Hindustantimes Brunch 25th December 2011

WEEKLY MAGAZINE, DECEMBER 25, 2011 Free with your copy of Hindustan Times

Actress Genelia D’Souza gets into the Xmas mood

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PHOTO: SATTISH BATE; LOCATION: DAMIAN, MUMBAI

CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

‘Somewhere, I Still Believe In Santa’

Even the mention of the word ‘Christmas’ makes actress Genelia D’souza light up like her family tree

T H I S

I S S U E

INDULGE LIVE

Happy Days!

There’s nothing we Indians love more than a good festival LISTEN

A Christmas Present

Ten discs. A hundred and eighty three tracks. Free. Merry Christmas!

PLAY

News of the Future: Tech Life in 2012

Here’s what the headlines in 2012 will be

We’re Logged On

EAT

facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch

This is what the dinner of the year tasted like with celebrated French chef Alain Passard’s cooking

Dinner Date

Shubham Jaiswal I heartly thak..Mr.Sanghvi..that he brought some europe..in his rude food....that was OSM. Cherry Jagdev Very well written article and Vidya’s true story. She has always been a heart throb of masses.

I still remember after Parineeta Brunch did a wonderful cover story on her. The girl every guy can take home to his mom. She look ravishing in white your photoshoot.Kudos

Yes, today is December 25, but it’s never too late to throw a Christmas party – with (almost) all the trimmings

VARIETY

Power List

Ditch that glass of wheatgrass juice. Here are 12 good reasons to knock back something stronger

What was India searching for this year? Here’s what the folks at Google Zeitgeist 2011 told us

BRUNCH ON THE WEB We’re in the mood for some holiday cheer. So here’s a special treat for our online readers!

Calling All Tweeple twitter.com/HTBrunch

Through The Looking Glass

@vansharma I can’t believe Vir Sanghvi wrote an entire article on Germany without once using the word “beer”! @AshuMittal Loved the cover shot of Vidya Balan on Brunch today.

PHOTO: DABBOO RATNANI

@twitprep Enjoyed Vir Sanghvi’s affectionate portrayal of Vidya Balan..

hindustantimes.com/brunch Reading Red Check out the full story online!

What were you doing when India won the World Cup this year? Did you get all misty-eyed watching Kate Middleton walk down the aisle in that exquisite dress or post a mournful status update when Steve Jobs passed away? Possibly some of our celebrities were doing the same! Read what they were up to in 2011!

EXC LU

@cablewala Your Personal Agenda should include new exciting questions every week Write to brunchletters@hindustantimes.com For marketing and ad-related queries, contact suresh.tripathi@hindustantimes.com

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Just why does this colour have such a strong hold on our moods, imaginations and emotions?

Have A Smashing New Year’s Eve!

Dev Raj Gulati The success of The Dirty Picture shouldn’t make Vidya Balan being type cast.Vidya would continue to rule because of her versatality.

@Nandini Bansal German Diary by Vir Sanghvi.. Very informative and nice :) To sum up, Brunch, mah fav mag !

Reading Red

Christmas In An Instant

Ria Rana I truly agree that Vidya is the ‘Queen of our hearts’. She stole our hearts with her impeccable acting and her versatility. I loved German Diary . I got to know a lot about Germany. A commendable work by the entire team !! Keep it up :)

@Mittermaniac @virsanghvi has written beautifully in Brunch about Vidya Balan and her journey to the top, after multiple rejections and replacements

CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

FEED BACK THE SUNDAY Brunch came with yet another excellent Cover Story

by Vir Sanghvi (Why Vidya Rules, December 18). I have no doubt that Vidya Balan is ruling the town these days. It’s a result of her successful portrayal of Silk Smita, a character in complete contrast with her role of the simple, next-door girl ‘Lolita’ from Parineeta. To select such a character, when she had already been rejected from 12 Malayalam and two Tamil movies in her past, shows her resilience. Probably it were the harsh experiences and rejections which gave her that courage. And that is the reason she is now ruling Bollywood. I am certain that I don’t need to remind you to publish such excellent articles, since you do that without saying, every week!

— MILIND PAVASKAR, Thane

Include Us Please

FABULOUS JOB every Sunday!

Your magazine is the only one that almost all my friends read (and you can imagine how difficult it would be to make a teen sit down at one place long enough to read!). It is fun, entertaining and best of all, it connects at a personal level. I think the only thing missing is some sort of a competition for the readers.

Maybe a creative writing contest on a given topic or a quiz or anything unconventional. It would be real fun being a part of Brunch. Anyway, keep up the good work, people!

And do increase Rajiv’s column to two pages!

— SURABHI GROVER , via email

First Hand Travels

Maybe it’s all the festive decorations, but we at Brunch have completely surrendered to the power of red.

S IV E Described in our story READING RED on page 8, this sensual, powerful and vibrant hue with its multiple connotations refused to be restricted to the pages of the magazine. So we decided to publish the complete version on the website so you could relish it fully. Paint it red!

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

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

Ruling B-Town

IT WAS a fascinating experience to read the series on First Firangis in India (Tales of The First Firangis, November 13-December 11). It felt like reading the first hand accounts of the travellers. Probably, the story of Thomas Coryate was most detailed. Many thanks to Professor Jonathan Gil Harris. Reading all the five parts makes one obviously curious about the author as well.

His photograph in that aristocratic attire was a really good move. But he didn’t identify his companion!

— U S PRASAD, New Delhi

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

HINDUSTAN TIMES WEEKLY MAGAZINE DECEMBER 25, 2011

Cover design: Ashutosh Sapru Cover photo: Thinkstock, myopera.com

MIND BODY SOUL

Wellness

SHIKHA SHARMA

Balance of energy

More power to

YOUR STRIDE Walking is the simplest and most effective form of exercise – provided you do it correctly

by Kavita Devgan

W

ALKING IS the king when it comes to exercising. It is easy to do, feasible to maintain, and its benefits are proven beyond doubt!

But you need to make it really effective.

EVERY STEP COUNTS

Take a spin around the office or walk to the nearby market; take the furthest parking space from your building; schedule walking meetings instead of sit-downs in stuffy rooms; walk while you’re on your phone. Also, if you can’t set aside 30 minutes of your day for a walk, take a 10-minute walk after breakfast, lunch, and dinner to reach the goal of 30 minutes a day, or take a family walk after dinner.

HYDRATE WELL

Hydrate well before, during and after the walk.

To determine the quantity of fluid you require, weigh yourself before and after the walk. The difference in weight would be the quantity of fluids you may need to replace. Avoid caffeinated drinks before your walk as they lead to loss of fluid from the body and make you thirsty.

POWER WALK

When done right, walking can blast away fat as fast as jogging – maybe faster. Follow these pointers to power walking.

Aim to walk at about 4.5-miles per hour.

Take quick heel-ball-toe steps as these are more efficient and less tiring than long strides.

Raise your chin and look about 10 feet ahead of you.

Bend your elbows at a 90-degree angle, close your hands in relaxed fists and swing

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OW THAT winter is in full swing, prepare for coughs, colds, respiratory troubles, lung and sinus infections and weight gain. This is due to low immunity, an incorrect diet and lifestyle, a constitutional predisposition towards a kapha disorder, and environmental conditions. Here are some FAQs about kapha.

IS THE KAPHA SEASON UNHEALTHY?

Actually, this the best season to build immunity and stamina and improve your skin and hair. But you need to balance the environment with the correct nutrition, lifestyle and exercise.

KEEP ON WALKING The more you walk, the healthier you’ll be. Use a pedometer (left) to measure your progress

them in an arc from waist to chest, keeping them close to your body. This way you’ll walk faster, burn more calories, and build upper body strength.

To strengthen your lower legs as part of your warm-up, walk on your heels for 30 seconds.

Aim for four to six power walks a week of 20 to 30 minutes each. Rest your body now and then to let it repair and build muscle.

TAKE A SILENT HIKE

When walking, tune into your surroundings.

Be aware of the fragrance of the soil, the sensations of the breeze, the warmth of the sunshine. This will enhance your sense of serenity and ‘walk’ your mind as well as your body.

GET A PEDOMETER

A pedometer senses your body motion and counts your footsteps. This count is converted into distance by knowing the length of your usual stride. The simplest pedometers only count your steps and display steps and / or distance. A visual reminder (a pedometer clipped to your belt or shoe) not only makes walking easy but also keeps you accountable to something, even if it is a machine. For weight loss, experts recommend an uninterrupted walk each day of 4,000-6,000 steps. A total of 10,000 steps every day is considered a magic number.

You can find pedometers at sports stores or use a pedometer app on your mobile.

Experts Nisha Varma, Reebok Master Trainer (North India); Bharat Sachdeva, Fitness Trainer

brunchletters@hindustantimes.com

WHAT IS KAPHA?

Kapha is an energy found in the human body, in foods, in the environment, the time of the day and also your age. Kapha energy among humans provides strength, stamina, good skin and hair and a calm temperament. Kapha gives food high binding and cohesive properties, increases body mass and strength, cools and increases moistness in the body. Kapha in the environment means it is cold, moist, heavy and slow. In the diurnal cycle, kapha energy manifests at night.

WHY DO WE NEED TO BALANCE KAPHA?

People who already have high kapha in their system accumulate more this season. This may lead to disorders such as high cholesterol, increased weight, increase in blood sugar, increase in bile thickness, gall bladder stone tendency, cholesterol blockages, vulnerability to fibroids, arthritic pain, sinusitis and an accumulation of fluids in the respiratory system.

IS PHLEGM THE SAME AS KAPHA?

Phlegm is only a small aspect of kapha excess. For good health, we need the correct balance of kapha. Therefore, foods high in kapha should be eaten with caution this season.

These include milk, curd (high kapha), cold drinks, red meat, bananas, processed cheese (high kapha), rice, cashew nuts, coconut, ghee, butter, fried foods, processed and refined foods, watery fruits like melons and cucumbers, oily foods, sugar and sweets.

To balance high kapha, eat dalia (with vegetables), bajra, jowar, corn, fenugreek, cumin, spices, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, mustard seeds and oil.

Also try massages with sesame seed oil or dry herbs, inhale steam with eucalyptus oil and exercise heavily so you sweat. ask@drshikha.com PHOTOS: THINKSTOCK

CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

Reading

Red B

LESSINGS WHEN it’s on the forehead or wrists, festive when it surrounds you, sensual when it’s on the lips, beautiful when it’s on your body, striking when you drive in it. And in the Christmas season, it’s all over the place, grabbing our attention, brightening our days.

Can you imagine Santa Claus in any colour but red? Maybe it’s because in wintry Europe, Santa’s red suit stands out against the snow.

Maybe the colour cheers everyone up in the grey winter. Maybe Santa simply likes red. The last could be true. Doesn’t everyone like red?

GIMME RED

If you reach out to a red T-shirt or dress on a bad hair day, chances are, it will actually make you feel better.

Red, says Dr Ramesh Kaushal, Reiki grandmaster, has an energy and vibration that makes you feel confident. “It is a powerful colour that immediately connects you very differently to your environment,” he says. “In fact red is recommended to people who might lack confidence.”

It’s a sure-shot mood-lifter, agrees Dr Deepti Dhara, naturopath at Tulsi Holistic Centre, Kamla Nagar, Delhi.

“Red is a positive colour which on a grey day, can really help brighten your mood,” she says.

That’s because red has a positive effect on your body, says wellness expert and Brunch columnist Dr Shikha Sharma. “Red is the colour of the mooldhara (root) chakra located at the base of the spine, which con-

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Just why does this colour have such a strong hold on our moods, imaginations and emotions?

by Prachi Raturi Misra

nects you to the outer world,” she says. “It increases your energy levels. Red also has great healing properties. For example it is recommended to treat degenerating bones.”

Ancient healing systems have always used red. In Feng Shui, the front door is known as the ‘Mouth of Chi’, the portal from where energy enters. So a red front door means “welcome.” And according to ayurvedic colour therapy, red is the colour of ‘rajo gunn’ (one of the three ‘gunn’ – rajo, tamo and satto – or qualities identified by ayurveda).

Rajo gunn signifies qualities associated with ‘rajas’ – ambition, action and success.

The use of red increases the rajas element in your being, making you dynamic.

In food science, adds Dr Sharma, red whets your appetite, and boosts digestion.

And as Anthony Huang, executive

SANTA’S

RED SUIT CHEERS PEOPLE UP IN EUROPE’S GREY WINTER

A RED RUBY IS THE TRADITIONAL FORTIETH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY PRESENT IN THE EAST, RED IS WORN

BY BRIDES. BUT IT IS THE COLOUR OF MOURNING IN SOUTH AFRICA RED IS CONSIDERED THE COLOUR OF HAPPINESS, LUCK AND PROSPERITY IN CHINA

chef, Hotel Ista, Pune, confirms, “I do use a lot of shades of red in my cooking. It is no secret that red induces hunger and attracts attention.” For instance, one of chef Huang’s dishes, the Shower Fried Fish, features fresh green slivers of spring onion and red chillies. “Every guest turns to see this dish being carried across the restaurant,” says chef Huang.

Red is also considered the colour of focus and is supposed to help improve your memory. Researchers at the University of British Columbia, Canada, showed 600 people two sets of images: one displayed against red and the other against blue. Later, the subjects were asked to recall what they had seen. Most people remembered the red set in detail.

STRIKE THREE

Ever wondered why a red carpet is considered powerful or why VIPs have a red light on their vehicles? Red speaks of style and confidence. Little surprise that actress Gwyneth Paltrow was once quoted as saying: “Beauty, to me, is about being comfortable in your own skin. That, or a kick-ass red lipstick.”

Thanks to its wavelength, red has the property of appearing closer than

HINDUSTAN TIMES WEEKLY MAGAZINE DECEMBER 25, 2011

it might really be and hence catches our attention before any other hue.

Which may be why the ‘stop’ traffic light is red everywhere in the world.

Red stands out. So much so that it isn’t hard to agree with Mazyar Fallah, assistant professor at the School of Kinesiology and Health Science, York University, Canada, who said: “All things being equal between two figure skaters – including their actual speed on the ice – the judges will perceive a skater in red moving with greater speed than a skater in blue.”

As a colour, red catches our attention the fastest, which is why it’s such a hot favourite in the advertising world. Pamphlets, posters... red usually ensures more eyeballs. “I guess it’s an instinctive thing to like red,” says Prasoon Pandey, director and founder of Corcoise films. “It’s almost hardwired into us.”

And red is also a fashion classic.

“It’s organic, it lifts things up,” says designer Ritu Kumar. “And in India, it has deep significance. Our ceremonies have red, our brides wear red. It signifies joy and fertility.”

So much so that, according to Sanjay Sharma, director, Swarovski Elements India, “In India we always have a larger stock of red because we know it is always in demand.”

THE OTHER SIDE

But red has its negative side too.

Anger is described as ‘seeing red’, flashing red lights denote danger, red also symbolises war and fire.

Studies show that red can have a physical effect, increasing our rate of respiration and raising blood pressure. That’s why our ears and cheeks flush when we are angry. Red, explains Dr Sharma, when used in excess, can do as much harm as it can do good. “It can increase your energy levels to an unhealthy high.

Use red judiciously,” she advises.

According to ayurvedic colour therapy, overdo red and you risk raising your pitta quotient. It can also cause stress, heartburn, and an increased tamo gunn, usually associated with darkness and lethargy.

Red can also show defiance and aggression. Celebrity photographer Jagdish Mali, for instance, has never liked the colour. “It seems too harsh to the eye,” he says. “Sometimes I asked Rekha (the actress) to change if she was wearing red, because red is a very aggressive colour.”

So take the photographer’s advice.

Don’t use red during the day. At night it looks different – warmer and not such an attention grabber.

brunchletters@hindustantimes.com PHOTOS: THINKSTOCK, MCT

CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

‘Somewhere, I still believe in Santa’ Even the mention of the word ‘Christmas’ makes actress Genelia D’souza light up like her family tree

T

by Amrah Ashraf

HERE IS something about Christmas that makes every little girl’s heart race.

Dresses with frills, beautiful ballerinas, and gifts all around.

But one Bandra girl had her own style statement at one time. Actress Genelia D’souza, beloved for her nonchalant style, was all grunge.

“I had this embarrassing red sweater with a huge patch of a colourful Christmas tree on it,” she smiles. “Now that I think back, it looked pretty ridiculous, but it was my favourite and I wore it for three Christmas dinners back to back. Later of course, I started dolling up.”

‘COMPLETE FAMILY TIME’

Christmas has always been Genelia’s “most favourite” festival.

“You can feel the spirit of Christmas in the air,” she says.

“The city is completely lit up and the year is coming to an end. It’s almost poetic. For me it’s complete family time – the tree, presents and extravagant lunch.”

When she was a kid, Genelia and her brother would prep for the big day a week before it. They’d choose their stockings, tree, get decorations together, and search frantically for gifts. “Once the star was up, we knew Christmas was here,” she recalls. “Instantly, we’d start looking for our presents. But my mom would find new places to hide them every year!”

Ask what her favourite memory is and she almost shouts: “The treeee!” She used to hate it, she remembers, when she couldn’t reach the top of the tree to place the star, but her brother could.

“Apart from that, everything about the tree made me happy,” says Genelia. “Shopping for the

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WHAT YOU LOVE TO EAT

Roast chicken with stuffing and palm sauce and of courseChristmas pudding

SOMETHING YOU WANT FOR CHRISTMAS

This year, like every other year I just want a fantastic Christmas dinner with my family

SOMETHING YOU’D LIKE TO GIVE THIS YEAR

I spend a lot of time planning my presents. It’s all very thought out and researched so I’m not going to give out my ideas here

A SONG YOU LOVE LISTENING TO I am very traditional, so we usually bring out the old CDs with different covers and versions of carols

WHERE YOU CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS

At home. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else

YOUR FAVE CHRISTMAS MOVIE Home Alone

‘THE SECOND

THE STAR WENT UP, I STARTED SEARCHING FOR MY PRESENTS’ decorations was such a task, but I loved doing it. We’d go all over the city looking for ornaments, and the tree always looked gorgeous.”

Of course no Christmas is complete without Santa Claus, but Genelia was quick to realise that the fat bearded man with a sack full of goodies was not Santa but her parents. “I think every kid believed in Santa, I think somewhere I still do,” she says. “But from the Santa in the books we read when we were little, we soon realised that our parents were Santa and we were okay with that too. My letters to Santa obviously worked because

HINDUSTAN TIMES WEEKLY MAGAZINE DECEMBER 25, 2011

somehow whatever I wanted was always under the tree. I always thank my parents for that.”

‘WE STICK TO TRADITION’

Christmas for the family means being together and Genelia makes it a point to be home for Christmas.

“There is always such a sense of warmth, joy and celebration,” she says. “Christmas lunch is the best and it’s always home cooked. Even now, we make sure we stick to traditional food. But what a feast it is!”

So does she ever step into the kitchen herself? “I stay out of the kitchen because there probably wouldn’t be a Christmas dinner if I went in,” she laughs. “But I do help my mother bake cakes and kalkals.”

This year too, by the time you read this, Genelia will be with her family.

“I wouldn’t be anywhere else in the world but home,” she says.

“Christmas has remained the same for me because I have consciously made an effort to keep it that way. So I could be shooting anywhere in the world, but I will make sure I make it back home in time for the celebrations. I am very traditional in these matters.”

Her sense of tradition extended to Christmas Eve as well. Only once did Genelia ever attend a Christmas Eve Ball, when she was in her first year of college. “It felt like a mixture of a fairy tale and a prom. So exciting!

But I preferred to be with my family.”

Her home will be decorated with mistletoe, stars, wreaths, stockings and fairy lights. “We go all out for Christmas. We take special care while decorating and setting up our crib which is the ultimate symbol of Christmas in every Catholic home.”

It’s evident that talking about Christmas makes Genelia very happy. Her eyes light up, she gets animated, and a barrage of stories from her childhood comes rushing out. “I can’t help it,” she says. “I just love Christmas!” amrah.ashraf@hindustantimes.com PHOTO: SATTISH BATE; LOCATION COURTESY: DAMIAN FURNITURE STORE, BANDRA, MUMBAI; HAIR: PLACID BRAGANZA; MAKEUP: CHETAN NAIK; OUTFIT: NAMRATA JOSHIPURA

It’s never too late to throw a Christmas party – with (almost) all the trimmings PHOTOS: PRAFUL GANGURDE, THINKSTOCK, MCT

by Mignonne Dsouza

A

nd so this is Christmas And what have you done?

If the answer is nothing, there’s no need to panic.

Even with almost no notice at all, there is time to put together a last-minute Christmas celebration just by exercising a bit of ingenuity. After all, it isn’t every day that there’s an excuse to throw a party, and since the end of the festive season is almost upon us, it’s time to make the most of it. So send out your SMS invites, and let the planning begin.

THE HOLLY AND THE IVY

This is an easy one, since the theme is obviously red and green. You can stretch a point and make it red, white and green. So bring out all your red or green plates, cups and serving bowls, and get them washed.

When it comes to decorating the house, there’s no limit to the imagination – even on a limited time frame. For a quick-fix tree, Yashika Punjabee and Pragnya Rao of Groovy Two Shoes, a Mumbai-based boutique events house, recommend using post-it notes (if you have green ones, even better) and sticking them on to a wall in rows slightly overlapping each other in the shape of a cone to create a tree. Write your favourite quotes on it, and leave bunched-up fairy lights at its foot.

Alternatively, you can buy a small tree and ornaments, and make decorating the tree into a group activity once all your friends arrive.

For bunting, you can hang up red, green and white dupattas and shawls (wrap the fairy lights around them), or, as Groovy Two Shoes advises, tear out pages of an old book and fold them over, and tie (or staple) them to a string. Fairy lights can be used in abundance; get your friends to bring over their own, and try to use them as the only source of illumination.

And as Yashika and Pragnya suggest, light candles in glass jars or clear vases, decorated with pearls or faux gold baubles. Vanilla, cranberry and pine-scented candles (if you have them) will also add a fantastic ambience. Finally, red and green satin ribbon can be used to good effect.

THE FIRST NOEL

Once the house looks festive enough, set the mood. Various Internet radio stations offer Christmas and ‘Holiday’ music – meaning that they

Christmas in an instant

green chutney, pizza with sundried tomatoes and capsicum, carrot cake, red velvet cupcakes, watermelon and feta salad, and more. If you feel up to making a cake, here’s a recipe for a 25-minute one (see box). And for a truly traditional touch, why not make eggnog (see box)?

ALL I WANT FOR XMAS…

A FESTIVE FEAST Create a tree with post-its (top left), bake a quick cake (top right), serve red foods (above), add a wreath (below) and serve eggnog (below right) for the festive touch

play nothing but carols (choose from folk, country, rock and instrumental stations). Google ‘Internet Radio’ and choose one.

Alternatively, download the soundtracks of these movies – The Holiday, Love Actually, the Home Alone movies, etc, and you’ll have festive music filling your ears.

MISTLETOE AND WINE

What is a party without good food and drink? While the short notice of this party demands that you order in food, try and make sure you get as many red and green foods as you can to fit the theme. Think cranberry and litchi juice, red wine, tomato bruschetta, a salad, cherries, salsa sauce and guacamole, strawberries, kebabs and

What’s a Christmas party without gifts under the tree? Even if you can’t manage full-scale gifts for all friends, a small present will add to the excitement and really raise the spirits. Think chocolates (a lot of foreign brands are now easily available at grocery shops) and alcohol miniatures (again widely available). Scan shops in your area and look for hair accessories, mobile charms, fun toys like darts or a travelling chess set and wrap them in glossy newspaper if you can’t find wrapping paper. Put the gifts in Santa caps, and string them up around the house for guests to find.

If you’ve run out of ideas, buy online gift vouchers.

Finally, put on your prettiest red outfit, warn guests to come wearing red or green and you’re ready to bring in Christmas.

Happy holiday! mignonne.dsouza @hindustantimes.com

HINDUSTAN TIMES WEEKLY MAGAZINE DECEMBER 25, 2011

CHRISTMAS PLUM CAKE

INGREDIENTS: 1 kg butter; 1 kg sugar 20 eggs; 20 gms baking powder; 1 kg flour; 300 ml orange juice; 500 gm assorted dry fruit like walnuts, glazed cherries, tutti frutti, raisins, blackcurrants, orange peel and lemon peel.

METHOD: Soak dry fruit in rum for 5 minutes. Mix the butter and sugar with a ladle to make a cream, slowly adding eggs to it.

Add flour and baking powder. Add the dry fruit soaked in rum. Put into the moulds as required. Bake the cake at 170 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes. Once out of the oven, soak the cake in orange juice and the remaining rum.

NOTE: You can add caramel colouring to make the cake look more attractive.

(Recipe courtesy pastry chef Prashant, Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel, Powai)

TRADITIONAL EGGNOG

(SERVES: 8) INGREDIENTS: 12 eggs, separated; 6 cups milk; 2 cups heavy/ thickened cream; 2 cups bourbon; 1+ 1/2 cups sugar; 3/4 th cup brandy; 2 tsp nutmeg, ground METHOD: In a large bowl and using a hand mixer, beat egg yolks together with sugar for approx 10 minutes (you want the mixture to be firm and the colour of butter).

Very slowly, add the bourbon and brandy a little at a time. When the bourbon and brandy have been added, allow the mixture to cool in the fridge (for up to six hours, or depending on how long before your party you’re making eggnog). Thirty minutes before your guests arrive, stir the milk into the chilled yolk mixture. Stir in 1+ 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg. In a separate bowl, beat the cream with a mixer on high speed until the cream forms stiff peaks.

In another bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Gently fold the cream into the egg mixture. After ladling into cups, garnish with the remainder of the nutmeg.

(Recipe courtesy Allan Limmer, Executive Chef, InterContinental – The Lalit, Mumbai)

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indulge live

| listen | play | eat

spectator

Seema Goswami

Happy Days!

PHOTOS: REUTERS

STREET PARTY I don’t miss the delights of New Market.

Except on one day of the year: Christmas

A PRAYER FOR GOOD On Christmas, the more devout among us would head to St Paul’s Cathedral for the midnight mass

Whether it’s Christmas, Diwali or Id, there’s nothing we Indians love more than a good festival

PHOTO: THINKSTOCK

CELEBRATIONS! It’s a festival after our own hearts, with its emphasis on family, friends and feasting

U

LIKE MOST people who grew up in Calcutta and then moved away, I am not overly nostalgic about the city. I don’t pine for Bengali culture or Bengali music. I don’t reminisce fondly about the late, lamented Sky Room (a landmark city restaurant in its time). I don’t hanker after the baked beans of Flury’s or the jhaal muri outside Lighthouse cinema (though I sometimes dream about the puchhkas!). I don’t long for the lawns of Tolly Club. I don’t miss the delights of New Market. And I certainly don’t gaze back on my Calcutta days through a fug of rose-tinted nostalgia.

Except on one day of the year: Christmas. Or as we Cal types call it, Bada Din, or quite literally, Big Day. That’s the only time I get a bit nostalgic about my Calcutta days.

Growing up, Christmas was a huge deal. The excitement would start building up weeks in advance, reaching a crescendo when the festive lights on Park Street were turned on. Christmas trees would crop up in the unlikeliest of locations. There would be a sudden flurry of shopping as everyone stocked up on presents. The city’s clubs would vie with one another to host the most spectacular Xmas Eve party. The more devout among us would head to St Paul’s Cathedral for the midnight mass.

Christmas Day would be reserved for picnics to make the most of the short-lived Calcutta winter. I, for one, still have vivid memories of Bada Din family picnics in the Botanical Gardens, with almost the entire neighbourhood in attendance. Meals would be cooked in the open, the kids would dance along to loud music or play raucous games while the adults amused themselves with a pack of cards while keeping a wary eye on their children.

It didn’t really matter what religion we belonged to or what God we worshipped. When it came to Christmas, we were all believers – and celebrants.

As the saying goes, what Calcutta did yesterday, India will do tomorrow. And sure enough, over the years, Christmas has become a huge deal in the rest of the country as well. Our children believe in Santa Claus as fervently as those in the West. Mistletoe and ornament-laden Christmas trees sprout up all over our public spaces as well. We plan special parties on Xmas Eve. We enjoy the day off on Christmas with our families and friends.

Of course, the cynics among us will say that it’s just that we Indians love nothing more than a good old festival. And Christmas, with its message of good cheer, its gleaming fairy lights and its lilting carols, fits the bill exactly. It’s a festival after our own hearts, with its emphasis on fam-

ily, friends and feasting. Rum-laden fruit cakes, stuffed turkey with cranberry sauce, eggnog, mulled wine – who could possibly resist?

But I think there’s more to the way we have made Christmas our own.

If you ask me, this ‘secularisation’ of Christmas is, in a sense, a triumph of Indian secularism itself.

As someone who spent her entire childhood in convent school, I grew up with a sense that Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary were just two more idols to add to the Hindu pantheon that I worshipped at home.

Before every major exam, most of us would slip quietly into the chapel to have a quick word with God. It didn’t really matter if it was Mother Mary or Ma Durga we prayed to. Even as kids, we knew instinctively, that God was one even if She was called by many names.

And it is in this spirit that we in India take to celebrating each other’s festivals with as much gusto as we would our own.

The most obvious examples are Diwali and Id. Both have religious significance for Hindus and Muslims respectively. But the celebrations that mark them cut across religious lines effortlessly. Diwali parties are not all-Hindu affairs, just as Iftar gatherings and Id dinners are attended by people of all religions.

Hindus may mark Diwali with a special puja to Goddess Lakshmi, but there are many Christian and Muslim families who will light up their homes and burst crackers with as much fervour. Practising Muslims may celebrate Id with prayers in the mosque and exchanging idi gifts with family and friends. But their Hindu, Sikh and Christian friends will join in by cadging invitations to homes where they are guaranteed the best biryani and seviyaan.

And so it is with Christmas. Christians may mark it with a midnight mass or an early morning service on Christmas Day, but the rest of us will celebrate the spirit of the day in our own way.

And that, if you ask me, is the greatest triumph of our syncretic Indian culture: that our festivals retain their religious significance even as they are celebrated across religious lines. Contrast this with the West where political correctness now dictates that you should say ‘Happy Holidays’ instead of ‘Merry Christmas’ for fear of giving offence to some minority or religious group.

Strange, isn’t it? Especially when in secular India we have no problem in wishing one another Shubh Diwali or Id Mubarak. And in keeping with that spirit, here’s wishing all of you a Merry Christmas. Enjoy the Big Day!

AS KIDS, IT

DIDN'T REALLY MATTER IF IT WAS MOTHER MARY OR MA DURGA WE PRAYED TO

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

HINDUSTAN TIMES WEEKLY MAGAZINE DECEMBER 25, 2011

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Ten discs. A hundred and eighty three tracks. Free. Merry Christmas (hic)!

download central

Sanjoy Narayan

W

HEN I sat down to write this instalment of Download Central, I realised that many of you may not be able to read this today for I have enough empirical reasons to believe that on the morning of December 25 many people have difficulty navigating lines of print and making coherent sense of them. I’ve also realised over the years that this morning we will all probably be better off listening to music rather than trying to read anything.

So I’d like to begin by directing you to a trove of compilations that I stumbled upon late last week. It’s a 10-disc, 183-song mix and comprises songs from albums released during 2011. You’ll find a variety of genres here and songs from musicians that you’ve either heard of or know; tracks from others that you’ve perhaps never heard of; and releases from older artistes that you hadn’t had a chance to check out.

The 10-disc free download is from Fluxblog and you can get the link if you check out the web version of this column. Fluxblog is among the earliest mp3 blogs (born c.2002) by Matthew Perpetua, a music blogger whom you must check out if you haven’t already. This year’s mighty compilation includes almost everyone or every band of note that released anything worthy of being mentioned. Of course, the list is sculpted by what Perpetua (who also writes for rollingstone.com) likes but if you download all of it (be sure to do it fast as Fluxblog’s download links are offered for a limited period), you’ll get a comprehensive cachet of the best music of 2011.

Just to give you an idea of the kind of range the Fluxblog mix has, here’s a selection from what I heard on just the first disc: Beyoncé’s Countdown, TV on the Radio’s Caffeinated Consciousness, Iron and Wine’s Me and Lazarus, Paul Simon’s Afterlife and Cass McCombs’ County Line. You couldn’t have a more eclectic mix than that. And there are 10 such albums. If I were you, I’d stop reading the rest of the rubbish that will follow and head over to download the lot.

Plug for Fluxblog and self-deprecation over, here is how 2011 has been for me musically. Early in the year, Radiohead dropped its latest, King of Limbs. Considering that it is a band that I’m completely sold on, I’d pre-booked the download, of course, and once I got it I listened to it a countless number of times. Many, many people didn’t like it (read all the rants on the Net and you’ll see) but I don’t give a fig. KoL is a great album. Why, I even loved Thom Yorke’s strange spasmodic dance in the video of the song Lotus Flower.

Then, a few weeks later, I heard another of the older bands, Foo Fighters, on their new release, Wasting Light. I even bought the vinyl but I have to admit, I don’t remember giving them a second listen.

Things looked up when I heard the excellent remix of Gil-Scott Heron’s I’m Not Here by British minimalist band The xx’s Jamie Smith who overlaid dubstep and indie notes into Scott-Heron’s marvellous partspoken word, part jazz and blues 2010 album and created a great new version of it. Then, in May I heard that Scott-Heron had died.

PICK ’EM-UPS (From left) My Morning Jacket’s latest, Circuital; St Vincent’s Strange Mercy; R.E.M’s last album, Collapse Into Now; Warren Haynes’ mellow blues album, Man In Motion; and Wilco’s The Whole Love, which was a refreshing change

FIVE TO THE FINISH: THE TOP ALBUMS THAT MADE MY DAY THIS YEAR

B

y the time you read this, everyone who writes on music, including the big magazines, will have ritualistically put out their ‘Best of 2011’ lists, some of them sliced and diced according to genres, geographies and gender. Others would have polled listeners and fans to make popular lists for the year that will go by in a week from now. I’ll simply list five albums that made my day the moment I heard them during this past year.

Warren Haynes, guitarist par excellence, came out with his solo album, Man In Motion, a most soulful and mellow blues album that makes repeated listening to it almost mandatory.

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My Morning Jacket, my favourite contemporary southern rockers, rediscovered their early deliciously reverb-drenched sound in their latest release, Circuital.

Wilco, the alt-country folk-rockers, came out with The Whole Love, which was a refreshing change from their last two albums, Sky Blue Sky and Wilco (The Album), both of which I wished to forget.

R.E.M. came out with Collapse Into Now, which, when it came out early-ish in the year, I didn’t know would probably be the last new album from that super, super band. Many people didn’t like the album; I loved it and I’m still getting into it.

HINDUSTAN TIMES WEEKLY MAGAZINE DECEMBER 25, 2011

St Vincent, who is a.k.a. Annie Clark, came out with her third album, Strange Mercy, which is even notches better than her first two, Marry Me and Actor. Her powerful yet sweet vocals and the music that is a fascinating intersection of post-punk and baroque pop, makes the album enduring. I’ll listen to it in 2012 too.

And, of course, there’ll be Fluxblog’s 183track mega-compilation to cherry pick from.

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

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News Of The Future: Tech Life In 2012

Who cares about looking back when there’s so much to look forward to? Here’s what the headlines in 2012 will be

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techilicious

Rajiv Makhni

011 WAS great for tech and 2012 will be better. There are a lot of indications as to what lies ahead for technology in the next year. Here’s what we may find if we scan through all the top headlines of 2012.

DECEMBER 2012 BLACKBERRYANDRO SELLS IN BIG NUMBERS

LAST CHANCE BlackBerry and Android is a compelling mix and will keep RIM alive

BACK IN THE SADDLE One of the headlines for 2012 might be the return of Bill Gates to head Microsoft

BlackBerry continues to sell in huge numbers.

After the shocking announcement in August 2012 that RIM would not go with the new BBX platform but shift to Android, BB phones have sold very well. The compelling mix of Android with true BB push email and the very much in demand andro-BBM has made sure that BB is back.

MARCH 2012 THE FLOODGATES ARE OPEN AGAIN

Bill Gates has come back to head the Microsoft business. While it wasn’t exactly unexpected, Steve Ballmer has immediately announced that he will move on to purse ‘other interests’. This comes at a time when Windows 8 has had a great start and Windows Phone has captured a fair slice of the smartphone market, both of which came about under Ballmer. Gates also announced that a Windows 9 Tablet would be out next year for $99.

HOT AND CRISP Apple CEO Tim Cook will start making high tech toasters. Just kidding!

ping it of all its patents and intellectual property, WingShu has had one disaster after another. The first phone, the Razr 2, had huge problems and got sued for millions of dollars for cutting people’s hands as it was too thin. WingShu has announced that it will come up with its own versions of shaving blades to compete with Gillette.

SEPTEMBER 2012 THIRD BLACKOUT OF 3G NETWORKS WORLDWIDE

Once again, most high speed, on-the-move mobile broadband users were left twiddling their thumbs. With an overload of capacities and Internet everywhere, mobile broadband carriers are collapsing like ninepins. With Internet-enabled cars, movie and TV streaming, more than 700 million smartphones and Tablets on 3G and too much content being downloaded, the overloaded networks have completely collapsed.

SEPTEMBER 2012 APPLE TELEVISION TOTALLY DIFFERENT FROM EXPECTATIONS

NOVEMBER 2012 MASS EXODUS FROM FACEBOOK

Facebook has seen a huge number of dropouts and the trend has continued this month. This has mainly happened ever since Facebook implemented new mind-reading technology for all its users. This technology reads a Facebook user’s mind and posts his or her thoughts immediately. Thus most posts became very ugly and critical and people were shocked at the harsh comments that their posted pictures got. Zuckerberg has dismissed this as a temporary blip as he still has 1.2 billion minds to read and claims this is the new honest Facebook – away from the fake sugary comments that everybody lied about and posted on their accounts.

WITH THE

NEW APPLE TV, A WHOLE NEW WORLD OF CONTENT WILL OPEN UP

OCTOBER 2012 TIM COOK RESIGNS AFTER IPAD 3 FLOP

What was just a rumour has now turned to reality. After brilliant sales of the iPhone 5, the massive disappointment of the iPad 3 and low sales have taken their toll. The iPad 3 came out with a small 7-inch screen and a very high price of $799. This opened the flood gates from Amazon and Samsung to pounce and Amazon’s Kindle Fire 2 with a 9-inch screen and $99 dollar price is now the current leader. Tim Cook has announced plans to open a new company that would make high tech toasters.

JUNE 2012 MOTOROLA’S LAST FACTORY SHUTS DOWN

Motorola’s Chinese owner WingShu Corp has shut down the last of the Motorola factories. After Google sold off Motorola after strip-

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Apple took the world by surprise with its 55 and 75-inch television displays that don’t try and force you to interact with the TV. It is also pushing all kinds of content like music, TV shows and movies on to it. With almost everything that is on the iTunes store available on your TV, a whole new world of content has opened up. While there are all kind of apps that run on this TV, the main emphasis is video and content on demand.

AUGUST 2012 PATENT WARS GET UGLIER

Samsung and HTC have both won their ‘cease and desist’ case in the USA and all of Europe. This will now curb all phone sales of Microsoft’s Windows Phone and Apple’s iPhone 5 in these regions. Patent wars have become uglier this year as most companies have realised that that there is more money in suing than manufacturing. Apple has counter-sued all Android manufacturers.

JUNE 2012 SIRI GOES DOWN, ALL-OUT WAR BETWEEN ASSISTANTS

Siri was officially taken off beta and off the iPhone due to an all-out war of voice assistants. Due to too many errors and the technology turning out to be eventually disappointing, Apple has decided to move away from this war. This may also be due to Siri reading out mails and important information completely wrong, leading to many heart attacks across the world. Microsoft has said it will continue with its newly launched assistant – Fido – despite similar issues.

And with that 2012 draws to an end. See you in 2013!

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

HINDUSTAN TIMES WEEKLY MAGAZINE DECEMBER 25, 2011

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rude food

Vir Sanghvi

PHOTO: JASJEET PLAHA

DINNER DATE

DRINK IT DRY Pavillon Blanc is the best and most expensive dry white wine in Bordeaux

A meal where celebrated French chef Alain Passard would cook and six different vintages of Chateau Margaux, Pavillon Blanc and Pavillon Rouge would be served seemed like the dinner of the year

A

LAIN PASSARD is widely regarded as one of the greatest chefs in France – and therefore, by extension, in the world. He has held Michelin stars for most of his working life and in 1996, Michelin gave him three stars, its highest ranking and one that Passard has held on to for a decade and a half.

Chateau Margaux is, without a doubt, one of the world’s greatest wines. The wines of Bordeaux (in France) are still divided into growths (sort of like first division, second division, third division etc.) based on a classification devised in 1855. Many would argue that the classification now needs to be reworked but there is no disagreement over the exceptional quality of the first growths: Margaux, Latour, Lafite, Haut Brion and Mouton (not part of the 1855 list but promoted in the early Seventies).

Of the first growths, Margaux is probably the most refined: fabulous, delicately perfumed wine with great finesse. Its white wine Pavillon Blanc, of which it makes only a tiny quantity, is the best and most expensive dry white wine in Bordeaux. Since the early Eighties, the wines have been made by Paul Pontallier, a legendary

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winemaker with few equals in his sphere.

So when Dhruv Sawhney, who knows more about fine wine than anybody else in India (and being rich, can afford the best wines), wrote to say that he was hosting a dinner where Passard would cook and six different vintages of Chateau Margaux, Pavillon Blanc and Pavillon Rouge (Margaux’s second red wine) would be served, it seemed like the dinner of the year.

There was one other factor. In 2001, five years after his restaurant L’Arpège in Paris had won three stars from Michelin, Passard declared that he was throwing out 12 signature dishes from his menu because they contained meat. From now on, he would concentrate on vegetables and a little fish. This should have been the death knell for Arpège but, over the last decade, the restaurant has gone from strength to strength and Passard’s example has made other great French chefs (Pierre Gagnaire, for instance) look again at vegetarian options for their menus.

So, I was intrigued. Could you really pair the world’s greatest and most delicate red Bordeaux with vegetables? And how would Indians respond to vegetables cooked by one of France’s

HINDUSTAN TIMES WEEKLY MAGAZINE DECEMBER 25, 2011

indulge greatest chefs?

The afternoon before the dinner I chatted to Paul Pontallier about the decision to pair some of the best Margaux vintages with vegetarian food. It turned out that Paul himself eats very little red meat and loves vegetables. He wanted to prove to Indians that vegetarians could enjoy great wines and so, he pursued Passard relentlessly for months till the chef agreed to come to India for a week and cook three dinners: at the Leela in Bangalore and the Taj hotels in Bombay and Delhi.

In Bangalore and Bombay, the dinners were paid, ticketed events. In Delhi, Dhruv very generously picked up the tab and invited his friends.

Paul and I were still discussing wine and vegetarian food when Alain Passard joined us. While Passard’s English is not perfect, he does speak the language well enough to get his point across.

I asked him why he threw his most famous meat dishes off the menu and he gave me an answer that only a French chef can come up with: colour. “I want my plates to have lots of colour,” he said.

“And with meat I cannot do that. With vegetables, I can put as many colours as I like on the plate.”

As we spoke, it became clear that Passard’s attitude to food was roughly the same as Paul’s attitude to wine.

Though Paul would get three stars if Michelin had awards for winemakers, he sticks to the French tradition of venerating the terroir (a term that refers to the soil of the vineyard, the microclimate etc.) and arguing that in great vineyards, there is very little for the winemaker to do. His job just consists of allowing the wine to express the terroir. (Paul is overly modest. Margaux went through a bad patch till he took over. So clearly, terroir is not everything.)

Passard’s attitude to his vegetables AS GOOD AS IT GETS is the same. In 2002, he opened a farm, Alain Passard (right) 150 miles from Paris, where he now is widely regarded as one grows every single vegetable served at of the greatest chefs in his restaurant. The vegetables are delivFrance and Paul Pontallier ered to his restaurant daily (sometimes, (left) is a legendary winehe says he even drives the truck himmaker with few equals in self) and he treats his farm like a vinehis sphere yard, picking out parcels of land where the terroir is better. In his view, the point of his food is the quality of the vegetables. His job as a chef is to translate the taste, intensity and freshness of the vegetables to the plate.

To hear Passard talk about his vegetables is slightly surreal. He is obsessed with peas: “they are like green caviar, so beautiful.” He loves beetroot, “especially the white beetroot.” At Arpège, one of his signature dishes is a tomato stuffed with 12 different flavourings: citrus zest, herbs, spices etc. He serves it with wildflower ice-cream as a dessert.

I’ve never eaten at Arpège mainly because I could never afford it (expect to pay a thousand euros or so for dinner for two; more if you are ordering good wine) but such largely vegetarian

A CLEVER TWIST Passard’s genius lay in selecting relatively bland tomatoes and allowing the blackberry compote to bring out the fruit in the young wine

TOP OF THE RACK Of the first growths, Chateau Margaux is probably the most refined: fabulous, delicately perfumed wine with great finesse

friends of mine such as Shyam Bhartia who go there all the time say that the food can be outstanding. Rahul Akerkar of Indigo who ate there in the summer was bowled over by the meal and invited Passard to India.

The problem with Passard’s approach to food is that it is less recipe-bound and more ingredient-centric. So, if he has the right ingredients, everything goes well. But if the ingredients are not those he is used to, then the dishes will taste different. It is the same with Paul and wine. Give him grapes grown in say, Nasik and he will make very good wine. But he will never make anything that approaches the standards of Chateau Margaux, because his wine depends on the quality of Margaux’s grapes.

So, how would Passard fare in India?

From all accounts, he got a mixed response. In Bangalore, he discovered that many of the dishes came back to the kitchen with lots of food still uneaten. Some of us may have concluded from this that not everyone liked the food but three star chefs look at the world differently. Passard decided that this meant that the portions were too large and reduced their size. Consequently, in Bombay, guests complained that they were still hungry when the meal was over.

By the time he got to Delhi, Passard had got the portion sizes right and the Taj had imported vegetables from Europe. Plus he and his sous chef were pleased with the calibre of the kitchen staff.

(The great man said nothing himself but I had the sense that the French felt that the Taj Bombay kitchen was not sufficiently cooperative or flexible.)

As for the food itself, let’s divide it into two separate questions.

One: how did the wine pairings work? And two: was it of the standard expected from one of the world’s greatest chefs?

We began with a plate of mixed (largely imported) vegetables served with a young (2009) Pavillon Blanc. The pairing worked, I thought, because of the honey-citrus sauce which matched up to the wine (which, by the way, must be among the world’s best Sauvignon Blancs).

Then, we had a plate of two simply cooked tomatoes on a bed of blackberry compote with Pavillon Rouge (the second wine of Margaux).

Tomatoes and red wine do not normally go together but Passard’s genius lay in selecting relatively bland tomatoes and allowing the blackberry compote to bring out the fruit in the young wine.

I was not so sure about the next course: roasted onion with hibiscus, orange, and carrot mousseline paired with Margaux 1999.

Onions and wine don’t go together so, yes, Passard pulled off a great feat by matching the heart of the onion with the Margaux but I thought the charred, hard outer skin of the onion ruined the palate so that you lost the point of the wine.

ALAIN PASSARD

OPENED A FARM, WHERE HE NOW GROWS EVERY SINGLE VEGETABLE SERVED AT HIS RESTAURANT

HINDUSTAN TIMES WEEKLY MAGAZINE DECEMBER 25, 2011

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NOT A GREAT TASTE On tasting the roasted onion with hibiscus, orange, and carrot mousseline paired with Margaux 1999, I thought the charred, hard outer skin of the onion ruined the palate so that you lost the point of the wine

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MEAT OF THE MATTER Not everyone likes the texture of sous vide food but the point of Mickey’s lamb is the fat which has a delicious flavour of its own

IT’S A

MEASURE OF INDIA’S GROWING IMPORTANCE THAT ONE OF THE WORLD’S GREATEST WINES SHOULD TREAT US AS A DESTINATION OF CHOICE

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The next course was another of those technical marvels: a celeriac risotto with no rice but a black truffle flavouring. The vegetable (also called Knob Celery, it is a popular winter root vegetable in France) does not go with wine but Passard made the pairing work. The trick, I thought, was that he focused on a truffle and cream taste while using the celeriac purely for texture. We drank a terrific Margaux 1989 with it.

The dessert was a chocolate and avocado souffle with Margaux. The guys from Margaux loved it and Paul knows the food and especially his wine far better than I do but I didn’t think it worked very well. The soufflé had a nasty bitterness that did nothing for the wine which was a great 2003 Margaux.

As for the food itself, I’ll go with Shyam Bhartia’s judgement: it wasn’t a patch on the food at Arpège. Passard is used to cooking for 30-40 people in the course of an entire evening in his own kitchen with his own vegetables. Here, he was cooking for a hundred plus guests in an unfamiliar kitchen, with unfamiliar ingredients and trying to pull off unusual pairings. So I guess we can’t judge his cuisine on the basis of the dinner.

The following evening, a dozen of us met up again at Le Cirque at the Delhi Leela. Passard was packing his bags for Paris so the food was in the hands of Le Cirque’s chef, Mickey Bhoite.

Mickey has no particular love of vegetables and nor had he been given the opportunity to repeatedly sample the wines beforehand as Passard had. Even so, his food was terrific.

A MOST SURPRISING TURN In 2001, five years after his restaurant L'Arpège in Paris had won three stars from Michelin, Passard declared that he was throwing out 12 signature dishes from his menu because they contained meat 20

COOKING IT RIGHT Mickey Bhoite has no particular love of vegetables and nor had he been given the opportunity to repeatedly sample the wines beforehand as Passard had. Even so, his food was terrific

We started with a 1999 Pavillon Blanc which must rate as the greatest Sauvignon Blanc I have ever drunk full of an unmatched depth. Mickey has Tuna Tartar on his menu normally but this evening he made it with toro, the fatty part of the tuna belly that is much prized for its taste in Japan and used as sashimi. The dish worked brilliantly with the Pavillon Blanc.

Next we had a rich risotto flavoured with rosemary and parmesan into which Mickey had added a glass of Pavillon Rouge. We drank a very nice Pavillon Rouge 2003 with it.

Paul had brought along two great Margaux vintages. We drank the 2001 with one of Mickey’s signature dishes, a noisette of French lamb cooked sous vide (in a vacuum container in a water bath) for 70 odd hours at a stable temperature. Not everyone likes the texture of sous vide food but the point of Mickey’s lamb is the fat which has a delicious flavour of its own. While everybody had the lean bits with the 2001 Margaux, I ate the fat while drinking the Pavillon Blanc. It is strange for a dish to require two different wines, one white and the other red, but some clearly do. (Other examples: good, fatty Kobe beef or Peking duck.)

The Leela produced a cheese platter for the final knockout wine: the 1985 Margaux, possibly one of the greatest red wines I’ve ever drunk. Paul was nervous about the effect the cheese would have on the palate (“Camembert is not a friend of wine”) but fortunately for us, these were bland, inoffensive, supermarket-type cheeses. So the wine was not affected while the French sneered gently about the quality of the cheese.

Dessert was tiramisu though I had one of Le Cirque’s wildly fluctuating Floating Islands (good sometimes, not so good at others – including tonight).

We had met at 7.30 and broke up at 12.30 am so obviously, a lot of good wine was drunk. Speaking for myself, it was nice to have good wine with the traditional pairings. Passard gave us, as Sanjay Menon said, a master class in pairing but you can only have so much of that sort of thing. Sometimes it is nice to have red wine and lamb without too much fuss or adventure.

As for the future, the guys from Margaux will be back. They were here last year and they will come again. They seem attached to India and Paul, in particular, loves the country. Passard wants to come back to cook Indian food. He told me that our problem was that we fried our spices. We should just add a little at the end, he said. (Yeah, well, you go your way and we’ll go ours…)

I don’t know what Margaux will do next. But it’s a measure of India’s growing importance that one of the world’s greatest wines should treat us as a destination of choice. China is in love with Lafite (they even make their own bootleg Lafite). But I think we are far luckier to have the finesse of Margaux. If Lafite is Dior, then Margaux is Hermès.

HINDUSTAN TIMES WEEKLY MAGAZINE DECEMBER 25, 2011

Variety

Power LIST

What was India searching for this year? Here’s what the folks at Google Zeitgeist 2011 told us

by Pranav Dixit

Top Searched Hollywood Music Artists 1 Les Paul

6 Akon

Top Searched Music Artists 1 Jagjit Singh

6 Atif Aslam

2 Amy Winehouse 7 Rihanna

2 Bhimsen Joshi

7 AR Rahman

3 Enrique Iglesias 8 Michael Jackson

3 Ali Zafar

8 Lata Mangeshkar

4 David Guetta

9 Bryan Adams

4 Ilayaraja

9 Shreya Ghoshal

5 Eminem

10 Avril Lavigne

5 Honey Singh

10 Mukesh

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HAT POP crooner Enrique Iglesias is doing at number three on this list is anyone’s guess. The most likely explanation we can think of is that a bunch of Bailamos-crazed schoolgirls took it upon themselves to suddenly spam Google servers with ‘Enrique’ queries.

British singer Amy Winehouse – bless her soul – is a no-brainer at number two considering her untimely (and controversial) demise in July; and if you’re wondering who Les Paul is, well, remember that Google Doodle shaped like a guitar you could strum? That was in memory of Paul’s 96th birthday (he invented the solid-body electric guitar that made the sound of rock and roll as we know it possible).

Most Surprising Omission Lady Gaga

With her hit Born This Way and her India visit, who thought Gaga wouldn’t make the list?

Maybe next time, she’ll need a proper concert

Top Searched Bollywood actresses

T

HIS YEAR, veterans made a comeback, but only because they passed away. Ali Zafar, we think, is on this list more for his sudden B-town visibility (Mere Brother Ki Dulhan). Let’s face it, anyone who is with Kat is bound to be Googled like crazy. Illayaraja, Google tells us, has achieved the distinction of being the first South Indian composer to feature on its list (“oh, Rahman is so global now!” says a spokesperson to our raised eyebrows). And if you’ve never heard of Honey Singh, don’t worry. All he has done is taken Punjab by storm with an album that goes by the delightful name of Dope Shope. And oh, Mukesh (he died in 1976)? But surely that’s for the Neil Nitin variety? Or even Mukesh Ambani?

6 Deepika Padukone

1 Salman Khan

2 Aishwarya Rai

7 Madhuri Dixit

2 Shah Rukh Khan

3 Kareena Kapoor

8 Vidya Balan

3 Shahid Kapoor

4 Priyanka Chopra

9 Kajol

4 Hrithik Roshan

5 Anushka Sharma

10 Sonam Kapoor

5 Ranbir Kapoor

ILL KATRINA ever let go of the number one spot on ANY list (“India’s Sexiest Actresses”, “India’s Most-Wanted Celebrities”, “Bollywood Top 10” and “I Have a Pretty Face and Zero Acting Chops” among others)? Clearly not, even if the only credible hit she’s had this year was Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. What’s even more surprising is that she managed to retain the top spot given stiff competition from the Bachchan bahu, whose pregnancy and subsequent delivery ensured betiB Most Surprising is her most successful hit so far.

Omission Another surprise was Madhuri pipping ahead of Vidya, despite The Mallika Sherawat Dirty Picture. Guess all her old fans are No, wait... still out there after all!

Most searched Travel Destinations

Dhanush

But then, maybe everyone was just searching for ‘Kolaveri’

Top Searched Bollywood actors

1 Katrina Kaif

W

Most Surprising Omission

6 Amitabh

Bachchan

7 Ajay Devgn 8 John Abraham 9 Emraan Hashmi

O

Most Surprising Omission These guys...

Aamir, Farhan, Abhay – where HAVE you gone???

NCE A superstar, always a superstar, even if you keep churning out one dud after the other. Just ask Salman Khan, who managed to make it to the top of the list despite Bodyguard and Ready (yes, we know that these films made truckloads of money, but they’re still duds in our book. Send us a letter if you are a Salman fanboy/girl and disagree). We suspect that more than his silver screen presence, it was Sallu’s small screen avatar as the host of Bigg Boss that rocketed him to the the popularity charts.

Shah Rukh Khan. Ra.One. Enough said. As for Shahid Kapoor, Mausam was so bad he managed to snatch the number 3 position from Ranbir Kapoor and even the Big B!

Maldives 4 Thailand 7 Las Vegas 10 West 2 Kerala 5 Mauritius 8 Cayman Islands Indies 3 Hong Kong 6 Andhra Pradesh 9 Panama 1

A

CCORDING TO the Zeitgeist lists for the last two years, the most popular destination was… Matheran! The hill station from Maharashtra beat Switzer-

land, Kerala and the Maldives to become the No. 1 searched-for destination in 2009 and 2010.

However, this year, the Maldives seem to be most sought

HINDUSTAN TIMES WEEKLY MAGAZINE DECEMBER 25, 2011

after. What puzzles us is the appearance of the Cayman Islands and Panama – known more for being offshore tax havens than exotic holiday destinations!

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Last Word We know we’ve spent this year’s Wellness pages giving you 101 reasons to sip wheatgrass juice. But Saturday’s the last day of the year! Here are 12 good reasons to knock back something stronger ONE II IT’S A TRADITION

Just like we’ve hung on to the English language, red tape and Rashtrapati Bhavan from the bad old British days, the custom of having a drink (or 12) while we see out the old year and bring in the new is one that we cling to like limpets.

Though January 1 has long been off the list of official public holidays (based on the claim that we have too many official public holidays, how ridiculous), we don’t mind that we most likely have to work after a sloshing December 31. That’s because our bosses are so hungover on New Year’s Day, that they’re not there to see that we’re not there.

Have a smashing New Year’s Eve

TWO II OUT WITH THE OLD...

Think about what you invariably think about at 11.59 pm every December 31. Yes... Your New Year’s resolutions.

The second the hand of the clock ticks past 12, you’ll have to transform from the easy-going, abdominally free party animal that you are, into a Grade A saint. Last chance for a drink...

THREE II DOWN WITH DICTATORSHIPS

Right wing political organisations, fundamentalist religious organisations, anti-corruption organisations, governments, your nutritionist, your significant other, and oddly, the excise department… All appear to have only one thing on their minds – to keep you dry for life. Straighten your back, raise your head high, wave a flag with drawing of a mug and cocktail sticks on it and have another drink.

FOUR II YOU’RE NOT PAYING FOR THE BOOZE

So this shows your kanjoos side. So what? You must otherwise be a nice person (or the local don), or why would people invite you to their party? And the great thing about

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New Year’s Eve parties is that their hosts are in show-off mode.

So unlike at other parties where champagne flows like water in the Sahara desert (i.e., not), at New Year’s parties, you can drink like there’s no tomorrow.

FIVE II BEWARE THE BUDGET

If January begins in just a few hours, can the budget be far away?

Given the government’s attitude to fuel in 2011 (hike prices so we stop buying it), in 2012 it may turn its beady eye on human fuel (i.e., booze). Build up your dutch courage while you can.

SIX II ANCIENT MEXICANS SAID THE WORLD WOULD END IN 2012

Since modern Mexicans claim this end of the world thing is just a misunderstanding and there are no ancient Mexicans left to explain

NINE II THE PARTY SEASON IS ENDING

There’s nothing coming up after this except various other New Year’s Days which we don’t celebrate with parties; Holi, which tells us that – aarrgghhh – summer’s here; and exams, taxes and budgets. So head to the bar – you need a drink.

TEN II SO YOU CAN BE A FRIEND

Empathy makes the world go round, so if you want to feel one with the world on January 1, you’d better have a hangover just as bad as those of your friends or you may not have friends left. For the record: phone calls at the crack of dawn on January 1 from bouncy people babbling about the perfect opportunity to bird watch are NOT appreciated.

So have a drink.

ELEVEN II SAVE THE DESIGNATED DRIVER their intentions, let’s not risk it. This could be the last New Year’s Eve ever. Have another drink.

SEVEN II YOU DON’T HAVE A DATE (OR YOU DO)

Second in importance only to the night of Valentine’s Day (on account of the need to kiss at the stroke of midnight or turn into a kaddu), if you’re escort-less on New Year’s Eve, you immediately become the most pitied person on the planet. So you need that drink. But a date on New Year’s Eve isn’t all cootchie-coos.

Because if this person is your significant other, she or he will immediately turn into something resembling Sushma Swaraj or Anna Hazare with strong views on alcohol (against). You need that drink.

Face it, being the only person not allowed to drink because she or he has got to ferry inebriated people home is hard. So hard that we can’t trust this person not to have a swig or 12 on the sly. So it’s your DUTY to finish up all the alcohol on the premises of the party, just so there’s none left for the designated driver.

So, go on, have a drink.

TWELVE II JANUARY 1, 2012, IS A SUNDAY

And, for many people, that’s a holiday! Feel free to have another drink!

EIGHT II YOU’RE NOT GETTING ANY YOUNGER

Even if it isn’t your birthday, you’re about to turn another year older.

Have another drink, Uncle (or Aunty).

HINDUSTAN TIMES WEEKLY MAGAZINE DECEMBER 25, 2011

ILLUSTRATIONS: JAYANTO