Chocolate, tennis, fusion music and manifestation... talk about a mixed bag of a week. I was filled with that mild sense of confusion, which has now become a familiar feeling every single weekend, trying to figure how to fit everything in. While at one time I may have attempted multiple events in the same day, (my max, so far, being three), I now make myself choose, no matter how bad the FOMO might be. Here’s this week’s recap, I’ll start slow and we’ll work our way up.
My week began with a rather unique conversation over coffee, with Mindset Coach Ketki Chandavarkar of Phoenix Method Coaching. In town for a quick visit from Dubai, Ketki conducted an interactive session with a small group of ladies at Sage and Lavender. The call to action was to go from, I Can’t to Icon and manifest our dream lives. An irresistible combo indeed. Us girls lapped up every minute of the session, which was peppered with questions, comments, insights and loads of storytelling. We left the session with lots of food for thought and the mantra “Where your thoughts go, your energy flows.” Another conversation of note this week was at The Leela Palace, titled The Legends Hold Court between Vijay Amritraj and Bjorn Borg. In attendance were tennis enthusiasts, hard core fans of both players, diplomats and entrepreneurs.
And now on the ‘chocolate’ front, Cocoashala, a Chennai startup offered us the chance to taste the top award winning Bean to Bar Chocolates in India. Nitin Chordia, India’s first certified chocolate taster, stressed on the importance of putting India on the global ‘bean to bar’ map, producing world class chocolate from Indian cacao. The evening was a chance for like-minded people to taste and appreciate award winning chocolates from across the world. It was a gathering of a different sort at the flag off ceremony of the Wedding Summit at the Radisson Blu Hotel Mamallapuram. Leading Wedding planners and entrepreneurs from across India were present, and more than 500 globally, are expected to participate at the summit in April.
We also got a major dose of music this week, with loads of live performances, which I’m hoping will continue the rest of the year. Idli Soda, a fusion music festival, and fundraiser by Rotary Club of Madras East, saw a fabulous line-up over the weekend. The two -day event at VGP Golden Beach resort, drew people in droves, reminding us of the ‘good ole days.’ Eight amazing bands and artistes from across the country performed, along with another cool offering — complimentary music workshops ranging from beatboxing to sound synthesis, konnakol and more. Anyone who didn’t manage to make it would’ve definitely had a major hit of FOMO watching all of the fun visuals on Instagram. Also, while we’re on the subject of fusion, this week saw the first concert of Rini’s India tour, at Barracuda Brew. Chennai born singer, composer and musician Harini ‘Rini’ Raghavan and her band, gave us a taste of her music, where her band of international musicians put their spin on things, resulting in a very unique style of Indian fusion.
Meanwhile, back in the city, Jonita Gandhi was also driving crowds crazy at Phoenix Market City, at a concert by Live Alive. Opening the show were Sublashini and Cliffy Chris, who really got the audience going, which means that by the time Chellamma hit the stage, energy was at stratospheric level. Needless to say, there were loads of ‘fangirls’ and ‘fanboys’ in attendance, many of whom admitted that they were ‘dying for a selfie’ with the music sensation. People yelled out requests for their favourites along with the many shouts of ‘We love you’ and ‘Marry Me.’ Everyone sang along to most of the songs from Vaseegara to Arabic Kuthu, begging for more even as the curtains came down.