I am no fashion expert but I enjoyed reading The Times of London’s good natured taunt at the dress the First Lady of the USA chose to wear for her visit to the power centre in London — the Westminster Abbey.
Writes Alice Olins: “Mrs O is a clever woman: pretending to have just thrown on any old holiday number whilst actually acknowledging pioneering catwalk ideas is no mean feat, she is probably laughing at all the criticism as I write.
“From a fashion purist’s perspective, the colours are bang on the money. Designers have been consumed with Post-it note yellow, flamingo and tangerine for the past season or so, and Marc Jacobs, who sets many global trends, has taken neons to the extreme for winter by painting all of his outwear in Mrs O’s lurid brights. And wearing them stacked as she has done, is also correct.
“Unfortunately, those three-dimensional flowers, that strange orange snake working its way around her middle and the yellow curtain pelmet are impossible to defend.
“As a stack, they look like one of those modern, fancy wedding cakes that brides’ co-ordinate with their flowers. For a woman who established her look on the principles of sophistication and elegance, the detailing is just a bit too sugary.”
Aah! the Brits…Why must they always scrutinise the Americans with their own standards/colours/tinted glasses!!! More here…
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.