Women of substance

Queen of diamonds
Shilpa Agarwal, founder of Shilpa Agarwal EFX, is a jewellery connoisseur, curator and personal jeweller for the modern Indian heiresses. Agarwal, who has always had a fondness for luxury and fashion, curates exclusive tailored jewellery selections for her network of clients based on their personal choice, taste and requirements. “Trends come and go, be it in jewellery or in fashion, but I am not someone who would suggest a woman to just follow the trend blindly,” says Agarwal. 

The biggest thing to take into consideration, says Agarwal, is understanding not just the trend but the elements that make it up. She explains that when it comes to jewellery, no matter what the trend is, a woman should first make a note of whether or not it really suits her. “Every woman has a different skin tone based on which either gold or silver jewellery will suit her. One needs to understand this and then select what to wear,” she points out and adds that buying jewellery is a process and not randomly picking up a piece you like. 

Shilpa Agarwal EFX is based on three aesthetics — modern, tailored and multi-dimensional. Modern means knowing the pulse of the tech-savvy modern Indian women and bringing them refreshing curations. Secondly, tailored means each of her curations is tailored as per the unique needs of her client while multi-dimensional simply means she curates selections based on not just the need of the occasion but the overall jewellery needs of the client and helps them transform the jewel to don on multiple occasions.

Agarwal takes inspiration from Coco Chanel’s belief that luxury cannot be vulgar and elegance is understated. “Every curation of ours oozes elegance,” she adds. Shilpa Agarwal EFX was conceived with an aim to bring couture diamond jewellery for her clientele.

The new ramp-age
It’s never too late to take a leap of faith,” says Gayatri Tiwari, a homemaker who recently entered the world of glamour. Tiwari has to her credit not just one or two titles, but a plentiful — Popular Queen of Universe 2019, Classic Mrs Inter-nations India 2018-19 and Mrs India Planet 2018 to name a few. 

Talking about her journey, Tiwari, who comes from an army background, says that she never thought about what the future had in store for her. “I have always been drawn towards fashion and I have been this creative person since I was a little kid,” explains Tiwari. 

She was married off early and soon her new home became the centre of her universe. “At the back of my mind, I always had my husband, kids, in-laws and parents. So I started paying little attention to myself, but all that changed when my friends first suggested, and then convinced me, to participate in fashion shows just for the fun of it. Slowly and gradually, I started walking the ramp and felt confident. I knew I could do it, more importantly, I could balance my two worlds. That was when I decided to give the competitions a try,” Tiwari recalls.

She points out that though her son was in a crucial academic year, he stood by her and encouraged her to go away and compete on a simple promise that he would study hard even if she was not around to keep a watch on him. “Over the years, I have understood that your family is the greatest support you could ever get. My husband is usually away because of his postings, but the kind of support and encouragement he has given me, has pushed me to go out there and achieve whatever I want to. And the same goes with my children. My daughter and son are my friends more than my children, so our relationship is really unique,” she says.  

Tiwari also points out that there are three words that describe her motto in life — direction, dedication and determination. “This is what I live by. It keeps me going forward and makes me believe that if there is something that I want to achieve, I can do so easily with just a little bit of push.” 

A melodious voice
Meeta Shah is a renowned singer, composer and lyricist who not only delivers soulful and spiritual songs but also believes in giving back to society. Shah, who has been singing devotional songs for several years, has been trained in classical and light music under the guidance of Kaumudi Munshi. 

“For me, it is not just about singing spiritual and devotional songs. For me, my work is done only when I am able to deliver good songs that move people with my work,” says Shah. 

A devotee of Gurudevshri Rakeshbhai, Shah is inspired by his teachings on self realisation and wholeheartedly works at the Shrimad Rajchandra Mission, Shrirampur since the past 15 years. 
She believes that a person’s true potential reaches its optimum level when they utilise it for the benefit of others. “Since I am good at singing, I use it as a skill to give back to society because it has given me so much,” says Shah. 

She explains that she has shared platform with Shankar Mahadevan, Suresh Wadkar, Roop Kumar Rathod, Rahul Despande, Mahesh Kale, Anuradha Paudwal and many more and has donated all the proceeds  of her shows and albums to various NGOs and hospitals. 

She also mentions that her rendition of patriotic and devotional songs has been appreciated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

Shah, who sings in 11 languages, has performed for spiritual organisation like Shrimad Rajchandra mission, Sadhu Vaswani Mission, Art of Living, ISKCON, Light of Life Trust and many more in India as well as abroad.

She will be releasing her album, Ik Tu Hee Tu on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Rev Dada J P Vaswani. The songs have been written by Sadhu Vaswani and Dada J P Vaswani. The concept, music and the vocals are by Meeta along with Suresh Wadkar, Shankar Mahadevan and Sanjeev Abhyankar. Anand Kurekar and Amod Kulkarni have arranged, mastered and mixed the songs for the album.