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The Hindu :

The land of Vengaboys, home to the plushest parties in the world

photos: sudhish kamathhot destination The beaches and party zones of Ibiza

So, how does one end up in Ibiza of all places? When you are planning a holiday in Europe and want to schedule something you can do during the first three weekdays, a beach destination seems like a safe bet. Especially, if you are not a museum person.

Also, you want to make sure you start your European adventure from the farthest point you can afford to go and then find your way back to the port of entry, stopping at every big city on the way. I ran through my beach destination options again. Ios in Greece seemed inviting but the party season there was over by August and once you find out that bad weather has left many people stranded on the island for days, it doesn’t seem like a good idea.

And, there’s the common perception that Ios is the poor man’s Ibiza. Once you read the word Ibiza, you simply cannot get the Vengaboys out of your head. If you book in advance, you are likely to get really cheap flights with many low-cost options to the remote island 50 miles off the Spanish mainland.Awesome sunset

Part of the Balearic Islands, Ibiza has the reputation of being the party capital of the world.

The party season winds up in September. Since it may not be too much fun to party by yourself in an island full of drunk people, you look up other things you can do in Ibiza. But there’s just one thing you need to know before you book those dirt cheap tickets and pack your bags.

No, not topless beaches. (Psst: Greece is a better bet for topless beaches.) Ibiza has one of the best sunsets in the world, and so, tourists head to the popular…More

The Hindu :

The Cosmos Rocks Queen plus Paul Rodgers

Rs. 350, Virgin Records

The Cosmos Rocks” by Queen and Paul Rodgers proves that some bands never grow old. The album is a collaboration between guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor of Queen with Paul Rodgers (of Bad Company, Free, etc.) They’ve been performing together since 2004, but this is the debut album of the collaboration.

The album has the scope of the music bands of the late ’70s and the early ’80s. It is devoid of the repetitive riffs of many of today’s boy groups. It definitely scores on variety — giving you everything from Ozzy Osbourne’s overwrought vocals to Michael Jackson’s edifying hopes for the world. And in between you will of course find the “We Will Rock You” spirit of Freddie Mercury, if not his strangely seductive vocals.

Don’t look for cloying love ballads, instead you’ll find anti-war songs, mythical lyrics, bluesy anthems and a strong belief in music. “Small” is a little gem of a number. You can expect choir teachers to pass on this gentle tune to their class. The lyrics are nearly Wordsworthian, asking to be one with the world, without feeling small in it.

The 14-song album even ends with echoes from “Small”. While “Warboys” is a rather noisy anti-war song, “We Believe” is quite the apt Christmas number.

The album is thus a mix of the quiet, like “Call Me”, and the frenzied, like “Surf’s Up”. This album perfectly addresses today’s issues (like the pursuit of fame) with the musical skills of the ’70s.

N.N.

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The Hindu : y>Get married in style at the Royal Orchid hotels

Royal orchid presents a wedding special package.

Royal Orchid Brindavan Garden and Royal Orchid Metropole in Mysore offers banquet facilities for those who want a royal wedding.

Royal Orchid Brindavan Garden is located in the midst of lush green gardens and a musical fountain.

The Cauvery river flows near the hotel and the complex overlooks the KRS dam. Couples will be greeted with a stay at the honeymoon suite for one night and two days.

The room will incorporate a complimentary wedding cake, wine/champagne, special baths.

Those who choose to get married in Bangalore, can head to Hotel Royal Orchid on Airport Road.

The couple willbe dropped home on a Rolls Royce.

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The Hindu : y>

Ramya Cultural Academy, Bangalore, has organised a state-level Kannada filmhits singing contest in January. The contest will be divided in three sections of1934-59, 1960-84 and 1985-2009.

The winners and finalists of the competition will be given awards and also an opportunity to perform in a musical nite to be organised by the academy.No age restrictions to participate in the contest.

Aspirants are required to send in name, age and birth proof, postal address, telephone no., educational qualification, current occupation and two passport photographs in a self-addressed envelope with an entry fee of Rs. 100 for each category. The entry fee can be given in cash or DD addressed in favour of # 302, Akshaya Kuteera, MM Industries Road, 7th Block West, Jayanagar. All applications must reach the organisers latest by January 7.

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The Hindu : y>What is it like to be the wife of a super successful man? Watch ‘The First Ladies with Abu Sandeep’

DESIGNERS Abu Jani and Sandeep

NDTV Good Times presents a new show, ‘The First Ladies with Abu Sandeep’, produced by Red Chillies Entertainment, and hosted by glam world insiders and star designers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla.

This is a show about 12 women who have backed their men all the way. The wives, who sustain and inspire, share the stories behind exalted status and heady success of their super-achiever husbands. The show features the better halves of a few of India’s most distinguished men — Nita Ambani, Jaya Bachchan, Neerja Birla, Gauri Khan, Usha Mittal, Suzanne Roshan, Manyatta Dutt, Adhuna Akhtar, Anupama Chopra, Tanya Deol, Kiron Kher and HRH Padmini Devi. Each week, the show will present one celebrity wife, and get an inside view of her private world. Meet the women and listen to them talk about love, life, marriage and what makes them tick.

And, that’s not all. They respond to tricky questions from anchors and celebrity friends, and even make a few confessions. Their celebrity husbands also make an appearance on the show. Among others, you can catch Hrithik Roshan serenading wife Suzanne or Shah Rukh Khan playing a game of Who’s The Boss with Gauri! The show starts on January 3, and will be aired every Saturday at 10 p.m. Catch Nita Ambani on the first episode. .

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The Hindu : y>Manjula Padmanabhan, whose latest novel Escape is out, tells AYESHA MATTHAN that reality and experience are important, not geography

DICHOTOMY What we see in the cities in India is not mirrored by the reality of villages and small towns, says Manjula Padmanabhan

Writer, artist, illustrator, cartoonist, playwright and novelist and children’s writer Manjula Padmanabhan says that her latest novel “Escape” is speculative fiction and not prophecy. “This genre offers a writer immense freedom to write a story that is both fixed in the present, and transcends the geographical obstacles in real life. Reality and experience is important — not geography.” The Delhi-based writer was also the creator of the cartoon strip “Double Talk” with “Suki”about “a quirky anti-establishment girl”. The Picador India-published “Escape” is set in an unnamed country exterminated of women, except for 12-year-old Meiji and her three uncles Eldest, Middle and Youngest, the others being artificially-created slaves called Drones. “The names in the novel do not reveal the ethnic and cultural backgrounds of the characters. They aren’t merely culture-neutral — they’re purged of community, religion and context.”

Comparing “Escape” to Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” and P.D. James’ “Children of Men” (also made into a film by the same name by Alfonso Cuaron), Manjula says that having read the former and seen the latter, “‘Escape’ has a different energy, entirely because both the books belong to a much more genteel world where women are not being murdered in western society, as they are in present day India, both as dowry murders and as unborns and just borns.”When it comes to utopian all-women spaces in fiction like Toni Morrison’s “Paradise” and Royeka Sakhawat Hosain’s short story “Sultana’s Dream”, Manjula states that though there have been many explorations of all-women ‘paradises’ in fiction, she has always considered them to be a type of wishful-thinking “which is created in response to the gender-based oppression…More

The Hindu : y>A trip to the cradle of the Kakatiya dynasty

Photo: M. MuraliRich architecture The 1,000-pillar temple

It is like Hyderabad and Secunderabad,” says my driver, Salim interrupting my reverie as we enter Hanumakonda. Warangal, the town’s twin, is less than 10 km away. My guide book says that Hanumakonda was the capital of the Kakatiyas before Warangal. The towns, however, merge with each other as you drive past the busy market road with retail brands jostling for space.

Hoardings scream for attention, but I hardly see any heritage relevance. Huge sacks of onions and potatoes are being piled up in the local grocery shops. It is nowhere close to the idyllic historic town that I had painted in my mind.

The Kakatiyas were ancient rulers of today’s Andhra Pradesh and some historians refer to the period somewhere in the middle of the 7th Century where Hieun Tsang, the Chinese pilgrim has referred to the kingdom of Danakaktiya.

However, early records show them as feudal lords of the Western Chalukyas around the 10th Century.The beginning

The reign probably starts with Betaraja 1, followed by his descendants, Prola Raja1 and Thirubhuvanamalla Beta 11. Hanumakonda, which was secured as a grant by Prola Raja 1 from the Western Chalukyas, was the capital of the dynasty which had just started establishing itself.

There is history at the end of every street. Salim stops in front of a lane and we follow him. The narrow congested lane leads to the Veyyi Stambhala Gudi, better known as the 1,000-pillar temple, built in the 12th Century. The temple is now under renovation.

A local said the temple has been under renovation for a while now and thata mandapam with over 400 pillars has been dismantled. Many wells were discovered here and it is believed that the temple may have been built on water, and taken more than 70 years to build.

The ASI board…More

The Hindu :

Psychiatrists and counsellors exhort parents to exercise caution while driving the safety message

Photo: K.R. DeepakReaching out Instil confidence and hope, not fear

When and how? Post 26/11, parents are faced with this predicament, when it comes to having a heart-to-heart talk about security with their children. With enhanced safety measures and schools gearing up to a different kind of security drill, the 8-12-year-olds find themselves in a confused and disturbed mode. Manjula, a housewife has been consumed with anxiety ever since she had a small talk with her nine-year-old. “I tried to teach him vital safety points but his statement just puzzled me. He asked: ‘when I don’t clean the room, you call me a bad boy. So, am I a terrorist?”Balanced approach

Even as a friendly e-mail by ‘Save the Children’ organisation lists out tips to help children to cope with terror trauma, psychiatrists and counsellors, say parents need to exercise caution while driving home the safety message. Says counsellor Zenobia Rustomfram, “It’s important that parents follow a balanced approach and help their children express their feelings. Instil hope and confidence not fears in them. An overdose of information and constant TV viewing needs to be cut down.”

The psychological impact of these disturbing images is deep and can have some adverse results, she says. “When parents panic and appear to be helpless, children, who are imaginary by nature, may cook up negative things.”

Minahaj Nasirabadi, a psychiatrist,has started a new experiment. He allows his three-year-old to watch only Cartoon shows. “Parents have to filter the programmes and take care that the little ones are not exposed to too much TV,” he says.

Echoing his sentiments is G. Prasad Rao, who supports his statement with a study done in Delhi in the past three weeks. “The study found that children, who constantly watch violence on TV are angry, restless and and lack concentration….More

The Hindu : y>Ten-day exhibition begins

Colourful Some of the exhibits

Sampoorn Crafts Festival 2009 begins on January 2 and goes on till January 11 at Chitrakala Parishath.

’The ten-day handicraft festival is a merger of language, cultures. About 120 artisans from 20 states (includes Assam, Nagaland, and Uttarkhand) of the country are participating, and will be exhibiting and selling their handicrafts. This also provides a platform for directly marketing artefacts of the artisans, without the hassle of middlemen. Apart from this ‘a crafts world’ of India will open up to meet the requirements, tastes of the modern lifestyle through home decorations, apparels and crafts. This time there will be Jaipur pottery, dokra from West Bengal, marble from Uttar Pradesh, handmade soaps, oil from Uttarkhand, Tanjavur artefacts and furniture. Besides this, there will be jewellery from various states on display.

The exhibition is one from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and for details you can log on towww.sampoorn.org.

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The Hindu : y>

Festive Celebrate the season with Santa and Cookie man

The Christmas festivities continue with a great deal of laughter, merriment, joy, surprises, and gifts galore. Just like Santa has surprises lined up, Cookie Man will provide a chance to play Santa and spread some festive cheer among children from underprivileged background.

Share in the spirit of the season, by donating an old toy at the nearest Cookie Man outlet and you could win a week-long cruise holiday in Europe. The donated toys shall be given to NGOs working with under-privileged children. Donors will get a coupon which entitles you to participate in a lucky draw that gives you the opportunity to win a cruise holiday in Europe ,aboard a luxury liner. The offer is open till December 31.

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