Sunday Feature

SUNDAY READ: Eastbourne – England’s Perfect Coastal Holiday Destination

England is a country replete with famous fascinating cities and towns with their unique vibe, interesting historical anecdotes and captivating architecture. Each year thousands of tourists visit the country to experience its alluring countryside as well as enjoy the hustle of its metropolitans. Yet what remains away from the sight is perhaps England’s most perfect gift to the world – the tranquil seaside town of Eastbourne in the county of East Sussex.

Eastbourne also known as “The Sunshine Coast” and “The Empress of Watering Places” was originally a collection of four small hamlets of Bourne, Meads, South Bourne and Sea House that developed into a charming resort town under William Cavendish, the 7^th Duke of Devonshire. Situated on the South East coast of England, the landscape consists of dramatic white chalk cliffs meeting the stunning vast blue expanse of the English Channel on one side ; a lovely sheep countryside of gentle rolling hills on the other, and a relatively flat and relaxed coastal plain with pebbled beaches on a third front.

Whether you decide to travel to Eastbourne via the A22 and A27 roads or via rail from London, the access to this intimate but vibrant town is easy and straightforward. I had chosen the latter as my mode of transport and I comfortably disembarked right in the heart of the town. The Eastbourne railway station itself is a key landmark featuring a blend of late Victorian and French Renaissance architectural styles with a pagoda style lantern roof and a clock tower. It opens its gates for you into a warm and pleasant town with lovely Art and Antique shops and restaurants with sunny courtyards lined on each side of the road. The best part is that the station is barely fifteen minutes walking distance from the Grand Parade road which is the heartbeat of the town. This road stretches along the Grand Parade beach and houses the historic ornate Victorian hotels that add a panoramic glamour of their own.

The short walk from the railway station to the Grand Parade road

The Grand Parade beach houses the famous Pier which was built in 1870 and offers a high spirit spot for good food and music (and interesting little shops to buy different souveniers, fishing rods, hooks and baits!) Another enjoyable spot on the beach is the famous semi circular Eastbourne bandstand which is known for its Neo Greco design, firework concerts and live band performances that take place almost every other evening, especially in summers. And if this is not the energy you enjoy, then the relaxed and sparsely crowded beach is perfect for family picnics, leisurely walks and ice cream cones!

The most eminent inviting feature that this town offers its visitors is the juxtaposed experience of the laid back vibe of the beach along with the adrenaline rushing thrill of hiking. As the Grand Parade road curves at the end of the pebbled beach, the town elevates significantly giving in to the white chalk hills which are ideal for beginner and intermediate level hiking. If you’re lucky, you’ll get to enjoy the wild run of beautiful stallions (on private properties) along this route. The hike can be begun either from the Cuckmere Haven or Beachy Head lighthouse (from Eastbourne side) covering the Seven Sisters cliff, Birling Gap and the famous Belle Tout Lighhouse. In either way, the trail presents marvelous sea views. There are regular blue 3A and red tourist double decker (more preferable)buses that stop by every half an hour at different stop points along this 4 hour long hike route, just in case you want to abandon the hike and return to the town.

Apart from this, Eastbourne also offers a rich dose of art and entertainment. The world class musicals performed at theatres in London’s West End can be enjoyed in Eastbourne without fuss. There are also impressive contemporary art galleries; especially the dedicated room to Eric Ravilious at the Towner’s gallery is worth visiting. Then the Eastbourne museum showcasing its 200 years trajectory of a life boating culture only further adds to your stock of experiences. And if you happen to travel in the month of August then the Eastbourne Air show would serve as an absolute show-stopper in your itinery.

There are places aplenty to explore in Eastbourne as it has been essentially designed as an upscale urban holiday town, however it is the comparatively exceptional warmth of the people and a relaxed culture of Eastbourne that wins over the heart. From the lovely lady at an Art shop who helped me handle my little one’s whinning, to our hotel manager who assured us a back up “shall we find ourselves stranded on the hike” (despite the fact that we were leaving the hotel and the town after the hike that day), to the most good hearted chef who reopened his fine dine restaurant late at night when he found that most of the places had shut down and we had missed our dinner (everything in Eatbourne closes at 7 and we were unaware of it)

Food served with love and care. Wonderful chef’s, wonderful hospitality. Experiences that stay with you forever.

Truly, Eastbourne serves as the perfect holiday destination that leaves its visitor with the most enriching impressions and experiences.

Practical Information:

Eastbourne is a leisurely coastal escape and can be easily accessed through the National Railways, however it involves a change in trains en route. The best time to visit Eastbourne is in the months of August and September. The weather is pleasantly warm in the day but gets cool by evening. There are plenty of options available for accommodation in hotels and friendly bed and breakfasts in the town.

SUNDAY READ – Through my eyes: A city at the cusp of change

If I can correctly recall the first memory that I have of Chandigarh as a preschooler, it would be watching a centipede creeping up one of the pillars at the Rock Garden’s main entrance. Somebody from the family turned around and warned me, “Stay away! It bites its way into the body through the skin”. That is it. I do not remember marveling at anything else for the rest of the day ; walking around the garden, I was just looking out for any centipedes. Besides, I also have a vivid but somewhat compact memory of sector 17 market plaza. Vast. All concrete. Only a handful people walking around. A softy corner. Pink scoop of ice cream on an orange cone.

Fading Frames of Sepia

As I grew in years, so did Chandigarh. By the time I was a teenager it had transformed into a completely different city. I would sometimes visit my cousin in this city during my vacations and the impressions made were different now. Straight roads. Rows of trees that looked like big green umbrellas. Art deco houses. Stucco wall at the façade of some. Books and art for evening conversations. Accompanied by tad bit small talk for some refreshment. Us cousins giggling somewhere in the corner.

Surely, it was a sophisticated, progressive and slow lifethat most led living in Chandigarh, which was being shaped and altered by the presence of some of the top educational institutes of the region. Although I sometimes think that running and streamlining the economics of the city must have been a major labor in its initial years. But then it was the capital city of two states and the government, the main employer, served as a form of back up from an economic perspective. Having said that, I know some of the families who settled here in the city’s nascency, who would often tell that their private investments were one of the biggest risks they took in their lifetime; for no one believed how businesses would thrive in the vast emptiness here that was mostly covered with mango orchards.

Little did they know that this risk and uncertainty would turn out to be the best decision of their life. Over the years, the small sleepy town had turned into a major city, an urban agglomerate that is now at the cusp of being a metropolitan.

A Perfect City?

In 2015, architectural critic and writer Jonathan Glancey declared in an article for BBC that “Chandigarh is the only successful perfect city in the world.” But with greater recognition, if I may say so, comes even greater responsibility, right?

Now that the preschooler has grown into an adult and this urban agglomerate has become a home, I get to witness and feel this same city in a different way. Perhaps like any other city in its rapid strides would feel like. So, I see the same big green umbrella trees, but now they shade massive traffic jams underneath. There are fewer tete – a – tete at home and more ‘catch ups over coffee’ and mummy- papa turning 40 birthday bashes outdoors. It is not merely a ‘pensioner’s paradise’ anymore. The population is much diverse, on professional as well as cultural front. Art deco houses are now renovated into French maison de maitre or modern cubist residences. There are now beautiful stretches of scaling skyscrapers, but sadly, they stand next to huge garbage landfills. Some of the city’s waste disposal plants are lying defunct. According to Swachh Survekshan 2022, Chandigarh has come down to 12th position in matters of cleanliness and efficient waste disposal. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report, meanwhile, showed a 23% rise in rape cases, and a 10.68% in crime against kids between 2021 and 2022.

The truth is that every emerging metropolitan faces such set of challenges but there is always a solution. The need of the hour is a collective effort towards making the city great again from administration and the city’s own. Chandigarh has always been clean, green, well organized, we just need to go back to the roots. The vibe of the city has always been a strong stimulant for the people here. And I hope it continues to be so.

Published in Hindustan Times on 19.03.2023

SUNDAY FEATURE: THE MANGO MANIA

So, clearly it’s that time of the year when sun is very – very sunny. Drool for the pulpy – splashy yellow colour that satiates the taste buds…err…sorry – I meant the eyes! A friend of mine has a PhD in food processing something. You know she’s very intelligent. She told me that a new era has dawned for mango lovers, with the formation of chemical ‘X’ – perhaps, carbide calcium… calcium carbide something – any way the well read people call it chemical ‘X’. According to her, only those mangoes are the healthiest and tastiest those are cuddled and caressed with the love of chemical ‘X’.

Of course! The kind hearted woman that she is, she spread this word everywhere for the welfare of the people, by publishing her articles on the hot topic. I tell you this topic was much covered in almost all the national dailies. Certainly by the time mangoes arrived in the market, people were very well informed. They went in hordes to the vendors. How delicious the mangoes looked! Bright, beautiful and golden yellow with unique patches of green, unlike the monotonous blending of yellow and green (that’s so organic). Therefore, most of my friends had interesting stories to share.

Obviously since they had read the articles, they definitely had to go and buy those chemical ‘X’ kissed –other worldly pieces of work. So, one of them who has a big family told me that her father brought boxes of mangoes one day. The family had a lovely evening in their garden while enjoying the mangoes, dipped in the big buckets full of water. While relishing mangoes, not two or three but six or seven, her eldest aunt got so ecstatic that she ended up dancing high with blood pressure and spent the entire night under shower. Of course, so that she can save on bathing the next day and begin with her mango mania again. Such is the love!

Another one told me, yet more benefits of these new mangoes in the market. Since she was expecting her first child, she wanted to eat the healthiest fruits; and mangoes were her favourite. Her busy doctor was very strict about her eating habits and would monitor her babys health every month. And oh my! How my friend would always fret over getting appointments with her doctor. Since the doctor was so busy, she would keep my friend waiting for weeks. However, this time the miracle happened! After eating a few slices of mango, apparently the baby kicked the aamras out (I think in the form of a mucky material through the mouth) and my friend landed an appointment in the surgery, the very next hour. Such a help for getting appointments with the doctors!

For my concerned reader- she had a baby boy – he is fit and kick ass.

Last but not the least, when I was a kid, my maali uncle told me while pruning the mango tree, that when Baabar came to India – he did not know how to eat mangoes. But when he tasted one, he fell for the charm of aamras and fell in the spring of never leaving India.

Well, I was just thinking… he should have rather tried the chemical ‘X’ ones!! Perhaps, a different spring would have emerged.

SUNDAY FEATURE: A DISCOURSE ON PRONUNCIATION SNEERS

Sneer - Wikipedia — the pronunciation sneers have become a tell tale of people’s character, being and the many shades in between.

Being a creative writer it is but natural for me to observe people and places around me. And out of the many observations that I have made, there is a rather interesting one about sneers – a series of pronunciation sneers I would say, that have taken birth out of the British American pronunciation dichotomy since on one hand we deal with a colonial hangover, while on the other a Hollywood hangover. These hangovers reflect the great Indian tragicomedy aptly because neither the French would have replied nor the Irish would have served their coffee on being talked in English, but the Indian would have gladly jumped in a competition of spoken English (as much hilarious it might become at times!).However, over the years this did not stop the sneers to become the tell-tale of people’s character, being and the many shades in between.

So if you compliment a girl for the lovely flower on her dress with the British pronunciation of ‘flaa-vur’ and not the American ‘flaaa-r’ accent…oh boy! No matter even if you read at Eton in England she would still give you ‘educated from village school’ sneer. Well, that is your cue. She is certainly not the soul companion you’re looking for – get going.

Then there is the ‘confused kitty party’ sneer. It often happens over kitty parties when a lady from one corner of the table shares her tested and tried tomato soup recipe with the tomato being a British ‘tmaa-to’. While the American harbinger on the other end throws in few of her ‘tme-tos’ in the recipe and both the women end up thinking am I wrong or is she right? In such scenarios, it is best to let them stay confused.

Well then there is the ‘old school’ sneer. When over whiskey two men of different generations share the tales of the same boarding school they went to with one telling that the housemaster did not open the ‘on-ve-lopes’ (he grew up watching Hollywood) during their times. While the older one replies that his was a different era with no letter being passed without the housemaster opening the ‘en-veh-lope’ (making sure he emphasizes the ‘en’ of his envelope; he grew up watching BBC).

Of course, the most common is the ‘desperately wanting to speak in English’ sneer. So if you go to your doctor complaining phlegm (the ‘g’ is not very silent in American pronunciation; try speaking with ‘g’) in your chest he would definitely have a silent laugh in his head because he would think you are trying to throw in English words but know nothing. Not his fault! Most people in India pronounce it with a silent ‘g’. Thanks, to our education system that follows British norms of language.

And then finally, last but not the least, there is the ‘run away’ sneer. This sneer generally works the other way round with the speaker being sneered at because he or she is neither speaking British nor American. So when a haughty flashy person comes and flaunts his neon jacket telling you it’s a Givenchy (‘gee-van-chy’) instead of the French ‘zhu-vaun-shee’, you know it’s time to slip away!

SUNDAY FEATURE: 5 FASHION TRENDS FOR THIS FESTIVE SEASON

Come September and we are at the cusp of festivity in India. The lovely curls of the athletic model on the glossy magazine cover, the futuristic angular sleeve dress worn at a sun downer or that Cleopatra gold shimmering eye make-up you saw your friend wear – all metamorphoses into Indie fusion festive trends in India around this corner of the year. So gaining inspiration from the Indian and International Fashion Week Runways 2021, here are 5 fashion trends to brush you up with, that are here to stay this festive season!

Color Code

Generally, the transition from summer to winter means saying goodbye to vibrant bold hues and hello to shades of blue, gray, green, brown and burgundy. Yet, this time bold monochromes with dash of sindhi gold will take festive wear by storm. “Colour Blocking will pick up attention in Indian wear. Having said that, butter cream and coconut cream for bridals and festive collection will rule the roost too this time” predict Chandigarh based fashion designers Navneet and Harpeet Toor of the Moods and Colours label.

Malaika Arora in a maroon Manish Malhotra piece
at the Lakme Fashion Week 2021.

Floral Frenzy

Not paisleys but florals will be the center stage this festive season. Florals with more saturated – muted tones with sequins and sparkle will be trending the Festive Look Book 2021. From Dolce and Gabbana to Abujani and Sandeep Khosla, all are digging in for florals in one way or the other because floral print is a trend that just won’t end.

Jennifer Lopez setting major floral goals in a Dolce & Gabbana ensemble.

Back to the Roots

The covid pandemic has left an indelible imprint on the fashion industry, favourably spotlighting the trends that are more sustainable, conscious and rooted in traditions. Fast fashion has paved way for slow fashion which means limited but exclusive fashion pieces for the closet. So the pandemic can be credited with one good thing at least that the hand looms and works of traditional embroidery artisans are seeing the light of the day once again.

Shraddha Kapoor donning a handloom saree at a recent event.

Make Up alamode

“Make up has been an ever evolving world of stains, colours and glitter. 2021 Festive season will also not be shy of experiments”, says Mumbai based make-up artist Ritika Cheema. “Dewy skin make up look for the face or nude soft tinted lips and cheeks with strong liner and mascara laden eyes are some of the looks that we should be prepared to see this festive season”, she further added. The romantic red pout with sheer skin or shades of pink – peach shadows with nude lips are some other make up trends to watch out for.

Dewy makeup never goes wrong. Gidi Hadid looking a dream vision.

Hair on Fleek

Festive season is always about renewal and our hair play a major role in setting any sort of new vibe one intends to don on. Bob cuts above shoulder level, fringes, 70’s flip hair are some hair trends that will rock on this time. According to the senior hair stylist at the Mohali based The Hair And Body Lounge, “Slick back combed hair is the perfect runway inspired look for this festive season but beach waves, face contouring highlights are equally trendy and in fashion these days for Indian party looks”.

Alia Bhatt in slicked back hair looks every bit a Diva!

SUNDAY FEATURE: Power Purple

The sedimented meaning of purple can be destabilised but it power and profoundness still stays.

When Kamala Devi Harris walked inside the Capitol, chin up, shoulders square with utmost grace alongside her husband Doug Emhoff for the US Presidential inauguration ceremony – the historic moment was made even more striking by her choice of Tyrian purple outfit that swayed the masses rekindling the rhetoric of purple.

The fashion diplomacy of purple interestingly has a mythological story to begin with when nymph named Tyrus subsequently asked the mighty God Heracles to make a garment of the colour that Heracles’s dog had smeared his face with on biting into a mollusk. It was the colour purple that the sea snail secreted. The colour was novel in its origin and exclusive in its access. Around two and a half lakh mollusks could hardly yield an ounce of usable dye. This gave it a regal reputation becoming the colour of high priests and royalty from Roman and Persian empires to the Japanese in the east who extracted purple from shigusa, a purple gromwell plant which is equally difficult to grow.

In spite, of purple’s association with royalty, the meaning and perception of purple is a cultural construct and is very contextual. In Thailand and South America (particularly Brazil), purple is the colour of mourning and grief. Purple is also considered a jinxed colour to date in many regions across the world, associating it with mystery and magic. No wonder why in antiquity oracle of Delphi had a purple veil as mentioned by authors like Aristotle and Ovid. While, in United States Purple Heart is given to the soldiers wounded or killed in war as a military decoration but more to show love and compassion and when Alice Paul started and unionized the Woman Suffrage Procession in Washington D.C. in 1913, purple came to symbolize the “color of loyalty, constancy to purpose, unswerving steadfastness to a cause,” and “the royal blood that flows in the veins of every suffragette, the instinct of freedom and dignity”. While Alice Walker, winner of Pulitzer Prize for her outstanding book ‘The Color Purple’ bestowed saturated purple (the one Kamala Harris chose to wear) a more intense and classic meaning that represented the mature and wiser ‘womanism’ which is in contrast to the delicate feminism represented by colour lavender. Thus the royal purple began to symbolize freedom, resilience and transformation of marginalized women (black women in particular) who have been obliterated from history.

Therefore, purple has no fixed signified meaning but endlessly differs and defers with ‘supplementarity’ and ‘traces’. It is indeed a sign of a sign of yet another sign quite literally too. In Old English purpre described the royal purple clothing of an emperor. It has been derived from the Latin purpura which in turn was derived from the Greek porphura denoting the mollusks that yielded the crimson dye. According to the dictionary meaning, purple can be defined in two ways, i.e, as a group of colours with a hue between that of violet and red and as a cloth of colour between violet and red which is worn as a symbol of royalty or high office. This leads to various concepts leading from one signified to the other. For instance, ‘purple prose’ is used for exaggerated and elaborate writings; ‘purple cow’ for something remarkable and unique; ‘purple speech’ for profane and bad language and ‘purple haze’ for confusion induced by drugs.

Indeed, this colour creates confusion enough by leading to the knowledge of unthought-of-thoughts just like when we realize in the end that PURPLE is not a colour at all. Scientifically, purple is not a colour since there is no beam of pure light that looks purple. Our eyes see purple because they are tricked to believe it so. It is a secondary colour that is obtained by mixing the blue and red. However, it is precisely this reason that also makes purple special in spiritual realms, thereby, associating it with creativity, imagination and high minded spirituality. It is believed that purple is the only colour that is profound enough to engulf and balance the calm stability of blue and fierce energy of red.

Although the sedimented meaning and symbolism of purple can be destabilized further and further but its power and profoundness stays even when deconstructed to smithereens. No wonder, Kamala chose this colour whose power cannot be pinned down, that refuses to fit in a typecast and that which broke the glass ceiling.

On a lighter note, looks like Kamala and all the other powerful ladies also knew how best to tell their nation that it is high time for the red of republicans and blue of democrats to work together, to genuinely make America great again after the veritable cyclone of Trumpism has been over now.

Published in The Post India on 4.03.2021