Brunch 29 09 2013 by Hindustan Times

LD AY ys t OR D a ar W ART 5 w he 3 y HE ide: alth s e In a h to

WEEKLY MAGAZINE, SEPTEMBER 29, 2013 Free with your copy of Hindustan Times

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B R E A K FA S T O F C H A M P I O N S To read Brunch stories (and more) online, log on to hindustantimes.com/brunch. To discuss the stories (or give feedback), follow @HTBrunch on Twitter. For everything cool on the Internet, like Hindustan Times Brunch on Facebook. And for videos, check out our channel (youtube.com/HindustanTimesBrunch)

Ab Tak Aapne Dekha

by Shantanu Argal

AND THE EMMY GOES TO…

The 65th Primetime Emmy Awards that honour the best in American television were held last week in LA, California. While your favourite show may or may not have won in the relevant category, here’s our list of the shows that you must watch, and why

SHOW: Parks and Recreation SEASONS: 6 SHOW: 30 Rock SEASONS: 7 SHOW: The Big Bang Theory SEASONS: 7 WHAT? Bureaucrats in a fictional small town WHAT? An NBC show about an NBC WHAT? A group of physicists who have the same in Indiana, USA. The series follows Leslie show. TGS with Tracy Jordan is a live problems of life, love, money and junk food as Knope, an enthusiastic American babu stuck comedy show and the show’s head everybody else. in a particularly lazy department, trying to do writer, Liz Lemon has fluctuating relaWHY? The Sheldon-Amy couple, comic some good. It’s shot in the shaky and fourthtionships with other writers, actors and book merch, string theory jokes. wall-breaking manner of The Office. her boss, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) Jim Parsons (the delightful WHY? More Saturday Night Live (SNL) folk doWHY? SNL folk doing broadcast TV, Sheldon Cooper) won the Jack Donaghy’s anecdotes & wisdom ing sitcoms, but more importantly Aubrey Best Actor in a Comedy Plaza (who plays the deadpan April Ludgate). Tina Fey and Tracey Wigfield won Series. the award for the Best Writing in a SHOW: Homeland SHOW: Mad Men SEASONS: 6 Comedy Series. SEASONS: 3 WHAT? Ad agencies in the ’60s in America. But really about SHOW: Modern Family the life and lovers of Don Draper, rock star ad-exec and WHAT? A CIA agent beCasanova extraordinaire. Brilliant in its portrayal of a much SEASONS: 5 lieves a recently returned more sexist time, the show manages to hold a tight storyline war-hero is a spy for Al-QaeWHAT? The 21st century without being too generous or strict while recreating the era. da. A spy thriller revolving American joint family. Rich old around military intelligence WHY? Classic American cars from the ’50s and ’60s; the voluptuous white man with gorgeous secand covert operations in Christina Hendricks, who has a chunky role. ond wife, his straight/gay chilthe Middle East. dren, their spouses and bratty SHOW: Breaking Bad SEASONS: 5 American kids. It’s really WHY? It’s Fox’s SHOW: Game of Thrones about how an unconventional view on the Ameri- WHAT? A high school chemistry teacher learns he has cancer SEASONS: 3 family still functions (or is as can America; and and starts cooking/selling meth with a former student. The WHAT? Based dysfunctional as) a convenClaire Danes. original intention is that his family will have some money after on fantasy king tional one. his death. Except that he starts liking the dark side of his life. George RR Claire Danes Martin’s WHY? The loud and very (CIA Agent Carrie WHY? Bryan Cranston’s (Walter White) transformation from Anakin books, the Columbian Sofia Vergara. Also Mathison) won the to Vader. It won the Best Drama Series, and the Best Supporting Acshow feaCameron and Mitchell’s (the Best Actress in a Drama Series. tress in a Drama Series for Anna Gunn (Skyler White, Walter’s wife). tures several gay couple) fights. great famiSHOW: House of Cards SEASONS: 1 SHOW: The Newsroom SEASONS: 2 This dysfunctional family won lies in the WHAT? An American politician and his wife playing the ABOUT: Written by Academy award the Emmy for the Best land of Westgame that all politicians must play. Frank Underwood winning screenwriter-producer-playComedy Series. eros. Changing dynamics be(Kevin Spacey) plots and schemes to gain power after wright Aaron Sorkin, The Newsroom tween these families, (the he is passed over for the position is a drama that chronicles the Baratheons, the Starks, the of Secretary of State. behind-the-scenes events at a Targaryens and the Lannisters) fictional TV news channel. The show is often WHY? Kevin Spacey’s makes for high drama. accused of taking fantastic liberties. drama. WHY? If you liked the books. Or WHY? If you want to know how neurotic news anchors Director David Emilia Clarke (the strong-willed behave, this may be of some interest. Fincher won the Daenerys Targaryen) Emmy for directing We’re surprised shocked Jeff Daniels (Will McAvoy) won the Not even ONE award? Come on! the drama series. Best Actor in a Drama Series. Really? Come on!

On The Brunch Radar

by Saudamini Jain

Something Starry

Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman puppets (Follow amandapalmer.net/blog) ■ Your entries for the #BrunchPhotoSpecial ■ Grand Masti (No, seriously) ■ Rape? Ladies, it’s your fault. All India Bakch*d’s ace sarcastic video. ■ Stuff on Upworthy.com ■

OFF TO ANOTHER LEVEL

People who are too lazy to search within their own Gmail ■ Writers who don’t read #ItHappensOnlyInIndia ■ Grown-up Calvin ■ If you’re still dissing social media ■ Pity for BlackBerry (should be nostalgia, no?) ■

Cover design: MONICA GUPTA Cover image: SHUTTERSTOCK

by Rachel Lopez

There’s one more angel in heaven and one less game guru in the world. Good bye, Hiroshi Yamauchi – THE man behind Nintendo, Donkey Kong and Super Mario (right). Goodbye to the man who taught us (me at least) how to use the left and right hand independently of each other on a joystick in the ’80s. Goodbye to the man who made me fling barrels, eat magic

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

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

mushrooms and slide down a flagpole without getting arrested. My brother thirsted for your GameBoy. I had the Mario theme as my ringtone. We both thought the Mario movie sucked. If heaven has a brick with a question mark on it, I hope hitting it brings you good things in the afterlife! Yamauchi died on September 19, 2013.

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

Drop us a line at:

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

Step by Step

by Srishti Jha

That’s how you make a fab neckpiece! WHAT YOU NEED Some beads, old coins, transparent plastic wire, thick needle, acrylic paint or nail polish, jump rings (rings used to make chains, jewellery), resinbased glue or any other adhesive that works on metal and a cutter. GET STARTED: Make a small hole on top of the coins with the help of a drill or welder. Paint the edges of the coins with nail polish and leave them to dry. Take an appropriate length of the wire you’re using and put it through the needle. Put the jump rings in the coin’s hole and keep it ready to be placed. Start stringing the beads through the needle. After every five to 10 beads (depending on the length and design) place the coins with jump rings on top. Make a knot before and after placing the coin. This keeps it immovable. Keep pressing the beads between your fingers to make it look firm. Finally check the order of beads and coins. At the end, tie a double knot to the wire to make it sturdy. Cut any remaining wire for a neat finish. Flaunt the traditional Arabian-style neckpiece with a splash of beads with any ethnic wear and beam with pride when asked where you got it from! FOR ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES, PLEASE CONTACT National — Sanchita Tyagi: sanchita.tyagi@hindustantimes.com North — Siddarth Chopra: siddarth.chopra@hindustantimes.com West — Karishma Makhija: karishma.makhija@hindustantimes.com South — Francisco Lobo: francisco.lobo@hindustantimes.com

C OV E R STO RY

You’re embarrassed by your parents. Sometimes, you like to pretend you’re not related to them

hindustantimes.com/brunch

You drive without a licence. You sneak out of the house. Risky is sexy. You date the weirdo – for the heck of it

NOTE: QUARTER-LIFE HAS BEGUN

Your liberal arts college degree is useless. “Have I wasted my time in college?” you wonder as everyone’s Facebook pictures appear cooler

No lasting love? The pity party begins. “There must be something wrong with me”

You’re rude, you slam doors. You’re moody. You hate everybody. Except your friends, they get you

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. Confucius Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about. Oscar Wilde Everything has been figured out, except how to live. Jean-Paul Sartre Any idiot can face a crisis – it’s day-to-day living that wears you out. Anton Chekhov

It all begins in the teens. It’s seven uninterrupted years of your worst behaviour ever (hopefully!)

CAUTION: ANGRY TEENAGERS AHEAD

START HERE

HELLO AND WELCOME TO LIFE...

...Or what life is supposed to look like according to countless studies, newspaper articles, blogs.

WARNING:

IT’S NOT PRETTY (it’s the big stereotype)

E COULD dole out proverbs by the dozen. We could superimpose them on photographs of a sunset/sunrise/bench/ dogs/children and post them on Facebook for you to Like and Share. We could talk in metaphor – of lemons and lemonade, Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates – and you might spend all Sunday contemplating the mystery that is life. But chances are, you’ll be going out and living it instead, and talking about it. Mostly about how difficult it is. Judging by the amount of drama being devoted to the simple act of living, you’d think life has become a constant crisis. Any teenager will tell you that “Lyf sux”. It’s partly because they’re angsty and angry, and they hate everything. (Put it down to the fact that their bodies are changing and their hormones pumping.) Twenty-somethings can’t stop wondering about life. The real world, bleak career prospects, rocky relationships, fear of making the wrong choice amongst an overwhelming number of options. “What if it never gets any better?” they wonder. They’re going through what we’re now calling a quarter-life crisis. In their 30s are the ‘adultescents’, an expanding group that is living out an extended period of adolescence. They’re irresponsible

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

No matter what stage of life you’re at, you’re supposed to be in the throes of some crisis or the other – quarter-life, mid-life, later-life. But that’s a myth. So forget the crises, let’s discuss the oldest story in the world: life and reckless, refusing to settle down. “Life is party,” they say, spending their money on merrymaking, holidaymaking and pretty things. They can’t afford to buy a house and it’s affecting their self-esteem. Call it a prolonged quarter-life crisis or an early mid-life crisis. And usually, a mid-life crisis is more like a fortieth birthday present. Women go through menopause, men go through andropause. They question their achievements, “Have I done anything worthwhile/important/fun in life?” Popular culture stereotypes depict an obsession with red sports cars and illicit affairs. Those with children suffer from the Empty Nest Syndrome after their children leave home. And some time after 60 (studies differ on exactly when), exhaustion and age catch up. The death of a colleague, news of old classmates suf-

E #1 BONUS LIF

things “There are two : I never say d ‘Overworked’ an ’” d ‘Not in the moo , Actor ANUPAM KHER

fering from serious ailments may trigger a later-life crisis. It comes with a sense of bereavement. Life is a now a lonely and depressing thing. When did life become so difficult, so overwhelming that we had to make up names to identify each situation?

ASKING THE BIG QUESTIONS

Is life really that hard? Not particularly. Is it a real crisis? Definitely not. So what is this exactly? It’s just life. And, apparently, this is exactly what it’s supposed to be like. And unless it’s some sort of trippy reincarnation, you’re in without any experience, just like the rest of us. “Every stage of life has unique challenges. And because you have never experienced them before, there are obvious concerns and anxieties,” says Mumbai clinical psychologist Chetna Duggal. “Transitioning from one stage of life to another isn’t supposed to be a smooth process.” In 1950, the development psychologist (and a friend of Freud’s) Erik Erikson came up with the idea of the Stages of Psychosocial Development. He said that every person passed through eight stages of life. Each stage brought on a psychosocial “crisis”, but the cri-

7 Illustrations: THINKSTOCK

There is no such thing as a dream job. You’re either badly paid or overworked. Mostly, it’s both

This isn’t working. Maybe you should try something different? Quit your job on impulse, dump someone? And hope for the best

ALERT: YOU’RE IN YOUR 30S NOW. PROBLEMS

ARE THESE TERRIBLE TIMES?

“But what does anyone from the ’50s know? Life is so much difficult now than it was 60 years ago…” We’re somehow convinced that this is the worst time to be living. These are “stressful times”, it’s all too “fast-paced”, there’s so much violence and we’re always at work, goddamnit! For some reason, we tend to assume that the generations before us lived in sleepy towns, in a sweet stupor, a proper cabbagehood of existence. It’s a convenient sort of amnesia, considering that the generations before us faced the threat of war, large-scale unemployment, drought, riots, post-Independence blues, colonialism and poverty – and that’s just the last 100 years. In India alone. Life’s always been hard. Just ask actor Anupam Kher. When he came to Mumbai in the ’80s, he was in

You are either an “adultescent” – reckless and immature, still stuck at 20. Or you’re starting to burn out prematurely

gle to the bards – we’re all one big Greek chorus. When something bothers us, we talk about it, we blog about it. Swati Joneja, 23, who blogs about her quarter-life crisis, agrees that we tend to make a bigger deal out of things than is necessary. “My parents definitely had a tougher life,’ she admits. “But we were taught that we can have the world if we want it. So yes, it’s an existential crisis and we whine about it… but frankly, if this is the only thing we have to be bitter about, I wouldn’t change anything!”

by Saudamini Jain

sis didn’t mean some sort of traumatic chaos. It was simply a turning point of life – an obstacle, which also came with some opportunity. So each stage presented new challenges, which one had to negotiate. And in doing so, you acquired skills or resources to develop into (and tackle) the next stage. So a life crisis doesn’t kill you. It only makes you stronger.

debt, half-balding and looking to become an actor. It was hardly a walk in the park. “Now, baldness is seen as a dignified and sexy thing. But then, I was told, ‘tum writer ban jao, director ban jao’,” says Kher who has also written The Best Thing About You Is You!, a self-help book based on his experiences. He says the reason it didn’t get to him then was because he didn’t let it. “I run an acting school and just today

BONUS LIF E #2

“People say the don’t have the ti y But they all hav me. to watch stupid e time se and play on the rials ir iPads” RAJN EESH KAPOOR , Stand-up Comed ian

I was talking to the teachers… there are two things I never say: ‘Overworked’ and ‘Not in the mood’. These words are so overused now!” he says. It could be that our problems seem magnified because misery loves company and we have so much more opportunity to revel in it. We don’t leave our tale of strug-

SO ARE WE WHINING BECAUSE LIFE IS EASIER?

Or are we lazier? Stand-up comedian Rajneesh Kapoor, who claims to have avoided any sort of crisis in his life says that each generation looks back and says the previous one had it easier. “When I was young, college wasn’t easier – nothing was easier,” he says. “All my friends are going through a mid-life crisis. They have so much money but they hate their lives! The music, bikes and cars don’t make any difference. They say they don’t have the time. But they all have time to watch stupid serials, they’re all up to date with Bigg Boss. People are stupid, they’re spending their spare time playing on their iPads. It’s a choice.” The idea of the mid-life crisis has been around since 1965 when Canadian psychoanalyst Elliott Jaques coined the term – except his idea had more to do with the death of genius. By the ’70s, the idea had creept into American vocabulary. And the media went crazy. “ARE YOU SUFFERING FROM A MID-LIFE CRISIS?” newspapers and magazines screamed. Forty years later, the headlines are still asking the same thing. When a decade ago, Alexandra Robbins and Abby Wilner published Quarterlife Crisis: The Unique Challenges of Life in Your Twenties, young people across the

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

SCENARIO ONE: You put off being in a committed relationship as long as you can. You can either invest in a house or fly to the Caymans. You need the holiday more

SCENARIO TWO: You’ve spent the best part of your life keeping your nose to the grindstone. You’re fighting with your partner. You’re feeling lonely. Wasn’t a mid-life a decade away? Doesn’t look like it

HINT: MID-LIFE CRISIS MAKES YOU MAD

You’re the only one balding at your college reunion. Or worse, you look okay but everybody else looks great!

CONTINUE TO NEXT PAGE

C OV E R STO RY

45 CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

You can’t help but take stock of your achievements. Did you really reach your full potential? Why didn’t you have any fun?

globe found a new scripture. “Yes, yes, yes,” they said unanimously, “We’re overworked, overqualified, underpaid – we’ve got the toughest deal!” Some of the most interesting and self-indulgent writing on the Internet is from this age group (just look at Thought Catalog).

WHAT IS BOTHERING US?

Perhaps we’ve just started taking everything too seriously. Relationship columnist and author of Losing My Virginity And Other Dumb Ideas, Madhuri Banerjee, has noticed that people spend way too much time thinking about relationships whether they are in, out or in-between them. “Relationships seem to define people. It all affects their daily activities. We lay so much emphasis on love and sex!” she says. For Bangalore-based life coach Satish Rao, most people are simply not able to handle life because of changes in lifestyle and lack of physical activity. When we asked him if things were really so bad that we needed people to coach our lives, he answered in the affirmative but was quick to add that “as long as you can maintain a healthy lifestyle – even meditating 10 minutes a day can make a lot of difference, we’d be fine on our own. But how many of us follow that?” he lets the question hang in the air.

HOW NOT TO FEEL SO BLUE

Your kids, they’re just so selfish

Kher believes it sounds fashionable to say you’re going through a life crisis. That not being able to grapple with what life’s throwing your way is suddenly cool. Of course, this doesn’t mean that all of this isn’t real. Yes, you could be in trouble. But the odds of it being something serious aren’t very high. “These are self-perceived turning points,” says Dr JD Mukherjee, head neurologist at Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket.

E #3 BONUS LIF

“We lay so much nd ea emphasis on lov be a sex – this shouldt we good thing. Bu ” worry instead RJEE, writer MADHURI BANE

“Everybody goes through this, but not all of them realise it. And only 10 per cent actually experience turmoil,” he says. When trouble brews, doctors mainly look for signs of depression. That’s clinical depression, not garden-variety sadness. As we’re getting more and more psychologi-

You want to do something wild – jump a few lights racing in your new sports car? An affair, perhaps?

But you spiral downwards. “It’s only going to get worse now”

LAST WORD: A LATER-LIFE CRISIS cally sophisticated, the tendency to self-diagnose (and believe your problems are bigger than they actually are) is greater. Psychiatrist Nimesh Desai, director of the Institute Of Human Behaviour And Allied Sciences, says that it’s a double-edged sword. “As mental health awareness increases (as it should because most people still don’t recognise psychiatric problems), people also tend to overthink and over-psychiatricise too.” If it is incapacitating you in some way, if you’re feeling too overwhelmed for longer than two weeks – then it’s a problem. But otherwise, relax. So on this beautiful Sunday morning, are we trying to tell you to calm down and let it be? Yes, actually. Are we telling you to love yourself, your family and friends? Absolutely. Are we telling you to exercise whenever you can? Of course. It sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? And are we pointing out that unless your problems are preventing you from living your life, they’re not really crises? Totally. So stop whining and start living.

60+

A friend is unwell and you become more aware of mortality. You’re not old yet but you now know you’re getting there

70+

And now you feel old. You seem to spend every evening in front of the telly

CHECKLIST FOR EVERY STAGE

■ Remind yourself that you’re not the only one – everybody goes through these stages of life. ■ Work on your personality. People who are sensitive, for example, tend to feel like the whole world is crumbling. If you parents are sensitive or anxious, fight the genes and don’t emulate them in your life! ■ Talk to your best friends. If you try to keep up a facade of “all’s well”, it will drain you. ■ More than situations, deal with yourself. Eat well. When you have a crisis situation, your hormones dip. And if you’re not eating well (or eating junk), your mood swings get only worse.

TEENAGE Exercise, cultivate hobbies, talk to your parents (it’s the time you disconnect from them). This is the best time to develop interests like reading, they’ll stay with you all your life and help you grow as a person. QUARTER-LIFE Start a journal, make this time of your life a learning curve. Put down your goals, sort yourself out. IN YOUR 30s Find a mentor. Meet friends who are sensible and doing well at work, it works as a motivation.

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

MID-LIFE Spend more time with your family, get in touch with old friends. But don’t compare yourself with other people (they may be more successful but could have terrible personal lives). LATER-LIFE Don’t allow yourself to get into a lonely state. Harness your creativity, meet more people, join a club, a sport. Don’t expect too much from your children, but make sure you let them know if you’re lonely. Dr Seema Hingorrany, (Psychologist and author of Beating the Blues)

But this isn’t your life – or anybody else’s. In REAL life, you may not even notice the crises unless you buy into the jargon saudamini.jain@hindustantimes.com Follow @SaudaminiJain on Twitter

35 tips to keep your ticker ticking, even if you already think you’re doing everything right

Photo: SHUTTERSTOCK

Take It To HEART FOODWISE est Vitamin D levels. Get out in the morning and let your body make some D.

his little bowl can slow your heart beat and lower shooting blood pressure.

by Kavita Devgan

ODAY IS World Heart Day. How could you not know? Indians are among those most vulnerable to heart disease (the average age for an attack is 47 here, unlike 64 in the West). Cardio-vascular diseases are the top killers for those aged 25 to 69. Urban, rural, male, female – we’re just as prone. Some studies estimate that one in four of us will die of a heart disease. Let this Sunday be one where you, the big-hearted Indian, also becomes the smarthearted one. Top docs offer their best tips, straight from the heart, to keep yours beating longer.

EVERYDAY HEALTHY

KEEP TEETH CLEAN “Chronic gum disease may lead to heart trouble as bacteria from infected gums often enter the bloodstream and attach to the fatty deposits in heart, leading to formation of clots,” warns Dr Vivek Soni of DY Patil Dental College and Hospital, Mumbai. So brush twice a day.

GET A PET Research by Dr Warwick Anderson and his team at Australia’s Baker Medical Research Institute suggests that pets help cut stress, regulate blood pressure and control triglyceride and cholesterol levels. Playing with your dog or simply watching your goldfish swim in

STAY HAPPY A study published in the American Journal of Cardiology this June states that happy, cheerful people are less likely to be afflicted with heart issues. So if you don’t have a natural positive disposition, work consciously at developing one.

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EXERCISE IS NON-NEGOTIABLE It boosts immunity, makes the arteries supple (bringing down BP), burns calories and helps develop alternate circulation routes to keep attacks at bay. “Aim for 30 minutes of aerobic exercise every day (like running jogging, skipping, cross training etc),” advises Dr Ramakanta Panda, vice chairman and chief cardiovascular thoracic surgeon, Asian Heart Institute, Mumbai.

GET MUSICAL A study presented at this year’s European Society of Cardiology Congress in Amsterdam states that when you listen to music you enjoy, endorphins released from the brain improve your vascular health. Choose your music carefully though. Tunes that makes you anxious have the opposite effect.

SCORE ENOUGH D People with the lowest Vitamin D levels are at more than twice the risk of dying from a heart disease compared to those who have the high-

SLEEP ENOUGH A team of Netherlands-based researchers have found that adding daily shut eye of seven hours or more to an already healthy lifestyle (regular exercise, good diet, no smoking and moderate alcohol drinking) results in a massive 65 per cent lowering of cardiovascular disease risk.

TAKE MORE NAPS A 30-minute nap in the middle of the day may actually save your heart, according to a 2007 Greek study. Researchers found that a siesta helps lower stress levels and fends off heart disease. Find a couch and sign out for half an hour or put your head down on the office desk after every office meeting.

NIX ALCOHOL “Not only does it damage the liver [by increasing triglyceride levels], it also damages the heart muscles, weakening the heart’s pumping capacity,” says Dr Panda. “If you must drink, draw the line at a single (30ml) serving for women and two drinks for men per day. Or switch to red wine (max 60 ml per day) to soak up its antioxidants.”

GRAPES AREN’T SOUR If you don’t like wine, chug grape juice or munch on a bunch of grapes. A study by the University of Connecticut (published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences) found that grapes contain the same powerful disease-fighting antioxidants that give wine its heart-friendly benefits. Just skip the added sugar.

HALT THE SALT A little salt is wonderful, but even a little more than your daily requirement of five grams (or one teaspoon) is bad for your heart. It triggers high blood pressure, excess salt calcifies, scars and destroys the muscles, valves and arteries of the entire coronary route. Avoid processed foods – the biggest culprit – even if you have low BP.

CUT SATURATED FATS Butter, mayonnaise, pork, red meat, hydrogenated oils (vanaspati), cheese, full-fat milk are all high in saturated fats that elevate bad cholesterol, leading to plaque build-up in arteries.

CHOOSE OIL WISELY “Most oils have something going for them, either they’re high mono or poly unsaturated fatty acids (MUFA or PUFA), have a good Omega 3:Omega 6 ratio or contain antioxidants. The trick is to read

WELLNESS

TRANS FATS ARE BAD NEWS They raise your bad cholesterol and lower the good one. Refuse foods that contain hydrogenated oil or partially hydrogenated oil (packaged snacks, chips, bakery goods, cream biscuits and some margarines). Also cut down drastically on fried foods as frying ups the trans fat.

ENOUGH WITH THE COFFEE “Keep a tab on how much caffeine you ingest (tea, coffee) as it is a vasodilator and may contribute to inflammation and even increase the heart rate,” says Dr Panda. “Draw the line at three cups per day,”

CHANGE YOUR CUPPA Make it green. A report in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation states that drinking green tea leads to improved blood flow around the body. So a couple of cups a day could go a long way to help your heart’s health.

FIGHT FIZZ The caffeine content alone is bad for your heart. Research has also found that drinking two or more sugar-sweetened beverages a day can raise the risk of heart disease and diabetes, regardless of your weight.

MINI MEDICINE Begin the day with a pod or two of raw garlic (crush them a bit for maximum benefit). They’re loaded with sulphide compounds, which cut cholesterol and clear out clogged arteries.

GO BANANAS Need an antidote to all that heart damaging sodium you consume every day? Have a banana. It is loaded with potassium, which helps the body get rid of extra sodium, regulating blood pressure.

TARGET OMEGA 3 Eskimos, despite their high-fat diet, have a lower incidence of coronary heart disease than most other ethnic groups. How do they do it? The difference lies in the kind of fats they consume – largely Omega-3 fatty acids from fish oils. Get your dose from fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, surmai, and rohu. Vegetarian? Up your intake of walnuts, flaxseeds, methi and sarson.

HAVE TOMATOES Choose cooked tomatoes, as heat makes more antioxidants available. Plus as lycopene in them is fat-soluble, eating tomatoes with a little bit of oil helps improve its absorption.

GO WHOLE Fibre in whole grains helps cut the risk of heart disease as it binds bile acids (needed to make cholesterol) in the body and whisks bad cholesterol out of the body. So think brown rice instead of white, multi grain instead of white bread and have oats for breakfast.

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APPLE IS A+ Everything you have heard about apples is right; it truly is a wonder fruit. Pectin, a form of soluble fibre in apples helps lower cholesterol, and its natural antioxidants prevent bad cholesterol from oxidising. This reduces plaque formation in your arteries.

GO NUTS Almonds can help lower your cholesterol and, according to study published by the researchers of Toronto University, also help reduce inflammation, both big risk factors for heart disease.

REACH FOR SPINACH Among veggies, it is second only to garlic in antioxidant capacity. It is rich in folic acid, which fights heart disease.

THE DIFFERENCE MAKERS

TEST REGULARLY “Annual testing keeps a tab on your heart’s health. But besides the cholesterol test, also get a stress thallium or a stress eco test done; both pick up heart disease right up to 95 per cent,” suggests Dr Panda. STOP SMOKING “Nicotine thickens the arteries, leading to cholesterol deposits and clotting, increasing the risk of heart disease. So the first thing to do to save your heart is to butt out,” advises Dr Panda.

GET ANTIOXIDANTS They lower the risk of heart disease. “Eat different colour fruits and vegetables as much as possible, one ideally in every meal,” recommends Dr Pinto. Up your dose of natural vitamin C (citrus fruits, amla, berries, tomato, peppers) and betacarotene (orange, yellow, pumpkin, sweet potato, carrot, mango, peach and spinach).

MEASURE YOUR GIRTH “Instead of stepping on that weighing scale again and again, concentrate on shrinking your tummy as that is a bigger risk factor for diabetes and heart disease. Aim for a waistline that is less than 35inch for women and 40inch for men. To measure correctly, start at the upper right hip bone, then pass the measuring tape around the abdomen,” says Dr S M Sadikot, consultant, endocrinology, diabetes and metabolic disorders at Jaslok Hospital.

OPT FOR A HOLISTIC APPROACH “Don’t just look at heart disease. There is a deadly multiplier effect of risks at work – if you smoke, the risk for a heart attack increases one and a half

times. If you have high cholesterol and you smoke, it increases by three times. If you have high BP too, it increases by five times. If you add diabetes to the medley, it goes up a whopping 15 times,” says Dr Seth

MIND IT AVOID STRESS PILE UP “Chronic stress stiffens arteries which ups the risk of BP and diabetes,” points out Dr Panda. “When we feel stressed, the body produces two key hormones – epinephrine which increases heart rate and cortisol which raises blood pressure. And if your body constantly generates these hormones, it means you overwork your heart. And that increases the risk for heart attack.”

BREATHE RIGHT! Under stress, our breathing becomes rapid and shallow, and deprives the heart of oxygen. An effective antidote to reverse this oxygen-robbing tendency is to inhale deeply through your nose for a count of 10, then exhale for a count of 10. Remind yourself to breathe deeply every time you hear a phone ring in the office, you’ll kill stress right there!

COOL OFF Carrying around anger and hostility is a big risk. A conclusion of several studies at Harvard Medical School revealed that the angriest men are three times more likely to develop heart disease than those who are calm.

LAUGH OUT LOUD Experts have known this since the early 1970s. According to Dr Ashima Puri, consultant psychologist, a good belly laugh improves emotional energy by increasing the secretion of mood-boosting endorphins, and also helps get the blood pressure down. MEDITATE EVERY DAY “Just 15 minutes is good as it helps lower stress hormones, bolsters immunity and strengthens your heart. So say OM,” says Dr Puri.

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Photos: THINKSTOCK

the labels carefully and then choose a few and use by rotation, or opt for a good mix of two different types of oil,” says Dr Brian Pinto, chief cardiologist at Holy Family Hospital.

PEOPLE

‘I Am Living My Dream’

Though thrilled with the success of The Lunch Box, Delhi girl Nimrat Kaur is upset that the film is not going to the Oscars by Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi

HE HAD heard many stories of stars “being spotted while having coffee at a coffee shop” but this Delhi girl knew that most, if not all of of these stories, were false. “So I definitely did not have any hopes of being spotted like that,” laughs Nimrat Kaur, the muchacclaimed actress of The Lunch Box, whose controlled but heartfelt performance nearly gave stalwarts Irrfan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui a run for their money. “But I never lost hope at any point. I knew my destiny would find me, if it had to.” And whatever she did – theatre, TV commercials (remember the sexy car driver whose chocolatey finger-licking distracts a fellow driver at a traffic crossing in the Cadbury Silk ad?), learning to handle a camera – it was just another step to her goal: stardom. But what she definitely didn’t anticipate was the phenomenal response, both national and international, to her little debut film. “It’s like a beautiful dream and the best part is that I am living my dream. It just couldn’t get any better.” Excerpts from an interview:

LIVED IT, REALLY!

“I had to get into the skin of this very middle-class, loveless, ignored and bored woman. I became Ila”

So where did destiny, in this case, Ritesh Batra, the director of The Lunch Box, find you?

[Laughs]. Well, he was travelling to Berlin when he saw some rushes of a film called Peddlers that I had done. It has still not released. He was scouting for a face for The Lunch Box and I guess I stayed in his mind. He came back to India and we met. I knew I wanted to do this film the minute I read the script. I was completely sold. I guess he’d also decided in his head to cast me. Only in his head. He didn’t ever officially inform me. We just discussed the role and the character. It was only when one day, I asked him very slyly, “So am I in the film?” did he look blankly at me and say, “Yeah, obviously!”

You worked hard on your character...

Perhaps. I like to be prepared enough to be completely unprepared. I don’t know if I make sense but I have a fantasy of living someone else’s life. And to do that perfectly, I need to prepare myself just as properly. I had to get into the skin of this very middle-class, loveless, ignored and bored woman. She didn’t look after herself – her husband couldn’t care less. So for a couple of months I stopped looking after myself. No facials, no threading, no bleach… not even the basics that make women look and feel nice. I didn’t get manicures. I had nails that had mehendi stains. Even with the house, I made sure I lived there for a month just to get comfortable with the surroundings. It was all different from the real me but on screen, it had to be effortless.

So what or who is the real Nimrat?

Nothing in my background has anything to do with films. In that

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

“I have no plan. I will leave it to the good things and good times to find me”

sense I am a complete outsider. My dad was in the Indian Army. He died in a terrorist attack in Kashmir in 1994. After that, my mum and I settled in Noida. I went to Delhi Public School in Noida and then to Shri Ram College of Commerce in Delhi University. It was in college that I realised I wanted to be on the stage and in front of the camera. Slowly it became more than just a hobby and that’s how the journey began. I did advertising, a lot of theatre, learnt how the camera works and did just about everything that could translate into mastering the medium of acting and filmmaking.

Despite everyone’s expectations, the film hasn’t made it as India’s entry to the Oscras. Are you disappointed?

I am not taking away any credit from The Good Road [the film that got selected.] But I absolutely fail to understand why a film that has been applauded extensively, not only by the international press and the public, but also critics (who have a huge voice at the Oscars), is overlooked. It doesn’t make sense that our own country doesn’t give a platform to a film that is being hailed all over the world. The dots don’t join. Maybe that’s destiny.

Is there a plan in your head now? Or you are leaving it to destiny again?

I have no plan. I will leave it to the good things and good times to find me. Only now, I will be much easier to find. I finally have an address, and am here to stay. tavishi.rastogi@hindustantimes.com

H E A LT H

hindustantimes.com/brunch

Close Your Eyes And Focus

Six reasons why meditation is good for you

It increases your intelligence Research shows that people who meditate have thicker gray matter than those who don’t. It can help you stay warm A study showed that Tibetan monks could increase their body temperature by meditating. It can help you recover lost

memories When you are first learning to meditate, it takes a while for your mind to calm down enough to actually enter a state of mindfulness. At this time, interesting things can surface. It can help you day-dream And yes, it’s true, day-dreaming is very important for your mental health. It helps you to relax. It is creative. It can trigger great, unexpected ideas. It can help you sleep Meditation calms the mind and is considered a good treatment for insomnia. And we all know how important sleep is for all of us. It’s like being on vacation It produces a deep sensation of relaxation.

FIVE WAYS TO RECOGNISE A FAKE GURU While some people are genuinely spiritual, others are just moneymaking fakes ■ He’s got more Rolls Royces than followers. ■ It takes a lot of money to maintain his ‘simple’ lifestyle. ■ He recruits followers only in places like Cannes, Las Vegas and Ibiza. ■ His personal grooming routine could put any Hollywood star to shame. ■ He’s more ready to talk to the media than to his followers. ■ He cannot answer a simple question without going round and round in circles.

indulge

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RAISE A TOAST

Photo: THINKSTOCK

About a decade ago, most of us knew nothing about wine or fashion. But now, the wine dinner, like the fashion show, has come a long way

Vir Sanghvi

rude food

OF VEG FOOD AND WINE

Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Last year Château Margaux brought Alain Passard, one of France’s greatest chefs, to cook at its wine dinners. Passard’s specialty is cooking vegetarian food

HERE WAS a time, about a decade ago, when the wine dinner phenomenon reminded me of the early days of fashion shows. Readers of a certain age may remember those fashion shows. In the ’80s and early ’90s, when Indian fashion was still a cottage industry, designers would be asked to organise fashion shows at any and every event: awards functions, restaurant openings, and even birthday parties. It was not that anyone who watched these shows cared very much about fashion. It was a) that the shows provided live entertainment b) they gave women an excuse to pretend to be knowledgeable about clothes (“His clothes are just like Dior, na?”) and c) the guys loved the babe action. How else would middleaged men get to stare quite so openly at young girls? This way, as they ogled the models on the ramp, they could pretend that they were checking out the clothes. The wine dinner served a similar purpose. About a decade ago, most of us knew nothing about wine. But a wine dinner with some French, Italian or American winemaker was an invitation to covet because a) it meant free food and wine, b) the women could dress up and c) both men and women could pretend to be sophisticates who knew all about wine (“This is a very light Cabernet Sauvignon Blanc.”) But as the years have gone on, both the fashion industry and the wine business have changed. These days fashion shows are directed mainly at the trade and held in decidedly dodgy locations. And wine dinners have become more democratic. They

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

are no longer freebie events but are usually ticketed which means that anyone who cares about wine and food can pay (though prices are usually highly subsidised), can attend and can interact with some of the best winemakers in the world. There are some parallels, however, that everybody tries to avoid referring to: the sense of failure that haunts both the Indian fashion industry, which has failed to produce a single internationally respected designer of great consequence despite predictions to the contrary, and the wine business, which has refused to reach the size we once expected. The reason so many foreign winemakers began coming to India a decade or so ago was because they thought we would be the next China. But while wine consumption has soared in China, Indians have not taken to good wine as quickly as predicted. The very first wine dinners I attended were organised by Sanjay Menon, who is not only the most knowledgeable person I know in India when it comes to wine, but is also the man who almost single-handedly created the wine culture in our country. Sanjay is passionate about wine and though he is a significant importer of fine wines, he is essentially a wine evangelist. He has promoted wine because he cares about it, not because he hopes to turn a quick buck. (My guess is that if he were more cold-blooded and less passionate, his business would be even bigger than it is today.) Sanjay’s wine dinners were the most fun because, in his quest for perfection, he would not only get the most relevant information out of the visiting winemaker so that the rest of us could learn but he would also insult the food and beverage manager, humiliate the chef and make one or two of the better-looking lady guests blush. But nobody minded (except for the chefs and the F&B managers, perhaps, come to think of it) because Sanjay is a great life-enhancer and fun to be with. Now, as the wine business has grown, many other importers have entered the fray (Aman Dhall is easily the biggest) and wine dinners are routinely organised in every major city. Dharti Desai who runs Fine Wines N More, another top importer, once told me that it was the response in such cities as Lucknow that she found most surprising and gratifying. The problem – from my perspective – with wine dinners in India is that our chefs do not understand wine and most of India’s so-called sommeliers are either charlatans or simply do not know how to pair food and wine. (I will now pause, so that outraged sommeliers can take to Twitter to tell us what geniuses they are and what a fool I am.) The consequence is that the food served at these dinners is usually rubbish. At one such dinner, a famous Indian chef tried to pair a First Growth Bordeaux with chili. At another, for Pichon Longueville, the food was so bad that we all sent it back. Great wine usually does not need great food. The quality of the wine should be enough for the dinner to be a success. On the other hand, when chefs make dishes that actively interfere with our enjoyment of the world’s finest wines, it can be annoying. Because some top winemakers still hope that India will go the China way, they continue to visit our country regularly and bring bottles of their wines for us to enjoy. In recent years, I’ve been to dinners where such great wines as Mouton Rothschild, Château Margaux, Château Latour and Dom Pérignon have been served in generous quantities at hugely subsidised rates.

When chefs make dishes that interfere with our enjoyment of the world’s finest wines, it can be annoying

PROMOTING PASSION

Sanjay Menon is not only the most knowledgeable person I know in India when it comes to wine, but is also the man who almost singlehandedly created the wine culture in our country

PERFECT COMBO

Gagan Anand (below right) flew down from Bangkok with five chefs and 200kg of high-quality ingredients to cook at the single best food and wine dinner I’ve ever been to

We were encouraged to wander into the kitchen and see how the food was made. Plus Gagan came out and explained each course to us (The winemakers take the hit because they see it as a longterm investment.) Had I not attended these dinners, I would probably never have tasted these wines. Sometimes though, you can get lucky and find food that complements the wine. India’s greatest wine-collector is the industrialist Dhruv Sawhney, who not only has an outstanding cellar but generously shares it with other wine-lovers at the dinners he organises at the Delhi Taj. Dhruv is too rich and too classy to charge anybody for dinner. But he is also very careful so he organises at least two tastings of the food and the wine before approving the menu. Because Dhruv is well-known in the global wine community, great winemakers seek him out. Last year Château Margaux brought Alain Passard to cook at its wine dinners. Passard is one of France’s greatest chefs and his specialty is the cooking of vegetables. So Passard cooked his vegetarian menu at ticketed dinners in Bombay and Bangalore. In Delhi however, Dhruv paid Passard personally and the dinner was by invitation only. (And free!) Passard’s food drew a mixed response from Indians (an entire course consisted of two roast onions, for instance), many of whom found it too strange and too little. (Some of the guests then went out for a second dinner). But the Château Margaux people loved it, so I guess you have to be French to understand that kind of thing. On the other hand, a recent Haut-Brion dinner at Le Cirque (Sanjay organised both the Margaux and Haut -Brion visits), where the food was less complicated, was a particular triumph. The single best food and wine dinner I’ve ever been to, however, took place in Bombay last week. It was hosted by the International Wine and Food Society (IWFS), and was not cheap (`20,000 per head). But two things made it exceptional. The first was that IWFS (in the shape of Sanjay) coaxed Gagan Anand out of his kitchen and flew him down from Bangkok with five chefs and 200kg of high-quality ingredients. The second was that Gagan cooked in the most perfect venue I’ve ever seen for a wine dinner. The Four Seasons in Bombay has opened a new private meeting space with a vast open kitchen.

There were around 30 of us on five round tables and we were encouraged to wander into the kitchen and see how the food was made. Plus Gagan came out and explained each course to the diners. Sanjay chose the wines (between 93 to 96 Parker points if you care about that sort of thing) and when you consider that there were seven wines and twelve courses, the cost did not seem needlessly excessive. (IWFS makes no profit and Gagan did not charge a fee). Plus, we got to eat all of Gagan’s greatest hits: the foie gras with red onion chutney, the sandalwood-smoked chicken, the lamb chops with beet puree, the mushroom khichdi, the truffle and pepper soup etc. Adarsh Jatia, whose family owns the Four Seasons in Bombay, was at my table and he told me he intends to use this remarkable space for more wine dinners and to create pop-up restaurants for visiting chefs. I hope he does, because this, I think, may be the future of the wine dinner: invite small groups, get a great chef, get somebody like Sanjay to choose the wines and let guests understand the food, the wine and the pairings by interacting with the chef and the sommelier (in this case, Sanjay). Clearly, the wine dinner, like the fashion show, has come a long way from its beginnings. And I’d still rather go out for a good dinner than a catwalk extravaganza. At least, this way you get good wine. At the other thing, all they have is coke.

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013