Hindustantimes Brunch 08 July 2012 by Hindustan Times

WEEKLY MAGAZINE, JULY 8, 2012 Free with your copy of Hindustan Times

Wrestler Sushil Kumar

years of

FREEDOM

Wrestler Amit Kumar

Total Recall Advertising guru Prasoon Joshi on the decade that was the 1990s

Boxer Vijender Singh

Meet the wrestlers and boxers who can deliver the knockout punch for India at the London Oympics

Boxer MC Mary Kom

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VIR SANGHVI

Freddie the Parsi

RAJIV MAKHNI

New Tablet on the block

SEEMA GOSWAMI

The bare truth about bikinis

W AT C H O U T F O R

08.07.2012

years of

FREEDOM

THE THING ABOUT THE ’90S... The Kargil war, satellite TV, DDLJ, Harry Potter – it all happened in the ’90s. In Part Two of Total Recall, PRASOON JOSHI looks back on the sweeping changes of that decade, whose after-effects we feel till today. Do you remember the time? Yes, that particular song was in the ’90s too.

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inbox LETTER OF THE WEEK! Not all that safe and secure

YOUR COVER story (Privacy! What’s That?, July 1) was an eye opener for me. Being from a law background, I normally ‘sniff’ every document that I have to part with, but to my surprise, I was not aware that by visiting sites, I’m compromising on a lot of my information. But the good part of this article was that it also provided tips on how we can safeguard ourselves while we surf the Net.

— MELRITA MASCARENHAS, via email Melrita wins a Flipkart voucher worth ` 2,500. Congrats!

Disturbing number of trackers THE INVASION of privacy as described in Privacy! What’s That? was very informative. I was astounded by the number of tracking websites shown on Collusion after 30 minutes of browsing. It’s very disturbing to know how many more trackers will come up and what’ll happen to the privacy of an individual, and what the government will do about it. Thanks for spreading the awareness, Brunch! — PRAVIN SINGH, via email

A working woman’s dilemma THE DEBATE over having it all in Yummy Mummy or High Flyer (Spectator, July 1) is what every working woman, at some stage of her life, ponders upon. I see examples galore of women in both categories and agree with the author when she says it is all about the freedom to make choices and not give a damn what anyone else thinks about them. — MONIKA PT, via email

The best letter gets a Flipkart voucher worth R2,500!! The shopping voucher will reach the winner within seven to 10 working days. In case of any delays, please contact chirag.sharma@hindustantimes.com

JULY 8, 2012

Binoy Dass Nowadays it’s become a trend, through social media that everyone wants to be a celebrity online. They hardly bother about their privacy. Shivam Singh This week’s Brunch was one of the best. The cover story was really helpful. Keep it up!

TWEET YOUR HEART OUT twitter.com/HTBrunch

Cover Story

Meet the tough boxers and wrestlers who are our biggest hope at the London Olympics Wellness

Humidity is no friend of the sleek, chic bob. Keep every strand in check

Personal Agenda

Designer Manish Malhotra loves old Bollywood hits

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Akhil Kumar Every Sunday, I just pull out Brunch and read the rest of the newspaper later. Love reading the articles, pictures and interesting facts. Your cover stories are very interesting. Great work done by your team! 11

SPECTATOR Life is too short to leave your bikini hanging in the cupboard

@InsanelyNormal It is possible to build a profile of who you are and what you do online #staysafe #web @HTBrunch

12 RUDE MUSIC Why did Freddie Mercury act like somebody he is not?

@Swapnil_IIT_IIM @HTBrunch Last decade has truly made us very tech-savvy. Horrifying to know the way your personal data can be sold/misused.

14 TECHILICIOUS Google’s Nexus 7 can blow all other Tablets out of the water

@anaggh Yummy mummy or High flyer by Seema Goswami in HT Brunch is an amazing read and took me back 25 years about the choice my wife made. @R15H4V Now this is really important. All Internet users MUST READ the Brunch article about online privacy. Everything is tracked to detail.

BRUNCH ON THE WEB hindustantimes.com/brunch

We’ve got Olympic dreams

Photo: GETTY IMAGES

The London Olympics are round the corner and India’s chances seem promising. It’s not only the boxers and wrestlers we’re betting on. Our archers and shooters have every chance of hitting the bull’s eye too! Log on to know who they are!

DOWNLOAD CENTRAL The column is taking a break for a few weeks. But stay tuned, it will be back soon!

Cover Design: PRASHANT CHAUDHARY Cover Photos: Rajnish Katyal, T Narayan, Virendra Singh Gosain EDITORIAL: Poonam Saxena (Editor), Aasheesh Sharma, Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi, Rachel Lopez, Mignonne Dsouza, Veenu Singh, Parul Khanna Tewari, Yashica Dutt, Pranav Dixit, Amrah Ashraf, Saudamini Jain, Shreya Sethuraman, Manit Moorjani DESIGN: Ashutosh Sapru (National Editor, Design), Monica Gupta, Swati Chakrabarti, Rakesh Kumar, Ashish Singh, Suhas Kale

Drop us a line at:

brunchletters@hindustantimes.com or to 18-20 Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi 110001 CORRECTION In part one of Total Recall last week, we incorrectly wrote that the 26/11 Mumbai attacks happened in 2006, instead of 2008. We deeply regret the error.

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Photo: VIRENDRA SINGH GOSAIN

Warriors Of The Ring Boxers and wrestlers are expected to win a chunk of medals for India at London, 2012. Meet our desi fight club by Saurabh Duggal photographs by Rajnish Katyal

OR LONG, the world perceived Indians as being physically weak. But four summers ago, Vijender Singh and Sushil Kumar won medals in boxing and wrestling respectively, and made the world take note of India’s warriors of the ring. “Today even the best in the business can’t afford to take us lightly,” says Kumar, excited about participating in his third Olympics. In London, India is expecting to win most of its medals in boxing and wrestling. For the first time, women are a part of India’s fight club. With women boxers making their Olympic debut, five-time world champ ‘Magnificent’ Mary Kom will pack a

punch, as will Geeta Phogat, the first lady Olympian grappler. The debate over which of the two disciplines – boxing or wrestling – is tougher continues to rage. While Singh, on the verge of becoming the first Indian boxer to take part in three Olympics, says there is no comparison as “just a punch is enough to floor the strongest person”, Londonbound wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, also heading to his third Games, disagrees. “Have a look at data regarding injuries to sportspersons, and it is obvious who the real fighters are.” Let’s leave that question unanswered. There’s no need to pick and choose – only the desire to watch our medals tally swell.

The Pugilists: A Cut Above

Eight boxers plan to make a good fist of India’s Olympic hopes

Photo: T NARAYAN

MC MARY KOM, 29

Great Hope

“W

hen she enters the ring, she has the guts to take on even King Kong,” says English coach Charles Atkinson, under whom MC Mary Kom is training for the London Olympics. “Respect her for everything she has given to the sport. She is more popular in England than in India.” With five world titles under her belt, Kom is an undisputed champion. But while those triumphs came in lower weight categories, in London, she will be competing in the 51 kg class. “The only difference between men and women’s boxing

Face Value

eing fearless is his credo. For boxers, it is the only option, says Vijender Singh. “Once you step into the ring, if you don’t hit your opponent, be prepared to face the blows,” says the Olympic bronze medallist. Married to software engineer Archana Singh, the boxer does nurse one fear: that of scarring his face. “A week before the Beijing

VIJENDER SINGH, 29 Category: 75 kg Hails from: Bhiwani, Haryana Sporting highs: Olympics bronze (2008), World Championship bronze (2009), Asian Games gold (2010); Arjuna Award (2007), Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (2009), Padma Shri (2010)

JULY 8, 2012

Category: 51 kg Hails from: Manipur Sporting highs: Five-time world champion (2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010) Arjuna Award recipient (2004), Padma Shri (2006), Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (2009)

in India is the Olympic medal. I want to bridge that gap,” says Kom, currently training in Pune. “Ever since I won my first world title, I was waiting for women’s boxing to become part of the Olympics. Now that the time has come, I will fight to give India a moment to cherish.” At the world championship held in May, the mother of two children lost in the quarter-finals, but was lucky enough to bag a ticket to London. “At times, a defeat is good for you, as it motivates you to train harder,” says Kom. Olympics, Singh got a scratch on his face during practice. He was after his training partner’s life till it healed! His scratch remained a topic of discussion for almost a week,” recalls Ram Singh, Singh’s roommate at the national camp. That one fear, however, has not stopped Singh from taking on the best in the world and emerging victorious over and over again, including at the Beijing Olympics (2008), the World Championships (2009) and the Asian Games (2010). Now he is all set to become the country’s first boxer to compete in three successive Olympics. “I don’t want to be known as the boxer who competed in three Olympics,” says Vijender. “I want to be recognised as the one with two Olympic medals.”

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Eye On London

father’s dream to see his kids attain greater heights than he ever could has given India a world-class boxer. Karate enthusiast Padam Thapa could never make it beyond the state level. His older son even made it to the boxing nationals. But Shiva Thapa, his younger son, is now living up to his father’s greatest expectations. The 19-year-old is the youngest of the seven Indian male boxers headed to London. “Due to limited

SHIVA THAPA, 19

Category: 56 kg Hails from: Guwahati, Assam Sporting highs: A quarter-final place at the World Championships in 2011 and a silver medal at the 2010 Youth Olympics

Chosen One

s far as Manoj Kumar is concerned, movement and other techniques take a backseat in the boxing ring – it all boils down to the punches you throw. “So, one should have power in his punch and

the stamina to keep on punching till the last second of the bout,” says Kumar, who made it to the quarterfinals at last year’s World Championship to win an Olympic spot. “Having missed out on the Beijing Games, it’s only now that I’ve got a chance to realise my dream of competing and winning a medal for my country at the Olympics,” says Kumar. “ I hope my dream comes true in London.” As a child, Kumar took up the sport because of his dad. His father Sher Singh, who was part of the Indian Army’s boxing team, wanted his son to fulfill his dream of making India proud in the ring. Since then, Kumar has made the punches count. There was a time when, despite good performances during trials, Kumar was not picked in the squad and only got a chance on the basis of a rotation policy. “Call it my luck or destiny, but those picked ahead of me didn’t perform, because of which I got a chance,” says Kumar. “My first big break was at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, where I won gold. But a month later, I was not part of the Asian Games squad because of the rotation policy. So, when I was named for the world championship, I had to book my Olympic berth there, as there was no guarantee of getting another shot at qualification.”

MANOJ KUMAR, 25 Category: 64 kg Hails from: Kaithal, Haryana Sporting highs: Commonwealth Games gold medal (2010) and a quarter-final spot in the World Championships (2011)

resources, my father couldn’t proceed beyond the state level,” says Thapa. “But he provided us with the best of facilities. Despite having six children to feed, he made sure that money was never a problem when it came to my training.” Thapa started learning the basics of the sport under Sports Authority of India coach Amar Deka in Guwahati. After excelling at the sub-junior and youth levels – including a bronze at the Youth World Championship – he graduated to the big league, stepping into the shoes of Beijing Olympics quarter-finalist Akhil Kumar. “For the past one year, London has been my only focus,” he says. “I want to win a medal for all the sacrifices made by my father.”

SUMIT SANGWAN, 19 Category: 81kg Hails from: Karnal, Haryana Sporting high: A gold medal in the Asian Olympic qualifiers in 2012

Rookie Rising

inancially, his family was not in a position to let both his brother and him pursue boxing. Eventually, his older brother was forced to make the sacrifice of helping their father plough their small piece of land so that the younger one could pursue the sport. The elder brother, Amit Sangwan, who had wept when he had to give up the sport he was so passionate about, holds no grudges today. “Sumit has made us proud,” he says. “Through him, I am living my dream of playing at the Olympics.” Sumit Sangwan, who upset the

seasoned Dinesh Kumar to get a place in the squad, is thankful to his brother and father. “Things are better now, but even a decade ago, money was hard to come by,” recalls the 19-year-old. “Even so, my family didn’t let anything disrupt my training. My brother sacrificed his passion for boxing for my sake.” Sangwan, who began training with Arjuna awardee Raj Kumar Sangwan, earned his Olympic berth at his very first international outing in the senior category earlier this year. “Now that I’ve gained some experience, it’s just a matter of time before the results start showing,” he says. “I hope to do my country proud at London.”

England-born sprinter Norman Pritchard, India’s first Olympian in 1900, went on to star in Hollywood and on Broadway JULY 8, 2012

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The Wrestlers: Hold ’Em In Thrall Expect wrestle mania to grip India when five grapplers go on a medal hunt in London

Young & Spunky Comeback Guy

from a house to a car – all thanks to boxing.” oday, he sports the best brands After being dropped from the on his feet. But there was a national squad prior to the 2008 time when financial constraints Olympics, Bhagwan quit the sport forced Jai Bhagwan to and went to Hyderabad, look for the cheapest where Indian Railways JAI pair of shoes in the marhad posted him. BHAGWAN, 26 ket. At times, he manThe triumph of close Category: 60 kg Hails aged with completely pal Vijender Singh in from: Hissar, Haryana worn-out soles. Beijing changed his perSporting highs: “Hailing from a very spective. He returned to Reached quarter-finals humble background, boxing, and bagged of World Champibudgeting was my bronze at the 2010 onships (2011), CWG biggest challenge. Till a Commonwealth Games. bronze (2010) while back, I used to buy Bhagwan booked a tickshoes worth less than R50,” recalls et to the London Olympics thanks to Jai. “Somehow, my family and I his quarter-final finish at the World managed. Today, I have everything Championship in 2011.

T Poster Boy

acquets, not gloves, are what this Bhiwani boy started off wielding. But after seven months, Vikas Krishan gave up badminton for boxing. “In 2002, my father had enrolled me at the local badminton centre. But I was uncomfortable with the sport. Being an indoor discipline, I used VIKAS to feel clausKRISHAN, 20 trophobic,” Category: 69 kg says Krishnan. Hails from: Bhiwani, “It took me Haryana seven months Sporting highs: to decide that Asian Games gold it wasn’t my (2010), World Championships cup of tea, bronze (2011) after which I joined the Bhiwani Boxing Club.” The new poster boy of Indian boxing is the youngest winner of an Asiad boxing gold and only the second Indian to win a world championship medal. But what set the ball rolling was a gold in his very first national appearance at the 2003 subjuniors in Noida. Krishnan was a good student, but after this triumph his father gave him the freedom to choose between academics and sports. He chose to pursue a correspondence course. “Boxing has got me name, fame and money,” says this DSP with the Haryana Police.

Glove Prodigy

n one year, this rookie has gone from a non-entity to possible medal winner. Laishram Devendro Singh, 20, who joined the senior

national camp last year, stunned the country’s top names in his weight category during the trials for the 2011 World Championships. “At the championships, my confidence helped me reach the quarters and win a place at the London Olympics,” says Singh. “Now, I want to make up for not winning a medal at the World Championship by bagging one in London.” Since he made the cut, Singh has become a household name in Yurembam Awang Leikai village in Manipur’s Imphal West district. BB Mohanty, chief coach at Army Sports Institute, Pune, hand-picked 32 kids from Manipur, but only seven were able to endure the training beyond a month. One of them was Singh. “Before being picked by Mohanty sir, I had little idea about boxing,” says Singh. “Boxing has given me everything. I even got to fly and visit many countries.”

ust two international tournaments old, 18-year-old Amit Kumar is confident of putting up a good show against the world’s best wrestlers in London. “Once you are on the mat, your opponent won’t ask you your age. Nor will he ask you how many tournaments you’ve competed in before,” reasons Kumar. At nine, Kumar joined the Chatrasal akhada in West Delhi that has produced champions like Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt. He was eyeing a spot in the 2016 AMIT but KUMAR, 18 Olympics, Kumar has Category: 55 kg achieved his Hails from: target an ediSonepat, Haryana tion earlier. He Sporting high: bagged a place Bronze at Asian in the continenChampionships (2012) tal qualifiers early this year and won a bronze at the Asian Championship in Korea. “I’ve grown up watching Sushil and Yogeshwar. So from the beginning I wanted to be part of the world’s highest sporting arena,” says Kumar.

DEVENDRO SINGH, 20

Category: 49 kg Hails from: Manipur Sporting high: A commendable quarter-final finish at the 2011 World Championship

The first individual Olympic gold medal won by an Indian athlete was by Abhinav Bindra in 2008 for shooting JULY 8, 2012

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Mat Effect

ight years after women’s wrestling was introduced as an Olympic sport in Athens 2004, India’s lady grapplers are making

their presence felt in the quadrennial games. Geeta Phogat, 23, created history by becoming the first Indian women wrestler to qualify for the Olympics. “It feels good to be recognised as a frontrunner. But making it to the Olympics is only half the job done. Ultimately, a medal is what matters,” says Phogat, the older daughter of Mahavir Singh, who left a Haryana State Electricity Board job to train his daughters for the Olympics. Singh’s younger daughter Babita won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2010. Their youngest sibling Ritu is also an international medallist. Today, the the village of Balali near Bhiwani is praying for Phogat’s success. But before her Commonwealth exploits, the same villagers objected to the Phogat sisters slugging it out in the mud with the boys.

GEETA PHOGAT, 23 Category: 55 kg Hails from: Bhiwani, Haryana Sporting high: Gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2010

Gritty Grappler

he first thing Narsingh Pancham Yadav did after his sporting achievements began to pay off was to relocate his father back to their hometown in Varanasi. “My father wanted me to become a wrestler and provided me with the best facilities required to excel in the sport, despite enormous financial constraints,” recalls Yadav. “He even shifted to Mumbai to help me realise my dream.” With the cash award that Yadav received after striking gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, he bought land in his native village. Recently he convinced his father to stop his milk distribution business and shift back to Varanasi. He learned how to wrestle in Mumbai, but Yadav’s big break came when he was picked for the 2010 Commonwealth squad and won a gold medal. This year, he

earned the London Olympics qualification mark in the continental qualifiers. “Since I was a child, my father wanted me to be an Olympic wrestler. I will try my best to fulfil his dreams,” he says.

NARSINGH PANCHAM YADAV, 22 Category: 74 kg Hails from: Varanasi Sporting high: Gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2010

Inspired By Ali

is discomfort with speaking English hasn’t prevented this athlete from seeking inspiration from the greatest boxer ever. A quote by Muhammad Ali: “I don’t stop when I’m tired, I stop when I’m done,” serves as a guiding light for Yogeshwar Dutt. “Fighters never quit. I continue working till the time I am done with my training schedule,” says Dutt, who will be competing in his third successive Olympics. “In Beijing, I lost the quarter-finals bout by just a point, that too in the dying seconds,” he says. “I hope to make amends in London.”

YOGESHWAR DUTT, 29 Category: 60 kg Hails from: Sonepat, Haryana Sporting highs: Asian Games bronze in 2006 and Commonwealth gold medal in 2010

Lord Of The Ring

Photo: KESHAV SINGH

he first time he could afford a pair of jeans was after winning an Olympic medal. Today, Sushil Kumar routinely sports smart sneakers and jeans to events and drives a Ford Endeavour. But he remains humble at heart. An episode four years ago illustrates this. After his Beijing Olympics triumph, Sushil was competing in an exhibition match with a Pakistani wrestler in Delhi. Before the start of the bout, a girl approached him for an autograph. As the bout was to start, Kumar promised to meet SUSHIL KUMAR, 29 her once the contest was over. Category: 66kg Hails from: Delhi Sushil floored Sporting highs: Asian the opponent with ease, but even Games bronze (2006), Olympics bronze (2008), after winning the CWG gold (2010), bout he was Padma Shri (2010) disappointed. He couldn’t trace the girl. “When she came to me I was concentrating on my bout. After the match I searched for her for at least 15 minutes, but couldn’t find her. To date I feel sad about it,” he says. Sushil, who trains for at least six hours every day, is known the world wrestler. “I have won one Olympic over for his extraordinary strength medal for my parents and coaches. and agility. Now I want to win one for my wife Marriage in 2011 seems to have Savi,” he says. brought luck to the Herculean brunchletters@hindustantimes.com

Olympic trivia: In the ancient Olympics at Greece, all the athletes competed in the nude JULY 8, 2012

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THE NAKED TRUTH

Photos: REUTERS

IKINIS HAVE been very much on my mind all of last week. Not because it’s a furnace out there and the swimming pool has never looked more tempting. No, I’ve been thinking of bikinis because of something that my late, great heroine, Nora Ephron, wrote in her book, I Feel Bad About My Neck. Talking about the pains of ageing, she wrote: “Oh, how I regret not having worn a bikini for the entire year I was 26. If anyone young is reading this, go, right this minute, put on a bikini, and don’t take it off until you’re 34.” Now, I must confess that I’ve never ever worn a bikini. Not at 16, not at 26, leave alone at 34. Partly, this is down to the fact that no matter how hard I tried – and I promise you, I did – I never did get the hang of that swimming thing. And partly, it is because I lacked the chutzpah to carry off wearing what is essentially underwear – except in nicer colours and styles – in front of a bunch of strangers as I lounged around the pool. But now, as all the Ephron obituaries and tributes dutifully trot out her thoughts on bikinis (among other things, my favourite Ephron line is: “Be the heroine of your life; not the victim”; and her bitchily pointing out that her second husband, Carl Bernstein, would even ‘make love to a Venetian blind’) I have begun to wonder if I did, in fact, leave it till too late. You know what they say about youth being wasted on the young? Well, my youthful skinniness was wasted on me... Or wait, was it? Much as I would like to swear by all things Ephron, I have to concede that the zeitgeist on bikinis seems to have shifted since her book came out in 2006. When she wrote it, Ephron was 64, and the book had a gently elegiac quality about it, almost as if – in retrospect – it was foreshadowing her own death at 71. But even as Ephron was writing sadly, if wittily, “If you’re fortunate enough to be in a sexual relationship, you’re not going to have the sex you once had. Plus, you can’t wear a bikini,” there were other women – her near contemporaries in age – who were all set to prove her wrong. A mere two years later, across the Atlantic, the fabulous Helen Mirren was pictured in a bright red bikini, frolicking in the sea with her husband, and looking like a million bucks. This was in 2008, when both Mirren and her husband were 63 years old. And yet, there they were, behaving like giddy, madly-in-love teenagers as they cavorted on the beach in Puglia with Mirren’s bikini body looking good enough to put any teenage girl to shame. Since then, we have had our share of 40, 50 and 60-somethings lining up to show us that there are still some bikini years left in them. Whether it is the 44-year-old Carla Bruni, the 48-year-old Courtney HOW DOES AGE MATTER?

Whether it is the 44-year-old Carla Bruni (right) or the 48-year-old Courtney Cox (left), they have all done their bit to prove that bikinis can look just as good on women of a certain age

Seema Goswami

LIFE-LONG REGRET!

Nora Ephron wrote in her book how she regretted not having worn a bikini for the entire year she was 26

spectator

Wear a bikini if you want to – life is too short to be scared of a little cellulite or a large muffin top

Cox, the 56-year-old Jerry Hall or the 59-year-old Marie Helvin, they have all done their bit to prove that bikinis can look just as good on women of a certain age as they do on nubile young girls. But then, these are women who look good for their age – hell, they look great for any age! What about the rest of us, who struggle to keep our muffin tops under control, who have borne children and have the scars to prove it, who have wobbly bits that no amount of lycra can keep under control? What about the average woman like you and me? Should we dutifully set aside our bikinis at the magic age of 34 and slip into one-pieces (and oblivion)? Or should we throw off our inhibitions along with those much-despised one-pieces and put our mid riffs boldly on display? Well, I got my answer on a recent holiday in Italy when I ventured out into the hotel swimming pool. Every single woman in the pool area was wearing a bikini. Some of them were thin and toned. Others were overweight and out of shape. And then there were those who were, quite frankly, obese. And yet all of them sported their bikinis with such insouciance that I could only admire their self-confidence and their ease with their bodies. Their breasts spilled out, their bellies flopped over, their bikini bottoms could barely contain their bums. But did they care? No, not a jot. They happily swam in the pool, went kayaking, sunbathed, and even fetched up at the bar for a drink. I am ashamed to admit that I watched with a certain horrified fascination to begin with. And then, soon enough the novelty of all those lady bits on display wore off and I began to wonder what the fuss was about. After all, if you are confident enough – and comfortable enough – to wear a bikini to the swimming pool, then why should you let any kind of body fascism stop you? As far as I am concerned when it comes to getting dressed – for the beach; the pool; the office; or a party – there is only one rule that matters. And that is: There are no rules. That said, much as I admire these women, I have to admit that I won’t be wearing a bikini any time soon – not unless there is a tropical villa with a private pool involved. And even then – call me craven if you will – I’m going to keep that sarong well within reach. seema_ht@rediffmail.com. Follow Seema on Twitter at twitter.com/seemagoswami

JULY 8, 2012

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ZOROASTRIAN RHAPSODY

rude music

A new biography reveals the Parsi origins that Freddie Mercury tried so hard to hide

’ VE BEEN trying to remember when I first worked out that an Indian had become the first international rock star from the subcontinent. My guess is that it was in 1974. That was the year Queen released a pop song about a high-class call girl which they called Killer Vir Sanghvi Queen. (She keeps Moët et Chandon in a pretty cabinet.) I liked the song as did most people – it eventually got to number one on some charts. But I was especially intrigued by the lead singer, one Freddie Mercury. Surely he looks Indian, I thought to myself. But Freddie said he wasn’t Indian. All stories about Queen took the line that the band was entirely English. This did not surprise me too much. In those days, those of us who lived in the UK were used to stars who denied their Indian-ness. The Hollywood actress Merle Oberon claimed to be Tasmanian but gossip had it she was an AngloIndian from Bombay. (The gossip was correct. After her death, biographers discovered that she was an Anglo-Indian girl called Queenie, probably from Colaba). Then there were the stories about Cliff Richard. His official biographies all said that he was born Harry Webb in Lucknow but suggested that his parents had lived in the colonies as representatives of the Empire. Our own Anglo-Indians thought differently: he was one of their own, they said proudly. And how about Gerry Dorsey, alias Engelbert Humperdinck? His official biographies admitted to a Madras connection but denied that he had any Indian blood. Once again, we knew better. “Part Indian but hides it”, we muttered under our breath. The thing about Merle Oberon, Cliff Richard and Engelbert was that they were all old showbiz where you always pretended to be entirely Western (all right, white). But rock and roll was different. There was no shame in coming from a foreign country or in not being white. Forget about all the black singers. What about Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, who was married to an Anglo-Indian and would go to Indian restaurants and demand the hottest curries, boasting that he was Indian by marriage? George Harrison was so into Indian culture that the British rock press took to calling him ‘Hari’ (after ‘Hari Georgeson’, a pseudonym he sometimes used.) So why would any rock star want, in 1974, to deny that he had Indian roots? The British press was content to accept Freddie’s stories about his origins, but the American rock press probed deeper. When DESI ROOTS

Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Gossip had it that Hollywood actress Merle Oberon (below right) was an Anglo-Indian from Bombay and Cliff Richard’s (below left) official biographies said that he was born Harry Webb in Lucknow

IN DENIAL

Freddie Mercury refused to admit that he was gay or even bisexual JULY 8, 2012

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Queen went to Japan in April 1975, Rolling Stone interviewed Freddie and pointed out that his real name was Balsara. After that, none of the band’s obfuscations and denials cut much ice with me. Most Indians knew that Balsara was a Parsi surname and when you looked at Freddie (even during his long-haired phase) there was no doubt that he had Parsi features, no matter what he said about his English origins. Bit by bit, by the end of the Seventies, Queen were forced to accept that their lead singer was not quite as English as roast beef and fish and chips. At first, the band put it about that Freddie was born in Zanzibar, which made him sound rather exotic because few Queen fans knew where Zanzibar was. (It is in Africa.) Then, interviewers were told that Freddie had ‘Persian blood’. (Ah yes, that old Parsi chestnut.) When people asked about his education, the band’s management suggested that Freddie had done part of his schooling in India because his father was a civil servant in the service of the Empire. (In the Sixties? What Empire?) Freddie encouraged the lies and deceptions. I remember reading an interview with him in the Eighties. When the interviewer said he wanted to discuss the relatives Freddie had left behind in India, the singer refused to discuss the subject, simpering, “How mundane, darling! Let’s talk about something else.” But then, Freddie lied about a lot of things. He lied about being gay, for instance, even though he had no need to. David Bowie came out as bisexual in 1972 and went to record company offices in a dress. Elton John said he was bisexual in 1976. (“I think people should draw the line at goats,” he told Rolling Stone about his preferences.) Though Freddie was camper than either of these stars, he refused to admit that he was gay or even bisexual. Nor did he confirm stories that he was suffering from AIDS even when he looked visibly ill. Only, on the eve of his death, did he admit to AIDS. The gay stories only tumbled out posthumously. Why did Freddie need to lie? I’ve been reading Freddie Mercury, The Definitive Biography by Lesley-Ann Jones, a former rock journalist who writes with all the ruthless detachment of a panting fan-magazine columnist. And even Jones, who believes that Freddie could do no wrong, has no explanation for the deceptions. The best she can manage is: “Perhaps Freddie believed that music fans of the 1970s were not ready for a rock star with African and Indian roots.” Really? Then why did he keep lying well into the 1980s, when fans were certainly ready for the truth? Worse still, Jones wants to keep Freddie’s lies alive. An unnamed spokesman for the Parsi community is quoted as saying “the fact that we migrated to India does not make us Indian. If you are a Jew, but your family have not lived in Palestine for the past 2000 years, does that make you less Jewish?” This kind of he-was-Persian-really nonsense is used to also defend Freddie’s lies about his sexuality. “For Parsis, homosexuality is not only sinful, but a form, unimaginably, of devil worship." So let’s get this right. Freddie hid the fact that he was Parsi because rock fans were not ready for it and he hid his homosexuality because he was a Parsi which – let’s see – he also denied… The story of Freddie’s early life that emerges from Jones’ book is depressingly mundane. His father was a Parsi clerk, who went to work in Zanzibar. He sent his son Farrokh to St Peter’s in Panchgani, near Bombay, and struggled to pay the fees. Freddie joined a pop band in Bombay with Parsi and AngloIndian friends. He had relatives in Dadar Parsi Colony. He was shy. He was effeminate and probably gay, even at an early age. Political changes in Zanzibar forced his parents to move to England in 1964. His father got a job as a cashier in a restaurant. His mother worked at Marks & Spencer. They lived in the depressing London suburb of Feltham. Freddie went to art school in

TRUE COLOURS

Elton John (above) said he was bisexual in 1976. David Bowie (right) came out as bisexual in 1972 and went to record company offices in a dress nearby Ealing, then tried hard to make a living, coming back regularly to Feltham for his mother’s dhansak. Then, one of the bands he joined – Queen – began to look like it would make it. Freddie dropped the Balsara, took on the name Mercury, rarely talked about the revealing fact that his parents were called Bomi and Jer and that his sister’s name was Kashmira, and concealed his love of dhansak. The flamboyant, over-the-top, but never openly-gay Mercury persona became the invention behind which he hid his origins and his ethnicity. Would it have mattered if he had told the truth? I don’t think anyone is under any obligation to reveal his or her sexuality so I don’t accept the argument – frequently advanced by gay groups – that Freddie should have come out so that young homosexuals were encouraged by his example. Nor do I think it was incumbent on him to admit he was HIV-positive. It was a private matter and it was his own decision to make. As for his ethnicity, yes, all of us would have been thrilled to identify with an Indian rock star. But that’s not important. Freddie owed us nothing; he had no reason to serve as an idol or role model to us. But, ask yourself this: what kind of man hides his nationality, lies about his origins and pretends to be somebody he is not? Consider Freddie’s behaviour with an old school friend who came up to him during his super-stardom days. According to Jones’ biography: “Freddie looked right through this poor fellow and said to him, ‘I’m sorry, but I am afraid I just don’t know who you are’.” Even after he’d made it, when it would cost him nothing to acknowledge the Indian friends from his childhood, Freddie pretended that he did not know who they were. Somewhere at his core, Farrokh Balsara must have really hated himself to deny so completely who he really was.

Somewhere at his core, Farrokh Balsara must have really hated himself to deny so completely who he really was

JULY 8, 2012

Photos: REUTERS

THE INDIAN KNOT

Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, who was married to an Anglo-Indian, would go to Indian restaurants and demand the hottest curries, boasting that he was Indian by marriage

indulge

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PROJECT BUTTER The Nexus 7 is the ‘blow all other Tablets out of the water’ Tablet from Google

IT’S WAR

Nexus 7 is Google’s answer in the hardware war

Rajiv Makhni cent of the Tablet market, it gets 95 per cent of all Tablet traffic hits online. The Google Nexus 7 is a weapon primarily designed to change that jaw-dropping statistic.

THINGS TO LIKE

BRING IT ON

Amazon’s Kindle Fire (above) will be affected by the feature rich Nexus 7 in every way

A lot actually. It has a blazing fast 1.3GHz quadcore Tegra 3 processor and 1GB of RAM (that’s pretty much the same as what you get on the most high-end Android Tablets that can cost three times as much), a fantastic 7-inch IPS LCD screen with a resolution of 1280 x 800 (with a 216 PPI density), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC (near field communication) and a battery life of around 10 hours. Games look amazing, movies play well and all other media truly shines. Then there’s the insides. First up is Google Now – literally touted as Google with artificial intelligence. The system will learn things as you use it and add it to the Google knowledge graph it builds around you. The notification panel now displays an incredible amount of new information and also brings in more interaction, plus the number of customisable icons at the bottom of the homescreen has now been bumped up to seven. The Nexus 7 also comes with Google Chrome as the default browser plus some fantastic new Google built-in apps. Play Magazines is a more intuitive way to read digital versions of magazines, the YouTube app is now more intelligent and channel-centric and the new Compass mode in Google Maps is the way all mapping should be on a portable device. Then the big one: voice dictation and commands now work offline and are even more accurate. It should be in India by September and priced at around R11,000 or so.

techilicious

’M GOING to start with a disclaimer. I am well aware that the purpose of all technology writing, especially this column, is to present the world of devices without any bias, prejudice, discrimination and personal likings colouring the final outcome. That is not something I can achieve today! Today’s column will be subject to extreme bias due to a whole lot of my own fondness, attachment and affection for all things buttery. If you’re confused – then all you need to do is to say my last name out loud and make the connection. I love things that are buttery smooth, luxuriously creamy and lustrously rich – and when a Tablet brings in a whole OS enhancement called ‘Project Butter’, they’ve pretty much got me from the word go! I have been told unofficially that Google named this entire feature set Project Butter just to get a good review from me. Google, you just succeeded.

PROJECT ‘MAKHAN’

The Nexus 7 is the ‘blow all other tablets out of the water’ Tablet from Google. It’s priced at $199, feels luxurious and rich in appearance (polished plastic, high grade aluminium trimmings and sides, Corning glass screen, weighs only 340 grams), has the much awaited Android Jelly Bean 4.1 OS and also has the aforementioned Project Butter on it. This is an all-out effort to make the Android user experience buttery smooth, no lags and jitter, effortless app switching, blazing fast frame rates and fluid animations along with silky touch responsiveness. This is the ‘makhanisation’ of Tablets.

THE STRATEGY

Google’s business model is fairly simple. Almost anything and everything is geared around getting people to come online and use Google products. From searches to maps to news to Google +, they’ve done a brilliant job with Android on phones, but haven’t managed that with Android on Tablets. A recent study found that while Apple has 60 per

Apple’s dominance in the Tablet market is making big companies do strange things

JULY 8, 2012

THINGS NOT TO LIKE

Not too much in this section. Primarily, the big negative is that it comes with only 8 or 16GB internal storage with no apparent way of adding to it or using external cards or drives. Yes, this does hit the ‘butteriness’ of the device for sure. With the amount of music, pictures, movies and downloads we all have – there should have been a 64GB version for an extra $150. Then the fact that this is a Wi-Fi only device and cannot use a 3G or 4G connection. This isn’t such a big deal as most people will be fairly happy to use this in a Wi-Fi environment or use a phone with a 3G Personal Hotspot connected to this when on the move.

ONE MORE THING

Apple’s dominance in the Tablet market is making big companies do strange things. If both Google and Microsoft have decided that the only way to take on the Apple juggernaut is to get into hardware, then the Google Nexus 7 is a fantastic first missile to launch this hardware war off with. This is a small, almost pocketable, very light, blazing fast, well-built, incredibly well-priced offering from a company that wants your business. Yes, there are Tablets that may still have some features and advantages over the Nexus 7 – but is that advantage worth the almost triple price point? That’s a head scratcher for you to figure out. By the way, did I mention it has a very buttery smooth user experience? Rajiv Makhni is managing editor, Technology, NDTV, and the anchor of Gadget Guru, CellGuru and Newsnet 3.Follow Rajiv on Twitter at twitter.com /RajivMakhni

T O TA L R E C A L L

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REWIND How the 1990s transformed India forever 1990 Anti-Mandal protests against caste-based reseryears vations have a huge impact. of Rajiv Goswami immolates himself, several students attempt the same

FREEDOM

1992

1991 Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated in Tamil Nadu by an LTTE suicide bomber

The government announces liberalisation policies, marking the start of India’s economic reforms

Hardline Hindu activists tear down the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, sparking communal riots across the country

1994

1993 Serial bomb blasts rip Bombay apart on March 12. Dawood Ibrahim is said to be mastermind

Sushmita Sen is crowned Miss Universe and Aishwarya Rai becomes Miss World in the same year

1995 Bombay officially becomes Mumbai, changing a city forever

1999

1998 India conducts 5 underground nuclear tests in Pokhran, including a thermonuclear device

The Kargil war breaks out in May after Pakistani soldiers cross into the Indian side of the Line of Control

The Harkat-ulMujahideen hijacks an Indian Airlines flight; drama ends in Kandahar

We went from need-based consumption to consumerism in the ’90s

It was all about choice in the Nineties. On our TV, on our plates or in our workplace, we were free to take what we wanted

TELEVISED WAR, an assasaway to the Bold and Beautiful, the sination, an immolation, a Mahabharata to MTV. Television demolition, a coalition, the from a ‘government Delhi’-centric opening of economic flooddiscourse moved to the hotbed of popular culture – Bombay. The iconic gates, the satellite invasion, a maxibaritone of the DD anchors of the mum city blasted, a proxy war atop ’80s gave way to noodle strap glama glacier, the Buddha smiling… our. From Krishi Darshan and literaagain. Such was the decade of the ture-based short stories, it moved to ’90s, the bookends of which were serials like Tara and Hum Paanch. the fiscal crisis and the IA plane In the press too, the shift was hijack in Kandahar. In between being seen. From editorial content these is where the story lies. being in command, now the sales Around ’92-’93, armed with a and marketing departments started newly-minted management degree, calling the shots. Page 3 with its I found myself taking a copy test for glamour content burst onto the an advertising agency. And silently black-and-white sensibility of seriwhooping with joy that there was a ous news content. Indian mass profession that would pay me to media hurtled towards localisation, write. The difficult part was Bollywood and ‘infotainment’ with explaining to my parents that a job significant social magnitude. The in advertising or ‘publicity’ was not music channels, MTV and [V], hazardous. It was not about climbquickly indigenised with ing poles and painting Hinglish and predomihoardings or going nantly Hindi music around in a van shoutvideos. This spawned a ing slogans over a loudnew industry – Indipop. speaker. From disco film songs, They were clueless there was now Alisha nevertheless. The panPRASOON JOSHI Chinai crooning Made in theon of civil services, Award-winning India. Lucky Ali, engineering, medicine lyricist, screenSuneeta Rao, Shweta and a government job writer and veteran Shetty, Euphoria, had been recently joined ad guru, Prasoon Colonial Cousins were by a new ‘MBA’ god. has written three the stars. And I found And that’s where it books till now myself penning lyrics for ended for them. a few amazing albums – Silk Route’s But the ’90s were to usher in the Boondein and Shubha Mudgal’s Ab forces of globalisation that would ke Sawaan. change the very paradigm of ‘Roti Many such new windows opened Kapada Makaan.’ Whilst in the up in our society. People experibackground, the wheels of the econenced freedom of choice in every omy spun fast, for me the first whiff sphere – career, education, enterof transformation came through tainment, and products. The ’90s satellite television. generation saw Bata, Liberty, Action The round swirl of Doordarshan shoes giving way to the first Nike was in sharp contrast to the bright and Adidas stores. The youth hangzany Zee TV logo or the completely outs, Nirula’s of pizzas and hot English Star Plus. Buniyaad faded JULY 8, 2012

THE 1990s saw a shift from austerity to people getting comfortable with the idea of enjoying wealth

chocolate fudge fame and Wimpy’s of the burgers fame, were outshone by the opening of McDonald’s and Pizza Hut. Luxury AC Rajdhani train travel was replaced by private airlines like Modiluft and East-West Airlines. Cash was now a few clicks away at the ATM. Also, two seminal forces were witnessed if not completely unleashed. The Internet came into our lives, albeit through a dial-up connection. Crank calls changed to online chats. Mobile phones redefined ‘cordless.’ The IT sector burgeoned. Disposable income in the hands of the young flourished. The balance shifted. Retirement salaries of fathers now became the starting salaries of youngsters. My industry, advertising, itself was going through the winds of change. A slew of MNCs arrived with an eye on the ‘great Indian middle class,’ euphorically pegged at 300 to 600 million. The science of communication emerged; demographics, psychographics, concerted brandbuilding came into play. From the initial jingle-based advertising (Vicco Vajradanti – gunkari haldi aur chandan, Gold Spot – the zing thing), ads now started to develop a different idiom. Hinglish phrases such as Bole mere lips I love Uncle Chipps and the cola advertising of Yehi hai right choice baby broke new ground. The advent of film stars was marked. Earlier, except for a

Lux, or a rare Amitabh Bachchan endorsing BPL, film folk did not flock to advertising. This decade changed that. I dwell on advertising for a reason. Indian ads have reflected society in an intrinsic way. Brands and their consumers’ dynamic define and dictate a societal discourse. Scratch beneath the surface and you will see that amidst these overt changes listed above there was a more fundamental one taking place. A change in the philosophy of austerity and need based consumption to that of consumerism. ‘Imaan mujhe roke hai jo khinche hai mujhe kufr’ The ’90s was a tug of war. Between the old socialist straightjacketed India and the new swashbuckling capitalism. The struggle of a citizen to transform into a consumer. Initially, credit card companies had few takers and were baffled by the propensity of Indians to pay their entire bill at the end of the month. Credit for conspicuous consumption was an uneasy concept that middle class India abhorred. But now there was a tug of war between Brahminical restraint and consumerist indulgence, between the quiet wisdom of jitni chaadar utna pair phailao to the proclamation of dil maange more. The ’90s had set off the juggernaut. Next week – The Eighties by Rajdeep Sardesai

PHOTO: THINKSTOCK

TEN YEARS THAT CHANGED US

MSN’S messenger let you talk to strangers in chatrooms and introduced asl (age/sex/location) to your lingo

THE ’90S - TWO DECADES TOO FAR Do you miss the Nineties already? If you still don’t, revisit the decade that gave us cable TV, a televised war, the rise and fall of Indipop, the first Harry Potter book...

1999

The Kargil War, which coincides with India’s electronic media boom, beams realtime battle images into your living room, and becomes the first ‘live’ war in South Asia

The Khans (Shah Rukh, Salman and Aamir) cement their position in Bollywood with several hits in a row

MBA becomes the degree of choice, along with medicine, engineering and preparing for the civil services exam

Pepsi and Coca-Cola

battle it out VS with ‘clever’ campaigns. Pepsi claims there’s ‘Nothing Official About It’ when Coke sponsors the 1996 World Cup. Coke, of course, states they were always ‘The Real Thing’

SATELLITE TELEVISION USHERS IN A JAZZY NEW ERA OF PROGRAMMING THAT FOCUSES ON GLAMOUR AND POP CULTURE Finance Minster Manmohan Singh implements NEO-LIBERAL ECONOMIC POLICIES – opening India to foreign trade and investment and initiating privatisation of industry. Business, wealth and budgets aren’t the same again

1991

REEL WORLD

Janbaaz Anil and his fur in

Yalgaar Sanjay bared his goods in

Darna Kya Sallu did it in Pyar Kiya To

Shanti Om SRK had a six pack in Om

tana John’s butt starred in Dos

Treasure Chests

Bollywood heroes have been baring their torsos for longer than we can imagine. Now, they’re showing off more than we’d ever thought possible

by Rohit Khilnani

T ALL STARTED in 1966, when Dharmendra, mainstream cinema’s first action hero, bared his torso for OP Ralhan’s Phool aur Pathar. The girls went wild. The men went green. Then, for 20 years, nothing. Bollywood’s next bare-chest sighting was only in 1986, when Anil Kapoor took off his shirt and romanced Dimple Kapadia in the song Jaane Jaana from Janbaaz, hairy chest and all. The unbuttoning opened the floodgates for more. Dharmendra’s oldest son Sunny Deol joined the industry, his inherently muscular physique perfect for shirtless scenes. It popped up so often in films that there came a point when Deol insisted he’d take off his shirt only if the script demanded it. So writers obliged – they sneaked in a shirtless fight sequence into all their films. The Eighties and Nineties also saw Bollywood’s favourite bad boy Sanjay Dutt baring his goods in many movies. Darkened cinema halls showed Dutt getting drenched in the

rain singing Aakhir Tumhe Aana Hai in Feroz Khan’s Yalgaar. The actor’s looks, height, physique and stylish walk made him the perfect action hero. So what if he couldn’t dance?

PUTTING ON A SHOW

“Men make good eye candy for a lot of people, so it’s okay when they show off their body,” says actor and filmmaker Arbaaz Khan, who’s currently shooting with Salman Khan for the sequel of Dabangg. Salman, of course, knew all about this when

‘I shot a scene where Sunny has to touch Randeep’s nipples. It was a shocker even to my dad’ – POOJA BHATT

ue r Bl t fo r i h is s st h y lo a h Aks

r’s sha Tus

lm w fi That’s hard to see on s ne i h in the posters of Pooja Bhatt’s g it n i o d

he debuted in Maine Pyar Kiya back in 1989. His pectorals made a lasting impression on his co-star Bhagyashree as well as the audience. The body however, was to undergo a transformation 10 years later. A newly beefed up Salman, sporting torn jeans, sculpted torso and arms thicker than a starlet’s waist, took it off again to sing Oh Oh Jaane Jaana in Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya. And that’s when things start to get interesting. Akshay Kumar, John Abraham and even Shah Rukh Khan came around to the idea of appearing un-shirted and even going a step further. Abraham, by sliding his trunks down a notch, raised the bar for showing it off. His half exposed posterior was enough to get Dostana the hype it needed.

FOR VIEWING PLEASURE

Arbaaz Khan believes that when it comes to stripping for the screen, men have it better. “Women are made to expose for the wrong reasons, but for men, there is more justification,” he says. SORRY FOR STARING

Who cares about Leone when Hooda is this dishy in Jism 2?

new film Jism 2. Facing Sunny Leone is a semi-nude Randeep Hooda. “When I made Jism, I had women from all age groups come up to me and say, ‘Thank you. Finally someone has shown us men the way we like to see them’.” she says. It gave her the confidence to push the envelope further with the sequel. “I told Randeep at the start: ‘Everyone knows you look good and you can act, but for Jism 2, I want to show people something that they have not seen before’.” There’s a porn star in the main cast, but Bhatt says this film will “cater to the women who are waiting to see the men”.

COMING UNDONE

Men, however, aren’t as excited about taking it off. “Men are as coy to shoot such scenes as women,” reveals Bhatt. “I shot a scene where Sunny has to touch Randeep’s nipples. It was a shocker even to my dad [Mahesh Bhatt]. Hot scenes are not just about taking clothes off, there has to be a story, an emotional chord to make it look classy.” Tusshar Kapoor’s promo image for his upcoming film Kya Super Cool Hain Hum spoofs Abraham’s pose from Dostana and has made the headlines too – Kapoor was trending on Twitter the day the image released. “I did it for the humour of it and it goes with the flow in the film. I thought I would be shy but I was not.” The reactions to his new avatar, however, were mixed. “I showed it to my family and they were quite happy. I got a lot of negative reactions on Twitter but that’s all right. It was fun,” he says. brunchletters@hindustantimes.com

“We seem okay with violence, but nudity we race to criticise and censor” – Eva Mendes JULY 8, 2012

WELLNESS

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How To Survive The Deep Frizz

MIND BODY SOUL

SHIKHA SHARMA

by Kavita Devgan

THE DIY FIX A quick homemade conditioner will also help during the monsoon. Here’s how to make it: Ingredients: 1 tsp honey, 4-5 drops of castor oil, 2 drops coconut oil, 2 tsp herbal shampoo, 1/2 tsp vinegar Mix all of the above ingredients. Wash hair with this solution, after your regular shampoo. This act as a good conditioner and adds sheen to hair. Kapil Dhameja, co-owner of Blue Terra Spa, Delhi

liquid serum from the Italian brand Alfaparf delivers great results too,” says Rodolphe Hequet, creative director, Aman Salon in Delhi. “Simple steps like protecting your head from the sun (cover it with a scarf or cap) and tying back long hair to avoid dirt and humidity work wonders,” adds Archana Gupta of Club Olympus, Hyatt Regency, Delhi. Treatments: Kapil Dhameja, coowner of Blue Terra Spa, Delhi, suggests a weekly head massage with neelibhringadi oil. “A good head massage for 30 minutes with acupressure improves blood circulation and relieves stress and tension (one of the causes of hairfall); conditions the scalp, helps prevent a flaky scalp, brittleness and split ends,” he adds. “A bamboo marrow pack by Alfaparf is my secret monsoon treatment. It adds moisture and helps repair hair structure,” says Anker. You could also massage the hair with natural oils like jojoba, almond, olive, jasmine and rosemary, suggests Gupta. brunchletters@hindustantimes.com