Brunch 05 janury 2014

WEEKLY MAGAZINE, JANUARY 5, 2014 Free with your copy of Hindustan Times

Shikha Sharma

Kaku Nakhate

Vijayalakshmi Iyer

Naina Lal Kidwai

Chanda Kochhar

men phant. Six wo m iu tr d e rg e t e em to get the bes r work, they’v w o o h fe li n o is it ts h r e ig s in Wheth er vide exclusive ro p rs e orporate ladd d c a e le th g f o p to bankin n and stay o of both worlds

Kalpana Morparia

4

BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS

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Brunch Opinion

On The Brunch Radar

by Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi

THE GOOD LADIES OF BANKING You hear about them clinching big financial deals. What you don’t hear is them (we're talking about the heads of the country's top banks) talking about saris, the latest Bollywood film, their husbands, fretting if the kids have eaten on time (Chanda Kochhar makes it a point to check on her children at specific times, even if she’s handling a major crisis at work!). As Naina Lal Kidwai says,

“It’s a constant effort to put a jigsaw puzzle together. All the pieces never fit.” What sets these women apart is the fact that they didn’t succumb to the pressure of being superwomen. “The tough times are only a phase. They last a few years, but pass. And you can’t let those few years overtake your life’s ambitions,” says Shikha Sharma.

We bring you their inspiring stories and ‘normal’ lives.

by Saudamini Jain

LOVE IT

n That Alia Bhatt thinks “Prith-

n The Love Actually debate

(the film completed 10 years and the press went nuts discussing its merits and demerits). We actually loved Love Actually n Neil Gaiman reading A Christmas Carol (you must listen to this!) n All the stuff that #SalmanTaughtUs n That Neil Armstrong had to fill out a US immigration form when he re-entered Earth on Apollo 11 n Daughter, the English rock band

viraj Chauhan” is the President vir of India. n If you subject your FB list to your y daily workout n The ‘Umeedon wali dhoop’ jingle playing incessantly n Americanising your babies’ names because they’re going to grow up to be “global citizens” n lf you’re still talking (and tweeting) about Bigg Boss 7

Photos: THINKSTOCK, SHUTTERSTOCK

SHOVE IT

BR

SO MANY BOOKS, SO LITTLE TIME...

CH B O UN

E

OK

C

HOW TO READ HA LLENG 24 BOOKS ) (OR MORE AR IN ONE YE

You can keep trying to lose weight, quit smoking or learn a new language. But five days into 2014, you’ve probably already broken your resolutions, forgotten all about them or are procrastinating. So here’s a New Year resolution you can easily keep – and we’ll Follow @ HTBrunch even help you keep it!

Apples and Oranges

Presenting BOOK THE BRUNCH CHALLENGE

24 books The idea is to read t’s two tha – 14 in 20 books a month, easily achievable if you read for about 15 minutes every day or a few hours every weekend.

Read anything you like – bestsellers, critically acclaimed titles, indie books, classics, self-help, self-published, old favourites or even racy trash – just keep us posted. And we’re in this together. We’ll tell you what we’re reading, what’s new, and if it’s a good time to revisit something old. We’ll tweet about our progress and you tweet about yours. Tag @HTBrunch using the hashtag #BrunchBookChallenge and tell us what you’re reading, whether it’s any good, if a character is getting on your nerves or even how to make the perfect reading cuppa...

We’re trying to put together some goodies for those who can keep up with the challenge.

So here’s to a year with some great books!

Happy reading!

by Shreya Sethuraman

If Sholay were made today (no more remakes, please), who should they cast?

You know the characters and you know the dialogues. You know which scene follows which and you still crack up when you hear Jai say, “Tumhara naam kya hai, Basanti?”

Sholay is a movie for all seasons, for all generations. The 3D version may not be spectacularly different from the original, but then, who needs a bribe to go watch Sholay on the big screen anyway? Since everybody’s seen the epic film at least once, we thought it’d be great to find out who’d be apt to play which character if Sholay were made today. Of course, Ramu Uncle did the unthinkable and attempted a remake. Predictably, Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag went up in aag! But here goes...

THAKUR OLD: Sanjeev Kumar. Mature, measured, layered, suave *sigh*.

New: Jackie Shroff, trying to build a character actor portfolio, Shroff will be perfect as the armless former police officer whose simmering rage and vengeance forms the premise of the story.

BASANTI OLD: Hema Malini.

Chaaloo, chatterbox.

New: Parineeti Chopra.

She’s garrulous, has that impish grin and all the makings of a taangewali (no reference to her legs, just saying!)

JAI OLD: Amitabh Bachchan.

Intense, loyal, practical.

New: Arjun Kapoor. So inscrutable (and also so hot), he lets his eyes do all the talking, just like Jai. GABBAR OLD: Amjad Khan. Devious, ruthless, vengeful.

New: Ajay Devgn.

GOD, SO intense.

Also, we need a hot Gabbar because that’s one character that can be adapted into many fantasies.

FOR ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES, PLEASE CONTACT National — Sanchita Tyagi: sanchita.tyagi@hindustantimes.com North — Siddarth Chopra: siddarth.chopra@hindustantimes.com West — Karishma Makhija: karishma.makhija@hindustantimes.com South — Francisco Lobo: francisco.lobo@hindustantimes.com

RAMLAL OLD: Satyen Kappu. Thakur’s man Friday.

New: Alok Nath. He has that trustworthy and dependable quality about him that’ll make you want to put your life in his hands.

RADHA OLD: Jaya Bachchan. Silent, full of silent longing.

New: Sonakshi Sinha. If you notice, she doesn’t do much talking in her movies and can still express her emotions. That’s what Radha is all about, right?

SAMBHA OLD: Mac Mohan. Gabbar’s man Friday New: Arshad Warsi.

Agreed, “poore pachaas hajaar” was probably his best dialogue in the film, but his fierce loyalty to Gabbar makes us think of Warsi’s Circuit to Munna Bhai.

Cover photos: KALPAK PATHAK and RAJ K RAJ Cover background: SHUTTERSTOCK Cover design: MONICA GUPTA

JANUARY 5, 2014

MAUSI OLD: Leela Mishra. She who dotes on Basanti and says the funniest things ever.

New: Farida Jalal, just the way she was in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai with Mr Almeida.

VEERU OLD: Dharmendra. Impractical, goofy, adorable.

New: Ranbir Kapoor. We don’t want to see the goofily adorable Barfi!, but Ranbir seems to have an endearing quality that personifies Veeru.

EDITORIAL: Poonam Saxena (Editor), Aasheesh Sharma, Rachel Lopez, Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi, Mignonne Dsouza, Veenu Singh, Parul Khanna, Yashica Dutt, Amrah Ashraf, Saudamini Jain, Shreya Sethuraman

JAILOR OLD: Asrani, a life-sized caricature of idiocy New: Anupam Kher. He can do life-sized caricature of idiocy too, and if you had to imagine someone playing the ‘angrezon ke zamaane ka jailor’, you know Kher is the man.

DESIGN: Ashutosh Sapru (National Editor, Design), Monica Gupta, Swati Chakrabarti, Payal Dighe Karkhanis, Rakesh Kumar, Ajay Aggarwal

Drop us a line at: brunchletters@hindustantimes. com or to 18-20 Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi 110001

6

WELLNESS

MIND BODY SOUL For any worries related to unplanned pregnancy: Write to us at consumercare@piramal.com or call us at 1800-22-0502 (toll free) or sms ICAN to 56070 Website: www.i-canhelp.in

1 . D e a r D o c t o r, I h a d unprotected intercourse with my partner and then took an emergency contraceptive pill within 24 hours. I am in a lot of tension and want to know whether it has worked or not.

I cannot have a baby now and also cannot wait till my periods. Please tell me how to determine whether the pill has worked or failed?

Emergency contraceptive pills need to be taken within 72 hours and are 95% effective in avoiding pregnancy if taken well within 24 hours of unprotected sex. As such, there is no symptoms that indicate the pill has worked. Please be patient and wait for your periods to come. A minor change in your menstrual cycle is also possible due to the emergency contraceptive pills.

We also recommend that you use regular form of contraception so that such mishaps can be avoided in the future.

2. Dear Doctor, I have heard that once the egg dies in the body chances of pregnancy is zero. So can we have unprotected sex after my ovulation is over?

Yes, it is true that pregnancy cannot occur after the egg dies.

However, it is impossible to determine the exact time when ovulation has actually occurred. Due to many factors like traveling, stress, poor nutritious food, ill health etc your ovulation can happen earlier than usual or may even get delayed. Hence, counting safe days is not a reliable method and can be highly

misleading. If you are a sexually active person then it is better to use regular contraception and indulge in safe sex.

3. Dear Doctor, my partner has consumed around 10 emergency contraceptive pills in this year. Will it cause any harm to her? We just heard from someone that emergency contraceptive pills caused infertility. Is it true? Please help us we are worried.

You have to understand that Emergency contraceptive pills are meant only for emergency purpose only and should not be consumed frequently. For your knowledge emergency contraceptive pills are basically synthetic version of hormone progesterone. Apart from causing slight disturbances like nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, irregular spotting etc, ECPs are not known to cause any long term effect to the body.

While scientific literature says that ECPs do not have any long term effects on fertility, one must always remember that ECPs are only to be consumed in case of emergencies and one should opt for a regular contraception method to avoid such situations.

SHIKHA SHARMA

THE TRENDS OF 2014 From new superfoods to wellness holidays, here’s what to expect FUNKY FOODS WILL TURN COOL

Flat abs will be more desirable than narrow waists. Instead of diets, we’ll discuss fitness nutrition plans.

ON THE APPSIDE

SUPERFOODS WILL GET ON THE MENU

Apps and tech to track and improve your health will get trendy

From Himalayan herbs to Chinese ‘super plants’ and grains from the Andes, new foods from across the world will be more accessible. Last year quinoa, a South American grain, was all the rage. Which super food will be ‘discovered’ next?

HEALTH WILL GO HIGH TECH

Using tech for your health will become fashionable and convenient, pushing the trend for health apps that are easy and fun to use. From the humble pedometer to new glitzy apps that track our BP and pulse, motion monitors will be the next stage.

Tele-medicine (remote diagnosis via technology) will evolve. Breakthroughs are expected in genomics. The human genome may just be the toast of the year.

More of us will have

Supported by:

FIT WILL GET SEXY

Chefs will whip up new developments in molecular gastronomy, and cute foods like cake pops (lollipop-sized cakes on a stick) will dominate.

SURGERY WILL GO HIGH-END

Queries answered by Dr Nirmala Rao MBBS, MD, DPM; a well known psychiatrist who heads Mumbai based Aavishkar - a multifaceted team of expert doctors and health professionals. Aavishkar has a comprehensive approach to mental and physical health, with an emphasis scan this QR code to visit website on counselling and psychotherapy.

gadgets placed inside our bodies, from knee implants and pacemakers to hearing aids and cataract lenses.

WE’LL TAKE WELLNESS VACATIONS

This will be the next fashion statement.

These vacations will take care of everything and include destressing relaxation techniques and indulgent body treatments. Beautiful and remote international locations will now lure wellness travellers.

AYURVEDA AND YOGA WILL BECOME MORE POPULAR Because they never went out of style in the first place. And because they offer answers to most people’s wellness needs.

JUNK FOOD WILL BE DISGUISED AS HEALTH FOOD

Closely reading nutrition labels will be the only way for us to get smart, as firms get cagey about the ingredients they use.

NATURAL AND ORGANIC PRODUCTS WILL RISE

BRAVE NEW FOODS

Prepare for molecular gastronomy and mashups like these cake-pops

All stores proud of their variety or quality will house them. ask@drshikha.com Photos: THINKSTOCK

MORE ON THE WEB For more columns by Dr Shikha Sharma and other wellness stories, log on to hindustantimes.com/brunch JANUARY 5, 2014

8

REEL WORLD

RUNAWAY HIT?

Pakistani film Zinda Bhaag follows the lives of three young men desperate to flee the country for better prospects

Bordering On The Familiar Who’d have guessed that the Pakistani hit film Zinda Bhaag had such a strong Indian connection?

for post-production was similarly worry-free.

“There are shades of Punjab in India and Pakistan,” says Nabi. “No one could tell they were working on a Pakistani film, and not a Bollywood one.”

by Rachel Lopez

W

ATCHING ZINDA Bhaag, it’s easy to forget that the film is from across the border. The tale of Khaldi, Chitta and Taambi, three Lahore friends struggling to escape their dead-end existence by getting a job – any job – abroad, could be the story of someone in Amritsar, Indore, Pune or Patna.

Lahori mohallas, where shady deals are conducted under fluorescent light, look like small towns just outside your city. And the powerless desperation that drives every dangerous shortcut? We’ve all been there.

But some Indian connections are hard to miss. There’s Naseeruddin Shah playing the small-time gangster, Pehlvan, who’s made crime his ticket out of the mess. And of the film’s two directors, Meenu Gaur is Indian, as are sound designer Vipin Bhatti, cinematographer Satya Rai Nagpaul and editor Shan Mohammed. Zinda Bhaag, a triumph for Pakistan at festivals, from Canada to Abu Dhabi, is a celebration for India as well.

THEM OR US?

India-born Gaur explains that the film was born out of stories of close friends and family in Pakistan, where she’s lived for seven years. “These are actual

tales of the boys of Lahore,” says co-director Farjad Nabi. They’re actual boys of Lahore too. The directors convinced powerhouse thespian Naseeruddin Shah to train amateur locals for the three central roles to keep Zinda Bhaag’s feel intimate and unpolished. “Never mind that they weren’t trained actors,” Gaur says. “Many hadn’t even had formal education. About 95 per cent of the crew were on their first feature film too.”

Naseeruddin Shah trained local Lahori boys for the central roles

THE OTHER SIDE

Where local talent fell short, India happily stepped in. Punjabi cinematographer Nagpaul flew to Pakistan and “blended into the local milieu” says Gaur. Shan Mohammed edited the scenes filmed in Lahore from a guest house in Delhi and his home in Mumbai.

“They tried to get me to come to Pakistan but it didn’t work out, so it just made sense to do it here,” he says. It worked seamlessly. “It just shows that the culture and the sensibility of the two countries are more similar than different.”

Sending the film to Malaysia

JANUARY 5, 2014

WORLD PIECE

Producer Mazhar Zaidi describes Zinda Bhaag as a portrait of everyday Pakistan without “pigeonholing the country and its people”. That explains why it has struck a chord with people far beyond the subcontinent. “I was humbled when a Bulgarian woman met me after a screening in Toronto and said ‘the three boys in your film are like the boys I went to school with!’” says Zaidi. “For me , this totally encapsulates the global response we are getting.”

With the film becoming Pakistan’s first Oscar submission in 50 years (it failed to make the shortlist though), that response has gone into overdrive. “We’ve been on a roller coaster, swerving from extreme to extreme and riding the wave of goodwill,” says Nabi. The rest of the team is similarly exhilarated – no matter which side of the border they’re from. “None of us knew this was going to be an Oscar contender when we started work on it,” Mohammed says. “We didn’t

care that this was a Pakistani project, we just wanted to be true to the story.” In any case, points out Nabi: “No film in the world happens without collaboration.”

LOCAL FAVOUR

The filmmakers are currently negotiating for an India release. Will Indian audiences race to theatres for Zinda Bhaag? Pakistani films in India have met with mixed reactions. Khuda Kay Liye and Ramchand Pakistani were critics’ favourites when they released here in 2008. Bol, which released in 2011, generated only a whisper of the commercial success of its home country. But Zinda Bhaag has been a festival and multiplex favourite. It’s a foreign film, indie film, Indian film, Oscar-hopeful and crowdpleaser all rolled into one. “We’ve toured Canada and the Middle East,” says Gaur. “But it’s India we’re most excited about.” rachel.lopez@hindustantimes.com Follow @GreaterBombay on Twitter

MUST WATCH Zinda Bhaag has already been screened at international film festivals in Kolkata, Goa and Kerala in 2013. Here’s what to watch out for when it hits theatres here: n Kurri Yes Ai, Munda Set Ai: A hilariously camp take on Bollywood song and dance moves. n The unusual shortcuts to going abroad, all of which are based on true stories.

10

COVER STORY

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Six Indian women banking leaders on why managing work and life is not a big deal

by Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi; photos: Kalpak Pathak THEY NEGOTIATE the prices of sarees and jewellery just as well as they structure a deal in a bank. They aren’t just inspirational figures, but heroes for anyone – male or female – who dreams of rising to the top.

As heads of some of India’s most respected banks, they number crunch, broker deals that change

here is a Zen-like calmness around her. Not a hair or a single sari pleat out of place. Chanda Kochhar is immaculate and focused. And it is with this very calmness that ICICI’s managing director and CEO runs the country’s largest private bank.

Consistently featured in lists of the World’s Most Powerful Women since 2005, the only time Kochhar perhaps lost focus was when, while studying to become an IAS officer in Mumbai, she got “distracted” by the city’s economic pulse and chose a career in finance instead. Born in Jodhpur, Kochhar’s family moved to Jaipur when her father became the principal of Jaipur Engineering College. She was just two years old. “All three of us – two sisters and a brother – were brought up with an emphasis on academics,” she says.

THE NUMBERS GAME

The family moved to Mumbai just as Kochhar was finishing school.

Even as her sister was studying to be a doctor, Kochhar wanted to be a civil servant. While earning her degree in Economics from Mumbai’s Jai Hind College, Kochhar decided to do a course in cost accountancy. An MBA was the natural next step. She joined the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies and finished

fortunes and display the kind of grit that often crumbles lesser players.

But as women, they have fought the fight for their gender, made domestic compromises that only women are expected to, and done it with grace.

What’s life at the top like for these six women? What have they left behind?

We find out.

corner of her majestic office at Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex.

She got married to her management school sweetheart, Deepak Kochhar, a wind energy entrepreneur. “Thankfully I have an ecosystem of in-laws, parents and husband, who are my rocks.”

In many ways, her children have motivated her too. “My son, now 18, was a sports enthusiast.

There have been so many tournaments of his that I have missed.

But he understood. My daughter, 24, has just come back after finishing her engineering from the US. On many occasions, she pitched in to look after her younger brother.”

MAKING A CHOICE

I chose to be a working wife and mother. Why should I compromise on either? her Masters’ in Business with a specialisation in Finance. “I was good with numbers,” Kochhar says. “The economic scenario was playing out interestingly. So my orientation moved from the administrative to the financial sector.”

Kochhar, now 52, joined ICICI in 1984 as a management trainee and over 25 years rose steadily through the ranks, to take over as the MD and CEO in 2009. Though the organisation prided itself on being gender-neutral, the going

JANUARY 5, 2014

was never easy. “I had to work just as hard as my male colleagues,” she recalls. “It wasn’t the age when clients were comfortable with a 24-year-old woman doing audits or talking numbers.”

Many times, excelling at work meant giving up on her personal priorities: “There were so many occasions when I wasn’t around for my kids or my husband. But we learnt to work around it,” says Kochhar, looking at the pictures of her family that adorn an entire

Kochhar took over ICICI at a time when businesses across the globe were in turmoil. The economy was tanking. That is where her calm, focused planning helped – although she came under criticism for going against the company’s modus operandi, cutting down on businesses, and keeping the focus on her long-term targets instead.

“Outsiders perceived the grain of the company to be fast, aggressive growth. For me, the DNA was its flexibility and ability to execute any strategy with finesse. So all I did was to change the strategy.

It was a time when we needed to consolidate. Even if that meant cutting down on businesses.”

Kochhar aligned her colleagues, took extensive measures to explain to every person her point of action and long-term growth plan and ensured that the targets were set and met at every level.

Be it with her family or in the boardroom, Kochhar has ensured she puts her best foot forward. “It’s about maintaining balance,” she says. “Plan better, be organised.

I chose to be a working wife and mother. Why should I compromise on either?”

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Photo: RAJ K RAJ

oming ‘first’ was second nature to Naina Lal Kidwai.

So neither she nor her family were surprised when she became the first Indian woman to be accepted to Harvard Business School. Or when she became the first woman to head ANZ Grindlays, a leading foreign investment bank. “The only people surprised when I came back to work in India were my colleagues,” says Kidwai, 56, now group general manager and country head of HSBC India.

Born in Mumbai, Kidwai finished her schooling from Loreto Convent, Shimla, and went to Delhi’s Lady Shri Ram College to pursue Economics. Studying to become a chartered accountant, she was doing her articleship at PricewaterhouseCoopers when Harvard Business School came calling. “My uncles believed Harvard was a waste of time and that I was being unduly aggressive,” Kidwai recalls.

But Kidwai didn’t really care and fortunately, her parents stood by her. “If some people thought I was aggressive, they should have met the women I worked with in the US,” she says. “They were women who would slam the door on the faces of the men who opened doors for the ladies.”

My years in Harvard encouraged the go-getter in me but also honed my inherent cultural traits

FREEDOM OF THOUGHT

Harvard liberated Kidwai. “My years there encouraged the gogetter in me, but they also honed my inherent cultural traits. My basic sensitivities as a woman became fundamental,” she says, adding, “I liked and enjoyed the door being opened for me. So I was always cautious not to slam it on anyone’s face.”

Once Kidwai entered the corporate world, the pressure to be taken seriously was immense.

But it was never the work that scared her; she was good at it. For Kidwai, constantly trying to prove to the world that she was indeed “good” was the bigger burden. “I was a young woman,” Kidwai says.

“Besides, there was zero tolerance for failure. Strangely enough, most people around me were waiting for me to commit that one mistake so that they could pull me down.”

Kidwai made big personal sacrifices to not let anyone point a finger at her or make discounts for the fact that she was a woman.

“I was half the world away on my first anniversary. I have missed a number of my children’s birthdays, parent-teacher meets and many such occasions. It’s not a nice feeling when you hear your child tell someone, ‘I’ll never be a banker because then I’ll always have to be on the phone,’” she says. Thankfully her husband Rashid, who runs a non-profit organisation, Grassroots Trading Networks, is a support. “If your partner celebrates your achievements more than you do, you are home. And I was,” says Kidwai.

rowing up as an army child, Shikha Sharma enjoyed a nomadic childhood filled with freedom, open spaces and lots of security. “There was never an insecure moment in my life. Despite not staying in one station for more than three years, we were comfortable,” says the Axis Bank MD and CEO. So, moving to Mumbai, a big city with small living spaces, after her MBA and marriage, was quite a drastic transition. “It was claustrophobic initially. I was used to big bungalows with lots of greenery. In Mumbai, I yearned for a little balcony. Finally, we have a house in Tardeo, with a balcony.”

DADDY’S GIRL

The eldest daughter in the family, Sharma, 53, was born in Lucknow.

She has two younger brothers, but remained her father’s favourite.

After graduating in Economics from Delhi University’s Lady Shri Ram College, Sharma went to IIM Ahmedabad.

While studying for her MBA, she met the man she would marry a few years later. “I met Sanjay on the day of my interview. He is six feet tall, so it was difficult to miss him,” laughs Sharma. Two years later, they married and settled in Mumbai. Sanjay Sharma today heads Tata Interactive Systems, making them a power couple.

Although it wasn’t the most sought-after company during her campus placements, Sharma opted to work with ICICI for its egalitarian work culture. “Its senior leadership of KV Kamath and N Vaghul, among others, were great colleagues and mentors.”

Sharma’s big break came when she was asked to establish ICICI Prudential, the first private life insurance company in India. “I nurtured it from inception,” she says with palpable pride.

LETTING GO

Nine years after establishing the brand, Sharma quit ICICI amidst media speculation about the Chanda Kochhar-Shikha Sharma turf war, to head Axis Bank in 2009.

Though she maintains that there was no animosity between the two of them, she hated the media scrutiny. “It became impossible to walk out of the house without being asked what had gone wrong.”

In her new assignment, she reinvented Axis Bank, earlier known as UTI bank. She cut through the red tape to evolve a corporate-style work culture and helped Axis became one of the largest private banks in the country.

Today, it seems, the nomad has finally settled, at least in her head.

“I’ve become secure, more comfortable with myself once again.”

With both her children now grown up and settled in their careers, all that Sharma aspires for now is some time to relax in her much-deserved balcony.

I have become secure, more comfortable with myself once again

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COVER STORY

n her final year of college, studying Commerce and Statistics in Mumbai, Vijayalakshmi Iyer, then 19, saw an advertisement for the nationalised banking service on her college notice board. Looking at the dates, Iyer realised there was only one day left to submit her application.

Immediately, she decided to apply.

Owing to a combination of factors, Iyer reached the exam hall 90 minutes behind schedule. But a delay in the arrival of the question papers ensured she made it in the nick of time. “That was when I realised that I was destined to be a banker,” recalls the Bank Of India CMD with a smile.

HELLO OFFICER

Having joined Union Bank of India as an officer, the climb up the ladder was easier for Iyer, albeit just slightly. “The fact that I was a woman and very young wasn’t to my advantage,” she admits. “It took a lot from me to prove to the

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world that I was serious about my job.” Besides, there was this norm of women dropping off the professional wagon once they wed.

Iyer didn’t let either her marriage at 24 or her children distract her. So strong was her bond with her mother-in-law and her husband, an officer with Tata Consultancy Services, that she never had to worry about her kids. Iyer moved from promotion to promotion, taking frequent transfers in her stride.

But her beautiful world came crashing down in 1997 when, at the age of 39, Iyer lost her husband to cancer. He left behind two daughters, aged 12 and 9, and an ageing mother. “I can’t even say that my world collapsed suddenly because he had been suffering for 22 months,” she recalls. “Those months were incomprehensible,” Iyer adds, shuddering at the memory. In that period, it was her husband’s strength, she says, that gave her solace. “He was suffering. He knew he wouldn’t be there, yet he didn’t give up. And I got his strength after him.”

After just a week or 10 days of mourning, Iyer realised she had

to get going. Her parents, siblings and mother-in-law rallied around.

“A few days after my husband passed away, my mother-in-law came to me and said, ‘I’ll do all that your husband could not do for you.’ It was the most touching and strength-giving thing to hear.”

Iyer and her mother-in-law brought up the children together.

Today, with both her daughters married and settled, one in Seattle and the other in Dubai, the two older women have only each other for company. “We have dinner after I get home from work and our morning tea together. She has been my greatest friend and my biggest support,” says Iyer.

in the country. As a boss, Iyer has brought in a refreshing nonbureaucratic ‘open door’ culture.

She is available to her staff across the country via mail and video conferencing. The changes are already visible in the bank’s profits.

“Just the other day, I met an MD of another bank and he said laughing, ‘Madam follows a home-grown model of work’,” she says with a laugh. She does and the model works.

BOUNCING BACK

After 36 successful years at Union Bank, Iyer, 58, was transferred for two years to Central Bank and then finally asked to head Bank of India, one of the largest nationalised banks

My husband was suffering. He knew he wouldn’t be there, yet he didn’t give up. And I got his strength after him

or Kalpana Morparia, CEO of JP Morgan, India, the battle to succeed was never with the outside world. It was always internal. Morparia, 64, says that in a lot of ways, she has reached where she has today, because of the many strong people around her. “To begin with, my mother, then my husband and then Mr KV Kamath, the ex-CEO of ICICI, each of them, in their own way, pushed me to go ahead in life,”

SEPTEMBER 26, 2014

14

COVER STORY

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she acknowledges. “Had that not been the case, I would have happily been a regular Gujju housewife,” says Morparia with a laugh. That she would retire from India’s top private bank as Joint MD and later head the India operations of another international bank, didn’t figure in her wildest dreams.

PUSHED TO COLLEGE

Growing up in Mumbai’s Walkeshwar locality, Morparia was six when her father, who traded in cotton textiles, passed away. The youngest of four siblings – three sisters and one brother – Morparia grew up in a household dominated by women. “My eldest sister was married even before I was born and my brother married young and moved out of the house a few years after my father’s death.

So the family was essentially my mother and us two sisters. An allwoman household,” she says.

I couldn’t have children and that will remain my biggest failure as a woman Even though her mother was a homemaker, she was adamant that her daughters be financially independent before getting married. That was a really progressive mindset for the 1960s, says Morparia. Her mother was ahead of her time but Morparia thought her expectations were bizarre! “All I wanted to do was get married after school,” she exclaims.

But that was not to be. She earned her Bachelor’s in Science from Sophia College, Mumbai, because her mother wanted her to be a doctor. “As long as I didn’t have to repeat a year, I was happy,” she recalls. After graduation, Morparia sat at home for a year

before deciding to study law – just for a lark.

It was in her second year of studying law that Morparia’s dream of getting married came true. And it would have taken no convincing for Morparia to quit law. But her husband, businessman Jaisingh Morparia, convinced her to stay the course.

Even as Morparia was debating whether she should take the solicitor’s exam, she joined the legal team of ICICI in 1975 at the age of 26. And it gave her a renewed focus. Morparia grew in stature to become the joint managing director of ICICI till she retired after 33 years in 2008.

he isn’t your regular corporate banker. In fact, Kaku Nakhate says not having that “uppity suaveness” identified with so many women bankers doesn’t bother her. “I don’t want to be trapped in ‘sari-clad’ imagery.

If you know your job, no one will dare to not take you seriously,” says the country head of Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

This is the confidence with which Nakhate has governed her professional life. Whether it’s dealing with clients or learning the ropes of trading at the stock market, Nakhate never shied away from getting her hands dirty. “That training came from my dad,” she says. “A businessman, he always treated me like his son. Standing at the trading centre to check deals or outside the lawyers’ offices to get the audits in order, he made sure I learnt it all.”

After an MBA from Mumbai’s Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Nakhate joined DSP Merrill Lynch’s equity research team, before moving on

From how ‘girls should not be trading’ to ‘how no good boy will ever agree to marry me’, I heard it all!

JANUARY 5, 2014

In September 2009, amidst the furiously changing economic dynamics of the globe, she took over JP Morgan, India. Morparia was preparing to present a ‘road map’ for the India operations to her international bosses when tragedy struck. “My husband suffered a massive heart attack days before my presentation in Hong Kong. He was in the ICU when I had to fly out to make that presentation. It took time but thankfully we survived the crisis. Though emotionally, I was broken.”

Even as Morparia was doing well at work, a personal desire remained unfulfilled. She couldn’t have children. “It’s rather unfortunate but I guess it became easier for me to concentrate on and manage my career because I didn’t have children. And that, in spite of my achievements, will remain my biggest failure as a woman,” she says.

to equity sales. At 23, Nakhate realised that she had to work doubly hard and keep putting her point across to be heard amidst all the men. The personal front wasn’t easy either. “From how ‘girls should not be trading’ to ‘how no good boy will ever agree to marry me’, I heard everything!” she says.

MAKING AN IMPRESSION

But things fell into place. The same men who refused to hear her at the trading centre sought her point of view every time a deal needed to be cracked. And her college sweetheart, whom she married, had no qualms about her doing equity sales.

Nakhate, 46, rose through the ranks to become the head of global markets at DSP Merrill Lynch. However, in 2009, when the company merged with Bank of America, she decided to move on after 19 years in the organisation.

But Nakhate was called back just a year later. This time, as country head.

Working a 12-14 hour shift is not unusual for her. That’s something that her 19-year-old son, now in the US, also complains about.

“He keeps telling me that I am unlike a CEO. I should socialise and network a little more. But then that’s the way I am.” tavishi.rastogi@hindustantimes.com

MORE ON THE WEB For the complete story, log on to hindustantimes.com/ brunch

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Photos: GETTY IMAGES

The LasT Of LasT Year

Music I almost missed – an angry album, another you should listen to late in the night, and a third inspired

by New York

A

NOTHER NEW year has trundled in and as I wait for the first bursts of new music to land, I went back to last year’s crop to see whether I’d missed out on anything that I’d acquired over last year but not given much attention to. Predictably, there were many. But I picked up three of them and spun them with a bit more seriousness. All three are gold.

Phosphorescent is the name by which Alabama native but a transplant in Brooklyn, Matthew Houck, performs, produces and records. His albums are a one-man show.

There are musicians enlisted, of course, but each album (he has six to date) is more like a solo endeavour. The latest one is called Muchacho, a Spanish word that means young man.

The album, composed during a sojourn by Houck in Mexico, reportedly after a setback in his life, is very personal and blue but surprisingly not depressing. Houck’s roots are in folk and country music and he’s a multi-instrumentalist who plays the ukulele, piano, bass, drums and guitar, besides singing, but Muchacho is no folk or country album.

It explores a path that crosses genres. Houck has enlisted

Sanjoy Narayan

download central MORE ON THE WEB To give feedback, stream or download the music mentioned in this column, go to blogs.hindustantimes. com/download-central.

Write to Sanjoy at sanjoy.narayan@ hindustantimes.com THAT ’70s SOUND

The Savages – (left to right) Fay Milton, Ayse Hassan, Jehnny Beth and Gemma Thompson – recreate the post-punk vibes of the late 1970s

musicians playing everything – pianos, horns, percussion, guitars, violins, electronic loop machines and so on – yet what dominates are his slightly sleepy but very endearing vocals. The standout track on Muchacho is Song for Zula.

It’s a break-up song but like none other. Houck sings: Some say love is a burning thing/ That it makes a fiery ring/ Oh but I know love as a fading thing/ Just as fickle as a feather in a stream… It’s not just his lyrics but also his manner of singing them that makes Muchacho a compelling album, albeit one that works best if heard alone. It’s the quintessential late night album, to be heard after everyone’s gone to bed and you have the headphones on.

Devonté “Dev” Hynes, a British singer, producer and composer, performs under the name Blood Orange (and also previously as Lightspeed Champion). Like Phospho-

ONE MAN SHOW Phosphorescent’s (Matthew Houck) albums are more like a solo endeavour rescent, Blood Orange’s music is not easily classifiable. In the past, Hynes has made dance music, indie pop and folk, making him a sort of versatile musician (a breed that we are seeing more and more of). In his incarnation as Blood Orange, Hynes has struck out on a slightly different path.

Lots of reverb-laden guitars, soul-influenced vocals and an overall effect that leans towards jazz and funk, a combination that works wonderfully. Hynes has also reportedly made New York his home and his new album Cupid Deluxe is inspired by that city. Many of the songs on the album are descriptive of life in New York. He also collaborates on several tracks with other musicians such as Americans, David Longstreth of Dirty Projectors, and Caroline Polachek of Chair- OUT OF THE BOX lift, as well as London rap stars Devonté “Dev” such as Skepta. The songs strike Hynes’ (aka a brooding note but the music is Blood Orange) sharp and tight and that’s what music isn’t makes Cupid Deluxe a good easily classifiable soundtrack for the early days of this year, at least for me. My favourite track on the album: Chamakay.

If you thought I was spending the first few days of 2014 nodding away to some singersongwriters with clever and inanimate stage names, that’s not entirely true. There’s quite a bit of rock on my playlist. Rock that is of the pure, unbridled post-punk variety.

Savages is the name of the four-piece all-woman band and they’re from London. Their sound on their debut album, Silence Yourself, is loud and scorching, leading you to recall Joy Division, Public Image Ltd and PJ Harvey. But the four – Gemma Thompson (guitar), Jehnny Beth (vocals), Ayse Hassan (bass) and Fay Milton (drums) – are not a rip-off band. Savages recreate the postpunk vibes of the late 1970s – a more experimental and arty version of the raw punk era that preceded it – but in a very original way. Silence Yourself is the only album of the band but it has already been favourably compared to some of the greats of the post-punk era. The music is angry and loud but what resonates most with me is Jehnny Beth’s wailing vocals, with which her bandmates keep up competently. Tracks that stand out: Husbands, Marshal Dear and Shut Up. I do hope this band becomes huge.

Download Central appears every fortnight The views expressed by the columnist are personal

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CES 2014: RumouRS and REality C

The Consumer Electronics Show 2014 may mark the way for the biggest in the field of technology

ES AT Las Vegas. As you read this, I’m already on a flight to the Land of the Rising Sin. This is the mecca of technology and the most serious showcase event for every company to set the ball rolling for the new year. Here are some of the big ones to look out for this year.

SAMSUNG, THE YES AND THE MAYBE: Samsung has seen much slower sales for the Galaxy S4 phone and thus the rumour is that they will make a big splash by bringing in the S5 faster and before time. Well, that’s THE reason it won’t happen at CES, where it’ll get buried under thousands of other announcements. S5 will beat its own individual drums very soon. A big 12-inch-plus tablet may also be shown and this one is almost assured. Also, the world’s biggest curved TV will be unveiled here. At 105 inches, with an incredible 11 million pixels and an astounding resolution of 5120x2160, this is a

Rajiv Makhni

techilicious BIGGER AIN’T BETTER

Tablets over the 12-inch size band may show up at CES (above); a whole pavilion is devoted to smartwatches

MORE ON THE WEB For previous columns

by Rajiv Makhni, log on to hindustantimes. com/brunch. Follow Rajiv on Twitter at twitter.com/ RajivMakhni The views expressed by the columnist are personal

Super TV. The only thing, Sony and LG will have something similar, and will ALSO call it a world first. Oh, and the price will make you cry tears of pure joy at money saved as curved TVs will remain technology that nobody will really want.

64-BIT MADNESS: After Apple went 64 bit with their iPhone processor, 64-bit madness will hit CES fast and hard. Qual- THE NEXT WAVE comm’s 64-bit processor, the Snapdragon I’m hoping to be 410, will be showcased and a few phones excited by 3D printers and tablets with the chip will be outed (top); Steam Machines too. But it’s the Snapdragon 805 that has may just take off everyone super excited. This chip can do ultra-HD and has 4K built right in. Thus tablets and phones can go to 4K resolution without a hiccup. Also, expect a lot of all-new reference designs and also for Nvidia to also come in bigger and stronger in the same arena.

MICROSOFT IS BACK: Microsoft abandoned CES last year, but rumours suggest it’ll be back with its all-new Nokia glory. The Surface 3 may be announced, new phones may be launched, more about the Xbox One may be known and a new smaller tablet maybe showcased. Also, new devices with all the awesomeness of Windows RT may be shown and will be met once again with similar yawns.

SONY’S BIG SPLASH: This year, Sony may be all about 4K everything. 4K TVs, 4K source players, brand new 4K ultrabooks and 4K tablets. Its eBook reader will get a much-needed upgrade, newer add-on lenses for your phone may be zoomed into, three new phones from the Xperia series and the PS4 may get its 4K pipe opened. Also a rumour of virtual headwear like the Oculus Rift is growing stronger by the minute. Sony has a

JANUARY 5, 2014

twitter.com/HTBrunch

lot at stake and its 2014 horoscope may get written at CES. LG IS THE COMEBACK KID: Well, LG never actually went away, but somehow people like the whole romantic idea that LG is making a great comeback in every AROUND THE BEND New big curved TVs category. Still, LG seems to be all set on some really strong showcasing. It may will be launched at beat Samsung with a 105-inch curved TV the event that has a aspect ratio of 21:9, a line-up of over 10 different 4K TVs, a new Chrome-based business series of notebooks, a follow up to the Flex phone that actually bends and a whole slew of new phones that follow the super success of the G2.

THE FITNESS REVOLUTION: Mark my words, they are calling CES 2014 the year of 4K – but it’s wearable fitness technology that will wear the crown. With a dedicated hall to just this category, and over 100 companies ready to showcase the next revolutionary little trinket that will make sure your body turns into a lean, mean, fighting machine – this is the hottest category in tech; barring none.

3D PRINTING: The one exhibition hall that got sold out the fastest and has no space left. And while the whole world seems to think that this is the next big thing, I still have my reservations. This really isn’t consumer-level tech. It’s still very ‘rocket science degree needed to operate’, it still isn’t for the common user, what do you do after you’ve printed a few wristbands and toys, it’s still very expensive and it still needs a huge amount of effort to get very little out. Still, maybe CES 2014’s 3D Hall may just surprise me.

TABLETS GROW BIGGER: It’s a trend that is coming in strong and hard. Tablets that have some serious resolution and some serious screen size; tablets over the 12-inch size band. Samsung, Sony, Toshiba and about a dozen other 12-inch plus slates will all show up at CES 2014. I’m just not convinced this is the way to go. Tablets were successful because of their portability, not in spite of it. Bigger isn’t better when you need something to quickly consume some content.

SMARTWATCHES HAVE A SECOND GO: The first line-up left a lot to be desired, but that doesn’t mean it’s all over. New players like Qualcomm, Google and others may have their own versions ready and willing. In fact, a whole pavilion has been dedicated to tech on the wrist. I’m still worried though as this category has started off as a dud and nobody seems to have any idea how they can truly make a wristwatch that qualifies as the next big tech revolution.

STEAM MACHINES: It’s an OS that is all about gaming on machines that may just make everything else look like dust. We saw prototypes last year, but this time the Steam may just get scalding hot. Lots of companies may showcase their own Steam Machines, and some of them may be all set to make the Steam revolution roll out in 2014.

Those are the expectations. Time now for some real CES reports in the next two weeks, right here. Watch this space, with bated breath.

Rajiv Makhni is managing editor, Technology, NDTV, and the anchor of Gadget Guru, Cell Guru and Newsnet 3

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One FOr The rOad India lives and eats on its streets.

And we owe a measure of gratitude to the people who feed us

W

HEN SOMEBODY mentions ‘street food’ in an Indian context, you immediately think “chaat”. And yes, chaat is India’s mostfamous street food; it is the symbol of the soul of our cities and in many of our metros and towns, it is the signature food. What is Bombay without bhelpuri? I’m happy enough to go to Lucknow and give the biryani/pulao a miss. But I will never ever leave the city without sampling its famous chaat. So it is with Calcutta. If I don’t have a chingri malai curry, a luchi made from deep fried maida, or the inside-out porcupine that is the hilsa I don’t really care. But I must eat the puchkas.

The problem with this perception is that not all street food is chaat. Some of it is real food, solid hearty stuff that keeps labourers going through tough days. The reason we regard it as street food is because it is usually sold (though not necessarily made) on the streets by people who can’t afford restaurant rents to people who can’t pay restaurant prices. And most north Indian chaat is hard to find in the south, anyway.

Vir Sanghvi

rude food RICHES FROM THE STREET

My favourite of all the stalls was run by a group of Malayalis from Palakkad, serving a pulao with chicken curry

I was reminded of this when I went to the street food festival on the grounds of Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in December. The festival was organised by an NGO called the National Association of Street Vendors and drew a heavy-weight government attendance: two ministers (Girija Vyas and Tariq Anwar) and many senior officials.

After the speeches were over, I wandered through the stands and the first thing that struck me was that this was no bhelpuri festival.(In fact, Bombay was under-represented and I did not come across any of the dishes that have made the city famous except for some dodgy made-in-Delhi impersonations).Much of the food was what you and I would call robust home cooking: rajma-chawal, chicken curry, pulao, chingri malai curry (there is no getting away from that, is there?) and khichdi.

I spoke to many of the stallholders, several of whom had never been out of their home cities before and certainly had no experience of Delhi, and

JANUARY 5, 2014

Photos: SANJEEV VERMA

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GRITTILY AUTHENTIC

This was not delicate home cooking passed down by grandmothers but robust street food made by guys who needed to earn a living discovered that they cooked not for middle-class people eager to try a little chaat, but for the labourers and workers of their mohallas. The bulk of their custom consisted of people looking for subsistence food at reasonable prices.

In a way, this made their food more grittily authentic. My favourite of all the stalls was run by a group of Malayalis from Palakkad who were serving a pulao with chicken curry. This was not the sort of fancy Kerala food you find on restaurant menus, but the staple meal of the workers of the state. Though their main stall was in Palakkad, neither the chicken curry nor the pulao seemed local. Were the recipes from south Kerala? The man who had cooked the dish did not know. He had learned the recipe from another stall-holder who had learned it from yet another roadside cook, and so on. This was not delicate home cooking passed down by grandmothers but robust street food made by guys who needed to earn a living.

So it was with the Punjabi stalls. The single most popular dish at the festival was Amritsar-style kulchachanna and its many variations: tikki-channa, channa with bhaturas etc. But many of the stall holders did not regard what they did as chaat – they said it was “lunch”. One of them fried a delicious, crisp bhatura for me and the others urged me to try their rajma with chawal. (I did. It was so terrific that I wanted to pack some and take it home to eat the next day but sadly only the Kerala stall was offering a ‘parcel’ service. The Punjabis demanded that you eat everything on the spot.)

At a Hyderabad stall, the lady urged me to try chicken pakoras (not nice, by the way) and seemed confused that people wanted to try so much food at four in the afternoon.

Her biryani was still cooking, she said, because in Hyderabad, nobody turned up to eat it before 6pm.

Because this was a pan-Indian event, cross-cultural confusion was rife. At a Rajasthani mithaiwallah’s, I saw two local Delhiites berating the vendor for his jalebis with rabdi (“Jalebi mithi bhi nahin hain. Kya yeh rabdi babdi

hindustantimes.com/brunch

21

DELICIOUS!

The street food festival at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium happened last month, and was a panIndian event. There were stalls from Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and many other states le aye ho?”). At a Bengal stall, two sardarjis complained, “Yeh kehta hai bhetki-fry aur bhetki curry. Lekin yeh nahin kehta hai ke yeh bhetki kya cheez hai!”

The stall-holders coped with this onslaught with varying degrees of stoicism. A Tamil vendor who was serving vadas and sambhar was clearly finding it difficult to understand the Punjabi Hindi of many of his customers but maintained his dignity. When a south Indian lady next to me tried to help out by speaking in Tamil, however, he looked vaguely offended and said slowly to me, with grave and measured solemnity: “The weather is very cold in Delhi”. This was true enough. But no matter what I asked he gave the same reply. Perhaps, it was the only English sentence he had mastered. Still, you had to admire his quiet dignity and his limited linguistic adventurism.

The guys at the Bengal stall coped less well. They came not from any part of Calcutta that I recognised but said that their stall was “Howrah se aage”. I asked for a chicken-egg roll but they explained sadly, that they had no eggs even though their board advertised egg rolls.

No eggs? I asked in surprise. Why? They were easy enough to find, surely.

“Saara Delli mein anda nahin milaa,” the vendor responded helplessly.

Bengalis! Don’t you just love them?

Judging by the crowds, the fair was successful if slightly chaotic. (A live band played on a PA system that distorted the music and burst my ear drums. There were many complaints about there not being enough loos). The citizens of Delhi were less adventurous than I would have liked. They formed the biggest queues outside one of the few chaat stalls at the fair. This made sense (the chaat was truly outstanding) but seemed slightly pointless – the chaat guys were from Shahdara and therefore easily accessible even after the festival was over.

The TV chef Kunal Kapur volunteered to work with the street vendors and though he was mobbed everywhere, I found it touching that he had taken so much time off to help other, humbler chefs without getting anything in return. (The organisers told me that it was Kunal who had approached them and offered his assistance because he felt a kinship with the street-chefs).

In a way, I was glad that this was not a mere chaat-fest.

The great street food dishes of Asia are not little chaat-like nibbles but substantial meals in themselves: Singapore’s chilli crab and Hainanese chicken rice, Bangkok’s clams with noodles or the fried rice of the streets of any Asian city, including the nasi goreng of Kuala Lumpur.

In most cities, street food originated as a way for poor people to feed themselves or as a means of providing sustenance to those who worked odd hours. (This is true in India as well: vada pao and pao bhaji are both classics of the Bombay street but started out as sustenance foods).

We have been distracted by the associations between chaat and street food and need to recognise that in India, the primary distinction between dhaba food and street food is that the latter is made by people who are too poor to even run dhabas.

But because street food vendors are at the bottom end of the food chain (literally!), they are routinely picked on by everyone from cops to municipal authorities to local dadas. Most struggle to eke out a miserable existence only to see a month’s earnings disappear overnight when a corrupt cop demands hafta, locks them up or destroys their food. As a child, I used to be traumatised watching cops go up to street food vendors in Bombay and overturn their carts only because they had missed their weekly hafta. (And my proudest moment as a father came some years ago when my teenage son spontaneously went up to a weeping vendor whose food had been destroyed by the cops and gave him all the money he had in his wallet.)

The ministers who came to the festival talked about changing things. They discussed schemes to licence food carts and even promised to establish hawkers’ centres of the sort they have in Singapore. Everybody was agreed that, from the hygiene point of view, the biggest problem was water: the vendors do not have access to clean water to wash their utensils, even if they make an effort to use boiled water in their cooking. Unfortunately, nobody had a solution.

The street vendors’ association says that it will organise similar festivals in other cities to draw attention to the plight of food-sellers. I hope they do. India lives and eats on its streets. And we owe a measure of gratitude to the people who feed us.

PRIDE AND SPICE

The primary distinction between dhaba food and street food is that the latter is made by people who are too poor to even run dhabas

Not all street food is chaat.

Some of it is real food, solid hearty stuff that keeps labourers going through tough days

JANUARY 5, 2014

EAT TO LIVE

In most cities, street food originated as a way for poor people to feed themselves

MORE ON THE WEB For more columns by Vir Sanghvi, log on to hindustantimes. com/brunch The views expressed by the columnist are personal

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Reading List Here’s a handy list of my top reads of last year.

Try them if you haven’t. You won’t regret it

I

F YOU ARE a regular reader of this column then you know by now that books are my drug of choice. There is nothing quite as wonderful as discovering a brand-new writer, except perhaps discovering a new book by an old favourite. And there is nothing more comforting than finding solace between the pages of a tried-and-tested comfort read when you are feeling low.

Over the last year, I have had my fill of both new writers and old favourites. And yes, I have revisited many classics as well, in the hope of discovering something new in them.

But here, for your benefit, is the list of my best reads of 2013.

GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn

This was by far one of the best thrillers I have read in a long time. The story unravels through the first-person accounts of the two protagonists: the husband whose wife has gone missing; and the diary entries of the ‘gone girl’. But as the tale unfolds olds, it becomes clear that nothing is quite as it seems. Since I hate spoilers poilers of any kind, I won’t say much more than han assure you that this is a book like e no n other. If you haven’t read it yet, then do so NOW.

Seema Goswami

spectator SILENT WIFE by ASA Harrison THE SIL

Another psychological portrayal of a marriage that tha isn’t quite what it seems, and in fact, turns out not isn to be a marriage at all. The characters are acutel cutely drawn, the plot moves forward slowly but menacingl dra menacingly, and the ‘silent wife’ of the title proves that old adage ge of still waters running deep.

LONGBOURN by Jo Baker LO

MORE ON THE WEB For more SPECTATOR columns by Seema Goswami, log on to hindustantimes.com/ brunch. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/ seemagoswami. Write to her at seema_ ht@ rediffmail.com The views expressed by the columnist are personal

a generally not hot on conceits like rewriting an old clasI am sic from the viewpoint of a different character. But I have to say that Jo Baker has pulled off a cracker of a novel, retelling Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice from the viewpoint of the servants of the Bennet household. The maid, Sarah, is the central character, whose most memorable line is that Miss Elizabeth would be more careful of her petticoats if she had to wash them herself ! A brilliant retelling of a classic; which should become a classic lassic in its own time.

THE CUCKOO’S OO’S CALLING

by Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling)

Confession time: I first read The Cuckoo’s Calling before eJ JK Rowling had been outed as its author. And while it was a good ood enough story, I have to admit dmit

JANUARY 5, 2014

that I didn’t think Robert Galbraith albraith was going to be the next Harlan Coben or even Lee Child. After the auau thor’s identity was revealed, I re-read ead it. And no, I didn’t change my mind. ind.

This was a good enough book as fa far as murder mysteries go, but ‘Rober obert Galbraith’ still has a long way to go. o.

JUST ONE EVIL ACT

by Elizabeth George

I really don’t know how she does it.

But with every novel in her Inspector Lynley series, Elizabeth George e manages to up her game just a little. ittle. This, tthe latest in the series, has Barbara Havers at the centre while Lynley plays a sort of supporting role. Set in Italy, the story gallops forward furiously, taking twists and turns when you least expect them, the characters evolve in ways you could barely imagine, and in true Elizabeth George fashion, the ending is far from the happily-ever-after variety.

THE ENGLISH GIRL by Daniel Silva

Yes, I know. Daniel Silva has gone a tad formulaic on Ye us But I guess that’s a risk you run when you have the us. same hero, Israeli agent Gabriel Allon, and are committed to churning out a potboiler every year. So, this book has much the same elements. Allon is put into impossible situations and manages to fight his way out, and save the world while he is at it. But that said, the book is a page-turner, the kind that will keep you up till 3am, as you read on to find out what happens ppens next.

MAPPING THE EDGE

by Sarah Dunant

I hav ave to admit that I had mixed feelings about this one. It started off well, butt tthen got a bit too clever by half, and two-thir o-thirds into the narrative, I was more confused than ever. But despite my reservations, I am glad that I read it. Dunerv ant attempts the brave – even impossible, some might say – feat of offering two alternatives to a woman’s abductw tion without ever indicating where the truth actually lies. But while her writtr ing is, for the most part, assured, there is a real sense in which the reader ends up feeling manipulated by her trickery. Well, at least, I did.

You can read it and make up your own mind.

THE GOLDEN EGG by Donna Leon

There is something ineffably soothing about the gentle pace of Donna Leon’s murder mysteries. She spends as much time evoking the spirit of Venice, describing the family life of her hero, Guido Brunetti and his wife Paola, detailing the meals they eat and the wine they drink, the books they read, as she does investigating the death thatt is at the heart of the story. This book is no different, with the story telling us as much about the corruption at the core of Venetian society, as it does oes about the murder itself. If you haven’ n’t read her, you should start now. (But But remember to start at the beginning, ginning, and work your way through the 17 or so books she has written.)

24

RECOGNISE THIS?

TRAVEL

Zhangjiajie National Forest Park is where much of the James Cameron film Avatar was shot

The south-central province of China is replete with culture and tradition.

It’s a journey no one should miss text and photos by Shreya Sethuraman

Y

OU’RE GOING to China?

Wow! It’s such a beautiful country!” “Oh, finally you’ll eat ‘actual’ Chinese food, not the Chinjabi doled out in India!”

These were the comments I received when I told family and friends that I was visiting China.

The week-long trip was fascinating, refreshing and allowed glimpses of our neighbour’s culture.

As part of the Hunan Tourism Festival, we visited this province situated in the south-central part of China, known for its spicy food, a notch above the famous Schezwan cuisine. It’s a relatively unexplored area; the idea was to see places you may not have chosen on a visit to China. (Shanghai and Beijing continue to be the most popular destinations.) Hunan was a revelation to me, as my diary will show you.

Day One: CHANGSHA Steeped In History

Situated in the north-eastern part of Hunan, Changsha is its capital.

The sultry weather did not hamper the Hunan Festival inaugural event at Orange Island, a place Mao Zedong is said to have visited often in his youth.

What I found quite striking in the hour-

DESTINY’S MAN

Mao Zedong meditated at Orange Island during his youth

long journey from our hotel to Orange Island: the number of people cycling to work. I also spotted many people on mopeds. But no motorbikes anywhere in Hunan.

None at all!

At the event, three beautifully choreographed dance performances represented a different age of China and showed how the country has progressed over the years. We visited the spot where Mao Zedong used to meditate, and where he wrote the famous poem Changsha, an examination of man’s actions and his destiny. It’s a poem that the people of China know by heart. There’s also a mini rock structure with Zedong’s face.

Our morning ended sooner than I thought, after which we were free to explore the city on our own, but I chose to sleep (I was tired!) After an early dinner (well, early by Indian standards) at 6.30pm, we headed for a cultural event of lights, music and dance.

By the time this ended, it was time to bid the ‘Happy City’, goodbye.

The reason Changsha is known as a happy city is because young couples prefer to buy property here and it has a very casual environment.

Day Two: PHOENIX TOWN Old-World Charm

Our next destination was Phoenix Town, a tiny place six hours away from Changsha and on the western boundary of Hunan. The place

JANUARY 5, 2014

PAST GLORY

Students dressed in costumes from the Chinese dynasties at the inaugural event is known for its quaint markets where you can buy anything from iPad covers and wall hangings to adorable little Chinese dolls (sometimes mistaken for voodoo dolls!).

Forget English, for bargaining purposes, use your fingers and use the same formula when you bargain in India: drop prices by half ! Don’t forget to taste the widely available ginger candy, made by pounding together sugar and ginger into a gooey mass. It’s dried and cut into bite-sized pieces and is simply delicious. The karaoke bars are worth a visit too. Do try the local beer. It’s extremely light and one of the best beers I’ve ever had.

And if you’re experimental with your alcohol, have a shot of the rice wine. It looks like water but is extremely potent (some wines have almost 40 per cent alcohol content) and has an awful, awful taste.

Next morning, we visited the

HOW TO GET THERE n There are daily flights to Shanghai from Delhi and Mumbai. From Delhi, it’s a roughly six-hour journey and from Mumbai the journey takes around seven hours. n From Shanghai, you need to take a connecting hour-long flight to Changsha. n If you wish to travel within Hunan, your best bet is to use the wide (pothole-free) roads.

marketplace again, to watch some magic tricks (including a man walking on a gigantic sword) and a play that depicted the traditions of the Miaos – the minority community that inhabits Phoenix Old Town. As a rule, girls are carried on the backs of their brothers to the venue and they must cry at their wedding.

Soon after, we went on a fourhour journey to our final destination, Zhangjiajie, a large city in the north-western part of Hunan.

Days Three And Four: ZHANGJIAJIE Of Timeless Love

Our days here were spent visiting caves and mountains, and climbing 1,000 and even 2,000 steps that left us gasping for breath.

We went for a cultural performance the first evening, the Tianmen Fox Fairy Show. It was a timeless tale of love and longing. Staged at the foot of Tianmen Mountain, it should be on everyone’s bucket list. The next morning, we headed back to Tianmen Mountain, where we had to get into a cable car. Here, we had our first tryst with ‘globalisation’. McDonald’s opened here in early 2013 and their chicken burger was very different from the versions we’re served in India.

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HISTORY MARKER

Phoenix Old Town is also known for its quaint local markets And another thing: there wasn’t a single vegetarian burger on the menu. Vegetarian and hungry at 1,200 metres above sea level? Well, tough luck!

Extremely crowded the day we visited, this mountain is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

It’s home to a bronze statue of Marshal He Long, a revolutionary soldier instrumental in the destruction of the salt tax office in the 1920s. After that, we went to Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, where much of the James Cameron film Avatar (2009) was shot. The green landscapes are even more stunning in real life.

And we didn’t even need 3D glasses to appreciate them.

Day Five: 2,000 Steps To A Cave And 100 Steps To A Lake

Our first stop was the Huanglong (Yellow Dragon) cave, known for its natural rock formations. This cave has four floors that make for over 2,000 steps. Climbing these

LOCAL HERO

Marshal He Long was behind the destruction of the salt tax office

can exhaust you, and the humidity inside was of no help at all. There are tiny lakes inside the caves, which you cross in little boats.

Having worked up quite an appetite, we headed for lunch to a small restaurant – a local favourite. The meal here was supposed to be special, since you wouldn’t have got it anywhere else.

First up, huge glasses of green tea, followed by a big bucket of sticky rice. On any visit to China you’ll notice that the main meal plate is actually a side plate, meant for vegetables or meat. The soup bowl has to be filled with rice, and of course, chopsticks are your trustworthy companions. In front of us were placed woks of super spicy duck, succulent beef, stirfried pork, steamed fish and boiled vegetables. Easily the best meal I had in China.

After this, we headed to the Baofeng Lake, just a hill climb and 100-odd steps away. No problem for us, veteran climbers now. We took a boat ride around the stunning lake surrounded by mountains.

Day Six: Looking Through A Glass Floor

Our last day called for a visit to the Glass Plank Bridge of Zhangjiajie Tianmen Mountain. Our footwear safely encased in shoe-covers (to protect the glass from scratches), we took on the 60-metre long bridge hanging 1,400 metres above the ground. The sight of the ravine beneath your feet is breathtaking.

Just as beautiful was the nearby Heaven’s Gate Mountain, so called because the entrance looks like you’re in heaven. Of course, you need to climb 1,000 steps to seek ‘blessings’. But it’s worth it for the view – all of Zhangjiajie is visible.

There were 65-year-old women and 80-year-old men climbing the steps – enough for anyone to be inspired.

In a week, I saw that it’s normal to see masses of people bicycle to work, it’s as easy or difficult to bargain for something you like, and it’s very easy to fall in love.

And don’t be surprised if young schoolgirls request for a photo.

After all, we “Indoos” (Indians) are a fascinating lot to them!

The writer was on a week-long visit to Hunan on the invitation of the China National Tourist Office shreya.sethuraman@hindustantimes.com Follow @iconohclast on Twitter

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Actor

Ranbir Kapoor

BIRTHDAY SUN PLACE OF HOMETOWN SCHOOL/COLLEGE SIGN BIRTH Bombay Scottish; HR College, Mumbai

September 28

Libra

Mumbai

Mumbai; Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, New York

FIRST BREAK HIGH POINT OF LOW POINT OF CURRENTLY I AM...

YOUR LIFE Saawariya (2007) YOUR LIFE Acting in Jagga Jasoos My first day of school in New York

Debacle of Rocket Singh (2009)

and Bombay Velvet

The best thing about being a My birth!

Kapoor is…

The craziest thing a fan has Being responsible. done for you.

If you weren’t an actor, A fan married my you would have been… gate.

A struggling actor.

What is your fitness A Raj Kapoor classic regime? you wish you were a I just stay happy part of. and that keeps Shree 420 (1955). me fit.

The qualities you admire The best place to in your mom and dad. escape the paparazzi.

A STREET TREAT It’s impossible to I love the fact that YOU LIKE. dad gives priority to escape them. family values. And What what can I say about makes mom? I admire eveyour rything about her. day?

What is the difference I make between being in front of the camera my day. and behind it?

What spoils it?

I can express myself in front of That would be the camera. me again.

The biggest risk you have taken.

The last line of your Every film I’ve done has been autobiography would a risk. read…

A song that describes your current “See me at the state of mind. movies.”

— Interviewed by Kisi ki muskurahoton pe ho nisar Veenu Singh from Anari (1959).

The biggest surprise you’vee given your mother.

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