Out amp; About

The Indian experience
They shriek in delight the moment they spot a bushy squirrel, wriggling its way through the grass or a monkey on the prowl. They squeal with disgust when they see a muddy pig, loitering about in the stinking squalor of a rubbish heap. A scary crow gets on their nerves but what sets them absolutely berserk, in a rush of delight is a peacock fanning out its myriad feathers or a nightingale cooing out a melodious song. They gasp in bewilderment, quite wonder struck at the beautiful creations at Nek Chand8217;s famous Rock Garden. They are the Campians from the Campian school of Mixed Abilities, Warwickshire, England, out to visit India on a 14 day-tour. This school specialises in providing similar education to those kids who are impaired in one or more senses along with their normal8217; counterparts.

Last week, their happy hunting ground was Chandigarh. They stayed here for three days and the City beautiful was abuzz with their news. Headed by school teacher Jim Layton and Ms Flinn, along with three education counsellors, Richard Grant, Jim Frtzgibbion and Martin, the group of Campian school students first met the Governor of Haryana, Mahabir Prasad and then the Vice-Chancellor of Punjab University, H.H. Puri. Luncheon was with the Shivalik school students. Evening saw them at the city restaurants Hot Millions and Aroma. Do your own thing8217; was the bottom line for the next two days and that8217;s precisely what everybody did some went out on a shopping spree, some went to watch the Hindi movies, some went out sight seeing while the others decided to rest at the U.T. Guest House.

Exhibition time
Come winter and the city blooms with exhibitions to cater to all tastes and suit almost all pockets. The Browser, the different8217; book shop has its book fair 98 in full swing. The fair started on November 4 and will continue till November 11. The timings are from 10 a.m. to 8.00 p.m. There is a 10 per cent discount on all purchases. There is a display of over 20,000 books from the world8217;s best publishers, spanning a wide variety of subjects. The display has been divided into different categories like fiction, science, music, cookery, history, film and theatre etc.

You can lay your hands on a number of old classics which you have been looking for since a long time. Also available are the latest best sellers like The Child by Robert Lazarus, Arthur8217;s Golden8217;s Memoirs of a Gisha which has rave reviews. And for that chill down the spine good old Stephen King has his Bag of Bones! Hurry, the early bird gets the worm!

And from books we move on to clothes. We have the winter collection by the famous boutique Damini in 604, 16-D. The exhibition starts from November 6 and continues till November 8, the timings are from 10 a.m. to 7.00 p.m. The range you can choose from are formal, semi-formal to casual wear in crepes, silks, velvets, khadi and many more. The major attraction are the woolen collection which includes suits which are beautifully embroidered and definitely warm. The range also includes suits with patchwork, block printing. There is also a lot of choice in tie and dye, block and Rajhasthani prints in amazing colours.