Hindustantimes Brunch 18th December 2011

WEEKLY MAGAZINE, DECEMBER 18, 2011 Free with your copy of Hindustan Times

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Vidya Balan does a Helen on our Brunch Quarterly cover from October 2011

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INDULGE LIVE

FEED BACK

Delhi vs Mumbai

Wait! Why not just celebrate what’s best in each city?

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German Diary

The Germans I met knew little but they were always warm and curious to learn more LISTEN PHOTO: RAJ K RAJRS

Sweet as candy she poses for us in November 2006

We’re Logged On facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch Jonathan Gil Harris Thanks to all of you who have “liked” my series of articles on “Tales of the First Firangis.” I hope you have enjoyed reading them as much as I have enjoyed writing them.

Neeraj Joshi Pranav Dixit , extremely nice one, the artical was more like viral to me one would always love to get affected by reading it !

Chhavi AryaThe pace of tech-devices going into oblivion is really fast and confusing. But hats off to Rajiv Sir for keeping us abreast with the latest gadgets and gizmos !

Manjiree Jaitly Rajiv’s column was interesting as always. Thanks for keeping us ‘posted’... Or is that about to commit Seppuku too?

Rohini Murthy Rajiv Makhni,simply love ur column in HT Brunch! keep on rockin!

THREE’S A CHARM!

Vidya Balan, again! She first caught our eye after her demure turn in Parineeta and spunky act in Lage Raho Munnabhai; that’s when we did a Brunch cover with Vidya in November 2006.

Then watching her 180 degree reversal in Ishqiya plus the buzz around her playing the Southern sex star, Silk Smitha, there could be no better cover girl for our latest issue of Brunch Quarterly.

And now, when she has taken the entire country by storm and proved that a good movie can sell more than sex, we really had no choice!

So, here she is yet again, in a candid chat with VIR SANGHVI, as she tells us all about her ride from bhabhi to babe!

BRUNCH ON THE WEB Three brilliant reasons to log on to our website (luscious pictures of Vidya Balan aside)!

Calling All Tweeple twitter.com/HTBrunch @nakalcheebandar @seemagoswami liked ur article in HT Brunch today, kakori kababs at Aap ki Khaatir #whatiloveaboutdilli @aaliznat Tanzila Strange that @therealmadrasan says she created a twitter id after she was told her blog went viral in HT Brunch. Misquote or Miss Quote?

My first iPod arrived in 2004 and changed my life PLAY

Top Tech Moments Of 2011

From death and demise to guts and glory, this sure has been one action-packed year

PARENTING

Go Baby Go

Heaven is like LOL, hell will be WTF. And reincarnation?

BRB – Rajn eesh Kapoor

Dual ‘B’

PERSONAL AGENDA

Rannvijay

The VJ turned actor reveals his gay side, his darkest fantasy and why he would never be in the water with crocodiles!

hindustantimes.com/brunch Lady Gaga’s bizarre Christmas workshop!

@ashni I love your magazine. Pls cover the Girish Karnad play, Hayavadana. It’s amazing; right up your alley! @iamlaksmi PA—Very intelligent; very imaginative; very original.

Write to brunchletters@hindustantimes.com For marketing and ad-related queries, contact suresh.tripathi@hindustantimes.com

Kids these days worry me. They are influenced less by numbers and more by other things like films – The Fake Jhunjhunwala

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“Maybe then we won’t have to desperately log in to Facebook to find old lovers and kiss their display pictures on our monitors,” said ministers on condition of anonymity – Gurmsimran Khamba

EW Lady Gaga is the new Santa Claus! Based on SLIDESHOW the concept of Santa’s workshop, Gaga has collaborated with a renowned store in the US to showcase items like Gaga candies and cookies to shoes and toys. So log on, for a very Gaga little Christmas!

Have you seen our Brunch Quarterly photoshoot with Vidya Balan yet? Log on for this and an all-access pass to your favourite stories from this and previous Brunch Quarterly issues.

EDITORIAL: Poonam Saxena (Editor), Kushalrani Gulab (Deputy Editor); Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi, Mignonne Dsouza, Veenu Singh, Parul Khanna Tewari, Pranav Dixit, Yashica Dutt, Amrah Ashraf

I READ your cover story (Viral Fever, December 11) and was absolutely stunned to see Shahana’s blog being covered there. I never expected Hindustan Times to cover such a racist blog in Brunch.

There’s too much hate generated through her writing. I bet that some north Indians who had no antisouth bias before reading that blog, would think differently afterwards.

Her blog was one-sided, insulting and hate-mongering. And due to its publication here, it has become even more of a hit. Even those who don’t follow blogspot have been googling and reading it. The thoughts expressed in her post are anti-national.

— PALLAVI DUBEY, via email

Work, party, play!

You can have it all with an infant and much more!

Twitter heavyweights (here’s looking at you TFJ) go bat-crazy in their uncensored blogs!

@sushil Mint keeps on doing articles on how ‘Why this Kolavari’ went viral. today HT Brunch too. there is no formula to that.

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The Jobs Effect

Hate Tales

VIDYA BALAN deserves kudos for her portrayal as a south Indian sex symbol in The Dirty Picture. Unlike Silk Smitha, she comes acrss as a beauty with brains in the movie.

Seema Goswami in her column Beauty And Brains (Spectator, December 11) has a drawn an excellent comparison between Silk Smitha, Marilyn Monroe, Madonna and Vidya Balan. Yesteryear sex symbols were popular for their personal ‘assets’ and erotic mannerisms which kept the audience on tenterhooks. But nymphets of previous generations were generally bumptious. They were just good enough to be sex symbols with their titillating looks. But the present-day beauties have brains too. Most of film actors such as Vidya Balan, Priyanka Chopra, Juhi Chawla etc. have entered the film industry through modelling and TV, where they honed their skills.

What surprises one is Balan’s frank and bold statement that she liked to ‘celebrate and enjoy her body’. So far Balan’s image has been one of a modest actor but she has changed that image and done full justice to the portrayal of a south Indian sex symbol. In contrast, one still remembers her excellent portrayal as a simple, next door girl ‘Lolita’ in the film Parineeta. Undoubtedly, Vidya Balan’s histrionic talent is par excellence.

— JITENDRA KOTHARI, via email

DESIGN: Ashutosh Sapru (National Editor Design), Swati Chakrabarti, Rakesh Kumar, Ashish Singh, Saket Misra, Suhas Kale, Shailendra Mirgal

HINDUSTAN TIMES WEEKLY MAGAZINE DECEMBER 18, 2011

Cover design: Ashutosh Sapru Photo: Ajay Aggarwal

Wellness

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MIND BODY SOUL SHIKHA SHARMA

It’s one of our humbler fruits, but it packs quite a punch

by Kavita Devgan

INTER IS on to us. And so are contains three natural sugars – sucrose, fructhe hunger pangs that strike so tose and glucose – combined with an extra often now. If you are looking for large dose of fibre, so it gives an instant boost a foolproof way to diminish hunger along with sustained and substantial energy. then turn to a banana.

Bananas are chock-a-block with tryptoSurprised? Don’t be. The banana is considphan, which gets converted into serotonin in ered an anomaly in fruits; a food that leads to the body. And serotonin is known to make you weight gain. But that’s not true. Rather, relax and improve your mood. It has high iron bananas are a zero fat food loaded with resistcontent and so has the ability to stimulate ant starch (RS), a healthy carbohydrate that haemoglobin production in the bloodstream. fills you up and keeps those cravings away.

The high fibre content of bananas keeps the Plus, they help boost metabdigestion humming along, so it olism. And what’s more, RS beats constipation effectively consumption is associated with without resort to laxatives. lower cholesterol and triglycBananas have a natural antacid eride levels and better calcium effect in the body, so if you sufand magnesium absorption in fer from heartburn, try eating the body. Slightly under-ripe, a banana for soothing relief. If firm, medium-sized bananas had with a little salt, it effecgive you 4.7 grams of RS, pertively treats dysentery too. fect to keep you full for a long The potassium found in duration. Other high RS foods bananas keeps blood pressure are bulgur wheat (dalia), corn, down and also helps to probarley, brown rice, lentils and mote bone health. It helps GET INVENTIVE potato. counteract the increased uri■ Make a peanut butter nary calcium loss caused by and banana sandwich ALL IN ONE FRUIT the high salt diets typical of drizzled with honey.

The banana has a lot going for today’s times, thus helping to ■ Put a cup of cooked oats it. Compare it to an apple – a prevent bones from thinning in an oval dish. Place one banana has four times the proat a too-fast rate. banana slice along each tein, twice the carbohydrates, lengthwise edge of the three times the potassium and GOOD TO KNOW dish. Top oats with a sauce of your choice and sprinkle twice the vitamin C, iron and Bananas are a perfect ‘rescue some nuts on top. phosphorous than the fruit that recipe’ for those trying to junk apparently keeps the doctor the cancer stick. The vitamins ■ Have it spiced up. Take a away. And what’s more, a mediB6 and B12 and high potassibanana and make a slit in the skin to open it up. Drizum banana contains less than um and magnesium found in it zle in a mixture of 1 tsp 100 calories. Not bad at all! help the body recover from the lime juice, 1 tsp honey and Ever noticed that the effects of nicotine withdrawal.

1/2 teaspoon black salt. banana is a hot favourite with brunchletters@ Eat straight off the peel. athletes? That’s because it hindustantimes.com

Herbs: Fully loaded

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INCE TIME immemorial, herbs have been used in ayurveda; many have been restudied and reresearched for confirmation about their benefits. Some of these herbs are listed below.

SPIRULINA: Spirulina, a super food, is a type of blue-green algae that is rich in protein, vitamins, minerals, carotenoids, B complex vitamins, betacarotene, vitamin E, manganese, zinc, copper, iron, selenium and an essential fatty acid.

In studies done on animals, spirulina improved their immune fighting response. Plus, it has a high concentration of amino acids. Some studies showed that taking spirulina helped protect against a hyper allergic response typical in allergies.

When you take antibiotics for a long duration, it kills the good bacteria of the gut. Taking spirWHEATGRASS JUICE: ulina helps restore the balance.

Wheatgrass is a source of Spirulina is also being rechlorophyll, which has high searched for benefits in viral inoxygen-enhancing levels. It fections like herpes and viruses improves our red blood cell causing colds. In a study related count. Since wheatgrass to patients with mouth cancer, provides nutrients to the spirulina seemed to reduce a body with oxygen, it helps precancerous lesion known as in diabetes, high cholesleukoplasia. Spirulina also helps terol and liver disorders. detoxify the liver and improves Patients on chemotherapy liver cell regeneration. or radiotherapy find that wheatgrass has a restoraBARLEY GRASS JUICE: It is tive and detoxifying effect. rich in iron, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin B12, pyridoxine and proteins. The amount of calcium and iron in barley grass is higher than normal. In addition, chlorophyll, vitamin K and calcium are all involved in blood clot formation and breakdown. Barley grass is beneficial for weight loss, the heart, healing of ulcers, correcting blood sugar problems and as a general tonic.

GUGGUL: This is a plant resin used in combination with other herbs as a treatment for hypothyroid conditions, arthritis, high cholesterol, acne, hemorrhoids and obesity. The medicine removes blockages that make the nutrient supply and the waste from cells all stagnate at one place and create tissue toxicity.

Obesity, arthritis and high cholesterol are different diseases, but they are the manifestations of a similar blockage in the tissues. ask@drshikha.com PHOTOS: THINKSTOCK

Brat Pack

PHOTO: DINODIA

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BABYGO Work, party or play - you can do it all, and more – even if you have just had a baby

by Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi

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OR THE longest time, I got the jitters whenever someone said that it was high time I had kids. Forget the basic maternal instinct or the biological clock, my biggest concerns were very practical. Who would take care of the child? Would I need to quit my job? What would happen to my precious career? And most of all, what would happen to my social life? Would I have to stay home all the time, just looking after the baby? Would all my late night movies and fun weekends be gone?

I wasn’t overreacting. I had heard stories – more like horror stories! – from people who had had children and whose lives had come to a standstill for the initial few years at least.

So I didn’t want a baby just yet. Then one day, to my surprise, I found I was pregnant.

Completely unprepared for this, my reaction went from surprise to shock to panic. Hell, was I losing it even before I had my little one in my arms? I was a nervous wreck till something clicked in my mind. “Isn’t this my baby? I asked myself. “So why will he/she not be the way I am?

And why can’t I do and enjoy all the things that I love to do, WITH him or her?”

Now my baby Tara is exactly one year, one month and three weeks old and I can say with all conviction that your child can never be a reason for your life to stop. Instead she or he is just one more reason to party for – and with!

So keep this basic checklist in mind and go, have a ball.

Take a conscious break of a minimum of an hour from feeding, cleaning and fussing over the baby, especially during the first three months.

This is a must. Get up, take a break. This is a crucial period in your life, when your baby suddenly takes over your life completely. Most women go into bad post partum depressions in this period.

So take a break from baby. Go for a walk, buy grocery from a nearby market or just have a quick, healthy dinner or lunch out. But do it.

Leave after feeding the baby and making him/her comfortable for the next couple of hours. Get

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someone responsible in the family to watch over her or him.

Start taking the baby out. Really, this one’s not a big deal. In fact, you are far more at peace if your child is with you. Start with smaller outings. Feed the baby well and change her or him into fresh diapers and clothes. Chances are, the baby will be so comfortable that she or he will simply snooze.

Keep a baby bag ready always. Pack some basics – diapers, a baby cloth (to avoid laying the baby on unclean bassinets), a wrap (for sudden temperature changes), baby wipes, tissues and a set of fresh clothes – and you are ready to go.

Wear comfortable clothes. Unless you are going to a formal party, wear your most comfortable pair of jeans or tracks, a skirt or whatever works.

Don’t carry a heavy purse. A sling bag with essentials like your wallet, cards, etc is best to carry along with the baby and the baby bag.

Carry finger food for the baby. It’s necessary to make sure the baby is fully fed. But it isn’t necessary to stress about his/her meals and meal timings. So please don’t insist on the ghar ka dal chawal when out. The kid needs a break too. Pack some semi-mashed cheese wheat pasta, or boiled eggs or grilled fish to feed your kid on the go. If your baby is teething, keep some biscuits handy.

Keep milk handy. Formula milk is always a better option when you’re out. Fill two or three bottles with powder milk and carry a small flask of warm water. If you can’t carry water, don’t stress, bottled water is a good option.

Sure, going to a disco, a lounge bar, etc, may get a little inconvenient, but a get-together at a friend’s home or your own is always a great option. Take your baby along. With loads of people to watch out for them, kids tend to become

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far more receptive and social than those who don’t go out. Lounges and discos can always happen once in a way, but on those days, keep the little one home.

If you feel babies can’t be taken to cinema halls, come watch a movie with Tara. I’m a hardcore film buff and I refused to let my destress mantra become a stress point. So Tara goes with me – always. Of course avoid very violent films that may have disturbing sound tracks.

Go for a night show, close to the baby’s sleep time.

Feed the baby well and take him/her. Carry a feeding bottle just in case. For those who are still on mother’s milk, it’s the easiest. Block a comfortable seat and once the lights are out and your baby wants milk, feed him/her. Cover the ears a little and hold him/her close, nothing can be more comforting for the baby than mum’s lap. The baby will soon be asleep and you can watch the film in bliss.

Work, don’t stress. For working mums, life can be guilt ridden after having a baby. But really, no time is a good time to leave your child and go to work. So start as early as you need to. I started full time work when she was all of four months old. Manage your time a little. While the child gets used to not being cuddled all the time, the mother too gets a breather, which is welcome.

Life without the angst of blaming sacrifices on the poor child is far more pleasant.

And finally, get your support structure in order. Those with parents at home are lucky but for others like us, a good set of domestic helpers, a good security system, and great neighbours who will keep an eye on your home when you are away, always count. Be a little more social and keep relationships intact.

Your child will be the life of the party.

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NO TIME IS

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A GOOD TIME TO LEAVE YOUR CHILD AND GO TO WORK. SO START AS EARLY AS YOU NEED TO

HINDUSTAN TIMES WEEKLY MAGAZINE DECEMBER 18, 2011

tavishi.rastogi@hindustantimes.com

COVER STORY

PHOTO: AJAY AGGARWAL

Why Vidya Rules

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Is it because The Dirty Picture has stormed the box office? Is it because she’s so good in the film?

Or is it because she has flouted every rule in the Bollywood book and emerged a winner on her own terms?

by Vir Sanghvi

HINDUSTAN TIMES WEEKLY MAGAZINE DECEMBER 18, 2011

We talk of Vidya’s courage only in terms of her willingness to play a sex symbol in The Dirty Picture. But compared to the other things she’s done in her life, this is no big deal

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THINK I’VE cracked it. For two weeks now everyone I know – and possibly most of urban India – has been going crazy about Vidya Balan. Nearly everywhere you go she is the subject of discussion and the conversations are nearly always flattering.

The obvious point of reference is The Dirty Picture. For two months before the movie released, Vidya was everywhere. Never before in the history of Indian cinema has a star done so much publicity for a film.

And The Dirty Picture was not even a big budget special effects extravaganza like say Ra.One. But Vidya appeared on every television show you could think of (and many that you would never have thought of) and in every print publication.

Talking to her for this interview (and for my Star World show) I asked her what had involved more hard work: the promotion or the actual filming? She took a while to answer and even then she wasn’t really sure. My guess is that the promotion took much more effort.

So perhaps India is going crazy over Vidya Balan because she is so ubiquitous today, more omnipresent than even Anna Hazare.

Or could it be that everyone loved The Dirty Picture? The box office figures suggest that it will be a massive hit not just relative to its (somewhat modest) budget but compared to most other films released this year. Obviously, this is a picture that everyone has seen and liked.

Or it could be that they all think that Vidya is terrific in the movie (which she is)? Few actresses could have carried off that role with so much aplomb and managed to hold their own against an actor of the calibre of Naseeruddin Shah who gives one of his best ever performances.

But – if you ask me – it’s none of these things.

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y view is that India has fallen in love with Vidya Balan all over again (and we’ve been here before – after the release of Parineeta and once again after Lage Raho Munnabhai – though it’s never been quite so intense) not because of her current ubiquity or because of any individual film but because we have finally come to terms with who she is.

In an industry full of size zero figures, dancing bimbettes and selfconsciously trendy bejeaned muppets, Vidya comes off as a breath of fresh air.

Basically, it’s this simple: she is a real person.

Everything about her is real: the curves, the little roll of fat that she makes no attempt to hide, the clothes that she chooses herself, the roles that she agonises over before finally

selecting one that suits her, the hard work she puts into each performance and then into the promotion, and most of all, the guts she demonstrates in finding her own path against the advice of nearly everybody in Bollywood.

We talk of Vidya’s courage only in terms of her willingness to play a southern sex symbol in The Dirty Picture. But compared to the other things she’s done in her life, this is no big deal.

In fact, her whole story is one of courage in the face of impossible odds.

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Mohanlal’s heroine, she had signed a dozen Malayalam films. She was sacked from every single one of them.

She tried Tamil cinema and found a role. There too, things went wrong. The producer also decided that she was a jinx and she was replaced. She signed a second Tamil film, got to the sets and discovered that it was a sex comedy. She had been signed up under false pretences. Naturally she walked out. And as naturally, she was replaced once again.

Desperate to find some work at least, she agreed to act in a Euphoria music video directed

by Pradeep Sarkar. This time she was not replaced and the video was completed but there was a fight between labels and the release of the video was stalled.

So, after three years in the film industry, Vidya Balan had been replaced in twelve Malayalam movies, two Tamil films and had made one music video which had been caught up in a legal quagmire and not released.

You tell me: wouldn’t you give up at this stage?

Anybody else would.

But Vidya wouldn’t. And she didn’t.

orn and brought up in Bombay to a middle class south Indian family, Vidya had a dream: to become an actress. But while other girls with that dream would want to be glamorous heroines, Vidya focused on the acting itself.

Each evening she would stare at the mirror and re-enact Shabana Azmi’s dialogues from Arth. A particular favourite was the bit where asked her about her state of mind during that Shabana tells Smita Patil to leave her man alone. phase. She says that it took every ounce of will “I kept trying to cry because that was what the power to keep from giving up. She went everyscene required,” she remembers. “But I didn’t where for roles: on one occasion she walked from know about glycerine in those days and I wasn’t Nariman Point to Bandra, a considerable sure how to make the tears come. All the same, I distance. At other times, she sat for hours at the kept trying.”

Saibaba temple praying with tears running down Good middle class south Indian families do not her cheeks. (“I am a person with a lot of faith and react with delight when their daughters tell them I have conversations all the time but I am not so that they want to join Bollywood. So Vidya’s religious in the conventional, organised sense,” parents insisted that she went to St Xavier’s she says).

College and studied. She did her BA and then an Then, slowly, her luck began to change. She MA in Sociology. was cast in a Bengali film and discovered that she “My father said that I could always become an was a Bengali at heart and learnt to speak the actress,” she recalls. “But I couldn’t go back to language fluently. (She even sings Bengali songs, college later in life. So I had to first finish my one of which she sang on camera for me when I education and then I could do what I wanted. At seemed somewhat dubious about her linguistic the time I was not pleased but now, I can’t thank abilities). him enough. My parents were absolutely right.”

Pradeep Sarkar who had kept casting her in ad The education explains why Vidya started off films and other music videos never lost faith. He late. But nothing explains why things kept going had planned to make Parineeta for producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra and insisted that Vidya wrong for so long. would make a perfect heroine. Naturally, Chopra She was eventually signed up for a Malayalam was leery of investing money in a first-time film and though it wasn’t the Bollywood career director and a virtual newcomer as an actress. she dreamt of, at least it was a beginning.

He insisted on auditioning Vidya and she says she Moreover, she was starring with Mohanlal, a has lost count of the number of audilegendary figure in Malayalam cinetions she did over a period of several ma and one of her idols. months.

But Mohanlal had a problem with In the initial Finally, Chopra gave in. He agreed the film’s makers. And so, halfway flush of with Sarkar that she was the perfect through, the movie was abandoned, choice for the role and agreed to never to be completed. excitement, sign her.

Because Mohanlal is such a big after she had By all rights, Vidya should have deal in the south, it was unusual for been a nervous wreck. Her career one of his movies to remain incombeen cast as had stalled in two different film plete. And the film industry, ever Mohanlal’s industries (Malayalam and Tamil) quick to blame a newcomer, decided and her reputation for bringing bad it was because Vidya Balan brought heroine, she luck to projects had spread far and bad luck to the project. signed 12 wide. This was really a make or She could have survived this break situation for her. debacle but a second film also ended Malayalam But oddly enough, she says, she in disaster. Four days into the shootmovies. She was never nervous. She knew what ing she was replaced. The makers was at stake. She knew it was her decided that they did not want the was sacked last chance. And she knew that the Balan jinx. from every camera was her best friend. (“The What followed was heartbreaking. camera is my confidante,” she says.

In the initial flush of excitement one of them “I speak directly to it.”). after she had been cast as

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HINDUSTAN TIMES WEEKLY MAGAZINE DECEMBER 18, 2011

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COVER STORY

ISHQIYA

Vidya played the kind of character she developed further in The Dirty Picture in this 2010 hit: a woman who is willing to use her sexuality in the advancement of her own interests

PARINEETA

For Vidya, it hasn’t exactly been an uphill struggle since the success of Parineeta, her 2005 debut

NO ONE KILLED JESSICA

PAA

Vidya was terrific as a deglamourised Sabrina Lal in Raj Kumar Gupta’s 2011 hit flick

It wasn’t that Vidya minded playing Amitabh Bachchan’s mother in 2009’s Paa, She was just terrified of screwing up

So she gave it everything she had.

And the rest is history.

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t hasn’t exactly been an uphill struggle since the massive success of Parineeta. Lage Raho Munnabhai gave her the stamp of commercial acceptability and it would have been easy enough for her to have joined the Bollywood rat race since success seemed to come so easily and naturally to her.

But after some strange films like Heyy Babyy and Kismet Konnection in which she tried to pretend to be what she is not – a Bollywood bimbette – Vidya decided that this was not part of her original dream.

“At some stage my sister and brother-in-law sat me down and asked me why I had become an actress,” she remembers. “I said it was because I wanted to be different people, to play different characters. And they pointed out what should have been obvious to me. If I was going to do these typical Bollywood films, then I wasn’t really playing different characters. It wasn’t why I had become an actress at all.”

Ask yourself this: if you had only

one dream, if that dream had been dashed on the rocks by fate through rejection and replacement and if you finally had found some partial fulfillment of that dream, some measure of success at last, would you really risk it all?

The reason I like Vidya Balan – and I guess the reason all of India loves her so much – is because she was ready to start from scratch again. She was willing to walk away from one kind of success. She was ready to take risks that seemed like commercial suicide.

All because she still believed in that original dream, not in the commercial fantasy that it had morphed into.

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he films that have come in the latest phase of Vidya Balan’s career are not those that a commercially savvy actress would have signed. She agonised for three months before agreeing to do Paa even though it offered her a chance to act with Amitabh Bachchan, an early idol since his Yaarana days. (She even I don’t think liked that silly outfit with the lightVidya cares bulbs that was stolen from The Electric Horseman). It wasn’t that too much she minded playing Amitabh’s mothabout image er. It was just that she was terrified of screwing up. or about As it turned out, she was brilliant. body issues She was terrific as a deglamourised Sabrina Lal in No One Killed Jessica. any longer.

And she was even better in Ishqiya She’s happy where she played the kind of character she developed further in The to be a star.

Dirty Picture: a woman who is willing But she’d to use her sexuality in the advancement of her own interests. much rather Even so, The Dirty Picture be an actress represented a huge risk. Hindi

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cinema no longer requires its heroines to be virginal angels of innocence. But I can’t think of a single other film where a heroine is shown as seducing a man simply to advance her career and is still treated as a sympathetic character.

And then there was the terrible visual deterioration that her character suffered at the end of the movie. Which heroine would agree to do all this without wondering about the effect on her stardom?

But Vidya took the risk. She liked the role, she said. It offered her a chance to take a character that society looked down on and to invest that person with dignity and depth. Her character didn’t have to be somebody you felt sorry for. You just had to accept that she was an independent woman making her own choices in her own interests. “‘Treat her with respect,’ was my motto,” she says.

Now that the risk has paid off and the film is such a stupendous success, it is easy to say that Vidya was right to take the role. But had it gone wrong, it could well have been career suicide.

Except I don’t think that Vidya cares too much about that any longer. She doesn’t care about image or about body issues. She’s happy to be a star. But she’d much rather be an actress.

At some level, I think all of us recognise that in Vidya we are dealing with a real person who is making real choices and not with some machinemade, image-manipulated Bollywood star. We respect her risks. We admire her resilience. And we know that even if we didn’t do all of this, even if we didn’t go to see her movies, it would not make that much difference to her.

Because after those years of disappointment, rejection and experimentation, Vidya Balan has found her destiny.

And her destiny is simply this: to be her own person. To be Vidya Balan.

After some strange films like Heyy Babyy and Kismat Konnection, Vidya decided that this was not part of her original dream

HINDUSTAN TIMES WEEKLY MAGAZINE DECEMBER 18, 2011

brunchletters@hindustantimes.com

indulge live

PHOTO: DINODIA

BITING TRUTH Try the chaat and golguppas at Bengali Market in Delhi

PHOTO: AJAY AGGARWAL

I A B M U M s v I H L DE

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e elebrat c t s u j t hy no ?

Wait! W st in each city e what’s b

PHOTO: KALPAK PATHAK

spectator

Seema Goswami

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AVE YOU noticed how any conversation about how much you love living in Delhi or working in Mumbai invariably degenerates into a Delhi vs Mumbai slanging match. The Delhi folks turn their noses up at the dirt and slush of Mumbai (seriously, what is that smell?). The Mumbai loyalists hold forth on how Delhi has no heart and no time for those with no money or power. Team Delhi sneers about how Mumbai is routinely held to ransom by the Marathi manoos brigade. Team Mumbai scoffs at how Delhi judges you by where you live and what car you drive. Delhi points at the south Bombay snobs and giggles. Mumbai tosses its head and says that at least women are safe in their city (unlike Delhi, which is the rape capital of the country). And thus it goes.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been inveigled into such conversations (okay, fights, if you insist) despite trying my best to stay out of this my-city-is-better-than-yours debate. But last week, as Delhi celebrated 100 years of being declared the capital of India, I found myself being sucked into that very maelstrom.

Tweeting about what I loved about the city with the hashtag #ilovedelhi, I found myself floundering in a sea of Mumbai vs Delhi-type responses.

It didn’t matter that I wasn’t tweeting about Mumbai at all but merely detailing what I loved about Delhi. I still got jumped on by Team Mumbai, who insisted on telling me why their city was so much superior. Then Team Delhi got into the act to thumb their noses at Mumbai. And soon a full-scale war was in progress.

I withdrew from the fray, battered by the negativity and a bit bemused by all the angst. Honestly, is it really necessary to knock one city if you want to praise another? Does loving Delhi mean that you must hate Mumbai – and vice versa? I really don’t see why this should be so.

So, here’s a novel idea for all you Delhiites and Mumbaikars to try this week. Instead of running each other down let’s try and celebrate what is best about both cities. Just for a change, let’s list what we like about each other’s city instead of just focusing on what we despise.

Having spent time in both Delhi and Mumbai, I thought I would have a bash at that as well. So, here’s my own list of what I love about both Delhi and Mumbai. Read on, and then do get working on yours.

1. Delhi: The seasons. That’s probably the best part of living in the capital. You may sweat and fume and collapse in a puddle during the relentless summer but there’s always the absolutely fabulous winter to look forward to. The days get shorter, the mornings get foggier, the

TALE OF TWO CITIES The best part of living in Delhi (top) is the seasons, specially the fabulous winter.

As far as Mumbai (above) is concerned, the moment you drive by the seaside, it’s easy to understand why it is described as a city of endless possibilities

nights get downright chilly. But even as the sweaters and coats are pulled out of mothballs, the parks turn into a riot of colours, the picnic baskets come out of storage, and all of Delhi is out over the weekend basking in the mellow sunshine. What’s not to love?

Mumbai: The sea. However cramped and claustrophobic your apartment may be, the moment you drive by the seaside and watch the horizon expand before you, it is easy to understand why Mumbai is described as a city of endless possibilities. Walk on to the beach, let the water tickle your feet. Jog along the waterline if you’re feeling energetic. Or simply sit on the parapet at Marine Drive and let the rhythm of the waves take you over. Bliss.

2. Delhi: The food. No matter what your taste-buds crave, you can always find it in Delhi. Trawl the lanes of old Delhi for the best kebabs and kormas. Sample the wares of the delightfully-named Paranthewalli Gali.

Try the chaat and golguppas at Bengali Market. Scoff down momos at Dilli Haat. Work your way through all the many cafes in Khan Market, eating everything from Thai to Chinese to Italian food. And if you’re in the mood to spend, then treat yourself to the biryani and raan at Dum Pukht or a slap up meal at Set’z.

Mumbai: The food. My personal favourite is Gajalee, where the fattest crabs lay down their lives so that we can have a great meal, though others swear by Trishna. Try the chaat at Swati, the vada-pao at Jumbo or just sample the wares at the many street food stalls on Juhu beach or Chowpatty. Have afternoon tea with bhel at the Taj’s Sea Lounge when you feel like treating yourself. Chill out at Olive or Indigo Deli. Feast on biryani at Zaffran’s and then stop by at Haji Ali for a tall glass of refreshing juice.

3. And then, there are the people. Don’t fall for all the nonsense about how Delhi people are cold and heartless. Or about how Mumbaikars are too busy to make time for a social life. At the end of the day, people are just people no matter which city they live in. And while every city has its share of misanthropes, you will always find like-minded people if you open your hearts to them. I did – and what do you know?

Both Delhi and Mumbai opened their hearts to me as well.

IS IT REALLY

NECESSARY TO KNOCK ONE CITY IF YOU WANT TO PRAISE ANOTHER?

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

HINDUSTAN TIMES WEEKLY MAGAZINE DECEMBER 18, 2011

indulge go live |

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PHOTO: REUTERS

rude travel

Vir Sanghvi

GOOSE CHASE The one discovery I did make while eating in Frankfurt was that Germans rival the Chinese as masters of the goose

GERMAN DIARY

The wonderful thing about both Frankfurt and Stuttgart was that it all felt very different. At the Christmas markets in both cities, I was the only Indian and the Germans I met knew little about our country. But they were nearly always warm and positive about India and curious to learn more

F

OR SOME reason, Germany rarely features on my travel schedule. I’m happy enough to go to other European countries – France and Italy most often, though I am now dying to go to Spain – but somehow Germany poses little attraction. Even when I was a member of the India-EU Round Table and we held our meetings in many interesting locations (Sintra in Portugal, Vienna, Rome, Paris, London, Brussels etc) somehow we never quite got to Germany.

In fact, I’ve only been to Germany twice before. Once for a wine trip (very nice) and once very briefly for the Frankfurt Book Fair for the release of the German translation of India Then and Now, a picture book co-authored by Rudrangshu Mukherjee and myself.

So, when I was contracted to anchor an event organised by Mercedes Benz at their headquarters in Stuttgart, I accepted with alacrity. It was to be another rushed trip – just Stuttgart and Frankfurt – but at least it would give me a taste of Germany. ................................................

The first thing visitors to Germany notice is how organised everything – from the airports to the roads – is, at least in comparison to the chaos of Italy and the inconsistency of France. The German reputation for efficiency and organisation is well deserved.

Nowhere was this more evident than at the headquarters of Mercedes Benz. Most of us have grown up with the Mercedes as the symbol of luxury and class. When Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister, he used a Mercedes gifted to him by King Hussein of Jordan. The President of India used a Mercedes as his official car.

And rich people in our country have always bought Mercs to indicate that they have arrived.

What I hadn’t realised was that most of the Mercs we see on Indian roads are not actually made in Stuttgart but put together in a

16

factory in Pune. Mercedes has a long association with India (dating back to the Mercedes truck which the Tatas used to make) and the Pune plant is merely a continuation of that legacy.

Nor had I realised that the luxury car market in India is dominated by Germans. Mercedes Benz’s chief rival in our market is another German car, the BMW. Also posing a threat (and this was a complete surprise to me – which will tell you how out of touch I am) is yet another German car, called Audi. While Audi is the Chinese commissars’ car of choice, it succeeds in India on the basis of Bollywood brand ambassadors and a young, new money image.

And the reality is that the luxury car market in India has now spread to the tier two cities and to young Indian millionaires who’ve made money in real estate and such lucrative sectors. These are the people looking for fancy cars with which to show off.

Mercedes is probably at a disadvantage because all the factors that make it a strong brand in Europe (class, tradition, a luxury image) work against it when it comes to new money in small towns. ................................................

The traditional image of German food is meat and potatoes. I’m sure that at the very top end this is not true. But at the middle level, the image is entirely accurate. One of the good things about travelling to places you have only read about is that you discover how many of the stereotypes are founded on fact. For instance, I went to Vienna knowing nothing about Austrian food apart from wiener schnitzel and – guess what? – I found that nearly every restaurant served wiener schnitzel.

So it was with Germany. Not only was wiener schnitzel a menu regular (Austria and Germany are cousins) but everyone ate a lot of potatoes. They were also madly keen on sausages of all kinds: fresh, preserved, cooked, uncooked, served salami style, served with sauerkraut etc.

For all that, I ate well in Germany. There’s only so much wiener schnitzel and sausage that anyone can eat – though I can live on potatoes – but the Germans make the most amazing bread. No matter how cheap the restaurant or how poor the rest of the food, the bread

HINDUSTAN TIMES WEEKLY MAGAZINE DECEMBER 18, 2011

CHRISTMAS COLOURS The Christmas market in Frankfurt was larger and much lovelier than the Stuttgart version

indulge

MEAT OF THE MATTER Germans are madly keen on sausages of all kinds: fresh, preserved, cooked, uncooked, served salami style, served with sauerkraut etc PHOTOS: THINKSTOCK

PHOTO: THINKSTOCK

was always excellent. Nor was this restricted to the ethnic German breads (black bread and the like). Even ordinary breads were far better than in France.

The one discovery I did make while eating in Frankfurt was that Germans rival the Chinese as masters of the goose.

The Italians and the French don’t do very much with the goose (and these days the French make their foie gras with duck which is cheaper) but the Germans manage to extract the maximum flavour from it. Even Lufthansa (very good service, an excellent Germanspeaking Indian purser, not very comfortable seats, tiny screens in club class, and check-in staff at Delhi who greet you cheerily in Hindi and struggle with English) managed a wonderful goose for the inflight meal from Frankfurt to Delhi. (Very nice German white wine and terrific Austrian red on the plane, by the way.)

Obviously, there is more to German food than sausages, potatoes, schnitzel, cabbage, bread and goose (not to mention the very dodgy pasta-like spaetzle) but I’ll have to go back one day to find out what that is. For this trip, I’ll just remember the bread and goose. ................................................

One of the advantages of going to Germany in December is that you get to see the Christmas markets. These are a European phenomenon comprising stalls selling largely useless Christmas trinkets combined with other stalls selling such German delicacies as sausage, potatoes, more sausage and more potatoes. (I’m sorry but this is true.)

Stuttgart can be a bleak industrial city in the winter where the sun rises at 8.30 am and sets by 4.30 pm and if it is raining and windy as it was for most of my stay, this does not assist in an appreciation of the city’s charms.

But the folks at Mercedes suggested I went off to the seasonal Christmas market and I was astonished by how charming and convivial everything was. Groups of Germans who should have been at work (don't ask me how they managed to skive off in the afternoon) went from stall to stall buying scarves, aromatic candles, woollen caps and the like while consuming warm rum-based drinks and eating lots of sausages and potatoes. (Yes, I know, but what can I do? It is the truth!)

The Christmas market in Frankfurt was larger and to my mind

PHOTOS: REUTERS

IN HOUSE COMPETITION Mercedes Benz’s (above left) chief rival in our market is another German car, the BMW (centre). Also posing a threat is yet another German car, called Audi (above right)

COLD CHARM Stuttgart can be a bleak industrial city in the winter where the sun rises at 8.30 am and sets by 4.30 pm

at least, much lovelier than the Stuttgart version. It was in the middle of the shopping area in the centre of town and you had the sense that roads and pavements had been taken over to make room for this phenomenon. There were huge crowds of people who were obviously enjoying themselves and if you had a large drink in your hand and forgot where you were then it was almost as though Christmas had come early.

The caricature of Germans as a super efficient people is accurate.

But what the caricature conceals is that they are also a remarkably friendly and helpful people who enjoy having a good time. Throughout my stay in Germany, I was astonished by how nice people were and how much they went out of their way to help strangers. In this respect at least, they were better than the French and unlike the Italians who mean well, most of the Germans I came across spoke English. ................................................

One of the realities about travelling to many countries these days – and I’m going to be honest here – is that wherever you go, the streets are packed out with Indians. Familiarity has its advantages.

But if your intention is to go somewhere completely different to experience a change of scene, then the Bollywoodisation of the world is not necessarily always a welcome phenomenon.

The wonderful thing about both Frankfurt and Stuttgart was that it all felt very different. At the Christmas markets I was the only Indian (a strange feeling in this Indian-dominated age) and the Germans I met knew little about our country. But they were nearly always warm and positive about India and curious to learn more.

Mercedes Benz had flown Ayaan and Amaan Ali Khan to Stuttgart to perform at a dinner at the company headquarters. As you would expect, both boys played brilliantly. But what intrigued me was how few of the Germans in the audience had ever heard Indian music before. Nevertheless, they liked what they heard (they were particularly freaked out to discover that the sarod had to be played with the nails because the sound became dull and heavy if the strings were plucked with the fingers) and wanted to hear more.

These days it is nice to go to a country where even though there are strong commercial connections (there are hundreds of German companies in Pune alone – Lufthansa even has a direct flight to Pune!) the average citizen does not know much about India and is keen to learn about our ways.

I guess there is work to be done on both sides: this is a relationship that can only grow stronger as we learn more about each other. I’m sure we have more in common than just a combined love of potatoes.

MAGAZINE DECEMBER 18, 2011

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ROYAL RUN When Rajiv Gandhi (above) was Prime Minister, he used a Mercedes gifted to him by King Hussein of Jordan (below)

IN GERMANY,

WIENER SCHNITZEL WAS A MENU REGULAR

indulge listen The Jobs Effect live | go |

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My first iPod arrived in its pristine whiteness in 2004 and changed my life

download central

Sanjoy Narayan

L

AST WEEK, I finished reading Walter Isaacson’s riveting biography of Steve Jobs. As most of you know, it is a fat book with more than 650 pages, which for a newspaper hack like me, is a lot of pages to read. But Isaacson’s book is magnificent. He got unfettered access to his subject and his book is refreshingly not hagiographical. You get to know Jobs, warts and all, but you also get to see what a genius that man was and the profound manner in which he has changed the way we live and do so many things.

Steve Jobs began influencing my life in 1986 when the newspaper that I was working for in Calcutta inexplicably decided to give us reporters a Macintosh each to work on in office. We were in our 20s and so excited by the overnight switch from rusty (but trusty too) Remington typewriters to the cute Macs that came with a mouse and keyboard and a laser printer that it did not matter that our management had done something totally mindless. Our printing technology for the paper was then linotype (where entire lines of type are set in hot molten lead) but we were using the most advanced word processing tech to write stories and laser print them out. The printouts were subbed conventionally with blue pens and then sent out to be typeset in hot-metal. The point of having Macs was not very clear.

That didn’t bother us. We got a shot at playing with Macs, which were then at the cutting edge of personal computing. The Macs disappeared within a few months as miraculously as they had appeared but that’s another story. My next brush with Jobs was when I got my first iPod, a 40-GB click wheel model in 2004. It arrived in its pristine whiteness and within weeks it changed the way I listened to music. It held 10,000 songs – roughly everything I wanted and more – and I could carry it in my pocket.

That was the beginning. Since then, I have added to my iPod collection and, although I still like my CDs and vinyls, I don’t listen to music as much in any other format as I do on the iPod. Jobs changed many industries – his Mac changed home computing, his iPad has changed the way we consume media and his foray into animation films via Pixar has revolutionised that genre – but I don’t think any of that is comparable to the way the iPod has changed the music business.

At the time Apple came up with the iTunes store and the iPod, the music industry was reeling from the effects of piracy. Brick and mortar stores were closing down and all of the big music companies were straining to survive. The iTunes+iPod model came as a relief: it offered consumers a legal way of buying individual songs instead of entire albums and music companies a lifeline that changed their dying fortunes.

As for me, it changed my life. As soon as I got my first iPod, I began ripping my physical music collection on to it. I discovered that if you had a big music collection and put it all in an easily searchable, ordered manner on a little thing that fitted your pocket, chances were that you discovered long-forgotten artists, albums and songs. And, you heard more music.

GET HIM! Without the iPod (sorry, but all the other If you haven’t mp3 players that preceded it were crap), I discovered Amos wouldn’t have witnessed the revolution of Lee yet, it’s high mp3 blogs or discovered new artists. Indie bands time you did wouldn’t have teased or tested the public with releases of singles or even full albums for free.

And, of course, I wouldn’t have been able to write

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PLAY IT LIKE THE PUNKS Cut Copy, an Australian band, plays electropop that is danceable as well as being nice to listen to. Pick them up if you like Daft Punk or LCD Soundsystem

CHOC-A-BLOC On one of my four iPods, I have thirteen entire concerts from this year’s Newport Folk Festival that includes gigs by Middle Brother (above)

Download Central!

Last week, I sat down with the four iPods that I have my music on currently and here’s what I (re)discovered: 1➤ A band called Cut Copy from Australia. They play electropop that is danceable as well as being nice to listen to. If you like LCD Soundsystem or Daft Punk, listen to Cut Copy’s Zonoscope.

2➤ A six-hour (in two parts) episode on the 50 most underappreciated guitarists on Progopolis, the storied progressive rock podcast that makes it possible for you to listen to one really long programme for as long as three hours or more uninterruptedly.

3➤ Thirteen entire concerts from this year’s Newport Folk Festival, which include gigs by Emmylou Harris, Justin Townes Earle, Middle Brother and Amos Lee. All artists that you simply have to discover if you haven’t already.

4➤ And, this is the best: an hour-and-a-half long discussion on how 2011’s been for music. It’s off an NPR podcast and includes more than a dozen songs by musicians who released new work during the year.

Would all of these have been possible without Jobs? I’m quite certain what the answer to that would be.

To give feedback, stream or download the music mentioned in this column, go to http://blogs.hindustantimes.com/download-central, follow argus48 on Twitter or visit our website: www.hindustantimes.com/brunch

HINDUSTAN TIMES WEEKLY MAGAZINE DECEMBER 18, 2011

F CHANGE ged WINDS O an ve Jobs ch te S , od one else o With the iP n e lik industry the music

indulge play Top Tech Moments Of 2011 live | go | listen |

From death and demise to guts and glory, this sure has been one action-packed year

techilicious

Rajiv Makhni

FLASH IN A PAN The HP TouchPad came, made news and was killed – all in the blink of an eye

Y

ES, IT’S that time of the year. The top gadgets of the year, the biggest turkeys and the best of everything. And yet, 2011 will be remembered mostly for its tech moments. Rarely has a year seen more action and emotion than in the last twelve months. Moments that have changed the course of technology and our lives forever.

A PERMANENT RESIGNATION

It took the world by storm; it shocked the fanboys and made most tech pundits salivate about what happens next. That was just the resignation of Steve Jobs. What was to follow was even more devastating. The world lost the greatest curator and tech visionary of all times – permanently.

Effect: Steve Jobs was able to bring passion and perfection into the boring and mundane. Apple’s No. 1 position as a vision and device leader will be affected. Those who think it won’t aren’t giving the presence of Steve Jobs its due.

TABLETTING THE IMPOSSIBLE

BIDDING GOODBYE Steve Jobs’ resignation took the world by storm

THE BLACKEST MARK

BlackBerry went down and with it went the hopes and dreams of the company. People across the world lost access to mails, BlackBerry Messenger and confidence in the company. The effect was brutal and the handling of the situation was terrible. This was just one in a long string of problems for the company. From lower phone sales, disappointing OS upgrades and the failure of the PlayBook Tablet, the dark black clouds became thicker over RIM. Effect: BBX (the new OS) is coming but it may not be enough. Many predict that BlackBerry will eventually have to move to Android with BlackBerry push mail and Messenger intact.

LIGHT MY FIRE

In a one horse race, it’s easy to lose sight of the winning line. But the iPad has been ‘tunnel vision’ in its focus. So focused that it dominated the entire market. iPad-killer after iPad-killer came and went. Till the Amazon Kindle Fire. It’s priced beautifully; it has content and an ecosystem in place and it has Amazon’s magic touch behind it. It also had a large market share within days.

Effect: Amazon, Samsung, Asus and Apple: it’s a four-pronged race now with each throwing in a giant compelling reason to buy their BURNING BRIGHT product. 2012 may bring Apple down The Kindle Fire has Amazon’s to about 50 per cent, which in itself is magic touch behind it also amazing.

IT’S BIG, IT’S THERE, IT’S NOT, YES IT IS... NO IT’S GONE!

The best OS, the biggest hardware manufacturer, the buzz as big as Apple and a product that looked like a million bucks. The HP TouchPad came, made news and was killed – all in the blink of an eye. Some truly disastrous seat-of-the-pants decisions (a fire sale of the product and conflicting announcements) of the top HP brass led to the CEO getting the boot along with the TouchPad as well.

Effect: It could have been a five horse race but it’s not. HP could have taken WebOS to the top, but it won’t! HP, HP, HP – what have you done?

THE WORLD’S BIGGEST AND STRUGGLING

The world’s biggest mobile phone manufacturer gets into bed with

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the world’s biggest software manufacturer. At stake: literally the future of both companies.

Nokia and Microsoft join hands to come out with the Lumia series. The devices are good, the marketing is top notch and the money being spent is astronomical. Now the future of both lies in your hands.

Effect: If the predictions are true, ‘Micro-kia’ will be number 3 in 2012. If this doesn’t work out, well, it’s Game Over for both.

IT’S A TEAM Microsoft and Nokia joined hands to create the Lumia

A Tablet that will cost a student just R1,000. The $35 Akash Tablet is the most controversial Tablet in the world. A wonder of out-sourcing, ingenuity, hard-nosed pricing and hype, the first Akash works but is underwhelming. It’s a great idea let down by some poor choices on hardware.

Effect: We are the only nation in the world to dream it and do it. By the time the much-improved Akash 2 hits the market (March 2012?), we may be the only country supplying Tablets to every nation in the world.

THE BIG G

Google dominated world headlines for all things good and bad. Google+ was the only competition to Facebook but seems to be losing momentum. Google bought out Motorola and made all other Android partners nervous. The first big OS threat to Windows was the Chrome OS. But it has petered out to a has-been already.

Effect: Google+ still has a big chance as it is doing most things right.

The problem is that there is no real reason to leave Facebook. MotorolaGoogle will be the most aggressive mobile phone player of 2012. The Chrome OS: can you say dodo?

WE ARE ON THE A-LIST

It never felt good. To get a phone 11 months after it was released abroad. After all we have so many Apple fans and cults and iMafia members in the country. With the iPhone 4S, all of that has changed. We went from Z-minus to A-plus on the country priority list. It is besides the point that the phone is priced worth its weight in gold and that Apple released very few handsets in India (so yes, it ‘sold out’). But hey, at least we are on the A-list now!

Many other momentous events took place that shook the tech world. Microsoft bought Skype and then did nothing more with it; the PlayStation Network got hacked and hacked and then hacked again and made FIRST AMONG EQUALS Anonymous totally famous; Yahoo’s With the iPhone 4S, India has decline became more pronounced; jumped on the priority list Android had big numbers, both good and bad (apps downloaded, share of market and amount of malware). It’s a long list of breathtaking stuff.

Next week, we’ll go into my prediction of big news in 2012: Bill Gates will come back as CEO of Microsoft, why Apple’s TV will be the best thing to happen to your living room and which big phone company will pack up its bags. 2012 will beat the pants off 2011!

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

HINDUSTAN TIMES WEEKLY MAGAZINE DECEMBER 18, 2011

PERSONALAGENDA AGENDA PERSONAL

RANNVIJAY Sun sign

School/college

Birthday

Delhi/ Hansraj College, DU

Pisces

March 16

Hometown Jalandhar

High point of your life

Doing a solo film, Mod, directed by Nagesh Kukunoor

Low point of your life

Had a bad accident Army Public School, a few years ago

Occupation

MTV VJ & Actor

First break

Winning Roadies

Which character from Sholay do you most resemble and why?

What are you doing currently?

Helped in designing the Roadies shoes and gearing to host the new season of the show in January

What would we find in your fridge right now?

Veeru for sure. Like him, I’m also a romantic at heart, can do comedy and love my friends.

Eggs, chicken, ham, brownies, juice, fruits, rice, dal, milk and seekh kebabs.

If you were given a chance to remake Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag, the movie, what would you do?

If a spaceship landed in your backyard, what would you do?

Firstly, I would just make the movie without saying it’s a remake and secondly, I would advise my friend Prashant Raj, who played the character of Jai, to choose his roles wisely.

The last line of your autobiography would read…

I’d be very happy as I want to believe that there’s life outside earth also.

And I would want to travel in it.

The most clichéd answer you’ve ever given in an interview?

That “all the actors were very nice and it was great to shoot together.”

I would thank everybody who supported me and feel lucky to be who I was.

If you were an ice cream, what flavour would you be?

How would you explain Twitter to your grandmother?

Your most irrational fear…

Blackcurrant.

My grandmother is always keen to know what am I up to these days. So, I’d tell her that the best way to keep tabs on me is to follow me on Twitter.

I can’t handle the fear of being in water with crocodiles.

The one lie you got away with?

I’m busy in a shoot right now.

The one place where you would never get yourself tattooed?

Where did you spend your last summer?

On my neck.

Partly in Ooty and then in Europe.

One song that describes your current state of mind?

Yahan, the Roadies song. It has the

How many pairs of blue jeans do you have?

right attitude which is also seen in the shoes that I’ve helped to design.

Your darkest fantasy?

Instead of darkest, I would prefer to call it the happiest. And both Jessica Alba and Angelina Jolie would feature in it.

Around 40.

What’s the biggest surprise you’ve ever given your date?

If I was travelling, I’d return much before the scheduled time and plan a surprise dinner for her.

– Interviewed by Veenu Singh

THE MOST OVER-RATED MOVIE / BOOK?

TWILIGHT

IF YOU COULD PEEP INTO ANYONE’S HOUSE, WHOSE HOUSE WOULD IT BE? PHOTO: SURESH NATRAJAN

I WOULD TURN GAY FOR...

...BRAD PITT DEFINITELY

JESSICA ALBA

PHOTOS: REUTERS

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HINDUSTAN TIMES WEEKLY MAGAZINE DECEMBER 18, 2011