Innholdsfortegnelse for August 22, 2016 i India Today

OUR AUGUST 2015 COVER If you draw a crescent from the eastern tip of Europe right across South Asia to Japan, India stands out as an oasis of freedom. While other nations have dealt with monarchies, dictatorships and coups in which individual freedoms have been suspended, India, however messy it may seem at times, has managed to stay true to its democratic principles. The ideals enshrined in the Constitution have been followed for the past 69 years in spite of our fair share of venal politicians and unscrupulous bureaucrats. Over 41 years of INDIA TODAY’S existence—except during the Emergency, which was an aberration—I’ve had the freedom to publish, within the confines of the law, without fear or favour. This Freedom of the Press, a derivative of the Right to Freedom…

Write to Know It’s possible that were it not for an institution upholding freedom of speech and expression, and the right to information, you wouldn’t be reading this. The irony is, of course, that arguably the most subversive mechanism in any society, the free press, is the greatest champion of India’s Constitution, democracy and freedom. In turn, except for two years of Emergency in 1975-77, when Indira Gandhi and her cohorts trampled on the rights of individuals as enshrined in the Constitution, the right to a free press has been vehemently defended in open society and the courts. The Statesman, which was routinely censored, considers the nearly blank front pages from those days a badge of honour. The Indian Express and its feisty proprietor, Ramnath Goenka, took on Indira Gandhi,…

Restaurateur, chef, Delhi’s diva of Italian cuisine; Ritu Dalmia, 43, is one of the four, who as part of the LGBT community, came together to file a PIL against Article 377 in June 2016; fearless, impulsive, nonconformist; fighting for the freedom of the sexually marginalised; pushing for the freedom to love and think in India I come from a conservative Marwari family; from the time you are growing up there is fear instilled in you that if you don’t do this, you won’t get married, or if you do this, you will be judged as a loose character. My freedom came when I was 12, when I knew I wanted to go out and work. I’d carry my father’s briefcase around, and while no one took me too seriously, I…

Co-founder, St+Art Foundation; co-founder, Guerrilla, an underground art and design studio based in Delhi; founder of HandpaintedType; Hanif Kureshi, 33, is a street artist, saviour to traditional type artists, organiser of large-scale art interventions; currently attempting to change the visual landscape of Indian cities, enabling young artists to express public opinion artistically There are two ways of looking at street painting. On the one hand, there’s graffiti, which seemingly stands for complete freedom. The artist refuses to look to the authorities for permissions and grabs what he believes is his freedom of expression. The other is street art that takes the legal route. This is something we have worked hard to achieve at the St+Art Foundation. We began with a door-to-door campaign in the urban villages of Delhi, asking for…

Actor, most recently seen as the agoraphobic single young woman in psy cho logical horror film, Phobia, and as the wife of a Tamil don in Rajinikanthstarrer Kabali; Radhika Apte, 32, will be seen in Parched and Bombairiya next; a trained dancer, she’s the current darling of Hindi independent cinema who doesn’t shy away from bold parts in shorts such as Anurag Kashyap’s Madly and Sujoy Ghosh’s Ahalya or in small parts in features like Badlapur and Hunterrr I think freedom comes with being organic. It is as natural as the ocean, the rain, the trees, or when a baby is born and cries. It needs to be so basic that there is no question of not having the freedom to do something. Then again, freedom doesn’t mean being irresponsible…

Author of the novels, The Association of Small Bombs and Family Planning, Karan Mahajan, 32, lives in Austin, Texas, where he is at work on his third novel I reached the conclusion of my second novel, The Association of Small Bombs, in 2015, during a period of censorship by mob: the hounding of Tamil author Perumal Murugan, the murder of Lingayat scholar M.M. Kalburgi, and the continued silence of the government in the face of such harassment. As a result, I worried about the many direct political references in my novel. I discussed them with my editor. But I quickly understood that this anxiety was the first stage of self-censorship. In the end, I made no changes. My Indian editor stood by me. This, I think, will be a widespread…

DAMAYANTI DATTA 4 MISTAKES THAT MAKE YOU FAT FEASTING ON SALTY SNACKS Salt triggers the same pleasure centre of the brain that causes nicotine and alcohol craving, making you eat more. You also bloat up as salt retains more water in the body USING TOO MUCH OLIVE OIL Yes, it’s high in “good” monounsaturated fat that lowers LDL or bad cholesterol. But olive oil also happens to pack 54 gm of fat per 1/4 cup. So watch out NOT WATCHING YOUR CUPPA Coffee and tea can lower the risk of heart disease, cancer and Type 2 diabetes, but beware the saturated fat that comes with it: sugar, cream or whole milk USING PLASTIC CONTAINERS Phthalates are chemicals that make plastics flexible, but when ingested can disrupt your hormonal system, because…

First of all, a reviewer’s confession: I haven’t read either Osman Samiuddin’s The Unquiet Ones— often mentioned as the best book written on Pakistani cricket—or its possible companion, Peter Oborne’s Wounded Tigers, which is a comprehensive history of cricket in Pakistan. White on Green is different. As the introduction tells us, “This book is not a history… instead we have presented a series of characters or episodes that seemed to us to provide some kind of dramatic connexion to Pakistani cricket.” In a way, to the outsider (or a biased, nosy neighbour who can only occasionally peek over the wall), Pakistani cricket has always seemed to defy both chronological narrative and any cogent analysis, and this book is the best proof of that. Taken as a whole, the multitude of…

FREEDOM TO CREATE Shilpi Yadav wanted to design “clothes with a soul”— that represent India but in a modern avatar. With that thought in mind, she launched Kharakapas (which means ‘pure cotton’ in Hindi), her online label in February 2015, from a basic two-sewing-machine set-up in a single room in her home. Today, the designer has a fully functional production as well as and design unit in Gurgaon and will soon be collaborating with stores in India and abroad. Armed with a degree in apparel design from National Institute Of Design, Ahmedabad, and merchandise marketing from Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Los Angeles, plus experience of years of work at various design houses in Delhi, Yadav had one mission— to revive Indian textiles. WHY? Yadav feels India is a…

IF YOU’VE SEEN PICTURES OF Bollywood actors Salman Khan and Amitabh Bachchan carrying chocolate studded bouquets on their film promotion visits to Ahmedabad, it’s likely that they’ve come from Shilpa Bhatt’s chocolate factory. The 43-year-old entrepreneur runs the successful chocolate brand Ecstasy Chocolates that specialises in creating customised chocolate arrangements and bouquets. “Everyone was making chocolates so I decided to make bouquets. We often see flowers being discarded the next day; but chocolates are always eaten,” she says. Bhatt took to professional chocolatemaking five years ago when her son prompted her to make something for his friends. In 2014, Bhatt won the Swayam Siddha Award for New Ideas by the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce. NEW IDEAS The mother of one employs women at her workshop to give them a source…

THE PROJECT CAFÉ IS A PLACE THAT gets as many social media check-ins for its shopping shelves as it gets from those who are here for a meal. In an innovative concept, Drasty Shah, 30, converted an old bungalow at Ambawadi into a café that doubles up as a retail space for artists and designers. While you’re sipping on a glass of chilled cold coffee and biting into a wood fired thin crust pizza, you can shop for smart bags, jewellery and wall clocks. The shelves and walls at the year-and-a-half-old Project Café seem like a treasure trove that you gradually explore—the displays keep changing and you’re likely to find some notto-be-missed products in the most unusual places—on the window sill or in a basket. The collection, curated by Noopur…

SHIKHEE AGRAWAL Head Training, The Body Shop, Delhi Interest in natural ingredients is on the rise and there has been an ongoing innovation in facial skincare. Like technology, the beauty industry keeps evolving and delivering us fresher, smarter and more effective products. Here are some of the emerging trends to watch out for. FACIAL OILS Oiling is not just for winter and dry skin types. Facial oils are like magic for the skin; massage a few drops, wait a few seconds, and continue with the rest of your skincare regimen. Good to know Facial oils are used to lock and seal in moisture into the skin. Concentrated concoctions made of essential oils, these are targeted towards a specific facial concern, such as acne and pigmentation. SORBETS A unique texture for…

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Dipa Impact India shares in Karmakar’s glory as she becomes the first Indian to qualify for gymnastics finals at the Olympics http://bit.ly/2aKUE9x What’s so Big about GST? Demystifying the Goods & Services Tax and what it means to have a unified tax regime in the country http://bit.ly/2aIYzpf Will forego Peeing for Internet! Selfie-absorbed Indians will give up anything just to have an internet connection while travelling http://bit.ly/2aJlXyW MOST SHARED ON FACEBOOK Dipa Karmakar creates history by becoming the first Indian gymnast to reach individual vault finals 1,253 Watch: Skydiver makes history by jumping 25,000 feet without parachute 361 674 wounded as police use pellets, bullets and tear gas on Kashmir protesters 357 MOST LIKED ON FACEBOOK Dipa Karmakar first Indian gymnast to qualify for individual vault finals 24,000 The Khiladi…

Our times, and not in our own country alone, seem to be marked by an upsurge of anger bordering on rage in various groupings, a polarising anger tolling the death knell of dialo gue between groups across political and social spectrums. What we have today is a preponderance of the monologue and, much worse, to coin a term, the divisilogue. Dialogue fosters the awareness of differences whereas divisilogue seeks to highlight differences in the service of dividing, of creating ‘us’ and ‘them’. Dialogue is marked by civility and humility; divisilogue by a lack of respect for the ideas of others, an attitude of dismissiveness and contempt. The views of those who seek to divide by religion, ethnicity, caste, class and gender are getting more and more strident. I do not…

The enemies of freedom are everywhere. They are straw-haired, orange-faced, self-styled billionaires fulminating against outsiders from proto-presidential pulpits in the US. They are hooded cowards beheading innocent victims from behind YouTube video screens somewhere in their fantasy Caliphate. They are men who can walk into a scholar’s home in Dharwad and kill him for asking uncomfortable questions about idol worship. They are brazen bullies attacking reed thin young men in Una for engaging in their livelihood. They are paranoid policemen who think the slogans of a few university students can destroy their fragile notion of nationhood. They are part of an angry mob in Dadri who can beat a man with bricks for what they think he has stored in his refrigerator. It’s tempting to believe that lunatics have taken…

Graduate from the National Law School, Bangalore, with a PhD from Oxford University and a Master’s from Harvard Law School, Guruswamy, 41, started her own practice in Delhi in 2009; previously worked on a petition with T.S.R. Subramanian and 86 other bureaucrats for transparency and accountability in relationship between the executive and bureaucracy; defended a provision in the Right to Education Act mandating that all private schools admit disadvantaged children; currently appointed amicus curiae in a case looking into 1,528 extra-judicial killings by police or armed forces in Manipur I think Amartya Sen once said that freedom is all very well, but you also have to have the capability to exercise freedom. In many ways, the Constitution is an interesting instrument in capacitybuilding for all citizens. It’s a radical idea.…

Theatre actor, writer and director based in Bengaluru. Drama Queen, Anuja Ghosalkar’s theatre company, is evolving a unique form of documentary theatre in India; previously, the 38-year-old worked as a programme officer at India Foundation for the Arts, researching films, curating, writing and teaching cinema One of my favourite writers, Kurt Vonnegut, has an amazing quote. He says, “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” I find it funny and provocative. In that sense, I have pretended to be a cinema lecturer, film curator, film researcher and now an actor. These have all been conscious decisions. But I use the word ‘pretend’ cautiously and self-consciously. In the many things I pretend to be, sometimes I pretend to be a…

@REALHISTORYPIC Anonymous, based in Mumbai and Delhi, aged 26, 27; run a Twitter account and Facebook page posting real images, both newly captured and historical, with sardonic captions that capture the mood of the nation; started in February 2016, the History of India Twitter account now has close to 55,000 followers, and their Facebook page, close to 24,000 Thousands of fake images are being circulated on social media for publicity. Rightists claim the history of the leftists has been imposed on us, that the Left wants subaltern history. This got us thinking— what if images are for real but captions are fake? So we came up with this third option, where people can laugh irrespective of their political ideology. It is freedom if we can give a shout-out to issues…

PhD in computer science from Harvard, Rohan Murty, 33, is founder and funder of the Murty Classical Library of India, which publishes English translations of ancient Indian texts. Based between Bengaluru and London, he stood firm and refused to remove Sanskrit scholar Sheldon Pollock as chief editor, despite a divisive online petition Sixty-nine years after Independence you would think we’d have the freedom to know about our past without getting dragged into an ideological debate? Right? Wrong. We’ve all had a one-sided, watered down view of history taught to us in school and college. When one begins to explore the truth, perhaps for the sake of one’s own identity or because of a more idealistically-driven pursuit of knowledge, one realises the minefield it has become. Where did we come from,…

It’s a hot summer Sunday morning, and Mrs Zhao is making herself comfortable on a hard wooden park bench. In a couple of hours, this quiet section of Zhongshan Park, a green oasis adjoining the Forbidden City in the heart of Beijing, will be noisier than a fish market. It is business that brings Mrs Zhao here, but it is a trade that is going to be far from straightforward. She lays out on the ground in front of her bench a carefully laminated A4 paper that has on it a few lines of text. “Born in 1989,” it reads. “Works for a government company. I want a man who is 1.8 metres tall, and owns a house. Born 1982-86. No smoking, plays sports.” Four crisp sentences to describe her…

Forever Boys James Lawton Wisden Sports Writing Pages 336 Price Rs 499 “Sexual intercourse began,” Philip Larkin wrote in his poem Annus Mirabilis, “in nineteen sixty-three.” And every life became/A brilliant breaking of the bank, /A quite unlosable game. Larkin was writing about the hope of possibility; the sudden realisation that prospects could be boundless. Until—this being Larkin—reality intrudes. Larkin was a wordsmith of loss, a poet of the hidebound. He recognised the spirit of the ’60s while he abjured it for himself; a spirit, in England at least, that found its most enduring popular manifestation in music and football. In 1966, George Best, that long-haired Northern Irish will o’ the wisp, scored two goals in a European Cup quarterfinal against Benfica. At the time, Benfica were two-time European champions,…

MOTORCYCLE DIARIES Kalki Koechlin and her father Joel recently biked 4,000 km across the Northeast. Their journey will be aired as a travel series, out in September on Fox Life and National Geographic. GO FIGURE 12. 65crore Deepika Padukone is easily Bollywood’s best-paid actress. Above, her reported fee for Rani Padmavati ROCK THE PARTY If Farhan Akhtar the crooner didn’t impress at his debut, perhaps he will now. The filmmaker-actor will be exercising his vocal cords at one of India’s most popular music festivals, NH7 Weekender. The Rock On 2!! star is set to perform in Shillong and Hyderabad. ROYAL AFFAIR Deepika Padukone worked with Vin Diesel, and Priyanka Chopra with Dwayne Johnson, aka the Rock. Now, Ali Fazal of Fukrey fame will star opposite Dame Judi Dench in the…

FREEDOM TO TRANSFORM He chose to openly talk about his life as a drug addict in his first book, White Magic. Arjun Nath, a corporate lawyer turned writer, talks about his years at Land, a rehab centre in Mumbai. "I was never ashamed or embarrassed while I was doing drugs, so why feel shy now that I've stopped? It is a relief to live without the burden and baggage of secrets. Just open the closet and let all those skeletons come clattering out," says Nath. LOOKING BACK There’s a sense of liberation in the brutally honest manner Nath describes his life before writing the book. According to him, substance abuse brought about a heavy sense of disillusionment and lack of belonging. “My life was an unspeakable mess,” he says. FREEDOM…

Keeping Time HOUSE OF MARIGOLD WHEN THE HEIR OF THE Udaipur royal family tied the knot two years ago, 2,500 wedding guests went home with a handcrafted watch by the House of Marigold, a premier designer watch boutique in Ahmedabad, founded by designer Shilpa Marigold, 47. It was a childhood obsession for watches that saw Marigold venture into a business that was unheard of in the city. “There was no course on watch design so I’d sit with mechanics in the Old City and observe them dismantle and rearrange the watches,” says the entrepreneur. MAPPING TIME The Marigold collection has three lines—Aabhasa for daily wear budget picks, the Jacaranda range that is made of silver and semi precious stones and Marigold, which is designed using gold and diamonds. While you…

JUST AS YOU WONDER WHAT SMG HUT means, owner Shikha Gupta, 28, explains that her brand name stands for So Many Gifts. It’s no surprise then that the collection has over 250 different products that include home décor, bar accessories, stationery, personalised gifts and other knick knacks made by 70 designers. The criteria is that every product must have a unique design and a dash of quirk. You can find pen drives that looks like Spiderman and Minions, mobile phone cases with snappy messages, handmade notebooks and folders, even a toilet pot. An engineer from Gujarat University who worked with an IT firm for two years, Gupta decided to start her entrepreneurial venture when she couldn’t find an appropriate gift for an office event. “It was tough finding the perfect…

SUHANI PITTIE The Hyderabad-based designer, who has won hearts at fashion weeks across the country with unforgettable jewellery designs, gives suggestions on styling contemporary pieces Mixing jewellery is a terrific idea. Make sure the whole visual forms a single story. It could depict anything from cultural affiliation, the wearer’s mood or even the vibe of what’s going on around. For example, stacking up beaded and wooden bangles give a bohemian feel while a steel choker with black hematite rings offers a sleek and edgy look. If not done right, layering can confuse the visual. While layering pieces, make sure that different ornaments don’t project different ideas. Wear and edit what doesn’t feel right. Don’t wear statement pieces too close together. If you put on statement earrings, make your hands the…

SAROJA YERAMILLI Founder, Melorra, Bangalore Every season, all eyes gravitate to the catwalks of Paris, London, New York and Milan to figure out what the next big thing is going to be. Usually, there are quite a few big trend forecasts and accessories that tend to play a prominent role when it comes to deciphering and decoding the new shifts. Every woman’s wardrobe staple, jewellery, is the second big thing after clothes that any fashion-conscious person is most concerned about. Be it a neckpiece, a ring, earrings, or ornamental brooches, no outfit is complete without a piece of statement jewellery. So, what will be in demand and what are the top picks for the direction jewellery is headed towards? LONG NECKLACES From fashion bloggers to celebrities, layering long necklaces is…

How should I carry my bag to minimise the strain it puts on my shoulders and back? MONICA KOHLI, MUMBAI I suggest wearing a strap that is long enough to place over the head resting on the opposite side of your handbag. This can help to distribute the weight more evenly. Also, try to put the bulk of the bag weight towards the centre of the body, perhaps in front of your body. The strap should rest close to the neck. Completely avoid a heavy bag worn over one shoulder. If you must use a bag with a single strap, make sure the strap is padded and wide. At the end of most days, I find myself with a terribly stiff neck. Could my handbag be causing this stiffness and…

AUGUST 8, 2016 “As long as the custodians of the Hindu religion—the pandits and pujaris—cling to the notion of gotra, we won’t be rid of the curse of brutality against Dalits. Literacy is the only way forward.” HARSH KALRA, via e-mail The Wretched of the State The measures taken by successive governments since Independence to alleviate the social oppression of the Dalit community have been woefully inadequate (Dalit Dilemmas). What they need are more institutionalised political and social measures. At the same time, Dalits should distance themselves from demagogues and rabble-rousers. Opportunistic political leaders who have taken to visiting Dalit homes and eating with them trivialise their cause and reduce them to a vote bank. This brand of politics is one of the main reasons why the oppressed communities continue…

PILOT PROJECT It was an opportunity that fell into Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot’s lap. A drinking water project in Karauli had been ready for a while, but awaiting a government chief guest for a formal inauguration. On August 4, Pilot did the deed. A furious BJP government now wants the plaque with his name removed. But local farmers are having none of it. Needless to say, Pilot is thrilled. FINDING NAMO Union I&B minister Venkaiah Naidu is known for his witty acronyms. Increasingly, however, they are acquiring a hagiographical tone. Like the one he served up at a recent meeting of the information service officers. Modi, he said, stood for Making of Developed India. Hear! Hear! FLIGHT OF AMBITION Bihar CM Nitish Kumar may have told party workers in…

Most recently, he was the aggrieved aam aadmi in Madaari; Irrfan Khan, 49, the actor, effortlessly shuttles between big Hollywood projects (Jurassic World) and Indian mainstream films; the pragmatist in him has also spoken out on the misinterpretation of rituals like qurbani (sacrifice), even taking on the clerics while arguing his case; stars next alongside Tom Hanks in Inferno and in Anup Singh’s indie, The Song of Scorpions “THE QUEST IS TO TRY AND BREAK ALL THIS CONDITIONING, GO OUT AND SEEK YOUR OWN TRUTH” Everyone is born a free spirit. But soon you get conditioned, first by your parents, then school and later society. They try to box you in, force you to perceive and judge things in certain ways. This leads to the forming of our complexes, insecurities,…

Farmer, singer of bhajans, devoted reader of the Ramcharit Manas, from Jamgahan village in Baloda Bazaar district, Chhattis garh, Mehattar Ram Tandon, 74, belongs to the Ramnami Samaj, which started tattooing Ram’s name on their bodies as an act of defiance against high caste Hindus My parents named me Mehattar, but since Ram is associated with my name, I am welcome everywhere, in every household, every community. I am called for bhajans and people don’t distinguish in matters of food when I am around. This equality has a special significance for me since I come from the Satnami community listed as Scheduled Caste. Ram helped me break barriers, gave me freedom. As a young boy, I had gone to Ayodhya and was thinking of all the things I could take…

Lawyer-turned-environmental activist with Greenpeace; Priya Pillai, 39, is known for her vocal opposition to the Mahan coal block allocated to Essar Energy and Hindalco in Madhya Pradesh; famously offloaded from a flight to London for ‘acting against national interest’; staunch defender of rights of marginalised communities; currently trying to highlight the ill effects of polluting energy sources Freedom is an idea that is quintessential to the evolution of human civilisation. But historically, as we have always seen, this is a concept that has been manipulated and redefined by the powerful to favour people with vested interests. It is the power or right of an individual or society to act, speak, or think as it wants. Freedom to dissent which is an integral part of the concept of freedom, cannot be…

CEO and co-founder, Culture Machine, a Mumbai-based production house for the Internet generation, Sameer Pitalwalla, 31, is the force behind such YouTube channels as Being Indian, mapping the country’s quirks; Put Chutney, spoofing South Indian idiosyncrasies, and Blush, which mirrors the lives of the modern Indian woman Steve Bell, famed cartoonist of The Guardian, worked out of coffee shops and bars, with nothing more than a pen and paper. In that nexus of those two seemingly inanimate objects, he could pervert, celebrate, mutilate, subvert or support anything. A nuclear power, culturally. Its isotope, Humour. Absolutely unstable. In India, it could get you killed. A creative rule of thumb at Culture Machine is, do what you must, but draw the line at getting your office burned down. We really should instal…

‘How many souls di whola dem enslave how many countries dem done invade dem come and dig dem owna grave dem crushed deh by dem owna weight babylon come – dema use us like slaves’ -Comrades, The Bant Singh Project FREEDOM TO SPEAK OUT He is one of the few Dancehall artistes in the country practising a genre, a variation of the popular Reggae, that is still largely unexplored in the country. “All art or cultural production should challenge people's perception in some way,” believes Taru Dalmia, also known by his stage name—Delhi Sultanate. WHY REGGAE? “The charisma, black power politics and fierce anti-colonialism of Reggae music appealed to me,” says Dalmia. As a student of history (he is alumnus of Hindu College, Delhi University, and Jawaharlal Nehru University in…

WHEN YOU WALK INTO AAMRA IN SEARCH OF carefully curated products, it feels like you’re walking into a friend’s home. The gallery-cumstore is housed in a bungalow with a vibrant red entrance wall and a walkway lined with plants. Owners Janki Patel,52, and Pranali Pandya,48, are often around to welcome you and show you around the store. Unlike a regular store, Aamra is more of a gallery space where designers from Ahmedabad and other cities showcase their creations in an informal space. While Aamra opened with an exhibition-cum-sale of vibrant furniture by graduates from National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, it now has a collection of paintings, wood and metal artifacts, couches and painted side stools. CONCEPT STORE Focusing on furniture and home accessories, Aamra will soon house concept rooms where…

CEILING FAN—PROBABLY THE most mundane but essential part of home interiors—gets a stylish designer touch at Anemos, a sprawling store that has fans in varied shapes and sizes, a few lights and some quirky home accessories like a gramophone. The collection is sourced from various parts of the world and has ceiling fans that double as statement pieces in homes. There’s a red and black bladed fan with a lamp in the centre; another one has blades that resemble ribbon bows while yet another reminds one of oars. But one piece that’s not to be missed, is the circulator which has large weaver blades on two sides of a long rod. “It gives a feeling of nostalgia, yet it is a contemporary design meant to circulate breeze from the air…

Fitness should be a hobby, not a chore. Getting a sleeker body shape is what every woman craves for; while it is not a cakewalk to get that toned look, yet it is not impossible to accomplish the task if you do some preparation on your part, keep yourself physically and mentally alert, and stick to an exercise plan. Weak upper body strength along with the genderin-dependent phenomenon of weak or no scapular stabilisation is one concern I always come across. Women tend to be conscious of their thighs and hips, so in the exercises enlisted below, I have targeted these muscles through different movement patterns. Staying true to my style which challenges and builds immense core strength, the exercises come from my experience and knowledge from workouts such as…

SAHIL ARORA Executive Chef, Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel, Powai Keeping in pace with the changing season, our food preferences also shift from cold and light meals to warm and spice infused foods. During summer, we all stick to our diet resolutions to survive the sweltering heat, but the monsoon brings with it relief from the humid weather and also the rise of popular street foods such as fritters and roasted corns. But as people are increasingly sticking to nutrient-packed foods, the potato fritters are being replaced with healthier versions such as fruit-based fritters and deep fried frankies by egg akouri wraps. Here are five monsoon recipes for you. STIR FRIED BLACK PEPPER CHICKEN Ingredients 500 gram boneless, skinless chicken breasts 6 tbsp cornstarch 1 diced white onion 1 cup…