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The Hindu : y>

Sales of supercars are slowly on the rise in India with over a 100 being sold in 2009. This is expected to grow by 15 per cent this year. According to Satya Bagla, managing director, Exclusive Motors, which is the dealer for Lamborghini and Bentley: “We are seeing a gradual increase in demand for such cars. However, the duties and taxes are still way too high.”

Our road conditions are another challenge for many of these cars since they have relatively low ground clearance.

But Bagla clarifies, “Many supercars have four-wheel-drive systems and lifting mechanisms which raise the height of the cars, allowing them to travel on poor roads as well.”

The resale value of these supercars is pretty strong since they are usually not used much and are kept in top shape. Typically, values dip by around 15 to 20 per cent during the first year.

However very few cars actually change hands and those that do come up for sale are absorbed very quickly.

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The Hindu :

Sanjeev Kapoor’s Dakshin Delights leaves out the usual culprits — idli and dosa in their most basic version

SO VERY South

By the time you’re done with reading “Dakshin Delights”, you’ll end up thanking Savithri amma, who has been weaving her magic wand over Sanjeev Kapoor’s kitchen for over 20 years now. The family cook is the reason Sanjeev, famous chef and TV cooking guru, fell in love with South Indian saapadu.

And, this book is a sort of tribute to the pleasure Sanjeev derives from the cuisine. “You always like to eat something different from what you are used to. From Savithri a mma, I learnt to appreciate the characteristic taste of the South,” says the affable chef, who achieved super stardom with his cookery show “Khana Khazana”.

Personal favourites

Most of the 66 dishes in the book are Sanjeev’s personal favourites. But, he has balanced out the book with a flavourful mix of the pungent and the mellow, the celebrated, and the delicious but not-so-popular dishes, and vegetarian (70 per cent) and non-vegetarian fare.

Happily, he’s stayed away from the regular culprits in every book on South Indian cuisine — idli, dosa and vadai; instead focussing on wonderful variations such as the spicy, pepper-and-cumin-infused Kanjeevaram idli, the coarse, or the crispy Maddur vade.“That was intentional. There are some iconic dishes, and others that are as delectable, but not found outside their place of origin. The idea was to introduce people to them,” says Sanjeev. Some recipes have been tweaked to suit Sanjeev’s taste buds. “So, if there are 50 versions of sambaar, mine’s the 51st,” he laughs. “It’s just a matter of keeping your ears and eyes open when you are in front of food. If people have been cutting vegetables a particular way for ages, there must be a reason, and you should respect that,” he says.

In addition, with his tips for things…More

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

I want to upgrade from my Tata Indigo and want you to help me choose among the Honda Civic, Corolla Altis and Chevrolet Cruze. The car will be both chauffeur-driven and self-driven. I need a driver’s car, with good acceleration and a stable ride. Annual mileage will be 20,000km. Fuel economy is not a concern, and neither is the type of fuel. I also considered the Skoda Laura, but some of my friends are quite dissatisfied with the service and high cost of parts. Please guide.

Puneet Jolly

If you’ve considered the Laura but are worried about the service, you can consider the VolksWagen Jetta, which in fact has the most stable ride of all, especially at high speeds. Since you clock 20,000km a year, it makes sense to go in for a diesel and the Jetta 1.9 TDi offers adequate performance.

I want to buy a saloon, which is high on performance, and priced between Rs. 30 lakh and Rs. 40 lakh. I am very keen on the Mitsubishi Evo X. When will this car be launched in India?

Abhishek Bansal

Unfortunately, there are no plans to launch the Evo X in the near future. Hindustan Motors has been evaluating the feasibility of selling the Evo X in India, and a market study is still going on. You could consider the Skoda Superb V6, which is just under Rs. 30 lakh and has terrific performance and handling. It has a four-wheel drive and six-speed automatic transmission, which makes it a driver’s delight. The other car we would suggest is the BMW 330i that goes on sale this month. The 330i has a silky smooth engine and produces 258bhp, which gives it terrific performance. The 330i should cost around Rs. 40 lakh, and is a perfect driver’s car.

Will Ford introduce the Figo with a bigger 1.6 petrol engine in…More

The Hindu :

Surender Mohan Pathak is considered the master of suspense in Hindi. Thanks to Blaft and Sudarshan Purohit, the iconic Vimal series is now accessible to English readers

PHOTO: V. SREENIVASA MURTHYNOT LOST IN TRANSLATION Sudarshan Purohit brings Hindi pulp fiction to English

When Sudarshan Purohit read “The Blaft Anthology of Tamil Pulp Fiction” he wondered if a similar exercise could be done for Hindi. Reacting to his blog post, one of the co-founders of Blaft, the Chennai-based publishing house, (www.blaft.com), Rakesh Khanna, asked if he would be interested in doing the translation. “And that’s how I got into translation,” says Sudarshan.

The next step was deciding which books to translate. “The usual research resource, the Net, was not much help since Hindi pulp fiction is pretty much under the radar. However, I found an Orkut fan club dedicated to Surender Mohan Pathak,”

Sudarshan was sure he wanted to translate thrillers and in that genre, “Pathak was king. He inspires brand loyalty. His novels are real page-turners. The language is chaste Hindi, the plots are realistic and the writing is crisp and sharp. The novels feature serial characters, the two most popular being the investigative journalist, Sunil and the anti-hero Vimal.”

Talking about the genesis of the Vimal series, Sudarshan says: “The first two books did not do too well and Pathak had almost given up on the books. However, he hit his stride with ‘Wanted Criminal’, the third book and the fourth, ‘The 65 Lakh Heist’, which was first published in 1977, was the breakout novel having sold over three lakh copies so far. And then there was no looking back; there are 38 instalments of the Vimal series and each new instalment is awaited eagerly by fans.”

The first book Sudarshan translated for Blaft was “The 65 Lakh Heist.” The story of a bank robbery, the book features the reluctant criminal, Vimal, being dragged…More

The Hindu :

If West Indian players were to be a part of today’s T-20, the game would be a complete entertainer

The heroes Vivian Richards

Just consider this possible line-up: Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Brian Lara, Vivian Richards, Clive Lloyd (capt), Jeff Dujon (wk), Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Curtly Ambrose, Malcolm Marshall, Courtney Walsh and Andy Roberts.

If this combination from West Indies were to be fielded for the IPL, rules, regulations, emotions and financial constraints will be just swept away to accommodate these players who were the first players to combine brute aggression, remorseless efficiency and amazing consistency over a long period.

An average fan of the present generation may not have had even a glimpse of many of these illustrious cricketers who ruled the cricketing world.

Even to state that Richards was the Alexander of cricket will be an understatement given his magnificent record in any format. He was an outstanding fielder and a very effective off-spinner which fetched him 118 wickets in ODIs.

No doubt, very often the opening pair of Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes, the first such successful combination, either provided the perfect launch pad or themselves finished the job on hand. A deadly blend of compulsive stroke-maker (Greenidge) and an accumulator (Haynes) who could raise the tempo if the team needed.

Brian Lara

Then, there was that touch artist Lara whose footwork is akin to that of a ballet dancer. If he can score 400 in a Test match and 500 in a first-class match, what more does he prove to walk into any T-20 team?

Can there be a better leader than the imposing figure of Clive Lloyd. One who lead from the front almost every time a challenge was thrown at him. In a way a trend-setter with that savage century in the 1975 World Cup final. One who made bowlers look very ordinary with his reach and stroke-play. Arguably, he had…More

The Hindu : y>

A new hope For Brownie

Two sisters, Lotte and Anna, aged six years are drawn apart after the death of their parents. Lotte goes to live with her upper middle class Dutch aunt in Holland, while Anna heads to Germany to work as a farm hand on her uncle’s farm. The story follows their lives, as they try to resolve their differences, even as the Second World War leaves a major impact. The sisters meet when they attain old age, in the hope that their differences could be sorted out. Watch “Twin Sisters” tomorrow at 8.30 p.m. on UTV World movies.

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On NatGeo at 10 p.m. tonight, follow “Rescue Ink” in action when they find a cat hoarder with nearly 200 cats. Meanwhile, Brownie, a paralysed dachshund, finds hope when Rescue Ink provides him therapy and a tricked-out wheelchair.

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The Hindu :

Aggressive but compact, Yamaha YZF-R1 is a well-focussed super sports bike

The fast and furious Yamaha YZF-R1 was the first big bike to boldly make it to India when the CBU route opened in 2008. While 2009 saw the global launch of a radically different all-new R1, this exciting missile didn’t make it to our shores immediately. Yamaha is finally bringing the 2010 YZF-R1 to India.

Aggressive but compact, the latest R1 looks like an evolution of its legendary predecessors. The front fairing, which houses a pair of radical-looking projector lights, incorporates ram air scoops into the headlight assembly. Instrumentation is comprehensive, the cockpit dominated by a large analogue tachometer and digital read-out that now gets a gear indicator. Switchgear includes a new ride mode selector — Yamaha D-Mode — which allows the rider to toggle among three levels of power delivery for varied riding conditions.

A muscular 18-litre fuel tank, which sits atop exposed sections of the YZF-R1’s frame, leads to the racy rider seat and its tiny pillion perch. The rear is brought up by a pair of aerodynamically-styled titanium underseat exhausts, which are accompanied by a triangular LED brake lamp.

The latest R1 borrows cutting-edge technology from the Yamaha YZR-M1 race bike that recently powered Valentino Rossi to his seventh MotoGP World Championship.

Powered by a four-stroke, 998cc, in-line, four-cylinder and liquid-cooled engine, the ‘One’ uses a unique crossplane crankshaft to tame its massive power output — 182bhp developed at 12500rpm. With four crankpins aligned in two planes, the crankshaft produces an uneven firing interval of 270-180-90-180 degrees that gives the bike a rider-friendly and easier-to-master linear power delivery.

Like the earlier model, throttle is fly-by-wire, courtesy YCC-T (Yamaha Chip Controlled Throttle). Also at hand is YCC-I or Yamaha Chip Controlled Intake, a system to elongate the intake funnels at low rpm and shorten them at high engine speeds for a wider…More

The Hindu : y>

Cartoon Network has planned a special celebration for its viewers on Tom and Jerry’s 70th birthday.

Watch non-stop hilarious escapades in ‘Chooha Billi Chor Police’

A campaign, which will run till April 1 promises to give all Tom and Jerry fans a funny and prank-filled experience!

One can catch the campaign in Mumbai’s local train – TJ Express (from March onwards or be invited to Tom & Jerry’s birthday celebration in Delhi.

‘TJ Tom’ contest invites kids to send in their jokes to play on Tom. The ultimate joke will get featured on TJ Day with a chance to win a Sony PSP.

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The Hindu :

Aude Priya’s seductive presentation of famous opera arias had a combination of high notes, gorgeous clothes and great storytelling

Photo: Murali Kumar K.METAMORPHOSIS From girl to woman

What’s a gorgeous French opera singer doing in a Rohit Bal and a Manish Arora concoction on stage? Aude Priya mesmerised a section of opera lovers in Bangalore recently at the Alliance Francasie with her performance of an ‘opera play’ based on Catherine Clement’s book “Opera, or the Undoing of Women.” Her ‘costumes’ were stunning and we initially believed them to be French couture. Aude’s entire performance was centred around the journey of a woman, starting with her dream of being loved by an ideal lover to the disillusion of reality, using the most famous opera arias to showcase this metamorphosis!

Creativity at its best, Aude used her phenomenal voice and dazzling good looks, ably supported by Philippe Engel on the piano.

The evening opened with Chopin’s “Prelude” in C Minor, a piano solo by Engel going on to pieces by Puccini and Donzetti with the appearance of Aude Priya.

Aude is not your stereotypical big and busty opera star. The wafer-thin singer had the audience hanging literally on to her every note. She began the evening by dedicating her performance to Woman’s Day and to every woman in the audience. That definitely brought in a loud round of applause.

Part One, as the programme was divided into several sections, was about The Girl. Engel set the stage perfectly for this section with a solo performance of Liszt’s “Dream of Love”.

Aude performed partly in French and partly in Italian, with Gounod’s “Romeo and Juliet”, Verdi’s “Rigoletto” and “La Traviata” as background score. Performing in a colourful ensemble of a swirling skirt thickly encrusted with myriads of colourful flowers and twinkling diamantes designed by Manish Arora,

Aude swirled through her performance hitting unbelievable high notes with her perfect soprano voice. In…More

The Hindu : y>For the 63-year-old Brigette Kleine, her ten-year global cycle expedition means many things: self discovery is the foremost, writes DEEPA GANESH

Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.Make or break Brigette Kleine: ‘Bangalore seems to be a city under repair’

If you see Brigette Kleine walking the streets, you cannot say she is a 63-year-old and on a ten-year global cycling expedition. You are bound to assume that she is yet another of those firang tourists, curiously exploring the city. A loving grandmother, who set out from her home in Germany four years ago, reached the sub-continent last week. In cargos, t-shirt and a cap, the vivacious Brigette carries many maps, two cameras, a little diary, and an English to German pocket dictionary. Impeccably organised, Brigette can speak nothing but German, and her hearing is not too good either. Even with her hearing aid on full blast, she just about manages to hear.

“Nothing was planned,” says Brigette, Narrating the beginnings of her journey, she says, “my decision to go on a bicycle world tour was made with a first pedal step in my head. It was like applying a first pressure on the hydraulic brakes of my instincts, using my hands and feet, so to speak. I realised that the life of a mature woman still has something to offer, as long as she is willing to go for it. My plan grew over a period of three years into a world solo bicycling project. It became an intense longing to go out and meet the creations on our planet,” explains the articulate woman of many gestures.

An ad on a German television channel offered a one week cycling camp. Brigette went for the camp and returned home only after buying a cycle. “That was my first encounter with the cycle and I was totally smitten!” she gushes. “As I entered, my neighbour asked me, ‘what are…More