Lounge for 22 Oct 2011 by HT Media

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Saturday, October 22, 2011

Vol. 5 No. 43

TH E AL W DI U SS II E

LOUNGE THE WEEKEND MAGAZINE

GIFTING, GIVING This Diwali, besides presenting the best stuff to your near and dear ones, be a part of the cycle of positive change in our villages

A THOUGHT (AND BUDGET) FOR EVERY GIFT >Pages 1020

YOUR OWN MA BAKER With cinnamoninfused granola bars or chocolate shortbread, add a personal touch to your gift hampers >Page 8

LEAD KINDLY LIGHT Syama Jogi is a solar engineer trained at Bare foot College, Rajasthan.

FIRST PERSON

THE GOOD LIFE

SUNIL MITTAL

A COMMITMENT TO RURAL EDUCATION

eople come to us for donations of all kinds: for old-age homes, eye donation camps, healthcare needs, AIDS afflicted. We could have kept writing cheques which we did for a long time and still do. But after the earthquake in Gujarat (Bhuj, 2001), some people came to us seeking help and I still remember thinking that even this cheque will go into a large, black hole. It made no sense. I knew we needed to do something that would create an impact. My mind was working... >Page 4

INSIDE VIEW

SHOBA NARAYAN

DO YOU HAVE A ‘RURBAN’ IN YOU?

or the financially secure, urban Indian, however well meaning, rural India remains a nebulous construct. We know the statistics, hear about farmer suicides and watch verdant paddy fields in movies. But barring annual visits to ancestral villages, few urban dwellers have any real intersection with Mahatma Gandhi’s “700,000 villages”, now about 640,000 as per Census 2011. We don’t know how our rural counterparts live and... >Page 6

JO CHOPRA

Help the visually impaired and children in need while buying ‘diyas’ >Page 21

DON’T MISS

in today’s edition of

THREE ESSENTIALS OF A GIVER

think about money a lot. I run an organization in Dehradun for children with special needs and thinking about money comes with the job description: where it will come from; where it will be spent. How much we need; how little we have. What it can buy; what it cannot replace. Who’s holding on to it; who’s willing to give it away. Like all my colleagues in the voluntary sector, I think about money. Like many of them, I used to worry about it too. I don’t do that any more. Not worrying is a challenge. It takes discipline... >Page 6

PHOTO ESSAY

RAGHU RAI’S COLOUR SHIFT

THE GIFTING ISSUE

LOUNGE THE GIVING ISSUE

First published in February 2007 to serve as an unbiased and clear-minded chronicler of the Indian Dream.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011 ° WWW.LIVEMINT.COM

á Sennheiser: â Good Earth: Set

ä Paul Smith: Signature money clip, `3,900.

of scotch glasses, coasters, ice bucket and cocktail nap kins, `12,400.

LOUNGE EDITOR

PRIYA RAMANI DEPUTY EDITORS

SEEMA CHOWDHRY SANJUKTA SHARMA

CX 310, noisecancel lation highfi delity sound headphones,

`3,490.

ã Canali: Silk tie and pocket scarf, `12,500.

MINT EDITORIAL LEADERSHIP TEAM

R. SUKUMAR (EDITOR)

NIRANJAN RAJADHYAKSHA (EXECUTIVE EDITOR)

ANIL PADMANABHAN TAMAL BANDYOPADHYAY NABEEL MOHIDEEN MANAS CHAKRAVARTY MONIKA HALAN SHUCHI BANSAL SIDIN VADUKUT JASBIR LADI

{

WIN WIN CONTEST

â Apartment9: Gift voucher worth `3,500.

á Philips: HMP3000, media player that accepts data from any source, `4,990.

á Sony Ericsson: Txt, cellphone built for easier texting, `7,500.

ã Fabindia: Organic products, tea lights, candles in a tray, `3,500.

á Zaza Home: Wall clock, `3,500.

ã L’Occitane: Set of perfumed soap, shower gel, beauty milk and hand cream, `3,665.

ã William Penn: Money clip studded with a black onyx by Dalvey, `3,200.

ã Address Home: Pair of Champagne flutes and a tray, `5,690.

ã Patchi: Chocolate platter, `3,650. ã Titan: Phulkariinspired ladies watch, `3,750.

á Microsoft: Gesturesensing touch mouse, `3,999.

SEASON CHANGE

unil Mittal says that he is often asked why Indians don’t give. “My view on this is simple: India has got wealth recently. People are not comfortable with it just yet. They are not sure if this is for real and if it is sustainable. Also Indians want to save up for their children. Each one of us has done that. My parents did it, I do it. Despite the fact that I am reasonably wealthy, I still want my children to live a better life than I do.” Why do Indians want to leave money for their children? Mittal says attachment to the next generation is very, very high in India. “It’s quite intense in our DNA. But I think this is changing, specially in urban India. Forget business people, I am seeing professionals becoming interested in giving.” At Lounge we believe that many of you might be interested in giving too but often slack off because you are not sure about the cause or whether the charity ON THE COVER: PHOTOGRAPHER: PRADEEP GAUR/MINT

you want to support will actually use your money sensibly. This year we decided to visit NGOs working in the hinterland and selected 11 causes that might touch your heart. Watch our slide shows and videos (www.livemint.com) to get a real glimpse of how rural India lives and what they think. We also found that there are agencies that track the work of NGOs carefully so you can be sure that your money is utilized well if you decide to be part of the giving brigade. So as you head out to shop for the perfect gift (don’t sweat, because we have already scoured the stores to look for gift ideas that will delight just about anyone) and spend time indulging and splurging, take part of your Saturday off to read about what your countrymen in rural India aspire to. Enjoy the issue, enjoy the season of gifting and giving. Seema Chowdhry Issue Editor

á Episode: Set of two silverplated bowls encapsulated in copper holders, `4,000.

RULES OF THE CONTEST This is the fourth year for our Diwali Win Win contest. We believe that you should not just see but also enjoy some of the gifts featured in the gifting section. Take our quiz at www.livemint.com/diwaliquiz2011 Answer the questions, and a lucky draw win would give you a shot at getting any of these great gifts. The contest closes on 1 November.

THE GIFTING ISSUE

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011 ° WWW.LIVEMINT.COM

THE GIVING ISSUE PHOTOGRAPHS

PRIYANKA PARASHAR/MINT

SUNIL MITTAL’S ‘MA KA KHANA’ MODEL

eople come to us for donations of all kinds: for old-age homes, eye donation camps, healthcare needs, AIDS afflicted. We could have kept writing cheques, which we did for a long time and still do. But after the earthquake in Gujarat (Bhuj, 2001), some people came to us seeking help, and I still remember thinking that even this cheque will go into a large, black hole. It made no sense. I knew we needed to do something that would create an impact. My mind was working at building a core around our giving activities. When I discussed this with Rakesh (elder brother) and others, we wondered what kind of activity would have a multiplier effect. And I knew it would be education, especially in villages where schools are not available for the poorest of the poor. I firmly believe that if you teach a child, chances are that eventually this benefits the whole family. Another factor also set me thinking. We had given crores to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi, and while it (Bharti School of Telecommunication Technology and Management) was and is a great project, I felt that the output was very poor—in the sense that the number of students who qualified on that money was no more than 100 a year. In effect, we were spending very large amounts of money on high-quality education but it benefited few. I like scale; everything we do is done on a large scale. I felt that the money that had gone to IIT would have worked much longer had we done primary education. This is where our shift in focus came, and we decided the Bharti Foundation would set up a programme that would build and run 500 primary schools across the country. If we wanted to scale up our philanthropic activities, then we had to have focus on one area. We decided to put in `200 crore from our own funds into the Bharti Foundation corpus towards this and started the programme around 2006. We consulted a lot of people like Arun Kapoor, director of Vasant Valley School in New Delhi, and many other educationists, saw the

SUNIL MITTAL

FIRST PERSON

government school models and then finally developed our model. (Each Satya Bharti School has three classrooms, separate toilets for boys and girls, an IBM-donated computer, six teachers, plus a helper for around 200 children, nutritious mid-day meals and a double-shift system.) The model had to be fine-tuned and that’s where the expertise of people like Manju Bharat Ram, who is on our board, came in handy. For example, initially we wanted to have two classes going on at the same time in one classroom. She objected to that. Finally, we came around to her point of view. The board had discussed charging `10 a month as a fee, not because we wanted the money, but because it was thought it would help curb absenteeism. We had even planned to give this fee back to the children who had a good attendance record. I was totally opposed to it because in the villages where we were to set up, there was just too much poverty. I think initially we experimented with the fee in a few new schools and it was found that not many could pay that sum, so it was abandoned. Another key idea was to hire teachers from within the local ecosystems, so that they don’t leave easily. We also felt regular teachers’ training is very important. Even today, despite our efforts to hire good staff, there are teachers who are not up to scratch. Therefore, we have to train them constantly. We did not realize when we started out that we would end up training them for 20/25 days in a year but it helps and so we have continued the process. Teachers also like it because they get to learn about new tools, methods, and get acclimatized to our way of education. We wanted to turn out rounded individuals and hence

there has been emphasis on personal hygiene, on good manners for our students. Since nutritious meals was another focus area, my thought was that only mothers should cook mid-day meals in our schools. I am not sure how much of that has been implemented. But I believe if a mother cooks the food, it will be with love and care. This is a way to affect the community too since the mothers get a job and earn a livelihood. While we were developing the model, we wrote to many members of Parliament cutting across party lines asking if they would be interested in this programme. We had asked them only to connect us to village panchayats and work with us at convincing them to lease land for the school buildings. Some responded but most did not. Now the Satya Bharti School programme works like an organization; each school follows the standard operating model. You go to one school and then the other and everything will be exactly the same. The curriculum, of course, had to be the same anyway and so we developed our own curriculum and it is dramatically different from the government schools, and much better. I am a firm believer in the fact that practical modules should be added to theory and this is the right way to impart education. Our teachers are trained to teach more through visual effects, through props and that’s how it is in the rest of the world. I have always opposed the rote method and we will not go that way. We want our children to absorb the ideas. I feel that’s why our students do better. We have seen the results after the schools have been operational for five years now and they are positive. There is a beautiful story which was narrated to me about a child from one of our schools who taught her parents to sign. When they came in for a parent-teacher meeting, the teacher pushed forward an ink pad for the thumb print but they asked for a pen instead and signed on the report card. This is the positive aspect of what we are doing. Having 33,000 children in this programme currently is quite impactful even for a country like India and every year the outcome only delights us.

A better tomorrow: Chil dren enjoy outdoor activities at the Satya Bharti School in Kai thal, Haryana; and (left) homewardbound in a tractortrolley (jugaad).

Rakesh, whenever he goes into those villages, says he is showered with love. Will this have any spin-off or benefit for our business, I don’t know. But the goodwill for the family, for brand Bharti, for the foundation is enormous. I know, we said that we would only do primary schools initially but within a year or so of the schools being operational we realized this is not a good thing. We were giving a reasonably good quality of education to the students and then leaving the child in a lurch after class V. When he comes out of the Satya Bharti School Program he does not want to go to a government school. That’s why we decided that in the first phase we will cut down the primary schools from 500 to 250 and use the remaining funds to build 50 secondary schools instead. Companies like Google are partnering with us to build elementary schools (up to class VIII) in some areas too. Right now, we are in a consolidation phase. We have

233 primary schools, 12 elementary schools and five senior secondary school running in Punjab, Haryana, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and some are in public-private partnership with the government too, so we have taken a step back to figure out if all is well; why is the attrition rate of teachers high; why do students drop out. There are still some students who are not doing well, their grades are not picking up. Absenteeism in schools bothers me and the sheer fact that children are coming from 2-3km away is upsetting. Our idea was to enrol children from nearby areas only but that is not happening. We get children from even 2-3km away. Sometimes parents use tractor-trolley (jugaad) to bring children to school. That is a challenge. There is discussion now, “Should we run buses?”, but I don’t think we can now be a transport company too. There is time when you need to stop, breathe and take corrective actions and then go

ahead. That’s what we are doing now. Later we will look at states like Bihar and Orissa to open more schools. Another thing we are looking at is to take promising students beyond the primary and secondary system. I want doctors, pilots, lawyers to come out of this scheme; that will be the high point. We will run scholarships for these children. If need be, I will move all scholarships from those engineering colleges and bring them here. I am happy when state governments want to partner with us. But what takes a long time usually in these partnerships is that we are clear that we don’t want daily interference. We have said no to money because we will not compromise our style of functioning. That has been quite a struggle because when any government puts in money or the education department puts in capital, they want more control. We are happy to be subjected to massive amounts of transparency. If they want weekly reports, we will do it, if they want to audit us, we are happy, but we can’t run the schools the way they want to run them. We have had a breakthrough in Punjab recently and now six Government Satya Bharti Adarsh Senior Secondary schools run in partnership with the government. Can this be done on a much grander scale by us? It can be done. We have funded the project heavily, have put the right people behind it and have passionately pushed the project. But my real hope is that 100 organizations will look at this model and says yes this works and then push for it too. I would be happy to just open up the elements of this programme for them, let them send in their people to see the model and then transport it and make it work. At the end of the day, if 100 companies dedicate themselves to this, there will be a dramatic change. As told to Seema Chowdhry seema.c@livemint.com

THE GIFTING ISSUE

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011 ° WWW.LIVEMINT.COM

THE GIVING ISSUE NATHAN G/MINT

DO YOU HAVE A ‘RURBAN’IN YOU? F or the financially secure, urban Indian, however well meaning, rural India remains a nebulous construct. We know the statistics, hear about farmer suicides and watch verdant paddy fields in movies. But barring annual visits to ancestral villages, few urban dwellers have any real intersection with Mahatma Gandhi’s “700,000 villages”, now about 640,000 as per Census 2011. We don’t know how our rural counterparts live and what issues they grapple with. Then how to contribute? Where to begin? I cold-emailed Jairam Ramesh, Union minister of rural development, with one question: How could urban individuals contribute to rural India? He called me from Gumla, Jharkhand. “Do you know where Gumla is?” he asked. Sheepishly, I said no. After some small talk—his mother lives in Bangalore—I asked how the average urban citizen could help rural India, should they desire to. What were his top five priorities? Ramesh laughed and said that his top priorities, such as land reform, rural infrastructure and employment, were not things the average citizen could contribute to. “Those initiatives are for well-meaning bankrupt governments, not for well-meaning rich individuals (like your readers),” he said. “The bulk of investments in rural areas will have to come from the government. To expect the private sector to make these huge investments is unrealistic.” I can see why he thinks that; but with all due respect, I disagree with him. The 2011 Bain & Co. report on philanthropy in India states that private giving in India is between 0.3% and 0.4% of GDP —higher than other developing countries such as China, but far lower than America’s 2.2% and the UK’s 1.3%. The reason for this disparity is because individual donations in India only constitute 26% of all private giving, relative to the US’ 75% and the UK’s 60%. We look to our governments for the bulk of funding, particularly in rural India, where the government has budgeted `74,100 crore for 2011-12, according to the ministry of rural development (MRD) website. The question is: Can a charismatic leader like

SHOBA NARAYAN

THE GOOD LIFE

Ramesh cause a significant shift upward in private donation numbers so that “bankrupt governments” can spend less? India with over 50 billionaires (according to the Forbes magazine’s list of world’s billionaires) ought to have higher philanthropic numbers; and slowly it is happening. The uber rich are setting up foundations; average citizens are giving more, and this doesn’t count what we give to our religious institutions. But we aren’t giving enough. Wealth has a correlation to charity but it is not an obvious one. The World Giving Index 2010 states that Indians, surprisingly, give more than the Chinese. But rural India—barring building schools and hospitals—doesn’t feature much in our giving. I think it is because we don’t know how to and (it must be said) because we think the government will take care of it. Say, I want to find a rural cause. I know two catalyst organizations—EdelGive and Caring Friends, both in Mumbai. I would call them up and ask them to recommend an NGO. I would make a one-time, ad hoc donation, just to feel good. Ramesh suggests the opposite. “The problem with NGOs is that they lack scale and are dependent on personalities,” he says. “Urban Indians can help through technology and expertise. They could make a firm five-year commitment to the right NGO so that they can build capacity.” Today, while folding clothes, I listened to a podcast interview with productivity guru Robert Pozen. Strange juxtaposition, I know. Pozen teaches at Harvard Business School, ran a fund company with $200 billion (around `9.8 trillion) in assets, and is a fellow at the Washington-based think tank, Brookings Institution. Pozen described leaders who took on too much, simply because they believed that they were the best

for the job. “The question is not who’s best at performing high-priority functions, but which things can you and only you as the CEO get done?” he asked. As soon as he said that, I wondered if I should stop folding clothes and tackle those jobs that I and only I could do. I am oversimplifying of course, but this begs the question: Is the MRD taking on too much? What are the high-priority functions that Ramesh and only Ramesh can do? Everything else, he can outsource to corporations, foundations and individuals. Easier said than done, I know. The roadmap to citizen involvement is circuitous and fraught with hurdles. I am not talking about public-private partnerships such as those initiated in the healthcare sector in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh or Uttarakhand. I am talking game-changer, a la Steve Jobs. If anyone can do it, a maverick like Ramesh can. The MRD has 11 schemes in its portfolio, including training and housing. Ramesh also oversees drinking water supply and land resources, each with several schemes. The extent of his duties and projects are mind-boggling. No wonder he is in Gumla on a Saturday night. After some back and forth, I pushed him for names and organizations he could recommend. “Canvass opinion from credible people who have experience in this area—people like Aruna Roy, Joe Madiath, Al Fernandez, for example—and also from administrators who have worked with such NGOs (S.M. Vijayanand in Kerala, K. Raju in Andhra Pradesh, Santhosh Mathew in Bihar, for instance). Once you find a good grassroots NGO—like Gram Vikas in Orissa—you contribute.” Ramesh’s solution for individual contribution to rural India is practical but not a paradigm shift. He should expect more from us, I say. Bangalore citizen, author and philanthropist Rohini Nilekani has just released a book called Uncommon Ground. Urban and rural India can find common ground, can they not? Ramesh calls it “rurban”. “Frankly, the notion of rural and urban India is an old concept,” he says. “These are not two boxes, not two silos. There is a continuum. India is increasingly getting rurban. That’s where the

CREDIT

Clean sweep: Hyundai Motor India is constructing 200 toilets in Irungattukottai village, near Chennai. real growth is taking place.” Could he name one area where individual contribution would make a difference? His answer is surprising: toilets. “To my mind, the single biggest issue that we face is sanitation,” he says. “Fifty-eight per cent of all open defecations in the world are in India. Fifty to seventy-five per cent of all Indian women defecate openly. It is a national shame, a national blot. We are trying to entice people to use toilets. We have built lakhs of toilets but people aren’t using them. We are trying to start a major Clean India campaign; communication programmes and such.” Hallelujah! I find my answer. Ramesh has opened the proverbial Pandora’s box. My fellow urban Indians! We may not be able or willing to spend extended amounts of time and energy in our villages, but we can do a Clean India campaign. Influencing minds is urban India’s forte. We have copywriters, ad geniuses, celebrities, Bollywood stars. What if Sachin Tendulkar, Deepika

Padukone, A.R. Rahman or Savita Bhabhi urge people to use garbage bins or even toilets? They might listen. Shah Rukh Khan has already agreed to be an advocate for sanitation and hygiene. He has become the ambassador of the UN-hosted Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), and has called for “political commitment at the highest level”. Khan’s first public service announcement is in English and on YouTube, where it will reach exactly those people who don’t need to squat on the streets. Someone should get him to speak in Hindi and beam him to India’s hinterlands through mobile phones, which have the greatest penetration in rural India. This is blue sky thinking, but maybe Sunil Bharti Mittal could have his engineers design an annoying phone alarm that goes off every time someone decides to take a you-know-what under the blue sky. NGOs like Sulabh are already doing good work on the ground. The UN has jumped in. Kerala member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor’s wife,

Sunanda, wants to build toilets for girls. There is a confluence of ideas on the verge of a tipping point. About time too. I asked Ramesh for contact details I could publish in case Mint’s readers wanted to get involved with the Clean India campaign or his ministry. He gave me his email: jairam54@gmail.com. If you write, tell him Mint sent you. And please don’t spam him. Shoba Narayan is part of several Clean Bengaluru initiatives, including innovative garbage solutions from anonymous crusaders who call themselves The Ugly Indian (www.theuglyindian.com). Write to her at thegoodlife@livemint.com www.livemint.com Read Shoba’s previous Lounge columns at www.livemint.com/shobanarayan

www.livemint.com Read Hyundai CSR activity story at www.livemint.com/hyundai.csr.htm

THINKSTOCK

THE THREE ESSENTIALS OF A GIVER I

JO CHOPRA

INSIDE VIEW is secure, nothing is certain. Life itself is worrying. Faith, because if you aren’t worrying, it means you are placing your trust somewhere else—in god, or people or the universe—and admitting you aren’t always (or ever) in control. A good memory, because we’ve been here before. And we will be here again. It’s important to remember that

we’ve been rescued in the past. Every time, in fact. Sometimes, to the exact penny we require. I remember once sitting with our accountant trying to figure out how we could give our entire staff a 10% raise and how much I would need to raise for the year to make it happen. We were a small group in those days and the amount I needed to find was `1.2 lakh. “Go ahead,” I told her bravely, signing the memo announcing the decision. “I’ll find the money.” The next day, a cheque arrived for `1.2 lakh. Unsolicited, out of the blue. I take these things as signs. Had the cheque been for less, I would have reduced the increment. Had it been for more, I would have hired another special educator. The last thing you want to do in such situations is to get cocky.

A few weeks ago, a friend whose organization was in dire need of funds asked if I could help her find some money. Our foundation was in the exact same situation (there’s a pattern here, I know), but I took her story to a woman who is wealthy and generous and she donated `12 lakh to my friend’s cause. When I came back to the office to share the great news, my colleagues were aghast: What about our funding crisis? they asked. Didn’t you think of that? Of course, I did. And I’m not pretending that I wasn’t disappointed when that wealthy, generous woman didn’t offer to bail us out as well. But I was not worried. Because if I’ve learned anything at all about generosity in my nearly 20 years of raising funds, it is this: It doesn’t matter who gets the money. Today it’s

Keep the faith: Money worries have a way of solving themselves. her turn, tomorrow it’s his. Next week, if we’re lucky, it will be ours. The important thing is the generosity, the giving. It’s like a river. The moment you dam it up, saying “That water is mine”, or “Don’t tell anyone about this source”, the river dies. Keep it flowing. The more you give, the more you receive. Everyone has something to give.

Everyone needs something that someone else has. Pass it on. Jo Chopra is executive director and co-founder of the Latika Roy Foundation (Latikaroy.org) in Dehradun. The foundation works with children and adults with multiple disabilities and takes a rights-based approach to inclusion. Write to lounge@livemint.com

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011 ° WWW.LIVEMINT.COM

THE GIFTING ISSUE

YOUR OWN MA BAKER

ANIRUDDHA CHOWDHURY/MINT

THE GIVING ISSUE

With cinnamon infused granola bars or chocolate shortbread, add a personal touch to your gift hampers

PRIYANKA PARASHAR/MINT

B Y S EEMA C HOWDHRY seema.c@livemint.com

···························· xpensive chocolates, exotic fruits, endless boxes of laddoos—you’ve gifted them all. Don’t your cousins, friends and colleagues also come up with exactly the same, clichéd ideas? This Diwali, be different. Send out boxes of home-made, easy-tobake desserts.

Chocolate Shortbread Makes 3 dozen Ingredients 450g butter 65g sugar 65g icing sugar, plus some extra for dusting 550g flour 200g Toblerone chocolate, coarsely chopped Method Preheat the oven to 165 degrees Celsius. With a hand mixer, mix butter, both the sugars and flour until the lumps disappear. Now, add the chopped chocolate and knead well. Dust the table with flour. Roll the dough to about 1cm thickness. Cut into desired shapes, like stars, hearts or circles. Bake at 165 degrees Celsius for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown. Let them cool completely and then dust on the icing sugar with a sieve. —Recipe courtesy Anna and David Hambly, Red Moon Bakery, Okhla, New Delhi

chocolate and heated cream in a 1:2 ratio) 100g melted chocolate for dipping Drinking straws Assorted decorative sprinkles, sugar balls, etc. Method For each lollipop, take 100g of cake and 50g of icing. Mix them together in the palm of your hands and roll together to form a ball. Once rolled, place in the fridge for 10 minutes. Then insert the straw into the ball right to the very end, so that the ball does not fall off. Then dip into the melted chocolate to form a thick coating on the ball all the way till the straw. When still moist, sprinkle with toppings and place in the fridge to set. Repeat the process to make more lollipops. Place in a glass jar with shredded gold paper or marbles, etc., and present as a bouquet. —Recipe courtesy Nikita Dembla, Niki’s Desserts, Breach Candy, Mumbai

Choco Combo Brownie Cupcakes Makes 5 Ingredients K cup butter 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate 1 cup sugar 2 large eggs K cup all-purpose flour 2 tbsp cocoa powder 1 vanilla pod O cup chocolate chips Orange marmalade or nuts (optional) Method Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and chocolate over a double boiler, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and beat in the sugar and then the eggs. Mix in the flour, cocoa powder, the seeds from the vanilla pod and chocolate chips. If you want, you can add hazelnuts to this mixture. Scoop out into cups. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Cool, and wrap the next day and make your own Diwali hampers. —Recipe courtesy Kishi Arora, Foodaholics.in, New Delhi

Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies

O tsp ground cinnamon K tsp salt 2O cups rolled oats 1 cup raisins Method Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until fluffy. Sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Gradually beat into the butter mixture. Stir in oats and raisins. Drop by the teaspoonfuls on to cookie sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly, remove from the sheet to a wire rack. Cool completely and pack batches to send out. —Recipe courtesy Shelly Sahay, Elma’s Bakery, Cakes and Tea Room, Hauz Khas Village, New Delhi

Makes 8-12

Chocolate Lollipop Bouquets

Ingredients O cup butter, softened O cup white sugar O cup brown sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla extract 1N cups all-purpose flour 1 tsp baking soda

Makes 8 lollipops, 1 bouquet Ingredients 800g chocolate sponge cake (store bought or make your own) 400g chocolate icing (melted

Thick, Chewy Granola Bars Makes 16 bars

ABHIJIT BHATLEKAR/MINT

Ingredients 1M cups quick rolled oats K cup granulated sugar (or brown sugar) L cup oat flour (or wheat flour, wheat germ) K tsp salt K tsp ground cinnamon 2-3 cups dried fruits and nuts (could include dried cranberries, apricots, pecans, almonds, cashew nuts, dried figs, melon seeds, sunflower seeds, coconut flakes, walnuts, sesame seeds, flax seeds, dried apples or even chocolate chips) L cup peanut butter (optional) 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional) 6 tbsp melted butter (or olive oil) N cup plus 2 tbsp honey, maple syrup (or combination) 1 tbsp water

Oven fresh: (clockwise from top) Granola Bars by Whisk and Whip; Choco Combo Brownie Cupcakes from Foo daholics; Chocolate Lolli pops from Niki’s Desserts; and Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies from Elma’s. Method Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Line an 8x8-inch pan with parchment paper—place the sheet in such a way that two ends stick out. This aids in lifting the baked slab out afterwards. Lightly grease the parchment paper and the exposed pan. Stir together all the dry ingredients, including the fruit and nuts. In a separate bowl, whisk together the vanilla, melted butter or oil, liquid sweeteners and water. Toss the wet ingredients with the dry (and peanut butter, if you’re using it) until the mixture is evenly crumbly. Spread in the prepared pan, pressing the mixture in firmly so that it moulds to the shape of the pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until brown around the edges. If it looks soft and almost under-baked, do not worry—it’ll set once cool. Cool in the pan completely on a cooling rack. Once cool, use a serrated knife to cut 2x2-inch bars or use cookie cutters to get the desired shapes. If the bars still seem crumbly, chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. To store, wrap the bars individually in plastic or stack them in an airtight container. In humid weather, it’s best to store bars in the refrigerator. They also freeze well. —Recipe courtesy Samruddhi Nayak and Nina Subramani, Whisk and Whip, Indiranagar, Bangalore (adapted from the King Arthur Flour blog). Gayatri Jayaraman, Komal Sharma and Pavitra Jayaraman contributed to this story.

VIDEO Learn how to make these recipes at www.livemint.com/ diwalibaking.htm

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ur children, aged 13 and 15, have been acting difficult during festivals in the last couple of years, and it is getting worse. They do not like a single sweet or savoury preparation, do not enjoy crackers, hate wearing festive clothes, and just don’t like visiting relatives. We have to coax them out of their rooms when people visit. I’m willing to let them be, but my husband feels (and I agree) that this is just snobbery and they must learn to enjoy the spirit of the season. They are the same with weddings too. Please advise how to deal with this. I don’t want them participating as if they’re doing the whole world a favour. Well, for them, they are doing you a favour by agreeing to do so many things they dislike! But your concern is understandable. However, how does one get an adolescent and a teenager to change their minds? The snobbery part may be true, but there may also be an element of extreme boredom. The “spirit of the season” does not necessarily mean enjoying all the things that you have outlined. Perhaps you need to break these things down into necessary and unnecessary activities, and negotiate what

GOURI DANGE

LEARNING CURVE can be let go and what must be done. If the “snobbery” part hassles you, then there is a larger issue to be tackled year-round really at other levels. If, for you, visiting relatives or at least being sociable and nice to people when they visit is important, then you need to have a sensitive chat with them about why they need to connect with people better—not just as a favour to you. If all year round you have nothing much to do with these relatives, it does seem artificial and difficult for the children to suddenly be able to show involvement with them. It makes sense to, pre-season, perhaps clue them in on who’s who in the larger family, and tell them something interesting about that person or family, so the children don’t think of them as strangers who have to be smiled at and hugged and feet touched. All this means we can’t simply uncork “the festive season” on our children. We need them to have some small connect with who their family is and why they are important. Overall, many children this age are preoccupied with themselves and don’t have much mental space for what the fuss is about around festivals. You need to negotiate with them whichever part of the festivities are really important to you, talking about which things they simply have to do and which they could learn to enjoy. There could be a bunch of things you simply agree to let go. How does one teach a six-year-old to accept gifts and say thank you without saying things like “I already have this”. Or “I wanted a yellow truck, not red”. Or “My uncle is going to give me a bat with Sachin Tendulkar’s name on it”. Or some such thing which makes the giver feel rejected? I have tried telling him that he must learn to just accept the gift with grace and thanks, and then he could tell us later if he doesn’t like it or wants something else. So now he just makes an awkward face and looks at us when he opens a gift that doesn’t appeal to him. Next, I will have to teach him to come up with fake joy and enthusiasm which doesn’t seem like a good thing to teach. What would you suggest? Yes, the fake “I just loved your gift, it was exactly what I wanted” kind of adult-world social stuff…it really seems a pity to have to teach it to a six-year-old. However, to indicate to your child that rejecting a gift or dismissing it right there when he receives it, constitutes rude behaviour, is important too. Perhaps for a little child, besides telling him that it is rude, you need to give him alternative behaviour

and responses when he receives a gift he doesn’t particularly like. Towards this, there are three things you could explain and reiterate: a) that people make an effort to think of what he would like and he needs to connect with that effort and not with the thing itself sometimes. This is a rather abstract “it’s the thought that counts” concept for a little child, but see if you can find an age-appropriate way of introducing this concept to him; b) you need to tell him that it’s not a big deal if there is a gift he doesn’t like or won’t use. He has, and will get, many things he does like, and a lot does not hinge on that one gift he has received but not liked, so he must learn to say a sincere thank you; c) you could use this as an opportunity for him to think of other, less fortunate children, and tell him that he must thank the person nicely, and that later he can

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PUNEET CHANDHOK/HINDUSTAN TIMES

give away that thing to a poor child or to an orphanage, among other things. This might also give him a little perspective, which children need, on how not to take for granted that their every nuanced whim needs to be met. This is not to suggest that we guilt-trip our children when they show less appreciation for what they get. It’s just that the festive season is packed with lessons that can be subtly taught to all ages about sharing, caring, appreciating and not getting hung up on gifts without connecting to the people that gift them. Gouri Dange is the author of ABCs of Parenting. Write to Gouri at learningcurve@livemint.com

In the spirit: Don’t force your children to meet relatives during festivals.

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A THOUGHT FOR EVERY GIFT THE GIVING ISSUE

hat will be the perfect gift for my boss? Does my mother really care about the trendy new wine cooler in the market? Would my best friend rather have me look at her ever-expanding wish list first? How much should I spend on whom? The questions must have piled up. Like every year, we make it easy for you to choose your Diwali gifts. From cutlery and action-hero toys to the quirky and most innovative diyas to Madhubala cushion

covers and lamps with tribal and ethnic motifs—we shopped for days to find something to suit every taste and budget. There’s no better time to tell your near and dear ones that you thought of them while buying their Diwali gift. Go ahead, indulge. Write to lounge@livemint.com

á Sony Bravia KDL55HX925, at Sony stores countrywide, approx. `2.59 lakh.

ä Velvet Nawab Jacket by Canali, at DLF Emporio mall, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi; UB City mall, Vittal Mallya Road, Bangalore; and Palladium mall, Lower Parel, Mumbai, `69,500 onwards.

â Cosmic Leaf lamp, at Artemide, D3, Defence Colony, New Delhi, `83,326.

{`50,000 ABOVE

ä Luxury smartphone in red carbon leather, by Tag Heuer, at Johnson Watch Co. and other luxury watch stores countrywide, `3.9 lakh.

ã Sentryman Explorer, limitededition pen, at Alfred Dunhill, UB City mall, Bangalore; and DLF Emporio mall, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, `2.64 lakh.

â Iconic metallic women’s bag, at Burberry, DLF Emporio mall, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi; and Palladium mall, Lower Parel, Mumbai, `72,000.

á Moon Phases steel and gold watch for men, Longines Master Collection, at luxury watch stores countrywide, approx. `2.09 lakh.

ä Philips HTS9520, at most leading elec tronics stores, `70,990.

á Billrocking Chair, at Hulsta’s design studio, Mahipalpur Extension, NH 8, DelhiGurgaon Road, New Delhi; and Dr E Moses Road, Worli, Mumbai, `65,000 onwards. PHOTOGRAPHS: DIVYA BABU, PRIYANKA PARASHAR, ABHIJIT BHATLEKAR, PRADEEP GAUR & ANIRUDDHA CHOWDHURY/MINT; PRODUCT SOURCING: SEEMA CHOWDHRY, KOMAL SHARMA, GOPAL SATHE, GAYATRI JAYARAMAN, PAVITRA JAYARAMAN & SANJUKTA SHARMA/MINT

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THE GIVING ISSUE â Chocolate chest by Patchi, at Select Citywalk mall, Saket, New Delhi; and Atria Mall, Worli, Mumbai, `15,000 onwards.

ä iPad case at Salvatore Ferrag amo, at UB City, Vittal Mallya Road, Bangalore; Grand Hyatt Mumbai, Santacruz East, Mumbai; and DLF Emporio mall, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, `48,000.

ã Set of silk tie and pocket square, at Canali, DLF Emporio mall, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi; UB City, Vittal Mallya Road, Bangalore; and Palladium Mall, Lower Parel, Mumbai, `18,000.

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`15,001 `50,000

ä JBL On Air Wireless Airplay speakers (perfect for iPhone/ iPad owners), at electronics stores countrywide, `17,000.

ä Samsung Omnia W Windows Mango Phone, at Samsung stores countrywide, `19,900.

ã Faluknama Jali (decorative floor light), at Good Earth stores countrywide, a set of four costs `22,000 (`5,500 each).

á Candle stands (large, `14,400; medium, `11,700 and small, `9,000), at apartment9, NBlock Market, Greater Kailash1, New Delhi.

ä Silverplated bowl, at Episode, Grand Galleria, High Street Phoenix, Lower Parel, Mumbai; NBlock Market, Greater Kailash1, and Select Citywalk mall, Saket, New Delhi, `21,130.

ã Silver Taj boxes, at Ravis sant, New Friends Colony, New Delhi; and Kemps Corner, Mumbai, `21,400 each, tray costs an extra `44,000.

ã Smoking pipe, at Porsche Design, DLF Emporio mall, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, `26,500.

á Chair, at Address Home, Raghuvanshi Mills Compound, Lower Parel, Mumbai; and Khan Market and NBlock Market, Greater Kailash1, New Delhi, `26,900.

ã Bal Ganpati, at Frazer and Haws, Main market, Lodhi Colony, New Delhi, `32,400.

ã Watch, Graceful by Calvin Klein, at Calvin Klein stores countrywide, `20,400.

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LOUNGE THE GIFTING ISSUE ä Men’s sling bag at Salvatore Ferragamo, at UB City, Vittal Mallya Road, Bangalore; Grand Hyatt Mumbai, Santacruz East, Mumbai; and DLF Emporio mall, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, `42,000.

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ä Photo frame in gold

THE GIVING ISSUE Guccissima leather at

Gucci, at the Galleria, Trident, Mumbai; and DLF Emporio mall, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. `23,500. ã Grainy leather belt for women, at Bur berry, DLF Emporio mall, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi; the Galleria, Trident, Mumbai; and Taj Krishna, Hyderabad, `17,000.

ã Lakshmi and Ganesh boxes, at Ravis sant, New Friends Colony, New Delhi; and Kemps Corner, Mumbai, `23,500 each. áSennheiser HD 25 headset, ideal for music and general entertainment, at most music and electronics stores, `16,990.

á Malabar chair at Good Earth, at Select Citywalk mall, Saket, New Delhi; Raghuvanshi Mills Compound, Lower Parel, Mumbai; and UB City, Vittal Mallya Road, Bangalore, `38,500.

ã Sony Xperia active Android phone with fitness features, at Sony stores countrywide, `19,900.

ä ST Dupont Olympio fountain pen and ST Dupont leather wal let set, at William Penn stores countrywide, `33,000.

ã Signature pochette at Tod’s, DLF Emporio mall, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi; and the Galleria, Nariman Point Mumbai, `55,000.

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á Money clip, at Salvatore Ferragamo, UB City, Vittal Mallya Road, Bangalore; Grand Hyatt Mumbai, Santacruz East, Mumbai; and DLF Emporio mall, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, `11,000.

á Star Wars: THE GIVING ISSUE

The Complete Saga, a set of six movies, at Land mark stores coun trywide, `6,999.

á Rosary box, at Frazer and Haws, Main Market, Lodhi Colony, New Delhi, `9,800.

ä Playing cards and case, at Paul Smith, DLF Emporio mall, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi; and UB City, Vittal Mallya Road, Bangalore, `5,600.

á Ladies watch with enamel filling and turquoise stones, Raga Weaves by Titan, at Titan stores countrywide, `7,995.

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`5,001 `15,000

â Hourglass (`2,250), cork shade table lamp (`1,950) and clock (`1,050) set, at Renovation Factory, Khan Market, New Delhi.

â Delhi city keychain, at Tod’s, DLF Emporio mall, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi; and the Galleria, Nariman Point, Mumbai, `9,000.

ã Brocade paisley cushion, set of four, at Zaza Home, Community Centre, Zamrudpur, New Delhi, `5,480 (`1,370 each).

â Ambiray tea light, at Swarovski stores countrywide, `5,100.

ä Leather trunk coffee table, at Nappa Dori Home, Hauz Khas Village, New Delhi, `8,800. ã Razer Hydra hybrid motion controller, at www.razerzone. com, `10,000.

á Silver brass finish vessel, at Good Earth, Select Citywalk mall, Saket, New Delhi, `5,200. á Wine bowl, at Episode, Grand Galleria, High Street Phoenix, Lower Parel, Mumbai; and NBlock Market, Greater Kailash1 and Select Citywalk mall, Saket, New Delhi, `7,200.

á Dinner set, including six plates, bowls, glasses and table mats, at Zaza Home, Commu nity Centre, Zamrudpur, New Delhi, `5,820.

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ä Bird light, at Crazy Daisy, Mehar Chand Market, New Delhi, `600.

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â Bamboo fish lights, at Fabindia stores countrywide, `890.

á Net tray, at Zaza Home, Zamrudpur, Greater Kai lash1, New Delhi, `600. ä Wooden candle stand, at Yellow Button, Indiranagar, Bangalore, `350.

ã Thermal cup, at HomeStop, Select Citywalk mall, Saket, New Delhi, `395.

{`1,000 UNDER

ã Framed mirror, at Crazy Daisy, Mehar Chand Market, New Delhi, `525.

á Lime juicer, at Home Stop, Select Citywalk mall, Saket, New Delhi, `699.

ã Flower hangings, at Maati, Hauz Khas Village, New Delhi, `800 (each).

ã Lemon container at HomeStop, Select Citywalk mall, Saket, New Delhi, `249.

â The Ramayan Kit (a set of seven puppets—Ram, Sita, Lakshman, Hanuman, Ravan, Surpanakha and Golden Deer), at Hamara Nischay, Sir Pochkhanwala Road, Worli Sea Face, Mumbai, `560 per kit.

â The Game of Mixup Art, at CMYK, Mehar Chand Market, Lodhi Road, New Delhi, approx. `383.

â Candle stand, at The Bamboo Store, behind NBlock Market, Greater Kailash1, New Delhi, `250.

â Lotus tealight holder, at Address Home, NBlock Market, Greater Kailash1, New Delhi; Raghuvanshi Mills Compound, Lower Parel, Mumbai; and Road No. 7, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, `550.

ä The Penguin Book of Welsh, Scottish and Modern British Short Stories, at all leading book stores, comes as a set of three, `399 each.

â Eau de Parfum (5ml) by L’occitane, at Khan Market, New Delhi, `450.

â Experiencing Tarot: The Art of Healing, by Roopa Patel, available at all leading book stores, or at www.roopapatel. com, `799.

ä Watering can, at Fabindia stores countrywide, `530.

ã Ceramic tray, at Fabindia stores countrywide, `960.

â Wine stopper, by Nana, at Nappa Dori Home, Hauz Khas Village, New Delhi, `850.

á Wooden domino, at Fabindia stores countrywide, `430.

ã Wall hanging, at Yellow Button, Indiranagar, Bangalore, `375.

â Brass enamel cutlery, at Fabindia stores countrywide, `730.

á Set of four chair tealight holders, at Crazy Daisy, Mehar Chand Market, New Delhi, `500.

ã Baby laptop for 12plus months age group, at Mothercare, Select Citywalk mall, Saket, New Delhi; Inorbit mall, Malad, Mumbai; SG Road, Ahmedabad; and Indiranagar, Banga lore, `899.

â Wine glass tealight holder, at Silk Road and Beyond, NBlock Market, Greater Kailash1, New Delhi, `595.