Popular Beach Shacks in Goa for Parties During New Year

Goa is the most preferred destination by Indians and foreign tourists alike when it comes to ringing in the New Year. But things will be a little quiet in this beach destination with the Government banning beach parties during the holiday season.

Anyways, if you were looking for some of the popular beach shacks for a visit later on, here are some sites that provide a good listing.

1. Cidade De Goa is a good place to consider in North Goa. It is closer to the Dona Paula beach and has a few good beach shacks in the neighborhood. The place is also close to Panaji downtown.

2. South Goa Beach Shacks The coastline is long and natural and attracts older tourists unlike the hip Northern part. South Goa has a good lineup of star hotels such as the The Leela, Marriott and Taj (Exotica, Holiday Village, and Fort Aguada in North).

3. Bars and Pubs all over Goa

Are you for Pre-marital HIV Testing?

TOI reports on the Himachal Pradesh Government mulling over pre-marital HIV Test:

f parents can ask a pandit to match horoscopes of
a couple-to be, then why can't they ask for HIV/AIDS testing to secure the future of their children. In fact, I advocated these tests before marriage even during my budget speech

I think it's a valid point raised for arranged marriages where both sides are in the dark. And then it's too late and more often a child is involved. Consider these statistics..it just gets worse in some states.

The state has registered around 500 full-blown cases, with some 2,511 suspected ones. ..."But before implementing it in the state, public opinion will be taken,"

In the same breath, they have plans for killing the proposal by asking for a public opinion. What are the chances of male-dominated society accepting it? Let's not get started on the feminist talk yet..

A while back Sunayana had shared her experiences. Interesting flow of comments on the post. Also read Sakshi Juneja's views on the topic.

Want to Know Ghajini's Climax?

Before Ghajini's release on December 25th, the much awaited move before a dismal 2008 draws to a close, some spoilsports have revealed the film's climax, reports DNA. The thriller, a remake of the Tamil movie with the same name, is said to have a different climax than the regional movie's version.

As part of the movie's publicity, a lot of news has been hogging the media from Aamir taking a dig at SRK to holding his breath for a sculpture.

Highest Grossing Bollywood Films of 2008

Year 2008 took off to a dismal start for Bollywood with few releases and fewer hits. But the year might just end on a positive note with Aamir's Khan's Ghajini yet to release. Six films released this year made it to the all time highest revenue earners of all times with producers laughing all the way to the bank.

Anees Bazmee's Singh is Kinng
Burmawalla's Race
Ashutosh Gowariker's Jodhaa Akbar
Abbas Tyrewala's Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na
Golmaal Returns
Tarun Mansukhani'sDostana

Source : Wikipedia

On an unrelated note, here is an early prediction on 2009's Filmfare Awards

Seven Favorite Blogs on Indian Cooking

It's easier to have a varied spread of dishes on the dining table now than ever before. If you are in the mood to make Dhokla for a quick snack in the evening or pav-bhaji for dinner or rava onion for breakfast, it's just a click away. Thank to numerous wonderful blogs on Indian cooking, getting recipes is a lot easy now. With most authors displaying colorful images of the cooked dishes, one doesn't have to yearn for a Sanjeev Kapoor or Tarla Dalal book anymore. Those books still remain my point of references for exquisite dishes such as the Biryani, for everything else it is blogs. Here I list seven of my favorite blogs. It's a mix of South Indian and North Indian cuisine in almost all of them - none caters entirely to a specific type of food.

1. Nupur's One Hot Stove : Great recipe for street-style Pav Bhaji



2. Indira's Mahanadi - recipes listed by ingredients. So if you are stuck with a seasonal vegetable that doesn't otherwise great taste and wondering what to make of it, hop on to this blog. For all you know, there might be some great ideas.



3. Aayi's Recipes - regularly updated and a great place to look for Maharashtrian recipes.



4. Saffron Trail - Recipes from South India by Nandita



5. Timepass' Simple Indian Food with an emphasis. "Cooking made simple" is her mantra.



6. The Yum Blog - yet another on South Indian cooking



7. Menu Today - Stop by to get recipes for podis. Not frequently updated but has a good collection of recipes.

Finally, an exhaustive list of Indian food blogs at Mahanadi. Try these recipe and savor your taste buds.

US Women Prefer Internet Over Sex?

As Penelope Trunk says, we love to have our research packaged and presented in candy-sized bites. According to a survey by Harris Interactive, women in Us would rather surf than have sex, reports Times of India.

Nearly half of women (46 per cent) and 30 per cent of men would rather surf the net than have sex, reports the Independent. For women aged 18-34 it was 49 per cent and for women aged 35-44 it was 52 per cent.

Only 39 per cent of men aged 18-34 would swap the bedroom for the broadband. In the survey, television also copped a beating with over half the respondents preferring to give up two weeks of telly than a single week of web access.

Internet availability of many movies and TV shows likely skewed the result, which showed 61 per cent of adult women would happily switch off the box.

In another research unsurprisingly sex makes man happiest.

Save Money by Cleaning Your Plate

That seems to be the mantra of a US restaurant that charges its customers 3% surcharge for wasted food, according to DNA.

At Hayashi Ya Japanese restaurant on New York’s posh Upper West Side it is all you can eat for $26.95, unless your eyes are bigger than your stomach and then like the sign says it will cost you extra.

This is the interesting bit --

“Americans would be shocked to know how much food is wasted,” Berg said. It is estimated 27 per cent of all food is thrown out, which works out to a pound of food every day for every American. “Most of the food that is wasted ends up in landfills,” Berg said. “That is not only bad for the environment; some of it could have gone to feed hungry people.” With food prices at their highest in 17 years, Berg said it's time for Americans to rethink the way they eat.

It would have helped Bush to consult his advisors for statistics before blaming India and China of consuming more food resulting in shortage the world over.

Why Divorce is on the Rise in India?

In recent years, anything that goes wrong in Bangalore is often blamed on the IT industry. Be it a traffic jam, crowded streets, increasing rent or pollution, the techie population bears the brunt. The latest in the series is failure of marriages leading to divorces which have grown by a staggering 30% in the last year, reports Times of India.

The divorce rate in Bangalore has risen by an astonishing 30% in a short, three-year span. From 2,493 in 2005 to 3,243 this year, divorce filings before the family court are registering growth rates that would be the envy of any IT/BPO company. Incidentally, most of the cases do pertain to couples employed in Bangalore’s tech industry.

Interestingly, most of these couples are in their 20s who have been married for a year or two and financial independence encourages wife to agree by mutual consent. Long hours at work is cited as another common reason. Pune, another booming IT city, is not far behind when it comes to divorces. But the winner in this round is Delhi as it beats hands down all other cities with an average of 9000 cases of separation filed every year.

Accepts marriage counsellor Chandan Gupta, “Marriages are breaking up today because couples can’t see each other’s viewpoint. Couples in their mid-20s and early-30s bring a fixed mindset to marriage and refuse to change it. They feel that marriage is like a jigsaw puzzle where all the pieces will just fit in but this obviously does not happen.” He goes on to say that as both partners are working these days, they are left with no time and energy to work on the relationship. “The hectic and demanding schedule of a normal working day leaves couples with no time to understand each other,” he adds.

Looking for an Indian Bride or Groom?

Foreigners are increasingly finding their life partners in Indians, reports Bangalore Times:

Among the places where match-making of this kind often takes place are the various outsourcing organisations. BPOs offer ample opportunities for their employees to interact with clients from abroad. Pretty and vivacious girls, dashing and well-groomed boys handle process-training, voice and accent training for the new recruits in the industry. They are, in turn, trained from the client’s end.

Is this a trend only in the BPO industry? The IT and media industry lead to an increase in inter-state marriages, and now this.

Best Reviews of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

SRK starrer Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi - one of the most awaited movies post-Diwali released yesterday. I haven't seen it yet but have been waiting eagerly for the reviews to come out. Some are encouraging and talk about the magic of DDLJ being recreated by Adi-SRK duo, while others have elicited a lukewarm response. Honestly, the song Dance pe chance is infectious.

Dozens of reviews on the movie here from viewers who managed to catch the flick on the first day.

Some of the best reviews:

A love less ordinary by Bharadwaj Rangan : Can the man not write good about any movie? Wonder why he is so cyncial.

Go Watch RNBDJ by Rediff

Economic Times gives a 2.5 rating. Guys, you are not rating the economy!

Top Five Best Sellers : What is India Reading?

Among the many hawkers that line the crowded avenues of India's metros selling everything from t-shirts to plastic containers, are those displaying the juts-released books for a bargain. At 50% the listed price, books such as Arvind Adiga's The White Tiger or Rhonda Byrne's The Secret are hard to pass. One gets a glimpse of what's hot by looking at the neatly displayed few rows of books on the roadside. Very often, a hawker who can barely read English will recommend you what's selling like hotcakes and it's little wonder that these will match with the top five books at the large retail stores as well.

The current favorites in Mumbai according to Mumbai Mirror are:

1. WHITE TIGER / ARAVIND ADIGA
IMAGINING INDIA / NANDAN NILEKANI

2. SEA OF POPPIES / AMITAV GHOSH
THE SECRET / RHONDA BYRNE

3. ROBERT LUDLUM'S THE BOURNE SANCTION / ERIC
VAN LUSTBADER
THE SNOWBALL / ALICE SCHROEDER

4. THE FINAL RECKONING / SAM BOURNE
CORPORATE DISCLOSURES / SHANKAR JAGANATHAN


5. THE 3 MISTAKES OF MY LIFE / CHETAN BHAGAT
THE PRICE OF EVERYTHING/ RUSSELL ROBERTS
(Courtesy Bookzone)

It's a shame that Crossword doesn't update its best-seller lists frequently. The site still lists Brida by Paulo Coelho at the top.

Top 5 Italian Restaurants in Bangalore

Tired of eating non-authentic Italian food at an exorbitant price passed off as being made by chefs flown in from Italy? Some places, such as the Ristorante Italia are over-priced - more for the ambience and less for the food they serve.

Here's a listing of some of Bangalore' famous Italian Restaurants. AskLaila has some good reviews on some of the places. My personal favorites are:

1. Casa Piccola
2. Little Italy
3. 100 Feet Boutique Restaurant
4. Ristorante Italia

Three Famous Used Book Stores in Bangalore

Who wouldn't want the latest best-seller at half the original price? If it's in great condition, still better. The icing on the cake is if you can sell it back at where you bought it from at a reasonable price. Let's admit it : most books that make it to the best-seller list don't really deserve a place on our book shelves.

The Times of India, Bangalore edition in its series of covering home-grown retailers recently ran a piece on the city's most famous second-hand book shops on MG Road - Select, Blossom, and Book Worm; these shops boast to have many otherwise hard-to-fine books.

So, what drove these young entrepreneurs to think of starting seconds book stores?
“I’ve been a book worm and reading has been a passion all along,” Krishna says. While he was doing his graduation at an evening college, he set shop on the pavement on M G Road. His investment then was Rs 4,000 and the net profit about Rs 250 a day. This was between the years 2000 and 2002.
After his graduation, he had plans of opening a shop in Koramangala. “I was looking for a roughly 300 sq ft store, but didn’t find space. Eventually, Ifound a place at Shrungar Shopping Complex in 2003 that fitted my budget. Recently I opened another branch on Brigade Road Cross. In both shops put together, we have about 50,000 books and the total investment is about Rs 35 lakh,” says Krishna. Mayi too dreamt up the idea while he was still a student. “I’m an avid reader and noticed that Bangalore had only one seconds book store — Select. Soon after I completed my engineering, I set up a store
in 2001 which has now grown into this three storied building that houses about 5 lakh books,” he says. Select is one of the earliest seconds stores in Bangalore and its USP is its very rare collection of books. It was founded 65 years ago by K B K Rao and is now run by his son K K S Murthy and grandson K Sanjay. “People call to say they have rare copies of books, which we sift through and take. We also source books from Mumbai,” says Sanjay. Select also keeps a few new editions like Vikram Sampath’s book on the Mysore Wodeyars, the History of Vijayanagar and the History of Coorg. “There’s not much point in keeping easily available books like White Tiger,” he says.
But for the past six years, it hasn’t been easy finding rare books. Sanjay thinks people now probably see greater value in them and don’t want to part with them quickly.
Krishna and Mayi have sourcing agents across cities. “I have sourcing agents in Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi. Most of our rare books are from paper stores,” says Mayi.

If you know of any other famous used-book stores, leave a comment.

How Many Indians Find Their Life Partners Online?

Did you find your spouse online on one of those matrimony sites? Even if it turned out to be a traditional arranged marriage, did you ever create a profile on one during the search-my-partner process?

An interesting research by EmPower Research LLC estimates $63 million users (including people like you and me) will register by 2010 - 2011 on the Indian Matrimonial sites. The report is titled “A Web Partner for Life: Indian Matrimony Web Sites are Modernizing Matchmaking for the Offline World and Positioning to be Lifelong Portals for the Online One.”

Kyung Han, Managing Partner in charge of the research, remarks, “We see e-Matrimony sites having an advantaged and much stronger position in India’s e-Commerce environment. If e-marital sites can extend the trust gained by identifying a spouse/partner for a subscriber to many other, lifelong services, the e-Matrimony industry may attain very strong, Web loyalty among the Indian population. This is significant given the future potential of this market.”