Want to buy an old Portuguese-style home in Goa, one of those charmingly quaint mansions painted white, sunny yellow or blue, with tiled roofs held up by wooden rafters and verandahs running all around? They may look sleepy and old-world, but make no mistake &mdash; they&rsquo;re in huge demand among wealthy Indians and foreigners who&rsquo;re ready to pay crores to acquire one.

Heritage homes in Goa

Business Standard

Khabar Lahariya, a rural weekly run by newly literate women from backward communities, is a unique experiment in the power of the media.

Writing from the roots

One of the most charming scenes in one of the most unexpectedly charming films of this year, Vicky Donor, had a Bengali girl humming a few notes of Rabindrasangeet to her Punjabi boyfriend.

Prodigal puttar

They say you should never take on people who spill ink by the barrel, but your odds are better when you traffic in terabytes of data. In the US, Google and big media went at it for several years over Google News and Google won, taking its argument for a free and open Internet all the way to the bank.

Google's media war

With Rs 75 lakh in your pocket, you could bring home a swank Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid, or the BMW 3 Series 330d Convertible; a lakh or two more, and you could buy a 1,000 sqft two BHK flat in Gurgaon.

The Rs 75-lakh pen

The &ldquo;Indianised&rdquo; version of Dr Benjamin Spock&rsquo;s best-known book on parenting is here. Veenu Sandhu meets one of its authors to understand how it will impact the sensibilities of Indian parents.

'Don't rock your baby'

It&rsquo;s Diwali, the time to binge on sweets and dry fruit. But what price does our body pay for this indulgence? Here&rsquo;s a quick guide to the good, the bad and the strictly avoidable.

Should you dig in?

Magnus Carlsen took his third Chess Oscar in a row. The Oscar was instituted as an annual award in 1967 for the player of the year. It is voted by a large jury of player and an accurate barometer of respect. Carlsen, Korchnoi and Bent Larsen, are the only non-world champions among the winners.

Chess (#1018)

Discovery Channel has entered into a brand association with Yash Raj Films for the Shah Rukh Khan movie Jab Tak Hai Jaan, which releases on the Diwali day.

Discovering the mass market

That Colgate is the undisputed market leader in the toothpaste market commanding a market share of 54.5 per cent is well known. What may not be so well known is that Colgate has managed to gain about 50-100 basis points market share every year over the past few years, despite aggressive launches by formidable competitors such as Hindustan Unilever (HUL) and GSK Consumer.

Colgate: The smile widens

While Indian companies offer a plethora of products, they lack strong brands.

Product licensing offers a huge untapped opportunity: Gaurav Marya

Leela is a regular shopper at one of Bangalore&rsquo;s leading departmental store.

What customers want

Whether you are home, hanging out with family and friends, enjoying the cool winter days or packing up for a family getaway, technology is always there to make it a little easier to enjoy. This holiday, if you are torn between choosing a family gadget and a whacky one, there are many devices that promise to be both.

Plug in the cool this season

It&rsquo;s always difficult to classify anything as &ldquo;favourite&rdquo; but I will say that the Fair &amp; Lovely ad is one that I have learnt from a lot. It&rsquo;s an ad (this came back in the late 90s) which opened up a whole lot of newer thoughts, even controversies. Moreover, the tagline of the ad, &ldquo;Kaash mera ek beta hota&rdquo;, made a lot of people sit up, take note and react strongly and sharply. This, in turn, meant that I had to answer a lot of people given that there was quite a bit of controversy that was centered around the ad.

We got extreme reactions to the ad as it sent a strong signal

The top 10 business bestsellers

    This entrepreneur owns all the apartments on the 100th and 140th floors of Dubai&rsquo;s iconic Burj Khalifa. He rose from a salesman to become a billionaire. Name him and his business group.

The Strategist Quiz (#279)

    This person was a college dropout with big ideas about products that would reshape human behaviour. From that unyielding vision and the force of his personality, he took a garage startup to the heights of industry, creating products that defined new markets and became part of the vernacular.

Answers to last week's quiz (#278)

Cutbacks by companies are affecting employee satisfaction in markets hit hard by recession.

Employee engagement, loyalty are eroding globally

The automobile industry in India comes with a disclaimer. That the looping challenges of its component manufacturers, who supply anything from nuts and bolts to seats to the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), puts the brakes on its ambitious plans. While the downturn in 2008 laid bare the gaps in capacity, the lack of access to capital and over-dependence on just one or two OEMs, the current slowdown in the automobile industry has saddled them with excess stock.

Go with the flow

The low-price trap

The country&rsquo;s largest fast moving consumer goods company - Hindustan Unilever (HUL) - has set its sights on the parlour-going consumer with its new range of haircare products under the Tresemme umbrella.

Betting on the grooming boom

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

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