A floating club for Kolkata sky

Kolkata will soon have a floating skyclub hanging between two buildings at a height of 500 metres, a project which is being seen as a movement towards new age architectural aesthetics.

The Mobius principle will be applied to create the skyclub. A Mobius strip is like an infinite loop (imagine the figure eight like a spatial twist) with a "non-orientable" surface. This principle is used by architects to create "infinite space" as opposed to box like conventional structures. The skyclub's form will seem to be changing constantly, appearing sometimes solid, translucent or cloud-like from different angles. This 55,000 square feet floating club will have features like theatre, swimming pool, outdoor games such as badminton, tennis, basketball, etc., party halls, boardroom and many others.

Forum Projects, the real estate company building the skyclub for its maiden residential project Atmosphere, is calling it Deya.

"The luxury trend is at a nascent stage in India especially in Kolkata. The trend so far has been of villas and skyscrapers in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore," said Rahul Saraf, managing director, Forum Projects.

"We plan to have 1,200-1,500 square feet of terrace gardens. To ensure that the floating stretch remains intact, we will apply the cantilever mechanism. This means that the bridge will be built using cantilevers, structures that project horizontally into space, supported on only one end. Atmosphere will be completed by 2014," added Saraf.

Such luxury projects generally cost between Rs 550 cr and Rs 800 cr. "The area of the flats in our project will be between 6,000-8,000 square feet and the cost will be in the range of Rs 9-15 cr," said Saraf.

Other real estate developers believe that this is a positive step towards creating a separate category for luxury living, as super luxury apartments have a niche following. "People demand a complete range these days including swimming pool and garden. Such projects will boost luxury living. As far as architectural design is concerned, no technical difficulties can be expected because this is the era of advanced technology, which will help them build a unique structure," said Vishwa Sengupta, an architect with Ashiana Housing Limited, Mumbai.

"It is important for players to innovate and create new designs to lure buyers. But in the real estate sector duplication is very common, which might hamper the efforts of different companies and distract buyers," said Sneha Khullar an architect with Archi, a real estate company in Delhi.

17 July in The Sunday Guardian.

Real estate firms invest in retirement homes

Real estate developers are targeting the 60+age group for developing the American concept of retirement homes. 8.94% of the Indian population is above 60 years of age. The collapse of the traditional family support system and a growing number of nuclear families are said to be the reasons behind the success of these retirement homes. The occupancy rate is almost 90% in the retirement homes built by different players.

These housing colonies comprise individual houses and apartments with services provided to suit the needs of the aged. "The idea of a retirement home is to give the elderly a comfortable lifestyle after retirement. We offer an emergency care unit, state-of-the-art security and activity services. We also provide assistants for the elderly, who can help them walk, cook and perform other duties," said Ankur Gupta, joint managing director with Ashiana Housing Limited. Ashiana has two functional apartment blocks in Bhiwadi and Jaipur. The retirement homes in Bhiwadi range between Rs 18-22 lakh and the ones in Jaipur range between Rs 12-24 lakh. "The upcoming project in Lavasa, Mumbai will cost Rs 30-80 lakh," added Gupta. The living family should be above 55 years and relatives and other family members are allowed to stay for a brief period and only during holidays.

Other builders exploring this segment include Vivara Residences, Sobha Developers, Rakindo Group, Brigade Group, Paranjape Schemes and Riverdale Retirement Resorts Private Limited. Their projects are operational in Delhi, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai and Coimbatore.

Vivara Residences in Arpora, Goa, is expanding to Coorg (Karnataka), Kerala, Pondicherry, Shirdi, Rishikesh and Brindavan as well.

Vivara gives the benefit of refunding the full lease deposit amount it takes from the elderly. The resident will be required to pay a non-refundable monthly rent.

"There is a huge market for such homes and this trend will gain momentum in the next five years," said Heeron H.H. Fernandes of Vivara Residences.

10 July in The Sunday Guardian.

Vaginal rejuvenation surgery sees an increase of 20%

Vaginal rejuvenation procedures are becoming increasingly popular among women above the age of 25 years. Cosmetic surgeons say that there has been a 20% rise in the number of women undergoing anti ageing cosmetic surgeries such as vaginal tightening or vaginoplasty, hymenoplasty, de-hooding clitoris and rejuvenation in the last two years. This figure was provided by Dr Vipul Nanda, the head of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Artemis Health Institute, Gurgaon.

The most popular among these procedures are vaginal tightening and hymenoplasty, which is reconstruction of the hymen. These surgeries include giving fat injections into the labia majora which has thinned over the years, tightening of the muscles and restoring the vagina to its original shape for female sexual enhancement. Marriageable women who do not want to disclose to their husbands that have had affairs before are the ones undergoing hymenoplasty. The cost for such surgeries ranges between Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000.

"There are no fatal complications, but one has to be careful about the patient's health after the surgery. Slight bleeding and infection are common complications that women encounter. There are times when their expectations are unrealistic. We have to counsel them to make them understand the limitations and results that can be achieved," said Dr Nanda.

Some doctors believe that these surgeries do not have any side effects and are a necessity in the present world. "This is mainly a post pregnancy surgery. It is an extremely painful procedure and it is not meant for women below the age of 30 years. I get many patients in the age group of 23-26 years who are keen on this surgery because they are getting married and fear that their husbands will get to know of their previous affairs. But there are no risks or side effects whatsoever. The trend has mainly gained momentum in the age group of 30-32 years. On a yearly basis the demand for these surgeries grow by 10%," said Dr Amit Gupta, Consultant Plastic and Cosmetic Surgeon, Gurgaon and Noida.

The three other private practitioners this newspaper spoke to, Dr Vinay Pathak, Dr Sheela Sharma and Dr Anup Dhir echoed their colleagues' words. All the surgeons said that lipo injection and rhinoplasty are two other cosmetic surgeries that have become popular among young women. Lipo injection is given for weight reduction and rhinoplasty is done to thin the nose.

3 July in The Sunday Guardian.

Tier II and III cities create more job opportunities

Second and third tier cities have recorded 61.8% of total jobs in 2011, said a report released by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM).

Almost 1,89,756 jobs were generated in Pune, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Lucknow and Surat during last one year. Allahabad, Udaipur, Agra, Ajmer, Kota and Meerut are the major tier III cities which showed a significant growth in job placements.

During 2010-11, tier III cities showed a growth of 23% on account of 1,50,391 jobs created and 2,53,702 jobs were created in tier II cities recording a growth of 38.8% in 2010-11.

Industry players believe that the growth is tremendous in sectors like IT, education, retail and banking. "India is giving the youth many opportunities to explore more avenues. Lack of excellent infrastructure is the only constraint. We expect the growth to be somewhere between 10-15% in the next two years for tier II and tier III cities. With GDP growth predicted at 8% over this decade, India is set to reap the benefits of rapid development," said Yogesh Bansal, Founder and CEO, ApnaCircle.com, a business and career networking site.

"Most of the companies consider these cities as catchment areas. Primarily growth can be attributed to lack of consistent employees in the metros and affordability. The job scenario has been far better than what it was last year. Although, phenomenal demand-supply gap still exists which will be rectified over the coming years," said V. Suresh, executive vice president, Naukri.com.

The growing new age ventures like e-commerce are seeping into tier II and III cities, due to its cost effectiveness for macro economic factors. Hence, they are creating employment opportunities in these cities to fuel expansion, as employment from such cities is highly cost effective. Companies have gradually started rebuilding their staff strength and gearing up for an optimistic FY11-12 with an aim to exploit the potential of "India's next destination cities."

Published on 26 June 2011.

Official trailer of Breaking Dawn

http://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/hollywood/Breaking-Dawn-s-steamy-trailer-leaked/Article1-706355.aspx

Credit cards for farmer loans

Sixty-five lakh farmers in Uttar Pradesh will be provided with credit cards to ensure that they get loans for agri products at minimal rates. However, the Uttar Pradesh government states that only those farmers will be included who are deprived of such loans.

In UP alone, there are around 2.17 cr farmers and families. Ranvijay Singh, deputy director of Krishi Vibhag, UP, said, "The credit cards will be provided by the nearest banks in villages and banks where farmers have their accounts."

According to the agriculture board, 30-35% lakh farmers do not have access to loans for harvest and almost 15-20% farmers are not eligible.

"The interest rate will be nominal at 4% as decided by the government. The main agenda is to make life easier for the farmers as many are deprived of loans which lead to massive losses to the farmers and the country as well," said Rajesh Gupta, joint director, Krishi Vibhag.

"This is a positive step towards ensuring that farmers in UP benefit as such loans will boost harvest," said Congress MLA Dr Bijender Singh.

5 June 2011 — The Sunday Guardian.

Mobiles pose threat to IT firms

More than 90% of Indian IT leaders believe that mobile phones and similar devices undermine data security of the organisation, says a survey report by ISACA, a non-profit global association of more than 95, 000 IT professionals.

The report says that mobile phones, whether employer-provided or personal, increase the chances of violation of privacy, compliance, liability, losing important data because of unencrypted format, hacking, storing company data in unsecured manner, access to dangerous or risky websites and unsecured Bluetooth or WiFi access. The report further said that more than 50% of the respondents recognise this risk from mobile devices and enterprises have introduced policies and systems to mitigate the risk.

The survey also indicates that 56% of respondents say that their enterprises do not allow installation of applications on mobile devices used for work activities. Mobile devices, in this case, include smart phones, flash drives, notepads, tablets and broadband cards.

Sandeep Godbole, a member of the ISACA India Task Force, said, "Mobile devices and mobile computing are posing tough questions to organisations related to intent and strategy.

The survey results present an interesting dichotomy. Around 43% enterprises in India have still not adopted cloud computing for any IT services."

The survey also indicates that 87% of the enterprises have effectively integrated IT risk management with their overall approach to risk management.

Niraj Kapasi,a certified information systems auditor, said, "There has been a gradual improvement in the scenario in India as compared to the previous findings, especially in aligning the enterprise risk management strategy with managing IT risks. However, much more needs to be done."

5 June 2011 — The Sunday Guardian.