WEEKLY MAGAZINE, FEBRUARY 16, 2014 Free with your copy of Hindustan Times
OUT OF THE SHADOWS
The incredible story of how the tiger count went from zero to 24 at the Panna Tiger Reserve in just six years
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BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS
My New Home
Panna, January 22, 2014: T6, a three-year-old tigress walks into the Balaiya area of the Panna Tiger Reserve. She was brought from the Pench Tiger Reserve to Panna as part of Panna’s Tiger Relocation Project. T6 was later moved into the Badhgadi area of the forest, frequented by the tigers named T3 and P111. Forest authorities hope that she will mate with either of these two tigers and give birth to tigresses. Photo: Gurinder Osan
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Cover photo of the tiger called P212 at the Panna Tiger Reserve: GURINDER OSAN Cover design: MONICA GUPTA
FEBRUARY 16, 2014
EDITORIAL: Poonam Saxena (Editor), Aasheesh Sharma, Rachel Lopez, Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi, Mignonne Dsouza, Veenu Singh, Parul Khanna, Yashica Dutt, Amrah Ashraf, Saudamini Jain, Shreya Sethuraman
DESIGN: Ashutosh Sapru (National Editor, Design), Monica Gupta, Swati Chakrabarti, Payal Dighe Karkhanis, Rakesh Kumar, Ajay Aggarwal
Drop us a line at: brunchletters@ hindustantimes.com or to 18-20 Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi - 110 001
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WELLNESS
MIND BODY SOUL SHIKHA SHARMA
FOODS TO SUIT YOUR SUN SIGN The second of a four-part series on eating according to your zodiac sign so you’ll thank your stars
AIR SIGNS
Gemini
T
HE AIR signs naturally have Aquarius air-like traits. They walk fast, and frequent speak quickly, are meals. They also very communicative tend to have very and love to do several sensitive digestive systhings at the same time. tems and are unable to So basically, air signs are Libra eat large quantities in one active, fast movers and think go without feeling uncomforton their feet. They tend to get able. So, they must eat their bored easily and love to connect food slowly and chew it well to with others. They are also peoavoid digestive problems. ple who love to travel. Air signs need to nourish On the downside, most their nervous systems regularly. air signs tend to neglect their They must consume healthy meals. Consequentially, they doses of calcium and magnesiget very hungry, which leads to um to soothe their nerves. They headaches and cranky behavshould include lots of vitamins, iour. Air signs must eat small especially the vitamin B group.
AIR SIGNS BENEFIT FROM THESE FOODS: ■ SOUPS AND BROTHS Thick and thin soups with white butter are advised for air signs ■ PORRIDGE WITH MILK Organic milk with wheat or oat porridge calms Aquarians, Geminis and Librans ■ RICE AND DAL KHICHDI This has the elements of fire and water which balances the air sign. A little bit of organic ghee in the khichdi is also very good for this group. Try to include spices like ginger, asafoetida (hing) and garam masala
AVOID…
■ Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, potato, rajma and white gram as they unbalance air signs ■ Eating foods late at night or skipping meals ■ Stale food ■ Eating cold food or straight from the refrigerator ■ Drinking too many colas ■ Consuming too much tea or coffee ■ Smoking ■ Travelling too much without ample rest and sleep
ask@drshikha. com
Photos: THINKSTOCK
MORE ON THE WEB For last week’s column on Water signs and other columns by Dr Shikha Sharma and wellness stories, log on hindustantimes.com/brunch FEBRUARY 16, 2014
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COVER STORY
BORN TO BE WILD
This is four-year-old P212. He is the progeny of relocated tigers T2 and T3
ENTER THE TIGER The roar is back at the Panna Tiger Reserve with the tiger count rising from zero to 24. We bring you the story from deep inside Madhya Pradesh’s forests by Shreya Sethuraman; photographs by Gurinder Osan FEBRUARY 16, 2014
S
HE PUTS one paw on the edge of the cage, then takes it back in. She pauses and peeps out, looking to her right and to her left, growling as she tries to gauge her surroundings. She’s hedging; you would be too if you’d spent the last 18 hours in an iron enclosure, being shipped 368 kilometres overnight from your old home in Pench to Panna, a place you’d never seen. Ultimately, she proves she’s no coward. T6, the newest tiger in Madhya Pradesh’s Panna Tiger Reserve, walks out slowly and majestically makes her way into the jungle. Her every step forward is a step ahead for the Reserve’s tiger relocation programme, a project
that has found great (and rare) success in increasing the big cat’s population in the Reserve. Up until 2006, Panna had an estimated population of 24 tigers; many even believed the number was as high as 35. But by 2009, a Wildlife Institute of India study put the number down at zero – there was only a single male tiger left in the dry, dense MP forest. Some had fallen prey to poaching, poisoning (by local villagers who’d had their cattle killed by big cats) and dacoity (after an evicted encroacher decided to take revenge by damaging the forest habitat). Others had simply reached the end of their 15-year lifespan and died of natural causes or illness.
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For a while, Panna remained a the inhabitants of which depend tiger reserve with one male tiger on the forest for their sustenance. and no one to mate with. But today, This constant human disturbance thanks to the efforts of a dedicated had perhaps stressed the tigers. field director and his team, and In Panna, would the tigressdaily wage labourers who es adapt to their new home or learned to care enough about die a needless death, bringthe animals to protect ing numbers down them, it’s proudly further? Would the (and protectively) 16 villages bordering Tigers don’t normally home to 24 striped the Panna Reserve roar at other cats. And while it’s an cause similar probanimals, they roar to everyday challenge, lems for the tigers in communicate with to keep them all alive their quest for their far-off tigers. A tiger and thriving, it’s beown survival? Was about to attack will not come a model for tiger it possible to keep roar, but may hiss conservation efforts a protective eye on as far away as Russia the animals, but still and huff instead and Cambodia. create a stress-free environment for The Cat People them to mate successfully? Rangaiah Sreenivasa Murthy, the The Family Connection present field director of Panna TiThe challenges began almost as ger Reserve, came to Panna in May soon as the project did. In March 2009 armed with only one aim – to 2009, when the tigresses were increase the tiger count. He found brought from Kanha and Bandhavan ally in Dr Raghu Chundawat, garh, the lone male tiger in Panna a conservation biologist who had disappeared – he left, in all probworked with the tigers in Panna. ability, in search of a tigress and Chundawat was one of the few never came back. “It was then that who saw them disappearing and we decided to relocate a male tiger even raised several alarms, but no(T3) from Pench,” says Murthy. body listened to him. “My associaThere is a reason the anition with the tigers at Panna began mals were chosen from different in 1996, and went on till 2005. I still reserves. Tigers are incestuous. haven’t figured out what exactly It’s not unusual for mothers to happened,” he laments. mate with their cubs; coupling The initial plan was to bring among siblings is common too. For two female tigers from other reserves (T1 from Kanha and T2 from Bandhavgarh) to mate with the lone remaining tiger in the Panna forest. Everyone was hopeful. But there were worries: Relocation RS Murthy is complex and carried out only (below), the field director with the approval of the National of Panna Tiger Tiger Conservation Authority Reserve, is (NTCA). Every relocation is a like a father risk; you are, after all, moving an figure to his animal from its safe comfort zone staff, T6 to a place where other tigers have being tracked not thrived. And recent relocaon her release tion efforts in Rajasthan’s Sariska (right) Tiger Reserve weren’t encouraging. Sariska is home to 28 villages,
conservationists, this is not good news. Tigers brought from the same reserve are often likely to be siblings and inbreeding can lead to birth defects and weaker genes that make the animals vulnerable to illnesses. “Had we brought both the male and female tigers from Bandhavgarh and had their mating not been successful, people would’ve said it’s because they’re siblings,” Murthy says. In addition to T1, T2 and T3, it was decided that two more tigresses from Kanha, both abandoned as cubs, would be brought to Panna to increase chances of mating. Panna, which once had 24 tigers and lost them all, was now home to five new cats – a huge risk.
A New Route Forward
With big risks came big changes. In addition to Murthy’s posting in 2009, the MP government also hired entirely new staff at the Reserve. Murthy conducted several formal and informal meetings with staffers across all levels and asked them only one thing: “Tell me what happened”. The answers he received painted a more realistic picture than any government report could. “The feudalistic setup of this place does not offer any evidence of what really happened inside and outside the park with respect to poaching,” says Murthy. He found
TIGER MAN
All about Panna The location
Panna Tiger Reserve The Panna Tiger Reserve is one of the six tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh and is located in the northern part of the state. n The huge reserve, known for its tabletop topography, provides a conducive environment for the tiger to survive. n From a place that was looked down upon after it lost all its tigers, Panna is now considered an excellent example as far as providing security and the perfect habitat for tigers, its co-predators and prey base, is concerned. n
You should know...
Created in 1981, the reserve is spread over the Panna and Chhatarpur districts, covering an area of 547 sq km. n The ‘buffer’ area of the reserve, also known as the tiger corridor, extends up to 1,002 sq km. n The dry-deciduous, Savannah-type grasslands make up the forest cover. n The Ken river runs through the forest and is known to be one of the purest sources of water in the district. n There are natural rock formations in the forest, known as seha. It is here that tigers mate and rear their cubs. n You’ll often find striped vultures and long-billed vultures resting with their little ones, keeping them safe from the talons of preying falcons. n
All the inhabitants
Apart from the majestic tiger, the reserve is home to leopards, hyenas, wolves and sloth bear too. n Their prey, the sambhar (the tiger’s favourite meal), chital, nilgai and chausingha are in abundance in the forest.
n
What’s in a name? The T in T1, T2, T3 and so on stand for Tiger and the numbers are in accordance with who was brought to the reserve first. n P, on the other hand, stands for Panna and refers to the tigers born in Panna. n The numbers that follow indicate their lineage. For instance, P111 is T1’s first cub from her first litter. n
FEBRUARY 16, 2014
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COVER STORY
HELLO PANNA!
T6, who walked into the forest with an air of arrogance, was relocated from the Pench Tiger Reserve
A tale of two tigers Welcome to Panna, T6
To correct the skewed sex ratio of Panna Tiger Reserve, they need female tigers, which is why T6 was relocated from Pench Tiger Reserve. n Enclosed in an iron cage, her 18-hour road journey was nearly 400km long. n She was released in the Balaiya ghat area of the Panna Tiger Reserve, which is said to be the zone of P212. n However, she had to be re-tranquillised and re-released as she had wandered into the peripheral area of the park. n She is now said to be in the Badhgadi area of the park, where she could meet P111 or T3. n The Panna team (below) was involved in the relocation of T6 include locals. n
out that local villagers took pride in killing animals – very few had any empathy for the loss of tigers in their areas. Ram Mishra, who ferries range officers and forest guards through the forest in his rickety old vehicle, says that for villagers, the cats are a “headache because tigers may kill their cattle. So it’s very convenient for them to not have any tigers.” The new field director and his team worked to kindle in the villagers, a sense of pride in their forest and its inhabitants. He also helped smoothen the relocation of the 16 villages at the edges of the Panna forest. “There are two ways to relocate villagers,” says Murthy. “One is the ‘golden handshake’ – the NTCA offers `10 lakh per family to move elsewhere. The second is for a family to take part of the money and get settled on a piece of land [elsewhere]. People in Panna prefer the golden handshake.” Special attention was also paid to the Reserve’s buffer zone – the nebulous periphery of the forest that is used both by cattle and wild animals. This is where tigers are at the highest risk of attacking cattle and being attacked by villagers. In Panna, forest authorities ensured immediate compensation
watch, get hourly updates about the whereabouts of tigers and keep a close watch on their progress.” It was this knowledge that helped the forest authorities at crucial junctures. When a radio collar fell off T4, locals used their familiarity with the trails to track her. And when T3 tried to escape to Pench soon after he was brought in, locals stepped in again. A naturalist had suggested a ‘urine technique’ to bring T3’s attention to the tigresses in the forest. Locals sprayed Tigers cannot purr. To urine (collected from show happiness, tigers tigresses at a zoo in Working As One squint or close their Team Bhopal) across the eyes. This is because Villagers, howforest and dispensed losing vision lowers ever, aren’t the only about 100ml in T3’s defence, so tigers do threat. The dense cage before his so only when they feel jungle itself can release. comfortable and safe hinder conservation The technique efforts. Apart from proved to be a success radio collaring each within just four days! tiger, an intelligence cell was set T1 and T3 met on December 29, up using continuous help from 2009, were together till January paid locals, who knew the jungle 3, 2010, and T1 gave birth to her best. “We’re not totally dependfirst litter of four cubs on April ent on support from the Wildlife 16, 2010 – a day the Reserve staff Institute of India (WII),” explains celebrate every year with a cake Murari Prasad Tamrakar, assistand a sort-of birthday party. T3 ant director at the Reserve. “We’ve mated successfully with T2 as well, put our own people on a 24/7 who delivered her additional litter to a villager if his cattle was killed by a tiger, preventing him from trying to poison the cat. “Buffer zones destroy tigers more than protect them,” says Dr Chundawat. Murthy and his team also initiated nature camps so local kids could tour the Reserve, have breakfast and lunch and get acquainted with the habitat essential for supporting tigers. The move helped inculcate basic concern for the animals and also helped the kids change the mindsets of their parents.
FEBRUARY 16, 2014
The story of T3
T3 was the male tiger brought to Panna from Pench on November 6, 2009. n It was hoped he would mate with either of the two tigresses, T1 and T2. n However, within just 10 days of being brought to Panna, he began moving to Pench, thus showing a ‘homing instinct’. n This is unusual as it has never been seen in tigers before. n
Finding T3
Though T3 was radio collared, the tiger tracking team failed to get any signal. n Determined not to lose him, Murthy and his nearly 70-member team went on a massive tiger search for a month. n Posters were put up and people were requested to inform the police and forest authorities of any direct or indirect evidence of tiger sighting. n This worked. Someone soon reported that they had seen a tiger in the forest and a team was sent to the spot. n
The long walk
It was only on December 25, 2009 that the tracking team was able to locate T3 and tranquillise him. n When his GPS location was tracked, it was found that he had travelled a distance of 250 km in that one month – more than halfway to Pench!
n
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COVER STORY
of four in October 2010. out into the wild was yet another “Our happiness knew no risk for Panna. You never know bounds when we came to know of if they’ll ever adapt to the wild the cubs. You can say we felt like or have to be whisked away to a proud parents,” says Dr Sanjeev zoo. To pass the rewildening test, Kumar Gupta, Panna Reserve’s tigers must not have any ‘human veterinary doctor. His dedication imprint’ – they shouldn’t apto safeguarding the tigers is proach the human standing an inspiration to everyone in front of them, and should – on the day T6 was have an inherent fear released, he had a of human beings. terrible fever, but They should also still couldn’t keep The upper side of tigers’ co-exist with other tihimself away from gers and not see every tongues are covered watching her enter tiger as a threat. They with fleshy bristles so her new home. need to hunt in the that when they wash wild (Reserve staff themselves with their Taking It Forward tongues, they also comb usually prepare them T6 is part of the by placing prey in their fur second phase in the their vicinity so they relocation of tigers can make a kill). And to Panna. Phase 1 it’s important that they had one male and four females. breed and rear cubs. It was time to see if the Panna T4 and T5 did fear humans. Tiger project would help more cats To encourage them to mate, the flourish. In Phase 1, two 15-dayReserve deployed the urine techold female cubs, T4 and T5, were nique again. T3 met T4 in the early brought from Kanha after their hours of April 1, 2011. But they mother was killed by a territorial spent only a few hours together. male, and hand-reared by Panna This was the first time T4 was with authorities for 18 months. Then, it a male, after all. And the first time was time to rewilden them. T3 was mating with a rewildened Sending hand-reared tigers tiger. Perhaps they were both nerv-
ON THE MENU The chital (below) inhabits the Panna forest and regularly features on the menu for a tiger. An adult chital may satiate a tiger for a week
FEBRUARY 16, 2014
twitter.com/HTBrunch ous. Who wouldn’t be? More worrying was that T4 had still not learnt how to make a kill on her own. Foresters can’t place a kill every time a tiger needs to eat. Fortunately, something sparked in T4 when she saw T3 kill an adult nilgai. The following week, T4 made five kills, much to the delight of the forest officials (and T4 too)! “Aaj ke zamaane ki hunter kehlayi jaati hai,” says Tamrakar with glee.
The Roaring Success
In Panna, keeping a check on the animals is a constant and essential task. In September 2011, T4 went missing. She had lost almost 15 kilos since her release into the wild and her radio collar had fallen off. Murthy and his team suspected she might be pregnant – tranquillising her so she could be collared again would risk a miscarriage. They decided to forgo the collar when they realised she’d deliver in two months. Dr Gupta was unsure whether T4 would be able to rear her cubs. “I kept telling Mr Murthy that she hasn’t rewildened yet,” he says. A team was sent on foot on December 15 to find out if T4 had delivered and learned to mother her cubs. They spotted mother and babies on February 14, 2012. Gupta was thrilled and it was decided to celebrate that day as Orphan Tiger Cub Day. The once abandoned, orphaned cub had finally settled in her new home. Panna certainly has room for more tigers. The 547 sq km core forest area and the 1,002 sq km buffer area can easily support 2530 tigers. Officials are happy with the current count of 24, and are hoping to introduce more females for a healthier sex ratio. T6, the great striped hope, has walked in, and plans are on to bring in T7 from Bandhavgarh. Meanwhile, Panna officials are eagerly waiting for a new generation of tigers. “P111 and P213 (Panna born-and-bred kids of T1 and T2) are pairing and in all probability soon we’ll be announcing the first birth of the Panna progeny,” beams Murthy. That’ll mark three generations of tigers in a forest where not long ago, no striped cats were to be found! shreya.sethuraman@hindustantimes.com Follow @iconohclast on Twitter
MORE ON THE WEB For a video of T6’s release and more pictures, log on to hindustantimes.com/brunch FEBRUARY 16, 2014
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Tracking Tigers Why track tigers
Given the obvious danger to their lives, radio collaring a tiger is essential. n Since Panna had lost all its tigers in the span of just four years (between 2006 and 2009-10), this was important. n
How it’s done
The tiger is tranquillised with a muscle relaxant, which also blurs its vision. n The next step involves covering the tiger’s eyes with a handkerchief so it can’t see anything. The effect of the tranquiliser lasts for about an hour. n Once the tiger is out cold, the lightweight radio collar is attached to its neck and the tiger is ready to be tracked. n A team of two manually tracks the tiger, armed with an antenna and transmitter, which indicate the tiger’s GPS location. n Hourly locations are thus tracked and noted down in a register (below) issued to the tiger tracking teams in the forest. n
What a transmitter does The ideal reading of the transmitter is 60 beats per minute, which indicates that the tiger is absolutely healthy. n If the beats go up to 80 or more, the tiger’s life could be in danger – it’s either ill or injured and needs immediate attention. n If the reading falls to 30 or 20 beats per minute, this indicates that the battery (which lasts for almost three years) of the radio collar needs to be changed. n Tiger trackers work in 12-hour shifts and get 24 hours off after every shift. n
Stop! A drone is watching! n Soon, drones ( unmanned aerial vehicles) will track tiger movement across the Panna tiger reserve. This is the first time that a reserve will use them n Right now, Panna has the permission to use two drones until June 2014 to see how they work. n The miniature antenna and receiver attached on each of the drones will help in monitoring and managing the security of the tigers.
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indulge
Photo: GETTY IMAGES
ThaT Bill’s a PoeT
download central I
A River Ain’t Too Much To Love was released by Smog in the early 2000s
Have Fun With God (right) is really a dub remix of Dream River (left). It takes the songs on that album and infuses them with dub
to the lo-fi genre, roughly hewn and crudely recorded, but what stands out is Callahan’s enigmatic lyrics and understated vocal style. Smog ceased making music under that name somewhere in the mid 2000s, but it was just a change of nomenclature. In any case, Smog was equal to Callahan and now all the records he made were released as Bill Callahan albums. RICHLY SAID In 2005 came A River Ain’t Too Much To Love and then, over Bill Callahan’s the next couple of years, Diamond Dancer and Woke on a songs are like spare, Whaleheart. But for an introduction to Callahan’s music, I’d spoken-word works recommend his last three albums: 2011’s Apocalypse, 2013’s with reflective lyrics Dream River and this year’s Have Fun With God, which is a remix of Dream River and should have been called Have Fun With Dream River but more on that later. On Apocalypse, a seven-song album that channels country and blues-rock influences in a relatively (at least for Callahan) upbeat tempo, Callahan keeps the instrumentation down to the usual minimalist levels and his vocals and the laconic lyrics dominate and there’s a moody, unpredictable air to all the songs, with Sanjoy Narayan pace changes and pauses that could take time to grow on you but grow on you they will. The nearly nine-minute One Fine Morning, which closes the album, and Riding For The Feeling, are the two songs that stand out for me. Dream River is less uptempo, but delightfully so. He sings each of the eight tracks as if he has all day to do so, the silences between words becoming as much a part of his lyrics as the words themselves. THINK THE 1980s’ band named Smog, On both albums, wit and irony peek out probably better known by its frontman, sometimes, not often, but every song of his Bill Callahan, may be one of the utterly is a poem. But then, he is a poet. Four years under-rated and unacknowledged bands ago, Callahan wrote a novelette, Letters to in the indie music genre. Better appreciated Emma Bowlcut, a set of 62 letters written to by critics than by fans, Smog could well be one a woman seen at a party, letters that are like of the earliest practitioners of the genre that poems in blank verse. is commonly known as lo-fi or low-fidelity. It But it’s the third and the most recent alis today a classification that comprises hunbum that Callahan has released that came as dreds of bands and also one that has some HEAR HIM OUT a big surprise. Have Fun With God is really a bands that I like very much – Pavement, Yo On Apocalypse, Callahan dub remix of Dream River. It takes the songs La Tengo, Neutral Milk Hotel, Guided By keeps the instrumentation on that album and infuses them with dub, Voices, Blur, and so many more. Lo-fi is used to down to the usual minimalist which is a genre that has its roots in Jamaidescribe a genre but its roots go back to record- levels with dominating vocals ca. Dub grew out of reggae music and began ings that had a less refined lower quality of when musicians started using recordings sound, marked by a fuzz and hiss and unsharpness, which to re-compose songs. The focus in dub usually is on drum has its own sort of charm. tracks and bass, but on Callahan’s new album, the vocals Smog (what an apt name for a lo-fi band!) used few are important with the reggae-style tempo adding a sinister musical instruments and its songs sung by Callahan were note to Callahan’s singing. Though the album is a grower more like spare, spoken-word works with their lyrics rein the same way that most of his discography is, Have Fun flective and intimate. In Smog songs (as well as now in his With God is a good companion to Dream River. Well worth solo eponymous avatar), Callahan delivers his songs with trying them together. a deadpan stoniness, the words in his rich baritone almost Download Central appears every fortnight getting squeezed out slowly into the air. But there is also unexpected wit, humour and irony in his lyrics. In one Smog MORE ON THE WEB song from the early ’00s (and there’s a video on YouTube of To give feedback, stream or download the music this that you must not miss), he sings, cheekily: Dress sexy mentioned in this column, go to blogs.hindustantimes. at my funeral my good wife/Dress sexy at my funeral my good com/download-central. Write to Sanjoy at sanjoy. wife/For the first time in your life/Wear your blouse undone narayan@hindustantimes.com to here/And your skirt split up to there. Smog’s music is, true
Bill Callahan, frontman of the 1980s band Smog, practitioner of the genre known as lo-fi, sings in a rich baritone, with a kind of deadpan stoniness
UNDER RATED BRILLIANCE
BETTER HEARD TOGETHER
FEBRUARY 16, 2014
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Fresh On The Menu
Whether you open an Irani restaurant or a French bistro, as long as the food is good, the punters will come
O
NE OF the many reasons I do not write about new restaurants too often is that being unkind is part of my job description. A critic represents the public, not the restaurateur. So his focus must always be on telling people why they should eat at a particular restaurant (and perhaps what they should eat). If the restaurant does not work, he should tell people not to waste their money there and to go somewhere where they may have a better time or, at the very least, a better meal. The problem is that nearly every restaurant is a labour of love for somebody who has spent months acquiring the site, hiring the decorator, ordering the furniture and the kitchen equipment, sourcing the staff and planning the menu. And when you walk into a restaurant that has simply not worked and write about why it is such a disaster, you are stepping on somebody’s dreams and telling him or her that the last few months have been a waste of time and good money. This is never easy to do. And though most restaurateurs take it on the chin and try and see if there is a point to your criticism (the sad little half-wit who goes on a Facebook rampage in response to a bad review is an exception), they are deeply hurt by negative remarks. So that’s the dilemma. You can’t lie: punters depend
Vir Sanghvi
rude food A critic represents the public, not the restaurateur. But this is never easy to do
on you to tell them what the restaurant is really like. And yet, you don’t want to trample all over some restaurateur’s dreams and hopes. Which is why I’m so pleased this week. Because, against the odds, all of the restaurants I have tried recently in Bombay and Delhi have been uniformly good and I can, in all honesty, recommend each and every one of them to you. The restaurant I enjoyed most was Soda Bottle Openerwala in Cybercity in Gurgaon. You may know Cybercity. I go there sometimes for work and though many of the buildings are ugly and badly maintained, the area has a buzz and energy that comes from the thousands of bright and enthusiastic people who work there. Now, Cybercity has a food area called Cyber Hub where these young people can take a break at lunchtime. At present, the area is a mess with bad signposting, inadequate parking and befuddled security guards (welcome to Haryana!) but perhaps, in the months ahead, DLF will get its act together. The restaurants tend to be chain outlets: Zambar, Costa Coffee, California Pizza Kitchen and the like. But the biggest queues the day I went were outside Soda Bottle Openerwala. A nice girl at the desk took my name, asked me to wander around the area and said she would call when a table fell vacant. This took 10 minutes and I was impressed by the smoothness with which they turned tables around. If you are of a certain generation and grew up in
FEBRUARY 16, 2014
FOODIE’S DELIGHT
The food – such as the Chilean spare ribs (right) at Amour Bistro (above) in Delhi’s Malcha Marg – is smashing Bombay then you probably know what an Irani restaurant is. These were tea shops owned by Iranis (a later wave of Zoroastrian immigrants than the Parsis) that served basic meals. Now, they are all disappearing because of the real estate boom (more profitable to run shops at those locations) and few of those that remain have bothered to move with the times. To understand Soda Bottle Openerwala, you have to imagine that the grandson of one of the old Iranis went to college in America, came back and then revamped his family’s restaurant to give it an air of fun while retaining the basis of the menu. And that, because he loved hanging around in Bombay’s Muslim and Catholic areas, he added a few archetypal Bombay dishes. That’s the concept and I loved it. Unusually for an operation run by A D Singh, perhaps India’s most admired and successful restaurateur, the food (by Anahita Dhondy) is even better than the concept. I ate like a pig. The papeta par eeda (fried eggs on a bed of a sautéed potatoes) was slightly more refined than you would find at a Parsi home. But it was so delicious that I could have eaten two more portions. The keema-pao (done in the style of Bombay’s Bohras) was outstanding, and the berry pulao was to die for. A Goan sausage pao was nice and the lagan nu custard was worthy of the best Parsi wedding caterers. This restaurant is a real find. And I imagine that A D Singh will open in a dozen new locations in a couple of years.
hindustantimes.com/brunch
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IN PERFECT SYNC
I was impressed by the smoothness with which they turned tables around at Soda Bottle Openerwala (above)
TRUE TO TASTE
The food at Soda Bottle Openerwala by Anahita Dhondy (above) is even better than the concept. The papeta par eeda (fried eggs on a bed of a sautéed potatoes, right) was slightly more refined than you would find at a Parsi home The hottest restaurant in Bombay these days is the Masala Library in Bandra-Kurla Complex. One of Zorawar Kalra’s ventures (after he sold his share in Punjab Grill), it follows the time-honoured formula of paying homage to Zorawar’s dad, the great foodie Jiggs Kalra. But I thought the restaurant owed more to the innovations of Rohit Khattar of Old World Hospitality (where the chef has been stolen from) than to dear old Jiggs. The idea is to do a vaguely Manish Mehrotra-Gaggan Anand take on re-imagining Indian food, which is not something you associate with Jiggs who, like all good Mayo boys, probably failed chemistry and does not know what a molecule is. I was invited by Vinod Nair and Toral Sanghavi who arrived nearly an hour before me and ordered the food. When I did arrive, I thought the cuisine was derivative and mediocre. A chaat yoghurt sphere was a pale copy of a Gaggan Anand dish and it seemed as though Gaggan had faxed it over from Bangkok on a bad line: the sphere could not even retain its shape. The stuffed kulchas were clearly borrowed from Manish. As a good South Indian, Vinod Nair said that the Thalassery rasam was unknown in Thalassery while the thayir sadam on which the pepper prawns rested was too oniony and spicy. A galawat kebab was bad, a seekh was ordinary and a John Dory was destroyed by being served with half a dozen flavoured butters almost as though Zorawar and father wanted us to enjoy butter fish rather than butter chicken. Then, a small miracle occurred. Suddenly the food stopped being derivative or bad. Five extraordinary dishes arrived at once: a brilliant keema matar with anda pav, an outstanding yellow dal, a Rajasthani bhindi Jaipuri with papad ki subzi, a sophisticated prawn Chettinad and an adventurous Kashmiri chilli duck. All of us at the table were blown away and when the desserts arrived, we were speechless: a ghewar cheesecake, crunchy jalebi ‘caviar’ (conceptualised by Zorawar) and a chocolate extravaganza featuring liquid nitrogen and all the tricks of molecular gastronomy, clearly inspired by Grant Achatz of Alinea rather than Gaggan or Manish. My conclusion is that the restaurant has a brilliant chef: Saurabh Udinia (from Indian Accent). When Saurabh does his own thing, the food sparkles. When he is being forced to copy Manish or Gaggan, he flounders. (In all fairness, Saurabh says his colleague Himanshu Saini deserves equal credit.) If I were Zorawar, I would just let Saurabh find his own voice in the kitchen. This is a chef we are going to hear
much more of. Go to Masala Library only for the pleasure of eating Saurabh’s food. And so to Amour Bistro in Delhi’s Malcha Marg. I was taken there by my foodie friends Sangeeta and Vikram Doraiswamy who have travelled the world in search of good food (Vikram is in the Foreign Service). They had been to Amour at least nine times before, knew every dish on the menu and chef Jitender Singh (yet another Old World Hospitality veteran) hugged them like old friends. I thought the food was smashing: a three-cheese soufflé that Vikram appears to order every time he eats there, delicate prawns in a garlicky gravy, Chilean spare ribs that fell off the bone, firm rectangles of grilled halloumi cheese and an antipasti platter with intelligently sourced cold meat (the salami was from Bangalore) and mousses made on the premises. Mains were as delightful. Vikram had his lamb chops pink and I ate two confit duck legs. The others had a steak (buffalo, but nice) and a pulled-pork burger. Desserts (made in a central commissary) were so-so but at least the tiramisu tasted fresh. The restaurant was packed out and except for one table of Japanese businessmen in dark suits who got steadily drunker and louder as the evening wore on, the crowd seemed to consist entirely of locals, good Punjabi burghers who had brought their families. I was trying to think: would this happen in Bombay? Perhaps it would. The Table does high quality European food and packs them in. Café Zoe has a dedicated and loyal clientele. But both these places seem to get a more glamorous crowd. There isn’t anywhere in Bombay where solidly unglamorous locals go for a bit of duck confit or a cheese soufflé. So maybe Delhi is changing faster than Bombay. And the changes are at both ends of the spectrum. Open an Irani restaurant or open a French bistro and, as long as the food is good, the punters will come.
MORE ON THE WEB For more columns by Vir Sanghvi, log on to hindustantimes.com/brunch The views expressed by the columnist are personal
FEBRUARY 16, 2014
ON MY OWN
When Saurabh Udinia (above), Masala Library’s brilliant chef, does his own thing, the food sparkles
NICE SPICE
Masala Library in BandraKurla Complex with its brilliant keema matar with anda pav (above) is the hottest restaurant in Bombay these days
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Keeping Motorola’s legacy alive L Why I’m cheesed off with Lenovo’s buyout of Motorola from Google
ET ME be clear from the start. I have nothing against Lenovo. I think it’s a great company – it’s the number one PC vendor in the world; it took on the IBM PC business and made it a better brand; it’s just bought out IBM’s server business and is taking it to great heights; it’s one of the few companies trying new things in the tablet market; and it’s a growing force in the smartphone business. I have great respect for the company and its business model. My problem lies with Google and what it’s doing with these knee-jerk reaction deals. Let me elaborate...
Why Google bought Motorola for $12.5 billion
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS
Motorola’s Project Ara is a modular smartphone concept
Beats me! If this was a patent acquisition, then it was too expensive. There were better, cheaper ways to get the same. If this was to get a foothold into the smartphone hardware business, then it’s even stranger. Google was already doing a brilliant job with ‘Nexus’ and its outsourced business model. They were getting awesome smartphones and tablets made by LG and Asus, were reinventing the market and creating new standards in hardware and
born and where the world’s first modular phone in collaboration with Phonebloks may come out from). Add to that the fact that Motorola was losing about $250 million every quarter (that’s a billion dollars a year), which is not a pretty sight on any balance sheet. The selling of Motorola is also a confidence boosting measure to all Android partners that Google won’t directly compete with them as a hardware brand. So, all put together, this seems like the right thing for Google to do. So why A FORCE TO RECKON WITH Lenovo, with products like am I cheesed off ?
The idealistic, romantic, overemotional wreck that I am...
I believe that brands are living, breathing entities too; I believe that the legacy Motorola created is now being bounced around like a ping pong ball; I believe that Google should’ve made Motorola a priority and taken the company and its products to lofty heights; I believe that the company that invented the mobile phone shouldn’t be thrown around like an orphan child who no one wants; I believe that the Motorola that stood for something truly iconic may soon no longer exist; I believe that the business world of mobile phones may soon consume the aura and story of a company once called Motorola. Okay, sappy rant over, time for some real facts.
The future of mobile phone brands
Rajiv Makhni
techilicious price points. By buying Motorola, Google made their Android partners nervous as it seemed they wanted to compete directly with their own hardware brand.
A Samsung size-cutter and the perplexing aftermath
KEEPING IT SUBTLE
The Moto G is an elegant, understated and innovative phone at a great price point MORE ON THE WEB For previous columns by Rajiv Makhni, log on to hindustantimes. com/brunch. Follow Rajiv on Twitter at twitter.com/ RajivMakhni The views expressed by the columnist are personal
THE PIONEER
The Motorola DynaTAC 8000x was the world’s first mobile phone
A more plausible theory is that Google bought Motorola to cut its biggest Android partner to size. Samsung is pretty much the Lion King of Android and that makes Google nervous. But that theory also gets dashed with what Google has done with Motorola after its acquisition. It cut almost all international operations, withdrew the brand from multiple countries, cut staff by more than 6,000, released almost nothing new for a long time and racked up serious losses every quarter. Not a message to send out to Samsung to not get too big for its boots. Some chalk it down to Larry Page and Andy Rubin being seduced by the idea that they could own an iconic brand like Motorola and didn’t think things out. I’m going to veto that one too. These two aren’t known for sentimental outbursts. So it’s still a bit of a confounding mystery.
Why Google sold Motorola to Lenovo for $2.91 billion
So you buy something for $12.5 billion and sell it a short while later for $2.9 billion! Not a smart move, is it? Well, it is, for many reasons. First, they’d hived off the Motorola set top business for more than $2 billion. They’ve also retained the patents that are worth serious money. They’ve also kept the most wild and wacky part of Motorola, the Advanced Technology and Projects group (this is where Project Ara was
FEBRUARY 16, 2014
the Vibe X, is a growing force in the smartphone business
It is predicted that in about five years only five major brands of mobile phones will remain worldwide. All others will either be acquired or fall by the wayside. That’s a scary prospect, but even if one was to discount the doomsday exaggeration part, most of this process has begun. Microsoft taking over Nokia was the first catalyst, Lenovo buying out Motorola is the second, up next may well be BlackBerry, HTC (rumours suggest that Lenovo may lead the charge there too) and a slew of other big brands may well get snapped up in the next two years. The fewer the number of brands, the less the competition, more monopolistic practices, higher prices and lesser innovation! Not exactly a rosy future for consumers.
What Lenovo should do with Motorola
Lenovo is a smart company that knows that an acquired brand should be nurtured. But mating two different cultures isn’t an easy task. So hopefully, this is what it will do. It’ll keep the soul and spirit of what Motorola is all about. Ever since Google bought out Motorola, it’s mainly come out with two phones – the Moto X and the G. Both are understated, innovative, have excellent hardware, great price points, and may well be the best in their category. Lenovo has to keep that legacy going. No bloatware, no add-on skins that destroy the OS experience, first on OS updates, and a reputation to lead from the front on hardware, experience, and price points. Motorola opens up avenues and territories for Lenovo that it couldn’t have dreamt of getting into (including the tough US and European markets). It’s got to make sure that it keeps the brand, its people and its legacy alive. If Lenovo falters on any front, it will take an already weakened giant like Motorola and bring it to its knees. And the next headline may well be the sale of Motorola to Micromax for a price of about $25 million! Rajiv Makhni is managing editor, Technology, NDTV, and the anchor of Gadget Guru, Cell Guru and Newsnet 3
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Photos: SHUTTERSTOCK
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INFORMATION OVERLOAD
Unsocial Media
Tell the truth now, do you really care about your Facebook friends or Twitter buddies? Seema Goswami
spectator I
DOES IT REALLY MATTER?
We all do the decent thing, RT a few tweets, click the ‘like’ button a few times, and post the occasional comment. But truth be told, nobody cares
T IS one of the central ironies of this age of social media. Never before have we known so much about each other. And never before have we cared so little. Just think about it. If you are on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, or whatever the latest social media craze is, you know way too much about your friends, chance acquaintances and complete strangers. You know what they did last summer. You know whom they did it with. You have seen the pictures. You know what their kids look like. You know every cute (or inane) thing they ever say. You are forewarned when their birthdays and anniversaries crop up. And you know what? You don’t care. And you are not alone in this either. Truth be told, nobody cares. We all do the decent thing, RT a few tweets, click the ‘like’ button a few times, and post the occasional comment. But hand on heart, do you really care about this minutiae about the lives of other people? No, I didn’t think so. There has been some amount of theorising in recent times about how those of us who spend an inordinate amount of time on social networking sites are narcissistic personalities who are constantly looking for approval and validation from other people. Now that’s probably true and there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s just one slight problem with this scenario. For if all these ‘other people’ are also narcissistic so-and-sos who are only interested in
If you are on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, or whatever the latest social media craze is, you know way too much about your friends, chance acquaintances and complete strangers garnering approval for themselves, then clearly this social (media) contract is not going to work except in a very limited I-scratch-your-back-you-scratch-mine sort of way. And let’s be honest here. It clearly isn’t working for most of us. When it comes down to it, none of us is really interested in what the other had for breakfast, lunch or dinner. We don’t care if your car broke down on your way to work. We don’t find your attempts at pithy humour at all funny. We are not going to click on that link and read your blog. We don’t care how much you scored in some silly game. And we definitely don’t want to watch your Facebook movie! In that case, why on Earth are we wasting our time on these sites, pretending to be engaged when we are, in fact, bored senseless? Is it simply down to a fear of missing out, of being left out of this great social media experiment? Are we getting sucked into this ephemeral world that we don’t really care about merely because everyone else seems to live in it? But let’s pause for a moment and think. If we don’t even care about this parallel universe, does it make any sense to linger on within its boundaries? And if we are going to stay, doesn’t it make sense to, at the very least, change the rules of engagement? I, for one, am rapidly coming around to the view that some amount of recalibration is required. One way to go would be to tighten our social circle, expelling all those whom we don’t really give a damn about, and concentrate on that tight group with whom we do have meaningful relationships, those with whom we interact frequently, both in the virtual and the real world. That means a certain amount of cleaning up. So, if you can’t be bothered to type ‘Happy B’day’ for a Facebook ‘friend’ even though you have been ‘alerted’ about his or her birthday well in advance, then maybe it is time to ‘unfriend’ them. If just the sight of someone’s handle on your Twitter timeline begins to annoy you because of the gibberish they spout, it might be a good idea to ‘unfollow’ (or, if you are too soft-hearted, hit the ‘mute’ button). Maybe once we have done that, we can begin to restore a certain balance in our online dealings. We can create an environment that mirrors our real lives, in which we make time for, and pay attention to, those we care about no matter what else is going on in the world. And then maybe, just maybe, social media can begin to become truly social.
MORE ON THE WEB For more SPECTATOR columns by Seema Goswami, log on to hindustantimes.com/brunch. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/seemagoswami. Write to her at seema_ ht@rediffmail.com The views expressed by the columnist are personal
FEBRUARY 16, 2014
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PERSONAL AGENDA
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Actress
Bipasha Basu BIRTHDAY SUN SIGN January 7
PLACE HOMETOWN SCHOOL/COLLEGE Apeejay School, Kolkata OF BIRTH Kolkata
Capricorn New Delhi
HIGH POINT OF YOUR LIFE
It is yet to come. Life has just begun
LOW POINT OF YOUR LIFE
I’ve seen too many lows. It’s hard to point out one
CURRENTLY I AM...
Working on Humshakals with Riteish Deshmukh and Esha Gupta
If not an actress, you would have been… A doctor. Just when I was about to appear for the joint entrance test, I was pulled into the glamour industry. You feel most beautiful when.. I’ve slept for eight hours straight and followed it up with an exhaustive workout. What do you do when you are raging with WHO WAS YOUR anger? I look forward to a FIRST CRUSH? rejuvenating workout. Five years ago I used to get very angry, but now, regular exercising has turned me into a calmer and happier person. The last time you binged on junk food. A few nights ago I was craving a blueberry muffin, but I managed to not eat it. What’s your strongest negative emotion – jealousy or anger? Anger. I try and control my impulses as much as I can. The biggest difference between Bollywood and the modelling industry. In comparison to the modelling industry, Bollywood offers far more fame and money, and shapes your personality. As a model you only end up being a
Keanu Reeves. I used to think he was my husband
clotheshorse. Your best feature. My legs. The last thing you bought for `10. Nothing. What do you get for `10 anyway? What if you woke up one morning and realised you’d turned into a man? I’d want to wake up as Brad Pitt with Angelina Jolie as my partner. Then I’d be rich and successful enough
FEBRUARY 16, 2014
my movies FIRST MOVIE I WATCHED ON THE BIG SCREEN.
A FILM I WISH I HAD ACTED IN.
FILMS I’VE WATCHED THE MOST NUMBER OF TIMES.
A BOLLYWOOD FILM I WOULD RECOMMEND TO EVERY FOREIGNER.
Main Aur Mera Haathi (1981)
Maine Pyar Kiya (1989), Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron (1983)
to holiday on the French Riviera with six kids. One convenience gadget you wish gets invented really soon. Something that can
There’s no such film
Omkara (2006)
cook healthy and nutritious meals without us having to do anything. Would you rather get a pixie haircut or give up eyeliner forever? I definitely can’t give up the eyeliner. But I can always experiment with haircuts – even go bald if need be. When I get pregnant, I’d do that. One piece of advice you wish someone had given you 10 years ago. I didn’t take any advice 10 years ago and I won’t do it now either. Your proudest moment in fitness. I feel on top of the world every time I release a DVD. You never leave the house without... A big bag which contains a change of clothes for training, keys, medicine kit (for my allergies), make-up kit and perfume. Your favourite Bengali sweet. Kheer kadam (white khoya mithai with rasgullas). Three people from history you’d like to invite to dinner. Albert Einstein, Charlie Chaplin and Indira Gandhi. Your favourite holiday destinations. Goa, Greece and Paris. The last line of your autobiography would read… “I’m still figuring myself out...” — Interviewed by Pooja Biraia