All you want to know on Fashion Designing Course and the Industry

What are the new courses available after Plus Two??....Have been writing about many courses in this series. This time let us know about Fashion Designing.

Aarathi Swaminathan who works in this industry for more than 10 years have answered to our questions. Aarathi is a multi dimensional person. Apart from her career, she is a marathon runner, cyclist and a swimmer. Her passion extends to photography too.

Over to Aarathi to know more about the Fashion Designing course and the industry:

If an youngster wants to join a course on Fashion designing after +2, what he/ she shall do?

He/She should look up for individual college/university entrance exams. The application form would be issued from the month of September of the previous year of He/she completing +2 (Eg. +2 board exam in March 2017 Application form will be issued September 2016)

How can one choose fashion designing as a career after completing any degree? Can some one who has completed Bsc or B Com can chose this? 

Answer is Simple Yes, if you have interest in creativeness and fashion you are most eligible to study further.

There are course like MSc, PG Diploma in Fashion designing which you can take up with any basic UG degree.

Which are the best colleges to do fashion designing in Chennai? Please share some good colleges in other parts of Tamil nadu and India also.

There is a huge list of colleges which offer Fashion designing as a course.

No. 1 Being NIFT (Nation Institute of Fashion technology) in India. Followed by Pearl Academy. Each of the University and college affiliated with them also offer course. Eg. Madras university, Bharathiyar University, Bharathidasan University etc.

What about the fees structure in different colleges....

Each college has its own fees structure based on college being Private or Government affiliated.

But in general the fee structure is slightly more when compared to other courses.

Tell us about the training one gets during the course and after the course. 

During your course of time all the basics of Fashion designing would be thought from Designing, pattern making, stitching and many more. But the real learning would be when you step into the industry for their internship and job. Fashion being a industry where there is constant change so the best learning is during your Job.

How do generally people chose Fashion designing as a career? Do they chose out of passion or they chose it as an alternate option since they could not get engineering or some other course they like?

People take fashion purely out of passion. As this being allied subject not many are aware of a program like this and it's mostly people with creative background and what to do something out of the box decide to take up these courses.

There is an assumption that more girls choose fashion designing? Is it true? Or both men and women chose this as a career equally? 

It's a false assumption I would say. There are many boys who decide to take us these course and the industry welcome both gender equally for job.

Please tell about the employment opportunities - both for freshers and experienced people.

There are huge opportunity as this market is pick up because of lot of online marketing and etc. Merchandiser are someone who are always in the demand throughout the year and throughout the globe.

Similar to fashion designer which many people know, what are other positions/ opportunities are there in the industry? What should one study for that?

Basically the fashion industry can be split into 3 parts

1. Designer module

2. Manufacturer module

3. Retail module

1. Designer module- you work a design for a private firm or you start your own design house and create your own cloths line. Eg. Ritu Kumar, Manish Malhotra 

2. Manufacturer module- you work for a product house or a factory set up. You have job opportunity as a designer in Product development team, you can be a merchandiser, you can get into sourcing, fabric , trims, production planning and many more.

3. Retail module- again you can get into front end Retail or Back end Retail. 

These are the numerous opportunities a person get just by studying fashion designing.

What is the salary range for freshers and people with experience.

It depends from which college he/she is passing out and also based on individual candidate capacity and potentially. 

I guess starting your own business in fashion designing is a great option. What are the opportunities and scope for being on your own? After how many years one can start his own business? What is the probability of success for start ups?

If he/she has a business background (Family) or interest in Business then may be immediately after they pass out of college if someone is ready to fund the business. Other it depends on what kind of business they want to start as this Industry is diverse in terms of business modules.

Tell us about your journey: How you chose this course and what you studied....

I wanted to do something out of the box from rest of the family members and being a creative person decided to take up fashion designing. I did my UG BSc in Fashion Technology and costume designing from Trichy. Purely into designing. Being an aspiring entrepreneurs I wanted to know the business in all dimensions and decided to pursue my PGD from Pearl Academy, Chennai in Fashion Merchandising. Worked in all business formed and have about close to 10 years of experience now I'm looking forward to start my own business very soon. I have taken all my failure in my stride and looked at the positive side and only focused on the learning. I have had high and low in my career front but it had been a great experience when I sit in a senior designation now in my organization.

Opportunities abroad for those who completed this course? In which countries do they have scope?

All European countries and USA has great opportunity.

How is the industry now? 

Domestic is doing very well and the market is growing with all online retail.

How is the work culture and stress level in this industry?

A tough question to Answer in terms of stress as it's individual perspective. For me I always took stress as a learning experience. But in general this industry is little disorganized and each company has its own set of systems and procedures and hence people find it difficult to adopt and perform. But for people who look at it as a challenge with come out with flying colors.

 Any final points/ inputs for those who want to enter this industry.

Welcome to the world of Fashion there is lot to experience and know what goes in into a cloths that you wear... All the best!!

An unforgettable trip to Irukkam Island

How do people normally go for any tour/trip?  Either they go with their family or close friends. 

How about going for a trip with 20 -25 persons whom you have never met in life? 

That is what Chennai Trekking club does many times every year ! The most important thing is - it is done with a shoe string budget.  Also there will be few who would have already visited that place and will act like a guide to you (Mostly they will be the Co coordinators for the trip). 

Recently a 28 member team went to Irukkam Island (which is closer to Pulicat lake) for bird watching through CTC. 7 of us were having cars & we picked up persons on the way and the journey 30 minutes later  than the scheduled time. The place was about 100 KM from Koyambedu. 

For this trip, Mr. Saravanan and Mr. Vignesh were the co ordinators and Mr. Vishnu was also helping them a lot. All three were doing a great service from start to finish. 

Since most of us were driving in the route which is not so familiar, few car owners had confusion in the route and either they went slightly in the wrong route or went past the destined place.

But organizers kept track of every car and were giving excellent directions. In fact we were one of the last car to come and another car was coming after us; Vishnu who was coming in that car said that they are the sweeping car (Last one to come after all cars) and he quickly caught hold of us when we were about to go in a wrong direction and made us to come very quickly to the right route. 

Since one car went past the destined meeting point, we had coffea in Arambakkam, which is the closest place to the back waters. Coffea was good and we also started interaction with each other slowly.

Once all the cars assembled, we went to the boat jetty and our journey in the back waters began at around 8.30 pm. It was one hour drive in the boat. 

The back water was looking beautiful reflecting the moon light and the small waves added additional flavour. The scenery and the mood it gave was so pleasing. 

During the boat ride, we had Nakul who is an active travel enthusiast and he started sharing some of the interesting travel experiences in Jammu, Kashmir and North east. Also Minu, another participant was sharing her experience in water sports in Malaysia. 

By this time I understood that its not only Nakul, Minu or me, most other participants were equally great travel enthusiasts.

I always believe that it is not money, status or success which defines a person. But how one enjoys the whole life is most important. Travelers normally belong to this category and they find happiness in their trips and in many part of their life. 

We reached our stay point around 9.30 PM. It is an open place with no light. Organizers had already asked us to bring torch light and we spent the night with the help of torch light and fire only. 

Immediately on reaching the spot, people started preparing for food. Barbaque chicken and Panneer masala were prepared. The organizers had prepared Chicken curry and Chapathi from their home and had brought.

Once Barbaque was ready, we all started eating it and it was delicious. What was more surprising was the comradeship among the participants.  There were not enough plates (every one should bring plate themselves; few did not bring) so in every available plate 3 or 4 people were eating.  

I have met these friends... just an hour back and now I am having dinner with them in the same plate !

There was so much of fun and pulling each one's leg while having dinner and non stop laughter started from this moment. There were few people with terrific sense of humour and Cilambarasan, Raghav and Vignesh were in charge of humour department :) They did exceedingly well and every one laughed countless times from Dinner till we said Good bye the next day. 

We had a Camp fire and was talking many things; thereafter few went to sleep; many had lengthy fun talk & went to sleep very late. 

My only worry before starting the trip was how to sleep in open sky. I have always slept under a roof and whether I will have proper sleep was a disturbing question/thought. Also I am quite finicky in my sleeping place/ way of sleep.  

Fortunately, that was not a big issue and I could sleep peacefully, as organizers had bought Thar paai and I had also taken Bedsheet. Though the hours slept was less (4 or 5 hours), it was adequate. 

We got up in the morning and started our boat ride to see the birds. Few friends knew every birds' names (Particularly Mr. Elango) and they were introducing each bird to us. It was a fantastic scene to see the birds flying low and also immersing in water. The people with camera were very busy capturing the lovely moments. 

The boat was stopped at a particular place where we can see many birds ..

List of birds spotted during the trip:

1.     Spotted Pelican

2.     Black Headed Gull

3.     Indian Cormorant

4.     Caspian Tern

5.     Whiskered Tern

6.     River Tern

7.     Painted Stork

8.     Pacific Golden Plover

9.     Black Headed Ibis

10. Greater Flamingo

11. Red Wattled Lapwing

12. Brahminy Kite

13. Swift

14. Intermediate Egret

15. Grey Heron

16. Black Tailed Godwit

17. Red Rumped Swallow

We then stopped again to prepare our break fast, which was done very quickly ! It was Puvva (A kind of Uppuma ) which was very good. 

Most of the participants contributed their bit in preparing the food - both in the night and in the morning. This is another trait of these trips: Every one must work/ contribute/ take some responsibility in the trip. 

After finishing the break fast, each of us spoke for few minutes: Giving a back ground about themselves and how they felt about the trip.

We all took a group photo and started back to the place where our cars were parked by boat again. 

While returning,  the organizers calculated the expenses, divided it by total no of participants and informed that the cost per person is Rs. 500. People coming in car did not pay, in fact organizers calculated the amount for petrol and paid the appropriate fuel amount to them.

Just think about it: Going in car for 200 plus kilo meters; having a dinner and break fast; coffea, cool drinks, snacks, Night Stay, Boat riding for an hour ....all put together comes only to Rs. 500 ! Even if we come alone with friends or our family, it can't be managed at such an economical rate. It was possible because of car pooling and sharing of boat expenses, which if we come with our family also, they will charge the full amount. 

Another important thing is: Here we are meeting new people; new experiences are shared. Since many are travel enthusiasts, we get to know lot of beautiful places across India from many of them. 

We drove back home very happily after a great relaxation. 

This is my first trip with CTC ; Certainly I will join again for many trips and anybody who had travelled with CTC will also have a similar feeling !

*****
Photos: Courtesy:

Saravanan
Ragav
Elango &
Yuvarani

*****
To read the post of co - traveller Ms. Madhu mita, please click the link here

Chennai - Rain and its after effects ...Views of Chennaites..

Rain is lashing at Chennai; When Southwest monsoon (From June to September) did not bring enough rain this year, people feared about water shortage in next few months. North East monsoon also got delayed but when it arrived, it arrived big. 

The day before Diwali, Chennai was drenched affecting the Cracker business to a great extent. There was mild rain on Diwali day, leaving kids to celebrate to some extent. 

And now, on November 12th night and 13th morning, it is pouring.

While Pre Diwali rain itself is not being drained out fully, further water over and above now make Chennai flooded at various places. 

Some Chennaites share the after effects of rain in their respective location.

Lakshmi

My office is in Sterling Road and home is in Valasaravakkam

I travelled in MTC bus always & today too went in the bus. It took hell of a time, started at 8 : 45 A.M. from home today (started 15 mins early due to rain ) and reached office at11 A.M. (More than 3 times the normal running time)

Roads were terrible to say the least; water logging everywhere, travelling from one place to another seems like an underwater exploration :P

Situation in West Mambalam

The worst part is no autos are coming in this rain and no cabs are available even in Ola, Uber, TaxiForSure apps (as usual, during rains they are of no use !!!!)

TaxiForSure is issuing discounts without a single vehicle plying. Last Day to get Discounts- 30% aam!!! :P Vehicle eh illa idhukum mella discount vera :P

People waiting for Bus.....

Worst affected areas in my route are : Vadapalani Bus Depot (Looks like a mini beach!!!)

Traffic is hopeless at Vadapalani, Kodambakkam  bridge..

Sterling Road (most low lying area), hence it has become swimming pool near my office and it is impossible to even walk since there are many potholes in the footpath too !!!! I literally stumbled and fell off today :(

Saraswathy

I live at Mugappair East and my office is at Puzhal. I daily commute through my office cab. They pick me at thirumangalam. I take an auto from our place to Thirumangalam daily. Today no auto was ready to come. with great difficulty i managed to convince an auto driver to drop me at Thirumangalam and no surprise he charged double the rate today. 

Thirumangalam junction the most horrible junction. The spot where we are supposed to be picked was immersed in water. we changed our pick spots. In the heavy traffic it was difficult for us to make driver stop anywhere. Driver did a good job managing to pick us in spite. It usually takes twenty minutes from thirumangalam. Today it look an hour for us to reach office. Some pictures taken on the way after sitting safe inside my office cab. 

Ambarish

I have been commuting by two wheeler mostly from Velachery (Home) to Guindy (Office).  Today I tried for cab or an auto. Most of them declined to come, even while booking via app.

Last week, I was lucky to get a cab to and fro to my office during a weekday - which takes ten to fifteen mins extra to reach my place. (Velachery to Guindy)

Normally it takes 15 minutes to reach the office, but today it took 1 hour minimum (you need to take different routes, as you need to avoid roads where water logging is there)

RK Nagar - North Madras...

Roads are Flooded with water - poor drainage as we all know. 

Sewage water mixing with rain water causing many more health infection at the locality especially for people living at the low lying areas.

Water getting into a home at Madipakkam

Trees falling over - some of the trees which seemed to be old more than 20 yrs or so have fallen in some places like NGO colony - Guindy - Adambakkam route causing problems not only to bikers but also to car owners who take their car for commutation.

Walkers - pedestrians suffer a lot due to blind spotted potholes - cracked roads - worst case the cable/EB wiring faults cut down which may be fatal for lives lying on the roads.

Traffic police cannot be blamed as they also try to clear the traffic and divert with best routes to reach destinations. In face helpful to push the cars if they stop mid way which is a good gesture.

Animals - domestic animals are the worst of the lot especially during the rainy season where they don’t get food as well as people burst crackers during the festive seasons which they fall victims leading to accidents and deaths on the road while running away from crackers - running for shades crossing the road dying on the spot. " a sad scene happened when i had to just reach the spot in front of me a kitten was dying " could not save the poor life as the biker who dashed it, hit on the head first - tried my best to take the poor soul to the Blue cross but died on the way. RIP The poor soul. Like this many would be lying dead or wanting help including human.

Worst affected areas in my route:

VELACHERY - TARAMANI LINK ROADS - THOUGH SEEMS TO BE DEVELOPED AREA - STILL BOATS  ARE THE NEED OF THE HOUR

Velachery- Taramani Link Road

NGO colony - very bad and bumpy roads - a busy area with several buses plying everyday

Many abnormal or unfortunate events do occur, especially during winter - due to poor management/maintenance of roads.

Unfortunately Chennai has one of the worst drainage system. Even a small rain for an hour causes huge impact for the commuters.

Last but never the least - some of the Drivers (Govt. Buses/Cabs/Autos/Cars/Bikes) the order of priority are no way good, be it summer or winter - very "LOW TOLERANCE LEVELS". 

Only PRACTICING OF YOGA can save this world after a certain point of time may be from 2020 onwards YOGA Will be made mandatory. 

Christina



My office is in Mount road near Thousand Lights and house is in Kovilambakkam. Whole of this week I commuted by call taxi. The travel during this week took double the time; but today it was very worse and took 3 hours to reach office (Normal time is: 45 minutes)

The roads were pathetic today; Water clogged and the road seems to get lost in the water. The number of holes which all of a sudden appeared due to rain came as a shock.

Buses were almost empty today, but frequency of buses seemed to be very low.

The biggest shocks for me was Thousand Lights, the place where I work, near park hyatt and another big shocker was Kotturpuram. This is supposed to be a posh area, but I saw a different Kotturpuram today

**********

FURTHER RAIN ALERT

Chennai and other parts of North Tamil Nadu may have to get ready for another downpour this weekend as another weather system is brewing over the Bay of Bengal. A low pressure area lying over southeast Arabian Sea and adjoining Lakshadweep area brought heavy overnight showers on Thursday. S. R. Ramanan, director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, said: “The trough of low pressure that persists over south Andaman sea is likely to intensify into a low pressure area and move towards southeast Bay of Bengal by Saturday. We are monitoring the possibility of the system further intensifying into a depression.”

The Meteorological Department predicts that parts of north Tamil Nadu will get scattered rainfall and it would be more widespread in the southern parts of the State.

Wet weekend likely; While only a few areas may get rain or thundershowers on Friday, Chennai will begin to experience moderate to rather heavy rainfall during weekend.

Megalaya : Frequently asked questions

Megalaya : Frequently asked questions

How we chose Megalaya ? How we reached there?

Our Friends Achuthan & Indrani has visited in early May 2015 & suggested this place to us. They gave a draft itinerary for us for a week, which I shared in travel forum Indiamike.com. (Normally used to do this whenever I travel to new places ); Karikor who was in this forum suggested some changes in itinerary. Particularly instead of staying at the same place for all the 8 days, he suggested to stay in different place. Initially we were very hesitant as we need to change/ vacate room everyday. But with little bit of research, found that it was the best way; otherwise we need to spend about 5 hours every day in travel (Two and half hours each).

There are 2 ways to reach Megalaya

Option 1: Chennai to Kolkatta by flight (Plenty of options/ flights)

                    Kolkatta to Shillong by Flight (Only one Air India flight is there every day & it gets cancelled due to bad weather at times)

Option 2: Chennai to Kolkatta by flight

                    Kolkatta to Guwahati by flight; then 3 hours drive to reach Shillong (many flight options for this)

We chose second option as advised by many friends.

Where did we stay?

As mentioned earlier, we chose to stay in different places. Other than saving the time, most of the places we stayed were unique and completely different from one another and each one was with a different back drop. 

We stayed for 2 days in Mawphalang at Maple pine Farm house.

From there we travelled to Mawphanlur and stayed there at a guest house.

Then we moved to Mawlynnong & stayed at a Guest house.

We moved to Cherrapunji from there and stayed at Sai Mika Resorts

Finally, we stayed at Orchid Lake resort at Shillong for a day before boarding the flight.

Though few days we had some disappointment since we could not cover many places or we were dull, the places that we stayed gave lot of freshness and comfort; We enjoyed each one of the stay, but the first two stays (Maple pine Farm house at Mawphalang and Guest house at Mawphanlur) were outstanding and not to be missed out !!

What about the food?

They have good vegetarian food. Rice quality is almost similar to Chennai. So no complaints. They serve 2 or 3 vegetables; Egg and chicken can be done at our request.

Veggies can surely manage with the Rice, Dhall and 2 or 3 vegetable dishes that they provide (Potato is cultivated there a lot and they use it in every food); They don’t know Sambar, Rasam, Curd, etc

In Cherrapunji, there is a new hotel called as Orange roots, which serves pakka Tamilian food; here we ate Idly, Dosa etc.

We met the owner & his son who manage Cherrapunji resort and Orange roots hotel; both talked in fluent Tamil to us; Father had worked in Megalaya in a bank and had had married a woman from Megalaya. Therafter they had been in many parts of India; Finally he took VRS, got a land here, came and started a resort; It was the first resort in Cherrapunji (Charra Holiday resort); Even today, this is one of the best and famous resort here; Last year they have opened this new hotel (Orange roots). 

When you go to Orange roots hotel run by them, prefer Tiffain items than Rice items; Rice items are costly and not so good; Idly & other south Indian food is comparitively cheaper as well as good.

Is it safe to travel in North eastern states?

This question was raised by many friends; I do not know about other North eastern states; but there was certainly no risks that we or the previous friends saw in Megalaya; In fact in many places we don’t see any tourists; at some places, we alone are there; despite that there was no fear of theft or any other issues. Also they treat us so respectfully.

What about the language? How can we manage?

They understand English to some extent. Hindi – most don’t understand. We need to have a driver who understands English; also in some places when we take Guide, need to select some one who speaks English well.

Do we need to have guide for all days?

No; not required; A good driver can help us in many areas. But in some places, Guide is a must; Else it will be a total disaster and we cannot enjoy anything. Particularly for Mawlongbna and Double decker bridge visit, guide is a must. 

What about transport?

Government transports are less; there are shared call taxi kind of  system available; but it is better to take a car. They charge about 1,700 to 3,000 per day depending on the vehicle and distance that we travel.

What is the best time to visit Megalaya?

April, May is quite ok; Climate in many places is very cool. We were told that June, July also is very good as falls will have lot of water. Its better to avoid Aug, Sep, October- as it could be rainy season. Nov, Dec, Jan will have very less temperature (around 5 to 10 Degree) and if one wants to enjoy such low temperature, can chose Christmas vacation time too..

What are the best attractions in Megalaya?

Lot of natural caves – out of which two in Cherrapunji are very good & must visit. In fact one cave is opened about an year back only; but that is the best ! Very big and we can walk for more than a kilo meter in complete darkness with torch alone for help.Wonderful experience...

Root bridges, which are made of tree’s roots,

Falls (can only see; cannot take bath; have you ever taken bath in a falls in Kodaikkanal or Ooty??)

&

the cool climate….

How many days trip will be ideal?

A minimum of one week is required. There are people who spend 2-3 weeks in Megalaya alone. 

What about the cost?

For a single person it may cost 20,000 to 30,000 for a one week trip. (Including flight, room, food, local transport, etc) 

Trekking to Double Decker bridge: A trip to remember: Megalaya Travelogue

Double decker bridge..Situated in Cherrapunji. Visiting this place is an experience in itself. As we travel in Megalaya, some how we look for this day of our trekking to Double decker bridge. Very rare tourists that we come across in the trip will invariably ask " Did you visited Double decker bridge?" If they had visited, they will share some tips...This bridge and the trekking was covered by BBC too once in a very detailed manner...

3000 steps on one way and again return.. With family....should we go? Wife was very hesitant; only daughter was pushing. Friends who had visited earlier advised to keep this trip at the fag end of the trip, as legs will be paining a lot the next day.

Somehow convinced wife for the trekking and the D Day arrived. We started very early by 7 AM;  It was raining heavily in the night (it was Cherrapunji !!) & we were a little worried. In the morning, there was no rain; we started our trip along with a guide.

As we were about to start trekking, it rained again. We waited for half an hour for the rain to subside in the shop situated there and then started the trekking; 

It all looked very easy & smooth. And again rain struck in the middle of trekking. We had proper things with us (Jacket/ Rain coat) & continued our trekking. People will generally say it will be slippery if it rains. But we were cautious and the journey was fine. 

On the way we see people carrying huge weight climbing up. We really pity their life; also there were children going to school from the Non griat Village (Thats where the double decker bridge is situated); They do this trekking every day to go to school (Wonderful exercise... they must be used to it !!)

There are two wonderful hanging bridges on the way and walking in them with huge falls adjacent is a thrilling experience...

We reached Double decker bridge comfortably. While going we will step down for most part and only at the end we need to climb a bit. So there will not be much issue.

Double decker bridge - is  created by roots of the tree- in 2 layers. One in the ground and another in about 30 feet height.

A beautiful natural pool is near this double decker bridge and we can take bath there (except when water is more foreceful)

There is a home stay near the double decker bridge who serve food. We need to inform in advance over phone or on reaching the place - before going to the Double decker. Mostly they give noodles only (Dont know what they serve after Maggi is banned now); we had our lunch there.

The return journey started; again until half the way through, it was fine. The real struggle started only then. It was steep 2000 steps, which goes almost continuously and it is a big challenge. Wife struggled a lot and beyond a point said- She cant walk. We decided to then take it 100 steps every time and take a rest. We put songs aloud in Phone & started climbing up slowly; took as much rest as possible and reached the final destination !!

Relief and a sense of achievement as we Completed our trekking...

It takes 2 hours to reach Double decker and about 3 hours to come back. We will spend about 2 hours there; so the whole day need to be allocated for this trekking only.

Need to wear good shoes; take only one bag only for entire group and request the Guide ( he is a must for this trip) to carry it; they will do it quite willingly.

Aged people and those having very small children (who cannot walk) can consider skipping; others can certainly explore this wonderful, one of a kind, ever memorable trekking experience.