Aradhna Wal enters the lair of a YouTube microtrend and discovers raw, heavy flavours
A SET of knives glistens on the tables, next to a skull. Nervecell’s Demean plays in the background — their characteristic bloodcurdling oldschool death metal with a Dubai twist. A man with long black hair and goatee picks up a sharp blade and wields it with finesse. He is chopping potatoes. Meet Sahil Makhija, aka Demonstealer, the 29- year-old vocalist of the popular Mumbai-based death metal band Demonic Resurrection and chef on his own YouTube cookery show Headbanger’s Kitchen.
What does one ask a metal head who cooks? Dude, how did this happen? He has been Demonstealer since he was 15, but Sahil started cooking a long time before music came along. Influenced by his mother and grandfather’s homemade fare, he fell in love with food. “I wanted to be a chef when
I was 12 and never stopped cooking since,” he says. Watching professionals like Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver on television, he started experimenting. He started Headbanger’s Kitchen in March 2011. And enjoys the discordant note it makes. “Some fans reacted badly. I am breaking stereotypes here.” A portion of the fan base expected Makhija to be splattering blood and eating raw carcasses, not baking. Makhija finds these enclaves of extremism amusing. “The biggest surprise,” he says, “is coming across other metal heads cooking. I don’t know if it’s because of the show or if I’m the one discovering them now.”
For a lot of Indian metal fans, Sahil’s format works just great. Metal acts such as the UAE band Nervecell, Australian band Karnivool and the Greek metal drummer George Kollias turn up on his show. Sahil cooks, interviews and feeds them. Fans love to see their favourites interviewed by an insider who knows his music and asks the right questions. They are the show’s core viewer base, averaging 3,000 hits per episode. That may not seem impressive but the numbers are steady and the comments are largely from very happy viewers.
Metal is an integral part of his identity; raw and heavy just like his cooking. The very first episode of Headbanger’s Kitchen tells you what you’re in for. As does the name of the dish, Demonic Beef Burgers and Rustic Potatoes, his favourite. It is rich, heavy, meaty and meant for pure indulgence. Enjoyment is written all over Makhija’s face as he lays the bacon on beef patties atop buttered buns. Or when he serves the Bhayanak Bacon Bomb and Cheesy Potatoes. Or Djentleman’s Roast Chicken with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy.
Between food and music, what would he choose? “Music any day,” he asserts. He’s having to make a version of that Sophie’s choice just now. He’ll spend time away from the kitchen this year to make up for a discouraging 2011. Demonic Resurrection played just nine shows and their UK tour was cancelled due to visa problems. So when Headbanger’s Kitchen started, many took that as a sign of Makhija’s desertion. Sample a telling YouTube comment: “It hurts me to see the only predominant rock scene in India somehow getting lost in between chicken and lamb rather than being in studios.” Makhija is unfazed. Before the show takes a break, he promises to recreate his grandfather’s pork chops and mother’s cheese macaroni.
Aradhna Wal is a Trainee, Features with Tehelka.
aradhna@tehelka.com
‘Technology has changed the Indian idea of sex’
WHO: Mumbai-based Upadhyay is originally from Rajasthan, where he was introduced to art through the state’s miniature style of painting and influenced by his father, a teacher at Jaipur School of Art. Searching for new styles, he went to MSU Baroda for his BFA and MFA in painting. His works have been displayed at the Aicon Gallery, London, Seoul Art Center, Korea, and Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei.
Is there an incident that changed or informed your artistic vision?
The first time I told the people from my village, Partapur, that I was an artist they said, “That’s OK, but what do you really do?” I realised how unaware my own people were of the world of art. That is why I started Sandarbh, a project where artists from all over the world spend a month in the village. Another thing that struck me was how technology creates homogeneity. People in India are passionate about sons over daughters. Sex selection allows them to choose. Baby-picking business is huge. This is what I try to show through the theme of the babies I paint.
What do you call these eerie babies you create?
I call them Chintus.
What is the one vision you have never been able to transform into art but wish you could have?
I’ve always wanted to create these huge installations, of glass buildings covered with reflective mirrors. If you’re outside you get a distorted vision of yourself and of the environment; inside you feel secure. It’s the theme of safety and security with an added sense of detachment.
As an artist, what do you think of the societal notions of sex and love?
Technology changes the idea of relationships. I once created a music video called The New Indian Porn, made from collective MMS clips taken and circulated by various people via their phone cameras. It is private stuff coming out in public. The way I see it, Indians are changing. Their idea of sex and power is changing, all because of technology.
What aspect of your parents would you never want to replicate?
Growing up watching my father, I decided I never wanted to be a teacher. His was a different generation, tied by duties to family and society. I want to be a free soul.
Aradhna Wal is a Trainee, Features with Tehelka.
aradhna@tehelka.com
Master Takes
Compiled by Aradhna Wal & Naina Manjrekar
Dipalle Parmar on Art
I am a big fan of the works of Sudhir Patwardhan, Gieve Patel and Nilima Sheikh. However, at the moment I would like to bring your attention to a much younger artist, Dhruvi Acharya. This Mumbai-based artist is one who weaves tales onto her canvas. Her colours and images are so understandable. She talks about women, urban realities and the violence that often holds the two together. Her works are more like illustrations. Her’s is a simple and effective medium with strong content. Her work at the Mumbai airport is especially captivating.
Parmar Is A Pune-Based Architect, Interior Designer, Artist And Writer
[box]
Shinie Antony on Books
Susan Visvanathan’s book The Seine At Noon is a summertime stroll in Paris, about Stefan, the son of immigrant Jews from Kerala, and Frenchman Jacques who have been deserted by women. There’s a loony dog with a loaf of bread and a woman with a “tremendous capacity to stare into windows and want things”. This is the story of one river and two friends, the telling rippled in verse.
‘This book is the story of a river, two friends, summertime in Paris and a loony dog’
Antony is the author of Kardamom Kisses
[/box]
Suryakant Sawhney on Music
I once ventured out to this terrific gig at blueFROG, Mumbai, by The Lightyears Explode, a Mumbai-based punk band. They play antiromance masala punk with the occasional Punjabi groove thrown in. Their sound is raw, tempo is quick and their energy on stage is vicious.
Sawhney is a vocalist and songwriter with Peter Cat Recording Co
[box]
Manish Tiwari on Film
Nostalgia is like a Chinese box, where each generation longs for the time gone by. Woody Allen uses
this premise in Midnight in Pariswhen the protagonist, an American screenwriter, slides through time to Paris’ past. He rubs shoulders with F Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein; and steals Picasso’s mistress. My favourite was Adrien Brody playing Salvador Dali with relish. All of this set against the excellent music of Cole Porter, Josephine Baker and the French can-can!
Tiwari is the director of Dil Dosti Etc
[/box]
Veena Arora On Food
There is a new place in town that people must visit: Auma. It is a Thai and Italian cuisine restaurant in Vasant Kunj. I recommend this place because of its sheer excellence. They do not compromise on quality. Which is why they have a Thai chef, and boys trained extensively in Italian cuisine, handling the kitchen. It is a fine-dining restaurant, with a beautiful interior, lovely music playing in the background and candles adding to the atmosphere. My favourite dish remains the pizza, which is the best I’ve had in Delhi. It is also very reasonably priced.
Arora is the senior consultant at The Spice Route, Hotel Imperial, New Delhi
‘Life and Death Play Major Roles in My Life and Art’
WHO Originally from Bhubaneswar, Odisha, the now Delhi-based Jagannath Panda, 41, was a visiting researcher at the Fukuoka University of Education, Japan. He’s also completed a second master’s degree in fine sculpture from the Royal College of Art, London. This Lalit Kala Akademi awardee’s work has been displayed at the Hockney Gallery, London, and the KHOJ International Exhibition at British Council, New Delhi.
An incident that changed your artistic vision?
Travelling to Japan in 1997. It was the first time I travelled outside of India. The people, the artists and curators I met, the museums I saw opened up doors for me. Especially the Japanese art and culture. When I came back to Delhi, I could work with an increased understanding of my art.
Is there a vision you’ve never been able to transmit into art but wish you could have?
I once visited the Konark temple in Odisha. There were so many abandoned stone sculptures lying around. I wanted to collect those stones and create a commemorative sculpture. That never happened. The idea is still fresh in my head, yet whenever I go back to the temple, I can’t find those stones anymore.
Who is your biggest mentor?
I thought knowledge was the ultimate mentor. However, I discovered Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. He encouraged me to look at my work in my own way, free from societal constraints, of how other people wanted me to create.
What has been your greatest moment of distress, fear or exhilaration?
The worst moment of my life was when I lost my mother. It changes everything about a person. My art, my understanding of life and people, all underwent an upheaval. On the other hand, the most exhilarating moment was when my son was born. Both life and death have had a major part to play in my life and art.
How important are the city landscapes to you? What part do Delhi and Bhubaneswar play?
The story of a city is a metaphor I enjoy. People, animals and birds all flock to cities and form their own little utopias. Yet, there are also tales of displacement and departures. Delhi allowed me to look beyond myself. Here, I encounter new thoughts and ideas each day, yet the aggression of its people still scares me. Bhubaneswar remains an intimate space, one of memories.
Aradhna Wal is a Trainee, Features with Tehelka.
aradhna@tehelka.com
Master Takes
Compiled by Aradhna Wal
Arijoy Bhattacharya On Art
New York-based watercolour artist Walter Ford is a self-professed ‘maximalist’, a trait that shows clearly in his creations. They are stupendous. He paints on a massive scale. The detail and complexity is as incredible as it is perplexing. A perfect example is Falling Bough, which is my favourite work. The narrative behind the art concerns a species of pigeon that were, at a point of time, quite numerous. Legend goes that if a flock would sit on a branch, the branch would break. Ford harks back to the Raj era. His is the foreigner’s eye in India. His style looks antiquated. It resembles old lithography, yet is very post-modern.
Bhattacharya is a Delhi-based artist
[box]
Brinda Charry On Books
Kathryn Stockett’s The Help is a sensitive portrayal of African-American maids serving wealthy white households in mid 1960s Mississippi, the bastion of the ‘southern’ way of life. These women tell us exactly what they think of their employers. Well-written, without being preachy, it speaks directly to our contemporary social Indian experience, in which ‘servants’ play a large role.
‘The book speaks to the social Indian experience where servants play a large role’
Charry is the author of Naked In The Wind
[/box]
Vinay Venkatesh On Music
I found the Norwegian metal band Kvelertak through their album art. They sing only in Norwegian, even though they tour countries where no one understands them. They are a fun band. Their music is in your face, and their vibe is incredible. My favourite song is Ulvetid. I have no clue what it’s about but I still love it.
Venkatesh is the vocalist Of the Mumbai-based band Bhayanak Maut
[box]
Sanjay Barnela On Film
Offside is an endearing classic by renowned Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi. In a soccer-crazy nation, that bars women from watching live sports events, the film is a delightful 90-minute narration of Iran’s glorious win in the World Cup qualifying match against Bahrain in 2005. A small enclosure, where girls dressed as men have been arrested, serves as the commentary box for the match. Here emotions interplay between the girls and the soldiers watching them, emotions steered by the trajectory of the football match inside the stadium.
Barnela is a Delhi-based documentary filmmaker
[/box]
Tapash Bhattacharya On Food
The one place that I keep going back to is Set’z, in DLF Emporio, Vasant Kunj. They have a great spread. It is multi-cuisine so there is something for everyone. The restaurant works with the concept of live counters. That is easily the best thing about it. Customers can pick and choose their food, decide precisely how they want it cooked, and the chef makes it for them. It is custom-made food. Being a Bengali, my favourite is naturally the seafood counter. Try the prawns there. The place is not exactly fine dining, but it is very lively, and the service is friendly and excellent.
Bhattacharya is the chef manager at Machan, Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi
Movies To Watch Out For In 2012
Bollywood
The Grand Revival
AGNEEPATH
DIRECTOR: Karan Malhotra
CAST: Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra
PLOT: In this cult classic remake, young Vijay Chauhan grows up to be a don and takes on the crime lord who murdered his father. Hrithik Roshan will have to go through his very own path of fire to meet expectations.
[box]
In the Fast Lane
SHANGHAI
DIRECTOR: Dibakar Banerjee
CAST: Abhay Deol, Kalki Koechlin
PLOT: Shot in a record time of over 40 days, this one seems to be riding on the anti-corruption movement. A political thriller about the rise of the common man.
[/box]
Dirty Money
GANGS OF WASSEYPUR
DIRECTOR: Anurag Kashyap
CAST: Manoj Bajpai, Nawazuddin Siddiqui
PLOT: Revolving around the coal mine mafia in Dhanbad, Jharkhand, Kashyap’s new film is based on Surajbhan Singh, the Bihar politician convicted for murder.
[box]
Be a Joyrider
FERRARI KI SAWAARI
DIRECTOR: Rajesh Mapuskar
CAST: Sharman Joshi, Boman Irani
PLOT: We finally get Sharman Joshi in a lead role. The only hints we’ve got are that it’s a family comedy, has been shot on busy roads and is a joyride, pun fully intended.
[/box]
The Sound of Silence
BARFEE
DIRECTOR: Anurag Basu
CAST: Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra
PLOT: Romance, murder and mystery centring on a deaf man and a mentally challenged girl. Ranbir and Priyanka need to shed any vestiges of glamour to make us believe in them.
[box]
Kitsch Competition
ROWDY RATHORE VS DABANGG 2
ROWDY RATHORE
DIRECTOR: Prabhu Deva
CAST: Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha
PLOT: He’s been a thief, he’s been a cop and he’s done double roles. Now he does them all together. Nineties’ nostalgia vis-à-vis Akshay Kumar.
[/box]
DABANGG 2
DIRECTOR: Arbaaz Khan
CAST: Salman Khan, Sonakshi Sinha
PLOT: All we know is that the action shifts from the hinterlands of UP to Mumbai. All the more room for bigger, badder adventures.
[box]
Top Secret Project
TALAASH
DIRECTOR: Reema Kagti
CAST: Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor
PLOT: Aamir Khan the cop is back. This movie is topping everyone’s wishlist. Backing him are Zoya Akhtar and the Farhan Akhtar-Ritesh Sidhwani team that gave us Dil Chahta Hai and Rock On!! So far so good.
[/box]
Oh God! Please be Done Already
AGENT VINOD
DIRECTOR: Sriram Raghavan
CAST: Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor
PLOT: The long-awaited detective story has kept us in suspense for quite a while. Come summer, we get to watch the real-life couple romance each other in this spy thriller.
[box]
True Story Bro
BHAAG MILKHA BHAAG
DIRECTOR: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
CAST: Farhan Akhtar, Sonam Kapoor
PLOT: Milkha Singh made India’s presence felt at the Olympics. Farhan Akhtar plays ‘The Flying Sikh’ in this official biopic.
[/box]
Because We Can’t Do Without Sallu
EK THA TIGER
DIRECTOR: Kabir Khan
CAST: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif
PLOT: The director gave us Kabul Express and New York, and the actor gave us Ready and Bodyguard. So how does anyone predict Ek Tha Tiger’s plot? It’s got international espionage, stolen technology, crossborder romance and action that spans the globe.
CROSSOVERS
[box]
Adaptation Smackdown
MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN VS LIFE OF PI VS THE GREAT GATSBY
MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN
DIRECTOR: Deepa Mehta
CAST: Satya Bhabha, Shriya Saran
PLOT: Protagonist Saleem Sinai was born a telepath, at the exact moment of India’s Independence. Shot under wraps in Sri Lanka, this is the much-awaited adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s tale of a newly-liberated India.
[/box]
LIFE OF PI
DIRECTOR: Ang Lee
CAST: Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Tobey Maguire
PLOT: Yann Martel’s surreal story of survival finds itself in the hands of Ang Lee. We know the man can give us brea thtaking visuals, but how does one tell the story of a boy adrift on a boat with a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and a Bengal Tiger?
[box]
THE GREAT GATSBY
DIRECTOR: Baz Luhrmann
CAST: Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Amitabh Bachchan
PLOT: The story of Jay Gatsby’s life is a modern literary classic. F Scott Fitzgerald’s novel on the ‘roaring twenties’ in America has been adapted time and again for the big screen. But we’ll still watch it. If only to see DiCaprio and Bachchan share a frame.
[/box]
BANGLA
Men and Machines
LAPTOP
DIRECTOR: Kaushik Ganguly
CAST: Rahul Bose, Churni Ganguly
PLOT: The protagonist is a lost laptop that gets passed on to different people. That is how the movie explores its characters, including a blind writer played by Kaushik Ganguly himself. Pretty experimental.
[box]
Identity Crisis
CHITRANGADA: THE CROWNING WISH
DIRECTOR: Rituparno Ghosh
CAST: Rituparno Ghosh, Raima Sen
PLOT: Ghosh returns to acting as a choreographer who wants to stage Tagore’s Chitrangada, a story of a princess whose father wanted her to become a prince instead as he didn’t have a son to succeed him.
[/box]
Man of Mystery
ABAR BYOMKESH
DIRECTOR: Anjan Dutta
CAST: Abir Chatterjee, Saswata Chattopadhyay
PLOT: Byomkesh fans rejoice. The Bengali detective is back and, we hope, in fine form. Fans have already started marking the days on their new calendars.
TAMIL
College Humour With a Moral
NANBAN
DIRECTOR: S Shankar
CAST: Vijay, Jeeva, Srikanth
PLOT: This 3 Idiots remake looks enjoyable enough. It’ll be hard to replicate the success of its Hindi counterpart, but we’ve got our fingers crossed.
[box]
Rajinikanth in 3D
KOCHADAIYAAN
DIRECTOR: Soundarya Rajinikanth
CAST: Rajinikanth, Sneha
PLOT: Rajini romances two heroines in his 3D avatar. AR Rahman takes charge of the music. Need we say more?
[/box]
The One With Kolaveri Di
3
DIRECTOR: Aishwarya Rajinikanth
CAST: Dhanush, Shruti Hassan
PLOT: To say the song is a hit would be an understatement. Let’s hope the same cards play for this romance.
[box]
Before He Was the Don
BILLA 2
DIRECTOR: Chakri Toleti
CAST: Ajith Kumar, Parvathy Omanakuttan
PLOT: The prequel to the 2007 hit, Billa, this gangster thriller shows us how the ordinary David Billa became a dreaded don in the underworld.
[/box]
Master Takes
Compiled by Aradhna Wal
Seema Kohli On Art
I first came across Badri Narayan when I was in college. He has often been categorised as an illustrator and a folk artist. However, there is so much more to him. His expression veers more towards a vision. I’d call it painting a vision with some technicalities. There is a lot of himself in his work, which is why people can connect with it. It’s a wonderful narrative. He once said that his wish to paint incorporated the urge for imagining, for dreaming, for going beyond the fact of surface reality for receiving occult intimations. I paraphrase, of course. However, that best describes how his painting is a communion between work and himself.
Kohli is a Delhi-based artist
[box]
Joshua Newtonn On Books
If you’re a writer dashing out of a building on fire, save Stephen Koch’s The Modern Library Writer’s Workshop: A Guide to the Craft of Fiction. Koch erases your fears by asking you to go ahead and write a “shitty draft”. That really sets you off. He knows your worries, escape routes and embarrassments. He serves delicious solutions for most of your writerly hiccups.
‘The book has solutions for most writ erly worries, fears and escape routes’
Newtonn is a Kochi-based writer
[/box]
Sumit Sharma On Music
Neil Young is popularly known as an electric/grunge guitarist. However, the album I’ve been listening to, Harvest Moon, is largely acoustic, with hardly an electric guitar. Despite that, it has an extremely strong character. There is a lot of symbolism, and it sounds like his own personal album full of private emotions. It’s not made for the market.
Sharma is the rhythm guitarist of Heavens Down
[box]
Pankaj Butalia On Film
Nothing prepared me for the iconoclasm of Kamal Swaroop’s Om- Dar-Ba-Dar. Ostensibly about Om, a boy from a fictional Rajasthan small town, entering adolescence, the film heads off in multiple directions as dream, fantasy and reality explode simultaneously on the screen and in Om’s head. Myriad images come alive — the mixed history of cinema stares us in the face — small-town struggles to take centrestage anticipating a move two decades before its time. The film, defying gravity, holds together in a way Indian films have not been able to.
Butalia is a Delhi-based filmmaker
[/box]
Samir Choudhary On Food
Mamagoto in Delhi’s Khan Market is a must visit. It fulfils three important criteria — good food, good service and a good location. Unlike a lot of other eateries that Indianise their food, this place serves authentic Japanese cuisine. Customers actually get to learn about what they are eating. The food is light, flavourful and tangy. Try the chicken shumai. The drinks too are fun and innovative. The warm and cosy decor is as interesting as the menu. It is the best place to lounge. The staff is attentive and welcoming. It is expensive, like all other restaurants in Khan Market, but worth at least one visit.
Choudhary is the manager of The Yum Yum Tree, Delhi
Master takes
Compiled by Aradhna Wal
A painting by Krishna Reddy
Peter Nagy on Art
Krishna Reddy is most famously known for his print works. However, when I went for his show The Embodied Image: The Art and Life of Krishna Reddy, what caught my eye was his watercolours, especially a series from 1963, which had never been seen before. These paintings were far more abstract than his other works, yet they read like landscapes to me. His watercolours are extremely rich in hue, yet subdued. And for their time, they were very participatory in the country’s progressive dialogue. Something strikes you because it speaks strongly to you. And Reddy’s paintings just blew me away.
Nagy is the director of Nature Morte Gallery in Delhi
AJ Thomas on Books
Anatomy of a Disappearance by Hisham Matar has caught my attention. Apart from the topical importance of the theme, its style and structure are fascinating. It describes the countless ‘disappearances’ of intellectuals and dissidents during the Gaddafi regime in Libya. The story of human malice practised as State policy, bedevilling normal lives, is told poignantly.
‘It talks about dissidents who vanish ed during the Gaddafi regime’
Thomas is an Indian Poet and Fiction Writer
Indraneel Hariharan on Music
The ’70s was an age of revolution in music. And the American bandWeather Report, founded by saxophone player Wayne Shorter, was the pioneer in the evolution of jazz. I have to say Jaco Pastorius was the finest bassist to have lived on the planet. The band imbibed Latin and African music traditions with jazz, giving rise to world music.
Hariharan is the Bassist with The Band Mrigya
A still from Scenesfrom a Marriage
Sumit Khanna on Film
In Scenes from a Marriage, Ingmar Bergman gives a reeling interpretation of marriage; how a diametrically opposite couple co-exists at intimate levels. Actors Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson give the most honest performances. We share 20 years of their love, hate, anger, denial and pain. Bergman wrote and directed the film in 1973 when he was in his fifth marriage that lasted 24 years until his wife died. It is a superb, concise treatise about the nature of falling in and out of love, how to differentiate what love is, and essentially what a marriage is.
Khanna is a Mumbai-based Filmmaker
Kunal Kapur on Food
Five-star hotels tend to dilute the flavour of Lucknow’s delicacies. But Kangan Restaurant at The Westin Mumbai comes very close to the authentic taste. They have excellent kakori and galouti kebabs, and paranthas. The highlight is a hard-to- obtain recipe of taar korma, a lamb-based dish with lots of stock and juiced bone marrow. The place has a contemporary décor, with a window for a wall on one side and a live kit chen on the other. Not only do you watch your food being coo ked, you also get a breathtaking view of Mumbai from the 18th floor.
Kapur is the executive sous-chef at Diya, Leela Kempinski, Gurgaon
Master Takes
Compiled by Aradhna Wal
Sidhant Gandhi on Art
A painting, more than giving visual pleasure, connects with the vibe around one. An artist puts a part of his soul into it. And when that takes a decade, the work becomes sacred. The Sacred Mirrors series, by American visionary artist Alex Grey, takes the viewer on a journey towards their own divine nature by examining in detail, the body, mind and spirit. Started in 1979, the series took 10 years to complete. The Sacred Mirrors revolves around the context of cosmic, biological and technological evolution. Grey’s depictions of the human body have multiple layers of reality and reveal the interplay of spiritual forces.
Gandhi is a Delhi-based artist and founder of Toosid
[box]
Shreekumar Varma on Books
The Wandering Falcon by Jamil Ahmad is gently written, yet speaks of violence and unsettlement. The ‘falcon’ is Tor Baz, making Hitchcock-ian appearances in this collection of stories. Stories of nomadic tribes foxed by borders between Pakistan and Afghanistan, restricting age-old freedom. As I read this desert tapestry of a colourful, earthy people, I felt I lived among them.
Varma is the author of Lament of Mohini
[/box]
Abhishek Mangla on Music
I have some unconventional choices, and these days I follow Ari Hoenig, a contemporary jazz drummer. I’m trying to get my hands on his album Lines of Oppression. He doesn’t play traditional jazz, but focusses on a more structurally open form. It is a very different way of playing the drums. Words cannot describe it. His is not a static, hard hitting drumming. It embraces the modern form of jazz, which is harmonically simple, but rhythmically improvisatory.
Mangla is a Delhi-based Bassist
[box]
Debolina Dutta on Film
Shohini Ghosh’s documentary Tales of the Night Fairy is based on the lives of five sex workers in Kolkata. I saw the movie in law college and it opened up new worlds for me. It is probably the reason why I work with sex workers. The film is the first of its kind in India. It goes beyond, in fact, breaks the sex worker stereotype perpetuated by films and the media; the myth of the perpetually miserable souls living in hellholes. It gives its subjects the dignity of coming across as human beings dealing with life’s problems and negotiating with them on a day-to-day basis.
Dutta is a Delhi-based lawyer and filmmaker
[/box]
Puranchand Joshi on Food
I go for Ego Obsession in Delhi’s New Friends Colony. A lot of other restaurants are always crowded and noisy. It is hard to truly enjoy a meal in that kind of ambience. Ego, however, is spacious, like your drawing room. The customer feels relaxed, comfortable and at home. The cuisine is mainly Italian and Continental. The menu is extensive and reasonably priced. But what attracts me the most is that it is flexible. The waiters are more than happy to change a dish to suit the customer’s tastes. The Ego kitchen serves you food tweaked to your palate. The service is very friendly too, and best of all, prompt.
Joshi is the manager of the Living room, New Delhi
Master takes
Compiled by Aradhna Wal
An artwork by Surendran Nair
Yamini Telkar on Art
I would recommend the works of Surendran Nair, a preeminent contemporary Indian artist. His works are witty, sarcastic yet strongly appealing. Though his titles hark back to classical Greek mythology, his paintings explore the individual and the society in India. They are strongly rooted in, and flavoured by, local culture. The beauty of his work, however, lies in his renegotiation with the Indian imagery. His canvas always surprises the viewer and the critic by telling an old story in a brand new way.
Telkar is the curator of the Delhi Art Gallery
[box]
Jaishree Misra on Books
One Day by David Nicholls would have been instantly branded ‘chick-lit’, had it been written by a, er, chick. But Nicholls presents a potted social history of Britain from the late ’80s onwards. Em and Dex meet on the last day of university before going their separate ways. The reader watches the progress of their lives on the 15th of July for the next 20 years.
Nicholls presents a potted social history of Britain from the late ’80s onwards
Misra is the author of Ancient Promises and Rani
[/box]
Adil Manuel on Music
People worship rock legends, and rock legends worship Allan Holdsworth. The English guitarist and composer sets the trend for other musicians, but he himself can never be copied, especially on stage. He is 65 and the older he gets the crazier his music becomes. I’d recommend easier songs like Sand and Funnels, which I myself would like to play someday.
Manuel is a Delhi-based musician with Adil and Vasundhara
Trendsetter
English guitarist and composer Allan Holdsworth
[box]
A still from Dancer in the Dark
Aparna Sanyal on Film
I remember coaxing my self-confessed Hindi film buff father to watch Lars von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark years ago. Telling him about von Trier and the Dogme movement wouldn’t have worked. He was also unlikely to be moved by the fact that it won the Palme d’Or in 2000. And so I told him how it was a melodramatic story of a mother’s love for her child, and her fight against all odds to save her son from a ‘dark’ fate. That it had songs. Dances too! I’m not sure von Trier would have been flattered, but he did end up having an atypical viewer that day!
Sanyal is a filmmaker based in Delhi
[/box]
Rachana Desai on Food
Goa has many places to dine, but my favourite is Anand Lunch Home. It is a shack-like restaurant sitting in the middle of some green fields near Anjuna and Vagator beaches. They serve Hindu coastal cuisine, which is very different from the Christian Goan food that we are more familiar with. I had a fish thali, which has a few masala-filled clams, a piece of fried fish, a bowl of coconut fish curry, some vegetables and rice. You could also opt for rawa fried prawns or rawa fried king fish. You don’t need anything else after that. Truly local, unspoilt and fresh, you won’t find any tourists here.
Desai is the partner and Coo of Cafe Zaffiro, New Delhi
