Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

Babies require special care, and a blanket that provides warmth with protection is every parent's concern. While buying a blanket, one should look for soft, skin-friendly, breathable and lightweight material to ensure the baby's comfort. Available in different sizes, materials and designs, choosing the one that suits all your requirements is not easy. To ease your research, we have curated a list of the <keyword id="10074989" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="best-baby-blankets" source="Orion">best baby blankets</keyword> available on Amazon.<br /><br /><bulletContentEmbed name="B07NYZFYW3" columns="1"><bulletContentHeading name="B07NYZFYW3_head"><div type="image" title="Recommended" msid="88704291" hostid="261"></div></columnHeadThumb>B07NYZFYW3</columnHeadTitle></columnHead></bulletContentHeading><bulleteContentBody name="B07NYZFYW3_body"><bulletContentRow name="B07NYZFYW3_7358383675901749"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1">MY NEWBORN 3-in-1 Baby Blanket-Safety Bag-Sleeping Bag Towel</bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">Suitable for 0-6 months babies, this baby blanket from My Newborn Store is made from fleece fabric. Its modern style and soft material should make it a good option to consider. With its 3-in-1 functionality, it can be used as a baby wrapper and baby sleeping bag too.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow><bulletContentRow name="B07NYZFYW3_7708320219718589"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1"></bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">The soft touch should provide comfort for the babies.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow></bulleteContentBody></bulletContentEmbed><br /><br /><bulletContentEmbed name="B07C6DZKN7" columns="1"><bulletContentHeading name="B07C6DZKN7_head"><div type="image" title="Lightweight Material" msid="87983679" hostid="261"></div></columnHeadThumb>B07C6DZKN7</columnHeadTitle></columnHead></bulletContentHeading><bulleteContentBody name="B07C6DZKN7_body"><bulletContentRow name="B07C6DZKN7_8669464441992820"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1">BRANDONN Fleece Newborn All Season Ultra Soft Single Baby Blanket</bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">This baby blanket set from Brandonn has an ultra-soft touch. Its reversible design makes it suitable to be used from both sides. To ensure comfort, it has soft and fluffy material. The blanket is easy to wash in the machine and has an easy to dry tendency with its lightweight material.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow><bulletContentRow name="B07C6DZKN7_7009061571464627"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1"></bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">It is suitable to be used as a baby blanket, baby wrapper and baby sleeping bag.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow></bulleteContentBody></bulletContentEmbed><br /><br /><bulletContentEmbed name="B07ZB5ND28" columns="1"><bulletContentHeading name="B07ZB5ND28_head"><div type="image" title="Crown Print" msid="87983727" hostid="261"></div></columnHeadThumb>B07ZB5ND28</columnHeadTitle></columnHead></bulletContentHeading><bulleteContentBody name="B07ZB5ND28_body"><bulletContentRow name="B07ZB5ND28_4038732514460515"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1">SYGA Baby Swaddle Blanket</bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">This yellow crown printed baby blanket from Syga claims to be made from 6-layers of cotton material. The soft, breathable and fluffy material should keep the baby in comfort. It is suitable to be washed from hands only. The blanket weighs 440 grams only.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow><bulletContentRow name="B07ZB5ND28_3790358499393948"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1"></bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">It is easy to maintain from hand washing only.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow></bulleteContentBody></bulletContentEmbed><br /><br /><bulletContentEmbed name="B08SQK9ZG6" columns="1"><bulletContentHeading name="B08SQK9ZG6_head"><div type="image" title="Soft Material" msid="87983801" hostid="261"></div></columnHeadThumb>B08SQK9ZG6</columnHeadTitle></columnHead></bulletContentHeading><bulleteContentBody name="B08SQK9ZG6_body"><bulletContentRow name="B08SQK9ZG6_5132708686582346"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1">BSB HOME Plain Double Layer Blanket for Born Baby</bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">Made from super soft flannel material, this baby blanket from BSB Home is a double layer blanket. Its soft plush touch and lightweight design should make it comfortable to use. The soft fabric used makes the blanket warm, durable, lightweight, safe and breathable. It can be considered a good gifting option.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow><bulletContentRow name="B08SQK9ZG6_1104889277641427"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1"></bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">They are easy to clean and have quick drying.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow></bulleteContentBody></bulletContentEmbed><br /><br /><bulletContentEmbed name="B08L234XBP" columns="1"><bulletContentHeading name="B08L234XBP_head"><div type="image" title="Multifunctional Design" msid="87983836" hostid="261"></div></columnHeadThumb>B08L234XBP</columnHeadTitle></columnHead></bulletContentHeading><bulleteContentBody name="B08L234XBP_body"><bulletContentRow name="B08L234XBP_4595188786518519"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1">Koochie-Koo Happy Time Cute Cartoon Print Reversible Baby Blanket</bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">Suitable to be used as a baby shawl, baby wrapper and baby wrapping sheet, this baby blanket from Koochie-Koo has a multifunctional design. Its cartoon print design and colour should attract the babies. Made from 100% polyester material, the blanket is soft, comfortable, smooth and skin-friendly. Also, it should be easy to carry with its lightweight. The blanket is easy to clean in the machine.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow><bulletContentRow name="B08L234XBP_2180524632315155"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1"></bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">The skin-friendly material should be safe for the baby's skin.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow></bulleteContentBody></bulletContentEmbed><br /><br /><bulletContentEmbed name="B081RHNHS8" columns="1"><bulletContentHeading name="B081RHNHS8_head"><div type="image" title="Breathable Fabric" msid="87983896" hostid="261"></div></columnHeadThumb>B081RHNHS8</columnHeadTitle></columnHead></bulletContentHeading><bulleteContentBody name="B081RHNHS8_body"><bulletContentRow name="B081RHNHS8_6557450020562288"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1">LuvLap Baby Blanket</bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">Made from 100% muslin cotton material, this baby blanket from LuvLap is soft and gentle. With a multi-functional design, it can be used as a baby burp cloth, baby blanket, nursing cover during travel, quilt and a wrapper. To ensure comfort and safety, it has a breathable fabric. This lightweight blanket has quick drying.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow><bulletContentRow name="B081RHNHS8_6018517033957659"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1"></bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">With 6-layers of thickness, it should provide warmth to the baby.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow></bulleteContentBody></bulletContentEmbed><br />

Best baby blankets for kids in India

Babies require special care, so choosing a blanket with soft, skin-friendly and comfortable fabric is essential. <keyword id="7217800" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="baby-blankets" source="Orion">Baby blankets</keyword> provide warmth, comfort and safety. Blankets with breathable and cosy fabric make them sleep and relax pleasantly. To help you choose the best baby blankets, we have compiled a list for you.<br /><br /><bulletContentEmbed name="B07P3CZ438" columns="1"><bulletContentHeading name="B07P3CZ438_head"><div type="image" title="3-in-1 Functionality" msid="86169340" hostid="261"></div></columnHeadThumb>B07P3CZ438</columnHeadTitle></columnHead></bulletContentHeading><bulleteContentBody name="B07P3CZ438_body"><bulletContentRow name="B07P3CZ438_0541069771272215"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1">My Newborn Baby Boys and Baby Girls 3-in-1 Baby Blanket, Wrapper, Sleeping Bag- Pack of 2</bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">Comfort your baby with this pack of two baby blankets from My Newborn. The blanket features 3-in-1 functionality, as it can be used as a blanket, wrapper and sleeping bag. The soft texture of the fleece fabric should provide warmth and comfort to the baby. It is suitable for hand wash and machine wash only.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow><bulletContentRow name="B07P3CZ438_8477665649573458"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1"></bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">The blanket provides 3-in-1 functionality.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow></bulleteContentBody></bulletContentEmbed><br /><br /><bulletContentEmbed name="B075ZBR5K4" columns="1"><bulletContentHeading name="B075ZBR5K4_head"><div type="image" title="Lightweight" msid="86169373" hostid="261"></div></columnHeadThumb>B075ZBR5K4</columnHeadTitle></columnHead></bulletContentHeading><bulleteContentBody name="B075ZBR5K4_body"><bulletContentRow name="B075ZBR5K4_5346828928089650"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1">Brandonn Fleece Single Wrapper Blanket, Single- Pack of 1</bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">This cute pink kitty baby blanket from Brandonn serves the purpose of a hooded wrapper cum baby blanket and bath towel. With its super soft and skin-friendly fabric, your baby stays in comfort with safety from the hood. Its foldable and lightweight design makes it convenient to carry.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow><bulletContentRow name="B075ZBR5K4_4744910872840792"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1"></bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">Its skin-friendly fabric ensures to keep your baby comfortable.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow></bulleteContentBody></bulletContentEmbed><br /><br /><bulletContentEmbed name="B0914W6TZ7" columns="1"><bulletContentHeading name="B0914W6TZ7_head">  <div type="image" title="Skin-friendly" msid="86169387" hostid="261"></div></columnHeadThumb>B0914W6TZ7</columnHeadTitle></columnHead></bulletContentHeading><bulleteContentBody name="B0914W6TZ7_body"><bulletContentRow name="B0914W6TZ7_5131292637151377"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1">First Kick New Born Baby Blanket Pack of Super Soft Baby Wrapper Cum Baby Blanket for Baby</bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">Give your baby the feeling of luxury and comfort with this baby blanket from First Kick. It claims to be made from high-quality microfleece material to ensure no discomfort for the baby. The dimension of 80x80 cm makes it suitable for babies up to 6 months. Its skin-friendly, lightweight, soft and fluffy material keeps it gentle to the baby's skin. Apart from a baby blanket, it can also be used for wrapping, bedding, crib wear and bath towel.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow><bulletContentRow name="B0914W6TZ7_7936278600098199"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1"></bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">Its fluffy and soft material prevents irritation to the skin.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow></bulleteContentBody></bulletContentEmbed><br /><br /><bulletContentEmbed name="B0837W34GD" columns="1"><bulletContentHeading name="B0837W34GD_head"><div type="image" title="Multipurpose Functionality" msid="86169407" hostid="261"></div></columnHeadThumb>B0837W34GD</columnHeadTitle></columnHead></bulletContentHeading><bulleteContentBody name="B0837W34GD_body"><bulletContentRow name="B0837W34GD_5568220996589570"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1">LuvLap Baby  Wrapper cum Soft Reversible Blanket</bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">This baby blanket from LuvLap comes in a cute attractive print of blue sky dino. It offers multipurpose functionality to be used as a blanket and baby wrapper. With its lightweight fabric, it becomes easy to carry. To provide warmth and comfort, LuvLap comes with soft and comfortable fabric. Also, the blanket is suitable for dry and machine wash.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow><bulletContentRow name="B0837W34GD_3901671282054558"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1"></bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">It can be used as a blanket as well as a baby wrapper.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow></bulleteContentBody></bulletContentEmbed><br /><br /><bulletContentEmbed name="B08FMH6TBH" columns="1"><bulletContentHeading name="B08FMH6TBH_head"><div type="image" title="Attached Hood" msid="86169463" hostid="261"></div></columnHeadThumb>B08FMH6TBH</columnHeadTitle></columnHead></bulletContentHeading><bulleteContentBody name="B08FMH6TBH_body"><bulletContentRow name="B08FMH6TBH_9386483799387131"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1">First Trend 3-in-1 Ultra Soft Blanket Cum Swaddle &amp; Safety Wrap</bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">Swaddle your baby in this baby blanket from First Trend. It is suitable to be used as a baby wrapper and sleeping bag too. Ideal for babies up to 6 months, it has a soft flannel material. To keep the baby safe and provide warmth, it comes with an attached hood.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow><bulletContentRow name="B08FMH6TBH_4652746228559026"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1"></bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">It offers multipurpose functionality with safety.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow></bulleteContentBody></bulletContentEmbed><br />

Best blankets for babies in India

When there’s a baby in the house, you want everything from the feeding bottles to the blanket to be perfect. It is vital that the blanket being used is soft, clean and of premium quality so that the baby’s delicate skin is not harmed in any way. To help you choose, we have compiled a list of some of the best quality <keyword id="7217800" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="baby-blankets">baby blankets</keyword>. <br /><br /><br /><bulletContentEmbed name="B07HY5MS72" columns="1"><bulletContentHeading name="B07HY5MS72_head">        <div type="image" title="Great Choice" msid="78557737" hostid="261"></div></columnHeadThumb>B07HY5MS72</columnHeadTitle></columnHead></bulletContentHeading><bulleteContentBody name="B07HY5MS72_body"><bulletContentRow name="B07HY5MS72_0565287099526045"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1">Motherly Baby Blankets</bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">This brand probably has the cutest baby blankets in the market. With one print more adorable than the next, it is sure to make your baby look even more charming when wrapped in a blanket. The prints include giraffes, Peppa Pig, Bambi and monkeys among others. It is soft, compact and luxurious, and is ideal while stepping out of the house with the baby.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow><bulletContentRow name="B07HY5MS72_5880500597775954"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1"></bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">100% muslin cotton, breathable and comfortable.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow></bulleteContentBody></bulletContentEmbed><br /><br /><bulletContentEmbed name="B07RSR1JZS" columns="1"><bulletContentHeading name="B07RSR1JZS_head">        <div type="image" title="Best Buy" msid="78557762" hostid="261"></div></columnHeadThumb>B07RSR1JZS</columnHeadTitle></columnHead></bulletContentHeading><bulleteContentBody name="B07RSR1JZS_body"><bulletContentRow name="B07RSR1JZS_6283646514367443"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1">Daily Home Essentials Baby Blankets</bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">A multi-use swaddle blanket that is lightweight and absorbent, it is ideal for the pram, car seat and cradle. It keeps the baby warm and cosy in all seasons. This chemical-free blanket is made from the highest-quality materials and only gets softer with every wash. Also, the colour doesn’t run, and they dry extremely quickly.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow><bulletContentRow name="B07RSR1JZS_2250982275707660"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1"></bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">Thermal, lasting and porous fabric makes it well-suited for babies.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow></bulleteContentBody></bulletContentEmbed><br /><br /><bulletContentEmbed name="B07X7GZNDK" columns="1"><bulletContentHeading name="B07X7GZNDK_head">        <div type="image" title="Recommended" msid="78557787" hostid="261"></div></columnHeadThumb>B07X7GZNDK</columnHeadTitle></columnHead></bulletContentHeading><bulleteContentBody name="B07X7GZNDK_body"><bulletContentRow name="B07X7GZNDK_2368384333666022"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1">Homescape Baby Blanket</bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">This Homescape velvet blanket for babies is so soft that it can be used in summers and winters. It is a multi-purpose blanket that can work as a swaddle cloth, baby shawl or a comforter on which you can lay down the baby. Available in over five colours, this blanket is stylish, pretty and useful.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow><bulletContentRow name="B07X7GZNDK_5120320238060232"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1"></bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">Chic and colourful, this blanket is a good choice.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow></bulleteContentBody></bulletContentEmbed><br /><br /><bulletContentEmbed name="B07C6DZKN7" columns="1"><bulletContentHeading name="B07C6DZKN7_head">        <div type="image" title="Editor&amp;#39;s Pick" msid="78557830" hostid="261"></div></columnHeadThumb>B07C6DZKN7</columnHeadTitle></columnHead></bulletContentHeading><bulleteContentBody name="B07C6DZKN7_body"><bulletContentRow name="B07C6DZKN7_8403535345396934"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1">BRANDONN Baby Blanket</bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">The Brandonn set of 2 baby blankets makes for a great gift. This brand, that is soon gaining popularity among new parents, is doing everything right when it comes to baby products. Available in beige and grey, the towels have a beautiful star print and is soft on both sides. It is ideal for a new-born; lightweight, easy wash and cosy.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow><bulletContentRow name="B07C6DZKN7_3883626192754256"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1"></bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">Excellent quality, beautiful and value for money</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow></bulleteContentBody></bulletContentEmbed><br /><br />

<ul><li><strong><keyword id="16053037" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="coezy-sleep" source="Orion">Coezy Sleep</keyword> sells relaxers with stretchable apparel that claim to help customers sleep better using a cocoon-like design.<br /></strong></li><li><strong>It claims to provide the same effect as swaddling a newborn baby.<br /></strong></li><li><strong>All judges refused to fund <keyword id="16059635" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="coezy" source="Orion">Coezy</keyword> Sleep, calling it ‘nonsense’ ‘unsafe’ and ‘unfit for <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>’ at present.</strong></li></ul>Among the many novel products and unique ventures that made it to <keyword id="11924074" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="shark-tank-india" source="Orion">Shark Tank India</keyword> Season 2 was Coezy Sleep. It’s a startup that sells a sleep apparel that swaddles its users with a unique 360-degree compression technique. The startup calls its product a sleep quality enhancer.<br /><br />Founded by Hardik <keyword id="6393018" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="rathore" source="Orion">Rathore</keyword>, Coezy Sleep claims that its stretchable apparel helps users ‘sleep like babies.’ Its relaxers, as they are called, have a cocoon-like design.<br /><br />  <div type="image" title="Coezy Sleep" msid="96983843" hostid="261" sizebytes="56720"></div><br />As per the founder, it’s a common custom to wrap a newborn baby in a cloth and rock it to sleep. The relaxer claims to do the same for adults. Made of stretchable material, the relaxer wraps around the body giving the feeling of a <em>jadoo ki jhappi </em>(magical hug), claims Rathore. <br /><br />However, the brand got no takers on Shark Tank India, despite the startup selling products worth ₹1.05 lakh in 20 days. The startup started selling its products a month before the episode was shot (August 2022). It was founded in late 2021. <br /><br /><strong>Globally, a $400 million industry <br /></strong><br />Rathore claimed that though the concept is well-known abroad, the benefits of compression therapy have not been explored in India yet. “Globally, this is a $400 million industry and the West has already started adapting to it,” he said. <br /><br />Rathore, a mechanical engineer, had earlier suffered from stress, anxiety and insomnia. On a tour to Istanbul, he was introduced to weighted blankets and compression sheets, which lulled him to sleep. This sparked in him an ambition to bring this product to India. Prior to starting Coezy, he worked for four years with Tata and Byju’s. <br /><br />“India is the second most sleep-deprived country. One out of four Indians face sleep issues and 14% suffer from extreme anxiety or depression because of it. We need pampering, a deep touch or <em>jadoo ki jhappi </em>(magical embrace),” Rathore, who hails from Bhilwara, said on Shark Tank India season 2. <br /><br /><strong>The demo that led to dismissal</strong><br /><br />At Shark Tank India, he asked for ₹35 lakh for 20% of equity in his company, valuing the company at ₹1.75 crore. <br /><br />“The equity you have offered makes me want to cry. Nobody gives us that high an equity on this show. Thank you brother, thank you,” Lenskart co-founder Peyush <keyword id="6442005" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="bansal" source="Orion">Bansal</keyword> said. <br /><br />Rathore gave a demo of the product to shark Anupam <keyword id="6367997" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="mittal" source="Orion">Mittal</keyword>, founder of Shaadi.com. He hopped around in the relaxer, describing how uncomfortable and suffocated he <keyword id="427351" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="felt" source="Orion">felt</keyword>. <br /><br />“The product is horrible. While I was trying the product, the compression for me felt suffocating. Felt like I was dying,” Mittal said. <br /><br />“What if you want to pee?” Mittal asked Rathore. The founder explained one can lift up the relaxer. But if users want to stay for a long time on the toilet, they have to remove the whole thing. <br /><br />Mittal also had fun trying the product out. “I will come for sure but I will not come to bed with you,” he told Rathore who called his product a partner. “See I am married, so whatever partner you are talking about, let me know beforehand,” Mittal quipped. <br /><br />Bansal said, “What is this product? If I go to the washroom on a flight wearing this, people will start laughing at me.” Bansal and Namita Thapar, executive director of Emcure Pharmaceuticals, claimed that India is not ready for such a product yet. <br /><br />“This product’s fit and form factor will take time to shape in India. It is quite an early stage. That’s why I don’t think this is investable,” said Bansal. <br /><br />“I have seen these products in Walmart in the USA. These things are working there. The Indian market is not ready for this yet,” shark Namita Thapar said. <br /><br /><strong>‘Why swaddle adults?’</strong> <br /><br />Mittal also refused to fund the startup. “I think this is <em>vahiyad</em> (nonsense). If this is true, why would babies come out of a womb then? We swaddle babies to help them easily transition from the womb to the real world. If you want to transition into adulthood, you have to leave these things behind,” he said. <br /><br />Mittal added that he was confused about the logo of the company, which hinted more towards pregnancy rather than depicting a sleep company. <br /><br />Aman Gupta, co-founder of boAt, backed out, and asked the founder to “understand the consumer, shut shop and do something else”. <br /><br />Judge <keyword id="246967" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="vineeta-singh" source="Orion">Vineeta Singh</keyword>, co-founder of Sugar Cosmetics, denied funding on the grounds that the relaxer is unsafe, as someone might trip or fall, not realising their legs are tied up, while using the product. <br /><br />SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/statiq-to-set-up-20000-ev-charging-points-in-india-in-fy23/articleshow/96983567.cms">Statiq to set up 20,000 EV charging points in India in FY23</a><br /><a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/jp-morgans-anu-aiyengar-the-only-woman-to-lead-ma-at-a-major-wall-street-bank/slidelist/96963255.cms">JP Morgan’s Anu Aiyengar – The only woman to lead M&amp;A at a major Wall Street bank</a>

Shark Tank S2 judges refuse to 'get in bed' with this wearable sleep relaxer biz

Praising the <keyword id="905742" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi-led-government">Narendra Modi-led government</keyword> for its prompt rescue operations in <keyword id="12266" type="COUNTRY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Nepal">Nepal</keyword> and parts of India struck by a massive <keyword id="6362774" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="earthquake">earthquake</keyword>, <keyword id="46431" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="India-Inc">India Inc</keyword> has pledged support in relief and rehabilitation work. The death toll has already crossed 2,000 while thousands have been injured. <br />
<br /> "Exemplary work by the government and our armed forces in prompt and purposeful action towards aid of the victims of Nepal earthquake. In times of a tragedy of such gargantuan proportions, India Inc has always partnered with the government and relief agencies both during and after the crisis. Till the requirements of rehabilitation are established, I urge all Indians to contribute directly to the <keyword id="49687" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="PM-relief-fund">PM Relief Fund</keyword>. At this hour, prayers of a billion Indians are with the people of Nepal," Harsh Goenka, chairman, <keyword id="33244" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="RPG-Enterprises">RPG Enterprises</keyword>, told TOI. <br />
<br /> His brother <keyword id="6355523" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Sanjiv-Goenka">Sanjiv Goenka</keyword>, chairman of <keyword id="724092" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="RP-Sanjiv-Goenka-Group">RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group</keyword>, is chairing a National Task Force that will oversee industry mobilization and participation in the relief operations. <br />
<br /> <keyword id="46425" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Anand-Mahindra">Anand Mahindra</keyword>, chairman of <keyword id="6355744" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Mahindra-Group">Mahindra Group</keyword>, who has experience of disaster relief in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina and Haiti after hurricane Sandy, is determined to act and serve the community in Nepal and in India. "Our experience has shown that at this stage the best way we can help is by pressing vehicles and tractors into relief operations to help in search and rescue and in transporting both the injured to medical facilities and in carrying relief supplies to affected areas. In both Nepal and India, we intend to undertake these activities right away and our branches and dealers in Nepal and in Bihar and other affected Indian districts will make both vehicles and tractors available to authorities and relief agencies. <br />
<br />
"In the second phase, when longer term rehabilitation becomes the focus, we will evaluate the quantum and modality of monetary contributions," Mahindra told TOI. <br />
<br /> <keyword id="2825599" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Indiabulls-Foundation">Indiabulls Foundation</keyword> will be deploying both manpower and financial resources over the next few days to provide healthcare, essential commodities, food and clothes. "We are working out the logistics and will ensure presence in affected areas of Nepal over the next 2-3 days. We had taken a similar lead during the Jammu floods a few months back," said Gagan Banga, VC and MD, Indiabulls Group. <br />
<br /> India Inc since independence has played a major role in helping people during calamities, said <keyword id="75979" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Videocon-Industries">Videocon Industries</keyword> chairman <keyword id="7025" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Venugopal-Dhoot">Venugopal Dhoot</keyword>. "That's our culture. So we at Videocon will provide financial help for rehabilitation in Nepal Dhoot told TOI. He also praised the <keyword id="71" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Prime-Minister">Prime Minister</keyword>'s prompt action to help Nepal. <br /> Industry bodies <keyword id="6358345" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="CII">CII</keyword> and <keyword id="6355001" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="FICCI">FICCI</keyword> have also swung into action. "CII has already started working towards mobilizing support from the industry towards immediate relief operations in Nepal. We are in touch with the ministry of external affairs, the Indian embassy in Kathmandu and also Nepalese consulate in Kolkata. We are arranging relief material — ready-to-eat food, water, biscuits, medicine, blankets — which would be transported through the neighbouring states of Bihar and Bengal," said CII director general <keyword id="6560611" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Chandrajit-Banerjee">Chandrajit Banerjee</keyword>. <br />
<br /> FICCI too has joined hands with the Indian government for relief and rehabilitation work in Nepal, said Didar Singh, secretary general, FICCI. Industry body's president, <keyword id="2659015" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Jyotsana-Suri">Jyotsana Suri</keyword>, has committed to provide water and about 5,000 bottles are being arranged to be dispatched. "More than 2,000 tents, blankets, baby food, and OTC drugs are also being supplied by our members, which will be dispatched to the disaster site in coordination with the ," Singh said. <br />
<br /> <keyword id="101435" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Bajaj-Group">Bajaj Group</keyword> chairman <keyword id="33278" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Rahul-Bajaj">Rahul Bajaj</keyword> also praised the government's quake relief operations. "We have been at the forefront when it comes to helping during natural calamities like this. I have been very much impressed with the Indian government's instant response to undertake relief measures. This time also we will help as we did in the past. Being a corporate house, we can support financially. Our heart goes out to those affected," Bajaj told TOI. <br />
<br />
<br />

Nepal Earthquake: Super impressed with rescue ops, India Inc praises Modi and pledges full support

A complete timeline of Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra's relationship

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Master model builders construct the massive <a href="https://www.insider.com/category/lego">Lego</a> structures, like the ones replicating American cities, at <keyword id="1240696" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Legoland">Legoland</keyword>.</li><li>A baby wrangler is hired by <a href="https://www.insider.com/category/movies">movie</a> productions to make babies cry onscreen.</li><li>Marble harvesters extract 4 million tons of marble per year from the famous quarries in Carrara, Italy.</li></ul><p><em><strong>Following is a transcript of the <keyword id="21654" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="video">video</keyword>: </strong></em></p><p>From people who harvest giant blocks of marble to master <keyword id="6380548" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="lego">Lego</keyword> builders, to people who can make babies cry in <keyword id="406" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Movies">movies</keyword>, there are a lot of fascinating and unexpected jobs out there. But just because you haven't heard of them doesn't mean you haven't seen their work on the big screen, on your plate, or in your blankets. Here are 21 jobs you probably never knew existed.</p><p>This cinder-block was made to be broken. And it was created by NewRuleFX's Ryan Johnson, who specializes in breakaway movie props. His most frequently requested props are these glass bottles. They're made with a thin resin plastic that looks exactly like the real thing, but an actor can break one over their head on camera without getting injured. Some other props include chairs and bricks that can fall apart with just a little pressure and glass shards that are actually made from rubber. Breakable windows are made by gluing together multiple panes of glass. So while the shards are real, they won't hurt the actor as long as they punch straight through the pane.</p><p>To be a great bonsai artist, one needs to dwarf real trees, and then master bending and twisting trees into intricate and artful shapes. But there's one trait a bonsai tree artist like Chiako Yamamoto needs to master, patience. It takes three years for a transplant to create new roots and five years for the tree to adapt to any of Yamamoto's changes. According to Yamamoto, this small bonsai took 15 years to finish. And this one here took 25 years to look like this. And while this is an art form, these are living things, so they constantly change and respond to light and water. It's no wonder that one can sell for around a hundred million yen or just under a million dollars.</p><p>Matt Slagle is one of the master model builders behind these massive Lego replicas of major cities. Here's New York, San Francisco, and Las Vegas. The builders used 10 million blocks on Miniland USA, with New York alone using three million. And everything there from a car to the Statue of Liberty, had to be built exactly on a one-to-20 scale of its real life counterpart. And master model builders have to get every tiny detail right, like you can see here in each of San Francisco's Painted Ladies. Their crowning achievement? The One World Trade Center replica. At 26 feet tall, it stands as the tallest Lego model in the U S.</p><p>More marble has come from the quarries in Carrara, Italy, than anywhere else on earth. The quarries produce four million tons per year, and it takes 13,000 people to harvest and extract all that material, including 600 truck drivers who make their way up dangerous roads every single day. To remove the marble, quarriers have to carefully drill three holes in a slab, creating one vertical line and two horizontal lines. These meet in one central strategic spot. They then carve it out using a five-millimeter diamond wire until the marble is fully removed from the mountain. More wires or a chainsaw can then cut these marble blocks down even more.</p><p>Real truffles are only found underground by a truffle hunter like James Fever. First Fever's dog has to sniff out the truffles' location. Then Fever has to dig each one out by hand. He also needs to sniff it to make sure it's even ripe after picking it. And even if he does get a good one, it can go bad after just five days, so they need to be sold quickly. However, a truffle can reap big rewards. An 80-gram truffle can net you $90, while the world's largest white truffle sold for $61,000 in 2014.</p><p>Elaine Hall is what is known in Hollywood as a baby wrangler. Her job is to make sure that child actors are safe on set and that they give the best performance possible. Hollywood has specific time limits for how long young stars can work, so Hall makes sure her stars nail their takes as quickly as possible. When working on "Akeelah and the Bee," she was able to get a baby to hysterically cry on command simply by fake crying herself.</p><p>The Greenland shark is the most toxic shark in the world, but in <keyword id="55091" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Iceland">Iceland</keyword>, Gurjon Hildibrandsson and his family have been making and selling fermented meat from it for generations. It's a laborious six month process to make these sharks edible. The meat is first fermented in cold storage rooms for six to nine weeks. Then it needs to be hung outside for six months to dry out while still retaining the correct texture.</p><p>While certain food items you see on screen might be fake, a lot of food and movie scenes is real. And for those occasions, productions hire a food stylist like Zoe Hegedus. Her job is to make sure all the food on camera is both appealing to the cameras and edible for the actors. Sometimes that even involves substituting real food with edible lookalike props. For example, when working on the film, "Midsommar," Hegedus had to make a Scandinavian dish topped with egg yolk. However, the real egg yolks wouldn't hold together on the long hot shoot days. So instead she concocted a sphere made of mango and orange juice that looked exactly like a real egg.</p><p>Before eiderdown fibers end up in high-end duvet covers, they first need to be harvested from ducks. Farmers start by collecting every eider nest by hand. The job entails a lot of wandering because the nests are located far apart, and a harvester needs several nests, as each one yields just 15 grams of material. The harvesting process is both ethical and completely natural, and at the same time, incredibly difficult, but that's only a fraction of the work. Machines help the harvester sort through the nests, but unwanted objects like rocks, sticks, seaweed, and feathers need to be picked out by hand. Cleaning one kilo of it can take up to five additional hours.</p><p>Stephen Kutcher is known as The Bug Man of Hollywood, training bugs for the big screen. To get a spider to crawl across the floor and into a slipper in "Arachnophobia," he guided the spider to where it needed to go using invisible vibrating wires. In Spider-Man, Kutcher put a spider on a paintbrush, then tapped it once the spider was at the end to get it to drop down to an exact spot. And in "Exorcist II: The Heretic," he trained 3,000 locust to cling onto the wall of a cage by shining a heat emitting light at it, drawing them to the warmth.</p><p>Not all scissors are mass produced. Some are still handmade by master putter-togetherers at this factory in England and can cost anywhere between 100 and $315. Cliff Denton is one of just two remaining master putter-togetherers at the Ernest Wright factory. And it takes years of training to get to his level of craftsmanship. The final stage of scissor making alone can take five years of training. If you hit the wrong spot while hammering the blade, the entire pair of scissors will be ruined.</p><p>Sophia Bogle is a book conservationist whose daily job is to restore 120-year-old archival books. The process begins with deconstruction. Vogel removes the acidic old tape from the book cover. She also sands it and then cleans it with a repair knife. Then she washes the individual pages in hot water and restores them using Japanese tissue to fix any tear she finds. The rest of the process involves touching up the cover, embossing, and then gluing and pressing it all together. And the tiny details matter. If she uses the wrong type of black pen on the cover, she can damage it.</p><p>A lot of those sounds you hear in nature docs are actually fake since it's often too difficult to capture the real sounds in the field. So Foley artists like Richard Hinton have had to find creative ways to pair sounds with nature. Some of the sounds he has mastered are swimming schools of fish, lava, and even an orangutan eating.</p><p>Just one of these Kolinsky sable paint brushes can take a week and a half to make, with brush makers separating hundreds of strands of hair by hand. And it's the hair that makes these brushes remarkable. The brushes are made from the strong high-quality tail hairs of the Kolinsky sable in Siberia. Sandra Harris is one of only nine brush makers in the world who can make these Series 7 Kolinsky sable watercolor brushes. It can take three years of training to get to her level.</p><p>Fugu, or puffer fish, is a poisonous fish that's a delicacy in Japan. To properly prepare the fish and make it edible, chefs like Yutaka Hattori must carefully remove its toxic eyes, gills, liver, gallbladder, kidneys, and ovaries. The Japanese government tightly controls who can prep the fugu. Only a few select chefs are trained to make it edible, and they must take an extensive exam to legally serve the fish. One of the biggest challenges is that the poisonous parts vary by species and can be more difficult to identify in hybrid puffer fish.</p><p>Rogan art is created with a castor oil based paint combined with different colors. Before using it, it needs to be lit up. It's a dangerous process that only a few artists are skilled enough to handle, as it can catch fire at any time. During this process, Abdul Gafur Khatri swirls paint on his palm to create heat, and then uses a metal rod to create designs on fabric. This art form has been in the Khatri family in India for eight generations, and they are the last family still keeping it alive. These days, they find themselves competing with mass produced textiles. It's a completely freehand painting process, meaning the design can come out completely different than originally planned. This is one of the reasons it takes years to learn, and also what makes both this skill set and the craft itself so unique.</p><p>Filmmakers can't achieve the realistic look of their characters' weapons in close-ups if they resort to plastic blades. Enter blacksmith Tony Swatton, who has been forging weapons for movies and TV for over 30 years. He made the swords in "Pirates of the Caribbean" and the hook from "Hook." And Swatton can design weapons from all eras and cultures. Zoro's blade in "The Mask of Zorro" was created using two curved hunting swords from the 1500s that were cobbled together to look like the classic rapier.</p><p>Cheryl Eisen stages <keyword id="513494" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="luxury-apartments">luxury apartments</keyword> up for sale in New York. That means she makes them look stylish enough that people will actually want to buy them. Eisen selects her decor from a 60,000 square foot warehouse in Jersey City, full of custom furnishings, lighting, and artwork. She might choose an oversized print to make a room look bigger, or throw in some floor-to-ceiling drapes to make ceilings appear higher than they really are. A stager must have a good eye to nail the right aesthetic for the location and the prospective buyer. Staging an apartment shows the buyer how they can live in and furnish a space, which you wouldn't see in an empty apartment.</p><p>Your favorite video game characters might be created digitally, but somebody still needs to act out all of their motions. Enter Richard Dorton, a creature performer who specializes in all kinds of video game characters. His movements become the base of these characters thanks to motion capture. First Dorton's full body is scanned and his motions are captured by a computer in real time. These actions are then translated to the CG character in the game. And to make this all the more realistic, he has to get really physical, especially for particularly dramatic moments like this roar. The most commonly seized item at JFK International Airport is actually food, and it's an agricultural specialist's job to seize and destroy all of it. These agents are trained to prevent the spread of any pests or diseases that could harm US livestock or crops. So before dropping any fruits or vegetables in the grinder, agents like Ginger Perrone must cut open and inspect each piece for evidence of disease or pests. But Perrone gets a little help from some four-legged canine friends like Biscuit, who's trained to sniff out food in luggage. These dogs' sense of smell is so strong that they have an estimated 90% accuracy rate.</p>

21 jobs you probably never knew existed

New York, May 29 (IANS) Two days after Twitter inserted fact checks into US president Donald Trump's tweets, Trump hit back against social media platforms with an executive order on "preventing online censorship" and skewering Twitter for "political bias".<br /><br />Trump's actions seek to blunt Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act which generally protects internet companies from legal liability for user comments.<br /><br />Harvard Law School Professor Laurence Tribe called the Trump order a "big nothingburger".<br /><br /> <br /><br />Trump's offensive has come on the back of the feeblest of fact checks by Twitter which took the form of a hyperlink, in baby blue, that tagged onto exactly two of Trump's tweets and said "Get the facts about mail-in ballots".<br /><br />"Nothing the president or agencies like the FCC and FTC can legally do could successfully censor such private Internet comment, so the executive order (EO) that Trump has unfurled is a big nothingburger in terms of responding to what Twitter did to provoke Trump's outrage", Tribe tweeted.<br /><br />The executive order, which runs into more than 2,300 words, is centered around a single issue: That the digital public square should not "restrict" free speech. Trump, who leans on Twitter as his political megaphone, has long been critical of the world's most famous online platforms to emerge out of Silicon Valley.<br /><br />"Section 230 was not intended to allow a handful of companies to grow into titans controlling vital avenues for our national discourse under the guise of promoting open forums for debate, and then to provide those behemoths blanket immunity when they use their power to censor content and silence viewpoints that they dislike", reads an excerpt from the order.<br /><br />The Federal Communications Commission, in a statement, said it would assess its impact of the order and stressed that the First Amendment and Section 230 "remain the law of the land and control here."<br /><br />Speaking ahead of the signing, Trump tore into social media firms for "unchecked power to censor, restrict, edit, shape, hide, alter virtually any form of communication between private citizens or large public audiences."<br /><br />"There is no precedent in American history for so small a number of corporations to control so large a sphere of human interaction."<br /><br />"It is the policy of the United States that large online platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, as the critical means of promoting the free flow of speech and ideas today, should not restrict protected speech," says the order.<br /><br />"The Supreme Court has noted that social media sites, as the modern public square, "can provide perhaps the most powerful mechanisms available to a private citizen to make his or her voice heard."<br /><br />Predictably, people on all sides of the debate are digging in. "Social media has been allowed to operate unchecked for years while protected by federal law", Trump's 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale tweeted. "Silicon Valley giants now act as the arbiters of truth, censoring or labeling posts they disagree with, but they cannot be trusted to be honest and fair."<br /><br />Twitter and its CEO are no strangers to controversy. While Twitter is tagging Trump's tweets about mail-in ballots, it hasn't touched his tweets repeating a debunked conspiracy theory that a TV news anchor murdered an aide years ago.<br /><br />On a trip to India in late 2018, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey posed for a picture which had a placard reading "Smash Brahminical patriarchy." "I'm very sorry for this", the company's legal officer said later.<br /><br />Earlier this week, Dorsey wrote on Twitter, "We'll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally."<br /><br />"This does not make us an arbiter of truth," he clarified. "Our intention is to connect the dots of conflicting statements and show the information in dispute so people can judge for themselves."<br /><br />Twitter has banned all political ads since last November. Twitter and Facebook have both geared up to combat misinformation around the November 2020 US elections and are taking action against misleading political messages, a move they have long resisted.<br /><br />--IANS<br /><br />nik/pgh

Trump executive order escalates war on social media platforms (2nd Ld)

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Why do people from different cultures haggle and what are the best tricks? </li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXsQlHGuoWqukC9vz-uonrg">Collin Abroadcast</a>, who posts his <keyword id="11896038" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="shopping" source="Orion">shopping</keyword> exploits on YouTube, calls it "really rapid negotiation. Where you think on your feet."</li><li>"I wanna talk with them...I wanna have a certain vibe," <keyword id="11896628" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="travel" source="Orion">travel</keyword> blogger <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUJB5jUIJcucWe5dTpjvuvQ">Sassy Funke</a> says of bargain shopping in her native <keyword id="12217306" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="nigeria" source="Orion">Nigeria</keyword>.</li></ul><p>Funke Ogunkoya-Futi - aka<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUJB5jUIJcucWe5dTpjvuvQ"> Sassy Funke</a>, travel blogger, vlogger, and the author of the <em>Lagos Travel Guide -</em> was ambling through the alleys of Nigeria's Lekki Arts and Crafts Market early one morning last July, just before the rush of shoppers. Her goal: attain ready-made African clothing for her Canadian in-laws.</p><p>She browsed the closet-sized shops spilling out with jewelry and gems, furniture and tribal masks, woven baskets and wax print bags. Paintings stacked on paintings stacked on paintings. As she peeked into stores, shopkeepers called out, "Come, mama. I have it. I have what you're looking for."</p><p>She was comparing prices at multiple shops when she spotted a dress she loved. The shopkeeper asked for 2000 naira (about $4.87). Normally, no matter the price asked, Ogunkoya-Futi shoots shopkeepers a look of utter shock and then offers to pay something "ridiculous," she told me. If something is 100 naira, she offers 5.</p><p>But the dress was good quality; 2000 naira was already a great price. She offered 1000 naira.</p><p>Ogunkoya-Futi performed masterful schmoozing, talking the seller up and calling herself his daughter. She offered to make multiple purchases and refer him to her friends. Twenty minutes of back and forth later, she secured the deal.</p><p>Then, Ogunkoya-Futi asked him to throw in three headbands.</p><div type="image" title="A women displays a West African fabric with piles of other options behind her." height="2832" width="4256" msid="86664083" hostid="261"></div><p>"This'll cost you nothing to make," Ogunkoya-Futi said, holding the headbands aloft.</p><p>He gave them to her for free.</p><p>Ogunkoya-Futi beams when sharing the story with me during an interview over Zoom, claiming it was her best haggling experience because she and the shopkeeper sparked a connection, both had a pleasant experience, and she brought three friends back that week to support his shop. Ogunkoya-Futi had scored a great deal - and helped a kind businessman. </p><p>"I love the interaction," she told me. "I wanna talk with them. I wanna gist with them. I wanna have a certain vibe, and they enjoy that, they get that."</p><p>There's also the rush of adrenaline. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXsQlHGuoWqukC9vz-uonrg">Collin Abroadcast</a>, a YouTuber who gets millions of views when he posts his shopping exploits, defines haggling as "really rapid negotiation. Where you think on your feet. It's a game, and the more you play, the more you gain speed and learn to read people's body language."</p><h2><strong>A good deal between friends</strong></h2><p>I also love a good haggle. I haggled for my wife's engagement ring, and before our wedding, I haggled for catering, a DJ, and a photographer. Soon after, I haggled for our house, and when we started our family, I haggled for a minivan. </p><p>I honed my skills during my time living in Jerusalem for nine months in the mid-aughts when I was 27. I was interning at a Jewish-Arab equality NGO and making little money.</p><p>In <keyword id="6355882" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="israel" source="Orion">Israel</keyword>, haggling is hardcore. Sellers go from telling you that you look like a celebrity to cursing you out. I perfected the interest-indifference ratio, always walking out of a store with a salesperson trailing me, hollering deals. I would get into cabs, then immediately back out, if they didn't knock the price down. </p><div type="image" title="A man sits in a stall selling a variety of jewelry" height="3648" width="5472" msid="86664084" hostid="261"></div><p>My grandfather was a haggler. He escaped the antisemitism and pogroms of Poland for America in 1917 and desperately drove his roots into upstate New York's soil, peddling scrap metal, haggling over prices, and eventually saving enough to start a tailored suit shop/dry cleaners, which soon became a suit shop/paint store, and finally Deitcher's Wallpaper and Design Center in Cohoes, New York, established in 1926.</p><p>Born in 1937, my father was heir to the business. Over lunches at Smith's Tavern, he haggled deals with distributors, loading up on stock in exchange for a bigger discount. In return, customers asked for discounts, too, and if they purchased enough, of course he hooked them up.</p><p>When my father grew up it was easier for independent businesses to thrive. Store owners were from the community. Customers trusted them because they were neighbors and family. Clerks could make deals, usually cutting into their commission. Shop owners haggled with other shop owners who then haggled deals back. Supporting each other was supporting friends. </p><p>Today, the only things you can haggle for in the United States are cars, houses, fine jewelry, large appliances, home repairs, event services, and graphic novels at Comic Con. There's little hope for small businesses cutting deals with distributors when Walmart goes directly to manufacturers to demand the lowest wholesale rates.</p><div type="image" title="A pile of tugs outside a market stall." height="2678" width="4012" msid="86664085" hostid="261"></div><p>In the 80s, Deitcher's Wallpaper grew to the point that my father couldn't order wallpaper fast enough, so he bought a warehouse. In the 90s, he moved the family into his custom-built dream house: 5,600 square feet in Slingerlands, New York-the country-where we were one of a handful of Jewish families in the school district and barely knew our neighbors. Then the business faltered. For years, my father tried running new promotions, but the store bled money and most of his income was from investments. In the early aughts, he held a final sale, donated his stock to Habitat for Humanity, and became an appointment-only interior decorator.</p><p>Even my father shops on Amazon now.</p><h2><strong>"Never, never, take it personally. Never get angry."</strong></h2><p>But while America becomes less able to negotiate, people fiend to watch the art of haggling. Abroadcast, the haggling YouTuber, has 1.42 million followers on the platform. His comments sections are filled with fans peeping into a world they will never experience.</p><p>Born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Abroadcast started his channel making "typical travel Vlog type stuff," he told me via Zoom. "Here I am as a foreigner living in China." He had never haggled in his life before he visited the fake markets in Shanghai five years ago. He envisioned back-alley hustlers, but found a five-story mall in the middle of the city. He caught on immediately, bargaining over a pair of Nikes he knew were bootleg. He felt the rush of adrenaline. The connection with sellers.</p><p>His schtick became hopping from country to country-India, Morocco, Kenya, 20 countries overall-rocking two days of stubble, a t-shirt or a hoodie, and a backpack. His videos run 20 minutes to over an hour, with scene after scene of him haggling and chatting with sellers. Sometimes the haggles get tense, frustration sparking between both the seller and Abroadcast. To some viewers, I'm sure he can come off as a white American trying to acquire goods for peanuts, but often you see him taking his time to learn about a seller's art and family. He can be genuine, both calling out fake goods and complimenting what he likes.</p><p>"I know straight off the bat, especially me being a foreigner in these markets, they expect me to have money because I'm on vacation," he said. "So obviously, they're going to take their chance and try to overcharge me."</p><p>His favorite story, he told me, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgvfKvl7zWA">took place in Beijing's Silk Market</a>, a massive modern mall known as a destination for buying knock-offs.</p><p>In a shop lined with shoes, a seller rejected his offer of 200 yuan (about $32) for a pair of Jordans. He told her, "I'm good, I'm good," and headed for the exit. The seller reeled him back in, reminding him he was being unreasonable because she was selling him Jordans, "not lady shoes, not baby shoes, not socks." She fed him tons of snark, which he met with laughter. She finally lowered her price to 250 because he was "very handsome," but he left empty handed, holding firm at his offer of 200.</p><p>"My best haggling situation isn't where I get the best price, it's where I have the most fun. And the seller has the most fun as well," he said. "Those are always the best times because it's like, 'Alright, let's put my skills to the test.' The worst ones are when the sellers don't really care to sell to you."</p><p>"Never, never, take it personally. Never get angry," Abroadcast said. "As humans, we all want the same thing. Everybody just wants to have good health. They want to be loved and be able to support their family at the end of the day."</p><h2><strong>"Just pay the dollar and go"</strong></h2><p>My mom-in-law, who grew up in Jamaica in the '60s, didn't feel a connection with the buyers she haggled with. She did it because that's how her family got by.</p><p>Once a week, she, her mom, and her sisters went shopping in the bend-down markets of Saint Elizabeth, a parish in the south of Jamaica, known for having the reddest dirt and the Appleton rum estate. Sellers spread their goods on blankets, and often, my mom-in-law and her family came with their own crop to sell-thyme, scallions, and coffee beans from their farm-while their mom used profits to haggle for soup meat, liver, and kidney.</p><p>Many of my mom-in-law's family members loved chatting with buyers, but she hated it. "It kind of made me feel a little…" her voice trailed off while she told me about it from across the kitchen table. She remembered feeling ashamed as she watched school friends wandering by, purchasing things, while she fought over small sums of money. "You know how children are. They would say, 'hey, I saw her in the market selling.' It was down-grading."</p><p>Once her secondary school finished, she left the farm and eventually made her way to America, where she attained her dream job at New York City's Waldorf Astoria, a stark contrast to the markets. To this day, she is one of the worst hagglers I've seen. "She gets embarrassed. Has too much pride," my wife told me. "She worries haggling makes her seem less-than."</p><div type="image" title="A woman stands near a stall selling handmade baskets." height="2440" width="3719" msid="86664087" hostid="261"></div><p>"I can't do it," my mom-in-law said, stirring her tea. "If they say this thing is for a dollar, I just pay the dollar and go. It's up to them and their conscience. I don't lose."</p><p>She loves chatting with the sales people, whether it be in Macy's or a market in Ocho Rios. She will even leave sellers tips. "I remember my days when I didn't have it," she said. "I know how it's hard."</p><h2><strong>"You don't leave money on the table."</strong></h2><p>Last February, my wife and I took my mom-in-law and my son to visit Jerusalem, and we strolled through the shuk, my mom-in-law paying what she pleased while I went to work.</p><p>I was in my element.</p><p>Roni Peled, senior tour guide and Director of Guide Activities at the Israel Museum, told me that since the Crusades, the streets of Jerusalem's Old City have been named for different goods and services. "If I open a shop of spices, right away, on my right side and my left side, there would be open another shop of spices," he said. The Ottoman Empire divided the wide, slippery limestone streets into alleys, a half or quarter their original size, creating the maze of vibrant markets of today. Growing up refugees in the 50s, Peled's family couldn't afford plays and movies, so going to the markets was how they entertained themselves. Everyone met in the markets.</p><p>Arabs shopped from Jewish shops and Jews frequented Arab shops, but Peled worries the bonds created in Jerusalem's markets are becoming a thing of the past. In 2008, right before I left Jerusalem, the Mamilla Mall opened, just outside the Old City, leading to Jaffa Gate. It's a massive open-air shopping center featuring haggle-free high-end international chain stores built around and into historical buildings. I enjoy shopping there the same way I love my local mall, but the experience feels very impersonal.</p><p>Haggling is changing in Nigeria, too, at least for more financially comfortable Nigerians in cities like Lagos.</p><p>Back when Ogunkoya-Futi was growing up in the 90s, going to a proper grocery store was a trip, but it's becoming more the norm. "They're becoming formal entities," she told me, "with a PNL, with projections." Nigerians can get most anything delivered through Jumia, known as the Amazon of Africa. There are hundreds of dispatch services-delivering food, clothing, and TVs.</p><p>She sees merchants struggling and understands why many Nigerian businesses are becoming more formal. "I can take a random vendor in the market that people haggle with on a day-to-day basis. He sells his products one day for 15. The next day, 100. The fundamental issue is that he can't plan. The fundamental issue is that he has constant bills that are fixed or even growing that he might not be able to live up to." Yet because other vendors are haggling, he can't afford to stop.</p><p>"I love the haggling culture," Ogunkoya-Futi said. "But I think it's unpredictability of revenue is a big issue in the market." It's one of the reasons, she told me, many Nigerians are dependent on diaspora money to survive.</p><p>Stelios Michalopoulos, an economics professor at Brown University, tells me that societies where haggling is a big part of commercial interactions often share a way of valuing time. "If time is expensive, then you would not do it," he said. "When labor cost is low, then your time is cheap."</p><div type="image" title="A customer hands over money to sellers at a flea market." height="2396" width="3500" msid="86664088" hostid="261"></div><p>It's also more common where a higher value is placed on social interactions, there is a joy in haggling. "Both the buyer and the seller want the other to be happy," so they can "invite for further interactions," Michalopoulos said. Of course, that makes less sense when it comes to tourists, who are unlikely to return consistently.</p><p>He told me that he believes haggling and formalized trade systems can work together. He used donation-based alumni organizations as a parallel example. Donors set the value of being involved with organizations-giving $50 or $100 or whatever they want based on their interest-and the organizations run fine.</p><p>He called haggling "the optimal way to sell" because the buyer pays "according to his marginal willingness to pay, which will be higher than the cost to the supplier." The possibility for price differentiation leaves no unexploited opportunities for trade.</p><p>"If you have one single price economy," he said, and something costs the seller $8 and the market price goes for $10, "there are actually trades that could have taken place at eight-and-a-half bucks, nine bucks, nine-and-a-half bucks."</p><p>"The single price law kills those possibilities," he said.</p><p>If a buyer is willing to pay anything above the seller's cost, "You don't lose. You don't leave money on the table."</p><p>Today, Ogunkoya-Futi travels the world, documenting her journey to over 35 countries, but she often finds herself haggling with favorite food sellers back home over 10 naira (about $.024).</p><p>And she says bringing the haggling mentality into other aspects of your life "can open doors that you don't even know." It's about ingenuity. "Don't be discouraged by the hard print," she said. If a job says you need to apply by the first of the month but it's the second, "find the right person in that company. They'll put your application through." If a job can't meet your salary demands, ask if they can bundle it with other benefits, stock options, or travel credits. "Don't be so fixed on one point, look for other creative ways to make a deal better for you."</p><p>"If you're personable," Ogunkoya-Futi said, "you just never know."</p>

I spent 13 years studying the fine art of haggling: here is what I learned

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Wynd</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Raymond Wu stepped off the plane in Beijing, China, after his first semester of college in the US and entered a thick cloud of fog. At least, he thought it was fog. It smelled "<a href="https://medium.com/@raymondwu/why-i-founded-wynd-an-air-quality-startup-a65e88847f22#.yvth8zi8i">faintly of car exhaust and scorched metal</a>," and blanketed the vehicles in the parking lot with dust.</p><p>It turned out to be pollution. And the crisis stretched far beyond China's walls.</p><p>The experience later inspired Wu to quit his job as a tech investor and invent a <a href="http://hellowynd.com/">personal air purifier</a> that would provide users with a "bubble" of clean air whever they go.</p><p>The Wynd, which <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/882633450/wynd-the-smartest-air-purifier-for-your-personal-s">launched on Kickstarter</a> on June 2, looks like a thermos made by Apple (it was actually<span> designed by Mike Nuttall, a cofounder of global design consultancy IDEO)</span>. Its sleek white body is covered in pockmarks that absorb ambient air.</p><p>Inside the device, a medical-grade air filter captures particulates (airborne matter that includes <span>allergens, germs, and industrial pollution) above a certain weight</span>. The purified air is diffused through the device's top, delivering a jetstream of pollutant-free air.</p><p>Wynd works best when set up in a small, enclosed space. The company claims it c<span>leans over 70% of particles in a car cabin in under 10 minutes. If you w</span><span>ant to keep baby breathing easy as you run errands together downtown, the company sells a clip for the Wynd so it can attach to the inside of a stroller.</span></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Wynd</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Wynd's engineering lead, Eric Munoz, is a former aerospace engineer. His experience crafting jet and rocket turbine blades helped him to build the fan components that make Wynd relatively quiet yet powerful.</p><p>An enclave of clean air that surrounds you and fuels you through the day sounds pretty neat. But the system isn't without its faults.</p><p>The device sits on a kickstand angled at your face, directing the stream of purified air. On a low setting, it makes about as much noise as a small desk fan.</p><p>I can't imagine bringing it to work and setting it on a conference room table. It would invite so many questions, I think it'd find a new home in my desk drawer after a few days.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Wynd</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Still, for people who suffer from extreme allergies or travel to countries such as India and China, where the air pollution crisis <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-35351597">presents serious health risks</a>, a Wynd for the cost of $189 (or $139 through the end of the Kickstarter campaign) might be worth it.</p><p>Employees at Apple and Google are currently testing the device on business trips to China, according to Wu.</p><p><span>There is little data on how Wynd's effectiveness compares to competitor purifiers. However, the company claims the sensor in the device, which detects when it's time to turn on, <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/882633450/wynd-the-smartest-air-purifier-for-your-personal-s/description">is as accurate</a> as the high-end, professional-grade air quality monitor <span>TSI DustTrak, which retails for around $5,000 and is as large as a handheld vacuum.</span></span></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Wynd</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The Wynd has a battery life of eight hours, or a typical workday. </p><p>Filters last three to six months depending on the severity of the pollution in your personal space. Because the device is Bluetooth-connected, your phone will alert you when it's time to order a replacement filter, which cost $7 each.</p><p>While the Wynd sounds like an expensive gizmo with limitations, Wu hopes the device will become as ubiquitous as Brita filters for clean water.</p><p>"Clean air is something everyone should aspire for," he tells Tech Insider.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-best-hidden-features-2016-5">These hidden features will make your iPhone so much better</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="xrMGNpMDE6CKt8yh4WEuOI2f6YOymI7R" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

This portable air filter is like a Brita for your personal space

<ul><li>While the ad industry has a lot of womentoday, many drop out by the time they reach mid-management levels, primarily due to the lack of flexible hours, or the flexibility to work from home.</li><li>The women leaders we spoke to believe organizations need to prioritize training more women, to prepare them for leadership roles, and this should be a part of the company’s culture.</li><li>There is also a need to relook at the way employee’s performances are evaluated, coming up with newer ways of assessing talent in a time where the way of doing business has seen a complete overhaul.</li></ul><br />In late 2019, a report by Credit Suisse stated that women’s representation in boardrooms in India increased only by 4.3% between 2014 and 2019. The report further stated that the current female representation on boards is only 15.2% which invariably led to dialogues around the conspicuous lack of women leaders in the upper rungs of the corporate world.<br /><br />Having said that, the world of advertising, marketing and media is one industry that has seen a lot of women in roles of leadership. While we are still far from an equal man-woman ratio in the industry, it is heartening to see more and more women take the top spots. <br /><br />Conversations with most women leaders from the industry led us to believe that this is an industry that welcomes women to be a part of the workforce. However, it is during their mid-career levels that a lot of women drop out of the workforce, leading to a dip in women who take up higher positions.<br /><br />We reached out to some of the most influential women in the industry currently, to gauge what are the reasons for these drop-outs, and what needs to be done, as an industry as well at individual organizational levels, to ensure that women are retained, and even if they drop-out, are encouraged to rejoin the workforce.<br /><br />We received an overwhelming response to our queries from across the sector from women who made some really compelling points. These women who feel passionately about the subject laid their hearts bare, telling us ways they think the industry can evolve, to become more inclusive.<br /><br />Here are some of the most prominent voices.<br /><br /><strong>Building a culture of inclusivity</strong><br /><br />It is often noticed that while a lot of women are joining the workforce, many of them take the decision of quitting once they decide to get married or decide to have children. Many find it difficult to come back, due to the lack of flexible working hours at their workplaces, or even due to a certain amount of judgment where people look at them a little differently after they come back from a long break.<br /><br />Most of the women leaders we spoke to believe that the work culture needs to evolve a little, to make way for such women, giving them the flexibility that many of them need, once they start a family.<br /><br /><keyword id="4356726" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="srija-chatterjee">Srija Chatterjee</keyword>, Managing Director, Publicis Worldwide, India shared that while a few corporates have started giving some assistance to women, the ad industry hasn’t yet started doing that actively. “As an industry, we have woken up to women leaders and we are trying to make things happen for women, to make sure that they don't jump off from the workforce. However, there's still a long way to go. The biggest reason women stop working is when they get into that life stage of having children. A lot of corporates are today providing strong support, through office crèches or flexi-timing options. That has not yet happened in our industry. From a business perspective, the size of our agencies might not be that big, which makes implementing this a bit of a challenge. But the more and more we get into a group structure, and offices become more centralized, it will enable organizations to look at shared resources to help women pursue their passion. This is something that could be done, but has not been done yet.”<br /><br />A lot of times, there is also a lot of judgement involved when women come back to work after a long break. Delving deeper into the need for a change in attitude, Pallavi Chakravarti, Executive Creative Director, Taproot Dentsu said, “You’ve been out of the scene way too long - you can’t expect the salary that you do after the kind of leave you’ve taken - but won’t your attention be divided now?” These are just some of the things women hear when they are seeking to make their way back into the workforce, post a long gap. Of course, this is not a blanket statement - times are changing, mindsets are changing, as are corporate policies. But if companies truly want to be gender-neutral then statements and questions like the ones I’ve cited above would never be heard again. Additionally, flexible working hours, working from home, working on time-bound projects are all steps that more and more organisations can adopt to ensure equal opportunities. And when I say equal, I mean that these options should be made available to both men and women.<br /><br />Shedding some light on how OLX is working on retaining some of its women, Sapna Arora, Chief Marketing Officer, OLX India said, “Setting the right example of favourable work culture much suited to women, not just in terms of facilities and infrastructure, but also in terms of broadening our thinking within an organization across various levels, is the key to inspire women working population to join the workforce and perform better. OLX, as an organization, is working on taking baby steps in creating empowering workplace for women. A couple of years ago, we at OLX embarked on a journey to evaluate the gender diversity ratio and actively worked to encourage more women in roles such as data scientists, engineers, front line sales and more. This is a conscious choice we have made under our global diversity and inclusion programme which seeks to improve the gender ratio across STEM and leadership roles.”<br /><br />Talking about the need to prioritize diversity in leadership, Emrana Sheikh, Enterprise HR Head for India and South Asia – Johnson &amp; Johnson said, “Today, companies are increasingly equating their C-suite diversity to competitive advantage for their businesses – and rightly so, it leads to robust dialogue, richer decisions and the empathy to design good, and human-centered solutions. For organizations looking for a paradigm shift in their work cultures, C-suite diversity sets an example for the rest of the team. At the basic level, it can be a source of inspiration that resonates down to the front-line staff. This is only possible when diversity in the leadership is prioritized and its long-term implementation is ensured at all levels through intentionality and focused talent management. Internal platforms such as Diversity &amp; Inclusion Council and Employee Resource Groups further drive culture strategies from a variety of lenses, championing inclusivity as a collective goal across levels. An inclusive culture transcends barriers, bias and bureaucracy, and makes the employees truly feel that they belong. All around, women are a critical mass of consumers, influencers, stakeholders and communities. Hence, reflection of the same in organizations is a business imperative.”<br /><br />Sharing a similar sentiment, Neena Dasgupta, CEO and Director, Zirca Digital Solutions added, “Organizations need to ensure that women in the workplace are respected and recognized.For women to thrive in the workplace, organizations need to ensure an environment that is rooted in equal opportunity and a culture that is geared to assist women achieve their goals.”<br /><br />Sharing some tips on a few things that can be done at the organization level to help women continue to be a part of an organization, Ayesha Ghosh, General Manager, Taproot Dentsu added, “Younger women need to see older women in positions of influence. Flexible working hours and working from home might be a challenge in an industry that’s made a virtue of unreasonable working hours but we ought to be non-negotiable about starting early, cutting idle chatter, short lunch breaks and everything else that helps finish work early so that parents (and everyone else, really!) get to spend some time with their families. Ingraining fundamental values will go a much longer way than making token gestures. Enforcing paternity leave, for instance, so that the onus of child-rearing is not on the mother alone. When a parent, regardless of gender is expected to manage time such that they are responsible for their work as well as for their families, everyone will automatically spend less time on idle chatter and work a lot more efficiently.”<br /><br />An organization's culture also needs to have empathy at its foundation, shared Oindrila Roy, Head of Strategy, India, Essence, to make a difference. "As with any type of workforce integration, empathy should be the edifice on which workplaces are designed to integrate and retain both women and men more seamlessly. For women, it starts with stepping into her shoes, evaluating challenges from her point of view and arriving at solutions which are conducive. For example, an online survey conducted by JobsForHer found that 38% of women do not return to the workforce after giving birth, due to the lack of good day care for children. If that is the challenge, companies need to think of solving this problem innovatively - can the organisation collaborate with a nanny service provider to avail reliable childcare options to its employees? Reassured and empowered parents are likely to stay in the workforce longer."<br /><br /><strong>Modifying existing performance benchmarks</strong><strong><br /></strong><br />Rubeena Singh, CEO, iProspect India believes that there is a need to relook at the performance benchmarks on which employees are evaluated. “In the middle years, I often see that we are trying to evaluate people on certain benchmarks. The criteria for these performance indicators have been put in place years ago when it was a largely male-dominated workforce. Things like 8 hours of work, or work in office, or if you want a senior position, you should have worked in different geographies etc. But sometimes, for women, it becomes very difficult to be mobile and move to different parts of the country, especially once they get married. As an industry, we really need to re-evaluate the criteria. We should look for quality now, if people are curious, if they are team-players, how innovative and out-of-the-box can they think. If these changes are brought about, a lot of women will find it easier to catch up from where they left, even if they are coming back after a long break.”<br /><br /><strong>Treating both men and women as equals at the workplace</strong><br /><br />A lot of women leaders feel that there is an immediate need to start looking at both men and women as equals in the workspace and not differentiate on the basis of gender.<br /><br />Lara Balsara Wajifdar, Executive Director at Madison World said, “We need to look at women leaders as leaders first and not as women leaders. Don’t differentiate us on the basis of our gender, but differentiate us on the basis of our work! Our industry is always hungry for good talent and if the talent is good, the agency will always accommodate personal requests as long as the work is not affected.”<br /><br />Many also feel the starting point is to start a conversation, where both the genders are treated as equal participants. “<keyword id="6372584" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="gender-equality">Gender equality</keyword> is not just a women’s issue, it’s a human rights issue – that extends to all realms, including the workplace. To encourage equality across all lines of command in the workplace and have more women leaders, we need more men to be equal participants in the conversation around gender equality. Having the male workforce as partners can bring empowerment and equal respect among all genders. Global change-making initiatives like the UN’s ‘He for She’ Movement, of which I am a strong advocate, have been setting strong examples for people of all genders to take bold steps in solidarity and are working towards a gender-equal world,” said <keyword id="235731" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nadia-Chauhan">Nadia Chauhan</keyword>, JMD &amp; CMO, Parle Agro.<br /><br />Pointing out to some things that need to be done at an organizational level, Rishika Lulla Singh, CEO Eros Digital at Eros International said, “There needs to be a cultural shift and change at workplaces to eradicate gender inequality and retain women employees. It is about time that companies consider deserving women for higher level positions and evaluate their performance sans bias. If there are more women leaders out there at the top positions, it gives a sense of confidence to the global sisterhood with strong role models. It is essential that companies organize mentorship programs to break the stereotype of what a man and a woman can or should do. There are several ways to retain a woman employee at work, but we also need to encourage more women to join the workforce. Equal pay, ensuring all voices are heard and feeling valued, creating safe work environment, etc. are all the least we can do.”<br /><br />Pooja Jauhari, CEO, The Glitch put it rather succinctly in her three-point recommendation on how to retain women. She said, “Firstly, treat your entire talent base with gender blindness. Best person for the job. Without over-thinking their family, marital, ‘emotional’ status. Just get the right person for the job. Secondly, allow your talent to align personal and professional goals and build a support system for them to come back to the same position at work after a break (marriage| child birth) and lastly, stop saying a certain gender matters more, prove by example by showing gender balance across functions.”<br /><br /><strong>Training young employees to think of themselves as leaders</strong><br /><br />There is also a need for seniors to build an environment of motivating young women while also making them aware of their potential as future managers, shared Sujata Dwibedy, Group Trading Director, Ampilifi India. She said, “This question is asked to mostly senior women but ideally, both senior men, women and the entire team should be equally responsible to motivate the young, efficient women. The entire organisation gains if they can train and then retain competent women leading up to a management role. It is critical to show them advancement opportunities and their growth path. Policies might have to be tweaked but if it benefits all, it should not matter. Building an inclusive workplace, an organisational environment that values diversity not just for the sake of appearances but for the competitive edge that comes with access to multiple perspectives would make a difference.”<br /><br />There are a lot of internal barriers that women have to cross and training them to believe in themselves could help in ensuring they make it to the top. <keyword id="346168" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Lulu-Raghavan">Lulu Raghavan</keyword>, Managing Director, Landor Associates said, “Even before thinking of getting more women leaders, we have to think of how we can create a better working place holistically. Secondly, you have to ensure that women at the top, doing good work get the visibility. It starts with the leadership, company philosophy and culture. You’ve got to find them and put them on the top because deserving women do exist. You can’t give us an excuse that there aren’t any women relevant for the top positions. A lot of training has to be done with women themselves; there are a few external barriers such as company policies, work environment, how other people behave towards you, and there are internal factors, which we women have set up through the years. It is the lack of self-confidence, self-doubt and imposter syndrome. We women have to be trained to be leaders. It should be different from the overall management chain because it is decades of social conditioning that companies have to break when women join them. “<br /><br />Anita Kotwani, Senior Vice President, New Business, Mindshare added, “The industry needs to first acknowledge that Woman leaders can deliver as well as their male counterparts for senior-level roles. The grooming required should be done for the role and not the gender. If that happens you will see the necessary shift with more woman leaders leading the mantle.”<br /><br />Sharing her optimism about the future where she envisions more and more women to be on the top, Kranti Gada, COO Shemaroo Entertainment said, “A few years ago, I participated in a program called ‘Tanmatra’ organized by IIM Bangalore, to help develop and groom fellow women counterparts for about 9 months and the stories I heard about the differences in opportunities shocked me a little. I was happy to be at Shemaroo, where we have seen women in key roles leading from the front and managing the core business with ease and expertise. While the ratio of women is a little skewed in the industry, the gender gap is narrowing, and we will see more women taking charge in future in every field.”<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />

Making the industry more gender-inclusive: Women leaders show us the way

Melinda Gates reveals the secret to a strong marriage and the surprisingly simple answer to the world's toughest problem

<p class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Modern air <keyword id="6354692" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Travel">travel</keyword> has become increasingly unpleasant as airlines continue to shrink seat sizes to fit more passengers on board - and this is especially true in economy class. </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">But not all airlines are heading in this direction. In fact, many of them are working to increase passenger comfort through new innovations. </span></p><p class="p1">From coach seats that convert to flat beds to cabin filtration systems that produce cleaner air, here are 10 ways airlines are working to make your coach flight more enjoyable.</p><h2 class="p1">Coach seats are converting into flat beds</h2><p class="p1"><span><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Economy class usually consists of uncomfortable cramped seats that follow a standard row format. But that's changing. Several airlines have introduced economy seats that can be converted to flat beds, and some have taken that even further.</span></span></p><p class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.5em; color: #222222; font-size: 15px;">Air New Zealand's </span><a href="http://www.airnewzealand.com/economy-skycouch">Skycouch </a><span style="line-height: 1.5em; color: #222222; font-size: 15px;">allows for a row of three economy seats to be converted into a flat bed, all with the push of a button.</span></p><p class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The arms on the seats retract, while the seat base extends and seat belts lengthen to give you space for reclining. <span>Up to two people can recline together by lying horizontally against the wall. It's been dubbed the "Cuddle Class," and comes at the standard price for each seat, and the third shared seat for half price. </span></span></span></p><p class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></span></span></p><p class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Several airlines have copied Air New Zealand's design. <a href="http://www.china-airlines.com/en/svcs/d623d33a-8c87-4909-89c5-df6bc2ad7784.html">China Airlines</a> offers an economy class Family Couch, with three economy seats that adjust into a flat bed to accommodate family and friends. The seats come with a mattress protector, pillows, blankets, and a toy for young travelers. The in-flight entertainment system for these seats also features a "Seat Chat" so you can share movies, music, and messaging with one another.</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></p><p class="p1"><span>There is also Air Astana's </span><a href="http://airastana.com/global/Experience-Air-Astana/Onboard/Economy-Sleeper">Economy Sleeper</a><span>, which allows passengers the chance to have an entire row of three seats on long-haul flights. The Economy Sleeper has arm rests that fold up and include a mattress, pillow, duvet, complimentary amenity kit, and priority check-in. The only downside is these seats come at a hefty price, at about half the fee of the airline's business class flights.</span></p><h2 class="p1">Airlines are coming up with creative new seating arrangements in economy class</h2><p class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Air New Zealand is also thinking about new ways to lay out economy class seating. The </span><a href="http://www.airnewzealand.com/777-300-premium-economy">Air New Zealand Space Seat</a><span>, offered on its 777-300 Premium Economy, gives passengers space and privacy with curved, couch-style seats that can rotate so that you can face the person next to you and share a meal or turn away for privacy.</span><span> </span></span></span></p><p class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span><span>The seats are a good option for people who may need to do work or catch some sleep in privacy. Offered for its premium economy class, the seating provides the option for comfortable seating without having to pay for business class.</span></span></span></span></p><h2><span>There is more leg room in economy class</span></h2><p class="p1"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><a href="http://www.lufthansa.com/online/portal/lh/us/homepage">Lufthansa</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> created slimmer seats that are made with a mesh fiber instead of traditional foam padding to</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> allow for increased leg room. </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Plus, the magazine slits are found at the top of the seat back to give you more knee space. It also offers a </span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/lufthansa-new-premium-economy-class-2014-3">premium economy class that features lots of leg room</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> at just a little more than economy class prices.</span></p><p class="p1"><a href="http://www.delta.com/">Delta Air Lines </a><span>has its economy comfort class, which offers priority boarding, 50% more recline, four more inches of legroom, and adjustable headrests and footrests. </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Singapore Airlines' </span><a href="http://siapremiumeconomy.com/">premium economy class</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> seats are 19.5 inches wide, with increased leg room, 8 inches of recline, and a calf- and footrest.</span><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> </strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"></span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><a href="https://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/B747-refresh/global/en#premium-economy">Qantas</a><span> has installed movable bases on the seats of its A3</span></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">80 that recline to offer a more comfortable sleep for premium economy passengers. The footrest also has a net below offering you a foot hammock for optimal relaxation and continued circulation flow.  </span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1"><a href="http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/us/en/the-virgin-experience/our-fleet/new-747.html">Virgin Atlantic</a> has refitted its Boeing 747 aircrafts flying out of London, Gatwick, Manchester, and Glasgow, to include premium economy seats that offer up to 38 inches of seat pitch and 21 inches of width.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1"><span>It's worth noting that the p</span><span>remium economy seats on these airlines cost at least a few hundred dollar more than regular economy, but they're not as expensive as business or first class, and with most airlines, the service also includes priority check-in, boarding, and baggage handling.</span></span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Even budget US carrier <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/southwest-airlines-boeing-737s-will-get-wider-seats-2015-4">Southwest Airlines added 0.7 inches of extra room</a> to its economy class seating recently.</span></p><h2 class="p1">Travelers are using social networks to choose their seatmates</h2><p class="p1"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div>KLM offers travelers the option to select seatmates based on shared interests or connections through Facebook and LinkedIn through its <a href="https://www.klm.com/travel/us_en/prepare_for_travel/on_board/your_seat_on_board/meet_and_seat.htm">Meet &amp; Seat program</a>.</p><p class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The program launched in 2012 and passengers who are interested connect their social profiles to their booking before being presented with seat maps that show where others who have also shared their information are sitting. </span></p><h2 class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span><span>In-flight entertainment is getting better</span></span></span></span></h2><p class="p1"><span class="s1"><a href="https://www.virginamerica.com/cms/fly-with-us%20">Virgin America's</a> in-flight entertainment system has seat-to-seat chatting where you can message others on the plane. You also get in-flight movies, satellite TV, a music library, games, digital shopping, and Google Maps. Plus, you can order food and drinks from the system whenever you like.<br /></span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><a href="http://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/flying-with-us/%20">Singapore Airlines'</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> system includes the latest movies, TV programs, games, radio programs, and on some there is even a USB port so you can use the system for a personal media player, photo viewer, or PDF reader. The system has up to 80 movies, hundreds of CDs and audio books, and language learning programs. </span></span></p><p class="p1"><a href="http://www.emirates.com/us/english/flying/inflight_entertainment/ice_digital_widescreen.aspx%20%20">Emirates</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> offers more than 1,500 channels of movies, TV shows, music, and games, and world news direct from BBC.</span></p><p class="p1"><a href="http://www.qatarairways.com/global/en/IFE/IFE_Homepage.page">Qatar Airways'</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> Oryx Communications system lets you choose from over 2,000 entertainment options including the typical movies, TV shows, audio and games, as well as providing on-board Wi-Fi on select flights to allow SMS and MMS sending and Internet access. </span></p><h2 class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">There are in-flight iPad rentals</span></span></h2><p><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">While it's not uncommon for airlines to offer the ability to stream content on your own iPad or mobile devices, some airlines provide you with in-flight iPads themselves. </span></p><p><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><a href="http://www.britishairways.com/en-us/information/partners-and-alliances/openskies">OpenSkies</a> offers free iPads for flights from New York to Paris, and <a href="all%202%20class%20B717%20aircraft%20and%20selected%20A330-200%20aircraft%20using%20Qantas%20supplied%20iPads,">Qantas</a> offers the option to stream on your own device or to use their iPads, offered on all 2-class B717 aircrafts and select A330-200 aircrafts.</span></p><p><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Several airlines also offer iPads that you can rent for a fee. </span><a href="http://www.jetstar.com/us/en/what-we-offer/in-flight/entertainment">Jetstar</a><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"> has integrated brackets that iPads, which you can rent for $8.40, can be snapped into on the back of each seat to offer personalized TV-like screens where you can access movies, TV shows, interactive games, e-magazines, and music. </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><a href="http://www.philippineairlines.com/about-pal/frequently-asked-questions/ipad-rentals/">Philippine Airlines</a> offers iPads for rent at $15 for select Middle East routes including Abu Dhabi, Dammam,Riyadjh, and Dubai. And </span><a href="http://help.hawaiianairlines.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/804%20">Hawaiian Airlines</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> has iPads for rent at $15 pre-flight.</span></p><h2 class="p1">Airplane interiors are brighter</h2><p class="p1"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>The Boeing Sky Interior includes curving overheard bins, large ceiling panels lit with color LEDs, and LED sidewall lighting that makes the aircraft look larger.</p><p class="p2"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><a href="https://hub.united.com/en-us/news/company-operations/pages/next-gen-737-added-to-united-fleet.aspx">United Airlines</a>, <a href="http://www.alaskaair.com/content/travel-info/our-aircraft/737-800.aspx">Alaska Airlines,</a> <a href="http://www.boeing.com/commercial/customers/malaysia-airlines/malaysia-airlines-receives-its-first-737-boeing-sky-interior.page">Malaysia Airlines</a>, and <a href="http://www.aa.com/i18n/amrcorp/newsroom/fp_aa_boeing_sky_interior.jsp">American Airlines </a>are just some of the airlines that have already adopted the model. The sky blue color is typically used for daytime flights, while a pink hue resembling sunsets is used in the evening. </span></p><h2 class="p1"><span class="s1">Filtered cabins are making breathing easier</span></h2><p class="p1"><span class="s1">The <a href="http://www.boeing.com/paris2013/pdf/BCA/bck-787%20interior.pdf">Boeing 787 Dreamliner</a> has a state-of-the-art filtration and cooling system installed into airline cabins to provide cleaner and fresher air. The system uses a HEPA filter to clean out bacteria and viruses, and a gas filter to rid the air of any odors.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Instead of the typical cabin pressure of 7,000 feet, the Dreamliner has a pressurization of 6,000 feet that customers say makes breathing easier thanks to air that is less dry.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Airline pressure and moisture can also affect <a href="http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150112-why-in-flight-food-tastes-weird">how food tastes on a flight</a>, and scientists predict that the more moisture there is in the air, the better the food will taste. <a href="http://www.lan.com/en_us/sitio_personas/news/official-press-release/lan-airlines-receives-first-boeing-787-dreamliner-in-the-americas">LAN Chile</a>, <a href="https://www.jal.co.jp/en/787/">JAL</a>, <a href="http://www.airindia.in/787-boeing-dreamliner.htm">Air India,</a> <a href="http://www.royalairmaroc.com/int-en/Dreamliner">Royal Air Maroc</a>, and <a href="https://hub.united.com/style%20library/united/stylesheets/virtualtour/787-dreamliner.html">United</a> are some of the airlines that fly the Boeing Dreamliners equipped with this special filter system. </span></p><h2 class="p1">Michelin-starred chefs are creating menus for airline meals </h2><p class="p2"><span class="s1"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">In an effort to make in-flight meals more appealing, airlines are beginning to introduce meals designed by Michelin-starred chefs on longer flights.</span></span></p><p class="p2"><a href="http://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/flying-with-us/cuisinelanding/">Singapore Airlines</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> works with a team of Michelin-starred chefs to prepare menus for all classes. Economy class menus include appetizers like potato salad with baby shrimp, entrees like wok-fried chicken and bamboo shoots in sesame oil, and desserts like strawberry mousse cake.</span></p><p class="p2"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">You can also use their <a href="http://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/flying-with-us/bookthecooklanding/">Book the cook</a> service when flying Premium Economy to special-order meals beforehand in case you might not like the pre-selected choices offered.</span></p><h2 class="p1"><span class="s1">Passengers are getting free amenity kits </span></h2><p class="p2"><span>Amenity kits may be a small gesture on an airline's part, but they go a long way in impacting passenger comfort. While most airlines offer amenity kits to first and business class passengers, some are now starting to offer kits to coach passengers as well. </span></p><p><span></span><a href="http://blog.virgin-atlantic.com/t5/Our-Experience/Virgin-Atlantic-Launches-New-Amenity-Kits-On-Board/ba-p/1751#.VYRyJlxVhHw">Virgin Atlantic</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> has updated amenity kits that include eyeshades with six different sunglass designs with everything from Kanye West's shutters or Rayban's Wayfarers. It also comes with earplugs, a toothbrush, a pen, and wipes. </span></p><p class="p2"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">On </span><a href="http://www.singaporeair.com/pdf/media-centre/bg-ecyl.pdf">Singapore Airlines</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">, passengers receive toiletry kits with toothbrushes, toothpaste, and socks. On their Airbus A380 and Boeing 777-300ER planes, you can get e-magazines including the Wall Street Journal and Elle Magazine. They also have complimentary playing cards and writing kits.</span></span></p><p class="p2"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Jet Blue's <a href="http://www.jetblue.com/flying-on-jetblue/shut-eye/">Shut-Eye Service</a> on overnight flights includes free eye shades, earplugs, hot towels, and Dunkin' Donuts coffee. </span></p><p class="p2"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><a href="http://www.etihad.com/en-us/experience-etihad/on-board/economy-class/">Etihad Airways</a> offers all long-flight passengers a Sleep Tight amenity kit including socks, a toothbrush, earplugs, and an eye mask that passengers can wear to notify staff not to wake them up for meals. For longer flights, the airline has a pillow that converts to a neck pillow for comfortable sleeping.</span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/china-airlines-new-luxury-jets-los-angeles-taiwan-2014-12">Here's The Latest Airline With An Insanely Fancy Business Class</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="s4Ym8zcjrRdPSOHIhpQeZzVFXF4NJRk8" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

You Searched For "blankets for babies in india" and got 13 results

Best baby blankets for kids in India

Shradha Aneja

Best blankets for babies in India

Shradha Aneja

Best baby blankets for kids in India

BI India Bureau

Shark Tank S2 judges refuse to 'get in bed' with this wearable sleep relaxer biz

Eetika Kapoor

Nepal Earthquake: Super impressed with rescue ops, India Inc praises Modi and pledges full support

BI India Bureau

A complete timeline of Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra's relationship

Callie Ahlgrim,Olivia Singh

21 jobs you probably never knew existed

Ian Phillips,Ben Nigh

Trump executive order escalates war on social media platforms (2nd Ld)

IANS

I spent 13 years studying the fine art of haggling: here is what I learned

Jay Deitcher

This portable air filter is like a Brita for your personal space

Melia Robinson

Making the industry more gender-inclusive: Women leaders show us the way

Samarpita Banerjee

Melinda Gates reveals the secret to a strong marriage and the surprisingly simple answer to the world's toughest problem

Alyson Shontell

10 things airlines are doing to make flying coach more comfortable

Talia Avakian

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides