storybook for some great short fiction.

She blogs at The Idea-smithy and XX Factor.
Follow her on Twitter at @ideasmithy.

Ruth Sequeira

Ruth is from Goa, one of the most magical places on this planet. She believes this beautiful planet can be saved from the evils that threaten it from time to time – and that we should do our bit to save it. History, travel, photography and her dog keep her smiling. She graduated in Advertising and currently lives in Mumbai.

Ruth’s blog: ruthsequeira
Ruth's photos on Flickr: RuthSequeira

Sagar Arlekar

Sagar is an engineer by training and an entrepreneur by profession. He created Foodlets to make the online food search experience visual, social and fun. Sagar hails from Goa – the land of beautiful beaches, cheerful people and a distinct culinary culture.

Samina Mishra

Samina is a documentary filmmaker and writer based in New Delhi, with a special interest in media for children. Her films have been screened internationally and she has been published by Tulika, Young Zubaan and Scholastic.

She was recently awarded the Sea Change Residency by the Gaea Foundation, USA in recognition of her work across disciplines.

Sandhya Nair

A counselor by profession, Sandhya completed her MSc in Human Development and is currently employed as a school counselor. Reading and writing are her passions. She likes to describe herself as a spiritual being, using a lot of positive affirmations in her daily life. She firmly believes that every individual has the power to choose and should therefore take responsibility for his/her actions.

Satish Krishnamurthy

Born and raised in Mumbai, Satish spent some time in New York working on Madison Avenue, before returning home to join the Behaviour Architecture™ firm, FinalMile Consulting. While he dons his consulting hat during the day, he is passionate about photography, through which he documents his experiences. When he’s not working, he tries to combine this passion with his other muse, travel.

Satish’s website.
Twitter: @satishk
 

Sayantan Dasgupta

A salesman by profession, Sayantan is a happy-go-lucky person, who is a firm believer in the philosophy that one lives to eat, and not the other way round. He loves travelling and trying the local cuisine. He also loves watching movies, music, reading, swimming and like most true blue bongs, adda. He tries to learn something new every year, which has led him to try and learn dancing this year!

Sayantan's blog: Knowall's Box

Shaila Patoley

Shaila is a writer from Mumbai. Travelling, art & design, photography, beaches and the rain are just a few of the many things she loves. In 2010, after almost a decade of working as a writer in advertising, events, e-learning and gaming companies, she made a wild dash for freedom and now leads a happy life as a freelancer. 

Shalini Rawla

Shalini was in the advertising and communication industry for over a decade when she felt that the more time she spent there, the farther she was going away from the real consumer. Surely there was a better way to know the next-door neighbour! Thus began her exciting journey of knocking on consumers’ doors, minds and hearts.

Shalini’s blog: Epiphany

Sharmila Bhosale

Sharmila is a communications professional, a wife and a mother with a deep belief in the human consciousness and human potential. She is currently working on her book on 'enduring journeys'.

Sharmila's blog: seascapes-maaya

Shraddha Kadakia

Shraddha loves doing the unconventional. As a woman photographer, she turned away from the lure of fashion and Bollywood to create a name for herself in automobile and commercial photography – a domain usually reserved for men. When she’s not shooting for some of the biggest automobile brands in the country, Shraddha just clicks whatever image touches a chord in her heart.

Shraddha’s website: Just Click.

Simin Lakhani

Simin is a personal stylist/shopper, fashion blogger and designer. At a recent interview she was asked to describe herself in 5 words. She chose: incorrigible, practical, passionate, moody and a shopaholic.

Tons of things interest her and make her a curious individual. Her interests vary from travel, fashion, philosophy, photography to social service, spiritual inclination- meditation. She writes a fashion blog through which she expresses her individual style and experiments with different looks. Her forte is styling and designing chic clothing and giving personal styling tips/wardrobe makeovers.

Simin’s blog and Facebook page
On Twitter: SiminLakhani

Somdeb Basu

A shoe maker by profession (product marketing of footwear), Somdeb is a fun loving person and a foodie. He loves travelling, adda, movies, books, sketching on paper & drawing on MS paint. He recently started learning to play the piano – and is pretty much at home in a classroom where his classmates are half his size. On the 'foodie' part, he considers himself fortunate to have his childhood best friend as his wife, who is also a foodie.

Somdeb's blog

Sudakshina Ghosh

Sudakshina is a global nomad and a third culture kid. She enjoys travelling to obscure locations, yoga and reading. She's most likely to be found with a good book and a strong cup of coffee. She is also a journalist.

Susmita Dasgupta

Susmita is a political economist and a media sociologist. Her areas of specialization are the Indian Steel Industry and Amitabh Bachchan. She is the author of the book, Amitabh - The Making of A Superstar.

Susmita’s blog: secondsaturn

Swati Chakraborty

Swati is a photographer living in California for the past few years. While in India, she was a full time HR professional, having a Masters in Comparative Literature and a Post Graduate Diploma in HR Management.

Swati is very passionate about her photography. Her interests lie in portraiture and nature & wildlife photography. Her photo albums are available here.

Swati Dwivedi

Swati is a marketing & communications professional from Bombay, currently earning her bread through social media. She has an eye that appreciates everything theatre, music, movies and food.  An ardent bollywood lover, she believes movies are based on lives and vice-versa. Making useful stuff from waste also finds significant place among a few of her hobbies.

Swati’s blog: Spurts of Expression
Twitter: @khatasaurus

Tarun Chatterjee

Tarun was born in a joint family in the hilly and picturesque railway town of Chakradharpur (in Eastern India) and graduated as an engineer in 1969 from Jadavpur University in Kolkata. His career spread across Bhilai Steel, Vizag Steel, Neelachal Ispat and, finally, DPL at Durgapur. He has been an independent consultant after retiring from service in 2002. A well-travelled man, Tarun’s assignments have taken him to Russia (Siberia), China, Vietnam, Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Finland and the US.

He loves to call himself a Roadside Manager. He started writing a diary after he left his Government service. He enjoys writing on simple subjects involving ordinary people.

Toni Chowdhury

Toni is the mother of a 15-year old boy, and has called Canada her home for the past 12 years.  She earned her Masters in English Literature from Calcutta University, and also earned other diplomas in teaching English as a Second Language from the UK and Canada.  Unlike what a lot of her southern and other neighbours think about Canada being the land of reindeer and polar bears, she definitely lives amidst civilization.

Her other qualifications include being a technical writer working for a large business enterprise solutions company, and a photographer.  She’s deeply passionate about photography, wildlife and nature, travelling and cooking, and also teaches Indian cooking in her spare time.

Toni's website, blog, Facebook page 
Toni on Twitter: shiny_dewdrop

Vidhi Kapoor

Vidhi is a curious person. She likes to question things and help people. She is deeply moved by social causes. Nothing moves her more than the suffering of the poor. She wants to be able to make a difference and bring about a change to help them.

She is fascinated by way too much. Photography, travel and people interest her. She likes to collect postcards and currencies among other strange things. She strongly believes that ‘nobody can tell you what to do; you just have to listen to your heart and rely on your gut’.

Vidhi’s blog: Wumble Jumble
Vidhi’s photos on Flickr: vidhi_k

Vikas Mukundan

From Management Consulting to Strategy to Operations and Sales and now Rural Empowerment, Vikas’ career has taken him on an exciting journey where everyday has presented new learning opportunities. But he firmly believes that he’s uncovered just the tip of the proverbial iceberg! Aside from work, he loves photography, music, squash (for the pace the game offers), numismatics and good conversations.

Vikas’ blog: Thoughts of an irrepressible Indian!

Vineeta Nair

Vineeta loves all things art. For her, the most exciting thing about designing products or making wall art is that that’s the kind of stuff she’d love to buy when she goes shopping. Her camera travels with her wherever she goes and Rajasthan & Bombay are places which are very special to her. So, she has a series of products revolving around them. Each of these products is handmade so the imperfection in them also lends it character and uniqueness.

An ex-advertising person, Vineeta is now a full-time design consultant, with a growing decor accessories business. She writes a popular design & decor blog.

Warren Mascarenhas

Warren moved away from a career in the Culinary Arts to set up his own real estate business. He loves adventure, travel, photography, art, nature... and everything creative. He’s a big fan of minimal tech and retro music. On photography, Warren says he likes imagining a certain frame in his head and then capturing it (“it takes you to a world of your own”).

Warren is on Flickr, Facebook, Linkedin and
Twitter: @warrenkarl

Yogesh Sharma

Yogesh, a former journalist, is a Mumbai-based writer. He is convinced that our life stories are plots in a story, a tragi-comedy, scripted by Existence. Yogesh is also the Creative Director of a graphic design studio, Red Sky Designs, and the Publisher of Zen Publications which publishes New Age books, especially those dealing with spirituality and mysticism.

Yogesh’s blogs: sepia tales, hermit's chronicles

Biswajit Dey

Biswajit considers himself to be intellectually-playful, independent-minded and opinionated – all of which has got him into trouble in some way or another. His latest claim as a social media enthusiast has led him to create a collaborative blog project called socialmantra.in. The rest, he believes, is or will be history.

Biswajit’s blogs: runawaysun, unsettledviews
Biswajit on Twitter: @busydey