News

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

I am planning to purchase a new car. My average drive is 100-150km a day. I am currently using Tata Indica, and have short listed Hyundai Verna, Ford Fiesta and Fiat Linea. I need your advice in choosing among the three. Which is the least expensive to maintain and offers the most comfortable ride for use on a daily basis?

S.Vasanth Kumar

The Linea Diesel is a very good looking and comfortable car, but its servicing costs may not be appealing. The Hyundai Verna may be the least expensiveto service but we feel that you should take a look at the Maruti Swift Dzire diesel. It’s comfortable, less expensive to maintain and fuel-efficient. However, you may find the rear seating a little cramped.My budget is Rs. 3 lakh. I am not able to decide whether to buy a second-hand Maruti Alto, Maruti Esteem or Hyundai Accent. What are the problems that I should look out for in buying a second-hand car? Which of the three is the easiest to maintain and gives the best mileage?

B Ramanathan

The second-hand Alto is the least expensive and easiest to maintain. We recommend you test drive the car first and check for faults in the suspension and clutch. Look for rust and accident damage. Also ask the owner for a full service history from the manufacturer or an authorised workshop.I own a Maruti 800 and looking for a new car. I travel 50 km daily, in city and on highway. I need assistance in choosing among the diesel Swift, Ritz and the Punto. Which has the best engine and offers good mileage figures? It should also seat my family of five comfortably.

Nikhil Reddy

We think the Maruti Ritz is the car for you. The car has spacious and practical interiors. Beware of small boot space though….More

The Hindu :

Ekta Chowdhary is raring to go

Photo: PTIback in form Ekta Chowdhary in a Ritu Kumar design

It takes dollops of confidence, wit and intellect, apart from beauty to win a beauty pageant. Ekta Chowdhary, Miss India Universe 2009, seems to have it all, as she proved at a fitting session with renowned fashion designer Ritu Kumar recently in Gurgaon. This is a part of her preparations for the Miss Universe contest to be held in the Bahamas later this year. Kumar has designed non-synthetic clothes with an ethnic look for Ekta, since the 22-year-old says she likes wearing saris. In a black peshwa with golden embellishments, Ekta dazzles with her smile.

“Change has happened,” she says. “Earlier I was just Ekta struggling for my dreams, but now the whole country is with me. I represent India. Now it is not just about me, it is about the people who are praying for and supporting me. I feel I can do it, but I also feel a bit under pressure.”

Ekta won the Pantaloons Femina Miss India-Universe title earlier this year in Mumbai. “I am working hard,” she says. “I am being groomed by the best from the industry and that will obviously make an impact. I am on a strict diet and have been working out regularly.” She smiles, “I was a foodie but now I can’t binge.”

Slipping into a green Calico with burgundy shades resembling a sari, Ekta, standing five feet nine-and-a-half inches and looking even more gorgeous speaks about her support system. “It was my childhood dream to win a beauty pageant. My parents were my biggest support and I am here because of them, apart from friends.”

As for competition at the big event, Ekta feels as Miss India she has an advantage. “My culture, my thinking and the multicultural homeland I represent make it my USP. Also, I represent the…More

The Hindu :

Monica Bedi’s devotional album is her way of saying thanks to the Almighty

Photo: S. SubramaniumA different tune Monica Bedi

Anyone else would have wilted under the scrutiny but not Monica Bedi. In the dock for “mistakes” committed years before, she re-emerged, determined to take stock of her life. “I’ll be truthful; people were not exactly kind when I came out of the mess I was in. But, I believe in miracles, and the miracle in my life was ‘Bigg Boss 2’,” says the actor-singer, who has come out with “Ek Onkaar”, a devotional album.

No one knew she could sing, including Monica herself. “When Universal Music approached me, I was shocked. I have never looked at anything other than acting. I am not a singer. But, they convinced me it would be more of chanting words in sur than heavy-duty singing,” she laughs. “I believe God gave me this opportunity. It helped that I was Punjabi and could relate to the album.”

Once she signed on the dotted line, she sat with those who recited the Guru Granth Sahib to ensure the pronunciation was perfect. “And, the recitation was from my heart. It was a conversation with God. You see, I have lived among such people and gone through times when we all called out to God, beseeching him to hear and help us,” she says, on a serious note.

How does she rate her effort? “I was impressed with myself,” she laughs. Impressed enough to pursue an alternative career? “Well, no. This is not an attempt to embark on a singing career. However, if this album is received well, I might take up another such assignment,” she says.

That stint with reality television continued with “Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa”, where she shook a leg. Now, she’s signed up for another reality show and a movie that will start rolling in September. Details of both are…More

The Hindu :

BEHAVIOUR Crowding, shouting, eating, allowing children to play around, the problems posed by visitors to hospitals are many. How do doctors discharge their duties under such circumstances?

Show concern But in ways that don’t interfere with patient care

Hospitals call it the Return-The-Visit-Syndrome. “He came when I was in hospital. Now that he is hospitalised, we must visit him.” The problem, say doctors, is “we” can be anything from two to twenty.

Managing visitors is now a major part of hospital administration. From simple crowding to scary assaults on doctors, hospitals prepare for all emergencies. The numbers milling around even on large campuses can be intimidating, they say. People shout, eat, throw leftovers, allow children to play around. Add to this is the cell phone menace; you get a picture of a beautifully-designed, well-equipped, modern hospital turning into a picnic spot during visiting hours.Surge of relatives

Ask Dr. Mohan Das of MIOT about visitor behaviour. “A doctor could be examining a patient, and people barge in with a ‘Hello doctor, how are you?’ Whole families arrive when a member needs treatment. One family from a suburb brought their TV set along. ‘We have to watch TV serials, doctor!’ Do we need gun-toting guys to get people into queues? Why do people think they have diplomatic immunity to hospital rules?”

Mob behaviour is a symptom of anxiety, docs admit. A factory accident, a hundred colleagues accompany the injured man. The poor doctor has to fight for space among “close” friends to examine the guy. “We do resuscitation with entire families by the bedside!” Dr. Mohandas said.

Emergency doctors and nurses have been assaulted and wheeled in for surgery. In case of DOA, it’s a lot worse.Words like, “If anything happens to my brother, you will meet with the same fate” have had hospitals call the police. “We keep explaining the dangers of infection and interference.” Visitors…More

The Hindu : y>LAUNCH A Different Spirit brings to life the relentless struggle of a Paralympic champion

Bagging over 300 medals, the Arjuna and Padma Shri Awards is not easy. And Paralympic champion Malathi K. Holla has done just that, confined to a wheel chair. The inspiring life of this sportswoman is captured in her authorised biography “A Different Spirit”, written by Anantha Krishnan M, corporate communication head of HAL.

A raging fever when she was a year old paralyzed Malathi’s entire body. Electric shock treatment helped her regain strength in her upper body, but below the waist her body remained completely weak. But nothing has stopped Malathi, who has represented India in the Paralympics, the Asian Games, World Masters, the Commonwealth Games and Open Championships in different parts of the world.

Anantha Krishnan met Malathi when on assignment during his journalism heydays and the friendship that evolved finally took shape in this book over years.

Malathi currently works as a manager with Syndicate Bank and shelters 16 children with various disabilities at Mathru Foundation — a charitable trust helping polio victims from rural areas.The book will be released today by cricketer Syed Kirmani at The Capitol Hotel at 3 p.m. The book is published by Inspired Indian, a writer’s movement to promote good writing and celebrate unsung heroes, founded by the author. Part of the proceeds from the book sales will go to Mathru Foundation. The book will only be available through the websitewww.adifferentspirit.com.

<FONT …More

The Hindu : y>PHOTOGRAPHY When did you last see a photo film roll? Or are all your ‘family albums’ a folder on your laptop? BHUMIKA K. finds that many have crossed over to the comfort zone of the digital world

PHOTO: SAMPATH KUMAR G.P.FADING OUT Film-based photography quietly but steadily bows out in the days of digital

A toothy baby grin in black-and-white, friends ganged up at the 13th birthday bash, graduation, the glowing newly-wedded couple, grandma’s 80th birthday — just some of the photographs you perhaps treasure, tucked away in some musty albumin a corner of the house. But it is there, isn’t it? Waiting always, to be whipped out in moments of nostalgia or on a boring rainy day when you can’t go anywhere else but the past.

But what do most of us generally end up doing today? Click on the mobile camera or the digital thingummy, download it to the laptop (or the office system), make a few prints, burn it on a CD and hope it won’t get scratched over time? Or upload on Facebook, post a link to friends for an online album. Does it give the same feeling as touching that grainy picture yellowing with age and neglect?

As much as we need to move on and keep up with the technology of the times, there is something perhaps amiss in our approach to photographs and photography. Something about the obscurity of the roll that calls for a bit of mourning. Recently Eastman Kodak Co. announced that it will discontinue manufacturing its iconic Kodachrome colour film this year due to tumbling sales, as photographers embrace newer digital imaging technology. It had been around since 1935 — the first commercially successful colour film brand. If more film producing companies decide to stop manufacture, film rolls may be seen only in museums.

While there are some who have made the smooth and successful…More

The Hindu :

PASSIONS Neetu Nichani discovered her talent in make-up by accident and is loving it

Here come the brides Neetu (top left) believes make up should enhance features

Neetu Nichani discovered that she has the talent to become a make-up artiste by accident. “I realised my creativity in make-up during my cousin’s wedding.On animpulse Icorrected her make up. She was light skinned and the blush placement waswrong and her lipstick was spreading. I put everything in place. After seeing the result it was my mother who pushed me into the art of make up,I got into a beauty school and did a cosmetology course in the US,” recalls Neetu.

That was not all. Sheparticipated in contests and landed up as the runner-up at the Sunsilk South Zone make-up artiste contest. “I gave my bride arustic look,” says Neetu. She went on to enhance her skills with artistes like Cory Walia besides working with in the fashion and the advertising world. Based in Atlanta, Neetutravels across the world andusesIndian and international products inher make-up. She is very strict abouthygiene. “As a make-up artiste you can spread fungal infections, when you use the same sponge and brush for every skin. I don’t re-use . And the brush is cleanedwith a disinfectant shampoo and then sprayed with alcohol.”

She goes on to explain how she goes about working on a face. “I retain theidentity of the person.Make-up shouldenhance the features. For the Indian skin tone we can take the peach and pink and blend in earthy tones. It looksgood on us. We need to use the right shades to enhance the best.”

Her favourite part of the make up is the kohl. “Weare really blessed to havebeautiful eyes and eye brows.Today, in the fashion world dusky skin is in . Look at Beyonce and Tyra Banks. I try and convince Indian girls not to feel conscious of theirskin tone….More

The Hindu :

RECIPE Serve your friends something unusual this week — physalis combined with pineapple and eggs

Physalis or cape gooseberry isknown as Ashwagandha in Ayurveda.A berry not so popular among the common people, it is used mostly as a garnish fruit in desserts.

When ripe, they resemble yellow cherry tomatoes and can be eaten raw or used in preserves.

Like the tomato which belongs to the same family, it bears yellow flowers.It possesses a very sweet but tart flavour making it suitable for many different dishes.

Often canned whole and preserved as jam, cape gooseberries are also sold fresh and used for sauces, pies, puddings and chutneys. Physalis grows prolifically in India and the neighbouring countries.

In Ayurveda, it is regarded as a herbthat works to normalise physiological function.

The berries are used as a substitute for rennet to coagulate milk in cheese making. Fruits, leaves and seeds of physalis have been traditionally used as an aphrodisiac and a diuretic and for treating memory loss. Physalis is a good source of vitamin A and C, beta-carotene, iron, and calcium, and contains trace amounts of B vitamins. Also, due to its high content of vitamin A, calcium and phosphorus, it reportedly helps control diabetes, clean the blood and aid in the treatment of the prostate gland.

Now, for a recipe.Pineapple Physalis Pavlova

Ingredients

Eggs: 5

Castor sugar: 225 gm

Lemon juice: 30 ml

Corn flour: 15 gm

Oil: 10 ml

Pineapple: 1

Dark chocolate: 75 gm

Physalis: 6

Granulated sugar: 75 gm

Water: 75 ml

Whipped cream: 300 ml

Method: Separate the egg whites and whisk them until thick.

Add sugar little by little and keep whisking or else it will split. Keep whisking till it forms a ribbon consistency i.e. when lifted by a ladle, the mixture should pour like a ribbon.

Mix together corn flour and lemon juice, and pour it into the egg mixture.

Whisk again gently. It will form a thick and shiny mixture.

Take a savarin mould, line it with a…More

The Hindu : y>

In memory Watch the MJ memorial on Star World

Star World will air a repeat telecast of the Michael Jackson public memorial service today at 1 p.m. The event was telecast live yesterday at 10.30 p.m. on Star World.

The event was held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Participants in the ceremony included Mariah Carey, Jennifer Hudson, John Mayer, Lionel Richie and Stevie Wonder.

Nearly 750,000 people were present in Los Angeles to pay their last respects to the King of Pop, who passed away following a cardiac arrest on June 25.

<FONT …More