Lounge issue no 101`

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Chicken Curry in a Hurry

Ingredients:1 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces 2 tablespoons canola oil

1 tablespoon curry powder 1 medium onion, sliced 2 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup chicken broth 1/3 cup golden raisin

1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt

Directions:1 Mix together flour, salt and cayenne pepper in a plastic bag; add chicken in small batches, shaking to coat.

2 Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. 3 Add chicken and cook until lightly browned; then add curry powder and toss to coat.

4 Remove from pan. 5 Add onion and garlic to pan, adding a little more oil if necessary, and cook for 2 minutes, then add broth,

raisins, and tomato paste. 6 Return chicken to pan and simmer uncovered for 8 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and sauce

has thickened. 7 Garnish with cilantro and a dollop of yogurt.

8 Serve with quick cooking minute rice, if desired.

Recipe

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Music

Very few b a n d s peak in the third d e c a d e of their ex i s tence ,

but when they do, one could feel a sense of fulf il lment. Almost as if toiling hard all

those years – some spent soul searching, others hankering af ter perfection – was all worth it now that ever ything is falling into place so meticulously. Ever ything does indeed fall into place seamlessly for Katatonia in Dead End Kings.Katatonia traced their

apogee with “Night Is The New Day” (2009), 18 years af ter the band was formed in Stockholm. With “Dead End Kings” the Swedish band has again demonstrated the peak of their powers and strung together a progressive rock album, that is simplistic and yet audacious, centered

Katatonia – Dead End KingsBy Kunwar Khuldune Shahid

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around melancholy and yet unquestionably vivacious. Once again, the sum outdoes the parts by a considerably margin as Renske and co, give their ver y best in synthesizing this tour de force, which despite having the soft grey gloomy shade leaves the listener jaunty and af loat.The increasing inf luence of progressive rock, which has been palpable in Katatonia’s recent releases, is ver y much there in their 9th studio album. Tracks like ‘The Parting’ with all the solemnity in the world; ‘The Leech’ with a simple and yet extravagant guitar solo; ‘The Racing’ which is quite possibly the standout track of the album, showcase the gothic atmosphere that one associates with Katatonia these days. But there stil l is room for pure metal tracks like “Buildings” that has pounding rif fs and blazing guitar-work; and it is positioned perfectly just so the whole experience of going through the album does not become monotonous for the listener. This mélange of overall gloom and miser y that sandwiches that occasional burst of explosion sets the album up for an exclamatory sending off, without which the grandiose of the album wouldn’t have lef t a feeling of fulf il lment – Dead Letters provides that exclamation mark and offers this majestic album a memorable sending off.Dead Letters is reminiscent of Tool’s progressive grunge, and is distinguishably dif ferent from the previous 10 tracks. It is without a shadow of a doubt one of the

really exceptional tracks that Dead End Kings has to offer and is quite possibly the ideal way to tell the listener to star t this nearly 50-minute journey all over again with The Parting. Jonan Renske’s vocals are, as always, impeccable and the fact that the evolution of his singing has been uncannily in synchrony with the progression of the band over the past 21 years bears testament to his vocal prowess and his adaptability. From the growling death metal vocals in the early 90s to the progressive doom sound of the recent past Renske’s vocals have covered a wide gamut without letting the quality – or the complementation – suffer. The lyrics throughout the album ooze with miser y and obscurity and it is hard to imagine anyone else, but Renske, exercising their vocal chords better in terms of ensuring that the words actually transform into the desired feeling in synchrony with the atmosphere of the album. Dead End Kings is an exceptional album, and not merely a compilation of decent tracks. And while there are songs that would edge out the rest in terms of their quality, their positioning on the album also helps them tower above the rest. If there is one album that should be listened in one go and in its proper sequence, Dead End Kings is that. It is an emotional ride, one that blends musical vir tuosity and merges quite a few sub-genres of metal and rock together to ser ve up a memorable ser ving.

Tracks like ‘The Parting’ with all the solemnity in the world; ‘The Leech’ with a simple and yet extravagant guitar solo; ‘The Racing’ which is quite possibly the standout track of the album, showcase the gothic atmosphere that one associates with Katatonia these days

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An action/thriller spy film The Bourne Legacy is the fourth film in sequel to the Bourne films namely The Bourne Identity,

The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. Directed by Tony Gilroy and based on the later Bourne novel written by Eric Van Lustbader, the film hit the box office in August 2012 and immediately made it to the top earning 1 billion dollars.

The protagonist is a man named Jason Bourne for the first three films. He is found afloat in the Mediterranean Sea with a safe deposit box holding a passport of this name amidst a horde of cash with a smattering of foreign currencies and a gun. He soon learns that he was an assassin who had failed in his most

recent mission. His life is at stake and he unites

with Marie Kreutz. Bourne breaks his connections with the CIA but some years later the CIA is again on the hunt for Bourne for a crime he’s been framed for. In the process Marie Kreutz is killed. Bourne decides on revenge and his journey leads him to expose the real culprit Ward Abbott who stole millions from Operation Treadstone, the program that trained Bourne to be an assassin. Bourne reveals this to Pamela Landy, the CIA agent responsible for killing him. Bourne then goes into hiding.

After six weeks Bourne learns that a British journalist has been investigating his past of which operation Blackbriar an upgraded version of operation Treadstone is aware of too. Blackbriar thinks

Bourne to be a threat who wants revenge. Blackbriars director Noah Vosen begins a new hunt for Bourne. Bourne is in possession of classified documents that prove that Blackbriar has targeted US citizens and is aided by Landy, who disagreed with Vosen and so did Nicky Parsons(the woman who had romantic feelings for Bourne before his final mission resulting in his amnesia). Bourne finally comes face to face with the person who oversaw his behavorial modification as the first Treadstone operative some years earlier, memories of which resurface. Those responsible for Treadstone and Blackbriar are exposed and Bourne goes underground.

Bourne Legacy has an entirely different plot. At the center is Aaron Cross played by Jeremy Renner who

Film

By Beenish Mahmood

Fast and FuriousThe Bourne Legacy is a film that runs fast, mesmerizing the audience who cannot take their eyes off the screen for a secondBy Beenish Mahmood

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is a member of Operation Outcome, a program that enhances the physical and mental abilities of field operatives through pills called “chems”. Cross is to reach a remote cabin in Alaska where Operative Outcome Number 3 (Oscar Issacc) is posted.

Meanwhile Operation Treadstone and Blackbriar have been exposed leading FBI to investigating Deputy Director CIA, Pamlea Landy (Joan Allen), Blackbriar Supervisor Noah Vosen (David Stratheirn) and

CIA Director Ezra Kramer (Scott Glenn). Kramer seeks assistance from Eric Byer (Edward Norton),

the man responsible for overseeing CIA’s clandestine operations.

Byer decides to eliminate all outcome operatives and succeeds in killing number 3 but Cross escapes. It is at this point Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz) comes into picture who reveals to Cross that he was genetically modified. Together they go to the factory where these “chems” are manufactured to cast off the “viralling effect”, a process whereby Cross retained the physical

benefits of the “chems” without continous consumption but the mental acuteness needed the continous consumption of the pills. Meanwhile Byer learns where Cross is. He attempts another attack at Cross but with the help of Shearing he escapes.

The Bourne Legacy is a film that runs fast. Over speeding vehicles, kicks and knock outs, the film mesmerizes the audience who cannot take their eyes off the screen for a second. The narrative is complicated and nerve-wracking. A film that is worth watching, The Bourne Legacy is fast and furious.

Di r e c t e d by Homi Adajania, Cocktail is an Indian romantic

flick released in 2012. It received a mixed response from the critics, but none was sparing in its appreciation for Padukone’s acting.

In common parlance, cocktail is a mix of two or more ingredients – mostly an alcoholic concoction. The very essence of the word defines the film. Veronica (Deepika Padukone) and Meera (Diana Penty) the two heroines are poles apart in personality. Veronica is impulsive and wild whereas Meera is a shy introvert who is recovering from a hoax marriage. She is seeking refuge in Veronica’s house till she finds a decent job and is able to support herself.

Things change when Gautum (Saif Ali Khan) a software engineer comes to live under Veronica’s roof. Gautam is a typical man-a flirt. He feigns attraction for

Meera to win his mother’s favour, for Meera is the typical Indian girl. However, the pretence makes him actually falls in love with her.

Veronica also falls in love with Gautam and a cocktail of love and emotion thus develops. However, Veronica soon realizes that Meera is Gautam’s true love and she helps them unite.

Cocktail is a cute flick with an attractive cast. While one watches it one is immediately reminded of scenes from Jab We Met and Love Aaj Kal. It also defines the emotions of love and friendship – how each character perceives the two often confusing feelings. The love triangle in Cocktail is although an old concept yet the way Adajania has done it makes it look fresh. It does not seem overdone and neither does it seem underdone. It is just perfect.

It is funny how the three very diverse people become involved so deeply – Saif, a flirt, Meera, a typical domesticated belle and Veronica, a wild child. Together they create

a powerful, heady concoction. A fantastic must watch.

Cocktail, a heady concoction indeed

‘The narrative is complicated and nerve-wracking, a fi lm that worth watching indeed’

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The two books in view titled Affairs etc. and Escape from Oblivion – The Story

of a Pakistani Prisoner of War, albeit the obvious difference in their individual perspectives, seem to have attracted the attention of a good number of readers for their somewhat unconventional but fresh themes treated with a stylistic ingenuity attributable to their authors.

Affairs etc.Adiah Afraz writes for

the Op-ed pages of the News International. This book comprises her numerous columns that have appeared in the said paper, in recent past. Over the years she has emerged as a social satirist evincing a serious concern about ‘the ridiculously silly in human behaviour’. The epilogue to the book perceives its contents as ‘an unprecedented recording of political and social history’ conducted with ‘ease and humour’. Hasan A. Mian, the publisher, quotes Nietzsche to describe and laud the author: “Courageous, unconcerned, sarcastic, and violent – thus wisdom wants us. She is a woman and always loves only a warrior.”

The ace PTI leader Imran Khan

has contributed the foreword to the book wherein he indicates his preference for Adiah’s writing because it reflects ‘positive attitudes and an optimistic outlook towards

life’ epitomizing her ‘passion for life, and a much needed vibrant relief’.

The book is divided into seven sections containing some fifty-five articles. The author treats her subjects with unobtrusive, light humour. Hyperbole, u n d e r s t a t e m e n t , suggestion, inversion, and obverse comparison are some of the tools of her ironic intent as a social satirist.

But her irony is far from sardonic in its censure of human infirmities or socio-political disharmonies generic to our body politic. The laughter that it evokes is one of self-awareness, not of disdain, ridicule or self-righteousness. She has targeted hypocrisy, pride and vainglory as the reigning bane of our social demeanour, but with due deference to journalistic ethics.

Satire is germinated by idealism coupled with an unconscionable concern for propriety. Men and ‘affairs etc.’ pertaining to politics, clergy, bureaucracy and the media are generally more prone to

satiric impeachment than other social segments because of the conspicuous incongruities peculiar to their respective callings or

Books

By Syed Afsar Sajid

Affairs and Actions

A� airs etc.By Adiah Afraz

Publisher: Watandost Publications,Ahmad Block, New Garden Town, Lahore

Pages: 233; Price: Rs760

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systems. Adiah Afraz’s columns amply demonstrate her natural proclivity to inveigh against deceit, absurdity, perversion, s e l f - a g g r a n d i z e m e n t , corruption and abuse of authority, her approbation of a few popular political icons notwithstanding.

Dr. Tariq Rahman has aptly summed up his critical reaction to these articles thus: “Her humorous sketches capture the kaleidoscopic scene of Pakistan(i) society with its colourful absurdities, political blunders and hypocrisy.”

Though very well written, the book seems to lack an engaging printing format corresponding to its contextual fertility and stylistic flourish.

Escape from Oblivion

Ikram Sehgal, an ex-Major and aviation pilot in Pakistan Army, writes bilingual columns on current affairs and appears on electronic media as a ‘defense and security analyst’. The instant book draws on his recollections as a Prisoner of War (POW), dating back to the period (April-July 1971) preceding the fateful disintegration of Pakistan. The book comprises fifteen chapters aside from a foreword by Air Marshal (Retd.) Asghar Khan, and other formal insertions.

The impact of the historical relevance and factuality of the narrative augmented by the narrator’s racy style tends to engage the reader’s attention in the book from the very beginning and sustain it until the end.

Ikram Sehgal was commissioned into 2E Bengal Regiment (earlier raised by his father in the year 1949) in 1965. Both father and son commanded its ‘Bravo Company’ at two different points of time. Ironically enough, this regiment along with two other regiments viz., 4E Bengal and 8E Bengal later

formed the bulwark of the rebellion in the dreadful civil war. The narrative discloses that the writer became a POW by an inadvertent choice motivated by an abiding sense of duty. He had been posted to the Logistic Flight, Eastern Command in end-March 1971 and was on ‘joining time’ when he made up his mind to seek permission from his flight commander to visit his parent regiment in Joydebpur (20 miles off Dacca) after it had revolted on 27/28th March1971, to find out for himself as to what was being alleged against it (the regiment) was correct.

Although received affectionately by Bengali elements in the regiment, his visit was unwelcome to many. Major Shafiullah (a Bengali dissident rising to the Army Chief in Bangladesh during Sh. Mujib’s

rule), who had earlier served as an adjutant with the writer’s father Lt. Col. Abdul Majeed Sehgal, assigned him to command the Bravo Company of 2E Bengal, but he (the writer) refused to cross over into India whereafter began his 183 days macabre odyssey – his incarceration and handing over to the BSF as a POW; his dispatch to the ignominious Agartala Jail (in the Indian state of Tripura) and onward to the POW Camp at Panagarh in West Bengal, about 100 miles northwest of Calcutta (now Kolkata); his ‘overland’ solo escape from the camp; his tottering but plucky march to Calcutta – partly on foot and partly by a compassionate, gratis lift on a truck; the timely succour granted to him by an American NGO courtesy the US Consulate in Calcutta; his flight to New Delhi and onward ‘escort’ to Kathmandu (Nepal) by rail/road; his

air journey to Dacca via Rangoon and Bangkok and detailed interrogation/debriefing on the traumatic experience at HQ ISSC there, followed by award of a reprimand to him on the charge of overstaying leave i.e., beyond joining time, and his posting back to West Pakistan.

Lastly, it is an interesting but instructive tale of a soldier’s personal valour steeped in patriotism, dutifulness and humanitarianism in the backdrop of an impending eventuality wrought by our own errors and omissions – verily a ‘tragedy of errors’!. During the course of narration, the writer has also attempted to allude to and clarify, albeit obliquely, his detractors’ presumptive objections to his bona fides as an escapee.

Escape from Oblivion –The Story of a Pakistani Prisoner of War in India

By Ikram SehgalPublisher: Oxford University Press, Karachi

Pages:138; Price: Rs.695/-

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There’s no doubt that abundance of high calorie convenient foods and sedentary lifestyle has made losing weight

difficult. Like brushing teeth, the bathroom scale is one accessory turned to necessity that is perhaps used more than the face wash. But is that number on the scale really telling you the complete story?

According to Wikipedia the term body weight is used in daily English speech as well as in the contexts of biological and medical sciences to describe the Earth’s gravitational pull on an organism’s body. From a health and fitness standpoint, the body comprises lean muscle tissue, body water and body fat (adipose tissue) and these three are the main variables being considered collectively when monitoring changes in body weight explained briefly:• Body fat: these are stories of energy in the form of lipids and it’s main functions are insulation and cushioning. Problem arises (health and appearance) when this starts to go beyond healthy levels brought on by sedentary lifestyle and indiscriminate eating.• Body water: This is the water content of the human body

and a significant amount of the human body is water.• Lean muscle tissue: This is referred to as “muscle mass”, a term guys love to hear and females usually shy away from. It is largely misunderstood. It is what we call “metabolically active” meaning that it is responsible for increasing metabolism at rest, improves functional mobility or the ability to move (especially important as you age), and gives the body a nice tone (females don’t get as muscular as men even if they wanted to)

So, hypothetically speaking, if you’re weight has increased from 65kg to 68kg, which one of the 3 variables were likely to blame? When you step on your weighing scale, does it tell you which of the 3 variables has gone up? My point is: tracking weight changes is misleading especially when you’re engaging in some form of exercise. Body composition is a relatively new term, it has replaced body weight in the fitness industry for some time but still hasn’t permeated the common household. Body composition separates the 3 variables giving you a percentage of each to another. Going back to the above example, if you knew that your body fat before weight gain was 30% or about 19.5kg and has increased to 33% or 22.4kg (33% of 68kg), then you can be sure that this increase can almost entirely be attributed to fat.

The bottom line is: track your fat levels (by using body fat devices available in the market), not your weight. Your goal should be to increase lean muscle (regardless of your gender) and reduce body fat. Doing so will not only give you a nice toned appearance, but will also prevent multiple diseases and give you the strength and vitality to lead your life with full vigor and vitality.

By Mariam Aftab

Adnan Farooq is a ISSA, TRX, BOSU and Kettlebells Certified Trainer. He is also a ACSM health fitness specialist and is the head trainer and owner at Core- Functional Training systems. Adnan can be reached at [email protected]

Ask our CORE- fitness

Health

THE WEIGHING SCALE IS A LIE!

“I want to shed pounds off because that’s my ideal body weight’” How many times have we repeated these lines and felt stressed about reaching a number?

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