Hindustantimes Brunch 19 May 2013 by Hindustan Times

WEEKLY MAGAZINE, MAY 19, 2013 Free with your copy of Hindustan Times

Dibrugarh to Kanyakumari aboard the Vivek Express, the longest train journey in the country is one fantastic ride

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

hindustantimes.com/brunch by Aasheesh Sharma

Brunch Opinion

A discovery of India, by slow train W

anderlust runs in the family. I grew up listening to railway tales from my now-deceased father. Often the dinner-table conversation was about sleeping on a bale of cotton at Ratlam station and how many pieces of luggage he still had to claim from railway cloakrooms. So, when an assignment to travel on the Vivek Express, for the longest train journey in India (from Dibrugarh to Kanyakumari) came along, I jumped at it.

The train ride was an eye-opener. City hacks like my photographer colleague Arijit Sen and I had very little idea about how the rest of India, the much dissected ‘cattle-class,’ travelled. Two steps into the general compartment, where 200 workers were crammed into a space meant for 90, and we knew how. Many from the North-East’s impoverished hill regions look southward to make a living. But the young are unfazed by the odds stacked against them. That was one of the most inspiring bits of the journey. The other was listening to fellow travellers, trying to understand their worlds, wondering if our tracks would cross again. And no, I didn’t actually ONE-TRACK MINDS Aasheesh Sharma (left) and Arijit enquire about the luggage Sen during the longest train jour- lying unclaimed in the cloakney in India, on the Vivek Express rooms. That’ll stay between Papa and the Railways.

Photos: THINKSTOCK

Railway Checklist

What to read

What to watch

The Great Railway Bazaar, by Paul Theroux: One of the most authoritative travelogues on train travel, about the author’s fourmonth journey, travelling through Europe, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, before returning via the TransSiberian Railway. Exploring Indian Railways, by Bill Aitken: Very little escapes Aitken’s eye, as it pries into quaint bookshops and railway babudom. Train to Pakistan, by Khushwant Singh: The story of a Sikh boy and a Muslim girl whose love endures the trauma of Partition. Branch Line to Eternity, by Bill Aitken: About the charm of small, feeder lines off routes meant for fast trains. Because, writes Aitken, you cannot meet the divine head-on: You’ve gotta take a circuitous approach.

Closely Watched Trains, directed by Jirí Menzel (1966): The tale of a boy working at a station during World War II won the Best Foreign Language Oscar in ‘68. 27 Down, directed by AK Kaul (1973): MK Raina plays the son of a railway employee reluctant to join his father’s profession. Jab We Met, directed by Imtiaz Ali (2007): The modern-day railway romance, featuring hick town seedy hotels. Johnny Gaddaar, directed by Sriram Raghavan (2007): A heist movie with a thrilling sequence outside a first-class non-AC compartment.

On The Brunch Radar

by Saudamini Jain

That Dharmendra thinks Sallu is just like him. Aww? ■ Kittens climbing over shoulders ■ Finding a safety pin ■ Discovering new blogs ■ Movie theatres on hot summer afternoons ■

Cover design: Monica Gupta Cover photograph: Arijit Sen Cover image: The Vivek Express passes through Kerala’s lush landscape

Looking for life’s answers on Thought Catalog (thoughtcatalog.com) ■ Harry Potter references in adult conversations ■ Smartphones with fewer than 10 apps ■ Confusing it’s with its ■ Ferguson retiring

■

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

MAY 19, 2013

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

Drop us a line at:

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

by Shaoli Rudra

Travelling Pants

Around the world in films We love to travel and we love movies. It’s lovely when combined. Here’s what we propose, Pick one below, watch the movie and book a flight. Take this piece along. Barcelona as in Vicky Cristina Barcelona Head to Bar Marsella for liquid courage to take touristy pictures with the mosaic salamander in Parc Güell. Meet an artist with a raging libido at Els Quatre Gats. The café with links to Picasso, painting and poetry is perfect for a Spanish adventure. With your Juan Antonio in hand, head to the century-old Tibidabo Amusement Park for candyfloss and stunning views of the city. Then dinner at Hotel

Casa Fuster’s Café Vienés (apparently, Woody Allen plays the clarinet with his band when he’s here). At some point, have an affair. Or a threesome.

Paris as in Amélie Start with Amelie’s favourite crème brûlée at the Café des Deux Moulins in Montmartre. Work off the dessert with a run up the hill to the Basilica of the Sacré-Cœur. Ride the funicular to Place Saint-Pierre for a rendezvous with the carousel and a spectacular view of Paris. Skip stones along the water at Canal

Saint-Martin. And say cheese to any automatic photo booth in Paris’ metro and rail stations (in a Zorro costume, of course).

New Zealand as in Lord Of The Rings Head to Matamata on the North Island and soak up some sun in the Hobbits’ beloved Shire. Wander around Wellington’s Kaitoke Regional Park, the Elvish realm of Rivendell. And, off to Twizel where Aragorn and co fought Sauron’s orcs in the epic battle of Pelennor Fields.

Drive to the summit of Mount Cardrona on the South Island for a panoramic view of some Middle Earth landmarks.

Switzerland as in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge Pack a chiffon saree, find a Raj. Miss your train at Zweisimmen. Fish in Lake Lungerer singing Tujhe Dekha Toh Yeh Jaana Sanam. Profess your love on Saanen Bridge up north Switzerland (get your Raj to go ‘palat… palat’ there). Pray for true love (or world peace) at

the church in St Grat, then head to Alpenrausch aka The Chopra Lake to unwind and show off that saree.

Czech Republic as in Rockstar Take the tortured artist in you to the neogothic Sychrov Castle in the Liberec Region. Locate your own ‘long-lost-love-whonow-lives-in-Prague’. Maybe

you’ll find her on the ramparts of Prague or Karlštejn Castles. Else, serenade somebody wandering about Vrtbovska Garden. Go culture vulture-ing at the Prague State Opera before singing one last soulful ballad as the sun sets over Charles Bridge.

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C OV E R STO RY

SUCH A

THE SISTERHOOD

Sister Janet Baby, a teacher in Arunachal Pradeshâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Miao Diocese, says coming by train helped her mingle with other nuns (unlike the time she went by air) THE FLAG-BEARER

The guard is the lord of all he surveys. M Abubacker (left) let the HT Brunch team travel with him in the brake van in the final stretch from Trivandrum to Kanyakumari MAY 19, 2013

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LONG JOURNEY

As rail travel in India completes 160 years, Aasheesh Sharma and photographer Arijit Sen embark on the adventure of a lifetime aboard the Vivek Express, the country’s longest train ride

N A HOT summer afternoon in 1853, as the first steam locomotive pulled out of Bombay, India entered the rail era. Today, 160 years later, even at a time when the Railways are making headlines for the wrong reasons, a ride aboard the Vivek Express is the opportunity of a lifetime. It’s India’s longest train ride, starting from Dibrugarh in Assam and sweeping down the eastern coast to culminate at Kanyakumari. It covers a staggering 4,300 km (more than 1/10th the earth’s circumference), in an unforgettable four-night-three-day grind. Having grown up reading the works of adventurers such as Jules Verne and Rudyard Kipling, I wasn’t short of inspiration. Boning up on

railway fiction might help you prepare for 82 hours on the tracks, but as India flashes by the window, nothing prepares you for what lies inside: a journey that opens your eyes to ways of travelling and surviving the Great Indian Railways experience. Perhaps, a line by author Paul Theroux about the romance of travel comes close: “You go away for a long time and return a different person you never come all the way back.”

THOUGHTS FOR FOOD

At Dibrugarh, as I settle my portly 85-kg frame into the lower berth, an old Railways tagline: “To learn a thousand dialects, eat a thousand cuisines and meet a million people, you need one berth,” comes to mind. For a few moments, I let my mind wander.

OPENING SHOWERS

The skies open up at Dibrugarh, where the journey to Kanyakumari begins

■ Named after: Swami Vivekanand, since the train ends at Kanyakumari, which has the philosopher’s memorial ■ Launched: November 19, 2011 ■ Journey distance: 4,273 km , more than 1/10 the circumference of the earth ■ Scheduled halts: 56 stations in 8 states ■ Time taken: 82 hours, 15 minutes ■ Average speed: 51 km an hour. The average speed of a Rajdhani or Shatabdi Express is about 130 kilometres an hour ■ Frequency: Every Saturday from Dibrugarh in Assam; the same train returns next Saturday from Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu ■ Cheapest ticket: `545 for a general class ticket ■ Most expensive ticket: `3,475 for a two-tier AC berth

SWEET SOMETHINGS

At Durgapur Junction in West Bengal, the first vendors of mishti doi make their appearance. It is the best dessert one can hope to feast on, on this journey FREEDOM SONG

Avi Chishi and Vikali Sumi, students from Dimapur, Nagaland, are excited about their first holiday outside the NorthEast, in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu MAY 19, 2013

Map: MUKESH SHARMA

THE VIVEK EXPRESS

C OV E R STO RY

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It’s a nocooking train. For passengers, the staff picks up lunch from different stations on the route BERTH WITH A VIEW

A child watches the world pass by from the sleeper compartment. Those in the AC section don’t have as clear a view Travelling more than 4,000 km across mountains, rivers, backwaters and the sea, I could learn many tongues and let my tastebuds explode with a hundred local flavours. Ah food! As usual, it manages to derail my train of thought! I make my way across the two-tier AC compartment to meet pantry manager Ramen Mahato. He can’t be serious! I blurt out aloud. The subject of my incredulity is Mahato’s statement: “This is a cooking-free train. Aboard the Vivek Express, meals are prepared only for staff, not travellers.” I have visions of turning cannibalistic. “What about bona fide ticket holders?” I ask in my best Hannibal Lecter voice. “Are we meant to go on a fast and die a slow death?” “For them, the service staff picks up meals. Lunch from Guwahati, dinner at Alipurduar, and so on,” says Mahato, and my stomach rumbles in relief. At Lumding in Assam, the first lot of public pariahs – urchins, beggars and a group of eunuchs – makes an appearance. “The cops extracted R200 from a fauji for drinking on the train,” a beggar who goes by the name of Jishnu, tells me with a wink. “What’s a couple of swigs of whisky

Catering staff at Vijaywada sport T-shirts that say ‘Beware of theft’ in Telugu and Hindi

DESTINY’S CHILD

Beryl King, 24, from Dimapur, is one of those rare passengers who has family in both Kerala as well as Nagaland. She says the train is an ideal choice for people like her SOLDIER COMES HOME

Havaldar Simon KM of the Assam Rifles is taking saplings of cacti grown in Nagaland, which bear flowers in 13 resplendent hues, to his hometown in Kerala MAY 19, 2013

when the nation has the Chinese incursion to worry about?” says a Border Roads Force subedar, as he draws red curtains over his side berth and draws at his drink, before retiring for the night and unleashing a fusillade of snoring glory.

BERTH OF A NATION

The insurgency-ravaged states of the North-East are home to soldiers from the army and paramilitary forces. Till the Vivek Express was launched in 2011, a soldier, say, from Kerala, stationed in Assam, had to change trains four times to reach his destination. “Now, the two extra days I get to spend with my family are worth their

weight in gold biscuits from the Gulf,” says Havaldar Simon KM of the Assam Rifles, stationed in Arunachal Pradesh. The Vivek Express brings together a multiplicity of people across eight states from remote regions and backgrounds. A frequent traveller on the train, Beryl King, 24, could unwittingly become a brand ambassador for this brand of integration. The polyglot teacher, who boards the train in Dimapur, is headed to Ernakulam to meet her extended family on her departed father’s side. King’s father, an engineer from Kerala, couldn’t converse in anything but Malayalam and English when he was working in Nagaland. Her mother, for whom anything other than Nagamese (a mixture of Naga, Assamese and Hindi) was alien, didn’t know English. “But love knows no language and they got married,” says King. In three-tier AC, as Boney M’s Hooray, ...it’s a holi-holiday blares from their phones, two nattily dressed Naga girls from Dimapur stand out with their exuberance. “I am kicked!” says Avi Chishi, a 24-yearold student of theology, as she switches off the speaker and gives her headphones to Vikali Sumi, 22. “We hadn’t ventured beyond Guwahati till yesterday. And today, here we are, headed to the edge of the subcontinent,” says Sumi. As the hilly terrain of Assam makes way for Bengal, rows of thatched roofs and concrete houses run alongside the track. On the garishly painted walls, advertisements for Amul Macho ‘Yeh To Bada Toing Hai’ innerwear compete with Railway employee union slogans in Bengali. Peddling products on a moving train is a business model which thrives on Chinese imports. So, vendors at New Jalpaiguri try to sell me a Chinese smartphone for R1,200 and a tablet for R8,000. I settle for a charger with sockets in fluorescent orange, yellow, pink and blue for R100 and plug it in. Soon, pantry staff and even strangers from sleeper class approach me with requests to charge their gadgets, many of them bearing the inscription: MADE IN CHINA..

WINDOWS 2013

A window view of the general compartment. It is meant for close to 90 people, but actually had more than 200

C OV E R STO RY

hindustantimes.com/brunch PIT STOP

Ongole Junction in Andhra Pradesh has a number of important trains passing through it hoarding built like a split-screen TV panel discussion, replete with badly translated sermons such as ‘Lane Mein Jayiye Choron Se Bachiye’ (Join The Queue To Avoid Thieves) and ‘Budda Aadmiyon Se Madad Karo’ (Help The Elderly), issued by one M Kantha Rao, SP, Railway Police, along with his phone number.

OUTPATIENTS DEPARTMENT

RIDING WITH THE LOCO PILOTS

Doi, doi, mishti doi. At Durgapur, the first vendors of sweetened curd bring that unmistakable Bengali touch to the platform. With a 30-minute stop for change of engine from diesel to electric, the halt is ideal to meet the charioteers of our train. So, between the industrial town best known for its steel plant and Asansol, loco pilot RB Ram, 53, and his assistant Rajiv Kumar allow us access to their world. Outside the drivers’ cabin, truck after truck from the Raniganj coalfields drives past. The undulating landscape is a maze of monster factories, tin sheds, lorry drivers and electrical wires. Inside, with the assurance of a veteran, loco pilot RB Ram is shouting instructions to his junior on railway signals. Neither are allowed to use phones or take loo breaks. On the third day, we halt at Andhra Pradesh’s Vijayawada junction. Vendors selling piping hot dosai, idlis and vadais, are wearing orange T-shirts that proclaim ‘Beware of thieves’ in Telugu and Hindi. Curiosity piqued and an idli-vada picked, I ask them why they have this message on their T-shirts. “Police order, saar,” is as forthcoming as the answers get. Befuddled, I follow the closest man wearing khaki and a pot belly. He points me to a

MORE ON THE WEB For the full story, a gallery of candid images from the Vivek Express and exclusive videos, log on to www. hindustantimes. com/brunch

A group of travellers alights at Katpadi Junction, near the Christian Medical College, Vellore. Swarup Dutta, a 32-yearold telecom engineer from Dibrugarh, is taking his dad Subir Kumar Dutta, 60, for spine treatment. “The extent of personal care there is much better than Assam,” says Dutta Junior. Lack of quality healthcare isn’t the only reason residents of the North-East embark on the gruelling journey. For slightly more than R500, migrant workers take the 4,000-km leap of faith: seeking work in rubber factories, even if it means travelling unreserved, packed like sardines. Right from New Tinsukia in Assam – a catchment area for Kafkaesque contractors looking for cheap labour – the general compartment starts getting packed. At Malda, six workers invade the lavatory, Occupy

LAND’S END

The Vivek Express culminates at Kanyakumari, the southern extremity of the country

DRIVING FORCE

At Durgapur, loco pilots RB Ram (left) and his assistant Rajiv Kumar allow us a rare glimpse of the drivers’ cabin. They are not allowed mobile calls on the job LONE RANGER

Railways attendant Krishna Kumar (left) is one of the few staffers who travel the entire stretch from Dibrugarh in Assam to Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu

GET STUFFED

Piping hot samosas at Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, are sold out in no time MAY 19, 2013

Wall Street style, and refuse to come out. After Chengannur in Kerala, where most people alight, the Vivek Express turns into a ghost train. One of the last few passengers left is Sister Janet Baby, 37, of Arunachal Pradesh’s Miao Diocese. “This trip was special. The last time I came by plane spending R20,000, I couldn’t mingle with other nuns,” she says.

GUARD’S OWN COUNTRY

On our fourth morning on the train, we cajole and coerce Guard M Abubacker to let us travel with him in the brake van. We are cruising through the Kerala backwaters, full of swaying palms, the smell of the ocean nearby, in the company of a raconteur. Abubacker, 57, opens his trunk (that has flags, maps, torches and a detonator) and heart to us. At Kanyakumari, the Land’s End of the country, the final few stragglers get off. The township is revered for the Vivekananda Memorial, named after the philosopher. The legend goes, standing in the waters of Kanyakumari, if one had three legs, one could plant them each in the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. It is a logical conclusion where the rivers of faith, creed, culture and languages finally submerge. The track ends here. aasheesh.sharma@hindustantimes.com

indulge

THE CULT OF CHANEL

The combination of historical branding and excellent products explains why Chanel retains its position at the top of the fashion totem

Photo: GETTY IMAGES

THE ICON

One or two of the handbags from Chanel are iconic (the 2.55 for instance) and therefore, easily recognisable

Photo: GETTY IMAGES

HE’S FOR REAL!

Most people who buy Dior these days don’t know that Christian Dior (right) was a real person

Vir Sanghvi

rude fashion

HERE ARE long queues outside the Chanel store on the Rue Cambon in Paris. At the Galleries Lafayette department store, the story is the same. Crowds of shoppers line up to enter the in-store Chanel boutique. Ditto at the Chanel concession at Printemps, another Paris department store. And indeed, as the summer begins, so do the queues outside Chanel stores all over the world: London, New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai and elsewhere. Chanel is not the only brand to attract these crowds. Sometimes the lines outside Louis Vuitton are longer. But those queues are more easily explained. They comprise tourists from the Far East – Japan, and increasingly, mainland China – who want to buy bags with the easily recognisable LV monogram. For many of the Chinese who stand in line on the Champs Élysées, the product is not important. They will buy anything as long as it has the monogram. But Chanel is more difficult to explain. Yes, one or two of the handbags are iconic (the 2.55 for instance) and therefore, easily recognisable. But the bulk of the goods on sale have nothing like the ubiquitous monogrammed canvas that makes Louis Vuitton so attractive to Chinese people and bootleggers alike. Much of it is not easily identifiable as Chanel unless you know where to look (a clasp here, a chain there) and bag for bag, Chanel is far more expensive than Vuitton. Plus, there are the clothes. At Vuitton, even at rush hour, the rooms that stock the garments are thinly populated. But at Chanel, the clothes are often the point. So what accounts for the power of the brand? Why do people pay so much for Chanel clothes and accessories? And why, despite the lines outside the stores, does Chanel – unlike say, Vuitton – preserve its image as a quality brand for discerning people who like to buy clothes and accessories that seem elegant and timeless? Ask anybody at Chanel the secret of the brand’s success and they will give you answers that, while accurate, do not tell the full story: Chanel products are made to high standards; they tend to last; they involve a degree of craftsmanship; Karl Lagerfeld who does the women’s clothes is a genius and there is a heritage dating back to Coco Chanel herself. Ah yes, the heritage. No fashion house perpetuates the cult of its founder as assiduously as Chanel does. Most people who buy Dior these days don’t know that Christian Dior was a real person. The present day Vuitton company’s link to the original Louis Vuitton is increasingly tenuous and the publicity for Gucci edits out the passionate, battling Gucci family whose members were involved in plots to kill each other before going bust and being bought out by Arabs. (At present, the house is French-owned and no Italians have any major stake in it – MAY 19, 2013

SCENT OF A WOMAN

The second half of the Culture Chanel Exhibition at Paris is dedicated to Chanel No. 5 (left), Coco Chanel’s most famous ‘creation’

certainly not the Gucci family). I was reminded of the heritage of Chanel when I went to the new Culture Chanel Exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris last week. The exhibition divides itself into two parts. The first consists of paintings, letters and artefacts that have to do with the life of Coco Chanel. Jean-Louis Froment, the art exhibition expert who curated the show (Chanel gave him full control), makes the case that Coco Chanel’s life provided the inspiration for her creativity. Her love of wealthy (often British or German) men, her friendships with such artists as Salvador Dali, Jean Cocteau and Pablo Picasso and her love of European history contributed to the look we identify with Chanel today. This may well have been true and certainly, it helps the brand that it comes steeped in such a rich tradition of art and culture. But I sensed a disconnect between the first half of the exhibition with its memories of the young Coco and the second half which was dedicated to Chanel No. 5, her most famous ‘creation’ and still the best known perfume in the world (as well as a huge global bestseller with an ad campaign that is now fronted by Brad Pitt). We are expected to believe that No. 5 was the distillation of all of Coco Chanel’s experiences, and that its fragrance emerged out of her own life. It is a line that the public buys and one that helps Chanel rise above the Vuittons, Diors, Guccis and other fashion brands. (Only Hermès is generally regarded as its equal in the hierarchy of fashion). Except that it is not that simple. For a start, Coco Chanel did not design or create Chanel No. 5. After she had opened her boutique, she asked a perfumer called Ernest Beaux to invent a fragrance for her. Beaux came up with many samples and the story goes that Coco chose the fifth sample, hence the name No. 5. Nor did Coco Chanel own the fragrance. It was always produced for her by the Wertheimer family who were already in the fragrance business and who gave her a share of the profits. When the Nazis occupied France during World War II, the Wertheimers,

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Photos courtesy: CHANEL

IT’S ALL IN THE NOTES

ALL ABOUT COCO

The first part of the Culture Chanel Exhibition, currently on at Paris, consists of paintings, letters and artefacts (left and above) that have to do with the life of Coco Chanel who were Jewish, fled to America where they continued to make No. 5 (In New Jersey!). Coco turned against them, took up with a Nazi lover and tried to have their property confiscated because they were Jewish. When the war ended with the defeat of the Nazis, Chanel fled to Switzerland to escape the stigma of being a collaborator and the Wertheimers made No. 5 without any involvement from her. Finally, in the mid-Fifties, the Wertheimers made Coco a relatively generous offer: she could come back to France and resume making clothes under the Chanel brand-name. But they would own the company. Coco would only get an annual payment. Since that day, the Wertheimers have owned all of Chanel, but have remained obsessively low-profile. In the Sixties, when haute couture was dying (when Yves Saint-Laurent launched designer readyto-wear), Chanel’s fortunes took a dip and it ceased to be much more than a fragrance company. Its bottomline was entirely dependant on the scent of No. 5. When Coco died in 1971, her reputation as a couturier did not outlive her and the clothes business continued the slide that had begun during her last years. The House of Chanel revived and moved beyond fragrance only in the 1980s after the Wertheimers hired Karl Lagerfeld to design the clothes. Since then, Lagerfeld has done a masterly job of updating the basics of Coco’s style and turning out brilliant clothes year after year, offering change that reflects each season’s inspiration while preserving the continuity of the Coco Chanel look. Chanel is still privately owned by the Wertheimers so we have no way of knowing how much of the turnover comes from clothes and accessories and how much from fragrance. But I’m willing to bet that the perfumes contribute hugely to the profitability. Unlike many other houses which use large corporations to create fragrances for them, Chanel has always designed its own scents. Its current perfumer Jacques Polge is a legend in the trade and all the new Chanel fragrances you are likely to see are his work: Coco, Chance, Allure, Bleu,

Egoiste and the various extensions of each (Allure Sensuelle, Platinum Egoiste, Coco Noir etc.). Polge’s collaborator is the immensely talented Chris Sheldrake, whose background includes niche fragrances (including many for the Serge Lutens line). You have probably never heard of Sheldrake or Polge or Ernest Beaux or the Wertheimers, for that matter. This is not Chanel’s fault. The House does a lot to give credit to Polge and Sheldrake and all references to No. 5 usually include a reference to Beaux’s role as creator. (The refusal to provide any information about the Wertheimers, however, is entirely deliberate). The point is that while Polge is quite happy to discuss say, the creation of Bleu or Coco Noir, he is happiest submerging himself in the legacy of Coco Chanel. Even the Exclusifs, a niche line of sublime perfumes created by Polge and Sheldrake over the last few years, all take their names from references to Coco’s life: La Pausa after her villa, Coromandel after the screens she had in her apartment and so on. And the Wertheimers, extraordinarily enough, seem to bear Coco no ill-will for the way she treated them. Nor are they even willing to accept the credit for bringing her back from exile in the 1950s or for reinventing the House of Chanel in the 1980s. They prefer to remain faceless. It is, at one level, a magnanimous strategy. For all her faults as a human being, Coco was a remarkable woman and her legacy deserves to live on, as it does in Lagerfeld’s riffs on her look and in the continued success of No. 5. But, at another level, it is also a shrewd strategy. Nearly everybody who goes to Chanel buys into the cult of Coco and into the suggestion that the House is a seamless extension of her original 1920s work. The combination of that historical branding and the excellence of Chanel’s products works brilliantly. That’s why the shoppers line up outside Chanel stores. And that’s why Chanel retains its position at the top of the fashion totem. It is an amazing story. And at its root is that legendary fragrance which has continued to sell solidly for nearly a century. Some houses survive on the basis of their monograms. Chanel has flourished because of a divine scent: the most perfect combination of jasmine, rose, sandalwood, citrus and aldehydes ever devised. The Culture Chanel exhibition is open till 5th June at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris

The Exclusifs, a niche line of sublime perfumes (above) created by Jacques Polge (left) and Chris Sheldrake (far left) over the last few years, all take their names from references to Coco’s life

MAY 19, 2013

Photo: GETTY IMAGES

For all her faults as a human being, Coco was a remarkable woman and her legacy deserves to live on

CREATING HISTORY

The House of Chanel revived and moved beyond fragrance only in the 1980s after the Wertheimers hired Karl Lagerfeld to design the clothes

MORE ON THE WEB

For more SPECTATOR columns by Seema Goswami, log on to hindustantimes.com/ Brunch. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/ seemagoswami. Write to her at seema_ ht@rediffmail.com

phrase what you said so that I can subtly alter its meaning to fit in with my narrative this evening.”

Seema Goswami

WHEN THEY SAY “Now, please give me an honest

answer.”

WHAT THEY MEAN IS “You lying b*****d, I know that you are lying to me. And that you will continue to lie, and lie, and lie, because that is all you are capable of.” WHEN THEY SAY “Mr X has refused to appear on our channel because we don’t do soft interviews.” WHAT THEY MEAN IS “Our rival channel has managed to snap him up – but no harm in a little heckling to try and shame him into granting us an interview as well.”

WHEN THEY SAY “With the greatest respect,

sir…”

HE THING about news television in India is that what you see is rarely what you get. You have two channels claiming to have the same guest on ‘live’ at the same time even though that is a physical impossibility – unless the guy has cloned himself; in which case he should be ‘Breaking News’ and not part of a discussion programme (not that ‘Breaking News’ is ever either ‘breaking’ or even ‘news’). Questions asked at press conferences are passed off as one-on-ones. An ‘exclusive’ interview is one which every channel has managed to score. And so on. My favourite bits, however, are those ‘debate’ programmes in which people rarely say what they mean or mean what they say. And that goes for both the anchors asking the questions and the guests who are answering them. And half the fun of TV-watching lies in reading between the lines; in deciphering the difference between what people say and what they, in fact, mean. Let’s start with the anchors, because, well, we all know they are the real stars of the show, no matter how rich/powerful/famous the person they are questioning. So, let’s see how we can best decode their catchphrases.

WHEN THEY SAY “There cannot be trial by media. You cannot run a kangaroo court in TV studios in which you are accuser, judge, jury and executioner.” WHAT THEY MEAN IS “I have no answers to your questions. So I am going to act all outraged and pretend that you have no business asking them. Maybe somebody out there will buy it.”

WHEN THEY SAY “There is widespread outrage about (fill in details of the controversy du jour)” WHAT THEY MEAN IS “I read a few tweets about it on my Twitter timeline this afternoon and thought it had the makings of a story.”

WHEN THEY SAY “I’m sorry but your bias is showing. It is very clear which side you are on.” WHAT THEY MEAN IS “I am on very dodgy ground here. But on the grounds that offence is the best defence, I’m going to attack you personally. Maybe that will scare you into backing off.”

WHEN THEY SAY “I’m sorry but you are not really answering my

WHEN THEY SAY “Please allow me two minutes to make my

WHAT THEY MEAN IS “I’m really annoyed because you are not

WHAT THEY MEAN IS “Let me waffle on and eat up airtime with-

question.”

giving me the answer I am looking for.”

Photos: THINKSTOCK

WHAT THEY MEAN IS “Let me roughly para-

spectator

WHEN THEY SAY “Okay, so let me summarise what

you are saying…”

WHAT THEY MEAN IS “With the greatest disre-

spect, you scoundrel…”

WHEN THEY SAY “The nation wants to know…” WHAT THEY MEAN IS “I don’t have a clue what the

nation wants; but I’m guessing it would want the same things I do.”

So much for the news anchors. But what about the politicians who come on every evening to be interrogated – or harangued, hectored, pilloried, bullied, abused; pick whichever word works for you – in line with what the anchor perceives as the public mood that day? Are they any better? Not on your life. Let’s see if we can decode some of their pet phrases.

point – without interrupting.”

out ever answering your question. By the time my two minutes are up, you will move on to your next guest and I will be off the hook.”

WHEN THEY SAY “I’m sorry but I have to leave to appear on another channel.” WHAT THEY MEAN IS “This interview isn’t really going well for me. I may have better luck on another news show.” WHEN THEY SAY “We all know that you will do anything for

TRPs…”

WHEN THEY SAY

“Now, please give me an honest answer.”

WHAT THEY MEAN IS “You lying b*****d, I know that you are lying to me. And that you will continue to lie, and lie, and lie, because that is all you are capable of.”

MAY 19, 2013

WHAT THEY MEAN IS “The only reason I am on this show, even though I make a fool of myself on it every evening, is because of your TRPs. But what’s the harm in a little point-scoring.” And so it goes, on and on and on…

indulge

hindustantimes.com/brunch

ARE STANDALONE CAMERAS DEAD?

EVEN TECH IS SLIMMING DOWN

Rajiv Makhni

Think you don’t need a camera because your cameraphone is good enough? Think again

LENS POWER

You may think your cameraphone takes good pictures, but does it have an optical zoom like this?

STABLE SHOT

Optical Stabilisation – you’re not going to see this button on a cameraphone

ENERGY BOOST

Shoot many pictures on your smartphone, and you’ll see the battery go from full to empty in a short span of time MORE ON THE WEB

For previous columns by Rajiv Makhni, log on to hindustantimes. com/brunch. Follow Rajiv on Twitter at twitter.com/ RajivMakhni

HE DEATH knell for the standalone camera was sounded almost five years ago. After all, when you have a great camera with you at all times inside your phone, why waste time buying another one? It’s easy to take a picture, it’s there with you by default, it’s really simple to share the picture with friends or family or post it on Facebook or Twitter, you don’t need to fiddle with cables or storage cards to transfer pictures to a computer and there are now some awesome photo apps that can do real wizardry with your images. Why waste time, effort and money on another camera? Standalone Funeral: Add to this, the fact that cameras on smartphones have truly evolved and improved in leaps and bounds. Never have images from cameraphones looked better. Sensors are bigger, optics are state of the art, feature sets are bursting at the seams, scene modes actually work and the in-phone editing of the shots you’ve taken is quite good. On the other hand, sales of point-and-shoot cameras are down, and most people don’t seem to have a new standalone camera on their list of things to buy. Thus it seems that the funeral of the camera is imminent, right? Wrong, very wrong! Blurred Memories: We live in a world of optical compromise and mediocrity – we just don’t know it. Just because a camera is built into the phone and you’re happy that you were able to reel off a series of shots at every happening and event doesn’t mean that you’ve got fantastic images. Yes, a picture is worth a thousand words but a soft, blurry, poorly lit one is worth just one word: Embarrassing. In this world of Facebook and Twitter – where every out-of-focus and badly pixelated picture gets a barrage of oohs and aahs – all you’re doing is populating your timeline with shoddy images to remember the major events of your life. If a picture is all about bringing back memories and emotions, then unfortunately the milestones of your life will now be seen as a series of dingy, dilapidated and tacky photographs. The Proof: Think I’m exaggerating? Do this quick experiment. Take your state-of-the-art cameraphone and shoot three pictures (a person blowing out a birthday candle in a dark room, a child running fast across a room and a bright red flower against green grass). Take the same shots with any standalone camera that is about one year old. Now open the pictures on a notebook with a 15-inch screen or more. Shocked? Yes, those pictures that looked awesome on your smartphone’s small little screen look horrendous now, don’t they? Where did those jagged edges come from, how is it so out of focus and what happened to those colours? It’s almost impossible for a cameraphone to spit out

Manufacturers have now developed cameras that can give you DSLR quality in a slim point-and-shoot body images that rival a standalone camera. There’s just way too much going on inside the phone, including multiple antennae firing away, plus very little space to get all the optics in. Here are the main reasons why standalone cameras aren’t going away in a hurry. Optical Zoom: The Achilles heel of all cameraphones and the most common feature in all standalones. This is itself the single biggest reason to get an extra camera. While there will be cameraphones that will finally get in a 3X optical zoom soon, it’ll be a serious compromise and won’t be able to rival the real thing. Image Stabilisation: As phones keep getting thinner, lighter and smaller – they shake even more every time you take a picture. Even a little movement will end up as a big blurry picture. While some cameraphones tout image stabilisation – it’s all digital and mostly a gimmick that leads to image deterioration. You need optical image stabilisation like in standalone cameras, and that is just a pipe dream right now. Other Features: Burst shot mode (or continuous high speed) in cameraphones can only happen at a lower resolution. Real auto focus and pre focus is impossible as phones don’t have a real lock-down shutter button, macro shoots totally suck and shooting text or a document comes out unreadable. Also, in-camera editing and adjustments are still light years behind; plus it’s impossible to get real filters and add-on lenses for phones. Other Issues: No standalone camera will interrupt that perfect picture with an incoming call and no standalone camera will leave you gasp- SWIM THING ing for battery life just because you took an New camera models are extra 30 pictures with the flash on. Plus standwaterproof and alone cameras represent shockproof – great value today. You can unlike your get a R6,000 point-and-shoot pricey, delicate that will blow the socks of cameraphone your R43,000 cameraphone. The Fight Back: Traditional camera manufacturers aren’t just standing still and letting this war polish them off. They are hitting back hard with great innovations and fantastic features, such as cameras that can shoot deep underwater with no additional cover, cameras that can give you DSLR quality in a slim point-and-shoot body, fullbody DSLRs at price points that were impossible a year ago, super optical zooms that can shoot a closeup of a bird in mid-flight and connected cameras that can let you share and upload just like your phone. Do yourself a favour. Carry a well-priced, well made, thin and slim, full-feature set camera the next time you leave your home. You’ll be shocked with the photographic treasures you’ll come back with.

techilicious

Add-on lenses can change the optical performance of a camera

MAY 19, 2013

Rajiv Makhni is managing editor, Technology, NDTV, and the anchor of Gadget Guru, Cell Guru and Newsnet 3

FITNESS

Dr ills

Sp or ts

A footballer runs anywhere between six to ten kilometres in a 90-minute game. That’s why Pronoy Roy’s drills will give you amazing stamina

How PRONOY ROY exercises every muscle and body part HURDLES RUN: For strong legs, improved core and abdominal strength 1) Run by raising your knee as high as possible, but take small steps. 2) Jump over each hurdle quickly. 3) Don’t take long jumps to skip hurdles. Repetitions: Do 10 or more. Then rest and get back for another 10 rounds.

by Manit Moorjani ZIG-ZAG RUNS: For fast and agile legs, and waist strengthening 1

n i m

Photo: ANIL CHAWLA

Hit The Ground Running

ORMER DELHI goalkeeper, Pronoy Roy, dives sideways on the hard mud to catch the football, landing on the PRONOY ROY ground with a thud, ball in hand. And Roy has played with Kolkata’s he does this over and over again, almost 20 times, stretching fully as if Mohammedan he’s diving into a swimming pool. The Sporting Club, Goa’s Salgaocar FC and as only difference is that he lands on the goalkeeper for rough sand each time. After a few minutes Delhi. His fitness of this practice session, he moves to another set mantra: “Try and jog of goalkeeping exercises. And to get the body going 2.5 km every day in 20 for such a drill, he’s already had an hour-long warm- minutes,” he says. “It isn’t as tough as it up session before. “My basic workout includes circuit training for 45 sounds.” minutes. There are long and short runs, jumps, drills with cones and hurdles and sand training. Only once my muscles are warm enough with these exercises, do I start the training for my goalkeeping,” says the footballer who represented Delhi from 2008 to 2010 in the country’s national championship, the Santosh Trophy. A footballer’s game can well be judged by leg strength and endurance. Roy’s zig-zag running through cones may look simple. But this drill involves quick movement of the feet and lightning twists of the mid-section. Maybe that’s what keeps his waistline so tidy! Roy’s high knee jumps and side hops add the finishing touches to his routine. Most of these drills are aimed at building agile legs, but along the way, they can give you chiselled abs too. “Doing crunches and leg raises build a strong abdomen, both lower and upper. But basic twisting as an exercise gives you a strong spine,” explains Roy. lats. But I can’t do any of these unless I build my basic However, in a professional match, Roy requires even endurance through outdoor freehand drills. These are the more strength and endurance. That’s why he goes to the foundations. In a gym you can only build on them.” gym as well. “For more power, I focus on individual musFor Roy, football runs in the family. Zinedine Zidane and cle groups separately,” says the player who first signed up Oliver Kahn might be his favourite players, but his childwith Kolkata’s Mohammedan Sporting Club in 2007, hood inspiration was his own father, who represented India before moving on to Goa’s Salgaocar FC for the next three from ’82-’86. years. “I do specific exercises for the quadriceps, hammanit.moorjani@hindustantimes.com strings, calf muscles, inner groin, shoulders, back and the

In this three-part series, young sportsmen show us how doing their exercises is enough to keep fit PART 2: FOOTBALL

1) Arrange 5 or 6 hurdles/cones in a straight line, with a gap of two feet between each. And then another line parallel to it. 2) Run through the space between hurdles in a zig-zag manner, changing direction 2 quickly after every hurdle. 3) Make sure your runs are as quick as possible, and the direction change is swift. This is where the waist is being exercised. 4) Do the drill from the start to the end, and then slowly jog back from the side to the first hurdle. Repetitions: Do 10 continuous rounds, and give yourself a good rest. Then get back for 10 more.

Illustrations by: PRASHANT CHAUDHARY

MAY 19, 2013

TUCK JUMPS: For strong thighs, calves, powerful mid-section and core strength

MORE ON THE WEB For more images of Pronoy Roy and his drills, log on to hindustantimes.com/brunch

1) With the same arrangement of hurdles or cones, hop over them one after the other. 2) As you jump, bring your knees near your chest. And that’s only half the tough part. 3) As your feet reach the ground, jump again quickly, in a spring-up action. Your aim is to touch the ground as little as possible. Repetitions: 10 rounds are enough to tire most people. Bet you can’t go for another 10.

WELLNESS

twitter.com/HTBrunch

MIND BODY SOUL SHIKHA SHARMA

CAN YOU TURN AWAY FROM TEMPTATION? Even the smartest of us can sometimes fall prey to our mindless food cravings. Here’s how to break the cycle

ALL IT the flip side of plenty. While much of the world dreams of a simple square meal a day, those of us in bigger cities have cravings that have little to do with actual hunger. Post-lunch hankerings for chocolate, a random longing for Thai curry, a taste for spicy pickle. Cravings are a common challenge when one tries to manage one’s diet and weight. They’re hard to beat every time.

MIND GAME

I WANT IT NOW

Common textures we crave: Crunchy: Biting into something makes a satisfying sound. Chips companies know this. Chewy: Wanting to chew on something is a primordial urge. When we eat in a hurry we miss the pleasure of chewing. Cool and creamy: Why else do cafes do so well? Any smoothie or cold coffee lover knows that it’s the temperature and texture that hits the spot.

Temptation, craving or whatever one might call it, originates from an area of the brain which is also the spot from where drug cravings originate. This area lights up the moment it gets the food one desires. Over time, this activates the book time for when your tummy is nerve pathways and the whole sealready full. quence of action and reaction beFind a substitute: Munch on roastcomes more automated till the ed channa, not chips, when the response to cravings goes cricket match is on. Nibout of control. This is when ble on beetroot, carone loses judgement and rot and cucumber will do anything to get sticks with a hung one’s fix. curd dressing when While food cravings are you’re reading or nowhere as extreme working on a project. as drug- or alcoholSubstitute plain popinduced ones, a major corn or murmura for trigger to bring on a fried crunchy snacks. craving is stress. Replace salty and fatty Other triggers infoods with cholesterolclude anxiety, borefree roasted peanuts. dom and lack of sleep. TONGUE TIED For a caffeine kick, Sweet, salty and abandon cappuccino fatty are common FIGHT THE URGE and cola for cinnamon, taste cravings Beating a craving is a cardamom and ginger mind game too. Know what is triginfusions. gering your cravings. Then finding Flush it out: Drinking water also a healthy replacement will be easy. takes care of food cravings. Many Break the habit: If your routine is times we end up eating more food to start the workday with a trip to when our body is actually craving the coffee machine, water. Hydrating yourbreak the cycle by takMAKE THE SWITCH self surprisingly blunts ing another route to If you can’t stop a most food cravings. your desk. Like eating craving, at least eat ask@drshikha.com something healthy and reading? Reserve

Photos: THINKSTOCK