Our Indian ministers have a fascination to grow heavy and weighed in silver coins and currency notes garlands and proudly flaunt gold & diamonds crown which they receive from their party people including industrialist.

They don’t mind spending common men’s hard earned money on making huge marble statues of their political leader idols. Forgetting about the need for a bridge or better roads all they want is a sculpture holding a purse! Can you imagine a statue of a politician on a crowded road holding a purse and saying here I keep all you stupid people’s money? What you earned is mine!

One side Mayawati, Uttar Pradesh chief minister is getting decorated with 5 crore garland made of 1K rupees on party’s 25th founding day and on the other side ex Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav & Rabri Devi are organizing their daughter’s wedding in 5 star hotel. On top of that, Delhi’s CM Sheila Dixit is charging extra taxes for upcoming commonwealth games when these ministers are spending OUR money on their own grand birthdays! It’s not acceptable.
And what is Income Tax department doing? Are they are also busy in celebrating own birthdays after taking bribes from riches!
There should be driving license kind of system. After 3 tickets your license to politics is gone!

It’s February already, the month of love. As India comprises of the maximum youth population, it will be interesting to know their plans for February 14th.
We asked some of them, about their plans for 2010 V-day.

The age group was 18-25 and 26-35 years.

We asked what their plans for 14th febuary are.

Most said they would like to find out the meaning of love by being alone! 32% said they are going out with boyfriend/ girlfriend and 28% said love is all about friendship so they want to be with friends.

If they have to give something to their love what would they give?

Most of the college goers’ 1st choice was flowers or chocolates. But few rich girls admitted they would not mind giving mobile, mp3 player or even USB drive to their boyfriends. Few guys even don’t mind buying dress as a gift.

But a handwritten love letter or a poem is still a classic choice among all age group, closely followed by a candle light dinner which is a more practical choice by both sexes.

People don’t mind carrying flowers and that’s the reason you will not get a rose for less than Rs. 20 a piece on that day

And when it was asked do they really feel there should be a special day for LOVE.

57% said yes! We need a day to express love. 17% were confused what exactly they want and 26% said any day is best day to propose about love.

But if there is love, there will be war too! Like, in past few years Valentine’s Day has been disliked by Shiv Sena. In Mumbai and surrounding areas Bal Thackeray and their activists even warned people not to celebrate and attacked restaurant, public places. Remember last year’s Pink Chaddi campaign, a non-violent protest movement launched in February 2009 in response to notable incidences of violence citing conservative and perceived violations of Indian culture, when a group of women were attacked in a pub in Mangalore.

Let’s see how this valentine day goes!

Recently Pantone (Pantone Inc, world’s color authority from 45 years) forecasted the Color of the Year for 2010, which is an inviting and luminous hue PANTONE 15-5519 Turquoise (vibrant blue-green). Combining the serene qualities of blue and the invigorating aspects of green, Turquoise inspires thoughts of soothing, tropical waters and a comforting escape from the everyday troubles of the world, while at the same time restoring our sense of wellbeing.

Other colors that will be seen in 2010 are – Turquoise — Pantone 15-5519 (vibrant blue-green)
Tomato Purée (classic red), Fusion Coral (warm orange), Violet (light purplish hue), Tuscany (warm beige), Aurora (slightly greenish yellow), Amparo Blue (a warmer navy), Pink Champagne (delicate pale neutral), Dried Herb (green neutral) and Eucalyptus (practical gray).

So will turquoise rule in India in coming year 2010? For sure, it is a surprisingly versatile color. It looks great with white, make an awesome contrast with Indian orange and red and with green make a cooler combination. It can work with just about any other color and in any style of décor.
In fashion; it will definitively make you stand different. It’s strong enough for men but delicate enough for women. Remember the Men ties in turquoise color making bold statement, now a days bride want to try new colors apart from clichéd red and getting dressed in turquoise color lehnga is very trendy.
Anyway, turquoise can be used as an accent color- From draping a scarf around neck to hanging in turquoise in ears. Turquoise, an opaque, blue-to-green mineral and very popular gemstone combination with silver jewelry.

Hope to see more of turquoise in India, that will surely cool down the recession fever.

There are already many water purifiers from different companies but none is less than 1000 Rs. But Tata Swach (means Clean) comes for Rs 799 only. It doesn’t require energy or running water. It has a replaceable filter Swach that cost Rs. 1 per day for a family of five. Launched by Mr. Ratan Tata with the saying “Safe Drinking (Swatch Pani) is the most basic need of human beings. The social cost of water contamination is already enormous.” Tata Swatch has been developed by collaboration of Group of Tata companies- Tata Chemicals, TCS, Titan Industry. 14 patents have been filed for the technology and product.

Tata Swach will be available in two versions priced at Rs 749 and Rs 999. The cost of the filter is Rs 299 and it has the capacity to filter 3000 litres of water. Tata Swach filter uses commonly available materials like rice husk ash, cement and pebbles and bound with microscopic silver particles that kill the bacteria responsible for 80 per cent of waterborne diseases, colour, odour and micro-organisms.

But main question is how many of us know what are TDS and contaminations? Why we need to have a water purifier and which one (Pre filter, UV Purification, Reverse Osmosis, Candle filter)?
In short- we should drink water which is about 50 ppm in TDS (total dissolved solids). Anything above 750-1000 means your water is very contaminated. But apart from considering TDS, make sure there is no heavy metal in it. Reverse Osmosis removes dissolved solids of and above the size 0.0009-0.007 microns.

Water purification Market in recent years has caught the attention of multinationals. Hindustan Unilever launched Pureit in 2005, while Philips India launched Philips Intelligent Water Purifier in 2007. But Aquaguard continues to be the leader in this category, where the penetration of water purifiers is a mere 2.5 %. (Source TOI)

As of now the cheapest water purifier in market are Hindustan Unilever-Pureit for Rs 2000 and Eureka Forbes-AquaSure, 1750 Rs. and Tata Swatch is for only 799 INR. Tata Swach will be available in Maharashtra, Karnataka and West Bengal market by the year-end and across the nation in next six months. Let’s see how much Swach makes the India’s drinking water habits clean!

We asked the youngsters of India, what type of water do they drink? While drinking do they consider is it tabs water, filter or mineral water?
Most of us answered they rely on filter water system installed in their hostel/ Mess/ Institute/ Company without worrying is it really giving clean water. When at home, they install a water purifier but don’t go such expensive 15,000 Rs type systems. They still like to have 20 litre bottles (Bislery, Aquafina, Kingfisher or local one like Aqua Life) at the cost 50- 75 Rs. As it’s easy to store, without worrying about from tab water is coming or not and for 2 persons 20 Litre is sufficient for 4-5days.

When they go out to restaurant, prefer to have normal water (read filter water from hotel), hardly like to buy mineral water unless there is emergency or not well or eating at a small food joint. But when it comes to travel via bus/ train they don’t mind, buying mineral water bottle for journey. Many still consider boiled water is best though its inconvenient- 1st boil & than make it cool down. Most of them aware mineral water selling at 12Rs is hardly filled with mineral, its just packaged drinking water. Some of them don’t mind to have normal water (unless completely dirty & black) as it make their immune system strong.

India is called ‘the golden bird’. But gold is becoming rare thing nowadays. Just like February month, last month again gold prices touched Rs 16,000 per 10 grams mark and expectation are similar at this Diwali time

As per Hindu mythology, Brahma –the creator is also referred as Hiranyagarbha – means ‘one born of gold’. Gold is the basis of purity and beauty, and referred to as the seed of Agni (Fire). Gold, a common monetary exchange medium (in old time) and jewelry are well sought by a rich urbane person to a poor farmer.
Either it’s a wedding time where dowry or gifts will not be complete without adding lots of tolas (carats) of gold. So is the case for festivals like Dussehra / Durga Puja or Diwali or Onam, Pongal time – Gold becomes very important.

But things are changing, specially in metro or 2 tier cities. Girls don’t want to wear yellow gold jewelry. Diamonds are girl’s best friend, and white gold goes well with it. Flaunting engagement ring in White Gold is not rare! Platinum is an expensive option, White gold is the next best option.

Silver jewelry is also a preferred choice by many young women and most of the college chicks love junk jewelry.

In all this, the shine of Gold Jewelry is fading away as a timeless possession.

Image source: rediff.com

The consumer durables are a Rs30,000 crore industry. and to cover last year’s loss they are offering big blast offer on products and in return they are expecting double growth too.

Like if you buy 8K or above Samsung digital camera, you will get 4K worth Reebok sunglass apart from 4GB memory card + pouch which is coming with almost all digi-cams. Canon made a deal with Philips by giving digital frame free with digital camera.

Whirlpool, the American appliances company is giving Reebok goodies apart from Microwave etc. And if one is looking for buying most desired huge wall mounted big screen TV, Sony Bravia came up with Home theatre with discounted prices. Or one can choose to buy Samsung new LED television and get another TV free.

You pick up any newspaper – it’s filled with lots of advertisement from Jewelry to home décor to what to gift this Diwali and tagged discounts offers. Want to go for great vacation at cheap deal or buy a real estate or drive home a new car at special price? – rush to the internet sites and there are plenty of sites offering the same. Even there are surprise discounts for hair cut to other beauty stuff. You name it and there are some discounts for you.

That’s why retail stores like Croma (electronics Chain by TATA) MD & CEO, Ajit Joshi is expecting 30-40% growth in footfalls as compared to last Diwali. So is L.G. director Marketing V. Ramachandran is confident about more accelerating growth something like 35-40%.

But if we go as per the CNBC – TV18 analytics, consumer confidence index is dropped by 1% means consumers are more interested in saving their hard earned money for any hard time. Studies also say that the bounce in economy is fuelled by government stimulus packages rather than consumer spending.

I will definitely do my bit by shopping this Diwali, let’s see if that changes consumer confidence index!

Apart from beautifully designed pandals or tents for placing Durga idols, Navratri is celebrated differently in different parts of India. In Gujarat and Maharashtra, its celebrated with the famous Garba and Dandiya dance which continue till late night during the period. The festival is known as golu in South India, a Golu or Kolu in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Bommai Kolu display is placed in the homes in Andhra Pradesh & Karnataka, which is an exhibition of dolls. In Bengal, Durga Puja is the most important festival and they rejoice with sound of Dhak, Dhunuchi nachh and mild fragrance of Shiuli (some flowers).

Food, music & dance.
Its either gawking on food after breaking fast in Ramazan month and enjoying the Eid feast with Saviyan,and Biryani along with Sufi music and qawwali. For the music – Coke studio music is liked these days by today’s generation.

In Navratri fast you can eat so many vegetarian items that you will not miss chicken!! The items range from Sighare or Kuttu ke atte ki Puri and Aloo Sabzi and Sabudana (Sago) Khichdi, and Makhane ki kheer in deserts are just a few names. Many restaurants in North India turn vegetarian (in some dishes they don’t even add garlic & onion) and offer navratra special food and you would not mind going specifically to eat it. From five start hotels Taj & Hyatt to Haldiram’s, you can enjoy it anywhere.

‘Su che’ song from “What’s your Rashee” is already tuned in many events and so what if Priyanka Chopra is getting excited to attend a dandiya night in Mumbai and tweeting about same, girls in other cities are not less excited. They are taking out their backless chaniya choli, bandini Ghagra with lots of mirror work & jewelry and boys are dressing up in Kedias (Gujarati dress for men) and dancing out with Dandiya sticks on the music of Dhol.

In food, going vegetarian is the demand of festival and picking rich textures and bright colors with glitter is choice of consumers in dresses.

Sweets pics courtesy- www.trivialmatters.blogspot.com

Fashion week in India is not a new thing but what is special this time was it being a solely men’s fashion week and it will definitely play a significant role in positioning the Indian fashion market in world. Planning a all-men-fashion-week was in talks from a long time from the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) and after partnership with Van Heusen it is all set to change the dynamics of the Indian fashion landscape.

Van Heusen India Mens Week’ was held in New Delhi on September 11 – 13, 2009 at The Grand and featured 15 shows by 21 designers.
Brands like Reid and Taylor, and Raymonds are exclusive men’s fashion brands, but if one wants to opt for a designer label, the choices are restricted to bridal wear only. But many still feel that Indians are not ready for men’s fashion so what if John Abraham started selling fairness cream and Shahrukh Khan doesn’t mind sitting in bath tub to sell bathing soaps. Mainly because fashion design happens only for weddings in our country, that is why bridal wear is such a big thing. Though the branded men’s apparel segment is growing at 15 per cent and retail industry for men’s apparel is five times bigger than the women’s apparel segment in India (am sure this is news for many).

Sunil Sethi, President, FDCI elaborated on the need for an independent forum for men’s fashion- “Men are active participants and contributors to the growth of fashion today, who have moved beyond deciding their favourite colour of ties and socks to actually cultivating loyalties for designers and lifestyle brands. Menswear dominates a larger per cent of branded apparel sales in the country and is said to be growing at a CAGR of 15%. The ‘Van Heusen India Mens Week’ aims to give menswear designers a structured impetus and the much needed platform to tap this potential of men’s fashion in India.”

India’s first men fashion week began with Ravi Bajaj’s collection. Apart from quality to excellence, the unique feature of his collection was the silhouettes that has evolved from hard edged eighties executive style to the much softer, in touch with soul look that is so trendy these days.

Rohit Bal launched The Badmaash collection depicting the naughty and flirtatious nature of a man and celebrating life in a wicked manner. In his words “The collection is very moody, vivacious, and self-obsessive. It revolves around the theme – I, me and myself,”

Designer Rocky S used skin friendly fabrics like cottons, viols and linen. The collection was replete with colours like beige, ivory and blacks. And his inspiration was – It’s about me looking for freedom in my clothes. It’s about spiritualism in my clothes, so everything is very relaxed and very confident. His collection has stylish jackets, lean pants in exaggerated length.
Actor Dino Morea and cricketer Anil Kumble were showstopper for designer Manoviraj Khosla. Kumble walked the ramp 1st time and admitted that he is learning few things from younger generation of cricketers specially in fashion.

Talk of the event was Greek god look of Shantanu & Nikhil’s collection which has Grecian drapes in silk velvets. Also the man purse, a leather tote or anything sling was an essential accessory for men.

Salman Khan walked in a creation by designers Ashish Soni and Rohit Gandhi & Rahul Khanna on the Grand finale day of ‘Van Heusen India Mens week’. Ashish Soni showcased his collection ‘On the Run’ in the first part, which was inspired by the film Don. And style gurus Rohit & Rahul decided to go eco-friendly and presented soothing collection ‘Hypernature’.

Image source: Van Heusen India Mens Week 2009

Please click “i” tab in top right in slideshow for the artist and artwork details!

Three art projects- Purple wall project, exhibiting contemporary work by Indian & international artists and a Video Lounge, showing video art work and a Sculpture park in open area was one of the main attractions.

Indian art market is flourishing with a rate if 30-35% annually. It was $5 million in 2003 but reached approximately $150 million by year 2008. Especially European market is giving 300-400% more to the Indian art market than what it was 4-5 years back. With such great prices & recognition it is difficult to say that trends for collecting art is not booming in this economic downturn; there seems a ray of hope as there is fair response from national & international art buyers in this emerging market.

Update: “Around 250 artworks were sold for a total value of around Rs 26 crore (~ $6 million) by exhibiting galleries,” said a beaming Neha Kirpal, associate director of the Summit. Business at the 2009 Summit was thus more than double of last year’s Rs 10 crore figure. Source.

HD Footage of Exotic India

Please put the speakers on!

Source: photosindia.com