Brunch 18 01 2015 by Hindustan Times

WEEKLY MAGAZINE, JANUARY 18, 2015 Free with your copy of Hindustan Times

Blockbuster In Waiting

After two years of no releases, bad press, enhanced lips and a love life that kept the tabloids busy, Anushka Sharma is ready to make headlines for better reasons

BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS

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Brunch Opinion

by Nihit Bhave

Two versions of our cover girl. Pick the one you like

Over the last fortnight, while speaking to her for this interview, I saw two distinct sides to Anushka Sharma. Both were equally interesting

NCH BOO K RU

by Saudamini Jain

Read 30 books in 2015

18 Jan 2015

ALL E N

PART- 2

LAST YEAR, WE CHALLENGED YOU TO READ 24 BOOKS. WE’VE UPPED THE ANTE BY SIX. IT’S TIME TO READ MORE WHAT: 30 books in 2015. (It’s not much, it’s two-and-a-half books every month). Read anything you like – a bestseller or something obscure, selfhelp guides or graphic novels, real books, e-books or just listen to audiobooks. WHY: Because everybody always wants to be able to read more. Because reading is good for you. Because even if you don’t read much, now is a good time to start. Because this is a new year resolution we’ll help you keep. Because we promise to recommend books, old and new – and send you some too. And because we’ll organise readings and meetings with your favourite writers.

Cover image: PRASAD NAIK Cover design: PAYAL DIGHE KARKHANIS

On The Brunch Radar

LOVE IT

The Brunch Book Club

ANUSHKA 2.0 She’s far more relaxed than she was the first time around. Funny, even. She’s in Australia cheering for her (boy) friend Virat Kohli during his matches, and I’m freezing my fingers off, talking to her over the phone from Delhi. I apologise for taking her away from the game and she says, “It’s okay, you’re the one getting charged for ISD!” I detect a strong sense of security in her words this time. “I find it very easy to walk away from things,” she tells me. Towards the end of our chat, I ask her about playing four extremely different roles, and she says, “I don’t want to follow any template.” This Anushka, the detached one, is my favourite.

WHERE: On Twitter. Or Facebook. Or Instagram. HOW: Make sure you tag

@HTBrunch (on Twitter and/or Instagram) or Hindustan Times Brunch (on Facebook) using the hashtag #BrunchBookChallenge and keep us posted. And follow the hashtag too – it’s a great way to meet other booklovers. Tell us what you’re reading, what you liked and what you didn’t. Suggest, recommend, or quote your favourite books. Post photos – of your books, your bookshelves, your favourite bookstores or anything reading-related. WHEN: ASAP! EDITORIAL: Poonam Saxena (Editor), Aasheesh Sharma, Rachel Lopez, Aastha Atray Banan, Veenu Singh, Satarupa Paul, Saudamini Jain, Asad Ali, Nihit Bhave, Atisha Jain

JANUARY 18, 2015

n Our newest staff writer Nihit Bhave, particularly because his favourite thing about Brunch is Love it/ Shove it n Bringing “Mere Karan Arjun aayenge” back, because it’s 20 years of Karan Arjun n Walking 10,000 steps a day n That Gillian Flynn plans to write a sequel to Gone Girl n Winter romances.

n That this was Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s last stint at the Golden Globes n Subramanian Swamy n People against smoking. #HatersGonnaHate n Typos n Sending requests to like your stupid pages. If you bake at home for fun, I don’t care.

SHOVE IT

ANUSHKA 1.0 She is sitting in a room at Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s office as I enter expecting to see Jagat Janani from PK (since all actors promote films ‘in character’ these days). Thankfully, I see a casual Anushka, lounging on a mattress with a cup of coffee. For a Bollywood actress, she seems extremely verbose. “The Indian media jumps to conclusions, they dictate the way things ought to be,” she says, while discussing the hazaar accusations she’s faced in the recent past. After aggressively defending her lips, her love life and a lack of films in 2013-2014, she just signs off with, “Love me, hate me, I’m here to stay!”

Stuff You Said Last Sunday

Idiot Box

by Saudamini Jain

5 reasons to watch Downton Abbey

For five years, we have cribbed and whined because our favourite drama ever was not aired in India. But it was a good thing. Watching five seasons of Downton Abbey in one go is the next best thing. No, it is the best thing. Ever. Downton Abbey is a Yorkshire country house, where the Earl and Countess of Grantham (Robert and Cora Crawley – their last names are not Grantham, just their title) live with their three daughters (the uptight Mary, the feminist Sybil and poor neglected Edith) and countless servants. Pronunciation Guide: It’s Downton, not Down-town. 1. This is like a Jane Austen novel. There are suitors for Mary – most notably, her “cousin Matthew”. Sybil is a champion for all causes – education, socialism and women’s rights. And the rather plain (at first) Edith. 2. The history: It is 1912 when the opening credits roll in, and the Titanic has just sunk. You will be taken through the First World War, the feminist movement, the Irish Civil War, the Russian Revolution and the affairs of the British royal family. The last episode was set in 1925. 3. Downstairs and upward mobility: This could very

rprise r fails to su Delhi nevean awesome read t so a me! Wh TBrunch y KiDili @H #Dilwalo been added to m s much ha ucket list!! b 9 – @ritika9

Interesting @HTBrunch today cover story is superlative m am seems like the tea ..the baithak, the y has worked ver mushaaira, Kedara in hard in Digging Dilli Kinari bazaar all to be Deeply...! done now .. super stu ff – @binoydass

- svetleena

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

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

well be a show only about what happens downstairs (that’s where the servants live) under the strict supervision of Mr Carson, the butler and Mrs Hughes, the housekeeper. There are several maids and footmen, a fat, lovable cook (Mrs Patmore), an adorable scullery maid (Daisy)... the list is endless. You’ll see how their lives change after the First World War – and how they mix with the Crawleys (very intimately). 4. The little details: This is a world where women did not inherit estates (so will Downton go to Robert’s distant cousin who is *gasp* a lawyer in *gasp* Manchester). What must it be like to be gay back then? And what if a society lady were to date an African-American jazz singer? And the obscene bestseller of the time was Maria Stopes’ Married Love, a manual for married women. 5. Maggie Smith: Only the best actress ever! The 80-year-old plays Robert’s mother, or the Dowager Countess. She’ll teach you how to insult in polite society. Don’t be defeatist, dear. It’s very middle class. Psst, starting on January 23 on Star World, Monday to Friday at 10pm

After reading this issue, I love Delhi all the more. Thanks to you and all contributors – @AuthorRK

Wow Today’s ! was worth Brunch You guys reading!! proud of Dmade me elhi once again! Th ank wonderfu You for this – @Sarah l edition! Khan144

ery r eve What a treat foo rejoices Dilliwallah whenigma that is this in the layered tory, books, music, city! Food, his pick a favorite – it was hard to hi Negi Sonju

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COVER STORY

Woman On The Verge The girl next door is all grown up, is muse to KJo and Kashyap, and has scored the biggest-ticket films of 2015. No pressure, says the bold, new Anushka Sharma by Nihit Bhave Photo: ZAHIR ABBASS

“What has she done with herself ?!” The question that was on everybody’s minds was also on my phone’s screen two weeks ago. A panicked Anushka loyalist was texting me from a screening of PK. Forget the film’s Hindutva backlash, the hullabaloo over posters of a naked Aamir Khan or politicians trying to ban the film, my friend was only interested in what had happened to the wholesome, forever smiling Anushka Sharma she loved. For most fans, Anushka had always been a breath of fresh air, bubbling with niceness, and playing roles everyone could relate to. This new Anushka, thickerlipped, hair cut like a boy’s, curves hidden in baggy clothes, wasn’t anything like Shruti Kakkar (Band Baaja Baaraat, 2010) or Akira (Jab Tak Hai Jaan, 2012). She didn’t steal the show in PK, the way she had in her previous films. She wasn’t loud. She wasn’t a Punjabi Delhi kudi. She was nothing we were used to. This year, she’ll play a jazz singer (in Bombay Velvet), a gutsy wife in a thriller (NH10) and the lead in what’s billed as a mature love story (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil). They’re roles again nowhere close to her previous ones. The change is all part of the plan for Anushka. “I don’t want to do films that people watch and then forget the next morning,” she says when I point out the stark difference in her screen avatar now. “I have to have something to give to the film. I don’t just want my name in the credits. I want to be able to contribute. As long as that is happening, I am okay with making choices that might not be tried and tested.” The actress seems to be clear about where her career is headed. What has she done with herself, indeed? How has this quintessential Yash Raj girl, four inches too tall for her heroes, one half of India’s most gossiped-about couple, who’s experimented with her looks, bagged film projects that might make even established actresses envious?

JANUARY 18, 2015

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THE EARLY BIRD

Like most people who covet stardom, Anushka Sharma started young. Very, very young. “When she was 13, Anushka’s parents came to me and said that she was crazy about modelling,” recalls Bangalore-based fashion designer and ramp choreographer Prasad Bidapa, who was her first mentor in showbiz. “She was extremely dedicated and started doing shows over the weekends. By the age of 16, she had become a supermodel and by 18, she was walking the ramps all over India. I remember telling her parents, ‘Yeh ladki toh zaroor star banegi’.” Early fame also meant early sacrifices and Anushka was more than willing to make them. “I knew that my friends weren’t doing the same things as I was doing. They were bunking school and college to just hang out at some coffee shop, and if I bunked classes, it could only be for fittings for a show. I didn’t have the luxury of just hanging out.” Anushka already had a plan in mind, and says she was ambitious from a very young age. “In fact, if I hadn’t achieved something by the time I turned 18, I would have felt disappointed in myself,” she confesses, while admitting that she wanted to be famous even without knowing what field she wanted to excel in. For someone famous at 16, there was no scope for a routine life. “When I was modelling in Bangalore, I was very sure that I didn’t want to do just another regular show, or be part of an ad where there are so many people that you get lost,” she says. “It was quick money so people did it, but it didn’t feel right to me.” The urgency to achieve fame grew stronger by the day, and at 17, Anushka was at Bollywood’s doorstep. But her basic dilemma remained: she knew what not to do, but hadn’t a clue about where to go, whom to talk to or what to do. Granted, her struggle was, in her own words, “nothing compared to what others go through”. As an army kid with ready accommodation in Mumbai’s army quarters, family support in the form of her mother, and relative fame, she was hardly at the bottom of the strugglers’ heap. But there were still challenges. Bollywood is hard even for a Bangalore model to break into. After a series of auditions and turning down some film roles, Anushka ended up auditioning for a Yash Raj film, and actually bagging not just the role, but a

“Why does the question of ‘getting along’ arise only with actresses? Reducing someone to a bitch-ﬁght is disgusting” contract for two more films with the banner. Her dream run seemed to have begun. “When I was auditioning for Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, I didn’t know that Aditya Chopra would be the director and I definitely didn’t know that Shah Rukh Khan would star in it,” says Anushka candidly. She didn’t even know who Aditya Chopra was! “Coming from a non-filmi background, and from Bangalore, where, while growing up, we didn’t watch many Hindi films, I belonged to that ignorant group of people who would not be interested in knowing who the director was. I had watched DDLJ, but as far as I was concerned, it was an SRK-Kajol film,” she says between bouts of laughter.

THREE-FILM DEAL, TWO LINK-UPS, ONE PLAN

To be fair, Anushka didn’t really steal the show in Rab Ne… (how could any newcomer, in a film with two SRKs?) “The assistant directors on the film used to say that she was an ‘extremely fair girl’. That’s all they had to say,” recalls movie critic Bhawna Somaya. “I was baffled! How could a girl’s complexion alone be her claim to fame? When I saw the film, though, even I felt that she did not look namkeen enough.” But she showed tremendous promise. “There was immense confidence, and she held her own in front of a legend like SRK. She wasn’t trying to imitate anybody,” adds Somaya. Anushka ticked her way through the quintessential Bollywood heroine checklist thereafter: wearing a bikini (Badmaash Company, 2008), dancing around the trees and being the obligatory arm-candy. She also got linked with her co-stars (Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh), but was still not quite in the limelight. And then, Band Baaja Baaraat happened. “I wasn’t really interested in her as an actor until BBB. That is when I sat up and took notice,” says movie critic Anupama Chopra. The film, her second in the three-film deal with YRF, not only proved to be a sleeper hit, but also shone the spotlight on her and Ranveer Singh as the next best things. “Anushka taught me that I

should connect with my co-actor and speak to them instead of speaking at them,” says Ranveer Singh, remembering how technically sound she had become within a span of a couple of years. “She said that I should say the lines as if I’m actually speaking to her and not just delivering dialogue.” The three-film deal led to more box-office successes like Ladies V/S Ricky Bahl (2011) and Jab Tak Hai Jaan, and soon Anushka realised she was even more confused than she had been before debuting. “I got thrust into stardom, and suddenly I was lost,” she says about the period between Band Baaja Baaraat and Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola (2012). “At such times, a lot of people tell you a lot of things – there are a lot of Dos and Don’ts,” she says, referring to the standard advice given to most Bollywood heroines: Do two movies a year, do mass films. “But whatever I was hearing wasn’t really resonating with me; I wasn’t convinced about it.” Just like before, she knew what she didn’t want – arm-candy appearances where a director was just “presenting” her instead of making use of her. But this time around, she put her head to it, and decided to change the rules herself. “After Band Baaja Baaraat, I made a list of 10 directors that I specifically wanted to work with, and that became my plan.”

CONTROVERSY’S CHILD

Anushka’s plan was perfect, and she soon got her wish, too. She signed films with Yash Chopra, Vishal Bhardwaj and Anurag Kashyap – all directors from that list – but faced an unexpected roadblock. Other actresses were busy making headlines with their breakthrough roles. While 2012 was Priyanka’s year with Barfi!, 2013 marked Deepika’s `500cr films and 2014 belonged to Kangana and Queen. But Anushka remained absent from the silver screen for two years through a stroke of bad luck (PK and Bombay Velvet were delayed back to back). Her absence from films, however, sent the paparazzi snooping around for gossip. She remained in the news for all the wrong reasons

JANUARY 18, 2015

and she reacted to them then with as much fire as she does now. Some reports called her malnourished (“Those articles calling me anorexic really irritated me, they used the term so loosely”). Some spoke only of her relationship with cricketer Virat Kohli and how she was distracting him from his game (“When you blame me for someone else’s performance, it’s ridiculous, but our country loves cricket so much that they think whatever they say is fine”). Some said she wasn’t getting along with Priyanka Chopra on the sets of the upcoming Dil Dhadakne Do (“Why does this question of ‘getting along’ arise only with female co-stars? Reducing someone to a

COSMETIC CHANGE Anushka Sharma owned up to using lip-enhancers. But other actresses have generally avoided talking about it

“I can’t name just one!”

- PRIYANKA CHOPRA, on Koffee With Karan, when discussing which Bollywood stars have gone under the knife

“Honestly speaking, a lot of people have gone under the knife and it has made some of them look really scary!” - SONAM KAPOOR

“A lot of people have [had cosmetic treatments], and they look perpetually surprised. Somebody falsely reported that I’d undergone surgery, but I don’t need it!” - DEEPIKA PADUKONE

COVER STORY WHEN ANUSHKA MADE HEADLINES

bitch-fight is disgusting!”). A lot of eyebrows raised when she turned producer (“I’m turning producer because I want to, not because I have no films to sign. Why does the question of sustainability come up only when actresses turn producers?”). And finally, there was the infamous incident in which she appeared on an episode of Koffee With Karan in early February 2014, with lips so full, that it was all people seemed to talk about. In true Anushka style, she sportingly owned up to using lip plumpers (“If I were ashamed of it, I wouldn’t have spoken about it so openly. I spoke out because I don’t like getting bullied!”). Ranveer Singh believes that her unflappable quality is what keeps her afloat in Bollywood. “She’s very clear about the things she wants to focus on in her life,” he says. “She doesn’t get perturbed by negativity and tabloid reports. It’s wonderful to see someone who only concerns herself with the stuff that really matters.” PK hit the theatres in December 2014, two years after her previous film (Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola), and even then, the controversies didn’t stop. Right-wing political parties were up in arms about its depiction of Hinduism, even as the movie minted money at the box office. “What has been said [in the film] is what exists. And if people want to ignore that, then it’s for them to deal with,” says Anushka. On the day of our inter-

In the two years between her last two films, Anushka Sharma has been in the news for a lot of wrong reasons, and some right ones

view, gunmen had just stormed into the offices of Paris satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, killing 12. Anushka felt as strongly about it as she did about the PK controversy. “I feel like we’re just so intolerant! We’ve all been given a choice, means to lead our lives and it’s in our control. It’s completely fine if you choose to do something differently than I do, as long as you’re not harming anybody.”

RISING TO THE TOP

For now, Anushka Sharma is the heroine of Bollywood’s biggest grossing film of all time (`626Cr and counting for PK). Her 2015 line-up: Anurag Kashyap’s Bombay Velvet, KJo’s Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Zoya Akhtar’s Dil Dhadakne Do and her own home production, NH10, will keep her in the news practically all year. And yet, there isn’t a quality so distinctive that sets Anushka apart. Anupama Chopra believes that her ability to fit in is actually what makes the actress stand out. “Anushka is Everywoman. She is the girl next door without being banal or boring. She’s accessible,” Chopra says. “Perhaps it’s because she’s not staggeringly beautiful like Deepika or Katrina. She seems like someone you would be able to speak with; you could know her in real life.You aren’t in awe of Anushka, and that works in her favour, because she’s very attractive in an accessible way.” And that’s perhaps what

“I’m not a baniya. I don’t want to say ‘Arre, iss saal mera turnover achcha ho gaya’. I want more in life than one year which goes well” JANUARY 18, 2015

Anushka has realised too. She says having a reality check is the most important thing. “I want the appreciation, but I don’t want people to define me,” she says. “You can’t take yourself so seriously. There’s a limit to how long this [stardom] will go on, and after that you’re going to have a regular life. At that time, you don’t want to be the person who is deprived of attention and is feeling worthless.” She has the same attitude towards her upcoming films. “I feel nice when people say that it’s going to be my year, but I want more from life than just having one year which goes well,” she says. “I’m not a baniya. I don’t want to say, ‘Arre iss saal mera turnover achcha ho gaya’.” Instead, she wants to keep working harder. That list that she’d made after BBB? It’s much longer. She’s already getting into her second home production. She might not be known as the hottest actress, or one with the best track record, or the best item song, but she’s certainly the most dogged. And while people think levelheadedness and accessibility are her gig, she simply says it’s patience. “I want to be able to do things on my own terms, and I have the resilience to sustain such a desire,” she says, smiling. nihit.bhave@ hindustantimes.com Follow @misterbister on Twitter

A YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY In 2015, you won’t see the happy, chirpy Anushka. She’s piping down and taking a new route instead NH10: Anushka’s first home production WATCH OUT FOR: A feisty Anushka like you’ve never seen before. She plays a wife whose husband gets into trouble when their Rajasthan road trip goes wrong. BOMBAY VELVET: A period film about ’50s Bombay WATCH OUT FOR: Anushka as a jazz singer. Whether the enhanced lips add to the role or take away from it remains to be seen in this noir-styled film. DIL DHADAKNE DO: Zoya Akhtar’s rich film about rich people and rich-people problems WATCH OUT FOR: Anushka’s performance as she goes head on with a cast of certified pros (Ranveer Singh, Farhan Akhtar and Priyanka Chopra). AE DIL HAI MUSHKIL: Karan Johar’s next directorial venture WATCH OUT FOR: Anushka in this mature love story that also stars Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

PEOPLE

Being Beige

In her new novel, Tanuja Desai Hidier uproots her American-Born-ConfusedDesi heroine from New Jersey to Bombay by Anirudh Bhattacharyya

N THE early years of this century, a new genre defined a new generation of Indian-Americans coming of age. In 2001, there was the cult classic film, American Desi, Kal Penn’s ticket from New Jersey to Hollywood. A year later, there was the novel, Born Confused, that turned its author, Tanuja Desai Hidier, into a chronicler of the chronic identity chaos that affects the desi diaspora. Perhaps it’s fitting that taken together, these two pop cultural milestones make for American Born Confused Desi, the much-caricatured ABCD. A dozen years later, Hidier returns with a sequel, Bombay Blues, journeying into India, with a soundtrack of its own. Bombay Spleen has been produced by Dave Sharma, once a dhol-thumping fixture when the musical Bombay Dreams played on Broadway. Among the many reasons for the sequel’s delay were two: Hidier’s

daughters, now aged nine and five. “I see it more as a gestation period,” she says, “an even more apt phrase as during this time I became a mother of two.”

AMERICA TO BOMBAY

The original ABCDness was outlined in Born Confused, as its protagonist, Jersey girl Dimple Lala, on the cusp of turning 17, muses: “Sometimes I was too Indian in America, yes, but in India, I was definitely not Indian enough.” The book jacket from Born Confused was kind of in-your-face in its symbolism: A young girl sporting a bindi styled as a question mark. But there was no question that book made a mark: USA Today said it “gives voice to a new generation of Americans”. A couple of years later, Hidier, who’s been in multiple bands, released what Wired magazine deemed the first-ever “booktrack”. The

GETTING THE NRI VOICE

Tanuja Desai Hidier and her two novels. The dozen-year gap (“the gestation period,” she calls it) between the two happened because of motherhood

PROMOTION

BOMBAY, NOT MUMBAI & UNBOMBAY Bombay is the city where my mother, brother were born, and parents met. Where Dadaji waved the ﬂies from my face so I could sleep undisturbed, and Marathi was my ﬁrst (now lost) tongue. It was the address on the pale blue airmail letters coming, going like a tide in our USA mailbox. UnBombay is a space more than place. A zone of possibility

Tanuja Desai Hidier

ing, as she reaches Bombay for a family wedding. Somewhat like Hidier’s own romance: When she was in Paris, she and her husbandto-be were neighbours but they never met until they encountered each other at a Manhattan party.

DESI COOL

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AGES

Born Confused is a careening ride that sometimes gets wild as Dimple roller-coasters her way to a wide-eyed look at herself. Now, she hasn’t quite lost her innocence, but, as Hidier put it, there’s a “blurring and blueing around the edges.” That makes it, in many ways, a more mature novel, as Dimple herself has chronologically evolved into adulthood. As Hidier mused, “Bombay Blues is certainly a much more bittersweet book than Born Confused, much more an exploration of ambiguity.” The young lady on the

CITYLIGHTS Versova ﬁshmarket: Breathtaking boats, fantastically focused ﬁsherwomen laying out the catch like jewels. Chor Bazaar: A trove of stories whispered through shipwheels, phonographs, medicine dolls. Gilbert Hill: Ancientest Bombay, a 65-million-year-old basalt monolith earth-ejected in the event that effaced the dinosaurs. Divine view from top. Mount Mary: A church with darshan. Rudrakshas and rosaries. And Mother Mary. Street Art: Chapel Road, Waroda Road. The Longest Journey Is The Journey Inwards (mural by Jas Charanjiva off Chapel Road in Bandra). Juhu Beach: Site of my parents’ courtship strolls. Where, on day one for Bombay Blues, I cast my sankalp/ wish: made a vow to be open to whatever adventure lay ahead, have faith in that openness…and unimaginably wonderful things would occur. And they did.

Photo: GETTY IM

album called When We Were Twins traversed the sonic landscape of Dimple’s adventures. Bombay – not Mumbai, as she makes clear – is in Hidier’s blood. She was born in Boston and raised in small-town Massachusetts, studied at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, lived in New York and Paris, and moved to her current location, London, with her husband, before Born Confused was published. But Bombay was where her mother and brother were born, and her parents courted there. As she said in an interview, “I longed to write my way towards this metropolis of myth and memory – and, hopefully, into it.” So, Dimple, now 19-anda-half, gets uprooted from New Jersey and transplanted to that city of roots. Dimple makes some new connections and some links go miss-

and ﬂux. It appears when Dimple drops the map, loses her way: Like an unexpected station, it’s the inbetween: a swimming city. If Bombay resonates with the past and Mumbai, perhaps, speaks of a future, UnBombay is the present — a moment that requires your presence… then is gone. A land-escape.

cover now exhibits a bindi formed in the symbol for infinity. The sequel retains the verve of the first; still teeming with energy and music. If once in the past, NRIs were – or thought of themselves as – the “cool ones”, Bombay has its own buzz, with “antiparties”, “Kingfishers at Janata, dubstep at NoSoBoHo, a KFC landmark on Linking Road”. On arrival, Dimple, though being brown in a brown land, feels “white. Beige, at least.” She later figures: “It’s getting harder to tell them apart. Us apart.” This isn’t the average NRI trawling for an exotic tale, but a discovery that there’s plenty of hipness happening in the Old Country; a chronicle of Bombay cool. Hidier plays with language and each paragraph is crowded with wordplay that can be described with a word that was especially invented for the Bombay local train experience – superdensecrushload. Dimple may still be somewhat confused, but she no longer lets that confound her. That probably mirrors the arc of younger IndianAmericans, who may just have discovered the talent to bridge both worlds. Reason enough for Hidier to hang on to an early email address, with a handle that puts a twist on ABCD – ABCreativeDesi.

indulge

Photo: GETTY IMAGES

A KicK Of The Mule

Some bands you have to watch live. Gov’t Mule, known for its live improvisation, is one of them. I watched the band’s electrifying three-hour New Year’s Eve gig at New York’s Beacon Theater Sanjoy Narayan

download central F

MORE ON THE WEB To give feedback, stream or download the music mentioned in this column, go to blogs.hindustantimes. com/download-central. Write to Sanjoy at sanjoy.narayan@ hindustantimes.com . Follow @SanjoyNarayan on Twitter

IFTY-FOUR-year-old guitarist, bandleader and lead singer, Warren Haynes, can be described as a ‘rockaholic’. Haynes fronts his own southern blues-rock band, Gov’t Mule; he played lead guitar and sang for The Allman Brothers Band (in two stints: from 1989 to 1997; and again from 2000 to 2014 when the band retired); he regularly plays with a host of other bands, including Phil Lesh and Friends, The Dead (which is a vestige of the original Grateful Dead), and The Derek Trucks Band; besides, he also records and performs solo. But he’s a ‘rockaholic’ because of his tireless itinerary – he routinely plays more than 200 gigs a year. On December 30, I watched him play one of those – the first night of Gov’t Mule’s two-night New Year’s Eve gig at New York’s Beacon Theater. Some bands you just have to watch live. Gov’t Mule is one of those. Because The Mule (as they’re known to fans) are not just a southern rock band but a band that, like the erstwhile Grateful Dead, is known for its live improvisation: during concerts, such as the one I got to see, their songs include new ones from their most recent studio album, Shout!, old ones from albums released during their 20year career, as well as covers of songs by other musicians (on Dec 30, they did their versions of songs by former British band, Free; covers of a couple of songs by Joe Cocker, the British rocker who’d died recently; and several jazz

JANUARY 18, 2015

ROCKING HORSES

(L-R) Warren Haynes, Matt Abts and Jorgen Carlsson of Gov’t Mule at the Beacon Theater on December 31 in New York City

segues). The best part of their sets is the unpredictability of the tweaks that songs get. At the Beacon, this time, they played Steve Miller Band’s The Joker in reggae style with a snatch of a Bob Marley song interspersed in between; then they took one of their own standards, Thorazine Shuffle, and segued it with another, Funny Little Tragedy, but not before adding a touch of The Police’s Message in a Bottle! While playing another Mule song, Game Face, out popped two familiar tunes – a snatch of Weather Report’s Birdland and a touch of the Allman Brothers Band’s Mountain Jam. Situated in New York’s Upper Westside, the Beacon Theater, which opened as a movie theater first in 1929, has a seating capacity of nearly 3000, and a décor that seems faux Greek: massive statues of goddesses in gold flank the stage; there are bars on each floor of the three-tiered auditorium, including in the marble-floored circular lobby; and from the huge murals on the walls rather incongruous depictions look down on you: camels, elephants and desert scenes. By 7.30pm, a half hour before the gig was to begin, fans filled the lobby, the bar areas and the auditorium. The air was that of a family reunion where the average age is, well, the northern side of 40. That’s because Gov’t Mule are not the sort of band to have a notable youth following. Typically, their fans are former Deadheads or followers of bands such as The Allman Brothers or others that thrive mainly by playing live shows and touring frenetically. So, when the Beacon’s corridors, lobbies and bar areas filled up that evening, those who filled it up were a mature middle-aged lot, making it not very hard for us to blend in. Yet if we’d expected the older audience to sit demurely in their seats and clap during the gig we were quite mistaken. At 8 when Haynes and his band mates – Matt Abts (drums), Danny Louis (keyboards, trumpet, guitars) and Jorgen Carlsson (bass) – strode onto the stage and played the first note of the first song (it was World Boss from Shout!), the audience stood up and remained standing for the rest of the concert. Yelps, whistles and screams rented the air as Gov’t Mule played for three hours with a short interval in between. As is de rigueur at such concerts, it didn’t take long before the air was also filled with sickly sweet herbal smells. But let’s get back to the music. When a band tours as much as Gov’t Mule does, playing their instruments becomes second nature for the band members. As Haynes and his colleagues progressed down the setlist – Whisper In Your Soul, Stoop So Low and Forsaken Savior followed World Boss – the jamming got more extended and intense. By the time the band had broken into Stratus, a jazz-fusion tune composed by the acclaimed jazz drummer, Billy Cobham, everyone was in the groove. The Cohen cover and the Cocker tribute came soon after and then there was no stopping. The playlist ended with a reprise of Thorazine Shuffle but the crowd wasn’t satisfied till the band re-entered the stage and played for the encore: an unexpected version of Rod Stewart’s Hot Legs followed up with another Stewart song, Stay With Me. It was a little before midnight when we stepped out onto West 74th Street and Haynes’ guitar was still playing in my head. I remembered that next evening The Mule would be playing again at the Beacon. I regretted not buying tickets for the second night. As it happened, the band’s setlist for the second night included a set of AC/DC songs, delivered with high voltage but also with the trademark Mule kick. Sigh! Download Central appears every fortnight

indulge

Flour Power

Vindaloo, sorpotel, sweet Goan wine...Yes, the Portuguese brought all these to India. But there’s another Portuguese contribution that usually goes unheralded

HE PORTUGUESE usually get a bum rap in discussions about Indian food. Talk about their contributions to our cuisine, and you’ll hear references to vindaloo, balchao, sorpotel, sausages, and disgusting sweet Goan wine. Nobody will mention that they brought the chilli to India and transformed our food forever. But there’s also another Portuguese contribution that usually goes unheralded. And if you live in the western states of India (Maharashtra, Gujarat, etc) you will know that this is a far more significant contribution than is usually acknowledged. We know that till the Muslims got here, Indians were not great bakers. We know also that those Indians who ate wheat (i.e. north of the Vindhyas, and not a lot in the East) tended to eat atta or wholewheat flour. Maida or refined flour came with the Muslims. Our experiences with maida parathas and naans only start from the arrival of Muslim traders and rulers and when maida did penetrate south of the Vindhyas, it was as part of Muslim cuisine (i.e. the Malabar parotha of Kerala). Even now, in large parts of India, Muslims remain the best traditional bakers because of their skill at using maida. (My guess is that something like 80 per cent of the traditional bakeries in Bombay are Muslim-owned). But Muslims in the north of India are not big on bread. If you go to a Muslim locality in Delhi, Lucknow or Allahabad and order a kebab or a korma, you’ll be served some kind of roti, paratha or naan with it. You won’t get a bun or a slice of bread on the side. If, on the other hand, you go to Mohammad Ali Road or any such area where Muslim vendors ply their trade in

Vir Sanghvi

rude food Bombay, you may well get some bread with your curry. And some dishes — say the famous keema pav — are designed to be eaten with bread. So why do Muslims in the west of India like bread more than Muslims in North India? Well, that’s where the Portuguese enter the picture. As Lizzie Collingham points out in her authoritative Curry – A Biography, the Portuguese landed in parts of India (Cochin, Goa etc) where the locals ate rice. But they missed their crusty bread, and in any case, they needed bread for Holy Communion. They could find wheat flour in Goa but yeast was hard to come by. So they started using a few drops of toddy to ferment the dough and created the various Goan breads we know today: the round gutli, the flat pav, etc. It is from Goa that bread first travelled to Bombay and became a staple among locals. By the time British arrived with their nasty white bread, the Portuguese-Goan pav had already been well established. And so British bread became an upmarket sort of dish, useful for making toast or sand-

JANUARY 18, 2015

wiches. But the food of the streets used pav, which could be sliced open to stuff an omelette into it or served alongside a spicy keema or a korma. And Bombay’s Goan community continued to use it as an alternative to rice. But there was always a Hindus v/s the rest kind of divide. Pav became the food of the minorities (Muslims, Catholics etc) while Hindus stuck to traditional (and non-maida) breads like rotis, pooris, etc, even in Bombay. If you look at the snacks that developed in Bombay, bread of any kind hardly played a role, except in Christian and Muslim areas. Then, gradually, the communal barrier was broken. The most famous example was the growth of pav bhaji stalls. I checked with Wikipedia, the most convenient if not most reliable source of information about Indian food habits, and discovered that it claims that pav bhaji was the food of Indian mill workers in 1850. I’m sceptical of this claim because my sense is that the first pav bhajiwallas appeared all over Bombay in the late 1950s and (more likely) the 1960s. They opened in the evenings and did not go home till early the next morning. The first stalls were located near the old Cotton Exchange, because traders waited for the New York cotton prices (in the ’60s, these were carried prominently in all Bombay papers) that came in late into the night and early in the morning. But soon the pav bhaji stalls spread all over the city and by the late ’60s such restaurants as Tardeo’s Sardar Pav Bhaji were packing them in. Why pav? Why not pooris or bhaturas as in North India? My guess is that the roadside guys near the Cotton Exchange found it easier to toast pav on their tavas than to make fresh Indian breads. Plus, the principal component of pav bhaji is Amul butter and the bread soaked it up better than any Indian roti would have. If pav bhaji become popular in the mid to late ’60s, then vada pav caught on even later. The idea was pretty basic. You take a batata vada (a staple of Gujarati and Maharash-

Photos: DINODIA

Photo: SHUTTERSTOCK

DOUBLE TROUBLE

You can get away with mixing potato and wheat if you lower the quantity of both starches, like in an aloo paratha (top). But I’m not a fan of the double starch potato sandwich like a vada pav (above) AND THE REST IS HISTORY

The first pav bhaji stalls in Bombay were located near the old Cotton Exchange, because traders waited for the New York cotton prices that came in late into the night and early in the morning

trian cuisine) and place it inside a pav you have sliced open. But vada pav seems to have been Maharashtrian in origin and when it caught on in the ’70s, it was as a Maharashtrian snack. A few years later came the Kutchi dabeli, which was the same basic idea as the vada pav but squeezed the potato mixture into the bread and pressed it tight without bothering with a patty or a vada. So, what made the difference? How did the Portuguese pav cross the communal divide and become one of Bombay’s most recognisable breads? My guess is that has something to do with convenience and education. During my childhood, a pav was still regarded as something alien or – to put it crudely – kind of downmarket. Many people (including the eminent food historian KT Achaya) speculated that it got its name from being a quarter of a loaf. Many not-so-wise Gujaratis of my acquaintance said that the dough was kneaded by the feet, hence the name. Actually, what’s probable is that we use the Portuguese name: pao. No great mysteries there. It became part of the different forms of Bombay cuisine from the mid-’60s onwards because a) these misconceptions began to evaporate and b) the roadside hawkers lacked the wherewithal and facilities to make bhaturas or pooris from scratch. Most lived in slums in the northern suburbs and took local trains to work. So they tried to carry as little paraphernalia with them as possible. That simple explanation accounts for the ubiquity of bread in all forms in roadside food stalls. Keema pav is still hard to get in non-Muslim areas but the vegetarian bread dishes are easy to find: pav bhaji, vada pav and now dabeli. A more recent invention but probably just as famous is the Bombay sandwich, which does not use pav but uses normal sliced white bread.

Curiously enough, while other Bombay street food staples like bhelpuri have travelled to each corner of India, the Bombay bread snacks have been less well received. You do get pav bhaji pretty much everywhere and versions of pav-keema are catching on, even if the keema recipes differ from the classic Bombay version. But it’s hard to get a Bombay sandwich in Delhi. Vada pav appears on a few upmarket menus but is not the chaat staple that, say, bhelpuri is. A dabeli is relatively (if not almost entirely) unknown in much of North India. And so on. Why don’t these dishes travel well? I’ll tell you. Despite my love for my hometown, I’m not a fan of the double starch sandwich. My view is that a good sandwich takes starch (bread) and uses a non-starch as a filling. So a ham sandwich or egg sandwich or a cheese sandwich or a hamburger makes perfect sense. Even sandwiches made with real vegetables (tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, etc) appeal to me. But the principle behind a dabeli (except for the Jabalpur one which I wrote about in these pages) or a vada pav is that you take a starch (potato) and put it into another starch. Somehow that just doesn’t work for me. And I’m guessing it doesn’t work for many people outside of Bombay. You can get away with mixing potato and wheat if you lower the quantity of both starches (an aloo paratha) or if the bread is used to soak up a buttery gravy (pav bhaji). But I’m sorry. A potato sandwich does not do it for me. So let’s go back to the Portuguese and to the Muslim street foodwallahs of pre-1960s Bombay. Think of a pav topped with delicious Goan sausage. Of a pav sliced roughly open and stuffed with masala omelette and onion. Or of spicy keema soaking through a hunk of bread. Now that’s what I call a sensible use of bread!

MORE ON THE WEB For more columns by Vir Sanghvi, log on to hindustantimes.com/brunch The views expressed by the columnist are personal JANUARY 18, 2015

indulge

2015 Techlicious ces AwArds PART - I

Some of the most ambitious and desirable products from the justconcluded CES 2015

HE BIGGEST technology show on the planet is just about fading away into the sunset and as always it has played its quirky hand by making most analysts leave very polarised with the outcome. Most of us came in elated and excited with our heads reeling in anticipation of all the new tech goodies and left exhausted

The Wearable – Flyable Tech

and bewildered at what they saw and what they couldn’t see. CES is big, unwieldy, amazing and frustrating – all at the same time. So, what was the final verdict on this year’s CES and upcoming tech as a whole? To do justice to the vast array of products across this gigantic event, I’ve decided to host my very own CES awards. Let the games begin.

It’s A Bird, It’s A Plane, It’s A Mad Cat

The Nixie clamps on to your wrist and looks like a mutant spider gnawing at your bone. On command it detaches from your wrist, flies up in the air, takes Full HD pictures and comes right back and clamps in again. This is the drone-cum camera-cum-wearable equipment that we all needed but just didn’t know it.

This is what every gamepad will want to be when it grows up. A gamepad that is a cross between an engineering marvel and a wannabe transformer. The Mad Catz L.Y.N.X. 9 transforming gamepad mechanically rotates, bends, folds, comes apart and reassembles. It can take in your phone, become a QWERTY keypad, it’s insane, outrageous (at $300), beautifully made and it’s making the Terminator very envious.

Rajiv Makhni

techilicious The TV That Thinks It Is OLED OLED TVs are the holy grail of displays. Unfortunately they require you to loot a sacred treasure to buy them. That’s where Samsung JS9500 SUHD TV with Quantum Dot technology steps up to the plate. It’s a price friendly LCD TV but the additional layer of Quantum Dot gives it vivid, vibrant, dazzling colours and a true black that can rival most OLEDs. Now that’s a ‘quantum’ leap forward.

The Fitness Band That Is A Geek’s Nightmare Withings Activité Pop looks like a cross between a Swatch and an understated premium Swiss watch. Until you notice a second dial on it. That’s the dial that counts your steps and distance and goal. This is the fitness band you need if style and elegance are more important than a nerdy plastic band shouting out psychedelic neon digits.

The Thank-You-ForMaking-It

The Panasonic HC-WX970 is a camcorder that’s simple enough for anyone to use and yet the results and capabilities are to the tune of professional broadcaster levels. It records in full 4K, does HDR video, has pro autofocusing and tracking, a 20x Leica optical zoom lens, twin camera function, and 5-axis image stabilisation. Till the broadcasters don’t start 4K telecast, this is your best bet for generating your own 4K content.

The Narcissistic Selfie Creator

Two winners here. The Lenovo Vibe Xtension Selfie Flash features seven LEDs in a circle and the whole thing plugs right into your phone’s headphone jack. Press your camera button and your pouty little selfie face will be beautifully lit up. The next one is the Belfie stick that is made for one thing and one thing alone. It’s a bendable stick which contorts at the perfect angle for you to take that perfect, wholesome, gorgeous shot of your butt. Yup, that’s all it does plus it retails for US$79 and is currently sold out everywhere. Go figure!

The Future Car That Thinks It’s A Lounge Stunning exteriors right out of a sci-fi movie with a shape that defies all logic, front lights that tell other cars that its coming, interior seats rotate so that everyone can face each other and talk, everything is touch and gesture controlled, the car obviously drives itself and is powered by Hydrogen. This is the Mercedes-Benz F 015 Luxury in Motion concept car and as far as cars go – this is as close to an automative orgasm you’re ever going to have.

The Fat Guy Needs This NOW

The Best Smartphone That No One Will Buy Again MORE ON THE WEB For more Techilicious columns, log on to hindustantimes.com/ brunch. Follow Rajiv on Twitter at twitter. com/RajivMakhni The views expressed by the columnist are personal

The LG Flex phone was a design and technology marvel with a curved screen and a self healing back cover. People ooohed and aaahed and then went and bought a Xiaomi Mi 3. The LG Flex 2 has a better screen, better specs and looks even more spectacular and high tech than before. Pity the selling rate may be as dismal as before.

JANUARY 18, 2015

Admit it, you’ve gone through this hundreds of times. Eat too much and you have to loosen your belt, sit down on a low chair and the pants feel like they are going to tear your tummy to shreds. Enter the Belty, a motorized belt buckle that tightens and loosens itself automatically. It also has activity-tracking capabilities and will monitor and report changes in waist circumference to an app. Currently the Belty itself looks like a fat, clunky slob of a device but the inventors promise to tighten their belt on design.

Many other awards coming up next week including the ‘worst of ’, the ‘never should have been invented’, the ‘only in Vegas’ and the ‘booth babe’ awards. These are the definitive awards for CES 2015, miss it at your own peril! Rajiv Makhni is managing editor, Technology, NDTV, and the anchor of Gadget Guru, Cell Guru and Newsnet 3

indulge When Imran Wed reham

Photo: AFP

What did we learn from the wall-towall coverage?

Seema Goswami

spectator

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

O, AFTER claiming (a tad disingenuously) that the rumours of his marriage were ‘greatly exaggerated’, Imran Khan finally bit the bullet and got married a second time round. His new begum, Reham Khan, is a lovely, lissome, long-haired beauty, cast in the same mould as his ex-wife, Jemima Khan (who has since announced that she intends to revert to her maiden name, Goldsmith, now that there is a new Mrs Khan on the scene). But amid the wall-to-wall coverage in Pakistan, India and Britain (where Jemima – and hence Imran – is still a staple of the gossip pages), and the many, many jokes doing the rounds of social media, there are still some things that stood out in the Imran-weds-Reham coverage. So here, in no particular order of importance, is what we learnt: n It doesn’t matter how old, or how important, a man is. When it comes to marriage, his immediate family will always have strong views – and won’t be afraid of airing them in front of the international media. So, even though Imran is now a venerable 62, his sisters still managed to throw a hissy fit about his marrying a woman they did not approve of. They had no idea about the wedding, they snorted, and in any case, they had no intention of attending. So, that’s one in your face, Reham. On the brighter side, things can only look up

from here. n As that old cliché goes, a second marriage represents a triumph of hope over experience. But sometimes experience plays a role in the choice of the new spouse as well. So, after years of trying to make his ‘multicultural’ marriage to Jemima work (though frankly, she had to do most of the work: adjusting to life in Pakistan, learning Urdu, adopting the salwar-kameez, bringing up two boys, and coping with the anti-Semitic attacks of the Urdu press) Imran has chosen a woman who he has much more in common with. Reham was born of Pakistani parents but educated mostly in Britain. She now lives in Pakistan and works in the media, but like Imran, feels at home in both cultures. Fingers crossed, everyone. n No matter how hard we try and convince ourselves that a measure of gender neutrality exists in the media, the sad truth is that sexism is still alive and well in the newsroom. So, every story of the Khan nuptials takes great trouble to tell us that Reham is a divorced mother of three. Nobody really bothers to make the point that Imran is a divorced father of two. And then, there are some who helpfully point out that at 43, poor old Reham can’t hope to make any bonny babies with Imran (tsk, tsk). n Age-gap relationships never bother us much when it comes to older man-younger woman combines. No surprises then that the 20-year age gap between Imran and Reham doesn’t merit much discussion (though you can be sure that if their ages were reversed, the commentary would be quite different). So, full marks to the Pakistani channel that showed visuals of their wedding overlaid with an audio track of that old Hindi film song, “Mai kya karoon Ram, mujhe budha mil gaya”. Way to land a blow for gender equality! n No matter how good-looking the man, he always looks spectacularly silly in his wedding finery. And Imran – who has broken a million hearts in his time, but is now beginning to look like that wrinkly uncle who scowls bad-temperedly in every family photograph – is no exception to the rule. Looking ill at ease in a shimmering gold sherwani, paired rather ludicrously with what looked like platform-heeled sandals, Imran was less Lion (or Loin, as they fondly call him) of Punjab and more Rabbit Caught in the Headlights. n Ah, now Reham, on the other hand: she looked simply spectacular. But then, we all know that weddings are essentially about the dulhan. And boy, did she make the perfect bride! All demurely wrapped-up in white and gold, with just a splash of red brocade, she looked radiant and oh-soin-love, flashing a smile of sheer happiness (never mind the scowling dulha, glowering by her side). n But no matter how old and wrinkly the man, and how radiant and beautiful the bride, he is always the Big Catch and she is the Lucky One who managed to land him. We saw this during the George Clooney-Amal Alamuddin nuptials. And now much the same sort of stuff is being recycled for the Imran-Reham pairing. How did she get so lucky? Surely, he deserves better? How did she manage to trap him? Why did he give up his long-time bachelor (well, okay, divorcee) status for her? But if you ask me, the only people who got it right were those who captioned the Khans’ wedding picture: “Former BBC newscaster marries Taliban sympathiser.” Score! But never mind the jokesters and the naysayers. What’s not to love about two people in love? And two people brave enough to take another chance on marital bliss? So, Imran and Reham Khan, many congratulations. And may you live happily ever after…

Weddings are essentially about the dulhan. And boy, did she make the perfect bride!

JANUARY 18, 2015

WELLNESS

MIND BODY SOUL SHIKHA SHARMA

YOU AND YOUR NERVES

Are you paying enough attention to the health of your nervous system?

PART - I

Photos: SHUTTERSTOCK

hat keeps your body going? Your nervous system – and it’s one of the most neglected areas of health. Memory, reflexes, logical reasoning, eyesight, hearing – all our body functions are run by our nerves. So it’s important toxic to the environment and to avoid neurotoxins and keep your health. your nerves in peak condition. n Non-food-grade plastic conThis, the first of a two-part tainers, when used in the miseries, focuses on the things crowave, can add an unhealthy that can affect your nerves. dose of toxins to your meal. 1. NERVE TOXINS IN FOOD n Long-term consumption of 3. NERVE TOXINS CREATED foods that are artificially colBY STRESS AND YOUR oured can cause nerve damage. LIFESTYLE Pesticides have been linked n Stress by itself is a major to cancer among farmers, and neurotoxin. When you get their residue in the foods we stressed, it’s because your eat accumulates slowly in our body is releasing certain horfat and nerve tissues over the mones that excite your nerves. years, causing problems. A continuous state Chemicals that are used to of such nervous coat fruit to make them excitement is look more attractive damaging. can cause nerve damn If you’re tired age over time. all the time, n Small doses of you may have arsenic are chronic fatigue sometimes part syndrome. This of commercial usually happens chicken feed. So when you beware: that redhave been in dish chicken you a prolonged buy may be that COLOUR ME BAD state of stress Artificially coloured foods colour not because and excited nerves can cause nerve damage if it’s healthy, but without relaxation. consumed for a long time because its blood n Avoid spending contains arsenic. too much time in n Microwave popcorn and some front of screens – the computer, ready-to-eat baked goods may TV, phone, tablet and so on. contain a toxin with aluminium. Constant exposure to backlit screens leads to eye fatigue 2. NERVE TOXINS IN THE and tires the nerves in the ENVIRONMENT visual and thinking centres of n Triclosan in antibacterial the brain. soaps, mouth washes and hand n Lack of sleep can be a major sanitisers does kill germs, but neurotoxin because it denies if overused, can cause nerve the brain and sense organs the damage in the long run. time they need to rest and ren Stain-repellent curtains cover. Over time, lack of sleep and carpets are coated with can cause nerve damage. unhealthy chemicals. ask@drshikha.com n Chemical air fresheners are (To be continued) MORE ON THE WEB For more columns by Dr Shikha Sharma and other wellness stories, log on to hindustantimes.com/brunch JANUARY 18, 2015

FINE PRINT

The Wanderer

Ruth Jhabvala, almost forgotten today, was an unusual author-screenplay writer

by Amisha Chowbey

OULD YOU have anything by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala?” The bookseller at the Midland bookshop looks up from his cash register, smiles and says, “I haven’t heard that name in a long time. Where did you hear about her?” At a recently-held exhibition and retrospective of the author-screenplay writer’s works in Delhi, I tell him. He enthusiastically leads me to the books. Hours later, lost in the world of Olivia and her Nawab (from the Booker Prize-winning Heat and Dust) I understand his nostalgic affection for the author.

THE OBSERVER

Jhabvala was an outsider everywhere she went, but she adapted to each of the three continents she lived in during her lifetime. Born in 1927 in a Jewish household in Cologne, Germany, she lived her formative years with the mandatory Yellow Star during the rise of Hitler. Then she fled to England at the age of 12 with her family, never to return to Germany again. England not only provided her with a refuge but also introduced her to English language and literature. “She always remembered the first time she was asked to write

an essay at school,” says her daughter Renana Jhabvala, “It was almost as though she was destined to write.” Married to a handsome Parsi boy, architect Cyrus Jhabvala, she moved to India in 1951 where she lived and worked for the next 24 years. He was the only person who was allowed to read her manuscripts before they went out. Jhabvala was a keen observer and would gather a year’s worth of writing material by attending just one dinner-party. Time and again, she emphasised on the lack of roots as a strong creative force behind her successful writing. Be it Olivia from Heat and Dust or the snooty Etta from A Backward Place, her female characters are usually a reflection of her own experiences in India where she struggled to constantly “fit in.”

THE PARTNERSHIP

Initially, Jhabvala was reluctant to enter the sphere of writing screenplays, says Renana. “She never wanted to get into movies because of the limelight and repeatedly refused a persistent James Ivory when he came to her with the idea of turning The Householder into a film. Finally my father convinced her to give it a try.” And so began one of the longest partnerships in the history of filmmaking: Jhabvala, James Ivory, Ismail Merchant. They worked on over 20 screenplays for four decades. Filmmaker Meera Dewan, who curated the film retrospective, says, “They won two Oscars, one for A Room with a View in 1986 and the other for Howard’s End in 1992, both of which were adaptations of EM Forster novels.” It was a friendship that lasted till the very end; they moved into the same apartment building in New York in her final years. What makes Jhabvala stand out is the honesty with which she wrote about being a wanderer. brunchletters@hindustantimes.com

Photo: GETTY IMAGES

JANUARY 18, 2015

PERSONAL AGENDA

twitter.com/HTBrunch

Actor

Minissha Lamba my movies A FILM THAT YOU HAVE SEEN MORE THAN FIVE TIMES?

like abroad, with good quality education. I hope it has become A commercial safer for women now. for Cadbury’s And your favourite haunts in Delhi chocolate include... Delhi Capricorn Miranda House, Delhi Khan market, Vasant Vihar, Hauz Khas Village and the Hauz HIGH POINT OF YOUR LIFE LOW POINT OF YOUR LIFE Khas market. There are lots of low points both professionThat after a decade of work, I am Your favourite street food. going to begin a new phase of my life ally as well as personally and they can get I just love kebabs and the intertwined with each other variety of chaats. CURRENTLY I AM... Define your style. Figuring out what to do next. I am keen to do only those films that excite me Casual yet comfortable. What clothes can you live in? If you weren’t an actress you would The most romantic reel pair. T-shirts and long leggings. have been... Ranveer Singh and Deepika A black sari or an LBD, which do you A journalist. Definitely! Padukone. I’ve enjoyed prefer? One classic you would have loved to watching them together. A black sari. choose as your debut film. One song that describes your current Yoga or gym? I would have loved to debut with state of mind. I’m totally a gym person. a Hindi version of Cleopatra. A Little Party Never Killed The sweetest thing a fan has done How was the experience of being a Nobody by Fergie. for you. part of Bigg Boss 8? Directors you really want to work with. There are these three fans of I truly enjoyed my stint in the Anurag Kashyap, Rajkumar mine, Suneet, Abhilash and Bigg Boss house. I learnt to Hirani, Habib Faisal and Vineet, who run a fan club for cook, made friends and came Neeraj Pandey. me on Twitter. And out as a better person. Is it essential to have a YOUR FAVOURITE they do much more The biggest lesson life has taught you? godfather in Bollywood? than any PR person CO-STAR Whenever I have wanted Yes and no. I believe would do for me. something very badly, it has that after the first What makes your day? never come to me. Whenever I film, it’s all about you, Waking up and have let things go, that’s when rather than about your looking thin. have I got them. godfather. What spoils it? The biggest risk you have taken. What do you miss the The day I don’t look I have never taken any risks most about Delhi thin. as such. University? A Hollywood actor you Your favourite actors in Bollywood. That it’s the closest admire. Salman Khan and Ranbir we have in terms Leonardo DiCaprio. Kapoor. of big campuses What are you most

BIRTHDAY PLACE OF BIRTH SCHOOL/ COLLEGE Aurangabad January 18 Various schools in SUN SIGN HOMETOWN Chennai and Kashmir/

FIRST BREAK

Ranbir Kapoor

JANUARY 18, 2015

Spy Game (2001) THE MOST OVERRATED FILM?

Any Coen Brothers’ movie THE MOST PAISA VASOOL MOVIE?

Dabangg (2010) A FILM THAT WAS PART OF YOUR CHILDHOOD?

Mr India (1987)

THE FIRST FILM YOU SAW ON THE BIG SCREEN?

ET (1982)

passionate about? Reading and learning new things. What are you reading? I’m really enjoying reading Rajdeep Sardesai’s new book 2014: The Election That Changed India which is very well written. The last line of your autobiography would read... “Your choices make you who you are.” – Interviewed by Veenu Singh