WEEKLY MAGAZINE, AUGUST 5, 2012Free with your copy of Hindustan Times

VIR SANGHVIWhose curry is it anyway?

RAJIV MAKHNIMore power to gadgets

SEEMA GOSWAMI Medals India deserves

SANJOY NARAYAN Show me what you Gotyeindulge

4 WATC H O UT FO R

@wussycat_richie Loved the cover story @HTBrunch...lovedthe conclusion too...big, fat Indian weddings need to goon a diet! :)

@Ajaythetwit Amazing facts crisply woven with a dash of‘compare-o-meter’...that’s what is a ‘truly techilicious’ 1page dish by @RajivMakhni!

@vishy_S27 Sunday morning starting with a #coffee with@htbrunch beside is an ideal one!! ;-)

@BombaySling In #HT Brunch, John Abraham says thehighest point of his life was getting an MBA from NMIMS.Yay :D He’s a fellow NMIMS-ite!

TWEET YOUR HEART OUTtwitter.com/HTBrunch

Drop us a line at:brunchletters@hindustantimes.com or to

18-20 Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi 110001

EDITORIAL: Poonam Saxena (Editor), AasheeshSharma, Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi, Rachel Lopez,

Mignonne Dsouza, Veenu Singh, Parul Khanna Tewari,Yashica Dutt, Amrah Ashraf, Saudamini Jain, Shreya

Sethuraman, Manit Moorjani

DESIGN: Ashutosh Sapru (National Editor, Design),Monica Gupta, Swati Chakrabarti, Rakesh Kumar,

Ashish Singh, Shailendra Mirgal

Vulgar show of wealthTHE COVER story (The Indian wedding gets fatter, July29) brings to fore the trend of our weddings going frombrash to egregious. While it may have spawned a multi-billion dollar industry providing employment to many, theextravaganzas of a select breed have become a trend, asis evident from the sharp spike in average spend on anIndian wedding. — SARASWATA MOHAPATRA, via email

Remarkably stylish and stirringIT WAS a splendid rewind to the age of the bouffant,drainpipe pants, rock ‘n’ roll and twist with your selectedsnippets (Total Recall). The ’60s define a period we stilllove to revisit and recollect with much fondness and fas-cination. So enamoured am I by this decade that I havedecided to sport the famous ’60s look next time I amdecked up for a party or an event. — VIDISHA ROY, via email

Cover Design: SWATI CHAKRABARTI

AUGUST 5, 2012

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WE THE PEOPLE OFTHE ’50s

LETTER OFTHE WEEK!

Au revoir, Dark Knight!I LOVED Vir Sanghvi’s article (Rude Movies, July29). I loved his conversational tid bits on thismasked crusader. I’ve been a comic book fan ofBatman and I feel that Christopher Nolan’s trilogyhas been the most successful portrayal on screen.Bale’s Batman had his faults and weaknesses andis portrayed more human than any other superhero.I feel sad that this movie is the last of what we’ll seeof Nolan’s Batman and hope further reboots live upto my expectations as well. — SNEHA GOHRI, via email

Sneha wins a Flipkart voucher worth `2,500. Congrats!

The shopping voucher will reach the winner within seven to 10 working days. In case of any delays, please contact chirag.sharma@hindustantimes.com

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RUDE FOODIt is hard to deny that the curryoriginated on Indian shores

TECHILICIOUSSave our powerless nation, oneEnergy Saving Monitor at a time

DOWNLOAD CENTRALGotye uses pop melodies andcatchy tunes in his music

SPECTATORIndians could win the Gold forsome ‘Olympic categories’

PersonalAgendaMusic directorShantanuMoitra wantsto supportthe folk musi-cians of India

Cover StoryWe always knew Indiawas a nation ofgeniuses. Meet thepeople whoace it all

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The Constitution, the belovedIndian Airlines and the coveted IITs.Not to forget Mother India and DoBighaa Zameen. ASHOK VAJPEYIwrites about the beginning of Indiaas a democratic republic, theNehruvian vision and the movies ofthe yore. Let’s turn back time...

BRUNCH ON THE WEBhindustantimes.com/brunch

FREEDOM

yearsof

The best letter getsa Flipkart voucherworth R2,500!!

indulge

This week, read Tied To The Screen by Tavishi PaitandyRastogi. A masala mix of relationships and films.

The Brunch Blogs

Are you the smartest of ’em all?Do you havewhat it takesto stand upagainst thecountry’sbrightest?We’ve gotpuzzles,quizzes andonline chal-lenges that willpromise to

bend your brain. What are you waiting for? Logon now, and good luck!

A fun date with comics and filmsWelcome Tuesdays withRajneesh Kapoor’s comicstrip Rezi Vastav and hisdeadpan humour, and Fridayswith Gautam Chintamani’sinsight on films. Log on now!

05.08.201205.08.2012

AUGUST 5, 2012

THE FIFTIES were the firstdecade of a free India. It wasalso the beginning of India asa democratic republic. It was

a recently free India but also a par-titioned India – the wounds werestill fresh. And yet it was a decadeof hope and aspiration. Some of us,who were in their teens, found ourfeet in the socio-political milieu,enough to feel confident andinspired to forge ahead.

The towns, big and small, in thenorth and central Indiahad refugees from thenewly created Pakistan.The joke used to be: Ifyou met someone inDelhi or Sagar (a centralIndian town where Ilived and grew up) andasked him in whichdirection the sun rose,he was likely to say thathe was new in the town,he didn’t exactly know!Significantly, theserefugees, mostly Sindhis andPunjabis, established themselves asbold entrepreneurs. They did notadd to the already large beggingbrigades in north Indian towns.

The fifties saw the emergence ofIITs and public sector plants

called ‘new temples’ by Nehru,whose vision and plans were shap-ing the new India. It is quite fashion-able these days to find fault with theNehruvian vision and planning. Weinvariably and conveniently forgetthat a lot of currently admirableeconomic growth can be traced to

the foundations that were laid in theFifties. For many of us, our sense ofthe world, a heady mixture of realityand dream, sensitivity to others,belief in the possibility of changetook root in the Fifties.

I distinctly and gratefully recallmy class teacher in Sagar encourag-

ing me to write poetryin Hindi and opening mymind to new develop-ments in literature andHindustani classicalmusic. An ordinary BA-degree holder, the sameteacher, while departingon transfer, told me thatsince I belonged to afamily of administrators,I must try to get intoIAS but ‘die as a poet’.No one would have

given a boy of 14 such imprudentadvice, except in the Fifties!

The decade saw the emergence ofnew movements in poetry and fictionin many Indian languages and just asthere was a new India being dreamtand built, these movements werelabelled new, such as Nayi Kavita andNayi Kahani etc. In many literatures,a new camaraderie developed, some-times on grounds of ideology, largelyon new initiatives and experiments.The decade saw a series of patrioticfilms such as Shaheed and Jagriti,but also the new realism as well as

deep romanticism best exemplifiedwith Raj Kapoor’s Jagte Raho andDilip Kumar’s Devdas. My boyhoodobsession with the music of KLSaigal and Lata Mangeshkar madeway for the enduring classical vocalism of Krishna Rao ShankarPandit and Hirabai Barodekar. TheProgressive Artists Group consistingof Husain, Raza and Souza primarilyhad all of them moving in differentdirections. Souza making a name inLondon, Raza in Paris (later to dis-cover the Indian bindu) and Husainpainting the great epics Ramayanand Mahabharat in Hyderabad.

While Nehru remained a popularfigure, a stringent critic of his

policies emerged in Ram ManoharLohia. Some of the Lok Sabhadebates and particularly sharp-edged speeches of Lohia are outstanding examples of prose inthe service of public causes. Oneimportant institutional initiativewas the establishment of nationalacademies that encouraged the arts,namely the Sahitya, Lalit Kala andSangeet Natak Akademi. Indiabegan asserting its presence notonly in the international arena ofdiplomacy and foreign relations butalso in popular culture. A debateabout tradition and modernitybecame furious in the Fifties andcontinues to the rounds till today.

The radio became a powerful

medium of communication andindeed contributed much towardsthe preservation of Indian classicalmusic by employing a large numberof musicians as well as providingprominent slots for classical music,particularly after royal patronagewaned with the merger of manyIndian states into the Union of India.

Indian literature had alreadyattained freedom much before we

came to be politically free. The firstdecade of freedom expanded thegeography of creative imaginationbut also made literature more inter-rogative, deeply self-critical andgradually full-blast anti-establish-ment. The establishment includednot only the State, political powerbut dominant morality, social normsetc. By the end of the Fifties, a lot ofdisillusionment had set in. TheNehruvian glow started fading andwe started moving towards self-disappointment. From radiant hopeto slightly dark despair, from self-confidence to self-doubt, the Fiftiescontained all the essential ingredi-ents of what made the 20th centuryfor us. From such ingredients, ourdreams, our creativity, our imagina-tion have been weaving a humanmap a tragicomic tale of our being.

Next week, The Forties by Khurshed Alam Khan

The views expressed by the author are personal

6

ASHOK VAJPEYI is an author, former bureaucrat,a Hindi poet, criticand art lover

Part 6 of Total Recall, our special seven-part series: The 1950s

TOTA L R EC A L L

THE NEHRUVIAN GLOW

REWIND A decade of firsts

hindustantimes.com/brunch

The Constitutioncomes into force on26 January, the sameday India makes itsfirst declaration of independence in 1930

The PlanningCommission isset up withPrime MinisterNehru as thechairman

India participatesin and hosts thefirst ever AsianGames. Rankssecond with 15gold medals

First Amendment ofConstitution allowsthe state to makespecial provisionsfor advancement ofbackward classes

The first Five-Year Plan islaunched.Dam-building,irrigation aretop of the list

The first general elec-tions to the Lok Sabhaare held. Indian Nation-al Congress headed byJawaharlal Nehrusweeps into power

Former FrenchcoloniesPondicherry,Karaikal, Maheand Yanammerge into India

The Non Alignment Move-ment originates at theAsian-African Conference,in Indonesia. 29 states discuss the role of the ThirdWorld in the Cold War

The States Reorgani-sation Act redrawsthe boundaries of India’s states andterritories along linguistic linesFREEDOM

yearsof

1950 195519541951 1956The ElectionCommission isset up toadminister allelectoralprocesses

TEMPLES OF TECHNOLOGY The first IIT is established in Kharagpur,West Bengal in 1951. IIT Delhi (below)

For many of us, oursense of the world –a heady mixture ofreality and dream,sensitivity to othersand a belief in thepossibility ofchange – took rootin the 1950s

8 TOTA L R EC A L L

THE ’50S – THE CHANGE IS NOWThe Fifties had a newly independent India but also a partitioned India. The wounds were recentand raw. And yet it was a decade of hope and aspiration

Air India and Indian Airlines are the air carriers of the nation. Air India’shostesses wear tailored European dresses with jaunty hats

MILKHA SINGH is “The Flying Sikh”. Asia’sfinest 200m and 400m runner,

he Crowns himselfthe first

CommonwealthGames track

and field win-ner of inde-

pendentIndia (400yards) atthe 1958Cardiff

Games

Prime Minister Nehru poursthe first bucket of concrete

for the BHAKRA DAM, conceived to irrigate fiveIndian states and preventfloods. He calls it a “New

Temple of Resurgent India”

The First Asian Games are held in Delhi.A total of 489 athletes, representing 11Asian National Olympic Committees,

participate in 57 sporting events

The triumvirate of Raj Kapoor,Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand lordsover Hindi cinema. While Kumar isthe unrequited king of tragedy,Kapoor’s the egalitarian comic andAnand, the noir romantic

NUTAN flaunts her curvesin a swimsuit for Dilli ka

Thug. She’s the first main-stream actress to do so

1955

1958

1951

The Constitution drafted by a panel headed by BR Ambedkar, comes intoforce, making India a REPUBLIC. The Constitution declares India to be asovereign, socialist, secular, democratic, republic, assuring citizensof justice, equality and liberty, and endeavours to promote fraternity

among them. Rajendra Prasad is sworn in as the first President

The first Indian Institute ofTechnology is set up in Kharagpur,West Bengal, with the aim to makeIndia self-reliant in technology. Along

with subsequent IITs inBombay andMadras, it is namedan ‘Institute ofNational

Importance’ inParliament

1950

1951

Parallel cinema emerges with Satyajit Ray’s Apu trilogy, followed byBimal Roy’s Do Bigha Zamin, Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa and Mehboob Khan’sMother India. Mother India is nominated for the Academy Award for BestForeign Language Film and Aparajito from the Apu trilogy wins theGolden Lion at the Venice Film Festival

JAYASHREE JAYAKARMohanka doesn’t believe she’sspecial. But no one who scores81 out of a possible 150 in this

year’s Mahaquizzer, possibly India’stoughest multidisciplinary quiz, canbe ordinary. The questions don’t askfor capital cities, CEOs or celebritygossip. They cover geography,history, etymology, popular culture,myths, science, sports, brands andmore. Many, like this one, simplyelude classification:

What will you make by using oneof the following methods: Building,blending, muddling, rolling or layering (among others)?

Don’t know? Here’s the interest-ing bit – if you’re even moderatelyclued in to the world around you,you should be able to figure it out –in this case, Cocktails. AndMohanka has been clued-in rightfrom the start, quizzing as a schoolstudent, taking on the boys in an all-girl team in Kolkata and relishingthe thrill of the “a-ha! moment”when she’d arrived at the correctanswer. “Quizzing is more than amemory game,” she says. “Thequestions are so quirky, you’ll neverbe able to answer them by mugging.People who quiz are naturally curi-ous people, they read. You need toenjoy learning about new things.You cannot be trained for it.”

But you can crack it. Just trustyour memory and power of associa-tion. “Questions often offer obscuretrivia leading to an obvious answer,or have obvious facts and expect anobscure answer in return,” saysHemant Morparia, a radiologist,cartoonist and quiz veteran. If aquestion seems ridiculous, it’s prob-

ably referencing the thing that’s oneverybody’s mind – a movie, a move-ment or trending topic on Twitter.Have a hunch or a half-remembereddetail? Go with it. The best answersare ones you didn’t know you knew.

India’s quizzing community is large(we really are know-it-alls) and var-ied. Long-time participants say thatBangalore and Chennai are the hard-est to beat; Mumbai likes big-moneybiz quizzes; and Delhi likes to fight forevery point. Kolkata is where the firstformal quiz was held in 1967. “Ourstyle is more relaxed,” says Mohanka.

But her gripe is not the kind ofcrowd, but how fewer women arenow participating. “Growing up,there used to be a lot of girlquizzers,” she recalls. “There aren’tthat many anymore. I think it’sbecause the feminist movement wasstronger. Now there’s more pressurefor girls to do girly things. The idea ofa girl being a nerd is just not popu-lar.” Still, Mohanka isn’t giving up. “Ithink quizzing can be an older per-son’s game,” she says. “I get better asI age. There’s more time to read.There’s more time for everything.”

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AUGUST 5, 2012

Jayashree JAYAKAR MOHANKA,52 yearsLOCATION: KolkataDAY JOB: Businesswoman CLAIM TO FAME: Winner, Mahaquizzer 2012; In the top 10since 2009

Can you answer these Mahaquizzer zingers?■ “Plastics”, (from The Graduate)is one of the only two one-wordquotes on the AFI’s list of 100movie quotes. Which is the other? Rosebud (from Citizen Kane)

■ This region’s name means “fourcircuits of rivers and gorges”. The cuisine of this region is categorised as one of the EightCulinary Traditions of China. Thepeppercorn flavour makes it suitable to the Indian palate. Sichuan/Schezwan

■ If you double the letter ‘O’ inthis word you get the densechewy treat made with sweetenedcoconut. If you tag the letter ‘I’ toit, you get the name the Yankeesoldier gave to his hairstyle aftersticking a feather in his hat. Givethe exact spelling of the Frenchconfection that has two hard outershells sandwiched together with a soft creamy centre, like a cream biscuit.Macaron

■ While working on a prototype,he began looking around for inspiration. When he saw hisassistant using red nail polish,something clicked and the rest ishistory. Who is this associatedwith the world of fashion?Christian Louboutin

Don’t memorise

answers. Read upon what you’re

interested in andyou’ll be fineMOHANKA’S TIP

THEIR POWERS OFMEMORY WILLBOGGLE YOUR MIND. They’ve calculatedmore digits thanyou can count.They can strategise theirway out of everypuzzle grid andthey know the answer to almostevery question.Get a peek intothe minds of India’s brightestpeople by Rachel Lopez

Phot

o: S

AMIR

JAN

A

C OV E R STO RY

Becoming a Grand Master ofMemory is no easy task. TheWorld Memory SportsCouncil, an international

body that regulates memory sportsaround the world, has a tough testfor hopefuls: Recall 1,000 randomdigits in 60 minutes, the order of 10decks of cards in one hour and theorder of a single deck in two min-utes. Few succeed – as ofJune 2012, only 122 peoplearound the world wereawarded the title.

For Trichy-basedJohn Louis however,total recall is a totalbreeze. He becameIndia’s first Grand Masterin 2003 but has always

been wowing people with his skills ofrecollection. “I’ve naturally had agood memory all my life,” he says.“When nuns would tell us storiesfrom the Bible, I’d make visuals inmy head. I still haven’t forgottenthem.”

Making mental pictures helpedwhen Louis participated in a memo-ry contest in Chennai, won it andwent on to stand 19th in the WorldChampionships in 2002. The braincan hold about seven items in theshort term. But Championship con-testants recall the orders of abstractimages, numbers, binary codes, play-ing cards, words, dates, events and

faces. “To do well, you have tomake this stuff seem

important so yourbrain can retain itlonger,” says Louis.“You need con-crete order for theabstract.”Memory champs

do this by creatingmental images that sym-

bolise the random data. “They imag-ine a palace filled with beautifulthings or a journey with landmarksalong the way,” Louis says. To makesure it sticks, think unusual – outra-geous even. “I include fun elements,”he reveals. “For nations and capitals,imagine a war with poles onone side and saws on theother to rememberPole-Land and War-Saw, and think of asign that says,‘There’s no way.So please go slow’for Nor-way and O-slo.”

Memory con-tests and train-ing programmeshave taken Louisvery far fromTrichy – to Thailand, Singapore,China, Bahrain, Japan, Germanyand beyond. Back home however,a good memory is both blessingand curse. “No one forgets any-thing in my family, though some-times, before going out, I have toremind my wife where she lefther purse. It often becomeshard to forgive when your everymistake is remembered.”

11

First, some numbers: In 2010,Priyanshi Somani participat-ed in her first MentalCalculation World Cup, an

event that tests exactly what itsname suggests. She was 11, it washer first time and she’d only beenpractising for a month. Other com-petitors, 37 of them from 16 coun-tries had been at it for far longer –the oldest person there was 61.Somani, however, trumped them all.She not only solved 10 assignedtasks correctly in 6.28 minutes but

went a step further. She was expect-ed to extract square roots from 10six-digit numbers up to eight signifi-cant digits in 15 minutes. She did itin 6.15, setting a world record, win-ning the championship and theFastest Calculator Trophy as well.

Early this year, Somani went upagainst the new square-root worldrecord holder, Turkish HakanGürbaslar. The result? Square rootsfor another 10 six-digit numbersextracted, this time in 2.43 minutes.A new world record.

Somani’s family has strong calcu-lating skills, and her own abilitieswere evident when she was only six,watching her brother solve sumsand trying to do the same. “The bestpart about doing calculations is thespeed,” she explains. “I love any-thing and everything that has speed.When a math problem is in front of

you, there are lot of processes thatgo on in your mind – the eye seeingthe problem, the brain analysing itand trying to solve it in the leastpossible time, and finally putting iton the paper or screen. Challengingthe speed of this cycle is what fasci-nates me. Making a new record isthe target, every time.”

To make sure Somani meets hertargets, the whole family helps out,especially her mother, Anju, who iscareful not to pressure her. “Beingher mother, all I have to do is forgetmyself, get completely involved withher in all her activities, take care ofher health, schedule, academics,mood swings, preparations etc,”Anju says. “But at the end, her fabu-lous performance brings immenseamount of pride to the family.” Athome, however, it’s Somani’s dadwho still does the family accounts.

Priyanshi SOMANI, 14 yearsLOCATION: SuratDAY JOB: Std IX studentCLAIM TO FAME: MentalSquare Root World Record holder,World Mental Calculation WorldCup 2010 winner

John LOUIS, 42 yearsLOCATION: Trichy, Tamil NaduDAY JOB: Former chemistryteacher, now memory trainer CLAIM TO FAME: Indian MemoryChampion 2010, India’s first GrandMaster of Memory

“Mental atrophy, not old

age, is the enemy ofmemory. I wish I

remembered everything!”

AUGUST 5, 2012

Rohan Rao has always beenfascinated by numbers.“Growing up, I’d counteverything; even school

buses on the way home,” he says. Soit wasn’t a surprise that in 2006, atthe height of India’s Sudoku craze,he found himself winning a localcontest. What surprised him, andended up becoming a wake-up callto puzzle greatness, was when helost the next year. “I screwed up,” hesays simply. “It made me realisethat I wanted to do this better.”

So Rao kept practising and solvedvarious other puzzles until he gotbetter. He climbed steadily in therankings for the annual IndianSudoku and Indian PuzzleChampionships until he won both in2010, repeating his successes in 2011and 2012. The wins have opened thedoors to an even bigger, tougherbattle: The World PuzzleChampionship (WPC) and theWorld Sudoku Championship.

It’s puzzling paradise. Brainteaser addicts fromacross the world pittheir strategy andproblem-solvingskills in two annu-al events organ-ised by the WorldPuzzle Federation(Yes, there is such athing). In addition toSudoku, contest-ants take a crack

at 15 super-tough grid-based logicpuzzles, from the familiar Kakuro, toones with intimidating names such asSlitherlink, Battleship, Hitori, Masyuand Tapa. There’s also one calledEasy As ABC. Do not be misled bythe name.

This year’s edition will beheld in Croatia in October

and as a 20-somethingIndian, the odds are

stacked againstRao. “Japan, theUSA and eastEurope are the

biggest competi-tion,” he says. The

average age there is32, and the most suc-

cessful contestant (seven titles

since 2000) is a 46-year-old German. It

doesn’t worry Rao. He was 17 thefirst time he made it to the WPC,and his rankings show that he’sbeen getting better every year.

Success doesn’t come to those whocurl up with the leisure section of thepaper on Sunday mornings. “It’s is allabout practice,” Rao explains. “Youneed to keep at it through the year tobe good. Stop practising and yourrankings drop.” You also needabsolute focus and concentration tobeat the clock (and your competi-tors). “But the best thing is that it’sconvenient. Unlike tennis, you don’tneed a venue. You can solve puzzlesany time, any place.”

And Rao assures that anyone can

do it. For logic tests, you don’t needto be good at Maths, or evenEnglish. “Puzzles have no language.At WPC, you could be sitting nextto a guy who’s never spoken a wordof English. You’d communicate witha thumbs-up or thumbs-down. Buthe’s cracked a puzzle you couldn’t.”

The experience is its own reward.The championships offer no prizemoney. Even Rao’s foreign tripscome at his father’s expense. But forpuzzlers, it’s actually forged a senseof brotherhood rather than competi-tion. Of the world’s top 10 puzzlegeniuses, six share new strategieson their blogs. Rao himself con-tributes puzzles of his own makingto Akil Oyunlari, a Turkish puzzlemagazine, and organises severalcontests in India.

Rao believes he has miles to gobefore he’s conquered puzzlesentirely. “I’ve won six titles but Iwant to reach 50,” he says. It won’tbe easy and that’s why he’s lookingforward to it. “I like it when some-one beats me. It makes me pushmyself. Somewhere along the line,another Rohan will want to beat me.That’s when the fun will start!”

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AUGUST 5, 2012

Photo: PRASAD GORI

Rohan RAO, 21 yearsLOCATION: MumbaiDAY JOB: Post-graduation Statisticsstudent at IIT BombayCLAIM TO FAME: Winner of the IndianSudoku Championship in 2010, 2011 and2012; Indian Puzzle Championship winner 2010, 2011 and 2012; currently ranks 12 on the World Sudoku circuit and 34 in theWorld Puzzle stakes

CAN YOU CRACK THEM?

THE SOLUTION

Easy As ABC (below left): Enter each letter once, in all rows and columns. Lettersoutside the grid show which comes first from that direction. Masyu: Pass throughevery white circle, turn at each black. Draw a closed loop that doesn’t cross itself

Girls are a minority in thepuzzle world. “I don’t seea girl winning the world

championship in the nextfive years,” says Rao.

Prove him wrong, ladies!

Remember Danica McKellar, akaWinnie Cooper on TheWonder Years? She’s a

maths genius too. A theorem she

co-authored carriesher name!

rachel.lopez@hindustantimes.com

C OV E R STO RY

AUGUST 5, 2012

WHO INVENTED CURRY? If youanswered, “India, of course,” thenyou may well be right. Except thatpeople in other countries may dis-

agree with you. After all, curry is an Asian dishfound in many countries east of the sub-conti-nent: Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan and Thailand.

The Japanese freely admit that their curry wasinspired by ours. The Malaysians and theIndonesians are slightly more circumspect, butit is hard to deny that their curries originated onour shores. Only the Thais present a problem.They claim curry as their own and argue thattheir curries – as globally famous as Indian curries, these days – have nothing to do with ours.They developed independently, they say, and onlythe English word ‘curry’ suggests a bogus kinshipwith our cuisine.

The Thais point to two key differences betweentheir curries and ours. The first is that they relyon fresh herbs while our curries depend on dryspices. The second is that an essential ingredientof their curries is coconut milk. Indian curries,on the other hand, do not usually use coconut milkbut depend on dairy products: Ghee, dahi, etc.

I asked Ananda Solomon, the only chef I knowwho is at much at ease with both Thai and region-al Indian food, what he made of the distinction.Ananda conceded the general point about spicesversus herbs but argued that the Thais also usedspices (ground coriander seeds, etc) and thatIndians used fresh leaves like dhaniya, kadi patta.So, the differences were not as clear-cut as the

Thais suggested.But it was the use of coconut milk that intrigued me. When

the Thais say that Indian curries do not use coconut milk, theyrefer to north Indian food. And certainly, it would be bizarre touse coconut milk in a rogan josh or a korma. But there’s muchmore to Indian cuisine than the food of the north. And once yougo south of the Vindhyas, the Thai claim seems shaky.

Coconut is one of the mainstays of south Indian cuisine. It isused in nearly every form (flesh, oil, etc) all over the south, andin Kerala and parts of Karnataka, coconut milk is an essentialingredient in many curries.

In fact, once you compare the food of Kerala to the food ofThailand, the distinction between Thai curries and Indian cur-ries is so slender as to be almost meaningless. The coconut milkcurries of Kerala are fragrant, delicate and very different fromthe curries of north India.

So, did the Thais get their curries from south India? It is hardto say but we do know that the coconut appears in ancient Indianliterature long before it turns up anywhere else. According toHindu mythology, it was the creation of the sage Vishwamitraand archaeologists have found fossils all over India (includingland-locked Rajasthan) which suggest that there were coconutsin India long before there were human beings.

The Thai coconut milk curries may be of more recent origin.They seem to have grown in popularity as recently as the 17thcentury and one theory (admittedly, not universally accepted)suggests that it was the Portuguese who encouraged the Thaisto put coconut milk in their curries.

But why would the Portuguese, who use no coconut milk intheir own cuisine, want the Thais to start using it? At this stage,the theory falters. Well, perhaps, they were missing the richness

THE CURRYNAMAThough found in many countries east ofthe sub-continent, it is hard to deny that thecurry originated on Indian shores

Photo: DINODIA

Vir Sanghvi

rude fo

od

SPICE ROUTEIndian curries depend on dry spices and do not usually use coconutmilk but dairy products such as ghee, dahi, etc

14 indulge

AUGUST 5, 2012

of dairy food, food historians suggest weakly.I have my own explanation. When the Portuguese came to

Thailand, they did not take a direct flight from Lisbon to Bangkok’sSuvarnabhumi airport. They got to Thailand only as part of theirgeneral exploration of the Indian ocean, for which they used Indiaas a base. Most Portuguese ships did not have conquistadorsmanning the stoves. Instead, they used Indian cooks who theyhad picked up in Goa and south India.

Could this be the route through which the coconut milk currytravelled from south India to Thailand? Nobody knows for surebut it is a plausible enough theory.

All cuisines develope and adapt after a while. So, while it istrue that both south Indians and Thais use coconut milk, theirattitudes to the ingredient are different. In Malayali cuisine, thereare broadly three different strengths of coconut milk, depend-ing on thickness. The curry is made in the usual Indian way withthe masala being sautéed first and the thinner coconut milk beingused as north Indians would use water in their curries. Thethickest coconut milk goes in towards the end of the cook-ing process as a thickening agent.

For the Thais, however, the coconut milk is thepoint of the curry.

They begin the process by heating it till the fat beginsto separate and floats to the top. Only then, do they add the currypaste.

According to Ananda, the secret of a good Thai curry is to letthe coconut milk cool down a little before adding the currypaste/masala.

As much as I love Malayali food, when I do cook a curry athome, it tends to be the Thai version. It’s not because Thai cur-ries are necessarily better but because they are so easy to makeas to be virtually idiot-proof. All you need to do is to follow theinstructions on the back of the packet of curry paste.

Here, for instance, is what it says, in Thai-English, on the

packet of massaman curry paste that I usually use:“Put coconut cream in a heated pan and add paste. Stir fry

until oil appears on top. Add meat and continue stir fry untildone. Fill the rest of the coconut milk. Boil to cook and simmertill tender. Put potato and cut onion. Add fish sauce, sugar, tamarindand seasoning as prefer. Leave it to boil until finish.”

Even in Thai-English, it is easy to follow. There is one obvi-ous drawback in the method, though. Clearly, you are meant toadd the coconut milk in two batches, one before the masalagoes in and one after.

I don’t actually follow any Thai recipes myself even though Iuse their pastes. When I make a massaman curry, I Indianisethe recipe and serve it Gujarati-style with papad and kachum-ber. My recipe is below.

Of course, it is completely inauthentic and they would proba-bly cancel my Thai visa if I tried cooking it in Bangkok. But hey,what the hell!

Curry is our dish, anyway...

CURRY A FLAVOURCoconut milk (above) and fresh herbs (left) are essential ingredients ofThai curries

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While it is true that both southIndians and Thais use coconut

milk, their attitudes to theingredient are different

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GUJARATI MASSAMAN CURRY■ Sauté onions and garlic with one packetmassaman curry paste as you would for anIndian curry. When the masala seems to be

letting out its aroma, add two

small tetrapaks ofcoconut milk. (I usethe Ayam brand,

widely available in In-dia but there are manylocal versions.)

■ Stir and cook over low heat till the currythickens. Now add half a mug of good qualitychicken stock. As the curry simmers, addchunks of boiled potato and a fistful of unsalted peanuts.■ Taste the curry to see when it is done (i.e.the thickness you want and no kachchamasala taste), adjust the seasoning. You maywant to use Thai fish sauce, soya sauce, sugar, lemon or whatever. After you turn offthe heat you can add aromatic leaves andcover. You can use kothmir/dhaniya, sweetbasil, makroot leaves, etc. I usually don’t havethem handy so I don’t bother, but it does improve the flavour.■ Take a pork chop and cut into small pieces.Mix a paste of garlic, ground galangal (or ginger) and mashed lemongrass (you can usepowder but fresh or bottled paste is better)and smear it over the pork pieces. Put asidefor half an hour. In a very hot wok, add veg-

etable oil and waittill it is as hot as youcan imagine. Throwin the pork and stirfry quickly for abouttwo minutes or so,depending on how well doneyou want the meat to be. Remove from the pan, drain the oil. Taste. If itseems under-seasoned, drizzle with a littlefish sauce or dark soya.■ Make brown rice as normal. Cut onions,tomatoes and cucumber to make a Gujarati-style kachumber, seasoned with nimbu. Youcan add chillies to the kachumber if you likethe spice.■ In individual dinner plates, make a pile ofpork on one side and a mound of brown riceon the other. Put the kachumber somewherein the middle. The curry goes into individualbowls.■ To eat, you mix the pork, rice and kachum-ber and add as much of the curry asyou need depending on how moistyou want each mouthful to be.

Roasted papad on the sidehelps with the texture. (This is aGujarati dish, after all.)

I make this to eat at home butas you can see, the presentation issuitable for dinner parties or fancy en-tertaining. Drink Coke or beer with it.

15

IT WAS QUITE amusing. To be part of aNational Grid failure twice, where multiplestates and millions of people were blacked out

and powerless in more ways than one. Powerless– as in no electricity and powerless – as in we coulddo nothing about it. I know, there really is nothingamusing about massive traffic jams (no signalsworking), no mobile phones (most people had notcharged phones adequately), crumpled clothing(ironing without bijli is quite a tough task) and nomoney or ways to commute (ATMs didn’t worknor did the Metro for a while). But think about it,in a country that is on its way to be a superpower,in a nation that is fuelled by the next generation ofworld-beating entrepreneurs and go-getters, in astate that is supposed to be at the cutting edge oftechnology and development – we had a powerblackout twice that took down literally one fourthof our country including and especially the national capital. Amusing? Very!

AND IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE Don’t worry, this isn’t a social commentary on thestate of the power sector nor a scathing columnon just how poorly the demand to supply ratiohas been planned for now and the future. This isstill a tech column. There is a point to all of this and I’mjust about getting there. We are a power-deficient coun-try and we are going to suffer quite a bit now and a wholelot more in the future. You don’t need a crystal ball topredict three things. We will have more of these gridfailures, power deficiency will continue for the bet-ter part of this decade and most importantly, ener-gy will cost more, much more – in the near future.So, we are destined to suffer! Well, not really. Thereis a solution and once again it’s technology that canmake sure that all of this isn’t in our future. But ifthe government, the ministries and our merry bandof politicians can’t help, then can technology reallyhelp? In the words of the Barackster – yes, it can.

ALERTBe warned! What follows is a cautionary tale of very frighteningproportions. It could change you as a person, make you responsi-ble, truly affect your personality and attitude, turn you around insideout and make you a better person. If you aren’t willing to go throughsuch radical changes – then move along – there is nothing for youon this page, any further. If you are still here, then congratulateyourself. You are about to discover a revolution. A single shard ofsimple effortless technology that could save the world and our powerless nation, one energy saving monitor at a time.

ABRACADABRAIf I was to tell you that a wireless idiot-proof device exists that can

monitor every piece of equipment in your housein real time; tell you how much sectionor room it consumes; what it costs torun for an hour/day/week/month/year;what your current consumption is forthe whole house; what is really burn-ing a hole in your pocket; what small

changes you can do to bring your electricity billdown by half; give you charts, grids and easy num-bers for the last two years of your usage; can betracked from anywhere in the world on a phone,computer or Tablet and can be set up by anyone, Irepeat anyone, in less than 10 minutes – you’d saythat I am smoking some very strong drugs, right?But this device exists and there are multiple ver-sions of it. It costs about R3,000 and the pay-off willbe savings for years. It makes you aware, informedand knowledgeable and gives you real-time feed-back for you to put in a system and a course of actionfor you to stop wasting electricity. The average sav-ing wherever this device is installed is about 20 percent or more. Think, if every person in our countryused this – our power crisis would be over.

HOW IT WORKSThis is a simple device. It consists of three things:A wireless receiver unit with a big screen that lookslike a very sophisticated digital clock, a wirelesstransmitter and a sensor that clips to it. All you haveto do is identify the outgoing electricity supply cable(it’s usually the red one coming out your electrici-ty meter and into your house), snap open the sen-sor and put it around the cable. No splicing wires,no unhooking anything – the sensor just sits loose-ly around the cable. Take the wire from the sensorand insert it into the transmitter. Now press thesync button between the transmitter and the wire-less receiver (place it anywhere in your house).That’s it. The receiver’s screen will immediatelystart showing you how much electricity is beingdrawn off your mains and into your house. As youshut off and start devices like geysers, ACs, refrig-erators, TVs – the draw becomes more or less andshows up on your receiver screen. You can pro-

gramme it to show you consumption in units, money or how muchcarbon is being generated due to your electricity usage. Track his-torical data, set alarms and input different tariffs. With additionalaccessories, you can monitor three-phase connections, check con-sumption from anywhere in the world and also have the systememail you a warning whenever energy usage goes haywire.

PLAN OF ACTIONAmazing, right? Yes, but here’s the kicker. You do not get thesedevices in India! If you want to be a self-aware concerned citizen ofthe country, you’ve got to import one of these from Europe. Isn’t itincredible that something so revolutionary, at a price that is afford-able, with functionality that could make a huge difference is notavailable here. My new quest is to ask the government to give awayone of these free with every electricity connection across the nation.If you think that makes sense, do join in by tweeting me with thehandle #freeenergymonitorsindia and let’s get this show on theroad. Else, wait for the next power grid collapse. It’ll take down theentire country and it’s just around the corner.

Rajiv Makhni

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SAVE THE WORLD(AND LOOK GOOD WHILE DOING IT)A singleshard ofsimple technologycould savethe worldand ourpowerlessnation

Rajiv Makhni is managing editor, Technology, NDTV, and the anchor of Gadget Guru,CellGuru and Newsnet 3.Follow Rajiv on Twitter at twitter.com /RajivMakhni

techilicious

LOOK MA, NO WIRES A wireless receiver, a wireless transmitter and asensor that clips to it are allyou need to monitor andconserve energy

MORE POWER TO YOU These devices make youaware, informed andknowledgeable, and giveyou real-time feedback

AUGUST 5, 2012

CARBON CALLINGFind out how much car-bon is generated by your electricity usage

STAY CONNECTEDGet email warnings on usage wherever you are in the world

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AS A COMPULSIVE hoarder of music, Ihave a confession to make. I often acquirealbums and songs that I don’t get down

to listening to. Not even once. Not even cursori-ly. Yes, it’s true and it does make me feel a bit silly. I mean I don’tdisplay my music on racks and shelves as some hoarders of booksdo, ostensibly to impress visitors although they may not haveread even a page of most of them. I can’t really do that, unless Ioffer people my iPods, hard drives and pen drives or a peek intothe virtual cloud – places where most of the music I hoard arestored – but the fact is, I do have countless albums and songsthat I’ve never heard. I’ve downloaded them with all good inten-tions of listening to them but never got around to doing so.

The downside of this habit is that it places undue pressure onthe need to keep adding to storage capacity – more hard drives,more disk space and so on – but there is an upside. Every sooften, while scanning the files that I have in various places, Istumble upon undiscovered gems. So it was, last week, when Ipicked out something that I’d acquired in 2011 but never everplayed. The album is called Making Mirrors by a musician whogoes by the name of Gotye. Gotye is actually the name adoptedby Wally De Backer, a Belgian-Australian musician who playsmany instruments and is a singer and songwriter. Gotye makesmusic that you could call art-pop, a genre that draws influencefrom classical and avant-garde music but also strives for popu-lar appeal. Think Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush or even Jethro Tull– artistes who’ve pushed the limits of rock and roll and unabashed-ly embraced from non-rock, non-pop musical genres such as jazz,

classical or even opera.I know what you must be thinking. Yes, it is true

that art-rock or art-pop can sometimes be a bitpretentious – I don’t care for Peter Gabriel’s music,for instance, although I think Tull’s Thick As Brickis a super album – but that is not the case withGotye’s music. Making Mirrors is a refreshing blendof art and pop and the reason why it is so is per-haps because of the generous quotient of pop inthe blend. Gotye is not ashamed of using large help-ings of pop melodies and catchy tunes in his music.He shouldn’t be too – he has a rather good voiceand sings engagingly. His lyrics aren’t obscure and

esoteric but neither are they low-brow and trite as what is dishedout by today’s crop of best-selling pop musicians.

On Making Mirrors, De Backer or Gotye sings and samples buthe is aided by a group of musicians that range from whale celloplayers and bass guitarists to pedal steel guitarists and trum-peteers. There are keyboards and saxophones and synths anddubbing (that last thing refers, of course, to remixing of samplesin a manner that originates in reggae music).

Gotye is wildly promiscuous when it comes to the kind of musi-cal genres he dips into – there is ambient space music on hisalbum, psychedelic rock influences, electronica and even songsthat sound as if they’re a modern-day version of good old folksyballads. It helps, as I said, that he has a great voice. On the dozensongs that make up Making Mirrors, there’s never a moment thatmade me bored or want to skip a tune. The music on every oneof those songs is well wrought and, okay, ‘arty’ too, but never self-indulgent as art-pop can often painfully become. That’s proba-bly because Gotye is not shy about the pop part of art-pop. Butpop that even the most snobbish of music aficionados won’t turntheir noses up at. On Making Mirrors, Gotye has a song with atitle that I found apt as a comment for his music. It’s called Don’tWorry We’ll Be Watching You. I certainly will be watching him.

To give feedback, stream or download the music mentioned in this column, go tohttp://blogs.hindustantimes.com/download-central, follow argus48 on Twitter

SanjoyNarayan

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STATE OF THE ARTGotye (above) makes music that you could call art-pop,a genre that draws influence from classical and avant-garde music but also strives for popular appeal

SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KNOWArt-pop can sometimes bea bit pretentious, although I think Jethro Tull’s (below,right) Thick As Brick(below) is a super album

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POP MELODIES,CATCHY TUNES

Belgian-Australiansinger Gotyeis wildlypromiscuouswhen itcomes to thekind of musical genres hedips into

THE JUKEBOX

By the time you read this, this year’s two-day Newport Folk Festival

would have been over. This year it marks the 100thbirth anniversary of Woody Guthrie, the Americanlegend who has influenced countless musicians.But every year, the Newport Folk Fest pushes thelimits of the folk music genre (remember, Dylanwent infamously electric at a Newport Folk Festgig). This year, besides great music from bandssuch as Wilco and My Morning Jacket’s Jim James,look out for Charles Bradley, the veteran R&Bsinger, and tUnE-yArDs. That quirkily cased lastband is a project by a talented musician named

MMeerrrriillll GGaarrbbuuss (left).Her music has R&Broots but has beenclassified by some asWonky Pop. If youmissed listening tostreams from New-port this year, thereare links in the webversion of DC thatyou could check out.

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DID YOU know that the oldest person toever win an Olympics medal was a 73-year-old British graphic artist called John

Copley? And that he won the silver medal for etch-ing in the 1948 London Olympics? Yes, that’s right.Etching. That was an Olympic category back inthe day, along with literature, architecture, musicand town planning. (I can just about imagine theDoordarshan commentary as these contests gotunder way.)

I don’t know about you, but this bit of Olympictrivia left me longing for a simpler world in whichpeople weren’t so hung up on sporting talent – atwhich we are, quite frankly, completely rubbish– but had time to appreciate the finer things oflife. Like... er... etching.

Now, I’m not sure that any of us would do verywell in the town-planning department (just drivearound any modern Indian city if you don’t believeme) but there are some areas in which our teamswould be an absolute shoo-in for the gold. So, maybesometime in the distant future, when all those ghast-ly memories of the Delhi Commonwealth Gameshave faded and India is hosting the Olympics, we could smugglein some of these non-sporting categories so that our boys and girlscan, at long last, improve on our medals tally.

Here are just a few ideas, off the top of my head. Feel free toadd to the list, and we’ll petition the Indian Olympic Associationin good time.

WHININGI’m not dead set on ‘Whining’, you understand. You could call

it ‘Outraging’ or even the more boring ‘Complaining’. But no mat-ter how it is titled, I’m pretty sure we would make a clean sweepof this category every four years. After all, this doesn’t require uni-forms, special training equipment or large stadiums to practise in.We can all hone our talents in front of the television set, on socialmedia, at office, while shopping. Hell, we could even put in a cou-

ple of hours of practice whilecommuting back and forth fromwork. And God knows, we’vebeen doing just that for yearsand years. So, let’s not let all thatgood work go to waste. Let’s atleast get a medal or two for ourplaints.

MUSICAL CHOREOGRAPHY

Nobody does the choreo-graphed musical number bet-ter than Bollywood. Andthanks to all those dance showson TV like Jhalak Dikhhla Jaaand Dance India Dance (orwhatever else they’re calledthis season), the jhatka-matkaschool of modern dancing has

taken root in our hearts – and our feet – as well.Rare is the Indian who can sit still when Hindimusic begins to blare. So let’s give those pelvicthrusts an Olympic category of their own. Andsee India shine and shimmy and go for gold.

DRIVING RECKLESSLYBy that I don’t mean driving fast on Formula

One tracks (because, yes, we are pretty rubbish atthat too) but driving recklessly: Taking turns with-out using the indicator; fender-bending withpanache; braking suddenly, changing lanes withabandon, and never ever taking your finger off thecar-horn. I’m just thinking aloud here but maybeall of these could be sub-categories in this compe-

tition. And I’m quite sure the Indians would make a clean sweepof all of them.

EATING DEEP-FRIED SNACKSWe have a pan-national advantage in this sport, with every

region in India having its own deep-fried speciali-ties. If the Bengalis have their luchis and the

Punjabis their paranthas, the UP bhaiyas havetheir kachoris and chaats. The Tamiliansand Kannadigas have their medu vadas,the Maharashtrians their chaklis, the Mala-yalis their banana chips. I could go on but

I’d then have to take a break to have a deep-fried snack of my own. Maybe I should do that

– get in some early practice on the off-chance thatI make it to the final squad. It may be my only hope

of ever winning a gong.

SEXUAL HARASSMENTYou know we’d be brilliant in this category, don’t you? Come

on, admit it. All those decades of practice at whistling at the ladiesas they walk down the road, groping them when they travel inpublic transport, harassing them at the workplace, molestingthem when they have the temerity to go out at night, raping themwhen they ‘ask’ for it, all of it would pay off finally. Score!

Then, of course, there are the minor categories, like hagglingfor a good price, making tall promises that we know that we cannever keep, and that old Indian chestnut, ‘jugaad’, which we areso inordinately proud of. And let’s not forget ‘late-coming’ as well.

The only problem with the last though, is that given our atti-tude to time-keeping, the competition will probably not start untilthe next Olympic Games roll around. And then, they’ll be heldin some stupidly-sporty nation like Australia or Germany, and itwill all be over for us and our Olympic hopes.

seema_ht@rediffmail.com. Follow Seema on Twitter at twitter.com/seemagoswami

SeemaGoswami

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BECAUSE WE ARELIKE THAT ONLY...Some‘Olympiccategories’in which Indians could go for gold

BOLLYWOOD MODEThanks to dance shows onTV like Jhalak Dikhhla Jaaand Dance India Dance thejhatka-matka school ofmodern dancing has takenroot in our hearts – and ourfeet – as well

LANE CHANGERSI’m quite sure Indians would make aclean sweep in driving recklessly

AUGUST 5, 2012

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If you weren’t a musician you wouldhave been?A mountaineer. What part of economics (that youstudied in college) helps you withyour music?When I am chased for payments.What inspires you?The very fact that Earth is theonly planet that has life, makesme feel incredible.Making music is your profession. Does listening to music become a chore?Listening is a simultaneousprocess. Music is my passionand not a job for me.What can you live in? Hawaii chappals.Are a lot of women impressed by aman who knows his music?Yes. The kind of music that Ihave done needs a certainamount of intellectualism.

The newest gadget that you’ve acquired?A telescope. I like astronomy.What kind of movies doyou like watching – a hinterland gangster flicklike Gangs of Wasseypuror the low-budget, realistic Vicky Donor?I am quite happy witha film like VickyDonor.One song that always liftsyour spirits?“Zindagi Kaisi HaiPaheli...” from thefilm Anand.Your favourite jingle/adKal Bhi Aaj Bhi…the jingle for aVIP luggage commercial.Live music vs recording?Live music – the atmosphere isreal and charged up.

Your 3 am friend?My iPod.What touches your heart?

A great melody. Your favourite hangoutin Delhi?Hauz Khas Village.The best street food ofDelhi that makes younostalgic?Shakkar Kandi.What makes your day?Having my friendsover with no agenda in mind.The last thing youbought for under `10? Five lemons.Your favourite travel

destination?Leh. Just came back fromthere recently.

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if i could...

SUPPORT AND REVIVE THEFOLK MUSICIANS OF INDIA

They are in a pathetic state atthe moment

TRAVEL TOTHE MOON

AUGUST 5, 2012

I WOULD WORK AS A CHEFIN A MICHELIN-STARRESTAURANT

Music Director

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I WOULD CLIMB MOUNTEVEREST

I really enjoy mountaineering

—Interviewed by Veenu Singh

A MUSICAL YOU’DHAVE LOVED TO BEASSOCIATED WITH

The Sound of Music

FIRSTBREAK Bole MereLips... the jingle for theUncle ChippsAd

SUN SIGNAquarius

BIRTHDAYJanuary 22

SCHOOL/COLLEGESpringdales School,Pusa Road, DeshbandhuCollege, Delhi

PLACE OF BIRTHLucknow

LOW POINTOF YOUR LIFELeaving Delhi

HIGH POINTOF YOURLIFE Being accepted as amusic directorby my father

HOMETOWNDelhi

CURRENTLY DOINGCoke Studio Season 2 withMTV, and SudhirMishra’s next film

Shantanu Moitra