The trademark Burberry trench may suit cold and rainy London. But for muggy Mumbai, stylish rain gear is all about umbrellas. And being a spunky senorita, you’re probably looking for something that isn’t your run-of-the-mill, three-fold floral patterned variety.

Our Trendy Fashionista went umbrella hunting and discovered a treasure trove in the Stag showroom:

Patterns: Bandhini, kalamkari peacocks, Rajasthani mandanas, a Pray For Rain one with geru-coloured background, denim-look, shimmering two-tone, newsprint, animal pictures, appliqué work, retro prints like Madonna’s face, etc.

Styles: Fashion umbrellas with large wooden handles, windproof ones that right themselves if they turn inside out, two-fold anti-wind ones engineered not to turn inside out, three-, four- and five-fold umbrellas.

Novelty: Those that change colour in the sun, or have designs appear or perfume exude when wet, and others that have lights or music inside.

Custom-made: Waterproof brollies with sequins, faux fur or Zardozi borders to match your garments.

Even if the weather’s grey-on-grey for the next few months, there’ll always be a bright spot over your head.

Stag, Ebrahim Currim & Sons, Rahim Building, S Gandhi Marg, 42-48 Princess St, Dawa Bazaar, Near Jumma Masjid, Mumbai. Tel: 22011893, 22012238.
Website: www.seekandsource.com/ebrahimcurrim. Price: From Rs. 30 to Rs. one lakh. Our favourites cost Rs. 400-1,000.

Films, for you, are soul food. Now that the rains are romancing the city, here’s a list of DVDs you can curl up with. Popcorn not included.

Trendy pick: Singin’ in the Rain
Monsoon mojo: The ultimate feel-good flick to feed off on a gloomy day. Bombshell Lana Lamont (Jane Hagen) fancies her on-screen romance with Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) is for real, but the hero is in love with a young actress (Debbie
Reynolds). And bigger problems are around the corner.
Hit pause: The title song. Whoever’d have thought a hero getting wet could be so hot?

Trendy pick: Raincoat
Monsoon mojo: Superlatively enacted by Ajay Devgan and Aishwarya Rai, this love story brings a tear to the eye. Besotted, bewildered yet bent on not letting the other know the sad truths of their separate lives, Neeru and Manoj depict love of a kind that makes you cherish your own.
Hit pause: On the rain-drenched scenes of dingy Calcutta.

Trendy pick: Life in a Metro
Monsoon mojo: Six lives, entwined in a web of deception, nostalgia, romance, ambition, play out against Mumbai in the rains. From a delicate drizzle to thunderous storms, nature reflects the protagonists’ lives in ways mainstream cinema usually avoids.
Hit pause: When Shiney Ahuja straightens out Shilpa Shetty’s upturned umbrella. Don’t you wish?

Sometimes, actions say it better than words. And gifts more than gab. One of those times is Father’s Day.

To commemorate discipline and indulgence, surprises and embarrassments, silly soft toys and frowned-on boys, present the best papa in the world — go on, admit it — with the best of the world. And nope, no foreign trips necessary, we know daddy wouldn’t want his darling to go to so much trouble.

Just negotiate past the mini mountains of tapas at Cohiba Club, brush away the smoke rings blown by little boys trying their hands at being men. Ignore the salsa beats, and pore through the humidors. Choose from Dominican, Nicaraguan and the coveted Cuban.

A Montecristo no. 2? Or a Davidoff Exquisito? Maybe a Romeo y Julieta Club? Or perhaps a Siglo 6, or even a Cohiba Robusto. Toss a coin. Or trawl the memory for little signals, subtle hints. And make your choice.

Buy a single cigar. Or the whole box. Enjoy the glow it will bring to the face of the most important man in your world.

Cohiba Club cigar bar, The Pavilion, Church Street, Bangalore 560001. Telephone: 41539581/84. Single-piece prices from Rs. 175 for Davidoff Demitasse and to Rs. 16,000 for Trinidad Havana.

For four Fridays, Trendy spirits you away from dust and heat, deadlines and gridlocks, up and away for a series on great weekend getaways.

For the next couple of days, leave behind those faux cheery FM voices, the next scinitillating episode of the latest reality show everyone is hooked to, and the built-up uglies. Escape into the air, water and earth.

Leave Delhi at crack of dawn. Head towards Himachal, to Solan. At about mid-day, draw up at a spot from where you can see the lights winking off the Giri Ganga river. Whispering reeds accompany you through the walk to the newly-opened Giri camp.

Snuggle into your tent, which is right on the bank. Pick up a book, and dangle your feet in the water. Swim, if you feel like it. Or not.

Go fishing. Dip your rod in, nod off. If you are lucky, you might hook a rainbow trout. Available on request is a ‘Fisherman’s Walk’: accompany a local fisherman and learn a few tricks.

Giri is great for serious birdwatching. Spot pretty wagtails, perky chats, alertly perched kingfishers flashing turquoise feathers, preening paradise flycatchers.

Come back again. Because a river runs through it.

Contact camp owners Himanshu Joshi at 9810521443, and Anurag Sharma at 9868899990, and email: himjo@gmail.com. Tariff starts from Rs. 2,600 per tent for two, per night, inclusive of three meals a day and morning and evening tea.
How to Reach: If you are driving, Solan is 300 kilometres from Delhi via Chandigarh. From Solan, take a right turn on Rajgarh Road and after 20 km you’ll reach a small place called Maryog. Another right from there and after a kilometer, a left turn on the dirt road will bring you to Chamyoga. From here, a walk of around a 1.5 km along the river bed, and you’ll reach Giri Camp. Mules can be arranged on demand. Alternatively, guests can be picked from Solan. By train: take the Shatabdi, Himalayan Queen, or Kalka-Howrah Express till Kalka, and change onto a narrow gauge train till Solan. Best Time: Throughout the year except during monsoons. The camp is closed in July and August because of rains. Carry light woolies.

And click here to the read last Friday’s getaway to the Terraces in Kanatal.

For four Fridays, Trendy spirits you away from dust and heat, deadlines and gridlocks, up and away for a series on great weekend getaways.

You’ve wilted in the heat, you’ve waited, you’ve wished. You’re just two steps short of doing a rain dance to help bring on the first showers. But if the monsoons don’t seem to be coming to you, fly south to greet the rain clouds this weekend.

At Kerala’s Varkala Beach (32 kms from Thiruvananthapuram, between Allapuzha and Kollam), find the Kadaltheeram Resort, just a whisper away from the waves crashing on the palm-lined cliff. Built on the lines of a traditional Malayali tharawad, with polished wood beams and octagonal tiled flooring, each beautiful suite has its own private balcony. Delicious meals, manicured lawns, little book nook, ayurvedic massages, ever-smiling staff — there’s everything that you need to make your rainy day stay cozy and comfortable.

Stretch out on a long-armed recliner. Sip on fresh pineapple juice. Let the sights and sounds of the sea soothe your senses. Watch the raindrops trace patterns on the green palm fronds above you as the cool breeze fans your face.

Forget banana chips and Kozhikode halwa. Bring the monsoon and cooler climes back with you.

Kadaltheeram Beach Resort & Ayurvedic Spa; Sree-Eight, Edava P.O, Varkala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala; Room tariff starts at Rs 3,500 per night.

Click here to the read last Friday’s getaway to the Lemon Tree Amarante Beach Resort in Goa.

When you were a teenager, science was never about test tubes. Biology was only the close study of gender differences, physics an excuse to float in a fragrant bathtub a la Archimedes. Naturally, chemistry was your favourite subject.

Some things just never change.

Your look this season is complemented perfectly by Chemistry, the Mumbai casual wear brand that’s just opened an outlet in Bangalore. Their new collection is flirty and feminine, yet tinged with strong, ’60’s-inspired earth-woman tones. Also rather Woodstockian are the flower motifs added to the prints — an experiment that fuses camouflage and girlpower.

The collection — appropriately called Love and Peace — gets your chemicals fizzing with sharply cut shirts, big pocketed dresses, cargos, shorts in solids and prints with layers of laces and tapes. Compounds of soft airy jerseys tipped with satin trimmings and huge floral motifs react with soft linens and delicate crochet rosettes. Elemental floaty crepes with thread embroidery on tunics, skirts and dress tops create lounge-y moods. And close-cut silhouettes with accents of turquoise and shell embroidery set the mood for nighttime scientific research.

The laws of attraction were made with you in mind.

Chemistry, 656, 100 ft road, Indira Nagar, Bangalore. Telephone: 41739196 / 97 / 98. Prices: From Rs. 499 to Rs. 3,000.

You love Beluga. He adores Biryani. You rhapsodise over truffles. He gets that way about tandoori. And for all those times that he did it your way — smiled and pulled out his chequebook when you crashed his car, or desisted from grilling your long-haired boyfriend — it’s time you reciprocated in kind. This Father’s Day, diss that dainty deli food and choose a lunch that he can roll up his sleeves and eat with gusto.

Like the authentic Indian just-like-daadi-made feast at the Oberoi’s Kandahar that Chef Chintan Pandya and his team create every Sunday. Your dad will love that there are almost a dozen varieties of starters, including interesting veg options like beetroot kebabs filled with mango and mint chutney or the more robust batter-fried chicken legs and spicy Amritsari Machchi. The main course is elaborate too. Everything from home faves like Rajma to Masaledar Kathal (delicious fried jackfruit) to soul-satisfying Dum Gosht Biryani.

Of course, all this plus the 18 desserts or the unlimited Kingfisher beer may not be part of his usual disciplined diet. But go on, pamper pa. It’s his day.

Kandahar, the Oberoi, Nariman Point, Mumbai. Telephone: 66326210. Price: Rs. 1,500 per person, inclusive of taxes.

In our second part of Trendy’s top soup-and-salad picks, we give you the lowdown on our fave chilled combos with a luscious edge. You may huff and puff up to the table, but you’ll walk out as cool as the cucumber soup you’ve just had.

Smoke House Grill: Boldly cold, minty iced zucchini soup (Rs. 200) with a floating mushroom flan, for a scrumptious play of textures and temperatures. Enjoy with melon and feta salad (Rs. 225) — honeydew, cantaloupe and feta dressed in basil and olive oil.

Baci: Match Insalata Felix (Rs. 370) — peppery rocket leaves with sweet mango slices or orange with mild goat’s cheese and crunchy pine nuts — with chilled almond soup (Rs. 195), speckled with fruity olive oil and daintily peeled grapes.

Market Café: Chilled watermelon soup (Rs. 95) zinged with ginger and mint, and savoury-sweet Mexican Citrus Salad (Rs. 165) — oranges, white onion, peppers in red wine vinaigrette, and tangy pearls of pomegranate.

Smoke House Grill, Plot No. 2, VIPPS Centre, Masjid Moth, GK-II, Delhi; Tel: 41435530-2. Baci, 23 Sunder Nagar Market, Delhi; Tel: 41507445-6. Market Café, 8B Khan Market (middle lane), Delhi; Tel: 41757703-4.

Click here for yesterday’s series part 1: warm soup and salad combos.

You’ve tried boutique balms, oriental masks, handmade squish bars and mum’s haldi-chandan packs. But nothing pleases your skin more than the acquaintance who travels abroad and is cajoled into getting you “Body Shop lip balms and body butters. With glitter, ok?”

Mutter “Bye, man” to that acquaintance because Anita Roddick’s brand The Body Shop’s here, with two branches for one greedy-gorgeous you. The make-up counter’s overflowing with lip butters, eye kissers, cheek blushers and skin smoothers. Must-buys: The Fusion Eye Shimmers and Shimmer Cubes. In shades of blue, green and brown, these promise to get you all a-dazzle the next time you go a-partying.

In lippers, the lustworthy loot includes a Lip Scuff that gently exfoliates your lips and Liplife glosses in fruity fragrances and sheer finishes. Plus colours in I-want-’em-all shades.

But the must-must-have is the Body & Leg Shine with golden shimmery pearls that sparkle on your skin. Best of all? All all-veggie products and The Body Shop promise to contribute to social causes with every paisa you spend.

Look great. Feel better.

The Body Shop, at Shop 5, Ist floor, Lido Mall, Swami Vivekananda Road, Bangalore 560001, Telephone: 41477272; Cosmos Mall, Brookefields, Bangalore 560037, Telephone: 41477427. Prices start at Rs. 145.

On dog day afternoons, five courses are at least three too many. Stay light with these star starter pairings from our two-part series.

Today’s selection: Creamy warm soups with a dainty crunch-on-the-side.

Nirula’s Potpourri: For old times’ sake, seek out the expansive lime interiors of India’s first salad bar. The location and look are new, but the appeal is beautifully retro. Get a taste of the ’70s with pineapple and chicken in mayo, and the day’s two soup specials, especially the cream of broccoli (all for Rs. 296).

Oz Lounge and Bar: Skip the crowded food courts. Lounge over parsley-freshened tabbouleh (Rs. 145) with a stylish shitake and artichoke soup (Rs. 145), a Jap-Italian fusion to match your new Pucci print kimono top.

Ploof: Can’t get away to Goa or Capri? Salute the sea with a rich lobster bisque (Rs. 200) — there’s a lemongrass-scented vegan version too — and balance the indulgence with a plate of grilled Mediterranean veggies (Rs. 275).

Tomorrow: the town’s best cool combos.

Nirula’s Potpourri, N-64 Connaught Place, Delhi; Tel: 23319420, 41523545.
Oz Lounge and Bar, MGF Plaza, 3rd floor, Gurgaon; Tel: 01244019526-8.
Ploof, 13 Lodi Colony Main Market, Delhi; Tel: 24634666, 24649026.