Are you HOT?

Women are taking more care to knock off at least 10 years from their age as they head for the 40s .

Eyelids heavy with eyeliner, hot pants so tiny it makes you wonder if they are something else, Madonna, 50, stares from the cover of her new CD. Her perfect body can give a 20-something enough reason to feel awkward. If you thought Madonna was a lone crusader cheating on the years, a quick look at the likes of J Lo and Gwyneth Paltrow would show that the 30-something women seem more like in their twenties.

Does that mean women are now able to successfully knock a neat 10 years off their age? Is this a product of a new mindset that feels younger? Or is it just the effect of Botox and chemical peels added to the obsession of keeping slim and fit, whatever be your age.

An interesting fact here is that “youth” is surfacing not just in celebrities who can afford the best trainers, hairdressers and make-up artistes, but in women across the board who could be successful career women or simply home makers.

The young-ness is not just in looks but a mindset and an attitude, as compared to women of a similar age in the past. This manifests in both behaviour as well as physical strength, which belies the actual age.

Scientists believe that while longevity may be increasing, the physical ageing of the population may be getting delayed. They contend that the longer span of life psychologically prompts people to behave younger than they actually are. This would explain the youth syndrome not just in women but men too.

If life really started in the 40s, it is but natural to want to look young and feel fit. While fitness regimes and healthy eating figure in the picture, cosmetic treatments rule high on the list to complement this youth within. Pushing the clock back by 10 years is thus no more an odd element but an accepted part of ageing.

It is not so much about the number that one bothers, but the realisation that half your life is over and you are now stepping into the less-energetic half.

This prompts a need to keep fit, look younger and feel younger. This mindset, coupled with fitness, has the potential to knock a decade off your age as compared to similar age groups in the past.

While youth does have an edge, women in their 40s could look equally chic and confident. One needs to look no further than the American elections where Michelle Obama and Sarah Palin looked charming and fashionable.

Women are no more confined to the home. The number of women working has increased and so has the fashion consciousness. The need to look young is very much there and is further prompted by higher level of socialisation.Regular exercise, yoga, visits to the gym has ensured women not only remain fit but look far younger.

Women are also paying greater attention to the care of their skin and grooming.Looking fit and attractive boosts your confidence and morale. With increased awareness about grooming and health, and with beauty salons mushrooming all over, it is but natural for women to try and look far younger than their counterparts in the past.

Perhaps it is not too far for even ordinary mortals to do a Madonna act. Of course, minus the hot pants!

Rewind Mode

* Women are making that extra effort to rewind good 10 years

* Botox may help in the process

* Some manage to take good care of their skin, follow a fitness regime

Old Bollywood songs are gaining currency with yuppies

If you think old Bollywood tunes are dead and gone, making way for racy and raunchy music for Gen-X, think again! They are coming back with a vengeance. Music stores and the MP3 pirated CD scene are stormed with Bollywood oldie numbers.

It’s original


And, it’s not the remix variety but songs in their original avatar. And this music is gaining currency with youngsters who move on snazzy bikes with iPods glued to their ears.

Those romantic duets sung busily circling trees, holding hands, the mandatory drenching in the rain, or even making a dash on the slopes of Kashmir or Ooty — the current brood of youngsters may not have seen them on screen, but the songs have them hooked. Abhijit, a techie, was introduced to old numbers with Lata Mangeshkar’s Yeh shaam ki tanhaaiyan, aise mey tera gham while on a bus two years ago. Then on, he decided to explore the world of old Bollywood numbers.

Earlier songs were a perfect way to open your heart out to that someone special, says Mukund, a third year BA student.

“Nobody could sing love songs like Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammad Rafi,” he says.

Humming a number from the film “Taj Mahal” — “Paanv choo lene do phoolonko inayat hogi” —Mukund says he had presented an MP3 player loaded with old love songs to his girlfriend who is a die hard Led Zeppelin buff.

One special song he had recorded in that was the “Agar mujhse mohabbat hai” which really moved his girl Asha.

He says: “It might take sometime for us to start a life together, but the feelings that I have expressed to her through those songs has made an impact. I am confident she has understood my mind and heart.”

The sad part is that the films with these songs are not in circulation anymore and videos of these songs are in great demand. There are very few clippings available, but they sell like hot cakes,.

At the same place, youngsters also come to load their iPods and pen drives with old songs.

Asha Bhonsle’s cabaret numbers are also in great demand.

But the best ever analysis of why youngsters swear by these numbers comes from Ragini Jalan.

She says there is happiness, love and passion, the pain of separation and heartbreak in Bollywood oldies.

Ragini says these Bollywood songs are so melodious, you would not get fed up with them ever.

You can hum the tune a million times and still love them.

Colour of Blood

Contrary to popular belief, the colour of blood inside the body, no matter how you look at it is red. Blood is bright red when oxygenated and dark red when it lacks oxygen.

When you look at blood through your skin it may look blue, but that is the result of how colour wavelengths travel through and are reflected by the skin. To see a vein at all, light must pass through the skin and hit the blood in the vein. The blood then absorbs certain colours of light and reflects others back through the skin.

In blood, longer, redder wavelengths can go more deeply into the skin than shorter, bluer wavelengths before being reflected. Therefore, a blood vessel below the skin looks blue because the blue light is reflected.

In reality, blood is either dark or bright red, depending on the amount of oxygen. When blood passes through your lungs, oxygen surrounds the haemoglobin turning your blood bright red. Also when blood is exposed as in the air, like when you cut your finger, it turns bright red.

However, as blood moves through your body to nourish tissues, which reduces the amount of oxygen in the blood, it turns a darker shade of red.

Ripening of fruits

Why do fruits ripen faster when kept in a rice container but not in a wheat container?

Fruit ripening is governed by a number of factors; the primary ones among them being the temperature of storage and the concentration of the gaseous plant hormone, ethylene. Mature unripe fruits start to emit ethylene when they start to ripen. Storing them in a closed container, even a paper bag, would enhance ripening due to the accumulation of ethylene.

The primary reason why fruits ripen quicken when stored in a rice container is due to ethylene accumulation. Differences in the rate of ripening between fruits kept in a rice container and a wheat container might be due to the differences in carbon dioxide emission and self heating nature of these grains.

Both wheat and rice grains (esp. brown rice) when not completely milled, still actively respire, thus releasing carbon dioxide and energy. Carbon dioxide is a known inducer of ethylene biosynthesis in a number of fruits e.g. tomato.

Respiration also leads to increase in temperature. Both these factors promote fruit ripening. Wheat and rice grains differ in their seed dormancy which is known to affect seed respiration rates.

Rice grains without a husk typically have no dormancy and thus respire more at normal storage conditions. Most wheat grains have moderate to high dormancy periods (red wheat is more dormant than white wheat) and respire less at normal storage conditions. This is the reason why fruits stored in a rice container ripen faster than the ones stored in a wheat container.