This is an unabashed post on something i’ve recently designed!
It’s a mini tote that’s big enough to carry your essentials and bold enough to make a compelling fashion statement. Each piece has been designed to showcase an exotic Shan Ré painting that sets the mood for your day and envelopes you in its sumptuous colors.
Seven enchanting paintings lend each bag a distinct personality:
The “Helen” bag is Mediterranean blue and white.
The “Wild One” feels Latino in browns, reds and yellows.
“Prince” is regal in midnight blue and black.
“Valley Girl” is rustic and cute.
The creamy “Colorscape” is understated yet playful.
“Black & White” is sleek and funky at the same time.
“Musical” is discreet and casual.
Check out the entire collection at http://www.revola-art-foundation.com/studio.htm

Last week we caught some fleeting TV promos of this low-budget Indian English comedy and decided that it was worth our time. This is the only recent movie where i didn’t have to buy tickets in advance! For the movie’s sake, I hope that changes because it’s highly entertaining and deserves a larger audience.

Touted as a “multiplex film” it tells the story of a bunch of quirky NRIs competing for a cash prize of $25k at the ‘Desi Idol’ contest being held in New Jersey. The entire contest - from the audition to the finale - takes place during a weekend at a downtown hotel.

Many of the actors and characters are funny without trying hard to be so - the mark of a good comedy. There’s the ubiquitous Gujarati family come to cheer their 17 yr old Preeti Patel; there’s a percentages buff, a scheming socialite (played by Shabana) and the “Turbanotorious Guy” (played by Ajay Naidu) who steals the scene every single time with his Bhangra Rap and his Hip Hop moves. And, oh, he’s gay. Plus, he has a turban-wearing, black, rapper boyfriend!

The surprise element is a kurta-clad American guy named Josh Cohen, who only knows two hindi songs and is crazy enough to think he is a serious contender. Maybe he isn’t that crazy considering that one of the other semi finalists is an aspiring bollywood actress who doesn’t know hindi.

Ayesha Dharker plays Josh’s Indian girlfriend and isn’t really a main character. However, Shabana is. It’s Shabana’s character who sets the stage for the climax, bribing and bullying her way through the entire contest.
What interest would a socialite have in Desi Idol? Apparently, her arch rival, Bubbles, had won a similar contest and had donated the $500 prize money to charity. And Shabana, as the Subtitles tell us, does everything that Bubbles does, only bigger and better.

It’s all been well edited and the subtitles, introducing us to each of the characters, are also witty. I can’t give away too much of anything else, but i do have a side story:
One of the contestants, unexpectedly, sings the National Anthem. When the audience in the movie stood up, most of the audience in the theatre, urged by the ever-helpful subtitles, also stood up. The college girls next to me stood up for the 30 secs, looking down at me indignantly.
(No, i didn’t stand up. I have an issue with such displays of psuedo-patriotism.)

Anyway, YOU MUST WATCH Loins of Punjab. It’s hillarious and smart.

I was watching the new Pepsi ad featuring Shahrukh & John. It seemed cool and fun, but there was a voice in my head screaming, “HOW CAN PEPSI INTRODUCE A NEW TYPE OF CAN WHEN THERE IS A CLIMATE CRISIS!”

Let us keep aside the fact that cola itself is total junk. We shovel %^&* down our throats because we don’t really have a healthier alternative. But cans are not bio-degradable and should be phased out instead of being thrust on gullible teenagers. Now, i’m not naive. I know cola companies don’t care %$^ about all this, but i think they will change their packaging if the consumers wake up and smell the crisis. Ok, so some of the cans are fished out of the junk and recycled, but what about the energy that goes into recycling? Is it worth it?

Pop-culture brands have started to treat Climate Crisis as another media event. Another excuse for everyone to get together and sell lots of air time. Take for instance VH1’s Live Earth concert - a 24 hr music extravaganza with concerts in various continents featuring around a 100 artists.
It may be a music buff’s dream, but can you imagine the amount of electricity that must have gone into lighting up all those venues and fueling those mind-numbing sound and light effects?

The irony was that it was all done in the name of saving a climate in crisis. It was just a big party with little pop-ups on TV that sold Philips bulbs and asked you to switch off at signals.

If pop culture brands bombard us with ways to fight global warming the way they do with their other promotions, only then would the youth be motivated to Act.

Do i sound like a bore? If yes, then you need help. If no, then write in to say how you think media and pop-culture brands could motivate their viewers / consumers.

Hey Bangalore,

Are you in the mood for an indulgent Saturday afternoon tommorrow?
Do i hear a ‘yes’?
Ok, then. Come over to the Olive Beach between 11am and 4pm tommorrow (28 July) and check out the Gourmet Bazaar being organized for the first time in town.

You get to check out food and dining accessories (some of which have been designed by me!)

The Bazaar will feature Swiss chocolates, handmade pasta & sauces, organic produce, fresh breads, handmade crockery and functional sculptures for the kitchen. Not to mention, lots of Parmigiano Reggiano, Gruyere, feta and Brie on the cheese board.

See you there!
Can’t make it? It’ll be back next month!

Gourmet Bazaar, 11 am-4 pm on the last Saturday of every month at
Olive Beach, 16 Wood Street, Bangalore. Tel: 41128400.

Baseline prices — Dining accessories: Rs.200; Ceramics: Rs 150; breads: Rs 50; organic veggies: Rs 40/kg; handmade pasta: Rs 120/500 gm; pasta sauces: Rs 100/jar; cheeses: Rs 100/100 gm; cured meats: Rs 200/100 gm.

Of late, I’ve been receiving emails from strangers in Africa who say they have large sums of money held up in some bank and need my help to get it out of their country. I’m sure some of you have received such mails too. The best part is they make sure the email doesn’t go into your Spam folder. What the heck is it all about? I’ve been “contacted” by at least 4 such individuals in the past 6 months and they all have the same pattern…here’s the latest one:

Hello,

It is my pleasure to contact you for a business venture which I and my brother intend to establish in your country. Though I have not met with you before but I believe, one has to risk confiding in succeed sometimes in life.

There is this huge amount of ($5,500,000.00) which my late father kept for us with a Finance House in Abidjan before he was assasinated by unknown persons. Now I and my brother decided to invest these money in your country or anywhere safe enough outside Africa for security and political reasons. We want you to help us claim and retrieve these fund from the finance house and transfer it into your personal account in your country for investment purposes,

If you can be of an assistance to us we will be pleased to offer to you 15% Of the total fund Please reach me through this email address jennifer_ka86@yahoo.com , for further corresponding.

I await your soonest response.
Respectfully yours,
Jennifer Kossa

Write in if you can shed some light on this scam…

They say you can tell a lot about a person by the way he / she behaves under extraordinary circumstances.
What would you do when you are out of your comfort zone for a little while? Would you panic? Would your survival instincts kick in? Would you try to be heroic and do something crazy?
It’s something to think about…

It’s midnight, you’re on your way up in the elevator and suddenly there’s darkness everywhere - you can’t see a thing - you’re all alone in a metal box suspended between heaven and earth - What do you do? Ok,there’s always the security guy in the lobby, and even if the alarm button doesn’t work you could always make enough noise to get attention, but what do you do until someone gets to you? Would you totally freak out and let all your demons come out, or would you stay focussed and try to get out of the situation?

You’re zipping down the highway without a care in the world and then, BOOM. You’ve somehow managed to lose control, hit a divider and give your car a complete makeover. Mercifully, you are still alive. What happens next?

You’re out shopping on a normal day and suddenly, there is a riot - people are running in all directions - the shops are being shut down one by one - your car is two streets away and there’s no signal on the phone…

People seem braver when they have to deal with a situation along with many other people, but seem to panic when they are caught alone.

Read the popular book by Gregory David Roberts last week. It’s nearly 1000 pages long, but it’s worth the ride. Shantaram, which is based on the author’s real life story, not only has literary quality but also has that page-turner quality. Any book reader will agree that it is not easy to combine those two elements.

Gregory was an ordinary writer whose life turned upside down when he couldn’t cope with his divorce and the loss of his daughter’s custody. He became a junkie, got caught up in the Australian drug mafia somehow, landed in prison, broke out of the high security prison, came to Bombay as a fugitive in the early 80s, got sucked up (reluctantly) into the Bombay mafia, landed in prison again, served his sentence, started a legitimate business, wrote Shantaram, tasted success, and is now awaiting the movie version of his book where none other than Johnny Depp is playing his character.

If that isn’t colorful, I don’t know what is. Being a writer by nature, i’m sure Gregory has exaggerated some of the incidents and characters in the book, but what the hell - it’s a great read!

He brings alive the Bombay of the “bhais” much better than any Bollywood movie. He takes you to the narrow bylanes, the legal and illegal slums and if you’re still standing, to the opium dens. He gives you an insight into how fake passports are made, how gold is smuggled in and out of the country and how many pushups you need to do to get that gangster body! If that isn’t your scene, he falls in love with a green-eyed beauty and even does cameos in Bollywood movies, all the while searching for an anchor and a meaning to his life. A bit of Fools Die and a bit of Robinson Crusoe, I would say.

It is said that Gregory started on this book while still in prison and that the prison guards tore his first 3 drafts. However, he persisited in his writing. They say that when life has thrown its worst at you and you have survived it, there isn’t much else that can break you. Time and again, Gregory proves that this is so true in his case.
Shantaram - read the book to find out how he got that name…

Sunday morning I drove down to the nearby Wockhardt hospital to see what TAI CHI was all about. We were instructed by a real-life Ninja who showed us how, with the regular practice of correct breathing, he could control the flow of Chi and survive strangulation and killer punches.

The Ninja demonstrated how Tai Chi was martial art for internal strength rather than for exterior muscle and tone. He asked a hefty looking guy from our group to come up and punch him in the stomach. It turned out that the guy was a trained boxer and was more than happy to show off his punches. However, the Ninja was unfazed - because of his training, he was able to spread the impact of the blow all over his body rather than let it overwhelm his tender stomach. “It’s about controlling your body with your mind - about chanelling your energy to produce the desired effect,” he said.

Later, we all gasped as the Ninja’s frail-looking assistant lay down with her head and shoulders on one chair, her legs on another with her abdomen unsupported and had a 70 kg man stand on her abdomen for half a minute.

The one hour workshop, however, was aimed at regular people who wanted to learn Tai Chi exercises that would help relieve stress, cure joint pains, backaches, promote fitness etc.
Just a few minutes into the demo, I realized how poorly we breathe. We barely fill our lungs to their full capacity. It’s amazing how effective a deep breath can be! Try it now if you’ve never experienced it!
The Tai Chi Fan routine is another stress buster - this involves slow continuous movements done while you are holding a red paper fan that aids coordination.
Practicing Tai Chi with its rythmic movements helps you find your center of gravity - helps you align your meridians and correct your posture, thus preventing or reducing back aches.

Practice of Tai Chi is also supposed to promote vitality in senior citizens and longevity in people of all ages and lifestyles. So I guess you have to train like a Ninja to live long like a Turtle!

If you’d like to learn more about how to stay fit with TAI CHI, call Satyajit on 9341309200 (Bangalore). They also conduct a variety of Tai Chi workshops for corporates: self defence, stress relief, flexibility…

Since there has been some talk of California on blah recently, I think it wouldn’t be inappropriate to dwell on some uniquely Californian experiences…

If you happen to be visiting the sunshine state, check out the Napa Valley Wine train. If you don’t want to drive around visiting various wineries, the Wine train offers a vintage railroad experience combined with food and wine.
The train travels along highway 29 (the main winery road) and serves a basic variety of wines from the region. The food is good quality - and the experience is unique.
On certain weekends, the Napa Valley Wine Train offers a children’s car where children can enjoy dinner and movies.

If you do like to drive around visiting various wineries, don’t miss ‘Godfather’ director, Francis Ford Coppola’s winery at the Rubicon Estate in Napa. http://www.ffcwinery.com
You’ll find FFC’s signature wines, movie memorabilia and a vintage chateau - make for an unforgettable trip.

Combining movies and wine comes easily to FFC, so they are currenlty running a very interesting short film contest:
“Rosso & Bianco are wines for everyday life. Francis Ford Coppola Presents is looking for you to create and submit short movies that represent that idea.”
Contest is open only to US residents but you can check out the very interesting short films that have been posted on http://www.rossobianco.com/
My favorite is the one titled “Afterlife”.

What is your favorite California Experience?

Summer is a great time to shed those extra pounds you’ve been carrying around… Why in the summer? well, motivation levels are higher as everyone around you has taken up some activity or the other. If you have kids, you’d have more time on your hands now, plus you eat a little less now than in the winter!

There’s no getting away from it - drinking 3 litres of water per day DOES help you shed fat faster. It’s easier to do this when you are hot and thristy in the summer.

Substitute salads for high cal snacks - try a cool crisp salad with or without low-fat dressing.

Swimming burns tons of calories and is fun. Freestyle and butterly have the maximum impact.

Gorge on fruit instead of chips and cookies - watermelon is a great option (try and eat the seeds if you can to get in as much fiber as you can). Don’t drink juice - eat the fruit. You need the pulp, the seeds and, in come cases, the skin.

Step outdoors in the morning or evening for a brisk walk - get your heart rate up to the THR level. Only then will you lose fat.
Here’s how to calculate your THR (Target Heart Rate):
Subtract your age from 226 (220 for men) to calculate your Maximum Heart Rate (mhr).
mhr x 60% = THR for beginners
Walk fast and check your pulse to see if it is equal to the THR and increase or decrease your speed accordingly.

Your Target Heart Rate, from 60 to 80 percent of the maximum your heart can beat, should be your goal three to five times a week for 20 to 60 minutes (excluding warm-ups) to maximize the health benefits of cardiovascular activity, including losing weight.

Join a short gym class. Working out in a group does help you perform better. Take up aerobics or cardio as they give you visible results in a short period of time.

Stop binging and follow the path to a healthier life. Good luck with your battle.