CHOICES
A tale of two cities

City girl Rabia Tewari writes home the experience of leaving Chandigarh to live and work in Manhattan

I nitially, when asked where in India am I from, I responded, “from a city north of New Delhi”, assuming not many New Yorkers, except those of Indian origin, would know of Chandigarh. It’s not the city that’s usually on their itinerary when they visit India. But after meeting some Manhattanites, who knew and had also been to Chandigarh, I decided to educate people about the city beautiful. Especially since all that is there to tell, is wonderful!

Its rightfully said, once you have lived in Chandigarh it is tough to like any other city. So like a true Chandigarhian, when I first arrived in Manhattan, I did not like it much. I thought it was too crowded and too noisy, just like any big city in India. The tall concrete buildings so close to each other, no trees in sight, side streets crowded with people, frenzied traffic, speeding cab drivers and their stunts of cutting through traffic just like the auto-rickshawallas in New Delhi. From the wide, tree-lined streets of Chandigarh, I was now on the narrow, store-lined streets of Manhattan.

Anyone who was born and raised in Chandigarh will agree that, everyone there somehow knows everyone, and no matter which part of the city you are in, whatever you are doing mysteriously gets reported to your family before you even get home! The way of life in the Big Apple is completely the opposite you could spend a lifetime here without ever knowing your neighbors.

But its very easy to love living in Manhattan. The city is addictive! It’s the most vibrant city and everyone here is striving to grab a piece of it. The brand of energy this city possesses is unmatched. I get an energy-rush every time I step out on the street. The city is forever buzzing with a wide range of entertainment options for everyone. It’s also one of the few places where people from any part of the world can feel at home. In Manhattan, many nationalities have created their own little colonies - Little Italy, Chinatown, Korean Street. For Indians, like me, in Manhattan the home-away-from-home neighborhood is located on Lexington Avenue and is referred to as “Curry Hill” or “Little India”. Everything is available there - spices, pickles, daals, sweets, paan, bollywood videos, restaurants serving not just North Indian and South Indian food, but also Indian Chinese food.

There are no houses with spacious, beautifully manicured lawns here and most people live in apartments. So when I need a nature-fix, I head towards Central Park. It’s an oasis for weary Manhattanites who are looking to briefly escape the concrete jungle. It reminds me of the day trips from Chandigarh to Kasauli or Chail to escape, what then seemed like, a crowded city.

Both Chandigarh and New York City, though quite different in everyway, have contributed immensely to my life. The former holds a lot of fond memories, and in the latter, I am still making my fond memories. 

LIFE POSITIVE
God just a click away
Anandita Gupta

Skies overcast with dark clouds of sorrow…turbulent waves of worries rising high on the sea of life and the ship called ‘You’ about to sink at its lowest ebb. Well, cast you worries aside. You now have an anchor to hold on to and seek advice from. Pour down all your fears and anxieties in a letter and send it to no one else but God! Yes, you could now directly write to the Almighty, and also expect a reply from him! Guess what, you don’t even need a paper and pen for that. Thanks to the Chandigarh based artist, author, reformer and marketing professional Rajesh Chadha, God is now just a click away!

Chadha, who’s written a book called “Write a letter to God”, will soon launch a site, where one could send an e-mail to God, and may also get an auto generated reply, if one opts for it. This colourful site has answers to the most frequently raised queries like where does God live, besides discussing eleven major religions of the world. The main objective, however, is to facilitate one-to-one communication with God, irrespective of one’s religion. Says Rajesh, “For the past six years, I’ve been reading and translating Bhagvad Gita into simple English. I had a strong feeling that communication with God should be direct. The result is my upcoming site.”

Chadha, an Aquarian who’s very close to nature, loves to surprise people. First, it was his book ‘How to be a high performance manager’ and then came his NGO, Samarpit. Next came his graphic paintings. And finally, “It’s my upcoming site,” he beams. This believer wants people to communicate with God and feel the euphoria that he summarizes as-

Kabhi pehle meri aur uski muhabbat iktarfa thi, Ab mein bhi usey chahne laga hoon.

(First, it was a case of one-sided love, but now I’ve fallen for him!)

INTERIORS
Décor for festival bashes
Anandita Gupta

Mouthwatering laddoos, breathtakingly beautiful dresses, dazzling jewellery, warm family get-togethers, a canopy of glittering lights and markets bedecked like a bride. Well, the much awaited, much cherished and nowadays, much hyped festival season’s here again…. A time to take a break from hectic work schedules and create some special moments with people closest to you. A time to leave behind fond memories in their hearts that they can cherish forever. In short, the time to conceptualize a signature gathering of close friends. And when it comes to adding loads of signature- style to your festival bash, it’s your Décor that comes first. Décor that must have a cute traditional touch along with being jazzy. Well, here’s how to go about it.

• For splashing a lot of festivity and colour to your joyous celebration, rope in your friends to make a multi-hued rangoli. You could use multi-coloured flowers, crystals, dals (lentils), paints, rice and the traditional wood-carving’s coloured sawdust. Sure to make your party venue look like an artist’s palette!
• Go traditional with style! Place an old ceremonial foot-wash made of an old ‘thal’ in copper (or Silver, if you can afford it) with floating candles and rose petals. Sprinkle some perfume drops to add a pleasant whiff to the ‘thal’. It’s a great way to give a sensuous welcome to your guests!
• Hand painted pots and decoration ‘kalashas’, placed along the pathway to the main entrance can lend a very colourful as well as auspicious touch to your ambience! These pots can be made to look exotic by decorating them with jasmine and marigold strings, mirrors, net and organza drapes.
• If there’s a staircase leading to the main entrance, line it with fresh or hand made flowers.
• Add a splash of colour and comfort by spreading a luxurious carpet or area- rug on the floor of the room where the gathering’s to happen. The feel of a snuggly carpet under one’s feet is a highly sensuous one and creates a feel of being warmly welcomed.
• Go for a floor seating, with lots of floor cushions. You could spread an exquisitely textured rich fabric on a mattress and throw multi-coloured cushions in bright hues like violet, indigo, blue, yellow and orange!
• For adding an auspicious and attractive touch to your entrance, hang ‘torans’ -exquisite doorway hangings made from pearls, beads, shells, threads, mirrors and bells at your doorway. Ghungroos can also serve the purpose too.
• The interiors of your party venue can be pepped up by hanging lanterns, strings made of artificial satin or ribbon flowers, old artifacts, bells, ghungoroos and even your acrylic bangles!
• Get hold of all the silk, crepe, Tissue and bhandhani and Phulkari duppatas you have. Just spread them luxuriously on the various cushions on your sofas. So this is just for adding a fairy-tale ambience to your party haven!
• Go for scented floating candles in glass bowls as centerpieces. Using brass lamps or lanterns is also a great idea. Place some traditional flowers like Jasmines, Roses and Marigolds on the edges of your carpets or tables.

So, lets hope these décor cues help you sprinkle some spice on your festival-bashes pep them up like never before.

ARTEFACTS
Gifts for the sporty

Picking a gift is always a ticklish task. One wonders if the gift will find a place in the person’s heart and home. Very often many gifts are just relegated to the attic because the receiver has no need for it. There are others who just recycle gifts and there is the danger of the gift going from one friend to the other and then bouncing back to the one who had originally bought it. That would be most embarrassing and insensitive. So giving a little thought to the gift that one is choosing is important. Here we have some ideas of ornamental pieces for sports freaks. These are figurines in fibre and ceramics and ‘Made in China’ and give a fine metallic look. The two gift ideas — a man riding the bicycle and one actually playing golf — will make for good gifts for those who like to keep fit with exercise.

Write to Renee

Yes, you can write to me and sure enough I will be right there to answer your queries every Wednesday. The column will deal with your problems in relationships, at work and at home. All of us are constantly debating with emotional issues. I will try my best to skillfully guide you through work and also deal with issues concerning your friends, spouses, work partners, children and even those nosey neighbours. In short the column will be covering life’s dilemmas and trying to find a way out. There is always a way out. And I know this for sure by dealing with my own problems and those of others in my long years of experience as counsellor and stress-manager. So do not wait and send your highs and lows to me as soon as you can via lifestyle@tribunemail.com

I find myself the object of office gossip. I am an extremely sensitive woman and get really upset over this. Can you tell me how to deal with this?

I think the two of you have to reinvent your lives. You must work together to bring about a shift of perspective. For a start, try going out for a romantic film. Maybe ‘Salaam-Namaste’ would be the film for you. You could even take a trip to the mountains or plan just a quiet evening dining out. Start feeling sixteen again and I assure you that the lost magic will return. It is far better to regenerate your current companionship than to learn to love a stranger again. Excitement comes and goes but the emotional security of a permanent relationship lasts out forever. So just hang on and there it will happen for you all over again but that is if you let it.

Sweet temptations

Savour the flavour of the season in the delicious cakes that are making the way for the festival season. Gayatri Rajwade goes around town sniffing the aroma from the ovens

H urrah for the festive season! For here come the bakes and cakes, puddings and pastries! Savour the flavours letting them tingle and mingle, give in to that wilful, unruly craving for nothing is finer that a delicious, sumptuous, opulent slice of cake dancing a merry jig on your taste buds!

As the festival season takes over, bakeries produce their finest fare to gladden hearts and palates. Does a ‘Sacher Torte’, a dense cake with orange chocolate icing sound good? Well! This is just the tip of the gooey iceberg! The Torte, a speciality of ‘Monica’s Puddings and Pies’, is one among more than two-dozen delectable offerings up for grabs. Their Chocolate Gateau is a city favourite as is the Chocolate Mud Cake—“a favourite amongst the youngsters,” says Monica’s owner, Monica Sood.

This tiny little cranny in the Sector 8 market has notched up an avid clientele with its innovative recipes. “This season too, we have special concoctions like the California Prune Cake, Fig and Raisin Cake, lots of dry cakes like Almond and Raisin and the moist Double Chocolate Cake.”

In the pipeline is also the mouth-watering Cherry Liquor Cake in tandem with other fruitcakes like Mango, Raspberry, Blueberry and the Passion Fruit Cake.

Perhaps one of the oldest bakeries in town is the one at Hotel Aroma in Sector 22. With the unique distinction of having catered to the developing Chandigarh taste buds for more than 40 years they know what clicks. “Chocolates are fascinating to the city,” declares Aroma’s Food & Beverage Manager, Rajan Arora with certainty! Along with the usual Pineapple, Butterscotch, Chocolate Mud Pie is the Chocolate Truffle Cake, and the Mixed Fruit Cake that has their flavours firmly entrenched in the city. However what really gets the city going is are their Rum Balls no less! Another speciality is the hand-made soft nut chocolates, which begin at Diwali and are available only till Christmas and New Year.

With 7 to 8 outlets around the city, Polka, has been catering to the city’s sweet-tooth for the last 25 years and it is their Swiss Roll which has caught the city’s fancy for all these years. A recipe which owner Ashwini Kumar claims has been developed by them first and which “no one else makes, like we do!”

New entrant Sweet Nothings tempts with its delicious looking creamy wonders. Owner Jasjot Singh bakes the cakes, 15 to 20 of them, herself everyday. Look forward to their Autumn Passion, an apple, carrot and walnut splendour or the Dry Jaffa Nut Cake, a chocolate cake with chunks of orange marmalade and dry fruits that will make their appearance for the celebratory season!

Mountview, whose in-house bakery is displayed most tantalisingly in their Coffee Shop have the city running for their Chocolate Truffle cake.

So take a bite of it all for there are no two ways about it, the city loves its chocolate—in any form! And the city bakeries leave no stone unturned, to entice their customers, for, can anything satiate like bakeries can?

The Westside story 
Hurley to wed Arun on Valentine's Day

British actress Liz Hurley plans to marry her millionaire Indian lover Arun Nayar on Valentine's Day next year reportedly in Rajasthan. Liz said she was relieved that Arun had finally secured a divorce from his Italian wife Valentina Pedroni, which allows them to wed. Liz has been dating Arun since January 2003.

Sir Elton John's lover David Furnish is expected to take on the role of the best man at the wedding. — IANS

Zeta-Jones keeps in touch

MUSIC
Musical Mania
Dharam Pal

He is India’s first multi-instrumental pop star. He sings, directs, composes, arranges, programs and engineers music and due o his exposure to both, Western and Indian music has knowledge of vast range of instrumentation. He fuses different styles of music, hence creating a unique blend of composition. Not surprising, as plays 10 different at each concert, he is a delight on stage and his ability to enthral audiences gives Universal Music the opportunity to release his new album: ‘Raghav Sachar — 24 Carat’.

Raghav’s debut album, ‘For the first time’, was released to critical acclaim in November 2003 and since then Raghav has done over 150 concerts across India and abroad. He is a hot favourite with fashion designers like Satyapaul and is a much sought after performer whenever girls walk the ramp!

Raghav Sachar is a prolific performer who has a number of International and Indian performances to his credit. He has performed for Satyapaul (Fashion Designer) at fashion shows held at various cities in India and abroad such as London (at Madam Tussaud’s), Singapore (for IIFA awards) Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Bangalore, etc. (2003-2005) performed for top event management companies for numerous corporate events.

He is a Musician not just by qualification and profession. But, Music is the essence of his being as it flows down his blood stream. Having grown up in an environment with all his family members inclined towards music. He started playing his first instrument, the harmonica at the age of four. There has been no looking back ever since.

He has travelled the path till here in active pursuance of this inborn talent. He went on to forming a band with a few friends and holding crowd-pulling performances at key events. Now, with the ability to compose, arrange, sequence and sing in different styles of music and with the god gift to play 24 instruments, re-use it to create a new blend and a new approach to music, which in two words can be defined as “Cultural Amalgamation”. Having completed a formal graduation in music from “Monash University – Australia” one of the most internationally reputed institutes in the world, a very strong international experience of performance behind him and, an Album to his credit he is in search of bigger, more exciting opportunities and innovative ways to entertain and swing people to his melodies, as an ‘Artist with a difference’.

U SHARE
Your birthday today with Milan Singh...
Anandita Gupta

The greatest Indian maestros of playback singing- Mohammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Hemant Kumar, Saigal, R.D Burman, Geeta Dutt, Noor Jahan, Asha Bhonsley and finally melody queen Lata Mangeshkar , all singing in succession. And not only the run- of- the -mill film songs. Rather a refreshing whiff of folk songs, ghazals, geets and garbhas. What’s more, Hindi songs are followed by songs in different languages. Such a flood of multifaceted artistry. And believe it or not, it comes from one person- the miracle called Milan Singh….

Someone who’s performed more than 1700 live shows, has enthralled audiences in Boston, New York, New Jersey, Florida and of course India. The versatile singer who discovered her talent to sing at the tender age of three and a half. And yes, the singer who’s nurtured an old age home at Aurangabad. When she sings, one can’t tell whether the voice is coming from a gentleman’s vocal chords or from a lady’s. For, she can duplicate both male and female voices with an ease, that reflects the grace of a proud swan. Well, this singer is the only Indian to have a road named on her (in ‘Ettawah’ by the UP Government)! No wonder, she’s the proud recipient of the ‘Yash Bharti’ award (1994-95). Humble, yet hard-shelled, this woman’s another feather in the Indian cap, added to it on October 12.

Songs sung true
Mahima Pushkarna

My journey from Kashmir to Kanyakumari was hectic. For the sheer pleasure to see the real India, I changed half a dozen trains by the time I had reached my destination. It was tiring sometimes but fun. The second class of an Indian train can ever leave you with a feeling of loneliness: copassengers become extended family .But in my moments of low, I found something that gave me a high— in every train. Co-passengers were passing  time by playing antakshari and singing  film songs :from the latest  Bollywood hits to those dating back to the Golden 60s,  from classical ragas, to folk ballads, and peppy, foot-tapping angrezi numbers. The songs brought revelry and camaraderie among people who were strangers till a few minutes ago. It set me off thinking of the unifying force of songs, the sound of music.

Music is not just rhythm and lyrics put together. It is a message, which does not require a single language but is, in itself, a single language. Messages of peace, cultural acceptance, love, hatred, anti-war, mutual understanding_ whatever we please. Songs cheer the casuality-struck , be it the Tsunami victims or the families of Kargil martyrs. Songs such as “heal the world” by Michael Jackson, and “all the people in the world” by Safri Duo were composed for the very purpose of making the world a better place to live in, for music, is a powerful medium, with an infinite potential. At home in India, there is not a person whose hair does not stand on ends, should Lata Mangeshkar’s haunting voice render “Ae mere watan ke logon...” from the radio in some paanwala’s shop.

India, being a melting pot of so many different cultures, is very fragile. The slightest squabble can trigger violence. But the one reality of our country is that despite numerous languages and dialects, we all speak the same language of music. The latest trend of crossover music between India and Pakistan, is one of the strongest link to end the hostility between the two countries. Every other youngster can be heard humming the tunes of Pakistani musicians Jal, Fakir and Strings, while the older generation, tuning in to the music of the incomparable  Nusrat Fateh Ali and Abida Parveen. The Sufi music stirs the souls of people across the world. Who can deny, it was “Made in India”. The most favoured musician of the day, A.R. Rehman- a Hindu convert to Muslim, ends every one of his live concerts with “Vande mataram”  followed by “Maa tujhe salaam” complimented by tri-coloured fireworks. His is a modern day rendering of the song that is next only to our National Anthem.

And it appeals to the Generation Next without offending the sensibilities of those who prefer to remain in the 60s or 70s.However may we modify “Vande mataram”, every time it is heard, it revives in us the thought that we are not Punjabi, Gujrati, Bengali, or Tamilian, but Indian. And yes, by the time I reached Kanyakumari, I had sung my throat sore with my fellow passengers! 

Dhawan not to cash in on Mallika's sex appeal

Mallika Sherawat has just signed David Dhawan's next as-yet-untitled entertainer opposite Sanjay Dutt. The film also stars Zayed Khan. “She has a great role in the film. She is very keen to do good work and not just sexy roles. In this film too, she is not a plain Jane, but I am not going to cash in on her sex appeal. Mallika is a talented actress and had acted very well in Murder. I have been wanting to work with her since then,” says David Dhawan

Mallika is at present in Beijing for the promotion of ‘The Myth’.

The Deols get together

Dharmendra, Sunny and Bobby Deol come together for the first time for Anil Sharma's ‘Apne’. The film as Anil Sharma put it, is about "relationships and the lessons we learn from them?"

It was Sunny Deol, who first told him about the idea of casting the Deol family together. "He had told me this about five to six years ago. I was busy then making other films. After I completed The Hero, I seriously wanted to go ahead only with what Sunny had suggested and writer Neeraj Pathak came up with a wonderful story where Dharmendra, Sunny and Bobby could be cast. This is for the first time in history of Indian cinema that a father with his two sons will be seen on screen."— MF

John, Akshay do a Baywatch number

David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson have pranced on the beach. Now, it is our desi heroes Akshay kumar and John Abraham, who will do something similar in Priyadarshan's ‘Garam Masala’. The song ‘Dil Samundar’ has been especially worked out on the lines of Hollywood series Baywatch to give it a similar look, shot on the mesmerising beach of Mauritius.

“And Akshay and John had no problems stripping down to their swimming trunks. There were these host of young and beautiful girls running on the beach wearing swimming suits and bikinis. It looked a scene straight out of Baywatch,” smiled choreographer Pony Verma.