Life & Style

Before you hit send: Common emoji mistakes that can lead to misunderstandings in office emails and team chats A manager replies to a completed project with a simple thumbs-up. To some people reading it, that’s a perfectly normal sign-off, quick, clear approval. To others, particularly younger colleagues, it can land as clipped, dismissive, or even…

Japan’s iconic Shinkansen, or bullet trains, are celebrated for their speed, punctuality and engineering brilliance. Yet for many travellers, the culinary experience is just as memorable as the journey itself. The star attraction is the ekiben, short for eki bento or station lunchbox, a long-standing Japanese railway tradition. According to the official Japan National Tourism…

5 things every homeowner should do Picture the scene: a family opens a kitchen cabinet on a rainy morning expecting to find spices or steel tins and instead finds a snake curled up inside. It’s not a rare story during monsoon, cupboards, bathrooms, and storage shelves across the country end up hosting exactly this kind…

Most restaurants are remembered for their food, ambience or history. In Ahmedabad, however, one eatery has built a reputation for something entirely unexpected. At New Lucky Restaurant, customers sip hot chai and tuck into buttery bun maska while seated beside 26 centuries-old graves. What may seem eerie to first-time visitors has become an enduring part…

Dining in first class was comparable to eating at one of Europe’s finest luxury hotels. The famous dinner served on the evening of April 14, 1912, just hours before the collision with the iceberg, featured an elaborate multi-course menu. Guests could choose from oysters, consommé and cream soups, poached salmon with mousseline sauce, filet mignon,…

Foil and cling wrap pose risks when storing certain foods. Plastic wrap can leach chemicals into fatty foods, especially when heated. Aluminum foil reacts with acidic or salty foods, releasing aluminum into them. Heat accelerates chemical release from both materials, so avoid direct contact. Match the wrapping material to the food type for safer food…

The office has changed. Meetings still happen, presentations are still made and deadlines continue to chase everyone. But one thing is very different from a decade ago. A large part of workplace communication now happens through screens. Colleagues discuss projects on office chat apps, managers review work through messages and teams often solve problems without…

Whether you’re observing a fast, following a sattvic diet, or simply looking for meals without onion and garlic, giving up these two kitchen staples doesn’t mean compromising on flavour. Indian cooking has long relied on ingredients like ginger, cumin, hing (asafoetida), curry leaves, fresh herbs and whole spices to build layers of taste. The result…

5 plants that can grow without soil Soil has always been treated as the one non-negotiable ingredient in gardening, which makes it genuinely surprising that a handful of popular houseplants do perfectly well without it. Growing plants hydroponically, in nothing more than a jar or vase of water, has quietly become one of the more…

Aluminium foil feels like one of those kitchen staples that’s practically indestructible, which is probably why most people give almost no thought to where the box actually lives. But foil is thinner and more easily damaged than it looks, and the wrong storage spot, too close to the stove, standing upright in a cramped drawer,…