<h2>Bow Down Mister</h2>
As if his personality needed any more sparkle, influencer Orry Awatramani turns up the bling at a press conference on Tuesday.
<h2>Craft Crush</h2>
Come September and Venice is back in the spotlight, with Indian craftsmanship making another rather spectacular statement &mdash; this time at Homo Faber 2026. The month-long celebration of contemporary crafts at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini cultural centre features the works of over 40 Indian artisans, alongside a multitude of other masters from more than 70 countries. Curated by English artist Es Devlin, 15 immersive installations, hundreds of objects, and a staggering range of skills make this less an exhibition than a small world unto itself.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/sep/Valay-Gada_e.jpg" alt="Valay Gada with his creation, titled &lsquo;Square Petal&rsquo;" width="1280" height="720" /> Valay Gada with his creation, titled &lsquo;Square Petal&rsquo;
From Tarun Tahiliani and tableware designer Sravanya Rao Pittie, to photographer Rohit Chawla, all those who attended the VIP reception on August 29, and the September 1 opening, are raving about it. Much of the credit belongs to Mumbai-native Sangita Jindal and the JSW Foundation, whose collaboration with the Venetian show had a simple mission: &nbsp;to share &ldquo;the fabulous magic of Indian hands&rdquo; with the world.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/sep/Sangita-Jindal_e.jpg" alt="Sangita Jindal" width="1280" height="720" /> Sangita Jindal
Bringing the extraordinary breadth of Indian craft to Venice are Jaipur Rugs, Valay Gada, ceramicists Dolon Kundu and Kunal Ukey, Gunjan Gupta, Vikram Goyal, and Tahir Sultan, among many others.
By all accounts, this is an eclectic, exuberant gathering, where Indian craft isn&rsquo;t being wheeled out as heritage behind glass &mdash; it is contemporary, experimental, sometimes irreverent, and very much alive. And where better than Venice to showcase all this wonder? As the rain falls over the lagoon, kudos is pouring in for Indian craftsmanship.
<h2>Keeping it simple</h2>
In an industry where birthdays are often carefully choreographed PR events, Deepak Dobriyal celebrates his quietly &mdash; happiest when keeping it real and close to home.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/sep/Deepak-Dobriyal_e.jpg" alt="Deepak Dobriyal. PIC/NIKHIL BANKA" width="1280" height="720" />Deepak Dobriyal. PIC/NIKHIL BANKA
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had so many calls and messages today,&rdquo; the powerhouse talent tells yours truly on his September 1 birthday. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m spending the day making sure I read each one, and reply to everyone with something more than a standard thank-you.&rdquo;
And while birthdays usually bring with them a wish list of one&rsquo;s own, his is refreshingly simple. There are no glitzy gifts or personal milestones on his mind. Instead, his wish is for everyone else: &ldquo;Hanste rahe. Let people continue to find reasons to smile.&rdquo;
There is something lovely about that thought &mdash; a sentiment that feels especially fitting for an actor whose birthday seems less about being celebrated and more about celebrating the one thing that perhaps matters most: the love of people, returned with a little love of his own.
<h2>Stop Nodding, Start Questioning</h2>
A sea of young delegates in slightly oversized blazers sat poised to solve the world&rsquo;s problems at the DBIS Model United Nations in Matunga earlier this week. It was the perfect setting for polite nodding. Instead, actor (and activist) Swara Bhasker stepped up as chief guest and flipped the script, delivering a powerful mandate: stop just agreeing with everything you hear.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/sep/Swara-Bhasker_e.jpg" alt="Swara Bhasker " width="1280" height="720" /> Swara Bhasker
Addressing the students at Don Bosco International School, Swara didn&rsquo;t deliver a standard keynote &mdash; she offered a manifesto for intellectual rebellion. Education, she argued, is entirely pointless if it only teaches you to comfortably fit inside a box. She challenged these future leaders to weaponise their curiosity and embrace the messy art of independent thinking. A rigid mindset, she warned, is their biggest liability.
Her most striking moment redefined failure in the classroom. &ldquo;The worst student is not the one who arrives late or misses a class, but the one who remains indifferent from the rest,&rdquo; she declared. A mic-drop moment that makes an urgent point: apathy is the real enemy. You can oversleep or struggle with a syllabus, but the moment you stop caring about the world around you, you fail the assignment. Meaningful education requires fiery inquiry and actively giving a damn, and who better than Swara to deliver that message.
<h2>Autobiography Alert</h2>
For someone who &ldquo;used to get zero in dictation,&rdquo; had &ldquo;multiple red scratches puncturing&rdquo; her essays and once believed punctuation meant &ldquo;a generous spill of ellipsis,&rdquo; Shefali Shah has done something rather audacious: she has written a book. &ldquo;An actual, physical, hold-it-in-your-hands kind of book,&rdquo; as the Delhi Crime star puts it.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/sep/Shefali-Shah-1_e.jpg" alt="Shefali Shah" width="1280" height="720" /> Shefali Shah
The actor, who admits she never expected anyone to read her musings, began writing them in diaries and on bits of paper, before social media changed all that. Private thoughts became conversations as over a million followers responded, replied, indulged her banter and encouraged her to write more.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2026/sep/Shefali-Shah-2_e.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" />
&ldquo;Nothing in my life warrants a memoir. And yet I chose to tell a story only I have the copyrights to,&rdquo; Shefali confesses, with perhaps more humility than is merited. She calls it audacious; we say it&rsquo;s about time. Now available for pre-order, we can&rsquo;t wait to get our hands on this &ldquo;sort-of memoir.&rdquo; If the book is anything like the woman herself, we suspect it&rsquo;ll be wonderfully, unapologetically authentic.

And while birthdays usually bring with them a wish list of one's own, his is refreshingly simple

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And while birthdays usually bring with them a wish list of one’s own, his is refreshingly simple

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