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

My budget allows me tochoose between an Alto and an Estilo. While I like the Estilo, I do not see many of them on our roads. Is it because it is a problematic car? What are the drawbacks of owning one? Does it have good resale value? Should I opt for an Alto instead?

Sowmya Natarajan

The only reason we can think of for you not seeing many Estilos on the road is because of the Wagon R. Both the Estilo and the Wagon R are practically the same car that’s designed differently. The Wagon R offers more interior space for a marginally higher price, hence many do not opt for the Estilo. The Estilo is not a problematic car as such, but we recommend you purchase a Wagon R for the reason mentioned above.I want to buy either a new diesel Maruti Suzuki Swift VDi or a new diesel Maruti Suzuki Ritz VDi. I will drive the car for 100km in the city and on the highway almost every week. Driving comfort is important; performance comes second. Money is not a constraint. Kindly suggest which of the two would be better for me.

Chakravarthi

As you prefer ride comfort more than performance, we suggest you go for the Ritz VDi. The Ritz is a more comfortable car to drive but the Swift has a upper hand with regard to performance.I am want to buy a Maruti Wagon R. My only doubt is, Maruti Suzuki declared that 800 and Omni will be phased out from 11 major cities. Why only 800 and Omni? Why not Alto and Wagon R, as these cars are powered by F Series engines having Bharat BS3 emission norms?

D. Subbaiah

We cannot rule out the phasing out of the Alto and Wagon R, but the fact that both car are still being sold in the market…More

The Hindu : y>

Photo: G.P. Sampath KumarGourmet calling: Check out the new menu at Mocha

Mocha on Lavell road has launched a new power lunch menu which provides a two-course meal for Rs. 175, a three-course meal for Rs. 250 and a four-course meal for Rs.300.

The meals shall provide a wide set of options and allow patrons to customise their lunch with nourishing meals.

Start the meal with the curried Washington apple soup, a clear sweet apple-based soup or opt for some refreshing and tangy spiced lemon and basic veloute or choose the simple tomato soup with chopped spaghetti – Tomatolino. They could pick the light crumbed cottage cheese and roma salad, a salad dressed with vinegar or the warm pepper and chickpea salad, a salad dressed with honey and mustard from the salad menu.

There is also the Asian wok tossed salad, an oriented salad of sprouts, mushrooms and capsicums with honey dressing and garnished with lemon grass. Customers can also create pastas with penne or spaghetti. Finish the meal with some luscious desserts.

<FONT …More

The Hindu :

General Motors launches an LPG version of Spark

General Motors’ India operations arenot affected by what has happened to the parent company in the U.S. and I can assure you that our business in India is as usual and we are proud the way things are going on here for us,” said the president and general manager of the company,Karl Slym. GM India has proved this by launching an eco-friendly LPG version (on account of lesser emission) of its Spark recently. This is also to claim a pie of the growing small car segment in India. With the rising traffic jams in the country, more and more people areswitching to smaller cars that are easier to manoeuvre, and every car manufacturer is trying to make the most of it by launching new models of small cars with added features. And so has GM India.

The company, which in the last 12 years of its operations in India, invested nearly Rs. 5,000 crore here and made its presence felt with cars such as the Captiva, Tavera and the U-VA.Fuel-efficient

The new Spark, which has the options of both petrol and LPG, is quite fuel-efficient. Spark LPG is fitted with the next generation sequential injection-type kit which in terms of technology is the latest and far superior to the venture-type LPG kit used by other manufacturers, claims the company.

What looks interesting is that the gas kit is fixed in the cavity of the spare wheel without compromising on space unlike other cars where a big cylinder is kept in the boot thus eating into the boot space.It has a capacity of 26 kg of LPG that gives a mileage of 350 km. Besides, it has a 40-litre petrol tank in case you run short of gas.

The new sequential technology also helps you todifferentiate the power outputof petrol and gas. The engine does not suffer…More

The Hindu : y>Axel Meyer, the head of design at Nokia has worked on every N Series handset. He talks to Deepa Kurup about his Eureka moments while designing his pet project, the Nokia N97

Changing the face of human interaction Axel Meyer with his revolutionary N 97

Three hours into media interactions and presentations and this livewire Latin American is ready to dive right into his next interview. After all, it isn’t every day that a behind-the-scenes designer gets to express his love for his pet project,the much-talked-about Nokia N97 in this case.

Axel Meyer, currently the head of design at Nokia, has worked on every N Series product released by the Finnish global communications giant. Meyer says he can’t keep his hands off his creation.Perfect design

Being part of creating an object or device that has changed the face of human interactions, he says is not just about the product. “In many ways, we really are the voice of society. I believe what marketers were to the 21st century, designers are to the present — revolutionising the way we see the world, not as markets but as people.”

He throws his hands up in the air with excitement when asked about his eureka moments with his latest gadget. “So many! But the best one was when we hit upon that perfect design, one that doesn’t flip or slide open horizontally, but slides out at the perfect angle.”

Stumbling upon this “perfect interface” and enabling people to personalise or modify their home screen, he says, were the high points.

Another significant addition is ‘gesture control’, which Meyer claims will be the DNA of mobile phones in the future.“For years my grand mom has had to bang furiously at the snooze button. Gesture control incorporates something natural like turning the phone over to snooze or even cut calls,” he says .The works

It isn’t surprising that the designer is all…More

The Hindu :

Here are little kids with big musical dreams, waiting to be discovered. Meet them in Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L’il Champs’ new season

Raring to go! Some of the participants at the latest edition of the show with playback singers Alka Yagnik and Abhijeet

Kids are ruling the roost on television. Every channel is relying on the little ones to boost its ratings.

After Star’s “Mummy Ke Superstars” and Colors’ “Chhote Miyan Bade Miyan”, Zee TV, which has recently regained the number two slot in TAM ratings, has come up with a new season of “Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L’il Champs.”

The 12 finalists have come through some stiff competition as 50,000 contestants turned up for auditions in nine cities across India.

The six girls and six boys have been divided into two groups — the girls’ teamselected by Alka Yagnik and the boys’ by Abhijeet Bhattacharya.

Innocence has changed its definition over the generations, but these pintsize powerhouses certainly pack a punch. Diksha Sharma from Sirsa wants to be Daksh Sharma after undergoing a sex change operation and the channel claims she has got her parents’ support.

Eleven-year-old Siddhesh Jagtap is suffering from short-term memory loss, something like Aamir’s Khan’s character in “Ghajini”. In fact, the participant has been advised to pursue music to recover from the ailment.Making big moves

Farha Naaz, 12, from Lucknow says, “Initially my family opposed my singing but later they recognised my talent and shifted from Urai to Lucknow. Now, I am confident of making it big. I have just started taking formal training. I am inspired by Lataji.”

Yatharth Ratnum from Varanasi proudly says, “I secured 98 per cent marks in class VII. When other children watch cartoons and play video games I do my riyaaz. I am quite confident of winning this year’s trophy. I idolise Kishore Kumar and Sonu Nigam.”

Abhijit Srivastava, who has come all…More

The Hindu : C.K. MEENA

How careful are you, or must you be when it comes to reusing plastic? Can we be careful enough? Does it matter?

Photo: C.v. Subrahmanyambottle up your worries Or you may have one too many

If you’d been an ant on the kitchen shelf of a certain first-floor flat in the city last week, you’d have seen a grey-haired woman doing strange things to plastic water bottles. She upends one, holds it against the light, squints at a number embossed on its bottom, and turns pale with horror. One by one she upturns six bottles and sees the same mysterious number: 7. She knows she is a marked woman. She is racing against time.

Okay, I’ll stop talking like a cheap thriller and give you the lowdown on the 7. It’s supposed to be the “recycling number” of plastic that contains the polycarbonate with the component Bisphenol A (BPA), a toxic chemical additive. Last month a Harvard Medical School study revealed that BPA seeps from container to contents, and thence into our system. The common, hard plastic bottles used for water and beverages were found guilty. Now, this came as no surprise, since over 100 scientific studies have already dwelt on the hazards of BPA, and they’ve been reported in the western press. Last year, for example, the Wise One had forwarded an article to me that described BPA’s ill-effects in loving detail. He began to talk vaguely of steel jugs and steel water filters. But we’ve been dragging our feet for many months. We continue to store water in plastic.

Not for long, I hope. Last week, I re-visited the subject. Summary of my e-search: BPA lowers sperm count, causes prostate cancer, breast cancer and uterine fibroids. Higher levels can cause severe developmental problems in children and diabetes and cardiovascular disease in adults. Those who brought out the recent Harvard study are…More

The Hindu :

Better features and more pizzazz for almost the same price make the new Pulsar 180 DTS-i an interesting alternative to smaller 150cc bikes

The Pulsar 180 has always been the sportier sibling compared to the smaller 150. Since its launch in 2001, it’s been giving bikers access to a sporty motorcycle at an affordable price. The new 180 DTS-I has managed to lift a few eyebrows, but has it managed to do this for all the right reasons? It seems like just yesterday when we rated the Pulsars as India’s best-looking bike family. However, they are beginning to look jaded. The refreshed 180 borrows cues from the Pulsar 200, and is now shod with reassuringly fatter front forks from that sibling. What remains unchanged is the black dress code for the lower cycle parts.

A large digital speedometer takes a commanding position on the new 180’s fascia, and is surrounded by trendy Pulsar trademark digital instruments. The instrument console includes an engine redline beacon as also twin-trip gauges.

New additions

New features on the bike are sporty clip-on handlebars, with a superb set of switches. These contact-free operation switches have self-cancelling indicators. The 180 DTS-i still comes with smart, broad and functional rear view mirrors but they use ill-fitting rubber boots. The new 180 DTS-i, however, gets thumbs-up for its powerful twin horns that are useful on chaotic roads. The latest Bajaj gets new mini-tank extensions, as well as upmarket-looking raised letter decals. A neat feature is the tank pad that protects the fuel tank from getting scratched by a rider’s belt buckle. The 180 retains its flush-fitting alloy and aircraft-style fuel-filler. We found the split seat and grab-bar to be welcome new additions.

A standout feature is the ubiquitoussharp tail section as well as smart and flush-fitted LED tail and brake light strips that make this one of the best-looking tails on any bike…More

The Hindu :

Indee.tv has moved one step beyond providing reviews and opinions, to build a fine-tuned model for independent films, using the collective opinion of viewers

Voice of the people Anand Chandrasekaran

Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations? That would ring a bell to a Wikipedian. What, other than being most popular sites in their own respect, is common between Amazon, Diggand the quintessential Wikipedia? “The wisdom of crowds”, a term we hear with increasing frequency, is used to achieve collective accuracy through “crowdsourced” information. To leverage the wisdom of crowds, the task of voting, predicting or contributing information is outsourced to an open forum. The wisdom of crowds is applied in almost every field right from Piqqem that gauges the stock market to Metacritic that reviews entertainment (movies, games, music).

Indee.tv has moved one step beyond providing reviews/opinions, to build a fine-tuned model for independent films, using the wisdom of crowds. A San Francisco-based, angel-funded Web 2.0 company founded in late 2008, Indee.tv currently has the largest assemblage of independent short and feature films on the Internet. At its core, Indee offers filmmakers a collective social network, provides a low overhead distribution medium and democratises promotion through direct participation of the audience.Current Vs Indee.tv scenario

When a film is sent to the film festival circuit, it goes through certain steps: the person curating films at the festival either likes the film or, the filmmaker and his producer are able to influence the film’s acceptance at the festival. A large studio’s representative likes the film at the festival. They budget millions for marketing and release it to the public. Either the three people who made a decision on this film were right and it becomes a huge success or it fails at the box office.

Sharan Reddy

When a film is put up on…More

The Hindu :

An Idiot for Dinner had a lot to live up to, considering the film adaptation was a gem

WHAT’S FOR DINNER? The idiot?

An Idiot for Dinner”, produced by the Evam group is humorous and also deals with a wide spectrum of human relationships, ranging from pride to jealousy, anger and friendship.

The play, based on a French play by Francis Veber “Le Dîner de Cons” which was made into a film and also inspired the super successful Vinay Pathak starrer “Bheja Fry.”The play deals with a rich publisher, who takes perverse pleasure in inviting people with “different talents” for dinner and mocking them, a habit which does not find favour with his wife and immediate friends.Fishing out the loveable traits

On one such evening, his dinner plans are quashed when he sprains his back. In the meantime, his wife, irritated by his haughty behaviour decides to leave and the designated ‘Idiot’ for the day turns up.

The publisher cancels his dinner plan, but his persistent back pain forces the Idiot, who has the unique talent of creating architectural wonders like the Taj Mahal using match sticks.

After Pathak’s superb portrayal as the Idiot in “Bheja Fry”, you tend to expect much from Sarvesh Sridhar and he does not disappoint. As Golden Gopu, the Idiot, Sarvesh is masterful bringing a great deal of authenticity and depth to his character. Sarvesh is able to fish out the lovable traits of the character and is successful in getting sympathy, even in midst of the laughter that his eccentricities, on display through the course of the play, generates.Noteworthy performances

The haughty publisher, essayed by Praveen Bharadwaj is competent. Another performance worth mentioning was that of Gopu’s friend, who, with his safari suit and greasy hair, reminds one of the self important bureaucrats that we interact with regularly.

“An Idiot for Dinner” was engaging and the fact that it was…More

The Hindu : y>Toyota’s giant SUV Land Cruiser Amazon is big, built to last a lifetime and boasts amazing off-road credentials

Toyota has readied its iconic Land Cruiser SUV for launch in India. The company has decided to launch the full-fat Land Cruiser Amazon here, while retaining the smaller Prado.It is no doubt a big news for Toyota, but the company has settled for a soft launch, with dealers beginning to take orders for the car by the time this article appears. In fact, there has been quite a buzz aboutthe car, and 15 cars arebelieved to be booked.

Built on a traditional ladder chassis with the body on top, the Land Cruiser is one of the last SUVs which still adheres to this design. According to Toyota, monocoque construction cannot give the Land Cruiser true off-road ability. The fact that a body-on-frame design iseasier and cheaper to build and repair is an important consideration too, what withthe car beingsold across the world.

The Land Cruiser’s styling retains its no-nonsense slab-sided design with minimal detailing. Squared-out wheel arches, huge bumper and the thick, chrome-bound grille give this SUV immense presence, but pretty it is not. Still, it has a reputation of being solidly engineered and the styling doesconvey that impression.

The Land Cruiser will be powered by 4.5-litre V8 diesel producing 282bhp and an astonishing 66.2kgm of torque. The car is already on sale all over the world, and this engine has a reputation of being a very smooth and powerful unit, something which will appeal to Indian consumers greatly. The monster V8 diesel engine is reputed to power the Cruiser to a top speed in excess of 200kph.

The engine works in conjunction with a six-speed automatic transmission (with a manual over-ride) and full-time four-wheel drive. The torque-sensitive centre differential can vary the torque to either the front or rear axle depending on the grip available, but…More