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Always sprinting to cope with the fast pace of life, many working couples in the city are missing out on togetherness They
juggle work and familial responsibilities astoundingly well. Their list of achievements would turn anyone green with envy — frequent promotions, handsome appraisals, seven-figure salaries, a two kanal house, designer furniture and the latest gizmos. Their only problem — they are drifting apart. And no, it’s not the proverbial scheming man-eater, who’s lured the husband away from his loving wife. Nor is it the casanova home-breaker, who’s tempted the innocent wife to cheat on her man. For, the culprit here isn’t a man or woman, but time (or rather the lack of it). And how are these couples coping up? We find out: Laments Shelly Anand, working with Axis Bank-8, “My husband Rajan, a business development manager with Reliance Life, and I spend a major chunk of time in office. Especially with our little kids around, it’s very difficult to rekindle our bond. With eight to nine jobs, it’s tough to manage it all and yet find time for each other,” she muses. Agrees 30-year-old Aseem Grover, an engineer with Tata Motors, “Jobs today are a lot more about pressure. So, the problem’s not just couples spending little time together. Many times, they are so mentally pre-occupied, they remain lost in their own worlds, despite being together.” Asserts soft skills facilitator Neera Bindra, “I’ve been training corporate honchos for seven years and observed that Gen-Y couples are work-obsessed, high-performers, attending workshops to bring in synergy at the workplace. However, they lack synergy and spontaneity in their lives. Moreover, they don’t invest any time for rekindling the missing passion.” City-based marketing professional Rajat Pande’s wife Sanjoli Chimni Pande was in a plush job with Citibank. “It was crazy, travelling four days a week and coping up with 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. timings, bringing up kids and our relationship. One day, we looked into the mirror and felt both of us were pregnant again!” laughs Sanjoli, an investment banker. In fact, putting on weight due to stress was their wake-up-call and the duo started spending more time together. Gymming, salsa classes and coffee dates replaced office meetings on some days and ‘life got better’. Another such couple is Neena Chaudhary, a doctor at the Government Hospital-16 and hubby Mahavir S. Kanear. “We’ve been married for the past 14 years and are managing quite well. I work in day and night shifts, but we have an equal division of responsibility. When I get the children ready for school, he prepares breakfast.” Suggests media professional Vani Grover, “Doing simple things together like reading stories aloud to our daughter, chatting and playing guitar are fantastic de-stressers.” So duos, however, busy your lives might seem, remember to make time for each other. Your homes may look awesome with fancy furnishings and expensive gadgets and your fingers might look prettier with chunky solitaires. But will your heart find solace in an empty house, where you and your mate live like strangers?
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After twirling their way to celebratory status at the Hong Kong Salsa Congress, Varun and Barsha Rana have decided to ‘enlighten’ the residents about salsa events through their own website. The couple has, in fact, joined hands with a team of young instructors for ‘promoting the salsa revolution’ through the site. Log on to it and you will get the details of all that’s happening in the world of Salsa. Right from parties and boot camps to events and competitions, you will be able to download all. “Club Salsa India plans to carry out promotional activities in the northern region to encourage private and corporate clients to join the salsa movement. Through clubsalsaindia.com, we will inform the people about the activities,” says Barsha. This is not all. All jived up, the young couple has come up with a smart card. It offers the members a discount up to 15 per cent by the ‘associate brands’. Cool! — Saurabh Malik
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STEP OUT Juley! I am just back from Leh and, despite being jaded because it was my sixth visit, I still had a great holiday. Ladakh offers mountaineering, trekking, rafting, and mountain biking. It also stages events. In August 2003, I covered the Great Tibetan Marathon for The Tribune (http://www. tribuneindia. com/ 2003/ 20030921/ spectrum/main4 .htm). It was won by local girls and boys and Leh is home to some international-level track athletes like Rigzin Angmo. Those of you who are runners can link up with the local ones. You can also find foreign athletes on holiday in Leh who use the opportunity to hike their aerobic capacity by running at 11,000 feet. For mountaineers, there are small peaks like Dzo Jongo (6,120 m), Kangyatse (6,400 m), and the hugely popular Stok Kangri (6,153 m) or Kanglachen in local lingo. Even novices and first-timers can scale this peak. It is an easy walk up, with only the last section on steepening moraine and snow. Most people do it in two days, setting up a camp midway. If you are fit and hardy, you can do it in one day. Opposite Stok is a smaller peak, Golep Kangri (5,900 m) – often erroneously called Gulab Kangri. (Golep is the Ladakhi word for “dome”.) The real summit is the third snow hump but many people mistakenly climb the first hump that is visible from the Base Camp (BC) — Stok and Golep have a common BC. The Golep climb is just a longish trudge, though my trip was marked by a memorable experience. I was doing the climb alone, with a trainee guide. Neither of us had a torch so he tied rags on a stick, doused it with kerosene and set it afire. There is a small stream between BC and the ridge leading to the peak. We were setting off before dawn but the rivulet was still too wide for me and I looked for a boulder to jump from after he had already jumped across. Our “torch” burnt out in a few minutes so he jumped back and returned to camp. I waited in the starlight beside the murmuring water until he returned with another flaming torch. This time, he found a narrower spot and I jumped across right after him. Among the higher peaks, the Nun-Kun, Saser Kangri, Mamostang Kangri and Rimo massifs are popular. The Himalayan Club, Mumbai, has just climbed Chong Kumdan I (7,071 m), after giving up on the virgin CK II (7,004 m) due to bad weather and crevasses. For growing clubs, it would be a good idea to send a team with mixed experience to Nun (7,135 m). The summit attempt can be made by the most experienced but Nun has an icefall early on, which can be good exposure for a support team carrying out ferries. These members can then climb D41, a small peak to the right with mixed snow and ice climbing. Don’t return from Ladakh without rafting. The one-day, 20-km trip from Phey to Nimo on the easy-flowing Indus is okay for a first-timer (and the price is low!) but there is less water there this season so many operators are offering the 24-km Chilling to Nimo (Rs 1400-1600). Transport and lunch are included. If you have the time, go for the multi-day trip on the Zanskar, which has one Grade IV rapid. This has to be booked in advance as it includes a 3-day jeep safari to Padum followed by six days’ rafting. The Zanskar is more exploratory than exciting so white water enthusiasts should head for the day-long run on its tributary, the Tsarap (four Grade IVs, one Grade V!). And, if you are a mountain biker but don’t have the time to pedal from Manali to Leh (the average is 9-11 days with one or two rest days while the record is 5 days), do the short ride to Khardung La (18,380 ft) from Leh. Sham trek (easy): 5 days. The writer has authored India’s first handbook of adventure sports and is available at y.bey@excite.com (This column appears fortnightly)
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Small wonder Meet seven-year-old Gurpriya Kaur. The rising talent has bagged more prizes than her age in competitions. At the age of two when children of her age are busy playing with toys, Gurpriya would go through Gurmat classes — the study of the Sikh religion. She is still enthusiastic about religious study. No wonder, the student of the Chandigarh Baptist School has mostly bagged first and second positions in all Gurmat related competitions. However, she does not ignore her studies. “I am eager to learn our culture first. I know how our forefathers guarded and propagated our culture,” she says. Besides, she loves painting and watching cartoon shows. Her favourite show? Tom and Jerry of course! And she draws inspiration from her family. She says: “My moral support is my parents. While my father checks my abilities by making me to speak through the mobile phone, mom helps me to learn.”
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Two for fashion Catering to the culinary and lodging needs of the people for so many years, city’s oldest hotel Aroma has added a new item to the menu of services it is offering. The classic hotel has come up with a shopping store that showcases latest products any gal can ever hope to buy. Oh yes, you can have your pick right from Italian electro-plated jewellery that promises to bedazzle the onlookers without turning dull even after years of wear and tear, to slim fit denims and funky stuff like cool spaghetti tops. And the best part about the entire thing is that the hot stuff can be yours without really burning holes in your pocket. In fact, you can take home silver and Victorian jewellery from the Raga section for as less as Rs 300. For a nice top from the Sstudio Sstrings section, you will not have to pull out more than Rs 75. It’s a bargain, folks! Ask Shruti of Raga and Meena of Sstudio Sstrings, and the two say the intention behind launching the store jointly is to provide the city femmes. And, just in case you are wondering what the latest is, Shruti says stone-cum-silver jewelry is dazzling the residents like never before. “You have emeralds, rubies, sapphires, pearls and even topaz — all in silver,” she says. “The stuff is cool for office, as well as casual and party wear.” Back to clothes, Delhi-based fashion designer Meena says: “All seasonal funky wear is the in thing. Be it jeans or skirts, youngsters nowadays want stuff they can wear all around the year,” she asserts. Sounds sensible. You not only save precious dough, but also efforts that’s required in relegating out of season stuff to the closet. Happy shopping!
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In a city famed for celebrating all ‘days’ comes a unique Janamashtami exhibition Saurabh Malik Just watching him dazzle on the glass shelves in jewellery stores, exhibitions or even at card and gift shops across the city is enough for you to realise Lord Krishna’s miniature replica is all set to conquer the residents’ hearts like never before on the occasion of Janamashtami. If you still haven’t taken home the idol, or so many other articles associated with the occasion, for placing them in the temple at your house, worry not. You still have time as the festival falls on Tuesday. “This time, you actually have so much to choose from,” says city-based furniture designer Puneeta Singh. “To begin with, you have jhoolas and chariots. You can also go in for painstakingly carved idols brought all the way to the city from China, or the ones prepared indigenously by local artistes. This is not all. You even have idols moulded out of silver and gold — the choice, and the budget, is yours, entirely.” Some of the stuff has been there for past couple of years. But, with limited options, religious shopping has never been so blissful, says Puneeta. Her furniture house, Vimple Woods, is organising the city’s first ever Janamashtami-special exhibition in Sector 11 from Saturday. On display during the ‘Uniquely Divine’ exhibition will be ‘exclusively religious’ stuff, including temples complete with tiny mirrors, special candle and incense-stick stands, along with antiquely-contemporary dhoop boxes. Taking you around the venue, she says the stuff is not very expensive either. You can pick up wooden dhoop and jot boxes with carving for as leas as Rs 200. Most of the stuff is priced below Rs 500. Well, there is another reason for you to buy the stuff from the exhibition. Firm believer in the dictum ‘charity begins at home’, Puneeta says a part of the sale-proceeds will go for social cause. So, by taking home the stuff you are actually paying for a poor child’s meal. Just in case you wish to go in for gold and silver stuff, visit the jewelers. “You can choose from elaborate golden bal jhoolas,” says Soli Sethi, managing partner of Manimajra-based Sethi Sons Jewelers. “Or else, go in for silvery idols you can wear around your neck as pendants and lockets.” The excitement is building up, religiously. So remember to take a round of the city for taking home a bit of divinity this Janamashtami.
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FILM &FASHION
Britney wants more
Britney Spears marked her comeback with the release of her long-awaited single Gimme More. The single was officially premiered on New York radio station Z-100’s website. The song is from her long-gestating fifth studio album. Described as ‘an uptempo club cut’ and ‘funky’, the song has been produced by Timbaland protege Nate ‘Danjahandz’ Hills, who has scored hits for the likes of Justin Timberlake and T.I. Spears opens the sexy and sassy tune by saying, It’s Britney, b—-, and producer Nate ends it in a shout out, saying, “Bet you didn’t see this coming,” reports says. The single made its debut just moments after versions of it were leaked to at least two other websites, Perezhilton and TMZ. Charlize makes a deal
Filmmaker Paul Haggis found that Oscar winner actress Charlize Theron’s has an obsession for the US game show Deal or No Deal. The filmmaker was stunned by the amount of time the actress spent playing the videogame version of the game show in the trailer on the set their new flick In The Valley Of Elah. “Charlize would say, ‘Excuse me, Paul. I have to go prepare.’ And she’d go back and they’d be playing Deal or No Deal,” he said.
— ANI
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Cool Stuff Romance the rains this monsoon with Avon’s Simply Pretty All Dolled Up collection. Experience blossoming rosy colours, warm plums and calming pinks to accentuate your natural best to get the look. Designed to create incredibly pretty and truly fresh looks, the collection offers simple solutions with spectacular results for all your make-up needs this season. Ideal to wear throughout the day, this look offers you a hint of colour and freshness. The exclusive colour palette and formulation has been researched and developed for Indian complexion and skin, with parameters such as skin tones, weather conditions and latest colour trends. The colours are light and so is the application.
Fashion Crocs colourful and fun range of shoes is now available in the city in 26 exciting colours. The company has launched its original multi-purpose model Beach for adults and Kids-Cayman for children. There is a Crocs colour to fit everyone’s palette. The shoes feature Croslite, a proprietary closed-cell resin that represents a substantial innovation in footwear. It enables Crocs to produce soft, comfortable, lightweight, superior-gripping, non-marking and odor-resistant shoes. The footwear is ideal for casual, professional and recreational uses such as rafting, hiking, hospitality and gardening. It is priced at Rs 1,495 for adults and Kids-Cayman for Rs 995.
Kids Zone Euro Books presents the queen of crime, Agatha Christie in graphic novels format. While Agatha Christie’s novels have been popular with generations of Indian readers, the new format of graphic novels is just what today’s gen next kids would lap up. Millions of kids and teens across the world feel stories are brought to life by lively sketches and make a better read than the traditional novel format. The illustrations in these graphic novels have been done by the famous Belgian artist Frank Leclercq. The covers are available as 13 soft cover titles as well as four 3-in-1 compilations in hardcover. The singles are priced at Rs 199 and 3-in-1s at Rs 450.
Food A nutritious and healthy milk drink by Nestle is the Milkmaid Funshake. Made from high quality toned milk it is available in three variants, mango, banana and chocolate. The Funshakes are not just flavoured milk as they have real banana syrup, mango syrup and cocoa solids. Two packs of the shakes provide a child with more than 30 per cent of his daily requirement of protein and 100 per cent of daily calcium. The ‘Yum milk, Fun milk’, is a great option for healthy drinking. You can drink them on-the-go or make them a daily part of your child’s school bag. It is available in 200 ml packs, priced between Rs15 and 17.
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Many causes of back pain continue doing wrong abdominal and back exercises which put undue load on the low back. Therefore, exercises should be done according to the problem and not the routine exercises.— Dr Ravinder Chadha
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