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Why not gift your child something really special this Christmas? Get over the usual chocolates and candies and also the hiding place, socks this year. Gift him something that he could never expect and what else can be a better gift than the Santa Claus delivering the gifts himself.

Some gift stores in the city are making Santa Claus hand over the gifts to children. "We have hired four people, who will dress up like Santa Claus on Christmas and deliver the gifts to kids at their homes," says Arvinder Singh, business manager, Ebony-9. Of course, it is not something very recent, but the trend is surely catching up. "We have already got some 100 bookings and we expect much more to flow in by Thursday."

Also there aren't extra charges for this customised service. "It's a pleasant surprise for the children to see Santa standing at their door. We have been providing this service from couple of years now and the response has been great," says Naresh Kumar, owner, Chandigarh super market-46.

A leading retail trade body has predicted that Christmas this year will see more number of people shopping online than going to a church service. Online retail trade group IMRG says that about 5.24 million people will be logging on to shop for bargains over the Internet on Christmas Day.

It reckons that a total of 104 million pounds, averaging about 20 pounds per person, will be spent on online shopping this time.

On the other hand, an estimated 4.5 million people will be attending an Anglican, Catholic, Methodist, Baptist or Pentecostal church service on Christmas Day, according to the predictions. Senior Church figures are reportedly unhappy with these calculations, and say that Christmas Day should be a day for people to think about their families, not about shopping.

"It does seem to me very sad that at the time when people should be focusing on relationships and family life, they get caught up in the chase for a bargain as if somehow this will bring them greater happiness," said the Rt Rev Stephen Lowe, the Church of England's Bishop for Urban Life and Faith.

"I would have thought this is at least one day in the year when the focus should be on people, not goods," Lowe added.

For its calculations, IMRG analysed the number of transactions that took place on December 25 last year-4.4 million people spent 84million pounds on the day. With online retail sales running at 15 per cent up on last year - and even stronger in recent days, the trade body is confident more than 100million pounds will be spend this Christmas Day, with 5.24 million shoppers logging on. — ANI

Her forms as well the shadows of iron bars, all come in black and white, but not so often one gets to see a single colour capturing many hues of life as in Renuka Puri's frames. An insider's take on life inside Tihar Jail, the photography exhibition 'In the shadows of Walls', at the Government Museum and Art Gallery-10 also come as an eye-opener for us, who have been fed on Bollywood's concept of a jail and the life of an inmate. So, not a sad looking Shah Rukh Khan in solitary confinement as in Veer Zara dominates the scene here. There is life, there are emotions, there is spirituality and even activities like dancing and even beauty treatment. But not that these frames are less touching or less eloquent than a mute SRK and this is where Renuka has come out with flying colours as a professional photographer. And a few of her images one actually takes back home - the eyes of a child that know the darkness in Frozen or a child learning how to count from the numbered cells while taking a solitary walk at the front yard with shadows of iron grills following him or the shadow of a woman walking towards darkness in Dark Time. There are 50 frames, clicked and developed over a period of six-years, each frame has a story to tell which Renuka effectively captured mostly by using symbols of which the iron bar is almost omnipresent.

A theme, which Renuka chose randomly, not out of compulsion or anything, would have made anyone go into depression, but the photographers give us a lot of happy moments to take back home too. Like the story of Stella, a Zimbabwean woman who plays the role of a mother to children born in the jail or women of different faith keeping up with their spirituality and mostly, the children who make the most of their confinement, sometimes in colourfully painted crèche (thanks to Kiran Bedi's jail reforms) or sometime in the school where they get educated not just with academics but also how to be the first one to fetch a hot cup of evening tea.

Captured sometimes with Pentax and now mostly with Nikon D 100 and Canon, Renuka's photographs are a chronology of jail reforms as well. A must visit, if not for the technical expertise of the photographer, then for the emotions attached to them. And with emotion, the dreaded Tihar Jail gets a human face.

On till December 28

It's the barometer of fashion, the Richter scale of trends and the ultimate measuring instrument of style. The classiest of Gucci or Chanel, Prada or Dior and Bvlgari or Burberry. Whatever! If a designer's creation does not make its way to the lecture corridors and canteen halls, somewhere something's amiss. In keeping the significance of the premises, we, at Lifestyle, review the 'volcano hot' trends of the year gone by and add yet another chapter to fashion archives.

Just preceding 365 days and in clothes, make-up, hair, bags, attire, accessories, footwear, fashion scene on the campus was bubbling and brimming at breathless pace! Undeniably a year of innumerable style statements. Beginning with the crowning glory, fringes adorned many a foreheads. Soft, blunt, straight, side bands or bangs, the fashion wave started by Kate Moss made many waves. The 'bond babe' Olga Kurylenko could be seen flaunting it and so could that 'hot chick' in the gym!

Waistcoats were the unofficial uniform, of partygoers, of students and of both genders.

Pinstriped or plain, it was one important piece of garment and Shah Rukh Khan's wearing it on television screens testified the fact. Layering made waves, even in summers. Spaghetti over a tee, two tees in different colours or a half sleeve over a full, layering one's clothes caught the attention of all teenyboppers. Our very own heroine in Jaane tu Ya Jaane na could be seen wearing the look.

Another discovery. Hemlines got longer. Suddenly, the tunic tops made an appearance and became ubiquitous. From bio-technology to fine arts, they entered every classroom. Apart from this, the gypsy inspired bandanas too created news. Suddenly they became the hair accessory, not to be used only during bad hair days. Balloon shorts found takers, but only among the experimental kinds. Priyanka Chopra wore them in Dostana and the pretty girls sported them off-screen after hours.

But, the crown of the year goes to skinny jeans. The slim fit pair became the national uniform! Sending flares and boot cuts to the deepest darkest attics, skinny jeans could be seen in Stu-C, at the campus grounds, lecture halls, canteen areas and where not. Doesn't matter what the size, even XXL had to carry them.

Next to 'toe' the line were peep toes and who can forget the ballerinas. Not that cutsy-tipsy, dainty pair of footwear did anything to the dance form, but every girl (we repeat, every girl!) could be seen wearing them on campus. Hindi film actor, Kareena Kapoor wore them in the dance track Mauja hi Mauja from the hit movie Jab We Met, and they became a 'must-have' and the also the 'most have' piece of wardrobe. Hey, did we anywhere brag? Lifestyle kept you instantly posted on each of these important fashion lessons.

An average student on campus lives on three things- fashion, food and fests. They are like the only thing that adds the tadka to a normal campus bhaaji. Known for its masti culture, PU has half a dozen festivities going on throughout the year, with cultural as well as social activities highlighting our sunny side.

So we started the year on a high note with the School of Communication Studies organising their first ever fest, Soch 08. The three-day fiesta saw participation from well-known universities and students indulging in fun and creative activities. Then came the annual chemical engineering offering, Cyanide, fun with a message attached. The theme this year was No-smoking. Activities galored in morning and night was filled with music masti. Goonj, the UIET extravaganza, followed it and to follow was the traditional flavour of Jhankaar, which is almost synonymous with PU and last was the North Indian Inter University fest, a weeklong affair that saw 14 universities participate.

So it's time for a season finale on campus and before the curtains come down for this year, we need to announce the winner that made it to the limelight on campus. Was it fashion, trends, SUVs, books or campus eye candies? As action packed as it may sound, the trophy goes to…campus violence.

Yup…the campus was high on hot blood this year and almost became a haven for anti-social elements. Now, that's nothing new considering the recent history of Panjab University, but then it was never this ugly. With student leaders being the frontrunners in this regard, attempt to murder, assault, rioting, conspiracy, these words seemed like new additions to the university syllabi. Classrooms became battlegrounds, and carrying sharp edged weapons was the 'in-thing'. Even the vice-chancellor had to bear the brunt of such violence, be it threatening SMSs or being attacked by the campus goondas. Though the elections this year were very subdued, but the victory celebrations came with the signature style of violent clashes between two political parties, well, as the ritual goes. We went quite high profile when the Punjab and Haryana High Court intervened and remarked on the increased violent activities on campus.

Now with such adrenaline pumping activities going on in full swing, the authorities too decided to finally take some action. Result, new rules like, Student Center becoming No-vehicle zone (now this was even worse than being punched in the face), mobiles being banned inside the classrooms, and more policeman than students on campus (not literally).

Though, the student leaders and authorities on campus have pledged to work towards making campus violence free, resolving issues through dialogue (that may include some uncensored words and gaaligaloch), one wonders if it just another gimmick, or mungerilal ka hasin sapna!