Smartbuy issue dated March 23, 2011

Smartbuy Business Line

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A U T O |

It’s getting HOT! Spring Summer 2011 fashion Page 14

L U X U R Y

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>REVIEWS<

G A D G E T S

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Indica eV2 Nokia X3-02 Infibeam Pi 2

WHAT’S HOT this week

Team Smartbuy

Oh so tempting!

Editorial Anushya Mamtora

HTC Desire Z

anushya@thehindu.co.in

Ketaki Bhojnagarwala ketaki@thehindu.co.in

ramdiwakar@thehindu.co.in

The new Android-based smartphone from HTC, the Desire Z, features a 3.7-inch touch screen and an unique ‘pop hinge’ that opens to reveal a dedicated QWERTY keyboard for quick texting and emails.

The handset runs on a 800MHz Qualcomm 7230 processor for improved performance and comes with a 5-meg clicker that also lets you capture HD videos.

Web Advertising Contact

Rs 25,590

Mahananda Bohidar mahananda@thehindu.co.in

S. Muralidhar muraliswami@thehindu.co.in

Design Bryan Gaughan aqua@thehindu.co.in

Balakrishnan designkbala@thehindu.co.in

Advertising Contact R. Diwakar

N. Amarnath amarnath@thehindu.co.in

www.blsmartbuy.com Become a fan of our Facebook page: BL Smartbuy Follow us on Twitter

Cover photo: Arpan Vohra, LFW 2011

New-age communication Nokia E7 Nokia launches the ramped up avatar of the Connector Nokia E7 – an all-in-one business phone. The smartphone features a 4-inch touch screen and a slide-out four-row QWERTY keypad.

The device supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync apart from offering pre-loaded apps like Mail for Exchange, IBM Lotus Notes Traveler, Quick office Dynamic Premium, Vlingo, Adobe PDF reader and F-Secure anti-theft software and Nokia Ovi Maps with free GPS navigation.

Cool like that! Logitech N120 This sleek and silent cooling pad from Logitech is USB-powered, and low power consumption makes it energy efficient. It uses rear air intake for a steady airflow, and its durable construction protects the internal fan from dust and damage. It is compatible with laptops with screen size up to 39 cm.

Rs 29,999

Rs 1,195

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Whisper on

The whole wide world Nikon P300

Plantronics M100

This compact digicam from Nikon features an ultra fast f/1.8 lens with a range of 24mm to 100mm, perfect for wide-angle shots. The camera is equipped with a number of scene modes, including a Night Landscape mode for great night shots, as well as a Backlighting mode for shooting high-contrast scenes. There’s also a panorama mode and filter effects. It records home videos in full HD, along with stereo sound too.

Rs 19,950

The new Bluetooth headset from Plantronics comes with dual microphones and technology that cancels background noise. It automatically adjusts sound levels and works towards ‘Wind noise’ reduction and echo cancellation as well. The lightweight headset also gives you voice alerts to announce status on talk time, volume, mute and serves up to 15 hours on a full charge.

Rs 4,199

Perfect projections BenQ MX660 This sleek and shiny projector from BenQ features XGA resolution and 3,200 ANSI lumens.

With a high contrast ratio of 5000:1, it can be used in a variety of settings. It features USB display and Wireless display, making it easy to connect up. The provision of an USB reader means you don’t need to hook up your PC, and there’s also 3D ready projection.

Rs 46,347

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E-READER review

Reason enough to go Mahananda Bohidar t’s easily been a couple of years since the Kindles and Nooks saw the light of the day, but the e-book reader market is growing rapidly despite the onslaught of the tablet and the smartphone. The major players are making minor tweaks and changes to duplicate the experience (read pleasure) of reading a book as efficiently as possible. The Infibeam Pi was the first e-reader to be offered by an Indian company. It recently launched an upgraded version, the Infibeam Pi 2.

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First impressions The Infibeam Pi 2 (pronounced Pi Square) is a pleasant surprise with its slim form factor and near-weightlessness as compared to some other e-book readers in the market. The slim, black body houses the Power button on the top left and as you switch it on you have a matrix of options displayed for you to choose from.

Before you start playing around with the Menu, you might want to calibrate the touch screen (with the stylus lodged in the upper right corner). Once you are done with this, you are set to navigate through the e-book reader which is currently the first Indian e-book reader with touch capabilities.

The touch experience exceeded our expectations; it was smooth and accurate.

Initially, the response time taken to open an e-book title or even flip from one page to another was much more than we had anticipated. However, this turned out to be just an initial hiccup as the lag was reduced considerably once we’d started using it after a full charge.

Hands on The device itself feels like a portable eavatar of ‘Reader’s Digest’ in your hands.

The sleek body has a faux leather-like feel on the back panel. The fascia of the ereader has a circular D-pad below the 6inch screen, with two more buttons on either side of it to help you navigate through the device. At the bottom is the 3.5 mm jack, into which you can plug in a pair of headphones whenever you want to listen to audio books or music stored in the device. Next to it is the mini USB connector which you can use to charge the built-in Li-Polymer battery or transfer e-books or other media on to the device.

Our review unit came pre-loaded with a number of titles. From the long list of e-

books – a collection of the top 100 titles from www.gutenberg.org - we picked ‘A Study in Scarlet’ by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to flag off our hands-on experience.

As we got hooked on to the novel that was the world’s first acquaintance with the

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eccentric, cigar-smoking Brit genius, we found it easy to immerse ourselves in the plot not just due to the gripping storyline but also because the non-backlit E-ink display was easy on the eyes.

The pages loaded quickly as we swiped

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through the detective’s workings.

The auto-rotation option was conspicuous by its absence. Every time we wanted to switch from portrait mode to landscape or vice versa we had to choose ‘Settings’ and select the ‘Rotate’ option.

digital? Infibeam Pi 2 fibeam Pi 2 and connected to the Infibeam web site. We looked for a couple of titles, most of which were available in digital formats for download. However, the web site does not have any free e-books for you to download which is a negative considering its competitor on the home ground – the Wink XTS – has a section full of free e-books on its virtual store.

Inbuilt apps When you want to take a break from reading, you can jog your grey cells with the in-built Sudoku in the Pi 2. The touch experience makes the game easy to play but considering the speed (or the lack of it) at which the device processes your moves, chances are you might get bored of it sooner than you think. You also have a ‘Notebook’ app in case you want to quickly jot down a couple of points but it suffers from the same issues as the game.

The Infibeam Pi 2 also has a ‘Picture’ app that can display .jpeg, .bmp, .png and .gif files. We transferred a couple of digital colour photographs and the e-reader displayed them (obviously in black and white) but the 8-greyscale display doesn’t really help the cause.

Performance

Photo: S.S. Kumar

However, what definitely came as a surprise was a pinch-to-zoom on the resistive touch screen. Albeit a little slow, the option worked quite well, saving us the bother of popping up the Menu to tweak the text size. Each time we ‘pinched’ the touch

screen it efficiently auto-scaled the font size.

The Infibeam Pi 2, being an e-reader of Indian make, supports e-books in a host of Indian languages. We loaded the epic ‘Devdas’ by Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay in

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Hindi. The font displayed without any errors, making this feature a great plus for avid vernacular bibliophiles.

Downloading e-books We activated the Wi-fi option in the In-

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You can charge the Infibeam Pi 2 by plugging in the mini USB in its micro-adapter slot and once fully charged, the e-book reader easily went on for more than a week before it showed a 50 per cent drop in power; this with a little more than an hour of reading every day, pretty close to the company’s claim of the battery holding out till almost 8,000 page reads.

The internal memory of the Infibeam Pi 2 is about 2GB which would let you load thousands of e-books and audio books, but if you are an even more voracious reader, there is an external SD card slot expandable up to 32GB. The Infibeam Pi 2 supports around 15 Indian languages including Sanskrit and Hindi and a host of e-book formats - .pdf, .epub, .html, .txt, .rtf, .mobi, .prc, .doc.

The e-book reader comes with a 1-year exclusive warranty that will not come to the rescue if you happen to crack the screen.

Love: Multi-gesture touch screen, supports Indian languages Hate: Annoying lags, no gyro-sensor Rs 11,999 mahananda@thehindu.co.in

PHONE review

Nokia X3-02: Fuss-free and feature heavy Photo: S.S. Kumar

Ketaki Bhojnagarwala n our review of the Dell Venue Pro, we mentioned that a touch screen and physical keypad was the way to go for smartphones. Nokia has taken this design mantra and applied it to its mid-range phones, the X3-02 and C3-01 – calling it the Touch and Type technology. This week, we took on the X3-02 to find out if this trend is here to stay.

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First impressions The X3-02 is a beautifully designed phone. Weighing just 77g, it’s incredibly light. It’s also very thin, which makes it really easy to slip the handset even into your skinny jeans pocket. We got a white-bodied unit, which looked very sophisticated, but the phone is also available in Petrol Blue, Dark Metal, Lilac and Pink.

Compared to the handset’s overall dimensions, we felt that the 2.4-inch screen was large. Our only gripe was that it’s a resistive touch screen, which is quite archaic. While it is much improved compared to the resistive screens of yore, it still isn’t as smooth as a capacitive screen, and we had some issues when it came to scrolling.

The keypad on this phone is an alpha-numeric one, with four rows and four columns of buttons. The first row has a call and end button on the extreme ends, and the middle two buttons are for messaging and music, which were handy and often-used shortcuts. However, they are dedicated function keys, and cannot be swapped.

Nokia has added an extra column of buttons to the keypad, which include the space button and the ‘Silence’ button. This spaces out the keypad nicely and makes it feel quite roomy. The keys are large and we were able to type out text messages really fast using the T9 dictionary.

The rear side of the phone has a pop-out silver panel which houses the battery. There is also a 5-megapixel

camera, but no flash. The top has a 3.5-mm headphone jack, charging port as well as mini-USB port. We were pleased to find out that the phone can also charge via USB, which is really useful.

The sides hold a volume rocker switch as well as a button to lock the screen, but no dedicated camera button.

User Interface The phone runs on the outdated Series 40 interface, but it seems to work rather well on a touch screen. Of course, the downside is that there’s only a single home screen, even though customisations are possible. The home screen has a bar on top with the time and date. Below that is a favourites bar, to which you can add four contacts, with photos. There’s a shortcut bar to which you can add any application, and ours had Mail configured. There’s also a bar for widgets, which can also be customised with the programs you choose. Further down on the home screen is a standard bar which holds three buttons, for Menu, Names and Go To. The last brings up a list of functions at a glance, including Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The phone is also 3G enabled, which is great considering even the Nokia C3 doesn’t have the feature.

have to download a third party client like Snaptu from the Ovi Store, or use the mobile versions of the sites. We loaded Facebook on the phone using the touch version of the site, and it was pretty easy to navigate.

The Opera Mini browser functioned quite well, and we were able to load the Smartbuy website in a couple of seconds on a GPRS connection. The phone doesn’t support pinch to zoom, but you can use double tap if you want to magnify the screen.

The phone comes preloaded with Mail and Nokia Chat.

It took us just a couple of minutes to set up our Gmail account. The Nokia Messaging Service 3.0 functions as push mail, so you get alerts when you get a new email.

Performance Call quality on the handset was average. We had some issues with the network dropping, and occasionally callers on the other end complained that they couldn’t hear us for the first couple of seconds. The speaker also has to be positioned exactly at your ear, because if it moves even slightly the conversation is barely audible.

Battery life, as with all Nokia phones, was excellent on the X3-02. We didn’t have to even look at our charger for two days, despite heavy talktime and browsing.

Media The phone has an inbuilt media player, which displays your music list along with album art. The phone was supplied with a pair of in-ear noise cancelling headphones, which were of excellent quality. There’s also FM radio. The camera is a 5-megger, but images looked quite washed out. It did function pretty well in low light though, which was impressive. Photos are displayed as a timeline, so you can navigate by date. You can also browse through them by swiping the screen.

The phone has no default SNS apps – so you’ll either

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Our Verdict With its sleek looks and touch and type combo, the Nokia X3-02 is bound to have a lot of takers. It’s the perfect upgrade for people looking to change their basic phone, who don’t want all the fuss that comes with a feature heavy smartphone.

Love: Slim build, long battery life Hate: Resistive touch screen, outdated OS Rs 8,839 ketaki@thehindu.co.in

>>> Also consider Nokia C3-01 The Nokia C3-01 was launched simultaneously with the X3-02, and also features the Touch and Type technology. Both phones have identical hardware and features, with the only difference being the style. At 100g, the C3-01 is slightly heavier. It has rounded edges but isn’t as slim. Unlike the X3-02, it features only a Call and End key, with no dedicated shortcut keys.

It has a 2.4-inch resistive touch screen, supports HSPA network, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, and 3G. A 5-meg camera with 4x zoom, 3.5mm headphone jack and memory expandable up to 32GB are other features on offer.

The phone is also based on the Series 40 interface. It is available in Warm Grey, Silver and Khaki Gold.

Rs 9,389

6 steps to protect your phone Ketaki Bhojnagarwala oday, mobile phones have become as much a part of our lives as our computers.

Often, not only do they house all our contacts, but also our email, social network accounts, photos and important documents. Here’s a list of ways you can protect your data in case of theft or loss.

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1. Lock the SIM card SIM cards usually come with a PIN or PUK code. In case you lose your phone, you can use this code to block your SIM card. The PIN is a Personal Identification Number which you can activate or inactivate. A PIN2 code is a secondary layer of protection, which functions the same way as a PIN code.

In case an incorrect PIN code is entered repeatedly, your phone may request a PUK code (Personal Unblocking Key). This is an 8-digit code provided by your service provider.

2. Use a security code You can also choose to enter a security code for your phone. This is different from a PIN code – it prevents unauthorised access to your phone. In case of Nokia phones, the default security code is 12345.

3. Set a remote lock password In case your phone gets misplaced, you can also remotely lock it. Set your remote lock password on your phone, and in an unfortunate event, simply text it to your phone. This will lock both the phone and the memory card.

4. Protect your memory card You can also safeguard the data on your memory card by locking it with a password.

While you won’t need to enter the password every time you use it on your phone, you will need to punch it in to use it on a different handset.

5. Make a note of your IMEI number IMEI stands for International Mobile Equipment Identity. This is a 15-digit unique code provided for all phones on the GSM network. You can retrieve your IMEI code by punching in ‘#06#’ on your phone. Make a note of this number as soon as you get the phone, as it is useful for the authorities and your service provider to track the phone.

6. Safeguard against viruses A relatively new hazard to mobile phone users are viruses. While you might be familiar with computer viruses, dealing with a mobile phone virus is a completely different ball game. Here’s what you can do to tackle the situation.

Firstly, disable your Bluetooth, or make your phone invisible. Never download a Bluetooth file from a source that you’re unsure of or not expecting. In case you find that someone is repeatedly trying to send you a file, turn off Bluetooth or simply move away – once you’re out of radius there’s no danger.

Secondly, never download apps from file-sharing websites. Use only trusted sources, like the Android Market, App Store, Ovi Store or Windows Marketplace. In case your phone gets infected by a virus, you might have to reinstall the OS, or do a factory reset of your phone. The best bet would be to install a mobile phone anti-virus like Kaspersky to prevent any infection.

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AUTO focus

More than skin deep eVolution

Photos: S. Muralidhar

S. Muralidhar he introduction of the Vista contributed significantly towards boosting the image of the Indica brand, making it much more appealing to individual buyers than ever before. The Indica V2, in the meanwhile, was finding it tougher to grab the attention of the family man.

Tata Motors’ engineers recognised the need for reworking the equation of the Indica V2, to ensure that it got a bit more comfortable to drive, became more fuel efficient and of course, met the new BS IV emission norms, which the previous version failed to do. It was a good time for the V2’s entire packaging to be given a bit of a makeover.

So, the evolution, quite literally too, comes in the form of the Indica eV2. Much of the work for the eV2 is focused on improving the driveability and efficiencies based largely on feedback received by Tata Motors from current owners of the V2.

The profile of these owners indicated that they mostly use the car for long trips or for heavy duty usage, and these included both institutional and individual users, according to Tata Motors. Feedback was mapped to profile the driving habits of these users and the data was then used to tweak the engine to ensure better fuel efficiency – a trait that continues to be the topmost in the minds of most users in this segment.

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Inside and out But first, though Tata engineers didn’t change the design of the V2 much, they focused on improving the aerodynamic efficiency of the car and in reducing weight, so that there is an immediate beneficial side-effect in the

form of improved mileage.

To improve aerodynamics, the front bumper has been slightly redesigned and the wheel arches have been dumped for a simpler, smoother side profile. The eV2’s redesign is said to have been inspired by the European Rover CityRover’s design. The new look is meant to improve the stance and appearance, especially the much criticised part about the location of the tyres when compared to the rest of the body.

The other exterior changes include a set of new decals

that adorn the door panels, a slightly reworked tail-lamp combination, new set of alloys and front and rear fog lamps. The body shell of the new eV2 is also said to be lighter than the predecessor’s.

The interior of the eV2 gets a new shadow beige colour theme and the top (LX) trim gets central locking, front power windows, Bluetooth-enabled music system and wood inserts in the centre console.

New diesel engine The bigger change in the eV2 is in the new diesel engine.

The eV2 gets a new 1,396cc, CR4 common rail diesel engine. While being more frugal and BS IV compliant, the engine also offers big boosts to the power and torque it delivers. The engine, getting its boost from the addition of a turbocharger and an intercooler, now generates a healthy 70 PS of peak power at 4,000 rpm (about 30 per cent over the BS III version) and about 140 Nm of peak torque from as low as 1,800 rpm, which is a 65 per cent increase.

The new engine has retuned to offer ample support for city and highway driving, with most of the focus being on delivering more mileage, which is now claimed to be 24 per cent higher at 25 kmpl (as certified by ARAI). Improvements to the performance and driveability has also been achieved by tweaking the settings to the engine management system to calibrate various functions, based on feedback from an array of sensors such as the engine speed sensor, throttle position sensor and the gear sensor.

Changes that the EMS effects are said to include valve timing, compression ratios and pressure volume ratios.

The engine block and piston assembly design has also

been changed marginally to improve air intake and circulation of charge for better combustion. The resultant improvement is reflected in the loads of toque available at the low end. Also helping the eV2’s slow speed performance are the taller gear ratios in the five-speed manual gearbox. I drove the car mostly in city conditions and the improved driveability is immediately evident, with fewer gear shifts and quicker acceleration in each slot. There is a bit of turbo-lag, but nothing too distracting.

Verdict But, there are other areas of improvement that could have been considered. The engine is still a bit noisy and a considerable amount of it seeps into the passenger cabin. The clutch is not very progressive and the car still tends to lurch, unless the clutch pedal is held depressed well into the gear change. Some of the other issues that I thought could have been addressed include the fact that the brake pedal and throttle are set too close to each other despite there being considerable real estate in the area. Plastic quality continues to be poorer than in competing cars, and in the absence of seat height adjustment, the eV2’s drive position was uncomfortably high.

But, the new eV2 is offered at very attractive price points starting from Rs 3.95 lakh to Rs 4.77 lakh for the CR4 diesel and ranging from Rs 2.95 lakh to Rs 3.58 lakh for the petrol variants (Indica eV2 XETA). muraliswami@thehindu.co.in

RESTAURANT review

Margo Towie iya, the Mumbai restaurant of Michelin-starred chef Vineet Bhatia, is trying to adopt the European habit of serving diners their own plates of food in a country where curries, dals and biryanis are usually shared.

Judging by the waiter’s long explanation of this idea to a large family group, it’s going to be uphill work.

Ziya, from a Hindi word meaning light and splendour, opened last April in the Oberoi, where terror attacks killed 37 people in 2008. The hotel was Mumbai-raised Bhatia’s training ground as a chef before he moved to London and won his first star in 2001 for Zaika and a second for Rasoi five years later.

At Rs 13,000 for dinner for two with wine, Ziya is one of India’s most expensive establishments, and a similar meal at his London restaurant would set you back about the same amount. Bhatia, who jets in and out to check his standards are maintained, describes its cuisine of dishes such as lamb with potatoes, black lentils and roti as “evolved Indian food.”

The ambience created by light-backed latticed screens, high gold-painted ceilings and yellow-hued table settings is reminiscent of the chambers of a Mughal emperor’s palace. Window tables in the 74-seater mezzanine-level restaurant look out to the Arabian Sea and the bay-hugging avenue known as the Queen’s Necklace for its glittering street lights. Those seated away from the windows can watch chefs work behind a glass wall.

Turning up without a booking on a Friday night, my guest and I were placed at one of several spacious window tables for four. Even with the family and tourist

perfectly seared liver’s pairing with spices and a fennel salad gave an unconventional sweet-and-sour punch that didn’t disappoint.

An orchestral arrangement of flavours that defined the perfect comfort food came in a plate of tandoori-baked lamb chops with mashed potatoes, samosa, mint jus and lemongrass foam.

For me, the highlight was one of Bhatia’s signature dishes that goes way back to his first Michelin star at Zaika, grilled lobster on a bed of broccoli amid a moat of spicy lobster jus. Dusted over at the table with cocoa, the medley of flavours was startlingly tasty and the flesh, tender and moist.

Ziya isn’t perfect. A glass of Champagne should have been colder, a paneer and spinach entree seemed mismatched with its accompaniments, and a grilled pineapple dessert was nothing to write home about. The room strikes some as stark.

By contrast, the service is as close as it gets to perfection, with explanations that took me from quail hunting in Rajasthan to lotus ponds in Karnataka.

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Photos: Bloomberg

Ziya, Upper Lobby Level, The Oberoi Mumbai

London style in ‘amchi’ Mumbai groups filling long tables across the large room, it was pleasantly quiet and private, a respite from a noisy, chaotic city.

The Indian background music had thankfully been turned down from one earlier visit, when we’d had to raise our voices to be heard.

Miniature Painting Bhatia is known for pairing traditional tastes with new techniques, and Ziya features many of his signature dishes, each as artistically composed as a Mughal miniature painting. The menu is extensive, with wide choices for vegetarians in a city where about one in two people don’t eat meat.

Among the starters, the wild-mushroom risotto-like khichdi, topped with tomatoand-butter ice cream and a razor-thin

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plume of lotus stem, appeared as a culinary and visual work of art that went down deliciously with a crisp Pouilly-Fuisse.

The crunchy roti-wrapped prawns, white tomato soup and little frozen cubes of Bloody Mary flavoured jelly were an outstanding trilogy of contrasting textures and tastes.

The wine tasting list is good value with seven course- matching servings from around the world (Rs 2,900). Local choices are the most wallet-friendly option for bottles, thanks to India’s hefty duties. Grover’s La Reserve (Rs 2,900), from the Nandi hills around Bangalore, is a decent blend of Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon that pairs well with the food.

Comfort Food As an unashamed lover of foie gras, the

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Cost? Dinner for two is Rs 13,000, including wine Sound level? Loudish at lunch, subdued at dinner Inside tip? Window seat looking down Marine Drive by night, chef’s view by day Special feature? Foie gras, latticed screens Business meetings? Yes, it’s discreet enough Date place? Yes (The author is an editor at Bloomberg News.

Opinions expressed are her own.)

MELANGE luxury redefined

Gliding through An ‘eye pencil with the application of a liquid eye liner’ is Colorbar’s contribution to the cosmetic kit. The I-Glide eye pencils now come in new shades, Flirty Turq, Passionately Gold and Coal Mine and can be picked up at its store in Select Citywalk, New Delhi and other select outlets.

Rs 325

iPad fashion Fendi lets you flash your iPad in style by slipping it into the fashion brand’s glamorous range of covers. Cheery yellow, classic black, vibrant indigo and violet, take your pick from the Fendi store in Emporio Mall, New Delhi.

Rs 5,850

Pep it up!

Liven up your wardrobe with s.Oliver’s Spring Summer 2011 collection. From patterned Bermudas for men to Ballerina’s for women, the collection is choc-a-bloc with summery hues. Head to its stores for more.

Rs 499 to Rs 9,999

The O factor Ozone we mean. The brand’s newest includes Acne Healing, Complexion Brightening, Nourishing Skin Essentials, Perfect Skin Tone and Wrinkle Combat lines and is available at select outlets.

Price on request

The magic of five Panchpushp facial tonic mist and replenishing facial gel is the latest from Forest Essentials to add to your beauty regimen. With the goodness of rose, ‘kewda’, saffron, ‘bela’, jasmine and marigold, the products are available at its outlets across India.

Rs 750 (mist) and Rs 975 (gel)

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CENTRE of attraction

Leggy models for your living room

Unique monumental Louis XVI style giltwood centre table with a brèche violet marble top by François Linke

Whether you use it for your hot cuppa and the morning paper, or decorate it with scented candles and potpourri, there’s nothing like letting your centre table alone do all the talking. ANUSHYA MAMTORA scouts around for some of the most interesting and unique centre tables to flaunt

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he sofas may be plush and the drapes sheer and lovely. But there’s nothing like an appropriate centre table to do wonders for your living room.

And we are not talking about the regulars here, but breathtaking models that maybe minimalist or grand, and will make you sit back and enjoy their cleverness or craftsmanship.

There are many kinds you can choose from, depending on the décor. A traditional Colonial setup can sport some exquisite carved wooden or metal ones, a modern chic living room can use the play of glass and wood and slick designs team well with contemporary décor.

tables that carve out the whole body of the animal, usually in caricature form. It can either be played up on the legs or at the centre stand that further extends into the four legs.

But bringing realism into your living room are life-sized sculptures in wood, metal or glass, paired usually with a glass top so that all of the legs are visible. Turtles, ducks, swans are popular options and take room décor to a whole new level. While cabriole legs can be found in most furniture stores, it’s best to look at exclusive brands and sculptors for other styles.

Wonderful wildlife Cabriole tables, which feature the hind legs of an animal as the legs of the furniture, is perhaps the simplest way to incorporate your favourite animal in your centre table. The effect can be dramatic depending on the details of the ‘leg’ and the intricacy of the carving. Some common ones include the traditional ‘ball and claw’ symbol at the end of the foot; tiger, lion, elephant legs, bird claws and slithering snakes too.

If you are willing to experiment further, you can opt for

Elegant carved wood centre table from The Great Eastern Home

Baroque and all things grand Introduced in the reign of King Louis XIV in France, Baroque décor is ostentatious and has found appeal in Indian homes too. If you have a grandeur setting, then it’s even more important to have a centre table that befits the rest of the furniture, or perhaps, outdo them all. Expressing drama and exuberance, a Baroque centre table is eye catching in its exquisite carving and craftsmanship, but seldom over the top. It is usually in brass or giltwood (wood that has gold paint or gold leaf on it through a process called gilding), carved extensively and paired with a rich marble top.

Antique stores and auction houses are treasure troves for such styles.

Though jewelled centre tables are not Baroque, they glam up the living room just the same. Those with mother-of-pearl inlay work, ones embellished with precious stones and crystals in modern styles or Indian traditional designs have plenty of takers.

Minimalism If subtlety is your middle name, then your attempts at sleek and classic décor can be enhanced by a centre table

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A Neo classical mahogany and solid bronze centre table from Althorp: Living History

Exhibit D contemporary centre table

Jay Strongwater table embellished with preciousness

that blends in, yet stands out. Differently shaped glass tops with abstract wooden or aluminium/steel legs, all-glass ones with simple motifs, all these styles exude effortlessness to the décor.

Out-of-the-box Whacky styles, kitschy tables and mind-boggling creative ones are strictly for living spaces that can carry one off. In such cases, the rest of the furniture should be kept simple to let the centre table do its whacky bit. Interesting ones that caught our eye were glass tables with pipe wrenches as legs, aquariums that double up as the coffee table and

those using glass or plastic to mould it into something outstanding.

And once you own a beauty to team with your décor, the pile of newspaper pile will just vanish!

>>>Premium Interiors Organic excellence Simple, natural materials take the form of these unique pieces of furniture in Japanese designs from Kenneth cobonpue, making each creation a masterpiece.

Available at IDUS - the furniture and home lifestyle showroom, New Delhi.

Rs 38,000 to Rs 2.98 lakh

Summery hues Exquisite textures and beautiful pastel colours is Maspar’s latest ‘Majestic Splendor’ collection’s attempt to give your home the regal touch. Pick from bed, cushion and duvet covers, throws, rugs and others at its stores and select outlets.

Rs 225 to Rs 7,495

Royalty defined Nas Home’s latest is its refreshing Spring Summer range of fabrics and cushion covers to do up your homes.

Creams, beige, sky blues and sea greens dominate the palette. Available at its store in Bengaluru.

Rs 570 to Rs 1,200 (per metre for fabrics) and Rs 225 to Rs 650 (single cushion cover)

Smartbuy

13

March 23, 2011

Welcoming spring

Gauri and Nainika

LFW round-up

Team Smartbuy t was an interesting blend of contemporary silhouettes, chic cuts and traditional ‘karigari’ at the recently held Lakme Fashion Week Summer Resort 2011. Showcasing the Spring Summer collections of a host of established as well as aspiring designers, LFW saw the emergence of some interesting trends that can take the ramp to road route.

Anamika Khanna was the first to take centre stage with a menswear inspired collection that saw ‘jodhpuris’, ‘kurtas’, ‘lehengas’ and embellished vests. Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s collection was inspired by the ‘Save the Tiger’ project and the aura of the gorgeous beast could be seen in his line of yellow, black and ivory tones. Manish Malhotra steered clear of bling salwars and sheer sarees and surprised us with stunning evening wear ensembles for men and women in Chikankari work, Kashmiri embroidery and Rajasthani gotta borders.

Also India-inspired was Babita Malkani who created a whole line as an ode to the Baul singers of Bengal. While Bengali folk tunes and singers themselves as showstoppers won her applause, some neat pieces were flowing sheer layered maxi skirts and draped sari togas.

It was holiday mood for Pria Kataria Puri who had models sashaying down in her ‘Marrakesh’ resort destination theme, sporting exotic kaftans, tunics, saris, maxis and more in a rainbow of colours.

‘Sleek-The New Mystique’ line was Anand Kabra’s baby, who brought in bohemian prints and dramatic embellishments and fluid evening wear look for Shantanu & Nikhil in the duo’s Divonics collection. Anupama Dayal too had lovely sarongs, draped long dresses and kaftans in her Short Stories holiday wear collection, playing on chic, rock, bohemian, classic, retro and ethnic looks.

The last day of LFW saw Satya Paul and

Anita

Dongr

e

I

designer sisters Gauri & Nainika calling it a day.

Satya Paul’s trademark feminine creations took a glamorous turn in ‘ The Jewels of the Sea’ line.

The theme inspired a slew of saris, lehengas and western wear in fabrics made of lurex and glitter net.

The sisters-in-arm had churned out 31 creations for the final bow. Their ‘Fantasy’ collection had five looks by Lakme, which transformed into

one-shoulder lace ensembles, taffeta pencil dresses, mermaid lace and tulle ensemble, frilled drapes and satin ball gowns.

What also caught our attention was Anita Dongre’s white and pale pink lehengas, Abdul Halder’s jewel tones’ jump suits, Siddartha Tytler’s black and white ‘ metallic’ palette, Kallol Datta’s ‘Jailstripes’ and Masaba’s Masai-Tribe inspired vibrant colour scheme.

Abdul Halder

Debarun Mukherjee

Satya Paul

Anand Kabra

Anupama Dayal

Priyadarshini Rao

with fun fashion

When it came to accessories, Suhani Pittie’s Urban Folk jewellery grabbed eyeballs with intricate fan-shaped pendants, spiked hair bands and stiff moulded collars.

Other designers who showcased their creations included Rocky S, Arpan Vohra, Priyadarshini Rao, emerging designers like Abhishek Byas, Sabah Khan, Deepti Pruthi, Shiraji Dutta and others.