Hands that never let go are the hands of a true friend. In happiness. In sorrow. In success. In failure. A friend will hold you tight, no matter what. And we know that well. After all, friendship is all about being there for each other.
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EDITOR’S L E
T
T
E R
F
estivals and rituals are making a comeback propelled, perhaps, by the alienation and stress among big city dwellers. I am, however, delighted at the revival of popular winter festivals like Lohri, celebrated on the eve of Makar Sankranti, to mark the resumption of the sun’s northward journey, that is, the commencement of Uttarayan. Usually observed on January 13 according to the Roman calendar, Lohri is supposed to mark the year’s coldest night; thus the conclusion of winter and heralding of spring. That explains people sitting around bonfires singing earthy numbers to mark the launch of the sowing season for the rabi crop. In my early years in Delhi, not only was I unaware of such local festivals but they were also never observed in upmarket families. Lohri was pretty much celebrated in the countryside or by people who had migrated to cities relatively recently. Many years ago, fascinated by the idea behind observing this vivacious festival, I organised a Lohri party on the terrace of the Vasant Vihar flat where I then lived. My Punjabi friends were pleasantly surprised by a Bengali wanting to observe what they regarded as a distinctly Punjabi event. I recall Mr K P S Gill dancing with verve, joined by invitees cutting across India’s linguistic and ethnic diversity. Over the years, Lohri has moved upmarket and is nowadays celebrated even in hotels. On occasions like this, I marvel at the “silken bonds” that have bound India together for 5,000 years as Nehru wrote in The Discovery of India. If this is not the best expression of cultural nationalism, what is? Regrettably, the mere utterance of that phrase leads to secular fundamentalists frothing at the mouth. Lohri is followed by Makar (or Pous) Sankranti, which is marked by ritual baths across India to mark the
Editor Chandan Mitra Editorial board Vice-chairman & joint managing director Amit Goel Chief Executive Officer Abhishek Saxena 09818600128 Editor-in-charge Rinku Ghosh Managing Editor Navneet Mendiratta Consulting Editor Ritu Pandey
Chief Designer Anand Singh Rawat Senior Designer Santosh Kumar Yadav Pre-press Manager Syed Nawab Raza Production Manager Dhiresh Gaur Staff photographer Pankaj Kumar
A FEST CALLED INDIA
[CHANDAN MITRA]
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arrival of spring and conclusion of an inauspicious month when no new ventures (including marriages) are undertaken. In my childhood, that was the day pancakes, known in Bengal as pithay, were invariably cooked and eaten with liquid jaggery — nolen gur, extracted from palm juice rather than the standard sugarcane. Sandesh, the prized Bengali sweet, is prepared in this season with nolen gur and that lends an irresistible flavour to it. All the way down to South, the same day is observed as Pongal. If such festivals are undergoing revival thanks to popular culture, it’s something to be commended because they only help strengthen those silken bonds that bind this civilisation. The magnificent season of spring will end with Holi — yet another festival devoid of religious connotations — that heralds the onset on summer. In between, we have Vasant Panchami, observed by Bengalis as Saraswati Puja. That’s another celebration meriting wide popularisation because invocation to the Goddess of Learning can have no sectarian boundaries. I remember not being allowed to start writing till I had gone through the ritual of haathey-khodi, always performed for children to coincide with Saraswati Puja. That’s the day I was made to pick up a piece of chalk (khodi) and scribble something on a slate to mark my initiation to the world of education. A child must be at least three years old for haathey-khodi to be observed. In this age of intense competition to get into school, such ground rules have understandably been given the go by. Indeed, most of these traditional rituals have been modified to keep pace with the demands of a rapidly modernising age. Nothing wrong with that, as long as we don’t abandon the spirit underlying the traditions. The revival of these festivals, however, brings through a powerful message: India’s cultural unity is secure.
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S
CONTENTS NOVEMBER
2015
VOLUME
10
FESTIVITIES All things bright & beautiful p20
NO
1
Travel Soul dip in wonder bay p44
FEATURES:
FEATURES:
Interiors Green-house effect p14
Art Warped for good p64 Elephant in the room p74
Wellness Breathe easy p15 Style Layer it right p16 Music Rooted riffs p18 Wideangle Desert song p28 Travel Easy in Bhopal p34 Taste buds bloom in City Beautiful p40 On Viking trail p56
BE IT THE WORSHIP OF THE SUN OR CELEBRATIONS OF LIGHT, THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER IS ALL ABOUT GETTING AWAY FROM DARKNESS TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES 92 INCLUDING COVER
OUR PARTNER HOTELS
Shopping Twinkle treats p69 Threadbare With needle to thread and songs in heart p70 InConversation Nobel fare p72 Drinks Get a li’l glass conscious p78 Diet Fest drive p86
S
INSHORT
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e who celebrates life stays forever young. My grandmother would often say that to have us participate in each and every festival that our tradition upheld. She would make sure we all dressed up in new clothes, had our hair done nicely and wore happy faces for the rest of the day. Our house would be decorated with fresh flowers, the fragrance of camphor wafted through and a feast would be prepared to ensure our stomachs too were well taken care of. Looking back, I realise there is a great logic to how our forefathers perceived life. They believed in living in the moment and living every moment for what it had to offer. And festivals were an integral part of those moments — with there being one for every season and every reason. Like in winter, when the days would get
MAKE LIFE YOUR FESTIVAL
NAVNEET MENDIRATTA navneetmendiratta@gmail.com
dreary, occasions were picked to shake one out of lethargy and infuse some excitement. This issue of ours is also about such ‘cool’ occasions that spread cheer. Like Diwali. And just like my grandmother, we have used the festival of lights as an excuse to dress this issue up with things that excite you. Be it doing up your interiors, preparing traditional delicacies, dressing up or just buying glassware for your home. For some of you, it could mean travel — so there’s a celebration of destinations. From the desert expanse of Jodhpur Riff where music spells the charm to virgin New Zealand which begs a visit. For the lovers of art, there’s an exploration of embroideries, textiles and traditional forms and how they get reinterpreted or attached to a cause. This, and so much more. Happy reading!
O U R C O L U M N I S T S Diwali could be just the opportunity to reflect upon the darkness within us and let the radiance of wisdom guide through, says spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
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Fragrant light desserts with an eye candy appeal are a good replacement for greasy treats in winter, says food and nutrition consultant Sangeeta Khanna
Crystalware and its type and shape have historical and tactile significance. It does affect our perception of the substance it holds, says sommelier Magandeep Singh
THELITTLEBLACKBOOK F A V O U R I T E
Born in Greece, Eliana Koulas grew up in Australia and moved to India about a decade ago to redefine luxury fashion here through her brand, Luxus Retail
H A U N T S
O F
S T Y L I S H
P E O P L E
My preferred meal hangout in London is Oblix at the Shard, the highest skyscraper in London offering the most spectacular view from the 32nd floor that money can buy — overlooking the glittering river and the bridge.
I am crazy about Jaipur block prints and Khadi fabrics. The vibrance, contrasts and beautiful organic imperfections of the designs are amazing. And I love the way the fabrics breathe.
I love wearing my Patek Philippe watches. This brand is for the true watch connoisseur, something you buy as an investment to love and admire. The magnificent hand-movement and craftsmanship is truly a work of art.
I have the largest collection of Ferragamo shoes. It is the only brand which offers shoes with a choice of foot width other than foot length. From buying into luxury for pure aesthetic value, my style evolution is moving more towards comfort now. The Greek Islands top my vacation list. The warm hospitality, the pristine waters, the freedom of jumping off a yacht in the middle of the Aegean Sea and straight into a cave and the gorgeous evenings... nothing beats the Greek experience.
My favourite shopping haunts are Bungalow Eight for eclectic clothing and interiors, Bombay Electric for offbeat jewellery and Good Earth for textiles.
12 EXOTICA / NOVEMBER 2015
I really love minimalism with a touch of femininity about my handbags and Chloe beautifully fits into it. Celine and Hermes are my other favourites.
W
hile the Nation is facing a great challenge to meet the requirement of electric power in various spheres of daily life due to the increasing population, students of Ajay Kumar Garg Engineering College Ghaziabad have found a novel solution for alleviating the shortage of electricity. The innovative idea conceptualized by these young engineers utilizes each step of growing population for generation of electric power. The growing population which was considered a cause for depletion will soon become a source of generation to meet the growing demand of electric power.
The students of B.Tech (Mechanical) of AKGEC have conceptualized, designed and fabricated an "Energy Tile" which produces electric power with each step on it. The Piezo Energy Tiles uses Piezoelectric material that convert the mechanical stress, caused in it by people stepping on it, to electric energy which can be stored and used. The "Energy Tile" has been functionally tested for its purpose and also demonstrated at Metro Bhawan for its wide spread use at various metro stations of DMRC. The "Energy Tile" will find its use at Airports, Shopping Malls, Hospitals, Bus Stands, Concerts and at any place where frequent movements of crowding population takes place. The innovative efforts by the young engineers of AKGEC is an inspiring step towards Skill India & Make in India.
INTERIORS
Green-house effect T Luxury exteriors specialist SHABNAM SINGH tells us how to use plants with high oxygenation as indoor air filters
o counter the pollution that hangs heavy in the air post Diwali, it is a good idea to move your plants indoors. There are plants that are not just visually appealing but also eliminate harmful substances from their surroundings with minimum care and maintenance. Here are a few simple tips to beautify different corners of your house while eliminating significant amounts of benzene, formaldehyde and other harmful substances. Take Sansevieria for instance. Also known as the Mother-in-law’s Tongue, this plant is one of the best options for filtering out formaldehyde, which is commonly found in cleaning products, toilet paper, tissues and personal care products. Put one in your bathroom. It thrives on low light and steamy humid conditions while helping filter out air pollutants. Draceana Marginata (or the red-edged Draceana) is optimum for removing xylene, trichloroethylene and formaldehyde, which pollute the air through lacquers, varnishes and gasoline. The red edges of this plant add a pop of colour to any dull corner of the house. Ficus Benjamina asks for attention. But once you get the light and water conditions right, this plant can be a powerful filter in your living room for pollutants accompany carpeting and furniture.
O
ther easily available and aesthetically-appealing plants that are high in oxygenation include Areca Palm, Lady Palm, Draceana Janet Craig, Bamboo Palm, Ficus Robusta, Philodendron and Ficus Alii. Plants can be also worked into gardens and landscapes in a creative manner. Another helpful technique is to use coco-peat as a planting/potting medicine. It is a myth that gardens consume “too” much water. Logical watering patterns not only safeguard the natural resource but add to the ecological growth of a garden. No plant likes excessive water anyway. Use of eco-friendly potting techniques in an aesthetic manner both for indoor and outdoor purposes is the need of the hour. The air has so many pollutants that the best we can do is to turn natural and activate the green power.
14 EXOTICA / NOVEMBER 2015
WELLNESS
Breatheeasy Halitosis or bad breath can be embarrassing and tough on those around you. Fortunately, the problem is easy to fix, says DR TANVIR SINGH
1
Brush and floss after every meal to reduce plaque build-up. Carry a toothbrush and toothpaste to work, so you can brush your teeth after lunch. Flossing will remove food from in between the teeth that the brush can’t reach. Low-carb diets may be good for your waistline but they aren’t for your breath. When carbohydrates aren’t readily available, the body starts using other fats and proteins as your source of energy, releasing ketones in the process. As a result you get a breath problem which can be tackled with a change in diet. Reduce intake of garlic, onion and any strong-odoured food or use a mouthwash after having them. Smelly sulphur compounds in garlic and onions linger in your mouth and are absorbed in the bloodstream and expelled when you exhale. Avoid tobacco, smoking, alcoholic drinks and coffee which create a favourable environment for oral bacterial growth. They also have a drying effect, which allows foulsmelling bacteria to linger longer. Dehydration also causes bad breath, so stay hydrated and drink plenty of water. Keep sipping water all day. It will keep your mouth clean and odour-free. If you have dry mouth, try sucking on a piece of sugarless candy or chew sugarless gum for 15-20 minutes but avoid sugar mints to stimulate saliva flow. The saliva will help to wash away food debris and bacteria that cause bad breath. Visit your dentist every six months for scaling and checkups. You may not realise but common maladies like gum disease and tooth decay can also be a source of bad breath. — The author is an orthodontist
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STYLE
LAYER IT RIGHT
W
omen refrain from piling on clothes to avoid looking bigger than they actually are. But layering can sometimes miraculously transform your appearance to complement your curves and create an illusion of a more proportional silhouette. o Start with a basic and lightweight top and add another layer to it in the form of a soft cardigan or sweater. Then add a jacket, blazer or
16 EXOTICA / NOVEMBER 2015
an overcoat. Don’t forget to wear a square scarf or a fluffy long one tucked in your jacket well. Keep the under-layers more fitted to keep your body contours looking slim. o If you’re concerned about your waistline, try to top off your look with something that can be worn with a huge belt. Over a lightweight top, wear a warm enough knee-length cardigan and team it up with a wide buckled or a knotted belt that flatters your figure. If that’s not enough
PHOTOS: WWW.BLOG.STITCHFIX.COM
Don’t dread the winter. You can beat the chill while looking elegantly slim. Fashion stylist DIVYA SISODIA tells you how
STYLE QUICKTIPS Mix lengths: A long sleeve top can be matched with a short cardigan or a vest. Limit layers: Three layers are probably ample to avoid looking bulky. Create contrast: Mix different lengths, colours, patterns and fabrics to give a personal touch. Mix different styles: Avoid mixing pieces of same style like a fringe skirt with a fringe tshirt. Watch your height: Overlayering can make you look shorter if you’re petite. Balance layers: Mix your layered top with a pair of slim fit leggings or skirts and high boots.
for the weather outside, go with jackets that have a wide waist or a drawstringwaist belt. o Length and proportion are the key to perfect layering. With a voluminous blouse or a loose jumper, pair something fitted below. Or if you’re wearing a maxi skirt or wide-legged trousers, pair it with a more tailored jacket or a fitted sweater. In case of length, do the pairing right. Long coats, tunics or blazers look perfect if paired with a shorter hem below and vice versa. o Play with texture. It’s best to slip in a mix of materials when donning a layered look. Using all the layers of the same fabrics will make your look come off as heavy and massive, adding up to the unwanted bulk. o Summer clothes are made of lighter materials, which make them perfect for layering during colder months. Try pairing your leggings with a lighter summer cardigan and a cozy vest. You can also wear your summer shorts over the leggings to funk up your look. However, make sure that the colour of these summer clothes are darker in shade, disguising them as cold weather clothes.
NOVEMBER 2015 / EXOTICA
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MUSIC RAGHU DIXIT, composer and frontman of multilingual alternate folk band the Raghu Dixit Project, gives out his pet chords by RITU PANDEY From music to dressing, everything about your band is very rooted. Is it an advantage or a burden? I definitely think it is an advantage. Our music and attire have resonated very well with people of all ages and backgrounds from around the world and I am yet to see it as a burden! For your kind of alternate folk music, what are your inspirations? My inspiration has always been the history and culture of this great country. I’ve remained musically unique, I think, by not being overly influenced by any particular style of music. I have always tried to do justice to what I am singing about and make a song that stays true to the message. How important are roots to any kind of experimental artiste? It’s not just for an artist, roots are important for EVERYONE. Our unique identities and personalities come from our roots and our experiences in our society. I think it is important to factor that in when you create art. Singing or composing — what do you enjoy more? And why? I don’t think I can choose between the two. I love singing, like I keep saying, it is the best feeling in the world to just be able to breathe in thin
Rooted riff
18 EXOTICA / NOVEMBER 2015
MUSIC air and throw out a melody or a song. But the compositions live forever. Is the response to your music abroad, different from what it is in India? Why? Not really. I think my music is proof that music is universal. It goes beyond language, race and other such man-made barriers. Yes, it is difficult for people who don’t speak my language to understand what I am singing about but that is the case in India as well. I’ve received a lot of love and adulation for my music from across the world and I am truly blessed in that regard. You’ve composed for two Hindi films. How challenging was making music in Bollywood’s restricted musical environment where there’s little scope for experimentation? I don’t think making music for movies means there is little scope for experimentation. It takes great creativity to be able to deliver music with a mass appeal while sticking to and enhancing a movie situation. That said, it is very challenging and one has to understand that you are not just making music for yourself but for the film and there are a lot of stakeholders that need to be on board with you when you compose. You’re giving online guitar tutorials. How did that happen
and do you see any musician like you coming up from these? I have received a lot of requests from fans who wanted to learn how to play my songs. So when we approached Gibson with the idea to teach people how to play our songs in my own style, they loved it and thanks to them, we have these videos out. I don’t know if any musician like me will arise out of these videos, and frankly that is not the idea. The intention, is to tell people without a doubt that there is no one way to learn music. That playing the guitar and singing and making music itself is rewarding. So just go out there and play an instrument, you will be in for many days of fun and laughter. And if you want to do that with my songs, here is how. A self-taught artiste who gave up a career in microbiology for music with success? Would you advise such a dare to young selftaught musicians? That depends on what you want to do with your life. If you want to be a musician, treat it like you would treat any other traditional career. Invest time, effort and even money and take it very, very seriously. If that means having to move careers, then that is just a small part of what needs to be done. Whatever route you take, don’t do it for the glamour. It’s more than just the headlines that matter.
NOVEMBER 2015 / EXOTICA
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FESTIVITIES WANGALA FESTIVAL: Also known as the 100 Drum Festival due to the ritualistic beating of drums, blowing of horns and traditional dancing, Wangala is the biggest festival of Meghalaya’s Garo tribe in northeast India. Held in honour of the Sun god, the festival marks the end of the sowing season and agricultural year. WHEN: November 6 WHERE: Garo Hills, Meghalaya
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ALL THINGS BRIGHT Be it the worship of the Sun or celebrations of light, the month of November is all about getting away from darkness DIWALI: As the name suggests, the beginning of the Hindu New Year is celebrated as Festival of Lights and marks the victory of light over darkness. Clay lamps and candles are lit and placed in houses decorated with rangoli and fireworks are let off. People also gamble and give each other gifts and sweets. WHEN: November 11 WHERE: Across India, except in some parts of southern India
20 EXOTICA / NOVEMBER 2015
FESTIVITIES
CHHATH PUJA: Devoted to the worship of sun, Chhathh is traditionally celebrated by the people of Bihar. People flock to river banks and offer prayers to the Sun god. Hymns and folk songs are sung and women fast and pray for the well-being of their family and friends. WHEN: November 17 WHERE: River banks across Bihar, Varanasi, Delhi and Mumbai
DEV DEEPAVALI: Kartik Purnima, the full moon night of the Hindu month of Kartik, is when the gods are believed to descend on Earth to bathe in river Ganga. More than a million clay lamps are floated down the river at dusk amid chanting of Vedic hymns and cultural programmes for their welcome. WHEN: November 22-25 WHERE: Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh GURU NANAK JAYANTI: Commemoration of Guru Nanak’s (the founder of the Sikh religion) birth anniversary. Gurudwaras are beautifully illuminated and the holy Granth Sahib carried out of the temple in a huge procession, accompanied by music and drummers. WHEN: November 25 WHERE: Across Punjab but especially so at the Golden Temple in Amritsar
NOVEMBER 2015 / EXOTICA
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TRAVEL BANARAS
I
f Diwali marks the homecoming of Rama, Lakshman and Sita to Ayodhya, the banks of the Ganga in Varanasi are a unique place to be on the day. On the dark new moon night, all the ghats are lit up with a thousand earthen lamps in their welcome turning the riverside into a City of Lights. Fireworks can be seen and heard all night long. To truly be a part of this spellbinding landscape, rent a hotel on the banks and make sure not to miss the day’s special Ganga aarti on the illuminated ghats. It is an unforgettable experience.
SEELIGHT GOA
S
etting effigies of demon Narakasura on fire is the Naraka Chaturdashi tradition in Goa and is also one of the major festivals of the state. A day prior to Diwali, a big competition is held in every village and town to see who can make the biggest effigy of Narkasura. These effigies are then set ablaze at the dawn of Diwali day, which symbolises the triumph of good over evil. Spend the day before watching these celebrations and then during the day, go and try your luck at gambling at many casinos in the city.
22 EXOTICA / NOVEMBER 2015
TRAVEL AMRITSAR
A
Punjabi adage goes “Dal roti ghar di Diwali Amritsar di.” (There’s nothing like homemade food and Diwali in Amritsar.) To see if it’s indeed true, celebrate Diwali in the city where it is marked as Bandi Chhor Divas, the day Sikh Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji secured his freedom along with 56 Hindu kings from the prison of Mughal ruler Jahangir in Gwalior fort and their arrival thereafter at the Golden temple in 1619. The temple premises as well as the pond inside are illuminated with countless oil lamps and candles. Special prayers are held along with a day-long langar.
Diwali in India is a great time to catch regional expressions of radiance and their distinct legends in full glory
D
iwali down south is little to talk about but for anyone looking for a quiet celebration, clearly this is the place to be in. With every temple in the city having special events on the day, there’s a lot to see and take part in. If you’re staying close to a residential area, visit a local home early morning to
M Y S O R E
see the colourful rangolis being made outside. In the evening, take a walk around the illuminated Mysore Palace and past the shops near Town Hall, buy a few firecrackers and celebrate with the city. If you’re lucky, you can catch the special Diwali show at the Palace as well.
NOVEMBER 2015 / EXOTICA
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SPECIAL Party you will. But strategise well to appease the deity of luck on the festival of lights by RITU PANDEY
DIWALI GAMEPLAN
W
hat are the bets like when you’re courting Lakshmi? The wise would say the sky is the limit — to propitiate the goddess of prosperity, the stakes better befit her stature. At the Diwali card parties of loaded Indians in cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, that could mean a Cartier watch, a Bentley or a Lamborgini, some times even a penthouse. The rich in India take their rituals very seriously. At least one of them. Gambling, like the lighting of earthen lamps and worshipping Lakshmi, is an essential Diwali tradition. A legend also relates it to Goddess Parvati, who is believed to have played dice with her husband Lord Shiva on the night of Diwali and won. The 8th century
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Kailash temple in Ellora immortalises this cosmic game of dice between the supreme deities in stone. The tradition continues even now, though the dice has been replaced by cards, virtual games and other such modern inventions. And though traditionally the emphasis, more than winning or losing, was on the spirit of the game, now the bottomline is how much you can win. VIRTUAL BETS ashing in on that lure will be online rummy sites such as ace 23, Junglee Rummy and ClassicRummy whose popularity has soared since last year’s Supreme Court ruling that made skill card games like rummy and poker even for stakes exempt from gambling laws. They are only likely to peak around Diwali.
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SPECIAL
If rummy is not your type, try online poker which is on a boom since the ruling. More than two dozen sites like Adda52, Poker Guru and Khelo365 are vying for a share of the Diwali poker pie with new games, high value prizes and promotional tournaments. Says Lina Wang, marketing director of Cyber Gaming launching its new card room StarPoker.in, “This is a measure of our confidence in the market. We’ve timed it with the festive season in India because it’s a great time for happiness.” Teen Patti, the old Janmashtami and Diwali favourite and the Indian game that comes closest to poker, is the alternative on the digital platform to bring together family and friends across geographical distances for a fun night of card playing. But things get even better on Diwali what with the app setting up two Premium Diwali Tables that allow players to win virtual chips and earn a place on the special Diwali leader board.
REAL DEAL owever, for those who still want the real thing, staying cued in to the inner circles of the well-heeled in our metros might be of some help. It’s not easy getting an invite to these really secretive card parties though. So network well and with some genuine players. Else you can head to Goa to try your luck at the floating casinos and then party on the beach. Or to Kathmandu next door, which has reopened its casinos in time for Diwali after an 18-month hiatus. For an exotic gamble, there’s always the choice of Macau, Dubai, Bangkok, Singapore and Las Vegas. Or if you can wait till next Diwali, Sikkim is preparing to open its first betting shops soon. It has recently cleared a legislation allowing operators to offer online sports betting, casino and poker games via “intranet gaming terminals” that are only accessible within Sikkim borders.
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T R A D I T I O N A T P L A Y JHANDI MUNDA: A traditional betting game of Arunachal Pradesh, Jhandi Munda is played with a sixsided dice. There are six different icons on each side of the dice and the players bet on which symbol will appear the most.
CHAUPAD: The granddad of the Ludo and similar dice games. The 'board' is traditionally an embroidered cloth in the shape of a cross. Each arm of the cross is divided into three columns and each column is divided into eight squares.
COWRIE: The dice here are 21 cowrie shells which are thrown to check your luck in the coming year. Combinations of upside cowries in 1, 7, 9, 18 and 21 are believed to signal good luck.
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I M A R T I F L A N W I T H F R E S H F R U I T S INGREDIENTS o Split black gram skinless (dhuli urad dal) 150 gm o Rice 40 gm o Edible orange red colour optional o Sugar 750 gm o Saffron 5 gm o Rose essence 5 ml o Green cardamom powder 1 teaspoon o Vegetable oil (for deep frying) o Kiwi, Papaya and Melon 1 CUSTARD CREAM o Whipping cream 75 gm o Custard powder 20 gm o Milk 200 ml o Sugar 40 gm
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METHOD: o Soak dal and rice together for 60 minutes o Drain and grind with the colour to a soft, spongy mixture with a coarse texture. o Boil sugar with 3 cups of water till a syrup of singlethread consistency is reached o Remove from heat and strain the syrup. o Add saffron, rose essence and green cardamom powder. Keep the syrup hot. o Heat sufficient olive oil in a shallow flat jalebi kadhai. o Take one ladle full of batter in a cotton cloth, hold
FOOD P A A N B A R F I
Home-made sweets are a good way to keep a check on calories during festivals. How much fun and health can you pack in lies in your own creativity. Here are two simple delights to try your hand at tightly and press the batter through the hole into the hot oil. Make small batches and deep fry on both the sides till crisp and light golden brown. o Drain the hot imarti and dip into the sugar syrup. Let them remain immersed till they have absorbed enough syrup. Drain and place the imarti on a flat plate. o Let it stand so as to allow it to come down to room temperature o Top it with custard cream and fresh sliced fruits.
INGREDIENTS o Gulkand 100 gm o Cashewnut 50 gm o Raisins 50 gm o Almond 50 gm o Pista 50 gm o Khoya Pindi 800 gm o Sugar 200 gm METHOD o Mix khoya, sugar and heat in a thick bottom pan. o Let the mixture cool. o Prepare the stuffing with gulkand, chopped dry fruits. o Make balls from the mixture and pinch with stuffing. o Lend your shape. — Vijayant Rawat, Executive Chef, Latitude, Mosaic Hotels, Noida
CUSTARD CREAM o Boil milk in a heavy bottom pan. o Take off 100 ml of milk and cool. o Add custard powder to make a slurry while still warm o Add sugar to boiling milk. o Now add custard slurry to the boiling milk. o Keep stirring and cook till required consistency is obtained. Keep aside and chill o Whip cream to the stage where it starts to form peaks. o Add cream to the chilled custard mix. — Sandeep Panwar, Executive Chef, The Metropolitan Hotel & Spa, New Delhi
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WIDEANGLE
Desert song
They say you have to tune your senses finely to read the magic that is woven on a full moon night. And what happened on the night of Sharad Purnima at Mehrangarh Fort was nothing short of that. World famous musicians jammed with Rajasthani folk and traditional artists to celebrate the bond of music. This has been a tradition for the past nine years now. Jodhpur Riff, the annual music and art festival, provides an open stage to folk artists and musicians from India and around the globe. Snapshots from the event Photos by KAVI BHANSALI
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PHOTOS©JRIFF/OIJO
DIVYA KUMAR BHATIA [Festival Director]
(Top): Meghwals of Marwar perform at Jaswant Thada (outside Mehrangarh Fort) for Riff Dawns. A Hindu community from the Marwar region in Rajasthan, the Meghwals are an occupational group engaged in tanning of hides and work as agricultural labour. They sing bhajans for their deity, Ram Devji, in villages. This was a beautiful performance set to a tanbura (a stringed instrument) and a jhanjh (cymbal). (Centre): This was the annual special. Three generations of Manganiyars came together in a performance, dubbed The Manganiyars of Marwar. The performance was dedicated to Sakhar Khan Manganiyar by the artists of the community, who worked magic on vocals and traditional instruments such as kamaycha, dhol, morchhang, dholak, khartal and murli). Late Sakhar Khan was a kamaycha master. (Bottom): The Manganiyar musicians were led by Kheta Manganiyar and Sakarji’s sons Firoz, Ghewar and Darra
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The royal patronage: It’s a partnership that has withstood the test of time. Eleven years ago, in 2007, when John and Faith Singh approached Maharaj Gaj Singh II of Marwar-Jodhpur, who was also a trustee in Jaipur Virasat Foundation, little did anyone envision that this would be a partnership that would not only last but grow multifold. Selection of musicians: We are constantly trying to bring in new talent and voices. Two hundred and sixty Rajasthani artists performed this year. But what is interesting to note is that there is a sense of ownership among the local artists, who view it as their own product. This is what lends that touch of intimacy to the festival Growth of a tradition: The growth of RIFF over the years has been very organic. Being a not-for-profit organisation, our effort is to pass as much advantage to the folk artists. And why not? We aim to positively impact their income in general, while the festival provides them the necessary exposure to reach other platforms. Our artists have played at several international festivals including Spain, Australia, South Africa, and the UK. In 2016, we celebrate a decade of our musical tradition and if all goes as planned, it will be one grand affair. — As told to Navneet Mendiratta
WIDEANGLE For the first time, this year, Jodhpur RIFF brought two Grammy award winners, Wouter Kellerman (winner 2015) and Yossi Fine (winner 1991) to the festival. So if the finale offered electrifying main stage performances by Indian and international Reggae artists (Ska Funk and Papa Julius and Zion Nexus), the dawn broke to the mellifluous notes of the flute by Kellerman. He was accompanied by Dilshad Khan and Mahesh Vinayakam
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Multi-award winning bassist, Grammy winner, and the godfather of hip-hop, reggae and world music sounds, Yossi Fine presented a solo set followed by a confluence set with Rajasthani musicians. Also performing for the first time at Jodhpur RIFF were the Fiddlers — Emilia and Suvi from Finland — and chromatic harmonica maestro Antonio Serrano along with Josemi Carmona on the Flamenco Guitar
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WIDEANGLE
Other than the main stage performances, there were events aimed at bringing the music community closer with interactive sessions and impromptu performances. The visitors also got to see their lives up close
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EASY IN BHOPAL
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From food to culture to people, the Madhya Pradesh capital is about not letting lineage sit heavy on your head by RITU PANDEY Photos by SANJEEV KUMAR
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n peak Indian summer, Ramzan can be a trying time for the devout. Ironically, it is also a time when an amazing smorgasbord of flavours spreads out in places with a significant Muslim populace. But what if you find yourself in a Muslim stronghold not known for any great culinary tradition? Well, you try and console yourself with tidbits on the city’s fasting culture. But even that can become a task, if the day happens to be the first Friday of Ramzan and the mosques and other religious hubs are out of bounds for the non-religious. Understandably then, all you’re left with is to seek an audience with local history. And that’s exactly what I did as I went around the old city in Bhopal — a maze of residential buildings, shops stacked closely in narrow alleys heaving with life. Curiously however, at this hour the bylanes looked pretty sanitised — the masses having dissipated inside small neighbourhood mosques that littered every single bylane, sometimes two or three of them in close proximity, for the Zuhr Namaz. The mantra, “work is worship” is what kept the remaining few, including me and my photographer, out. So checking out small ittar, sharbat and accessory shops selling Ramzan essentials like rosaries and much in vogue Turkish and Afghani caps, we reached the Chowk Bazaar, right at the entrance of which sits the architectural marvel of Shaukat Mahal. Said to have been designed by a decadent Frenchman who claimed his lineage to the Bourbon dynasty of France, the almost church-like building is a combination of Gothic and post-Renaissance styles in pink and white alabaster. It is known to have been constructed in 1830s as a wedding gift for Sikander Jehan Begum, the daughter of Qudsia Begum, the first woman ruler of the princely state of Bhopal.
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TRAVEL ROYAL LEGACY
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erely witnessing past glory is getting just half the story. Only an experience of being a part of it can give a full sense of life under the Nawabs. And that’s made possible at the Noor us Sabah palace, a heritage hotel. Literally meaning “the Light Of Dawn”, Noor-Us-Sabah was built in the 1920 by Hamidullah Khan for his eldest daughter Begum Abida Sultan. After Partition, Abida migrated to Pakistan, leaving the palace to be inherited by her younger sister Begum Sajida Sultan. Perched on top of a hillock facing the Bada Taal, the hotel still maintains its historical character with high dome-like ceilings and arches. Old photographs of the original palace, palanquins and carriages placed at strategic points add grandeur to the atmosphere. Zaika, the restaurant, serves authentic recipes from the royal kitchen, alongside modern amenities like a spa, a hamam and a gaming zone. The hotel’s proximity to studios also makes it a favourite with film crews shooting in Bhopal.
LIBERATED BEGUMS
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he city stands out as an oddity among the Indian Muslim principalities — the only one to have been ruled by women, and a rather liberal and liberated lot at that with Afghan ancestry. In fact, an illiterate Qudsia Begum took over the reins of the kingdom after the assassination of her husband in 1819 but refused to follow the purdah, declared her two-year-old as her successor and proved herself an able ruler who cared for her people. Sikander Jehan Begum succeeded her mother in 1844. Without bothering about the veil, she went a step ahead to get herself trained in martial arts and even fought several battles during her reign. Their successors — Shah Jahan Begum and then Kaikhusro Begum — followed into these egalitarian conventions to thereby nurture a very tolerant and mixed culture in the city. Bhopal got a male ruler only in 1926 with the ascension of Nawab Hamidullah Khan, the
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son of Kaikhusro Begum. However, postindependence, since Khan’s elder daughter Abida moved to Pakistan and the younger one, Sajida, got married into the Pataudi royalty, the head of the royal family of Pataudi, is also regarded as the head of the Bhopal royalty. So technically now, actor and the nawab of Pataudi, Saif Ali Khan, is the nawab of Bhopal. In keeping with its egalitarian and liberal tradition of rulers, Bhopal in recent times, became the first city to elect a
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transgender as member to its state Assembly. But the Islamic penchant for great buildings was as pronounced among the begums as their male counterparts elsewhere despite the constraints of a small kingdom. In fact, some of the most magnificent monuments in Bhopal — like Taj-ul-Masajid, the largest mosque in the country; Moti Masjid, architecturally akin to Delhi’s Jama Masjid; and Qaisar-e-Sultani, now Saifia College — came up during their reign.
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TRAVEL IMPRESSION BUILDING
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he gorgeous Gohar Mahal beside the Upper Lake was built by the very first Qudsia Begum in 1820 as a perfect blend of Hindu and Mughal styles. Its beautiful façade and arches are vivid reminders of its past glory. But my personal favourite turned out to be Taj Mahal, the 120-room residence of Shah Jahan Begum built in Indo-Saracenic style, which is now in the process of being converted into a heritage hotel. Though the building is open to public, the guard at the entrance let us in after much cajoling, strictly on the condition that we won't click any pictures. We still managed a few of the beautiful six-storey front façade and canopies. Built over 13 years, from 1871 to 1884, the Taj Mahal was part of a complex of buildings along the three lakes, the breeze from which kept them cool. Taj-ul-Masajid, the largest mosque in India and third largest in the world, sits adjacent. Its white domes shone bright in the warm afternoon glow that got reflected off red sandstone façade as we arrived. The mosque also houses a residential madarsa but following Ramzan holidays there were just a handful of devotees. The roots of the Bhopal royalty and its architectural heritage extend beyond. About an hour’s drive from the main city on Berasia Road is Islamnagar. Once known as Jagdishpur, this hamlet was part of the territory of the Gond royals. In 1707, amid the confusion following Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s death, Afghan commander in the Mughal army Dost Mohammed Khan usurped it to establish Islamnagar, of which Bhopal became the capital in 1727. Chaman Mahal and Rani Mahal are two magnificent structures in the premises, both relatively well kept with gardens and greenery and crowded by amorous couples whose love declarations fill the walls. You only wish some one showed as much love for these monuments.
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FOODTRAIL
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FOODTRAIL
A political hotspot of North India, a stopover for travellers headed to the hills and an established student hub... The multiple identities of the Punjab and Haryana capital have prompted it to develop its own brand of foodie culture. Here are three must-try hangouts on your visit to Chandigarh by NAVNEET MENDIRATTA
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BREAKFAST: BACKPACKERS’ CAFÉ
tarting your day here is imperative when you’re in Chandigarh. Situated in the city’s upscale neighbourhood of Sector 9, Backpackers’ Café is famous for its English-style breakfast since 2007. The décor appeals to the widely travelled, with artworks and pictures of faraway destinations adorning the walls. Travel books and guides lie stacked in the racks, tempting the visitors to linger over for just a bit longer. WHAT TO ORDER: Its All-Day Breakfast selection ranges from farm-fresh eggs with bacon, cinnamon and raisin pancake stack, BBQ chicken, bangers and mash (grilled sausages), country potato wedges and sauted veggies. Love your omlette? You can choose from Spanish or Indian masala stuffed with sauted onion, ham or pepperoni. There’s also a choice of salads, sandwiches and amazing cold coffee. Chandigarh being a city of early risers, it is not unusual to see people meeting over breakfast. The portions are king-size given the hearty appetite of the locals and for a price that it comes at, you’d wish you could drive down to the city on a daily basis.
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LUNCH: NABOBS
lso situated in Sector 9, Nabobs is an Indicafe inspired by the British who carried back with them the Raj hangover. Spread over two floors, it houses a cafĂŠ with an open kitchen at the ground level and pub-style seating on the first. The dĂŠcor is quirky and holds an Anglicised charm with fun elements thrown in like a drunk-o-metre, which pegs Punjabi as the highest level of drunk that one can get! WHAT TO ORDER: Gosht Bhalla for sure! It is the non-vegetarian take on the popular Punjabi snack, dahi bhallas, with mutton balls replacing the original lentil ones in the traditional. We also strongly recommend their Masala keema scotch eggs for the egg-lovers and Dahi ke kebab for the vegetarians. For sandwich lovers, there are naninis or naan-sandwiches and nan pizzas. Another must-have for meat lovers is the mutton harissa. For drinks, go for Desi Sangria and Paan Martinis. Who said afternoons need to be dry?
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FOODTRAIL
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DINNER: MALT & CO
his one’s the highlight of the city these days. Located in the city’s Piccadily Hotel in Sector 22-B, it’s the first microbrewery in the Union Territory. Malt & Co is actually a microbrewery-cum-gastronomic kitchen for beer is best enjoyed with pub grub. The décor is easy and friendly, meant to cater to a happy mix of diners, including families. WHAT TO ORDER: As of now, the microbrewery offers two ready-to-serve brews — a Lager and an unfiltered wheat one. In the pipeline is a dark craft beer as well as a specially brewed ginger speciality, ready to be served close to the festive season. Want something different? Check out their Beer Sangria. You would be pleasantly surprised. In food, we recommend you check out their crab cakes, veg mezze, caramelised French fries and lobster platters. There is also the option of some great appam and stew for those who love south Indian flavours. A big plus is its good portion size.
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TRAVEL
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It’s the coolest little unspoilt hotspot. But to experience The Lord of the Rings vistas and Maori adventures of New Zealand, you better forego the big city lure by MEENAKSHI RAO
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n the last fortnight or so, I almost kissed the Antarctic Circle, walked on ground with active volcanoes just a kilometre or so below my feet, witnessed an entire city in the steamy smoke of erupting natural geysers, soaked in the therapeutic acidic and alkaline waters of mother Earth while the temperature was zero degrees or so outside, swung down Jack’s beanstalk kind of trees on sheer rope across 170 plus metres, got thrown off a cliff in a no-bars swing that made me learn the real value of life and, finally, held the original Lord of the Rings ring (and boy it’s heavy and big enough to go round your waist) in my bare hands. And when I was not being jolted into this vibrant adrenaline fever, I walked through the largest man-made forest in the southern hemisphere, watched the milky way just an arm-raise away, breathed air so fresh that I might just fall ill of cleanliness and went down the azure and translucent ocean waters of two water bodies — the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
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ll this was when I was not four-wheeling down the most rugged coastline ever, spotting seals basking on its jagged red and black rocks, raising their necks to kiss the laden skies even as the wind kept pumping up the sea to be naughty enough to rise above the mundane.
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New Zealand right now is cold. It has the icy winds freezing up your ears, it has snow in places and it has the ocean waters inviting but cold just in case you risk a dip. It also has a lot of raingiving verdant green cover to its wanton pasturelands lounging across gentle mounds, cut through by streams gurgling down in slow motion and sheep dotting the ethereal landscape where one Mr Peter Jackson has deemed that Hobbits will roam freely in more than 80 places with all their quirks and works. But, between 0 degrees and 5 or so, New Zealand still is that coolest hotspot you missed if
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you decided against it. It’s a misnomer really to say Zealandia is a summer destination. Yes it tones down in the winters, downsizes its itineraries a bit and kind of takes a holiday for a month or so in July and August but off the beaten track, it is still the place to be.
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uckland and Wellington are big cities you can find with some differences across the globe. But it is the beauty within that is stunning and to experience that you need to go offtrack to this country’s insides, to places like Rotorua, Nelson and maybe Wellington, the
coolest little capital in the world. Take Rotorua, for example. A geyser town nestling over volcanic lava underneath, it is known for its iconic geothermal activity. It is stunning, varied, organised, clean and has that little bit of everything that other destinations in Kiwi country have to offer in a single file. People all over the world talk about Rotorua’s geysers but to me it was a gem of a place with best of all worlds, truly the Bay of Plenty as it is named. Its lakes and national parks, its hot springs, its streams and its biking trails (listed among the top 10 in the world by Red Bull recently) team up
with the core of the Kiwi land — its penchant for adventure, be it extreme, moderate or even child-like.
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pending a week in Rotorua may not be enough. After all, you would need to recover from the realisation that you were brave enough to have been thrown in a raft down a 162-metre vertical waterfall as your heart kind of makes its way out of your body through a breathless windpipe! They tell you it is 100 per cent safe. They mean it too. You know security standards are
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TRAVEL much above the required safety limit. And yet when you stare down that gurgling, white-pearled waterfall from down below, courage keeps deserting you. But once you do decide to go up there for the exhilarating fall, and once you reach the river below unharmed, you look back and learn to respect yourself. You are in awe of what you just achieved besides, of course, palpitating in the excitement of that thrilling downfall you never thought you were capable of.
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hat’s just one of the many adrenaline pushers you have, not just in Rotorua but also in other parts of this country. The Sky Swing dangling over Rotorua’s highest cliff station does not even bother to look innocuous. It’s positioning tells you it will take the life and breath out of you in case you dare to dangle on it. It’s a 180 degree free-fall experience going something like this: You climb a platform and are tied to a scant chair with your body dangling in the air horizontally, tummy down. Then an electronic rope pulls you up through a pulley which takes you (body dangling down) 500 feet up to a hook
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overlooking the valley, the majestic Rotorua lake on one side and the deep blue sky on the other (which you can’t really see because you are hanging upside down). All you can see below you is the nothingness of a vast space dotted with trees and the lake far, far away.
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nd then you pull a rope and go hurtling down in a 45 degree arch, hundreds of feet down and then rise to the horizon. You are thrown backwards down and up and as you think this is sheer death, you keep swinging praying for life for around half a minute which seems like hours! This is as near as you can be to that near-death experience you had only heard about and never believed in. As the speed lessens, you finally breathe and thank God for still being alive. And as you are unhooked, you are a new person, someone who has just learnt the real value of life. Though Queenstown, the more touristy destination down south, has a similar pump station on the hill from where paragliding and short bunny jumping sports are propelled, it is the
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Sky Swing at Rotorua which is the original in this concept and infrastructure and prides itself of being the provider of the experience in Queenstown. For the moderates, there are dos like the luge ride and over-the-hill eating experience in well-equipped hilltop cafes like the Stratosphere. Having a lush spread of seafood, pastas and Oriental cuisine, topped by a bevy of fresh produce desserts and local wines, and overlooking the picturesque valley and lake down below is enervating. Rotorua adds up with an in-house wine cellar where the vineyard owner (who brews his wines just under the hill) regales you with a heady cocktail of jokes and vintage.
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f Queenstown has its gliding ski slopes, the quaint blue lake and a reputation more alluring than Rotorua, the latter has the exclusive greens just round the corner. The densest rain forests you can get in the southern hemisphere, a place where unending trees form a canopy under the sky. It’s here that you get to swing a bit less dangerously for your perception but as thrillingly as it gets.
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he Canopy Tour, as it is called, is something that a moderate, life-fearing tourist would love. Meant for everybody, this activity is gentler on your soul. The occasional chirp of the bell bird is music to your ears when you swing down two gigantic trees over a valley of shorter trees. Talking of birds, New Zealand has a story around these angelic creatures. Once upon a time, when the Brits had not arrived here with all their paraphernalia and when the Maori had not canoed in from their mystical land more than a 1,000 years ago, the Kiwiland birds had a territory to create music. They were colourful, exotic, big, small and came with a lot of heart. But then with the Maori and the Brits came the stowaways, deadly stowaways — the rodents, the stoats and the rats. None of its vulnerable bird population had the wherewithal to fight for survival.
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he birds, all varieties of them, including the now endangered kiwi, could not really fly. Their nests were raided, their eggs and chicks eaten up and their population started dwindling even as the highly fertile rodent population increased. Today, the Kiwis long for twitter and are engaged in the biggest conservation project of all times — to get rid of the rodents and to bring back the birds to spin magic in their abundant forests. Some, like the bell bird, are responding even as touristy organisations like the Canopy Tours actually hand-feed them worms and are engaged in an earnest rehab project of their winged population. They show you the pictures of the 1,000 rodents trapped and killed in just one night. They are hopeful of getting their forest rodent-free in some time even as the bigger bird conservation forest in Wellington has created a sanctuary, all guarded and fenced deep down, into the earth to declare the first rodent-free zone for calling back the birds.
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ut Rotorua, or for that matter Nelson or Wellington, are not just about bird conservation. The three cities, unique in their own ways for tourism prospects, make for a heady 10 or more days circuit for any visitor with any interest. While Wellington, the world’s most touristy Capital, is all about urban cafes, food delights, art galleries and some rugged outdoor activities like seal-spotting along its 20-km rock and sea coastline, Rorotrua basks in the therapy of its natural geysers, the alkaline water dips and volcanic mud baths. Natural spas are the buzzword here with the world leader Polynesian Spa leading the brigade. At this tony retreat,
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TRAVEL there are heated pools of various natural mineral waters which give your body an almost celestial rest from all kinds of stress and pains.
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ven if the temperatures are sub-zero, these open air steaming pools are inviting enough, not just because they are overlooking the Rotorua lake with all its seagull population flying now and then in a white mass, but because of their inviting fluorescent water colours. There’s green, turquoise and rust-coloured water pools where you can squeeze out all your stress, and then go for a leisurely though high-priced individual body massages and mud wraps. When not relaxing in these amazing waters, there’s a lot of Maori heritage you can get to savour at Te Puia Geothermal Valley where a stunning and exotic Maori princess escorts you around the facility sprawling across naturally heated rocks, volcanic mud pools and white, foamy geysers erupting every now and then, including the world famous Pohutu Geyser. But this place is not about natural beauty so much as it is about the vibrant efforts to keep the Maori culture alive. And this brings you to wood-sculpting workshops and hemp-sewing studio. Now these were the two most famous activities that the Maoris indulged in and this facility does everything it can to keep the two trades alive and kicking.
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he showstopper here is the earth oven dinner, which is prepared the traditional Maori way with meats and veggies marinated and buried in a huge cooking box deep inside the earth. They are cooked in the lava and geyser steam over which the entire city nestles. The result? A unique earthy flavour to steaming hot juicy meats and other staples savoured under falling stars, freezing temperatures and hot rocks to sit and warm yourself up even as a Maori father and son regale you with country music live on the guitar amid sips of champagne. It is an evening to remember at Te Puia where you go in as a curious visitor and return as a family person of the big and warm Maori community. Then there’s Wai-O-Tapu. To say it is surreal would be an understatement. It is ethereal, it adorns celestial water colours, it is enveloped in steamy beauty and it has lakes that you may have spotted only in the illustrated Aesop’s Fables. It’s here that I learnt that the rust is for iron ore, purplish-pink
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TRAVEL for manganese deposits, sea green for arsenic and fluorescent green-yellow for sulphur. I asked my tour guide if this was really real, natural colour and he looked at me amazed. “What else ma’am,” he asked nonplussed. Adding artificial colour for tourism purposes? New Zealand and its bay of plenty don’t believe in this.
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o Wai-O-Tapu is a chunk of natural beauty surrounded by these stunningly coloured lakes, all steaming up with geo-thermal activity as they dot the majestic Whakarewarewa forest stretch. It’s a natural wonder so different that it borders on being an unbelievable volcanic wonder. Any trip to New Zealand would be unworthy if this is missed out. New Zealand’s tourism itinerary is very carefully curated and has paid them rich dividends. Take, for example, the so called big houses of Kiwiland. For the high-end tourist, especially for those needing anonymity (like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie) there are these plush — and remote — resorts nestling far, far away from any kind of human population for seven to 10 day breaks. Not only do these houses (mostly done up old bungalows) have their own helipads, orchards, spas, pools, transport and private bartenders, they also boast a carefully hired bevy of staff which does not speak about the people coming here for a vacation. In Nelson, there is the Eden House run by an Aussieweds-Kiwi couple of English leanings. Taking you through his green apple orchard (he had reserved one tree for just the birds to feed on its fruits) he tells you how he left a million acres in his Australian Outback to buy this very English bungalow in the middle of the Tasman forest and sea where accessibility has a strict pedigree.
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ust four couples at a time can be here and the bookings ($2450 a night all inclusive) are done almost two seasons in advance, this time that “special visitor being a Hollywood celebrity whose name I can’t reveal.” Sitting in the Nelson Abel Tasman region, ringed by cerrulean bays and blessed by its superb produce, winemakers, artists, wild mountains, trout-fishing rivers, and the golden, postcard beaches, Eden House is an exclusive retreat for the well-heeled. Preferably, this should be the end of your explorer’s journey.
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On the trail
Viking
TRAVEL
The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde and another one in Oslo give you a glimpse of life – and travel — from a 1,000 years ago
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by ANOOTHI VISHAL
etween 800 and 1050 AD — when the Indian subcontinent was just about ushering in the medieval period in its history, post its golden Classical age — the Vikings were conquering and exploring other parts of the world. From Scandinavia, these hardy men sailed down the seas in their long boats to Iceland, Greenland, Russia and across the northern Atlantic to Canada, going as far down as Spain. And despite their image of being fierce warriors, drinking out of skulls and plundering cities, fact is that they were explorers, craftsmen and even administrators, whose cultural influence continues to be present in so many parts of Europe even today. The more recent popularity of the Vikings in comic books, movies, TV shows et al means that the most common stereotype most of us associate
with the culture is Thor — the fierce, lusty god of thunder, wielding a hammer much like Indra in the Hindu myth. But it is really Odin, the one-eyed father, whom I am thinking about as we embark upon our own Viking trail — the prototype for Gandalf, the wandering wise wizard in The Lord of The Rings. JRR Tolkien, of course, borrowed so much from Norse stories that should you be a fan like me, it is inconceivable that you won’t be fascinated by this region, its tales and culture.
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or a glimpse of the Viking way of life, there can be no place to begin like the Viking Ship Museum at Roskilde in Denmark. An old Viking settlement, Roskilde, just under half an hour from Copenhagen, is also said to be the site of some of Beowulf ’s Adventures (one of the oldest epic poems in the English language that literature
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TRAVEL students should recognise even in India). A cathedral here overlooking the town is the burial site for Denmark’s royals. But more than that, you can sense that this town must have been a natural sanctuary for the seafaring tribe, who built some of their strongest boats here and hid the technology for sailmaking, ropemaking and boatmaking — far ahead of its times — from their contemporaries — ensconced by the calm waters of the fijord.
Today, the museum here is the main draw. Ships sunk by the Vikings were raised from the fjord here in the 1960s and these, plus the restored cargo and war vessels, form the heart of this splendid museum. Interestingly enough, you can also go sailing in replicas of the Viking ships and long boats, rowing your way through the beautiful waters, learning to raise, move and lower the sail in the traditional way as you chart your course..
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he long ships, as we call them now, were typically narrow, light, wooden boats with a shallow-draft hull designed for speed and easy navigation. Light enough to be carried, these were also double-ended, allowing it to reverse direction without needing to turn around. This was a major advantage in a sea filled with concealed ice. Long ships had oars along almost the entire length of the boat and later versions combined rowing power with sailing power. In good conditions, a long boat under sailing power could reach a speed
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TRAVEL
also makes for a lovely party venue — celebrating a special occasion, a wedding, an intimate moment or two...
I of 15 knots. The wood of only specific trees could be used to make these boats, and as we grapple with the huge oars, we realise what a task it must have been to ferry entire armies in these across the oceans. But undoubtedly, it was these boats that led to the Viking conquest and the establishment of settlements such as Dublin and Normandy, and even those in North America, so far away from Scandinavia. Handling the Viking boat is no mean task for a first-time crew, as we find out. But it nevertheless makes for an entertaining afternoon at the sea. And then, for lunch and for about an hour or two after, we embark on a much easier sailing plan. The Sagafjord is a beautiful boat with teak interiors and you can go on a short cruise on Roskilde Fjord aboard it, settling down to a comfortable buffet lunch en route. In fact, with its capacity of about 150 people that can fit in, this
f you are interested in the Vikings, Norway has to be another stop on your itinerary. And one of the most comprehensive places to get a glimpse of the history of the people is the Viking Ship Museum at Bygdøy in Oslo. It is part of the Museum of Cultural History of the University of Oslo and houses archaeological finds from Tune, Gokstad (Sandefjord), Oseberg (Tønsberg) and the Borre mound cemetery. You can see various old ships (fully or partially intact) and other Viking Age displays, including sledges, beds, a horse cart, wood carving, tent components, buckets and other goods recovered from the graves. But the museum’s most famous artefact is the completely whole Oseberg ship, excavated from the largest known ship burial in the world. There are other stops that you can make on the trail, sometimes getting a taste of Viking life. At the Lofotr Viking Museum, for instance, you can see a traditional long house and also participate in Viking festivals and events. Or, you can try sailing on the Vefsnfjord in Northern Norway on a Viking ship. One thousand years of solitude, here!
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Rogue Rishikesh
The story of Narendra, the tusker that killed nine people before it was shifted to another part of the Rajaji National Park, is proof that humans need to allow space to other species for harmonious co-existence
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by NAVIN M RAHEJA
ravelling on the Haridwar-RishikeshDehradun Expressway, as you enter Haridwar city, a very long bridge on river Ganga takes you to a circular crossing with a sign board pointing towards Bijnor and Najibabad. Across this bridge is the Chilla forest range of the Rajaji National Park. Lest you don’t cross the river, to your left are the
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Ranipur, Beribada, Dhaulkhand and Motichur forest ranges of Rajaji National Park. Ahead are the towns of Raiwala and Doiwala, to whose left is the Barkot forest range of the Dehradun Forest Division. As you go further on the Rishikesh bypass, river Chandrabhaga separates this division from the Narendra Nagar forest division. It is here that our story of a rogue tusker begins.
WILDLIFE
The presence of elephants is periodically observed in and around Haridwar and Rishikesh towns. Elephants are usually peaceful by nature and left to themselves, tend to mind their own business. It’s only after repeated encounters with humans that they tend to lose their cool. Even then, most of their charges are mock ones, meant just to frighten. At times, a musth elephant — a periodic condition among bull elephants with a continued draining of body fluids from their temple glands — poses a big threat to humans. The phenomenon occurs once a year but as long as the musth period lasts, the elephant is unusually aggressive. This is the story of one such male tusker. It was the morning of February 10, 2011, one of the coldest of the year. Sita Devi, a native of the area, had concluded her usual household chores and gone into the
NAVIN M RAHEJA, Chairman & Managing Director, Raheja Developers Ltd, is a wildlife enthusiast and an avid photographer. In the past 35 years, he has made several contributions in the field of conservation of wildlife and environment at various levels — be it the fight to rehabilitate Gujjars of Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhand or picking up vital issues in other parts of India. A former member of Project Tiger’s Steering Committee, under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, he has worked tirelessly to ensure that the big cats survive in India. One of the leading developers in the country, Raheja believes in inclusive development and protection of flora and fauna in the country.
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WILDLIFE forest to collect fodder for her cattle. Unaware of the presence of a wild elephant, she busied herself in cutting grass. She turned hearing a peculiar noise but before she could react, she was blown away and smashed by the raging bull. This was the first victim of this giant. For the people living here, terror had arrived without any warning. Over the next 11 months, nothing was more terrifying than death by trampling — nine people, including six women, were killed during this period. Nobody ventured out alone on the road, particularly after sunset. For they didn’t know when and from which unseen corner, the killer would strike.
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ften, the residents spotted it with a small herd of elephants which would appear regularly near a herbal garden on the outskirts of Rishikesh. The state forest department played down the first two killings. These were passed off as mere mishaps. After all, such incidents do happen in forest stretches of this particular sub-Himalayan belt. And it’s not uncommon for elephants to cross over from one stretch to another within a kissing distance of Rishikesh. It was only after the elephant had claimed its seventh victim on October 3 — Awwal Singh — that the gravity of the situation dawned on the authorities, stirring them into action after the media became hysteric. Initial efforts to catch the rogue proved futile. Often, the animal disappeared into the forest and everyone heaved a sigh of relief. But the peace was short-lived. Like the proverbial ghost from darkness, it reappeared after a few days and resumed its rampage. When all efforts to capture the killer tusker failed, the Uttarakhand forest department turned to another state for help. Dipen Kalita, an expert elephant-catcher from Assam and a veteran of numerous encounters with the rogue elephants of the Northeast, joined the operations along with a trained mahaut, Rawa. They reached Rishikesh in the first fortnight of November. It was at this time that Digvijay Singh
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Khati, Chief Wildlife Warden, Uttarakhand, called up my office for help and I immediately dispatched a team comprising Kishan Dev, Shivender and Abhinav to provide whatever logistic support was required. Three trained elephants were summoned from the nearby Corbett National Park. Apart from this, senior officers of Rajaji National Park, along with some two dozen forest guards, camped in the area for over a month, making it one of the biggest operations of its kind. It soon transpired, however, that the rogue was smarter than the trained force as it afflicted serious injuries on Pawanpari and Gomti — two of the elephants brought from Corbett Park for the operation. On November 22, the team was able to put a tranquiliser dart on the elephant but by then, darkness had engulfed the area and it could not be pulled out of the dense thicket.
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y the end of November, Khati and Bijendra Singh were supervising the operation on a day-to-day basis. Experts and volunteers from the Wildlife Institute of India, Raheja Productions, Wildlife Trust of India as well as the man who had put the dart into the animal’s body, Dr Parag Nigam, a senior scientist from the Wildlife Institute of India, camped in the area for several weeks. Camera traps were put up at several places and patrol parties formed to search for the elusive tusker. At times, the team managed to get close to the elephant but was outsmarted by it at the last minute. The elephant
WILDLIFE
kept on playing hide-and-seek with an army of 50-plus forest guards, senior forest officials, doctors, mahouts and others. It was turning into an exasperating operation. The authorities even invited a local hunter, Sanjay Singh, from Moradabad, who scoured the forest with his team for about a week but in vain.
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hile the elephant had nine victims to its name, many fortunate ones had also managed to escape in the nick of time to tell hair-raising stories of bravery and luck. Forest experts and volunteers from the WTI, WII and Raheja Films held interactive sessions with the residents to keep them out of the wild and on ways to protect themselves from elephant attacks. Success, though much delayed, arrived suddenly and swiftly on January 4, 2012. That morning, the tusker came ambling to the herbal garden as if to challenge the authorities and charged at the forest staff. But this time, having acquired a fair knowledge of its behaviour, the team were well prepared. Dr Parag lost no time in putting the dart into the tusker, promptly sedating it. Everyone in the team quickly assumed its role. Covering its face, the first thing the officials did was to cut off the pointed ends of its tusks — necessary to reduce its aggression towards humans. Capturing an elephant was one thing but putting it into a truck turned out to be an elephantine task. It took more than an hour for the authorities to lift it up using JCBs and a hydra lift. An elephant in a truck is a very unusual sight, even on Indian roads and as the vehicle passed through
the busy streets of Rishikesh, crowds gathered to have a last look at the killer ghost who had haunted them for months. The elephant was named Narendra and was taken across the Ganga, 30 km inside the Chilla range and set free with the hope that it would will start life afresh in its new home. The elephant vanished into the forest with no trace till February 2015 when Khati happened to click its photo in the Motichur Chila range. Its cut tusks had started re-growing and widening in angle. It is now scared of human presence and carefully keeps itself away.
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or centuries, the forest stretch connecting the Rajaji Park with Corbett Tiger Reserve had been a natural corridor for elephants, allowing them free movement from the foothills of the Shivalik to Terai in the sub-Himalayan belt reaching up to Bihar, Nepal and the far east. But mindless construction in and around the park — that of the Ganga canal, the Raiwala ammunition dump, ashrams, farms, residences colonies and industries around Rishikesh and Haridwar — has fragmented the corridor at several places. Human advancement and growing encroachment of their natural habitat has only led to more man-animal conflicts while also adversely affecting the gene pool of the animals. It is time, we give them their right of way and the right to live. (For already published stories and films on wildlife which have run on National Geographic channel, Doordarshan National channel and Doordarshan (India), please log on to www.rahejagroup.org)
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ART
Warped for
good Eleven artists collaborate with weavers from a Panipat-based furnishing house to create a unique exhibition by NAVNEET MENDIRATTA
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ART
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ART
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he jingle of the bangles fades into the clickety-clocks from the loom and eventually factory noise, creating the audio imagery in one’s mind. As one sits quietly listening to artist Abeer Gupta’s carefully woven soundpiece using the ambient noises from a factory producing home furnishings, one realises this is the kind of music the workers get to hear on a daily basis. Gupta is only one of the 11 artists who have come together to lend their creative interpretations to what is otherwise a very dry technical production process. The entire exercise is part of a collaborative project between the artists and weavers, called Transcending Weaves, that has been presented by one of the oldest exporters of home furnishings in Panipat, Raj Group, and curated by Shailin Smith. So here we are sitting in the factory compounds in the historic and now industrial city of Panipat, trying to decode the journey of the artists over the past one year. Helping me understand their journey is Smith, who has worked even longer with the group — six years, she tells us — curating an exhibition last year. This collaboration is the first of its kind. The team is getting ready for a month-long show at Stainless Gallery in New Delhi from November 21 through December 30.
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long with Gupta, other artists, namely Brahm Maira, Dhvani Behl, Durga Kainthola, Nidhi Khurana, Nikheel Apahle, Puneet Kaushik, Sahaya Sharma, Sandeep Biswas, Shivani Aggarwal and Vibhu Galhotra are lending final touches to their artworks that have been created using the various weaving techniques employed by the factory. These techniques include the pitloom, kilim, tufting and braiding with the help of the master weavers. Their works, inspired by the rich history of Panipat and the ethos of the region and craft that continues to thrive here, light up a clean hall in the factory premises. Carefully guarded by the workers, it doesn’t take you long to figure the sense of ownership and pride they have now begun to associate with the project. “It’s a collaboration that began almost a year ago, when the group decided to do something special to mark
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its anniversary. This something had to be inclusive of everyone who was involved in the production process,” says Smith, an alumni of the National Museum. “The artists have used all the different techniques used at the factory and created works of art, including installations, video and sound pieces, that bring out the essence of the process. Interestingly, none of them have repeated what the other has done. They have all used different permutations and combinations,” she adds.
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ooking around, one sees interesting interpretations of the labour that goes into the process. For instance, installation artist Puneet Kaushik has created three art works, each using a different technique, decoding human identity. So if there is this installation that is woven on the kilim loom using metal wire mesh and wool representing roots, another one literally gets under the skin in search of identity. “This piece of work has been created using a hand-tufting
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ART gun and comprises wool, metal wire, mirrors and metal mesh as material,” he shares, “It is all steel woven,” he says, going back to his work. “The roots symbolise our eternal quest to know where we come from and where we stand today,” he shares. Getting the weavers to work with a new medium was not easy. According to Kaushik, initially the weavers found it tough to comprehend why someone would want to weave metal. But as they got the grip of the concept, they enthusiastically participated in the process.
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ap artist Nidhi Khurana always got lost as a child. So she ended up turning her handicap into creative inspiration as she grew up. Khurana has created a 26x16 foot map of Panipat incorporating all the techniques of weaving that are employed in the factory. Be it the works of Durga Kainthola, who has created amazing tapestries inspired by the three battles of Panipat, etching out portraits of the emperors who drove these historic events — Babur, Akbar and Sadhashiv Rao Bhau — using the handtufting gun and chromojet printing on pitloom or Nikheel Aphale’s calligraphy that uses the technique of yarn wrapping for his sculptural works, there is a deep connect indicating the bonding a weaver shares with his tradition. Aphale’s hand-tufted sculptures form the words “tana bana” in the Devnagari script and use dohas of Kabir. Playing with the contemporary effects are photo installations by photographer Sandeep Biswas; the instrument by musician Vibhu Galhotra and photo manipulation by Brahm Maira. Shares Sumeet Nath, managing partner, Raj Group, “As an industry that survives on the art of weaving, it is imperative to find a way to create tangible memories from a tradition that may cease to exist in the future. And while we pride ourselves at being in Panipat, the centre of where it all happens, it is important for us to find the right channel to communicate our concern. What better way than art.”
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Twinkle
Diwali lights range by Ishatvam. Price: On request Available at: www.ishatvam.com
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Frazer and Haws’ Ganesha and Lakshmi idols, pooja accessories and home décor items. Price: on request Available at: F&H showroom, A 265, Defence Colony, New Delhi F&H showroom, Shop No. 11, Main Market, Lodhi Colony, New Delhi
THREADBARE
SONG ON THE LIPS AND Phulkari, literally meaning flowerwork, was once the celebrated art of rural Punjab. However, the edge of excellence in our traditional crafts has been lost in time and to the many social shifts encountered in the change from a rural economy to an industrial, and now, a digitally-driven one by GOPIKA NATH
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few years ago, at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts in New Delhi, I met Prito Aunty aka Pritam Kaur amd some other women who did Phulkari embroidery. These women had travelled from Tripri, the modern-day hub of Phulkari-work in Punjab, to demonstrate the art of their nimble fingers. All of them said that they had learnt Phulkari embroidery out of choice, to fulfil an aspiration but that they worked out of “majboori� to earn and keep a roof over their heads. Each had stories to tell about errant husbands and hardships borne. Bakshi Rana and Parvati Maasi had come to India from Pakistan at the time of Partition and had stories to tell about that too, even though they were very young at that time. The embroidery done by them during the demonstration was very sparse and mostly used the Holbein stitch employed in Chope rather than the fuller darning stitch of the rich Bagh embroideries of yore. Phulkari and Bagh are colourful, embroidered shawls worn by the women of Punjab that were enormously popular from 1850-1950 AD. Their origin is lost in time but it is thought that the tradition came into India with the migration of the Jat people from Central Asia, and could have drawn inspiration from the Gulkari embroidery of Iran. On a recent visit to the Sangrur district in Punjab, I met 75-yearold Karnail Kaur, who recounted doing Phulkari as a young girl, along
THREADBARE
NEEDLE TO THREAD with her cousins and sisters, while seated in the village courtyard “Pind ke gate ke peechhe”, singing and sewing. Even today, the girls who were being trained to do Phulkari work by an NGO were singing when I walked into their workshop.
three women had worked upon it together. A dramatic change in colour, of the lines, from red to white or yellow to white, at the sharp angle where the lines turn, adds to the complexity of the labyrinth. And, in trying to fathom which begins where, the viewing eye does in effect lose its focus, compelling a moment of almost involuntary reflection upon the self.
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ith a song on their lips, the women of Punjab have embroidered throughout history. Imagine them singing “Meh bhul gayi, Meh ous di yad vich dub gayi” ((I have lost myself, I have flowed into his being” as they embroidered the mysterious labyrinth or Bhul Bhulaiya Bagh — a richly coloured shawl [48 x 98 inches] from 19th century Punjab. Immersed in creating a complex rectangular-like coiling form, the song voices a sentiment that reflects a longing to merge with the Divine. A plaintive voice, soulfully speaking of losing herself and flowing into his or its being, is the almost audible whisper of threads, tenderly laid, so closely together. Embroidered with untwisted silk in colours off-white, saffron, yellow and a pinkish-red, more magenta than crimson, it is a reflective piece. The labyrinth is not just a simple coiling form that starts from one point, around which lines and then more lines are encircled. This sharp-edged, almost rectangular-shaped coiling form actually has three parts, all of which commence at a central point in the shawl and each line working its way around it. The threepronged coil makes one consider if this was indeed the work of a solitary maiden or if
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(Top) Bakshi Rana from Tripri, doing Chope embroidery. (Centre and bottom) Nisha doing Bagh embroidery and Karnael Kaur aka Bebe, 75 years, Balran, Sangrur district Punjab
he Chope, with its double-sided architectonic pattern, motif of temple and bold, stylised peacocks, is quite distinct from other Phulkari and Bagh embroideries. Despite the absence of the resplendent hues of the peacock in the maroon and gold Chope, its pattern recalls this folk song, “Saun da mahina, mor kare shor vay; jiya mera aisa nache, jaise nila mor vay” (In the month of rain, the peacock cries incessantly; my heart dances, not unlike the blue peacock.) [The longing for union with the beloved is implied] Embroidered with golden yellow thread on a maroon khadi background, the resplendent peacock, associated with marital love, longing and desire, calls out to its mate and to the dark, hovering clouds to bring rain and fertilise the earth. It’s more than likely that this verse was sung by the women as they sat together working with needle and thread, each creating their own tapestry of desires to be fulfilled or expressing a longing that matched that of the yodelling peacock. — The author is a Gurgaon-based textile artist, art critic, blogger, poet and teacher
CELEBCHEF
Nobelfare He has Nobel laureates eating out of his hands. Almost. At a master class as part of Sweden India Nobel Memorial Week 15 at the Embassy of Sweden in New Delhi recently, CHEF MARK PHOENIX served up some interesting insights into the world’s most sought-after dinner by RITU PANDEY
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t’s one of the world’s most coveted dinners — prepared for 1,350 guests by 40 chefs over four days and served by more than 200 waiters in gilded porcelain cutlery amid fireworks and telecast live to millions across the world. As Sous Chef of Stockholm City Hall, where the gala dinner takes place, Mark Phoenix is one of the people leading this elaborate gastronomical exercise. He has been associated with the Nobel banquet since 2006, when he was headhunted to lead its team of chefs.
ROOT CAUSE
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weden is the land of a long coastline, great lakes, forests and long winter, for which reason its cuisine is largely sea food, mushrooms, game meat, berries and root vegetables. Vegetables and spices are limited and hard to find. There is not even a single Swedish dish which is vegetarian. I am a British who graduated in Swedish fusion cooking. But over the years, I’ve started appreciating culinary roots more than experimenting. I believe in maintaining the authenticity of cuisine. Reason why I’ve never been able to incorporate anything Indian in my menus despite being totally in love with the subtle flavours of Roghan Josh and Dal Makhni.
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lanning for the Nobel banquet in December begins in March when selected international chefs present three menus each to the Nobel Foundation for tasting and testing. The final menu is approved in May following which the ingredients are sourced from across the
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CELEBCHEF
country. Three days before the big day, work begins in the kitchen according to a strict schedule. It takes nine hours for my team just to lay out the food on the final day. Ingredients are used with such armylike precision that nothing more than two trays of food are left at the end. The Nobel committee spends 5 million Swedish Kronas (`39 million) on this one-day gala.
PREMIUM GOES COMMON
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remium is the keyword for Nobel menu. Everything has to be expensive and exclusive, so much so that during the world
wars, though the stress was on frugalilty, bananas were sourced for dessert because they weren’t readily available then. Though the menu was very French for a long time, since the 1970s, it has been strictly Nordic with a lot of wild game, shell fish, caviar, root vegetables and berries found in the Scandinavian forests. There’s no dish from any other country, not even those of the award winners. For commoners who wish to get a taste of the Nobel dinner, the City Hall in Stockholm takes orders for a Nobel dinner from any year since the first such banquet in 1901. Only one must make the order a week in advance.
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ART
People for Animals brings together artists and art lovers for the cause of the tuskers by RITU PANDEY
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hey’re bright and colourful. Monochrome and vibrant. Fibreglass jumbos, though are much smaller in size than their real counterparts. Delhi’s Art Alive Gallery is collecting these miniature artworks as part of a fundraiser that it is organising together with Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi and her People For Animals for India’s very first Elephant Conservation and Care Centre in Mathura. Elephant is an animal with deific significance to three major Indian belief systems. It is worshipped as Ganesha by the Hindus. The Jains symbolise their second Tirthankar Ajitnath with it. And the Buddhists believe Buddha to have descended in the form of a white tusker. The pachyderm is in the puja room. It is sacred. And yet it continues to suffer on our streets and in our temples. “There are only 22,000 elephants left in the country. Of these, at least 6,000 are in brutal and illegal captivity. Around 600 elephants die every year of starvation, drowning and ill treatment. Many are killed for insurance. They are taken to festivals several times a year, in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Mysore, Jaipur, walking dozens of miles on hot tarred roads, without food or water and poked with a severe iron prod on the most sensitive parts of their head.
ART They are used for begging and many are hit by trucks and buses,” says Sunaina Anand of Delhi’s Art Alive Gallery.
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any temples keep elephants chained to concrete, making them perform degrading and unnatural actions such as kneeling and lifting their trunks 300 times a day to bless the devotees. They have no access to wallowing in water, a life essential. They are trained by starvation, beaten and poked with spears and hooks that dig into their hides and are often given the wrong food. They swing between no exercise or too much exercise, prolonged periods of sedentary confinement when they are not “on the job” and over-exertion under unnatural and unhealthy conditions when they are. Elephants therefore, often suffer from severe health problems like arthritis, foot rot, joint pains, and veer between obesity to unnatural weight loss depending on the whims of the temple authorities and their mahouts, adds Anand. The Asian elephant is included in Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, which technically means that it has the highest degree of legal protection. But no one rescues these poor mistreated animals simply for lack of any rehabilitation centres.
crippled and discarded elephants, requires a lot of money, specially in the absence of any government help,” says Satyanarayan. The Art Alive fundraiser has been planned to contibute to this cause. With more than 75 artists from across the country, including the likes of SH Raza, Ram Kumar, Jogen Chowdhury, Subodh Gupta, Anjolie Ela Menon, Thota Vaikuntam, Manu Parekh, Yusuf Arakkal and celebrities such as Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar and Shah Rukh Khan working on elephant artworks, the exhibition is expected to open this month after Diwali. “Paresh Maity has contributed a life-size elephant artwork to the cause,” reveals Anand. The exhibits will later be put up for sale and the proceeds will go to the ECCC.
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n 2009, Wildlife SOS, an Agra-based NGO run by Kartick Satyanarayan, made a beginning by setting up the Elephant Conservation and Care Centre in Mathura. “However, running a rescue centre for blind, lame,
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TRAVEL
The full moon night of Kartik Purnima has a special significance in Hindu, Jain and Sikh philosophies. It’s also the day when the spiritual intersects the zoological with some folksy outcomes
FAIR POINT KOLAYAT (KAPIL MUNI MELA)
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he largest fair of Bikaner in Rajasthan combines a huge cattle fair with a pilgrimage to the town’s holy lake. It’s quite a spectacle as buffaloes, camels, horses and cattle are traded along side the 52 beautifully decorated ghats on the lake where the pilgrims bathe, perform religious rituals and then float oil lamps. WHEN: November 23-25, 2015. WHERE: Kolayat, near Bikaner, Rajasthan.
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PUSHKAR
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ne of the world’s largest camel fairs sees an astonishing 50,000 camels converge on the tiny desert town of Pushkar for five days from the Ekadashi to Poornima of the Hindu month of Kartik. The camels are dressed up, shaved, entered into beauty contests, paraded, raced and traded. An entertaining sight indeed! WHEN: November 19-25, 2015. WHERE: Pushkar, Rajasthan.
TRAVEL
CHANDRABHAGA
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attle market meets mass bathing ceremony. The Chandrabhaga river is holy to Hindus and it attracts many pilgrims for the ritual bath on the occasion of Kartik Purnima. The fair is also quite a big one, with buffaloes, camels, cows, bullocks and horses on sale. WHEN: November 24-26, 2015. WHERE: Jhalawar, Rajasthan.
SONEPUR
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f the fairs in the desert focus on the trade of camel, in water-fed Bihar the livestock trade is largely about elephants. On the confluence of the Ganga and Gandak in Sonepur, tuskers join the devotees for a holy dip after which rituals are performed and livestock traded. There is an array of shops selling all kinds of merchandise. WHEN: For a month, starting November 24 WHERE: Sonepur, around 25 km from Patna, Bihar.
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DRINKS MAGANDEEP SINGH
Sommelier
Crystalware and its type and shape have historical and tactile significance. It does affect our perception of the substance it holds
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e often debate wine and prices and even wonder how it can get so expensive but rarely do we pay attention to the accessories around it. One such most important tool is the glassware. In fact, not only with wine but with any drink, the type and shape of glass have a historical and tactile significance. Small wine glasses (the ones with a small bowl) are ideal for simple wines. Modest wines that we buy for a price that doesn’t pinch and with the aim to drink in the next few days are best consumed in such glasses. Sure, they aren’t as elegant, nor is the stem as long and slender, but they are hardy and can be used everyday and if you occasionally break one, you don’t have a sleepless night over it. The long-stemmed, big bowl types, often hand-made and mouth blown and in lead-free crystal, are the kind that we reserve for the big wines, wines that we’ve invested in and parked in our cellars and then patiently waited for a good part of a decade or maybe longer to get ready. And then once the time came, we waited encore some more for the right occasion and mix of people to do the final reveal and share. But what if one day you served the cheap wine in the big glass? Would the level of appreciation change? Would the
Glass conscious
DRINKS
wine taste better? Conversely, if we served a blockbuster wine in a small glass, would we detract from its richness of flavours? The answer to all these questions is, yes. The glass can affect our perception of the liquid contained, which just goes to show that appreciation of any fine beverage is a relative process, one that depends on many factors, including but not limited to the beverage being tasted. Which is why, it is good to invest in good stemware.
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or wines, a few brands lead the way. Scott Zwiesel is the German master glass manufacturer. It boasts an extensive range across shapes, styles, (and prices!) Another big brand is Riedel, Austrian and equally reputed. Zalto, a rarer Austrian brand, is perhaps a bit more high-end and its stemware is among the thinnest I have ever set lips to. And then we have the
aesthetic and yet very durable Chef & Sommelier series from Arc, a French glass-making giant, one which can churn out more glasses in an hour that any single man can physically break. But this is not the end of the spectrum, it extends in either direction with cheaper yet reliable options from brands like Ocean at the lower end and then the big daddies of crystalware like Baccarat at the stratospheric other.
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ll in all, there is a glass for every occasion and pocket. Safe to invest in one medium-sized style and to buy enough to make sure that if everyone at your next gathering drank wine, then you wouldn’t have to relegate one or a few to a water glass or worse still, the whisky tumbler. Don’t invest too much for then you’ll be scared of breakage every time you have to serve wine. And don’t invest in too cheap a range either, or else you will never know the true joys of a great glass. And perhaps this “what glass is right” is somewhere part of the conundrum called wine enjoyment. So dive in and just enjoy the wading about without overthinking it all.
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GURUSPEAK SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
Spiritual guru
Diwali could be just the opportunity to reflect upon the darkness within us and let the radiance of wisdom guide through
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ife has many facets. To express it in totality, it is important to throw light on each one of them. Just understand this: When we are discontented, restless and miserable, our vision is veiled. We are facing away from the light of God, which is why we feel surrounded by darkness. At such times, our shadow appears large and we’re scared of even looking at it. In fact, the feeling of fear at any point in life is the result of the shadow that we see, and we keep fighting against this shadow. What do we need to do to overcome this? Well, simply turn towards the light. The moment we do that, the darkness around us disappears and the shadow that we are fighting against vanishes. Here are a few ways to light up your life as well as of those around you. Light many qualities: There are good qualities in every human being. Some have forbearance, some have love, strength, generosity; others have the ability to unite people. Awaken and light up all these qualities. Don’t be satisfied with lighting just one; light a thousand. Awaken all the facets of your being. Let go: In life, you often become like a firecracker, waiting to explode with your pent-up emotions, frustration and anger. When you keep suppressing your emotions, then the cravings and aversions are bound to reach a point where they explode. When you
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let go of these suppressed emotions, the light of knowledge dawns. Be in the present: To be in the present you have to drop the regrets of the past, the worries of the future and live in the moment. Even if one person around you is shrouded in darkness, you cannot be happy. You need to kindle wisdom in every member of your family. Extend it to every member of society, every person on the planet. Spirit of service: Whatever we have received from the Divine, we should share it with others, for it is in giving that we receive. Take a vow and light a lamp. Of love, compassion and knowledge to serve others to express gratitude for the abundance that has been bestowed on you. Throw light on your own life: Life has taught you so many things — what you did wrong and
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what you did right. If you don’t throw light on your own life, then you cannot honour the wisdom that life has offered you. When we stop honouring wisdom that is when darkness takes over. Utilise your blessings: How often do you close your eyes and gallop away on your desires dishonouring all wisdom? I want this, this, this and this — you go on. The giver gives you and you start believing that it is your achievement. Use the blessings that have come your way to good use. Not for yourself; but for the society, for the world. You have good speech; use it for good things rather than blaming, complaining and talking ill. If you have intellect, use it well. If you have strength, do seva. Awaken the Guru in you: Throw the light of
GURUSPEAK wisdom on the Guru inside you. What is real and what is unreal? What is right and what isn’t? Why we chose that which is not right, what tempted us to do that? You don’t have to ask somebody. Something inside you tells you that. Be righteous without asserting righteousness: Suppose someone gives you a gift and keeps reminding you about it. Would you want such a gift? Asserting righteousness only brings annoyance. Try being right without asserting righteousness, generous without showing off your generosity, wise without blowing your own trumpet. This will bring a lightness of being. Rise above your thoughts: When do you realise that a thought is good or bad? No until it has come to you. You cannot stop a thought or know if it’s good or bad before it comes. And when it comes, if you are a mere witness to the thought, it simply drifts away and vanishes. But if you hold on to it and chew on it, then it stays with you. Thoughts come and go but their base, the atma (soul), stays. You are like the sky and thoughts are like clouds. Clouds come and go in the sky, but do they disturb its vastness? No, they don’t. That is what happens in meditation. When you get into sakshi bhaav, start witnessing thoughts without attaching yourself to them, you rise above them. Reflect on Life: Our mind creates its own bubble and we keep going around in our own bubble. We see the whole world through our own glasses and assume that everything is that way. This is called Viparyaya or coloured vision. The light of the wisdom is what makes you wake up and see, “Oh that is how it actually is!” How long are you going to sleep? How long are you going to keep complaining and wailing? WAKE UP. Life is short. And precious. Honour it. Go into the source of joy and light that lies within.
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FOOD SANGEETA KHANNA
FRAGRANT LIGHT DESSERTS WITH AN EYE CANDY APPEAL ARE A GOOD REPLACEMENT FOR GREASY TREATS IN WINTER
Food and nutrition consultant
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ussehra ushers in a season change and Diwali announces it with a light and sound show. The sun has softened its rays and there is a slight nip in the air. The harsh summer sun is slowly giving way to balmy mornings and pleasant evenings filled with fragrant Maulsary blooms. As I await winter, my lime tree is laden with plump green lemons ready to turn yellow. No one asks me what I do with all these fragrant tart limes, for many of my friends have had lime-infused teas and desserts at my place. Yes, I find some aromatic seasonal ingredients really helpful in making the desserts more appealing even without too much cream, butter and sugar. Fragrant lime with pure vanilla do a delicate tango in many a subtly sweet desserts. The trick is in making the dish more fragrant than sweet, more elegant than greasy and you have a winner at any party. Or even a winter brunch since it is that time of the year when people have started looking for excuses to meet and greet during the day.
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hich brings in the potential danger of overeating even when you just taste the variety of food served at these gatherings. My observation is
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FOOD that most people eat healthy in the main course but give in to temptation when it comes to desserts, and that tips the scale completely if one is trying to manage weight. Eating healthy while socialising is the most difficult task but we can plan better and make something light, healthy and yet delicious for the guests. Something that’s light on the eyes as well as on the tummy. Fragrant light desserts with an eye candy appeal like my lime and vanilla phirni can be a good replacement to brownie muffins, cheesecakes and gulab jamuns. It is a great example of how taste and elegance in a dessert
can speak louder than the calorie and sugar high. Phirni is a thick custard like pudding that is made in different parts of India in many different ways. It is essentially a rice and milk-based pudding whose technique of cooking is almost like making a good custard. Use fragrant short grain rice or good quality Basmati to make phirni and then infuse it with some lime and vanilla for a fragrant high. Use elegant shot glasses for the ease of chilling and serving small practical portions. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to win over guests at your Diwali party, or the post-Diwali brunch. — The author is a gardener, birder and photographer
RECIPE OF LIME AND VANILLA PHIRNI [MAKES 12 SHOT GLASS SERVINGS]
INGREDIENTS o 50 gm rice flour or rice soaked in 50 ml milk and then made into a fine paste o 400 ml cold reduced milk made by reducing 800 ml whole milk till it gets half its original volume o 100 ml single cream (25 per cent fat) o 5 drops of pure vanilla extract o 60 gm sugar o 2 limes + 10 gm sugar o 15 ml fresh lime juice o Pinch of lemon zest PROCEDURE o Slice the lemons thinly, keep the slices in a bowl and pour 100 ml boiling hot water over them, keep aside for 10 minutes. o Discard the water and seeds of the lime slices, spread the slices on a flat base pan, add lime juice, sprinkle sugar over it and simmer covered for a minute to make candied lime slices. Be careful not to burn them as there is very little liquid in it. Sprinkle water if required. o Mix the milk, cream and rice flour or paste in a pan and whisk to make a thin slurry. o Now place this pan over stove on medium heat and keep whisking while it heats up and starts bubbling lightly. The slurry will start coating the sides of the pan by now; if you dip a spoon in the phirni the spoon will also get coated like the custard. o Add the lime zest, vanilla extract and sugar and whisk again, cooking it for a couple of minutes more. o Pour the hot phirni in shot glasses or serving bowls immediately as it starts jelling quickly. o Top each shot glass of phirni with a slice of candied lime, chill and serve when required.
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SPACES
FESTDRIVE
The shift in the season this year has been marked by an explosion of pop-up food extravaganzas in Delhi. All predictably similar-looking but trying very hard to stay distinct by RITU PANDEY
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SAAG FOOD FOR THOUGHT FEST (SAARC ON THE PLATTER) [OCTOBER]
ndians may have acquired a taste for Southeast Asian food but there’s very little we know about flavours from our immediate neighbourhood. The South Asian Association for Gastronomy (SAAG) sought to end the lacuna with its first Food for Thought Fest that brought to the fore the culinary diversity of the SAARC nations — India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan. Says founder Maneesh Baheti, “This was an event to bring food scholars, chefs, policy influencers and food lovers of the region together for a holistic perspective on our food. The Thought Fest had talks, interviews and discussions on gastronomy and its evolution; the Food Court had stalls from the participating nations and cooking demos; the Gastronomy Bazaar showcased organic products and books along with a cultural showcase of music and art.”
SPACES
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ith the best Asian restaurants of Delhi as participants, this one brought high street flavours from across Asia under one roof at Select City Walk in Saket. Says Sid Mathur, food consultant and director of the event, “Asian food, particularly Souteast Asian food, has great acceptance in India. But over the past few years, the clientele has evolved. It is more adventurous and open to exploring and trying new things. But going to a speciality restaurant would mean getting to try only one type of cuisine. An event like this, on the other hand, is an opportunity for it to try out small portions of different
ASIAN HAWKERS MARKET (HIGH STREET FLAVOURS) [OCTOBER]
THE GRUB FEST 2.0 (CARNIVAL TIME) [OCTOBER]
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uoyed by the success of the first Grub Fest at the capital’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in April, its organisers took the event to Gurgaon on a grander scale (the number of participating restaurants in the second instalment has doubled from 30). Says founder Chaitanya Mathur, “Grub Fest is like a carnival. And for us, Delhi and Gurgaon are two separate markets. We knew we could repeat our Delhi success in the neighbourhood, more so after the Navratras, when people were done with the fasting and in a festive mood. They wanted to enjoy with the family. For a `200 ticket, they could spend all day at the lawns, trying out all kinds of food at discounted prices and activities like live cooking, wine tasting and performances by Raghu Dixit, Nikhil Chinapa and Vir Das.” Next the festival travels to Pune, Chandigarh, Bangalore and Mumbai. “As an event planner, I like creating experiences and Grub Fest was one, which we plan to take to Dubai and London,” he adds.
types of gourmet street food across restaurants that they might not otherwise have had a chance to visit.” Adds fellow organiser and Chef Tanveer Kwatra, “This is also an opportunity for the participating restaurants to showcase their signature dishes to a new audience and experiment with new menus.” Expectedly, many participants has new menus and special dishes for the festival, which also boasted 12 different genres of music, games, live graffiti artists and one surprise act on each day of the event. From Delhi, the festival travels to Mumbai and Kolkata.
10 HEADS FESTIVAL (CARNIVAL TIME) [OCTOBER]
T
he 10 Heads Festival at Dhanchiri Camping Resort in Gurgaon as the name suggests, was planned as a Dussehra crowd-puller away from the city with 10 key attractions including music, food, magic, fashion, art and technology. Says director Anshuman Gulati, “The food festival scene is at a nascent stage in India. And things are heavily skewed towards music. Since my team specialises in music events, we decided to mix food with music and a few more elements to create a platform where the entire family could have a good time together away from home. For a Rs 300 ticket, two elders and two kids could participate in all our activities including exclusive pop-ups by Ibiza’s Bar Barlovento, Berlin’s FluxBau and London’s Mavericks Pizzeria, 23 Grosvenor Gardens and Atlantic Bar and Restaurant as well as a performance by ‘Laserman’ from Italy.” The festival will travel across India through the year.
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SPACES PALATE FEST (CITY AND THE WORLD) [MARCH]
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t may well be called the pioneer of the food festivals in the national capital. The three-day Palate Fest that celebrates Delhi’s culinary attempts at world cuisine is held in March at the Nehru Park in Chanakyapuri. The only festival organised in collaboration with the New Delhi Municipal Council, this gives visitors an opportunity to explore a variety of food experiences, including international cuisine through the participating embassies as well as hotels and restaurants. There are food markets, cookery workshops and demonstrations by top Indian chefs, food-tastings, live music
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f the fests this far were all about Delhi’s belly, going ahead there’s a promise to celebrate the city’s “underbelly.” The first edition of Teamwork Arts’ Delhi Live that is planned at the Nehru Park from December 18 to 20, brings together street artists, alternative music and lifestyle trends alongside independent retailers and restaurateurs to showcase its amazing subcultures. The festival will have food alongside artists, curators and galleries creating installations, music, graffiti and public art; alternative designers and their unique products; adventurers,
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performances, a market square showcasing gourmet products and entertainment programmes for children. Says organiser Ruchi Bansal, “Being a government collaboration, our festival is not a private property. Rather it aims to promote the city and its hospitality industry and is, therefore, not a ticketed event and has offerings at discounted prices. Following the success of our Delhi event, we’re now taking the Palate Fest to Goa (just before the IFFI) and Chandigarh. But the fact that within a year, our brainchild has so many imitations is pure flattery to us.”
DELHI LIVE (DELHI UNDERBELLY) [DECEMBER 18 – 20] fitness enthusiasts and young visionaries who spend hours to make Delhi a better and safer city. The festival is being organised together by Food Talk India, Kitsch Mandi, artists’ collective Portret Project, Adventure 18 and other organisations from across Delhi. Says Anjali Batra of the digital food community Food Talk India, also an organisers, “Delhi Live will celebrate the vibrant and diverse specialities of our city from its cuisine to musical talent, artists, technology-driven start-ups as well as alternative mode of fitness and other innovation.”
ATLEISURE CULTURE CONNECT [CALENDER OF EVENTS]
TAJ BALLOON FESTIVAL 2015
BOOKWORM [WHAT A TRAVELLER IS READING]
RISE OF KALI: ANAND NEELKANTAN
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ew perspectives on mythology is a tightrope walk. One, it’s hard to break set notions. Two, if you do manage to, where do you draw the line how far to go. In book II of his acclaimed Ajaya series, Anand Neelakantan breaks away from the established Mahabharat narrative to see it from the Kauravas’ perspective...without giving it a stretch. Duryodhan (here Suyodhan or the great warrior) thus becomes the hero of the Rise of Kali, a man with a modern appeal and naked ambition, who questions old norms of caste and dharma and looks for reason in things. And his supporters — Shakuni and Karna — get a more humane hearing, so as to be seen as people with flaws rather than out and out bad men. Such attempts have been a norm in Hindi. In English, it’s a first. Worth a read. — Ritu Pandey
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ancy a peaceful bird’s-eye view of the Taj Mahal, away from the crowds? Don’t miss the first Taj Balloon Festival, hosted by Sky Waltz (the premier hot air ballooning company in India) in conjunction with Uttar Pradesh Tourism from November 14 to 16 at Agra. Hot air balloonists from 15 countries around the world will grace the skies. In the evening, enjoy live music performances under the warm glow of the hot air balloons. Luxury package tours, including balloon flights, are available. For details log on to www.skywaltz.com
WANDERLUST
WORLD OF ART [WHAT TO EXPERIENCE] he fourth edition of the Dharamshala International Film Festival opens in McLeodganj from 5 to 8 November with a cutting-edge line-up of independent cinema. There’s Joshua Oppenheimer’s 2012 documentary The Act of Killing and his latest film, The Look of Silence; Japanese documentary maker Kaoru Ikeya’s Lung Ta as well as debutantes Maw Naing’s The Monk and Hoang Diep Nguyen’s Flapping in the Middle of Nowhere. Initiated by the Dharamshala-based IndianTibetan filmmaking couple, Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam, the festival aims to bring high quality independent cinema to the hills to encourage local talent and create a platform for engaging communities in the area. Apart from the screenings, the festival will see mastersclasses, workshops and mentorship programmes by visiting filmmakers and film professionals, an exclusive cocktail party and a musical night. For details log on to http://www.diff.co.in.
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[FESTIVALS & HAPPENINGS] o International Yoga and Music Festival Fifty of the world’s best professional yoga teachers, Ayurvedic doctors, nad yogis, yoga lecturers, musicians, and philosophers are a part of this annual event organised by the Nada Yoga School. The festival features classes, workshops, lectures as well as a daily classical music concert. When: November 1-7 Where: Rishikesh, Uttarakhand o Bandra Wine Festival Sample the best wines in India with some gourmet delicacies, enjoy live music and dance and take part in activities like grape stomping. When: November 7-8 Where: D'Monte Park, Bandra (West), Mumbai
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SIGNOFF
WARMTH OF LOVE
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which unfortunately limited Preetam and Hema’s practical erhaps it is good that actor-director Rakesh Bedi’s pursuits, except fuelling their longing for each other. The play, Mera Woh Matlab Nahi Tha, came home to title has much to do with Preetam’s caginess and Delhi in the autumnal glow of November. For long inhibitions, of keeping things to himself and, therefore, after Tumhari Amrita (which was an adaptation anyway), leaving himself open to misinterpretation. The twist once delicately woven by Farooq Sheikh and Shabana comes in the end when the straightforward and fiery Azmi, we have a heart-warming original play pivoted on Hema, the other polarity, becomes unsure and cagey about human relationships and spun with simple but potent her own future and mouths the same line.....much to words that span today’s digital distance. Preetam’s alacrity. Helmed by Anupam Kher as producer and its male Needless to say Kher and Gupta, both of whom protagonist and bonded by a powerhouse performance have a cinematic body of excellence, give this play their all from Neena Gupta (she is returning to stage after nine as stage performers. Their intensity and tautness never years) it had nostalgia and longing written all over it. Set flags as they traverse the graph of emotions, from the in Delhi, brought to life by artistes who began their calmness of afterthought to the explosion of rage, from the journey in this city and on stage at Kamani Auditorium, it sepia-toned lookback to the immediacy of the present, was meant to be. So despite the reviews in Mumbai and from the immensity of their past lives to the everydayness the US, where the play was staged before, it truly became of current moments. Both Kher and Gupta swim through slice of life and lent itself to the immediacy of emotion these tides with seamless ease and perfect timing. And of and passion here. course special mention must be made of Gupta, who even The story revolves around the meeting in Lodi role-plays the character of Nigar, Preetam’s Garden of former lovers Preetam Singh Chopra (Kher) unaccomplished wife, in a flashback sequence and and Hema Roy (Gupta) to reassess each other and give a immediately swings back to the present in see-saw scenes closure to their unrequited love of 35 years. Hema, we of the second act. It made the contrast between the two come to know, is to move to the UK permanently and women stark and perhaps led you to sympathise with the seeks a meeting, not for a reunion but to give a “clean not-so-gutsy Preetam. This brilliant role reversal is one of chit” to a man who circumstance proved had let her down the highlights of the spectrum of womanhood. but for whom her faith was unwavering, believing he must Kher and Gupta will obviously be talked about as have had a reason for doing so. The play works only much as people did of Farooq Sheikh and because of these self-probes into the recesses Shabana Azmi. Kher himself said at the end of the mind of two people who are by of the play that he hoped this could run refreshing with their open admission of RINKU GHOSH another 25 years. But the true star has to be frailties and their abiding soul-seated writer-director Rakesh Bedi who engages the audience understanding of each other. with the right balance of poignancy and humour, his own The leads then embark on an emotional recounting comical interludes between dramatic moments and his of their lives on the shared space of a park bench and then masterful and easy-to-ear dialogues. For this play is about slip into the easy familiarity of a well-worn couple who the power of words which indeed takes our hearts away. It can scan, scratch and comfort each other, down to their is the clever interplay of dialogues that not only makes the deepest, ugliest crevices, and rescue each other back. characters endearing but makes the play relatable despite Something that eluded them in their compromised marital the seriousness and depth of content. A few jewels stand lives. In their intervening years, Preetam was trapped by a out like, “Memories are sweet but they are painful when manipulative spouse while Hema writhed in an abusive you recall them” or the one about “following your marriage. Parental opposition and a clever concealing of destination or destination itself will be lost wondering who letters and phone lines by two culturally different families its characters are meant to be.” make you thank that you are better off in digital times. In the end, kudos to the director for analysing the But it also points to a generation which was beholden to delicacy of first love, its assumption and reality, changing the tradition of being responsible to the roadmap of elders, relationships that have an intimacy beyond physicality and yet who communicated with each other with all their not giving up the chase. Ever. Love is what it takes to angst, ardour, sincerity and desperation. Theirs is an ode warm up a Delhi winter. to the tested epistolary tradition of romance, a literary tool
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RNI NO. DELENG/2006/18084 POSTAL REGN. NO. DL (C)-01/1151/13-15 Posted at NDPSO on 10th, 11th & 12th of same month Published on 30th of Advance Month