Why I Love: Oozy rice
Once you get into cooking risotto, it's simple. I live some of the year in San Francisco and this is my speciality recipe...
2008-11-08 20:24:16Morris, Hannity, Limbaugh implicate Obama in stock-market decline -- analysts disagree
On November 6, Fox News contributor and syndicated columnistDick Morris, Fox News host Sean Hannity, and nationally syndicated radio hostRush Limbaugh asserted that President-elect Barack Obama is to blame for thedecline of the stock market following the November 4 presidential election.Several analysts, however, disagree -- including some who appeared on Fox News or Fox Business Network.On the November 6 edition of Fox News' ÏŽm>Hannity ɪmp; Colmes, Morris said,"Now, the otherthing that I predicted in ÏŽm>ÏŠ href="http://mediamatters.org/rdto=http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061547751/Fleeced/index.aspx"ϯleecedis that the stock market would go crazy after he Obama was elected. Not justbecause he's a radical, not just because he's a Democrat, but because he'sgoing to raise the capital gains tax." Hannity replied, "So lookwhat's happening," adding, "If he doesn't come out and say "I'm not going to, youknow, raise the capital gains tax, I'm not going to raise taxes," but heading into aneconomic slowdown, you're predicting the stock market is going to -- it's theObama tanking" Morris replied: "It's going to continue to tank.It's lost 12 percent of its value in the last two days."Similarly, on the November 6 edition of Premiere RadioNetworks' ÏŽm>The Rush Limbaugh Show,Limbaugh asserted: "OK, so let me start at the top here connecting thedots. On Tuesday we elect a new president.New president promisedeven before the election,by the way, when we hada 4,000-point drop -- the president promised to increase corporatetaxes, capital gains taxes, the top marginal income tax rate, a massive newenergy tax that'll bankrupt coal. And his party is talking about agovernment takeover of 401kplans." Limbaugh continued: "So on Wednesday, the Dow drops about 486 points. It'sdown 346 points today. But of course,according to the drive-bys,these two events have nothing to do with each other. It's just acoincidence. The market's down today because of the jobless numbers.That's how the drive-bys see it. We have the largestmarket plunge after an election in history. Thank you, man-child Barack Obama."<pÏ«ut even analysts onFox News and Fox Business Network cited reasons independent of the election to explain the fall of the market inthe days following the election.On the November 5 edition of Fox News' ÏŽm>The Live Desk,Fox Business Network contributor ÏŠ href="http://mediamatters.org/rdto=http://www.foxbusiness.com/our-team/personalities/eric-bolling"Ï®ric Bollingstated: "Yesterday we were up305 points, today we're down 315 -- almost the exact same spot we were prior.Look, you know, a lot of people said, 'Hey, is this in response to BarackObama becoming president' " Bolling continued:"When Barack Obama wasannounced at 11:01 last night, the Sɪmp;P Standard ɪmp; Poor's 500Index was down 8 points. It stayed there all night until that ÏŠ href="http://mediamatters.org/rdto=http://www.adpemploymentreport.com/"ãºP National Employment Report came out, andthat's really when the market fell apart. So you can't really blameit on that. It was the ADP report." Host Martha MacCallum responded: "Plus, it was factored into the market yesterday that BarackObama was gonna win because it was pointing in that direction. And the marketwas up considerably yesterday."On the November 7 edition of Fox BusinessNetwork's ÏŽm>The Opening Bell, Fox Business Network vice president ofbusiness news ÏŠ href="http://mediamatters.org/rdto=http://www.foxbusiness.com/our-team/personalities/alexis-glick"Ϫlexis Glickasserted: "I so did not believe thatthe market reaction over the past two days wasabout Obama. Wednesday morning we walked in,we saw the Challengerand Gray planned layoff ÏŠ href="http://mediamatters.org/rdto=http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE4A46AZ20081105">numbers, we saw the ADP numbers, the weekly jobless claim numbers -- yeah, well, they were basically in line, but weknew two days ago that thiswas going to be abloody number. Frankly, we probably knew several months ago thatit was going tobe a bloody number."On the November 6 edition of Fox BusinessNetwork's ÏŽmϪmerica's NightlyScorecard, ÏŽm>Inc.magazine senior editor Rod Kurtz said to host David Asman: "You couldsay a lot of people are walking around saying they have Obama hangovers because they were out celebrating,but I think what happened in the markets really is more tied to the broadereconomy and less so with Obama. I think, youknow, the fundamentals we've heard so much about the economy during theelection. You know, this jobs report could be problematic. I think thatunemployment is still an issue. Retail, I've been saying for a while, isa huge issue."WallStreet Journal article pointed to weak corporate reports andanalysts' belief that the Bureau of Labor Statistics' ÏŠ href="http://mediamatters.org/rdto=http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf">October Employment Report -- whichwas released Friday -- would show job losses as reasons for drops in the stockmarket. Indeed, the BLS report showed that nonfarm payrolls fell by 240,000.From the ÏŽm>Journal ÏŠ href="http://mediamatters.org/rdto=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122597213940304699.html"Ϫrticlesubscription required: Ï‹lockquote>Stocks suffered a second straightround of steep losses amid new signs that bellwether companies and theircustomers are struggling. Jittery investors also placed early bets that jobsdata due out Friday morning will be bleak.The Dow Jones Industrial Averagefinished down 443.48 points on Thursday, off 4.9%, at 8695.79, hurt by declinesin all 30 of its components. The Dow has fallen 929.49 points, or 9.66%, overthe past two days, the biggest percentage drop since the crash of October 1987....The generally downbeat trend in theretail industry was worrisome, as was the possibility that strength atdiscounters like Wal-Mart may signal that consumers are continuing to tightentheir belts, hunting for bargains and spending less at chains with higherprices.<pϬonsidering that consumer activityconstitutes more than two-thirds of the overall U.S. economy, continued weakness inpurchases of everything from televisions to t-shirts could deepen the recessionthat most economists believe is already underway. Many stock investors havelingered on the sidelines lately, waiting for more clarity about whether thingswill get much worse."There's just not a lot ofbuying power out there right now, so any bad news we get is going to tend toget the market moving lower," said Daniel Genter, president and chiefinvestment officer of RNC Genter, a Los Angeles money-management firm.Volume at the New York StockExchange was slightly below the year-to-date average. Decliners outnumberedadvancers nearly five to one.Traders said it appeared someparticipants were placing early bets to brace for a worse-than-expected jobsreport when the government issues its monthly assessment prior to Friday'sopening bell. According to Dow Jones Newswires, the consensus estimate on WallStreet is that the report will show that nonfarm payrolls shed 200,000 jobs inOctober, marking the 10th straight month of declines."It really looks like peopleare worried," said Randy Frederick, director of derivatives trading atCharles Scwhab sic: Schwab. "I can't see a lot of other reasons for thelosses over the last few days to be so deep." New YorkTimes article also ÏŠ href="http://mediamatters.org/rdto=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/08/business/08markets.htmlref=business">reported thatanalysts attributed the market downturn to the expectation thatthe BLS report would show a decrease in jobs: Ï‹lockquote><pϪnalysts said that the markets hadskidded Wednesday and Thursday as investors hunkered down for the release ofthe jobs report. They attributed Friday's rebound to unemployment numbersthat, while grim, were not cataclysmic, and said buyers were creeping back intothe markets. The Live Desk:Ï‹lockquote>MacCALLUM:The Dow is down today about 312 points. And Fox News business expert EricBolling is here -- entr𦺬ute;e --<pÏ«OLLING:Thank you.MacCALLUM:-- to explain what's going on. What's the reaction<pÏ«OLLING:You know, it's strange. Yesterday we were up 305 points, todaywe're down 315 -- almost the exact same spot we were prior. Look, youknow, a lot of people said, "Hey, is this in response to Barack Obamabecoming president" I'm going to throw this up here -- these guysdon't know what I'm doing. I'm sorry, guys. Take a look atthis, though: When Barack Obama was announced at 11:01 last night, the Sɪmp;Pwas down 8 points. It stayed there all night until that ADP Report came out,and that's really when the market fell apart. So you can't reallyblame it on that. It was the ADP report. MacCALLUM:Plus, it was factored into the market yesterday that Barack Obama was gonna winbecause it was pointing in that direction. And the market was up considerablyyesterday. The Opening Bell on Fox Business: Ï‹lockquote>GLICK anchor: All right, Jenna, what do you make of thenumbersJENNA LEE anchor: Well, I mean, it's interesting towatch the reaction over here, Alexis, because again, when the numbers hit, it wasn't really much of a reaction, and now we're seeing again the kind of selling picking up. The big questionis, we talk about auto loans, we talkabout mortgage rates, we're talkingright now over here about banks actually dropping those rates to the consumers -- it doesn't matter if youdon't have a job. I mean, it really all comes back to that. No matter how much you drop those rates, if you don't have employment, you're not going to ask fora mortgage, you'renot looking for a new credit card --or maybe you are. But again, it's those rates. It really allcomes back to jobs, soagain, you know, not necessarily way bigger than expected, but not good news. GLICK: Yeah. Connell <pϬONNELL McSHANE FBN correspondent: Jenna's right. This is the story for next year, how high theunemployment rate goes, and how many jobs we shed. I mean, this is a terrible report. I mean,it's getting lost a little bit in the -- we're going to get caught up in the market reaction.The market reacted before the report.We're down 1,000 in two days heading into this because people expect abad report and we gotit this morning, so I don't know what's next. GLICK: I couldn't agree more -- I couldn't agree more. I so did notbelieve that the market reaction over the past two days was about Obama. Wednesday morning we walked in, we saw the Challenger and Gray planned layoff numbers, we saw the ADP numbers, the weekly jobless claim numbers -- yeah, well, they were basically in line, but weknew two days ago that thiswas going to be abloody number. Frankly, we probably knew several months ago thatit was going tobe a bloody number. McSHANE: Yeah. It was. GLICK: All right, guys, we're going to continue talkingabout it throughout the hour. The opening bell is going to ring in 16 and a half minutes. We're going to gostraight to the trading floor,we'll get their reaction to this morning's numbers. :Ï‹lockquote><pϪSMAN: Rod, what do you think the entrepreneursof this country would like Obama to say, toreassure them they're going to have a business environment they can work in andprofit inKURTZ: Well, there's no doubtthe tax issue remains front and center for a lot of business owners, even if itdoesn't necessarily affect their business. That's been the fascinatingthing; I think the McCain campaign -- it was brilliant politics -- the"Joe the plumber," the "spread the wealth." There are alot of businesses out there concerned about Obama'stax plan that aren't gonna be affected by what he's proposing. But,you know, one of the interesting things -- we sort of did a news analysis theday after the election, and a lot of entrepreneurs out there were saying,"Look, we're still sort of mixed on this, but we're glad we finallyhave a result. We're glad we know it's him." It gets thatuncertainty out, because you at least you know where he stands --<pϪSMAN: Well, there were two bits ofuncertainty. First, the uncertainty as to whether he would be president, andthe market went down with that uncertainty.Then the markets sort of factored that in and said, "OK, he is going tobe president, we can live with him." But now it's the uncertaintyof what he's going to do. KURTZ: Well, I think, you know, youcould say a lot of people are walking around saying they have Obama hangovers because they were out celebrating,but I think what happened in the markets really is more tied to the broadereconomy and less so with Obama. I think, youknow, the fundamentals we've heard so much about the economy during theelection. You know, this jobs report could be problematic. I think thatunemployment is still an issue. Retail, I've been saying for a while, isa huge issue.Hannity ɪmp; Colmes: Ï‹lockquote>MORRIS: Now, the other thing that I predicted in ÏŽmϯleeced is that the stock market would gocrazy after he was elected. Not just because he's a radical, not just becausehe's a Democrat, but because he's going to raise the capital gains tax.HANNITY: So look what's happening.MORRIS: And every moron knows thatif I sell my stock now I pay 15 percent. If I sell my stock later, I pay atleast 20, and perhaps 30.HANNITY: So if he doesn't come out-- let me follow up. If he doesn't come out and say "I'm not going to, you know, raise thecapital gains tax, I'm not going to raise taxes," but heading into an economic slowdown,you're predicting the stock market is going to -- it's the Obama tankingMORRIS: It's going to continue totank. It's lost 12 percent of its value in the last two days. When it thoughtMcCain was going to win because he was surging, it rose all the week before.And I think pressure will build on Obama to announce no increase in capitalgains tax. We cannot go to the investor and say, "Pleaseput your money in the stock market, please take that risk. And if you gain the money, I'll tax twice asmuch."<pϪLAN COLMES co-host: Hey, Dick, itrose Election Day in the anticipation of an Obama victory. Nobody thought McCain was going to win then.So you're going to come back here,and will you say thenext time the market has a great day and goes up a few hundred points, weshould thank Obama for thatIf you're going to blame him every day -- you know the market doesn't work likethat.MORRIS: I think that there may be some profit-taking and some recuperation, but I think thatObama's tax increases will have the same effect as Herbert Hoover's. <pϯrom the November 6 edition of Premiere RadioNetworks' ÏŽm>The Rush Limbaugh Show:Ï‹lockquote>LIMBAUGH: OK, so let me start at thetop here connecting the dots. On Tuesday we elect a new president. New president promised even before the election, by the way, when we had a 4,000-point drop -- the president promised to increase corporatetaxes, capital gains taxes, the top marginal income tax rate, a massive newenergy tax that'll bankrupt coal. And his party is talking about agovernment takeover of 401kplans.So on Wednesday, the Dow drops about 486 points. It'sdown 346 points today. But of course,according to the drive-bys,these two events have nothing to do with each other. It's just acoincidence. The market's down today because of the jobless numbers.That's how the drive-bys see it. We have the largestmarket plunge after an election in history. Thank you, man-child Barack Obama.
2008-11-08 06:37:32The Bargain Hunter: Magazine freebies; M&S discounts; cheaper fuel
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2008-11-07 20:25:18Campaign trail promises could burden Obama's presidency
Washington, Nov 6 ANI: The promises made by the 44th US President elect, Barack Obama, while campaign would be hard to keep as he inherits a financial crisis at home and conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama faces a diving economy that has traumatized Americans trying to buy a home, pay for college or plan for retirement. And he'll also confront the complexities of trying to extricate US forces from Iraq while facing a resurgent conflict in Afghanistan.President George W Bush's unpopularity may have helped in Obama's election, but the president-elect will be assuming responsibility for a credit crisis, a banking collapse, an unstable stock market and a lasting recession, FOX News reported.Now after getting elected it is to be seen that how can Obama deliver on his lengthy list of promises"He's made comments on the campaign trail that will have to be reconciled with his policies," said Republican political analyst Dylan Glenn. Obama has offered tax cuts for working families; affordable and expanded health care and a speedy withdrawal from Iraq intended to save billions of dollars each month."His notion about what he will do in Iraq, his notion about what he will do in terms of fiscal policy for this country will have to be translated into real live policy, and that will be a challenge," Glenn said.Analysts say that Obama will inherit a budget deficit that could hit 1 trillion dollar for the first time in history, potentially crimping any promises of tax cuts or spending on new programs. Robert Litan, a senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution, said he believes economic realities will force Obama to adjust only the timing of his promises.Political analyst and FOX News contributor Juan Williams said Obama's biggest critics would come from the party's left wing, because he won't be able to fulfill all of his promises."Obama realizes if he does anything precipitous with regard to American military forces in a place like Iraq and puts anybody in danger or in some way allows terrorists to make some gains, he will suffer a tremendous backlash that could be political damaging to him to the point that he never recovers," Williams said. ANI
2008-11-06 03:00:00Apple's iPod Genius Gets Fat Retirement Package AAPL - Silicon Alley Insider
dBTechnoApple's iPod Genius Gets Fat Retirement Package AAPLSilicon Alley Insider&nbsp;- 15 hours agoDeparting Apple exec Tony Fadell, who reportedly came up with the idea for the iPod, gets a nice retirement package for his new role as advisor to CEO Steve Jobs: He'll get a $300000 annual salary and potentially millions of dollars of stock.Apple or IBM... BusinessWeekThe iPod-Master is Gone! Long Live the Papermaster! the iPhone BlogX-bit Labs&nbsp;- Austin American-Statesman&nbsp;- CNET News&nbsp;- CRNall 453 news articles
2008-11-06 02:00:00Live Web Chat
The stock market volatility got you and your portfolio down
2008-11-04 09:27:38Tibetans in exile turn to Ranchi in winter to earn a living
Ranchi, Oct 29 ANI: With the winters setting in, a group of Tibetans from the hilly terrain of Himachal Pradesh have descended to the plains in Jharkhand in order to earn a living.Their arrival and opening of the Tibetan Potala Market marks the advent of winter in Ranchi.The Tibetans in exile come with stocks of woolen garments and jackets and earn a decent livelihood during their four to six months long stay.Already around 50-odd stalls have been decked up with trendy and designer woolen clothes in vibrant hues.The Tibetans in exile began their biannual affair after offering prayers to Lord Buddha and their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.Ranchi serves as a second home to them where they spend their winters and earn their livelihood."This is one place where we stay in winter. During summers, we stay in Himachal. We earn our living by selling clothes here," said Lenzin, a Tibetan shop owner.The Indo-Tibetan friendship organization makes adequate arrangements for the Tibetans to live and sell their products without any problems."We arrange their Tibetans stay of six months for almost free. They not only come here to earn their livelihood by selling clothes. But they help Jharkhand even. They set up such shops throughout Jharkhand and also peacefully demonstrate for their independence," said Raj Kumar Gupta, a Indo-Tibetan friendship office bearer.According to the residents, the woolen attires available in the Potala Market are of the latest fashion trends and are available at reasonable prices."The market is good. Compared to the woolen items that we get outside, quality of items we get here is better. The prices are also reasonable," said Rekha Rani Toppo, a customer. The Tibetans have taken refuge in India but there are very less job prospects for them. With almost nil job opportunities in the government sector and very few in the private sector, most of the Tibetans-in-exile have opted for setting up their own small businesses to earn their livelihood. By Girija Shankar Ojha ANI
2008-10-29 07:00:00Video: Inside Look: The Business of Exchanges
Live! From SIFMA Annual Meeting in New York, NY: Stock Market Volatility - Interview with Nasdaq OMX Group CEO Robert Greifeld
2008-10-29 02:51:28Rundown town pins hopes on haven for the super-rich
Corlette is the managing director of Porto Montenegro, an extravagantly ambitious project that links two of the figures in the controversy surrounding the balmy summer nights that Britain's shadow chancellor, George Osborne, and new business...
2008-10-27 03:36:22Politician, by design
By Sanjay BasakGone are the days when homespun khadi was the essence of the Indian politician. Today, Parliament is mostly inhabited by natty Armani suits and bespoke bandh-galas.A look at some trendy trailblazers and othersWhen Parliam-ent’s sartorial history is written, it will have a chapter titled Shot Gun. In 1998, Shatrughan Sinha walked into the Rajya Sabha in flamboyant Bollywood style, with a hint of bling — black kurta and black designer dhoti with gold edging. He wasn’t there to participate in the debate. He was there to make a style statement.Then came Vijay Mallya and Parliament’s shade card changed forever, from muted to primary colours. Swadeshi was taken off, gently folded in white muslin and kept in storage with scented mothballs. The &quot;Gucci turks&quot; had sashayed in and were here to stay: Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jay Panda and Omar Abdullah, among others.During the last Rajasthan Assembly elections, Vasundhara Raje would routinely take off like a dragon fly and change colours in the sky. She would slip into dresses that matched each particular constituency’s sartorial identity. She even took a dress designer along on her campaign, just in case.All talk of politicians’ obsession with clothes, however, is incomplete without the mention of home minister Shivraj Patil. He changes his tailored suits virtually every hour. Even when the Capital is under terrorist attack.But most politicians are not apologetic for their design makeovers. As commerce minister Kamal Nath was once quoted as saying: &quot;Television is a powerful medium and it makes a politician aware of himself. The politician doesn’t want his voter to be fatigued by his old image, so he’s trying new ways to impress...&quot;Designer kurtas to highlight designer sound-bytes.Come Parliament session, along with the ubiquitous TV channels’ OB vans, and you will see most politicians in their &quot;classy whites&quot;. But don’t mistake the whites to have been spun meditatively at some Gandhi ashram. These are all premium brands. Just like the politicians.A fancy dress partyBy Narayan BarethRajasthan, the land of maharajas and maharanis is the place where royals have always dressed luxuriously to stand above the crowd. But the scion of Scindia family from neighbouring Madhya Pardesh, chief minister Vasundhra Raje, prefers to wear clothes that make the voters break out in a grin and see her as one of their own. While admirers praise her dress sense and say that it often endears her to the rural crowd for the effort she makes, Ms Raje’s critics are not impressed by her fancy dress party.Ms Raje is very careful and picky about what she wears when. For example, when she took oath as the first woman chief minister of Rajasthan, she was draped in a yellow saffron sari. A thank you, perhaps, to her BJP followers and colleagues.From the very beginning, during her Parivartran Yatra which began before the Assembly polls in 2003, Ms Raje started dressing according to the gathering she was to address. So if she was at a huge gathering of Gujjars, she would dress up like a Gujjar bahu. She’d be a Rebari by day and a tribal Bheel or a Marwari in the evening.For a routine work day in office, the chief minister mostly wears saris, but prefers salwar-kameez when she’s on inspection rounds.Few chief ministers would have dared what Ms Raje did in 2006. To promote khadi, she walked the ramp at a fashion show in Jaipur. Attired in a red sari with black border, she walked the ramp with model Rahul Dev.Though she drew criticism from various quarters, including some Gandhians, Ms Raje had put khadi back on the fashion &quot;must have&quot; list.Marx of a manBy Parwez HafeezLike a true Marxist, West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee leads a simple and austere life. He lives with his wife and daughter in a modest south Kolkata flat. So far as his sartorial tastes are concerned, he is a quintessential Bengali bhadralok.He is always seen in his trade mark kurta which Bengalis call punjabi and dhoti. Mr Bhattacharjee is one of the few Bengali politicians who still prefer this traditional dress. Even during election campaigns, he is seen in the same outfit.Mr Bhattacharjee does not buy his own clothes. His wife Meera shops for him, often from a few select shops in south Kolkata — Khadi Emporium, Uttarayan, Punjabi Store and Kinnor-Kinnori. He prefers kolhapuris which are purchased from KM Das on College Street. &quot;Mr Bhattacharjee does not wear any fancy material. He does not like his kurta or dhoti to be made of silk or terrycot. He is obsessed with white malmal,&quot; a family friend said.In recent memory, it was only once that Mr Bhattacharjee was seen in trousers and a shirt. In August 2005, West Bengal chief minister visited Singapore and Indonesia to seek foreign investment. For his meetings with industrialists, Mr Bhattacharjee chose shirt and trousers over his regular dhoti-kurta. He does not usually wear any perfume and has no lucky pen or watch — that’d go against his Marxist salt. A chain smoker, his brand is Filter Wills but he sometimes also smokes Classics and India Kings.Modi: A designer brand in himselfBy Deepal TrivediFrom a former pracharak of the RSS leading a spartan life, to the power-dressing Gujarat chief minister, Narendra Modi has come a long way.Mr Modi’s impeccable dress sense is a matter of much discussion and emulation in Gujarat. Whatever he wears becomes a brand.Given the hot climate of Gujarat and Mr Modi’s hectic schedule, the chief minister took to wearing half-sleeve cotton kurtas in earthy colours. And today, most Gujarat stores stock what’s popularly known as the &quot;Modi kurta&quot;.The ubiquitous &quot;Modi kurta&quot; might be appropriate while interacting with the electorate or on routine office days. But for special occasions he has special clothes designed and tailored.So if he is filling up an election form, he’ll sport a saffron kurta, complete with a matching churidar. If it’s Navratri, he’ll delight audiences with a formal silk kurta and a Gujarati style achkan.And when the chief minister is calling on industrialists or is out wooing foreign investors, it’ll all have to be done in a stylish three-piece dark Italian suit.Most of Mr Modi’s clothes are styled at Jade Blue, an Ahmedabad store. Jitu Chauhan, Jade Blue’s owner, is not willing to shell out details but says that his best tailors are reserved for the chief minister.He adds that it is not that Modi saheb blindly follows fashion but that whatever Mr Modi wears becomes fashionable.Paresh Patel, a fashion victim and a Modi fan, saw the chief minister wearing a stylish pair of chappals — flat, brown, with double straps. &quot;It was very contemporary. I found out that they were sourced from Chavda, located the shop and the shopkeeper immediately gave me a pair of ‘Modi chappals’.&quot;Though the chief minister never shows off his love for luxury brands, his choice of designer goods endears him further to Gujarat’s plush-with-money electorate.Mr Modi loves branded accessories — from Bvlgari rimless glasses to Mont Blanc pens and designer flat-dial watches. You might even spot him using a gold Cartier pen on special occasions.The scent of a kingBy ASIT JOLLYHeir to a king’s fortune, Amarinder Singh retains several subtle hints of blue-blooded credentials. Maybe it’s royal tradition, but the Maharaja’s six-yard-long turban must be dyed and starched together just like it used to be for his ancestor, Baba Alla Singh who established the Patiala throne.This is a most elaborate procedure, using pure vegetable colours and organic starching agents and can only be done by a handful of specialists ;left from a fast-disappearing tradition. And though largely constrained, by politics, to dressing up in his trademark white, short-sleeved shirt-kurta and churidaar pyjama, Capt. Singh never fails to wear his favourite Aramis 900 cologne.The scent is perhaps the only thing that lingers when he travels abroad and his sartorial style changes to shirt sleeves and trousers and overcoats from Harrods or Burberrys.Back home, however, Ludhiana Pringle jerseys or, on more formal occasions, an achkan is the preferred winter dress. Unlike most of his ilk, he shuns ornamental jewelry, not even sporting a ring.The King’s clothes are all stitched by Jassal Tailors, Patiala-based apparel-makers who inherited the royal warrant from Master Kartar Singh, who retired once he was unable to thread a needle.Monotonous MayawatiBy Amita VermaIf anyone were to ever get a peep into Mr Mayawati’s closet, the sheer monotony would be mind-numbing. Hanger after hanger of beige-coloured salwar-kameez. But it would tell you that Ms Mayawati has no time for distractions. Not in her life, nor her wardrobe.The way Ms Mayawati dresses reflects the way she looks at life. Her dress sense is simple, straightforward and monotonous. There’s no room for any distraction. Much like her political and personal life. She remains fully focused on her political tasks and does not leave room for anything else.Ms Mayawati wears beige-coloured salwar-kameez on all occasions, in all seasons. Her full-sleeve kurta has a loose flowing cut while the salwar is more traditionally stitched. The cloth is synthetic — doesn't crush and does not need frequent changes. Interestingly, the dupatta that she drapes around her neck like a muffler is also made of the same fabric and Ms Mayawati is said to be very particular about its length and width. For special occasions like her own birthdays and swearing-in ceremonies, Ms Mayawati seems to have a thing for pink brocades and silks. She is even known to wear pink Banarasi silk sari on her birthdays.Ms Mayawati, according to sources, has never visited a boutique or consulted a fashion designer. &quot;She goes strictly by her instinct and the design she has created for herself has been done keeping in mind the functional aspects of the attire. She is cautious not to assert her femininity and wants to be treated not as a woman but as a political commander,&quot; says the wife of a bureaucrat known to be close to Ms Mayawati.Though no one is allowed to peep into her private world, sources say the BSP leader's favourite tailor is in Delhi.She has simple taste when it comes to footwear. She wears sturdy sandals through the year and shoes in winter. She prefers socks even in summer to protect her feet from skin allergy. In winters, she drapes Pashmina shawls and was even seen sporting a trendy brown coat last year which she picked up during her foreign sojourns. Perhaps the only politician who has never been seen wearing sunglasses, a brown bag she lugs around seems to be her only &quot;must have&quot; accessory. As no one is allowed near her, nobody knows whether she wears perfume or not.Venkatgiri, with a splash of YSLJaya PradaFor me, sense of dressing is a very important component of my overall personality. As I travel a lot because of my political and film commitments, I take care that what I am wearing goes with the occasion and the weather, and that I feel comfortable in it. I’m not very brand conscious but if I like something then I don’t think too much about the money. I never plan my shopping, but do it spontaneously.Mostly, I buy my clothes from Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. Venkatgiris and Procham Padus are my favourite saris and Neeta Lula, Archana Kochar and Tarun Tahiliani are some of my favourite designers. Tulip in Delhi is one of my favourite outlets and RockyS myfavourite brand for western dresses. Someof the brandsI prefer forperfumes, footwear and other accessories are Versace, Gucci, YSL and Davidoff.As told to K KailashÂÂ
2008-10-25 16:26:30
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