WEEKLY MAGAZINE, NOVEMBER 18, 2012 Free with your copy of Hindustan Times
Bourne and Bond Two really cool spies. Who do we like more?
Sweet seduction Diabetes doesn’t mean you get bitter about your meals
“Sing with Floyd” The one thing Ali Zafar wishes he could do
indulge
It’s not just for weddings and pujas. It’s not only for older women and TV saas-bahus. Meet young women who are rocking the whole six yards – and think you should too
Accessories designer Ileshaa Khatau says the sari is more comfy than people imagine
VIR SANGHVI
In-flight delights
SANJOY NARAYAN Genre benders
RAJIV MAKHNI
Two fantastic devices
SEEMA GOSWAMI Why I hate Diwali
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B R E A K FA S T O F C H A M P I O N S
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THE SIX-YARD WONDER
Rules Of The Game...
by Rachel Lopez
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HIS COVER story is me at my selfish best. Why am I doing a story on young women who aren’t afraid of wearing saris? Because I’ve shamefully reached age 30 without owning a single sari. Don’t blame my Bombay Catholic upbringing – it didn’t stop my mum from rocking the six-yard. Don’t fault my neighbourhood either – I grew up in Hindmata, Parel, the motherlode of cheap chiffon and cut-price cut-piece. Now, however, I have no excuse to not add one to my closet. Not after four women have shown me I have nothing to fear. Hindmata shops, here I come!
THINGS YOU SHOULD HAVE HEARD ABOUT by Shreya Sethuraman
SHOVE IT
Aloo parathas. ■ Post-Diwali blues And achaar. ■ Match-fixing bans lifted. But And dahi. Deadly what’s the point when you’re combo, eh? way past your prime?? ■ Dancing in baraats. To the ■ Matrimonial websites. They cheesiest of filmy songs don’t work. Honest! ■ Muesli cakes as gifts. We’re ■ Kids cooking. And health freaks here. *cough competing. Lots of tears and cough* sympathy hugs. Gaaahh! ■ Backstreet’s ■ Wannabe wine back, awright! experts. (Some of us Seriously, love the ’90s, get a okay?) life!
LOVE IT
■
Cover Design: SWATI CHAKRABARTY Cover Photo: KALPAK PATHAK
Don’t Be The Chronically Irritating Pain-In-The-YouKnow-Where Who Does This by Yashica Dutt Answer your texts with a ‘K’. It’s just one letter away from sanity! ■ Post how much you hate Mondays on Facebook. Seriously, every single week? ■ Upload badly shot pictures of food/ family/babies and expect us to ‘like’ them. That is plain embarrassing! ■ Request for Punjabi/bhangra in a reggae bar that is known only to play dubstep ■ Use ‘bro’ 2,785 times in a single conversation ■
EDITORIAL: Poonam Saxena (Editor), Aasheesh Sharma, Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi, Rachel Lopez, Mignonne Dsouza, Veenu Singh, Parul Khanna Tewari, Yashica Dutt, Amrah Ashraf, Saudamini Jain, Shreya Sethuraman, Manit Moorjani
NOVEMBER 18, 2012
R100 ONLY! LETTER OF THE WEEK! No fancy coffee for me...
WHAT ELSE does a working person require on a lazy Sunday morning, than a cup of coffee in one hand and a copy of Brunch (Battle of the Brews, November 4) in the other, which even tells you the worth of the coffee you’re savouring? Providing me with my much-needed caffeine rush, the coffee shop reviews were refreshing and insightful. Thanks, Brunch for helping me decide that the extravagantly priced Starbucks cappuccino isn’t worth my daily ‘Home-buck’ cuppa! — ZAINAB TOHFAFAROSH, via email Zainab wins a Flipkart voucher worth `2,500. Congrats!
Spilling the beans THE COVER story (Battle of the Brews) was a favourite for a coffee junkie like me! I was elated to find mention of my favourite coffee haunts. It was a quirky and fun read, giving me the muchneeded caffeine rush! — ARPITA CHOWDHURY, via email THE BATTLE Of The Brews cover story was quite a revelation. In today’s age where we gulp down coffee almost as if it were water, it was nice to know which is the winning cup. After reading the column, I actually felt like a connoisseur myself. A million thanks Brunch! — RAHUL MEHAY, via email
The best letter gets a Flipkart voucher worth R2,500!! The shopping voucher will reach the winner within seven to 10 working days. In case of any delays, please contact chirag.sharma@hindustantimes.com
DESIGN: Ashutosh Sapru (National Editor, Design), Monica Gupta, Swati Chakrabarti, Rakesh Kumar, Ashish Singh
Drop us a line at: brunchletters@hindustantimes.com or to 18-20 Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi 110001
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Thought saris were only for old ladies and Traditional Day in the office? Four young women prove they’re just as chic as your skinny jeans or bandage dress, and just as easy to wear too
Lahiri, 32 A T I R M A
Classical dancer Get a blouse in a more contemporary cut and brig ht colour even if the sari is old. Buy tussar or crepe silk, it doesn’t wrinkle easily and you’ll wear it more often.
Don’t pick heavy weaves and zari for casual oc casions.
by Rachel Lopez
sari, it’s It’s not about the d how. an it ng ari we who’s
I
Of course you own a sari. We all do. It’s nicely ironed, folded and tucked away in a cupboard to be pulled out on special occasions. It’s very pretty too. So pretty that we wouldn’t dare waste it on a regular day in the office, brunch with the girls, or an evening of partying. It’s almost too good to take out of the closet. No wonder that so few young women are draping themselves in the six-yard as everyday wear. Tailored trousers are comfier, dresses look smarter and for traditional occasions, a kurta does the trick with fewer safety pins. Face it, the sari is too much fuss. Or is it? These young women – they’re all under 35 and also wear just about everything else – will show you that there’s nothing you can’t do in a sari, and that there’s everything to gain from pleating up. Saris can be fun, modern, edgy, stylish and cool – and they’re much too sexy to lie forgotten and unloved. Let the stories unravel... NOVEMBER 18, 2012
“IT’S A CONNECTION TO YOUR CULTURE, YOUR PEOPLE”
WORE MY first sari at age 14. I was in the US till I was 15 and like all good NRI parents, mine put us into classical music and dance lessons. My teacher, Anuradha Nehru insisted, just like they do in South India, that by the time the students were 13 or 14, they should come to class in a sari – no salwar kameezes. That’s how it started. Instead of feeling forced into it, wearing a sari was something we aspired to. It meant we were grown up. And it was so difficult, my God! It would unravel and we’d get scolded or embarrassed and had to learn how to keep it in place. Now it’s a breeze – if you can dance in a sari you can do anything, anything in it. I think I have 40 to 50 saris now. But I also wear lots of other things. When I’m going out on a Friday night I like to wear jeans, a skirt, heels, whatever. I enjoy having different costumes for different occasions. But I also like things that are structured and have a story to them, that are not just a printed Tshirt – that’s too boring for life. Lots of people think saris are inconvenient. But you know what? Women all over India, every day,
mop floors and work in the fields in saris. What’s so special about us that we can’t get used to one? I’ve gone to a Delhi club and danced in a sari. Hip hop, bhangra, everything. People have odd reactions when you’re draped in six yards of fabric. I once walked into a shop looking for birthday cake, my sari a bit crushed from being worn all day and this woman came up to me and said, “It’s so nice to see young women in saris. Keep it up!” I wear ones that belonged to my grandmother and people say, “You look so hot”. These aren’t flashy dresses, they’re my grandmother’s clothes! Like dance, for me, wearing a sari is about making a connection. It’s something I’ve been able to talk to with my grandmother or my mother, my aunt, anybody. We can all share this. Is it a political statement? Maybe. It’s not activism in any sense, just a conscious personal connection to a culture, so many people, so many things. I don’t think I can better it. And nothing looks better on the Indian body. A sari changes the way you move. You walk slower – you glide almost – and you become more graceful. Who wouldn’t want that?
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“IT’S MORE COMFY THAN YOU IMAGINE”
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HE FIRST time I wore a sari for no reason was when I was 22, at college in Chicago and graduating. It was a cold, overcast wet day, so I put on a bright orange one, I walked in and everyone was completely floored. I wear a lot of other stuff too – skirts, miniskirts... I actually wear miniskirts as sari petticoats since they give you a lot more movement and it’s not as hot then. Also it’s one less thing to buy. When I first started wearing saris, it occurred to me that you don’t just need a sari. You need a petticoat, a fall, a blouse. So I just mix and match. I own only eight saris but I’m lucky to
HER TIPS TO SPICE UP A SARI Photos: KALPAK PATHAK
Bhoir, 34 A T E W H SUS Has a “proper corporate job” as part of the finance team at Siem ens
“IT’S NO BIG DEAL”
F
EWER WOMEN wear saris today. I guess they think that a sari is hard to wear, or that you have to be proper when you’re in one. I’ve been wearing saris for the last 13 years, I have more than 35, and that’s so untrue. You get used to it quite quickly if you have the inclination. Mine take three minutes to drape, five if I’m wearing cotton. It’s not difficult, it’s not cumbersome. It’s so cool. A sari can do wonderful things to your body and your sense of self. I am a moderately fat woman, so let me put it this way: people who are
Wear your sari with leggings or a skirt. Basically the only reason you really need a petticoat is to tuck something in, and as long as you’re covering what you want to cover, it’s fine.
SIX-YARD CHIC
be able to wear my mom’s, who got them from my grandmother and great-grandmother. Mine are mostly plain chiffon because they make a great backdrop for jewellery. You always feel dressed up in this garment and the best part is that the dressing up doesn’t have to correlate to how much you spend. A good dress will cost a lot, but while there are expensive saris, you can get good ones without paying much. Many people say saris are uncomfortable. But once you’ve worn them for a little bit, you get used to keeping it all together and stop thinking about it. The reactions are incredible. Everyone asks me if I’m going to a wedding. I don’t know if that’s a compliment or just sad because people now think that if it’s a sari, it must be some traditional occasion or that you’re old and boring. A sari can be such fun. I’ve gone to a bar, had six shots of absinthe and danced in one and it was such fun – just hold it all up so you don’t trip! In India today, the upper classes are compelled to dress in a Western fashion to look modern or attractive. And a lot of India’s aspirations travel from the top down. But I don’t see why we have to ditch everything. It’s part of our tradition, there’s no reason to not do it.
SUSHAMA REDDY, ACTRESS
I always, always buy my saris from Neeta Lulla. She makes the most amazing and sexy blouses to go with them and her cuts accentuate and flatter! I have a tall frame, so saris look nice on me. My favourites are chiffon and net, the latter are very young, very sexy and drape well. TIP Pinning is key to comfortable sari wearing. Wear the blouse with a flattering cut. It can make the sari contemporary.
DIPANNITA SHARMA ATWAL, MODEL
I pick up my saris from several places, starting from Satya Paul, Sabyasachi, Shahab Durazi, Masaba Gupta and Ravi Bajaj to FabIndia and heirloom Assam silk saris from back home. TIP There are no strict rules as to how a woman should wear a sari. You can do the pallu drapes differently and wear different styles of blouses.
MANDIRA BEDI, actress & TV host
If your family saris are falling apart but their borders are intact, sew them on to your Don’t have a blouse? Fold up the neon chiffon saris. bottom of a fitted Choose the lightest top or tank top and fabrics so they don’t just drape it on. add bulk on the hips.
not so thin will look not so fat in a take getting used to because the sari. It covers up your bad parts and fabric bunches at your feet, but it’s shows off your good ones. not hard to master. I’ve danced in Of course it’s far easier to get into my saris, run after my three-yeara pair of trousers. But if, like me, old, I even went to a disco, right you’ve had a baby and are thicker after a puja, wearing a around the stomach, you can’t tuck sari. People just said, your shirt into your pants. It makes “Wow!” you conscious and that eats up your confidence and affects work. But if you’re wearing a sari, you have nice little pleats on the parts you don’t want to show. Yes it takes time to wear, ers Her tips for beginn siest but tucking your ea the are Silk and chiffon shirt into your pants es time to to wear. Cotton tak takes time too. . pe dra I enjoy wearing a nice and Tie your petticoat will unravel. sari – the way it falls tight, and nothing lots of safee Us on you, the way it ? oid Still paran nfident. co e u’r shows off your curves. ty pins till yo Sure, driving a car will
Photo: SAROJ KUMAR
4 Khatau, 2 A A H S E IL Accessories designer
NOVEMBER 18, 2012
I tend to wear a designer in phases. I’ve worn a lot of Satya Paul graphic-print georgette and crepe saris, I’ve worn around 20 Masaba Gupta designs, and whenever I need a heavy sari, I turn to Dabiri, the label of Delhi-based designers Divya Bindra and Vandana Sawhney. I also have saris by Ritu Kumar and Lucknawi georgettes, which I find very elegant. I look at my saris as an investment because they are timeless. I would definitely spend more on a sari than I would on a dress. TIP When you buy a sari, get two blouses made – one conservative, and one daring.
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Photo: M ZHAZO
, apoor, 33 PRIYA K
Director, Roli Books store and CMYK book
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SIX-YARD CHIC JIAH KHAN, ACTRESS
I love Masaba’s saris. I love the fact that she does not do conventional stuff. I like that she experiments with prints and cuts. Other than that, I would buy something off the street if it catches my eye. TIP Cut your petticoat or wear a short skirt and drape a sheer sari over it. It will reveal just a hint of leg.
MINISSHA LAMBA, ACTRESS
If I want a nice sari, I usually get it from Neeta Lulla or Sabyasachi Mukherjee. Their designs are not only traditional but also quite modern. I usually buy georgette or chiffon saris. I also have a few heavy Mysore silk saris that really look beautiful on me. I don’t like very heavy saris, so I always buy something with a thin border or no border at all. TIP Before selecting a sari, consider your body type, skin colour and height. The sari frames your personality, so get something that really complements you.
“IT’S REALLY FOR EVERY DAY”
U
NTIL I WAS in my midsome R700. There’s been no looking 20s, I was like everyone back since. I have 70 saris now. else. I loved the sari but I hate when people assume that pulled out mine only for saris are impractical. I go to the Diwali, weddings and special gym and in the summer I usually occasions. But about six years ago, carry a sari to change into; and around the time Roli was working women 15-20 years older look so on a book on the sari, I started to shocked, it’s as though I’m tying get interested in it. It packed on a kimono! They tell me it’s such an incredible such torture to wear. But I amount of information can actually do more – every pattern, every things in the garment colour, every yarn had than in pants or a skirt Her tips on a story – I was hooked. where to find it – like sit cross legged in There’s nothing more my chair at work. I Head to ByLoom in Calcutta. Bapa there personal, more wear all kinds of does such beautiful bespoke than this garthings, from dresses to ment – how could I not weaves. kurtas, and I mostly Register with Raw be partaking in this shop abroad or at surMango and pick up very high-end fashion? their lighter saris. plus stores because I bought my first one, the stuff fits me betIn Jaipur, Benu my first own sari, ter. But with a sari, Bhatnagar does from a little shop in you never get the exquisite Rajasthani gota patti work. East Street, Pune, for wrong fit. And you NOVEMBER 18, 2012
don’t need safety pins – they lock in the pleats and you are not very smooth in your movements. Saris are meant to take the shape of your body, let them. Keep your ghagra tight. Retie it later if necessary. Saris will make you look beautifully feminine and sensual without trying too hard. I have pick-me-up saris for when it’s going to be a long hard day, and they always make me feel better. Every single time I wear them, there are compliments. People aren’t used to seeing someone of my age and background putting it on. Flight attendants have told me how nice it is to see women travelling in a sari. And because I love them so much, for a while, all my birthday gifts were saris. I’m not complaining. They all fit! rachel.lopez@hindustantimes.com
ANKITA LOKHANDE, TELEVISION ACTRESS
I’ve bought over 300 saris for my role in Pavitra Rishta, either from shops or a designer. I usually frequent Lokhandwala, Bandra and Malad in Mumbai for designs. In Pavitra Rishta, I change my style every month – everything from Kolkata saris to broad-border saris to chiffon ones with brocade blouses and net saris. TIP Once you’ve draped your sari, bend forward and check to see what’s still sticking out or if you’re revealing too much. Then, tuck or fix things with safety pins.
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THE RIGHT BITE, ON A FLIGHT
rude travel
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The food on India’s domestic airlines is about the worst in the world, but low-cost airlines give passengers a choice. You can actually order a perfectly decent inflight meal
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POPULAR CHOICE
In a flight, if the dessert is Indian then it must be made with milk
HAT IS the best thing about no-frills airlines? If you answered, ‘the fares’, then you would be only half right. Yes, there was a time when the so-called low-cost carriers made flying cheap and accessible. But those days are long gone. Now, all airline tickets cost a bomb, no matter whether the carrier describes itself as high-cost or low-cost. In fact, it is actually cheaper to fly to the Far East than it is to anywhere in India because fares within the country are so high. And why are they so high? Well, blame it on the foolishness of the government. Taxes are prohibitive. Aircraft fuel is priced at absurd rates. And the new private owners of our airports keep raising fees to such extravagant levels that airlines struggle to cope. In some cases at least – Bangalore or Delhi, for instance – the newly-enriched monopolists who own our airports (they are all sitting on thousands of crores of undervalued land assets) are providing travellers with decent facilities. But anybody travelling out of Bombay International airport must wonder if he is in SubSaharan Africa. JUST FOR YOU
If an airline has some idea of what each passenger wants to eat, then it can prepare and load the food in advance NOVEMBER 18, 2012
But I digress. My little rant about fares is only to tell you why it makes less and less sense to fly to a holiday destination in India any longer. Or even to a metropolitan city. (You want a comparison? Okay, Delhi-Bangkok-Delhi in Club Class usually costs less than Delhi-Bangalore one way! Never mind that Bangkok is much further away than Bangalore. And even the Economy fares have reached the stage where it is cheaper to fly abroad than to go anywhere in India.) But there is one advantage to the low-cost carrier boom. And that is the food. Most airline food is rubbish. We all know that. Some of this has to do with the way flight kitchens are organised. For the most part they are nasty, industrial operations to which hotel chains usually exile their worst cooks. (There are some glowing exceptions: the Taj’s Satish Arora and Arvind Saraswat are master chefs, for instance). But the real reason airline food is usually so disgusting (especially in India) is because of the problems with a) customer preference and b) cost. Ever since Kingfisher went bust serving highcost meals (high cost, maybe; but inedible anyway – you can tell that the management had no idea how to offer value for money), it has become an article of faith within the Indian airline business that the route to survival lies in cutting food costs. So portions have grown smaller. Flight kitchens are being paid less for each meal. And you and I, the hapless passengers, have to eat this reheated, low-cost garbage. The second reason is our fault – or so the airlines tell us. Apparently, their research shows that when Indians fly (domestically at least), we want only one kind of meal: salad, one sabzi, one greasy paneer curry or some form of chicken curry, dahi (at least in the front of the aircraft), rice, a rolled-up reheated chapati wrapped in silver foil and a stodgy dessert. If the dessert is Indian then it must be made with milk. If it is foreign, then it should be made with gelatine. Any airline that deviates from this formula pays the price. Meals are returned uneaten. Letters of complaint are written. Cabin crew are insulted. Nobody will eat mushrooms; paneer is the only ‘vegetable’ that many North Indians regard as perfect at 35,000 feet, and chicken is an all-time favourite. Try something more adventurous and passengers will protest. So, while airline food is usually pretty poor everywhere in the world, the food on India’s domestic airlines is about the worst. When you tell airline executives this, they Photo: IMAGESBAZAAR
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THE AWESOME TWOSOME
Rajiv Makhni
Their stunning Retina Display makes Google’s Nexus 10 and Apple’s all-new MacBook Pro the real game changers
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Due to the quantity of devices releasing, some significant ones slip between the cracks
POWER-PACKED
The MacBook Pro is so powerful that at times it seems Apple has packed in a F1 car engine inside its slim profile as this one zips along at almost impossible speeds
HE LAST few days have been incredible. Very rarely do we see so much great technology released simultaneously. From the Microsoft Windows 8 blitz, Apple releasing more devices at one event than ever before, Google doing the same and truly throwing down the gauntlet in the hardware business, to Nokia’s event for its all-new Lumia phones and then HTC and Samsung following suit, it’s been overwhelming and frankly even intimidating. So much good stuff has been announced and released that it seems it’s Christmas every single day.
EXCAVATION TIME
LOST IN COMPETITION
techilicious
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But there is a downside to this onslaught of gadgetry that has been hitting us at the speed of light. Due to the sheer quantity of incredible devices being released, some really significant stuff tends to slip between the cracks. These are the kind of devices that are true game-changers but have been superseded by something that may not have any out-of-the-box features but has got more hype and buzz attached to it. It’s time to dig out two big ones that are rewriting the rules of technology.
GOOGLE NEXUS 10
Tablets today are a dime a dozen. More seven-inch tablets are released in India today then the number of smartphones that see the light of day. Even larger-sized tablets struggle to make any news or noise as it’s really tough to differentiate one from the other. But one tablet that should have stood out, but got lost in the flood, is the Google Nexus 10. If further proof was ever required that Google is now a serious player in the hardware part of the world – then this tablet more than offers it. It’s built by Samsung with specs dictated by Google and a pricing policy (just $399) that makes it quite a steal. But it’s what this tablet offers that makes it a total must-have. The first is the most obvious: the super delicious 10-inch, LED-backlit, IPS LCD touchscreen with a mind-boggling resolution of 2560x1600 pixels. That’s an unprecedented 300 pixels per inch spread over its entire huge screen. Just to put it in perspective, the latest iPad Retina Display has 264 pixels per inch. While the processor, RAM, form factor, how light it is
If further proof was ever required that Google is now a serious player in the hardware market, then the Google Nexus 10 provides it and how thin it is are all top-notch features – that screen really is a big deal as it now forces the competition to up the stakes. Low-res tablets aren’t going to cut it any more after this, and you’re going to see even economy Tablets huff and puff and come up with enhanced versions of their screens and displays. On a Tablet, where you spend 95 per cent of your time consuming content visually off the screen – the Google Nexus just made that whole experience a lot sharper and smoother.
MACBOOK PRO 13 WITH RETINA DISPLAY
It’s impossible to even think that an Apple device as significant as an all-new MacBook Pro would get lost in the noise. But unfortunately, this stunning device came out at a time when the world was holding its collective breath for the iPad Mini. The dust and the fury of that little thing totally obliterated the significance of what Apple was able to put into this formidable machine. It’s thinner, it’s lighter and it’s so powerful that at times it seems they’ve packed in a F1 car engine inside its slim profile as this one zips along at almost impossible speeds. While many may argue that the bigger 15-inch sibling has equal or slightly better specs – that’s exactly where the 13incher scores. If you can pack the same power and performance into a device much smaller, thinner and lighter – then the true Holy Grail of tech is reached. But once again, it’s not the insides that make this a game changing device, it’s the outside. A 13-inch screen and stunning Retina Display with a resolution of 2560x1600.
THE BIG DEAL
If you’re as sharp-eyed as I am hoping you are, then you’ve caught the similarity: the exact same resolution as the Google Nexus 10. And there’s a reason. This is now going to be the gold standard for devices. The next level of benchmarking if a device has to stand up and be counted. And that is a very big deal for all of us as it’s now been proven that the human eye can truly see the difference and benefit from pixels that are so closely put together. Eye fatigue is reduced by a significant amount, text is cleaner, jagged edges disappear, Web pages pop and look clean and sharp and eBooks and documents look smooth and appealing to the eye. Movies look stunning and pictures and images truly show off the goodness of your brand new state-of-the-art camera. Super-high-resolution machines are the future and a clear path to the future was paved by these two small little devices that got completely lost. It’s time for you to reach in deep into that crack and dig these two out. 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
NOVEMBER 18, 2012
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GENRE BENDERS
THE JUKEBOX
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download central
Sanjoy Narayan
he Texas indie-rock band, Spoon’s frontman, Britt Daniel, and the erstwhile Canadian band, Wolf Parade’s Dan Boeckner, have a new project, Divine Fits. It’s what you could call a supergroup given that another member of the band, Sam Brown, is from the Ohio band, New Bomb Turks. Divine Fits’ debut album is called A Thing Called Divine Fits. It is a set of slickly produced pop-rock songs that demonstrate how a couple of stars in their own right can work together without ruffling each other’s egos.
Photo: COURTESY FACEBOOK
Jesus. In the title song, Lazarus is “Larry” and he surfaces in New York and San Francisco before everything goes pear-shaped for him and he’s homeless and in line at a soup kitchen. Cave is obviously influenced and inspired by musicians such as Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan but he has a unique edginess of his own. His music has a bass-heavy foundation but also swirly keyboards, occasional electric guitar forays and, best of all, the words. Cave isn’t your typical rock lyricist. His themes dwell on issues of sex, relationships, death and God – nothing unique It is difficult to slot Nick Cave and the about that – but it is the dark humour, the menBad Seed’s music into genre-based ace and the charisma that he adds to them that makes his songs different. He’s clever; he’s witty boxes. Their sounds change from album and sharp as a razor. to album, sometimes quite dramatically Cave released Dig, Lazarus Dig!!! at 50, an age at which many rock musicians lean heavily on their back catalogues or on recycling. Rather than doing that, Cave OMETIMES IT takes a re-issue of old albums to rediscover NOT AN AVERAGE ROCKER upped the ante and made a hard-driving, punchy album with fast a musician that you’ve been out of touch with for a while. So Nick Cave’s (seated, centre) songs that have words guaranteed to make you listen carefully to it was with me last week. When a couple of re-issued Nick dark humour, menace and the charisma that he adds lyrics. I like to put Cave’s albums on repeat to be able to listen to Cave and the Bad Seeds albums landed up, re-mastered and with to them makes his songs the music and lyrics more closely. bonuses such as DVDs in tow, I revisited Nick Cave and after the different The other re-issued Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album is 2003’s first couple of tracks on the re-issued Dig, Lazarus Dig!!! (originally released in 2008), I wondered how on earth could I have let so Nocturama. If Dig had a full-throttled sound, Nocturama is just the much time elapse before I re-heard Cave’s music. opposite. It’s got a laidback air of a man who’s put his angry youth Nick Cave, 55, is (if you’re unfamiliar with him) an behind him. The songs are ballads about love, relaAustralian-born musician, songwriter, author and tionship and seem, at least in comparison with Cave’s actor, whose career began in the early 1970s with a past, tender even. But just as you thought Cave was band called The Birthday Party. Although they explored going soft, the last track on the album, Babe, I’m On Fire, kicks in and it is all what the previous nine are many styles, they got labelled, a bit unfairly, as a gothnot. For it is a muscular, loud and nearly 15-minute ic band. Nevertheless, in those pre-Internet days, the long track, which reminds you that Nick Cave still band found cult followers in both Australia and the has the fire of his youth raging away inside. UK. The Birthday Party evolved into Nick Cave and Perhaps Babe, I’m On Fire was also a sign of what the Bad Seeds, a band that has lasted for years and was to come. Dig, the punchy album, yes, but also has some 14 studio albums in its back catalogue. A PETRI DISH some other things. With my interest in Cave’s music 15th is said to be in the works. If you want to sample Cave’s rekindled, I fished out his two side-project outcomes If that were not prolific enough, Cave has had other music, I’d recommend Dig, – 2007’s Grinderman and 2010’s Grinderman 2. musical projects over the years – Grinderman, a side Lazarus Dig!!! Conceived as an alternative project, Grinderman was project, has two studio albums to its credit; he’s scored the name of a four-member stripped-down band that Cave formed music for films, ranging from the post-apocalyptic, Viggo Mortensenin order to do things in a more unhindered manner than the Bad starring, The Road, to contributing a song on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; he has authored at least half a dozen books (okay, Seeds band would let him. Grinderman comprised some of the some of them are compilations of lyrics of his songs), including personnel on the Bad Seeds team (Warren Ellis, the violinist, Martyn 2009’s The Death of Bunny Munro, which is about a sex-addicted P. Casey, the bassist, and Jim Sclavunos, the drummer) and the salesman; in addition, he has acted in films and written screenplays. sound was wilder and raunchier. I now remember why, as I said in It is difficult to slot Nick Cave’s music into genre-based boxes. the beginning, I’d stopped listening to Cave’s music at home. He and his band meld many genres – punk, garage rock, blues, Grinderman’s song lyrics have a bit of the NSFW/H to them and and even jazz – into their songs. And their sound can change the first album’s cover shows a monkey doing something that you’d from album to album, sometimes quite dramatically. If you want probably like to keep away from impressionable young children’s to sample Cave’s music, I’d recommend Dig, Lazarus Dig!!!, an eyes. But what music! album name inspired by Lazarus, a subject of a miracle in the To give feedback, stream or download the music mentioned in this column, go to Bible in which he is depicted as being raised from the dead by http://blogs.hindustantimes.com/download-central, follow argus48 on Twitter
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Cave released Dig at 50, when many rock musicians lean on their back catalogues or on recycling
NOVEMBER 18, 2012
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indulge
twitter.com/HTBrunch Photo: IMAGESBAZZAR
SOUND AND FURY
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NOISE POLLUTION!
I can’t help being appalled at just how over-the-top the fireworks display has got of late
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Photos: THINKSTOCK
Huddling around a table, staring at your cards, and then moaning about how much money you have lost. How can this be anyone’s idea of a party?
to do the rounds, driving from one corner to the other to drop off all those Diwali Counting the many, presents to friends, family, business colleagues and corporate honchos? many things I hate Result: Travelling time gets doubled no matter about Diwali where you go and what time you set out. Tempers fray, instances of road rage increase, and don’t even get me started on the amount of fuel wasted. The hampers: Ah yes, the hampers. The basON’T GET me wrong. I like a celebration kets full of rubbish, most of which, I suspect, as much as any other Indian. And like has been hastily recycled from one basket to everyone else, I wait all year for the fesanother (though, on the bright side, it does make tive season to come around. There is the first hint it more eco-friendly). Gone are the days when a of winter in the air; the markets are lit up, gleamdabba of mithai would suffice. Now you have to ing like new brides; and the annual round of parsource exotic chocolates, endless pastry prodties promises some great food and drink. What’s ucts, jars of olives, and that obligatory bottle of not to like? And I do like it very much indeed. wine/champagne. Honestly, why not just send a But of late, the build-up to Diwali has left me diya and be done with it? reaching for the sick bag as the commercialisaCard parties: Oh God, how I loathe them! All tion of the festival reaches new heights every year. that huddling around a table, staring furtively And as the original spirit of the day – to celebrate at your cards, refusing to wind up the game so the triumph of good over evil, the victory of light that dinner can be served at a decent hour, and over darkness – dies a deafening death every year, then moaning and groaning about how much I get more and more disillusioned by what we money you have lost. How can this be anyone’s idea of a party? have turned Diwali into. From a festival of light it has been transDiwali melas: They are my idea of hell. It is as if the entire formed into an orgy of noise; from a day of prayer, when we welcollection of second-rate products in the world has been comed the Goddess Lakshmi and the spirit of prosperity into our brought together in one place so that you can choose from homes, it has turned into a celebration of conspicuous consumpamong a treasure trove of tasteless tat (once you’ve found parktion; and from an occasion to get together with friends and famiing for your car, a near-impossible feat). Isn’t it time we redisly, it has become an endless round of social events where onecovered the charm of shopping for Diwali at our own locals? upmanship is the name of the game. The spam: It starts from the week before, as every compaEvery year, as I settle down to clean the debris of the festival, ny/PR outfit/shop/restaurant that has bought your phone sending off hampers of baked goods and mithai to the neighnumber off some master list starts inundating you with SMSs. bourhood orphanage, I can’t help but reflect on how soulless and Get 20 per cent off on Diwali dinner if you buy a loyalty card; impersonal our Diwalis have become. So here, in no particular say no to crackers; buy a new flat. order of importance, is a list (by no means exhaustive) of what I The crackers: Diwali has long since been transformed have come to hate about Diwali. into a festival of sound rather than a celebration of light, The advertisements: The build-up starts weeks before the but of late the cracker menace is getting even worse. I’m not festival, as every company worth its marketing budget one of the green brigade that believes that crackers will bring starts bombarding its target customers with exhortations to about the end of civilisation as we know it, but I can’t help buy, buy, buy – and then buy some more. Buy your wife gold jewbeing appalled at just how over-the-top the fireworks display ellery; buy your mother a bigger, better fridge/TV/expensive has got of late. As children, we were happy to light our electronic appliance of choice; buy your kids a new phone/iPad. phooljharis and anaars and set off the odd As I flip through newspapers or surf TV HAMPER HEADACHE rocket. But the sheer scale of cracker-bursting channels, I can’t help but wonder how this Gone are the days when a dabba these days is both scary and repellent. Just affects people who can’t afford any of this of mithai would suffice how much money do we blow up every stuff. Do they feel like failures because Diwali, and how much damage do we they can’t buy new clothes for their kids, do to our environment (never leave alone jewellery for their wives? Do mind, scaring the life out of little they get depressed at the thought that children and dogs)? I can’t help theirs will be the only family in the but think that if all of us curtailed neighbourhood not to get a new TV or our expenditure on some – if not all – sofa set? Is the festival effectively of the above and gave the money ruined for them because they can’t saved to charity, it would be a true afford all those goodies, so seductivecelebration of Diwali: the festival that ly set out for their delectation? marks the triumph of good over evil. The traffic: Yes, it does become a seema_ht@rediffmail.com. Follow Seema on Twitter at bit of a nightmare, doesn’t it, as twitter.com/seemagoswami the entire city gets behind the wheel
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Weeks before the festival, every company starts bombarding its customers with exhortations to buy, buy, buy
WHERE’S THE FUN?
Seema Goswami
spectator
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REEL WORLD
The Name is Bourne
So, who’s your favourite super spy? by Aasheesh Sharma
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AKE THE bloody shot!” barks M through the microphone to Naomie Harris as Bond struggles to keep steady and topple a terrorist off a train in Istanbul. Despite the telescopic sight, instead of the baddie, Bond takes the bullet. Double-O-Seven falls off a cliff into the water. That is how the opening credits of Skyfall unspool. Of course,
the superhero will survive and bounce back to be born again. Wait a second. Did you just hear, “The name is Bourne, Jason Bourne”? Doesn’t the sequence remind you of the opening sequence of The Bourne Identity? In the celebrated trilogy based on Robert Ludlum’s books (The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The
Bourne Ultimatum), Matt Damon played the spy who survives after he’s been shot and falls into the sea too.
JB VERSUS JB
The similarities don’t end with the initials and incredible opening sequences. For decades, Ludlum fans have known that his books have been flaunting this blurb by Entertainment
Weekly: “Reading a Ludlum novel is like watching a Bond film… slickly paced… all consuming.” And much before Hollywood discovered Ludlum’s multi-billion dollar potential, Mario Puzo, the ‘Godfather’ of crime fiction, had anointed him an “ingenious storyteller”. But not many know that Ludlum himself wrote a special essay for Entertainment Weekly in 1992 (James at 30), where he expressed his admiration for the literary genius of Ian Fleming: “Fleming was a contemporary nexus, a vital connection, as well as a necessary contribution, that forced my generation of suspense writers to look deeper into the intrigues – political, geopolitical and international – than we might have before he arrived in print.” Observers surmise the opening of The Bourne Identity was inspired by the ending of You Only Live Twice, on what might happen if Bond forgot who he was. Aamir Ghajini Khan, take a bow!
BONDING WITH BOLLYWOOD
Sriram Raghavan’s thriller, Agent Vinod, featuring Saif Ali Khan, had car chases, hot babes and spies a la Bond. The director, whose movies remind many of Vijay Anand’s, has confessed he’d borrowed the style of
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BOND AND BOURNE IN BOOKS AND MOVIES ■ Ian Fleming’s estate has
been commissioning others to author new novels, starting with Kingsley Amis, who wrote under the pseudonym Robert Markham for Colonel Sun (1968), followed by John Gardner, Raymond Benson, Sebastian Faulks, Jeffrey Deaver and William Boyd. ■ After Robert Ludlum passed away in 2001, his estate hired Eric Van Lustbader to continue the series. The Bourne Legacy (2004) was followed by The Bourne Betrayal (2007), The Bourne Sanction (2008), The Bourne Deception (2009), The Bourne Objective (2010), The Bourne Dominion (2011) and
The Bourne Imperative (2012). ■ Daniel Craig, 44, could well continue as Bond three more times before reaching his 50th birthday. Sean Connery played Bond seven times (from age 32 to 53), Roger Moore seven times (age 46 to 58) and Pierce Brosnan four times (age 42 to to 49.) ■ In 2002, the franchises first crossed paths when Matt Damon made his debut in The Bourne Identity and Pierce Brosnan had his final outing in Die Another Day.
shooting action sequences from the Bourne series and even shot one in Tangier, where The Bourne Ultimatum had an exciting rooftop chase. “The Bourne Identity is one of my favourite thrillers and the Matt Damon films are a great trilogy,” he says. Raghavan, who earlier paid tribute to James Hadley Chase in Johnny Gaddaar, confesses he is in love with the spy genre. “I love the Mission Impossible series and the Tom Clancy adaptations in which Harrison Ford plays Jack Ryan.” But Bond beats them all hollow, says Raghavan. “The Spy Who Loved Me has perhaps the most impressive pre-title sequence when after a ski chase, Bond jumps off a cliff and a parachute unfolds. By the end of the title song by Carly Simon, I had decided I wanted to see it again. The film has the right mix of the realistic and the fantastic with Bond teaming up with a Russian spy to fight a megalomaniac villain. It also introduced the Jaws character. There’s a little homage to that in Skyfall.” Raghavan is not the only Bollywood filmmaker who swears by Bond. Tigmanshu Dhulia, who directed the acclaimed Paan Singh Tomar, says Bond is the real deal when it comes to spies. “Like millions I, too, was in love with 007 for years. But gradually the treatment of stunts in Bond movies was bettered by other franchises such as The Fast and The Furious and Mission Impossible. To make Bond distinctive, the studios began mak-
ing the character more psychological, particularly after the arrival of Daniel Craig. I love Craig’s portrayal of the spy. He has added a new layer to the character,” feels Dhulia. After the Cold War era, Bond, too, had to be up to speed. “Bond is 50 and the longest running franchise in films. The world has changed, the viewers have changed and it makes sense that Bond too changes,” says Raghavan. Raghavan agrees that Bond films featuring Pierce Brosnan had become a little outlandish before Craig’s arrival with Casino Royale. “Craig as Bond doesn’t come across as a mere action hero with glib lines. There is emotion in his face and he can make you feel for the character, however fantastic the situation. He is, perhaps, closest to the Ian Fleming character as in the books,” says Raghavan. And how can the high-octane world of spy films function without seductive women? Here, too, Bourne poses no competition to Bond who appears to have a licence to thrill. For Raghavan, an integral part of the 007 experience has been the Bond babes. And which one is his personal favourite? “There are too many to remember, but those with tremendous oomph were Ursula Andress, Halle Berry, Barbara Bach and Eva Green.” No wonder he can’t stop raving about The Spy Who Loved Me!
The new James Bond is beginning to look a lot like Jason Bourne
NOVEMBER 18, 2012
aasheesh.sharma@ hindustantimes.com
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WELLNESS Photos: THINKSTOCK
MIND BODY SOUL
SHIKHA SHARMA
BEAT DIABETES AT ITS OWN GAME
Managing your blood sugar need not be a bitter experience. Keep all that sweet stuff in check
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IABETES IS medically a lifestyle disorder, which essentially means that it arises out of the way we live and the choices we make – with nutrition balance, exercise, our stress coping capacity and other habits. It can be scary to hear about, but the good news is that diabetes is one of the few disorders that is most responsive to improvement if you make small changes in your diet and lifestyle. To make sure your blood sugar levels don’t control your entire life, there are several practical tips to follow.
SAY NO TO SUGAR Blood sugar is most affected by the kind of foods we eat. The most obvious cause is eating foods that cause your own blood sugar levels to shoot up. If you consume foods that take time to convert to sugar, then the body is
better able to maintain its insulin levels. The foods which convert to sugar rapidly in the body include all refined foods – flours like rice flour, cornflour, maida and sooji, refined sugar, sweetened fruit juices, bread, white flour noodles, potatoes, arrowroot and biscuits, sweet fruits, bakery foods and ready-to-eat items.
SAY YES TO FIBRE For diabetics, the best bets are foods in their original form that have their natural fibre intact. These include broken wheat (dalia), whole grains, dals that have their skin still on, all types of fibrous grains,
especially jowar and bajra. And those with high blood sugar needn’t shun all fruits. Papaya and sweet lime are the safest to eat, though most other fruits can be eaten in moderation. Just avoid the too-sweet fruits like banana, chikoo, musk melon and grapes. All fibres like oat bran, wheat bran and isabgol are good for diabetics. All vegetables, apart from arbi and potato, are good too. Green leafy vegetables are particularly good for those with sugar concerns. Among the nuts and oilseeds, most deliver nutrients without much harm. Flaxseeds are a particularly good source of omega acids, while almonds, pine nuts, walnuts, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds are healthy as well as tasty. Research has shown that diabetics need chromium which is good for insulin production. Nuts and seeds are a good source of chromium.
FRUITY SURPRISE
Papaya is the safest fruit for diabetics
SAY YES PLEASE TO SPECIAL FOODS Diabetes is a condition of an imbalance in the metabolic process, therefore it is essential to strengthen the liver as much as possible. To detoxify and strengthen the liver, it helps to consume herbs that are very FOREVER good for detoxification. FIBRE Choose aloe vera, which All fibres like can be taken as 20ml dioat bran and luted with water daily. wheat bran Or amla juice (one can are good for either eat one amla a diabetics day or one teaspoon of amla juice mixed with water in the morning). Cinnamon bark is good too. Crush a cinnamon stick and boil in water till the water changes colour. Consume two cups daily. Among other herbs, ginger is excellent for those who have adult onset diabetes. Drink a ginger infusion twice a day. Or turn to triphala – one teaspoon every night balances the vitiated pitta dosha very well. And approximately half a teaspoon of crushed jamun seed powder consumed daily with water works wonders too. The bitter flavour of karela may not
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SAY NO TO STRESS Diabetics, particularly those who are not overweight, can really control their condition if they improve their stress-coping abilities. Many have found great help in music therapy. Listening to mantras, bhajans or just calming sounds lowers the heart rate, cools you down and improves the nervous system’s ability to manage stress. Working
SMOOTH OPERATOR
You can control diabetes if you improve your stresscoping abilities
prayer beads also keeps the body in a smoother rhythm. Yoga seems to be the most effective stress buster of them all. Pranayam, anulom, vilom or naadi shodhan, and exercises which stimulate the manipur chakra are the most beneficial for stress level reduction. Both yoga and exercise help improve the levels of endorphins in the body, which calm the nerves and heal the system. You can also try water therapy. Dip your feet in warm water, run a tub bath or have a warm hip bath to improve the circulation of blocked energy. Ayurvedic therapies are specially beneficial for stressed-out diabetics. Abhayanga (a medicated oil massage), shirodhara (in which oil is gently trickled on the forehead on the ajna chakra), medicated enemas and mild laxatives all help coax the toxins from the body help the borderline diabetic to detoxify.
calm the nerves and allow the unhindered flow of energy throughout the body – all you need to stay fit despite diabetes.
EXERCISE YOUR STRESS AWAY
Yoga is the best way to deal with any stress
ask@drshikha.com
SAY YES TO EXERCISE Low impact activities such as yoga, tai chi and brisk walking not only keep the body active, they burn off excess energy, help to
Photo: GETTY IMAGES
be to everyone’s taste, but the fresh juice of the raw fruit, diluted in water, goes a long way to balance the sugar levels. Nothing however, helps more than just drinking enough water to detox and cleanse. To maintain blood sugar, drink nine glasses of water (make sure three of those are lukewarm) in addition to your other dietary choices and supplements. And this advice is great not just for those who are battling sugar on a daily basis but those who have other issues like weight too.
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PERSONAL AGENDA
twitter.com/HTBrunch
Singer/actor
Ali Zafar BIRTHDAY
PLACE OF BIRTH
May 18 (Taurus) Lahore, Pakistan
FIRST BREAK
My first album Huqa Paani
HIGH POINT OF LOW POINT OF YOUR LIFE YOUR LIFE
Career wise, my first I try and forget them hit song, first hit film and not talk about them
CURRENTLY DOING
Working on my next music album and feature film
Considering that voice and those looks, what is the minimum time you’ve needed to get a girl? (before you got married, of course) Romance can’t be captured in an hourglass. Would you rather be a singing actor or an acting singer? Why? I guess I started with singing, so I’ll always be more of AN ITEM OF CLOTHING a singing actor YOU COULD SPEND who perhaps is YOUR LIFE IN? now an acting singer for many. A cheesy boy band Achcha To Hum song that you sing Chaltey Hain. loudly in the car. Your all-time Quit Playing favourite read? Games With Conversations My Heart. with God, A Case Tell us the of Exploding storyline of Mangoes and any one Scar Tissue. episode of If you could get Baywatch (assuming you 24 hours to be the PM of were watching it for the plot). your country what would you do? Pamela Anderson was running, Talk. Brainstorm. Voice my running, running and running... opinion. Lay down various and bouncing. perspectives, possibilities and How and when did you meet goals. Be a voice for the youth. your wife? One Pakistani dish you would want I used to make 15-minute the world to know about? portraits in a hotel lobby. She Saag aur makkai ki roti. came to get hers done. I One product you think you are perfect framed her for life. to endorse? The romantic Hindi number you sang Family planning. for your first girlfriend? If you could change one thing about Humein Tumse Pyaar Kitna. yourself, what would it be? If you had to dodge this interview, I’d want to have a better memwhat song would you sing? ory for numbers and where I
Boxers
NOVEMBER 18, 2012
if i could... keep my wallet or cellphone. One Bollywood heroine you’ll never play brother to? Can’t think of any. One thing you cannot do without? (you can’t say music, wife, family!) Reading. One number you wish you had sung or composed? My Way by Frank Sinatra. Which is the most overrated song according to you? Pardesi Pardesi jaana nahin. Your dream destination? Probably the rainforests. I’ve been to all other dream spots. Your favourite singers? Mehdi Hassan, Kishore Kumar, Bade Ghulam Ali, Lataji, Elvis, Sinatra, Jimmy Page, Jeff Buckley, Sting. A tune you can’t get out of your head? Hey You by Floyd, for today. — Interviewed by Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi
I would jump off a cliff and fly ...sing on stage with Pink Floyd ...Have conversations with Ghalib, Mir Dard, Faiz, Iqbal ... watch Kishore Kumar record a song in a studio ...Distribute half of the wealth of the rich and not let any one starve