Inventory of unsold flats may have piled up but prices continue to rise, helped by a steady demand

Bubble in the making?

Business Standard

The author peeps into Sonam Kapoor's coveted closet and finds out the designs that the style diva swears by

'My mom taught me fashion'

It's been a stupid couple of weeks. First, a subspecies of the African black rhino was declared extinct

The Darwin awards

Anybody who has ever seen the 2004 film Sideways will remember Maya asking Miles, "Why are you so into Pinot?" and Miles going off into a soliloquy about how "Pinot is a hard grape to grow... but has flavours that are haunting and thrilling and subtle, and the most ancient on the planet!"Let it be said right at the start that my own preference has been for Cabernet (Sauvignon) - which is "pretty much grown anywhere".  I like its complex, jammy and blackcurrant character, and find halfway decent Cabernets available all over the place. Vive la Bordeaux has been my motto ever since I got into wines seriously.However, there is something so compelling about a good Burgundy (which is always made only from Pinot Noir) as to make one forget about the power of Bordeaux, for Pinots have a finesse and refinement that cannot be matched. Mind, only a minority of wine drinkers will like a Pinot as the wine is lighter and less 'in-your-face' than a Cabernet; two, good Pinots are difficult to find, an

The Pinot question

Best work momentThe moment your idea moves from the mind to the muse.Workout regimeForty minutes cardio and 40 minutes weight-training, four times a week.Designs that caught your eye recentlyEvery unveiling of the Armani Prive Couture Line. Simply remarkable. Clever, sophisticated and absolutely distinctive!!Favourite spiritTeetotallerYour sleeping ritualI tuck my daughters into bed every day at 10 pm, and hit the sack soon after. I am up at 5.30 am for my prayers after which I get my kids ready and see them off to school.Favourite TV showEverybody Loves Raymond, Master Chef Australia, and any travel/wildlife documentary on Animal Planet and National Geographic.Best gift receivedA well-rounded education gifted to me by my wonderful parents.Best gift givenUndivided time to my two beautiful daughters, Amaesha and Aashyan.Favourite CuisinePersian/ west Asian. Mom hailed from Bushehr, Iran, and we grew up on a rich diet of Persian pilafs and exotic meat dishes.Newspaper, TV channels and we

My Life My Style: Shahab Durazi

The Tal Memorial saw the old warhorse, Boris Gelfand winning convincingly

Chess (#1049)

Anuradha Vaidyanathan happens to be the only Indian to have been placed in the top 10 of her category at the Ironman championships since 2006

India's iron woman

An insightful new study examines the difference in attitudes and behaviours of upwardly mobile men and women when it comes to financial planning and preparedness

His and her money

I'm going to a bookshop opening," said a friend last Saturday, in the morning. Were we in Delhi I'd have been even more excited. How often does any new bookshop open in that city of 16.75 million people? But this is Bangalore and a bookshop launch, though good news, is not big news.Even so, a visit to a new independent bookshop is a pilgrimage that one must make. A few days later, I too went to see the Lightroom Bookstore and meet its maker. Aashti Mudnani is a former art gallery publicist in her mid-30s, warm, gentle, serious and a little bit nervous. The mother of two young daughters, she is running her brand-new bookshop all on her own - and she is a total newbie in the trade.This need not be a problem. "Given a good pitch and the right amount of capital," wrote George Orwell in 1936, "any educated person ought to be able to make a small secure living out of a bookshop. [It] is not a difficult trade to learn, and you start at a great advantage if you know anything about the insides

The small picture

While the armed forces won hearts, the Uttarakhand government and civil administration drew flak for the poor disaster management

Good, bad and plain greedy

Alish Abdullah is India's only woman super bike racer

'Boots are everything'

Harley-Davidson's Street Bob city cruiser will not beat the traffic jams, but it will pamper you with its solo-seat coasting stance on long urban rides

Mean machine with street presence

Life in the open can be fun. Provided, of course, that you are equipped properly to rough it out

Camp out in comfort

There have been cars inspired by aircraft before, but never has the resemblance been this close. Saab's latest concept car, the Aero X, created quite a stir at the Geneva Motor Show and with good

Aero float

GELATOSWith summer round the corner, it is time to indulge. But forget ice-creams and kulfis this year, try gelato, the Italian ice-cream, which is proving to be quite a style statement

Desserts most delectable

Promising young Indian documentary filmmakers seem to be everywhere  in the US, Dubai and, of course, India.

Documenting real drama

Boo! (I stick my tongue out, make a Calvin-inspired face while flapping my hands crazily.) That's how scared I was after watching Fear Factor on Sony television for precisely five minutes. It

Clones and Kandies

Feng Shui, which translates literally as wind-water, is an ancient Chinese art, based on notions of positive and negative energy.

How to feng shui your living room

Today is the last day of the Navratras, and restaurateurs all over Delhi are sighing with relief. Not, let it be said, a very gusty sigh, because there's still the blight of bird flu hanging over

Fasting, feasting

With a startup, the conventional wisdom is that all resources should be poured into the core business. But most Indian entrepreneurs don't seem to think this way if a study done by Amarnath Bhide,

The cost of starting up

Last week I was travelling on a world traveller plus ticket. Designed to make you feel great about a supplementary charge for a few extra inches of legroom, it will have you hovering awkwardly

Listless until listed

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