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The Hindu : The sister act left tennis buffs asking for more. When the Williams sisters – Venus and Serena – decided to play in the Canara Bank Bangalore Open Tier II tennis tournament, currently in progress at the KSLTA Courts, the buzz just got bigger and better and in fact it even tided over the shock and awe triggered by Sania Mirza’s pull-out from the event.However a wee bit of nerves did hover until the Williams sisters with their father Richard Williams touched down at the HAL Airport last weekend. The apprehension was not unfounded as last year, Serena after promising to turn up, gave the tournament a skip. “Last year I wanted to come but unfortunately I couldn’t and this year I am here,” Serena told the media in a packed press conference with elder sister Venus beside her. The double act however has its touch of irony as the duo are drawn in the same half of the draw which means that if they stay on course, they would end up playing each other in the semi-finals and the much-touted summit clash between the two would not happen. “Yeah I know about that. In fact I never knew she – Serena – was playing in this tournament and I think she didn’t know that I was playing here. We have different managers who do our schedules. But now that we are here, we hope to go all the way to the semi-finals and take it from there. But in doubles we are playing together and we – the Williams sisters – want to win that title,” Venus said.While the daughters expressed their desire to finish on top of the heap in the current tournament, father Richard Williams looked beyond tennis.“Driving to our hotel, we saw a lot of poverty. People living on sidewalks. We want to do something and I would come again to India….More

The Hindu : MSN India presents Sheryl Crow on Thursday, March 6, at 8 p.m. and the Multi-platinum rapper and music producer, Bow Wow on March 13. Fans can also catch the successful all-female act, “Sugababes” on March 20, American Pop and R&B sensation Chris Brown on March 27 onwww.msn.com.Sheryl Crow is a nine time Grammy Award winning singer. The show will debut some of the multi-platinum performer’s most emotionally and politically charged work from the Hurricane Katrina inspired single “Love Is Free” to the anti-war track “Peace Be Upon Us.” Crow rose to fame in the 90s with classic sing-along songs like “All I Wanna Do,” ”If It Makes You Happy,” and “Everyday Is A Winding Road” and hasn’t stopped cranking out the hits since. To listen to Crow and others log on towww.msn.com at 8 p.m….More

The Hindu : For a dayMarch 8 is celebrated as Women’s Day all over the world. It is a day marked to celebrate the woman and to make her feel special. Today it is fashionable too to celebrate this day. And the day seems to have been hijacked by the wicked world of commerce and consumerism. Look at all the many schemes that every establishment from super markets and spas to pubs and hotels are offering to make the day special in a variety of consumerist days.Men, too, are being told, the way to a woman’s heart is by buying her diamond and expressing their love. The whole world — people and market — is on a mission to make this day really special. There are loads and loads of offers, gift hampers etc. But do women really need just one day such as this to feel good? Is one day enough for others to show their appreciation to a woman, be it a professional or a housewife?And what about women on the streets? Has the world become safer for them? The construction worker, the domestic help, the down-trodden and the exploited, has anything changed for them? What do women themselves think about it? Are they happy with getting all this attention? MetroPlus does a reality check.Women’s Day is a special. A woman makes important contribution to the society. She has gone through a lot of problems in the past but has finally emerged as a winner and is on par with the men today. But still there are some areas where she is harassed.Sneha,StudentI believe in celebrating Women’s Day. People should know the value of a woman at least on this day. I hope this happens through the various articles programmes with the help of media. People should be aware of her doings and of her contribution to the society.Archana,Software engineerI do believe in Women’s Day celebrations….More

The Hindu : Ashish, Viral and Vikrant is the only trio to showcase itswork at the upcoming Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week.“When we are dealing with too many people, we need a team,” says Ashish at a preview of their collection. Ashish and wife Viral have been in the fashion segment for a while and friend Vikrant joined them couple of years ago.The trio is an exception not merely in terms of numbers. The Ahmedabad-based designers debuted at the WIFW ramp last season, and signed on the dotted line with a Japanese buyerThe trio under their label Virtues, have decided to give new life to a wilting fabric, mashroo, at the WIFW.Keeping with the tradition, the designers work with natural dyes and handlooms. “Of the 35 pieces on show, 50 per cent will be handloom and natural dye garments,” says Ashish. “We have focussed on heritage clothing. Mashroo is on the verge of extinction. The fabric is a combination of cotton and silk.”The designers will showcase their collection in the synthesis category at the WIFW. Vikrant explains though the team works on Indian textiles, the idea is to put ethnic traditions onto the mainstream. “The idea is fusion,” he says pointing towards the funky accessories that will go with the clothes.Volume and layering dominates the dresses and sherwanis in muted colours of green, indigo, blue, rust and maroon and done in cotton, silk, muslin and others. “The collection has a girly feel. The stress is on fluidity and volume. But the embellishments are on the lighter side,” adds Ashish. The silhouettes are given a structure with intricate pleating and pin-tucking.“There is a lot of awareness about organic and natural dye clothes in Japan and Europe,” says Ashish.P. ANIMA…More

The Hindu : Songs of dawnOn the occasion of Golden Jubilee Celebration of RAWA, the Renaissance Artists and Writers Association (RAWA) the cultural wing of Ananda Marga Pracharak Samgha is going to organise a cultural-evening based on Prabhat Samgiita, composed and set to tunes by P.R. Sarkar at Town Hall, on March 8, 2008, 6 p.m.On this occasion, noted Carnatic vocalist R.K. Srikantan will be felicitated for his valuable contribution in the field of classical music. Dr. Suryanath Kamath, eminent historian will be the chief guest and Dr. Chidananda Murthy, noted Kannada writer and activist will preside over the function. Shyam Sundar Goenka, RAWA chairman, will be present too. Hindustani classical singer Parmeshwar Hegde, light music singer Archana Udupa and RAWA singer Acharya Tattvedananda Avadhuta will sing devotional songs of Prabhat SamgiitaThe program will start with an invocation dance based on Prabhat Samgiit by Keerthana Ravi, a Bharathnatyam danseuse. A dance drama titled “Pranam Tumhe Sadashiva”, scripted by Acharya Haratmananda Avadhut and choreography and direction by Lalitha Srinivasan will be staged by Nupura School of Bharathnatyam.For details contact RAWA at 23395317….More

The Hindu : It all began with Helen Fielding’s “Bridget Jones’s Diary” or was it Candace Bushnell’s “Sex and the City”? Suddenly a new breed of woman stalked the bestseller list. She was a savvy singleton given to carousing with eccentric friends with the usual weight loss and boyfriend angst that the urban woman is prey to.In all the hurry to formulate in a phrase, this kind of writing was slammed into a little pink box called Chick Lit. And while there are many who find the labelling obnoxious, this brand of writing has its devout followers.“Every woman needs her dose of fact and fantasy and chick lit provides it,” says Eisha Oomer, an avid reader and freelance writer. Lovable female protagonists, inconceivably complicated love triangles, heart wrenching break ups and unconcealed sexual themes, these books have them all.Jharna Jethani, a college student enjoys romantic novels and Nicholas Sparks’ “A walk to remember” is her favourite. Jamuna Tripathi, a psychologist says: “Identity and idealism are the prime reasons why many women go for genres like romance and fantasy. Identifying with the heroine and escaping from reality for a few hours is what most women like doing. It gives them a break from reality.”While writers like Beth Harbison (“Shoe Addicts Anonymous”) and Rachel Gibson, (“Tangled up in you”) have a great fan following, Indian writers are not far behind. Advaita Kala’s whacky and superbly spun tale “Almost Single” is selling like hot cakes. Rajashree’s “Trust Me” spiced up with Bollywood-style melodrama has captivated readers.Bookstores in the city are of course laughing all the way to the bank. Augustine Jones of Landmark says: “Teenagers are target readers for this genre.” Jones has observed “a good number of young men are often spotted picking up such books, probably as gifts for girlfriends.”And where does the swooning heroine of yore fit in this mad scramble for stories about confident, smart-aleck young women…More

The Hindu : Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.Michael PollanaWe are 21st century folks, with the bodies of our hunter-gatherer ancestors, eating 21st century food. Even our 19th century ancestors would not recognise the food today: polished rice, white bread, corn flakes and wheat flakes, biscuits, chips, chocolates, ice cream, sugar, lots of salt in everything… This is not the food evolution meant for us. Combined with a sedentary lifestyle, it is killing us with a pandemic of diabetes and atherosclerosis. Food was scarce during the age of hunter-gatherers. Being sedentary was not an option. There aren’t many fat hunter-gatherers in cave murals. You had to chase food down, climb trees for it or fish for it. The diet was mainly fresh fruit, leaves, nuts, meat and fish. There was no common salt or edible oil. Leftovers could not be stored: everything had to be fresh. There was simply not enough food for overeating. Besides, the high fibre/calorie ratio of fruit ensured satiety occurred long before an overdose of calories.Because food was scarce, the body evolved to regard energy-rich fat as precious. The special feel of melting butter on the tongue kept your ancestors alive. Hanging on to excess calories by converting them to fat is a universal survival trait among animals. Because salt is vital for life, our brains are wired to seek its flavour. Eating to excess, if you could find the food, was a good thing back then. It kept you alive when food was scarce.Fast forward to the 21st century, and it is easy to understand why those survival-traits are so lethal today. Our hunter-gatherer bodies continue to crave fat, except that fat is cheap and plentiful and our lifestyles prevent us from burning off excess calories. Modern life assaults us with flavours far more potent that our ancestors ever encountered- sometimes aided by addictive drugs like caffeine. For tongues and brains that…More