Contemplate. Create. Live.
JAN 2016
A MUSICAL ODYSSEY
MT ADITYA SRINIVASAN’S TAKE ON LIFE AND MUSIC AS HE KNOWS IT
HAKUNA MATATA KENYA, A NATURE LOVER’S SAFE HAVEN
VITA DANI
THE STALWART OWNER OF ISL’S REIGNING TEAM
The Brew magazine is based on the Entertainment genre has seen stupendous growth in the past five years of its existence. Based on its tagline ‘Contemplate. Create. Live’, the Brew magazine urges readers to contemplate, create and live- in that order. Featuring human interest stories, articles about the most famed artists and elite lifestyle stories, we are immaculately selective about our content. With the support of the advisory and contributory board comprising of a team of great individuals, we host a minimum of eight events a year as well.
“Based on its tagline ‘Contemplate. Create. Live’, the Brew magazine urges readers to contemplate, create and live- in that order. Featuring human interest stories, articles about the most famed artists and elite lifestyle stories, we are immaculately selective about our content. ”
Sameer Bharat Ram Publisher & CEO Believing that all of you have gone through the process of making and breaking your resolutions by now, Brew heartily wishes you a Happy New Year. With the typical ‘it’s the start of something new,’ resonating all around us, it’s important to remember with new beginnings, come new challenges. The first issue of 2016 screams of this very idea with the dauntless Vita Dani on cover. Being the owner of Chennaiyin FC, she talks about the highs, the lows and above all, the tenacious will power that makes the team. On a lighter note the Create section also dwells in a conversation with MT Aditya Srinivasan, a man of musical notes. With an end in mind to inspire our readers, this issue consists of stories that will push you to live healthier and travel farther. From a beat on the artsy streets in Chennai to a travelogue on Kenya, there’s plentiful to read. Once again, here’s wishing you a year of happiness, love and success. VIDHYA ANAND EDITOR
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CONTRIBUTORS & ADVISORY BOARD Thota Tharani A senior Indian film art director and production designer who has worked in Tamil cinema, Telugu cinema, Malayalam cinema and Bollywood. He has won two National Film Awards, two Filmfare Awards South and four Tamil Nadu State Film Awards. His work consists of paintings, murals, paper collages, wooden montages, installations and so on
G Venket Ram A leading Indian fashion photographer, who has shot principal photography stills for several notable films as well as portfolios. He quit his engineering studies to work with cinematographers for a while, after which he joined a course in Visual Communication at Loyola College. He then worked with photographer Sharad Haksar and in 1993, he started his own studio
Mallika Sarabhai Educated as an economist and business manager, she is one of India’s best-known classical dancers. She has taken her work and her company ‘Darpana’ to not only over 90 countries around the world, but also to the most remote parts of India
Neeru Nanda A graduate from Delhi University, she’s passionate about writing. She freelanced as a feature writer for ten years before switching to publishing. Author of a collection of short stories titled ‘IF’, she has also worked on novels and short stories for children
Ashok Verghese One of the youngest education entrepreneurs who is making a great difference in this field in the country. He is the Director of the Hindustan group of Institutions, one of the pioneering educational groups in the country. He supports the cause of promoting young talent in art and music
Veejay Sai An award-winning writer, editor and a culture critic. He has written and published extensively on Indian classical music, fashion, theatre, food and art, and loves traveling, researching literary and cultural history. He is an editorial consultant with over 40 brands and designers in and outside India and is on the jury for several prestigious awards in the arts sector across the country
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INTERNAL TEAM EDITOR Vidhya Anand SUB- EDITOR Sanjana Ganesh CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
COVER CREDITS
Vilani Senthamil Ajay Srikanth Prathiba Jayapaul Shreya Anand Sruthi Karthic
PHOTO COURTESY Shiva Balaswaminathan
MARKETING EXECUTIVE Prashant Balaji
LOCATION COURTESY Hyatt Regency
DESIGN Ramkumarnagarasan CIRCULATION Ashok Kumar
S T R A T E G Y
&
D E S I G N
Published by Sameer Bharat Ram, and owned by SM BrandMuni Consulting Pvt. Ltd, Published from New No. 68 / Old No. 63, Cathedral Road, Chennai - 600 086. Tel.: +91 44 4208 9392.
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CONTENTS Contemplate
10
SMILE, ALL THE WAY Read about Smile Foundation, a beautiful NGO that is improving lives
CREATE
14
FROM MADRAS TO BERKLEE Rendezvous with MT Aditya Srinivasan, the man behind the beats
30
WHEN WEDDING BELLS RING Brew’s favourite picks for the bride in you
20 ISL
What do the numbers say?
22
GRACING THE GAMES
Chennaiyin FC’s Vita Dani on the sport and life as she knows it
LIVE
16
OF DREAMS THAT COME TRUE British Filmmaker Joanna Coates on her debut feature
32
SAYING AUM AND MORE Expert inputs for a soulful living
36
STREET ART SCENE IN SINGARA CHENNAI Read how a bunch of artists transformed the city of Chennai
38
DHARAMSHALA With its snow clad backdrops and Tibetan wisdom, here’s your best holiday package
41
KENYA, THE CRADLE OF HUMANITY With planet earth in its rawest form, Kenya is a safe haven for humans and animals alike
48 REVIEW
Bobby’s Bistro, for the food freak in you
52
WHAT’S NEW Brew brings you this month’s latest releases
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CONTEMPLATE | Changemakers
A
Goes a Long Way Peter Senge is an American systems scientist who founded the Society for Organization Learning. He wanted to help large corporations find sustainable solutions to their problems. He also believed that social equality and environmental issues were business problems, and it was up to corporate leaders to solve them. His philosophy inspired a group of professionals in India, and the Smile Foundation was born. They started in 2002 with the aim of empowering children, youth and women via education, health care and relevant livelihood programs. 15 years in, Smile Foundation is doing a wonderful job. Ajay Srikanth speaks to its co-founder and Executive Trustee, Mr. Santanu Misra, about the organization, successes and plans for the future.
A
sk him about the beginnings, and he says “Smile Foundation was established in 2002 by a group of friends – well established corporate professionals, who came together with the sole aim of giving back to society. Smile Foundation has always thought of its role as a catalyst in bringing sustainable change in the lives of underprivileged children, and their families, by working effectively on the ground and encouraging civil society to be a part of the development process.”
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“Smile Foundation is now working largely in, but not limited to, four subject areas – education, livelihood, health, and women empowerment. We have 158 welfare projects on the ground, spread across 732 villages and slums in 25 states of India, directly benefitting more than 3,00,000 children and families”
S
mile decided to begin with child education, but soon realized that it could not be done without ensuring the total welfare of the child’s family. It is a familiar story; the child wants to go to school to learn, but has to earn a living so that his/her family can live. Once they realized this, they adopted a life-cycle approach of development, keeping children at the centre, but looking at familial well-being as well.
education and healthcare to underprivileged children. More than 2,00,000 children have been a part of Mission Education since its inception in 2002. The program currently reaches out to 19,000 children via 90 projects in 21 different states.
Smile on Wheels is their national level mobile hospital program. It is essentially a travelling hospital. Mostly active in rural areas, the aim is to discharge direct healthcare to regions that need it the Regarding Smile’s working, Santanu says most. Smile on Wheels also made an appearance during the Chennai floods, “Smile Foundation is now working dispending medicines and other medical largely in, but not limited to, four supplies. subject areas – education, livelihood, health, and women empowerment. STeP (Smile Twin e-Learning Program) We have 158 welfare projects on the is a livelihood programme that trains ground, spread across 732 villages and urban underprivileged youth with job slums in 25 states of India, directly and soft skills. Participants learn English, benefitting more than 3,00,000 children basic technical literacy, personality and families.” development and similar things. 11,500 The foundation has core programs in all people have been placed in 140 odd companies via STeP. of these areas. Their flagship program, Mission Education, aims to provide basic Jan 2016 | Brew entertainment | 11
CONTEMPLATE | Changemakers
They also run an empowerment programme for the girl child and women, Swabhiman. Swabhiman runs on the ‘4 S Model’, which means Seeking Healthcare as a Behaviour, Support through Education, Support from Men through Male Involvement, and Sustaining Change in the Community. Regarding the issues Smile faces, Santanu says “For any development organisation, the major challenge is to sustain its projects on the ground to ensure maximum SROI (Social Return on Investment), while also scaling up to reach out to a larger number of people. In a country of the size and diversity of India, this challenge becomes intensified.” Smile adopts a service delivery approach of development, rather than an advocacy based one, which means their projects are operational 365 days in a year, with the situation on ground being far from ideal. He says the journey, while challenging, is definitely rewarding.
“For any development organisation, the major challenge is to sustain its projects on the ground to ensure maximum SROI (Social Return on Investment), while also scaling up to reach out to a larger number of people. In a country of the size and diversity of India, this challenge becomes intensified”
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He also says that the CSR mandate has been a boon to NPOs and NGOs across the country, as this guarantees some amount of funding. However, he claims that individuals are prone to religious giving than social giving. He believes that a change here will be a huge boost to social causes across the country. Smile has a rather unique feature called “Social Venture Philanthrophy”. They train grassroot NGOs across the country to function better, and have trained over 500 organizations via their Empowering Grassroots Program. Which makes sense when you think about it. Change always begins at the roots, and these organizations have played a large role in bettering the lives of those at the bottom of the economic pyramid. Training and giving these NGOs the tools to perform better is undoubtedly the best way to level that pyramid. Smile Foundation has won quite a few awards for the conception and handling of their programs. As of date of writing, all four programmes focused on their core areas have been awarded and recognized by organizations such as ASSOCHAM (Education Excellence Award 2013 and Best NGO for Skill Development & Placement Training 2014), Institute of the Chartered Accountants of India (Best CSR Project in Women Empowerment 2015) and GE Healthcare (Modern Medicare Excellence Award).
“In the coming years, Smile Foundation will be making further efforts to benefit a larger population with its projects, at the same time enhancing the existing ones and turning them into model grassroots projects, that are scalable and replicable. We will also be taking up more initiatives, to reach out and sensitize the civil society, particularly children and youth, to be change makers.”
Smile Foundation has been evaluated by some of the most reputed Indian and international evaluators including INTRAC London, KPMG, India Development Foundation and PRIA, and has met their expectations and norms. Santanu stressed that credibility and accountability have always been the benchmark for Smile Foundation, and are achieved through the promotion of principles of good governance in its processes and practices. “We have a four-tier audit and evaluation mechanism which reviews programmes and projects, internal operations, compliance of statutory norms and conducts an external evaluation to ensure the impact of various welfare projects, as well as complete transparency and accountability in utilisation of funds.” Regarding the future, this is what he has to say. “In the coming years, Smile Foundation will be making further efforts to benefit a larger population with its projects, at the same time enhancing the existing ones and turning them into model grassroots projects, that are scalable and replicable. We will also be taking up more initiatives, to reach out and sensitize the civil society, particularly children and youth, to be change makers.”
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CREATE | Arts Galore
WAH,WAH
Rhythm exists in the deepest deeds of everyday life. The sound of a typing keyboard, the clang of temple bells, the whirring of the fan- all have an innate reproduction of a singular phoneme. MT Aditya Srinivasan grew with the tabla as he understood these beats. Read on as he speaks to the Brew Magazine about his journey with the instrument. By Sanjana Ganesh. Photography by Kiran Koushik Jan 2016 | Brew entertainment | 14
How did playing the tabla come into being? Amma went along the usual Carnatic music path when I was 3-4 years old. One day I saw Ustad Zakir Hussain perform and it was what I wanted to learn. My mother hunted for a teacher and found me one. My guru is Pandit Yogesh Samsi. Any excuse, at the drop of the hat, I used to go to Bombay and learn. At no point in time am I saying that I will be a tabla player or a musician. I am just doing what I love at the moment. Was the Berkelee experience enriching? At one point, all of Berklee’s Masters programs were at Valencia. The campus is beyond incredible as it was designed by a famous architect (Calatrava) with fancy elements such as an inbuilt opera house, the Valencian orchestra, etc. I did my masters in performance with a production component. Technologically, Berklee is the best place to be due to its exclusive facilities. I also got to continue my tryst with the institution as I was selected for a postgraduate fellowship by the Dean of the institution. Those were my two years in Spain. I’m back here now after a semester in the Boston campus as well and am excited to use all the experience I’ve had there and apply it here. How has the Margazhi season been for you? It is amazing to be back. At the end of the day, Indian classical music is Indian classical music. I have played a few concerts and am slowly getting back to the scene. What do you think of the sound engineering scene in Chennai? India has some of the most talented technicians in the world because we are a country of nerds. If people tell you that studio facilities abroad are better, it’s a farce because my friends here have built some of the best studios with cutting edge equipment. The Indian mind set needs to ensure that the engineers know
the nooks and crannies of their work. Even if some aspects may not be available, we use juggad to make sure we get things done. Why do think that the quality of music is considered to be better? It appears to be so though this may not be the case. This difference is due to the pains an artist there (Abroad) take to ensure good sound quality. An A. R. Rahman concert is considered to be great because he take two days to do the sound check. The expectation of sound quality is low in the country as people are trying to alter the music rather than the end i.e. quality. The Berklee Indian Music Ensemble seems to be an exciting experiment. They are some of the best people I’ve ever worked with. There was a point in time when the music became secondary because of the familial vibe. It was a group of people completely enjoying what we do. The team is being led by two people who are adding great value to Indian music- Annette Philip and Clint Valladares. Tell us something about the people you’ve worked with. In the classical music side, I’ve been mentored by people such as Sriram Parasuram sir and Anil Srinivasan sir. They’ve literally nurtured me. I’ve worked with some really great singers such as Ranjini- Gayathri, Vinayak Thorvi, TM Krishna, Rahman and a few others. At Berklee, I got to work with some top-class musicians from all over the world. It was great to work with flamenco and Spanish music bands such as Paco De Lucia’s band. I got the opportunity to be influenced by these musicians. What do you think will be your contribution to music? Rhythm allows you to be centrally disciplined and be aware of what is happening around you. I’m very interested in enabling creative people in the experience they want to create.
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Create | Cine Binge
IT’S LIKE AN
IMPOSSIBLE
BRITISH FILMMAKER JOANNA COATES ON THE MAKING OF HER DEBUT FEATURE HIDE AND SEEK Hide and Seek (2013), a dream-like, sensual, ethereal and bittersweet utopian parabola about four young people, who retreat to a deserted country house in order to reclaim their innocence and contemplate on their life, is a debut feature film directed by the talented British newcomer Joanna Coates. The film won the Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2014. Aesthetically sophisticated, slow, introspective, bucolic and moody piece on emotional lives and dreams of contemporary young people, Hide and Seek, was screened as a part of competition programme at this year’s Crossing Europe Film Festival in Linz, Austria, where Ana Sturm took some time to talk with Joanna for Long Live Cinema about her film, the idea, and the aesthetics behind it. It’s always great to see new and talented female directors emerging from the film universe. So, to start things off, I would like to ask you how you became a filmmaker? When did it all start and who inspired you? I’ve always wanted to make films. I went to this funny thing – like a charity for kids to make films – when I was really young. I learnt there that you had to be very cunning about how you manage [people] to end up being the director. I was very shy and more confident kids shoved their way to the top. I did not know how to do that, but I knew that I wanted to create my own space for making things. Then I went to university and I studied literature. I wanted to know more about stories, about what other people had written and thought. After that I started making films on my own, which is, I think, my way of how to get to the place that I wanted to be in and not be crushed or end up working for other people. I would also go to the cinema with my father a lot. We would go to the BFI in London (it used to be called the NFT – The National Film Theatre) and see films there. I remember seeing Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962), and seeing it on a print, on a big screen, and it’s like four hours long … I remember just not speaking. I was lost in thinking about it for days afterward. I
love classical cinema, but then I also remember one time when I was at school, reading an interview with Harmony Korine in a magazine, and he said something like: “My films are like the opposite of Hitchcock films, I just want them to be completely fluid and alive”. That was such an interesting way of thinking to me at that age. I have never heard someone talk about films like that. And then I really wanted to see his films and of course, I fell in love with them. So that was the other side of it. Hide and Seek is your debut feature film – what inspired the story? We were interested in looking at what youthful rebellion would be like now. You have these young people who have been in so many ways constricted and in some ways not at all. And there is also this idea of having to be good at everything, of always being the best at things. How do you sell yourself as an artist? How can you sell yourself as a person? And a fear of failure is like total. We wanted to look at that and at the fact that these characters have trouble of letting go. It’s not easy for them to become free. And what drives them, what traps them is the fear of loneliness and so they are trying their best to overcome these things. Some people in Q&A will
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sometimes say that they feel that it’s a conservative commune that this four people set up, and I am like: Yeah, that is the point. Film is about people who aren’t free and who are trying to be, it’s not about people who already are. And it’s also a film that tries to explore what freedom is. What drives your characters and why it is so crucial that they have to get away from society? It’s like a bittersweet thing. They don’t feel that they are able to change the world and they don’t feel that they are able to change while they are a part of the world. I think that this idea of disengagement as a statement is really interesting. It’s more troubling and complex. Human beings don’t have to join in this ‘thing’ that does not work, but at the same time it’s like: Well, it’s not really possible to exist outside of society. That’s why the film is some kind of fantasia or utopia about what would be nice to be possible. And it’s crucial that they go away. You can’t think about your own emancipation if you stay where you are, because the world is too distracting. They need to find another permissive place, like a blank place, to be able to do that. And I also think that they are trying to start again. We’ve had the -isms: the extreme right wing and the extreme left wing and extreme version of ‘this is how it’s right and I’m going to organise this society, and for the greater good I am going to kill everyone that are in the way’. And they know we can’t go back to that. We need to step away from all sorts of totalitarianism at all. And if that means just small groups of people being together without a particular ideology – well I think that is better. But this utopia that they find themselves in, your vision of it – it can’t really work. The drama for me in the film is that this, what they have, can’t really happen. It’s like an impossible dream, and that’s why I find it interesting. There are similar films that contain things that are sort of more miraculous and strange. I think it’s really interesting in a film to have something that you know it can’t really happen, because where else but in a film can you explore this idea? And
I think it’s really important to have something like an ideal or a goal that you also feel will never be truly realisable. But it still gives you something to aim for and there is an emotional truth in what we want. In the film the characters wanted to last forever. But nothing lasts forever. This dissonance is really interesting to me. A film is not always a documentary, or a record. Also, it’s not always a manifesto. Sometimes it can be an exploration of what we think and dream about. That’s why I really fight for the fact that the film is allowed to be honest about what our dreams are and about what we think might be beautiful, even if life can’t give it to us.
“this is how it’s right and I’m going to organise this society, and for the greater good I am going to kill everyone that are in the way” I like how you use landscapes in your film. You can really feel the history of the place and the stories of the old that lurk beneath the surface. At moments it felt like something you could read in one of Robert Macfarlane books. That is a really incredible thing to pick up in the film, because this magic of English landscapes is something that I think about all the time. And I always try to gently use them as a part of the storytelling. I try to evoke different atmospheres with them and I feel that there is a layering of meaning that comes from
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landscapes. I always felt that place in a film is essential. It’s not as important as people but it’s completely part of the story. I think that nature has so many specifics and powerful things that you can play with – and what is really interesting – I think you can tell a lot just by the kind of light that it is, the kind of grass that it is. The atmosphere of the place is just so important. We have this really strong tradition of thinking and writing about landscapes in England. One of my favourite writers, Laurence Edward Alan, better known as Laurie Lee, wrote several books about English countryside, and he did it with this kind of delight, but also very honest and wild. And the film is definitely trying to tap into that. The shots of nature in Hide and Seek can really induce emotions. It’s like when you are outside and the way you feel is connected to where you are and to what kind of weather it is outside. Yeah, that is exactly it. As a human being you think differently when you are surrounded by nature. I mean, I like cities, I think they are fascinating and liberating places but there is something different in nature. Nature belongs to everyone, and being in nature is a big part of being a human. I just moved to the countryside and I noticed how strongly that affects me. And suddenly I was in shock. Nature is always changing and you just don’t have control over it – you’re just part of it. Even with all the extensive farming and global warming, we still do not control it. We just affect it. Ultimately we will be controlled by it. Far more than we can ever change it. And nature is also free. Well, it’s meant to be free. And that is something that is really important for a person, just to have that. It’s just one of the human rights, to be able to be in nature without paying for it. We don’t realise how valuable that is, especially because we don’t realise that that right is very much under a threat. But in the film they get to have that. They get to be in this beautiful remote place and they have access to something rare. The essential feeling of them being in nature and being free is something that is really important for the film. But it’s not just about the beauty of English landscapes. The whole film looks like a piece of renaissance art, like something you could put in an art museum. Can you tell me a bit about visual references that you had for this film? Aesthetics of the film were something that I spent most of my time thinking about, because I am really interested in that. It can be a trap sometimes, if you are just trying to make things look beautiful and it does not have much meaning under it, but trying to make a unique aesthetic experience is different and it has a kind of visual value that is more important than often is seen in movies. And for us this was the most important thing. We were trying to make a cinematic experience, a visual experience for the viewer. Cinematographer Ben Hecking, he was such a great team to do that, because he had just the same aim and the same sensibility of trying to make something beautiful and also at the same time very subtle. We actually did not have to work that hard to make it beautiful, to have some sort of visual patterns and motives within the film, but it was also very important to make meaning out of that – it was part of the story that we worked on. One of the films that inspired us was The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1970). We looked a lot at Bertolucci, because I think he is one of the most incredible people at making interesting images and they are so moving in a way you can’t really explain. I don’t really understand why – it’s just an instinct – but it’s just
so tasteful and so strange and so full of meaning all the time. So yeah, he was like a huge reference. I did think about his film The Dreamers (Bernardo Bertolucci, 2003) while I was watching Hide and Seek, and I also noticed a bit of Eric Rohmer in it. I so knew what you were about to say! And you are right. Rohmer and Bertolucci were kind of main references. And there was also a bit of Bergman. The way he uses colour in his colour films and the way he looks at nature, like in Cries & Whispers (Ingmar Bergman, 1972), at the end of that film, where it’s kind of a dreamlike scenery, but also rooted in reality – that was really important reference. There were also others. There were some British photographers. I also like the British film called Accident (1967) by Joseph Losey, which is set in the English countryside. The aesthetics of Accident are quite different, but the colours are really nice. So the idea of colour, the colour palette, was just inspired from different people and from different films. We just sort of said: it’s that and that kind of spectrum that we want to use. I also wanted to ask you a little bit about the shooting. You spent two intense weeks in the middle of nowhere. What kind of experience was that for the crew and did the isolation affect the film in any way? The shooting was incredibly intense and everybody on the team cared a huge amount. All of us were young and excited to be making what was, for most of us, our first feature film. We all lived together in that house (where the movie also takes place), so it was sort of like a mirror of the film. We lived in the same house, we were a group and we were isolated. There was no phone reception and only one room had internet connection. We went for long walks and we found the frog and the horses and we put that in the film. The fact that we were living there and that we were surrounded with nature definitely infused in to the film. It was not like we went there and then back to the hotel in the city. No, we lived there, so we were able to just wake up in the sort of scenery of the film. But then there was one night when we had the night off. We took two cars and we drove like twenty minutes in the dark and through these abandoned lanes to the one and only pub that was open in the area. And they had like a back room with a pool table and a jukebox. The pub was completely empty, but we were so immersed in this tiny world of ours while shooting, that going out even in that pub felt like the most exciting party that we had ever been to! It was like six or seven people, and suddenly someone turned off the lights and turned on the jukebox and everyone went completely mad and going: OMG, this song! I’ve never heard a song as good as this! And it was playing ABBA (laughs). We were just listening to music and drinking cheap pints and the energy was amazing. It felt like in the film, when the performance makes you feel like you are the centre of the world – so yeah, that was a great moment! - www.longlivecinema.com
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CREATE | Timeout
ISLWhat do the numbers say?
The ISL just got over, and the city is on a high post our victory. On the surface, the league seems like a boon to players. International exposure, regular playing time, coaching from stars; the ISL seems to have it all. But is the ISL really as idyllic as it sounds? Ajay Srikanth tries to look at the entire picture.
T
o begin with, the ISL has surely put Indian football on the international map. We have the likes of Marco Materazzi coaching and del Piero playing. It is doubtful if these players would have ever come to the country otherwise. It has also opened up an avenue for Indian talent to play abroad. Players like Sandesh Jinghan (Kerala Blasters Defender) and Romeo Fernandes (FC Goa Midfielder) are two Indians touted to play abroad. It is highly doubtful if they would have gotten this chance without the League. But there is more to it. The League did not relieve Indian National Team players early for the World Championship Qualifiers. As a result, there was no preparatory camp before the matches against Turkmenistan (which happened on 8th October) and Oman (which happened on 13th October). India lost 1-2 and 0-3 respectively. Of course, Oman and Turkmenistan are better teams, and no one can say that India would have defeated them on another day. It
wouldn’t be unfair to blame on the loss on the late relieve, but this does raise a few questions. The ISL also has a rather strange rule regarding foreign players. Every team has to sign a minimum of eight foreign players. While there are sources that say the cap on foreign players is 10, there are many teams with 11. So the cap seems to be at 11. The cap on players makes sense; the ISL was formed primarily to promote Indian talent, and an overflow of foreign players would harm this. But why a minimum of eight? This rule seems counter intuitive. While 8 out of 25 doesn’t seem like a lot, the foreign players are typically more expensive, and therefore will get more playing time. It’s possible that the organizers wanted more variety and a greater sense of competition. But removing this rule will probably open the doors to a lot more Indian players.
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Let’s look at playing time. Four of the teams have foreigners playing as their main goal keeper (based on number of appearances). But each team has three goalkeepers signed. So there are 17 Indian goalkeepers in all. (Every team except Mumbai has two Indians and one Foreigner). Since four of these players get regular playing time, only 23.5% of Indian goalkeepers get regular playing time, while 50% of foreign keepers do. But that’s goalkeeping. Unless you’re number one, you don’t get much playing time. What about the other positions? Let’s focus on the two teams in the finals, Chennaiyin FC and FC Goa. Chennai has 11 foreign players signed and Goa has 10. The total number of player appearances for both teams are 235 and 231 respectively. For Chennai, the split between foreign and Indian players is 56.2% and 43.8%. Which is slightly skewed in itself. But then, 11 players have 56.2% of the appearances. There are two Indian players from Chennai who haven’t played a single game. On the surface, these stats look like the ISL isn’t a great success. But the numbers can’t always be interpreted literally. Take someone like Thoi Singh, a midfielder for Chennaiyin FC. Before the ISL, he played for Salgaocar, United Sikkim and Mumbai Tigers. Top flight Indian football, but that isn’t a big deal when you look at the global scenario. He has played for the national team (U-20). But he performed brilliantly in the 2015 ISL. He played all 16 games for Chennai. And more than playing time, he got to interact with the likes of Elano and was coached by a world cup winner. To top it all, his team won the league. To him, the ISL has certainly been a success. Let’s take a look at the Goan stats. The split between foreign and Indian players is almost 50-50 (50.2% to 49.8%). But again, just 10 of the foreign players play half the time, which means Indian players are sitting on the bench. A similar analysis of other teams will probably reflect the same trend. I didn’t catch the final, and I’m not able to find the squad list, but it would be interesting to see the split. But like Thoi Singh for Chennaiyin FC, we have players like Romeo Fernandes. I mentioned him at the beginning of the article. Because of his performance in the ISL, he was coached by Zico and not has international offers. But the statistics tell us that for an average player, the ISL isn’t a fairy tale. He spends a lot of time on the bench, with no real results to show. But that does not mean the ISL is a failure; far from it. It performs a role similar to the IPL for Indian cricket. It gives young footballers a platform that no Indian had a few years ago. Obviously, not everyone is going to become a star. But maybe those who can become a star have it a little easier now. Either way, these are the numbers. Draw whatever conclusions you may. Note: All statistics were derived from the team rosters as available on the ISL website on date of writing this article. The squads can be accessed at http://www.indiansuperleague.com/
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CREATE | Zeroed In
GRACING THE
GAMES “I’m on top of the world because I’m on top of the league” says Vita Dani, one of the three powerful owners of our very own Chennaiyin FC. Her pragmatic and humble persona let her open up about her love for the league, the sport and her life around it, in a heart-warming conversation with Vidhya Anand.
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CREATE | Zeroed In
W
alking into the cabin to finally meet and greet this powerful woman, popularly known not just as the owner of CFC but also for being a part of the Ambani family, it took me by a little surprise how down to earth she was. Looking at her from across the table, one couldn’t have possibly missed the quiet happiness that lit her up. And I concluded, that is one happy person there. “I’m happy. Of course I’m happy,” she breathes lightly.
INCEPTION With the reigning team of the ISL being hers, Vita astonishes with her constant modesty by shining the limelight at the team, co-owners Abhishek Bachchan, M S Dhoni and manager Marco Materazzi. To add to the astonishment, she quite boldly talks about how little she knew about football back in the days. “I have to share this with you. I had no clue about football. Genuinely I’m telling you. All my staff and players also knew about it. It’s an open book. And in less than a month’s time, I had to put a team together. I didn’t even know there were different positions in football. I have to admit it and I’m not embarrassed to say it out loud. Because I think it’s good to start with a clean sheet instead of knowing wrong things. So I sat with lots of friends over two days and tried to learn what are numbers in football, positions in football, technicalities, rules, penalties, off side and we learnt it. I think it’s great. And even after making a mistake, they’d all say, ‘Hey this is not wrong, you know. You are wrong.’ And I would be alright with that because I’m happy to learn,” she smiles.
“I have to share this with you. I had no clue about football”
THE JOURNEY UPHILL Like all success stories, it would only be right to point out that CFC had its fair share of strives before the light at the end of the tunnel found them. And as any winning team, they needed motivation to stay rooted through thick and thin. Vita agrees, “As owners, we leave everything to Marco, as far as the technical aspect of the team is concerned. But personally, we are like a family. I talk to every player. Every player can approach me, anytime, if there is any issue. At the same time, there is that professional layer we maintain and it is good to have that. Having said that, I also have a personal rapport with every player! Each and every one of them.” Be it Brad Pitt’s Money Ball or Shah Rukh Khan’s Chak De India, there is always that little something that sets winning teams apart. It could be a hard-hitting loss, a simple conversation post the games, or just an indefinable sense of urge to be at the top. When quizzed about the same Vita looks back in time and says, “When we were at number eight, we went and spoke to the team and told them, ‘Hey guys… we can’t go to number nine, now. We have to rise and we believe in you. You guys are the best, you have fantastic talents, you are professionals, just look up to that.” Delving deeper into the subject, she adds, “Actually, after the Kolkata game, whatever happened in the dressing room is what changed our mind-sets thereafter. I think that is the conversation every player carried even after the victory.” Recalling the taste of the previous day’s triumph, Vita says, “Yesterday is the time, we were all together, like really together and each one had to say something and you know one thing that came out from everyone was that conversation in the dressing room. I think this season we have played against all odds. Every possible odd you can think of. Whether it was playing the home semi-finals away from home, the floods, or just something not working out! We told ourselves, teekhai, we will take it the way it comes. It’s alright. And we have to keep believing. As in, if I don’t believe in them, who will believe in them? I have picked the players and I believe in them. That’s all they need to know.”
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CREATE | Zeroed In
SQUAD GOALS AND PRINCIPLES Vibes of immense positivity that resonated through every player on field, is a direct reflection of their grit and mind-set to go get what they wanted. Vita agrees, “It’s the mindset of the players, I keep saying, I can only pray, I can only wish, I can only put things together and after that everybody would only be happy I’m not on the field. It’s the players that do it at the end of it. It’s what they do at that point in time, the given circumstances. It’s only them. As I keep saying, I don’t know what he did between the 89th and 90th second minute. Can anybody explain this? I’d be more than happy to listen to that person. We don’t know what happened to those players at that point of time. I mean, you don’t know why Mendy touched that ball to begin with, nobody can stop him. You don’t know what happened to Mendoza at that point of time. He went around, he was like a jigsaw, you know, you don’t know what he did. So it’s truly the making of the players. And of course, Marco, giving them his full guidance! It’s their work.”
Football is one game that works as a team. Vita puts more sense into that statement, “You have to make the right pass, the right tackle, and you have to have the right guy scoring the right goal at the right moment. You have to have the right defender doing the right move.” On the same note, she answers a question about favourites in the team, “There are no favourites because each one contributes something to the team that the other might not.” Leaving no stone unturned, Vita begins discussing how the team works on moral grounds, “We work with a certain philosophy and that philosophy stays the same. At CFC, we work with our heart; we don’t work with a stake, because at the end of this, all of us are humans. Last year, right from the beginning, we did well, we kept them going up, up, up till the second semi-finals. Even the first semi-finals was quite disappointing, but we said go for it, and we almost made it. But this year, we didn’t start off well and now we made it. I think you just have to keep going, keep believing! It’s a sport at the end of it. My son plays sport, we all played sport, we all know what it is.”
BUILDING A BASE
“We are like a family. I talk to every player. Every player can approach me, anytime, if there is any issue”
It goes without saying out loud that India is a cricket centric country, and having another game snatch its glory is a far-fetched fantasy. However, Vita gives a whole new perspective on how the target audience work, how the game works and how football holds its pride with an entirely different cult of fan following. “Of course, there is work to do on that. You can’t compete with a history of so many years against something that has come up now. There is definitely work to do, but I’m so glad in Kerala there are playing on a cricket ground. That is a great start and I’m also happy we have our own set of fans, apart from CSK. That in itself tells you there is a lot of excitement, a lot of interest, from players to look at,” she says. Talking about the different leagues in the country, she adds, “I have seen a lot of young children being into football. It’s my observation, nothing against any of the cricketing franchisees. I’m saying that because, it’s a religion as well. But I’m sure a lot of religions co-exist. So there is no one greater or less, but I think football is carving its own market in India. The EPL and so many other leagues around the world, they are improving our market. In fact, considering the profile of players that came to India against this year, I’m sure there is a big difference from last. It always gets better, it co-exists because when better players come in, there is going to be more fan-following and with more fan-following, better players come in.
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“It’s my observation, nothing against any of the cricketing franchisees. I’m saying that because, it’s a religion as well. But I’m sure a lot of religions co-exist”
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CREATE | Zeroed In
THE POWERFUL TRIO Vita enjoys talking about her rapport with the coowners, “It’s fantastic! Each one brings a different value to the team, what Abhishek can do at halftime; I don’t know anybody who can do it. It’s phenomenal. It’s fantastic the value he can add. We need different faces in one team that can connect with different audiences. I don’t think anybody can replace Abhishek over there. Again, Mahi, what he can bring to the table is completely different. His experience, his connect with Chennai, is fantastic. He has commitments at national level, which cannot be helped, but I know he brings that value to the team. I have to spend the other time of the year where they cannot spend because they are busy with their professional life. So, I think it’s a great team work that has come together. And, also team looks at them differently. I’m just really fortunate and lucky to have this combination at CFC.”
At this point in the conversation, Vita had established pretty loud that she had no inhibitions whatsoever and that she embraced all the knowledge she didn’t once acquire, only to master it today. As an acknowledgment to that, she adds, “I didn’t know the history of football in Chennai. I remember sitting with Abhishek, talking to him, calling him up 2.30 in the morning discussing the name and the logo, the colours, the jerseys. Because we were against every timeline; if you look at our timeline I think everything was in red. No time at all, we had no training facility, we had nothing in place. But, given all that, I think last season we were not bad. And, we don’t give up, and why should we?”
When perked about how she happened to connect with Chennai for the league, Vita says, “I was the last one to pick a team, so I didn’t actually pick a team. Abhishek had already picked a team, I just kind of hopped on to the train. That’s what it was. And I have no inhibition. I’m happy to start anywhere, so I was happy to start at Chennai, and it is great to go into a little bit of an unknown territory.”
On a concluding note, Vita’s spirits heighten as she discusses how necessary sports are in all our lives, especially children, “A child with a holistic development is very important. Sometimes, we can get so academically inclined and ignore all the other aspects and that is not healthy. A lot of corporates are now supporting sports. It’s a good start. Sports teaches you how to accept loss, which I think is the most difficult things to accept as human beings.”
SPORTS, THE WAY TO HEALTHY LIVING
“I was the last one to pick a team, so I didn’t actually pick a team. Abhishek had already picked a team, I just kind of hopped on to the train. That’s what it was. And I have no inhibition. I’m happy to start anywhere, so I was happy to start at Chennai, and it is great to go into a little bit of an unknown territory”
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Live | Wardrobe Manifestation
Bridal
Splendour With the wedding season at its peak, Brew brings to you some of its favourite bridal lehenga and jewellery collection. From Ombres to Anrakalis and diamonds to sapphires, here’s an array of the finest picks to leave you feeling like a princess.
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LIVE | Culinary Gaffers
The Blessing Known for its ability to stimulate circulation, lower blood pressure and remove toxins such as heavy metals from the body, Himalayan Salt has been used for eons to help heal the body and even the mind. It makes the old table salt look a little bit small, doesn’t it? Containing a whopping 84 trace elements, including the big guys like iron, magnesium, potassium, zinc, calcium and more, this ingredient is worth its weight in hand-picked blueberries. n
Use it for serving food:
This is one of the more outlandish ways to benefit from this wondrous product, using slabs of Himalayan Salt to craft platters, bowls, and even chopping blocks. The moisture in the food picks up salt just by sitting on it, so it doesn’t just look fancy,
it also adds health benefits too. Too much, or totally awesome? n
Use it for energy:
This may sound like a contradiction, but you need negative ions in your body to make you happy and energised. Studies have shown that salt lamps increase your negative ions by up to 300% – clearly having an effect on the above factors! Himalayan Rock Salt Lamps remove odours from the air naturally. Televisions, radios, computers, microwaves, transmitters- produce positive ions. Placing a Rock Salt Lamp nearby produces the negative ions required for happiness and improved energy. n
eat it, of course:
And finally, the most obvious use for Himalayan Salt is to eat it. Add it to anything in place of table salt, and it will not only enhance the flavour of your food but nourish your body with essential vitamins and minerals. Better to add at the end of cooking, so that’s it doesn’t get ‘cooked’ and all the minerals and vitamins stay intact.
|2015 | Brew | 34 | 34 JUne 2015 Brew lIFe STYle & enTerTaInmenT | Brew | 34 OcT enTerTaInmenT JUne 2015 lIFe STYle & enTerTaInmenT
Live | Wellness Critique
SOULFUL
LIVING The pursuit of healthy living has forever been a difficult act for many of us to ace. However, with the right end in mind and purpose, it can be easier and soulful at the same. If you have always wanted to live a healthier lifestyle, be closer to nature and unravel your true potential, here are some helpful inputs from Smriti Kirubanandan, a wellness director and raw vegan chef to help you out.
L
iving healthy has a lot more than just an array of fitness regimes. It’s about going green, exploring your mind and body’s true potential and being grateful for all the good things that will in turn help you build a positive mind set.
GOING VEGAN – PURPOSE AND REASON Initiating a healthy lifestyle goes hand in hand with leading a plant based lifestyle and many of us are aware of it. However, not many know the benefits, purpose and reason in doing so. Over the years, it has become one of those lifestyle changes people adapt to with a blindfold on. With a better perspective of the purpose involved, it would be easier and more effective. Smriti helps by elaborating her personal beliefs and truths that let her become the person she is today, that will let you draw inspiration and focus from her lifestyle. “Leading a plant based life is not just about leading an optimal healthy lifestyle. To me, it’s about saving animals and supporting the earth’s eco-system. Regardless, of why one may follow this lifestyle, there are no bad side effects to it,” she says. When it comes to the dieting, a plant based lifestyle is all about feeding your body with highly nutritious and powerful ingredients. Smriti agrees, “The same living cells are known to protect your body from various health
problems; obesity, skin issues, depression and more. It is simple physics; energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can only be transferred. Food is energy and the ultimate question each and every one of us should ask ourselves is what kind of energy do we want to transfer into our body?” obesity, skin issues, depression and more. It is simple physics; energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can only be transferred. Food is energy and the ultimate question each and every one of us should ask ourselves is what kind of energy do we want to transfer into our body?”
UP CLOSE WITH NATURE As people bound by the concrete jungle around us, it goes without saying that we are missing out on a lot in terms of healthy food habits, fitness routines and above all… the green. Smriti gives a beautiful brief on how we forget the most important aspect of human living, “Our current lifestyle is hectic. We want to do it all! We want to be great moms, great in the kitchen, great at work, travel the world. The list is practically never ending. What people are missing out on is this, no matter how we grow in terms of technology or invention, we need to keep ourselves grounded and be close to nature. And one of the most powerful ways to do so is by protecting nature and eating natural. We need to constantly remind ourselves what we are and where we come from. We need to be active, eat
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natural foods and maintain ancestral habits in order to sustain a long healthy life. A simple key is to eat as many as fruits and vegetables, staying active for at least an hour every day.” It’s without doubt that the proofs for her statements are endless. It is a fact that we are subjected to the blatant truth that several ancient cultural groups of people are healthier that millions of us, and we still chose to ignore it. They live longer, and die of nothing but old age. While not all of this can be credited only to vegan living, a huge part of their life span is determined by it. Smriti has a lot to dwell on when it comes to the same, “Yes, we are constantly compared to particular tribes such as the Tarahumara people who lead a simplistic life, can run a hundred miles a day and live longer lives than people sucked in by urban civilisation. And surprisingly, we would notice that their diet is quite simple with no additives and processed food. They eat natural foods even if it includes meat, because they are all made simple and healthy. Above all, they do not have hectic lifestyles, they have very little stress levels and live in the out bounds where pollution is less and the quality of air is excellent. It’s hard for urban people to be them. But, what we can do is try. We can be good at maintaining a good diet, being active and finding a good stress management technique. Lifespan is trivial, and the quality of life determines it. An excellent quality of life is important to me!”
“We have one life. In this life I hope to explore my mind and body’s full potential. Health and fitness is all in your mind. If you train your mind you can mould your body into what you want it to be”
ON A PERSONAL NOTE Smriti has enough reason to inspire the rest of us, with her stress free, calm and simple lifestyle. “My lifestyle is simple. I eat what’s extremely natural such as raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds and I am insanely active all days of the week. I practice yoga, run, hike, and go rock climbing. The one mantra that drives me is Gratitude. I feel grateful that I can make use of my mind and body for the greater good and by being active and feeding it right I show my gratitude for what I have been gifted with. I have never asked my clients to follow me and do exactly what I do. I have asked them to embrace themselves and show respect to what they have, and I strongly believe they will reach their optimum health by doing so.” She concludes on a positive note by saying, “We have one life. In this life I hope to explore my mind and body’s full potential. Health and fitness is all in your mind. If you train your mind you can mould your body into what you want it to be.”
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LIVE | Aesthete Haven
CHENNAI’S LONG AWAITED
With tonnes of spray cans and talent, compositions aren’t restricted to the dimensions of a canvas, for some artists. Because, they transform walls to a canvas and voila, the birth of street art. The city of Chennai experienced a historical conception, growth and evolution of this art form in a way that left us etched on the global street art map. By Shreya Anand.
F
or most people thinking of ‘street art’ instantly fills their minds with colourful and complex patterns of graffiti. Although it was often considered negative back in the days, times have now changed. Street art is now considered as one of the most respected forms of urban art. It is now looked up as a medium to put across more than a just visual treat to the people exposed to it. For years now, street art has been a form of powerful expression for a lot of artists around the world. While it was a very common form of art in various places around the globe, for Chennaiites the sight of graffiti on their walls was a vision too farfetched. For Chennai, public art was monopolised by film and political campaign posters. However, the street art scene underwent a massive evolution when the first street art festival of Chennai ‘Conquer the Concrete’ was curated by Gerog Zolchow and organised by Geothe Institut, Max Muller Bhavan and Chennai Connect. This festival saw five international artists collaborating with Indian street and cinema hoarding painters. The festival that was held from Jan 20th – Feb 16th last year, started trending under the hash tag “StreetArtChennai” on social media. While beautifying Namma Chennai, the artists also conducted workshops during the year for young artists of the city by using public space as their field of work.
“What art really does is animate the city, make it culturally and intellectually resonant and newly interpret old spaces”
The director of Geothe Institut pointed out that he faced some scepticism from city administration about street art to which he questioned, ‘But what harm can art do?’ He further stated “What art really does is animate the city, make it culturally and intellectually resonant and newly interpret old spaces.”
WHY STREET ART? The aim of the Conquer the concrete festival was fourfold. • • • •
To bring street art to a city where at the moment it was a rare event. To bring about interaction where art is being created and more people are given access to it. To reflect urban development through art and bring aesthetics to daily life. To pay homage to dying trade of hoarding painters and involve them in urban art.
In a move that none of us predicted any sooner, Conquer the Concrete opened doors to street art in Chennai. Not just that, they brought about a completely positive image to it and removed the idea of vandalism from it. It began as a maiden venture with a stroke of paintbrush on a defaced wall and went viral just after. 18 days, 40 walls and 400 spray cans after, Chennai was finally on the street art map of the globe. Immediately after this festival, tonnes of artists were encouraged to come forward and transform the walls of Chennai. Some beautified the city while others did more than just that. WakeUpMadras was a group of street artists who came about to create a social change and the mind set of people. The viral graffiti, ‘Naaya Nee?’ (Are you a dog?) was seen painted on walls across Chennai. It stressed on the fact that no matter when or where nature calls, the walls of your city are never a place to answer it in. From being a way to give Chennai a makeover and encourage urban art, to expressing oneself and bringing about social change, Street art has come a long way in Singara Chennai.
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LIVE | Glimpses Within
OF MONASTRIES AND MYRIAD SKIES Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh
The ghost of the Christmas past seems to be haunting the souls of monotony. Holidays are over. Resolutions have been made, executed and broken in a cyclic fashion but the heart is left longing for ‘10 more minutes’. If your year-end bonuses have made you Mr. Moneybags, Dharamshala is the ideal place to kick you back into the grind with a relatively soft blow. By Sanjana Ganesh.
T
he summer at Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh was like Wordsworth’s description of daffodils at Lake District. The sun gently kissed you, meadows rolled and the tranquillity of Dalai Lama radiated across the Triund hills. As we headed there for a quick three day trip to Mcleod Ganj, we were lost in a world of great Tibetan food, lazy B&Bs and monks clad in red and yellow. Not a moment of beauty was missed. The stars shone as brightly and the darkness of the night served as a perfect compliment. The following is a list of some great places to visit, stay and eat to make your Dharamshala trip, one to cherish.
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EAT
STAY
DO
Dharamshala serves some of the best momos in India. These savoury kozhukattai-like balls taste best when eaten hot. The spicy chilli garlic chutney that one dips the momo into, leaves the right amount of burn when eaten. There are some great cafes to explore at Mcleod Ganj. The Illiterati café is perfect for a book lover seeking solace in the hills. A special mention goes out to The Clay Oven for serving some delicious traditional broth. Some other options include Moonpeak Café, Norling and Woeser Bakery.
Each B&B provides a fantastic view of the mystic Triund range and the Kangra Valley. Beware of hotels that may over charge for the sake of a peek at the hills. We stayed at Bob’s and Barley, a comfortable hotel that included breakfast. The owners were accommodative and gave us great information about the area. Those who wish to camp at Dharamshala should try the Triund Mountain Lodge. They offer some great offers of trekking and adventure sports including paragliding.
If the essence of your holiday is to relax without an itinerary, walk along the trails of the mountain until your knees ache. The sights, you will devour and the smell will be opiate. However, some beautiful places to visit include the church of St. John in the Wilderness and the Norbulingka Institute. Trekking along the Dauladhar mountain range is a must as the snow will never cease to amaze you. A visit to Dharamshala would be incomplete without going to Namgyal Monastery which was built following the Tibetan Uprising in 1959. H.H.Dalai Lama graces the monastery and imparts his teachings. It is riveting to watch the budding monks animatedly debate about their views on life and Buddhist philosophy. There are several other interesting activities that the locals would advise you to do based on the season. Take a leap of faith. It serves you well!
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LIVE | Glimpses Beyond
Hakuna Matata My family of 11- yes, we are quite a few people and dangerously enthusiastic too!- decided to go on a wildlife enlightenment retreat to the Republic Of Kenya, world’s forty-seventh largest country after Madagascar. The Lion King taught me that Hakunamatata simply meant ‘no worries’, Kenya taught me that there is much more to that phrase. Hakuna, in Swahili, means ‘there is no’ or ‘there are no’ and Matata translates to the plural form of troubles or complexities; loosely t ranslated to worries! This very precisely prefixed ‘wonderful’ phrase will undoubtedly welcome you with just as much warmth as it will bid you goodbye from what I would call one of the most riveting experiences of life, in its truest form. I left Kenya with evidently more clarity and far fewer complexities. I was left seduced and tempted, with a heavily racing heart and adrenaline gushing through my veins; the reality of physically feeling life is what Kenya taught me. By Sruthi Karthic
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WHY KENYA? Wildlife is a soul riveting existence that will constantly leave you questioning the magic of life. We were a total of seven adults and four kids -and no, I was not part of the kiddie table in fact, I was even allowed a couple lagers! – Anyway, we were ALL, irrespective of age, left galvanized and squealing like little victims of the loosely coined umbrella term, ‘societal retribution’ which is ambition and monotony, all consequential to our physical state of Human Being versus the larger wonders of life. Kenya is Beautiful and when it comes to wildlife, it could easily weigh down the competition scale with South Africa. The thing about Kenya is that despite the dry season, wildlife sighting isn’t disturbed one bit year round. Kenya is on its best behaviour through the year whether it is weather, wildlife or beauty. Kenya also loves their tourists. Kenya offers you every kind of wonder from the Giraffe manor to the Mara Reserve. Kenya is home to the world’s only tree climbing lions of Nakuru as well as the dangerously endangered Black Rhinos of the Mara. The world-renowned Maasai Mara National Reserve is a huge expanse of tawny, sunburnt grasslands well stocked with acacia trees and heaving with animals big and small. Kenya is abundantly potent with beauty and activity for those of all ages from safaris, water sports all the way to the happening nightlife of Nairobi. What Kenya can offer to a soul will constantly mesmerize children and adults alike. Having said all that, however, one just cannot deny that wildlife has an unbreakable bond with luck. I would like to think that my family and I were the luckiest group of tourists in Kenya. We are and were like the shiny new toys amongst the Kenyan tourists of the past and present, maybe even the future dare I say! We saw just the big five so many times that a set of adolescent lion twins failed to impress my six year old cousin.
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Jan 2016 | Brew entertainment | 44
WHEN IN KENYA? The preferred season is the dry season which stretches from June to October. The dry season allows optimum wildlife sightings because the tall luscious grasslands of Savannah are not a hindrance at this time. The wait for some animal activity decreases, however, the weather may get a little too toasty for comfort. The upside is that it’s unlikely to rain so the days will be sunny with clear skies and lesser malaria. July to October is the best time to see the wildebeest migration. The biggest shortcoming of this popular dry season is that it redefines crowd and we all know how wildlife likes to play games with us when it gets loud. November to May has no lesser potential for tourism satisfaction, in fact, early wet season maybe one of the best times to visit, especially Masai Mara, Amboseli and Lake Nakuru since it will be mating season. The weather is perpetually pleasant, specifically in the former half of the wet season. March to May, being the peak of monsoon, are the only months during which you mustn’t plan your safaris. Cold nights and pleasant days with just the right proportion of soft and harsh lighting allows some great photographic opportunities. The scenery is beautiful, vibrant and green, vacation rates are lower because it’s the supposed low season and most importantly early Wet season is known for an unexpected number of new-born animals.
Jan 2016 | Brew entertainment | 45
WHERE IN KENYA? My family and I chose to vacation during the early wet season and we were most definitely not let down. The children managed to keep their tantrums tuned for animal spotting competitions and who caught what on camera, the adults were forced to look past the primitive concerns of everyday monotony and see the true essence of being alive, and the crowd was pleasantly minimal. The weather was just perfect with the warmth of the sun on our skin against the cold air howling in our ears while we violently rocked our way through the lush greens of the Maasai Mara lands. Shades from saffron to teal across deep, defined cavities of puffy clouds permanently painted the skies; the unbelievably dusty and dilapidated pathways, formed from the consistent stress of weight and weather, effortlessly wound across the 1600 square Kilometres expanse or luscious, tall grass and against this setting imagine the royal lioness majestically sun bathing while her six cubs lazily drop themselves around her one by one, nuzzling their faces against each other. In that instance it felt, as though they were, in a certain sense, completely aware of the void that their almost human reactions filled as we quickly tried to capture them in the peaceful solitude of their moment. Kenya has a great number of places to visit and activities to do however, during the wet season Nakuru National Park, Lake Naivasha and Maasai Mara National Reserve are the most sought after places. We spent one day in Nakuru and Naivasha respectively, three days in Maasai Mara and one in Nairobi. Kenya is lined on one side by Tanzania which is famous for its Serengity plains. Between July and October around a million migrating wildebeest and thousands of topis, zebras and other animals pour into the reserve from Tanzania in search of the fresh grass generated by the rains. Towards December they are settled in and the mating season starts so adults be advised because my ten year old cousin was not amused by the acts of the king of the jungle! He turned around and said “Ew! That is disgusting.� The Maasai tribe are a great experience as long as they don’t extend their business acumen to you. The Maasai tribe we met were a gathering of 350 and they were all from the same bloodline. The families are humble, hospitable, and overflowing with cheer and culture, but ask them to run a business and they will, in a cloud of confusion, empty your wallets and hand you your patience in a gift basket. Kenya is a wonderful experience that will undoubtedly teach you to look past the mirage of the insignificants of everyday and really feel and touch the truer more impactful realities of life. Kenya taught me about the humanness of wildlife, maybe it will do the same for you.
Jan 2016 | Brew entertainment | 46
Jan 2016 | Brew entertainment | 47
LIVE | Review
ENTICING European Delights As we got into the parking lot of Bobby’s Bistro located in T.Nagar we couldn’t help but ponder why this quaint little place had gained popularity in just a few days of its launch. Once we got into its doors however, we saw a little light on why people loved it here. Tints of yellows and oranges strewn across the walls and book shelves left us feeling warm and cosy at first sight. After a greeting and a table with a vantage point secured, we let ourselves dive into the exotic yet understandable menu laid down for us. With a little help from the host, and some contemplating, we chose the best of the lot to indulge in. While we waited, we collected ourselves on how Bobby’s came to be. Five friends with the love of food came together and found The Chennai Food Factory. Bobby’s Bistro is part of this venture. Bobby’s Bistro it aims at catering delicious European cuisine to Chennai’s foodies. 1200+ sq. ft. and able to seat about 40 people, the ambience is all about the nostalgic 80’s with a retro theme.
A showcase filled with antiques provided the perfect photo op. Blackboard table to scribble on while the food’s being prepared is a perk. Fish Escalopes, Curried Chicken Bruschetta Bash, Potato Cheese Nuggets, House Special Panco Fried Calamari are some popular, scrumptious palates at Bobby’s. The Muddley Meat Pizza, Mexi Delight Pizza and Penne Pasta with Cashew Fried Onions Olive Parmigiana Sauce served later proved that Bobby’s do not skimp on the cheese or the flavour. Having had a little too much did not stop us from reaching out to their Hazelnut Cheesecake, Raspberry Mousse Jar, Classic Black Forest and White Chocolate Fudge with Mango Mousse. We couldn’t have asked for a happier meal. If you happen to step into Bobby’s Bistro anytime soon (which you definitely should), be rest assured that you will walk out with a smile and probably be rubbing your tummy in satiation.
Jan 2016 | Brew entertainment | 48
Opened at Mahindra World City, Chennai For memberships please call, 044-
4749 2200
Maximise your Life
Life, dotted together with moments of joy, is what we live for. At MWC Club you find these moments come alive. Located within the Mahindra World City, Chennai on the GST corridor, MWC club is designed thoughtfully with luxurious amenities. Here every member of your family can choose from a host of exciting recreational, social & fitness facilities. At MWC Club discover moments that truly Maximize Life.
Swimming pool I Squash Courts I Indoor Gym I Tennis Courts I Spa and Salon I Sports Bar I Multi-specialty Restaurant I Open air Party Lawns I Spacious Guestrooms For Membership: Call 044 4749 2200 | Email: mwcclub@mahindra.com | mwcclub.mahindraworldcity.com
LIVE | What’s New?
Damini Exhibits Palakka o’ Palakka! Grafied by the response received from the customers, Damini opens up an exhibition, “Palakka o’Palakka”. It has delightfully brought traditional Kerala’s temple designs to the customers. Gleam along with the amazing and exclusive pieces of blue Palakka pendents that are currently in the store. Kasu Mala, Pakka Mala, Nagapada Thali, Mullamottu Mala, Manga Mala, Poothali, and jimiki are pooled for this season.
Evolution of the Modern Kurta An Ethnic brand like Imara Fusion exhibits from short kurtis paired with trousers as an entire of choice for office goers to mid-knee length tunics with exquisite work, and from simple functional kurtas as school uniform to abstract designs and cuts seen on the runway. The kurta is all around us, and in more forms than er have ever seen it. An innovative kurti designed by Imara which is an off-white woven kurta in a cold-shoulder design with a round-neck and bell-sleeves that culminates with an asymmetric-hem adorned by pom-poms. Teamed with a pair of leggings and embellished heels, the look exudes style and elegance - a desi look with a twist!
Jan 2016 | Brew entertainment | 52
(ACADEMIC YEAR 2016 - 17)