hindustantimes brunch 21 october 2012
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Hindustantimes Brunch 21 October 2012TRANSCRIPT
WEEKLY MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 21, 2012Free with your copy of Hindustan Times
VIR SANGHVIFood for the dude
SANJOY NARAYANThe Stones, and more
RAJIV MAKHNIDoesn’t sound right
SEEMA GOSWAMI Girl, interpretedindulge
That’s what we are calling ourselves today. We sought outeverything horror-related and found it all hilarious!
Halloween is just around the corner. Here’s our trick and inside is your treat...
OCTOBER 21, 2012
hindustantimes.com/brunch
LETTER OF THE WEEK!
Drop us a line at:[email protected] or to 18-20Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi 110001
Cover Illustration: SUMIT KUMAR
DESIGN: Ashutosh Sapru (National Editor,Design), Monica Gupta, Swati Chakrabarti,Rakesh Kumar, Ashish Singh, Suhas Kale
EDITORIAL: 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
Learn to shop, save a bundle!THANK YOU for giving us a nifty guide (Live it up, October 14)to do more than just survive these hard times. When festivalsare around the corner too! Good old Brunch comes to the res-cue of dispirited shopaholics and spendthrifts with nicely re-searched tidbits about offers and freebies in the virtual and realworld. Enough reasons to smile? — VATSALA WALIA, via emailVatsala wins a Flipkart voucher worth `2,500. Congrats!
Yes to less expenses, more to shopping!THE COVER story was aptly titled Shop Smart (October 14). Inspired by the article, I have decided to convert to a smart shopper by cutting down on my expenses and signing up for online shopping sites! — SOMYA RASTOGI, via email
THE COVER story (Live It Up, October 14) was a great read withthe right ingredients to live life kingsize on a tight budget and instyle. The points regarding online shopping, credit card use andchanges in eating out patterns can surely make life simpler withoutcompromising on our interests. — BATUL RANGWALA, via email
B R E A K FA ST O F C H A M P I O N S4
The best letter gets a Flipkartvoucher worth R2,500!!
The shopping voucher will reach the winner within seven to 10 working days. In case of any delays, please contact [email protected]
Everybody loves a healthy dose of horror. Even us, a mostly weak-
hearted bunch here at Brunch. Halloweenis around the corner (October 31, keepyour pumpkins ready!), so we decided to open our bag of special tricks to treat you.
“Nobody cares aboutHalloween in India,” said thedissenters. “Everybodyloves horror!” we argued.“Let’s make her spend anight at a cemetery,” some-one suggested. We figured
haunted city Bhangarhwas much scarier. “How
about a story on how theBrunch office is haunted?” It
wasn’t. We even usedthis ouija board to
communicate with spirits. For newsfolk,spirits are only things that get you drunk.“Should we ask Ruskin Bond to write aghost story for us?” But nobody’s scared
of rustling winds in the hills anymore.The ideas kept pouring in.
It helped that the lady bosshad just discoveredSupernatural . Then a fellowBruncher found a paranor-mal tour. A little more of thisand a little more of that, wher-
ever we went, we found ghost(stories). We even wrote one of
our own. So, this Sunday,we’re the official ghost-
seekers. We put all of thistogether and in this issuelie our booty, blood,jokes and all.
Brunch Opinion
by Saudamini Jain
WHAT A NICE SURPRISE. BRING YOUR ALIBIS
American Psycho:Thought the movie wasgory? The book’s much,much worse. The remorse-less Patrick Batemanrapes, kills and then showsup to work on Wall Street.
Carrie: Prom night is intimidating for most of us.But for the much-punished,much-bullied and slightlytelekinetic Carrie, things getvery, very bloody.
Kiss The Girls: James Patterson’s thriller chills yourspine not with monsters butmystery. Who’d rape and killyoung women for fun? Andcould you be next?
Helter Skelter: Scary because it’s true. This account of the Manson murders and the trial that followed. How did CharlesManson get so evil? It can’thave been just LSD.
Rosemary’s Baby: Before the Roman Polanskifilm, there was the spookybook. Is Rosemary pregnant with the devil’schild? Will it come out withhooves? Surely pregnancycan’t be this hard…
“With four editions, this is definitely a horror special!”
Brunch Bookshelf
BOOKS THAT GO BUMPIN THE NIGHTby Rachel Lopez
Phot
os: T
HINK
STOC
K
Things You Should Have Heard About
■ Breaking the sound barrier. Follow inthe footsteps of Felix Baumgartner. ■ Vintage cars. No fancy-schmanzynew car can match up!■ Navratri. ’Tis the time to garba!■ Yuvi’s double ton. The power player isback in the longer version of the game –Test matches beckon soon. ■ Crazy dialogues. Agar dil saand ho,toh har ladki bhains dikhayi deti hai!Vishal Bhardwaj, we bow before thee!
■ Tacky Hindi film songs at dandiyanights. Kill us now! ■ Celebrity weddings. We don’tcare who designed what and whocame with whom. Move on!■ “Boys and girls mixing freely.”■ Chowmein as bad news. Never!■ Livestrong no more? More evidence against Tour de France cycling champ Lance Armstrong.
LOVE IT
SHOV
E IT
by Shreya Sethuraman
The Brunch Soirees are backwith a horror special! For theuninitiated, we will tweet aline, and all you have to do isto build upon it – add the nextline. The best horror storymay get published in the nextissue! Wear thosemasks and get onTwitter tomorrow at2 pm. Follow@HTBrunch
SPIN A HORROR YARNBrunch On The Web
THE COVER BOYFrom The Front Page
Sumit Kumar, who has done the cover illustration, is a cartoonist based in Delhi. Hisfirst graphic novel The Itch You Can’t Scratchhas gained a strong cult following (meaning:
not a mainstream one). HisKashmir Ki Kahani forNewslaundry.com has hadmainstream acclaim. He is cur-
rently working on the third partof Kashmir Ki Kahani and his
webcomic– AaapkiPoojita.
OCTOBER 21, 2012
IT’S STILL majestic. This medievalkingdom, that is. Or rather, theremains of it. Hundreds of yearsago, its occupants fled. Or died.
Nobody’s sure. Not a single humansoul lives in the 158 hectares of land.Snakes slither along rocky corners.Climb up to the crumbling palace intothe dark hallways, you’ll be greetedby the smell of dead bodies and gun-powder. Bat droppings apparentlysmell of war. You’ll see a secret pas-sage guarded by orange and silvermarkings. And rats. Tantriks comehere to perform black magic. Most
temples inside have no idols.Welcome to the real city of djinns.
At the edge of the Sariska TigerReserve, between Jaipur and Alwarin Rajasthan, is Bhangarh, popularlyknown as the “ghost city of India.”
Rocky Singh, co-host of NDTVGood Times’ show, India’s MostHaunted, says, “This was the onlylocation where [co-host] Mayur[Sharma] refused to do an isolationsession.” In the show, both spend timealone on every location they visit.When they spent the night here, theyheard footsteps and the screeching of
a woman, their motion sensors wentoff and stones were thrown at them.“If I were to say that any of the placesI’ve been to in the last 20 years ishaunted, I’d say Bhangarh,” saysRocky, who’s travelled to hauntedplaces around the world.
Once upon a timeTill a few years ago, the locals lovedto tell stories about the hauntedkingdom. But when these storiesappeared on television, they wereoffended. “Yahaan par djinn aatehain, bhoot-pret nahin!” says a
village shopkeeper indignantly. The city, according to legend, was
cursed by a tantrik in the sixteenthcentury. Singhia, a lecherous tantrik,was attracted to the beautiful queenof Bhangarh, Ratnavati. One day, hesaw her maid buying some hair oil forthe queen and put a love spell on it.The queen was a tantrik herself. Onelook at the swirling oil and she threwthe flagon away. As soon as it touchedthe ground, the stone magnified intoa boulder and moved towardsSinghia. All the tantrik could dobefore the boulder crushed him wasto curse the land, “Bhaag jaao” hewarned the people. “Bhangarh wohjagah hai jahaan se log bhaag jaatehain,” says Sumit, who sells beverages outside the premises.
The ruined city is flanked by theAravallis on three sides with streamsrunning along landscaped gardens.There are markets and havelis. Youcan’t help but think that there’s got tobe another explanation! And there is.
The kingdom was established in1599 by Raja Bhagwant Das for hisson Madho Singh, the younger broth-
facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch
Once a prosperous city, it was cursed. Bhangarh, they say,is India’s most haunted. Its story is stranger than fictionby Saudamini Jain; Photographs by M Zhazo
6
KEEPING UP WITH THE SPIRITS■ It’s a beautiful picnic spot for the day. The ruins (above) can scare theliving daylights out of anyone at night!■ It takes about six hours to drive down from Delhi to Bhangarh. Get to Alwar, then take the broken road to Sariska.■ The closest train station is Dausa, 8 km away from Bhangarh.■ Carry some food when you go inside the premises.■ Not for the weak-hearted.■ All the best!
ghostseekers
7
er of Akbar’s general, Man Singh ofAmber. Madho Singh named the cityafter his grandfather Man Singh (whowas also known as Bhan Singh andthat’s where ‘Bhangarh’ comes from).In 1720, Jaipur’s Jai Singh II attackedthe city. Some historians say JaiSingh II’s repeated attacks forced thepeople to escape. Others blame thefamine of 1783. Either way, Bhangarhremains unoccupied since. Almost.
Tales of the yoreAccording to the Rajasthan Tourismwebsite, “the evil effects of the(tantrik’s) curse are believed to beworking even now.” The Internet isflooded with horror tales. Peopleclaim to have heard the tinkling ofpayals, seen the ruined market cometo life. Tarun Akash, a student, wroteon indianfusion.aglasem.com abouthow he along with two friends met
with an accident after a night spent inBhangarh. The odd thing, he says,was that they were the only people tohave been hurt in a bus of more than50 people, even though they were sit-ting 5-6 rows apart. Bhangarh is onseveral lists of ‘the most hauntedplaces in the world’ on the Web.
Bhoot, chudail, djinns – she’s wit-nessed them all over the last threedecades, says a wizened Rama Devi,who has been running a water stalloutside the monument premisesever since she got married. “Theyare all there. But we are not scared.We have our temples,” she says.
Another indicator of ghosts was asignboard put by the ArchaeologicalSurvey of India (ASI) outside theruins that warned people againstentering the fort after sunset. Thenotice has now been removedbecause everybody who visited saw
this as proof ofASI’s belief in theparanormal. “Theserumours are rubbish,” says VasantKumar Swarnakar, superintendingarchaeologist, Jaipur circle, ASI.“Every monument in the countryhas the same sign. It has nothing todo with ghosts or spirits,” he insists.“All that is rubbish,” he repeats. It’sthe wild animals that make the areadangerous. Its proximity to Sariskamakes it a haunt for foxes, panthersand even tigers at night.
Besides, adds Swarnakar, “Ourguards patrol the area at night but noincident has ever occurred!” But several people have come screamingout “ghost”. There have been deaths.“It’s because people try to enter theruins from the hills at night, the boul-ders are loose, people fall!” he says.
Last year, a man jumped into the
step-well and hurt his head. While hewas being rushed to the hospital, thecar crashed and the two others died.An unfortunate accident blamedentirely on ghosts. So much so, thatthe locals have a joke based entirelyon logical reasoning. “Bhangarh meinhar saal kuchh log marte hain. Unke bhoot toh yahin par rukengena!” they laugh.
Ram Gopal Joshi, the pujari of theHanuman temple at the entrance ofthe Bhangarh ruins, has a theory,“Jiske grah kharaabhote hain, uskobhoot dikhta hai,”he says.
CLAIRVOYANT CORNERAt the end of this hallway in the palace (above) are two cubicles. The one on the left has orange and silver markings, guarding an underground passage (right). This is the shrine of the Djinn Maharaj, saylocals. On Saturdays, tantriks visit this spot where they summon djinns to make predictions
A lecherous tantrik, Singhia, was attracted to Ratnavati, the queen ofBhangarh. One day, when thequeen’s maid was buying some hairhall from the market (right), he casta spell on the oil in order to seducethe queen. Unfortunately for thetantrik (and consequently, for all ofBhangarh), the queen was a mastertantrik herself. One look at theswirling oil, and she threw it on astone, which magnified into a boul-der advancing to crush Singhia. Be-fore dying, the tantrik cursed theland. The Chhatri on the hill (inset)was later built where he lived
LEGEND OF THE LAND
Imaging: ASHISH SINGH
8
OCTOBER 21, 2012
It’s a dark, coldnight. You and yourfriends decide toexplore a veryhaunted mansion.Welcome to theBrunch Horror Trail.by Manit Moorjani
Horror films and bookswith their exaggeratedghosts, vampires, evil
spirits and aliens have scaredus over the years. We’ve slept
with the lights on and checkedfor monsters under our beds.But the cliché brigade – thecandles, little girls with littledolls, mirrors and the ridicu-
lous weather conditions –made horror plain hilarious.
So we decided to pull outevery cliché we have seen,read or heard about and weave
it around a short story whereyou are the protagonist.
So sit in a dark corner ofyour house and just follow thefootsteps!
It’s the weekend again. You andfour of your friends wonder:how about a funweekend get-away. You pack all es-sentials and hop intoyour car, off towardsthe countryside. Avilla awaits you. Youpark yourselves atthis abandonedmansion/haveliconsideredcursed by thelocals. (But thefact that it maynot be safe to doso doesn’t occurto you at all!)
It’s nightfall.You’ve settled down. Yourcandlelight dinner next tothe old, rusted statueswas brilliant. But all thiswhile, the many spirits,ghosts and eyes in the
wall have been follow-ing your every move.
The statue blinked too.You notice nothing. Bed-time. Tomorrow’s a brandnew day. Or so you think.
Now that there are more of you, you feel farbraver. (The more the merrier when it comes tothe paranormal, right?) You decide to get to thebottom of things. Your friend immediately has abrainwave. “Let’s split up!” says the genius. Everyhorror film has this one idiot. The One Who Deserves To Die. Another friend doesn’t believe inevil spirits. Of course he doesn’t. But he will.
You rush towards your car. But itjust won’t start. Your phone sig-nal goes blank. (Physics neverworks in these situations.) Luck-ily, you manage to get inside thecar (car doors usually getjammed, so thank your stars!)“Phew! that was close,” you say.“Are you sure?” asks the friendsitting next to you. His eyes areyellow. His smile is wide.
Now all of you are out ofthe house. Fog is the onlything you can see formiles. But piercingthrough the thick fog isthe blank face of a manstaring at you from anupstairs window. “Youshouldn’t have comehere,” he whispersthrough the mist. Now hetells you! Incidentally,that ancient gardeneryou saw earlier? Turnsout, he’s a zombie! Andthere he is, right behindthat bush! Taking a cuefrom Bollywood, thereare a few bhoot-pretaround too. And an oldwoman doing black mag-ic in the fields.
You and two others decide to tiptoethrough the same hallway (this hall-
way is the core of the mansion, the movie,the book, your life. Everything of any con-sequence happens right here). There’ssomething white and small glidingtowards you. You absolutely have toget a closer look. It’s holding some-thing. Oh mother of all plots! It’s a littlegirl in a white dress holding a baby doll.
NOW you’re scared. You bolt down theflight of stairs. The ghost of the little girldoesn’t catch up with you (Ghosts matchtheir speed with their victims, it seems.The distance between the two, at any giventime, is constant.) You forego the otherclichés in the house: creepy basement oreven under the sink! You want out. Finally.
Your two other friends were more inter-ested in a dusty bedroom. Right now, theyare staring at a huge mirror and cracking ajoke. Suddenly there’s an old woman (com-
plete with wrinkles and dishevelledhair) in the mirror. Or is it a reflec-tion? While you spent so much time
searching for something, that some-thing found your friends and crept up
from behind. (Now, that’s just bad luck.)You hear them scream. Just as you try to
figure out what to do, you see them running for their lives! (Maybe this willhave a happy ending?)
And like an epiphany, the story flashes infront of your eyes: an old woman sits bythe window awaiting her brothers whowent out hunting. She still waits!
You’ve been sleeping com-fortably for a while now.But what’s that sound you sud-denly hear? That’s not normal.
Maybe it’s just a stray animal.Whatever, you have to check it outright away. (Apparently, no investi-gations should wait till the morning.)Also, it’s better if you take an old-
fashioned candle withyou. (Because some-how the lightswitches never
work so late atnight.) You head out
alone. (You’ll wake theothers up with your
screams later of course).
Obviously the hallway is very narrow. And very dark. But there’s a half-open door at one end. Butwait, wasn’t it closed when youwere this side of the house earlier?There’s that hooting owl in thebackground now.
Nevertheless, with might andcourage, you push the door open.
Suddenly, lightning strikes. Thewindows fly open and the
curtainsblow in a
frenzy. Youdon’t knowwhat’s happeningbut you’re scared outof your mind. You dashback screaming across
the hallway to the oth-er rooms: “Wake up,
wake up! There’s some-thing there!!” (Just like we predicted you would.)
ghostseekers
Imag
ing:
MON
ICA
GUPT
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OCTOBER 21, 2012X
It‘s been moving from strengthto strength. Little surprise,Greater Noida (west) hasbeen attracting attention, of
late, for all the right reasons.This area is all set to give a toughfight to projects coming up inNoida, especially those in sec-tors 121 and 119, primarily interms of price and location.Several builders are busy withconstruction of homes and of-fices that are being built adjacentto Noida’s Sector 121 and facethe 130 m road now known asthe Noida-Greater Noida LinkRoad. A 60 m road connect fromNH 24 also passes through thearea. A 100 m wide commercialbelt is planned on one side of the130 m road.What is more metro connectivityto the area is expected in the sec-ond phase. Another positive is thelush greenery. Almost 45 acreshave been left as green areas.Besides apartments for retail,plots are being offered to Coop-erative Group Housing Societies(CGHS).The region will comprise a stadi-
um offering facilities such asfootball, cricket and badmintonacademies besides schools,hospitals, multiplexes, hotels andoffices. It will take about fiveyears to develop the entire re-gion.And if you are still wonderingwhy people are investing inGreater Noida west, we’ll giveyou some simple reasons.Rise in value of property: ThePrices of Greater Noida’s(West)property is rising annually whichallow the property holders earndecent amount of capital returns.High demand: Every year thereis a remarkable rise in the de-mand of both commercial andresidential immovable assets.The high demand for Noida’sproperty is creating ampleamount of job opportunities.Expressways: The many fly-overs and expressways havemade commuting here, a smoothbusiness. It began with the jazzyDelhi Noida Toll Bridge. India’sfirst 552 meter long main BOTBridge Project, it changed theface of intracity travel. It is an
eight lane link across the riverYamuna. It has 3 minor bridgesand 8 lanes approach roads onembankment. Then there is Noi-da-Greater Noida Expressway. Itis a six-lane highway connectingNoida, Uttar Pradesh, an indus-trial suburb of Delhi to GreaterNoida, a new suburb. A total of40 sectors are planned along theExpressway.And these are not all. It is per-ceived that the project will have
significant impact on the eco-nomic development. Some majorperceived positives are: integra-tion of Noida Extension withSouth Delhi, direct employmentbenefits for families during con-struction period and lastly yetmost importantly quicker accessto Delhi / Noida with saving inpeak hour travel time.With the many positives, GreaterNoida (West) is sure to rise high-er in demand.
AMRAPALI GROUP TODAY IS A VIBRANT CONGLOMERATE
GGRREEAATTEERR HHEEIIGGHHTTSS
How has the Realty Industry in the Del-hi/NCR developed over the years, interms of the development of Noida andparticularly Noida Extension and how isAmrapali Group gearing up to meet theindustry’s demand?NCR is expected to witness the highestdemand across mid and high-end seg-ments at 3.81 lakh units during 2012-16.”Amrapali Group is gearing up to meetthe huge demand of people and playsan important role to fill the gap of de-
mand and supply all across the NCR re-gion. We have set up a ‘pre-cast’ factoryin Greater Noida. The ‘pre-cast’ technol-ogy, which basically involves bringingreadymade walls and pillars to be as-sembled at the construction site. Thistechnology will allow us to work at al-most three times the current pace.Our group has created its pan-Indiapresence through its 48 highly-ratedprojects in 22 top cities of the countryspread from Delhi-NCR in North toCochin in South, Purnia in East and Nag-pur in the West.
Realty has evolved to become ratherspecialized. Like Housing/ Commer-cial/etc... What is your take on it?Amrapali Group is today a vibrant con-glomerate having expanded verticallyand horizontally into new areas such asFilm Production, processed food prod-ucts, hotels and hospitals. We are makinghuge IT parks, hotels, shopping mall, resi-dential and commercial township nearthese parks. We will make commercialbuildings in Cochin, Indore, Bhubanesh-war, Patna, Muzaffarpur, Bhilai and lot ofother cities but in term of IT parks we
have only started from Greater Noida.
There is a new enthusiasm in the indus-try across the board. How does Amra-pali Group planning to take the leadgenerally?We are also focusing on small cities be-cause when you see the demand ofhousing and other sectors you need tofocus all segments in tier-2 or tier-3cities. There is no demand in tier-1cities. Small cities have a huge demand.So we are also focusing on small cities.We have our eyes on Durgapur. Thoughwe are not making any project therestill we are receiving e-mails and feed-back calling us to the town. In smalltowns you need township and smallspace of offices and commercial activi-ties because cities require that all.About malls, we are focusing on smallcities first to reach there. People fromevery segment enjoy good facilities. Mymain focus has always been on combin-ing the two categories of low spenderand high spender. They should not besegregated. There should be some sortof socialistic approach. The middle-class families should not feel segregat-
ed because of their low spending pow-er. If you open a mall in a small citythey can also enjoy the most. We wantto touch every segment of the society.
What is the future of the Greater Noida-West(Noida Extension) as a Housingdestination in India and where do yousee it in next 5years and what are yourplans for the same?Recently we have launched a project‘Amrapali Verona Heights’ in GreaterNoida-West (Noida Extension), showsour belief over there. I am very muchsure about to say that this region stillcaters the demand of middle class, whoare looking for affordable homes. Ascompare to its counter regions, GreaterNoida-West rates are quite reasonableand affordable to all.Moreover, the proposed metro networkat Noida Extension will be attractingmore home buyers due to good connec-tivity and development and they will getbest return of their development.Hence, the future is always bright and itis going to be a hub of affordable homesin all across Delhi-NCR, where you canhave all basic and luxurious facilities.
Greater Noida (West)/ Noida Extension is anything that a developing area needs to be
DR. ANIL KUMAR SHARMACMD AMRAPALI GROUP
PROMOTION
OCTOBER 21, 2012XII
Affordable housing hasbrought opportunities formany to buy their dreamhome. Supertech Limited
a leading real estate company isoffering various projects to caterthis segment in Noida Extension,also known now as -Greater NoidaWest. This reason has witnessed
tremendous infrastructural devel-opment in terms of connectivity toits neighbouring places, which is avery important aspect in making aregion an ideal place for living. Therecent announcement of the metroconnectivity to the Noida Exten-sion has made it an ideal destina-tion for all those who are lookingfor affordable home options.
Eco Village- IEco-Village is a residential projectlocated in Noida Extension,spread over an area of 50 acres.The project comprises of 1, 2, 3and 4 BHK apartments, area ofwhich ranges between 550 sq. ft.to 2275 sq. ft. The project is acombination of high as well as lowrise apartments. This project hasworld-class amenities like Swim-ming pool, Health Club, MedicalCentre, Ayurvedic Massage Cen-tre, Badminton Court, TennisCourt, Amphitheatre, Clubs andShopping Complex. The projectalso has 82% beautifully land-scaped area, ample parking lotsand artistically designed vaastu-
friendly apartments. Eco Village- IIEco-Village-II is an eco-friendly res-idential project in Noida Extension,spread over an area of 80 acres..The project comprises of 1, 2, 3and 4 BHK apartments, area ofwhich ranges between 550 sq. ft.to 2275 sq. ft. The project is acombination of high as well as lowrise apartments. This project pro-vides a gymnasium with Swimmingpool, HealthClub, MedicalCentre,AyurvedicMassage Cen-tre, BadmintonCourt andTennis Court.The projectalso offers fa-cility of reticu-lated gas sup-ply to every unit, 24-hour powerback up, ample parking lots and ashopping complex. The artisticallydesigned units are vaastu-friendlybuilt amidst 82% beautifully land-scaped area.
Eco Village- IIIEco Village-III is also an eco-friendlyresidential project just like its prede-cessors, which provides high quali-ty lifestyle at a pocket friendly cost.With the facilities available at Eco-Village-III, it is a mini township thattakes your comfort and conven-ience to a whole new level. It is acombination of Low-rise and High-rise buildings .The project compris-es 2 and 3 bedrooms apartments,
area of whichrange between890 Sq. Ft. to1850 Sq. Ft.Floor plans are3-4 sided openand artisticallyvastu friendlydesigned. Thisproject pro-vides worldclass facilities
like Swimming pool, Health Club,Medical Centre, Ayurvedic MassageCentre, Badminton Court, TennisCourt & Amphitheatre. The projectalso has well designed complexwith beautiful landscape.
V CORP WILL ADD VALUE AND MONETIZE ASSETS FOR DEVELOPERS
AAFFFFOORRDDAABBLLEE HHOOUUSSIINNGG AATTNNOOIIDDAA EEXXTTEENNSSIIOONN
What kind of innovations has been in-troduced by VCORP, please tell some-thing about your organization?We are one of India's first DeveloperManagement Company. We are like aone stop shop for the potential Real Es-tate Developers and to the establisheddevelopers - we are an additionalstrategic arm that adds value to proj-ects.V Corp will add value and monetize as-sets for developers. V Corp's unique forte has the potentialto attract the landowners and the in-vestors. With help from V Corp, land-owners will recognize the maximumearning potential of their property with-out having to divest a stake and yet en-joy high returns. This is based on "on-ground" macro and micro level realities,de-risking projects substantially. Insync with this, V Corp. will assist the in-vestors to scrutinize the funds alreadydeployed in Real Estate. Such investorswill also look at V Corp to assess the vi-ability of a new project; viability notonly based on financial figures but alsoon other project specific socio-econom-ic factors.
The V Corp symbolwill become the newhallmark of qualitythat investors andhomebuyers will lookout for before they in-vest in real estate.
What is the USP ofVCORP? What distin-guishes VCORP?V CORP has the best"Partners" in Real Es-tate from Interiors De-signers, Architects,Corporate Trainers,Legal Experts... to large scale Investorsin Real Estate.We also insist an opening an ESCROWaccount with all the developers associ-ated with us, to ensure construction ofthe project.
What are initiatives taken in marketingstrategies to acquire benefits or returnsto you as well as to all the stake hold-ers?Our value additions are many, but ourcore competences area: Conceptualisa-
tion of the project, Fi-nancial Modelling,Brand Building andSale Realisation.
How have you man-aged to not just survivebut also thrive in suchdifficult economic en-vironment?V CORP is inflation-proof and recessionproof. We exist to helpmonetize the most"difficult" of projects.
Most of your projects are located in theNCR region, are you also looking at go-ing to other cities in India?V CORP services are available to all de-velopers in India and abroad.
What is the growth driver for VCORPand how do you plan to sustain it goingforward?Our growth drivers are our track recordof successful projects completed andthe amalgamation of the best "Part-ners" in the industry.
DR. KUNAL BANERJIGROUP ADVISOR, V CORP
R K ARORACMD SUPERTECH LIMITED
PROMOTION
14 indulge
ON THE 11th of October the firstInternational Day of the Girl Child was cel-ebrated across the world. In India, too, we
had the usual suspects releasing statements, attend-ing functions, organising events to mark the day.But surely the irony of celebrating a day dedicat-ed to the girl child could not have been lost on anyof us. Not when more than 500 women have beenraped since the beginning of the year in Haryanaalone (and that’s just the cases that have beenreported); when the figure for women being mar-ried off before they turned 18 stood at an astound-ing 60 per cent in Bihar; and when female foeti-cide is believed to have killed at least 10 milliongirls in the womb all across the country.
Yes, the girl child doesn’t really get much of abreak in India. If she escapes being aborted, shearrives into a world that regards her as a burden.She is much less likely to finish her primary edu-cation than her brothers. She will probably be mar-ried off even before she attains her majority. And when she getspregnant, the likelihood of her dying in childbirth is astonishinglyhigh (more than 65,000 women die giving birth in India every year– or, in other words, every 8-10 minutes a woman dies in child-birth), assuming of course that the pregnancy isnot terminated because she is carrying a girl childwho needs must die before she can be born.
And thus the vicious circle continues, suckingeach successive generation of women into its vor-
tex of despair.I know what you’re thinking. Why paint
such a bleak portrait of Indian womanhood?After all, there are plenty of women among uswho are valued and cherished by their fami-lies, who are brought up as valuable mem-bers of society, who are educated, who go onto have worthwhile careers, and are bothfinancially independent and socially secure.
Yes, of course, there are. And I numbermyself among them. But we are the lucky
ones, the minuscule minority who were for-tunate enough to be born into the right fami-lies and the right social class. If it wasn’t foran accident of birth, we could just as easilybe among the 35 per cent of women whoare not literate, the 47 per cent of womenwho are married off as minors, the 212 women in everylakh who die in childbirth because they don’t haveaccess to medical facilities, the 7,00,000 girls abortedevery year because they are simply the wrong sex.
When you think of the sheer numbers involved –considering that our population stands at 1 billionand counting – it’s clear just how bad things arefor women in India.
It doesn’t really matter that we’ve had a woman
President in Pratibha Patil or that the UPA is head-ed by Sonia Gandhi or that the leader of theOpposition in the Lok Sabha is Sushma Swaraj. Itis of no consequence that five states of the IndianUnion – Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh,Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh – have (or have had)women chief ministers (in Jayalalitha, MamataBanerjee, Mayawati, Vasundhara Raje and UmaBharati). Or that the world of finance has seen suchpower women as Chanda Kochhar and Naina LalKidwai running large institutions with aplomb. Oreven that we have produced such world-class sports-women as Mary Kom, Saina Nehwal and Sania Mirza.
All of these are achievements that must be cel-ebrated – as indeed they are – but there is noignoring the fact that these are exceptions that
provide a stark contrast to the trials and tribulations that ordi-nary Indian women have to suffer every day of their lives. Andthat they mean nothing to the mother living in a remote villagewho has to trek for miles every day to get drinking water for her
family; to the women who have no access to san-itary napkins let alone comprehensive healthcare; to the new bride who is harassed to deathby the dowry demands of her husband and in-laws; to the young girl who is first raped andthen told that she ‘asked’ for it; to the widow whois forced out of her family home and sent off toVrindavan to await death.
And it is particularly ironic that the UN is mark-ing the first International Day of the Girl Child bydrawing attention to the problem of child marriagesat a time when the khap panchayats in Haryanahave announced that girls should be married off ata young age so that they do not get raped (appar-ently, a mangalsutra also serves as a rapist-repel-lent in their strange, convoluted minds), a positionthat was rapidly adopted by such obscurantist polit-ical leaders as Om Prakash Chautala.
So, let’s not celebrate the International Day of theGirl Child just yet. Not until we have ensured thatevery girl in the womb gets a chance at life. Not untilwe have made the education of every young girl pos-
sible. Not until we have made provision for her health care throughmenstruation, pregnancy, child-rearing and menopause. Not untilwe have ensured that she gets paid the same wage for the samejob as her male co-worker. And not until we have made sure thatshe has the liberty to make her own life decisions.
Until then, we can mark the International Day of the Girl Childin our calendars – but let’s not dare to assume that we have anyright to celebrate it.
[email protected]. Follow Seema on Twitter at twitter.com/seemagoswami
THE REAL CHAMPWe have producedsuch world-classsportswomen as Mary Kom
MARKING THE DAYWe may wellacknowledgethe first InternationalDay of theGirl Child inIndia - butlet’s not dareassume thatwe have theright to celebrate it
The firstInternational
Day of theGirl Child
wascelebrated
on the 11th ofOctober
SeemaGoswami
spectator
DESPITE ALL ODDSOlympic medallist SainaNehwal’s story is an exception – in contrast tothe trials and tribulations ofordinary Indian womenPhoto: JASJEET PLAHA
Photo: THINKSTOCK
Photo: PRABHASROY
OCTOBER 21, 2012
ITHOUGHT I’D take a break from the stan-dard Rude Food this week and write aboutsomething that sounds like rhyming slang, butis actually a fast-growing movement in much
of the restaurant world: Dude Food. What, you may well ask, is Dude Food? Well, the
term has Australian origins and given that I ate myway through Sydney last month, that is probablywhy I’m so keen on the idea. But though Englishand American food writers are only just catchingon to the idea of Dude Food (it turned up in theLondon Sunday Times last month), I suspect thatthe philosophy has been around for a while.
To understand Dude Food, think of a fancy restau-rant with tablecloths, expensive crockery and hautecuisine. Now think of the exact opposite. That isDude Food. Think also of the food your parentsserved at parties at home. Dude Food is the exactopposite of that as well.
Dude Food is, as the name suggests, an essen-tially masculine cuisine consisting of simple, street-food-like dishes that are associated less with fullmeals or home cuisine than with snacks or quick bites at cafes orpavement stalls.
The quintessential Dude Food dish is the hamburger. The burg-er has always been a roadside dish, made popular by snack barsand casual restaurants. It is not haute cuisine and is rarely servedat fancy restaurants. If people do make it at home, it is either tofeed kids or because they cannot afford steak or a more expensivecut of meat and keema is the cheap option.
Over a decade ago, long before the term Dude Food had comeinto vogue, chefs seized on the hamburger as a simple, masculinedish which could be gentrified for expensive restaurants. At NewYork’s 21 Club, they kept the hamburger off the menu but suppliedit to knowledgeable insiders at fancy prices, usually without the
bun. (That scene in Wall Street where Michael Douglas tellsCharlie Sheen to order a hamburger before walking out of
the restaurant because ‘lunch is for wimps’, is set at21.) The theatrical restaurant Joe Allen copied the idea
of an off-menu hamburger at all of its branches. And that should have been that. Except
that the Michelin-starred chefs got inon the act.
Daniel Boulud did an overpriced hamburger athis DB Bistro Moderne in New York, throwing infoie gras and truffles – essentially a TournedosRossini made with minced beef and served on abun. Gordon Ramsay did his own version at London’sBoxwood Café with more foie gras. And so on.
The chefs followed one essential principle of DudeFood: take a simple masculine dish and elevate itwith imaginative touches. But they diverged fromwhat was to become Dude Food by trying to turna classic dish into poncy haute cuisine.
The current Dude Food movement tries to takethe hamburger away from McDonald’s, BurgerKing etc. But it stops well short of turning it intoa fancy, very expensive Michelin-starred dish. ADude Food hamburger will be made with goodquality meat, will be cooked medium rare, will
have enough beef for you to bite into it (unlike say the slenderMcDonald’s patty) and will be served on good bread. But therewill be no foie gras, no truffles and no overpriced nonsense.
Though the Australians claim the Dude Food name, the ideahas been floating around New York for a while. That city is nowbustling with upmarket burger joints. The great New York restau-rateur Danny Meyer has hit gold with his Dude Food-style ShakeShack chain. The Le Parker Meridien even has a burger jointthat takes the 21 off-menu burger idea a step further: you can’teven find the restaurant, which is hidden away in the hotel behinda curtain, unless you know where to look. (Yes I know it’s sillybut then, that’s New York!)
The burger-as-Dude-Food idea has come to London too with suchplaces as Burger & Lobster and Meat Liquor (both reviewed inthese columns some months ago) and such chains as Dylan’s. Theidea of American-style Dude Food flourishes in England with placeslike Pitt Cue Co. offering pulled pork sandwiches and Meat Markettaking the Meat Liquor formula forward.
But Dude Food goes beyond burgers. At one level, there areDude Food restaurants: consciously gritty places in unfashionableareas serving tacos, burritos, macaroni-cheese etc. The best known
Vir Sanghvi
rude fo
od
MADE IN MUMBAIYou can find elements of the Dude Food tradition in restaurants such as Bombay’s Café Zoe
DUDE, WHERE’SMY FOOD?Let’s find simple,snacky foodsthat Indianstruly enjoy,cook themwith highqualityingredientsand put themon restaurantmenus. It’stime forIndian DudeFood
16 indulge
THE FLAVOUR FACE-OFFIn the West,apart from burgers, DudeFood restaurants– consciouslygritty places in unfashionable areas – servetacos (right),burritos (left) andmacaroni-cheese
Photos: THINKSTOCK
PATTY PERFECTIONA Dude Food hamburgerwill be made with goodquality meat, will becooked medium rare, andwill have enough beef foryou to bite into it
of these is the faintly ridiculous Shrimpy’s opened on the site of apetrol pump in London’s King’s Cross. And all over New York, sim-ilar restaurants are mushrooming: no formal dining (often no prop-er tables), no standard three-course menus, basic (ie. usually rub-bish) service, no reservations (not always, but usually) and edgydécor. The menu consists of junk or comfort food dishes elevatedto something much more by the use of quality ingredients and theskill of the chef. You can usually tell a Dude Food restaurant by thequeue at the door: because it takes no bookings.
You could argue that David Chang’s hip Momofuku restaurantsin New York offer a fancier take on Dude Food; the famous porkbun seems pretty Dude Food-like to me except that one of theMomofukus now has two Michelin stars so Chang may not want toidentify himself with the term.
Dude Food, in the Western sense, has yet to come to India butyou find elements of the tradition in some of thenewer restaurants that have opened in Bombay:Café Zoe and the lunch menus at The Table andespecially at Ellipsis, where you even get a varia-tion on the Momofuku pork bun. (Café Zoe andThe Table have already been reviewed here; I’mworking on a review of Ellipsis, which I like a lot.)Delhi, however, seems to be lagging behind. Thetop openings of recent times (Chez Nini, Tres etc.)stick to more traditional styles of food.
No doubt the fashion for Dude Food will reachall of India sooner rather than later. But here’s myidea: why do we need to follow the West and doDude Food hamburgers in India? Why don’t wejust do Indian Dude Food?
This is not as difficult as it sounds. Think of all themasculine snack-type dishes that you like, which require a bareminimum of cooking brilliance to make. Let’s see: a good samosa ishard to find these days. A Nizam’s style kathi-kabab roll could dowith some polishing. What about Chicken 65, a great Southern dishthat strong men eat when they down their whiskies? How aboutthe shami kabab, a wonderful street snack that is now lost foreveras over-ambitious chefs try and make galoutis? Or even, how abouttandoori chicken? By that I don’t mean the flabby broiler paintedred with artificial food colour that you get at most restaurants buta nice juicy, tasty bird that comes out fresh from the bhatti.
I could go on and on. When is the last time you had a good ragdapattice in which the patty tasted of good quality potato and the‘khattash’ of the ragda filled your mouth? The stuffed parathas madeby most roadside guys have now deteriorated to the stage wherethey are just deep-fried in animal fat so that they have a crunchytexture. What I wouldn’t give to have a flaky paratha, filled withmelting keema or even chunky gobhi, soft in the right places andcrisp where it needs to be?
Even roadside egg dishes have now fallen into a rut of medi-ocrity. When I was in my teens, you could go to a dhaba and eatbhurji with rotis and have the meal of your life. Why can’t some-body make a great bhurji – or even a Parsi akuri, glinting withslivers of onion, little leaves of kothmir and tiny shards of chilli– with orange-yolked, free-range eggs? And what about the rail-
way station masala omelette, on which you smeared tomatoketchup and then ate with slices of white breadand oodles of Amul butter? Nobody bothers totake trouble over that any longer; not even at rail-way stations.
So here’s my plan: let’s throw away all those stan-dard Indian restaurant menus with their eight kindsof paneer, one navratan korma, six bakwas kababsand 12 oily chicken curries and go back to the thingspeople really want to eat.
Let’s find the simple, snacky foods that Indianstruly enjoy. Let’s cook them with high quality ingre-dients and let’s put them on restaurant menus.Speaking for myself, I know that I will be muchhappier to go to an Indian restaurant that servesme an authentic Nizam’s roll and a killer kulcha-
channa then I will be in some ghastly air-conditionedplace that pipes in filmi-type versions of ghazals and offers megreasy butter chicken and disgusting paneer pasanda.
It is time for Indian Dude Food. If the West can do it, thenwe can produce an even better version.
MALE ORDERNew York restaurateurDanny Meyer has hit goldwith his Dude Food-styleShake Shack chain (above,left). American-style Dudefood flourishes in Englandwith places like Pitt Cue Co(above) offering pulledpork sandwiches
What I wouldn’tgive to have aflaky paratha,
filled withmelting keemaor even chunky
gobhi, soft in theright places?
facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch 17
If the West can do the Dude, we can produce an even better version!
Why don’t we doIndian DudeFood? Howabout a Dudeversion of theshami kabab and Chicken 65(right), a dishthat strong meneat when theydown whiskies?
If you have any ideas for Indian Dude Food,write to us at [email protected]
or tweet us at htbrunch/twitter.com. We’ll include the best suggestions in the
next issue
THE GOOD STUFFThe keema paratha could well be part of Indian Dude Food
Photo: SHUTTERSTOCK
OCTOBER 21, 2012
IWAS VERY excited. A brand new LED TV.Huge, super thin, almost no bezel around thescreen, outstanding picture, eye-popping
colours, stunning picture quality, deep contrastand fantastic 3D too. I had it wall mounted and itbarely came out an inch from the wall. This wasa 65-inch masterpiece, pure art, a stunning show-case of just how much TV technology had pro-gressed. I set up my favourite movie, popped thepopcorn, placed a pitcher of ice tea on the sideand hit the play button – all set to be dazzled.
HUH?The opening sequence started, the visuals werebig and beautiful and the sound was... Huh? Thesound was like a pipsqueak! The lion’s roar waslike a mouse bellowing in constipated pain, thedeafening roll of thunder was a wimpy gasp andthat amazing loud thump of gunfire – nothingmore than little blips. The sound was pitiful. Notbeing one to give up – I fired up the menu andwent right into the audio section. There it was –the problem. Bass and Treble were almost zero,Loudness was switched off and it wasn’t in Moviemode either. There – all done. Time to rock theroom! Restart executed, deafening sound await-ed, the movie starts from the beginning, the visu-als are again stunning and the sound is a muffledjumble of nothing. The constipated bellowing and the pipsqueakinghad only become worse. This wasn’t a problem with just this TV,this was a universal phenomenon. Welcome to the world of stun-ningly thin, amazing visual and terrible audio TVs.
NO SPACE FOR SOUNDTV technology has advanced dramatically. From the time of thosethick, fat CRT clunkers to today’s thin wall art-style displays –everything has improved. Except for one thing – the sound!Today’s anorexic and painfully thin TVs have neither the spacenor the technology to pull off good sound. Inside those thin frames,there’s barely enough space to put in all the screen components– sound is always an afterthought. Which is why your state-of-the-art TV still sounds worse than your R500 computer speak-ers. TV audio sucks and sucks big time.
A NEW JOURNEYWhich is why it was time to embark on another quest. I neededgreat sound in my room to go with this great albeit sound-chal-
lenged TV. What I didn’t need was aplethora of extra AV equipment, nor uglywires transversing all across. It was timeto enter the domain of the sound bars.
Now this is a category on fire! It didn’t exist tilla few years ago and has only come about due to TVs going
thin in size and sound. Ironically most sound bars are made bythe very companies that make TVs and refuse to put in bettersound inside. Without cribbing and whining about the fact that Iwas going to be paying extra for what should have come built in,I embarked on my new audio adventure.
THE BASICSLet’s keep this simple. Despitethe fact that most companieswill try and dazzle you with
a lot of techie jargon and rocket science features– sound bars are basically speakers encased in asingle box and come in two categories. Active;which basically means that the amplification isbuilt in and all you have to do is plug in your TVand off it goes. And Passive; where you do needan amp or a receiver for it to fire up the sound.Then there are those that come with a subwooferand those that have that built into the same box.Drilling down further, subwoofers can be wire-less or wired. My quest was already in place andthus it had to be an active sound bar (can’t imag-ine having a huge AV receiver in my bedroom),with a serious subwoofer (I need my bass to thumpand my gunfire to rattle my ribs) and if external– the subwoofer had to be wireless. Most compa-nies claim that a single box will give you fantas-tic surround sound that is equal to having a 5.1 or7.1 speaker system planted all over your room bythrowing sound off walls and the roof as well asadding artificial delays. Take that claim with apinch of salt. At best – you can get great soundwith the central dialogue enhanced. Here’s wheremy quest led me.■ Pioneer SB510: Speakers and the subwooferinside the box, HDMI plus a USB port, and even anacoustic calibration system built in with suppliedmicrophone. Sound was good, the bass was okay
and the HDMI is a great idea. ■ Yamaha YHT-S401: This is the company that started the wholeidea of simulated surround sound from a single box. But most ofthe time you need an external amplifier with a Yamaha sound bar.This one is a bit of a compromise as a digital amp is part of the pack-age, and has the subwoofer in it too. It claims 7.1 pseudo surround,but I was happy that it sounded clean and true. ■ Boston Acoustics TVee Model 30: Boston Acoustics adds a twist to its 3.1 speaker bar. It adds Bluetooth – so you can pair anyphone or tablet and play all your music directly from it. Also greatis an optical audio in, a separate setting for music and movies, and a great thumping bass from its wireless subwoofer – with nomuddiness.■ Polk Audio IHT 3000: A nice-looking bar with a solid wirelesssubwoofer; this one gave some fantastic sound and a tight cleanbass. It also tried its best to generate some real surround. Can bewall-mounted or kept on a table. ■ Samsung HW-D570: This box is bigger and longer than mostand also has a separate wired iPhone dock. The subwoofer is pret-ty big and is wireless. Only two speakers inside the box, thus thecentre channel didn’t have very clean separation.
Finally, the lion truly roared, the thunder was thunderous andthe gunfire thumped my chest hard and true. This is what my big,beautiful TV should have done in the first place. Still, a sound baris great for much more than just attaching to your TV – as I alsoplay music and Internet radio off it. Now which one of these ‘test’
pieces am I going tokeep? I’ll let you knowafter the movie is over!
Rajiv Makhni is managingeditor, Technology, NDTV,and the anchor of Gadget
Guru, Cell Guru and Newsnet3. Follow Rajiv on Twitter at
twitter.com/RajivMakhni
OCTOBER 21, 2012
Rajiv Makhni
techilicious
18 indulge
HEY GOOD LOOKING! The Polk surround barhelps turn your ordinaryTV watching experienceinto a movie theatre feel
HEAR AND NOW The wireless subwooferand iPhone dock makethe Samsung HW-D570a must on your wish list
AN EAR FULL The Pioneer SB510 has a subwoofer and will give yougood sound, but the bass is just about okay
Today’sanorexic TVsdon’t havethe space ortechnologyto pull offgood sound.It’s time toenter the domain ofthe soundbars
S UND FROM HELL
SURROUND SOUND The subwoofer ofBoston Acoustics hasgreat thumping bass
AROUND 10 days back, my colleague inLondon mailed me a link with a short notethat simply said “Yes they are back! And
I can die in peace”. The link was to a lyric video(the kind where you can read the lyrics while lis-tening to the song) of The Rolling Stones’ latestnew single, Doom And Gloom. And the note frommy colleague who’s obviously a huge Stones fanbesides being an erstwhile (or, is he still one?) bass slapper himself, is an example of how much diehard Stones fans love the50-year-old band.
The single, Doom And Gloom, is one of the only twonew songs that the Stones’ 50th anniversary compi-lation album (to be released in November), GRRR!,will have, and it’s an archetypal rock and roll song,full of exuberance and suited to foot stomping. Thelyrics are a bit blah, but then whoever said that theStones are known for the quality of their lyrics –it’s the attitude, the vibe and, well, the Rolling Stone-ness that makes the long-lasting band what it is.
The other notable 50th anniversary earlier this monthwas that of the first single (Love Me Do) from The Beatles,the Stones’ more famous but much shorter-lived compatriotsand contemporaries. I read quite a few features and commentson Love Me Do’s 50th birthday, but none was as nostalgic andnice as Anant Rangaswami’s piece in Firstpost (50 years of Beatles’Love me do: Keep it simple, stupid). Like Rangaswami, I was alsovery, very young when I first heard songs by The Beatles, one of
the very few pop songs that were played in ahousehold where the musical fare was predomi-nantly Western and Indian classical and, the cityof my childhood being Calcutta, the de rigueurdosage of Rabindra Sangeet.
But as soon as one grew up to be old enoughto make one’s own musical choices, I quicklyswitched allegiance from The Beatles to TheRolling Stones, a good future trading call becausethe Stones have outlived The Beatles. And how!Yet, as I’ve grown older and, as the size, rangeand depth of the rock and pop music smorgas-bord has grown to incredible dimensions offer-ing nearly infinite choices, I find some of the Stones’more recent releases not nearly as memorable as
their earlier albums. So although Doom And Gloom has an upbeatvibe to it, I know I’m probably not going to reach out for it the
next time I crave for a bit of Stones. It’ll probably be Let ItBleed (1969) or Exile On Main St. (1972), or even Goats
Head Soup (1973). Remember Angie?Perhaps because of the new single from the Stones
and the pieces I read about Love Me Do, I got a bitnostalgic about music most of last week. I picked outa vinyl version of David Bowie’s concept album fromthe early 1970s, The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust
And The Spiders From Mars and heard it twice, back-to-back. Then I dipped into Blind Faith’s (1969) only
album, also on vinyl and also called just Blind Faith, andon which one of rock’s best supergroups (Eric Clapton, Ginger
Baker, Rick Grech and Steve Winwood) does some incredible thingsin just 42 minutes and 12 seconds.
Serendipitously, on my nostalgic musical trip, I discovered anew podcast that had some really rare old gems. The reputedmusic blog, Aquarium Drunkard, has just launched a podcastcalled Sidecar, which, on the lines of the blog itself, is a collec-tion of eclectic tracks on each episode, aggregating to around 27-30 minutes. The first four episodes had some really great nuggets.I heard the late Alex Chilton (American songwriter and singer)do a version of the Stones Jumpin’ Jack Flash; and, after many,many years, the maverick British rocker who called himselfScreaming Lord Sutch, do a track called Flashing Light. Therewere The Shadows (remember them?) doing Scotch on the Socks;The Kinks doing a demo version of I Go To Sleep; and severalother bands that I’d never heard before. As for The Beatles, youshould check out The Motions (a band comprising three lawyersand a computer guy) doing a medley made up of lyrics from theseveral Beatles’ tracks. It’s called Beatle Drums. Sidecar – I’mhoping Aquarium Drunkard will keep that podcast going.
To give feedback, stream or download the music mentioned in this column, go tohttp://blogs.hindustantimes.com/download-central, follow argus48 on Twitter
SanjoyNarayan
down
load c
entral
The Beatles’single, LoveMe Do. Andit’s the iconicRollingStones’ golden anniversarytoo!
THE JUKEBOX
If you listen/watch Toronto trio Metz’s official video for their song Wet Blanket,
you get an idea of what this band is allabout. Their music is heavy, punk-influencedrock that’s designed to knock you right offyour feet. If you’ve been overdosing on allthose wimpy, singer-songwriter-drivenmelancholia-lacedstuff that has beenroutinely floating tothe top of the indiemusic pile these days,Metz may be just theantidote for you. Metzhave been around fora while but it’s onlynow that they’vereleased their firstfull-length album alsocalled Metz. Wellworth a listen.
GUESS WHOTURNED FIFTY?
FAME FADING FASTThe Beatles, though, weremore famous but muchshorter-lived contempo-raries of The Rolling Stones
WORTH THE WAITThe Rolling Stones’ new albumGRRR! releases this November
20 hindustantimes.com/brunchindulge
OCTOBER 21, 2012
THE VIBE MATTERSThe attitude andthe RollingStone-nessmake the bandwhat it is
Phot
os: G
ETTY
IMAG
ES
22
LET ME begin with a confes-sion: I am the most chicken-hearted, lily-livered scaredy-catI know. I am afraid of every-
thing and anything: dark rooms,being alone in a house, imaginarynoises, barking street dogs, cows whostare at me without reason. Let’s justsay, if I was at Hogwarts, I wouldn’tfind a spot in Gryffindor. Yet,bizarrely, I am a horror-movie afi-cionado. I’ve spent years watchingassorted ghosts wreak havoc inassorted places.
But here’s the question: if youwatch a marathon of horror flicks,do you reach a point when you stopbeing scared and feel a sense of‘been there, seen that’? Armed withthis theory, I decided to watch fivehorror movies back-to-back.
Not having mustered enoughcourage to watch it alone, I askmy sister for company (and anarm to cling to!). A younglawyer arrives at the isolatedEel Marsh manor, where othervillagers fear to tread. On hisfirst visit, he spots a woman in
head-to-toe black. “She looks likeSnape,” says my sister and we gig-gle. But soon, we are on tenterhooks.A hand appears at the window onscreen and I shriek. The middle isscarier than the end, but ghostshave no ethics, I discover. Try tohelp them, and they kill you anyway.Feeling a bit cheated, I move on tomovie two.
I decide to watchthe scary Thai orig-inal instead of thepale Hollywoodremake. Tun, aphotographer, and his girlfriendJane accidentally run over a girl andtrouble begins. The girl’s ghoststarts appearing mysteriously in alltheir photographs. The next half-hour is a blur of chilling scenes.Scared stiff, I have to duck behind apillow. As the story unfolds, I am onthe ghost’s side who is only avengingher brutal death. The last image isso haunting, I get rattled and need abreak. Fortified by food and scenesfrom a rom-com, I return to myexperiment.
The Grudge startspromisingly enough.There’s a hauntedhouse, two people die in the first 15minutes and there is a mysteriouslittle boy. There are two ghosts, so itshould be twice the frights. Instead,when the ghosts appear, I findmyself saying, “Really?” Pleased atmy newly-discovered bravado, I con-tinue to ‘meh’ and ‘blah’ through therest of the movie. Perhaps it is true,after a while, you stop being scaredand become numb to the theatrics.Or perhaps it’s because the Grudgebhoots are so B-grade and lame andhave terrible make-up.
It’s dusk outside,the house is quietand the curtainsare closed. I am,however, feelingmighty plucky.The film begins.It’s based on a true story, the open-ing credits inform me. I snort inderision. Halfway through, thingsare pretty ho-hum. Just as I am feel-
ing smuglyunafraid, the moviepicks up pace. When theprotagonist is dragged out of herbed by an apparition, I am scaredout of my wits. All my bluster disap-pears… like a ghost.
Thoroughly spooked, Isoldier on to my lastmovie. I do a mentalcount of all the horrors I just wit-nessed and figure there’s not muchleft in any coffin. At the centre of thestory is a strange box, a possessedgirl and lots of insects. I can’t shakeoff the feeling of ‘same old, sameold’. After the fright from the lastmovie, I have become immune tolesser thrills and chills. Even thehigh-decibel exorcism leaves meunderwhelmed.
Horror movies use the standardbag of tricks, but it’s your over-active imagination that actuallyscares you. The trick is to remindyourself that the blood is justketchup. And the ghost is really arather cute Japanese kid.
10:30am THE WOMAN IN BLACK
12:50pmSHUTTER
3:00pm THE GRUDGE
6:00pmPARANORMAL ACTIVITY
8:15pmTHE POSSESSION
ghostseekers
After a marathon of horror movies,are you a mass of nerves and shivers?Or just a bored seen-it-all? by Zehra Kazmi
There’s A Ghost In Your TV Im
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g: M
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THIS IS an addictive show.Supernatural fans will knowwhat I mean, but for cluelesssouls, here’s a brief description.
This series tells the compelling storyof two brothers, Sam and DeanWinchester, who drive around mid-west America in a classic black ’67Chevy Impala, hunting evil supernat-ural beings. Together, they’ve killedall manner of spirits and demons;they’ve been to heaven, hell and pur-
gatory; they’ve died and come back tolife many times – and they’ve lookedridiculously sexy all through.
So the number one reason youshould watch this show is that itprobably has the best-looking castyou’ll find on any show. Dean isplayed by the strikingly handsomeJensen Ackles who looks especiallylethal when he’s in badass mode (readshooting and stabbing monsters todeath – and the body count can get
quite high), and Sam by the tall, long-haired Jared Padalecki.
Reason number two is that apartfrom hot men, there is also a very hotcar which is a character by itself. Yes,the aforesaid Impala, Dean’s ‘baby.’The car has been in crashes, it’s beenthrough hard times (in one of the
early episodes, an angry Dean takesout his rage by hitting it repeatedlywith an iron rod), but it’s alwaysroared back to life, streaking downhighways and country roads to thesound of great rock numbers likeBorn to be Wild by Steppenwolf.
Which brings me to reason num-ber three: the show’s awesome clas-sic rock soundtrack. An example ofhow rock music is used in the show:Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbitplays out as a brutal killing takesplace, the song’s magnificent crescen-do coinciding with the victim’s dyingparoxysms (hair-raising).
And the last – but most important– reason to watch Supernatural isbecause it’s actually not about horrorat all. It’s about (a) the close but com-plex bond between the two brothersand (b) how the constant hunting ofevil things affects them and theirlives. Dean is the classic protectiveolder brother. Sam strains against theleash and has often strayed into thedark side. For all his toughness, Deanis a vulnerable guy, struggling withlow self-esteem (serious daddyissues) and deep guilt.
If all this sounds very heavy, itisn’t. Because one of the best thingsabout Supernatural is its smart, sar-castic humour. You’ll laugh too.
facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch
Four reasons why Supernatural is thehorror show to watch on TV (exceptthat it’s not really a horror show) by Poonam Saxena
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HOT OR WHAT?Jensen Ackles (on the left) plays DeanWinchester and Jared Padalecki is Sam,and that’s the deadly ’67 Chevy Impala
AXN will be showing Season 8 of Supernaturallater this month. But ideally, you should see all the previous seasons before watching this one
The Demon HuntersThe Demon Hunters
ghostseekers
OCTOBER 21, 2012
If you could, which film would youhave picked as your debut?I couldn’t have asked for anything better than Jannat 2.Sexiest actors in Bollywood?Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Deepika Padukoneand Ranbir Kapoor.One classic you would have loved tobe a part of.Khuda Gawah.Bollywood’s most romantic pair?
Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol.The scene in Raaz 3 that still
haunts you?The cockroach
sequence.An item number you
would love to do?Munni badnaamhui.Which body partwould you get
insured?My waist.
One song that describes yourcurrent state of mind.
I’m sexy and I know it.Which do you prefer – a little blackdress or a black sari?A black sari.A rumour you’d like to start?None.If you were the editor of a magazine
for a day, who would you put on
the cover?My mother.The gadget you love to flaunt.I don’t really flaunt any gadget, but I am loving myNokia Lumia.Your favourite mobile application?City Lens.Your dream destination?Colombia.Who is your 3am friend?Nidhi Parmar.What’s on your bedside table?Water, lip balm and books.Three cosmetics you can’t do without.Just mascara and lip balm aregood enough.The best car for a road trip?I would love to take a road tripacross Italy in an Aston MartinS Coupe.What makes your day?A good workout session.The sexiest car you want todrive?A Porsche 911. Too good.You destress with?Chocolate.The last line of your autobiographywould read…She came, she conquered,she left.
—Interviewed by Veenu Singh
26 PERSONAL AGENDA
SUN SIGNSagittarius
BIRTHDAYNov 28
SCHOOL/COLLEGEBlue Bells International, NewDelhi, and ManipalUniversity
PLACE OFBIRTHNew Delhi
Actress
HIGH POINTOF YOUR LIFE Right now
CURRENTLY DOINGPromoting Chakravyuh and hosting NatGeo’s Supercars
Esha Gupta
THE FILM YOU HAVE SEENMORE THAN FIVE TIMES?
Dilwale Dulaniya LeJayenge
A MOVIE THAT WAS PARTOF YOUR CHILDHOOD?
Jurassic Park
THE FIRST MOVIEYOU SAW ON THEBIG SCREEN?
FIRST BREAKThe Miss India pageant
HOMETOWNDelhi
the movies she likes...
Pineapple Express, Andaz Apna Apna
THE MOST PAISAVASOOL FILM?Paan SinghTomar
A DESSERT THATDESCRIBES YOU.Tiramisu
LOW POINT OF YOUR LIFENot here yet
