The high season’s begun. Jazz-by-the-poolside. Philharmonic orchestras. Terrace parties. And weddings, weddings, weddings. You need things to suit all occasions. Time to get a wardrobe overhaul.

Trendy gives the thumbs up to two just-out collections — Deepika Govind’s eco-friendly, attuned-to-a-greener-earth outfits, and Manish Arora’s psychedelic ensembles — which cover both ends of the spectrum, classic to kitsch.

Deepika’s new line, fashioned from fabric made of soya bean, bamboo, and cotton blends with a teeny bit of lycra, glows in jewel reds, peacock blues and greens and lovely creams. Our Trendy Fashionista fell for a quilted jacket in raw silk with brocade patchwork. And a gorgeous vanilla-and-gold sari.

If you want to switch tracks from classy understatement to delightfully over-the-top, turn to Manish’s latest line in Fish Fry. Get into carnival mode with a red and gold brocade coat. Or reach out for a signature black churidar set with parrots and flowers.

Very festive. Very wearable.

Deepika Govind; Studio: 26B Khan Market, New Delhi. Ph: (91) 11-41757181. Prices from Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000.
Manish Arora; Fish Fry: 3 Main Market, Lodhi Colony, New Delhi. Ph: (91) 11-24638878. Prices from Rs 3,950 to Rs 45,000.

The little girl in you loves pink icing with silver balls on a sugary cake. And pretty bows on shoes and dresses, sparkly princess gadgets and happily-ever-after tales.

On most occasions, bright and happy balloons are your weapon of choice. Nothing expresses your buoyant spirit better. Enter Balloonman, a concept company that’s sure to delight your inner doll with over 3000 balloon designs in latex and foil, standard round or creatively shaped — all inflated with safe, non-inflammable helium gas.

Pick from a bubblegum-pink octopus, a pouting Eeyore, sun-drunk butterflies and baby dolphins in small and life size versions. Or create your own. Gift a friend an unusual triple-layered wedding cake in balloon tiers. Send out invites for your best gal pal’s baby shower pegged on a flushed Dora or the huggable Strawberry Shortcake. Our Trendy picks are a five-foot Bugs Bunny air walker in pebble grey and white, and the cushion-shaped foil balloon that sings a cheery Happy Birthday when you tap its belly. Gigglefest guaranteed.

The foil ones won’t ever burst unless pricked, so you can deflate them, pack them away and reuse them another time. Perfect for occasions when you’d rather not do diamonds.

Balloonman, Vintage, 243, V Mall, Thakur Complex, Kandivli (E), Mumbai; Tel: 9820427795; e-mail: prita.dheer@gmail.com; Prices: Rs 75 onwards and Rs 1,000 onwards for singing balloons (plus VAT). Free delivery across Mumbai. Special rates for retailers and bulk orders.

You are totally into tarot. I-ching is your thing. And you are a devoted Linda Goodman bhakt: you know exactly what will please your everyone’s-cool-but-I’m-cooler Aquarian gal pal, or just how to make your inner Capricornian happier. Now go to the next level: evoke positive astral vibes by wearing hip jewellery fashioned around your sun sign.

The latest Sun Sign Collection by Delhi-based Anuradha Chhabra, who specialises in thewa, kundan and polka, is based on the belief that the sun’s energy radiating out of gemstones does good things to our lives. And luck.

The 18 K gold pendants, in the twelve signs of the zodiac, have the sun, done in matte silver, framing the sign, which holds the lucky gemstone. Dangle the pendants from black silk threads, or from silver and gold chains. Team them both with your shimmery pink patialas, and your cool blue jeans.

Think it can be a great present? Chhabra can make the range, on the basis of the amount of gold you want used, just for you to gift away.

Charm your stars.

Jewels by Anu, Shop No. 5, M - 73, G K I, New Delhi. Ph: 29232065, 29241640. Prices from Rs 4,500 to Rs 12, 000. May vary for custom-made pieces.

What’s common to pornography, literature, Orkut, Chandamama comics, exorcism, blogging, B-grade TV serials, Bram Stoker, Silk Smitha, foul language, Kurt Cobain, a big tree with a Barbie doll nailed onto it and a magic box?

No clue? Don’t worry. Later this week, Ram Ganesh Kamathan’s play aims to answer just this.

Titled Creeper, it is a modern interpretation of the tales of Vikram and Betal. Only, here they happen to be two writers. She is writing an essay and trying to understand an ancient demon. He is online all the time, exploring dark corners of the Internet. She is the expert narrator, he is a mischievous sutradhar. These two story-tellers have amazing stories to share. The problem is, they don’t agree on how to tell the story.

Call it Orkut meets Amar Chitra Katha, but the fact remains that the play is darkly funny yet poignant as it freewheels between the old Bangalore and the new — a cosmopolitan city that is clearly split down the middle, with a cultural rift that is steadily widening.

Cross the digital divide.

Creeper, by No Scope Productions. Premieres 7.30 pm on November 24, repeats at 3.30 pm and 7.30 pm on November 25. Tickets: Rs 100, on sale from November 17. At Ranga Shankara, 36/2, 8th Cross, 2nd phase, JP Nagar, Bangalore. Tel: 26592777. Not suitable for children.

Your one-eared woolly bear hides in a chest with your old baby blanket and rattle. You’re now a big girl, who collects porcelain rather than plush. But you can’t help feeling a pang as you pass the new Build-a-Bear workshops.

Stop smothering that feeling of longing. Posh porcelain peddlers Lladro have joined toymakers Steiff to bring you a pair of bears, with bells on!

Margarete Steiff started making soft toys in 1880. Steiff became a celebrated brand in 1902, when nephew Richard created Teddy, named for President Roosevelt — who famously lost his heart to a forlorn cub while out shooting. Today, oldsters with the coveted Steiff ‘Button in Ear’ (a trademark devised by another nephew, Franz) fetch four-figure bids on eBay.

Now you can call one of these precious pals your own. Made in the same mohair plush first used for the original Steiff teddy, these gold-detailed new cubs cuddle a 2007 white Lladro bell each. The silvery angel bear’s is from the Re-Deco collection. The adorable pint-sized white ornament bear’s got a design all his own. Let him ring it, swinging from his gold string in your car or closet.

Grin. And bear it.

Lladro boutiques: 141 Marine Drive, Veer Nariman Road, Churchgate, Mumbai; (022)-22823436. 101 Prestige Meridien 2, No. 30 M.G. Road, Bangalore; (080)-25321668. By personal appointment in Delhi; 95124-4381914/15/16. Prices: Angel bear Rs 22,650, ornament bear Rs 8,000.

Farah Khan’s Om Shanti Om has its moments. You laugh at all the in-jokes and celebrate the ever-morphing dream factory that is Bollywood. Photographer Sheena Sippy’s book — Lights Camera Masala: Making Movies in Mumbai — takes you on a similarly joyous journey through Hindi filmdom.

There’s the same sensation of being wrapped in cheery tinsel but rest easy, there’s nothing tawdry about it. In fact, in the style department, it may even beat you. Just this week, Lights Camera Masala designer Divya Thakur and her team won the World Gold for Best Book Design at the International Advertising Awards in New York.

In Trendy pink, with a dust cover that’s all black, white and Abhishek Bachchan with sparkly red text, the hardbound book oozes coolth. Inside, it’s a slice of showbiz with kitsch and substance in equal measure. A poster of Deewar, a tiny envelope from which you can unfold a hilarious fan letter, shiny red hearts, bright orange spin wheel from whence stars emerge. Juxtaposed against fabulous on-location b&w candids and lush colour shoots with just about everyone who’s anyone in Hindi cinema today. Unexpectedly (who’d expect to be able to READ a coffee-table book!) accompanied by an excellent narrative and interviews by film critic Naman Ramachandran.

Her father made Sholay. Sheena’s created another masterpiece.

Lights Camera Masala: Making Movies in Mumbai by Sheena Sippy, published by India Book House, Rs 1,995. Available in all leading bookstores.

Ciao bella!
Say what?

Rotund. Dark. Odorous. That’s me.
That’s an awful line you’ve got going. I’m SO not interested.

Are you sure? I’m Italian. My friend, Master Chef Emanuele Latanzzi at The Oberoi’s Vetro, invited me down for a month so you could get to know me better.
And why would I want to do that?

Baby, baby, once you’ve had a taste of me, nothing else will compare.
Bragging’s such a turn off, don’t you think?

No false modesty, cara mia. It’s always first class for the Black Truffle — from being sniffed out by specially trained hounds in Northern Italy to being mollycoddled all the way to India. Come on — give me a chance to overwhelm your senses.
Just how are you gonna do that?

Picture a divine Basil & Potato Gnocchi, light on the tongue. Now drizzle the accompanying delicate truffle sauce on your plate and set my arousing scent free. Or let your mind be blown as you wrap your tongue around the butter-soft Black Truffle Red Snapper, with Bell Pepper Sauce and Squid Ink Tagliolini.
Mmmmm. Sounds heavenly.

Our story’s sweet ending: Coffee-Soaked Sponge with Mascarpone Cheese and delish me. To go with some heady Limoncello and a zingy espresso shot. What say?
Yes, yes, YES! It’s a date.

The Truffle Festival at Vetro, the Oberoi, Mumbai, on till December 16; Tel: 66325757/4343, 66326215 (dir); Prices: Meal for two without drinks approximately Rs 3,000 (inclusive of all taxes).

Age 5: Sweet dreams conjured up Hansel and Gretel’s sugar candy house.
Age 12: Every chocolate bar was unwrapped on the presumption that it came from Willy Wonka’s factory.
Age 18: Desserts suddenly became synonymous with evil inches.

With time, though, comes wisdom. Knowledge that an occasional indulgence never killed anybody, but austere denial may foster its own demons. About time too, because at The Donut Baker’s cheery orange outlet — the international chain’s first in India — stern resolutions may need armour casings.

Because, here, donuts come coated in peanuts and bright yellow icing with a sprinkling of candy. There are chocolate fudge donuts, nutty rings with blueberry centres, buns that ooze orange and strawberry jam, maple ring donuts covered in white Bavarian chocolate — 47 lip-smacking varieties in all.

Or choose the ‘Dobites’, tiny ball-shaped donuts wrapped in coconut, chocolate, strawberry or sugar.

Our Trendy Taster, though, lost her heart to the honey-dipped twisted donuts, dough in charming twists glazed over with golden honey.

Sweet dreams, again.

The Donut Baker, Brigade Road, next to 5th Avenue Shopping Arcade, Bangalore. Tel: 41325888. Price: From Rs 7-11 (dobites); Rs 22 to 25 (donuts). www.thedonutbaker.com.

Getting into London, you don’t make a beeline straight for the boutiques of Betty Jackson or Jasper Conran or John Rocha. You do the smart thing — stop off at the high-street first, to check out the same designers’ wares side by side at the big-name department stores.

Now get the same designer lines, right here, with Debenhams opening its first Indian store in Gurgaon.

You won’t want to walk out this winter without a snug-as-a-bug, tweedy funnel-neck coat or pea-green swing jacket. But, it’s the gorgeous partywear that has our Trend-o-meter soaring. Score a classic LBD or pick an evening dress — monochrome flowers with fuchsia sash; chocolate with graphic-patterned border print; or an embroidered field of champagne flowers, from the in-house Début label.

To get your toes toasty fast after that bare-sandal glam night out, there’s microwaveable ballet-style booties — in must-have girly pink. And to sweat off the saketinis the next morning, the chocolate velour sweat jacket from the Maine label is the cuddliest, most stylish arm (and shoulder) candy you could bring along on a morning run.

Cash in the London air ticket. Cruise down to Gurgaon for your right-off-the-runway winter wardrobe update.

Debenhams, Ambience Mall, NH-8, Gurgaon; ph: 0124-4171444, 2562096-99. Prices: From Rs 125 for a pack of 100 Body Shop cotton wool pads to Rs 10,795 for a Betty Jackson Black twill swing jacket.

Hey, gorgeous, looks like you’re studying the menu. Again.
Are you talking to me?

It’s a great menu, but isn’t it nice to have someone else make up your mind occasionally?
Huh?

Yeah, that’s precisely why we’re limiting the alternatives in the Szechwan Court’s dim sum lunch to two: veg and non-veg.
I like dim sum.

And a soup of your choice to begin with and a dessert platter to follow.
Now I’m hungry.

You’d better be. There are five veg dim sums and six non-veg. As much as you can eat.
You’re kidding, right? I’m still recovering from Diwali.

But you gotta do lunch. And these dim sums are perfect. The rice flour skin is so light, it’s translucent. And the filling is just cooked enough to bring out the flavours. Plus, they’re all steamed or baked, with minimum fat.
That does sound good.

It tastes even better. Especially the Har Gao, minced prawn in a pearly white casing, so light, it dances on your tastebuds. If you’re vegetarian, there’s a bok choy and mushroom equivalent. There’s also sticky rice with chicken or mushroom in a lotus leaf.
Can I say something?

No way. Your mouth can be put to better use.

Dim sum lunch at the Szechwan Court, The Oberoi, 37-39 MG Road, Bangalore. Tel: 25585858. From 12.30 pm to 2.30 pm. Price: Rs 750 plus taxes per person.