CHANDIGARH INDEX


This is my news
Reaching out to the people has never been as easy as today
Aneesh Bhanot (top) with his home production Sector News.News is not a 'one-size-fits-all' business, confirms the presence of around 500 publications from our City Beautiful. Apart from major national newspapers, there are dailies, weeklies and quarterlies available for those in medicine, law, technology, education, business and almost every field to keep them abreast of the latest.

NEWS MAKER: Aneesh Bhanot (top) with his home production Sector News.

Something brewing
Nirupama and Kamla Dutt at Sundaram’s-26.
Coffee, chats and verses - the Sister Act by Kamla and Nirupama Dutt make poetry recital a casual and interactive affair
It was a complete Sister Act, to be precise, to be apt! It's like being born to a best friend, a mutual admiration club sans stipulations, tete-a-tete personified and all things nice. Doing the act on Sunday for the literati of their hometown were Kamla Dutt, scientist, a poetess, short story writer, and her younger cousin Nirupama Dutt, a journalist and a writer.

Nirupama and Kamla Dutt at Sundaram’s-26. Photo: Vinay Malik

True calling
Rahul S. Verghese Here are a few brave hearts, who decided to cast aside their flourishing career in order pursue their true calling
Everyone daydreams of living by the hills, fishing all day, bonfire at night, running own restaurant, living life the laidback way. A tiny fraction contemplates the logistics, ifs and buts, pros and cons. Then there are bills to be paid, lifestyle to sustain, dream home to build, pending promotion, taxes to take care of, EMIs to be adjusted and it's a quicksand of urban life. Even tinier decimal fraction actually chucks it all up, never to return.

Spice up
Hands up!
Among the parts of the body that become really dry during the winter are the feet and the back of the hands. Actually, the hands begin to show neglect and aging sooner than most body parts. The skin on the back of the hands is thin and has few oil glands. The hands also come in contact with soaps and detergents daily. These makes skin rough and dry. This is more so in the winter, when the skin loses moisture to the atmosphere.

Basic instinct
Sweden-based artist Swarn Prita Anand's paintings are born out of joy and innocence
"I was taught to play with colours, just throw them on canvas and allow them to mould your thoughts into a visual extravaganza," says Swarn Prita Anand, an artist who brought her first ever exhibition in India, Beyond Boundaries at Punjab Kala Bhavan-16.

In letter and spirit
How helpful are health and fitness books? We find out...
We now have an idea why almost all English dailies have a page dedicated to health and fitness at least once a week and why there are half a dozen magazines on the same. For that matter even us, we are done with most of the health topics-- yoga, meditation, exercise, gymming, walking eating, diet…still the there's a lot left. In times when health is actually wealth, people are game for knowledge that would help them stay fit. So what if they can't get personal training from Rujutia Diwekar (Kareena Kapoor's personal trainer) or learn yoga from BKS Iyenger or take counseling from Deepak Chopra on the benefits of meditation? Solutions come in the form of ample books on health and fitness by experts available in the market.

Breathe easy
As far as asthma cases are concerned, this year has been no different. Like always, the city has witnessed a spurt in the number of people suffering from asthma. According to experts, healthy people, who otherwise show no signs of breathlessness, feel the discomfort in the chest once mercury starts dipping.

BODY wise
Healthy start
The start of another new year provides us with an opportunity to reflect on the past and look ahead to changes we can make today to improve our health tomorrow. Here are some relatively pain-free ways to a healthier life. If we take even some of them to heart, they really can improve our odds for a happy and healthy year ahead.

Binge on!
Some 10 to 15 per cent women are affected by binge eating behaviours and attitudes, a new study says. "Our results are disquieting," said Lise Gauvin, a professor of social and preventive medicine at the Montreal University, who conducted the study.

Paa-rty in Dubai
India's consulate here today organised a special screening of Amitabh Bachchan-starrer movie Paa a film based on Progeria or premature aging. Directed by adman R Balki, Paa explores the father-son relationship and depicts 13-year-old 'Auro', played by Bachchan who is a victim of this 'rare' disease. The movie also stars Amitabh's son Abhishek Bachchan, who plays his father, Vidya Balan and Paresh Rawal. A cross-section of Indian families and other residents of Dubai converged at the local Grand Hyatt Cineplex in Dubai to watch the movie.

‘I am sorry’
A day after he lost his cool at a Noida press conference, the producer of the film 3 Idiots , Vidhu Vinod Chopra, apologised for shouting at a journalist. The debate began when author Chetan Bhagat, who claimed that the movie made by Chopra is inspired by his novel Five Point Someone and that he was not given credit for it.

Passing possibilities
Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra, writer, producer and actor Uday Chopra said here on Saturday that love is always possible, while promoting their upcoming film Pyaar Impossible . Addressing a news conference to promote the film, Priyanka and Uday said it would attract an audience because of its simplicity.

Common Act
Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty who recently tied the knot with NRI millionaire Raj Kundra is reportedly planning to hold a grand reception at the House of Commons here. The 34-year-old actress had shot to fame in the UK after winning the reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother in 2007, following a headline grabbing racism row involving her and fellow contestant Jade Goody.

No room in the bed!
Rocker Joel Madden usually sleeps on the sofa because long-term partner Nicole Richie takes up so much room in the bed. The 27-year-old reality star, who has 23-month-old daughter Harlow and three-month-old son Sparrow with Joel, loves stretching out in her sleep, leaving no room for the Good Charlotte rocker, a website reported. "She takes up all the space. Joel often wakes up to find himself pushed to the side of the bed, while Nicole is sleeping smack dab in the middle. She turns herself into crazy positions," a source said.

Beauty & the geek
She is one of the sexiest in Hollywood and is expected to romance only hunks but Megan Fox stunned everyone when she expressed a desire to date a geek. The Transformers actress, who is in an on/off relationship with actor Brian Austin Green, says comic book fans make great boyfriends because they are well mannered.

A tiring job
Actor Ashton Kutcher has revealed that he grew tired of taking off his clothes and shooting sex scenes for his new film Spread. The 31-year-old star, who plays a bed-hopping socialite in the movie, said it initially took him time to adjust to shooting naked.

Women cry baby?
Women knew it all along. And now, a study has confirmed it to the entire world - nothing makes a girl cry as much as a man. More than three in four women blame their partners for making them cry, not to mention their fathers or sons. But 63 percent of men reckon their wives, girlfriends and even mothers can reduce them to tears, said the study by Rohto Dry Eye Relief. The survey of 2,000 adults also found that when it comes to men, the pressures of work, being treated badly by the boss or horrid workmates can also bring on the tears.