WEEKLY MAGAZINE, MARCH 25, 2012Free with your copy of Hindustan Times

VIR SANGHVISouthern spice

RAJIV MAKHNIThe wire-free challenge

SANJOY NARAYANYardbirds revisited

SEEMA GOSWAMI That dreaded ‘A’ wordindulge

Survivethe heatWardrobe rulenumber one:Less is more

DeepfreezeWhere celebs go to chill

SneakpeaksThe essential reading list ofmountain books

‘Thegreatestrapper’Why AkshayKumar lovesEminem

Having spent decadesin dowdy swimsuits,

it’s about time!

MARCH 25, 2012

4 WATC H O UT FO R

25.03.2012

Talk to us! We promise to respond to yourfeedback, good or bad. Send us messages,post on our Facebook wall and commenton our web links. If you didn’t get yourweekly Brunch, worry not. We uploadeverything (and more) on our Facebookpage. So, what are you waiting for? Log onto ffaacceebbooookk..ccoomm//hhiinndduussttaannttiimmeessbbrruunncchh

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Split-Screen gone wrong

When Farhan met Sonam

The Brunch Blogs

ErratumIn the story (The Other Voices, March11), I wrongly identified singershreyaghoshal.com as ShreyaGhoshal’s blog – it is actually a blogrun with her permission by a fan. MsGhoshal has since confirmed to methat she does not have an officialblog. The fault is mine alone and Iapologise for it. Also, as a result, Ms Ghoshal’s name is no longer onthe list of entertainment bloggers.

– Mahesh Murthy

We’ve given our Facebookpage a hot, sassymakeover. Like it? Then,go right ahead and ‘ ’ it to join the BigBrunch Party...

Sometimes, even though actors put in theirbest, the film turns out to be pathetic. Readaward-winning writer/filmmaker GautamChintamani’s latest post on what happenswhen a good actor meets a bad film. ReadSSpplliitt--SSccrreeeenn every Friday online!

Actors Farhan Akhtar andSonam Kapoor steam up thecover of the latest issue ofBrunch Quarterly. Since wecouldn’t possibly print all theabsolutely gorgeous picturesof the never-seen-together-

before duo, we decided to create a photo galleryand upload the best of the exclusive shoot online.

Drop a line atbrunchletters@

hindustantimes.comor to 18-20 Kasturba Gandhi

Marg, New Delhi 110001

EDITORIAL: Poonam Saxena (Editor), AasheeshSharma, Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi, Mignonne Dsouza,

Veenu Singh, Parul Khanna Tewari, Yashica Dutt,Pranav Dixit, Amrah Ashraf, Saudamini Jain

DESIGN: Ashutosh Sapru (National Editor Design),Swati Chakrabarti, Rakesh Kumar, Ashish Singh, Saket

Misra, Suhas Kale, Shailendra Mirgal, Monica Gupta

Cover design: ASHISH SINGHCover photo: PARIKHIT PAL

FOR SHRIVAN-NARRESH

new!

This week, read Of Red Lipsticks and Crystal Glasses byYashica Dutt. On fashion and Hollywood pop culture.

BRUNCH ON THE WEBhindustantimes.com/brunch

SPECTATORThat traumatic moment whenyou realise you are middle aged

RUDE TRAVELHotels in South India haveevolved — and how

DOWNLOAD CENTRALThe Yardbirds: a platform forClapton, Beck, Page

TECHILICIOUSPart two of the wire-free challenge: how to get rid of the wires in your home

Write in, the best letterevery week can win you aSHOPPING voucher worth

R2,500!!

inboxLETTER OFTHE WEEK!

Get out of my kitchen!YOUR STORY (Where No Man Has Gone Before,March 18) may tempt women to push their husbands into the kitchen. I warn them of the unpleasant consequences. My husband fancieshimself as a five star chef and constantly pointsout “flaws” in my cooking. On Sundays, he forgets his promises to take the kids out and invites his buddies (without consulting me) because these freeloaders are ardent fans of hisculinary skills. My advice: NEVER ALLOW YOURHUSBAND TO ENTER THE KITCHEN.

— NEHA MEHTA, via emailNeha wins a shopping voucher worth `2,500! Congrats

This week’s edition welcomes all that’s goodabout summer: bikinis,celeb travel plans, and a little warm weatherguide. Here’s to sunshineon our shoulders!

SummerSpecial

Less is more this summer, but only if you choose theright clothes and accessoriesto structure your look. Here’s the definitive guideby Amrah Ashrafillustrations by Rahul Krishnan

MARCH 25, 2012

8 FASHION

Warm Weather Kit

DARK COLOUREDCOTTON FORMALJACKET

TAN SHOES, BELTAND WATCHSTRAP

Pointedshoes inrustto matchthe belt

FORMAL KURTAAND WAISTCOAT

Denim jeans without wash andfade technique

MUST HAVES INA GUY’SWARDROBETHIS SUMMER

A GOODWHITE SHIRT

A Europeancut shirt incrisp cotton is amust have

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3A TROPICALLINEN SUITIt’s formal, it’s casual and its totally cool

5

A DARK COATED DENIM WITH ASUPER FIT

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2

A detailed leatherbelt perhaps in aCoca Cola rust colourwith a small buckle

A hat is apt for an afternoon event likea Derby. A compactstraw hat with a partridge feathercould do the trick

A pair of sunglasses with achrome feel thatwould reflect thesun fashionably

NECK ACCESSORYA beautifully designedsilver chain with a smallmemento in silveraround the neck pairedwith a black leatherstring ‘Tabeez’ locket

OTHER ACCESSORIESA small push sliderBlackBerry 9810 Torch.Well designed business cards on bio-degradable paperLast but not the least, agood splash of spicycologne by Ralph Lauren or Armani

DAPPER HOMME

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Smell goodExcessive alcohol and aerateddrinks will dehydrate your skin.Drink a glass of warm water withlime juice and honey first thing inthe morning to flush toxins out ofyour body and prevent dark circles

Use a long lasting alcohol freedeo roll-on, followed by a generous spray of a good antiperspirant. Use mild but longlasting fragrance with a hintof orange and lemon essence

Care for your hairUse a mild daily shampoo. Condition thrice a week. Use water-based gels to styleyour hair. This prevents thepores on our scalp from getting blocked. TryL’Oreal Professional and L’Oreal Homme

HEYGOODLOOKIN’USE A FACE WASH INSTEADOF SOAP: It removes surfacegrease, oil and pollution fromthe skin. Most face washescome with exfoliating beadsthat will leave your skin looking and feeling buffed,fresh and hydrated. Neutrogena, Palmolive andFiama make some good formulations.

USE A FACE MASK ONCE AWEEK: Clay-based maskstighten the skin, unblockclogged pores and keep yourskin looking both fresher andyounger. Use natural and organic products. Tea treeface mask by Lotus Herbals isreally good, as are productsfrom Forest Essentials.

PREVENT OUTBREAKS: Drinka minimum of four litres aday and reduce your intakeof fried, oil rich and spicyfood, especially if you areprone to frequent skin breakouts. Use an astringentthrice a week – ideally at theend of the day. Astringentshave antiseptic propertiesand drastically reduce pimples, blemishes andacne. They also help cleanclogged pores, removestickiness, excessive oil andaccumulated dirt from thesurface of the skin.

PREVENT SKIN CRACKING:Use a water-based moisturiser every night on aclean face. Rest assured, youwill wake up to soft, suppleand hydrated skin. If youhave chapped lips, use an effective lip balm before yousleep. Make this part of yourdaily routine. I personallylike the moisturisers fromShiseido, Clarins and Jergens.–Yatan Ahluwalia is India’s leadingimage consultant, style columnistand specialist on men’s skin, hair

and grooming

4GINGHAM BLUE CHECKERED SEERSUCKERCOTTON JACKET

Inputs from Raghavendra Rathore, fashion designer

Watch what you drink

hindustantimes.com/brunch

SummerSpecial

10 twitter.com/HTBrunchFASHION

MARCH 25, 2012

MUST HAVES INA GIRL’SWARDROBETHIS SUMMER

Cat sunglasses –are an absolute must

Breezy floorlength dressesare essentialthis summer.Look for all overor placementfloral prints.Geometric andarchitecture-inspired ones.Lightweight cottons andsilks are thebest options.Whites withpastels workwonderfully ondresses. Playwith the hemline

Fedoras are perfect thissummer. Apart fromhats, corsages are veryendearing – go for allsorts of flowers

The coolest thing to dothis summer is to sport interesting pants. Wearfront-pleated taperedpants with a cool print or embroidery. No longer dopants need to be boringand viewed as just supporting silhouettes.Find yourself interestingcoloured pants with funkymotifs.The best length would beankle length. Colours tochoose would be burntmustard, tangerine, indigoblue, red, hyacinth blue,grass green, honey and ofcourse black

You definitelyneed a fully sequined eveningjacket. A bit ofglimmer is alwayswelcome forevenings. Team afully sequinedevening jacketwith well-tailoredpalazzos

You must have handbagsin the solid colours ofthe season. Somecolours you must ownthis summer are yellow,tangerine, indigo blue,grass green, poppy redand Tiffany blue

Statement waistcoat Get interesting statementwaistcoats to go with shirtsand ankle length pants withfunky prints, embroidery,texture, wash or silhouettedetail. Colour blocking is stillbig, so think contrastingcolours

Breezy officewear WELL TAILORED cottonshirts with palazzos orfront pleated taperedpants are a must-havethis summer. Obviously office wearcan’t be too garish, butallow one colour topop out. Do it subtlywith your bag, a scarfor even cute colourfulshoes. Invest in interestingseparates. Mix and match is thekey. Spruce up yourlook with summery accessories like hairbands and clips. Some colours you cango for this summer areburnt yellow,tangerine, aubergine,acid green and honey.Stay away from theusual suspects likeblack, brown and grey.

Brogues or oxfords arethe hot show silhouettes.These work not only withday wear but can also betaken into evening wear.Opt for printed or solidcolours for the day

AND, FOR YOUR POOCH...If you think summer isharsh on you, thinkabout your pet. Whileyou cool your heels bythe pool sipping on afrosty drink, your furryfriend also needs asmuch cooling as youdo. Here are someideas to help your dogbeat the heat

DOGGIE GOGGLES:He might hate it atfirst but once hegets used to them,doggie goggles willbecome his bestfriend. He will beable to run aroundand jump into poolswithout damaginghis eyes in the heat.

COOLING PADS: Giveyour furry friend a cooland comfortable bed tosleep on. Go for a coolwater bed but makesure it’s rip-resistant. USE COLD WIPES: Wipeyour dog with coldwipes with a splash ofeucalyptus to keep himclean and cool.

BANDANAS: Your dogmay object to this atfirst but if you can tiea bandana around hishead or neck, it willsave him from theharsh sun outside. Butif he resists too much,then avoid it. And remember to removeit once he’s in.

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FEMME FATALE

With inputs from Nida Mahmood, fashion designer

Get funkybandanas for

your pet

Charu, Mumbai based pet stylist and activist

Pretty oriental hand fans make everyone look sexy. Try making battery operated ones look hot.

Photo courtesy http://www.petco.com/

Photo courtesy: http://www.bonniedogs.co.uk/

MARCH 25, 2012

HAVING PUT off swimmingfor most of my teenage andearly 20s, I finally decided todip a diffident toe in a pool

last year. Not that I was scared ofwater or plagued by the horrors of achlorinated and a urinated (I try notthink about that!) public pool, but itwas the sticky issue of the swimmingcostume that plagued my aquatichorror story. Growing up on a healthydiet of Baywatch and FTV MidnightHot segments, the idea of wearinganything other than a two-piece/high-cut scarlet red swimsuit seemed sac-rilegious. So, I waited it out to achievethe ‘bikini-ready’ body. Did it pan outas planned? Umm, No! And I wassoon in the frumpiest swimsuit on theplanet, with a little froufrou attachedto the bottom. But I wasn’t alone, aseven the svelte water babes dressedas embarrassingly at the poolside.Clearly Indians didn’t do bikinis.

Or that’s what you’d think, if youmanage to dodge the countless‘Beachy Fun’ Facebook albumswhere every second woman wears abikini, even if peeping slightly fromunder a frayed, loose T-shirt.

However, the quickly climbing two-piece sales by resort wear designersShivan & Narresh and Zivame.com, alingerie online store, would point tothe contrary. “Indian girls wear bikinis when they vacation abroad orin Goa. The maximum sales for ourbikinis happen in the winter which ishoneymoon season and the favouredtime to holiday at global resortsminus the family,” says Zivame.com

Are Indian Girls

Ready?

What else are thegruelling hours inthe gym, painfultummy tucks andthe two-pieceshopping for?by Yashica Dutt

12 COVER STORY

What Kingfisher CalendarGirl SAIYAMI KHER did toget into a bikini:■ Ran for more than 10 kmevery single day!■ Gymmed for one and ahalf hours daily with lightweight-lifting exercises:three times more than shedid on a regular basis■ Having represented Maharashtra in the sportearlier, played badmintonwhenever possible to keepherself toned and pursuean activity outdoors■ Gave up chocolates and sweets entirely, something she says shecan’t live without. Evenavoided rice and rotis andsurvived just on veggies.■ Knocked off more than 5 kilos and several inchesin just one month!■ Felt amazing about herself, no matter what!

PHOTOGRAPHER – ATUL KASBEKAR FOR KINGFISHER CALENDAR – 2012, SRI LANKA

Poster Girl

SummerSpecial

CEO Richa Kar. “In summer though,we end up selling a lot of tankinis,shorts and single-piece swimsuits. It’sthe time when women take up swimming, often in apublic space,” she adds.

Dropping inhibitionsabroad seems easierthan in India, where a little skin show is stilldiscomforting. “I weara single-piece swimsuitin Delhi, even though Iown a bikini, onlybecause men still can’thandle the dangerouspoolside combinationof booze, water andsexy women. I wish Icould wear it without being seen aslooking for unnecessary attention,”says Samhita Tanti, a communications professional.

THE NEW SUMMER SONG You can’t be ‘summer ready’ armedwith just with a bottle of sunscreenlotion any longer. It now involvescarefully calibrated preparations

that start right after the party-excess December.

Six months before her honey-moon, for instance, Manvi

Khandelwal, 29, aMumbai-based software professional,took to the treadmill. “Ihit the gym six days aweek for an hour a dayand regulated my diet.Not just that, I also gotregular massages, tookfull-body scrubs andmade sure my skin wasabsolutely smooth forthe big reveal.” Not only do girls thronggyms with a vengeance,

the friendly neighbourhood cosmeticsurgeon is also getting popular. DrAnup Dhir, a surgeon with Delhi’sApollo Hospital, says women comefor breast augmentation and tummytucks in March and April to get inshape for a bikini. “Sometimes, I alsoget requests for chemical peels forthe butt to make it fairer andsmoother.”

ARE BIKINIS BAD?Kareena won’t do it again, Katrinamight, Rani will go half-way, Bipashaand Lara won’t eat for days andAnushka will field accusations ofanorexia once she does it. But it’s notjust the Bollywood brigade and ‘Page3 types’ in metropolitan cities whofancy flaunting a bikini. Every tenthcollection piece that designer duoShivan & Narresh sell is a bikini and many of these are in towns such asNagpur and Raipur.

With a little obvious help fromBollywood’s growing obsession withbeach scenes and TV shows like theKingfisher Calendar Girl Hunt, thetwo-piece is grabbing more eyeballsthan ever, thus shifting the bikini toborderline normalcy.

Atul Kasbekar, photographer forthe Kingfisher Calendar, agrees thatit isn’t taboo to wear a bikini anymore. “Earlier, it was only the villain’s moll who used to slip into apair smiling lasciviously at the pool-side. Now A-list actresses donningbikinis have conditioned people.”

But can a bikini dare overstep theboundary of an absolutely rippedbody? Certainly, says designerAnupama Dayal, who regularly sendsout models in bikinis and believeswearing one has less to do with having a perfect body and more withone’s attitude. “One of the girls in myproduction team, who isn’t the regular model size by any stretch ofimagination, recently ended up lend-ing a few of her bikinis to slendermodels who didn’t own a single pair!”

Still not convinced? We suggestyou Google real Brazilian women.And don’t say we didn’t warn you.

FIT TO SHOW SKINWhile attitude and comfort can takeyou places, a little sartorial advice isnever wasted when trying a bikini.Vogue India’s fashion director AnaitaShroff Adajania says bikinis suit theIndian body type but you can stilltweak them to look perfect . “Sincewe’re already used to showing ourmidriff and back with saris, Indianwomen are an almost natural fit fora bikini. Wear a high-cut to elongateyour legs and the right bikini top to support your bosom.”

Ultimately, if you’re still lookingfor the answer to our question: It’s abig, resounding, curvaceous YES!But we are still waiting to beinspired for the ‘Indian Man Readyfor the Bikini’ edition!

yashica.dutt@hindustantimes.com

MARCH 25, 2012

facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch 13

Wait! Don’t gorge on that ice cream if you’re trying to slip into a teeny bikini. Swap ice cream for frozen yogurt. You’ll thank us!

HOW HOT ARETHEY? YOU SAY!

Bikinis bydesigner duo

Shivan &Narresh are

popular evenin towns likeNagpur and

Raipur

ORANGE BOMBSHELLHalle Berry in Die Another Day.If you survive tillthen, that is!

BOBBY BABYSparking amillion adolescentdreams wayback in the’70s DimpleKapadia at 16made it lookso easy, andcute!

ABS GRATERThinking ofgrating saladon Lara Dutta’shard abs inBlue? We didtoo! It almostlooks possible!

BEING DESI: Indian models are being chosen over foreigners to wear bikinis now

Sanchita AjjampurfeaturedSony Kaur inher show

SureleeJoseph worea bikini forAnupamaDayal

BrunchRating:8/10

Brunch Rating:9.866/10

Brunch Rating:7/10

Brunch Rating:20/10

BOND BLONDEEnough has beenwritten about Ursula Andress’breathtaking entry from theocean in Dr. No.It’s still notenough!

LAST WEEK a friend of mine called upsounding distraught. Given that she is generally a ‘glass is half-full’ sort of person,

I thought that there must be a major crisis in herlife. As it turns out, I was right. She was suffer-ing from a serious case of mid-life crisis, sparkedoff by a visit to a five-star hotel loo.

It happened thus. She walked in and found agaggle of excitable 20-somethings gibbering excit-edly amongst themselves. They were still gath-ered around the sink when she emerged to washher hands. And then, lipstick liberally re-applied,they started trooping out when one of themstopped and asked: “Whose bag is that?”

Without missing a beat, the other replied, pointing to my hapless friend, “That’s aunty’s.”

Yes, you heard right. It was that dreaded ‘a’word. Aunty.

My friend, a well-preserved woman in her 40s,is used to seeing people do double-takes when shereveals her age and assuring her that she looksat least a decade younger. So, the ‘aunty’ bit wasa fell blow that left her catatonic for the rest of the evening.

When she called me the next morning, she still sounded dev-astated. Did she really look so old that 20-something young womenwould refer to her as ‘aunty’? Did this mean that she was welland truly middle-aged now? Were the best years of her life over?Was she now on a slippery slope heading inexorably downwards?

I have to confess that I wasn’t terribly sympathetic. As some-one who acquired her first niece at the age of 12 (in my defence,my sister is 15 years older than me), I have become accustomedto being called ‘masi’ or ‘bua’ over the years. So what, I askedmy friend, was the big deal about being called ‘aunty’? After all,technically speaking, she could have given birth to any of thoseyoung 20-somethings. And her kid’s friends called her‘aunty’ anyway, right?

That wasn’t the point, said my friend. “Standingthere at the sink, I had this sudden epiphany. Nowwhen people looked at me, they no longer saw me asan attractive woman. They saw an ‘aunty’. They sawsomeone who was well past her sexy-by date. Andas I stood there, I realised that soon nobody wouldsee me at all.”

Yes, that’s a fear that all of us harbour at somelevel, don’t we? That as age takes its toll and naturewreaks its worst on us, we will turn into invisiblewomen. The women whom nobody pays attentionto; who are looked through at parties; ignored asthey try to make purchases at a store. The womenwhom nobody leaps up to open the door for. Thewomen nobody wants to chat up or flirt with. The women whoare no longer seen as sexual beings.

In other words, the women who fit into the ‘aunty’ category.And, for obvious reason, this is especially hard for women who

have been considered beautiful or sexy in their dewy youthful-ness. They are used to being the centre of attention in any roomthey walk into. They are accustomed to being treated with

deference. They are used to being objects of desire. They areconditioned to think of themselves as special. So suddenly beingreduced to ‘aunty’ status comes as something of a shock.

And to an extent, it was this ‘Beautiful Woman’ syndrome thatlay at the root of my friend’s trauma. It was a bit like the jolt anactress feels when she’s first told that she was not being testedfor the heroine’s role, but for the role of the hero’s mother.

But part of it was also down to the fact that ours is the generation of women who refuse to age. We are unwilling to letnature take its course when it comes to our appearance. Instead,we rely on extreme medical procedures to keep looking youngfor as long as we can.

Ours is the generation that embraced Botox andfillers, treating them as lunch-time procedures. Oursis the generation that treats cosmetic surgery as anessential beauty aid, treating face-lifts as extremefacials. And not surprisingly, ours is a generationthat looks much younger than our mothers did at our age.

We exercise and diet so that we weigh the sameas we did in our 20s. We wear the same clothes asour grown-up daughters. We colour our hair everyfive weeks to get rid of those greying roots. Weslather on the anti-ageing cream last thing at night.

We look in the mirror in the morning and we seea young person staring back at us. Yes, the jawlineis a little slack, there is incipient creping of the neck,and the laugh lines run a little bit deeper. But hey,

nobody would put us down for 40-somethings. We don’t look aday over 35!

And then, you walk into a five-star hotel loo and a 20-something calls you ‘aunty’. That’s when you know that thegame is well and truly over. You have tipped irrevocably into middle age – and there is no coming back.

seema_ht@rediffmail.com. Follow Seema on Twitter at twitter.com/seemagoswami

WHO ARE YOUCALLING AUNTY?That traumaticmomentwhen you realise youhave tippedirrevocablyinto middleage

MARCH 25, 2012

FOREVER YOUNGWe colour our hair everyfive weeks to get rid ofthose greying roots

spectator

MIRRORING THE TRUTH?We look in the mirror in the morning and wesee a young person staring back at us

Ours is agenerationthat looks

muchyounger thanour mothers

did at our age

Photos: THINKSTOCK

14 indulge hindustantimes.com/brunch

SeemaGoswami

MARCH 25, 2012

THESE DAYS, South India is the centreof the growing Indian hotel industry.The fanciest palace hotel (most loving-ly restored and newly opened) is the

Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad. The most spec-tacular city hotel to ever open in India will be theGrand Chola in Chennai (I had a preview but I’mnot allowed to tell you about it till ITC opens itofficially). Bangalore is adding hotel rooms fasterthan any other city in India. And Kerala is ourcountry’s greatest tourist destination.

But 35 years ago, things were very different.When I first went to Bangalore in 1976, there wasonly the Ashoka, with the West End (which com-pletes 125 years this year, by the way) chuggingalong as a run-down guesthouse for horse-racingfans and gamblers who would fly out from Bombay.I went from Bangalore to Madras and there wasonly the Taj Coromandel, the first modern five-star hotel in SouthIndia. The second-best alternative was the Connemara, then asnow, my favourite old world Madras hotel, but in those days, stilla sloppily-run Spencer’s property. But, an hour or so outsideMadras was what I regarded as the finest and most romanticbeach resort I had seen: Fisherman’s Cove, where the cottageswere actually on the beach and you could wake up each morn-ing to the sound of the waves.

Over the years, I went back to South India again and again.Some things changed, not necessarily for the better. Bangalorewent from being a sleepy garden town to becoming first an IThub and then, an urban nightmare (the situation that prevailstoday). But the hotels got better. The Taj took over the West Endand restored it to its former glory. It transformed Bangalore’sfood scene with two restaurants: Southern Comfort at theResidency and Karavali at the Gateway. ITC built the wonder-ful Windsor Manor and then, more recently, the smoothly effi-cient Gardenia.

I’m not sure Madras changed that much though, even whenit became Chennai. For years, the Taj Coromandel remained thecity’s premier hotel and though the Taj took over the Connemaraand refurbished it, the company also destroyed the hotel’s character by turning it into a business hotel, an act of historicalvandalism that is otherwise uncharacteristic of the Tatas.

But I went to Madras for the food and the sea. In 1997, the Tajopened what quickly became my favourite restaurant in the city:Southern Spice. Though the Taj has an unbeatable record for SouthIndian food – the first restaurant to serve appams in a five-starhotel (Southern Comfort in 1983); the first coastal seafood restaurant (Karavali) which started the craze that spread to Bombay;the first hotel to put dosas on the breakfast menu (the BombayTaj in 1972) etc, Southern Spice was not entirely original.

Though everyone involved (mainly Ajit Kerkar and ShankarMenon who brilliantly managed the Taj’s southern adventureand dreamt up Southern Spice) went to great lengths to deny it,the restaurant was essentially a rip-off of Dakshin, which ITChad opened at its Sheraton Park hotel in Adyar. Even the conceit was the same: a menu divided according to South Indianstates and recipes sourced from families.

Despite the lack of originality, I always preferred SouthernSpice to Dakshin. I knew the chef who had planned the menu –‘Nat’ Natarajan – from his Bombay days and in all the years Iwent to Southern Spice, I never ever had a bad meal.

16

GRAND STAYThe fanciest palace hotel (most lovingly restored and newlyopened) is the FalaknumaPalace in Hyderabad

SOUTHERNDIARYBetween1976 and2012 the hotels inSouth Indiahave evolved— and how

Vir Sanghvi

rude tr

avel

indulge

MARCH 25, 2012

I went to Madras ten months or so ago and returned to SouthernSpice. Chefs had come and gone in the decade and a half sincethe restaurant had opened but the food was still as brilliant as Iremembered. But N Prakash, the hotel’s general manager toldme that this would probably be my last meal there: the restau-rant was shutting down for renovation.

And now ten months later, a new restaurant has taken its place.They’ve had the sense to keep the old name(Southern Spice) but to all intents and purposes,this is a completely new experience. The décor ismore contemporary, the look is lighter and they’vefinally junked the old Dakshin rip-off idea of listing the food state by state. Instead, the menuassumes that you are there to eat and have no inter-est in a geography lesson.

I ate there twice last fortnight. The first time, Ihad dinner with Nat (who has overseen the newmenu though his day job is corporate chef forGateway Hotels) and Prakash (who is completelypassionate about the food) and wondered if I wasdreaming: Was the restaurant really that good? Ihad never eaten as well at the old Southern Spice– and I had eaten brilliantly there.

So I went back for lunch and ate nearly everything else on the menu. My conclusion: I was-n’t dreaming. This really is a terrific restaurantwith amazing food. I won’t recommend individualdishes because everything was so terrific but I will say that Icould live on their rasams, day in and day out.

The last time around, a plan to roll out more Southern Spiceswas abandoned because of serious upheaval within the Taj group.

But the new Southern Spice really is a world-class restaurant.The Taj should consider opening a branch in Delhi.

If I was surprised by how much better Southern Spice was,then my feelings about Fisherman’s Cove were more complicat-ed. Throughout the Seventies and the Eighties when I was a reg-ular visitor there, the Cove was the unloved stepchild of the Tajgroup which was then entirely fixated on its Goa properties. Eventhough JRD Tata said it was his favourite Taj resort, the compa-ny refused to take much interest in it.

Part of the problem was that it made no money and the Tajhad to subsidise it with the profits from the Coromandel. It gotweek-end business (Madras residents looking for a break) but itremained empty for much of the week. (Who thought of Madraswhen they were looking for a beach resort?)

This suited me just fine. Rates were low. Rooms were easilyavailable and so, I would decamp to the Cove for days on end. Iwould take one of the relatively basic (by Taj standards) cottageson the beach, walk by the sea, sit out and watch the crabs as theyscurried around the beach, and eat.

And boy did I eat! The food at the Cove wasalways good. (Nat was the chef there in the 1980s).I would sit at a little bar on the beach called BayView Point, eat freshly caught fish (there is a fishing village next door), grilled on the barbecueor pan-fried with local spices. Or I would devourthe fresh oysters from the region. In those days,it was hard for restaurants to get wine so I wouldtake my own bottle of Chablis and eat oyster afteroyster (my record was 48 – I think – in one sit-ting), watching the moon rise over the Bay ofBengal.

Then, Madras expanded. The city grew so far thatmy little retreat on the road to Mahabalipurambecame a suburb. (The city limits now end just beforethe Cove). A new IT City came up nearby and suddenly, every IT hotshot started demanding rooms at the Cove.

The consequences of all this have been that farfrom being the sleepy, money-loser that it was for

decades, the Cove is now booming. It will probably make ̀ 50-60crore in profit this year. It has among the highest average roomrates in Chennai. A new wing has been added for conferences.And my quiet Bay View Point has become a flourishing restau-

17

NEXT COURSEThe Taj transformed Bangalore’s food scenewith two restaurants:Southern Comfort at theResidency and Karavali(above) at the Gateway

PRIVATE HIDEAWAYI would decamp to Fisherman’s Cove for days on end. I would walk bythe sea, watch the crabs as they scurried around the beach, and eat

twitter.com/HTBrunch

WELL COOKEDUnder chef Samir, the food at Fisherman’s Coveis terrific

Over theyears, I went

back toSouth Indiaagain and

again. Somethings

changed, notnecessarily

for the better

18 facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunchindulge

MARCH 25, 2012

rant with the highest average check in Madras.So, my feelings are complicated. I am happy that the hotel is

doing so well but unreasonably angry that the world has invad-ed my private hideaway.

There are compensations, of course. With size comes effi-ciency. Under BC Kumar, its current general manager, thehotel is better run than ever before. It offers a variety of newexperiences: I did a dune buggy ride on the beach, a picnic ina nearby casuarina grove and an elegant dinner on the sands.

They also offered to take me snake-catching, I asked if thesnakes were poisonous. “Oh yes, sir,” they said. “We have cobras,vipers, every kind of poisonous snake.”

Me: “Aren’t you worried that people might be bitten?”They: “Not to worry, sir. We carry an anti-venom injection with

us. We will just give it to you if the cobra bites.”Me: “Thanks, very much. I’ll just read my book on the beach.”Not that I needed to go looking for snakes. The cottages on

the beach are still where they were. The hotel is lovely. (I shotmany segments for Custom Made at Fish Cove: the magician,the Tanjore painting, the Monicatini, the glass sculptor, the yogaon the beach etc. So you may have some idea of how beautiful itis). And under chef Samir, the food is terrific – though this time,I stopped at a mere dozen oysters!

If Fisherman’s Cove is one of the oldest hotels in the Taj group(one of the first four, I reckon), then the Vivanta at Bekal is thesingle newest hotel. It opened a couple of weeks ago with a cele-bratory party, a juggling bartender and dances by Astad Deboo.

Bekal is set to become the newest holiday destination in SouthIndia. It is in Kerala near the border with Karnataka (I drove infrom Mangalore airport), already boasts of a Lalit Hotel and isunusually beautiful.

The Taj property is grouped under the Vivanta brand which isheaded by Veer Vijay Singh, an old school friend of mine and oneof the Taj’s two most senior managers. Vivanta hotels differ fromTaj luxury hotels – in theory – by being hipper, younger and lessformal but the distinction can be hard to grasp, as is usually thecase when a new brand architecture is imposed on an old chain.

The Bekal property could well be a luxury hotel judging by theway it is built: just 75 cottages on 25 acres, or three guests peracre, which is an astonishing ratio for any resort hotel anywherein the world. Many of the cottages overlook the Kerala backwa-ters and there is also a sea-beach at the other end of the hotel.

The natural beauty aside, the hotel’s two strongest featuresare the food and the spa. That the food should be good is no surprise given that the Vivanta hotels are part of Ananda Solomon’sbrief. But Bekal is special because Ananda’s family is from theregion and he understands the cuisine better than most otherchefs. The day after the party, Ananda and Valentine, the resort’sexecutive chef, served up an amazing Moplah breakfast, usingrecipes gathered from Kerala’s Muslim community.

The spa marks Taj’s attempt to challenge the hegemony ofITC’s Kaya Kalp spas in this category. The Jiva spa at Bekal ishuge (1,65,000 square feet, making it the biggest spa in India)and offers complete wellness packages including havens for spir-itual healing. The Taj is clearly hoping that guests will come forweek-long spa packages and Ananda has even created specialspa food to suit the Jiva philosophy.

Apart from the problem of access (Bekal is a two-hour drivefrom Mangalore airport), there’s no reason why the hotel –designed by an architect who understands Balinese styles –shouldn’t be a huge success. It is proof that the same group canrun two outstanding resorts successfully, even if one opened in1975 and the other in 2012.

And anyway, it’s always great to be in South India.

CONSISTENTLY GOODThe new Southern Spicereally is a world-classrestaurant. The Taj should consider opening abranch in Delhi

RELAXATION AND REJUVENATIONThe natural beauty aside, Vivanta Bekal’s two strongest features are the cuisine and the 1,65,000 square feet Jiva spa

CITY GETS LUCKYOver the years, the hotels in Bangalore got better. ITC built the wonderful Windsor (above) and then, more recently, the Gardenia

MY PICKI won’t recommend individual dishes sinceeverything was so terrificbut I will say that I couldlive on Southern Spice’srasams, day in and day out

19hindustantimes.com/brunch indulge

MARCH 25, 2012

ITHINK IT is sometimes better to watch a film without having read any of the reviews. Had I read the reviews of2010’s British film, London Boulevard, I probably wouldn't

have readily watched the film on DVD as I did recently. OnMetacritic, the film, a directorial debut of William Monahan, theOscar winning screenplay writer of Martin Scorsese’s TheDeparted, got a score of just 52, which is at best considered a middling rating. I was fortunate not to have scoured the Netbefore watching the DVD because I liked the film. London Boulevardis a British crime drama with an all-Brit cast: Colin Farrell, KeiraKnightley, Ray Winstone and David Thewlis (he played RemusLupin in the Harry Potter films). But it is a British film made byan American director.

London Boulevard’s plot is as improbable as you would expectany British crime noir to throw at you. Farrell, a Londoncriminal, gets out of jail and wants to tread the newstraight and narrow instead of the old crooked path;he gets a job as handyman-cum-bodyguard of a reclusive film star, played by Keira Knightley; and,yet, old criminal contacts resurface in his life, firstan old accomplice and, then, a crime boss, playedby the redoubtable Ray Winstone. Lots of violence,killing and gore ensue, making for a watchable 100minutes or so. No matter what Metacritic says.

Yes, one may have been happier to see more ofKeira Knightley (she has hardly more than a tokenpresence in the film) and some more twists and turnsin the plot but still it was watchable. Probably becauseof reasons that had nothing to do with the acting,

the story or the cinematography and editing. Ithink I know what it was. It was the music. I thinkI took to London Boulevard even before the filmhad begun. Because of the song used in the soundtrack as the titles began unfolding. It wasHeart Full Of Soul and it was by a band called TheYardbirds.

Those of you who remember the music of TheYardbirds when you were young are likely to bevery, very old now. But those who haven’t oughtto give them a try. If not for anything else thenfor the fact that that London band, established in1963, was an incubator for three people that I amsure every reader who has laboured through tillthis paragraph will know. No matter how old theyare. The Yardbirds was the band where EricClapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page – three of themost famous lead guitarists in rock history – cuttheir teeth.

In many ways, The Yardbirds were like an innovative platform for blues-based guitarists.They experimented with special effects that wenow take for granted: fuzz, feedback, distortionsand reverberations. The band broke up in the late1960s. Their last lead guitarist was Jimmy Pageand we all know what he did after his first bandbroke up. Not to mention what the band’s othertwo alumni whom I mentioned got up to aftertheir stint in The Yardbirds. Clapton left to joinanother legendary band, John Mayall & TheBluesbreakers, and was replaced by Jeff Beck. Afew years later, Jimmy Page joined The Yardbirdsand, for a while, Beck and Page played together,

Page playing bass. There is a song called Happenings Ten YearsTime Ago – a short, psychedelic two-and-a-half-minute number– on which you can hear both Page and Beck play.

Beck plays lead with a fuzz box on Heart Full Of Soul, whichyou can hear right at the opening of London Boulevard. It’s amoody song, written by Graham Gouldman, singer, songwriterand later part of the British rock band, 10 cc. The soundtrackhas another song by The Yardbirds – Train Kept A Rollin’ – andon this one, Beck’s lead features again, in yet another innovativeway where he simulates the sound of the whistle of a railwayengine at the beginning of the song.

London Boulevard’s soundtrack has more than The Yardbirds’track to make it worth a watch (and a listen!). Some of it is alsomore contemporary. British space-rockers, Kasabian, contributethree tracks. La Fee Verte, Club Foot and Underdog. But there arealso some old songs. Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues makesan appearance as do songs by The Pretty Things (aka ElectricBanana). If you haven’t tried The Pretty Things, they’re wortha shot. R&B rockers and contemporaries of The Rolling Stones,The Pretty Things (many critics feel and I agree) have been

underrated and not appreciated as much as they oughtto be. Lead singer Phil May and lead guitarist DickTaylor’s brand of music has been compared with theStones’ sound but they’re not clones of their morefamous compatriots. Come See Me, Street Girl andIt’ll Never Be Me are three tracks by the band on thesoundtrack. And just in case, they remind you of theStones, the soundtrack also features Stray Cat Bluesfrom Beggars Banquet.

To give feedback, stream or download the music mentioned inthis column, go to http://blogs.hindustantimes.com/

download-central, follow argus48 on Twitter

SOUND INCUBATORFrom top: Beck, Page andClapton were a part of aband perceived as an innovative platform for guitarists who would go onto achieve global fame

SanjoyNarayan

down

load c

entral

The Yardbirds was the bandwhere Eric Clapton, Jeff Beckand Jimmy Page cut their teeth

HEARTS FULL

OF SOUL

I took toLondonBoulevard

even before it began,

because ofthe film’s

soundtrack MORE ON THE WEBhindustantimes.com/brunch

JAILHOUSE ROCKBefore the band broke up in the 1960s, The Yard-birds experimented with special effects such asfuzz, feedback, distortions and reverberations

PHOT

OS: R

EUTE

RS

THIS IS a strange column to write. I wrotepart one a few weeks back and while parttwo was more or less done, all kinds of

‘breaking news’ type of things kept taking precedence. The other motivation to write this isalso out of fear as the number of people that haveasked whether they will ever get to read part twohas been quite astounding. Some have asked quitesweetly, most have not.

A quick recap is in order. This was a quest column. The challenge was simple: without usingany over-the-top expensive or complicated equip-ment, could I, in a reasonable amount of time, getrid of most of the ugly wires attached to audioand video equipment in my house? Rules of engage-ment: the setup must be from scratch, should beeasy to replicate and I should be able to do a startto finish in two hours. Could I achieve the ultimate tech nirvana and go completely wire-free? In 36 minutes, I had set up a Belkin routerthat was able to transmit into every dead spacein my house and set up a Sonos Bridge and a Play:5to transmit wireless music into my room. This isthe story of the other 1 hour and 24 minutes.

SONOS UNRAVELLEDI plugged in a 2TB Western Digital My Book EssentialUSB drive into the back of the Belkin Router USB. This has almostall my music (Hi-Def FLAC format) multi-indexed in folders. Thedrive showed up immediately as a network drive on all devices thatcould access the Belkin router. From a laptop I was able to pointthe Sonos controller software to this drive and to the the right folder. Next I loaded the Sonos app on to four devices: an iPad 2, aniPhone 4, a Samsung Galaxy Note and a Huawei MediaPad Tablet.The next few minutes can be described in one word: heaven! Withno computers or laptops, between the router, the WD drive andany one of these four devices in my hand, I was able to control musicwirelessly from anywhere. Songs, genres, albums, cover art – allshowed up perfectly. It took another few minutes to set up threemore Sonos zones. From here I could chose which room shouldplay which song or playlist, at what volume, chose an Internet radiostation for one room and a music service for another. I could evenset a playlist as an alarm by which the Sonos wakes you up byslowly increasing the volume. Total time taken: 55 minutes.

SCREENCAST MAGICNow for the big one. I had to get a Blu-Ray player, a WD Live mediastreamer, A Tata Sky HD set-top box and a PlayStation 3 gaming

console to attach and play with zero wiresgoing into my TV. Zero! While itsounds like a formidable challenge

and would have been an impossibledream a few years back, time andtechnology have changed. Enter theBelkin ScreenCast AV 4. This is asimple double box unit. The

transmitter is about the size of myhand and the receiver much smaller.At the back of the transmitter are

four HDMI-in ports. I placed thetransmitter about 20 feet awayfrom my TV and plugged in the

above mentioned devices one by one into these fourHDMI ports. The next step was plugging in thesmall receiver box (it is small enough to be tuckedaway behind your TV) into one HDMI-in port ofmy TV. I then powered both the boxes up – theyimmediately recognised each other and synced –and that was it. With a remote, I could choose whichof the four devices I wanted to watch. I switchedfrom a Blu-Ray movie to a PS3 Game to HD transmission on the Tata Sky set-top box – and theScreenCast didn’t miss a beat. The picture quality was awesome and despite switching fromwireless to wired HDMI, not one person in myfamily could tell me which was which. This wasbeautiful and I still had 35 minutes on the clock.

FLOWERY SPEAKERSWireless speakers have been around but have beenmore a miss than a hit. Terrible sound and serious sync loss have plagued this category. Peopleusing wireless back speakers in a home theatresuffer surround sound delays to a level that canturn every movie into a sadistic joke. And the sounditself is horrible enough to make grown men cry.

My quest was to go wireless 5.1 in one room and not compromiseon sound at all. For this, my weapon of choice was a light bulb.Yes, Violet speakers that screw into a light bulb socket. No wiresneed to be run anywhere. I screwed the speakers in place, put theincluded microphone in the specified area and the system did therest. It figured out the speaker placement (my two rear speakersweren’t at the same angle and height), the topography of the room(while this room is a perfect rectangle, it has an off-axis door) aswell as the furniture location. I added a Sonos into the input ofthe Violet box, hit the play button – and got near-perfect surroundsound! While the subwoofer didn’t totally knock my socks off, thesound was nothing short of amazing. Total time off the clock? 1 hour 53 minutes.

THE CHEST THUMPERThe last part was the chest thumper factor. To really show thepotential of the all wireless installs, I wanted anybody walking intomy house to be able to play music off their own phones or Tablets.This was simplicity in itself: an Apple TV device plugged into theinput of the Sonos and a NAD VISO 1 dock. Anybody with an iOSdevice could immediately connect with the Apple TV and Airplayany song from their collection. For everyone else, the NAD withBluetooth is a plug and play ticket to wireless heaven. The amountof bass that thing can pump out from a song on your phone is nothing short of a miracle.

And thus I was done. In 2 hours and 14 minutes. Yes, 14minutes off the quest timeline but in those 134 minutes, I hadliterally transformed my home from a jungle of cables and wiresto a state-of-the-art wireless home. Just a few years back, thiswould have taken an army of professionals, a truckload of moneyand oodles of anger management classes. Man, I lovetechnology!

Rajiv Makhni is managing editor, Technology, NDTV and the anchor of Gadget Guru,Cell Guru and Newsnet 3. Follow Rajiv on

Twitter at twitter.com/RajivMakhni

techilicious

Rajiv Makhni

LOOK MA,NOW RES!Part 2 of myquest tomake myhome free ofwires

20 indulge

ON AIRThe Belkin ScreenCast AV4 is a double box unit withboth the transmitter and the receiver smaller thanyour hand

SCREW ITSpeakers on the Violetspeaker system screw intoa light bulb socket. With mysetup, I got near-perfectsurround sound

FREE FOR ALLWith a NAD VISO 1 dock, anybody could use their ownphone and Tablets to wirelessly play their music

MARCH 25, 2012

21twitter.com/HTBrunch TRAVEL

MARCH 25, 2012

Dipannita Sharma Atwal MMooddeell aanndd AAccttrreessss“The coldest place I have been to was Davos in Switzerland. Ihad gone there to be a part of a fashion show at a financialconference. It was my first trip abroad during winter and Iwas truly excited to see the scenic beauty. What caught myeye was the snow... we were in a mini bus and when itstopped at a red light, I ran out into the snow, not realisinghow cold it would be. I sat on a tree stump covered withsnow and instantly shot up, frozen.

“I later realised that I was ill-prepared for the severewinter and had to wear a pair of jeans over another andlayers of T-shirts under sweaters to keep warm. The otherembarrassing event was when I slipped and fell severaltimes on the sleet-covered streets as I went shopping.”

Celebs lounging by the poolside? Boring! Swap the pool with a water park – think of them hurtling down dizzy slides...

Below Freezing PointCelebs tell us about the coldest place they’ve ever been toby Priyanka Jain

Shibani KashyapSSiinnggeerr aanndd CCoommppoosseerr“The coldest place I have everbeen to is the Blue Mountains inAustralia, a two to three hour drivefrom Sydney. It was already winter

when I went there, the temperature was -3C, and I was wearing three lay-ers of warm clothes withgloves and a woollen cap.

“We went to see theview from the top of amountain. Although itwas breathtaking, theinstant it was over, Irushed to the nearestcafe and had somehot soup, whichseemed like the bestthing ever at that pointof time. Also, despite thecold, I let my adventurousspirit lead me on a trek!”

Mukul DevFFiillmm AAccttoorr“The coldest place I’ve everbeen to has been Darjeeling. Itis one of my favourite places.The thrill in Darjeeling is to beable to glimpse the mountainpeaks in the early morningfrom my hotel room window.

“One would assume theweather would be pleasanthere, but when I visited inFebruary, the tempera-ture went down to almostminus one degree. Forsomeone from Mumbai,this was freezing!”

Bikram SalujaFFiillmm AAccttoorrThe coldest place I’ve been tohas to be Ladakh. We were shooting for

LOC Kargil in 2002-2003.Imagine being there in

November and shoot-ing in the open in sim-ple ‘fauji vardi’. The

temperature was easilyaround -3 or -4 C, and Idon’t even drink, sokeeping warm bydrinking brandy wasout of the question. Ijust layered with lots of

clothes and kept mov-ing to keep warm. Plusbeing out in the open,we had to face the bone-chilling wind. It wasprobably one of thetoughest shoots for me.”

Mugdha Godse FFiillmm AAccttrreessss“I love to travel and have been to many places,but London’s one place I thoroughly enjoy. I visited it last inDecember and got back in January, and the weather wassuper cold. I was freezing to my bones, but that did not stopme from going out and shopping and eating.

“At that time, London was almost -3 C, and it shook me up.I also toured the Lake and Peak districts where the weatherconditions are a little worse than London.

“I got back to London in the second week of January, andassumed that the weather would be better, but it was the firsttime that the city was facing such cold weather. Still, Ienjoyed my visit and did a lot of things I love.”

Geeta BasraFFiillmm AAccttrreessss“Having been born andbrought up in theUnited Kingdom, I amused to cold weather. But last win-ter, I visited my relatives in Austria,and went to this small town wherepeople generally go skiing.

“However, when we got there, thetown was almost deserted becauseof the extreme conditions. We hadplanned to stay for a week, but hadto return in two days because of thetemperatures. For most of thosetwo days I stayed indoors, wearingthree sweaters, hand gloves and amuffler. Every time, I tried to speak,my teeth would chatter.”

SummerSpecial

22 facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunchF I N E P R I N T

MARCH 25, 2012

Umbrellas can be trippy. No, seriously. Climb a mountain with one and down you go. Carry sunscreen instead.

Can’t MakeIt To TheMountains?Then let these books whisk you awayby Pranav Dixit

The Big Walls: From theNorth Face of the Eiger to

the South Face of DhaulagiriBY REINHOLD MESSNER; MOUNTAINEER BOOKS; R1,817Sneak Peak: You can’t talk about mountainbooks without mentioning Reinhold Messner, the legendary Italian adventurerrenowned for making the first solo ascentof Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen. Messner is also the first climber to ascentall 14 ‘eight-thousanders’ (peaks over8,000 metres above sea level). In this his-torical account of big wall climbing,Messner begins in 1860, with the Alpinewalls and the challenges he faced whenconquering some of the steepest sum-mits in the world. Read and be inspired. Pick-Me-Up: Packed with over 165 powerful colour photos. That andMessner’s name on the cover.

Spies in the Himalayas: Secret Missions and Perilous Climbs

BY MS KOHLI AND KENNETH J CONBOY; HARPER COLLINS; R395Sneak Peak: After the Chinese detonated theirfirst nuclear test in 1964, both America and In-dia, which had just fought a border war withChina, were justifiably concerned. Due to theextreme remoteness of the Chinese testingground, conventional surveillance in thispre-satellite era was impossible and the CIAwas desperate for a peek behind the Bamboo Curtain. The solution: a joint American-Indian effortto plant a nuclear-powered sensing deviceon a high Himalayan peak to monitor Chinese military activity. Based on trueevents. Chilling.Pick-Me-Up: True story. Enough said.

Annapurna: The First 8,000-Metre Peak

BY MAURICE HERZOG; VINTAGE CLASSICS; R820Sneak Peak: In 1950, a group of Frenchmountaineers made a dash for the peak ofthe Annapurna I, an 8,100-metre mountainthat ranks among the most forbidding inthe Himalayas, not just for its extremeheight but also for its long and treacher-ous approach. They almost paid for it with their lives.Maurice Herzog tells the gripping tale ofthis remarkable journey from a hospitalbed as he recovers from injuries sustained during this climb in what isone of the most famous mountaineeringbooks of all time. Pick-Me-Up: We’re suckers for happy endings.

The Ascent of Rum Doodle

BY W E BOWMAN; VINTAGE CLASSICS; R738Sneak Peak: A misguided guide, ameasurement-obsessed scientist, akooky linguistic expert, a puffed-upprotagonist and an indigenous tribewhose members speak through theirstomachs via a series of indecipherable grunts. This is the motley crew that comestogether in this 1956 mountaineer-ing classic, an outrageously funnyspoof about the ascent of a bum-bling group of British moun-taineers on Rum Doodle, a ficti-tious peak that is supposedlyhigher than Mount Everest it-self. Does for mountaineeringwhat Catch-22 did for the Second World War, accordingto many notable publications.Pick-Me-Up: The foreword by author BillBryson claiming it is “one of the funniestbooks” he’s ever read.

The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes:

The Adventures of theGreat Detective in TibetBY JAMYANG NORBU; HARPER COLLINS; R299Sneak Peak: Two years after hekilled off Sherlock Holmes in TheFinal Problem, author Arthur Co-nan Doyle resurrected him on pop-ular demand. On his comeback,Holmes informs a stunned Dr Wat-son: “I travelled for two years inTibet, therefore, and amused my-self by visiting Lhasa.” Norbu, an avid Doyle reader, in-vestigates Holmes’ stay in Tibetand reveals Holmes in the thickof a nail-biting mystery set in afascinating landscape thatevokes the romance of Kipling’sIndia. Highly recommended.Pick-Me-Up: Without a doubt,the best Sherlock Holmes pastiche we’ve ever read.

SummerSpecial

HOW WE think is influenced bymany things – our habits and our

subconscious ways of perception. Wehave read that we are influenced byseveral things in our consciousness,like values, belief systems, desires,training, etc., but how we end up thinking is a fine process, in whicheach aspect of our mind is acting in away which we can call filters.

Let’s take an example: we go to themall and see a red handbag we like.This can be termed a trigger, a stimulus picked up by us through oureyes. Now, this information goes to ourbrain, and there it goes through the following filtration processes:FILTRATION PROCESS 1 This process begins from our deepestunconscious desires, which we are notaware of. These desires could be anything – one of them could be to look attractive, confident or glamorous. Sothe handbag’s colour and size may at-tract us because we unconsciously feela sort of synergy with how the baglooks. At the same time, other womenmay see the bag but may pass it by

since according to their mindset thecolour red is not their type. FILTRATION PROCESS 2After the thought passes through thefirst filter, it may get modified – eitherincreasing or decreasing in attraction.The next set of filters is values and belief systems. Our values and beliefsystems are the largest set of filtersthat dictate the direction and formation of thought, and while thefirst set of filters have intensityand strength, the second setof filters may not have thehigh intensity but have avery structured form, andthese filters define therules we set for ourselves.

The values and belief systemscould be: I need to look well turnedout, so I deserve the bag; or con-versely, I don’t need towaste money buying thebag as I should conservemy money. This is thelevel at which family orspouse pressure may befelt or not experienced

at all. So if we have a belief systemthat what my friends say is how Ishould behave, then my peers can in-fluence me at this point.

When the thought leaves filtrationprocess 2, it has become structured interms of going towards a decision,which may result in action or inaction.FILTRATION PROCESS 3 This is the mind filter we employ to understand the situation and measureit on our set of unique experiences andtraining. These are the personal experiences we’ve had and the inferences or outcomes we have creat-

ed as a set of our understandingof the world. These experi-

ences and their impacton our thinking be-gins young, so if fi-

nancial prudenceis what we were

trained in, we maynot buy the bag imme-

diately. Conversely, ifour habits make us an impulsive

person, we may go with ourhabits.

THE FOURTH FILTERThis filter is very gentle but extremely persistent – it isthe inner voice. This is thevoice that kicks in when im-portant decisions have to

be made, otherwise it stays silent. The feature of this inner voice is

that it is a powerful one that is non-judgmental. It never dies out; one canhear it very clearly when one is notthinking consciously (i.e. the problemsolving thinking mode is silent at thattime). The thought is accompanied bya sense of calm and immense courage.

Since the inner voice is a very gentlevoice, the only way to identify it is theaccompanying immense sense ofcourage and calm confidence.

We have the power to change ourlives and shape it in the way we want.However this power is dependent uponknowing oneself and being aware ofthe way one has been thinking.

Enterprising people see opportunityall the time, blamers see only lost opportunity. Optimists see the bestpossibilities at every point, pessimistssee only problems. The list is endless…it depends on how we see the world.

ask@drshikha.com

23hindustantimes.com/brunch WELLNESS

Optimists see thebest possibilities,

pessimists seeonly problems

MIND BODY SOULSHIKHA SHARMA

OUR DEEPEST DESIRES, DECODED

Phot

o: T

HINK

STOC

K

IWAS WATCHING One Fine Dayfor the nth time the other dayand kept thinking to myself –Thank God, my life is nothing like

that. I mean, I get a lot of credit forbeing a single parent but on mostdays I don’t do anything that theaverage parent doesn’t – dragging avery reluctant five-year-old frombed, forcibly shoving glass of milkinto her mouth, getting spat on allover, working out suitable bribesbefore carrying the offspring intothe shower, being rudely asked whyI don’t look “sweet like the mammain the Pears soap ad” while I’m atit and banging head on wall sev-eral times during the day – youknow, it’s therapeutic – whilemaking mental calculations onhow long it will be before shegraduates. Like I was saying,regular parenting stuff.

Sometimes, I look at marriedparents (mothers mostly), whoend up doing all the work – andare in fact single parents in theirown right but get no credit for it– because the spouse is usuallyeither too busy boarding flightsfor earth-shattering meetings

or breaking young girls’ hearts – andI even sigh in relief that I don’t haveto deal with that kind of stress.

Then again, it’s not always thatsimple. Recently, I was at a birthdayparty where the moms had all con-gregated at the balcony – while thebrats ran about smearing chocolatecake on each other’s faces. It didn’tmatter that we didn’t know eachother or had at best, just noddingacquaintance. We all knew what itwas like raising kindergartenersand that was enough fodder for con-versation. No one would have to feel

left out – or so I thought.The first round of conversation

was easy – someone started a storyabout how she couldn’t keep upwith her son’s antics and as tradi-tion would have it, the rest of usone-upped that with our own stories– in turn, of course.

And then, one mom did it – shestarted a thread on how the hus-band never does anything aroundthe house – ‘The one day I ask himto pick her up from school!’ shestarted. A complaining round! Howmuch fun!

Except, what could I possibly addto it? I could spring my marital sta-tus on them at this point but itwould make them all uncomfort-able. I mean, one minute, everyone’sso engrossed complaining abouthusbands and then it would be myturn and I’d go ‘Uhh, actually, I’mdivorced. So haha, I have nothing tocomplain about’ and suddenly,there’d be this moment. And even ifthey choose not to tch-tch me, Iwould completely ruin the flow andthe next mom would have to start awhole new thread. It would be likePassing the Parcel and I’d be thegirl with the parcel when the musicstops. Mortifying. So I pulled therestroom card of course and slippedout of the scene.

That night I decided I should getmyself more mommy-friends – thatway, they’d know about my singlestatus from the start and there’d beno room for awkward social situations. Also, my world is split intwo – I’m single but I’m also a par-ent. And while I have loads of singlefriends, I don’t have enough friendswho are parents. And I believe allparents need this – it would be like asupport group – we’d meet everyweek, discuss all our parenting-

related woes and go back homefully assured in the knowledgethat we’re all in this mess together.

On that note, I eagerly took offto the next kindergarten birth-day bash – this time, it was a dif-ferent set of kids and parents. Idecided I will go early, makefriends and you know, let every-one know about my single statusso there’d be no room for uhh-umm moments. But due to aseries of annoying delays, I gotthere late. I was not going to letthat get me down of course, so Ireached the venue, dumped theoffspring with the other bratsand joined the ladies with myshare of horrifying kindergartenstories – with the confidencethat comes from knowing I hadalready dealt with the most awk-ward situation yet – when themommy next to me started anew thread, Planning Baby #2.Uhh, umm.

They don’t call it restroom fornothing.

(The series is concluded) Judy Balan is the best-selling author of Two

Fates —The Story Of My Divorce

MARCH 25, 2012

24 T H E WAY WE A R E

The Problem with Single Parenting – A three-part series

The Uhh-UmmMoments

PART 3

twitter.com/HTBrunch

Illustration: MALAY KARMAKAR

For single moms, joining the (married)ladies to swap horrifying kindergartenstories can get very awkwardby Judy Balan

Many marriedparents

(mothersmostly) end up

doing all thework, and are in fact single

parents in theirown right but get

no credit for it

MARCH 25, 2012

26 facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunchPERSONAL AGENDA

The last line of your autobiographywould read...‘Why are you wasting time reading about my life when youshould be out there living yourown?’ Or, on second thoughts,it would be, ‘No matter how carefully we chose our words,they’ll end up being twisted byothers. So read carefully.’How would you explain Twitter to yourgrandmother?Grandma, don’t worry, Twitterhas nothing to do with birds.The one place where you would neverget yourself tattooed?Where the sun doesn’t shine!!! One song that describes your currentstate of mind?Not Afraid by Eminem. Thegreatest living rapper. What would we find in your fridgeright now?Crates of Thums Up of course.

If a spaceship landed in your backyard, what would you do?Obviously, hijack it. After Icrash land it, I wouldsell it on eBay at aknockdown price.The most clichéd answeryou’ve ever given in an interview?Journalists ask me allthe time, “Akshay, doyou believe in thenumbers game?” Mystandard response: “Ican’t count, that’s whyI have producers and accountants who calculate for me. Aslong as I have them in my life, Idon’t need to worry aboutnumbers!” Your most irrational fear?There’s absolutely nothing irrational about me, insane yes,

irrational no. But my dumbestfear would be spinning in themagic tea cups. Who the hell

wants to pay to spinaround like a bentyoyo for laughs? The one lie you got awaywith?I once told someoneI could act. They totally bought it. I’vebeen getting awaywith it ever since. What’s the biggest surprise you’ve givenyour wife?A son more beautifulthan myself. Or, it

could be the Bentley, but Ithink it’s a handsome son. I amtelling you I don’t think I amever going to be able to figurethis one out.

Actor/Producer

WHERE DID YOU SPENDLAST SUMMER?

Dubai and Goa. Iknow I am lucky butit was a well deserved break

—Interviewed by Rupali Dean

IF YOU WERE AN ICE-CREAM, WHATFLAVOUR WOULD YOU BE?

Mint chocolatechip. Like

me, it isfresh on

the outside

butcrunchy

once youbite into it

HOW MANY PAIRS OF BLUEJEANS DO YOU HAVE?

Before or after I became the brandambassador for

bluejeans inIndia?

Maybe,some 25pairs

SUN SIGNVirgo

BIRTHDAYSeptember 9

SCHOOL/COLLEGESchooling from Don Bosco,Delhi and graduation fromKhalsa College, Delhi

PLACE OF BIRTHDelhi

LOW POINT OFYOUR LIFEThe day I realised Ihad to live the restof my life withoutmy father by myside

CURRENTLY DOINGShooting for RowdyRathore. Just finished running a quiz for my fans(on questions that I am sickof being asked by everyone)on Twitter

HIGH POINTOF YOURLIFE When my sonAarav said hewanted to fightjust like me!

HOMETOWNDelhi

YOU WOULDN'TBE CAUGHTDEAD WEARING

Would never gonear a thong

FIRST BREAK I could break brickswith my hands when Iwas 12

Akshay Kumar

Photos: THINKSTOCK