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The Hindu : y>In the price of Honda Civic Hybrid

In an unprecedented move to push sales of its Civic Hybrid, Honda slashed the ‘green’ car’s price by a whopping Rs 8 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) from the original sticker price of Rs 21.50 lakh to Rs 13.36 lakh. On-road prices for theHybrid in Mumbai have come down by a whopping Rs 10 lakh, which is around 40 per cent of the car’s introductory price.

The Hybrid, which is around 30-40 per cent more efficient that the regular petrol Civic, now costs only around Rs 1.5 lakh more than its sibling. This means that if you drive for more than 50 km daily, you can negate the extra cost in less than two years.

But if you want to buy a new Civic Hybrid you’ll have to wait a bit. That’s because while Honda Siel Cars India has managed to dispatch over 90 cars on the day of the price reduction announcement, dealers have not taken any orders from customers since then. Their explanation is that Honda has no more Hybrids left in India and will take orders only when the next lot of cars is imported.

Most dealers in Mumbai and Delhi refused to take bookings until January 2009 and claim that Hybrid deliveries won’t take place before March.

If you are willing to wait until then, the Hybrid is a great car. Not only can you keep your conscience clean by driving an environment-friendly car, but you will also save money in the long term.

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The Hindu :

Veteran designer Ritu Kumar is conferred with the Chevalier dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres

Photo: Shanker ChakravartyRaring to go Ritu Kumar is eager to go back to the field

I see it as an acknowledgement of Indian fashion as an entity,” says Ritu. “Rather than an individual honour, I would like to see it as a recognition of our particular craft,” she adds on being conferred by the French Ambassador, the Chevalier dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres. The order is also an acknowledgment of her long link with France. “My collections have been going there for the past 20 years,” recollects Ritu. An era old in fashion, she still dwells on her bonds with quintessential Indian crafts, of which she has been a part for four decades.

“Fashion is a niche area while the area of involvement of crafts is huge,” she says, sure of where she wants to belong.

When she began, Indian fashion was awaiting birth and crafts wooed followers. A designer, who has battalions of designs under her belt, Ritu still remembers her first creation. “It was a denim kurta with leather trims and zips,” Ritu goes back in time.

That was year 1968, when she opened her first boutique in the Capital. Her model in those days of trial and error was her cousin and the renowned director Deepa Mehta. “She was skinny and cute. I tried on her most of my experiments,” she recalls. That was also the time when the perfect, British-trained tailors of Kolkata efficiently copied her sketches onto clothes.

Now, Ritu does not have a count of the number of people who work for her directly and indirectly. She continues to engage with craftspersons to get the original touch. From constricted couture, she too has ventured into prêt with Label. Ideas and impressions of her son are evident on the young Label. “Now,…More

The Hindu :

Meerabai Not Out is Mandira Bedi’s ode to the game that made her famous,

Photo: P.V. SivakumarON THE PITCH Mandira insisted that Anil Kumble be the cricketer

Make no mistake. This is Mandira Bedi indeed. Chudidar-kameez clad, hair tied in a plait, and rubber floaters and spectacles as accessories. No noodle straps, no fancy saris, and definitely no tattoos!

“That’s me in this film, no gloss no glamour; it’s the story of a simple Hindi-medium school teacher after all,” she says, of “Meerabai Not Out” that hit theatres last week.

Naturally, she’s not too happy that the promos where she’s seen prancing in her present cropped hair avatar in a short yellow dress with her co-star, television artist Eijaz Khan.

“I hope the audience doesn’t expect that from the movie. Meerabai has a simple look in sync with her character throughout 90 per cent of the film. I am told that the promos videos are shot differently but I don’t understand how will it help your product if you promise one thing and deliver another,” she wonders.

“Meerabai Not Out” tells the story of Meera Achrekar, a mathematics teacher at Vishwaprem Vidyalaya. She is 32 and still single, and in love with cricket and its best bowler (so says she!) — Anil Kumble. In walks the love of her life (at least, he thinks so) — Eijaz Khan — and the cricket fanatic Meera has to make her final choice. A new genre emerges — cricket comedy.

With Mandira being so closely associated with cricket (sexy saris and gaffes included!), a film on cricket must’ve always been on the cards for her?

“Yes, my connection with cricket set Raj (Kaushal, her husband), Soumik (Sen, their friend) and me thinking about a film on the game. We came up with a basic storyline and pitched it to Pritish Nandy Communications and they liked it,” she says.Only him<p…More

The Hindu :

Wedding cards are as much about generating a buzz as leavinga mark

Photo: K. AnanthanART ON AN INVITE Wedding cards are collectibles now

A special day like a wedding needs a special invitation. Keeping this in mind, people are increasingly turning a wedding invite into a statement-making occasion. With imagination running riot about how to make it different and memorable, a wedding card now warrants more than a second look.

More often than not, it is a work of art that is a collectible.. With the wedding season in full swing for another fortnight, invites have been dropping in with style and savoir faire. The wedding invite of a creative-minded techie who got married recently to a naturopath took care of the passions and professions of the two. With the bride liking all colours pink and the groom a Net buff, the pristine white invite had pink bands overlaid with www, swirls of leaves and flowers in pink. It made a cute proclamation:www.ayyappa.com andwww.mahalakshmi.com will soon be……. www.ayyappamahalakshmi.com. Moreover, it looked more like a chirpy season’s greeting card. A really peppy and perky invite this season came from Bobbili Ramana Reddy. A miniature reprint of The Hindu, the wedding card was christened The Vindu (meaning a daawat or banquet). Having all elements of a newspaper’s page one, the banner headline announced the nuptials: Bobbili to add josh to life. Then followed a special correspondent’s report which detailed the effervescent bachelor’s bubbly plans. The page one-photo element remained intact with Bobbili posing with a smile and glares.

A nicely designed wedding card also serves as a calling card for the designer. Personal trainer Sharan Bhavnani received two cards in a matter of a few days, “beautifully designed, but with one common element, a thin brass plate, quite like a nameplate, stuck on to the invite announcing “Janaki weds Kiran” and “Srinath weds Deepti.” This prompted…More

The Hindu : y>

Cook on Catch all the action on Travel and living channel

Christmas is the final bastion of traditional cooking. It is that time of the year when we are prepared to spend the entire day stirring, stuffing and marinating foods and dishes. Nigella’s mantra is that cooking should be a fun activity, if itbecomes stressful then you are not doing it right.

Cooking of an extended therapy session to achieve culinary nirvana is not far away. In this series of Nigella Christmas Kitchen, she lays out her philosophy for not only coping with stressful cooking but also enjoying it.

Catch her whip up dishes on Nigella Christmas Kitchen on Friday at 10 p.m. only on Discovery travel and living.

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The Hindu : y>Be it the terror strikes in Mumbai or a depiction of factionalism, the question is whether subjects need to be glorified on the silver screen, wonders Sumit Bhattacharjee

Terror strikes The depiction of violence on screen could have an adverse effect

The recent multiple terror strikes at Mumbai should be giving ample story ideas to the dream merchants of Bollywood. The visit of one of the ace filmmakers with the former Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Vilasrao Deshmukh, and his actor son Ritesh Deshmukh to the Taj Mahal Palace, a property that was under the control of the terrorists for over 60 hours, points to the brewing of potboilers. But, at this juncture the question is, whether terrorism should be glorified on the screen?

The theme of terrorism is not new to cinema. The idea has been tried and tested by almost all the cinema industries across the globe.

In Hollywood, terrorism seems to be the most sought after topic, at present.

In the last ten years, over 50 films with almost the similar theme have been produced. Films like “Die Hard”, “The Siege”, “Kingdom”, “Body of Lies”, “Under Siege” and “The Devil’s Own” had big stars and able directors.Negative impact

The world of cinema like any other industry appears to go by the trend. If one movie with a certain theme does well, there would ten others to follow.

“After ‘Indra’, which dealt with Rayalseema factionalism we saw a number of films with on the similar topic,” film artist trainer and filmmaker L. Satyanand.

“Each film had one thing in common- mindless violence. The depiction of violence to a certain extent is necessary, as it is part and parcel of the modern movie mix. But that depiction should be within the civilised limits and have an element of entertainment. Illustration of violence in its original form is gory and it has a negative impact in the minds of…More

The Hindu :

‘Life at the Extreme’ may be the theme of the Volvo Ocean Race but it meant a year of hard training for many of the participating teams.Check out some experiences

PHOTO:BY AUTHORWELCOME ARMS After weeks of roughing it out on the high seas sailors of the Volvo Ocean Race unite with their families at stopover ports

As the yachts landed, each one in a lovely mix of colours, the crew dancing to loud music at Willingdon Island, the weariness of the long sail from Cape Town was forgotten. Thrown aside were the four-hour schedules of slog with little sleep, the tasteless freeze-dried food and the quiet winds which often made life stressful for the sailors. Every yacht in the Volvo Ocean Race, which is currently enjoying a 14-day stopover in Kochi, has its story, its colourful characters and a whole bunch of jolly good men.Truly memorable

The early legs of the 39,000-nautical mile round-the-world race were truly memorable for Brad Jackson, the watch captain of Ericsson 4, the race favourite after winning the first two legs.

Brad, a veteran of five Volvo Races, was at the helm when Ericsson 4 broke the 24-hour monohull world record in the first leg two weeks ago. He was also in the ABN Amro team which had set the previous world record in the last Volvo Race in 2006.

“There’s so much hard work behind it. Nearly a year’s training at the team’s base in Canary Islands,” said the 50-year-old, a veteran of five Volvo Races.

After many weary weeks in the sea, many of the crew members were a bit disappointed that the bars and hotels did not serve any heady stuff on December 1. When Brad heard that the Kerala Government had banned alcohol on the first day of every month as many workers burned a lot of their salary on the fizz as soon as they…More

The Hindu :

Ushering in the Christmas season with stories

FESTIVE The dramatic narrative managed to keep the audience involved

It was an early Christmas at the Reliance Timeout store on Cunningham road. “The Spirit of the Season” event comprised of narration of Christmas stories penned down by Dr. Mario Vaz, with Bhamini and Lavanya Lakshminarayan, two school students providing dramatised readings, to capture the mood and to evince audience interest in the story. A rendering of Christmas carols was also held by Lahari Chinappa, Miriam Chandy and Deepa Jacob.

The event finale comprised of a dance performance by children from BOSCO (Bengaluru Oniyavara Seva Coota). The organisation has seven city centres and is looking after nearly 500 children in their centres. The children gave a disco performance on the song, “Good Morning Hyderabad” and a stick dance sequence on an assortment of foot taping music. Both the dances were coordinated and presented well and evinced an ovation by the audience.

The event concluded with an informal Christmas quiz. The quiz questions managed to test the Christmas knowledge of the children and adults in the audience. Conventional Christmas stories were not read out. The stories were the creation of Dr. Mario Vaz, a doctor at the St. John’s hospital. Dr. Mario writes stories as a hobby.He used to write stories, illustrate them and present it to his family on Christmas. The tradition still continues.The Christmas carols and songs performed by the choir gave a festive flavour to the proceedings. The stories mainly dealing with the spotting of the Christmas star by the wise men of the east also included a beautiful tale about adoption. The story, Dr. Mario says is a must, if you have to explain to a child that he/she has been adopted. The dramatic narrative managed to keep the audience involved in the stories.

The event was organised by Reliance timeout, BOSCO and Unisun publications….More

The Hindu :

Magnitude Art Gallery offers affordable original art

Customers at Magnitude Art Gallery wanted affordable and original art, found its Director S.R. Magar. “We kept getting feedback from buyers and art-lovers about how they would like to be able to own originals and keep it. All our artists work full-time for us,” says Magar.

he paintings priced at Rs. 800 upwards, range from oil, watercolours to acrylic and the themes drawn from Hindu mythology, rural life, wildlife, women, dance and festivals to landscapes in different shapes and sizes. Corporate firms can even order desk-top painting frames with customised logos, themes and messages. Magnitude art gallery is open seven days a week, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at No. 140/13, 27th cross, 13th Main, 3rd block, Jayanagar. Call 22453742 and visitwww.magnitudegallery.in

A.M.

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The Hindu : y>Catch up with the latest in the style circuit

Olive Beach presents White Haute Compote, on December 10, 9 p.m. It is an evening dedicated to the collection put together by designer duo Leconet Hemant around the colour and theme of white.

The designers Didier Lecoanet and Hemant Sagar’s collection will be joined on the ramp by models Pashmeena Barker, Jackie Shetty, Zoheb etc. The show is styled by Mohan Neelkantan and the hosts for the evening are stand up comedian Ashvin Mathew and actor-filmmaker Kirtana Kumar.

The partners for the evening include Grey Goose, Peroni and hospitality partners at Neemrana Hotels.

Area, the specialised home décor store will introduce its new range in pure whites accented with silver. Call 41128400.

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