There is always more to life; it’s up to us what we make of it. This, for once, sounds like the universal truth. Especially when someone like former Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh is there to reassure you of the fact. He has definitely found his calling beyond the boundary line. He is the one who believes in scoring a six irrespective of how the ball is being played.

In the city to announce Navitas Excellence Awards 2010 at Taj Chandigarh-17, the cricketer is game for all the volleys related to on and off-field batting. He gears up….

The first one is a full toss. “Navitas is a diversified global education provider that offers an extensive range of education services for students and professionals,” says Steve announcing the Navitas Excellence Awards 2010 for students. “Navitas will network with schools participating in various activities to select their candidates for awards, who would be interviewed by a panel of judges. Three awardees will be selected out of all the candidates based on the final interview.” One has to justify work, and Steve here justifies his visit to the hilt!

How about getting chatty? There is more to Steve, the cricketer and we thought of unravelling it. The grey of the hair gives away his age, but for his fans, ‘he is as sexy as ever.’ Glamour, cricketers are either born with it, or they acquire it in due course of time. The second option has more takers! All said and done, every cricketer, whether playing test, one day, county has either been delicately or engulfed by glitz and razzmatazz.

He smiles, (of course he is aware about this universal truth),“Twenty-twenty cricket has brought in a lot of glamour. They are more photographed and talked about than before. People want to talk about them. It’s good,” he snaps short. We bet, we have an answer to this one already. Tweeting away to glory? “No,” he surprises, “I have other important things to do than sharing my pictures every minute. I have a website, which is used for the foundation work. All the same, it is nice to embrace technology otherwise I would have a lot of catching up to do later,” he says.

More important things to do….. throwing some light on it. “I love India, the landscapes and everything about it. I have the Steve Waugh Foundation here that aims at providing modes of sustainability for underprivileged children. I look forward to making tie-ups with like-minded NGOs to take the project forward,” shares Steve, who finds a lot of business opportunities in India, like property!

Cricketing star to an entrepreneur? “Yes,” nods Steve, “Cricket did give me an opportunity to visit countries I hadn’t been to before, like the third world countries. I have been able to establish contacts through cricket.” And now the cricketer reaps the rich dividends. “A lot of time goes into charity. I also plan to start a property development project in the near future.” Did we hear movies? “Ah, let Brett do that. I am more inclined towards real-life stories, something like documentaries.”

However, the game isn’t over for him. We wonder how can someone play relentlessly for so long. “The excitement of the unknown, to improve on other things, to focus on opportunities is a driving force,” adds Steve. That’s we may call a sixer!

jasmine@tribunemail.com

Brand Gen Y, IIM degree, foreign address, globetrotter and on the interesting side of age (i.e. neither too young to be taken seriously nor too old to be seriously taken)…all variables check marked. Writing a book completes the equation. Add to that an Army upbringing. Do we have the formula for success as an author? “Success is incidental, without any set formulae. Why look for something that doesn’t exist.” Sure, Karan Bajaj may turn down a possibility there, but we would still like to go by the ‘trends’.

An IIM degree just doesn’t ensure a good job but also an alternative career as an author. “I don’t know. Maybe that’s ‘in’. But then writing is more about a sudden spurt of creative thoughts that you like to share. You need to have a will to write and not a degree,” says Karan. Instead, he defines his own funda: “The commercial configurations are forcing certain factors to fit in a certain formula. You have to be honest with what you write and if it’s good it will be appreciated. When the rules of the game were set down as campus stories, love stories set in urban India and light humoured fun, I chose to write about fiction inspired by some realities.”

Time for proper introduction - Karan Bajaj is the latest to join the list of young writers, with two books to his credit. His first one, ‘Keep off the Grass’ was one of the fastest selling debut novels in 2008.  It was a semi-finalist for the ‘Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award’, listed for ‘India Plaza Golden Quill’ awards, and was among ‘Crossword and Oxford Book Picks of the Year’. His second and most recent, ‘Johnny Gone Down’ is an out-an-out adventure ride. “It’s based on a broad theme, journey of a man through different phases, situations and continents and finding a deeper meaning to life,” shares Karan.

Well, a backpacker himself who takes time off from his strait-jacket corporate career (he works as a brand manager for Krafts Foods Ltd in New York) to hitchhike, travelled across South and Central Asia, South America and Europe, Karan could not help but get inspired for Johnny Gone Down. “The story takes the protagonist from his NASA dreams to becoming a monk and then to mafia; with places like Cambodia, Thailand, Brazil in the background. I didn’t want to get philosophical or write a travelogue. So, I got my flexibility and creativity out with a fiction.”

Though the reader in him likes Ruskin Bond, Mohsin Hamid and feels influenced by John Burdett’s stories about the Bangkok’s underbelly, Karan feels that Indian writers should not read too much into global trends. “The problem is that we just project the global trends too much in our stories,” he opines. The reason why most best selling Indian authors are based outside the country? “Maybe. But each book is different from the other and if we stop taking ourselves for granted, maybe we can overcome stereotypes.”

Waiting for the US launch of his book, Karan is taking it easy, “There are a lot of ideas in my head right now, but I want to enjoy some silence. I will need a little more growing up, more substance and I am gradually building a repertoire.”

In the meantime, with words of praise from Bollywood biggies like Ajay Devgn and Rajkumar Hirani, ‘Johnny Gone Down’ may soon be adapted on screen. “Well, nothing final, but I am taking things with an open mind.” We got our answer!

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Both music and dance have universal appeal. Living in Semey, Kazakhstan, thousands of miles away from Chandigarh, I used to live with images of classical dance icons of India,” says 20-year-old Buranbayeva Kamilla. From her childhood days, Indian classical dance forms became her passion and watching recorded live concerts on TV her hobby.

“My dream came true when I was selected for a special training programme in Kathak, on a two-year ICCR scholarship, under Kathak guru Shobha Koser at the Pracheen Kala Kendra here,” she shares.

Back home, she secured a degree in law and side-by-side participated in operas like Labediovoe Ozero, Shelkuas, Karmein and Adadjio. She also learnt Bharatnatyam for two years while studying in Kazakhstan. “I did Indian classical dance shows in Italy and during one of my performances the Indian Embassy officers offered to train me in India,” she says.

Kamilla is all praise for her guru Shobha Koser. “She is a perfect teacher, human being and administrator,” she says. “The memories of the city of beauty, of beautiful landscapes, people full of love and warmth will keep me fresh and rejuvenated,” adds Kamilla, totally in love with the Pracheen Kala Kendra and the city. As a mark of respect to her guru, she gave a dance recital at Kendra auditorium on Monday. Kamilla also expresses her gratitude to ICCR Regional officer Gyan Chand for all the support and encouragement.

Actor Mughda Godse, who is all set to scare audience in her upcoming film Help, says she was apprehensive to do horror film thinking it would be too early for her. "I am apprehensive about doing horror films at this stage as I think that as an actor one must venture late for such kind of films. So, I was wondering whether should I do or not," Mugdha said.

 Help, a directorial debut of Rajeev Virani, is a supernatural-horror film starring Bobby Deol and Mughda in lead roles. The film is set to release on August 13, making it the first Bollywood horror film to release on Friday the 13th, the day of bad luck. "It was the script that attracted me...it is fantastic.There was so much scope for the character in the film. 

I couldn't say no for the film," the model-turned actor said.Mugdha, who is just three films old, Fashion, All The Best and Jail, says she loves watching horror films. "I am a fan of horror films and I watch one film every week. I order horror DVDs, turn off the lights and watch it," she said. About the role, the 24-year-old actor said, "I play the role of Pia, wife of a horror film-maker. We have marital problems and in the midst of the troubled marriage we have to rush to Mauritius to visit my ailing father and that's where the unusual things start happening." — PTI

She is a Hollywood star worth millions, but Hillary Duff seems intent on learning the ways of a homemaker prior to her impending nuptials.

The 22-year-old who is engaged to hockey player Mike Comrie has been taking cooking lessons from her mother and was spotted out and about in Beverly Hills with a big baking tray and groceries.

The Disney star became officially engaged to Comrie in February after he proposed to her on the balcony of their Hawaii hotel suite.

The Lizzie Maguire star has been dating Comrie since 2007 and the hockey player made his feelings for his girlfriend very clear when he bought her a Mercedes-Benz G-class SUV for her 20th birthday. And Duff is clearly infatuated with her 29-year-old fiancé.

"I've never met anyone who could say a bad word about him. He's generous, caring, funny. We just laugh our heads off, which I need in my life," Duff had said in a recent interview.

She had previously dated Good Charlotte singer Joel Madden from 2004 to 2006 and broke up with him the same year her parents decided to separate after 22 years of 
marriage. — PTI

Bollywood stars Emraan Hashmi and Prachi Desai offered chadar at the shrine of Sufi saint Khawaja Moinuddeen Chisti.Emraan and Prachi prayed at the famous Sufi shrine for the success of their upcoming film Once Upon a Time in Mumbai. They did ziyarat at the dargah.

Khadim Kutbuddeen Saki helped the actors cover their heads by doing the dastarbandi of Emraan and giving a chunri to Prachi.

Thousands of pilgrims and others were present outside the dargah. The film, which also stars Ajay Devgn and Kangana Ranaut, is realising on July 30. — PTI

American singer Katy Perry's ex Travis McCoy has blasted her in his new song. Perry and McCoy had a volatile romance for years and now the lead vocalist of the Gym Class Heroes has slammed Perry in his new song.

Also, he didn't spare Perry's fiancé Russell Brand.

McCoy in his song tells about the I Kissed A Girl hitmaker's being with another man and calls her a 'little brat'. The song named Don't Pretend from his new album Lazarus will be on sale in August, reports News Of The World.

"Little miss teary eyes you have no reason to lie to me/I finally realise why you can't look eye to eye with me/And I knew about him the whole time/The hotels, phone calls, psshhh the whole nine," the lyrics of Don't Pretend say.

"I guess that's what friends are for. The only word that comes to mind is that you're nothing but a little brat," the song continues. — ANI

Cameron Diaz has insisted that kissing Tom Cruise in their latest flick Knight And Day, was far from exhilarating. Hollywood pin up Diaz, who appears alongside Cruise in the new action comedy, was being politically correct when asked about her lip-lock scene with the American heartthrob.

"We're serving the characters, it's literally the same work as driving the car," she said. Diaz, 37, who has starred opposite Leonardo DiCaprio and Jude Law, was diplomatic when asked which of her male colleagues has been the best at smooching in front of the cameras. "I can't answer that," she said. "It's like saying who your favourite child is," she added. — ANI

Hollywood actor Sienna Miller wishes to have a big fat wedding with Jude Law but the British actor wants to keep the ceremony as low-key as possible.

The 28-year-old actress is hoping for a big ceremony in the English countryside although Law is interested in an 'intimate marriage'.

"They are very happy and want to get married. But they are still undecided about where to tie the knot. She loves the idea of an English country wedding, but Jude wants as much privacy as possible and thinks a small wedding abroad would be better," source said.

The Factory Girl star was reportedly seen with a wedding file while walking into Law's parent house in the Loire Valley.

The pair broke up five years back after Law was found cheating with his children's nanny Daisy Wright, but rekindled their romance nine months ago. — PTI

Hollywood actor Pamela Anderson shot down rumours of becoming almost penniless due to a string of financial crunches. The 43-year-old beauty was listed under the 'delinquent tax payers' three months back by the California Franchise Tax Board for $ 500,000 debt.But the former Baywatch star insisted she is far from being poor as she bought several houses .

"I have a beautiful home in Canada, nine little cabins on the dock that I'm building on Vancouver Island and a store in the front. That's going to be kind of my sanctuary. I think eventually I'll be out of LA. I have been building my place in Malibu for four years," she said. “People didn't pay me, but it's all sorted out now," she said. — PTI

Hollywood star Robert Pattinson, who is shooting Water for Elephants took some time out from his busy schedule to spend some quality time with his mother. 

The 24-year-old actor, who shot to global fame with the success of vampire series, took his mother Clare in Malibu to watch Angelina Jolie starrer Salt.

 His mother laughed when Pattinson was mobbed by female fans as they left the cinema after watching the movie.

The Twilight actor, in his trademark clothing and baseball cap, happily chatted to the fans but did not forget to include his mother in the conversation. — PTI

Australian singer Kylie Minogue's model boyfriend Andres Velencoso flew in to Melbourne on Saturday to meet her parents. The Spanish model will spend time with Ron and Carol Minogue, Kylie's sister Dannii and her partner Kris Smith and their baby Ethan."Kylie has been working non-stop since arriving in Australia and can't wait to see Andres again. She has already met his father in Spain so this is his turn to get to know the family," a source said. 

"Having met her nephew, Ethan, for first time, she would have been feeling very family-minded so for him to meet the prospective in-laws is very important for them both," the source added. After they began dating in 2008, Minogue visited Velencoso's hometown of Tossa de Mar on the Costa Brava and met his family. —ANI

Annu Bains with daughter Pahull

Tip Talk

A sweet smelling home is always welcoming. Annu shares the secret, "A mix of potpourri, scented candles and reed diffusers can do that magic trick." While cinnamon is Annu's favourite, one can go in for rose, sandal, jasmine or lemony, whichever suits your taste. "But make sure not to overdo it, for it can get on your nerves as well," she cautions.

Cutting and pruning a tree, shrub, climber or a bush is a day-to-day operation in the home garden. This, is fact, is the most important operation for a gardener and it should be done with utmost care. On this depends the future life of a plant, it's flowering, fruiting and most importantly, the shape of the plant. It is very important to use only the horticultural equipments.

During this growth period and also at times, when the rains are accompanied by winds, snapping of branches is a common occurrence. This is very important to mend the tree immediately thereafter. If it is a small branch, then it can be removed with the help of a secateur and if the diameter of the twig is more than an inch, remove it with the help of a pruning saw. In case the limb gets damaged then it also has to be removed. This operation should, however, be removed with care as the heavy head when removed drags with it most of the bark causing more damage.

In such cases, give one-third cut to the limb from below with the help of a saw and then cut from above and let both the cuts meet in between. The limb with break at that point and will not drag the bark. Never forget to smear the exposed surface with a disinfectant. If nothing else is handy, smear the cut end with blitox slurry, which can be made by adding a few drops of water to blitox powder.

Pruning in plants is done primarily to give it a shape and regulate flowering and fruiting. Never think that by pruning you will reduce the flowering and fruiting area. It is not so. It is important to regulate fruiting otherwise there is declining of the tree and the quality of the fruit is also poor.

Heading back is also a pruning operation but done to give a drastic cutting treatment. In some trees like mango, the old trees become 'barren' as the fruiting area goes far off, not accessible for the purpose of plant protection measures. This is also true in case of guava. In such cases, the tree is headed back and the trees like mango are rejuvenated for the next 30 to 40 years. The trees are headed back at 6 to 8 feet from the ground level. This operation is, however, best carried in December.

After a few years, the lemon stops giving fruit and the plant becomes barren. Yes, it so happens but it does not mean the tree has become barren. In fact, the growth in lemon is spreading and thick. The branches start shading each other and there is no circulation of air and light. You must thin out the wire-like thin branches so as to open the tree. Do not give drastic pruning at one go, as you will not have fruit for two years or so. Keep this operation continuous by pruning the twig that is finished with fruiting, two feet from the terminal. By the time the other bearing twigs finish, the one that you have pruned will come into fruiting. This way you will not have gap period.

There's a love story, a social issue, plenty of fight sequences, ditching, cheating and of course a happy ending. Any Punjabi movie made with the same tested formula is expected to do well!

However, the verdict for Channa Sachi Muchi, like the recently released Punjabi films, will come from the release in multiplexes, "A release in multiplexes helps attract the urban audiences. It provides people with better ambience to watch the films and is a value addition to the movie," says Iqbal Dhillon, producer of the film.

Now to the social issue, it carries the message on drug menace in Punjab. "We could have made a simple love story but felt this issue needs to be addressed urgently." As Iqbal next says, "The movie is also a complete entertainer. We haven't compromised on the entertainment bit while making a socially relevant movie." The film is slated for release in August. "Though the film doesn't have any NRI connection in the storyline, the issue of drug menace is no less relevant and will be appreciated by the NRI crowd even."

Iqbal wishes for contribution of funds in the film industry from the region's industrialists. "The budget of South Indian films is good as that of Bollywood, which is only possible because localites take interest in producing the film." Since Miss Pooja didn't mark her presence at the announcement of release of the film, we asked Goldie about his experience.

"Being a part of the film that's a crusade against drug abuse is my way of contributing towards the society." Goldy was earlier seen in the Punjabi flick, Mehandi Wale Hath. About working with Miss Pooja, who is the most popular female singer of Punjab, he says, "On the sets, we both are actors and we respect each other's talent. She has no airs about her status of being a superhit singer." 

Sheer luxury for hair is what 'Seah Spa' offers, a first-of-its-kind in the Northern region. A special lounge spread over 150 sq feet promises amazingly beautiful tresses with state-of-the-art hair care at Azzaro-22.

"Seah is designed to give royal and holistic experience for your hair, and it nourishes them, giving a proper balance and bounce," says KA Murli Sundar, country head, Schwarzkopf, which has skilfully trained and equipped Spa therapists at Azzaro.

Seah offers Spa for six different categories — dry, coloured, stressed, sophisticated, frizzy and detox. With a base of Amaranth oil, popularly known as 'Gold of Incas', Seah products use ingredients such as Blue Lotus, Japanese Cherry, Cashmere, White Pearls and Wild Rose.

The Spa offers an exquisite bath, wrap, masque as well as special treatment based on the category of hair. "We have Blossom Brilliance for coloured hair, Lubrisoft for drizzy hair and Fango Mud (a kind of volcanic ash) for detoxification," says Nazeeb Ur Rehman, technical manager, Schwazkopf. Priced around Rs 2,000, experts advise six basic sittings followed by shampoo and products designed especially for your hair. 

Nowadays, almost all of us own cellphones and most of us get bored after using them for a few months. Affording a new phone is not that big an obstacle, the problem is choosing the one that suits our requirements and has more advanced features.

Due to cellphones from Chinese manufacturers, which are well-advertised and available in the market, big multinational companies have dropped their prices. But the big question is whether these phones are worth buying? And the answer is yes - some of these cell phones are real value for your money.

The tag ‘Made in China’ does not mean low quality, as a matter of fact most of the expensive branded cell phones and other electronics are made in China. You will find this tag on many expensive mobile handsets and sometimes the tag is printed inside the handset rather than on it. In case your phone is not ‘Made in China’, some of its parts would definitely be.

On the other hand, new mobile phone companies in India have made their presence felt in the market by giving some tough competition to multinational phone manufacturers such as Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, et al.

Well, for starters, a base level Chinese cell phone offers features such as touch screen, multiple speakers, speakerphone, Bluetooth, music player and expandable memory and that too at a very affordable price, whereas for the same price you would only be able to get a Nokia or Motorola phone having a simple address book and a small message inbox and maybe a torchlight.

Now, talking about the higher end phone models, a high-end Chinese wholesale cell phone offer features such as Global Positioning System, live television, 3G capability, dual sim-card configuration, WiFi support, high resolution camera with LED flash, expandable memory, etc, and that too at a price that is about a quarter of the price of a phone having the same features, manufactured and sold by one of the big multinational phone manufacturer.

Now, let us talk about the quality of these cell phones. Well, there is an impression that these cheap cell phones are of poorer quality, which is why they are being sold at such a low price. But Chinese cell phones are priced less because in China labour is quite cheap and raw materials are less costly. In addition, the Chinese government provides support to these manufacturers, which helps in reducing the cost of production further. So, Chinese cell phones are not of sub-standard quality; each handset is checked and its quality assured before being shipped.

A word of advice: Purchase a new low-cost, high performance mobile phone of a company that has a distributor and a service centre in your city, which you can come to know from its website.  

amitpalsinghgrewal@gmail.com     

The new format has content additions like stock market updates, schedule of your favourite TV shows, view popular videos on and aggregated view to all your social updates. “We want to simplify online experience for our users by integrating SmS, email and chat. The convenience of having all the relevant information accessible in a single window with easy navigation tools is an added advantage,” says Sanjay Trehan, head, MSN India, Consumer & Online Business, Microsoft India Pvt. Ltd.— TNS

Expanding its portfolio of QWERTY handsets loaded with newer attributes, Zen Mobile, launched India’s first QWERTY handset with Analog TV, Z82 (dual sim-GSM+GSM) at a reasonable price of Rs. 4,799/-.

With Z82, the company has introduced for the first time in India, live telecast & news updates on a QWERTY mobile. It has 2.0 mega pixel camera, 2.4” QVGA widescreen offering real MP4 playback along with cutting edge clarity. Now you can carry TV, music, video everywhere you go. —TNS