Lake Tahoe, California

Split down the middle by the California and Nevada border, Lake Tahoe boasts of over 300 days of warm sunshine, 396 inches of annual snowfall, 18 world-class ski and snowboarding resorts, incredible golf courses,  fantastic hotels and casinos, and of course, beautiful blue Lake Tahoe itself. The skiing and snowboarding in Lake Tahoe is arguably the 'Best in the West'!  Beautiful sunshine, deep powder, long groomed runs all make Lake Tahoe and its many world class ski resorts a very special place to ski! Tahoe is also a very popular wedding and honeymoon destination, namely on Valentine's Day.

Snapshots

My first glimpse of Lake Tahoe is one I’ll never forget; crystal blue waters, perfect sandy beaches surrounded by a spectacular alpine forest. What secrets does this view hold? It was time to discover all Lake Tahoe has to offer. The first part of the adventure was simply getting there! The 2.4-mile ride up the mountainside in the Gondola left me fascinated. The second part of the adventure was the park itself, complete with snow tubing, sledding, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and a 25-foot rock climbing wall! And since I am a bit of a wuss when it comes to skiing, I tried snow tubing. There's nothing better than gliding down a slope on a tube, feeling the cold spray of snow in your face! In the tubing area, tubes and riders are transported by tow lift to the top of the hill. Tubing is located mid-mountain just above the Gondola. Nothing beats racing family and friends down the hill in a gigantic doughnut.

The best time to visit Tahoe Lake depends most from what you want. If you don't want to ski, then the best time to visit Lake Tahoe is summer, when the margins of Tahoe Lake become great beach centers and temperatures don't freeze. September and October (and mid-Spring) are also very good months, without big crowds. These are also the cheapest months for accommodation. But if you want to ski, then November through May are the best months.

Watch out:

for the winter storms that can dump massive amounts of snow on the roads leading to Lake Tahoe, making car chains a pre-requisite.  

 Getting there:

During the ski season, the drive to Lake Tahoe can turn into a never-ending, slogging crawl. Taking a bus is one way you can relax and let someone else deal with it. The nearest commercial airports are Sacramento (about 2 hours away) and Reno, NV (30 minutes away).

You may often hear people speak of North or South Lake Tahoe. North Lake Tahoe lies mostly in California, and is best accessed via I-80 to CA 267.  South Lake Tahoe is the larger area, with more hotels and restaurants. It's partly in each state, with gambling casinos concentrated on the Nevada side of the border

Yosemite National Park, California

Half Dome, Cloud’s Rest, Glacier Point, El Capitan. Err...sounds Greek? Well, not if you are an avid rock climber or fanatic about mountaineering. The globally recognized landscape of Yosemite National Park is a stunning natural phenomenon and a haven for any nature enthusiast. The park gets about 4 million visitors a year. While most people focus their visit on Yosemite Valley where the most dramatic terrain is found, the attractions extend far beyond this part of the mountains.

Snapshots

With barely 1.5 days to explore the park that is the size of a whole state, Rhode Island, we really didn’t know where to begin. And to resolve this dilemma when I reached out to the ebullient park ranger, he said, "I'd weep." So going (or not going) by his word, as we shot through the Wawona Tunnel to arrive at the other end; I was unprepared for the spectacular view of Yosemite's geologic wonders. One word that came to my mind: awesome! Not only was I treated to a captivating view of El Capitan, but the mesmerizing views of the Half Dome and Bridalveil Falls was divine, too! The tunnel itself is quite an engineering marvel with its power lines, carbon monoxide sensors and high-speed fans.

While driving around in the park, you can spot several wild animals including bears, mountain lions and Bobcats. From Giant Sequoia groves housing 200ft trees over 2,000 years old, to breath-taking valleys carved by glaciers, and home to the highest waterfall in America, to high meadows filled with rivers, lakes, and wildflowers, Yosemite is a must- do. While most people visit the park during summer, it really depends what you are looking for. Yosemite National Park has many options for the hiker. You can do a short or long hike; you can do an easy, intermediate or difficult hike. You choose and Yosemite delivers.

Watch out: for ‘Bear’ warnings all around in the park. If you are staying overnight in Yosemite you will be made very aware of being 'Bear Safe' with your food and any scented item in your car. This includes anything that even looks or smells like food such as empty coolers or a child’s car seat.

Gettting there: 

Visitors can enter Yosemite National Park via California Hwy 120 from the east or west, via Hwy 41 from the south or Hwy 140 from the west. Yosemite is a three to four hour drive from San Francisco and about six hours from Los Angeles. The nearest airports are in Fresno and Merced.

Flutes of labour

A self taught flautist, Naveen Kumar is a name to reckon with in the music industry, in India and abroad. Rama Sreekant talks to him about his passion for music and penchant for flute inventions, his very own Naveen flute. 

He may be the most sought after flautist in India today but Naveen Kumar is a picture of humility. Having enthralled audiences worldwide with his mellifluous flute tracks, Naveen Kumar is the man behind many popular tracks- be it the chartbuster snake charmer tune from Love Aaj Kal or the outstanding flute track from the Reliance ad featuring Hrithik Roshan. And as we go to press, he is set out on a two month world tour with his most favourite musician, A R Rahman.

Tuning in

Having trained in Carnatic Music from the Andhra University, Naveen was adept in singing Andhra folk songs from his boyhood days. However, as they say, fate had different plans albeit in music. “When I was 13, I discovered a flute that had been with my father and started toying with it.  Within a span of two years, I was already performing on the radio. It gave me a great platform to showcase my talent.” And he moved to Chennai in search of greener pastures. While in Chennai, he got introduced to music maestro Illayaraja who gave Naveen his first break in the Bhagyaraj starrer Dhavani Kannavugal. “Illayaraja has been my idol since college days so it was a dream come true to work with him. I have a huge collection of his albums and it is impossible to tag any one of them as my favourite but Mouna Raagam is certainly one of my top picks.” After eight Telugu films and a short stint in music production, Naveen finally stuck with what he loved most—playing the flute.

Music has always been his life.  “I find that in being a musician, I can absorb and give out new things everyday; that's why I stick to musicianship.” Apart from Illayaraja he has worked with other greats like MS Viswanathan. But the turning point in his career came along when he met Oscar winner AR Rahman. “My association with Rahman dates to pre Roja days when we worked together for jingles. The next thing I knew, Rahman calls me to record a flute track for Roja.” And as they say the rest is history. Rangeela, Bombay, Dil Se the list of these timeless classics is endless. “I am what I am mainly because of Rahman. I, particularly, enjoy working with Rahman because his music is filled with divinity. It endears the mind and the soul,” he confesses modestly. A Telugu by birth, Naveen considers himself half Tamilian attributing it to the time he spent in Chennai.

“In one of Rahman’s concerts, he requested me to play the theme music of ‘Bombay’ on stage. And when I started performing, I could hear people cheering and applauding for me. I felt honoured to see that I also have my share of loyal fans.  It gave me a reason to believe that releasing my own album would bring me closer to my fans,” he smiles. Apart from playing the flute, Naveen has also used his singing abilities in many Tamil songs which include Kadhal Sadugudu from the blockbuster movie Alaipayuthey.

Eureka moments

A strong advocate of innovation for new sounds, Naveen has been creating variants of his favourite instrument. As a teenager, he would record his flute sounds in two separate tape-recorders and then superimpose both, to create a fresh tonality. Now as a reputed flautist, he does the same with several tracks and layers. On a similar occasion, while playing around with a PVC pipe, the possibilities of making a flute out of it struck Naveen and voila! What do you have? A PVC overtone flute.  He achieved this feat by attaching a recorder mouthpiece to the pipe which creates the overtone effect- like harmonica. This constant quest for fresh sounds led to the creation of what he calls, the Chinese Flute. He used several parchments of paper over the flute, and then finally, the dried top layer of an onion atop a hole, to create a reedy tone! Several years later, he used this for Illayaraja’s music in the Malayalam flick ‘My Dear Kuttichathan,’ which was the first 3-D film made in India.

Naveen’s thirst for newer expressions with the flute is evident from his own flute inventions. His next invention, the glass flute, is an instrument that looks as good as it sounds. He also pioneered the use of strings inside the bamboo flute more popularly known as the ‘Naveen flute’ to create a magical combination. The patented Naveen Flute, is a revelation; a flute with zero-gauge strings that vibrate. And don’t be surprised to know that over the years he has built a collection of over 200 flutes. Naveen’s a flute connoisseur with a difference; he invents some of the flutes he plays and collects rare and exotic sounding ones. Japan’s Sakuhachi, Ireland’s Ullienn Pipes and Hulsi flutes find their place of pride in his flute collection. Naveen also collects South American flutes, and European flutes like the Fujara. I also have a Yamaha wind controller which enables anything played on the keyboard to be played on the flute. I can trigger the voice from the song onto the wind controller and change the effect of the tone.” Ask him for his favourite from the flute collection and pat comes the reply, Bansuri. “I played the bansuri in Dil Se and Roja.”  Naveen also enjoys playing the Fujara as it produces a melodious and divine tone.  

“I like to collect music and flutes wherever I travel. It helps me innovate and work with new sounds. While recording for a soundtrack, I make sure that every flute tone is different from the other to give it an exclusive effect. Repetition is not acceptable in this fast paced industry.” His flute tracks are omnipresent-be it the popular Airtel and Reliance theme tune or the foot tapping Dhoom Machale (where he played three different flutes), Naveen Kumar leaves his signature on every tune he plays.  

Raaga to rock

From Hindustani to rock, Naveen’s music collection has it all. “In Hindustani, I enjoy listening to Parveen Sultana for she has an unusual voice texture. And, of course, I listen to Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia for obvious reasons. I grew up listening to a lot of pop music and motion picture soundtracks.” Be it Arab or Rajasthani folk music, his wide spectrum of music collection is second only to his versatility. Besides flute, he also finds his heart swaying to piano tunes by Chicorea, Louis Banks and AR Rahman.

Having moved base to Mumbai 10 years back, Naveen is quick to dismiss the fact that there is any cultural wall between the north and the south. “For a musician, there are no boundaries. The music industry is one family.”  In the spring of 2010, Naveen along with the Jai Ho man, AR Rahman, collaborated with the London Symphony Orchestra, as the lead musician at the Alchemy festival at London’s South bank centre, which is evidence enough that music speaks one universal language. On a lighter note, this globe trotter misses his mother’s food, no matter what part of the world he is in. He enjoys barbequing and cooking food for his family. Been married for 15 years now, he gives full credit to his wife for all her support and encouragement.

Global sounds

In 2005, he released his first album titled Fluid by Sony music. International collaborations have further stamped Naveen’s sheets of sounds and textures onto the global map albeit in an interesting way. Naveen worked with John McLaughlin on the Meeting of the Minds album and for Floating Point recalls, "When he called saying, 'Naveenji, I want to do something with you on my new record, would you be interested?  I was like ‘tell me when and I'm ready!” The resulting album was dynamic, organic and an excellent example of a cross-cultural musical exchange. 

Currently Couples Retreat, a Hollywood feature film has Naveen busy working with Rahman; "… the music is being done in a different way; it's meditative. Right now, he’s in L.A so and we’ve been exchanging music back and forth; it’s been great fun!

Naveen Kumar’s  second album, Café Fluid, is chock full of multi- timbral expressions fully realized by prodigious global talents such as a guitar played from Armenia, a rapper from Canada, an L.A cellist (Matt Cooper), a Chennai Veena player (Rajesh Vaidya) along with stalwarts Sivamani, Louis Banks, Selva Ganesh, Sanjay Divecha and Keith Peters.

Girl, Uninterrupted

She has the looks to die for and guts to live life on her own terms. But supermodel Tinu Verghis is far from the glamour doll image. Rama Sreekant discovers the many dawns of this dusky beauty

Tall. Dusky. Free-spirited. That’s Tinu Verghis for you. Strutting down the ramps with her head held high, towering at 5’10, this supermodel is your quintessential south Indian from the backwaters of God’s own country. “I grew up as the youngest of four girls in an orthodox Syrian Christian family. I went to Bishop Cotton boarding school in Bengaluru,” says Tinu. And true to her Kerala roots, “Kappa and meen curry made my Sundays delightful. My sisters and I used to take my grandmother’s bath towel to go fishing near the paddy fields. We would beg ammachi to fry the small fish we would bring back,” Tinu reminisces, about her girlhood days in Kerala. While at boarding school, her friends joked that she would be a model. “Somewhere along the road, I liked the joke. I went to meet Prasad Bidapa. He gave me my first show for Rs. 250. He never really liked me for any shows after that for a long time. I don’t blame him because not everyone can be convinced all the time.” 

As a child, Tinu didn’t aspire to be anything. “I was told as a youngster that aspiration leads nowhere. Instead I learned to enjoy life on a day to day basis. You are lucky if you are alive tomorrow.”  Moreover, “My parents didn’t have a point of view on me. They tried to replicate themselves in my sisters. When that was extremely successful, they didn’t like what they saw. They gave up just when I was ready to be initialized into this world. So I grew up within my own terms and conditions.” And while she straddled both philosophy and pragmatism, Tinu marched ahead to script her success story and walked for brands such as Christian Dior, Christian Lacroix, Prada, Escada, and Gucci. 

The dawn of the dusk

 A true blue Mallu, Bengaluru is where Tinu made some of her best friends forever, but “I am not emotionally attached to any place. I had a great time in Bengaluru. Now I can hardly recognise the city. It’s as congested as Mumbai. Once upon a time it was known as the air-conditioned city, now it is a steamy place that is exploding at its seams. But I still meet my friends when I’m in the city for shows, we become hysterical like school girls.”  Having walked the ramp for top of the line designers, Tinu is an apotheosis of independence.  It’s no surprise then that she defies the stereotype. History is witness to the fact that models and supermodels have opted out of modelling to pursue Bollywood, but Tinu hums a different tune, “I can’t act to save my life.”  Candid to the core and a catalyst for change Tinu believes in not just changing the rules of the game but also changing the way the game is played in the first place. She’s convinced that the ancient Brahminical belief and order of fair and lovely doesn’t exist in the world of fashion. “Black has always been acceptable on the ramp. It’s the ad and movie world that has serious issues with dark skin. The public thinks Bollywood is the way of life. You can’t change their perception unless advertising and Bollywood changes its attitude,” says Tinu, adding “All those black-as-a-shadow coloured clients and directors running the ad/movie world, I wonder, do they ever look at themselves in the mirror?” Tinu practices what she preaches. She was one of the five dusky models featured on the cover of a leading fashion magazine in April 2010 to dispel the dark skin stigma. 

Fame, food and more

While some dream of success, others wake up and work hard at it. Tinu prefers to have the best of both worlds.  “I have learnt from the mistakes of other people. I have no role model. I like the unchartered territory.” And to Tinu, there is no real formula to success. “If you can fall asleep every night with peace and love in your heart, you are extremely successful.” Peace is something that rightly finds high ground in Tinu’s life. She rates being at peace with oneself and one’s surroundings as one of the most important factors for achieving personal and professional success. “You have just one life and I believe in living it to the fullest” she says in her quintessential style.

This Kerala-born-Mumbai-based model prefers being a world citizen than being typecast as a south Indian. “I am me and everything is a mish-mash of things I have learned along the way.” But she believes her south Indian traits follow her “like a shadow.” You can probably take Tinu out of south India but you can’t take south India out of Tinu. “Quentin, my boyfriend, takes me for Onam feasts. We both enjoy Kerala food tremendously.” For a supermodel who loves Mallu food, pressure is not a term you could use with her. “I dance to a different drummer’s beat. I hate the idea of being fleshy/meaty/chubby. I like to be thin.” Tall and lithe, she’s the piece de resistance of every designer in India and abroad, and has been featured in magazines such as Elle, L’Officiale, Femina, Vogue. “Everything can be learned. Nobody walks in as a complete package. It takes long to create your own identity. Internationally, as long as you walk well, it’s a cake walk. In India, you need to be graceful to carry Indian garments and be a smooth glider in other garments. Some Indian garments are heavy and crushing, so walking in those takes a lot of experience.”

 Tinu may have walked the ramp for the most sought after international designers but home is where the heart is. “Our craftsmen in villages are far more evolved than anywhere else in the world. India has a gold mine in terms of traditional embroideries like chikankari, kalamkari, zardozi, ari, kantha. If we as a nation look within us, we can create a platform of our own and not ape the West all the time,” observes Tinu. 

Heart matters

She’s your little miss sunshine. “I am on solar power. Show me some sun and am bright and shining.”  What about marriage and kids? A non-believer in the institution of marriage, Tinu loves babies. “Quentin and I are waiting to make a couple. It has been absolutely painful to see people getting married. It is a complete waste of time and money. I’d rather use that money to eat sashimi with a bottle of champagne for breakfast every day.  I don’t think marriage is a guarantee to keep two people together.”

Tinu, the supermodel, is also an off-the-ramp role model worth emulating for her social responsibility. Though she hasn’t aligned herself to any specific NGO Tinu reckons, “I am an NGO by myself.” She likes to see where her money is going and so, “I take it on me personally to put two little girls through school and hopefully through university. I would like to do it for more kids.” She also holds environment issues close to her heart. Tinu is of the opinion that India has to look within itself to reap the bounties of nature and stop looking elsewhere to optimise our growth.  “I think it’s time for the fashion industry to focus on sustainable fashion with the use of organic cotton, organic silk, bamboo, natural dyes, and protect the environment from the harsh toxic waste that is being released into air, water and soil. With the advent of GM crops, the situation of the farmer and the environment has deteriorated drastically. The fashion industry must take responsibility by sourcing organic textile from within India.”

Live life queen size

Her role in the world of fashion is one that spells glamour, glitz and glitter, but Tinu believes there’s more than meets the eye. “There is nothing glamorous about a job that pays you a pittance. Glamour comes with money. Models in India are treated like kids. We are a disillusioned lot. A top Indian model who has been in the industry for ten years gets paid $1000, internationally. Gisele Bundchen is paid approx $150,000 for a show. I cringe in shame at the disparity of treatment meted out here.”

Ambitious, audacious and spontaneous is the stuff Tinu’s made of. She is unrestrained and lives for the moment. Tinu doesn’t want an epitaph to be remembered, “I don’t want to waste any space on earth when am dead. I want my body to be salvaged for every last bit of reusable organ. Then sent to a medical college to be cut up and examined. Then cop whatever is left over, and be thrown into the deep sea, so the fish can eat me instead of plastic.”

More power to you girl! 

These are a few of my favourite things

Designer: Rahul Mishra, James Fereira

Brand: Brand less wonder

Perfume: CK Eternity

City: Goa

Shopping destination in the world: Bangkok

South Indian delicacy: Kappa and meen curry

Tinu talks

Style is: being comfortable

Bollywood or ramp? Ramp

The best compliment you’ve ever received: Someone once told me I looked like Janet Jackson. I cracked up laughing. I wish every day a random person would crack me up like that. I prefer humour to compliments.

Money is: means to an end

The book that changed my life: God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

Luxury is: swimming in my pool and having the option of floating on a giant ice block when the weather is hot

Secret of your radian skin? Sex. If everyone made love consensually, there would be no time for war

One thing we didn’t know about Tinu: I hate candles. Candle light dinners, candle light sex, candle light surprises, it’s the cliché that kills me.