You like living it up. The weekends go by in a whirl. And you want more. Our Trendy Spotter went looking for fun places for you to chill with your girl gang the whole week through. Here’s our Top Four Trendy Picks.

Aquifer: ‘Karaoke nights’ on Thursdays at this newest bar in town. Grab a delish fresh watermelon martini, a mike, and let it rip.
M-25, M-Block Market, Greater Kailash - II, New Delhi; +91-9811603369. A watermelon martini costs Rs 325 + taxes. No cover charge.

Tabula Rasa: ‘Daiquiri Nights’ on Wednesdays. Gals get free strawberry daiquiris between 9 and 11pm. Get in early, claim those freebies, grab a seat (you’ll have to fight your way to one), sit back and savour the vibe.
Fourth Floor, Square One Mall, Saket, New Delhi; +91-9910588227. A strawberry daiquiri costs Rs 345 + taxes. No cover charge.

Ministry of Sound: Also on Wednesdays, ladies get in free at this hip, happening nightclub which takes its dancing very seriously. Rock the rafters with trance and R&B. Free pre-mixed flavoured shots, including signature butter scotch and chocolate, till 10.30 pm.
The Pyramid, Sector C, Pocket 6&7, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi; +91-11-46045319, 46045310. Shots cost Rs 350-400 inclusive of taxes. Cover charge for men Rs 1500 on Wednesdays nights, free entry for women.

Agni: Beat Monday blues with ‘Hotelier’s Night’. Get hold of one of your friends in the hospitality biz (they get a 50 per cent discount) and knock back signature shots — Devil’s spirit, Fruitcake, Goodnight, and Guinness. Groove to hip-hop and retro.
The Park, 15 Parliament Street, Connaught Place, New Delhi; +91-11-23743000 Shots cost Rs 325 + taxes. No cover charge.

Let the good times flow.

You’re the original free radical. Alternative music. Alternative spirituality. Alternative fashion. Gnarls Barkley. Soka Gakkai chanting. Shopping at London’s Camden Town.

That’s why you love Kimaya’s quirky collections at the Juhu flagship store. And now, Pradeep Hirani’s fashion house has a spunkier sibling at Kemp’s Corner. Draped modishly across two levels, the 4,500 sq ft standalone store holds itself aloof from other boutiques that crowd the area.

Your inner diva will approve of the mirrored walls, artistic alcoves and queen-sized chandeliers. And goodies from 26 designers to pick from. Go vintage in ivory-and-beige Rohit Bal. Get kitschy in Manish Arora’s bubblegum pinks and wild blues. Stir up the funk with Malini Ramani’s Goan flavour. Pamper your punk side with tights in electric shades. Free your mind with Malayasian fash queen Melinda Looi’s unpredictable cuts. Or simply enjoy the embroidered decadence of Suneet Verma’s pret. Splurge on jewelled accessories by Meera Mahadevia. And for adventurous brides-to-be, who want something zanier than the usual zardozi lehenga, there’s an exclusive lounge where you can dream up your bridal finery in close consultation with the designers.

A store that oozes attitude. Your attitude.

Kimaya, 3 Delstar, below Kemp’s Corner Flyover, Mumbai. Tel: 66614313/66615041. Prices: Start at Rs 2,500.

Your friends call you Quirky. Kitsch is your fundamental style (your other names are Fun and Mental). Instead of succumbing to road rage, you appraise erring autos for their lurid artwork. And you’ve been known to follow smoke-belching trucks for miles to decipher their rearguard writings. With the windows up, of course.

Because you’re as fastidious about your interiors as you are fascinated by pop culture.

Drive yourself to PurpleOrange to feast your senses on a collection that marries your passions. In keeping with the furnishings store’s focus on textures and colours, ‘Art on the Road’ illustrates cushions with all that’s unique about Indian road transport. Bright green scooters, sunny yellow rickshaws, chirpy red cars come alive on black silk. Some are cut out to their shapes, embracing the angles of an auto or the curves of a car.

Throw them against a neutral sofa or armchair, and watch them morph into conversation pieces. Capture the sequins with strategic spotlights. Or let them be the fountainhead of a million décor ideas.

Because backseat driving went out with the horse-carriage.

PurpleOrange Home Couture, The Hatworks Boulevard, 32 Cunningham Road, Bangalore, 560052, Tel: 65672643; and Khazana, Taj Mansingh, 1, Mansingh Road, Delhi 110011, Tel: 23026161. www.purpleorange.net. Art on the Road prices start from Rs 1250 for individual pieces.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl. She dreamt of a Prince Charming, who would whisk her away to a place of eternal love.

Diana Spencer married her prince, and became Princess of Wales. But there was no joy in her marriage. She was like a shooting star — blazing, short-lived.

A decade after her death, the questions she faced refuse to go away: A brilliant mother, was she unworthy of being a wife? Or was she just a master-manipulator — of men, media and morals?

Celebrated journalist and confidante to the rich and famous Tina Brown comes up with a biography that’s at once ironic and empathetic, wildly funny and deeply poignant. It explores the hurt of a little girl abandoned by her mother, the trauma of a beautiful bride in a loveless marriage, the stultifying rituals of British royalty, and the fatal allure of glamour and celebrity.

The Diana Chronicles has it all: The boyfriends, the bulimic binges, the Barbara Cartland-fuelled search for true love. And Di’s incandescent warmth and ability to cheer up absolute strangers.

Even if her fairytale didn’t have a happy ending, this princess still rules your heart.

The Diana Chronicles, by Tina Brown. Published by Random House. Price: Rs 545 (paperback) or Rs 864 (hardback). In bookstores now.

You’ve met the love of your life. Reconnected with your long-lost best friend. Celebrated the team spirit at work. There’s a birthday, wedding, anniversary coming up. You often find yourself wondering how to mark special events in a truly special way. Digital pictures? You’ve clicked thousands. E-cards? They reek of tacky. Oil portraits? Who does that any more? So, just how do you etch it in memory in a manner that’s essentially you?

Mumbai gal Meghna Pant, the brain behind makemytoon.com, comes to the rescue with her made-to-order cartoon strips. From anywhere in India, you can send her a few pictures of the occasion or the people you want in yours and discuss the sentiment you want to convey. She then wields her wordsmith’s wand to weave a script around the characters and storyline and gets her cartoonists to breathe life into it. Then emails or ships it to you, in a single panel or a full-fledged strip, just the way you want that aha-moment to be interpreted for posterity.

You can have it framed, forward the online version to all your friends or even print it onto cards and tees. But most of all, you’ll treasure it for life.

Who said toons were just for pre-teens?

Makemytoon.com. Contact: Meghna Pant at (+91)98330-71695 and meghnapant@gmail.com. Price: Varies from Rs 3,000-10,000 depending on whether it’s black-and-white or colour, single panel or multi-panel, etc.

You donned your khadi kurti, saluted the flag with the sun, then dipped into a box of tirangi barfi. Now for an armchair ride through 60 years of history, through a just-out Trendy selection:

Raghu Rai’s India: A patriotic patchwork quilt for your coffee table, in nostalgic black-white-and-sepia. Penguin, Rs 5,995

The Great Partition/Yasmin Khan: Beyond political chessboards, down seamy bylanes of unfolding tragedy, this historian’s prose seethes with outrage. And wrings grateful tears — there, but for the grace of Ishwar, Allah, Waheguru. Yale/Viking, Rs 495

Out of God’s Oven/Dom Moraes & Sarayu Srivastava: Cynical wanderings to optimistic utterings, amidst the voices of India, both homely and august. The prologue inaugurates riot-stricken Godhra, but the journey through chaos doesn’t end in collapse. Penguin, Rs 295 (new In paperback)

Sacred to Profane/Anjum Katyal: Enjoy a performance of the faithscapes of India. Funeral pyres light a godman’s rites. Qawwali blesses a Sufi shrine. A goddess is brought to earth by living art. Epic heroes combat pantomime tomfoolery in Kattaikuttu dance-drama. Seagull, Rs 495 (new in hardback)

From Raj to Swaraj/B.D. Garga: A history of non-fiction filming — early newsreels of your grandfather’s days to today’s Internet feeds; World War propaganda on celluloid; documentaries of anti-Partition protest. All the way to modern moments. Penguin, Rs 695

Line up your shot glasses of khus sherbet, nimboo pani and aam ras, for company.

There are days for pinstripes. And days for pyjamas. And demarcated stores that pre-empt your search.

It’s the in-between days that are impossible to clothe. When all you’re up for are a couple of casual meetings, a quick run-through the new arrivals at the nearest bookstore, or a bite at the local sandwich place.

Malini knows. That’s why she designs do-all kurtis for the working woman (show us one who isn’t). Light airy linens that can pass muster at a business do. Crushed cottons for that evening play. For perfect figures. And pear-shaped ones. In waist-lengths. And knee-lengths and the so-in mid-lengths, which beg to be teamed with tights.

What’s more, none of her kurtis are exactly the same. So there’s no chance of you and your pal turning up in the same top at Sunday brunch.

Of course, you could add your own eclectic touch by teaming up the kurtis with Malini’s own range of salwars, churidars, dupattas and stoles. She also has sarees in khadi silk, with specially designed embroidered cholis and matching hand-bags.

For those days when you want to score just by being yourself.

Malini’s. 96, Royal Enclave, Jakkur Post, Bangalore 5600064. Telephone: 9342582608. Kurti prices range from Rs 275 to Rs 700.

You love being in the know. You relish that friends planning any sort of revelry ask you for the newest nightclub or the perfect caterer.

So you probably knew something was afoot at Good Earth. Now our Trendy Foodie has the exclusive, inside scoop on the Tasting Room’s not-yet-launched delicatessen.

Managed by the folks who own Mocha and SaltWaterGrill, it’s the best of both worlds and then some. A good spot for a quick bite with masala chai. Or an exquisite meal. Filling risottos and sandwiches, organic yet delish cereals, cold cuts like Parma Ham, spicy Spanish chorizo, salami from Milan, and cheeses like Gorgonzola, Edam, Brie and Parmiggiano Reggiano with flavoured crackers. Artisan pastas shaped every possible way and even flavoured — salmon, squid ink, arugula.

Prefer being your own chef? Take home small jars of black truffle paste, pesto with pistachio or small clams marinated in brine to toss into your culinary creations. Dress salad with aged balsamic vinegar or flavoured oils with rosemary or fresh basil. Or splurge on a Rustichella D’Abruzzo DOP extra virgin olive oil.

Hotfoot it there to get your personal take.

The Tasting Room at Good Earth, Raghuvanshi Mills Compound, 11-12 Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai. Telephone: 24951954. Open from 11 am to 8 pm. Prices: Range from Rs 30 for a masala chai to Rs 2,000 for a 500 ml bottle of DOP extra virgin olive oil. Special mocktails Rs 150; food between Rs 150-385; cereals Rs 150/100 gms and boxes for Rs 550, desserts Rs 90; flavoured crackers Rs 325/150 gms; flavoured oils Rs 1,169/250 ml; Ferran Adria’s Borges flavoured oils Rs 620/200 ml; black truffle paste Rs 1,200/30 gm jar.

You’ve slogged to fit into that black cocktail dress. Extra calories are a no no, but the girly bunch wants to lunch. How about a zero oil, low fat meal that sounds like a diet plan, with some Oriental pizzazz?

Junk the oil, says the chef Manav Sharma at Saltz, as he throws in a pack of Korean glass noodles into a sizzling wok, at a demo cooking class. Use fat-free milk: it keeps the noodles soft minus the fat.

Our Trendy Foodie now knows how to turn out a spicy rice and veggie combo in her kitchen. Dunk some black mushroom, zucchini, cabbage, pak choy, ginger slices, green pepper and chillies in a garlic and soya sauce. Place steamed rice in a claypot and pour the mixture over it. Zap it for one minute in the microwave, and you’re done.

Chef Sharma also demos a creamy bechamel for that chicken steak. Stir in cornflour and maida into fat-free milk, and simmer, and there’s your light sauce.

Now for that scoop of sinful gelato.

Live Demonstration @ Rs 150 per person, through September on Tuesdays and Saturdays, at 11 am. SALTZ, M-69, M Block Market, GK 1, Delhi. Tel: 46536233, 46536281.

When a nail breaks you run to the nearest parlour. When you get drenched in the rain, you eucalyptus-bathe yourself. And when someone says “New haircut?” you run to the parlour (again).

We know what you’ll be doing this I-Day. Flying the flag, of course. And taking care of your precious self. May we suggest a 100-year-old way of doing it? Soak in the wisdom of Ayurveda in the serene Ayurvedagram, a seven acre-heritage wellness centre that transports a bit of Kerala to namma Bengaluru.

A day at Ayurvedagram starts with a soothing walk in the herb garden. Followed by a simple, light breakfast. Later, stop by the wellness and yoga centres. Choose a package for your specific ailments, or pick from the various massages, ranging from the well-known shirodhara (a steady stream of warm oil is poured onto your forehead) to herbal steam baths and kadeevasthy (a warm oil treatment for achy backs).

Go back in time. To bliss.

KAPL’s Ayurvedagram, Whitefield, Bangalore, Tel: 65651090/ 91/ 94. www.ayurvedagram.biz. Treatments start at Rs 2500 and retreat packages start at Rs 10,000 for a day. Call and book in advance for the retreat packages.