New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Pune
www.livemint.com
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Vol. 3 No. 8
LOUNGE THE WEEKEND MAGAZINE
LA’s new
Lady She’s expertly navigating the red carpet, one gorgeous dress at a time. How ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ debutante Freida Pinto became Hollywood’s latest style icon (their words, not ours)
BUSINESS LOUNGE WITH DAVID LINLEY >Page 6
INSTANT CLASSIC
A new voice from Pakistan beautifully captures the ebb and flow of human longing >Page 13
PLUS: Five Indian designers show us how they would dress Pinto >Pages 1012
MONUMENTAL DISAPPOINTMENT A trip to the Taj Mahal shows how poorly we treat one of the world’s greatest works of art >Page 14
Pinto at the Screen Actors Guild awards in a Marchesa gown.
REPLY TO ALL
AAKAR PATEL
N
SALIL TRIPATHI
SHOBA NARAYAN
WHY ‘SLUMDOG’ IS THE CULT OF CAFÉ UNBELIEVABLE COMMUNITIES o, really unbelievable: It could never happen. Not the money (a slumdog may have every chance of making a fortune), but the manner. It could never happen through the dignity and repose of Dev Patel’s Jamal, an utterly improbable slumdog. Director Danny Boyle has reported on the Indian slum with the Westerner’s thoroughness. He has shown its squalor, the randomness of its violence and the distance of the state from its problems more precisely than an Indian could have. >Page 4
DETOURS
THE GOOD LIFE
T
his is why I love Bangalore. I am sitting at WSJ Koshy’s—at the older Parade Café, not the fancier, air-conditioned Jewel Box just across the hall. Around me are eight men of indeterminate age, mostly retired, bound by what one of them, Nausher Hameed, an IT consultant, calls “an interest in non-material things”. Ha, I think. The rest of India may be preoccupied with greed and governance; GDP and beating China; Charvet ties and Brioni suits; markets and inefficiencies. >Page 4
IN THE LIGHT OF BERGMAN
F
riends had warned me that the sun never sets in Stockholm during the summer months. I was there in late June, and the sky was filled with clouds, and the boats in the blue harbour bobbed gaily in the wind. Sails fluttered, and even though the sun was not visible, it was bright and you needed sunglasses. The light was crystal clear. It was nearly 7pm, and I was headed with my friends to a boat which would take us around the archipelago as we sipped chilled wine and looked at other pleasure boats... >Page 15
AND THE OSCAR GOES TO... The five films in the running for this year’s Academy Award for Best Picture— and when you can catch them >Page 16
DON’T MISS
For today’s business news > Question of Answers— the quiz with a difference > Markets Watch
New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Pune
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Saturday, June 7, 2008
Vol. 2 No. 22
LOUNGE BOOKWORM
PARADISE
BUSINESS LOUNGE WITH STEVE RIDGEWAY >Page 10
An Italian serial killer. A Chinese coma victim. Hunting for fresh eggs in 1940s’ Leningrad. From thrillers to histories, this season’s books are journeying the globe >Page 12
SCORE IN STYLE Whether you’re on the field, or cheering from the stands, or in front of the TV, join the sporting action in the right gear >Page 9
THE SORROW AND THE PITY Directors of all ages have adapted ‘Devdas’. The love affair continues with two new versions >Page 20 Pick from the 17 titles on our list before heading for the beach.
TASTINGS
PURSUITS
THE GOOD LIFE
FIT FOR A SUMMER FEAST
ANOTHER MYTH AROUND BOND
HOW TO MAKE YOUR GUESTS WORK
GAITER & BRECHER
A
s summer approached last year, we wrote about a few good warm-weather wines. That brought a note from Philip Davidson of New York City, who said, in effect, “Hey, don’t forget Barbera,” the juicy red most famously from the Piedmont region of Italy, where its unusual combination of low tannins and good acidity make it a mealtime delight. So, this year we got back to Davidson and asked, “Hey, what’s so special about Barbera for summer?” “I call Barbera ‘The Happy Wine’,” he replied. >Page 4
VIR SANGHVI
J
udging by the hype that has accompanied the release of Sebastian Faulks’ new James Bond novel (Devil May Care), the publishers want us to believe that Faulks is starting from where Ian Fleming left off due to his early death in 1965. The Man With The Golden Gun was the last Fleming Bond novel and Octopussy, a collection of short stories, was published posthumously. It’s easy to see why the publishers wish to persuade us that Bond WSJ has never appeared in print since 1966. >Page 5
SHOBA NARAYAN DON’T MISS
E
very year for the last 15 years, I have been coming to Fort Myers, Florida. My sister-in-law lives here and more often than not, we shack up for a couple of weeks at their river-front home on the banks of the Caloosahatchee River and lead the coastal life with its easy rhythms and never-ending days. My nephew has a boat; we take it out on the water to fish for snook and tarpon and then throw them right back. We wave at other fisherman as they cast their bait, and point at sting rays. >Page 6
For today’s business news > Question of Answers— the quiz with a difference > Markets Watch > Capital Account column
New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Pune
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Saturday, May 31, 2008
Vol. 2 No. 21
LOUNGE THE TRAVELLING
BUSINESS LOUNGE WITH RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR >Page 10
TUBER 2008 is the International Year of the Potato. We tell you the story of how this simple vegetable went out into the world, entered our kitchens, conquered our palates and changed our lives >Page 12
THE MIDDLE PATH The Dalai Lama’s Buddhist beliefs may limit him as a Tibetan political leader, says Pico Iyer in this new biography >Page 18
In October 1995, the potato became the first vegetable to be successfully grown in space.
WORK & FAMILY
SUE SHELLENBARGER
STAYATHOME MOMS FILL A NICHE
L
ots of employers would like to be able to hire cheap, temporary teams of seasoned pros with experience managing $2 billion (around Rs8,500 crore) investment portfolios, running ad campaigns or earning PhDs in neuroscience. But few know the secret to finding temps of that calibre: Look on playgrounds and at PTA meetings. The decision among some highly educated women to stay home with children is sparking a countertrend: The rise of the mommy “SWAT team”. >Page 4
PURSUITS
THE GOOD LIFE
VIR SANGHVI
ANYTHING FOR A GREAT HAIRCUT
W
hat is it about women and hairdressers? I’ve spent years trying to work it out and I still don’t have a clue. Let’s take an example. When I’m in England, I get my haircut at a salon in London. The salon is owned by a man called Nicky Clarke. The stylist who normally cuts my hair has his designated spot right behind the place where Clarke himself operates—when he does deign to come in. So, often, when I go to the salon, I get to WSJ see Clarke and his clients up close. >Page 5
SHOBA NARAYAN
THE BIG FAT TAMIL WEDDING
AN ARCHAEOLOGIST WHIPS INDY In the latest instalment, Jones breaks all rules, but has he evolved as a professional? Also, read the movie review >Page 20
DON’T MISS
I
recently attended a wedding in Chennai. It was hot as hell, but even the withering weather couldn’t dampen the joy of the event. My cousin got married to a boy from Vijayawada and so, the rituals were a mesh of Tamilian and Andhra traditions. The auspicious moment when the mangalsutra is tied—what we call muhurtham—was at 3am, something that would never happen in a Tamilian wedding. The Andhra in-laws wanted the bride to wear a white sari for the occasion. >Page 6
For today’s business news > Question of Answers— the quiz with a difference > Markets Watch > Capital Account column
New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Pune
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Saturday, August 23, 2008
Vol. 2 No. 32
LOUNGE THE WEEKEND MAGAZINE
BUSINESS LOUNGE WITH NARASIMHAN SRINATH >Page 10
COLOUR CORRECTED This artist wore anklets and bellbottoms as a teenager in Kerala, and now shops at the best designer stores in London >Page 11
DID YOU HEAR THE ONE ABOUT
APARTHEID?
THE (UNCENSORED) TASTING NOTES
India’s finally got a bounty of local wines to choose from, but do they make the grade? >Page 14
Author Rian Malan finds that a group of young, black comics are breaking taboos, cracking controversial jokes and taking South Africa by storm >Page 12
Loyiso Gola
REPLY TO ALL
PETER JEFFREY
PURSUITS
VIR SANGHVI
TAKE A PILL AND GOOD SLEEPERS BURN THE CALORIES OWN THE WORLD
W
e have exercise in a pill,” said Ron Evans, an author of the study (of mice that burned calories without moving). “With no exercise, you can take a drug and chemically mimic it.”—Associated Press, 31 July. It’s all very cozy here in 2025, but what must life have been like before the pill? Sweaty. In 2008—the year Evans et al. showed that lab mice could get a fat-busting workout while pinned to a corkboard and Pfizer jumped into research on its blockbuster exercise drug Potaton... >Page 4
THE GOOD LIFE
W
hat is it that you do most often that you hardly ever talk about? It’s okay, you can wipe that smirk off your face. I wasn’t referring to the sort of activity that should find no place in a family newspaper, etc. etc. No, my concern was with sleep. Most of us spend at least a third of our lives asleep. That’s more time than we spend on most other activities—eating, talking, shopping, watching TV, meeting friends and yes, sex—with the possible exception of the WSJ time we spend at the office... >Page 5
SHOBA NARAYAN
CHINA AND THE OLYMPIC GOAL
T
omorrow, the pomp and pageantry of the closing ceremony will mark the end and bring the curtain down on arguably the most talked about Olympics in history. Regardless of where you stand with respect to China’s human rights and environmental policies, it is difficult not to feel a grudging respect for the sheer will of a government that mobilized this most populous nation on earth in its quest for Olympic gold—both literally and figuratively. >Page 6
KITCHEN DUTY FOR NAVROZE If you missed out on pulao and Patra ni Machi this new year, chef Farrokh Khambata’s got your Parsi food fix covered >Page 22
DON’T MISS
For today’s business news > Question of Answers— the quiz with a difference > Markets Watch
New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Pune
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Saturday, January 17, 2009
Vol. 3 No. 3
LOUNGE THE WEEKEND MAGAZINE
BUSINESS LOUNGE WITH RATUL PURI >Page 6
GREAT EXPECTATIONS Will India finally emerge as the best cricket side in the world this year? >Page 7
A guide to the most anticipated books, movies, music releases, video games, sports events and art exhibits of the year ahead
FROLICKING WITH DOLPHINS The Gangetic dolphin is the success story of the NorthEast. Get up close on a cruise >Page 12
>Page 8
PURSUITS
THE GOOD LIFE
VIR SANGHVI
THE CLOUT OF MEDIA BARONS
I
ran into Rajat Sharma, anchor and effective proprietor of India TV, the other night. Rajat is one of the pioneers of Hindi news journalism but when he started his own channel a few years ago, he found that the going was tough. At one stage, he said, the situation was so desperate that the channel had no money to pay salaries and he and his wife had to dispose of personal assets to pay his staff. India TV is now doing well—it is currently the No. 1 Hindi news channel... >Page 4
CRIMINAL MIND
SHOBA NARAYAN
ZAC O’YEAH
SCIENCE AS FUN? IT DREAMING, HAS TO BE IG NOBEL THEN DYING
T
he Nobel laureates have left Allahabad. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has launched INSPIRE (Innovation of Science Pursuit for Inspired Research) to award scholarships to students inclined towards science in the hope that someday someone will win another science Nobel for India. All very well, but what about the Ig Nobels, I say. Read on. Humour is a preoccupation of mine mostly because it is so hard to get right. It is cultural—Indians may love Russell Peters... >Page 4
I
f you trawl determinedly through those tattered paperbacks of the pavement book bazaar in any Indian city, you will probably come across the name Cornell Woolrich. Or his nom de plume William Irish. Or George Hopley, another name for the same writer. The book, be it The Bride Wore Black (1940), Phantom Lady (1942) or Night Has A Thousand Eyes (1945), isn’t likely to cost you more than Rs20, a price which will give a new meaning to the expression “cheap thrills”. >Page 17
INDOCHINESE STIR FRY A Hindi Kung Fu comedy that doesn’t attempt to ‘Bollywoodize’ the cult genre >Page 15
DON’T MISS WSJ
For today’s business news > Question of Answers— the quiz with a difference > Markets Watch
New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Pune
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Saturday, December 20, 2008
Vol. 2 No. 49
LOUNGE THE WEEKEND MAGAZINE
A DANGEROUS
DIVIDE
BUSINESS LOUNGE WITH VARDA SHINE >Page 6
Ramachandra Guha outlines the path forward for India and its Muslim minority >>Page Page 10 10
THE LITTLE BIG GAME THAT COULD Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet sets its phasers to ‘Charm’ and succeeds brilliantly >Page 7
SHIVER MY TIMBERS Ten nuggets of pirate history essential for every landlubber >Page 12
Zubeida Ahmed, a resident of Sonia Gandhi Nagar in Malegaon, Maharashtra
THE GOOD LIFE
PURSUITS
SHOBA NARAYAN
YOUR MAMA DON’T ROCK ’N’ ROLL
T
he other day I had a sobering déjà vu moment. I realized that I had just become my father. No, I didn’t have a sex-change operation. Nothing as exciting as that. I just found myself telling my kids, “I don’t know why you kids listen to trash like that.” It was when my 12-year-old gave me the eye-roll that I realized that I sounded just like my father. I don’t know if this happens in your household but in my home there is a clear schism between the generations. >Page 4
RAAGTIME
VIR SANGHVI
SAMANTH S
HOW YOU CAN ’TIS THE SEASON TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE BE NITPICKY
I
s there something that we can do with the anger that all of us feel in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks? Can we find some constructive way of channelling it apart from appearing on TV shows and demanding that so-called Pakistani flags be removed from slums near our favourite five-star hotels? It saddens me that so many morons from Mumbai’s chattering classes went on TV to declare that on the whole terrorism was a bad thing but gosh, when it appeared this close to their doorstep... >Page 5
B
y the time this column appears in print, the December music season in Chennai will have warmed up to a pleasant bright orange, reaching a white-hot intensity roughly by Christmas. It’s a great time to think of all the joy in the world—and all the added joy that would accrue if these pet peeves would somehow vanish overnight: The singalong seniors: It often happens that, as a musician starts the first word of a song, a happy murmur of recognition spreads through the audience... >Page 17
THE MUSTHAVES IN YOUR COLLECTION From a Dutch banker in New York grappling with self, sport and life, to Barack Obama’s compelling story in his own words—and so much more in between >Page 14
DON’T MISS
For today’s business news > Question of Answers— the quiz with a difference > Markets Watch
New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Pune
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Saturday, March 28, 2009
Vol. 3 No. 13
LOUNGE THE WEEKEND MAGAZINE
Be a
nano
BUSINESS LOUNGE WITH ANSHUMAN MAGAZINE >Page 8
shopper
In these uncertain times, it pays to know exactly how far your Rs5,000 will go. We went shopping for new spring/summer collections on a very strict budget >Page 9
THE ULTIMATE SUMMER GUIDEI From photography to fixing leaking taps—take your pick of summer activities for children in Bangalore >Page 5
THE ‘US’ AND ‘THEM’ DIVIDE Harsh Mander reminds us of the dangers of perpetuating Gujarat in our hearts >Page 14
HIGH WINDOWS
THE GOOD LIFE
MUKUL KESAVAN
SHOBA NARAYAN
THEDECLINEOFURDU; IN SEARCH OF A THE RISE OF KHANS LASTING LEGACY
T
he clutch of Khans that makes up the A-list of Hindi film heroes is sometimes cited as proof that Muslims flourish in mainstream cinema today, but Mumbai’s film industry has always been home to Muslim talent: actors, directors, scriptwriters, dialogue writers, lyricists, you name it. And the Muslim “contribution” to Hindi cinema isn’t limited to its personnel; the very nature of Hindi cinema, its metaphors, its rhetoric have been constituted by cultural forms associated with Muslims. >Page 4
CRIMINAL MIND
O
nce you reach middle age, I think most people who are financially secure start thinking about legacy. Human legacy can take many shades ranging from the creation of a nation or a company to changing the world through invention or idea. There are some like Vinoba Bhave or Mother Teresa whose lives—to paraphrase Gandhi—are their legacy. What about the rest of us who lead meaningful, even wonderful, lives... >Page 4
ZAC O’YEAH
WHEN THE LOCALE ADDS TO THE PLOT
I
n his manual Writing Crime Fiction, H.R.F. Keating says that all the world’s exotic locations are open to the writer and “it is not altogether necessary, if your mind is constructed that way, actually to visit your chosen locale”. Despite this, it is my humble opinion that Keating’s own books about CID Inspector Ghote would have benefited immensely from some walking about in Mumbai. Yet sometimes the most evocative descriptions of milieus are written... >Page 15
YE OLD SWEET TOOTH Retro sweets are in fashion again and are taking us on a happy, sticky trip back to childhood >Page 18
DON’T MISS
For today’s business news > Question of Answers— the quiz with a difference > Markets Watch
New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Pune
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Saturday, February 14, 2009
Vol. 3 No. 7
LOUNGE THE WEEKEND MAGAZINE
THE
LOVE ISSUE
(HEART)BREAKING NEWS >Pages 58
KISS AND TELL Raj Kapoor’s 10 most sensuous scenes >Page 9
In your soup or your wardrobe, on your teenager’s mind, or at the bellydancing class you ought to sign up for—love (and sex) can be found in unexpected corners. We examine the where, how and why of this confusing emotion
THE GOOD LIFE
A
week before Valentine’s Day I broke someone’s heart. Like most of us, I know an informal collection of kids pretty much since their birth. Recently, a close friend dropped by and asked me to speak to her son. After years of disdaining the opposite sex, the boy had discovered girls at age 13. The mom—my friend—was hyperventilating. She thought that girl-craziness ought to come later, not at tender 13. “Vishal (not his real name) thinks you are cool,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Talk to him.” >Page 4
Six teenagers tell us what they think about VDay, dating and sex >Page 12
TRAVELLING TIFFIN
SHOBA NARAYAN
WHY LITTLE MEN NEED GIRLFRIENDS
THE (YOUNG) LOVE SUMMIT
MARRYAM H RESHII
THE FOODS OF PASSION
T
here’s a nifty saying in Kashmiri, “Pir shun bod; yakin chu bod”, which translates as “It’s not the doctor who is great; it’s your belief in him that does the trick”. Two aspects strike me in so far as aphrodisiac foods go. The first is that the Kashmiris would appear to be right after all. The second is that aphrodisiacs and gastronomy are two different (and mutually exclusive) subjects. What sort of a gourmet would agree to be served powdered rhino horn, for example? >Page 6
RAAGTIME
SAMANTH S
THE BIG DEAL ABOUT GETTING CRITICAL
W
hile I make the stray comment on an Internet forum or the occasional enthusiastic remark in this space, I have thus far resisted the temptation to write full-blown reviews of Carnatic music concerts. This has been rather easy, for one primary reason: I am supremely confident of how unqualified I still am to judge the various technicalities of this complex system of music. The philosophical debate about artistic criticism—about who is qualified to review performances... >Page 17
SEX EDUCATION Five classes to add spice to your love life >Page 13
DON’T MISS
For today’s business news > Question of Answers— the quiz with a difference > Markets Watch
New Delhi, Mumbai
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SaturdaySunday May 56, 2007
Vol.1
No.80
LOUNGE AT THE MILAN FAIR >Page 9
THE PROBLEM WITH MEN When it comes to health and life expectancy, women often outperform men. How can you beat the odds of being a man?
IT PAYS TO TAKE YOUR CHILD ALONG The benefits of taking your toddler to office often show up years later >Page 7
HELLRAISER FROM MIDDLEEARTH The cursed, dark hero of Tolkien’s new book is not for the weakhearted >Page 18
>Page 12
IN THE LEAD
PURSUITS
CAROL HYMOWITZ
THE GOOD LIFE
VIR SANGHVI
SHOBA NARAYAN
BEAT JOB STRESS: RE: YOU, ME AND THE WHY YOU CAN SAY WORK HARD, BE NICE DARK SIDE OF FLOYD NO TO MANGOES
J
un Haraguchi, president and CEO of Konica Minolta’s Business Solutions U.S.A. unit, Ramsey, N.J., doesn’t worry about undermining his image as a business leader or his authority with employees when he appears on stage with famous musicians like Winona Judd or the Marshall Tucker Band at company events. He joins right in with the performers, playing his guitar, ukulele or harmonica. It’s for his own enjoyment, he says, and a way to show employees that he’s “approachable.” >Page 4
I
t’s a funny old world, isn’t it? You can write thousands of words about the terrorist threat, about the challenge to communal harmony posed by extremists and the dangers of ignoring India’s poor—and you’ll find that nobody really cares what you have to say. But write a single paragraph in Lounge about the pretentious awfulness of post-Syd Barrett Pink Floyd and, suddenly, your readers are reaching for their emails. The reference to Floyd was part of a generalized attack on concept albums. >Page 5
DON’T MISS
I
am an orange. Not really, but in this season dedicated to singing the praises of mangoes, I wish to speak out on behalf of underprivileged fruits, specifically oranges. This, ladies and gentlemen, is what is known as the anti-column. I am an orange. I belong to the citrus family and am known for my natural juiciness and loads of vitamin C. I have many virtues and many connections to India. My name, Orange, originates from the Sanskrit narang, or the Tamil narthai. >Page 6
For today’s business news > A review of this week > Look ahead to next week > Market Watch > Capital Account column
New Delhi, Mumbai
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EXCLUSIVE PARTNER
23
SaturdaySunday April 78, 2007
Vol.1
No.56
44 PAGES INCLUDING 8PAGE MARKET WATCH + 24PAGE LOUNGE
LOUNGE
THE SPOT’S ON SCULPTURE
FRESH COAT >Page 8
Indian sculpture is finally fetching Rs1 crore at the auctions. Here’s how the 3D form got a welcome jolt >Page 12
WHAT’S NOT ON THE MENU? When it comes to restaurant fare, what you don’t see is as important as what you do >Page 11
SUCH A LONG JOURNEY How writerdirector Anurag Kashyap made the journey from Morgan Freeman to Amitabh Bachchan for March of the Penguins >Page 20 Mumbai artists Sunil Gawde (left) and Chintan Upadhyay are the Indian entries at a global art exposition in Beijing, in May 2007.
CUBICLE CULTURE
THE GOOD LIFE
JARED SANDBERG
SHOBA NARAYAN
EXTREME LOYALTY CHOCOLATES AND EQUALS BAD ADVICE CHICK FLICKS
W
hen Jane Genova was trying to cope with a difficult client who underpaid her and called at all hours, the speechwriting consultant turned to her significant other for advice. He urged her to be more assertive, suggesting she write a letter that stipulated her new fees and available hours. She did just that and also told the client, “I want to be talked to in a civil manner,” she recalls. But Ms. Genova’s clients considered her new tactics a laugh riot. >Page 4
D
o you like chocolate? Who doesn’t, right? Chocolate is a cliché in the West. It is for losers, really. Think about Legally Blonde, Pretty Woman and every other chick flick in which the chick has been dumped. What does she grab? Chocolate. Chocolate is used in Hollywood movies to depict everything from heartbreak to depression to loss. As metaphors go, it is about as tired as two flowers arching towards each other to show Madhubala falling in love with Dilip Kumar. >Page 5
PURSUITS
VIR SANGHVI
SUIT YOURSELF BUT IT’S JUST A JACKET
DON’T MISS
W
as I the only reader of Lounge to feel a little faint as I read the publication’s cover story on men’s suits (10 March)? Okay, I am only a humble journo and all you tigers are masters of the universe with salaries like telephone numbers who can light bonfires with your vanities. But honestly guys, do you high-flying executive types, blue-shirted investment bankers and captains of industry really think nothing of spending Rs1.25 lakh (or more) per suit? >Page 6
For today’s business news > A review of this week > Look ahead to next week > Market Watch > Readers’ Choice poll
New Delhi, Mumbai
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SaturdaySunday May 1213, 2007
Vol.1
No.86
LOUNGE I WANT YOUR JOB That’s what these professionals hear back every time they answer the ‘what do you do’ question
THE ANTIIPOD >Page 8
>Page 12
Arun Kumar’s latex toys for toddlers sell widely in Europe.
BUSINESS LOUNGE Former Gujarat Ambuja chief Singhvi talks candidly about his new passion >Page 10
PRIVATE EYE Anupam Poddar, one of India’s most reclusive art collectors, bares all at an exhibition in Berlin >Page 20
PURSUITS
GAME THEORY
VIR SANGHVI
THE GOOD LIFE
ROHIT BRIJNATH
SOBHA NARAYAN
THE MOST SUPER ISPONTING’S POSSE AT GRANDMA’S FOR HERO OF THEM ALL THEGREATESTTEAM? THE SUMMER
E
ver since I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by Superman. As a small boy, I bought all the comics I could lay my hands on and longed to see the live-action version. When I was 14, on a trip to the US, I saw the Superman TV show which featured a paunchy middle-aged guy in a creased costume. After that, I lost interest in the live-action stuff, but my love for the comics continued. Then, as now, the world was divided between people who loved DC and Marvel. >Page 5
S
ome Delhi summer in the mid-1990s, as clinking milk cans announced the dawn and the heat flexed its muscles, I escaped for an hour to America. Switched on the TV and there he was, live, a glistening Michelangelo in Nikes. Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls, in the NBA play-offs, was that perfect moment when sport and art collide. They were also the personification of winning. Outstanding teams want the ball, the challenge. It sounds like a fair description of Ponting’s posse. >Page 5
DON’T MISS
S
o where are you going this summer? Come on, don’t tell me you haven’t made plans. Every day, it seems, people are packing up and heading out for vacations in Cannes, Tuscany, Koh Samui or Goa. Multiple suitcases are packed, visas procured, villas rented, and rates negotiated. In between airline schedules and kids’ activities, you return home cranky and exhausted. Summer holidays used to be simple. When I was growing up, it meant being packed off to the grandparents. >Page 6
For today’s business news > A review of this week > Look ahead to next week > Market Watch > Capital Account column
New Delhi, Mumbai Saturday, October 20, 2007 Vol. 1 No. 37
www.livemint.com
LOUNGE Teaching my son to respect
THE BOSS As Bruce Springsteen launches his new album, one devoted fan tries passing on his passion >Page 12
BUSINESS LOUNGE WITH PRIYA PAUL >Page 10
BRINGING IN THE TRASH Designers incorporate old newspapers and plastic bottles into highend pieces >Page 8
DISCO DANCER: AN ODE/OBITUARY Whatever happened to the days of flickering headbands, revolving restaurants and Om Puri dance sequences? >Page 20 Bruce Springsteen (left) and Steven Van Zandt perform at a public rehearsal in New Jersey.
PLUS: Is Springsteen better with or without his mates, the E Street Band? >Page 13
CUBICLE CULTURE
PURSUITS
THE GOOD LIFE
NODDY’S NOT IN TOYLAND
TRUE LOVE? TRY WODEHOUSEWISDOM
JARED SANDBERG
A LONG WAIT CAN KILL YOUR DRIVE
H
ome life has its interminable waits: for the clothes to dry, for the MIA cable guy or for a renovation. But, at work, waiting is often endemic. The specialization of office tasks creates an interdependence of staffers that makes every move susceptible to delays that can slip towards forever. A project can only be as speedy as its most sluggish participant. When Tim Munson worked for a start-up, he had to funnel all requests to the company’s founder for a nod—even pen and paper requisitions. >Page 4
VIR SANGHVI
U
nless you work in television, you will probably know of Noddy only as a cute character in an Enid Blyton book who lives in sin with an older man whose name is (nudge-nudge-wink-wink) Big Ears. For us who inhabit TV-land however, the noddy (no capital letters) is an integral part of our trade. You have seen it too. How often have you watched an interview where, as the interviewee is talking, you see shots of the interviewer WSJ nodding his head gravely? >Page 5
SHOBA NARAYAN DON’T MISS
Y
ou honest in your relationships? Recently, I read one of those sappy self-help books, which talked about the virtue of being completely honest in all relationships. I don’t know about you but I have a healthy amount of dishonesty in my relationships, particularly the ones I value. I believe as Oliver Wendell does that “pretty much all the truth-telling is done by children” and at the most inopportune moments (“Are you the aunty that my mother says looks like Whoopi Goldberg on a bad hair day?”). >Page 6
For today’s business news > A review of this week > Look ahead to next week > Markets Watch > Capital Account column
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New Delhi, Mumbai Saturday, October 6, 2007 Vol. 1 No. 35
LOUNGE
1 1 1 T HEG I F T I NGI S S UE
BRING ON THE BRANDY>Page 4
ID E A S
LIVING IN ALICETIME
t ob ee v e r y o ne ’ sf a v o ur i t ep e r s o nt hi sf e s t i v es e a s o n
Three international exhibits and a spot at the MoMA in New York—Nalini Malani consistently weaves new and complex stories >Page 20
DANCING IN THE STREET In February 2008, Salvador de Bahia in Brazil will host the world’s biggest street carnival. You, not the samba dancer, could be the star >Page 22
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New Delhi, Mumbai SaturdaySunday March 1011, 2007 Vol.1
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EXCLUSIVE PARTNER
23
No.33
LOUNGE
WHY BIRDWATCHERS NOW CARRY IPODS >Page 8
In the late 1800s, the Nizam of Hyderabad VI, Mir Mahbub Ali Khan, never wore the same suit twice. You don’t have to go that far, but isn’t it time you updated your formal wardrobe?
MMM...MOLECULES In Chicago, two chefs make cuttingedge cuisine inviting
>Page 11
>Page 1214
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GUPTA Artist Probir Gupta resurfaces with a body of overtly political works >Page 20
CUBICLE CULTURE
PURSUITS
JARED SANDBERG
VIR SANGHVI
OUTSOURCING AND WHY I SKIPPED OFFICE POLITICS ROGER WATERS
W
hen underwriter Ram Negi considers whether to approve a loan from San Jacinto, US, he crawls through about 80 pages, which any applicant dreads compiling. And he reads them very carefully. Mr. Negi is trying to sniff out fraud in the applications. “About 45% of people are hiding something,” he says. So, if someone doesn’t come clean about his assets—like the guy who claimed he had three properties when he really had 15—Mr. Negi denies him a loan. >Page 4
THE GOOD LIFE
A
friend sent me a message. Roger Waters was in Mumbai. He planned to perform all of The Dark Side of The Moon in concert. Would I like to attend the show? Ah. I don’t have anything against Waters (unlike the rest of Pink Floyd, who broke up the band because, despite his undoubted talent, he was such a jerk), but no, my idea of fun does not extend to seeing one of the world’s most uncharismatic former rock stars playing one of the world’s most overrated albums. >Page 5
SHOBA NARAYAN
ALL’S FAIR IN CRICKET AND WAR
DON’T MISS
I
t is a warm Friday night in March. The ICC World Cup Cricket series is on in the West Indies. Do you know where your spouse is? My husband is a cricket freak. Not the insect belonging to the genus Gryllotalpa, but the bat-and-ball game that originated in 13th century England. Ram once had us nearly thrown out of our stuffy Manhattan housing cooperative because he wanted to install a satellite dish outside the window to catch a World Cup cricket series. >Page 6
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23
LOUNGE MASKED, MOISTURIZED AND MACHO >Page 9
THERE AIN’T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH The hilly back roads of Uttarakhand and Himachal are ideal for fishing and a few days of peace >Page 16
Designers are pushing futuristic clothes that echo the 1960s. Some retailers are watering them down. How to look just mod enough >Page 12
WHY WE AREN’T DREAMING Dreamgirls wasn’t snubbed. Memories of better musicals beat it >Page 20
PURSUITS
GAME THEORY
VIR SANGHVI
THE GOOD LIFE
ROHIT BRIJNATH
SHOBA NARAYAN
REAL HEROES, PHONEY HEIRS
TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND FIRE
ARE YOU VEG OR PURE VEG?
I
f India wants to be a recognized sporting nation, here’s an alternative plan. Open public courses and hoof the elitism out of golf; sell chess as a cool, colourful pursuit not restricted to shy savants caught in a black and white world; talk up the virtues of shooting at dinner; and get your kid a billiard table for his birthday. It’s all good news: In these sports, a paunch is not necessarily an impediment to stardom. Whatever, just keep us away from any pursuit that’s strenuously athletic. Contemplation we do well. Speed we don’t. >Page 5
I
ne of the things I love about living in India is the fact that being a vegetarian is not an anomaly here. Everywhere you go in this great nation of ours, it is possible to find a variety of vegetarian dishes prepared with a dizzying array of spices and sauces that tease and melt in the mouth. At restaurants, you are not stared at when you say your entire party...of nine is vegetarian. But what really settles it for me is the simple phrase asked by our airline attendants, “Are you veg or nonveg?” >Page 6
miss the old Bollywood. Not the films, of course. Most of them were rubbish. The vast majority were predicated on what we then called ‘the formula’. The plot was the same: Poor person meets rich person, they sing songs and fall chastely in love. Break for interval. Then, enter one of the fathers—the rich one of course, in dressing gown and carrying a shotgun—who objects violently. Pause for tears and melodrama and then cut to happy ending. Till Salim-Javed came along in the 1970s, almost all Hindi cinema was like this. >Page 5
O
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New Delhi, Mumbai Saturday, October 27, 2007 Vol. 1 No. 38
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LOUNGE IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT
WHITE SHIRT
BUSINESS LOUNGE WITH AJAY BIJLI >Page 10
Don’t scoff, it’s (almost) as difficult as finding the right partner >>Page Page 12 12
LESSONS FROM BSCHOOL Does your 10yearold need a corporatestyle time management training session? >Page 7
HEAVEN’S DOOR Shillong’s old school rockers, who converge for an annual festival this weekend, can’t comprehend why Amit Paul got all that attention >Page 11
PLUS PLUS:: Why Why menswear menswear brands brands are are now now targeting targeting women women >>Page Page 14 14 White shirts at Rajesh Pratap Singh’s Mumbai store.
IN THE LEAD
PURSUITS
CAROL HYMOWITZ
THE GOOD LIFE
VIR SANGHVI
SHOBA NARAYAN
DON’T IGNORE BAD INDIAN MAGIC’S BIG WHERE STYLE AND NEWS FROM BELOW DISAPPEARING ACT FUNCTIONALITY MEET
E
xecutives know success in business depends on identifying and fixing problems before they become crises. It is the most basic rule in management: No matter how smart your strategies seem on paper, if you don’t know they’re being executed and whether there are urgent problems, you won’t be successful. The higher executives climb, the less likely they are to know what is and isn’t working at their companies. Many are surrounded by yes people who filter information. >Page 4
L
et me ask you a question. First, think of magic, of stage shows, of illusionists and conjurors. Now, the question: Give me some names. Which magicians have you thought of? David Copperfield? That’s a good one. David Blaine? That’s right, the guy who spends days and nights suspended in mid-air, peeing into a plastic bag and calling it magic. Ok. I will accept that. But what about some Indian names? Let me guess. These are the guys you came up with. P.C. WSJ Sorcar (father and son). >Page 5
DON’T MISS
W
e live in fortunate times. Design and style have never been more accessible to the general public. Product designers these days are turning commonplace items into objets d’art. A case in point is my current favourite designer: Naotu Fukasawa, who has designed everything from the Muji CD player to Swarovski crystal chandeliers to everyday objects such as toasters and plates for his own company, Plusminuszero (www.plusminuszero.jp). >Page 6
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New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Pune
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Saturday, October 18, 2008
Vol. 2 No. 40
LOUNGE THE WEEKEND MAGAZINE
BUSINESS LOUNGE WITH KATHLEEN TAYLOR >Page 10
EARLY BIRDER How a sixyearold helped his parents see the world in a more colourful light >Page 7
Bnew ollywoo d’s look A new band of stylists and designers is ensuring that onscreen fashion catches up with urban Indian style >Page 12
HEALTH JOURNAL
SINKING STOCKS AND THE GRIND
M
illions of people clench and grind their teeth without realizing it, particularly while they’re sleeping. Both habits can escalate into serious pain and problems of the temporomandibular joint, or TMJ, which joins the jaw to the skull. And they are far more common in times of stress. “TMJ and Wall Street go hand in hand, especially lately,” says Anthony Chillura, a long-time dentist in New York City’s financial district. “Some people get ulcers. Some people get high blood pressure.” >Page 4
Exploring the worthiness of the nominees for the Man Booker prize and the misses >Page 15
Delhibased designer brothers Shantanu (left) and Nikhil Mehra are cur rently designing costumes for their first Hindi film.
PURSUITS
MELINDA BECK
BOOKER BLUES
THE GOOD LIFE
VIR SANGHVI
SHOBA NARAYAN
CAN TV FORECAST SARI AS HAMMOCK, THE US ELECTIONS? ‘BARTANS’ FOR ART
I
have not seen, but have read about a recent programme on British television, which made the point that the American presidential election closely mirrors the last season of The West Wing. For those of you who are not West Wing fans, here’s what happens in Season 7: a decent, experienced but old Republican senator is nominated as his party’s candidate. His opponent is an ethnic (Latino) Democratic Congressman with much less WSJ experience... >Page 5
I
n the design world, Fernando and Humberto Campana of Brazil are superstars, their products scooped up by avid collectors all over the globe. Design cognoscenti will no doubt be able to dissect their work much better than I can, but in my mind, what gives the Campana brothers their unique touch is their ability to mix the scrappy ingenuity of Brazilian favelas (shanty towns) with the sophistication of modern design. Their Sushi series of chairs, for instance, are just circles of seemingly discarded fabric... >Page 6
SMALL WONDERS The miniature market, long overshadowed by contemporary art, is making a longawaited comeback >Page 20
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Saturday, November 15, 2008
Vol. 2 No. 44
LOUNGE THE WEEKEND MAGAZINE
A.R. RAHMAN’S NEW BUSINESS LOUNGE WITH SRIKANTH VELAMAKANNI >Page 10
The man who pushed film music into the electronic age is nurturing the dream of a Western classical orchestra in Chennai >Page 12
EXTREME BANKER Michael Douglas’ ‘Wall Street’ look and other iconic looks of the 1980s are looming large in men’s fashion >Page 8
THE SHOW GOES ON Subhash Ghai is certain that ‘Yuvvraaj’, his next film, will be “big”—if not a “big hit” >Page 20
A.R. Rahman’s KM Music Conservatory aims to offer aspiring musicians training in Western classical music, music technology and audio engineering.
MANAGING YOUR CAREER
THE GOOD LIFE
JOANN LUBLIN
SHOBA NARAYAN
NETWORKING? HERE’S ARMCHAIR MAPS HOW TO STAND OUT FOR LOST KEYS
F
ans of Bruce Mount sang his praises to BzzAgent before he applied to become vice-president of engineering of the Boston word-of-mouth marketer. In late June, the software-development manager asked nearly two dozen present and past colleagues to tout his abilities. “Even one sentence will help!” he assured them. Their testimonials ranged from a brief haiku to a multipage missive dubbing him “a freakin’ gold mine of knowledge, ingenuity and kindness”. >Page 4
PURSUITS
R
ecently I lost my house keys. We had just installed a new bolt lock so as household events go, it was a minor crisis. Not finding the keys meant that we might have to change the locks. Again. When I informed my husband, he made those throat-clearing noises that much-married men make when they want to state the obvious but are afraid of the wife’s reaction. But like any much-married woman, I knew exactly what he WSJ was thinking and it irritated me no end. >Page 5
VIR SANGHVI
THE LEFT HASN’T GOT IT RIGHT
T
hey had to wait two decades but the good ladies and gentlemen of the Left are finally guffawing with delight. At the end of the 1980s, when the Berlin Wall came down and the Soviet Union seemed ready to break up, most of us looked at the collapse of communism with bemusement. Was this really the end? Had the great edifice on which the principal conflicts of the post-war world been constructed really been demolished overnight? >Page 6
ROCK THE KITCHEN With music and mum for company, actor Purab Kohli whips up his favourite childhood recipe >Page 22
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Saturday, October 11, 2008
Vol. 2 No. 39
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THE MICROBREW MARCH
BUSINESS LOUNGE WITH PRADEEP GIDWANI >Page 10
There’s There’s finally finally a trickle from the craft beer tap. Get set to be flooded by pintsized experiments experiments >>Page Page 12 12
Plus: Plus: Europe Europe in in your your backyard backyard >Page >Page 14 14 How How an an obscure obscure Chinese Chinese beer beer could could be be the the world’s world’s topselling topselling brand brand >Page >Page 15 15 Every beer drinker’s favourite destination >Page 17 Every beer drinker’s favourite destination >Page 17
FIRE AND ICE From classic chandeliers to modern twisted tubes, here are beauties to light up the winter nights >Page 8
WORK IT OUT Had enough Ihavenothingtowear moments? Jumpstart your work wardrobe with these shirts >Page 9
Heads up: Fresh beer from India’s first brewpub in Gurgaon.
HEALTH JOURNAL
PURSUITS
MELINDA BECK
VIR SANGHVI
SEX ADDICTION: IS IT FANCY A FANCY FOR REAL? SPA IN INDIA?
S
ex addiction seems to be popping up all over. Actor David Duchovny checked into a rehab facility for sexual addiction in August—just before the new season of his randy TV series Californication. In her new book, Desire: When Sex Meets Addiction, Susan Cheever recounts having sex with men she barely knew at times of stress: “Moving men, doctors, lawyers, book salesmen—any man associated with a threatening change in my life became erotically charged, with predictable results.” >Page 4
THE GOOD LIFE
I
f you’ve seen Never Say Never Again, the 1980s movie that marked the return of Sean Connery to the role of James Bond, then you’ll remember the sequence where Bond gets sent to a health farm. The film opens with Bond failing a training exercise and being told by the new M (Edward Fox) that he must seek a naturopathic cure (this M is a health nut). Bond is duly dispatched to a health farm where he eats the worst food imaginable (nut cutlets and the WSJ like) and is bored out of his skull. >Page 5
SHOBA NARAYAN
WHEN LIFE HURTS, SHARE A LAUGH
T
his isn’t going to a fun “good life” column so those of you who expect light-hearted stuff from me can just turn the page. Today, I got the news that a friend lost her child to a rare disease. This friend lives in America, a country with arguably the best medical facilities in the world. All of which raises the question that we all face at some point in our lives: Why do bad things happen to good people? Rabbi Harold Kushner has written a book on this subject... >Page 5
TODAY’S MUSIC IS TOO LOUD!!! We can’t hear the details, say devotees of Metallica; laying blame on iPods >Page 20
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Saturday, June 20, 2009
Vol. 3 No. 24
LOUNGE THE WEEKEND MAGAZINE
COURT
RAISING A RACQUET >Page 12
Gear up for Wimbledon 2009 with a look at the stars, rivalries and customs that make it the highlight of the tennis season
GAME, SET, WATCH
Get sporty chic with these multifunction timepieces >Page 9
Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and the only Grand Slam played on grass.
REPLY TO ALL
THE GOOD LIFE
AAKAR PATEL
A SOURCE OF THE MUMBAI SPIRIT
T
he forward press of its residents is called the Spirit of Mumbai. These words are used when, after a day of disaster, citizens pack trains to work the next day, showing they have brushed off the incident. We do not hear of such a spirit in Delhi or any other city, though their people also go to work the next day, and they have had their disasters. So this spirit cannot hold merely the “going back to work” meaning within it, and we know that. >Page 4
A
professional scorecard can mean different things and often, different timelines. A fund manager is measured every day, in fractions—the number of basis points his fund is up or down when the market closes. For the CEO, it is in quarterly earnings reports and annual revenues. For the politician, timelines are even longer—the stealth reforms that Manmohan Singh made when he was finance minister, along with the nuclear deal... >Page 5
The mustsees and shoulddos at the All England Club >Page 7
POSTSCRIPT
SHOBA NARAYAN
IT’S ABOUT MORE THAN WINNING
OFFCOURT SHENANIGANS
LAKSHMI CHAUDHRY
WHEN LITERATURE IS PROLIFE, PROWOMAN
A
Supreme Court nominee with a fuzzy record on reproductive rights; worse, a dead doctor, killed by a Christian zealot for performing third-trimester abortions. It’s time for yet another nasty skirmish in the ongoing culture war in America. Barring a few Catholic exceptions, the US is one of the few Western nations where abortion remains an unresolved issue, its moral implications fiercely, sometimes violently, contested. So fraught is the subject that movies, for all their sexual bravado... >Page 15
DROP SHOTS
Three ways to drink Wimbledon’s favourite tipple >Page 13
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Saturday, May 2, 2009
Vol. 3 No. 17
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Ray’ s WORLD
On his 88th birth anniversary, we reproduce a rare interview of Satyajit Ray by Shyam Benegal PLUS: His leading men and movies; Benegal remembers; and how Kolkata’s celebrating >Pages 1012
BUSINESS LOUNGE WITH BATA’S VILLAGRAN >Page 6
JUST A FEW WORDS There’s more to Twitter than telling the world you had toast for breakfast >Page 7
AFTER THE WALL Germans will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s collapse >Page 14
Ray spent a lot of time sketching and making music in his study at his Bishop Lefroy Road home in Kolkata.
HIGH WINDOWS
THE GOOD LIFE
MUKUL KESAVAN
SHOBA NARAYAN
PRINT VERSUS TV’S WANTED, WOMEN REALTIME DRAMA ON TOP
T
he instinct to criticize the way in which the electronic media reports the news is so strong that we sometimes forget the marvellous, theatrical detail in which television news channels and the Web make the world available to us. The storm over M. Karunanidhi’s remarks about Prabhakaran, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and the way it was reported by the news channels, is a good example of television’s capacity to nuance the news. >Page 4
OUR DAILY BREAD
T
heir names are Renuka Devi, Mathurabai and Kenchamma and they are the village sarpanch, the mukhiya and the panchayat leader, respectively. They are, as a documentary produced by the Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi, elegantly puts it, “daughters of the 73rd amendment”, beneficiaries of a constitutional brushstroke that reserves one-third of all panchayat seats for women. They speak of ignominies and insults with steely-eyed resignation... >Page 4
SAMAR HALARNKAR
LEARNING HOW TO WOK THE TALK
V
egetarianism is the last refuge of scoundrels.”That was the slogan (fictitiously attributed to Winston Churchill)—crudely scrawled with a black marker pen—on the walls of every room my younger brother occupied when we were growing up. It was cool. It was defiant. It indicated the family motto: If it lives, we’ll eat it. Growing up, I never knew how to cook vegetarian food. To this day, if we’re getting vegetarians for a meal, my mother shuffles around nervously... >Page 18
A BOOK OF TWO HALVES Writing a ‘diptych novel’ that moves from Venice to Varanasi for no apparent reason >Page 16
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Saturday, May 9, 2009
Vol. 3 No. 18
LOUNGE THE WEEKEND MAGAZINE
MONOCHROME
SUMMER We tried on the season’s sexiest swimsuits >Page 8
BUSINESS LOUNGE WITH GALLUP’S JIM CLIFTON >Page 5
MY TOILET, MY ART Abroad and at home, the boundary between art and design gets blurred >Page 6
DO YOU REALLY NEED SUNSCREEN? Read what the experts have to say before you buy your next pricey bottle loaded with SPF >Page 13
THE SUMMER READING CLUB From Arundhati Roy to Kazuo Ishiguro—a roundup of the biggest books of the season >Page 16
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Saturday, May 23, 2009
Vol. 3 No. 20
LOUNGE THE WEEKEND MAGAZINE
Actors and IPL team owners Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta watch a match between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Deccan Chargers in Cape Town.
BUSINESS LOUNGE WITH TURNER’S STEVE MARCOPOTO >Page 7
THE SALADSANDWICH BRIGADE There are many ways to get your children interested in cooking >Page 5
9 0 0 2 L IP , S T I H
REPLY TO ALL
S E S S I M D N A IFS
T
TRAVELLING TIFFIN
SHOBA NARAYAN
THE NEW LAND OF GRIN AND BARE THE TALIBAN THEM ALL he Taliban will win in Pakistan. They are on the right side of the law. They are also on the right side of history. Last month, a video of Talibs whipping a 17-year-old girl for adultery upset Pakistanis, who thought it barbaric. It might be, but it is the law. The punishment for married adulterers in Pakistan is to “be stoned to death at a public place” (Ordinance 7 of 1979). Unmarried adulterers are to be “punished, at a public place; with whipping... >Page 4
I
Men’s drawers now come in a vexing array of cuts and fabrics; one shopper’s brief tale >Page 9
two t s u d j , wo r s t n a d us e best 2. Six n i h be t th f IPL 10 a s e k h c atc ok ba ents o >Page m h 57 , we lo re mom ir lists t i W o go izar are the t b t t f s le mo ans sh d n a et f k c i cr
THE GOOD LIFE
AAKAR PATEL
HIGH ANXIETY OVER UNDERWEAR
f you’ve seen the advertisement that often appears in this newspaper to promote Mint’s bloggers you may have noticed this. There are 18 bloggers. Out of 11 women, six are grinning (more than 50%). None of the seven men are grinning. A grin, according to the dictionary, is a smile with teeth showing. Over the last few months, I’ve noticed a curious thing. Women grin. Men smile. Not all the time and not necessarily in real life, but in published photographs. >Page 4
MARRYAM H RESHII
SWEET TRUTHS IN GUJARAT
B
lack pepper in an ice cream? Anywhere else in the habitable world, it may sound outrageous. In Gujarat, it is but one of the eye-popping ingredients in one of the many brands of ice cream that the state is famous for. Try and part the denizens of Gujarat from their ice cream, and you’ll have a riot on your hands. They love their sweets, so much so that every katori (bowl) in a thali (plate) has varying amounts of sweetness in it. It is possible, however, to feed them pasta, pizzas and vegetarian burgers... >Page 18
‘I WROTE IN SNATCHED TIME’ In our debut authors special, Sarita Mandanna talks about her book and staying away from the ‘desi’ tag >Page 14
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Saturday, April 18, 2009
Vol. 3 No. 15
LOUNGE THE WEEKEND MAGAZINE
THE GREAT
WIDE OPEN Instead of spending on a comfortable family holiday this summer, give your child a vacation full of adventure, nature, friendship, sports—and some meaningful time away from you >Page 9
BUSINESS LOUNGE WITH CHANDA KOCHHAR >Page 6
WHY DO MOCKTAILS FALL SO FLAT?
It’s because all the concocting, without alcohol, is fundamentally a frivolous business >Page 7
REMEMBER THE TITANS Find time for history between the IPL matches in South Africa >Page 12
Campers at Youreka test their rappling skills on the hillsides of the Himalayas.
HIGH WINDOWS
THE GOOD LIFE
MUKUL KESAVAN
SHOBA NARAYAN
BUSINESS VENTURE MAKE BEETHOVEN OR CIRCUS? ROCK FOR YOU
T
he second season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is being held in South Africa. The Indian government made it known that it couldn’t deal with its security needs because the scheduled IPL season coincided with the general election. The reaction of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the IPL was instructive. The immediate response was aggressive, even defiant. Lalit Modi, commissioner of the league... >Page 4
OUR DAILY BREAD
S
uppose you, like me, veer towards the classical in terms of music—be it Hindustani, Carnatic or Western classical. Suppose you, like me, are not familiar with Western classical music but want to enjoy it anyway. What do you do? For the last couple of years, I have been listening to symphonies, solos and concertos. What began as a lark has turned into an obsession. The problem is that I still haven’t cracked it. I am nowhere close to getting my arms around Mozart... >Page 4
SAMAR HALARNKAR
SECRETS FROM MY KITCHEN DIARY
H
ave you ever heard of these? Fighting Chicken; Star-Trek Brinjal; Mohammad’s Fish. Stay with me. What do families do when they can’t leave home? You know, when people are coming over; when you decide to lounge around and read or watch television; when you’re house-bound because of a bandh, a riot, a flood, an election or anything similarly disruptive of Indian public order; or when it’s simply too hot... >Page 18
WHY ENGLISH STILL RULES US Do we make a ‘foreign’ language, alien to most Indians, our nation’s lingua franca? We asked the experts >Page 16
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