I-DAY SPECIAL - DLF Vijay Diwas: (L to R) ... I-DAY SPECIAL COVER STORY “Patriotism means keeping personal interests in mind while also contributing towards the nation

YOUNG ACHIEVER ARNAV BHARADWAJ

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`50 August 2015 Vol. 9 Issue 5

I-DAY SPECIALWHAt PAtRiotismmeANs to GuRGAoN’s

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WINE & DINE Sunday BrunchBecomes the New BuzzwordAround TownP-48

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I August 2015 I 03CitynewsDLF

With Independence Day upon us, there is patrio-tism in the air. And nowhere is this love for the country more evident than among our youngsters. In our Cover Story, we get them talking about what patrio-tism means to them and how they view the sacrifices made by members of our Armed Forces. One of them tells us that patriotism is “staying in my country and believing that I will get the best of everything here”.

DCN talked to them before former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam breathed his last. The man who dreamt of a better India driven by the youth would have been happy to hear what they have to say. RIP, Dr Kalam.

We also bring you stories of determination and a burning desire to succeed. These are the traits which have made young Arnav Bharadwaj a tennis champion at the age of 16. Somewhat similar is the story of 12-year-old Rubina Khan who has overcome a physical challenge to shine in the class-room and outside. Both feature in our People section.

In our Sport section, we meet swimmers making a mark at the national and international levels with support from tal-ented coaches.

In Wine & Dine, we talk about the new buzz in town, the Sunday Brunch. Hotels, restaurants and clubs across the city are working hard to design a special experience for the entire family

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CONNECTING GURGAON

I N S I D E

August 2015 VOL 09 Issue 5

Faces

Sport Swimming 38

66 Last WordThe chemistry between Ranvir Singh and Deepika Padukone is difficult to miss

22 Arnav BharadwajThe Haryana no. 1 in Under-16 tennis is gearing up for the Junior Slams next year

26 Rubina KhanA vision problem has not stopped this 12-year-old from achieving success

28 Viraf SarkariThe Wizcraft founder director is proud thatGurgaon is home to the Kingdom of Dreams

34 Events Calendar

34 Land of Joy

59 Helpline

60 Status of Projects

61 The City Elders

65 Movie Previews

Talented swimmers from across the city are making a mark at the national and international levels thanks to the training being provided by some seasoned coaches

Communities 18Members of Gurgaon’s North East community talk about what they like about the city and the challenges they face

30 Office SpacesWe explore the latest trends in office interiors which are all about being lively and colour-ful yet classy and comfortable

16 City UpdateWith facilities for health and fitness as well as leisure, city condominiums redefine what good living is all about

35 NeighbourhoodCommunity level compost-

ing and waste management project launched in DLF Phase I

MUST READ

Transit Lounge 62Rachaittri Gupta talks about reprising Vidya Balan’s role in the theatrical adaptation of Hamari Adhuri Kahaani

36 Singing for a Cause Corporate leaders come together to raise funds for critically-ill children

42 DLF FoundationSummer workshop

organised for students and parents to nurture talent

MUST READ

Travel 44Pushkar, with its natural beauty and colourful cultural events, pampers you with the flavours of Rajasthan. A visit to the Dargah in Ajmer is a deeply satisfying spiritual experience

64 The Bhaijaans!SRK and Salman Khan

set Twitter abuzz with friendly exchanges on Eid

MUST READ

CitynewsDLF

Feature Bollywood Social 53 Wine & Dine Sunday Brunch 48Social sites emerge as a strong influence on movie buffs; bring stars closer to their fans

Hotels and restaurants offer a wide range of options as Sunday Brunch becomes the new buzzword

Inside Front Cover >>> Page 24-25 >>>

06 I August 2015 I CitynewsDLF

Do you feel a surge of patriotism on hearing the strains of the national anthem? Do you love seeing those Armed Forces recruitment advertisements on television that show images of young soldiers protecting the nation on land, sea and air?

These were the thoughts that ran through our minds as we spoke to young people from Gurgaon on the eve of Independ-ence Day.

WHAT PATRIOTISM MEANS

Eighteen-year-old Agrima Mehlawat believes patriotism means “standing by my citizens and supporting my country in every possible manner”. She respects the Armed Forces because she considers them ‘the reason for which we enjoy freedom and comfort’. She asserts that she would definitely join the Armed Forces given a chance and would love to be part of the Air Force.

City youngsters show that they have their heart in the right place as they talk about their country and the men in uniform who protect them by DCN BUREAU

I-DAY SPECIALCOVER STORY

Patriotic Fervour Defines Youth


Kargil Vijay Diwas: (L to R) Defence Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar, Army Chief General Dalbir Singh, Vice Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral P Murugesan and Air Chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha pay homage to martyrs at Amar Jawan Jyoti, India Gate, New Delhi, on July 26


Her friend Vrinda Dogra, also a teen-ager, adds a new dimension to patriotism as she says, “I’ll help by contributing to-wards the economic growth. Patriotism to me means my bit to develop my coun-try intellectually. Factors such as devel-opment and education matter too. I’m extremely proud of my country’s culture and people. I find my people to be friend-ly, helpful and good at heart”.

INDIA FIRSTFor Pearl Kakar, who is studying BCom.

(Hons.), “Patriotism is staying in my

country and believing that I will get the best of everything here”. She believes that her country is the best in every field and has a lot of potential to grow in all aspects. She therefore feels sad about the brain drain and believes that too many people are going abroad for higher edu-cation and to find jobs.

She is all praise for the Armed Forces as she says, “It’s a big sacrifice they’re making. They have to stay away from their families and survive in adverse conditions. They protect us 24/7. I sa-lute them!” While she would love to be a


“Patriotism means keeping personal interests in mind while also contributing towards the nation. As in, keeping it clean, not indulging in corrupt practices, following rules and so on”

Nimish Beriwal B. Com student

“Patriotism is a feeling of inexpressible emotions towards one’s country. It is more like working hard without expecting anything in return but sacrificing everything for the country”

Karishma Asoodani Mass Communication student

“Patriotism is the love and attachment towards one’s motherland. It is not like patriotism can be shown only if you join the Armed Forces. It’s a feeling you can express on a day to day basis in whatever field you are working in. Patriotism is all about pride, love and respect towards one’s country and it has no bounds”

Rohan Ahuja BTech Student

File photos of Independence Day celebrations in Gurgaon last year

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part of the Armed Forces, she admits, “I have my own dreams and aspirations to do something in the corporate world. I’ll contribute by helping the economy grow”.

Seventeen-year-old Sunaina Mathur goes a step further when she says that patriotism means unconditional love for one’s country and people. It implies be-ing true and honest to one’s fellow citi-zens and doing one’s work with honesty and sincerity. For Sunaina, that amounts to contributing in a positive manner.

She is completely bowled over by the Armed Forces and admires the sacri-fices that they make for the country. She goes on to explain how “the eco-nomic and social aspects are just as important as safety and security of a country”. She has also written a poem for this issue (see box).

LOYALTY AND PRIDE

School student Raaghav Goel adds, “Patriotism is attachment or devotion to one’s country. For me, it means working for the benefit of the country as a whole.” He is proud of the Armed Forces and says, “I salute them! What they’re doing is really commendable. Their lives are so unpredictable and they do all this just for our safety”.

He cannot bring himself to volunteer to join the forces and says honestly, “I’d love to! Unfortunately I’m not as brave and I will not be able to put my family through all the torture. But, I will definitely con-tribute positively to my society”.

Angad Singh Likhari, a BBA and LLB student, is equally enthusiastic as he says, “Patriotism, the word itself makes me think of people full of loyalty and

pride. It also makes me think of those who fought and sacrificed their lives for the freedom of their country.”

In a similar vein, 17-year-old Rishi Chawla adds, “Being true to one’s country, understanding how the culture and heritage works is what patriotism is all about. One should be proud of one’s country wherever one goes.”BEYOND SYMBOLISM

Nikita Sharma, a Journalism student, explains patriotism by quoting US President Barack Obama. “In the face of impossible odds, people who love their country can change it.”

Nikita, who firmly believes in this statement, goes on to add that patriotism is not just a moment for her. “It isn’t just about singing Vande Matram on 15th August or dancing on 26th Jan-uary. It has a lot more of passion to it. You keep on saying “I love my India” and go gaga over it, that’s not my way of being a patriot. It is when I help a foreign tourist with the language maybe... or when I admire the natural beauty of my country that I feel like a patriot. Despite being born in Kuwait, I still take pride when I see the Tricolour furling. Those men stand-ing on the border risking their lives for us teach me patriotism

better than any apex powers,” she sums it up.

ADMIRING THE FORCESNikita claims she loves the Indian Armed Forces and explains

that she was going through the web one day and found out that famous TV presenter Bear Grylls wanted to be a part of the In-dian Armed Forces. “It is not easy to leave your wife, mother, kid... your entire family and go to a place where you have noth-ing around you but mud. It could be frozen lakes too. You never know what comes next to you. Risking your life for people un-known to you, says it all,” she points out.

She is also keen to be a part of the Armed Forces if given an opportunity. “I would be the happiest soul on earth to be a part of the forces. Anything for soldiers,” she adds.

Eighteen-year-old Swaraj Kumar, a student of Computer En-gineering, strikes a similar note as he says, “I am extremely proud of the Armed Forces and I am interested in joining too. In fact, I have already applied for the engineering branch of Navy and got shortlisted for the interview. So, I guess I’m doing my part for the country.” ø

12 I August 2015 I CitynewsDLF I August 2015 I 13 CitynewsDLF

ARMY OFFICERS’ WIVES

IN GURGAON SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCES

Mukti Suhag“My father was in the Navy and he wanted

me to marry someone in the Indian Army. Being in the Army is not materialistic or glamorous. It’s a job that only a selfless and altruistic soul can do. I’m immensely proud of my husband!

I have two daughters. The Indian Army is not very open towards women. Women are allowed to work temporarily for a period of ten years only. But if my daughters wanted to join the Army, I’d definitely support them!

I feel proud when I tell people about my husband’s profession. It’s something that everyone admires and respects. I feel great when people praise my husband.

Being in the Army has its pros too! He keeps getting posted to different regions. We get to travel with him sometimes. That’s how we spend time together. “

Meeru Pande “Everyone respects and acclaims Army

officers. Staying away from my husband has made me stronger and independent

too. Although the physical life of soldiers is quite difficult, it really builds up your per-sonality.

The new generation is more materialistic and inclined towards the corporate world. If my children are willing to follow their fa-ther’s profession, I would undoubtedly sup-port them!

I certainly feel proud of my husband all the time. Army officers are not just strong and brave but are also generally very well disciplined and courteous. I feel anxious when the Army actually moves to the bor-der for war.”

ODE TO A SOLDIER SUNAINA MATHUR, 17

To protect this nation that we call homeA soldier fights with his heart and soul; To ensure that we sleep peacefully at nightHe puts in jeopardy his precious life; In mountains, deserts, scorching heat and heavy rain, The soldier survives, while enduring much pain; Those who gave up their life did not die in vain,Fondly and reverently we remember their name; These mortals have become immortal at last,For their names are inscribed forever in our heart.


Passing out of NDA in 1995 and IMA in 1996, this third genera-

tion soldier was commissioned in 13 Punjab ( Jind) of the Indian Army.

Through his military genius and his ability to gather information em-

ploying unorthodox and innovative tactics, Lt Atul Katarya became

the bane of insurgents and terrorists in the Kashmir Valley.

It was on 14th October, 1998, during a mission in Sangarwani area of

Pulwana district that Lt Katarya charged into a militant hideout with

his gun blazing till a hail of enemy bullets caught him.

In memory of their warrior hero, Gurgaon has a Lt Atul Katarya

Chowk and the Lt Atul Katarya Memorial School run by his parents.

In an exclusive interview, Colonel Dhanraj Katarya talks about his

son and the Armed Forces.

Tell us something about Lt Atul Katarya. Atul was a very venturesome and bold person and had an abso-

lute zeal for volunteering and taking up new challenges. He was very passionate about his profession.

What do you think about the Indian Armed Forces today?

I think joining the Armed Forces is still the best profession! It is the only profession in which even after one retires, one is addressed by the rank. I agree that it’s a risky and difficult profession, but that applies for all professions. There is risk in everything. Besides, being in the Army has an impact on your overall personality. Unlike most materialistic people, a person working in the Army is selfless, patient and spiritual.

Are the students of Lt Atul Katarya Memorial School en-couraged to join the Armed Forces?

I will certainly encourage children to join the Armed Forces. There are many benefits of joining the Army. Besides retaining the rank and identity post retirement, this profession gives im-mense satisfaction of serving the nation. Additionally one gets posted to a different place after every two years. A soldier’s life is a great adventure. Our students are undoubtedly more patri-otic. Although the school has classes only till the tenth grade, we keep encouraging our students to join the Armed Forces. The students know about Atul and how he sacrificed his life for the country. He is a source of inspiration for them!

GURGAON’S HERO Lt Atul Katarya

LT ATUL KATARYA

WAS BORN ON

FEBRUARY 21, 1975

IN GURGAON TO

PROUD PARENTS

SUMITRA KATARYA

AND

COL DHANRAJ

KATARYA



DLF condominiums like Hamilton Court, Richmond Park, Regency Park 1 and II, Ridgewood Estate, Belvedere Tower and Regent House in Phases 2 and 4 are popular among those looking for two or three bedroom apartments. While there is no compromise on lush green landscaping or fresh air, facilities like power back up, lifts and strict security make them attractive choices!

All these condominium also offer sports facilities like a tennis court, swimming pool, an area for kids to play and a well-equipped gymnasium. For the people who love to indulge in books, an updated library serves the purpose. All meetings

and family functions are celebrated in the community centre. Most condomini-ums realise the importance of water har-vesting and follow guidelines for waste management for the segregation and dis-posal of waste.

COMMUNITY LIVINGA long-time resident shares her feedback as she tells us, “I’ve lived in Regency Park for few years now and feel content with the various services and facilities that the complex offers. The maintenance up-keep and services provided in the complex are laudable. The best part of living in Regency Park is the sense of community

The Good Life InDLF Condominiums

DLF CITY IS SYNONYMOUS WITH CONDOMINIUM LIFESTYLE AND RESIDENTS SWEAR BY THE GOOD LIFE THAT COMES WITH IT. by DCN BUREAU

Park Place offers residents the best in comfort and luxury

Regency Park provides a sense of togetherness


living and togetherness of the residents. All festivals are celebrated with fun and frolic. Apart from traditional festivals like Diwali, Holi and Durga Puja, other fiestas are also planned. The flea market, which is organised once in every three months, is one of my favourites. Other events such as football matches, dance and painting com-petitions for kids are also frequently ar-ranged. One thing unique to Regency Park is that the RWA organises latest Bollywood movie shows in the lawn when the weather is pleasant.”

She is happy that there is a grocery store, a beauty salon, laundry service and a tailor in the apartment complex. “We are also very friendly with resi-dents of the neighbouring apartments. Residents of Regency Park are invited and welcomed to functions organised by Hamilton Court and Windsor Court and vice versa,” she adds.

HIGH-END LIVING DLF5 is synonymous with luxury and boasts of fully loaded condominiums. Says Arati Bhatia (a resident of K block in Park Heights), “I’ve lived in The Park Place (Park Heights) for almost two years now. Everything here is extremely com-fortable and convenient. There’s a beau-ty salon, grocery store and a dry cleaner too in the complex. My neighbours are very friendly and helpful. We have a group on Whatsapp in which everyone keeps posting about all the new facilities and services available and required. For

instance, if somebody needs a servant/ driver she sends a message in the group chat. In this manner all our requirements are fulfilled instantly. One of the best qual-ities of Park Place is that people here are independent. People take initiative them-selves to arrange everything.”

She goes on to add that she loves the air-conditioned corridors and the security in Park Place. “The lawns are also very well-maintained. The view from my balcony is spectacular. I hope no more building comes up in the area after Crest because that will spoil the view. Also, many people, who are not residents, are allowed to use the club and basketball and tennis courts. I wish only residents were allowed to use all these facilities. An ATM, a restaurant and covered badminton courts would have made Park Place an ideal place to reside!,” she quips.

Jaya Bhatia, a resident of The Magno-lias shares, “We were among the first few families to move into the Magnolias. While one of my balconies overlooks the pictur-esque golf course, the other overlooks the chaotic road packed with traffic. This dem-onstrates the drastic change living amidst the golf course brings into our lives. Liv-ing in Magnolias separates us from the usual hustle bustle and noise. My home is a place where I feel safe and relaxed. However, the best part about Magnolias is that everything is available here. Apart from the common facilities that most DLF apartment clubs have, our club also offers a spa and salon, a restaurant, conference

rooms, card rooms, a movie theatre and squash courts. The quality of food at the restaurant and the home delivery ser-vices are praiseworthy. Additionally, if I have any queries, the concierge is ex-tremely helpful. Living in The Magnolias is equivalent to living in a resort!” ø


LIVING TOGETHERCITY UPDATE

The Summit (above) is synonymous with luxury and good living. The Magnolias (right and below) offers a magnificent view of the Golf Course and the best of facilities

Jacinta misses the weather back home in Mizoram

NORTH EASTCOMMUNITIES

Delhi University student Jacinta Lalawmpuii from Mizoram misses home – the beautiful weather there, being able to be out late in the night without fear, the polite people, she says – but this city does have a special place in her heart. “The extreme weather and the autowa-las and shopkeepers who want to make extra money off us are really annoying and I do miss home where even if you roam alone at midnight, nothing bad would happen as people are very helpful and friendly which is not the case here,” Jacinda says, adding, “But most things come easy here. There is an app for cabs, restaurants, clothing, news, blogs and so information is just a click away.”

Of Mizoram, she proudly says, “We have hidden talents in terms of music, fashion, sports and academics and my state in particular has a very high lit-eracy rate. Most important, we unite as people and there are so many things that the big cities can learn from us.”

The community has faced challenges. Dr Alana Golmei, who did her post-doc-toral research in 2011 under the North-east India Studies Program at the School of Social Sciences of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), says there is very little understanding in the north of India about the seven sister states of the North East.

“With over 200 ethnic groups, the North East is a very large community which is clubbed together despite its diversity. People mistake us for Korean, Chinese or Japanese people because of our features

THE NORTH EAST IS FAMOUS FOR ITS NATURAL BEAUTY, RICH CULTURE AND HAPPY, PEACEFUL PEOPLE, MANY OF WHO HAVE CHOSEN TO LIVE IN GURGAON AS THEY EXPLORE NEW EDUCATION AND CAREER OPPORTUNITIES.by DCN BUREAU

Cherishing the Sister States


but they need to have some serious interactions which go beyond the folk songs and dances and understand our food habits, our environment and so on,” says Alana.

A founding member and general sec-retary of the North East Support Cen-tre and Helpline (NESCH) which was launched in 2007, Alana says often the peaceful temperament of people from the North East is mistaken for weakness.

She says that the hurdles she faced when she arrived in 2005, led to her set-ting up the voluntary helpline along with a few friends. “We don’t have technical resources so we are urging the govern-ment to take responsibility and support us with helplines,” Alana says.

There are complaints, Alana says, of discrimination and harassment, both verbal and physical. Many house own-ers, she alleges, harass tenants from the North East as do employers who recruit people and then stop paying salary.

Mathew Kamei, executive member of NESCH, too says that apart from a lan-guage barrier, locals in Gurgaon are of-ten high-handed with people from the North East and do not treat them equally or fairly. Kamei mentions how some of them are struggling with the issues of non-payment of salary as he introduces us to his friends and colleagues Apam, Thangminlen, Simon and Edward.

Ravi Singh, a 37-year-old steward from Assam who works in a Sector 29 eatery, is more vocal as he says, “Imagine living in a place where discrimination is a part of everyday life, where people stare at you for your different looks and where

DR ALANA GOLMEI“We don’t have

technical resources so we are urging the government to takeresponsibility andsupport us with

helplines,” Alana says.

Dr Alana Golmei set up a helpline



“Everyone loves their roots and As-sam is a truly enchanting place with a unique and diverse culture that is a mix of hills, valleys and rivers.” He speaks in glowing terms of the friendly vibes Bor (greater) Assamese which are based not on caste but on community.

While he agrees that there are inci-dents of discrimination, he also believes that assimilation is a two-way street and blending with the local ethos is a neces-sity. “As the North East has limited eco-nomic opportunities, most of us have chosen to come to the North so the onus is also on us to assimilate and adapt”.

He gets nostalgic about cuisine from the North East and talks of the umbilical

cord with food, particularly his favour-ite fish preparations. While he now has easy access to pithas which he craved for during his college years and the rice preparations traditionally eaten during Bihu, he really misses the local rice brew called xaaj which is loved by teetotalers as well as lovers of alcohol as it is a tra-ditional drink. Farahnaz Arif, a homemaker who

has spent a large part of her college years in the North East and is now liv-ing away from her hometown, shares some special memories of Assam

“North East in general and Assam in particular is a beautiful state with a lot of natural beauty. In the higher regions

as we approach Shillong there are lots of pine trees and the beautiful Barapa-ni Lake. Upper Assam is also beautiful with lots of tea gardens and small riv-ers. I must mention the oil town of Dig-boi where the first oil well in Asia was drilled and the first refinery was started as early as 1901. Digboi is a hilly town with beautiful bungalows, wide roads and also a golf course.

Assam has a rich culture dominated by music. My personal favourite is Late Dr. Bhupen Hazarika who is a talented musi-cian, singer, poet and film maker. His songs are acknowledged as having introduced the culture and folk music of Assam and the North East to Hindi Cinema ø

People from Assam miss the tea gardens and the state’s rich culture

Memories of AssamMUKUL GOGOI, DIRECTOR WITH TRANSBIZ ASSOCIATION WHICH WORKS IN THE NORTH EAST REGION, HAS BEEN LIVING IN GURGAON WITH HIS FAMILY FOR MANY YEARS. HE IS VERY FAMILIAR WITH THE NORTH AS HIS COLLEGE YEARS AND CAREER KEPT HIM AWAY FROM ASSAM

you have to pay a higher rent than others because of your ethnicity. For us, this is a daily affair.” Santosh Neupane, a student too alleges, “Finding a place to live in can also be a tough task as people from the North East are asked to pay higher rent.”

Kamei says members of the commu-nity prefer bringing complaints of even crime to his organisation rather than go straight to the police as they face a language problem. “Gurgaon constables prefer to speak in the local dialect, unlike Delhi, where they speak in Hindi or Eng-lish,” he says.

But things are improving and Gur-gaon is taking steps to try and win the confidence of the north eastern commu-nity through awareness. The police have

launched a dedicated NE helpline and are appointing a nodal officer for it

Archita Bhardwaj, another young stu-dent from Assam, says the exposure the city has provided her has helped her grow as a person, which wouldn’t be pos-sible back home.

But she misses the fresh air in Assam and says, “The pollution levels stun me as does the weather.” Also, Archita says, the discrimination hurts.

Even many educated people here, she points out, are ignorant about the North East region and don’t know even basic things like the capitals of the states. “Maybe it is their ignorance which makes them adopt a discriminatory at-titude,” she adds

Archita sums up the dilemma of the community when she says, “The variety of food here is to die for and I love shop-ping in these amazing stores with my beautiful friends. I also am in love with the nightlife here. My friends here have been really welcoming and supportive; they just make it easier to stay away from home. Yes, there is variation, but it exists not because of the region but because of differences among people.” ø

(Reported by Meenakshi Sharma with inputs from Himaadri Sharma

and Rahul Ahuja)

NORTH EASTCOMMUNITIES

LANGUAGE BARRIERMathew Kamei, executive member of NESCH,

says that apart from a language barrier, locals in Gurgaon are often high-handed with people

from the North East and do not treatthem equally or fairly

Mathew Kamei and his friends are part of the North East Helpline which helps the police in redressing complaints


ARNAV BHARADWAJYOUNG ACHIEVER

Arnav recalls how his parents stood by him like a rock and guided him to do better on the tennis court

SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD ARNAV BHARADWAJ, WHO EATS, DRINKS AND SLEEPS TENNIS AND IS THE NUMBER ONE PLAYER IN HARYANA, IS BUSY GEARING

UP FOR THE JUNIOR SLAMS NEXT YEARby TANISHA GUPTA

At the age of four, kids learn to hold a pencil but this boy chose to swing a racquet instead. No wonder, at 16, Arnav Bharadwaj is already a national-level lawn tennis player, holding the Number 1 rank in Har-yana and an All-India rank of 17 in the Boys U-16.

Arnav, who is also the Vice Sports Captain of his school, Delhi Public School (DPS) Sector 45, Gur-gaon, recalls that he was just six when he got rec-ognition in this sport by playing for under-6 and under-8 tournaments. He has come a long way since then, having won the AITA Championship Series U-18 Doubles and Singles, AITA TS U-18 tourna-ment, Wohrle Cup, DLF men’s tournament and the Boys U-14 tournament among others.

Arnav calls his road to success a ‘rollercoaster ride’ with its share of ups and downs. He firmly be-lieves that the journey for a sportsman can never be smooth and easy. “I remember there was a time when I was playing extremely well and winning all my matches. Suddenly, things went downhill. After losing a couple of matches, my confidence was shak-en and I was demotivated. But I managed to realise that winning is not everything. Hence, I continued playing and giving my 101% without thinking about the results,” he recalls.

Arnav fondly recalls how his parents stood by him like a rock and continued guiding him to do better all along this journey. They encouraged him to con-vert his dream into a reality without letting him give up. Arnav’s mother, Neena Bharadwaj says, “It feels proud to see my son as a national player. I will never stop supporting him, come what may. I have never had any apprehensions or second thoughts about him pursuing his dreams. In fact, despite a busy training schedule, he manages to balance his studies with sports, which is just commendable. His accomplishments are a matter of pride for our fam-ily and his school”.

Arnav is equally grateful as he thanks his teachers and principal for their cooperation and understand-ing. “I am fortunate that I score well by just studying a day or two before the main exams. My school has defi-nitely reduced my tension by allowing me to focus on the training and practices. I work really hard so that their efforts don’t go waste,” he points out.

Arnav, who recently visited Germany for two months to train and participate in tournaments, be-lieves international exposure is essential these days for grooming a sportsman. “The experiences that I gained over those two months have indeed benefit-ted me and made me a better player,” he points out.

On his future plans, the young lad tells us that he is working hard to play for the Junior Slams next year. He has also set his sights on playing for his country. DCN wishes him all the best for the future and hopes to see him with another winner’s trophy soon ø

A BOND on & off the COURT!

RIGOROUS TRAININGLike many budding tennis players, Arnav considers Roger Feder-

er his idol and in order to be like the maestro himself, this young lad undergoes hard-core fitness training. “I follow various work-outs consisting of cardio, push ups and the likes but I mainly focus on squats and dead lifts as it strengthens my muscles and increases my stamina,” he explains.

If you have to be the best, you must beat the best and for that one has to practice.

The young champ begins his day early in the morning, with a thorough warm up followed by tennis matches with other players in his academy. Then follows his fitness workout after which he has an individual session with his coach, wherein he works on his weaknesses and strengths.

When it comes to the diet he follows, Arnav places protein shakes as the top-most priority to keep him healthy and ensures a high intake of proteins and vitamins in his diet to fight his opponents! When he is off the field, he likes to listen to music, read inspira-tional books and play football.

I August 2015 I 23CitynewsDLF22 I August 2015 I CitynewsDLF

She was barely four when tragedy struck and she partially lost vision in her left eye in a freak accident. Eight years on, this young girl is busy craft-ing her own path to success, winning scholarships, medals and accolades!

Rubina Khan, for sure, is not one to back down. She had accidentally poked herself in the eye with a syringe when she was playing. That incident did change her life but not her aspirations. Today, even though she can barely see with her left eye, the 12-year-old has earned the distinction of being one of the brighter students of her class.

A grade five student of government-aided Happy School in DLF Phase I, Gurgaon, Rubina strives to utilise all

12-YEAR-OLD RUBINA KHAN, WHO FINDS IT DIFFICULT TO SEE WITH HER LEFT EYE, IS ONE OF THE MOST

OUTSTANDING STUDENTS OF HER CLASS. SHE HAS EARNED A SCHOLARSHIP FOR HERSELF TILL

HER POST-GRADUATION

by SUNAINA MATHUR

the opportunities provided to her by the school. She likes to draw and paint, dance and sing, and participate in various competitions and events organised by the school. She also loves to take part in sports, basketball and kho kho being her favourite activities. She has been active-ly participating in athletic events such as Sports Day since she was in grade two and has also been awarded a number of medals, trophies and certificates for her outstanding performance in relay, hur-dle races and long jump.

Apart from being a remarkable ath-lete, Rubina is also a sincere and hard-working student. While she works hard on all her subjects, Mathematics and Science are her favourites and she as-

pires to become a doctor one day.That she is a dedicated and focused stu-

dent is also evident from the fact that she has managed to earn a scholarship for herself. Rubina had a high score of 98th percentile in an IQ (Intelligence Quotient) test arranged by Mensa. This ensured that she has been awarded a full scholarship from grade six on-wards; till the time she completes her post -graduation. This means her edu-cation will be completely sponsored by Mensa. Additionally, an amount of Rs. 1,000 will be deposited into her student account every month. This money can be used to buy books, stationery and other materials required by her as per the educational needs.

Rubina’s family, her father in par-ticular, is proud of her achievements. Though not well-settled in life, working in a glass shop in Sikandarpur, he gives utmost priority to his children’s educa-tion. Rubina has three siblings; an el-der sister and two brothers and she is an inspiration for all of them.

Despite all the difficulties she faces eve-ry day, Rubina manages to not only com-plete her school work but also help her mother with household chores. An inde-pendent and self-reliant girl, Rubina also walks back home from school herself.

Indeed, this young girl has proved that if one wants to achieve something in life, nothing, not even disability, can stand in one’s way ø


RUBINA KHANPEOPLE

Rubina is not only a sincere student, she is also a remarkable athlete

She Has A Bright

Vision ForHer Future

HIGH SCORERThat she is a

dedicated and focusedstudent is also

evident from the fact that she has

managed to earn ascholarship for herself


PEOPLE

FACE OF THE MONTH

PEOPLE

You have reinvented the event management concept. Tell us about this journey? I, along with my partners Andre Timmins and Sabbas Joseph, set up Wizcraft almost 27 years ago. The journey has been amazing. We started off as party organisers executing children parties and theme parties and graduated from time to time. Soon we started executing corporate parties, corporate events, brand activation; TV shows and then moved on to create our own event projects like IIFA, GIMA and the Guild awards. Today, we have 400 ‘wizzes’ working for us in six offices in India, Dubai and Colombo and have business representatives in USA, UK and across the world. We are one of the only companies executing large world class events across the globe.

What have been the challenges and the highlights of Wizcraft? Wizcraft has promoted India, its culture and Indian cinema across the world for the last 16 years via its own brand IIFA weekend and awards and others. Therefore, for us the biggest challenge is to stay on the top by being innovative and making sure that the events we produce are cutting edge, creatively superior and entertaining audiences across the world. We are proud to have conceptualised, produced, executed and directed some of the most prestigious and largest events for our country.

What do you love about Gurgaon? I love the fact that Kingdom of Dreams is in Gurgaon. I love the fact that people staying in Gurgaon are proud to have Kingdom of Dreams in their city. The ‘mera’ Kingdom feeling! Every time they have guests visiting them, they take them to their Kingdom of Dreams. Gurgaon has changed drastically in the last 10 years. I love the space, the living lifestyle and infrastructure.

H e has conceptualised, directed and

produced some of India’s biggest events. Kingdom of Dreams, India’s first live entertainment destination in Gurgaon, was another feather in the cap for Sarkari who believes in creating hi-tech multi-dimensional entertainment experiences for audiences

viraf SARKARI Founder director, Wizcraft International Entertainment


Vibrant Workplaces In Vogue

Office interiors are changing. Stodgy, stiff offices have given way to open and sophisticated designs that liven up the workplace and ensure employee satisfac-tion. Much like a beautiful house does, a smart and exuberant office radiates positive energy, and interior designers are now focusing their attention on the details that make for such work spaces.

DCN speaks to some designers and ar-chitects who are creating modern offices and explain what corporates want today.

A WARM WELCOMEIt is said that the first impression is

the last impression. For an office, the reception area is the first point of con-tact with visitors. Bubble Batra, Direc-tor One and Only Furniture, explains, “The reception area has to be formal yet comfortable. It needs to be aesthetically designed and reflect the company’s phi-losophy. The seating here can be either grouped or segmented depending on the space available with furniture sturdy and easy to maintain. A magazine stand is necessary. Some murals and paintings can adorn the walls, while planters with indoor plants are very refreshing. High quality teak wood can be used here.”

Varun Shrotiya, Director, Studio 13 De-sign Pvt Ltd, says, “Lighting should be designed in such a way so as to give a feeling of space and reassurance. The furniture chosen for the waiting area should ideally be exclusive such as high back leather chairs, rectangular or cres-cent desks or designer tub armchairs for visitors. Also, the company branding manifestation through graphics on the wall adds a calm influence. Many com-panies opt for a wall of fame where all their awards are displayed and this wall acts a feature wall in itself. For the re-ception desk, High Pressure Laminated (HPL) board with veneers or laminates is mostly used these days.”

Pratik Ranjan, Principal Architect and Director, Urban Village, a leading

of corporate offices in the Millennium City, says, “Receptions today are mostly trendy with high-end material specifica-tion like designer ceilings, exclusive re-ception tables with fancy walls includ-ing screens, logo and lounge chairs for waiting.”

THE WALL SAYS IT ALLGone are the days when dull and ex-

tremely formal colours were used on office walls. The current trends are green, orange, pink, red and yellow. Fluorescent colours are also widely ex-perimented with. The colour palette is not only thing that has changed. The material used for cabins has too. “For cabin walls, drywall is a high perfor-mance light weight interior wall system consisting of a GI steel frame. They are strong and robust and can typically last for a lifetime. Moreover, they are water-resistant, can be put up fast and are flex-ible when it comes to creating and divid-ing spaces, allowing easy customisation of interiors,” Varun explains.

He says gypsum partitions are also used extensively to efficiently create and divide spaces in offices. These are easy and quick to build, provide excel-lent acoustic insulation (preventing sound from one room to be heard in an-other) and offer good fire protection.

Glass is another material that can be used to make partition walls while also creating open and lighted rooms. “Its sound-proofing properties allow you to work undisturbed and in peace, which are ideal conditions for offices,” says Varun.

Ranjan says, “Cabins mostly have two

Modern offices ensure open spaces and a feeling of comfort for their employees

INTERIORSLIFESTYLE

MODERN OFFICES HAVE MOVED BEYOND BEING MERE WORK PLACES. A LOT MORE THOUGHT IS NOW BEING GIVEN TO MAKE THEM MORE EXCITING FOR THE EMPLOYEES

AND PLEASING FOR THE VISITORS

by REENA DHANKHER AND TANISHA GUPTA

or three solid walls. Cabin wall on the table side is mostly plain and just has writing glass or pin up board, whereas the opposite (other) side wall is either blank or clad with wall paper and has provisions for putting paintings or cer-tificates. The partition on the entrance side is mostly glass with plain or pat-terned film.”

FURNISH AND FLOURISHOne of the most vital components in

interiors is furniture, which, along with being comfortable, has to also look classy and good. Bubble Batra informs, “The of-fices created by One & Only Legendary

Furniture are not regular traditional modular cubicles but open, spacious areas that offer a creatively intimate and high-performance environment with most of the furniture made of teak wood. Walls are painted in a single light colour like pale linen, beige or cream which gives an elegant look.”

Talking about workstations, Ranjan says, “The conventional furniture used is 45mm/ 25mm partition system. How-ever, now-a-days the trend is a desking system which is more sleek and contem-porary”.

In the present scenario, the furniture used for corporates are mostly modular

which are also easy to lift, shift and ar-range in different environments. Varun informs, “Office furniture is mostly made with traditional material like steel, iron or wood or light weighted plywood. One can disassemble the fur-niture units into smaller parts and can again reassemble the parts to one unit and shift them to different locations too.”

The trend in most multinationals is shifting to providing maximum ben-efit to employees in terms of comfort, health and environment. Ergonomi-cally designed chairs are being used by many employers now to ensure maxi-

INTERIORSLIFESTYLE


mum comfort and convenience. Varun says, “Ergonomic chairs seek to fit the workplace to the worker, not the other way around. The seat height and the backrest are easily adjustable and the backrest has a firm lumbar support”

Bubble Batra adds, “Office furniture is crafted in teak whether it is in classic, period style or based on contemporary modern lines with innovative embellish-ments. In today’s work culture where long hours are spent at work, it is imper-ative that workspaces should offer com-fort and foster creativity and growth. Thus, special attention is paid to the design of worktables, desks and chairs.

The ideas in office furniture are original, yet in harmony with functionality, so the racks, cabinets and sideboards must run on the same theme and design.”

BRAINSTORMING AND BEYOND

Conference rooms, the place where brainstorming and discussions happen and decisions are made, are a key sec-tion of the office. “The conference rooms mostly represent the client’s image and need to flaunt wood-finish conference ta-bles with high-end chairs,” says Ranjan.

Varun details how the conference room has evolved into a hi-tech space with communication not restricted anymore to the people in the room. “We provide visually open conference rooms that are AV equipped, intuitive and easy to use. They allow for effort-less communication of information. We provide fabric panelling along with high-end acoustic ceilings and carpet flooring. Having a buffet table with built-in cabinets gives you a surface for serving beverages or snacks and allows you to neatly put away serving dishes, glassware and cutlery when not in use,” he says. ø

DCN caught up with Kabir Rikhy, one of the directors of Ignition, a newly formed company that provides a collaborative working facility to budding entrepreneurs to network and op-erate. It also gets them access to services at a single stop. Rikhy talks to us about the prac-tices in use by start-ups for office decor.

How have you designed your office?The reception is a preview of the space

inside. The front wall is grey and hosts our logo. The other walls at the reception are dedicated to our partners, inspirational entrepreneurs and the start-ups we have invested in. We wanted to construct the space quickly while keeping the costs in check. Hence cabins were constructed us-ing gypsum partitions, with big glass win-dows in the front giving the room an open feel and allowing light to enter the room. The interior walls are white to give it an open and positive feel while a splash of colour has been added to the door and win-dow panes to give vibrancy. We have ac-cessorised the office with vibrant inspira-tional posters much like the entire space. We also have large (six-eight ft long) blue acrylic boards on the wall.About the furniture you have used.

Instead of going for the typical cubicles which are a little restrictive and perceived as barriers to open communications, we have used face-to-face desks with a shorter pin up board separating the two sides. The workstation desks have a white matt dura-ble laminate which is resistant to scratch-es and have a longer life. The base and legs of the workstations are metal and powder coated white. The pin board separators are a darker shade of blue and the chairs used for the workstations are black (easier to maintain) and functional for longer work hours that most start-ups are investing in today. Larger elements of white, grey and wooden flooring are used throughout the office. What about the meeting room?

The meeting rooms are similar to the cabins but larger; about 8 ft by 3 ft. The rooms are accessorised with colourful inspirational posters. These posters I think have added character to the office and motivate all co-workers. A portable VC with a 42-inch screen is available to all the start ups that are working out of ignition. We also have large orange acryl-ic boards on the wall. Tell us about the cafeteria and the

tea/ coffee corners.The café is designed and inspired by

those across Europe. A white brick wall runs across the space. The tables are custom designed and have a dark-er wood top with black powder coated metal legs. The chairs in the café are metal Tolix which give the café a rus-tic look. Blue, red and grey chairs have been used which are durable and light-weight. The lights are custom designed and we have done wall art on one of the walls in the cafe.

It’s very important to create a collabo-rative workspace that promotes fun and playfulness. The aim is to energise and inspire the people to create and inno-vate. We have multiple break out areas with bean bags to help entrepreneurs relax, communicate and ideate. An-other element that adds positivity to the space is bringing nature indoors. Small indoor plants look great with a white brick wall that runs throughout the office. The aim should be to create a space that allows and fosters creativity and innovation. People should look for-ward to coming to office and spending productive time there

Sleek and contemporary desks are in.Collaborative workspaces include a cafe with a relaxed atmosphere and face-to-face desks

‘Offices Should Be Designed Such So As To Foster Creativity & Innovation’

I August 2014 I 35 CitynewsDLF

EVENTSAROUND TOWN

32 I June 2014 I CitynewsDLF

e v e n t sAUGUST 2015

Eve

ry M

onda

y 7t

h - 2

3rd

Aug

ust

7th

- 17t

h Aug

ust

Dos Burros Every Monday I DLF CyberHub 8 pm Onwards Salsa nights

Kingdom of Dreams Fridays and Saturdays I 6 pm to 7 pm Live dance performance on Bollywood numbers by DC (Dance Café) crew

City Club 3 7th- 16th August I Maulsari 12.30 to 3.30 and 7.00 pm to 11 pm Kebab Promotions

14th – 23rd I Lounge 12.30 pm to 11 pm Whiskey Fusion

15th August I Poolside Lawns AT 9 AM Flag Hoisting

11.00 am to 7 pm

Kite Flying

City Club 4 7th- 16th I Palms 7.30 pm to 11 pm Awadhi Food festival

14th – 17th I Lawns 6 pm to 10 pm Teez Celebrations and Street Food Delight

17th August I Palms 12.30 pm to 3.30 pm Independence Day Brunch Buffet with Kite flying at lawns


Children now have another reason to look forward to a visit to the King-dom of Dreams in the form of Joyland! An amusement and fun zone, Joyland has been specially created to offer a new world of adventure to the kids.

From technology enabled fun rides to a special carnival area, the little ones have a lot to explore in Joyland where they are welcomed by the very popular duo of Poco Loco. Poco, the little mas-cot of Joyland, is a small boy of seven years who lives with his father on a dairy farm. One day on the farm, Poco comes across a baby bull, Loco. The two become bosom pals. The duo believes in fun and frolic and their merry-making is project-ed through the rides. This conceptual merry land is one of the major attrac-tions for children in Joyland.

Joyland also has an enclosed ‘kiddy’ area where children can play Frisbee with their parents. There are also free-wheeling rides, which are a huge at-traction. A blue pool with a boat ride for children is yet another interesting feature. The children’s bouncy is so ap-pealing that even adults can’t stay away from it while the ‘Poco Loco Corner’ is one of the best places to take a selfie!

The fiesta zone is where the kids can recharge their batteries with a variety of snacks from freshly made hot pop corn, juices, cold beverages and the ev-er-popular candy floss. The good thing is that the entire family can snack to-gether at a nominal cost. With so many interesting features, this one surely is a land of joy for the kids as well as their families! ø

by DCN BUREAU

Land Of Joy

For Children

Coming Together For A Good Cause

RESIDENTS OF G & H BLOCKS, DLF PHASE I JOIN HANDS FOR DECENTRALISED COMMUNITY LEVEL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT AND COMPOSTING

by BY DCN BUREAU

Inspired by the Swachh Bharat Abhi-yan, over 600 residents of G & H Blocks of DLF Phase I have launched a commu-nity-level initiative for waste manage-ment by promoting source segregation and composting of horticulture and household food waste.

The Solid Waste Management Project was recently inaugurated by Deputy Commissioner T L Satya Prakash. Also present on the occasion were MCG counsellor Nisha Singh, Director DEDL, Rohit Malik, Col Prithvi Nath from G Block, Subhra Puri of Gurgaon First and Saurav from GreenBandhu Envi-ronment Solutions.

Praising the project, the Deputy Com-missioner said, “This model should be replicated by other communities in Gur-gaon for which the district administra-tion would provide financial incentive.”

Under the project, the residents will carry out segregation of e waste and hazardous waste while the facility cre-ated for waste handling will be managed by RWAs (H Block Residential Commu-nity, G Block Residential Community and Progressive Community Develop-ment Group) with the support of DLF Foundation, DLF City RWA and DEDL.

Equipment and services will be provid-ed by GreenBandhu Environment Solu-tions. The best thing about the project is that the technology used for waste processing will not cause any bad odour or unsanitary conditions, which is nor-mally a concern when such facilities are operated inside residential areas.

Parimal Bardhan, resident of H Block, DLF Phase I, said, “The objective of this activity is to sensitise residents about best practices of solid waste manage-

ment and also help improve the work of rag pickers. This is also to demonstrate that almost 70% of waste generated can be recycled into organic manure follow-ing decentralised approach instead of being dumped or sent to landfill.”

The facility will process nearly 600 kg of horticulture and food waste daily and compost produced from garden and food waste is rich in soil nutrients and good for organic farming. Sudhir Kapoor of DLF City RWA said, “This is part of a process of social change which con-veys that such an initiative can prevent dumping and burning of waste.”

MCG and HUDA are considering the promotion of decentralised waste man-agement and composting by residents as there is an uncertainty regarding restarting of the non-functional Bandh-wari plant ø


IT WAS A MUSICAL EVENING WITH A DIFFERENCE AS CORPORATE LEADERS CAME TOGETHER TO RAISE FUNDS FOR CRITICALLY ILL CHILDREN.by DCN BUREAU

The 13th edition of ‘CEOs Sing for Gen-esis Foundation Kids’, an annual fund-raiser event of the foundation held in Gurgaon last month, saw 13 top leaders crooning to various songs. The event was held to support and raise funds for eight critically ill children.

YM Deosthalee, Chairman & Managing Director, L&T Finance Holdings, called it an excellent concept which helped cor-porate leaders realise their dreams and support a cause at the same time. From foot tapping retro numbers to peppy con-temporary songs, CEOs sang with their heart and soul to raise funds for criti-cally ill underprivileged children.

Siraj A Chaudhry, Chairman, Cargill In-

dia, was excited to sing and had the audi-ence loving his rendition of Muhammad Rafi songs Ek haseen sham ko dil mera kho gaya and Yeh Raat Bheegi Bheegi from the film Chori Chori.

Prema Sagar, Founding Trustee of Genesis Foundation who had organised the event was happy to see the results. “Music, when combined with the joy of giving, creates magic. I can’t thank the immensely talented CEOs enough for their time and for supporting the cause so generously. It was also heartening to see so many people in the audience join our efforts to support critically ill chil-dren,” she said.

Krishnan Chatterjee, Senior Vice Presi-

dent & Head of Strategic Marketing HCL Technologies, Ashim Das, CEO, Mehala Machines India Ltd, Ajay Kaul, CEO, Jubilant Foodworks, Harsh Mahajan, Founder & Chief Radiologist, Mahajan Imaging, and Sanjay Kapoor, Chairman, Micromax Informatics Ltd were all part of the magical evening that made Corpo-rate Gurgaon sing from the heart.

Others who participated for the cause included Balaji, Director Regulatory & External Affairs, Vodafone India Ltd, Vipin Raheja, CMD, Napino Auto and Electronics Ltd, Sonu Talwar, CEO, Nova Fertility Clinic and Ranjan Chopra, CEO, Team Computers who was accompanied by popular jazz artist Valentine Shipley ø

EVENTSAROUND TOWN

by DCN BUREAU

The Singing CEOs of Gurgaon

Coming together: Corporate leaders stepped out of their boardrooms and sang for a cause at a recent fundraiser

Sanjay Kapoor, Chairman, Micromax Informatics Ltd

Valentine Shipley (L) and Ranjan Chopra, CEO, Team Computers

Ashim Das, CEO, Mehala Machines India Ltd


38 I August 2015 I CitynewsDLF I August 2015 I 39CitynewsDLF

Like most boys in his village, Jitendra Sanadhya learnt swimming holding the tails of buffaloes in the jhood (village pond). But not in his wildest of dreams had he thought that one day he would be flying to the United States to participate in the World Police Games!

A labourer in a marble mine in Ra-jasthan, Jitendra was lucky that he had a guide in his elder brother, an excellent swimmer who never got an opportunity to take his talent forward. However, the turning point in Jitendra’s life came

when he met Sandeep Tokas, one of the most renowned swimming coaches of Gurgaon. It was Sandeep who helped Ji-tendra emerge as a swimmer of interna-tional calibre.

Recalling his struggling days, Jitender tells DCN, “With a sick father and fi-nancial problems, I could have never attained this level if my coach had not helped me. He not only made me master strokes and participate in competitions to win awards, he also helped me get a job. Mujhe nahi pata tha ki games se job

bhi mil sakti hai, par Sandeep Tokas sir ne mujhe BSF mein apply karaya, aur aaj main India ko World Police Games mein represent kar raha hun”.

Jitender has already won gold at the All India Police Meet in 50 metres and 100 metres butterfly stroke, considered one of the toughest styles in swimming. “My brother and my coach have been my in-spiration and it is for them that I want to be a winner at the World Police Games,” the young man tells us.

With swimming emerging as a popular

SWIMMINGSPORTS

WITH GURGAON BOASTING OF TALENTED COACHES, SWIMMERS FROM ACROSS THE CITY ARE WORKING HARD TO MAKE A MARK AT BOTH NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LEVELS

by REENA DHANKHER

Coaches, play an important role in training and grooming champions and Sandeep Tokas is another bright exam-ple. When it comes to the success the state of Haryana has achieved in the field of swimming, one cannot but men-tion the contribution of Sandeep. Be-longing to the famous Tokas family from Munirka that has produced world class swimmers like Khajjan Singh Tokas and others, Sandeep has been on a mission mode, creating champions who are ag-gressively racing towards their goals.

In an interview with DCN, he talks about his journey as a coach and the fu-ture aspects for swimmers in Gurgaon. Since when has Gurgaon excelled in

swimming?Till 2008, there was no state or national

level medals with Gurgaon. Shivani Ka-taria was among the initial champions followed by Kunal Thakran, Robin Da-gar, Harshita Shokeen, Shalu Kataria, Gurdeep Gehlot and Nikhil Rana who are currently doing very well. After 2008,

Gurgaon has been on top and remained the champion in Haryana. Couple of years back, Rai used to lead, then Sirsa but now Gurgaon has bagged the first slot followed by Sonepat and Sirsa. To-day, Haryana Swimming Association is extending full cooperation to the district.What goes into making champions?See, some children just play around,

but there are some in which we can identify that zeal to do better. They try and do more lengths and are also keen to improve strokes. That’s where we

identify the need for professional train-ing to these children. Once they are into training mode, we start from basics like building stamina, stroke correction and perfection and then the speed.

For the workout, we make them do ground exercises like jumping, jogging and running, all kinds of flexibilities and strength training. For swimming, we make groups as per abilities of the children. We first concentrate that a child does stroke well and then exerts

pressure slowly. Then we focus on con-ditioning of strokes, hand and leg move-ments and during that time, we lay a lot of emphasis on his start, turn and fin-ish. We train children to match the na-tional speed so that they start working towards their goals. In fact, I am now thinking of setting international tar-gets so that they aim higher.What are the challenges you face?We are suffering from lack of facilities

especially in North India. West, South and East India have moderate tempera-ture during winters but North India lit-erally freezes. Hence the practice here gets affected. There are no indoor swim-ming pools of national and interna-tional standards which creates a break in their practice. Many children have therefore started moving towards Pune, Chennai, Mumbai and Bangalore that have training facilities all throughout the year. In a city like Gurgaon, there is not a single 50-metre pool today; so such challenges do exist. Like in America, they practice 50 metres in the morning and 25 metres in the evening but here you don’t have facilities like that. Now I have come up with a 50 metre pool in Vasant Vihar and children come all the way from Gurgaon to practice.

Another challenge is that, at times par-ents start guiding their children in addi-tion to the coach which can be harmful as they have limited technical knowl-edge of the sport. We discourage this practice. The child gets mixed up and performance can go down in such cases. The coach has mastery in the sport and should be the one point contact for guid-ance. In American Swimming Associa-tion, parents have a corner where they sit and do not interfere.

With children you need to see their calibre; how much they can do. So there is a lot of analytical power that needs to be exercised by the coach. We have to observe small things about each child. We have to be strict with them when in the pool and on ground but we have to be loving towards them as well.

Diving Into Success!

Coaching Them Right

Gurgaon has produced many champion swimmers over the past few years

PRE-TRAINING SNACKSUnless you’re trying to lose body fat, don’t train on an empty stomach, as your performance will be impaired. Eat a small meal or snack, one or two hours before you start your training.Great snacking foods are:n fruits (fresh is best but dried are still okay)n energy foods (cereal bars, energy drinks, protein shakes)n yogurt (low fat if possible)n whole grain foods (whole wheat cereal or whole meal toast)

SNACKING DURING THE DAYElite athletes keep their blood sugar level as constant as possible by snack-ing regularly (and healthily) during the day. Only do this if you’re training enough not to add body weight from the increased food/calorie intake.Target the same snacks you would as a pre-training boost – complex carbohy-drates, fruits or protein shakes.

RECOVERYIf you’re putting in the meters in the pool, your body will need a boost when you finish your training. Always try to refuel within 30 minutes of finishing and preferably within 15 minutes – your

body immediately needs nutrients to repair muscles and replace energy. A sandwich is a good choice. Make sure you’re refueling with the ‘right’ food though – something low in fat but high in carbohydrates and protein.NUTS: All nuts are chock-full of healthy fats, fibre, protein, magnesium and Vitamin E. Use them to top yogurt or cereal, or just grab a handful on the way to practice.SEEDS: Similar to nuts, seeds are full of fibre, healthy fats, magnesium and Vitamin E. Eat them like you would eat nuts.100% ORANGE JUICE: Increasingly, you can find calcium and vitamin D- fortified orange juice. Orange juice is naturally a good source of folic acid and Vitamin C. Don’t guzzle it though! Orange juice can be a significant source of calories when more than a cup and a half is consumed daily.BEANS: Magical indeed! Full of fibre, protein, iron, zinc and magnesium—find ways to fit beans into your weekly (or daily) diet. Roast them for a crunchy snack, top a salad or burrito, or throw them in with diced tomatoes for a hearty pasta dish.LOW-FAT CHEESE: An easy snack or serve it mixed into casseroles, pasta and in sandwiches. Low-fat cheese is full of calcium, potassium, and protein. LOW-FAT YOGURT: “Nutrient-rich”

is an understatement! Yogurt is a good source of calcium, Vitamin D, potassi-um and protein. Go for Greek varieties if you are looking for extra protein. It’s great as part of a meal, as a snack, or dessert.LOW-FAT MILK OR SOYMILK: Dairy milk is a natural source of calcium, potassium, protein and Vitamin D. If soymilk is your go-to, make sure it is fortified with calcium and Vitamin D. Many athletes use flavoured milk (chocolate milk) for a post-workout recovery drink.DARK-GREEN LEAFY VEGETA-BLES: These veggies like kale, spinach and collard greens offer iron and cal-cium. Pair these veggies up with foods high in Vitamin C, or serve with meat to maximise the absorption of iron from the vegetables.

“Do Not Eat” items: n white flourn Coffee/tean Sugarn Alcoholn Processed foodsn Processed oilsn Red meatsn Pastan Cereal n White ricen Candyn Pizzan Chinese food

sport over the last few years, many talent-ed swimmers like Jitendra are happily exploring the opportunities the Millen-nium City has to offer today. “Swimmers are ready to work hard and the city has good coaches to groom them,” points out Jitendra.

DCN caught up with several swimmers from across the city and they were more than happy to share their love for the sport. “For me, swimming is my passion and enjoyment both,” quips Harshita Shokeen, a consistent performer from Haryana who has won gold at the Nation-als in 2013. Her national record is 38 sec-onds in 50 metres freestyle, which speaks volumes about her talent. “I started training early. Initially I would get nerv-ous in competitions but it was my dream to succeed for which I worked hard and today I strive to perform even better,” she says.

In love with freestyle, Harshita, howev-er, finds one particular aspect extremely difficult to handle in swimming – the diet restrictions! “I can’t have chocolate and chips with my friends, which isn’t nice,” she says with a rueful smile. With a hec-tic school schedule, she devotes an hour for practice and another two for workout. “My parents and my dadaji really moti-vate me a lot. My grandfather, in fact, is my biggest strength,” adds Harshita.

Agreeing with Harishita on the strict diet schedule, Kunal Thakran, another young and prominent swimmer from the city, adds, “I cannot have aerated drinks and pizza and I also miss chilling out with my friends as they go to malls, bowling and movies. But then, when it comes to my passion for swimming, I don’t mind giving up all of this!” Kunal, who has been swimming for the last six years, has now reached the Nationals and is working hard to further improve his skills.

Talking about his journey, he adds, “My major hurdle was my nervousness in competitions which lasted till as long as last year. But thanks to the counselling by my coach, I could overcome it. I feel a coach, along with being your trainer, is your mental support system too.”

Anjali Dalal, a gold medalist at the 2014 Nationals, cannot agree more. “Apart from the regular competent practice ses-sions, I was very impressed with the per-

SWIMMERS’ DIET

sonality and training of my coach. Along with being our greatest inspiration, he is very strict with us. The moment we fail to maintain our speed, he gets to know from his ‘sources’ that we have messed up with the diet,” she remarks.

Talking about her memorable moments, she says, “When I win medals and climb on to the podium, I feel really proud. That’s the moment I want to run to my coach and family to show them my medals”.

Yashika Rawat, winner of bronze at the 2014 Nationals, adds, “It gets very emo-tional. We get excited to go home. The feeling of approaching your goal after

all the efforts is very special indeed. I am now busy working for gold at Nationals”.

While these youngsters are toiling hard to carve a niche for themselves, the coaches know how to make champions out of them. Brahm Tokas, a certified life guard and currently the swimming coach of Sri Ram School, Gurgaon, tells us, “The initial hurdle is to throw them in the pool and remove the fear of water. In the beginning, they are all in a play mode but once they learn and master strokes, they start competing among themselves which slowly makes them se-rious towards the sport”.

“One interesting aspect is that some kids are keen to learn life-saving tech-niques. For summer holidays therefore, we get a mixed bag of beginners. Some focus on stroke correction and then are those who come just for leisure. Howev-er, for champions, it’s hard work till the winter season approaches,” he informs.

According to him, one of the prime con-cerns for a coach is to ensure the swim-mer’s continued interest in the sport. “At times to keep their interest in the game, we make them play water polo” adds Brahm Tokas, who is also the captain of the Delhi Water Polo Team ø

DON’TS

DO’S


SWIMMINGSPORTS


The camp, which involved all stake-holders of the Talent Nurturing Pro-gram, including scholars, parents, em-ployee volunteers, scholar guidance cell, resource people, witnessed special sessions for both scholars and parents. The Camp was attended by over 200 DLF Scholars.

The sessions for students from Grade VII to XII covered a range of topics relat-ing to Character Building (focus being on honesty and respect, I Stand Tall (self esteem), Study Skills (focus being on con-centration and memorisation), Success Formula (building inner strength), Criti-cal Thinking and The Volcano Within (dealing with anger).

Scholars from Grade I to III were giv-en lessons on ‘Learning to Deal with Changes’ and ‘Overcoming Evil with Good’ with the help of storytelling. They also learnt to make useful things with the help of craft work while students of Grades IV to VI were taught about effec-

tive communication and phonics. They were also given a talk on ‘Healthy Body, Healthy Mind’.

The special sessions for parents which were held on the second day covered topics like Healthy Body Healthy Mind, Charting Success for your Child, Raising Respectful & Responsible Children and Every Child is Unique. While the parents actively participated in all the sessions, many of them also took the opportunity to interact with professional counselor Dr. Anita Puri to discuss problems per-taining to their wards.

All the sessions were conducted by emi-nent and acknowledged professionals in the industry and reputed counsellors. Here are the highlights.

SESSIONS FOR SCHOLARS“Thinking Skills” by Veena Raizada, Teachnext: A range of activities were conducted to help scholars develop their observation, reading, thinking and ana-

lysing abilities. “Study Skills” by Bharti Lal Kapoor: Students learnt about techniques and ways to spell words correctly and frame sentences.

“Charting Success for Your Child”: The session taught students about active lis-tening and then responding appropriate-ly. Setting smart goal setting, developing thinking perspectives and self aware-ness were also included. “Phonics”: The session included a na-ture walk so that students could speak about the sounds they heard around them. The session reinforced primary phonics skills and helped children un-derstand blends and digraphs.“Effective Communication” by Mon-ika Kacker: To communicate effectively in English, a good grasp, both spoken and written, over the language is essen-tial. Scholars learnt how to handle their expressions and body language while communicating freely.

DLF FOUNDATIONSOCIAL QUOTIENT


“Overcoming Evil with Good” and “Learning to Handle Changes in Life” by Simi Srivastav: Through storytelling techniques, Group 1 scholars (Grade I to III) were given valuable lessons on how to overcome evil with good, and were also taught about adapting to changes that occur constantly.“Healthy Body Healthy Mind” by Megha and Sharp: Scholars were urged to see cleanliness as an essential vir-tue and practice it on a daily basis, and ensure that others in the community worked towards a cleaner society. In separate sessions, scholars and their parents were educated on the essential components of a balanced diet and the importance of physical activity.“I Stand Tall” (Self Esteem) by Aparna Balasundaram and Parineeta Sahu: The crispy and crunchy session focused on how self esteem can be developed from within through proven methods. 83 per-cent of the scholars admitted to having struggled with self esteem issues, and were relieved to learn that one is not born with high self-esteem but can learn to build it. Session on “The Volcano Within” (An-ger Management) by Aparna Balasunda-ram and Parineeta Sahu: The session

laid the foundation for greater self regu-lation of emotions. Students were made to practice deep breathing and told about other distraction techniques to help them deal with their outbursts. “Dealing with Peer Pressure” by Pra-chi Rana: The endeavour was to make students, who bully either for fun or to show that they are superior, realise their mistake, and for those students who are being bullied, the endeavour was to make them have the confidence to stand up against bullying.“Character Building” by Saumya Tara and Divya Kharbanda of Prom-ise: Scholars discovered that the way to gain self-respect is to behave in ways that make them feel good about them-selves. “Good Shall Prevail Over Evil” by Simi Srivastav of Kathashala: Using storytelling techniques, Group 1 schol-ars learnt about sense of responsibility and the importance of fulfilling their duties. “Learning to Han Changes in Life” by Simi Srivastav: The session endeavoured to develop Group 1 schol-ars’ skills in problem solving, logical thinking, teamwork, memory mapping and overcoming fear.

SESSIONS FOR PARENTS“Every Child is Unique” by Dr. Nandita

Chaudhry: Parents explored the com-plexity and the need for balance between giving the child the best and ensuring that the child is not spoilt. “Raising Respectful & Responsible Children” by Kamalneet of Promise: The session gave parents a commonsense ap-proach to raise respectful and responsible children.

The concluding day also witnessed a val-edictory session which was attended by over 450 participants including scholars, parents & resource people. High achievers among DLF Scholars ranging from classes VI to XII were recognized for their exem-plary performance in their academics for academic year 2014-15.

Addressing scholars, Chief Guest Lt. Gen Rajender Singh (Retd) CEO, DLF Founda-tion said, “Such camps create a stimulat-ing environment where children are en-couraged to dig into the deep recesses of their minds and know themselves better”.

The camp ended on a melodious note with the rendition of Saraswati Vandana by the scholars. An enchanting ballet, “Chandalika,” highlighting untouchabil-ity was put up by the 42 scholars from Jhankar Sr Secondary School ø

WITH AN OBJECTIVE TO DEVELOP, HONE AND MASTER THE SKILLS OF SCHOLARS OF NURTURING TALENT PROGRAM, DLF FOUNDATION ORGANISED A TWO-DAY SUMMER

CAMP AT RIDGE VALLEY SCHOOL, GURGAON ON 4TH AND 5TH OF JULYby DCN BUREAU

Special interactive sessions were held for scholars as well as parents, covering topics like Character Building, Study Skills and Healthy Body Healthy Mind

Summer Camp For Scholars Of

Nurturing Talent Program

PUSHKARTRAVEL TALK


A weekend retreat means different things to different people. While rejuve-nation and relaxation is an important criterion, many travellers need to feel intellectually and mentally stimulated to make it a complete experience. Still oth-ers need to explore surroundings and get a glimpse into a new culture or heritage. So be it the ambience of the property you choose to stay at, the specialities of the region, the folk dances, the histori-cal places, the shopping or even the pal-pably different landscape and natural surroundings, an amalgamation of all things new, fresh and interesting make it a welcome change.

We found all of this and more at a weekend destination at Pushkar and Ajmer, located rather conveniently for the Gurgaonites. The cherry on the cake was the wish fulfilment prophecy at the Dargah in Ajmer - a shrine which has an enviable track record of success if one goes with a humble and devoted thought process.

A MUCH-NEEDED BREAKAfter three days of incessant rains, it

was a clear and bright morning when we boarded the Shatabdi from Gurgaon at 6.30 am with that feeling of satisfaction that comes from knowing that we were taking possibly the most economical and comfortable route to Ajmer and Push-kar for a three-day break from a busy city life. Two convenient trains which connect Ajmer to Delhi and Jaipur re-

spectively are the Shatabdi Express and Pink City Express. If you are planning to fly, Jaipur is the closest International airport (120 kms). From Jaipur, one can take a train, bus or taxi to Ajmer. From Ajmer to Pushkar is another 12 km which can take up to 45 minutes due to the hilly terrain.

The train journey turned out to be a real boon as we could sleep off the ear-ly morning lethargy and also enjoy a breathtaking rail route which was dotted by mountains and valleys. The arrival at Ajmer was full of excitement as the city is a pilgrimage which is revered for the Dargah of ‘Garib Nawaz’ also called Ajmer Sharif. We opted for delayed grati-fication as we got into a comfortable In-nova cab sent by Pushkar Resorts, the place which we found most convenient for a weekend stay. As part of Sewara Hospitality, Pushkar Resorts is located in Ganehra village on the outskirts of Pushkar. It gave us an opportunity to be close enough to the holy city which is considered a ‘cradle of Lord Brahma the Creator’ and a pilgrimage centre for all Hindus. It also hosts the annual Pushkar Fair, one of the largest cattle fairs in the world.

PUSHKAR AND AJMER OFFER A WEEKEND RETREAT THAT IS BOTH

CULTURALLY RICH AND EMOTIONALLY SATISFYING by MEENAKSHI SHARMA

AJMER SHARIFThe arrival at Ajmer was full

of excitement as the city is a pilgrimage which is revered for the Dargah of

‘Garib Nawaz’

Traditional Rejuvenation

A visit to the Brahma temple and a dip in the holy Pushkar Lake is considered auspicious

we learnt that the chef also provides a healthy menu option to complement the spa treatments ensuring an overall heal-ing of the mind, body and soul. Adding the picnic baskets provided for the kafila rides more or less took care of all our lo-gistic requirements.

A COMPLETE EXPERIENCEAs the city is surrounded by the Ara-

vallis, Pushkar has a lot to offer for the adrenaline junkie too. While the early morning trek to Savitri temple is worth every effort for the breathtaking view of the sunrise and the town, hot air balloon-ing is ideal to get a bird’s-eye view of the ancient city. The soon-to-be-commissioned

cable car facility is bound to lend an impe-tus to footfalls in this picturesque temple. The night camel safari or kafila organised by the resort is the perfect way to expe-rience the nomadic vibe of Pushkar. A trek to the wadi for a panoramic view of the landscape, or a drive to the historic Pisangan Fort are some of the other rec-ommended activities for those looking to experience the city in its authentic form.

The evening saw folk dances, a puppet show and a fire eating local entertain-ment programme. The hand-crafted pup-pets and the colourful costume of the lo-cal village belles were a big hit with the crowd of tourists who loved the vintage Rajasthani food and culture.

A complete Bohemian experience in nature, the entire getaway to Pushkar was also marked by a visit to its market. The market is famous for its wholesale outlets selling varied and interesting products ranging from leather goods to traditional Rajasthani jewellery, clothes to antiques. Combined with the long last-ing gulkand procured from here, these artefacts serve to remind us of a sweet, nostalgic getaway from the madness of the concrete jungle we had come from.

POSITIVE ENERGYOn the day of our departure from

Ajmer, we decided to leave after a sump-tuous breakfast so we could spend qual-ity time at the holy shrine and have a meal at the famed Mango Masala restau-rant in Ajmer. The visit to Ajmer turned out to be more than satisfying. Not only was the Dargah peaceful and beautiful, we also learnt about its rich history and the charitable ventures that ensure no one goes hungry at the shrine.

Nidhi who had called Pushkar a “hap-pening city of Rajasthan with unique au-thentic art and craft stuff to buy” rated Ajmer Sharif Dargah as a positive ener-gy temple. “I felt at peace when I visited Dargah for the first time. It was an alto-gether different feeling,” he said.

After an invigorating visit to the shrine, we headed for a soul satisfying lunch at Mango Masala, well known for its chic ambience and tasty food. From bhel-puri to pizzas to the yummy mango ice-creams, it was a treat for the stomach and the soul as we enjoyed every aspect of Ajmer before boarding the Shatabdi back to Gurgaon ø

PUSHKARTRAVEL TALK

The picturesque landscape of Pushkar Resorts is complemented by the traditional interiors

Photos Courtesy: www.viharin.com and www.kalapalette.com


NATURE’S BEAUTY AT ITS BEST

Spread across 15 acres, the property comes with an interesting history. We were told it was merely a stopover 15 years ago for the Kochhar family for their wilderness expeditions, which slowly de-veloped into a resort when Kate Winslet and Harrison Ford visited the property on a shoot and it started out with 10 cot-tages and a swimming pool.

Today, it has grown into 40 cottages di-vided into small clusters around the un-dulating landscape. What stood out and made the property radically different from the usual lakeside properties in the city was the lush green landscape along with the fruit orchards.

But in spite of having a secluded vibe, Pushkar Resorts is still close enough to the hustle-bustle of the Pushkar town as well as Ajmer city. Nidhi KM, fellow traveller and writer of the travel blog www.viharin.com, loved the venue as she gushed, “Pushkar Resort’s beauti-ful landscaping with strategically built cottages around gardens and swimming pool amidst serene nature’s beauty

makes it worth staying. The affordable prices are a big plus”.

Once we entered, the beauty of the hills and greenery took over the senses. Far into the horizon, the Savitri temple beck-oned while the locals with their colour-ful costumes and innocent charm blew us away. A pond of lotus, a herd of cattle, the camels towering majestically against the sand dunes – it was an ethereal expe-rience.

FLAVOURS OF RAJASTHANThe interiors of the cottages at Push-

kar Resorts reflected the flavours of local Rajasthani culture and were an apt melt-ing pot for spiritual seekers, travellers, mystics and the locals. Inspired by the vibrant Rajasthan colours, the interiors re-create the essence of local flavours by using local handicrafts for the decor. From the baithak area within the cot-tages in bright green and orange walls to the local pots, utensils, local dried flow-ers, leather work, stone work and tradi-tional Rajasthani patchwork, everything was unique and enriching for us.

Another fellow traveller Apurva Sax-ena, Editor in Chief, www.kalapalette.com, was ‘trigger happy’ as she enthu-

siastically clicked pictures of the resort and the city. “Luxury in the lap of na-ture, that’s how I’m going to define this place!” she said.

“Excellent boarding facilities amidst the natural habitat of Rajasthan region, this has truly been one of its kind experi-ences for me. Not only was I mesmerised by the colourful township and vegetation of Pushkar, I also felt absolutely pam-pered by the warm hospitality of the re-gional staff,” she added.

The focus on fresh home grown ingre-dients like lettuce, mangoes, cherry tomatoes and amla for the daily prepa-rations was a lip-smacking experience. While we relished the signature dishes like laal maas, choorma laddoo and gu-lab ki kheer along with some amazing pancakes and croquettes for breakfast,

SUNDAY BRUNCHWINE & DINE

days for relaxation they have always been, but a wholesome experience for the family that satisfies a palate that craves a variety of cuisine that is food for both the stomach and the soul.

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE FOODFood is the main draw, says popular on-line group Gurgaon Food Freak.com and Gurgaon Foodie who are flooded with queries and comments on the best brunches in town. Clearly an eager public is looking forward to more enhanced food experiences week after week. Pawan Soni, avid foodie and administrator of Gurgaon Food Freak, rates Le Meridien as one of the best brunch experiences. A foodie’s delight, Sunday brunch at Latest Recipe at Le Meridien is synonymous with “pure indulgence and innovative engagement for the entire family,” says Anadita Singh, Manager Marketing and PR for Le Meri-dien, Gurgaon and Delhi NCR.

Guests swoon over a lavish spread of around 200 dishes with multi-cuisine op-

tions that include Italian, Asian, Arabic, Thai and Western. There is also a Sun-day special pizza whipped up by award winning chefs as well as a selection of vegetable juice blends and a variety of condiments along with innovative bever-age bars. Guests have a choice of differ-ent beverages each Sunday while a grand dessert buffet is the sweet finale.

David Hopcroft, General Manager, re-iterates, “Sunday brunch has been de-signed and offered for a laid back Sunday meal over conversations with friends and family. We have thoughtfully put to-gether over 250 authentic local and inter-national dishes which are multi-cuisine to spoil our guests for choice. I am over-whelmed with the warm response of our guests who simply love coming back for the brunch at Latest Recipe”.

A COMPLETE EXPERIENCECilantro, the award winning, all day din-ing restaurant at Trident, Gurgaon is an-other popular choice for a Sunday brunch

Not too long ago, a brunch was a ‘late morning meal eaten instead of breakfast and lunch’ and was typically ‘cobbled to-gether as a brunch of cold remains from the fridge’. We have clearly come a long way from then as ‘Sunday brunches’ be-come a new buzz word.

There is no cooking in our house on a Sunday, asserts Rushali Khandelwal, a PR manager who lives in a joint family and looks forward to food outings every weekend. Deepak Sharma, another pro-fessional based out of the city adds, “I never allow my wife to cook on a Sunday

as I want to spend quality time with her and a Sunday brunch is the perfect op-tion for us”.

These are just two examples of a thought process that has caught the fancy of Gurgaonites as they choose to make Sundays not just the traditional

THERE’S A NEW BUZZ WORD IN GURGAON AND IT HAS TO DO WITH LEISURELY SUNDAY BRUNCHES!

by MEENAKSHI SHARMA

ALL FOR THOSE ‘LAZY LAMHE’

Sunday Brunch at the City Club Phase 4 encourages family bonding over delicious food.


Live grills, specialty cuisine and leisurely dining define Sunday Brunches

SUNDAY BRUNCHWINE & DINE

as their buffet is packed with the best fla-vours from around the world - be it Medi-terranean, regional Indian and Indian street food or the Far East. The highlight of the brunch is the dramatic display of live food counters which ensure fresh, hot food just the way you like it.

Khyati Sharma, Communication Super-visor at the Oberoi Gurgaon and Trident Gurgaon, explains, “Freshly cut, thin crust pizzas are served straight from the wood fired oven in the restaurant to your table. Live charcoal grills offer the best of Indian kebabs and western meats as well as Japanese yakitori. Live appams are made in your presence and served with hot stew. Live dosa counter offers a range of vegetarian and meat fillings. Special live counters also offer Indian street food like dahi bhalla chaat, fruit chaat and bhel puri. The gol-gappa trolley offers vodka pani or the more authentic sweet tamarind or mirchiwala pani. You can enjoy various shawarmas with freshly baked pita bread or savour the fresh catch of the day cooked

in tandoori style on the carving station. Authentic biryanis, Indian curries and breads complement the Indian section, while freshly prepared sushi platters add to the oriental touch.”

Guests rave over the Ten ‘New World’ wines which are on offer to complement the dining experience along with Moet et Chandon champagne. A moving trol-ley brings these to your table while you eat for unlimited pours. Desserts include classics like Tiramisu, Crème caramel, Apple pie and Cheese cake while a se-lection of fine teas and gourmet coffees rounds off a satisfying meal.

The Sunday Champagne Brunch at threesixtyone◦ at The Oberoi, Gurgaon is dominated by a champagne experience. From sushis and sashimis to dimsums and kebabs which are grilled in the In-dian show kitchen, there is a staggering variety of food. The giant ovens in the centre of the restaurant offer hot-fired grills, pizzas, calzones and at least four varieties of bread, freshly baked every

Le Meridien Gurgaon offers a lavish multi cuisine spread of 200 dishes


30 minutes and served at every table. Other five star hotels in Gurgaon offer

equally wholesome experiences with reg-ulars rating Spectra at the Leela Ambience and Seasonal Tastes at the Westin, Gurgaon as worthwhile experiences. Drift at the Epi-center is another favoured choice and is es-pecially popular with the lovers of art and culture who soak in the surroundings even as they enjoy the cuisine.

56, Ristorante Italiano, with Chef Ales-sandro ‘Alex’ Mariani from Milan at its helm, offers a popular Sunday brunch which never fails to impress guests with its constant innovations and chef ’s spe-cial features. An idyllic setting creates a perfect ambience for a laid-back yet exciting brunch offerings. From oven-fresh baguette, Italian loafs, focaccia to carpaccio (balsamic dressed cold meat slices) and the charcuterie section, there is a lot to choose from the salad offer-ings. The formaggi (cheese) selection of-fers the finest cheese, the zuppa section is resplendent with fresh hearty soups and the ever-popular Grigliate section (live-grill) offers the finest seafood, meats and veggie delights. A live pasta sta-tion, a repertoire of home-made pastas and thin crust, stone-wood oven cooked pizza add to the experience while the dolci (dessert) section boasts of panna cotta, assortment of fresh mousse, Chef Alex’s trade-mark profiterolls and the finest tiramisu in town. Puran Miya, General Manager asserts that as the win-ner of four consecutive TOI Food Guide

Awards, 56 is the perfect place for an Ital-ian Sunday brunch.

PERFECT AMBIENCE FOR A BEAUTIFUL SUNDAY The Cilantro at Trident overlooks a large verandah which leads to the cen-tral courtyard and down to the reflecting pool. Floor to ceiling windows ensure a naturally-lit, serene ambience while the large central dome in red with a sun mo-tif adds a touch of grandeur to the inte-riors. In the winter months, the veran-dah and courtyard ensure that you enjoy the crisp winter sunshine along with the delicious food. Somewhat similar is the Spectra experience as the brightly lit glistening interiors complement the natural beauty of the stunning Aravalli hills which are visible as you sit by the huge picture windows. Drift at Epicenter also boasts of open surroundings though the proximity of the auditorium adds the culture flavour just a wee bit more.

Sunday Champagne Brunch at three-sixtyone◦ at the Oberoi Gurgaon is an-other ‘must’ for gourmet visitors not just because of an incredibly relaxed and friendly atmosphere but also because it is spread over the entire ground floor of the main lobby block, a central glass edi-fice called the ‘jewel box’. It is amongst the largest restaurants in the country, featuring five show kitchens. Floor-to-ceiling windows bathe the entire restau-rant with natural light making it pic-

turesque and ideal for leisurely dining. Whether you enjoy eating Al Fresco or welcome air conditioning, Sundays at 56 Ristorante Italiano gives you an ambi-ence that matches the mood of Italy.

The Sunday Brunch at clubs like City Club Phase 4 is equally popular with members.

A combination of ambience, food and that enhanced experience add to the Sunday brunch experience and just as hotels and restaurants gear up for it, Gurgaonites also step up the game and leave the comforts of home and drive to their favourite hotel or restaurant for a perfectly lazy yet gourmet experience ø

From fresh salads to rich desserts, the taste and presentation is a treat for the stomach and the eyes


Salman Khan’s Bajrangi Bhaijaan was all the rage on social media in the weeks preceding its release

BOLLYWOOD SOCIALFEATURE

Bajrangi Bhaijaan grossing Rs 150 crores in just five days reasserts the fact that Bollywood continues to hold sway in a country where cinema lovers swear by their celluloid heroes. That’s the reason

serpentine queues are still a common sight at ticket counters notwithstanding the trend of online bookings while ‘first-day first-show’ still rules the hearts of movie buffs despite busy schedules and

hectic lives. “I have rescheduled my meetings many

times to see the ‘first day first show’ of Salman Bhai and Akshay Kumar films,” says an enthusiastic Naveen Saini, a resi-

Films & Their EverlastingBond With Fans


WHILE THE CRAZE FOR CINEMA HASN’T CHANGED OVER THE YEARS, FANS TODAY HAVE A LOT MORE FACTORS TO INFLUENCE THEM TO GO AND WATCH THEIR FAVOURITE STAR IN A MOVIE THEATRE

by REENA DHANKHER

“Of course not, Darling” you say and try to make up by tak-ing her out for a meal or – if things are really bad – splurging on a sari or a trinket. Does one really change so much or is it a calculated strategy of wives all over the world?

I did some introspection and, my God, the results were aston-ishing. The things one did as a youngster – not necessarily while courting your future wife or even during the heady hon-eymoon days – sound absolutely mad and crazy today.

Like the time, we were checked by a restaurant manager on a silly little technicality and how we got even with him. Carlton Café at Kashmere Gate was our frequent haunt while doing en-gineering at Delhi Polytechnic. The good owner – later famous TV artist Vinod Nagpal – used to charge eight annas (50 paise) per head for tea or coffee. All we wanted was to have one cup of each brew but he wouldn’t permit.

“Have any amount of one” he would say or “pay double”. Now, this was ‘unfair’ and we tried to teach him a lesson. We got our chance soon. The yearly ‘Boiler House’ practi-cal meant going inside a big coal-fired boiler and when we came out, only the eyes were visible – rest of the body, rather the dungarees we wore, was all covered with a thick black layer of soot. We walked up to the café without washing up or changing clothes and demanded to

be allowed in – a crisp rupee note held out by each – ready to pay for both tea and coffee!

The Gurkha at the door was no match for thirty ghostly appari-tions; he cried foul and ran for cover. By the time we occupied half the tables other amazed customers started leaving in a hur-ry. Soon enough Mr. Nagpal appeared and gauging the situation offered settlement. No more black ghosts in his cafe and Poly-technic boys could have both tea and coffee for the price of one.

Or the time Gian Chand, our classmate from Himachal, ran up to Ritz Cinema and back, without a stitch of clothing, at mid-night. He was challenged to do so and at stake was the princely sum of rupees ten. For Gian Chand, the full blooded pahari bania, this was a matter of honour. All he had to do was behave like a lunatic and the prize was his.

What takes the cake was an experience at the swanky new Laguna restaurant. At the next

table sat a German woman. We were all showing off and talking loudly in Punjabi about doing this and that to the firangan if only she would agree. The lady sipped her coffee silently, paid the bill, came up to our table and asked in chaste Punjabi “Pher kerha jawan mard aj raatin mere nal chalu ga” (So which He Man is taking me out tonight) and walked off ! ø

COLLEGE CAPERS


“YOU’VE CHANGED” IS THE OFT-REPEATED COMPLAINT OF MANY A WIFE.

KRISHAN KALRAGUEST COLUMN

College days come with fond memories of friends

Photo used for representational purpose

dent of South City I. Anup Singh, a resi-dent of Sector 17, is no different when he points out, “I have never missed the first show of a Salman Khan film. Many a times I have skipped work to watch his film. You know the fun of watching the first show of a Salman film is fantabu-lous! You don’t need crispy popcorns and beverages to enjoy his movie.”

THE POWER OF REVIEWSWhile the craze for watching films in cin-ema halls hasn’t changed over the years,

the deciding factors for audiences have evolved thanks to a growing number of film critics and the strong influence of social media. Today, people are more than ready to post film reviews on their favourite social networking sites even while watching the first day, first show!

Tirupati Naik, employed with Pernod Ricard, explains, “Reviews play an im-portant role in my decision to watch a film. I read all reviews before booking the film ticket. Business collections too have an influence on me like I want to watch Bajrangi Bhaijaan because it has already crossed the Rs 100 crore mark!”

Manish Kumar, working with Pita Pit DLF CyberHub, is another cinema-goer who completely goes by reviews and rat-ings. “Although I am a die-hard fan of ac-tion films, I still go by reviews. Few films, which I saw without reading the reviews were difficult to sit through. So now I do my homework before watching a film. My favorite star whose movies I don’t miss irrespective of the reviews is John Abraham. His films are an exception in my rule book, I must say,” he adds.

Akanksha Jaiswal agrees and says, “There are few stars like Ranbir Kapoor, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Sal-man Khan, whose films I watch without caring for the reviews. In fact, I feel re-

Salman and Karina in Bajrangi Bhaijaan



“Social networking sites greatly contribute to the buzz around any film these days and are being strategically used by producers to raise pre-release expectations and sustain post-release hype. The beauty of it though is that beyond a point, no marketing department can control the conversation, and social media platforms become the means through which both negative and positive public opinion and reviewer feedback spread like wildfire. They are also a low-cost tool for creating interest in small films that don’t have big marketing budgets. In that sense, Twitter, Facebook and so on are every serious film buff ’s best friend.”

All About The BuzzANNA M.M. VETTICAD, Film Critic & Author of The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic

TIRUPATI NAIKI read all reviews

before booking the film ticket. Business

collections too havean influence on melike I want to watchBajrangi Bhaijaan.

views are worth reading only when they involve new actors and directors.”

MUSIC & PLOT MATTERReviews or loyality towards their favour-ite stars aren’t the only deciding factors for people today. As Harpeet Singh, a res-ident of Sector 30 and working with an MNC explains, “I do read reviews but my decision to watch a film depends on many other factors like the music, stars, direc-tor and the promos. For example, music was a big reason to watch Aashiqui 2. I also watch all Prakash Jha and Ajay Dev-gan films irrespective of their reviews.”

To this Divya Khatri adds, “I go by trailors. If I like them, I watch the films. It’s as simple as that. Though I do read reviews but they are not the deciding factor for me all the time. Yes for offbeat

cinema, reviews are important. If they aren’t convincing enough, I would rather watch the film on my laptop.”

Kopila and Anubhav also agree that re-views come to the rescue when it’s about offbeat or hatke films. However, for them,

storyline too is an equally important fac-tor. “I loved films like Tanu Weds Manu 2 and NH10. While the first one was an entertaining story with superb perfor-mances, the latter was more of an eye-opener. In fact, for a week after watching NH10, black Scorpio cars looked scary to us. And, we had opted for both the films based on their storylines though for Queen, the reviews had influenced us greatly,” they inform.

On the contrary, Gaurav Narang, a resi-dent of Sector 56, feels reviews make no sense to him as he loves to watch almost all the films released in cinema halls! “I rarely leave any film. I don’t care about reviews and never read them. Nor do newspaper ratings affect me. I just enjoy cinema and believe that when it’s about entertainment, there can be no analysis involved,” smiles Gaurav.

Shah Rukh Khan, whose mega project Raees releases next Eid, has used social media networks to connect effectively with his fans



AKANKSHA JAISWAL“There are few stars like Ranbir Kapoor, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and

Salman Khan, whosefilms I watch withoutcaring for the reviews.

Beautiful teeth can help you flaunt that perfect smile. And, porcelain veneer can do won-ders to enhance the look of

your teeth. A porcelain veneer is a very thin film of porcelain on the teeth as thin as 0.5 mm. These facings are made in the laboratory after taking measure-ments. Explaining the concept, Dr He-man Verma says, “The porcelain facing covers the front of the tooth completely. There is a chemical bond between the tooth’s enamel and porcelain that looks very nice.”Sometimes aesthetically they are so well

set that dentists also can’t differentiate porcelain veneer from a natural tooth. Before the porcelain veneer is set onto the teeth, a cleaning of the discolored teeth is recommended. This film evens out all the irregularities of the teeth. Talking about beauty and enhancement

of the look, Dr Priyanka Verma informs, “The porcelain veneer is the best way to

enhance the cosmetic value of the tooth which is the real advantage of veneers. The circumference of dental bonding usually looks fake whereas, teeth veneers can easily pass off as original teeth.”To this Dr Heman Verma adds, “They

stain much less as compared to the for-mer. Veneers look natural .The one great disadvantage of a porcelain veneer is that if it breaks it’s very difficult to re-pair the same. One must brush and floss daily. Initially you will take time to adjust to the change but eventually it will end up giving you a confident and a beauti-ful smile.” On the contrary, dental bond-ings can be repaired and are much more economical. Cosmetic dental work has gained a lot of

popularity in recent times. The thin lami-nates correct crowding of teeth, coloura-tion and have replaced composite bond-ing. If there are crowns on the front teeth, these can be easily replaced with porce-lain jackets that are far more attractive.

SPOTlight

Dr. Heman VermaOne of the leading orthodontists & implantologists of the country, Dr. Verma spearheads Dental Stylers, one of the most premium dental centres of Northern India with comprehensive education in be-havior management, sedation and anesthesia techniques.

Dental Stylers8 Dakshin Marg, DLF Phase- II, Gurgaon

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Porcelain Veneer: A Step Towards Beautiful Teeth

SOCIAL MEDIA CRAZEInterestingly, the social media influence on film lovers isn’t limited to just re-views. With most of the film stars con-necting with their fans through social networking sites today, the loyalty bar has gone quite a few notches higher and that too influences fans to go and watch the films of their favorite stars in thea-tre! “If Salman can tweet about SRK’s upcoming film Raees, how can a die-hard SRK fan not go and watch the film?” quips Sunil Sharma.

Explaining the loyalty factor, Deepti Ranjan adds, “Imagine Amitabh Bach-chan himself wishing you a good morn-ing, or sharing his childhood memories with you or for that matter asking you to go and watch his film in the theatre, it can make a fan like me feel so damn good. He’s one of the reasons I am hooked to Twitter!”

Big B, in fact, is one of the most popu-lar stars on the micro-blogging site with 12 million followers. While Shah Rukh Khan has crossed the ten million mark, Salman Khan is almost there. These fig-ures not only speak volumes about the popularity of these stars, they also stand testimony to the influence they have on

fans and followers. Priyanka Chopra is one of the most

active Indian celebrities on Instagram with 3.5 million followers! Taking ahead a trend which originated in Hollywood, the actress makes it a point to post regu-lar pictures of her on the site, from the sassy selfies to the first look of her new films to childhood pictures and what not! Alia Bhatt, Sonakshi Sinha, Parineeti Chopra – almost all the leading actresses of Bollywood have taken to Instagram to connect with their fans.

With so much happening on social me-dia, fans are influenced and how! Vijay Singh explains it as he says “The mo-ment Priyanka revealed her look for her upcoming film Quantico on Instagram recently, I knew I had to watch the film. She looks ravishing and I can’t afford to miss this one!”

So whether it is the review of a critic or a tweet from a star, the fact remains that you cannot keep cinema lovers away from theatres; precisely why Bollywood has been termed ‘religion’ in India. It’s a different love which unites for sure! ø


Priyanka Chopra in Quantico: Social networking sites are where stars unveil the first look of their next project

FIRST LOOKThe moment Priyanka Chopra revealed her

look for her upcoming film Quantico on

Instagram, she had herfans excited and

commenting that they could not afford

to miss it


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DLF CITYSTATUS OF PROJECTS

Name of Project Status

New Town Heights Handover/Finishes in advanced stage

The Primus Terrace/upper floors slabs cast. Rough finishes in progress

Regal Garden Terrace/upper floors slabs cast. Rough finishes in progress

Corporate Greens Possession starting soon

Skycourt 4th-10th floors slabs cast. Club finishing in progress

Ultima GF, 1st and 2nd floor slabs cast in Towers H &L; K; E, J & S

The Crest DLF5 Structure work in progress. Project reached 10th floor level

PACE OF HABITATION IN GROUP HOUSING

Project Total Occupied %Occupied

Silver Oaks 749 700 93.5

Beverly Park I 158 132 83.5

Beverly Park II 182 171 94.0

Regency Park I 320 273 85.3

Regency Park II 500 445 89.0

Hamilton Court 266 252 94.7

Windsor Court 132 125 94.7

Richmond Park 280 271 96.8

Ridgewood estate 924 831 89.9

Oakwood Estate 322 307 95.3

Wellington Estate I,II and III 555 505 91.0

Princeton Estate I,II & III 918 868 94.6

Carlton Estate I & IV 485 453 93.4

Project Total Occupied %Occupied

Regent House 34 32 94.1

Belvedere Tower 222 202 90.99

Belvedere Park 318 278 87.42

Exclusive Floors 516 500 96.90

Trinity Towers 234 216 92.31

Westend Heights 368 324 88.04

The Aralias 254 200 78.74

Royalton Tower 76 70 92.11

The Pinnacle 280 221 78.93

The Icon 364 330 90.66

The Summit 228 161 70.61

The Belaire 544 448 82.35

The Park Place 1508 1340 88.86

The Magnolias 589 406 68.93

PACE OF HABITATION IN PLOTTED PROPERTIES

SI. Phase Total No. of Plots Habitation%

1 I 3658 69.38

2 II 3220 67.04

3 III 5462 64.94

4 IV 1626 53.01

Total 13966

STATUS REPORTUTILITIES

Silver Oaks Condominium Association – DLF Phase-I 0124-3034146-47Mr. Tariq Raza PresidentMrs. Shalini Sawhney Vice PresidentMr. S.K. Sharma ManagerMr. S.M. Kehair SecretaryMs. Rupali Jain Treasurer

Oakwood Estate Condominium Association – DLF Phase-II 0124-4052005Major General A.K. Kher PresidentMr. R.P. Kaushik ManagerMr. Abhijit Malkhani Vice PresidentMr. Gaurav Dua Treasurer

Beverly Park-I – DLF Phase-II 0124-4011757Mr. P. S Duggal PresidentMr. Sarabjit Singh Dhawan Vice presidentMr. Rajiv Inamdar SecretaryMr. Soumya Dutta TreasurerMr. C B Singh Manager

Beverly Park-II – DLF Phase-IIMr. Adil Shiavax Nargolwala President 9999270000Ms. Anita Kapur Vice-President 9818078883Ms. Davinder Kaur Secretary 9811059845Mr. Arvind Srivastava Treasurer 9818111000Mr. Ajay Goyal Joint Secretary 9818549665

Belvedere Tower – DLF Phase-II 0124-4068251Ms. Savita Malhotra President 9810063523Dr. Manoj Talwar Vice President 9810056302Mr. Amit Malik Secretary 9811084744Mr. Deepak Sahai Treasurer 9811600888

Belvedere Park Condominium Association – DLF Phase-IIIMr. Jai B Yadav Estate Manager 8800308285Prof K Sundaram President 9818621084Col. Ajit Singh Rana Vice President 9650804787Mr. Rajiv Agarwal Secretary 9582210561

Ridgewood Condominium Association – DLF Phase-IVMr. Sanjay Batra President 9818093097Mr. Vijay Kumar Verma Vice President 9810287402Mr. Deepak Mathur Secretary 9818664883Mr. Amit Dhanuka Treasurer 9810086577Mr. Sunil Kumar Jain Jt Secretary 9911317189

Hamilton, Windsor and Regency Park-II – DLF Phase-IV 0124-2396331Mr. Vikas Gupta President 9810064017Mr. Arvind Roy Vice President 9891357555Mr. K.K. Bhattacharya Secretary 9810016816Mr. Rakesh Sachdeva Treasurer 9810266737Mr. Yogendar Rajput Manager 9871622323

The Aralias – DLF5 0124-4144848Mr. Rajbir Sharma Estate Manager 9650493525

Mr. Saurabh Joshi Operations Manager 9650493521

Exclusive Floors Owners Society – DLF5 0124-4109536Ms. Pallavi Sawhney PresidentMr. S N Miglani Vice PresidentMr. Apprajeet Bhatia SecretaryMr. Manish Purohit Treasurer

Carlton Estate Condominium Association – DLF5Mr. N.C. Chatterjee President 9873991945Mr. Arun Verma Vice President 9873757570Mr. L.N. Sharma Secretary 9650029189Mr. Raj Kumar Rathi Treasurer 9810405787

Trinity Towers Condominium Association – DLF5Mr. Jawahar Lal Vij President 9818967911Mr. Rajan Misra Vice President 9910588700Mr. Anuj Chadha Secretary 7838802020Mr. Rajul Kulshrestha Treasurer 9899892911

Summit Condominium Association – DLF5Mr. Arun Bharadwaj President 9810725825Mr Ajay Kalra Vice President 9818910123Mr. Dipak Roy Secretary 9810398865Mr. Bipin Sapra Treasurer 9971147072

The Pinnacle – DLF5 0124-4228770 Mr. RC Kesar PresidentMs. Parul Kaushal Vice PresidentMr. Atul Sarin SecretaryMr. Kuljit Singh TreasurerMr. Jai B Yadav Property Manager

Wellington Estate – DLF5 0124-2385469 Mrs. Smeeta Roy Jain President Mrs. Sudha Kiran Sinha Vice PresidentMr. Ajay Jain Secretary Dr. Gautam Sen Treasurer

DLF City Residents Welfare Association (Regd.) 0124-4055094, 2561888Mr. H N Chopra President 9899140100Mr. Sudhir Kapoor Secretary Gen. 9811555743

DLF CITY SENIOR CITIZENS COUNCIL (REGD.) 0124-2570417Mr. Ganesh Dutt Gureja President 9810638595Mr. Mohan Gulrajani Secretary Gen. 9818253979

Condominiums Address Contact Telephone No.Richmond Park DLF Phase-IV Mr. H S Shukla 0124-4272776Royalton Tower DLF Phase-V Mr. Bijendar Singh 0124-4292418Princeton Estate DLF Phase-V Mr. R Bhagchandani 0124-4055277Park Place DLF Phase-V Mr. YC Sharma 9873603572The Belaire DLF Phase-V Mr. Anil Kumar 9811109205The Magnolias DLF Phase-V Mr. Sanjeev Saxena 9654132300

THE CITY

YOUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVESCONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATIONSELDERS

WHO’S WHOUTILITIES



If you have had a chance to watch Zangoora at the Kingdom of Dreams, you would have enjoyed the passionate and una-bashed performance of Rachaittri Gupta as the feisty Lacchi, played at one time by actor Gauhar Khan. A recent announce-ment that this young charmer has been selected to star in the Mahesh Bhatt theatrical production of Hamari Adhuri Kahaani has catapulted her on to the national stage. We met her and spoke to her about her childhood, her career opportunities and future plans as she readied for her rehearsals in Gurgaon.

Tell us about your passion for dance and acting?I joined Kingdom of Dreams in 2010 as Lacchi in ‘Zangoora’,

India’s biggest Bollywood musical. It has been more than five years I’m working there. It’s been an unforgettable experience. Not being melodramatic but seriously doing more than 1,600 shows is not a joke. I have grown as an actor and as a human being in this company. I have seen this company growing from scratch and vice versa. Truthfully speaking, I have a love and hate relationship with this place just the way you feel about

your family sometimes. I seriously don’t know what I’ll feel when in the future I’ll leave this place. I really am in love with this place and both my shows Zan-goora and Jhumroo. I have had the most memorable journey in this place with amazing people around me all the time.How did the Mahesh

Bhatt production offer materialise?

I really don’t know how I was approached to be a part of Kingdom of Dreams. Some random person called me for the audition and I got selected. Similarly, I don’t know how randomly I got selected for the play which Mahesh

Bhatt Sir is producing from Hamari Adhuri Kahaani. Ob-viously, I give most of the credit to my mother because of whom I have become what I am. The next credit goes to Kingdom Of Dreams because of which I met an awesome actor, director, writer and a friend, Happy Ranajit who is directing this play. By far, it has been the most challenging role for me because this is the first time I’m doing a play which has already been released as a film starring Vidya Balan. And playing the character which Vidya Balan has already portrayed, I’m sure you would know how scary it can get. But I’m trying to give my best. Hopefully, I will be able to do justice.Tell us about your childhood? Since childhood, I have been an introvert. I was stage

and camera conscious because of which initially my family couldn’t believe I wanted to pursue my career as an actress. Streets plays and stage plays opened me up so much that now people don’t believe I was an introvert once upon a time. But I always loved to act, dance, sing, travel, read different kinds of books, comics and so on. I just love the feeling of being on stage. During my intro-vert days, I used to perform in a closed room in front of an imaginary audience.When and how did you realise that you wanted to

act and dance?Thanks to my mother, I realised I always wanted to be an

actress. And right now I’m determined to be a successful actress in the literal sense. I don’t care if I become a star or not, I don’t care if the whole world knows me or not. Even if few people know about me, they should talk about my tal-ent and not anything else. I want my family and my friends to feel proud of me. People say being a girl, it’s not very easy to survive in this industry but I want to prove people wrong the way a lot of actresses have done already. ø

RACHAITTRI GUPTATRANSIT LOUNGETRANSIT LOUNGE

CHALLENGING ROLEPlaying the

character which Vidya Balan has

already portrayed, I’m sure you

would know how scary it can get

POPULAR AS THE FEISTY LACCHI IN THE PLAY ZANGOORA AT KINGDOM OF DREAMS, RACHAITTRI IS NOW GEARED UP TO SET THE STAGE ON FIRE AS THE FEMALE LEAD IN

THE THEATRICAL ADAPTATION OF HUMARI ADHURI KAHANI. by MEENAKSHI SHARMA

I’m Determined To BeA Successful Actress,

SAYS RACHAITTRI GUPTA

I May 2014 I 65CitynewsDLF

English

Mission: Impossible–Rogue NationWritten and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, the film stars Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson and Jeremy Renner. The story unfolds the ‘Mission: Impossible’ of getting rid of an international rogue organisation that wants destruction of the IMF.

The Fantastic FourA science fiction adventure, this action film is directed by Josh Trank. The story is about four ‘outsiders’ who attain superpowers after teleport-ing to a dangerous alternate universe. They work together with a common aim to save earth from a friend-turned-enemy. The film stars Michael B Jordan, Miles Teller, Jamie Bell and Kate Mara.

Hitman Agent 47An action-cum-crime thriller, the film revolves around a corporation that attempts to create killers by using the secret of an engineered assassin. Will Agent 47 let this happen? Rupert Friend plays the lead in the film directed by Aleksander Bach.

hindi

BrothersA remake of Hollywood film Warrior, Brothers is directed by Karan Malhotra. The film stars Akshay Kumar, Siddharth Malhotra, Jacqueline Fernan-dez and Jackie Shroff. The story revolves around two estranged brothers competing in Martial Arts.

PhantomDirected by Kabir Khan and produced by Sajid Nadiadwala, the film is based on the 26/11 terrorist attacks on Mumbai. Saif Ali Khan and Katrina Kaif play the lead. Music has been composed by Pritam Chakraborty.

Manjhi -The Mountain ManThe film is about a man who spends years to carve a road through a mountain just with a chisel and hammer. Directed by Ketan Mehta, the story is written by Shahzad Ahmed. Nawazudin Siddiqui plays the lead.

MOVIE PREVIEWS

For corporate and bulk bookings (Book minimum 50 tickets) (Timings: 11am-7pm)Phone: 8860003310 email: [email protected]

Ticket also available at

bookmyshow.com64 I August 2015 I CitynewsDLF

The two Khans had a bitter fight in 2008 at a party and had been avoiding each other since then. Although the ice had been gradually breaking over the last one year, this Eid, it’s literally melted away. To begin with, Shah Rukh unveiled the first look of Bajrangi Bhaijaan, which incidentally has become a huge hit and is being described as one of the best films of Salman so far.

Then came Salman’s turn to return the favour and the actor did it in style. He started by tweeting the letters of SRK’s up-coming film Raees, one by one (though he got the spelling wrong and missed out on one E!) And then he wrote, “Aah raha hai (coming soon).”

Within minutes came his next tweet, saying, “RAEESSSSSSS ah raha hai. Filhaal teaser dekho aur enjoy karo behaad (For now, watch the teaser and enjoy it).” And, this time, he got the

right spelling with some extra Es! Taking the conversation forward, Shahrukh Khan replied, “@

BeingSalmanKhan abhi Bulgaria mein hoon aa nahi sakta. (I am in Bulgaria right now so cannot come) Thodi Biryani bhi-jwade ghar mein bachhon ke liye. (Send some biryani home for kids) Eid Mubarak & love to family.”

Twitter apart, Salman also turned candid on the show, Comedy Nights With Kapil when he praised Shah Rukh for all the hard work he has done over the years. Salman was on the show to promote his film but did take out time to say some good words about his bhaijaan from the industry!

Well, this Eid definitely turned out to be a good one for both Salman and SRK but what will be interesting is the one next year when both Salman’s Sultan and Shahrukh’s Raees release the same time. That’s an interesting box office battle ahead! ø

KARAN AND ARJUN HAVE FINALLY REUNITED AND HOW! THE BROMANCE BETWEEN SUPERSTARS SHAH RUKH KHAN AND SALMAN KHAN WAS TRENDING ON TWITTER ON

THE OCCASION OF EID AND THE FANS WERE LAPPING IT ALL UP!by DCN BUREAU

CELEB TALKENTERTAINMENT

The Bromance of The Bhaijaans

LAST WORDENTERTAINMENT


Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone may remain tight-lipped about their relationship status but the chemistry between the two is hard to miss. It seems Ranveer Singh sprang a surprise on his rumoured ladylove as he reportedly picked her up from the international airport in the wee hours of Monday ( July 21st). Eyewitnesses suggest that the actor, armed with a bouquet, waited for about three hours in his car before it was time for the actress to step out of the arrival gate and Deepika was more than happy with the surprise! The couple, who has regularly been spotted stealing private moments with each other, also had some fun time at the recent IIFA awards when host Arjun Kapoor gave adequate hints about the romance brewing between the two and both Ranveer and Deepika played along

And, The Mystery Continues...

� �

� �

James Bond Is Back With

‘Spectre’The first full-length trailer for the 24th James Bond film, Spectre, has been released online. Featuring car chases, exploding planes and shady crime organisations, it bears all the hallmarks of classic Bond. Spectre, which sees Daniel Craig reprise his role as the superspy for a fourth time, will be released in UK cinemas on 26th October. Fans on Twitter were quick to give their reaction to the new trailer and many noted it featured some of the theme to 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. “This looks absolutely stunning!” Ben Peyton wrote, while Rene Friedrich said it was “so much better than the teaser. Finally, how it should be: a blend of iconic, new, fast, quotable”.

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I-DAY SPECIAL - DLF Vijay Diwas: (L to R) ... I-DAY SPECIAL COVER STORY “Patriotism means keeping personal interests in mind while also contributing towards the nation