A three-bedroom house in Bandra or a plush locality of Gurgaon will cost you more than these quaint houses in the US. Mike Powell  lists three homes worth spending onFOX POINT, WISCONSINWHAT: A five-bedroom stone Tudor with three and a half bathroomsHOW MUCH: $699,000 (Rs 3.80 crore)SIZE: 3,688 square feetPrice per square foot: $189.53 (Rs 10,287)SETTING: Fox Point is a residential village on Lake Michigan, 10 miles from Milwaukee. This house sits on a bluff overlooking the lake, in a part of town known as East of Lake Drive, where the villageâ€™s grid gives way to wooded, winding roads lined with prewar houses on acre-plus lots. The village has a handful of county landmarks, residential and municipal, including cast-iron street signs hung shortly after the village incorporated in the 1920s. For shopping, most residents go to Whitefish Bay; Milwaukee is also

A Victorian cottage for Rs 3.8 cr

Business Standard

I want to purchase a car within a budget of Rs 5-7 lakh. I would like it to be fuel efficient and low on maintenance costs. I also want a car that looks good. I like the Hyundai i20, however, Iâ€™m willing to consider other cars as well, if you think they suit my needs.Shivam Bansal, via emailThe Hyundai i20 is a good car overall. It is nice to look at, especially after the facelift, so that takes care of your requirement of a car that looks good. The i20 is also spacious on the inside, while quality too is excellent. You could also consider the Volkswagen Polo. It is likely to get a more powerful TSI petrol motor soon. You can decide between these two.Sedan needI currently own a Maruti Suzuki Swift and want to upgrade to a petrol sedan within a budget of Rs 8-9 lakh. I will be using the car mainly for city driving â€” usually 700 km a month. I want a good looking car w

Small match

The Pantero marks the beginning of Mahindra 2Wheelersâ€™ second innings in the country, with regards to the cash-cow commuter motorcycle segment. The first motorcycle that Mahindra 2Wheelers launched was the Stallio but the response was far below the companyâ€™s expectations. Digging deep into its newly created R&D centre in Pune, the company nearly went back to the drawing board with the Stallio and came up with this, the Pantero.While the styling has largely remained the same, plastic quality has improved tremendously and now, unlike the Stallio, the Pantero gets surfaces with uniform texture. The paint quality too, is on par with the competition but some areas, like the panel gaps for instance, could have been better executed. That aside, the Pantero is nothing like the Stallio, thankfully. The engine is refined and the gearbox â€” once the Achilles heel of the Stallio â€” is slick and slots into the desired cog every single time. Selecting neutral, however, does need a

Comeback kid

Anand's victory at the Baden Baden Grenke Classic broke one of the longest and oddest droughts in chess history. Anand has been world champion since 2007 and defended the title thrice in matches. He's been world no:1 on the rating lists for long periods.But he hadn't won a classical tournament since Morelia Linares, 2008. After a poor 2012, and indeed, a poor 2011, Anand's rating and ranking had plummeted. In 2013, he's started well. Third at the Tata Steel was reasonable and would have been better except for a last round loss to Wang Hao.At Baden Baden, things didn't start well for Anand. Caruana led through most of the tournament, riding his luck in winning two lost positions from Naiditsch. Anand meanwhile, struggled to convert good positions.In the ninth and penultimate round, things turned. First, Anand won a good game against Fridman and then, Caruana lost to Adams. In the last round, Anand won a sharp technical endgame against Naiditsch. But C

Chess (#1033)

In 2009, a Kashmiri youth was detained by Bangalore Police in connection with terror attacks in the city. The young man was held along with few others but was later released and all charges against him were dismissed. Parvez Rasool finds himself in the spotlight yet again, but for the right reasons. There have been reports that Rasool could soon be called to play for the Indian cricket team. The government is keen to defuse the tense situation in the Kashmir valley caused by Afzal Guruâ€™s hanging, and is nudging to include Rasool in the team. Senior BCCI office bearer Rajeev Shukla was quoted as saying: â€œWe have always wanted Jammu & Kashmir cricket to be promoted. The official policy of the government has always been to promote sports in the region.â€Rasoolâ€™s rise has been meteoric in the domestic cricket circuit. Born in Bijbehara, a village in the Anatnag district, Rasool took up playing cricket in school and was soon playing at the district level. Rasoolâ€™s fathe

The boy from the Valley

Is the new Range Rover the best luxury SUV in the world?

Ring leader

Payal Shah, a 12-year-old student from Mumbai, is the reflection of her parents when it comes to shopping. Clued into the latest fashion and a brand conscious teenager, she, like her parents, seeks pleasure in retail therapy in the online world. According to Shah, she prefers to shop online along with her parents since they are working and going for shopping sometimes becomes tedious.

Boom time for online kids retail in India

Iâ€™m convinced weâ€™re getting through February just by the skin of our teeth.First, my mother almost opened her third eye when she was woken up in the middle of the night by some drunken people whom I intend to defriend soon. You have no idea what a close shave that was. Then my niece Tara had an eighth birthday party with a temperature of â€˜Fourteen kids, feels like fortyâ€™. It featured something called feely goop, which is a doughy white substance that, when mixed with water and children, turns your house into a construction site at the plaster of paris stage.My takeaway from this party, by the way, was a reaffirmation that Tara is a genius way ahead of her time. I announced to her, in my smarmy aunty way, that I was going to take her shopping for a birthday present. She held my gaze neutrally. I ventured that perhaps she would prefer to be surprised? Yes, she said firmly. Okay, I said, can you tell me what category of present you would likeâ€”books, music

Feely goop, meteors and cops

For P Chidambaram, the finance minister who often acts like a private sector CEO, Union Budget 2013-14 poses numerous challenges

Balancing act

With strong performances from its ensemble, Kai Po Che! portrays the paradox between innocence and ambition

Young, thirsty ambition

Wine grapes in India are harvested during February-April, versus September-October elsewhere in the northern hemisphere (Europe and the US) â€” in this sense we are like the industry â€œdown underâ€ (the southern Hemisphere â€” Australia, South Africa, South America) where, too, the 2013 harvest is currently going on.In India we have to prune the grape vines twice annually: once after the harvest, and again in September to prepare for the harvest 120/150 days later â€” this is as the vine continues to grow all year round here, unlike in the colder climates of the classical wine-producing countries (where grape vines become dormant during their winters). Of course, in actual practice some vineyards here may prune early and so harvest as early as January, while others may postpone this till even May.In any case, wine grapes have to be harvested at peak phenolic ripeness to maximise the quality of the wine produced â€” this is particularly important for red wine g

Grape harvest time in India

Best work moment:First thing in the morningBooks on your bedside:The Bible (King James Version), Roberto Bolanoâ€™s Woes of the True Policeman, William Dalrympleâ€™s Nine Lives, a social history of the Aztecs, and The Illustrated World Encyclopedia of SaintsMassage or workout to de-stress:Yes, pleaseDesigns that have caught your eye recently:The wigs, caps and retro TWA stylings of Indigo stewsYour IT tools:My handsFavourite spirit:Rivers of whiskey, oceans of wineFavourite wine:RedFavourite champagne:FreeYour sleeping ritual:I shut my eyes & think of literachureFavourite TV show:Donâ€™t own televisionBest gift received:The gift of sobrietyBest gift given:The gift of a

My Life My Style: Jeet Thayil

His ground-breaking work in legal philosophy placed moral obligations at the centre of political and legal practicesIf anyone had the right to be called a public intellectual in the United States, it was Professor Ronald Dworkin, the legal and constitutional scholar who died last week. Dworkinâ€™s views on individual rights, equality, abortion, euthanasia, constitutional liberties and public policy were delivered with the kind of erudition and aplomb rarely seen nowadays in the public sphere. However, in spite of his voluminous writings on a variety of political subjects, Dworkin is best known for his groundbreaking work in legal philosophy.Legal philosophy in the Anglophone world was revived by the great Oxford philosopher, H L A Hart, but it was Dworkin who used legal philosophy as a powerful tool of public advocacy on a scale hitherto not seen through his trenchant writing in law journals as well as in The New York Review of Books. Dworkin challenged t

Moral force

Champagne pairing is an acquired art that takes years to master. Aishwarya Nair of the Leela group tells Priyanka Sharma how to enjoy the flavours to the fullestIn one of the many memorable moments in Garry Marshallâ€™s Pretty Woman (1990), a dapper Richard Gere admonishes a coy Julia Roberts, telling her to sip her champagne slowly instead of gulping it down. He then suggests some strawberries as an accompaniment. â€œThey bring out the flavour of the champagne,â€ he says with a smile.â€œNow thatâ€™s a legendary combination,â€ approves Aishwarya Nair, corporate food and wine consultant, The Leela Palaces, Hotels & Resorts. Unwinding in the hotelâ€™s swish greens, Nair chats about champagne and its flavours with zeal. â€œThe acidity and sweetness of the strawberry and the basic citrus touch of the champagne is a beautiful marriage!â€ Champagne, a sparkling wine produced from grapes in Champagne in France, must be paired with the correct ap

Balance your bubbly

Tucked away discreetly next to the bustling Sector 19 flea market is the Chandigarh branch of the Gorakhnath Mutt. The temple is easy to miss, unless one is specifically looking for it. Itâ€™s entrance from the main road into which all the shop-cum-booths located next to it open is inconspicuous. One has to drive a good half a kilometre and go behind the market to enter the mutt. Until three days ago few people would give a thought to this small, nondescript place. Now suddenly itâ€™s become a source of immense curiosity for this laidback, easy-paced city. The source of this inquisitiveness is the boyish, 22-year-old head of the mutt, Mahant Chotu Nath, who created quite a stir earlier this week by passionately outbidding seven other bidders to bag a VVIP registration number â€” CH01 AR 0001 â€” for his Rs 66-lakh Audi Q7. He shelled out a neat Rs 10.51 lakh for the number.The young yogi, who sports long locks and dresses in a pearl white flowing robe, attende

Jazzed up his Audi

Amit Chaudhuri provides a lyrical exposition of the world views inherent in the two names of the city

Calcutta & Kolkata

Gautam Singhania of Raymonds has serious racing ambitions.Itâ€™s late in the evening at the Buddh International race track at Greater Noida. The shadows are getting longer, the wind is turning nippy. Gautam Hari Singhania, the chairman & managing director of Raymond, is taking journalists on a spin in a red Ferrari after they have filled an indemnity form. If you thought Vijay Mallyaâ€™s troubles with Kingfisher Airlines would make flamboyant businessmen lay low, you need to be here. Singhania is in his elements, doing high-fives with his team members, greeting friends, giving bytes to television, driving like crazy.The car has been modified for racing at a workshop in Silverstone, the Mecca of motorsport, which includes striping its cockpit to the barest of bare essentials. Itâ€™s left-hand driven, the engine is mounted on the rear, the ground clearance is not more than a couple of inches, the Pirelli tyres are untreaded and it uses special petrol that has been

Gee on the track

The Dale Carnegie approach to training is planned in the context and the culture of the organisation. As a process, we gain an understanding of the real life workplace challenges, both from the participants and the stakeholders, to align the content which is simulated in workshops.

The intangible benefit: Pallavi Jha

Interest in utility-based applications like bill payments also rise.

Indians smarten up with business apps

Spotting the best deals and bargaining, be it at roadside shops or in swanky malls, are a penchant most Indians are born with. With an increase in the number of group buying websites, discounted fashion brand retailers and specialised online stores, this fetish has now shifted to the cyberspace, too.

Websites open portals for the new-age shopaholic

bout 5 lakh people have so far watched over 1,100 hours of video of the world's biggest religious congregation, Maha Kumbh, on their mobile phones using the mobile TV service nexGTv.

5 lakh watch Maha Kumbh on mobile TV app nexGTv

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