LIFE can be fun, my dears, and why shouldn’t it be! Don’t ask me how I found myself at the savvy Nivedita Dempo’s Studio 101 but there I was on a Saturday evening, Oct 15, 2001, to witness a zumba dance-off. I got there a bit late but once there was totally mesmerized by a lively group of women who’ve taken to doing the zumba to discover, re-discover, fitness anew. Hey, the zumba is the latest rage in fitness circles, my dears, although I must confess it’s only for younger women from the looks of it. In any case if you’ve noticed off late most everybody is into some kind of dancing or another for fun, fitness, togetherness, sharing secrets…more, much more.

A tribute to Jagjit Singh who passed away on October 10, 2011, in Mumbai, by MUNMUN GHOSH.

LIFE IN Goa has its moments, my dears. Like the time when someone stood up and asked, “Do we have any Justice Hegdes in Goa?” There was a stunned momentary silence at the International Centre where the much respected and loved Justice Santosh Hegde (the moving force behind the downfall of the BJP government in Karnataka for corruption and destruction big time) was speaking on the subject of the proposed Goa Lokayukta Bill, which the government has been scuttling for years now.

THERE’S NEVER a dull moment in my social diary gossiping, my dears! There are some interesting high moments like for instance on Friday last, June 17, 2011, when the wildlife photographer in industrialist Raj Salgaocar finally came to the fore and finally basked in the spotlight at the Sunaparanta Centre for the Arts, up at the Altinho in Panaji. His collection of photographs was as much on show as on sale for a charitable cause…

POTPOURRI’S been missing for a while but when I’m not socialising, I’m not socialising, my dears! And then suddenly an orgy of socialising…first at Tito’s Courtyard at Baga and then at the Grape Escapade in Panaji. Tito’s Courtyard you must know is the hottest spot to see and be seen this side of Goa’s crowded northern beachside belt, crammed with more shopping than anywhere else in Goa. I always tell my friends who come to Goa, if you want to shop, head for Candolim-Calangute-Baga! But what took me to Baga on Saturday evening, Feb. 28, was the release of the “Femina Miss India Calendar 2011″.

POST-Kerala trip I’m finally back to normal. Nursing rainy day blues and seeking inspiration for this, that and the other. Without inspiration life is not worth living! My second-floor balcao’s live painting across the road is full of rain-filled greens these rain-filled days and in one corner there’s a garbage dump which has become permanent. I try to ignore it. In favour of moon mooning over the stark wet black and green silhouette of a caju tree and casuarina trees with burrs and pine-styled needle leaves… with a sparkling shower of teeny weeny rain droplets hanging on to create a bit of memorable enchantment.

By Tara Narayan

BREAKFAST Club: healthy breakfast for all! Great new health club, friends of good nutrition meet every day between 7 and 10 am at Porvorim. Call 9822863072″. The little ad in the classified columns of a daily newspaper sparked the curiosity cat in me and I called thinking that hey, what a good idea to open a breakfast club…offering the good things of life for breakfast…freshly squeezed fruit and veggie cocktails, wholegrain bread loaded with real grapefruit marmalade, tempting muesli combos…may even aloo paratha spiked with tangy pomegranate choora like I like it! Or real idli-dosa with various chutneys and drumstick filled sambar to die for

By Tara Narayan

DEAR LORD, thank you for this precious peepal tree which I pass by daily on my way to office on my Red Angel! I think the peepal is my favourite non-flowering tree and this particular beauty at this point of spring-turning-rapidly into summer time is a study in soft tender greens against more mature fresh greens…ravishing, cooling greens, looking at it while passing by makes me cool down! Has the month of March ever been so hot and humid before? Is there a heat wave on… or am I imagining I’m living in a permanent sauna bath? Sauna baths are for free for the aam aadmi!

WHAT do moussaka, caponata, Baba Ganoush, ratatouille…have in common? Right! Aubergine or eggplant, brinjal, baigan (Hindi) vangi (Marathi, Konkani) and they are in season currently. It is vangi season, so make the most of them. Huge big royal purple aubergine (aubergine is from the French and so much more romantic than the American or Australian eggplant!). Look at them, they come in several colours and shapes…round, oval, long and slender eggplant…

By Tara Narayan

IF YOU haven’t discovered the legendary restaurant of O’Coqueiro yet you have missed out on something! You can’t miss it. It’s right there flush on the highway to Mapusa at Porvorim …a single line of golden bulbs running around the twin-bungalow complex of Portuguese vintage. Low and inviting, it has a cool open courtyard set within and set off by this beautiful frangipani tree…