Blog Posts by Sssourabh

Original article here: A Touch of Quirky 2: Feel Hot, Wear Hot

Heat waves carry more than just heat, intolerance, vacations, and news.
They carry inspiration.

Temperatures soar in the summer. The sun licks my skin with its hissing tongue. The fiery air rekindles flames when it brushes through my hair. The simmering air mystifies my eyes, which seek a thirst quenching mirage.

When heat waves lap the surfaces of life, many take the opportunity to tan on silken beaches. Some nest indoors and concoct icy fruity ice pops. Others prefer to perch in air conditioned bars with minty mojitos. I, however, am ignited by inspiration to turn the heat into something tangible. I seek to substitute the perpetual envelopment of flames with equally ferocious and heat-inspired fashion.

This time's Touch of Quirky series deviates from its predecessor that gave a taste of foody areas of pomegranate and curry, and moves into the realm of fashion. The cue is the sweltering summer, and the

Read the original article here: Shoppng: A test of the distance between your Brain and your Heart

shopping @sssourabh

So much poetry exists about the heart and its righteousness over the brain.

But no, this is not a psychological deduction of your life. Nor is it a sequential detangling of your love life.

Rather it is a take on maintaining this distance without letting shopper psychology interfere.

Recalling a strategic view on shopper psychology versus retailer strategy, I found that shopper psychology in particular takes the toll at this time of year. After Thanksgiving commences holiday shopping season, but unlike a car that slowly accelerates along to reach a cruise controlled racing speed, shopping commences with a roller-coaster drop akin to a deadly game park ride.

Behold Black Friday.

Called so because this is the day we make the profit and loss statement of a retailer move from red to black. (Negative to positive, for anti accounting and Excel peeps).

Black Friday hits

Original article here: Mythical, Predatory and Saccharine

Mythical: a familiar magic from a translucent childhood

Predatory: a carnal desire that awaits awakening

Saccharine: a luring sensation that mandates recurrence

fall fusion 26 @sssourabh

What do these elements of have in common with the fall?
And how do they interrelate to food and fashion?

fall fusion 24 @sssourabh

While deep routed in legacy, the fall season of October and November truly evokes the spirit due to two festivals that trigger the taste buds and body hugging attires alike. While ghoulish and gory in its legacy, Halloween is a time for eating everything dunked in sugar and bringing the quirk out of the wardrobe, spelling fashion in a edgy, yet whimsical way. While the end of a war and captivity mark the epitome of a firecracker and candlelit welcome to the auspicious Diwali, it is a time to walk out layered in glitterati and consume all things that start and end with sugar granules.

fall fusion 21 @sssourabh

Diwali derives from Deepavali, which

Original article here: Mother Nature Turns Professor: Lessons from Hurricane Irene

You know that something is sinking into your subconscious when you even dream of it.

I think I dreamed of swimming with my select possessions deteriorating in dampness, sometimes perched on my front door as a yacht, thinking in the momentary spurts of wakefulness, that I would have to do it again if Irene's fortune unfolded as predicted.

Hurricane Irene @sssourabh

I ignored my rebellious, nonchalant streak and paid attention to my eyes and brain, which absorbed the constant overfeed of calamity struck news that was being fed to every living sense in the body. Hence the dream. A state of emergency was declared as the overly personified Irene viewed the busiest East Coast as its target. While New York languished into an eerie silence, I was readily packed up. Flashlights (with batteries), bottled water, canned food and granola bars, candles, and some necessities from a bakery and a liquor store alike. I was part

Original article here: Ordinary Women and Attractive Men: Calling for Brawn Before Brain?

Funny how brawn and brain have only one comparative letter out of place.

W. And I.

Intolerant or Impeccable? Weaker or Wonderful?

Which one is misspelled (or misplaced) is the question. Akin to the chicken and egg question.

What came first? Brawn or Brain?

brawn, then brain1 @sssourabh

Try not to pass judgments via the crux of this article. It's idea was born about after a flick through a rather interesting article that stated that when applying for jobs, men needed to perk up their look, while women had to de-pretty themselves quite a bit. So, brawn and beauty mean different things for a brain oriented task.

Really?

Penalized for the sake of looking good? And rewarded for it too, simply depending on gender?

Truly a controversy ridden message which will expectedly send tremors in more than just the world of executive fashion.

I have often found the deep neck shirt wearing, hoity

Original Article: Chocolate Devotion

Some things are a staple in life.

chocolates25 @sssourabh
Brushing your teeth without yawning. Checking the crawling time in a meeting. Turning a warm pillow around to sleep on the colder side. Quirks and dramatized habits, we have them all.

For me, eating dessert is one of these. Especially if it contains chocolate, the epitome of my devotion to all things sweet.

Let us forget the consequential workout and miles of running that I do to recuperate.

And related to this is my annual accomplishment of attending the Chocolate Show. For more on this glorious yearly event, the official website has enough trivia and paraphernalia that are captivating enough to lure one in next year, and thus does not need to be exaggerated further!

chocolates27 @sssourabh
For 2010 in New York (versus former years in Paris, and yesteryears in New York, too), the list of vendors was surprisingly short, squished onto one page in a decent sized font. My expectations initially plummeted,

Original Article: Out-of-Hand Observations 2: Fashion Camouflage

Ever seen something which demanded you to almost instinctively look twice? Sometimes so quickly that the neck gives a jerk that follows after the eyeballs have absorbed a phenomenal sighting?

As I have pointed out before, the world feeds your eyes. Daily.

With the gracious and positive reception of my Out of Hand Observations 1, I felt it apt to continue in the series to document more sightings from our world. Thus, behold Out of Hand Observations 2. Shoes return as a prominent feature here, accompanied by many, many food inspired accessories, which strangely sometimes incorporate real food into the design; as if Gaga's meaty catwalk trailed by bacteria, odor and frowns was not enough! And just so us guys have equality in the fashion world, there are a few guy-only trends that manage to make it to the observational list.

outofhand1 @sssourabh

Named fashion camouflage, the list entails a plethora of imagery

Original article can be viewed here: Breaking Chocolate Apart, Literally

Chocs @sssourabh

Pure chocolate does not survive beyond two weeks, said chocolatiers and Food Network experts at the New York Chocolate Show. Naturally, they meant two weeks after it is made, not two weeks from when it is purchased; consuming chocolate within two weeks of the latter is an effortless task. Networking amidst chocolate gurus in Paris, Brussels and New York exposed me to this fact, along with several regulations that exist around chocolate manufacturing. Yes, the tentacles of legislative trademarks and stamps did not pardon this delectable indulgence, too. I cringed at the realization that my favorite bars of Newtree, Cote D'Or or Chocolove XOXO, all the way to childhood favorites Snickers and Twix, which I bought in unthinkable quantities and clutched onto for weeks and months, did not fit the so-called pure chocolate category. With this in mind, I began looking into what chocolate contains, with