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Live wire
Something about live! Matches to music to meals, what you see is what you get. Just as a performer is better than the speaker. Just as a guitar being strummed right in front is way better than the recorded disc rotating on its own, playing through the speakers. Live band concept remains, though the reasons somewhat change. A quick round up of who's playing what in the city circles.
"There're a lot of music or entertainment modes available. Apart from the regular kinds, I think, a live band adds grace to the entire setting," opines Vipul from Purple Rice. He adds, "We don't have any Hindi or Bollywood music playing on at the place but there's a singer who does soft rock and country music…Which I think, thought, not in an Indian restaurant but in an Oriental one, is a good idea." Is there an echo? Just as there's overlapping. "A live performance kind of puts in that energy, make things lively and definitely adds to the whole ambience," nods Sukhmani Malik of Hari and Sukhmani that play at Orchid Lounge. She adds, "Punjabi is my forte. We sing folk fusion music, play lounge music, folk with electronic." If you've seen us perform, we play popular Punjabi folk songs like Kali Teri Gut Te Paranda Tera Lal Ni and some other Punjabi numbers, mostly by Surinder Kaur and Asa Singh Mastana." Inevitably, wherever there's a group playing, there's an off the track request. "The other day, there's this person requesting me to sing some jumpy number from Singh is Kinngh," laughs Jasleen, the one-woman band, who plays at S-Lounge and Purple Rice. She adds, "I try to work on it the next time and keep people's tastes in mind. I try to add an Indian touch to my music." Currently, it's playing slow rock and country music. "At S-Lounge I have a guitarist with me. Otherwise, I play country music, slow rock and I am also trying to incorporate some Hindi and Punjabi numbers." The unanimity on the special touch of live performance remains. Adds Jasleen, "If I were to go out, I'd any day choose a place which has live music. It adds a personal and lively touch to the environment." However, the inattentive bunch, committed more to the company around and to the meal rather than the music, still remains a situation at times. "Even if out of 10, three are listening, the rest try to pay attention to it. But yes, sometimes, there are all kinds of crowds." Meanwhile, there's no stopping the wild-wild off beat dedications and requests. Laughs Sukhmani, "Generally the requests are very close to what we do. Sometimes, they're weird. Like this freak kid yesterday came to me and asked me to sing Waka Waka." She adds, "We make our own music in the studio, we cannot play the song for which we don't have the music because it needs to be worked upon in advance." As for the off the track requests, they keep pouring in. manpriya@tribunemail.com
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You can work it out!
Have a little fun as you workout," is the message that city girl Meghna Virk Bains wants to give though her latest book Fitness Programme for Urbanites.
And then, it was her yoga instructor Shiv Malhotra who guided her. "Guru Ji inspired me to take up yoga not only for my life but also as a career," says Meghna, who works from a studio in Noida and is a trainer with Gold's Gym. She conducts workshops internationally. Meghna believes in custom-made fitness regimes and so does her book. Fitness Programme for Urbanites is an intensive 30-day fitness regimen. One can start from home and pick up from swimming, gymming, aerobics for bodily exercise plus yoga for mind and soul as well," she says. The book comes with diet plan for 30 days as well. "Today's stressful life takes its toll on physical and mental health. It's a combination of diet, exercise and proper sleep pattern that can tackle this challenging lifestyle," she says. Meghna's book is one step ahead of her first, Yoga for Women, for it provides a holistic fitness package. The book was released by renowned artist and sculptor Shiv Singh. "Exercise is generally considered a serious discipline. It is to break this stereotype and convey message that 'creativity' can make a huge difference to one's workout regimen that made me choose celebrated Shiv Singh to launch my book in the city," says Meghna who herself is a regular with yoga,
meditation and gymming. "Meghna's book is systematically done and has great illustrations that are essential in case of a book on exercise," says Shiv Singh. "While earlier lifestyle involved exercise in the daily routine, be it fetching water, household chores or a plain game of football, it is missing from today's' life," he adds. And, what does he do to keep fit? "I go for a game of golf or a long walk apart from beating the metal for my work," he adds. The book is published by Pustak Mahal. mona@tribunemail.com |
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Chronicles of City Beautiful
India is so rich, not only in terms of heritage but also resources — natural and human. Coming from West, I want to share my perspective of the worth of this country that its inhabitants are largely unaware of,” says Patsy Craig, an artiste with keen interest in music, painting and architecture.
While curating an exhibition on Jean Prouvé, a furniture designer, Patsy, an American based in London, got interested in some of the pieces from Chandigarh. Inspired, she came to the city. The visit made her choose Chandigarh for her research work and also gave her subject of a new book. “Our book is going to be different. Unlike most of the work that’s done on the city that goes ‘backwards’ (about its creation) ours is going to be study of the challenges that this wonderful city faces, say, 20 to 50 years ahead,” shared Patsy, on her third visit to Chandigarh. Talking about her experiences here, she goes, “My first visit was more of ‘touristy’ when we explored the city on bikes, did lots of evening photography. It was deeper on second and even more this time around,” she says sitting comfortably a hotel’s lobby. Jack of many trades, Patsy is a painter, produces music and has keen interest in architecture. “Jazz is the music of modernism,” says Patsy. With London Jazz Fest to her credit, Patsy also has started a new music programme Partager (French for ‘sharing’) that is French, British and American collaborative. “I intend to make India part of Partager and take it to other countries and Chandigarh is a sure on that list,” shares spirited Patsy. On this visit she also has John Bass, an associate professor, The University of British Columbia, with whom she attended art classes long back along. Bass came of hear of architectural monuments of the city when studying architecture back in 1980s. Together they are sourcing material for their book. Their third fellow John Nicholls has already had an investigative look at the city sometime back. The duo, Bass and Patsy, are together exploring the city this time around, meeting people and trying to figure the challenges that the city is facing. “Chandigarh is most unique. A celebrated architect being called to create a city from a scratch is an event so rare in modern architecture,” says Bass. “But we are not going to stop at ‘Oh what a wonderful city’. Ours is an endeavour to bring about challenges that the city is facing — increased wealth leading to desire for more cars, expansion in periphery, issues of increasing immigrants and such,” shares Bass. Apart from being ‘so different than rest of India’ and ‘so green’, its resident’s pride in the city that has touched this duo. “People here are certainly aware of what a great place they are in,” says Bass. But its lack of money, interest and certainly will in preserving national treasure that disturbs them. “Capitol complex is the epicentre of the city and it’s hard to understand why its ground is in ‘back to nature’ state or issues like setting up of a new cafeteria at the Assembly Hall without any regard for protocol. This is disturbing,” says Patsy. And, its awareness about this and more interaction between public and its monuments, that Patsy wants to garner through Partager. Bass has a dream of his own, “I want to be back here in Spring, 2012 with a team of students for an extended stay to study the future of this remarkable city.” mona@tribunemail.com
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Play ground
An artiste with a deep aesthetic sense and dedication, theatre actor director Gaurav Sharma is fast maturing as a young theatre exponent. Credited with over 80 plays as an actor and 50 as director, including light sound spectacles and street theatre, this 24-old-year city lad has carved a niche for himself in theatre. Besides, Gaurav has played important roles in serials like Hostel ek Zindagi, Nai Museebat, Meharbaan Kaise Kaise for Doordarshan and a Punjabi film titled Sardari. But Gaurav now plans to showcase his potential in the UK. In fact, he is leaving on July 17 on the invitation of the Punjabi Theatre Academy Middlesex, UK, to hold a month-long theatre workshop to interact with stage actors and prepare them for noted playwright TP Singh’s Punjabi play “Puwara Bottle Da (Booz Tensions). An interaction with Gurauv: Are you ready for a new venture abroad? In fact, it will be my third theatrical venture and stage performance abroad. You are not formally trained. Do you think formal traning would have helped? Certainly. We cannot match the professional excellence of trained NSD pass-out who is taught the grammar of acting. You had made a substantial contribution in street theatre. Who is your inspiration? Theatre, especially the street genre, retains strong social activism in their thematic content. Besides the actors remain engaged in direct conversation with the audience.
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Bon Appetit
The searing summer heat has departed for good, making place for floods and communication crisis! If you were planning to travel out of the city, don't even think about it unless you want to walk all the way there in Wellingtons and a raincoat! Torrential showers bring relief, bringing with it the assurance of water in our taps! When the clouds lift and drift away, a sultry humidity envelopes us like an enforced sauna! So, what brings happiness in such steamy mausam? The mauj of the delectable mango! When I spot the elongated, orange-fleshed 'dussehri' in the market, I actually see RED! Dussehri, a tail-ender, is one of the last varieties that marches in at the mango-parade. To me, its arrival implies that the time draws near to bid adieu to our favourite fruit.
In the blink of an eye, mango will 'go', and it 'goes' without saying that its departure will be deeply mourned! Its called the King of fruits, and not without good reason! The phalon ka raja shall beat the retreat, creating a void in our tummies as we crave its sweet, juicy chunks! Enough lamenting for now, because the langdaa too just limped in! Yesterday one of my dear friends complained that I should have included a recipe for mango cheesecake. Since I can sing accolades and recipes of mangoes till you begin to yawn, I decided to dedicate another column to mera mango! Upside-down mango chiffon cake
(This is a foolproof recipe from BBC publications and it turns out a gorgeous glossy cake!) 40 gm butter, plus one tsp for smearing the tin 100 gm grain sugar 2 large mangoes 175 gm butter, softened 175 gm powdered sugar 3 medium sized eggs 225 gm maida 2 tsp baking powder 75ml milk Method Heat the grain sugar with 2 tbsp of water in a heavy pan till the sugar dissolves. Now bring it to a boil and cook steadily without attempting to stir the syrup! Very soon you will obtain a deep caramel coloured liquid. Add the 40gm butter and swirl it around the pan to incorporate. Pour immediately into the cake tin, so that the base of the tin is covered with an even layer of caramel. Leave to cool. Switch on the oven on preheat at 350 degrees F and grease the cake tin with butter. Peel and slice the mango into neat sections and lay them out on the caramel surface. Now prepare the cake batter. Cream together the butter and powdered sugar till fluffy. Add pre-beaten eggs, mixing well after each addition. Sieve the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt together and fold into the cake mixture using a large metal spoon. Stir in the milk and pour the batter over the waiting caramel-mango base. Bake for about 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a serving dish. The mango layer now now pops up superior, glazed, golden and glorious!
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Green warrior
Monsoon ki masti lo, choo na sake patjhar aisa lo ashirwad…are the lines out of a poem that, as a blessing, Dolly Dhillon Gujral ties to each sapling she plants. This dedicated environmentalist recently got an appreciation award for planting as many as 1,800 trees during the last monsoon. "We use trees from the beginning of our life till our last rites. Each human being in a lifespan consumes close to 100 trees, be it for the purpose of fruits, medicines or wood. Isn't it our duty to give back to nature?" she questions. As for her, she is giving back for sure. From roadsides to schools, mosques, gurdwaras, mandirs, gaushala, parking places and city markets, Dolly has planted trees everywhere. "As a housewife I planted trees, say 10-12 a season. It was only last year that it took form of passion," she shares the journey. So, Dolly along with one of her housemaids went wherever they found a spot, dug a pit and planted a sapling. But the job was not done with just planting. "Wherever I plant, I make sure to take a pledge from whosoever stays nearby to look after the plant like a baby," she says. And she herself makes sure to check out how they are doing. No wonder, of the 1800 saplings, near about all have survived a year and in fact doing pretty well. "When I plant in schools, I generally give responsibility of tending a plant to students because I feel its children and youth who need to be sensitised," she says. Her enthusiasm is certainly matched by young, bubbly kids who have named their young plants with much love-Ayushman, Drishti and Sukhman. Having so many babies (literally) has kept Dolly on her toes the year around. "When I planed at the sides of roads, officials did tell me maintaining them is going to be difficult but I had faith in myself," she shares. It did turn to be difficult to water roadside plants. "I took cans in our car to water the plants," she says beaming with pride. Her religious streak finds place as she chants Gayatri Mantra and Mul Mantra from Jap Ji Sahib before planting each sapling and with love ties her poem Jeevant Paudhe as a mark of blessing. And, she makes sure to check on how her tribe is growing. "Sometimes I have this desire to see some tree planted somewhere, I just pick up the car and go to see,' she shares. Inspired? Well, the lady who has green fingers has a message for you, "Just tell me what plant you want to have, I will get it and plant wherever you want. I turn, just promise me take care of it and a permission to check on it from time to time." mona@tibunemail.com
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A certified yoga and health trainer for the past six years, Meghna's first inspiration came from home. "My mom put us on the path to healthy eating and exercising. In fact, my whole family enjoys exercise as an elective activity," she says.