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The Hindu :

A DOSE OF QUIET At the Whispering Palms Lake Resort

WHISPERING PALMS LAKE RESORT

KUMARAKOM

USP: Breeze unlimited

K umarakom has been a favourite holiday choice of many including former Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee. Whispering Palms Lake Resort of the Abad Group on the side of the seemingly never-ending Vembanad Lake is tailor-made for the urbanite who yearns for quiet, yet fancies the pleasures of the city. As you drive in, the narrow roads, small shops and cattle chewing cud give way to a manicured drive-in, a spacious lobby that tempts you to eschew the comfortable chairs for the parapet on all sides where the breeze lulls you to sleep. And the lake? You wonder whether it’s the sea, for it goes on and on.

The cottages are well-built with bathrooms that have netted roofs that open to the sky and have bathtubs. The verandah that faces the lake is the right place to relax with a book. One does not feel like being indoors, with the outdoors so full of life and Nature. Flamingos, geese, ducks and wild fowl frequent the lagoon.

There are 12 lake-facing cottages, 36 lagoon- and garden-facing ones, bamboo villas, three of which have private pools. There are two suites. All are air-conditioned.

At the multi-cuisine restaurant, opt for the mouth-watering Kerala dishes such as the fresh fish curries and crispy fried prawns.

Houseboats are lined up on the lake. And should you wish to go fishing, you can, with a fishing line, of course, not on the boat, but from the banks of the lake! There is a big pool to swim in a few feet awayfrom the lake. The ayurvedic rejuvenation centre, health club, conference hall and travel desk are the additional facilities.

Tariff

(including breakfast, lunch and dinner)

Lake facing cottages cost Rs. 8,500, lagoon/garden facing cottages cost Rs. 7,500, bamboo villas with pools and suites cost Rs. 12,500.

There is a special…More

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Mashaal presents a humorous play in Hindi “Bechaara Maara Gaya” adapted from Dario Fo’s “Accidental Death of an Anarchist”.

The tickets are priced at Rs.100

Venue: K.H. Kala Soudha, Hanumantanagar

Date: March 6 and 7

Time: 7.30 p.m.

Contact: 9739096270

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The Hindu :

The camera seems to be the protagonist in Dibakar Banerjee’s offbeat film, Love Sex Aur Dhokha

The intention to show sex in the film is not to titillate; it is merely reality

Getting experimental Dibakar Banerjee

How does a director react when he is told by the focus group at his film’s trial screening that it hardly looks like a film? Or that the camera is shaking way too much? Or, horror of horrors, that it looks amateur? If that director is Dibakar Banerjee, he says, “Exactly”. “Love Sex Aur Dhokha” ( LSD), the director’s third film after “Khosla Ka Ghosla” ( KKG) and “Oye Lucky Lucky Oye” ( OLLO), is scheduled to release on March 19. Asked to describe his film, Dibakar says, “I wanted it to be all of the above. It is an ‘unfilm’ to coin a new term; something like the undead. I think it will be a jolting experience for many. It will provoke you to sit up and think.”

“LSD” is not your regular run-of-the-mill film. It follows three different stories on a digicam. The first is about a student making a diploma film, the second is a love story seen through the CCTV in a shop and the third is a sting journalist’s story via his spycam. Obviously, there are no niceties expected when a live camera is following you. In Dibakar’s words, “when there is violence, it is graphic violence; when there is sex, there is graphic sex.” Of course, with the caveat that the censor lets it pass. The film is on the censor table right now and all the director is hoping for is wisdom to prevail. “The intention to show sex in the film is not to titillate; it’s merely reality. We’ll take our chances with the Censor Board and I think they should be able to see the sincerity of our effort,”…More

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Watch a comedy play “God” written by Woody Allen and directed by Daniel and presented by Cult.

Tickets are priced at Rs. 150

Venue: Alliance Francaise

Date: March 6

Time: 3.30 p.m. and 7.30 p.m.

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The Hindu :

People with a sunnier outlook breeze through life with a smile

BUILD MEMORIES Savour the world around you

Rose Theis is the consummate amateur athlete. At 46, she is an Ironman triathlete, an experienced marathoner, and a year-round bicyclist — a notable feat for a resident of Madison, Wisconsin, where the winters are no joke.

In the summer, she thinks nothing of awakening before dawn for a swim. She isn’t stopped by minor pains or driving rains.

But a school of muskies jumping upstream to spawn, a clump of magnolias spreading their flowering arms, a hot-pink sunrise looming over a glassy lake — those are pleasures worth stopping for.

Theis understands implicitly what Loyola University Chicago social psychologist Fred B. Bryant, wishes he could impart to all of us: finding joy means opening yourself up to it.

The value of taking time to appreciate positive experiences seems obvious — trite, even. Yet it’s a skill that few people have mastered. The reason is simple: We’re busy, and we have a lot on our minds.

There’ll always be other sunrises, we say to ourselves, but if we don’t hit the shower soon, we’ll never beat the traffic to work.

Under the weight of our daily responsibilities and worries, we reflexively tune out the fleeting, spontaneous events that can happen at any time, and that, if we let them, could bring us deeper joy and greater health.

. Here are 10 surefire strategies that Bryant says everyone can use to discover pleasure and satisfaction in everyday moments:

Share positive feelings

Let your children know how great it feels to spend time with them.

Tell your spouse about the compliment your boss paid you. E-mail your best friend to tell her how fondly you remember the camping trip you took last year, and include a silly picture.

Sharing happy memories and experiences with others — or even simply anticipating doing so — is one of the…More

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TAG Heuer’s Leonardo DiCaprio Limited Edition is based around the high-tech Aquaracer 500M Caliber 5 watch. Themed ‘Blue’, it conveys its aquatic lineage to great effect. The electric blue dial with the meridian line effect, epoxy-coated blue bezel and a blue rubber strap pairs well with the sporty-looking diver’s case. The bracelet comes with diving extensions and there’s an automatic helium escape valve that makes it water-resistant up to 500 metres.

Rs. 1,28,000, www.tagheuer.com

© T3 magazine

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The Hindu : y>

Thundering Thai Sample the best food from Thailand

The Crowne Plaza, Electronic City, is hosting a Thai Food festival. The festival is on till March 12. It will showcase a range of dishes prepared by traditional Thai chefs, Darunee Loaarun and Jumpa Promnok from Thailand.

The dishes will be spread over a scrumptious lunch buffet and an extensive a la carte dinner menu. Chef Jumpa Promnok and Chef Darunee Loaarun say, “We plan to showcase a range of specialties such as the Gai Phad Medmamoung and Pla sam Ros .”

For information, call 30030303.

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The Hindu : y>

Trust Harry Winston to craft a timepiece as stunning as the Midnight Minute Repeater. It chimes in three distinct tones to indicate the time; the low pitch (bong) for hours, alternating low and high (bing-bong) for quarter hours and high pitch (bing) for minutes. The hollowed out window on the dial shows the hammers in action. A limited run of 80 pieces – 40 in rose gold and another 40 in white. Expect the price to be equally exclusive.

Price on request, www.harrywinston.com

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The Hindu : MUKUND PADMANABHAN

It would be a far better strategy if attempts at pairing were directed at complementing wines with short-eats

Can Indian food be paired with wine? A slew of wine experts and expert chefs seem to think so and, heck, they ought to know. But every time I read someone waxing about how the nicely integrated oak of a buttery Chardonnay from Sonoma complements the creamy coconut base of a Meen Moily, I can’t help shaking my head in gentle disbelief. Restaurants here and abroad will tell you otherwise, but I still find it hard to accept that we have found that match for Punjabi Kadi with Pakoras or Vendakka Poriyal.

The medley of spices in Indian dishes is not the main problem, but this poses the first challenge. Pairing is arrived at in two basic ways — by complement (a process of striving for similar flavours) and less commonly by contrast (by finding a wine that lends something extra to the dish, like an additional seasoning). Complementarity is virtually impossible to achieve when dishes are highly spiced, particularly when fortified with lots of chilli. This is why most recommendations on pairing chilli-laden dishes are based on contrast; the default option is to select chill off-dry whites, Gewurztraminers, Chenin Blancs, Rieslings made in the Alsace or German style, or, if you must, bubbly.

The contrast between spice and cold/sweet is why curry washes down well with such things as beer, coke and iced tea. If off-dry whites do just as well, it is because of this general contrast and not because, for example, the herbaceousness of a Sauvignon Blanc subtly harmonises with the coriander in some dish or another.

The bigger problem is not related to the nature of Indian food but the manner in which we eat it. Unless you are having kebabs (which is really North-Western rather than Indian), a typical desi meal…More

The Hindu : y>Three superb pieces from some of the world’s finest watch companies

FLIGHT OF THE BLACK ANGEL

Oiris’ futuristic pilot watch: The BC4 Flight Timer

Known for crafting some of the finest watches for pilots, the new BC4 Flight Timer is yet another feather in Oris’ bejewelled cap. Everything about this watch screams class with detailing that’s magnificent. Hewn from multiple pieces of stainless steel, the 43mm case flaunts a domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating for flawless legibility. Based on the reliable ETA 2836-2 movement, it is capable of showing time in three different time zones simultaneously. It also features a second horizontal crown to manipulate the compass set on a rotating ring. The black printed dial with red applied markers looks stunning, while the hands and indices are treated with Super-LumiNova for visibility in the dark. The timepiece comes in a special presentation box along with an Oris-branded compass!

Rs. 1,49,995, www.oris.ch

The details

1 pilot’s delight

Apart from showing three time zones, it also has a rotating compass scale and a date window

2 Oris special

The watch comes in a special and luxurious presentation box alongwith a branded compass

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