Probably one of the most famous Yoga exercises is Surya Namaskar or Salutation to the Sun. It's popular because it affords the practitioner an almost complete Yoga stretching session. Originally constructed as a means of awakening the body and energizing it at the break of day, it is also an ancient means of connecting to the powerful energy of the Sun. Needless to say, it is fairly sure of certain that you will not be able to head into a Sun Salutation in your office, cubby or shared space. However, there is a way of bringing in the motivating and uplifting qualities of the venerable twelve moves, even while still. This method was used by the Yoga masters while fasting to draw nourishment directly from the sun. Although today, the Sun Salutation has begun to take on more of a cardio workout-far departing from it's original intention, we will focus on its deeper aspects in order to bring a little sunshine into your work life. And, in only a few minutes.

Office Sun Salutation: Begin by first closing your eyes and visualizing a bright golden sun sending healing rays into your body. Place your tongue on the roof of your mouth. You may this technique sitting at your desk. But if you have a window nearby and your office is private, you may want to stand near a window facing the light so you can feel it on your forehead. If possible, step outside. Since you are not moving, no one will really know you are doing this internal Yoga. Visualize this sunlight showering your whole body, while you realign your posture and continue to breathe deeply. Turn around and let the sunlight shine onto the back of your head. Picture drawing the sun's healing rays into the base of your head and continue breathing. You may also wish to work with a simple affirmation such as: "Today, I have more than enough energy to complete all tasks efficiently and with ease". Bring a little Sun into your work day soon. Yoga Works!

Visit www.yourstrulyyogatv.vpweb.com or http://totyoga.com

It was a windy, snow-whipped morning in early winter, and as I stood on a spit of land jutting into Kachemak Bay in the Alaskan town of Homer, I was surrounded by natural wonders. Or so I was told.

The Harding Icefield, rugged mountaintops ensconced in interconnected glaciers, was just off to the north east. Ten miles away were rivers where in spring phalanxes of brown bears stand paw deep in the water, practically posing for photos as they snap up spawning salmon midleap. But in Alaska, a vast state covering 663,267 square miles, much of the terrain is completely cut off from roads. A tourist can get only so far or rather, so near.

Fortunately, there's another option: Take to the air.

While in Alaska to interview people living in remote areas for an article, I learned how vital air travel is in reaching spots inaccessible by road. I also found it to be the best way to see the state's many stunning sights. Pilots in the state are now offering an array of aerial jaunts.

Known as flightseeing, these tours via small, sturdy aircraft capable of landing in uneven terrain help open up Alaska to the average traveller. From the air, the rare view of a glacier's back becomes democratic, no longer reserved for extreme sports enthusiasts who can clamber up its icy sides. Once on the ground, reclusive animals come into focus, and hard to reach fishing streams are just steps away.

"You've only got five highways," said Norm Lagasse, director of the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum.
With the exception of dogsleds, terrain is accessible mostly by aircraft.

Bird's-eye view
Accordingly, Alaska has about one registered pilot for every 58 residents, and 14 times as many airplanes per capita as the rest of the United States. Lagasse said pioneer pilots took their first flights over the countryside in 1913.

Cruise ships also claim to provide unique access to Alaska, but the view from the deck reveals few of the details no bird's eye view of the creatures that wander along the peaks, like woolly white Dall sheep and rams almost as big as donkeys.

And though by ship you can float close to a mountain's foot, you can't see the jewels hidden in its crags: Valley lakes tinged a glowing green from "rock flour", the ground-up minerals that pour from the meltwater of a glacier and hang suspended in the lake.

The best viewing, I was told, was in spring, when you can pinpoint bears below you and land to snap their picture. Zack Tappan, chief pilot at Homer Air, flies over and around the smokestacks of as many as four active volcanoes on trips to bear breeding grounds. After landing on the shore across Kachemak Bay from Homer, Tappan leads visitors to within 100 yards of placid brown bears. "I wouldn't say they have a relationship with us, but they've seen us enough to under stand what we're about," he said.

Turbulent times
But even in winter you can personally view those sequestered green lakes as I did, flightseeing via Alaska's answer to the tour bus: a Piper Navajo double-engine plane buzzing through Lake Clark Pass.

Setting out from Anchorage toward the town of Port Alsworth, you see Alaska distilled, said Glen Alsworth Jr., who runs Lake Clark Air and along with his father is something of a local aeronautical legend. "You see the oil derricks and the industrial part of Alaska," he said, "and you get into the transitioning part of the wilderness, where it's all still being glacier carved."

What hadn't occurred to me was that all this beauty has a price: the vagaries of nature. The plane's light frame puts it at the mercy of atmospheric lumps and bumps, though they don't seem to faze the bush pilots in the slightest. Just as Alaska's native people have multiple words for snow, pilots have multiple descriptions for turbulence. I may have experienced them all. I even recognised a few of the terms.

`Yawing', when the plane shimmies as a gust buffets first one wing, then the other? Check. Hitting rough air, when the plane hiccups across clear sky that has suddenly become as potholed as a dirt road? Check.

"When it's beautiful, it's really beautiful, but when the weather's not nice, it's treacherous," said Lagasse.

A guest in nature's home
And yet, as the plane stumbled around the sky, I took heart in my pilot's calm, businesslike manner. On this day we flew above the peaks, but Lake Clark Air is skilled in slipping small, hardy Stinson planes between the mountains' flanks to land midriver on gravel bars.

With stout wheels, the small bush planes can land on just about any flatish surface patches of snow between spruce trees, or stretches of sand. Landings on beaches beside lakes are standard for catch and release fishing tours in the spring, when Arctic char and rainbow trout are the attractions. For trips in which scrub brush and rocks prevent touchdown, Alsworth uses float planes with banana-shaped buoys to land in the teal water.

Though whipping winds prevented a daring landing this time, my views from aloft were enough. The Chigmit Mountains were a stupendous sight; the pass that ran through them was an icy version of a Grand Canyon. I caught my breath for once not because of turbulence. As Tappan of Homer Air put it, with flightseeing, "you're out there in the wilderness in a really remote setting; you're a guest in someone else's house."

On February 25, I woke up to the news that Maqbool Fida Husain had become a citizen of Qatar. His son, Owais’s reaction to the news was understandably guarded: “It’s not something that he asked for, the citizenship was conferred on him, and accepting it was his decision as an individual. Only time will tell if it was right, but you have to remember that my father is 94 and not 45. He can’t wait indefinitely to be welcomed back home.”

It’s sad to think that I may never get to see the barefoot genius paint ‘live’ again. It happened at an award ceremony over a decade ago. On a runway at the Pawan Hans airport, on a specially erected stage, with his muse, Madhuri Dixit, in front of him, he filled the canvas with magical strokes in minutes and delivered a Husain original.

He was a regular at our award shows, one of the first to arrive at the venue. He’d slip in unobtrusively but, with his distinctive mane, he was hard to miss. And despite his obvious reluctance, we always dragged him up on stage to present an award. He never asked which category it was in. For Husainsaab, cinema was a world still unexplored and he was ever ready to toast excellence.

One artist to another

He turned director with Gaja Gamini and Madhuri Dixit in 2000. Never shy to wear his heart on his sleeve, he had publicly admitted to having seen Hum Aapke Hain Koun…! some 60-odd times. His raptures over Madhuri’s performance momentarily rendered the diva speechless. “I didn’t know how to react initially,” she admitted, before coming up with a politically correct rejoinder, “It was like one artist appreciating another.” Fida-over-her-Husain reacted by turning one wall of the living room of her Juhu apartment into a canvas for his colours.

I saw the painting, even though I didn’t see this one being painted ‘live’, when I dropped by for an interview. Madhuri had narrowly missed out on a National Award for Mrityudand. But there were no visible signs of regret on a face wiped clean of all traces of make-up. In a simple white chikan salwar-kurta, she giggled like a schoolgirl after passing herself off as madam’s maid to a fan on the telephone.

Muses and musings

Surrounded by bouquets, trophies and swirls of Husain, the superstar raced through the highs of a 15-year-career in 60 minutes. Gaja Gamini had just gone on the floors. Madhuri described it as an ordinary woman’s journey through history, mythology and literature seen through the eyes of a painter.

Quizzed on her own muses, she zeroed in on Indira Gandhi as the embodiment of “stree shakti (woman power)”, Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity who “selflessly sacrificed their lives for others”, and Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi who “fought for her rights against the might of the British army with her child tied to her back”.

Ageless and fearless

Quizzed about her first reaction to Husain’s experimental film, she admitted that she hadn’t understood a word of what he was saying. Then he had shown her some rough sketches that were his screenplay and she was instantly intrigued.Not just his unique vision but the man himself and his passion for art even at 80-plus. “I don’t know if I’d be able to think creatively at that age,” she had marvelled.

He’s still as passionate about his art at 94. A couple of days ago, I watched him show off his works in Dubai to a channel reporter, then whisk her off for a ride in his red Ferrari. Behind his hot wheels, Husainsaab seemed ageless and fearless. And as ‘young’ as I remembered. I’m glad after years of exile, he’s found a refuge again. Does it matter if he is a citizen of India or of Qatar? Madhuri may have a Husain original on her walls, I may have only a limited edition copy, but I’m sure both of us see him as a citizen of the world.

How do you know that the Anarkali is good for you or the trendy tight churidaars should be your choice?

Here's your guide to picking the right salwar kameez to camouflage your flaws and highlight your best features:

For those with a big bosom

If you don't believe in the got-it-flaunt-it diktat, then you'll have to camouflage your bosom with darker colours for the kurta and lighter hues for the bottoms.

Mumbai-based designer Swapnil Shinde advises to keep the neckline interesting with embellishments. Opt for wrap kurtas and v-necklines slim-down an ample bosom. Shinde also says, "Stay away from extremely fitted kurtas, tight churis and the empire cuts. The length of your kurta should be a little above the knee or just knee-length and you can team these with patialas."
For those with plumpy proportions

You are on the heavier side and believe that the anarkali is your answer to the battle of the bulge.

However, Mumbai-based stylist Vinita Makhija opines, "No anarkali for the women with generous proportions since contrary to popular belief it will not hide the bulge. Remember, anarkali is not an empire cut. You should stick to straight cuts and above-the-knee kurtas teamed with chudidars or straight pants to keep the slim look." Allow darker shades and vertical stripes to work their magic to make you look slimmer.

Swapnil explains, "Don't cover yourself with the dupatta as if you are trying to hide your body. Let it hang on one side for a linear look and you can hold the other end wrapped around your hand."

For those who complain of being skinny

If you are really skinny you can experiment with different silhouettes and the anarkali is just right for you.

Makhija explains, "Have fun with different necks and straps. If you have lanky legs, patiala teamed with really short kurtis, a la Kareena in Jab We Met, will give you the curves. If you have a small bust, pick heavy dupattas to add natural volume."

For those who want to slim down the midriff

Most women complain of a flabby tummy and are forever in search of cuts that hide the unwanted bulge.

Swapnil advises to choose empire cuts, bias kurtas and avoid anything that clings to your midriff. You can also opt for any kind of bottoms and the not-so-voluminous anarkali. Kurtas with pleats in the centre also camouflage the unwanted bulge.

For those with big hips

So, you have a luscious bottom and you want to tone it down. Think soft, flowy fabrics that don't cling to your body and offer a feminine silhouette.

Shinde suggests, "Avoid anything that looks puffy. Don't wear puffy or balloon sleeves instead get a nice off-shoulder kurta. Your salwar should not be a patiala or voluminous. Wear churidaars, pants or leggings and go for knee-length or below the knee kurtas."

A-line kurtas will trim broad hips and you can also have interesting detailing around the hem.

For those with broad shoulders

Choose a kurta that's a shade darker than your salwar. Avoid boat necks, really thin spaghetti straps and puff sleeves because they will make your shoulders appear broader. Instead opt for designs and embellishments around the neck area and thick straps for your shoulders.

The neck should have a interesting cut and carry a dupatta with narrow pleats so that it gives the illusion of a leaner upper body.

And lastly, it's important to maintain a good posture so that you look and feel good, and ready to take on the world!