WEEKLY MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 21, 2012 Free with your copy of Hindustan Times
That’s what we are calling ourselves today. We sought out everything horror-related and found it all hilarious! Halloween is just around the corner. Here’s our trick and inside is your treat...
indulge
VIR SANGHVI
Food for the dude
SANJOY NARAYAN
The Stones, and more
RAJIV MAKHNI
Doesn’t sound right
SEEMA GOSWAMI Girl, interpreted
B R E A K FA S T O F C H A M P I O N S
hindustantimes.com/brunch From The Front Page
THE COVER BOY
Sumit Kumar, who has done the cover illustration, is a cartoonist based in Delhi. His first graphic novel The Itch You Can’t Scratch has gained a strong cult following (meaning: not a mainstream one). His Kashmir Ki Kahani for Newslaundry.com has had mainstream acclaim. He is currently working on the third part of Kashmir Ki Kahani and his webcomic – Aaapki Poojita.
Brunch Opinion
WHAT A NICE SURPRISE. BRING YOUR ALIBIS
by Saudamini Jain
verybody loves a healthy dose of horror. Even us, a mostly weakhearted bunch here at Brunch. Halloween is around the corner (October 31, keep your pumpkins ready!), so we decided to open our bag of special tricks to treat you. “Nobody cares about Halloween in India,” said the dissenters. “Everybody loves horror!” we argued. “Let’s make her spend a night at a cemetery,” someone suggested. We figured haunted city Bhangarh was much scarier. “How about a story on how the Brunch office is haunted?” It wasn’t. We even used this ouija board to
communicate with spirits. For newsfolk, spirits are only things that get you drunk. “Should we ask Ruskin Bond to write a ghost story for us?” But nobody’s scared of rustling winds in the hills anymore. The ideas kept pouring in. It helped that the lady boss had just discovered Supernatural . Then a fellow Bruncher found a paranormal tour. A little more of this and a little more of that, wherever we went, we found ghost (stories). We even wrote one of our own. So, this Sunday, we’re the official ghostseekers. We put all of this together and in this issue lie our booty, blood, jokes and all.
“With four editions, this is definitely a horror special!”
Things You Should Have Heard About
THANK YOU for giving us a nifty guide (Live it up, October 14) to do more than just survive these hard times. When festivals are around the corner too! Good old Brunch comes to the rescue of dispirited shopaholics and spendthrifts with nicely researched tidbits about offers and freebies in the virtual and real world. Enough reasons to smile? — VATSALA WALIA, via email Vatsala wins a Flipkart voucher worth `2,500. Congrats!
Yes to less expenses, more to shopping!
THE COVER story (Live It Up, October 14) was a great read with the right ingredients to live life kingsize on a tight budget and in style. The points regarding online shopping, credit card use and changes in eating out patterns can surely make life simpler without compromising on our interests. — BATUL RANGWALA, 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
Cover Illustration: SUMIT KUMAR
■ Tacky Hindi film songs at dandiya nights. Kill us now! ■ Celebrity weddings. We don’t care who designed what and who came with whom. Move on! ■ “Boys and girls mixing freely.” ■ Chowmein as bad news. Never! ■ Livestrong no more? More evidence against Tour de France cycling champ Lance Armstrong.
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
OCTOBER 21, 2012
by Shreya Sethuraman
■ Breaking the sound barrier. Follow in the footsteps of Felix Baumgartner. ■ Vintage cars. No fancy-schmanzy new car can match up! ■ Navratri. ’Tis the time to garba! ■ Yuvi’s double ton. The power player is back in the longer version of the game – Test matches beckon soon. ■ Crazy dialogues. Agar dil saand ho, toh har ladki bhains dikhayi deti hai! Vishal Bhardwaj, we bow before thee!
Learn to shop, save a bundle!
THE COVER story was aptly titled Shop Smart (October 14). Inspired by the article, I have decided to convert to a smart shopper by cutting down on my expenses and signing up for online shopping sites! — SOMYA RASTOGI, via email
The Brunch Soirees are back with a horror special! For the uninitiated, we will tweet a line, and all you have to do is to build upon it – add the next line. The best horror story may get published in the next issue! Wear those masks and get on Twitter tomorrow at 2 pm. Follow @HTBrunch
LOVE IT
LETTER OF THE WEEK!
Brunch On The Web
SPIN A HORROR YARN
Photos: THINKSTOCK
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SHOVE IT
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DESIGN: Ashutosh Sapru (National Editor, Design), Monica Gupta, Swati Chakrabarti, Rakesh Kumar, Ashish Singh, Suhas Kale
Brunch Bookshelf
BOOKS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT by Rachel Lopez
American Psycho: Thought the movie was gory? The book’s much, much worse. The remorseless Patrick Bateman rapes, kills and then shows up to work on Wall Street. Carrie: Prom night is intimidating for most of us. But for the much-punished, much-bullied and slightly telekinetic Carrie, things get very, very bloody. Kiss The Girls: James Patterson’s thriller chills your spine not with monsters but mystery. Who’d rape and kill young women for fun? And could you be next? Helter Skelter: Scary because it’s true. This account of the Manson murders and the trial that followed. How did Charles Manson get so evil? It can’t have been just LSD. Rosemary’s Baby: Before the Roman Polanski film, there was the spooky book. Is Rosemary pregnant with the devil’s child? Will it come out with hooves? Surely pregnancy can’t be this hard…
Drop us a line at:
brunchletters@hindustantimes.com or to 18-20 Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi 110001
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ghostseekers
facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch
KEEPING UP WITH THE SPIRITS
■ It’s a beautiful picnic spot for the day. The ruins (above) can scare the living daylights out of anyone at night! ■ It takes about six hours to drive down from Delhi to Bhangarh. Get to Alwar, then take the broken road to Sariska. ■ The closest train station is Dausa, 8 km away from Bhangarh. ■ Carry some food when you go inside the premises. ■ Not for the weak-hearted. ■ All the best!
Once a prosperous city, it was cursed. Bhangarh, they say, is India’s most haunted. Its story is stranger than fiction by Saudamini Jain; Photographs by M Zhazo
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T’S STILL majestic. This medieval kingdom, that is. Or rather, the remains of it. Hundreds of years ago, its occupants fled. Or died. Nobody’s sure. Not a single human soul lives in the 158 hectares of land. Snakes slither along rocky corners. Climb up to the crumbling palace into the dark hallways, you’ll be greeted by the smell of dead bodies and gunpowder. Bat droppings apparently smell of war. You’ll see a secret passage guarded by orange and silver markings. And rats. Tantriks come here to perform black magic. Most
temples inside have no idols. Welcome to the real city of djinns. At the edge of the Sariska Tiger Reserve, between Jaipur and Alwar in Rajasthan, is Bhangarh, popularly known as the “ghost city of India.” Rocky Singh, co-host of NDTV Good Times’ show, India’s Most Haunted, says, “This was the only location where [co-host] Mayur [Sharma] refused to do an isolation session.” In the show, both spend time alone on every location they visit. When they spent the night here, they heard footsteps and the screeching of OCTOBER 21, 2012
a woman, their motion sensors went off and stones were thrown at them. “If I were to say that any of the places I’ve been to in the last 20 years is haunted, I’d say Bhangarh,” says Rocky, who’s travelled to haunted places around the world.
Once upon a time
Till a few years ago, the locals loved to tell stories about the haunted kingdom. But when these stories appeared on television, they were offended. “Yahaan par djinn aate hain, bhoot-pret nahin!” says a
village shopkeeper indignantly. The city, according to legend, was cursed by a tantrik in the sixteenth century. Singhia, a lecherous tantrik, was attracted to the beautiful queen of Bhangarh, Ratnavati. One day, he saw her maid buying some hair oil for the queen and put a love spell on it. The queen was a tantrik herself. One look at the swirling oil and she threw the flagon away. As soon as it touched the ground, the stone magnified into a boulder and moved towards Singhia. All the tantrik could do before the boulder crushed him was to curse the land, “Bhaag jaao” he warned the people. “Bhangarh woh jagah hai jahaan se log bhaag jaate hain,” says Sumit, who sells beverages outside the premises. The ruined city is flanked by the Aravallis on three sides with streams running along landscaped gardens. There are markets and havelis. You can’t help but think that there’s got to be another explanation! And there is. The kingdom was established in 1599 by Raja Bhagwant Das for his son Madho Singh, the younger broth-
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Imaging: ASHIS H SINGH
CLAIRVOYANT CORNER
At the end of this hallway in the palace (above) are two cubicles. The one on the left has orange and silver markings, guarding an underground passage (right). This is the shrine of the Djinn Maharaj, say locals. On Saturdays, tantriks visit this spot where they summon djinns to make predictions
er of Akbar’s general, Man Singh of Amber. Madho Singh named the city after his grandfather Man Singh (who was also known as Bhan Singh and that’s where ‘Bhangarh’ comes from). In 1720, Jaipur’s Jai Singh II attacked the city. Some historians say Jai Singh II’s repeated attacks forced the people to escape. Others blame the famine of 1783. Either way, Bhangarh remains unoccupied since. Almost.
Tales of the yore
According to the Rajasthan Tourism website, “the evil effects of the (tantrik’s) curse are believed to be working even now.” The Internet is flooded with horror tales. People claim to have heard the tinkling of payals, seen the ruined market come to life. Tarun Akash, a student, wrote on indianfusion.aglasem.com about how he along with two friends met
LEGEND OF THE LAND
A lecherous tantrik, Singhia, was attracted to Ratnavati, the queen of Bhangarh. One day, when the queen’s maid was buying some hair hall from the market (right), he cast a spell on the oil in order to seduce the queen. Unfortunately for the tantrik (and consequently, for all of Bhangarh), the queen was a master tantrik herself. One look at the swirling oil, and she threw it on a stone, which magnified into a boulder advancing to crush Singhia. Before dying, the tantrik cursed the land. The Chhatri on the hill (inset) was later built where he lived
with an accident after a night spent in Bhangarh. The odd thing, he says, was that they were the only people to have been hurt in a bus of more than 50 people, even though they were sitting 5-6 rows apart. Bhangarh is on several lists of ‘the most haunted places in the world’ on the Web. Bhoot, chudail, djinns – she’s witnessed them all over the last three decades, says a wizened Rama Devi, who has been running a water stall outside the monument premises ever since she got married. “They are all there. But we are not scared. We have our temples,” she says. Another indicator of ghosts was a signboard put by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) outside the ruins that warned people against entering the fort after sunset. The notice has now been removed because everybody who visited saw
this as proof of ASI’s belief in the paranormal. “These rumours are rubbish,” says Vasant Kumar Swarnakar, superintending archaeologist, Jaipur circle, ASI. “Every monument in the country has the same sign. It has nothing to do with ghosts or spirits,” he insists. “All that is rubbish,” he repeats. It’s the wild animals that make the area dangerous. Its proximity to Sariska makes it a haunt for foxes, panthers and even tigers at night. Besides, adds Swarnakar, “Our guards patrol the area at night but no incident has ever occurred!” But several people have come screaming out “ghost”. There have been deaths. “It’s because people try to enter the ruins from the hills at night, the boulders are loose, people fall!” he says. Last year, a man jumped into the
step-well and hurt his head. While he was being rushed to the hospital, the car crashed and the two others died. An unfortunate accident blamed entirely on ghosts. So much so, that the locals have a joke based entirely on logical reasoning. “Bhangarh mein har saal kuchh log marte hain. Unke bhoot toh yahin par rukenge na!” they laugh. Ram Gopal Joshi, the pujari of the Hanuman temple at the entrance of the Bhangarh ruins, has a theory, “Jiske grah kharaab hote hain, usko bhoot dikhta hai,” he says. saudamini.jain@ hindustantimes.com
ghostseekers
twitter.com/HTBrunch
It’s a dark, cold night. You and your friends decide to explore a very haunted mansion. Welcome to the Brunch Horror Trail. by Manit Moorjani
H
orror films and books with their exaggerated ghosts, vampires, evil spirits and aliens have scared us over the years. We’ve slept
with the lights on and checked for monsters under our beds. But the cliché brigade – the candles, little girls with little dolls, mirrors and the ridicu-
It’s the weekend again. You and four of your friends wonder: how about a fun weekend getaway. You pack all essentials and hop into your car, off towards the countryside. A villa awaits you. You park yourselves at this abandoned mansion/haveli considered cursed by the locals. (But the fact that it may not be safe to do so doesn’t occur to you at all!)
It’s nightfall. You’ve settled down. Your candlelight dinner next to the old, rusted statues was brilliant. But all this while, the many spirits, ghosts and eyes in the wall have been following your every move. The statue blinked too. You notice nothing. Bedtime. Tomorrow’s a brand new day. Or so you think.
lous weather conditions – made horror plain hilarious. So we decided to pull out every cliché we have seen, read or heard about and weave
You’ve been sleeping comfortably for a while now. But what’s that sound you suddenly hear? That’s not normal. Maybe it’s just a stray animal. Whatever, you have to check it out right away. (Apparently, no investigations should wait till the morning.) Also, it’s better if you take an oldfashioned candle with you. (Because somehow the light switches never work so late at night.) You head out alone. (You’ll wake the others up with your screams later of course).
Now that there are more of you, you feel far braver. (The more the merrier when it comes to the paranormal, right?) You decide to get to the bottom of things. Your friend immediately has a brainwave. “Let’s split up!” says the genius. Every horror film has this one idiot. The One Who Deserves To Die. Another friend doesn’t believe in evil spirits. Of course he doesn’t. But he will.
You and two others decide to tiptoe through the same hallway (this hallway is the core of the mansion, the movie, the book, your life. Everything of any consequence happens right here). There’s something white and small gliding towards you. You absolutely have to get a closer look. It’s holding something. Oh mother of all plots! It’s a little girl in a white dress holding a baby doll. NOW you’re scared. You bolt down the flight of stairs. The ghost of the little girl doesn’t catch up with you (Ghosts match their speed with their victims, it seems. The distance between the two, at any given time, is constant.) You forego the other clichés in the house: creepy basement or even under the sink! You want out. Finally.
Your two other friends were more interested in a dusty bedroom. Right now, they are staring at a huge mirror and cracking a joke. Suddenly there’s an old woman (complete with wrinkles and dishevelled hair) in the mirror. Or is it a reflection? While you spent so much time searching for something, that something found your friends and crept up from behind. (Now, that’s just bad luck.) You hear them scream. Just as you try to figure out what to do, you see them running for their lives! (Maybe this will have a happy ending?) And like an epiphany, the story flashes in front of your eyes: an old woman sits by the window awaiting her brothers who went out hunting. She still waits!
OCTOBER 21, 2012
Now all of you are out of the house. Fog is the only thing you can see for miles. But piercing through the thick fog is the blank face of a man staring at you from an upstairs window. “You shouldn’t have come here,” he whispers through the mist. Now he tells you! Incidentally, that ancient gardener you saw earlier? Turns out, he’s a zombie! And there he is, right behind that bush! Taking a cue from Bollywood, there are a few bhoot-pret around too. And an old woman doing black magic in the fields.
it around a short story where you are the protagonist. So sit in a dark corner of your house and just follow the footsteps!
Obviously the hallway is very narrow. And very dark. But there’s a half-open door at one end. But wait, wasn’t it closed when you were this side of the house earlier? There’s that hooting owl in the background now. Nevertheless, with might and courage, you push the door open. Suddenly, lightning strikes. The windows fly open and the curtains blow in a frenzy. You don’t know what’s happening but you’re scared out of your mind. You dash back screaming across the hallway to the other rooms: “Wake up, wake up! There’s something there!!” (Just like we predicted you would.)
You rush towards your car. But it just won’t start. Your phone signal goes blank. (Physics never works in these situations.) Luckily, you manage to get inside the car (car doors usually get jammed, so thank your stars!) “Phew! that was close,” you say. “Are you sure?” asks the friend sitting next to you. His eyes are yellow. His smile is wide. manit.moorjani@hindustantimes.com
Imaging: MONICA GUPTA
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PROMOTION
GREATER HEIGHTS
Greater Noida (West)/ Noida Extension is anything that a developing area needs to be
I
t‘s been moving from strength to strength. Little surprise, Greater Noida (west) has been attracting attention, of late, for all the right reasons. This area is all set to give a tough fight to projects coming up in Noida, especially those in sectors 121 and 119, primarily in terms of price and location. Several builders are busy with construction of homes and offices that are being built adjacent to Noida’s Sector 121 and face the 130 m road now known as the Noida-Greater Noida Link Road. A 60 m road connect from NH 24 also passes through the area. A 100 m wide commercial belt is planned on one side of the 130 m road. What is more metro connectivity to the area is expected in the second phase. Another positive is the lush greenery. Almost 45 acres have been left as green areas. Besides apartments for retail, plots are being offered to Cooperative Group Housing Societies (CGHS). The region will comprise a stadi-
um offering facilities such as football, cricket and badminton academies besides schools, hospitals, multiplexes, hotels and offices. It will take about five years to develop the entire region. And if you are still wondering why people are investing in Greater Noida west, we’ll give you some simple reasons. Rise in value of property: The Prices of Greater Noida’s(West) property is rising annually which allow the property holders earn decent amount of capital returns. High demand: Every year there is a remarkable rise in the demand of both commercial and residential immovable assets. The high demand for Noida’s property is creating ample amount of job opportunities. Expressways: The many flyovers and expressways have made commuting here, a smooth business. It began with the jazzy Delhi Noida Toll Bridge. India’s first 552 meter long main BOT Bridge Project, it changed the face of intracity travel. It is an
eight lane link across the river Yamuna. It has 3 minor bridges and 8 lanes approach roads on embankment. Then there is Noida-Greater Noida Expressway. It is a six-lane highway connecting Noida, Uttar Pradesh, an industrial suburb of Delhi to Greater Noida, a new suburb. A total of 40 sectors are planned along the Expressway. And these are not all. It is perceived that the project will have
significant impact on the economic development. Some major perceived positives are: integration of Noida Extension with South Delhi, direct employment benefits for families during construction period and lastly yet most importantly quicker access to Delhi / Noida with saving in peak hour travel time. With the many positives, Greater Noida (West) is sure to rise higher in demand.
AMRAPALI GROUP TODAY IS A VIBRANT CONGLOMERATE
DR. ANIL KUMAR SHARMA CMD AMRAPALI GROUP
How has the Realty Industry in the Delhi/NCR developed over the years, in terms of the development of Noida and particularly Noida Extension and how is Amrapali Group gearing up to meet the industry’s demand? NCR is expected to witness the highest demand across mid and high-end segments at 3.81 lakh units during 2012-16.” Amrapali Group is gearing up to meet the huge demand of people and plays an important role to fill the gap of de-
X OCTOBER 21, 2012
mand and supply all across the NCR region. We have set up a ‘pre-cast’ factory in Greater Noida. The ‘pre-cast’ technology, which basically involves bringing readymade walls and pillars to be assembled at the construction site. This technology will allow us to work at almost three times the current pace. Our group has created its pan-India presence through its 48 highly-rated projects in 22 top cities of the country spread from Delhi-NCR in North to Cochin in South, Purnia in East and Nagpur in the West.
Realty has evolved to become rather specialized. Like Housing/ Commercial/etc... What is your take on it? Amrapali Group is today a vibrant conglomerate having expanded vertically and horizontally into new areas such as Film Production, processed food products, hotels and hospitals. We are making huge IT parks, hotels, shopping mall, residential and commercial township near these parks. We will make commercial buildings in Cochin, Indore, Bhubaneshwar, Patna, Muzaffarpur, Bhilai and lot of other cities but in term of IT parks we
have only started from Greater Noida.
There is a new enthusiasm in the industry across the board. How does Amrapali Group planning to take the lead generally? We are also focusing on small cities because when you see the demand of housing and other sectors you need to focus all segments in tier-2 or tier-3 cities. There is no demand in tier-1 cities. Small cities have a huge demand. So we are also focusing on small cities. We have our eyes on Durgapur. Though we are not making any project there still we are receiving e-mails and feedback calling us to the town. In small towns you need township and small space of offices and commercial activities because cities require that all. About malls, we are focusing on small cities first to reach there. People from every segment enjoy good facilities. My main focus has always been on combining the two categories of low spender and high spender. They should not be segregated. There should be some sort of socialistic approach. The middleclass families should not feel segregat-
ed because of their low spending power. If you open a mall in a small city they can also enjoy the most. We want to touch every segment of the society. What is the future of the Greater NoidaWest(Noida Extension) as a Housing destination in India and where do you see it in next 5years and what are your plans for the same? Recently we have launched a project ‘Amrapali Verona Heights’ in Greater Noida-West (Noida Extension), shows our belief over there. I am very much sure about to say that this region still caters the demand of middle class, who are looking for affordable homes. As compare to its counter regions, Greater Noida-West rates are quite reasonable and affordable to all. Moreover, the proposed metro network at Noida Extension will be attracting more home buyers due to good connectivity and development and they will get best return of their development. Hence, the future is always bright and it is going to be a hub of affordable homes in all across Delhi-NCR, where you can have all basic and luxurious facilities.
PROMOTION
AFFORDABLE HOUSING AT NOIDA EXTENSION tremendous infrastructural development in terms of connectivity to its neighbouring places, which is a very important aspect in making a region an ideal place for living. The recent announcement of the metro connectivity to the Noida Extension has made it an ideal destination for all those who are looking for affordable home options.
R K ARORA
CMD SUPERTECH LIMITED
A
ffordable housing has brought opportunities for many to buy their dream home. Supertech Limited a leading real estate company is offering various projects to cater this segment in Noida Extension, also known now as -Greater Noida West. This reason has witnessed
Eco Village- I Eco-Village is a residential project located in Noida Extension, spread over an area of 50 acres. The project comprises of 1, 2, 3 and 4 BHK apartments, area of which ranges between 550 sq. ft. to 2275 sq. ft. The project is a combination of high as well as low rise apartments. This project has world-class amenities like Swimming pool, Health Club, Medical Centre, Ayurvedic Massage Centre, Badminton Court, Tennis Court, Amphitheatre, Clubs and Shopping Complex. The project also has 82% beautifully landscaped area, ample parking lots and artistically designed vaastu-
friendly apartments. Eco Village- II Eco-Village-II is an eco-friendly residential project in Noida Extension, spread over an area of 80 acres.. The project comprises of 1, 2, 3 and 4 BHK apartments, area of which ranges between 550 sq. ft. to 2275 sq. ft. The project is a combination of high as well as low rise apartments. This project provides a gymnasium with Swimming pool, Health Club, Medical Centre, Ayurvedic Massage Centre, Badminton Court and Tennis Court. The project also offers facility of reticulated gas supply to every unit, 24-hour power back up, ample parking lots and a shopping complex. The artistically designed units are vaastu-friendly built amidst 82% beautifully landscaped area.
Eco Village- III Eco Village-III is also an eco-friendly residential project just like its predecessors, which provides high quality lifestyle at a pocket friendly cost. With the facilities available at EcoVillage-III, it is a mini township that takes your comfort and convenience to a whole new level. It is a combination of Low-rise and Highrise buildings .The project comprises 2 and 3 bedrooms apartments, area of which range between 890 Sq. Ft. to 1850 Sq. Ft. Floor plans are 3-4 sided open and artistically vastu friendly designed. This project provides world class facilities like Swimming pool, Health Club, Medical Centre, Ayurvedic Massage Centre, Badminton Court, Tennis Court & Amphitheatre. The project also has well designed complex with beautiful landscape.
V CORP WILL ADD VALUE AND MONETIZE ASSETS FOR DEVELOPERS
DR. KUNAL BANERJI
GROUP ADVISOR, V CORP
XII OCTOBER 21, 2012
What kind of innovations has been introduced by VCORP, please tell something about your organization? We are one of India's first Developer Management Company. We are like a one stop shop for the potential Real Estate Developers and to the established developers - we are an additional strategic arm that adds value to projects. V Corp will add value and monetize assets for developers. V Corp's unique forte has the potential to attract the landowners and the investors. With help from V Corp, landowners will recognize the maximum earning potential of their property without having to divest a stake and yet enjoy high returns. This is based on "onground" macro and micro level realities, de-risking projects substantially. In sync with this, V Corp. will assist the investors to scrutinize the funds already deployed in Real Estate. Such investors will also look at V Corp to assess the viability of a new project; viability not only based on financial figures but also on other project specific socio-economic factors.
The V Corp symbol will become the new hallmark of quality that investors and homebuyers will look out for before they invest in real estate.
What is the USP of VCORP? What distinguishes VCORP? V CORP has the best "Partners" in Real Estate from Interiors Designers, Architects, Corporate Trainers, Legal Experts... to large scale Investors in Real Estate. We also insist an opening an ESCROW account with all the developers associated with us, to ensure construction of the project. What are initiatives taken in marketing strategies to acquire benefits or returns to you as well as to all the stake holders? Our value additions are many, but our core competences area: Conceptualisa-
tion of the project, Financial Modelling, Brand Building and Sale Realisation.
How have you managed to not just survive but also thrive in such difficult economic environment? V CORP is inflationproof and recession proof. We exist to help monetize the most "difficult" of projects. Most of your projects are located in the NCR region, are you also looking at going to other cities in India? V CORP services are available to all developers in India and abroad. What is the growth driver for VCORP and how do you plan to sustain it going forward? Our growth drivers are our track record of successful projects completed and the amalgamation of the best "Partners" in the industry.
indulge
Photo: THINKSTOCK
THE REAL CHAMP
We have produced such world-class sportswomen as Mary Kom
Seema Goswami
Photo: PRABHAS ROY
MARKING THE DAY We may well acknowledge the first International Day of the Girl Child in India - but let’s not dare assume that we have the right to celebrate it
DESPITE ALL ODDS
Olympic medallist Saina Nehwal’s story is an exception – in contrast to the trials and tribulations of ordinary Indian women Photo: JASJEET PLAHA
O
N THE 11th of October the first International Day of the Girl Child was celebrated across the world. In India, too, we had the usual suspects releasing statements, attending functions, organising events to mark the day. But surely the irony of celebrating a day dedicated to the girl child could not have been lost on any of us. Not when more than 500 women have been raped since the beginning of the year in Haryana alone (and that’s just the cases that have been reported); when the figure for women being married off before they turned 18 stood at an astounding 60 per cent in Bihar; and when female foeticide is believed to have killed at least 10 million girls in the womb all across the country. Yes, the girl child doesn’t really get much of a break in India. If she escapes being aborted, she arrives into a world that regards her as a burden. She is much less likely to finish her primary education than her brothers. She will probably be married off even before she attains her majority. And when she gets pregnant, the likelihood of her dying in childbirth is astonishingly high (more than 65,000 women die giving birth in India every year – or, in other words, every 8-10 minutes a woman dies in childbirth), assuming of course that the pregnancy is not terminated because she is carrying a girl child who needs must die before she can be born. And thus the vicious circle continues, sucking each successive generation of women into its vortex of despair. I know what you’re thinking. Why paint such a bleak portrait of Indian womanhood? After all, there are plenty of women among us who are valued and cherished by their families, who are brought up as valuable members of society, who are educated, who go on to have worthwhile careers, and are both financially independent and socially secure. Yes, of course, there are. And I number myself among them. But we are the lucky ones, the minuscule minority who were fortunate enough to be born into the right families and the right social class. If it wasn’t for an accident of birth, we could just as easily be among the 35 per cent of women who are not literate, the 47 per cent of women who are married off as minors, the 212 women in every lakh who die in childbirth because they don’t have access to medical facilities, the 7,00,000 girls aborted every year because they are simply the wrong sex. When you think of the sheer numbers involved – considering that our population stands at 1 billion and counting – it’s clear just how bad things are for women in India. It doesn’t really matter that we’ve had a woman
President in Pratibha Patil or that the UPA is headed by Sonia Gandhi or that the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha is Sushma Swaraj. It is of no consequence that five states of the Indian Union – Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh – have (or have had) women chief ministers (in Jayalalitha, Mamata Banerjee, Mayawati, Vasundhara Raje and Uma Bharati). Or that the world of finance has seen such power women as Chanda Kochhar and Naina Lal Kidwai running large institutions with aplomb. Or even that we have produced such world-class sportswomen as Mary Kom, Saina Nehwal and Sania Mirza. All of these are achievements that must be celebrated – as indeed they are – but there is no ignoring the fact that these are exceptions that provide a stark contrast to the trials and tribulations that ordinary Indian women have to suffer every day of their lives. And that they mean nothing to the mother living in a remote village who has to trek for miles every day to get drinking water for her family; to the women who have no access to sanitary napkins let alone comprehensive health care; to the new bride who is harassed to death by the dowry demands of her husband and inlaws; to the young girl who is first raped and then told that she ‘asked’ for it; to the widow who is forced out of her family home and sent off to Vrindavan to await death. And it is particularly ironic that the UN is marking the first International Day of the Girl Child by drawing attention to the problem of child marriages at a time when the khap panchayats in Haryana have announced that girls should be married off at a young age so that they do not get raped (apparently, a mangalsutra also serves as a rapist-repellent in their strange, convoluted minds), a position that was rapidly adopted by such obscurantist political leaders as Om Prakash Chautala. So, let’s not celebrate the International Day of the Girl Child just yet. Not until we have ensured that every girl in the womb gets a chance at life. Not until we have made the education of every young girl possible. Not until we have made provision for her health care through menstruation, pregnancy, child-rearing and menopause. Not until we have ensured that she gets paid the same wage for the same job as her male co-worker. And not until we have made sure that she has the liberty to make her own life decisions. Until then, we can mark the International Day of the Girl Child in our calendars – but let’s not dare to assume that we have any right to celebrate it.
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The first International Day of the Girl Child was celebrated on the 11th of October
OCTOBER 21, 2012
seema_ht@rediffmail.com. Follow Seema on Twitter at twitter.com/seemagoswami
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DUDE, WHERE’S MY FOOD? I
Let’s find simple, snacky foods that Indians truly enjoy, cook them with high quality ingredients and put them on restaurant menus. It’s time for Indian Dude Food PATTY PERFECTION
A Dude Food hamburger will be made with good quality meat, will be cooked medium rare, and will have enough beef for you to bite into it
Vir Sanghvi
THOUGHT I’D take a break from the standard Rude Food this week and write about something that sounds like rhyming slang, but is actually a fast-growing movement in much of the restaurant world: Dude Food. What, you may well ask, is Dude Food? Well, the term has Australian origins and given that I ate my way through Sydney last month, that is probably why I’m so keen on the idea. But though English and American food writers are only just catching on to the idea of Dude Food (it turned up in the London Sunday Times last month), I suspect that the philosophy has been around for a while. To understand Dude Food, think of a fancy restaurant with tablecloths, expensive crockery and haute cuisine. Now think of the exact opposite. That is Dude Food. Think also of the food your parents served at parties at home. Dude Food is the exact opposite of that as well. Dude Food is, as the name suggests, an essentially masculine cuisine consisting of simple, streetfood-like dishes that are associated less with full meals or home cuisine than with snacks or quick bites at cafes or pavement stalls. The quintessential Dude Food dish is the hamburger. The burger has always been a roadside dish, made popular by snack bars and casual restaurants. It is not haute cuisine and is rarely served at fancy restaurants. If people do make it at home, it is either to feed kids or because they cannot afford steak or a more expensive cut of meat and keema is the cheap option. Over a decade ago, long before the term Dude Food had come into vogue, chefs seized on the hamburger as a simple, masculine dish which could be gentrified for expensive restaurants. At New York’s 21 Club, they kept the hamburger off the menu but supplied it to knowledgeable insiders at fancy prices, usually without the bun. (That scene in Wall Street where Michael Douglas tells Charlie Sheen to order a hamburger before walking out of the restaurant because ‘lunch is for wimps’, is set at 21.) The theatrical restaurant Joe Allen copied the idea of an off-menu hamburger at all of its branches. And that should have been that. Except that the Michelin-starred chefs got in on the act.
MADE IN MUMBAI
You can find elements of the Dude Food tradition in restaurants such as Bombay’s Café Zoe Daniel Boulud did an overpriced hamburger at his DB Bistro Moderne in New York, throwing in foie gras and truffles – essentially a Tournedos Rossini made with minced beef and served on a bun. Gordon Ramsay did his own version at London’s Boxwood Café with more foie gras. And so on. The chefs followed one essential principle of Dude Food: take a simple masculine dish and elevate it with imaginative touches. But they diverged from what was to become Dude Food by trying to turn a classic dish into poncy haute cuisine. The current Dude Food movement tries to take the hamburger away from McDonald’s, Burger King etc. But it stops well short of turning it into a fancy, very expensive Michelin-starred dish. A Dude Food hamburger will be made with good quality meat, will be cooked medium rare, will have enough beef for you to bite into it (unlike say the slender McDonald’s patty) and will be served on good bread. But there will be no foie gras, no truffles and no overpriced nonsense. Though the Australians claim the Dude Food name, the idea has been floating around New York for a while. That city is now bustling with upmarket burger joints. The great New York restaurateur Danny Meyer has hit gold with his Dude Food-style Shake Shack chain. The Le Parker Meridien even has a burger joint that takes the 21 off-menu burger idea a step further: you can’t even find the restaurant, which is hidden away in the hotel behind a curtain, unless you know where to look. (Yes I know it’s silly but then, that’s New York!) The burger-as-Dude-Food idea has come to London too with such places as Burger & Lobster and Meat Liquor (both reviewed in these columns some months ago) and such chains as Dylan’s. The idea of American-style Dude Food flourishes in England with places like Pitt Cue Co. offering pulled pork sandwiches and Meat Market taking the Meat Liquor formula forward. But Dude Food goes beyond burgers. At one level, there are Dude Food restaurants: consciously gritty places in unfashionable areas serving tacos, burritos, macaroni-cheese etc. The best known
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THE FLAVOUR FACE-OFF In the West, apart from burgers, Dude Food restaurants – consciously gritty places in unfashionable areas – serve tacos (right), burritos (left) and macaroni-cheese Photos: THINKSTOCK
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of these is the faintly ridiculous Shrimpy’s opened on the site of a petrol pump in London’s King’s Cross. And all over New York, similar restaurants are mushrooming: no formal dining (often no proper tables), no standard three-course menus, basic (ie. usually rubbish) service, no reservations (not always, but usually) and edgy décor. The menu consists of junk or comfort food dishes elevated to something much more by the use of quality ingredients and the skill of the chef. You can usually tell a Dude Food restaurant by the queue at the door: because it takes no bookings. You could argue that David Chang’s hip Momofuku restaurants in New York offer a fancier take on Dude Food; the famous pork bun seems pretty Dude Food-like to me except that one of the Momofukus now has two Michelin stars so Chang may not want to identify himself with the term. Dude Food, in the Western sense, has yet to come to India but you find elements of the tradition in some of the newer restaurants that have opened in Bombay: Café Zoe and the lunch menus at The Table and especially at Ellipsis, where you even get a variation on the Momofuku pork bun. (Café Zoe and The Table have already been reviewed here; I’m working on a review of Ellipsis, which I like a lot.) Delhi, however, seems to be lagging behind. The top openings of recent times (Chez Nini, Tres etc.) stick to more traditional styles of food. No doubt the fashion for Dude Food will reach all of India sooner rather than later. But here’s my idea: why do we need to follow the West and do Dude Food hamburgers in India? Why don’t we just do Indian Dude Food? This is not as difficult as it sounds. Think of all the masculine snack-type dishes that you like, which require a bare minimum of cooking brilliance to make. Let’s see: a good samosa is hard to find these days. A Nizam’s style kathi-kabab roll could do with some polishing. What about Chicken 65, a great Southern dish that strong men eat when they down their whiskies? How about the shami kabab, a wonderful street snack that is now lost forever as over-ambitious chefs try and make galoutis? Or even, how about tandoori chicken? By that I don’t mean the flabby broiler painted red with artificial food colour that you get at most restaurants but a nice juicy, tasty bird that comes out fresh from the bhatti.
I could go on and on. When is the last time you had a good ragda pattice in which the patty tasted of good quality potato and the ‘khattash’ of the ragda filled your mouth? The stuffed parathas made by most roadside guys have now deteriorated to the stage where they are just deep-fried in animal fat so that they have a crunchy texture. What I wouldn’t give to have a flaky paratha, filled with melting keema or even chunky gobhi, soft in the right places and crisp where it needs to be? Even roadside egg dishes have now fallen into a rut of mediocrity. When I was in my teens, you could go to a dhaba and eat bhurji with rotis and have the meal of your life. Why can’t somebody make a great bhurji – or even a Parsi akuri, glinting with slivers of onion, little leaves of kothmir and tiny shards of chilli – with orange-yolked, free-range eggs? And what about the railway station masala omelette, on which you smeared tomato ketchup and then ate with slices of white bread and oodles of Amul butter? Nobody bothers to take trouble over that any longer; not even at railway stations. So here’s my plan: let’s throw away all those standard Indian restaurant menus with their eight kinds of paneer, one navratan korma, six bakwas kababs and 12 oily chicken curries and go back to the things people really want to eat. Let’s find the simple, snacky foods that Indians truly enjoy. Let’s cook them with high quality ingredients and let’s put them on restaurant menus. Speaking for myself, I know that I will be much happier to go to an Indian restaurant that serves me an authentic Nizam’s roll and a killer kulchachanna then I will be in some ghastly air-conditioned place that pipes in filmi-type versions of ghazals and offers me greasy butter chicken and disgusting paneer pasanda. It is time for Indian Dude Food. If the West can do it, then we can produce an even better version.
What I wouldn’t give to have a flaky paratha, filled with melting keema or even chunky gobhi, soft in the right places?
If you have any ideas for Indian Dude Food, write to us at brunchletters@hindustantimes.com or tweet us at htbrunch/twitter.com. We’ll include the best suggestions in the next issue
If the West can do the Dude, we can produce an even better version! Why don’t we do Indian Dude Food? How about a Dude version of the shami kabab and Chicken 65 (right), a dish that strong men eat when they down whiskies?
Photo: SHUTTERSTOCK
OCTOBER 21, 2012
MALE ORDER
New York restaurateur Danny Meyer has hit gold with his Dude Food-style Shake Shack chain (above, left). American-style Dude food flourishes in England with places like Pitt Cue Co (above) offering pulled pork sandwiches
THE GOOD STUFF
The keema paratha could well be part of Indian Dude Food
indulge
S
UND FROM HELL
Today’s anorexic TVs don’t have the space or technology to pull off good sound. It’s time to enter the domain of the sound bars
I
WAS VERY excited. A brand new LED TV. Huge, super thin, almost no bezel around the screen, outstanding picture, eye-popping colours, stunning picture quality, deep contrast and fantastic 3D too. I had it wall mounted and it barely came out an inch from the wall. This was a 65-inch masterpiece, pure art, a stunning showcase of just how much TV technology had progressed. I set up my favourite movie, popped the popcorn, placed a pitcher of ice tea on the side and hit the play button – all set to be dazzled.
HUH?
AN EAR FULL
The Pioneer SB510 has a subwoofer and will give you good sound, but the bass is just about okay
Rajiv Makhni
The opening sequence started, the visuals were big and beautiful and the sound was... Huh? The sound was like a pipsqueak! The lion’s roar was like a mouse bellowing in constipated pain, the deafening roll of thunder was a wimpy gasp and that amazing loud thump of gunfire – nothing more than little blips. The sound was pitiful. Not being one to give up – I fired up the menu and went right into the audio section. There it was – the problem. Bass and Treble were almost zero, Loudness was switched off and it wasn’t in Movie mode either. There – all done. Time to rock the room! Restart executed, deafening sound awaited, the movie starts from the beginning, the visuals are again stunning and the sound is a muffled jumble of nothing. The constipated bellowing and the pipsqueaking had only become worse. This wasn’t a problem with just this TV, this was a universal phenomenon. Welcome to the world of stunningly thin, amazing visual and terrible audio TVs.
NO SPACE FOR SOUND
HEAR AND NOW
The wireless subwoofer and iPhone dock make the Samsung HW-D570 a must on your wish list
TV technology has advanced dramatically. From the time of those thick, fat CRT clunkers to today’s thin wall art-style displays – everything has improved. Except for one thing – the sound! Today’s anorexic and painfully thin TVs have neither the space nor the technology to pull off good sound. Inside those thin frames, there’s barely enough space to put in all the screen components – sound is always an afterthought. Which is why your state-ofthe-art TV still sounds worse than your R500 computer speakers. TV audio sucks and sucks big time.
A NEW JOURNEY
HEY GOOD LOOKING!
The Polk surround bar helps turn your ordinary TV watching experience into a movie theatre feel
Which is why it was time to embark on another quest. I needed great sound in my room to go with this great albeit sound-challenged TV. What I didn’t need was a plethora of extra AV equipment, nor ugly wires transversing all across. It was time to enter the domain of the sound bars. Now this is a category on fire! It didn’t exist till a few years ago and has only come about due to TVs going thin in size and sound. Ironically most sound bars are made by the very companies that make TVs and refuse to put in better sound inside. Without cribbing and whining about the fact that I was going to be paying extra for what should have come built in, I embarked on my new audio adventure.
THE BASICS
Let’s keep this simple. Despite the fact that most companies will try and dazzle you with OCTOBER 21, 2012
a lot of techie jargon and rocket science features – sound bars are basically speakers encased in a single box and come in two categories. Active; which basically means that the amplification is built in and all you have to do is plug in your TV and off it goes. And Passive; where you do need an amp or a receiver for it to fire up the sound. Then there are those that come with a subwoofer and those that have that built into the same box. Drilling down further, subwoofers can be wireless or wired. My quest was already in place and thus it had to be an active sound bar (can’t imagine having a huge AV receiver in my bedroom), with a serious subwoofer (I need my bass to thump and my gunfire to rattle my ribs) and if external – the subwoofer had to be wireless. Most companies claim that a single box will give you fantastic surround sound that is equal to having a 5.1 or 7.1 speaker system planted all over your room by throwing sound off walls and the roof as well as adding artificial delays. Take that claim with a pinch of salt. At best – you can get great sound with the central dialogue enhanced. Here’s where my quest led me. ■ Pioneer SB510: Speakers and the subwoofer inside the box, HDMI plus a USB port, and even an acoustic calibration system built in with supplied microphone. Sound was good, the bass was okay and the HDMI is a great idea. ■ Yamaha YHT-S401: This is the company that started the whole idea of simulated surround sound from a single box. But most of the time you need an external amplifier with a Yamaha sound bar. This one is a bit of a compromise as a digital amp is part of the package, and has the subwoofer in it too. It claims 7.1 pseudo surround, but I was happy that it sounded clean and true. ■ Boston Acoustics TVee Model 30: Boston Acoustics adds a twist to its 3.1 speaker bar. It adds Bluetooth – so you can pair any phone or tablet and play all your music directly from it. Also great is an optical audio in, a separate setting for music and movies, and a great thumping bass from its wireless subwoofer – with no muddiness. ■ Polk Audio IHT 3000: A nice-looking bar with a solid wireless subwoofer; this one gave some fantastic sound and a tight clean bass. It also tried its best to generate some real surround. Can be wall-mounted or kept on a table. ■ Samsung HW-D570: This box is bigger and longer than most and also has a separate wired iPhone dock. The subwoofer is pretty big and is wireless. Only two speakers inside the box, thus the centre channel didn’t have very clean separation. Finally, the lion truly roared, the thunder was thunderous and the gunfire thumped my chest hard and true. This is what my big, beautiful TV should have done in the first place. Still, a sound bar is great for much more than just attaching to your TV – as I also play music and Internet radio off it. Now which one of these ‘test’ pieces am I going to SURROUND SOUND keep? I’ll let you know The subwoofer of after the movie is over! Boston Acoustics has
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great thumping bass
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
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I
THE VIBE MATTERS
The attitude and the Rolling Stone-ness make the band what it is
GUESS WHO TURNED FIFTY? The Beatles’ single, Love Me Do. And it’s the iconic Rolling Stones’ golden anniversary too!
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download central
Photos: GETTY IMAGES
Sanjoy Narayan
ROUND 10 days back, my colleague in London mailed me a link with a short note that simply said “Yes they are back! And I can die in peace”. The link was to a lyric video (the kind where you can read the lyrics while listening to the song) of The Rolling Stones’ latest new single, Doom And Gloom. And the note from my colleague who’s obviously a huge Stones fan besides being an erstwhile (or, is he still one?) bass slapper himself, is an example of how much diehard Stones fans love the 50-year-old band. The single, Doom And Gloom, is one of the only two new songs that the Stones’ 50th anniversary compilation album (to be released in November), GRRR!, will have, and it’s an archetypal rock and roll song, full of exuberance and suited to foot stomping. The lyrics are a bit blah, but then whoever said that the Stones are known for the quality of their lyrics – it’s the attitude, the vibe and, well, the Rolling Stoneness that makes the long-lasting band what it is. The other notable 50th anniversary earlier this month was that of the first single (Love Me Do) from The Beatles, the Stones’ more famous but much shorter-lived compatriots and contemporaries. I read quite a few features and comments on Love Me Do’s 50th birthday, but none was as nostalgic and nice as Anant Rangaswami’s piece in Firstpost (50 years of Beatles’ Love me do: Keep it simple, stupid). Like Rangaswami, I was also very, very young when I first heard songs by The Beatles, one of
WORTH THE WAIT
The Rolling Stones’ new album GRRR! releases this November
FAME FADING FAST
The Beatles, though, were more famous but much shorter-lived contemporaries of The Rolling Stones
THE JUKEBOX
f you listen/watch Toronto trio Metz’s official video for their song Wet Blanket, you get an idea of what this band is all about. Their music is heavy, punk-influenced rock that’s designed to knock you right off your feet. If you’ve been overdosing on all those wimpy, singer-songwriter-driven melancholia-laced stuff that has been routinely floating to the top of the indie music pile these days, Metz may be just the antidote for you. Metz have been around for a while but it’s only now that they’ve released their first full-length album also called Metz. Well worth a listen.
the very few pop songs that were played in a household where the musical fare was predominantly Western and Indian classical and, the city of my childhood being Calcutta, the de rigueur dosage of Rabindra Sangeet. But as soon as one grew up to be old enough to make one’s own musical choices, I quickly switched allegiance from The Beatles to The Rolling Stones, a good future trading call because the Stones have outlived The Beatles. And how! Yet, as I’ve grown older and, as the size, range and depth of the rock and pop music smorgasbord has grown to incredible dimensions offering nearly infinite choices, I find some of the Stones’ more recent releases not nearly as memorable as their earlier albums. So although Doom And Gloom has an upbeat vibe to it, I know I’m probably not going to reach out for it the next time I crave for a bit of Stones. It’ll probably be Let It Bleed (1969) or Exile On Main St. (1972), or even Goats Head Soup (1973). Remember Angie? Perhaps because of the new single from the Stones and the pieces I read about Love Me Do, I got a bit nostalgic about music most of last week. I picked out a vinyl version of David Bowie’s concept album from the early 1970s, The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars and heard it twice, backto-back. Then I dipped into Blind Faith’s (1969) only album, also on vinyl and also called just Blind Faith, and on which one of rock’s best supergroups (Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Rick Grech and Steve Winwood) does some incredible things in just 42 minutes and 12 seconds. Serendipitously, on my nostalgic musical trip, I discovered a new podcast that had some really rare old gems. The reputed music blog, Aquarium Drunkard, has just launched a podcast called Sidecar, which, on the lines of the blog itself, is a collection of eclectic tracks on each episode, aggregating to around 2730 minutes. The first four episodes had some really great nuggets. I heard the late Alex Chilton (American songwriter and singer) do a version of the Stones Jumpin’ Jack Flash; and, after many, many years, the maverick British rocker who called himself Screaming Lord Sutch, do a track called Flashing Light. There were The Shadows (remember them?) doing Scotch on the Socks; The Kinks doing a demo version of I Go To Sleep; and several other bands that I’d never heard before. As for The Beatles, you should check out The Motions (a band comprising three lawyers and a computer guy) doing a medley made up of lyrics from the several Beatles’ tracks. It’s called Beatle Drums. Sidecar – I’m hoping Aquarium Drunkard will keep that podcast going. To give feedback, stream or download the music mentioned in this column, go to http://blogs.hindustantimes.com/download-central, follow argus48 on Twitter
OCTOBER 21, 2012
ghostseekers
There’s A Ghost In Your TV
After a marathon of horror movies, are you a mass of nerves and shivers? Or just a bored seen-it-all? by Zehra Kazmi
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ET ME begin with a confession: I am the most chickenhearted, lily-livered scaredy-cat I know. I am afraid of everything and anything: dark rooms, being alone in a house, imaginary noises, barking street dogs, cows who stare at me without reason. Let’s just say, if I was at Hogwarts, I wouldn’t find a spot in Gryffindor. Yet, bizarrely, I am a horror-movie aficionado. I’ve spent years watching assorted ghosts wreak havoc in assorted places. But here’s the question: if you watch a marathon of horror flicks, do you reach a point when you stop being scared and feel a sense of ‘been there, seen that’? Armed with this theory, I decided to watch five horror movies back-to-back.
10:30am THE WOMAN IN BLACK
Not having mustered enough courage to watch it alone, I ask my sister for company (and an arm to cling to!). A young lawyer arrives at the isolated Eel Marsh manor, where other villagers fear to tread. On his first visit, he spots a woman in
head-to-toe black. “She looks like Snape,” says my sister and we giggle. But soon, we are on tenterhooks. A hand appears at the window on screen and I shriek. The middle is scarier than the end, but ghosts have no ethics, I discover. Try to help them, and they kill you anyway. Feeling a bit cheated, I move on to movie two.
12:50pm SHUTTER
I decide to watch the scary Thai original instead of the pale Hollywood remake. Tun, a photographer, and his girlfriend Jane accidentally run over a girl and trouble begins. The girl’s ghost starts appearing mysteriously in all their photographs. The next halfhour is a blur of chilling scenes. Scared stiff, I have to duck behind a pillow. As the story unfolds, I am on the ghost’s side who is only avenging her brutal death. The last image is so haunting, I get rattled and need a break. Fortified by food and scenes from a rom-com, I return to my experiment.
Imaging: MONICA GUPTA Photos: THINKSTOCK
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3:00pm THE GRUDGE
The Grudge starts promisingly enough. There’s a haunted house, two people die in the first 15 minutes and there is a mysterious little boy. There are two ghosts, so it should be twice the frights. Instead, when the ghosts appear, I find myself saying, “Really?” Pleased at my newly-discovered bravado, I continue to ‘meh’ and ‘blah’ through the rest of the movie. Perhaps it is true, after a while, you stop being scared and become numb to the theatrics. Or perhaps it’s because the Grudge bhoots are so B-grade and lame and have terrible make-up.
6:00pm PARANORMAL ACTIVITY
It’s dusk outside, the house is quiet and the curtains are closed. I am, however, feeling mighty plucky. The film begins. It’s based on a true story, the opening credits inform me. I snort in derision. Halfway through, things are pretty ho-hum. Just as I am feel-
ing smugly unafraid, the movie picks up pace. When the protagonist is dragged out of her bed by an apparition, I am scared out of my wits. All my bluster disappears… like a ghost.
8:15pm THE POSSESSION
Thoroughly spooked, I soldier on to my last movie. I do a mental count of all the horrors I just witnessed and figure there’s not much left in any coffin. At the centre of the story is a strange box, a possessed girl and lots of insects. I can’t shake off the feeling of ‘same old, same old’. After the fright from the last movie, I have become immune to lesser thrills and chills. Even the high-decibel exorcism leaves me underwhelmed. Horror movies use the standard bag of tricks, but it’s your overactive imagination that actually scares you. The trick is to remind yourself that the blood is just ketchup. And the ghost is really a rather cute Japanese kid. zehra.kazmi@hindustantimes.com
ghostseekers
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The Demon Hunters Four reasons why Supernatural is the horror show to watch on TV (except that it’s not really a horror show) by Poonam Saxena
T
HIS IS an addictive show. Supernatural fans will know what I mean, but for clueless souls, here’s a brief description. This series tells the compelling story of two brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester, who drive around midwest America in a classic black ’67 Chevy Impala, hunting evil supernatural beings. Together, they’ve killed all manner of spirits and demons; they’ve been to heaven, hell and pur-
gatory; they’ve died and come back to life many times – and they’ve looked ridiculously sexy all through. So the number one reason you should watch this show is that it probably has the best-looking cast you’ll find on any show. Dean is played by the strikingly handsome Jensen Ackles who looks especially lethal when he’s in badass mode (read shooting and stabbing monsters to death – and the body count can get
HOT OR WHAT?
Jensen Ackles (on the left) plays Dean Winchester and Jared Padalecki is Sam, and that’s the deadly ’67 Chevy Impala quite high), and Sam by the tall, longhaired Jared Padalecki. Reason number two is that apart from hot men, there is also a very hot car which is a character by itself. Yes, the aforesaid Impala, Dean’s ‘baby.’ The car has been in crashes, it’s been through hard times (in one of the
early episodes, an angry Dean takes out his rage by hitting it repeatedly with an iron rod), but it’s always roared back to life, streaking down highways and country roads to the sound of great rock numbers like Born to be Wild by Steppenwolf. Which brings me to reason number three: the show’s awesome classic rock soundtrack. An example of how rock music is used in the show: Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit plays out as a brutal killing takes place, the song’s magnificent crescendo coinciding with the victim’s dying paroxysms (hair-raising). And the last – but most important – reason to watch Supernatural is because it’s actually not about horror at all. It’s about (a) the close but complex bond between the two brothers and (b) how the constant hunting of evil things affects them and their lives. Dean is the classic protective older brother. Sam strains against the leash and has often strayed into the dark side. For all his toughness, Dean is a vulnerable guy, struggling with low self-esteem (serious daddy issues) and deep guilt. If all this sounds very heavy, it isn’t. Because one of the best things about Supernatural is its smart, sarcastic humour. You’ll laugh too. poonamsaxena@hindustantimes.com AXN will be showing Season 8 of Supernatural later this month. But ideally, you should see all the previous seasons before watching this one
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PERSONAL AGENDA
Actress
Esha Gupta
SUN SIGN HOMETOWN SCHOOL/ CURRENTLY DOING FIRST BREAK Delhi Sagittarius COLLEGE The Miss India pageant Promoting Chakravyuh and hosting NatGeo’s Supercars Blue Bells HIGH POINT PLACE OF International, New BIRTHDAY BIRTH LOW POINT OF YOUR LIFE Delhi, and Manipal OF YOUR LIFE Nov 28 New Delhi
Right now
University
If you could, which film would you have picked as your debut? I couldn’t have asked for anything better than Jannat 2. Sexiest actors in Bollywood? Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor. One classic you would have loved to be a part of. Khuda Gawah. Bollywood’s most romantic pair? Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol. The scene in Raaz 3 that still haunts you? The cockroach sequence. An item number you would love to do? Munni badnaam hui. Which body part would you get insured? My waist. One song that describes your current state of mind. I’m sexy and I know it. Which do you prefer – a little black dress or a black sari? A black sari. A rumour you’d like to start? None. If you were the editor of a magazine for a day, who would you put on
the cover? My mother. The gadget you love to flaunt. I don’t really flaunt any gadget, but I am loving my Nokia Lumia. Your favourite mobile application? City Lens. Your dream destination? Colombia. Who is your 3am friend? Nidhi Parmar. What’s on your bedside table? Water, lip balm and books. Three cosmetics you can’t do without. Just mascara and lip balm are good enough. The best car for a road trip? I would love to take a road trip across Italy in an Aston Martin S Coupe. What makes your day? A good workout session. The sexiest car you want to drive? A Porsche 911. Too good. You destress with? Chocolate. The last line of your autobiography would read… She came, she conquered, she left.
THE FILM YOU HAVE SEEN MORE THAN FIVE TIMES?
Pineapple Express, Jurassic Park Andaz Apna Apna A MOVIE THAT WAS PART OF YOUR CHILDHOOD?
Dilwale Dulaniya Le Jayenge
OCTOBER 21, 2012
A DESSERT THAT DESCRIBES YOU.
Tiramisu
— Interviewed by Veenu Singh
the movies she likes...
THE FIRST MOVIE YOU SAW ON THE BIG SCREEN?
Not here yet
THE MOST PAISA VASOOL FILM?
Paan Singh Tomar