Sisters-in-Arms
City’s women addicted to alcohol come together as each other’s strength for a cleaner future 
Parbina Rashid
Hi! I am Meera and I am an alcoholic. No, it is not the confession of Sidney Sheldon’s heroine. It is, in fact, the admission of a city-bred lady who has dared to defy the social stigma attached to drinking and come out in the open to tell others that yes, she has this “disease” and is now willing to get rid of it.

• How much is too much?

Be a smart broke
You are trying to save for the New Years’ eve big bash, but the universe seems to be conspiring to tempt you into spending. Worry not, help’s here!
Purva Grover
It’s not even the middle of the month and your ATM card reads low balance. The moolah that came in on Diwali went away as easily as it came in. And now, your buddies are planning a big bash on December 31, for which you have to make a contribution. Plus, there is the “ideal” designer outfit that you spotted in a window last week.

Planting a bright future
He is a senior research fellow at the University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences Centre for Advanced Studies at Panjab University and has recently won an award at the 3rd Global Summit on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants at Chiang Mai, Thailand. Meet Panchkula-based Jai Malik, who has accomplished all this at just 30. Malik, after completing his B. Pharmacy was looking for admission into masters but he got into Phamocognosy, a field that deals with medicines made from plant extracts.

GENDER BIAS?
Do men consider teaching a lacklustre and underpaid profession? We find out ...
Aneesha Sareen
EVEN as the career of the modern women has witnessed a sea change in comparison to what it was some decades back, there is one vocation that primarily has been the women’s domain all these years and continues to be. With the career of women as teachers blossoming all through the years, today the fairer sex has become a dominant force in the teaching community.

Illustration by Kuldip Dhiman

youth speak
Shameful Act
Sudeep Bhatia
Common Admission Test (CAT) is the most important test for all those who aspire to make it to the top B-Schools of the country. It is the gateway to the seven IIMs and 99 other B-Schools in the country. The rising craze for pursuing MBA has led to an increase in the number of candidates appearing year by year. And, the proportion of engineers appearing has been high from the very beginning.

New releases
And the curtain goes up...
AAJA NACH LE
Director: Anil Mehta
Starring: Madhuri Dixit, Konkona Sen Sharma, Kunal Kapoor, Ranvir Shorey, Vinay Pathak. AFTER nearly a decade, an unexpected phone call shakes Dia (Madhuri) out of her dance rehearsal in New York. Makarand (Darshan Zariwala), her teacher and guru, is dying and she must return to Shamli town.

Scaling new heights 
Overload of energy & the courage to chase her dreams, that’s city-based entrepreneur Anupama Arya, who has now won international recognition
Purva Grover
The world was there to be seen and explored, and that’s what fascinated Anupama Arya. A city entrepreneur, her journey towards the exciting technology-driven world reached new heights this month with the India Athena Awards awarded to her at a function in Pune.

Photo by Vinay Malik

SIDELANES 
Is he man’s best friend?
Joyshri Lobo
We have been spending the past few nights at Sector 8 as beta no. 1 has gone out of the country and does not want DIL (daughter- in- law) to be alone. It is hard to sleep in a new place. I wake up frequently, sensitive to every sound. As 8 is a very quiet sector, crickets and warring cats rule the night. Except for the occasional howl of a pariah out in the cold, there is no barking at all.

Backdrop Melody
It’s the accompanists who create the background for a performance, yet they are overlooked by both audience & reviewers 
Parbina Rashid
THEY come as part of the stage set up, at least to us, audience. A brief bow and then they get down to work. They take cue from the main artiste and play quietly, backing him or her up to create the right background for melody to unfold. And, while we go gaga over the performance, we spare very little thought about them. 

Avirbhav Verma

In love with kathak
S.D. Sharma
“All Indian classical dances, especially kathak, are an aesthetic blend of music, poetry, a theme-based drama and a complete repertoire of musical art,” feels Zhaxybayeva Miez Orazgalievna, a Kazakhstan national. Presently learning the finer nuances of kathak from Guru Shobha Koser at Pracheen Kala Kendra under the ICCR scholarship, Miez’ association with kathak has come a long way.

Classical dance beckons Kazakh 

Burning passion
S.D. Sharma
Eulogising and singing Punjabi poetic creations of his own and others is the obsession of California-based Pashaura Singh Dhillon, a passionate poet and an architect by profession. In city for an interaction at Randhawa Auditorium, the poet delighted the literary elite with his mellifluous rendition of verses from his latest book Deeva Baleh Samundron Paar and other prominent poets. Sharing his love for literature and music with Lifestyle Tribune, Pashaura Singh opined that the vision, impulse, voice and command over language are the essential merits of a poet.

Architect turned Punjabi poet Pashura Singh Dhilllon

• TAROT TALK
  What the cards say today...
  P. KHURRANA