Small Steps for a better Earth

Pic Courtesy: www.smallsteps.in

Every time my fiance pulled out her compact folding cloth bag while checking out at the grocery store, I looked at it in wonder.

One particular day, my curiosity was especially piqued when she stuffed more than 5kgs worth of stuff in the bag without batting an eyelid. I was afraid it would tear, but it held and is still going strong having earned itself a new fan.

Pic Courtesy: www.smallsteps.in

Not giving it too much thought previously, it struck us suddenly a few days ago what an ecological treasure the bag is. Having followed the link http://www.smallsteps.in online from the text printed on the bag cover, much more was revealed about its history and purpose.

My fiance had picked it up while on her trip to Auroville where it originated. A brainchild of the Upasana Design studio http://www.upasana.in , the bag aims to champion the cause of a plastic free environment.

A group of local women use microfinance, get raw material & arrange machinery to sew the bag which is then marketed and sold through the foundation. The bag also works as a tool to educate families and whole world about the need of environmental conservation.

It is available in multiple colors along with a backpack variant.

Pic Courtesy: www.smallsteps.in

Do visit the website http://www.smallsteps.in to see how you could get one for yourself and spread the news for sake of a better future.

Please share your opinion on this post in the comments section.

TZINGA - The Energy drink with a difference

In a world attempting to get the maximum done in minimum time, we quite frequently find our bodies unable to cope up with the energy demands of a normal day in our lives. The morning dash to work, skipped lunches for meetings and late night hangouts with friends require us to be raring to go at all moments.

Enter a slew of energy drinks filled with ingredients to pump you up and go that extra mile. Traditionally, energy drinks have been more expensive than the caffeinated cold beverages sold by Coca Cola and Pepsico, sold mostly in the can format.

Breaking through this clutter is a new entrant that is set to redefine rules of the game. Manufactured by Hector Beverages, TZINGA ENERGY DRINK makes itself appealing at multiple levels.

1. Being aware of the price-conscious Indian mind, Tzinga has a retail price of only Rs.20/-!! This aggressive pricing is possible because of their unique Doy-Pack unlike the usual cans offered by its competitors.This is unheard of in this segment and is sure to attract many people looking for a quick energy fix that doesn't break the bank. It also puts them square in competition against the colas at their price point while offering a more evolved product. The doy-pack packaging is attractive and of international standards. It instantly grabs the eyes with well made graphics communicating its energy drink heritage extremely well.
2. Despite the low price, Tzinga does not cut corners in its ingredients. It has the usual suspects like Caffeine, Taurine and B-family vitamins while also piling on some exotics like Ginseng and Guarana.
3. It comes in three different natural flavors. Lemon Mint, Tropical Trip and Mango Strawberry, all fruit based natural flavors without preservatives. An energy drink that does not taste like medicine. Something that cannot be said about all its competitors.
4. The drink is non-carbonated. There is no fizz. Now, while this might turn away a few people who get their feeling of fresh from the bubbles, personally I like it this way. No nonsense, good tasting, quick energy fix that does not hide behind CO2.

So how do the flavors stack up?

Mango Strawbery: A fruity flavor. This will appeal to those who like fruit fusions. The flavor is more strawberry than mango.

 Tropical Trip: Again a fusion of tropical fruits, Pear, Pineapple, Mandarin, Apple, Passionfruit and Lemon. This flavor is especially funky and the most recent addition to the flavor line up.

Lemon Mint: The Classic. Refreshing Lemon with a very distinct Mint.This one is a personal favorite.

Finally, we come to the real question. The question that matters. For all its claims of natural fruit flavor and competitive pricing, does it work as an energy drink? Yes, it very much does. Staying true to its claim of '5 hour charge', my first try of this drink had me buzzing for a very long time, practically jumping from one place to another. Also, the Guarana helps prevent a crash, allowing the effects to wear off very gradually.

Hector Beverages has a winner on its hands with a product that is competitive and tastes well. A fact also confirmed by my girlfriend who allowed herself a sip of all three flavors. It is currently available only in limited markets and Hector Beverages will do well by launching it in remaining geographies with aggressive marketing. Such a product is only waiting to become a nationwide success.

Disclaimer: I was offered free samples for the purpose of this review but the opinions are completely mine and in no way influenced.

Please share your opinion on this post in the comments section.

Ruhaniyat - Sufiana samaa under a moonlit sky

Pic Courtesy: http://www.ruhaniyat.com

Ruhaniyat the all India Sufi and Mystic Music festival held its annual Pune edition for the 7th time. The very apt location of Empress Botanical Gardens with its open air atmosphere served to set the mood. A bat fluttering across the sky as the moon played hide and seek with tree tops added a touch of surreal. The trees stood silent witness to an eclectic mix of artists that transported the transfixed audience to a higher plane of existence. 

Showcasing diverse artists from Egypt, Turkey and states across India, the audience got a peek into the innermost emotions of artists, each one of them trying to reach out to their maker. 

The Egyptian father son duo of Mohammad Hasan Farghaly and Mohamad Mohammad Farghaly roped in the audience with their opening act, succeeded by the self taught Swarna Noora from Punjab singing Bulleh Shah compositions in her proud voice accompanied by her equally talented son. Latif Bolat from Turkey then took the stage and showed us how closely tied is the experience of Sufi and Kabir's Bhakti movement. The most entertaining group of the evening was Rizmat Barkat and group singing Sufi Kalam's while the crowd couldn't stop clapping as they experienced Gafoor Khan's flying fingers on the Kartal with a younger accomplice matching his taals, the flair and speed moving everyone to the edge of their seats. Parvathy Baul followed with her renditions of soul. It was interesting to observe this self initiate display her dedication to the art. The Whirling Dervish duo Mostafa M Mohamed Hamdan and M Kamel Mohamed Hussain from Assuit, Egypt performed visual drama of taking the soul through a spiritual journey and entered the audience's heart by showering blessings with their flying skirts. The audience then got a break as the now made famous by the famous bollywood film, 'Rockstar', Chand Nizami Qawwali group from Delhi started setting up. Once the audience assembled again, hands started clapping as the Qawwalis tugged at the heart strings of emotions in everyone present finally drawing the evening to a close.

The intention of a Sufi or Mystic performer is to experience the divine through music and songs. In this endeavor some of the spirit rubs off on the audience as well. Banyan Tree is to be commended for conceptualizing this festival allowing the audiences to experience what ordinarily would be far removed from our daily lives. Though the lyrics might have been a barrier at times, if one closed their eyes it would have been possible to touch something deep inside us and the entertainment aside, this aspect of the festival makes it a winner and its subsequent editions more eagerly awaited.

Please share your opinion on this post in the comments section.

My love for Maggi

Maggi my dear readers is its own food group. If you disagree I’ll be more than happy to introduce you to the next random person on the street and we’ll gleefully bludgeon some sense into your head.

I met Maggi in school. My earliest recollection of Maggi is not of eating it but of wanting to own it. That’s right. People want to be a lot of things when they grow up, Pilot, Doctor, Policeman, Circus Clown (I have this friend…), but not me. I wanted to own a Maggi factory when I grew up. Owning a factory was the only way my mind could guarantee an endless supply of Maggi that I could eat as much as I wanted, whenever I wanted. That and something to do with noodle straps. If it doesn’t make any sense do re-read the part about me having to grow up.

Obviously, I could never have more than two at a time and that too used to give me a preview of my distended belly future. One however was too less and left a craving on my tongue. The same craving I licked off plates and bowls the Maggi was served in. The last drops of liquid masala were manna from heaven and I could not leave a single molecule of it on the utensil. This gave a big inferiority complex to my imaginary pet dog. His name was noodles.

Since then, Maggi has come a long way. You can now get rice and wheat variants while the brand is spread across ketchup, soups, seasoning and other categories.  It's the ultimate comfort food. Most convenient to cook and one of the rarities that provide a full meal on just adding water, cooking in the least time. Mother's around the world keep a packet in the temple, thanking gods for this modern wonder. Everyone has their preference of Maggi making style and recipe. Some like it wet, some like it dry. Some like it in the pot, with veggies and fried. I liked mine poured hot into Tiffin box and during school recess to be found solidified with a jelly like consistency, cut into cake like pieces and then had. My friend’s mom being aware of my Maggi Tiffin stealing ways used to send with him a concoction with tomato ketchup. Needless to say I foiled their attempts and acquired a taste for it as well. Sadly, I could never replicate the experiment at home. Try as I might, I couldn’t steal from myself.

Me and Maggi co-existed in a perfectly hunky-dory world. If you know your bollywood then this is the time a villain makes the entry. Nestle lost the plot. First they took away my favorite flavor of 'Sweet and Sour' closely followed by 'Capsicum'. It probably left a bitter taste in their accountant's mouth but oh what I would give for a Sweet and Sour Maggi right now! They tried to fix what wasn’t broken and gave new meaning to the adage “Hitting axe on your own foot”. So we had a new Maggi that tasted like bird dropping (this is where you think, “how does he know what bird droppings taste like?”) and started being used by Doctors to induce vomiting whenever medically required, e.g. when you voluntarily swallowed bird droppings.

Sales plummeted and no one in Nestle made fresh lime soda because they took a while to recover from the hangover. Lesson learnt, they redeemed themselves by bringing the old Maggi back and all hostelites past, present and from the future breathed a collective sigh of relief. But, it was too late for me. I had already crossed over to the dark side and Top Ramen was my new bed fellow. Tempted with its promises of international appeal, smoother flat noodles and spicier masala, I gave in. I couldn’t resist. I had a collection of digestive juices crying in my belly and I did not have anything to feed them with. Maggi eventually did forgive me as I forgave it, as one must forgive their first love, but the damage was done. Now I spend time alternately with both of them and we are a happy threesome.

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Don't lose your mind, lose your weight by Rujuta Diwekar - A Review

“Rujuta has not just changed my body but also my mind and soul. She is the best thing to have happened to my life!” - Kareena Kapoor

Wow, best thing to have happened to her life? Wonder what position Shahid, Saif and their likes have been relegated to. Jokes apart, when the poster child of stick thin figures makes a declaration like that everyone sits up and takes notice. I did and I am tempted to add my name to Bebo's quote there but I'll spare you the scandal. What you get instead are my thoughts on “Don't lose your mind, lose your weight”, the very effective health guide by “Rujuta Diwekar”.

    Bollywood has always dictated terms to the common man. From how to look and what to wear the general populace has followed it's screen idols blindly. So it doesn't come as a surprise that the current trend of six packs and zero size bikini figures has translated into a nation obsessed with achieving the same.

    One could fault Rujuta Diwekar from wanting to take advantage of the opportunity but she can be forgiven for the fact that she helped create it. Counting celebrity figures like Kareena Kapoor, Amrita Arora and Anil Ambani amongst her clients, if one's work is their calling card Rujuta definitely has arrived. Thankfully she does not sit in a high and mighty place charging fees to make you lose weight worrying about the amount. She reaches out to the common populace in this very useful book bringing high flying consultancy within our reach.

    So what does Rujuta have to say that one doesn't already know? Lots, I believe. The book offers some excellent insights in the area of weight management which when understood make you go, “damn, why didn't I think of that before?”. The very first and most important of which is the distinction between weight loss and fat loss. One could go on a crash diet and lose a lot of weight but might come out of it with an even higher fat percentage and lower bone density (a sure shot recipe for disaster). The intention should be to lose fat, what happens with your weight would be just incidental. A well muscled body with lower fat % and high body weight would still be considered more healthy than an anorexic with fat % in the 30's. Consequently it's important to measure body fat % and track changes in that instead of our normal weight measuring morning ritual.

    The book then follows to debunk the myths on fad diets that everyone indulges in, most common ones being, the compensation diet, detox diet, GM, dry fruit, orange juice diets and why never to go for any of them. Followed by a lot of interesting anecdotes from her personal experience and the experience of her celebrity clients drives home the point with effect. Subsequent chapters deal with adapting your lifestyle to your health needs with health needing to be the number one priority for everyone. Nuggets on what to eat and the basic dietary constituents like carbs, protein, fats, vitamins & minerals are dealt with exceedingly well. Chapters are followed with cheat sheets summarizing the content, while some of them come with a daily tracker to help track your diet. The writing is lucid and what makes it successful is that Rujuta is able to explain the most complicated concepts in a very “easy reading” way. It's a light snappy practical read with tonnes of useful information.

    I am almost tempted to type out the whole book for the benefit of readers here (Yes, I found it to be that good!) but our little remaining respect for Intellectual property rights being what it is, before I sign off I'll share some philosophies that really stood out as remarkable:

1. Track your fat % and not your weight. Weight is incidental. Concentrate on decreasing your fat content and increasing your lean body weight (muscle mass).
2. Eat global. When in Italy, eat pasta. A region's cuisine is developed to suit its climate which in turn helps your body keep balance with it.
3. Know your genes: Marwaris can get away with their high ghee diet. Everyone can't. Eat what your body has learnt to eat since childhood.
4. Eat small quantities as frequently as possible. This keeps your metabolism fired throughout the day resulting in more efficient calorie burning.
5. Cheat meals and high calorie foods if any should be in the first half of your waking day. This will give your body time to burn them off. Eating a pastry just before you sleep is going to get stored straight away as fat because while asleep your body has no use for that energy.
6. Eat your last meal at least two hours before you sleep. That gives your body time to digest the food.
7. If you took much on your plate and don't think you can finish it. Don't. Don't worry about insulting the food gods. You'll be insulting a higher temple if you overeat. Your body! You'll find enough hungry street children to earn favor with the almighty.
8. Water. Amrit. Nectar. Get it?
9. Last and most controversial one in my book because I haven't been able to follow it myself: Don't start your day with coffee or tea. An apple would serve the same purpose of waking you up as caffeine would.

    To sum it up, I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone because it is everyone's business to take care of their health and from what I have experienced after reading it, your's will be better off once you have done the same.

You can get it from Flipkart for Rs. 150/- at Rs. 50/- discount with free shipping!

OR

Get it from Amazon:

- Written and Published from my tiny Asus eee 701 4G. It feels like a marvel!

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Weight Loss

I am no stranger to weight issues. Being very skinny in my teens I wished nothing else but to bulk up and like most people I ended up with a paunch in my mid 20's. A recent road accident and the long period of inactivity that followed made me ring in 90 kg's on the scale and that served a good jolt to get back into shape. It's been 6 months since then and I am now much fitter and slimmer at 78. Though 12 kg's in 6 months is not a big achievement I know for sure that it's not a magic drop I achieved overnight and will gain back again the next day. A gradual weight loss is more permanent than an immediate one and without the vagaries of loose skin. This one is here to stay for life, to be maintained with a little bit of discipline and self control.

Daily compliments on the new me notwithstanding, I am constantly prodded for advice by those facing the same dilemma. And my advice to them is simple:

On a daily basis you need to burn more calories than you consume.

This is the magic mantra of them all. Every ab burner/cruncher, magic pill, diet program works on the same principle. Make the body dip into its fat reserves and burn them. Though this is a rule that only people wanting to lose weight need follow, everything else mentioned below can be imbibed by anyone wanting to lead a healthy active lifestyle. Any weight loss program can be divided into two sections, one on calorie intake and the other on burning them and here's my attempt:

Calorie Intake

Common sense dictates that lesser the calories consumed, lesser you'll have to burn to remain fit. A well balanced diet is recommended for everyone but what I want to touch upon is the things to avoid. Eliminating these items from your daily intake will immediately show results. One thing I do want to point out is that if you are used to consuming any items mentioned below on a daily basis, stopping them completely would be detrimental to what we are trying to achieve. Most of them are high on the "good for tongue" factor and if you starve yourself off them there's gonna be a taste bud mutiny and good chance for a complete relapse with vengeance. The best way to go about it is to slowly wean yourself off it by reducing the frequency of intake. Indulge in smaller portions of each listed item once every week or fortnight and you'll find it much easier to stick to the plan.

1) Refined flour (Maida): The bane of all things healthy. Avoid refined flour in all forms. It has almost nil nutritional value, be it naan, white bread, biscuits, pizza base or most Indian street food items made from it.

2) White Rice: Indian diet wouldn't be complete without this staple but when push comes to shove you gotta take the leap.

3) Deep fried: Items like samosa, vada pav, pakodas, papads. Fried potato in any form, chips, wafers. The farther you stay away from them the better.

4) Processed items with added sugar: Everyone has read those forward chain mails on the sugar content of colas but it's not just them. Most other cold drinks, fruit juices, snacks, cereals, chocolates, cakes and its variations in dessert have added sugar in varying forms that's just going to pile up useless calories on the body. Use your common sense and be sure to read the ingredient list before dropping an item into your super market shopping bag.

As mentioned before and I repeat again, an occasional indulgence needs to be there to maintain sanity and most of the items can be replaced by much healthier and equally well tasting options. Refined flour items with whole grain ones, fruit juices itself have much natural sugar that they can be consumed without any extra added, sugar free substitutes, soy milk products instead of dairy ones, fat free and low fat substitutes, margarine instead of butter and so on.

Burning Calories

At any given time while asleep or awake the body is burning calories. Just helping it catch up by reducing your calorie intake will help the cause but prodding it along by increasing the rate at which it does so is what will deliver those fantastic results. So, how does one do that? The most common and much ignored way is to exercise. It is imperative to sweat it out for half an hour daily. Be it brisk walking, jogging, swimming, active sports, lifting weights, incorporate whatever rocks your boat and you'll find yourself more energetic and upbeat for rest of the day.

A few other tips and tricks involve:

• Eating smaller portions more frequently (4-5 times a day). This will keep the digestion and metabolism process going on whole day ensuring more efficient calorie burn.
  
• Eating slowly to trick the body into feeling full. According to recent research by scientists at the University of Rhode Island, once you start eating a meal, a chemical signals the brain after 20 minutes that the stomach is full and it no longer has to feel hungry. The lesser quantity you eat before that full feeling the better.
  
• Drinking enough water to keep the body well hydrated. Water is the main element using which metabolism occurs and any lack of it will impact the process.
  
• Eating fresh fruits and vegetables. Not only will they substitute your meals as healthy alternatives they are rich in fiber. Fiber is a non-digestible carbohydrate and the body will spend a lot of calories in an attempt to digest it.
• Consuming items like Green Tea and Fish that are known to boost the metabolism rate besides the other health benefits they afford.
  

Please share your opinion on this post in the comments section.

Paintball Mania

Yesterday afternoon, 40 people descended on a dusty ground in Baner, Pune to do their thing with Paintball. Organized by TURZ (The Unbound Riderz), a motorcycle club in association with Headrush Paintball who were having their maiden event.

It was sweat, blood and gore for 6 hours in the scorching heat but I didn't hear anyone complain.

Follow the hyperlinks for more details.

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Electroluminescent T-shirt

How to be a hit at your local party circuit:

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Pune Central @ University Road

University Road has a new shopping destination in the form of "Central" which opened its second Pune store last week. It's the second honest shopping mall this side of the town after the first Shopper's Stop at Wakdewadi and snarling traffic jams at the Model Colony signal are already an indication of the time to come. What I am impressed with is that besides the usual domestic suspects Central also offers a very decent apparel collection from FCUK (French Connection), CK (Calvin Klein), Tommy Hilfiger, Bossini and a few other international brands.

Please share your opinion on this post in the comments section.

PC Buildoff

I finally have it. After months of research, driving cheap deals, inter-city purchases, I finally own a good enough machine to brag about. First of all, a big thanks to Abhishek Saigal, Abhijit Gupte, Hari Piparaiya and Sumant Gupta for sharing their very valuable comments and opinions with me. They helped me get back in sync with the murky world of PC Hardware. Here goes...

The pride of the configuration and the last item to be purchased is the above 19" wide screen black beauty. Viewsonic is slowly developing a repuation for making the most excellent of screens and this one is no different. Though you can get Viewsonic 19 inch widescreeners for less than 10k in the market, I spent a little bit extra to get one with a video response of 2ms and the option of both Digital (DVI-D) and Analog inputs.

Viewsonic VX1932wm - Rs. 10750/-
http://ap.viewsonic.com/in/products/productspecs.php?id=317

I picked up this wireless desktop beauty for scrap prices in Singapore. They must have had some problem with price labeling for sure. Despite a lot of negative feedback about battery problems with wireless systems, it's been two months now without any glitches.

Microsoft Wireless Desktop 4000 - 65s$ = Rs.1800

http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=057

This Zebronics ATX cabinet is the perfect combination of beauty and price. I suspected that the inbuilt 400W might not be enough juice, but its still holding.

ATX Cabinet Zebronics Diana - Rs. 1750/-
http://www.zebronics.net/gamingcabin.asp





AMD Athlon Dual Core 64 X2 running at 2.2 Ghz and 512KB L2 Cache each. This entry level dual core processor suffices the needs of a power user like me and as far as comparisons with Intel are concerned, the only thing going for Intel was longevity and with most systems being recycled in 3-4 years or so, the much cheaper AMD made more sense.

AMD 4200+ (For Pricing see next item)

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118,00.html

Again an entry level motherboard. It comes with an onboard 100Mbps Ethernet card, Integrated Realtek Soundcard and Nvidia chipset for onboard graphics and other riff raff. Very small and very cheap.

ASUS M2N-MX SE - Rs. 7150/- (Processor and Motherboard combo)
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=101&=345&l4=0&model=1647&modelmenu=1




Since the motherboard comes with only two memory slots, I went in for a single stick of 2gb ram to avoid future upgrade pains. It did turn out costlier than going in for two 1gb sticks.

Transcend 2GB RAM DDR2-667 (333Mhz) - Rs. 4950/-

The standard choice for most. I was tempted by the offerings of Western Digital but low stock availability at my vendor turned the tide in favor of Seagate.

Seagate Barracuda 250GB SATA (3gb/s, 8mb cache buffer) - Rs. 2800/-

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=aace27fc60322110VgnVCM100000f5ee0a0aRCRD&locale=en-US

The king of its kingdom. 20x DVD +R and -R, 8x DVD +R DL and -R DL Nuff said.

Liteon DVD RW LH20A1P - Rs. 1550/-
http://us.liteonit.com/us/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=203&Itemid=67

The second item I picked up from Singapore. The difference in picking the same from India is that it would be a thousand bucks costlier and a different brand. In hindsight I should have gotten it from India as I am missing out on the warranty in case something goes wrong. Since the 8600GTS is just an overclocked version with better cooling and I am not very big on FPS, this one made more sense. It comes with Dual DVI and TV out. Also, I no longer have to share video memory with my system.

Asus Nvidia EN8600GT (256MB DDR3) - 191S$ = Rs. 5304/- http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=2&=6&l3=514&l4=0&model=1812&modelmenu=1







Luminous UPS 750VA - Loan from uncle! - You Rock!

Total Damages = Rs. 36054/-

P.S. All prices are from august end and would surely have dropped further since then. If you avoid certain extravagances like the 19" WS, wireless desktop, graphics card, single 2gb ram stick, etc. a much cheaper and yet a contemporary system can be easily made.

The old mould:

Monitor: Samsung Samtron 55V 15" Colour CRT
Keyboard: TVS Gold PS/2 Mechanical Keyboard
Mouse: Logitech PS/2 Mechanical Scroll Mouse
Cabinet: Mercury ATX with 300W SMPS
Motherboard: Intel Desktop Board D845HV
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 1.5Ghz
RAM: 512MB SD RAM @ 133 Mhz
Display: Big 128MB Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 (1024 x 768 x 60 Hz)
N/W Adapter: Realtek RTL8139 PCI
Optical Drive 1: TSSTCorp CD/DVDTS-H552U
Optical Drive 2: Samsung CD-R/RW SW-252B
Hard Disk: Samsung SV4002H 40GB
UPS: Powersafe 600VA

Smelly Cat

Here are some perfumes that I have used over the years :

360º by Perry Ellis

360 degrees was one of my first perfumes and I really loved it.The smell of fresh fruit and citrus makes it a great summer perfume. Also, its one of the long lasting ones. I like perfumes with the least notes and this one has 6 in total. Citrus and Juniper Berry as the top note; Sage, cardamom and lavender in the middle followed by sensual woods as the base note.

Emporio Armani (He) by Giorgio Armani

A very surprising perfume as the base notes take their own time to come out but once they do you can make out the absolute difference. The scent has a moderate strength and is very woody. Its great for an evening out. Top notes are Yuzu, Sage and Cardamom; Vetiver in the middle and finally the full deal in the base with Cedarwood, Guaiacwood, Sandalwood and Musk.

L'eau Bleue D'Issey Pour Homme by Issey Miyake

Issey Miyake is the king of the strength game. His perfumes last the whole day and makes women go weak in the knees. Okay I made that one up, but L'eau Bleue D'Issey is a very magnetic scent. If L’Eau d’Issey was unusual by most standards then this one branches out furthur on its own. You have rosemary, lemongrass, ginger, anise and lemon fighting for your attention in the beginning until they give way to a bit of floral and rose bouquet in the middle. In the end its just a clean fresh soapy albeit heavy scent that follows you around all the time to the point of being oppressive at times. However, it remains my favourite by a big margin.

Bvlgari Pour Homme Soir by Bvlgari

What? Where did it go? That was my reaction half an hour into the application. Skin types notwithstanding this is the fastest disappearing perfume I have had. Infact had I not bought it from Changi Duty Free, I would have almost believed myself to be cheated with a fake imitation. Said to be the richest and most sophisticated amongst the Bvlgari pour homme collection, this one is a complete bummer.

Boss Soul by Hugo Boss

One word. Spice. A recent purchase after the disappointment of Bvlgari, I couldn't be more satisfied. It is quite complex unlike my tastes but I find myself liking it a lot. Opening with Mandarin, Bergamot, Black pepper, Anise and Cardamom which collectively give the spice rush, they give way to Nutmet blossom, Lavender, Coriander Seeds and Cinnamon in the middle. Maybe that explains my affinity for it, cause I can't resist cinnamon in any form. The perfume lasts long and it finally settles down to strains of Vetiver, Vanilla, Tonka, Amber, Musks and Tamboti Wood. In addition to everything else, it lasts long, really long, and I like that in a perfume.

Probable Future Acquisitions:

Echo by Davidoff

Body Kouros by YSL

Converse "Chuck Taylor" All Star Hi Top

Converse has been a legendary brand within the United States but hardly known outside it. They started operations in 1908 and were majorly involved in manufacturing basketball shoes under the sub brand of "All Star". Converse held the position of being the official shoe of NBA for many years before being upstaged by the likes of Nike, Reebok and Adidas.

They filed for bankruptcy in 2001 and were bought out by Nike in 2003, under whom they have seen a revival of sorts.

The Chuck Taylor branding refers to the basketball player who worked with them as an ambassador to promote the shoe. His name has been added to the "All Star" patch since 1923.

I finally got my blue Hi Tops at a fabulous sale in Singapore. I had wanted red but they didn't have any in my size, so that! However, I am now a proud owner of the famous chucks and intend to make the most out of them.

Askmen.com's Fall Fashion Preview

For everything a man should know about fashion:

http://www.askmen.com/microsites/2007_fall_fashion_preview/

P.S. Check out the book style presentation with folding pages