Hindustan Times Brunch 10-July-2011

SUNDAY MAGAZINE, NEW DELHI, JULY 10, 2011Free with your copy of Hindustan Times

KAMLA COMES HOMEKAMLA COULD BE ANYMODERN, URBAN WOMANWHO CHOOSES NOT TOWORK. BUT WHAT HAPPENEDTO THE FEMINIST DREAM OFFINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE?

Go greenI FOUND the Brunch cover story,(Small Towns BigWheels, 3 July), ex-tremely interesting. But apart from thecities mentioned, there are other townstoo like Aurangabad and Kolhapure inMaharashtra where the citizens ownswanky cars. Aurangabad alone hasmore than 90 proud owners oftheMercedes-Benz. But that doesn’tnegate the fact that all these super carsguzzle petrol. I think people shouldchoose ‘green’ cars instead, which aresolar powered and use rechargeablebatteries. Some of the manufacturershave already started working in this di-rection with Honda even introducing acar which uses solar power.

— DEENDAYAL M LULLA,Mumbai

Women onlyMENPLEASE don’t get upset, for nopotshots are intended here. (DialW forWomen Friends, 3 July). This one sim-ply is about women. I can’t agreemorewith Parul Khanna Tewari that girl-friends are our real support system.Some of us are lucky to find suchfriends even in our mothers who listento us without any judgment and are withus nomatter how ‘unexplained’ our be-haviour might be.

— ANU SINDHWANI, via email

Egging us onVIRSANGHVI’S Scrambled Eggs Un-Scrambled (July 3)made for fascinatingreading as always. However, I beg to dif-fer with his claim that our eggs are rarelyas good as thosemade by profession-als. Take the example ofmywife whohas umpteen egg recipes up her sleeve.Her deft touch and ability to prepare anexcellent egg dish in a jiffy wouldmakeany professional chef hang his head inshame. Her love for experimentationand her insistence on getting the ingre-dients and consistency right has gottenher accolades from friends and family.And I am the onewho gains from it.

— NJ RAVI CHANDER , Bangalore

At peace with my ageTHECOLUMNForty and Counting bySeemaGoswami was well timed andgive me solace. Stepping into the for-ties has left me bewildered. Every wordin the article told my story. I felt at peacewith myself, inspired by the fact that thisis true for all who have crossed forty.

— NEETA MATHUR, New Delhi

HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE4

DESIGN: Ashutosh Sapru (National EditorDesign), Swati Chakrabarti, Rakesh Kumar,Ashish Singh, Saket Misra

EDITORIAL: Poonam Saxena (Editor), Kushalrani Gulab(Deputy Editor); Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi, Mignonne Dsouza,Veenu Singh, Parul Khanna Tewari, Pranav Dixit, Yashica Dutt

Write to [email protected] or to18-20 Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi - 110001

Victor-prince Himadri The "frombaelgadi to bugatti is just mindblow-ing. I’ve endeavouredmyself in adream2 buy an Audi Q7when i growup.

Charu KapoorOne of d best eng-lishmagzines to read...parul's sister-hood article is amazing...again apleasurable read covering all d issuesat one place.

Dipti PoojaryOnemore excitingsunday... with the ever excitingBRUNCH..n special thanks to VirSanghvi for his wonderful article'Scrambled eggs unscranbled'..myfamily consume eggs like hummerconsumes petrol, n now have onemore reason to do so ;).

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LISA RAYThe actress/TVhostess tells uswhy she hasnever eatenanything weird,her first kiss andher take onbreaking a law

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Cover design: Ashish SinghCover illustration: JAYANTO

Moochh Nahinto Kuchh NahinSome men stillstand stolidly bythe moustache

For a sneak peak into the secondedition of the Brunch Quarterly,turn to page 28

Trinket TestimonialsCheck out our trend report forthe funkiest jewellry

PERSONAL AGENDA 30

VARIETY 24

ILLU

STRA

TION

:JAYAN

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@awesm4Feels heartening to read theprogress at tier2 level..keep yourdreams goingmen!!

@AshuMittal I appreciate how@HT-Brunch also publishes some of thecritical tweets/comments and not justthe positive ones.

@abir_sanyal Books andmagazinesbless us everyday with new-foundknowledge.Never knew there’s somuch behind a ‘scrambled egg’!

@hi_aish AishwaryaNowords for you@HTBrunch because the times I tellyou, youwill go on improving.Wishingyou all the best

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EXCLUSIVE: Ourresident foodieis spending asummer full ofbeachy fun andmemorable mo-ments. And asshe fights withjet-lag, shesends her lovewith these yum-my and easy-to-make cupcakes.So go bake!

MARIA’S KITCHENCheck out our weekly bloggers!

The WeeklyKhamba: Raving,ranting and more.Watch out – he bites

Pagal Papers:Incisive insightsfrom Faking News’Pagal Patrakar

RJ’s SecretDossier: The myth,the icon, theavenging force

Comic Relief:‘Rezi Vastav’ bycomic artistRajneesh Kapoor!

KAMLA COMESHOME 15Kamla could be anywoman who chooses tostay at home than go out towork – a noticeable trendamong urban women.

STYLE FILE 6

Still looking for what AishwaryaBachchan wore to the Cannes filmfestival? Stop looking! The age of ran-domly wearing what everyone elsedoes is over and it’s time to wear jew-ellery that is more than a conversa-tion piece. “Accessories that have astory attached to them or bear anative influence, whether it’s lan-guage, tribe or period, are trendingright now. Pieces that draw you inand have a cultural conversation bythe way of their stone, cut, texture orquality of workmanship and repre-sent one’s individuality are hugelypopular these days,” says SuhaniPittie. And if you wished to live in aworld that was run by ideas, then it’shere. Jewellery is standing in the

front row after being developed intoconcept art. Designer Eina Ahluwalia,who creates concept jewellery, saysthat an idea is its strongest compo-nent and the material and methodserve the concept itself. “Such jew-ellery is evaluated, like fine art, for itsideas, inventions, intuitions and con-tent rather than for its preciousmaterials or conformity to tradition.And there are many takers for thissort of minimalism. People want lessbut better, real as opposed to faux,handcrafted as opposed to machine-made and artist-made instead ofmass-produced.”

6

OWLS, SWALLOWS, reptiles, fish,zebras, dinosaurs, elephants andflowers. Last season a veritable for-est was more than willing to hang

from women’s necks, ear lobes, wrists andhair. If you too regularly ignore your mum’swell-meaning advice to invest in gold and blowa chunk of your cheque on statement jew-ellery instead, then at least one of these crea-tures will find a home in your ornament box.A huge trend last year, animal jewellry foundtakers among the regular and even recognis-able fashionistas like Sonam Kapoor andShruti Hassan. But it’s time most of these ani-mals return to the zoo as the next seasonpaints a whole new picture in terms of jew-ellery trends. We spoke to the leading acces-sory and designers to find out more.

Style file

Done with carrying the zoo around yourneck? Check out our trend report for thefunkiest jewellery for the coming season

by Yashica Dutt

TRINKETTESTIMONIALS

After swimming in a pool of random, abstract, floral,ultra-girly jewellery last season, straight lines make abig comeback. Women, be prepared to become famil-iar with geometry all over again, though thisencounter will be more pleasant than your mathemat-ics class. Hexagonal cuffs, triangular ear-rings, lattice-shaped rings and three-dimensional cuboid necklacesare what you could be wearing soon. Narresh Kukrejaof the designer duo Shivan & Narresh tells usthat with alternate materials like wood andacrylic, geometric jewellry is here to stay.“Though the base could still be abstract, itwill certainly be seen in a geometric framethis season.” And if you still love thechunky, layered neck piece look, then it’stime to clean up your act and jewellery box.

“Lines will become cleaner and less

layered and the numerous crystal chains and beadswill be replaced by graphic motifs,” says designerShilpa Chavan. But layers aren’t set to disappearcompletely. Designer Suhani Pittie confirms thatit will be the effect and not the number of piecesthat will matter as she talks about the exit ofthe art nouveau trend. “It will be one singlepiece that cascades into many layers and notten pieces that will be in vogue.”

GEOMETRIC/GRAPHIC

WHAT AN IDEAConcept jewellery is like art where the idea is thestrongest component, such as this brooch byEina Ahluwalia about female infanticide (below)

LESS BUT MOREIndividual, artist-made pieces are morepopular than mass-produced trinkets

ESSENTIAL MINIMALISM/CONCEPT JEWELLERY

HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 10, 2011

TELLING TALESPieces with a backstory are trendy, like

Suhani Pittie’stribal (left and right)influenced baubles

CLEANUP ACTShilpa Chavan’s headpiece (left) andShivan & Narresh’s necklace (right)

indicate the return of geometric jewellery

8

Goodbye animals, hello animation! LadyGaga is a patron and Hello Kitty jewellery isalready a massive trend globally. ButJapanese animation characters are set toinvade more than your TV screens forAutumn/Winter 2011. “I have created a lot ofanime pieces like television cartoon charac-ters turned into neckpieces and ear studs forthe coming season,” says designer FelixBendish. Even though direct animal motifs

might be so last season, their remnants makestylish statements this coming winter. Like thefur neckpieces we spotted in James Ferreira’scollection for Autumn/Winter. "Horns, nails,bones will continue to be big. And you mightalso see influences from DC Comics and itscharacters,” says designer Shilpa Chavan whoretails under the brand Little Shilpa. Well, wecan’t wait to get our hands on that WonderWoman pendant!

LACE/VINTAGE

OLD SCHOOLLook into thepast for the

trendiest look,or for metalsthat mimic thefine cutting of

lace

FUR-ELISEJames Ferreiraused fur in hisFall/Winter 2012collection; it wasan instant hit

COCKTAIL RINGS - Walk into a hi-streetstore, roadside stall or a luxury boutique,you will find them every where. And thebigger the cocktail ring the better. Choosealternate materials — stone, metal or wood –as they are bound to draw attention to yourshapely fingers. But don’t skip the mani-cure with this one!

ECO-FRIENDLY EARRINGS - It’s easierthan you think to bring out the green fash-ionista in you. Opt for jewellery in naturalmaterials like organic cotton, hemp, juteand bamboo, easily found in mostindie/kitschy stores around the city. Andyou will earn yourself a sensitive yet rebel-lious image in no time!

MULTIMEDIA NECKPIECES - If wehaven’t already established that you don’tneed deep pockets to be trendy, then hereis more proof. Inexpensive materials likeplastic of various kinds, recycled glass,feathers, leather and faux stones in boldtones are being assembled to create eyecatching statement pieces. Complement-ing one with your outfit will not only let youown the room but will prevent you frombursting the piggy bank too.

BROOCHES - The older the better. Goraid your grandma’s closet and you will findat least one elegant, old-world piece withwhich she used to pin her saris. Use it onyour jacket lapels, shirt collars, shoe flaps,as a hair accessory or a pin to hold yourscarf. There is no way you could go unno-ticed and yes, God is in the details.

Must-haves for yourjewellery box

MILITARY-GOTH

ANIME/DC COMICS

The colour blocking trend has driven the entire fashionindustry into dreams of psychedelic technicolour and theycan’t stop talking about it. (Guilty as charged!) But noteveryone is as crazy about it. To counter balance the burstof colour on clothes, jewellery will have to go goth. “Withsuch bright colours around, jewellery will be using trendslike military bottle green and the dark goth tones of black,brown, beige and related hues. Black especially will returnas a strong trend mixed with intense military shades thiscoming fall,” says Shilpa Chavan.

THE AGE OFRANDOMLY WEARING

WHAT EVERYONE ELSE ISWEARING IS OVER

The Mad Men hangover is showing no signs of fading any-time soon and it’s not only the Fifties but even theVictorian epoch that is influencing jewellery this season.Vintage is a huge trend and it’s time to skirt the extremes,according to Suhani Pittie. “You need to go diametricallyopposite in your jewellery choice. Either wear somethingEdwardian or something radically uber cool. A mix ofboth works really well too. One of my headbands pairsbeautiful delicate rhinestones with funky three-dimension-al bakelite and it is a brilliant, quirky mix,” she says. Andwhen going the vintage way, lace can’t be ignored. Lace isa big trend in jewellery right now. “Metal replicating thefineness of lace with patterns delicately cut into it, is verytrendy,” says Eina Ahluwalia.

MIX ITUse of alternatematerial forjewellery is ahuge trend nowlike this plasticShilpa Chavan

piece

RIOT AGAINST COLOURSGoth is likely to come back next season; take a

cue from this piece by Shilpa Chavan

PHOT

O:RO

NOJO

YGO

GOI

JULY 10, 2011HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE

JULY 10, 2011HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE10

Tech Talk

There’s one more reason to waste time on the Internet: Google’s brand new social network, Google+!We got so excited that we didn’t care that Google says it’s still in a testing phase – we stacked it up

against Facebook and Twitter anyway. Does it pack enough punch to blow them away?by Pranav Dixit

Google’s latest salvo at arch nemesisFacebook in the social networking spaceis kicking up a storm in the tech world.Currently in a limited, invitation-only‘field test’ which means that everyone andtheir brother is dying for an invite.

Looks deceptively like Facebook at firstglance. Digging deeper reveals featureslike Circles (to sort contacts into friends, 3am buddies, losers and so on), Hangout(multi-user webcam chat) and Sparks(to quickly find stuff you care about).

THESTORYSO FAR

KILLERFEATURES

Facebook fanatics should feel right athome. Posting, uploading pictures andsorting people into Circles is a snap.Google isn’t particularly known forgorgeous user-interfaces butGoogle+ looks clean and classy.

750million users – that’s 10 per cent of theworld’s population – and counting! Theworld’s biggest social network shows nosigns of slowing down. You’re hooked. Sois your boss, your mom, your 93-year-old grandpa – and your dog.

Farmville. No, we're kidding. This is thebest social network for sharing pictures,photos, videos, links… anything you want.Has a Circles-like ‘Lists’ feature burieddeep within the clunky, interface (alongwith the rest of the privacy settings).

Much like Microsoft Windows, Facebookisn’t really the easiest thing in the world touse – we are just used to it. We find thatthe general interface could do with somede-cluttering and simplification. Also, thathideous photo-viewer needs to go: now!

Twitter came as a pithy, no-frills, alterna-tive to Facebook and was a runaway hit.Particularly useful for spreading the word,chatting up your favourite celebs (ortrolling them), blowing your own trumpetor simply engaging in pointless babble.

No clutter, no rambling. Bang out yourpost in 140-characters or less and getdone with it. View photos and videos rightin your stream. Have long links that youpost shortened right then and there. Tweetfrom anywhere: you PC or on the go.

Twitter is so minimalist that it couldn’t getany simpler. Type your tweet in the bigbox at the top, hit ‘Tweet’… and that’s it.Replying to @Mentions, retweeting andsearching is a breeze and the interface issnappy and responsive.

EASEOF USE

This is Google we’re talking about. Onceyou sign up, you sign your life away.

PRIVACY

Has a great app for Android phones (iOSversion coming soon, worry not). Every-thing possible on the site is possible onyour phone. Bonus: mobile users also getan exclusive ‘Huddle’ feature forquick group chats.

I beg your pardon?

We are rather fond of the Facebookmobile app. It does a good job at squeez-ing the full-blown site down to a tinyscreen. It does have a few rough edgesthough and we think it could use a littlespit and polish.

Twitter does collect your personal infor-mation to sell it to advertisers, but unlikeGoogle, it doesn’t really have all yourprivate mail, pictures from that party whereyou got sloshed, your phone numberand your credit card numbers.

No matter whether you use an iPhone,iPad, BlackBerry, Android, WindowsPhone, or even a plain old Nokia, chancesare, you’ll find a Twitter app you like. Ourfavourite? Tweetdeck!

ON THEGO:APPS

High. Not only will your Google+ notifica-tions show up at the top of every Googleservice you use (including Gmail), it willautomatically grab every picture you clickfrom your phone and put it up in a specialfolder.

High. Facebook doesn’t exactly make iteasy for you to delete your account if youever decide you’ve had it with Mark and hiscronies. Sure, you can deactivate it, butFacebook still stores all your pictures, postsand profile information... in a safe place.

Moderate. You don’t really have to‘connect’ with someone or accept a‘friend request’ to be stalked/abused. Allthose creeps on the internet out there?All they have to do is type yourname to spam you till you scream.

CREEPI-NESSQUOTIENT

DID NOTNEEDPLASTICSURGERY(REALLY!)

NEED ASTYLIST(PRONTO!)

NEED A HIT(ANDFAST!)

ROUND ’EM UP! Your favourite celebs sorted into the Google+ Circles we think they deserve to be in

The (new) social network

Amrita Arora

Vivek Oberoi

KoenaMitra

AbhishekBachchan

Akshay Kumar

SonamKapoor

Koena Mitra

Kangna Ranaut

MinisshaLamba

12 JULY 10, 2011HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE

IT’S A standard staple of chicklit literature –the main character who finds it hard to resistthe temptations of shopping. But for Chennai-based computer professional Neeta

SenGupta (name changed), this is not a fictionalsituation. Every month, as her credit card billsarrive in the mail, SenGupta and her husband faceoff over their amounts. “I know very well that thefights that we have over the figures in these bills iseating into our otherwise rock-solid relationship,”admits SenGupta, adding, “But still I feel powerlessto fight the shopping impulse when it hits me. Aftereach splurge, I start dreading the next fight I’llhave with my husband, and to tide over the stress, Igo shopping again. I really want to break thisdreadful cycle, but don’t know how to.”According to the experts, a

shopping addiction is not asuncommon as it seems. “WhatNeeta is calling a habit is actu-ally an addiction,” explains DrAshima Puri, consultant psy-chologist at Aashlok Hospital,Delhi. “Shopping is fun formostof us. But when this seeminglyinnocent pastime spirals out of control, it gets clas-sified as an addiction.”She adds, “There is a clear-cut distinction between

shopping for a need and shopping to fill a need. Andtherein lies the divider that differentiates a shopperfrom an obsessive shopper.”Mamta Singla, consultant clinical psychologist at

Artemis Health Institute, Gurgaon, agrees with DrPuri. She says, “Actually, addiction is defined as hav-ing a compulsion to commit a behaviour, beingunableto stop a behaviour, and continuing the behaviourdespite harmful consequences. Research now showsthat addictive behaviour oftenprovides amomentarylift in one’s mood. A flood of ‘good feeling’ producingadrenaline hormones rewards a shopaholic.” Singla

adds, “Unfortunately the lift is not permanent,and the shopaholic must go out and shop morein order to find the next boost in hormones.”“It is estimated that one in 20menandwomen

fall into the category of a compulsive shopper,”reveals Shailaja Pokhriyal, consultant clinicalpsychologist, Dr BL Kapur MemorialHospital, Delhi. “So there are a lot of peo-ple out there who tend to hear ‘Buy, Buy,Buy...’ when they go out to shop.”

WHAT LEADS TO IT?Like other addictions, a shoppingaddiction too stems from a lack ofself-esteem, loneliness andemptiness. “This disorderhasbeenlinked to emotional deprivations inchildhood, an inability to toleratenegative feelings, the need to fill aninternal void, excitement-seeking,excessive dependency, approval-seek-ing, general impulsiveness and com-pulsiveness, and the need to gain control,”lists Singla.

Often the root cause lies wayback in childhood. “About a yearago, a man brought his 30-year-old wife to me with a complaintof excessive shopping.Aftermanysessions with her, it turned outthatherbehaviour stemmed fromher childhood conditioning,”sharesDrHimanshuSaxena, sen-

ior consultant psychiatrist, Jaipur Golden Hospital,Delhi. He adds, “As a child, whenever she would buysomething, her parents used to praise her for herindependent behaviour. She grew up enjoying thefeeling of being different from others, and feltsuperior to her friends and cousins. Gradually shegot addicted to shopping.”According to Dr Puri, sometimes a loss can

also trigger a shopping addiction.He says, “I remem-ber a mother-daughter duo from Gurgaon whoseshopping habits spiralled out of control when theirteenage son/brother committed suicide. Sadness leadsto low self-worth and people when emotionallyweak begin to look for a magical solution to help fillthe void. Often shopping gives them that fix.”

Wellness

Are you addicted to shopping?If so, find out why and whatyou can do to get rid of thisexpensive, destructive habit

by Kavita Devgan

ARE YOU A SHOPAHOLIC?

PHOT

OS:THINK

STOC

K

LIKE OTHERADDICTIONS, THISONE TOO STEMSFROM EMPTINESS

■ Do you go on buying bingeswhen you feel lonely, anxious,disappointed, depressed orangry?■ Do you feel a ‘high’ when you goon a buying binge?■ Do you feel on edge, agitated orirritable when you haven’t beenable to buy something?■ Do you spend a lot of timewatching the shopping channel

on TV or surfing shoppingwebsites?■ Do you buy something and thenfeel guilty about it?■ Do you often run your creditcards up to the limit?■ Do you try to stay within budget,but always fall short of your goal?

Expert: Shailaja Pokhriyal, consultant clinicalpsychologist, Dr B L Kapur Memorial

Hospital, Delhi

TATA, BUY BUY

A DANGEROUS HIGHShopping can send many people into debt,place a strain on their marriages and basi-cally ruin their lives, say the experts.DrPurishares the story of a 28-year-oldwomanwhoopted tobreakoff her one-year-oldmarriagewhen her husband refused to let her buy aVersace bag worth one lakh. “Obviouslytheremust be other issues too in their rela-tionship, but different shopping sensibilitieswas the one they just couldn’t resolve,” saysDrPuri, adding, “Then therewas a 29-year-old mother of two children whose guiltbrought her to me when she realised thatbecause of her incessant shopping jauntsshe was totally neglecting her children andhusband.”According to the experts, it is important

to understand that shopping and spendingmoneywill not assuremore love, or bolsterself-esteem, or heal hurts and regrets. Norwill it ease stress. “Relationships also getaffected as often a compulsive shopper cuts

family (and friends) timeandmiss-es social engagements because ofthis addiction. I once handled amanwhowould lie to his parentsall the time and hide his shop-ping,” recalls Pokhriyal.

“Actually shopaholics tend toemotionally distance themselvesfrom friends and family in anattempt to hide their excessesand keep trying to cover theirdebts with deception,” pointsout Dr Puri. “There are otherpractical repercussions too.Shopaholics are always shortof money and keep borrowing.Soon people start avoidingthem and they are left friend-less,whichonly compounds theproblem,” shares Dr Saxena.

Sometimes, a shoppingaddiction can occur with acluster of other addictions –such as gambling, drinking,drugs, eating disorders etc.Pokhriyal remembers a 26-year-old boywho came to herwitha shoppingaddictionand

alcohol abuse problem. “He would shop forclothes all the time and when he was shortofmoney,walk longdistances andskipmealsto save money for shopping. Missing officehours to go for shopping was regular tooand his alcohol addiction made the situa-tion worse,” she explains.

HELP FOR THE PROBLEMDoctors say that a shopping addiction canbecontrolledbyundergoingcounsellingwitha clinical psychologist. It usually requires amultifaceted approach; and there are nostandard treatments. “Although somemed-ications show promise, especially for peo-ple who have an underlying case of depres-sion, results are mixed, so they should notbe considered a sole or reliable treatment,”says Pokhriyal. “Going to the root cause isessential,” saysDrSaxena. For example, forsomepatients, cognitive behaviour therapyand hypnosis will work. But there are a lotof self checks too (see box).

[email protected]

We all love stimulatingenvironments, people,conversations and

goals. When we get somethingwhich we find interesting, welove doing that work. But at theother end of the spectrum wehave situations and jobs whichmake us anxious, tired, bored.In between these two extremesis the fascinating and yet mys-terious world of stress. There isgood stress which stimulatesour mind andemotions; andat the other endof the spectrum,we can evencollapse withstress. Thereare two aspectswe need tounderstand: the experience ofstress and the personality type.What happens when ourexperience changes fromstimulation and cheer toanxiety, anger and stress?■ People enjoy doing their tasksmore when the end resultmatches or goes above theirexpectations■ We enjoy the task more whenit is somehow linked to some-thing we have an interest in■ We enjoy the task if it gets usappreciation or adulation■ Tasks which are done wellwithin time, and yet at ourpersonal pace give us the mostsatisfaction■ Tasks which have a highsocial value also give us joy■ We like tasks where we feelwe are getting paid more thanwhat we expect■ Tasks where we inch closer toour deep-seated ambition of

wealth/ power/ recognition /comfort are more appealingWhat are the tasks/experi-ences we do not enjoy?■ Surprises which are unpleas-ant, where the task is not in linewith our list of appealing experi-ences■ Deadlines set by others■ Orders and instructions givenwithout our buy in■ Task disconnected with our

set of interestsand abilities■ Getting toomany tasks,which we don’tknow how to do■ Environmentsthat are noisy, hot,

and very uncomfortable■ Maladjustment with people inthe team who are involved inthe task■ Feelings of injustice■ Awork pace not aligned to thetask deadline■ Not asking for help /delega-tionThe bottomline is that stress =personality type (response ) +environmental situation. Somebasic examples:■ A person who enjoys researchand investigation is put intosales and marketing■ A person who enjoys solitudeis put in social networking andcommunication■ A person who hopes for a littleappreciation is neglected andtaken for grantedWhat are the solutions? Weshall explore that in the nextcolumn.

[email protected]

SHIKHA SHARMAMIND BODY SOUL

CONTROL YOUR OBSESSION■ Own up to the problem, and let people in your

life know that you have ‘out of control’ spending

habits.

■ Acknowledge debts and seek help to resolve

them. Take help from consumer credit

counselling services.

■ Figure out the root cause. What triggers you to

go shopping? Keep a log.

■ Window shop only after stores have closed for

the day. Otherwise leave your wallet at home.

■ Replace shopping with exercise. When the

urge strikes, get on a treadmill or go for a run.

Push as hard as you can to release endorphins

and get a ‘runner’s high’.

■ Cut up all your credit cards and only make

purchases that you can pay for with cash.

■ Create a budget to track your spending.

■ Develop and stick to a weekly spending

savings plan.

■ Do not go shopping alone. Always take a friend

along.

■ Do not shop without a list of specific items to

buy and avoid malls.

■ Seek professional help or counselling to

manage depression or anxiety.

(Experts: Mamta Singla, consultant clinical psychologist at

Artemis Health Institute, Gurgaon; Dr Ashima Puri, consultant

psychologist, Aashlok Hospital,Delhi)

What causes stress?

14 HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE JULY 10, 2011

COVER STORY

Heavy workload, deadlines, long office hours anddifficult bosses stress her out

KAMLA AT WORK

A more relaxed life and time to herself to dowhat makes her happy

KAMLA AT HOME

15JULY 10, 2011HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE

NOT THAT long ago, in the Seventies,feminists urged women to go out oftheir homes and work. Domesticitylimited their potential, women weretold, they could do much more with

their lives than remain restricted to their nurtur-ing and homemaking roles. ‘What men can do,women can do too, and maybe better” was theiranthem.Fast forward to thirty years later. Today, the idea

of women going out to work is commonplace.Economic independence has been the buzzwordfor women for years now.But wait, something else is afoot here. A growing

number of women today are actually choosing notto go out into the workplace. Maybe they’ve triedworking and opted out because they couldn’t man-age home and office. Maybe they’ve stopped work-ing to bring up their children. Maybe they stillwork out of the house, or do a bit of free lancework. Or maybe it’s none of the above – maybe theywant to stay at home. Whatever the reason, here’sa question: what happened to the fierce desire tobe someone other than stay-at-home-women?

JUST A REBELLION?Some men – at the risk of having women shoutthem down – still view the Seventies movement asa rebellion to be “different” rather than as some-thing that grew out of an intrinsic belief.“That is what it was – a rebellion,” says Chandra

Bagheria, a Bangalore-based businessman. “It hap-pened at a point when the idea of women workingwasn’t so prevalent. That’s why the idea of womengoing out to work was ‘eulogized’ and looked at as‘the only’ way for women’s emancipation. Thentimes changed and so did the general psyche.Going out to work was no longer taboo. Once thereason to rebel didn’t exist, how could the rebellionitself continue?” he asks.Abhishek Kant, a marketing professional with

an IT firm, agrees. “Unlike men, who grow upwith the notion that they have to provide for thefamily, the idea of going out to work was not‘intrinsic’ to women in general. It was a certainsection of feminists who propagated the idea andit became a movement. But women were nevertold that they needed to be the bread winners,” hesays.

Kamla is any woman who would rather stay at homethan go out to work – a noticeable trend among urbanwomen. Whatever happened to the feminist dream of

self-worth and financial independence?by Tavishi Paitandy RastogiIllustrations by Jayanto

KAMLA COMES HOME

“My wife is at peace withme being a house husband”I was given to understand some years ago thatI belong to that category of men whom womenideally like to have as their boyfriends, not hus-bands – the creative sort who likes to live a lifeof nomadic fantasy, sans the stability that awoman looks for. To that extent, I think mywife is a really brave woman as she is at peacewith me being a writer house-husband.Not that I’ve never been in a job, but I think Irealised way too early that I was too much myown man to be bound by other people’s in-structions. Leading the life that I do has givenme the freedom to explore myself beyond myown imagination and I’m happy with the wayI’ve grown professionally and personally in thelast few years, which would not have beenpossible otherwise.Yes, there are uncertain phases when the anxi-ety is bound to rub off on your spouse as well.But I’m happy my wife has just shown a lot ofconfidence in me in those phases. Of courseshe realises the advantages of my flexi-work-ing hours – like dropping her to her office,barely half a kilometre away from home.Is it tougher for a man to live the life of a free-lancer? I guess one is conditioned to believethat way. But the point is, should one stick tothe belief at the cost of what one really wantsto do in life? If you ask me, it’s as much abouta personal choice as your entire life is. I’d per-sonally pursue what my heart tells me to, be-cause there’s no point leading a compromisedlife which I might regret later.Does the uncertainty bore me now? Nope, I’dsay. The key to not getting bored is doing asmany different things as possible and/or doingthem as differently as possible. That explainswhy each of my books belongs to a differentgenre and why I’m constantly juggling be-tween books, scripts, newspaper columns andcommissioned writing assignments.Would I be fine if my wife chooses to quit herjob too? Well, why not? Sometime ago, we’dworked together to set up my content man-agement firm, Write Quotient. Unfortunately,we couldn’t give the venture the attention it re-quired. But in future when we decide to start afamily, I’ll be more than happy if she quits herjob and instead takes care of this firm. I can’tbe not encouraging her from leading the life Ihave so stubbornly led.

Tuhin A Sinha is the author of Of Love And Politicsand a well-known columnist

TUHIN SINHA

AFTER A busy, fast-track life, isn’t home andhousehold work a little too mundane? No, sayour SAHW (stay-at-home-women, silly). Withmore and more avenues for entertainmentopening up and with so many things to do, life athome is definitely not limited to watching TVand waiting on/for husbands and kids. Whetherit’s going to the mall, partying with friends, trav-elling, joining pottery or salsa classes or partici-pating in charities, life needn’t be dull at all. Al-most all women who have decided to stay athome assert that it is fairly ‘cool’ to be home.“Well, I may stay at home but I don’t do thesweeping, cleaning and cooking. I read, go forjogs and to the gym, swim twice a week, go to aspa at least twice a month, watch films onDVDs, listen to music... basically do anythingand everything that I want to without having tostress about meeting any deadlines,” laughsUdita Gopal, a consultant.

TV journalist Prerna Kapoor too falls in thesame category. Tired of clocking in for TV bul-letins and rushing about meeting deadlines, shequit her job just before she got married. “The ini-tial plan was to move abroad, but that didn’thappen. Having left work already, however, I de-cided to enjoy my marriage. Travel is what I in-tended to do and did do, lots of it. I travelledacross the world and through India with my hus-band. While these were work trips for him, theywere holidays for me,” she says. Two years later,Kapoor is still in that blissful zone. Though shesometimes feels the urge to get back to work,she says it has to be around her routine.Merchandising executive Anamika Khare whoquit after her wedding is happy doing pottery.“Once the course is over, I might start my ownpottery classes or make pottery that I can sell.It’ll be work and it’ll also be great fun. All in thecomfort of my home,” she says.

Here’s a man unlike most men –he doesn’t go out to work

What does one do all day if one stays at home?


AMATTER OF CHOICEWhile many women agree that their social condi-tioning was such that they needed to be motivatedand pushed to walk out of the house, they dismissthis male view as outright chauvinism. “Actually,the fight was always for a ‘choice’,” says UrvashiButalia, publisher of Zubaan books.“Unfortunately, most women never had the choiceto decide what they wanted to do. A woman wasalways brought up with the idea that she had to behome. There was no place for her in the outsideworld. It wasn’t a choice, it was a compulsion tostay home. That is the notion that one needed tobreak. And it did get broken,” she says.Today, she says, women can choose – to step out

or to stay in. Adds Dr Syed Mubin Zehra, socialanalyst, columnist and author, “It is a very con-scious and individual decision. One that is withoutany sort of pressure. And thus holds a lot of valueand is far more fulfilling.”

The choice to stay at home, however, is gov-erned by a host of factors. Unnati Kant, an HR pro-fessional, decided to quit and stay at home becauseshe felt that her responsibilities towards her homewere higher on her priority list. “It wasn’t the hap-piest decision but it wasn’t the saddest either.Work was important but there were other thingsas well. We wanted to start a family. Bringing up achild, I knew, was a full time job, so I gave up theother one. Also, the decision was purely mine. Noone told me to quit. But I didn’t want to compro-mise on the quality time that I could devote to mychild if I stayed at home. Besides, the choice to goback to work is always open, right? My qualifica-tions exist and so does the support from family. Sowhy crib?”asks Unnati.

EQUAL SHAREAll those years ago, husbands virtually behavedlike demi gods and were treated as such; the wifehad to be subservient to their whims. But that isn’treally true any longer. It doesn’t matter whetherwomen work or not. They are educated and theircontribution to the home is recognised today.“Thank god, finally some sense has prevailed,” sayspsychologist Dr Surbhi Soni. “More than anyoneelse, men and their thought processes havechanged. Now, they fully understand, appreciateand value the contribution of their women. Thefact that women now are also equally qualifiedadds to this. Women do not feel the need to keepproving their worth all the time. So even when theydecide to stay at home, they are fully secure that

16

COVER STORY

Idon’t have a boss and can’t thank my 28-month-old daughter enough for it. It’s like this.

After 12 years of active journalism when mother-hood came calling, I was ready to take it on likeanother challenge. After all, I’d taken up somechallenges and met them just fine (at least I’d liketo believe so). Night shifts to murder spots tofashions shows, to a taste of Mumbai’s Bolly-wood, life had been full of interesting stories andpeople. And I only saw more of it coming my way.Then it all changed.I’d just given in to the temptation of a Chinesemeal at one of Chanakyapuri’s popular eatingjoints in Delhi with a fellow photographer when I

felt this strange feeling. My tummy had thisstrange sensation, something ticklish. As I bravelysat back on the bike after a satisfying meal, itdawned on me that I’d felt my baby move. I wasprobably four months pregnant.By the time my little girl finally arrived, I was morethan ready for her. Though I did go back to workwhen she was five months old, I must say I strug-gled hard. Production days were particularly bad. Iknew I was a little more edgy, a little more hassled,a little less of the 101 per cent me I like being atwork. I’d constantly think of the curly hair I lovedrunning my hands through, the magical smell typi-cal to babies. God! What was I to do? I mean, Iloved my work and I loved my daughter and I was-n’t being able to love both as much as I wanted to.I quit. I quit my job when my daughter turned one,just when her blabbering was threatening to turn

into words, when she started waving goodbye tome every morning. It’s been well over a year sinceI began working from home and I know I’m a bet-ter worker and a better mother.I try and stick to an 11 to 6 schedule and a five dayweek, which I must confess does turn into six daysat times. But then there are days when Mondaysfeel like Fridays, because I’ve just wound up aproject. I love my work more than I ever did.What’s more, my bank account looks healthierthan it did, as a salaried person. I have bigger can-vas to work on, I can take off when I want and yes,I don’t have a boss.The best part is that I know I’m around when mygirl needs me. I don’t have to worry about a nannysedating my child, I don’t have to listen to “don’tthink you can take us for granted” vibes from rela-tives.

PRACHI RATURI MISRA She quit her job when her baby turned one year old and hasn’t regretted it ever

“I know I’m a better motherand a better worker now”

She keeps herself fit for a healthy body and healthy mindKAMLA GOES TO THE GYM

17JULY 10, 2011HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE

people will no longer cast aspersions on their cred-ibility or downplay their efforts,” says Soni.

Even the Supreme Court of India reiterated thevalue of a woman who stayed at home. “A wife ormother does not work by the clock. She is in con-stant attendance of the family throughout the dayand night. She takes care of all the requirements ofhusband and children including cooking of food,washing of clothes, etc. She teaches small childrenand provides invaluable guidance to them for theirfuture life,” the Court remarked while settling acompensation case last year.Abhishek Kant’s observation about women not

being bread winners may sound chauvinistic, butfrom another perspective, it has credence. Womencan stay at home and not work in cases where theyare not the ‘real’ bread-winners in a family. “Whyshould it be an ego issue at all,” asks Udita Gopal, ajet setting consultant who decided to call it quitssimply because she couldn’t take the hecticlifestyle anymore.“Travelling across the globe for minimum two to

three weeks in a month, working in office till weehours when home, client interactions, deadlines,deals and transactions... it was great for a while.But eight years of that was pure madness. I justcouldn’t take the stress anymore. Yes, the moneywas great but I needed to do something for myself.So I quit. Between my husband and me, we decid-ed that his salary was good enough for both of us.And please, I don’t have any guilt about spendinghis money. After all, didn’t he promise to take careof all my needs and necessities when he marriedme?” she asks, laughing.Adds businessman Chandra Bagheria, “Most

marriages are based on this unwritten understand-ing that the man holds the responsibility to gener-ate income to run the house. The woman maychoose to earn but if she doesn’t, it is the man’sduty to cater to her needs.”

BRAND DOMESTICITYExperts also attribute the trend of stay-at-home-women to what they call the “marketing of domes-ticity” by the mass media. Be it television soaps oradvertisements for oils and shampoos, all of them

Ididn’t buy a sari for my mum or a watch for mydad like they do in those heart-warming ads

when I got my first salary. I couldn’t because Ihad precious little left over after I paid my hostelfees – there’s toothpaste and other necessities todeal with. Both of them, however, thought thatthe first step I took towards paying my waythrough life was the nicest present to them ever.Mum also told me that now that I was financiallyindependent I would never have to put up withnonsense from anybody – I think she was makingan oblique reference to typical formidable Indianin-laws.During my early years in advertising, I was as-signed a few appointment ads. While craftingthem, I always deliberately left out that foolishcliché, “Candidates must have fire in the belly” –hell, that sounds like they want to hire people withchronic heartburn. A decade later, I mentally cre-ated an ad for myself: “Desperately seeking anemployer who does not give me fire in the belly”.

I was battle-scarred by office politics, inconsider-ate bosses who arrogantly summon you to meet-ings long after office hours are over, and evenworse, compulsory weekend bonding sessionswith largely humourless colleagues. I asked my-self two life-changing questions:One, how many bottles of antacid is it safe to drinkdaily? And two, why was I still living in a cagewhen the Internet had set me free?I saw the light and switched to working from homeas a freelance writer. Thereafter, I’ve experiencedfreedom and productivity like never before. I don’tfritter away precious hours in the daily commute orhang around water-coolers bitching out the boss –and I spend exactly the same time on Facebookas I did before (so there!).Working as a freelancer is not a breeze, however.It’s made me happier but poorer. You’re not as-sured of a regular sum of money every month –very often you’re fobbed off with the usual your-cheque-is-in-the-mail rubbish. I often wonder ifmy desire to live life on my own terms is brave orfoolish. Once, I got two offers on the same day:one was a half-day job at a sexy salary, the otherwas a work-from-home retainership that paid a

pittance. My husband suggested I get psychiatrichelp when I enthusiastically opted for the work-from-home job. He couldn’t understand whysomeone who values financial independencewould voluntarily work for peanuts. He refused toaccept that I needed lots of freedom to chill. Ad-mittedly his reaction worried me a bit – I suspect abig part of why he likes me is because I’ve neverbeen emotionally or financially needy. Perhaps hefeared that it would change. See, for the first 9years of our marriage I insisted on splitting everybill with him: holidays, household thingies, movietickets – heck, popcorn too. His fears were un-founded because fortunately I still take care of mypersonal expenses, but when he insists on treat-ing me to a holiday or something nice, I don’tprotest vehemently like I used to. There’s pay-back, of course. In return, I do neurotic chores likespending time in a doctor’s clinic faithfully report-ing my husband’s symptoms because he’s toobusy working to be there in person. Also I mustadd that I’m hugely grateful medical science has-n’t advanced to the stage where I can get a rootcanal for my husband!

Rupa Gulab is a writer and author of Girl Alone and The GreatDepression of the 40s

RUPA GULAB She gave up her advertising job because she was battle-scarred by office politics and bad bosses

“Howmany bottles of antacidis it safe to drink daily?”

Now she has time to enjoy herself and to meet her friendsKAMLA AT A PARTY


COVER STORY

promote ‘happy domesticity’. (Never mind thatyou must look picture-perfect at all times). Yourdaughter wants long hair? A stressed husbandneeds some attention? You, the woman, needs tobe home. “Even schools have started giving extrapoints to kids who have stay-at-home mothers,during the admission process. The idea is thatchildren are better tended to,” says Dr Zehra.“Each of these scenarios further builds up ‘branddomesticity’. In a way, they are generating a simi-lar sense of achievement and pride in work withinthe home.”Movie stars have also done their bit in building

up the image of the domestic goddess. Actresseslike Madhuri Dixit, Kajol or Sridevi quit while stillat their peak to get married and raise their chil-dren. Hollywood stars like Penelope Cruz andCatherine Zeta Jones, among others, have limitedtheir appearances to the red carpet and fewerfilms while their children grow up.“The subliminal message is ‘If they can, why

can’t we’,” says journalist Kavita Mehta who quither regular work after the birth of her baby andnow freelances for various magazines. (People doforget, however, that actresses’ careers anywayslow down post-marriage!).

THE GOOD LIFEBut in today’s scenario, isn’t a double income homea necessity? Isn’t a single income which can com-fortably run a household a sign of luxury?

“Sure it is,” accepts Dr Soni. “But the factremains that if a woman has that choice, whyshouldn’t she exercise it? If a husband can affordto give his wife a lifestyle of her choice withoutneeding her money at all, then lucky her. Andthose who can’t, well, the women in those homesdon’t have that choice. They have to work, whetherthey enjoy it or not, because their income is impor-tant,” she adds. The truth is that this freedom ofchoice – to stay at home or not – can only be deter-mined by the family’s financial circumstances.Otherwise, there is no choice.And what of the men?Wouldn’t they like the

choice of not going out to work? “Of course wewould. Give me a chance to quit my job and travelwith my spouse, I would be very happy to do so.But no such luck. We men cannot do anything ofthe sort. In that sense, it is a woman’s world,”laughs lawyer Neeraj Behl.

[email protected](The artwork for this story is inspired by Indian ValueEducation Posters, increasingly difficult to find now)

Iwas never a 9-5 sort of a person. It was toomundane and rigid for me. I wasn’t very aca-

demically oriented, I was more more creativelyinclined. And really, I don’t think I am missingout on anything in life by not going to work. Infact, I am much happier doing what I do – stay-ing at home and looking after my family.Bored, did you say? Where is the time to getbored? With a growing son and a husband, Iam more than busy. That apart, I dance. Ilearnt Bharatnatyam from my mother andhave now moved into choreography. I teachdance to kids, but all in the comfort of myhome. A few hours in the evening of teachinghelps me keep fit and also gets me to realisemy creative instincts.It is very simple really. My priority is my son Jaiand my home. So whatever I do, the timingsand schedules revolve around Jai’s schedules,be it holidays or school assignments. And thatis just one of the benefits of being at home al-most full time. And of course, there is no pres-sure, no stress and no getting stuck at trafficjams. It’s a very comfortable life.My days are rather full. I start at about 7 am,send Jai to school and my husband to office.On weekdays, I too leave with my husbandand go to the gym. I exercise for about anhour, then I’m back home and the regularhousehold chores start. Of course I don’t getdown to doing dusting and jhadoo pochchabut supervising is tough too. After all, thehome should be in order. That done, the nextcouple of hours are my ‘me’ time. I dance.Practice my moves, and choreograph somenew song – sometimes with my mother,sometimes, alone. It’s my time for rejuvena-tion. By 1.30 pm, my son is back from schooland the next few hours are his. From his regu-lar homework to school updates to generalchit chat, it’s mother-son bonding time. In theevenings when Jai goes out to play, I take mydance classes. Kids come home and my livingroom quickly turns into a dance floor. Fromclassical dance to the latest Bollywood num-ber, we do it all. Jai is back by 7.30 pm. By thetime he changes and freshens up, I am donewith my classes too. My husband too is backaround the same time. Another half hour offinishing school work etc, and it’s dinner timeby 9.30 pm. A little chilling out and it’s timefor bed and another full day to look forward to.My weekends are dedicated to family, friendsand movies.Do I miss not having a regular job or going toan office? No. Why should I? Especially whenI can do exactly what I want to and maybemuch more, sitting at home.Besides, thankfully, I really don’t need the “ex-tra money flow every month”. We are in a fairlygood position and manage happily with a sin-gle income. I am realising my passion which isfar more fulfilling than having a profession.The best part is I have no guilt pangs of notbeing around for my child and husband!

As told to Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi

CHARU GOEL

She can make good use of her time and do social workKAMLA DOES CHARITY

“I really don’t think I’mmissing out on anything”

She never wanted to work in a 9 to5 job; she’s happy to be home

IGROAN inwardly each time I hear somebody quoting AndyWarhol’s famous line about how in the future everyone will befamous for 15 minutes; not because Warhol was wrong, butbecause he was absolutely right.

There was a time when you admired the famous. You respectedthem for the qualities that had earned them their fame. Topsportspersons, international statesmen, big-timemovie idols, greatartists and creative geniuses. Even the famous people one did notadmire – Adolf Hitler or Charles Sobhraj, for instance – served asan object lesson in the negative aspects of the world: the nature ofevil, the misuse of power.These days alas, famemeans little. There is so little to admire in

so many famous people. And even notoriety is cheaply purchased.About all you can say with a degree of certainty of most of today’sfamous people is thatwithin five yearsmost of themwill have beenforgotten. New instant celebrities will have taken their place – toshine in the spotlight for their own 15 minutes or so.You can blame society and the communications revolution for

the fickleness of today’s fame. But I think thatwe in themedia haveto accept our share of the blame. Because we are so celebrityobsessed that we devour and spit out ‘celebrities’ by the week, wecreate new, undeserving famous peoplealmost on an hourly basis.To someextent that is inevitable given

the demands of today’s media technolo-gy and it is not necessarily a bad thing.Butwhatworriesmethemost is thebanal-ityof 21st century fame.Wedon’t just takeminor celebrities and exaggerate theirimportance.Weuse entirely newcriteriato judge celebrity-hood. We look for vul-garity, for a trashy loudness and for anoverwhelming cheapness. All the thingsthat we would consider appalling andrevolting in a colleague or a neighbourare the very things that help people tobecome famous.Would you want to work in the same office

as Dolly Bindra? How would you feel if RakhiSawantwasyournext-doorneighbour?Wouldyou allowMaria Susairaj into your home?No matter how revolting we would find

these people if we came across them inourday-to-day lives,weare forcedto regard themas celebrities by themedia, to follow their antics on ourTVscreensand to readabout theirevery move in our press.As far as the media are con-cerned, the fame game has nowbecome a freak show. Thefreakier the person, the betterthe story. The more shamelessthe person, the more sensation-al the quotes.And themore hor-rific the personality, the bigger

the spin-off.It is no longer: in the future,

everyone will be famous for 15 minutes. Now it’s simpler andmorebasic: it’s freaks we seek.Inwhichworld could you have imagined thatDollyBindrawould

become a celebrity? Even ten years ago, the media would haveignored her. Once upon a time, Rakhi Sawant would have beenrecognised for what she is: a two-bit item girl with an unfortunatelip job. Now, TV channels vie to build shows around her and shegives long interviews to famous hosts.Or take Rahul Mahajan. When his father died and we saw pic-

tures of him at the funeral, we thought of him as no more than ayoung man whose life had been vitiated bytragedy. Who would have imagined that hewould become a bona fide celebrity on thebasis of drug-related deaths and a sordid pri-vate life played out in public?Moreworryingis this: as long as hewas a subdued tragic fig-ure, themedia hadno interest in him.But themoment he turnedhimself into a vulgar, pub-lic spectacle, he became a star.So it iswithMariaSusairaj. Iwon’t get into

whether her acquittal on a murder chargewas justified. Butwhat kind of society areweif we turn a woman who helped her fiancéechopupher lover’s bodyand thenburn it (shehas been convicted on that charge) into acelebrity? Now Ram Gopal Varma wants to

cast her in a movie. Reality TV shows vie to win herparticipation. And her press conferences are turnedinto bizarre circuses by a rampagingmedia machine.Once a society becomes obsessed by the vulgar, the

cheaply notorious, the loudly sensationalistic andproud-ly trashy, it loses its bearings. It forgets all the things

that fame should really be about: achievementand excellence. And it abandons the distinc-tions between right andwrong, between thereal and the manufactured, between thesubstantive and the illusion.

So thenext timeyou seeRakhiSawantgiving an interview or watch a pressconference byMaria Susairaj, pause alittle andponder thebanality of celebri-ty-hood today. And remember thatwhen fame becomes a freak show, itis our society that eventually paysthe price.

[email protected]. Follow Seema onTwitter at twitter.com/seemagoswami

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SeemaGoswami

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In today’s world, celebrity-hood is allabout vulgarity and sensationalism

It’s FreaksWe Seek

WORTH IT?What kind of

society are we if weturn a woman whohelped her fiancéechop up her lover’sbody and then burnit into a celebrity?

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ADOLF HITLERORCHARLES SOBHRAJ

SERVED AS AN OBJECTLESSON IN THE NEGATIVEASPECTS OF THEWORLD:THE NATURE OF EVIL, THE

MISUSE OF POWER

NO CLOSE PROXIMITYWould you want to work in the same office as Dolly Bindra? How would you

feel if Rakhi Sawant was your next-door neighbour?

Vir Sanghvi


I’VEHADamonthof spies. First I readJefferyDeaver’snew James Bond book, Carte Blanche (published inthis countrybyHachettewhosebossThomasAbrahammaywell be India’s greatest JamesBond fanatic)which

does not take off from where Ian Fleming left but updatesthe character to the era of iPhone apps. Then I spent twoeveningswatching all three of theBournemovies. (Identity,Supremacy andUltimatum– though I’mnever sure if I canremember thenames in the correct order), nominally basedon the Jason Bourne novels written by Robert Ludlumseveral decades ago.There is a connection between James Bond and Jason

Bourne that goes beyond initials. Though the first Ludlumbook (The Bourne Identity) was written as a stand-alone,the author quickly decided that he had a Bond-like fran-chise on his hands and made his hero return again andagain.While the Bourne of the novels was a rather sophis-ticated, tame figure, portrayed unmemorably by RichardChamberlain in a TV mini-series based on The BourneIdentity, theBourne of 21st centurymovies is an angry andconfused loner who has virtually nothing in common withLudlum’s Bourne.Even so, the Bourne movies created endless trouble for

the Bond franchise. Such was the success of The BourneIdentitymovie, starring a violent andagitatedMattDamon,that Hollywood re-thought the Bond formula. Out wentPierce Brosnan, a perfectly good Bond who neverthelessalways played the character in a slightlymale-modelishwayas thoughhewasadvertisingapremiumvodkaoranupmar-ket golf-course. And in came Daniel Craig who was madeto bulk up so much that when he wore his Tom Fordtuxedo he looked like a bouncer outside a very expensiveMonte Carlo nightclub.The formula changed too. The Craig-era Bond movies

havebeenmorebelievable (well, as believ-able as anything to do with James Bondcanbe) andpackedwithaction sequences:the first half-hour ofCasinoRoyale couldbea stunt film.The traditions of thegenrehave been downplayed or junked. InCasino Royale, when Bond is asked if hewants his martini shaken or stirred, hereplies, “Do I look like I give a damn?”There is no Mao-suited villain with asecret underground lair, or a pussycatpurring sinisterly on his lap. And Craigdoesn’t even get to say “Bond – JamesBond” till the last scene ofCasinoRoyale.But as hard as the Bond franchise has

tried to rework the rules to competewiththeBournemovies, it is stuckwith abasic

problem. Thepoint of the Bo-urnepictures isthat Jason Bo-urne takes onan-all powerfulestablishmentsingle-handedand still wins.On the otherhand, JamesBond is entirelya tool of theestablishment.Ian Fleming

createdBond in the1950s, using hisexperience in navalintelligenceduring the Se-condWorldWar. Inthose days, there wereclearheroesandvillains.TheBritsandAmericanswere the good guys. TheNazis were the bad guys.(The villains in Moonrakerrefer to theFatherland,AuricGoldfinger is German, etc.)And later, theRussianswerethe bad guys.In Fleming’s world, Bond

wasa soldier sent off tobattlewith theenemiesof theAnglo-American alliance. He tookorders fromanAdmiral (calledM); was subservient to theForeignOffice;hadanavalrankhimself (Commander); reliedonanetworkofBritishSecretServiceoperationsall over theworld; was given expensiveweapons, cars and gadgets bythe British government; andworked closely with the CIA’sFelix Leiter.

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rudesp

ies

BOND vsThe Bond franchise has tried to rework the rulesto compete with the Bourne movies. Can Bondbe relevant to a new generation of viewers, or

will it be “Goodbye, Mr Bond”?

BOURNE

THE GENESISIan Fleming createdBond in the 1950s,using his experiencein naval intelligenceduring the Second

World War

PHOTO: REUTERSCC/PAUL BAACK

MAKEOVERDaniel Craig’s Bond movies are

packed with action sequences, andthe traditions of the genre have

been downplayed

20

Themovieskept theseelementsbutalso reliedonSpectre, a secret organ-isation that wanted to rule theworld,which was probably created not byFleming but by Kevin McClory, whocollaborated with Fleming on thescreenplay that became Thunderball.(When Fleming denied him credit,

McClory sued and won the movierights to Thunderball which

he re-made as NeverSay Never Again,Sean Connery’scomeback asBond).There issome disputealsooverwhoc r e a t e dE r n e s tS t a v r oBlo fe ld ,theheadof

Spectre whofeatures inmany Bondnovelsbutwhovanished fromthe later mo-vies once Mc-Clory began su-ing.It always st-

ruck me as curi-ous that itwasdur-ing the anti-estab-lishment, counter-culture revolutionof the Sixties thattheBondmovies first

found success. Whilethe establishment wascollapsing in the realworld, Bondwas fightingon itsbehalfonthescreen.Whenyoungpeoplewerewearing jeans and smok-ing dope, Bond was mak-ingmuchof fancy clothes,expensive cars (an AstonMartin rather than theBentley of the books) andvodkaandnicotine. Incon-trast today, when brand-basedsnobbery issomucha part of the aspirationalethos, it is curious thatJason Bourne who caresabout none of these thingsshould be such an icon.

In Bourne’s world, theestablishment is essen-

tiallymalevolent. It brainwashespeople to turn them into assas-sins. It murders innocents to cover up its own secrets. It hasbugs, camerasandspieseverywhere.TheCIA is staffedbycrooks(some of them in league with the Russian mafia) at its top lev-els. The drama in the movies (not in the Ludlum books, whenBourne is revealed tobeawillingUSgovernmentassassin taskedwith fightinghis country’s enemies) comes fromBourne’s strug-gle against these forces. He operates alone, lives simply, uses nogadgets and every ten minutes or so, he beats up or kills some-body.The Bond movies have coped uneasily with this new world.

They have re-booted James Bond (Casino Royale could havebeen Bond Begins) and turned him intomore of an actionmanand less of an establishment tool (he goes rogue, he fights withM, he pursues private agendas, etc.). But I am not sure thetransformation can be sustained.Authors trying to revive Bond face the same problems. John

Gardner, an otherwise competent thriller writer, wrote somereally crappy Bond novels which are now largely forgotten.Sebastian Faulks, a serious author, tried his hand at reworkingBond and chose wisely to write a period novel set in the 1960swhen Fleming’s Bond operated and Teheran was the fleshpotof the Middle East. But Faulks’ book was a one-off so he couldattempt a pastiche.JefferyDeaver, on the otherhand, hopes to take over the fran-

chise so his book is his own Bond Begins, a re-booting in whichour hero is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan. Deaver knowshow to write this kind of book so Carte Blanche is better thansay, JohnGardner’s hackwork, though the end is a bit of awash-out.Even so, youhave to askyourself; if theherowas calledJohnSmith and not James Bond, would you bother with the novel?And that, I suspect, is the problem that the JamesBond fran-

chise will face in the years ahead. We have some affection forthe movies because they have been around for so long, but thetruth is that as franchises go, the Bond movies don’t make thekind of big bucks that other series do. Batman, Spiderman, StarWars, Indiana Jones and even Mission Impossible are muchmore profitable franchises these days. And frankly, it is hardto think of aBondmovie that is as good as theSpielberg IndianaJones pictures, Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins or BrianDe Palma’s first Mission Impossible. Even Doug Liman’s firstBourne movie is better than any Bond movie ever made. (I’mnot so sure about the two Paul Greengrass Bournes).The third Daniel Craig Bond was delayed because its pro-

duction company had problems. It should be out next year. Itwill be interesting to see if it can maintain the momentum ofthe series andmakeBond relevant to a newgeneration of view-ers. Otherwise, I suspect that time might be running out forJamesBond.On the other hand, there is a scene in nearly everymovie where the villain says “Goodbye, Mr Bond.”And yet, somehow Bond survives. And he’s back in the next

scene. So, who can tell?

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THE BONDMOVIES DON’TMAKE THE KINDOF BIG BUCKSTHAT OTHER

SERIES(SPIDERMAN,BATMAN) DO

CHANGING HANDSKevin McClory won the movie rights to Thunderball which he re-made as

Never Say Never Again, Sean Connery’s comeback as Bond

RE-WORKING THE FORMULAPierce Brosnan was a

perfectly good Bond though healways played the character in aslightly male-modelish way

THEY HAVE TURNED JAMES BOND INTO MORE OF ANACTION MAN AND LESS OF AN ESTABLISHMENT TOOL


PHOTO: REUTERS

TOUGH GUYThe Bourne Identity movie,

starring a violent and agitatedMatt Damon, was a big success

ONE-MAN ARMYJason Bourne (played byMatt Damon) operates

alone, uses no gadgets andevery ten minutes or so, hebeats up or kills somebody

1:15 am, New Delhi International Airport, Croma Store: person in line has justbought a Motorola Xoom Tablet2:45 am, Lufthansa Flight LH 761 to Frankfurt: a woman across the aisle in asharp business suit fishes out an Asus Transformer Tablet4:55 pm, Selfridges on Oxford Street: Bollywood actor from Dharmendraclan has spent 15 minutes quizzing me on all the Tablets available (nine ofthem) and finally decided on buying the Blackberry PlayBook6:15pm, T-Mobile Store on Marble Arch: there’s a line of three people; two ofthem have just bought the HTC Flyer Tablet.

Y ES, IT’s on. The one-horse race is finally a full fledgedclash of thoroughbreds. While the iPad and the iPad 2have created and captured

the market, the monopoly is over.The floodgates have opened and a tidalwave of Tablets has swept across theworld. Strangely enough, India is rightthere on the priority release list foreach and every brand. If you’re in themarket for a Tablet, here are yourcontenders.

HTC FLYERVery small and portable, typical HTC-level, tank-like build quality and formfactor. Looks very different from others,great screen, speedy processor, goodbattery life, good optics, has some specialadd-ons and touches like the magic penand HTC Sense. Runs Android 2.3 and ispriced at around R 38,000.Reasons to buy: Super portable, stu-nning looks, great build quality and themagic pen works well.Reasons to ponder: Unjustified highprice, doesn’t run Honeycomb, the lat-est version of Android for Tablets.

BLACKBERRY PLAYBOOKSeven inches of multimedia and multi-tasking heaven, bulletproof OS, smartgestures for extra functions, industrialdesign that is simple yet elegant and arubberised back that doesn’t slip.Prices start from around R 26,000Reasons to buy: Well-priced, QNX isgreat, best multi-tasking yet on a Tablet.Reasons to ponder: Apps (the dearth of them). BlackBerryBridge forces you to connect to a BlackBerry phone for email,contacts, notes and calendar, a blunder that RIM needs tocorrect NOW!

MOTOROLA XOOMThe mothership, the showcase device for Android Tablets, thebest reason to try Honeycomb. Beautiful screen, great build, hasall the ports you want, super responsive, brilliant optics, lots ofpower, lots of RAM, nothing can slow down this beast. Pricesstart from around R 32,000 32GB (WiFi-only version).Reasons to buy:Beats the pants off all others in hardware, hugescreen, great resolution, feels very solid in the hand.Reasons to ponder:Heavy, not all ports have been enabled, nottoo many native apps for Honeycomb yet.

SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB 7, 8.9 AND 10.1The one company that seems to be taking the Tablet marketvery seriously. Has offerings across the board. The 8.9 and the

10.1 run Honeycomb and is what Samsung designers went backto the table and came up with after the iPad 2. The 10.1 is the bigdeal here. It’s lighter than anything else in the market, has ascreen to kill for and may well be Samsung’s silver bullet firedstraight into the heart of the Tablet war.Reasons to buy: Samsung has promised aggressive pricing.Now if only they can shave off 15 per cent off the iPad 2 prices!Reasons to ponder: If they still play the ‘Samsung is a premiumbrand and thus will only sell at premium pricing’, it is game over.

MSI WINDPAD ENJOYThe Tablet for the rest of us. And that’sa big market. Remember, if you don’thave about R 30,000 to spend, you’re

pretty much out of the Tablet marketas the lowest offerings start from there.But not for the Enjoy. Very well pricedat about R 14,000, this one still has a 10.1inch screen, looks good and sports twocameras, two mini-USB ports and anHDMI-out. The screen isn’t razor sharpand the hardware isn’t stellar, but it’s agreat entry for what is predicted to be ahuge market: the Economy Tablet!Reasons to buy: Price, price, price.Reasons to ponder: Screen, build andinnards are a little off. But only a little.

ACER ICONIA A500The first Honeycomb Tablet to belaunched in India, this one has it all:good hardware, a 10.1-inch screen,aluminium casing, dual-core Tegra 2processor, HDMI-out, 5 and 2 MP backand front-facing cameras respectivelyand Dolby Mobile Audio It has a logicalbutton layout and costs about R 27,000.Reasons to buy: Fantastic hardware,good price, functional USB port and amicroSD card slot.Reasons to ponder: Slightly bulky,screen has a fine grid and there is no 3Gversion yet.There are others. The OlivePad is nowplaying the price champion game (about

13K); HCL has the ME Tablets; Notion Ink is finally shipping; LGseems to be playing a bit of a waiting game (but from whateverhas been announced, the LG Optimus Tablet looks promising);Asus has the notebook-killer Transformer coming up. The otherbiggie that may just be the giant killer is of course the HPTouchPad with webOS.Stage two of the Tablet war is now officially underway. Three

months from now, another three or four new Tablets will be out,current kinks will have been ironed out, prices will have dropped,iOS 5 on the iPad 2 will have been released and some real salesnumbers will be available. Will it still be a one-horse race? Iseriously doubt that. As Tesio said about horse racing:“A horse gallopswith his lungs, persevereswith his heart andwinswith his character.” I have a feeling the Tablet war will be also bewon by a device with the great lungs, a big heart and a strongcharacter.

Rajiv Makhni is managing editor, Technology, NDTV and the anchor ofGadget Guru, Cell Guru and Newsnet 3.

Follow Rajiv on Twitter at twitter.com/RajivMakhni

JULY 10, 2011

Rajiv Makhni

HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE22

The one-horse race of the iPad is finally at an end! Welcome to the next level

indulge live | see |play | listen

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ALRIGHT, I’LL get straight to the point. Here’s ashameless plug for the plush, quarterly version of thismagazine. If you haven’t seen BrunchQuarterly, I’d urgeyou to pick up its second issue, which came out lastweek

and may still be on the stands (if, and I am sure I am wrong, ithasn’t sold out). When you get hold of your copy, flip quickly to astory on new fitness techniques and you’ll encounter three fellowswho specialise in instructing three new regimens – CrossFit, TRXand Muay Thai. Instructing is the wrong word. Punishing is morelike it. Here’s a disclaimer: I know two of these fellows a bit moreintimately than I should have. They trained (or, rather, punishedme) and one of them continues to do so, for at least four times aweek. After every session, I am nearly dead, wrung out and, some-times, close to tears. But I go back for more. It’s a strangeaddiction.Youmust bewonderingwhether I’ve completely lost it. Otherwise,

why am I babbling about fitness training in a column that issupposed to babble about music? You know what? I think I mayhave really lost it. Aftermany sessionswithAbdulQadir andPiyushPandey (the two trainers who have had their way with me), that isnot an outcome that should surprise anyone. Qadir specialises inTRX (think of suspending various limbs of your body via strapsattached to the ceiling and then doing exercises using your bodyweight) and Pandey in CrossFit (think of non-stop circuit trainingthat ends when your breath finally does).When I first signed up with these worthies for training sessions,

I thought I needed some hardcore music to be piped into my ears:music that would help numb the pain and take my mind off thetorture. I reached instinctively towards the deep, dark stuff.Metal.BlackMetal. Albums such as Krallice’s Dimensional Bleedthrough(yes, need I say more?) or Dysrhythmia’s (they marry progressivejazz with heavy metal) Barriers and Passages. I even tried moreconventional, yet heavy, stuff. Such as IronMaiden’sDance ofDeath.I chose such albums because I thought – mistakenly, as I’d realiselater – that the deep, drone-heavy, visceral sounds that these bandsproducewould act as a good counterpoint inmyhead towhat theseguys were doing to my body.Howwrong Iwas.Krallice andDysrhythmiamademyeverymove

more painful than being on a medieval rack; Iron Maiden was ashade better but did nothing to take my mind off the pain either. Itried Led Zeppelin in the belief that some classic hard rock woulddo the trick. It left me dazed and confused. I experimented withother stuff:mainly conventional heavy rock; guitar-rich arena rockand so on. In desperation, I clutched at Queen, Kiss and even PeterFrampton. Nothing seemed to work. In fact, all of this made thingsworse. Under Messrs Qadir and Pandey’s ministrations, my bodykept getting punished and my mind was a wreck.Then, in a flash I found the solution. One morning, in the midst

of a gruelling set of something called burpees (you don’t want toknow, believeme), I queued up something unusual onmy iPod. BonIver’s For Emma, Forever Ago. Three years ago, Bon Iver (realname Justin Vernon) broke up his former band, suffered anemotional crisis andmoved to a remote cabin inWisconsin duringthe winter months where he wrote and recorded some of the mostlonely and distraught songs that I have ever heard. Loaded with

private thoughts, accompanied by just minimal acousticguitar sounds, the album had made me feel awfully sadthe first time I’d heard it. Strangely, it worked in the gym.Complementingmy trainers’ curt instructions to do evermore violent things to my body, Bon Iver’s plaintive,ruminative songs, somehow managed to make myworkouts tolerable.So was it a yin-yang thing? A hot-cold,

sad-happy, loud-soft combination that worked?After gettingwafted over by the sadness of BonIver, I went for something less sad yet soulful. Iexperimentedwith theBritish band, Florence+theMachine’sLungs.FlorenceWelch’sbandmakes music that is several notches aboveLilyAllen’s andAmyWinehouse’s, althoughshe is frequently clubbed with those twoby the critics. There is much more rawemotionandsoul inhersemi-confessionalsongs and my killer workouts becamenot just bearable but even enjoyablewith tracks such as Kiss with aFist, Dog Days are Over andHurricane Drunk.Since thenmyworkoutshavegot

better.Mysoundtrackduring thosesessions with the monster trainersnow include a healthy dose of “soft,soppy songs” and sometimes evenmopey ones such as the late (he diedofmysterious stabwoundswhen hewas only 34) Elliott Smith’s hushed,angst-ridden songs, such as thoseon Figure 8 and Either/Or, twoalbums that I find depressinganywhere else but in the gym.

Sanjoy Narayan

download

central

Metal. Black Metal. Heavy stuff. I thought hardcoremusic would be perfect for hardcore workouts. Whoknew that soft, soppy songs would be even better?

23

indulge live | see | play |listen

Songs of Sweat

PUSHING ITThe angst and raw emotion in Elliott Smith’sand Florence + the Machine’s music (above)

works for my gruelling workouts

GRIN AND BEARBon Iver’s plaintive,ruminative songsmanaged to my myworkouts tolerable

To give feedback,stream or downloadthe music mentionedin this column, go tohttp://blogs.hindus-tantimes.com/down-

load-central,follow argus48 on

Twitter orvisit our website:www.hindustan-

times.com/brunch

THE TRX TRACKInvolves attaching yourself to strapsand using body weight to work out

I TRIED LED ZEPPELIN IN THE BELIEF THATCLASSIC HARD ROCKWOULDWORK

JULY 10, 2011

PHOTO: ANIL CHAWLA

HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE

Stop shaving thearea betweenyour nose andupper lip. Letyour stubblegrow out a bitso you cansee what willwork for you,and for thisperiod, shavearound thearea.

Meanwhileapply some mois-turiser and lotionto the area andmake sure itgets somesunlight as well.If you are usingfacial products,try not to scrubthe part of themoustache toohard.

Resist the urgeto shape it as itgrows. As yourmoustache hairgets longer,comb it fromthe centre tothe sides. Thisis to train thehair to go in theright direction.Use a narrow-toothed comb.

As the mous-tache becomesthicker, take asharp pair ofscissors, tilt theblade at anangle and trimoff the corners.Ideally, themoustacheshould notreach the lipline.

When it hasgrown suffi-ciently, finallydecide whatlook you want.Usually,smaller facesneed smallmoustachesand largerfaces needmore promi-nent ones.

If you thinkyour mous-tache is toobushy, reduceits volume bytrimming onthe top. Alsoapply gel or oilor a moustachewax to get yourmoustache intothe shape youwant it.

Your first step isto decide togrow one. This isno minor matter.Then know thatit could take youabout 2-3 weeks(including anuncomfortableitchy period)before you haveyour moustache.

INFORMATION COURTESY SUMIT ISRANI, OWNER AND CHIEF STYLIST, GEETANJALI SALONS, NEW DELHI

Y OU COULD be forgiven forthinking that moustaches wereendangered. Till very recently,the only place you could spotthem was in funny advertising

campaigns. Or on old freedom fighters.A far cry from the ’50s and early ’60s

when everyone wore them – with pride.Apparently it was actor Dilip Kumar whokilled the moustache and ushered in thechikna look. A look that has ruled allthese decades with very few exceptionssuch as Shatrughan Sinha with hisIndradhanush moustache and laterJackie Shroff and Anil Kapoor.But suddenly over the last few years

we’ve seen scores of famousfigures from Bollywoodwearing moustachesboth in reel life andreal. And whether theirmovies have worked ornot, their moustacheshave been blockbusterhits almost every time!Salman Khan wore one in

Dabangg, Hrithik Roshan in Guzaarish,Ajay Devgn in Once Upon a Time inMumbai and Aamir... long before anyoneelse in Mangal Pandey. And, as always,their fans are intrigued. Intrigued enoughto give the moustache something of arenaissance.

‘HAIR FOR SUCCESS’“I know what it takes to keep one. It takescommitment,” says 38-year-old theatreand film actor Manu Rishi Chadha whoshot into to the limelight as the Bengali ofOye Lucky, Lucky Oye. “But I don’t mindthat at all as my moustache has made mefamous. Suddenly everyone thinks I lookstrong and macho and I am getting offersfor fabulous realistic roles.”Before 2008, Manu was clean shaven.

But during the looks trials for OyeLucky..., the director Dibakar Banerjeedecided that Manu had to look very dif-ferent from Abhay Deol.“You have to look ugly in front of

Abhay, Dibakar told me,” says Manu. Andso he grew a thick moustache. When the

movie released, Manu found his look wasa hit, and was immediately offered threemovies.In Phas Gaye Re Obama and Ani,

Manu’s moustache continued to work,and coming up this year are the films LifeKi Lag Gayi, in which he is the only mous-tachioed character (both his co-stars KKMenon and Ranveer Shourie are cleanshaven), and Daana Pani with DimpleKapadia, where once again the mous-tache is an integral part of the styling ofManu’s character as ACP Chautala, aMumbai cop.“I did lose out on three plum advertis-

ing contracts in the interim as they want-ed a clean, corporate look (advertisingstill wants beautiful people and mous-taches don’t usually work!),” says Manu.“But that’s okay as my moustache hastaken me on a high lately and I am defi-nitely not complaining.”HAIR FOREVER?: I think it is definitely inand here for stay. You see a lot of youngguys experimenting with different mous-tache looks these days. In fact, last weekin Mumbai I saw this young guy with areally thin moustache of the 1950s, thekind my dad used to keep; and I think hewas looking damn cool.MY CELEB PICK: Definitely Ajay Devgn. HisOnce Upon a Time in Mumbai look wasfabulous and I like his moustached in hisnew movie Singham even more.

JULY 10, 201124

Variety


THIN, NEATMOUSTACHEYou’re seriousabout life, smart andyou believe in usingyour brain, saysmen’s hair expertHakim Alim

THICKMOUSTACHEMen who wearthis usually believein machismo,says Alim. Ideally,adds men’s groom-ing expert JawedHabib, don’t growa heavy moustache.It tends to take thesoftness out of yourpersonality.

In a world where cleanshaven is the equivalentof good looking, somemen still stand stolidlyby that old symbolof machismo, the

moustacheby Kavita DevganSHATRUGHAN SINHA never

gave up his famous moochhANIL KAPOOR stuck to his facialhair in a chikna world

AJAY DEVGN has never heard abad word about his moustaches

AAMIR KHAN hit another levelwith his Mangal Pandey look

The moochh of

‘MY MOTHER SAID I SHOULDBE CLEAN SHAVEN FOR THECORPORATEWORLD’– Ayush Gupta, student

HOW TOGROWONE

PHOTO: ARCHIE MISRA

“DAD’S THEWAY”“I like it, so I keep it, says 19-year-oldAyush Gupta, who is about to join DelhiUniversity for a Bachelor of Commercedegree. “My mother did try to stop me.She said I should be clean shaven to pre-pare for the corporate world, but I haddad’s support so I went ahead and grew amoustache.Ayush’s moustache began as an experi-

ment. “I saw a few people sporting fan-tastic moustaches, so I grew one, think-ing I’ll shave it off soon enough,” he says.“But I liked my look, so I have now decid-ed to keep it. Even though most of thegirls I know don’t like the way I look now.They say ‘bade lagte ho’. But that doesn’tbother me.”Ayush says his moustache gives him

confidence, and a feeling of being agrownup. “My dad is clean shaven nowbut I have seen pictures of him in his col-lege days when he wore a trendy mooch,”laughs Ayush. “I love those pictures!”HAIR FOREVER?: I am not too sure if themoustache is here to stay but I definitelysee lot more of my friends experimentingwith it, even if it’s only for short periodsof time,” says Ayush.MY CELEB PICK: “I saw actor ArjunRampal the other day at a pub in Delhiand he wore a moustache and a goatee,”says Ayush thoughtfully. “Boss, he lookedkilling! I would love to see him wear thiskind of a look in a movie.”Ayush’s other moustached hero is

Salman Khan in Dabangg. “He lookedamazing with that old style moustache,”says Ayush. “But Shah Rukh Khan withmoustaches, I think I’ll pass. He’s betteroff clean shaven any time.”

“I WANT THE REAL THING”“I started growing my moustache onlylast week, but I am getting comfortablewith it,” says 17-year-old student ofgaming Rohan Bakshi. “I am very clearthat I don’t want just stubble like someof my friends. That looks unkempt.Neither here, nor there. I want a fullfledged one.”Rohan’s dreammoustache is the long

handled one, something like what AjayDevgn had in Once Upon a Time inMumbai. “It doesn’t go up to the lips, itgoes down instead, and I think it looksgreat,” says Rohan.HAIR FOREVER?: “A lot of my friendsexperiment with goatees and moustach-es now, a lot more than my seniors did,”muses Rohan. “But unfortunately therearen’t too many takers for bigmoustaches, like the ones that securityguards tend to keep!”


WE NEVER WANT TOSEE THESE AGAIN!“Hitler’s toothbrush moustache (a thickmoustache that covers about one inchof the centre of the area above the up-

per lip), our first president, Dr.Rajendra Prasad’s

moustache, andsinger KL Saigal’smoustache have alllong gone out of fash-ion,” says men’sgrooming expertJawed Habib.

Thick moustaches, likeactor Anil Kapoor’s, and

actor Aamir Khan’sMangal Pandeylook are also out,adds men’s hairstylist HakimAlim.

‘EVERYONE THINKS I LOOKMACHO AND I AM GETTING OFFERSFOR FABULOUS REALISTIC ROLES’— Manu Rishi Chadha, actor

SALMAN KHAN was highlyappreciated in Dabangg

HRITHIK ROSHAN had a hirsutelook for his role in Guzaarish

VIVEK OBEROI Plenty of peoplethink he looks very cool

the matter

PHOTO: SATTISH BATE

Adolf Hitler

MY CELEB PICK: “Definitely Ajay Devgn.He looks incredible with a moustache.”

“IT IS MY IDENTITY”“In college, I started with a goatee,” says29-year-old Gaurav Wadhwa, marketingmanager with Red Bull. “Then when Istarted working with MTV, I didn’t shavemuch and by default grew a moustache. Iliked it so I’ve kept it since. I realised thatI look better with it. Also, a moustachereally helps when you put on a littleweight on your face!”Right now, Gaurav has the kind of

moustache actor Hrithik Roshan grew forthe film Guzaarish. A month ago, heattempted to grow a long Rajputana kindof moustache. “I got a mixed reaction tothat,” he chuckles. “Some people liked itand some found it irritating. But I will goback to it again later.”Gaurav likes to experiment with differ-

ent styles. “I will definitely not sport theboring type of moustache that my dad’sgeneration wore. They sported the samestyle like it was a uniform,” he says.“There is this picture we have of my dad

and his friends in their younger days, andall of them have the same style of mous-tache in that picture. How boring is that!”But there is a price to be paid for being

cool. “You really need to take care of yourmoustache,” says Gaurav. “I have eveninvested in specialised trimmers andrazors.”HAIR FOREVER?: Because he works for thebeverage company, Red Bull, Gaurav

meets youngsters all thetime. “Most of themseem open to experi-menting and you dosee some fabulouslymaintained andstyled moustacheson some very young

faces these days,” says Gaurav. “But Idon’t care about others. I am keepingmoustache.”MY CELEB PICK: “Actor Vivek Oberoi with-out a doubt. I saw him with a bigRajputana style moustache at a men’sfashion week last year and he lookedgreat. He has the personality to carry itoff. And I don’t like actor Saif Ali Khan’slook when he wears a moustache.”

“MAKES ME LOOKCOMMANDING”“My dad’s a general in the army and he’salways had a moustache. So when I wasposted to Udaipur in Rajasthan, I decidedto follow suit,” says 25-year-old AbhinavSingh Rawat, a partner and director witha Gurgaon-based real estate brokeragefirm, and lieutenant with the TerritorialArmy.Abhinav was always clean shaven, but

Rajasthan changed his look. “I realisedthat to gel with the locals, I must grow aproper Rajasthani moustache,” he says.“And it really helped. People there appre-ciate the fact that I was not from the citybut was trying to blend in.”In Rajasthan, Abhinav decided to do as

the Rajasthanis do, so he grew a ‘thakur’type of moustache.“It took me a month to grow it proper-

ly and this included visits to the barberevery weekend as he would have to pickup the corner of the moustache andshave underneath,” says Abhinav. Butdespite all that trouble, Abhinav hasn’tkept his moustache. “Now I am back inDelhi and I am clean shaven again,” hesays. “But I am sure I will grow amoustache again if I am posted to a simi-lar area.”HAIR FOREVER?: “I don’t know about oth-ers, but in the army, the moustache’sfuture is rather bright,” says Abhinav. “Alot of my colleagues wear moustaches ona permanent basis.” That’s because of theway it makes you look, he adds. “When,at the age of 23-24, you need to commanda battalion of 100-odd people, many ofwhom are much older than you, having amoustache definitely puts you in a com-manding position.”MY CELEB PICK: “I think actor ShahidKapoor looks cool with the thin mous-tache he is wearing for his forthcomingmovie Mausam, in which he is playing anair force officer. And I didn’t like Salman’sDabangg moustache at all.

[email protected]

An unkempt mous-tache looks awful, sogroom it properly. “Youneed to take care ofyour moustache theway you do your hair,”says actor Manu RishiChadha. “I may forgetto shampoomy hair butnot mymoustache.”

Wash yourmoustache witha mild shampoodaily to removedirt and keepnatural oils intact.And use a condi-tioner to soften it.

Trim your mous-tache using yourupper lip as atemplate. Thehair should notgrow over it. Trimfrom the centreto each edge.

HOW TOMAINTAIN IT

Info courtesy men’s grooming expert Jawed Habib, Sumit Israni, owner and chief stylist, Geetanjali Salons, New Delhi,Nikhil Sharma, chief creative director, Affinity Salons

Check it everyday to seeif it needstrimming. Trimit only whenit’s dry, or youmay trim toomuch.

Don’t scratch ifyour moustachebecomes itchyor you’ll damageyour skin. Applya hydrocortisonecream on thearea instead.

To hide a straywhite hair, useblack mascara.Use moustachewax in yourmoustache andtry a new or dif-ferent shape.


Moustachesfor good‘Moustaches Makes aDifference’ is a non-profit charity move-ment created in 2003by the Australian or-ganisation called theMovember Foundation.Every November, menall over the world growmoustaches to raisefunds in support ofmen’s health issuessuch as prostate can-cer. Visit their site,mosmakeadifference.com to see some reallycool taches.OTHER MOUSTACHECHARITIES INCLUDE:www.mustachemarch.comwww.mustaches-forkids.orgwww.fundastache.org/moustaches

‘I WILL NEVER HAVETHE BORING TYPE OFMOUSTACHE MY DAD’SGENERATIONWORE’— Gaurav Wadhwa, marketing manager

‘TO GEL WITH THE LOCALSIN UDAIPUR, I HAD TO GROWAMOUSTACHE’— ABHINAV SINGH RAWAT, TERRITORIAL ARMY OFFICER

ECHNICALLY, BRUNCH QUARTERLYis a magazine. But we thought about it andwe’re all agreed: actually BrunchQuarterly is a banquet. There really is nobetter way to describe it.After all, it has piquant appetisers to

tantalise your palate and share withfriends. Did you know, for instance, thatreality TV starVeena Malik would do any-thing to date Hollywood funnyman JimCarrey? Or that actor Arunoday Singhthinks email is destroying the English lan-guage? Or that actress Tanushree Duttawould rather be sturdy than sleek?It has generous main courses that’ll

make you sit back in a state of contentedcontemplation. Cricketer Yuvraj Singh’shour of introspection, for instance, in theinterview No Complaints, No Grudges.The four young style critics who arechanging the fashion industry in TheFashion Dictators. The traditional Keralahome that made a gentle landing inHaryana in Moving House. The fivehottest young artists you’ve never heard ofin The Art of Now. And a short story,Mangoes & Indigo, by Madhulika Liddle,author of The Englishman’s Cameo, writ-ten exclusively for you.It has indulgent desserts, all about the

good life – fashion, fitness, celebrities,drink, travel and holidays. And it hassparkling columns specially written byVir Sanghvi, Rajiv Makhni and SeemaGoswami, and humour by ad man SunilGupta – all as heady as champagne.Better than any banquet, you’ll agree.

And all this and more for only R100, at anewsstand close to you.Here’s a small tasting menu.

Tuck into the second edition ofBrunchQuarterly, now on the stands


STORIES NO ONE ELSE HAS EVER DONE PHOTOS YOU’VE NEVER SEEN

Holidaying within the countrycan sometimes be really expen-sive. So it makes good sense toventure elsewhere. Brunchcolumnist Vir Sanghvi offersthree possible destinations

IT’SNOTJUSTBRUNCH

IT’S AFEAST

Carry On AbroadSEEMAGOSWAMI on the showmance: aHollywood tradition that Bollywood has (too)enthusiastically adopted

RAJIV MAKHNI on how your phone will soonpower the way you live

Also in Brunch Quarterly 2

RUDE TRAVEL

COVERSTORY

SCENES

BEHIN

DTHE

STRIKE A POSE:Our fashion blog-gers are having agood time

PATLI GALLI: Thegallis of PuraniDilli get on afashion high

GET REAL: TheCrossFit techniquefocuses on naturalbody movements

JULY 10, 2011HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE 29

BEFORE INFO YOUWON’T FIND ANYWHERE ELSE

Money, fame, entourages,agents, all-expenses-paid-travel… Never mind what you’veread about the darker side of thefilm industry. In our cover storyinterview, young actors ImranKhan and Sonakshi Sinha tellus what we’ve always suspected– a movie star’s life is a damngood life.

‘The work is goodand you can earnbig money now’ You gym three

times a week, orswim five times aweek, or run fourtimes a week andyou think you’re inshape? Oh, you’reso wrong. Try oneof these three tech-niques to take yourbody to the nextlevel.

This Way Up

Hot colours meet intense shades ofhistory in a fashion feature set in PuraniDilli, the last bastion of our Mughal past.The combination? Fiery

Burning bright

FASHION FEAT

URE

Yuvraj Singh, the badboy of Indian cricket, isin an introspectivemood, talking about hisfamily, his decisions,and Sachin Tendulkar –the man for whom hewas determined to wintheWorld Cup.

‘Sachinrestored myspecial bat’

FITNESS

How do you pull off astunning fashionshoot when an

entire neighbourhood’schildren are running behindyou, Pied Piper style? (Takeoff those expensive shoesand run!)

Can you really tell fashionbloggers – whose wordsmake grown designersweep – how to pose?(Looks as though even dic-tators can be dictated to.Hmm. Shall we send ourstylists to Libya?)

Is it really possible for twohot young film stars tomake it to a shoot on time?(As a matter of fact, theyturned up early! Wefainted.)

All the photos in our storieshave stories of their own.Catch all the action in thenew behind the scenes sec-tion in Brunch Quarterly.

30 JULY 10, 2011HINDUSTAN TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE

One word that describes you best?Curious.

Which superhero would you like to beand why?I don’t like superheroes. They are al-ways busy with other people.

If a traffic constable hauls you up, whatwill you do?

Smile... wink and will finally give him acandy and flee.

Your first kiss was…Private.

You get high on…Life.

The colour ‘pink’ for you is…Blush.

A place where you would like to be lostfor a month?The mountains of India.

A tune you can’t get out yourhead?New York by Alicia Keys.

What did you do with yourfirst pay cheque?I spent it all.

The one law you wouldbreak if you could get awaywith it?Can’t think of one, there areso many which make no

sense.

Do you love Luv Storys?Yeah very much. I am a diehardromantic.

The last time you rode on a bus

When I was in London... I just loved it.

If you could have chosen your own name,what would it be and why?I love my name, don’t you?... I think LISARay is a lovely name.

What is the weirdest thing that ever wentinto your mouth?I am a foodie, I don’t find anything weird.

You are late for work and all the roads arejammed. Choose a mode of transport: acycle, a horse or a skateboard. Why?I would hop on to a skateboard and just rollaway...

Earth’s crowded and full of trash. Chooseanother planet.Why choose another one... I will try toimprove my mother Earth. There are somany programmes to save the earth thatare going on.

If you could be born either rich orintelligent, which one would you choose?You can’t say ‘both’.Well, it’s a Miss Universe answer. I wouldrather be intelligent so that I can earn myriches. If I am foolish I will lose all themoney I was born with.

What makes your day?Smiles.

What screws it up?Injustice.

Love is…The source of life.

If you were the last person left on earth,what would you do?Look for another life.

– Interviewed by Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi

LIFE IN THE FASTFOOD: CHOOSE YOURMENUI AM AHEALTHYEATER. NOFAST FOODPLEASE.

WHATMAKES YOUFEEL SEXY?JEWELLERY,AND LOTSOF IT. I LOVEWEARING ITALL.

THE LASTMOVIETHATMADE YOURCRYBARNEY'SVERSION. ITMOVED METOO MUCH.

The Canada-born, half Bengali-half Polish stunner Lisa Ray started as a model in theIndian fashion industry. Then she went on to do films like Kasoor, Water and BollywoodHollywood. She was diagnosed with multiple myelom, a rare form of cancer, in 2009.Having survived the disease, Lisa is now all set to make a comeback on the smallscreen as a jewellery show anchor on TLC

PERSONAL AGENDA

PHOTO: THINKSTOCK

LISA RAYACTRESS/TV HOSTESS

PHOTO: MANOJ VERMA

Hindustan Times Brunch 10-July-2011

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