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The Hindu :

Mika on being a mentor in the Star Plus reality show Music Ka Maha Muqabala

A fter stirring innumerable controversies, Mika Singh is back with a bang. All set to mentor for the first time in Star Plus’s new music reality show “Music Ka Maha Muqabala”, Mika is surely going to set the TRP’s soaring with his antics. The youngest of the Mehndi Brothers, he is a trained musician with proficiency in tabla, harmonium and guitar. The self proclaimed hardcore Punjabi, Mika has seen stupendous success as a pop artist with platinum sellers like “Gabru”, “Something Something” and “Sawan Mein Lag Gayi Aag”. After winning a million hearts with his pop-bhangra music, Mika now is a playback singer as well with hits to his credit like “Mauja Mauja”, “Ganpat”, “Oye Lucky Lucky Oye”, “Singh is King” and many more.

In the Capital to select the final member of his team ‘Blasters’, the crowd puller Mika talks about reality shows and not Rakhi Sawant.

You have done so many reality shows before this one. What about them excites you so much?

Reality shows are hot these days. Everyone loves to criticise them but most of them love watching these shows. Look at Shreya Ghoshal or Toshi. Look where they have reached. Such shows give people the hope of making it to Bollywood without even struggling in Mumbai. Had these shows not been there, people would probably never get a chance to test their talent. They transform new artists into stars over night. For me, it is a chance to let your fans see the real you.

With a barrage of music reality shows on TV, how is “Music ka Maha Muqabala” different?

This show has me! On a serious note, for the first time the mentors will also compete and prove their worth to the audience. The format is unforgiving. Each team will only have one chance to…More

The Hindu :

The Flambé food festival at Ambrosia offers sizzling fare

Warming up Just what the doctor ordered to beat the winter blues

A s the mercury dips in Bangalore this December, the Flambé food festival at the recently-opened Ambrosia restaurant offers a fun way to enjoy a cosy evening with some sizzling fare.

Flambé is a cooking procedure in which alcohol is added to a hot pan to create a burst of flames. If you’re wondering if this is yet another sizzler joint in town, hold that thought. Joints such as Kobe’s (in Garuda Mall) adopt a pan-Asian approach where the dish is cooked on a hot iron until it sizzles.

In the case of flambé, the dish is cooked in alcohol (typically cognac or brandy) in a hot pan and served immediately. At Ambrosia, the dish is made on a mobile counter right by your table, creating quite the spectacle when the flames leap out towards the ceiling.

We started off by sampling the threaded baby corn, a lovely little dish with deep fried corn wrapped in wonton sheets.

Next, we tried their Gamberoni Al Ajillo, a scrumptious jumbo prawn starter that reminded us of tapas.

Eager to get on with the flambé dishes, we quickly moved on to the main course.

We first tried the classic beef burgundy (Boeuf à la Bourguignonne), stewed in red wine and flavoured with pepper, garlic, baby onions and cream. The dish was flamed with brandy and served promptly at our table with a helping of rice as a side. The cubes were slightly chewy, but the overall flavour of the gravy was fairly good.

Next, we tried the salmon fillet, which was marinated, pan fried and briefly flamed with brandy just before serving with a side of bearnaise sauce. This hit the spot, retaining the natural flavours combined with simple seasoning and subtle lingering flavour of the brandy. If you like fish,…More

The Hindu : y>As the first decade of the millennium draws to a close, designers talk to NEETI SARKAR about the city’s style revolution

Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.Welcome to paradise city Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty!

Coco Chanel once said,”Fashion is not somethingthat exists in dresses only.Fashion is in the sky, in thestreet; fashion has to do withideas, the way we live, what ishappening.” With the passing oftime, fashion has invariably becomeone of the factors that definea person. Fashion trends, aswe know, are of a cyclical nature.What is in today, is out tomorrow.Bangalore has in factchronicled fashion at its bestover the decade and ace designersacross the city vouch that thefashion scene in the city has trulycome of age.

Designer Neetu Gupta observes:”There has been ever increasingexposure, knowledgeand understanding of fashion inBangalore. We have moved awayfrom traditional dressing. Casualchic best defines the Bangaloreanwho is clearly comfortablein their skin.”

As Manoviraj Khosla sees it:”The fashion scene in Bangaloreover the last ten years has beenpeppered with leading designersfrom Sanchita Ajjampur, JasonAnshu, Raj Shroff and HimanshuMalik to Deepika Govind,Prasad Bidapa and myself toname a few.”

Distinctive achievements

Style guru Prasad Bidapathinks “During the past decadethe fashion scene in Bangalorehas been marked by rather distinctiveachievements.

“What Folio started as a designermovement in Bangaloreculminated in spectacular retailexplosion in the city with storeslike Louis Vuitton, Gaultier andPaul Smith joining many othersin offering Bangaloreans highfashion.

“Evoluzione, Abraham & Thakore,Pratap and major Indiandesigners found Bangalore aworthwhile destination. MGBrands launched The Collective,a progressive men’s store with asuperb collection of cutting edgedesigners from around theworld. From Versace & Armanito Rohit Bal and Cue, they are allavailable in Bangalore now,” heelucidates.

The economic slowdown sureimpacted the fashion industry inthe last year and a half but Prasadthinks “the mega discountsales across town made for abuoyant season in terms of volumeif not in terms of profit.”

About how Bangaloreanshave evolved as fashion consciouspeople Manoviraj comments:”Undoubtedly,Bangaloreans are fashion conscious.What cannot be ignoredis that they…More

The Hindu :

Nagaland showcased the best of its culture at the recent Hornbill Festival

Photos: PTIVistas Facets of the Hornbill Festival in Kohima

December spells out revelry for Nagas. It is not just Christmas alone. Just the other day, as the 16 major tribes and various other sub-tribes gathered in full force at the picturesque Naga heritage village, Kisama, 12kms from Kohima, donning their traditional finery, the scene looked a bit surreal. The land of festivals was celebrating the annual Hornbill Festival organised by the State government of Nagaland. The festival, held in the first week of every December, was a veritable showcase of Naga life — it’s past and present. We bring you here specks of its different aspects.

A peek at culture

W ith tourism and preservation of Naga culture as the top-most agenda of this annual affair, the Morung’s exhibition is central to the festival. At the Naga heritage village, the morungs of 16 different Naga tribes — Sema, Lotha, Ao, Konyaks, etc — were replicated in the same way “as per the inhabited areas of Nagaland. So, a viewer is being taken to the actual tribal belts,” as put by Khekiye K. Sema, commissioner and secretary, Nagaland. The morungs, the traditional Naga bachelors’ dormitories in Nagaland, served various purposes like guard houses, recreational clubs and education and art centres. At the entrance of Angamis’ ‘Kidi’, men in their traditional costume — black skirt with shells embroidered on it, the headgear ‘Tsilla’ made of bamboo and birds’ feathers, carrying spears performed the stone-pulling ceremony singing “Ha ho”. The stone-pulling ceremony is a part of “Sekrenyi”, an important Angami festival celebrated in February with its aim being purification of men.

“We don’t have a morung but a ‘Kidi’ which would be built by a powerful family only after it gave a feast of merit to the villagers. You won’t find any other tribesmen in these…More

The Hindu : y>

Delightful bites The new kid in the fast food stakes

B urgerMan, a burger chain was launched in Bangalore recently after a successful run in Chennai. The chain offers a variety of flavours in burgers and hot dogs, and incorporates vegetarian and non-vegetarian options. The chain has an outlet at the Big Bazaar store in Koramanagala and will be launching 22 new outlets across the city this month.

The chain is the brainchild of Sunil Cherian, the MD of the firm. Cherian hopes that Burgerman will also be very popular and provide competition to international fast food joints like Mc Donald’s.

Burgerman has also launched the Indian Institute of Kiosk Management (IIKM), an institute that helps differently abled people take up entrepreneurship, with a six month diploma at IIKM. The company is undertaking this project in collaboration with Enable India.

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The Hindu :

Martin Hentschel’s talk on Sigmar Polke’s work was illuminating

Photo: Murali Kumar K.Making a point Martin Hentschel: ‘The raster dot is an important form of expression in Polke’s work’

I n the course of the exhibition of select paintings by Sigmar Polke at the Max Mueller Bhavan in the city, a lecture on his paintings was also held. Martin Hentschel, Director of the Art Museums of Krefeld, Germany gave a lecture on “Raster Dots and Misprints, the metamorphosis of Sigmar Polke’s painting.”

Hentschel talked about the relevance of misprints and raster dots in the paintings of Sigmar Polke.

He said, “The raster dot is an important form of expression in Polke’s work. It has been used to showcase his political stance on a range of issues. In many ways, the dots also reassemble the reception of a TV screen, which does not show any picture. If you look at the dots closely, and then look away, it will seem like a grain-filled television screen coming to life with pictures on offer.”

“The beauty of his work lies in the fact that he manages to bring to life images that form part of our contemporary culture. Popular advertising symbols, typographical errors in the print media and important political events are often the subject of his pieces, with liberal use of raster dots and symbols. Moreover, the paintings could be very expressive and abstract at the same time.”

On the exhibition “Sigma Polke – Music from an Unknown Source”, which features a set of Polke’s paintings from 1996, Hentschel contends, “He has used many colours in these paintings.

“The use of watercolours is also seen on a fairly large scale. Unlike many of his earlier paintings, where his politics played a vital role, he has focused mainly on vestiges of regular family life and also includes many of his earlier images featuring daily life events and incidents.”

Hentschel concluded, “Polke…More