Karina Pandya

Social Media basically refers to the usage of web-based and mobile technologies to convert communication into an interactive dialogue between users online or between the consumer and the company/brand. It can take different forms such as through magazines, Internet forums, web blogs , micro blogging, wikis, podcasts, photographs or pictures, video, rating and social bookmarking. ‘Social Media Marketing’ basically is ‘the interactive dialogue’ between customers and brands, whereby they can directly communicate with each other. This ‘new-age’ technology has grown by leaps and bounds over a mere span of a few years and has broken most barriers of communication making the world a much more global one whereby any company/person can connect with another via social media sites.  With technological advancements and the Smartphone Revolution people have become internet savvy, and it has empowered them to not only create, participate, and share content on the Web but also to have meanin...

In the web-dominated world that we live in, creating and maintaining a website for your business/company is an essential requirement for your business to grow. With the increasing usage and need for the internet, people spend a lot more time ‘ONLINE’ reading about business’s, companies, news, fashion, music, etc, rather than reading in the traditional style- newspapers, book, magazines, etc. Having a website for your company/business is the most effective way of reaching out to your consumers. Traditional forms of finding information online involves searching for information using various different search engines like Google, Yahoo or Bing,  a practice called Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). It includes making sure that your website gets better rankings  while being searched in the different search engines, and appears above others. Social Media Optimisation (SMO), the new method of gaining online publicity includes using various social media networking sites like F...

Day by day, online platforms are embracing social media in every possible way that they can, be it Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or any other social networking site. This is extremely important for every business in today’s digitised time. The need for relevant and good content has been, and will continue to remain, the most integral aspect for any business. So what is the basic difference between ‘content’ and ‘content curation’? What are the different tools that can be used for curating content across the web? While content simply refers to information or ‘data’ which holds some relevance to a certain topic, it can be expressed through any medium, be it the internet, audio CD’s, television, stage performances, magazines, etc. In short, colloquially, one can refer to ‘content’ as the subject matter of the medium. On the other hand, content curation refers to the process of collecting, organising and presenting data/information, which is relevant to a particular topic/area of in...

An area, which is known to occupy the western edge of the Tibetan Plateau in Northwest India, the vibrant Tibetan Buddhist culture and spectacular landscape has enchanted tourists from across the world. Ladakh is dotted with colourful monasteries, surrounded by magnificent mountains with snow-capped peaks, black-billed magpies and narrow stretches of trees along water channels. Whether you are a cultural connoisseur or an avid adventure enthusiast a trip to Ladakh is sure to leave you spell-bound. This oasis of tranquillity and natural beauty is an ideal retreat for those who live in cosmopolitan cities. Most of Ladakh is yet only accessible by foot (century old foot paths that were used by villagers and traders) and exploring the region in this manner is known to be extremely fascinating. There are plenty of trails which pass through ancient monasteries, arid canyons, glacier covered mountains and farming villages. Trekking in this area is known to be the main highlight if on a va...

Playing an indispensable role in the overall development of the country, the financial sector plays a very important role in the welfare of the Indian economy. There are different types of banks, NFBC’s (Non-Financial Banking Institutes) which are known to provide various banking options for people across the country. One of the most important constituent of the financial sector is the financial institution . These establishments focus on providing various financial transactions such as loans, deposits and investments. It is an institution where financial services are provided to people. Most of these bodies are known to be regulated by the Government of India. In India, the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) usually takes care of all the financial institutions. The RBI is also known as the Central Bank of India and serves as a regulatory authority with regard to the functionality of different commercial banks. In order to provide adequate supply to the different sectors of the econom...

We all have been to restaurants throughout our lives, but wouldn’t you want to visit a funky, out-of-the-box styled restaurant as well? Wouldn’t it be cool to dine in a Shikhara or even an ice-lounge; or perhaps have your food while sitting in a rickshaw? Mumbai is a place where you not only can eat in luxurious restaurants and even find small quaint cafes as well; but you can also find extremely ‘unusual’ places to dine at. Not only will you find good food with great music in most of the restaurants in the city; but you will experience a different ambience in each place. Some of the unusual but unique restaurants in Mumbai that you might want to try out include: 1) KongPoush - Flavour of   Kashmir, Goregaon: Apart from the breath-taking view of Kashmir, the state’s delectable cuisine adds to the list of the country’s regional food favourites. Located on a rather inconspicuous street ( BEST Colony Road) near Oshiwara Bus Depot in Goregaon (W) KongPoush is a popular join...

Hailing from a life led in three different places- Mira Nair has made her impact world-wide. This realistically driven film-director captures the rhythm behind her career as a film-director to Karina Pandya.   Many Stories in India are just crying out to be made, and famous International and National film director Mira Nair loves to tell a good story no matter what the genre is. “Everyone has lost someone, everyone has been a parent or a child, everyone has been somewhere in that tapestry”, claims well-known Indian born and New York based film director Mira Nair, about her recent film The Namesake which won credential awards three years in a row. Born to both Indian parents Mira Nair has led a very conservative life. Mira Nair studied in the Delhi University and then went to the United States to study sociology at Harvard, where she received a scholarship. While at Harvard her focus drifted to documentary film. She describes documentary as "a marriage of my inter...