Only single property eligible for tax benefit

The five heads under which a taxpayer can earn income are salaries, income from house property, income from business or profession, capital gains and income from other sources. Out of these, computation of house property income is perhaps the most complicated, as this is the only income that the Income Tax Act (ITA) taxes on a notional basis. In other words, the tax is based not on the actual income per se, but on the inherent capacity or potential of the property to generate income —- also known as its annual value. Determination of annual value Determining tax due on property gets complicated as this is the only income that the Income Tax Act (ITA) taxes on a notional basis. A single self-occupied property is not chargeable to tax. If the taxpayer has more than one self-occupied house, the annual value of any one house, at his option, can be taken as nil. The others will be assumed to have been rented out and taxed on a notional annual value. The option chosen by the taxpayer can change from year to year. The next step is to see how the annual value is arrived at in the case of rented properties (or more than one self occupied property, as the case may be). Here the annual value figure is taken as the higher of the actual rent received or the sum for which the property might reasonably be expected to be rented from year to year. To determine what exactly constitutes the sum for which the property might be reasonably expected to be rented from year to year, the higher of the municipal valuation of the property or the fair rental value of the property has to be chosen taking into account its size and area in which it is located. However, where such property is governed by the Rent Control Act, the standard rent fixed thereof will have to be taken for determination of the annual value. The above provisions sound confusing, therefore in a nutshell, the annual value of a rented property will be the higher of the municipal value or fair rental value, but restricted to the standard rent. However, if the actual rent received or receivable exceeds such amount, then such actual rent will be taken as the annual value. The table will make this point clearer. Deductions available From the annual value of the property as determined above, any municipal taxes levied by the local authority can be deducted. However, such deduction is allowed only if the municipal taxes are borne and have been actually paid during the year by the owner of the property. Taxes that are due but not paid are not allowed as a deduction. However, taxes paid during the year are allowed as a deduction even if they relate to past or future years. That is to say that for each year, the municipal taxes actually paid will be allowed as a deduction from the Annual Value, it doesn't matter if such taxes are paid in advance or in arrears. The value arrived at by deducting the municipal tax is referred to as net annual value. From such net annual value, deductions under Section 24 as detailed below are allowed and the balance finally is the taxable income under the head 'Income from House Property'. Section 24 basically offers two deductions. The first one is a statutory deduction of 30% of the net annual value. This is similar to the standard deduction that was available on salary income. The second deduction is to do with interest payable on properties bought on mortgage. For rented properties (or where the deemed annual value is taxed in the case of more than one self occupied property) the full amount of interest paid without any limit is allowed as a deduction. In the case of a self-occupied house, where the annual value is nil, the interest deduction is limited to `1,50,000 on loans borrowed after 01.04.99 and `30,000 on loans borrowed prior to that date. Here it may be noted that where the property is co-owned, each of the co-owner is entitled to the interest deduction of up to `1,50,000. Plus readers would know that Section 80C deduction is available up to `1,00,000 on the principal portion of the EMI. This deduction is also available to each co-owner. Therefore, in the case of a husband and wife, if the property is bought jointly, then an aggregate deduction of `5,00,000 would be available to them on their combined income. Also, where a borrower raises a fresh loan in order to repay the original loan, the interest paid on the second loan would also be allowed as a deduction as detailed above. Interest of pre-construction period Both the concessions, deduction for repayment of capital and deduction of interest are allowed only when the income from house property becomes chargeable to tax. In other words, the construction should be complete, the flat should be ready for occupation and the municipal annual value should be known. The interest paid for the years prior to the year in which the property was completed, is deductible in five successive yearly installments, starting from the year in which the acquisition/construction was completed and each of the four immediately succeeding years. Note that the limit of `1,50,000 includes the current year's interest as well as the installment of pre-acquisition/construction period. For example, say the pre-construction period interest amounts to `5,00,000 and the current year's interest amounts to `80,000. Now, `5,00,000 is to be spread over five years beginning from the year in which the construction is completed. So for that year, in the case of a rented property, the taxpayer can avail of a deduction of `1,80,000 ( `1,00,000 + `80,000) whereas in the case of a self-occupied property, the deduction would be limited to `1,50,000.

The more you give, the more they want

The more you give, the more they want

the Single parent was afraid he might have to pay a hefty bribe to get his son's passport. He instead ended up changing the application process

We have grown up hearing that bribing is the only way to get our work done at any Indian government office and, many a time, even in the private sector. Bribes are popular at the RTO, ration card office, passport office, train reservations, house registration, gas and telephone connections and, many a time, even for a good job opportunity. It may seem to you that life is hell if we do not bribe.
In 2007, I adopted my son Arjun as a single man (I was not married then) and applied for his passport. The application was pending at the passport office (PO) for almost four months. I was called to the PO at least 8-10 times with my papers, made to wait in queues, and was told that the senior officer will get back to me. I mentally prepared myself to pay a hefty bribe. But I was soon in for a big shock.
I visited the PO with all the necessary documents again to explain my side of the story. The officer was a typical government officer. He looked at me with a bored expression, a stare that told me to get out of his office as he had enough work and needed a break from his life and his job. The piles of paper around him made me feel even more worried about the amount he will ask me. Through his spectacles, he explained the problem to me in an uninterested tone. He said that the new computerised system had a mandatory section where the mother's name was needed. The officials could not move to the next page for my son's application because the mother's name was missing. Hence the delay.
I realised that in India, adoption laws were only for single women but not for single men. The officer told me that I will have to meet the systems in-charge, show all the legal adoption papers, and discuss the case with him. He said this may take a few weeks or even months. It looked like he was hinting to me to open my wallet for him and his juniors, which would turn months into weeks and maybe weeks into days. It is difficult to offer a bribe when the officer does not clearly say anything. I gathered the courage to ask him how much tatkal payment would be needed.
The officer's tone suddenly changed. "Sandip sir," he said. "I have seen such a case for the first time. I will take you to the systems manager. You will not have to pay any bribe or 'tatkal fee'. We will have to make a complete new page in our system. Your case will help us change the way we work. Please come with me and help us create this new page."
I was taken aback. I went with him to meet the systems manager, who was very helpful and after seeing my legal adoption papers, made the necessary changes. Arjun got his passport within a month. Today, if a single man applies for his child's passport, he will not have to stand in long lines and make futile visits . I am glad the officers at the passport office helped me and other single men who followed my case.
This incident made me develop respect for the Indian government working system. I still hold high regard for the officers at the passport office who helped me. But when, recently, I went to the Andheri court to claim my jewellery that had been robbed a few months ago from my house, I faced trouble. Everyone around wanted money — from the lawyers to the peons to even the judge! The higher the price of the item, the bigger their mouth opened. But I have decided that I will not pay even a penny to these monsters, and that I will wait for my case to get solved in a clean manner. The jewellery is now in police custody. It is in safe hands and some day, it will come to me. But I will not allow corrupt officials to make money on this.
I hope all those people like me who have suffered or are suffering in a case, please remember the good that's happened too, and keep the faith that things will work in your favour. Giving a bribe means encouraging more of it, so please stop offering bribe.
The writer is a dancer and choreographer

After BT cotton, Mahyco bets on genetically modified okra & rice

Plan to integrate UID, ration card

New card can be read at any fair-price shop through a machine which will then match the fingerprints of the beneficiary to weed out fakes

The Maharashtra government is working on an ambitious plan to integrate the existing ration cards with the UID-Aadhar cards. It has begun working on trials of thebiometric ration cards to curb incidences of bogus cards. Biometric ration cards would not just weed out bogus cards, but with these cards, the government would be able to track down the supplies and stores of the food provided to shops. "The biggest advantage will be that you will be able to go and buy the quota of food from any fair-price shop and will not be restricted to one. If you feel the shopkeeper in your area is being unfair to you, you can always switch to the shop in the neighboring village. The existing ration card system limits citizens to one shop," Ranjit Kamble, minister of state for food and civil supplies told DNA. "The trials have already begun to plug loopholes of all kinds in the system. The UID cards are being made simultaneously. Once the cards are ready, this system shall be introduced in a parallel manner," he said. "This will also help to cut down red-tape and there will be no need to change the ration card, every time you change the address as one would have to do at present as the biometric card will have data specific to the citizen," added Kamble. A senior official said that the biometric cards are one step ahead of the computerisation programme. "Biometric cards will be a big help and is much better that just digitising data. It will help the government to have a database at one single place," he added. "Biometric cards will include unique customer-specific date like retina identification, finger-prints and such personal data that will ensure that the food is being claimed by the person it is intended for. It is a unique plan and Maharashtra would be among the foremost states to do so," he added. A senior food ministry official said a biometric ration card would be different from a regular one. It would have barcoded details of the beneficiary, with a picture of the head of the family. The card can be read at any ration shop through a machine that will then be matched with the fingerprint details of the beneficiary to eliminate duplication or misuse. The Union food ministry also has subsequent plans to integrate details furnished for biometric ration cards into data available with state and district level warehouses of the Food Corporation of India and state governments.

'Identity' for bar staff to keep cops at bay
The next time you enter a permit room with live orchestra, commonly known as a dance bar, do not be shocked to see the staffers wearing identity cards. For almost the past one month, the 250-odd dance bars in the city have made it a rule for all their staffers to wear identity cards — not as part of corporate etiquette but for their own safety and security. According to president of the Orchestra Bar Association Bharat Thakur, the practice began after many bar owners who are members of the association complained of police harassment. "Many a times, there are raids conducted on bars, and the first victims are our waitresses, singers and the staff. To avoid this situation, we have decided that all the singers as well as the staff will wear identity cards while on duty," said Thakur. While the singers are contract employees of the bars, the erstwhile bar dancers, many of whom now work as waitresses, sign a 'naukarnama' for the bar owners. "We do not sign contracts with the serving staff. However, in case of a police inquiry, the bar owners have to show a copy of the naukarnama to the police. It takes time to take out files and show all the copies. Identity cards have made our jobs easy," said Thakur. However, according to many bar workers, the identity card is simply another way to fool the police. A waitress working in a Matunga orchestra bar said that the bar owners want to retain bar girls even after the deadline and so these identity cards come in handy. "As per the rule, only four female singers are allowed to be on duty after 9.30pm. However, bar owners or managers often retain two waiters after 9.30pm. During the mandatory police checking between 9.30pm and 10.30pm, they make these girls sit near the singers. After the police rounds are over, the girls return to serving the customers," she said.

'Terrible tragedies begin with small acts of betrayal'

'Terrible tragedies begin with small acts of betrayal'

Aminatta Forna, a British writer of Sierra Leonean and Scottish heritage, won the 2011 Commonwealth Prize and was nominated for the Orange Prize for her latest novel, The Memory Of Love. In an interview with The Mag, she talks about love, war and how it tests relationships. Excerpts:
In times of conflict, such as the civil unrest in Sierra Leone against which your book, The Memory Of Love is set, how do positive emotions such as 'love' and 'friendship' turn sour?
Times of crisis are when people are tested in many ways. Friendships are tested, flaws are revealed, old enmities or grudges can be played out in a new theatre and with greater consequences. War creates opportunities which are not available to us in ordinary lives, giving power to those who may not have had it and creating powerlessness in others. When Kai compares the memory of Nenebah's love to the memory of pain — that of 'phantom pain' experienced by people who have lost limbs (forced amputations characterised the Sierra Leone civil war) — he is actually comparing it to something real. Doctors working with patients suffering 'phantom pain' now recognise the pain as real, because pain is felt in the brain. If the pain is real, Kai's love is real. Also people who have experienced war have very strong memories of what their country was like before the war. They live a great deal in the past, because the past was a time of happiness.
In your earlier works, women took a central role, but here they are the objects of affection — like Saffia — or the site of insanity — like Agnes. What did women in such scenarios represent to you?
As women per se they don't represent anything. Agnes' sex is relevant to her dilemma because as a woman it is harder for her to escape the situation. I wrote one book in which women played a central role and that is Ancestor Stones. I saw the family as the state and the women as the individuals. In The Memory Of Love, I wanted to explore how terrible tragedies begin with small acts of betrayal. Friendship was at the core of the book: that of Julius and Elias and Kai and Adrian. Plus, just as Agnes' vulnerability makes it hard for her to leave, as an elderly woman on her own and without any other family, so men have more power than women in any society I can think of.
You have written about the insufficiency and helplessness of external aid. Where do you think is the meeting point for wartime situations and the people who wish to aid?
I think if people in the West want to help they can do so in many ways before a situation reaches crisis point. Poor countries need an economy more than they need armies of NGO 'consultants'. When people ask what they can do to help, I tell them: "Switch your investment funds to Emerging Markets (Africa)." If you can't do that, then lobby your government to open European and American markets to African countries. All that would be a lot more use than another aid project. But, as we see with Adrian in The Memory Of Love, the reasons individuals want to help are complex and various and rooted in the circumstances of their own lives.
You have spoken about the 'renaissance generation', the learned generation of the sixties. What are your observations on the current generation — are they insulated or exposed?
The Renaissance in Africa, of course, never happened. The Sixties was a time of hope and a certain innocence worldwide. I am not sure we could ever go back there. Sadly, most young people in poor countries just want to get out — so many young men apply for the Green Card Lottery. However, in Sierra Leone, I meet just enough young people devoted to the thing they do to give me hope. I have a friend there, one of two government paediatricians. Recently the infant mortality rate dropped dramatically, largely due to his 20 years' work. He has had little or no outside assistance in all that time. I said to him, you must feel so proud. He had not thought about it in that way. He said, "I suppose, yes, I do." His name is Donald Bash Taqi. Sierra Leone is a place where miracles can still be made.
You have been critical of financial aid to Africa. According to you, how has such aid helped or harmed African countries in the past?
Helping is not the main purpose of aid. The true purpose is political allegiance. As they say, countries don't have friends, they have interests. Aid is tied to all kinds of deals and concessions, but it doesn't come free to the developing country. It comes at a price. In many ways, the whole game is a deeply cynical one.
Given your writing on the topic, as well as the aid you personally work on in the country, how has your understanding of the crisis and the people involved changed your life?
I have seen, demonstrated in every way, that democracy requires eternal vigilance and we are all responsible for the society we live in, whether our own small village or the global village.

Clicking around in circles

In The Filter Bubble, Eli Pariser argues that excessive personalisation of the internet is beginning to keep us in the familiar and comfortable, closing off discovery, new information, and alternative perspectives

In 2006, at an event called Google Press Day, CEO Eric Schmidt laid out Google's five-year plan. One day, he said, Google would be able to answer questions such as "Which college should I go to?" He added, "It will be some years before we can at least partially answer those questions. But the eventual outcome is... that Google can answer a more hypothetical question." What the Google CEO was talking about, and the subject of a new book, The Filter Bubble: What The Internet Is Hiding From You, by Eli Pariser, is 'internet personalisation'. Our online experience is changing, with websites we visit becoming tailored to suit us, our tastes and our interests. As a result, each of us is increasingly living in our own customised information universe, what Pariser calls a 'filter bubble'. It's in the books Amazon recommends to you, in the order of the news feed Facebook shows you, and even the search results Google returns. This might seem to be a pretty useful turn of events; it is after all virtually impossible to sift through all that the internet has to offer, so a little help couldn't hurt. But personalisation means that companies now have inordinate amounts of information about you. Pariser writes, "What was once an anonymous medium where anyone could be anyone — where, in the words of the famous New Yorker cartoon, nobody knows you're a dog — is now a tool for soliciting and analysing our personal data... Share an article about cooking on ABC News, and you may be chased around the Web by ads for Teflon-coated pots... The new Internet doesn't just know you're a dog; it knows your breed and wants to sell you a bowl of premium kibble." Pariser's bigger worry is that that the excessive personalisation will keep us in the familiar and comfortable, eventually closing off discovery and new information. He says, "Politically, I lean to the left, but I like to hear what conservatives are thinking... But their links never turned up in my Top News Feed. Facebook was apparently doing the math and noticing that I was still clicking my progressive friends' links more than my conservative friends'...The personalised environment is very good at answering the questions we have but not at suggesting questions that are out of our sight altogether." The bubble can affect your choices, without you even knowing. LinkedIn, by comparing your resume with that of others in the same field, can forecast where you could be in five years. Sure, it might be useful to have an idea of your career trajectory. But, Pariser says, "imagine if LinkedIn provided that data to corporate clients to help them weed out people who are forecast to be losers. Because that could happen entirely without your knowledge... you'd never get the chance to argue, to prove the prediction wrong..." And all of this is even more alarming, as he points out, because, one, you're alone in your bubble, two, the filters are invisible, and, three, you didn't choose to enter it. And if things progress this way, there could be a day, says Pariser, when there are signals and sensors tracking everything you do, when the data is computed in a matter of seconds, and this information is available dirt-cheap (Picasa, Google's photo-management tool is already able to do basic face recognition). Personalisation could become a merging of the real and the virtual, and even if you turn off your computer, you may never truly leave the filter bubble. Pariser deals with several complex concepts in the book, but breaks them down into clear and concise thoughts. He writes with conviction and has infused the book with engaging anecdotes. However, his arguments falter a bit when he talks about solutions — transparency from companies, control by the government and greater vigilance from people — and how to balance personalisation with randomness, or how to counter relevant links with useless information. But he admits that it's not too late to change the course of things. The Filter Bubble addresses some very important issues about the internet and the growing power of the invisible intermediaries. While many of us are aware of the personalisation to some degree, such as recommendations of books or movies, most of us probably don't know that it extends to the news items we see or the choices we have. It is an education for those of us in our bubbles — and we all are — to pay attention to how we use the internet and what we can do about it.

Harry Potter And The Curse Of Middle Age

Harry Potter epilogue that they've written their own version of how their favourite characters got on in life after the book. But be warned, they are no JK Rowling

The Harry Potter epilogue was, to put it mildly, disappointing. This was true of book and even truer of the film. For fans used to seeing their heroes battle evil with gritty yet magical realism, watching them milling middle-agedly around a station with a posse of hormonal children was unsettling. Plus what really bothered us was the fact that all our erstwhile heroes look like they haven't had the use of soap or shaving razor since they left school. This blatant disregard for personal hygiene led us to surmise that they probably haven't had very fulfilling lives after the Battle of Hogwarts and were totally depressed. So we here at DNA decided to write our own version of what we think happened when Potter and co faced their gravest enemy yet — adult life. Harry Potter Once the dust of the great Hogwarts battle has settled, Harry realises that he is now a high-school dropout suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that is more crippling than the Cruciatus Curse. He is also being sued — in politely worded but firm letters — by Hogwarts and Gringotts, for destroying all their property in the last one year. He becomes an intern at the Ministry of Magic and spends his time swatting pixies and writing memos to his boss, Hermione Granger-Weasley. To pay his lawyers and support himself, Harry sells his Grimmauld Place house to Luna's father, who turns it into the new printing headquarters for the Quibbler. Mrs Black's ravings in the hallway are transcribed by a Quibbler intern and turned into a satirical page, with much success. Harry and Ginny marry, and despite enormous temptation, Harry does not put his mother-in-law under the Imperious Curse. Harry's scar no longer hurts, and unable to deal with the loss of attention, he takes to collapsing into seizures and clutching his forehead in times of stress, much to the annoyance of his wife and several children. Harry decides to write his memoirs, entitled The Boy Who Lived To Regret It. The book does not do well. Ron Weasley Poor Ronald. After the fancy-pants disintegration of Voldemort, he was finally going to get out of Harry's humungous shadow, be his own man, kick his feet up and be the master of his own pile of rubble (which was all that was left of every non death-eater owned structure in magical world). But in a typically Ron (read: bone-headed) move, he got married to Hermione. At least Harry didn't expect him to change his underwear every day! Ron also didn't have the good sense to go back and finish his final year of schooling. In fact, he soon found out that running around the country-side hunting horcruxes while throwing epic hissy fits qualifies you for …umm… nothing. So while Hermione was zipping around the globe attending all sorts of important conferences, Ron was stuck in a dead-end paper-pushing job in the ministry that his dad got him. Oodles of resentment and a sizable butterbeer belly later he had to own up to the fact that the romance in the marriage had fizzled out and there was no spell that could fix it. From the perennial side-kick to the perennially henpecked. Poor, poor Ronald. Hermione Granger Hermione went back to school. Of course. It was a bit drafty what with no walls left, but she managed. Hermione blazed through her final year course work in 2 months, about the time it took for Harry and Ron to get over their celebration hangovers. After a short stint in the Ministry where the suffocating bureaucracy and her poor social skills led to much hand wringing and frustration, she took a year off with Ron to find herself. Unfortunately all Ron found on the trip was his way around the magical taverns. Hermione, in spite of her initial protestations, gave in. On a particularly boozy night in Russia they were married. Oh well, Hermione thought, at least he's sweet. She soon discovered though, that pity makes for a very shaky marital foundation. After this initial disenchantment, she shook herself out of her ennui and started a non-profit organisation for the rights and integration of the various magical species. Spectacularly successful, she had to travel a lot, without Ron. Her marriage was a sham, but she had her house-elves and goblins and trolls to think of. Plus there was Viktor, occasionally, for some well-muscled solace. Draco Malfoy Draco grows up sporadically evil, hexing Muggle babies and producing Muggle reality television. He later reforms after watching Love Actually. He then starts a rehabilitation programme for former Death Eaters and their confused progeny. The programme is a runaway success, especially after Malfoy invents a spell for tattoo removal of the Death Eater variety. Malfoy learns yoga, travels to Paris and becomes an artist. Upon his return, his series of paintings, Beyond The Pale, break all records and are feted for their "heartbreaking poignancy and refined emotion". Much to Ron's dismay, Ron's daughter Rose and Malfoy get married. Malfoy starts calling Ron 'dad'. They adopt six African orphans. Several buildings are named after Malfoy, as well as a wing of the rebuilt Hogwarts School. Malfoy issues a restraining order against a now-alcoholic Harry after several murder attempts. Neville Longbottom Neville became quite the dasher after his heroic antics in the Battle of Hogwarts. His handiness with the sword of Gryffindor made him quite popular with the ladies. He was also an expert ball-room dancer, how could the ladies resist? So while he basked in the warm glow of female adoration, his relationship with Luna was put on hold. He eventually started a weight-loss programme for wizards. His own magical transformation from tubby to trim made his owl-order business quite successful. There were some investigations into the legality of his potions, rumoured to be launched by the increasingly rotund Ron, but they didn't amount to much. Neville and Luna re-united, got married and lived happily ever after. Except for that incident with Pansy Parkison. And that re-union where a visibly drunk Harry got up on a table and yelled "I killed a Basilisk when I was twelve! In your face Longbottom!" Oh well, as happily as one can expect.

How mums wish there was a magic formula to get their children to eat the right, nutritious food

Fixing supper for the fussy eater

My child is a very fussy eater. What do I do to get him/her to eat food?' So how many times have you heard this from mums, and how many times have you said it yourself? This is one problem which all mums can identify with, and are struggling to find answers for. I have yet to come across one mum who is satisfied with her child's eating habits. And the same goes for me. I am still struggling to come up with the right formula to get my kids to eat their food. With food I mean the right, nutritious healthy option. Seriously, I would like to find out from mums who are reasonably satisfied with their child's eating habits — what do you do? How do you do it? I knew my struggles had begun from the moment the doctor told me I should introduce semi-solid food in my son's diet. So the mashed bananas, potatoes other assorted fruits and vegetables were introduced, one at a time. Amazingly, he had the same reaction to all the food that was introduced to him, which was to throw up all over me. This was just the beginning of my uphill task. I immediately SOSed all my friends who were mums and my family to understand how to make meals a fun time for both mother and son, as it was pretty evident that he was not enjoying it one bit and neither was I. Lots of suggestions, easy recipes came my way. And as soon as he seemed to savour a particular food introduced to him that became his staple diet for weeks to come, and sometimes, feeling extremely happy about it, I would end up over feeding him only to console him all night/day when he bawled because of acidity, constipation or loose motions. Soon enough, when he started talking and expressing his choices we managed to end the day-to-day tussle and a comfortable food pattern was reached. But as a mother, the battle to get him to choose a healthier option over the other options available is still a struggle. Honestly, I am tempted to give in to what he wants, in exchange of some peace of mind, and am guilty of doing that at times. So just when I thought I had crossed the ultimate mummy hurdle and was patting myself on the back arrived baby number two. I was pretty clear that I would show her who the boss is and would definitely not repeat the mistakes I had made with my son. To be fair, she was a no trouble baby, and just when I was considering myself lucky, she too started asserting her food choices — what she wanted to eat and what she would absolutely not eat. And the struggle began afresh. I always wonder how they manage to find the food at home spicy, but can gobble a packet of spicy chips without complaining. How do they manage to easily find a stomach big enough to finish an entire pizza, but struggle to finish one roti or a bowl of rice with dal? Pasta polished off in a jiffy, while the vegetables wait endlessly in the plate to get over. The days when I know what I am serving will not be much liked, I have only Anita Renfroe's The Mum song playing in the head which goes like this: Would appreciate/Take a bite/Maybe two/Of the stuff you hate/Use your fork/Do not burp/Or I'll set you straight/Eat the food I put upon your plate.

Making movies for kiddie audiences

Just kidding
An increasing number of filmmakers are making movies for kiddie audiences. And this year the big guns are also showing their solid support towards such projects
It seems like children are fast gaining prominence as the preferred theatre audience. And this year saw an increasingly high number of filmmakers churning out films targetted at the kiddie crowd, every few weeks. Right from kid-flicks like Satrangee Parachute, Stanley Ka Dabba, to the recent Salman Khan production to an animated fare like Ashoka-The Hero, The Green Chic, 5Ters, to forthcoming 3D fare like Chhutanki and to super-hero flicks like Zokkomon, the past few months have witnessed a sudden hike in the number of movie makers tapping chidren as their key audience. In fact, even superstar Shah Rukh Khan's mega-budget sci-fi, Ra.One, is working towards luring the little ones and adults to the theatres. Trade analysts and industry observers too agree that never before have there been so many kiddie films releasing in a year's time and give a thumbs up to this surge. "Kids are a very strong potential audience," they insist. What's more, several of these films like Stanley Ka Dabba and the more recent Salman Khan production even went down rather well with the audience. "There have been kiddie films made earlier too, but they were few and far in between. But this year, it seemed like there was a sudden surge in filmmakers taking an interest in kiddie flicks," says trade analyst Taran Adarsh. And this year has been a rather special treat, with several Hollywood films aimed at roping in kids and adults alike releasing too — including the recent Kung Fu Panda 2 and the forthcoming Harry Potter's latest intstallment. Attributing the interest being shown by the filmmakers in this genre to the success of the kid-flicks made in the past few years, trade analyst Komal Nahta points out that making a kid's film also naturally lends itself to a pandora of possibilities, when it comes to the story line. "There's a huge option available when it comes to a story line for kid-flicks and filmmakers can easily explore fantasy to more relevant issues. The lower-budgets required in comparison to out-and-out commercial films for adults vis-a-vis the returns is also another draw," says Komal. Trade pundits also insist that most of these films get picked up at decent prices by television channels, especially for their Saturday or Sunday slots. "Despite the high population of children in our country, there's always been a dearth of kiddie films. It was about time that filmmakers woke up to them and catered to their needs as an audience," feel directors Nitesh Tiwari and Vikas Bahl of the recent Salman Khan film. Filmmaker-cum-actor Amole Gupte (of Stanley Ka Dabba fame), however, feels that making a kids film is no child's play as he insists that though there are several genres to explore, one must not underestimate the kids intelligence. "Today, kids are as intelligent an audience as their adult counterparts and thoughtful, fun and well-made films are the order even in kiddie showbiz. You can't take them for granted as an audience, expecting them to swallow every kiddie film that comes their way either," says Amole. "This is an encouarging trend for sure and hope it's here to stay," opines actor Manjiri Phadnis who acted in Zokkomon, adding that the most interesting thing is that most of these films appeal to not only children but to the adults as well. Trade analysts too give this a nod, adding that it's a win-win situation not only for filmmakers, but also for the audiences, so let the carpets be out for the kids all year through.

Leaf Carving

 

It's hard not to love the brilliant display of colorful foliage that signals the entrance of autumn each year, but as the cold winter winds prevail, those leaves that once beautified the landscape are left to collect on the ground or be begrudging raked-up in some weekend chore. A new art form emerging out of China, however, is making use of these brittle leaves–creating delicate forms that will continue to be appreciated long after the jackets and sweaters of winter are hung in closets and the green buds of a new season sprout.
Leaf carving art is one of the newest art forms in recent years. It's inspiration comes from the beauty of nature.
Creating these leaf carvings is no easy process, taking the delicate precision from a skilled artisan. With a knife, the leaf is slowly scraped of its outer layers, eventually revealing a near transparent surface. Special care is given to keep the veins intact to preserve the stability of the leaf.

The Canada-born, half Bengali-half Polish stunner Lisa Ray

The actress/TV hostess tells us why she has never eaten anything weird, her first kiss and her take on breaking a law

The Canada-born, half Bengali-half Polish stunner Lisa Ray started as a model in the Indian fashion industry. Then she went on to do films like Kasoor, Water and Bollywood Hollywood. She was diagnosed with multiple myelom, a rare form of cancer, in 2009.
Having survived the disease, Lisa is now all set to make a comeback on the small screen as a jewellery show anchor on TLC
One word that describes you best? Curious.
Which superhero would you like to be and why?
I don't like superheroes. They are always busy with other people.
If a traffic constable hauls you up, what will you do?
Smile... wink and will finally give him a candy and flee.
Your first kiss was...
Private.
You get high on...
Life.
The colour `pink' for you is...
Blush.
A place where you would like to be lost for a month? The mountains of India.
A tune you can't get out your head?
New York by Alicia Keys. What did you do with your first pay cheque?
I spent it all.
The one law you would break if you could get away with it?
Can't think of one, there are so many which make no sense.
Do you love Luv Storys?
Yeah very much. I am a diehard romantic.
The last time you rode on a bus When I was in London... I just loved it.
If you could have chosen your own name, what would it be and why?
I love my name, don't you?... I think LISA Ray is a lovely name.
What is the weirdest thing that ever went into your mouth?
I am a foodie, I don't find anything weird.
You are late for work and all the roads are jammed. Choose a mode of transport: a cycle, a horse or a skateboard. Why?
I would hop on to a skateboard and just roll away...
Earth's crowded and full of trash. Choose another planet.
Why choose another one... I will try to improve my mother Earth. There are so many programmes to save the earth that are going on.
If you could be born either rich or intelligent, which one would you choose?
You can't say `both'.
Well, it's a Miss Universe answer. I would rather be intelligent so that I can earn my riches. If I am foolish I will lose all the money I was born with.
What makes your day?
Smiles.
What screws it up?
Injustice.
Love is...
The source of life.
If you were the last person left on earth, what would you do?
Look for another life.

The moochh(moustache) of the matter

Some men still stand stolidly by the moustache

`MY MOTHER SAID I SHOULD BE CLEAN SHAVEN FOR THE CORPORATE WORLD' ­ Ayush Gupta, student
YOU COULD be forgiven for thinking that moustaches were endangered. Till very recently, the only place you could spot them was in funny advertising campaigns. Or on old freedom fighters. A far cry from the '50s and early '60s when everyone wore them ­ with pride.
Apparently it was actor Dilip Kumar who killed the moustache and ushered in the chikna look. A look that has ruled all these decades with very few exceptions such as Shatrughan Sinha with his Indradhanush moustache and later Jackie Shroff and Anil Kapoor.
But suddenly over the last few years we've seen scores of famous figures from Bollywood wearing moustaches both in reel life and real. And whether their movies have worked or not, their moustaches have been blockbuster hits almost every time! Salman Khan wore one in Dabangg, Hrithik Roshan in Guzaarish, Ajay Devgn in Once Upon a Time in Mumbai and Aamir... long before anyone else in Mangal Pandey. And, as always, their fans are intrigued. Intrigued enough to give the moustache something of a renaissance.
`HAIR FOR SUCCESS' “I know what it takes to keep one. It takes commitment,“ says 38-year-old theatre and film actor Manu Rishi Chadha who shot into to the limelight as the Bengali of Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye. “But I don't mind that at all as my moustache has made me famous. Suddenly everyone thinks I look strong and macho and I am getting offers for fabulous realistic roles.“
Before 2008, Manu was clean shaven.
But during the looks trials for Oye Lucky..., the director Dibakar Banerjee decided that Manu had to look very different from Abhay Deol.
“You have to look ugly in front of Abhay, Dibakar told me,“ says Manu. And so he grew a thick moustache. When the movie released, Manu found his look was a hit, and was immediately offered three movies.
In Phas Gaye Re Obama and Ani, Manu's moustache continued to work, and coming up this year are the films Life Ki Lag Gayi, in which he is the only moustachioed character (both his co-stars KK Menon and Ranveer Shourie are clean shaven), and Daana Pani with Dimple Kapadia, where once again the moustache is an integral part of the styling of Manu's character as ACP Chautala, a Mumbai cop.
“I did lose out on three plum advertising contracts in the interim as they wanted a clean, corporate look (advertising still wants beautiful people and moustaches don't usually work!),“ says Manu.
“But that's okay as my moustache has taken me on a high lately and I am definitely not complaining.“ HAIR FOREVER?: I think it is definitely in and here for stay. You see a lot of young guys experimenting with different moustache looks these days. In fact, last week in Mumbai I saw this young guy with a really thin moustache of the 1950s, the kind my dad used to keep; and I think he was looking damn cool.
MY CELEB PICK: Definitely Ajay Devgn. His Once Upon a Time in Mumbai look was fabulous and I like his moustached in his new movie Singham even more. THIN, NEAT MOUSTACHE You're serious about life, smart and you believe in using your brain, says men's hair expert Hakim Alim THICK MOUSTACHE Men who wear this usually believe in machismo, says Alim. Ideally, adds men's grooming expert Jawed Habib, don't grow a heavy moustache.
It tends to take the softness out of your personality.

`I WILL NEVER HAVE THE BORING TYPE OF MOUSTACHE MY DAD'S GENERATION WORE' -- Gaurav Wadhwa, marketing manager
Moustaches for good `Moustaches Makes a Difference' is a nonprofit charity movement created in 2003 by the Australian organisation called the Movember Foundation.
Every November, men all over the world grow moustaches to raise funds in support of men's health issues such as prostate cancer. Visit their site, mosmakeadifference.
com to see some really cool taches.
OTHER MOUSTACHE CHARITIES INCLUDE: www.mustachemarch.
com www.mustachesforkids.org www.fundastache.org/ moustaches MY CELEB PICK: “Definitely Ajay Devgn.
He looks incredible with a moustache.“ “IT IS MY IDENTITY“ “In college, I started with a goatee,“ says 29-year-old Gaurav Wadhwa, marketing manager with Red Bull. “Then when I started working with MTV, I didn't shave much and by default grew a moustache. I liked it so I've kept it since. I realised that I look better with it. Also, a moustache really helps when you put on a little weight on your face!“ Right now, Gaurav has the kind of moustache actor Hrithik Roshan grew for the film Guzaarish. A month ago, he attempted to grow a long Rajputana kind of moustache. “I got a mixed reaction to that,“ he chuckles. “Some people liked it and some found it irritating. But I will go back to it again later.“ Gaurav likes to experiment with different styles. “I will definitely not sport the boring type of moustache that my dad's generation wore. They sported the same style like it was a uniform,“ he says.
“There is this picture we have of my dad and his friends in their younger days, and all of them have the same style of moustache in that picture. How boring is that!“ But there is a price to be paid for being cool. “You really need to take care of your moustache,“ says Gaurav. “I have even invested in specialised trimmers and razors.“ HAIR FOREVER?: Because he works for the beverage company, Red Bull, Gaurav meets youngsters all the time. “Most of them seem open to experimenting and you do see some fabulously maintained and styled moustaches on some very young faces these days,“ says Gaurav. “But I don't care about others. I am keeping moustache.“ MY CELEB PICK: “Actor Vivek Oberoi without a doubt. I saw him with a big Rajputana style moustache at a men's fashion week last year and he looked great. He has the personality to carry it off. And I don't like actor Saif Ali Khan's look when he wears a moustache.“ “MAKES ME LOOK COMMANDING“ “My dad's a general in the army and he's always had a moustache. So when I was posted to Udaipur in Rajasthan, I decided to follow suit,“ says 25-year-old Abhinav Singh Rawat, a partner and director with a Gurgaon-based real estate brokerage firm, and lieutenant with the Territorial Army.
Abhinav was always clean shaven, but Rajasthan changed his look. “I realised that to gel with the locals, I must grow a proper Rajasthani moustache,“ he says.
“And it really helped. People there appreciate the fact that I was not from the city but was trying to blend in.“
In Rajasthan, Abhinav decided to do as the Rajasthanis do, so he grew a `thakur' type of moustache.
“It took me a month to grow it properly and this included visits to the barber every weekend as he would have to pick up the corner of the moustache and shave underneath,“ says Abhinav. But despite all that trouble, Abhinav hasn't kept his moustache. “Now I am back in Delhi and I am clean shaven again,“ he says. “But I am sure I will grow a moustache again if I am posted to a similar area.“ HAIR FOREVER?: “I don't know about others, but in the army, the moustache's future is rather bright,“ says Abhinav. “A lot of my colleagues wear moustaches on a permanent basis.“ That's because of the way it makes you look, he adds. “When, at the age of 23-24, you need to command a battalion of 100-odd people, many of whom are much older than you, having a moustache definitely puts you in a commanding position.“ MY CELEB PICK: “I think actor Shahid Kapoor looks cool with the thin moustache he is wearing for his forthcoming movie Mausam, in which he is playing an air force officer. And I didn't like Salman's Dabangg moustache at all.

Review : A TIDAL WAVE OF TABLETS HAS SWEPT ACROSS THE WORLD

The one-horse race of the iPad is finally at an end! Welcome to the next level



The one-horse race of the iPad is finally at an end! Welcome to the next level 1:15 am, New Delhi International Airport, Croma Store: person in line has just bought a Motorola Xoom Tablet 2:45 am, Lufthansa Flight LH 761 to Frankfurt: a woman across the aisle in a sharp business suit fishes out an Asus Transformer Tablet 4:55 pm, Selfridges on Oxford Street: Bollywood actor from Dharmendra clan has spent 15 minutes quizzing me on all the Tablets available (nine of them) and finally decided on buying the Blackberry PlayBook 6:15pm, T-Mobile Store on Marble Arch: there's a line of three people; two of them have just bought the HTC Flyer Tablet. YES, IT's on. The one-horse race is finally a full fledged clash of thoroughbreds. While the iPad and the iPad 2 have created and captured the market, the monopoly is over.
The floodgates have opened and a tidal wave of Tablets has swept across the world. Strangely enough, India is right there on the priority release list for each and every brand. If you're in the market for a Tablet, here are your contenders.
1 HTC FLYER Very small and portable, typical HTClevel, tank-like build quality and form factor. Looks very different from others, great screen, speedy processor, good battery life, good optics, has some special add-ons and touches like the magic pen and HTC Sense. Runs Android 2.3 and is priced at around R 38,000.
Reasons to buy: Super portable, stunning looks, great build quality and the magic pen works well.
Reasons to ponder: Unjustified high price, doesn't run Honeycomb, the latest version of Android for Tablets.
2 BLACKBERRY PLAYBOOK Seven inches of multimedia and multitasking heaven, bulletproof OS, smart gestures for extra functions, industrial design that is simple yet elegant and a rubberised back that doesn't slip.
Prices start from around R 26,000
Reasons to buy: Well-priced, QNX is great, best multi-tasking yet on a Tablet.
Reasons to ponder: Apps (the dearth of them). BlackBerry Bridge forces you to connect to a BlackBerry phone for email, contacts, notes and calendar, a blunder that RIM needs to correct NOW!
3 MOTOROLA XOOM The mothership, the showcase device for Android Tablets, the best reason to try Honeycomb. Beautiful screen, great build, has all the ports you want, super responsive, brilliant optics, lots of power, lots of RAM, nothing can slow down this beast. Prices start from around R 32,000 32GB (WiFi-only version).
Reasons to buy: Beats the pants off all others in hardware, huge screen, great resolution, feels very solid in the hand.
Reasons to ponder: Heavy, not all ports have been enabled, not too many native apps for Honeycomb yet.
4 SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB 7, 8.9 AND 10.1 The one company that seems to be taking the Tablet market very seriously. Has offerings across the board. The 8.9 and the 10.1 run Honeycomb and is what Samsung designers went back to the table and came up with after the iPad 2. The 10.1 is the big deal here. It's lighter than anything else in the market, has a screen to kill for and may well be Samsung's silver bullet fired straight into the heart of the Tablet war.
Reasons to buy: Samsung has promised aggressive pricing.
Now if only they can shave off 15 per cent off the iPad 2 prices!
Reasons to ponder: If they still play the `Samsung is a premium brand and thus will only sell at premium pricing', it is game over.
5 MSI WINDPAD ENJOY The Tablet for the rest of us. And that's a big market. Remember, if you don't have about R 30,000 to spend, you're pretty much out of the Tablet market as the lowest offerings start from there.
But not for the Enjoy. Very well priced at about R 14,000, this one still has a 10.1 inch screen, looks good and sports two cameras, two mini-USB ports and an HDMI-out. The screen isn't razor sharp and the hardware isn't stellar, but it's a great entry for what is predicted to be a huge market: the Economy Tablet! Reasons to buy: Price, price, price.
Reasons to ponder: Screen, build and innards are a little off. But only a little.
6 ACER ICONIA A500 The first Honeycomb Tablet to be launched in India, this one has it all: good hardware, a 10.1-inch screen, aluminium casing, dual-core Tegra 2 processor, HDMI-out, 5 and 2 MP back and front-facing cameras respectively and Dolby Mobile Audio It has a logical button layout and costs about R 27,000.
Reasons to buy: Fantastic hardware, good price, functional USB port and a microSD card slot.
Reasons to ponder: Slightly bulky, screen has a fine grid and there is no 3G version yet.

There are others. The OlivePad is now playing the price champion game (about 13K); HCL has the ME Tablets; Notion Ink is finally shipping; LG seems to be playing a bit of a waiting game (but from whatever has been announced, the LG Optimus Tablet looks promising); Asus has the notebook-killer Transformer coming up. The other biggie that may just be the giant killer is of course the HP TouchPad with webOS.

Stage two of the Tablet war is now officially underway. Three months from now, another three or four new Tablets will be out, current kinks will have been ironed out, prices will have dropped, iOS 5 on the iPad 2 will have been released and some real sales numbers will be available. Will it still be a one-horse race? I seriously doubt that. As Tesio said about horse racing: “A horse gallops with his lungs, perseveres with his heart and wins with his character.“ I have a feeling the Tablet war will be also be won by a device with the great lungs, a big heart and a strong character.

KAMLA COMES HOME

Kamla is any woman who would rather stay at home than go out to work ­ a noticeable trend among urban women. Whatever happened to the feminist dream of self-worth and financial independence?


NOT THAT long ago, in the Seventies, feminists urged women to go out of their homes and work. Domesticity limited their potential, women were told, they could do much more with their lives than remain restricted to their nurturing and homemaking roles. `What men can do, women can do too, and maybe better“ was their anthem.

Fast forward to thirty years later. Today, the idea of women going out to work is commonplace.
Economic independence has been the buzzword for women for years now.
But wait, something else is afoot here. A growing number of women today are actually choosing not to go out into the workplace. Maybe they've tried working and opted out because they couldn't manage home and office. Maybe they've stopped working to bring up their children. Maybe they still work out of the house, or do a bit of free lance work. Or maybe it's none of the above ­ maybe they want to stay at home. Whatever the reason, here's a question: what happened to the fierce desire to be someone other than stay-at-home-women? JUST A REBELLION?

Some men ­ at the risk of having women shout them down ­ still view the Seventies movement as a rebellion to be “different“ rather than as something that grew out of an intrinsic belief.
“That is what it was ­ a rebellion,“ says Chandra Bagheria, a Bangalore-based businessman. “It happened at a point when the idea of women working wasn't so prevalent. That's why the idea of women going out to work was `eulogized' and looked at as `the only' way for women's emancipation. Then times changed and so did the general psyche.
Going out to work was no longer taboo. Once the reason to rebel didn't exist, how could the rebellion itself continue?“ he asks.
Abhishek Kant, a marketing professional with an IT firm, agrees. “Unlike men, who grow up with the notion that they have to provide for the family, the idea of going out to work was not `intrinsic' to women in general. It was a certain section of feminists who propagated the idea and it became a movement. But women were never told that they needed to be the bread winners,“ he says. What does one do all day if one stays at home? AFTER A busy, fast-track life, isn't home and household work a little too mundane? No, say our SAHW (stay-at-home-women, silly). With more and more avenues for entertainment opening up and with so many things to do, life at home is definitely not limited to watching TV and waiting on/for husbands and kids. Whether it's going to the mall, partying with friends, travelling, joining pottery or salsa classes or participating in charities, life needn't be dull at all. Almost all women who have decided to stay at home assert that it is fairly `cool' to be home.

“Well, I may stay at home but I don't do the sweeping, cleaning and cooking. I read, go for jogs and to the gym, swim twice a week, go to a spa at least twice a month, watch films on DVDs, listen to music... basically do anything and everything that I want to without having to stress about meeting any deadlines,“ laughs Udita Gopal, a consultant. TV journalist Prerna Kapoor too falls in the same category. Tired of clocking in for TV bulletins and rushing about meeting deadlines, she quit her job just before she got married. “The initial plan was to move abroad, but that didn't happen. Having left work already, however, I decided to enjoy my marriage. Travel is what I intended to do and did do, lots of it. I travelled across the world and through India with my husband. While these were work trips for him, they were holidays for me,“ she says. Two years later, Kapoor is still in that blissful zone. Though she sometimes feels the urge to get back to work, she says it has to be around her routine.
Merchandising executive Anamika Khare who quit after her wedding is happy doing pottery.
“Once the course is over, I might start my own pottery classes or make pottery that I can sell.
It'll be work and it'll also be great fun. All in the comfort of my home,“ she says. TUHIN SINHA Here's a man unlike most men ­ he doesn't go out to work “My wife is at peace with me being a house husband“ I was given to understand some years ago that I belong to that category of men whom women ideally like to have as their boyfriends, not husbands ­ the creative sort who likes to live a life of nomadic fantasy, sans the stability that a woman looks for. To that extent, I think my wife is a really brave woman as she is at peace with me being a writer house-husband.
Not that I've never been in a job, but I think I realised way too early that I was too much my own man to be bound by other people's instructions. Leading the life that I do has given me the freedom to explore myself beyond my own imagination and I'm happy with the way I've grown professionally and personally in the last few years, which would not have been possible otherwise.

Yes, there are uncertain phases when the anxiety is bound to rub off on your spouse as well.

But I'm happy my wife has just shown a lot of confidence in me in those phases. Of course she realises the advantages of my flexi-working hours ­ like dropping her to her office, barely half a kilometre away from home.
Is it tougher for a man to live the life of a freelancer? I guess one is conditioned to believe that way. But the point is, should one stick to the belief at the cost of what one really wants to do in life? If you ask me, it's as much about a personal choice as your entire life is. I'd personally pursue what my heart tells me to, because there's no point leading a compromised life which I might regret later.

Does the uncertainty bore me now? Nope, I'd say. The key to not getting bored is doing as many different things as possible and/or doing them as differently as possible. That explains why each of my books belongs to a different genre and why I'm constantly juggling between books, scripts, newspaper columns and commissioned writing assignments.

Would I be fine if my wife chooses to quit her job too? Well, why not? Sometime ago, we'd worked together to set up my content management firm, Write Quotient. Unfortunately, we couldn't give the venture the attention it required. But in future when we decide to start a family, I'll be more than happy if she quits her job and instead takes care of this firm. I can't be not encouraging her from leading the life I have so stubbornly led.

What causes stress?

We all love stimulating environments, people, conversations and goals. When we get something which we find interesting, we love doing that work. But at the other end of the spectrum we have situations and jobs which make us anxious, tired, bored.
In between these two extremes is the fascinating and yet mysterious world of stress. There is good stress which stimulates our mind and emotions; and at the other end of the spectrum, we can even collapse with stress. There are two aspects we need to understand: the experience of stress and the personality type.
What happens when our experience changes from stimulation and cheer to anxiety, anger and stress?
People enjoy doing their tasks more when the end result matches or goes above their expectations We enjoy the task more when it is somehow linked to something we have an interest in We enjoy the task if it gets us appreciation or adulation Tasks which are done well within time, and yet at our personal pace give us the most satisfaction Tasks which have a high social value also give us joy We like tasks where we feel we are getting paid more than what we expect Tasks where we inch closer to our deep-seated ambition of wealth/ power/ recognition / comfort are more appealing What are the tasks/experiences we do not enjoy?
Surprises which are unpleasant, where the task is not in line with our list of appealing experiences Deadlines set by others Orders and instructions given without our buy in Task disconnected with our onnected with our set of interests and abilities Getting too many tasks, which we don't know how to do Environments that are noisy, hot, and very uncomfortable Maladjustment with people in the team who are involved in the task Feelings of injustice A work pace not aligned to the task deadline Not asking for help /delegation The bottomline is that stress = personality type (response ) + environmental situation. Some basic examples: A person who enjoys research and investigation is put into sales and marketing A person who enjoys solitude is put in social networking and communication A person who hopes for a little appreciation is neglected and taken for granted What are the solutions? We shall explore that in the next column.

Are you addicted to shopping?

Are you addicted to shopping?
If so, find out why and what you can do to get rid of this expensive, destructive habit by Kavita Devgan LIKE OTHER ADDICTIONS, THIS ONE TOO STEMS FROM EMPTINESS
T'S A standard staple of chicklit literature ­ the main character who finds it hard to resist the temptations of shopping. But for Chennaibased computer professional Neeta ISenGupta (name changed), this is not a fictional situation. Every month, as her credit card bills arrive in the mail, SenGupta and her husband face off over their amounts. “I know very well that the fights that we have over the figures in these bills is eating into our otherwise rock-solid relationship,“ admits SenGupta, adding, “But still I feel powerless to fight the shopping impulse when it hits me. After each splurge, I start dreading the next fight I'll have with my husband, and to tide over the stress, I go shopping again. I really want to break this dreadful cycle, but don't know how to.“ According to the experts, a shopping addiction is not as uncommon as it seems. “What Neeta is calling a habit is actually an addiction,“ explains Dr Ashima Puri, consultant psychologist at Aashlok Hospital, Delhi. “Shopping is fun for most of us. But when this seemingly of us. But when this seemingly innocent pastime spirals out of control, it gets classified as an addiction.“ She adds, “There is a clear-cut distinction between shopping for a need and shopping to fill a need. And therein lies the divider that differentiates a shopper from an obsessive shopper.“
Mamta Singla, consultant clinical psychologist at Artemis Health Institute, Gurgaon, agrees with Dr Puri. She says, “Actually, addiction is defined as having a compulsion to commit a behaviour, being unable to stop a behaviour, and continuing the behaviour despite harmful consequences. Research now shows that addictive behaviour often provides a momentary lift in one's mood. A flood of `good feeling' producing adrenaline hormones rewards a shopaholic.“ Singla ARE YOU A SHOPAHOLIC? Do you go on buying binges when you feel lonely, anxious, disappointed, depressed or angry?
Do you feel a `high' when you go on a buying binge?
Do you feel on edge, agitated or irritable when you haven't been able to buy something?
Do you spend a lot of time watching the shopping channel on TV or surfing shopping websites?
Do you buy something and then feel guilty about it?
Do you often run your credit cards up to the limit?
Do you try to stay within budget, but always fall short of your goal?
Expert: Shailaja Pokhriyal, consultant clinical psychologist, Dr B L Kapur Memorial Hospital, Delhi adds, “Unfortunately the lift is not permanent, and the shopaholic must go out and shop more in order to find the next boost in hormones.“
“It is estimated that one in 20 men and women fall into the category of a compulsive shopper,“ reveals Shailaja Pokhriyal, consultant clinical psychologist, Dr BL Kapur Memorial Hospital, Delhi. “So there are a lot of people out there who tend to hear `Buy, Buy, Buy...' when they go out to shop.“ WHAT LEADS TO IT?
Like other addictions, a shopping addiction too stems from a lack of self-esteem, loneliness and emptiness. “This disorder has been linked to emotional deprivations in childhood, an inability to tolerate negative feelings, the need to fill an internal void, excitement-seeking, excessive dependency, approval-seeking, general impulsiveness and compulsiveness, and the need to gain control,“ lists Singla. Often the root cause lies way back in childhood. “About a year ago, a man brought his 30-yearold wife to me with a complaint of excessive shopping. After many sessions with her, it turned out that her behaviour stemmed from her childhood conditioning,“ shares Dr Himanshu Saxena, senior consultant psychiatrist, Jaipur Golden Hospital, Delhi. He adds, “As a child, whenever she would buy something, her parents used to praise her for her independent behaviour. She grew up enjoying the feeling of being different from others, and felt superior to her friends and cousins. Gradually she got addicted to shopping.“
According to Dr Puri, sometimes a loss can also trigger a shopping addiction. He says, “I remember a mother-daughter duo from Gurgaon whose shopping habits spiralled out of control when their teenage son/brother committed suicide. Sadness leads to low self-worth and people when emotionally weak begin to look for a magical solution to help fill the void. Often shopping gives them that fix.“

A DANGEROUS HIGH Shopping can send many people into debt, place a strain on their marriages and basically ruin their lives, say the experts. Dr Puri shares the story of a 28-year-old woman who opted to break off her one-year-old marriage when her husband refused to let her buy a Versace bag worth one lakh. “Obviously there must be other issues too in their relationship, but different shopping sensibilities was the one they just couldn't resolve,“ says Dr Puri, adding, “Then there was a 29-yearold mother of two children whose guilt brought her to me when she realised that because of her incessant shopping jaunts she was totally neglecting her children and husband.“ According to the experts, it is important to understand that shopping and spending money will not assure more love, or bolster self-esteem, or heal hurts and regrets. Nor will it ease stress. “Relationships also get affected as often a compulsive shopper cuts family (and friends) time and misses social engagements because of this addiction. I once handled a man who would lie to his parents all the time and hide his shopping,“ recalls Pokhriyal.
“Actually shopaholics tend to emotionally distance themselves from friends and family in an attempt to hide their excesses and keep trying to cover their debts with deception,“ points out Dr Puri. “There are other practical repercussions too.
Shopaholics are always short of money and keep borrowing.
Soon people start avoiding them and they are left friendless, which only compounds the problem,“ shares Dr Saxena.
Sometimes, a shopping addiction can occur with a cluster of other addictions ­ such as gambling, drinking, drugs, eating disorders etc.
Pokhriyal remembers a 26year-old boy who came to her with a shopping addiction and alcohol abuse problem. “He would shop for clothes all the time and when he was short of money, walk long distances and skip meals to save money for shopping. Missing office hours to go for shopping was regular too and his alcohol addiction made the situation worse,“ she explains.
HELP FOR THE PROBLEM Doctors say that a shopping addiction can be controlled by undergoing counselling with a clinical psychologist. It usually requires a multifaceted approach; and there are no standard treatments. “Although some medications show promise, especially for people who have an underlying case of depression, results are mixed, so they should not be considered a sole or reliable treatment,“ says Pokhriyal. “Going to the root cause is essential,“ says Dr Saxena. For example, for some patients, cognitive behaviour therapy and hypnosis will work. But there are a lot of self checks too (see box).

Google's brand new social network, Google+!

There's one more reason to waste time on the Internet: Google's brand new social network, Google+! We got so excited that we didn't care that Google says it's still in a testing phase ­ we stacked it up against Facebook and Twitter anyway. Does it pack enough punch to blow them away?
by Pranav Dixit
THE STORY SO FAR Google's latest salvo at arch nemesis Facebook in the social networking space is kicking up a storm in the tech world.
Currently in a limited, invitation-only `field test' which means that everyone and their brother is dying for an invite. KILLER FEATURES Looks deceptively like Facebook at first glance. Digging deeper reveals features like Circles (to sort contacts into friends, 3 am buddies, losers and so on), Hangout (multi-user webcam chat) and Sparks (to quickly find stuff you care about). EASE OF USE Facebook fanatics should feel right at home. Posting, uploading pictures and sorting people into Circles is a snap.
Google isn't particularly known for gorgeous user-interfaces but Google+ looks clean and classy. PRIVACY This is Google we're talking about. Once you sign up, you sign your life away. ON THE GO: APPS Has a great app for Android phones (iOS version coming soon, worry not). Everything possible on the site is possible on your phone. Bonus: mobile users also get an exclusive `Huddle' feature for quick group chats. CREEPINESS QUOTIENT High. Not only will your Google+ notifications show up at the top of every Google service you use (including Gmail), it will automatically grab every picture you click from your phone and put it up in a special folder. 750 million users ­ that's 10 per cent of the world's population ­ and counting! The world's biggest social network shows no signs of slowing down. You're hooked. So is your boss, your mom, your 93-yearold grandpa ­ and your dog.
Farmville. No, we're kidding. This is the best social network for sharing pictures, photos, videos, links... anything you want.
Has a Circles-like `Lists' feature buried deep within the clunky, interface (along with the rest of the privacy settings).
Much like Microsoft Windows, Facebook isn't really the easiest thing in the world to use ­ we are just used to it. We find that the general interface could do with some de-cluttering and simplification. Also, that hideous photo-viewer needs to go: now! I beg your pardon?
We are rather fond of the Facebook mobile app. It does a good job at squeezing the full-blown site down to a tiny screen. It does have a few rough edges though and we think it could use a little spit and polish.
High. Facebook doesn't exactly make it easy for you to delete your account if you ever decide you've had it with Mark and his cronies. Sure, you can deactivate it, but Facebook still stores all your pictures, posts and profile information... in a safe place. Twitter came as a pithy, no-frills, alternative to Facebook and was a runaway hit.
Particularly useful for spreading the word, chatting up your favourite celebs (or trolling them), blowing your own trumpet or simply engaging in pointless babble.
No clutter, no rambling. Bang out your post in 140-characters or less and get done with it. View photos and videos right in your stream. Have long links that you post shortened right then and there. Tweet from anywhere: you PC or on the go.
Twitter is so minimalist that it couldn't get any simpler. Type your tweet in the big box at the top, hit `Tweet'... and that's it.
Replying to @Mentions, retweeting and searching is a breeze and the interface is snappy and responsive.
Twitter does collect your personal information to sell it to advertisers, but unlike Google, it doesn't really have all your private mail, pictures from that party where you got sloshed, your phone number and your credit card numbers.
No matter whether you use an iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone, or even a plain old Nokia, chances are, you'll find a Twitter app you like. Our favourite? Tweetdeck! Moderate. You don't really have to `connect' with someone or accept a `friend request' to be stalked/abused. All those creeps on the internet out there?
All they have to do is type your name to spam you till you scream. ROUND 'EM UP! Your favourite celebs sorted into the Google+ Circles we think they deserve to be in DID NOT NEED PLASTIC SURGERY (REALLY!) NEED A STYLIST (PRONTO!) NEED A HIT (AND FAST!)

Check out our trend report for the funkiest jewellry

Done with carrying the zoo around your neck? Check out our trend report for the funkiest jewellery for the coming season by Yashica Dutt
OWLS, SWALLOWS, reptiles, fish, zebras, dinosaurs, elephants and flowers. Last season a veritable forest was more than willing to hang from women's necks, ear lobes, wrists and hair. If you too regularly ignore your mum's well-meaning advice to invest in gold and blow a chunk of your cheque on statement jewellery instead, then at least one of these creatures will find a home in your ornament box.
A huge trend last year, animal jewellry found takers among the regular and even recognisable fashionistas like Sonam Kapoor and Shruti Hassan. But it's time most of these animals return to the zoo as the next season paints a whole new picture in terms of jewellery trends. We spoke to the leading accessory and designers to find out more. GEOMETRIC/GRAPHIC After swimming in a pool of random, abstract, floral, ultra-girly jewellery last season, straight lines make a big comeback. Women, be prepared to become familiar with geometry all over again, though this encounter will be more pleasant than your mathematics class. Hexagonal cuffs, triangular ear-rings, latticeshaped rings and three-dimensional cuboid necklaces are what you could be wearing soon. Narresh Kukreja of the designer duo Shivan & Narresh tells u that with alternate materials like wood and acrylic, geometric jewellry is here to stay.
“Though the base could still be abstract, it will certainly be seen in a geometric frame this season.“ And if you still love the chunky, layered neck piece look, then it's time to clean up your act and jewellery box. “Lines will become cleaner and less layered and the numerous crystal chains and beads will be replaced by graphic motifs,“ says designer Shilpa Chavan. But layers aren't set to disappear completely. Designer Suhani Pittie confirms that it will be the effect and not the number of pieces that will matter as she talks about the exit of the art nouveau trend. “It will be one single piece that cascades into many layers and not ten pieces that will be in vogue.“ ESSENTIAL MINIMALISM/CONCEPT JEWELLERY Still looking for what Aishwarya Bachchan wore to the Cannes film festival? Stop looking! The age of randomly wearing what everyone else does is over and it's time to wear jewellery that is more than a conversation piece. “Accessories that have a story attached to them or bear a native influence, whether it's language, tribe or period, are trending right now. Pieces that draw you in and have a cultural conversation by the way of their stone, cut, texture or quality of workmanship and represent one's individuality are hugely popular these days,“ says Suhani Pittie. And if you wished to live in a world that was run by ideas, then it's here. Jewellery is standing in the front row after being developed into concept art. Designer Eina Ahluwalia, who creates concept jewellery, says that an idea is its strongest component and the material and method serve the concept itself. “Such jewellery is evaluated, like fine art, for its ideas, inventions, intuitions and content rather than for its precious materials or conformity to tradition.
And there are many takers for this sort of minimalism. People want less but better, real as opposed to faux, handcrafted as opposed to machinemade and artist-made instead of mass-produced.“ LESS BUT MORE Individual, artist-made pieces are more popular than mass-produced trinket.

THE AGE OF RANDOMLY WEARING WHAT EVERYONE ELSE IS WEARING IS OVER
Must-haves for your jewellery box COCKTAIL RINGS Walk into a hi-street store, roadside stall or a luxury boutique, you will find them every where. And the bigger the cocktail ring the better. Choose alternate materials -stone, metal or wood ­ as they are bound to draw attention to your shapely fingers. But don't skip the manicure with this one! ECO-FRIENDLY EARRINGS It's easier than you think to bring out the green fashionista in you. Opt for jewellery in natural materials like organic cotton, hemp, jute and bamboo, easily found in most indie/kitschy stores around the city. And you will earn yourself a sensitive yet rebellious image in no time! MULTIMEDIA NECKPIECES If we haven't already established that you don't need deep pockets to be trendy, then here is more proof. Inexpensive materials like plastic of various kinds, recycled glass, feathers, leather and faux stones in bold tones are being assembled to create eye catching statement pieces. Complementing one with your outfit will not only let you own the room but will prevent you from bursting the piggy bank too.
BROOCHES The older the better. Go raid your grandma's closet and you will find at least one elegant, old-world piece with which she used to pin her saris. Use it on your jacket lapels, shirt collars, shoe flaps, as a hair accessory or a pin to hold your scarf. There is no way you could go unnoticed and yes, God is in the details. MILITARY-GOTH The colour blocking trend has driven the entire fashion industry into dreams of psychedelic technicolour and they can't stop talking about it. (Guilty as charged!) But not everyone is as crazy about it. To counter balance the burst of colour on clothes, jewellery will have to go goth. “With such bright colours around, jewellery will be using trends like military bottle green and the dark goth tones of black, brown, beige and related hues. Black especially will return as a strong trend mixed with intense military shades this coming fall,“ says Shilpa Chavan. RIOT AGAINST COLOURS Goth is likely to come back next season; take a cue from this piece by Shilpa Chavan Goodbye animals, hello animation! Lady Gaga is a patron and Hello Kitty jewellery is already a massive trend globally. But Japanese animation characters are set to invade more than your TV screens for Autumn/Winter 2011. “I have created a lot of anime pieces like television cartoon characters turned into neckpieces and ear studs for the coming season,“ says designer Felix Bendish. Even though direct animal motifs might be so last season, their remnants make stylish statements this coming winter. Like the fur neckpieces we spotted in James Ferreira's collection for Autumn/Winter. “Horns, nails, bones will continue to be big. And you might also see influences from DC Comics and its characters,“ says designer Shilpa Chavan who retails under the brand Little Shilpa. Well, we can't wait to get our hands on that Wonder Woman pendant! LACE/VINTAGE The Mad Men hangover is showing no signs of fading anytime soon and it's not only the Fifties but even the Victorian epoch that is influencing jewellery this season.
Vintage is a huge trend and it's time to skirt the extremes, according to Suhani Pittie. “You need to go diametrically opposite in your jewellery choice. Either wear something Edwardian or something radically uber cool. A mix of both works really well too. One of my headbands pairs beautiful delicate rhinestones with funky three-dimensional bakelite and it is a brilliant, quirky mix,“ she says. And when going the vintage way, lace can't be ignored. Lace is a big trend in jewellery right now. “Metal replicating the fineness of lace with patterns delicately cut into it, is very trendy,“ says Eina Ahluwalia.