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Is 16 too young for SEX?
We have definitely come far from blushing and giggling in the classroom when the teacher explained the female or male reproductive organs to getting a bill drafted, fixing 16 as the age for
consensual sex. It raised eyebrows (concerned parents and the representatives of the old 'sex is buri baat’ school), and found thumbs up from those who feel it's time we did away this taboo. What's your take?
But first thing first, this is what the Bill has to offer.
I don't see any good in fixing 16 years as the age for consent to have sex. This is quite a mature age to understand things, at the same time; youngsters in this age wouldn't understand what they are getting into. Physically, they could be prepared for it but mentally they wouldn't know where they are heading. There is a right time for everything and 16, certainly isn't.
Anupam Gupta, lawyer
If one looks at the sociological aspect, the less the law deals with it, the better it is because then many other issues will come into play. There is no point in suppressing this 'song and dance' generation. If parents are accommodating and open with their kids then there is no need for the law to interfere. Legally I strongly oppose lowering the age. It doesn't come as a surprise; youngsters were definitely not waiting for anything like a bill in order to have sex. At the same time, I am happy that our country is opening up to the subject. In a country like India, the word 'legal' means a lot. I hope youngsters can handle this! I believe parents should also be open about sex and talk to their kids about it. Hiding pictures or movies in the closet is of no use. My son is 15 and I understand that I am required to assume the role of a friend. Today, sex is not associated with love. So, why raise a hue and cry about something, which is part of us.
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With a collage of thousand names of pass-outs, it's a befitting tribute to the completion of 50 years. The tableau of Chandigarh College of Architecture (CCA), which is called 50 Years of Historic Modernism, celebrates its journey. It starts with a tribute to all those who have passed out from the CCA during the past 45 years and displays their names on the façade of the Tableau. Mounted atop a tractor are some of the prestigious projects of some of the eminent alumni. Forest complex in Mohali, cricket stadium in Dharamshala, Adarsh mall in Chandigarh, to name a few. Shares Bheem Malhotra, assistant professor in Art, "We wanted to depict the journey of 50 years. When I sat down to conceptualise the tableau, I wanted it to be like a college on the wheel…It took us about a week to complete the entire thing." Accordingly, apart from the college façade on one side, there're best projects on display, new logo of the college juxtaposed with the old one. There are photographs of former batches, of one of the initial convocation held in 1979. He adds, "You can make out the journey of the college through all these years. The pictures of students then and pictures of students now depict the change in their dress, mannerisms, and profiles." — Manpriya Khurana
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Bollywood diva Aishwarya Rai has made it to the cover of Vogue for the third time, sporting an all black feathered look. The magazine carries interesting tidbits on the former beauty queen from 10 men who know her well. The magazine has spoken to people, including Ash's husband Abhishek Bachchan, designer Manish Malhotra, director Ashutosh Gowariker and ace make-up artist Mickey Contractor, said a statement. — IANS
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Strong, patient and compassionate: That's motherhood for you!
Motherhood is said to be the rebirth for a woman. It is indeed so if you go by the changes a woman undergoes the moment she brings in a new life to the world. Compassionate, patient, responsible, strong, positive, well, the list is endless… An amazing journey
Motherhood has changed everything for me. In fact, there is no longer any 'me', it is always about 'us' now. The first time I looked into my son's eyes, I understood what the word 'unconditional love' actually means. Life has never been the same since then. Having someone in my life, who is totally dependent on me for every little need, has given me a sense of responsibility and strength. At the same time, I feel nervous and scared that I might do something wrong. But one smile from my baby, all the worries vanish and the spirits are high again. There is an inflow of positive energy that keeps me going. All those sleepless nights don't seem like a sacrifice. Even if I could not manage to sleep at night, I still have the energy to look after my baby and his needs throughout the day. Dr Shruti K Chawla A natural progression
Rashi Srivastava A new identity
Kamna Aneja |
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Handicrafts from Orissa
Orissa Handicrafts & Handloom Fair at Lajpat Rai Bhavan-15 brings an array of rich handicrafts from the Temple State. Here's what it offers: Sculpted wonder
Statues of deities in sandstone, pink and Nilgiri stone. "On an average it takes six months to create one statue," says Biswar Baru Mallick, who has been involved in the craft since his childhood. Nine yards of
elegance
The exhibition has traditional ikat, tassar, bomkei and bapta saris. One has a choice of silk or cotton. The range starts from Rs 560. Check out Sati Anusuiya: A cotton, Sambalpuri sari in vegetable dyes in the motif of Anusuiya. Available for Rs 14,000 Colourful umbrellas
Vibrant garden umbrellas with appliqué work, lampshades, wall hangings, which is another speciality from the state. Rich texture
Dress material and unstitched suits with pattern of Konark wheel, Pochampalli (dice pattern) are available fro Rs 500 onwards (for a suit) Silver range
Cuttack's filigree work has stunning jewellery - earrings, necklace, hairpins and showpieces. The work done in silver strands as thin as hair is the USP of Orissa. Splendid skills
Golden grass baskets, metal utensils, palm leaf paintings, paddy crafts, terracotta figures, iron crafts, brass plates - there's plenty to choose
from. On till February 9 |
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When you forget to clap, that's music
Pandit Chaudhuri doesn't come prepared when he takes to the stage. There are so many ragas to choose from. Music just happens. Like it did to him. "My parents never played music. You must have the desire to be part of music…because music is next to God. Music is part of every religious ceremony." For the uninitiated, he is an exponent of Senia Gharana, India's oldest traditional school of music, named after Mian Tansen. The Senia Gharana, a school of music, is characterised by its unmatched tradition and style of playing sitar with only 17 frets. Needless to add, there's a need to propagate the interest and the initiative. "There should be more efforts to propagate music. Our aim is not to make a Tansen out of everyone but at least cultivate an audience that can appreciate our traditional music. We also need listeners." He adds, "In my 40 years of teaching in the university, I have taught many. However, we don't need everybody to be a master." Schools need to step in. "I was once invited to this school where there were at least 25 synthesizers, equal number of drums and when they asked me to speak something, I asked them to focus on Indian classical music." Currently he's working on a project to document rare instrumental compositions. — Manpriya Khurana
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Audience is part of Chaurasia’s prayer
Quite inspiring
Dr Shakuntala Lavasa, chairperson, local chapter of SPIC MACAY, feels, “The programme was quite enlightening and inspiring. The best thing about the concert was that he called three children on the stage. The first child sang a poem, Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star, the second sang a bhajan and the third sang ‘a classical song’. He did this to showcase the vast change in the field of music. His music is class apart. Pandit Chaurasia himself feels that he is praying while playing and the audience is a part of his prayer.” It’s the music, which connects two people. Munish Dhiman, a media consultant says, “His concert was very interactive. With pin drop silence, everyone had closed their eyes at the concert. It felt as if he was interacting with the almighty itself. ” “It was a pleasant change from the music that we get to hear daily. I had always heard about Pandit Chaurasia’s music but I attended his concert for the first time. I was completely awestruck. The way he creates music with flute is amazing,” says Archana Chabra, a housewife. |
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The idea is to add more names to the list of women theatre directors in the city. The idea is to have more women representing the theatre scene, which as of now is confined to only a select few. “The idea is to bring about a change, which is possible only when women artistes will get a platform to showcase their talent,” says Vijay Machal of Mask Theatre Group, organiser of Katha Manchan. Five directors from the city will be presenting their productions. Nisha Sharma, director of Kadli Phal, says the platform like this will help them to reach out to the masses. “We have been doing theatre but how many people in the city know about our plays.” The five-day festival will also present productions by Sangeeta Gupta, Vandana Vashisht, Rajinder Rosy and Mandeep Kaur. And to raise funds, they are copying theatreperson Zulfikar Khan’s idea. “Like Zulfikar, we are collecting waste newspapers form the tricity and selling them in the scrap market.” Rajinder Rosy feels that besides raising funds, collecting newspapers will serve another purpose. “People who have donated their news papers will definitely come to watch our shows. More the audience, more successful is a play.” The festival will be staged at the Punjab Kala Bhawan-16. — TNS On till February 6
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Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. Launched Genio, its next generation commercial vehicle. The 1.2 tonne pick-up, has been developed to cater to the small and medium businesses transportation needs and is expected to change the face of the pick-up industry in India. Equipped with international looks, style, design, technology and offering the ultimate in comfort, the Genio is competitively priced at Rs. 5.03 lakhs for BS3 Variant (Ex-Showroom Chandigarh). The BS4 compliant version is also available for BS4 markets. The second product to roll out of Mahindra’s state-of-the-art Chakan plant, near Pune, the Genio comes with a build and finish quality unseen amongst commercial vehicles in India. In addition to the world class styling of the vehicle, the appeal and interiors of the Genio are a benchmark within the industry. It offers a power packed performance with its CRDe engine which is equipped with 75 HP power and 220 Nm torque, allowing it to handle any kind of load and terrain with ease. According to Pawan Goenka president, Automotive & Farm Equipment Sectors, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. “In keeping with our endeavour of offering first of its kind world class products, we have launched the Genio. It is also a result of extensive consumer insight which captured the latent and expressed needs of the customer.” — TNS
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Aamir Khan turns baddie for Dhoom 3
"It is indeed a pleasure to be working with Yashraj once again. Dhoom is a great franchise, most entertaining and full of fun. Everytime I hear the theme tune of Dhoom it brings a swing to my step. Victor's script really won me over and I look forward to working with him, sharing screen space with Jai and Ali, and, of course, working with Yashji and Adi once again," Aamir said in a statement. Film's producer Yash Chopra said, "I am terribly excited with what an actor like Aamir will bring to Dhoom franchise with his unique star power and level of performance." Produced by Aditya Chopra and written and directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya, the film will begin shooting end of this year and is slated for a 2012 Christmas release. Acharya has also written and directed Tashan. The film will begin shooting end of this year and is slated for a 2012 Christmas release. — PTI
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Carey Mulligan dating Eddie Redmayne
Dressed down and casual in skinny ripped jeans, flat brogue shoes, a parka jacket and a plaid shirt, the Oscar-nominated actor looked very comfortable as she cosied up to her companion. The actor, 29, may not be well-known but he has starred alongside Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman in The Other Boleyn Girl and Kristen Stewart in The Yellow Handkerchief. When 25-year-old Mulligan split with Shia LaBeouf in October after 15 months of dating, she was rumoured to be so upset she was considering a permanent move back to the UK. LaBeouf too has moved on and last month, he was seen out and about with a mystery brunette in Los Angeles. — PTI
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Kruger believes in commitment, not marriage Actress Diane Kruger says she does not believe in the idea of marriage anymore after her marriage to Guillaume Canet ended in divorce. The Inglourious Basterds star's marriage to French actor-and-director in 2001 lasted for only six years and the bitter experience has totally put her off since then, Glamour magazine reported. "I was married very young. Without sounding pessimistic, I learned that I don't believe in marriage. I believe in a commitment that you make in your heart," said Kruger, who has been in a relationship with Joshua Jackson for over four years. "There's no paper that will make you stay. A guy friend of mine said, and it made a lot of sense, that people should get married at the end of the road, not the beginning. I'm a different person now than I was years ago." The 34-year-old actress and her family abandoned her alcoholic father when she was just 13 and the star feels that childhood experiences had a major impact on her early relationships. "My mother, brother and I left when I was 13. It was very difficult, and certainly financially that wasn't easy on my mother. Ballet kept me very disciplined - I had a passion. But I also made a lot of boys pay for my father's behaviour," said the actress. I was never able to be tied down. I'm still very independent. Looking back, I made mistakes," Kruger added. — PTI
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Tanya Saini, student
Virender Bhasin, student
Alice Guram, media
consultant
The birth of my sons changed my life totally. Since my childhood, I have been a late riser. Now, I wake up before my kids to get them ready to face the world every day. Not willing to enter the kitchen before, I prepare dishes like a chef for them now. So many more values are becoming part of me. The amazing thing is it's without any effort. My faith in dictum, 'Since God cannot be everywhere, he created a mother', is unwavering now.
I always loved kids but I realised what it really meant to be a mother when I held my son Samar in my arms. I had a caesarean. While the surgery was on, in the semi-conscious state I could hear the cries of my baby. My life transformed from that very moment. My life changed. From being a career-oriented woman, I morphed into a committed full time mother. So many little things that mattered earlier, no longer meant a thing. It has turned my life, my perspectives and my outlook towards relationships. I have a new identity, that of a mother now!
For Pandit Debu Chaudhuri, the sitar maestro, music is extemporaneous. Or, as he says, "When you're sitting in a concert and you are enjoying the music so much that you even forget to clap, that's music." In the city for a SPIC MACAY concert, the Padma Bhushan musician, talks of music and nothing else.
Music binds all. It transcends boundaries, races and age. Also the crux of Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia’s concert held at IMTECH in Sector 39, we ask people to tell us their experience of the concert.
After John Abhrama and Hrithik Roshan, it is Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan's turn to play the baddie in Yash Raj's superhit franchise Dhoom. Both Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chopra will reprise their roles of Jai Dixit and Ali.It is Aamir's second film with the banner after Fanaa, where he played a terrorist.
Hollywood beauty Carey Mulligan has found herself a new leading man, British theatre actor Eddie
Redmayne. The An Education star was spotted taking a romantic stroll through the streets of New York over the weekend with the actor.