Pevonia asiaSpa Awards 2008

     An evening brimming with energy, celebrations and champagne toasts, the second Pevonia asiaSpa India Awards at the Leela Kempinski Gurgaon were a toast to the brightest and best names in the spa industry.

     Conceptualised and hosted by asiaSpa India magazine, the awards are one of the most sought-after events in the Indian wellness calendar. Neelam Khanna of Ananda Spa was awarded asiaSpa Spa Personality; John Abraham won this year's asiaSpa Wellness Icon of the Year, while writer Shobhaa De was crowned the asiaSpa Spa Diva.

     An annual affair since 2007, the Pevonia asiaSpa India Awards are regarded as a benchmark of excellence for the wellness industry. The categories included Best Hotel Spa, Day Spa, Spa Treatment, Spa Personality, Spa Diva, Spa Manager and Spa Products. The award process was validated by reputed audit firm Grant Thornton.

     The event was attended by a spa industry bigwigs like Dr. Issac Mathai, A K Sud and Abhit Sud of Amatrra, Ashok and Neelam Khanna of Ananda Spa, Ronnie Lobo of Radisson Hotel, Amar Agrawal head of Lladro India, Partho Dutta Gupta, head of Swatch Group, Sanjay Jain of de Grisogono, G Kannan of Timex, M H Khan of Vertu, Vinay Phadnis of Sahil Group of Industries, Arjun Sharma of Le Passage to India, Tarun Thakral of Hotel Le Meridian, Subhash Goel of Stic Travels, Vinay Luthra of the Karnataka state tourism department, Ram Kohli of Creative Travels and Dipak Haksar of ITC.

     A host of celebrities including Malaika Arora Khan, Aarti and Kailash Surendranath, Milind Soman, Rahul Dev, designer Ritu Beri, designer Raghvendra Rathore, designer Leena Singh, FDCI president Sunil Sethi, television personality Neeva Jain among others added a touch of glamour to the evening.

     The awards, designed by Art D'Inox and asiaSpa India, were sculpted metallic stones stacked up on a wooden base, symbolizing the 'hot stones' that are popularly used in massage therapy in the spa industry.

     The awards presentation was punctuated with appearance by danseuse Saroja Vaidyanathan's troupe, a fashion show displaying designer duo Laconet-Hemant's organic cottons Ayurvastra garments and performances by well-known stand-up comedian Vikarm Sathaye who left everyone in splits every time he held center stage.