Innholdsfortegnelse for Monday, December 25, 2023 i India Today

It’s in character with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s style of doing things that the real surprises come not during elections but after them. After the exit polls, a clean sweep of the three heartland states by the BJP was very much in the realm of possibility. The spring cleaning that followed after that would have left even senior party apparatchiks gasping in disbelief, though. The picture is compelling indeed. A whole class of established politicians stands demonetised, at least for now. And we have a full gallery of mint-new faces entering a rarefied realm even they may not have dared to dream of. Occupying the chief minister’s chair in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan will be people plucked out of grades of anonymity: Vishnu Deo Sai, Mohan Yadav and Bhajan…

Senior railway officers recently got a taste of Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s wrath at a meeting to review safety protocols. During the video conference, Vaishnaw had a query for the Research Designs and Standards Organisation representative. The officer concerned, unfortunately, was not fully prepared and hedged a response. A miffed Vaishnaw not only ticked him off but also instructed the Railway Board CEO to take action. Last heard, he was sent on “forced leave”.…

Political parties are in the throes of a defining moment, at least in anointing chief ministers of states that have elected new legislative assemblies, even as the parliamentary polls loom large. The BJP has taken the lead in introducing generational change by picking three men, all in their 50s, exemplifying diversity. A first-time MLA, the 56-year-old Bhajan Lal Sharma is a Brahmin and the new chief minister of Rajasthan. An equally surprising pick is four-time chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s replacement in Madhya Pradesh—the 58-year-old Mohan Yadav, an OBC. Earlier, in Chhattisgarh, the saffron party installed another new face—that of 59-year-old Vishnu Deo Sai, who belongs to the Scheduled Tribes. These changes, marking a tectonic shift in the political landscape, unfolded over three days, a week after results in three…

In the season of surprises the BJP is springing this winter, none was more unexpected than its choice of chief minister in Rajasthan. It was the last name to be announced among the three states that the BJP had won in the north, and the suspense was that much longer. Vasundhara Raje, a strong contender for the post, may have seen it coming, though, when the BJP overlooked the obvious choices elsewhere and went with names that served the objective of balancing caste equations in the run-up to the Lok Sabha election in 2024. An OBC, therefore, to replace the veteran OBC in Madhya Pradesh, a tribal leader in Chhattisgarh. What was it going to be in Rajasthan? A Brahmin, as it turned out. Bhajan Lal Sharma, to be precise, who…

KEEPING PROMISES The BJP has made several pre-poll promises, such as Mahtari Vandan scheme, under which women will get Rs 1,000 per month, provision of gas cylinders at Rs 500 and procurement of paddy at Rs 3,100 per quintal. Honouring these commitments will be a fraught task, given the state’s strained finances MOUNTING DEBT Chhattisgarh’s fiscal deficit stands at 2.99 per cent of the GSDP. The Baghel regime presented a budget of Rs 1.2 lakh crore for 2023-24, even as the state faced a debt burden of over Rs 82,000 crore at the beginning of this fiscal DEVELOPMENT IMPERATIVE The state is rich in natural resources but fares poorly on poverty and health indices. Per capita income stands at about Rs 1.34 lakh, below the national average of Rs 1.7…

The first thing Lalduhoma did after taking oath as the Mizoram chief minister on December 8 was visit a drug rehabilitation centre. Checking drug abuse in the state was one of the top poll promises of his six-party alliance, the Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM). From January to November this year, 68 people died of drug abuse in Mizoram, which has a population of just over a million. The state remains a major smuggling route for narcotic substances from Myanmar. The visit wasn’t surprising given how the 1976-batch IPS officer first rose to prominence for busting drug networks in Goa. Over four decades later, at the age of 74, he is Mizoram’s oldest debutant CM today. Lalduhoma has been a man of action since his police days. Soon after his swearing-in…

The Japanese ambassador to India, Hiroshi Suzuki, shared his thoughts on Japan’s special partnership with India, stating that the relations between the two countries are based on three pillars—political and security, economic and cultural and people-to-people exchange. Japan and India share fundamental values, freedom, democracy, rule of law and strategic relations. LEADERSHIP VISION The Japan-India partnership was drastically pushed forward by two visionary leaders, PM Abe and PM Modi. They really propelled our ties to a higher plane, in strategic as well as global aspects. ECONOMIC SECURITY There is a dire necessity to reduce our dependence on a particular country for our needs like semiconductors, critical minerals and emerging technology. Now, looking ahead, the main challenge that India and Japan should tackle together is to address economic security. INVESTMENT CLIMATE…

Over the years, India and Japan have worked together to deepen trade and economic cooperation. Japan has played a pivotal role in building critical infrastructure in India. Former vice chairman of NITI Aayog Rajiv Kumar dug deeper to develop an understanding of the possibilities of making the relationship broader. LACK OF REPRESENTATION The representation of Japanese companies has grown, yet it’s below par. I think they can come up much better and much bigger than what they’ve done till now. I especially refer to the fact that the businesses of Japan’s Osaka region, the Kansai region, etc. are yet not found in India, and the supply chain has still not shifted. THE LANGUAGE ISSUE We had agreed to the fact that language presents a major block in our relationship. And…

“THE SPIRITUAL CONTENT OF JAPANESE CLASSICAL MUSIC IS VERY SIMILAR TO INDIAN MUSIC. AND I THINK THAT’S WHAT CONNECTS US. MUSIC IS BEYOND LANGUAGE AND CREED. SO WHEN I MET AND COLLABORATED WITH JAPANESE MUSICIANS, MORE THAN UNDERSTANDING WHAT THE OTHER SAID, WE WERE EXCHANGING OUR THOUGHTS THROUGH MUSIC. MUSIC DOES NOT NEED WORDS…. WE CAN CONVERSE THROUGH THE ETERNAL SEVEN NOTES OF MUSIC…. FOR US MUSIC DOESN’T NEED ALPHABETS”PANDIT SHUBHENDRA RAO Sitar maestro and composer…

Q. You are officially the most streamed singer in India on Spotify, for the fourth consecutive year. How does it feel? It has been a long journey where I have learnt and grown so much. I am grateful for the appreciation, recognition, awards and love that motivate me all the time to make the next song even bigger and better! Q. How was the experience of recording ‘Satranga’ for the Animal soundtrack? ‘Satranga’ is very close to my heart. The moment Shreyas Puranik sent me a scratch recording of how he wanted the song sung, I was impressed. In fact, I told him he can sing it himself. The idea was not to outdo him, but to add to his vision. I’m grateful he trusted me with it. Q. Why do…

In a market full of Italian brands, could there be space for a 163-year-old French atelier devoted to ensuring that your furniture scores high in aesthetics and functionality? Turns out, there’s is. We are talking about Ligne Roset that opened its doors to a 5,200 sq ft space in Mumbai recently. Designed by architect Zameer Basrai of The Busride Design Studio and brought to the country by the Burgundy Brand Collective, the showroom comes alive with pink, grey, blue and yellow pieces. “Luxury brand stores are very cold. We wanted to create a space that is warm and welcoming,” says Samir Gadhok, director and co-founder Burgundy Brand Collective, adding, “Besides architects and interior designers, we wanted homeowners to walk in and feel comfortable while browsing.” The cafe at the store,…

It all started with a trip to Scotland, where they found a common love for nature, nurture and nuance. This resulted in a wonderful collaboration with Shivan Bhatiya, founder and head designer and Narresh Kukreja, founder and creative director, SHIVAN & NARRESH—resulting in the Delicious Design Project 2.0 by Glenmorangie. “We spent two days with Dr Bill (Bill Lumsden, head of distilling and whisky creation, Glenmorangie) and it blew our minds,” says Kukreja, adding, “Just like he creates a celebration in your mouth, we wanted to get that depth into the living room.” The duo came back home and were happy that no “creative baggage” was thrust upon them, and since the idea was to create a delicious living room, they created two limited edition couches, representing day and night.…

For over 70 years, Article 370 of the Indian Constitution was seen as almost an article of faith by a section of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. A tiny part of a huge Constitution that had, as if, ingrained itself into the collective psyche of a people. While through the decades, Article 370, and the so-called special status that it had given J&K, had lost much of its import, the Supreme Court of India, through its December 11 judgment (in which it upheld the abrogation of the article in August 2019), has finally brought matters to a legal closure. The real challenge now is to bring matters to a political closure to give all the stakeholders a real interest in sustainable, sustained and shared peace. There are five…

Her nephews, it seems, do not share West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s frugal tastes. The lavish wedding of her nephew Abesh, in picturesque Kurseong in Darjeeling, has sparked a furore, mostly because a hundred-strong medical team, including specialist doctors and nurses, were ‘deputed’ to serve the guests arriving for the celebrations (December 4-10). A circular, signed by the superintendent of the Kurseong sub-divisional hospital, which has gone viral on social media, bared the details. Incidentally, both Abesh and the bride are doctors, and the latter is a local lass. Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari was quick to call it a “royal family wedding” with doctors made to serve the VIPs to the neglect of the common people. Didi herself did not attend the nuptials but her other nephew and…

At the Gau Ghat on the banks of the Kshipra in Ujjain, it was fairly common till two decades ago to see a muscular man braving the currents in the river. On December 11, that swimmer, Mohan Yadav, was elected chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, a decision that truly went against the tide given that he was pitted against the who’s who of BJP politics in the state. On the evening of December 11, party MLAs were summoned to the BJP state office in Bhopal, currently functioning temporarily out of an old state road transport corporation building. Present there were Haryana chief minister M.L. Khattar, the party’s OBC Morcha chief K. Laxman and party secretary Asha Lakra as observers. As the old and the new mingled, no one was impervious…

CRIME AND CORRUPTION Rajasthan ranks among the worst states for serious crimes such as gang violence and rapes. The politician-middleman-bureaucrat nexus needs to be dismantled to combat corruption, something the BJP has repeatedly emphasised MANAGING VETERANS Will have to take along party leaders, many from the Raje faction, overlooked in cabinet formation. Will also have to address regional imbalance given that he and his deputies are from Jaipur district FISCAL STRESS With a debt-GSDP ratio of around 40 per cent, Rajasthan’s finances are under severe stress—exacerbated by high debt, particularly in the power sector and allocations for welfare programmes…

Telangana’s first Congress chief minister Anumula Revanth Reddy is a man in a hurry. Even before being sworn in at the Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad on December 7 afternoon, he ensured that authorities pulled down the iron fencing that served as the façade at the official residence of the CM. Pragathi Bhavan, as it was called, was renamed Praja Bhavan, in line with Reddy calling his regime “the first people’s government” of Telangana. The pitch-perfect symbolism of the act sought to demonstrate that he was accessible to people, unlike what his predecessor K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) was perceived to be. It also showed a quality people most readily associate with Reddy—his ability to take the bull by its horns and act decisively. Revanthanna, as he is called, has no…

IT STARTED IN EARLY 2022, with a few spots of blood between menstrual cycles. Aditi Sharma (name changed), 38, then a Ph. D. student in Delhi, didn’t tell anyone; she had just broken up with her partner and begun seeing someone else. The bleeding stopped in a few hours, but just a day later, she experienced intense pain during sexual intercourse. “I thought it would pass,” says Sharma. The spotting and the pelvic pain remained intermittent and Sharma kept dealing with them with over-the-counter painkillers. It was only when she started having trouble breathing that she knew something was terribly wrong. “My friends had to rush me to the ICU,” she says. Within a few hours of reaching the hospital, Sharma’s life took a turn that she continues to grapple with…

How many Indian companies can claim to have increased their manufacturing capacity 20-fold, or have Rs 50,000 crore in cash reserves? R.C. Bhargava says it’s only because of internal resource generation and the frugality of management. He feels Japan became the powerhouse it is now partly because of how industrialists handled worker-management relations. THE GREEN VEHICLE PUSH We need to use different technologies, keep changing our priorities as different technologies develop and find the most cost-effective method. We don’t quite have the mix right at the moment…. When we start production of electric vehicles in the next financial year, we will also start exporting EVs. ON HIS NEXT BOOK For many years now in Maruti, we have implemented thousands of suggestions from the workers to improve processes in the…

With India’s GDP per capita touching $2,700 (Rs 2,24,000) per person and with digital penetration hitting the hinterland, more people are joining the country’s organised economy through financial technology, or fintech. Kunal Pande, national co-head, KPMG India; Kanav Monga, managing director, Virgo Group; and Vikram Upadhyaya, founder, GHV, discuss how Japanese firms can explore India’s booming fintech sector and how Indian firms can enter the Japanese market. EXPLORING INDIAN MARKETS Monga: The Japanese are missing in the Indian fintech space as conservative Japanese business houses find this space a little unorganised. I think the Indian fintech space is extremely organised now. We have a robust regulator in the RBI. The total investment in Indian fintech is at about $9 billion. I think the Japanese have a big opportunity to play,…

UNTAPPED ADVANTAGES Aalok Kumar: We have not utilised the potential of the India-Japan relationship. Look at the size of where the economy is going to go and look at the share of foreign direct investment that Japan has. We are just talking about $34 billion, but you make that as a percentage of the overall FDI, it’s pennies, so we are nowhere close to what it can be. There is no better pair that has the complementarity of Japan and India, without a doubt. Now, for somebody like Japan, we have to stop thinking of India as the only market. India is fertile with opportunity, absolutely, but look at some of the people who have been extremely successful here, like the Koreans and some other Japanese companies, Maruti Suzuki being…

The Centre plans to commence trials for India’s bullet train project in June 2026, says Roop Narayan Sunkar, Member (Infrastructure), Railway Board. Upon the completion of the trials, India may be in a position to run the train in a selected stretch in the same year. A JOINT COLLABORATION There were hiccups initially. For land acquisition, there were a large number of issues. There were issues related to ownership, environment, forest clearances, other strategic clearances, and so on. But now, land acquisition issues are over. Almost 99 per cent of the land is available with us now. For civil engineering works, we have awarded the contract for an entire stretch of 508 km. Of this, 352 km is in Gujarat, for which work is progressing at a faster pace as…

Think what you may of Zoya Akhtar’s The Archies, which released on December 7 on Netflix, most agree that her Riverdale of 1964 would be one of India’s top places to visit. Only if it was real. To bring alive this world, Akhtar turned to two of her frequent collaborators—production designer Suzanne Caplan Merwanji and costume designer Poornamrita Singh. Her brief to them was simple: the film is based on the comics but it has to have “a story-book” look to it. “We definitely wanted a magical feel to it,” says Akhtar. “When you step into Riverdale, it’s like nothing you’ve ever known.” Dressed to the Nines Poornamrita Singh was thrilled to work on the film because the 1960s are her favourite decade, with a lot of her own wardrobe…

WARM AND COSY What came first, the art or the design? For artist cum textile designer Shuchita Sancheti Garg the two flow into one another. Take her latest winter range, Kalp - Pushp Collection (sold under vVyom By Shuchita), for example. Done in a saffron ‘genda’ hue palette, cottons, silks and velvets come together to create bed linen that’s fun and functional. The best part, however, is the simple fact that each product is reversible. PRICE ₹1,750 to ₹11,000; AT www.vvyom.com TAKE A WHIFF You can now become an eco warrior, one candle at a time. A new hand-poured soy wax brand, O.U.A.T. (Once Upon a Time) from Goa, is revolutionising waste management, while making your home look and smell great. How? They are upcycling beer bottles turning them into…

Some 25 counting machines whirred breathlessly as they went through bundle after bundle of cash. A few gave up and broke down, but around 10 more were on standby for precisely such contingencies. By the end of that exercise on December 10, the machines, after hours of work, had already counted notes worth hundreds of crores of rupees. The exact figure is yet to come in, but many peg it at much over Rs 300 crore. If the Congress was looking to recover some moral salve from its electoral debris in three big heartland states in the week gone by, having the liquor company run by the family of one of its parliamentarians plastered all over town as the protagonist in a jaw-dropping case of tax evasion was hardly it.…

Political diatribes seem to have hit a new nadir in Punjab. Akali Dal leader Bikram Majithia recently came out with a video of CM Bhagwant Mann’s daughter Sirat in which she alleges that he abused her mother “physically and emotionally”. This was in response to Mann’s personal attacks on Majithia’s family members—from referring to his sister and ex-Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal as “Nanni Cha” (name of her NGO) to calling his great grandfather Sir Sundar Singh Majithia a “British tout”. His wife Ganieve Kaur was also summoned in a drugs-related case. Earlier, Congressman and leader of the Opposition, Pratap Singh Bajwa, had started addressing the CM by his first name, showing the bitterness running through the House. Mann seems to be getting a taste of his own medicine.…

India’s feats are leaving an indelible mark on the world’s collective imagination. It became the fourth nation to conquer the moon’s enigmatic terrain, seizing the title of the first to land on its farthest side. The historic moment of India’s G20 presidency is a clear announcement of its elevation to the status of a major global power. Amid these remarkable achievements, India’s digital growth story, underscored by citizen-centric reforms, has been nothing short of revolutionary. Underlying this extraordinary transformation is a steadfast commitment to fostering public-private partnerships that ensure the last-mile delivery of essential public services to each and every citizen. Hitachi in India: A Testament to Resilient Partnership A resounding testament to resilient public-private partnerships, collaborative co-creation, and a thriving ecosystem that fosters ease of doing business can be…

CABINET FORMATION There are 163 BJP MLAs, many of whom are very senior and have huge experience, compared to the novice CM. Managing portfolio allocations will be a challenge BIG-TICKET SUBSIDIES Programmes like the Ladli Behna Yojana will see an outflow of Rs 11,000 crore this fiscal; another Rs 1,000 crore will be needed to subsidise gas cylinders. Wheat/paddy procurement will make the biggest dent: MP will have to pay the bonus on the 10-plus million tonne wheat it hopes to procure in the coming season. Approx. cost: Rs 4,250 cr. LOW STATE FINANCES MP has an accumulated loan of Rs 3.31 lakh crore and a per capita debt of Rs 41,000. Total debt could be Rs 3.9 lakh crore by the end of the fiscal NEW BUREAUCRACY With the…

When the erst-while united Madhya Pradesh went to the polls in 1990, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had fielded 30-odd youngsters, many of whom had earned their wings in its youth organisation—the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM). The calculated gamble worked. The BJP won 220 of the 320 assembly seats, dislodging the ruling Congress, which had been in power for 10 years. Among the young debutants who emerged victorious were Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Kailash Vijayvargiya and Raman Singh, who went on to dominate the political landscape in MP and Chhattisgarh in the coming decades. On December 13, one of the youngest from that ‘batch of 1990’ reached the zenith of his nearly 35-year-long political career. Vishnu Deo Sai, 59, a four-time Raigarh MP who also rose to be a Union…

SIX GUARANTEES Implementing some of the six guarantees within 100 days, as promised, may prove to be a Herculean task in the midst of the severe cash crunch facing Telangana. The six guarantees entail a massive expense of over Rs 70,000 crore HIGH DEPT BURDEN Borrowings by the KCR government imposed an interest burden of Rs 22,407 crore on the government in 2023-24. Telangana’s debt burden is nearly Rs 5.50 lakh crore. Plus, the state has generated only 46 per cent of the 2.16 lakh crore revenue target for 2022-23 POWER, IRRIGATION Reddy has directed preparation of white papers on power, irrigation to expose alleged corruption. Electricity distribution firms have accumulated losses of Rs 50, 275 crore and debts of Rs 80,000 crore. The Kaleshwaram Irrigation Scheme involved investment of…

The Kavach network comprises onboard equipment on trains and on-ground station equipment, which communicate continuously via radio frequencies, and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags installed on tracks. Here’s how the system works…

While it has taken Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) cars all of about 150 years to get to the current stage of development, electric vehicle (EV) development, by comparison, is still in its infancy. Even though the early EV made its appearance before the ICE vehicle, the rapid development and practicality of the ICE vehicle meant that EVs faded into near-oblivion. The real EV revolution started just over a decade back, as vehicles like the Nissan Leaf followed by a slew of EVs from the likes of BMW, Renault, Tesla and others presented a viable alternative. Now, after a decade and a half of rapid development on EVs and with all global firms devoting most of their R&D funds to them, the electric vehicle space is poised for a quantum leap…

India has to fulfil its commitments to cut emission intensity by 45 per cent by 2030, eventually paving the way for achieving the long-term goal of reaching net zero by 2070. And to strengthen the foundation, Union minister for power, and new and renewable energy R.K. Singh said the country is expanding its footprint of energy generation via using solar and wind energies and building capacities and ecosystems for green hydrogen. Conventionally, Japan has remained interested in India’s push for renewables and has been investing in equities and sharing big-ticket technologies. Here, the minister throws light on India’s clean energy partnership with Japan, its commitment to cutting carbon emissions and expectations from the developed world. COMMON STRATEGIC INTEREST Japan is a close and valued partner. Our strategic interests coincide and…

As the Indo-Pacific region is often beset by an assertive China, two Asian powers—India and Japan—have a role to play. Ram Madhav, president, India Foundation, threw light on the path the two nations need to tread to manage an aggressive China. QUAD AND THE CHINESE THREAT India and Japan can bring in strategic balance in the Indo-Pacific, where China is throwing its weight around. India and Japan can work together and play a balancing role in managing an open, free and inclusive Indo-Pacific region. The Quad is a very important partnership in today’s era of mini-laterals that will decide the future of the region. However, India never subscribed to the idea of Quad being an Indo-Pacific NATO, a military alliance. It sees Quad as a non-militaristic alliance working on economic,…

GOING GREEN FROM GREY Derek M. Shah: India already generates grey hydrogen to the extent of about 5 to 6 million [tonnes annually]. And by 2030, it will be about 12 million. So in our efforts to decarbonise, we would like to reduce the dependence on grey and go to green hydrogen by at least 5 million times. A large part of it is achievable given the trust the government is giving, the corporates are giving…. L&T realised long back that there was going to be a shift away from fossil fuels. So we focused on the green energy sector, and we have laid out a plan to capture the entire value chain across green hydrogen. Therefore, L&T is looking at manufacturing electrolysers. A large part of our green hydrogen…

India and Japan have a very strong relationship, with almost 1,500 Japanese companies and their branches working in India, says Atul Kumar Tiwari, Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. Japan is also the fifth-largest investor in India. But there are challenges too in terms of skilling Indian workers for jobs in Japan. A NEW APPROACH Over so many years, there has been a change in the way that Japan is looking at skilled people coming from India. Since 2017, when India and Japan decided to expand the bilateral cooperation in the skill development sector, around 1,200 people from India have been sent to Japan to undergo internship under the Technical Intern Training Program (TITP). The Japanese side have also started schemes under which the Japanese can come to India…

A JAPANESE WONDER Sandeep Arora: Japanese themselves, for a long time, really didn’t feel very comfortable with their own whiskies. But that was way back. They have taken a pole position when it comes to whiskies. Japanese whiskies are crafted around nature, sun, season and temperance. All the flavours are so robust and rich that they go absolutely sublime with great food, not just Japanese food but even Indian food. I’m not too confident of a rogan josh or a butter chicken as yet, but definitely, a lot of sublime flavours will go with whiskies. They’re very confident whiskies. They’re not easy to give up, and they will be persistent, like the Japanese to keep pairing and evolving the pairing platform. THE FUSION CONFUSION Suvir Saran: The Japanese work very…

Responsive Industries, a leading manufacturer of Vinyl Flooring, proudly introduces Opulence Luxury Vinyl Tiles as a pinnacle of sophistication and durability. Representing a rich legacy of innovation, Opulence combines aesthetic appeal with robust engineering, setting a new standard for interior spaces. The Luxury Vinyl Tiles bring a touch of class and timeless elegance through a palette of 12 wooden hues and a natural texture, elevating any room with distinctive charm. Opulence goes beyond aesthetics, prioritizing underfoot comfort with a texture that provides a gentle massage with each step, ensuring a departure from chilly, uncomfortable floors. Crafted from high-quality materials, Opulence is engineered for longevity, making it an ideal choice for bustling households, including those with families or pets. The flooring’s easy cleaning and maintenance, coupled with resistance to stains and…

Let’s face it, we all want to be kitchen kings and queens. Making your gastronomic journey that much better is BERGNER India and their new offerings. For those not in the know (if there are any) BERGNER India is a premium cookware and kitchen appliance brand from Europe. With a focus on cutting-edge technology and innovation the brand is dedicated to enhancing the cooking experience. Cookware for Life At the core of BERGNER’s offerings lies the Tri-Ply range (image: top right), featuring standout product ranges such as Argent, Argent Mini, Hi-Tech (non-stick Tri-Ply), and the revolutionary Hi-Tech Rivetless Technology cookware range. The innovative tri-ply construction ensures optimal heat distribution, reduces the need for excessive oil. The rivetless range has a welded handle structure and triple coating layered stainless steel, which…

Winter decoration has its shares of ups and downs—too much colour can be chaotic, too little can make the interiors as gloomy as the exteriors. Our suggestion, walk the middle path. Take inspiration from the colours of the season and use it to make the space look spectacular. Look Hues Here It’s bold, it’s beautiful and it’s just what the design doctor ordered to make your home look amazing during the season of celebrations. While many shy away from red, we have used it in this home to elevate its aesthetics, add a strong punch of colour and play with the idea of monochrome. The trick is to use it as an accent in any room. Seasonal Soirees As the winters also welcome the festivities and dinner parties, simply placing…

A treasure trove of a harmonious amalgamation of elements that evoke a sense of belonging in the beholder, this home is truly a visual feast. One that has been achieved by careful juxtaposition of soaring sculptures and cascading carpets with concealed jharokhas and bridges reminiscent of confectionery. SCALE AND SPELNDOUR The initial encounter with the site left us in awe of its dimensions—a sprawling 15,000 sq ft residence with a 30ft high living room and a central atrium reaching a height of 45ft for a family of five—a spectacle both overwhelming and enchanting. Challenging as it was, the results have been rewarding. Today, the captivating tapestry of varied details starts upon swinging open the expansive wooden doors. One might easily mistake it for an art gallery nestled in a bustling…

Strips of glass were pulled to form a delicate cage to create this beautiful Christmas tree. “The artist intricately sculpts the tree shape by weaving and manipulating the glass, showcasing skill in shaping while maintaining structural integrity. The final result is a sophisticated, festive glass Christmas tree that beautifully captures the holiday spirit,” explains architect Arjun Rathi in whose glass studio (in Mumbai), this tree has been created. If green is too subtle for you, there’s a more festive red and green version of the tree available as well. With this artistic piece, decking the halls just got a whole lot easier. PRICE ₹24,000 plus tax AT www.arjunrathi.com…