Prateik Babbar’s cameo role as the brother who resents his sister’s boyfriend in the super-hit ‘Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na’ brought to the fore many of the undercurrents that exist between brothers and boyfriends, or between brothers-in-law after marriage.

This is one relationship that takes some careful handling. While the eventual bond it produces can be great fun for both parties, brothers generally tend to look with a slight amount of suspicion and wariness at their sisters’ boyfriends.

Raksha Bandhan is a much bigger festival in the North of India than in the South, but its effects are widely felt. It renders sacred the tie between a woman and her brother, and has been the subject of many tear-jerker songs from Hindi films. As lakhs of women all over the country were tying their ‘rakhis’, inevitably, their husbands and boyfriends must have been experiencing mixed feelings.

The Mumbai High court’s refusal to permit the abortion of Haresh and Niketa Mehta’s 25 week old foetus – who has been found to have a congenital heart disorder has set off a wave of reaction among young couples. While many pregnant mothers are being accompanied by their husbands for tests that will establish the health of the child they are carrying, among people who are yet to become parents, there is a definite unease. ‘What kind of world are we bringing children into?’ And ‘Are children safe in the world we live in today?’ are some of the thoughts that cross young minds.

“It is difficult to be a young person today and not worry about the future for your children,” says Shivani, a young journalist. “All the news we see and hear is about terrorism, global warming or the destruction of the environment. It makes you scared about the kind of complications that children will have to live with tomorrow.” Shivani is not yet married or even engaged, but more senior colleagues join her in her anxious view.

The rushed and stressful life-style of an average city-dwelling young professional can leave little time for taking exceptional care of one’s health and body. However, some signals from your body must be heeded if they are to be prevented from becoming more severe and limiting ailments. Here’s a list of common symptoms and their likely meaning.

When you are always either going in for a cold, or not able to recover from one, there could be a variety of reasons.

Sniffling, a runny nose, or sneezing often usually mean allergies. A head cold could be the result of moving in and out of air-conditioned environments from cold to hot and humid and back, as well as drinking very cold and very hot fluids – cold water and hot coffee.

The conversation with her best friend had run on for over an hour. At the end of it, Preeti was in a reflective mood. She walked around, putting away things in the small room she had as a paying guest in the busy metro, letting the details of the romantic crisis afflicting her friend run through her head. Feeling philosophical, she decided to send one last sms. “Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired…” she wrote. “You don’t know it, but you are loved in a thousand ways, even if it isn’t in the way you want…good night, get some sleep.” As she punched in the familiar numbers, she was yawning, feeling sleepy herself. It was past midnight.

Have you walked into a Lladro or Swarovski showroom and wondered at the people who have Rs. 40,000/- to spend on a little figurine to keep in their drawing room cabinet? Have you gone into a friend’s house and seen such a cute little terracotta Ganesh that you mentally vowed to get one just like that one for your own home? Have you been browsing idly and with no particular interest in an exhibition that your friend dragged you to, and then found exactly what you wanted – a napkin holder made of clear acrylic and dried rose petals?    

If you have answered ‘yes’ to any of the above, you will know the role that bric-a-brac or small knick knacks, or objects of limited utility but high sentimental value have within the house you set up with your partner. When people get married and settle down, they begin to accumulate what becomes a virtual museum in the years that follow. All their friends’ and well-wishers’ gifts, all their experiences together with their share of souvenirs, all the little symbols they acquire of their growing prosperity – everything is translated into little objects that inhabit their home.