Indoor Plants Usher Love, Peace & Prosperity. There is no delight like having plants at home. Having a green space at home means gifting fresh air to self and your loved ones. These days, there is a green thumb in every home. Gardening has become one of the most favourite and recommended activities, especially since the pandemic. The garden is a good place to unwind after a long day of work, a space to have your cuppa of energy drink – be it chai or coffee – in the morning as you begin your day. 

Who said animals are the only best friends of humans? Plants are great friends too and plant parents will vouch for this. They will tell you how much plants enjoy their company, and will express their passion and care needed for plant babies. They can talk to plants daily just like you talk to animals. Switch on good music daily, spend time with them, and they say plants respond to music quite well.

Plants can grow anywhere, even inside rooms. These plants do not need much sunshine but moderate amounts of water. There are many who do not have outdoor spaces to plant a garden. But it shouldn’t deter them from having indoor plants either. There are plants especially for homes and various rooms too. There are so many benefits of having plants inside your room. Here is my list of indoor plants to choose from.

1. Money Plant

2. Araucaria or Christmas tree 

3. Areca Palm 

4. Snake Plant

5. Aloe Vera 

6. Ferns

7. Monstera

8. Anthurium

9. Peace Lily

10. Warneck Dracaena

Here are some green tips

1. It is important to bring pet friendly and child friendly plants as well. So, when you buy a plant, it is equivalent to buying a pet. It needs the same nourishment, love and care that animals need. 

2. One has to be careful about the amount of water to be poured to the frequency of airing it as well. There are many plants that need water once in three days and there are those that need hydration on a daily basis. Sunlight is important for these plants too just like the outdoor plants in your garden but not as frequently. 

3. The right balance of water and sunlight needs to be struck to grow healthy indoor plants. Indoor plants add to the beauty of the house as well. There are many ornamental plants that don’t need much water but grow very well indoors. 

4. Excess water can be harmful for indoor plants. Hence it is advised that you must do good research before buying these plants to see if it is suitable for your house or not. 

5. It isn’t that it will bring negative energies to your home but the plant might die if the ambient temperature at your house is not ideal for it. 

6. Each indoor plant comes with its own unique qualities. So, do consult your gardener or someone who has in-depth knowledge in plants before investing in your green friend.

As Audrey Hepburn once said, “to plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” So, why not plant as many as you can! Go green!

Follow Priya Rajendran

Your body loaded with energy, the beats, and the aura expresses who you are as a person. Hence it is your commitment to sustain good health and hygiene to keep your body positive. Furthermore you are accountable to do right by your body. Yes, that’s the message.

Little efforts like clipping your nails, keeping your hair uncluttered, wearing fresh clothes, eating a balanced diet, and not indulging in harming your system with external elements like illegal substances can go a long way.

Maintaining a positive outlook, controlling anxiety and stress with support and help, knowing what your body needs, keeping your physical health a priority, and making sure your body gets all the appropriate nourishment and care from your end are very important. Give your body the respect it requires.

Today, women who tend to dislike their bodies are in millions. Right from a young age! This must change. Men who do not maintain proper hygiene and lifestyle habits also must start caring for their bodies the earliest.

Your aura, your vibes, and your personality, all depend on how you maintain, preserve and respect your body. Your appearance, big or small, thin or chubby, it’s how you carry yourself that matters the most.

You don’t need a flat stomach, broader shoulders, thin legs, and abs to look good. Looking good comes from someplace deep than what mere eyes see on the outside. Therefore, kick-start a lifestyle that suits you, where you love and care for who you are and what you are – from inside and out!

Follow Aakanksha Dinah

Where do you go when your house… isn’t ‘Home’?

It’s a long day at work. My office time ends at 6 pm. The drop service bus back home leaves in 15 minutes. The next one is at 7.30 pm. Everyone rushes up to catch the earliest bus. I too pack my bags quickly and leave. I don’t want to be noticed as the one who wants to score extra brownie points by pretending to work overtime. So, I quickly pack and exit. 

I want to take the 7.30 pm service. So, I leave the office and head for the cafeteria, find an indiscernible corner and settle down. For the next hour and a half, all I do is stare blankly into the empty sky. This has been my routine for 2 years now. Occasionally I meet someone I know and lie through my teeth that I missed the earlier bus and have no choice but to wait for the next one!

I always take the last bus back home. By the time I reach home, it’s almost dinner time. I know the entire drill after reaching home. So, I drag my feet throughout my journey and reach my door with a heavy heart. I stand there for a long time…. long-long time. Staring blankly at the door. Hoping it never opens and I do not have to walk in. I do not ring the bell. NEVER. Not until someone notices and gives me some skeptical looks, and I have no choice left. I simply do not want to go home. 

This is very unlike other people, friends, colleagues, strangers, or anyone I know, who are already home, mentally, even before lunchtime! They keep thinking and talking of things they will be doing once they reach home, or that they have something special for dinner. They look forward to it. But not me. I DREAD going home. Every. Single. Day.

Why?

Mine is a Broken Home!

Not in a way you would perceive though. Common perception defines a Broken home as a family in which the parents are divorced or separated. I Beg to Differ. Why should a mere separation decreed on a piece of paper be allowed to define the status of a family? How can that be an adjective to define a person from that family? My parents aren’t divorced, nor are they separated. Yet I define my home as Broken. 

Broken homes are not the families that are separated or divorced. We live in the 21st century. We have seen families which are functional and pragmatic. They are divided only into a physical or geographical stratum. But when it comes to uniting and working as a family, they function as ONE. You can live afar and yet be close at heart. It’s all mental.  

Broken homes are also not ‘Broke’ homes. Lack of money can render you broke, but not broken. Money or physical proximity can never define a home. 

A Broken Home is a place where the people living there are broken. They are broken at heart, in mind, and soul! They are broken because there is life missing there. They are broken for want of Compassion! Many families I know, including mine, look completely functional – working, cooking, schooling, activities, and more. Despite they are missing that very connection at heart. They function rather mechanically. Doing what they are ‘supposed’ to do. Work by the Clock! Activities are scheduled by the hours and minutes. Eat, sleep and work as per the time scheduled. Even laugh and cry only if there is time scheduled on the agenda for that! Unfortunately, there isn’t. Emotions don’t flow at a scheduled time! They cannot.

Modern-day societies have given rise to more Nuclear families, smaller ones, and sometimes single-parent families too. Which makes it even more important to connect in mind and soul. I have witnessed so many homes where members of the family don’t know each other’s hobbies, interests, and aspirations. They never ask each other about their goals, their failures, or even anything trivial. On the contrary, there is jealousy, competition, mockery, ridicule, and sometimes even bullying! A home where people live off each other instead of living with each other. The care, the respect, and the love is missing. This is what I call a ‘Broken Home’

What then, is a HOME?

A home should be a place where you can sing for no rhyme or reason. Hug each other for no reason. Where you can play pranks around your people. Laugh for no reason and most importantly be able to CRY for no reason and without the fear of being judged! Where you can share your belongings, your food, your finances, and your life. It should be a place where you can drop all your guards, be the real you, and set your bare soul free. Where people around you can tell the difference in your moods. Where they can sense the shift in energy and vibe in you. And where they look concerned about this. And all this is mutual and voluntary. If you have all this burning and keeping your heart warm, that my friend, is a Home. 

Even if there is just one such person whose face turns worried seeing you in pain, that one person is HOME. Sadly enough, and more often we find such people in our friends than in our houses. It takes effort to build a Home, just as it does to build a house. There’s a lot of labour involved. Labour of Love. And it is required from more people than one. A place where someone cares if you had a bad day. A place where dinner time is about learning about each other’s victories and challenges of the day. Where you talk about what chipper things happened in your day. A place where people talk about ideas and not ‘other people’. 

That, my friend, is what I call HOME! 

Is your house ‘Home?’ 

Follow Veena Gupta

Memories are timeless treasures of the heart. Like all children, midsummer vacation was the extensively celebrated holiday in our school life. It marked the midpoint of the growing season, halfway between planting and harvesting. For children like us, it was a celebration day, with no schooling, no studies, and relief from being admonished and smacked by parents and teachers. It was harvesting time also. To take part in the process of paddy harvesting along with a handful of workers was honestly a mind-blowing experience. To beat the scorching summer, nature took its unique way by offering fruits in abundance. A way to celebrate true happiness in the lap of Mother nature.

I was eagerly waiting for those special days to come. Somehow I got the opportunity to visit and dwell in my maternal ancestral home, where my lovely grandparents reside. The big quadrangular building was positioned in a large compound surrounded by trees and plants. It looked like a small forest housing different types of birds and creatures.

The four-winged house had independent room for each venture. A corner delivery compartment also accommodated menstruating girls and women, and a closed room for dead people where pujas were performed periodically. Another big cabin where the cistern(large chest to keep rice corn) was kept. Its corner portion was exclusively used for protecting seasonal fruits wrapped in vatta leaves for ripening.

The room encompassed the sweet smell of ripe jack fruit, mango, pineapple, guava, and the like. Sometimes we used to take a midday nap over the cistern. A wooden stair led to the deck where big brass vessels, utensils, and other old items stood. Blindfolded by the elders at times we play hide and seek over there.

After lunch, the servant’s room was changed into a conference cum working area assembled by the neighbourhood ladies to beating rice corn, grounding rice, and splitting grams using the touchstone, wooden mortar and pestle, and grinding stones. While doing so they exchanged pleasantries, personal woes, and a little bit of gossiping to ease the endeavour. Such a subtle and generous person like my grandma handles the situation, with love and compassion helping them to get their life under control and solve their problems. Being there and eavesdropping was one of my favourite time passes. Before twilight, we would take a bath and wash our clothes in the nearby Temple pond. There I glanced at some peeping tom’s watchful eyes at the bathing ghat.

Most fruits and cashew nuts transported to the evening market for sale. It was indeed a joyous journey to accompany my grandpa to the trade point. The crowd, the hue, and cry, the exchange of levity with the fellow vendors, the happiness of trading, etc were worth contemplating. I learned a little bit about the techniques of marketing there.

Not far away there lived my Kochamma(my mother’s younger sister) and family. The cosmic homestead was covered with the canopy of fruit-bearing trees. We used to glide over the slanting branches of mango trees and sliced the mango with the hidden knife and, ate it comfortably sitting there. Occasionally, we plucked cashew nuts and roasted them by bringing about fire using the fallen leaves, relishing the cracked hot nuts under the silhouette of the big tree.

I loved my Kochamma dearly. Her poor academic background didn’t stand a chance in front of her mastery in reading cinema and affiliated subjects. A treasure house of cinema stories, which she narrated like real-life sagas, I was always eager to hear her narration. She had a decent collection of cinema notice and cinema song books I adored going over and over. Rarely did she take me to the nearest cinema theatre to watch the black and white movies prominent in that period.

The cuisines she prepared were appetising to my taste buds, especially the whole salted raw mango pickle adding kanthari chilly which was made and preserved in the previous season and kept in the big clay jar. Its smell and flavour were unique, the salt n sour and chilli taste refused to depart from my mouth to date. (to be continued)

Follow K. Syamala

Communication is one of the numerous necessary aspects of getting information across an individual or a group of individuals. The medium and the methods of communication rapidly increased as the advances, improvements, and progress in the field of technology skyrocketed.

Since 2018, the world has expanded dramatically, and so has how we communicate with one another.

In late December 2019, the world was hit by the Pandemic, and social media, and virtual communication soared to new heights. It was unseen, unreal, and beyond imagination. If we look at the timeline…

We have more online portals and applications today than we had perhaps two years back. With more grocery apps, more movie apps, higher rates of subscribers to OTT platforms, umpteen opportunities for virtual communication, virtual interviews, more working hours clocked online, an increase in usage and users of social media like Instagram and Facebook, everything has become just as far our fingers can go!

Letter writing is an art that died a few years ago. Normal telephone calls don’t happen as much today. Everything has become more mobile, more ‘on the go’. More and more video calls than meeting up in person. We are taken over by technology. We forget our roots!

This is when we need to realize that there are a few things we need to hold on to and show our future generations – like being more available for one another – encouraging communication on a more personal level.

We must continue to write letters, make phone calls, meet our friends and family, sit down for meals together, and so on. This will help us remember, cherish and contribute values that we have been brought up with to the next generation.

Though technology and advancements are part of our lives, we must understand and value what we have come through. After all, it was not that bad!

Pause and ponder!
Pause and reflect!
Pause and rekindle!

Follow Aakanksha Dinah

Happy Paper Bag Day!!! 12th July is celebrated every year as World Paper Bag Day. It is an initiative to encourage the use of paper bags over plastics because the former is biodegradable and the latter is choking the planet in various garbage dumps across the world. Plastic is killing the ecosystem since it is difficult to dispose of and harms animals too. It takes nearly 50-100 years to decompose plastic! 

Adopting sustainable and eco-friendly materials is the theme of this special day. In essence, it is all about encouraging more people to adopt environmentally-friendly lifestyles. Using paper bags is a part of leading green lifestyles. 

Those familiar brown bags used to pack foods, toys, daily use household items, and myriad other things, always get old-timers (like me) nostalgic. I still remember getting tasty nankhatais from the local bakery in Mumbai, as a child. The shopkeeper lovingly packed in an extra laddu along with the nankhatais in a brown paper bag. Even clothes were wrapped in these bags as shopkeepers found it expensive to buy plastic covers back then. Papers – bags/newspapers were used more often! All of us carried cloth bags or paper bags while going shopping. It was much later that plastic covers flooded markets and cheaper quality bags found their way into homes. By the time the toxicity and biodegradable properties of plastic were found by scientists, it was too late to stop plastics at the time. Plastic had already begun choking the environment, killing land animals and marine creatures as well.

“Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.
Bright copper kettles and warm woollen mittens.
Brown paper packages tied up with strings.
These are a few of my favorite things.”

This is one of my favourite songs from the classic movie “Sound of Music”, which I used to listen to as a child. It played often on my radio. I simply loved the retro music hour back then on All India Radio. Now that I look back, it strikes me how old paper bags are. In the good old days, until plastic made its appearance, paper bags symbolized love and passion while gifting loved ones. Paper bags were indeed one of the favourite things of the bygone era. 

India is taking initiatives to revive paper bags in a big way in a bid to conserve the environment. Most areas have already banned the use of plastic, especially single-use plastics. A country-wide ban on single-use plastics has been on the anvil for a while. Shops and supermarkets have already taken individual initiatives to stop plastic in their shops, encouraging customers to get their cloth bags to carry back wares. The first state in India to ban the use of plastic bags was Himachal Pradesh in 2009 while Maharashtra followed suit, putting a blanket ban on single-use plastics in 2018.

Brown paper trails…

Did you know when the paper bag was invented? Yes, the same brown paper bag is given by pharmacies, shops, and supermarkets nowadays (thanks to the government banning plastics). The first paper the bag-making machine was made by an American school teacher/priest/ inventor Francis Wolle in 1852. Wolle’s design of the paper bag underwent further changes. In 1871, Margaret E Knight invented the machine that added a box shape to the bag. Following Knight’s design, in 1883, pleats were added to the sides of the paper bag by Charles Stillwell to give the bag a shape. After that, the good old paper bag got a cord thanks to Walter Deubener in 1912. People could now hold the paper bag with the cord easily. So, the paper bag we see today is the result of the hard work of these four passionate people. 

Interestingly, the paper bag-making machine factory-made by Francis Wolle and his brother – Union Bag and Paper Company in Savannah, Georgia, is there to date. After going through various mergers, the company United Camp Corporation was finally acquired in 1999 by a company called International Paper located in Memphis (Tennessee, USA). It is still operational.

World on a green drive

Cut to the current year, plastics have become a nuisance and most governments across the world are banning them. Good old brown paper bags are back in vogue. Top brands have lent stylish designs to them and they are in trend now. To make it eco-friendly, paper bags are being made from recycled paper. Recycled paper bags are becoming the norm now.

Social media is abuzz with awareness carousels and slides showing the importance of stopping the use of plastic. Local NGOs in various cities are doing the same. 

So why choose paper bags over plastic bags? Here are a few reasons why one should!

1. Paper bags are biodegradable. 
2. Less energy is needed to manufacture paper than plastic
3. Paper can be recycled. They are reusable.
4. Environment-friendly, safer for animals.
5. You can craft and customize your bags; easy and simple DIYs are available online. 
6. They are trendy too!

Ideally one doesn’t need a World Paper Bag Day, an Earth Day, Environment Day, Bio-diversity day or similar such days to preserve our Earth. After all our ecosystem is ours and ours alone for all our generations to live peacefully. Let’s take a pledge once and for all and not wait for special days to adopt a green lifestyle. Say No to Plastic Bags, Say Yes to Paper Bags!

Follow Priya Rajendran

Lately, it has been a soul search mode for me. I recently crossed my milestone 40th birthday too and I came across this beautiful quote. It made me reflect on whether we practice this or not. It says, “Your Soul is your best friend. Treat it with care. Nurture it with growth. Feed it with love.” Just like you treat your best friend, treat your soul well too. A happy, satisfied soul means their cup is full, and only when one’s cup is full, can one share happiness with others. 

The human body is made up of nearly 60 percent water. Drink a lot of water. So, we need to replenish it from time to time. The same goes with our souls too. Each person has their way to nourish their soul – at different times of the day too. It is a daily ritual for some, while some do it weekly and others do it when they get the time. There is no set time. Just like water and good food are for the body, there is food and water for the soul too. 

So, what is “food and water” for the soul? If you take the literal meaning of the phrase, you will get a list of people’s favourite food and drinks that satisfy the soul and take it to orgasmic levels. But in essence, it is a combination of everything – food, music, physical exercise, meditation, breathing exercises, good thoughts, and a lot of grounding exercises too. People are already practicing the first four. The last one used to come instinctively to people in the pre-gadget era – now, people have to practice it consciously – unplug themselves from the digital world to stay connected with their nature and surroundings.  

Grounding the soul

So how to unplug digitally? There are increasing initiatives across the globe for the same. Some events range from three days to five days. Do look up online and search for such events happening locally. People organizing such events, take their mobile phones and all gadgets and seal them safely till the event ends. These events are semi-structured where they have motivational talks organized. People attending these can be simply talking to each other minus gadgets. In an event that is inclusive of kids, they would be engaged in their activities – some structured and some left as it is.

Above, we spoke of structured events, but some things can be done by families or individuals on their own as well. For instance, you can set a “no-gadget” day on a Saturday or Sunday just for yourself and your family. The entire day can be spent outdoors (provided the weather is good and u have a good getaway near your place) – swimming, cycling, jogging, trekking, a good drive amidst nature, or even sleeping. A nap is the best medicine for stress! 

So, you can follow a “no-gadget” day too. Just hand over your gadgets to another family member, keep them in a known location at home or turn it off consciously – all by yourself. Disconnecting yourself doesn’t always mean only eliminating gadgets. So, it is about spending time alone with oneself as well. Maintaining a diary to record the emotions that flow through you during the day. Mandala art books are available online as well as offline. You need not worry about “good” or “bad” drawings here. None will judge you. It is extremely therapeutic to draw these patterns. Freehand drawings are good too.

A digital detox routine leaves you feeling rejuvenated and more in touch with your soul.

Listed are a few of the many ways you can keep your soul hydrated and well-nourished:

1. Swimming.
   Water keeps us fresh and grounded. Simply floating in water is equivalent to rejuvenation. A lot of thoughts swim across the mind when inside water. So go ahead and dunk yourself.
2. Drinking lots of water-based on the local climate. Avoid caffeine.
3. Eat a lot of water-based vegetables and fruits. Choose fresh, avoid canned!
4. Sleeping 
   Take power naps to rejuvenate. Don’t shy away from longer ones too. 
5. Trekking
   A weekend getaway into the mountains or nearby hills can do amazingly well. Greens for the eye is therapeutic – combine them with fresh air for your tired lungs!
6.  Me time! Make sure you get a lot of it.  

Finally, surround yourself with positive people and lots of laughter around. After all, “Humour is the best therapy!”

Follow Priya Rajendran

Presenting to you, Payal Guin, Wife, Mother, Model, Designer, Self-taught Face-Art & Makeup Artist, Former Mrs. India 1st Runner-Up 2018, Mrs. Fashion Icon 2018, & Director, Delegate Acquisition, Corporate Event Industry, Bengaluru, India.

Born to a family from Bengal, Payal grew up in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. Age five, she designed her first couture from underwear, and a cardigan which unknowingly marked her entry into the world of fashion.

Growing up, she had a pretty good life until she turned eleven. Payal never sensed a more life-altering moment in her life. Diagnosed with Vitiligo, her life took an unexpected turn. She had to grow up faster as she learned the hard fact ‘people are mean and life is not all that easy’.

Payal always thought she was meant to be a homemaker. Nevertheless, throughout her life she pursued her desires and empowered herself. She took up stitching, fashion designing, she taught herself makeup art and face art and kept on exploring her passions. Payal never gave much interest to a career upuntill another life-altering event.

‘Thanks to my Bengali genes,’ Payal Guin says she is an Art Connoisseur. Artist who is amazing at singing, dancing, designing, styling, makeup, face art, and much more. Her passion lead her to be spotted and invited to be part of the 2018 Mrs. India competition. Rest is history. Payal didnot pursue a profession in the fashion world. She preferred to take up a career in Corporate Event Management.

Join us in conversation with Payal Guin. Let’s unveil her life journey from the unknown to world of Corporate Event Management.

A conversation with Chippy & Payal Guin, Director, Delegate Acquisition, Bengaluru, India.
(Edited and compiled by Priya Rajendran.)

Chippy———————–	Welcome to ‘Conversation’ Payal.
Payal	Thank you for having me Chippy.
Chippy	Tell us a little about yourself.
Payal	I am the Director, Delegate Acquisition in the Corporate Event Industry in Bengaluru. Our company hosts events and conferences across the globe.
Chippy	Let’s put that hat away. Apart from work, who is Payal Guin?
Payal	Payal Guin… Oh! I was Payal Sen before marriage. A Bengali born and brought up in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. I consider myself a proud Jabalpuriyan. I did my entire education, from schooling to my post graduation from Jabalpur.  I have always been a Jack of all trades. Thanks to my thirst for learning. I studied fashion designing, then became a self-taught artist, no classes or certified courses to compliment my claim.  My earliest tryst with fashion, styling, and makeup began when I was 5 years old. I would love to share a small story about how I was inspired to enter the fashion world and a bit about my childhood.
Chippy	Yes please. I would love to hear it.
Payal	The year I entered the world of fashion, I used underwear, which resembled the tights people wore in the 80s for one of my designs. It had been newly introduced then. There is a background story for this inspiration too. I’m born in 1984 and we wore tights then.  At that time, I wanted to create something for myself. So, when I was five years old, literally, I fashioned an outfit from underwear and one of my mother’s cardigans. I did use the sleeves. I cut and stuck to both sides of the undies, proudly wore it and flaunted in it. I was so happy and proud that I had worn an outfit that I had designed on my own! All wasn’t well in school though. Then Life changed for me in sixth standard.
Chippy	What happened?
Payal	Yes, I went through an unforgettable phase during my sixth grade. I was diagnosed with Vitiligo. It’s a skin condition where the skin loses its pigment cell and I started showing white patches on my face and body. I had to take a lot of medications to keep it from spreading and or getting aggravated. The white patches got worse with time. I faced bullying in school because of my skin condition. Thus, my memories associated with school aren’t that great. I was surrounded by people and a town that was quite conservative and constantly made me feel like an outsider. Also, I was at a tender age and felt hurt deeply.
Chippy	You were only 11!
Payal	How I got treated broke my heart to the core. I could not entirely express all these emotions, feelings and hurt to anyone. My parents took me everywhere for different treatments. But nothing seemed to help me. It kept increasing – spread all over my eyelids, cheeks and hands. Soon, I started using makeup – lipstick, and even sketch paints, just to hide them.
Chippy	You were trying to cover it up.
Payal	Initially, I did. During school, yes. Eventually, as I expected, people started thinking I had applied some eyeshadow or lipstick in school for fun. Despite informing them that I used makeup to cover my patches, they continued to poke fun.  The most painful thing is when people would not allow me to touch any newborn baby. They feared  I would infect the baby and I felt insulted. No matter what, I could never persuade them that it is simply a colour pigmentation and not contagious or transferable. These patches resemble melanin deficiency.
Chippy	I am really sorry this happened to you and you were so young.
Payal	My experiences taught me to be more empathetic towards people. Instead of becoming a weakness, my Vitiligo and white patches turned into my strength. It instilled more confidence in me. I never gave up on myself or never indulged in any self-pity. As a result, now I am extremely confident. At a point I reached a phase where I embraced my patches. I stopped taking medications and I was just happy then on.  I never shared my stories with everyone, but I did start sharing my story with those who suffered low self-esteem because of colour-linked prejudices, biases, and discrimination like I have faced. I would encourage them to turn their weakness into strengths and present themselves to the world confidently so that they would not be treated like any “bechaaree” or “obola nari” (someone vulnerable). As I grew up, my skin tone slowly got restored. I think it perhaps was due to the early treatment I got and I assume it restored pigmentation to affected areas of my skin.
Chippy	You mentioned bullying at school.
Payal	I did my schooling from one of the top schools in Madhya Pradesh. Yet bullying continued throughout my schooling. My teachers never bullied me, but they did keep questioning me and pointing out my scars. My seniors often asked me about my scars but once they came to know, they treated me as though I suffered from contagious diseases. I had very few friends back then. Thanks to my skin condition. By the time I reached 10th grade, I kept a distance from studies. I was always a back bencher. I chose to do Commerce after school because I knew I wouldn’t have to study much. But I remained proactive when it came to participation in all extracurricular activities. I made myself available for all events and activities. I pushed myself and made sure I would not get sidelined.  Oh! I also fell in love when I was in 9th standard.
Chippy	That’s so sweet.
Payal	Yeah, he is my life partner now! We were in a long-distance relationship for a long time since he was pursuing his education in Nagpur. But whenever he visited Jabalpur, it used to be a memorable visit. Eventually we got married in 2008 and we are now blessed with two lovely daughters.

Chippy———————–	Payal, you mentioned that you were a backbencher in school. Why do you say that?
Payal	Yes, I was a backbencher in school. It did not change ahead too. During my college years also, I was the least career conscious. I would often think why should I invest so much in education if I wasn’t going to work in the future. Somewhere, I had also underestimated my potential.  So, I decided to get married once I completed my M.Com (Masters in Commerce).  After pursuing my Master’s degree, within a gap of six months, I learned basic stitching in 15 days. And once I got married, I started stitching my mother-in-law’s blouses, my blouse, my mother’s dresses, etc. I learned all this on my own.  I always thought I was meant to be a homemaker – looking after the house and cooking food for my husband and children. Nothing beyond that. But during these stages of my life too, I didn’t stop exploring my passions. I started taking up stitching work. Since I loved experimenting with fashion trends and styling and was good with “jugaad” (making maximum use of resources at minimum costs), I specialized in designer blouses using good quality materials I purchased at budget-friendly costs.
Chippy	Tell us more about how you got into the stitching business.
Payal	After marriage, I continued stitching but never did it for money. So during 2014 my friends pointed out that I must charge a nominal price. They pointed out the fact that I am putting in so much effort. When I started my stitching business, I was also pregnant with my younger daughter. I used to wake up early in the morning at 5 and start stitching. I stitched nearly two to three blouses a day – mostly designer blouses. My friends encouraged me a lot by giving me more orders.
Chippy	You also moved cities.
Payal	I moved to Bengaluru in 2015 with my husband. He got a job opportunity in Bengaluru. Here also, I continued stitching.  In the interim, I started painting as well. I used to gift my paintings to friends, who loved it.
Chippy	There is an artist hidden inside you.
Payal	Apart from stitching and designing, I’m also a makeup enthusiast. Before marriage, I used to do all kinds of makeup, including bridal makeup for all whom I knew. Since it was my passion, I did it for free. I loved trying various hair do and did it for children living in my neighbourhood as well. This came into use during my wedding. I did my own bridal makeup. After we got married, we had a joint reception with my elder brother-in-law who had also got married then. I did my sister-in-law’s makeup as well.
Chippy	“A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.” Designing, stitching, makeup, styling…you are full of surprises…What did you do next?
Payal	This is where things get interesting. There is a group on Social Media called Urban Tribal. The page promotes all kinds of arts and you can promote your talent there. Since I loved singing and dancing too (thanks to my Bengali blood), I started posting my song and dance performances there. I became quite active in that group. My father is a photographer, so I have a passion for that too. I also do a lot of photography and click selfies too.

Chippy———————–	That’s cool. Tell me Payal, how and where did your Mrs India pageant journey begin?
Payal	As I mentioned earlier, I am an Art Connoisseur – singing, dancing, makeup, face art and taking photographs and being clicked as well. So, I got noticed by one of the organizers of the Allure Mrs Asia Pacific India pageant. The pageant was to happen in Delhi and they had begun auditions already.  This organizer who was heading the Mumbai zone, Maharashtra, had been following me on my social media pages. She directly approached me if I would be interested in participating. She even mentioned she had already seen my singing and dancing performances and if I agreed to participate, I would be directly shortlisted for the finale. I was super excited! It was a huge deal for me, considering I was going for the finale.
Chippy	That must have been an amazing break for you! Share more about your journey and preparations for the pageant until the finale…
Payal	I had always been taught to make good use of resources with limited money since childhood. A pageant meant a good amount of money to be spent on clothes, makeup, grooming and accessories. I was assigned a mentor during the pageant. During discussions with her, I shared my worry about the same. In turn, she assured me that it is my creativity which will stand out during the pageant. So, it meant that a well-designed dress would stand out no matter what the cost of the material was.  Being a fashionista, I was aware of how to do this. I did all street shopping – nothing branded. For the pageant, I had packed a few sets of shoes with me, necessary makeup, and everything else basic. Before starting with the pageant, I had a notion that since it is going to be in Delhi, there will inevitably be a lot of show off. It was only later I learned during my journey that it was grace and confidence, the way you present yourself and the way you interact is what mattered the most for judges. You will be judged from the moment you enter the pageant. Since I’m an extrovert, I had no problem with that aspect.  My overall journey was a beautiful experience. Everyone treated me well, right from groomers to choreographers. It was a four-day event and the last day was the finale. It was overwhelming for me since I had never encountered a big audience in my life. Once the pageant was over, I gained a whole lot of confidence to face huge crowd and be able to talk to anyone.
Chippy	I am sure you carry loads of memories with you from the pageant. Any touching incident that you want to share from the pageant?
Payal	There was one incident that I can never forget. During the introduction round, the very thought of it still makes me shake. During this phase, you are expected to talk about yourself, introduce you and all participants have been trained to learn the speech verbatim. I did learn mine too. However when I had to face the audience, I froze. Yes. It happened.  I was happy that the judges told me to relax and even allowed me to take my time. It took me some time to relax, and then I got myself together and did a good job. However, I think my nervousness may have gotten reflected and I may have lost points in this round of the competition. This moment  still remains fresh in my mind and stays with me. It was an unforgettable moment.
Chippy	What was running through your head during the whole pageant?
Payal	This entire journey and experience was new to me. I was quite scared too. The fact that I had to encounter this world and the one thing that kept me going and I kept assuring myself all the time, ‘I have this opportunity, and I have to give my 100%.’ And I gave that. It was worth every second.
Chippy	This indeed was a challenge for you. You wanted this for yourself.
Payal	True! I really wanted to take full advantage of this challenge and opportunity to prove myself. The rest as you know is history. When they announced the name Payal Guin as the first runner up, I was quite shocked, stunned and truly happy!
Chippy	It’s a big feat. Yeah, I can imagine!
Payal	I earned it. I earned that name. And then post pageant, when I returned home, all my friends encouraged me saying since I won this crown, I shouldn’t let it go to waste. They said, you know, you have potential. Just explore it. I also started getting offers.  Something was burning inside me. I really wanted to do so many things, but my focus was to be with my family and both my children. I did take up one assignment I was offered though, after the pageant. But once I did this assignment, I started getting more offers from theaters in South India for short movies etc, but I turned them down.

Chippy———————–	The pageant was over and you weren’t planning to take up any offers that came your way!
Payal	Right. I wasn’t planning to take up anything related to the industry. So instead, I joined a Corporate Event Management firm of Architects and Interior Designers. It was a sales profile, which was completely new to me. But thanks to my grooming during the pageant, I got confidence to take on this new profile.  After 15 days of training, I started interacting with leading Architects and Interior Designers across India. Since I had young kids, I informed them that I would be working only for three hours. So, it was a challenge for me too. This work was based on targets and I was told to complete targets – the time to complete it, did not matter. Time management became vital. I was the only one in charge of delegates and the firm hosted all B2B summits. My responsibility was to organize a lot of in-person meetings, inviting Architects, Principal Architects and Principal Interior Designers. I became good at my work by learning and observing people around me, and the way the teams interacted with clients.  I became the top seller of the company each time and within six months, I was promoted from a Delegates Relations Officer to Delegates Manager. I worked for two and a half years until the pandemic hit us.
Chippy	That must have been hard for you, right?
Payal	When the pandemic hit, it became difficult for me to work from the office so I quit the job to be with my family. But the positive part is that amidst all this, my clients proactively called me and said I could work with them. It was really an honour.
Chippy	During Pandemic how did you make use of that time.
Payal	For the work I did, it was a challenge to continue. Since work from home can be an obstacle in building a client network. You need to meet people in person to crack sales deals. Once I quit the job, I spotted Face Art videos on social media and started experimenting with them. I fell in love with this art and created my Instagram page for the same. I shared all my Face Art on Urban Tribal again. I started receiving a lot of appreciation on all my posts. Thanks to huge encouragement from members, I started making Instagram reels on Face Art. My inspiration is a famous face artist on social media called Mimi Chow.  I also started makeup tutorials on Zoom. My students ranged from 17-76 year olds! Each time, I had to use makeup on my own self for all the demos. That was a big challenge for my skin. Many buy a lot of expensive cosmetics but do not know how to apply it. I received a great response then and a lot of people wanted to learn how to apply makeup. My focus was teaching them to use budget friendly cosmetics and do amazing makeup using a lot of tricks and hacks.
Chippy	During pandemic years, you did take on Face-Art. Is there any chance that you turn Face Art into a profession or perhaps do a collaboration with someone in the fashion industry?
Payal	I had to halt doing Face Art because of my new work schedules and restarting of schools here. But I will definitely do it sometime in the future. Hopefully full time. For Face Art, I had started getting offers for collaborations from professionals, asking me to work for them too.  India is still not exposed to Face Art as much as other countries. There are very few artists in India but even they don’t have much exposure here. I think it will catch up soon in India as well. I do want to take it up full time as well. Just waiting to get more time for it so that I can do justice to this art form as well and work towards it.
Chippy	At each stage, you manage to step up.  Each time you worked harder to get yourself that space and find a spot for yourself, and made a space for yourself. It matters to us as a person, as an individual, that we have our own personality and identity, and we need to do something for ourselves, to lift ourselves up so that we will feel that we have done something.
Payal	Yes, I had to work extremely hard for everything. I always had a shelled life – as in, I really didn’t get many opportunities to explore myself. Whatever I did, I really had to struggle and grab those opportunities for myself. So, I am happy I could explore myself whenever I got a chance and also started realizing I do have choices despite the constraints I have. My work gave me a sense of identity and independence as an individual.
Chippy	So, when did you begin your current job? You re-started your career, right?
Payal	So, after two years of the pandemic, companies started re-hiring. I applied for work once more and got my current job.

Chippy———————–	What if we could go back in time and meet your 18-year self? What would you tell her?
Payal	will definitely ask her to pursue a good education. Explore her career more and be extremely ambitious when it comes to career. I would ask her to do something really great for herself and for society as well.
Chippy	Is there anybody who inspired and influenced you, also pushed you towards becoming what you are today?
Payal	I would say my husband. I have known him since I was fourteen, he has been my rock. Next without a blink, my mother-in-law. She is my biggest inspiration who stood strongly by me and supported me to participate in the pageant and whatever I am doing now in my career. Next is my mentor during my pageant who groomed me and motivated me a lot. Last but not the least, Urban Tribal whose members helped me and encouraged and pushed me to attain my success. Urban Tribal is an amazing platform wherein I got an opportunity to exhibit my talent. That’s the reason people got to know about me. So, I really owe this group a lot.
Chippy	What lies ahead for Payal?
Payal	Let me put it this way. It all started with me watching a random video of Face Art and I started learning, engaging and doing the same. After posting one video on Face Art, I received a lot of appreciation and fascinating comments on Instagram, and I just went with the flow. So, I really don’t know what the universe has in store for me next. I am just going with the flow. I just accept whatever is coming my way. I never thought I would be entering a beauty pageant. Neither did I think I would be doing Face Art. You don’t know what can push you or interest you.
Chippy	Unfinished. There is more to come and Payal has more to offer. Your story is unfinished. It was an absolute delight talking to you.
Payal	Absolutely. Thank you so much Chippy for spending so much time on my story. Really means a lot.
Chippy	Thank you Payal for taking time to share your story so far. Wish you only the best in life and we will be rooting for you in everything you do.

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