Amazing Hobby Ideas

I've been fond of all forms of painting and glass painting, in particular. I've done a few Tanjore paintings before and tried my hand on glass painting as well. Never got the opportunity to enhance my skills through practice. A few days ago, as a matter of coincidence, I met a lady here who is quite talented; she has produced beautiful pieces of glass art, sketches, and tailors dresses beautifully. What appealed me the most was she isn't trained formally and learned it the DIY way with he help of books and Internet. That gave me the confidence to try again. Fevircyl Hobby Ideas was one series of books she mentioned time and again. I believe they have outlets in every city. So if you have a craving to try something, here's the opportunity to get started. Maybe paint your wooden coasters or that earthen pot with graphic designs?

On a closing note, hop over to Aarohi Singh's blog for inspiration. Here's an image of her work.



Image Courtesy : Aarohi Singh

A Blog on Book Shelves

Can you believe there's a blog dedicated entirely to book shelves? I was dumbstruck on seeing the mind-blowing designs for organizing books. I feel like an idiot now for spending two weeks on uninspiring sites and finally deciding on a run-of-the-mill shoebox design. Worth every second spent on this site.

What's Hot in Casual Wear for Women in India : Trends of Spring/Summer 2009

It's been an interesting week of real and window shopping that gave one a good insight into what's hot this season in women's casual wear. I present some of my favorites:



(This black and white printed dress teamed with jeans looks cool, with stores splashing variations in subdued colors. Flashy colors, bold designs, and floral prints are missing, except variations in red.)




Image courtesy : Pantaloons India



Image courtesy : Marks and Spencer, UAE



The striped blouse comes in variations in various colors and as a buttoned up skirt.

Are shirt dresses out this year?

Restaurants Serving Mediterranean Food in Bangalore

I love gorging on Hummus, Falafel, and Pita bread. I was first introduced to this cuisine at Reza's in Chicago. In an attempt to find some good restaurants that serve the finest Mediterranean food, this is what I found:

1. The Citrus at The Leela Palace

2. The Olive Beach

3. Ithaca at The Chancery Pavilion

4. Kebab Magic

5. Mediterranean Mezze

Other restaurants such as 100 ft Boutique, Sunny's, and Bangalore Bistro do not serve exclusive Mediterranean food.

Image Courtesy : Boston Globe

Book & Film Piracy a Thriving Business in India

Picture this. Ghajini released on Thursday, the 25th of December, 2008. On 27th December, Saturday morning, the DVD hawker outside my apartment was selling copies of Ghajini along with Rab Ne Bana De Jodi that had released a fortnight ago for 50 bucks. For a family to see the latest blockbuster in a multiplex in a city like Bangalore would cost no less than Rs. 1,000. Lack of affordable entertainment to the middle-class and proper infrastructure in tier-II cities is one of the main reasons for piracy being a booming business in India.

Business Standard reports:

Like many Indians, author and socialite Shobhaa De confesses she has watched Slumdog Millionaire on a pirated CD, much before its release in India.

The pirated copy of the movie is available for free on a number of peer-to-peer websites. Some of the accessed sites for downloading the movie are desibbrg.com, rapidshare.com, bhejafry.net and isohunt.com among others.

However, this is not restricted to Slumdog Millionaire (Slumdog Crorepati in Hindi) alone, as pirated versions of most of the recent big-budget movies are available for free downloading on the web. The copies of the recent big-budget movies such as Ghajini, Chandni Chowk to China and Rab Ne Bane Di Jodi were also available much before their release.

Piracy had cost Indian film and entertainment business a whopping $4 billion last year, with the film industry alone taking a hit of over $1 billion, according to an Ernst & Young and US-India Business Council study. Another independent study, puts the global entertainment industry losses over $18.2 billion as of 2008.

Yes, that's a staggering loss of over $18.2 billion in a year. In tier-II cities such as Trichy in Tamil Nadu, the same set of three latest movies in a DVD is available at one-third of the cost for Rs. 20. If one buys in a bulk, then it still lesser as compared to the standard Rs.50 in Bangalore. A few years ago, the piracy racket was busted and it was hard to get a DVD for atleast three weeks after the movie's release. That's now history. What intrigues me is the openness of the trade in metros. It's a common sight to see traffic police pick up these DVDs from the road-side vendors who are by the dozen at every major avenue/traffic intersection, doing brisk business. The only cost they incur is the cost of DVD which more often than not is reused.

The latest story doing the rounds is how Slumdog Millionaire tanked at the Indian box-office because of piracy.

The story is the same with paperback books sold on footpaths.

Seven Best Places in The World to Wine and Dine

The Hindu Magazine lists seven gastronomic wonders to wine and dine in :

The Still, The Dylan, Dublin

Avant-garde, retro-esque. The Dylan, Dublin’s hottest five-star hotspot in Ireland is home to “The Still”, their stylish fine dining pad. Lemon green and rosemary pink velvet couches sashay with charcoal grey sofas and pearl white art-deco chairs, as excellent Butterhead lettuce and Salmon Salad commence your sojourn, a 2006 Mantone Creek Sauvignon Blanc singing along.

Cinnamon Club, London

Pedro Larumbe, Madrid

The Spire, Queenstown

Grossi Florentino, Melbourne

Pure, The Taj, Mumbai

Ristorante Badessa, Turin

What are your favorite eat-outs from around the world?

Which is better - Q&A, the book or Slumdog Millionaire, the movie?

Ever since Slumdog Millionaire, the film adaptation of the book Q&A by Vikas Swarup, won four Gloden Globes, I've been itching to read the book and see the movie. Haven't been able to do either. Atleast not yet. Movie adaptations are generally far less exciting than the book, unless it is from an exceptional director.

Vikas Swarup had in an earlier interview said that only the soul of his work was retained and that he had expected the body to be mangled beyond recognition. So I set out to find what people thought: if the movie was better than the book or the other way around. Some opinions that impressed me:

Game of Life: Slumdog Millionaire

New York Times Movie Review of Slumdog Millionaire

Q&A by Vikas Swarup and Slumdog Millionaire

Dog in a Manger?


Edited to add:
I just read this interview by the movie's director Danny Boyle. A great insight into the director's experiences and his outlook on Mumbai and filming the movie.