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The Hindu : y>Car and bike questions? We have the answers

I drive around 700km every month in the city and an additional 400km outside town on highways. Please suggest an ideal car within Rs. 6 lakh. A boot would be welcome, the car should have low running cost, and also be an involving one to drive.

Akhil Malhotra

Since you will be travelling over a 1,000 km every month, both in town and on the highway, we would recommend a diesel car. The Maruti Swift Dzire seems perfect for you. It’s efficient, very affordable and has a refined engine that is capable in town and on the open road as well. Its only drawback is the limited space in the rear seats, but as an overall package, the Dzire is the top car in its class.I have a Maruti Alto and Fiat Uno (Petrol) at present. I plan to sell off the Uno and buy a saloon, mainly to go on long drives of around 700km a month. Which car do you advise — the new Honda City or the Chevrolet Optra Magnum D? Will GM provide proper service back-up for the Chevy? Is it worth waiting for the new VW Polo and will there be a diesel saloon? Also, I have heard that the new City delivers poor mileage — is this true?

D Adarsh

We think the new Honda City would be best for you as it offers a brilliant ownership experience and will be good for long trips as well. The new Polo is due in January 2010 but the saloon version will come only in August 2010, so that’s a long wait. It’s not true that the City has poor mileage. In fact, it is the most fuel-efficient car in its class.

I have a Maruti Zen VX which has clocked close to 155,000km. I am now planning to buy a new car within…More

The Hindu :

Luca Patricelli believes wine and food pairings are overrated

ONE FOR THE GLASS Luca Patricelli

Wine drinking in India and Europe are very different and cannot be compared,” says Luca Patricelli, an Italian oenologist and wine maker at the Nandi Valley Winery.

Luca Patricelli holds many qualifications including a degree in statistical sciences from University of Bologna, a degree and diploma in viticulture and oenology from the University of Turin, Italy, and a degree in beer production and fermentation from the University of Charleroi, Belgium.

Wine and beer

On wine production in India, he says: “I have been touring India since 2006 and have witnessed the growth of the Indian wine industry. I have not seen people suddenly take to consuming wine, but have definitely seen the increase in area under production.”

Luca says, “Many winemakers feel that the climatic conditions in India are not favourable for wine cultivation. I feel that the weather in Europe is much more unpredictable than India. A sudden rainfall or cold wind may destroy the entire crop or reduce the harvest in Europe. I feel the weather in India is more predictable, though freak weather conditions do occur occasionally.”

Luca also holds a degree in beer production and fermentation and feels that wine and beer production are very removed from each other. “Wine is made from grapes, which need to be grown, stored and fermented at perfect conditions. Any minor weather fluctuation and storage issues could alter the taste and composition of the wine. With beer, you just need to cultivate some barley, ferment it and add water. You do not have to usually wait an entire year for a harvest.”

He feels that wine pairing with food is often overrated. “It is not a very difficult task. You need to make sure that the wine does not cancel out the taste of the food. You must also take care…More

The Hindu : y>TESTDRIVE Suzuki’s massive cruiser, the Intruder, with its power drive and glorious exhaust is a traffic-stopper,writes Rishad Cooper

There are big bikes. And then there are really big bikes. Like the 1800cc Intruder that Suzuki Motorcycle India has just rolled out. With dimensions similar to a small hatchback and a price tag like the Honda Civic’s, Suzuki’s two-wheeled equivalent of a stretched limousine is the first biggie to be available to enthusiasts with deep pockets.

The Intruder’s photographs are somewhat deceptive and you have to see it in the flesh to know how humungous it really is. This monster motorcycle will surely need a large parking lot — while most Indian bikes will happily sit beside a car, the Intruder demands its own space.

The latest Suzuki clearly has a commanding presence. It comes with a powerful, low-set headlight that smirks under a chrome hat-like shroud and remains on at all times. Old-world turn indicators stick out on the front and rear, while a digital bar-type rev counter mounted on tall stalks looks straight into a rider’s field of vision. A surprising fact is that other basic instruments including the speedometer sit chrome-encased far below, astride the bike’s fat teardrop tank, which means the rider’s eyes have to leave the road to take a look at them.

The Intruder comes with a flat, wide, pulled-back chrome handlebar and handsome, retro-style tinted mirrors. Getting familiar with the alloy-look switchgear is easy. There are thick, soft grips as well as comfortable, buffed alloy clutch and brake levers. The low-slung cruiser style saddle is wide and has a slightly taller, still comfortable pillion seat just behind. And the tail with its embedded bright red brake warning lamp looks sleek.Engine and ride

This Suzuki sits on 18-inch rims, with tyres so fat — a 240/40 section at the rear — as to fool one into believing you could…More

The Hindu :

Nicky Bingham harnesses her acting skills to entertain kids with imaginatively enacted stories

Photo: Murali Kumar K.SCINTILLATING STORY-TELLERNicky Bingham insists that story telling is an art

Stories and storytellers have always been seen as mystery figures with a great deal of experience on the ways of the world. Nicky Bingham appears completely different from the traditional mould of a story teller.

She is a trained British actress, who has worked in a number of theatre and radio performances for 18 years. In 2005, she launched a career in performance storytelling that involved conducting tours across the country and organising story telling and drama workshops for children.Children are receptive

Speaking on the sidelines of Hootales, a story carnival organised by Hippocampus, an organisation that aims at using the carnival to introduce story telling to young children, Nicky saysshe enjoys narrating and enacting stories to children. “I feel that as an audience, children are much more receptive and pay more attention than many adults.”

“You have to be very innovative to ensure that you manage to hold the attention of the audience, especially if they are small children. I make an attempt to blend oral story telling with my acting experience that helps the children create a mental image in their minds.”

She adds: “In some cases, this technique also helps children who are unable to follow the narration to understand the gist of the story.”

If anyone thought that enacting stories on stage was a cakewalk for a person with 14 years in theatre, Nicky has a word of caution: “It is not very simple. You have to be spontaneous and cannot afford to make any mistakes. There is no second chance. You need to make sure that children and the rest of the audience are able to follow you.”

Nicky says that story performers need to keep the audience involved and ensure that they do not…More

The Hindu : y>

On display Catch the saris only at Kalamandir stores

Chikpet is an area that cannot be imagined without silk saris. Kalamandir has inaugurated a new showroom at Chikpet that will provide a quality range of saris to patrons in nearby towns and villages. The range extends from kanjeevaram saris and silksaris from across south India, and also comprises embroidered designs, traditional wedding wear and a range of dress materials.

The new showroom at Chikpet is spread over 15,000 square feet and comprises a collection of silk saris comprising Samudhrika pattu, Parampara pattu, Vastrakala pattu, Kubera pattu, Mangalya pattu, Uppada pattu etc. For more details on the store or the collection, call Parimala Ananth on 09980817197.

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The Hindu : y>

Soulbath Peace Foundation is conducting a one-day workshop exclusively for women on the occasion of International Women’s Day. This experiential workshop will help women understand their personality in depth by helping them discover who they are, their strengths and ways to balance their mind, life and body by harmonising themselves.

“This workshop aims to bring together women from different walks of life and collaboratively experience the power that is latent but hidden in today’s woman and will help unleash and empower her to act from her Peace Centre,” says a release. The workshop will be facilitated by Dr. Shantu Thakurta, an Integral Wellness Consultant from Bangalore.

The workshop is being held at Agarwal Samaj, Jayanagar on March 7 from 9 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. Registrations close on March 5.

The workshop is priced at Rs. 750 (inclusive of lunch). For registrations contact 96112-26422.

For details checkwww.aspireawakening.com orwww.rajbhowmik.com.

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The Hindu :

Jaguar XF stands out for its styling that is a mix of the old and the new

Photos: Himanshu PandyaImpressive detailing The perfectly-weighted steering and the poise of the chassis keep the driver relaxed

We got our hands on the XF 2.7D that goes head to head with the Mercedes-Benz E280 CDI and BMW 530d. Later in the year, a 271bhp 3-litre V6 diesel is likely to be introduced.

Driving the XF on Indian roads puts it in the right perspective and answers (if a bit prematurely) all the questions owners would ask. How does it drive over potholed roads? Is the ground clearance enough? Is it comfortable at the back? This import we drove for a good two days on Mumbai’s roads may not have the final spec of the showroom cars but gave a good indication of what to expect.

Against the backdrop of Mumbai’s car park which is dotted with economical hatches at one end and a sprinkling of Japanese and European luxury cars at the other, the XF stood out like a million bucks. The styling, under the direction of Ian Callum, is simply beautiful and a breath of fresh air after the functional and simpler lines of Mercs and Audis. There’s lots of historical influence in the XF such as the aluminium window surrounds, a throwback to the 1959 Jag MkII, or the distinctive mesh-cored oval grille that is influenced by the original XJ of 1968.Graceful look

The ‘power bulge’ on the bonnet is inspired by the E-Type and looks brilliant even from inside the car. Indian buyers may not recognise these historical cues but what’s clear is how well the designers have blended the old with the new to fashion a shape that will remain timeless. The coupé-like roofline adds to the grace of the car (but not to the headroom) and the overall poise of this Jag…More

The Hindu :

There’s no harm in being in tune with your emotions and dress accordingly

Feeling blue? Wear your emotion on your sleeve

Yesterday you dressed up nattily flaunting that favourite lacy dress of yours that turned heads on the campus. But today it’s a different tale. The splash of bright hues in your wardrobe is no longer an attraction and you robotically reach outto a pair of washed-out jeans and a casual T-shirt. Mood swings?

Welcome to the world of ‘mood dressers’, a tribe that wears its mood on its sleeve. “Choosing the right colour basically turns an otherwise ‘yeh, that looks good’ into a jaw dropping…‘that looks amazing on you!’. But one must be in the right mood to dress up right,” says Abhishek, a medical transcriptionist. Your way of dressing also largely depends on your surroundings. “It would be difficult to feel you are a ‘natty’ (neat and tidy) dresser in a room that is ‘gnatty’ (filled with gnats),” he chuckles dropping broad hints on how he hates to be part of a badly dressed crowd.

“Ooh…that chick is totally a mood dresser. Yesterday she was wearing orange, today it is purple and she looks pretty sad,” whispers someone as you walk past a crowd, making you wonder if the accuracy of the interpretation is the result of a specialised course in mood-gauging expertise.

If you have not taken inventory of your closet lately and are living gleefully in a fashion rut, you clearly need to introduce some different colours into your wardrobe that will reflect your day-to-day moods. Unless your mother is still dressing you or you are a slave to following the latest fashion colour trends, what’s the harm in being in-tune with your emotions and dress accordingly? Do you feel pink today? Or, do you feel blue?

“That’s true. Some days I want to dress corporately and other days I want to…More

The Hindu :

High in water content and low in calories, watermelons are a must-have to beat baking afternoons

Photo: D. GopalakrishnanSUMMER MUST-HAVE Watermelon is mostly water

“When one has tasted it (watermelon), he knows what the angels eat. It was not a southern watermelon that Eve took; we know this because she repented.”

Mark Twain

Watermelons and Indian summers are made for each other. The ice-cold, reddish-pink inside of a chilled watermelon is the perfect antidote to a baking hot afternoon. The original wild fruit, discovered in the pharaohs’ tombs and still found growing in sub-Saharan Africa, is Lilliputian compared with the Brobdingnagian hybrids common worldwide. China grows most of the world’s watermelons.

Food uses: The fruit flesh, rind, seeds, tender leaves, and flowers are all edible. The fruit flesh is eaten out-of-hand, juiced or turned into ice cream. The Russians boil the juice down into molasses-like syrup and even make beer from it. The people of Namibia make an alcoholic drink from the fruit. In Africa, the dried rind is eaten cooked. Pickled rind is a snack in the southern US. Powdered dried seeds are a tenderiser and spice in Indian cooking. Flour from the seeds add nutrition to cereal flours in Africa and is a good soup base. Fried or steamed seeds are a common street food in southern Africa. Seed oil is suitable for frying and as a salad oil. The tender leaves and shoots are edible as vegetables, added to curries and soups or dressed as a salad. The flowers are edible when fried in butter.

Nutrition: The watermelon is mostly water, sugar and some vitamins. One can gorge on it without worrying about calories. Hundred grams of the fruit flesh contains 91 gm of water, 30 calories from six gram of sugar, and small amounts of Vitamin C, B Vitamins and carotene. Lycopene, an antioxidant pigment, gives the fruit its colour. Red fruit…More

The Hindu : y>None can know Kabir better than me, challenges the fervently intense musician Fareeduddin Ayaz from Karachi. He takes DEEPA GANESHthrough his trance of Kabir and his music

Photo: Murali Kumar K.MUSICAL MAVERICK Fareeduddin Ayaz: ‘We are on a journey of love and tolerance’

If you are looking for straightforward responses that come well-packaged, you are talking to the wrong person. Fareeduddin Ayaz, the incredible musician from Karachi who was in Bangalore for the Kabir Festival, pushes boundaries — literally andmetaphorically. On walking into the wide open doors of his room, catching his I-knew-you-were-coming look, if you are confounded: “My father used to say, two doors never close. Ek Allah ke ghar ka, aur doosra Fareeduddin ka…,” he guffaws, and makes space amongst a pile of pillows, paan ka dibba, water bottles, channa, a diary, his kurta, and other things strewn around him as if for moral support and sheer subsistence.

Storyteller

If this madly passionate qawwal is not singing, he’s telling you stories. Rich in metaphor and folk idiom, the stories invariably lead you onto something very profound. For instance, take the story of the five blind men trying to figure out what an elephant is. “Even when you put together all these five perceptions, it doesn’t make for the elephant. That’s true of Kabir as well. Everybody tries to fit Kabir into their idea of him,” he retorts. “I am not ready to compromise on Kabir. I know him from very close, just the way he is,” adds the maverick, who has master’s degrees in political science, Islamic ideology, and economics. “One fine day, I began to wonder if that certificate was me or I was the certificate. Both were not true. I tore them up,” he goes into a trance chanting, “Allah, Allah…”.

A magnificent imagination woven with an austere spirituality — Fareeduddin Ayaz’s music is full of unexpected moments; deeply intuitive. As…More