The great Indian  Musical Challenge Smriti Sharma Think Bollywood music unlimited, stars galore and spiff unrestrained as Star One’s ‘Antaksahri- The great Challenge’ takes a merry hop across the hallowed thoroughfare of television ratings with its three episode Holi special along with its celebrity jodis and as the lights beam, the cameras roll and the action booms out from the megaphone, a quiet, grassy corner of Film City in Mumbai perks up to the buzz of music. In all masti, it starts with rose petals and marigold flowers. Ismail Darbar does a Krishna as wife Ayesha watches.

FINE TUNE
Realtime.
No static. No hiss.
So, you thought you had heard all about the radio revolution. Here’s something new: Digital HD Radio tech. Real-time weather and traffic.
WIYY-FM 97.9 (98 Rock) in Baltimore, Maryland, recently made history when it became the 1,000th station in the United States to broadcast with digital HD Radio technology. “In just over a year, the number of HD Radio stations on the air has nearly doubled,” said Robert Struble, president and CEO of iBiquity Digital, developers and licensors of HD Radio technology.

BON APPETIT 
hoLI HAI!
Kandla Nijhowne
We have two colourful and noisy Hindustaani festivals – Diwali and Holi. Divali has the rangolis, lanterns, painted diyas and traditional finery lending a riot of colour to the occasion. The ear deafening-noise, needless to say, is provided by those blasted crackers and bombs. Holi itself is the festival of colours (why am I telling you this?), but where is the so called noise I’ve talked about?

Oriental touch
A modren backdrop, authentic Chinese and Thai cuisine: That’s Purple Rice for you
Parbina Rashid
The owner’s description comes as a little confusing — 20 per cent more than a café and 20 per cent less than fine dining. As you step inside Purple Rice, the vibrant décor proves to be is a bit too absorbing for one to get into mathematical complexities. Silver coloured wallpaper with a liberal amount of purple in the ceilings and also in form of paintings is well co-ordinated to sooth one’s aesthetic sense.

The grass is greener here 
Holland’s visiting junior cricket team is bowled over by Indian hospitality and the Mohali stadium 
Akash Ghai
Guess what is exciting the visiting junior Holland cricket team the most? The grassy pitch of our world-class stadium! What follows next is the warm hospitality of the Punjab Cricket Association officials. Back in their country, they don’t have grassy pitches but artificial ones. “When we were told that we would play matches at the stadium, we could not help but mutter ‘wow’. It is a privilege to play here, where the Champions Trophy was held last year,” says Graeme Davey, the skipper of the team.

Chai Time
Health potion 
Anuradha Shukla
Nothing defines the Indian mornings better than the early morning cup of tea. The wonders of this leafy delight are plenty but if the debate on caffeine is getting to you join the herbal tea brigade. For any health freak there can be nothing better than a cup of tea to start the day with.

Total Health
Caffeine cover for old hearts
Elderly people who consume caffeinated beverages regularly could be doing their heart a good turn. New research suggests that the higher the caffeine intake, the stronger the protection. John Kassotis and other researchers at SUNY Downstate Medical Centre and Brooklyn College in the US used data from the first federal National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Epidemiologic Follow-up Study. 

Happiness is a click @way!
Happiness a state of mind? In today’s e-age, it is just a click away! Online happiness clubs are offering tailor-made programmes like happy classes to self-help books to special accessories that can help boost careers and love lives and if one were to believe them, cyber addicts are enrolling for online happiness programmes in large numbers.

Coming of age
Sameer’s words of melody have kept the Indian youth under a magic spell for the past 25 years. This makes identifying his best songs a challenge. If Sameer’s lyrics do not hit your emotional solar plexus, it keeps you till sometimes after week or even months, the latent meaning strikes you like a thunderbolt.

FILM
Nudist little bird
Bubbly actress Drew Barrymore has called herself a ‘nudist little bird’, who will enter old age with her liberal attitude towards sex intact. The 31- year-old star has compared herself to a nymph in a wood, when it comes to her sexual activities. 

Cool Stuff
Bleach the years away
Nature’s Essence has come up with Oxyfair- Oxygen Bleach that promises enhanced bleaching action and also helps renew skin texture rendering it softer, smoother, and firmer. Oxygenating agents present in it revitalise the skin and give it a refreshed, fairer and healthier look. Available in 50 gm and 250 gm packing at Rs 58 and Rs 225 respectively.

Big B sings for a cause
The God of Indian Entertainment Industry, Amitabh Bachchan, participated in a special episode of Titan Antakshri for the visually challenged participants. Big B enthralled the children and audiences reciting a poem “Main Prakash Hoon, ajar amar andhakar ek nirav gunjan” by Khalid Hashmi and his baritone voice held the audiences spell bound.

• Health tip of the day