Draking: The new dating trend among millennials

Draking: The new dating trend among millennials


Social media is used for a lot of things these days. For promotion, to express ideas and beliefs and even validate your looks. But more often than ever, you will find lurkers scrounging for some attention post a heartbreak and going all mush-mellow on the internet. Although both Mostly men, who’ve suffered though an emotional haemorrhage, post relationship, take to the interweb to express their deepest sentiments. Not just on the internet actually; if you’re a revved up modern day Romeo, you’re definitely taking it offline too, just so you can emote your emotional jargon through a song or a dance.

The netherworld of dating and romance has given these cushion-hearted people a name. They’re mostly known as Drakers and what they experience post a break-up is known as Draking, which is another dating trend getting increasingly popular nowadays. Why Draking you ask? Well, because only Drake can make every emotion seem like it’s his last through his songs and these men relate to his songs post a bad break-up. So, if you’re highly emotional post break-up and put up cryptic status messages, which mostly say ‘I am a hot mess and I will never recover from the misery of a breaking heart unless I tattoo your name on it’ you’ve been Draking up a storm.


Let’s make this simpler — when your relationship experience goes awry and you take to the internet to express your sorrow through a social media post, quotes, state of being, how you haven’t eaten in days because you miss your ex, sad songs or pictures where you look like an evolutionary fiasco, you, my friend, are a hardcore Draker, dubbing some hardcore Draking.

Drakers are easily identifiable and we’re pretty sure you have one from your circle of friends. Thankfully, it’s not a lifelong condition. Drakers get better with time and patience, and balance out their emotional vomit quite nonchalantly when they’re happy although secretly they still feel emotional when they hear Drake’s music. What? We said secretly!

Here are some symptomatic hurdles each person faces, if he’s Draking hard...

Are you constantly cueing Drake on your play list?

You make a lot of attempts to seem extra sensitive and caring.

You go overboard with inspirational love soaked quotes on Facebook and Instagram (think Rumi).

You bombard your friends often, through direct messages, with inspirational love quotes and poetry. You are on a roll of self pity and keep complaining about how life has always been unfair to you.

You’re a mess usually. Your hair is all over the place and friends can’t remember the last time they saw you without a guitar and a sad song you’ve been playing off late.

You remove your profile picture from all your social media accounts so that everyone knows you’re absolutely miserable.

You grow that beard ten fold and mope around with an unkempt look. You start your sentences with ‘I don’t believe this is happening to me’ or ‘What have I done to deserve this’.

You make desperate attempts to move on to other women and when you fail, you’re back to moping about life again.

Why should a woman freeze her eggs?

Decoding the process of egg freezing

Having your own baby even at an advanced age is now possible due to egg freezing, which has emerged as an effective option in the last decade. Career oriented women who are busy climbing the corporate ladder, often choose to delay marriage and conception. While the female body and eggs just keep getting older, freezing them can be a practical solution that can give such women a little more time. There is an intricate science behind this fertility preservation method, which is explained by Dr Rajalaxmi Walavalkar (MRCOG DNB FRM FCPS DGO DFP, Consultant Reproductive Medicine and Surgery, Cocoon Fertility).

Why should a woman freeze her eggs?


Egg freezing is the process of retrieving some eggs from your ovaries, freezing and storing them to achieve a pregnancy later on. Egg freezing allows us to preserve our options, when we aren’t ready for babies due to relationships, career, finances or a whole host of other reasons Freezing eggs buys and can give more choices in the future.

How are eggs frozen?

This is a three-step process, which includes:

Stimulation of ovaries with injections to produce many eggs at a time.

Collection of eggs by a short procedure under general anaesthesia lasting 20 minutes. You go back home the same day.

Freezing and storage of the eggs, which happens by vitrification using liquid nitrogen at minus 196 degree celsius.

How can one find out if there are eggs to freeze?

A blood test for AMH and an ultrasound scan for antral follicle count gives us an idea of the ovarian reserve. Ovarian reserve depends on the risk of premature menopause, ovarian and conditions like ovarian cysts and endometriosis. Ovarian reserve declines with age so the earlier it’s done the better it is. The ideal age would be from mid-20s the early 30s.

How many eggs can/ should be frozen?

This depends on the woman’s age and egg reserve. The survival rate for eggs by vitrification method is around 80 per cent. If you freeze 12 eggs, eight or nine eggs are expected to survive. So, generally, the more we have to freeze, the better.

How long can the eggs be frozen for?

Scientifically speaking, indefinitely. Around 2,000 healthy babies have been born worldwide from frozen eggs, the longest reported being after 14 years. Health or viability of frozen eggs does not decrease over time. In fact, eggs are frozen and thawed in a high-quality lab, and have the same potential to form a healthy baby as eggs from a fresh cycle.

How does one prepare for egg freezing?

There is no a specific egg freezing diet. The ‘don’t’ list includes caffeine, alcohol, complex carbohydrates and cigarettes. The ‘do’ list includes a well-balanced diet rich in proteins and vitamin supplements.

Is there an age cutoff limit for egg freezing?

There is no specific age cut off limit. The earlier one freezes, the better. Typically, eggs should be frozen before the age of 35. Freezing may be done later, too, in case the hormone levels and antral follicle count are good.

Should one freeze eggs or embryos?

This decision hinges on several factors. Embryo freezing is a 30-yearold procedure; egg freezing is a recent advance. Current data suggests that both are equally efficacious. If a woman isn’t married and not interested in donor sperm, egg freezing is the option. If a woman is in a stable relationship, freezing embryos is the better alternative.

Where: Cocoon Fertility.

Call: 9833310310.

E-mail: info@cocoonfertility.com

www.cocoonfertility.com

(*Procedures given are based on the expert’s understanding of the said field)

Marriage of Siddhaanth Surryavanshi with model Alesia Raut

‘In a marriage, one needs to know what not to do’

...says Siddhaanth Surryavanshi, who will tie the knot with model Alesia Raut tomorrow

Siddhaanth Surryavanshi and Alesia Raut

Siddhaanth Surryavanshi couldn’t have asked for a better companion than model Alesia Raut. In his own words, they are always on the same page. The couple, who got engaged on April 21, are all set to walk down the aisle tomorrow (November 23). While the haldi and mehendi ceremonies will take place today (November 22), the reception will be held a day after the wedding.

The actor and his wife-to-be are still busy with the preparations. Siddhaanth tells us, “We have been so caught up with our professional commitments that I am yet to get my wedding attire and shoes. Fortunately, the North Indian dulha is dressed in sherwanis and kurtas that hide the flab, so I am gladly devouring sweets and oily food. My trainer has given up on me and I have told him that I will seek his help to shed my post-wedding fat.”


This being a second marriage for both of them, Siddhaanth is determined to not repeat the mistakes of his first marriage. He says, “It won’t be fair to speak about my first marriage as my first wife is still a friend and we parted ways amicably. However, one needs to know what not to do. Responding impulsively affects relationships, so I have decided to stop doing that. Alesia and I want to make our relationship a fulfilling one. Fortunately, we think alike.”

What also works for this couple is that Alesia understands Siddhaanth’s erratic work schedule; she even arranged their prewedding photo shoot during an event he was hosting in Udaipur. He tells us, “Experience makes a man wiser and I have decided to let my wife take the lead (laughs). It simplifies things. If things fall in place, she walks away with all the accolades and if they don’t, nobody can point fingers at me. But Alesia has been very sweet. She managed to arrange everything according to my schedule.”

Siddhaanth and Alesia’s children — daughter Diza and son Mark, respectively — from their first marriages, are also partaking in the festivities. However, the big day is no excuse for them to bunk their schools. Siddhaanth tells us, “They have also practised a dance performance for us. While my daughter has been insisting on taking leave from school on the D-Day, I have refused. However, I feel I will relent eventually.”

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Five-star weddings get GST blessings: Big boost for banqueting in upcoming wedding season

At India’s five-star hotels, the goods and services tax (GST) has proven to be more than auspicious for the upcoming wedding season. Sure, the 28% GST on luxury hotel rooms has hurt but the flattening of multiple taxes promises to cheer up the banqueting end of the business.

“We are all sold out this (wedding) season. And the GST rates have helped,” said Tarun Thakral, chief operating officer of Delhi’s Le Meridien.

Previously, the multiple taxes — which could include a mandap levy — that hosts had to cough up to hold weddings in five-star hotels like the Meridien could cumulatively go up to 30-35%, Thakral said. But now the services, all clubbed under banqueting, are taxed at 18%.

India’s biggest luxury hotel chains say wedding bookings have surged across the country, thanks to this.

“Bookings are very encouraging. We have witnessed an 18-20% growth from this segment. The Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai, Taj Palace in Delhi, Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur and Taj Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad remain hot favorites for destination weddings,” said Chinmai Sharma, chief revenue officer of Taj Hotels Palaces Resorts Safaris. “Among our new hotels, Taj Swarna in Amritsar is becoming a very popular venue for wedding celebrations.”

The Tata-owned Taj group launched the Taj Wedding Studio concept this week aimed at providing curated experiences through collaborations with top names in associated fields such as designers.


The Leela Palaces Hotels and Resorts said wedding bookings have picked up in major metro destinations over the past year while Hyatt Hotels and Resorts is witnessing an incremental rise in such reservations for its Mumbai and Goa properties.

“Multiple states have benefitted from the GST moves as taxes levied were much higher previously. Now they are all at 18%,” said an industry insider who did not want to be named.

Luxury chain Marriott International, which launched a wedding-focused programme for Indian customers called Shaadi by Marriott last year, said the business is growing, thanks also to the currency swap of November last year that hit other sectors.

“For us the pace is up year on year. We saw demonetisation proving an incentive to the business as it brought the business into the structured hotels ambit,” said Neeraj Govil, area vice president, South Asia. “We have made considerable investments in the space as it also impacts the outbound business. We launched our new properties like the Jaisalmer Marriott Resort and Spa and JW Marriott Kolkata, which are well equipped for weddings. We are launching JW Marriott in Jaipur this month, which will be another addition to the popular wedding destination state of Rajasthan.”

A Leela Palaces Hotels and Resorts spokesperson said group hotels in metro cities including Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai were seeing a significant upturn. Besides that, “our resort properties in Goa, Kovalam and Udaipur continue to be popular for destination weddings,” the person said.

DEMONETISATION IMPACT
Hotel industry executives said demonetisation persuaded high net worth individuals to move away from big ‘farmhouse’ weddings to hotels this year, since payments could more easily be accounted for and made through cheque or digital transfer.

On average, a five-star wedding costs upwards of Rs 25-30 lakh depending on the number of guests, decor, food and beverage menu and other arrangements, experts said. Destination weddings are more expensive.

“The focus is on quality now instead of quantity,” said Nidhi Verma, a spokesperson for the Leela Ambience hotel in Gurugram. “Wedding bookings have definitely picked up this year. People have moved away from farmhouses and the GST rates have provided an extra fillip. Rates in Gurugram hotels for weddings were hovering around 30%. Now they are at 18%.”

Most Hyatt hotels are looking at a robust wedding season this year. “Weddings are becoming more exclusive and highly experiential events today,” said Kurt Straub, vice president, operations (India) at Hyatt Hotels and Resorts. 

Big, fat British wedding in Mumbai, India

An Anglo-Indian family kicks off wedding season with a massive celebration that honours their forefathers' roots in the city

100 guests descend on the city from Britain, 40 rooms booked in a south Mumbai hotel, as Daniel Tyler and Kirsty McTighe prepare to tie the knot.

Big, fat Indian weddings are a common occurrence in Mumbai, but the city would rarely have played host to anything like the big, fat British wedding taking place this week. The couple and 100 of their guests have descended on the West End hotel, in Marine Lines, for a celebration that has been over a year in the planning. As if a dream wedding wasn't enough of a reason to get the details exactly right, it is also a tribute to the groom's grandfather and grand aunt, Anglo-Indians who had left Mumbai for England in 1951.

That's why Daniel Tyler, the 36-year-old groom, insisted on booking 40 rooms at the hotel, despite being told by Arjun Ramani, the general manager, that the exterior of the building was being renovated. Tyler, a theatre director from Birmingham, wasn't going to let a little heat and dust get in his way. He had stayed at the West End in 2015 on his first visit to Mumbai, and he thought the interior of the hotel still looked like something out of the 1940s, and he could imagine his Indian family popping round for tea.

Tyler first thought of getting married in Mumbai after the death of his grandfather Ronald Freemantle and his great aunt Fay in 2014. Fay had practically raised Tyler's mother Lynette, so he considered Fay to be his grandmother and called her "Nan". After they died, Tyler realised he didn't want to have a wedding in England without them. It was only after they died that Tyler learned more fully about his family's previous life in Mumbai because he inherited a vast trove of documents, notebooks and photographs that he had not known existed. Armed with this history, Tyler visited to India two years ago and was able to find his great-grandmother Dorinda Freemantle's grave at the Sewri cemetery because Percy had preserved the receipt for the plot (which had cost five shillings). "The gravestone no longer exists but the grave is there," said Tyler.

At that point, Tyler and his fiance, Kirsty McTighe, who is 26, had been together for five years. When he brought up the idea of having a wedding in Mumbai as a way of honouring his "grandparents", she did not hesitate. "It was an easy conversation," she said when Mirror met the couple at the West End hotel on Tuesday afternoon.

McTighe also works in theatre, and the pair met eight years ago on the sets of one of Tyler's productions. It was McTighe who asked Tyler out, after she had got her mother's permission to do so. Today, Tyler is a director at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, while McTighe works in the box-office at the Hippodrome in Birmingham and as a stage manager.

Tyler officially proposed on 27 October, 2016. By then, he had already been planning the wedding for four months. "After Kirsty said yes, I handed her a Save-The-Date card," he says with a chuckle. He had decided he wanted to have the wedding exactly a year later.

The pair said their families were surprised when Mumbai was announced as the venue but the reaction was mostly positive. "All the family wanted to come to India. This was the perfect reason," Kristy said. Lynette had never been to India before and burst into tears on finding out what the couple had planned.

Tyler says Fay and Ronald didn't talk about India much, except for the food. "British families had roast Sunday lunches and we had Indian feasts," he says. Food is, therefore, a big part of the couple's celebrations in the city, which have been spread over a week. Gulab jamuns and paneer tikka achari, mutton curry and caramel custard, the classic Anglo-Indian dessert, are all on the menu, plus lots of samosas. "Grandad always loved anything with lamb or mutton. He said a curry has to be like that," Tyler says. And Fay would make caramel custard "in a rabbit shaped" mound for dessert at their family lunches.

Over the course of the week, with help of The Wedding Company, a wedding planner, which has taken care of a lot of the paperwork, the pair has planned a series of functions, with a mix of Eastern and Western traditions. They are having a haldi ceremony, a mehendi ceremony and will perform the Saptapadi, albeit without the fire. There will also be a blessing at the Church of the Holy Name, on Wodehouse Road, on Saturday.

Following the blessing, there will be a high tea at the Taj because Tyler's great grandfather Percy would take his family there "whenever they had the money".

They have so much going on that they have a board set up in the lobby of the West End that lists the itinerary for the week and has sign-up sheets for sari draping and henna. Tyler and McTighe have also come up with "The Freemantle Family's Bombay", a tour, complete with a programme, of all the places that made up the family's life in the city. Roughly forty family members will take in the Cathedral School (which Ronald and Ralph attended), Abu Bakar Mansion (which houses Cafe Mondegar and caught fire last year), the Convent of Jesus and Mary School, which Fay attended, St. Thomas's Cathedral and the Sewri cemetery, plus other tourist staples such as Leopold's Cafe and Colaba Causeway.

Percy Freemantle had lived in Mumbai for twenty years starting in 1931. He lived at Abu Bakar Mansion and worked at the Central Telegraph Office, then located at Flora Fountain. Sadly, in 1949, his wife, Dorinda died and two years later Percy and his four children left for the United Kingdom. The family would settle in Kidderminster, once a thriving carpet manufacturing center but now described by Daniel as a "post-industrial town, a depressing place." Ronald, born in 1933, would go on to work in the steel forges while Fay, who was born in 1929, and had worked at Caltex and the Swedish Consulate in Mumbai as a secretary/personal assistant, would wind up in the offices of Kidderminster's carpet factories.




According to Tyler, Ronald and his friends used to spend a lot of time of time at the promenade outside the Taj Hotel, sometimes even selling postcards to tourists. Recently, Tyler learned that Ronald and his friends had been known as the Bunder Boys because of how much time they spent there. One of family stories that has been passed down is how Fay and her friends, who were three years older, would teach Ronald and his friends how to dance "so they could impress other girls". Occasionally, Ronald, Fay and their group would dance the Cha-Cha or the Waltz down the promenade near the Gateway of India. "We are going to keep that tradition alive," McTighe says.

And, among the photographs the pair brought to India is one of a cleancut Ronald, dressed in a short-sleeved shirt and pants, almost reclining on a bollard, with part of the Gateway creeping in on the left. Tyler plans to have his nephew, Ronnie, who is named after Ronald, recreate this photo, thereby linking four generations of the family to Mumbai.

A few weeks ago, Tyler started posting on Facebook about the wedding and long-lost Indian cousins got in touch and will be attending the festivities. More improbably, in of Percy's notebooks, Tyler found a list of tasks that his great-grand father had to carry out the day before they were leaving, including an outstanding payment to Eugene Biggle. This, too, found its way to Facebook, and Tyler was contacted by a man who said his mother used to be a Biggle and used to live in Abu Bakar Mansion. The woman, it turned out, was Eugene's daughter Pansy, who will be attending the festivities on Saturday.

The wedding is actually the second tribute to Ronald and Fay. Overwhelmed by his discovery of his grandparent's hitherto unknown lives, Tyler wrote and directed a play called "Between The Two", which was set on a ship sailing from Mumbai to England that was based on the letters and diaries passed down to him and deals with the challenges of moving from one culture and country to another. Tyler took the play on a national tour earlier in 2017 to mark the UK-India Year of Culture. "Theatre people tend to channel their emotions into art," he says. Now that they are actually here and surrounded by friends and family, both McTighe and Tyler said they are trying to soak it all in and just enjoy it. "It feels like a dream," McTighe says.

Wedding of Aditya Puri's actress daughter Amrita and beau Imrun Sethi

Wedding bells rang loud in Bangkok last week as Amrita Puri, daughter of HDFC Bank MD Aditya Puri, tied the knot with Mumbai-based restaurateur Imrun Sethi in a lavish ceremony.

The wedding took place as per Sikh rituals, with multiple ceremonies leading up to it. While the bride wore a light peach lehenga by Sabyasachi, the groom donned a classic cream sherwani and turban for the nuptials.

The destination wedding took place over three days at a luxury resort in the Thai capital. The decor centred on light pastel shades and flowers. The bride walked in for the Anand Karaj ceremony under a canopy of exotic flowers.

The actress, who was seen as Sonam Kapoor's friend in 'Aisha,' got hitched in a dream wedding with her Mumbai restauranter boyfriend, the posts of which went by the hashtag #amrun. By the looks of it, Amrita wore a gorgeous light peach Anand Karaj lehenga and bridal kundan jewellery complete with kaleere and chooda whereas the groom chose a classic cream sherwani and a turban for the nuptials. The colour of her bridal ensemble was in line with the floral pink theme which went by the tagline 'Eat Drink Love' as she walked under the pink roses to meet her bridegroom.