MAM
Media professionals wish their best friends a Happy Friendship Day
MUMBAI: Friendship is the purest and most beautiful relationship that two individuals can share. It can evolve from any relation and can even metamorphose into new partnerships. The world is celebrating this relationship today by marking Friendship Day. Globally, people will be appreciating their friends and will be sending them emotional messages and thus, Indiantelevision.com asked the media industry who their best friends are and here are some sweet responses that we got:
i9 Communications head Munmun S Gentle
I have two best friends: Rachana Chhedha aka Rachuwhom I met in class 1, and Deepak Gaur whom I met while we were working for the same organisation 12 years back. Rachna is from the hospitality industry while Deepak is currently working with a publication. These two have been my pillars of strength throughout my journey. It is very important for one to connect with like-minded people who understand you.
Rachana was the one who motivated me the most during my career shift from sales to public relations. She has also taught me how to remain calm and make right decisions even under extreme pressure. And Deepak has been constantly guiding me with work. Whenever I face any crazy challenge professionally, he is my go-to person because he always tells me, and makes me believe that everything will be alright. He will list down enough samples for me to solve my problems. He is the one person with whom I can talk my heart out as I know he will not judge me.
Both these beautiful people make my life simple and they are the people I can confide my thoughts in. I wish them and all a very Happy Friendship Day!"
Mirum India creative director Kishor Shembekar
It is a rare happening that your boss becomes your best friend but I have been fortunate enough to live this in my life. Vivek Shinde was once my boss and is like family now. Our interactions while working made us know each other better as an individual and developed our friendship. We are still in touch and would continue throughout our lives. We have been friends for almost two decades now and he continues to be a guide and a mentor for me since my initial days in the advertising world. Happy Friendship Day, Vivek!
Communicate India founder & CEO Akshaara Lalwani
My best friend is definitely my husband Rishaan. He is probably the best mentor I’ve ever had and the best support system I could have going through my professional journey. When I’m going through a challenging period, he has been extremely supportive, motivating, and gives me the courage to keep going. Your friends and associates might not always call you out when you’re slipping up, or about to drop the ball, but your best friend always will, and Rishaan does that. He also encourages me to focus on my strengths and not let my weaknesses get the better of me. There are days where he completes my sentences and can read my thoughts. He is not afraid to make me reevaluate some of my decisions and pushes me to be a better person, a better professional, and a better leader.
White Rivers Media co-founder Shrenik Gandhi
Mitesh & I go back a long way. Almost a decade back, we did our MBAs together. Coincidentally, we also share our birthdays and that also happens to be the day we launched White Rivers Media 7 years back, on 7 August.
He plays the role of my right-brain. All creative and strategic calls of the company are taken by Mitesh while I look after expansion, operations, and people.
From the first hire to the first client to the first award, to the first fire, to a first big loss, to the first big office, to first new out of city office, to the first 100 employees, the stories are infinite, regrets are none. Onwards and upwards from here. Happy Friendship Day Mitesh!
Apple rarely announces minor updates with much fanfare, and iOS 26.4 is no exception. No dramatic redesigns, no flashy keynote moments. What it delivers instead is a focused set of improvements that sharpen the experience you already have. If that sounds underwhelming, spend a week with it. You will change your mind.
Apple Music Learns to Listen Better
The biggest shift in this update lives inside Apple Music. Apple has brought AI-powered playlist generation to the app, and it works on mood rather than genre. Type something like “rainy evening at home” or “running late on a Monday,” and it builds a playlist that actually fits. This is not algorithmic guesswork dressed up in new clothing. It genuinely reads the intent behind vague descriptions and responds well.
Alongside this, a new concerts feature scans your listening history and surfaces live events happening near you. It is a smart bridge between your digital music habits and real-world experiences. Apple is quietly making the case that a music app should do more than just play songs.
Shazam also gets a meaningful upgrade. It can now identify songs without an internet connection. This might sound like a minor convenience, but anyone who has tried to Shazam something at a crowded venue with patchy signal will tell you it is anything but minor. The feature works locally on-device, which also means it is faster.
CarPlay Gets Smarter Controls
CarPlay has been updated with deeper integration for intelligent voice assistants. The goal is to reduce how often drivers need to look at a screen or tap anything at all. You speak, things happen. It is a clear step toward making the driving experience safer without stripping away functionality. The integration feels natural rather than bolted on, which is a harder thing to achieve than it sounds.
The Fixes You Feel Every Day
This is where iOS 26.4 earns its keep. Keyboard responsiveness has been improved, and the difference is noticeable immediately. Typing feels more accurate and less combative. Accessibility features have been refined across the board, with better contrast options and adjusted spacing that makes the interface easier to read without forcing you into larger text sizes.
The Health app has also been updated. It now surfaces more actionable insights from your daily data rather than just displaying numbers. If your sleep patterns have shifted or your activity levels have changed, the app now contextualises that clearly instead of leaving you to interpret raw figures on your own.
These are the kinds of changes that do not photograph well for a press release. They also happen to be the ones that make your phone feel genuinely better to use.
A Few Other Additions
New emojis have been added in this update. They will find their way into your conversations faster than you expect. Family Sharing has also been updated, with more granular control over shared payments and subscriptions. If you share an Apple account with family members, this puts clearer limits on who can spend what, which has been a long-requested fix.
What This Update Actually Represents
iOS 26.4 is Apple doing what it does best when it is not trying to make headlines. Every addition here serves a clear purpose. The AI music features are genuinely useful. The CarPlay improvements address a real safety concern. The small UI fixes accumulate into a noticeably smoother daily experience.
There is no bloat. Nothing feels experimental or half-finished. That discipline is harder to maintain than it looks, especially as operating systems grow more complex with each passing year.
If you have been holding off on updating, this is the one worth installing.
