Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier

The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce

No stopping this shopping spree

The rain doesn't seem to have dampened Isha Koppikar's shopping spirit. The actor was spotted in Bandra on Monday. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

A case of hair and lovely?

A recent survey by a multi-media project about sex, love and desire, which saw 665 men and women take the survey, has thrown up some surprising results about body hair image issues among both genders. The findings show how the perceptions of women with less hair being deemed prettier and males with more hair being considered manly, is changing. Most of the respondents were in the age group of 18 to 32, showing that millennials and Gen Z males think more about body hair, which also maps a significant societal shift.

Madonna

The first surprising finding was that most people said they shave "as and when", which isn't the most logical answer if you observe the social media-savvy audience. Secondly, when asked about body hair on a woman, 30 per cent each said it "makes no difference" and "depends on where it is", showing that a lot of people today have a relaxed attitude towards body hair. But when it came to men with hair, most stated they prefer hairlessness on men.

The survey results displayed via illustrations

The survey, which also probed the co-relation between body hair and quality of sex, had 60 per cent saying that they felt hairlessness improves coitus. But then, 28 per cent of them also said that hairiness improves it. There were also those who said that body hair and sex had nothing to do with each other, though these people were mostly women, while attractiveness and hygiene were quoted as the top two reasons for removal of body hair.

Howzzat for a game?

We have seen their legendary friendship on-field, and witnessed it go through the crests and troughs of life too. So, on Friendship Day, it was good to see Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli let their hair down over a game — not in a stadium, but on a popular mobile gaming app that promises to be "the ultimate Sachin Tendulkar cricket experience".

This Sunday, a multiplayer feature called Play with Friends was added to the game, and who better than the cricket buddies to try it out and introduce it to the users? "Vinod and I have grown up playing cricket together. With the launch of [this feature] it was fun to challenge each other in this live multiplayer mode," Tendulkar said, as the duo went all competitive, and Tendulkar broke into his childlike jubilation.

'90s throwback

We all remember Malaika Arora from Chaiyya Chaiyya. But those who grew up in the '90s would know her as a vivacious VJ. She hosted shows such as Club MTV and then Love Line with Cyrus Broacha.

Sophie Choudry is another person who hosted the latter show, though she's now known more for her singing skills. So, when the two recently bumped into each other, a throwback picture was mandatory. Both shared the photograph, which also had Arora's sister, Amrita, captioned it, "Bonded by MTV, Tuscany, fitness and hotness".

Putting it in print

Instagram page Diet Sabya, which claims to call out "fakes" in the fashion fraternity, had a foot-in-the-mouth moment recently when it accused the paper packaging of Masaba Gupta's newly-launched lipstick collection of being "a little too inspired" by Sephora. The designer, who even has a lipstick packaging dedicated to trolls in the said collection, and isn't one to mince her words, took to social media with a fierce post, which starts off with, "Everyone is a judge on Twitter until proven guilty. This is probably the truest statement of our times, so here are my thoughts."

She goes on to state that the 12 prints on the packaging are all originals, some dating back to 2009. "From then until now we have never been called out because the work we have done is absolutely original. We started working on the beauty line in 2017. Prints is the DNA of the brand and every product we do must reflect that DNA... Paper packaging is unive­r­s­ally available and is neither patented by one or someone's innovation," she wrote, before signing off with a clear message — you can expect her signature packaging in more products soon.

Swipe right to find a friend

First, we had dating apps to help us find "the one", or at least gain some experience of how to go about the process. Now, there's one that's launched a campaign to help you find your next best friend. Launched to celebrate the feeling of friendship, it urges women to move beyond stereotypes and make new bonds in an unconventional way.

You can find, say, a fellow traveller or a gym buddy with the aid of the filters and profile options provided. It also suggests people based on the social needs you may have — new mothers, college students living away from home. "We want to create awareness about the community, centred around normalising the need to make new friendships throughout life and supporting women to feel empowered and safe in doing so," Priti Joshi, global director of strategy for the app told this diarist.

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