Hindustantimes Brunch 13 January 2013 by Hindustan Times

WEEKLY MAGAZINE, JANUARY 13, 2013 Free with your copy of Hindustan Times

THE HINDUSTAN TIMES-MARS HAPPINESS SURVEY How happy are we with our well-being, sex lives and finances? A comprehensive 16-city survey throws up some startling results

SEX

Indore happiest Indian city when it comes to libido

The big picture: Housewives glad with the action they are getting

MONEY Jaipur happier than Mumbai where money is concerned

The big picture: After 60-plus, 18-25 year olds least happy with what they earn

HEALTH

Patna more kicked about its fitness than Delhi

The big picture: Senior citizens most dissatisfied with their well-being

â&#x20AC;ŚMany more revelations inside!

indulge

VIR SANGHVI

Chatting about chaat

SANJOY NARAYAN Sounds of Berlin

RAJIV MAKHNI

SEEMA GOSWAMI

Tech-spotting in Vegas Laxman rekha for men

B R E A K FA S T O F C H A M P I O N S

facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch by Saudamini Jain

Brunch Opinion

How Do You Measure Happiness?

Write your heart out! Here are the best ideas, chosen from the hundreds that you sent us over Facebook, Twitter and email, for our READERS’ SPECIAL! Now’s the time to show us that you’ve got a writer inside you. Pick a topic from the ones listed below, write a 750-word article and send it to brunchletters@hindustantimes.com by January 20. Make sure your entry includes your name, age, address, mobile number and a photo. Here, finally, are the ideas you sent us: ■ American television shows or Indi■ Have we bean soap operas? come more adven■ How you got over a bad breakup. turous with food to■ Are we obsessed with celebrities? day as compared to ■ India’s offbeat/underrated travel destinations 20 years ago? ■ Why we love books! ■ 10 things wrong with Indian TV today. ■ Why are our online We’ll choose the best ones and publish them in identities so different our READERS’ SPECIAL, out on February 3. from our real ones? So, what are you waiting for, dear reader? Start writing! ■ Holidaying with your friends v/s your family.

Send us your articles

Fact of the Matter

Change did happen

by Yashica Dutt

hey said we’d forget; change our display pictures to holidaying in Goa and move on. But did we? From protesting at India Gate to apologising for abuses directed towards women, from trying to be invisible while walking on the road to looking into the eyes of every man, ready to talk back if he has a lewd comment to utter, we didn’t forget. When I wrote my cover story (We Just Had To Make Ourselves Heard, January 6), I was asked not to be too emotional, advised by well-meaning friends that nothing would change. But it did. When guys joked about not cat-calling women lest they get beaten, things changed. When people resolved to not use abuses directed at women, things changed. And then I knew it was okay to get emotional; it makes things happen.

Catch TV’s Hottest Hunks on the Web You’ve seen them scorch the small screen. Now see them up close and personal. TV’s hottest men, only on Brunch online! They’re brooding, they’re romantic and they set our hearts on fire. From chocolate boy Karan Wahi to the arrogant Vivian Dsena – here are ‘big’ small screen men in candid interviews with Veenu Singh (yep, we’re jealous!). Go on, log on to www.hindustantimes.com/brunch NOW!

Cover design: MONICA GUPTA

Front Row

eople in Indore love to eat. Happiness is quintals of poha and jalebis and every imaginable sort of namkeen. Patna has got safer over the years and people can finally go to the night shows of movies. Happiness is Dabangg 2 at 9 pm at a theatre, complete with whistling. Kochi is the coolest place in all of Kerala. Happiness is going to the mall. Jaipur loves to celebrate. Happiness is getting dressed up and partying with your very large family at your ancestral haveli. Chennai loves Carnatic music and The Beatles. Happiness is curdrice. Delhi burns in the summer. Happiness is Delhi winter. Mumbai is stuck in traffic. Happiness is Queen’s Necklace. Kolkata reads everything in print. Happiness is sweet. Bangalore is all things cool. Happiness is that rock concert. This is what I found while researching for this week’s cover story. Happiness is my first cover story. What’s yours?

Tech That! by Shreya Sethuraman

‘Appy’ness that’s just a click away... Instagram: Chuck their announcement. It’s by far the best photo application. Use filters and frames that light up your photos. So go ahead, click away. ■ PicsArt: Get cool retro frames for your pictures. The application allows you to ‘poster-ise’ your pictures and even draw. Now how cool is that? ■ Streamzoo: I downloaded it purely because I liked the name. Make collages, go Lomo with your pictures and share it. Compete for a spot on the Leaderboard. It’s great fun. ■ Pixlr Express: You have ample space to hone your photographic skills, what with the funky sticker options, filters, and editing features. ■

LOVE IT

Bonfires (oh so lovely!). ■ Social boycotts. ■ Bharat. Actually India. ■ Malala Yousafzai. ■ Hockey India League (Yes, it’s time we acknowledge the sport).

■

SHOVE IT

■ No No Honey Singh. ■ Lakshman Rekha (wasn’t that supposed to be used for cockroaches?). ■ Cricket. It’s only unnecessary hype. ■ Godmen. And their spokespersons. ■ Sitcom series finales. Who’ll make us laugh now?

by Amrah Ashraf

Why we love Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola ODing over the movie, but Yes,then,we’reit deserves all our love!

■ How can you not love the name? Vishal Bhardwaj has a knack for the bizarre-o! ■ No one thought Imran Khan could play a rugged Haryanavi Jat who mouths gaalis with ease and looks so incredibly hot in his bearded, ear-pierced avatar. ■ The ruminating pink cow with a smug laugh! What on earth is a cow doing in a

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

JANUARY 13, 2013

On The Brunch Radar by Shreya Sethuraman

bed and why is it bright pink? ■ An old man who loves his women, wine and insanity... Pankaj Kapur says the funniest things with such a straight face that we nearly screamed. ■ Tujh jaisi cheez ko mai bhagwan ke liye kaise chhod doon! Ought we to explain this??

DESIGN: Ashutosh Sapru (National Editor, Design), Monica Gupta, Swati Chakrabarti, Rakesh Kumar, Ashish Singh

Drop us a line at: brunchletters@

hindustantimes.com or to 18-20 Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi 110001

B R U N C H D AT E

hindustantimes.com/brunch

“It Feels Nice To Be A Trendsetter”

We met up with the designer over a cappuccino during her recent visit to the Satya Paul store at the DLF Emporio mall in Delhi.

Is Satya Paul a good fit for your image when you’re doing well on your own?

Satya Paul saris are a must-have for those keen to have a good collection of saris. I have grown up seeing my mother [actress Neena Gupta] wearing their designs. Some of their most iconic saris, in a way, have influenced my own design sensibilities also. So, when this offer came to me, I couldn’t refuse, as it is one of the very few brands that I connect with.

What are the changes that you will bring in?

Will you move on to trying out new silhouettes and styles?

Appointed the director of a leading fashion house in India, Masaba Gupta wants to drape a success story around the sari by Veenu Singh

ITH A STYLE that is fierce and bold, and shows off a strong play of colour and cut, fashion designer Masaba Gupta is known for giving saris an innovative lease of life. Today, her creations are endorsed by actresses Kareena Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor. It is her future-forward design sensibility that seems to have earned her the distinction of being the fashion director for an established brand like Satya Paul.

I’m focusing on getting my line ready for the fashion weeks, as I haven’t designed anything new since March.

What kind of relationship do you share with your parents?

I have a close and special relationship with my mother as I’ve spent the maximum time with her but I must admit that my relationship with my father [Caribbean cricket icon Vivian Richards] has also been very special. Although we are unable to meet too much, we are connected on the phone or mail or we try and meet in London. Mom at times can get a little hard on me (just like most mothers) but dad lets me be.

At times mom can be a little hard on me. But dad just lets me be

I don’t want people not to recognise a Satya Paul. That’s why there will be no change in terms of design and style. I am just going to make it more contemporary by working with the design team for saris as well as accessories.

Photo: SANJEEV VERMA

I’d want to introduce newer fashion prints and play with the sari’s structure if possible. Even simple techniques such as draping your pallu like a shawl make a difference. There are more than a hundred ways of tying the sari. However, I must also say that most Indian women tend to shy away from a sari that is unconventional. While fabrics can play a big part, a sari which is tampered with a lot hasn’t worked so much.

It’s a global norm to have a designer take over a fashion house. Are you setting a similar trend in India?

Wow! It really feels nice to hear that I have become some kind of a trendsetter, finally. Otherwise whatever I have done in life seems to have been learnt only through error. I really feel that this may open up the doors for several young and competent designers to actually be far more relevant to the masses and bring a design revolution of sorts.

What are your plans for your own line?

Through my label, I’ve tried to offer saris that are not just affordable but also make one stand out. These days

Mom definitely has a beautiful collection. When I was growing up, I loved watching her dress up in beautiful saris. She has been a big influence on my designs. When she did the serial Ladies Special for Sony, she wore most of my saris, which was very flattering for me. But, unfortunately, soon I saw replicas of my designs being flaunted in serials like Pavitra Rishta. I was pretty zapped.

Why didn’t you choose to be an actor or a sportsperson like your parents? I tried my hand at both acting as well as sports, but couldn’t make a mark in either of them.

veenus@hindustantimes.com

THE WOMEN SHE’D LOVE TO DRESS ■ Aishwarya Rai

Bachchan (right): She has never worn anything designed by me and has a very different kind of style. I would love to design for her. ■ Barkha Dutt: Another formidable personality I’d love to style. ■ Mary Kom: She was on my wish list till recently. Fortunately, I got a chance to dress her for an event in Delhi. Photo: GETTY IMAGES

“You can be any one you want to be, with the right outfit” – Melody Minagar, fashion designer JANUARY 13, 2013

Your mom always wears beautiful saris. What’s her take on your designs?

C OV E R STO RY

VARIETY OF things make people happy. There’s no magic formula. It could be a friend, a holiday, a job or something as mundane as the weather. And to measure just how happy people are is no easy feat. So in an attempt to quantify the unquantifiable and figure out how happy India is, we decided to ask direct questions. For this, the Hindustan Times commissioned market research agency MaRS to carry out the HT-MaRS Happiness Survey. In November and December last year, more than 5,000 people across 16 cities and all age groups were asked to rate their happiness with different aspects of their lives on a scale of 1 to 10. We then multiplied their scores by 100 for a three-digit Happiness Index – a number that tells you not just how happy one city is, but how it compares with other cities in India when posed the same questions. The survey quizzed people on pretty much every aspect of their lives. But today, in Brunch, we focus on The Big Three: Health, Money and Sex – all the things that make up a good life, all the things that you love about Brunch. Keep in mind that our survey didn’t ask people how healthy they were, how much money they had, or how many times they indulged in sexual activities. We merely wanted to know how happy they were with their well-being, financial situation and sex life. Over the next seven days, you’ll see the rest of the survey unfold in the daily edition of the Hindustan Times. But for now, curl up with all our findings and surprising discoveries about health, money and sex.

Smaller cities are the place to be

Which three cities are the happiest with their health? Indore (happiness index: 805), Jaipur (802) and Patna (800). And which turned out to be the happiest with the money they possess? Ahmedabad (782), Jaipur (770) and Chandigarh (768). This could be because these cities (despite not being major metropolises) have seen major economic growth recently. Businesses and industries are flourishing in Ahmedabad. Tourism is thriving in Jaipur and prosperous Chandigarh has the third highest per capita income in the country. Where do you think people are happiest with their sex lives? No, not

Photo: IMAGESBAZAAR

IN PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

How happy is urban India with The Big Three: health, money and sex life? The findings of the comprehensive, path-breaking 16-city HT-MaRS Happiness Survey are likely to take you by surprise by Saudamini Jain Methodology The survey was carried out by market research agency MaRS among 5,400 people, an equal number of men and women, in 16 state capitals and major cities in India. The sampling methodology ensured that the respondents were representative of the cities. All respondents were chosen from SEC A and SEC B households. The happiness index was measured by asking a simple question for each of the three aspects: Money: How happy are you with the amount of money that you have? Sex life: How happy are you with your sex life? Health: Given your age, family history, medical history and other environmental factors, how happy do you think you are with your health?

JANUARY 13, 2013

Happiness Scale 900 or more: Extremely happy 800-900: Happy 700-800: Somewhat happy 600-700: Happiness under strain 600 or below: Unhappy

Delhi (it turned out to the least happy – with a happiness index of only 664). Smaller cities scored again: Indore, Patna and Ahmedabad. So what’s making our smaller cities happier than our big ones? Siddharth Chowdhury, author of the novel Patna Roughcut, says it’s the easier pace of life in a smaller city. Everybody knows everybody, so anything out of line can spread like wildfire. It forces you to be on your best behaviour. “A bigger city [like Delhi or Mumbai] can be an impersonal place,” he says. “People are always living on the edge.” Any stressed out city dweller will tell you that urban stress affects your well-being. “The level of violence, crime and governance in a city impact not just your health but also your ability to be happy,” says Dr Priya Balu, a senior public health specialist with Delhi’s Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI). “How can you be happy when you’re worried about your safety?” As the metropolises continue to extend their borders to accommodate more and more people, their residents end up spending longer hours commuting – another reason for their dissatisfaction. You could have the same working hours in a smaller city like Jaipur (which ranks #2 in health) but if you live in Delhi (at #13) and work in Gurgaon, your commute is half the distance to Jaipur! Or if you live in Mumbai (which ranked #6) and commute between Thane and Cuffe Parade every day, you’re spending more than two hours in traffic, fuming even as you darken your lungs with every breath. Health experts believe that one hour on the road is normal. But anything more than that is time which could have been better spent in the gym, in a park, or resting. And if you can barely manage to get half the sleep your body needs, how can you possibly make time for

SLOW OR STEADY

Is the fast life of the big city for you? Or are you a slow-paced small city kind of person? IT'S A SIMPLE TEST 1 being the lowest, and 10 being the highest, at what stress level do you perform best? If your answer is less than 7, you’re suited for a slow-paced life. If more, you belong in a big city. Dr Sunil Mittal, chairman, Cosmos Institute of Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences, New Delhi

good, regular sex? Sexologist Dr Prakash Kothari explains why smaller cities reported being happier in the bedroom – there are fewer distractions. There’s little nightlife or other sources of entertainment, so “people have the time to experiment and indulge.” Sex in the big cities, on the other hand, tends to become “an act of hurry and duty rather than making love,” he says. In a city as cramped as Mumbai (which ranked 11th with its sex life), it’s the lack of space that acts as a deterrent to having sex. Dr Anita Patil Deshmukh, executive director of

the city’s independent research collective Partners in Urban Knowledge, Action and Research (Pukar) says that when they conducted a survey about privacy and public spaces in Mumbai, “couples, especially those living in 1BHKs, in very candid interviews, said that the lack of space affected their sex lives.”

Marriage is perhaps the best way to get sex

The survey also found that the 18-25 age group is the unhappiest with its sex life (happiness index: 682). It’s not surprising, most unmarried people from that age group who we spoke to after we saw the findings, admitted that their sex life was pretty much non-existent. The only times they had sex often was when they were in a stable relationship. And even then, they said that there was usually no place to do it, unless they were lucky enough to be living on their own. Many, who were lucky enough to have a place, often did not have a partner. “Unlike Japan where they have love hotels, there is a great space problem in the country,” says Dr Kothari. But, there’s some good news. People over the age of 26 tended to fare better. It could be because many Indians are married by then, taking

Photo: THINKSTOCK

twitter.com/HTBrunch

INDORE JAIPUR PATNA

are the cities happiest with their health Whereas

KOCHI KOLKATA GUWAHATI are the unhappiest

It is only after the age of

that people seem to start worrying about their well-being It is the people aged

60+

who are the unhappiest with their health HEALTH IS THE KEY

Satisfaction score with one’s current state of well-being (maximum score = 1000)

Photos: GETTYIMAGES

MUMBAI

(above) seems to be happier than DELHI with its health, money and sex life. Both are very difficult cities, say experts. Delhi is perhaps a tad tougher

JANUARY 13, 2013

TOWN Indore Jaipur Patna Hyderabad Lucknow Mumbai Ahmedabad Chandigarh Bangalore Pune Ranchi Chennai Delhi Kochi Kolkata Guwahati Total GENDER Male Female OCCUPATION Student Working men Working women Housewife Retired AGE 18-25 years 26-35 years 36-45 years 46-60 years 60+ years

805 802 800 798 797 784 781 781 772 768 762 760 757 701 692 686 756 754 759 780 766 771 760 706 778 778 769 749 705

C OV E R STO RY Photo: IMAGESBAZAAR

care of both the place and partner conundrum. “Marriage also gives you more security by making things official,” adds Dr Prakash Kothari. The survey shows that the 10 years after 25, till you’re 35, tend to be the happiest in your sex life. But even when it goes downhill after, it won’t be as bad as those early years.

Bangalore, Hyderabad overtake Chennai, Kochi

When we asked people simple questions on just how happy they were with their health, money and sex life, Hyderabad and Bangalore were consistently within the 10 happiest cities. Chennai and Kochi were always among the six least happy. Hyderabad, in fact, ranked fourth in terms of being happy with its health. This, may seem strange – Chennai and Kochi are, after all, big centres for medical tourism. Chennai is the country’s health capital. And the 2011 India Human Development Index report placed Kerala at the top for achieving the highest literacy rate, quality health services and consumption expenditure. But sociology professor GK Karanth from Bangalore’s Institute for Social and Economic Change has a theory about why these cities may still feel unhappy with their healthcare. “Health facilities cater more to the outsider than the local in Chennai and Kochi,” he says. Karanth adds that Bangalore and Hyderabad are far more medicalised and that people tend to visit the doctor more often. The reason Hyderabad is even happier than Bangalore is probably because the city has better public health response than other southern cities. “Bangalore hasn’t been able to cope with urban stresses,” says Dr Balu

INCREDIBLE HAPPINESS IN INDORE A few years ago, Indore was a picturesque little town. It was warm, cozy and very happy. Happy, it still is. In fact, according to our Happiness Survey, it is the happiest city with its health and sex life. When it comes to money, the city, also known as mini-Mumbai, is fourth on the list, ahead of Mumbai. As it turns out, Indore is getting bigger and happier even as you read this. Several things happened simultaneously to cause this: Industries were set up in and around the city, businesses expanded, IT companies began investing, people from bigger cities started moving in, and the price of real estate shot up. The city is now a healthy, wealthy mix of the old moneyed class and the nouveau riche. Nishant Rajvaidya, 27, grew up in the city and fondly remembers the “aunties who used to call you home for a simple lunch” but now, “the same aunties are driving around the city in their Bentleys and shopping at

of PHFI, Delhi. What also seems to have worked in favour of Hyderabad and Bangalore is the anonymity that the cities offer. Professor Karanth believes that “the two cities are similar to Mumbai”. There’s a huge migrant population, and thanks to the IT industry, there are more jobs, more business opportunities and simply more ways to find success. They are full of young people who are doing well for themselves. Although Chennai is expanding as well, and attracting migrants, it “may not accommodate people as comfortably as Bangalore and Hyderabad,” says Karanth. And that may not make it a particularly happy place to live in. Kerala is also grappling with its large population of old people and trying to cope with the fact that more young people are moving out of the state.

“In smaller cities, couples have the time to experiment and indulge in sex”

18-25

is the age group unhappiest with its sex life. It is followed by 10 years of near-bliss

Satya Paul.” Somehow, in our metropolis minds, Indore was a city of families riding scooters. Far from it. Says Rajvaidya, “My neighbours have a helicopter!” Interestingly, people really are health-conscious in Indore. Not in the sipping-green-tea-and-munching-on-organic-crackers kind of way but the real thing. “Over the last couple of years, people have woken up and taken to walking,” says Vani Sharma, 43, who works in Indore. Everybody has a club membership. They play tennis and badminton. They go to the gym. Stress hasn’t caught up with them yet. “And there are periodic health checks in every part of the city,” Sharma adds. And sex? Says, Ishita Gupta (name changed), who also grew up in the city, “Of course people have pre-marital sex. But nobody talks about it.” It’s a small place, everybody knows everybody. That’s probably why it’s so thrilling, she adds wryly. One one-way ticket coming up.

Bangalore and Hyderabad have also indicated that they are happier with their sex lives. Could it be because of their largely young (under-35) population? It is a possibility, says Karanth, attributing it to the people’s “uninhibited preparedness for sex”. He also thinks it could be because “in Chennai and Kochi, there is a tendency of conservatism in speech, interaction and body language. These show in attitudes towards sex.”

Age has everything to do with happiness

Of all the age groups, the 60-plus age group is the unhappiest with its health and money. The retired, in fact, are under financial strain. Inflation has soared, old-school financial plans seem woefully inadequate for today’s expenses, and deteriorating health seems to just make matters worse. Our elderly are simply not able to reap the benefits of their lifetime of hard work and scrupulous saving. Sheilu Srinivasan, founder of the

People in

INDORE PATNA

are quite happy with their sex lives

WORKING MEN

are happier with their sex lives than

WORKING WOMEN

SEX IN NUMBERS

Satisfaction score with one’s current sex life (maximum score = 1000) TOWN Indore Patna Ahmedabad Lucknow Jaipur Pune Bangalore Kolkata Chandigarh Hyderabad Mumbai Chennai Kochi Ranchi Guwahati Delhi Total GENDER Male Female OCCUPATION Student Working men Working women Housewife AGE 18-25 years 26-35 years 36-45 years 46-60 years

728 738 680 759 747 766 682 781 768 747

DELHI

is the least happy with its sex life.

MUMBAI

isn’t too kicked either

Photos: THINKSTOCK

“Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city” – George Burns, actor JANUARY 13, 2013

830 818 791 778 768 750 746 741 725 723 707 692 688 683 678 664 733

MONEY MATTERS

Satisfaction score with the money one possesses (maximum score = 1000)

MEN

are happier with their financial situation than

WOMEN

Dignity Foundation, an NGO that provides social support, shelter and advocacy for the elderly, says that “even for people who have health insurance, many insurance companies do not honour very legitimate claims by old people.” The rise in medical expenditure is something that most retired people are unable to deal with. “Someone who retired five years ago cannot cope with inflation today. The money is definitely not enough to continue with the standard of living they were used to.” It is also their inability to adjust to technology that makes them “feel unequipped for the pace of the modern world,” she adds.

People in

CHENNAI

are not very happy with their wealth

People now spend one-third of their lifetime in retirement. India’s average life expectancy is 67.1 years, almost equal to the global average. But the middle and higher classes live well into their 80s, which means, says Himanshu Rath, chairperson of the Agewell Foundation, “we’re seeing a first generation of old people – people who did not see their parents live this long.” They were just not prepared for their old age. “We’ll see a change in 20-30 years,” Rath adds. “The second generation will be better prepared when they grow old because they have a better understanding of the requirements of old people.”

Experts say there are more ways to find success in

HYDERABAD (left) than in

CHENNAI,

because the latter might not accommodate its rising migrant population as comfortably Photos: GETTYIMAGES

HOUSEWIVES are happier with the money they have than

WORKING WOMEN Indian housewives aren’t desperate housewives

Housewives, as our survey found, are happier with their money than working women. It may sit at odds with our notions of Indian housewives as TV addicts with little else to do than gossip and cook. But their sense of happiness could possibly emerge from the fact that the very idea of the housewife has changed. Being one, especially in our cities, is no longer a compulsion. For the better educated woman of today, it is a voluntary decision. She has greater control over the family. She no longer needs her husband to take

TOWN Ahmedabad Jaipur Chandigarh Indore Mumbai Lucknow Kolkata Bangalore Hyderabad Patna Delhi Pune Chennai Ranchi Kochi Guwahati Total GENDER Male Female OCCUPATION Working men Working women Housewife Retired AGE 18-25 years 26-35 years 36-45 years 46-60 years 60+ years

782 770 768 763 763 761 760 760 728 726 712 710 678 675 670 665 729 740 719 740 712 728 695 722 743 745 740 701

her to the multiplex. Says Professor Karanth, “She has the right over the household money – joint accounts, ATM cards.” Housewives also seemed the happiest with their sex lives (with a happiness index of 766) . Working women in comparison, averaged an index of only 747. Sexologist Dr Kothari says it’s because “a working woman has to work outside the house and within. She’s more stressed.” Housewives on the other hand, have become “more vocal” and are no longer shy about “asking for sex”. saudamini.jain@hindustantimes.com

“Nobody really cares if you’re miserable, so you might as well be happy” – Cynthia Nelms, artist

indulge

THE CUISINE OF THE STREET

Vir Sanghvi

SAME GENE POOL

rude food

Why don’t we give chaat the respect it deserves? Why is it without honour even in UP, its home state?

Photo: THINKSTOCK

Photo: IMAGES BAZAAR

’M FINALLY coming to terms with something I’ve always suspected about myself: my favourite food in the world is chaat. Give me caviar, give me white truffles and give me the greatest hits of Heston Blumenthal and Ferran Adrià, and I’ll probably be diverted for a while. But after a brief flirtation, I will return to my first love: chaat. This was brought home to me last week when I attended a glamourous private party in Bombay catered by Marut Sikka. Most of us know Marut as a TV chef and a restaurateur but I suspect that his real income comes from private parties. Marut’s skill lies not just in the excellent north Indian food that his own team of chefs can be depended upon to turn out but in his ability to source the best chefs and dishes from around the world. At this party, for instance, the food was truly spectacular and the highlight should have been the dishes created by chefs from Le Calandre, the celebrated Italian restaurant (three Michelin stars and a regular spot on those slightly silly lists of the world’s greatest restaurants). And yes, the Italian food was amazing. But it was not my favourite cuisine on the menu. Even as waiters circulated with outstanding Lebanese, Gujarati and north Indian dishes, and the Calandre team showered white truffles on their risotto, I huddled at the bar with two friends and ordered plate after plate of the chaat. What made the chaat so outstanding that it was unlike the sort of thing we normally see in Delhi or Bombay. Marut had found a third-generation chaatwallah from the Kesari Chaat Stall in Benaras (it is located near the Dus Ashwamedh Ghat on the Ganga) and had persuaded him to come to Bombay and to serve his entire menu at the party. CLAIMING ITS OWN

Kerala may brag about its spices (left), Goa may trumpet the virtues of vindaloo (right) and so on, but UP seems to have surrendered all claims to chaat JANUARY 13, 2013

The Bombay dahi batata puri has its roots in UP chaat but is very much an individual dish in its own right

One of my friends is a TV big-shot who prides himself on his foodie skills (though he has a misplaced admiration for his local Bihari cuisine and little understanding of the complexities of Gujarati food!) and even he and his wife were stunned by the quality of the chaat. The secret of good chaat, he said, is that UP has the best chaat in India but that it does not come from Lucknow as is commonly supposed but from Benaras. The thing about the people of Benaras, he added, is that they are naturally shy and reluctant to leave their city and show off their skills to the world. I was too busy polishing off the chaat to think very deeply about what my friend said. I concentrated instead on a delicious palak papdi chaat, freshly made so that the fried palak was still crisp and brittle. A tomato chaat was made from tomatoes that had clearly been simmered for hours. A kachori chaat had lots of delicious, crunchy little kachoris, dressed with dahi and chutney. A tokri chaat comprised little baskets of fried potatoes. The rui dahi bhalla consisted of bhallas so light that they reminded you of fluffy balls of cotton. And on and on it went as I demolished the entire Kesari Chaat menu. The next morning, I thought back to the conversation about Benaras vs Lucknow and began to wonder if my friend had been right about UP being the centre of the chaat world. I’ve been to Lucknow several times and though chefs keep trying to force pulaos and curries on me, I stick to the chaat. (I am fortunate in that I have two good friends in Lucknow – Sharat Pradhan and Sunita Aron, among the city’s most celebrated journalists – who are dedicated chaat lovers and know all the best places.) On the other hand, I’ve only been to Benaras on a foodie trip once to shoot for my A Matter Of Taste show and my lasting memory of that trip remains the Malayon, the ethereal earlymorning dessert about which I have often written. I thought back to that trip. Had the chaat really been outstanding? Well, actually, it had but because the focus on the show was milk

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Photos: DINODIA IMAGES

THE CRUNCH EFFECT

The Gujaratis took the principles of UP chaat (something fried, lots of crispy things for texture, chutneys, dahi, potatoes, etc) and created new dishes. The most famous of these is bhel puri (above) desserts we had concentrated on Malayon. I phoned Marut and asked him what he thought. He agreed that UP was the centre of the chaat world. But he thought that, within UP, there were many chaat traditions. He gave me the example of what we call paani-puri in Bombay. In Lucknow and Kanpur, they use the term ‘batasha’ or possibly, ‘gol-gappa’. In Benaras, on the other hand, they call it a puchhka and the taste of the paani is subtly different from the Lucknow version. Marut thinks that there are strong foodie links between Benaras and Calcutta, which is why the term ‘puchhka’ is used in Bengal as well. He reckons that perhaps chaatwallahs from the Benaras region moved to Calcutta and seeded the city’s flourishing chaat scene. He may be right. The more I thought about it the more chaat seemed to be a UP thing. The Calcutta tradition is essentially a morphing of Benarasi recipes to suit the city’s Bengali and Marwari clientele. This is why Calcutta’s puchhkas are tarter than the Benaras version. In Delhi, on the other hand, the chaatwallahs probably came from Lucknow and Kanpur and gave the city its own gol-gappa, which I regret to say, is easily the least interesting example of the genre. Neither Marut nor I could work out which part of UP Bombay’s chaatwallahs originally came from. We know for certain that chaat was transported to Bombay by UP Brahmins, most of whom used the surname Sharma. (Take a poll of the chaatwallahs at Chowpatty and Juhu. You will find that most of the long-established ones are still called Sharma.) It is a tribute to Bombay’s culinary genius that the UP chaat tradition was able to successfully mate with the Gujarati snack/farsan tradition so that a new chaat culture was born. The Gujaratis took the principles of UP chaat (something fried, lots of crispy things for texture, chutneys, dahi, potatoes, etc.) and created new dishes. The most famous of these is bhel puri but there are many others. The Bombay dahi batata puri has its roots in UP chaat but is very much an individual dish in its own right. Ragda pattice is a Gujarati adaptation of that north

Indian standby, tikki with channa. And Marut reckons that Bombay’s pani-puri, which is the local variant of the golgappa/puchhka/batasha chaat is probably the best expression of this dish. (I love Bombay but here I disagree with Marut: my money is on the Calcutta puchhka.) The more Marut and I talked about it, the more convinced we became that we could trace nearly all genuine chaat dishes to waves of migration from UP. This explains why it is so difficult to find a chaat tradition south of Bombay: the UPites did not venture further down the Peninsula. It is funny, though, that at a time when every state is doing so much to put its cuisine on the map, UP takes so little credit for being the home of chaat. Kerala may brag about its spices, Goa may trumpet the virtues of vindaloo and so on, but UP seems to have surrendered all claims to chaat, which is now seen as a panIndian favourite rather than a regional cuisine. The public image of the food of UP leads only to the Awadhi haute cuisine of Lucknow and to pots of steaming biryani or animal fat kebabs. I love Lucknawi food as much as the next man but I doubt if it has been as influential or as popular as chaat. And yet, the chaat geniuses of Benaras, Lucknow, Kanpur and other UP towns get almost no recognition at all. Their wonderful tradition is disparaged as being ‘mere street food’. But India lives and eats on its streets. And that night as I turned away all the fancy food that Marut and the Michelin-starred chefs had cooked and stuck to the Benaras chaat, I pondered the injustice. In America, they celebrate the hamburger and the hotdog; pizza is Italy’s global calling card; and Britain is known for fish and chips. So why, oh why, do we in India not give chaat the respect it deserves? Why is it without honour even in its home state? I say this not just because chaat is my favourite food. I’m sure that millions of other Indians are also crazy about chaat. So, for once, let’s give haute cuisine a rest and stand up for what we really love: the cuisine of the Indian street.

The public image of the food of UP leads only to the Awadhi haute cuisine of Lucknow and to pots of steaming biryani

JANUARY 13, 2013

MECCA OF CHAAT

The best chaat in India does not come from Lucknow as is commonly supposed but from Benaras (above)

MASALA PATTIES

Ragda pattice (below) is a Gujarati adaptation of that north Indian standby, tikki with channa (above)

Photo: IMAGES BAZAAR

indulge

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BEHAVE! There’s lots of advice out there for how women should stay safe; here are a few handy pointers for men as well STAY IN

If you are seen prowling the streets late at night, we will assume that you are up to no good. That you are, in fact, ‘asking’ to rape someone

NO GIRLFRIENDS PLEASE

If you socialise with a girl who isn’t your sister or the one you intend to marry, then we will know just how dodgy your ‘morals’ are

Photos: THINKSTOCK

Seema Goswami

DRESS PROPERLY

spectator

VER THE last month or so, Indian women have been inundated with gratuitous advice on how we should conduct ourselves in public so as to keep ourselves safe from sexual harassment and violence. Politicians, religious heads, media commentators, women’s rights activists, and well, pretty much anyone with a voice to be heard, has come up with new and innovative ways to keep the women in our society ‘safe’ from sexual crimes. Right off the top of my head, these are some of the suggestions that have been offered in all seriousness. Women should not be allowed access to mobile phones. Co-education should be banned. Girls should be married off the moment they reach puberty to keep them safe from predators. Schoolgirls should wear overcoats over their uniforms to save them from the gaze of perverts. Teachers should wear lab coats to prevent male students leching at them. Working women should not be so adventurous as to travel back home alone from work late at night. Women should not wear skirts or other ‘revealing’ outfits because that just excites the men and provokes them into attacking them sexually. And certainly, women should not complain about being ‘raped’ if they willingly go out with men, because honestly, what were they expecting? That is, by no means, an exhaustive list. But I guess you get the general drift. The message is clear and simple: stay covered up; stay at home; stay silent; and if you’re lucky, you may stay safe. So it is in the same spirit that I now offer my own two bits of gratuitous advice to men as to how they should live their lives. ■ First off, don’t ever venture out into the night alone. And most certainly, don’t head out with a group of male friends. If you are seen prowling the streets late at night, we will assume that you are up to no good. That you are, in fact, ‘asking’ to rape someone. So, be a dear and get home by 9 pm. If you do have to venture out after this ‘curfew’, then ask a woman – your wife, sister, mother, aunt, any other female relative – to accompany you. If you fail to do that, then be prepared to face the consequences. If you are out late at night and ‘cross’ that ‘Lakshman Rekha’, we will assume that you are Ravana and treat you accordingly. ■ Be warned. If you dress in an ‘immodest’ manner, we’ll be judging you. Put away those shorts you wear to the beach/mall/gym to show off those hairy legs. Don’t wear those tight, crotch-hug-

Put away those shorts you wear to the beach/mall/gym to show off those hairy legs

ging jeans. And button up that shirt while you’re at it; nobody wants to see that provocative expanse of chest. What kind of message are you sending anyway by flashing all that flesh? Cover up already. Don’t you know how to stay within your ‘maryada’? ■ When it comes to socialising or making friends, stick to your own sex. It’s much safer that way. If you hang out with girls; go to the movies with them; party with them; or, God forbid, drink and dance with them, things will get tricky very quickly. So, don’t risk going out with a girl unless she is your sister or you intend to marry her (not if she is your sister, of course). If you do, then we will know just how dodgy your ‘morals’ are. And that may well destroy your marriage prospects. Nobody wants to get hitched to ‘that kind of guy’, you know. ■ While we are on the subject of marriage, do try and enter the holy state of matrimony as early as possible. It’s best if you are hitched by 21 but we will allow you some leeway till around 25. If you hit the age of 30 without acquiring a wife then we will assume that there is something seriously wrong with you. And if you are still single at 35, or worse still, at 40, it will be taken as a given that you are either sexually depraved or morally deviant. ■ Don’t rock the boat. If someone passes a snide comment, makes a personal remark, invades your personal space, touches you inappropriately, makes unwanted sexual advances, just ignore it. If the harassment persists, submit meekly. Don’t make a scene. Don’t raise your voice. Stay silent and pray that it goes away. But never – no matter what the provocation – retaliate or even react. Just go with the flow. Because if you stand up for yourself, there is every likelihood that you will be ground into the dust. Okay then, that’s my five-point ‘advisory’ to all men. And now here’s a question for all the men who have persisted in reading this far: how offended are you by all the ‘suggestions’ listed above? Very offended indeed, I’m guessing. Good. Now you know how every woman feels when she hears people holding forth on how she needs to do a, b, and c (and avoid e, f, and g) to keep herself ‘safe’. And maybe that will teach all of you ‘experts’ out there to shut the hell up.

Never – no matter what the provocation – retaliate or even react. Stay silent

JANUARY 13, 2013

seema_ht@rediffmail.com.Follow Seema on Twitter at twitter.com/seemagoswami

indulge GROUND REPORT FROM THE MECCA OF TECH The world’s largest Consumer Electronics Show reflects a change of guard that has been in the making for quite a few years

The HapiFork tells you if you’re eating too fast or too much. How’s that for diet control?

WEIGHTY BENEFITS

The Withings Smart Body Analyzer helps analyse your weight, fat, heart beat and also the air quality around you

PHABLETS ARE THE NEXT BIG THING, AND THAT’S NOT NECESSARILY A GOOD THING Rajiv Makhni

T’S LATE at night, very late. I’m in Las Vegas and we are hours away from the opening of the world’s largest Consumer Electronics Show – CES 2013. The gates to this incredible technology extravaganza will open in a few hours and more than 1,65,000 people will troop in with glazed eyes and stupefied expressions. This is truly the mecca of tech and expectations are sky high as more than 3,000 companies from across the globe will announce and demonstrate thousands of new devices. I’ve been privileged to have been given a preview to many of the products that will be unveiled tomorrow morning and some of them are awesome. But far more important than what turns out to be the best and worst of CES this year (my detailed column next week) is the feeling that this year signifies a change of guard. CES 2013 reflects a reboot of technology, a reset that has been in the making for quite a few years. Some of the technology trends that will shape our future have become clear this year at CES.

SELLING TELEVISIONS IS GOING TO BE TOUGH IN THE FUTURE

HAPPY EATING

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techilicious

CES this year has seen the maturing of certain TV technologies that have been either half-baked or just not ready for prime time. OLED (very low power consumption, super thin, amazing contrasts, incredible colours) is now a reality. Ultra High Definition is the future (almost four times the 1080P HD resolution that we all see and marvel at today). Plus Glassless 3D (many different kinds, and some of them are actually starting to look good), Super Smart TVs (they study what you watch and plan and remind you of shows and movies that are similar and build customised content pages) and voice and gesture controls (instead of clunky controls you now speak to your TV to filter channels and content to what you want to see). There are even TVs that are so powerful (quad core processor and graphic engines) that they can transmit two completely different full-screen images so that two people can watch the same screen but completely different content at the same time (you can watch sports while your parents can watch a movie). Thus TVs have gone from being a idiot box to a connected, very smart, very intelligent family device. And yet companies will find selling TVs in the future very difficult. OLED and Ultra HD are going to be very expensive for the next four years (almost six times more expensive to current TVs). But even if one was to wait for prices to come down from the stratosphere, the big problem is going to be content. Every single time TV displays have moved to the next level, growth has been fuelled by content. The first SD flat plasma TVs took off with the advent of DVDs and our current HD TVs only look good with Blu Rays or HD broadcast channels. Unfortunately nothing like that seems to be coming in fast and buying a TV that is capable of Ultra HD but without any content to see it is self-defeatist in purpose. Sales of these amazingly capable and very high tech TVs are going to be severely handicapped with no compelling reason to upgrade.

Every company worth its salt has a super large screen phone either announced or on display at CES. Five inches is just about the starting point for each and full-HD resolution (1920x1080) is now the benchmark. This is a quantum leap forward as last year there was just one phone with a fiveinch screen and that had a very average resolution. This is a great showcase of how quickly technology is moving ahead and also bodes well for the consumer as large screen phones with such high resolutions tend to be super specced, very high featured and have extremely powerful hardware inside. But it’s also very worrisome as it also seemed that almost every company had only larger screens as the only real innovation to show. As each company turns out a big screen phone (and some take it to ridiculous levels like 6.1 inches) there is almost no differentiator from one to another. Also, such large screen phones aren’t for everyone as a lot of people find them difficult to handle, carry and make calls on. Yet, the calling card for each mobile brand seemed to be only large, larger, largest. I was expecting a lot more innovation on many different fronts but that wasn’t the case at CES this year. Maybe MWC (Mobile World Congress) could change that!

YOUR BODY IS GOING TO BE TECH’S BIGGEST PLAYGROUND

My column last week showcased a lot of new wearable tech that would ensure your body was fitter and stronger. That turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg as CES took it to a whole new level. From weighing scales that analyse your weight, fat, heart beat and also the air quality around you (measures carbon dioxide that builds up to excessive levels in confined spaces like bedrooms and gyms) to a smart fork and spoon that tells you if you’re eating too fast or too much. There are more than 30 new bio-feedback bands and clip-on devices that tell you exactly what your body is doing (or not doing). There’s even tech for your soul with a new app called GPS for your soul that measures your heart rate variability, pinpoints stress levels and then offers you music, breathing exercises and pictures of your loved ones that can help you destress. Tech for your body is a great category and one that may just bring about a true digital health revolution. There were other clear tech trends that emerged. Car and tech have now become perfect soulmates (connected cars, cars with more computing power than a roomful of computers, cars that communicate with all the devices you already own), tablets have become the biggest innovation arena (a paper-thin flexible tablet called PaperTab was showcased as were tablets with great new ways of typing including virtual keyboards) and the fact that from now on almost all top-of-the-line cameras will have to have an operating system that can do more than just take pictures, be WiFi enabled and be able to take in a SIM card too (seems like the Samsung Galaxy camera has really set the cat amongst the pigeons). Usually, CES is just a showcase of some great devices and products. This year it’s a guiding light to how technology will shape up in the next five years. Watch out next week for my detailed CES 2013 column where I introduce you to the best and worst of this mega event, one device at a time!

CES 2013 shows us how technology will shape up in the next five years

JANUARY 13, 2013

Rajiv Makhni is managing editor, Technology, NDTV and the anchor of Gadget Guru, Cell Guru and Newsnet 3. Follow Rajiv on Twitter at twitter.com/RajivMakhni

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GANGNAM STYLE IN SONATA LAND

Music creeps up on you in the most curious ways when you’re travelling. That’s what happened to me on a recent trip to Berlin

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS

Above: A poster of the Salvador Dali exhibition in Potsdamer Platz; Below: The bar fashioned after New York’s CBGB club, where the Ramones got their first big break

Sanjoy Narayan

download central

EAVING A city that you’ve visited and liked is never a happy experience, however short your sojourn to that place might have been. You feel low and wish you’d have had some more time to spend there. And if it’s a city as vibrant and as much a blend of the old and new as Berlin is, the sadness is greater. So it wasn’t with buoyant spirits that we boarded the taxi to go to the airport that afternoon. The music playing inside the cab was soothing. It was a piano sonata. Mozart’s in A minor, and the cabbie turned around to ask us whether we wanted it changed. I looked at my only co-passenger, my eight-year-old daughter, and asked her if it was fine. Yes, she pensively nodded. We’d killed a couple of hours after checking out of the hotel by walking the streets of central Berlin, aimlessly in the cold winter drizzle, not talking much and, well, feeling sad that the holiday had come to an end. The piano sonata was very welcome. I asked the cabbie who was playing and he said Mitsuko Uchida. “She’s Japanese,” he added for good measure. Uchida trained in her teens in Vienna and is a British national who received the OBE a couple of years back (all this we Googled on our phone, splurging recklessly on roaming data charges) and the sonata was a fit accompaniment to our journey to the airport. Music creeps up on you in the most curious ways when you are travelling. The previous day had been New Year’s Day and we’d woken up late, had a lazy, indulgent brunch and then taken the underground to go see the ongoing Salvador Dali exhibition in Potsdamer Platz. There, music crept up again in the screening of the short and surreal 1929 film, Un Chien Andalou, made by Dali and the Spanish filmmaker, Luis Buñuel. The film is disjointed and has no real plot and has bizarre scenes galore. When Dali and Buñuel had first screened it in Paris, they’d expected their audience to get enraged. Instead, the two got welcomed into the ranks of the Surrealists, a movement whose stars they later became. The film’s soundtrack has excerpts from the controversial 19th century composer Richard Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde and, while

Photos: SANJOY NARAYAN

JANUARY 13, 2013

THE JUKEBOX

know Christmas is long over. I’m also rather far from being an aficionado of Christmas carols. But if there’s just one Christmas song that you want to hear and if you haven’t heard American soul singer Clarence Carter’s Back Door Santa, I suggest you do so. It is a tad NSFW and certainly not all-age appropriate but a nice soul-inflected version of what Santa ought to be.

A FAN’S TRIBUTE

We tracked down the Ramones Museum, a shrine to the legendary New York punk band

listening to the dramatic final aria that the film excerpted, I was immediately transported to my early teens when my father would play on his mono record player heavy, 78 rpm recordings of Wagner’s operas. I cried off Western classical music pretty early (silly of me) and much to the chagrin of my old man and am only now rolling slowly back to listening to more of it. Music crept up in Berlin’s Mitte area where, after checking out the impressive New Synagogue, which was badly damaged before and during World War II and is now reconstructed, we tracked down the Ramones Museum, a sort of shrine to the legendary New York punk band, Ramones, filled with memorabilia, including clothes worn by Joey Ramone, tickets, posters, pictures, guitars and so on. A bit self-indulgent I thought, but couldn’t help being impressed by the German fan’s dedication. There’s a bar along with the museum whose façade, incidentally, is fashioned after that of New York’s erstwhile CBGB club where the Ramones got their first big break and which was New York’s original and iconic punk rock club. Sadly, that club doesn’t exist any more. I found music in Berlin’s flea markets on the weekend. At the Flohmarkt am Mauerpark, you can get lost in carton after carton of vinyls mainly but also CDs. And if you have the knack for bargaining and some patience, you can find great stuff. Not much of it is very organised but no one’s going to say anything if you park yourself at one of the stalls and spend as long as you want rifling through what’s on offer. I found a limited edition vinyl single on which Jack White and Alicia Keys perform as a duet. It’s the song, Another Way To Die from the Bond film, Quantum of Solace, and is written and produced by White. The flipside has the instrumental version and the record itself is amber and transparent and is one of those for which you need to use the circular adapter that comes with your record player. I paid a ridiculously low price for it, using up the small change in my pocket. Of course, Berlin has much, much more to offer than opportunities to discover music but you can do that as well. Or, multi-task as my budding violinist and classical music enthusiast daughter did, dancing Gangnam style with wild abandon at one of the many Christmas markets that dot the city’s landscape in December. To give feedback, stream or download the music mentioned in this column, go to http://blogs.hindustantimes.com/downloadcentral, follow argus48 on Twitter

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MIND BODY SOUL SHIKHA SHARMA

WE ARE WHAT WE EAT

As food becomes affordable, don’t let nutrition be the casualty

AST WEEK the celebrations to commemorate 100 years of Indian science were held. Over the last 100 years, even as advances in science have enhanced life spans, we’ve begun to face problems related to unhealthy lifestyles and diet. Let us take a look at the three food fundamentals of sugar intake, salt intake and oil consumption.

THE SUGAR TRAP Sugar consumption has gone up alarmingly over the last century. Numbers for developed countries such as The United States show an annual increase from 20 pounds to

SUGAR EVERYWHERE

We consume sugar in numerous forms such as cold drinks (above) 150 pounds per person. Developing nations such as India are not too different. Just look around and you’ll notice the numerous forms in which we have sugar: in juices, breakfast cereals, ready-to-eat noodles, biscuits, cold drinks, cough syrups, mouth fresheners, toothpaste, in certain breads and most packaged foods. Effects on the body: Excess consumption can lead to obesity, restlessness, shrinking attention spans, calcium loss from bones, insulin resistance, hormonal imbalances and reduced immunity.

TOO MUCH, TOO BAD

Too much salt takes time to be thrown out of our bodies FAT OF THE MATTER Transfats found in bakery products, namkeens, snacks and ready-to eatmeals have been linked to a spike in ailments related to the heart, liver and joints. Two other trends which have crept into our eating habits include the large amounts of fats and oils that we consume and the highly chemical process of refining. This can partly be attributed to the increased affordability of oil and partly to consumption of foods with hidden oil. This is particularly worrisome as most people don’t even know that these products have enormous amounts of oil. Also, many crops used to produce oil have to be grown in enormous quantities, and such parasite-resistant farming is carried out using genetically modified seeds. Chemicals are used for oil extraction and refining. The outcome: oils removed from the original natural state. Effects on the body: Indiscriminate intake of polyunsaturated fats can cause imbalances between other kinds of fatty acids such as omega 3. The free radicals can trigger inflammation that might manifest itself in nerve disorders, blockages in the heart and joint inflammation. As food becomes more affordable, it becomes even more important to choose health and strike a balance between taste and nutrition.

ask@drshikha.com

UNHEALTHY FORM

We end up consuming oil that is far removed from its natural state

BITTER REALITIES Salt consumption has gone up many times over limits considered safe for humans (5 gms per person per day). Too much salt takes time to be thrown out of our bodies. Effects on the body: Pressure on the heart to pump blood and fluids and on the kidneys to help the body purge out the salt. Photos: THINKSTOCK

JANUARY 13, 2013

PERSONAL AGENDA

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Actress

Karisma Kapoor BIRTHDAY June 25

SUN SIGN PLACE OF BIRTH SCHOOL/COLLEGE Cancer

FIRST BREAK

Prem Qaidi (1991)

Mumbai

The Cathedral & John Connon School, Mumbai

HIGH POINT OF YOUR LIFE It has to be the birth of my two beautiful kids. That moment will remain with me forever

my movies

The one thing you love about Bollywood. That I can be anybody, play any role, portray a different person and life while pursuing my passion for acting. One role you wish you had played. I have been lucky enough to play all kinds of roles. The best part of being a Kapoor. The Kapoor surname has legend, a passion for acting, respect and love attached to it. And I am very proud of that. Your mantra for success. Just do what you believe in, and success will follow. Your favourite holiday destination. Heaven on earth – Goa. Shoes or bags? Which do you prefer? Both! How can a girl choose? Your strategy for days when you feel fat. I just drink water, go for a walk and eliminate junk food from my diet. What would we find in your fridge if we looked right now? Food stuff for kids. The song that always lifts your spirits. Okay, this is a secret but I think that nursery rhymes are the most relaxing and fun songs. What is your favourite time to be with your kids? Breakfast. Their fussing about eating and my adamant attempts at feeding them makes it interesting. The one thing you always like to get as a gift.

CURRENTLY DOING

Endorsing Utssav jewellery on HomeShop18.com

ONE CHARACTER FROM A BOOK OR MOVIE YOU’D LOVE TO MEET?

Harry Potter

Jewellery and bags. I can’t resist either. One exercise routine that scares you. Nothing scares me. I love doing yoga and also enjoy going for regular walks. Three beauty items you can’t do without. Kajal, lip balm and baby oil. You destress with... I spend time with my children. It relaxes me like nothing else. The last line of your autobiography would read? Love, laugh, play and be stylish. — Interviewed by Veenu Singh

A FILM YOU’VE WATCHED MORE THAN 5 TIMES

Mera Naam Joker

THE MOST PAISA VASOOL FILM

Hum Saath Saath Hain A MOVIE THAT TOOK YOU BACK TO YOUR CHILDHOOD

Chillar Party

THE FIRST MOVIE YOU SAW ON THE BIG SCREEN

Shaan

Photo: RAAJESH KASHYAP

JANUARY 13, 2013

WEEKLY MAGAZINE, JANUARY 13, 2013 Free with your copy of Hindustan Times

THE HINDUSTAN TIMES-MARS HAPPINESS SURVEY How happy are we with our well-being, sex lives and finances? A comprehensive 16-city survey throws up some startling results

SEX

Indore happiest Indian city when it comes to libido

The big picture: Housewives glad with the action they are getting

MONEY Jaipur happier than Mumbai where money is concerned

The big picture: After 60-plus, 18-25 year olds least happy with what they earn

HEALTH

Patna more kicked about its fitness than Delhi

The big picture: Senior citizens most dissatisfied with their well-being

â&#x20AC;ŚMany more revelations inside!

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VIR SANGHVI

Chatting about chaat

SANJOY NARAYAN Sounds of Berlin

RAJIV MAKHNI

SEEMA GOSWAMI

Tech-spotting in Vegas Laxman rekha for men

B R E A K FA S T O F C H A M P I O N S

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Brunch Opinion

How Do You Measure Happiness?

Send us your articles

Fact of the Matter

Change did happen

by Yashica Dutt

Cover design: MONICA GUPTA

Front Row

Tech That! by Shreya Sethuraman

LOVE IT

Bonfires (oh so lovely!). ■ Social boycotts. ■ Bharat. Actually India. ■ Malala Yousafzai. ■ Hockey India League (Yes, it’s time we acknowledge the sport).

■

SHOVE IT

by Amrah Ashraf

Why we love Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola ODing over the movie, but Yes,then,we’reit deserves all our love!

JANUARY 13, 2013

On The Brunch Radar by Shreya Sethuraman

DESIGN: Ashutosh Sapru (National Editor, Design), Monica Gupta, Swati Chakrabarti, Rakesh Kumar, Ashish Singh

Drop us a line at: brunchletters@

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B R U N C H D AT E

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“It Feels Nice To Be A Trendsetter”

We met up with the designer over a cappuccino during her recent visit to the Satya Paul store at the DLF Emporio mall in Delhi.

Is Satya Paul a good fit for your image when you’re doing well on your own?

What are the changes that you will bring in?

Will you move on to trying out new silhouettes and styles?

Appointed the director of a leading fashion house in India, Masaba Gupta wants to drape a success story around the sari by Veenu Singh

I’m focusing on getting my line ready for the fashion weeks, as I haven’t designed anything new since March.

What kind of relationship do you share with your parents?

At times mom can be a little hard on me. But dad just lets me be

Photo: SANJEEV VERMA

It’s a global norm to have a designer take over a fashion house. Are you setting a similar trend in India?

What are your plans for your own line?

Through my label, I’ve tried to offer saris that are not just affordable but also make one stand out. These days

Why didn’t you choose to be an actor or a sportsperson like your parents? I tried my hand at both acting as well as sports, but couldn’t make a mark in either of them.

veenus@hindustantimes.com

THE WOMEN SHE’D LOVE TO DRESS ■ Aishwarya Rai

“You can be any one you want to be, with the right outfit” – Melody Minagar, fashion designer JANUARY 13, 2013

Your mom always wears beautiful saris. What’s her take on your designs?

C OV E R STO RY

Smaller cities are the place to be

Photo: IMAGESBAZAAR

IN PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

JANUARY 13, 2013

Happiness Scale 900 or more: Extremely happy 800-900: Happy 700-800: Somewhat happy 600-700: Happiness under strain 600 or below: Unhappy

SLOW OR STEADY

Marriage is perhaps the best way to get sex

Photo: THINKSTOCK

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INDORE JAIPUR PATNA

are the cities happiest with their health Whereas

KOCHI KOLKATA GUWAHATI are the unhappiest

It is only after the age of

that people seem to start worrying about their well-being It is the people aged

60+

who are the unhappiest with their health HEALTH IS THE KEY

Satisfaction score with one’s current state of well-being (maximum score = 1000)

Photos: GETTYIMAGES

MUMBAI

(above) seems to be happier than DELHI with its health, money and sex life. Both are very difficult cities, say experts. Delhi is perhaps a tad tougher

JANUARY 13, 2013

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C OV E R STO RY Photo: IMAGESBAZAAR

Bangalore, Hyderabad overtake Chennai, Kochi

“In smaller cities, couples have the time to experiment and indulge in sex”

18-25

is the age group unhappiest with its sex life. It is followed by 10 years of near-bliss

Age has everything to do with happiness

People in

INDORE PATNA

are quite happy with their sex lives

WORKING MEN

are happier with their sex lives than

WORKING WOMEN

SEX IN NUMBERS

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DELHI

is the least happy with its sex life.

MUMBAI

isn’t too kicked either

Photos: THINKSTOCK

“Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city” – George Burns, actor JANUARY 13, 2013

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MONEY MATTERS

Satisfaction score with the money one possesses (maximum score = 1000)

MEN

are happier with their financial situation than

WOMEN

People in

CHENNAI

are not very happy with their wealth

Experts say there are more ways to find success in

HYDERABAD (left) than in

CHENNAI,

because the latter might not accommodate its rising migrant population as comfortably Photos: GETTYIMAGES

HOUSEWIVES are happier with the money they have than

WORKING WOMEN Indian housewives aren’t desperate housewives

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“Nobody really cares if you’re miserable, so you might as well be happy” – Cynthia Nelms, artist

indulge

THE CUISINE OF THE STREET

Vir Sanghvi

SAME GENE POOL

rude food

Why don’t we give chaat the respect it deserves? Why is it without honour even in UP, its home state?

Photo: THINKSTOCK

Photo: IMAGES BAZAAR

Kerala may brag about its spices (left), Goa may trumpet the virtues of vindaloo (right) and so on, but UP seems to have surrendered all claims to chaat JANUARY 13, 2013

The Bombay dahi batata puri has its roots in UP chaat but is very much an individual dish in its own right

hindustantimes.com/brunch

Photos: DINODIA IMAGES

THE CRUNCH EFFECT

The public image of the food of UP leads only to the Awadhi haute cuisine of Lucknow and to pots of steaming biryani

JANUARY 13, 2013

MECCA OF CHAAT

The best chaat in India does not come from Lucknow as is commonly supposed but from Benaras (above)

MASALA PATTIES

Ragda pattice (below) is a Gujarati adaptation of that north Indian standby, tikki with channa (above)

Photo: IMAGES BAZAAR

indulge

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BEHAVE! There’s lots of advice out there for how women should stay safe; here are a few handy pointers for men as well STAY IN

If you are seen prowling the streets late at night, we will assume that you are up to no good. That you are, in fact, ‘asking’ to rape someone

NO GIRLFRIENDS PLEASE

If you socialise with a girl who isn’t your sister or the one you intend to marry, then we will know just how dodgy your ‘morals’ are

Photos: THINKSTOCK

Seema Goswami

DRESS PROPERLY

spectator

Put away those shorts you wear to the beach/mall/gym to show off those hairy legs

Never – no matter what the provocation – retaliate or even react. Stay silent

JANUARY 13, 2013

seema_ht@rediffmail.com.Follow Seema on Twitter at twitter.com/seemagoswami

indulge GROUND REPORT FROM THE MECCA OF TECH The world’s largest Consumer Electronics Show reflects a change of guard that has been in the making for quite a few years

The HapiFork tells you if you’re eating too fast or too much. How’s that for diet control?

WEIGHTY BENEFITS

The Withings Smart Body Analyzer helps analyse your weight, fat, heart beat and also the air quality around you

PHABLETS ARE THE NEXT BIG THING, AND THAT’S NOT NECESSARILY A GOOD THING Rajiv Makhni

SELLING TELEVISIONS IS GOING TO BE TOUGH IN THE FUTURE

HAPPY EATING

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techilicious

YOUR BODY IS GOING TO BE TECH’S BIGGEST PLAYGROUND

CES 2013 shows us how technology will shape up in the next five years

JANUARY 13, 2013

Rajiv Makhni is managing editor, Technology, NDTV and the anchor of Gadget Guru, Cell Guru and Newsnet 3. Follow Rajiv on Twitter at twitter.com/RajivMakhni

indulge

hindustantimes.com/brunch

GANGNAM STYLE IN SONATA LAND

Music creeps up on you in the most curious ways when you’re travelling. That’s what happened to me on a recent trip to Berlin

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS

Above: A poster of the Salvador Dali exhibition in Potsdamer Platz; Below: The bar fashioned after New York’s CBGB club, where the Ramones got their first big break

Sanjoy Narayan

download central

Photos: SANJOY NARAYAN

JANUARY 13, 2013

THE JUKEBOX

A FAN’S TRIBUTE

We tracked down the Ramones Museum, a shrine to the legendary New York punk band

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MIND BODY SOUL SHIKHA SHARMA

WE ARE WHAT WE EAT

As food becomes affordable, don’t let nutrition be the casualty

THE SUGAR TRAP Sugar consumption has gone up alarmingly over the last century. Numbers for developed countries such as The United States show an annual increase from 20 pounds to

SUGAR EVERYWHERE

TOO MUCH, TOO BAD

ask@drshikha.com

UNHEALTHY FORM

We end up consuming oil that is far removed from its natural state

JANUARY 13, 2013

PERSONAL AGENDA

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Actress

Karisma Kapoor BIRTHDAY June 25

SUN SIGN PLACE OF BIRTH SCHOOL/COLLEGE Cancer

FIRST BREAK

Prem Qaidi (1991)

Mumbai

The Cathedral & John Connon School, Mumbai

HIGH POINT OF YOUR LIFE It has to be the birth of my two beautiful kids. That moment will remain with me forever

my movies

CURRENTLY DOING

Endorsing Utssav jewellery on HomeShop18.com

ONE CHARACTER FROM A BOOK OR MOVIE YOU’D LOVE TO MEET?

Harry Potter

A FILM YOU’VE WATCHED MORE THAN 5 TIMES

Mera Naam Joker

THE MOST PAISA VASOOL FILM

Hum Saath Saath Hain A MOVIE THAT TOOK YOU BACK TO YOUR CHILDHOOD

Chillar Party

THE FIRST MOVIE YOU SAW ON THE BIG SCREEN

Shaan

Photo: RAAJESH KASHYAP

JANUARY 13, 2013