Dil Se

The young duo of Chris Russell and Hamish Emerson has given Queenstown its newest and scariest adventure activity. Hamish talks to   MEENAKSHI RAO   about go at fear, extreme height drops and how their product is unique in the world. Excerpts from the interview: What on earth made you think of such a scary jump and swing? Chris and I (Hamish) spent years reconnoitring rock faces through every inch of the Wakatipu Basin, climbing, abseiling and swinging.  Swinging around on the end of a rope started from a passion for freefalling and jumping off things — we’d set up swings off local bridges to create a buzz ourselves and with our mates. The idea for getting a permanent location to jump off came from mates who enjoyed the rush and thought others would too. Is your product entirely unique or do you have similar things happening elsewhere in NZ or globally? We were pioneers in commercial swinging with freefall. Others have copied us since, but none are set up to provide the

Two Kiwi youngsters have created the world's scariest jump — the Shotover Canyon Swing, which goes off a cliff and makes you fall vertically upside down into the 182-metre gorge down below — down below being a 109 metres jump, a 60 metre freefall and 200 metre swing across the Otago Valley.  MEENAKSHI RAO tells you how Queensland thrives & survives on such innovating and death defying adrenaline pushers A skywalk atop the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere at Auckland, a blood-curdling sky swing in Rotorua, the bungee jumps in an around Queenstown, the rolling ball in Nelson — there’s an adventure for you anywhere and everywhere in New Zealand. But wait, there’s a new and scariest baby in town — actually in Queenstown, the adventure capital of the world. And the rush to give yourself that ultimate push into heart-stopping fear is such that you need an appointment to get strapped and be thrown 109 metres into a canyon, 60 metres of which is a heart-stopping

It was in Goa that I last met Sridevi – as usual a picture of grace, elegance and a quiet poise that never aged, quite in contrast to her patented impishness, vivacity and cuteness that dazzled the big screen and fans for years. She had promised a full-scale interview on March 6 on her five decades in the industry, a commitment that was cruelly taken away from her by the hand of God. Indeed, Sridevi, 54, passed too soon, too unexpectedly and with minimum fuss, being taken away by a sudden midnight cardiac arrest on February 24 in Dubai where she had gone to be a part of her husband Boney Kapoor’s nephew Mohit Marwah’s wedding celebrations. Her mortal remains were flown to Mumbai to be put to flames before a shocked industry mourning her shocking demise. The first woman superstar in a male-dominated Bollywood, she was a wholesome diva who shaped her career as meticulously as she shaped her body and her place in the film industry’s hall of fame. From being the unapologetic t

Brunch on the greens is a unique food therapy and the Claridges Garden is the place to be on a sunny Sunday afternoon with family and friends, says MEENAKSHI RAO As luxuries go, the ultimate ones at that, brunching in a lush green garden in the heart of Lutyens’ Delhi under private white umbrellas, lovely live music on the side and a lavish spread of continents on your platter, not to mention the bubbly perking up your spirits, is what you would call a really well-heeled food soiree. And if it is winters, it is time for brunches under the sun warming your cockles and the wide spread of comfort food putting you on a slow leisurely march to the tastefully done up salad, grill, sushi, soup and Indian counters being all there without crowding your vicinity. With the concept of Sunday brunch catching up with upper class urban metropolitan India, many eateries have started dressing themselves up to cash in on this 11:30 am to 3:30 pm mega meal trend which gets into a rage every seaso

Time for al fresco brunch breaks with the weather being on its best behaviour, says MEENAKSHI RAO It’s that time of the year when the garden becomes more important than the food that is going into you on a lazy Sunday afternoon, when sipping a delectable Sangriya or running high on Mimosas in between chunky nibbles and enervating conversations with family and friends becomes the high point of a much needed platter break. But in Delhi, all so crowded and concrete ridden, there are not too many eating places which give you best of both the worlds. That’s where Lord of the Drinks Meadow comes in with its virtually incomparable ambience. Who would not want an al fresco time out in the middle of a park with thickets growing all over the place and comfortable sofas inviting you to sink into them as the sunrays peep from between the greenery on a winter afternoon? More so, when the friendly but busy staff hands you an engaging glass to enjoy your Sunday to introspect on life bei

Taking a break into the uncharted is the ultimate rejuvenator, says  Meenakshi Rao  after wandering into the lush green hilly interiors of the Kangra Valley What would you expect from a hilly stretch that connects two towns of a mountain State — the celebrated Dharamsala with its touristy twin city McLeod Ganj, to a comparatively lesser known Palampur with its relatively unsung tea gardens? Yes, a serpentine road to start with; forest land escorting the mortar path; hills graduating into mountains in the distance and, of course, unknown unsung and unvisited villages along the way, not to mention a clear blue sky above you and fresh enervating air resuscitating your Delhi burdened lungs as an emergency relief measure. Such uncharted stretches have, by the way, gained currency among the Indian traveller fed up with the humdrum and the routine. And that’s where this verdant terrain capped by the majestic Dhauladhar range comes in. The snow is yet to cap all the peaks though it