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Campfires,
camaraderie & corporates
By gifting their employees
holidays, often to exotic foreign locales with families in tow,
corporate houses are not only ensuring that workers stay in high
spirits but that they also imbibe team spirit, writes Mehak
Uppal
Thailand remains high on the wishlist of the Indian corporate traveller this season
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Campfire
along a riverside under a starry night, paint-balling in dummy
jungles, trekking on a lush mountain track with the cold breeze
brushing past your hair, lying on a beach watching the sun go down,
exotic trips to foreign lands with your family what if these were not
the musings of an idle mind but team plans being thought of by your
bosses at work.
Artist
extraordinaire
Success rests lightly on the
young shoulders of Chandigarh-born Vibha Galhotra, whose works are, at
once, experimental as well as stimulating, writes Nonika
Singh
When
Vibha Galhotra first voiced her desire to become an artist, her
father’s only reservation was, "Don’t become a jhola chaap
artist (read an artist with no money)". Today, of course, as the
daughter has become a globe-trotting avant-garde artist, the father is
still bemused with her unusual choice of material and ability to weave
it all together. He even wonders aloud, "Pray, who will buy all
this?"
Cat
call
On a trip to London, you are
sure to come across a brigade of fat cats staring down at you from the
window of a house or a flat. Daksha Hathi on
these window decorators
If
you have visited a friend or a relative in London and have been
stuffed with too much food, you might like to take a long walk to feel
better. You may be lucky to spot one of London’s brigade of fat cats
staring down at you from the window of a house or a flat!
Valley
of solitude
Open from July to September,
Zanskar is probably the remotest region in India. A truly otherworldly
spot, here journey itself is the destination, writes Sudha
Mahalingam
We
are in Padum, truly a one-yak town that comes alive just for
about three months every year. Sitting astride a gurgling Zanskar
River — also called Chador in these parts — Padum, the capital of
Zanskarin Ladakh, is probably the remotest town in India, inaccessible
for nine months in a year. The road is open only from July to
September. One has to fly to Srinagar, drive through Kargil, Suru, and
Panikhar, cross the Parkachik glacier and Penzi la to reach Padum,
which at least four days before you can arrive at this outpost. Of
course, the locals, the intrepid and the insane can access Padum in
winter, too, provided they have at least 10 days and are prepared to
walk on the slippery surface of frozen Zanskar River.
‘I
want stronger roles’
Says Riya Sen in conversation
with Shoma A. Chatterji about her latest
film Noukadubi, based on a work by Tagore
Her
acting genes go back by two more generations to her mother Moon
Moon Sen and famous grandmother Suchitra Sen. But across three
generations, Riya, younger sister of Raima Sen, is the one who is
trapped in the glamour image so much that her acting talents have
remained untapped till now. Her modelling assignments, especially the
three-year oomph calendar stint with photographer Daboo Ratnani and
her item numbers in several films have relegated her potential as an
actress more or less into the background. This is about to change and
her talent as an actress will soon be up for the Indian audience in
Subhash Ghai’s Noukadubi(Kashmakash in Hindi).
‘Amitabh
is better than Taj Mahal’
Prasun Sonwalkar
The
name ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ does more for India abroad than
other known symbols of India’s soft power such as the Taj Mahal,
curry or the Kama Sutra, according to Rachel Dwyer, an expert on
Indian cinema and culture.
Cash,
care and nuptial ties
The protagonist of a TV
wedding wants a man who can take care of her emotional as well as
monetary needs, says Radhika Bhirani
She
has a predecessor in Rakhi Sawant. TV actress Ratan Rajput is
unsure if her televised swayamvar will meet its due end with a
wedding, but she has a special, "P2 formula" of choosing her
future groom.
SOCIETY
Healthcare at
gunpoint
Maoists have helped set up
medical centres in Bengal’s backward West Midnapore district.
Doctors fear to report for work. Jobless and unqualified persons are
ordered to chip in, writes Ajitha Menon
Sombari
Hemrom gave birth to a premature baby boy in June last in
Kalaimuri village that comes under Salboni block in Maoist-affected
West Midnapore district of Bengal. "I thought I will die, my baby
will die. Timely intervention from the doctor and nurse at the
makeshift health centre in my village saved both of us," says the
thankful 27-year-old.
Take
care of your feet
Regular pedicures will help
you to have healthy feet, says Sita Mehta
Mesmerised
by a beautiful face? OK. Now the tables have turned. You can
mesmerise your friends by your beautiful feet also. But taking care of
your feet takes time and planning, for, unlike other parts of the
body, they are the most overworked. Have you ever considered walking
five times around the globe, or walking the length of the Great Wall
of China 115 times? You may not have thought of this. But this is what
a normal human being does in his life if he lives up to 70 years.
Life
on other planets ?
A
massive radio telescope in rural West Virginia has begun
listening for signs of alien life on 86 possible earth-like planets,
US astronomers have said. The giant dish has begun pointing towards
each of the 86 planets — culled from a list of 1,235 possible
planets identified by NASA's Kepler space telescope — and will
gather data on each one.
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