Humph! My fave city has developed a new avatar I just don’t like. First there is the icky summer heat. The dug-up roads. Then the never-ending traffic snarls. So I decided to hop on to the metro, take a ride to the jungle and indulge in some wildlife traffic instead!

Nope, it’s not some exotic holiday (though it sure felt like one) — I’m talking of Ohri’s, the city’s latest trio of hot spots.

Silver Metro: An underground rail-theme restaurant with eye-catching decor and multi-cuisine menu. Seated inside two metro coaches, complete with placemats carrying station names like Brigade Road and Indiranagar, you are ready to start the perfect gourmet journey. The central ‘platform’ serves only buffets, but more than makes up for it in terms of choice, dishing up Indian, continental and oriental food.
Trendy Tip: Great for a pigging out session with the gang!

Serengeti: The next stop, the perfect foil to the stainless steel urban feel of the Metro. Set amidst a lush jungle ambience complete with sound effects and a life-size elephant, it transports you to a tropical rainforest that is as much a feast for the senses as the done-to-perfection Lucknowi and Peshawari fare, served in ornate silverware.
Trendy Tip: For an elegant dining experience and a quiet evening.

Zanzibar: Continuing the wildlife theme, the bar has stools designed like animals with swishing tails, wooden seats and a larger than life python that’s wrapped around the bar. Step in if you like living on the wild side! And while you’re at it, don’t forget to taste ‘Nuts and Berries’ — a yummilicious cocktail made out of amaretto, hazelnut, strawberry and shaken cream.
Trendy Tip: For a no-holds-barred girls’ night out!

Ohri’s, Level 3, The Total Mall, Madivala. Tel: 40003333, 9731558307, 9731558301.
Silver Metro: Lunch: Rs 149 + taxes; Dinner: Rs 179 + taxes.
Serengeti: Meal for two costs Rs 1200 + taxes without alcohol.
Zanzibar: Rs 120 for a pint of beer to Rs 2000 for a bottle of champagne. Cocktails start at Rs 350.

Contrary to what they say about the long Indian summer, I always find that the high mercury months are short. There’s so much to do and only so much energy to do it with. And since I’ve been so busy gorging on mangoes, I have been lazy doing my shopping. My hot weather wardrobe is minimal. And, that’s not a style statement.

So when a store like frou frou opens, complete with a pink fence, you know you are bound to find a few summery picks. Pink and reds dominate the colour theme in decor and clothes. Expect a collection of Indian fabrics interpreted in Western designs.

frou frou offers delicate strappy dresses in floral prints, halter dresses and some A-line dresses that can take you from day to night with a little smart accessorising. I found striped cotton shorts, felt bags, checked skirts and printed shift blouses for the beach party that I’ve been planning. And, of course, metres of that summer staple — mulmul.

Keeping my resolution of a “no jeans” season hasn’t been as easy as I imagined. All I seek are a few dresses and some pants that breathe. So I would have loved the sight of some skinny pants in cotton at frou frou. When I told designer and owner Aparna Ayyar that, she promised that I’d see these and more goodies in the days to come. I’m looking forward to the range of linen tops and tunics, PJs, pants, 80’s style bangles and string belts that are expected to arrive next week. For now, it was a demure maroon dress with slit sleeves and a slender satin sash which definitely caught my eye — just the thing for a mid-summer night out.

Bohemian and breezy, if your summer style matches mine, you have frou frou on your side too.

frou frou: 7a, Beach queen, Next to Barista, Versova, Andheri (W), Mumbai; Prices: Tops Rs 200 onwards, shorts Rs 150, dresses Rs 220 onwards, bags 250 onwards.

Most trees give us luscious fruit. Now here’s one that bears crunchy Chinese sausages, scrumptious Shao Bing sandwiches and delicately steamed seafood dimsums. Little wonder it’s called the Yum Yum Tree!

Brand new Oriental grill and restaurant Yum Yum Tree has three main sections: a wine cellar and bar, an informal grill with casual seating, and a formal dining hall under a cluster of dreamy chandeliers. I loved the sight (and taste) of rice salad with walnuts, whizzing by on the grill’s automated conveyor belt, just like the ones your suitcase travels on at the airports. (Chefs knock up knick- knacks and send them out to guests on the belt)

The veranda with lanterns looked inviting, but it was too hot to venture out. And the wine cellar will soon have will have premium whites and reds, so things in that part of the restaurant should warm up soon. For now, I chose the formal dining area, overlooking groves of illuminated trees, which gave off a lovely tree house effect.

I started with a delish non-alcoholic mint and melon martini. Then the Duck and Udon noodle soup got my appetite all fired up. Loved its salty, soy flavour. The pork spare ribs, I learnt, have a strange secret ingredient: coffee glaze! A few pops of steamed dimsum later, I was gorging on crunchy tiger prawns in pepper corn oil, and fried rice tossed with dried red chillies.

It’s the bao, or bread, in the Chicken Shao Bing that’s novel. Can’t think of anyplace else which serves up this Chinese staple on a regular menu. I will be back for their sausages and baked lamb puffs, after they debut on the menu soon. Yum Yum Tree’s owner, electrical engineer Varun Tuli, thinks more Chinese restaurants ought to do justice to the country’s street foods. He wants to rewire Delhi’s Oriental preferences, making baos and savoury puffs staple snacks.

The Gianduja Mousse, served with finger biscuits, did a recovered chocoholic like me in. This is the big daddy of all chocolate desserts in Delhi! Did I taste toffee sauce and crushed hazel in the mix?

They really ought to plant more yummy trees.

The Yum Yum Tree, Chinese Restaurant and Grill, First Floor, Community Centre, New Friends Colony. Call 011 42602020 or 9810002993 for reservations. Meal for two: Rs 1,200.

My bed was feeling a little SAD. It’s a seasonal thing. Brought on by those same icy blues and beachfront driftwood-white sheets it’s been wearing since winter’s chocolate palette retired into cold storage. Why must the sun bleach all colour from the bedroom?

If I must swap bedroom suites with the seasons, said my pillows, I should go really-truly back to Nature, with rainforest greens and flame-of-the-forest reds, why don’t I? Summer is full on everywhere, after all, with lashings of monsoon clouds nearing southern shores: those blues and whites will look sickeningly dull once the deluge lets loose.

Well, why I didn’t — I confess — is because the sellers were all a-peddling pastels (too sweet) or aqua-lime (too stinging-smarting bright). Except at the Maspar store. Where they’ve captured the seasonal van-devi’s paintbox. Cool moss and leafy greens, loamy browns of rain-drenched earth and deep river-water blues, playful champa yellow and gulmohar orange, kachnar-bud pinks and oleander red. Both muted and bright.

Too contemporary to lurk in your grandmother’s linen-press, though. These bold checks, roundels and stripes call to your bedroom’s youthful, urban soul, all in the hues of your Hindustani heart. Tumbled together in a missal-chaat mixture.

My four-poster took to its new suite like a tall drink of water. May I offer yours some refreshments? Jal-jeera green with kokum-soda pink, perhaps?

Available at Maspar stores: E-2 South Extension-II, New Delhi; ph: (011) 46095979. Level III, Select Citywalk, New Delhi; ph: (011) 40575025. 10, 11 DLF City Centre, Gurgaon; ph: (0124) 4016380. 203 & 204, Spice World, NOIDA; (0120) 4333055. 2 &3 Sunny House, Mandlik Road, Colaba, Mumbai; ph: (022) 22875619. 122 Forum Mall, 21 Hosur Road, Koramangala, Bangalore; ph: (080) 22067686. Prices: Rs 109 to Rs 4500.

The other day, a friend complained that I never joined them on their evenings out anymore. “Your standard excuse is that by the time you get back home to change and come back into town, it’s closing time,” she cribbed.

This being my BFF, I took a long hard look at my life — and my wardrobe. I need clothes that can go from professional to party girl, just like me, I thought aloud. And my pal came to the rescue. “Pop by at Giovani,” she ordered. “And join us for drinks-and-dinner.”

In the expansive interiors of the store, I discovered racks upon racks of clothes that do double duty. Shirts that look sober buttoned down and reveal a fun, embroidered element when you turn the collars up. Skirts that shed their stuffiness when you set aside the coat. Dresses that can be smartened up with a light jacket — just right for a business lunch with a client — and livened up by revealing the strappy shoulders.

My fave? A black-and-white geometrical print with splashes of red. It’s the perfect knee-skimming length, and sits as well with a formal jacket as without.

As much as the summer-spesh ranges — Sunny Delight, Time Capsule, Gothic-Inspired — I fell in love with the materials: light-as-air chiffons, georgettes and silk chiffons, versatile viscose, knits and cottons, and easy-to-wear mixes in lycra and poplin.

But what really made my day was the accessory section. No more running around for the perfect belt or bag: I can finish a look right here in Giovani’s trial rooms.

BFF, are you set for a wild night?

Giovani. 9, St Marks Road (on the turn towards Vittal Mallya Road), Bangalore 25. Tel: 41426970-1. Prices start at Rs 499 and go up to Rs 5000.

Okay, I admit it — I’m a South Bombay chick. I don’t even say ‘Mumbai’ if I can help it. I can’t think beyond Worli and Bandra’s at the periphery of what I consider accessible. But I’m starting to see that the action’s quickly moving north. I was just in far-flung Malad, taking in the sights and sounds of the ‘burbs at a friend’s insistence, when I finally discovered that SoBo is just a state of mind.

Which is why Rouge works, even though it doesn’t quite have a tony address. Well, for starters, Rouge is Henry Tham’s latest offering. Yes, he of Henry Tham, near the Gateway of India. So you can expect a touch of class, irrespective of the pin code.

Divided into two areas — the lower sitting/dining area and the upper dance/bar area — the crimson interiors are warm and relaxing, and the dim lighting sets a cozy mood. Picture me in my psychedelic slip dress, sipping a Rouge Martini and chatting nonchalantly while I bite into melt-in-my-mouth pesto cheese kebabs. Later, I head upstairs to the bar area and get down with the electronic house and Bollywood tracks. And yes, for a townie like me, the sheer space is really refreshing.

Rouge may not be another Henry Tham, but it does manage to replicate somewhat similar service and ambience. The crowd? A motley mix of Malad’s yuppies. Maybe it’s just a great watering hole for the BPO brood. Maybe it’s just me, looking for little patches of SoBo in suburbia. But any which way I see it, I know Rouge is on my must-visit-when-in-the-’burbs list. As it is for my friends who live around it too!

Rouge Cafe and Bar: Kamlanagar ‘B’ Junction of Chincholi Bunder and Link Road (second right after the InOrbit Mall signal on Link Road), Malad (W), Mumbai; Tel: 28731166/28741166; Prices: Minimum spend for two, with drinks, Rs 1,000.

My girlfriends have been ‘going nun’ faster than the mercury’s rising!

No, they haven’t cloistered themselves in a convent. They’ve signed up at www.iamnun.com, and started paying regular respects at the new store at GK (it has a big sister in NOIDA).

Who’d want to wear wimples when they can stuff their wardrobe with whacky, wild, whimsical, wicked and wholesome? Letting you change your tune as often as Maria in the song. (A lot like co-founder Anchal Jain’s daughter, Tanvi, nicknamed ‘Nun’, who inspires this cool collection.)

My summer must-haves list is now topped by fruity tanktops — stamped with bunches of grapes, cherries-on-the-stalk and a tangy lemon. To go with beach-cafe striped capris and spiffy aquamarine skirt with soda-pop print. For nights when I want to cut footloose, there’s the ‘rebel’ collection of oversized Ts nodding to the 80s. For summer-wine days, vintage print tees in candy-sweet shades. For grown-up goddess moments, irresistibly plum kurtis in cotton/silk blend. There’s colourful polka dotted knits to clown around in. Girly graphics for slouching come Sunday. Navy cutoffs, nautical-striped jackets and anchor-embroidered Ts for breezy, blowsy days.

Cool, cool accessories. Jewellery. Mobile charms Che Guevara buttons for the backpack. Embroidered flower appliques and ribbon, polished metal-backed, on pendants and bracelets. Moi couldn’t surf past those shell rings — both whole seashells carved through to fit your finger, and coconut-shell circles with mother-of-pearl.

Want to take the whole store home? Well, you can take away elements of this funky space. My rave: vinyl wall transfers — some have hanging hooks worked into the design — and mirrored perspex stick-ons. Black-and-white ‘jewellery wall’ to complement your own collection of colourful thingummies. Boudoir-corner coat hanger for behind the door. Even a trashcan corner to hang your plastic baggies!

Count me converted!

Nun, GK-I, M-Block Market; ph: 46566997. Also at Great India Place, Noida; ph: (95120)4211471. Prices: Garments Rs 399 onwards; accessories Rs 49 onwards; home décor Rs 499 onwards.

A girl needs to be prepared for all eventualities. Smudged liner, runny mascara, bleeding lipstick — can happen any time, especially in summer. I believe in being able to face these problems without flinching, and for that I need my face in top shape.

A great face mask, that’s what my beauty expert friend advised for getting great skin in a jiffy. The masks both hydrate and deep cleanse skin. She asked me not to keep the mask on for more than 15 minutes: beyond that, the skin gets stretched. Since summer can cause havoc with the skin’s natural balance making it super dry one day and ultra greasy the next, she suggested I try out some of her top choices.

Now these live on my shelf, and I love them all!

Elizabeth Arden Hydrating Mask, Rs 980: Shea butter, chamomile and cucumber extracts have a refreshing tingly-cool effect. Takes care of the sun-burn and tan. My skin looks brighter within five minutes. Great for a quick party prep up.

H2O Plus Sea Mineral Mud Mask, Rs 1,350: Want a spa facial at home? The bright blue clay mask with spirulina, kelp and nori seaweed extracts give my skin an instant lift. I can feel my pores getting squeaky-cleansed. Once a week treatment extends time between salon facials.

Clinique Deep Cleansing Emergency Mask, Rs 1,360: I tried this the day my pores went on an oil production overdrive. When I washed off this lightweight clay mask after 10 minutes, all the oil was gone, leaving tightened pores and smoother skin. Perfect for nights when I am OD-ing with the makeup.

Chanel Precision Masque Destressant Hydratation, Nourishing Cream gel Mask, Rs 2,700: Love its effect on my sun-dried, red skin. All the tautness and dry patches vanish. Skin feels velvety smooth and hydrated the next morning. Can skip the moisturizer for two nights after I’ve used it.

Watch me glow.

Available at select beauty counters, and departmental stores.

I’ve been there, done that. Shimla, Mahableshwar, Ooty. There’re off my holiday destination list but the good news is that I’ve already found the replacements. So once I’ve shopped for sunscreen, collected my summer reading and cleared my desk, I’ll be heading to one of these resorts.

The Hermitage, Kanatal: Located on the Mussoorie-Chamba road, the resort is surrounded by tall pine and deodar forests. I can hitch a hammock in the backyard and listen to the wind rustling through the leaves. Or I can sign up for their Summer Spesh — birdwatching, stargazing and yoga-training — with expert guidance. Kanatal is pretty much a one-stop shop and the resort itself has just 16 simple rooms. Just what I need to get rid of urban clutter.

Green Valley Resorts, Amboli: Summer is about stripping life down to the bare essentials. That’s why Amboli, at the junction of Maharashtra’s undulating hills and its sprawling beaches, is such a treat. The cottages here resemble add-on accommodation at a favourite uncle’s hill getaway. No luxuries, but the sheets are clean, the food fresh. And the views, soul-cleansing.

Tranquil, Wayanad: A 400-acre plantation of coffee, vanilla and sundry spices also has eight rooms and to-die-for treehouse accommodation. Go for walks along demarcated routes of varying difficulty or cool off in the swimming pool. See where your Robusta comes from or play with the four lovely pet dogs. Spend time with the other house-guests or chill in your remote tree house or tree villa with only monkeys for company.

Don’t blame us if you have a hard time coming back home.

Kanatal is 300km from Delhi by road. Room tariffs at the Hermitage start from Rs5999 for 2nights/3days. Tel: +91 99907 06014. www.kanatal.net
Amboli is 550km from Mumbai by road or 28km from Sawantwadi, the nearest railhead. MTDC runs the only accommodation available here. Tel: 022-22026713. www.maharashtratourism.gov.in
Wayanad is 145km from Bangalore by road. Tariffs at Tranquil start at Rs7500, inclusive of room and all meals. Tel: 04936-220244. www.tranquilresort.com

It’s my birthday a week from today. The guest list has been long finalised, invites sent out, my terrace garden looks lush and green despite the summer heat, the food sampling is over, and the cocktail menu is in place.

But in my walk-in wardrobe, my long slinky number is lying desolate with deliberately mismatched stilettos. Reason: I have nothing to wear them with.

But someone up there loves me. That’s why Ava from Mumbai is hosting an exhibition right here in Bangalore on the weekend before my big day. I had a sneak peek of their treasures — all 22 carat gold, pearls and semi-precious stones — and now I’m spoilt for choice.

Should I go for the aqua-tinted gems strung on an extra long chain of pearl and gold beads — very 1940s — or will it be Victorian, with a gold rose strung on a satin ribbon?

A long, swinging chain of multi-coloured beads, knotted below my waist or if the mood takes me, doubled around my neck? Contemporary Asian chic navratna beads or enamel-inlay pendant with shoulder-duster earrings? Or a pair of jumukees (jhumkas), utterly feminine?

Help me make up my mind, do! Or maybe I should snag one in each style, and save them up for the BFF bash. The art show inauguration. The poolside cocktail. The pre-wedding sangeet.

But then, with these pieces, I am the occasion.

Ava. On May 3 and 4, 11am-6pm. At 9A Rhenius Street, opposite Baldwin Girls Opportunity School, Richmond Town, Bangalore 25. Tel: +919845168641, +919820314233. Prices: Rs 2000-15000.