Endangered animals. Delicate plants. Dying arts. There’s a bit of space for each in my heart. When the festive season rolls around, that space expands a little more. And when I go shopping, I try to pander both to my aesthetic eye and my do-good needs.

Which isn’t so hard, really, when you encounter a collection such as Bailou’s. Based in Kolkata, this weavers’ studio deals in contemporary textiles hand-created by traditional master craftsmen. They use tussars, matkas, cotton and mulberry silks, highlighting the locally sourced raw materials with embroidery and prints.

The result is a flamboyant collection of non-stitched drapes — sarees, scarves, stoles — that smell of the earth and sing of the skies. A sneak peek of the wares designers Bappaditya and Rumi will show over three days in Bangalore revealed rich colours, unusual contrasts, beautiful prints and influences as wide-ranging as north-eastern tribal shawls and Mughal miniature paintings in weaves as different as dhoti, khadi and jamdani.

I’ve already booked a turquoise stole for my style-diva sister. And a lovely fuchsia saree for my mum. When I hand over my gifts, the warm-and-fuzzy feeling will be nurtured further by the knowledge that Bailou helps sustain 300 weaving households.

After all, festivals are for families, aren’t they?

Bailou. Showing from September 11 to 13 at Serenity, 8/1, 5th Main, Jayamahal Extension, Bangalore 46. Tel: 41279127/9902624452. www.bailou.net. Prices: Sarees range from Rs 2000 to Rs 10,000, scarves and stoles from Rs 500 to Rs 1500.

What’s it about rainy days that makes me yearn for something hot, wholesome and satisfying? And no, I’m not talking of a rocking date with Farhan Akhtar, but something far simpler. Bread. The heady aroma of a fresh-baked loaf is enough to make me go weak in the knees like no man can.

Which is why I follow my nose to the fragrant Star Bread Cafe, a place that, like Inorbit’s fabulous Bread Talk, is dedicated to bread, bread and more bread. The gritty Irani beer bar is now transformed into a sleek, all-white backdrop where baked delicacies take centre stage — shelves piled high with all sorts of rolls, muffins and tarts, counters bursting with row upon row of hot, fresh yummies, baskets offering free tastes of crisp cookies and creamy cheesecake.

The adventurer in me is enchanted by the green-hued Pandan bread slices and sweet rolls. My inner health freak leaps with joy at the multitudes of multi-grain. My wanderlust is whetted as I heft the huge pillar-like Sri Lankan herbed loaf onto my take-home tray. The veg and non-veg rolls make for a nice tasty bite as I wait for my change. And my dessert fetish makes me sigh with pleasure at the sight of all those delish fruit-filled dainties. And as I scan the possibles, more and more are brought in from the theatre kitchen, where I can see the chefs painstakingly constructing yet some more yummies.

The only fly in the pie is the paranoid manager, who thinks I’m clicking pictures of the place so that an architect can replicate their decor. As if. The only reason I’d go back again and again would be for the bread, its baked-to-perfection goodness is the thing about the place that’s truly memorable. Everything else is just window dressing.

Star Bread Cafe, Palkhiwala House, JSS Road, near Metro Cinema, Dhobi Talao, Mumbai; Tel: 42127000; Prices: Start at Rs 15.

New store? I’m there even before the inaugural ribbon’s taken off. Latest collection? My shopper sense is honed to perfection to sniff out all the exclusive previews. It doesn’t matter what’s being sold — I usually want two of it in different colours!

And certain individuals in my life — my mum, my BFF, my BF and my FF (furry friend) — are usually at the receiving end of my post-shopping gifting sprees. And if you thought buying stuff for your dad or BF was difficult, just imagine how hard it is to find goodies for Vera and Wang, my two darling adopted strays.

But very recently, I found something that’s changed all that. A new online pet boutique, headsupfortails.com, is for dogs what a Bungalow 8 or Ensemble is for me, disconcerting images of puppies balanced on martini glasses notwithstanding. The site specialises in the slightly OTT buys (I loved their bling Swarovski collars) to the seriously outrageous (fur-friendly birthday cakes for pets). You’re all set if Tinkerbell just has to have that bow tie in red. And the matching bandanna, glitzy party collar, charm pendant and black armoire to store it away in. The most adorable doggie shoes and beds and custom furniture, they make great, woof-eliciting gifts. Then there are cakes to order (delivered only in Delhi) with bone-shaped muffins for the owners to munch on and professional photographers to make sure your pooch strikes the right pose in his latest new cravat.

For a pet enthusiast like me, it’s like stumbling on to some stylish manna for my four-legged beloved. In fact, the merchandise is so completely scrumptious that I’m surprised the site hasn’t posted the FAQ: Do you have that puppy T-shirt in a small (human) size? Not yet, at least.

But if, like me, you’re just like Becky Bloomwood in the Shopaholic series, you’ll go click happy with this one.

headsupfortails.com. Prices: dog toys: Rs 250, shoes: Rs 600, pet clothing: Rs 400-1000, accessories: Rs 200-700.

I’ve been a multiplex bunny this season, and I’ve had it up to there with the whole thing: half a day gone in the crazy traffic jams, queues at the box office, and three hours in the theatre!

So I asked me a question: why not switch to a different format? Short films. Yep, it’s that time of the year again. Open Frame 2008’s just around the corner, and that’s where I will get not just any old shorts and documentaries, but award winners and premieres.

The eighth edition of the much-awaited PSBT (Public Service Broadcasting Trust) film festival is a total treat: watch internationally acclaimed films and take part in discussions/workshops, so useful for budding film-makers, and cineastes like me.

This year’s focus is on conflict and global hotspots, and the 55 films deal with the latest thoughts on gender and media, war and strife. The expressions vary — satirical, investigative, hard-hitting, but they all promise to be thought-provoking.

Here are Trendy’s top four fest picks, premieres all:

Brooke Sebold, Benita Sills and Tod Sills’ ‘Red Without Blue’: follows a pair of identical twins as one undergoes a sex change. Captured over three years, it looks at the family’s struggle to redefine itself.

Diane Israel, Kathleen Man and Carla Precht’s ‘Beauty Mark’: examines popular culture’s emphasis on looks and weight through the perspective of former world-class triathlete Diane Israel.

Ibtisam Mara’ana’s ‘Three Times Divorced’: when Khitam, a Gaza-born Palestinian woman’s Israeli husband divorces her — in absentia — she has to battle both for the custody of her children and her citizenship.

Krzysztof Kopczynski’s ‘Stone Silence’: investigates the stoning to death of Amina, an Afghan woman, for adultery.

I’ve marked my calendar. In bold. What are you waiting for?

PSBT Open Frame 2008, 12-20 Sept, at India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road. For more information log on to www.psbt.org. Entry free.

I’m a girly girl. My heaven’s made up of lace and roses, hand-crocheted pinafores and hand-smocked bodices. I outgrew pink teddy bears and miniature make-up kits but the lace-lust rears its head every so often, demanding satisfaction. And I found sublimation when I sneaked a peek at the new Petanu collection from Pashma, which goes on show for only three days this week.

Fusing European lace-making artistry with a retro glam flavour, the line-up is about sugar and spice and everything that’s wonderfully nice. It uses precious Chantilly and Venitzia laces with sprays of fine crystals and sequins from workshops across France and Italy in luxe sarees, ensembles, tunics, leggings and scarves. I loved the intricate detailing in luscious silks and chiffons, the subtly sexy drapes and cuts styled simply but elegantly.

I especially loved the light, white sarees, the gossamer fabric caressing the skin gently, the see-through quality adding an understated oomph. It’s something my grandmother could have worn, it’s something I can pass on as an heirloom.

While the Petanu lace line doesn’t really need additional embellishment, I loved the Paisley collection of jewellery by Monica G. Also retro, also girly (and also on show this week), it just shows how different artists interpret the same inspirations. The navratan and polki ornaments — she does rings, earrings, neckpieces and bracelets — use traditional motifs, stringing gold leaves with ruby drops and embossing hoops with the auspicious mango leaf.

I loved the very Indian jhumkis that dust the shoulders — I can just picture them with a South Indian silk or a zari-highlighted Banarasi.

Pinch me. Am I in heaven?

Petanu by Pashma lace eveningwear and Monica G jewellery on show only on September 10-12 at ffolio, No 1, Embassy Chambers, 5, Vittal Mallya Road, Bangalore. Tel: 2221 8142/ 4124 6053. Prices: Petanu by Pashma: Rs 5,000-Rs 90,000; Paisley by Monica G: Rs 2,200-90,000.

There are days when the fusilli quattro-formaggio seems a bit much. And even good ol’ paneer makhanwala loses its appeal. And while fresh crunchy salads make my detox day, the Mumbai mulgi in me always craves something with a zing.

So, I was really lucky to spy an all-new eatery that hit the spot just when I was seeking out a meal that was light on my tummy and my purse. The restaurant, Dakshinayan, is a teensy upbeat place near the famed three-pronged lights of the Teen Batti junction. The owners, Hemul and Beena Gandhi, have gone for a rustic-meets-mod chic feel. The benches sport stylish tie-up cushions, there are white patterns painted on terracotta-hued walls and the waiters are clad in elegant black mundus with red-gold borders. Obviously, the menu offers South Indian fare, but some of it’s with a twist.

While my friend relished the fire-in-a-bowl thakkali rasam, I smacked my lips over well-made buttermilk and tucked into the special Kerala pappadums with gusto. My intriguing garlic dosai came to the table all crisp and flavourful. The regular stuff like uthappams, pooris and dosais are all served with the usual sambhar and chutney (fresh and coconutty). I found the appams and korma a tad disappointing after this, but the filter coffee I washed them down with was so right, I wondered whether I was in Mangalore or, at least, Matunga!

In a week or two, they’re even going to start home delivery. Heartening to know I don’t have to deal with the dreariness of the average Udipi joint when I want my idli-dosa fix. “Nalla idea,” as they’d say down South.

Dakshinayan: 183 Teen Batti Road, Walkeshwar, Mumbai; Tel: 23676701, 23673926; A meal for two, without dessert, will cost approximately Rs 250.

The only time I bicker with my pals is over their choice of movies. They think nothing of spending precious Friday evenings catching some ugh Bollywood flicks just because they are new. Catch me doing that! Foreign flicks are totally my thing. My instant remedy for a bad work-day is to kick off my shoes, reach for the take-away menu and pop in my latest world cinema DVD acquisition into the player. Given that most of them have either been “borrowed” from well travelled friends or bought during my sporadic trips abroad, the choice of DVDs until now have been limited. No, I Do Not infest Palika Bazaar’s seedy shops because I Do Not condone piracy.

Now my world cinema library is all set to swell to a respectable number (earning me at least a dozen intellectual brownie points, and, of course, several pleasurable viewing hours!). The film- focused people at Palador, the first to bring authorized foreign language films to the Indian subcontinent, have just released a beautifully-produced collector’s edition five DVD box set of Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman’s best works, which includes some of his rare films (Summer With Monika and The Silence) to coincide with an ongoing six city film festival. With all my million deadlines, I missed the fest in my city, but my pals in Mumbai (12-18 Sept) can still catch it!

And while I am definitely getting the Bergman DVDs, I also have my eye on the Wong Kar Wai collection, which includes two of my faves Happy Together and Chungking Express, the film that brought Wai to the world’s notice. Palador’s Francois Truffaut set, which includes the poignant yet funny cautionary tale on marriage and adultery, Bed And Board, is seriously lust-worthy too.

As is the Kurosawa set. Time to reacquaint myself with the Japanese master’s lesser known Yojimbo, that classic tale of violence and revenge.

All mine, simply at the click of a mouse.

Palador DVD box sets are priced at Rs.2000 and can be purchased at www.mypalador.com. Shipping takes 5 days. Film fest details at www.mypalador.com/festival.

My guilty passion, it ain’t shopping. It’s art. I can spend hours visiting galleries, feasting my eyes, and reading about the fascinating behind-the-scene processes that go into the making of masterpieces. So imagine my delight when I found out that Vadehra Art Gallery had just opened a little reading room-cum-art store in Defence Colony, one of a kind in Delhi.

It’s a large room, innovatively designed to house both the reference library and the art store. The library space is intimate (only one desk for reading!), but houses a vast collection. Catalogues, journals and periodicals (stuff like Christie’s auction catalogues and art newspapers). Encyclopedias on History of Art. Coffee table books on Indian artists’ work. Carefully bound transparencies of works by a whole range of famous names — Picasso to Hussain, Souza, and Raza to Ram Kumar and A Ramachandran — which you can pore over with the help of the special back-lit glass table.

I spent an hour digging into a superbly- produced volume (over sips of hot coffee graciously offered by the staff, free!) about the master craftsmen who enriched the motifs of my favourite Banarasi saris, and came away so much the wiser — did you know their designs borrow from ancient Buddhist architecture and Mughal miniature painting?

Peeped into the art store before leaving. A room full of drool maal: a KG Subramanyam range of collectibles — essays bound into books, artwork on notebooks and postcards. Bold, kitschy work by Atul Dodiya, A Ramachandran, and Arpita Singh, on coasters, postcards and notebooks. Book stands, pocket magnifying lenses, and bookmarks (all kinds, from metallic to animal-shaped to personality-wise ones — I got myself a ‘Miss Messy’!). And of course, coffee table pretties that’ll be the pride of any bookshelf!

For my new address, look below.

Reading Room, Vadehra Art Gallery, D 42, Defence Colony, Ph: 46594456. Open 11 am to 7 pm (closed on Sundays). No membership required. Art store merchandise priced Rs. 75 onwards.

On days when the weather goes from sunny to cloudy to rainy within a heartbeat, there’s nothing I like more than some hot goss, good music and some top-to-toe pampering. So earlier this week, while namma Bengaluru was coping with floods and falling trees, I took myself off to Scandal. With a name like that, you can’t really go wrong, I thought.

And I was so right! More a relaxation boutique than your regular ‘parlour’, everything about Scandal is about putting the client at ease. From amongst the six facials and four kinds of clean-ups on offer, I signed up for a Pure Shores facial from the Dead Sea Mineral line and levitated as the well-practised beautician gently massaged away the signs of stress and strain from my face. My pal from Hyderabad, placing her faith in me for a haircut, meanwhile, jumped out of her salon chair with a ‘Yippee!’ on her lips. Then, while I got my hair cut in layers, with outcurls that are so in now, we caught up with each others’ lives — and that of our friends’ circle and a few Bollywood stars!

Scandal isn’t just another salon, said owner and manager Sruti Ramnath, a recent biometrics grad from the US. Travelling on work to Marathahalli, she frequently missed a place that would help her spruce up before that important meeting or presentation. Instead of letting it go at a grumble, she decided to chuck up coding and indulge her people’s persona by setting up Scandal a few months ago.

And now she’s focused on offering the complete package, instead of the odd oil massage or an on-a-whim manicure. So Scandal offers customised deals and loyalty programmes.

After my pampering sessions, I have loyalty points I can redeem for a pedicure. I’m not sure, though, if I needed that incentive to go back.

Scandal. 90/4 J P Royale, 2nd floor, Outer Ring Road, Marathahalli Colony, Bangalore 37. Tel: 64533555, 25223437, 32428650 or 9980570628. Website: www.scandalsalon.com. Haircuts Rs 500 upwards, facials Rs 750 upwards.

Her bags are packed, she’s ready to go. My baby sister’s moving to singledom in a new city, and she can hardly wait to do up her own digs in designer style.

The matriarch’s offers of stainless-steel dabbas and cast-iron kadhai-karchchi were firmly shot down by our corporate chick. Why would she, when there’s interesting people to network with through artsy cocktail evenings, pre-show theatre dinners, umpteen fine-dine restaurants, even sushi on dial-in for TV nights?

But what happens when she has a special friend over? Or throws her newly-made pals a house-warming bash? A mess of foil packets, paper plates and wine in styrofoam cups is too eww-yuck! Especially for our Prada-heeled princess.

So I am boxing up a sexy little set of garnish-and-serve ceramics. It’s everything a non-cooking hostess needs to entertain.

Villeroy & Boch’s new Home Elements range of multipurpose kitchenware marries pristine white china with elegantly angled glass and modern steel in contemporary lines. The pretty dish-warmer is an unobtrusive good-looker, resembling a large candle holder. There’s a matching relish/jam jar that wouldn’t look amiss holding earrings on the dressing table either. Salt and pepper mills in sculptural steel are a must, posing artfully on the sideboard between meals. And that mod little mortar and pestle sis won’t sneer at even as amma approves — the right global gourmet prop, to showcase I-made-it-myself salsas and dips! The cheese grater fits on its own nifty serving bowl — perfect beside plates of pasta.

Next, the necessary ‘natural wood’ dining accessories. Handy ribbed bread board/tray with a knife right up its sleeve — er, side! And maybe a couple of curvaceous wooden chopping boards to double as canape corners (when not gussying up the herb garnish)?

So sis is sure to serve up style. Even on solo nights.

Villeroy & Boch’s Home Elements range. In Delhi, dial 9971102215 (Kartikeya Ahluwalia) or 0124-4381914-16. Also available in Mumbai at Shop No. 2, Sunder Mahal, Churchgate; ph: 022-22823431/33. Prices: Rs 1,200-Rs 12,000.