Grey cells & mobile greetings
The easiest way to greet family and friends on festivals is to forward mobile messages. But there're some tricity youths who like to coin their own SMSes
While you're busy exchanging greetings on your cell this festive season, a bunch of innovators are working their grey cells overtime to coin all those 'smses.' So, the next time you delete a greeting without so much as reading it or forward it mindlessly, it's their hard work that going waste. All this notwithstanding, these 'dedicated creatives' will go on making sms's and sending them across. And why? "I like it," puts in Shalini Dhir, who has no qualms in admitting she that creates 3-4 whacky smses on every occasion. "It started with a birthday message that I had to my best friend in Nagpur.

United Colours of Bhakti

Bollywood actors Chunkey Pandey and Monica Bedi play dandiya at the Sankalp Mitra Mandal in Thane on Saturday. PTI

CONTENT
2 b message maker
Wonder what's the flavour of the season on the SMS circuit? Well, messages on peace and amity are doing the rounds and here's what goes into their content…
If you wonder where do you get all kinds of pre-created messages that you can forward to your family, friends and colleagues without investing much thought, then here is what goes into them. Explains Dheeraj Aggarwal, chief executive officer, Altruist, which offers one such service called 'For You': "We have a creative team that makes all the messages. They look up for quotations, images and wordings, which are then compiled into an sms. After the approval from the operator, they are sent to the customers."

Simply Singapore
Singapore is set to rock to SRK tunes as a two-day entertainment and lifestyle extravaganza gets under way there next weekend
Bollywood's King Khan, Shah Rukh, will be the star attraction of the Zee Carnival - a two-day entertainment and lifestyle extravaganza to be held in Singapore next weekend. Already the SRK fever is catching on. Apart from his fans among the 200,000-strong Indian expatriate community in Singapore, large crowds are also expected from neighbouring Malaysia.

Vidya for meaty part
Vidya Balan, who shot to fame and won the best Filmfare Debut award and Face of the Year for the critically acclaimed Bollywood film Parineeta in 2006, talked about her upcoming projects and the current genre of film making at a launch of a jewellery showroom in Pune. "Indian cinema is a lot about experimenting these days and she would like to be cast in a different kind of role." Skirting many controversies and questions, including those revolving around her career and love life, she said, "I have restricted myself to the roles of substance these days.

Loving Mum's role
Bollywood actress Karisma Kapoor, who is back with her industrialist husband Sunjay Kapur, is this time in the news for judging the fourth season of Nach Baliye. But more than that she prefers to talk about her of motherhood. "Being a mother has been the best experience of her life.Motherhood changed a lot in me. It has made me more responsible and mature as a human being, " says Karisma, who is on a long sabbatical after marriage.

Hollywood's Hissss
Bollywood and Hollywood come together to create India's first creature-feature film
After contemplating on a lot of working titles, the Bollywood-Hollywood film starring Mallika Sherawat and Irrfan Khan will now be officially called Hissss. Produced by Vikram Singh & Govind Menon of Split Image Pictures & directed by renowned Hollywood director Jennifer Lynch, the movie has been in news lately for its interesting amalgamation of top technicians of the west and the superstars of our Bollywood industry.

Bowledand Beautiful
Guess who's making former Pakistan cricket captain and swing king Wasim Akram sway to her tunes nowadays? Bollywood actress and former beauty queen Sushmita Sen
Akram, who is currently co-judging an Indian reality TV show Ek Khiladi Ek Hasina with Sushmita, is totally gaga over the actress. "I think she is an incredible person. She has really made me comfortable on the show," said Akram. Akram first interacted with Sushmita in Dubai in 2006. "I met her about two years ago in Dubai. We did a telethon for Imran Khan's cancer hospital together for two days in a row and almost three hours live on TV where I got to interact with her," he said.

Going to great lens
Raghu Rai needs no introduction. Nor are we giving any. But that is no excuse to not tell who he is. What would we say? An Indian photographer who won Padmashree, served on the jury thrice at the World Press Photos, etc. We skip all that and move straight to narrate the interaction with him during his workshop organised by the Chandigarh Lalit Kala Academy. A picture, they say, is worth a thousand words. His are famous for speaking a million. When the man himself speaks, you bet, there’s pindrop silence and everybody wants to listen. Excerpts:

Dance, Devi and devotion
Success comes to those who believe in learning the hard way. And such hard learners are not difficult to find, that is if you believe in yourself. One such believer is Rahul Gupta. Be it the nuances of day-to-day life or the intricate details and expressions of classical dance forms like Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi, Rahul knows his lessons by heart and teaches them with all his heart. He is a reglar feature at the Durga Puja celebrations in city and is ready with his group of 15 to perform at this year’s festivities as well. His area of interest is creative forms like perfoming with the matka or diya.

Solar energy

Spirituality and sportsmanship go hand in hand. That’s what cricketer Dinesh Mongia’s tattoo depicting the Surya motif seems to say.Lifestyle photo:Pradeep Tewari

Labels to lust for 
It’s all about the first row. We’ve heard that women can mortgage their husband’s in order to get a front row seat at the leading fashion weeks. Well, no need to part with yours, for the First Row, a special sale concept, brings to Chandigarh an assortment of designer collections right from brand Raghavendra Rathore to Malini Ramani to Shantanu Nikhil.

Geek SPEAK
Mobility vs power
Just a few years back, a laptop didn't fit everyone's budget simply because it was very expensive and a majority of people used to opt for a desktop as it was affordable and more fun. Desktop PCs are like sports cars, where users compare each others' machines and the fastest and most powerful is considered the winner. After the introduction of low-cost laptops, computers became compact and could not be expanded, making the computing experience limited. They became more of business or work machines, which could not be experimented with.

Haute pick
Berry bold
The Black Berry bold 9000 3G is the speediest, most powerful, and most connected BlackBerry to date. It is equipped with 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi, stereo bluetooth, GPS, which could be Apple's iPhone killer for some, with a metallic strip around the edge of a glossy black face, making it look somewhat like an iPhone

Now, bio computers
Future management of power networks may involve a little more brain power than it does today, if a team of Missouri University of Science and Technology researchers, led by an Indian-origin scientist has their way. The experts’ new project involves literally tapping brain cells grown on networks of electrodes.

Watch out
Timeless. Remarkable. CK Bold is getting shiny to celebrate the festival season in a limited edition. Housed in a polished PVD gold case, this classic watch is available with a sun-brushed pink gold dial.  Finished in mineral glass, the bezel is accented by a polished crown with super luminova black hands.  The classic strap comes in rich faux leather alligator with a buckle closure. The exquisite watches are available in gent and chrono sizes. It’s water- resistant up to 100 meters.

Style & substance
With the ever-evolving technology catching young ones early, the cool world of gadgets and gizmos is happening like never before. We already know how the iPhone has rocked the giz biz like a tsunami. Here’re some of the other stuff in the stores that’s making the geeks go gaga…