Hindustan Times Brunch 10-July-2011

SUNDAY MAGAZINE, NEW DELHI, JULY 10, 2011 Free with your copy of Hindustan Times

KAMLA COMES HOME KAMLA COULD BE ANY MODERN, URBAN WOMAN WHO CHOOSES NOT TO WORK. BUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THE FEMINIST DREAM OF FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE?

1 0 . 0 7 . 1 1

I N

T H I S

I S S U E

FEED BACK

OUT ON THE

KAMLA COMES HOME 15

!

STANDS

Kamla could be any woman who chooses to stay at home than go out to work – a noticeable trend among urban women.

For a sneak peak into the second edition of the Brunch Quarterly, turn to page 28

We’re Logged On facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch Victor-prince Himadri The "from baelgadi to bugatti is just mindblowing. I’ve endeavoured myself in a dream 2 buy an Audi Q7 when i grow up.

Charu Kapoor One of d best english magzines to read...parul's sisterhood article is amazing...again a pleasurable read covering all d issues at one place.

STYLE FILE

Trinket Testimonials

Check out our trend report for the funkiest jewellry VARIETY

@abir_sanyal Books and magazines bless us everyday with new-found knowledge.Never knew there’s so much behind a ‘scrambled egg’! @hi_aish Aishwarya No words for you @HTBrunch because the times I tell you, you will go on improving. Wishing you all the best @kvenugopalmenon My earnest request to All Musicians in Kolkata to subscribe to HT on Sunday to get correct position of Indian Band Scene

30

Given the mega-hit Bourne movies, can Bond be relevant forever?

PLAY

Clash Of The Thoroughbreds

The one-horse race of the iPad is finally at an end! Welcome to the next level

MARIA’S KITCHEN EXCLUSIVE: Our resident foodie is spending a summer full of beachy fun and memorable moments. And as she fights with jet-lag, she sends her love with these yummy and easy-tomake cupcakes.

So go bake!

Songs of Sweat

Think only hardcore music helps you survive a workout? Try soft and soppy now!

hindustantimes.com/brunch Check out our weekly bloggers!

The Weekly Khamba: Raving, ranting and more.

Watch out – he bites

I FOUND the Brunch cover story, (Small Towns Big Wheels, 3 July), extremely interesting. But apart from the cities mentioned, there are other towns too like Aurangabad and Kolhapure in Maharashtra where the citizens own swanky cars. Aurangabad alone has more than 90 proud owners of the Mercedes-Benz. But that doesn’t negate the fact that all these super cars guzzle petrol. I think people should choose ‘green’ cars instead, which are solar powered and use rechargeable batteries. Some of the manufacturers have already started working in this direction with Honda even introducing a car which uses solar power.

— DEENDAYAL M LULLA, Mumbai

Women only

MEN PLEASE don’t get upset, for no potshots are intended here. (Dial W for Women Friends, 3 July). This one simply is about women. I can’t agree more with Parul Khanna Tewari that girlfriends are our real support system.

Some of us are lucky to find such friends even in our mothers who listen to us without any judgment and are with us no matter how ‘unexplained’ our behaviour might be.

— ANU SINDHWANI, via email

Egging us on

LISTEN

BRUNCH ON THE WEB

RJ’s Secret Dossier: The myth, the icon, the avenging force

VIR SANGHVI’S Scrambled Eggs UnScrambled (July 3) made for fascinating reading as always. However, I beg to differ with his claim that our eggs are rarely as good as those made by professionals. Take the example of my wife who has umpteen egg recipes up her sleeve.

Her deft touch and ability to prepare an excellent egg dish in a jiffy would make any professional chef hang his head in shame. Her love for experimentation and her insistence on getting the ingredients and consistency right has gotten her accolades from friends and family.

And I am the one who gains from it.

— NJ RAVI CHANDER , Bangalore

At peace with my age

Pagal Papers: Incisive insights from Faking News’ Pagal Patrakar

Comic Relief: ‘Rezi Vastav’ by comic artist Rajneesh Kapoor!

Along with an all-access-pass to your favourite stories from this and previous Brunch issues!

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

4

Bond Vs Bourne

The actress/TV hostess tells us why she has never eaten anything weird, her first kiss and her take on breaking a law

twitter.com/HTBrunch

@AshuMittal I appreciate how @HTBrunch also publishes some of the critical tweets/comments and not just the positive ones.

SEE

LISA RAY

Calling All Tweeple

LIVE In today’s world, celebrity-hood is all about vulgarity and sensationalism

Some men still stand stolidly by the moustache

PERSONAL AGENDA

INDULGE It’s Freaks We Seek

24

Moochh Nahin to Kuchh Nahin

Dipti Poojary One more exciting sunday... with the ever exciting BRUNCH..n special thanks to Vir Sanghvi for his wonderful article 'Scrambled eggs unscranbled'..my family consume eggs like hummer consumes petrol, n now have one more reason to do so ;).

@awesm4 Feels heartening to read the progress at tier2 level..keep your dreams going men!!

6

ILLUSTRATION: JAYANTO

Go green

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

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

HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 10, 2011

THE COLUMN Forty and Counting by Seema Goswami was well timed and give me solace. Stepping into the forties has left me bewildered. Every word in the article told my story. I felt at peace with myself, inspired by the fact that this is true for all who have crossed forty.

— NEETA MATHUR, New Delhi

Cover design: Ashish Singh Cover illustration: JAYANTO

Style file

TRINKET

TESTIMONIALS Done with carrying the zoo around your neck? Check out our trend report for the funkiest jewellery for the coming season

by Yashica Dutt

O

WLS, SWALLOWS, reptiles, fish, zebras, dinosaurs, elephants and flowers. Last season a veritable forest was more than willing to hang from women’s necks, ear lobes, wrists and hair. If you too regularly ignore your mum’s well-meaning advice to invest in gold and blow a chunk of your cheque on statement jewellery instead, then at least one of these creatures will find a home in your ornament box.

A huge trend last year, animal jewellry found takers among the regular and even recognisable fashionistas like Sonam Kapoor and Shruti Hassan. But it’s time most of these animals return to the zoo as the next season paints a whole new picture in terms of jewellery trends. We spoke to the leading accessory and designers to find out more.

WHAT AN IDEA Concept jewellery is like art where the idea is the strongest component, such as this brooch by Eina Ahluwalia about female infanticide (below)

GEOMETRIC/GRAPHIC After swimming in a pool of random, abstract, floral, ultra-girly jewellery last season, straight lines make a big comeback. Women, be prepared to become familiar with geometry all over again, though this encounter will be more pleasant than your mathematics class. Hexagonal cuffs, triangular ear-rings, latticeshaped rings and three-dimensional cuboid necklaces are what you could be wearing soon. Narresh Kukreja of the designer duo Shivan & Narresh tells us that with alternate materials like wood and acrylic, geometric jewellry is here to stay.

“Though the base could still be abstract, it will certainly be seen in a geometric frame this season.” And if you still love the chunky, layered neck piece look, then it’s time to clean up your act and jewellery box.

“Lines will become cleaner and less

layered and the numerous crystal chains and beads will be replaced by graphic motifs,” says designer Shilpa Chavan. But layers aren’t set to disappear completely. Designer Suhani Pittie confirms that it will be the effect and not the number of pieces that will matter as she talks about the exit of the art nouveau trend. “It will be one single piece that cascades into many layers and not ten pieces that will be in vogue.”

CLEANUP ACT Shilpa Chavan’s headpiece (left) and Shivan & Narresh’s necklace (right) indicate the return of geometric jewellery

ESSENTIAL MINIMALISM/CONCEPT JEWELLERY TELLING TALES Pieces with a back story are trendy, like Suhani Pittie’s tribal (left and right) influenced baubles

6

Still looking for what Aishwarya Bachchan wore to the Cannes film festival? Stop looking! The age of randomly wearing what everyone else does is over and it’s time to wear jewellery that is more than a conversation piece. “Accessories that have a story attached to them or bear a native influence, whether it’s language, tribe or period, are trending right now. Pieces that draw you in and have a cultural conversation by the way of their stone, cut, texture or quality of workmanship and represent one’s individuality are hugely popular these days,” says Suhani Pittie. And if you wished to live in a world that was run by ideas, then it’s here. Jewellery is standing in the

front row after being developed into concept art. Designer Eina Ahluwalia, who creates concept jewellery, says that an idea is its strongest component and the material and method serve the concept itself. “Such jewellery is evaluated, like fine art, for its ideas, inventions, intuitions and content rather than for its precious materials or conformity to tradition.

And there are many takers for this sort of minimalism. People want less but better, real as opposed to faux, handcrafted as opposed to machinemade and artist-made instead of mass-produced.”

LESS BUT MORE Individual, artist-made pieces are more popular than mass-produced trinkets

HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 10, 2011

MILITARY-GOTH

LACE/VINTAGE

The colour blocking trend has driven the entire fashion industry into dreams of psychedelic technicolour and they can’t stop talking about it. (Guilty as charged!) But not everyone is as crazy about it. To counter balance the burst of colour on clothes, jewellery will have to go goth. “With such bright colours around, jewellery will be using trends like military bottle green and the dark goth tones of black, brown, beige and related hues. Black especially will return as a strong trend mixed with intense military shades this coming fall,” says Shilpa Chavan.

The Mad Men hangover is showing no signs of fading anytime soon and it’s not only the Fifties but even the Victorian epoch that is influencing jewellery this season.

Vintage is a huge trend and it’s time to skirt the extremes, according to Suhani Pittie. “You need to go diametrically opposite in your jewellery choice. Either wear something Edwardian or something radically uber cool. A mix of both works really well too. One of my headbands pairs beautiful delicate rhinestones with funky three-dimensional bakelite and it is a brilliant, quirky mix,” she says. And when going the vintage way, lace can’t be ignored. Lace is a big trend in jewellery right now. “Metal replicating the fineness of lace with patterns delicately cut into it, is very trendy,” says Eina Ahluwalia.

RIOT AGAINST COLOURS Goth is likely to come back next season; take a cue from this piece by Shilpa Chavan

THE AGE OF

MIX IT Use of alternate material for jewellery is a huge trend now like this plastic Shilpa Chavan piece

RANDOMLY WEARING WHAT EVERYONE ELSE IS WEARING IS OVER

OLD SCHOOL Look into the past for the trendiest look, or for metals that mimic the fine cutting of lace

Must-haves for your jewellery box COCKTAIL RINGS - Walk into a hi-street store, roadside stall or a luxury boutique, you will find them every where. And the bigger the cocktail ring the better. Choose alternate materials — stone, metal or wood – as they are bound to draw attention to your shapely fingers. But don’t skip the manicure with this one!

ANIME/DC COMICS

PHOTO: RONOJOY GOGOI

FUR-ELISE James Ferreira used fur in his Fall/Winter 2012 collection; it was an instant hit

Goodbye animals, hello animation! Lady Gaga is a patron and Hello Kitty jewellery is already a massive trend globally. But Japanese animation characters are set to invade more than your TV screens for Autumn/Winter 2011. “I have created a lot of anime pieces like television cartoon characters turned into neckpieces and ear studs for the coming season,” says designer Felix Bendish. Even though direct animal motifs

8

ECO-FRIENDLY EARRINGS - It’s easier than you think to bring out the green fashionista in you. Opt for jewellery in natural materials like organic cotton, hemp, jute and bamboo, easily found in most indie/kitschy stores around the city. And you will earn yourself a sensitive yet rebellious image in no time!

MULTIMEDIA NECKPIECES - If we haven’t already established that you don’t need deep pockets to be trendy, then here is more proof. Inexpensive materials like plastic of various kinds, recycled glass, feathers, leather and faux stones in bold tones are being assembled to create eye catching statement pieces. Complementing one with your outfit will not only let you own the room but will prevent you from bursting the piggy bank too.

BROOCHES - The older the better. Go raid your grandma’s closet and you will find at least one elegant, old-world piece with which she used to pin her saris. Use it on your jacket lapels, shirt collars, shoe flaps, as a hair accessory or a pin to hold your scarf. There is no way you could go unnoticed and yes, God is in the details.

might be so last season, their remnants make stylish statements this coming winter. Like the fur neckpieces we spotted in James Ferreira’s collection for Autumn/Winter. "Horns, nails, bones will continue to be big. And you might also see influences from DC Comics and its characters,” says designer Shilpa Chavan who retails under the brand Little Shilpa. Well, we can’t wait to get our hands on that Wonder Woman pendant!

HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 10, 2011

Tech Talk

The (new) social network

There’s one more reason to waste time on the Internet: Google’s brand new social network, Google+!

We got so excited that we didn’t care that Google says it’s still in a testing phase – we stacked it up against Facebook and Twitter anyway. Does it pack enough punch to blow them away?

by Pranav Dixit

Google’s latest salvo at arch nemesis Facebook in the social networking space is kicking up a storm in the tech world.

Currently in a limited, invitation-only ‘field test’ which means that everyone and their brother is dying for an invite.

750 million users – that’s 10 per cent of the world’s population – and counting! The world’s biggest social network shows no signs of slowing down. You’re hooked. So is your boss, your mom, your 93-yearold grandpa – and your dog.

Twitter came as a pithy, no-frills, alternative to Facebook and was a runaway hit.

Particularly useful for spreading the word, chatting up your favourite celebs (or trolling them), blowing your own trumpet or simply engaging in pointless babble.

Looks deceptively like Facebook at first glance. Digging deeper reveals features like Circles (to sort contacts into friends, 3 am buddies, losers and so on), Hangout (multi-user webcam chat) and Sparks (to quickly find stuff you care about).

Farmville. No, we're kidding. This is the best social network for sharing pictures, photos, videos, links… anything you want.

Has a Circles-like ‘Lists’ feature buried deep within the clunky, interface (along with the rest of the privacy settings).

No clutter, no rambling. Bang out your post in 140-characters or less and get done with it. View photos and videos right in your stream. Have long links that you post shortened right then and there. Tweet from anywhere: you PC or on the go.

EASE OF USE

Facebook fanatics should feel right at home. Posting, uploading pictures and sorting people into Circles is a snap.

Google isn’t particularly known for gorgeous user-interfaces but Google+ looks clean and classy.

Much like Microsoft Windows, Facebook isn’t really the easiest thing in the world to use – we are just used to it. We find that the general interface could do with some de-cluttering and simplification. Also, that hideous photo-viewer needs to go: now!

Twitter is so minimalist that it couldn’t get any simpler. Type your tweet in the big box at the top, hit ‘Tweet’… and that’s it.

Replying to @Mentions, retweeting and searching is a breeze and the interface is snappy and responsive.

PRIVACY

This is Google we’re talking about. Once you sign up, you sign your life away.

I beg your pardon?

Twitter does collect your personal information to sell it to advertisers, but unlike Google, it doesn’t really have all your private mail, pictures from that party where you got sloshed, your phone number and your credit card numbers.

ON THE GO: APPS

Has a great app for Android phones (iOS version coming soon, worry not). Everything possible on the site is possible on your phone. Bonus: mobile users also get an exclusive ‘Huddle’ feature for quick group chats.

We are rather fond of the Facebook mobile app. It does a good job at squeezing the full-blown site down to a tiny screen. It does have a few rough edges though and we think it could use a little spit and polish.

No matter whether you use an iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone, or even a plain old Nokia, chances are, you’ll find a Twitter app you like. Our favourite? Tweetdeck!

CREEPINESS QUOTIENT

High. Not only will your Google+ notifications show up at the top of every Google service you use (including Gmail), it will automatically grab every picture you click from your phone and put it up in a special folder.

High. Facebook doesn’t exactly make it easy for you to delete your account if you ever decide you’ve had it with Mark and his cronies. Sure, you can deactivate it, but Facebook still stores all your pictures, posts and profile information... in a safe place.

Moderate. You don’t really have to ‘connect’ with someone or accept a ‘friend request’ to be stalked/abused. All those creeps on the internet out there?

All they have to do is type your name to spam you till you scream.

THE STORY SO FAR KILLER FEATURES

ROUND ’EM UP! DID NOT NEED PLASTIC SURGERY (REALLY!)

Your favourite celebs sorted into the Google+ Circles we think they deserve to be in

NEED A STYLIST (PRONTO!)

Koena Mitra Kangna Ranaut Minissha Lamba

10

NEED A HIT (AND FAST!)

Amrita Arora Vivek Oberoi Koena Mitra

HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 10, 2011

Abhishek Bachchan

Akshay Kumar Sonam Kapoor

Wellness

TATA, BUY BUY Are you addicted to shopping?

If so, find out why and what you can do to get rid of this expensive, destructive habit

by Kavita Devgan

I

T’S A standard staple of chicklit literature – the main character who finds it hard to resist the temptations of shopping. But for Chennaibased computer professional Neeta SenGupta (name changed), this is not a fictional situation. Every month, as her credit card bills arrive in the mail, SenGupta and her husband face off over their amounts. “I know very well that the fights that we have over the figures in these bills is eating into our otherwise rock-solid relationship,” admits SenGupta, adding, “But still I feel powerless to fight the shopping impulse when it hits me. After each splurge, I start dreading the next fight I’ll have with my husband, and to tide over the stress, I go shopping again. I really want to break this dreadful cycle, but don’t know how to.”

According to the experts, a shopping addiction is not as uncommon as it seems. “What Neeta is calling a habit is actually an addiction,” explains Dr Ashima Puri, consultant psychologist at Aashlok Hospital, Delhi. “Shopping is fun for most of us. But when this seemingly innocent pastime spirals out of control, it gets classified as an addiction.”

She adds, “There is a clear-cut distinction between shopping for a need and shopping to fill a need. And therein lies the divider that differentiates a shopper from an obsessive shopper.”

Mamta Singla, consultant clinical psychologist at Artemis Health Institute, Gurgaon, agrees with Dr Puri. She says, “Actually, addiction is defined as having a compulsion to commit a behaviour, being unable to stop a behaviour, and continuing the behaviour despite harmful consequences. Research now shows that addictive behaviour often provides a momentary lift in one’s mood. A flood of ‘good feeling’ producing adrenaline hormones rewards a shopaholic.” Singla

adds, “Unfortunately the lift is not permanent, and the shopaholic must go out and shop more in order to find the next boost in hormones.”

“It is estimated that one in 20 men and women fall into the category of a compulsive shopper,” reveals Shailaja Pokhriyal, consultant clinical psychologist, Dr BL Kapur Memorial Hospital, Delhi. “So there are a lot of people out there who tend to hear ‘Buy, Buy, Buy...’ when they go out to shop.”

WHAT LEADS TO IT?

Like other addictions, a shopping addiction too stems from a lack of self-esteem, loneliness and emptiness. “This disorder has been linked to emotional deprivations in childhood, an inability to tolerate negative feelings, the need to fill an internal void, excitement-seeking, excessive dependency, approval-seeking, general impulsiveness and compulsiveness, and the need to gain control,” lists Singla.

Often the root cause lies way back in childhood. “About a year ago, a man brought his 30-yearold wife to me with a complaint of excessive shopping. After many sessions with her, it turned out that her behaviour stemmed from her childhood conditioning,” shares Dr Himanshu Saxena, senior consultant psychiatrist, Jaipur Golden Hospital, Delhi. He adds, “As a child, whenever she would buy something, her parents used to praise her for her independent behaviour. She grew up enjoying the feeling of being different from others, and felt superior to her friends and cousins. Gradually she got addicted to shopping.”

According to Dr Puri, sometimes a loss can also trigger a shopping addiction. He says, “I remember a mother-daughter duo from Gurgaon whose shopping habits spiralled out of control when their teenage son/brother committed suicide. Sadness leads to low self-worth and people when emotionally weak begin to look for a magical solution to help fill the void. Often shopping gives them that fix.”

LIKE OTHER

ADDICTIONS, THIS ONE TOO STEMS FROM EMPTINESS

Do you go on buying binges when you feel lonely, anxious, disappointed, depressed or angry?

■ Do you feel a ‘high’ when you go on a buying binge?

■ Do you feel on edge, agitated or irritable when you haven’t been able to buy something?

■ Do you spend a lot of time watching the shopping channel

■

12

on TV or surfing shopping websites?

■ Do you buy something and then feel guilty about it?

■ Do you often run your credit cards up to the limit?

■ Do you try to stay within budget, but always fall short of your goal?

Expert: Shailaja Pokhriyal, consultant clinical psychologist, Dr B L Kapur Memorial Hospital, Delhi

HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 10, 2011

PHOTOS: THINKSTOCK

ARE YOU A SHOPAHOLIC?

MIND BODY SOUL

SESSION CONTROL YOUR OBpeo ple in your

and let Own up to the problem, ‘out of control’ spending life know that you have habits. family (and friends) time and missolve ts and seek help to res es social engagements because of ■ Acknowledge deb dit sumer cre them. Take help from con this addiction. I once handled a counselling services. man who would lie to his parents to you s t cause. What trigger all the time and hide his shop■ Figure out the roo . ping,” recalls Pokhriyal. go shopping? Keep a log for y after stores have closed “Actually shopaholics tend to ■ Window shop onl ve your wallet at home. emotionally distance themselves the day. Otherwise lea the ng with exercise. When from friends and family in an ■ Replace shoppi for a run. go or ill dm trea a on attempt to hide their excesses urge strikes, get s to release endorphin and keep trying to cover their Push as hard as you can h’. debts with deception,” points and get a ‘runner’s hig and only make ds car dit cre out Dr Puri. “There are other r you all up ■ Cut pay for with cash. practical repercussions too. purchases that you can spending. r you k Shopaholics are always short trac to get bud ■ Create a of money and keep borrowing. ekly spending we a to k stic and op ■ Devel Soon people start avoiding savings plan. take a friend them and they are left friendays Alw ne. alo ng ppi ■ Do not go sho less, which only compounds the along. s to problem,” shares Dr Saxena. item c cifi spe of list a t hou ■ Do not shop wit Sometimes, a shopping buy and avoid malls. addiction can occur with a to g llin nse cou or nal help ■ Seek professio cluster of other addictions – anxiety. manage depression or such as gambling, drinking,

■

at sultant clinical psychologist (Experts: Mamta Singla, con consultant , Puri ima Ash Dr ; aon Artemis Health Institute, Gurg pital, Delhi) psychologist, Aashlok Hos

A DANGEROUS HIGH

Shopping can send many people into debt, place a strain on their marriages and basically ruin their lives, say the experts. Dr Puri shares the story of a 28-year-old woman who opted to break off her one-year-old marriage when her husband refused to let her buy a Versace bag worth one lakh. “Obviously there must be other issues too in their relationship, but different shopping sensibilities was the one they just couldn’t resolve,” says Dr Puri, adding, “Then there was a 29-yearold mother of two children whose guilt brought her to me when she realised that because of her incessant shopping jaunts she was totally neglecting her children and husband.”

According to the experts, it is important to understand that shopping and spending money will not assure more love, or bolster self-esteem, or heal hurts and regrets. Nor will it ease stress. “Relationships also get affected as often a compulsive shopper cuts

drugs, eating disorders etc.

Pokhriyal remembers a 26year-old boy who came to her with a shopping addiction and alcohol abuse problem. “He would shop for clothes all the time and when he was short of money, walk long distances and skip meals to save money for shopping. Missing office hours to go for shopping was regular too and his alcohol addiction made the situation worse,” she explains.

HELP FOR THE PROBLEM

Doctors say that a shopping addiction can be controlled by undergoing counselling with a clinical psychologist. It usually requires a multifaceted approach; and there are no standard treatments. “Although some medications show promise, especially for people who have an underlying case of depression, results are mixed, so they should not be considered a sole or reliable treatment,” says Pokhriyal. “Going to the root cause is essential,” says Dr Saxena. For example, for some patients, cognitive behaviour therapy and hypnosis will work. But there are a lot of self checks too (see box). brunchletters@hindustantimes.com

SHIKHA SHARMA

What causes stress?

W

e all love stimulating environments, people, conversations and goals. When we get something which we find interesting, we love doing that work. But at the other end of the spectrum we have situations and jobs which make us anxious, tired, bored.

In between these two extremes is the fascinating and yet mysterious world of stress. There is good stress which stimulates our mind and emotions; and at the other end of the spectrum, we can even collapse with stress. There are two aspects we need to understand: the experience of stress and the personality type.

What happens when our experience changes from stimulation and cheer to anxiety, anger and stress?

■ People enjoy doing their tasks more when the end result matches or goes above their expectations ■ We enjoy the task more when it is somehow linked to something we have an interest in ■ We enjoy the task if it gets us appreciation or adulation ■ Tasks which are done well within time, and yet at our personal pace give us the most satisfaction ■ Tasks which have a high social value also give us joy ■ We like tasks where we feel we are getting paid more than what we expect ■ Tasks where we inch closer to our deep-seated ambition of

wealth/ power/ recognition / comfort are more appealing What are the tasks/experiences we do not enjoy?

■ Surprises which are unpleasant, where the task is not in line with our list of appealing experiences ■ Deadlines set by others ■ Orders and instructions given without our buy in ■ Task disconnected with our set of interests and abilities ■ Getting too many tasks, which we don’t know how to do ■ Environments that are noisy, hot, and very uncomfortable ■ Maladjustment with people in the team who are involved in the task ■ Feelings of injustice ■ A work pace not aligned to the task deadline ■ Not asking for help /delegation The bottomline is that stress = personality type (response ) + environmental situation. Some basic examples: ■ A person who enjoys research and investigation is put into sales and marketing ■ A person who enjoys solitude is put in social networking and communication ■ A person who hopes for a little appreciation is neglected and taken for granted What are the solutions? We shall explore that in the next column. ask@drshikha.com

COVER STORY KAMLA AT WORK

Heavy workload, deadlines, long office hours and difficult bosses stress her out

KAMLA AT HOME

A more relaxed life and time to herself to do what makes her happy 14

HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 10, 2011

KAMLA COMES HOME Kamla is any woman who would rather stay at home than go out to work – a noticeable trend among urban women. Whatever happened to the feminist dream of self-worth and financial independence?

by Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi Illustrations by Jayanto

N

OT THAT long ago, in the Seventies, feminists urged women to go out of their homes and work. Domesticity limited their potential, women were told, they could do much more with their lives than remain restricted to their nurturing and homemaking roles. ‘What men can do, women can do too, and maybe better” was their anthem.

Fast forward to thirty years later. Today, the idea of women going out to work is commonplace.

Economic independence has been the buzzword for women for years now.

But wait, something else is afoot here. A growing number of women today are actually choosing not to go out into the workplace. Maybe they’ve tried working and opted out because they couldn’t manage home and office. Maybe they’ve stopped working to bring up their children. Maybe they still work out of the house, or do a bit of free lance work. Or maybe it’s none of the above – maybe they want to stay at home. Whatever the reason, here’s a question: what happened to the fierce desire to be someone other than stay-at-home-women?

JUST A REBELLION?

Some men – at the risk of having women shout them down – still view the Seventies movement as a rebellion to be “different” rather than as something that grew out of an intrinsic belief.

“That is what it was – a rebellion,” says Chandra Bagheria, a Bangalore-based businessman. “It happened at a point when the idea of women working wasn’t so prevalent. That’s why the idea of women going out to work was ‘eulogized’ and looked at as ‘the only’ way for women’s emancipation. Then times changed and so did the general psyche.

Going out to work was no longer taboo. Once the reason to rebel didn’t exist, how could the rebellion itself continue?” he asks.

Abhishek Kant, a marketing professional with an IT firm, agrees. “Unlike men, who grow up with the notion that they have to provide for the family, the idea of going out to work was not ‘intrinsic’ to women in general. It was a certain section of feminists who propagated the idea and it became a movement. But women were never told that they needed to be the bread winners,” he says.

What does one do all day if one stays at home?

AFTER A busy, fast-track life, isn’t home and household work a little too mundane? No, say our SAHW (stay-at-home-women, silly). With more and more avenues for entertainment opening up and with so many things to do, life at home is definitely not limited to watching TV and waiting on/for husbands and kids. Whether it’s going to the mall, partying with friends, travelling, joining pottery or salsa classes or participating in charities, life needn’t be dull at all. Almost all women who have decided to stay at home assert that it is fairly ‘cool’ to be home.

“Well, I may stay at home but I don’t do the sweeping, cleaning and cooking. I read, go for jogs and to the gym, swim twice a week, go to a spa at least twice a month, watch films on DVDs, listen to music... basically do anything and everything that I want to without having to stress about meeting any deadlines,” laughs Udita Gopal, a consultant.

TV journalist Prerna Kapoor too falls in the same category. Tired of clocking in for TV bulletins and rushing about meeting deadlines, she quit her job just before she got married. “The initial plan was to move abroad, but that didn’t happen. Having left work already, however, I decided to enjoy my marriage. Travel is what I intended to do and did do, lots of it. I travelled across the world and through India with my husband. While these were work trips for him, they were holidays for me,” she says. Two years later, Kapoor is still in that blissful zone. Though she sometimes feels the urge to get back to work, she says it has to be around her routine.

Merchandising executive Anamika Khare who quit after her wedding is happy doing pottery.

“Once the course is over, I might start my own pottery classes or make pottery that I can sell.

It’ll be work and it’ll also be great fun. All in the comfort of my home,” she says.

HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 10, 2011

TUHIN SINHA Here’s a man unlike most men – he doesn’t go out to work

“My wife is at peace with me being a house husband” I was given to understand some years ago that I belong to that category of men whom women ideally like to have as their boyfriends, not husbands – the creative sort who likes to live a life of nomadic fantasy, sans the stability that a woman looks for. To that extent, I think my wife is a really brave woman as she is at peace with me being a writer house-husband.

Not that I’ve never been in a job, but I think I realised way too early that I was too much my own man to be bound by other people’s instructions. Leading the life that I do has given me the freedom to explore myself beyond my own imagination and I’m happy with the way I’ve grown professionally and personally in the last few years, which would not have been possible otherwise.

Yes, there are uncertain phases when the anxiety is bound to rub off on your spouse as well.

But I’m happy my wife has just shown a lot of confidence in me in those phases. Of course she realises the advantages of my flexi-working hours – like dropping her to her office, barely half a kilometre away from home.

Is it tougher for a man to live the life of a freelancer? I guess one is conditioned to believe that way. But the point is, should one stick to the belief at the cost of what one really wants to do in life? If you ask me, it’s as much about a personal choice as your entire life is. I’d personally pursue what my heart tells me to, because there’s no point leading a compromised life which I might regret later.

Does the uncertainty bore me now? Nope, I’d say. The key to not getting bored is doing as many different things as possible and/or doing them as differently as possible. That explains why each of my books belongs to a different genre and why I’m constantly juggling between books, scripts, newspaper columns and commissioned writing assignments.

Would I be fine if my wife chooses to quit her job too? Well, why not? Sometime ago, we’d worked together to set up my content management firm, Write Quotient. Unfortunately, we couldn’t give the venture the attention it required. But in future when we decide to start a family, I’ll be more than happy if she quits her job and instead takes care of this firm. I can’t be not encouraging her from leading the life I have so stubbornly led.

Tuhin A Sinha is the author of Of Love And Politics and a well-known columnist

15

COVER STORY A MATTER OF CHOICE

While many women agree that their social conditioning was such that they needed to be motivated and pushed to walk out of the house, they dismiss this male view as outright chauvinism. “Actually, the fight was always for a ‘choice’,” says Urvashi Butalia, publisher of Zubaan books.

“Unfortunately, most women never had the choice to decide what they wanted to do. A woman was always brought up with the idea that she had to be home. There was no place for her in the outside world. It wasn’t a choice, it was a compulsion to stay home. That is the notion that one needed to break. And it did get broken,” she says.

Today, she says, women can choose – to step out or to stay in. Adds Dr Syed Mubin Zehra, social analyst, columnist and author, “It is a very conscious and individual decision. One that is without any sort of pressure. And thus holds a lot of value and is far more fulfilling.”

The choice to stay at home, however, is governed by a host of factors. Unnati Kant, an HR professional, decided to quit and stay at home because she felt that her responsibilities towards her home were higher on her priority list. “It wasn’t the happiest decision but it wasn’t the saddest either.

Work was important but there were other things as well. We wanted to start a family. Bringing up a child, I knew, was a full time job, so I gave up the other one. Also, the decision was purely mine. No one told me to quit. But I didn’t want to compromise on the quality time that I could devote to my child if I stayed at home. Besides, the choice to go back to work is always open, right? My qualifications exist and so does the support from family. So why crib?”asks Unnati.

KAMLA GOES TO THE GYM

She keeps herself fit for a healthy body and healthy mind

EQUAL SHARE

All those years ago, husbands virtually behaved like demi gods and were treated as such; the wife had to be subservient to their whims. But that isn’t really true any longer. It doesn’t matter whether women work or not. They are educated and their contribution to the home is recognised today.

“Thank god, finally some sense has prevailed,” says psychologist Dr Surbhi Soni. “More than anyone else, men and their thought processes have changed. Now, they fully understand, appreciate and value the contribution of their women. The fact that women now are also equally qualified adds to this. Women do not feel the need to keep proving their worth all the time. So even when they decide to stay at home, they are fully secure that

PRACHI RATURI MISRA “I know I’m a better mother and a better worker now” don’t have a boss and can’t thank my 28IAfter month-old daughter enough for it. It’s like this.

12 years of active journalism when mother-

hood came calling, I was ready to take it on like another challenge. After all, I’d taken up some challenges and met them just fine (at least I’d like to believe so). Night shifts to murder spots to fashions shows, to a taste of Mumbai’s Bollywood, life had been full of interesting stories and people. And I only saw more of it coming my way.

Then it all changed.

I’d just given in to the temptation of a Chinese meal at one of Chanakyapuri’s popular eating joints in Delhi with a fellow photographer when I

16

She quit her job when her baby turned one year old and hasn’t regretted it ever felt this strange feeling. My tummy had this strange sensation, something ticklish. As I bravely sat back on the bike after a satisfying meal, it dawned on me that I’d felt my baby move. I was probably four months pregnant.

By the time my little girl finally arrived, I was more than ready for her. Though I did go back to work when she was five months old, I must say I struggled hard. Production days were particularly bad. I knew I was a little more edgy, a little more hassled, a little less of the 101 per cent me I like being at work. I’d constantly think of the curly hair I loved running my hands through, the magical smell typical to babies. God! What was I to do? I mean, I loved my work and I loved my daughter and I wasn’t being able to love both as much as I wanted to.

I quit. I quit my job when my daughter turned one, just when her blabbering was threatening to turn

HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 10, 2011

into words, when she started waving goodbye to me every morning. It’s been well over a year since I began working from home and I know I’m a better worker and a better mother.

I try and stick to an 11 to 6 schedule and a five day week, which I must confess does turn into six days at times. But then there are days when Mondays feel like Fridays, because I’ve just wound up a project. I love my work more than I ever did.

What’s more, my bank account looks healthier than it did, as a salaried person. I have bigger canvas to work on, I can take off when I want and yes, I don’t have a boss.

The best part is that I know I’m around when my girl needs me. I don’t have to worry about a nanny sedating my child, I don’t have to listen to “don’t think you can take us for granted” vibes from relatives.

RUPA GULAB

She gave up her advertising job because she was battle-scarred by office politics and bad bosses

“How many bottles of antacid is it safe to drink daily?” didn’t buy a sari for my mum or a watch for my Iwhen dad like they do in those heart-warming ads I got my first salary. I couldn’t because I

had precious little left over after I paid my hostel fees – there’s toothpaste and other necessities to deal with. Both of them, however, thought that the first step I took towards paying my way through life was the nicest present to them ever.

Mum also told me that now that I was financially independent I would never have to put up with nonsense from anybody – I think she was making an oblique reference to typical formidable Indian in-laws.

During my early years in advertising, I was assigned a few appointment ads. While crafting them, I always deliberately left out that foolish cliché, “Candidates must have fire in the belly” – hell, that sounds like they want to hire people with chronic heartburn. A decade later, I mentally created an ad for myself: “Desperately seeking an employer who does not give me fire in the belly”.

I was battle-scarred by office politics, inconsiderate bosses who arrogantly summon you to meetings long after office hours are over, and even worse, compulsory weekend bonding sessions with largely humourless colleagues. I asked myself two life-changing questions: One, how many bottles of antacid is it safe to drink daily? And two, why was I still living in a cage when the Internet had set me free?

I saw the light and switched to working from home as a freelance writer. Thereafter, I’ve experienced freedom and productivity like never before. I don’t fritter away precious hours in the daily commute or hang around water-coolers bitching out the boss – and I spend exactly the same time on Facebook as I did before (so there!).

Working as a freelancer is not a breeze, however.

It’s made me happier but poorer. You’re not assured of a regular sum of money every month – very often you’re fobbed off with the usual yourcheque-is-in-the-mail rubbish. I often wonder if my desire to live life on my own terms is brave or foolish. Once, I got two offers on the same day: one was a half-day job at a sexy salary, the other was a work-from-home retainership that paid a

pittance. My husband suggested I get psychiatric help when I enthusiastically opted for the workfrom-home job. He couldn’t understand why someone who values financial independence would voluntarily work for peanuts. He refused to accept that I needed lots of freedom to chill. Admittedly his reaction worried me a bit – I suspect a big part of why he likes me is because I’ve never been emotionally or financially needy. Perhaps he feared that it would change. See, for the first 9 years of our marriage I insisted on splitting every bill with him: holidays, household thingies, movie tickets – heck, popcorn too. His fears were unfounded because fortunately I still take care of my personal expenses, but when he insists on treating me to a holiday or something nice, I don’t protest vehemently like I used to. There’s payback, of course. In return, I do neurotic chores like spending time in a doctor’s clinic faithfully reporting my husband’s symptoms because he’s too busy working to be there in person. Also I must add that I’m hugely grateful medical science hasn’t advanced to the stage where I can get a root canal for my husband!

Rupa Gulab is a writer and author of Girl Alone and The Great Depression of the 40s

people will no longer cast aspersions on their credibility or downplay their efforts,” says Soni.

Even the Supreme Court of India reiterated the value of a woman who stayed at home. “A wife or mother does not work by the clock. She is in constant attendance of the family throughout the day and night. She takes care of all the requirements of husband and children including cooking of food, washing of clothes, etc. She teaches small children and provides invaluable guidance to them for their future life,” the Court remarked while settling a compensation case last year.

Abhishek Kant’s observation about women not being bread winners may sound chauvinistic, but from another perspective, it has credence. Women can stay at home and not work in cases where they are not the ‘real’ bread-winners in a family. “Why should it be an ego issue at all,” asks Udita Gopal, a jet setting consultant who decided to call it quits simply because she couldn’t take the hectic lifestyle anymore.

“Travelling across the globe for minimum two to three weeks in a month, working in office till wee hours when home, client interactions, deadlines, deals and transactions... it was great for a while.

But eight years of that was pure madness. I just couldn’t take the stress anymore. Yes, the money was great but I needed to do something for myself.

So I quit. Between my husband and me, we decided that his salary was good enough for both of us.

And please, I don’t have any guilt about spending his money. After all, didn’t he promise to take care of all my needs and necessities when he married me?” she asks, laughing.

Adds businessman Chandra Bagheria, “Most marriages are based on this unwritten understanding that the man holds the responsibility to generate income to run the house. The woman may choose to earn but if she doesn’t, it is the man’s duty to cater to her needs.”

BRAND DOMESTICITY

Experts also attribute the trend of stay-at-homewomen to what they call the “marketing of domesticity” by the mass media. Be it television soaps or advertisements for oils and shampoos, all of them

KAMLA AT A PARTY

Now she has time to enjoy herself and to meet her friends HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 10, 2011

17

COVER STORY

CHARU GOEL She never wanted to work in a 9 to 5 job; she’s happy to be home

“I really don’t think I’m missing out on anything”

was never a 9-5 sort of a person. It was too Idemically mundane and rigid for me. I wasn’t very acaoriented, I was more more creatively

KAMLA DOES CHARITY

She can make good use of her time and do social work promote ‘happy domesticity’. (Never mind that you must look picture-perfect at all times). Your daughter wants long hair? A stressed husband needs some attention? You, the woman, needs to be home. “Even schools have started giving extra points to kids who have stay-at-home mothers, during the admission process. The idea is that children are better tended to,” says Dr Zehra.

“Each of these scenarios further builds up ‘brand domesticity’. In a way, they are generating a similar sense of achievement and pride in work within the home.”

Movie stars have also done their bit in building up the image of the domestic goddess. Actresses like Madhuri Dixit, Kajol or Sridevi quit while still at their peak to get married and raise their children. Hollywood stars like Penelope Cruz and Catherine Zeta Jones, among others, have limited their appearances to the red carpet and fewer films while their children grow up.

“The subliminal message is ‘If they can, why can’t we’,” says journalist Kavita Mehta who quit her regular work after the birth of her baby and now freelances for various magazines. (People do forget, however, that actresses’ careers anyway slow down post-marriage!).

18

THE GOOD LIFE

But in today’s scenario, isn’t a double income home a necessity? Isn’t a single income which can comfortably run a household a sign of luxury?

“Sure it is,” accepts Dr Soni. “But the fact remains that if a woman has that choice, why shouldn’t she exercise it? If a husband can afford to give his wife a lifestyle of her choice without needing her money at all, then lucky her. And those who can’t, well, the women in those homes don’t have that choice. They have to work, whether they enjoy it or not, because their income is important,” she adds. The truth is that this freedom of choice – to stay at home or not – can only be determined by the family’s financial circumstances.

Otherwise, there is no choice.

And what of the men? Wouldn’t they like the choice of not going out to work? “Of course we would. Give me a chance to quit my job and travel with my spouse, I would be very happy to do so.

But no such luck. We men cannot do anything of the sort. In that sense, it is a woman’s world,” laughs lawyer Neeraj Behl. tavishi.rastogi@hindustantimes.com (The artwork for this story is inspired by Indian Value Education Posters, increasingly difficult to find now)

HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 10, 2011

inclined. And really, I don’t think I am missing out on anything in life by not going to work. In fact, I am much happier doing what I do – staying at home and looking after my family.

Bored, did you say? Where is the time to get bored? With a growing son and a husband, I am more than busy. That apart, I dance. I learnt Bharatnatyam from my mother and have now moved into choreography. I teach dance to kids, but all in the comfort of my home. A few hours in the evening of teaching helps me keep fit and also gets me to realise my creative instincts.

It is very simple really. My priority is my son Jai and my home. So whatever I do, the timings and schedules revolve around Jai’s schedules, be it holidays or school assignments. And that is just one of the benefits of being at home almost full time. And of course, there is no pressure, no stress and no getting stuck at traffic jams. It’s a very comfortable life.

My days are rather full. I start at about 7 am, send Jai to school and my husband to office.

On weekdays, I too leave with my husband and go to the gym. I exercise for about an hour, then I’m back home and the regular household chores start. Of course I don’t get down to doing dusting and jhadoo pochcha but supervising is tough too. After all, the home should be in order. That done, the next couple of hours are my ‘me’ time. I dance.

Practice my moves, and choreograph some new song – sometimes with my mother, sometimes, alone. It’s my time for rejuvenation. By 1.30 pm, my son is back from school and the next few hours are his. From his regular homework to school updates to general chit chat, it’s mother-son bonding time. In the evenings when Jai goes out to play, I take my dance classes. Kids come home and my living room quickly turns into a dance floor. From classical dance to the latest Bollywood number, we do it all. Jai is back by 7.30 pm. By the time he changes and freshens up, I am done with my classes too. My husband too is back around the same time. Another half hour of finishing school work etc, and it’s dinner time by 9.30 pm. A little chilling out and it’s time for bed and another full day to look forward to.

My weekends are dedicated to family, friends and movies.

Do I miss not having a regular job or going to an office? No. Why should I? Especially when I can do exactly what I want to and maybe much more, sitting at home.

Besides, thankfully, I really don’t need the “extra money flow every month”. We are in a fairly good position and manage happily with a single income. I am realising my passion which is far more fulfilling than having a profession.

The best part is I have no guilt pangs of not being around for my child and husband!

As told to Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi

indulge live It’s Freaks We Seek

| see | play | listen

In today’s world, celebrity-hood is all about vulgarity and sensationalism

spectator

Seema Goswami

WORTH IT? What kind of society are we if we turn a woman who helped her fiancée chop up her lover’s body and then burn it into a celebrity?

I

GROAN inwardly each time I hear somebody quoting Andy Warhol’s famous line about how in the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes; not because Warhol was wrong, but because he was absolutely right.

There was a time when you admired the famous. You respected them for the qualities that had earned them their fame. Top sportspersons, international statesmen, big-time movie idols, great artists and creative geniuses. Even the famous people one did not admire – Adolf Hitler or Charles Sobhraj, for instance – served as an object lesson in the negative aspects of the world: the nature of evil, the misuse of power.

These days alas, fame means little. There is so little to admire in so many famous people. And even notoriety is cheaply purchased.

About all you can say with a degree of certainty of most of today’s famous people is that within five years most of them will have been forgotten. New instant celebrities will have taken their place – to shine in the spotlight for their own 15 minutes or so.

You can blame society and the communications revolution for the fickleness of today’s fame. But I think that we in the media have to accept our share of the blame. Because we are so celebrity obsessed that we devour and spit out ‘celebrities’ by the week, we create new, undeserving famous people almost on an hourly basis.

To some extent that is inevitable given the demands of today’s media technology and it is not necessarily a bad thing.

But what worries me the most is the banality of 21st century fame. We don’t just take minor celebrities and exaggerate their importance. We use entirely new criteria to judge celebrity-hood. We look for vulgarity, for a trashy loudness and for an overwhelming cheapness. All the things that we would consider appalling and revolting in a colleague or a neighbour are the very things that help people to become famous.

Would you want to work in the same office as Dolly Bindra? How would you feel if Rakhi Sawant was your next-door neighbour? Would you allow Maria Susairaj into your home?

No matter how revolting we would find these people if we came across them in our day-to-day lives, we are forced to regard them as celebrities by the media, to follow their antics on our TV screens and to read about their every move in our press.

As far as the media are concerned, the fame game has now become a freak show. The freakier the person, the better the story. The more shameless the person, the more sensational the quotes. And the more horrific the personality, the bigger the spin-off.

It is no longer: in the future,

NO CLOSE PROXIMITY Would you want to work in the same office as Dolly Bindra? How would you feel if Rakhi Sawant was your next-door neighbour?

everyone will be famous for 15 minutes. Now it’s simpler and more basic: it’s freaks we seek.

In which world could you have imagined that Dolly Bindra would become a celebrity? Even ten years ago, the media would have ignored her. Once upon a time, Rakhi Sawant would have been recognised for what she is: a two-bit item girl with an unfortunate lip job. Now, TV channels vie to build shows around her and she gives long interviews to famous hosts.

Or take Rahul Mahajan. When his father died and we saw pictures of him at the funeral, we thought of him as no more than a young man whose life had been vitiated by tragedy. Who would have imagined that he would become a bona fide celebrity on the basis of drug-related deaths and a sordid private life played out in public? More worrying is this: as long as he was a subdued tragic figure, the media had no interest in him. But the moment he turned himself into a vulgar, public spectacle, he became a star.

So it is with Maria Susairaj. I won’t get into whether her acquittal on a murder charge was justified. But what kind of society are we if we turn a woman who helped her fiancée chop up her lover’s body and then burn it (she has been convicted on that charge) into a celebrity? Now Ram Gopal Varma wants to cast her in a movie. Reality TV shows vie to win her participation. And her press conferences are turned into bizarre circuses by a rampaging media machine.

Once a society becomes obsessed by the vulgar, the cheaply notorious, the loudly sensationalistic and proudly trashy, it loses its bearings. It forgets all the things that fame should really be about: achievement and excellence. And it abandons the distinctions between right and wrong, between the real and the manufactured, between the substantive and the illusion.

So the next time you see Rakhi Sawant giving an interview or watch a press conference by Maria Susairaj, pause a little and ponder the banality of celebrity-hood today. And remember that when fame becomes a freak show, it is our society that eventually pays the price.

ADOLF HITLER OR

CHARLES SOBHRAJ SERVED AS AN OBJECT LESSON IN THE NEGATIVE ASPECTS OF THE WORLD: THE NATURE OF EVIL, THE MISUSE OF POWER

HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 10, 2011

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

19

indulge see live |

rude spies

Vir Sanghvi

THE GENESIS Ian Fleming created Bond in the 1950s, using his experience in naval intelligence during the Second World War

CC/PAUL BAACK

| play | listen

BOND vs BOURNE

The Bond franchise has tried to rework the rules to compete with the Bourne movies. Can Bond be relevant to a new generation of viewers, or will it be “Goodbye, Mr Bond”?

I

’VE HAD a month of spies. First I read Jeffery Deaver’s new James Bond book, Carte Blanche (published in this country by Hachette whose boss Thomas Abraham may well be India’s greatest James Bond fanatic) which does not take off from where Ian Fleming left but updates the character to the era of iPhone apps. Then I spent two evenings watching all three of the Bourne movies. (Identity, Supremacy and Ultimatum – though I’m never sure if I can remember the names in the correct order), nominally based on the Jason Bourne novels written by Robert Ludlum several decades ago.

There is a connection between James Bond and Jason Bourne that goes beyond initials. Though the first Ludlum book (The Bourne Identity) was written as a stand-alone, the author quickly decided that he had a Bond-like franchise on his hands and made his hero return again and again. While the Bourne of the novels was a rather sophisticated, tame figure, portrayed unmemorably by Richard Chamberlain in a TV mini-series based on The Bourne Identity, the Bourne of 21st century movies is an angry and confused loner who has virtually nothing in common with Ludlum’s Bourne.

Even so, the Bourne movies created endless trouble for the Bond franchise. Such was the success of The Bourne Identity movie, starring a violent and agitated Matt Damon, that Hollywood re-thought the Bond formula. Out went Pierce Brosnan, a perfectly good Bond who nevertheless always played the character in a slightly male-modelish way as though he was advertising a premium vodka or an upmarket golf-course. And in came Daniel Craig who was made to bulk up so much that when he wore his Tom Ford tuxedo he looked like a bouncer outside a very expensive Monte Carlo nightclub.

The formula changed too. The Craig-era Bond movies have been more believable (well, as believable as anything to do with James Bond can be) and packed with action sequences: the first half-hour of Casino Royale could be a stunt film. The traditions of the genre have been downplayed or junked. In Casino Royale, when Bond is asked if he wants his martini shaken or stirred, he replies, “Do I look like I give a damn?”

There is no Mao-suited villain with a secret underground lair, or a pussycat purring sinisterly on his lap. And Craig doesn’t even get to say “Bond – James Bond” till the last scene of Casino Royale.

But as hard as the Bond franchise has tried to rework the rules to compete with the Bourne movies, it is stuck with a basic 20

problem. The point of the Bourne pictures is that Jason Bourne takes on an-all powerful establishment single-handed and still wins.

On the other hand, James Bond is entirely a tool of the establishment.

Ian Fleming created Bond in the 1950s, using his experience in naval intelligence during the Second World War. In those days, there were clear heroes and villains.

The Brits and Americans were the good guys. The Nazis were the bad guys.

(The villains in Moonraker refer to the Fatherland, Auric Goldfinger is German, etc.)

And later, the Russians were the bad guys.

In Fleming’s world, Bond was a soldier sent off to battle with the enemies of the AngloAmerican alliance. He took orders from an Admiral (called M); was subservient to the Foreign Office; had a naval rank himself (Commander); relied on a network of British Secret Service operations all over the world; was given expensive weapons, cars and gadgets by the British government; and worked closely with the CIA’s Felix Leiter.

MAKEOVER Daniel Craig’s Bond movies are packed with action sequences, and the traditions of the genre have been downplayed

HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 10, 2011

PHOTO: REUTERS

indulge THEY HAVE TURNED JAMES BOND INTO MORE OF AN ACTION MAN AND LESS OF AN ESTABLISHMENT TOOL

The movies kept these elements but also relied on Spectre, a secret organisation that wanted to rule the world, which was probably created not by Fleming but by Kevin McClory, who collaborated with Fleming on the screenplay that became Thunderball.

(When Fleming denied him credit, McClory sued and won the movie rights to Thunderball which he re-made as Never Say Never Again, Sean Connery’s comeback as Bond). There is some dispute also over who created Ernest Stavro B l o fe l d , the head of Spectre who features in many Bond novels but who vanished from the later movies once McClory began suing.

It always struck me as curious that it was during the anti-establishment, counterculture revolution of the Sixties that the Bond movies first found success. While the establishment was collapsing in the real world, Bond was fighting on its behalf on the screen.

When young people were wearing jeans and smoking dope, Bond was making much of fancy clothes, expensive cars (an Aston Martin rather than the Bentley of the books) and vodka and nicotine. In contrast today, when brandbased snobbery is so much a part of the aspirational ethos, it is curious that Jason Bourne who cares about none of these things should be such an icon.

In Bourne’s world, the establishment is essen-

PHOTO: REUTERS

ONE-MAN ARMY Jason Bourne (played by Matt Damon) operates alone, uses no gadgets and every ten minutes or so, he beats up or kills somebody

tially malevolent. It brainwashes people to turn them into assassins. It murders innocents to cover up its own secrets. It has bugs, cameras and spies everywhere. The CIA is staffed by crooks (some of them in league with the Russian mafia) at its top levels. The drama in the movies (not in the Ludlum books, when Bourne is revealed to be a willing US government assassin tasked with fighting his country’s enemies) comes from Bourne’s struggle against these forces. He operates alone, lives simply, uses no gadgets and every ten minutes or so, he beats up or kills somebody.

The Bond movies have coped uneasily with this new world.

They have re-booted James Bond (Casino Royale could have been Bond Begins) and turned him into more of an action man and less of an establishment tool (he goes rogue, he fights with M, he pursues private agendas, etc.). But I am not sure the transformation can be sustained.

Authors trying to revive Bond face the same problems. John Gardner, an otherwise competent thriller writer, wrote some really crappy Bond novels which are now largely forgotten.

Sebastian Faulks, a serious author, tried his hand at reworking Bond and chose wisely to write a period novel set in the 1960s when Fleming’s Bond operated and Teheran was the fleshpot of the Middle East. But Faulks’ book was a one-off so he could attempt a pastiche.

Jeffery Deaver, on the other hand, hopes to take over the franchise so his book is his own Bond Begins, a re-booting in which our hero is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan. Deaver knows how to write this kind of book so Carte Blanche is better than say, John Gardner’s hack work, though the end is a bit of a washout. Even so, you have to ask yourself; if the hero was called John Smith and not James Bond, would you bother with the novel?

And that, I suspect, is the problem that the James Bond franchise will face in the years ahead. We have some affection for the movies because they have been around for so long, but the truth is that as franchises go, the Bond movies don’t make the kind of big bucks that other series do. Batman, Spiderman, Star Wars, Indiana Jones and even Mission Impossible are much more profitable franchises these days. And frankly, it is hard to think of a Bond movie that is as good as the Spielberg Indiana Jones pictures, Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins or Brian De Palma’s first Mission Impossible. Even Doug Liman’s first Bourne movie is better than any Bond movie ever made. (I’m not so sure about the two Paul Greengrass Bournes).

The third Daniel Craig Bond was delayed because its production company had problems. It should be out next year. It will be interesting to see if it can maintain the momentum of the series and make Bond relevant to a new generation of viewers. Otherwise, I suspect that time might be running out for James Bond. On the other hand, there is a scene in nearly every movie where the villain says “Goodbye, Mr Bond.”

And yet, somehow Bond survives. And he’s back in the next scene. So, who can tell?

THE BOND

MOVIES DON’T MAKE THE KIND OF BIG BUCKS THAT OTHER SERIES (SPIDERMAN, BATMAN) DO

RE-WORKING THE FORMULA Pierce Brosnan was a perfectly good Bond though he always played the character in a slightly male-modelish way

TOUGH GUY The Bourne Identity movie, starring a violent and agitated Matt Damon, was a big success CHANGING HANDS Kevin McClory won the movie rights to Thunderball which he re-made as Never Say Never Again, Sean Connery’s comeback as Bond

HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 10, 2011

21

indulge

live | see |

play

| listen

Clash Of The Thoroughbreds The one-horse race of the iPad is finally at an end! Welcome to the next level

techilicious

Rajiv Makhni

A TIDAL

WAVE OF TABLETS HAS SWEPT ACROSS THE WORLD

1:15 am, New Delhi International Airport, Croma Store: person in line has just bought a Motorola Xoom Tablet 2:45 am, Lufthansa Flight LH 761 to Frankfurt: a woman across the aisle in a sharp business suit fishes out an Asus Transformer Tablet 4:55 pm, Selfridges on Oxford Street: Bollywood actor from Dharmendra clan has spent 15 minutes quizzing me on all the Tablets available (nine of them) and finally decided on buying the Blackberry PlayBook 6:15pm, T-Mobile Store on Marble Arch: there’s a line of three people; two of them have just bought the HTC Flyer Tablet.

Y

ES, IT’s on. The one-horse race is finally a full fledged clash of thoroughbreds. While the iPad and the iPad 2 have created and captured the market, the monopoly is over.

1 The floodgates have opened and a tidal wave of Tablets has swept across the world. Strangely enough, India is right there on the priority release list for each and every brand. If you’re in the market for a Tablet, here are your contenders.

4

2

The Tablet for the rest of us. And that’s a big market. Remember, if you don’t have about R 30,000 to spend, you’re pretty much out of the Tablet market as the lowest offerings start from there.

But not for the Enjoy. Very well priced at about R 14,000, this one still has a 10.1 inch screen, looks good and sports two cameras, two mini-USB ports and an HDMI-out. The screen isn’t razor sharp and the hardware isn’t stellar, but it’s a great entry for what is predicted to be a huge market: the Economy Tablet!

Reasons to buy: Price, price, price.

Reasons to ponder: Screen, build and innards are a little off. But only a little.

6 ACER ICONIA A500

5

2 BLACKBERRY PLAYBOOK

Seven inches of multimedia and multitasking heaven, bulletproof OS, smart gestures for extra functions, industrial design that is simple yet elegant and a rubberised back that doesn’t slip.

Prices start from around R 26,000 Reasons to buy: Well-priced, QNX is great, best multi-tasking yet on a Tablet.

Reasons to ponder: Apps (the dearth of them). BlackBerry Bridge forces you to connect to a BlackBerry phone for email, contacts, notes and calendar, a blunder that RIM needs to correct NOW!

3 MOTOROLA XOOM

The mothership, the showcase device for Android Tablets, the best reason to try Honeycomb. Beautiful screen, great build, has all the ports you want, super responsive, brilliant optics, lots of power, lots of RAM, nothing can slow down this beast. Prices start from around R 32,000 32GB (WiFi-only version).

Reasons to buy: Beats the pants off all others in hardware, huge screen, great resolution, feels very solid in the hand.

Reasons to ponder: Heavy, not all ports have been enabled, not too many native apps for Honeycomb yet.

4 SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB 7, 8.9 AND 10.1

The one company that seems to be taking the Tablet market very seriously. Has offerings across the board. The 8.9 and the

22

5 MSI WINDPAD ENJOY

3

1 HTC FLYER

Very small and portable, typical HTClevel, tank-like build quality and form factor. Looks very different from others, great screen, speedy processor, good battery life, good optics, has some special add-ons and touches like the magic pen and HTC Sense. Runs Android 2.3 and is priced at around R 38,000.

Reasons to buy: Super portable, stunning looks, great build quality and the magic pen works well.

Reasons to ponder: Unjustified high price, doesn’t run Honeycomb, the latest version of Android for Tablets.

10.1 run Honeycomb and is what Samsung designers went back to the table and came up with after the iPad 2. The 10.1 is the big deal here. It’s lighter than anything else in the market, has a screen to kill for and may well be Samsung’s silver bullet fired straight into the heart of the Tablet war.

Reasons to buy: Samsung has promised aggressive pricing.

Now if only they can shave off 15 per cent off the iPad 2 prices!

Reasons to ponder: If they still play the ‘Samsung is a premium brand and thus will only sell at premium pricing’, it is game over.

The first Honeycomb Tablet to be launched in India, this one has it all: good hardware, a 10.1-inch screen, aluminium casing, dual-core Tegra 2 processor, HDMI-out, 5 and 2 MP back and front-facing cameras respectively and Dolby Mobile Audio It has a logical 6 button layout and costs about R 27,000.

Reasons to buy: Fantastic hardware, good price, functional USB port and a microSD card slot.

Reasons to ponder: Slightly bulky, screen has a fine grid and there is no 3G version yet.

There are others. The OlivePad is now playing the price champion game (about 13K); HCL has the ME Tablets; Notion Ink is finally shipping; LG seems to be playing a bit of a waiting game (but from whatever has been announced, the LG Optimus Tablet looks promising); Asus has the notebook-killer Transformer coming up. The other biggie that may just be the giant killer is of course the HP TouchPad with webOS. Stage two of the Tablet war is now officially underway. Three months from now, another three or four new Tablets will be out, current kinks will have been ironed out, prices will have dropped, iOS 5 on the iPad 2 will have been released and some real sales numbers will be available. Will it still be a one-horse race? I seriously doubt that. As Tesio said about horse racing: “A horse gallops with his lungs, perseveres with his heart and wins with his character.” I have a feeling the Tablet war will be also be won by a device with the great lungs, a big heart and a strong character.

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

Follow Rajiv on Twitter at twitter.com/RajivMakhni

HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 10, 2011

indulge

listen

live | see | play |

Songs of Sweat

Metal. Black Metal. Heavy stuff. I thought hardcore music would be perfect for hardcore workouts. Who knew that soft, soppy songs would be even better?

download central

Sanjoy Narayan

A

LRIGHT, I’LL get straight to the point. Here’s a shameless plug for the plush, quarterly version of this magazine. If you haven’t seen Brunch Quarterly, I’d urge you to pick up its second issue, which came out last week and may still be on the stands (if, and I am sure I am wrong, it hasn’t sold out). When you get hold of your copy, flip quickly to a story on new fitness techniques and you’ll encounter three fellows who specialise in instructing three new regimens – CrossFit, TRX and Muay Thai. Instructing is the wrong word. Punishing is more like it. Here’s a disclaimer: I know two of these fellows a bit more intimately than I should have. They trained (or, rather, punished me) and one of them continues to do so, for at least four times a week. After every session, I am nearly dead, wrung out and, sometimes, close to tears. But I go back for more. It’s a strange addiction.

You must be wondering whether I’ve completely lost it. Otherwise, why am I babbling about fitness training in a column that is supposed to babble about music? You know what? I think I may have really lost it. After many sessions with Abdul Qadir and Piyush Pandey (the two trainers who have had their way with me), that is not an outcome that should surprise anyone. Qadir specialises in TRX (think of suspending various limbs of your body via straps attached to the ceiling and then doing exercises using your body weight) and Pandey in CrossFit (think of non-stop circuit training that ends when your breath finally does).

When I first signed up with these worthies for training sessions, I thought I needed some hardcore music to be piped into my ears: music that would help numb the pain and take my mind off the torture. I reached instinctively towards the deep, dark stuff. Metal.

Black Metal. Albums such as Krallice’s Dimensional Bleedthrough (yes, need I say more?) or Dysrhythmia’s (they marry progressive jazz with heavy metal) Barriers and Passages. I even tried more conventional, yet heavy, stuff. Such as Iron Maiden’s Dance of Death.

I chose such albums because I thought – mistakenly, as I’d realise later – that the deep, drone-heavy, visceral sounds that these bands produce would act as a good counterpoint in my head to what these guys were doing to my body.

How wrong I was. Krallice and Dysrhythmia made my every move more painful than being on a medieval rack; Iron Maiden was a shade better but did nothing to take my mind off the pain either. I tried Led Zeppelin in the belief that some classic hard rock would do the trick. It left me dazed and confused. I experimented with other stuff: mainly conventional heavy rock; guitar-rich arena rock and so on. In desperation, I clutched at Queen, Kiss and even Peter Frampton. Nothing seemed to work. In fact, all of this made things worse. Under Messrs Qadir and Pandey’s ministrations, my body kept getting punished and my mind was a wreck.

Then, in a flash I found the solution. One morning, in the midst of a gruelling set of something called burpees (you don’t want to know, believe me), I queued up something unusual on my iPod. Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago. Three years ago, Bon Iver (real name Justin Vernon) broke up his former band, suffered an emotional crisis and moved to a remote cabin in Wisconsin during the winter months where he wrote and recorded some of the most lonely and distraught songs that I have ever heard. Loaded with

PUSHING IT The angst and raw emotion in Elliott Smith’s and Florence + the Machine’s music (above) works for my gruelling workouts

GRIN AND BEAR Bon Iver’s plaintive, ruminative songs managed to my my workouts tolerable

private thoughts, accompanied by just minimal acoustic guitar sounds, the album had made me feel awfully sad the first time I’d heard it. Strangely, it worked in the gym.

Complementing my trainers’ curt instructions to do ever more violent things to my body, Bon Iver’s plaintive, ruminative songs, somehow managed to make my workouts tolerable.

So was it a yin-yang thing? A hot-cold, sad-happy, loud-soft combination that worked?

After getting wafted over by the sadness of Bon Iver, I went for something less sad yet soulful. I experimented with the British band, Florence + the Machine’s Lungs. Florence Welch’s band makes music that is several notches above Lily Allen’s and Amy Winehouse’s, although she is frequently clubbed with those two by the critics. There is much more raw emotion and soul in her semi-confessional songs and my killer workouts became not just bearable but even enjoyable with tracks such as Kiss with a Fist, Dog Days are Over and Hurricane Drunk.

Since then my workouts have got better. My soundtrack during those sessions with the monster trainers now include a healthy dose of “soft, soppy songs” and sometimes even mopey ones such as the late (he died of mysterious stab wounds when he PHOTO: ANIL CHAWLA was only 34) Elliott Smith’s hushed, To give feedback, angst-ridden songs, such as those stream or download on Figure 8 and Either/Or , two the music mentioned albums that I find depressing in this column, go to anywhere else but in the gym.

THE TRX TRACK Involves attaching yourself to straps and using body weight to work out

I TRIED LED ZEPPELIN IN THE BELIEF THAT CLASSIC HARD ROCK WOULD WORK

HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 10, 2011

http://blogs.hindustantimes.com/download-central, follow argus48 on Twitter or visit our website: www.hindustantimes.com/brunch

23

Variety

SHATRUGHAN SINHA never gave up his famous moochh

The moochh of

ANIL KAPOOR stuck to his facial hair in a chikna world

Y

OU COULD be forgiven for thinking that moustaches were endangered. Till very recently, the only place you could spot them was in funny advertising campaigns. Or on old freedom fighters.

A far cry from the ’50s and early ’60s when everyone wore them – with pride.

Apparently it was actor Dilip Kumar who killed the moustache and ushered in the chikna look. A look that has ruled all these decades with very few exceptions such as Shatrughan Sinha with his Indradhanush moustache and later Jackie Shroff and Anil Kapoor.

But suddenly over the last few years we’ve seen scores of famous figures from Bollywood wearing moustaches both in reel life and real. And whether their movies have worked or not, their moustaches have been blockbuster hits almost every time!

Salman Khan wore one in

In a world where clean shaven is the equivalent of good looking, some men still stand stolidly by that old symbol of machismo, the moustache

by Kavita Devgan

Dabangg, Hrithik Roshan in Guzaarish, Ajay Devgn in Once Upon a Time in Mumbai and Aamir... long before anyone else in Mangal Pandey. And, as always, their fans are intrigued. Intrigued enough to give the moustache something of a renaissance.

‘HAIR FOR SUCCESS’

“I know what it takes to keep one. It takes commitment,” says 38-year-old theatre and film actor Manu Rishi Chadha who shot into to the limelight as the Bengali of Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye. “But I don’t mind that at all as my moustache has made me famous. Suddenly everyone thinks I look strong and macho and I am getting offers for fabulous realistic roles.”

Before 2008, Manu was clean shaven.

But during the looks trials for Oye Lucky..., the director Dibakar Banerjee decided that Manu had to look very different from Abhay Deol.

“You have to look ugly in front of Abhay, Dibakar told me,” says Manu. And so he grew a thick moustache. When the

‘MY MOTHER SAID I SHOULD

BE CLEAN SHAVEN FOR THE CORPORATE WORLD’ – Ayush Gupta, student

Stop shaving the area between your nose and upper lip. Let your stubble Your first step is grow out a bit so you can to decide to see what will grow one. This is work for you, no minor matter. and for this Then know that period, shave it could take you around the about 2-3 weeks area.

HOW TO GROW ONE

(including an uncomfortable itchy period) before you have your moustache.

Meanwhile apply some moisturiser and lotion to the area and make sure it gets some sunlight as well.

If you are using facial products, try not to scrub the part of the moustache too hard.

AJAY DEVGN has never heard a bad word about his moustaches

movie released, Manu found his look was a hit, and was immediately offered three movies.

In Phas Gaye Re Obama and Ani, Manu’s moustache continued to work, and coming up this year are the films Life Ki Lag Gayi, in which he is the only moustachioed character (both his co-stars KK Menon and Ranveer Shourie are clean shaven), and Daana Pani with Dimple Kapadia, where once again the moustache is an integral part of the styling of Manu’s character as ACP Chautala, a Mumbai cop.

“I did lose out on three plum advertising contracts in the interim as they wanted a clean, corporate look (advertising still wants beautiful people and moustaches don’t usually work!),” says Manu.

“But that’s okay as my moustache has taken me on a high lately and I am definitely not complaining.”

HAIR FOREVER?: I think it is definitely in and here for stay. You see a lot of young guys experimenting with different moustache looks these days. In fact, last week in Mumbai I saw this young guy with a really thin moustache of the 1950s, the kind my dad used to keep; and I think he was looking damn cool.

MY CELEB PICK: Definitely Ajay Devgn. His Once Upon a Time in Mumbai look was fabulous and I like his moustached in his new movie Singham even more.

Resist the urge to shape it as it grows. As your moustache hair gets longer, comb it from the centre to the sides. This is to train the hair to go in the right direction.

Use a narrowtoothed comb.

As the moustache becomes thicker, take a sharp pair of scissors, tilt the blade at an angle and trim off the corners.

Ideally, the moustache should not reach the lip line.

When it has grown sufficiently, finally decide what look you want.

Usually, smaller faces need small moustaches and larger faces need more prominent ones.

THIN, NEAT MOUSTACHE You’re serious about life, smart and you believe in using your brain, says men’s hair expert Hakim Alim THICK MOUSTACHE Men who wear this usually believe in machismo, says Alim. Ideally, adds men’s grooming expert Jawed Habib, don’t grow a heavy moustache.

It tends to take the softness out of your personality.

If you think your moustache is too bushy, reduce its volume by trimming on the top. Also apply gel or oil or a moustache wax to get your moustache into the shape you want it.

INFORMATION COURTESY SUMIT ISRANI, OWNER AND CHIEF STYLIST, GEETANJALI SALONS, NEW DELHI

PHOTO: ARCHIE MISRA

24

AAMIR KHAN hit another level with his Mangal Pandey look

HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 10, 2011

the matter SALMAN KHAN was highly appreciated in Dabangg

HRITHIK ROSHAN had a hirsute look for his role in Guzaarish

WE NEVER WANT TO SEE THESE AGAIN! “Hitler’s toothbrush moustache (a thick moustache that covers about one inch of the centre of the area above the upper lip), our first president, Dr. Rajendra Prasad’s moustache, and singer KL Saigal’s moustache have all long gone out of fashion,” says men’s grooming expert Jawed Habib.

Thick moustaches, like actor Anil Kapoor’s, and actor Aamir Khan’s Mangal Pandey look are also out, adds men’s hair stylist Hakim Alim.

Adolf Hitler

“DAD’S THE WAY”

“I like it, so I keep it, says 19-year-old Ayush Gupta, who is about to join Delhi University for a Bachelor of Commerce degree. “My mother did try to stop me.

She said I should be clean shaven to prepare for the corporate world, but I had dad’s support so I went ahead and grew a moustache.

Ayush’s moustache began as an experiment. “I saw a few people sporting fantastic moustaches, so I grew one, thinking I’ll shave it off soon enough,” he says.

“But I liked my look, so I have now decided to keep it. Even though most of the girls I know don’t like the way I look now.

They say ‘bade lagte ho’. But that doesn’t bother me.”

Ayush says his moustache gives him

VIVEK OBEROI Plenty of people think he looks very cool

confidence, and a feeling of being a grownup. “My dad is clean shaven now but I have seen pictures of him in his college days when he wore a trendy mooch,” laughs Ayush. “I love those pictures!”

HAIR FOREVER?: I am not too sure if the moustache is here to stay but I definitely see lot more of my friends experimenting with it, even if it’s only for short periods of time,” says Ayush.

MY CELEB PICK: “I saw actor Arjun Rampal the other day at a pub in Delhi and he wore a moustache and a goatee,” says Ayush thoughtfully. “Boss, he looked killing! I would love to see him wear this kind of a look in a movie.”

Ayush’s other moustached hero is Salman Khan in Dabangg. “He looked amazing with that old style moustache,” says Ayush. “But Shah Rukh Khan with moustaches, I think I’ll pass. He’s better off clean shaven any time.”

“I WANT THE REAL THING”

“I started growing my moustache only last week, but I am getting comfortable with it,” says 17-year-old student of gaming Rohan Bakshi. “I am very clear that I don’t want just stubble like some of my friends. That looks unkempt.

Neither here, nor there. I want a full fledged one.”

Rohan’s dream moustache is the long handled one, something like what Ajay Devgn had in Once Upon a Time in Mumbai. “It doesn’t go up to the lips, it goes down instead, and I think it looks great,” says Rohan.

HAIR FOREVER?: “A lot of my friends experiment with goatees and moustaches now, a lot more than my seniors did,” muses Rohan. “But unfortunately there aren’t too many takers for big moustaches, like the ones that security guards tend to keep!”

‘EVERYONE THINKS I LOOK

MACHO AND I AM GETTING OFFERS FOR FABULOUS REALISTIC ROLES’ — Manu Rishi Chadha, actor

PHOTO: SATTISH BATE

HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE

Moustaches for good

‘Moustaches Makes a Difference’ is a nonprofit charity movement created in 2003 by the Australian organisation called the Movember Foundation.

Every November, men all over the world grow moustaches to raise funds in support of men’s health issues such as prostate cancer. Visit their site, mosmakeadifference. com to see some really cool taches.

OTHER MOUSTACHE CHARITIES INCLUDE: www.mustachemarch. com www.mustachesforkids.org www.fundastache.org/ moustaches

MY CELEB PICK: “Definitely Ajay Devgn.

He looks incredible with a moustache.”

“IT IS MY IDENTITY”

“In college, I started with a goatee,” says 29-year-old Gaurav Wadhwa, marketing manager with Red Bull. “Then when I started working with MTV, I didn’t shave much and by default grew a moustache. I liked it so I’ve kept it since. I realised that I look better with it. Also, a moustache really helps when you put on a little weight on your face!”

Right now, Gaurav has the kind of moustache actor Hrithik Roshan grew for the film Guzaarish. A month ago, he attempted to grow a long Rajputana kind of moustache. “I got a mixed reaction to that,” he chuckles. “Some people liked it and some found it irritating. But I will go back to it again later.”

Gaurav likes to experiment with different styles. “I will definitely not sport the boring type of moustache that my dad’s generation wore. They sported the same style like it was a uniform,” he says.

“There is this picture we have of my dad

‘I WILL NEVER HAVE

THE BORING TYPE OF MOUSTACHE MY DAD’S GENERATION WORE’ — Gaurav Wadhwa, marketing manager

and his friends in their younger days, and all of them have the same style of moustache in that picture. How boring is that!”

But there is a price to be paid for being cool. “You really need to take care of your moustache,” says Gaurav. “I have even invested in specialised trimmers and razors.”

HAIR FOREVER?: Because he works for the beverage company, Red Bull, Gaurav meets youngsters all the time. “Most of them seem open to experimenting and you do see some fabulously maintained and styled moustaches on some very young

‘TO GEL WITH THE LOCALS

IN UDAIPUR, I HAD TO GROW A MOUSTACHE’ — ABHINAV SINGH RAWAT, TERRITORIAL ARMY OFFICER

HOW TO MAINTAIN IT

An unkempt moustache looks awful, so groom it properly. “You need to take care of your moustache the way you do your hair,” says actor Manu Rishi Chadha. “I may forget to shampoo my hair but not my moustache.”

26

Wash your moustache with a mild shampoo daily to remove dirt and keep natural oils intact.

And use a conditioner to soften it.

Check it every day to see if it needs trimming. Trim it only when it’s dry, or you may trim too much.

Trim your moustache using your upper lip as a template. The hair should not grow over it. Trim from the centre to each edge.

Don’t scratch if your moustache becomes itchy or you’ll damage your skin. Apply a hydrocortisone cream on the area instead.

To hide a stray white hair, use black mascara.

Use moustache wax in your moustache and try a new or different shape.

Info courtesy men’s grooming expert Jawed Habib, Sumit Israni, owner and chief stylist, Geetanjali Salons, New Delhi, Nikhil Sharma, chief creative director, Affinity Salons

HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 10, 2011

faces these days,” says Gaurav. “But I don’t care about others. I am keeping moustache.”

MY CELEB PICK: “Actor Vivek Oberoi without a doubt. I saw him with a big Rajputana style moustache at a men’s fashion week last year and he looked great. He has the personality to carry it off. And I don’t like actor Saif Ali Khan’s look when he wears a moustache.”

“MAKES ME LOOK COMMANDING” “My dad’s a general in the army and he’s always had a moustache. So when I was posted to Udaipur in Rajasthan, I decided to follow suit,” says 25-year-old Abhinav Singh Rawat, a partner and director with a Gurgaon-based real estate brokerage firm, and lieutenant with the Territorial Army.

Abhinav was always clean shaven, but Rajasthan changed his look. “I realised that to gel with the locals, I must grow a proper Rajasthani moustache,” he says.

“And it really helped. People there appreciate the fact that I was not from the city but was trying to blend in.”

In Rajasthan, Abhinav decided to do as the Rajasthanis do, so he grew a ‘thakur’ type of moustache.

“It took me a month to grow it properly and this included visits to the barber every weekend as he would have to pick up the corner of the moustache and shave underneath,” says Abhinav. But despite all that trouble, Abhinav hasn’t kept his moustache. “Now I am back in Delhi and I am clean shaven again,” he says. “But I am sure I will grow a moustache again if I am posted to a similar area.”

HAIR FOREVER?: “I don’t know about others, but in the army, the moustache’s future is rather bright,” says Abhinav. “A lot of my colleagues wear moustaches on a permanent basis.” That’s because of the way it makes you look, he adds. “When, at the age of 23-24, you need to command a battalion of 100-odd people, many of whom are much older than you, having a moustache definitely puts you in a commanding position.”

MY CELEB PICK: “I think actor Shahid Kapoor looks cool with the thin moustache he is wearing for his forthcoming movie Mausam, in which he is playing an air force officer. And I didn’t like Salman’s Dabangg moustache at all. brunchletters@hindustantimes.com

STORIES NO ONE ELSE HAS EVER DONE

PHOTOS YOU’VE NEVER SEEN

ORY R ST E V CO

IT’S NOT JUST BRUNCH

IT’S A FEAST

Tuck into the second edition of Brunch Quarterly, now on the stands

L AVE E TR D U R

Carry On Abroad Holidaying within the country can sometimes be really expensive. So it makes good sense to venture elsewhere. Brunch columnist Vir Sanghvi offers three possible destinations 28

Also in Brunch Quarterly 2

SEEMA GOSWAMI on the showmance: a Hollywood tradition that Bollywood has (too) enthusiastically adopted

RAJIV MAKHNI on how your phone will soon power the way you live

HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 10, 2011

ECHNICALLY, BRUNCH QUARTERLY is a magazine. But we thought about it and we’re all agreed: actually Brunch Quarterly is a banquet. There really is no better way to describe it.

After all, it has piquant appetisers to tantalise your palate and share with friends. Did you know, for instance, that reality TV star Veena Malik would do anything to date Hollywood funnyman Jim Carrey? Or that actor Arunoday Singh thinks email is destroying the English language? Or that actress Tanushree Dutta would rather be sturdy than sleek?

It has generous main courses that’ll make you sit back in a state of contented contemplation. Cricketer Yuvraj Singh’s hour of introspection, for instance, in the interview No Complaints, No Grudges.

The four young style critics who are changing the fashion industry in The Fashion Dictators. The traditional Kerala home that made a gentle landing in Haryana in Moving House. The five hottest young artists you’ve never heard of in The Art of Now. And a short story, Mangoes & Indigo, by Madhulika Liddle, author of The Englishman’s Cameo, written exclusively for you.

It has indulgent desserts, all about the good life – fashion, fitness, celebrities, drink, travel and holidays. And it has sparkling columns specially written by Vir Sanghvi, Rajiv Makhni and Seema Goswami, and humour by ad man Sunil Gupta – all as heady as champagne.

Better than any banquet, you’ll agree.

And all this and more for only R100, at a newsstand close to you.

Here’s a small tasting menu.

INFO YOU WON’T FIND ANYWHERE ELSE

‘The work is good and you can earn big money now’ Money, fame, entourages, agents, all-expenses-paidtravel… Never mind what you’ve read about the darker side of the film industry. In our cover story interview, young actors Imran Khan and Sonakshi Sinha tell us what we’ve always suspected – a movie star’s life is a damn good life.

ESS FITN

SCENES

BEHIND THE

BEFORE

This Way Up You gym three times a week, or swim five times a week, or run four times a week and you think you’re in shape? Oh, you’re so wrong. Try one of these three techniques to take your body to the next level.

E TUR FEA N O HI FAS

GET REAL: The CrossFit technique focuses on natural body movements

H

ow do you pull off a stunning fashion shoot when an entire neighbourhood’s children are running behind you, Pied Piper style? (Take off those expensive shoes and run!)

Can you really tell fashion bloggers – whose words make grown designers weep – how to pose?

(Looks as though even dictators can be dictated to.

Hmm. Shall we send our stylists to Libya?)

STRIKE A POSE: Our fashion bloggers are having a good time PATLI GALLI: The gallis of Purani Dilli get on a fashion high

Is it really possible for two hot young film stars to make it to a shoot on time?

(As a matter of fact, they turned up early! We fainted.)

All the photos in our stories have stories of their own.

Catch all the action in the new behind the scenes section in Brunch Quarterly.

‘Sachin restored my special bat’

Burning bright Hot colours meet intense shades of history in a fashion feature set in Purani Dilli, the last bastion of our Mughal past.

The combination? Fiery HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 10, 2011

Yuvraj Singh, the bad boy of Indian cricket, is in an introspective mood, talking about his family, his decisions, and Sachin Tendulkar – the man for whom he was determined to win the World Cup. 29

PERSONAL AGENDA ACTRESS/TV HOSTESS

LISA RAY

The Canada-born, half Bengali-half Polish stunner Lisa Ray started as a model in the Indian fashion industry. Then she went on to do films like Kasoor, Water and Bollywood Hollywood. She was diagnosed with multiple myelom, a rare form of cancer, in 2009.

Having survived the disease, Lisa is now all set to make a comeback on the small screen as a jewellery show anchor on TLC One word that describes you best?

Curious.

Which superhero would you like to be and why?

I don’t like superheroes. They are always busy with other people.

If a traffic constable hauls you up, what will you do?

Smile... wink and will finally give him a candy and flee.

Your first kiss was…

Private.

You get high on…

Life.

The colour ‘pink’ for you is…

Blush.

A place where you would like to be lost for a month?

The mountains of India.

A tune you can’t get out your head?

New York by Alicia Keys.

What did you do with your first pay cheque?

I spent it all.

The one law you would break if you could get away with it?

Can’t think of one, there are so many which make no sense.

Do you love Luv Storys?

Yeah very much. I am a diehard romantic.

The last time you rode on a bus

When I was in London... I just loved it.

If you could have chosen your own name, what would it be and why?

I love my name, don’t you?... I think LISA Ray is a lovely name.

What is the weirdest thing that ever went into your mouth?

I am a foodie, I don’t find anything weird.

You are late for work and all the roads are jammed. Choose a mode of transport: a cycle, a horse or a skateboard. Why?

I would hop on to a skateboard and just roll away...

Earth’s crowded and full of trash. Choose another planet.

Why choose another one... I will try to improve my mother Earth. There are so many programmes to save the earth that are going on.

If you could be born either rich or intelligent, which one would you choose?

You can’t say ‘both’.

Well, it’s a Miss Universe answer. I would rather be intelligent so that I can earn my riches. If I am foolish I will lose all the money I was born with.

What makes your day?

Smiles.

What screws it up?

Injustice.

Love is…

The source of life.

If you were the last person left on earth, what would you do?

Look for another life.

– Interviewed by Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi

PHOTO: MANOJ VERMA

LIFE IN THE FAST FOOD: CHOOSE YOUR MENU

THE LAST MOVIE THAT MADE YOUR CRY

I AM A HEALTHY EATER. NO FAST FOOD PLEASE.

BARNEY'S VERSION. IT MOVED ME TOO MUCH. PHOTO: THINKSTOCK

30

HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 10, 2011

WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL SEXY?

JEWELLERY, AND LOTS OF IT. I LOVE WEARING IT ALL.