Sense & simplicity
Rooted and real. That defined actor Farooq Shaikh, who got candid about the SRK and Jaswant episodes, reality shows & real cinema at a city seminar
He doesn't believe in clichés. He is not a part of the madding crowd. When the world around him was moving and shaking, Farooq Shaikh was busy spending quality time with himself. "I didn't want to become a scarecrow," he explains. "I am a lazy person. I'd rather loaf around than burden myself with work that I don't feel satisfied doing," he clears the point. In the city, to attend a seminar, the actor who was a part of the New Indian cinema or parallel cinema, was at his candid and cordial best. The otherwise humble actor's star status was made apparent only by certain over-zealous organisers trying to play the part of bouncers, virtually cordoning off the veteran actor from journos.

Photo: Pradeep Tewari

Write approach
“Literature is the creation of three factors: the races, the milieu, the moment,” had rightly observed M. Taine, the acclaimed French literary historian, and this holds relevance for contemporary Indian literature too. — Photo: Pradeep Tewari

Psyched out
DJ Psychobaba can surely take you to a trance-like state with his psychedelic music
Meditation, unexplained flow of energy, state of sub-consciousness, you can denote it with any other generic name. But no matter how you choose to look at psychedelic music, it translates itself into a state of trance, where nothing, just about nothing matters.



(L-R) Rohit, Psychobaba and Sameer

Coffee & company
Gossiping, discussing business deals, idea of proposing to a college sweet heart, sulking over a broken heart, chalking out next weekends programme…all this and lot more goes down perfectly well with one ingredient and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to guess this one - coffee. It has always an amazing effect on the system. 

Sanjay Coutinho

Party time
InnovAction, an event management company, will organise Precious Models Party at Club RV Rendezvous, Sector 26, on Saturday in which many well-known models, film directors and who's who of the city will participate. The party will start at 8 pm and will continue till 2 am, announced Disha Sharma, model and managing partner of the company.

Bon Appetit
Say paneer
Its amusing, how everyone chortles, "Say cheese" when shutterbugs are clicking! It was during our college days that we revolted, translating it to "Say paneer", each time we were being photographed for posterity. It wasn't patriotism or love for the Hindi lingo that goaded us, but fortunately, saying paneer, also resulted in a wide, toothy grin, just as saying cheese did, for the benefit of the camera! Paneer is an integral part of South Asian cooking, so taken for granted by one and all, especially the vegetarians of the world. 

Curry in favour
Happy hours
At Tehal Singh's, one can savour chicken in its varied forms and flavours
For lovers of poultry, this place is no less than a paradise. Known not only in the tricity, but also in the adjoining states of Haryana and Himachal, Tehal Singh's in Sector 22, is famous for a variety in chicken, mutton and fish. 'World famous in tricity' (as you say in popular parlance), the best thing about this dhaba is - the food is served uninterrupted from 12 noon to 1 am. So, anyone who does not know where to hunt for food after the official restaurant lunch and dinner hours, this is the place to be.

Masala mar ke!
A chef claims that chicken tikka massala did not originate in the UK, but Scotland
Sixty-four-year-old Ahmed Aslam Ali, the founder of Shish Mahal, is claiming that he invented the dish, and is now calling on the European Union to give it “Protected Designation of Origin” status, alongside the likes of Champagne, Parma Ham and Greek Feta cheese. Ali says that the creamy, mildly spicy curry was first made here in the 1970s to please the Scots, but then it went on to become the most popular dish in British restaurants. “Chicken tikka masala was invented in this restaurant, we used to make chicken tikka, and one day a customer said, ‘I’d take some sauce with that, this is a bit dry’,” The News quoted Ali, as saying. Glasgow’s Labor lawmaker Mohammad Sarwar is now taking steps to gain EU legal protection for the curry. —ANI

Food Express 
Buoyed by the success of janata meal served at railway stations across the country, IRCTC is now planning to serve regional delicacies on a similar scale catering to local tastes. “Like puri-sabzi, we are also planning to serve delicacies like idli-vada in South, luchi-sabzi in East and items made of besan in Rajasthan,” said IRCTC managing director Rakesh Tandon. 

Walk the talk « « « « Club wear was the flavour of the fashion nite organised by the Blenders Pride Magical tour, where actor Minissha Lamba and various models walked the ramp for designers Vikram Phadnis and Mandira Wirk on Thursday.