hindustantimes brunch 13 january 2013
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Hindustantimes Brunch 13 January 2013TRANSCRIPT
WEEKLY MAGAZINE, JANUARY 13, 2013Free with your copy of Hindustan Times
VIR SANGHVIChatting about chaat
SANJOY NARAYANSounds of Berlin
RAJIV MAKHNITech-spotting in Vegas
SEEMA GOSWAMI Laxman rekha for menindulge
THE HINDUSTAN TIMES-MARS HAPPINESS SURVEY
How happy are we with our well-being, sex livesand finances? A comprehensive 16-city survey
throws up some startling results
The big picture: Housewives glad with the action they are getting
The big picture: After 60-plus, 18-25 year olds least happy with what they earn
The big picture: Senior citizens most dissatisfied with their well-being
Jaipur happier than Mumbaiwhere money is concerned
Patna more kicked aboutits fitness than Delhi
Indore happiest Indian citywhen it comes to libido
SEX
MONEY
HEALTH
…Many more revelations inside!
4
JANUARY 13, 2013
facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch
Write your heart out! Here arethe best ideas, chosen from the
hundreds that you sent us over Face-book, Twitter and email, for our READERS’ SPECIAL!
Now’s the time to show us that you’ve got awriter inside you. Pick a topic from the ones
listed below, write a 750-wordarticle and send it to [email protected] by January 20. Makesure your entry includes your name, age,
address, mobile number and a photo. Here, finally, are the ideas you sent us:
■ American television shows or Indi-an soap operas?
by Saudamini Jain
On The Brunch Radar
LOVE IT
Brunch Opinion
People in Indore love to eat. Happiness isquintals of poha and jalebis and every
imaginable sort of namkeen. Patna has gotsafer over the years and people can finally goto the night shows of movies. Happiness isDabangg 2 at 9 pm at a theatre, complete withwhistling. Kochi is the coolest place in all ofKerala. Happiness is going to the mall. Jaipur lovesto celebrate. Happiness is getting dressed up and partyingwith your very large family at your ancestral haveli. Chennailoves Carnatic music and The Beatles. Happiness is curd-rice. Delhi burns in the summer. Happiness is Delhi winter.Mumbai is stuck in traffic. Happiness is Queen’s Necklace.Kolkata reads everything in print. Happiness is sweet.Bangalore is all things cool. Happiness is that rock concert.This is what I found while researching for this week’s coverstory. Happiness is my first cover story. What’s yours?
How Do You Measure Happiness?
by Shreya SethuramanTech That!by Shreya Sethuraman
■ IInnssttaaggrraamm: Chuck their announce-ment. It’s by far the best photo application. Use filters and framesthat light up your photos. So goahead, click away.■ PPiiccssAArrtt: Get cool retro frames foryour pictures. The application allows you to ‘poster-ise’ your pictures and even draw. Now howcool is that?■ SSttrreeaammzzoooo: I downloaded it purelybecause I liked the name. Make col-lages, go Lomo with your picturesand share it. Compete for a spot onthe Leaderboard. It’s great fun.■ PPiixxllrr EExxpprreessss: You have amplespace to hone your photographicskills, what with the funky stickeroptions, filters, and editing features.
■ No No HoneySingh.■ Lakshman Rekha(wasn’t that supposedto be used for cock-roaches?).
■ Cricket. It’s only unnecessary hype.■ Godmen. And theirspokespersons.
■ Sitcom series finales.Who’ll make us laugh now?
■ Bonfires (oh solovely!).■ Socialboycotts.■ Bharat. Actually India.
■ Malala Yousafzai.■ Hockey India League
(Yes, it’s time we acknowledge the
sport).
‘Appy’ness that’sjust a click away...
Fact of the Matter
B R E A K FA ST O F C H A M P I O N S
Yes, we’re ODing over the movie, butthen, it deserves all our love!
■ How can you not love the name? VishalBhardwaj has a knack for the bizarre-o!■ No one thought Imran Khan could playa rugged Haryanavi Jat who mouthsgaalis with ease and looks so incrediblyhot in his bearded, ear-pierced avatar.■ The ruminating pink cow with a smuglaugh! What on earth is a cow doing in a
bed and why is it bright pink?■ An old man who loves his women, wineand insanity... Pankaj Kapur says thefunniest things with such a straightface that we nearlyscreamed.■ Tujh jaisi cheez ko maibhagwan ke liye kaisechhod doon! Ought weto explain this??
Front Row by Amrah Ashraf
Why we love Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola
SHOVE ITChange did happen by Yashica Dutt
■ Have we be-come more adven-turous with food to-day as compared to20 years ago? ■ Why we love books!■ Why are our onlineidentities so differentfrom our real ones? ■ Holidaying withyour friends v/s yourfamily.
■ How you got over a bad breakup. ■ Are we obsessed with celebrities?■ India’s offbeat/underrated travel destinations■ 10 things wrong with Indian TV today.
We’ll choose the best ones and publish them inour READERS’ SPECIAL, out on February 3. So, what are you waiting for,dear reader? Start writing!
Send us your articles
They’re brooding, they’re romanticand they set our hearts on fire.From chocolate boy Karan Wahi to the arrogant Vivian Dsena –here are ‘big’ small screen men in candid interviews with VeenuSingh (yep, we’re jealous!). Go on, log on to www.hindustantimes.com/brunchNOW!
Catch TV’s Hottest Hunks on the WebYou’ve seen them scorch the small screen.Now see them up close and personal. TV’shottest men, only on Brunch online!
They said we’d forget; change our display pictures to holidaying in Goa and move on. But did we?
From protesting at India Gate to apologising for abusesdirected towards women, from trying to be invisible whilewalking on the road to looking into the eyes of every man,ready to talk back if he has a lewd comment to utter, we didn’t forget. When I wrote my cover story (We Just Had ToMake Ourselves Heard, January 6), I was asked not to be tooemotional, advised by well-meaning friends that nothing would change. But it did.
When guys joked about not cat-calling women lest they get beaten, things changed.When people resolved to not use abuses directed at women, things changed. And then I knew it was okay to get emotional; it makes things happen.
Cover design: MONICA GUPTAEDITORIAL: Poonam Saxena (Editor), Aasheesh Sharma, Tavishi PaitandyRastogi, Rachel Lopez, Mignonne Dsouza, Veenu Singh, Parul Khanna Tewari,Yashica Dutt, Amrah Ashraf, Saudamini Jain, Shreya Sethuraman, Manit Moorjani
Drop us a line at: [email protected] or to 18-20 KasturbaGandhi Marg, New Delhi 110001
DESIGN: Ashutosh Sapru (NationalEditor, Design), Monica Gupta, SwatiChakrabarti, Rakesh Kumar, Ashish Singh
JANUARY 13, 2013
“You can be any one you want to be, with the right outfit” – Melody Minagar, fashion designer
hindustantimes.com/brunch
WITH A STYLE that isfierce and bold, and showsoff a strong play of colourand cut, fashion designer
Masaba Gupta is known for givingsaris an innovative lease of life. Today,her creations are endorsed byactresses Kareena Kapoor andSonam Kapoor. It is her future-for-ward design sensibility that seems tohave earned her the distinction ofbeing the fashion director for anestablished brand like Satya Paul.
We met up with the designer overa cappuccino during her recent visitto the Satya Paul store at the DLFEmporio mall in Delhi.
Is Satya Paul a good fit for your imagewhen you’re doing well on your own?Satya Paul saris are a must-have forthose keen to have a good collectionof saris. I have grown up seeing mymother [actress Neena Gupta] wear-ing their designs. Some of their mosticonic saris, in a way, have influencedmy own design sensibili-ties also. So, when thisoffer came to me, I cou-ldn’t refuse, as it is one ofthe very few brands thatI connect with.
What are the changesthat you will bring in?I don’t want people notto recognise a SatyaPaul. That’s why therewill be no change interms of design and style.I am just going to make it more contemporary by working with thedesign team for saris as well asaccessories.
Will you move on to trying out new silhouettes and styles?I’d want to introduce newer fashionprints and play with the sari’s struc-ture if possible. Even simple tech-niques such as draping your pallulike a shawl make a difference.There are more than a hundredways of tying the sari.
However, I must also say that mostIndian women tend to shy away froma sari that is unconventional. Whilefabrics can play a big part, a sariwhich is tampered with a lot hasn’tworked so much.
It’s a global norm to have a designertake over a fashion house. Are yousetting a similar trend in India?Wow! It really feels nice to hear thatI have become some kind of a trend-setter, finally. Otherwise whatever Ihave done in life seems to have beenlearnt only through error. I reallyfeel that this may open up the doorsfor several young and competentdesigners to actually be far more rel-evant to the masses and bring adesign revolution of sorts.
What are your plans for your own line?Through my label, I’ve tried to offersaris that are not just affordable butalso make one stand out. These days
I’m focusing on getting my line readyfor the fashion weeks, as I haven’tdesigned anything new since March.
What kind of relationship do youshare with your parents?I have a close and special relation-ship with my mother as I’ve spentthe maximum time with her but Imust admit that my relationshipwith my father [Caribbean cricketicon Vivian Richards] has also beenvery special. Although we are unable
to meet too much, we areconnected on the phoneor mail or we try andmeet in London. Momat times can get a littlehard on me (just likemost mothers) but dadlets me be.
Your mom always wearsbeautiful saris. What’sher take on yourdesigns?
Mom definitely has abeautiful collection. When I wasgrowing up, I loved watching herdress up in beautiful saris. She hasbeen a big influence on my designs.When she did the serial LadiesSpecial for Sony, she wore most ofmy saris, which was very flatteringfor me. But, unfortunately, soon Isaw replicas of my designs beingflaunted in serials like PavitraRishta. I was pretty zapped.
Why didn’t you choose to be an actoror a sportsperson like your parents?I tried my hand at both acting aswell as sports, but couldn’t make amark in either of them.
THE WOMEN SHE’DLOVE TO DRESS ■ Aishwarya RaiBachchan (right): Shehas never worn any-thing designed by meand has a very differentkind of style. Iwould love to design for her.■ Barkha Dutt:Another formida-ble personalityI’d love to style.■ Mary Kom: Shewas on my wishlist till recently.Fortunately, I got achance to dress her for an event in Delhi.
“It Feels Nice ToBe A Trendsetter”
At timesmom can bea little hardon me. Butdad just lets
me be
Appointed the director of a leadingfashion house in India, Masaba Gupta wants todrape a successstory around the sari by Veenu Singh
6 B R UN C H DAT E
Phot
o: S
ANJE
EV V
ERM
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Photo: GETTY IMAGES
“It Feels Nice ToBe A Trendsetter”
8 C OV E R STO RY
JANUARY 13, 2013
IN PURSUIT OFHAPPINESS
IN PURSUIT OFHAPPINESS
How happy is urban India with The Big Three: health, money and sex life? The findings of the comprehensive,
path-breaking 16-city HT-MaRS Happiness Survey are likely to take you by surprise
by Saudamini Jain
AVARIETY OF thingsmake people happy.There’s no magic formula.It could be a
friend, a holiday, a job orsomething as mundaneas the weather. And tomeasure just howhappy people are is noeasy feat.
So in an attempt toquantify the unquantifiableand figure out how happy Indiais, we decided to ask direct ques-tions. For this, the Hindustan Timescommissioned market researchagency MaRS to carry out theHT-MaRS Happiness Survey.In November and Decemberlast year, more than 5,000people across 16 cities and allage groups were asked to rate theirhappiness with different aspects oftheir lives on a scale of 1 to 10. Wethen multiplied their scores by 100for a three-digit Happiness Index – anumber that tells you not just howhappy one city is, but how it com-pares with other cities in India whenposed the same questions.
The survey quizzed people on pret-ty much every aspect of their lives.But today, in Brunch, we focus on TheBig Three: Health, Money and Sex –all the things that make up a good life,all the things that you love aboutBrunch. Keep in mind that our surveydidn’t ask people how healthy theywere, how much money they had, orhow many times they indulged in sex-ual activities. We merely wanted toknow how happy they were with theirwell-being, financial situation and sexlife. Over the next seven days, you’llsee the rest of the survey unfold inthe daily edition of the HindustanTimes. But for now, curl up with allour findings and surprising discover-ies about health, money and sex.
Smaller cities are the place to beWhich three cities are the happiestwith their health? Indore (happinessindex: 805), Jaipur (802) and Patna(800). And which turned out to be thehappiest with the money they pos-sess? Ahmedabad (782), Jaipur (770)and Chandigarh (768). This could bebecause these cities (despite notbeing major metropolises) have seenmajor economic growth recently.Businesses and industries are flour-ishing in Ahmedabad. Tourism isthriving in Jaipur and prosperousChandigarh has the third highest percapita income in the country.
Where do you think people arehappiest with their sex lives? No, not
MethodologyThe survey was carried out by market research agency MaRS among 5,400people, an equal number of men and women, in 16 state capitals and majorcities in India. The sampling methodology ensured that the respondents wererepresentative of the cities. All respondents were chosen from SEC A andSEC B households. The happiness index was measured by asking a simplequestion for each of the three aspects: Money: How happy are you with the amount of money that you have?Sex life: How happy are you with your sex life?Health: Given your age, family history, medical history and other environmen-tal factors, how happy do you think you are with your health?
Happiness Scale900 or more: Extremelyhappy
800-900: Happy
700-800: Somewhathappy
600-700: Happinessunder strain
600 or below: Unhappy
Phot
o: IM
AGES
BAZA
AR
twitter.com/HTBrunch
JANUARY 13, 2013
Delhi (it turned out to the least happy– with a happiness index of only 664).Smaller cities scored again: Indore,Patna and Ahmedabad.
So what’s making our smaller citieshappier than our big ones? SiddharthChowdhury, author of the novel PatnaRoughcut, says it’s the easier pace oflife in a smaller city. Everybodyknows everybody, so anything out of
line can spread like wildfire. It forcesyou to be on your best behaviour.“A bigger city [like Delhi orMumbai] can be an impersonal
place,” he says. “People are alwaysliving on the edge.”
Any stressed out city dweller willtell you that urban stress affects yourwell-being. “The level of violence,crime and governance in a cityimpact not just your health but alsoyour ability to be happy,” says DrPriya Balu, a senior public health spe-cialist with Delhi’s Public HealthFoundation of India (PHFI). “Howcan you be happy when you’reworried about your safety?”
As the metropolises continue toextend their borders to accommodatemore and more people, their resi-dents end up spending longer hourscommuting – another reason for theirdissatisfaction. You could have thesame working hours in a smaller citylike Jaipur (which ranks #2 in health)but if you live in Delhi (at #13) andwork in Gurgaon, your commute ishalf the distance to Jaipur! Or if youlive in Mumbai (which ranked #6)and commute between Thane andCuffe Parade every day, you’re spend-ing more than two hours in traffic,fuming even as you darken your lungswith every breath. Health expertsbelieve that one hour on the road isnormal. But anything more than thatis time which could have been betterspent in the gym, in a park, or resting.
And if you can barely manage toget half the sleep your body needs,how can you possibly make time for
good, regular sex? Sexologist DrPrakash Kothari explains why small-er cities reported being happier in thebedroom – there are fewer distrac-tions. There’s little nightlife or othersources of entertainment, so “peoplehave the time to experiment andindulge.” Sex in the big cities, on theother hand, tends to become “an actof hurry and duty rather than makinglove,” he says.
In a city as cramped as Mumbai(which ranked 11th with its sex life),it’s the lack of space that acts as adeterrent to having sex. Dr AnitaPatil Deshmukh, executive director of
the city’s independent research col-lective Partners in Urban Knowledge,Action and Research (Pukar) saysthat when they conducted a surveyabout privacy and public spaces inMumbai, “couples, especially thoseliving in 1BHKs, in very candid inter-views, said that the lack of spaceaffected their sex lives.”
Marriage is perhaps thebest way to get sexThe survey also found that the 18-25age group is the unhappiest with itssex life (happiness index: 682). It’s notsurprising, most unmarried peoplefrom that age group who we spoke toafter we saw the findings, admittedthat their sex life was pretty muchnon-existent. The only times they hadsex often was when they were in astable relationship. And even then,they said that there was usually noplace to do it, unless they were luckyenough to be living on their own.Many, who were lucky enough to havea place, often did not have a partner.“Unlike Japan where they have lovehotels, there is a great space problemin the country,” says Dr Kothari.
But, there’s some good news.People over the age of 26 tended tofare better. It could be because manyIndians are married by then, taking
Whereas KOCHI
KOLKATAGUWAHATI
are the unhappiest
It is only after the age of
35that people seem tostart worrying about
their well-being
It is the people aged
60+who are the unhappiest
with their health
TOWNIndore 805Jaipur 802Patna 800Hyderabad 798Lucknow 797Mumbai 784Ahmedabad 781Chandigarh 781Bangalore 772Pune 768Ranchi 762Chennai 760Delhi 757Kochi 701Kolkata 692Guwahati 686Total 756GENDERMale 754Female 759OCCUPATIONStudent 780Working men 766Working women 771Housewife 760Retired 706AGE18-25 years 77826-35 years 77836-45 years 76946-60 years 74960+ years 705
INDOREJAIPURPATNA
are the cities happiestwith their health
HEALTH IS THE KEYSatisfaction score with one’s current stateof well-being (maximum score = 1000)
SLOW OR STEADYIs the fast life of the big city for you?Or are you a slow-paced small citykind of person?
IT'S A SIMPLE TEST1 being the lowest, and 10 being thehighest, at what stress level do youperform best? If your answer is lessthan 7, you’re suited for a slow-pacedlife. If more, you belong in a big city.
Dr Sunil Mittal, chairman, Cosmos Institute of Mental
Health and Behavioural Sciences, New Delhi
MUMBAI(above) seemsto be happierthan DELHIwith its health,money and sex
life. Both arevery difficult
cities, sayexperts. Delhiis perhaps atad tougher
Phot
o: T
HINK
STOC
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Photos: GETTYIMAGES
JANUARY 13, 2013
10 COVER STORY
care of both the place and partnerconundrum. “Marriage also gives youmore security by making things offi-cial,” adds Dr Prakash Kothari.
The survey shows that the 10 yearsafter 25, till you’re 35, tend to be thehappiest in your sex life. But evenwhen it goes downhill after, it won’tbe as bad as those early years.
Bangalore, Hyderabadovertake Chennai, KochiWhen we asked people simple ques-tions on just how happy they werewith their health, money and sex life,Hyderabad and Bangalore were con-sistently within the 10 happiest cities.Chennai and Kochi were alwaysamong the six least happy.Hyderabad, in fact, ranked fourth interms of being happy with its health.
This, may seem strange – Chennaiand Kochi are, after all, big centresfor medical tourism. Chennai is thecountry’s health capital. And the 2011India Human Development Indexreport placed Kerala at the top forachieving the highest literacy rate,quality health services and consump-tion expenditure. But sociology pro-fessor GK Karanth from Bangalore’sInstitute for Social and EconomicChange has a theoryabout why these citiesmay still feel unhappywith their healthcare.“Health facilities catermore to the outsider thanthe local in Chennai andKochi,” he says. Karanthadds that Bangalore andHyderabad are far moremedicalised and that peo-ple tend to visit the doc-tor more often.
The reason Hyderabadis even happier than Bangalore isprobably because the city has betterpublic health response than othersouthern cities. “Bangalore hasn’tbeen able to cope with urban stress-es,” says Dr Balu
of PHFI, Delhi.What also seems to have worked in
favour of Hyderabad and Bangalore isthe anonymity that the cities offer.Professor Karanth believes that “thetwo cities are similar to Mumbai”.There’s a huge migrant population,and thanks to the IT industry, thereare more jobs, more business oppor-
tunities and simplymore ways to find suc-cess. They are full ofyoung people who aredoing well for them-selves.
Although Chennai isexpanding as well, andattracting migrants, it“may not accommo-date people as com-fortably as Bangaloreand Hyderabad,” saysKaranth. And that may
not make it a particularly happyplace to live in. Kerala is also grap-pling with its large population of oldpeople and trying to cope with thefact that more young people aremoving out of the state.
Bangalore and Hyderabad havealso indicated that they are happierwith their sex lives. Could it bebecause of their largely young(under-35) population? It is a possi-bility, says Karanth, attributing it tothe people’s “uninhibited prepared-ness for sex”. He also thinks it couldbe because “in Chennai and Kochi,there is a tendency of conservatismin speech, interaction and body lan-guage. These show in attitudestowards sex.”
Age has everything to do with happiness Of all the age groups, the 60-plusage group is the unhappiest with itshealth and money. The retired, infact, are under financial strain.Inflation has soared, old-schoolfinancial plans seem woefully inade-quate for today’s expenses, anddeteriorating health seems to justmake matters worse. Our elderlyare simply not able to reap the ben-efits of their lifetime of hard workand scrupulous saving.
Sheilu Srinivasan, founder of the
People inINDOREPATNA
are quite happywith their sex lives
DELHIis the least happywith its sex life.MUMBAI
isn’t too kicked either
WORKINGMEN
are happier withtheir sex lives than
WORKINGWOMEN
18-25is the age group unhappiestwith its sex life. It is followed
by 10 years of near-bliss
“Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city” – George Burns, actor
INCREDIBLE HAPPINESS IN INDOREA few years ago, Indore was a picturesque little town. It waswarm, cozy and very happy. Happy, it still is. In fact, accord-ing to our Happiness Survey, it is the happiestcity with its health and sex life. When it comesto money, the city, also known as mini-Mum-bai, is fourth on the list, ahead of Mumbai.
As it turns out, Indore is getting bigger andhappier even as you read this. Several thingshappened simultaneously to cause this: In-dustries were set up in and around the city,businesses expanded, IT companies beganinvesting, people from bigger cities startedmoving in, and the price of real estate shotup. The city is now a healthy, wealthy mixof the old moneyed class and the nouveauriche. Nishant Rajvaidya, 27, grew up in thecity and fondly remembers the “aunties who used to call youhome for a simple lunch” but now, “the same aunties aredriving around the city in their Bentleys and shopping at
Satya Paul.” Somehow, in our metropolis minds, Indore wasa city of families riding scooters. Far from it. Says Rajvaidya,“My neighbours have a helicopter!”
Interestingly, people really are health-conscious in In-dore. Not in the sipping-green-tea-and-munching-on-organ-
ic-crackers kind of way but the realthing. “Over the last couple of years,people have woken up and taken towalking,” says Vani Sharma, 43, whoworks in Indore. Everybody has a clubmembership. They play tennis and bad-minton. They go to the gym. Stress has-n’t caught up with them yet. “And thereare periodic health checks in every partof the city,” Sharma adds.
And sex? Says, Ishita Gupta (namechanged), who also grew up in the city, “Ofcourse people have pre-marital sex. But no-body talks about it.” It’s a small place,
everybody knows everybody. That’s probably why it’s sothrilling, she adds wryly. One one-way ticket coming up.
“In smallercities,
couples havethe time toexperimentand indulge
in sex”
TOWNIndore 830Patna 818Ahmedabad 791Lucknow 778Jaipur 768Pune 750Bangalore 746Kolkata 741Chandigarh 725Hyderabad 723Mumbai 707Chennai 692Kochi 688Ranchi 683Guwahati 678Delhi 664Total 733GENDERMale 728Female 738OCCUPATIONStudent 680Working men 759Working women 747Housewife 766AGE18-25 years 68226-35 years 78136-45 years 76846-60 years 747
SEX IN NUMBERSSatisfaction score with one’s current sex life (maximum score = 1000)
Photo: IMAGESBAZAAR
Photos: THINKSTOCK
11
Dignity Foundation, an NGO thatprovides social support, shelter andadvocacy for the elderly, says that“even for people who have healthinsurance, many insurance compa-nies do not honour very legitimateclaims by old people.” The rise inmedical expenditure is somethingthat most retired people are unableto deal with. “Someone who retiredfive years ago cannot cope with infla-tion today. The money is definitelynot enough to continue with the stan-dard of living they were used to.”
It is also their inability to adjust totechnology that makes them “feelunequipped for the pace of the modern world,” she adds.
People now spend one-third oftheir lifetime in retirement. India’saverage life expectancy is 67.1 years,almost equal to the global average.But the middle and higher classeslive well into their 80s, whichmeans, says Himanshu Rath, chair-person of the Agewell Foundation,“we’re seeing a first generation ofold people – people who did not seetheir parents live this long.” Theywere just not prepared for their oldage. “We’ll see a change in 20-30years,” Rath adds. “The second gen-eration will be better preparedwhen they grow old because theyhave a better understanding of therequirements of old people.”
Indian housewives aren’tdesperate housewivesHousewives, as our survey found,are happier with their money thanworking women. It may sit at oddswith our notions of Indian house-wives as TV addicts with little elseto do than gossip and cook. Buttheir sense of happiness could possi-bly emerge from the fact that thevery idea of the housewife haschanged.
Being one, especially in our cities,is no longer a compulsion. For thebetter educated woman of today, itis a voluntary decision. She hasgreater control over the family. Sheno longer needs her husband to take
her to the multiplex. Says ProfessorKaranth, “She has the right over thehousehold money – joint accounts,ATM cards.”
Housewives also seemed the hap-piest with their sex lives (with ahappiness index of 766) . Workingwomen in comparison, averaged anindex of only 747. Sexologist DrKothari says it’s because “a workingwoman has to work outside thehouse and within. She’s morestressed.” Housewives on the otherhand, have become “more vocal”and are no longer shy about “askingfor sex”.
“Nobody really cares if you’re miserable, so you might as well be happy” – Cynthia Nelms, artist
People in
CHENNAIare not very happywith their wealth
HOUSEWIVESare happier
with the money they have than
WORKING WOMEN
MENare happier with
their financial situation thanWOMEN
TOWNAhmedabad 782Jaipur 770Chandigarh 768Indore 763Mumbai 763Lucknow 761Kolkata 760Bangalore 760Hyderabad 728Patna 726Delhi 712Pune 710Chennai 678Ranchi 675Kochi 670Guwahati 665Total 729GENDERMale 740Female 719OCCUPATIONWorking men 740Working women 712Housewife 728Retired 695AGE18-25 years 72226-35 years 74336-45 years 74546-60 years 74060+ years 701
MONEY MATTERSSatisfaction score with the money one possesses (maximum score = 1000)
Experts say thereare more ways to
find success in HYDERABAD
(left) than inCHENNAI,
because the latter might not accom-modate its rising
migrant populationas comfortably
Photos: GETTYIMAGES
JANUARY 13, 2013
I’M FINALLY coming to terms with something I’ve alwayssuspected about myself: my favourite food in the world ischaat. Give me caviar, give me white truffles and give methe greatest hits of Heston Blumenthal and Ferran Adrià,
and I’ll probably be diverted for a while. But after a brief flirta-tion, I will return to my first love: chaat.
This was brought home to me last week when I attended aglamourous private party in Bombay catered by Marut Sikka.Most of us know Marut as a TV chef and a restaurateur but Isuspect that his real income comes from private parties. Marut’sskill lies not just in the excellent north Indian food that his ownteam of chefs can be depended upon to turn out but in his abil-ity to source the best chefs and dishes from around the world.
At this party, for instance, the food was truly spectacular andthe highlight should have been the dishes created by chefs fromLe Calandre, the celebrated Italian restaurant (three Michelinstars and a regular spot on those slightly silly lists of the world’sgreatest restaurants). And yes, the Italian food was amazing.
But it was not my favourite cuisine on the menu. Even as wait-ers circulated with outstanding Lebanese, Gujarati and northIndian dishes, and the Calandre team showered white truffleson their risotto, I huddled at the bar with two friends and orderedplate after plate of the chaat.
What made the chaat so outstanding that it was unlike thesort of thing we normally see in Delhi or Bombay. Marut
had found a third-generation chaatwallah from theKesari Chaat Stall in Benaras (it is located near the
Dus Ashwamedh Ghat on the Ganga) and had per-suaded him to come to Bombay and to serve hisentire menu at the party.
One of my friends is a TV big-shot who prideshimself on his foodie skills (though he has a mis-placed admiration for his local Bihari cuisine andlittle understanding of the complexities of Gujaratifood!) and even he and his wife were stunned bythe quality of the chaat. The secret of good chaat,he said, is that UP has the best chaat in India butthat it does not come from Lucknow as is com-monly supposed but from Benaras. The thingabout the people of Benaras, he added, is thatthey are naturally shy and reluctant to leave theircity and show off their skills to the world.
I was too busy polishing off the chaat to thinkvery deeply about what my friend said. I concentrated insteadon a delicious palak papdi chaat, freshly made so that the friedpalak was still crisp and brittle. A tomato chaat was made fromtomatoes that had clearly been simmered for hours. A kachorichaat had lots of delicious, crunchy little kachoris, dressed withdahi and chutney. A tokri chaat comprised little baskets of friedpotatoes. The rui dahi bhalla consisted of bhallas so light thatthey reminded you of fluffy balls of cotton. And on and on it wentas I demolished the entire Kesari Chaat menu.
The next morning, I thought back to the conversation aboutBenaras vs Lucknow and began to wonder if my friend hadbeen right about UP being the centre of the chaat world. I’vebeen to Lucknow several times and though chefs keep tryingto force pulaos and curries on me, I stick to the chaat. (I amfortunate in that I have two good friends in Lucknow – SharatPradhan and Sunita Aron, among the city’s most celebratedjournalists – who are dedicated chaat lovers and know all thebest places.)
On the other hand, I’ve only been to Benaras on a foodie triponce to shoot for my A Matter Of Taste show and my lastingmemory of that trip remains the Malayon, the ethereal early-morning dessert about which I have often written. I thoughtback to that trip. Had the chaat really been outstanding? Well,actually, it had but because the focus on the show was milk
Vir Sanghvi
rude fo
odWhy don’twe givechaat the respect it deserves?Why is itwithout honour evenin UP, itshome state?
12 indulge
THE CUISINEOF THE STREET
SAME GENE POOLThe Bombay dahi batata puri has its roots in UP chaatbut is very much an individual dish in its own right
CLAIMING ITS OWNKerala may brag about its spices (left), Goa may
trumpet the virtues of vindaloo (right) and so on, but UPseems to have surrendered all claims to chaat
Photo: THINKSTOCK
Photo: IMAGES BAZAAR
desserts we had concentrated on Malayon.I phoned Marut and asked him what he thought. He agreed
that UP was the centre of the chaat world. But he thought that,within UP, there were many chaat traditions. He gave me theexample of what we call paani-puri in Bombay. In Lucknow andKanpur, they use the term ‘batasha’ or possibly, ‘gol-gappa’. InBenaras, on the other hand, they call it a puchhka and the tasteof the paani is subtly different from the Lucknow version.
Marut thinks that there are strong foodie links betweenBenaras and Calcutta, which is why the term ‘puchhka’ is usedin Bengal as well. He reckons that perhaps chaatwallahs fromthe Benaras region moved to Calcutta and seeded the city’s flour-ishing chaat scene.
He may be right. The more I thought about it the more chaatseemed to be a UP thing. The Calcutta tradition is essentially amorphing of Benarasi recipes to suit the city’s Bengali andMarwari clientele. This is why Calcutta’s puchhkas are tarterthan the Benaras version. In Delhi, on the other hand, the chaat-wallahs probably came from Lucknow and Kanpur and gave thecity its own gol-gappa, which I regret tosay, is easily the least interesting exampleof the genre.
Neither Marut nor I could work outwhich part of UP Bombay’s chaatwallahsoriginally came from. We know for certainthat chaat was transported to Bombay byUP Brahmins, most of whom used the sur-name Sharma. (Take a poll of the chaat-wallahs at Chowpatty and Juhu. You willfind that most of the long-established onesare still called Sharma.)
It is a tribute to Bombay’sculinary genius that the UPchaat tradition was able tosuccessfully mate with theGujarati snack/farsan tradi-tion so that a new chaat culturewas born. The Gujaratis tookthe principles of UP chaat(something fried, lots of crispythings for texture, chutneys, dahi,potatoes, etc.) and created new dish-es. The most famous of these is bhelpuri but there are many others.
The Bombay dahi batata puri hasits roots in UP chaat but is very muchan individual dish in its own right. Ragdapattice is a Gujarati adaptation of that north
Indian standby, tikki with channa. And Marut reckons thatBombay’s pani-puri, which is the local variant of the gol-gappa/puchhka/batasha chaat is probably the best expressionof this dish. (I love Bombay but here I disagree with Marut: mymoney is on the Calcutta puchhka.)
The more Marut and I talked about it, the more convincedwe became that we could trace nearly all genuine chaat dishesto waves of migration from UP. This explains why it is so diffi-cult to find a chaat tradition south of Bombay: the UPites didnot venture further down the Peninsula.
It is funny, though, that at a time when every state is doing somuch to put its cuisine on the map, UP takes so little credit forbeing the home of chaat. Kerala may brag about its spices, Goamay trumpet the virtues of vindaloo and so on, but UP seems tohave surrendered all claims to chaat, which is now seen as a pan-Indian favourite rather than a regional cuisine.
The public image of the food of UP leads only to the Awadhihaute cuisine of Lucknow and to pots of steaming biryani or
animal fat kebabs. I love Lucknawi food asmuch as the next man but I doubt if it hasbeen as influential or as popular as chaat.And yet, the chaat geniuses of Benaras,Lucknow, Kanpur and other UP towns getalmost no recognition at all. Their won-derful tradition is disparaged as being ‘merestreet food’.
But India lives and eats on its streets. Andthat night as I turned away all the fancy foodthat Marut and the Michelin-starred chefshad cooked and stuck to the Benaras chaat,
I pondered the injustice. In America, they celebratethe hamburger and the hotdog; pizza is
Italy’s global calling card; andBritain is known for fish and
chips. So why, oh why, do wein India not give chaat therespect it deserves? Why isit without honour even in its
home state?I say this not just because
chaat is my favourite food. I’msure that millions of other
Indians are also crazy aboutchaat. So, for once, let’s give
haute cuisine a rest and stand upfor what we really love: the cuisine of
the Indian street.
13
The public image ofthe food of UP leadsonly to the Awadhi
haute cuisine ofLucknow and to potsof steaming biryani
THE CRUNCH EFFECTThe Gujaratis took the principles of UP chaat (something fried, lots ofcrispy things for texture, chutneys, dahi, potatoes, etc) and creatednew dishes. The most famous of these is bhel puri (above)
JANUARY 13, 2013
hindustantimes.com/brunch
MASALA PATTIESRagda pattice (below) is aGujarati adaptation of thatnorth Indian standby, tikki with channa (above)
MECCA OF CHAATThe best chaat in Indiadoes not come from Lucknow as is commonlysupposed but from Benaras (above)
Photos: DINODIA IMAGES
Photo: IMAGES BAZAAR
OVER THE last month or so, Indian womenhave been inundated with gratuitousadvice on how we should conduct our-
selves in public so as to keep ourselves safe fromsexual harassment and violence. Politicians, reli-gious heads, media commentators, women’s rightsactivists, and well, pretty much anyone with avoice to be heard, has come up with new and inno-vative ways to keep the women in our society ‘safe’from sexual crimes.
Right off the top of my head, these are some ofthe suggestions that have been offered in all seri-ousness. Women should not be allowed access tomobile phones. Co-education should be banned.Girls should be married off the moment they reach puberty to keepthem safe from predators. Schoolgirls should wear overcoats overtheir uniforms to save them from the gaze of perverts. Teachersshould wear lab coats to prevent male students leching at them.Working women should not be so adventurous as to travel backhome alone from work late at night. Women should not wear skirtsor other ‘revealing’ outfits because that just excites the men andprovokes them into attacking them sexually. And certainly, womenshould not complain about being ‘raped’ if theywillingly go out with men, because honestly, whatwere they expecting?
That is, by no means, an exhaustive list. ButI guess you get the general drift. The messageis clear and simple: stay covered up; stay at home;stay silent; and if you’re lucky, you may stay safe.
So it is in the same spirit that I now offer myown two bits of gratuitous advice to men as tohow they should live their lives.■ First off, don’t ever venture out into the nightalone. And most certainly, don’t head out with a group ofmale friends. If you are seen prowling the streets late atnight, we will assume that you are up to no good. Thatyou are, in fact, ‘asking’ to rape someone. So, be a dearand get home by 9 pm. If you do have to venture outafter this ‘curfew’, then ask a woman – your wife, sis-ter, mother, aunt, any other female relative – to accom-pany you. If you fail to do that, then be prepared to facethe consequences. If you are out late at night and ‘cross’that ‘Lakshman Rekha’, we will assume that youare Ravana and treat you accordingly.■ Be warned. If you dress in an ‘immodest’manner, we’ll be judging you. Put awaythose shorts you wear to thebeach/mall/gym to show off those hairylegs. Don’t wear those tight, crotch-hug-
ging jeans. And button up that shirt while you’re atit; nobody wants to see that provocative expanse ofchest. What kind of message are you sending any-way by flashing all that flesh? Cover up already.Don’t you know how to stay within your ‘maryada’?■ When it comes to socialising or making friends,stick to your own sex. It’s much safer that way. Ifyou hang out with girls; go to the movies withthem; party with them; or, God forbid, drink anddance with them, things will get tricky very quick-ly. So, don’t risk going out with a girl unless sheis your sister or you intend to marry her (not ifshe is your sister, of course). If you do, then we
will know just how dodgy your ‘morals’ are. And that may welldestroy your marriage prospects. Nobody wants to get hitchedto ‘that kind of guy’, you know.■ While we are on the subject of marriage, do try and enter theholy state of matrimony as early as possible. It’s best if you arehitched by 21 but we will allow you some leeway till around 25. Ifyou hit the age of 30 without acquiring a wife then we will assumethat there is something seriously wrong with you. And if you are
still single at 35, or worse still, at 40, it will betaken as a given that you are either sexuallydepraved or morally deviant.■ Don’t rock the boat. If someone passes a snidecomment, makes a personal remark, invadesyour personal space, touches you inappropri-ately, makes unwanted sexual advances, justignore it. If the harassment persists, submitmeekly. Don’t make a scene. Don’t raise yourvoice. Stay silent and pray that it goes away. Butnever – no matter what the provocation – retal-
iate or even react. Just go with the flow. Because if youstand up for yourself, there is every likelihood that youwill be ground into the dust.
Okay then, that’s my five-point ‘advisory’ to all men.And now here’s a question for all the men who havepersisted in reading this far: how offended are you by
all the ‘suggestions’ listed above? Very offended indeed,I’m guessing.
Good. Now you know how every woman feels whenshe hears people holding forth on how she needs
to do a, b, and c (and avoid e, f, and g) tokeep herself ‘safe’. And maybe that will
teach all of you ‘experts’ out there toshut the hell up.
[email protected] Seema onTwitter at twitter.com/seemagoswami
SeemaGoswami
spectator
14
JANUARY 13, 2013
There’s lotsof advice outthere for howwomenshould staysafe; hereare a fewhandy pointers formen as well
Never – no matterwhat the
provocation –retaliate or evenreact. Stay silent
twitter.com/HTBrunch
DRESS PROPERLYPut away those shorts you wear to thebeach/mall/gym to show off those hairy legs
NO GIRLFRIENDS PLEASEIf you socialise with a girlwho isn’t your sister or theone you intend to marry,then we will know just howdodgy your ‘morals’ are
STAY INIf you are seen prowlingthe streets late at night, wewill assume that you are upto no good. That you are, infact, ‘asking’ to rape someone
Phot
os: T
HINK
STOC
K
BEHAVE!
indulge
IT’S LATE at night, very late. I’m in Las Vegasand we are hours away from the opening ofthe world’s largest Consumer Electronics Show
– CES 2013. The gates to this incredible technol-ogy extravaganza will open in a few hours andmore than 1,65,000 people will troop in with glazedeyes and stupefied expressions. This is truly themecca of tech and expectations are sky highas more than 3,000 companies from across theglobe will announce and demonstrate thousandsof new devices.
I’ve been privileged to have been given a preview to many of the products that will beunveiled tomorrow morning and some of themare awesome. But far more important than whatturns out to be the best and worst of CES thisyear (my detailed column next week) is the feel-ing that this year signifies a change of guard. CES2013 reflects a reboot of technology, a reset thathas been in the making for quite a few years. Someof the technology trends that will shape our futurehave become clear this year at CES.
SELLING TELEVISIONS IS GOING TO BE TOUGH IN THE FUTURECES this year has seen the maturing of certain TV technologiesthat have been either half-baked or just not ready for prime time.OLED (very low power consumption, super thin, amazing contrasts, incredible colours) is now a reality. Ultra High Definitionis the future (almost four times the 1080P HD resolution that weall see and marvel at today). Plus Glassless 3D (many differentkinds, and some of them are actually starting to look good),Super Smart TVs (they study what you watch and plan andremind you of shows and movies that are similar and build cus-tomised content pages) and voice and gesture controls (insteadof clunky controls you now speak to your TV to filter channelsand content to what you want to see).
There are even TVs that are so powerful (quad coreprocessor and graphic engines) that they can trans-mit two completely different full-screen images so thattwo people can watch the same screen but complete-ly different content at the same time (you can watchsports while your parents can watch a movie). ThusTVs have gone from being a idiot box to a connected,very smart, very intelligent family device. And yet companies will find selling TVs in the future very difficult. OLED and Ultra HD are going to be veryexpensive for the next four years (almost six timesmore expensive to current TVs).
But even if one was to wait for prices to come downfrom the stratosphere, the big problem is going to be content. Everysingle time TV displays have moved to the next level, growth hasbeen fuelled by content. The first SD flat plasma TVs took off withthe advent of DVDs and our current HD TVs only look good withBlu Rays or HD broadcast channels. Unfortunately nothing likethat seems to be coming in fast and buying a TV that is capable ofUltra HD but without any content to see it is self-defeatist in purpose. Sales of these amazingly capable and very high tech TVsare going to be severely handicapped with no compelling reason toupgrade.
PHABLETS ARE THE NEXT BIG THING, ANDTHAT’S NOT NECESSARILY A GOOD THINGEvery company worth its salt has a super largescreen phone either announced or on display atCES. Five inches is just about the starting pointfor each and full-HD resolution (1920x1080) is nowthe benchmark. This is a quantum leap forwardas last year there was just one phone with a five-inch screen and that had a very average resolu-tion. This is a great showcase of how quickly technology is moving ahead and also bodes wellfor the consumer as large screen phones with suchhigh resolutions tend to be super specced, veryhigh featured and have extremely powerful hardware inside.
But it’s also very worrisome as it also seemedthat almost every company had only larger screensas the only real innovation to show. As each company turns out a big screen phone (and sometake it to ridiculous levels like 6.1 inches) there isalmost no differentiator from one to another. Also,such large screen phones aren’t for everyone as alot of people find them difficult to handle, carryand make calls on. Yet, the calling card for eachmobile brand seemed to be only large, larger, largest. I was expecting a lot more innovation on many different fronts but that wasn’t the case at CESthis year. Maybe MWC (Mobile World Congress)could change that!
YOUR BODY IS GOING TO BE TECH’SBIGGEST PLAYGROUNDMy column last week showcased a lot of new wear-
able tech that would ensure your body was fitter and stronger. Thatturned out to be just the tip of the iceberg as CES took it to a wholenew level. From weighing scales that analyse your weight, fat, heartbeat and also the air quality around you (measures carbon dioxidethat builds up to excessive levels in confined spaces like bedroomsand gyms) to a smart fork and spoon that tells you if you’re eatingtoo fast or too much.
There are more than 30 new bio-feedback bands and clip-ondevices that tell you exactly what your body is doing (or not doing).There’s even tech for your soul with a new app called GPS for yoursoul that measures your heart rate variability, pinpoints stress lev-
els and then offers you music, breathing exercises andpictures of your loved ones that can help you destress.Tech for your body is a great category and one thatmay just bring about a true digital health revolution.
There were other clear tech trends that emerged.Car and tech have now become perfect soulmates(connected cars, cars with more computing powerthan a roomful of computers, cars that communicatewith all the devices you already own), tablets havebecome the biggest innovation arena (a paper-thinflexible tablet called PaperTab was showcased as weretablets with great new ways of typing including virtual keyboards) and the fact that from now onalmost all top-of-the-line cameras will have to have an
operating system that can do more than just take pictures, be WiFienabled and be able to take in a SIM card too (seems like theSamsung Galaxy camera has really set the cat amongst the pigeons).
Usually, CES is just a showcase of some great devices andproducts. This year it’s a guiding light to how technology willshape up in the next five years. Watch out next week for mydetailed CES 2013 column where I introduce you to the best andworst of this mega event, one device at a time!
Rajiv Makhni is managing editor, Technology, NDTV and the anchor of Gadget Guru, CellGuru and Newsnet 3. Follow Rajiv on Twitter at twitter.com/RajivMakhni
JANUARY 13, 2013
Rajiv Makhni
techilicious
16 indulgeGROUND REPORT FROMTHE MECCA OF TECH
facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch
The world’slargest ConsumerElectronicsShow reflects a change ofguard thathas been inthe makingfor quite afew years
CES 2013shows us
howtechnology
will shape upin the nextfive years
HAPPY EATINGThe HapiFork tellsyou if you’re eating too fast ortoo much. How’sthat for diet control?
WEIGHTY BENEFITSThe Withings Smart BodyAnalyzer helps analyseyour weight, fat, heart beatand also the air qualityaround you
hindustantimes.com/brunch
JANUARY 13, 2013
LEAVING A city that you’ve visited and likedis never a happy experience, however shortyour sojourn to that place might have been.
You feel low and wish you’d have had some moretime to spend there. And if it’s a city as vibrant andas much a blend of the old and new as Berlin is, thesadness is greater. So it wasn’t with buoyant spir-its that we boarded the taxi to go to the airport thatafternoon. The music playing inside the cab wassoothing. It was a piano sonata. Mozart’s in A minor,and the cabbie turned around to ask us whether wewanted it changed. I looked at my only co-passen-ger, my eight-year-old daughter, and asked her if itwas fine. Yes, she pensively nodded.
We’d killed a couple of hours after checking outof the hotel by walking the streets of central Berlin,aimlessly in the cold winter drizzle, not talkingmuch and, well, feeling sad that the holiday hadcome to an end. The piano sonata was very welcome. I asked the cabbie who was playing andhe said Mitsuko Uchida. “She’s Japanese,” he addedfor good measure. Uchida trained in her teens inVienna and is a British national who received theOBE a couple of years back (all this we Googledon our phone, splurging recklessly on roaming data charges) andthe sonata was a fit accompaniment to our journey to the airport.
Music creeps up on you in the most curious ways when you aretravelling. The previous day had been New Year’s Day and we’dwoken up late, had a lazy, indulgent brunch and then taken theunderground to go see the ongoing Salvador Dali exhibition inPotsdamer Platz. There, music crept up again in the screening ofthe short and surreal 1929 film, Un Chien Andalou, made by Daliand the Spanish filmmaker, Luis Buñuel. The film is disjointed andhas no real plot and has bizarre scenes galore. When Dali and Buñuelhad first screened it in Paris, they’d expected their audience to getenraged. Instead, the two got welcomed into the ranks of theSurrealists, a movement whose stars they later became. The film’ssoundtrack has excerpts from the controversial 19th century com-poser Richard Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde and, while
listening to the dramatic final aria that the filmexcerpted, I was immediately transported to myearly teens when my father would play on his monorecord player heavy, 78 rpm recordings of Wagner’soperas. I cried off Western classical music pretty
early (silly of me) and much to the chagrin of my old man and amonly now rolling slowly back to listening to more of it.
Music crept up in Berlin’s Mitte area where, after checking outthe impressive New Synagogue, which was badly damaged beforeand during World War II and is now reconstructed, we trackeddown the Ramones Museum, a sort of shrine to the legendary NewYork punk band, Ramones, filled with memorabilia, including clothesworn by Joey Ramone, tickets, posters, pictures, guitars and so on.A bit self-indulgent I thought, but couldn’t help being impressed bythe German fan’s dedication. There’s a bar along with the museumwhose façade, incidentally, is fashioned after that of New York’s erst-while CBGB club where the Ramones got their first big break andwhich was New York’s original and iconic punk rock club. Sadly,that club doesn’t exist any more.
I found music in Berlin’s flea markets on the weekend. At theFlohmarkt am Mauerpark, you can get lost in carton after car-ton of vinyls mainly but also CDs. And if you have the knack forbargaining and some patience, you can find great stuff. Not muchof it is very organised but no one’s going to say anything if youpark yourself at one of the stalls and spend as long as you wantrifling through what’s on offer. I found a limited edition vinyl single on which Jack White and Alicia Keys perform as a duet.It’s the song, Another Way To Die from the Bond film, Quantumof Solace, and is written and produced by White. The flipsidehas the instrumental version and the record itself is amber andtransparent and is one of those for which you need to use the cir-cular adapter that comes with your record player. I paid a ridicu-lously low price for it, using up the small change in my pocket.
Of course, Berlin has much, much more to offer than opportu-nities to discover music but you can do that as well. Or, multi-taskas my budding violinist and classical music enthusiast daughterdid, dancing Gangnam style with wild abandon at one of the manyChristmas markets that dot the city’s landscape in December.
To give feedback, stream or download the music mentioned in this column, go tohttp://blogs.hindustantimes.com/downloadcentral, follow argus48 on Twitter
Musiccreeps up onyou in themost curiousways whenyou’re travelling.That’s whathappened tome on a recent trip to Berlin
THE JUKEBOX
I know Christmas is long over. I’malso rather far from being an afi-
cionado of Christmas carols. But if there’sjust one Christmas songthat you want to hear andif you haven’t heardAmerican soul singerClarence Carter’s BackDoor Santa, I suggest youdo so. It is a tad NSFWand certainly not all-ageappropriate but a nicesoul-inflected version ofwhat Santa ought to be.
SanjoyNarayan
down
load c
entral
A FAN’S TRIBUTEWe tracked down the Ramones Museum, a shrine tothe legendary New York punk band
GANGNAM STYLEIN SONATA LAND
18 indulge
SIGHTS AND SOUNDSAbove: A poster of the Salvador Dali exhibitionin Potsdamer Platz; Below: The bar fashionedafter New York’s CBGBclub, where the Ramonesgot their first big break
Photos: SANJOY NARAYAN
hindustantimes.com/brunch 19
LAST WEEK the celebrations tocommemorate 100 years ofIndian science were held. Over
the last 100 years, even as advancesin science have enhanced life spans,we’ve begun to face problems relat-ed to unhealthy lifestyles and diet.Let us take a look at the three foodfundamentals of sugar intake, saltintake and oil consumption.
THE SUGAR TRAPSugar consumption has gone upalarmingly over the last century.Numbers for developed countriessuch as The United States show an annual increase from 20 pounds to
150 pounds per person. Developingnations such as India are not toodifferent. Just look around andyou’ll notice the numerous forms inwhich we have sugar: in juices,breakfast cereals, ready-to-eatnoodles, biscuits, cold drinks,cough syrups, mouth fresheners,toothpaste, in certain breads andmost packaged foods. EEffffeeccttss oonn tthhee bbooddyy:: Excess consumption can lead to obesity,restlessness, shrinking attentionspans, calcium loss from bones, insulin resistance, hormonal imbal-ances and reduced immunity.
BITTER REALITIESSalt consumption has gone up manytimes over limits considered safe forhumans (5 gms per person per day).Too much salt takes time to bethrown out of our bodies.EEffffeeccttss oonn tthhee bbooddyy: Pressure onthe heart to pump blood and fluidsand on the kidneys to help the bodypurge out the salt.
FAT OF THE MATTERTransfats found in bakery products,namkeens, snacks and ready-to eat-meals have been linked to a spike inailments related to the heart, liverand joints. Two other trends whichhave crept into our eating habits include the large amounts of fatsand oils that we consume and thehighly chemical process of refining.This can partly be attributed to theincreased affordability of oil andpartly to consumption of foods withhidden oil. This is particularly worri-some as most people don’t evenknow that these products have enor-mous amounts of oil.Also, many crops used to produce oilhave to be grown in enormous quan-tities, and such parasite-resistantfarming is carried out using geneti-cally modified seeds. Chemicals areused for oil extraction and refining.The outcome: oils removed from theoriginal natural state.EEffffeeccttss oonn tthhee bbooddyy:: Indiscriminateintake of polyunsaturated fats cancause imbalances between otherkinds of fatty acids such as omega 3.The free radicals can trigger inflam-mation that might manifest itself innerve disorders, blockages in theheart and joint inflammation.As food becomes more affordable, itbecomes even more important tochoose health and strike a balance between taste and nutrition.
SHIKHA SHARMA
As food becomes affordable, don’t let nutrition be the casualty
MIND BODY SOUL
WE ARE WHAT WE EAT
JANUARY 13, 2013
Photos: THINKSTOCK
SUGAR EVERYWHEREWe consume sugar in numerousforms such as cold drinks (above)
TOO MUCH, TOO BADToo much salt takes time to bethrown out of our bodies
UNHEALTHY FORMWe end up consuming oil that is farremoved from its natural state
The one thing you love about Bollywood. That I can be anybody, play anyrole, portray a different person andlife while pursuing my passion foracting.One role you wish you had played. I have been lucky enough to playall kinds of roles.The best part of being a Kapoor. The Kapoor surname has legend,a passion for acting, respect andlove attached to it. And I am veryproud of that.Your mantra for success. Just do what you believe in, and success will follow.Your favourite holiday destination. Heaven on earth – Goa.Shoes or bags? Which do you prefer?Both! How can a girl choose?Your strategy for days when you feel fat. I just drink water, go for a walk andeliminate junk food from my diet.What would we find in your fridge if welooked right now?Food stuff for kids.The song that always lifts your spirits. Okay, this is a secret but I thinkthat nursery rhymes are the most relaxing and fun songs.What is your favourite time to be withyour kids?Breakfast. Their fussing about eat-ing and my adamant attempts atfeeding them makes it interesting.The one thing you always like to get as a gift.
Jewellery and bags. I can’t resisteither.One exercise routine that scares you.Nothing scares me. I love doingyoga and also enjoy going forregular walks. Three beauty items you can’t dowithout.Kajal, lip balm and baby oil.You destress with... I spend time withmy children. It relaxes me likenothing else. The last line of yourautobiographywould read?Love, laugh, playand be stylish.
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JANUARY 13, 2013
CURRENTLY DOINGEndorsing Utssav jewellery on HomeShop18.com
HIGH POINT OF YOUR LIFE It has to be the birth of my twobeautiful kids. That moment will remain with me forever
SCHOOL/COLLEGEThe Cathedral & John Connon School, Mumbai
BIRTHDAYJune 25
PERSONAL AGENDA
ONE CHARAC-TER FROM ABOOK ORMOVIE YOU’DLOVE TOMEET?HarryPotter
Karisma KapoorActress
my
mo
vies
Photo: RAAJESH KASHYAP
20
SUN SIGNCancer
PLACE OF BIRTHMumbai
FIRSTBREAK Prem Qaidi(1991)
A FILM YOU’VE WATCHED MORE THAN 5 TIMES Mera Naam Joker THE MOST PAISA VASOOL FILM Hum Saath Saath HainA MOVIE THAT TOOK YOU BACK TO YOUR CHILDHOODChillar PartyTHE FIRST MOVIE YOU SAW ON THE BIG SCREENShaan
—Interviewedby Veenu Singh
WEEKLY MAGAZINE, JANUARY 13, 2013Free with your copy of Hindustan Times
VIR SANGHVIChatting about chaat
SANJOY NARAYANSounds of Berlin
RAJIV MAKHNITech-spotting in Vegas
SEEMA GOSWAMI Laxman rekha for menindulge
THE HINDUSTAN TIMES-MARS HAPPINESS SURVEY
How happy are we with our well-being, sex livesand finances? A comprehensive 16-city survey
throws up some startling results
The big picture: Housewives glad with the action they are getting
The big picture: After 60-plus, 18-25 year olds least happy with what they earn
The big picture: Senior citizens most dissatisfied with their well-being
Jaipur happier than Mumbaiwhere money is concerned
Patna more kicked aboutits fitness than Delhi
Indore happiest Indian citywhen it comes to libido
SEX
MONEY
HEALTH
…Many more revelations inside!
4
JANUARY 13, 2013
facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch
Write your heart out! Here arethe best ideas, chosen from the
hundreds that you sent us over Face-book, Twitter and email, for our READERS’ SPECIAL!
Now’s the time to show us that you’ve got awriter inside you. Pick a topic from the ones
listed below, write a 750-wordarticle and send it to [email protected] by January 20. Makesure your entry includes your name, age,
address, mobile number and a photo. Here, finally, are the ideas you sent us:
■ American television shows or Indi-an soap operas?
by Saudamini Jain
On The Brunch Radar
LOVE IT
Brunch Opinion
People in Indore love to eat. Happiness isquintals of poha and jalebis and every
imaginable sort of namkeen. Patna has gotsafer over the years and people can finally goto the night shows of movies. Happiness isDabangg 2 at 9 pm at a theatre, complete withwhistling. Kochi is the coolest place in all ofKerala. Happiness is going to the mall. Jaipur lovesto celebrate. Happiness is getting dressed up and partyingwith your very large family at your ancestral haveli. Chennailoves Carnatic music and The Beatles. Happiness is curd-rice. Delhi burns in the summer. Happiness is Delhi winter.Mumbai is stuck in traffic. Happiness is Queen’s Necklace.Kolkata reads everything in print. Happiness is sweet.Bangalore is all things cool. Happiness is that rock concert.This is what I found while researching for this week’s coverstory. Happiness is my first cover story. What’s yours?
How Do You Measure Happiness?
by Shreya SethuramanTech That!by Shreya Sethuraman
■ IInnssttaaggrraamm: Chuck their announce-ment. It’s by far the best photo application. Use filters and framesthat light up your photos. So goahead, click away.■ PPiiccssAArrtt: Get cool retro frames foryour pictures. The application allows you to ‘poster-ise’ your pictures and even draw. Now howcool is that?■ SSttrreeaammzzoooo: I downloaded it purelybecause I liked the name. Make col-lages, go Lomo with your picturesand share it. Compete for a spot onthe Leaderboard. It’s great fun.■ PPiixxllrr EExxpprreessss: You have amplespace to hone your photographicskills, what with the funky stickeroptions, filters, and editing features.
■ No No HoneySingh.■ Lakshman Rekha(wasn’t that supposedto be used for cock-roaches?).
■ Cricket. It’s only unnecessary hype.■ Godmen. And theirspokespersons.
■ Sitcom series finales.Who’ll make us laugh now?
■ Bonfires (oh solovely!).■ Socialboycotts.■ Bharat. Actually India.
■ Malala Yousafzai.■ Hockey India League
(Yes, it’s time we acknowledge the
sport).
‘Appy’ness that’sjust a click away...
Fact of the Matter
B R E A K FA ST O F C H A M P I O N S
Yes, we’re ODing over the movie, butthen, it deserves all our love!
■ How can you not love the name? VishalBhardwaj has a knack for the bizarre-o!■ No one thought Imran Khan could playa rugged Haryanavi Jat who mouthsgaalis with ease and looks so incrediblyhot in his bearded, ear-pierced avatar.■ The ruminating pink cow with a smuglaugh! What on earth is a cow doing in a
bed and why is it bright pink?■ An old man who loves his women, wineand insanity... Pankaj Kapur says thefunniest things with such a straightface that we nearlyscreamed.■ Tujh jaisi cheez ko maibhagwan ke liye kaisechhod doon! Ought weto explain this??
Front Row by Amrah Ashraf
Why we love Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola
SHOVE ITChange did happen by Yashica Dutt
■ Have we be-come more adven-turous with food to-day as compared to20 years ago? ■ Why we love books!■ Why are our onlineidentities so differentfrom our real ones? ■ Holidaying withyour friends v/s yourfamily.
■ How you got over a bad breakup. ■ Are we obsessed with celebrities?■ India’s offbeat/underrated travel destinations■ 10 things wrong with Indian TV today.
We’ll choose the best ones and publish them inour READERS’ SPECIAL, out on February 3. So, what are you waiting for,dear reader? Start writing!
Send us your articles
They’re brooding, they’re romanticand they set our hearts on fire.From chocolate boy Karan Wahi to the arrogant Vivian Dsena –here are ‘big’ small screen men in candid interviews with VeenuSingh (yep, we’re jealous!). Go on, log on to www.hindustantimes.com/brunchNOW!
Catch TV’s Hottest Hunks on the WebYou’ve seen them scorch the small screen.Now see them up close and personal. TV’shottest men, only on Brunch online!
They said we’d forget; change our display pictures to holidaying in Goa and move on. But did we?
From protesting at India Gate to apologising for abusesdirected towards women, from trying to be invisible whilewalking on the road to looking into the eyes of every man,ready to talk back if he has a lewd comment to utter, we didn’t forget. When I wrote my cover story (We Just Had ToMake Ourselves Heard, January 6), I was asked not to be tooemotional, advised by well-meaning friends that nothing would change. But it did.
When guys joked about not cat-calling women lest they get beaten, things changed.When people resolved to not use abuses directed at women, things changed. And then I knew it was okay to get emotional; it makes things happen.
Cover design: MONICA GUPTAEDITORIAL: Poonam Saxena (Editor), Aasheesh Sharma, Tavishi PaitandyRastogi, Rachel Lopez, Mignonne Dsouza, Veenu Singh, Parul Khanna Tewari,Yashica Dutt, Amrah Ashraf, Saudamini Jain, Shreya Sethuraman, Manit Moorjani
Drop us a line at: [email protected] or to 18-20 KasturbaGandhi Marg, New Delhi 110001
DESIGN: Ashutosh Sapru (NationalEditor, Design), Monica Gupta, SwatiChakrabarti, Rakesh Kumar, Ashish Singh
JANUARY 13, 2013
“You can be any one you want to be, with the right outfit” – Melody Minagar, fashion designer
hindustantimes.com/brunch
WITH A STYLE that isfierce and bold, and showsoff a strong play of colourand cut, fashion designer
Masaba Gupta is known for givingsaris an innovative lease of life. Today,her creations are endorsed byactresses Kareena Kapoor andSonam Kapoor. It is her future-for-ward design sensibility that seems tohave earned her the distinction ofbeing the fashion director for anestablished brand like Satya Paul.
We met up with the designer overa cappuccino during her recent visitto the Satya Paul store at the DLFEmporio mall in Delhi.
Is Satya Paul a good fit for your imagewhen you’re doing well on your own?Satya Paul saris are a must-have forthose keen to have a good collectionof saris. I have grown up seeing mymother [actress Neena Gupta] wear-ing their designs. Some of their mosticonic saris, in a way, have influencedmy own design sensibili-ties also. So, when thisoffer came to me, I cou-ldn’t refuse, as it is one ofthe very few brands thatI connect with.
What are the changesthat you will bring in?I don’t want people notto recognise a SatyaPaul. That’s why therewill be no change interms of design and style.I am just going to make it more contemporary by working with thedesign team for saris as well asaccessories.
Will you move on to trying out new silhouettes and styles?I’d want to introduce newer fashionprints and play with the sari’s struc-ture if possible. Even simple tech-niques such as draping your pallulike a shawl make a difference.There are more than a hundredways of tying the sari.
However, I must also say that mostIndian women tend to shy away froma sari that is unconventional. Whilefabrics can play a big part, a sariwhich is tampered with a lot hasn’tworked so much.
It’s a global norm to have a designertake over a fashion house. Are yousetting a similar trend in India?Wow! It really feels nice to hear thatI have become some kind of a trend-setter, finally. Otherwise whatever Ihave done in life seems to have beenlearnt only through error. I reallyfeel that this may open up the doorsfor several young and competentdesigners to actually be far more rel-evant to the masses and bring adesign revolution of sorts.
What are your plans for your own line?Through my label, I’ve tried to offersaris that are not just affordable butalso make one stand out. These days
I’m focusing on getting my line readyfor the fashion weeks, as I haven’tdesigned anything new since March.
What kind of relationship do youshare with your parents?I have a close and special relation-ship with my mother as I’ve spentthe maximum time with her but Imust admit that my relationshipwith my father [Caribbean cricketicon Vivian Richards] has also beenvery special. Although we are unable
to meet too much, we areconnected on the phoneor mail or we try andmeet in London. Momat times can get a littlehard on me (just likemost mothers) but dadlets me be.
Your mom always wearsbeautiful saris. What’sher take on yourdesigns?
Mom definitely has abeautiful collection. When I wasgrowing up, I loved watching herdress up in beautiful saris. She hasbeen a big influence on my designs.When she did the serial LadiesSpecial for Sony, she wore most ofmy saris, which was very flatteringfor me. But, unfortunately, soon Isaw replicas of my designs beingflaunted in serials like PavitraRishta. I was pretty zapped.
Why didn’t you choose to be an actoror a sportsperson like your parents?I tried my hand at both acting aswell as sports, but couldn’t make amark in either of them.
THE WOMEN SHE’DLOVE TO DRESS ■ Aishwarya RaiBachchan (right): Shehas never worn any-thing designed by meand has a very differentkind of style. Iwould love to design for her.■ Barkha Dutt:Another formida-ble personalityI’d love to style.■ Mary Kom: Shewas on my wishlist till recently.Fortunately, I got achance to dress her for an event in Delhi.
“It Feels Nice ToBe A Trendsetter”
At timesmom can bea little hardon me. Butdad just lets
me be
Appointed the director of a leadingfashion house in India, Masaba Gupta wants todrape a successstory around the sari by Veenu Singh
6 B R UN C H DAT E
Phot
o: S
ANJE
EV V
ERM
A
Photo: GETTY IMAGES
“It Feels Nice ToBe A Trendsetter”
8 C OV E R STO RY
JANUARY 13, 2013
IN PURSUIT OFHAPPINESS
IN PURSUIT OFHAPPINESS
How happy is urban India with The Big Three: health, money and sex life? The findings of the comprehensive,
path-breaking 16-city HT-MaRS Happiness Survey are likely to take you by surprise
by Saudamini Jain
AVARIETY OF thingsmake people happy.There’s no magic formula.It could be a
friend, a holiday, a job orsomething as mundaneas the weather. And tomeasure just howhappy people are is noeasy feat.
So in an attempt toquantify the unquantifiableand figure out how happy Indiais, we decided to ask direct ques-tions. For this, the Hindustan Timescommissioned market researchagency MaRS to carry out theHT-MaRS Happiness Survey.In November and Decemberlast year, more than 5,000people across 16 cities and allage groups were asked to rate theirhappiness with different aspects oftheir lives on a scale of 1 to 10. Wethen multiplied their scores by 100for a three-digit Happiness Index – anumber that tells you not just howhappy one city is, but how it com-pares with other cities in India whenposed the same questions.
The survey quizzed people on pret-ty much every aspect of their lives.But today, in Brunch, we focus on TheBig Three: Health, Money and Sex –all the things that make up a good life,all the things that you love aboutBrunch. Keep in mind that our surveydidn’t ask people how healthy theywere, how much money they had, orhow many times they indulged in sex-ual activities. We merely wanted toknow how happy they were with theirwell-being, financial situation and sexlife. Over the next seven days, you’llsee the rest of the survey unfold inthe daily edition of the HindustanTimes. But for now, curl up with allour findings and surprising discover-ies about health, money and sex.
Smaller cities are the place to beWhich three cities are the happiestwith their health? Indore (happinessindex: 805), Jaipur (802) and Patna(800). And which turned out to be thehappiest with the money they pos-sess? Ahmedabad (782), Jaipur (770)and Chandigarh (768). This could bebecause these cities (despite notbeing major metropolises) have seenmajor economic growth recently.Businesses and industries are flour-ishing in Ahmedabad. Tourism isthriving in Jaipur and prosperousChandigarh has the third highest percapita income in the country.
Where do you think people arehappiest with their sex lives? No, not
MethodologyThe survey was carried out by market research agency MaRS among 5,400people, an equal number of men and women, in 16 state capitals and majorcities in India. The sampling methodology ensured that the respondents wererepresentative of the cities. All respondents were chosen from SEC A andSEC B households. The happiness index was measured by asking a simplequestion for each of the three aspects: Money: How happy are you with the amount of money that you have?Sex life: How happy are you with your sex life?Health: Given your age, family history, medical history and other environmen-tal factors, how happy do you think you are with your health?
Happiness Scale900 or more: Extremelyhappy
800-900: Happy
700-800: Somewhathappy
600-700: Happinessunder strain
600 or below: Unhappy
Phot
o: IM
AGES
BAZA
AR
twitter.com/HTBrunch
JANUARY 13, 2013
Delhi (it turned out to the least happy– with a happiness index of only 664).Smaller cities scored again: Indore,Patna and Ahmedabad.
So what’s making our smaller citieshappier than our big ones? SiddharthChowdhury, author of the novel PatnaRoughcut, says it’s the easier pace oflife in a smaller city. Everybodyknows everybody, so anything out of
line can spread like wildfire. It forcesyou to be on your best behaviour.“A bigger city [like Delhi orMumbai] can be an impersonal
place,” he says. “People are alwaysliving on the edge.”
Any stressed out city dweller willtell you that urban stress affects yourwell-being. “The level of violence,crime and governance in a cityimpact not just your health but alsoyour ability to be happy,” says DrPriya Balu, a senior public health spe-cialist with Delhi’s Public HealthFoundation of India (PHFI). “Howcan you be happy when you’reworried about your safety?”
As the metropolises continue toextend their borders to accommodatemore and more people, their resi-dents end up spending longer hourscommuting – another reason for theirdissatisfaction. You could have thesame working hours in a smaller citylike Jaipur (which ranks #2 in health)but if you live in Delhi (at #13) andwork in Gurgaon, your commute ishalf the distance to Jaipur! Or if youlive in Mumbai (which ranked #6)and commute between Thane andCuffe Parade every day, you’re spend-ing more than two hours in traffic,fuming even as you darken your lungswith every breath. Health expertsbelieve that one hour on the road isnormal. But anything more than thatis time which could have been betterspent in the gym, in a park, or resting.
And if you can barely manage toget half the sleep your body needs,how can you possibly make time for
good, regular sex? Sexologist DrPrakash Kothari explains why small-er cities reported being happier in thebedroom – there are fewer distrac-tions. There’s little nightlife or othersources of entertainment, so “peoplehave the time to experiment andindulge.” Sex in the big cities, on theother hand, tends to become “an actof hurry and duty rather than makinglove,” he says.
In a city as cramped as Mumbai(which ranked 11th with its sex life),it’s the lack of space that acts as adeterrent to having sex. Dr AnitaPatil Deshmukh, executive director of
the city’s independent research col-lective Partners in Urban Knowledge,Action and Research (Pukar) saysthat when they conducted a surveyabout privacy and public spaces inMumbai, “couples, especially thoseliving in 1BHKs, in very candid inter-views, said that the lack of spaceaffected their sex lives.”
Marriage is perhaps thebest way to get sexThe survey also found that the 18-25age group is the unhappiest with itssex life (happiness index: 682). It’s notsurprising, most unmarried peoplefrom that age group who we spoke toafter we saw the findings, admittedthat their sex life was pretty muchnon-existent. The only times they hadsex often was when they were in astable relationship. And even then,they said that there was usually noplace to do it, unless they were luckyenough to be living on their own.Many, who were lucky enough to havea place, often did not have a partner.“Unlike Japan where they have lovehotels, there is a great space problemin the country,” says Dr Kothari.
But, there’s some good news.People over the age of 26 tended tofare better. It could be because manyIndians are married by then, taking
Whereas KOCHI
KOLKATAGUWAHATI
are the unhappiest
It is only after the age of
35that people seem tostart worrying about
their well-being
It is the people aged
60+who are the unhappiest
with their health
TOWNIndore 805Jaipur 802Patna 800Hyderabad 798Lucknow 797Mumbai 784Ahmedabad 781Chandigarh 781Bangalore 772Pune 768Ranchi 762Chennai 760Delhi 757Kochi 701Kolkata 692Guwahati 686Total 756GENDERMale 754Female 759OCCUPATIONStudent 780Working men 766Working women 771Housewife 760Retired 706AGE18-25 years 77826-35 years 77836-45 years 76946-60 years 74960+ years 705
INDOREJAIPURPATNA
are the cities happiestwith their health
HEALTH IS THE KEYSatisfaction score with one’s current stateof well-being (maximum score = 1000)
SLOW OR STEADYIs the fast life of the big city for you?Or are you a slow-paced small citykind of person?
IT'S A SIMPLE TEST1 being the lowest, and 10 being thehighest, at what stress level do youperform best? If your answer is lessthan 7, you’re suited for a slow-pacedlife. If more, you belong in a big city.
Dr Sunil Mittal, chairman, Cosmos Institute of Mental
Health and Behavioural Sciences, New Delhi
MUMBAI(above) seemsto be happierthan DELHIwith its health,money and sex
life. Both arevery difficult
cities, sayexperts. Delhiis perhaps atad tougher
Phot
o: T
HINK
STOC
K
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Photos: GETTYIMAGES
JANUARY 13, 2013
10 COVER STORY
care of both the place and partnerconundrum. “Marriage also gives youmore security by making things offi-cial,” adds Dr Prakash Kothari.
The survey shows that the 10 yearsafter 25, till you’re 35, tend to be thehappiest in your sex life. But evenwhen it goes downhill after, it won’tbe as bad as those early years.
Bangalore, Hyderabadovertake Chennai, KochiWhen we asked people simple ques-tions on just how happy they werewith their health, money and sex life,Hyderabad and Bangalore were con-sistently within the 10 happiest cities.Chennai and Kochi were alwaysamong the six least happy.Hyderabad, in fact, ranked fourth interms of being happy with its health.
This, may seem strange – Chennaiand Kochi are, after all, big centresfor medical tourism. Chennai is thecountry’s health capital. And the 2011India Human Development Indexreport placed Kerala at the top forachieving the highest literacy rate,quality health services and consump-tion expenditure. But sociology pro-fessor GK Karanth from Bangalore’sInstitute for Social and EconomicChange has a theoryabout why these citiesmay still feel unhappywith their healthcare.“Health facilities catermore to the outsider thanthe local in Chennai andKochi,” he says. Karanthadds that Bangalore andHyderabad are far moremedicalised and that peo-ple tend to visit the doc-tor more often.
The reason Hyderabadis even happier than Bangalore isprobably because the city has betterpublic health response than othersouthern cities. “Bangalore hasn’tbeen able to cope with urban stress-es,” says Dr Balu
of PHFI, Delhi.What also seems to have worked in
favour of Hyderabad and Bangalore isthe anonymity that the cities offer.Professor Karanth believes that “thetwo cities are similar to Mumbai”.There’s a huge migrant population,and thanks to the IT industry, thereare more jobs, more business oppor-
tunities and simplymore ways to find suc-cess. They are full ofyoung people who aredoing well for them-selves.
Although Chennai isexpanding as well, andattracting migrants, it“may not accommo-date people as com-fortably as Bangaloreand Hyderabad,” saysKaranth. And that may
not make it a particularly happyplace to live in. Kerala is also grap-pling with its large population of oldpeople and trying to cope with thefact that more young people aremoving out of the state.
Bangalore and Hyderabad havealso indicated that they are happierwith their sex lives. Could it bebecause of their largely young(under-35) population? It is a possi-bility, says Karanth, attributing it tothe people’s “uninhibited prepared-ness for sex”. He also thinks it couldbe because “in Chennai and Kochi,there is a tendency of conservatismin speech, interaction and body lan-guage. These show in attitudestowards sex.”
Age has everything to do with happiness Of all the age groups, the 60-plusage group is the unhappiest with itshealth and money. The retired, infact, are under financial strain.Inflation has soared, old-schoolfinancial plans seem woefully inade-quate for today’s expenses, anddeteriorating health seems to justmake matters worse. Our elderlyare simply not able to reap the ben-efits of their lifetime of hard workand scrupulous saving.
Sheilu Srinivasan, founder of the
People inINDOREPATNA
are quite happywith their sex lives
DELHIis the least happywith its sex life.MUMBAI
isn’t too kicked either
WORKINGMEN
are happier withtheir sex lives than
WORKINGWOMEN
18-25is the age group unhappiestwith its sex life. It is followed
by 10 years of near-bliss
“Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city” – George Burns, actor
INCREDIBLE HAPPINESS IN INDOREA few years ago, Indore was a picturesque little town. It waswarm, cozy and very happy. Happy, it still is. In fact, accord-ing to our Happiness Survey, it is the happiestcity with its health and sex life. When it comesto money, the city, also known as mini-Mum-bai, is fourth on the list, ahead of Mumbai.
As it turns out, Indore is getting bigger andhappier even as you read this. Several thingshappened simultaneously to cause this: In-dustries were set up in and around the city,businesses expanded, IT companies beganinvesting, people from bigger cities startedmoving in, and the price of real estate shotup. The city is now a healthy, wealthy mixof the old moneyed class and the nouveauriche. Nishant Rajvaidya, 27, grew up in thecity and fondly remembers the “aunties who used to call youhome for a simple lunch” but now, “the same aunties aredriving around the city in their Bentleys and shopping at
Satya Paul.” Somehow, in our metropolis minds, Indore wasa city of families riding scooters. Far from it. Says Rajvaidya,“My neighbours have a helicopter!”
Interestingly, people really are health-conscious in In-dore. Not in the sipping-green-tea-and-munching-on-organ-
ic-crackers kind of way but the realthing. “Over the last couple of years,people have woken up and taken towalking,” says Vani Sharma, 43, whoworks in Indore. Everybody has a clubmembership. They play tennis and bad-minton. They go to the gym. Stress has-n’t caught up with them yet. “And thereare periodic health checks in every partof the city,” Sharma adds.
And sex? Says, Ishita Gupta (namechanged), who also grew up in the city, “Ofcourse people have pre-marital sex. But no-body talks about it.” It’s a small place,
everybody knows everybody. That’s probably why it’s sothrilling, she adds wryly. One one-way ticket coming up.
“In smallercities,
couples havethe time toexperimentand indulge
in sex”
TOWNIndore 830Patna 818Ahmedabad 791Lucknow 778Jaipur 768Pune 750Bangalore 746Kolkata 741Chandigarh 725Hyderabad 723Mumbai 707Chennai 692Kochi 688Ranchi 683Guwahati 678Delhi 664Total 733GENDERMale 728Female 738OCCUPATIONStudent 680Working men 759Working women 747Housewife 766AGE18-25 years 68226-35 years 78136-45 years 76846-60 years 747
SEX IN NUMBERSSatisfaction score with one’s current sex life (maximum score = 1000)
Photo: IMAGESBAZAAR
Photos: THINKSTOCK
11
Dignity Foundation, an NGO thatprovides social support, shelter andadvocacy for the elderly, says that“even for people who have healthinsurance, many insurance compa-nies do not honour very legitimateclaims by old people.” The rise inmedical expenditure is somethingthat most retired people are unableto deal with. “Someone who retiredfive years ago cannot cope with infla-tion today. The money is definitelynot enough to continue with the stan-dard of living they were used to.”
It is also their inability to adjust totechnology that makes them “feelunequipped for the pace of the modern world,” she adds.
People now spend one-third oftheir lifetime in retirement. India’saverage life expectancy is 67.1 years,almost equal to the global average.But the middle and higher classeslive well into their 80s, whichmeans, says Himanshu Rath, chair-person of the Agewell Foundation,“we’re seeing a first generation ofold people – people who did not seetheir parents live this long.” Theywere just not prepared for their oldage. “We’ll see a change in 20-30years,” Rath adds. “The second gen-eration will be better preparedwhen they grow old because theyhave a better understanding of therequirements of old people.”
Indian housewives aren’tdesperate housewivesHousewives, as our survey found,are happier with their money thanworking women. It may sit at oddswith our notions of Indian house-wives as TV addicts with little elseto do than gossip and cook. Buttheir sense of happiness could possi-bly emerge from the fact that thevery idea of the housewife haschanged.
Being one, especially in our cities,is no longer a compulsion. For thebetter educated woman of today, itis a voluntary decision. She hasgreater control over the family. Sheno longer needs her husband to take
her to the multiplex. Says ProfessorKaranth, “She has the right over thehousehold money – joint accounts,ATM cards.”
Housewives also seemed the hap-piest with their sex lives (with ahappiness index of 766) . Workingwomen in comparison, averaged anindex of only 747. Sexologist DrKothari says it’s because “a workingwoman has to work outside thehouse and within. She’s morestressed.” Housewives on the otherhand, have become “more vocal”and are no longer shy about “askingfor sex”.
“Nobody really cares if you’re miserable, so you might as well be happy” – Cynthia Nelms, artist
People in
CHENNAIare not very happywith their wealth
HOUSEWIVESare happier
with the money they have than
WORKING WOMEN
MENare happier with
their financial situation thanWOMEN
TOWNAhmedabad 782Jaipur 770Chandigarh 768Indore 763Mumbai 763Lucknow 761Kolkata 760Bangalore 760Hyderabad 728Patna 726Delhi 712Pune 710Chennai 678Ranchi 675Kochi 670Guwahati 665Total 729GENDERMale 740Female 719OCCUPATIONWorking men 740Working women 712Housewife 728Retired 695AGE18-25 years 72226-35 years 74336-45 years 74546-60 years 74060+ years 701
MONEY MATTERSSatisfaction score with the money one possesses (maximum score = 1000)
Experts say thereare more ways to
find success in HYDERABAD
(left) than inCHENNAI,
because the latter might not accom-modate its rising
migrant populationas comfortably
Photos: GETTYIMAGES
JANUARY 13, 2013
I’M FINALLY coming to terms with something I’ve alwayssuspected about myself: my favourite food in the world ischaat. Give me caviar, give me white truffles and give methe greatest hits of Heston Blumenthal and Ferran Adrià,
and I’ll probably be diverted for a while. But after a brief flirta-tion, I will return to my first love: chaat.
This was brought home to me last week when I attended aglamourous private party in Bombay catered by Marut Sikka.Most of us know Marut as a TV chef and a restaurateur but Isuspect that his real income comes from private parties. Marut’sskill lies not just in the excellent north Indian food that his ownteam of chefs can be depended upon to turn out but in his abil-ity to source the best chefs and dishes from around the world.
At this party, for instance, the food was truly spectacular andthe highlight should have been the dishes created by chefs fromLe Calandre, the celebrated Italian restaurant (three Michelinstars and a regular spot on those slightly silly lists of the world’sgreatest restaurants). And yes, the Italian food was amazing.
But it was not my favourite cuisine on the menu. Even as wait-ers circulated with outstanding Lebanese, Gujarati and northIndian dishes, and the Calandre team showered white truffleson their risotto, I huddled at the bar with two friends and orderedplate after plate of the chaat.
What made the chaat so outstanding that it was unlike thesort of thing we normally see in Delhi or Bombay. Marut
had found a third-generation chaatwallah from theKesari Chaat Stall in Benaras (it is located near the
Dus Ashwamedh Ghat on the Ganga) and had per-suaded him to come to Bombay and to serve hisentire menu at the party.
One of my friends is a TV big-shot who prideshimself on his foodie skills (though he has a mis-placed admiration for his local Bihari cuisine andlittle understanding of the complexities of Gujaratifood!) and even he and his wife were stunned bythe quality of the chaat. The secret of good chaat,he said, is that UP has the best chaat in India butthat it does not come from Lucknow as is com-monly supposed but from Benaras. The thingabout the people of Benaras, he added, is thatthey are naturally shy and reluctant to leave theircity and show off their skills to the world.
I was too busy polishing off the chaat to thinkvery deeply about what my friend said. I concentrated insteadon a delicious palak papdi chaat, freshly made so that the friedpalak was still crisp and brittle. A tomato chaat was made fromtomatoes that had clearly been simmered for hours. A kachorichaat had lots of delicious, crunchy little kachoris, dressed withdahi and chutney. A tokri chaat comprised little baskets of friedpotatoes. The rui dahi bhalla consisted of bhallas so light thatthey reminded you of fluffy balls of cotton. And on and on it wentas I demolished the entire Kesari Chaat menu.
The next morning, I thought back to the conversation aboutBenaras vs Lucknow and began to wonder if my friend hadbeen right about UP being the centre of the chaat world. I’vebeen to Lucknow several times and though chefs keep tryingto force pulaos and curries on me, I stick to the chaat. (I amfortunate in that I have two good friends in Lucknow – SharatPradhan and Sunita Aron, among the city’s most celebratedjournalists – who are dedicated chaat lovers and know all thebest places.)
On the other hand, I’ve only been to Benaras on a foodie triponce to shoot for my A Matter Of Taste show and my lastingmemory of that trip remains the Malayon, the ethereal early-morning dessert about which I have often written. I thoughtback to that trip. Had the chaat really been outstanding? Well,actually, it had but because the focus on the show was milk
Vir Sanghvi
rude fo
odWhy don’twe givechaat the respect it deserves?Why is itwithout honour evenin UP, itshome state?
12 indulge
THE CUISINEOF THE STREET
SAME GENE POOLThe Bombay dahi batata puri has its roots in UP chaatbut is very much an individual dish in its own right
CLAIMING ITS OWNKerala may brag about its spices (left), Goa may
trumpet the virtues of vindaloo (right) and so on, but UPseems to have surrendered all claims to chaat
Photo: THINKSTOCK
Photo: IMAGES BAZAAR
desserts we had concentrated on Malayon.I phoned Marut and asked him what he thought. He agreed
that UP was the centre of the chaat world. But he thought that,within UP, there were many chaat traditions. He gave me theexample of what we call paani-puri in Bombay. In Lucknow andKanpur, they use the term ‘batasha’ or possibly, ‘gol-gappa’. InBenaras, on the other hand, they call it a puchhka and the tasteof the paani is subtly different from the Lucknow version.
Marut thinks that there are strong foodie links betweenBenaras and Calcutta, which is why the term ‘puchhka’ is usedin Bengal as well. He reckons that perhaps chaatwallahs fromthe Benaras region moved to Calcutta and seeded the city’s flour-ishing chaat scene.
He may be right. The more I thought about it the more chaatseemed to be a UP thing. The Calcutta tradition is essentially amorphing of Benarasi recipes to suit the city’s Bengali andMarwari clientele. This is why Calcutta’s puchhkas are tarterthan the Benaras version. In Delhi, on the other hand, the chaat-wallahs probably came from Lucknow and Kanpur and gave thecity its own gol-gappa, which I regret tosay, is easily the least interesting exampleof the genre.
Neither Marut nor I could work outwhich part of UP Bombay’s chaatwallahsoriginally came from. We know for certainthat chaat was transported to Bombay byUP Brahmins, most of whom used the sur-name Sharma. (Take a poll of the chaat-wallahs at Chowpatty and Juhu. You willfind that most of the long-established onesare still called Sharma.)
It is a tribute to Bombay’sculinary genius that the UPchaat tradition was able tosuccessfully mate with theGujarati snack/farsan tradi-tion so that a new chaat culturewas born. The Gujaratis tookthe principles of UP chaat(something fried, lots of crispythings for texture, chutneys, dahi,potatoes, etc.) and created new dish-es. The most famous of these is bhelpuri but there are many others.
The Bombay dahi batata puri hasits roots in UP chaat but is very muchan individual dish in its own right. Ragdapattice is a Gujarati adaptation of that north
Indian standby, tikki with channa. And Marut reckons thatBombay’s pani-puri, which is the local variant of the gol-gappa/puchhka/batasha chaat is probably the best expressionof this dish. (I love Bombay but here I disagree with Marut: mymoney is on the Calcutta puchhka.)
The more Marut and I talked about it, the more convincedwe became that we could trace nearly all genuine chaat dishesto waves of migration from UP. This explains why it is so diffi-cult to find a chaat tradition south of Bombay: the UPites didnot venture further down the Peninsula.
It is funny, though, that at a time when every state is doing somuch to put its cuisine on the map, UP takes so little credit forbeing the home of chaat. Kerala may brag about its spices, Goamay trumpet the virtues of vindaloo and so on, but UP seems tohave surrendered all claims to chaat, which is now seen as a pan-Indian favourite rather than a regional cuisine.
The public image of the food of UP leads only to the Awadhihaute cuisine of Lucknow and to pots of steaming biryani or
animal fat kebabs. I love Lucknawi food asmuch as the next man but I doubt if it hasbeen as influential or as popular as chaat.And yet, the chaat geniuses of Benaras,Lucknow, Kanpur and other UP towns getalmost no recognition at all. Their won-derful tradition is disparaged as being ‘merestreet food’.
But India lives and eats on its streets. Andthat night as I turned away all the fancy foodthat Marut and the Michelin-starred chefshad cooked and stuck to the Benaras chaat,
I pondered the injustice. In America, they celebratethe hamburger and the hotdog; pizza is
Italy’s global calling card; andBritain is known for fish and
chips. So why, oh why, do wein India not give chaat therespect it deserves? Why isit without honour even in its
home state?I say this not just because
chaat is my favourite food. I’msure that millions of other
Indians are also crazy aboutchaat. So, for once, let’s give
haute cuisine a rest and stand upfor what we really love: the cuisine of
the Indian street.
13
The public image ofthe food of UP leadsonly to the Awadhi
haute cuisine ofLucknow and to potsof steaming biryani
THE CRUNCH EFFECTThe Gujaratis took the principles of UP chaat (something fried, lots ofcrispy things for texture, chutneys, dahi, potatoes, etc) and creatednew dishes. The most famous of these is bhel puri (above)
JANUARY 13, 2013
hindustantimes.com/brunch
MASALA PATTIESRagda pattice (below) is aGujarati adaptation of thatnorth Indian standby, tikki with channa (above)
MECCA OF CHAATThe best chaat in Indiadoes not come from Lucknow as is commonlysupposed but from Benaras (above)
Photos: DINODIA IMAGES
Photo: IMAGES BAZAAR
OVER THE last month or so, Indian womenhave been inundated with gratuitousadvice on how we should conduct our-
selves in public so as to keep ourselves safe fromsexual harassment and violence. Politicians, reli-gious heads, media commentators, women’s rightsactivists, and well, pretty much anyone with avoice to be heard, has come up with new and inno-vative ways to keep the women in our society ‘safe’from sexual crimes.
Right off the top of my head, these are some ofthe suggestions that have been offered in all seri-ousness. Women should not be allowed access tomobile phones. Co-education should be banned.Girls should be married off the moment they reach puberty to keepthem safe from predators. Schoolgirls should wear overcoats overtheir uniforms to save them from the gaze of perverts. Teachersshould wear lab coats to prevent male students leching at them.Working women should not be so adventurous as to travel backhome alone from work late at night. Women should not wear skirtsor other ‘revealing’ outfits because that just excites the men andprovokes them into attacking them sexually. And certainly, womenshould not complain about being ‘raped’ if theywillingly go out with men, because honestly, whatwere they expecting?
That is, by no means, an exhaustive list. ButI guess you get the general drift. The messageis clear and simple: stay covered up; stay at home;stay silent; and if you’re lucky, you may stay safe.
So it is in the same spirit that I now offer myown two bits of gratuitous advice to men as tohow they should live their lives.■ First off, don’t ever venture out into the nightalone. And most certainly, don’t head out with a group ofmale friends. If you are seen prowling the streets late atnight, we will assume that you are up to no good. Thatyou are, in fact, ‘asking’ to rape someone. So, be a dearand get home by 9 pm. If you do have to venture outafter this ‘curfew’, then ask a woman – your wife, sis-ter, mother, aunt, any other female relative – to accom-pany you. If you fail to do that, then be prepared to facethe consequences. If you are out late at night and ‘cross’that ‘Lakshman Rekha’, we will assume that youare Ravana and treat you accordingly.■ Be warned. If you dress in an ‘immodest’manner, we’ll be judging you. Put awaythose shorts you wear to thebeach/mall/gym to show off those hairylegs. Don’t wear those tight, crotch-hug-
ging jeans. And button up that shirt while you’re atit; nobody wants to see that provocative expanse ofchest. What kind of message are you sending any-way by flashing all that flesh? Cover up already.Don’t you know how to stay within your ‘maryada’?■ When it comes to socialising or making friends,stick to your own sex. It’s much safer that way. Ifyou hang out with girls; go to the movies withthem; party with them; or, God forbid, drink anddance with them, things will get tricky very quick-ly. So, don’t risk going out with a girl unless sheis your sister or you intend to marry her (not ifshe is your sister, of course). If you do, then we
will know just how dodgy your ‘morals’ are. And that may welldestroy your marriage prospects. Nobody wants to get hitchedto ‘that kind of guy’, you know.■ While we are on the subject of marriage, do try and enter theholy state of matrimony as early as possible. It’s best if you arehitched by 21 but we will allow you some leeway till around 25. Ifyou hit the age of 30 without acquiring a wife then we will assumethat there is something seriously wrong with you. And if you are
still single at 35, or worse still, at 40, it will betaken as a given that you are either sexuallydepraved or morally deviant.■ Don’t rock the boat. If someone passes a snidecomment, makes a personal remark, invadesyour personal space, touches you inappropri-ately, makes unwanted sexual advances, justignore it. If the harassment persists, submitmeekly. Don’t make a scene. Don’t raise yourvoice. Stay silent and pray that it goes away. Butnever – no matter what the provocation – retal-
iate or even react. Just go with the flow. Because if youstand up for yourself, there is every likelihood that youwill be ground into the dust.
Okay then, that’s my five-point ‘advisory’ to all men.And now here’s a question for all the men who havepersisted in reading this far: how offended are you by
all the ‘suggestions’ listed above? Very offended indeed,I’m guessing.
Good. Now you know how every woman feels whenshe hears people holding forth on how she needs
to do a, b, and c (and avoid e, f, and g) tokeep herself ‘safe’. And maybe that will
teach all of you ‘experts’ out there toshut the hell up.
[email protected] Seema onTwitter at twitter.com/seemagoswami
SeemaGoswami
spectator
14
JANUARY 13, 2013
There’s lotsof advice outthere for howwomenshould staysafe; hereare a fewhandy pointers formen as well
Never – no matterwhat the
provocation –retaliate or evenreact. Stay silent
twitter.com/HTBrunch
DRESS PROPERLYPut away those shorts you wear to thebeach/mall/gym to show off those hairy legs
NO GIRLFRIENDS PLEASEIf you socialise with a girlwho isn’t your sister or theone you intend to marry,then we will know just howdodgy your ‘morals’ are
STAY INIf you are seen prowlingthe streets late at night, wewill assume that you are upto no good. That you are, infact, ‘asking’ to rape someone
Phot
os: T
HINK
STOC
K
BEHAVE!
indulge
IT’S LATE at night, very late. I’m in Las Vegasand we are hours away from the opening ofthe world’s largest Consumer Electronics Show
– CES 2013. The gates to this incredible technol-ogy extravaganza will open in a few hours andmore than 1,65,000 people will troop in with glazedeyes and stupefied expressions. This is truly themecca of tech and expectations are sky highas more than 3,000 companies from across theglobe will announce and demonstrate thousandsof new devices.
I’ve been privileged to have been given a preview to many of the products that will beunveiled tomorrow morning and some of themare awesome. But far more important than whatturns out to be the best and worst of CES thisyear (my detailed column next week) is the feel-ing that this year signifies a change of guard. CES2013 reflects a reboot of technology, a reset thathas been in the making for quite a few years. Someof the technology trends that will shape our futurehave become clear this year at CES.
SELLING TELEVISIONS IS GOING TO BE TOUGH IN THE FUTURECES this year has seen the maturing of certain TV technologiesthat have been either half-baked or just not ready for prime time.OLED (very low power consumption, super thin, amazing contrasts, incredible colours) is now a reality. Ultra High Definitionis the future (almost four times the 1080P HD resolution that weall see and marvel at today). Plus Glassless 3D (many differentkinds, and some of them are actually starting to look good),Super Smart TVs (they study what you watch and plan andremind you of shows and movies that are similar and build cus-tomised content pages) and voice and gesture controls (insteadof clunky controls you now speak to your TV to filter channelsand content to what you want to see).
There are even TVs that are so powerful (quad coreprocessor and graphic engines) that they can trans-mit two completely different full-screen images so thattwo people can watch the same screen but complete-ly different content at the same time (you can watchsports while your parents can watch a movie). ThusTVs have gone from being a idiot box to a connected,very smart, very intelligent family device. And yet companies will find selling TVs in the future very difficult. OLED and Ultra HD are going to be veryexpensive for the next four years (almost six timesmore expensive to current TVs).
But even if one was to wait for prices to come downfrom the stratosphere, the big problem is going to be content. Everysingle time TV displays have moved to the next level, growth hasbeen fuelled by content. The first SD flat plasma TVs took off withthe advent of DVDs and our current HD TVs only look good withBlu Rays or HD broadcast channels. Unfortunately nothing likethat seems to be coming in fast and buying a TV that is capable ofUltra HD but without any content to see it is self-defeatist in purpose. Sales of these amazingly capable and very high tech TVsare going to be severely handicapped with no compelling reason toupgrade.
PHABLETS ARE THE NEXT BIG THING, ANDTHAT’S NOT NECESSARILY A GOOD THINGEvery company worth its salt has a super largescreen phone either announced or on display atCES. Five inches is just about the starting pointfor each and full-HD resolution (1920x1080) is nowthe benchmark. This is a quantum leap forwardas last year there was just one phone with a five-inch screen and that had a very average resolu-tion. This is a great showcase of how quickly technology is moving ahead and also bodes wellfor the consumer as large screen phones with suchhigh resolutions tend to be super specced, veryhigh featured and have extremely powerful hardware inside.
But it’s also very worrisome as it also seemedthat almost every company had only larger screensas the only real innovation to show. As each company turns out a big screen phone (and sometake it to ridiculous levels like 6.1 inches) there isalmost no differentiator from one to another. Also,such large screen phones aren’t for everyone as alot of people find them difficult to handle, carryand make calls on. Yet, the calling card for eachmobile brand seemed to be only large, larger, largest. I was expecting a lot more innovation on many different fronts but that wasn’t the case at CESthis year. Maybe MWC (Mobile World Congress)could change that!
YOUR BODY IS GOING TO BE TECH’SBIGGEST PLAYGROUNDMy column last week showcased a lot of new wear-
able tech that would ensure your body was fitter and stronger. Thatturned out to be just the tip of the iceberg as CES took it to a wholenew level. From weighing scales that analyse your weight, fat, heartbeat and also the air quality around you (measures carbon dioxidethat builds up to excessive levels in confined spaces like bedroomsand gyms) to a smart fork and spoon that tells you if you’re eatingtoo fast or too much.
There are more than 30 new bio-feedback bands and clip-ondevices that tell you exactly what your body is doing (or not doing).There’s even tech for your soul with a new app called GPS for yoursoul that measures your heart rate variability, pinpoints stress lev-
els and then offers you music, breathing exercises andpictures of your loved ones that can help you destress.Tech for your body is a great category and one thatmay just bring about a true digital health revolution.
There were other clear tech trends that emerged.Car and tech have now become perfect soulmates(connected cars, cars with more computing powerthan a roomful of computers, cars that communicatewith all the devices you already own), tablets havebecome the biggest innovation arena (a paper-thinflexible tablet called PaperTab was showcased as weretablets with great new ways of typing including virtual keyboards) and the fact that from now onalmost all top-of-the-line cameras will have to have an
operating system that can do more than just take pictures, be WiFienabled and be able to take in a SIM card too (seems like theSamsung Galaxy camera has really set the cat amongst the pigeons).
Usually, CES is just a showcase of some great devices andproducts. This year it’s a guiding light to how technology willshape up in the next five years. Watch out next week for mydetailed CES 2013 column where I introduce you to the best andworst of this mega event, one device at a time!
Rajiv Makhni is managing editor, Technology, NDTV and the anchor of Gadget Guru, CellGuru and Newsnet 3. Follow Rajiv on Twitter at twitter.com/RajivMakhni
JANUARY 13, 2013
Rajiv Makhni
techilicious
16 indulgeGROUND REPORT FROMTHE MECCA OF TECH
facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch
The world’slargest ConsumerElectronicsShow reflects a change ofguard thathas been inthe makingfor quite afew years
CES 2013shows us
howtechnology
will shape upin the nextfive years
HAPPY EATINGThe HapiFork tellsyou if you’re eating too fast ortoo much. How’sthat for diet control?
WEIGHTY BENEFITSThe Withings Smart BodyAnalyzer helps analyseyour weight, fat, heart beatand also the air qualityaround you
hindustantimes.com/brunch
JANUARY 13, 2013
LEAVING A city that you’ve visited and likedis never a happy experience, however shortyour sojourn to that place might have been.
You feel low and wish you’d have had some moretime to spend there. And if it’s a city as vibrant andas much a blend of the old and new as Berlin is, thesadness is greater. So it wasn’t with buoyant spir-its that we boarded the taxi to go to the airport thatafternoon. The music playing inside the cab wassoothing. It was a piano sonata. Mozart’s in A minor,and the cabbie turned around to ask us whether wewanted it changed. I looked at my only co-passen-ger, my eight-year-old daughter, and asked her if itwas fine. Yes, she pensively nodded.
We’d killed a couple of hours after checking outof the hotel by walking the streets of central Berlin,aimlessly in the cold winter drizzle, not talkingmuch and, well, feeling sad that the holiday hadcome to an end. The piano sonata was very welcome. I asked the cabbie who was playing andhe said Mitsuko Uchida. “She’s Japanese,” he addedfor good measure. Uchida trained in her teens inVienna and is a British national who received theOBE a couple of years back (all this we Googledon our phone, splurging recklessly on roaming data charges) andthe sonata was a fit accompaniment to our journey to the airport.
Music creeps up on you in the most curious ways when you aretravelling. The previous day had been New Year’s Day and we’dwoken up late, had a lazy, indulgent brunch and then taken theunderground to go see the ongoing Salvador Dali exhibition inPotsdamer Platz. There, music crept up again in the screening ofthe short and surreal 1929 film, Un Chien Andalou, made by Daliand the Spanish filmmaker, Luis Buñuel. The film is disjointed andhas no real plot and has bizarre scenes galore. When Dali and Buñuelhad first screened it in Paris, they’d expected their audience to getenraged. Instead, the two got welcomed into the ranks of theSurrealists, a movement whose stars they later became. The film’ssoundtrack has excerpts from the controversial 19th century com-poser Richard Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde and, while
listening to the dramatic final aria that the filmexcerpted, I was immediately transported to myearly teens when my father would play on his monorecord player heavy, 78 rpm recordings of Wagner’soperas. I cried off Western classical music pretty
early (silly of me) and much to the chagrin of my old man and amonly now rolling slowly back to listening to more of it.
Music crept up in Berlin’s Mitte area where, after checking outthe impressive New Synagogue, which was badly damaged beforeand during World War II and is now reconstructed, we trackeddown the Ramones Museum, a sort of shrine to the legendary NewYork punk band, Ramones, filled with memorabilia, including clothesworn by Joey Ramone, tickets, posters, pictures, guitars and so on.A bit self-indulgent I thought, but couldn’t help being impressed bythe German fan’s dedication. There’s a bar along with the museumwhose façade, incidentally, is fashioned after that of New York’s erst-while CBGB club where the Ramones got their first big break andwhich was New York’s original and iconic punk rock club. Sadly,that club doesn’t exist any more.
I found music in Berlin’s flea markets on the weekend. At theFlohmarkt am Mauerpark, you can get lost in carton after car-ton of vinyls mainly but also CDs. And if you have the knack forbargaining and some patience, you can find great stuff. Not muchof it is very organised but no one’s going to say anything if youpark yourself at one of the stalls and spend as long as you wantrifling through what’s on offer. I found a limited edition vinyl single on which Jack White and Alicia Keys perform as a duet.It’s the song, Another Way To Die from the Bond film, Quantumof Solace, and is written and produced by White. The flipsidehas the instrumental version and the record itself is amber andtransparent and is one of those for which you need to use the cir-cular adapter that comes with your record player. I paid a ridicu-lously low price for it, using up the small change in my pocket.
Of course, Berlin has much, much more to offer than opportu-nities to discover music but you can do that as well. Or, multi-taskas my budding violinist and classical music enthusiast daughterdid, dancing Gangnam style with wild abandon at one of the manyChristmas markets that dot the city’s landscape in December.
To give feedback, stream or download the music mentioned in this column, go tohttp://blogs.hindustantimes.com/downloadcentral, follow argus48 on Twitter
Musiccreeps up onyou in themost curiousways whenyou’re travelling.That’s whathappened tome on a recent trip to Berlin
THE JUKEBOX
I know Christmas is long over. I’malso rather far from being an afi-
cionado of Christmas carols. But if there’sjust one Christmas songthat you want to hear andif you haven’t heardAmerican soul singerClarence Carter’s BackDoor Santa, I suggest youdo so. It is a tad NSFWand certainly not all-ageappropriate but a nicesoul-inflected version ofwhat Santa ought to be.
SanjoyNarayan
down
load c
entral
A FAN’S TRIBUTEWe tracked down the Ramones Museum, a shrine tothe legendary New York punk band
GANGNAM STYLEIN SONATA LAND
18 indulge
SIGHTS AND SOUNDSAbove: A poster of the Salvador Dali exhibitionin Potsdamer Platz; Below: The bar fashionedafter New York’s CBGBclub, where the Ramonesgot their first big break
Photos: SANJOY NARAYAN
hindustantimes.com/brunch 19
LAST WEEK the celebrations tocommemorate 100 years ofIndian science were held. Over
the last 100 years, even as advancesin science have enhanced life spans,we’ve begun to face problems relat-ed to unhealthy lifestyles and diet.Let us take a look at the three foodfundamentals of sugar intake, saltintake and oil consumption.
THE SUGAR TRAPSugar consumption has gone upalarmingly over the last century.Numbers for developed countriessuch as The United States show an annual increase from 20 pounds to
150 pounds per person. Developingnations such as India are not toodifferent. Just look around andyou’ll notice the numerous forms inwhich we have sugar: in juices,breakfast cereals, ready-to-eatnoodles, biscuits, cold drinks,cough syrups, mouth fresheners,toothpaste, in certain breads andmost packaged foods. EEffffeeccttss oonn tthhee bbooddyy:: Excess consumption can lead to obesity,restlessness, shrinking attentionspans, calcium loss from bones, insulin resistance, hormonal imbal-ances and reduced immunity.
BITTER REALITIESSalt consumption has gone up manytimes over limits considered safe forhumans (5 gms per person per day).Too much salt takes time to bethrown out of our bodies.EEffffeeccttss oonn tthhee bbooddyy: Pressure onthe heart to pump blood and fluidsand on the kidneys to help the bodypurge out the salt.
FAT OF THE MATTERTransfats found in bakery products,namkeens, snacks and ready-to eat-meals have been linked to a spike inailments related to the heart, liverand joints. Two other trends whichhave crept into our eating habits include the large amounts of fatsand oils that we consume and thehighly chemical process of refining.This can partly be attributed to theincreased affordability of oil andpartly to consumption of foods withhidden oil. This is particularly worri-some as most people don’t evenknow that these products have enor-mous amounts of oil.Also, many crops used to produce oilhave to be grown in enormous quan-tities, and such parasite-resistantfarming is carried out using geneti-cally modified seeds. Chemicals areused for oil extraction and refining.The outcome: oils removed from theoriginal natural state.EEffffeeccttss oonn tthhee bbooddyy:: Indiscriminateintake of polyunsaturated fats cancause imbalances between otherkinds of fatty acids such as omega 3.The free radicals can trigger inflam-mation that might manifest itself innerve disorders, blockages in theheart and joint inflammation.As food becomes more affordable, itbecomes even more important tochoose health and strike a balance between taste and nutrition.
SHIKHA SHARMA
As food becomes affordable, don’t let nutrition be the casualty
MIND BODY SOUL
WE ARE WHAT WE EAT
JANUARY 13, 2013
Photos: THINKSTOCK
SUGAR EVERYWHEREWe consume sugar in numerousforms such as cold drinks (above)
TOO MUCH, TOO BADToo much salt takes time to bethrown out of our bodies
UNHEALTHY FORMWe end up consuming oil that is farremoved from its natural state
The one thing you love about Bollywood. That I can be anybody, play anyrole, portray a different person andlife while pursuing my passion foracting.One role you wish you had played. I have been lucky enough to playall kinds of roles.The best part of being a Kapoor. The Kapoor surname has legend,a passion for acting, respect andlove attached to it. And I am veryproud of that.Your mantra for success. Just do what you believe in, and success will follow.Your favourite holiday destination. Heaven on earth – Goa.Shoes or bags? Which do you prefer?Both! How can a girl choose?Your strategy for days when you feel fat. I just drink water, go for a walk andeliminate junk food from my diet.What would we find in your fridge if welooked right now?Food stuff for kids.The song that always lifts your spirits. Okay, this is a secret but I thinkthat nursery rhymes are the most relaxing and fun songs.What is your favourite time to be withyour kids?Breakfast. Their fussing about eat-ing and my adamant attempts atfeeding them makes it interesting.The one thing you always like to get as a gift.
Jewellery and bags. I can’t resisteither.One exercise routine that scares you.Nothing scares me. I love doingyoga and also enjoy going forregular walks. Three beauty items you can’t dowithout.Kajal, lip balm and baby oil.You destress with... I spend time withmy children. It relaxes me likenothing else. The last line of yourautobiographywould read?Love, laugh, playand be stylish.
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JANUARY 13, 2013
CURRENTLY DOINGEndorsing Utssav jewellery on HomeShop18.com
HIGH POINT OF YOUR LIFE It has to be the birth of my twobeautiful kids. That moment will remain with me forever
SCHOOL/COLLEGEThe Cathedral & John Connon School, Mumbai
BIRTHDAYJune 25
PERSONAL AGENDA
ONE CHARAC-TER FROM ABOOK ORMOVIE YOU’DLOVE TOMEET?HarryPotter
Karisma KapoorActress
my
mo
vies
Photo: RAAJESH KASHYAP
20
SUN SIGNCancer
PLACE OF BIRTHMumbai
FIRSTBREAK Prem Qaidi(1991)
A FILM YOU’VE WATCHED MORE THAN 5 TIMES Mera Naam Joker THE MOST PAISA VASOOL FILM Hum Saath Saath HainA MOVIE THAT TOOK YOU BACK TO YOUR CHILDHOODChillar PartyTHE FIRST MOVIE YOU SAW ON THE BIG SCREENShaan
—Interviewedby Veenu Singh
