Thursday, April 23, 2015

10 Reasons We Love Chuck Bass



Gossip Girl may be long over but that doesn’t stop us from going head over heels for Mr Chuck Bass. The smirk, the slow dialogue delivery, those scarfs and those four words – “I am Chuck Bass”. Enough to make any girl weak in the knees. Its no surprize that he managed to get the queen bee herself to fall madly in love with him. He may have started out as a philanderer but as the series progressed his character turned out to be one of televisions most loved. Though there is no reason required to love Chuck, but there were a few moments in the series when he just melted our hearts and made us collectively go Awwwwwww. While on the re runs of Gossip Girl, I have nailed down some of his aww-worthy actions.

Picture Courtesy - cosmiclovecb.wordpress.com
The time is kept Lily’s secret
The time his father died in a road accident while on his way to meet his stepmom Lily. Chuck, in the process of blaming Lily for his father’s death paid huge amount of money to his father’s detective. The one who had a big secret which even his father knew and was on his way to confront lily about but insteaddied in the car crash. Having a full chance to tell her secret to the world, Chuck chose to be a gentleman and at lily’s instance kept mum about Rufus’s child that Lily gave up, years ago.

Picture Courtesy - www.popsugar.com

When he saved Lily from getting raped by Jack Bass
While on the verge of losing his dad’s business to the evil Jack bass, Lily offered to adopt Chuck to become his legal guardian and hence help him keep his father’s legacy. This did not go down well with the scorned Jack Bass. He attempted to threaten and rape Lily but she was saved with Chuck’s timely intervention. I love the look of extreme anger on his face in this scene and well the mind-blowing blows. *sighs*

Picture Courtesy - gossipgirl.wikia.com
His best man speech
The best man speech at his father’s wedding to Lily was what changed Chuck from a boy to a man. Now we will forget that towards the end of the first season he stood up Blair and hobnobbed with some decorator. But his words about love and forgiveness stole our hearts. 

Picture Courtesy - gossipgirl.wikia.com

The time is helped Serena during the whole Georgina Sparks thing
Playing the perfect friend and step brother Chuck helped Serena coming out of the mess Georgina Sparks created. From holding her up at the Palace to arranging a fake Serena to give her SATs. He did whatever was possible to keep her safe including lying to not-very-amused Dan Humphrey. And who can forget the iconic “let’s get the bitch” sentence he uttered in response to Blair’s scheme for the final blow to evil Georgina.

Picture Courtesy - gossipgirl.wikia.com
When he paid for Blair’s dowry
According to an agreement clause in Blair’s cursed nuptial to the Prince, she has to stay married for at least a year or pay a mind boggling sum of money as dowry. Since the money would make the Waldorf‘s bankrupt, Blair decided to stay married for a year. But Chuck wanted her freedom so on the cost of Bass Industries he paid off Blair’s dowry in what can only be called as the costliest romantic gesture ever.

Picture Courtesy - governmentgirl1943lp.typepad.com
The time is got Blair her dream senior prom dress and made her the queen of Constance.
We all know Ms Waldorf had been planning her prom since she was a little girl. Her dress, her makeup, her man just about everything. But the time nearing her actual prom was not an easy one. So she was pretty excited when a dress arrived exactly like the one she had in her scrapbook. She went with the guy she had always dreamed of going with – Nate and also ended up being crowned the queen of Constance.Chuck made her dream come true.Though her minions schemed to de-throne her but it was chuck who saved her and put her name in all the voting chits. Awwwww.

Picture Courtesy - www.tumblr.com
When he rode a bike in that dapper jacket.
In order to get away from Blair’s wedding, Chuck went to chill out in LA. Considering that we rarely saw him in anything but suits, this appearance in that leather jacket was a treat!

Picture Courtesy - www.tumblr.com
The time in Yale when he saved Nate
In order to accomplish his dream to be a part of secret society in the crown of Ivy League, Yale he made sure not to betray his best friend Nate. When the members wanted him to give Nate as a ransom, he gave them poor Dan instead. Smart as he is, he also kept a blackmail material ready capturing their escapades with the girls in the party thrown by him. 

Picture Courtesy - blog.muchmusic.com
When he gave up Blair to Prince Louis
Even though madly in love with Blair, he let Blair have her princess moment by not letting her breakup with Louis. It takes a lot of courage for a deed like this and Chuck proved yet again what an incredible man he is by this action.

Picture Courtesy - twitter.com
His fabulous quotes
Agreed he is portrayed as a narcissist but the dialogues and his dialogue delivery was one of the high point of the entire series.

Love:
Sepo

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Tjori – Indian To The Core

There are no two ways about the fact that online shopping is a huge success. Garments, electronics, home decor, shoes - there is nothing that people are not buying online. While most of stuff available on various websites is more or else the same, what makes them different is the way they market themselves, the offers they provide and how timely they deliver. Our today’s covered startup - Tjori differs not only in style of operation but also in the stuff they offer. Coming from online shopaholic you have to trust me when I say that Tjori is like a breath of fresh air. It speaks and pours Indian-ness to the core. It’s like love at first click!



I must say that they have chosen their name very aptly because shopping at Tjori is seriously like a treasure hunt. They have sarees, suits and kurti’s in all popular Indian weaves like khadi, cotton, chanderi, raw silk, bagalpuri silk. Not just material, they have specialities from all across India. From kashmiri and Dogri suits to Chennai sarees. Leather bags to kolapuri chappals. Kullu boots to beautiful hand painted wedges. To complement each outfit they have beautiful traditional/tribal jewellery. Not just retail, they have beautiful paintings and home decors. And that’s not all, food is also a part of the trade. They offer healthy organic food, bakery items and traditional Indian utensils as well.





We had a chat with Mansi Gupta, the brain behind this awesomeness. Here’s what she had to say to our very many questions..

1. Tell us about inception of Tjori?
The concept of Tjori stroke my mind when I was studying in Wharton Business School especially when I understood the demand hand-crafted products had outside India. During my stay at Wharton, we were taken to Morocco on a trip and that is where I understood that the hand-crafted products were actually expensive by the time they reached the end consumers.
It was may due to the traditional value chain. But, I wanted to eliminate all those extra money and make sure that handcrafted products should reach people easily and also at lesser prices. Also, since childhood, I was passionate about hand-made items. So, Tjori was started as a platform to make that Indian hand-crafted products reached USA without any hurdles and later on as we grew, our focus grew too from just India to across the globe.

2. With so many online shopping portals, what is that thing which separates Tjori from others?
Well, Tjori is a unique shopping experience which cannot be found anywhere else. We have the best premium handmade products than others do. Also, we have a unique sales model where we actually sell items for just 15 days. We bring in a product and display it on our website for 15 days what we also call as event. The event runs for 15 days and people can buy during this period. But, once the 15 days get over, we take down the product. It's a kind of flash sales, we may think. This actually creates an urge of buying something new and unique and people have different items every time.

3. We have observed that you mostly have traditional and ethnic weaves, any special reason behind that?
Well! Most of the items that we showcase could be from any ethnicity but the qualifier for a product to be showcased is the fact that it has to be unique, high on design and not easily accessible. It has to be unique enough in terms of its design, origin or the story that goes behind the making, inspiration for the collection et al.

4. What features do you employ to achieve customer delight?
Customers are the centre point of our value system. We do anything possible to ensure that they are happy and satisfied. We believe in customer delight from the moment they come on the website.

5. Finally where do you see Tjori five years from now?
Well, we want to be the Number 1 in the industry providing our customers and members more offer and growing the ladder of success and winning more and more hearts every single day.


I are really proud of Mansi and her team for bringing up forgotten Indian weaves and traditional apparels mainstream. In a time when everyone is running after similar and safer options, they have embraced an untreaded path. Wishing them all the very best. Please check their www.tjori.com to feel that mitti ki khushboo.

Love:
Sepo

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Random Musings

Tell me about yourself? That’s one question that drives me crazy. Not that this post is going to help me answer this question. But yea, the different traits of my personality never fail to amaze me. It takes more than just hobbies and career to define us. Little things we love, the way emotions like anger and jealously affects us. These and numerous other things define the person we are. Though one cannot go on explaining these traits, it is still good to know them about you. I just happened to do the same and have listed some random traits and fact about me.

1. I am the revenge taking type. If someone just playfully hits or nudges me, I get back with a kung-fu action. This has caused a lot of wrath from people nearby.

2. I also maintain a highly efficient and fast processing database inside my brain. It comes in handy during a fight or argument when I do a fast query and come back with the data of how 4 years back the person had done something that can now be used against them

3. I sulk. A lot. Sometimes for no apparent reason.

4. I am obsessed with things old and antique. Retro lamps, grandfathers’ clock, Victorian furniture, smell of old books, radio, gramophone, chunky telephones, vintage cars… The list is endless.

5. I am a quintessential90s girl. 90s music on my phone – Check. 90s shows on my laptop – Check. 90s style staples in my closet – Check. Scrunchies in my hair – Check. Stack of unused junk jewellery eating a huge chunk of space in my cupboard – Check. Slam book – Check. Huge crush on Milind Soman – Check. You get the drift? That’s just how 90s I am.

6. I am sarcastic. Sometimes. Most of the times. Whenever the situation demands.

7. I am an intriguing mixture of creative and lazy.

8. I love the silence and magic of late nights – a perfect creative canvas for me. But dare to wake me early and I will bite your head off.

9. I love DIY projects. Revamping old shoes, painting, earing holders, decoration from old sarees. Bring it on! Earing holder from twigs is in my current lust list!

10. I mentally stab and kill the person who criticises my cooking

11. I am obsessed with even numbered lists. 3s 7s 11s 13s give me restlessness.

12. I get super-duper jealous when someone praises a girl for her good dressing sense, time management, looks, cooking or anything else in front of me.

13. I organize my entire week’s clothes in my mind and also keep next day’s clothes ironed and ready for that extra 5 minutes of sleep in the morning.

14. Closing with the embarrassing one. I am obsessed with watching re-runs of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu thi, Kasauti Zindagi Ki, Rendezvous with Simi Grewal, Hip Hip Hurray, Kahin na Kahin toh hoga. Guilty pleasure – reminds me of old school days.

When I started I had just about 2 or 3 things to write about. But then as I started, I couldn’t stop - so many things started to crop up in my mind. Must say try it sometime!

Love:
Sepo