It&rsquo;s a beautiful, sunny afternoon when we reach Rangoli, the very simple yet absolutely stunning farmhouse owned by Namita and Rahul Gautam. The Gautams are in the business of providing comfortable sleep to people all over the world, thanks to their company Sheela Foam (named after Rahul&rsquo;s mother Sheela Gautam who has been a seasoned politician herself), which brings out, besides other products, ergonomically designed foam mattresses under the brand name Sleepwell. The company has posted a turnover of Rs 850 crore and continues to, under different labels of its parent company, supply foam to different brands all over the country.

Back to the green shell

Business Standard

N iladri Mukherjee, CEO of Glue, a 360&deg; design solution company, shares with us his one valuable mantra: &ldquo;I like keeping my mouth shut and let my work do all the talking.&rdquo; Quietly, but surely, Glue has been growing steadily in design circles. From designing retail spaces to creating exhibition venues to creating furniture and product design, Glue is fast emerging as one of the leaders in design. &ldquo;I think what has kept us in good stead is the fact that we didn&rsquo;t say no to anything and took up challenges,&rdquo; says Mukherjee.

Glue designs to stick

Celebrity waiters, sky high prices - and a taste of India.

Global food bites

Till very recently, I didn&rsquo;t realise how lucky we have been in Delhi, as far as seeing really engaging Pakistani art goes. A lot of it is the result of entrepreneurship of private organisations &mdash;galleries and others. Just in the 2000s, Khoj helped bring in some excellent artists in group shows and Nature Morte brought us the outstanding Rashid Rana show, for example.

The art of Pakistan

PVR's Ajay Bijli is enjoying the process of juggling film content with commerce, but this weekend it's jogging rather than movies that is taking up his time.

Long-distance runner

The third book in Stieg Larsson&rsquo;s Millennium trilogy brings an epic series to a very gratifying close. Unfortunately, writes Jai Arjun Singh, it all really does end here.

Swede ending

I think of Asterix as a comic version of wily Odysseus,&rdquo; says the brilliant translator Anthea Bell of the subject of her best-known work, the Gaulish warrior whose village, forever frozen in 50 BCE, still holds out against Julius Caesar&rsquo;s Roman legions. Frankly JC doesn&rsquo;t have a chance of completing his conquest of Gaul so long as Asterix and the rest of the villagers can count on the magic potion brewed by the druid Getafix, which gives them supernatural strength.

Comic history

A journalist travels the length and breadth of the country by train, taking the trouble of stopping by a few days at dusty towns one doesn&rsquo;t usually bother with: Mughal Sarai railway settlement in UP, Itarsi, Jhansi, Shoranur and other such. Author Bishwanath Ghosh writes Chai, Chai with the enthusiasm of an explorer, painting a rather adventurous picture of days spent in these seemingly non-destination towns. Railway stations and trains hold a special charm for Ghosh, nostalgic as he is about magazine stands on platforms, the effervescent chaiwalla calling out to passengers, steaming beverage in tow, and illustrious co-passengers with their travelling ticks and home-packed khana.

Rolling off track

London has been taken over by gangsters muscling in on various territories, edging out the last of the old-world godfathers of crime, Charlie Hook, who now wants to write a tell-all autobiography. He invites crime reporter Laurie Lane to ghost-write it for him, but before Lane can say yea or nay, Hook is murdered, the murder weapon found in the garden of a Russian criminal-come-lately.

For crime's sake!

In 2001, Marico Chairman &amp; Managing Director Harsh Mariwala was approached by a New York-based company to sell laser hair-removal machines in India. It was perhaps looking at distribution synergies with Marico&rsquo;s personal care business. Mariwala, on his part, turned down the proposal.

More than just skin deep

Jaago Re (awaken) is back. After a point-blank shot at politicians&rsquo; qualifications to do their job and a stirring campaign urging the youth to vote, Tata Tea now wants a pledge from you against corruption. Last week, the country&rsquo;s largest tea brand rolled out its new television commercial targeting the rampant problem.

Take two

Will Dish TV&rsquo;s tie-ups with shaadi.com, yatra.com and monster.

Value warrior

The clock strikes seven and the young lad begins a conversation with his stomach. It is not yet time for dinner but hunger pangs have begun to tug. The mother, finding it odd, wants to find out what&rsquo;s the matter. The boy explains that it&rsquo;s not him but his stomach. Her response is predictable: If she prepares a snack at 7:00 pm, there are very strong chances that he might skip dinner.

Souping up Knorr

Doodling through a lecture or being the best bowler in college might not have led you to a career of a cartoonist or a cricketer. Instead, life&rsquo;s many demands probably saw you slogging at a &ldquo;9 to 5&rdquo; job. But ICICI Prudential tells you that your dream occupation can happen after retirement. Its new campaign calls retirement the world&rsquo;s best job.

ICICI Prudential: Aspire to retire

Nokia wants to find some method in the madness that is India&rsquo;s promising mobile value-added services market with the launch of its Music Store service. It has roped in key stakeholders such as music labels and retailers for the service. This, it hopes, will legitimise digital music purchase and improve the revenue streams for the partners.

Nokia India: Voucher music

The Indian external data storage market is estimated at roughly Rs 900 crore, growing at over 20 per cent since 2007. The mid-tier segment occupies almost one-third of the total market.

KIT: The market for external storage drives

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The top 10 business bestsellers

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    Which company&rsquo;s celebrity chief of marketing who lasted only for 10 months set up a &ldquo;trend office&rdquo; in New York to track developments in home furnishings and apparel and was instrumental in launching a fashion line by the name Metro7?
    &nbsp;
    Which brand has set up a worldwide fund that has been working with the Girls Scout of the USA to help young girls counter idealised beauty images?&nbsp;
    &nbsp;
    The CEO of this European company became a

The Strategist Quiz (#112)

    Mahatma Gandhi&rsquo;s first fast for a public cause during the early 1920s was to help the striking workers of two famous companies. Name them.

Answers to last week&#39s quiz (#111)

Why so serious&rsquo; could well be the question that Van Heusen, one of Aditya Birla Nuvo's premium apparel brands, is asking its potential consumers.

Van Heusen's new look

Over 500 rural sales executives of Hero Honda dealers are now busy meeting the sarpanch, the headmaster and the anganwadi workers in villages all over the country. They are also visiting potential customers at their homes, inviting them to drop in at the company&rsquo;s dealerships which might be located a few kms away.

Hero Honda steps up rural touch-points

- Find Specials News, Features, Analysis and more at Business Standard. Full coverage of Goafest 2014

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