Monthly Archives: January 2011

Players throw the dice in favour of Kavade

January 27, 2011 – 9:11 am

by Sajita Krishnan WHAT’S HAPPENING Old is gold. But here, this wealth refers to a piece of wood and a few seashells to make a game. Traditional games are a relic of the past for Gen Xers addicted to TV, playstations and computer games. Kavade (meaning cowrie shells in the south Indian language Kannada), a […]

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Single-parent vacations take off in India

January 27, 2011 – 9:08 am

by Kiran Manral WHAT’S HAPPENING It is no longer unusual among urban affluent families to take parent-and-child-only vacations, minus the second spouse. Mothers are taking their kids out on solo vacations — from the domestic to the most exotic foreign locales — and without waiting for their spouses to rearrange their busy work schedules. The growing number of […]

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Restaurants add a dash of DIY; diners are finding it finger-lickin’ good

January 27, 2011 – 9:01 am

by Guarav De WHAT’S HAPPENING A number of restaurants in metros are letting guests do their own cooking, in part. While the concept has been prevalent in the West for some time (think rustling up some creative delicacies in Korean and Asian cuisines), more and more consumers are opening up to ‘cooking’ some of their […]

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Retro makes a comeback in party themes

January 27, 2011 – 8:52 am

by Kiran Manral WHAT’S HAPPENING With Bollywood films like ‘Action Replayy’, ‘Once Upon a Time in Mumbai’ and ‘Om Shanti Om’ bringing back the Swinging Sixties and the Disco Seventies, retro fashion is all the current flavour. From upteased contemporary variants of the bouffants, to the poker-straight centre-parted hair to the Cleopatra eyeliner and the […]

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HITTING THE LAST NOTE IN HINDUSTANI CLASSICAL MUSIC?

January 27, 2011 – 8:44 am

by Sumaa Tekur For most of today’s consumers of Indian culture, Hindustani classical music started and ended with Pandit Bhimsen Joshi. Listeners may not have caught all the nuances of ‘Miyan Ki Malhar’, Joshi’s most melodious classical rendition, but nevertheless, his rich baritone swept anyone in earshot into an ethereal world. Pt Bhimsen Joshi’s passing […]

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L.A. discounts the arts for a month

January 26, 2011 – 9:19 am

by Abelardo de la Pena Jr. WHAT’S HAPPENING L.A.’s Music Center, usually a nighttime attraction, was a beehive of arts, culture and acrobatics on a recent wintry afternoon as government and cultural leaders launched L.A. Arts Month (Iconoculture observation, 5 January 2011). It’s a promotion encouraging residents and visitors to seek out cultural experiences in […]

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New York Times-backed mag targets 60something Boomers

January 26, 2011 – 9:15 am

by Cree McCree WHAT’S HAPPENING Life begins at 65. As the Boomer hordes start to tackle tough aging issues — health, relationships, housing, money — the New York Times aims to lend a hand with Your Guide to Better Living, a print magazine and website launching on March 1, 2011. Premiering in Sarasota, FL (a […]

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Gift card in a cup? Inhabitat suggests torquing Starbucks’ eco-friendly mug

January 26, 2011 – 9:08 am

by Tory Davis WHAT’S HAPPENING Inhabitat, a blog written by a green-minded design and architecture team, has an idea for Starbucks’ newly improved, stainless steel, no-spill reusable coffee mug: Why not build in a barcode that could be scanned like a gift card? (Inhabitat.com, 8 December 2010). Pre-paid gift cards are a notable portion of […]

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Baby burp on your shoulder: Target gets it

January 26, 2011 – 9:01 am

by Sarah Barker WHAT’S HAPPENING Goodbye, pristine mom calmly cuddling blue-eyed baby; hello, real world. Target’s new baby ads, dubbed Big Baby Billboard, focus on the chaos and absurdity of parenting (AdAge.com, 29 December 2010). Responding to parent research, Target moved from idealism to realism in their advertising, focusing on the baby rather than the […]

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WE ARE ALL TOM CRUISE NOW

January 26, 2011 – 8:51 am

by Robert van Alstyne As recently as 2002, which saw the release of sci-fi flick Minority Report, the thought of complex technology being swiftly responsive to human voice and gestures was seen as hyper-futuristic fantasy. Judging by the innovations showed off at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, though, the future is coming early. The Xbox […]

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Dial a doc: M-health set to take off in India

January 19, 2011 – 3:29 pm

by Anindita Sengupta WHAT’S HAPPENING Indians will soon be able to get medical care on their mobile phones. Leading hospital chain the Apollo Group is ready to roll out m-health services in Chennai and Kolkata this month. They will provide a host of real-time services, including first-level care through junior doctors in telecentres. Areas include […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Health/Beauty, India, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Daily SMS update on veggie prices from Hopcoms for Bangaloreans

January 19, 2011 – 3:25 pm

by Sumaa Tekur WHAT’S HAPPENING When onion prices hit the roof — and tomato prices followed — toward the end of 2010, there was no bigger talking point than veggies in urban middle class homes. The latest technology-enabled service by Hopcoms (Horticultural Producers Cooperative Marketing and Processing Society) in Bangalore couldn’t have come at a […]

By Iconoculture | Posted in Consumer Trend, Food/Beverage, India, Money/Spending, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off

Passport to a green, green world: The e-way to reduce carbon footprints

January 19, 2011 – 3:22 pm

by Rohini Haldea WHAT’S HAPPENING Indian consumers can calculate — to the last detail — the size of the carbon footprint they are leaving on Mother Earth. All they need is an Enviro Passport or E-Passport, part of a programme launched by the Rotary Club of Bombay. This facility helps users calculate, and manage, their carbon footprints through the […]

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Good as gold: CBSE brings behaviour assessment to the forefront

January 19, 2011 – 3:17 pm

by Anindita Sengupta WHAT’S HAPPENING Being on their best behaviour pays off for CBSE students. The Central Board of Secondary Education has a new continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) scheme which grades students on behaviour and values. Students giving their Class 10 exams are marked on a three-point scale (A+, A and B) on these […]

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Of unshaken faith, and a cosmic calling card

January 19, 2011 – 3:09 pm

by Sumaa Tekur There’s a faith magnet perched atop the Sahyadri Mountains in the Western Ghats of south India. Devotion to Lord Ayyappa, the idol in the Sabarimala temple here, attracts pilgrims by the millions (3 million to 4 million annually is a conservative estimate) each year between November and January, when its doors are […]

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