Yes, animal prints. What better way to let your wild side out without raising eyebrows of animal activists. Animal prints are a favourite with Roberto Cavalli (for H&M), Gucci, John Galliano for Dior (Fall-Winter 2008 Haute Couture collection shown in Paris), Dolce & Gabbana, Proenza Schouler, Diane von Furstenberg, Oscar de la Renta, Christian LaCroix and Prada.

And the red carpet circuit, including Jennifer Lopez, Sharon Stone (at the Cannes red carpet), Lindsay Lohan, Beyonce Knowles, Paris Hilton and Jessica Alba, wears it with consummate ease. One of the most popular clotheshorses of animal prints is former Spice Girl Mel B. So when she unveiled her clothing line, Catty Couture, in April 2008, everyone knew what to expect.

Leopard, cheetah, tiger and zebra are the most popular animal prints when it comes to clothing, though giraffe, Dalmatian and cow also wander about here and there.

Choose the print that suits you. Close-knit prints like leopard suit all body types. However, larger ones like giraffe and cow should be worn with the care that accompanies wearing sunflower-print dresses.

Do not opt for a head-to-toe animal-print look. Stay clear of jumpsuits. Pair animal prints with neutral shades like black, white, beige, khaki or brown. For example, if you’re wearing a zebra-print skirt, pair it with a black blouse.

A leopard-print coat would look good on a black shirt. A cheetah-print top would look good with beige trousers. And so on.

Another way is, if you’re wearing a simple knee-length animal-print dress try neon accessories. This, however, suits zebra or cow prints more than others. If you don’t lean toward the adventurous, get small animal-print pieces, like a cap (which you can pair with a neutral-coloured outfit), a bag, belt or a silk animal-print silk scarf.

The unique healing abilities come from the essential oils of cinnamon and honey’s enzyme that produces hydrogen peroxide qualify the two “anti-microbial” foods with the ability to help stop the growth of bacteria as well as fungi. Here are a few ways you can use Honey and cinnamon:

Hair loss bothering you?

Apply a paste of hot olive oil, a tablespoon of honey, a teaspoon of cinnamon powder before bath; leave it for 15 min and wash.

Morning colds ruining your day?

Make a glass of lukewarm honey water mixed with cinnamon powder to help boost your immune system during the cold season. It may also help to clear your sinuses.

For toothache…

Use a paste made of one teaspoon of cinnamon powder and five teaspoons of honey when applied on the aching tooth (may be done 3 times a day) reduces the pain within a matter of 15 minutes.

Cholesterol levels on the rise?

Take two tablespoons of honey, three teaspoons of cinnamon powder and mix in 16 ounces of tea, when given to a cholesterol patient, reduces the level of cholesterol in the blood by 10% within 2 hours. Pure honey is also sometimes used with food to check cholesterol.

Stomach upset?

Honey when taken with cinnamon powder also helps in curing stomach ache. For people who are suffering from gas problems, honey should be taken with cinnamon powder in equal quantities, relieves gas and pain in the stomach.

Weight loss on the agenda?

Try this simple method. Drink honey and cinnamon powder boiled in one cup water first thing in the morning (empty stomach). If taken regularly it reduces the weight of even the most obese person. Also drinking by this mixture regularly you prevent fat from accumulating in the body.

But is there a point of conflict, a certain bad habit that is the only cause of all quarrels in your otherwise harmonious home? Even though you have both accepted each others weird ways, where do you draw the line? For some it is the smoking, and not just because of bad breath.

“I love my husband enough to have married him. I love despite the fact he’s puffing away 24/7. He smokes heavily, but I thought, ‘Hey, everyone has a bad habit.’ But the kids are getting affected now, and that’s where I draw the line.” Passive smoking is housewife Nina Agarwal’s fear, who feels that a woman will love a man forever, till her son is born.

But let us cross into fetishes, where we have found couples such as Tamil Chelvi and Raj have been facing a difficult time recently because of gross privacy violation. “We are soulmates who have agreed that being touchy-feely will be disastrous to our relationship,” says Raj.

He complains that his wife has a tendency to sleep in his t-shirts, which at first he found sexy, but now finds irritating. “As a one-time bait into bed, I found it arousing to see her wear my boxers. Now, she just doesn’t wear her own clothes!”

Greta says that the final straw in any relationship would be infidelity. “If I see even mild flirtation across the room, or see my husband flipping through second-hand Men’s Health magazines, I cannot stand it. If he wants to be titillated, its me who he should depend on.

There is nothing I can’t learn.” Many women do admit that they find it insecure to find their spouses or boyfriends checking out another woman, even if the claim is that these ‘other’ women look like sluts.

Male

Constant disagreeing, bad body odour, constant cry for rescuing, whiny, scratchy arms and legs from constant shaving, inability to be silent, messy bed.

Female

Cheating, lying (even for it’s for our own good), bad body odour, bad breath, boys night out, switching off the phone when drunk, poor English, weird wardrobe, poor communication, hirsuteness, dirty fingernails.

The concert is being held by the Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM) as part of their annual college fest A-maze ‘08. Running on similar lines as IIT Saarang, the college fest will host a variety of competitions, and will feature a concert on the final day.

Strings are an internationally acclaimed Pakistani pop band comprising two members. The band was formed when four college students—Bilal Maqsood, Faisal Kapadia, Rafiq Wazir Ali and Kareem Bashir Bhoy—decided to form a band in 1988 in Karachi. In 1992, the quartet disbanded only to make a comeback with two of its members, Bilal and Faisal later in 2000.

While the initial band was riding on the new wave of Pakistani pop music, the later formation ushered a new revival in the music industry of Pakistan.

Kapadia and Maqsood followed in the footsteps of Junoon and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and took their act across the border to India only to realise they already were a recognised band in the country, thanks to club remixes of their songs.

The word Parikrama means ‘orbital revolutions’ in Sanskrit. The band was officially formed on June 17, 1991 in New Delhi. They have several live performances and original numbers to their name.

Parikrama has more than 1000 concerts to their name, which have been held all over India in more than 40 cities and participated in various international competitions held in India and abroad.

It’s one of those components that play an important role in burning fuel efficiently. With plugs, the colour is an important indication of engine health. Black is bad, you’re running rich Grey is bad, you are running lean, brownish pink (on the insulator) is a good sign.

If you ever experienced the car not running smooth or misfiring while the engine is idling mode, then the problem could be a dirty or faulty spark plug. Replacing or cleaning the spark plug is not a tough task to execute.

Here are 5 simple steps to clean them

1. Before touching anything in the engine compartment, make sure the engine is not hot. Let it cool if you just got back after a drive

2. Remove the wires off the Spark Plugs and unscrew them from their mounting.

3. Use a glass wool or steel wool to scrub the thread and remove dirt that must have accumulated over time. Do not use this wool on the ceramic insulator.

4. Use the brake cleaning fluid or the spray on spark plug cleaner and a yellow cloth or any soft cloth to wipe off any oil deposit or debris.

5. The contact point of the plugs and the gap between them must be cleaned and the gap needs to be calibrated as per manufacturer’s specification.

After following all the steps listed, above insert the spark plugs back into the cylinder and tighten it. Finally attach the wires back on. It is best to replace plugs once every 12 or 18 months. With a clean and good set of plugs the fuel is burnt efficiently for a nice and smooth ride.

Roadster is our new weekly column on all things automobile. Vikram Sunderraj is a guest columnist. He blogs on www.motorheader.com, http://shoutat.blogspot.com and http://chennaiwithin.blogspot.com

Police said the actor’s house, located on 3rd Main Road of VGP Layout in Uthandi, was an easy target for burglars as the actor and his family left for Thailand on July 23 for a week-long holiday. Burglars gained access to the house by breaking open an iron grill on the terrace.

Nearly 32 sovereigns of gold jewellery, crystal ware and other precious stones kept in the almirah in the bedroom on the first floor went missing.

Anand and family returned home on Wednesday night to find their home ransacked, with clothes, bags and bottles scattered around. A check revealed that their valuables had disappeared. The burglary could have occurred any time during the family’s absence as there were only a few domestic helps residing in the house, police said.

Following a complaint registered by the actor with the Neelankarai police, senior officials, including the area deputy commissioner of police and assistant commissioner of police, visited the house and conducted preliminary investigations.

Fingerprint experts were called in, who conducted a thorough search of the scene of burglary. The estimated loss is believed to be worth Rs. 4 lakh.

ZELARY (2003)

It is the 1940s and the Czech lands have been occupied by the Nazis. Eliska is a young woman who is unable to complete medical school because of war and now works as a nurse in a city hospital. She is also involved in the resistance movement along with her boyfriend and their friend.

During World War II, a number of Czech airmen flew alongside British RAF pilots against the Germans. When war ended the Czechs went home, only to face imprisonment in forced labour camps under the communist government. Seasoned pilot Franta (Ondrej Vetchý) and young hot-head Karel (Krystof Hádek), travel to Britain to offer their skills. When Karel’s plane is shot down not far from the base, he finds himself made welcome by an English woman, Susan (Tara Fitzgerald).

This is a musical film set in hot summer of 1968. A small town in Czech border region, three final year school girls and three rebels, who just do not wish to have anything in common with the present totalitarian regime. A film with a lot of songs, which provide the film story with an important and un-changeable character of the end of sixties period mood of easygoing, and non-committal, in association with fate , interweaving of personal and political development forms the structure of this tragicomedy.

Kytice is a series of seven short films thematically linked and based on a series of ballads written 200 years ago by K.J Erbena, regarded by some as the Czech equivalent of William Shakespeare.

A tragicomedy featuring a youthful 75-year-old dreamer who unlike his worrying wife, refuses to reconcile himself to growing older. He lives life as never ending challenge in which every day becomes a delightful opportunity for new adventures.

Hanele is a timeless tale of generational and ideological conflict set in an enclave of religious Jews in Sub-Carpathian Ukraine in the 1930s.

Without dowry, and refusing to marry the slow-witted village boy who wants her hand, beautiful Hanele escapes provincial Polana by joining a Zionist youth group recruiting young men and women for work in the big city.

Rajnikanth, in his letter to KFCC, has said, “I don’t want people to have any difficulty in seeing my film in Karnataka. I would appeal to you to cooperate to facilitate the release of the film in the state.”

The executive committee of the KFCC has already agreed to allow the release of the film with lesser number of prints in lesser number of theatres.

www.cinesnacks.com

As I walked into to the Zebronics Demo Zone on Ritchie Street, I was stunned at the range of chassis available today and that too at fairly affordable prices. Zebronics market close to 70 different chassis and needless to say some are more eye-candy than the others.

“Things have changed a lot since we last met,” Rajesh points out, mostly referring to my waistline and partially to the advance pointing out both at my waistline and also referring to the computer cases.

Gone are the days when computer cases came in just three colours – white, off-white and black. Today they are some serious value-additions if you have the cash to burn. “There are the dual fan chassis, the three-fan chassis, the screwless chassis, the ones with temperature control, touch-screen panels,” he reels out.

For the uninitiated, the more the fans, the better the cooling … especially if you are a game freak and have added those high-power graphic cards.

The first chassis that I saw on a computer that really blew my mind was the high-end Alienware Systems designed with the discerning gamer with wads of currency. The most striking aspect of Alienware is its transparent look, which gives gamers the opportunity to truly to show off their ware.

The good thing today is that there are some low-end options available that are a good substitute. Zebronics itself has tied up with game hardware major Nvidia to launch a transparent casing that is way cooler than any I have seen before.

The price range for the cabinets range from Rs.2,000 to Rs. 3,500. Do note that the prices do not include the SMPS and are for the casing only.

Send in your enquiries to enquiry@zebronics.info. To simply drool over the chassis, drop in at 4, Narasinghapuram Street. Also note that the Zebronic Demo Zone does not retail the product.

His complaint is that obscene visuals on condom packages create a wrong impression about condoms, primarily medical products and not inducers of sexual desire. What is the strategy behind the use of such visuals on condom wrappers? Are they necessary or not?

“It is actually a tricky issue,” says sexologist G. Sampath Kumar, adding that the obscene visuals on condom wrappers act as a “stimulating factor” of sex. “Premarital sex has become a commonplace phenomenon and there are many factors that induce it,” he points out.

Another city-based sexologist points out: “Ladies, especially those sexually active, carry contraceptives with them. Levels of awareness on sex and related issues are also high among the IT professionals who lead lavish and swanky lifestyles.”

“Certainly when people are exposed to obscene visuals, they are tempted to have sex. Condoms come in myriad shapes, types, sizes and flavours claiming to enhance sexual pleasure. And pictures to suit each of them,” he says, adding that condom wrappers are disposed carelessly and they even land in the hands of children sometimes.

However, he agrees that condom promotion is crucial now and adds that instead of using those visuals on the wrapper, they can be used on the inner foil. “Condoms are used even by illiterates and the visuals attract them.”

Finding obscene visuals unnecessary on condom packages, Dr. Amudha Hari, gynaecologist and critic on sex-related issues, makes it clear that condoms are primarily contraceptives, a medical device. It is used to avoid spread of STD (sexually transmitted diseases) and pregnancy.

In fact, she adds, the naked pictures on the wrappers make people feel that condoms are rather sexual inducers and pleasure boosters. Due to this, the consumers are diffident to ask for it in shops. “Instead of using pictures of naked people on bed, they can use the space to create awareness on condoms and tell about the advantages of its use.”

Though the court noted that the right to carry on business is subject to reasonable restrictions that could be imposed in the interest of decency and morality, it said that it is difficult for the court to fix standards of decency and morality and the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), a self-regulatory voluntary organisation of the advertising industry, would be in a better position to deal with the issue.

But the Council told Ergo that it has not received any complaint on condom wrappers so far. “After a consumer lodges a complaint with us, we will place it before the Consumer Complaints Council for discussion,” said Alan Collaco, Secretary General, ASCI.