Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken..
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Rocky affair Another affair that gained infamous entry in media was that of much married Patna Professor Matuk Nath Chaudhary's romance with his student-girlfriend Julie in 2006 . The whole nation saw wife Abha bash up her erring husband's girlfriend and professor being paraded black faced. Channels lapped up the issue holding panel discussions and Chaudhary's NRI son's interview condeming his father's act was aired live. Despite all, Julie claimed her love was divine.

claimed Shakespeare centuries back in his famous sonnet True Love. But in today's world of fast food, instant messaging and nano technology does this definition of 'true love' hold ground? Well, certainly not, if you go by the love affairs that spring up to media attention and are lost pretty soon.

If December saw cupid-struck former Haryana deputy chief minister Chander Mohan claim 'I love you, Fiza,' in full view of TV cameras as a converted Anuradha Bali replied smilingly, 'I love you, too,' two months later, after an alleged kidnapping and suicide, the lovebirds are not together anymore. We set out to find if such love affairs that come in public attention are doomed to fail.

A city-based lawyer and expert in family laws shares, "Such momentary relationships created by instant liking or infatuation do not last long. They break as soon as reality dawns and family ties emerge superior." As regards media's role he says, "Media only helps public decipher true value of such relationships."

"Marriages fail even when every care has been taken care of selecting a groom and bride, all the rituals and auspicious timings. I feel it depends largely on individuals how long a relationship lasts," says I. M. Soni, HoD, Chitkara School of Journalism. As regards media highlighting the issue to great lengths, he shares, "See, I will call it peephole journalism. Personally, I would not subscribe to such reporting of someone's very personal affairs. But then in this competitive world of rising-falling TRPS and circulation, such stories are lapped up by the readers and viewers. And that's what explains media's uncalled for attention to such issues."

"It's not really one way. If the media brings out in the open someone's personal life, at times the celebrities too misuse media to gain that personal or political mileage. Here in the case of Chand-Fiza, I would like to believe that it was love but then how deep was it is the question," says Sherry Sabbarwal, chairperson, Department of Sociology, PU. "The definition of love has changed over a period of time. Nowadays marriages are no more saat janamon ka bandhan. And more so, there is no stigma attached to it. If it did not work, one is free to take another chance and no one has any reservations about it. However there are relationships that last long even without a marriage. So, a lot depends on individuals," she adds.

"Airing someone's personal matters on prime time is a national wastage of time. Glamorising what's not glamorous cannot be justified," feels Dr Parmod Kumar, consulting psychiatrist and expert in marriage counselling. As regards the Chand-Fiza love affair, he says, "The public knows only what gets reported in media. There might be much more to the issue than we know. As regards true love, it has its own time span that lasts over a period of time. Any meaningful relationship takes years to build up and it’s not easy to break the bond."

mona@tribunemail.com

It's a merger of past and present, a confluence of feelings of artists and art connoisseur from the city, a medium to show respect and celebrate the birth centenary of the late first administrator of Chandigarh Dr. M.S Randhawa. This might be the basic description of 'Dr. Randhawa Memorabilia'-an exhibition being showcased at the Chandigarh Museum and Art Gallery-10, but look beyond and you will realise how significant the whole event is.

The exhibition of photographs of Dr. Randhawa's life put up by the Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi in alliance with Chandigarh Museum and Art Gallery reflects his achievements as an administrator and more importantly as an art lover. And what makes this exhibition even more worthwhile is the very venue and sentiments attached to it. Dewan Manna, Chairman, Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi tells us why, "During the Indo China war, the government stopped supplying funds for the construction of Museum and Art Gallery due to shortage of funds. It was then Dr. Randhawa who persuaded the government that art is indispensable to the society and the museum was completed." Later on, Dr. Randhawa also got the Fine Arts Museum at The Panjab University constructed and also played a major role in the coming up of Rock Garden.

His photographs with artists of different genres like Sobha Singh, Balraj Sahni and Prithvi Raj Kapoor say the rest.

But Ravinder Kumar Sharma, an artist looks up to him for his love for nature, "It was his vision that we today see flower laden trees on the road sides, otherwise who would have thought that just by planting these trees the city can look beautiful." Of course, we also have Rose Garden to substantiate his love for nature.

Behind every black and white photograph, there is a colourful tale of India and of Dr. Randhawa. His picture with the late Indian leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawahar Lal Nehru, Dr. S. Radha Krishnan, Indira Gandhi signify his position as an administrator. His photographs with many foreign dignitaries are also on display at the exhibition.

N.S. Randhawa, director, Museum and Art Gallery tells us more about the exhibition, "It traces various achievements of Dr. Randhawa as a civil servant, an administrator, art lover, writer and philosopher. It is an effort to educate the present generations about the contributions that he has made to the city."

ashima@tribunemail.com

What are some of the innovative features being incorporated in notebooks?

Some of the latest features being incorporated in notebooks are LED or LCD backlight that helps on saving energy consumption, super quick battery charging, 100 percent colour gamut. Supplemented with a carbon fibre body for lightness and rigidity, enhanced scratch resistant screens, glossy colours and an isolated keyboard panel, Sony VAIO notebooks complement your style while providing uncompromising performance.

Full High definition or Blu-ray, Dolby Sound Room technology are some aspects that also contribute to the magnificent cinematic enjoyment experienced through VAIO notebooks. Enhanced security protocols such as fingerprint recognition technology, HDD protection and a TPM security chip are included for additional data protection.

In particular, what features are appealing to men and which to women?

Consumers, both male and female are more than ever influenced not just by function, but form. That’s where we are making our mark across categories right from LCD TVs to VAIO notebooks each product has carefully thought out design and product features. For example the Sony VAIO wants to stimulate the conversation, thus besides making the machine versatile for business and entertainment, VAIO also uses materials aimed to communicate high quality and coolness. The VAIO notebooks range has models that range from funky colorful models for the youth to the epitome of luxury and mobility for the professionals. Each notebook range has its own unique design and features that aims to reflect the creativity and individuality of the user.

The VAIO SR, CS and CR series with their glossy colours are apt examples of taking personal style beyond the boundaries of clothing and accessories and adding a technology element into the mix enabling users to make a personal statement of what they want to be—truly fashionable. Aspects such as styling features (lustrous coating, luminous trim and illumination LED) to the latest, fastest computing capabilities (instant on AV mode, clear bright LCD Lite screen) the VAIOs ensure that you definitely have all eyes on you.

Are women users governed more by the style of a laptop

As far as the product specs and features are concerned, we believe female customers now want the same things as men, when it comes to their electronics. Women really want to understand the brand. They want to know what it will do for them and what to expect from the brand. But female customers are obviously more fashion-conscious than the average male customer and to the manufacturers today, this has become one of the reasons to design fashion-conscious products.

Are High-end cell phones a threat to the ultra portables market? What’re you doing to meet this challenge?

With factors ranging from storage capacity, office applications usage to security features etc ensure that ultra portables have major advantage over high-end cell phones for professional purposes.

(As told to Chetna Keer Banerjee)

In a bid to create revenue from Facebook’s 150 million members, the founder of the popular social networking site has created one of the world’s largest market research databases. With the move, Mark Zuckerberg has finally taken a step to cash-in on Facebook, which was once valued at 15 billion dollars.

Facebook will soon allow multinational companies to selectively target its members in order to research the appeal of new products.

Thus, companies could be posing questions to specially selected members based on such intimate details as whether they are single or married and even whether they are gay or straight.

In the past, Facebook has struggled to make money from advertising.

And the company has now been demonstrating the benefits of its new instant polling tool to some of the most influential business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Randi Zuckerberg, Facebook’s global markets director and sister of founder Mark Zuckerberg, 24, said that multinational companies were impressed by the ability to receive real-time feedback from the site’s millions of users.

“I had tonnes of people saying ‘this could be so incredible for our business’. It takes a very long time to do a focus group, and businesses often don’t have the luxury of time. I think they liked the instant responses,” the Telegraph quoted her as saying.

She added: “Davos is really a key place to launch an instant tool like this. It’s beneficial for everyone to see us as a global community of 150m users. The vast majority are not just college students in the US talking about things in their bedrooms. We are showing how we are a serious and insightful community.” Facebook stereotyped as a website used by students or schoolchildren, now promotes users as “serious and insightful” adults to advertise its members as a useful demographic for marketers.

According to marketing experts, Facebook’s vast amount of personal information, together with the loyalty of its users, could be worth “untold millions” to companies engaged in market research.

In fact, Facebook has already sold the new polling system, called engagement ads, to CareerBuilder, a global graduate recruitment company, and AT&T, the US telecoms giant, is trialling the system.

A Facebook spokesman said that the company’s advertising department was marketing the new service to thousands of companies worldwide, and was hoping that the polls would go live this spring. — ANI

Cable and satellite TV are two television-broadcasting systems that differ in the technologies they use and the benefits they offer.

Satellite TV: It is a television system in which television signals are relayed by means of communication satellites.

In many parts of the world especially western, satellite TV has successfully replaced terrestrial television systems.

A satellite television setup consists of a parabolic dish housing an antenna having uplink transmission facilities. The uplink dish is directed towards a particular satellite.

The transponders in the satellite receive the signals from uplink antennas and retransmit them to Earth, the satellite receiver receives the signals and sends the signals to the television set and it is ready to come alive.

Cable TV: Cable television system provides channel viewing by means of radio frequency signals, which are transmitted through coaxial cables or fixed optical fibers.

Most people know him as a singer with saccharine sweet voice. While for some he is the dimple cheek, chocolaty hero of the Punjabi film industry. No prizes for guessing, he is Harbhajan Mann. And little did we know he is an ardent ice hockey fan. So, the only way he can update himself on it, when of course he is not abroad is to check the Internet. And here you have an Internet fan who believes that knowledge never goes waste. So, grab it whenever and however you can. Over to the gala goriyaan singer…

Japheth Alberto Bautista …quite a mouthful! The name could qualify for one of the jargon from the very technical field that he’s in and probably compliments the equally technical knowledge he has of it. In city to interact with students of Frameboxx-34, JAP (as he’s popularly called), creative director at Frameboxx Animation and Visual Effects, Mumbai, talks about animation, animation and well, animation. With over 17 years of industry experience comprising shows Dream Stone, Baskerville, Hercules et al we’re sure listening.

Two dimensional, three-dimensional and now four dimensional, the growth story of this field transcends much beyond just the increase in number. Says JAP, “Indian animation industry will clock a steep rise. Earlier it were Korea, before that Philippines and right now it’s the Indian animation that the page has been turned to.” Naveen Gupta, CEO, Frameboxx, chips in, “Initially it was largely outsourcing and overall, it’s still in nascent stage, but recently it’s clocked in a phenomenal growth. Lot of Hollywood productions are being done in India. The movie Golden Compass by Rhythm and Hues’s just a case in point.” Dare be smug! As JAP warns, “The only thing we need is adequately trained workforce that requires proper guidance.” It’s hard not to take animation and entertainment in the same breath. Apart from the gaming and entertainment industry, anything to look forward too? Answers Naveen, “Architects are making use of animation, then there’s product design, the applications of animation too are growing.”

Back to figures, data and information, here’s a piece of news that will slightly stir the gloom circling everybody’s current concern, recession. Says Naveen, “The animation industry is roughly US$ 200 million with a growth rate of thirty percent.” He continues, “Gaming industry is 20 times the size of Hollywood and the workforce demand at 2-3 lakhs exceeds the supply.” This once, statistics were music to ears!

Fashion, people, campus, relations, food…it’s not often we capture education on these sheets. But then Lifestyle traverses, includes and embraces every aspect of life and the invite of World Education Fair with universities from the very ubiquitous USA, Australia, UK, including the ‘relatively unknown’ Denmark and Switzerland, seemed ‘just right’ for experimentation.

Five places, fifty-eight universities and countless courses! The PAC Asia Services’ fair certainly offered quantity. Education fair? And the reflex action of associating them with the usual, customary and conservative courses of business studies, computer engineering, IT et al stands unaltered. Says Shruti Chatwal, branch manager, PAC Asia, “It’s changing and students are getting experimental. There are a lot of other courses that have started coming up and find favour with students, like Biotechniology, Nanotechnology, Physiotherapy, music, etc.”

Given North Indian’s notorious craze for permanent residency, is the perception of education being just another step towards that ultimate goal, true? Answers Pushpinder Bhatia, managing director, “That’s not true anymore. It’s only a perception. Several students choose to come back, start their own ventures, and become entrepreneurs. Many in fact, come back and join their family businesses.” He elucidates, “Nik Baker, from the famous bakery shop, actually completed his culinary education and chose to set up his own undertaking.” Some news for chocolate dripping dense delicacies’ intense lovers!

However, the stereotypical expectation of rubbing shoulders amidst motley of crowd with dreamy eyes of foreign shores remains just that; stereotype. A few students could be seen but certainly not hundreds. Answers Bhatia, “Earlier in the day they numbered three hundred but now the crowd’s dispersed for break etc.” Given the still prevalent craze for anything imported, believable!

— Manpriya Khurana

Betel bounty — Photo: Pradeep Tewari

The tricity boasts of many a green patch, from manicured personal garden to lush landscaped lawns. Here, we go up the merry garden path to take a peep into what keeps the city’s green fingers busy…

Readers who have rare or exotic plants in their gardens and would like them to be featured in this column can write to ‘Lawn Rangers’ at lifestyletribune@gmail.com

CITCO is organising Awadhi food festival at its flagship hotel, Mountview, from February 6 to 8. The bawarchies and rakabdars of Awadh, by their expertise of blending spices, achieved a high degree of finesse in cooking and presentation of food that took culinary art to the highest realms. This gave birth to the Dum style of cooking or the art of cooking over a slow fire, which has become synonymous with food style of Lucknow.

At the food festival you can feast on Kakori kebabs, Galawat ke kebabs, Shami kebabs, Boti kebabs, Patili-ke-kebabs, Ghutwa kebabs and Seekh kebabs. The menu shall also include the choicest delicacies of Awadhi food such as Murg Malai Tikka Sultani, Paneer Zafrani Tikka, Murg Nawabjaan, Mutton Tabaqnash, Machli Ka Salan, Shajahan Paneer, Chandni Kofta, Sultani Dal, Baigan ki Burani etc. According to D.K. Tiwari, MD, CITCO, the décor will be special in form of Mehrabs. — TNS

Some of the best batsmen find it tough facing Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan, but actor Harman Baweja says it was almost a cakewalk thanks to wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara.

Harman revealed that he and Sangakkara had hit it off well and the wicketkeeper helped him read Muralitharan's confusing bowling during the filming of his latest cricket-based film Victory.

"We were shooting a match against Sri Lanka for the film. I was batting, Murali was bowling and Sangakkara was keeping wickets. I had made good friends with Sangakkara and whenever Murali used to bowl, Sangakkara used to read it and tell me how to play the shot," Harman said.

The actor, who made his Bollywood debut with box office dud Love Story 2050 last year, said Muralitharan was left perplexed on several occasions.

"Everyone knows Muralitharan for the way he spins the ball. It's really tough to play against him. As soon as Sangakkara used to tell me how I should play, I used to prepare my shot accordingly. In fact I ended up hitting all of his deliveries and I even hit four boundaries.

"Murali used to get very irritated and in his native language, he used to ask Sangakkara how I was able to hit so easily," Harman said.

The budding actor, who plays a cricketer in Victory, says it was tough playing with national and international cricketers, who have cameos in the film by debutant director Ajitpal Mangat.

"It wasn't easy to play with these cricketers. I used to practise three-four hours a day with my cricket coach Pravin Amre. All the training came in very handy to me to look like a professional cricketer. And the best part of the shooting was that I've now learnt the meaning of the cricket terminology that I earlier used very casually," he said.

Apart from the real-life cricketers, Harman shares screen space with Amrita Rao in Victory.

His next film in the pipeline is Ashutosh Gowariker's What's Your Rashee? opposite his Love Story 2050 co-star Priyanka Chopra.

Having penned down three bestsellers in the last decade, author Chetan Bhagat, who now desires to try his hand at screenplay writing for Bollywood films says he would love to work with young director Imtiaz Ali of Jab We Met fame.

Bhagat, whose second novel One Night At the Call Centre was recently turned into a film, believes writing for films gives a writer a chance to reach a large number of people.

The author, who was last year rumoured to have taken up the script for Imtiaz Ali's next film, said he had met the director but the two were yet to discuss a project.

"I would love to work with Imtiaz and have also met him. But film-making is different from writing a novel and many things need to fall in their place before a project can be finalised," Bhagat said.

"Imtiaz is a very good film-maker but we are yet to discuss a concept on which we can work together," the author added.

Speaking about his interest in writing screenplays for films, Bhagat said Bollywood films were still the best way to reach out to people in India.

"I am very convinced and clear that I want to write for Indians and English is not what all people speak, while the distribution of Hindi books is not good enough.

"Bollywood (screenwriting) therefore gives you the best chance to reach to a maximum number of people. That is why I want to turn to Bollywood and not because of the 'oomph' factor," Bhagat said.

Asked what hopes he had from 3 Idiots, the much-talked about screen adaptation of his first novel Five Point Someone, the popular author said he was sure the film would turn out well. "I went to IIM Bangalore, where the film is being shot and I was very impressed by it. I am sure it will make a very good film," said Bhagat, who worked as a co-screen writer for Hello, the celluloid version of his second novel. While the film bombed at the Box Office, Bhagat said he had a good time during its making.

Defending the portrayal of women, which some people term as "stereotyped," in his novels, Bhagat said he had always scripted bold women as his female protagonists. "The depiction might be a little stereotyped, but my leading ladies are bold women, who mark a break with the accepted social norms," Bhagat said.With two of his films already being made into films, Bhagat hopes his last novel novel the Three Mistakes of my Life, which is set against the backdrop of the 2002 communal violence in Gujarat, will also be taken up by a director. "I believe it will be taken up to be made into a film, though it is not an issue that is conventional for a Bollywood director to take up," he said. The author's first and the most successful book Five Point Someone is being directed by Raj Kumar Hirani and stars Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor. — PTI

She is born to French parents, speaks with a Tamil accent and makes her debut with Bollywood director Anurag Kashyap's Dev D. Kalki Koechlin says it wasn't easy mouthing Hindi dialogues, but taking tuitions helped improve her diction.

"I can speak Tamil and French, but my Hindi is not very good and the language is not easy. I had to work a lot on it for the film. I started taking tutorials for Hindi before the auditions of Dev D," Kalki said.

"I have a bad Tamil accent. So speaking Hindi was hard and I didn't really know how to read and write Hindi, but now I can watch Bollywood films too," she said.

The 25-year-old actor also said that Karan Makhija, who played Rotlu in Abbas Tyrewala's Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na, helped her in "picking up the language".

In Dev D, that is a modern take on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's classic novel Devdas, Kalki plays courtesan Chandramukhi, and is called Chanda in the film. The film is releasing February 6.

Kalki now also carries a Hindi book with her all the time so that she can improve on her language. — IANS

Dressed as junior versions of a princess, a diva and as little sardars doing the Singh is Kinng signature routine, 70 children scorched the ramp for Ritu Beri's kids collection launched by Bollywood star Akshay Kumar.

Named 'Baby Beri', the collection is Beri's line of occasion wear for kids segregated in three sub-divisions - Beri Princess, Rock Star Babes and Bollywood Divas.

"Designing kids' clothing is a playful and joyful experience. The endeavour is to showcase designs that are stylish, trendy and comfortable all at the same time. The idea is to bring out the youthfulness and cheerfulness of kids," Beri said.

Akshay, who joined the children on the ramp, said: "I remember when I was a kid, I had only three pairs of clothes. But, looking at them dressed in such colourful clothes today was so beautiful. I feel Ritu should launch a men's collection too to have some variety for men."

Sponsored by Fortis La Femme, the event was dedicated to The Blessed Hearts Foundation, a charity for children.

While the collections from the event were Beri's contribution to the foundation, the actor also donated an undisclosed amount for the cause. — IANS