Brunch 26 10 2014

WEEKLY WEEKLY MAGAZINE, MAGAZINE, OCTOBER JUNE 22, 26, 2014 Free with your copy of Hindustan Times

THE NEW RACQUET GIRLS Into the minds of Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa, the feisty champions from Chennai, who are driving India’s emergence as a squash superpower

Commonwealth Games squash champions Joshna Chinappa (left) and Dipika Pallikal bring glamour and charisma to the gruelling sport

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BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS

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Brunch Opinion

by Aasheesh Sharma

Slam The Glam Idiot Box

SHOVE IT

Stuff You S Said Last Sunday Sund #Loved the Diwali ed thanks for introducing ition, me to the Ramayana – @FanaticNeha

gra is really Monica Do ut I love herr. B nd A . ng stunni hantom of P ys la p ll who the he n Diwali? the Opera o ingh a – Anish S

v is so hot: Tania Sachde r and Indian ou am gl at th , Says who hand in hand sports can’t go ples? There r am ex 84 barring a few re - @Kausik19 examples galo

Cover design: MONICA GUPTA

Cover image: SAUMYA KHANDELWAL

Very nice interview with Aru n Govil and Gurmeet Chaudh ary - Raman Find Hindustan Times Brunch on Facebook or tweet to @HTBrunch or

EDITORIAL: Poonam Saxena (Editor), Aasheesh Sharma, Rachel Lopez, Aastha Atray Banan, Veenu Singh, Satarupa Paul, Saudamini Jain, Asad Ali, Atisha Jain

OCTOBER 26, 2014

HANNIBAL A soap opera about a cannibalistic serial killer. Shots of naked women with lungs removed, corpses in car parks (their organs replaced with flowers). And, someone eats their own nose Splatter Factor: Notes: Lessons in biology, gastronomy and cruelty all at once c Eri TRUE BLOOD Humans die tastefully.

Vampires explode in splashes of sticky blood and stringy entrails. Stuff sizzles, skin comes apart, flesh melts...

Splatter Factor: Splatter Factor: Notes: Lots of icky stuff Notes: Graphic but pretty contained edium em PENNY DREADFUL rrif Rick Grim THE WALKING DEAD As the world he If you can tear your gets taken over by the undead, kids get eyes away from Eva shot. Tanks are full of severed undead Green, you’ll see a heads, eyes get stabbed. And everycrucifix infested with one’s so shabbily dressed! spiders and sex with Splatter Factor: an invisible demon. It Notes: You’ll weep at every death all looks worse in badlyven Su o C pr lit Victorian Dublin. Even the the AMERICAN HORROR STORY Child orgies look gross (because monsters, live amputations, lampVictorians didn’t bathe?) shades made from human skin, biting Splatter Factor: faces off Splatter Factor: Notes: Nudity and violence for Notes: Each season there’s a new story the sake of it and looks different, so you’re never jaded th

Vamp ire

Vanessa

S

Fion a

n Your rangoli photos. Repeat after me: If it is not symmetrical, it must not be posted on FB n When a fellow journalist asks, “Yaar yeh Ebola kaise hota hai?” n People who use winter as a time to write atrocious poetry about the “mess” that is “this dark, cold loneliness” n Absence of momos in Mumbai n People who can’t cook

THE STRAIN Something in your eye?

Maybe it’s worms.

Evil vampires are on the loose in NYC. A man keeps a beating heart in a jar, cadavers get sliced open, heads get bashed in...

Apples and Oranges

e em

n Aatish Taseer’s forthcoming novel, The Way Things Were n Stuff Govinda says. “YRF presents even a villain like a hero” n ISRO’s @MarsOrbiter on Twitter. “Explorer. Loves science, photography and long cruises” n November for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and Movember (growing a moustache for men’s health) n Saif Ali Khan on ‘Love Jihad’

Master The

nibal can

LOVE IT

by Saudamini Jain

Who’s making the biggest bloody mess on TV these days? We investigate...

Hannibal th e

On The Brunch Radar

WHO’S THE GORIEST OF THEM ALL?

es

And if the new kid on the Indian squash block can look the best of the world in the eye, she has another Chennai Ponnu to look up to and thank: 12-time national champ Joshna Chinappa. As I discovered in the course of the story, the two aren’t exactly on back-slapping terms. They didn’t even agree to pose together for us. But they are professional enough to set their differences aside when it comes to making the Tricolour fly high.

Whistle Podu!

by Rachel Lopez

Photos: SHUTTERSTOCK

R

acquet wielders from Chennai tend to be genial. Think Ramanathan and Ramesh Krishnan or the Amritraj brothers. But today a new, unapologetic breed of squash players from the city is driven, ambitious and in-your-face. Nothing represents this new, spunkier face of the city than the glamorous and successful Dipika Pallikal.

Days after her namesake (Deepika Padukone spells her name differently) was trending on Twitter, this plucky Syrian Christian girl made history by helping India win a bronze medal at Incheon.

by Indra Shekhar Singh

INDIAN HORROR STORY

Vampires and werewolves are well and good. But we’d like to re-introduce the desi supernatural characters. Please to meet BHOOT (Ghost) Appearance: In white clothes, lurking on trees Skills: Can morph into animals and humans. Casts no shadow, speaks with a nasal twang Back story: They are fragments of people who had violent deaths, have unfinished matter or “improper” funerals Will it kill you: Aim to frighten more than kill Antidote: Iron, holy water, burnt turmeric

DESIGN: Ashutosh Sapru (National Editor, Design), Monica Gupta, Swati Chakrabarti, Payal Dighe Karkhanis, Ajay Aggarwal

CHUDAIL (Witch) Appearance: Twisted feet, claw-like hands, potbelly, unkempt hair Skills: Transforms into sirens and drinks men’s blood/semen Back story: Women who die in childbirth or of ritual impurity Will it kill you: May not kill you, but will suck your virility and leave you aged Antidote: Sprinkle millet seeds before her, make her count them

PISHACHA (Flesh-eating demon) Appearance: Dark, with bulging veins and big red eyes Skills: Invisibility, can possess people and alter their thoughts Back story: Were created

by Brahma Will it kill you: 100 per cent. Have a fondness for human ‘nahri’ Antidote: A special puja at certain festivals

Drop us a line at: brunchletters@hindustantimes.com or to 18-20 Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi 110001

PRET (Starving ghosts) Appearance: Human-like, with sunken skin, thin neck and limbs, big belly Skills: Magic Back story: A result of bad karma in previous life Will it kill you: Can manipulate us temporarily Antidote: Buddhist traditions pity them and monks pray for their release

BAITAAL (Sort of vampire) Appearance: Like a monstrous bat or emaciated corpse Skills: Possesses dead bodies Back story: Hostile spirits stuck between life and afterlife Will it kill you: 90 per cent.

Can cause insanity or kill kids Antidote: Stay away from haunted rural countryside at night

FOR ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES, PLEASE CONTACT National – Sanchita Tyagi: sanchita.tyagi@hindustantimes.com North – Siddarth Chopra: siddarth.chopra@hindustantimes.com North – Shaila Thakur: shaila.thakur@hindustantimes.com West – Karishma Makhija: karishma.makhija@hindustantimes.com South – Sharbani Ghosh: sharbani.ghosh@hindustantimes.com

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WELLNESS

MIND BODY SOUL SHIKHA SHARMA

For any worries related to unplanned pregnancy:

DIWALI DETOX

Write to us at consumercare@piramal.com or call us at 1800-22-0502 (toll free) or sms ICAN to 56070 Website: www.i-canhelp.in

3. Dear Doctor, after taking a n e m e r g e n c y contraceptive pill my fiancé is complaining about bleeding at odd times. In last one month she already had periods 2 times with very little bleeding each time. Is it something dangerous?

Emergency contraceptive pills contain high doses of hormones and these hormones may make some women to bleed at unexpected times. This is not dangerous and will clear up by the time your partner has her next period. In case there is bleeding again, kindly consult a Doctor.

Queries answered by Dr Nirmala Rao MBBS, MD, DPM; a well known psychiatrist who heads Mumbai based Aavishkar - a multifaceted team of expert doctors and health professionals. Aavishkar has a comprehensive approach to mental and physical health, with an emphasis scan this QR code to visit website on counselling and psychotherapy.

Supported by:

F

OR MOST of us, the festival of lights is also the festival of food. In the run up to Diwali, we tend to over-eat and over-drink, creating an acidic imbalance in our digestive systems. Here is a three-day post-Diwali detox plan based on ayurvedic principles.

wheat grass and aloe vera juice.

Bedtime: One tsp of triphala mixed with water and half a tsp of wheat bran.

Plus: Abhyanga and steam.

DAY 3 Morning: A ginger decoction with honey.

Lunch: Two bowls of spinach and corn soup.

DAY 1 Teatime: Green tea or a Morning: Lukewarm tulsi decoction. water with half a tsp LEAF IT BEHIND Dinner: Rice khichri honey and lemon juice.

Tulsi leaves, in a with a tsp of Follow with a decocdecoction, is a great organic ghee. Avoid tion of ginger with tulsi post-festive cleanse curd and pickles. leaves and cinnamon.

Plus: Abhyanga folBreakfast: Eat fruit, not lowed by steam. dairy and cereals.

Mid-morning: Green/herbal tea.

BENEFITS: Lunch: Two bowls of spinach n Triphala: Makes the intestine soup with a little turmeric. alkaline and flushes toxins.

Dinner: Potato and pea soup. n Ginger: Helps the liver Bedtime: A tsp of triphala and cleanse itself. wheat bran with water. n Tulsi: A powerful detoxifier.

Plus: An ayurvedic body masn Cinnamon: Balances insulin sage with medicated oils (Aband cleanses the intestine. hyanga), followed by steam. n Turmeric: Helps detoxify and heal the liver and intestine.

DAY 2 n Spinach soup: Helps release The same schedule as Day 1. gas from the intestine.

Plus, two glasses of coconut n Aloe vera and wheat grass: water and one NARIYAL NOW Aloe cleans the liver and intesglass each of Coconut water is tine; wheat grass cleans blood. a delicious way to n Coconut water: Balances eliminate toxins excess pitta in the liver. n Fruit: Provides B vitamins. n Rice khichri: Calms tummies. n Ghee: Cleanses fat-soluble toxins from the intestine. ask@drshikha.com MORE ON THE WEB For more columns by Dr Shikha Sharma and other wellness stories, log on to hindustantimes.com/brunch OCTOBER 26, 2014

Photos: SHUTTERSTOCK, THINKSTOCK

2. Dear Doctor, I have stopped my regular oral contraceptive pill and we are trying for a baby since last 4 months. However we

have not been successful till now. Please suggest us how can I get pregnant faster.

Most couples conceive within a year of trying. Therefore please do not lose hope and keep trying. Charting your fertile days by using ovulation kits or monitors and having intercourse on those days will increase your pregnancy chances.

MediaMedic ICH/Q&A/1004

1. Dear Doctor, I had consumed an ECP in 2013 due to an emergency but I did not have any problem.

However, since the last 2-3 months my period cycle length has reduced from 27 days to 21 days. This has got me worried a lot. Is it because of the pill I took last year or due to some other reason?

It is highly unlikely that a pill you consumed last year could act on you menstrual cycle now. These pills are eliminated for the body once their action is over. The effect of an emergency contraceptive pill lasts for 72 hours. Even within the 72 hour time frame, the efficacy reduces as time passes. The changes in your period cycle could be due to other reasons such stress, hormonal imbalance, illness etc. Wait for a couple of more months and monitor your period cycle. If there is a varied fluctuation then consult a gynaecologist and seek appropriate advice.

The biggest binge-eating period of the year has just ended. Here’s how to sort out your system

8

COVER STORY

Chennai Super Queens They are glamorous, successful and full of life – and now Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa, India’s new racquet queens, are making the squash world sit up and take notice

by Aasheesh Sharma photos by Saumya Khandelwal

A

BOUT 11 kilometres separate the leafy, colonnaded Chennai colony of Anna Nagar from the posh, buzzy township of RA Puram. Negotiating the city’s mostly disciplined traffic, you are likely to take around 40 minutes to cover the distance between the two residential colonies. Between these two apparently disparate neighbourhoods live two of the most exciting squash talents in the country.

A few weeks ago, Joshna Chinappa (28), partnered with Dipika Pallikal (23) at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow to win India an unprecedented medal in squash. The two were also part of India’s Asian Games campaign at Incheon, South Korea, this month, where the contingent won four medals in squash. The count could have been five, had the duo not clashed in the singles quarterfinals, where Dipika reversed past record to emerge one better than Joshna in a tense, almost acrimonious contest.

Before this hour of glory, lazy marketers and scribes tended to bracket Joshna and Dipika into the “good-looking athletes” category along with golfer Sharmila Nicollet, notwithstanding their exemplary track record and playing chops.

Sure, both the Chennai girls are glamorous, forthright and full of pizzazz. But their racquets speak louder than their looks in a sport with a distinct male bias.

In fact, protesting the discrimination against lower prize money for

women in India, Dipika has been boycotting the national championships for the last few years. “Once women get equal prize money, I’ll participate again,” says the highest ranked squash player in the country, who broke into the top 10 of world rankings last year.

Ladies First

Their exploits at Incheon, where Dipika and Joshna won the doubles silver, are another manifestation of the lustre woman-power is lending to India’s sporting fortunes. “You have several top women champions. And for a movie to be made on one of them is awesome. I watched Mary Kom and thought Priyanka looked mag-

OCTOBER 26, 2014

nificent and then I was with the real Mary Kom at the Asian Games and was touched by her humility.

She’s so grounded for a five-time world champion,” says Joshna.

Although they both cut their teeth in Chennai and have a lot in common, the life stories of the two champions have their own share of pains and pleasures.

Early Lessons

Joshna got introduced to squash at the Madras Cricket Club, where her father Anjan Chinappa, who runs a coffee plantation in Coorg, was a member. Field Marshal KM Cariappa, the first commander-inchief of the Indian Army in independent India, is Joshna’s great-

granduncle. “My great granduncle, granddad and dad have all played the sport. My father came to Chennai and fell in love with city life. I began going to the club with him at the age of eight and since he has played for Tamil Nadu, I got my first squash tips from him. Papa was my coach for six years but I left him when he began putting too much pressure on me,” she jokes.

Like Joshna, Dipika didn’t have to look too far for sporting inspiration. Her mother Susan Pallikal has represented India in cricket. “My entry into the sport was accidental. I used to play tennis earlier, but I took to squash since my best friend, too, was going for squash coaching,” says

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JOSHNA CHINAPPA, 28 Based in: Chennai and Mumbai, where she trains with former India number one Ritwik Bhattacharya Sports connection: The great grandniece of field marshal KM Cariappa who also played the sport, her father Anjan Chinappa represented Tamil Nadu in squash World Ranking: 21 (as of October, 2014)

Dipika. Once her parents realised Dipika’s hand-eye coordination was ideal for squash, they reckoned she should train with the best in the world. At 13, she was sent for coaching to Cairo’s iconic Gezira Sports Club, since Egypt was the reigning squash superpower. Wasn’t it tough staying away from family and friends for a young, teenage girl? “I wasn’t really fazed about missing my teenage years because I was working towards becoming the top squash player in the world. I went to Egypt, England and now I am training at Melbourne. I’ve tried to adapt wherever I am. That is what most professional athletes do when they start living alone.”

Claim to fame: A 12-time national champion, Joshna became the youngest Indian to win the British Open juniors at 16 Unwind mantra: Watching “trashy television” shows such as the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and

The rigours of living out of a suitcase at a young age are something Joshna, the first Indian to win a British Open title, can relate to. When she began playing at the age of 10, she won pretty much everything on the Asian junior circuit. But the British Open, the mecca of squash, eluded her.

In 2003, Joshna was relieved she could finally win after four years of losing in the initial rounds.

“Sixteen is an interesting age. I was happy that I could win but all I wanted to do was go and buy candy with my teammates. I didn’t realise the magnitude of the win. At 16 there was still some innocence left in the world,” says the lithe athlete, lounging in her daintily

listening to progressive house music by Dinka and Claes Rosen Match point: Joshna adores fit sportspersons.

Her dream date is Portuguese footballer and La Liga star Cristiano Ronaldo, or any person who is fit, good at sports and someone she can train and break into a sweat with

decorated room near a dresser lined with junk jewellery and a trunkful of beaded bracelets.

Having candy and chocolate was a fetish that Joshna continued with well into her teenage years.

In fact, after losing the World Junior title at Belgium in 2005, she devoured an entire box of chocolates, or so goes the story. Does she still indulge her sweet tooth? “Not any longer. Now I train hard and have to eat healthy. But I do have chocolates on the weekend and I like mint flavours such as After Eight and Lindt.”

The Wild One

Although Joshna counts Andre Agassi as one of her sporting

OCTOBER 26, 2014

DIPIKA PALLIKAL, 23 Based in: Chennai and Melbourne, where she trains with former world champion Sarah Fitz-Gerald Sports connection: Her mother Susan Pallikal has played for India in cricket and her grandmother was an athlete World Ranking: 12 (as of October, 2014) Claim to fame: She became the first Indian squash player to break into the top 10 world rankings in December 2013. Since then, she has helped India win a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games and a bronze at the Asian Games, too.

Unwind mantra: A film fanatic, who once turned down a film opposite Malayalam cine legend Mohanlal, Dipika is a fan of Robert Downey Jr’s acting and was blown over by Tabu and Shahid Kapoor’s characters in Haider.

Match point: She is engaged to wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik who plays for Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy

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COVER STORY ideals, she doesn’t quite relate to what the tennis star wrote in Open, his autobiography, about how he “hated” tennis as a child. “I absolutely loved it all. I got to travel around the world, when my friends were taking their exams. I could come to school after training. So, not everybody had my life.”

Looking back, the 12-time national champion says she has mellowed and left behind her wild, rebellious years where she got her belly pierced and back tattooed.

“Oh come on, don’t even ask me why I got it done. I was 16 and got my back inked with a smoking devil tattoo in Mumbai without telling my mother and later got blasted by my parents!”

Joshna says one of her most treasured sporting memories came in 2000, when, at the age of 14, she became the youngest person to win the women’s nationals. “I wanted to win the women’s nationals very badly at that age. So I was really, really happy.”

But for Dipika nothing comes close to going for gold at Glasgow and getting it. “Scotland was special. It is the biggest win of my career,” she says. “With the Commonwealth and Asian Games, we’ve proved we can beat the best in the world. It is a great time to be a squash player,” she adds.

Date, Play, Love

Clearly, these are eventful times for Dipika off the court, too. She is preparing for her wedding with cricketer Dinesh Karthik, slated for 2015. When the top squash player in the country dates a cricketer known for his lightning reflexes, it appears to be a match made in ESPN heaven. How did the two of them meet? “We had known each other for six years but we were in touch on and off. Obviously, Dinesh was married before [to his former wife Nikita]. But one-and-a half years ago, we met again in the gym and exchanged numbers,” recalls Dipika. “I had to leave for England three days after that and Dinesh surprised me in England. After that everything happened quickly. We started dating in February and got engaged in November. Once we got to know each other, we knew this was it,” she says with a smile. What does she like about Dinesh apart from

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Photo: GETTY IMAGES

GOLDEN HOUR

Dipika and Joshna at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, 2014 being one of the fittest Indian cricketers? “I like to think I am fitter than him [giggles]. Dinesh got into the cricket team when he was 19. So, he has seen it all. For me what helped me make the decision was this trait: he is a very humble person. He takes care of me real well,” she blushes.

Fitness appears to be a trait that finds favour with Joshna too, in the dating stakes. In the past she has said she has a soft corner for international athletes and Cristiano Ronaldo is her dream date. “It can be any person who is fit, plays sport and someone I can train and work out with.” On a lighter note, Joshna says her laptop is like her boyfriend. “When I travel, I don’t want to do anything else apart from sit in my room and watch shows that I stream onto my laptop.” Since she travels so much, which is her favourite playing destination? “New York. We have a tournament played on a glass court which has been set up bang in the middle of the Grand Central station. I just love that.”

Meet the Divas

Dipika and Joshna have frequently figured on the most glamorous

“We play a tournament on a glass court bang in the middle of New York’s Grand Central station. I love playing there,” says Joshna OCTOBER 26, 2014

Indian athletes’ list of fashion glossies. And they take their style quotient seriously. One of the perks of traipsing the globe for tournaments is visiting fashion capitals and exposure to the coolest new trends in street fashion. “I am not obsessed with labels,” says Joshna. “But when it comes to high street brands, I like Top Shop and Diesel,” she adds.

Dipika carries her love of dressing up onto the court. “For apparel, I like choosing from H&M, Zara and Forever 21. Closer home, I like Arpita Mehta’s couture and a bit of Gauri and Nainika.”

Now, walking the ramp at the Lakmé Fashion Week Mumbai is one thing (like Dipika did) and being offered lead roles opposite movie stars quite another. Is it true that she turned down offers opposite ‘mega’ stars of Kollywood (as the Tamil film industry, a hybrid of Kodambakkam and Hollywood, is called)? “Yes, there was one offer opposite Madhavan and another for a Malayalam movie opposite Mohanlal. But I was too young to take a decision and my father said no,” she says. “Given an opportunity, I’d would love to work with any of the younger crop of actors such as Arjun Kapoor.”

They might hold forth on films and fashion, but put them onto a court and the Chennai twosome turn into world-beaters in the gruelling sport that is squash without ever breaking into a sweat.

Dipika is looking forward to the day when she will triumph

CHENNAI CONNECTION

The top two women’s squash players – Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa – as well as men’s number one and Asian Games silver medallist Saurav Ghosal all play in Chennai. Why is the city such a hub of squash champions? To begin with, it has great sporting infrastructure at the school level: both Joshna and Saurav went to the same school (Lady Andal). “Also, since the squash federation is based here, it attracts the best squash talent in India,” points out Dipika.

over world number one Nicol David of Malaysia. “This whole thing of being Indian and not being able to go out there and beat the best in the world is long gone,” says Joshna. “Making it to the top 10 in world rankings was just one of the goals that my team and I had set for ourselves. But if you have your goal set to be world number one, it is just one baby step towards achieving it. Breaking into the top 10 when you are 20 years old is great. But my goal is to be world number one!” declares Dipika.

Long after the racket over the Glasgow and Incheon victories has died down, the spark of interest for squash that the duo has generated amongst youngsters in the country will continue to ignite a thousand sporting dreams.

Deep down, Indian squash’s leading ladies know it’s chin-up time for the sport. Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa, take a bow. aasheesh.sharma@hindustantimes.com Follow on Twitter @aasheesh74

indulge A Mid-Winter night’s dreAM New York band Luna’s music – critics call it ‘dream pop’ – is best heard at night, especially when you’re alone

Photo: GETTY IMAGES

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I

’M NOT SURE how I missed out on Luna during the band’s heyday in the early 1990s.

Of course, discovering new music wasn’t easy then. With the Internet being a far cry from what it is now and with the music stores I had access to hardly having on offer eclectic fare, the only ways of discovering new bands was by way of word of mouth (via friends) or reading about it in the music press (via the odd music magazine that came one’s way). Those channels didn’t deliver Luna to me and that’s a pity.

So it was much later that I got to hear Luna, the New York City band that was formed in 1992 with singer and guitarist Dean Wareham at its front. I heard a few of their early studio albums, including the rather nice Bewitched, and then, more recently, Luna Live, which as the name suggests is a live recording. Luna’s music is of the immersive kind, best heard at night when it can wash over you with its hybrid of melodic and ambient sound – an uncommon combo in rock music. Wareham (whose previous band Galaxie 500 broke up before he formed Luna) plays an intricate guitar and his vocals are

Sanjoy Narayan

download central MORE ON THE WEB To give feedback, stream or download the music mentioned in this column, go to blogs. hindustantimes.com/ download-central.

Write to Sanjoy at sanjoy.narayan@ hindustantimes.com.

Follow @SanjoyNarayan on Twitter

pleasing: low key but songs with lyrics that are poetic. Music critics call Luna’s genre dream pop but that’s a category into which many bands tend to be slotted: from The Shins and The Verve to My Bloody Valentine and The XX, all bands that I like but I wouldn’t say they all make the same kind of music.

Luna’s sound is more upbeat than what the phrase ‘dream pop’ could conjure up to describe a band. On the live Luna album, which, incidentally, could be the album to have if you want to have just one by the band, there are songs that are (nearly) punchy as any hot-blooded rock tune as well as songs that are reflective enough to be heard in a darkened room, alone. There are quirky rhymes as in Chinatown (You’re out all night/Chasin’ girlies/You’re late to work/And you go home earlies); in Pup Tent, there’s a well-crafted guitar solo that elevates a song that otherwise could be just a background score for almost anything; and there’s a cover (surprise) of a Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot song from the 1960s, Bonnie and Clyde, which is about the two famous American outlaws-in-arms.

Talking of covers, Luna has an entire album, Lunafied, which comprises covers of others’ songs. The Gainsbourg-

OCTOBER 26, 2014

THROWBACK TO THE NINETIES

Luna was formed in 1992 with Dean Wareham (second from right) at its front. The songs on Luna Live (left) are punchy as well as reflective

Bardot song, Bonnie and Clyde, features on that but there are other unmissables: Donovan’s Season of the Witch, which some believe is one of the earliest psychedelic songs, is given a Luna treatment rather nicely; there’s a version of Everybody’s Talkin’, a song covered by hundreds of people and one that I always thought was a Harry Nilsson song (it is not; it is by Fred Neil); a version of Blondie’s In the Flesh; another of Velvet Underground’s Ride Into the Sun, which sounds like a slo-mo and smoother version of the original; and the Lunaficated version of Talkin Heads’ Thank You For Sending Me An Angel.

Luna’s albums aren’t electrifying. They’re understated just as Yo La Tengo’s are. Or Pavement’s were. A sound that’s a bit introvertish and gentle but never wimpish. It’s not uncommon to get in the mood for that kind of music, especially at night and especially if you’re listening to music alone.

NO SURPRISES

Radiohead frontman,Thom Yorke’s new solo album, Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes, is brilliant

Tailpiece: Radiohead’s Thom Yorke is one of my all-time favourite musicians – ever experimental with his and his band’s music as well as with other things. Such as releasing his latest solo album, Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes, on file sharing software, BitTorrent, for $6. I’ve been listening to the album while I write this. First impression: it’s brilliant.

Download Central appears every fortnight

14

indulge

Mince it Up I Haute cuisine looks down on it. Most people like it disguised as kebabs. But keema – in its simple, oily avatar – still has a large fan following

T IS A funny sort of childhood memory. In the early Seventies, when I came back to Bombay from boarding school, one of my favourite takeout meals was packed keema-mutter from the Kwality’s on Kemps Corner (now defunct, I suspect). The gravy was oily and I doubt if the dish would win any culinary competitions. But at that time, I loved it. I ate it with slices of white Britannia bread (which I don’t eat any longer) and chunks of the vinegared onion that restaurants like Kwality’s specialised in. If I wanted it spicier, then the Gujarati in me came to the fore, and I ate it with homemade mango pickle.

Would I still like the dish? The gastronomically sound answer is no, of course not. But, to be entirely honest, my guess is that I would. I still find all kinds of keema curries irresistible. I like them when they are greasy, dhaba-style versions. I like the more refined Punjabi home-style curries with aloo. I love the Bombay roadside keema pav and the ghotala (the same basic keema with egg added). Hell, I’m even a fan of foreign keema dishes. I like chili con carne (about the only Tex-Mex dish I can actually cook)

Vir Sanghvi

rude food PECULIAR PARADOX

Oddly enough, people who regard keema as dubious are often the same people who love keema naans (above) and mutton samosas (below)

and I’m happy to eat Cottage Pie (beef keema) or its cousin Shepherd’s Pie (lamb keema).

But here’s my problem: keema is the one dish you rarely see on restaurant menus. And when you do find it, you can be disappointed. A month ago I had a truly disgusting keema at a hotel in Chandigarh, believing mistakenly that I couldn’t possibly go wrong ordering such a basic dish in Punjab. (My fault. Chandigarh has none of the culinary sophistication of Amritsar.)

Why don’t more chefs put keema on the menu? I asked Manisha Bhasin who, as executive chef of Delhi’s Maurya, oversees two top Indian restaurants (Bukhara and Dum Pukht). Manisha said that she thought it was because keema had acquired the reputation of a poor man’s meal. So when people went out to eat, they looked for a nice cut of lamb that they could sink their teeth into.

Himanshu Taneja, the executive chef at Bombay’s JW Marriott, agreed. He said that guests often suspected that keema came from the trimmings and not the good part of the cut. In other words, whenever butchers had bits of meat left over that nobody wanted to eat, they minced it up and sold it as keema.

Manisha and Himanshu are both right, of course. All over the world, keema is used to get rid of the parts of the animal nobody would otherwise eat. For instance, many people (including me) will think twice about eating industrial processed meats (sausages, pie, etc.) in the West because the law allows manufacturers

OCTOBER 26, 2014

to use anus meat (sorry if that sounds disgusting) in meat and beef products and beaks in chicken products. Over the last couple of years, when it has been revealed that so-called lamb or beef mince (in packaged lasagne or bolognaise pasta) contains horse meat, this reluctance has increased.

At the hotel level, as Manisha and Himanshu both pointed out, these fears are groundless because any good chef will buy a whole cut of prime meat and will than have it ground to his or her specifications. But there’s one other factor. Because the fat in keema is on the outside (i.e. not inside the chunks of meat), it tends to render (melt) in the cooking process. This makes many keema dishes seem oily. In actual fact, they are no oilier than dishes made with pieces of meat – it is just that here the fat has melted – but because people can see the fat, they think of keema dishes as unhealthy. (In fact, if you drain away some of the oil from the finished dish, it is actually less fatty than a meat curry.)

This is where we come across the great paradox of Indian dining. Even people who will never order keema at a restaurant will happily eat a seekh kebab, a shami kebab or a kakori kebab. It will not occur to them that these kebabs are made from exactly the same keema that they refuse to order as an individual dish from the menu.

And the fat, which they object to when it forms part of the gravy, now suddenly becomes sought after. When you eat a minced meat kebab on the road (say at Bombay’s Bade Miyan) and rave about how it has a melt-in-the-mouth quality, what you are actually appreciating is the melting fat which makes the kebab more tender and coats your mouth with flavour. Some kebabs – the kakori, for instance – rely on vast quantities of fat from different parts of the animal.

Oddly enough, the people who regard keema as being of dubious origin or too fatty are often the same people who love keema naans, mutton samosas, all kinds of kebabs and even hamburgers, which are made entirely from low quality keema at most places!

One advantage of this global snobbery about keema (yes, it is global – even in America, they say “why eat hamburger when you can get steak?”) is that there are some wonderful simple dishes made with keema in every city of the world. You can get brilliant minced pork with basil

I still find all kinds of keema curries irresistible. I like the more refined Punjabi home-style curries with aloo or peas (pad krapow) all over Thailand; great chili in Texas and, in the streets of Bombay, wonderful tawa-fried keema which you eat with bread (keemapav). If you like a little variety, they will make ghotala by adding egg to the pan and if you are strong-hearted, then they will offer all kinds of offal: kaleji, bheja, etc.

Haute cuisine is less keen on keema but there are exceptions.

Himanshu told me that he’s put an Avadhi keema dish on the menu of his Indian restaurant at the Juhu JW Marriott. His chefs cook it in the Lucknawi style so that the taste of the meat actually comes through.

In the rest of India, we tend to lean on the Punjabi style of cooking keema where we rely on tomatoes, ghee and other flavours to modify the meaty taste.

Manjit Gill, my guru when it comes to the history of Indian food, says that his family often cooks keema at home, in the simple Punjabi way, with potatoes (peas are a favourite in the winter). And Manisha says that the Maurya often puts Punjabi-style keema dishes on the buffet and the coffee shop menu offers an authentic taste of Bombay-style keema-pav.

As my research progressed, I wondered whether other people loved keema as much as I did and took to Twitter to ask. I was deluged with responses. As is now customary on Twitter, some of the most interesting responses came from Bengalis. Abantika Ghosh recommended eggs in keema curry (“styled after Bengal egg curry with the boiled egg slightly fried”). Sunetra Choudhury suggested keema ghoogni, adding that “keema’s use in ghoogni really lifts the humble channa masala or chole. V Bong, too.”

(As if she had to tell us!)

Soham Samadder selected parwal stuffed with keema (‘potoler dolma’) and Pallavi Ghosh came up with “keema mughlai paratha (Bengali specialty)” Arindam Sikdar said that “keema when cooked with rice makes an amazing biryani”. Udayan Bose got a whole side conversation going, by recalling the keema with bheja which was “to die for” at Calcutta’s Amber. All of us who remembered Amber in the old days joined in: Vivek Sengupta, myself and Ashok Malik who liked the Amber keema naan.

As the discussion expanded, Dishoom restaurant in London (or whoever runs their Twitter handle) joined in, generously recommending Radio restaurant near Crawford Market in Bombay (“the best keema…. exactly right”) before eventually tweeting “you should try our keema too – I think it’s not too shoddy either.” Some people asked

questions. Peas or no peas? Goat vs beef ? (All, I think.)

Naren Ramachandran asked, “How much fat is added to the meat?” (According to Manisha, it should never exceed 20 per cent). “Keema at Irani cafés versus keema at Muslim joints?” (Muslim joints, I think).

And then colleagues, past, present and future joined the Twitter discussion. Colleen Braganza tweeted “the best keema is a combination of beef and pork in equal measure.” Shammy Baweja said, “Please advise all Punjabis not to make keema in a cooker.” Harneet Singh sang the praises of keema pav. Samar Halarnkar said that the best beef keema samosas were at Albert Bakery in Bangalore. (“No silly potato samosas,” he added).

By the time the discussion was through, I’d come to two conclusions. One: I’m not the only one who loves keema. And two: Twitter can’t be Twitter without Bongs.

“You need to be more generous to Bengalis to appreciate our cuisine,” Pallavi Ghosh tweeted. Shivnath Thukral was more welcoming, “You have to visit a Bengali home immediately.”

Absolutely. I’ll go anywhere for keema!

MORE ON THE WEB For more columns by Vir Sanghvi, log on to hindustantimes.com/brunch

DISGUISED DELIGHT

Even people who will never order keema at a restaurant will happily eat a seekh kebab.

They don’t realise it is made from the same keema that they refuse as an individual dish

The views expressed by the columnist are personal

RECIPE FOR KEEMA PAV INGREDIENTS

2-3 green cardamom (split), 1 black cardamom (split), 4 cloves, 3 onions (thinly chopped, medium size), 2 tomatoes (chopped), 4 green chilies (chopped), 2 tbsp ginger paste, 1 tbsp garlic paste, 2 tbsp ghee (pure), salt to taste, 500 gm lamb mince (raan/ gol boti), 1/2 cup green peas, 2 tsp coriander powder (fresh roasted and pounded), 1 tsp cumin powder (fresh roasted and pounded), 1 tsp red chilli powder, 1 tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp garam masala powder, 1/2 tsp kasoori methi.

Garnish: 2 sprigs chopped coriander leaves, 2 slit green chillies, 2 cubes yellow butter, 8 pavs.

METHOD

For the masala: Heat ghee in heavy bottom wide pan, add green and black cardamom along with cloves and let it splutter. n Add the chopped onions and cook on medium heat till they turn golden brown.

Add ginger garlic paste and sauté for 2 mins. n Mix and add coriander and cumin powder, chilli powder and salt in 2 tbsp of water and sauté. n Add chopped tomatoes and cook well till the masala starts leaving the ghee.

Mince: Add the fresh mutton mince,

season with salt and sauté continuously over slow flame for half an hour. Fold in half a cup of water and let it simmer. n Add preboiled fresh green peas (boil to retain the colour) to the keema along with chopped de-seeded green chillies. n Just before serving fold in garam masala and kasoori methi.

Green peas are optional, though it goes very well with the mince.

To serve: Finish with chopped coriander and ginger juliennes. n Slice pav from the middle and grill on tawa with little butter. n Serve keema pav with a dollop of butter and lemon wedges.

Recipe Courtesy: Manisha Bhasin, ITC Maurya

GREASY GOODNESS

Photos: SHUTTERSTOCK

15

16

indulge

The BaTTle Of The Big BOys The release of iPhone 6 and the Samsung Note 4 has given their fans a lot to fight over

I

T WAS 11:50 at night, with hints of winter in the air already apparent. Even though the midnight hour was approaching, it seemed a human population bomb had just exploded at M Block market, Greater Kailash 1, Delhi. Completely grid-locked, car horns blaring, people teeming on both sides of the streets, laser light shows, bhangra drums playing, Red Bull cans being handed out for free, people dancing, huge lines of people patiently waiting, street magicians performing and a countdown timer loudly displaying minutes to go. No, this wasn’t some psychedelic over-saturated dream of my tired mind – this was real. This was Apple starting the midnight frenzy sale of its iPhone 6

Rajiv Makhni

techilicious

BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL

The Note 4 is not at all ugly, has classy accents, a solid metal frame, a soft back and is thin at .33 inches MORE ON THE WEB For more Techilicious columns, log on to hindustantimes.com/ brunch. Follow Rajiv on Twitter at twitter. com/RajivMakhni The views expressed by the columnist are personal

and 6 Plus in India.

Just hours earlier, I had returned from an event where bloggers from all across the country had converged and had gone through some very interesting experiments in making their own movie, featuring themselves and a phone as the main stars. They had professional cameras, special-effects machines, jib-mounted optics, an army of editors and even people helping them script their own story and lines. The event had been beamed live across the country and Samsung had left no stone unturned to make sure that the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 made news everywhere.

The battle of the giants had resumed and Samsung and Apple were leaving nothing to chance. For each, the product being launched was their super-flagship top-of-the-line phone and was also what would bring them their biggest chunk of revenue for the next one year. Failure was not an option and any weakness in sales or perception by customers would sound the death knell. And yet, within all this, a silent new battle had emerged, a battle that didn’t exist last year. By bringing out a large-screen device, Apple has unwittingly acknowledged that Samsung was on to a good thing with its Note series. In the last two years, the hottest category of smartphones has been the phablet. Samsung had literally invented this category while Apple was here in the hope to redefine it. Has Samsung done enough with the Note 4 to maintain superiority, or has Apple reinvented the category with the 6 Plus?

FORM FACTOR

Nobody buys an ugly phone anymore and Samsung has finally realised that. The Note 4 feels solid due to a metal frame, has classy accents and a soft back and is super thin at .33 inches. The iPhone 6 Plus has all the curves you need, is almost all metal and it’s even thinner at .28 inches. But

OCTOBER 26, 2014

WORTH THE WAIT

The iPhone 6 has all the curves you need, is almost all metal and quite thin at .28 inches

most people will buy a case for the iPhone 6 due to its infamous bendgate stories.

SCREEN

The Note 4 display (2560x1440; 518PPI) leaves the 6 Plus (1920x1080; 401PPI) in the dust on paper but in real life the difference isn’t so apparent. The Note 4 screen is bigger yet the phone is smaller and has a much narrower bezel. Once you open a web page or read an ebook, the screen is better. More colour and pop too.

SPECS

The Note 4 is a beast of a device with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 quad-core processor and 3GB RAM. The iPhone 6 has a 64-bit A8 processor with 1GB RAM. Do remember though that iOS and Android have different needs to run at full efficiency. The other major difference is that the Note 4 has an expandable storage slot to take the 32GB memory up by another 128GB. No such luck on the 6 Plus.

SPECIAL FEATURES

The Note 4 has added a lot of innovation from its Note 3 avatar. True PC-style multitasking, the use of the S pen as a scissor and a mouse and a pressure-sensitive calligraphy pen, plus it has a heart-rate sensor too. iPhone 6 has quite a few things like Apple Pay, landscape orientation and a few other things, but nothing that uses the extra screen real estate any differently from previous, smaller screen iPhones.

BATTERY LIFE

iPhone 6 starts off well here to take care of its notorious reputation with poor battery life by packing in 2915mAh of power. The Note 4 packs in some more with 3220mAh and then goes one step further by adding in a new feature where you can charge your phone 50 per cent in a flat 30 minutes.

THE CAMERA

Despite having fewer megapixels, the iPhone has always had one of the best cameras. That legacy continues and is enhanced with some more video tricks too as it can now do time-lapse movies and slow motion. The Note 4 comes with a 16 megapixel camera, a wide selfie mode that really works and can also shoot 4k video.

PRICE

The Note 4 comes in at a steep `58,500 for the 32GB model but starts to look good when you consider that the iPhone 6 Plus 16GB is priced at about `62,500.

So, it would seem that the Note 4 is way superior and gives more bang for the buck. But, in real life, that’s not how it works. To those invested in iOS and to all those who didn’t want an iPhone as the screen was too small, the 6 Plus is manna from heaven. There is also a third category the Plus will now attract. Many iOS users may not need an iPad: the iPhone 6 Plus with its gigantic screen is as good as an iPad Mini.

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

indulge

18

I Am GettInG mArrIed In the mornInG… W

If the wedding season comes, can the Bridezilla be far behind?

Photo: IMAGESBAZAAR

HENEVER THE wedding season rolls around, I am always put in mind of that TV series that was aired a couple of years back in India.

Bridezillas, it was called, to reference brides and Godzilla, and it portrayed what monsters some women turned into in the run up to their weddings. The to-be brides featured made insane demands of their families and friends, micro-managed things until they had run everyone mad, and in the process, spent ludicrous amounts of money that they could often ill-afford.

The series rang true with me – and no doubt, for countless other Indian viewers – because we have all been witness to a bride or two (okay, let’s make that an even dozen) going

Seema Goswami

Photo: SHUTTERSTOCK

spectator

ALL IN THE FAMILY

Keep your mom and grandmom’s jewellery just the way it is. Don’t reset it in some hideous new-fangled design

MORE ON THE WEB For more SPECTATOR columns by Seema Goswami, log on to hindustantimes.com/ brunch. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/ seemagoswami. Write to her at seema_ht@ rediffmail.com The views expressed by the columnist are personal

into overdrive, and then into meltdown, as she prepares for her Big Day (yes, it is always spelt with capital letters).

And now that the season of wedding madness is upon us again, I find myself surrounded by more Bridezillas than I can keep track of. There’s the one who insists on flying down to London to buy a white lace wedding dress from Alexander McQueen – just like Kate Middleton, you know!

– even though she will only get to wear it at a pre-wedding cocktail party (the wedding itself stars a Abu-Sandeep red lehenga; or was it Tarun Tahiliani? I can’t really keep up!). There’s the one who is planning a bachelorette party (don’t you dare say ‘hen party’; that’s so infra dig) in Ibiza, and flying down all 36 of her close friends for that (Daddy dearest picks up the tab, of course). There’s the one who has changed the entire décor of a chateau in Champagne, so that it fits with the ivory and gold theme of her wedding dinner. And so it goes…

I don’t know about you, but it makes me want to take these young ladies aside, pour them a cold glass of water (or champagne, if that will do the trick), and ask them to calm the hell down. It is a wedding, for God’s sake, not a Karan Johar production!

But maybe that’s just the problem. We have been forcefed so many images of extravagant weddings set in exotic locales in our Bollywood blockbusters that we feel obliged to recreate them in real life as well, no matter what the expense or inconvenience involved. So, everything must be ‘designer’: from the wedding hall, the mandap, the overall décor, the outfits of the bride, groom, and their immediate families. And just like in the movies, everything must be colour coordinated to within an inch of its life. Why, even the menu must be ‘designed’ by some celebrity chef or the other, to keep in with the overall theme!

Far be it for me to begrudge any happy bride her big day, but I wonder if perhaps she would be happier if she re-

OCTOBER 26, 2014

27 LEHENGAS

Everything must be ‘designer’ because Bollywood says so: from the wedding hall, the mandap, the overall décor to the outfits of the bride laxed a tiny bit; if she went with the flow instead of playing the control freak?

Well, if any of these soon-to-be-married ladies want to take the less-stressful route to marriage, here is my two cents worth of advice to them: n Keep that wedding lehenga nice and light. If you need to support it with heavy-duty suspenders, then you don’t need it. (Those bruises will be difficult to explain on your honeymoon anyway, when you are sunning yourself on the beach in an itsy-bitsy bikini.) If you need two attendants to hold it up so that you can walk down to the mandap, then walk away from it now. Be as blingy as you like; but keep the fabric and work lightweight. You should be wearing that outfit; the outfit should not be wearing you down. n You’ve probably already blown the budget on the wedding. So, at least be sensible about your honeymoon. Do you really need to buy two first-class tickets to Los Angeles? Cancel that and use the money to book yourself into the best suite at the best hotel in Udaipur or Jodhpur (or even Agra; it does host the most famous monument to love, after all). People fly into these destinations from all over the world for special occasions. Don’t turn up your nose at them just because they are next door. n Keep your mom and grandmom’s jewellery just the way it is. Don’t reset it in some hideous new-fangled design. Believe me, you will be glad you left it well alone a few years down the line. And if you are buying new stuff, then choose well. Buy one heavy-duty piece if you must, but be warned that it will live thereafter in your bank locker anyway. So try and invest in pieces that you can wear for parties and dinners rather than weddings; you’ll get the biggest bang for your buck with these. n Most of all try and remember that it’s not all about the wedding; at the end of the day it is the marriage that counts.

And beginning married life plain broke, frazzled, and on the verge of a nervous breakdown, is not the best of starts at all!

20

#BRUNCHBOOKCHALLENGE

We read some interesting books last week. This is a mixed bag: there’s tosh, literary mainstream and obscure. Pick what you like.

Just make sure you read: it’s good for you Compiled by Saudamini Jain

Why a Bong snob actually liked Chetan Bhagat’s new book

Half Girlfriend by Chetan Bhagat “The Half Girlfriend has arrived.”

The announcement of the arrival of new books is met with frenzy at Brunch every single day. On this occasion, some smirked, some tsk-ed, and some just plain ignored: no one wanted to be dismissed as intellectually-challenged for showing interest in Chetan Bhagat’s latest “blockbuster”. So out of pity and curiousity, I took it home that night.

Three hours and 260-pages later – not bad at all. I quite liked it. I almost loved it. And here’s why: A. He’s written it like a film. And who doesn’t like gooey romantic Hindi movies? Half Girlfriend is an out and out masala flick. And doesn’t pretend to be anything else.

B. Crass country boy Madhav Jha, straight out of the “most backward state in India,” lands in the highly

prestigious, awfully snobbish St Stephen’s College on a sports quota. Meets rich, beautiful, basketball-playing Delhi girl. Falls in love. Befriends her with the sole intention of getting into a relationship (read: having sex). And she agrees to be his Half Girlfriend – you know, the occasional-kissonly type. Bihari boy loses his restraint, says something horrible (The famous line, “Deti hai toh de, varna kat le”), and so, loses his half girlfriend, only to realise she was his one true love. What’s not to like? (Political correctness and feminism aside.)

C. Chetan Bhagat’s self-plugging at the start, in the middle and again at the end of the book is exemplary and worth noting in your list of “What NOT to do ever if you write a book.”

How to read the book: With low

by Satarupa Paul expectations.

For all you Nineties kids Manan by Mohit Parikh ‘What is puberty?’ is the question Mohit Parikh throws at his readers through his 14-year-old protagonist when a strand of pubic hair heralds impending adulthood one day. Manan Mehta, the school topper, battles the demons of elusive masculinity and being perfect for his lady love.

Sex runs through the book. Hormonal teenagers watch porn, Manan imagines neighbourhood aunties naked, engaging their carnal desires.

Where Parikh occasionally overdoes it is in making his hero omniscient – Manan knows what his mother is thinking, for example – and there’s nothing more insufferable than a know-it-all kid. More unbelievable is his sometimes maniacal obsession with puberty.

Eventually though, Manan, disillusioned with adulthood, tells us puberty is less sex and more mind.

An earnest voice rings throughout the 194-page book, making it a breeze. Read it not for ‘rediscovering childhood’ but if you remember that a lot of what you did as a teen revolved around love and sex. Read it for a trip back to the heady Nineties: 1. Dial-up Internet connections used to surf porn.

And the constant trepidation that a phonecall would disrupt the precious link to smut.

2. Boys talking about girls like they don’t exist. ‘I told didi that I don’t talk to girls because they don’t have brains”, without thinking the didi in question is a girl too. Sigh, very soon, the same boys make a fool of themselves...

3. WWE cards, those little shiny things featuring men in astoundingly revealing underwear.

4. Cyber cafes serving as our first gateways to voyeuristic exploration, all under the watchful eyes of the cafe bhaiyya.

by Dhruba Jyoti Purkait

21

Love and crime by a “lesbian writer” The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters London in the early 1920s: The First World War has left everything in turmoil. The gentry is on decline. The men are gone – they’re dead, injured, unemployed or angry. But all this is just the context. This is a novel about women, about two women who have an affair.

Frances Wray lives with her mother in their large, dilapidated house. The Wrays are struggling to maintain the house and their lives – without the servants, without the men, without a regular income. And they’re forced to take in “paying guests”, a couple from the socially inferior “clerk class,” which is now on the rise with a steady income. Enter Leonard and Lilian Barber. And Frances (we are told of her feisty past, her views against the war) and Lilian (a young curvy

A new world has been unlocked Colours Of The Cage by Arun Ferreira This is not for the faint of heart but it also isn’t for the weak of spine. If you followed activist (and middle-class Bandra boy) Arun Ferreria’s story in the papers between 2007 and 2012 you’ll know he was arrested, imprisoned, charged with crimes he didn’t commit, tortured, charged with more crimes, subjected to inhumane tests, imprisoned for years and released only to be re-arrested as he took his first steps out of prison.

Harrowing stuff. But you’ll find not a hair’s worth of sensationalism. Just a straightforward telling of what happened. Ferreria’s strength (apart

wife who likes clothes and parties) become friends. And then after a drunken night, the two become lovers. Until this point, nearly halfway into the novel, you’re charmed by the blurring of social boundaries, the historical authenticity and the wonderful writing. All of this slowly sets the stage for a murder, and you won’t be prepared for it.

And then you plunge into a gripping investigation and courtroom drama that keeps you on tenterhooks.

The book, of course, is highly recommended (three of Waters’ books have been nominated for the Man Booker). That it has a lesbian theme is to be expected (she is often called a “lesbian writer”) and their portrayal here is historically accurate, – by the Twenties there were “lesbian networks and communities”. You don’t want to skip this one.

by Saudamini Jain

from his considerable moral strength) is his objectivity. There’s description, and when you look for how-did-itmake-you-feel psychobabble, more description.

Missing your son’s childhood, hunting raccoon so there’s meat for dinner, petty power play, the pecking order in jails and things incarceration cannot destroy – are the hues that paint the colours of Ferreria’s cage. But light shines through the iron bars: wonderful illustrations (sneakily sketched and kept secret from the jail guards), excerpts from Ferreira’s letters to the outside world and triumphs like pursuing a PhD while imprisoned. If your idea of prison comes from Oz or Orange Is The New Black, you might want to sit down for this.

by Rachel Lopez

An attractive cover, which goes to prove, “Don’t judge a book by its cover” God Is An Astronaut by Alyson Foster What’s it about: Tracks the spiralling-into-chaos life of Jessica Frobisher, a Botany professor and the wife of space scientist Liam Frobisher. Liam works at Spaceco, a commercial space flight company and comes under scrutiny after one of their spacecrafts explodes at lift-off, killing six members on board. The story is about what happens in Jessica’s life after this incident. The way she has to deal with the prying public, media and other assorted ethical and moral dilemmas.

The Good: The entire narrative is given a modern day epistolary form of sorts – the story is told via email. However, the emails are mostly from Jessica to Arthur Danielson, her former lover and colleague (Arthur is reasearching the effects of global warming on sub-arctic ecosystems).

The way the story gets carried over from one ‘chapter’ or email to the next seems the only thing interesting about the book.

The Bad: It’s boring, overall. Though the emailform is unique and manages to save the plot from stuttering to a stop, it can only do so effectively for half the book. Also, readers will find it difficult to connect with any of the main characters. Not that there are a lot of them to begin with! Arthur’s voice is completely absent from the story – he never replies. His character is like a shadow that Jessica’s emails/narrative cast. And Liam is the atypical star-gazing scientist who is too occupied with his work, and will do anything to defend his company.

Read this if: You want to read something rather light on that long flight to wherever.

by Asad Ali

PEOPLE BATE Photo: SATISH

22

YO ALOK NATH SO SANSKAAR s from the ’80 m ra li e v a H r ad Maste show Buniyae brand n a h rs a rd o Do he became th tells us how of traditional values ambassador

by Asad Ali

F

UNGUS HO gaya hai, audience ke dimaag mein! For the last 15 years, their minds have been mutilated by the saas-bahu serials,” says Alok Nath.

He would know, having played some of the most memorable roles on Indian television in the mid’80s, including the iconic Master Haveliram from the hugely successful show, Buniyaad.

We are discussing the quality of television shows and theatre at Nath’s tasteful residence in Andheri, Mumbai. Every now and then, Daku and Goti, his two adorable dogs, make their presence felt.

“One of the jokes said that even Alok Nath’s dogs are so sanskaari, they bark ‘bhauji bhauji!’” chuckles Nath.

CENTRE STAGE

Self-deprecation, humility and the ability to internalise a role have always been Nath’s strengths. Born in Delhi, Nath went to Modern School. Students were encouraged to take part in extracurricular activities and Nath chose theatre.

“My first play must have been when I was in the first standard,” he says. “I was an integral part of school plays. And when I was in the ninth standard, Om Shivpuri directed me in a play called The Miser. It was a huge hit.”

Eventually, and perhaps inevitably, Shivpuri – noticing Nath’s penchant for acting – put

him in touch with the right people in Doordarshan. In 1972, Nath got a role in the TV play Sarai Ke Baahar. By the time he finished his arts degree from Hindu College, Delhi, he was thinking about a career in acting.

It wasn’t an easy decision, given that his father, grandpa and a paternal uncle were all established doctors. “They were dejected when I didn’t have good enough grades in school to take up science,” he says. But his Principal was his biggest support: “The Principal, the late Mr MN Kapoor, sat my parents down and explained that I should just be allowed to do what I do best, and that academics shouldn’t be forced on me needlessly,” says Nath.

So off he went to the Na-

I

tional School of Drama, Delhi. “NSD was a riot!” says Nath. “But I also acquired the ability to have a strong sense of discipline towards life and my profession,” says Nath.

SCREEN TIME

You can’t live on passion alone however, so Nath had to turn to television. “Even after coming to Mumbai in 1981, I did theatre for some time. But for a play that took three months to prepare, we barely managed five performances to almost-empty halls. That’s the tragedy,” says Nath. “Plus beyond a point, passion for something also has to yield financial results!”

Ironically though, once someone gets exposure on television or films, they don’t want to go back to theatre. “It’s like tasting blood,” says Nath. “I could’ve made more

NOT JUST CHILD’S PLAY n The first major play Alok Nath acted in was The Miser, when he was in class 9. The Principal of Modern School was so impressed that he wanted an encore the next day. Nath became associated with Ruchika, the drama group co-created by Feisal Alkazi, son of eminent theatre personality Ebrahim Alkazi, when he was in school itself. n The play which Nath says he feels most proud of having done is Tughlaq, written by Girish Karnad.

Ruchika produced it in the early 1970s under the directorship of Arun Kuckreja, and it was staged on the steps of the Triveni Kala Sangam.

OCTOBER 26, 2014

Alok Nath (left) pla yed the Tughlaq, a Ruchika lead role in production n Some other plays Nath feels glad to have done include Mohan Rakesh’s Aadhe Adhoore, directed by Feisal Alkazi, Vijay Tendulkar’s Sakharam Binder and Saved, an Edward Bond play then directed by Amal Allana.

of an effort to go back to theatre but I fell into the trap of recognition, fame and money.”

The big money lure can be traced to the time Nath played Tyeb Mohammed in the Richard Attenborough classic, Gandhi (1982). When he graduated from NSD, around 1979, theatre personality Dolly Thakore came by to find actors for various roles in the film.

Nath bagged the short role. “For two days’ work, I got `20,000,” he says. The offer was so incredible, that after accepting it, he walked out of the Ashok Hotel with the bundle of cash tucked beneath his armpit and rushed straight home.

BIRTH OF BABUJI

In Mumbai, Nath got work in some of the most memorable television serials of the time including Talaash (1992) and Kaala Jal (1983).

However, it was only when Buniyaad happened around 1986 that he shot up the popularity charts.

He remembers when he first met Ramesh Sippy, who co-directed it: “He was this five-foot-something person almost hidden behind a desk,” laughs Nath. “He looked at me as if he was selecting a horse or something and asked if I could commit a whole year for the serial.” That meeting, which Nath says lasted barely two minutes, changed the course of his career.

“Rameshji was never happy with takes, and we were tense because the film kept rolling,” laughs Nath. “The first 26 episodes were all on film and sometimes we gave

“Buniyaad’s final scene, where Haveliram turns 80 and is with his grandchildren, stayed with viewers. That was their lasting impression of me” 15 takes. We shat bricks because we kept thinking how much film we were wasting!”

But Sippy also understood his artistes. Dimple Kapadia once visited the set, and Sippy asked her, in all his actors’ hearing, about the maximum number of takes she’d given in the film Saagar (1985).

“Oh, 12-15,” said Kapadia. “But once it was 56!” And Buniyaad’s actors calmed down.

Buniyaad also did something else: It gave birth to Babuji. “When the show started, I was 27 years old in real life and not very different on screen,” says Nath. “But the audience was engrossed in the show’s characters. So the final scene, where Haveliram has turned 80, and is with his grandkids, stayed with them. That was their lasting impression of me.” Even producers began offering Nath roles that required him to play a much older man. For a while, he rejected such roles, but eventually, to survive, he accepted them. “I was living a certain life in Mumbai and I had also met my wife-to-be. Ladki ko impress bhi toh karna hota hai!” laughs Nath. “That’s when I got into the groove of playing older characters,” he says. “My role in Maine Pyaar Kiya (1989) enhanced the perception.”

Then in December last year, Nath’s ‘sanskaari babuji’ image suddenly spawned countless jokes and memes on social media. “My children told me, “hum toh maje le rahe hain, aap bhi maje lo!’”

So Nath played along, even doing a sketch for the online comedy show All India Bakchod, in which he gives quirky aashirvaads to

OCTOBER 26, 2014

Arvind Kejriwal. “Since I myself make fun of Kejriwal, I thought there was no harm playing a fun part in the video myself.” That video went viral quickly and Nath gained a lot of appreciation for it.

NOW SHOWING

Now, Nath is working on two TV shows – Tu Mere Agal Bagal Hai and another one by Rajshri called Mere Rang Mein Rangne Wali. But good stories for television are hard to come by, he says. “In the heydays of Doordarshan, the creative team had to complete the whole show in 13 episodes. So they put in all their effort to ensure an extension of a further 13 episodes,” he explains. “Aajkal dekho, 15 saal se CID chal raha hai!”

At the other end of the scale, he says, there is a needless attempt to intellectualise television. “(Amitabh) Bachchan saab’s Yudh is an example,” he says. “Suddenly everyone made this hue and cry about seeing Mr Bachchan without apparent make-up on the show. Such sombre lighting and everything... un becharon ki TRP bhi nahin aai!

Mr Bachchan is a legend but don’t make him do these silly things.”

When I tell him I haven’t seen the show, Nath is quick to respond: “You’re lucky you haven’t seen it!

TV is essentially a middle-class medium and you can’t suddenly elevate the content. First educate the masses, and only then show quality stuff.”

The conversation draws to a close, but I have a final question: what does sanskaar really mean to the brand ambassador, unwittingly or otherwise, of good moral values? “Don’t get taken in by the superficiality of sanskaar,” says Nath. “You can smoke, drink and have your share of fun. What matters is to do good deeds. As someone once said, ‘Masjid bahut door hai yaaron, aaj chalon kisi rote hue bachche ko hasa de.’” asad.ali@hindustantimes.com Follow @AsadAli1989 on Twitter

24

REEL WORLD

Following In The Khans’ Footsteps Social media snooping is an underrated skill – yet everybody does it. Celebrity gossip is mindless – but everybody indulges in it. Bollywood’s Three Khans, Shah Rukh, Salman and Aamir, have more than 27 million followers on Twitter. But, together, they’re only following 91 people. Let’s meet some of them

by Saudamini Jain

The fan that he follows

Shah Rukh’s BFF chikki(aloke)panday @chikkipanday

Joined January 2010 Tweets: 7,897

9.48 million Followers on Twitter

Shah Rukh Khan

FOLLOWING

@iamsrk

Vaibhav Dahima @vaibhavdahima

75

A 20-something from Orissa. Last year, @iamsrk followed him back. In an interview with The Telegraph, the fan said, “Many people have been asking me how I made it happen but I guess he knows who his true admirers are”

Chunky Panday’s brother Aloke. What you don’t know (neither did we) – he is SRK’s off-camera best bud. Also Salman Khan’s friend. Apparently, the oh-so-famous Shah Rukh-Salman hug during Ramzan last year was engineered by him

Our favourite Moin Junnedi @mjunnedi

The untraceable

14-year-old wonder boy Moin Junnedi has made it to the India Book of Records as the “youngest swimmer with locomotor disability”. Moin suffers from Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI and sometimes known as brittle bone disease)

@StaceyRamsey24

4

Accounts @SRKUniverse about Shah Rukh Khan @drshahrukh

Does he follow the other two Khans?

@SRKFC1 @SRKCHENNAIFC

But the King Khan follows another king: “King Mika Singh” @MikaSingh

NO

Hot foreigner, tweets are random, we could not find much about her on the Web. She is followed by @KunalNayyar (Raj Koothrappali on The Big Bang Theory)

Why Jacky?

Film actor, artist, painter, humanitarian

Jacqueline Fernandez @Asli_Jacqueline

MUMBAI Joined April 2010

Salman following her made headlines because he follows so few people. Stories ranged from the obvious (she is his Kick co-star) to the bizarre (Khan said only Jacky can replace Zeenat Aman)

Tweets: 41.4K

8.68 million Followers on Twitter

Salman Khan

FOLLOWING

@BeingSalmanKhan

Does he follow the other two Khans?

9

NO

People who are family: 2.5 @arbaazSkhan The big brother

@khanarpita The kid sister

@realpreityzinta

@MirzaSania

The one with the best stories Kaajal Anand@putlu1 According to a Mumbai newspaper, and our sources: she’s ‘the one woman everyone wants to know’. She’s a lawyer (she defended Sanjay Dutt), took a break from law and started a highend fashion boutique.

She’s also Karan Johar’s BFF, Gauri Khan’s BFF and fun to follow because she tweets photos of everybody who’s somebody

@PulkitSamrat One of the Fukrey guys. Further investigation threw this up: His fiancee Shweta Rohira is Salman’s rakhi sister. As a kid, she gatecrashed Salman’s house on rakhi. He told her she must tie one on him every year. So, well...

People who he helped lose weight: 1

Bina kak @binaakak A former Rajasthan Cabinet minister.

And, she played Salman’s mother in Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya?

@sonakshisinha Daisy Shah@ ShahDaisy25

His Jai Ho costar

Actor.

Mumbai aamirkhan.com

@satyamevjayate

Joined November 2009

@Aamir_Khan’s First TV Show Satyamev Jayate

Tweets: 225

8.96 million

@juniorbachchan

@karanjohar

Followers on Twitter

Aamir Khan @aamir_khan Does he follow the other two Khans?

FOLLOWING

7

Only Salman

OCTOBER 26, 2014

But you can only see 6 when you click on it

@iHrithik

@SrBachchan

NOTE: an The Kh has g in w o ll fo cool ed by a increas each in the million ee months r last th ce July sin ar this ye

25

LAST LAUGH

The cast of the show at the end of the final episode

“We Were Never On A Break” As Friends completes 20 years, curl up on the orange couch with creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane

by Nikhil Taneja

N

O ONE told you life was gonna be this way, that 20 years after Friends first aired, you’d still be tuning in for reruns and recalling lines from memory. That’s something the creators didn’t count on either, or so they tell us.

I have to start by asking the question you’re asked the most...

Marta Kauffman (MK): The answer is no (laughs). You don’t even have to finish the question. No, there’s not going to be a movie.

David Crane (DC): Our feeling is that when the series ended, we managed to end it just right. We put a bow on it. You don’t need to see the friends turning 50. It lives on so much in reruns, syndication and DVDs, it’s not like people aren’t getting enough Friends!

What do you think you guys did so right at the time?

MK: I think part of it was that it was the right show at the right time. We definitely tried making a show that had heart, or had a certain sense of, “I’ve been there”, or “I know these people”. We didn’t want it to be just gags.

DC: I think what we were willing to have were scenes that ultimately weren’t funny, but where you just felt for these guys. If you look at the pilot, how it breaks for commercial in the middle, the scene is just Ross and Rachel each looking out the window at the rain. There’s no joke, no story point, just us saying “Care about these two people”.

How did your idea of the show change through the seasons?

DC: The one-line concept was, ‘It’s that time in your life when your friends are your family.’ That was, sort of, the guiding mantra. No matter what we did, even if things evolved, that was always the bottom line we returned to.

MK: And we learnt lessons that you don’t learn at film or theatre school, where you are told that things have to be dramatised. But with these six, it was always better when they talked about things, than when we saw it actually happen. In the initial stages, Phoebe and Chandler were supposed to be more secondary. But then when we cast it, we were like, “Oh no, no, no, no!” they should all be equal. And the audience always wanted all six.

Which one of the characters is you?

MK: (laughs) I think I have elements of all three women. I like shoes, I certainly have Monica’s tendency to be neurotic and make sure that the cap is closed all the way, I like to mother people, and I certainly have some of Phoebe’s out there notions of spirits and ghosts. David, you’re just like Joey! (laughs) DC: Yeah, actually that’s the only person I’m nothing like: Joey.

WHERE ARE THE REST OF THE FRIENDS? Gunther (James Michael Tyler) Along with appearing in the Matt Le Blanc TV show Episodes, he is also now a musician Janice (Maggie Wheeler) The shrill actress has been busy on TV, her latest roles being on Californication and Hot in

Cleveland David (Hank Azaria) Phoebe’s hit and miss boyfriend is an accomplished voice-over artist, who voices many characters on The Simpsons Emily (Helen Baxendale) Ross’s irritating girlfriend/wife has a steady role on Comedy Central’s Cuckoo

OCTOBER 26, 2014

There’s a bit of me in Ross, there’s a bit of me in Chandler as well, but, you know, they were based more on people we know.

MK: And then, the actors came in and breathed life into it. We didn’t know that Joey was going to be stupid, but [Matt LeBlanc] played it so funny we took advantage of it.

DC: Yes, Monica in the original was not particularly neurotic, and, then, in the Thanksgiving episode of the first season, we made her kind of crazy, and she was hilarious! And we went, ‘Oh well, let’s do more of that!’

Did you set out thinking who would be the best match for whom?

MK: Originally Joey and Monica getting together was in our pitch.

But the chemistry wasn’t right.

DC: Yeah, we knew, going into the pilot, that Ross is attracted to Rachel. But we had no idea that this was going to become the central theme of our lives for 10 years!

MK: (laughs along) One of the things we learnt was that they were more fun apart than they were together. But we knew they had to end up together. You know, truthfully, after you get a show started, it starts to tell you what it wants. The Monica and Chandler thing, for example, when we did that, we thought that it was going to be a really fun moment, we didn’t realise it was going to be an arc that would last for the rest of the series, until we saw the audience’s reaction. brunchletters@hindustantimes.com

26

PERSONAL AGENDA

twitter.com/HTBrunch

Photo: SHEETAL MALLAR

Actor

Rahul Khanna

HOMETOWN SCHOOL/COLLEGE BIRTHDAY PLACE OF BIRTH I spend so much time travelling; Bombay International School, St Xavier’s June 20 home is wherever my suitcase College, The Lee Strasberg Theatre & SUN SIGN Mumbai happens to be at the time Film Institute, and School of Visual Arts Gemini

FIRST BREAK

Being the first Video Jockey (VJ) and the face of MTV India

ONE ACTOR YOU ARE INSPIRED BY

Peter Dinklage

taken Marilyn Monroe out for dinner. Under her flamboyant public persona, she was said to be incredibly thoughtful.

One Hindi film you would like to make into a musical.

My dad’s Amar Akbar Anthony would really be great, campy fun as a Broadway or West End show. Of course, I would want to play Inspector Amar.

What’s the craziest thing that a fan has done for you?

When I lived in Singapore, a fan broke into my apartment, helped herself to a few souvenirs, then tidied my room and made my bed! Thankfully, I wasn’t home at the time but it was really creepy.

The one designer you love.

I think Rajesh Pratap Singh’s shirts are simple, distinctive and incredibly crafted.

One actor/actress you admire for their impeccable style sense.

British actor Bill Nighy.

A one-line primer for actors who might want to/have to shoot a nude scene.

Hope that the lighting is flattering and, most importantly, that the set is not too cold!

OCTOBER 26, 2014

LOW POINT OF YOUR LIFE

Continental breakfasts.

Big, full English breakfasts. Parathas and It’s not breakfast. It’s bhurji are also acceptable table dressing

Your favourite fashion accessory.

A beautiful vintage wristwatch from 1956.

An absolute must in your wardrobe.

Crisp, white, button-down shirts. You can never have too many.

One quick tip for men’s grooming.

Make an effort but don’t overdo it!

Men who are overly groomed look quite strange.

How many suits do you own?

Not many at all. I am a bit of a minimalist and what I have most of in my wardrobe is space.

Acting as the older brother in Fireflies v/s being the elder brother in real life... how similar/different are the two?

In Fireflies I’m quite a mean, ruthless elder brother. I hope I’m more affable in real life!

The last book that you read The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.

Your idea of the perfect first date.

An evening that involves great food, a fantastic bottle of wine and some stimulating, witty conversation.

— Interviewed by Satarupa Paul

CURRENTLY I AM...

Promoting my new film, Fireflies and shooting for season 3 of the hit US TV show, The Americans

FIVE FOREIGN MOVIES THAT YOU MUST WATCH

my movies

If you weren’t an actor, you would’ve been...

An international art thief.

If you were to depict your life through one art form...

Definitely film, because anything’s possible in the movies!

If you were to go back to VJ-ing, what would be your trademark sign-off?

A simple “Thank you and good bye” is always best.

The most expensive thing you carry with you always.

A sense of humour. It’s priceless.

One classic film you would’ve liked to be part of.

Alfred Hitchcock’s North by North West. I think it’s one of the most stylish films ever.

A side of Rahul Khanna that no one knows.

I’m incredibly organised, neat and disciplined. Perhaps I was Swiss in my last life.

If you could date one actress from the past, who would it be?

I would have loved to have

HIGH POINT OF YOUR LIFE

Like Water For Chocolate (1992), Y Tu Mamá También (2001), Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000), anything

by Akira Kurosawa, Fellini’s 8 1/2 (1963) FAVOURITE INTERNATIONAL TV SERIES

Game of Thrones, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Americans ONE PAISA-VASOOL FILM

Anything by the late Manmohan Desai THE FIRST FILM YOU WATCHED IN A THEATRE

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)