An old monk
By Sidin Vadukut
Let me start with a confession: the temptation to plaster a “tech special” issue of any magazine with pictures of iPods and iPads and Bose headphones is overwhelming. And particularly so when it comes to an issue of Indulge that is committed to technology.
And not just because you can always get away with a nice iPad story or two. (You can. Somehow, people lap them up faster than you can churn them out. “Dog bites man” was never a good story. “Man bites dog” is barely better. “Man bites iPad-using dog” is the way to go these days.)
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Fry without fear, it’s not that bad
By Madhu Menon
Ask anyone going on one of those horrible things called ‘‘diets”, and no matter how nutty the diet plan is (which most of them are), ‘‘don’t eat fried food” is usually among the rules. Fried food gets a reputation as incredibly unhealthy, which is a pity because most of the unhealthy outcomes are simply because of bad cooking technique and a lack of knowledge. Now, I’m certainly not advocating fried food to be just as healthy as, say, steamed food, but with a few changes to the way you cook, you can get rid of the stereotypical greasy, heavy food that’s dripping with oil.
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A midlife crisis
By Joel Harrison
Photo: iStockphoto
Please don’t tell anyone, but I’m having an affair. About 12 years ago, I was on a night out with some friends quietly enjoying myself when I was introduced to the love of my life. Was it love at first sight? Not really. I’d met someone like her before when I was much younger, much less experienced and much more naive. But that evening was different. I was ready and I fell in love. I fell in love with a drink called whisky.
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Poor rich footballers
By Shashank Khare
IPL, the French Open and Euro 2012—what do they all have in common? The reflexive answer is constant summertime TV viewing that causes a strain on marital vows through incessant rows. Another correct answer is the display of sporting talent and prowess to millions of awed spectators. But to an investment professional better equipped to comment on ‘‘well paid” rather than ‘‘well played”, the common thread that joins all such sporting events is the bevy of incredibly well-paid sportstars.Events such as the European Championships occur once every four years, but the public’s focus on footballer earnings is perpetual. Every club and product-endorsement contract makes headlines. Whenever a footballing demigod shows human frailty, his pay is questioned and greed imputed as thesole motivating factor. Certainly, watching Fernando Torres (annual earnings of £14 million) make a hash of goal-scoring chances, one couldn’t help but think that Geoffrey Boycott’s mum could have done it for onetenth of the money.
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Posh Apps
By Sidin Vadukut
What shirt should you wear on that date? A long weekend in three days and completely forgot to make plans? Stranded in Berlin without a morsel of food in your stomach? That vintage Rolex in the window...is it worth breaking the bank for? Rapidly going mental about your travel plans?
Pull yourself together, man! Arm your smartphone with a range of essential apps for the indulgent man’s lifestyle. And don’t ever let things get out of hand.
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The Automaton: Yesterday’s Hottest Tech
By Sidin Vadukut
The city of San Diego, California, is named after Didacus of Alcalá. Better known as San Diego de Alcalá, the Catholic saint was born near Seville in 1400 and died around 63 years later in the central Spanish city of Alcalá de Henares. Known in his lifetime for curing the sick, the veneration of San Diego really began with his death when, it is reported, his body remained incorrupt, did not go into rigor mortis, and emanated a sweet perfume.
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All gadgets great and small
The next time the tech bug bites you, don’t just buy another mobile phone, tablet computer or noise-cancelling headphones. Why settle for the mundane when you can acquire the unique? Indulge combed through tech outlets, catalogues and specialist retailers all over the world to handpick a collection of the finest thungummajigs your money can buy. Arranged in price bands for easy budgeting and acquisition . Not that you should let logic get in the way.
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Connoisseur’s Choice
Viresh Oberoi, Founder CEO and managing director, Mjunction Services Ltd
My favourite gadget:
Though some gadgets I use on a daily basis won’t affect my life adversely should they suddenly disappear, a good number of them do improve my quality of life, both in and out of the office. One such gadget that I never needed but now I can’t live without (because of its obvious bearing and value addition to the quality of my life) is the iPad2. It’s a supremely convenient device that helps me check my emails, surf the Web, read books or get any work done via the Internet, adding productivity, portability and convenience to the way I live or conduct business.
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The luxury conundrum
By Sidin Vadukut
Walk along some of Geneva’s most shopping streets and, if you’re a tech enthusiast in any case, you notice something odd. The shoppers prognosticating over the Patek Philippes and Piagets in the stores on the Rue du Rhone often share nothing more than their species with the more valueminded window-shoppers gawping outside. Yet almost everyone in sight—sales staff, buyers, gawkers,locals, tourists, Russian oligarchs, Arab sheikhs, even the hawkers and vendors—all use the same mix of iPhones, Samsungs, iPods, tablets and Kindles. Indeed the tech devices they use are the most obvious common social denominator.
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Luxury’s new address: Knightsbridge
By Sidin Vadukut
The inside story: The theatre.
Everything starts from the client. To do a hotel…everything is tailor-made. You just can’t imagine anything isolated from the brand, the owner and the cityitself. And then you need a story. So you start talking to the client. You need to figure out the client’s vision. And then you need to create your own vision. And you keep populating elements of the hotel’s story. So in this case…one of the elements of the vision was to use silver. From the Bulgari collection.England has an important tradition of working with silver. And, mos importantly, Bulgari has a tradition of working with silver.
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Gone in 10 seconds
By Sidin Vadukut
The Olympics in 2012 may be the largest, most watched, most diverse sporting event in the world. Over a period of two weeks, London, and a scattering of sites all over the UK, will host the world’s best proponents in 302 disciplines across 26 sports. Events range from the universally popular football to more obscure competitions such as Keirin track cycling.
This means that organizers not only have to deal with a plethora of sporting facilities and equipment, but also a mind-boggling array of technology to keep track of times and scores. Today, the Olympics run on a sophisticated interplay of hardware and software that track times, tabulate them and then display them in the stadium and beam them to thousands of TV channels and Internet websites. All within seconds.
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Peter Hürzeler | We are 20 years ahead of the federations
Peter Hürzeler of Omega Timing, a veteran of 15 editions of the Games, spoke to Indulge about the process of timekeeping and recent innovations. Edited excerpts:
What are the major improvements you have made in terms of timing systems for this Olympics?
Our goal is always simple. To provide 100% service to the Games. And to make no mistakes and give the right results. Exactly what we do for any other event. We do nothing special for the Olympics. In fact,we more or less use the same technology we use for any other sporting event. This creates comfort for the athletes. And one of our jobs is also to keep the athletes happy.
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Tesla Model S: the make or break car
By Pradip Kumar Saha
Electric car maker Tesla Motors has embarked on a mass market experiment that it can’t afford to fail. The first batch of the company’s $50,000 Model S sedans, with which it aims to break the niche tag for electric cars, was rolled out earlier this month from its factory in Palo Alto, California.
The company got low-cost US government loans in 2009 worth $465 million to fund a US plant to make the Model S and engineer future electric cars. Tesla will start repaying the loans, with interest rates of 0.9-3.4%, late this year, making it imperative that the rollout of the Model S goes smoothly.
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