For more than two years Ms.Vidita Menon's been working as an Audit and Assurance Analyst for Deloitte USI. A post-graduate in Marketing Management from the Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Gh...
For more than two years Ms.Vidita Menon's been working as an Audit and Assurance Analyst for Deloitte USI. A post-graduate in Marketing Management from the Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Ghaziabad where she was felicitated with the coveted Beta Gamma Sigma (an International Honor Society) membership during her course for being a top performer in the country, Vidita, with her G.D.Birla schooling and St.Xavier's, Kolkata, honours degree in statistics is an academic powerhouse. But that's just the start : she's also been a Company Sergeant Major (CSM) in the National Cadet Corps (NCC) and represented her state in national events. The NCC taught her to be her unique self and she believes that’s what triggered her love for customised pieces of adornment that would be unique to her.
Apart from collecting academic accolades,Vidita also holds professional degrees in classical dance and music. She's trained in Bharatnatyam and Kathak, and in Indian classical music (vocal) and RabindraSangeet. It just so happens that dancing and singing are also her favourite hobbies.
And while that might have been more than enough accomplishments for most, Vidita does more, this time in ways fully altruistic. When she's not working or performing, she devotes her time to NGOs like The Smile Foundation, HelpAge India Foundation and certain other similar institutions in order to be able to help those she feels are less fortunate.
Her association with the performing arts, from when she was very young, has always driven her to look at most things through the lens of creativity. She loves exploring different craftsmanship styles across India and admires deeply the inherent talents of our Karigars.
In her own words, "I have great respect and admiration for jewellers who create hand-made customized pieces. I wanted something that was created “just for me” for my special day. Hence, after doing a lot of research, I came to you as I absolutely fell in love with your designs and the fact that you handcraft every single piece. I came across the A. Sirkar website when I was searching through all the gold jewellers of West Bengal and I instantly knew that I wanted to get my wedding jewellery made from you!
And you’ve definitely exceeded expectations!"
Well, what can we say but that for someone as young, as illustrious, and as individualistic as Vidita, she has also the deeper sentiments and searching heart of a true lover of the arts. We're deeply thankful to her for choosing us from a pantheon of jewellers in this State for whom our this single-store brand is no match at all in terms of commerce, the yardstick by which every business house must be judged. Situated for over sixty-five years in the same premises, we've remained merely dreamers and imagineers tasked with making your fantasies in gold come true, the slow and considered way. It's why we could conceive of this necklace for Vidita, built as it is upon the premise of her identity as a young lady of great and many virtues, not least of which is the fact that she's a fiercely independent spirit, given to achieving on every level what she sets as life goals for herself.
Fittingly, and in keeping with tradition, this necklace is named after her.
She, by her choice, is the Dandelion (from a necklace we showcased here exactly five years ago) in the centre around which we've drawn a halo of sacred katai-rudrakshas. Three strands of kamal-chains hold this shrine in place, each decorated with seed-pearl- and split-ball jhurs that make of them a happy festoon. A polished half-jhumka stands in for the holy temple bell and has a large drop-pearl for a clapper, while that thick fringe of ball-and-pearl jhumjhumis embellishes the shrine and enhances its aura.
Suspended from a topa-kamal chain that has three pearl-fitted bosses on it, each with fine granulation on them and a surround of katai-rudrakshas, this festoon-and-halo section is fixed to the studs but can as easily be detached to form a separate necklace. Needless to say, the upper part can also be worn as a pati-har, close to the neck. You'll never guess the jewel's versatility from seeing it, so well are the fitments integrated into the grand design and in such exquisite detail the workmanship thought out.
Handcrafted with acuity and ingenuity, both, the necklace reflects the richness of our culture in the decorative arts and also the grace, elegance and coruscating intelligence of its owner. We admit, this jewel — unique of form, design, and detail — is a monograph in pure guinea-gold of a rara-avis of a young lady whose true beauty, beyond that which meets the eye, lies in her strength of character and the qualities she exemplifies as a dynamic young leader, the kind in whose hands we can willingly and with pleasure hand over the future of our planet.