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February 19, 2018All decisions in life are taken with certain expectations. Whether it is our career or our personal life, we make choices based on what we expect the outcome to be. But getting a pet in life is more like delivering a baby without planning how your life ahead should be. When you plan a baby, you are planning a family. But it is impossible to plan how a pet will change your life. It’s that story that we heard as kids, a stork comes and leaves this bundle of joy in our lives from up and beyond. Pets can be of any breed, size or species. As much as I would love to say that one must always adopt pets and give them loving homes, there are many people who purchase them to guard their lavish farms and houses or to make statements. There are so many wild endangered species that have been illegally trafficked just so that they can become someone's showpiece. Now leaving such people and pets aside which are more like captive animals without choice, there are people and pet relations that go way beyond all boundaries known. This is the love and compassion that the world needs today.
My husband and me have been blessed to have Ego & Eba – two wonderful dogs in our lives who not only love us for the way we are, but also teach us to be patient and happy at all times. Above all, they have taught me to be forgiving, to be more like them, indifferent towards any mistakes others may make and to always see the good in everyone. Nowadays, pets are more than just an animal that a family has, but have rather become members of the family themselves. It doesn’t take long before the extended family, neighbours, and friends start treating them like their kids and siblings as well. Even businesses today have realised the need for having restaurant and resorts that allow pets. Parks are being built for furry buddies. There are events too that are manifested and celebrated for pets. It’s important for people like me to see that this acceptance and love makes it easy to take our pets around with lesser restrictions.
Being very close to one of the best dog parks in Mumbai called Zoic Pet Park situated in Borivali, my husband and I were happy to find a place for our dogs to just be themselves, playing in their own way and interacting with other dogs. Now encouraging such parks in the city definitely makes it convenient for the pet lover, knowing that there are places for them to socialize with their pets.
When it comes to socializing with friends and pets along, there is no place better than Doolally. It has always welcomed us along with our pets. Never have they ever had staff who are scared or paranoid around them while serving fellow customers. That brand is definitely the first pick of a pet parent to visit. Doolally has maintained their whole pet acceptance, by ensuring that it extends to their staff as well. This is exactly what the brand has gotten right. Adding free food for the pets is one of the best highlights too!
If you or any of your pet friends use flights to travel across India with your pets, you will be glad to know that Indian Railways have started allowing pets to travel with you in the trains. So no more caging and checking-in your pets. They can travel with you in your coach on your seat and be by your side the whole journey. Publicising this in the recent days has successfully managed to capture the attention of pet parents. Apart from this amazing convenience for the pet parent travellers, this business initiative will definitely make people choose trains over flights.
Society is making more and more room for pets. If you have ever heard of Pet Fed, the pet festival of the year, you will know how everyone wants to be a part of the festival, pet owner or not. With numerous activities, workshops and stalls, Pet Fed gives even people without pets, a chance to experience the love amongst thousands of dogs. It is initiatives like these that bring pets and humans closer together.
Having pets in my life is a decision I don’t regret and never will. Loving your pet and taking care of them is all they need. As pet parents you have to be worthy of this special companion in your life, the one who never turns his/her back on you, is always excited to see you after a long tiring day and can pull you out into the light on your darker days.
Bringing up a dog was never something I’d imagined. I used to be tremendously scared of them even though I’d lived with over 200 dogs in my vicinity. One day, my boyfriend received a call informing him that there was a litter of dogs up for adoption. It was never planned. He just ran to their house and fell in love, the minute he laid his eyes on her. She was sitting by herself in the corner and slowly looked at him. He sprung and held her in his arms and brought her home. She came into our life when everything was chaotic. We never appreciated life and family and the atmosphere was simply painful. Her entry changed everything. She taught us that forgiving and loving is as easy as licking you. Her unconditional love brought us all together and created an environment of love and immense affection for everyone in the house. She is our guardian, our naughty child, our mother and so much more. We will never be able to thank her for what she has done for us. We love you, Grace.
Living with Oscar always brings a lot of positive energy into the house. My hyper active Oscar means the world to me. He helps me analyse myself and calms me down after a busy day at work. It is so wonderful how pets teach us to love unconditionally and are forgiving just minutes after they are shouted at. Life just feels easy with him around me. LIVE IN THE PRESENT is what he always teaches me.
I have won an OSCAR in real life.
Partner
With 15+ years of spatial design experience, Sveta leads the team that helps extend brands to three-dimensional spaces. She has the ability to visualise intangible attributes such as brand positioning and translate them to materials, finishes and furniture in every space. Her belief is simple – ‘every detail in retail design has to reflect the brand.’ Over the years she has worked with some of the biggest brands in the hospitality and retail industry. At ABND, she is pivotal in projects that require branded interior design, retail design, way-finding and signage systems. Sveta is as defined and disciplined in dance as she is in her work!
March 1, 2018
The pioneer of liberal education in India, Pune based FLAME University is creating waves in liberating young minds. Over the years, the institution has built a reputation for itself that is significant enough to reckon with. Built on the methodology of psychologist Howard Gardner’s ‘multiple intelligence,’ there is a renewed focus on interdisciplinary learning. A vast array of options lies for students as there are over 250 unique major-minor combinations to choose from here. While you can major in subjects like Economics, Psychology, International Studies, Environmental Studies and Journalism, you can also graduate in Dance, Music, Theatre and Design. At FLAME, you could also do a BSc in Applied Mathematics and BBA degrees in Finance, Marketing, Communications Management, HRM, Operations and Entrepreneurship.
At a time when private players are still not trusted in the field of higher education, FLAME University is still a clear preference for young minds, owing to its unique approach. The string of collaborations it has made makes it an institution of excellence which stands out. Renowned foreign universities including Nuffield College, York University of Canada, and Wellesley College, Babson Collaborative and other institutes of repute have tied up with FLAME University.
At ABND, FLAME University was given a rejuvenated identity. Several competing institutions offered Liberal Education as part of the curriculum as well. In an attempt to set themselves apart from the clutter, FLAME University needed to rebrand themselves by giving Liberal Education a new way of expression we proposed for them – ‘Diversity of the Mind.’ To know more on how this reputed institute was envisioned anew and given a dynamic visual identity. To know more Click Here
Founder-Partner
Kunal says, “I’ve no specific talent, I’m merely inquisitive.” While his past experiences include product design, retail branding, packaging and design for manufacturing his true passion lies in branding and strategy. He’s the go-to person whenever the crafting needs finesse or the creation needs a fresh perspective. A certain sixth sense guides him in business and branding, honing the skill through experience. Kunal is also a guest lecturer and visiting faculty at a college in Mumbai, teaching branding to young bright minds.
February 27, 2018
Coming into view, the emerging logistics company, Grab, have recently received heavy government investment backing from Small Industries Development Bank of India’s wholly owned subsidiary, SIDBI Venture Capital Limited. Pratish Sanghvi, the co-founder of Grab, said that this funding of $1.5million is detrimental to their growth as the company is currently working on a crowdsourcing distribution model. SIDBI has joined a list of their big investors including Aramex, Zomato, Sixth Sense Ventures and Oliphans Capital. In spite of the hyperlocal delivery space being overcrowded, Grab was a prominent player for SIDBI to consider because of its sector-agnostic approach and its high chances of being EBITDA positive.
Providing hyperlocal and intracity logistics services to businesses including restaurants, food tech platforms, pharmacies and banks, Grab was once only doing food deliveries, being known as Grab-A- Grub. ABND had worked on the brand’s identity when they wanted to expand from being a food delivery startup to an all-encompassing hyperlocal logistics company. Changing from Grab-A- Grub to Grab, their rebranding made for a more sharper and agile brand. To know more Click Here
February 22, 2018
Thursdays at ABND just got chocolaty! Each of us brought our favourite chocolate to office. There was a huge goblet brimming over with chocolates of all kinds, apart from our favourite ones too. In a game of passing the parcel, the rubik’s cube filling in for the parcel in the last moment, the chocolates were exchanged amongst the chocoholics! What you got to pick in the lottery became your chocolate.The twist in the story came with the fact that the last person to pick her own chocolate in the lottery, got a chance to win the entire Goblet of Chocolates! Poornima won the Goblet. Following that we quirked it up by trading some of our chocolates with the Goblet Queen. It was a fun trade off. There were some toothaches after, but it was a happy sugar rush.
February 19, 2018
After back to back workshops and presentations through the weeks, the team felt like taking a break under the sun. Around the coffee table, there were some games and some lively chatter. While we had started the day all pumped up with a presentation for brand identity that went down well with the client, we ended the day on a light note at a coffee shop. From acting out the weirdest of movie names like ‘Matru ki Bijli ka Mandola’ and ‘Chameli ki shaadi’, we had great fun breaking down apparently simple ones too, when playing dumb charade. All of us had a crazy good time guessing interesting symbols and rhyming words when dissecting and decoding the films. We, at ABND, love our breaks as much as we enjoy the action!
Associate-Strategy
An experimenter at heart, Nikita’s experiences in interior design, sculpture design, advertising and branding has made her flexible to new ideas and new spaces. Nikita is a certified scuba diver. She has her own website, showcasing beautiful illustrations and paintings. Her art speaks of her love for animals and her admiration for the creatures of the sea. She loves to travel around the world and brainstorm on challenges.
Associate-Strategy
Stringing up the world with words, Sumanjari is driven by creativity, but with a purpose. Munching at her table always, she can (over)think but not on an empty stomach. She loves her coffee bittersweet and her strategies well researched. Academically inclined, she has written research papers on a wide range of topics from religion and music to branding to euthanasia. Sumanjari values spending time with her students, lecturing at a college by the weekends apart from her engagement at ABND.
Head-Creative
With a strong influence in the Applied Arts, our happy-go-lucky green haired creative lead has been a constant in team ABND right from its founding years. She is always humming a tune or two and livening up the pulse of the workspace. Ekta’s optimism and openness to new ideas fuels her creative best. Quirking it up in her attire, food and art, Ekta’s innovative at heart. She has a childish impulse of surprising others. Her love for bikes and nature deserves a special mention!
Founder-Partner
Priyanka Sachdev Shahra is a design thinker and serial entrepreneur. Her passions lie in bringing meaningful projects to life. Priyanka’s experience with entrepreneurship begun in 2010, when she cofounded ABND with Kunal Vora. Always having strongly felt for what’s environmentally and socially sustainable, she set up One With Earth in 2014 as a vehicle to support such projects. She has also been involved in an interesting venture which is a first of its kind in Singapore, an online swapping platform called Swapaholic. Priyanka manages the Singapore office of ABND.
Associate-Creative
A woman of less words and more action, this designer on the dot likes to keep it short and sweet. Having mastered in design in college, Poornima is driven by discipline and style. Zumba is a favourite pastime and she is also passionate for the cause of saving stray animals. Simplicity is what defines her spirit, whether she is designing or talking.
Associate-Creative
Debugging and resolving errors, Hitesh is the techie in the house responsible for digital and web strategies. A smooth operator, he is persistent in problem-solving. He is very passionate about solving the Rubik’s cube and we can see him at it often. We can tell that at school he must have been immersed in his science projects, which led him further to study information technology. In sports too it’s always the technique which fascinates him. The music in his ears is always loud enough for the entire office to hear!
Associate-Creative
With several years of experience in Interior Design, Deepu is the go to guy for detailing each space to the T. He lives Mies Van Der Rohe’s quote “god is in the detail”. His experience helps the team visualize design concepts from a detailed point of view, mapping it on to real spaces. A quiet and simple soul, we can always see Deepu working at his desk with complete concentration. A workaholic at heart, he is also a cricket buff and a harmonium player. He likes sticking to a rule book but won’t mind swinging to a catchy rhythm when he’s off work.
Administrator
Organized and to the point, our administrator likes keeping the house in order. Florie also has varied talents in cooking, sewing and embroidering. Diligence drives us as a team and so does it drive the person who holds the pack together. Florie is fond of country music and likes reading murder mysteries.
