By Papri Das

Who needs to travel around the world to experience different cultures when you live in a country where multiple cultures nestle together? India is truly blessed to taste the flavours a myriad of cultural celebrations, each one with it?s unique touch. One such is the Parsi New Year or Navroz celebrated on the first day of the Zoroastrian calendar, which falls on 18 August this year.

What makes the Indian Parsi New Year special is that the rest of the world celebrates it during spring equinox, which usually falls on 21 March but according to Shahenshahi and Kadmi calendars (variants of the Zoroastrian calendar), which are strictly followed by Indian Parsis, the New Year celebration gets pushed to July and August, and changes every year as it doesn't count leap years.

Mumbai is home to the largest number of Parsis in the country, many of whom are a familiar name within the media industry as well. Exec Lifestyle spoke to several Parsis within the industry to find out how they plan to celebrate the day.

Madison World executive director Lara Balsara, who has kept up with the tradition every year says, ?A typical Parsi New year in our house is a complete family day that starts off with a hearty breakfast followed by wearing new clothes and visiting the Agiary or the fire temple. We give each other a warm hug and kisses as a greeting of ?Happy New Year? to fellow Parsis.?

Like every festival, food is an important part of the celebrations. ?We soon return home with a delicious lunch, which is mostly pulao and select dishes that you will only find in a Parsi household,? Balsara adds.

Popular VJ and television personality, Cyrus Broacha couldn?t agree more. ?New Year to me is all about catching up with family and gorging on good food. Since most of us are busy travelling, the family prefers to get food ordered from well known Parsi caterer like Godiwalla?s set Parsi menu. It?s also a familiar site to see a long queue of people standing outside the catering shops on the day,? he shares.

Former HBO India managing director Monica Tata, who is married into a Parsi family, seconds Broacha?s claim that food is one of the key factors in celebrating the Parsi New Year. ?My first time celebrating the festival was a unique experience. Catching up with the whole family and trying different Parsi recipes was refreshing and novel,? she says. That was more than two decades ago and now Tata celebrates the day as naturally as the rest of her family.

Elaborating on the Parsi cuisine, Tata enthusiastically shares, ?I especially like ?Patra Ni Machhi?, which is fish stuffed and steamed in banana leaf served with a typical chutney. I also like ?Chicken Farcha.? It is like chicken pieces fried in a batter, kind of like KFC except that it is so much better.? One of her other personal favourite recipes is ?Salli Boti,? a typical Parsi meat, apricot and chips speciality, which is a common household name during the New Year.

Not everyone is lucky to leisurely celebrate the day. Take Viacom18 EVP and GM for english entertainment Ferzad Palia for example. Palia will be working on the day and doesn?t see himself doing anything special. ?Nothing out of the ordinary. It is a working day for me, but I plan to visit my family and spend some time together.? When asked about Parsi cuisine that he hopes to feast on New Year, he says, ?I would love to eat it if it's made at home, but I won't go out of my way to order any.?

The evening sees Parsi families stepping out, dressed in their finery for the occasion to greet friends and relatives. A unique part of the celebration includes attending numerous Parsi plays that are scheduled across the city on the day.

?Amongst the Parsi community, theatre is very big and there are some Parsi groups that conduct plays specifically for the New Year. It is like a ritual for us to go out in the evening to watch these plays. We have been following this in our family for forever now,? shares Balsara, adding that NCPA and Rangsharda are popular venues for catching such plays

Parsis are known for their incredible sense of humour. Thus, instead of enacting mythological or religious excerpts on stage, they prefer an out an out comedy session on New Year?s day. ?Life is full of worries and tension so the thought for a Parsi New Year is: ?Let?s have a good laugh together?,? shares celebrated Parsi theater personality Sam R Kerawalla, who is presenting the Parsi gujarati comedy ?Tirangi Tehmul? this year at NCPA in Mumbai. ?The trend was first started by the famous Parsi playwright Adi Pherozeshah Marzban, who wrote all the plays that you see us enacting these days,? he explains.

In accordance with the trend, Centre Stage Productions too is showcasing their comic play at Rangsharda on Parsi New Year. ?Last year was our Silver Jubilee in performing plays on New Year?s day. Judging by the almost 90 per cent turn out each year, one can see how much us Parsis like theatre and humour. I hope we keep our love for the art alive in the years to come as well,? signs off theatre artist and drama producer Roshan Tirandaz.

In this episode of Talking Point our host chats up the dynamic managing director of Maxus south Asia region, Kartik Sharma. With an experience of over two decades in media and advertisement, Sharma has led his team to win several awards.

In this interview he speaks of how target oriented advertisement is the future of digital advertisement, the role of data in it and why he prefers advertisement to entertain over advertisement educate.

No matter how successful you become in life, your student life is something that you always hold close to your heart. And when we think of student life we think of friends, seniors, campus life, loads of fun, and life building lessons. This weekend, Exec Lifestyle took some of the top media executives on a nostalgic trip down memory lane to their childhood. Here are some anecdotes from their lives as students!

By Papri Das

In this fiercely competitive creative business, novelty is both a luxury and a necessity for survival. And there is no one better to vouch for it than the media executives who have to keep pushing the boundaries of innovation each time they ideate. What makes ideation even more challenging is that there is no set formula to it. For some, ideas come when they fall back to their routines, while for others it?s when they are out of their comfort zone.

So where do executives source their ideas from?

When Exec Lifestyle caught up with some of the top creative geniuses in the industry, they shared some unique anecdotes on how they get in touch with their creative side.

For Madison World founder and chairman Sam Balsara, a quiet evening walk by himself does the trick. ?It is when I am alone taking a walk in the late evenings, traveling on flights or outstation at night that I think of new ideas and things to be done. It is important for your mind to be free for new thoughts to occur,? says Balsara. What?s more, Balsara isn't the only one who prefers the outdoors to reconnect with their creative side. 

The multi talented network creative head of Reliance Broadcast, Paritosh Painter, too draws inspiration from fresh air outings. ?I mostly take long walks outside. It gives me the freedom to think. Sometimes I love to sit in a coffee shop by myself and think. Whether it is home or office, indoor is invariably full of distractions,? says Painter, who also flaunts his creative skills as an actor, film director and scriptwriter.

While thinking alone may be a popular method for most executives, some only make the most of their grey cells when they are going against the grain. Take Colors CEO Raj Nayak for example, who is inspired by his interaction with others. ?People are a good source of ideas. The best ideas come to me when I am interacting with people. A good informative conversation triggers me with stimuli and leaves me thinking. Often these thoughts shape into great executiion,? says the self-confessed daydreamer. ?When I am not occupied with work, my mind automatically switches to dreaming mode. Traveling is also another time when my mind keeps ticking,? Nayak further adds.

One?s personal space also plays an important role in helping them put on the thinking cap. ?There are two spots where I?m most creative -- on my couch that sits in my bedroom, and in the tiny meeting room called Corleone at the office,? shares VML Qais CEO Tripti Lochan, who finds herself most creative on days when she has had a good practice of Vipassana.

In fact, Lochan?s way of getting out of a creative block is also getting physically active. ?I usually go for a run, or clean a cupboard; or even cook.  Things that involve using arms and legs and not necessarily the mind so much,? she adds.

When it comes to dealing with his creative blocks, ad maker and former Ogilvy and Mather executive creative director Abhijit Avasthi believes in engaging himself with something different. ?I used to experience a creative roadblock often earlier in my career but not so much these days. I think I have grown to not wrestle with ideas when its not working out and focus on other matters at hand.?

This resonates with Painter as well. ?If I hit a creative roadblock on a specific subject than I let it be for a while. I don't think about it till the time I feel I am not thinking about it at all and then I start on it all over again with a fresh perspective,? he adds while signing off.