WEEKLY MAGAZINE, JULY 1, 2012 Free with your copy of Hindustan Times
years of
FREEDOM
Total Recall
Our new seven-part series that looks back, from the 2000s to the ’40s
PRIVACY!
What’s That?
Mind It
People who’ve conquered mental ailments
That mail you sent to your ex, the porn sites you surfed, the hours you spent watching YouTube videos – no matter where you go on the Web, someone is watching you
Zanjeer Redux
How Chiranjeevi’s son hopes to step into the Big B’s big boots
indulge
VIR SANGHVI
Indian dining opens up
RAJIV MAKHNI On the Surface
SEEMA GOSWAMI
What feminism really means
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01.07.2012
years of
FREEDOM
THE DECADES AS WE SEE THEM Care to look back on the India story with us? Independence, the wars we lived though, the advent of colour TV, our historic cricket World Cup win in 1983, globalisation: all this has significantly changed the way we see ourselves. Follow our multiweek series chronicling 65 years of freedom, looking at each decade since independence, with essays and a montage of major events. May the best decade win!
inbox LETTER OF THE WEEK! Discovering the real Shahid
SHAHID KAPOOR on your cover (Sasha Slashes Out, June 24) took my breath away. The insightful interview was superb. Good things come in small frames: Shahid has a small frame and average height. He comes from a broken home and had a habit of stammering. He overcame his handicaps and emerged as an exceptional actor, all due to his will power and perseverance. His performance in Teri Meri Kahaani is unforgettable. — NIDHI, via email Nidhi wins a Flipkart voucher worth ` 2,500. Congrats!
Perfect Sunday Brunch! THIS WEEK’S Brunch offered interesting features. I loved Your Serve, London, since it gave an insight into the international character of food trends in London, especially Russian. The health specialists’ advice on bone health and headaches was helpful. It was a Sunday well spent with Brunch. — RENUKA MATHUR, via email
The best letter gets a Flipkart voucher worth R2,500!! The shopping voucher will reach the winner within seven to 10 working days. In case of any delays, please contact chirag.sharma@hindustantimes.com EDITORIAL: Poonam Saxena (Editor), Aasheesh Sharma, Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi, Rachel Lopez, Mignonne Dsouza, Veenu Singh, Parul Khanna Tewari, Yashica Dutt, Pranav Dixit, Amrah Ashraf, Saudamini Jain, Shreya Sethuraman DESIGN: Ashutosh Sapru (National Editor, Design), Monica Gupta, Swati Chakrabarti, Rakesh Kumar, Ashish Singh, Suhas Kale, Shailendra Mirgal
Drop us a line at
brunchletters@hindustantimes.com or to 18-20 Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi 110001 JULY 1, 2012
LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch
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Cover Story
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Wellness
Pallavi Gurtoo Whatever happened to Download Central? Where is Sanjoy Narayan? Please come back!! Jayini Trivedi When is Download Central returning? Aren’t the few weeks of its sabbatical over already??
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Shivam Singh I get up at 7am on Sundays to read Brunch!
@rohit33 @HTBrunch @RajivMakhni You should’ve been the chief app editor of Google. The list is a gem!
Many mental illnesses are manageable. Three people tell us their stories
Personal Agenda
Actor Ram Charan’s Sundays involve biryani with his family
indulge
Ria Rana My Sundays are incomplete without Brunch and a good lunch . Your issues are always refreshing. Anita Rana Your article Ask The Specialists was very helpful, especially the tips for curing headaches.
TWEET YOUR HEART OUT twitter.com/HTBrunch
If you thought your online activities went unnoticed, wake up to the bitter truth
13 SPECTATOR Feminism is about the right to make our own choices
16 RUDE FOOD It’s time to celebrate the opening up of the Indian palate
@kallolh @RajivMakhni @HTBrunch magicplan for putting furniture in ur rooms and photosynth for pan effect of photos are real gems. Good article Rajiv!
18 TECHILICIOUS Will Microsoft’s Surface dethrone Apple’s iPad?
@shafaatkarim @RajivMakhni @HTBrunch as usual great article. Very app-tly put that one person’s preference can be another’s nightmare.
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@noorani77 @HTBrunch Has Download Central been scrapped permanently? When will it be back?? Please start it again! Brunch is not the same without it :(
BRUNCH ON THE WEB hindustantimes.com/brunch
Beware! Cyber crimes are here! 81 per cent of online Indians have experienced cybercrime in the last 21 months. 341.1 billion rupees were lost to cybercrime last year If you thought you were safe on the Internet, think again. Log on to to find out more!
DOWNLOAD CENTRAL The column is taking a break for a few weeks. But stay tuned, it will be back soon!
Cover Illustration: PRASHANT CHAUDHARY
Second thoughts Do check out this week’s web columns – Gursimran Khamba’s cheekiness on Monday, Rajneesh Kapoor’s comic strip Rezi Vastav on Tuesday, The Fake Jhunjhunwala’s sarcasm on Wednesday, Judy Balan’s uncanny take on life on Thursday and Gautam Chintamani’s SplitScreen on Friday. Log on now!
Brunch Blogs This week, read Different Strokes by Aasheesh Sharma. Sports, arts and entertainment as unusual.
T O TA L R E C A L L
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REWIND Why the 2000s will never be forgotten 2000 Four’s a score Priyanka Chopra, Lara Dutta, Dia years Mirza and Aditi Govitrikar of win Miss World, Miss Universe, Miss Asia Pacific and Mrs World
FREEDOM
2002
2001 9/11 happens in the United States, killing nearly 3,000 people
Apple launches the iPod, changing the way we hear music forever
Indian Parliament attacked leading to the death of a dozen people
Gujarat riots break out when a train is attacked in Godhra
2006
2004 Facebook is launched by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg
Tsunami hits the Indian Ocean after a huge earthquake in Sumatra
The Bombay High Court curbs Indian TV channels from showing ‘adult content’
Candlelight vigils spike after Manu Sharma is acquitted of Jessica Lal’s murder
2008 Black Monday as Lehman Bros declare bankruptcy. Recession begins
Gay pride parade is celebrated in five different Indian cities
26/11 Mumbai attacks hold the city hostage for 72 hours
Everything was shiny in the 2000s
We’ve been free for 65 years. We’ve obviously changed. But how? The way we live, love and talk – and more. We find out in a 7-part series, looking back at every decade from the ’40s to the present. We start with the neontinged era just gone by – the 2000s
THE 2000s was a decade when technology came into its own, giving rise to a techsavvy generation
OUR BEST DECADE IN DECADES
O
N JANUARY 1, 2000 – the didn’t; those who became first year of a decade that corporate slaves and those who prewould come to be known as ferred to remain free birds; those the Noughties – I woke up in who continued to smoke pot and Dublin with a hangover. I stumbled those who quit. out onto the porch of my friend’s But each decade also flavours the house and took a good hard look at generation that inhabits it in a unique and particular way. 9/11 the day. It looked no different from shocked and polarised the world; any other. Grey and rainy like most American militarism days in the British Isles. reached its peak with the In three months, I wars in Iraq and would be back in India, Afghanistan; and we having finished my stint spent nine years watchat Balliol. I was 24-yearsing George Bush make a old and didn’t have much royal mess of it – his of a clue as to what I’d be PALASH KRISHNA gaffes on TV providing doing with the rest of my MEHROTRA the only and much-needlife. College was over, and Author of The ed comic relief. since I’d made up my Butterfly Newspaper headlines mind not to enter acadeGeneration, he though are often about mia, entry into the Real contributes to World was imminent. events that don’t affect several publications Over the next ten us personally, and which years, my generation would come of take place in faraway lands. What age, take control of its destiny as it then did the Noughties mean to us were, with the Noughties setting the in India? stage and providing the context for It was a period of hope and optithe journey from 25-35. There are mism. This was the decade when features which are shared by generamiddle-class Indians, cutting tions across the world – certain across ages, made the great techchoices which have to be made by nological leap. Things came and human beings anywhere, regardless went, from floppy discs and Ram of which decade we are in. There Gopal Varma, to Orkut and were those of us who married their Limewire, but what remained was college sweethearts and those who the simple fact of us having made JULY 1, 2012
the switch to a wired world. It was a time when prices fell all around, when technology became affordable and accessible. Mobile phone handsets and computers became cheaper, call rates were slashed, and broadband penetrated small towns and big cities alike. This was also the age of cheap flights, of Captain Gopinath and Air Deccan, a time when people who had never flown before could do so, for, at times, it was cheaper to fly than to buy a rail ticket. It was in the Noughties that credit card companies dished out plastic like bananas, and people splurged on consumer durables: washing machines, flat screen TVs, fridges and DVD players. This was boom time. We were reaping the fruits of economic liberalisation. Our living standards were up, and they were going up for a critical mass of people, not just the old middle class but also an expanding one. Mr Gupta took his first flight. Mrs Pandey got her first ATM card. Little Chintu his first laptop. American-style capitalism muscled its way into small towns. Big Bazaar was selling beanbags and iceberg lettuce to rustic Allahabadis; Converse its star-studded shoes in sleepy valley towns. Old-style shop fronts
made way for glass, and as the gap between Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities narrowed, there was a very real sense of shared prosperity. We live in a country where our collective self-esteem is tied to the fortunes of our cricket team. Under Sourav Ganguly’s aggressive captaincy, we started a dream run, winning test matches in Australia, West Indies, England and Sri Lanka. This too was linked to the new prosperity – we were doing well economically, and our newfound confidence was reflected in the attitudes of our players. In an earlier decade, the world’s best teams would have bulldozed them; now, for the first time, they could hold their heads high, and give it back. The Eighties were, well, the socialist Eighties of Campa Cola, Maruti 800 and Doordarshan. The Nineties were when economic reforms were inaugurated; it would take till the end of the decade for the results to show. It was the Noughties when it all came together for us, from the big technological crossover to palpable economic prosperity, something which seems like a faraway dream in 2012, when everything seems to be falling to pieces.
(Next week –The Nineties )
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T O TA L R E C A L L
Twitter became a surprise hit in 2009 and allowed you to cuss your favourite star directly
DO YOU REMEMBER? Let’s take you back, even if only a little, to show how exactly the last decade fared. And don’t blame us for suddenly feeling old!
hindustantimes.com/brunch The country watched in shock as terrorists held Mumbai hostage for more than 72 hours
2001
2006
The mega-scale production that changed the way the world viewed Bollywood
ABHINAV BINDRA GAVE US THE SWEET TASTE OF SUCCESS BY WINNING INDIA ITS FIRST INDIVIDUAL OLYMPIC GOLD
Five Point Someone What Not to Do At IIT! by Chetan Bhagat was published, creating the easy-to-read, bestselling paperback
LALIT MODI engineered the Indian Premier League (IPL), and made it one of the world’s largest sports events, estimated at $4 billion
2008
India was completely gripped by mall fever when big brands set up shop in small towns
2005
2004 2002 2008
The Gujarat riots killed almost 1,300 people in the aftermath of an an attack on the Sabarmati Express train in Godhra
‘Like’ no longer meant an unsaid emotion, courtesy Facebook
2000 India got wired and saw technol-
ogy become cheaper with computers and mobile phone handsets becoming more widely available than electricity in some places. Broadband pervaded almost every second town and telecom companies fought for the lowest callrates possible.
JULY 1, 2012
Kaun Banega Crorepati resurrected Amitabh Bachchan’s flagging career and along with Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, made Star Plus the number one channel in the country. And unleashed a decade of heavy, sariclad sob fests on TV.
2000
FASHION SPLIT AT THE SEAMS when every city, (Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Bangalore Kolkata, et al) started hosting a fashion week event of its own
2006
PROMOTION times beats the pre-monsoon variety. They are sure treat for mango lovers who get to savour them till September and at times, even during Diwali.
Soak in the pleasure
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sn’t it human nature to desire that which is difficult to reach? Well, the same holds for mangoes as well. For, come monsoons and a desire for mangoes reaches a peak, probably because they are not as common a sight as they were in the peak of summer.
THE LONGING
If you long for mangoes through the year, you probably know the pleasures of it on a hot summer day. And no you can’t let the longing die down on a wet sultry day. As the rain makes patterns on your glass window, the mango juice runs down your fingers … sheer bliss! The whiff of wet earth after the first shower, mixed with the heady flavour of a mango is any mango lover’s fantasy.
If you are a new convert and think the first showers have finished the yellow fruit, wait till you see its others forms find their way. For the rains may have ended the supply of Alphonso and Kesar, but nearly another dozen varieties make their presence felt, and satiate mango lovers. Hybrid varieties of two original species of the fruit, Alphonso and Neelam, called Amrapali and Ratna are sure to make you smile. Varieties like Makaram, known as the Cuckoo of Mangoes, is available only after the first bout of rains. Some of the mangoes available during the rains might not look as gorgeous as their sunny counterparts, but that doesn’t take away from their sweetness. For despite their green exterior often spotted with black, they hold sweetness that at
Icicle Drops’ by Libby Southwell, where she opens her soul and pours out the heartache and sorrow she feels about the loss of her beloved. In ‘Mangoes, Motorcycles – and Memories’, author NAME AND MORE Sona Pai divulges her foodWhat’s in a name? A lot we ways as a first generation SPICY MANGO think, at least right now. Indian-American, portrayCOOLER There are showers called ing the mango as central to Mango showers. These are Indian culture and cuisine. INGREDIENTS for 1 glass pre-monsoon showers in the She rues the 18-year ban on 150 ml Slice states of Karnataka, Kerala, Indian mango exports to the 1 tsp grated ginger Konkan and Goa, and are USA, and celebrates the called so because their arrival 2 tsp chopped green 2009 lift of the ban, bringchilli helps in the ripening of maning with it the sudden ½ tsp rock salt goes. The showers prevent prospect of impending food the mangoes from dropping miles. 1 tsp lime juice prematurely from trees and Blend all ingredients are crucial for the mango culSIP ON without ice and tivators of South India. Now that your creative strain over 4 – 6 ice cubes in a tall glass. juices are flowing, how And if you like mango Add ginger julienne showers, not literally but of about sipping a delicious garnish and serve the literary variety, we found mango mocktail? The right with a straw. three book titles that corremix of mango juice and late rain and mangoes. There spices can make for a suris ‘Of Mangoes and Monsoons’ By Suresh prisingly heady combination. Kanekar. The professor, a Ph.D. in social Live up this psychology from the University of Iowa, Sunday tells the story of a young man"s academwith this ic, athletic, and amatory adventures special against the backdrop of the freedom recipe. movement of Goa. Then there is ‘Monsoon Rains and
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They know who you are, where you live, your swimsuit size, the last time you watched porn (and what kind). The Web knows everything. How worried should you be? by Pranav Dixit
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Illustrations by Prashant Chaudhary
IKE MOST people, I start my Monday mornings by checking email. Last week was no different. I fired up Gmail, then logged on to a couple of news websites to check out the headlines. I must have opened about five websites. Less than a minute later, I was being observed by more than 50 trackers. Most prominent was something called ‘Doubleclick’, a subsidiary of Google that develops and provides internet ad services. That was the only name I had heard of. There were other names I had never heard of, including 2mdn.net, parsley.com and scorecardresearch.com. How did I know they were tracking me? I was running a nifty little browser add-on called Collusion, developed by the Mozilla corporation, which aims to show, in real time, the shad-
owy web of connections between sites you go to and trackers you have probably never heard of when you browse the Web. Welcome to reality – privacy is dead. “It just doesn’t exist anymore!” exclaims Jagannath Patnaik, director, channel sales at Kaspersky, an online security firm. “The very nature of the internet is open and connected. So to think that you’re in your own private bubble when you’re browsing or chatting or emailing or social networking from the comfort of your own bedroom is laughable.” The explosion of the personalised Web has pretty much clobbered online privacy to its
death. No matter where you go, no matter what you do, someone or the other is tracking your surfing. “With every click of the mouse and every touch of the screen, we are like Hansel and Gretel leaving breadcrumbs of our personal information everywhere we travel through the digital woods” said Gary Kovas, CEO of the Mozilla corporation at a TED event recently. Online, there are no secrets. That emotional email you sent to your ex, that porn site you surfed, the hours you spent watching kitten videos online can all be gathered to create a defining profile of you. Your information can be stored, analysed, indexed and sold as a commodity to data brokers who in turn might sell it to advertisers, employers, health insurers and credit rating agencies – a 39 billiondollar industry, according to Kovacs. How worried should you be?
Your information can be sold as a commodity to data brokers
@@
BE AFRAID. BE VERY AFRAID
Quite, according to Prasanna V, cofounder and principal consult-
What you’re giving out Browser and operating system details, browsing patterns, IP address, websites visited, links clicked and more. How to stay safe ■ We know it’s a pain but try and read privacy policies of the sites you frequent. ■ Use the latest version of your browser to ensure maximum protection against
JULY 1, 2012
online threats.
■ All browsers today have an ‘incognito’ or a
‘private browsing’ mode where none of your browsing history, searches, cookies or temporary Internet files are stored on your computer. ■ Disable scripts in your browser. Most sites run scripts without your knowledge to collect your browsing habits and other information. ■ Avoid free Wi-Fi and make sure you’re always on a secure Internet connection.
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twitter.com/HTBrunch
What you’re giving out Everything from your date to birth to what you did a moment ago, location, articles you read, time spent playing social games, purchases made, email addresses, phone numbers and more How to stay safe ■ Get off Facebook. No, seriously. ■ If you’re an insufferable addict, dig through your privacy settings (good luck figuring those out) and make sure you are not inadvertently revealing personal information like your birth date, email address and phone number on your profile. ■ Make sure you read and understand permissions of the apps on Facebook you use. Most of them require everything from access to your profile to posting to your Wall on your behalf. ■ Stay away from strangers and accept friend requests just from people you know.
ant at Packet Verify Technologies, an information security firm based in Bangalore. “Every time you are online, you could be giving out information like your IP address, browser and operating system details, browsing patterns, links clicked and files downloaded – all without you even knowing about it”, he says. When you throw Twitter and Facebook into the mix, you could even be involuntarily broadcasting information about websites you visited, articles you read, videos you watched and more to all your friends and followers. Many browsers now support a functionality called Location Aware browsing – which means that a website can track you down to your physical location with pinpoint accuracy. “Companies like Google datamine ALL your data that passes through their services in an attempt to tailor
ads that would entice you into clicking or buying,” says Atul Chitnis, one of India’s pioneering technologists focused on the internet and free and open source software. “This applies to ANY information, including chat logs, email, Web pages and sites you visit,” he says. Over a period of time, it is possible to build a profile of who you are, what you do online, where you are located, who your friends and family are and more. “While contextual ads are already rampant, targetted ads based on demographics like profile, race and locations are also popping up whether or not we need them,” says Prasanna. The implications are far greater than most of us can imagine: governments could use such online attributes for surveillance, cyber criminals can use this information to carry out targetted attacks and identity theft and websites could use your information and photos in advertising without consent. “In fact, many Web services do not even provide an option to deactivate your account and there is no clarity on what they do with your information once you’re gone,” cautions Prasanna.
to prevent these companies from sharing my data with let’s say, potential employers, insurance companies or marketing agents. When you are able to visualise what is at stake here, then personal information you share on social networks will look trivial.” Data breaches, unfortunately, are far more common than we imagine. Last month, business social network LinkedIn said that passwords of 6.5 million of its users had leaked on to the Internet. LinkedIn has a lot of information on its more than 160 million members, including potentially confidential information related to jobs being sought. “Based on my own experience of having detected and notified data leaks of personal information, most companies in India are neither aware nor have proper data
It is possible to build a profile of who you are and what you do online
WORRIED? YOU SHOULD BE You’re sitting in your room, laptop propped on your knees, and browsing your favourite websites. Watching your every click are hundreds of prying eyes on the Internet. If that itself doesn’t creep you out, here’s what can happen to your private data when these snoopers get their grubby little fingers on it: ■ Your personal data – everything from your browsing habits to your date of birth and phone number can be collected and used to build a chillingly accurate profile of you bit by digital bit. This information can be sold off to tracking agents you have never heard of. ■ Even if you don’t care too much about being served targetted advertisements on the Internet, remember that all your data is sitting on servers around the world, often with questionable security. If a cyber criminal hacks into these servers, your personal information could be up for sale on the digital black market. ■ Governments could potentially use online attributes for surveillance.
SHOULD YOU FREAK OUT?
Being spied upon can be creepy. But should we be bothered so much about the fact that we are being spied on simply to serve us ads? After all, wouldn’t the likelihood of you checking out a particular advertisement be more if it was about something you cared about? Madhulika Mathur, technology editor of MW magazine, agrees. “To be honest, I don’t care about privacy. I have shared a lot of information on Facebook and Twitter and I am not going to lose any sleep over the fact that it is being recorded and sitting in a database somewhere,” she says. Mathur says that more than privacy, it is the security of her data that bothers her more. “It’s the theft of data or sale of data to third parties what I worry about,” she says. “I cannot even fathom how my life is being stored in various databases. Where I live, what I buy, how much I spend, what car do I own, what is my medical history – everything is being recorded. It is important for the law
What you're giving out Shopping preferences, credit card information, address, telephone number, browsing habits and more. How to stay safe
■ Stick to established sites. ■ Review user feedback. If a site seems shady, Google it and see
what others are saying about it. You would be surprised at the insights you can get. ■ Read privacy policies to see if the site shares your personal data with any third party. ■ Many banks provide virtual credit cards that have limited validity. Use them for all online transactions. Keep the plastic for the real world.
“If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place” – former Google CEO Eric Schmidt JULY 1, 2012
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collection policies of users’ data,” says Prasanna. “I have detected and notified data leaks for a leading coffee chain in the country, an IPL franchisee and a leading Indian travel portal. Most of them had no idea that personally identifiable information about their users was getting leaked online!”
What you’re giving out Your precise location and pretty much all the contents of your phone including contacts, SMS messages, call records, email and browser history depending on the apps you use.
THE FINE PRINT
To be fair, most companies, including Facebook, have fairly extensive privacy policies that you, as a user, are expected to read and understand, to know what you’re signing up for. But when was the last time you actually sat down and waded through one? According to a New York Times report, legal and technology researchers estimate that it would take about a month for Internet users to read the privacy policies of all the websites they visit in a year (so good luck with that)! “What does bother me is how companies like Facebook enforce their own social rules and changing concept of privacy on over 800 million people without their consent,” says Mathur. “I can casually say that I don’t care about privacy because my politics, my sexual preferences and my personal relationships are fairly middle-of-theroad. But what if that wasn’t the case? What if I was homosexual and hadn’t told my extended family? What if my strong political leanings could make a wrong impression at the workplace? What if I couldn’t understand the frequently changing, 6,800 word-long Facebook data use policy to figure or how to
How to stay safe Review the apps you have installed and understand background ■
work with the various privacy settings? For a lot of people, these sweeping privacy policy changes could have serious consequences.”
TRACK ME NOT
In February, US President Obama unveiled his administration’s framework for new privacy regulations. As part of its big reveal, the White House also announced the first product of that framework: the completion of an industry agreement on ‘Do Not Track’ technology for behaviour-based Web advertising. The agreement was signed by some of the biggest names in technology including Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL and Web advertising networks. It means that every major browser will now come built-in with Do Not Track features, which will allow consumers – us – to opt out of behaviour-based marketing, blocking
When was the last time you waded through a site’s wordy privacy policy?
advertisers’ tracking cookies and preventing other types of cross-site tracking of behavioural information. According to White House figures, the companies signing on the agreement account for delivery of nearly 90 per cent of behaviour-based advertisements on the Internet. Here in India, we are slightly less privileged. Between trying to censor websites that post ‘defamatory content’ and blanket-blocking torrent sites, it doesn’t seem that the Indian government has had any time to look into safeguarding citizens when they are online. “Privacy laws simply don’t exist in our country!” says Yashraj Vakil, chief operating officer at Red Digital, a company that specialises in social media campaigns. “Whenever I shop online or am asked to hand over any personally identifyable information by an Indian website, I am instantly wary. I would rather trust a site that is based in another country.” And the stakes are high. “You should be concerned,” says Chitnis. “Today it may be your money that is at stake, but tomorrow it could be the life of a loved one or a friend that is threatened
information they collect. Most smartphone operating systems require apps to tell you this information when you install them. ■ Install only known apps from wellknown vendors. Angry Birds is OK. Hot XXX Babes Live! is probably not (though you never know). ■ Use an anti-theft app like Lookout Mobile Security to remotely purge your data if you lose you phone.
because of information being used to get to them. Privacy is something that is your birthright. Every country’s constitution guarantees it, and it is all that prevents you from becoming a meaningless puppet in the hands of information brokers. So you should NEVER accept loss of privacy. You should fight for it.” pranav.dixit@hindustantimes.com
TRACKING THE TRACKERS Websites we surfed Tracking sites we knew nothing about
fashionand you.com imdb.com espncricinfo.com
Want to know exactly who’s tracking you online? Download Collusion, an add-on for your browser (it is available for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox) from www.mozilla.org/collusion. Sit back, start browsing and let your blood run cold. Here’s what happened to us in a typical 10-minute browsing session: 10:30 AM: We wanted to check out the Prometheus trailer, so we fired up the browser and hit up IMDB.com, our favourite movie destination. IMDB showed up as a bright blue circle on Collusion. 10:31 AM: Suddenly, the screen burst with activity. Three other circles linked to IMDB.com popped up. We were being tracked by three websites – amazon.com (this makes sense as Amazon owns IMDB),
doubleclick.net (an advertising subsidiary that belongs to Google) and something called scorecardresearch.com. A quick Google search reveals scorecardresearch.com to be a company that constantly tracks over 2 million people worldwide. It observes how often you return to a website and if you go to related websites among other things. 10:35 AM: We browsed to ESPNCricinfo.com and were instantly being tracked by no less than 8 trackers including adnxs.com, go.com, revsci.net, all milliondollar corporations. 10:37 AM: Shopping portal FashionandYou.com threw up 4 more trackers. By this time, all we wanted to do was pull out the darn Internet cable!
“You already have zero privacy. Get over it.” – Scott G McNealy, CEO of Sun Microsystems Inc JULY 1, 2012
indulge
hindustantimes.com/brunch
YUMMY MUMMY OR HIGH FLYER?
HIGH ON FEMINISM?
Photos: REUTERS
In a recent event in London, Cherie Blair lamented that it worried her how so many women couldn’t be bothered with a career
Seema Goswami Photo: THINKSTOCK
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T’S A GOOD thing that Cherie Blair has such a wide mouth, given how often her foot lands right inside it. The latest such instance occurred at a recent event in London where Fortune magazine was celebrating the Most Powerful Women Summit in the world. Rueing the lack of feminist values in the new generation of women who just wanted to be “yummy mummies”, Cherie lamented that it worried her how so many women couldn’t be bothered with a career: “They think, ‘Why can’t I just marry a rich man and retire?’” Cherie warned that “every woman needs to be self-sufficient” and that “even good men could have an accident and die and you’re left holding the baby”. From her point of view, this was unexceptional stuff. After all, this is a woman who saw her father walk out on her mother when she was eight. She saw her mother struggle to make ends meet, while her grandmother looked after her and her younger sister. So, it is no surprise that the first lesson that the young Cherie learnt was: Don’t trust men; always make your own way. But of course, the British media and the blogosphere – which hates her with a particular passion – went wild about how Cherie was dissing women who chose family over career and weren’t as high-achieving as she had been. I have to admit, though, that on one level, I am in complete agreement with Cherie Blair. It is important for young women to learn the lesson that the only person you can depend on is yourself – and that financial independence lies at the heart of this. There is no quarrelling with that. Where I do disagree is that I believe that when we tell women that the only success that is worth striving for is the kind they achieve in the workplace, we effectively devalue everything that women achieve as homemakers, mothers and carers. Yes, it’s great to have a pay cheque coming in every month. It’s lovely to have a high-powered job that gives you satisfaction. It’s wonderful to feel that your achievements at work are being validated by a judgemental world. But while we are going about it, is it really necessary to debase and demean those women who have made a choice to get off the career treadmill and devote themselves to their families? I don’t have children myself, but I would imagine that it must tear women apart to leave small babies at home, being cared for by paid strangers, while they go off to earn a living. It probably gets even more difficult – and guilt-inducing – when the kids grow up and begin to need you more, rather than less. Anyone who wants to learn about the competing demands of career and children and what it does to women should read AnneMarie Slaughter’s cover story for The Atlantic. Slaughter, a highflyer at the US State Department, recently resigned to go back to teaching at Princeton University. In her article, titled Why Women Still Can’t Have It All, she explains how even though she had a ‘sup-
INDEPENDENT, TRULY!
It’s great to have a pay cheque coming in every month
portive’ husband – the Holy Grail of all feminist tracts – who took over the care of her two sons, she still felt guilty of letting her family down. She still blamed her absence for her teenage son’s angst. And so, when it came time to renew her contract, she decided to quit to ‘spend more time with her family’, usually a euphemism – as she notes wryly – for being fired. But Slaughter’s story tells us an essential truth: most women are hard-wired to want to take care of their young. And sometimes you just can’t beat biology, no matter how hard you try. So, do we really need to tell a harried young mother with two kids under the age of six that she needs to get dressed and go out to work or else she will be letting down the sisterhood? Must we make the army wife or the diplomatic spouse feel worthless because she follows her husband on his job? And most importantly, do we really want to live in a world where the only person who has power in a relationship is the husband who brings in a regular pay cheque? Do we want to tell the young women coming of age today that feminism may be about choice – but there’s only one choice available to them: of going out and having it all. And what does ‘having it all’ really mean? Does it mean being exhausted to your bones because you have worked a 12-hour day at the office and must now cook a meal for your family? Does it mean striving for professional success no matter what the cost to your personal life? Does it mean buying into the macho code of deciding everyone’s worth on the basis of their pay cheque? After all, the question is no longer whether women can succeed in a man’s world – but why we allow men to define what success is. And I suspect that’s the trap that Cherie Blair has fallen into: of defining success in man-centric terms: how many hours you work; how much money you make; how far you can clamber up on the corporate ladder. But why should we allow men (or Cherie Blair for that matter) to define what success is? Because when it comes right down to it, feminism is about the freedom to make our own choices – and to not give a damn what anyone else thinks about them.
spectator
Feminism is about the right to make our own choices – and not care what anyone else thinks of them
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CHANGING JOBS
Anne-Marie Slaughter, a high-flyer at the US State Department, recently resigned to go back to teaching at Princeton University and ‘spend time with family’
seema_ht@rediffmail.com. Follow Seema on Twitter at twitter.com/seemagoswami
JULY 1, 2012
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BUTTER CHICKEN TO DUCK CONFIT
Chand market (no, I hadn’t heard of Mehar Chand either; it is between the Habitat Centre and Lodhi Colony market). I had no idea who ran Chez Nini or what their credentials were, but once you get there, it is hard to miss the chef-owner Nini who emerges periodically from behind the range (you Vir Sanghvi could see her cooking from my table) to go up and introduce herself to guests at each table. Even though she did come up to my table and chat, I’m afraid that I can tell you very little about her except that she clearly grew up in Quebec, or India is now more international and French-Canada at the very least, because she recommended poutine, a dish that involves smothadventurous than ever before. Finally we ering perfectly good French fries with cheese and are getting world-class meals at brown gravy and is ubiquitous in Montreal (I think they even serve it at McDonald’s there.) My son neighbourhood restaurants in our big cities goes to university in Montreal so I’m quite willing FTER I CLAIMED, two Sundays ago, to praise the city of Leonard Cohen and McGill in this column that Bombay was now University but I do draw the line at poutine… getting ahead of Delhi when it came to But long before Nini came up to our table, and Western food, I have had angry responsan hour before poutine was even mentioned, I did es from Delhi loyalists who insist that their city a kind of double-take when I entered the restaustill remains the capital of good food. Plus, they rant. It is small, has lots of sunlight and the furnipoint out, there is no maniacal cop with a hockture has clearly been designed by somebody who ey stick who runs around terrorising citizens in cares about comfort and aesthetics. The whole room Delhi, and the liquor laws are far more sensibly is un-restaurant-like and you can tell that no hosenforced. (You don’t need a permit room or a pitality industry professionals were involved in its permit itself to enjoy a drink in the capital.) conception which, frankly, is a relief because it means I’m not taking sides in this debate but in the that the restaurant seems fresh and different. interests of justice, I’ve spent the last week checkI hadn’t booked in my own name so I think I went ing out new places in Delhi. My well-travelled in under the radar but service was friendly, welfriend Vikram Doraiswami told me to go to Chez coming and efficient. We ordered from a small menu Nini. He was sure I would like it. Ever since I met and from a blackboard of daily specials and I went Saurabh Khanijo of Kylin at the launch of a collection of columns a little overboard so I could taste as much as possible. We started by Sonal Kalra, the foodie who is editor of HT City, I meant to with a poached egg, crisply deep-fried in batter, served with fresh visit one of his establishments – and last week I finally did. When asparagus. Poached egg and asparagus is a classic combination and CONNECT TO CANADA I tweeted about eating at Chez Nini, somebody tweeted back recthe dish was flawlessly executed, but I could have done without the The chef-owner Nini ommending Rara Avis, another new French restaurant in South Russian salad type thingie that cluttered up the centre of the plate. (below) emerges periodiDelhi so I duly went off to have lunch there as well. Of the mains, there was an excellent duck confit, among the best cally from behind the range So, first of all, here’s what I consider the find of the week: Chez I’ve eaten in India (only chef Nick at Setz can match Nini’s effort), to go up and introduce herNini. It is a small, new, bistro-type restaurant located in Mehar a wonderful pork belly, melting on the inside and nicely crisp on the self to guests at each table
A
A FRESH TASTE
Chez Nini (right) is small, has lots of sunlight and the furniture has clearly been designed by somebody who cares about comfort and aesthetics JULY 1, 2012
rude food
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HAPPY MEAL
At Rara Avis, the burger was terrific, a bit messy to eat, but all the more delicious for that outside, and a home-style Coq au Vin, without the bacony taste that haunts restaurant versions but with a light mustard tang. A side order of mushrooms was terrific too. The standout dish was a daily special from the blackboard: a duck burger. I’m something of a bore on the subject of burgers but my least favourite versions are those made with chicken (yuck!) or goat (never quite right). There was no beef on the Chez Nini menu so the burger was made with minced duck to a recipe that I’ve never come across before (I suspect it might be the chef’s own). I thought the burger was perfect in every respect and the bun, in particular, was perfection personified. Later, when Nini emerged from the kitchen (where, no doubt, she had spent a large part of the afternoon cooking my massive meal!), I asked her how she managed to source such excellent ingredients. The answer was that she made the effort to go out and find local suppliers. Almost everything in the restaurant was fresh. Nothing had come from a packet, a can or a bottle and the few things that were imported (the enoki mushroom in the side dish) could usefully be eliminated from the menu. The duck was not from Delhi’s French Farm, suppliers to most high class establishments, but from a lesser-known local supplier. The pork came from a farmer. The eggs had actually been laid by chicken that clucked and danced around, not by battery hens. And all the bread was home-made. Ah yes, I said, but what did she do about her French fries? Surely, those were imported? Not at all, she replied, she had found a farmer who supplied the restaurant with potatoes that were low in sugar and perfect for frying. I looked sceptical so she suggested I try the fries. (It is at this stage that the Canadian influence let out a tiny squeak: she offered me poutine, only to retreat when I looked horrified.) So I tried the fries. They worked but were nothing like your
Unlike Chez Nini, Rara Avis is pretty clearly a product of catering industry professionals
BETTER THAN THE BEST
The duck confit at Chez Nini is among the best I’ve eaten in India
average McCain or Lamb Weston frozen chip. Instead they had a character and texture all of their own. And yes, I would order them again. It is so rare to find a restaurant run by a chef who is so passionate about local ingredients that I was prepared to forgive Chez Nini even if the food had not been very good. But there was nothing to forgive. This is the best bistro-style European (or French-Canadian or whatever) food in India. It beats the hell out of anything of this kind in Bombay, Calcutta, Bangalore, Madras or wherever. Unlike Chez Nini, Rara Avis is pretty clearly a product of catering industry professionals. It is a large (compared to Chez Nini at least) room on the second floor of a building in GK-II Market. My first impressions were not favourable. Though only one other table was occupied, there was no one to greet us and we hung around uncertainly for a bit. When we finally found a table, we had to quickly abandon it because an insect had already occupied the space. Nobody apologised for the insect or cared that we had to move. The man who took my order did not understand the menu and seemed obviously ill at ease. To while away the time till the food came, I fell into conversation with a man who appeared to occupy a senior position in the restaurant, though he was playing no obvious role in the management of the dining room. He told me his name was Rajiv Aneja and that he was one of the three partners behind Rara Avis. The other two, Laurent Guiraud and Jerome Cousin, were French, he said, and boasted impressive pedigrees: Olive, Manre etc. I was beginning to wonder about the pedigree when suddenly the energy in the room changed. More people started coming in. And a Frenchman (Laurent, I later discovered), arrived and took charge of the dining room with an air of calm, sure-footed assurance. He checked all the orders, came to my table and said “You’ve ordered a lot of food. Are you sure you need so much?” I indicated that yes, I was sure. He shrugged, smiled and wandered off. Then, the food began to arrive. We started with a Pissaladière, a Provençal tart that is well-known to well-travelled rich Indians from La Petite Maison in London, a restaurant that is pretty much Indian-Central in the summer months. A Pissaladière is, essentially, a Frenchified pizza but the Frenchmen at Rara Avis have decided to cross the border and abandon France for Italy. Their Pissaladière was basically a thin-crust pizza. That said, it was also very good though I’m not sure they would have got away with serving it in Nice. JULY 1, 2012
COOKED IT TOGETHER
Rajiv Aneja (centre), Frenchmen Laurent Guiraud (right) and Jerome Cousin (left) are the three partners behind Rara Avis DEATH BY TART
The warm lemon tart at Rara Avis was irresistible
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A GOOD HANGOUT
Kylin is tastefully decorated with little alcoves and an open terrace (left) and is packed with locals who enjoy sushi and teppanyaki grilled meats
WITH LOVE FROM JAPAN
Saurabh Khanijo (above left), owner of Kylin, had flown in a teppanyaki chef from Osaka and wanted me to try his food
Next came a very nice duck confit that suffered by comparison only because I’d eaten the excellent Chez Nini version two days before. Then they served a perfectly acceptable steak, though at the prices they were charging, this had to be Indian produce, not some fancy imported cut. And there was also a terrific burger, a bit messy to eat, but all the more delicious for that. The standouts though were the desserts. The warm lemon tart was irresistible and the crêpes stuffed with chocolate were so good that it was hard to stop till the plate was empty. All this, with some Diet Coke, came to R3,800. I reckon two people could eat very well for between R1,500 to R2,000 if they did not order as many dishes as I had. Later, Laurent came to our table as part of his rounds and I was able to ask him about the food. The steak and burger were indeed local; Rara Avis had taken a deliberate decision to pizzafy the Pissaladière ; the desserts were made in house; the duck was French Farm; yes, the wine list was boring but it was still a work in progress; and his partner Jerome, who looked after the kitchen, was unwell so all the cooking had been done by the Indian cooks, which suggested that cuisine standards are high even when the chef is off. By the time I left, the restaurant had filled up with locals and regulars. Many of the guests greeted Laurent warmly and knew what they were going to order even before they saw the menu. Considering that Rara Avis is only about two months old, this is quite an achievement. I asked Laurent about the guest profile. He said that he had been astonished to find that even though diners came mainly from Greater Kailash and its neighbourhood, they all wanted to eat snails, steak and confit. Many guests had complained that there were no frog legs on the menu. History will probably remember Laurent and Jerome as the guys who taught Punjabis to eat snails and lust after frogs. Clearly Delhi is changing faster than we realise. Another example of the change is the alacrity with which Japanese food has entered the standalone mainstream. Saurabh Khanijo runs Kylin Premier at the Ambience Mall in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj so he can hardly charge five-star prices. Even so, his restaurant has no difficulty making money; it is packed out night after night with locals who enjoy his sushi and his teppanyaki grilled meats. Unlike Chez Nini and Rara Avis, where I wandered in as just another paying customer, I was a guest at Kylin Premier. STRAIGHT FROM THE GRILL
At Kylin, we had black cod (right), pork chops, lamb cutlets, vegetables and fried rice, all cooked in front of us on a griddle JULY 1, 2012
Nor was this an average night. Saurabh had flown in a teppanyaki chef from Osaka and wanted me to try his food. I won’t attempt to do a full-fledged review because I did not get the average guest experience (I was there with Saurabh) and the Japanese chef will probably be gone by the time you read this. Even so, I will say that I liked the restaurant. It is tastefully decorated with little alcoves and an open terrace area, which must work wonderfully well when the weather is nice. The staff are experienced and knowledgeable. The Indian chef who cooked for me had worked at Olive and TK’s before. My server was a girl I knew from Sakura where she held the service together and dealt expertly with smiling Japanese and demanding Korean guests. (This time she told me that she was off to the homeland, not meaning Manipur where I thought she came from, but Israel. When I looked mystified, she said that many Kukis – like many Mizos – believe that they are part of the lost tribes of Israel and that she was a practising Jew. I took care to say Shalom to her after that). When he is not employing the lost tribes of Israel, Saurabh takes trouble over the wine in the restaurant. The chef cooked with Sula but guests were offered excellent Fratelli wines by the glass including a very nice Merlot. There was also an extensive cocktail menu. As for the food, well, of course it was good: a visiting Japanese master chef was cooking. We had black cod, pork chops, lamb cutlets, vegetables and fried rice, all cooked in front of us on a griddle by a Japanese chef who knew very little English but certainly knew his food. I had told the chef that I would eat omakase (a Japanese term that translates roughly as “I’ll leave it to you” [the chef] ) and so he kept turning out course after course, pausing only to ask, in sign language, if we liked the dish. This method of communication worked for the most part but was open to misinterpretation. For instance, at the end of the meal, he stopped, looked directly at me and made a gesture near his belly to indicate a very fat stomach. I wondered if this was a comment on my figure but it turned out that he was only asking, “are you full?” (At least, that’s what I was told he was asking). I liked Kylin Premier. But I liked what it represented even more. Its success – along with the success of such places as Rara Avis and Chez Nini – shows us that the old catering industry consensus that Indians will only eat “Moghlai” or “Punjabi-Chinese” is dying. A few yards from Kylin Premier, Zambar was serving excellent Kerala food and people were queuing up for tables. Across the hall, the queue at Chili’s (a table-service international burger joint) was even longer. So, let’s forget for a moment about the BombayDelhi rivalry. Let’s just celebrate the opening of the Indian palate. Just as India is now more international and adventurous than ever before in our history, so too is the Indian restaurant industry. Finally we are getting world class meals – outside of the hotel sector – at neighbourhood restaurants in our big cities. That alone is something worth celebrating.
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ON THE SURFACE Microsoft may well be writing a new chapter in history, with its new Tablet
T
AKING ON the iPad! Many have tried, almost all have failed. But now there’s a new sheriff in town and it seems this one wants to take no prisoners. On the ‘surface’, it seems that this is an all-new Microsoft that is ready to break free from old conventions and blaze an all-new path. It’s announced the Microsoft Surface Tablet (in fact two versions, but more on that later) and rather than rely on hardware partners, Microsoft wants to do it all with its own branded device. This isn’t the Microsoft we know – the safe player, the software-only giant, the OEM Dominatrix and the ‘make money from each licence’ expert. This is the Microsoft that is willing to break from history and forge a new path. And seems to have just one thing as its target: to unseat the very dominant Apple iPad.
The tech giant needs to get the Surface out in the hands of customers quickly Rajiv Makhni
BUT ISN’T MICROSOFT DISASTROUS WITH HARDWARE?
NIFTY FEATURES
The magnetic digital ink stylus sticks to the side eliminating chances of losing it
WHAT’S DIFFERENT WITH THE SURFACE?
Well, it’s not that they don’t play in the hardware market. They have a lot of accessories out there. From keyboards to the mouse and web cams. But it has never been successful with consumer-level devices. After disastrous adventures with the Kin phone, the ill-fated Tablet PC and the neverreleased Courier – Microsoft isn’t coming in with any great legacy of success. But this time, there seems to be a perfectly planned strategy in place. Microsoft can’t wait for hardware partners to deliver the perfect Tablet. Thus it comes in with its own branded Tablet, shows the potential as well as great sales, others bite the bullet and come up with their own versions and bang – Windows Tablets becomes a force to reckon with. Microsoft really couldn’t afford to wait any longer as the Apple juggernaut rolls on and takes the entire Tablet market.
WHY IS MICROSOFT GOING THROUGH SO MUCH TROUBLE?
may not be able to garner the same levels of margins per software licence till it can prove demand for these devices. It needs to be able to make money off hardware and software or it may become irrelevant in the long run. Thus the Surface.
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This one’s pretty easy. Microsoft has realised that this is a whole new world of tech. For years, software was King of the Hill and generated far higher margins and profits while hardware was the poor cousin that struggled to make any serious money. This has flipped. Today, Apple commands a premium for its hardware as do many other phone, Ultrabook and Tablet makers. Microsoft
A lot actually. This is a pretty sweet device that seems to incorporate all the critical as well as most dream features. First, the really amazing stuff. A very thin, very nice looking, brightly coloured smart cover with a built in 3-mm pressure-sensitive keyboard that is actually useable. Then there’s the incredibly well thought out kick stand that merges right back into the body of the device. Another innovation is the digital ink stylus – it’s magnetic and sticks to the side, eliminating chances of losing it. Add to this a very thin and light form factor, a fast processor, MicroSD, USB 2.0, Micro HD video connectors, front and rear HD cameras, up to 128GB storage, 10.6 inch HD screen and the fact that there will be two versions. One for the normal ‘iPadish’ type of person and a Pro version for those who need a Tablet to also be a serious business machine.
HOW MUCH IS THIS GOING TO COST ME?
This may be the new Microsoft – but some old habits die hard. The Microsoft Surface announcement was done in old Microsoft style with many important details being omitted. The price is unknown as is the exact date you can get your hands on it. Some other things that weren’t specified were battery life, what level of wireless as well as broadband connectivity it’ll come with and even the HD screen resolution wasn’t spelt out. This is typical of Microsoft software releases – they come up with a huge pre-announcement for a software that may take a whole year to deliver. The idea was to hit the competition sales as everyone would then wait for the Microsoft version. Old school shenanigans like these don’t work anymore.
CAN THE MICROSOFT SURFACE REALLY HURT THE APPLE IPAD?
That’s a tough one. In a word – yes! If it gets a few things right. First the pricing. If the RT version is about $100 lower than the iPad, then this could get things started. And if the Pro version is about $799 then it could get a lot of people interested. This could be a replacement for carrying around an Ultrabook AND a Tablet. Microsoft has thrown in quite a bit of innovation and features into the Surface which will attract a lot of customers. Then there’s the whole comfort of being within the very familiar environment of Windows. This matters to a lot of business and enterprise customers. Microsoft also needs to get the Surface out in the hands of customers very quickly. Google may come out with their own branded Tablet, rumours of an iPad Mini are becoming stronger, Amazon’s next generation of the Kindle Fire is apparently a topdog device and Samsung and Asus are getting aggressive in the Tablet world. Microsoft can’t sit around on the Surface. It’s good to see Microsoft make a comeback. For some time now, the incredible giant that dominated the world of computing has been made to look like a plodding, directionless fat blimp. With the Surface, Microsoft may well be writing a new chapter in history. At least, that’s what it looks like on the Surface. Rajiv Makhni is managing editor, Technology, NDTV, and the anchor of Gadget Guru, CellGuru and Newsnet 3.Follow Rajiv on Twitter at twitter.com /RajivMakhni
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WELLNESS
Flying Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
WHAT TO DO FOR A HEALTHY MIND
by Saudamini Jain
A
FIERY RED button, panic, fear. Tears, a big black hole, abyss, depression, suicide? The end. Foul mood, swinging mood. Rage, frustration, stress. Stop. This isn’t a critically-acclaimed book, an award-winning film, the gothic “troubled” teenager in your daughter’s class, your 52-year-old bachelor uncle in Lucknow who is “not quite all right.” Here’s a reality check: One in five people in the country suffer from a mental disorder, according to a 2010 study in the Indian Journal of Psychiatry. It could be stress, a traumatic experience in your childhood or vulnerable genes, there’s no knowing why and how but there is a what-now. The silver lining is that many mental illnesses – depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), phobias and various personality disorders – are manageable. “With many kinds of illnesses, a person can lead a normal, functional life – with medication and a strong support system,” says Dr Pulkit Sharma, consultant clinical psycholo-
ARE YOU...
Sleeping too little or too much? Becoming withdrawn or talking too much without thinking? Not eating or eating a lot? Losing concentration? Have relationship problems?
‘OH MAN! THAT MOVIE IS CRAZY!’
If you tick more than three boxes, something may be wrong
gist and psychoanalytical therapist at the Vidyasagar Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences (VIMHANS), New Delhi. “You may not even need medication. Many illnesses can be managed with something as simple as counselling.” It’s not a reason for secret despair. There is nothing more dignified than fighting a mental disorder. That’s what people in this story did. A grown man complete with a fancy corporate job, a boy when he was just a teenager and a girl, barely an adult. It could be us.
AKHILESHWAR SAHAY, 53
Bipolar disorder Characterised by radical, unpredictable mood swings marked by periods of elation (manic high) and depression. The year was 1997. Sahay had quit a government job with Konkan Railways and joined the Essar Group as vice-president, finance. Suddenly, there was a lot of stress, he was working painfully long hours and the tough corporate value system of the private sector took its toll. That, he says, triggered his bipolar disorder. He was diagnosed within the year (it can sometime take years for people to be correctly diagnosed). “You’re a different person when you’re on a high, nothing seems impossible. You become delusional, too talkative and splurge indiscriminately,” he says. When you’re low, you’re depressed, tired, listless. For his family, it was just an illness
1. Eat wholesome meals at regular intervals. There’s a strong link between junk food and depression. 2. Pursue a hobby but without targets. If you go to the gym to unwind, stop thinking about burning calories. 3. Get a support system, someone you can talk to openly and honestly 4. Pay attention to yourself. Compromising your own goals for others will only lead to frustration. 5. If you feel something is wrong, get intervention. Just counselling can help at an early stage. Dr Pulkit Sharma, psychologist
Photo: THINKSTOCK
Stories of three people who conquered the demons in their minds, with a little help
to be treated. Friends and colleagues were apprised. “They were told that it’s like high blood pressure, and I’m able to manage it with medication.” Plus, there were regular visits to the doctor, a healthier and more disciplined lifestyle and some adjustments (considering the nature of his illness). On a bad day, he could spend millions. So, he gave his wife complete control over his finances. “For daily expenses, I take R100 from my family, every morning.” He is now the president of a consultancy company and strategic advisor to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. Work has only improved after his illness, courtesy a disciplined lifestyle. He’s been married for 26 years, and has two sons – one preparing for an MBA and the other a student in IIT Kanpur. Life, as they say, is good.
KARAN BOPANNA*, 22
Borderline manic anxiety disorder Characterised by overwhelming fear, paranoia, panic attacks, insomnia and severe mood swings. In 2005, Bopanna was a moody 15year-old. He was chatty one moment, an introvert the next. It could’ve been teenage angst. Just three years ago, he had found out he was dyslexic. In school, he made the 40 per cent promotion cut every year only because his teachers at Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, Delhi, were kept in the loop. But the mood swings got worse. Insomnia, paranoia and panic
attacks kicked in. Bopanna’s diagnosis: Borderline manic anxiety disorder that could lead to bipolar disorder or schizophrenia if left untreated. The sideeffects of the medicines kicked in first. He grew irritable and put on weight, “obese,” he clarifies. His head was heavy most of the time. But, “you get used to the side effects,” he says matter-of-factly. He started exercising – basketball, weight-lifting, anything that would physically exhaust him into slumber at night. Class 10 was a dark, dreary year. And then came the board results: 86 per cent. Victory. “It marked the upward curve of my life,” he says. He was suddenly confident. He made new friends. School life had begun. When the mind is occupied, he says, you think only of that moment. You can block all your demons out. Bopanna knew he had to keep busy. He partied a lot, learnt Spanish, Italian, the drums. “I also tried dancing. But, er, that didn’t work out,” he laughs. This was seamlessly followed by a History Honours at Hindu
THE BIBLIO FILES ■ Norwegian Wood - Haruki Mu-
Based on author Susanna Kaysen’s memoir, it is about her stay at a mental institution
A ballerina’s mental distress in the competitive world of professional ballet
Love story of a director and a schizophrenic actress, allegedly modelled on Parveen Babi
JULY 1, 2012
The story of a young girl’s progression into schizophrenia and its impact on her family
A true story of Nobel-prize winning mathematician John Nash’s struggle with schizophrenia
The story of a man with bipolar disorder and a female psychiatrist who falls in love
rakami: A story of Japanese students through love, loss and mental illness ■ The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath: A writer’s descent into mental illness parallelling Plath’s own experiences ■ Em and The Big Hoom - Jerry Pinto: A boy’s account of life with a mentally unstable mother
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Carrie Fisher Hollywood actress Bipolar disorder
College, Delhi University. By the end of which he was off medication. Last year, he joined an NGO that requires him to work in a congested, poor neighbourhood infested with petty crime. The paranoia and panic attacks have returned. He’s back on the meds for now, till he finishes his work at the NGO, something he doesn’t wish to heave halfway. Has the journey been difficult? “Sometimes you need to make extra effort, but it was nothing out of the ordinary,” he states simply. * name changed on request
TANVI VIJ, 20
Clinical depression Characterised by low self-esteem, lack of appetite along with persistent sad, anxious, or “empty” feelings “I don’t think I’m completely fine, even today,” says Vij. She still gets mild anxiety attacks when she talks to complete strangers. So this interview was first conducted via email. But, the worst is behind her. This student of Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur, has been off counselling for a year now, and manages without any medication. There had been an abusive incident when she was a child. But she bottled it up. It still makes her jittery. She had no real friends to speak of, to talk to.
Abraham Lincoln 16th US President Clinical depression
Mel Gibson Hollywood actor Manic depressive
Two years ago, in Class 12, the pressure of the board exams did her in. She was an average student and like in most Indian househeholds, there was a sense of disappointment. “Nobody should judge you on marks and stuff,” she says softly, “I always judged myself on these things.” By the time she was in an architecture college, she was spiralling down. She would cry and scream. She didn’t want to face people, she could not eat more than once in two weeks. “I couldn’t enter my hostel mess because there were people in it.” She stopped bathing. She dropped out of college. She was diagnosed with clinical depression. Her family refused to accept “that such a ‘disease’ existed and that a ‘complete stranger’ (read: psychologist) could help me with my personal life,” she says. Exercise, they’d say. “But a when you’re contemplating jumping off a building every two minutes, exercise is out of question,” she explains. The medication kicked in. But it was counselling that helped the most. Suicide is something she now knows she will never attempt. “I still have a long way to go,” she admits. But she tries. Driving lessons, guitar classes, calligraphy, painting... “I’ve also made some new friends,” she says smiling.
“Nothing is more dignified than fighting a mental disorder”
saudamini.jain@hindustantimes.com
MIND BODY SOUL
SHIKHA SHARMA
EAT SHOOTS AND LEAVES
V
EGETARIANISM is not new to India. And yet, the true vegetarian ethos is something very few people appreciate. Abstaining from meat and fish is not just a food choice – it’s a philosophy. As man evolved from caveman hunter to one who preferred a settled community, his relationship with food changed. With new systems like farming, finding nourishment was not difficult and food scarcity wasn’t an issue. Man realised he was at the top of the food chain and understood complex ideas of compassion and nonviolence. One of the ideas born out of this evolution was that all life should be treated as sacred, and it paved the path for vegetarianism. Now, after years of civilisation, mankind’s attitude to ethical consumption has taken a step ahead with veganism. Vegans steer away from all products that have emerged from the exploitation of any sentient being. This means no meat, no fish and no eggs, no milk or milk products (because it exploits the animals and deprives its young of nourishment), no silk, no leather, no wool and no honey. This hasn’t made vegans weaker. In fact, there are several successful vegan or vegetarian athletes like the ultra-
marathoner Scott Jurek, pro triathlete Brendan Brazier, US Masters running champion Tim Van Orden, and awardwinning athlete Rich Roll. Vegan eating patterns are safe for all ages, including pregnant and lactating mothers, though all vegan diet plans advise using supplements like vitamin B12, zinc, choline and omega 3 fatty acids. A vegan diet’s most important USP is its capacity to make the body alkaline and lower its oxidative stress. An overly acidic body has been known to be the root of most diseases. In athletes, overly acidic muscles lower their peak performance. The alkaline body is less likely to burn out easily . A non-vegetarian diet argues that meals are higher in protein, iron and calcium. But those can be compensated with a combination of sprouts, tofu and quinoa grain for proteins and minerals; kelp, seaweed, spirulina and Himalayan herbs for super-oxidants, iron and vitamins. Turning vegan, it seems, is a good philosophy, good for the environment (fewer animals are reared to feed on the earth just so that they can be consumed by humans), and good for your health. ask@drshikha.com
Photo: THINKSTOCK
Catherine Zeta Jones Marcus Trescothick Hollywood actress English cricketer Bipolar disorder Clinical depression
Photo: CC/GEORGES BIARD
THESE GUYS FOUGHT IT TOO
PERSONAL AGENDA
22
twitter.com/HTBrunch
Actor
Ram Charan if i could... I WOULD HELP EDUCATE AS MANY CHILDREN AS POSSIBLE
SUN SIGN Aries
BIRTHDAY March 27
SCHOOL/ COLLEGE
Lovedale, Ooty; London School of Arts
HOMETOWN PLACE OF BIRTH Hyderabad
Chennai
HIGH LOW POINT OF POINT OF YOUR YOUR LIFE LIFE None. It When I met my wife, Upasna
won’t happen as I take life positively
CURRENTLY DOING
FIRST BREAK
Chirutha, a Telugu film released in 2007
SET MORE RECORDS IN THE INDUSTRY
LEARN TO GET AT LEAST SIX HOURS OF SLEEP EVERY DAY THE BOOK THAT ALWAYS INSPIRES YOU.
The Secret
Photos: THINKSTOCK
HELP THE WORLD LIVE HEALTHIER If you weren’t an actor you would have been? A businessman. The movie that makes you smile? My dad’s (Chiranjeevi’s) movie Jagadeeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari with Sridevi. What do you enjoy doing the most JULY 1, 2012
when you’re alone at home? Sleep and chill out in my gazebo. One actress you would love to romance on screen? I’m a married man now. I wish Upasna was an actor, then I would have romanced her. The best thing about working on the
Going to play the Big B’s role in a remake of Zanjeer. Doing two more films in Telugu: Yevadu and another one, as yet untitled
remake of Zanjeer is… The challenge to live up to people’s expectations. Yoga or the gym, which do you prefer? A mix of both – Yoga for internal wellbeing and gym for external. The best thing about your father? His punctuality and dedication. The biggest surprise you ever gave your date/partner? When I proposed to her. The last thing you bought under `10? Dairy Milk chocolate. The love of your life? My wife. How many pairs of blue jeans do you own? Many. I hate throwing them. Your ultimate travel destination? Italy or South of France. How many hours do you spend playing polo? I try to squeeze in at least two hours a week. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I change a lot with time and situations – for the better. What turns you on? Groomed people. One thing you can’t do without? My privacy. A typical Sunday in your life? Biryani brunch at home with family. One sin you love to indulge in? Desserts. Your last big splurge was... My wife’s wedding gift. The best place on the planet to escape the paparazzi? Bhutan. You have 30 seconds to pack for a trip: what do you take? Cash. You destress with? Family.
— Interviewed by Veenu Singh