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bOARDING PASS

What: “Slow Travel” vacations at High On Travel, click here for membership to their exclusive Travelers Club (specially for bpb subscribers!), Rs 1,250 for a craft and cuisine tour of the Jaipur bazaar.
Why: Built by an IIT Bombay graduate, this cool new website curates tours, hotels and activities that allow visitors to “connect with the location and its people”. Currently on the roster is a home stay in Wayanad, Kerala; visits to villages of Batalik, where the entire population has descended from Alexander the Great; and a walk through hidden lanes of Jaipur. HighOn Travel also has an exclusive club where members are offered, freebies and add-ons to a rotating selection of featured trips. Currently on the cards – 25% off a trip to Cunoor, including tea appreciation at Tenerife Hill and a cheese-making holiday at Acres Wild.
When: You want to experience jet lag.

pRESENT TENSE

What: Opa at the Royal Garden Hotel, Juhu Tara Road, Juhu, call 66919800.
Why: After many delays the Mediterranean restaurant finally opens this week, complete with warm, wooded interiors; eleven signature cocktails (tamarind margaritas, pomegranate-cinnamon martinis) and a menu featuring figs poached in red wine and baby lamb chops. Full bpb review out soon!
When: You want to be G(r)eek chic. Open for dinner only, lunch to start soon.

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What: The Barber Shop, 7, Kings Acres, opposite Podar School, Santacruz (W),  call 65938464, Rs 175 for haircut.
Why: If Mad Men’s Don Draper worked the ad scene in Mumbai, he’d get his hair cut at The Barber Shop, a new men’s only salon (by the guys behind Juice) featuring chequered floor, old style chairs, jazz music, a jukebox and the promise of “classic cuts and close shaves”. Treatments include everything short of a shoe shine – waxing, mani-pedis, massages, hair relaxing, champi. Keeping meterosexuals manly are testosterone-laced energy shots served at the salon.
When: You need a man-scaping artist.

bUMPER PRIZE

What: Made-to-order light fixtures by Sapna Bhavnani, to order email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it start at Rs 3,000.
Why: If Scottie can’t beam you up, Sapna Bhavnani will. While designing the new Mad O Wot salon at a “top secret location” (more on that soon!), the quirky hairstylist designed this creepy-cool Head Light – a bald mannequin face with bulb attached. We convinced her to take orders from bpb subscribers and she agreed, saying she had other juicy lamp chops as well. We don’t doubt it.
When: You want to scale new lights.

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What: Off-road racing at Endurance 4 Wheel Drive, Manor (85 km from Mumbai on the Ahmedabad highway), download registration form here or visit the Facebook Group, Rs 2,000 per person (including eight meals).
Why: You finally have somewhere to drive that monster you call a car – a 1 km off-roading closed circuit with terrain track, obstacles an even a chicken route. All you have to do is assemble a team of four (driver, navigator, trouble shooters), get your vehicle and show up for the two-day race. Organisers provide everything else, including accommodation (Rs 500 per person) as well as expertise, ambulances, tractors and a winning prize of off-roading equipment worth Rs 50,000. Hood winked!
When: Jeep of faith on September 10 – 11.