Brunch 07 09 2014 by Hindustan Times

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WEEKLY WEEKLY MAGAZINE, MAGAZINE, SEPTEMBER JUNE 22, 7, 2014 Free with your copy of Hindustan Times

A Blow To The Old Order India’s women are leading the fight against suffocating patriarchy – even in the face of a fierce conservative backlash. But change is inevitable. Author Ira Trivedi gets talking about the revolution

BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS

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Something Starry

by Junisha Dama

Make Your French Connection

A million hearts broke when Brangelina tied the knot. The couple married in a small chapel on their private wine estate in the south of France. But the couple aren’t the first celebs to take the plunge in France. How have previous unions fared?

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY + JAMES RIGHTON Married: May 2013 Status: HAPPILY MARRIED Knightley said ‘I do’ to musician Righton in a quiet ceremony in the town hall of the hilltop village of Mazan. The ceremony was set to a bohemian mood and looked straight out of one of Knightley’s period movies. SALMA HAYEK + FRANÇOIS-HENRI PINAULT Married: February 2009 Status: HAPPILY MARRIED Although the couple’s Venice April 2009 wedding celebration is more known, Hayek and Pinault first had a quiet ceremony on Valentine’s Day that year. It took place in the city hall of the Sixth Arrondissement in Paris. It was a special day as their daughter is named Valentina. ALICIA KEYS + SWIZZ BEATZ Married: July 2010 Status: HAPPILY MARRIED Wearing a Vera Wang gown despite a baby bump; that’s how Keys chose to say ‘I do’ to her rapper boyfriend Swizz Beatz. A waterside ceremony in Corsica, friends like Queen Latifah and U2 rocker Bono in attendance – this is exactly what celebrity weddings are made of. EVA LONGORIA + TONY PARKER Married: July 2007 Status: DIVORCED The Desperate Housewives star married French basketball player Tony Parker in a ceremony which was conducted in a Paris church. Then the party moved to a 17th century chateau outside the capital city. AVRIL LAVIGNE + CHAD KROEGER Married: July 2013 Status: SPECULATION ABOUT DIVORCE Punk pop star Lavigne and Nickelback vocalist Chad Kroeger tied the knot on the beautiful French Riviera. The three-day wedding saw a fireworks display and a party that went on till six in the morning for 50 guests. But Lavigne later claimed at a talk show that she didn’t remember much of the wedding. Oops! HALLE BERRY + OLIVIER MARTINEZ Married: July 2013 Status: RUMOURS OF DIVORCE Berry and French actor Martinez were married at Château de Condé in Vallery. The small-town chateau stands opposite the church where princes and princesses are known to be buried. It was a picturesque location for the quiet weekend ceremony and the couple stayed in the room often preferred by newlyweds, but which was once used to house pigeons.

There’s a glitch in the Matrix and it’s got hold of Rajiv Makhni. Sorry fans, no Techilicious this week. He’ll be back next Sunday, rebooted. Cover design: MONICA GUPTA Cover image: SHUTTERSTOCK

EDITORIAL: Poonam Saxena (Editor), Aasheesh Sharma, Rachel Lopez, Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi, Aastha Atray Banan, Veenu Singh, Satarupa Paul, Saudamini Jain, Asad Ali, Atisha Jain

by Rachel Lopez Anything can happen during the

Bollywood Gets In Too Deep

Ganesh festival, according to Hindi films. For example... As seen in: VAASTAV (1999) Sanjay Dutt stands holier than thou through a Ganpati aarti, as his shinyshirted friend dies in an encounter. The cop drops in and informs him: he’s next. As seen in: SHOR IN THE CITY (2011) Ganesh Chaturthi marks the start and end. But its climax is where the bad guys get shot in the Visarjan chaos. As seen in: AAN, MEN AT WORK (2004) Immersion drama plays on outside while Sunil Shetty is fatally shot. Thankfully, he’d finished praying earlier.

YOU CAN GET KILLED HERE As seen in: SATYA (1998) The climax has Satya stabbing gang leader Thakurdas Jhawle, as the crowds immerse their idols. Is it the last death in this movie? Far from it.

As seen in: AGNEEPATH (2012) Hrithik Roshan starts out pious in Deva Shree Ganesha, then stabs a would-be shooter right on the beach. Does anyone notice? No. Too much gulal.

YOU CAN SPOT A DON LOOKALIKE

SOMEONE WILL EYE GANPATI’S GEMS As seen in: HUM SE BADHKAR KAUN (1981) Deva O Deva Ganpati Deva has a jewelled mukut and lots of valuable baubles on his person. There are thieves in the crowd. But there are real bad buys too. Watch out!

As seen in: TEEN EKKAY (1980) Think you can steal “smuggling ke heerey”, hidden in the Ganesh idol just before immersion, do you? Kiran Kumar and company will bash you up for it and get a medal and “sarkari inaam!” for it.

As seen in: DON (2006) Sorry cops, Vijay isn’t the thug you’re looking for. This fellow dancing in front of the idol just happens to look like the other most-wanted guy also played by Shah Rukh Khan.

SOMEONE WILL GO MISSING

YOU CAN GET DISCOVERED

As seen in: ATITHI TUM KAB JAOGE? (2010) The guest who just refuses to leave, goes missing in the immersion crowds. Now is that a good thing or a bad thing? Tell the truth, you’ll miss Paresh Rawal.

As seen in: ABCD (2013) Local dancers show off their moves during the festival and catch the eye of Prabhudeva himself. So what if they’re from rival camps? All’s fair in love and danceoffs.

THE BRUNCH BOOK CHALLENGE

On The Brunch Radar by Saudamini Jain

It's simple. Just read whatever book sounds interesting. We're not judging, only encouraging our favourite habit. But read 24 books in 2014. Tweet your progress tagging @HTBrunch and hashtagging #BrunchBookChallenge.

One of the finest actors #naseerudinshah in one of the finest magzine #HTBrunch keep it up...:) -@meenal131295

Stuff T That Happened Last Sunday

e today ge ag pa Your cover m... am ea re made me sc with joy ts -@foodchan

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

n That 10 books list thing on Facebook. Haven’t seen it? You move in the wrong circles! n What they’re calling early morning disorientation: sleepy drunkenness n Travelling for work n All the useless junk you find when moving offices n The cricket team getting their act together, fingers crossed

And the best part about today’s @ HTBrunch! @ ParineetiChopra!! Loved the personal agenda. -@saakshi93

The Firefox Firefight has begun! by @RajivMakhn i@ HTBrunch. Great Read to know the way Firefox OS will be penetrating into the Indian Mkt! – @SamuelThomas95

Loved nch Whole #Bru ith day w Package To hah aseerudinS #Vintage @N and @ s ht sig In w. pra Intervie ParineetiCho azing :) Totally Am it -@DigitalSum

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

LOVE IT

U guys never fail 2 surprise us. #NaseeruddinShah itrvev is just mind blowing. Its a coup. -@hamrahi

Find Hindustan Times Brunch on Facebook or tweet to @HTBrunch or

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

Photos: SHUTTERSTOCK

MAKHNI UNPLUGGED

Ab Tak Aapne Dekha

n The Ice Bucket Challenge (when Yo Yo Honey Singh starts doing it, it’s no longer cool) n The revelation that Hello Kitty turns 40: it is not a cat. She’s a little girl, a friend... etc n Poonam Pandey n People who keep talking about their kids n Prohibition. If Mallus don’t drink, what will the rest of us do?

SHOVE IT

FOR ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES, PLEASE CONTACT National – Sanchita Tyagi: sanchita.tyagi@hindustantimes.com North – Siddarth Chopra: siddarth.chpra@hindustantimes.com North – Shaila Thakur: shaila.thakur@hindustantimes.com West – Karishma Makhija: karishma.makhija@hindustantimes.com South – Sharbani Ghosh: sharbani.ghosh@hindustantimes.com

WELLNESS

MIND BODY SOUL SHIKHA SHARMA PART-II

WHAT’S INSIDE YOUR PACKAGED FOOD?

A chemical cocktail that may just do your body more harm than good

AST WEEK, we looked at the ways in which chemical substitutes were influencing the price, flavour, texture and colour of our packaged foods. Watch out for these chemicals on food labels when you’re at the grocery aisle. MSG (MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE): Found in both natural and artificial varieties, MSG is tasteless on its own, but when combined with natural flavours, it makes their flavour stronger. This makes MSG perfect for packaged foods. But the compound has been shown to cross the blood-brain barrier and may cause migraine in some people.

defects. Plus, HFCS is linked to childhood obesity and diabetes. Still, the food industry is reluctant to let go of its dependence on HFCS because, in America at least, it’s cheaper and adds weight and sweetness to thousands of beverages, making packaged foods proﬁtable.

PALM OIL, SOYA OIL, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED OIL: These are found in ready-to-cook cake mixes, butters, ready-to-eat foods and quick-cooking foods (the kind you need to “just add water” to or microwave for a quick meal). Oils are a real problem, not just because they are fattening, but because of several other reasons like inHUE AND CRY Maida and white creased blood pressure bread are white and cholesterol.

MORE ON THE WEB For more columns by Dr Shikha Sharma and other wellness stories, log on to hindustantimes.com/brunch SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

Photos: SHUTTERSTOCK, THINKSTOCK

BLEACH: Bread and maida look white because of a due to bleaching chemical process ARTIFICIAL SUGARS: called bleaching. Saccharin, aspartame and frucLong-term consumption of tose all come from laboratories. bleached flour and bread can They are easy and cheap to lead to intestinal and digestive manufacture in bulk and their problems. “sugar free” tag makes them attractive to dieters and diabetHIGH FRUCTOSE CORN ics. But an overdose of artificial SYRUP: Yes, that mango juice sweeteners has been shown to tastes sweet, but it isn’t because cancer. cause of sugar. It’s because of a lab-created product called high SODIUM NITRATE: This comfructose corn syrup (HFCS). pound is used to increase the This compound is made from shelf life of meat prodgenetically modified ucts like bacon and corn, which is still being salami. Consumed over investigated for its poslong periods, sodium sible role in causnitrate can lead to skin ing genetic allergies, headaches, tummy troubles and BITTER TRUTH even hair fall. The sweetness ask@drshikha.com in mango juice is (This concludes the series) artificially created

DUMMY

twitter.com/HTBrunch GET ON YOUR FEET

Milind Soman, also the founder of Pinkathon, will run at the next event to be held in Delhi on September 14 ity incorrectly, whether it is walking, sitting or running, you give your body undue stress. So when you run incorrectly, your back or any other part of your body can get injured.

NOT DANGEROUS

Photo: ARVIND YADAV

Barefoot On The Road Why running barefoot in your city could be the best way to exercise those muscles by Milind Soman

HERE ARE two reasons why I, a national-level swimmer, have become so enamoured of running. The first is logical: running and walking are natural ways to keep fit; also the easiest and most convenient. But the other reason is that, even when I was a child, I wanted to run a marathon. And when the annual Mumbai marathon started in 2004, I knew I had to take part. There was no way that I could not run a marathon in my own city. So I took part in the half marathon with Gul Panag, and I was hooked. I had an amazing feeling of achievement after that 21km run – it’s actually quite a distance! But I trained for three-four months, and found it very easy. When you run every day, it feels great. It’s like a constant reaffirmation of your capabilities. You don’t need any special training and you can run to feel happy, not to break records. At least, that’s why I run. I don’t run for timing or for performance. I run because I love to run. Lots of people say that running gives you a high – all those endor-

phins are released in the brain. I don’t know the science of it, but I can tell you, when you’re running, your physical, mental and spiritual energy all come together. It is like meditation: all the energy coming together and focussing on one activity.

NO SHOES PLEASE

Barefoot running, which is what I do, is actually the most natural way of running: another aspect of experiencing what running has to offer. I’ve read a bit about it. Your hands, your feet and your

face actually have the maximum number of nerves in the entire body. What these nerves do is send a signal to your brain on how to respond. So when I touch a phone with my bare fingers, my brain gets a signal about it. It tells me I’m touching a phone. But when I wear thick gloves and touch the phone, my brain can’t understand what exactly I’m touching – a book perhaps, or something else. It’s the same with your feet. When you wear shoes, you will not get the correct signal from the ground to your brain about what exactly you’re stepping on, so your body can’t respond correctly. I’m not saying shoes are bad or that going barefoot is the best way to run. But when you do any activ-

IF YOU HAVEN’T STARTED RUNNING YET... n Begin with barefoot running. Whether you wear shoes or not, your body has to train itself slowly. But when you wear shoes, you feel you can run faster with their support, and that isn’t good. Your body has to train itself gradually. n When you start running at the age of 35-40, your heart and lungs respond quickly and you feel energetic, but remember, your muscles haven’t grown. In fact, after 20 years of little exercise, your muscles have

deteriorated completely. So you have to allow them to grow. That will take two to three years. n Along with running, core exercises are also important. You can do planks, crunches and hanging leg raises. You have to work on your core as this area needs to be energised. n Avoid artificial sweeteners, refined sugar and nonvegetarian food as much as possible. Honey and jaggery are fine, but moderation is the key. Photo: SHUTTERSTOCK

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

When you run barefoot, your body is constantly told how to respond to various surfaces. So your balance, your coordination, the foot strike, the impact – everything is taken care of by the body’s response. Trillions of responses happen in the body at the same time. It is instinctive. You have to allow the body to take care of itself. When you run barefoot, you start by running very, very slowly. The body begins to train itself. Then you slowly increase your speed and distance. Many barefoot runners take tetanus shots to ward off possible infections from cuts and wounds, but I haven’t done that because I haven’t had any cuts or deep wounds as yet. I just had a scratch once, from a tiny splinter. The tetanus bacteria is in fact everywhere, all around you. But it has to go deep into your body to really grow. I run anywhere and everywhere. Different surfaces are important. Grass, concrete, gravel, tar. In Delhi, I love to run at India Gate, and Lodhi Garden is beautiful. Except for Mumbai, all the cities I visit have beautiful places where I can run. Mumbai, with all its potholes, garbage and everything, is like an exercise in itself. People complain about it, but I don’t bother. During the rains, I wear very thin vibrams (rubber outsoles) as the skin is more vulnerable to cuts and bacteria. I love running in the rain. I’m not saying that fat people are not fit or that only a particular body shape is fit. No, for me the ability to deal with situations of all kinds – whether physically, emotionally or mentally – is fitness. If your emotions are balanced, your mind is functioning properly and you are able to deal with situations properly, then you are fit. We see so many world-class athletes who are unstable. They are definitely not fit in the right sense of the word. Milind Soman is also a model (As told to Veenu Singh) veenus@hindustantimes.com Follow @VeenuSingh12on twitter

COVER STORY

THE GREAT INDIAN

REVOLUTION

India’s young, particularly its women, are challenging the old order and pushing for change. Despite an intense backlash, nothing can stop this revolution

by Ira Trivedi

ESTLING IN the ancient maze-like alleys of Paharganj, a central Delhi marketplace known for cheap hotels and backpackers (though at one point it was 18th century Delhi’s principal grain market) is the office of the Love Commandos. It is at this ramshackle office, with news clippings from impressive national and international publications adorning most of the bruise-coloured walls, that I meet the corpulent Harsh Malhotra and the diminutive Sanjoy Sachdev, the chief coordination officer and chairman of the Commandos – a veritable Laurel-and-Hardy pair. Established in 2010, the main agenda of the Love Commandos is to rescue runaway couples in love from the wrath of their families, and communities, and bring them to their shelter in Delhi, where they offer protection – often from death threats. Harsh and Sanjoy claim to have helped and housed over 5,000 couples in love across the country, and receive over 200 phone calls on their six helplines every day and they have more than 10,000 “commandos” who volunteer, rescuing at-risk couples. In the loft above the office, I meet the new arrivals Mamta and Karan, a newly married couple, flush with love. Mamta (19) and Karan (22) met three years ago while attending college in Rohtak, Haryana, and fell in love. Mamta is a Rajput, and Karan is a Dalit. They have run away because Mamta’s family found out about their love, and threatened to kill them both if they continued to speak to each other. That is when they decided to get married, run away and seek protection at the Love Commandos shelter – a dismal honeymoon if there ever was one. The young couple though seems full of optimism about the future. They know that if they return to Rohtak, they will be killed – if not by their families, then by the khap panchayats. So, they hope to remain cloaked in the anonymity of a big city and to start afresh. Mamta plans to finish her degree in computer science and become a teacher, while Karan hopes to find a job as an engineer. They tell me, gripping each other’s hands, that they only have each other now – they have left their family, their village and their past behind. Or take for example Priya, a young woman

Photos: GETTY IMAGES

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

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from a small town in Tamil Nadu, who moved to Bangalore to work at a BPO. She met and fell in love with a colleague, Kartikey, but her parents refused the match and told Priya to leave her job immediately and return to her hometown so they could find a suitable man to marry her off to. But Priya chose to follow her heart. She married Kartikey, after which her family ostracised her completely. Mamta and Priya are not alone in their choices. Across the country, young women are choosing to assert their will, especially when it comes to love, sex and marriage. But in a patriarchal country like India, this doesn’t come without trouble. Studies show that resistance to inter-religious and inter-caste marriage typically comes from the girl’s family, who risk losing respect or “honour” in their communities since their daughter making her own choices shows her family’s apparent lack of control over her. According to reports, 94 per cent of honour killings are carried out by the girl’s family.

s I travelled to 15 cities across India, over four years, writing my book India in Love: Marriage and Sexuality in the 21st Century, conducting over five hundred interviews, I found that across cities, both big and small, millions of young Indians are breaking age-old barriers – they are falling in love, marrying partners of their choice and disregarding social norms to make their own sexual choices. As I came across these narratives, I began wondering what was at the root of the change. Why was it that I found couples like Mamta and Karan everywhere I looked, at every turn, nursing their love stories in the nooks and crannies of cities – in burgeoning coffee shops, in public parks, in crowded malls? As I researched, I found that the reason was apparent– in 2014, India, is going through a sexual revolution much like that of the US in the 1950s. India is at the first stage of this revolution. In India’s case, the emancipation of women, the redefinition of sexual mores, the shift from arranged marriage to love marriage, is all happening at the very same time, and relationships between men and women in this country have changed more in the past ten years than they have in the previous three thousand. Love matches have risen from just five per cent of Indian marriages to 30 per cent in the

WHY IS THERE CONFLICT/ STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE OLD AND THE NEW?

past decade. Even arranged marriage has changed form. My grandparents did not meet until the day of their wedding, my parents met once before they got married; as for me, as for many of my generation, it is unthinkable to get married in this way. Arranged marriage is still very much alive and kicking, in fact it is still how the majority of India gets married, but the process has taken a 360-degree turn. As I found out from the numerous marriage brokers that I interviewed – “chemistry” trumps all, even in the arranged marriage process, a major change from just a decade ago, where caste, wealth, family background and education were the main criteria. The other major change in arranged marriage is the increased jurisdiction of the to-be-married – there are couples who often take charge of the process themselves, creating profiles on matrimonial sites, calling in marriage brokers, and taking weeks, months, sometimes even years to date, before they make their final decision. The choices, freedom, attitudes and experiences of today’s youth have been radically dif-

ferent from everything that has preceded them, and today’s young Indians have a very different set of experiences than their parents, grandparents, and generations before them. Couples like Mamta and Karan are willing to break caste boundaries, have pre-marital sex and run away from traditions which keep them shackled to the past. And they are not alone. India is the world’s youngest country, and India’s large youth population is embracing the revolution.

erhaps the biggest change of all has been the dramatic shift in traditional values related to love, sex and marriage. Sex is finally out of the closet and on to the streets. On a short drive through urban India, one is bombarded with titillating sexual images. The same overt sexuality is present in Bollywood movies. Sex scenes are common on the same screen that even a decade ago censored French kisses. Pornography is widely available, with a recent Google survey declaring that six Indians cities are ranked highest in the world for online porn views. Homosexuality is out in the public and legal domain and there is a flagrant gay party scene in the bars and bathhouses of metro cities. Sex for sale, for both men and women, is easily available, including a new host of sex workers from Indian college girls to middle-aged housewives. While sexual mores are changing, the move towards marriage based on love, rather than caste, community or wealth, represents another part of the revolution – a love revolution that will forever change family life and social structures. Yet no revolution comes without its challenges. As young India falls in love, there is a strong backlash from traditional forces. Whether it is khap panchayats, politicians, lawmakers, or, most commonly, families themselves, there are challengers to India’s revolution. Amongst many other retrograde suggestions, the khaps have advocated child marriage, saying that if it is instituted, the natural sexual desires arising when the child hits puberty will be avoided. Another group has said that girls should be married at the age of sixteen as it will help young people satisfy their sexual needs and will also help reduce rape cases. Some politicians have suggested banning phones and jeans for women as a way to avoid titillation and rape, while others have said that women should not go out at night as it instigates men to rape. In many cases, like that of

The choices, freedom, attitudes and experiences of today’s youth are radically different from everything that has preceded them

n Uprooting of traditional caste and family structures. n Breaking down of patriarchy as women take charge of their sexual and marital choices.

n For a patriarchal society like India, this can be especially painful as men struggle to assert their rights while women’s attitudes change at cyber speed. What is so amazing about

India’s sexual revolution is the scale at which it is happening. It is not just in urban, afﬂuent pockets, but in urban centres, large and small, in towns like Bhopal, Rohtak, Guntur and Kochi.

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

COVER STORY Mamta and Karan, it is often families themselves who threaten to kill their kin, if they make their own marital choices. The reason why we see so much conflict, especially the disturbing conservative backlash, is because patriarchy is being questioned at a fundamental level. India is stuck between two worlds – and as the old guard loses control over women’s choices, especially sexual choices, it tries to go back to the “old culture”. But what is the “old culture” exactly? Culture, by definition, is constantly changing with the time, and in India we have two cultures coexisting with each other. An old, repressive, patriarchal culture which is trying to control the marriage and sexual choices of its women in an attempt to maintain social order. And then we have the new – a young and restless India – willing to follow her heart and make non-traditional choices. The world that we exist in today makes all this possible. Education, jobs and opportunities actually allow a young India to do this. For the first time, couples like Mamta and Karan, like Priya and Kartikey, have the ability to take their own decisions because the world that we live in today allows it. According to India’s first sexologist Prakash Kothari, who, over the course of his sixty-year career, has been a first-hand observer of India’s sexual revolution, there has been a sea change in sexual attitudes over the past decade, particularly for Indian women. In the past, mostly all his patients were men, but today more than half his patients are women, who come to him enquiring about their sexual satisfaction. Perhaps the biggest changes are visible on college campuses where young people, independent of parental control, are able to mingle freely with the opposite sex, perhaps for the first time in their lives. At these campuses, I met young men and women who had fallen in love, dated and mated without inhibition. According to the principal of a leading university in Mumbai (who preferred not having her name used) girls are leading the change. According to the principal, while in the olden days, women used to study at college with the prime agenda of getting married, today this is hardly the goal. Today’s young women are eager to date and explore their sexuality when they arrive at college. In fact, for many girls, this is the number one agenda of coming to college.

ndia’s women are rising to the challenge. As I explored India’s sexual revolution, I found that it was her women who were leading it. For the first time in the history of the country, an entire generation of women is working alongside their male counterparts in the corporate and public sectors. For most young women whom I meet today, it is important to do

The world that we exist in today makes all this possible. Education, jobs and opportunities actually allow a young India to make her own choices something beyond just marriage – this was not the case with their mothers, whose careers (and often lives) were second to their husbands’. Today’s Indian women are not ready to accept this, they value their independence – in education, at work, and in their love and sex lives – and are willing to fight for it. At the moment though, India is at an important crossroads. While one generation has not fully let go of our conservative and traditional past, another has embraced a new culture of love, sex and marriage. In this sort of muddled state of affairs, there is bound to be conflict, and it is often the young – people like Mamta and Karan – who suffer the consequences.

WHAT ARE THE FACTORS WHICH LED TO INDIA’S REVOLUTION? n The breakdown of the belief that men and women are different in terms of sensibility, lifestyle and sexuality. n The inability of society to regulate personal behaviour and punish them for nonconformity. (Like khaps, for example).

n Women’s economic independence. n Birth control, so that there is no fear of pregnancy. n Open ideal of love, sex and marriage in popular culture, including Bollywood.

Despite all the barriers that they face, India’s young, particularly the women, are making their own choices, forging the way and leading the revolution. There are barriers, often-insurmountable ones, along the way, and at times women (and even men for that matter) have to risk even their lives to make their choices. The only thing one can hope for is that we can find a balance, between the old and the new, between tradition and modernity, between the past and present, between parents and children. While India tries to find the balance that we need for the future, one thing is for certain – India is going through a sexual revolution and like a shy, but eager newlywed bride, is slowly shedding her chastity belt. We are never going back to the India of our past. India’s revolution has begun, it is gaining pace, and nothing can stop it. The writer is the author of India in Love: Marriage and Sexuality in the 21st Century. Follow her@iratrivedi brunchletters@hindustantimes.com

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

WELLNESS

Dabba On A Diet Are you truly health conscious or have a condition that needs a special menu? Some people have solutions by Veenu Singh

OR ALL the foodiness we’ve been subject to in the last 10 years, the question of what to order for lunch has driven more than one person almost to a nervous breakdown. Dabbas, of course, are an option, but if you’re truly health conscious, or have a condition that requires a special diet, what do you do? Well, some people are trying to solve that problem, with specialised tiffins offering low calorie, vegan, organic, and even microbiotic food. “Many people are willing to pay that little extra for a specialised healthy dabba service,” says Shivani Gupta, managing director, SPAG Asia. “This is a big trend in the US and Singapore.” And now it’s catching on in India too.

THE LOW-CAL LUNCH

Delhi-based Tarani Kapur, 35, knows how hard it is to eat a healthy, low-cal lunch every day. “Despite the fact that I have been cooking for several years, I realised that I was unable to manage my weight,” she says. “That’s when I thought of figuring out a way in which I could make low calorie food taste good without compromising on health.” Her grandfather was a hotelier and every person in her family is a foodie, so Kapur felt capable of coming up with low calorie tiffin options. Her dabbas are available in what Kapur calls ‘programmes’: diabetic, heart, weight loss and calorie control. But if you’re merely health conscious, Kapur has options for you too.

NO DAIRY PLEASE The food, cooked using flashfreeze technology that keeps it fresh for several days, is sent in microwavable containers, with a list detailing what must be eaten for which meal. The dishes sound interesting – such as barley risotto, Asian wheat noodles. Dessert is always included, so you don’t feel a sugar craving at the end of the meal. “It’s high end food, with nutrition,” says make-up artist Ambika Pillai.

THE VEGAN REPAST

Indian vegetarians. But veganism is slowly finding fans in India, primarily because of its health benefits. Pune-based Anuradha Sawhney found out for herself when, in 2010, she learned that her cholesterol level was high even though she was on a diet. Shocked, Sawhney decided to go deep into her eating habits and realised that the real problem was her use of refined oil and the fact that she ate no whole grains. “So I went oil free and included whole grains in my food,” she says. “Within the next three months, not only did my cholesterol level come down to normal, but I lost a few kilos too.” Motivated by her experiment, she wrote a cookbook, Vegan Kitchen, and started vegan tiffins in Pune. “I started experimenting with forgotten grains like javari

Veganism is slowly finding fans in India, primarily because of health benefits

India has an idea of vegetarian food that the rest of the world can’t quite fathom. It means no animal products in the cooking, even in the cooking fat. Veganism takes this further. It means no animal products at all – even dairy. So no milk, no dahi, no paneer, no ghee… none of the things so dear to the heart of

CALORIE CONSCIOUS

Tarani Kapur ensures that she makes even noodles healthy by using low cal wholewheat options

CHEMICALLY FREE

Anuradha Madhusudhanan offers organic options such as broccoli almond soup which is healthy and suitable for most people SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

Anuradha Sawhney cooks vegan food like dudhi chana dal masala using organic spices and ragi,” she says. “I replaced regular atta with whole wheat atta, banished all refined things like sugar and maida and started using organic spices.” To have a vegan lunch made by Sawhney, you have to live in Pune. But you can take away snacks like khakras made of oats and barley, as well as health bars.

THE ORGANIC SPREAD

Organic food is food that is free of all chemicals and pesticides. And that’s exactly what 43-year-old Delhiite Anuradha Madhusudhanan, executive chef at Tattva Gourmet Organic Kitchen delivers: fresh, healthy and tasty organic food. Having eaten nothing but junk food while she lived the corporate life, Madhusudhanan realised that office-goers need healthier, more nutritious food. So she researched ayurvedic nutrition and began experimenting with her own food. When her doctors told her she wouldn’t survive her pregnancy because of her falling haemoglobin levels, she put herself on an iron-rich diet for a month. This led to a marked improvement in her haemoglobin levels and a successful delivery. Inspired, Madhusudhanan launched her lunch delivery service. Sourcing all ingredients locally from NGOs and organic shops, she believes in the Ayurvedic principle of satiation in which all the six tastes are present in the food – sweet, sour, bitter, pungent, salty and astringent. “All the items on the menu are designed keeping this balance in mind,” she says. . “Organic food is suitable for everything from weight management to medical conditions. I use cold pressed oils rich in antioxidants, and fresh foods,” adds Madhusudhanan. veenus@hindustantimes.com Follow @VeenuSingh12on twitter

VARIETY

Meet The Ittarati

The scent of nawabs has a new whiff

Photo: GETTY IMAGES

by Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi

ICE PERFUME,” complimented a colleague as one teammate walked in for the editorial meeting. “Yeah, it’s nice, right?” she asked, “What’s nicer, though, is that it isn’t a perfume. It’s an ittar.” Many of us were surprised. The fact that ittar or attar, as it was traditionally called, could exude a fragrance that wasn’t overpowering, but had a subtle undertone, came as a revelation to us.

BREATHE IN CHANGE

While the traditional aromas of khus, rose, jasmine, musk and sandalwood continue as stand alone fragrances, in the last couple of years, new scents have been introduced. These are now blended with ingredients like spices, essential oils and fruits, says Mohammad Mohsin, an ittar manufacturer from Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh, one of the largest ittar manufacturing

Photo: SHUTTERSTOCK

IT’S DIFFERENT The transformation of traditional ittar is not limited to subtler, more sophisticated fragrances. Even the packaging has become more user-friendly. The pretty, small glass bottles remain but the little ply stick has been replaced with roll-on bottles. “The younger generation wants a mix of the old and the new. While they like the idea of an ittar as compared to a perfume as they ﬁnd it more exotic, they feel the stick is too cumbersome to be used on the move and hence the roll-on,” says Gulbaksh Khan, a thirdgeneration ittar maker.

GETTING THE ESSENCE RIGHT

Since ittars have not been diluted with alcohol, they are safer for the skin towns in the country. Mahmoud (who goes by just one name) of Ajmal Perfumes in Nizamuddin, Delhi, says the blends have been made keeping in mind the sensibilities of urban buyers. “You say ittar and the world of strong aromas, djinns and magic incenses comes to mind. But today’s ittar is being made for the modern world,” says Mahmoud. “If traditionally, musk was popular, today we’ve introduced a blend of musk, rose and sandal. The result is an aroma that lingers.” Mohsin who belongs to the fourth generation in a family of perfume makers, has been experimenting with essences and spices. “For the summer, we made a fragrance called Mausam, a blend of essences reminiscent of a morning by the ocean,” he says. Fragrances such as hina (an amalgam of spices and oils), lemongrass (lemongrass oil, sandal and other essential oils from herbs), ruhani (citrus fruits and oils) among others, have also been introduced. What hasn’t changed though, say ittar makers, is the purity of ingredients. It still remains a concentrated form of essential oils. Unlike spray perfumes, it hasn’t been diluted with alcohol. “The fact that ittar is safe for the skin, makes it even more popular,” says Mahmoud of Ajmal Perfumes. With a 10ml bottle costing between `100 and `200, it is good value for money, too. tavishi.rastogi@hindustantimes.com

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

IN FOCUS

Lights Out For The Dark Room? Film photography is perceived as a dead art form, but some veterans remain optimistic about its future. The jury, it seems, is still out on the film-digital debate

Raghu Rai started with ﬁlm but now swears by digital

FILM: Daily wage labourers building a highway in Hyderabad

by Asad Ali

ENEATH THE glass counter of this little shop in Mehrauli lies the usual paraphernalia of all convenience stores: packets of chips, stationery items and so on. But huddled away in one corner of the glass cabinet is a pile of small yellow and green boxes of Kodak and Fuji film. In what might seem like a poignant play of irony, renowned photographer Raghu Rai’s studio is just a ten-minute walk up the road from this shop. Because Rai definitely isn’t a potential customer.

GONE WITH THE WIND? “Some people tend to be nostalgic about things. I don’t believe in nostalgic nonsense. That was technology which was cumbersome and time consuming,” shoots Rai. “Now with digital you can take pictures in the middle of the night on the streets. Isn’t that great?” he asks. Co-founder of Delhi-based Nazar Foundation (set up to promote photography) and also the co-founder of Delhi Photo Festival, Dinesh Khanna is actually surprised that the film-digital debate is still unresolved. “Film photography in India is pretty much dead,” he says. Most photographers, he says, have embraced digital. “It’s like debating horse buggies and cars as a mode of transport. The transition to cars happened a long time back but some people still insist on riding a buggy to work! They might look more impressive but what does that really prove?” It proves, Khanna goes on to say, that the person is simply travelling much slower than the others.

DIGITAL: Rai captures the preparation of Mandala - the symbol that represents the Universe in Buddhism - in Leh

THE CASE FOR THE PROSECUTION Convenience is a major edge that digital enjoys over film. Back in the day, says Rai, photographers used up numerous film rolls every day without knowing if the image was going to turn out the way they hoped it would. “Sometimes you just knew that you captured the moment perfectly. However, in most cases, one wasn’t sure,” he says. But doesn’t that inculcate a certain sense of discipline? “Yes,

film does teach you discipline,” agrees Khanna. “But if you just put a tape over your digital screen and swear to not look at it even once, that would give you the same discipline.” Digital is also seen as more economical. “The recurring costs, once you buy a camera, have reduced drastically. You can shoot a thousand frames and it won’t cost as much. Whereas in film each frame costs money,” he adds. Though film photography took

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

a massive hit across the world with the onset of digital, it impacted the Indian market much more. “Even before digital was born, the affordability trend was noticeable. The American photographer had a lot more film to shoot with than the European photographer who in turn had more film to shoot with compared to the Indian photographer. That just reflected the economics of the time which we can see as an extension even now,” explains Khanna. That ‘exten-

IN FOCUS sion’ means that photographers in India who want to shoot with film even now find it difficult to procure it locally. Digital became a natural choice for professional and amateur photographers. Seeing the way the wind was blowing, Rai advised Madanji & Sons – one of the most popular photo stores in Delhi even today – to shift gears to digital: “Madanji was upset with me as I too started using digital. But I told him clearly that if he doesn’t store digital paper and stock the requisite equipment, his store will lose business. I can do nakhras, I’m a creative person, but you’re doing business!” Raj Kapoor, who now heads the store, understands that well. He says that the consumption of film has gone down by more than 98 per

cent: “We do stock some film but that’s only for a niche group,” says Kapoor, but adds with finality that “even this interest in film won’t last very long. A year or two more before it fizzles out.” Business fizzled out for global companies such as Kodak and Fuji as well when the digital tsunami hit them. Kodak closed down its film manufacturing units and filed for bankruptcy in January 2012. They were back in the reckoning by 2013, officially shifting focus to imaging solutions, printing technology and the like. Centhil Nathan, executive vice president of the Photo Imaging Division, at Fujifilm India, says that business was affected 100 per cent and Fuji too had to close down the manufacturing of both film and its

Aditya Arya doesn’t see ﬁlm fading out

chemical (C41) business. But Fuji dealt better with the situation by diversifying into other areas. “It was around 2008 when Fuji started bringing out digital cameras and digital mini labs to counter the shift in the industry.” Closer home, SV Photographic, one of the most popular photo processing labs in Delhi right now, was also smart in riding the digital wave. Satish Luthra, who heads the lab along with his partner Anil Luthra, says, “We started digital operations as early as 2001. Among other things, we started to convert to digital the films that a lot of photographers had at the time.”

FILM HASN’T LEFT THE BUILDING YET But acclaimed photographer Pablo Bartholomew debunks the digitalis-always-cheap myth. He says, “Most people don’t understand that the storage of digital material is fragile and costly. Backups of gigabytes of data take up huge resources. Storing negatives and slides took up less space, and if stored well, could last 80 - 100 years. I doubt if a CD/DVD or even a hard drive, will last that long.” For his own part, Bartholomew remains fairly practical and balanced: “I worked for a French American news agency, so I had to change with the times. But I still shoot with film. Digital has its positives obviously. But I think digital and film should, and will, co-exist.” Another major name in Indian photography, Aditya Arya, thinks that the “machine gun” capabilities of a 32 GB memory card, which allows for a large number of photographs to be taken, does more harm than good. “Analog photography requires a high degree of discipline. You have 36 exposures or single exposures and you learn to make a great photograph within that space.” He says that the digital wave is a concerted move by film manufacturing companies and distributors to choke out demand in certain markets such as India because they aren’t making enough profits. Arya, co-director at APEX photo Academy, Delhi (Khanna is also a co-director there), feels that Khanna has “grossly overstated” the popularity, or lack of it rather, of film photography as an art form. He says, “This issue of film

and digital has not been resolved as some may believe. It’ll continue to be there and become an exclusive art form. People will do anything to possess a film camera at that point.” The optimism is shared by Anshika Varma, a young freelance documentary photographer based out of Delhi. Varma, whose work has been published by many leading national publications in India, says, “So many people experiment with mobile photography. It’s easily accessible and convenient. The relationship you form with film photography is, however, of a different nature. You don’t fall in love with it based on convenience. The whole process of shooting in film, without really knowing how the photograph is going to turn out later, is quite exciting.”

DOES THE MEDIUM MATTER ENOUGH? Setting sentiment aside, Varma says that a lot of upcoming photographers are making a conscious decision to work with film. In fact, some places like the Goa Center for Alternate Photography, are making the effort to teach the art of film processing to students. Sohrab Hura, who recently became only the second Indian after Raghu Rai to become a nominee of Magnum Photos, a photographers collective co-founded by Henri Cartier-Bresson, finds the whole discourse “a bit nonsensical”. He says, “It’s like asking a writer if he or she uses a computer or a typewriter instead of focussing on the book that has actually been written.” Hura himself shoots both film and digital: “For me the actual work done is far more important than the medium.” In Hollywood recently, a group of studios have been in talks with Eastman Kodak to reach an agreement of sorts, wherein the studios will keep buying a set quantity of film in the coming years from them – an attempt to keep Kodak’s film business afloat. Perhaps a similar intervention would help give the much needed fillip to film photography in India. Maybe then the little Mehrauli shop near Rai’s studio can keep stocking those film boxes without worrying too much about sales.

The actual work done is far more important than the medium

FILM: A tribal

group in the town of Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh (above)

DIGITAL:

Labourers painting an exhibition wall. From Arya’s private collection of mobile photographs. He calls it “Cellphonenama” (left)

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

asad.ali@hindustantimes.com

STYLE FILE

Y n I s d n e r T t s e t a L e h T d n i F , s y u G Photos: GETTYIMAGES

If the European and American Spring/ Summer 2015 collections are anything to go by, the look of the moment is normal, everyday chic

THE LOOK

Clark Kent in his new Normcore avatar. Scribbled-on jeans, plain grey T-shirt and glasses

Knee-slit shorts, black air socks and shirt, Afro hair and a casual light coat

FIRST SEEN

Kris Van Assche, Spring// Summer 2015, Paris Menswear Fashion Week eek

Dsquared2, Spring/Summer 2015 Menswear, Milan Fashion Week.

BEST FOR

by Indra Shekhar Singh

The streets, during all spring and autumn. For shopping, sightseeing or catching a beer with friends

R PERFECT has always been in style. You know: snazzy suit, neat tie, impeccable grooming and faultlessly styled hair. He’s been around since the days of Frank Sinatra. He could have been the inspiration for the TV show Suits. But you aren’t going to see much of Mr Perfect next year. Or at least, that’s what the Spring/ Summer 2015 fashion shows in Europe and the US indicate. Because on the ramps were not the usual styled-up boys in pretty clothes. Instead, from Rome to Milan to Paris, there were firemen, construction workers, vagabonds and other everyday guys. The world of workers, artists and students has become the new fashion paradigm. From California-based designer Rick Owen to Italian designer Roberto Cavalli, the Spring/Summer collections all showcased minimal style and maximum personality with casual, everyday clothes that you see on the streets, but seldom on the ramp. This is the new style. This is ‘normcore’.

BEST FOR

Everywhere! College, movies or a date. Do not wear it to your grandparents’ anniversary party

THE LOOK THE LOOK

WHAT IT IS

Normcore is a combination of the e words ‘normal’ and ‘hardcore’. The term was coined by the New Yorkbased trend forecasting group, K-Hole. The idea is to discover what is normal and customise it to your own personal style. That is, dress for the occasion – but in your own way. So by all means dress like an IPL mascot for a big match, but also switch to more daring wear for a long night at the club later. “True style comes by first discovering yourself and then confidently wearing it,” says fashion designer Rajesh Pratap

Classy leather shoes and groomed hair matched with stoles, a half jacket and a sleeveless vest

FIRST SEEN

Haider Ackermann, Spring/Summer 2015, Paris Menswear Fashion Week

BEST FOR

Art exhibitions, film festivals and an outing to the hip part of town

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

Overcoat, no socks, satchel and distressed rolled-up jeans

FIRST SEEN

Gucci Spring/ Summer 2015, Milan Men’s Fashion Week

BEST FOR

Formal events, office and startup seminars

! e b o r d r a W r u o s In Y THE LOOK

Schoolboy with a white shirt, bag and shorts. Makes this boy ultra normcore!

FIRST SEEN

Dsquared2, Spring/Summer 2015 Menswear, Milan Fashion Week

BEST FOR

Reunion parties, raves, sports meets, nerd clubs and flea markets

Singh. The idea is to assertively blend in, not stand out. “We have long been confused in big cities,” says Singh. “We don’t know where to look and what to wear.” That, he explains, is because our horizons have expanded so much. “Because we are travelling more and get so much information from the Internet, we know more about fashion and underground cultures than we ever did before and that confuses us,” he explains. Big city boys are the worst affected, he says. “Small town men are confident, comfortable and know who they are. Their isolation from the big cities’ cultures has saved their style.” How do we know we’re far too influenced by what other people think we should wear? Well, for example blindly following the example, style guides of the West may mean y stick your sweaty feet that you lea into leather boots for starters! onl common sense to dress It’s only y for your own climate, but the too fashiona fashionable always put style over comf comfort. Now even ramps are a talking about comfortable style. “We have to be adaptable and ourselv to situations,” style ourselves sa Singh. “The normcore says trend will explode in India as soon as we discover our roots in terms of fabrics, patterns and identity.”

HO TO DRESS NORMCORE HOW

co-f K-Hole co-founder Emily Segal speaking in the British ffashion and lifestyle ma magazine Vogue, explains the thinking behind this h hyper-normalised styling: “Ther an exhaustion with “There’s trying to seem dif different. People g are genuinely tired by the fact ac that to achieve status you need to dif be different from everyone else y around you.” That means there is no par particular style diktat this year. nor Being normcore means being comf confident and comfortable with what you wear, whether it’s a bathr bathrobe or tennis shorts. Men ma are being told to mix and match war their wardrobes and not be afraid or of looking ordinary or normal. mor advice? Keep checking Want more designers read fashion blogs out designers, pic outfits that make your and pick shine Simply, be personality shine. inspir by everyday life. And be inspired trul normcore. truly brunchletters@hindustantimes.com

indulge

New TreaTs ON The BlOck I Delhi has three new restaurants, only a couple of months old, yet a generation ahead of the competition. Can Bombay top that?

F ANYBODY seriously doubts that Delhi is now the gourmet capital of India (yes, yes, I know; I keep changing my mind – it’s Delhi one month and Bombay the next!), then he or she should go to the restaurants I’ve reviewed this week. They are all only a couple of months old and yet, in quality terms, they are a generation ahead of the competition. I wandered into Town Hall in Khan Market as a walkin, to beat the system where they keep track of reservations and feed your number into Truecaller to check who you really are (more about that later) only to find myself looking at a familiar face in an unfamiliar venue. Augusto Cabrera is probably the father of the sushi revolution in India. A decade ago, when Threesixty° opened at the Delhi Oberoi, Augusto was the sushi master and he made his sushi and sashimi so trendy that Delhi fell in love with raw fish.

Vir Sanghvi

rude food All of us got so used to Augusto’s sushi that I once wrote in this column that in my creative moments I thought of Threesixty° as “Augusto’s Sushi Bar”. Then, some months ago, after ten years at the Oberoi, Augusto disappeared. I thought he had probably gone back to his native Philippines and felt bad that I had not had a chance to say goodbye. And yet, five months later, when I walked into Town Hall, I found myself staring at Augusto, a smilier, more energetic Augusto, but still very much the Augusto who had become a South Delhi legend. I was so surprised to see him there that I didn’t even mind that I had been rum-

SUSHI CENTRAL

Filipino chef Augusto Cabrera (above) serves Wasabi-quality food like a sushi-sashimi platter (extreme right) at Town Hall. His Filipino barbeque pork belly dish (right) is also delicious SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

BURGER DEPOT

At Depot 29, a collaboration between Ritu Dalmia and Vikas Narula (seen in picture on the left with Girjashankar Vohra), go for the burgers (above) served with delicious fries bled and my anonymity destroyed. It turned out that when Augusto left the Oberoi, he did not head for Manila but drove for five minutes till he reached Khan Market. He is a partner in Town Hall. I think he is – I am not sure of what the shareholding structure is, only that various Delhi businessmen have invested in the restaurant on the basis of Augusto’s skill. And both he and his wife are at the door, greeting guests and looking after the room. While I am a fan of the Khan Market restaurant boom, I also find many of the establishments awkwardly located, with low ceilings. Town Hall, on the other hand, is huge, with high ceilings and many rooms spread over two floors. The décor is relaxed and quirky and nothing like the average Khan Market place. As for the food – well, what can I say? It is everything you would expect from Augusto. A nigiri sushi platter was well up to Threesixty° standards and two new style sashimis (or fish carpaccio or whatever) in the Nobu tradition, were outstanding. This is Wasabi-quality food at Khan Market prices. Also delicious was a pork belly dish from Augusto’s own country and I do wish he would put more Filipino

dishes on the menu. The menu takes in the world. There’s Chinese food of Taipan quality (I am guessing he stole the chef) which is great if you like Taipan but there are also burgers, pizzas, sandwiches, Thai stir-fries, Burmese noodles and everything else you can think of. I’d do anything for Augusto’s food. But even without the modern Japanese, Town Hall is a fun place to go to: relaxed and just slightly eccentric. How Ritu Dalmia finds the time to open new restaurants I do not know. She is out of the country half the time, making millions organising the catering at big ticket Marwari weddings all over the world. But existing places flourish and new ones keep opening. The latest is Depot 29 in Safdarjung Enclave. This is a collaboration between Ritu and Vikas Narula, newly returned from abroad and a hamburger freak. To avoid the Dalmia machine, I booked under another name one Sunday only to discover that they were expecting me: they had programmed my number into their system so they were not fooled by the name. (Note to self: will have to get new phones for restaurant reservations!) I can’t judge the service because I was rumbled even before I got there. Even so, I thought it was first rate, with many servers I recognised from other Dalmia operations. I liked the restaurant too: it is hidden away at the back of a building that is dominated by a bank and comprises two rooms on two separate floors. I thought the burgers were excellent, which I guess is down to the Narula part of the operation. The problem is with the Dalmia contribution to the menu. Despite her undoubted talent, I guess Ritu is too busy flitting from Puglia to Tuscany to understand what an American burger place should be like. So there are pointless poncy touches, like fancy long plates that do not fit easily on the table and a menu of pretentious main courses (like a bogus soufflé) that are not only crusted to this kind of restaurant but are also indifferently cooked. So go for the burgers. Eat them with the delicious fries and you will not be disappointed. Which brings us to the heavyweight of the three restaurants that make up this week’s column – Zorawar Kalra’s wonderful Farzi Café in Gurgaon’s Cyber Hub. You’ve probably heard of Zorawar. He is the son of Jiggs Kalra who did so much to add variety to Indian food in the 1980s and 1990s. When Zorawar first started out, his style was very much his father’s – he founded the Punjab Grill chain (now owned by Lite Bite Foods) and refined Jiggs’ old recipes. But over the last few years, Zorawar has come into his own. He has travelled the world, eaten at places like El Bulli and watched how other chefs are reinventing Indian food. Because, like his father before him, Zorawar is not himself a chef, he has found chefs he can work with to create new takes on old favourites. The first of the new generation of restaurants was Masala Library, which is still packing them in at Bombay’s Bandra Kurla Complex. But while Masala Library’s original menu was derivative (Manish Mehrotra and Gaggan Anand were major influences), Zorawar has finally found his own style. Farzi Café is supposed to be cheaper and less formal than Masala Library but it is clearly the better restaurant because the food is genuinely creative. Zorawar still relies on two Indian Accent veterans in the kitchen – Saurabh and Himanshu – but this time

MODERN INDIAN CAFE

Zorawar Kalra’s (above) Farzi Café has wittily constructed dishes like Arancini (top) made with dal-chawal and sarson ki galawat with corn and cheese tostada (right) around, the food is largely free of external influences. The emphasis is less on molecular gastronomy, the dishes are wittily constructed and there is a uniformity to the vision. Arancini, the Italian rice balls that are usually made with risotto are made with dal-chawal here. Chhole and kulche are turned into tacos. The samosa is made with chilly duck. The chicken kourchan goes into a tart. That old Panjabi home staple of cheeni ka paratha is boosted with a dose of foie gras butter. A galouti kabab replaces the patty in an Indian hamburger. Butter chicken comes in a bun. The Spanish favourite of chorizo with rice becomes a pulao with Indian spices. The Pad Thai is made with poha. I walked in one weekday lunch (you can’t book at lunch so it is first-come firstserved) only to be spotted by Zorawar (my doomed attempts at anonymity are now beginning to assume a certain predictability) so I won’t pretend that I had the same experience as the average guest. But given that I ate my way through half the menu in record time, I doubt if they could have cooked anything specially for me. So while I won’t comment on the service, I can certainly say that I thought the food was a breakthrough. This is the first café in India that serves creative modern cuisine in these casual surroundings at these price points. If Zorawar can maintain these standards when he starts rolling out this concept at other locations, then he has a real winner on his hands. So three Delhi restaurants, all outstanding in their own way – Augusto’s sushi at affordable prices in a laidback place, amazing burgers and great modern Indian in a café ambience. Wow! Can Bombay top that?

Zorawar has travelled the world, eaten at places like El Bulli and watched how other chefs are reinventing Indian food

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

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

indulge

Sex, LieS, And The ThreAT Of ‘rApe’ A It can’t be ‘sex’ when you think he will marry you; and turn into ‘rape’ when he doesn’t

LL OF LAST week, we have been entranced by the TV appearances of a model/actress (face dutifully blacked out to preserve her anonymity) who claims that she was raped by BJP minister Sadananda Gowda’s son, Karthik. Her story is as follows. She met Karthik in May 2014 and the two of them became close. He began courting her, and soon tied a mangalsutra around her neck with his driver acting as witness. When she discovered she was pregnant and told Karthik, he told her not to blame him and stopped taking her calls. Then one day, she woke up to the news that Karthik had become engaged to another woman. At this point in the narration, the model/actress breaks down and insists that all that she wants is to be accepted by Karthik as his wife, and by his parents as their daughter-inlaw because she “cannot live without him”. But this touching display is rather ruined by the TV ticker running underneath it, which informs us that she has filed a case of rape against Karthik, and that the police have registered a case against him. As of this writing, Karthik has not been arrested, but by the time you read this, I would not be at all surprised if he was, indeed, behind bars, facing a charge of rape. Rape? Seriously? By what definition is this rape? By her own account, the lady concedes that she was in a con-

Seema Goswami

Photo: GETTY IMAGES

spectator CRYING WOLF

It took Madhur Bhandarkar nine years to close a 'maliciously false' case of rape against him lodged by a littleknown actress 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

sensual sexual relationship and that she hoped to marry Karthik (or had married him in some sort of symbolic ceremony) and that even now, she would like to be accepted into the Gowda family as a daughter-in-law. So how does a consensual sexual relationship miraculously turn into rape just because the man in question has dumped her for another woman? It can’t be sex when you think the guy will marry you; and rape when it becomes clear that he won’t. If, like many women, you equate sex with marriage, then for God’s sake, keep it off the table until you are married (and in a legallybinding ceremony, not some faux exchange of garlands or rings, or by the tying of a mangalsutra). And if you can’t do that, then take some responsibility for your decision instead of playing the victim and crying rape. Not just because this is something we expect of grownup women with minds, hearts and brains of their own but also because this propensity to cry rape when no rape has occurred is a slap in the face of every woman who has ever had to face real sexual violence in her life. Every time a woman levels such a frivolous charge of rape, it makes it that much more difficult for actual rape victims to be taken seriously. And what of the men who have been falsely accused and besmirched in the court of public opinion in the process? Remember the case of Hindi film director, Madhur Bhandarkar? A little-known actress lodged a complaint with the Versova police in 2004, alleging that the director had ‘raped’ her 16 times between 1999 and 2004 on the pretext of giving her a role in one of his forthcoming movies. There is a

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

CHANGING TACK

A case of rape has been filed against Karthik, BJP minister Sadananda Gowda's son, by a model/actress who he dated and later ditched for another woman word (or words) that could describe the behaviour of an actress who sleeps with a film director in the hope of getting a role (hint: it does not begin with ‘r’). But if you are sleeping with someone in the hope of profiting from the act, then the fact that you don’t actually profit doesn’t turn you into a victim, let alone a rape victim. If you choose sex as a transactional tool to get ahead in the world then you have to be prepared for both good and bad outcomes. And if you end up with a bad case of ‘seller’s remorse’, that doesn’t mean that all your previous consensual sexual encounters must be re-categorised as ‘rape’. It simply does not work like that. But even though this may seem self-evident which, looked at through the prism of common sense, it took Bhandarkar nine years to have the case closed. The trial continued in the High Court even after the Mumbai Police filed a report that the case against Bhandarkar was ‘maliciously false’. It took a bench of the Supreme Court to quash the proceedings, noting that the actress no longer wanted to pursue the case and that the Mumbai Police report had exonerated him. No doubt, the case against Karthik Gowda will also drag on in a similar manner, unless some sort of out-ofcourt compromise is affected. But these are just two high profile cases. There must be thousands of others in which men have been falsely accused of rape and have no option but to struggle through our complex and slow legal system to prove their innocence. Which is why I feel that this is as good a time as any to codify all those instances when a rape is not a rape. Breaking up with a long-time boyfriend? No, your sex life cannot be re-categorised as rape. Sleeping with someone with a view to profit in some way? If you don’t succeed, the sex doesn’t turn into rape. The man you slept with refuses to marry you? Still not rape. Each time we cry ‘rape’ when a relationship goes wrong, we insult the real victims of sexual violence. And in recasting our sexual experiences as something they are not, we let down our own sex.

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HIGH NOTES

‘I Get A Lot Of Female Att

His melodious voice stands out among playback singers. Presenting Sonu Nigam, uncut by Aasheesh Sharma

onu Nigam, the silken voice behind such hit numbers as Abhi mujh mein kahin, Sandese aate hain and Kal ho na ho, hasn’t been part of too many Bollywood blockbusters of late. Now, Mannat, his new hit from Daawat-e-Ishq, has again put the spotlight on the singer. In a freewheeling interview during a stopover in Delhi, the versatile singer opened up about composing for films, his marital problems, the demise of his mother and why he’s a bit of a YouTube fiend. Edited excerpts:

You have been very vocal about the singers’ rights issue. What is your take on it?

It is quite simple. Singers can ask for money from a hotel or a restaurant, or a TV show which is making money playing their song. But they can’t ask producers or music companies for money in such cases. The performance right stays with the artist. If my song is being played and somebody else is making money out of it, I deserve to get a share of it.

Some people have painted you as a mercenary. But you have not charged money for many songs.

I’ve become the face of the Copyright Act controversy. So, a music company decided to ban me. So, I have not got songs in the last couple of months. The song Hangover in Kick, sung by Salman [Khan] was originally sung by me. He was made to dub that song by the company. Then, two songs that I sang for Shekhar Suman’s Heartless were dubbed on the insistence of T-Series. Later in David Dhawan’s Main Tera Hero, Yeh galat baat hai, which I sang, was dubbed by Javed Ali. Money is not such a big issue. I have a problem when someone asks me to sign a document unconstitutionally.

Tell us about the Klose To My Soul concert tour...

We took a 56-piece symphony orchestra to the United States and did about 20 shows at iconic venues such as the Nassau Coliseum in New York and the Nokia

Theatre in Los Angeles. I have also been composing for films. Percussionist Bickram Ghosh and I have given music for Jal and Sooper Se Ooper. Next, we are doing Happy Anniversary, which is likely to feature Amitabh, Abhishek and Aishwarya.

I’ve also had my marital problems and people know about them

Your six-year-old son Nevaan, sang for Lata Mangeshkar’s album Sarhadein in 2011. Chip off the old block?

That was the first time he experienced the microphone and he was just two. Lataji told the composer, “Sonu ka beta to gaata hi hoga”. I began singing at four and Nevaan has started even younger.

How did you learn to sing?

Kayastha from Agra and my mother from Garhwal. Very early in my childhood, I realised they were performing at programmes, weddings and birthdays. When I saw my parents sing on stage, it came naturally to me. When my dad used to sing Kya hua tera vaada on the stage, I began singing too.

My father Agam Kumar Nigam and mother Shobha Nigam, who passed away last year, were both singers. My parents had a love marriage since my father was a

Friends from Delhi’s J D Tytler School remember you as a bright student…

My childhood was full of studies, riyaz, doing programmes and practising on the harmonium. We were not really rich kids so our parents couldn’t afford to give us guitars and keyboards. Therefore, we made the most of what we had. I did not have a tabla or conga, so I practised on a bench and my fingers became strong. We didn’t have the luxury of cars and multi-

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ple musical instruments that my son has today. So, we were hungry. Hungry kids work harder.

You landed in Bombay at 18. Tell us about the initial struggle.

I used to drive a rickety scooter. My apparent competitors at that point were singers twice my age. Kumar Sanuji, Udit Narayan and Abhijeet were all more than 20 years older than I was. Also, composers were not as friendly as the new guys who jam with newcomers. I’ve spent hours sitting on shoe racks waiting to meet music directors. I don’t regret it now, but at that point, it was quite terrifying. One incident at Sudeep Studio stands out. I had sung many songs for T-Series. Of these, I had great hopes about two of them being used in a film. But they were dubbed by somebody else. I was so shattered I started sobbing. I went to music director Usha Khanna’s house and told her my song had been dubbed. She asked me to take

ale Attention And I Like It’ There are many more singers around today. How much of it is a function of sound engineering?

Technology is helping non-singers become singers. So much so that even Salman can sing today. Despite that, the respect for good singers has gone up. In their hearts, people love singers such as Suresh Wadkar, Hariharan, or Sukhwinder Singh and me. It is God’s way of compensating me.

Which are the new singers you like? And what’s your USP?

Photo: SANJEEV VERMA; Location Courtesy: TAJ PALACE HOTEL

heart. She very lovingly said my time would come.

In an interview, you said you had a colourful youth. In what way?

When I came to Bombay, my friends were in college and I didn’t get to go to college. By 19, I had my first hit. When I started getting slightly popular, the female interest around me grew. I met with a lot of wonderful women of different mindsets, qualities and nationalities. During a concert tour in Israel, I first realised how popular I had become. As soon as we came out of the airport, the women who were swooning over Chunky Pandey left him and showered me with kisses. My face was plastered with lipstick. I quite enjoyed that phase. I still get a lot of female attention and like it. Who wouldn’t?

Javed Ali sings very well. So do Arijit Singh and Benny Dayal. Keerthi Sagathia has a very nice voice suited for songs with a folk touch. Then there are the wonderful Sufi voices such as Kamal Khan and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. The advantage I have over other singers is that I can sing every genre that they can sing. I’ve sung ghazals, semi-classical, high-pitched romantic songs and English songs. You have to support your talent. So, I work hard to stay versatile.

I understood I was not meant to experience success as an actor at that point.

You have sung for the biggest names – the three Khans and Hrithik. Who are you closest to? I am very fond of Shah Rukh. When I die, I hope the news channels play my song picturised on him from Kal Ho Na Ho: Har ghadi badal rahi hai roop zindagi.

People say you have become more spiritual over the years…

The moment you say you are spiritual, you cease to be spiritual. Then it becomes religious or something for which I need people’s opinion. I don’t need anybody's validation. I am settled and sorted in life despite the turbulences. I’ve had marital problems and people know about it. We are still together and my wife is a wonderful girl and we have a child together. But people are aware that we have had issues in the last 12 years that we have been married. Despite all that, in my mind and heart, I am sorted.

The Hangover song in Kick was originally sung by me, then dubbed by Salman

Your acting career wasn’t spectacular. Any regrets?

A lot of film offers came my way. I chose Jaani Dushman because I thought there were so many others in the cast such as Sunny Deol, Suniel Shetty, Akshay Kumar, Arshad Warsi and many others. How wrong could all these people go together? Unfortunately, it went on to become one of the most hilarious movies of all time. So

Is your son a calming influence?

Yes, he keeps the family together. If it wasn’t for my son, I would probably have – very respectfully and without any negativity – told my wife that it isn’t working out. But our beautiful son wants his parents together. My wife is a wonderful human being, but people grow apart. We are both mature people. We stay together and fulfil our responsibilities towards each other. If it wasn’t for my son, I would have been on a different orbit. I would work six months and then go for six months to my mother’s village in the Himalayas perhaps.

FIRST BLOOD

Sandese Aate Hain from Border (right) and Yeh Dil Deewana from Pardes marked Nigam’s big break in 1997

ON SONU’S PLAYLIST HIS OWN: n Abhi mujh mein kahin, from Agneepath. This song is special to me, the words by Amitabh Bhattacharya are really meaningful. n Kal ho na ho, from the eponymous ﬁlm: For Shah Rukh and only Shah Rukh. n Suraj hua maddham, from Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, the lyrics are beautifully put together. n Ajnabi sheher hai, from Jaan-E-Mann. The song, although not very popular, was very good. n Do kadam aur sahi from Meenaxi: A Tale of 3 Cities. Working with AR Rahman was special. OTHER SINGERS: n Talat Mehmood’s ghazals such as Jalte hain jiske liye and Phir wohi shaam, wohi gham. n Everything by Kishore, Raﬁ, Manna Dey and Hemant on loop.

Have you come to terms with losing your mother to cancer?

I have never told this to anyone, but those who are close to me and my friends know this. My mother’s disease and her eventual death have taken the wit out of me. Earlier, my sense of humour was so strong that I used to be the life of the party. My mother’s demise has taken away that humour from me. I cry a lot in my dreams when I see her. I have gone intrinsically more on my mother than my father. My father has given me his enviable voice and his temper. But my mother gave me that tehzeeb. Pair chhuna, izzat dena, muskurana, tameez se baat karna, woh mummy ne mujhe sikhaya. Whatever I am known for, if at all, is because of my mother. I miss her terribly. I wish I could have seen her growing old. She was just 63. I would have wanted to see her at 80. Par nahin dekh paye unko.

What’s a day in the life of Sonu like?

It depends. I am not a boring person. People call themselves disciplined, I call sticking to one routine every day boring. I sometimes go to bed at 1am, on other days, I sleep at 10am. I spend the night either doing riyaz, or watching documentaries on YouTube. There is so much information about science, philosophy, history and spirituality there. I am a bit of a YouTube fiend. My wife sometimes gets annoyed when I spend entire days watching documentaries. Otherwise, my schedule is flexible, depending on my commitments. aasheesh.sharma@hindustantimes.com Follow on Twitter @aasheesh74

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PERSONAL AGENDA

twitter.com/HTBrunch

Cricketer

Robin Uthappa

BIRTHDAY HOMETOWN Bangalore

November 11

SUN SIGN PLACE OF BIRTH Scorpio

Bangalore

HIGH POINT OF YOUR LIFE

SCHOOL/ COLLEGE

There are too many to put down

St. Joseph’s Boys High School, Bangalore

FIRST BREAK

LOW POINT OF YOUR LIFE

I look at these as learning phases. And I’ve had a few very good ones.

CURRENTLY I AM...

When I played the Challenger Trophy in 2005 in Mohali. Preparing myself for the season ahead and looking I scored a century and helped India B emerge victorious forward to it with anticipation and excitement

If you weren’t a cricketer, you or your Facebook account? would’ve been... None of the above. Playing some other sport or in What can you live in? the social service business. I’m not fussy about clothes. I What’s the secret of your success with can live because I can breathe. Kolkata Knight Riders? After a long day at work, you love to The secret is that I opened gorge on... the batting! On a serious note, Anything with good nutrition to it was just belief and a will to keep me going for the next long succeed. day at work! Do star owners such as Shah Rukh Grooming products you can’t do Khan divert the attention of without. players from the game? My after-shave lotion YOU Not even in the and my perfume. DESTRESS slightest way. Your favourite Bollywood WITH... Is it true that you learnt stars. hockey before you learnt Shah Rukh Khan, to play cricket? Aamir Khan and Not true. I learnt to Ranbir Kapoor. play cricket first. No, The craziest thing you have wait, I always knew ever done. how to play cricket. Sky diving. Which is your favourite scoring The gadget you are fond of. shot? If they are gadgets, I’m The straight drive. fond of them. Do you like to play the scoop Three things you’d need if you over the wicketkeeper? were stranded on an island. Not anymore. My toothbrush, my books Would you rather be alone at home or and drinking water. alone in a party? One thing you never leave home Alone at home, thank you. without. Who do you look up to in cricket? My watch and my phone. I look up to everyone. I believe One thing you can never eat. one can learn something from Crocodile meat. everybody. But I do have my Your fitness fundas. ‘go-to’ people. Eat right and push your limits as Your favourite cricket ground. your body is a tool that God has M Chinnaswamy Stadium and gifted you with to do amazing Eden Gardens. things. Define your style. The last line of your autobiography It’s my own style and a work in would read... progress. I haven’t thought of that one yet. What are you most embarrassed to — Interviewed by Veenu Singh reveal – your WhatsApp, your Twitter Photo: THINKSTOCK

Forrest Gump (1994) (19

THE MOST OVERRATED OV FILM

There Th are too many man

AUGUST 17, 2014

THE MOST PAISA VASOOL FILM

Any film that inspires or offers personal growth to those who watch it A MOVIE THAT WAS PART OF YOUR CHILDHOOD

Andaz Apna Apna (1994) THE FIRST MOVIE YOU WATCHED ON THE BIG SCREEN

I don’t remember clearly but maybe a Kannada movie

my movies

THE FILM YOU HAVE SEEN MORE THAN 5 TIMES

Music and books

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