Fusion flavour
Health officer to the winner of an international cookery competition, Veena Verma has come a long way
Veena Verma worked as a health officer in the state health department in the city, till she moved to UK after her marriage. On homecoming, the first Indian woman to win the prestigious International Best Chef award in Scotland in 2006, shares notes on her culinary skills and more. Settled in UK for the last forty years, Veena says she never really planned her career. “I did my B.Sc in Chandigarh and worked here, till I flew off to UK with my husband,” she tells. “I loved to cook but never thought about taking it is a profession,” Veena avers.

Rasta to Miami
Hemant Sagar, chosen Designer of the Year at Miami Fashion Week, has fond memories of the city, writes Gayatri Rajwade
His ‘rasta’ includes dressing up French aristocrats and even Barbie (the doll!) if it means a splurge in creativity. In fact ‘culture’ and ‘rasta’ are his two favourite words. So no surprises then that internationally acclaimed Indian couturier Hemant Sagar (40) has been selected as the Designer of the Year for the prestigious Miami Fashion Week starting April 13.

Ambian te koel bole
The melodious tunes of koel’s courtship song, rising above the whisper of pleasant morning breeze blowing soft across the trees, is heralding summers in the city. If you drive away from the din of honking cars, symptomatic of chaotic city life, all the way to the green belts across the sectors, you too will hear the call of the summers in the songs of the koel. Right fellows. The koel’s romantic spirit is soaring with the rising temperatures. All tuned up to woo its lover with the songs of affection, the little bird of freedom is actually crooning its heart out for the delight of the listeners.

Haywire
Creeping Comfort
If realtors were to tweak and turn on its head the simple living-high thinking motto, it would take the shape of — what else — super luxury apartments. Those towering emblems of high living founded entirely on a simple thought: the plusher, the better. With many such structures now set to poke their concrete heads into the tricity’s skyline, the well-heeled citizens can hope to reside in five-star luxury at an altitude. Needless to say, this stratosphere-caressing opulence will come for an astronomical sum.

Matka chowk
A lesson well learnt
When my daughter was young she always asked for good-bad stories. For example, when I told her the Parable of the Good Samaritan, she asked for the Parable of a Bad Samaritan. Now, given the age that we live in, protagonists for such a story were not hard to find!

Britney intoxicated
Pop singer Britney Spears is reportedly besotted with musician Howie Day, and the singer is planning to bring Day as her date when she attends her cousin’s wedding on June 2. Spears met the musician at Promises rehab in Malibu, where she underwent a one-month rehab stint.

Go Travel
Chamba’s vales
Manimahesh
Just 35 km from Bharmaur, the place is sacred to Lord Shiva and his divine consort Parvati. The highlight is Manimahesh lake. Past Gaddi villages and wide meadows that give way to bare rock and snowfields, this tarn is a three-day trek from Bharmaur via Hadsar and Dhanchha. The deep blue waters of the lake rest at the feet of the Manimahesh Kailash Peak, one of the mythological abodes of Lord Shiva.

                                                                                          The Manimahesh lake

• Write to Renee

Lajawab
The verdict may take some time, but his contentions are loud and clear. Advocate-turned-singer Navtej Randhawa rules traditional touch is fundamental for songs to be heard over the din created by so many singers trying to make it big in the Punjabi music industry.

• Health tip of the day