Archive for the ‘Lifestyle’ Category

Valentine day special.

valentine day special

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.

Age group

We asked what their plans for 14th febuary are.

whats your plan

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?

gift ideas

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.
flowers

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.

candle light dinner

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.

need for day

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!

Turquoise – color of 2010.

Pantone color 2010 Turquoise-India

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).

Dipika houme-Mumbai-turquoise

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.
turquoise 2010 collage

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

Swatch for Sab (Clean water for all).

Recently launched low cost water purifier Swach from Tata Group is another great product for mass. It will surely not only create awareness about drinking clean water but also make it affordable to buy.

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-water-filter

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.

Gold is Old!

As soon as the winter approaches, the festivities time begins with a lot of festivals and marriages. One of the best one is Diwali – which starts from Dhanteras. Dhan- means wealth and teras means on 13th lunar day. People buy precious metals on that auspicious day.

gold is too old

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

Gandhi is setting TREND on his birthday.

Its 2nd October today and Indians are having a national holiday. As it falls on Friday, so many are headed for some vacation on this long weekend. Some are cribbing, why did they forget to stock up the alcohol as it is dry day.

Robin Thomas why a dry day

So some are making news by saying, why we don’t remember long forgotten unsung hero Lal Bahadur Shastri who also has birthday today.

Shashi Tharoor Not forgetting Lal bahadur Shastri

Apart from politicians who visited Rajghat to pay homage-

Shashi Tharoor visited Rajghath for Gandhi Jayanti

In real world, everyone is busy and no one bothered but everyone is curious about ‘What twitter is and how to be on twitter’. Apart from new media evangelist, latest on twitter are politicians. Rest are journalist to ad world gurus to bollywood actors and writer etc. Might be all this made India rank 3rd : in twitter users list after USA & Germany.

Twitter_countries

Someone questions why a holiday for Gandhi birthday. If we want to follow what he said, then we should work.

Barkha Dutt why 2nd oct is a holiday

Shashi Tharoor2 work harder for being a gandhi

So some Bollywood celebrities are today concerned about plain life of Gandhi ji and and waiting to see #Gandhi as a trending topic.

Gul Panagl gandhi not a trend
Mallika Sherawat gandhi not a trend

So some people did not like Gandhi as a personality.

Shoegirl Dont like Gandhi

But still many are waiting to see him on Twitter trends with #Gandhi or Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, father of modern India and icon of austerity and nonviolence.

Priyanka Chopra Be the change - Gandhi

Google too marks Gandhi’s birthday with a special logo.

google doodle -Gandhi 2 oct 2009

Some are still wondering why they could make #gandhi a trend.

Tedhi baat Why gandhi not a trend

Some says he is a forever trendsetter!

Annagh gandhi the original trendsetter

Priyanka Thinking is imp Not tweeting about gandhi

This is how we Young India are celebrating Gandhi’s birthday. By tweeting :)

sanjukta 2 oct plan

Tweet tweet wishes to over heros!

Dance & food of the season!

Season Introduction
Beginning of autumn and festive season always starts with a bang! One has so many different occasions to celebrate – starting from Ganesh utsav and Eid in holy month of Ramadan and presently having Navratri (for 9 days, nine forms of Shakti or Power i.e. Goddess are worshipped), ending with Dusshera and followed by ladies special Karwa Chauth fast and the festival of Lights ‘Diwali’.
Durga Puja is celebrated in West Bengal, Assam , Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and Tripura where it is a five-day annual holiday. Almost all Bengali women dress up in red & white saree with huge bindi.

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).

Dandiya Dance(image source ToI) and Falkuni pathak (image source-Rediff) songs

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.

maalpuas and Phirni-Image from trivialmatters.blogspot

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.

priyanka and dandiya

‘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

Balcony Garden!

High rise building and little space in those apartments; how can we think of owning a little green patch in that concrete jungle! Well, now if you love greenery but don’t get time to do gardening or less on ideas- call “My Sunny Balcony” and they will bring liveliness in your otherwise neglected balconies or terrace.

Zen style garden

In their words- Any space that receives even a little bit of sunlight is a potential MySunnyBalcony space: A tiny unusable patch outside your front door, an ugly terrace on your roof, or even a back balcony in your high rise apartment. It doesn’t matter how high up or small your space is, we’ll work with it. We’ll also tell you what you can do and what you can’t. You’ll be surprised at the immense number of green possibilities that even a tiny amount of space can hold!”

3428364863_c341386e5b

The childhood memories of playing in lawn and plucking fresh vegetables from home garden or sipping a cup of tea amidst of greenery are gone things. You don’t have to be super rich to own a bungalow with garden. My Sunny Balcony team (Athreya, Reena, Shailesh and Sriram) will take care of everything. Only thing, presently they operate in Bangalore city only but hoping they will start operating from other cities too ?

So what are you waiting for? Now even small spaces will have own personal garden! More details you can read at mysunnybalcony.com

Indian Art Summit 2009

It is happening for the 2nd time and it’s getting bigger and bigger- yeah India is set to give a platform to established as well as emerging artists, sculpture makers, photographers, new media designers, art enthusiasts and collectors. India Art Summit 2009 (19-22nd Aug at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi) was an answer for making art and the knowledge of art accessible to many by calling national & international artists, art galleries and audiences. A total of around 54 galleries were hosted, out of which 14 were from outside India.

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.

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