Brunch 23 june 2013 by Hindustan Times

WEEKLY MAGAZINE, JUNE 23, 2013 Free with your copy of Hindustan Times

He thinks fashion makes women unhappy. He’d much rather call himself a clothes maker. But who can deny that Sabyasachi is probably India’s most successful fashion designer?

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VIR SANGHVI

Rude Travel: New York diary

SEEMA GOSWAMI

Notes to my younger self

RAJIV MAKHNI

You cannot ignore Apple’s iOS7

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

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Travelling Pants

by Saudamini Jain

Five reasons to fly business

If you’re some hotshot who already flies business, skip this section. The rest of you, save up or pray for one of those last-minute upgrades. ’Cuz whoever said money can’t buy happiness never sipped champagne while being massaged by a chair, 30-something-thousand feet above sea level

To feel like a movie star

When Economy fliers walk in, they gawk at you with such a perfect mixture of envy, hatred and (oddly enough) admiration. For that moment, you’re Paris Hilton. Flight attendants are your entourage. They keep bringing great food (in courses, on real cutlery), refilling your glass, getting you drunk... Plus, you might actually be sitting next to a real movie star.

romance writing! Economy is for lecherous men in their 40s, auntijis and old foreigners. Sigh, and me.

To sleep like a baby

mented my “perfect wavy hair”. They were both lying. I look like an idiot asleep and my hair, well, it’s a bit boisterous. But what can I say, I like sweet liars.

For a happy bum

Oh, the genius who thought of Oversized seats that turn massage chairs! So, these seats into a flat bed, comfy had this little butYou’re pyjamas, a real quilt ton which make a goddess, (not those silly econothem basically. my blankets), fresh vibrate. You white sheets and the gentle know, that whirring of the plane. I slept amazing watching The Mindy Profeeling that ject. Only to wake up in six spreads hours to... through It’s where all the your entire good-looking people are Hear nice things body and That’s why people fall in love on The attendant told me I looked makes you flights in movies all the time! “so peaceful” when I was sleeptremble This part of the plane inspires ing. Another had earlier compli(don’t be a The writer flew on a Qatar Airways flight to Chicago. The fabulous food, perv)! good wine and plush seats made her wish it was a longer flight. She’s hopping back on when she marries a millionaire. And when that happens, well, how do they say it? Love is in the air...

On The Brunch Radar

The Brunch Bollywood Collector’s Edition is Out!

People’s telegram stories STOP Aww STOP ■ Kindle comes to India. One Paperwhite coming up! ■ Researching hot celebrities for an interview ■ This headline: “My husband loves to see me in leather: Salma Hayek” ■ Man of Steel ■

Photos: SHUTTERSTOCK, THINKSTOCK

This 160-page issue is dedicated to the most charismatic and powerful part of our film industry – the stars! We shortlisted the top 50 Bollywood stars of today and got top names in the industry to talk about them ON

by Saudamini Jain

Word Of The Week

STANDS Exclusive, sensational photoNOW! graphs of the stars by the best GRAB IT FOR R100 ONLY! photographers in the business

Facebook ‘Confessions’ pages, which are still active ■ If you’re whining about the depiction of south Indians in Chennai Express (it’s a Rohit Shetty masala movie, not a textbook) ■ Quoting books you haven’t read ■ Mumbai’s monsoon woes (it rains just as much every year, you guys!) ■ That it took PRISM to make people read 1984 ■

by Shreya Sethuraman

Prancercise

noun\prans- r-siz\

THE TOOLS: A pair of foot weights tied to your ankles (and later on to your wrists), music to help you sway.

THE METHOD: Remember how Saif Ali Khan danced to Woh Ladki Hai Kahaan in Dil Chahta Hai? Repeat that ad nauseam, prancercise around the circumference of your neighbourhood park. When you tie the weights to your wrists, just imagine yourself to be Rambo.

A mash-up of prance and exercise (doh!). It’s the brainchild (and trademark, please) of US-based social worker Joanna Rohrback. Watch the video on www.prancercise.com/video Usage: Monica: What’s with Phoebe ambling about like a clown? Rachel: She’s not ambling, you dimwit. She’s prancercising to lose all that winter weight!

Essays by well-known filmmakers, writers, journalists, sociologists and bloggers

Photos: PRANCERCISE.COM/VIDEO

If you are movie fans like we are, you can’t afford to miss this one. It’s Bollywood like you’ve never seen before! AVAILABLE AT LEADING BOOKSTORES AND NEWSSTANDS. Get the Brunch Collector’s Edition delivered to your doorstep. Subscribe now and get 4 issues (this and future editions) for the price of 3! SMS <BCE> to 54242 or call 01160004242 or 18601804242 Cover design: MONICA GUPTA Cover photograph: RAJ K RAJ Location courtesy: OLIVE BEACH, DIPLOMAT HOTEL, NEW DELHI

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

JUNE 23, 2013

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

Drop us a line at:

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

YOU WILL LOOK LIKE: A clown. Or a tipsy old aunt dancing at a wedding.

FOR ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES, PLEASE CONTACT National — Sanchita Tyagi: sanchita.tyagi@hindustantimes.com North — Siddarth Chopra: siddarth.chopra@hindustantimes.com West — Karishma Makhija: karishma.makhija@hindustantimes.com South — Francisco Lobo: francisco.lobo@hindustantimes.com

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Sabyasachi knew he’d be India’s most successful designer at the age of 13. And he’s made it to the top on his own terms by Yashica Dutt

ABYASACHI MUKHERJEE walks into the restaurant with childish glee and hops on to the scooter placed there: “Is this where I am supposed to sit?” The Kolkata-based designer looks nothing like the ghost of Rabindranath Tagore – wavy long hair, beard tamed to obeisance, khadi kurta, Nehru coat – the way he has appeared in public recently. Changing 20 expressions a minute, he cups his cheek in the palm of his hand, elbow resting on the handle of the scooter and beams into the camera like he just received a special present on his eighth birthday. Hair chopped in a boyish crop, belying his 39 years, dressed in the streetstyle staple of an Oxford blue shirt and olive trousers with suede shoes, he looks nothing like the man who would say, “I always knew that one day I would become India’s most successful designer.” If success is measured by being the most talked-about person at Cannes this year (as far as the subcontinent is concerned), by just dressing up one of the jury members, then the scales have been broken for a while now. The moment pictures of Vidya Balan, head covered and bowed in a namaste to the international media, hit the Internet, fashion became the conversation. The week that followed became the Sabyasachi-Vidya Balan fashion week live from Cannes. With every outfit she wore (the full-sleeved blouses with a nath, the white textile sari with tight, centre-parted hair or the Kanjeevaram silk specially flown in from Chennai), the din of scathing Facebook comments, tweets, open letters on blog posts and mocking online and print editorials only grew louder. The designer, used to creating seismic waves of applause with almost

every appearance, found himself at the receiving end of a newly fashion-conscious nation, who couldn’t tolerate Vidya Balan looking “matronly,” “auntylike” or more bluntly, a “buddhi.” “When the star Vidya Balan faced the camera for a photo-op with her cojury members looking like a subservient bride, a caricature of those notoriously big fat Indian weddings, there was collective disillusionment and ridicule,” wrote Vogue India’s fashion features director, Bandana Tewari on the fashion site, Business of Fashion. Sabyasachi doesn’t care what the fashion press writes. “I had asked Vidya to be prepared for this. I told her that only a few people would appreciate her and she would have to face a lot of criticism for her clothes. She was ready for that.” Having turned the Cannes red carpet into a showcase for Indian textiles and weaves, Sabyasachi argues that it’s time we started taking pride in our own heritage since even “people from Africa wear their national costumes with pride.” Fashion journalists like Shefalee Vasudev assert that revival of traditional fashion shouldn’t be so much about costume. “Given the influence he has on the consumers of Indian fashion, his most overpowering statements in designs and styling don’t stand up for the idea of contemporary India,” she says. “That’s just a whole of lot intellectual masturbation,” says Sabyasachi. “My primary idea is to make clothes that the customer can buy. And I am not going to apologise for it.” He pronounces ‘a’pologise in a way only Bengalis do. “The power of any brand exists in the strength of its copy market. I made Vidya wear a Kanjeevaram sari, which is almost a dying legacy, but a year from

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Photo: RAJ K RAJ

now there’ll be copies of it all over the country, the NRIs will be looking to wear it and the mills that had shut down will be back in action again. That’s the real influence of my brand.”

Sabyasachi doesn’t drink or smoke or party, obviating the three base principles in the Indian designer formula of 2013

ull-sleeved blouses (already making an appearance in the wedding markets), while they covered Vidya Balan’s arms, also unwrapped Sabyasachi’s predilection for making his women ‘modest.’ “Modesty is back in fashion. People are tired of looking at women as sex objects. It’s heartbreaking to see a 30-year-old woman trying to dress like a 12-year-old. If Marc Jacobs and Prada do prissy clothing, then it’s cool but we are embarrassed of picking up connotations from our own evolution.” He thinks Vidya Balan got a lot of flak because she didn’t choose to put herself on display and look like a piece of ham. She is not fashionable and likes wearing clothes she’s comfortable in. And neither is Sabyasachi – fashionable that is. He is decidedly anti-fashion, doesn’t see the benefit of constant change and so many seasons – the meat and potatoes of the industry – and thinks fashion makes women deeply unhappy. “You can’t eat chocolate, you have to be constantly mindful of what you eat, it’s like being in military school. Our brand never looks down on women to say ‘You are fat so you can’t wear this.’” That explains the loose silhouettes, the figure-flattering lines and the covered-up clothing that he’s been showing a lot of lately. And perhaps it explains why he is not shy of calling a Sabyasachi lehenga the new Birkin of India. “Most of our customers feel that our clothes have been made for them. Because we have sustained a certain identity in our clothes, like several other iconic brands – Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Burberry. You can’t have fans without that sense of repetition. We have had customers like five sisters from the same family getting married in Sabyasachi, and we dressed each of them on those occasions. People come to you because they know what they are going to get.”

abyasachi Mukherjee also knows exactly what to give. The Sabyasachi image is a careful construct of perceptiveness, media savvy and plain common sense. He JUNE 23, 2013

does not drink or smoke or party, obviating the three base principles in the Indian designer formula of 2013. His clothes are different in their same old sameness and most of his interviews, where he talks easily about his life, read like verbatim clones of each other. Like a handy memo for the media to spread the exact message he wants. Fashion columnist Sujata Assomull Sippy says he is the Shah Rukh Khan of fashion with the kind of copy he gives to journalists, knowing the impact his quotes will create. Even when he debuted in 2002 with a collection named Kashgar Bazaar at Lakme India Fashion Week in Mumbai, he knew he was filling a gap between what was the ‘cling and bling’ of Indian fashion and Ritu Kumar-woven and crafts-based creations that were largely linked to Miss India contests. “The fashion ramp had something missing. Sabyasachi filled that hole not just with a new interpretation of traditionally Indian ideas but with a voice that was clearly his own,” says Shefalee Vasudev.

hat’s reason enough to believe him when he says that he was a child prodigy who was a brilliant back bencher and had conversations with trees. He always made friends with the older kids, who were usually the first to make the move (most of his friends are many years older than him). And even when he attended school, commuting on a boat in Kankinara, a suburban town on the outskirts of Kolkata, he always had a bigger picture of the world. To explore that world, he ran away to Goa at 17, travelling between train coaches without a ticket, served as a waiter at Anjuna beach and joined the ISKCON Hare Krishna movement out of curiosity. A mathematical genius of sorts, who even coached the neighbourhood kids in the subject, his father, Shukumar Mukherjee and mother Sandhya Mukherjee, wanted him to become an engineer. But he always wanted to be a designer, and by 13 he was completely sure about it. Meeta Ghosh, one of his oldest friends and neighbours, recalls his precocious designs. “There was an amazing fluidity in his sketches. When he wanted to become a designer, his parents and grandmother were not very happy with the idea. So my husband went to

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convince them, especially the grandmother, who heard him out patiently and said, ‘So he wants to be a darzi!’”

oday, when Sabyasachi is much more than that, he doesn’t want to move away from Kolkata. “I want to live close to my parents, they are getting old and no amount of money can change that.” He stresses on his middle-class upbringing, imputes it to his nondrinking, non-partying ways and says that he’s still not comfortable in the social space where he has become so successful. “Fame came to me when I was 26. Till then, I was shaped by anonymity. That made me who I am.” Still, his team has a hard time dragging him to events, even when they are being hosted by him. Sabina Chopra, fashion strategist, creative consultant and someone who’s almost exclusively seen wearing Sabyasachi, says he’s not the guy you can become friends with at a party. You get to know him best through one-on-one conversations, just like she did 10 years ago. “Sabya is a very grounded and genuine person. For Sabya his ego comes from the quality of his work and not his position in the business, usually the opposite for most people in fashion.”

is father would take him to the movies every Sunday, occassionally even lying on his behalf to the school if he had to, but he was extremely strict about his grades. Sabyasachi was petrified of his father, who was paradoxically also his best friend. He learnt early lessons in responsibility when his father had to quit his job, and Sabyasachi was just 15. Which is why he hasn’t quit fashion even when he wanted to. “There are always moments of doubt, when you feel suicidal and depressed. I have wondered why I don’t run away and become a farmer. But there are lives that you end up shaping even without knowing. Once at the Bhubaneswar airport, much to my shock, an elderly lady came and touched my feet and told me that she’s a local designer who has a business of copying my designs, and thanked me profusely. I felt very proud of myself that day. I knew I was doing something right.” His sister Payal, who always heroworshipped her older brother, is sec-

ond-in-command at Sabyasachi. She was his muse, his partner-in-crime, and his backstage support at his first show in 2002. And she has been with him ever since. When she got married in 2011, Sabyasachi behaved terribly, howling throughout her wedding day and looking grumpy in every single photograph. “Sometimes, it’s extremely painful to work with my brother, because he demands perfection nearly every time. He’s always trying to be better at what he’s doing and works very hard at it. Even if he’s travelling, he comes straight to the workshop the next day, jet lag or no jet lag, and works till 11.30-12 at night, while the rest of us are ready to drop.” This trait echoes the time when a young and lanky school-going Sabyasachi participated in a marathon, though he’d never run in one before, and came first. When asked how he managed to win against the better-built guys, he replied, “I think it was my willpower.”

abyasachi is an old soul. He can talk for hours and seems to have lived way beyond his years. “There is no excuse to not be a nice human being. You can still run this business with integrity. I have been cheated by assistants who took my designs and started on JUNE 23, 2013

their own and by people who I trusted, who used my money for the wrong reasons. But for every 100 people who use you, it’s worth finding that one person who deserves being nice to.” He is oddly karmic and believes that what you do always comes back to you. “I have witnessed bizarrely similar situations – when I have not been very nice, the same scenario has been replicated with me at the receiving end. That’s why I am not materialistic. Even this much money hasn’t changed me or my family. My father still goes to buy fish from the market. I think if you grow up witnessing a stable marriage like my parents’, you do grow up feeling good about yourself.”

e is also old school. All his stores have clocks that have stopped at odd hours and random black-and-white photographs of people he’s never met. His clothes too cry out to be capsuled in the past and he loves the grace with which yesteryear actresses conducted themselves. Perhaps that’s why he doesn’t see the brouhaha over presenting Vidya Balan covered from top to toe on an international platform. He is peculiarly patriotic and feels that we don’t take enough pride

in our own culture (which he was accused of caricaturing at Cannes). He has a line for cultural costumes for children and thinks that people should dress them in traditional costumes for special occasions. “Back then, there was more depth. The songs today are nothing compared to old Guru Dutt ones. Beautiful things were created without any commercial intent. It might have something to do with the way I was brought up, rowing the boat to school and living in an idyllic setting.” The tortoise and the hare is one of Sabyasachi’s favourite stories and it comes up often when he talks. It’s not hard to guess that he thinks of himself as the former. But after 11 years in the business, a TV show, several collections, including New York, Milan and Paris, becoming the dream outfitter for any bride, a business that made a profit of over 45 per cent last year and a national award for best costume for Black, Sabyasachi is the hare of Indian fashion who’s got the tortoise in his back pocket. yashica.dutt@hindustantimes.com Follow @YashicaDutt on twitter

MORE ON THE WEB Sabyasachi gave us the shoot of a lifetime. See all his moods at hindustantimes.com/brunch.

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Seema Goswami

BOND FOR LIFE

Things I wish I had known when I was a teenager…

Don’t be too focused on putting money aside for a rainy day Photos: THINKSTOCK

Reach out and make friends. Spend time nurturing your bonds with those whom you love and cherish magic 60 per cent (what would now be a magic 98 per cent). Trust me, it won’t. In fact, in anothN THE UNLIKELY event of time travel er five years or so, when you’re finally excelling becoming a reality, I really would not want to in the job of your dreams nobody will even ask be a teenager again. Yes, I know this has you what you scored in your graduation papers. become a bit of a cliché, for middle-aged folks to In fact, most people won’t even care if you gradclaim that we have never been happier and more uated at all. ■ Don’t knock the way you look. Yes, I know, when content now that our younger days are behind us. you stand in front of the mirror now, you feel as But behind every cliché lurks an eternal truth. if a) you could stand to lose a few pounds b) zap And in this case, it is that youth is wasted on the those inflamed pimples on your chin that no young (oh dear, there I go with the clichés again!) amount of concealer could camouflage c) gain a It was certainly wasted on me. When I wasn’t few more inches in height and d) get a brand-new fretting about the numbers on my report cards, wardrobe. But when you gaze at pictures of your I was moaning about the ones on the weighing younger self 20 years down the line, you will be scales. I was constantly worried about fitting in astounded by just how amazing you looked. And rather than focused on standing out. And then, I you will wonder why that never occurred to you went effortlessly from worrying about how I would at the time. fare at a job interview to obsessing about how ■ Don’t be too focused on putting money aside I would interview all those larger-than-life for a rainy day. A bit of cash stashed away is celebrities once I had landed a job with the most always useful. But don’t shy away from spendpopular news magazine of the day. ing money on experiences that will give you a Only now that my youth is oh-so-definitely lifetime of memories. Backpack through Asia. behind me, do I realise that I really did not have Take a rail trip through Europe. Climb a mounvery much to worry about at all – if only I had the tain. Go deep-sea diving. The memories will be sense, and the perspective, to see that at the time. priceless; the money, if saved, will only be a fracSo here, for the benefit of my younger readtion of what it was worth when you earned it. ers (and maybe the odd older one), are some ■ Don’t ignore your emotional life because you are notes that I scribbled down for my younger self. MAKE THE GRADE Read on… they may stand you in good stead for Don’t obsess over your too busy focusing on your professional one. Reach out grades. Your life will not and make friends. Make time for family. Spend time the next 20 years. ■ Don’t envy the cool kids in school/college. They end if you don’t score nurturing your bonds with those whom you love and may seem very with it now, with their designer that magic 60 per cent cherish. Stay in touch with your feelings. It is relaclothes, their dewy complexions, their overtionships that will sustain you in the long run; not that weening confidence on the sports field, their talent on the bright, glittering career you are so proud of. stage. But fast forward 25 years and you won’t be envying them at all. Believe me, I’ve seen the pictures. And sufMORE ON THE WEB fice it to say, they’re not pretty. For more SPECTATOR columns by Seema Goswami, log on to hindustantimes.com/brunch. Follow her on ■ Don’t obsess over your grades. The difference between Twitter at @seemagoswami. Write to her at a first-class and a second-class degree seems insurmountable seema_ht@rediffmail.com now. And it seems that your life will end if you don’t score that

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THE NEXT-GEN APPLE IS HERE!

ABOUT TIME NOW

Even ardent Apple fans felt that the look and feel of the OS was jaded

techilicious

ICONOLOGY: This section has left most people a little cold. The new icons Rajiv are just new graphic designs predomMakhni inantly, and don’t have many abilities built in. Expectations were that the icon technology Apple would use would be a cross between Androids widgets and Windows Live tiles. Love it or hate it, A smartphone’s screen is prime real you cannot estate and icons that exist just as launch buttons to open apps is a great waste ignore Apple’s of space. Expectations were that larglatest operating er icons for some apps would be introduced (2x2 and 3x1) and that icons would system, the iOS 7 have updates and information appearing in real time. Hasn’t happened and that is disappointing. NEWBIES: The new feature sets immediately apparent, are notifications (now segmented as All, Missed and Today; useful but a tad busy), the allnew control centre (swipe up from the bottom and it gives you access to your most-used settings like WiFi, screen brightness, Airplane Mode and a torch ■ “The new flat look is button; most of this is very Androidish), multiA MIX OF OLD AND NEW horrible” tasking (now instead of static icons you’ll see your The icons are flat, but float ■ “What’s with all these open apps as big windows, once again very Android, over the background in a garish neon floating colours?” Windows and BB10 OS-like), Siri (full screen now, 3D state (right) ■ “It’s the biggest revamp in six years for iOS and gains a few new voices and the ability to change Apple has pulled off a revolution” settings like screen brightness and WiFi on and off ■ “Almost every ‘new’ feature is a copy of what already by just asking it to do so; all good stuff and hopeexists on other OSes. This is Apple in pure copycat mode” fully they’ll get it to understand our accent finally) ■ “Visually, cosmetically and with all the new features, Apple has and automatic updates for apps and OS (instead of notifications, delicately introduced all things new without offending the previous apps will auto update on their own; can be switched off). Most of generation of users” these new features are critical for a modern smartphone user and it’s good to see them finally appear on iOS too. T’S APPLE and when they do something as big as completely THE BIGGIES: Away from visual revamps and critical utility revamp the operating system for their portable devices, it’s upgrades – iOS 7 also has some big new features. They start musigoing to be loved and hated in very loud and extremely vocifcally with iTunes Radio, which is a free radio streaming service erous ways. Ominous drum beats could be heard on the horizon for that you can customise with artist or ‘type of song’ preferences a while. An upgrade to iOS was a much required, much awaited and also buy a song that you like, then they plunge towards AirDrop IT’S A DISAPPOINTMENT and would very much be taken as a showcase of how Apple will fare where you can see all the other people nearby with the same facilThe icons were expected in the next three years. ity and transfer stuff to them by just touching a button. to have updates and info Even the most ardent Apple fans have been feeling that the From here they morph FaceTime into VoiceTime so that you can appearing in real time, but look and feel of the OS was starting to look jaded and decidedly make voice calls minus video to people on your contact list. Up next that hasn’t happened old school. Consumers who upgraded their iPhone and iPads is a lockdown on security with iCloud passwords for lost or stolen would feel a tinge of disappointment when they would discover phones as well as iCloud Keychain. Also swiped in is a gesture back on boot-up that their spanking new gadget continued to look the button that we haven’t seen before and will make a big difference; same since 2007. Thus, this revamp is a critical one – one that and about a dozen or so more minor to major features. ALL NEW AND SHINY would be a showcase of Apple’s innovation prowess for the next THE VERDICT: Apple has always been a disruptive company that The biggest change in few years. How well did they do? curates and innovates in both product as well as operating systems. iOS 7 is that nothing has THE COSMETICS: The biggest change is that visually it’s all new, iOS 7 seems to be a mix of catch-up and curation and very less disbeen left unchanged nothing has been left unchanged. The lock screen, system font, ruption. That is not necessarily a bad thing, and one that may bode icons, background, colours, wallpapers, well for future products and phones. animation and behaviour is a complete Do remember that this public unveiling of iOS 7 isn’t the final clean sweep of new over old. Icons are flat, version and lots may get changed and added to it before you can but float over the background in a 3D state. get your hands on it. Between iOS 7 and all the other whiz bang Opening and closing apps as well as movstuff that the next generation of iPhones and iPads may well bring ing from screen to screen have all-new – Apple seems to have pulled off just about enough medium-sized slick animations built in. rabbits from the hat! Time for Android 5.0, Windows 9 and BB 11 Shutting the phone screen and powerto show their bag of tricks up next! Rajiv Makhni is managing editor, Technology, NDTV and the anchor of Gadget Guru, ing it on also has a nice little special effect. Cell Guru and Newsnet 3 Translucent elements abound where the background seems to leak into whatever MORE ON THE WEB is in the front (think smoked glass) and For previous columns by Rajiv Makhni, log on to hindustantimes.com/brunch. Follow Rajiv on pastel colours all around seem to give the Twitter at twitter.com /RajivMakhni OS a brighter, younger and happier feel.

JUNE 23, 2013

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Fifth Avenue, New York

Vir Sanghvi

NEW YORK DIARY There really is no city like it anywhere in the world

HE MORE I think about it, the more convinced I am that The Pierre may well be one of my favourite hotels in the Western world. The hotel itself has a phenomenal history and reputation. It is one of New York’s grand old hotels like the Savoy in London, the Crillon in Paris, the Oberoi Grand in Calcutta or the Mandarin in Hong Kong. It is still owned by a co-operative consisting of the owners of the many apartments in the building. Part of the hotel consists of these apartments (belonging to very rich people) and the rest consists of rooms and suites. The co-op allows various hotel companies to take the rooms, suites, public areas etc. on long lease in return for a profit-share. For many years, the Four Seasons ran The Pierre (without bothering to invest too much in the refurbishment) till it took over Regent Hotels, inherited that company’s New York property and moved out of The Pierre. In 1997, when he became Chairman of Indian Hotels, Ratan Tata declared that he wanted to turn the Taj into a global luxury company. So far, there have been more misses (St James Court in London is part Crowne Plaza, part dharamsala for well-connected Indians – though things may look up now that Digvijay Singh is general manager) than hits (the wonderful Taj Exotica, probably the best hotel in the Maldives.) IN BAD TASTE

But the greatest success in Ratan Tata’s strategy has been The Pierre. When the Taj took it over, the hotel was a mess. The Taj closed it down for many months and spent the millions that the Four Seasons had not bothered to and reopened it as the new Pierre, restored to its former glory. At the time, I wondered if the huge investment would yield adequate returns. But my guess was that the Taj saw this as an investment in its global image. You can’t really claim to be a luxury company on the basis of an Indian dharamsala in London’s Victoria. You need to attach your name to one of the world’s great and most famous hotels. And so, the Pierre investment made sense not just as money poured into a single property but as a statement about the Taj’s global future. My second concern was practical: was the Taj up to the task of going head to head with the world’s great hotel companies in New York, the most competitive of markets? Early indications suggested it was. And this time in New York I was pleased (and speaking as an Indian: very proud) to see that the Pierre had became an island of discreet and refined luxury. Thanks to Heiko Kuenstle, who has been general manager since the Taj took over – and has successfully managed the unions and the co-op – The Pierre is a truly exceptional property. The millions spent in renovations have paid off. The newly redone rooms and suites are elegant and luxurious. The food – always the hotel’s Achilles heel – has improved dramatically since Ashfer Biju took over as the executive chef. (If you are Indian and vegetarian, Biju can guarantee first-rate desi khana around-the-clock). The Pierre’s concierges are legendary (even before the Taj era) and they will get you into virtually any show or restaurant in New York, even if it is supposed to be sold out. The excellence of the service extends to the courtesy car parked outside the Fifth Avenue exit. If you have to be dropped somewhere within central New York, the Pierre’s limo will do it for free. One of the Pierre’s greatest assets is its location. You walk out of the hotel and straight into Central Park. You walk in the other direction and you are in the middle of the great Fifth Avenue stores: Bergdorf Goodman, FAO Schwarz, Saks and even the Apple store. Walk towards Madison Avenue and you realise that Barneys is the

rude travel

The Sirio (left) at The Pierre was soulless, lifeless and poorly run

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NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

In New York, Joël Robuchon (above) and Alain Ducasse (below) both had to shut their restaurants

A TRUE LEGEND

The newly redone rooms and suites (above) at The Pierre are elegant and luxurious. And its concierges (above right) are legendary very next building. And all the designer boutiques of Madison Avenue are between three to five minutes away. If you go in the summer, the location can be magical. I arrived early one sunny Sunday afternoon and rather than go for lunch, bought a hot dog from a street vendor and found a chair in the plaza next to the Pierre in front of the Apple store. For an hour or so I just soaked in the sun and watched the pulsating drama that is New York; there really is no city like it anywhere in the world. I always say that there are only two cities where you cannot eat badly: Bangkok and New York. But my first meal at Sirio, the new restaurant run by the Maccioni family of Le Cirque fame at the Pierre hotel, nearly proved me wrong. The restaurant was soulless, lifeless and poorly run. The cooking was lazy too: my steak was overcooked and the Tuscan fries were like sponge fingers filled with oil. I went on a Sunday when the chef was off during a Memorial Day weekend so perhaps it is not fair to judge the restaurant. But it is a shame that Sirio, which has the opportunity to beat Harry Cipriani, which packs them in right next door, should be so poorly run. The menu is Cipriani-esque and the Maccionis are New York insiders. So why can’t they get it right? But the rest of the food in New York lived up to my expectations. The two high spots were unfancy restaurants. Maialino is one of Danny Meyer’s operations and though it gets a so-so rating from Zagat (it is not among its top 30 Italian restaurants in the city), I would urge you to go if only to eat one dish: the signature suckling pig. This is the best pig I’ve ever eaten: nice crisp skin and the meat inside that was so tender that it melted in the mouth. Like all of Meyer’s other operations, service is friendly with knowledgeable staff (my waitress chose the wine and it was perfect) who make no attempt to hustle you. One example: many New York restaurants now give you the option of free normal water so that you don’t have to pay for bottled mineral water. But at Maialino they come to your table with a bottle of free water and then ask if you want

mineral instead. So there is no pressure to splash out for overpriced water. You just take the free water. The other single dish restaurant I went to is new so it has yet to get into Zagat. The Marrow specialises in bone marrow which comes to the table, in a bone split open with a sea urchin topping. I’ve eaten good marrow before (Fergus Henderson in London must be the world’s marrow champion). But this was ethereal, glowing briefly around your mouth, hitting all the right spots and then vanishing. I also had a whole hen-of-the-woods mushroom which is not something you see on many menus these days. It is a large fungus (it can range from the size of a grapefruit to a pumpkin) that grows wild on the barks of trees. The Marrow’s version was delicious (and entirely vegetarian) though I would have preferred some politically incorrect butter in the finishing rather than a needless and vaguely offensive dash of truffle oil. Other New York meals consisted of old favourites. Keith McNally has opened a branch of Balthazar in London so I thought I’d see how the New York original has held up. It is a vast bustling, noisy Frenchstyle brasserie with a clientele that mixes locals, tourists and celebrities. But despite the crowds, service was exemplary and the cooking probably better than at many Paris brasseries these days. I had excellent duck confit and not-very-French bread pudding. I had other okay meals – including one at the Five Napkin Burger, part of a chain of vaguely upscale hamburger restaurants. (America has gone burger-crazy.) And I had an outstanding afternoon tea at The Pierre’s lounge. The food within the hotel (overseen by chefs from India) is so good that it makes you wonder how Sirio can get it so wrong. The general rule in New York is that locals get it right and outsiders fail. Nobu is a hit. Hakkasan is not. Balthazar buzzes. Benoit struggles. Jean-Georges flourishes. Joël Robuchon and Alain Ducasse both had to shut their restaurants while New Yorkers ran Gordon Ramsay out of their city. So congratulations to the Taj for taking on the world’s greatest hotel and food city – and winning. Shame about Sirio, though. Do you think the New York locals are pulling a fast one on an out-ofthe-country hotel chain? I hope not. Because that is the only thing about The Pierre they still have to get right.

I always say that there are only two cities where you cannot eat badly: Bangkok and New York

FREE FLOW

Many New York restaurants now give you the option of free normal water so that you don’t have to pay for bottled mineral water

Photo: THINKSTOCK

MORE ON THE WEB

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T E C H TA L K

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ORGET A dip in the Ganga. Scrap the mini break in Mauritius. Ditch Atkins. Cancel your lymphatic drainage appointment. It’s 2013. You have a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop, WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, email, an e-reader, and probably 1TB full of pop culture essentials. Yes, you need to detox but it is more likely that you need to ease off the digital wagon. An Ericsson ConsumerLab study, The Digital Lives of Generation Z, reveals that while 30 million out of 69 million urban Indian youngsters own mobile phones, tweens (nine- to 14-year-olds) end up spending roughly seven out of 15 waking hours on their phones or in front of the TV. Of course you can’t unplug completely and expect to survive today. But we can benefit from little changes that keep us connected, not addicted. So allow us to gently pluck that BB from your iron grip, as you read on…

ONE CLICK AT A TIME

Only you know how plugged in you are. My own Facebook feed is currently, and ironically, choked with jokes about how a boy, who was texting while driving, met with a fatal accident. More tragically, there’s been an e-furore over how teenage girls in America and Canada have committed suicide after particularly vicious bouts of cybershaming and cyberbullying. Your life may not be as bad. But just living 24/7 glued to those ‘indispensable’ gadgets can take its toll. Azad Essa, journalist, author of The Moslems are Coming, and for whom a BlackBerry is a constant companion, admits that as a newsperson and writer, he finds it tough to give up. “Cutting off totally can never be an option,” he says, explaining that you risk becoming obsolete and that social networks are a lifeline for anyone who lives away from home. So, a few years ago when Essa read about digital diets (on Facebook!), he dismissed it in the way

Gizmos hook you. The web ensnares you. The social network is your social circle. Can you disconnect from the digital world without unplugging completely? by Aparna Pednekar

tained meaningful relationships over Skype, WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter, just as I have with face-to-face contact,” he says. Anisha Subandh, yoga teacher and mother of two young boys, also says that she does not find the digital world as crazy as it’s made out to be. Apart from a few unspoken rules – no phones at the dining table, for one – she’s happy to occasionally indulge her kids’ with a PS3, PSP, Wii, DS, iPad and iPhone. If you’ve got your Instagram and tweets under control, no need to panic. But if you’ve already texted 10 times while reading this story, it’s time for a digital detox.

PRESS THE HELP KEY

Unbutton Yourself any wired person would: First World Problem! But in 2012, when he realised that his online behaviour showed signs of addiction, he took action. “I was forced to curtail my activity on the Internet,” he recalls. It involved “reserving more time to talk to closer friends and family, rather than trying to partake in one massive global orgy of a conversation.”

If you’ve texted 10 times while reading this, it’s time for a digital detox JUNE 23, 2013

MORE BARK THAN BYTE? Before you dramatically fling your iPad out of the window, consider if you are really addicted to a digital life. A good proportion of the urban Indian population believes that the digital dragon is well under con-

trol. Parmesh Shahani, MIT Futures of Entertainment Fellow and founder of Godrej India Culture Lab, is one of them. “I don’t think of being wired 24/7 as something that we need to take a break from,” he says. “Aren’t people who use wheels – in a car or in a machine – following a lifestyle? I use digital tools in my life as much as I use analog tools and don’t really differentiate between the two.” The key, Shahani insists, is what role you assign to technology. “I have sus-

Psychotherapist and counsellor Dr Minnu Bhonsle, sees new cases of youngsters unable to handle their digitised lives every week. In most instances, the first casualty is the family unit. One mother was reduced to sending Facebook messages to her son (holed up with his laptop in his bedroom) to coax him to the dinner table. Dr Bhonsle also found that being constantly plugged in had made him fragile – easily offended, angry and depressed. “That send button is the most dangerous thing,” she says, referring to how young people take the most casual comments made by their ‘online friends’ very personally. “Earlier, when you called someone from a landline in a fit of anger, those few minutes it took for your call to get connected often gave you buffer time to cool down,” she says. Like instant gratification, Dr Bhonsle sees a problem with instant expression.

OLDER, WISER?

So which group is most at risk from online overload, ‘digital natives’ (those born to technology) or ‘digi-

MORE THAN WORDS When you’re glued to multiple screens all day, you start losing touch with non verbal cues of communication, which make up 80 per cent of our connection with the world, says Dr Minnu Bhonsle

Think about someone commenting ‘Good one’ on a girl’s photograph. You’d assume it to be a compliment. But what if the person typed it with a smirk on their face? The virtual world makes no allowances for these non-verbal cues. “This leaves impressionable kids confused about the status of their relationships.”

U R B A N TA D K A

THINGS YOU NEED TO MAKE A SMOOTHIE

Illustrations: SHUTTERSTOCK

Seasonal fruits and vegetables It’s just easier

A blender But of course

S INCREDIBLE as it may sound, the drink that you see celebrities such as Kate Middleton, wife of the UK’s Prince William and chef Jamie Oliver holding in paparazzi shots (see pictures on next page) is a smoothie, the current ‘it’ food/drink the world is obsessing over. With celebs proclaiming it as the secret of their glowing skin, the smoothie is now inching its way into people’s lives and homes. Books, food blogs and TV shows that describe ways to make a smoothie are the new rage. But the drink is nothing fancy. It’s simply a liquid blend of fruits or veggies, or both.

They are fresh, easy to make, and great for those who want to lose weight. You just need to acquire a taste for them! by Parul Khanna

manager with the Kempinski Ambience Hotel, Delhi, says people are beginning to see through processed food. “The West is seeing its pitfalls. And they are looking for something or someone to rescue them. That’s why smoothies have been enjoying a resurgence.” Around the world, doppelgangers of smoothies already exist in a lot of cultures. There are the cold vegetable soups like the Spanish gazpacho and our very own lassi. And that’s why, say food experts, Indians will take to this trend. With fitness, nutrition and health becoming a top priority in people’s lives, smoothies are becoming the saviour of those who crave nutrition, but hate eating fruits or vegetables (and there are many people like that!), those whose want to give their kids a more balanced diet, and those who want to lose weight by cutting out a regular meal (in favour of a smoothie).

QUICK ES RECIP ~~~~

An experimental palate Experiment and mix at your own risk!

to put together elaborate meals every day. That’s the space smoothies are filling.”

DECODING THE CONCOCTION

Contrary to popular perception, not all smoothies are yoghurt-based. They can even be composed of raw vegetables and fruits blended in with a variety of natural additives to enhance their taste, says food blogger, diet and nutrition consultant Sangeeta Khanna. One of the big reasons for the popularity of smoothies is their versatility. A smoothie with a high calorie count will give a child most of the nutrients he/she needs daily. People who work out will find that a smoothie gives them the necessary energy, and those into strength training will find it fulfills their protein requirement. A sweet smoothie can be drunk as a dessert, and another recipe can give you your daily dose of veggies. One of the more popular ways smoothies are being consumed is as replacements for meals. “Full of nutrients, smoothies have become a great way for people to keep their weight in check along with fulfiling nutritional requirements. They feel full and not starved and also ingest food that titillates the taste buds,” explains Suman Agarwal, a Mumbai-based nutritionist. According to Khanna, to replace breakfast, a smoothie should be filling and contain proteins and complex carbohydrates. She recommends blending in bananas, half a cup of oats (to make the mixture creamy) and soaked almonds along with a cup of milk or yoghurt. A lunch smoothie should again be filling (Khanna recommends

THIES?

~~~~~~~~ ~~~~

Five minutes in the kitchen Novices can turn into show-offs

Why Is The World Going Crazy About

THE OBSESSION

In 2012, the worldwide smoothie market was worth £134m, reported The Independent, UK. Britons drank 34 million litres of smoothies in 2006, compared to 6.3 million litres in 2001. By 2011, believes market research firm Mintel, the world will drink almost 100 million litres. Phew! Some numbers there. No wonder then that Coca-Cola, realising the drink’s potential, took complete control over Innocent, a UK-based smoothie chain launched by three Cambridge friends in February 2013. It’s not really the first time smoothies have captured the world’s attention. The drink first came into being in the 1920s, with the advent of blenders. Since then, smoothies have been in and out of favour, finally to inch their way back into people’s lives. Why now? Well, Arindam Basu, a

Lots of ideas Bitter gourd doesn’t work, even when teamed with strawberries and oranges. Common sense

EASY DOES IT

Smoothies are so simple to make even a kitchen virgin can put one together. Blending a smoothie is an addictive process: just stick to a few rules, get together what you can and make sure it pleases your palate. You can team ginger with mango, cucumber with melon and look for other interesting, yet edible permutations and combinations of things you think you can drink. “People don’t have time, and the ‘great food movement’ that encourages them to cook and try out recipes from across the globe is more of a weekend activity,” says Arindam Basu. “No one is expected

To replace dinner, a smoothie should be high on proteins

BANANA-ALMOND-FLAXSEED COCOA SMOOTHIE WITH MILK One large banana 1 heaped tbsp flaxseeds 10-12 almonds, soaked 2 tsp good quality FRUIT SMOOTHIE organic cocoa powder 60ml orange juice A cup of full fat milk, or more as 60ml pineapple juice required 1 mango, sliced Liquidise everything together in a 90ml non-fat yoghurt food processor or mixie to 6 basil leaves SPARTAN make a smooth drink. Blend into a fine, STRAWBERRY Using chilled milk and a smooth consis120ml soy milk frozen banana gives you a tency. If 30ml maple syrup creamier, chilled required, add 90ml non-fat smoothie. some ice and yoghurt pour it into a 6 fresh COURTESY: SANGEETA KHANNA tall glass. strawberries Blend into a fine, COURTESY: smooth ARINDAM BASU consistency. If required, add some ice and pour it Photos: THINKSTOCK into a tall glass.

CUCUMBER-HERBS-MIXED NUTS AND SEED SAVOURY SMOOTHIE WITH YOGHURT One cucumber, chopped roughly 1/2 cup coriander greens, chopped 2tsp sunflower seeds 2tsp pumpkin seeds 4-5 walnut halves Add a tbsp of onion and green chilli. Use any herbs like celery, parsley, mint or basil, depending on what you get fresh and what you feel like having according to your constitution. Drink this smoothie fresh. However, it does keep well in the fridge for a couple of hours.

hindustantimes.com/brunch IMAGES Photos: GETTY

A TOAST TO MY HEALTH

Celebrity chef and restaurateur Jamie Oliver poses with a smoothie

A ROYAL TREA T

Kate Middleton sip high on taste and s at a smoothie, nutrition coconut milk) and its ingredients should have proteins and be rich in fibre. So, you could blend in mangoes, herbs (basil, rosemary etc.), water or coconut milk and musk melon, or for a savoury version, blend together raw mango, coconut milk, salt and pepper. To replace dinner, a smoothie should be high on proteins and low on carbs. So, avoid bananas and mangoes, but make sure the smoothie is filling or one might end up bingeing. Choose ingredients that are high in soluble fibres (pears and citrus fruits). These bulk up the gut, giving a feeling of being full and have negative calorie counts. Churn together sprouts, a little peanut butter, cucumber, coconut milk, salt, Tabasco and pepper. “Take care not to include too much insoluble fibre (nuts, flaxseeds) in this meal. It causes flatulence,” says Khanna. Of course, like all movements or as some may call them, fads, critics have put together some innovative reasons to diss smoothies, too. They say too many smoothies can harm you. And food expert Bharti Sanghi acknowledges there might be some truth in this assumption. “Replace only one meal with a smoothie or have it as a mid-day snack,” she says. “You cannot sit and measure

what fruits and veggies have soluble fibres and which have insoluble ones,” adds Sanghi. So, if you are having a number of glasses, make sure you keep the amount of fruits and veggies the same, but bulk the smoothie up with more milk, water or yoghurt. Also, one needs to acquire a taste for it, especially vegetable smoothies, points out Arindam Basu.

REALITY CHECK

On a realistic note, how bad can churned fruits and vegetables be? The health benefits are assured. The more important part is to make a good smoothie – read up food blogs and get recipes. International health blogs have people raving that a regular dose of smoothies causes their skins to glow, something the cosmetic industry has been promising them for years. “It’s true. Those drinking it even for a month are able to sustain a glowing skin for six months,” says Bharti Sanghi. “One, you are ingesting ‘good food’, something your moms have been trying to get you to eat since you were a child, and in better quantities. There are only so many carrots you can chew, but you can drink many more. Plus, it’s brilliant for the digestive system. You will be going to the restroom many more times, but that’s an indicator of good metabolism.” Arindam Basu adds, “What’s not to like in a smoothie? It’s a win-win situation. The water from the ingredients hydrates you. The yoghurt aids intestinal digestion and helps absorb proteins. It’s great for metabolism, gives you an energy boost and is a complete food, without bad fats or cholesterol or empty calories. It’s a wonder drug for those who want to lose weight and look great.”

It’s a wonder drug for those who want to lose weight and look great

BEETROOT & BERRY SMOOTHIE HONEYDEW 1cup whole MELON & BABY blueberries SPINACH SMOOTHIE ½cup whole 1cup baby spinach, raspberries washed thoroughly 1/3cup beetroot, cooked and sliced 1½ cup honeydew melon ¼cup low-fat 1/3 cup low-fat yoghurt yoghurt ¼ cup fresh Blend all ingredients orange juice together in a 1 tsp honey Blend all blender. ingredients COURTESY: NEHA together in MALHOTRA a blender.

parul.khanna@hindustantimes.com

VA R I E T Y

LEARN TO DRIVE

FIND TRUE LOVE Thirty is too soon to find ‘true love’. When you’re a twenty-something, you’re a typically over-the-topwhine-on-loop character. You believe every love is true love. Wrong. Besides, true love is a highly overrated term. Life is too short to wait for the ‘one’ to drop into your life when you were too busy waiting for the bus! Vidya Balan, Shilpa Shetty, Aishwarya Rai... Not only did they marry after they turned 30, we believe they found true love too!

WRITE A BOOK

The Bucket List

Today, that’ll probably be a mashup of how you fell in (and out) of love, your solo hike to a remote village off the map… or worse, a compilation of your tweets and Facebook updates. You can’t write if you haven’t lived. Take a cue from Chetan Bhagat or Amish Tripathi. Both have penned bestsellers, published only after they crossed the big three-oh.

by Shreya Sethuraman

OU’VE READ blog posts and Facebook notes. Your friends (and sometimes family) keep talking about them. The world is teeming with lists that tell you what you ought to do before you turn 25, before you get married and before you die. Our list however, is a bit different! We tell you what you don’t need to do before a certain milestone. Read on...

GET MARRIED

What IS with Paris P and its alleged irreplaceable eplaceable charm? Go to Coorg. Coor It’s much cheaper, as romantic r (perhaps even ev more), and the lush coffee plantations with their quaint cottages are ar a perfect recipe cipe for romance r and finding your ur very v own je ne sais quoi! Simplicity beckons!

You can get inked at any point of your adult life. So why jump the gun when you’re too young to appreciate the meaning of permanence? Che Guevara’s face, Tinker Bell, the Chinese symbol for peace or that one-line tagline you got from Game Of Thrones: they won’t be cool forever. But tattooed on your arm, they’ll never leave. Plus, why undergo all that pain? The removal process is even worse. Wait till you’re 30, after all the poseurs have got their motifs inked, then find something better, get your tattoo and show it off.

LEARN TO MAKE AN EXOTIC COCKTAIL

10 things there’s no need to do before you turn 30

GO TO PARIS

GET A TATTOO

With such excellent public transport systems in your city, why add to Earth’s carbon footprint by driving a car (if you drive a bus for a living, you’re not included). The Metro or the local train, and the bus are often a faster means of getting somewhere and are cheaper too. Sure, having a car is a status symbol, but who needs that when friendly people offer you fresh grapes or jackfruit on the train? Now how can you refuse that? Hop on!

LEARN TO COOK Yes, yes, we know just how therapeutic cooking is. You can give the inner chef in you wings. Chicken wings. But it’s not what you need to learn before you turn 30. Snip, pour and heat can get you far. Besides, eating Chinese out of the box is much more fun than toiling in the kitchen all day! It’s 2013. Everybody delivers. Not knowing how to cook is not a recipe for disaster!

Photos: SHUTTERSTOCK, THINKSTOCK

JUNE 23, 2013

So your best friend got hitched at 22 to the guy she was seeing since she was 11? Good for her, but it doesn’t mean you should too. Keep your 20s to yourself. Shake a leg, figure out your belief systems, your politics, your style, your poison. Have fun, do crazy things you’ll want to tell your future children about before you zero in on ‘the one’ and take the plunge. Marrying later means you’re in a better place in your career, have a bigger nest egg and more confidence in yourself. Look at George Clooney or Milind Soman. They’re single, eligible and don’t seem to want to settle anytime soon! Oh, and if you pine for someone younger, we recommend Ranbir Kapoor. He’s just 30!

Really? Exotic? Because it has kiwis or curacao or something else that is commonly available? Cocktails are for wimps. Your guests are better off trying things neat. Why nullify the taste of a good alcoholic nectar by concocting some punch? If they don’t care much for adventure, serving some strong beer should do the trick. Leave muddling and blending to the experts. You don’t need these skills.

SEE THE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD

If you really want to see the wonders of the world, catch a sunrise, watch a pup being licked clean by its mother, eat chocolate ice cream on a full moon night… Make your own highlights, chase your own rainbows. That’s what life (and Facebook albums) are all about.

TAKE PERFECT PHOTOS In the time of smartphones and photo apps like Instagram and PicsArt, that’s enough for you to know. Poster-ise your photographs, make a comic strip of them. World-renowned photographer Ansel Adams published his finest work titled Rose and Driftwood, at the age of 31. Or perhaps learn from Armenian-Canadian Yousuf Karsh, a portrait photographer who famously shot Winston Churchill in 1941. He was 33.

shreya.sethurama n@hindustantime s.com, Follow Shreya on Twitter at @iconoh clast

WELLNESS

MIND BODY SOUL SHIKHA SHARMA PART II

STAYING HEALTHY AFTER 40 They say life begins at this age. Let yours be the healthiest you’ll ever have

ITH TIME, the unexercised muscles of your body begin to degenerate. This mostly happens because of a sedentary lifestyle. Muscle degeneration, in turn, leads to an overall collapse of your bone structure. So if you are experiencing backaches, joint pain and other back problems, it is a sign of a weakened skeletal system. The only way to avoid this is by eating right and exercising. The ideal combination of exercises is cardio, flexibility and strength training.

CHOOSE THESE FOODS ■ A diet rich in antioxidants.

Choose foods like spirulina, green tea and vegetable juices like spinach, tomato, bottle gourd, beetroot and cucumber. ■ Salads: Eat at least one bowl every day. Salads contain vital enzymes that help the body digest cooked food. Eat lettuce leaves, rocket leaves, sun-dried tomatoes, blanched broccoli, boiled peas and asparagus. SalEAT RIGHT ads are also a good Once you’re over source of calcium. 40, your body ■ Oils: Consume oils goes through rich in natural omega 3 many changes. and omega 6 fatty acids. Your body Eat almonds, flaxseeds, might start to show sesame seeds, peanuts, signs of deficiency of PACKING A PUNCH walnuts and pine nuts. vitamins and minerals Fruits are a good Incidentally, all nuts and like vitamin B12, folic source of vitamins oilseeds are naturally acid, calcium, iron and cholesterol free. antioxidants. ■ Cereals: Eat natural, By this time, your liver, bones and unrefined forms of cereal like muscles take the most beating. The broken wheat, brown rice poha, liver cleans the body of toxins, so natural oats and ragi. when the liver becomes full of toxins, its own function begins to ■ Fruits: These can be a good get compromised. The result is low source of vitamins like pineapple, metabolism, weight gain, water apple, cherries and berries retention, hormonal problems and (essential for the wellbeing of skin problems. the kidneys), melons (keeps the blood healthy), plums, grapes, guavas, mangoes, apricots, etc.

OVER 40? MANAGE STRESS

Manage stress via exercising, meditation, listening to music, or taking up other relaxing hobbies. These activities relax the mind to make it calm and focused. We all know that the mind is very fickle, and manufactures thoughts every few seconds which stem from desires. And unfulfilled desires lead to stress, anger and frustration. BREATHE IN Meditation relaxes the mind, which in turn relaxes the body

You can make your mind less cluttered by practicing meditation. It makes the mind more focused. And as the mind relaxes, so does your body. A feeling of relaxation releases happy hormones, that has a positive impact on the entire body. The period after one turns 40 is the best time to plan and apply healthy habits in one’s daily routine so that you can live a longer, youthful and energetic life, and ensure that your body ages healthily. (This concludes the series) ask@drshikha.com

Photos: THINKSTOCK