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Truth behind the terror
Kumar is not a novice when it comes to understanding the political scenario of Punjab. His earlier book Reduced to Ashes: Insurgency and Human Rights in Punjab in 2003 had created history of sorts. So is his latest book is a sequel to Reduced to Ashes? "Not really," says Kumar, in town for the release of the book at the Press Club on Saturday. "While Reduced to Ashes was based on the physical and emotional trauma of 1,600 families I had interviewed, Terror in Punjab is mainly my opinion which I derived from my attempts to understand the mass atrocities committed post Operation Bluestar." So the canvas for the book spans over a period from 1984 to 1992. And as for taking up the issue as the main focus for his book, he justifies "Such events can never be forgotten, at least not by the people who bore the brunt. You can silence them, but this is the silence of the graveyard, one has to understand that this is not peace. So social deliberation on the subject is important to let out all those pent up feelings." So, the release function will be followed by a panel discussion, a slide show of clips from Jallianwala Bagh massacre to Operation Bluestar and an interaction with a few victimised families. And taking part in the panel discussion with Kumar will be Harsh Mander, a former civil servant dedicated to the cause of justice in Gujarat, Prof Abdulrahim P. Vijapur from Aligarh Muslim University and Roopinder Singh from The Tribune. So what’s next for this South Asia Forum for Human Rights’ programme director for Understanding Impunity? "Another book on human rights issues that based on North-East, Gujarat, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. This is actually a research project to find out the unique aspects as well as the common aspects of the problematic areas and also to find out about their common needs," he signs off. parbina@tribunemail.com
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White is synonymous with summer. Anandita Gupta on how to dazzle them all
Desi Delights Any guesses about the hottest destination on the world fashion map? Well, it’s amchi India. So, why not swathe ourselves in the pure innocence of white via a desi dose of dazzle? Think achoromatic, white churidars and duppattas teamed with colourful, printed kurtis. Check out Fabindia-9 for bleach-white salwars and churi pants (Rs 400-500). The duppattas in Luckhnavi cottons, organdies and muls come with appliqu`E9 and phoolpatti work, besides sequins, crochet and lace trimmings (Rs 1,000 onwards). Local designers like Rashmi Bindra have rustled up hand-painted chiffon and georgette duppattas (Rs 700 onwards) against a bleach-white background. Bindra also offers white chiffon saris with mukaish and lace trimmings. Though there aren’t as many takers for white saris, as for suits, the Chandini saris are being asked for by my select clients, "informs Bindra, who’s been completely floored by the use of whites in Yash Chopra’s flicks. Suggests Kanchi Nangia, who recently rolled out her exhibition in town, "Anarkalis and empire-line dresses with embellishments in both gold and silver look stunning in white. I’ve also done angrakhas and kurtis with silver zari, pin-tucks and piping as detailing (Rs 250-1,600). Chic Chikan White-coloured chikan is a summer must and where else will you find it other than our local expos? Advises Neelam Arya, who exhibited her collection of Luckhnavi kotas, chanderis and chikans (Rs 1,000-5,000) recently, "White coloured chikan kurtas can be teamed with blue denims or graphic print churidars for a hip look. Chikan tunics in the hue look chic too, if combined with lowers in bright block prints. Regular, loose-fit white tops in chikan are ideal for those oh-so-unbearable summer afternoons." Snow White Cutesy lil’ skirts in chiffon, georgettes, linen and muls are the season’s hot pick. Check out Waga and Micky Chhabra-10 for these short, billowy skirts, besides flowing and asymmetrical white dresses in wispy chiffons. Shelly’s-8 stocks formal, baby-doll, satin dresses in scintillating white. These come with fancy trimmings too (Think soothing white ribbons, bows, fabric brooches and rossettes flowing on sparkling white dresses). Fabindia-9 stocks long, straight-line skirts, both in cotton and in khadi-cotton (Rs 400 onwards). Don’t forget to team these with funky tube tops, jazzy belts and cute ballerinas. Blue Ice Though placed on the opposite spectrum of the bold colour trend, white is a hue that looks absolutely fab when teamed with blue. So get hold of a fresh, crisp and breezy white shirt (in cotton or linen), a tee, halter or a tube top in lycra and wear it with your blue denims. For shirts in see-through fabrics, don’t forget to wear white spaghetti or a slip underneath. White magic To cast a spell with the hue, accessorise with patent leather bags, chunky crochet or extra-slim leather belts, wedges and platforms. All these accompaniments are available in varying hues of white at various local stores in town. For some added zing, you can even get hold of boho gogs (Rs 600) with an extra thick white frame! anandita@tribunemail.com
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Telly Tales
You’ll remember her as this girl in the Asian Paints ad who eggs her brother to paste pictures of animals on the walls to make a zoo (besides having done ads for Colgate, Clinic Plus, Nirma, Santoor , Sunfeast Pasta). Already honoured with the Pride of Himachal award, the 5th grader will help the contestant answer questions taken from elementary school textbooks. Homing In Woh Rehne Wali Mehlon Ki has just completed 700 episodes and is looking forward to the 1,000th episode. Its lead actress Reena Kapoor has seen many ups and downs in real life and also in the serial. But after a long struggle, she has just bought a flat for herself in Mumbai. Reena Kapoor, in a telephonic talk with Life Style said, " It’s been a tough journey but I’ve emerged a winner. I’m thankful to God who gave me my own house." Sonu turns Showman
Butt of Crushes Ace music director, Shekhar Ravjiani (Shekhar of Vishal-Shekhar fame) is of late known for reasons other than his music. Popular for his chocolate boy looks, Shekhar has a huge female fan following swooning over him and waiting anxiously for a glimpse of him on the sets of Jo Jeeta Wohi Superstar.`A0Contestant, Prajakta Shukre is the latest addition to the millions of females yearning for Shekhar. Prajakta is smitten by his looks and has recently declared her admiration for Shekhar publicly when she told him that she has a crush on him and admires his looks. This open declaration had Shekhar go red with embarrassment but he took the comment sportingly and thanked Prajakta for showering him with praises and went on to compliment her for her voice. Simply Sultry
(This column appears weekly)
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STEP OUT Delicious, filling meals with minimum fuss
Breakfast Breakfast is often a heavy-duty, lunch-dinner-type dish (see below) because you have a strenuous day ahead with only a snack-type lunch and tea till the night meal. However, for a change in taste and convenience (on a rainy morning), carry along muesli with dried fruit. It can be eaten on its own and washed down with tea. If you are near a village or shepherds, you can buy fresh milk and mix with the muesli for a delicious, nutritious breakfast. Or make your own from milk powder. It is also possible sometimes to buy eggs from villagers. In that case, make this sausage -and-eggs breakfast. Cut a hole in the centre of a slice of bread and butter it on both sides. Put in the pan and break an egg in the hole. Cover with chopped sausage and cook. Turn over and let it cook. Add salt and pepper. Use ready-to-eat sausages, not raw ones. Lunch WHEN you want a hot, freshly-cooked lunch, make these quick meals. Cook pasta or rice. Open a can of tuna and heap over the pasta or rice. If you have them, add sliced raw tomatoes and onions with salt and pepper. For vegetarians, a potato and onion stew with bread, rice or pasta makes for a filling meal. Cut potatoes into cubes and onions into quarters. Put in the pot with butter, salt and water. Dinner FOR a warming, hydrating meal, make chicken noodle soup from soup powder. Add dehydrated peas or other vegetables. Toss in leftover rice or pasta from lunch! For those of you who simply must have chicken, try ginger fried chicken. Heat oil in the pan. Add some slices of peeled ginger. Put in the chicken pieces and fry lightly. Remove the chicken. Add chopped onions and one or two green chillies slit halfway. Fry till onion turns golden brown. Put the chicken in, add salt, some more ginger slices and fry a bit. Add enough water so that chicken is mostly covered. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Uncover and boil the rest of the water away or retain if you are eating it with rice. Meat stew is best made in a pressure cooker. However, if you are making a small quantity for 2-3 people, you can make it in your usual pot by sealing the top with foil. Put some butter in the pot and add chopped sausage, potatoes, onions, carrots, tomatoes, salt and water. Cover with foil and cook for an hour. Don’t remove the foil to check in-between, it spoils the dish! This is the basic stew which you can make if you have no spices. However, a dash each of marjoram, thyme, parsley, rosemary and oregano improves it. They are better than Indian spices. Where to buy Camping stoves and utensils are available at Trekkers Point, PVR Plaza, Mezzanine Floor, H Block, Connaught Place. New Delhi-110 001. Tel: 23325475. Prices start at Rs 1700 for stoves and Rs 225 for gas cartridges 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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Long-lasting look HOW many times have you eyed that super short balloon skirt and ended up feeling depressed? How frequently have you flipped the channel, feeling envious of Kareena’s new look? And well, how often have you sulked at the mirror, blaming your imperfect vital statistics? Chances are quite often. If you’ve been feeling left out in the age of fashionholics and size-0-aspiring models, then here’s some good news. The innovative designers are ensuring that fuller-bodied people don’t miss out on fashion. Tunics are ruling in uppers and knee-length, long, and A-line skirts are going strong in the lowers segment. Here’s a look at the enticing options available in town. Cool cottons, comfy lycras, wispy chiffons, flimsy georgettes, and rich brocades. Ruling the city’s fashion circuit are calf-length, knee-length and full-length A-line skirts. Well, while local stores are also stocked with a few super-short skirts in corduroy and denim, it’s the long skirts in solids and prints that are the season’s must-buys. Fab-India-9 has A-line, pencil and straight-fit skirts in Kalamkaris, Ajrakhs, khadi cottons and linens Rs 400-600). While solids flaunt acid colours like lime, fuchsia, turquoise and purple, the printed ones come in stripes, paisleys, baatik, pintex and checks. Besides, there are knee-length and full-length wrap-arounds (Rs 410 onwards) and ghera skirts (Rs 850) with khari work in glitters. For those looking for flairs and flounce, designer Anaheeta Mehra has rustled up delightful creations in reds, wines, ink blues and fuchsias. Displayed at her store Anokhi-7 are flairy skirts, bandhini ghagras and wrap-arounds in cotton and silk (Rs 600-3,500)."Instead of traditional ghungroos, mirrors and embroidery, I’ve played with frills, layers and wrinkled-looks," says Mehra. The printed skirts here flaunt polkas, paisleys and ikkat. For the old-world elasticised skirts, head Missprint-8 that has a few with sippis and ghungroos. At Suvasa-8, there are full-length kalidar cotton skirts (Rs 560-900) embellished with tissue and khadi trimmings. However, the best of the bunch is a flared, knee-length silhouette. At Polka-8 and Ten West-10, the casual ones are available in washed linen, cotton, chiffon and lycra, in solids as well as polkas, geometrical and floral prints. The formal ones come in satin and brocade (Rs 750-1450). However, if your heart’s still set on the itsy-bitsy skirts, check out Mickey Chhabra-10, Waga-10 and Shelly’s-8 for short, balloon or pleated ones in denim, corduroy, net and satin. These come with low-slung leather belts, satin flowers and crochet laces (Rs 650 onwards). So pretty women, wrap yourself in the riot of long multi-hued skirts. Vivacious and vibrant, the tantalising flares will sure keep suitors on their toes! Deskirting the Issue Fashion wisdom for downright skirty divas
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They promised us a Surajkund Mela right here in the city. But it did not come out quite so. Except for the rusty background that Rock Garden’s Phase III provided, the layout of stalls was not something one could boast of. The same applied to most of the exhibits. But craftsmen insisted the fair holds promise, "Most of our goods are on the way and will reach tomorrow." Yes, we are talking about the Intach Crafts Mela which was inaugurated on Friday. On display here are bamboo and cane products from Assam, terra cotta potteries, puppets and jhulas from Rajasthan, block-printed dress material from Gujarat, bangles from Delhi, Mangalgiri prints from Andhra Pradesh. If the list reads a little too familiar then let us tell you about the stalls, which caught our attention. Winner of six state awards, Karamchand Prajapati from Haryana has an interesting range of multi-purpose pottery collection. Made out of terra-cota, white cement and enamel colour, his vases, miniature boats, giant turtles and stands can serve both as interior and outdoor decor items. Another stall that stands out all with rawness is Md Salim’s. His wrought iron and brass missed door chimes and door-bells have the antique look and easy on the pocket too. The bells start from Rs 130 onwards. For a little frivolity try out Md Amin’s bangle house where he can thread a special metal bangle without joints that can serve as an bangle, an anklet and an armlet. Or watch Md Siddique Mughal shaping a multi-coloured lac bangle in his make-shift bhatti. This Rajasthani craftsman has 32 awards in his kitty. Round up your trip with a show on Jagdish’s 45-year-old bioscope. It is an extinct art and not too many bioscopes exist in the country anymore. — P. R. On till April 27
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China Calling They may come with funny names like Nokla or Niktel but these handsets will steal your heart CALL them copycats, crib on their reliability, love them for affordability, and use and throw their fancy stuff away. That’s what we call Chinese revolution. From toys, walkie-talkies, music players to pichkaris and crockery , it’s Chinese whispers all the way. So, the fact that they have forayed into our mobile market shouldn’t surprise us, right? Well,what surprised us was the stylish, affordable and feature-packed impact of their invasion. Let’s step into city’s ‘Chinese’ markets and find out what’s ringing out there. They call their handsets, multimedia sets. Bluetooth, MP3 player, choice between touch screen or keypad, FM radio, two batteries are just few of the features on offer. A Nokia becomes a Nokla here and an Airtel a Niktel. Other names that rule the market are Fory, Music Player, and MPL. What else? The charger serves as a data cable too. A dual SIM. And all this comes for less than 7K! Attari Market-22, Palika Market-22 and fancy mobile showrooms are stocked with these sets. The market is 10-month-old and their supply source is Delhi’s Gaffar Market. Say the suppliers, "We have now mastered the art of repairing which is in a warranty for the product." So these come sans warranty? "Yes," they reply in unison. Neatly crafted, mostly in black and silver, navigation wheels stylish placed on the left or centre, a few with interesting diagonal keypads, a sleek stylus tucked in the corner, a single/dual SIM, extendable memory of 2 GB and an antenna capturing all that’s happening in the world of telly (Rs 2,500-6,000).Though the features offered remain the same irrespective of the price tag, it’s speed of data transfer, voice clarity and picture quality that suffers. But all this is not keeping buyers away. Over 150 sets are sold a week and fresh models are added every fortnight. And who is their clientele? Only youngsters. Well, and what is their fave pick? A digital mobile priced at Rs 6,600, equipped with FM, TV, 3D sound game, MP3/4 player, bluetooth, camera and more. While the handset catches DD1 and DD News automatically, a cable wire ensures connectivity to other channels as well. The latest entrant is an IPhone with 8GB memory for just Rs 6,000, which is a steal in comparison to the Indian version, priced at Rs 23,000. Now, whether these mobiles are worth buying or not, is a million dollar question. And for those who don’t mind giving it a try, all that is needed is a couple of thousands! purva@tribunemail.com
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Beauty Studio:
Q&A Our focus these days is on organic food. We are aware of the effects of certain ingredients on our health. We read with interest the ingredient labels on food products. But do we ever stop to think what ingredients we are slathering on our body? How many of us are aware that the ingredients in grooming products can permeate into the deeper layers of our skin? The skin is a semi-permeable barrier that releases perspiration, oils and toxins from the body but also absorbs much of what we put on it. If the body fails to eliminate the foreign substance, they are stored away in the fat cells and accumulate over a period of time. The fragrant chemicals (petrochemicals) penetrate your skin and can affect your organs like the liver, brain and kidneys. Today, there are 7000 ingredients available for manufacturing of cosmetics and toiletries and nearly 1,000 synthetic perfume chemicals. So your body is exposed to man-made chemicals everyday. A cocktail of some 1,000 chemicals appear in our cosmetics, hair dye, hairspray and toothpaste — just to name a few. Have you ever stopped to think what these ingredients are what they do? There are toxins in your toiletries, innocently contaminating your skin with chemicals that can lead to health problems in future. Aluminium chlorohydrate used in deodorants and antiperspirants aneasthetises the nerve endings so that they do not respond to the changes in body temperatures. Over a period of time they destroy the nerve endings of the sweat glands. Studies have linked prolonged exposure to aluminum compounds with Alzheimer’s disease.
I have very dry scalp and have been asked to stay clear from shampoos that contain Sodium Laurel Sulphate. What exactly is SLS and how does it affect the scalp? — Lovleen Kaur, via e-mail SLS is pretty much found in everything sitting on your bathroom shelves. It is a surfactant, which reduces the surface tension of a liquid, allowing it to foam or to penetrate solids. There is no difference between detergents in your household cleaning products and those on your skin. SLS is merely popular in cosmetics as it happens to be the cheap foaming agent. It readily penetrates the skin, building up in the heart, lungs, liver and brain, potentially could result in cancer of all these organs. A tiny drop stays in the body and brain for five days. When used in shampoos, it is known to corrode hair follicle and also reduces the ability to grow hair. It takes the natural oils away from your skin leaving your skin dry. It has been connected to eye damage in young children where it dissolves the eye protein not letting the eyes grow properly. (This column appears fortnightly) Pammy Kaul is a UK-based beauty therapist.
E-mail queries to lifestyletribune@gmail.com or write to The Tribune, Sector 29, Chandigarh
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Bon apetit MY last column brought you samples of Mexican snacks and starters. We may as well go the whole hog and move on to some main dishes. Tortillas of flour or cornmeal sneak into most preparations just as chapattis do for ours. Mexican cuisine, more often than not, is "hot-spicy-burn your pallet" in character, cumin, jalapenos, cinnamon and chilly powder being key seasoning ingredients. If you can master the basic salsa and enchilada sauce, your Tex-Mex will never threaten to taste bland! Basic enchilada sauce 1 cup chicken or vegetable stock 1-cup tomato puree 2 tbsp chilly powder 1 tsp ground cumin (jeera) 2 tsp garlic paste 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp sugar 5 tbsp maida Method Place the powdered cinnamon, jeera and chilly in a heavy, deep pan. Pour in a little bit of stock. Stir to eliminate lumps, then pour in the remaining stock and the puree. Boil on high heat, simmer for 3 minutes and turn off the heat. In a small bowl, make a paste with the maida and 5-6 tbsp of water. Add to the pan, stir thoroughly to ensure there are no lumps, then cook on a medium flame till the sauce thickens. Baked chicken chimichangas 500 gm boneless chicken breasts Method Tip of the Week Watching your calories? Omit frying tortillas. Simply submerge them in a shallow pan with a cup of boiling water to which you have added a spoonful of oil and a hint of chilly powder. Remove when pliable (a few seconds) with a pair of tongs and pat dry on a paper towel. Next time: Mexican side dishes
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You may soon not need to use a teaspoon to stir that much-needed cup of tea, courtesy the invention of the new mug that whips by itself. The revolutionary cup, which has been designed by two French designers, allows liquids to be stirred without a spoon. The work has been recently displayed at the London Design
Festival. The mug, called Ceramic For Mix sets in motion a ceramic ball positioned at the bottom of the mug that stirs the contents. “The cup aims at introducing a new way of drinking tea or another warm drink without using a spoon. The ball is put into a slightly protruding base to keep it in place when stirring and drinking,” the Telegraph quoted Florian Dussopt, the cup’s inventor, as saying. “Users gently move the cup, like you would when swirling a glass of cognac, and the action pushes the ball around. “The ceramic ball mixes all various sugars and milk
at the same time, thus eliminating the need for a spoon. When you drink it the ball is blocked by the gravity in the recess of the glass. This eliminates the need for a spoon. “Ceramic is a material that is hygienic and beautiful at the same time. The combination of glass and ceramic is aesthetically appealing in its formal interpretation of the traditional cup and saucer,” Dussopt added. Dussopt said they were hoping to introduce the cup into bars and restaurants. He added: “The aim is not to kill the spoon, but to suggest an alternative for a special occasion.”
— ANI
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Kilmer, Stone sign on for Streets of Blood
The movie revolves around the relationship between two police officers dealing with the lawlessness of New Orleans in the post-Katrina environment. Charles Winkler will be directing from a screenplay penned by Eugene Hess from a story by Hess and Dennis Fanning. On board as producers are Irwin Winkler, Avi Lerner and Randall Emmett, reports Variety. Exec producers include Boaz Davidson, Danny Dimbort, Trevor Short, George Furla, John Thompson and Matt O’Toole. The eight-week shoot is scheduled to start in May this year. — ANI
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IF there’s one genre that fans will never see Johnny Depp act in, it would be romance, for the actor thinks it’s just too boring. Depp, who became famous with Tim Burton’s 1991 fantasy epic Edward Scissorhands, is known for gravitating towards quirky kind of roles. And, he insists that he will not take a romantic lead, as he only feels the ‘fun factor’ with his darker roles. Depp’s other famous films are Sleepy Hollow and Pirates of the Caribbean. — ANI
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Halle Berry to star in, produce Frankie and Alice NEW mum Halle Berry has signed on to star and produce the psychological drama Frankie and Alice. The Oscar winner will be producing the Access Motion Pictures pic in association with Reality Pictures in Motion, reports Variety. The movie will see the star playing the role of a young woman struggling with multiple personality disorder, and is torn between who she is and a racist Caucasian alter-personality that preys upon her mind. — ANI
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It is usual for women to gain weight during pregnancy and most of them struggle to shed weight post-delivery. It is a misconception that exercises during pregnancy cause problems. In fact, exercises of abdominal and pelvic muscles help in easy delivery of the child and avoid backache, constipation, fatigue, edema etc. However, one should avoid exercising during hot and weather. It’s better to do exercise early morning or evening. Avoid lying flat on back after fourth month of pregnancy for more than 5 minutes, as this position decreases the blood flow to heart and uterus. Exercises: Aerobic exercises include walking, cycling (stationary recumbent cycle). Kegel exercises help in improving bladder and bowel control. These involve tightening and releasing muscles around vagina/ back passage. Abdominal exercises like hamstring and quadriceps stretching and yoga exercises like Ardha Titali (half butter Fly), Poorna Titali asana (full butter fly) are also helpful. — Dr Ravinder Chadha
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The story of Operation
Bluestar and the subsequent unrest in Punjab has been written about time
and again but it never fails to evoke anger, sadness and regret every time
the story is told. So, little surprising that Ram Narayan Kumar, the human
rights activist, took up the subject once again. And the outcome is a
377-page book called Terror in Punjab: Narratives, Knowledge and Truth.
You’ve been quite a
fashion victim, consuming everything from FTV to firang magazines
and fashion shows. Scoring a 10 on 10 on the stylo-meter has tempted you
to indulge in everything bizarre that style pundits have predicted
for the season. From breezy florals, funky polkas and geometric prints to
shiny yellows and bubblegum pinks, your wardrobe’s got season’s
hottest trends, all neatly lined up. However, how about the summer’s
perennial favourite – sparkling white? The refreshing hue that’s a
sure-shot hot favourite on the designers’ A-lists every summer? We tell
you how to embrace the ‘lighter side of fashion’ by vouching for the
season’s most sophisticated palette:
Chandigarh puttar Milanjeet
Singh Bhatti will help the smart adults in answering their primary school
questions in Paanchvi Pass. One of the five classmates in the Paanchvi
ki kaksha, the nine-year-old aspires to be an electronic engineer. He is
the best student and orator of his school and a voracious reader. His favourite
subjects are geography, science, social studies and English. Milli puttar,
as SRK fondly calls him, brings plenty of balle balle mirth and joy on
the sets. So if you have problems differentiating parts of speech from figures
of speech or need to know about stalagmites and stalactites, Milanjeet is your
lifeline! And well, he’s not the only one from the region. His classmates
include Shriya Sharma from Palampur. The 9-year-old Himachal girl, who made her
first appearance on television as a four-year-old in Say Na Something to
Anupam Uncle, played the lead in Kanhaiya and won the Best Child
Artiste Award for Kasauti on telly, will now be helping contestants earn
high marks and win big money.
The versatile and singing
sensation of Indian music, Sonu Niigaam, is on a roll, evident from the total
number of stage shows that he has been doing in the last couple of days. Sonu
is performing 7 shows, in 8 days and in 7 different cities allover India, with aamchi
Mumbai being the last city. When we spoke to him during one of his stage shows,
he said, "I am travelling to every corner of India and doing a marathon of
shows, which feel likes a challenge where I am getting to test my versatility.
It is like literally putting my mettle to task and going to the edge of my
limits with the amount of hours that I am putting in my rehearsals,
performances and travelling. Following this I am going to Australia and New
Zealand for 6 shows, back to back. To end it all, after May, I am planning to
take a sabbatical from shows, like doing a film or maybe going to the Himalayas
for some rest." Wonder what is his secret mantra to keep the energy and
momentum boosting, so that he giving the same amount of josh in all his
performances?
NOODLE-STRAP Bedi is finding it hard to break
away from her halter-tops and bikini straps. In an attempt to give her a
different look, the production house of Jo Jeeta Wohi Superstar tried to
revamp Mandira’s wardrobe and introduced some not-so-revealing ethic wear
such as ghagra-choli and salwar-kameez, but viewers were not
pleased. They flooded the channel’s response section urging to see their
favourite anchor in her trademark skimpy look! Following the viewer feedback
and popular consensus, Mandira returned in the second episode itself flashing
her oomph on screen once again. We do live in an instant world!
THESE recipes are not only
easy to cook, the ingredients are few and easy to carry. For variety in both
taste and nutrition, and for those times when everyone is too tired to do any
cooking, carry along pre-cooked dishes in tins and foil packets. Then, all you
have to do is boil water, bung in the tin or foil packet for a few minutes,
open and serve. From mutton curry in a tin to rajma and palak paneer in
a packet, take your pick from supermart shelves.
You can also cook some food at
home before leaving and carry it for short trips, or for the first meal of your
trip (before the food has had time to spoil). Boil mince meat with salt and
shape into tikkis. Fry. Pack in foil and carry along with bread, whole onions,
and mustard or tomato sauce. When you are ready to eat, slice the onions and
put into a sandwich with meat and sauce. Add tomatoes and cucumbers if you can
carry them. Vegetarians can substitute aloo tikkis.
VAL Kilmer and Sharon Stone have
signed on to star in action-drama Streets of Blood. Also joining the two
stars in the Nu Image/Millennium flick will be rapper 50 Cent, Dylan McDermott
and Brian Presley.