08 April,2015 08:12 AM IST | | Hemal Ashar, Waleed Hussain, Ankoor Anvekar, Vidya Heble
The city — sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
Getting the right biscuit!
There are those of us who shy away from stray dogs, and then some of us are strangely drawn to them as well. Being in the latter category, we are in the habit of offering our friendly neighbourhood canines a treat now and then.
Dogs, like people, have their preferences too... Representational pic
The preferred tidbits are the ubiquitous glucose biscuits which are sometimes known as "kutta waala biscut" though they are meant for people! One evening, we did not get these particular biscuits at the shop, and bought a different brand.
Guess what? The dogs first looked with suspicion at the "new" fare, sniffed, let the biscuit fall to the ground, and only with a show of reluctance did they finally deign to munch away. The message was clear!
Bag that plastic!
Remember the days when we (ok, let's say our grandparents) would carry canvas or rexine shopping bags when going to the market? Those were the days when shopping for groceries was called "marketing" today's PR people might be confused as heck by that.
Telling it like it is, at a morcha against plastic bags. Representational pic
Maybe it's time to return to that era, considering the immense damage that cheap, horrible plastic carrier bags have wreaked on our environment. More so, now that fines are being imposed on establishments which still give out these bags (less than 50 microns in thickness).
The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) for one has cracked down and conducted surprise checks, slapping fines on shopkeepers using such bags. And it's no small amount the fine is Rs 20,000.
NMMC Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare says, "We are imposing a heavy fine so as to discourage shopkeepers from using such plastic bags." The other side of the coin, of course, is that shopkeepers sometimes have no choice but to give the bags to customers who demand them. So it's up to us, to not just refrain from asking for plastic bags, but also refuse to take them.
All in a day's spa
In these metro-sexual times, men are major consumers of skin products, and are regulars at spas too. A new spa opens up almost every other week in some nook or corner of the city. A PR and event management company is hired for the job and a string of celebs and Page-3 types are roped in for the opening ceremony.
At the grand opening of one such spa in a posh suburb, a host of celebs turned up for the event. The owner of the spa was busy smiling and grinning away to glory for the shutterbugs, with the celebs and starlets brightening up the frames. One attendee at the event passed a remark to another saying, "Look at him.
He is smiling for the cameras right now. But six months down the line when the cops raid this place and bust a prostitution racket, then the same man will be hiding from the cameras." Ouch! Sounds like someone has been on the bad side of the law and speaks from experience.
The skinny debate
It had to happen at some time. After years of debate and will they won't they, we read that France has banned skinny models for the ramp and actually has stringent punishments for promoters flouting the rule. But, now that the mecca of high fashion has taken this step, it is natural that the debate spills over to other countries.
Kareena Kapoor, once famed as a Size Zero but not unhealthily skinny, at Fashion Week. Representational pic
Fashion expert, columnist and former Miss India, Mumbai's Meher Castelino, agrees with the ban, saying, "I have seen fashion shows with ultra skinny models; they look horrible and do nothing for the collection.
Buyers are not skinny, so the sale of the clothes will be affected and skinny models are sending out the wrong message since many of them are icons for young girls who want to follow them and end up spoiling their health."
Castelino in fact says, "The trend now is for normal figures all over the world, and designers who are using skinny models are wayyyyyyy behind." (Can we hear some voices going yayyyyyy?) Castelino finishes, "Many designers are using normal people for their collections, which has helped sales." With the Fashion Week just over, it's something to think about and after all, when is fashion ever out of fashion?
