WEEKLY MAGAZINE, MARCH 31, 2013Free with your copy of Hindustan Times

VIR SANGHVIWorld’s finest restaurants

SEEMA GOSWAMIA matter of manners

RAJIV MAKHNIThe best smartphone you can buyindulge

WEEKLY MAGAZINE, APRIL 7, 2013Free with your copy of Hindustan Times

How the Hindi

jasoosi upanyas

continues to fascinate

readers. Meet the

last emperors of

pulp

5

4

Cover illustration: MALAY KARMARKARCover design: MONICA GUPTA

by Aasheesh Sharma

Vishal Dadlani@V1SH4L: We lovehim, we love his music.That’s why it’s a shockerto see him raving and ranti-ng on Twitter. Vishal, you put CharlieSheen to shame! With anger man-agement, we mean.TIP: GENEROUSUSE OF CAPS LOCKMAKES IT SEEM LIKEYOU’RE TWEETINGFROM ATOP MOUNTEVEREST. Isn’t it much nicer in low-

er case? Exactly.

Shahid Kapoor@shahidkapoor: If you

want to win a spelling bee,stay away from his tweets.

(He’s forgiven because he looksthe way he does.)TIP: SpellCheck and a copyof the goodol’ Wren & Martin, available at allleading book stores.

Poonam Pandey@iPoonam-

pandey:Obviously Photoshop-ed nude

images, wanting to strip for a“cause” only to back out at the lastminute, Pandey also claims to be

the most searched model on the Internet. Really?TIP: Read/ask someone to read youthe story about the boy who cried‘wolf’. And if you want to do some-thing, do it. Don’t ‘declare’ it.

Somya Sethsaumya_seth: Sethloves herself. She’s achronic retweeter (ofonly praises show-ered by her fans). Heronly original tweets arelines from Hindi songs.Kali kali khali ratoun se honelagi hai dosti....TIP: Interact with your fans, maybe?And not just to tell them how veryexhausted you are. Details of theepisode, the shoot, something,

anything!

Arvind Kejriwal@ArvindKejriwal:

Loves to quote Chom-sky, tweets at full speed to

‘uncover’ hidden truths and de-clare his love for the country.TIP: Yes, it is inspiring to read yourtweets, but they only show aUtopian world. They will not changethe world. A short break fromthe microblogging sitewould be of great help.

On The Brunch Radar

Anybody who is somebody tweets. Some not as well as the others. We’re notjudging, we’re only handing out some free advice! Follow @HTBrunch!

by Shreya SethuramanFree Advice

All that twitters ain’t gold

■ Bollywood’s coming ofage (watch the trailerof Gippi NOW)■ Mango season■ Hate mail. Bring it on■ Game of Thrones Season3 (12.35 minutes to nudity)■ BB creams

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

Hindi pulppage-turners

Brunch Opinion

■ Zameer Ka Qaidi by SurenderMohan Pathak: In 2006, a manrobbed a branch of UTI Bank,

pretending to be a humanbomb. When arrested, hesaid the plan was inspiredby Pathak’s novel. “Heobviously didn’t read thewhole book,” says the

author. “The would-be robber was caught in the book

too.” Featuring Vimal, the anti-hero. ■ Bahu Maange Insaaf by VedPrakash Sharma: Adapted forfilm in 1985 by Shashilal Nair withNaseeruddin Shah and SwaroopSampat in the lead cast,it is the story of awoman tortured fordowry and finallykilled. The in-lawstry to pass it off as anaccident. But anotherdaughter-in-law seeks revenge saying she has been possessed bythe ghost of badi bahu. FeaturingKeshav Pandit, the insurance investigator.

■ Prime MinisterKa Murder by

Amit Khan: Thedesi super sleuth rescues

the Indian premier from the clutch-es of assassins hired by Pakistan’sInter Services Intelligence.Featuring Commander KaranSaxena, the patriotic superspy.■ Shootout at the Rocks by IbneSafi: Forensic expert by night, theinvestigator is a buffoon-philosopher by day wholikes to quote Confucius,Ghalib and Mir.Featuring Imran, thehead of the secret serv-ice. Translated from Urdu.■ Aakhri Mohra Shatranj Ka byReema Bharti: Narrated in the

first person, it chroniclesthe adventures of aseductive Indian SecretCore agent as she goeshot-stepping on thetrail of international

arms dealers. Featuring‘dilphenk hasina’ Reema Bharti.

Pretty cool, right? This week’s cover storyis quite awesome too. Turn to page six!

Shortcut to Smart

Know your‘isms’by Rachel Lopez

APRIL 7, 2013

Download Central is taking abreak for a bit. SanjoyNarayan will be back soon.Watch this space

Smart people will always throw big words around. Some are notquite what you think they mean

ABSOLUTISMWhat it’s not: The belief that one brand ofvodka will make you smarterWhat it is: Government by a single absolute

ruler or authority

AGATHISM What it’s not: Belief that The Mousetrap isthe world’s greatest play.

What it is: Using evil for the greater goodDUALISMWhat it’s not: Idea that two girlfriends are better than oneWhat it is: Idea that the universeis controlled by one good and oneevil forceEMOTIVISMWhat it’s not: Reading every

letter and punctuation mark as a fa-cial feature on a smiley

What it is: Theory that moral statements are inherently biasedHOLISMWhat it’s not: A chance to feel upgirls during the festival of colourWhat it is: Looking at parts of everything in relation to the wholeMINIMALISMWhat it’s not: Wearing just your Speedo to workWhat it is: Encouragement for the simplest interpretationof an idea or form

TITANISMWhat it’s not: Belief that your wristwatch controlsthe universeWhat it is: The spirit of revolt or defiance againstsocial conventions

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

Drop us a line at: brunchletters@hindustantimes.com or to 18-20 KasturbaGandhi Marg, New Delhi 110001

CASUALISMWhat it’s not: Jeansto work on FridayWhat it is: The beliefthat chance governsall things

ADAMITISMWhat it’s not: Stubborn love for Han-

nah’s no-good ex-boyfriend on GirlsWhat it is: Nakedness for religious reasons (Ha!)

PANSEXUALISMWhat it’s not: Makingout in the kitchen whilethe eggs are fryingWhat it is: Theidea that allthought is derived from sexual instinct

by Saudamini Jain

SHOVE IT

Phot

os:

THIN

KSTO

CK

■ Himmatwala ■ April Fool’s jokes

■ An almost-full inbox■ Coordinating with

people in different timezones■ Flavoured calcium supplements

LOVE IT

T IS 6 AM at Meerut rail-way station on a blusterymorning. The platform isdeserted except for a fewpassengers and stray dogs.A man clad in worn-outcorduroy trousers and

leather jacket walks up to a kioskand says: “Give me the new AmitKhan novel.”

Standing a few yards behind thestall is Khan, 41, the cherubic author,one of the youngest exponents of theendangered art of Hindi pulp fiction.“He was the second person thismorning to ask for my book by name.I’ll post this on Facebook,” says thenovelist, who is visiting Meerut fromMumbai, where he writes screen-plays for television serials.

Elsewhere, Scandinavian crime fiction, Frederick Forsyth and IanRankin may have their legions of fans.But in Meerut, Hindi pulp fictioncountry, it is the Surender MohanPathaks, Ved Prakash Sharmas andAmit Khans who top the charts. Desipulp is India’s answer to the West’sairport novel: where the plots are out-landish, the characters over-

the-top and the titles out to grab youreyeballs. Think Katil Milega MachisMein, Main Chanakya Tu Lomdi and 15Bomb, Pakistan Khatam.

In a time when the Internet, 24-hour TV and shrinking readinghabits are impacting publishersaround the world, this cantonmenttown in Uttar Pradesh, one of thebirthplaces of India’s First War ofIndependence, continues to be thehub of publishing for the jasoosi upanyas, a noir world inhabited byrakish secret agents, sensual femmefatales and heist-meisters.

A generation of readers in Indiahas grown up admiring the taut plotsand engaging storylines of JamesHadley Chase, John Le Carré andRaymond Chandler. And a significantnumber swears by Henning Mankelland Robert Ludlum. But the protago-nists who fascinate the Hindi heart-land are as far removed from KurtWallander or Jason Bourne asLangley is from Delhi. Whether it isthe anti-hero Vimal, a victim of infi-delity and circumstance, desi MataHari aka ‘dilphenk hasina’ ReemaBharti, legal mastermind KeshavPandit or superspy Karan Saxena,each has acquired a cult following.

Amit Khan appears to have chosenthe venue of his recce to gauge thepopularity of his novels well. It is atrailway stations and bus terminusthat a chunk of Hindi crime fictionbooks sell, says Khan’s publisherRakesh Jain of Meerut’s DheerajPocket Books. “Most train passen-gers step on the platform and getdrawn in by the sensational titlesand garishly illustrated jackets.Priced between R50-100, thebooks never burn a hole in theirpockets,” says Jain.

6 C OV E R STO RY

A noir world inhabited by rakish secret agents, heist-meisters and femme fatales,Hindi pulp fiction continues to keep its band of faithful readers riveted

by Aasheesh Sharma, photos by Harikrishna Katragadda

APRIL 7, 2013

Hindi pulp stories might be printedon bad quality paper, literally fromcheap wood pulp (hence the nomen-clature ‘lugdi’ sahitya) and usuallypriced for less than a decent cup ofcoffee but the readers of the jasoosiupanyas are one of the most demand-ing in the world, says publisherRajkumar Gupta of Raja PocketBooks, which publishes MohanPathak, among other pulp staples.“They want their money’s worth. So,if the books of Pathak, one of ourauthors, are priced at R100 and theothers at R50, they want better pro-duction quality and fantastic page-turners,” he adds.

Hindi pulp publishers say profitsfor pulp fiction are down to just 15 percent – a huge drop from the almost100 per cent margins of a fewdecades ago. This is mostly attributedto the advent of the Internet and adeclining market. But the authorstend to disagree. “If there were nomarket for Hindi pulp, why would ourpublishers continue to print us?” asks

Pathak. “But the nucleus of publish-ing has shifted from Allahabad in the1970s to less expensive Meerut in thelast two decades,” says Delhi novelistAnil Mohan.

A 10-minute drive from the railwaystation in Meerut’s upscale KaviNagar neighbourhood stays VedPrakash Sharma, 58, arguably one ofthe highest-selling Hindi pulp writersin the country. Reclining in a leatherchair in his well-appointed study,Sharma says he has no points left toprove to anybody. Over a five-decadecareer, he has written more than 150books and churns out four novels ayear that sell more than one lakh cop-ies each, he claims. But Sharma has abone to pick with the mass media. Inthe early 1990s, says Sharma, hisblockbuster novel Vardi Wala Gundasold more than 15 lakh copies but wasnever anointed a bestseller. “There isa strong English language bias in themedia. When English paperbacks sell

15,000 copies or even 2,500 copiesand the media say these arebestsellers, it sounds ludicrous.”

Ask Sharma about the most sat-isfying moments of his lit-erary journey and hedigs into his reservoir ofRailways anecdotes. “In1992, my kids and I weregoing to Darjeeling. Inthe coach that we weretravelling in, 39 of the 52occupants were readingVardi Wala Gunda.Readers ka pyaar hi ekjasoosi upanyas writer kiasli kamai hai,” saysSharma.

The heyday of the upanyas in Indiacame in the 1960s when a crop ofgood writers – Rajhans, Ibne Safi,Gulshan Nanda and Ved PrakashKamboj – was encouraged byAllahabad-based publishing houses.

During the ’70s, Nanda’sbooks were adapted inBollywood for celebratedmovies such as KatiPatang, Khilona and Daag.In the same decade,screenplay writers such asJaved Akhtar were influ-enced by Ibne Safi’sJasoosi Duniya series. “Hehad tremendous flair andsophistication,” saysAkhtar. “Safi’s novels cre-ated an imaginary city thatcould have been the San

Francisco of the ’60s in India. Hispenchant for villains with strikingnames like Sang Hi taught me the

importance of creating larger-than life characters suchas Gabbar andMogambo.”

Laura R Brueck,assistant professor ofHindi Literature at theUniversity of Colorado,recently visited Meerutfor a research projectcalled ‘Jasoosi Upanyas:The Hindi DetectiveNovel in Late 20th

Century India’. “I wasimpressed with the diversity of writ-ing styles,” she says. “Each jasoosinovelist is individualistic. SurenderMohan Pathak’s writing, for instance,closely mirrors the nuances and com-plexities of vernacular speech. VedPrakash Sharma, on the other hand,builds multiple suspenseful scenesthat rapidly layer one on top of theother. His use of interjections like“parantu!” and “phir!” gives his writ-ing a delicious cartoonish feel, likeolder episodes of Batman and othersuperhero comics,” she adds.Bangalore-based techie-turned pulptranslator Sudarshan Purohit, whohas translated Pathak’s 65 Lakh KiDacoity into English, says the writer,

hindustantimes.com/brunch 7

It is at railwaystations that a chunk of

jasoosiupanyas sales

take place

■ Lyricist and scriptwriter Javed

Akhtar credits reading Ibne Safi’s

novels for helping him creating larg-

er-than-life celluloid villains like

Gabbar Singh and Mogambo.

■ Two of Ved Prakash Sharma’s nov-

els (Lalloo and Suhag Se Bada) were

made into movies Sabse Bada Khila-

di and International Khiladi respec-

tively, starring Akshay Kumar and

directed by Umesh Mehra.

■ Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap

reportedly grew up wanting to be

either actor Amitabh Bachchan or

writer Surender Mohan Pathak.

with his James Hadley Chase-likespare prose, is a cut above the rest. In2010, Time magazine called Pathak apulp fiction master in their book rec-ommendations for the season. Whatmakes this genial grandfather theAmitabh Bachchan of Hindi pulp atthe ripe age of 75? “His stories aremore intelligent. He doesn’t spell outevery detail from scratch,” offersPurohit. Brueck adds that she isintrigued by how Vimal, Pathak’sfamous character, diverges from “atraditionally hyper-masculine noir fig-ure in his self-doubt and occasionalsoft-heartedness.”

Many of Pathak’s heist novels, suchas Jaana Kahan, in which Vimal andhis team rob an art gallery of Picassoand Van Gogh paintings and plan tosell them to a French diplomat, areset in Mumbai. Interestingly, he hasnever stayed in the Maximum City.“Where is the need to do so? HRFKeating, the creator of InspectorGhote, was a British author who waspublished in America and wrote

numerous novels set in Mumbai butdidn’t set foot in the city till the eighthbook in the series,” says Pathak.

Veena Sharma, the creator ofReema Bharti, which has sold morethan 500 titles, says the USP of hercharacter is her ability to use seduc-tion as a weapon in the murky worldof espionage. “When she moves in thehigh-octane world of spies, can shestay like a Sati Savitri? That is highlyunrealistic,” she says.

Pathak dismisses doomsdayprophecies about the end of Hindipulp. There is still an audience rivet-ed by stories where one can

escape the drudgery of everyday life.Is Pathak the last doyen of Hindi pulp,an icon of an era that is on its lastlegs? “I’ve been writing for fivedecades. Who knows what happensafter I am gone. But till the time I amhere, I’ll provide quality writing to myreaders,” says the septuagenarian.

Still, most of the purveyors of pulpnurse no literary pretensions. “Aaj kalke writer ko likhne se pehle biknaaana chahiye,” says Amit Khan. “If literature is the good wife, pulp is a harlot,” sums up Pathak.

aasheesh.sharma@hindustantimes.com

A QR CODE FOR MORE PULPScan the code or visit hindustantimes.com/pulpfor a BRUNCH EXCLUSIVE VIDEOof an interview with bestsellingauthor Surender Mohan Pathak

8 C OV E R STO RY

■ Surender Singh Sohal

a.k.a. Vimal, created by

Surender Mohan Pathak:

An accountant in Allahabad,

Sohal’s wife Surjeet Kaur and her

lover conspire to get him jailed for

embezzlement. ‘An ordinary man

kicked around by fate too of-

ten’ is how Pathak describes

his laconic anti-hero. In his

30s, Vimal has alreadypulled off audacious

crimes like theShanta Gokuldasmurder in Bom-bay and a 50

lakh bankvanhold-upin Delhi.He also

has a penchant of coming up with

dohas of Kabir and Bulle Shah

impromptu.■ Reema Bharti, created

by Veena Sharma: A globe-

trotting spy ‘who would go to any

lengths to achieve her mission,’

Bharti is our own Mata Hari. If it

means seducing her enemy before

killing him, she is game for it. Se-

cret weapon: A strip of colourless

poison beneath her bra straps fea-

tured in Akhri Mohra Shatranj Ka.

■ Commander Karan

Saxena, created by Amit

Khan: Commander Saxena is a

RAW agent deputed to crack inter-

national emergencies. In Mera

Desh, Mere Log he is assigned to

bring back an Indian scientist

working on a secret Chinese proj-

ect. He is a jingoistic character

sold with the tagline ‘100 crore

Hindustanion ka muhafiz, aur

dushmanon ka kaal.’■ Vibha Jindal, created by

Ved Prakash Sharma: The

heiress of a thriving empire, Jindal

begins by investigating the murder

of her own husband in Sade Teen

Ghante. Now, she takes up the

challenge of solving tangled cases.

In Biwi Ka Nasha, Jindal probes the

claims of a client who says he has

murdered a woman for a necklace

that he wanted to gift his wife. But

the wife owns up to the murder in-

stead. A nose for noose?■ Colonel Faridi a.k.a.

Colonel Vinod, created by

Ibne Safi: A strik-ingly handsome but

reclusive man addressed by his

deputy as Father Hard-Stone.

He drives a Lincoln, smokes

the finest cigars and dives

headlong into such daredevil

international adventures that it

inspired Agatha Christie to pro-

claim that Safi was the only

original detectivefictionwriter inAsia.

THESE DAYS, wherever I go I hear peoplebemoaning the demise of good manners.Just off the top of my head, these are some

of the biggest bugbears: those who conduct longconversations on their mobiles while ignoringeveryone else at the dinner table; those who lettheir kids run riot in public places without anyattempt to discipline them; those who neverbother to say ‘thank you’ (never mind writing athank-you note) for a birthday present or a din-ner party; those who arrive late as a matter ofcourse and never ever bother to apologise for their tardiness.

As you can see, the list is long and exhaustive. But what is mostworrying is that what seems boorish and offensive to some isseen as perfectly acceptable behaviour in someone else’s book.Most of the serial offenders, when confronted with evidence oftheir ‘bad manners’, confess that they had no idea that they were,in fact, offending anyone. (‘Arre, what’s a 15- or 20-minute delaybetween friends, was the most commonresponse.)

So when it comes right down to it, what aregood manners? And is there a bare minimumthat we can all agree on in an effort to keep thewheels of social discourse running smoothly?

Well, first off, good manners dictate that youdon’t make people around you feel ill atease, gauche, awkward or plainignorant. It is perhaps bestillustrated by the famous– and possibly apocryphal– story of Queen Victoriawho was entertaining an African chief (orthe Shah of Persia, depending on which bookyou believe) at a royal banquet. When the finger bowls were laid out at the end of themeal, for the diners to wash their fingersin rose water, the visiting potentate pickedup the bowl and started drinking from it.Completely unperturbed, the Queen followed his lead, gesturing to all the otherguests to follow suit, so that he wasn’tembarrassed about having done thewrong thing.

Now that is what good mannersare all about: making the other person feel at ease at all costs. And

we will all be better people if we assume them inour everyday life.

Don’t snicker when the shop assistant mispro-nounces the name of a French label. If you reallywant to correct her, it’s much nicer to just repeatthe name with the correct pronunciation. Do it acouple of times – with a straight face please – andshe will get the message. You really don’t need tohumiliate her in the process. If one of your dinnerguests appears uncomfortable using cutlery to eatsuch tricky stuff as crab on the shell, start eatingwith your hands so that he can follow suit withoutfeeling he has committed some sort of social solecism. If you can tell that the mother of a colleague is not too fluent in English, switch toHindi halfway through the conversation. If the parents of a young child are mortified when he

spills his drink on your pristine carpet, tell them it doesn’t matter; you were bored of that colour anyway.

Making other people feel small is the height of bad manners;don’t do it. Be gracious; be charming; be kind. And don’t grudgethe odd white lie you have to utter in the process.

And while you are at it, don’t forget that the essence of goodmanners is treating other people’s time with the same respectas you accord your own. If you have made an appointment keepit; if you are running late, phone and apologise. If you have accept-ed an invitation to a sit-down dinner, turn up. And be there ontime; don’t saunter in when the main course has been served andthen depart before dessert can be wheeled out. A lot of effort hasgone into putting the meal together. It won’t kill you to sit downand appreciate it.

If you are with people, pay attention to them. If you are expect-ing an urgent call that you can’t possibly miss, apologise in advance.When it comes through, keep it short. Or else excuse yourself andconduct it in private. Don’t keep messaging, tweeting or Facebookingwhen you are in company. It is just a non-verbal way of tellingthose you are with that they are not important (your social mediapresence is). So, stop fiddling with your smartphone or staringat your iPad; invest in some face time instead.

But most important of all, don’t forget that basic courtesies goa long way: saying ‘sorry’ when you tread on someone’s toes insteadof just brushing past; an ‘excuse me’ when you are intruding intoa conversation or someone’s private space; peppering your speechwith ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. This politesse costs you nothing andbuys you an enormous amount of goodwill. (And it’s even betterif you can throw in a winning smile for good measure.)

SeemaGoswami

spectator

THE BASICSIf you have made an appointment keep it; if youare running late, phone and apologise (right)

Turn up on time, saysorry if you’relate, and a‘please’ or‘thank you’wouldn’t goamiss…

MIND YOUR MANNERS

APRIL 7, 2013

MOBILE ETIQUETTEIf you are with people, pay attention to them. Take urgent calls only and keep them short

MORE ON THE WEBFor more SPECTATOR columns by Seema Goswami, log onto hindustantimes.com/Brunch. Follow @SeemaGoswami on Twitter. Write to her atseema_ht@rediffmail.com

pinterest.com/htbrunch

Phot

os: T

HINK

STOC

K

10 indulge

IT’S TIME to wade into very treacherous terri-tory. This may well be the sixth time (since Istarted writing for Brunch) that I’m doing a

‘Premium Flagship Best Phone in the World’shootout. And it’s going to be the sixth time that I’mgoing to be dragged down to the village square,stripped down to my bare essentials and floggedwithin an inch of my life. Loyalty and tempers runvery high when it has to do with something as personal as a smartphone. Each sliver of praise isgustily cheered and every shred of criticism is vocif-erously attacked. Defending a smartphone may wellhave become the modern equivalent of defendingone’s own honour and pride. Does that make me alittle nervous about doing today’s column? Nah!

I’m going to pit what I believe are the best phonesin the world right now. If you’re looking at a techspecs shootout and comparison charts of mean-ingless data, you’ve come to the wrong place. I’mbrand and OS neutral and I’m only going to get intothose areas that really matter to a normal user.

LOOKS: MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALLYes, looks matter. You can’t afford to be seen withan ugly phone anymore and no company should even attempt tohave a design that isn’t jaw-dropping at first glance. The S4 getsbadly bludgeoned here as it carries on with plastic casing and adesign that hasn’t changed in generations. The HTC One, with aunibody aluminium chassis, is super premium. The minimalist metalengineered look of the iPhone is amazing but still reminds of youof the iPhone 4 (just stretched out a bit). The Lumia 920 still getssecond glances with its slick polycarbonate look and shine (the redis exceptional). The Sony Xperia Z is elegance understated, and theBB Z10 pulls off a totally new BB look, which is industrial but classy.

SCREEN SPACE: ONE UP ON SIZEDesign and style are one thing; ergonomics, size andform factor are what you deal with when you use yourphone every day. So how light, how thin and what it feelsin your hands on a daily basis make a huge difference.The S4 is thin at .31 inches and light at 130g. The iPhoneis thinner at .30 inches and lighter at 112g. The XperiaZ is almost as thin but slightly heavier.The Z10 is .35. The HTC One at .37 andthe Lumia 920 at .42 touch the otherside of the tape.

DISPLAY: STARE MEISTERSThe display and screen on a modernsmartphone is now the Holy Grail feature, as this is what you’re goingto stare and touch and feel all day.But the specs, PPI and resolutionsonly tell half the story. Colour repro-duction, brightness, sharpness andviewing angles make a dramatic difference. The S4 has a full1920x1080 HD 4.99-inch screenwith 441 pixels per inch. More

importantly, for a SuperAMOLED screen, they’vemanaged very naturalcolours plus deep blacks andfantastic contrast. Sony’sXperia Z is almost identical with a 5-inch screenand a similar PPI as well as colour range. TheHTC One has the highest pixel density at 446 PPIand a very dynamic pop of colour as all that pixeldensity is crammed into a 4.7 inch screen. TheiPhone 5 screen still remains the brightest, butthe lower resolution becomes obvious when youset it out in front of the others. The BB Z10 andthe Lumia 920 have lower resolution but still seemto have screens that look awesome in daily use.

PROCESSOR: THE HEART OF ITThis could be a category where I could reel offsimple statistics and specifications and give thecrown to the phone with most whiz-bang proces-sor. That would be a grave injustice, as a processor and its speed and cores involved aren’talways telling the whole story. For instance, theAndroid OS requires more horsepower to runand even a quad core processor can be sluggishat certain tasks. Surprisingly the Windows OSchugs along like a bullet train even with a mediocreprocessor while iOS and BB10 seem to whiz alongblazingly fast with what the manufacturer has

bundled in. The everyday user couldn’t care less about what’sticking inside as long as the apps open fast, multi-tasking is abreeze and there’s no lag or screen freeze, ever. Thus let’s do thissection differently by mating the processor to the OS and thengive away the medals.

The S4 has created quite a stir in the tech world with its Octa(8) core 1.6 GHz processor, but do remember that it uses only 4 cores at a time. For light tasks, the power-efficient A7 corescome into play and for more demanding stuff, the A15 cores rushin while switching off the A7s. To those that think this is just

total tech gobbledygook, you’re right. Suffice to say thatthis switching just gives you serious power when youneed it and battery efficiency when you don’t. The HTCOne and Xperia Z run on quad core processors but can’tswitch on and off. The BB Z10, iPhone 5 and Lumia 920are on dual core processors. But do remember that theyrun OSes that just aren’t so processor hungry.

This shootout continues next week. Battery life, cam-era used in actual shoot conditions, video, addi-

tional usability features, add-ons, price and awhole lot more shall be compared. There’s plen-ty to be tried, tested and thoroughly examinedbefore one phone can be crowned ‘The BestPhone in the World’. But that shouldn’t stop youfrom reacting to what has already been com-pared. I’ve already stripped down to my bareessentials. Let the flogging begin!

Rajiv Makhni is managing editor, Technology, NDTV, and theanchor of Gadget Guru, Cell Guru and Newsnet 3

APRIL 7, 2013

12 indulgeTHE NO. 1 PHONEIN THE WORLD? Rajiv

Makhni

Picking thebest phoneon the planetis no picnic.In a two-partseries, wemake thetask easier so you canchoose thebest of the lot

techilicious

youtube.com/HindustanTimesBrunch

NOT CHUGGING ALONG The Sony Xperia Z runs onQuad Core processors

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

1. HTC One2. iPhone 53. Nokia Lumia 920

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

THE WINNERS

Looks

1. Samsung Galaxy S4(for pulling off a giantscreen into a superthin body)2. iPhone 53. Sony Xperia Z

Screen space

1. HTC One2. Samsung Galaxy S4and Sony Xperia Z3. iPhone 5 andBlackBerry Z10

Display

1. Samsung Galaxy S42. iPhone 5 and HTCOne3. Nokia Lumia 920

Processor

LOOKING GOOD? The HTC One (below, left) beatsthe SamsungGalaxy S4’s old lookwith its unibodyaluminium chassis

MORE ON THE WEBFor previous columns by Rajiv Makhni,log on to hindustantimes.com/brunch.Follow Rajiv on Twitter at twitter.com/RajivMakhni

ANOTHER MONTH, another list of theworld’s greatest restaurants. Hot onthe heels of the list of Asia’s Top 50restaurants announced some weeks

ago, which I wrote about, is a new list of the world’s100 best restaurants. There is already one suchlist, produced out of the UK by Restaurant mag-azine, which has enormous impact in Europe, andwhich has greatly boosted the reputations of suchEuropean restaurants as The Fat Duck, El Bulliand most recently Noma.

The new list (in whose compilation I have someinvolvement) comes out of New York and has itsorigins in the web. It is produced by Glam Media,which has the number one position in terms ofonline global search in lifestyle, and its Foodie.comsite is already among the leading food verticals(around 20 million unique users a month) despitebeing launched only in February 2012.

When the folks at Glam Media in New Yorkcalled me and asked if I would be part of a juryto select the world’s top restaurants, I was scep-tical and reluctant. There were many reasons formy hesitation. The first were the reservations I outlined in thiscolumn a month ago: how can I judge whether say, Bukhara isbetter than Noma unless I have been to both? The reason mostof these Top 100 lists are a little nonsensical is because no mem-ber of the jury has eaten consistently at all the restaurants thatcould make it on the list and so the rankings are arbitrary. Number52 may well be a better restaurant than Number 2 or Number 1.The jury is in no position to decide because most of its membershave not eaten at those restaurants.

The good thing about the Foodie Top 100 is that it makes noattempt to rank the restaurants. It just picks what it regards asthe best restaurants in the world without claiming that one isbetter than the other.

My other reservation had to do with methodology. I am neverclear about how these lists are actually compiled. In some cases,the selection is made without the names of the jury being revealedand in other cases, when you do discover who did the selecting, youfeel that they would have beenbetter off not revealing the namesof the people whose opinions weare being asked to respect.

The Foodie Top 100 on theother hand, follows a complete-ly transparent process. Ratherthan rely on 40 or so anonymousjudges or assorted no-hopersper region, it lets a jury of foodcritics decide. These includesome really big names from the

food journalism world. Gael Greene, Patricia Wells,Ruth Reichl, Jonathan Gold, Alexander Lobrano,Masuhiro Yamamoto, the blogger Aun Koh etc.(and at least one small name: me). The total juryhas just 10 people plus three from Glam Media.

So this is not an opinion poll. These are the judgements of someof the world’s best and most experienced food writers.

I don’t know how the process worked once our selections gotto New York but in the interest of transparency, I am going toexplain what my role was. I was asked to pick 20 to 25 restau-rants (mainly from India, though I was welcome to nominateplaces in other countries too) that I regarded as the finest in theworld, to offer some comparative rating of my selections, and towrite around 250 words per restaurant.

My guess is that other jury members did the same and thefinal list consisted of the top places we had picked. But there arealso regional lists and these will be published separately. Therewill also be a book, out later this year, that will feature all theselected restaurants.

I’ve been looking at the final list and the chief difference betweenthese selections and other such lists is that the Foodie Top 100is not trying to be trendy or controversial. There is no attemptto cater to foodie fashions (molecular gastronomy, foraging, eat-ing live prawns etc.) and the bulk of the list seems designed to

A new list ofthe 100 bestrestaurantscompiled bytop food critics includesthree Indianplaces

APRIL 7, 2013

THE WORLD’S BEST

RESTAURANTS Vir Sanghvi

rude fo

odTHEINDIALIST

Though three Indianrestaurants (Bukhara,Indian Accent and Karavalli) made it tothe global list of theworld’s 100 bestrestaurants, there isalso a regional list withthe best restaurants ineach country. Theseare the Indian nameson that list.

NEW DELHIBukharaDum PukhtIndian AccentVarq

MUMBAIGajaleeThai Pavilion

GOABeach House

CHENNAISouthern Spice

BANGALOREKaravalli

THE REAL DEALFortunately, allthree restaurantson the main list –Bukhara (above), Karavalli (right)and Indian Accent (far right)– are Indianrestaurants, notmock-New Yorknouveau Japanese places

THESE MEN MADE IT HAPPENChef Naren Thimmaiah (below) runs the massively influential Karavalli;Manish Mehrotra (below right) of Indian Accent is the now most respected modern Indian chef in the foodie world

WATCH WHERE HE’S GOANThe master chef Urbano Rego(right) is recognised for the exceptional Goan cuisine atBeach House

14 indulge

Photo: HARIKRISHNA KATRAGADDA

be authoritative rather than outrageous, which is what you wouldexpect from a jury of heavyweights.

Secondly, the bias against France and Japan, which is a fea-ture of some lists, has been corrected. The French get 29 restau-rants on the list. The Japanese get an equal number. (Thoughyou could argue that Japan beats France if you take the line thatMonte Carlo’s Le Louis XV restaurant is in Monacoand not France).

Some people might regard a list in which twocountries account for well over half the selectionsas being unfairly weighted. My own view howeveris that this is entirely fair. It is also roughly the viewof the Michelin guide as well, where France andJapan have the most Michelin-starred restaurants.Others will object that the US gets 20 restaurantswhile England gets only four but having eaten atmany (if not most) of the restaurants listed in bothcountries, I think this is okay too. New York hasmuch better food than London. And the US is amuch larger country.

And though the Foodie Top 100 is meant to provide a coun-terpoint to Michelin (“I’ve made no secret of my long-time dis-appointment with the whimsies of restaurant guides. How do youlose a star one year and gain another the next?” one of the Foodiejudges, Gael Greene says), I actually thought that the list echoedMichelin’s views in many areas. A large proportion of the restau-rants selected have three or two Michelin stars and the list keepswith Michelin’s tendency to reward the great masters of cuisine.All three of Alain Ducasse’s three-Michelin-starred restaurants(London, Paris and Monte Carlo) make it to the Top 100 thougha trendier guide would probably not have included the Londonoutpost. (Which I like, but which British food critics have mauled).Thomas Keller gets two restaurants (Per Se and The FrenchLaundry) on the list and the inclusion of the classic Chez Panisseand the Waterside Inn demonstrates an unwillingness to cater tocurrent fashions and trendiness.

Which brings us to the East. When nearly 70 per cent of a listfocuses on France, America and Japan, there is not much roomfor the rest of the world. Fortunately, because this is not a Britishlist, there is no obsession with all things Scandinavian or even

Spanish. Noma makes the list. But that is about all as far asScandinavia is concerned. (Spain’s Arzak does not cut it.)

I think that Thailand deserved at least one entry on the listbut I am not shedding any tears over the failure of Dubai to makethe grade and it seems to me to be entirely fair that Singaporegets only one entry. (Iggy’s, obviously).

India gets three restaurants on the list (Australiagets just one; as do Germany and Austria). This ismore than most lists usually give us. And fortunately,all three are Indian restaurants, not mock-New Yorknouveau Japanese places. The three winners includeBukhara, easily the world’s most famous Indianrestaurant and therefore, a natural choice. But it isthe other two inclusions that please me more.Karavalli in Bangalore, run by Chef NarenThimmaiah, is a massively influential restaurant thathas never got the global credit it deserves so I’mhappy it is rated as one of the world’s best restau-rants. And Indian Accent is the cuisine phenome-non of this decade. Manish Mehrotra cooks in a small

hard-to-find restaurant in Delhi’s Friend’s Colony but the manis such a genius that he is now the most respected modern Indianchef in the foodie world, up there with the likes of Vineet Bhatia.

There is also a regional list where Thailand gets three restau-rants (including the wonderful Mezza Luna which was unfairlyignored in the slightly risible Asia Top 50) and Singapore getssix (including My Humble House). But India gets more restau-rants (9) than Australia (7, which includes Brisbane’s Esquirewhich should really be on the main list as well). What this meansis that, outside of Japan, India has the best restaurants in Asia.And who could possibly argue with that? (All the other lists, actu-ally. They rate us much lower.)

I’ve listed all the Indian winners on the regional list on thesepages. I’m delighted that the master chef Urbano Rego – easilythe greatest Goan chef in the world – has been recognised forthe exceptional Goan cuisine at the Beach House. Congratulationsare also due to the Taj group which has five out of the nine list-ings (plus Quilon on the regional London list) and to the alwaysconsistent Gajalee in Bombay, India’s finest sea-food restaurant.You don’t have to be fancy to be great – and Gajalee proves that.

htbrunch.tumblr.com

APRIL 7, 2013

According toFoodie Top

100, outside ofJapan, Indiahas the best

restaurants inAsia

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

IT’S ALL IN THE BAGAll three of AlainDucasse’s three-Michelin-starred restaurants havemade it to the top 100

A LIST OFHEAVY-WEIGHTSThe jury ofFoodie Top100 includessome really bignames fromthe food jour-nalism world,like AlexanderLobrano(above) andRuth Reichl(right)

HAVE YOU EATENHERE YET?Beach House fromGoa (right) andSouthern Spicefrom Chennai (be-low) are featuredon the regional listof the best restau-rants in India

15

Phot

o: C

C/CR

EATI

VE C

OMM

ONS

Phot

o: S

TEVE

N RO

THFE

LD; C

ourte

sy: A

LEXA

NDER

LOB

RANO

.COM

Photo Courtesy:RUTHREICHL.COM

WHAT STRIKES you onlanding in Sri Lanka isthe air, slow, thick, akind of luxuriant sense

of outcome, of waiting. Then younotice the green of the frangipanileaves, a sheen that appears almostlacquered. You imagine you are insome place familiar, yet the senseof the foreign is heightened. I wassleepy by the time I’d landed atdawn, and as I’d foolishly forgottenmy wallet back in Bombay, theprospect of arranging cash in anew country had rankled me. But Iwent to the hotel and slept for afew hours, rising at 10am,refreshed; my sleep, dreamless butintense, was like waking afterweeks of slumber.

Drawing back the curtains in myroom in Colombo, I was met with aview of the sea; there was bound-lessness to it, a blue grey expanseending only where the eye could nolonger travel. Since it was Poya, apublic holiday occurring every fullmoon day, there was little traffic.The seaside promenade was takenover with families; a few kite fliershad launched paper tigers into theclear blue sky. Havingarranged for cash – apanic call to my manag-er, who made the neces-sary arrangements – Istepped out. My friendFarrokh had told me tocheck out the ColomboDutch Hospital. A beau-tiful old building, ithoused the usual run of

chic cafés and expensive restau-rants common in most cities, theseare often in neighbourhoods sal-vaged from obscurity, where some-one with a fine eye has glimpsedpossibilities, that cave where beautyhides in times of war. But thesecafes and restaurants share thesame intention – to disguise the dis-figured city and present in its ele-gant environs a sameness that does-n’t console with familiarity butnumb with the customary.

I went onwards to Paradise Road,a store highly recommended. Andwith good reason: it was glorious.There were ceramic pitchers youcould marry, and cement apple repli-cas you wouldn’t mind serving a sen-tence for. A friend had suggested I

meet with the owner,Shanth Fernando, so Iskedaddled over to hishotel, Tintagel. The pilewas absurdly refined,contrast tones on wallsand fine linen for deli-cious sofas; one immedi-ately wanted to conducta love affair, if only to tossthe cushions to the floor

in a fit of passion.Luckily, in Shanth Fernando’s

company this impulse was quicklyextinguished.

at first, I thought him an oldworld curmudgeon but in theprocess of our conversation

the phrase ‘personality disorder’sprung to mind several times. In thecar ride to his café – also a Colombofavourite, housed in a buildingdesigned by Geoffrey Bawa – Iasked of friends we might have incommon. These were figures ofpublic life, and easy to identify. Afew names down he said, ‘I am not a

networker,’ which rang false sincehe had agreed to meet me, a rankstranger. He spoke of being incredi-bly busy managing his properties,he owned another hotel on thebeach, a few other stores – this wasall rather impressive, of course,except the fuss would make onethink he ran an oil company. Atlunch at Gallery Café – an excellentfish in splendid atmosphere, a farcry from the ghastly café society ofBombay – Fernando made somenoise of how the generosities I’dencountered in Sri Lanka wouldextract a price. ‘There is no suchthing as a free lunch,’ he said. Iimmediately offered to buy himlunch, to assure him I agreed withhim, and to also relieve myself ofwhatever obligation this lunchmight bear. He said, ‘I’m shocked,’and excused himself. I let this passthinking that Fernando had set upwhat were no doubt institutions, notonly in Colombo but the world over.His aesthetic was singular,

16 TRAVEL

ISLAND PARADISE The seaside town of Galle (above); theprivately owned Taprobane islanddwells in magnificent isolation (left)

APRIL 7, 2013

Isle BeBackEven a brief, temporal visit isenough to be seduced by the lyricphysical beauty ofSri Lanka text and photos by Siddharth DhanvantShanghvi

You are insomeplacefamiliar, butthe sense ofthe foreign isheightened

admirable, luxuriant, and that Iwould come back not once butmany times over to Sri Lanka onlyfor Paradise Road.

that same evening I returned tothe café as a guest of OtaraGunewardene.

A former model who started hermassive business empire, the formi-dable chain of ODEL, out of the bootof her car, she was a wonderful, gre-garious host. Refined, clever andfierce, she spoke of her love for ani-mals – she sold a successful range ofmerchandise at ODEL, proceeds ofwhich supported a dog shelter. Wetalked also of the perils of running abusiness in a country coming out ofwar but she remained upbeat, citingplans for expansion across SriLanka. ODEL has a whiff of Marks& Spencer or Selfridges, stockingsimilarly curated clothing andobjects, and is a testament to thefounder’s vision and ambition. Heroptimism was guarded but com-pelling, and her keen, feline eyeswere clearly gunning for a largepiece of Sri Lanka’s new economy(many had pointed out to me thatthe government had taken suchmassive loans to rebuild the countryit was a wonder how they weregoing to ever pay it back).

After dinner, Channa Daswatte,one of the subcontinent’s most fetedarchitects and trustee of theGeoffrey Bawa Trust, whisked meaway for a drink. Earlier in the day,at Daswatte’s suggestion, I’d spent afew lovely hours at Bawa’s personalresidence in Colombo, in thrall ofthe great architect’s love for con-tour and symmetry, clean lines andthat rough and tumble with objectand tapestry. Daswatte had servedas Bawa’s principal, so one couldglimpse strains of a familiar geniusrunning through his mansion on theoutskirts of Colombo, a neighbour-hood hedged by a lake.

We drank under the stars, asDaswatte’s friends spoke tenderly ofbetrayal and loss during the war –they volunteered affecting anecdotes,and the evening had a sombre closeas the stories ended in sudden deathand unexpected insanity (‘he wasnever quite right in the head afterthat bombing’). When I said the polit-ical scenario in India enraged meenough at times to want to leave,Daswatte cautioned me. ‘I could havegone anywhere, y’know,’ he said. ‘ButI stayed on because I knew that onlyby sticking around could I bring

about any change when the countrywas ready for it.’

I am glad he did, but I felt that thechange he – and so many of his finepeers have ushered in Sri Lanka –was possible because of the scale:the Sri Lankan population hovers at22 million, this is roughly the size ofBombay with a few vote bank slumsthrown in. In Sri Lanka I saw thebeauty of an Asian country untrou-bled by scale. How would anyone –be it our well-meaning but misguid-ed intellectuals or an autocraticleader with a deathly past record –transform a country whose num-bers showed no sign of abating?

the following day, on my way tothe seaside town of Galle, theroads impressed me: they were

built to international standards,they were clean, they had a sense ofdirection, someone had thoughtthrough their destiny. ReachingGalle, I witnessed distant echoes ofdestruction – houses done to

ground by the tsunami. Ilooked out at the sea, atits sheer, magnificentexpanse, and imaginedthis land was sufferingfor its beauty; like atrouble genius, it oscil-lated between renewaland ravage. Galle Fort isoverrun by expats whohave taken over most ofits hideaways out of whichthey run design stores, cafés andrestaurants. There is a sense thatthe foreigners had recognised thewonders of Galle Fort and arrived toclaim it; there was no particularmood of integration but of daintyplanets of lattes and art galleries liv-ing in a larger orbit of the local cos-mos. It could also be easily arguedthat without their prescience GalleFort could have been any old fort bythe sea; they brought to it civilisa-tion and modern whimsy. (And yet,there was a feeling of expats band-ing with each other in a way they

probably never would in their owncountries).

I was at dinner at Sun House –voted by many as among the bestrestaurants in the world – whoseowner, Geoffrey Dobbs, joined me.After a lively supper we agreed tomeet again the following day forlunch at Dobb’s private island,Taprobane. It’s easy to see why PaulBowles once owned it, why he wrotehere, it has majestic isolation, onewalks to it through pale emeraldwaters and reaches a white mansionof such spectacular views that oneexperiences a kind of death: a selfthat had existed before knowingTaprobane, and the self that nowlives in its knowledge, of the lushtropical green, a sense of eternityacross the waters.

Dobbs pointed to the house of theartist Saskia Pintelon, her abodedesigned by Japanese maestro,Tadao Ando. I had sat for a longtime before Pintelon's portrait ofTaprobane, dark, heavy colours incounterpoint to the brightness thatsurrounded it presently, it felt likesomething hauled out of ancientmemory, a fossil of something per-fect and sublime, much like the lyricphysical beauty of Sri Lanka.

On my way back, I was told repeat-edly about the autocratic governance– there’s an overwhelming resent-ment for one family running an islandlike a private stronghold, but hey, howdifferent is that from India? – and

that the sins of war hadnot been overcome byinnumerable civilians(one saw the maimedvictim of a landmine, andthis brought tears to theeyes, the sheer space ofSri Lanka allows suchinjustices to registerpoignantly while in Indiathese often pass into theunfeeling theatre of

unending statistic). Ofcourse, my experience of the island,its people, was brief and temporal, asummary of quick observations bal-anced by no lived experience, nobroadside viewpoint that transcend-ed all that was pleasing on the eye.But I would go back for this alone,beauty experienced in my sleep, andin my bones, as a kind of truth.

brunchletters@hindustantimes.com

Shanghvi is the writer of books likeThe Last Song of Dusk and The

Lost Flamingoes of Bombayfacebook. com/Shanghvi

17

APRIL 7, 2013

“Travel is impossible, but daydreaming about travel is easy” – B J Novak, American actor

A VISUAL TREATA detail from Geoffrey Bawa’shome in Colombo (above);Taprobane island (left andbelow) features a white mansion with great views

In Sri LankaI saw the

beauty of acountry

untroubledby scale

twitter.com/HTBrunch

18 WHEELS

THESE BEASTS crawleffortlessly over rockpiles, streams and fall-en logs. They muscle

through forests. They driveswiftly over desert dunes inRajasthan and the foothillsin Himachal Pradesh likeno other machines can.And the incomparablecharm of driving inopen-top jeeps in themiddle of nowhereputs them high up onany outdoor lover’s post-retirementto-do list. So why wait for the grass togrow when they are being made rightnext door; and can cost less than theprice of your average hatchback?

WAY TOO MACHOThough they all look massive andmonstrous, some jeeps are built onlyfor looks; other are mega performers.Before you get a jeep custom-made,figure out step one: why do you wantit? Do you want to show off? Or doyou want a machine that can take youacross the toughest terrain withoutgetting you into an airlift situation? Abit of both is good to begin with. Lookbeyond the stunning bodywork andlarge tyres. Investing in a best-in-class suspension is worth it only ifyou are on a road trip that takes youas far away from the road as you cango. Jeep modification workshops

address both looks and perform-ance requirements. A jeep, after all, isbuilt out of passion. “It is the ultimatemacho symbol for many guys. It islike a civilised beast. The thrill ofdriving a jeep, especially when itcomes to adventure sports, is amaz-ing,” says Raj Kapoor, 49, owner ofPerformance Auto, a jeep modifica-tion company in Noida. “Growing up,we’ve all seen the hero in many Hindimovies drive a jeep, occasionallywhile singing a song, and that imageremains in our heads,” he adds.

TRIBES AND GYPSIESBack in 1938, Popeye, still the mostfamous sailor cartoon character of alltime, presented his girlfriend OliveOyl with a ‘magical dog’ namedEugene the Jeep (which could vanishand was very smart). A few years

later, World War II soldiers were so impressed with theirnew four-wheeler that they named itafter him, and the Jeep was born.From then to now, we have seen thetrademarked Jeep and countlessother vehicles being made underlicence for different countries (includ-ing Mahindra in India) .

So how do you decide which jeep toget customised? And how do you getit done? To begin with, you go to themarket and well… buy a jeep! Therearen’t many options, but for true cus-tomisation, all you need to start withis a basic body and engine. The rest isall put together the way you want.

When it comes to choosing a brandto modify, there are a few popularchoices. “Although we do get a fewimported SUVs like the Pajero and

the X-Trail, as some people like theSUV-Jeep mix, the Maruti Gypsy hasstood the test of time,” says PhilliposMatthais, owner of Street Sports, ajeep modification firm in Mehrauli.

Giving tough competition to theGypsy in the last few years is the

Mahindra Thar, a descendant of

Getting your owncustom-made jeepis easier (and lessexpensive) thanyou thought. Timeto rev up!by Manit Moorjani

APPROXIMATE EXPENSEOriginal vehicle >> R5 lakhModifications >> R10 lakh

ACCESSORIES IN THE BACKHigh Lift Jack to change bigger tyres

Tree Cutters to slice off overhanging branches

Shovel to removemud in case the jeep gets stuck

Winch to pull thejeep out in case it

gets stuck

Jeep, On The Rocks!Original vehicle>> Gypsy 2009 modelTurned into>> Ultimate Off-Roader

Fibre

glass f

ender

s

Ext

ernal

roll c

age

He also installedlarger off-roadingtyres to make thejeep more suitablefor rough terrain

New 1.5 lt MarutiBaleno engine with

free flow exhaust forbetter performance

Matte-blackpaint job forbody for arugged look

Snorkel for the engine so that the jeep can driveeven if it is 5 feet under water

New suspension with long rangeshockers and greater ground clearance (3 inches higher)

Arjun chopped off 8inches from the backand 2.5 inches fromthe front of the original body

How KAMAL CHAUHAN, businessman,got himself a custom-made jeep

APPROXIMATE EXPENSEOriginal vehicle >> R4 lakhModifications >> R2 lakh

Original vehicle>> Gypsy 2010 modelTurned into>> A very macho-looking jeep

■ When you call a Maruti Gypsy a Jeep,what you are saying is that it is madeby an American automobile companycalled the Chrysler Group, which is cer-tainly not true. It has been made byMaruti (earlier Maruti Suzuki). This is because the name Jeep is atrademark owned by the ChryslerGroup (which was first owned byWillys-Overland in 1950) and has tradedhands every few decades to finallyreach them. It’s like casually calling allmusical keyboards Casios, which is

again the name of a company. Imaginea Yamaha keyboard being called a Casio! And when you call a Sports Utili-ty Vehicle (SUV) such as a Toyota LandCruiser a jeep, you are again mistaken. ■ In the early 1990s, car buyers beganlosing interest in station wagons (alsocalled estate cars, where the roof of asedan is extended till the back). So au-tomobile companies in the US decidedto put the off-roading and four-wheeldrive capabilities of the Jeep into thecomfort of the station wagon, and the

SUV was born. Soon, they made the interiors of SUVs luxurious, too! ■ So the Jeep is not a vehicle type, it is acompany. And an SUV is not a Jeep (unless it’s made by the company Jeep,then it most certainly is!).■ Although in very basic terms, allthose vehicles we casually call the jeepare tough and strong and usually 4-wheel drive. These machines are very aggressive-looking and can cover thewildest terrain with a smile. So yes,that’s a jeep!

Big tyres and spacers so that thejeep is higher andbroader

New rear cabin to store stepney (yalso stand on the tyr

Sports seats andsteering to give an outdoor look(the sports steering alsooffers better grip)

Large side view mirror from Hummer HX for that ‘big’ feel

APRIL 7, 2013

A JE

EP, R

EALL

Y?

Phot

os: S

ANJE

EV V

ERM

A

How ARJUN KHANNA, hospitality entre-preneur, got his own custom-made jeep

19

the MM550, the original jeep onlyMahindra had a licence to make, backin the 1970s. In case you don’t wanteither a Mahindra or a Gypsy, youcould get an old army vehicle. Someaficionados are even known to installa Mahindra Scorpioengine in old army jeeps.

THE MAKEOVERLarger tyres for bettertraction, fibreglass body-work, a more powerfulpetrol engine – the list ofmodifications is endless.What makes the differ-ence is the result: a high-er, bigger, flashier andstronger machine. “Iwanted huge tyres and acompletely new macho-looking body-work for my Gypsy. It now looks likethe younger cousin of a monstertruck,” says Kamal Chauhan, 36, aNoida-based businessman whosemodified jeep has retained the frontgrill and lamps of his Hummer HX.

If you plan to drive away into the‘unknown’ (for instance, the off-roadtrails on the outskirts of Gurgaon)you need performance (and comfort),upgrades such as more advanced suspension, shock absorbers and airfilters, a roll cage, a winch (that pullsyou out of a ditch) and even a snorkel(that helps the engine breathe underfive feet of water).

Of course, you can come up withinnovative modifications on your own,too. Hospitality entrepreneur andmotorsports buff Arjun Khanna, 38,for instance, cut off eight inches fromthe back of his jeep and 2.5 inchesfrom the front to give it better depar-ture and approach angles in uneventerrain. “It has greater ground clear-ance and long-range shockers so that

the tyres are the firstthings to

come in contact with any rocks orobstacles. The crawl gear ratios forhigher torque help my machine climbsteep cliffs,” adds Khanna.

ALL PERSONALISED If you are building a jeepfor rally racing, you woulddo the opposite of whatfour-wheeling needs. “Amodified roll cage andbumper, rally lamps,seats, belts and fuel tankare a few essential com-ponents of a rally jeep,”advises Sarika Sehrawat,31, one of the first woman rally drivers inthe country.

If you are not doing off-roading or rallying, and still wanta jeep – you are obviously planning onmaking some friends very envioussoon. As for the looks, cosmetic modi-fications – front grille and lamps,shiny alloys, sporty seats, gigantictyres, a padded leather dashboard –work best.

In India, the jeep culture is mostprominent in cities where there isenough space to drive them, andwhere outdoor rocky locations arejust an hour or two away.Chandigarh-based Sunny Sidhu, 37, amultiple-time Raid de Himalayachampion, for instance, grew up driving a jeep. “They bring backmemories of a time when thereweren’t many cars or SUVs,” he says.

Delhi and Chandigarh in the northand Bangalore in the south are thehubs of jeep enthusiasts in India, saysMandeep Singh, a businessman whosplit open his jeep to build it for off-roading in Delhi and Punjab. AsPhillipos Matthais of Street Sportsputs it, “People who come to us don’tcare what car they drive through theweek. Their minds are always dream-ing of the outdoors.”

manit.moorjani@hindustantimes.com

In case youdon’t want

either aMahindra orGypsy, get

an old armyvehicle

facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch

n,

ar cabin to tepney (you canand on the tyre)

New roll cage for extra protection

Sporty two-colour design andpaint job on body

Front grille and lights fromHummer HX for monster truck look

20 WELLNESS

APRIL 7, 2013

THE SEASON is changing andgradually, we can see thedays become warmer and the

sun sharper. During the Aadan Kaal(northern solstice), the sun and thewind become powerful and exces-sive heat and dryness deplete thebody’s energy. Visarga Kaal (south-ern solstice) is the period when thesun and wind are milder and theyimpart energy and strength to the body.

As the season changes, we needto change our eating patterns andmodify our day-to-day routine. Thereason these changes have to bemade is because our bodies, thefoods we eat and the seasons arelinked by an intricate thread calledthe prakriti. The prakriti is common to everything inthe universe. Accordingto the Vedas, the five ba-sic elements are thesame for everybody (air,water, fire, earth andspace). As the seasonschange, these elements,too, change their inten-sity, strength, action andimpact.

TAP INTO YOUR ELEMENTSThe human body is also made up ofthe five basic elements. So, vataconstitution types have an excessof the air element, pitta types havemore of the fire element and thewater element is on the higher sidein the kapha body type.

Our food, too, has elements ofthe cosmos within it. So, we havefoods that have higher elements ofvata such as beans, channa, rajma, cabbage and broccoli. Foodswith higher elements of pitta in-clude spices (all garam masalas)and meat products and foodswhich have a higher element ofkapha include wheat and banana.

Several small festivals signal theonset of the seasons and pave the

way forchanges in our eat-ing and daily routine. It is thattime of the year when we have to letgo of the eating practices of winterand begin eating appropriately forsummer.

In this new eating regimen, wehave to stop consuming foods withhigh kapha content (such as itemscooked and kept overnight), fried

food and heavy desserts.Sweets made of khoyaand ghee should makeway for lighter sweetssuch as kheer, thandaiand fruit puddings.

In the summer, the variety of grain shouldalso become lighter. So,switch to easier-to-di-gest grains such as rice,

sattu and barley.

THE LOGIC OF FRESHAnother aspect of your diet thatneeds to be addressed with thechange of season is the freshnessof food. Fresh food is light and eas-ily digestible, which is important,because in this season our diges-tive capacity reduces as comparedto winter. Amongst fresh foods,one can eat cereals (rice, barley,oats) fruits, salads, vegetables andchutneys.

This is the season to startpreparing chutneys as they can bemade fresh every day and enjoyedwith most meals. Traditionally,chutneys contain several ingredi-ents that are high in digestiveproperties.

The needs of your palate shouldalso keep pace with the change ofseason. In the cold and humid win-ter, the taste to hanker for is sharp(spices). In the spring it is astrin-gent (salads). In the summer it isbitter, in the rainy season sour, inthe autumn salty and in the beginning of winter (during Diwaliand New Year), it is sweet.

ask@drshikha.com

Let go of the eating practices of winter and begin eating appropriately for summer

MIND BODY SOUL

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

Phot

os: T

HINK

STOC

K

Avoid heavysweets madeof khoya andhave kheer,thandai and

fruit puddingsinstead

SHIKHA SHARMA

OPEN SEASON

LIGHT AND EASYFresh foods such assalads and chutneysare easily digestible in summer

GRAINS OF WISDOMFor summer, switchto eating lightergrains like rice, sat-tu and barley

APRIL 7, 2013

hindustantimes.com/brunch

IT WOULD be a mistake to judgeNiharika Khan Bhasin by herlooks. Perhaps, her many tattoos,piercings (tongue, chin, cheek) and

bindaas attitude are a ploy to throweveryone off her serious approach towork (a National Award after just sixyears in Bollywood can’t be a joke).

She sets tough standards for herself for sure. “I cringe when I seeAmrita Puri’s manicured nails in KaiPo Che. How would a middle-classgirl in Ahmedabad in the early 2000sbe so prim? I should have made herremove them, but I didn’t insist,” shechides herself. As Khan relishes hersalad and enjoys live music at Out OfThe Blue in Bandra, Mumbai, the celebrated costume designer opensup about life, love and weight loss.Excerpts from the interview:

You didn’t start out wanting to be a costume designer…It was a fluke. I did a masters in pub-lic relations and HR from Seattle inthe US. I began working in a corpo-rate set-up, but hated it. I quit to takeclasses in jewellery design, and start-ed working in a store. I even workedas the design head of Tanishq inBangalore and launched my storecalled Purple Porcupine [which burntdown]. Then one day, a friend askedme, ‘I am doing a film with SudhirMishra, can you do the costumes forit?’ I had no experience in costumedesign, so I was like, ‘Why don’t youcall bhaiya? [Her brother ArjunBhasin did the costumedesign for Dil Chahta Haiand Life Of Pi]. But hiringme cost was cheaper for

the producer. So I got my start.

With no degree, experience or contacts, how did you manage?I had my brother on speed dial. Myinexperience, a negative, proved ben-eficial for me. I am half-Punjabi, that’swhere my love for colour comes from,and the half-Parsi side is responsiblefor my meticulousness, plus my USeducation makes me good withresearching characters. So I pass!

But it still might have been tough...Yes, it was. Rock On! was a toughproject. At least for Khoya KhoyaChand, which was a period drama,

I had some visual cluesand photographs thatdated from that era. ButRock On! was contemporary. I had tocreate the characters’looks from scratch.

The Dirty Picture won youa National Award... Yes, but in a lot of ways,

Delhi Belly was tougher. The moviespanned just three days, so there hadto be continuity. But we weren’tshooting in a sequence. So I had 15copies of the same shirt stitched forevery character. Poor Imran Khanhad to wear dirty clothes, because Icouldn’t wash them.

It sounds like challenging work…I got in, got my feet wet and realised Iwas loving it. I am still enjoying it.The moment I don’t, I’ll leave.

Kai Po Che was the second time youworked with Abhishek Kapoor...Yes. Rock On! was fun too. I am com-fortable with Gattu. For Kai Po Che,we were shooting in 50 degree-heatin Gujarat. I couldn’t give Omi (AmitSadh) shoes because his father was apujari. Every time he’d visit him inthe temple he would have to takethem off. So, even though he’s run-ning a sports shop, he wears chap-pals. This is the kind of detail thatgoes into making costumes for a film.

You were linked to actor Amit Sadh…You think I would go for someone somuch younger? Amit is a friend andnutritionist whose diet plan finallyhelped me lose 25 kilos in a year.

Your clothes in Band Baaja Baraatwere copied by tailors for weddings…(Laughs) Yes. I had not been to aDelhi Punjabi shaadi. Ranveer Singhand I gatecrashed weddings in Delhias part of our research. I noticed thatthe middle class wore more bling andas the weddings got richer, there wasless colour and embroidery.

Your work-life balance trick?I am a single parent to two kids[Niharika was married to actor AyubKhan], so I return to Mumbai fromlocations and take a few days off.

Tell us about your next projects?Rensil D’Silva’s Ungli, Danis Tanovic’sWhite Lies and Anurag Kashyap’sBombay Velvet.

parul.khanna@hindustantimes.com

“I became a costumedesigner by sheer fluke!”

National Award winner Niharika Khan Bhasin is on a high withKai Po Che. But she’s ready to give it all up if she gets boredby Parul Khanna

22 B R UN C H DAT E

‘Working on a film is like getting

married, once youare in it, you have to

make it work’

■ Khoya KhoyaChand■Rock On!■ Rocket Singh:

Phot

o: K

ALPA

K PA

THAK

; LOC

ATIO

N CO

URTE

SY: O

UT O

F TH

E BL

UE, M

UMBA

I

MORE ON THE WEBTo read the complete interview,log on tohindustantimes.com/brunch

Salesman Of TheYear■ Karthik CallingKarthik

■ Band Baaja Baraat■ Delhi Belly■ The Dirty Picture■ Kai Po Che

FILMS SHE DID COSTUMES FOR...

twitter.com/HTBrunch

Your favourite cricket ground in India and abroad.Ranchi in India and Auckland abroad.Describe your fitness regime?Living a healthy life with regulated sleepand eating habits, and feeling happy.How do you work on your fielding?I believe that fitness is veryimportant, and one needsto be very alert and involvedon the ground. I always expect every ball to comemy way. Jonty Rhodes hasalso been an inspiration. What exercise regime do you follow to improve your fielding?My core and glutes. After mysurgery, I’m working a lot onmy back and hamstringalong with glutes.Your favourite mate in the dressing room. Ravindra Jadeja.The toughest bowler to face in Tests and ODIs.Muttiah Muralitharan.Your favourite restaurants in Delhi and Mumbai?Bukhara in Delhi and Thai Pavillion inMumbai.What inspires you the most?My passion for the game, and playingevery game thinking it will be my lastchance to play for the nation.Which body part would you want to insure?My eyes.What adventure sports are you fond of?I enjoy snorkelling, water sports andparagliding.The last thing you bought for under R10.

A greeting card for my first girlfriend whenI was 17. That’s all I can recall.The street food you can’t ignore.Tunde ke kebab.One piece of advice you wish someone had given

you 10 years ago. That it is important to follow one’s

heart.Who is your 3am friend?Sleep!One Bollywood actress youwould want to date.

Sonali Bendre. She is verypretty.What makes your day?Playing for India. Waking upin the morning, knowing thatI will wear the Indian jersey.

God has been kind to me. What spoils it?When India loses a match.Your dream destination.Ibiza.Your idea of a perfect holiday.On the beach with friends all day long.You get angry when...People indulge in back-biting.You destress with... Good old Hindi music – I love Kishore Kumar songs and also those sung by Mohit Chauhan.The last line of your autobiography would read...Suresh Raina – the believer, the doer.

—Interviewed by Veenu Singh

APRIL 7, 2013

COLLEGELucknow University

HOMETOWNGhaziabad

PLACE OF BIRTHGhaziabad

BIRTHDAYNovember 27

SUN SIGN Sagittarius

HIGH POINT OF LIFE Scoring a century on my testdebut, and winning the 2011World Cup

FIRST BREAKScholarship from Air India in 1999

LOWPOINT OFYOUR LIFE None

Suresh RainaCricketer

PERSONAL AGENDA24

my

mo

vies

THE FILM YOU HAVE SEENMORE THAN 5 TIMES

SholayTHE MOST OVERRATEDFILM

Sex and the City,and HumraazTHE MOST PAISA VASOOLFILM

Kai Po Che

A MOVIE THAT TAKESYOU BACK TO YOUR YOUTH

IqbalTHE FIRST MOVIE THATYOU SAW ON THE BIGSCREEN

Hum AapkeHain Koun..!

CURRENTLY I AM...Enjoying training in my new Adidas running shoes calledEnergy BOOST, and playing for the Chennai SuperKings in the IPL

WHAT KIND OF CARSDO YOU LIKE?

Ducati, Jaguar

PHOT

O: G

ETTY

IMAG

ES