Since application season for foreign university applicants has just concluded, many hopeful students will be preparing for a new chapter in their lives. Moving from the pampered luxuries of home life to fending for oneself abroad, while concentrating on attaining good grades, is not an easy task. Everything from searching for accommodation and furnishing it, to figuring out the nearest and most inexpensive grocery store and laundromat; there are many tasks on one’s to-do list when they first move abroad to pursue higher studies.

Perhaps the most important factor, however, is to sort out one’s finances—set up a bank account and establish an easy system to receive and transfer money throughout the year. Fortunately, the team behind Remitout has solved this headache by setting up a dedicated service to simplify the wiring of money internationally. Two bankers—Nafees Dadi and Kritika Saini—realised that students and their parents often visited banks to transfer money but found it difficult to navigate the endless form-filling and other arduous tasks. In their frazzled state, they often made mistakes, having to redo their forms and wait in long queues to have their money transfers processed.

This led to the idea of Remitout—a portmanteau of ‘remittances outside’ India. The transfer of money to people studying abroad falls under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), which facilitates resident individuals to remit up to $2,50,000 or its equivalent abroad per Financial Year, for permitted current or capital account transactions or a combination of the two. The team behind Remitout realised that the transactions made under this scheme were grossly under-serviced, presenting an opportunity for them to launch themselves on the market.

When asked if they felt that students lack financial independence, Dadi and Saini are emphatic in their explanation. “The majority of students do lack financial independence as most of them are undergraduates, financed by their families. Even those that are graduates take loans or sometimes borrow money from friends and family to finance themselves. Only about 20% of people going abroad to study are working professionals who have saved funds through their jobs and are able to finance themselves,” they say. According to them, however, the lack of finances is not a serious issue. In India, there is an unstated understanding that parents finance the higher studies of their children, especially at the undergraduate level. Those that cannot afford it, prefer to send their children to Indian institutions for higher studies.

Today, Remitout has helped over 4,500 students receive their remittances with ease. By offering money transfers in more than 15 currencies, they have clearly become the preferred remittance partner in India for students and their parents. Some of the services that distinguish them in this space include easy accessibility through phone calls, WhatsApp chats, emails and messages; a one-time signup process that simplifies the form-filling procedure allowing it to be completed in a few minutes; the capability of setting up rate alerts which keep the customers informed of the desired exchange rates; maintenance of complete transparency which allows better control over transactions; and the promise of taking their data security very seriously.

As with any business, Remitout too faced numerous challenges when it first began. Students were not keen to explore this new service and were especially distrustful of their paperless transactions—they simply could not fathom the concept of uploading photos and documents by clicking pictures. They overcame this prejudice slowly and steadily by asking for reviews from happy customers. “We asked them to write about our services on their chat groups and social media accounts. This helped us to grow organically and attracted a lot of traction on our website,” exclaim the founders.

Then the pandemic hit and Remitout had to re-assess its situation once again. As universities were shut and international flights banned, the team waited patiently to tide this time over and is fortunately up on its feet again. With the vision to build an authoritative money remittance platform, Remitout helps Indian students settle in easily when studying abroad. Their long-term goal is to make the platform conducive to all kinds of student payments—negating even the need for credit cards ultimately.

The writer is a lawyer who pens lifestyle articles for various publications and her blog www.nooranandchawla.com. She can be contacted on nooranand@gmail.com.

I often get asked this question by a gamut of people. Audiences at concerts, participants at lecture demonstrations, parents of young students of Music Vruksh, friends, acquaintances and even strangers who hear that I am a classical musician.

Since singing has been an intrinsic part of my growing up and has now evolved into my profession, I had, until a few years ago, never really thought about people who have a desire to sing and possibly an aptitude too, but never really got to learn formally or sing in public. Most of these people hide bashfully behind the identity of what they call ‘just a bathroom singer’. Bathrooms obviously signify extreme privacy, a place where a person can unleash his or her own Sonu Nigam or Shreya Ghoshal alter ego. With the showerhead as a mike, the soapy floor as the grand stage, and the buckets and soaps as audiences, the singer inside him or her blooms with full confidence. The mirror plays a very important role too. It is that special reflection that shows the person as a larger-than-life singer who can create magic in people’s hearts, the persona they desperately want but feel they can never acquire.

The desire to sing is actually a desire for many things morphed into one. It is the ego’s desire to be admired, looked up to and loved by people. It is the mind’s desire to express a whole gamut of emotions from love to hate. It is the spirit’s desire to expand and embrace life and its rich experiences through the magic that music is. It is the desire of our beings to touch perfection and beauty through our vocal cords even if for a brief moment of time.

But most people get lost in the belief that that music is a gift only a few privileged people can enjoy. They resign themselves to being the longing soul that desperately desires music but cannot touch it.

For these people, I have something very important to say. It is no doubt certainly a worthy goal to want to improve your singing skills. In classical music, we give immense importance to the skills of ‘Sur’ and ‘Taal’, and it is certainty a wonderful thing if your key can be a bit better, if your sense of rhythm can be a bit more polished. But there is something else that is far more profoundly important. Even in classical music, what differentiates a powerfully soul-stirring singer from a highly skilled one, is spirit. Only when skill is powered by spirit can music genuinely transcend. So yes, it is a great thing to start musical training and look forward to improving singing skills. But it is essential to not lose one’s spirit and essence in this pursuit, the spirit that compels one to cry, laugh and love through its voice.

The pursuit of perfection is a mirage. Just as when you love something or someone with your full heart, the object of your desire becomes perfect for you, the same is true of music. When you love what you sing and sing what you love, you feel the fullness of happiness as perfection. Perfection actually lies in the spirit of oneness. It lies wholly within us.  And when we sing with our heart, express with gay abandon and reach out to the divine through our love, we are perfect singers.

So, when I am asked the question ‘Can I sing?’, I have an unequivocal answer. Yes! Anyone can sing. Everyone should sing. Because it is every single soul’s birthright to be as grand as it desires. To be as happy as a singing cuckoo bird.  To be as united with the beauty and magic of the true spirit of music as any professional singer on this planet.

A love for India emerges in the heart of many Europeans who are otherwise uninitiated into its culture by birth or geographical orientation. However, their heart is helplessly in love, possessed by a pressing desire to belong, to feel the Indian sun on their skin, live amongst the heat and dust and, if possible, never go back. It is this ‘Indophile romance’ that brings many design professionals to India, especially from the fashion capital of the world, France.  Beader Jean Francois Lesage, his father, the late Francois Lesage, chandelier restorer Regis Mathier, textile expert Peter Ascoli and luxury consultant Veronique Poles lead this list.

I met Veronique at my own platform, Royal Fables, along with a dear mutual friend, Jasmine, who had actually brought her there. To begin with, she passed off as yet another European soaking in the most romantic of the Indian bastion: princely India. But after one conversation with her, I realized this was an Indian soul who was also blessed with French instincts towards art and design, an evolved design addict who has ‘been there, done that, only in the end to realise that God is in the small things.’

Veronique Poles, the brain behind Poles Luxury Consultant, is also the voice of the Paris-based Federation of French Custom Couture Creations in India. To her credit goes the initiation of many cross-cultural promotions between India and France, the collaboration with Ekaya being the latest one, in which French couture creators worked with the master weaves of Benaras, each inch of the silk and brocade custom-crafted for these couturiers in various shades of gold and ivory.

She laughs as she recalls, “I’ve always been enamoured with India since I was a young lady in Toulouse. Looking back I wonder if in my past life I was actually an Indian. Well, in those days I could have passed off as a Kashmiri belle, given the outfit that had become my fashion statement by default. Except at that time I did not have the faintest idea that what I wore looked like a French version of the kurta and shalwar.”

The best part is that it was all put together by her. “My grandmother got me a vintage sewing machine that also had a foot paddle. She gifted me two metres of very fine black silk to stitch. What I created from my subconscious was almost the silhouette of a shalwar. With that I would add a gilet kind of a slip in soft white textile which women wore those days more as inners. From the curio shop I would pick up silver anklets and earrings which I wore with chappals to the university!” And there she would be, Veronique Poles, a stunningly beautiful Frenchwoman born in Toulouse, looking like she had just returned from Srinagar.

Veronique started her career working with Louis Vuitton in the training department. “While I was in Paris, I got the chance to work very closely with Michael Burke (now the CEO of Louis Vuitton) and Patrick Vuitton, the great great grandson of Louis Vuitton. I was asked to work on a project, to create a document that traced all the discontinued products of the brand for better aftersales services.” And it is here that she discovered the many commissions by the Maharajas of India and, as her awe for India got cemented further, her need to go to India grew. “I knew that I would reach these shores for sure at some point,” she shares.

After Paris, she went to work in the US, with not a word of spoken English in her vocabulary. “That was a terrifying experience that I lived to share.” To make it easier for herself, she created a catalogue with prices for each product, “that helped me make sales quickly, leading to the best turnover on the east coast that year.” “I also worked at Hermès for a few months,” she adds. She then returned to Paris and started working with a design agent. “That was the year 2000, when India was still regarded as an IT destination or a country which was ready to consume European luxury much like China.”

Veronique came to the country thinking that Indians would want to consume luxury made in France.  However, once here, she was in for a surprise. India had so much to offer! It was a reversal of her theory. “India and its people are totally consumed by their own indigenous treasure trove of luxury. They in reverse have so much to offer to the world with their handmade creations.”

However, her first experience working here was not the most charming. In fact, it was disheartening and an experience “that hurt but was also a big learning for me.” For the first few years all she did was pick up design consultations, but she also travelled to the most indigenous of Indian destinations: From regal Udaipur to earthy Mahabalipuram, from enchanting Jaisalmer to breathtaking Coorg. “The country also holds a great history of rich and refined princely design from which emerges a unique luxury that is handmade, steeped in culture, and linked to the roots in the most subliminal manner,” she says.

“Many luxury brands go to India for inspiration, particularly for embroidery. India has as much potential as the French do, if not more. India needs more support and needs to provide greater value to its own brands instead of looking towards the West. My role then was to convince French designers and buyers to turn their attention to India, telling them about the Indian luxury market. I was among the first to start this conversation back then. I spent three years as a speaker at conferences trying to ready them for India.”

And now when so many platforms of exchange have opened up, the Poles Luxe Consulting is not just busy pursuing design assignments but also pottering with craft, creating collectibles like spectacular masks that Veronique crafted during the pandemic. The first set was designed for her own use. “I feel blessed to be in a country like India where I think we have handled the pandemic quite responsibly. And then I started designing for friends and associates. I wanted to de-dramatise the situation, and stay classy and elegant while wearing a mask. I started the process with elaborating three hand-embroidered masks with my own personal style and French touch!”

Her jewel-masks are an absolute must-have fashion accessory. It uses the know-how of skilled karigars, revisits some techniques of embroidery and focuses on the high quality of the components used. “Each mask is an art which touches the soul,” she says.

MUMBAI: Veteran actor Anupam Kher on Thursday shared a health update about his wife and actor Kirron Kher stating that she has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer and is currently ‘undergoing treatment’. The ‘Saraansh’ actor took to Twitter and released a statement which was from Anupam and his son Sikandar. The actor revealed that Kirron is undergoing treatment for the disease and ‘will come out of this stronger’.

Anupam wrote, “Just so that rumours don’t get the better of a situation Sikandar and I would like to inform everyone that Kirron has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer. She is currently undergoing treatment and we are sure she will come out of this stronger than before.” He added, “We are blessed that she is being looked after by a phenomenal set of doctors. She’s always been a fighter and takes things head-on. She’s all heart and that’s why she has so many people that love her.” Urging fans to keep on showering love and prayers for his wife’s speedy recovery, Anupam said, “keep sending love to her in your prayers and in your heart. She is well on her way to recovery and we thank everyone for their support and love. Anupam and Sikandar.”

MUMBAI: Taking a step towards environmental protection on the occasion of April Fools’ Day, Juhi Chawla urged people to plant a tree and make the month ‘April Cool’, instead of ‘April Fool’.

The ‘Yes Boss’ actor took to Twitter and shared a beautiful picture with an equally inspiring message to save the environment and protect it from global warming. The actress shared a smiling picture of herself as she posed amid rich flora while holding a camera. The snap also had a message that read, “Instead of making ‘April Fool’ on 1st April, plant at least one tree and make ‘April Cool’.”

In the post, the ‘Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani’ actress asked her fans to contribute to the ‘Cauvery Calling’ initiative that will plant saplings to make the environment greener and cleaner. “Like me, if you live in a city and have nowhere to plant a tree; @ishafoundation’s initiative #CauveryCalling is always there. Only Rs 42 per sapling Let’s have a cool April,” tweeted Chawla. The Cauvery Calling project was launched by Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev.

Pawandeep hails from Uttrakhand and since childhood, people from his village have been encouraging him to take up music. They think he is a hope who will take their village’s name ahead. In ‘Indian idol’ every weekend he is gaining a lot of praises for his performances. Pawandeep spoke exclusively to The Sunday Guardian about his ‘Indian idol’ journey, inspiration, life after the show and link-up rumours with Arunita.

Q. How has the journey been in ‘Indian Idol’ so far?

The journey of ‘Indian Idol’ has been amazing. It has taught me and is still teaching me how to walk to achieve my goals. It has also taught us how to be disciplined and handle the fame that we receive. Our mentors groom us really well and the way they teach is subtle and all of us support each other.

Q. Who has been your inspiration as a singer?

For me, my inspiration has been Arijit Singh. More than his singing, I admire his personality and down to earth nature. Everyone is a fan of his singing, even I am but I have learnt from him how to be grounded after reaching heights.

Q. Who is your favourite judge and why?

All the judges are masters in what they do. Himesh Reshammiya sir and Vishal Dadlani sir are great composers of the country, both have different taste in music and Neha Kakkar ma’am is a singing sensation. We call her Pop Queen. All three are my favourites, they teach me how to be disciplined in life and train us to be the best.

Q. How are you dealing with the link-up rumours with Arunita? 

All of us are really good friends. We sing duets together, people like me singing duets with Arunita. Be it Saylee, Anrunita or Shanmukhapriya, we all good friends and will always maintain the friendship. There is only healthy friendship between me and Arunita.

Q. How has your life changed after becoming a part of ‘Indian Idol’?

Life has taken a 360° turn. We prepare ourselves to be a part of the show whereas ‘Indian Idol’ is a platform that helps us to groom and polish ourselves in all ways. I want to thank the audience for appreciating and loving me and my songs and to get me to this stage. The three judges and their journey is an inspiration.