Writing on the blackboard
Guru, mentor, pal, inspiration... Ahead of Teachers’ Day, we walked down the happening lanes of PU and hung around college canteens to find out some of the all-time favourite teachers in town. The winners are...
Anandita Gupta
We’ve all spent endless hours chit-chatting about them. Everything from their dressing sense, passions and personalities to their lil’ idiosyncrasies and accents has been the butt of our discussions (even jokes). Their sermonising styles have been ripped to shreds over steaming cuppas and samosa-sessions in the college canteen. Yet, teachers occupy the most-endearing slot in our memory-banks.

I’m an Indian Apna Apache on his spiritual quest, present-day  Indian music & charity Purva Grover singer, composer, mentor, and above all an Indian, that’s Steven Kapur aka Apache Indian for you. On his first visit to the city, the singer with his roots in Jalandhar says his music is a reflection of him. Oft called the king of Bhangramuffin, the artiste touched the chords of the Punjabis with Chokthere in the 90s. He says, “My first album was a blend of all that I, as an Indian, absorbed in the UK.” He performed at Score-8 on Saturday evening.

Riding high on imagination
 Saurabh Malik
Riding high on adventure spirit, non-resident Indian Balbir Singh Hunjan is vrooming all the way towards ex-Beatle John Lenon’s utopia where people live in peace; there are no countries; and nothing to kill or die for. And, in the course of his around-the-world-on-a-bike journey with his Chez-born girlfriend Martina Pernova, Canada-based Hunjan has just arrived in the city after covering 27,000 km, and 37 countries.

Lots of rhythm, lots of reason 
Rhythm King Santosh Kataria’s take on the revival of the dholak
Parbina Rashid
THE instrument that earned him the title of ‘Rhythm King’ still moves him, though his priorities have changed over the years. Yes, he is Santosh Kataria, composer, music director, but most of all a dholak player! Now, his recording studio in Sector 35, boasts of all hi-tech musical instrument, but the dholak that once he designed and dressed to suit the modern taste buds, still find its place.

First Day First Show 
A classic disaster
RGV ki Aag
AVOIDABLE
Rajiv Kaplish
Move over Buddha Mar Gaya, Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag is here. Just when we thought the former would take the cake when it comes to selecting the worst film of the year, “Ram Gopal... pips it to the post. We have to admit it upfront....Aag” left us cold. How can fire leave anyone cold? It certainly can. When Gabbar becomes Babban, Veeru becomes Hero, Jai turns Raj, Basanti gives way to Ghungroo and her tonga is transformed into an autorickshaw.

• Yawning glory
  Victoria No 203

• Of trust & betrayal
  Dhokha

Write to Renee

Power dressing
Know your body type and assess what works best for you at the workplace
Aman Minhas
WHAT pleases the eye pleases the mind. And the work place being the battlefield that it is, one has to gain an edge over others, by not only working smart but also dressing smart. C’mon, a complement or two will only do well to your USP. And office wear, after all, is a statement about your work, formal or informal, and an expression of personal panache.

• It’s official

Sur hai na taal hai
Blasting, irritating, senseless: It is bad music at its best. We torture ourselves and listen to some of the mindless hits to figure out what makes a bad number hit 
Purva Grover
MAIN to raste se ja raha tha, main tu bhel puri kha raha tha, tujhe mirchi lagi tu main kya karun, teri nani mari to main kya karu was perhaps a bad number at its best. A trendsetter for tasteless and pointless music, did the composers ever hear their masterpiece? Nothing short of an advertisement for the next-door halwai followed in Jab tak rahega samose mein aalu, tera rahonga main meri shalu. 

Little Interview 
Oye Basanti, oops Ghungroo!
Ram Gopal Varma’s current favourite protégé Nisha Kothari is in the news again. She is Ramu’s modern Basanti in the film. She plays Ghungroo — Basanti’s modern avatar. She is also a part of RGV’s Darling. She has the sizzle and the oomph quotient right. Here is what the Ram Gopal Varma discovery has to say about the Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag.

Naomi engaged?
Supermodel Naomi Campbell sparked off rumours of her own engagement recently. The Streatham-born ramp queen flashed a ring on her wedding finger at a dinner in honour of Nelson Mandela at the Dorchester Hotel, after a hunky bloke made a move on her. “Naomi had a ring on her wedding finger and when someone tried to chat her up she waggled it at him and said, ‘Uh-uh’. However, it appears from the incident that flashing the ring is Naomi’s new way to get rid of unwanted men trying to woo her. “It was a joke. Naomi’s not engaged. It’s her dad’s ring,” a spokesman for Naomi said. —ANI 

Matka chowk 
Sreedhara Bhasin
Chandigarh  Challenges

WEEK AHEAD

• Exhibition

• Performing Art

• Talk