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The Hindu :

Photos: K. AnanthanFLAVOUR OF THE FARMAT The Banyan Tree

THE BANYAN TREESETHUMADAIUSP: Luxury in Nature’s lap

Driving away from the hustle and bustle of Coimbatore towards Pollachi, we take in the scenic beauty of the countryside — picture postcard perfect with endless greenery, streams and unpaved roads. Entering Sethumadai, a village located in the foothills of the forests of the Western Ghats, the gates of the resort emerge amidst the greenery.

The cottages here are designed with an ethnic touch and sport detailing such as earthen pots, terracotta horses and woodwork made from palm and coconut trunks in keeping with the theme. Relax on a hammock in the middle of the coconut plantation; the gentle breeze makes you lose track of time. A perfect way to complete the evening is to savour the cocktails served on request.

Adding to the farm house experience is the host, an expert cook himself, well-exposed to food preferences of international guests. Though the guests can have their choice of Chinese and Continental, the ‘must-try’ is the traditional Indian meal served with the right blend of spices. The resort specialities such as tender coconut curry, horse-gram gravy, pigeon roast and fish curry are mouth-watering.

The Banyan Tree is not just about relaxing; the wildlife safari adds adventure to the holiday. Driving through the Anaimalai Tiger Reserve nearby in an jeep with the anticipation of spotting wild animals gets your adrenaline pumping. The private waterfall located not too far from the resort is a perfect way to calm your nerves.

How to get there

The nearest airport and railhead is Coimbatore.

From Coimbatore, it takes about 90 minutes by road to the resort.

Things to do

Walks on the hillside, Nature walks, safaris, bird-watching, cycle trips, fishing, cooking classes and tribal village visits.

Tariff

A double room per day costs Rs. 4500, inclusive of all meals.

MOHITHA KALINGARAYAR AND NADISHA ROCHE

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The Hindu : y>

There is a special menu on till January 31 with strawberry creations at Sugar & Spice at Taj Residency.

Mainland China has Szechwan cuisine, priced at Rs. 750 per person (lunch and dinner). Call 66604444 for details.

* * *11th Hour, a band formed by graduates of Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) will perform at IITF5 to help the Hippocampus Reading Foundation (HRF). The event is on January 30 at Taj Residency at 7.30 p.m. Donor passes are priced at Rs. 900, Rs. 750 (adults), and Rs. 400 (for children).

* * *Professor B.K. Chandrashekhar, former minister, will inaugurate Bhumibooks Publishers. The publishing house’s first three books, “Abhivriddhiya Andha Yuga”, “Tippu Khadgada Nano Carbon”, and “Copenhagen-na Rutu Samhaara”, by Nagesh Hegde will be released.

The event is on Janauary 31 at 10.30 a.m. at the Indian Institute of World Culture, Basavanagudi.

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The Hindu : y>

Former wild child Drew Barrymore is dishing out advice for rising stars so they stay on the right path in their career. The Golden Globes winner says it is thanks to her attitude towards other people that she has been so successful, and she is urging others to do the same. “I think gratitude and not taking anything for granted is very important, where fame and work are concerned. Never assume anything and appreciate every little thing that happens. Even the hardships — you have to try to rise above them and learn from them,” says the 34-year-old. “Butmost importantly, be loving to other people and care about things other than yourself.”

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The Hindu :

Albert Sudip Bhattacharjee, an expat from Bangladesh, likes visiting lakes around the city

All smiles Albert

“I t is unbelievable how Bangalore has developed in leaps and bounds in such a short span of time,” says Albert Sudip Bhattacharjee, an expat from Bangladesh. Albert first came as a tourist to the city in early 2008.

“This is when I saw for myself that Bangalore was the education hub of the country and I decided to pursue my degree here.” A student of Business Management at the Brindavan College, Albert moved to Bangalore a year and a half ago. “It was love at first sight, so to speak because I really liked everything about Bangalore back then. The city wasn’t this crowded and was therefore quieter,” he explains.

Being a student, what worries Albert is that the cost of living in Bangalore is rather high. However, he does see the direct relationship between the development in the city and the increased cost.

Albert thinks: “Expats in Bangalore have no problem adjusting here because there is so much to do in the city. There are innumerable restaurants, each catering to the different taste buds of the people who live here. Bangalore has all the big brands and so many malls that expats would hardly ever miss home.”

It isn’t surprising that the weather is what Albert likes most about Bangalore. “The weather suits people who move into the country from almost any part of the world,” he believes.

Unlike most other expats, Albert doesn’t like the pub culture of Bangalore.

In his free time, Albert enjoys shopping, catching up on a movie and visiting lakes around the city. He plans to stay on in the city for a few more years and complete his MBA as well.

NEETI SARKAR

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The Hindu :

If you like your food unsullied by chemicals, savour the fresh taste of farm produce at this organic restaurant

Photo: K. GopinathanNURTURING NATURE The produce comes from farms that care for the earth

It’s not often that you really want to know, or rather, get to know, where the food on your plate came from. More so, when you are at a restaurant. So it’s really reassuring when you bite into silky soft paneer at Lumiere and are told it’s made of organic milk. That the tasty potato, tomato, and greens you just ate was grown without chemical fertilizer.

Lumiere gives you restaurant food that really doesn’t taste like it was made in a restaurant kitchen. Some of you may even be disappointed. Because our tastebuds have become numb to food not laced with chemicals, kept simple, and largely unprocessed. Because the gobi manchurian doesn’t look the bright orange you’re used to. The smudgy brown that it looked on my plate made me nervous. But when you eat it, you’ll actually taste the tender cauliflower under the restrained brown soy sauce it’s cooked in.

Lumiere, in Marathahalli, is trying to get people a taste of all things organic. They have an extensive a la carte menu that is sort of multicuisine (with a generous choice of seafood’ there’s also ragi mudde!). What one must appreciate is their attempt to promote the “seed to table” organic concept — a task that’s quite tricky, considering organic products are not easily and steadily available.

The veggies, milk, poultry, rice, wheat, spices, pulses and even oil are sourced from certified organic farms all over the country, says Manjunath Pankkaparambil, software engineer turned restaurateur.

A shot of emerald-green chlorophyll-rich wheatgrass juice sets the pitch rolling.

We’re told that you must be patient if you want to order from the menu, because they start preparation only after you order. Hungry that I am,…More

The Hindu : y>

Guns N’ Roses

Sweet Child O’ Mine

Written by lead vocalist Axl Rose with guitarist Slash and popular song writer Mikey Wiseman, the song may well be Guns N’ Roses greatest. From their debut album, Appetite For Destruction, the song kicks off with Slash’s awesome intro, and leads to a great vocal performance by Rose. The song was actually written in just five minutes. Starting off as joke and intended to be just a filler, the song brings together the harmony of Guns N’ Roses music as everything goes together so well. Slash’s solo towards the end is one of the most widely recognised solos in the world. It ends with smooth outro, Where do we go? Where do we go now?… a must hear.

Black Sabbath

Iron Man

The song is from the British band’s second album Paranoid. The lyrics tell the a story of a man who travels back in time to warn people about Apocalypse, and is later seen to be the very cause of it. The song kicks off with what is one of the greatest riffs ever in rock history, and Ozzy’s stunning vocals make the song a screeching tale of destruction. The song was voted No. 1 on VH1’s 40 Greatest Metal Songs

The Jimi Hendrix Experience

All Along The Watchtower

Originally written and recorded by the legendary Bob Dylan, the song has been covered by many artistes. The most notable was by The Jimi Hendrix Experience from their album Electric Ladyland. The song features a stunning solo by the lead guitarist Jimi Hendrix. The lyrics are exquisite as one can expect from Dylan.

Gnarls Barkley

Going On

Going On is the second single taken from Gnarls Barkley’s second studio album The Odd Couple. The song has an upbeat hip hop/blues style and a fast pace. It’s one of those catchy songs that get your attention, and sounds good as long…More

The Hindu : y>February

Watch an English play “Dancing on Glass” directed by Ram Ganesh Kamanathan and staged by AEIF

Venue: Ranga Shankara

Date: January 31

Contact: 26592777

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The Hindu :

Rajendra Kumar, Meena Kumari, Raaj Kumar

Between hope and despair Rajendra Kumar won a Filmfare award for Dil Ek Mandir.

W atch a heart-rending movie like “Dil Ek Mandir” and you yearn for the era when compassion and integrity were essential traits of human relations. Even today, when glamour and glitz dominate each human interaction and sacrifice and kindness are often ridiculed as afflictions of foolish mortals, “Dil Ek Mandir” enchants with its timeless story of moral courage and devotion in the face of adversity.

Released in 1963, the film was completed in record 27 days and must surely rank as a Herculean effort, considering it had three major stars of the era — Rajendra Kumar (as Dr. Dharmesh), Meena Kumari (as Sita) and Raaj Kumar (as Ram). Obviously, what made it possible was the tight script by Raj Baldev Raj and Arjun Dev Rashk based on an engrossing story by C. V. Sridhar, the director of the film. Incidentally, while Rashk received the Filmfare trophy for best dialogue, Raaj Kumar and Rajendra Kumar won honours as Best Supporting Actor and Best Popular Actor (along with an award for his stellar performance in “Sangam”) respectively.

A remake of the Tamil film, “Nenjil Ore Alayam” (1962), “Dil Ek Mandir” revolves around the tragic romance of Dr. Dharmesh and Sita.

They vow to get married after Dharmesh returns from abroad on completion of higher studies. By a quirk of fate, Sita is married to a caring businessman, Ram and accepts her new role in stoic silence. Traumatised on return by Sita’s marriage, Dharmesh dedicates his life to serving cancer patients in a far flung nursing home.

One day, unaware of Dharmesh’s whereabouts, Sita brings forth her cancer afflicted husband to the nursing home and the sudden encounter disturbs the rhythm of their lives. Petrified that Dharmesh may not provide Ram with a fair treatment, Sita wishes to take…More

The Hindu : y>February

The Au Bon Pain Soup Festival offers a wide range of vegetarian and non-vegetarian soups. The menu offers broth, cream based, bisque and Indianised shorbas to name a few.

Venue: Au Bon Pain, M.G. Road

Date: On till February 7

Phone: 25586969

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The Hindu :

Food for thought The right kind of food is the only way to a healthy future

Early start To good health

Nutrition issues deserve more attention from the public and government. In India, poor nourishment kills more people every year than wars with our neighbours ever did. Here is why nutrition, or lack of it, is a deadly serious matter in our country:

Hidden hunger: Hundreds of millions of Indians suffer from a lack of essential vitamins and minerals in the diet. These nutrients, which include Vitamin A, zinc and iodine, are vital for healthy development and immunity. Wasting: Is a severe form of malnutrition that affects millions of Indians- mostly children. . Providing nutrition to children is not expensive, but it requires a great level of political commitment .

Stunting: Is an indicator of chronic malnutrition. Tens of millions of Indian kids are short for their age by WHO standards. Stunted children are more likely to have poor brain development.

Nutrition for pregnant and lactating women: Healthy mothers give birth to healthy babies. Exclusive breastfeeding for six months, introducing age-appropriate and safe complementary foods at six months, and continuing breastfeeding for up to two years or beyond will prevent 20 per cent of deaths among children under-five.

Begin eating healthy at a younger age: Cancer, diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease represent the result of a lifetime of poor nutrition. Introduce the DASH diet to children to give them the best chance of being healthy in old age.

Obesity: Is a form of malnutrition. In India, 10-20 per cent of children under the age of five are obese. Unless reversed rapidly , this will lead to a huge rise in cases of diabetes and cardiovascular disease in the coming decades.

RAJIV. M.

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