Gear shift: Maruti's new 800 (left) and Grand Vitara XL-7 are a study in contrasts

In the space of a week, this writer drove the most expensive and the most inexpensive offerings from the country's largest carmaker. One costs a bit more than Rs 2,00,000, the other is nine times as expensive. One has no fancy gizmos, the other looks as if it were designed by someone at George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic (OK, not quite, but close enough).

First, the new-look, tuned up Grand Vitara xl-7. This is a rich man's toy, and fun is an extremely weak adjective to describe it. On the road, it chews up the tarmac with consummate ease, maxing the speedo out at a tad below 200 KPH. Off the road, it is a stone grinder, sliding about when you switch the four-wheel option off, but coming pretty close to a rally car when you do switch it on and take it into a power slide. This baby rocks.

The first version of the Vitara suffered from dowdy looks; the new one looks suspiciously like the Honda CR-V, but is better equipped. A glitzy Kenwood CD/cassette system decorates the middle of the faux wood dash. The seats are leather, and those unlucky enough to sit at the rear can relax with the dual-AC cooling their heads off. Be warned! In the hands of a slightly excitable driver, back-seat riders might just lose their last meal. And wannabe owners should be prepared for a severe hit on their wallets as this thing drinks petrol as if there were no tomorrow.

The second car was the latest version of the Maruti 800. Why did this driver ask for a Maruti 800? Because, this car, the original peoples car in India just turned 20 this December. Twenty years and more than 2.5 million units later, this is still basic motoring. There are no fancy gadgets; if you are over six feet tall, you can't fit in. Uncomfortable would be too polite an adjective to describe rear-seat comfort. But, somehow, you can't help but love this little car.

The car's very simplicity is its main attractiveness. The steering wheel might be skinny, the gear lever from a different (technologically backward) planet, but this car has feel. And it does give you a cover over your head, four wheels and the ability to squeeze in six for only six times the price of a 100cc motorcycle.

-KM

GOOD OLD, GOOD OLD

The Maruti 800 is 20 years old and if Maruti-talk is to be believed, it may not celebrate too many more birthdays on the production line. The price of the 800cc Maruti Alto is fast dropping to Maruti 800 levels and the newer car also offers toys that the 20-year-old car doesn't. That said, the 800 is more than a car: it is a visible symbol of progress, of enterprise, and (ha!) mind scoring over matter. 20 years and a few weeks ago, sometime in mid-December 1983, Delhi's Harpal Singh received the keys for his 800 (the first to roll out of the Maruti plant) from then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. We've seen 800s of later vintage in junk yards, or simply abandoned on highways after ugly wrecks, but Singh still keeps his car ship-shape despite almost half-a-million kilometres on the odo.

-Kushan Mitra

HEALTH NOTES

KEEP YOUR MOJO RISIN'

Most men know-and a few even heed-the fact that being indiscriminate about the food you eat can make you overweight, give you an unwanted tyre around your girth and, well, even shorten your life-span. But food can also affect men's sex drive and sexual function. Sexual function is affected by the state of the cardiovascular system-heart and the blood vessels-and the nervous system. If your diet has an adverse effect on these, things could go wrong down under. Here's a list of four foods that can make things tough (or should that be weak?) in bed:

Fatty meats. Apart from narrowing arteries and increasing heart disease risk, unsaturated fats and cholesterol also narrow the arteries that carry blood into the penis and that contributes to erectile dysfunction. You got that?

Full-fat dairy products. Cut the cheese from your diet. Loaded with saturated fats, whole-fat dairy foods can have the same affect as fatty meats.

Chips, cookies, fried fast food. Loaded with trans fats, these are worse than saturated fats for your blood vessels. Again, things can get clogged below a belly full of deep-fried pakoras.

White flour. When wheat is refined, it loses most of its zinc, an essential mineral for male sexuality and reproduction. The highest concentration of zinc in the human body is found in the prostate gland-which produces the fluid in semen and zinc deficiency can cut its output.

Note: That's what not to eat to keep things below the belt in fine fettle. As for what to eat to ensure things go well, check this space next fortnight.

SUCK THAT GUT

It may be a reflex action in men from 15 to no-upper-limit to suck in their stomachs when they get the right stimuli. Now, now, admit it, we all do it. It's Pavlovian. But did you know that sucking your gut in, methodically, is actually an effective way of flattening your belly? Try this. Stand up against a wall. Keep your torso straight. Breathe in deeply. Then exhale using your stomach muscles to force all the air from your lungs. Don't inhale at this stage but hold it-your lungs are empty now so you can suck your stomach all the way in. Feel the pressure on your transverses abdomini-the deepest of the abdominal muscles. Hold the vacuum for as long as you can. Repeat. Do three sets of 10-15 reps every alternate day. Of course, just sucking in your gut won't guarantee a washboard tummy. You've got to exercise regularly and eat wisely. Sorry, nothing comes easy.

LIFTER'S MYTH

Many tyros in the gym believe that quitting weight training can turn hard muscle into flabby fat. That your iron-wrought pectorals will turn to sagging man-breasts if you give the bench a miss for a while. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Fat and muscle are made up of entirely different kinds of tissues and they don't morph into one and other. What happens if you stop weight lifting is that your muscles shrink. And if you're not losing the calories that you're loading up on, assuming you've stopped exercising, then fat cells keep growing. More fat and less muscle equals, well, more fat.

-Muscles Mani

FAQS ABOUT THE PROSTATE

What is the prostate? A walnut-sized gland in the male reproductive system, it makes and stores seminal fluid, which nourishes sperm.

What are the threats? While abnormal growth of benign prostate cells only interferes with urine flow, malignant cells can enter the bloodstream, damage nearby organs and cannot be removed.

What are the symptoms? "Localised cancer results in increased frequency of urination, blood in urine or obstruction of the tract. Spread of cancer cells results in backaches or the feel of a nodule, often mistaken for bone cancer," says Dr. Mohan Nair, Chief Oncologist, Specialists' Cancer Centre (Cochin).

And the good news? Curable at any stage, early detection by a prostate specific antigen test makes it easier to cure.

And Precautions? None really. But cutting down on cigarettes, alcohol and fat-rich food, in addition to sexual fidelity, can help a wee bit.

-Ananya Roy