She is here
Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan of You Are Here fame is in the city to interact with booklovers
Lingerie, a beer bottle, angels of love and the protagonist puffing a cigarette; with no intentions to show any streak of rebel though, just to state some straight facts. Facts about a modern, young urban woman’s life brought forth through the cover page that has all the above-mentioned components imprinted. But that’s all, there are far more important ones mentioned in the book, presented in the form of a story of Arshi’s life, the protagonist of You Are Here, the book that went into its third edition in a year’s time. A few more details would be, "Arshi has got stuck in her life. She hates her job, is in love with a boy who doesn’t reciprocate, has dated many guys before too, her parents has a broken marriage, she is directionless, she is, in fact, everything a young woman in a cosmopolitan is (some accept it, some don’t)," asserts Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan, the author.

Luck by chance
Naresh Kumar has everything going for him — talent, a job that he loves and a supportive wife
Coming from a modest musical family in Jind, Naresh Kumar Malhotra carved a niche for himself in the realm of music, to be hailed as the third generation exponent of Indore Gharana, started by Ustad Amir Khan Saheb. Prodigious Naresh foreshowed the coming glory much earlier, during his childhood, when he won the HRD Ministry scholarship in music as a school student. Holding a master’s degree and M Phil in vocal classical music from Delhi University and ‘A’ grade artiste from Akashwani, Naresh is presently serving the All-India Radio as a programme officer. He is the foremost disciple of Guru Tejpal Singh, of Singh Bandhu fame. In the city for a music concert at the Pracheen Kala Kendra-35, he shares his views on music, ghrana concept and contemporary scene.

Triple treat
I saw him closely. He is damn cute. He looks different from what he looks in Kaminey. But, he is not tall enough. He looks chilled out," a pretty girl who was on the flight with the trio, Shahid Kapoor, papa Pankaj Kapoor and mom Supriya Pathak, couldn’t stop raving about what a gem of people they were. "They don’t have an iota of attitude," chips another passenger who in fact went up to Shahid kapoor to express her appreciation for him. As for the family, who descended in the city for a personal tour, and to pay a visit at Beas (Amritsar), the flash of cameras is not always comforting. However, unlike other actors, who shy away from being captured off-guard (on airport), this family knows how to take things in their stride.

Healthy invasion
British fitness guru Crispin Lamont is here to make India fit
Never missed an iron pumping session? Share a bond with your treadmill that is deeper than that with your spouse? Follow a diet that can be categorised as rabbit food? Compare yourself every day with a poster of Bebo or Aamir Khan while working out in the gym? Then you join the league of the bulge fighters, in their only pursuit. To have big muscles and small waist. "We will give you that, but without any steroids, protein shakes, crash dieting or mindless iron pumping," Crispin Lamont, COO of Anytime Fitness and fitness guru who has authored Moments of Darkness, a book on fitness for sportspersons, guarantees. Ahem another dose of guarantee sounds standard? "Maybe. But we bring fitness and leisure solutions with educated, professional and total scientific approach that will not fail to give results," he says. 

Curry in favour
Gastronomical
Moving away from the city food joints, we present you Katani—the crown in the Mohali food scene
Another week, another food joint! But this time we venture out to the so-called poor cousin of the city - Mohali. Underprivileged, maybe in infrastructure, but when it comes to food, Mohali boasts of some of the best Punjabi food joints. And, the most famous of them all, that serves food morning, noon and night, is Katani in Phase III-B2, Mohali.

Care for curry?
Indian food does roaring business in Britain
Steaming hot biryani, mouth watering tikkas and kebabs, delicious south Indian dosa, laced Kerala appam and stew are now part of the British palate through the thousands of Indian curry houses that are doing roaring business in Britain. Britons' love affair with Indian cuisine can be traced to the early 1980s when celebrated food writer and television presenter Madhur Jaffrey made Indian cooking popular across the US and Europe with her simple and easy recipes. The curry houses have now become a flourishing industry. And adding some glamour to them is Shilpa Shetty's Gourmet Creations.

Bon Appetit
Spicily iced tea!
One of summer's simplest pleasures, ice tea is not only healthy, but also a super refresher. Fresh-brewed tea in its purest form is one of nature's most-perfect beverages, which is zero calories and loaded with flavonoids. "Just what" you ask, "are flavonoids and why should I care?" Well. It's not so simple, but here's the quickest answer I can muster up.

Dip, sip and eat
Dunking biscuits in your tea could soon be history, thanks to the "unsinkable" biscuit. Chef Felice Tocchini claims to have created a snack that can be dipped in tea for up to two minutes without breaking. The 'Worcester Feast Dunker' is held together with slithers of sweet potato. It is made by layering flour and oat-based dough to build strength and has an egg-based glaze on top, reports The Sun. Tocchini, 44, who runs the Fusion Brasserie restaurant in Worcester, said: "The intention was to make something tasty that when you dunk it in your tea it won't fall apart.

Melody makers
Dil Bole Hadippa (YRF Music): You have to hand it to Yash Raj Films. They know how to market their films as well as music. They give it such saturation coverage pre-release that you sort of start looking forward to it. The music of this film is a true example of this market-savvy attitude. In no way is it out of the ordinary but it has been playing ad nauseam and has gotten stuck to one’s ears nice enough. It is faux Punjabi music by Pritam with some funky lyrics by Jaideep Sahni (sample this: Hand pump hai dabbi ja, or nach karenge nach karenge yara, ajj to hum too much karenge yara). No wonder words like chakk de phatte are freely used. In the Pritam scheme of things, Punjabi music only means bhangra and high spirits.

Kolkata kaleidoscope