ASHISH VIRMANI spends a day in the Swiss city and comes back dreaming of a nest egg

Content :Zurich is perfect in late February-March, sun dappled and a city eminently worth walking through. If you start off at around the Bahnstroffe, the central shopping district of the city and move towards Lake Zurich, you will encounter luminous shop windows and fair-skinned people.

Having said that, for the most part Zurich is eminently understated. With its restrained architecture, muted colours and shimmer of gentility that hovers in the air — what Zurich seems to be saying to the visitor is "There's more to me than what meets the eye".

Out and About

With no winner in the English language category once again, the Sahitya Akademi Awards have litterateurs crying fowl

The second-highest literary award in the country to be conferred by the Government of India, the Sahitya Akademi Awards, recently announced this year's winners. Interestingly, mirroring last year, there has been no winner announced in the English language category this year too.

While the President of the Sahitya Akademi, veteran Bengali author Sunil Gangopadhyay, speaking exclusively to After Hrs, says that the jury deciding upon the winners informed him that "there were no books found in this category that were up to the standard," naturally the results have littérateurs crying fowl.

Vicky Roy used to be a ragpicker; now he's off to document the reconstruction of the World Trade Center

'If wishes were horses, beggars would ride!' Well, that's certainly come true for 22-year-old Vicky Roy, who used to pick up rags as a kid and spend nights on a dingy railway platform in Delhi. The fortune wheel turned in his favour and now he is among the four in the world (and the only one from South Asia) chosen for a mentorship programme by the US-based Maybach Foundation to photo-document the reconstruction of the World Trade Center in New York.

With 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend' considered too juvenile, what's the new word for your partner?

If you are over 25 years of age and still not married, would you feel awkward in addressing your partner as 'boyfriend' or 'girlfriend' in a social gathering? Well, according to some new research, people feel a need for a term that refers to one's romantic partner that does not sound childish. The study highlights that the term 'partner' sounds too official. 'Companion' sounds too unromantic. 'Lover' is too explicit. 'Boyfriend' and 'girlfriend' seem appropriate only if you're a teenager. So, what then? After Hrs asked a few celebs what they'd call their other half…

Anuradha Menon (aka Lola Kutty), VJ

AR RAHMAN returns to Chennai amidst fan-frenzy and increased security

Australian pop star Kylie Minogue lunches with Akshay Kumar and gears up to groove to Farah Khan's dance moves, finds Soumyadipta Banerjee