Many a times our prospective employers or our colleagues ask us out for a meal and at times such as these; our table manners speak volumes about us as professionals and are an important part in making a favorable impression.

Very little attention is paid to refining the table etiquette in our country especially w.r.t to the use of crockery, cutlery and other items on a table. Here are some tips to help one sail through these “dinner interviews”.

1.Follow the lead of the host unless the host has indicted that you to take the lead. Ladies are mostly given the lead through out a meal.
2.Unfolding of a napkin is the opening score of the meal. It should be
a.Opened after the host opens his or hers.
b.Spread in your lap throughout the meal
c.If it’s a small luncheon napkin, speared it fully. Dinner napkin to be folded across the length.
d.To be used to blot the mouth gently
e.To be left on the chair in case you need to leave the table. It’s a signal for the server that you would be returning.
f.Kept neatly on the right of the plate to signal the end of the meal. Host’s lead is a must to follow.
g.Kept neatly, neither refolded nor crumpled.

3.Ask a server when in doubt
4.Do NOT order the most expensive dish on the menu or more than two courses unless suggested by the host.
5.In case of food related allergies, please check the ingredients involved with the server.
6.Place the glassware or cups back in the position.
7.Remember solids on your left and liquids on the right of your plate – helps you remember the plate setting.
8.Silverware is confusing to most of us. The trick is to start from the one placed farthest to your plate. Work your way from the outermost layer and you don’t have to worry.
9.Cut with the knife in the right hand and fork in the left. Use the fork to secure the food in place as you cut it.
10.You could eat with the fork in the left hand with the tines facing down (European style). Or you could eat with the fork in right hand with the tines facing upwards but then you need to keep your knife across the top edge of your plate with the blade facing in (American style).
11.When you are finished, do not push the plate away. Keep the knife and fork like the hands of a clock pointing 10 and 4. The blade of the knife should be pointing inwards and the tines of the fork should be down. The spoon should be in the saucer instead of the cup.
12.When asked for salt, always pass salt and pepper both. Place it in close reach of the person on the table.
13.Please keep the elbows off the table and this will help you maintain a good posture.
14.Rule for removing food is that it has to come out the way it went in. For e.g., a piece of bone discovered has to come back to the plate by way of the fork.
15.It’s rude to pick your teeth at the table. However if mandatory, hold you napkin over your mouth.
16.Remember to not talk when the mouth is full.

Last but not the lest…. Break your bread and not cut it.

“I cant recognise my breasts anymore… they are so HUGE.” This line is said and heard by most pregnant women.

Breasts increase as much as three cup sizes at times in pregnancy and the whole experience is not a picnic. The increased amount of estrogen and progesterone causes the breasts to swell making them tender. Although the tenderness reduces after the first three or four months.

Now the billion dollar question : will they sag?
Answer: Depends on you. Sagging is most often caused due to lack of support during pregnancy.

How can it be avoided?
NO matter how firm the breasts are, prevention is better than cure and therefore you should wear a good support bra. If the breasts are huge, try wearing a night-support bra.

A support bra is more or less close to the soft full cup bra in design but with some additional features. These features include supportive fabric, extra soft elastic, broader sides and back and a deeper center front.

For the night support you will probably find a soft stretchy cotton sports bra extremely comfy and light.

There is no rule that one has to wear the drab softy bras when pregnant. Stores these days carry lots of options for pregnancy bras which are styled. A store that i would rate 20 on 10 is Mothercare. Those pink and blue polka dotted bras are absolutely cute and they come in sets.

Now some thumb rules of bras and pregnancy:
1. Always support your breasts. They are undergoing a huge change (no pun intended) and therefore need to be looked after.
2. Always buy soft bras as the tissue by itself is tender.
3. Its crucial to be examined every six to eight weeks as the breast size changes frequent upto the 36th week.
4. Avoid using underwired bras when pregnant and nursing .. i know the whole support great support thing but then the wire may press into the delicate breast tissue and therefore can cause pain. One may not be able to identify this pain as the breasts are already tender.

For the male readers, kindly share this information with the lady as uncomfy breasts are a cause of major irritation when pregnant and and after delivery if the breasts sag.

More to come on nursing bras soon.

It kills me to see a good outfit getting ruined by a wrong bra and all the ridiculous things we do with one of the best things the French have given us - The Bra…. (besides the kiss of course!) and how to avoid them.

1. Women if you are a 36C and think you are a 36B …. you are not. Trying to cram into a smaller bra size (and no am not talking of a minimizer)…. makes the bust look flat, not to mention the unappealing look of the excess bulges from the side; and its amazingly uncomfortable (this is for you to know Mr. Reader). The strategy should be to get yourself a good fit. Although there are established methods for measuring a woman for a bra, the only real way to fit a bra is by trying them on, and finding the correct size by trial and error. Having said that ladies, measuring for a bra is as scientific as linear programming (I could only think of LP because I was never able make heads or tails of it). There is a set procedure and conversion guidelines that can be used to come up with the perfect fitting number. I shall detail the procedure in my next post… but remember this….. you cannot make a square peg go in a round hole without: 1) losing its original shape and 2) making it look incredibly sorry.

Please do a BIG favor for your breasts, your self esteem and the men who are ogling …forget about trying to cram into smaller sizes. Trust me, you’ll look a lot better, feel a lot more comfy and be much more appetizing to any man if you wear the right bra.

2. If you think that you have the bust and the tummy to pull off a tight tee….. please don’t ruin the look by wearing a normal bra with seams on the cups. The most disgusting things to look at are seams on the cups and loose cups to make matters worse. If you have it, flaunt it and flaunt it right. Try buying a seamless bra or even a normal sports bra will do.

3.Strapless bras exist!!! If you think that showing an old faded bra strap or a cheap see-through plastic strap will put you in the first row at fashion events, GET REAL! You will look like the biggest loser on the circuit. Please get yourself a good strapless….. and by good it needn’t be expensive (try shopping at elco arcade or glorious near trios at Bandra or Manish market at four bunglows Andheri W). You could also try a halter bra. In case you do not have many strapless outfits, you could look at bras that come with detachable straps. For those who can and love to indulge… you might like straps that are embellished.

4. Pebbled Nipples are not embellishments!!! Having worked in a freezingly cold air conditioned office myself, I know I used to look perennially aroused (and when I was, a sensible guy would think i was feeling cold!). But then i realized (and soon by god’s grace) that not only does it look odd; it looks rather unappealing, taking any flare away from the expensive office wear. I agree that thickest of cotton bras do not do the needful, however a hard cup bra can do the trick (it is seamless, gives great shape, and also looks better than the normal ones). It is not a hard cup; it’s the normal stuff that is sold as a push-up or a seamless bra. Such bras also give the illusion of a fuller bust. For those who have fuller busts and padded may be over the top, try using simple pads made at home with industrial soft gauze and absorbent cotton … just place them strategically.

5. Low cut outfits DEMAND well defined (not necessarily deep) cleavage and NO bra please! It looks silly to wear a low cut and then continuously keep pulling it up to cover the peeping bra. Instead, go for a demi-cup which is a contoured bra, together with underwire with the cups cut away to reveal the top of the breast. Any decent lingerie store should carry these. Labels such as Lovable and Triumph also sell them.

6. I don’t have enough!!!! All of us (Aunt P Anderson is not US) have wondered at some point or another…do I have enough? My experience with the darker sex tells me that what each of us has is enough so long as we maintain it and keep it good. If you still feel the need to make your breasts bigger at least give them a fuller look, use a Push-up bra that has additional padding at the bottom portion of the cup, which lifts the bosom and gives the illusion of a fuller bust. If you have breasts that start high up on the chest….try to avoid a push up…. they will stare into people’s faces.

Dear readers, going forward you can count on the useful, edgy, sometimes funny but always truthful insights on lingerie from yours truly.