Secret lives of you and me

Everyone loves a 'good' secret. It's something we love to carry - mulling over it over a cup of coffee, or giving it a feel-up when you're getting bored at the morning meeting. It brings a smile on our faces. "It's my secret," you think to yourself, and bask in the afterglow. Stuff like "I want to leave office early today because I'm going to the spa - and I'm not telling anyone about it." But, at times, a secret can be dangerous. Not so much because of its nature but because of what it can do to you. Secrets beget secrets. And most terrifyingly, secrets - damning ones - tend to spill out when you least expect them to. Clearly, there's more to secrets than Enid Blyton's Secret Seven series. They've become psychological case studies. The complexities of the Hidden Truth (or Truths) is examined in brilliant detail in one of our features this week.
The air-brushed world of Bollywood is given a new dimension in American photographer Mark Bennington's coffee-table book. Living the Dream: The Life of the 'Bollywood' Actor turns a candid eye to the goings-on in Mumbai's dream factory. Actors and strugglers, alike, get captured 'behind the scenes' in poses you may not have come across. Our cover this week, it's a wonderful rendering of the amalgamation of fantasies and realities.
Travel goes back to the time of the Trojan horse, and the legend of Helen of Troy; factually, it's also about World War I. Discover Troy. Foodshala contestant Sunita Kewal talks about taking cancer heads on while emerging a cooking star. Bollywood lists the hits, the misses and the 'daring to be different' offerings from the first quarter of the year. And berries add a delicious touch to Kitchen Classics.
All this and much more. Enjoy reading wknd. and have a great weekend.

• wknd