What: IDfy.com, an online trust establishment platform for employees and employers, free and premium services available.

Why: A night of partying on the town can take quite a toll on your liver and Facebook feed. The picture of you dancing on the bar? Oops. And that close up of you with a cigarette. Burn! A dodgy digital presence can work against you in a professional setting, especially if you have nothing to back you up or verify the claims on your resume. IDfy.com, a trust platform started by friends Ashok Hariharan, Hatim Baheranwala, and Vineet Jawa offers to set up a suitable online profile and resume that can be verified by your peers, business partners and reviewed by potential employers, investors and even a landlord. ISB and Namma Bengaluru are some of the organisations that use IDfy’s services.



When: You need a new (pro)file cabinet.

What: Gift Bazaar, new bespoke personalised gifting service by Devika Shroff Nihalani, call 9820676960, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , place orders 3 to 5 weeks in advance, start at Rs 1,500.

Why: We have known Devika since she worked in the marketing department of a reputed film studio, and she’s always had a penchant for pretty handmade things. Now, instead of helping friends get a dress stitched or a teacup initialed, she has started her own service that can ideate, produce and present a unique, handmade gift, completely personalised for an individual or occasion. It’s a wrap! Her solutions range from signed copies of a favourite book with bespoke wrapping, Ram Balram movie posters made in traditional poster art, organic canvas bags, tea cup cupcakes and personalised spatulas.

When: You need a power point present.

Bpb Classifieds: Hot Jobs in April 2013

See our free monthly listings of super job openings in the city, from working at Facebook to landing gigs at design studios and brand consultancies. Know of a cool job opening? Send us an email on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and we'll list it for free!

Tushky.com: The young team of IITians at Tushky.com, an online marketplace to buy, sell or promote travel experiences or experience-related activities, is looking for a content manager to fill a senior position. Email your resume to  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

House of Tales: House of Tales, an upcoming event gallery in South Mumbai, is looking to hire a PR associate with one-year work experience and an Event Manager with 3-5 years of work experience. Good communication skills and a keen eye on the city’s cultural scene are vital for both openings. For more details on the job profiles, and to send across your resume, email  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

OnCourse Global: OnCourse Global, an education consulting firm, is looking to hire mentors to help students with the tedious study-abroad application process. Good writing and communication skills are important with a keen interest in education and a basic understanding of the process. Individuals who have studied abroad are preferred candidates. To know more, visit www.oncourseglobal.com, email your resume to  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Le Mill: Lifestyle concept store Le Mill is looking for a full-time Design Assistant, preferably with a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art or Commercial Art with prior experience in interior design, advertising or marketing. Innovative ideas, application of these ideas and a strong working knowledge of design programmes and softwares is a must. Send your portfolio and resume to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with ‘Design Assistant’ in the subject line.

Propshop24.in: Lifestyle products, gifting and party products e-store  www.propshop24.in is looking for a Graphic Designer to design banner ads and social media templates. A working knowledge of Photoshop is a pre-requisite. Email your resume to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  

El Sol Strategic Consultants: Brand consultancy El Sol Strategic Consultants is looking for an Executive Assistant to the founder of the firm. The applicant will be required to draft emails, plan and manage  schedules and take care of office paperwork. Good communication skills are a must. Email your resume to  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Facebook is looking for a Media Analyst for its Hyderabad office. Candidates must have at least two years of experience in media analytics, be passionate about Facebook and consumer internet, with a Bachelor's or Masters in a technical/qualitative field. Apply online here.

MTV India is looking for Editorial Interns to write for the MTV India website. A journalism background with previous knowledge of social media is encouraged. Candidates must at least be graduates. Send in your CV's to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with "Editorial Intern" in the subject line.

Toy Story style, in computer purgatory, lie the ghosts of once-beloved machines, the tablet you had to have, the bulky laptop still with your sticker marks on it, on which you wrote your first novel, all making conversation with each other. Let your laptops go have a second chance at love with new website Reglobe (www.reglobe.in) and remember, if they come back, they’re yours.

Keeper Of The Key(board)s

All laptops on Reglobe are once-used, so you’re getting the divorced guys, but these have been completely overhauled with a system reboot and a one-year on-site warranty - Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Drive?. They don’t guarantee that your laptop will be brand new and shiny, but if you’ve been into the dented-painted girls, this is a good place to score one for cheap. Plus it’s a good way of getting rid of extra machines, as the website offers free pick-up of your old computers in Delhi and Mumbai. Granted, you might be forced to let go of a perfectly functional old machine for about Rs 2,500 (as we were for a Dell Inspiron), but better than it sitting around collecting dust, right?

Reglobe is two months old, and its founders Nakul Kumar and Mandeep Manocha are engineers with a background in e-waste consulting. They ran a recycling plant for a while, which they shut down in September to focus on this. In the future, the website will allow you to buy and sell old cellphones and tablets as well, but at the moment, they’re just focusing on building up geographically as well as collecting old laptops.

Tested And Screened

All laptops go through a sixteen step overhaul of the hardware, so while the OS will remain the same, you’ll be able to get a second-hand one with a new battery, updated keyboard and so on.

We did a little comparing online to see what kind of deals you could be getting. For an Apple MacBook Pro A1278, the new price is about Rs 65,000 while on this website it’s Rs 45,000. Then there’s the IBM T61 ThinkPad going for approximately Rs 87,000 for Rs 13,900. More comparisons? The HP EliteBook 8440p (i5) for Rs 46,000 versus Rs 24,999, Toshiba L40 for Rs 27,000 versus Rs 11,000 and HP Compaq Presario CQ40 for approximately Rs 27,000 versus Rs 13,500. That’s a lot of numbers, but figure this: you’re saving at least half the cash, which you can put away for a holiday somewhere with tropical drinks. Take your new toy (boy).

Getting there: Log on to www.reglobe.in, Rs 13,900 for an IBM ThinkPad, free pick up of old laptops.

What: Espresso bar party catering, retro coffee machines and beans by Beans Unlimited, visitwww.beansunlimited.com or call 24712610, Rs 1,400 for a 25 pod box of Cafes Richard Columbian coffee.

Why: It’s Friday and you’re still being a grouch potato. It’s probably because the coffee in your office sucks. Here’s a little something for your HR department – Beans Unlimited, a coffee solution company that sells everything from retro-looking coffee machines to pods from Illy, Cafes Richard and Lavazza, and even sets up an Espresso bar at your dinner party. Keeping A-list clients like Blue Frog, Indigo and Sula Wines hopped up on caffeine, we think they might be a good way to get on the bean’s list.

When: You want a new brew crew.

Bunches of red roses, beautiful and bright, sat at the Aurus bar this past Valentine's Day. Single stemmed lovers, intoxicated by their scent, realised just how lonely and in love they were.

This floral arrangement was courtesy Zina Mody, a Malabar Hill resident who under the brand Flowers by Zina, does custom-made bouquets and centre pieces  for individuals, restaurants, corporates and even lawyers' offices. Yes, sharks like flowers too!

On the Cover of a Maga-Zina

The story is as cliched as red roses: girl makes floral arrangement for fun, friends like it, start giving her orders and it blooms into a business. Since then, Zina has been doing some super creative bouquets working with importers who can get everything from bundles of tulips to red orchids and green colour carnations. "But my favourite flower to work with is hydrangeas. And twigs. Also, pretty fruit," she tells us. Thankfully, that does not translate into those ugly fruit bouquets we hate at bpb.  What Zina does is intersperses fruit with flowers for aesthetic reasons. "So for instance, karvanda berries are used to make chutney. But I just use a stem in a bouquet because they look amazing in arrangements," says Zina. Besides these, apples, oranges and lemons have also featured quite frequently in her work. Strings of pearls, ribbons and fabric complete the look. Besides bouquets, Zina also wraps individual gifts and has them deliverd to your destination. For me? You shouldn't have.

Get on the Flora

Besides the bar at Aurus, Zina's flowers and packaging have also been spotted at Nature's Basket outlets, Rudra Spa and probably your home if you have generous friends. Zina's customised arrangements start at Rs 1,000, and while she prefers that you place your order in advance, she can also throw something together for you at the last minute. This florist can serve as your human reminder system too. Send her a list of important occasions you need to remember, and she'll call you before each of them to see if you need to send out flowers. Don't hit snooze.

Get It Together

While Zina started out by learning the art of floral arrangement all on her own, she did recently take a few short courses in London with Jane Packer, an internationally renowned florist. It helped her get a whiff of global trends, and this she combined with her own style. "Floral arrangements can be super therapeutic. Unless it's a crazy occasion like Valentine's Day." Starting in March, this florist is conducting short weekly arrangement courses at her Malabar Hill kingdom, so prepare for pretty petals but also thorns.

Zina, the Warrior Princess?

Getting there: Flowers by Zina, for bouquets and class inquiries call 09819109760 or view the Facebook page here,  bouquets starts at Rs 1,000.

“Brighten up, remain my true and only treasure, my all, as I to you.” – Beethoven to unknown girlfriend

“But the ring of fire still burns around you and I, keeping our love hotter than a pepper sprout.” – Johnny Cash to June Cash

“You seem to be a woman who has been loved in her childhood.” –Marlon Brando hitting on a stewardess.

Just today, in an email from a friend, we learned he was going to the post office—the actual post office—to mail a book within the pages of which he had inserted a note of admiration to the one he admired. We looked around at our email filled world, and were filled with a strange kind of wistful envy. The art of letter writing is lost. The art of good speeches has gone the way of text messages: “Congrats!” replaces “I wish you so much happiness and love on your wedding day.” Dealing in words ourselves sometimes we mourn the loss of a good sentence in our inbox, something that makes us pause, and laugh, that evokes so much more than a Whatsapp message could.

Always Wear Sunscreen

You couldn’t have Marlon Brando write that letter to your lover or Johnny Cash apologise prettily for an indiscretion to a friend, but with the help of Mumbai-based website Words For You, you don’t have to stumble to find the right sentence anymore, just outsource it to their team of freelance writers with a list of points about what you want to convey and they’ll do the rest for you. Ingenious? We thought so.

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

Words For You began when Suneet Kumbhat, a new engineering graduate had to give a speech at his sister’s wedding. He knew what he wanted to say, but he didn’t know how to say it. In contrast, his father came up with an excellent speech which was well received by all the guests. Suneet realized there were many more people like him who could use a little help and got in touch with his friend Abhijeet Agarwal, described by Suneet as an “amazing writer.” Together, they put together Words For You, where products include the usual corporate/marriage speeches but also the more eclectic: the apology note, the love letter, the marriage proposal and the resignation letter. Most of the writing is done by Abhijeet, but they also take on freelance writers, mostly college students, to craft some words for them.

I Still Have A Dream

You give them a brief, with your emotions and key points to be mentioned, which helps, but if you can’t think of what to say, they also have a questionnaire prepared which you can answer and will help them to write.  While there are a list of suggested products on the page, you can pretty much get them to write anything—from a blog post to a start up email. Plus, discretion is guaranteed, so you don’t have to be worried that your fiancé will find out your beautifully worded proposal wasn’t you after all.  At the moment, the website has a bit of a clunky ‘contact’ page, but they’re quite swift in getting back to you, and also provide writing samples on request. Sealed with a wish?

Getting there: Contact Words For You (www.wordsforyou.co.in), Rs 700 for 350 words, send in your request one week in advance.

Review: Khali Seat

Is your day bookended by fights with cabbies? A new website wants to help you “save your anger and frustration for someone else”.

This is Khali Seat, a new online platform for people looking to share a ride with fellow commuters on the same route. Be it carpooling, bikepooling or even sharing a radio taxi, Khali Seat is trying to make your commute cheap and pollution-free. The concept is simple:  find a ride that’s already listed on the website, or create your own ride and wait for people to join.

Roadblock

The user interface doesn’t seem like much of a jam either. There is a scroller on the right that has all the recently added share-a-ride options, as well as a search bar to find a ride that suits you.  The details you have to feed in are your time and date of journey, the beginning point and end point and a landmark on the way where you can pick or be picked up from.

If you wish to create your own ride, just tweak the gears a bit, add your type of vehicle and number plate info, along with number of vacant seats.

Pot Hole

If your worry is sharing car space with a serial killer, there are a few safety measures in place: option to pick gender preference for your choice of travel companion and a Facebook meet before accepting or sending the ride invite.

One seat request from Ted Bundy? I'll take the mean old cabbie, thanks very much.

Getting there: www.khaliseat.in, free platform.

bpb’s monthly listing of the hottest work opportunities in Mumbai. Know of a cool job opening? Send us an email on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and we'll list it for free!

Jack In The Box World Wide, the content strategy group, is looking for people for their art and copy team. Candidates must have two to four years experience in digital media. Email CVs to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

MediaNama, the digital news website is looking to hire associate editors and journalists. Candidates must have a background knowledge of media, internet, social media and technology and excellent command of the English language. Email CVs, cover letters and sample stories to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Trial Of Errors Mahesh Bhatt’s upcoming theatre production Trial Of Errors is looking for part time/freelance assistant directors, male and female actors, costume designers, set designers, music director and production manager. View the Facebook page for the play here and email CVs and relevant information to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

OpportuneJobs.com, a recruitment portal, is looking to hire a freelance consultant to work for a couple of months on a renewable energy project. Email CVs to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Marriott Hotels is looking for a PR professional with one year experience Email your CV to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

OnCourse Global, an education consulting firm is looking to hire 'mentors' to help students with study abroad applications. Applicants must have strong writing and communication skills and a basic understanding of study abroad opportunities. Email your CV to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Global Kitchens, the hospitality company that brought restaurant Serafina to India, is looking for a graphic design Intern who must be creative with a strong technical knowledge. Email your CV to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Dhoop, the Indian craft and design store is looking for a store manager who would be responsible for day to day sales, billing, inventory management and marketing and sales manager for their website and store, as well as to organise events. Email your resume to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call Aradhana at 9833860282.

GOODEARTH is looking for a full-time  graphic designer, preferably with a BA in fine art or commercial art and with experience in advertising and/or marketing. The candidate should be interested in lifestyle product design, be familiar with basic graphic design programs and be comfortable in making print-ready artworks. Send your resume and portfolio with the subject line ‘Graphic Designer’ to  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

What: Clipped app for iPhone and Android + plug in, download on http://clipped.me, free.
Why: This new app + plug in by US based child genius (don’t you just hate them!) 15 year-old Tanay Tandon, uses an algorithm that can convert web pages and documents into bullet points. bpb found that while this works great on news stories, they haven’t quite figured out the key word system in feature stories yet. Still, it’s super useful for when you’re on the go with lots to read and little time to spare. Don’t believe us? See testimonials on Tanay’s website, including one from “that kid in my Spanish class”. Study hall of fame!
When: You want to byte the bullet.