Making Amends

This generation’s penchant for thoughtless consumption gets Madhu Jain roiled up, and she wonders if nature is getting its own back for our missteps…

Diamonds With Provenance

In keeping with the company’s commitment to environmental and social responsibility, Anisa Kamadoli Costa, chief sustainability officer at Tiffany & Co. and chairman and president at The Tiffany & Co. Foundation, enlightens Shirin Mehta on the efforts that make the jewellery giant an industry leader in transparency

NOTES TO SELF

An anthropomorphized tiger’s perspective, a viscerally worded futuristic interpretation of loss, a critique of performative activism, a meta reflection on the earth’s crises. Told through different lenses, Janaki Lenin, Indrapramit Das, Keshava Guha and Roshan Ali’s stories — written exclusively for Verve — attempt to make sense of the fraught reality that we exist in today

The Eternal Optimist

As Generation X and xennials grapple with fully transitioning to conscious living, young millennials and Generation Z are leading the charge to reverse human-caused environmental damage. Sahar Mansoor, founder and CEO of the Bengaluru-based zero-waste social enterprise Bare Necessities, has a simple overarching philosophy: consume less and stay positive. Verve gets deeper into the mindset of the action-oriented earth advocate

Redemption SONGS

Indian music festivals have been demonstrating a refreshing sense of responsibility in terms of their ecological impact. Interacting with stakeholders who strive to make these large-scale events greener, Akhil Sood investigates the reasons behind the improved attitudes of audiences and the increase in corporate support.

earth hour

Crafted using nature’s elements, these dials draw inspiration from the many heterogeneous materials and hues around us.Verve turns its lens onto a mesmerising few

THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT

Children are holding adults accountable for both the grim future they are facing and the toll this is taking on their mental health. Madhumita Bhattacharyya initiates conversations with families of young climate activists and observes the extent to which parenting has changed in the face of catastrophe

NATURAL JUSTICE

Most of us are only just waking up to the urgency of climatic action. When the stakes are so high, what can individual action solve? Mridula Mary Paul, an environmental policy expert, is proof of the tenacity needed to effect systemic change. It’s not glamorous, and the rewards are few and far between, but that doesn’t stop her from aiming big, finds Anandita Bhalerao

Wishful Shrinking

Pihu Sand made her acting debut as Lata Sharma, a plus-sized singer with stars in her eyes, in Fanney Khan(2018). The 22-year-old gives an honest account of how she was made to gain 20 kgs for the role and then pressured into taking it all off to sustain her relevance in an industry with demanding beauty ideals. Sadaf Shaikh, who continues to struggle with her fitness targets, weighs in...

Menu à la Mode

The opening of Louis Vuitton’s first-ever cafe, Le Café V, and restaurant, Sugalabo V, atop the newly inaugurated Louis Vuitton Maison Osaka Midosuji, has created a flutter of excitement in the circles of fashion and haute cuisine…

Diamonds are Forever

Breguet’s watches, the masters in timekeeping, can be proudly shown off during any elegant occasion. Verve presents two shining examples — the Reine de Naples 8958 and the Classique 9065

Clarified Living

Embracing beauty and skincare as part of a healthy lifestyle while creating and using natural products is what brothers Gopesh and Gopal Sutariya hope to enable through the family business, Suryan Organic. Their daily routine is just as holistic and gives Shirin Mehta an alternative perspective

Rebirth of a Nation

Beginning an eight-day road trip down the Albanian Riviera in Tirana, the capital city at the heart of a post-Communist awakening, prepares New York-based Aalika Mahindra to traverse the country’s particular sociopolitical arc and her own progression as a traveller

EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF

The menswear retail sector has undergone a visible evolution as it moved from offering just boring basics or expensive designer garments to including multi-designer men’s stores and Instagram brands that are eco-friendly and influenced by street style. Verve gives you an overview of the ready-to-wear market while highlighting a mix of well-established and under-the-radar labels

IN GOOD COMPANY

Two women. Two start-ups. Two thought leaders. The result of an impromptu idea, Ankiti Bose’s Singapore-based digital fashion marketplace, Zilingo, is en route to a billion dollar valuation just four years after its launch. Its rapid rise caught the eye of fellow businesswoman Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, founder of the over-four-decade-old Biocon, who herself holds an unmatched position in corporate India. She naturally takes a mentoring stance when Verve combines the entrepreneurial powers of the Bengaluruborn disruptors for a reliably impressive exchange of ideas as Shirin Mehta listens in.

Bittersweet

The essence of boutique brand Ether Atelier Chocolat is rooted in the founder Prateek Bakhtiani’s lived experiences and the stories of the earth that begat the bean. Disarming Ranjabati Das with his candour, the chocolatier and chemistry savant expounds on the intense interaction between his two passions

IN GOOD COMPANY

Two women. Two start-ups. Two thought leaders. The result of an impromptu idea, Ankiti Bose’s Singapore-based digital fashion marketplace, Zilingo, is en route to a billion dollar valuation just four years after its launch. Its rapid rise caught the eye of fellow businesswoman Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, founder of the over-four-decade-old Biocon, who herself holds an unmatched position in corporate India. She naturally takes a mentoring stance when Verve combines the entrepreneurial powers of the Bengaluruborn disruptors for a reliably impressive exchange of ideas as Shirin Mehta listens in

IT'S NEWS TO HER

In the current national scenario, the economic liberalisation of 1991 – that, to a large extent, shaped our dreams – seems to be a thing of the distant past. Sonia Singh, editorial director, NDTV and mother of three, who has been reporting on the country’s ups and downs for over 20 years, tactfully balances an objective big-picture outlook with her maternal sixth sense. During a Sunday afternoon in her home, she offers Shraddha Jahagirdar-Saxena an even-handed take on re-evaluating history and preparing for what lies ahead...

An inside job

Anxiety and stress at the workplace can be crippling, particularly in today’s high-pressure corporate culture. And the stigma around men opening up about mental illness is shaped by its own set of patriarchal diktats. Entrepreneur Nikhil Taneja leads Supriya Thanawala through his uphill climb to personal and occupational success and proves that showing vulnerability is the first step towards taking control

EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF

The menswear retail sector has undergone a visible evolution as it moved from offering just boring basics or expensive designer garments to including multi-designer men’s stores and Instagram brands that are eco-friendly and influenced by street style. Verve gives you an overview of the ready-to-wear market while highlighting a mix of well-established and under-the-radar labels

Modern-Day Metallics That Draw Inspiration From Festive Elements

Over-the-top dazzle or a hint of glitter, celebrations in India bring out the shine. Verve spotlights modern-day metallics that draw inspiration from festive elements - sparkles, varq, a kalash, and wedding mandaps - and styles gold, silver, copper and red-and-gold separates on model Sumaya Hazarika as she throws light on her scintillating go-to ensembles for the season...

Asha Parekh Speaks About The Rule-Breaking Life Choices She Has Made In Her 77 Years

At a time when unmarried women were the exception, ’60s superstar Asha Parekh defied the norm and rejected a long list of suitors. Bollywood history rookie and the soon-to-wed Sadaf Shaikh reconciles her 21st-century feminist ideology with the still-single actor’s understated iconoclasm as their conversation elides the 50 years between them…

Queen Of Hearts

The newest means to go viral, TikTok, has also emerged as a democratising desi alternative to homogeneous and exclusionary Western social media. Influencer and first ‘regular’ Indian woman to be ‘crowned’ on the app, Nagma Mirajkar, opens up to Akhil Sood about the exhilaration and fragility of being an online superstar.

Too Much Of A Good Thing?

Madhu Jain looks back to a time of simple games and pleasures and compares these to the multitude of on-demand diversions available to all, in the present day.

The Ladies Marine Collection To Contemporary Women Explorers

The Ladies Marine collection by Breguet celebrates the desire to travel the vast expanse of the seas. The house dedicates its new collection to contemporary women explorers, finds Verve

Michael Kors' Leather Handbags Are In The Spotlight For All The Right Reasons

Its namesake may have hit the tabloids for its exclusivity (read notoriety), but this bag is in the spotlight for all the right reasons.

An Acquired Taste

Rishim Sachdeva, Olive Bar & Kitchen’s former chef, made the hard decision to leave Mumbai where he had reached starry heights. Joanna Lobo gets the lowdown on his life and relationship with food between learning to prepare a dish of perfectly seared fish and quizzing him about the future…

The Match Makers

Since the 1983 World Cup win, when the Indian media and fans switched their focus onto the players, demigods have been born into cricket almost as often as in that other field of pageantry — Bollywood. And, the constant innovations in viewing formats have further broadened the scope of its ability to ‘entertain’. Snehal Pradhan examines the formerly unassuming game’s shift from sport to spectacle…

Social Butterfly

Her Instagram captions — wittily concise or an expertly selected emoji — present an intriguing combination of millennial insouciance with profundity that is beyond her years. The enigmatic yet instantly relatable Sobhita Dhulipala’s inner self emerges as Richa Kaul Padte peels back the layers of everyone’s new favourite ‘webtertainment’ celebrity, on the heels of the actor’s upcoming Netflix release, Bard of Blood