Indulge September 2011

Vol. I | Issue 1 | September 2011

The making of A behind-the-scenes look at what makes Vertu click Page

The microwaving man

8

Sidin Vadukut on the versatility of microwave ovens

20

Page

Shelf life

A range of best-selling books on whisky

29

Page

Case studies

A selection of outstanding strolley bags from a variety of brands and across a variety of price points.

12

Page New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh*, Pune* 

2 | mint Indulge | September 2011

editor’s note

Contents Indulge vol. I | Issue 1 | September 2011

8| Cover story

24| Interview: Thierry Lamouroux, Cartier Watchmaking

The making of Vertu

Welcome to indulgence

I

s there any topic that the storied The New Yorker magazine hasn’t published about that makes you feel embarrassingly under-informed? If memory serves right, the magazine has made me feel utterly uneducated about ketchup, Osama Bin Laden, the acai berry, and even Gandhi.

But one recent, and brief, article in that magazine is of particular import in this edit note. In May, James Surowiecki wrote a piece about the role “venturesome consumers” play in the US economy. He talked about how important it was that the US had customers who were willing to experiment with young start-ups and risky products.

“You might think of consumption as a fairly passive activity,” says Surowiecki, “but buying new products and services is actually pretty risky, at least if you value your time and money.”

This newspaper values your time and money. We try to make sure that every piece of newsprint we push your way is worth the time it takes you to flip through it, if not actually read it in full.

(And by extension, I hope it is worth the sacrifice of the tree involved.)

Mint Indulge is our latest project. The entire point of Indulge is to showcase products, services, concepts, and, most importantly, ideas that have a reasonable chance of exciting the prosperous or won’t-

give-up-till-I’m-prosperous male.

(Though we’ve made a mental note to not shove that Y chromosome in your face.)

So in this issue, we go behind the scenes to look at the products and services that make Vertu that rare, sensible “luxury” brand. There are also short, intelligent conversations in these pages with all kinds of people: a watch marketer, an international cricketer, a chief minister and others.

And instead of asking them to pontificate aimlessly, we talk to them about personal superlatives.

But Indulge is also about efficient living. So we’ve finally given an accessory some long overdue attention: the trolley bag. We’ve also tapped the minds of some experts on knives and whisky.

All this and the rest I will leave you to explore.

Now all this leaves you, the reader, in the position of an early adopter.

What you have in your hands is the first quarterly issue of Mint Indulge.

In a way, by opening and reading it, you’ve inadvertently become like one of those guys who sit in tents outside the Apple store days before a launch.

We thank you, venturesome reader, for your indulgence.

And we hope you enjoy it.

SIDIN Vadukut issue editor

4| Sports

25| How to buy a

Column: Aakash Chopra on the toughest cricket match of his life Beg, borrow or steal: The Callaway Razr Hawk Driver

serious watch

26| Gadgets

6| Review

Dom Perignon Lounge, F Bar, Delhi

11| Travel

27| Home

Column: R. Sukumar on why he likes bags

12| Case Studies:

The frequent flier’s ablest allies

Column: Sidin Vadukut on what makes a luxury gadget Beg, borrow or steal: The Fitbit wireless activity tracker

Column: Madhu Menon on the basic knives your kitchen needs

20| Food and

28| The gentleman’s almirah

14| Column: Dileep

29| Books

21| Column: Joel

Premachandran on life as a cricket journalist Beg, borrow or steal: The Triplt iPhone app

19| Cars and bikes

Column: Siddharth Vinayak Patankar on the best test drive of his life

wine

The microwaving man Harrison on the basics of whisky

22| Watches

Game. Set.Watch: Sports meets luxury watchmaking

Shelf life: Definitive guides to whisky

30| Milestones

Omar Abdullah on the greatest speech of his career Cover design: Uttam Sharma

Issue editor: SIDIN Vadukut, Editorial coordination: Pradip Kumar Saha, Design: abel robinson, Uttam Sharma, Venkatesulu. Mint editorial leadership team: R. Sukumar (Editor), Niranjan Rajadhyaksha (Executive editor), Anil Padmanabhan, Tamal Bandyopadhyay, Priya Ramani, Nabeel Mohideen, Manas Chakravarty, Monika Halan, Shuchi Bansal, sidin vadukut, Jasbir Ladi ©2011 HT Media Ltd, All Rights Reserved

sports

Aakash

Chopra

Beg, borrow or steal this

The Callaway

Cricketer

Razr Hawk Driver Callaway won a gold medal on the 2011 Gold Digest Hot List with this high-tech lightweight beast of a driver. If there is a material that can possibly go into a state-of-the-art golf club, the Razr Hawk has it somewhere. With a street price of around $400, this is a pricey, but essential, addition to any respectable bag of clubs. Also, there is no way anything can be this sexy and legal at the same time.

By Sidin vadukut sidin.v@livemint.com

The club is strengthened with a collection of 23 million turbo static carbon fibres

The club face is finished with a spin-cast nickel rear-weight pad and a thin aluminum skid plate

The chemically milled titanium club face transmits power while still being supple enough to forgive off-centre shots The forged composite material used to manufacture the club is stronger than titanium and was developed with inputs from car maker Lamborghini Alvaro Quiros uses the Razr Hawk to routinely launch drives more than 330 yards long, making him one of the longest drivers on the PGA tour 04

INDULGE | September 2011

The toughest cricket match of my life

I

n India, it seems, there are two classes of travel—“First Class”, and “For Cricketers”. And here, I talk strictly of the domestic cricketers—the poor pedigree, who scuttles from one end of the country to the other, sometimes packed in dilapidated roadways busses, or crammed between berths on good old hold-all bags on a train without a booking. Of course, it could get worse if your team happens to lose a crucial game. Well, none of us, the players from Delhi, had any such apprehensions, yet, since the season had just started in the November of 2007. We had assembled at the domestic airport at the outskirts of the city to board a flight to Dharamshala for our upcoming Ranji game against Himachal Pradesh.

Unfortunately though, the inclement weather in the mountains thwarted all our plans of deluxe travel. As we tripped over reality, half of us, bundled in an overnight bus to Dharamshala, while the rest of us, luckier, or so we thought, took the next flight to Amritsar to later travel by road to the venue. If all went by plan, we’d go to bed by midnight, we had opined.

Shortly after landing in Amritsar, the skies opened up. One could imagine this road trip up the hills to be the perfect setting for a quintessential romantic tete-a-tete, only if the fellow passengers were a bit more inspiring. Alas! Most of us chose to recline and doze off in our seats. Soon though, mist enveloped the area and visibility dropped massively. Driving through those narrow, steep roads was flirting with danger with a deep valley on one side and the margin of error being less than a few inches.

Well, we finally reached our hotel by midnight, surviving all the scares, completely drenched and physically drained. The tour started on the wrong foot but we didn’t fret, for everything was slated to change on the ground. After all, Delhi was at its full strength with Virender Sehwag leading the pack and our opposition not worth losing sleep over, or so we thought.

The match started in right earnest with Sehwag winning the toss. Surprisingly enough, he put Himachal Pradesh in to bat first. It was a good batting surface and a typical win-the-tossand-bat-first-wicket, but, by Sehwag’s logic, we needed to bowl the opposition out for less than 250 runs, bat big ourselves and finish the game with bowling them out again to win the match.

A perfect match! But cricket seldom follows the planned route.

Himachal Pradesh made us pay the ultimate price for being arrogant as they batted and batted and batted, while we toiled and toiled, and toiled a bit more. It’s worth mentioning here that our hotel was in the back and beyond and it used to take us one hour to commute twice a day. If the time spent on the ground was not tiring enough, the journey through the mountains after the match certainly was.

They finally got out around tea on the second day and now it was our turn to bat. Sehwag opened with Gautam Gambhir. I was slated at 3, Shikhar Dhawan at 4, Rajat Bhatia at 5, Puneet Bisht at 6 and Mithun Manhas at 7. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find place in the playing 11 for Virat Kohli—such was the strength of our batting line-up. So, what if our first plan went haywire, we could still bat them out of the game and have another shot at them towards the end, we had mused. But once again, we miscalculated.

Our star-studded batting line-up was shot down for just 75 runs. And, perhaps for the first time, Himachal Pradesh enforced the follow-on against Delhi. We found ourselves batting for the second time before the second day got over.

The mental agony of such humiliation made the physical agony of fielding for around 150 overs feel trivial. We lost Sehwag early in the second innings too and I walked in to join Gambhir. I was in the middle of a great season and made up for the first innings failure by remaining unbeaten at the end of the third day.

But our team was still not out of the woods. We needed to bat at least for two more sessions to avoid ultimate humiliation.

Luck beckoned as we safely negotiated the first two sessions on Day 4. I got a double century and managed to stay on the ground for all four days. I was deadbeat, both physically and mentally. My body hurt in places I didn’t know existed. Of course, I didn’t want to throw away my wicket, but the knowledge that your wicket might make the team lose the match adds pressure like nothing else. Well, we succeeded in drawing the match, which was a good result.

But the ordeal wasn’t over yet, for we needed to get out of Dharamshala as quickly as possible as the next match was slated to start in Maharashtra in three days. We boarded a non-AC bus from Dharamshala to Delhi (that was the only option available at that time) and wore three layers of clothes to battle the cold.

But none of it seemed enough, for we froze by the time we entered Delhi 12 hours later. This was one of the most tiring tours, which ideally, I’d like to forget but will never be able to for obvious reasons—you don’t hit double centuries every day.

Akash Chopra opened for India in Test cricket.

Respond to this column at feedback@livemint.com

Review indulge review|dom perignon lounge, f bar

Oye Bubbly Photo: Moet Hennessy

A peek inside the latest addition to the Capital’s F Bar

sparkling services: The vintage 2002 champagne.

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INDULGE | September 2011

By Pradip kumar saha

W

pradip.s@livemint.com

hy, as I walked into the F Bar, I wondered, was Dom Perignon opening their first lounge in India in New Delhi and not Mumbai or Bangalore? Other cities to boast the format are Paris, Cannes, Sydney and Tokyo. Surely the cities of maximums or boiled beans were more worthy?

“Dom Perignon is one of the most desirable brands in the country,” said Gaurav Bhatia, marketing director of Moet Hennessy India. “Delhi has played a big role in making this happen. So it is natural for Dom Perignon to unveil its first lounge in New Delhi.”

Moet Hennesy is part of French conglomerate LVMH and owns the Dom Perignon brand, and Bhatia spoke to Mint Indulge via email.

Marketing rationale apart, the lounge is a substantial addition to the list of high net-worth destinations in the Capital. The lounge opened at the Ashok on 20 August “cheered on” I was told, by 100 well-wishers. Stewards inform that the lounge is open 24 hours a day—excellent news for those who seek to down their morning idli with a flute or two. But lounge lizards

are expected to crawl out of the woodwork only after 11pm.

The decor is in black and silver and somehow goes well with Dom Perignon’s “Tribute to Andy Warhol” art collection that graces the walls.

The Indulgent The stewards, dressed in impeccable black, stewarded with excellent urgency. And one can only assume the same treatment was meted out to all other patrons, it was too dim to tell. This is because the ambience is suitably loungy lighting, with muted lighting and plush seating.

The appetizers were tasty.

The jumbo shrimps served with homemade salsa were excellent.

Also good was the smoked Atlantic salmon and cubed lamb. The bocconcini and roasted tomato skewers were unexceptional in concept and execution.

The Dom Perignon 2002 vintage champagne was superb. Some reviewers have called it too dry.

But the straw-coloured yellow liquid, pressed from Chardonnay grapes, with fine, persistent bubbles went down effortlessly. The nose is initially fresh almond followed by lashings of lemon and a smoky aftertaste.

But isn’t just the champagne or salmon that smokes. The lounge has a separate smoking section. You can

exclusive experience: The decor is in black and silver and goes well with Dom Perignon’s “Tribute to Andy Warhol” art collection that graces the walls.

carry your drinks with you.

The Inadequate One is told that refined champagne bottles don’t pop when opened. But mine did.

There are only around 30 or so covers—this not being a hightraffic establishment of Gujarati thali porportions. Yet the seats were somewhat cramped.

The music pupming over the dance floor kept changing from soft romantic numbers from the 1980s, to salsa numbers and occasionnaly transgressed into the latest Hindi film hip-shaker—a tad less Dom Perignon and more Dom Dom Diga Diga. Sometimes, it was too loud to have a conversation.

Talking plastic Each table at the Dom Perignon lounge is offered at R50,000, with a bottle of Dom Perignon vintage 2002.

This can be accompanied by two bottles of Belvedere luxury vodka or a bottle of Gelnmorangie single-malt whisky. Apetizers can be ordered from a select menu especially created for the lounge. These range between R750 for the field green salad with apples and pomegranate, to R1,950 for the chilled jumbo shrimps.

Indulge or introspect Indulge.

Cover story

The f o g n maki A behind-the-scenes look at what makes Vertu click

By Sidin Vadukut

T

sidin.v@livemint.com

he exact details are, of course, confidential. But several months ago, the teenage daughter of a prosperous Russian decided that she wanted to do something outlandish with her talent for playing the organ. She asked her father to somehow arrange for her to perform at a peculiar venue: the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

The 7,800-pipe Grand Orgues at the cathedral is a historical masterpiece with many of the pipes dating back to the medieval times. The cathedral employs three full-time organists. They are the latest in an unbroken line of musicians that dates back to 1392.

While guest organists are invited to play all year-round, the invitation is an honour and not easy to come by. Least of all, to a young Russian teenager.

Her father reached for his mobile phone, but not in the way most people do. With a press of a button purposebuilt into his Vertu phone he summoned up an exclusive Vertu concierge service.

Immediately, an international network of experts got to work.

08

INDULGE | September 2011

Cover story tailored services: Mark Izzat, head of enrichment and engagement

Unlike almost any other mobile phone company, and indeed almost every consumer gadget firm, Vertu has consolidated its entire operation into a single facility comprising almost 500 employees in England. Its resemblance to a modern Swiss mechanical watchmaking facility is remarkable.

“These are the kind of requests that are really interesting,” Mark Izatt told me over lunch at The Foresters country pub in Church Crookham, around 40 miles outside central London. Izzat is head of enrichment and engagement. It is his responsibility to build, nurture and diversify the push-button concierge and content service that the luxury mobile phone brand is perhaps best known for.

Buyers of each and every Vertu handset—devices in India start from around Rs3 lakh—are offered a year’s complimentary use of the service.

And it is a service that works.

“Eventually we located a service partner in Paris who used to provide us with chauffeur-driven cars. He knew someone at the cathedral,” Izzat said with quite visible delight.

One Saturday, a few days later, the teenager played the organs of Notre Dame Cathedral for a full 40 minutes.

Button pressed. Job done.

Church Crookham is a village suburb located largely within old army land. It sits close to Aldershot, called the home of the British Army, and Farnborough airfield, which hosts the renowned Farnborough airshow every other year.

From the high, bright, roomy lobby of the Vertu facility at Church Crookham, one of the company’s receptionists told me, visitors get a brilliant view of the airshow display through the large glass facade: “It is like watching a cinema just for us.”

Unlike almost any other mobile phone company, and indeed almost every consumer gadget firm, Vertu has consolidated its entire operation into this one facility comprising almost 500 employees. Everything from assembly, packaging, software installation, design, development, engineering and administration is carried out at this single facility.

The resemblance to a modern Swiss mechanical watchmaking facility is remarkable. Much like the facilities of brands such as Vacheron Constantin and Piaget that dot the outskirts of Geneva, Le Locle and the Valle de Joux in Switzerland, the Vertu facility is also a squat, flat assemblage of minimal rectangular boxes.

Inside the building employees, like watchmakers, sit hunched in overcoats leaning over worktops carefully putting together phones. Many popular mechanical watch movements comprise 300 parts or more. So do some Vertu models. The parallels go on: the phones are constantly tested at each stage for form and function flaws. Some of the phones September 2011 |

INDULGE |09

are assembled by a single craftsman and often the craftsman’s signature is etched into the phone’s battery compartment with a laser.

It is not unusual, explained Matthew Huntley, for existing customers to come back, buy a new phone, and ask that the new piece also be assembled by the same craftsman who made their old one.

Huntley’s job is to take visitors such as journalists, Vertu customers and retailers on factory tours.

But “factory” is perhaps the wrong word to use here. That might give the impression of a massive Nokia or Foxconn

plant where thousands of devices are put together by a combination of conveyor belts, machines, robots and the occasional human being.

The Vertu manufacturing setup is better called a “workshop”. There isn’t a single conveyor belt in sight. Huntley explains that each device is worked on one at a time. Devices are assembled by between one and four craftsmen. The company almost never builds to stock, and most handsets are made to order.

Vertu’s origins date back to 1998 when master designer Frank Nuovo first drew a sketch for a luxury mobile phone. One legend has it that Nuovo, who was Nokia’s chief designer at the time, was travelling in a car when he suddenly realized that the only non-luxurious product on him was his mobile phone.

Whatever be the truthiness of that story, Nuovo did make the first sketches for Vertu’s Signature range of mobile phones in 1998. Nokia’s board subsequently agreed to set up Vertu as a wholly-owned subsidiary and four years of design and development followed. One of the first decisions the company took was to use screws and jewel bearings made from rubies, both critical components in Swiss watches.

In January 2002, the first Vertu Signature phone was launched in Paris.

There were more than a few things obsessive-compulsive about the phone.

For instance, designers spent three years tuning the perfect clicking sound for the buttons. A special piece of music called “sandpiper” was composed for the phone.

(Since then, versions of this ringtone have been recorded for Vertu by the London Symphony Orchestra, with flute solos by the renowned Andrea Griminelli.)

Cover story

In August, Eldar Murtazin of Mobile-review.com tweeted that future Vertu phones could be powered by Windows Phone 7. It also seems a reasonable assumption that the new product could incorporate touch features. All that Vertu staffers were willing to confirm was that a new phone is due very, very soon.

“While we have always remained true to those initial design concepts,” explained Hutch Hutchison, “we have also changed a lot to accommodate for developments in mobile phone technology.”

Hutchison is head of concept creation and design at Vertu and swoops in for our meeting with boxes of Vertu phones and components in his hands.

Before launching into a tremendously excited description of what research and development goes on at the facility, Hutchison carefully arranges a dozenand-a-half phones into a neat family tree of the brand’s three main collections: Signature, Ascent and Constellation.

It is easy to dismiss Vertu as yet another brand that takes a mundane product, coats it in gold and diamonds and passes it off as a “luxury product”.

No doubt, there is an element of bling to some of Vertu’s products.

But there is also some serious engineering. Part of the challenge, Hutchison expains, is to combine the solidity and permanence one comes to expect with expensive luxury products, with the rapid changes that takes place in technology.

When it comes to watches a tourbillon is a tourbillon. The materials, designs and assembly may have changed over the centuries. But the concepts behind a timepiece’s movement remain unchanged for decades. Even centuries.

But not so with phones. “Our first models didn’t even have Bluetooth. And we had dual-band antennas. The latest models have eleven bands! Eleven!”

Hutchison explains how the early Vertu models had modular electronics.

When the phone had to be upgraded to quad-band antennas, the module was slipped out of the phone and replaced with a new phone. This process seemed to work well till, Hutchison says with a look of past frustration, “someone invented a mobile phone with a camera!”

Now there was no way to change the module without actually drilling a hole through the case-back for the camera.

The most striking element of a Vertu phone, however, is not immediately apparent. But it is the huge sapphire crystal that forms, in some cases, the entire front fascia of the phone. (In 2001, Vertu broke its first world record for the largest piece of cosmetic sapphire crystal in the world. It came in at a shade below 70 carats.)

If anyone wants to give sapphire crystals the Steve-Jobs-iPhone-evangelism treatment, then Hutch Hutchison is your man. A question on whether sapphire crystals are amenable to making a good touch phone screen leads to an impassioned description of the two different processes used in making large

10

INDULGE | September 2011

sapphire crystals. Hutchison acts out the process with animated hand movements.

What will truly impress most technology and engineering fiends, however, is the fact that Vertu has a portfolio of some 75 patents. Granted, most of these patents may be for design and fabrication processes, and the number pales in comparison with the thousands of patents held by Motorola Mobility and Apple.

Yet for a brand that focuses, purportedly, on luxury more than technology, this is an impressive number.

For all its conceptual sophistication, manufacturing quality and material innovation, Vertu phones are, however, not particularly well-known for their software. Devices currently house versions of Nokia’s reliable if unspectacular Symbian operating system. Nokia has already announced that it is shifting from Symbian to Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 7 software soon. Vertu, which is no longer a subsidiary but an independent company still owned by Nokia, is also at crossroads when it comes to software.

The only thing certain is change.

At one point during Hutchinson’s presentation, a phone in his pocket rang with a piece of symphony. He almost pulled it out. And then he remembered that it was a top secret prototype that the brand has been working on for months.

He refused to answer it, lest I catch a premature glimpse.

Rumours have been swirling around for weeks. In August, Eldar Murtazin of Mobile-review.com tweeted that future Vertu phones could be powered

by Windows Phone 7. It also seems a reasonable assumption that the new product could incorporate touch features.

All that Vertu staffers were willing to confirm was that a new phone is due very, very soon.

So far, Vertu has made up for its operating software shortcomings by focusing on two things. First, both Hutchison and Izatt explained, many customers do want phones that are primarily voice-enabled. So the brand has deliberately done away with distractions such as cameras on some models.

Secondly, why worry about giving customers software when you can empower them with live human intervention? This is where Izatt’s baby, Vertu’s concierge and content service come in.

In the time it takes you to use an Apple app to find the nearest restaurants, Vertu’s global concierge service can recommend, reserve and confirm your table. Izatt says: “Imagine you’re at the airport when you realize you don’t have black shoes for your meeting the next morning. Press the button, tell the concierge service you need

a pair of size 10s. You should have your pair waiting for you at your hotel when you land.”

The concierge service might seem like a quirky perk that sounds better in principle than in practice. Like watches that insist they are water resistant to 300 metres, or the centrifugal juicer attachment on your food processor.

But Izatt dispels this perception with a single fact: around half of all Vertu buyers use their concierge services. (The first request ever fulfilled was a plane ticket from London to New York arranged for a customer in September 2002.)

And besides waiting for the customer to request assistance, the company is also actively working on curating and delivering high-quality and high-impact content. Vertu City Briefs is one of these offerings. In association with editorial partners, Vertu has prepared profiles and recommendations for more than 200 locations—including, incidentally, Church Crookham—all over the world. The City Briefs automatically pop-up on handsets based on location.

Izatt explained: “We are not just trying to give people the usual ideas to have a good time in a city. We also try to be a little provocative. So not all our restaurants or hotels are four or five-star. Some of our recommendations may not be exactly what you call luxury.”

To ensure the quality of services rendered, Vertu involves a number of hand-picked providers for the concierge service, with Vertu managers embedded right within engagement teams. Currently, concierge teams are localized for eight regions including Russia, China and North America. As the market grows, Izatt said, an Indian version will roll out as well: “Though it is going to be a tough and fulfilling challenge. There is so much diversity within one country. And India is very demanding when it comes to service and luxury. But Indians like personalized service. I think they will appreciate our concierge offerings.”

The lobby with the huge glass panels is abuzz with construction activity. After the financial turmoil of 2008, Vertu staffers say that the company has bounced back, much like many other luxury brands. Now it is looking to add perhaps another 100 or so staff, many of them craftsmen.

If all goes according to plan, these craftsmen will assemble the next generation of Vertu luxury phones. While these will also be crafted with the same high standards and same high-tech materials—crystals, resin-laminated carbon fibre, forged titanium—these phones could also see better software, robust hardware and more sophisticated concierge and content services. Izatt and team are working on a new bespoke concierge service where the company will hire, train and deploy lifestyle managers to client requirements. Izatt is also seeking ways of taking all that content such as City Briefs and “extending it to more than just the screen of your Vertu”.

All the while his team of writers, editors and journalists scour cities for topnotch recommendations.

For those who foresee being prosperous later this year, the first thing to do with that cash is perhaps to buy that new Vertu. From that point onwards, you’ll get all the help you need.

travel

r Sukumar editor, mint

I like bags.

Period.

T

here, I’ve said it and laid myself open to ridicule.

It isn’t easy to find bags, though.

I spent several years looking for the perfect work bag before giving up. I have a Mandarina Duck backpack and a Hidesign messenger bag and a Samsonite trolley backpack, but none of the three satisfies all criteria I look for in a work bag.

One: It should look elegant without making me look like a square.

Two: It should be large enough to accommodate things I usually carry with me—an iPad (it has replaced the netbook, which replaced the laptop I used to tote around); a pouch carrying chargers, cables, earphones and my iPod; another pouch carrying some personal care stuff and a few basic medicines; a couple of graphic novels that are usually hardcover ones; two pocket-size Moleskine notebooks; a chequebook and assorted papers.

Three: It should have just enough space to fit the odd book someone gives me or the electronic plaything I am testing.

I also spent several years looking for the perfect overnight bag, and had almost given up when I came across a wonderful duffel from Hidesign.

It had the separate shoe compartment I always wanted (but could never find) in an overnight bag.

It didn’t have wheels and the strolley mechanism that are, quite honestly, a travesty in duffels.

It was just the right shape and the right height to go into overhead compartments even in cramped turbo-prop cabins. And its price was still in four digits—in rupees.

It replaced a lovely Delsey overnighter that I had, sort of illegal child of a duffel and an oversized messenger bag. It came with an in-built suit and laptop compartment, but it had no space for shoes, had a very small clothes pocket, and was a size too big to be carried either by its handles or on a shoulder strap (the only two ways to carry it).

My experience with Delsey (retailed in India by VIP) is that it is a company that gets things almost right when it comes to luggage.

Take strolley suitcases, for instance, the ones you see being wheeled around in airports by busy executives.

The ideal specimens of this species are bigger than overnight bags but still small enough to qualify as cabin baggage. It was VIP that introduced strolley suitcases in India in the mid 1990s.

Until then, business travellers (of which there weren’t too many) preferred to tote an attaché (aka a briefcase), usually had check-in luggage, and travelled on Indian Airlines (except for a brief period in the early 1990s, a sort of false spring when two private airlines registered an ephemeral presence,

CHECK BOX Always pack running shoes (clean the sole with a tissue, and put each shoe in a shoe bag, and pack them lying on their side, on opposite ends of the main compartment, with the heel of one facing the toe of the other) Never travel without a pair of old-style blue jeans Always pack a spare formal shirt (white), a tie, and a blue or black jacket, especially if you are travelling without a suit.

Illustration: iStockphoto

replete with high-decibel advertising, pretty stewardesses in smart uniforms, and free liquor on domestic flights).

By the mid-1990s, when VIP launched the strolley, the first lines of the Indian economic story were being written, consulting firms and investments banks had made an appearance on the scene, and air travel was well on its way to being democratized. In many ways, the green-and-brown VIP strolley (the most popular colour) was as much a symbol of India’s growing integration with the global economy as three-button suits, button-down Oxfords, and international credit cards.

I had one of those. It was functional— that much I have to grant.

Over the years, I experimented and discarded several strolley suitcases, till I came across one that was almost there.

It was a Delsey. Its strolley mechanism was smooth, the wheels were space-age, and it even had a separate middle compartment that could house the industrial-grade laptop I used to carry in those days.

The main compartment was a bit too small for my liking though. My shoes wouldn’t fit into it and they would travel in the outside compartment of the strolley, making it look as if it would produce a mini strolley sometime soon.

Still, it was the best out there until last year when Samsonite introduced its new range of strolley suitcases.

I know Ryan Bingham prefers TravelPro, but this Samsonite works very well for me, thank you. The main compartment is large enough for my shoes to go in (see CHECK BOX), it boasts a suit sleeve, and one of its exterior compartments can easily hold an iPad and some files (or a laptop in its sleeve).

There’s only one problem I have with mine: it’s black.

Respond to this column at sukumar.r@livemint.com

travel

Case

studies T

he frequent flyer must pack and unpack with consummate, almost instinctive, ease. Airports, checkpoints, and railway stations come in all shapes and sizes. But the platinumcard holder must navigate anything that is thrown at him with the aplomb of a Formula One driver.

And what truly elevates international business travel to the sublime is the perfect trolley bag. It is more than just a suitcase with wheels. Clothes stay perfectly wrinkle free.

Computers, ensconced sometimes in high-tech memory-foam chambers, last through the most seething turbulence without skipping a kilobyte.

There is a reason why some frequent fliers obsess about their luggage. What their bags contain is much more than just clothes, books and gadgets. Often it contains the distilled essence of their entire lives.

Mint Indulge presents a selection of outstanding strolley bags from a variety of brands and across a variety of price points.

By pradip kumar saha & sidin vadukut pradip.s@livemint.com

VIP

Fortune Executive Strolley 55 Dimensions (H, W, B):

55cm, 25cm, 39cm

Features: Push button strolley mechanism. Convi-pack feature for better organization Colour: Black, Red Price:

R4,700

Photographs provided by companies

12

INDULGE | September 2011

VIP

coupe Strolley 55 Dimensions (H, W, B):

55, 25, 39

Features: Unique twin section strolley for packing convenience.

Detachable laptop sleeve Colour: Black, Red Price:

R7,700

travel

travelpro

18” Business Plus Rollaboard travelpro

Dimensions (H, W, B): 46, 23, 36

20” Expandable Business Rollaboard

Features: Telescoping handle system ensures a comfortable roll for taller travellers. Protective removable computer sleeve

Dimensions (H, W, B): 46, 23, 36

Colour: Black, Red Price: Travelpro doesn’t ship directly to India. These bags can be purchased through Amazon.com

Features: Padded laptop pocket.

Colour:

Black, Blue

victorinox

Tourbach 20 Dimensions (H, W, B): 50, 27, 38 Features: Removable half-suiter with foam bolsters and compact Swiss Hanger.

Main compartment with lockable zipper sliders features a removable zippered mesh pocket, a removable laundry bag, a large-pleated zippered pocket and compression straps Colour: Black, Price:

On request victorinox

WT 20X

Dimensions (H, W, B): 51, 23, 43

samsonite

SAHORA RG SP 55 Dimensions (H, W, B): 51, 24, 40 Features: Multipocketing, cushioning back panel and laptop shock absorber. Lightweight honeycomb shell.

Features: Main storage area features hanging zippered pocket, y-shaped compression straps and removable garment suiter.

360° rotating handle Colour: Black, Emerald-

black, Red-black

Price:

R16,100

Colour: Steel grey,

black

Price:

On request

samsonite

SAHORA RG SP 55 Dimensions (H, W, B): 55, 20, 42 Features: Complete Spinner range for comfort in travel. Light weight for ease in handling Colour: Graphite, Red Price: On

request

September 2011 |

INDULGE |13

travel

Dileep

Premachandran

journalist

Beg, borrow or steal this

The TripIt

Life on the road as a cricket journalist

iPhone app TripIt featured in the 2011 "Best Travel Websites & Apps” list by Travel + Leisure and "Best 5 Apps for Business” by Fortune. The app keeps the travel schedule organized by email confirmations. When you receive a confirmation email from anywhere you book, simply forward it to plans@tripit.com. TripIt recognizes reservations from more than 3,000 booking sites including cruises, restaurants, concerts and more.

They show flight and hotel information, which TripIt extracts. It then creates an itinerary, which you can access even when you can’t connect to the Internet.

By Pradip Kumar Saha pradip.s@livemint.com

You can share the information with friends, so you know who all are travelling to the same location

The iPhone app is free and it synchronizes all the trip information in one place

W

hen you’re 27, life on the road is as good as it gets.

As soon as you check into your hotel, you dump your bags and head for the nearest pub to find out where all the action is. When you’re 37, you get in and check if they have all the sports channels you need, and if the room-service menu is adequate. When you’re 27, you stumble back to the room at dawn with wistful thoughts of the leggy Brazilian you were too shy to approach. At 37, you are back in your room before midnight so that you can be on FaceTime to see your little baby’s spit bubbles.

It’s a great life, and also an incredibly lonely one. For every amazing night spent on Darling Harbour in Sydney or the Waterfront in Cape Town, you have five others spent staring at the walls.

Or you watch The Dancer Upstairs (obligatory Javier Bardem plug) for the nth time, while binging on sausage rolls picked up from the 7-11 downstairs.

On the dark days and nights, you keep yourself going by telling yourself that a million others would love to do what you do. Let’s face it, how many other jobs allow you to sleep till noon on some days or not work at all on others? How many other men get paid to watch live sport?

The best part of the job is getting to meet your heroes. One afternoon at Antigua airport, a man dressed all in white was checking-in ahead of me. It was Viv Richards, and I had him all to myself for an hour in the departure lounge. I kept pinching myself discretely to make sure it was real.

Often though, those you once put on a pedestal can be disappointing, boring, one-dimensional boors with sexist and homophobic attitudes that would have been frowned upon 30 years ago, let alone now. Compensation comes from the kindness of strangers, and other intriguing characters you meet along the way.

I’ll never forget Hallam from Barbados, his booming laugh and the encyclopaedic knowledge of cricket and sleaze. Hallam could describe every stroke that Lawrence Rowe played on his way to 302 against England. He would also tell you the names of each stripper performing at the Matador on a Friday night.

The morning I was leaving, he arrived half-an-hour early, and insisted that I get into the car straight away. As I worried about serpentine check-in queues and excess baggage, he stopped the car outside a cemetery. “You cannot leave without paying your respects to Macko [Malcolm Marshall],” he said. He was right.

In Kingston, while working round the clock on Bob Woolmer’s death, I bumped into Donovan outside the hotel. “Sit and talk to I,” he said, his Rasta locks as grey as the Manchester sky. Once he figured out that I was on the island for the cricket, he came up with his proposition. “If you take me to this club, buy me two Red Stripes and a lap dance, I’ll tell you everything you need to know about Collie.”

O’Neil Gordon Smith, Collie to those who knew and loved him, died in a car crash in Staffordshire in 1959. Sir Garfield Sobers was his fellow passenger. Jamaica has never stopped mourning him, and despite being in excellent spirits after the beers and five minutes with a voluptuous Grenadan, Donovan’s voice would break each time he spoke of the contemporary he looked upon as a saint.

Sometimes you meet people purely by accident. I came across Nicole in the crowd at Newlands, when I’d gone down to meet a friend. A political science student, she then came with me to Robben Island. I went there, like almost everyone else, to see Nelson Mandela’s cell. On the ferry back, all I could think about was the little house where Robert Sobukwe, a forgotten hero, had spent years in solitary confinement. Without Nicole’s expert guidance, I would merely have had a tourist experience no different from thousands of others.

So, while I’m eternally grateful for having watched the LaxmanDravid show at Eden and the Miracle of Istanbul, I cherish equally a trip to Bassline on a cold and rainy December night in Johannesburg to watch Tidal Waves rock a large room that had 12 people in it. With a plastic cup of Jameson in your hand, those are the days and nights you remember.

Dileep Premachandran is a leading cricket writer and an expert on the game in India. He is an associate editor of Cricinfo.

Respond to this column at feedback@livemint.com

14

INDULGE | September 2011

CARS AND BIKES

SIDDHARTH VINAYAK PATANKAR Auto expert

The best test drive of my life

E

very child has dreams.

Fantasies even. As he grows up, those dreams start to get left behind and somewhat forgotten in the mad rush for good grades, jobs and what you have. But every once in a while, that child is reminded of his dreams, and, miraculously enough, some of them even come true! I was one such child once, and, I had to pinch myself to ensure I wasn’t still dreaming, as I stood at the portals of the Ferrari headquarters in Maranello, near Modena in Italy. A small, sleepy town, Maranello is world famous because of its prominent resident. A large part of the community is very much connected to the Ferrari car business in a direct or indirect way.

And the locals take pride in their beloved Prancing Horse—smiling and nodding in approval as one of the handcrafted beauties roars by.

The year was 2005, and I was at the Ferrari headquarters to test-drive not one but two cars. I was also there to film the company’s facilities, which meant access to its plants, offices, museum and yes—the revered Fiorano test track. I

could hardly believe it! After the initial formalities, I was handed the keys to a bright red—sorry let me correct that— racing street red (which is what Rosso Corsa roughly translates into, I was told) F430. A virtual masterpiece, the F430 was considered THE benchmark for sports cars at that time. It wasn’t just that this was a Ferrari, or that it was an Italian sports car. No, this car has gone down as one the greats because it was the first to adopt a lot directly from Ferrari’s F1 cars into a driver-friendly road car. It was also hailed for its gorgeous design by Pininfarina—which screams performance, even when standing still.

And there I was—suddenly feeling like a 10-year-old again—with the keys to my dream. And then it happened.

Our host for the day, Roberto Casolari, said the magic words. “Your request came through and so I have permission for you to drive on the Fiorano test track

if you would like”. I’m sorry, WHAT? “You would be the first Indian on our track!” he added. Surely, I had died and gone to heaven! In my head, I was doing cartwheels, but I simply said a nonchalant “Sure, why not?”

And there I was, driving an F430 on the very track that Michael Schumacher practiced on, the track that goes right by Enzo Ferrari’s famous house with the red doors! Almost two miles long, the track has all the right corners and bends, loops and straights to get your pulse racing. After all, the track is designed to be similar to Formula One grand prix style tracks, so that Ferrari’s race cars can also be tested here. Of course, it is Schumi himself who holds the record for the fastest lap here—which is under a minute, thank you very much—I probably took over two minutes! But then I was also soaking it all in too. The roar of the V8 engine behind me, the thrill of the F1 style Illustration: Getty images

steering, the slickness of the six-speed F1 gearbox, and the glints of red I caught off the hood, every time the sun ran across my windshield! It was pure magic. But I was also apprehensive—it was my first time driving a Ferrari on a track after all. It all ended almost too quickly! Track drive done, I also then tested a 612 Scaglietti.

We were then escorted by Roberto to the Montana restaurant—another famous landmark of sorts—run by Mama Rosella and her family. Delicious tagliatelle con ragu and tiramisu—and you’d think I was sated. Not quite.

Two years later, I returned to Maranello—this time to drive the F430 Spider or the drop-top version of the car. The second time around I chose the winding hill sections around Maranello, as well as some bits of Italy’s autostradas where I could get a feel for the higher speeds. The wind in my hair, and the roar of nearly 500 horses galloping hard—and now I was truly in seventh heaven!

It’s hard for me today—so many years later—to pick which drive I enjoyed more.

The one where I was wide-eyed on a track or where I felt one with the car’s free spirit as the summer sun splashed down on me from an azure blue sky. And then I feel—why pick? After all, both drives ended with Mama Rosella’s cooking!

The F430 was replaced by the 458 Italia in 2009, and a convertible Italia is being launched in two weeks at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show. But the F430 will always remain special for me. And I hope to go back to Maranello sometime soon. If not for the 458 Italia Spider, then definitely for some of that tagliatelle con ragu!

Siddharth Vinayak Patankar is Editor (Auto), NDTV. Respond to this column at feedback@ livemint.com

food and wine

Love to cook, but hate to clean? The versatility of microwave ovens, which, combined with their ability to cook quickly, is a boon for students, bachelors, and any other man seeking efficient creativity in his meals.

The

microwaving man

Photos: iStockphoto

By sidin vadukut

M

sidin.v@livemint.com

ost gourmets and foodies treat their microwave ovens like that harmless, semi-hippy uncle who lives in Goa that nobody in the family wants to acknowledge. The uncle has that wonderful cottage off Morjim, and is handy with electrical devices when executing the occasional family function, but, otherwise, everyone likes to think that he doesn’t exist.

And so it is with the microwave oven. One of the great inventions of the modern age is often reduced to doing nothing much more sophisticated than defrosting a hunk of meat, reheating leftovers, blitzing awful pre-cooked meals and—imagine the ignominy—heating cups of coffee.

Otherwise, the oven usually sits forlorn in a corner of the kitchen, unloved, and, sometimes, shunned with venom. In addition to the fact that it is seen as an inferior and even artless form of cooking, urban legends, myths and fears abound about the so-called negative effects of microwave cooking.

First things first, the microwave oven is, in most cases, only as bad for you as any cooking is. In June 2008, the Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide said “as a general proposition, cooking with a microwave probably does a better job of preserving the nutrient content of foods because the cooking times are shorter”. Several research studies have shown that while microwave cooking can break down certain nutritional elements in some foods—for example, it deactivates vitamin B12—there is very little about your microwave that is bad for you.

Secondly, microwave ovens can be astonishingly versatile when it comes to cooking foods. Sure most basic ovens can’t bake or brown. But not everything you eat is baked or browned. Combined with the microwave oven’s ability to cook at great speeds, this versatility is a boon for students, bachelors, and any other man seeking efficient creativity in his meals.

If Heston Blumenthal, with his three Michelin stars, could use a microwave oven in the kitchen, there is no reason why you shouldn’t too. Here are a handful of interesting and flexible recipes to get you started.

20

INDULGE | September 2011

Rice The best thing about using a microwave oven to cook rice is that it helps you focus on the rest of your meal. There are some elements of randomness in blitzing rice: your oven’s power setting and the brand of rice you use can all impact how quickly and evenly it cooks.

But once you get your settings right, the oven will turn out batch after batch with remarkable consistency. A basic setting involves two parts of water to one part rice. Wash the rice thoroughly if you don’t want it starchy and use a bowl that gives plenty of room for expansion. (A good rule of thumb is to assume the water-rice mixture will expand four times while cooking.)

Cover the bowl with microwavefriendly cling film.

Pierce and blitz at high for around 15 minutes if you’re cooking one cup of rice. Experiment a few times till you get everything right. But once you do, you will never turn back.

Scrambled eggs No, Gordon Ramsay most certainly won’t approve. But then he doesn’t have to reach the office each morning before the Nikkei opens. So relegate your pride and pull out a coffee mug. Butter the sides of the cup with a finger jabbed into a block of Amul’s best.

Crack an egg or two into the cup. Splash a little milk. And maybe a dash of Tabasco.

Whisk well with above-mentioned finger to save on washing up. Pop into the microwave and blitz on high for around a minute. Err on the side of caution and don’t panic if you see gooey eggs. Blitz in instalments till the eggs are just firm but not dry and solid.

Tip onto a plate, fluff up with a fork to get a more traditional scramble-y appearance. Add salt and pepper. It is best to not season the eggs before you cook them as this can draw the moisture out of the eggs.

Poached eggs And when I say poached, I am being more conceptual than factual… But this is a great way to make eggs you want to chop up and add to a salad or to a sandwich. Crack eggs into small bowls or ramekins. One to each. To avoid explosions, pierce the yoke smartly with a teaspoon or jab with toothpicks.

But don’t let the yoke mix with the whites.

Cover each bowl with a saucer and blitz for approximately a minute. Less, if you want liquid yolks.

That popping sound is normal.

Scoop the eggs out of the bowls and wait to cool. Chop and stir in some low-fat mayo, chives and pepper for criminally good sandwich filling.

Salmon Fast, clean and deceptively delicious, salmon and similar fish cook very well in a microwave. Defrost thoroughly and, if time permits, douse in your favourite marinade. Something out of a bottle that does not need cooking, like teriyaki, is best. Then place the fish fillets, skinside up, in a bowl, douse with a little more marinade, and cook for 5-7 minutes depending on the size of fillet and power. Don’t worry if

the skin stays limp, you can remove it later.

Eat hot. Or wait to cool, chop into chunks and toss with some light soy sauce, seasoning and salad greens for a posh, praiseworthy meal.

Frankfurters Most franks you buy in a supermarket are already ready to eat.

But if you want to warm them up a bit without pulling out a clean frying pan, then reach for a coffee cup. (The coffee cup is the complying IAS officer to the microwave’s corrupt sports minister.)

Chop franks into half, throw into cup, cover with a saucer and blitz for a minute or less. The franks should expand, cook and the skin should rip open a little. Toss with black pepper and olive oil. Wolf down as is. Or wrap with lettuce, tomatoes and mustard inside rotis or tortillas for a more...global experience.

Cake Yes. Cake. In a microwave. Really.

And what makes it even more infra-dig is that you make it in that trusty coffee cup. Four tablespoons of selfraising flour, two tablespoon of cocoa, sugar go into the cup. Mix well with an egg and three tablespoons each of oil and milk. A splash of vanilla essence.

And then cook for around 3 minutes.

The cake will rise and then settle as you leave it to cool.

All these recipes, especially the cake, can be eccentric till you get it just right. But once you do get them right, make sure you note the details down somewhere.

The timings given here are broadly accurate for an 800W microwave oven.

Adjust as you see fit.

Feel free to invite friends over for a lavish spread of rice, eggs and fish. Followed by individual portions of chocolate cake. Share your food. But leave out the methods, if you seek to impress.

food and wine

joel

harrison

drinks consultant

The basics of whisky

G

reetings!

Welcome to my column, an area of the magazine where I hope I can act as your sherpa up the mountain of drinks, your guide on the cocktail trail, your supplier of wisdom on whisky. Over the coming months, I shall be writing a regular piece covering various spirits from across the globe.

In my first piece, I shall start with some basics about whisky. Why? Because India seems to have a voracious appetite for the distilled spirit.

The country currently stands as the world’s largest consumer of whisky.

Congratulations, a gold medal in the Booze Olympics for India! Climb atop the podium and await your National Anthem.

But what is it you order when you go to the bar? If, like me, you are a Scotch drinker, it may well be that you choose a blended Scotch whisky such as Johnnie Walker Black Label or Ballantine’s Finest with soda and ice to chill with before dinner. Or maybe you’ll take a well-aged single malt such as The Macallan 18 year old to sip after. Whichever it may

be, sales of blends make up the vast majority of Scotch whisky sold worldwide (around 93% at last count), but what is a blended Scotch and how does it differ to single malt Scotch whisky, or even Indian whisky for that matter?

The majority of the whisky sold in India is home-grown with big sales from brands such McDowell’s No.1, Bagpiper and 8pm.

These differ in make from Scotch, being made with a mix of malt whisky and some molasses (sugar)-based spirit. Scotch, on the other hand, must be made using a base ingredient of just malted barley and other whole grains of cereal.

So what makes up a single malt Scotch? It is a whisky made from just three ingredients: malted barley, where we get the term “malt”, water and yeast.

To gain the word single before it, the whisky must be made at one distillery only, and, to be “Scotch”, it must be made and matured in Scotland, in oak barrels for a minimum of three years, and be bottled at no less than 40% alcohol by volume (ABV). Single malt Scotch whisky tends to be seen in higher regard to blended Scotch and is often taken neat, with ice or with a dash of iced water.

As the name would suggest, blended Scotch whisky is made using single malt Scotch whisky, which is then “blended” together with a slightly different style of Scotch, known as grain whisky.

Grain whisky is made in almost exactly the same way as single malt Scotch, with one key difference; the basic ingredient is not just malted barley, but a mixture of different cereal types—from corn through to rye or wheat—and give additional flavour to the spirit. It is then stored and matured in oak barrels, in the same way as single malt Scotch.

Every single malt Scotch distillery will employ a master distiller, whose job is to ensure that output reaches the highest

quality levels. If the whisky is a team, the master distiller is the coach—the first person to be blamed if things go wrong, the last person to be praised when all goes well! And in the same way, each blended Scotch is crafted by a master blender using a variety of single malt Scotch whisky and Scottish grain whisky.

Single malts will invariably increase in price as they increase in age. This is due to a phenomenon known in Scotland as “the angels’ share”—as the Scotch matures over decades in oak barrels, a substantial amount is lost in evaporation.

A 21-year-old barrel of whisky will have lost around half its contents to this natural occurrence and, as a result, older Scotch is rare and, therefore, holds a higher value. The same is true for the maturation and price of grain whisky and, although available in the market, single grain Scotch whisky does not sell well, nor does it reach the same price that its single malt counterpart does.

The value of a blended Scotch will be assessed on the amount of grain against single malt in the overall make-up of the whisky. As a rule with blends, the more premium the blended Scotch, the greater the percentage of single malt over grain. With super premium blends, such

Illustration: iStockphoto

as Johnnie Walker’s Blue Label or Royal Salute, older and rare stocks of both styles of whisky are used by the master blender.

But which is better, blended Scotch or single malt Scotch?

Quite simply, they are both different versions of the same drink and, therefore, drawing comparison is useful, but not conclusive. It’s a bit like cricket.

“How is it like cricket?” I hear you ask.

Well, we have seen over the last decade or so, the exciting introduction of Twenty20 cricket. Attracting a worldwide audience with fast flowing and colourful matches, T20 is a world away from the five-day Test matches, steeped in history, statistics and ceremony.

The same is true of blended Scotch and single malt Scotch; blended Scotch is designed to be more immediate, more versatile and appeals to a wider audience, like T20. It’s a drink you can have more fun with, adding soda water and ice, or use in a cocktail. Granted, super premium blends demand more respect, like a One-Day match, but they still don’t quite have the dusty air of a single malt Scotch, the granddaddy of the whisky world.

A long-haul drink, a batsman playing defensively, yet picking out quality shots when required. A little more calmness, yet with real quality when key decisions must be made.

Either way, I’m as happy at a T20 match with a blended Scotch and soda as I am on Day Five at the Oval, sipping on a well-aged single malt with ice. Howzzat!

I shall be back with more on spirits from across the world in the next issue.

Until then, cheers!

Joel Harrison is a drinks writer and consultant and co-founder of the website Caskstrength.net Respond to this column at feedback@livemint.com

watches

tissot

PRC 200 (Danica Patrick 2011) Water resistance: 200m Case:

Stainless steel

Edox

Glass: Sapphire crystal

WRC Chronorally

strap: White leather

Water resistance: 100m

Movement: Quartz

Case: Stainless steel case 316L, engraved caseback Glass: Anti-reflective scratch resistant sapphire crystal strap: Black rubber Movement: Edox 36, based on

Soprod

Game.

Set. Watch.

tag heuer

Formula 1 Grande Date chronograph

C

Water resistance: 200m

ombine your passion for sports and your penchant for timepieces. Portfolios of several high-end brands contain pieces that are developed in association with some of the world’s top sportspeople and teams. These timepieces not only make good watchmaking sense, they also add a subtle personal dimension to your wrist. Mint Indulge picks a selection of the most worthwhile.

Case: Fine-brushed steel coated with black titanium carbide Glass: Scratch-resistant sapphire crystal strap: Black rubber Movement: Quartz

By Sidin vadukut sidin.v@livemint.com

SEIKO

Sportura FC Barcelona chronograph Water resistance: 100m Case: Stainless steel with black hard coating Glass: Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating strap: Leather Movement: Calibre 7T62

Graham

Mercedes GP Time Zone silver Water resistance: 50m Case:

Steel case with faceted horns

Glass: Domed sapphire crystal, anti-reflective coating on both face strap: Integrated black tyre tread rubber Movement: Automatic

22

INDULGE | September 2011

watches

Richard Mille

RM035 Rafael Nadal Chronofiable Certified Water resistance: 50m Case:

Magnesium-aluminium alloy

Glass: NA strap: Polyurethane Movement: Calibre RMUL1

bulgari

Endurer Chronosprint All Blacks

Endurer Water Chronosprint resistance: NA

Stainless steel case treated with black diamond-like carbon Case:

Glass: Anti-reflective coated sapphire crystal strap: Black rubber Movement: Mechanical with

automatic winding

hublot

Red Devil Bang Water resistance: 100m Case:

Stainless steel

Glass: Sapphire crystal with double anti-reflective coating strap: Rubber Movement: Automatic

WATCHES

indulge interview: Thierry Lamouroux

Selling luxury

during uncertain times Thierry Lamouroux, marketing development director, Cartier Watchmaking, speaks about how the company managed the economic slowdown, its long-term perspective and plans for the Indian market.

By sidin vadukut

W

sidin.v@livemint.com hat is Cartier doing to manage economic crisis?

We have the world’s strongest network of boutiques in the jewellery watch business—around 300. Every month, we get figures coming from these boutiques. Therefore, we know, better than anybody else in this business, what is selling where and in what quantities.

Also, we are a large Maison. We have intelligent people working in our supply chain, marketing and sales. We know, to a large extent, what Japan wants, what China wants and what the United States wants.

We manage with all this information. We know exactly what to make for whom.

Are you investing in capacity? Or are you being cautious?

We expanded capacity considerably last year. And we plan to keep expanding in 2011 and 2012.

But we do not discuss actual production numbers or figures with the media.

Given the economic crisis, what is your long-term perspective on the luxury business?

24

INDULGE | September 2011

It is very difficult to forecast this business. But one thing is sure: you have India, China, Brazil... If you take a 20-year perspective on the luxury business, I think it will see very strong growth.

We don’t know what could happen tomorrow or day after. A bomb could blow up in China, or a bank could go bust in America...

The trick is to be reactive. We are a very reactive brand. Some months before Lehman Brothers crashed, in May 2008, we began to see a slowdown in boutiques all over the world. We have the experience to know that when there is inversion in the sales graph, there is a problem. We were able to slow down production months in advance of Lehman.

Some people internally thought I was being stupid. But I knew a slump was coming.

You have to react. You have to see your figures.

What does your graph tell you now?

At this stage, we have exceptional figures. The trend is booming. But you don’t know what is going to happen in one month. Italy could collapse! Who knows?

But like I said, the global picture for the next 10-20 years is excellent.

How are you doing in India?

We are doing very well. The taxation policy is not good. So we really don’t have the sales network we could have.

For us, India is very important.

We have an exceptional history... relationship with the country. Some of my favourite pieces were made with the influence of Maharajas. This year, our high jewellery collection is heavily inspired by the Mughal art.

India has a very strong culture of luxury. They know what is and what is not a luxury product. One day, when the taxation policy is better, we will have 20 or 30 boutiques. Like we have 40 boutiques in China.

Right now, we are developing our image in India. Cartier is the king of jewellery. We need to educate the market about this. We are showcasing our creativity, skill and so on. One outcome of this is that a lot of Indians buy from our shops outside India. In Singapore, Dubai...

What is your male-female mix in the Indian market?

It is hard to say. So many Indian and Chinese customers buy outside the country. So to say this accurately, we need to aggregate all this data, which is impossible. But our history has been largely concerning jewellery in India.

Though I must say that this year, I saw quite a few Indian collectors at the SIHH trade fair in Geneva.

Key market: Thierry Lamouroux says India has a strong culture of luxury.

all in the image: The Rotonde de Cartier Astrotourbillon watch.

Are you trying to boost your image of being a watchmaker?

At the SIHH exhibition, we are really highlighting our watch movements. We have showcased the history of our watchmaking... This is to show people that we have legitimacy as a watchmaker. We have invested heavily in media. Image modification is happening. We are not just launching three products and waiting for the image to form.

We are also making products like the astroregulateur and the astrotourbillon. We are hiring excellent watchmakers. We are training retail staff. We are heavily investing in movements.

It is a strong, thought-out strategy.

Why are you doing this? Why are you investing in so much high-end movements?

The world is evolving in a way that the customer is better-informed each year. So customers, especially male customers, don’t understand why we make such beautiful watches... but don’t put high-end movements in them. The decade from 2000-2010 has killed the idea of brands launching watches without high-end in-house movements in them. That era is over.

The other perspective is the one of creativity. You have to be in-house because you don’t buy innovation. To be really innovative, you have to do it, build it, and imagine it in-house.

You cannot buy a movement like the astroregulateur from the market!

There are two elements to this strategy: build a modern image, and create innovation.

So watch collectors are beginning to take you seriously?

This year at SIHH, I saw collectors who came to me and said I’d have never thought to ever visit Cartier at the fair. They all came to me wearing their Richard Mille and Lange and they want to see the Astroregulateur and the Astrotourbillon.

I don’t know if they will buy these watches. But they are beginning to take us very seriously.

watches

How to buy

a serious watch The worldwide head of watches at Sotheby’s explains the factors that you should keep in mind while building your collection

By sidin vadukut

E

sidin.v@livemint.com ver since taking over as the new worldwide head of watches for auction house Sotheby’s in August, Tim Bourne has been busy drawing up a new catalogue of watches, and organizing an exhibition in Singapore in advance of a major auction on 6th October.

The auction is expected to feature around 470 lots dating from the 1800s. And Sotheby’s estimates to net between $9 million and $10 million during the event.

Shortly before Mint Indulge went to press, we spoke to Bourne and asked him how budding collectors and watch aficionados should begin on their hobby: how do you buy a serious watch?

“First of all, you must be clear about the financial capabilities of the buyer,” said Bourne. Find out how much you want to spend and then use the Internet to figure out what brands and models come within your budget. Bourne, in fact, is an enthusiastic advocate of using specialist watch blogs and watch websites.

But there is more to the investment in a watch than just the price. As per Bourne, “When you spend thousands of dollars to buy a very high-end watch, they are

usually very, very complicated.

They are so mechanically complex that you need to think of the purchase as you would think of buying a luxury car.”

If you intend to wear the watch on a daily basis, Bourne said, you also need to factor in the cost of servicing the watch on a regular basis. “Over a period of time, the mechanism inside tends to deteriorate very, very slowly,” he explained. Buyers should also account for the cost involved in shipping and servicing the brands.

(Many of the premium brands are small and servicing might involve sending the watch back to the manufacturer in Switzerland.)

“But some people do prefer to never wear them at all. They keep them in the case and just take them out and look at them every now and then. In which case, this wear and tear will be much less.”

Another aspect of the watchbuying process is the idea of resale value. Not all brands, even very expensive ones, are popular with collectors. So buyers, conscious of the lasting value of their collections, may have to contend with this aspect. But are there thumb rules besides that oft-heard one: “Nothing Collectors’ tips: Tim Bourne says you also need to factor in the cost of servicing the watch on a regular basis.

retains value like a Rolex.”

Bourne said, “Rolex is unique in that (aspect)…they make so many watches—approaching probably a million a year...which really makes it a mass market watch. But the magic of Rolex is that however many they sell...each year, when they launch Explorers or Submariners or Daytonas, the demand is massive.

Globally, it is one of the design phenomena of the last decade.”

Despite the shape and working of the movement remaining largely unchanged for decades, Bourne said, Rolex has still been a brand that has a remarkable ability to retain value.

But, he said, there are other brands.

“There is one other major brand, Patek Philippe, that holds value well. But there are also others, like Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet, Lange and Sohne and so on that are also collectible.”

The trick is to acquire limited editions and small production runs.

“Those are the ones that collectors really seek out, and really retain value.”

All of this information on price, production runs, potential retail values and so on are all easily available on the Internet on watch blogs and forums. But Bourne also recommends visiting auction houses, auctions, dealers and looking at catalogues usually published by auction houses ahead of large sales: “Usually these catalogues will have pictures, technical details and a guide to pricing.”

There are several books popular with collectors are as well.

Especially, specialist publications for specific brands. But one authoritative publication, Bourne says, is the Wrist Watch Annual that compiles all references brought out by all major brands in a given year.

Bourne himself wears a Rolex Explorer. And while he isn’t a collector himself, he says if he did have to acquire modern brands it would be watches from Lange and Sohne, and FP Journe.

“But if I had to buy a historical piece, it would have to be a really nice high-quality English pocketwatch from the late 19th century that has many, many complications—a minute repeater or a tourbillon or a split seconds. They were perfectly sized and really high quality. If it were possible, that is what I would buy.”

September 2011 |

INDULGE |25

gadgetS Beg, borrow or steal this

The Fitbit wireless

activity tracker

The Fitbit Tracker’s super-sensitive 3D motion sensor tracks how active you are, on average, on any given day. It uploads the data through a wireless base to the website, and organizes the information into pie charts and bar graphs tracked over time to give you an idea of your fitness level—steps you take, calories you burn, even showing you how active you are throughout a day.

By pradip kumar saha pradip.s@livemint.com

Slip the Tracker into the Fitbit sleep wristband, and it will keep a watchful eye as you sleep.

When your info uploads to Fitbit. com, you’ll see not only how long, but also how well, you slept. It monitors how many times and how long you wake up during the night

The Fitbit Tracker is light and small enough to wear all day without anyone noticing it. Tuck it in your pocket or clip it to your belt

Check your real-time stats at any time with a quick glance at your Fitbit Tracker

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INDULGE | September 2011

sidin

vadukut

issue editor

What is a luxury gadget?

I

n this inaugural issue of Mint Indulge, we’ve devoted considerable space to getting under the skin of an unarguably luxurious, indulgent brand such as Vertu.

But Vertu is, when you sit and think about it, something of an aberration in the world of gadgets and gizmos. An aberration in the sense that it is a rare “luxury” gadget brand that is actually taken seriously. Think, for a moment, about what it means for a device to be a “luxury” device.

What makes it luxurious?

For the purpose of answering that question, first let us consider what metrics we would use when evaluating, choosing and buying a watch by Vacheron Constantin, a suit by Brioni, a car by Porsche, or a piece of jewellery by Cartier or Harry Winston.

Your first metric could be the actual performance of the product: how well does it achieve its purpose in comparison with other similar, less-luxurious products?

A carat-full ring by Cartier or Harry Winston should, no doubt, be spectacular. The design of the piece, the setting of the stone and the clarity of the gem should, no doubt, set it apart from your Karol Bagh family jeweller’s most ardent efforts. Sliding into a Brioni jacket a couple of years ago, even if it was only for the purpose of writing about it for this newspaper, I consider one of my life’s epiphanic moments. One moment, I was a journalist. The next I was a dashing extra from Sex And The City.

Porsche cars are theoretically and experientially superior to most automobiles. Things get a little complicated when you begin to talk about watches. Even the most expensive timepiece from the Patek Philippe’s catalogue keeps time with less accuracy than a cheap Casio digital watch. But then that is an unfair comparison. You should really only be comparing mechanical watches with other mechanical watches. In which case, it is hard to beat a Patek. (But not as hard as being able to afford one.)

A second metric could be quality of manufacturing. How durable is the product? Assuming you live a normal, unremarkable life, it is unlikely that you will outlive anything made by Cartier, Porsche or Patek. Those products are truly built to last.

Look, feel and finish could be a third metric. For many people— maybe even most—what sets apart a luxury product could simply be the price: the more expensive it is, the more luxurious it could be.

Of course, I am sure everyone has their own “luxury” qualifiers: Is it available only in limited editions? Is it French? Does it contain Tendulkar’s blood? Was the firm founded before the French Revolution?

So then what is a luxury gadget?

Many months ago, for the luxury special issue of Lounge, published by this newspaper, I put together a list of atrocious luxury products. Each of these products were usually rich in every conceivable luxury. Except taste. This included mobile phones sheathed in platinum, coated in gold and encrusted in diamonds.

They were ridiculously expensive phones. And utterly reprehensible. In some circles, it is not uncommon to refer to them as “Russian oligarch chic”.

More recently, a handful of manufacturers have announced versions of the latest iPhone plated in gold. In August, an American website, FrederickJames.com, put a limited number of iPad wallets made from pants previously owned by Bernie Madoff. The covers cost $250 and upwards. Not much cheaper than the iPad itself.

But is it luxury? Or just irrational exuberance?

The problem with gadgets is that many of the characteristics that make other products luxurious are irrelevant or insufficient.

Most top-end gadgets are well built, of high quality, reliable, and do their job brilliantly. Many are relatively expensive. Some are made by iconic brands.

Everything about, for instance, the iPhone 4 or the Samsung Galaxy S II probably makes it a luxury product. Except for the fact that millions of people own it. The supermodel, fashion designer, photographer and the guy who drives the supermodel’s limo can all own the iPhone 4 and experience the product’s luxury.

You could upgrade to a Vertu or a Ulysse Nardin mobile phone.

Both phones extend additional services, benefits and brand associations that justify the price premiums.

However, as a pure mobile phone, I don’t see how you could outdo the iPhone or the Galaxy for luxury. Sure, Cartier or Patek could, I suppose, make phones if they wanted to.

But would you buy it over an iPhone? Even if you could afford it?

Which is why, I suppose, people wearing the finest suits, most complicated watches and driving the most exclusive cars all still use consumer devices that sell in millions. They may carry it in an outlandish pouch of some kind. But it is still a mass consumer device.

From a sheer luxury perspective, one could say, the phone is the weakest chink in an indulgent man’s armoury.

Which brings us back to our question: what in God’s name is a “luxury” gadget?

Does such a thing really exist?

Or maybe luxury is a state of mind. Which is another column by itself.

Respond to this column at sidin.v@livemint.com

HOME iStockphoto

The bare essentials for a cutting edge

I

was 14 when I first saw famous chef Martin Yan pulverize garlic and ginger with his big Chinese cleaver on Yan Can Cook, his television show from the 1990s. My eyes grew wider as he then moved on to effortlessly slice his way through vegetables and meat, with the food seemingly offering no resistance to his cleaver. I, a kid who had just started cooking a year earlier, yelled at the screen, “I want one of those!”

That was two decades ago, but it started my obsession with sharp knives that carried on as I turned into a chef, and is in no danger of ever disappearing.

To mangle a cliché, behind every successful chef, there is a sharp knife, though most of us prefer to have it in front of us. You know a man loves his knives when he is known for asking guests, “Hey, have you seen my knife set?” and show off his Japanese knives like some parents show off their newborns.

So I chose knives to start a column on kitchen equipment essentials instead of something like groovy kitchen gadgets. You can’t be that guy, the kitchen god that others revere, unless you know the fundamentals of making good food. A big part

Eight-inch knife

This multi-purpose knife is the workhorse of a kitchen

paring knife

The paring knife comes handy in coring an apple, deseeding capsicum, or peeling fruits and vegetables

Bread knife (serrated)

It is designed to work with food that is texturally different outside and inside and won’t crush the food

madhu

menon Chef

of that involves prep work, and, a big part of that is, indeed, cutting stuff up.

Much of the frustration regular people experience with cooking is because of the time and effort involved in getting raw material ready. A dull, blunt knife will make this excruciating, while the right kind will make it a breeze, resulting in a happier you, and you can’t cook good food without feeling the love. Unhappy cooks make for unhappy diners. Combine sharp knives with decent knife skills and that kilo of vegetables will not take you half an hour to cut. You’ll be done in 5-10 minutes instead, leaving you with time to enjoy a drink.

But first, I shall digress for a couple of minutes to talk about that workhorse of the Indian kitchen—the typical six-inch knife with a cheap plastic handle.

Yes, the same one your maid uses to cut up beans and cauliflower in a slow, linear rhythm. The blade is probably long and rectangular with a nominal upward curve at the end. You find them in pretty much all supermarkets. Sadly, those knives are terrible.

Their edges are rarely sharp enough for heavy-duty chopping, their shapes make it virtually impossible to use professional knife techniques with them. If you continue using them, you’ll never acquire the speed and skill a chef has.

There are only three kinds of knives you need to have to do 90% of everything. And if you can’t get all three, just get the first one.

An eight-inch all-purpose chef knife:

Photos: Victorinox

This should have a one-inch wide blade at least, with a gentle taper towards the tip of the knife that allows you to perform the back-and-forth rocking motion that you see chefs do. It must feel sturdy, with a nice heavy handle. This will be the workhorse of your kitchen. Test the sharpness by gently pressing it against the flat side of your thumbnail. It should catch. If it scrapes, it’s not sharp enough.

Brands to buy: Unfortunately, Indian makes (the

ones sold in retail channels anyway) are universally terrible. Your best options are to buy a Victorinox (check their website for store locations) or to get a friend visiting from the US to get you a Wüsthof or J.A. Henckels (heavier German knives) or Global or Shun (lighter Japanese ones).

A paring knife:

A paring knife is a small knife that has a straighter 3-4-inch blade and a sharp tip. It comes in handy for tasks when the big daddy is too big. For instance, coring an apple, deseeding capsicum, or peeling fruits and vegetables.

Brands to buy: Fortunately, you don’t need expensive knives for this type. Just a sharp one will do.

There isn’t a specific brand I recommend, but test its sharpness before you buy.

Bread knife (serrated):

This will come handy in cutting bread (obvious, eh?) because it’s designed to work with food that is texturally different outside and inside (like bread— crusty outside; soft inside) and won’t crush the food instead of cutting it. It can also be used for cutting tomatoes without sending tomato juice flying all over your kitchen.

Brands to buy: An affordable Brazilian brand called Tramontina can now be found in stores, and does the job satisfactorily. Of course, if you have the dough, spring for an imported knife—the same brands I recommended for the chef knife.

Remember, the sharper the knife, the less likely you will cut yourself. Sounds counter-intuitive? It’s because dull blades are more likely to slip and slide to the side when you cut food, increasing the chances of chopping bits of your fingers off. A sharp knife, on the other hand, will slide right through smoothly.

That’s pretty much all you need to kick off happy cooking adventures. A primer on knife skills, the other part of being a knife guru, is beyond the scope of this column. I advise you to watch YouTube videos of someone like Jamie Oliver showing you how it’s done.

Good luck!

Madhu Menon is chef, restaurant consultant and food writer.

Respond to this column at feedback@livemint.com September 2011 |

INDULGE |27

HOME Photos: iStockphoto

10

The

commandments...

of a gentleman’s almirah

5

The almirah must be sectioned into clear independent areas. Hangers for pants, shirts and coats, slim shelves for stacked shirts.

8

Break structural monotony with positive and negative elements: some closed sections, some open ones.

9

Build in a small safe for documents and valuables.

1

10

Accessories must have their own space: tie drawers, watch and jewellery drawers, belt hooks, pull-out shoe racks and pneumatic pull-down hanging racks.

Cut out all frills, thrills and decorative elements. The masculine almirah is crafted from straight lines.

2

Use thick sections and structures. This will increase cost but exude a sense of proportion and strength.

3

Use no less than two finishes. And no more than three. For instance combine veneer and mirror. Or veneer, mirror and leather.

4

Contrast your finishes subtly: a dark matt veneer, a smoked glass mirror and warm tan leather.

28

INDULGE | September 2011

6

Use interior lighting. Choose compact flourescent lamps for coolness.

7

Finish everything off with a small refrigerator to house your personal mini bar.

Commandments revealed by Varrun Motihar, director of New Delhi interior consultancy Mova1.

books

Shelf life

Love your whisky? Mint Indulge brings to you a range of best-selling books that will tell you all you want to know about your favourite tipple—right from storing to serving to tasting whisky, cocktails and pairing with food. From Japan to Canada, these books will tell you what makes certain distilleries unique or how weather and environment influence taste. Cheers!

Whisky: The Definitive World Guide The Malt Whisky File: The Essential Guide for the Malt Whisky Connoisseur From Islay to Orkney, from Scotland to Ireland, and from Japan to New Zealand, this revised fourth edition incorporates a unique and helpful rating system for each malt’s sweetness, peatiness and availability and a new guide to cost, as well as sections on “historical” whiskies and on regionalization— this is a must-have for whisky lovers and novices alike.

Author: John D. Lamond &

Robin Tucek Publisher: Canongate Books Pages: 288 Price: £14.99 at Amazon.co.uk

Whisky Bible 2011 The world’s best-selling ratings guide to all types of whisky, including Scotch single malt, blends, vatted malts, single grains, Irish, bourbon, rye, Japanese, Canadian, Australian, European and many others. Detailed, professionally analysed and easy to understand tasting notes on over 4,500 of the world’s leading and lesser-known whiskies.

From grain to glass, Whisky tells you everything and anything you’ll ever want to know about the liquor—from storing and serving to cocktails and pairing with food. It’s an education on the story behind aromas and flavours, what makes certain distilleries unique or how weather and environment influence taste.

Author: Michael Jackson Publisher: Dorling Kindersley Pages: 336 Price: $45.00

Author: Jim Murray

Malt whisky companion Discover all about whisky from this updated edition—from why you should choose Islay, the Islands, or the Highlands, to which whiskies are light and flowery, or rich and treacly.

Find whisky tasting notes on more than 1,000 malts arranged from A-Z, including vintages from 1926 onwards.

Author: Michael Jackson Publisher: Dorling Kindersley

Publisher: Dram Good Books

Pages: 448

Pages: 384

Price: $29.95

Price: £12.99

Peat Smoke and Spirit: A Portrait of Islay and Its Whiskies Despite its tiny size, seven different whisky distilleries populate the Isle of Islay, where some of the wildest and most flavourful hops in the malt-whisky spectrum are grown. Scotland’s renowned island is uncovered in this fascinating account, including its rich history and its luscious wildlife and landscape. Interwoven in the narrative are tales of the whiskies themselves, traced from a distant past of illegal stills to their presentday prosperity. The flavour of each spirit is analysed and the differences between them teased out.

Author: Andrew Jefford Publisher: Headline Books Publishing Pages: 416 Price: £8.99

Malt Whisky Yearbook 2011 Whisky enthusiasts all over the world look forward to the Malt Whisky Yearbook every autumn.

This sixth edition is fully-revised and packed with new and up-todate information on more than 200 whisky distilleries from all over the world.

Author: Ingvar Ronde Publisher: Magdig Media Pages: 274 Price: £7.75 at Amazon.co.uk

iStockphoto

September 2011 |

INDULGE |29

milestones Omar Abdullah on...

The greatest

speech of my political career Indiatodayimages.com

On 22 July 2008, during a parliamentary debate on the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, Omar Abdullah, now the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, then a member of the Lok Sabha representing the Srinagar constituency, delivered a brief, but passionate, speech that touched upon several topics, including his identity as a Muslim and an Indian. The speech has since attained cult status.

30

INDULGE | September 2011

I

had absolutely no idea at the time that I would say something in that fashion, or that it would turn out to be something people will remember so much. Of course, it was an important debate and I was quite keen to put across my party’s point of view forward. But the way the day developed, one started to get the impression that I wouldn’t get a chance to speak.

I was really keen that I do. This whole perception had been created that the nuclear deal was anti-Muslim.

And being a Muslim myself, being an MP (member of Parliament) from a Muslim-majority state, I thought it was important that I correct this perception.

But I honestly hadn’t planned to speak the way I did or, say, what I did.

They weren’t prepared words. I sort of had an idea that I would correct this impression about the deal, but I hadn’t planned those words or the general way in which things fell into place.

Only the broad theme was in my head.

Those feelings and emotions, I guess, I would have been expressed at some point at some venue. But one never expects or plans to say these things at a stage like this, in the Lok Sabha, during a debate like that. Events conspired to make things happen like that. I ended up being one of the last speakers, just before the Prime Minister. I spoke in the early evening, instead of the middle of the night, which is usually when small parties like mine are given a slot to speak. And

the press gallery was absolutely full.

On another occasion, I could have said exactly the same words and hardly anybody would have taken notice. So the timing and the media coverage played a huge role.

If Parliament was less noisy and calm on that day, I suppose, I would have still said the same things, but my tone and tenor would have been different. I’d sat down patiently for hours letting everyone else speak.

But when my turn came to speak, the opposition was trying to shout the House down. That clearly had an impact on how I spoke.

It still surprises me that people remember that speech. Very often, when I run into people they mention that speech. How great it was and how much they enjoyed. I honestly had no idea that the speech would have such a shelf life. Even when it was as well received as it was at that time, I had no idea that, in 2011, people will stop me and refer to that speech.

No, I don’t think the speech puts any onus on me to henceforth behave or speak in a certain way. Simply because I said things I’ve always believed in. Those words or feelings weren’t manufactured for that particular occasion. I’ve always felt I am a Muslim and I’ve always felt I am an Indian. And the challenges that Muslims face in India, I’ve always felt to be very real. So it is not like I now have to live up to that speech in any way. That is who I am.

Besides that one, there have been a couple of speeches I have delivered in Kashmir that have had a huge impact on the ground here in the state. But in terms of tone and content and delivery, that Lok Sabha speech is going to take hell to beat. Unless I deliver a speech from the ramparts of Red Fort, I don’t see myself beating that one.

Of course, I have had the opportunity to see great speakers in Parliament. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, of course. People think Lalu Prasad is an idiot, but he is a great speaker with that rustic sense of humour he has. I remember Madhavrao Scindia who brought tremendous debating skills to Parliament. In this day and age, I may not agree politically with Sushma Swaraj, but she is formidable in Parliament.

Rhetoric for rhetoric’s sake rarely achieves anything. And I also don’t think every speech should be immediately classified as rhetoric. A lot of important speeches are made that have tremendous impact. But somehow, we’ve started dismissing speeches made with passion or with great emotion as simply rhetoric. This is not right.

I am far more aware of what I speak nowadays than I used to be. There is far more importance ascribed to what I say now as chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir than was when I was a member of Parliament. To that extent, I have to be a little bit more careful and thoughtful of what I say.

People must understand that there is a lot more to Parliament than just question hour and zero hour, which are the things media broadcast always.

Much of the work of Parliament is dreary discussions and debates over Bills that a lot of people are not aware of at all. You won’t read about them in the newspapers or on prime-time TV news. And I have often seen the younger members of Parliament contribute positively to these discussions. So this criticism of young parliamentarians being inactive is not entirely valid.

My message to young politicians is this: be patient. Becoming a member of Parliament right away is not impossible, but it is very difficult. There are several avenues available from the college and university level. Start there and slowly work your way up.

Omar Abdullah is the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

Respond to this column at feedback@livemint.com As told to Sidin Vadukut