News

The Hindu : Virtual MechanicCar and bike questions? We have the answersCan you suggest a car that fits my Rs. 7 lakh budget and one that offers decent mileage and with low maintenance costs. I also want a car that has good resale value.K RajasankarAt Rs. 7 lakh, you have the option of the Maruti SX4, Hyundai Verna, Ford Fiesta and the Fusion diesel. Out of these, the SX4 or the Verna would match your requirements.My father plans to buy a new car and our budget is Rs. 11-15 lakh. His priorities are style, comfort and good-looking interiors. I have short-listed the Honda City, Civic, Accord, Sonata, Embera and Toyota Camry. Do you have any other suggestions? What is your opinion on the BMW 3-series?Vikaas E TAt Rs. 11-15 lakh, the Camry is out of your budget. Among the cars you have mentioned, the Civic suits your requirements best. The 3-series is a pure driver’s delight. But the ride does have a slightly hard edge to it.I plan to buy a new car and my budget is Rs 3-4 lakh. This is my first car and I want to decide between Spark or Wagon R. Which provides better fuel efficiency, comfort, better drive, good service and low maintenance costs?S HariharanOut of these cars, the Spark is a better car overall. It is more fuel efficient and comfortable. Maruti has better facility as far as service centres are concerned. But do give the Hyundai i10 a look as well.I want to buy a Logan but am concerned about its service network. I know Maruti is reliable when it comes to service. What is the service and spares availability of the Logan like?K SridharLogan is serviced by Mahindra’s service centres but not all of them are authorised to handle the Logan. Maruti is among the best when it comes to after-sales service. There aren’t as many service centres for the…More

The Hindu : Pert and pretty, Amanda Ryan, very British and an actor, relishes the ginger tea she sips at Thani Illam, a homestay near Perumbavoor. On holiday, she is just enjoying the quiet and the rustic setting she chose on the internet.“I’ve been to Goa, but that is not my idea of a holiday. I want something different, like this”, Amanda says, sitting in front of the old house, enjoying the ambience of the village, “with soft light falling all over between the trees”, a world far removed from the one she knows, in London.Her movie, “Sarkle” shone at the Edinburgh International Film Festival recently where it had a sell-out screening. It is now showing at cinemas in the United Kingdom.“Sparkle” was made by the writer-director team of Neil Hunter and Tom Hunsinger, whose last movie, “Lawless Heart”, was acclaimed as the best British film of 2001.“For ‘Sparkle’, we all contributed to the script during the discussion. We were allowed to improvise too, something that is not done over there. It was a novel experience as we all thought it was our very own film.”Amanda plays the plum role of Kate in the film. The role is very romantic and funny as well and the guy keeps the mother and daughter (Kate) guessing where his heart lies! Amanda is a presence on the small screen as well. On Channel 4, in the 16-part serial, “Shameless”, which started on New Year, she plays a cop. “It is a once-a-week serial and is shown at 10 pm. Adults only, you know, because it is naughty, there are swear words and…,” the English girl clad in a Kerala sari explains, with a giggle.In the early days of her career, Amanda played a small role in Shekhar Kapur’s “Elizabeth” and “Brittanic”. “In India, I guess the director calls the shots, but in the UK, it is the producer. I saw a…More

The Hindu : Tourists rush to Shimla or to Manali for that Himachali experience, but ironically it is the little valleys that lie between the Sutlej and the Kulu Valleys that are the essence of the real Himachal.Two such valleys are the Tirthan Valley and the Karsog Valley. Last spring I was trying to get from Narkanda to Manali via the Jalori Pass. But the news on the way was that it was closed thanks to a landslide. A wizened old man, at the local tea shop offered some advice, “go via Chindi and the Karsog Valley”.By the time I got to Chindi it was dark, but the next morning on the drive along the Karsog Valley the full impact of the beauty of spring in Himachal hit me. I kept thinking that this is the best part of Himachal I have ever been too, but then I realized that it is not the place, rather it is the time of year.Inspite of visiting this state so often I have never been in the state during that narrow window of time between the end of winter and the beginning of spring. Karsog has some temples that are worth visiting and if you do visit the Mamleshwar Mahadev temple then go to the fields behind it and there is another small temple set amidst the fields.It makes the perfect Himalayan postcard picture. Another temple is seven km from Karsog along a fantastic road skirting the valley; this is the Kamaksha Devi Temple.The Tirthan Valley is as pretty and the Tirthan that runs alongside is full of trout where anglers can cast. Little quaint Himachali villages line the banks of the river and there is even a house shaped like a shoe at Jibi.A Dutchman fell so in love with this place and a local woman that he built a house that reminded him of home.From the Jalori Pass there…More

The Hindu : Sitagita.com, India’s leading women’s portal, have launched the first all-India online women’s home business directory with free listings for women’s home-based businesses. The directory offers an exhaustive range of products,and services with specific focus on women’s needs. The Sigi Women’s Home Business Directory allows visitors to search for women-friendly service providers and products ranging from fashion, finance, beauty, sports, entertainment, children’s needs, travel and health, across the country. Women who have turned their hobbies into home-based businesses and lucrative careers find this an effective tool to promote their businesses. The organizations and businesses included have been evaluated and approved to be a quality resource for women from all walks of life. To encourage the spirit of entrepreneurship among students, the Sigi Women’s Home Business Directory features a special Student Entrepreneur section that offers a safe online platform to all students to showcase their talents, ideas and designs. It allows them to access potential customers from 120 cities across the globe.Speaking about the launch, Ms. Nirmal Mirza, CEO, Sitagita.com says, “This unique networking service ‘for women by women’ provides the right platform for women to market their home businesses online and create increased visibility for them. In our continuous effort at innovation and encouragement, we aim to make it the largest online women’s home business directory in India for both the B2B and B2C markets.” For more information, visitwww.sitagita.com…More

The Hindu : The past year has been quite eventful. Finally I am not jinxed anymore. I am yet to make a mark at the box office, but at least I am still getting to do what I want to do,” says writer-director Anurag Kashyap. What he wants to do is no small matter, considering that in this past year, he went from a gripping, underplayed account of the Bombay blasts to a controversial bizarre tale of a chain smoker to an animation movie for children.It’s one of the things that many people now say of Kashyap: that genre seems of no importance to him, and he is only glad to agree. His constant endeavour, he says, is to make films that people don’t expect of him. “Everybody expects me to do a thriller or an underworld movie. But cinema is not just about keeping your audience, it is also about personal growth. What is most important is breaking new ground and trying to see what else we can do and what might work. One might fail doing that, but in the process, a lot of other things may open up.”The most interesting departure for Kashyap, in that sense, was the end-of-year release, “The Return of Hanuman”, which he reportedly made because his daughter wanted a film that she could watch in the theatres. Although the film hasn’t made a significant dent in the box office, it has been lauded by many as a strong effort in Indian animation.For Kashyap, that is its primary role, pushing forward the cause of animation in the country. “For me, ‘The Return of Hanuman’ should pave the way to redefine ourselves in the field of animation, in the sense that we need to meet world standards. And we cannot do that unless we have that kind of financial support.”Of course, working on the film has awakened his own interest in animation, and…More

The Hindu : In your faceFacebook has blurred the divisions between the real and the make-believeHe thanks me for the apple martini and insists that we “do Scrabble again sometime”. He rummages through my bookshelf and leaves after making a smart aleck comment on my taste in books. If it doesn’t surprise you that we aren’t even in the same time zone, you’re probably an old hand at Facebook.Thanks to this larger than life social networking website that’s gained cult status in recent years, the lines between real and make-believe have blurred and, in some cases, vanished altogether. At first sight, Facebook is a world in itself, intimidating first-time users into logging out in a hurry.Gleeful adults spend guilt-free hours indulging in juvenile preoccupations such asthrowing a snowball. It is a place where irreverence is a given. A haven for the socially awkward, Facebook lets users hit on, serenade, dance with or propose to people without the complications of face-to-face interaction.Much like a perpetual conveyor belt, the site makes it redundant for people to be online at the same time to play a game or have a conversation. Time and distance be damned, you always know what everyone else is doing. Users meticulously provide status updates on their lives – working out, partying, recovering from Christmas cake disaster, sleep deprived.By clicking on the wall-to-wall link, users can read entire conversations between friends, privacy being irrelevant for it’s mostly small talk. It’s always the season for gifting at Facebook. And here, it’s (literally) the thought that counts. Free Gift applications allow you to give friends virtual champagne flutes, mittens, bouquets and lava lamps. Applications like ‘Growing Gifts’ encourage users to gift more by ‘unlocking’ fresh gifts as a reward every time a new gifting milestone is reached.For all its wonderful qualities, Facebook has an unmistakable ‘Hotel California’ vibe to it. It’s highly unlikely that you log in to ‘poke’…More

The Hindu : It’s time to make some space in the living rooms as the queen of Bollywood dance, Saroj Khan is coming on small screen with her dance show “Nachle Ve” on NDTV Imagine later this month.Saroj who captured the nation’s imagination with songs like “Ek Do Teen”, “Dhak Dhak” and “Kaate Nahi Kat Te” with her imaginative dance steps says these days choreography in Hindi films lacks originality.“If the choreographer depends on costumes to seduce the viewer, he is not doing his job. The likes of Bosco Caesar watch an international music video and copy it step by step. Where is the originality?” asks Saroj, never known for mincing words.She continues, “My steps have been sensual but never vulgar. I have trained under Master Sohan Lal, who gave us one of the best choreographed songs ever, the teasing ‘Hontho Pe Aisi Baat’ (“Jewel Thief”).”“In fact, my first break as a choreographer came when Sadhana decided to direct her home production “Geeta Mera Naam”. She refused to work with anybody else.”But Madhuri Dixit didn’t seem as indulgent, as in “Aaja Nachle” she worked with Vaibhavi Merchant. Saroj isn’t feeling bitter. “She didn’t produce the film. There is no ill will between Madhuri and me. These days people work as a team and Vaibhavi has been part of Yash Raj team for some time like I was at one time when films like ‘Chandni’ happened.” Talking about her chemistry with Madhuri, Saroj says she gave Madhuri something new every time.“Songs are such an integral part of our films that the choreographer has to be very imaginative to be successful. You can’t repeat yourself even if you feel tempted to because the moment a song becomes a hit, girls in the neighbourhood start copying it in functions. On her part Madhuri trusted me fully. She never said this step won’t work with my image be it ‘Dhak Dhak’ or…More

The Hindu : The Octavia, launched in India in 2002, was an instant success as it has all the qualities Indian buyers look for in their four-wheeler. The solid build, fuel efficient diesel engine andclean-cut looks won many hearts.Soon after, andagain successfully, Skoda brought in models such as the Superb and the Laura and moved up the brand to enter the luxury category. Now, Skoda has launched its most popular international model in India; theFabia. Though the company wanted to bring it a few years ago, the ‘size is ability and value’ dictum still ruled the heads and hearts of car buyers in India and therefore, the plan was foiled. But there are more mature and intelligentbuyers now in the ever-evolving Indian car market. Is the Fabia the perfect large hatchback for urban transport? Read on to find out. The Fabia’s design possesses a cheekiness that borders on cute. The car looks a lot more compact and agile than it actually is owing to a tight-fitting roof, its friendly smile and the large headlamps. Skoda’s chrome bar above the grille works fabulously. Look closer and you’ll see that the chrome reflects the car’s unimpeachable quality and projector headlamps tell you that the cost accountant’s scalpel has not cut in here.Built on an updated and mostly new platform; the PQ25 platform; the Fabia is the first to use this kind of platform though it will be shared by other Volkswagen groups. It is to be used on the new Volkswagen Polo as well. The suspension that will come on the Indian version of the Fabia has been raised and is referred to as ‘rough-road’ package made especially for our roads. The car tested here comes with ABS and airbags but other versions don’t. Ground clearance is up to 146mm, and Skoda has also provided a three-part metal plate underneath the car for protection.InteriorsOnce the solid doors of the Fabia…More