All For A Cuppa!

ALL FOR A CUPPA!

Tea Tourism In India

By Shilpi Shukla Alexander

Ek garam chai ki pyaali (a cup of hot tea) is what pulls those with refined tastes and polished pursuits to India.

The silky sunrays kiss your forehead, the cool breeze caresses your hair and the fragranced air infuses your spirit with prana (life force). Walk out of your room, holding your bespoke hot cuppa and sit in the verandah of this old colonial building set amidst lush tea estates. Watch tea-pickers plucking the newest leaves and tossing them into the wicker baskets on their backs or witness the soft drops of the hill rain turn the landscape into a misty wonderland. Enjoy a fascinating tea tour and indulge in flavoursome tea tasting sessions. What’s more, with the world’s best range of teas available in these 500-plus plantations, have your tea custom-made. And how about planting your own tea bush to mark your visit?

Quite in tune with the wine regions of Europe and the coffee plantations of Central America, India’s tea estates, that together boast of being the largest exporter of tea in the world (with as much as 810 million kilograms being produced annually), promise a tasteful retreat for tea-connoisseurs from around the world.  These refurbished tea gardens offer exciting tours and package holidays to Assam, Darjeeling in West Bengal, Munnar in Kerala, Palampur in Himachal Pradesh and Ooty in Tamil Nadu. Given that this highly popular beverage is laden with life restoring anti-oxidants, is powerful at preventing cancers, and their herbal varieties are caffeine-free, tourists from round-the-globe have reasons aplenty to taste the heady flavour and raise their daily brews in an ode to the colonial past.

(Pls click on the given link to read my recently published article on Tea Tourism In India in a US magazine.
http://www.littleindia.com/news/154/ARTICLE/6731/2010-07-08.html)

Royal Embellishment

To read the article, follow this link: http://www.deshvidesh.com/Current_Issue/Desh-Videsh-July-2010/royal-embellishment.html

Bridal Diva

By Shilpi Shukla Alexander

Visit this link to read the complete article:  http://www.deshvidesh.com/Current_Issue/Desh-Videsh-July-2010/dulhan-the-diva.html

Nude War

US First Lady Michelle Obama’s nude gown has sparked off a huge racial debate in the multi-ethnic world we live in today. A visual insight to this colour and its upshots from fashionistas in India...

Sterling silver sequin, abstract floral, nude strapless gown — that’s how designer Naeem Khan described this dress worn by US First Lady Michelle Obama at a state dinner. Little did he know that this statement would lead to a global racial hullabaloo. The colour has since been renamed as flesh and finally as champagne. However, the burning question remains – what colour is nude?

The dictionary describes nude as a colour that can extend to cover tan, tawny, sandy, yellow brown and light yellow. For many like ace fashion designer Mandira Wirk, the issue is unnecessarily being blown out of proportion. “Nude is often called the colour of foundation. Depends on how we visualise it for the colour denotes a wide range of shades from light peach, champagne, pale yellow to ivory.” However, for many others this incident does underline the ongoing racial bias in the fashion world. Many internationally acclaimed models like Naomi Campbell, Beverly Johnson, Iman and Tyra Banks have been vocal about the uphill hurdles they faced to get acceptance in the glamour world, given their skin colour. Fashion magazines in the West took a very long time to feature multiracial skin on their pages and cover.


Read the whole article on the following link...
http://www.khabar.com/jsp/mag_feature_view.jsp?sessionid=fkIHq6bx0zUpKhbOoiGLYgSfVQs&tempid=4651978834417944677&_articleid=2878

-          Shilpi Shukla