Westside wing  The people of Northeast, especially the fashion buffs, have a new destination thanks to Westside, which, though belatedly — better late than never — launched its first store of the region at GS Road, Guwahati on Thursday amidst enthusiasm among the afficiadoes. Spread across a 11,000 sqft ground floor area, the store with elegant interiors looks set to attract all with its high quality items. This is the 41st such store in 22 cities across India. The mega store remains open on all days round-the-year from 10:30 am to 8:30 pm. “It houses merchandise that complements every aspect of one’s life-style — be it at work, when relaxed, at family functions and while at party,” informed KVS Seshasai, business head of Sisley and Fashion Yatra of the Trent Ltd., a Tata enterprise. Seshasai, an avid bookworm who, believe it or not, keeps himself merged amidst books always reading a couple of those simultaneously, is also responsible for Westside franchising and strategic planning. One of India’s largest and fastest growing retail store chains, the Westside product range includes menswear, womenswear, kidswear, footwear, cosmetics, perfumes, handbags, household furniture, accessories, lingerie, gifts for all occasions, and Nuon — the newly introduced brand of youth fashion available only at Westside. The funky, incredibly Nuon garments are a must in every teenager’s and young adult’s wardrobe, they said. Striking a fine balance of quality, style and price, Westside offers apparel from some of the best-known global brands like Groggy and fashion designers like Wendell Rodricks, Narendra Kumar, Manish Gupta and Vivek Kumar.

Tabla talent  Meet Rishi Choudhury, the man with nimble fingers. Son of Dr Tarun Kumar Chowdhury and Manjira Chowdhury of Leicester, UK, Rishi, now 24, recently played tabla continuously for seven hours to raise funds for Children in Need, an 82-year-old charity organization of England. A law graduate, Rishi has been enthralling audiences with his recitals earning for himself the sobriquet ‘the little tabla maestro’. Rishi showed an aptitude for tabla at the age of two and has always idolized Ustad Zakir Hussain. Over the years, Rishi has learnt from various gurus, but for the last few years, he has been under the tutelage of the legend himself. “The training with Zakir Hussain is very intensive, and a very humbling experience at the same time,” says Rishi. The seven-hour tabla marathon of Rishi kicked off at 5 pm of November 20 at the Leicester New Walk Museum, where his equally talented sister Samyami Chowdhury accompanied him on the bamboo flute. She also demonstrated her musical dexterity further with her versatile repertoire of songs, including semi-classical film numbers to Assamese folk. The talents of this sibling duo come from their mother Manjira Chowdhury, who was an All India Radio artiste, captivating audiences for many decades.

‘Plum’ post  The saying, “Big dreams often start in small towns” was amply proved by Magryl Rynjah of Shillong who recently bagged a relatively lucrative job worth Rs 48 lakh from a London-based consulting company Judicium. A student of Bengal Institute of Business Studies (BIBS), Kolkata, Magryl got the ‘plum’ offer amidst the current recessionary job market. Speaking about the recruitment drive Judicium chairman Subhas Sukla said “the immense potential of the students compelled him to pick some students of BIBS.” Magryl’s success proved that foreign players on recruitment drive are looking beyond the IIMs. Highly ambitious since childhood, Magryl, while studying at Shillong College also worked as a bar tender and simultaneously pursued BBA in finance. He always kept himself focussed on his goal which was to build an identity of his own in the corporate world. Also a keen rock musician, Magryl chose BIBS to pursue his MBA for its unique concept of mentorship and that they are all corporate guys having vast experience in the business domain.

Simanta / Mridumoloy