Hindustantimes Brunch 14 April 2013

VIR SANGHVIMonte Carlo – the legend

SEEMA GOSWAMIThere’s nothing on TV

RAJIV MAKHNIThe best smartphone you can buy – Part IIindulge

WEEKLY MAGAZINE, APRIL 14, 2013Free with your copy of Hindustan Times

Heated discussionswill follow after youread the season’snew titles. There’sone for every reader

Spend this summer in a sunny daze,and you will be blessed with glowingskin, better fitness levels, and agood mood that will last all year

There is a hot whiteshirt for everyone. Cut, fit, fabric, we’vegot it all sorted

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Cover design: MONICA GUPTACover photo: SHUTTERSTOCK

by Jayanto

Alaa Wardi. A cappella.Pehla Nasha*in love*

EDITORIAL: Poonam Saxena (Editor), Aasheesh Sharma, Rachel Lopez, Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi, Mignonne Dsouza, Veenu Singh, Parul Khanna, Yashica Dutt, Amrah Ashraf, Saudamini Jain, Shreya Sethuraman, Manit Moorjani

B R E A K FA ST O F C H A M P I O N S

Scorch on the Rocks

APRIL 14, 2013

Ballerina: Close your eyes. Imagine awhite fitted dress that flares out

from your waist and prettymuch stays gravity resistant.

Now imagine wearing it to workevery day (left). There!

Waitress on TrueBlood: This is whatthe girls wear to work atMerlotte’s Bar and Grill: tightwhite tee, black shorts thatcover about 10cm and a tiny

green apron no bigger than a hanky. Lotsof tips!Royal Challengers cheer team: Amidriff-baring top, shorts bound togetherby a mere criss-cross of strings and pompoms. Want this as your work uniform?The Bangalore cheer team awaits.The gardener on Desperate Housewives: John Rowland didn’t domuch pruning, but he did tend to one

housewife’s roses, if you know whatwe mean. And he stayed stubbornlyshirtless through season one.Meter maid: All you need is not

love, but a bikini to qualify forthis job. Gold Coast meter

maids wear a gold two-pieceand cowboy hat all day. Theyalso wear a sash – it proba-bly is the largest garment

on their bodies. Bermuda banker: Ditch trousers for cotton knee-length shorts with your suit.

They do it on the island of Bermuda, which explains why they stay cool through tough

financial mergers.The Naked Cowboy: This NYC street performer (left) coordinates his guitar withjust a hat, boots and briefs. Makes you won-der why you spend so much time wonderingif your striped tie goes with those khakipants.

DESIGN: Ashutosh Sapru (NationalEditor, Design), Monica Gupta, SwatiChakrabarti, Rakesh Kumar, Ashish Singh

by Shreya SethuramanOn The Brunch Radar

THE HEAT IS ON

Aurangzeb. Arjun Kapoorhasn’t looked hotter!

A banana leafmeal

Why are thereno good stationery storesin India??

The cell phonead glorifying ashooting squad.’Nuff said already!

Pool parties. Bikinis. Thisis the stuff life is made of

Hawaiian pizza.Pineappleon apizzahas to bethe worst thought ever!

COLD WAVE

It’s too hot for full sleeves or any sleeves. That why we’re so jealous of the people who have these jobs

by Poulomi DasWishful Thinking

You wear WHAT to work?

Always wanted a peek into a celeb closet? Here are a few we discovered. Read this story from Brunch Q for more. Go to www.hindustantimes.com/brunchThis week, on the Web

GAUAHAR KHAN, actress■ She’s guilty of buying ganjis bythe kilo and stacks of palazzos, crisp shirts, high waistskirts and cute day dresses■ Pumps, peep-toes, kitten heels,T-strap wedges… if you can thinkof anything else, she has it!

BIKRAM SALUJA,documentary filmmaker■ A cupboard just for his jacketsand one just for his bags ■ He’s a classy guy who likeswell-cut suits and sharp structured pants

Drop us a line at: [email protected] or to 18-20 KasturbaGandhi Marg, New Delhi 110001

by Amrah Ashraf

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Planning abudget solodomestic trip.Woe betideyou, inflation!

JJoohhnnRRoowwllaanndd

If you like them slow and wiseThe Dalai Lama’s Cat - A NovelDavid Michie’s heartwarming noveldescribes itself as a “not so muchfly-on-the-wall as cat-on-the-sill”tale of a kitten rescued from the

slums of New Delhiwho finds herself in abeautiful sanctuarywith sweeping viewsof the snow-cappedHimalayas. As theDalai Lama’s cat,she meetsHollywood stars,Buddhist mas-ters, Ivy Leagueprofessors,

famous philan-thropists, and everyone else whocomes visiting His Holiness. Eachencounter brings fresh insight intofinding happiness and meaning inour busy lives. Curl up and purrwith delight.

If you like a novel with lots of masalaMothers Lovers & Other StrangersBhaichand Patel’s thriller dressesup a whodunit with Bollywood’sglitz and glamour. Ravi has a darkpast, but in Mumbai, he can leave itall behind for a new life – a home inPali Hill, a socialite fiancée and suc-

cess as a song composer.Or can he? When a bodyis found on the railwaytracks, Ravi’s charmedexistence is threatenedby police enquiries thatprobe into his past. Zipright through it.Mumbai has nopatience with lag-gards.

If you like epic stories oflove, art and warThe Blind Man’s Garden

Nadeem Aslam’s novelis set in the monthsafter 9/11. Westernarmies have invadedAfghanistan. Jeo andhis foster brother Mikalhave left Pakistan tohelp care for woundedAfghans. But within hoursof crossing the borderthey’re separated. Emergingfrom the carnage, Mikalbegins his search for Jeo.But all he wants to do isreturn home to the womanhe loves and who loves him– Jeo’s wife. Aslam’s fanslove his symbolism, imageryand complex characters.Perhaps you will too.

If you’re not done discussingThe White Tiger and SlumdogMillionaire How to Get Filthy Rich in RisingAsia

At first, Mohsin Hamid’sbook seems like a self-helpbook. Twelve simple rulesguide you from poverty to amansion, bullet-proof carand bodyguards. But this is

no how-to guide. It’sthe tale of a poor boy’srags to riches tale thatrides on the back of thesuccess story of thesubcontinent. It’s set inPakistan, but the talewill hit home inMumbai and Delhi too.Don’t take Hamid’srules too seriously. Orwe’re all doomed.

If you want something to ruminate over, all summer Farther Away

Critics love JonathanFranzen. Therefore snottyliterary types like him too.So you’ll see a lot of local“thinking types” pushingtheir geek-chic glassesfurther up their noses asthey get ready to read his

collection of essays andspeeches. In Farther Away, Franzenrecounts his violent encounter withbird poachers in Cyprus, examineshis mixed feelings about the suicideof his friend and rival David FosterWallace and offers a moving andwitty take on how technology haschanged the way people expresstheir love.

If you think Dilliwallas are crazy, butlove them anywayThose Pricey Thakur Girls

Anuja Chauhan’s witty yarn is set ina bungalow on Hailey Road in the’80s, where Justice Laxmi NarayanThakur and his wife Mamta livewith their five daughters: the flirty,married Anjini; slightly selfishBinodini; wild childChandrakanta; quiet-ly fieryDebjani; and a-little-too-popu-lar Eshwari. Yesthey are alpha-betically named.There’s a lessonhere, a tale of afather learning to letgo, and of a Delhithat once was. Andwoven though it all, a sparkling romcom that Chauhan does so well.

If you’re all for simple stories witheasy-to-digest messagesManuscript Found in Accra

Paulo Coelho’s at it again. Afterlying undiscovered for over 700years, a manuscript holding theanswers to a city’s final questions isunearthed from a cave in Cairo. Themanuscript is a transcript of aman’s extraordinary insights oncourage, solitude,loyalty andloss gath-ered on theeve of theinvasion ofAccra. Likemost Coelhoworks, you’ll findsomething youcan use even insummer 2013.

I had been paid.I had been paid for sex.I had been paid well for sex...As Vikram Mathur recounts his journey from maths tutor tosociety gigolo in Confessions Of A Private Tutor, you’ll beamazed at how many other stories lie hidden in plain viewin India. Enter Rupa’s Confessions series (Confessions of aCall Centre Worker is out in May and Confessions of a Page3 Reporter in June), frank and fiercely honest stories aboutlove, sex, money, deception and power. “Everyone knows –or knows of – someone who is a journalist or a tutor or ahotel manager or works at a call centre or parlour. But wenever quite know exactly what their lives are like,” saysPradipta Sarkar, commissioning editor at Rupa. “We wanted to publish the stories of these people – and wewanted them told as they are lived.”

Kris Yonzone’s insight into call-centre life is rife with tales ofmonster workloads, rotten food and what happens between col-leagues on the break-time couches. “Most of what is in this

book actually happened – to me, to myfriends,” Yonzone says. Megha Malhotra,

whose job landed her free concertsand facetime with Bollywood

stars, talks of the inevitablecompromise Page 3 journalists

make. “The kind of stuff that hap-pens in this book is all very real!” she

says. “But the steamy stuff is better experienced than written about.”

Photo: THINKSTOCK

Red HotReadsEverybody’s curling up with a book.Which one is the best for you?by Rachel Lopez

Steamy summer reading? How about abunch of racy Confessions?

6 facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch

APRIL 14, 2013

Down near the bottom of the crossed-out list ofthings you have to do today, between “greenthread” and “broccoli,” you find that youhave pencilled “sunlight.” Resting on the

page, the word is beautiful. It touches you as if youhad a friend and sunlight were a present he’d sentfrom someplace distant... to cheer you up...

This poem by Tony Hoagland is as beautiful as

the sunlight it talks about. But as the weatherturns warmer, Indians tend to scurry away andhide from the hot ball of light in the sky. But you’llbe doing yourself more harm than good. Earlymorning sun, when it’s not so hot, does wondersfor your body and soul.

So don’t hide from the heat, don’t shy from thelight. You’ll benefit in countless ways. Read on...

Iget mopey when I don’t get to goout in the sun, and just a fewminutes spent stretching out in

it lifts my mood,” says actressRenuka Shahane. “Warm morningsun is the best, of course, but evenits severe rays don’t scare me; Isoak them up and my mood movesfrom mopey to magnificent. Mymost creative ideas come when I amsitting out in the sun; in the cold mybrain kind of freezes. It’s thewarmth that does the trick, I feel.”

Shahane’s mood changes aren’tjust a figment of her imagination –As more Indians live insulated livesaway from the elements, we missout on all the benefits of being out-doors too. Sure, summer days canget torturously uncomfortable. Butavoiding the sun totally can spelldisaster too – for body and mind.

Vitamin D, which the body pro-duces in the presence of sunlight, isresponsible for neuron growth andhas a positive effect on our moods.A 2002 study by scientists atMelbourne’s Baker ResearchInstitute, published in the Lancetjournal, showed that the brain pro-duces more of the mood-liftingchemical serotonin (a natural anti-depressant) on sunny days than oncloudy days. This cheers us up and

positively influences our moods.Another study, this one by the

University of Colorado in 2009,found that as the temperature goesup, so does our sense of well-being.Scientist Christopher Lowry, anassistant professor of integrativephysiology, studied the link betweentemperature and mood and statedthat people intuitively associate feel-ing warm with a sense of relaxationand well-being. That explains whywe are far happier catching somemorning sun before our day beginsthan being cooped for the whole daywith stale cold air conditioning andharsh fluorescent lighting.

Of course, the sun also radiateslight, and light represents positivityand happiness; maybe that’s why weall have a lot of positive emotions andmemories connected to the sun.

Alankrita Shrivastava, director ofthe 2011 film Turning Thirty, is an

absolute sun worshipper. “Last year Ishot a documentary about the cultural history of Bihar and there, inplaces like Bodh Gaya and on thebanks of the Ganga, I shot somespectacular sunrises and sunsets. Itmade the assignment really special,”she says. “I still cherish the momentswhen I’d set up the camera and soakup the energy as the sun changedsize. My body clock functions in tan-dem with the sun, so I am thankfulthat I live in a place like Mumbai,where it’s sunny for most of the year.Early morning is the best time of theday for me. I live on the 14th floorand have huge windows in my bed-room. Being woken up by naturallight rather than an alarm clockmarks a positive beginning to myday.”

Getting some sunshine early in theday also keeps the sleep-wake upcycle on track (and insomnia away),which again is important for moodregulation. That’s because gettingnatural light during the day increasesour melatonin output at night (mela-tonin is a natural hormone made byour bodies; it enhances sleep andslows down the ageing process). Stayhydrated by drinking lots of waterand let a little sunshine into your life,your body and soul will thank you.

Knee pain was a constant com-panion for actress RenukaShahane all through the 2010

TV dance contest Jhalak Dikhla Ja.She blamed it on the sit-ups she wasputting in while practising herdance moves. But her doctorthought otherwise. “The first thinghe asked me was when was the lasttime I had been really out in thesun,” recalls Shahane. Although thequestion foxed her, she realised thatit was bang on the mark. “Eversince I had taken a sabbatical tolook after my home and children fulltime, my outdoor time was limited,”she explains. “I had totally neglect-ed to soak up the sun.” Sure enough,Shahane’s tests indicated low levelsof Vitamin D3, which was causingthe pain. Her doctor’s advice wassimple: early morning sun (8-9am)every day for 15 minutes. Shahane’slevels soon returned to normal.

It lifts your mood, keeps you in good health and makes yourskin glow. This summer, instead of whining about the heat,spend some time with the sun and heat up your body and soulby Kavita Devgan

The LightJust Step Into

The sun helps loseweight by increasing the

metabolic rate bystimulating the thyroid

People oftenassociate feeling

warm with a senseof relaxation and

well-being

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Happiness is a warm sun

Health

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Dr Chytra V Anand, cosmeticdermatologist at Bangalore’sKosmoderma Skin & Laser

Clinic, says spending some time inthe sun is a ticket to glowing skin.“Moderately tanned skin is moreresistant to infections than untannedskin,” she says, adding that diseaseslike acne, psoriasis, eczema can becontrolled through controlled expo-sure to the sun. Dr Swati Srivastava,Mumbai based dermatocosmetolo-gist, says we should all “aim for 15-20minutes of mild sun exposure with-out sunscreen during the day anduse an appropriate sunscreen whenstepping out in harsh sunlight.”

The sun is great for your hair too.“The sun’s rays help keep hair free ofinfections, but excessive exposuremay make it dry and lighten thecolour. So keep a scarf or a hathandy,” adds Dr Srivastava.

APRIL 14, 2013

Our body gets 80 to 90 per centof its Vitamin D from sunlight.

This helps prevent brittle bones

Beingwoken by

naturallight

instead ofan alarmclock is apositivefeeling

Beauty

The ultraviolet rays in sunshineact as a natural antiseptic.These rays kill viruses, bacte-

ria, yeasts, fungi and mites in theair, in water, on your carpets andblankets and the day’s washing.Apart from being an effective germkiller, sunlight can also prevent therooms in your house from becomingdamp and mouldy. In feng shui, thesun is the symbol of health and isthe giver of life. Feng shui expertJayme Barrett writes in her bookFeng Shui Your Life that light canmake a big difference in how wefeel: “It lifts the energy of a room,brightens your day, expands thespace and inspires new ideas.”

So bury your nose in the cleanscent of air-dried laundry, replaceheavy drapes with airy sheers.Expose as many rooms as possibleto fresh air and sunlight on a regu-lar basis. If you are worried aboutfurniture and pictures fading, tryrearranging your room so that yourvaluable items are out of the path ofdirect sunlight.

Vitamin D is essential for theabsorption of calcium in the body,says Dr Rommel Tickoo, consultanton internal medicine at MaxHospital, Delhi. “It prevents brittlebones. In fact, our body gets 80 percent of its Vitamin D from sunlightas the food sources of this vitaminare few,” he says. Good examples ofthese include tuna, egg yolk, liver,fatty fish and fortified cereals.

In addition, research published in2008 in the journal Archives ofInternal Medicine, shows that peoplewith the lowest Vitamin D levelshave more than twice the risk ofdying from heart disease and

stroke, when compared to thosewho have high Vitamin D levels.

In fact, an Oxford Universitystudy has revealed that childhoodexposure to sunlight appears to dra-matically reduce the risk of develop-ing multiple sclerosis later in life.The big daddy of all, cancer, too canbe arrested with enough Vitamin D.

“Although there are reports thatoverexposure to the sun increasesthe risk of skin cancer (Indiansbecause of their darker skin arethankfully less prone to it), VitaminD from sunlight can actually helpreduce the risk of other types of can-cer significantly,” says Dr RajeevMoger, senior consultant on internalmedicine at Apollo Hospitals,Bangalore. A study carried out bythe US National Cancer Institutefound that people exposed to highlevels of sunlight were significantlyless likely to die from breast andcolon cancer. A similar effect wasseen in cases of bladder, womb,oesophagus and stomach cancer too.

A hot day will make you tired anddehydrated, so keep it simple – smalldoses of weak sunshine (dawn anddusk) and plenty of fluids. “The sun’srays also boost the production ofwhite blood cells, which strengthensour immune system,” says DrTickoo. “And if you are looking tolose weight, step out in the sun a bitmore, as higher levels of serotonin inour bodies not only makes us happi-er but also suppress appetite.”

The effect in fact is two-pronged:“The sun also helps us lose weightby increasing the metabolic rate bystimulating the thyroid,” Dr Tickooadds. Good news all around!

The brain producesmore of a naturalantidepressant onsunny days than on cloudy days

An effective germkiller, sunlight can

prevent your roomsfrom becoming

damp and mouldy

Moderately tannedskin is moreresistant to

infections thanuntanned skin

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Home

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APRIL 14, 2013

You need the right balancebetween not enough sun andtoo much sun, so that you can

enjoy its benefits without lookinglike a boiled lobster. Here are some tips:

At the peak of summer, try toavoid direct sunlight between 10amand 4pm. Generously apply a broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen to all exposed areas,including your ears and neck,around 30 minutes before you stepout. A broad-spectrum sunscreenprovides protection from both ultra-

violet A (UVA) and ultraviolet B(UVB) rays. For people who live intropical areas, a higher SPF (50) isrecommended for outdoor use. Forindoor use SPF 24-30 is recom-mended. Also, reapply your sunscreen every four hours for complete sun protection.

Finally, never ever stay out longenough to get sunburnt (this canrange from a light burn to an excruci-atingly painful situation), to the pointof needing hospitalisation and caus-ing severe damage to the skin). Youneed to be especially careful if youhave fair or sensitive skin or a per-sonal or family history of skin can-cers, or if you are taking medicationthat makes you sun sensitive.

Expert: Dr Geetika Mittal Gupta, medical director and consultant dermatologist, ISAAC

(International Skin and Anti-Ageing Centre), Delhi

We got celebs who love thesun to tell us theirfavourite sunshine song

and tell us why they love it so! It’stime to let your playlist run on solarpower.

MUGDHA GODSE,ActorWalking on Sunshineby Kimberley Rew is a

lovely song and makesmy heart dance to its

tunes. I can listen to this on loop anytime of the day. I also love TheSunshine Song by Jason Mraz andthe You Are My Sunshine by AnneMurray; both are superbly feel good.

SAMIR KOCHHAR,ActorPocketful of Sunshineby singer NatashaBedingfield is onesong I love to listen to.This song helps me escape mytroubles and makes me feel positiveabout everything in my life. It is oneof her highest selling albums andwith good reason too. The lyrics andmusic are both to die for.

RAJAT GUPTA, Lyricist andscreenplay writerIt has to be “Jaado ki narm dhoopaur aangan main let kar..”. from thesong Dil Dhoondta Hai in the film Mausam. When you close your eyesand hear Bhupinder’s voice sing, youcan feel the warmth of the sun, thatsoft veil on your face and goosebumps on your skin! Each time!

JASLEEN ROYAL, Musician,composer and performerI love the song Hard Sun by EddieVedder from the movie Into theWild. I love it because this songrevolves like a cycle from hope todespair to hope again.

SHARMANJOSHI, ActorI love the song frommy film 3 Idiots, Giveme some sunshine... Iloved picturising it; besides it is a

lovely song with great lyrics.Everyone I know loves it and it has aspecial place in my heart.

And the winner is.... HereComes The Sun...CYRUS BROACHA, TVstarThe Beatles’ simpleyet hugely upliftingsong “Here comes thesun (doo doo doodoo), Here comes thesun, and I say it’s all right..”.is my ultimate favourite. The lyricsshowcase my relationship with mywife perfectly – never stable, neverthe same – either up or totallydown, sometimes smoky hot ortotally frosty... and as in the song icemelts and warmth envelopes, it’salmost like Harrison is singinglyrics that are a perfect metaphorfor our relationship. Besides,Harrison sings with his lips hardly

open and my wife too speaks verylittle! That’s why I associate somuch with this sunny song.

SUHAIL YUSUF KHAN, vocalistand sarangi player I like Here comes the sun by theBeatles. Why? Because I remembera very cold winter and I was goingthrough a very low phase in my life.So one day, bored of just sitting inmy room, I decided to visit the DeerPark near Delhi’s Hauz KhasVillage. It was one of those typicalJanuary days so obviously there wasno sun, and I started to walk. I hadwith me a friend’s Discman (iPodsweren’t really in then) and it had aBeatles’ compilation CD. One afterthe other, the songs kept playingand everything was normal until thesun suddenly came out and at thatvery minute the song Here comes thesun... started playing. I got goosebumps, and trust me, somethinghappened then and I came backfrom the walk in a very, very posi-tive frame of mind, which changed alot of things for me. So both the sunand this song are special for me.

SUBIR MALIK, keyboard playerwith Parikrama and manager of

several musiciansHere comes the sun was

the morning alarmon the phone at theHard Rock Hotel,

Bali. What a lovelyway to get up! I find this

brilliant song super positive!

During the summer,avoid being out in the sun between 10 am and 4 pm

Celebrities wholove the sun tell us

their favouritesunny songs

SingingSongs OfThe Sun

10

Get Bronzed, Not Burned

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THE TROUBLE with telling people that you are goingto Monte Carlo is that you only have to mention thename of your destination for it to sound like you areshowing off. In the minds of most of us, Monte Carlo

is less a real place than a reference point. Mention the city andthe associations that spring forth are casinos, luxury hotels, theMediterranean, the hill roads of the Riviera, large yachts, andbeautiful women sunbathing topless.

Many of these associations are bogus (there is not much tothe beach and I didn’t see a single topless sunbather) but enoughof them are valid for the legend of Monte Carlo to endure. Forinstance, when you land in Nice (there is no airport in MonteCarlo), the transfer to Monaco, where Monte Carlo is located, isalmost always by helicopter. The Monaco authorities keep theprice of the helicopter ride low, ask the chopper pilots to takethe route over the Mediterranean and urge them to fly fast so

that you are at the Monte Carlo heliport in just over seven min-utes. The chopper ride is part of the experience: from the timeyou lift off and see the sun glinting off the blue waters of the sea,you know that this is going to be a luxury experience.

As much as we’ve heard of Monte Carlo, glamorous locationof James Bond movies and high rollers at the casino, these areonly the obvious clichés and not the full story. (And many of usstill think of a biscuit when Monaco is mentioned, anyway). Butthere is a history to the jet-set glamour and the legend, and yes,the casino is at the heart of it.

Though it is now a millionaire’s paradise, Monaco was notalways rich. For most of its existence, in fact, it has been des-perately poor. The Grimaldis were seafarers (or pirates, depend-ing on which version you believe) from the Italian port of Genoa,who captured the rock we now call Monaco in the 13th century.In the 17th century they began to call themselves Princes but the

APRIL 14, 2013

RIGHT FROM THE STARTFrom the time you lift off inthe helicopter for Monacoand see the sun glinting offthe blue waters of the sea,you know that this is goingto be a luxury experience

THE LEGENDOF MONTECARLO

Vir Sanghvi

12 indulge

rude tr

avel

As much as we’ve heard of MonteCarlo, glamorous location of JamesBond movies and high rollers at thecasino, these are only the obviousclichés and not the full story

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rest of Europe did not take them seriously, the French kept annex-ing their tiny Principality and in the 1850s, they were bankruptand had to cope with a restive population that wanted to joinneighbouring France and dump the Grimaldis back into theMediterranean.

As the situation grew desperate, the Grimaldis gave a con-cession to a private company to operate a casino. In 1864, afterthe injection of Rothschild funding, the casino finally got goingin a previously little-known part of Monaco. The casino compa-ny (called SBM) developed the new area, built twogrand hotels (the Hotel De Paris and the Hermitage)and created the town we now know as Monte Carlo.The Monte Carlo casino soon made lots of moneyand the Grimaldis were able to abolish income taxand provide lavishly for their subjects. This endedthe clamour on the part of the populace to joinFrance. But Monte Carlo remained the only partof Monaco anybody had heard of and even that wasowned by SBM, not the Grimaldis.

In 1949, when Prince Rainier took charge in MonteCarlo, gambling had become legal in the rest ofEurope, so SBM was making losses and the gam-blers and tourists had stopped coming to MonteCarlo, choosing to gamble in their own countries.Aristotle Onassis, the Greek shipping tycoon, tookcontrol of SBM in the early 1950s, and set about trying to improveMonaco’s global image.

One of Onassis’ suggestions was that Rainier should marry anAmerican actress to put Monaco on the map. Feelers were sentout to Marilyn Monroe but she believed that Monaco was in Africaand said she was not interested. When Rainier did find anAmerican actress, he did it on his own without Onassis’s help.He pursued Grace Kelly, then a leading Hollywood star, and wasdelighted when she agreed to marry him.

But neither Rainier nor Monaco were rich. So Grace Kelly’s mil-lionaire father had to pay a dowry of $2 million, some of whichRainier spent on organising a grand wedding which was televisedacross the world. (Onassis also paid for part of the wedding.) Thestory of the Prince and the Hollywood star captured the global imag-ination and after that, Monaco has never looked back.

The publicity surrounding the wedding and Princess Grace’sown popularity were enough to turn Monte Carlo into a jet-sethot spot. By 1964, with tourists flocking to Monaco and the casi-no flush with funds, Rainier finally decided to do battle with SBM.

He ousted Onassis, took charge of the company (now the Grimaldisand the Monaco government jointly own around 70 per cent ofSBM) and finally emerged as the true lord of Monte Carlo. Thepirate family had become proper Princes via Hollywood.

Ever since, Monaco has hardly been out of the news. PrincessGrace died young, at the wheel of her car on one of those beau-tiful hill roads on the Riviera in 1982 but her children have keptMonaco in the gossip columns. Princess Caroline has been amongthe world’s most glamorous figures all through her three mar-

riages. Her sister Princess Stephanie had manyaffairs with such high-profile figures as theHollywood actor Rob Lowe but married her body-guard. That marriage ended when he was caughthaving sex with a stripper. Later lovers have includ-ed an elephant trainer and a gardener before shemarried an acrobat and went to live with him inhis circus caravan.

The Grimaldis tried to keep the Grace-Rainierglamour alive by hosting a grand wedding for Albert,Rainier’s son who is the current Prince. But despitethe choice of a glamorous South African Olympicathlete as a bride, the ceremony was dogged byspeculation that the lady had tried to make a runfor it when she heard of Albert’s many illegitimate

children. Nobody knows if this story is true but last week, Albert and

the Princess seemed happy enough. They were the hosts of theannual Bal de la Rose organised by Princess Caroline and theGrimaldis to raise money for the Princess Grace Foundation. Iwas one of the invited guests (this is less impressive than itsounds; there were over 750 people at the ball!) and had a chanceto see Monaco’s jet set up close.

As for as I could tell, apart from a sizable contingent ofwealthy Japanese, the cream of Monaco’s society waslargely white and middle-aged. The men showed off

their dinner jackets and the woman trailed silicone and col-lagen on the dance floor. Even so, the smell of money was inthe air and when Rita Ora (dressed by Karl Lagerfeld whohad designed the ball) began to perform, large sections of theaudience had no clue who she was. And when the black Americansinger Theophilus London followed Ora onto the stage, he waspossibly the only black man in the house.

But Monaco is like that. It has no desire to be a rainbow nation

pinterest.com/htbrunch

HE’S GOT DESIGNSThe ball was imagined byKarl Lagerfeld, includingthe menu (above), whicheven carried an illustrationby the designer

POWER PERFORMERSinger-songwriter Rita Ora (right) performed at theBal de la Rose in a dress by Karl Lagerfeld (left)

STELLAR SETTING I was one of the invited guests at the Bal de la Rose, organised by Princess Caroline andthe Grimaldis and had a chance to see Monaco’s jet set up close

ALWAYS WITH GRACEGrace Kelly’s daughter,Princess Caroline (below)has been among theworld’s most glamorousfigures all through herthree marriages

Photos: GETTY IMAGES

APRIL 14, 2013

13

Monte Carlo isa battlegroundbetween theworld’s two

greatest chefs,Joël Robuchon

and AlainDucasse

APRIL 14, 2013

and is quite happy being a millionaires’ playground. The coun-try is tiny (about the size of Delhi’s Greater Kailash I would guess:around 480 acres) and there are only about 7,500 or so nativeMonegasques with another 30,000 or so tax exiles. Nearly every-body who works in Monte Carlo lives in neighbouring Italy orFrance and commutes every day. There are day-trips by touristcoach parties but Monaco does not attract down-market tourism and there are few cheap hotels.

The heart of Monte Carlo is the area around thecasino which includes the grand Hotel de Paris andthe more elegant Hermitage. All of this is owned bySBM, which also owns two seaside hotels and all thebig clubs: Buddha Bar, Jimmy’z etc. A short distanceaway is the Metropole Hotel, which SBM does notown, and which is much cooler and trendier withinteriors designed by Jacques Garcia (him of HôtelCostes in Paris fame) and all the restaurants super-vised by Joël Robuchon.

Monte Carlo’s appeal to those who do not wantto gamble (and though the casino is beautiful withboth a janta area full of slot machines and more ele-gant rooms inside, it posed no attraction to me, a dedicated non-gambler) is as a centre of gastronomy. Not only does it have thebest food in the South of France, it is also a battleground betweenthe world’s two greatest chefs Joël Robuchon and Alain Ducasse.

Of the two, Ducasse is now the bigger name with three dif-ferent restaurants in three cities possessing three stars, (thehighest honour the Michelin guide can bestow) in London, Parisand Monte Carlo. Of the three, it is Monte Carlo that forms thenerve centre of his operation because Franck Cerutti who mas-terminds the food for the Ducasse organisation is based here.

I ate an exquisite meal at Ducasse’s Monte Carlo place (it iscalled Le Louis XV) where the many courses included a shellfishsalad with coco beans, sea bass from the Mediterranean withfresh asparagus from the south of France, and lamb from milk-fed baby sheep that was so pure and white you felt you were eat-ing roast chicken. The meal took three hours and after five dif-ferent wines, I had to go and lie down to recover.

On the other hand, not everything Ducasse does in MonteCarlo is as successful. I had a godawful meal at the Grill at theHotel de Paris which Ducasse also runs: asparagus turned tomush, an over-salted risotto with morels and beef that had beencooked for much longer than medium rare required.

Robuchon, on the other hand, has the advantage of consis-

tency. His gastronomic restaurant at the Metropole has two starsto Ducasse’s three but this could be because it is merely a fanci-er and warmer version of the L’Ateliers he runs all over the world.The food though, was light and terrific: the famous onion tartwith black truffles, his foie gras-filled version of the hamburger,scallop Carpaccio and tartare, followed by a nice old-fashioned

Floating Island. Robuchon’s Japanese restaurant Yoshi, only has

one star but the food was even better: teppanyakiprawns, crispy veal, Wagyu tartare and more. Thiswas Japanese food done to Japanese levels of pre-cision and sophistication with the flair of a greatWestern chef.

There are many other great places to eat in MonteCarlo. Vistamar, at the Hermitage, where I stayed,has one Michelin star and serves Oriental-influ-enced French food cooked by Joël Garault. You caneat well at the Monte Carlo branch of the Ciprianiif you stick to the classics: Carpaccio, the veal chopand lots of Bellinis. And all over Monte Carlo you

will find serious food designed for serious foodies. So what kind of person visits Monte Carlo? The obvious answer

is: rich people. But this can be a little misleading. Nothing is cheapin Monte Carlo but, on the other hand, it is actually less expen-sive than Paris or London. The hotels can be cheaper and judg-ing by my experience of the Hermitage and the Metropole, theymay even be better.

There are other advantages. Except for two months of theyear, it is never too cold. It is bright and sunny all summer. Thereare no traffic jams, nothing is crowded, you can walk everywhereand the city is remarkably safe. Women flashing large Kelly bags(the bag was named for Grace Kelly) and lots of diamonds walkthe streets at night without any fear of being mugged or robbed.

And there is always something happening. I went for the Balde La Rose. But there’s a Grand Prix, a huge yacht show, a jazzfestival, a golf tournament, a tennis masters, a flower show andGod alone knows what else. So if you have four days to spare,want to relax and to eat some of the world’s best food withouthaving to pay Paris prices or fight the crowds in Europe’s bigcities, then Monte Carlo is probably the place for you.

And of course, there’s the glamour. As your chopper anglesover the Mediterranean, it is hard not to think of Aristotle Onassis,Grace Kelly, James Bond, the casino and even of the Grimaldisand their colourful love lives.

MORE ON THE WEBFor more RUDE FOODcolumns by VirSanghvi, log on tohindustantimes.com/brunch

14 youtube.com/HindustanTimesBrunchindulge

Nothing ischeap in MonteCarlo but it isactually less

expensive thanParis orLondon

BIG DAY ON THE SMALL SCREENThe televised wedding of Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly captured theglobal imagination and after that, Monaco has never looked back

PLACE YOUR BETSThe heart of Monte Carlo is the area around the casino (above) whichincludes the grand Hotel de Paris and the more elegant Hermitage

MONACO AND MARTINISThe 1983 Bond film, NeverSay Never Again, starringSean Connery, is amongthe many Hollywood filmsset and shot in Monte Carlo

Photos: GETTY IMAGES

hindustantimes.com/brunch

AS YOU MAY have gathered from my occa-sional references to my TV viewing habits,I am a big fan of TV shows. Offer me a choice

between a Hollywood/Bollywood blockbuster anda box set of the most recent TV series and I willalways plump for the latter. And every single timeI spend the evening feasting on the best Westerntelevision has to offer, I set off for bed wonderingwhy we can’t do anything half as good in India.

Why is it that we don’t have an indigenousHomeland, the cracker of a TV show that had theentire world on tenterhooks for its two-season run?Even President Barack Obama – who presumablyknows a thing or two about tackling terrorism –is a fan, going so far as to invite Nick Brody (Britishactor Damian Lewis) to the White House for anofficial banquet. It’s not as if we are starved ofinspiration, given the number of terrorist attacksthat have pummelled us over the last decade orso. And yet, we don’t have a single TV show thatbrings this alive on the small screen. The best wecan do, apparently, is to have Anil Kapoor threat-en a re-make of 24, the thrill-a-minute Jack Bauer series which

has already run its course.Then there’s Newsroom, the

Aaron Sorkin show about prime-time news programming. Despitea weak (and much too wordy) startit took off after a couple of episodes,bringing the dilemma of TV newsnetworks home to us. How do youkeep your news judgement andyour integrity intact and still scorehigh ratings while competing withhysterical, jingoistic anchors whofall back on hype and sensational-ism? This is a subject that is boundto resonate with Indian viewersgiven the amount of sound and furyon our prime-time news shows.And yet, there isn’t a single IndianTV show that has strayed into thisterritory. Everyone is busy mak-ing saas-bahu serials, the tried-

and-tested family melodramas that have becomesuch a staple of entertainment programming.

But even family shows can pack a punch, asanyone who has ever watched Modern Familyknows all too well. The show has wit, charm, andsome of the best one-liners on offer. But it alsooffers us the portrait of a modern family – thejumble of trophy wife, stepfamilies, gay parents,adopted Asian baby, stay-at-home Alpha mom,klutzy dad, teenager going off the rails, nerd kids– which really shouldn’t work but in some mad,out-of-control way, simply does. In its own laugh-out-loud funny way it gives us an insight into thechanging landscape of American society.

And what do we have in India? Oh, we do familyshows, all right. But what do they show us? A regres-sive, patriarchal world populated by large, joint fam-ilies who live in big, imposing mansions, and spendall their time plotting and scheming against one

another. The women wake up in the morning wearing full make-up, swan around in Kanjeevaram saris, brandishing their oversizedmangulsutras to prove that they are truly ‘pativrata naris’. Theirclothes, their jewellery, their lives, nothing has anything in commonwith us. It is almost as if these shows are set in a different era alto-gether.

Not that I have anything against different eras. I am a hugefan of Downton Abbey and Mad Men, both of which skillfullyrecreate a bygone world. In Downton Abbey you get the senseof a decaying Edwardian England in which the old certaintiesare crumbling quietly, leaving disquiet and anxiety in their wake.Mad Men evokes the New York of late ’50s and ’60s, when theadvertising men of Madison Avenue ruled the world and didn’tquite know how to cope with the incipient feminism in the air.Can you think of anything remotely like this on Indian TV? No,me neither. And more’s the pity.

SeemaGoswami

spectator

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!Homeland, the cracker of a TV show, had the entireworld on tenterhooks for its two-season run

IT’S ALL IN THE FAMILYModern Family has wit,charm, and some of thebest one-liners on offer

MORE ON THE WEBFor more SPECTATOR columns by Seema Goswami, log on tohindustantimes.com/Brunch Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/ seemagoswami Write to her at [email protected]

57 CHANNELSAND NOTHIN’ ON…

Why can’t Indian TVgive us theequivalent ofHomeland,Newsroom,Mad Men orModernFamily?

16 indulge

I’M TRULY disappointed! I really am not sup-posed to be saying this and I’ve been advised toerase this part of today’s column – but I think

it’s important to put this out there. I am deeply andbrutally disappointed. After all the intense build-up, all the amplified hype I gave you (the reader), Iam very crestfallen to report that all of you had onlynice things to say about the No. 1 Phone in the Worldcolumn last week. Where was the Twitter thrash-ing, the Facebook flogging and the public poundingthat I had predicted? What happened to the iPhoneiMafia, the Android army, the BlackBerry (BB) boysand the Windows warriors? Where was that famousdeep polarisation and devotion that borders on reli-gious mania when your personal phone or platformor company is criticised? If you’re not going to defendyour own phone then what else is there left to defend?I am truly surprised and did I mention deeply dis-appointed? I hope that was a flash in the pan, justa slow week for you – and that you’ll come out allguns blazing this week. Because it’s time to crownthe number one smartphone in the world.

Last week six beautiful phones were taken throughthe wringer. The head to head battle was fought onlooks and style, dimensions and form factor, screenand resolution as well as processor and OS over-head. Today, the battle gets bloodier.

BATTERY LIFEThe battery on the S4 has been pumped up to 2600 mAh and theswitching Octa Core processor only draws raw power when trulyneeded. But it does power up a big screen and lots of whiz-bangfeatures. The Xperia Z and the HTC One clock in at 2300 mAh andboth do a good job of conserving power; the Lumia 920 at 2000mAh is also a contender as the OS isn’t a battery hog. The BB Z10with 1800 mAh and the iPhone 5 with 1660 mAh bring up the rear.In real-life usage, the mAh is just a ballpark estimate of true bat-tery life – other things like the processor, the OS, the size of thescreen and how battery hungry some features are – truly matter.

CAMERAIt’s not just about megapixels anymore (it never was), asoptics, sensor technology, size of pixels, image processinginside the camera and the software matter. The optic con-tenders are – UltraPixel vs PureView vs Cybershot vsApple Optics vs BB Time Shift. The 13.0 megapixel cam-era on the S4 sounds very cutting-edge and it actu-ally does deliver very well in action shots and verycolourful pictures, not so much in low light. TheHTC One comes with only 4.0 MP but UltraPixeltechnology makes it the absolute best in low light,and there’s excellent clarity in action shots. TheLumia 920 may not be as good as the realPureView technology on the 808 phone but it’sstill one of the best on a phone (night shots dodisappoint a bit though). There is 13.0 MP onXperia Z too (no colour bleeds, great contrasts,very fast, but does tend to choke a bit on lowlight images) and iPhone 5 (best software, veryeasy to use, some artificial enhancements tendto play their role in some shots though) andBB Z10 (surprisingly great camera from BB,excellent Time Shift capabilities) brings it inat 8.0 MP.

ADD ONSSome people call this gimmicky, butI believe that the time has come whenuser features are more importantthan selling purely on hardwarespecs. And each phone has quite afew tricks up its sleeve. The GalaxyS4 has dual camera shooting, dual video confer-encing, Air View, gesture control, smart scroll andquite a bit more. The HTC One comes with the awe-some and very useful Blinkfeed user interface, dualamplified speakers and a noise cancellation micro-phone. The Xperia Z is water- and dust-proof, plushas some serious features in the photo shootingdepartment. The BB Z10 OS, with its all-gestureand thumb control interface, is unique; plus all itsnew features like BB Hub, video call on BBM, plusPeek and Flow, are all serious innovations. TheLumia 920 brings in the breath of fresh air ofWindows, and adds multiple free Nokia benefits likeMaps and Music. And of course the iPhone 5 is stillone of the easiest-to-use phones and keeps addingfantastic new features that actually matter withevery OS update.

PRICEIt’s been predicted that starting from August 2013,almost every single flagship smartphone releasedby every company will be priced aboveR50,000. Tillthat nightmare starts, price is still a huge buyingcriterion. The iPhone 5 is what started the wholeR40,000 and more price war. BlackBerry made a

huge mistake by releasing the Z10 at an astronomical price point.Sony was smart and broke from tradition and released the XperiaZ at a pleasant (if R37,000 can be called pleasant) price. The Lumia920 is very well-priced (R35,000) for what it offers, but that’s slow-ly becoming the Nokia way. HTC shocked everyone by releasingthe One for R42,000 (everybody expected it to be the first phone tobe at R50,000), and the price of the S4 is now being predicted atR52,000 (don’t do that, Samsung).

That’s pretty much it. For the last two weeks, I’ve gone throughalmost every single thing that a phone can be judged on. All that’sleft is a verdict. It’s a tough one to call as the gap between compa-nies, feature sets, product line, hardware as well as style are as close

as it’s ever going to be – but I’m going ahead and doing itanyway.

The iPhone 5 is an amazing phone but needs a freshand totally new exterior as well as an OS that doesn’t stilllook the way it did four years ago. The Z10 is an excellenteffort from BB, let down by the price as also the fact that

it needs more time to convert non-BB users. The XperiaZ is also a fantastic phone but needs that one killer fea-ture that makes it stand tall. The Lumia 920 has it allbut its Windows OS still needs to get to a tipping pointfor it to get some serious momentum. That leaves theHTC One and the Samsung S4. I’m going to go with theHTC One as the winner as this is a phone that takes someserious risks, has a lot of disruptors, has come out withan aggressive price (relatively speaking) and has greatlooks to go with all that. The S4’s biggest weakness is itslooks and what is predicted to be a very high price. IfSamsung also takes on the price war – and prices the S4below R42,000 – this crown may shift. Till then, the HTCOne rules! There you have it – don’t disappoint me thistime and let the real flogging truly begin!

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

APRIL 14, 2013

Rajiv Makhni

...Read parttwo of thebattle between smartphonesto find out!

techilicious

facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch

IT REALLY CLICKS!The Lumia 920’s camera is oneof the best on a phone

1. Samsung Galaxy S42. Sony Xperia Z3. HTC One4. iPhone 55. Nokia Lumia 9206. BlackBerry Z10

1. Samsung Galaxy S42. HTC One 3. iPhone 5 and NokiaLumia 920

THE CONTENDERS,in random order, are(drum roll)

THE WINNERSBattery Life

1. HTC One, SamsungGalaxy S4 and NokiaLumia 9202. iPhone 5 3. BlackBerry Z10 andSony Xperia Z

Camera

1. Samsung Galaxy S4and HTC One 2. BlackBerry Z10 andSony Xperia Z3. iPhone 5 and NokiaLumia 920

Add Ons

1. HTC One2. Nokia Lumia 9203. Sony Xperia Z

Price

A CLEAR WINNER The HTC One is thebest phone in theworld and has greatlooks to go with it

MORE ON THE WEBFor part one of thisweek’s column and previous columns byRajiv Makhni, log on tohindustantimes.com/brunch. Follow Rajiv onTwitter at twitter.com/RajivMakhni

18 indulgeTHE NO. 1 PHONE IS...

19WELLNESS

APRIL 14, 2013

MOST INDIAN kitchens stock several

herbs that containhealing properties. Inthe past, suchherbs wereused as medi-cine. The mortarand pestlewere used toprepare indigenous chut-neys, and the juices ofherbs were added to veg-etables in order to incor-porate them into ourfood mix. Here’s a quick lowdownof a few traditional herbsfound in the Indiankitchen that have greathealing potential. Mint: Pudina, a routine part of sta-ple Indian meals, has severalhealthy properties. A teaspoon ofmint leaves, crushed with ginger,and rock salt added for taste, is anexcellent remedy to prevent nau-

sea in summer. Mint leaf garnishes on veg-etables also enhance digestion

and help calm a upset stom-

ach. It alsocontrolsthe

excessivebuild-up of

gas. Adding pudi-na to greenchilli chut-ney in mealshelps con-trol hiccups.Parsley: Thisherb helpscontrol urineinfections,

whose incidence goes up in thesummer. It also helps balance theacidic environment in the kidneyand functions as a diuretic (an

agent for greater urineflow). Ultimately, it alsohelps control kidney

stones.Basil: Tulsi, another

common kitchen herb,can either be added tovegetable juices andtaken on an emptystomach or added tolemon and ginger juiceand diluted with water(the juice: water ratioshould be 1:5). It alsoaids digestion and helpsfight constipation. Tulsi

also boosts your immuni-ty levels.Aloe Vera: This is a wonderful herbto cure summer rashes and skindamage. Applying aloe vera juiceto sun-affected skin helps the skinregenerate faster. Drinking aloevera juice promotes intestine andliver healing and serves to detoxifythe digestive tract.Milk thistle: Also known as silymarin, this herb is known topromote a healthy liver. Those suffering from liver problems relat-ed to high consumption of alcoholcan benefit immensely from it.People who are dependent uponpainkillers, or have taken severalrounds of antibiotics, can also con-sume milk thistle and aloe verajuice to heal their liver. Turmeric: Another herb ubiquitousin India, turmeric is known to prevent arthritis and joint pains. Toconsume this herb as medicine,take a raw turmeric root and juicea half-inch piece. This can beadded to milkand drunk inthe night. Alternatively,one can addrawturmericjuice to veg-etablesoup. Incase one istaking turmericin soup form,then avoid usingcorn flour or rice flourin the soup.

[email protected]

SHIKHA SHARMA

MIND BODY SOUL

MORE ON THE WEBFor more columns by Dr Shikha Sharma and other wellnessstories, log on to hindustantimes.com/brunch

Photos: THINKSTOCK

Tulsi aidsdigestion and

helps fightconstipation.It also boosts

immunitylevels

THE KITCHEN PHARMACYEveryday herbs have great healing potential – particularly in the summer

DIGESTIVE WONDERMint or pudina is excellent fordigestion and even nausea,especially in the summer

FOR A GOOD DETOXMilk thistle is good for liverproblems related to too muchalcohol or even the excessiveuse of painkillers

HEALING TOUCHTurmeric has excellent anti-septic propertiesand is good forpreventingarthritis and jointpains

COOL REMEDYAloe vera helpscure rashes andskin damagecaused by harsh sunlight

WHITE IS flawless. Whiteis pure. And its sheersimplicity merits a spotin your wardrobe.

Besides, there’s no better way to wel-come summer than to wear a smartwhite shirt over your jeans or chinos– picture Shah Rukh Khan in thedeadly combination of a crispwhite shirt, khakis, Aviators andthat seductive stubble in Chak De!India, and you’ll see what I mean!

The virtues of the white shirtand its ‘must-have’ quality havebeen extolled by fashion editorsand designers. But finding theperfect white shirt isn’t as easyas it sounds.

So when you begin playingwhite shirt huntsman, theremay be a few questions evenbefore you begin your quest:What fabric must it be? Howdo I experiment with it? Will Ihave to be careful or just gocrumpled chic? Will peopleconfuse me for the wardboy?

Start your mission by lis-tening to what well-knownfashion designers and styl-ists have to say. “The bestthing about a crisp whiteshirt is that it pairs well witheverything, whether it is formalcorporate attire or denims for acasual, nonchalant look,” says stylistPernia Qureshi. “It can easily bemoulded to get any look right.”

Designer Jattinn Kochhar stress-es the importance of the fit. “Wearsomething not too loose or tight,” headvises. “You don’t want oversizecollars or overly fussy details”.

FABRIC AND FITAccording to David Abraham of thelabel Abraham & Thakore, the fabricand cut are your biggest guidelineswhen choosing a shirt. DesignerRahul Khanna of the designer labelRohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna rec-

ommends shirts madeof ‘mercerised’ fab-

ric (a treatment

TAKING CARE OF PRISTINE WHITES■ It’s always advisable to get your favourite whites dry cleaned■ Keep your whites folded inside out or wrap them in plastic when

storing in your cupboard■ Avoid spraying perfume directly onto the shirt. That may leave stains

on the garment■ Bleach if necessary as it’s the only colour that resists discolouring■ Avoid using a very hot iron

STAIN REMOVAL MADE EASY■ Get into action as soon as you stain the garment■ Put some talcum powder and then dab it with white tissues to

transfer the stain■ The worst thing you can do is to use water, as that will only make the

stain permanent■ Make a paste of good quality detergent and apply it on the stain■ Keep it for a while and hope for the best!

(Courtesy Jattinn Kochhar, Pernia Qureshi and Rajesh Pratap Singh)

THE GAME OF WHITE This colour block georgette paneltop from Rohit Gandhi and RahulKhanna’s collection works perfectlywith a pair of black trousers

THE CLASSIC GAME This Abraham & Thakore men’s shirt ismade of cotton poplin, with a regularcollar and cuffs. Abraham says poplinis one of the most ideal fabrics foryour classic white shirt.

“There’s nothing betterthan white on a woman”

RAHUL KHANNA, Designer, Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna

“It’s best to go forsomething withminimum detail”

DAVID ABRAHAM, Designer, Abraham&Thakore

The White Shirt

Hunter

20

One reporter sets out to find awhite shirt that’s on trend, fitswell and doesn’t make you looklike a driver. Bid her godspeed!by Shreya Sethuraman

APRIL 14, 2013

APRIL 14, 2013

WELL-OILED GARBKochhar’s collection includesherbal organic clothes, which arehandspun and dipped into essen-tial oil and dried. This treated fab-ric will keep you cool in summer

“Wear somethingwell-fitted, withoutoversized collarsand fussy details”

JATTINN KOCHHAR, Designer, Tatha Vastram

for cotton cloth, which strengthens itand gives it a lustrous appearance).“The fit has to be just right with aperfect bottom hem. As far as collarsare concerned, a small collar is allthe rage,” says Khanna.

When it comes to fabrics,Abraham roots for poplin andOxford cottons. For the uninitiat-ed, poplin is a 100 per cent cot-

ton fabric that is tightly woven,making it smooth and shiny.Oxford cottons, on the otherhand, have a soft textureand basket-weave appear-ance. “Go for something

with minimum detail,” saysAbraham. He suggests pairing

them with good old blue jeans orcotton chinos for men.

SIZE WISEMost people tend to think a classicwhite shirt is essentially a guy thing– and that women prefer white salwars or will pick a coloured shirtover basic blanc. Such folly onlydeters a huntswoman from a questof her own. “You can’t differentiatebetween men and women when itcomes to the white shirt,” saysdesigner Rajesh Pratap Singh.“There’s nothing better than whiteon a woman,” adds Rahul Khanna.

Designer Gautam Gupta says thatwhile white is not the best colour forheavyset women, bleached shirtsmade from cotton satin add grace toa woman’s body while hidingunslightly bits. “The ideal lengthwould be anything that covers thehips and thighs,” he suggests.

Kochhar, however, recommends acotton-lycra weave, which createsthe illusion of being two sizes small-er. “Try to highlight something goodabout your body. For example, if youhave good collarbones, then a yokeabove the bust area will draw one’sattention to the collarbone,” he says.

Gupta advises skinny women towear a brightly coloured inner witha 100 per cent linen shirt to empha-sise their curves. Kochhar recom-mends heavyset cotton lycra knotfabric for thin women as it adjuststo, and moves with, your naturalshape.

“Choose a shirt keeping in mindyour body type as well as the occa-sion,” advises Qureshi. “A slim fitworks best for a formal occasionwhereas a regular fit lends a morecasual look. Also, pick the correctshade of white. Avoid ones withblue/green undertones. Crisp white,ivory or off-white looks better”.

According to Rajesh PratapSingh, what ought to guide you

when buying whites is natural fab-rics. “Khadi would be a great idea.Since the shirt is white, stitchingdetails pop up, so make sure the fabric of the shirt you choose is offine quality,” he says.

TEAM WHITEA pencil skirt paired with a well-fit-ted white shirt, perhaps embellishedwith jewels, will be great for a girls’night out. If you’re in the mood forsomething more casual, pair yourshirt with your boyfriend’s jeans.Kochhar suggests a multitude ofcombinations on different occasions.“Try new styles – pin tucks, darts,piping, coloured buttons, bellsleeves, three-quarter lengthsleeves,” he says.

If you’re not obsessed with wearingonly designer wear, brands such asBebe, Blackberrys, Thomas Pinkand More Mischief have smart-looking white shirts for men andwomen.

And when the hunt ends,ask not what you can do foryour white shirt, but whatyour white shirt can do foryou. Pooja Shah, creativedirector of MoreMischief, says oneshould infuse one’sown personality intothe shirt to stand

out. “A classic white shirt is usuallyone that has a collar, long sleeves andfalls just below the hip for men andjust above for women,” she says. Butthere are many ways for a woman tostyle the classic, says Qureshi. “Theycan button it down and wear it withshorts or tuck it in a formal pair ofpants or even wear it with a beltaround the waist,” she advises.

If you’re one for experimenta-tion, coloured pants are a greatfoil for white. They work well formen as well. The best way tosport a white shirt, however,would be to wear it the way youthink you can carry it off. That’s

what Rahul Khanna says when hetalks about the individual character

of the white shirt. “Wear it withshorts, formal chinos, or just roll up

the sleeves,” he says. Kochhar, too,prefers the rolled-up look. He recom-mends wearing a full-sleeved shirtwith lungi pants or black dhoti pants.“Not only does the combination lookgreat, it is really comfortable in sum-mer,” he says.

So, whether you want to buy a fit-ted shirt, a shirt two sizes too large,or one with tiny embellishments, youcan seldom go wrong with whites.The quest will take you far, will haveyou notice more details than youthought possible but will reap pristinerewards. Go forth and conquer!

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DRAWING A BLANCTeam this Rajesh Pratap white shirtwith natural khakis or linens, de-pending on the occasion. For a for-mal event pair it with bandhgalas,formal suits or dinner jackets

“You should go infor natural fabrics;

khadi is ideal”RAJESH PRATAP SINGH, Designer

“A slim fit shirtworks best for aformal occasion”

PERNIA QURESHI, Stylist, Pernia’s Pop Up Shop

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COLOUR ME BRIGHTThe grey detailing on this shirt byKaran Johar and Varun Bahl addscharacter, making it stand apartfrom plain shirts. The neat collar and traditionally buttonedcuff keep the classic look intact

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APRIL 14, 2013

PERSONAL AGENDA24

Actor

If you weren’t an actor, you wouldhave been...I am a martial artist first andthen an actor.Which classic film would you haveloved to work in?Jackie Chan’s Police Story.The best thing about your debut filmForce was......The fact that I swept all the debut awards that year despite playing a villain.The fittest actors in Bollywood.Hrithik Roshan and SunielShetty.Your fitness funda.Listen to your body and under-stand what it needs. Eat for yourstomach and not your eyes.Did you go through any special train-ing for your stunts in Commando?I’ve been training in kalaripayattusince I was three years old. Weworked hard to create stuntsthat would be visual spectacles. I trained for months.

Your greatest extravagance. Watches! I’m an obsessive collector.One director you want to work with.From Dibakar Banerjee, ImtiazAli and Anurag Kashyap to Vipul Shah and TigmanshuDhulia, I want to work with all ofthem.One thing nobody knows about you.I was once referred to as ‘AppleBottoms’. How embarrassing! Your favourite street food?

Bhel and pani puri.The best thing about Bollywood is... The consistently evolving narrative and style of storytelling,along with how the industry welcomes talented people, evenfrom a non-film background. Your strategy in a crisis is... ...To go through the crisis.That’s the best strategy.What’s in your fridge right now?Gulab jamuns. I’ve been craving them for some time.The song that lifts your spirits. Lutt Jawan from Commando. Your dream destination.Rishikesh.One thing you will never eat. Anything non-vegetarian.You destress with. Training.The last line of your autobiographywould read…I am with the universe that created me.

HOMETOWNJammu

BIRTHDAYDecember 10

SUN SIGN Sagittarius

HIGH POINT OF YOUR LIFE The time I was offered Commando. The filmhas given me the canvas and the freedom to domy kind of action, which is beyond anything India has seen before

FIRSTBREAKForce, withJohn Abraham,in 2011

LOW POINTOF YOUR LIFE I confess that Istill haven’t hadone yet

CURRENTLY I AM ...Living, breathing andeating Commando andgetting hours of martialarts training

PLACE OF BIRTHKanpur

SCHOOLI went to severalschools, includingArmy PublicSchool, Dagshai

Vidyut Jammwal

A FILM YOU HAVE WATCHEDMORE THAN FIVE TIMESForce - 34 times!THE MOST OVERRATED FILM Hangover 2A MOVIE THAT WAS A PARTOF YOUR CHILDHOOD Enter The DragonTHE FIRST MOVIE YOU SAWON THE BIG SCREEN Robocop in 1987THE MOSTPAISA VASOOL FILM Singh isKinng

my movies

—Interviewed by Veenu Singh

IF YOU WERE ANICE CREAM, WHATFLAVOUR WOULD

YOU BE? Chocolate

for sure

Photo: HAIDER KHAN