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The Hindu :

A Breguet is more than just a timepiece; it’s a legacy

What do Marie Antoinette, Napoleon Bonaparte and Winston Churchill have in common? They all wore a Breguet timepiece! Known for its design of complication timepieces (any watch that shows you more than the hour, minute, seconds, day and date is a complication timepiece), Breguet has been the envy of watchmakers since its debut in 1775. Breguet, created by Abraham Louis Breguet, was acquired by Swatch in 1999.

And, Breguet’s special line ‘Tradition’ is ample proof of what the brand stands for. It straddles classic designs and avante garde styling.

Many variations

The collection that comes in 18 carat gold (white and rose gold variations are available too), has the Breguet trade mark — the fluted case band with dials in black, electroplated gold or silver gold. Each of the watches has a serial number and a secret signature. The hands are in polished steel or the Breguet blue; not to forget the power reserve indicator and the crocodile leather straps.

Says Chirstophe Viguerie, vice-president, Montres Bregue, India-Thailand: “What is interesting in the philosophy of this line is that everything is as per the standards set by Mr. Breguet.”

The Reine de Naples watches for women are set in 18 carat gold with aMother-of-pearl dial and bezel with rubies and diamonds. The beautiful bracelet is set with diamonds and rubies as well. Other high jewellery executions such as the Temple del’Amour and Reve de Plume wristwatches in 18 carat white gold with diamonds and Mother-of-pearl dials too are guaranteed to sweep a woman off her feet.

Ask him if a Breguet watch is meant to be a device or an ornament, and he says: “It is a bit of both. It’s really an expression of your personality.”

Breguet customers include those aged 25 to 30, even 50-year-olds, he says.

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The Hindu : y>

The A.R. Rahman Foundation releases Calendar 2010, featuring pictures of this musical genius. The calendar is produced by Worldlight, a subsidiary of Audio Media Education, in aid of the A.R. Rahman Foundation.

The desktop calendar also carries a number of quotes from Rahman on themes such as music, language and love. The A.R. Rahman Foundation presently provides free music education to 30 students from Corporation schools in Chennai.

These students are being trained at the K.M. Music Conservatory by a world-class faculty.

Selva Kumar, photographer, and CEO of Audio Media, has captured Rahman playing and enjoying music. For more information, visit www.arrahman.com and www.worldlight.in

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The Hindu : y>Roopa Pemmaraju is the new fashion hotline between Melbourne and Bangalore, selling saris and kaftans to the people Down Under, finds BHUMIKA K.

PHOTO:BHAGYA PRAKASH K.ASTUTE Roopa: `Indians in Australia want Indowestern wear for parties and weddings’

You’ll find a bit of Bangalore’s Yeshwantpur and a bit of Yelahanka on Australia’s beaches in the form of itsy-bitsy waif-like translucent kaftans — a hot favourite worn over the bikini.

Roopa Pemmaraju, all of 30, is making the best of two worlds — her knowledge of fabric and printing in India, and the fairly untapped Australian market when it comes to Indian design.

Having debuted in the Gen Next section of the Lakme Fashion Week 2007 (with her former design partner Kanick Raj on a label called Haldi), Roopa later took off to Australia to do her masters in fashion and textiles at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

“The course was a complete eye-opener for me on the overseas market. Sitting here I would have never understood their seasons and prints,” admits Roopa, in Bangalore recently to start off another new collection. It is difficult, she admits, to sell pink to Australians who stick fastidiously to their blacks, whites and grays.

Roopa now shuttles between the two countries, with her home studio in Bangalore. It’s here that her trusted printers in Yeshwantpur and her dependable weavers in Doddaballapur and Yelahanka make her fabric and prints that she herself designs. “I come here thrice a year, but my team is always on Skype. My manager here takes care of orders. I start a collection and they take over,” says Roopa, explaining how things have been working.

The clientele for her eponymous label of beachwear, eveningwear and casual wear is largely Australian. She also designs for other Australian labels that buy her designs and sell them under their own name. They even give her themes, such as Valentine’s Day, to work…More

The Hindu :

Bina Rai, Pradeep Kumar, Veena, Helen

This film comes with a bouquet of memories, of the time when love was gentle and leisurely, and time allowed you the luxury of a free expression of emotion. Being in love did not necessarily mean shouting from the rooftopor wiggling your hips, just a feather touch would do. That was the time when director M. Sadiq came up with “Taj Mahal”, starring the beautifully sculpted Bina Rai, who did a handful of films after this one, before becoming Mrs. Prem Nath. And Pradeep Kumar was a regular on the period film circuit. It was a timeless love story, and right up the sleeve of the inimitable Sahir Ludhianvi, who inverted the very notion of art with his lyrics here. The art and the artiste merged, with the art stemming from the angst of the artiste.

Sahir himself had been in a relationship twice, both not quite culminating the way he would have liked. Here he has used all the emotions of a lover’s heart, of a heart that has experienced the joy of union, albeit fleeting, the longing of being one with the beloved, and the ache of separation. His words provide life and blood to the film. If “Taj Mahal”, narrating the love story of prince Khurram and Arjumand Bano — later Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal — against the backdrop of court politics merits a rewind, it is purely because of Sahir’s heart-wrenching lyrics and Roshan’s soothing music which drew from classical nuances with a rich foray of Indian instruments.

Used pretty early in the film, Sahir’s very first song, “Jo baat tujh mein hai teri tasveer mein nahin”, reveals the anxiety, the passion of a love-lorn man. “Rangon mein tera aks dhala, tu na dhal saki” could not have come from the pen of a man who had known no sorrow. “Sanso ki…More

The Hindu : y>Cocktails and heritage recipes to give you a seasonal high at Mynt

Mynt, the 24-hour coffee shop located at the Taj West End and Bacardi are celebrating the holiday season by serving a range of delightful cocktails.The fest is on till December 30 and will see Mynt transformed as it harks back to the past, showcasing the best of dishes and cocktails from history. The chef will recreate many heritage recipes from the hotel’s kitchens. The food menu will feature many signature dishes like roast duck with orange sauce, coconut rice and ball curry, and country captain conjured from juicy lamb chops. The food menu also comprises delicacies such as prawn cocktail salad, pomfret almondine (fish fillet served with mash potatoes and butter), chicken a la king etc. The vegetarian section includes dishes such as mushroom on toast, vegetable fantasy, crumb fried spinach and cheese stuffed patty etc.

Meanwhile, bartenders at the Taj will whip up some special Bacardi cocktails such as the Mary Pick Ford, Blood and Sand with Dewars’ and Martini Rosso. For more information and reservations, call 66605660.

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The Hindu : y>Get innovative, and bag an all-expense paid trip to an American university

Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA) and the Universtiy of Dayton, Ohio, launch the ‘Mindful Leadership Competition — 2010′, the third annual national-level competition for undergraduate and graduate students. The topic is ‘Innovating for a Sustainable World — the moral challenge for young leaders’.

The winner bags an all-expense paid trip to the University of Dayton, to take part in a programme tailored to the winner’s academic interests.

The individual can also explore study options in the U.S. The winner’s education institution will receive the Mindful Leadership Rolling Trophy. The second and third winners will bag cash and other honours.

The competition is open to full-time bonafide undergraduate and graduate students of accredited education institutes, colleges and universities.

For details and to post entries, visit http://liba.edu/mindfulleadership. The last date for submission of entries is January 17.

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The Hindu :

Combine dates with walnuts and make muffins that are irresistible

Dates have long been an important food in desert regions. and are the source of syrup, alcohol, vinegar and strong liquor.

Dates have been a staple food of the Middle East for thousands of years.

In Islamic countries, dates and milk are a traditional first meal when the sun sets during Ramadan. Dates (especially Medjool and Deglet Noor) are also cultivated in southern California in the United States.

In later times, Arabs spread dates around northern Africa and into Spain, and dates were introduced into California by the Spaniards in 1765. around Mission San Ignacio.

The fruit of the date palm is known as dates. Dry or soft, dates are eaten out-of-hand, or may be seeded and stuffed with fillings such as almonds, candied orange or lemon peel.

They can be chopped and used in a range of sweet and savoury dishes, from tajines (tagines) in Morocco to puddings, bread, cakes and other dessert items. Dates are also processed into cubes, paste, spread, syrup, (date) sugar and alcohol.

Dates have high tannin content and are used medicinally as a detersive and an astringent in intestinal troubles.

As an infusion, decoction, syrup or paste, it is administered for sore throat, colds and bronchial catarrh. and taken to relieve fever and number of other complaints. Date Palms are susceptible to a disease called Bayoud disease which is caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum.

A 100 gram portion of fresh dates is a premium source of vitamin C and supplies 230 kcal (960 kJ) of energy. Since dates contain relatively little water, they do not become much more concentrated upon drying, although the vitamin C disappears in the process.

Nutritional value

In most varieties, the sugar content of a date fruit is almost entirely of the inverted form (namely glucose and fructose), important for persons who cannot tolerate sucrose.

The human body immediately absorbs the invert…More

The Hindu :

Take control of your life before stress takes a toll on your health

In today’s world, a typical day goes something like this — waking up early, getting ready to go to work, sending the children to school, rushing to office, tea or coffee six to seven times a day, deadlines… and soon, it’s evening, time to get back home, more house work, a quick dinner and then time for bed, to catch up on a few hours of sleep.

The alarm goes off in the morning, and you drag yourself out of bed, your body craving that little extra sleep. Another day has begun.

If you are caught in this vicious circle, you need to take action.

You are going through major stress, which if left unattended, will eventually lead to dysfunction, disease and degeneration.

Common factors that cause stress

1. Physical stress: poor posture, chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction.

2. Mental: Relationship, work, emotional.3. Nutritional: Eating too little or eating too much, eating the wrong foods.

4. Chemical: All sorts of chemically-fertilised food, drugs, etc. 5. Too much sunlight.

6. Inadequate hydration. Many of my clients go through at least three to four of the above factors in their daily life. These eventually burn-out a person and lead to loss of vitality and energy.

TIPS TO REVIVAL

Identify what stresses you the most

Come up with a better life plan and find solutions

Find a practitioner who can help you combat stress.

Spend more time with Nature. Drink plenty of water.

Eat sensibly and frequently.

Be active. Do the things you like. Spend time on yourself.

S. BASU(THE WRITER IS A CSCS (NSCA), C.H.E.K. AND EXPERT TRAINER)

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The Hindu : y>

Many people who are otherwise enthusiastic gym goers hesitate to train their leg muscles, under the misconception that intense leg workouts are meant only for bodybuilders. This is not true: training of the lower body enhances the output of anabolic hormones such as human growth hormone, insulin-like growth factors and testosterone.

When combined with a proper diet, rigorous leg training will help lose fat and gain lean muscle all over the body. Exercises such as squats, power cleans, hang cleans and deadlifts increase the body’s metabolic rate. However, you need to make some effort to complete an intense leg workout, which can be quite brutal on the muscles of the lower body. You have to draw up and implement a proper exercise routine which pays attention to all areas of the body. Combine it with sufficient amount of cardiovascular training for good health.

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The Hindu : C.LAKSHMI KUMAR

Hang clean helps build total-body power and burn calories

Method

Hold a barbell with a grip slightly wider than the shoulders.

Stand up until the bar rests against the spot beneath the knees.

Your knees should be slightly bent and upper body leaning forward slightly.

In a quick, explosive motion, straighten your hips and knees while shrugging your shoulders and pulling the bar in front of you.

As the bar reaches chest level, bend the elbows so that your palms face the ceiling

Bend your hips and knees as you near the finish to ‘absorb’ the impact.

Reverse the movement.

Targeted muscles

It trains the trapezius, shoulders, gluteus, hamstrings and all four heads of the thighs.

Avoid

Rounding the back.

Keeping the knees locked throughout the exercise.

Who it benefits

It helps long jump, high jump, basketball and volleyball players.

Also helps to build total-body power and burn a lot of calories.

http://trainingmasters.wordpress.

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