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“Motherhood is unique and it is perfect power.There is no role in life which is more indispensable and I put credence in the certitude that mother’s love is the purest love you will ever feel”
Dr. Sasilekha Nair
Mrs.Grand Universe 2021
(Former Mrs.Asia International Charming)
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Bangalore, May 07, 2022: A young engineer turned social activist and author, Pranay Patil has launched his first book, Burgundy Winters in Europe. The event was inaugurated by Rajdeep Sardesai, prominent Journalist & Padma Shri Awardee and Pooja Bedi, Columnist & Wellness Entrepreneur.
Burgundy Winters is a romance with strong themes of regret, mental health, and redemption. The book follows the story of Jace Tanner- a rockstar who has everything name, fame, and addiction that leads him to deep guilt and the clouds of regret shadowing his famed life.
The book deep dives in creating awareness about mental health. All of us make mistakes but not many get a second chance to make things right. It shows that how a fresh start can change lives. In the book, with the love and support of his sister Pearl, Jace Tanner enters rehab to make peace with his soul.
Talking about the idea of writing this book, Pranay Patil says, “I started writing this book during the first lockdown because I experienced an overwhelming feeling of helplessness. There were people I knew, people I took for granted, people that I loved, that were succumbing to the virus. Many that didn’t succumb to covid were struggling to have a meal a day. I tried helping by contributing food supplies, medicines etc but I felt that it was not enough. That’s when I decided to write the book and took a pledge that profits from Burgundy Winters in Europe, would go towards charity. The language of my book is very simple and the story is relatable. It is for people who feel a full spectrum of emotions. This book is for everyone who has known addiction, guilt, abuse and love.”
Guest of honour for the event, Rajdeep Sardesai, a prominent Journalist & Padma Shri Awardee, said, Pranay Patil’s exploration of human relationships through ‘Burgundy Winters in Europe’ reveals that how a well written book can bring to life personal journeys.Adding to this, Columnist & Wellness Entrepreneur, Pooja Bedi said, “I am a firm believer in second chances, letting go and forgiveness. This book is a journey we all are on in our ways. Shit happens to all of us. But how we respond that defines us and our journey of life.”
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~ Starring Nagabhushana, Sanjana Anand, Pawan Kumar, Apoorva Bharadwaj, Anand Ninasam and Archana Kotige in prominent roles, Honeymoon is a light-hearted tale of an unconventional Indian marriage set-up ~
National, 4th May 2022: Viacom18’s leading streaming platform, Voot Select has been catering to the diverse content needs of audiences across the country with its distinct content library, which encapsulates films and shows that span across genres and languages to suit everyone’s preference. In its endeavour to expand the robust content repertoire, the streaming platform has set the tone for romantic drama series in India by unveiling the emotion-laden teaser of the Kannada series ‘Honeymoon’, coming soon on Voot Select!
The plot of Honeymoon follows the events that unfold after a newlywed couple, Praveen (played by Nagabhushana) and Tejaswini (played by Sanjana Anand), jet off to Kerala for their honeymoon after tying the knot in an arranged marriage. With an unconventional marriage of a timid man and an outspoken dominant woman, the story of this romantic drama focuses on Praveen and Tejaswini’s unforgettable honeymoon rife with major ups and downs. The six-episodic series, headlined by Nagabhushana and Sanjana Anand, also boasts of Pawan Kumar, Apoorva Bharadwaj, Anand Ninasam and Archana Kotige in supporting roles.
Producer Shiva Rajkumar commented, “I was more than excited to be a part of my daughter’s production venture, Honeymoon. The series is a liberal take on the arranged marriage set up in India, which I found relatable when I first read the script. I had launched Shri Muthu Cine Services with the aim of presenting distinctive stories to the audience, and I’m glad that we’ve managed to stick by our values with projects like Honeymoon.”
Talking about his character in the series, Nagabhushana shared, “I wrote Honeymoon at a time when OTT was full of crime thrillers and murder mysteries. While the Kannada market is new to the concept of web series itself, I wanted to challenge myself by writing a romcom that would make the youth laugh.”
The leading lady of Honeymoon, Sanjana Anand added, “Honeymoon has a great script and when I look back, I feel satisfied that I worked on a good project, which is associated with Shivanna. My character Tejaswini is a bold Bangalore girl, who is not afraid to speak her mind.”
A light-hearted romantic story, along with a talented star cast, surely makes for a must-watch!
Watch the teaser of ‘Honeymoon’ here: https://we.tl/t-0txfcL72Fj
‘Honeymoon’ is all set to premiere soon on Voot Select!
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Bengaluru, May 5, 2022: Alternative Investments Wealthtech Platform ‘BHIVE.fund’ has raised strategic investments from Gruhas Proptech and Blume Ventures. Gruhas was co-founded by Nikhil Kamath of Zerodha and Abhijeet Pai of Puzzolana and is India’s largest proptech-focussed entity. Blume Ventures, a leading VC firm in the country today, counts multiple unicorns in its portfolio.
‘BHIVE.fund’ was set up by ‘BHIVE Workspace’, the oldest and one of the largest coworking and managed office players in Bengaluru. ‘BHIVE Workspace’ currently runs the largest coworking space in the city and will soon launch India’s largest coworking campus.
“This investment represents a significant milestone towards closing $1 million of Pre-Series A. We have term sheets and commitments to the ongoing Pre-Series A round which will be closing soon,” said Shesh Paplikar, cofounder & CEO of ‘BHIVE.fund’.
“We invested in ‘BHIVE Workspace’ through Blume Fund II in 2015. We have been closely working with Shesh and team, and have been witness to the grit and resilience the team has shown through the pandemic. We are excited about ‘BHIVE Workspace’s’ new venture — ‘BHIVE.fund’. We continue to believe in the capability of this team to build a robust biz. They have evolved to be solving the current real estate problem and are building a scalable business in an ever-growing commercial real estate market in India,” says Sarita Raichura, Vice-President, Blume Ventures.
The round also saw participation from prominent angel investors including Sreeram Reddy Vanga of Kofluence, Leadsquared founders Nilesh Patel and Prashant Singh, Kazi Arif Zaman, CFA, Partner at GestAlt Network and former MD of Everstone Capital, Partner of a prominent California VC firm, and NRIs from the US, etc.
“I have always been a big believer in Commercial Real Estate as an investment class. Technology is disrupting this segment and will bring in more investors through a fractional real estate mechanism. A similar model adopted by ‘BHIVE Workspace’ to the broader alternative asset class is set to grow big. I am very happy to come in as an investor and join Shesh & team on their journey,” expresses Sreeram Reddy Vanga, Investing-Founder, Kofluence.
‘BHIVE Workspace’ had, in 2021, raised a seed round from the likes of Madhusudan, Cofounder & CEO of KreditBee, Durgesh Kaushik Snapchat India and South Asia Head, Alok Bajpai, CFO, Adani Connex, who has also been a constant mentor and support, and others who confirmed their belief in ‘BHIVE Workspace’s’ vision. This US-headquartered company had also seen participation from over ten NRI investors.
The ‘BHIVE.fund’ was founded in January 2021 by Shesh Rao Paplikar, Sandeep Gupta and Monnappa Bayavanda. The platform has already achieved product-market fit and has reached a sales run rate of a million dollars per month. Through the tech-driven platform, they enable individual investors to invest in business opportunities, domestic commercial real estate and international real estate.
“Nikhil and Abhijeet are big believers that huge disruptions are possible in the commercial real estate space using technology. While not all investors may understand this space well, Abhijeet comes with a wealth of experience and expertise in the commercial real estate sector, having been involved in many large deals. Nikhil, as we all know, is one of the biggest names in the wealth tech space. We are super excited to have them on board as strategic investors as we are looking to make this into something much much bigger,” says Shesh Rao Paplikar, co-founder & CEO, BHIVE Workspace.
“Blume Ventures has always been a very big supporter of us. They were the key investors of our previous startup which is into coworking. By making independent investment into our fintech entity ‘BHIVE.fund’ they have shown great faith in the founders and the vision we have for the platform,” continues Shesh..
The company intends to utilize these funds for growth. Key usage will be towards building comprehensive technology to scale operations, building a strong investment team, educating customers on alternative asset space, etc.
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5th May 2022: India is known as the Thalassemia capital of the world as the country has largest number of children with Thalassemia major. Every year over 10,000 children are born in India with Thalassemia, a congenital blood disorder that causes the body to make less hemoglobin which facilitates red blood cells to carry oxygen. According to World Health Organization, over four million Indians are thalassemia carriers and more than 1,00,000 are patients. Parents, who are usually asymptomatic, are the carriers of this disease and have a 25% chance of passing this disease to their children. In India, due to financial barriers and lack of access to treatment, many children do not survive.
Patients suffering from Thalassemia are required to undergo lifelong regular blood transfusions to maintain their hemoglobin levels. However, it can be cured with a stem cell transplantation. But only a very small percentage of cases have access to transplantation due to lack of awareness, affordability, and inadequate centers where this treatment is available.
Dr. Sunil Bhat, Director and Clinical Lead, Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Blood & Marrow Transplantation, Narayana Health said, “Thalassemia patients are mostly children who go through painful blood transfusion for several years in their life. Blood transfusions have its challenges and risks for the patients. A stem cell transplantation is currently the only curative option available for this condition. Recent data shows more than 90% success rate of stem cell transplantation in patients who have HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigen) matched stem cell donors. A successful blood stem cell transplant depends on a perfect HLA tissue match. Patients and donors of Indian origin have unique HLA characteristics that are severely under-represented in the global database, which makes the probability of finding a suitable donor even more difficult. Indian patients mainly require an Indian tissue match. This calls for increased awareness and need to encourage many more people in India to register as a potential blood stem cell donor.”
There are around 270 million Thalassemia patients in the world but awareness about the disease is alarmingly less. Symptoms of Thalassemia major usually start at 4 to 6 months of age and usually present with lethargy, poor feeding, progressive pallor, poor weight gain and sometimes vomiting and diarrhea. On examination you see the babies are pale and have liver and spleen enlargement.
In a blood stem cell transplant, stem cells are collected from blood of the donors and transplanted into the thalassemia patient after their bone marrow has been destroyed. Only 30% patients who need transplants have a fully HLA matched donor in their family, rest of them depend on an unrelated donor.
Patrick Paul, CEO, DKMS BMST Foundation India, says, “It is our mission to support blood cancer, and other blood disorders such as Thalassemia patients in India, for which we have initiated DKMS-BMST Thalassemia programme. Under this programme, DKMS-BMST collaborates with local NGOs and transplantation clinics to organize camps where pediatric thalassemia patients and their siblings travelling from afar places in India to give buccal swab samples for free HLA typing. Samples from the camps are analyzed in the DKMS laboratory based out of Germany and clinical matching reports of the same are provided. In cases where there is no matching sibling for a sick child, we also support unrelated donor searches for patients.” Since the inception of the programme, so far 7162 HLA typings have been facilitated by DKMS-BMST.
Baby Bhushra Naqeeb 11-year-old girl is a thalassemia survivor
Baby Bhushra suffered from paleness and low hemoglobin when she was just 6-months-old. After several tests and evaluation, she was diagnosed as Thalassemia positive. She had to undergo painful blood transfusion for over 10 years until the doctor suggested an allogenic stem cell transplant as her only chance at survival. Hence the patient family decided to go for a stem cell transplant. In February 2021, with the support from DKMS-BMST thalassemia programme, the sample collection was done for the family and she got a perfect match with her sister Soha. She underwent stem cell transplantation in October 2021 under Dr. Sachin Jadhav, HCG group of hospitals. Post the transplant, Bhushra is able to lead a normal life as she also attends regular school.
Mrs. Shobha Tuli, founder of the NGO – Thalassemics India, President-Federation of Indian Thalassemia Associations, says “At present Stem cell Transplant is the only curative treatment available for Thalassemia patients. If not cured on time, such patients are dependent on blood transfusions all throughout their lives along with other expensive treatments & regular investigations. Thalassemia Bal Sewa Yojna is a unique project initiated by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare Govt. of India. Under this scheme, a patient can get financial aid up to Rs. 10 lakhs from Coal India Ltd. DKMS has offered us an opportunity to get free HLA tests done in the country. This enables the patients to check if they have a matched sibling. Thalassemics India is so grateful to DKMS for such an opportunity been given to patients who otherwise couldn’t have afforded the costs of the HLA matching.”
Register as a potential blood stem cell donor:
Healthy individuals between 18-50 years of age can register at: dkms-bmst.org/register
All it takes is five minutes of your time and a simple 3 step process:
Step 1: Visit the site, fill up an online form and you will receive a DIY swab kit at home.
Step 2: Once you receive the swab kit, fill out the consent form and take a tissue sample from the inside of your cheeks with 3 cotton swabs provided in the kit.
Step 3: Send back your swab sample in the pre-paid envelope provided.
DKMS laboratory will then analyze your tissue type and your details will be available in the global search for blood stem cell donors. If you do come up as a suitable donor, DKMS-BMST will get in touch with you straight away. Once you come up as a match, blood stem cells will be obtained from the bloodstream using a procedure called Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Collection, which is similar to a blood donation wherein only your stem cells are taken. This is a safe, non-surgical outpatient procedure.
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