When guys at VR called me to confirm that i had to document the festivities at their Surat center on Christmas Eve i had no idea that i would actually come face to face with Surat's Secret Santa who has had such a huge positive impact on all of our's @LifeInSurat. Here is how it happened -

So on the shoot day I reached there on time and was briefed by Mr. Anupam Yog (Director - Virtuous Retail Services Pvt. Ltd.) about the list of things I had to keep in mind during the documentation and I carefully made a mental list of all his pointers. Here is the beautifully lit 30 feet tall Christmas Tree I shot just before i went for the meeting -

Since there was still time left for the festivities to begin, we (Me and Anupam) started chatting, and he started telling me about the group's philosophies behind the VR Surat project. I was highly impressed by the idea that VR does not intend to be just a retail space like so many other "malls" that have mushroomed all across the metros. VR has much more character than that. It aims to be a 'Community Center' that Surat is yearning for. Was pleasantly surprised to know about the initiatives by VR to build the social capital of the city like sponsoring the Annual Magdalla Boat Race and organizing the Dumas Art Project to name a few. (He also told be about the hard time he was having convincing a book store chain to come to Surat! But he is trying hard as this is a must for Surat as a community.)

Would have loved to continue with the conversation but had only so much time as the carol singing was about to start. So i rushed to the tall tree and got on with my job. Here are few images from the Christmas Carol singing event -

So there I was in the middle of all the festivities... documenting the huge 30 feet (Surat's biggest) Christmas tree, taking pictures of the glittering reindeers, listening to the Santa going 'Ho! Ho! Ho!' and distributing sweets to everyone around and there i was listening to the Christmas Carols & LOVING IT! And i suddenly realized that this was my first time listening to the Christmas Carols! (call me ignorant but this is a fact.)

Everyone around was having a good time. This is what a community center does. It builds bridges... encourages local participation & enhances experiences.

It was then that it struck me. The management team at VR seriously is Surat's Santa-In-Disguise!

This blog post is a big Thank-You! to the VR Team for taking so many super initiatives and bringing to us all these innumerable community building activities and experiences.

Thank You all for reading and do share your experiences at VR Surat in the comment section below.

[P.S - Dear VR Team, I would be forever in your debt for getting Caramel Popcorn and Zara to Surat :P]

A visit to the Zara Store in Palladium Mall (Pheonix Mills) Mumbai is a must must for all my Mumbai Visits. With all their refreshing colors, superb collection and courteous store staff, it is always a superb experience. So when i heard Zara was opening up a store in VR Surat, i was already looking forward to the launch. This interest turned into excitement when a few days back i got a call from them enquiring if i could document their 'yet-to-open' store in VR for them. I gleefully agreed. Here is the first look of Zara Store - Surat (VR Surat) :

When i first visited the Store i was pleasantly surprised by the fact that Zara Surat was actually as big as the store they have in Phoenix Mills Mumbai if not bigger! Also the collection they are currently displaying is actually at par with the metros (i hope this continues). The attention to details by the merchandizers who were setting up the displays just blew me away. Hats off to Hitesh and Team for the way they have set up the whole store from top to bottom.

Congratulations to the whole team, the store really looks neat and VR now officially is the hottest shopping destination in town. Some BTS images i made -