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As is typical of teenagers growing up in the ninety’s in India they didn’t have an option but to go for engineering courses. And after becoming successful IT Professionals four college friends decided to join hands do something on their own. They didn’t have to look far for an idea for their maiden entrepreneurial venture – their common passion for Food decided that. “None of us are from the Food and Beverages background but when we decided to do something on our own, we knew it has to be something related to food as we love eating out and wanted to make a difference, says Kapil Saxena, one of the proud co-founders of Paprika Park – The Imperial & The Majestic.

Little over a year ago they came up with Paprika Park, The Majestic – the first and only park themed restaurant in NCR. The fine dining restaurant is conveniently located in the sprawling Indirapuram Habitat Centre Complex. For the last one year it has been serving some of the most sumptuous Indian, Mughlai and Chinese cuisines.

Apart from having a relaxing and beautiful decor, the theme of the restaurant has a philosophical undertone – “India is the spiritual guru of the world”. To bring that to life 7 different sections have been created to depict seven different countries of the world. This concept along with the meditational music and the sound of birds chirping makes the patrons feel absolutely relaxed while enjoying the best gastronomic experience.

Now time to talk about the most significant aspect of a restaurant – food. To start with there is a wide variety of vegetarian and Non-veg sizzlers. Apart from the theme, this has been the USP of the restaurant over the last one year.

 “That aroma of the burning coal and butter, while dishes get served at their tables have proved to be the most intriguing factor for our customers, and we have gathered accolades from our customers of all age groups for this,” Kapil adds.

A sizzling brownie dessert called the Hot Spot has also turned out to be a big hit across all age groups. The live on-table tadka of Tur daal and Peshawari Raan are other two things patrons have showered praise on.

Encouraged by the response the friends decided it was time to raise the bar. After winning the hearts of Indirapuram, Noida and nearby residents, they decided to go niche with The Imperial – a buffet restaurant and a banquet hall. The Imperial’s mouth-watering six-course buffet along with its imperial décor, are already a big hit with both families and corporates alike.

With emphasis on best in class service, and a constant endeavor to re-invent itself, the Paprika Park restaurants have certainly emerged as one of the most sought after eating joints in NCR. 

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It’s always a tough job for the restaurateurs to pull out new tricks to tempt patrons to keep coming back. Kalpak, a restaurant in sector 50, Noida seems to have mastered this art wooing its customers with innovative recipes. The latest on their menu is Bamboo Biryani  – a first of a kind in this part of the country. Also new on the menu is the Malabar curry served in green coconuts, best had with Malabari parathas. Absolutely melt in your mouth kind of good. Almost divine kind of good.

It was a dear friend’s birthday recently and I had a lunch invite to Kalpak,  one of my favourite haunts. Now I have been to this place quite a few times and had already decided on ordering my favourite dishes.

Turn your Passion for Food to Start up a Restaurant | Kalpak Restaurant 

My love affair with that little ball of fire and ice

You know the feeling when you are in your comfort zone. It’s like when you see a repeat run of your favourite movie; or you hear the opening bars of a music composition and you know the song or if you are a cricket fan, you know the ball by ball fall of wickets and how India won the 1983 World Cup. Just the comfort of knowing what you want and knowing what you are getting.

Imagine my surprise when the main course was served. The friendly waiter came and placed a foot-long bamboo, sealed with banana leaf, roasted to a beautiful brown.  The other dish served on the table was a roasted green coconut sealed with flour dough. It made a pretty sight indeed and my mind was filled with curiosity… now what’s this? The dish scored full marks on presentation and the surprise factor.

The waiter then proceeded to serve us. I have to admit that the act of serving also kept us hooked in anticipation. He carefully removed the seal, broke open the bamboo log followed by rhythmic banging of the spoon against the log to release the chicken/vegetables marinated with choicest aromatic Indian spices, dum cooked with long grain basmati rice, with hints of desi ghee and mint onto my plate. The fragrance of the biryani was appetizing and I couldn’t wait to eat. And the taste…have not had anything nicer in a long time.

After the sumptuous lunch I spoke with the chef to find out what goes on to prepare this masterpiece. The rice is half cooked and stuffed into the bamboo log, the ends of which are stuffed with fresh banana leaf. This helps to lock in the aromas of the herbs, spices and juices of the chicken/vegetable while ensuring that the biryani is dum cooked.

The infusion of the biryani with the aroma of the bamboo trunk and banana leaf lifts it above the ordinary. Definitely must try in your next visit. Kalpak offers both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options.

Just a couple of months back, my son’s schedule, had turned completely upside down as he was appearing for class XII exams. He would sleep through the day and study at night. He would rummage through kitchen cupboards and end up either making Maggi or eating cookies/toasted bread-butter.

Guess what,I have stumbled upon a solution for him and many owls like him, who study up late night and people in general who stay up late. Hungry Ullu & Hungry Chow (HU&HC) is the perfect joint to satisfy your late night hunger cravings for people in Noida.

Wood fired Pizza & more

Hungry Ullu & Hungry Chow provides home step delivery of your favourite fast food – Italian & Chinese cuisine in the middle of the night.

All of us have gorged and then gotten sick of the greasy paranthas, the most commonly available food for late nighters. Now you can order freshly cooked sandwiches, burgers, pizzas and Chowmein, all with the freshness that comes from home kitchen without sacrificing either the authenticity or the flavors.

HU&HC is run by brothers Vaibhav Bhatt and Sameer Bhatt, who hit upon the idea in their student days, when they realized there was a lack of food options for them when they were studying or partying late night.

Also Watch:Turn your Passion for Food to Start up a Restaurant

Also Read:My love affair with that little ball of fire and ice

This coupled with their love for food pushed them towards setting up Hungry Ullu, a name apt and self-explanatory for its offering. They started from their home kitchen last year supplying to their family and friends and have now moved into a bigger place where all Noidaiites can order and enjoy the food in the comfort of their homes. They have expanded their enterprise to include Chinese food too now.

I tried the thin crust Farm Fresh Pizza topped with lots of veggies. Prepared in wood fired oven, the base was crispy, the veggies were garden-fresh and the cheese just melted in the mouth. All of their pizzas can be customised according to your choice – thin crust or thick crust, more veggies or more cheese. And the best part is you get piping hot pizza home delivered, that too in the middle of the night.

To tell you a secret, I would be happy to order from HU&HC even during the day (if only they were open during the day) because I found their stuff better than even the branded pizzas available in every other neighbourhood.

Do try the summer cooler Mojito from the HU&HC bar, it is a sure winner –refreshing and energising. You could order Cold Coffee, along with Oreo and Ferrero Rocher shakes.

So next time if you are having a weekend late night party with friends at home, HU&HC is an interesting option to go for.

Order today…oops tonight. You can thank me later!

I wonder how Cristiano Ronaldo would be feeling now that his bust has been installed at the international airport in the Spanish city of Madeira. The airport has also been named after him.

The sculpture does not do justice to Ronaldo, a handsome man by all standards. In fact it looks nothing like the footballer; rather looks like his funny, abnormal version. Ronaldo being a sporting icon took it … well sportingly but the Internet went berserk with outrage at the lack of resemblance to the footballer.

A lesser mortal would have cracked up, hats off to the sculpture Emanuel Santos, who shrugged off criticism nonchalantly saying that “It is a matter of taste. You cannot please everyone”. Wow this guy is surely sorted.

The world is anyway becoming a difficult place to please. Ask the guy who wanted to please the two most important people in his life and ended up with hilarious consequences. He not only failed miserably in achieving what he had set out to do but also became the butt of jokes all over the world.

In a truly incredible man of the match acceptance speech recently, Ghanaian footballer Mohammed Anas, thanked his wife and girlfriend in the same breath and in the same sentence. “ I appreciate my fans… Also my wife and my girlfriend” He stumbled as he realized his mistake and corrected himself, “er I mean my wife. Sorry, Im sorry…yeah I mean my wife. I love you so much. I love you so much from my heart.” Too late, you sealed your place in history as the guy who had the best of both worlds but lost it in a rush of emotions when he inadvertently declared his lucky status to the whole world.

We are trying to please people around us all the time, aren’t we? We try to please our bosses for a promotion or increment, we try to please friends and family members because we want to look good or be in their good books, we try to please our partners so that they continue to love us. Ask yourself this one question and be honest. How many people do you know who are trying to please you? Unless you are a Narendra Modi or an in power politician or a high ranking official, chances are that you can count them on your fingers.

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Time on this earth is short. So isn’t it time you started doing something/things that make you happy. The way things are going, very soon you will find it formidable to even please yourself. If you like your meat better than your vegetables or if your idea of a date is a rendezvous with your beloved in a public place, both are almost out of bounds. Forget about pleasing others, you will be lucky if you are able to please yourself in times to come.

What are some of the things that make you happy? I would love to know.

She has a positive vibe about her. But the infectious smile, the big bright eyes and her silken southern voice won’t be heard on the Indian Idol 9 platform anymore. Maalavika’s elimination was completely unexpected. As everyone wished her well for her future soon after the announcement the Chennai girl couldn’t hold her tears. Fondly called “Maalu” by her friends, Maalavika Sundar is surely going to be missed in the finale.  

The Making of Maalu

She was just a two year old toddler when Maalavika started singing MS Subbulakshmi’s Hanuman Chalisa and other classics that used to play in her family home. Her proud parents decided to train a two and a half year old Maalavika in classical music. At the age when some kids learn to speak coherently, she had started learning to sing!!!

About her journey, Maalavika said in a December 2016 interview, “My father had to move to Delhi when I was in the ninth grade. I refused to go with my family. By then my connection with my guru was at an emotional level, and I considered her my paati. So, I wanted to stay back in Chennai and pursue singing. After that, my gurukula vasam started”. She gives her guru Srimathi Padmavathi Ananthagopalan, younger sister of Lalgudi Jayaraman, full credit for where she has reached.

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During the show, Maalavika also revealed that her relations with her Guru had become strained due to some reason and what she really wanted was to connect and thank her Guru for everything.

Her prior experience and training in classical music reflected in her performances on Indian Idol. She has already sung over 200 songs for the South film industry, making her debut with the song Nuvvu nenu kalisunte for the film Gangotri. She had won the Nandi Award for the Best Playback Singer for the year 2005 – 2006. The Nandi Award is given for excellence in Telugu cinema, theatre, and television by the Government of Andhra Pradesh.

She made her mark with her act in Vijay TV’s Airtel Super Singer 3, a Tamil song based reality TV show which premiered in 2010. Until her song ‘Dang Dang…’ for the movie Manam Kothi Paravai became a hit, Maalavika Sundar never thought she could sing film songs. “I was exposed only to classical music,” she says. “Only after I participated in the Super Singer programme, I learnt to sing a lot of film songs. I was made to sing different genres of Tamil music and got seasoned.” She said in an earlier interview.

In 2016, she decided to participate in Indian Idol to go beyond her comfort zone (read Tamil industry) and explore other cultures. She was inspired by Sonu Nigam saying, “Yeh manch nahin, rishta hai jo Bharat ko Bharat se jodta hai”. She wowed the judges in the audition round itself, where she got a straight entry to the theatre round.

Maalavika feels her training in classical music renders her an advantage in playback singing — “Because of my classical background, I understand the ragas on which a song is based.” All her performances have been top notch, starting with “Pal do Pal ka saath hamara” in the audition round to “Girls like to swing”. She has gone beyond the limitations of language to emerge as the fresh new find of Indian Idol, no matter she could not make it to the top three.

The elimination of Mohit Chopra has made one thing very clear – the Indian Idol season 9 winner will definitely be someone whose mother tongue isn’t Hindi. That’s quite something for a show, which is a hunt to find the next Hindi song-singing idol.

Of the four finalists three are from South India – LV Revanth from Vishakhapatnam, Maalavika Sundar from Chennai, and PVNS Naga belongs to Hyderabad. While the contenders have a hold on melody and rhythm and their effort to mug up and belt out Hindi songs is appreciable, their attempt at crooning Hindi Bollywood songs does not always hit the mark. I’m sure some of them would definitely be wishing and praying if only they had studied Hindi in school.

The closest to Hindi language is the fourth finalist – Khuda Baksh from Punjab. He also has a distinct and beautiful Punjabi accent. However he has been playing safe by choosing to sing Sukhwinder Singh’s songs; songs which have a hint of Punjabi in them. The producers have also been giving him a good build up, what with Shilpa Shetty, a guest on the show asking for his autograph. 

The last episode had his sisters visiting him on set. On Sonu Nigam’s request, they broke into a song and blew us away by the sheer power of their singing. His mother too had sung a Punjabi folk song when she had visited a couple of weeks back. Singing seems to be in the family genes.

Khuda Baksh with his sisters

As per judge Anu Mallik, Vishakhapatnam’s LV Revanth has already done enough to win the title and has assured him of a chance to playback in one of his movies. 

Mostly opting to sing songs of the current Lover Boy Arijit Singh, he amuses the audience with his unabashed flirting with every heroine who comes on the set as a guest. His request to Farah Khan, “Madam, I want to meet every heroine” when every contestant was telling their one favourite actor who they would like meet, still makes me smile.

Revanth is a front-runner to win the title. He sings like a dream, can grunge like a rock star, doesn’t hit a wrong note, plays to the gallery coupled with his persona all make him a complete package. Of course at times you’ve to ignore the slight hint of Telugu accent.

Not far behind is Maalavika Sundar, who also has all three – Awaaz, andaaz and riyaaz. She has received compliments not only for her superb singing but also her beauty and vivacious screen presence. The contest is not about gender, but she happens to be the only female left in the race and can easily give any of the boys a run for their money.

A girl who speaks her mind, she had acknowledged her fondness for Hardeep, a fellow contestant on the show. I thought it stemmed from the purity of her heart. She could just beat them all to the title. I will be one happy person when that happens!

Hyderabad boy PVNS Raga is a terrific singer but at times he falters in an attempt to display his entire range in one performance; which is tough to pull off every time.

The judges and even the guests have warned him against this; Rekha Bharadwaj had told him that sometimes when you take too many harkats in the song, you end up killing the emotion or the feel of the song.

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All of the singers add their two bit to any song they choose, which helps them to showcase their hold on their craft and at times raise the song from ordinary to extra-ordinary. Their value add –be it adding a sargam, or some variation within the framework of the original song earns them the appreciation of the judges as well. But the key is to not go overboard.

It is a just a couple of weeks more and the nation will have its ninth Indian Idol singer. We have three from South and one from Punjab. I would place my bets on LV Revanth. But at this stage it could be anyone’s game. May the best singer win!

The controversial relationship between Kapil Sharma and Sunil Grover has taken an ugly turn and looks like has hit a dead end. Sunil Grover is reportedly quitting his show and it looks like Kapil has bitten off more than he can chew this time.

Although talking to an entertainment portal, Kapil has rubbished the ‘flight fight’. He told Bollywood Life, “I don’t remember. Actually we fight on every flight…we fight everywhere…It is a healthy fight…We fight for work…We fight for good work.”

But according to reports, Kapil does not forget to remind his co-actors that he has given them a platform and they owe him their success. Kapil is also fond of his alcohol. The latest issue started when the team had gone to Australia to perform.

Kapil Sharma had a showdown with his friend Chandan Prabhakar, who plays a chaiwallah on the show. On the flight, Kapil had his fill of booze and then demanded to be served more. When the airline staff declined, he started abusing loudly. According to spotboyE , Sunil asked him not to use foul language in public. This angered Kapil even more and he started abusing and hitting Sunil. An ugly altercation followed. 

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The making of Sunil Grover

I met Sunil Grover in 2000 when he was my co-anchor for a game show on a Punjabi TV channel. He was just Sunil Grover then; he has since then gained name and fame as a comedian, whether it’s his SRK impersonations, Guthi or Dr Mashoor Gulati or even his latest avatar as Rinku Bhabhi.

He was good to work with. His talent, ambition and focus stood out. We were supposed to be co-hosting the show, but he easily overshadowed me with his spontaneity, presence and fluency. He was the star of the show not because of his looks or clothes but the way he carried the show on his shoulders and the way he interacted with the audiences.

The other thing that stood out about him even then was his keen observation and how he was able to mimic people on the set. I remember when we used to get stressed, he would do a Shah Rukh Khan takeoff and it was so effortless.  

There was no news of him for years after that. And then you caught him making an odd comic appearance on radio and TV. Soon he created a space for himself. He had no Godfather and struggled to get parts in movies like Pyar To Hona Hi Tha, The Legend of Bhagat Singh, Insan, Ghajini. I guess the movies didn’t do much for his career.

I’m sure the journey from Punjab to the hub of Bollywood – Mumbai must have been a tough one.

Success took its time coming to him.

It also took a different route – he got celebrity status not as a hero but as a comedian. In fact it was his turn as Gutthi (on Comedy Nights with Kapil) that brought him nationwide fame and made him a household name. For a storehouse of talent that he is, it would not be easy playing second fiddle to someone who maybe has less class and more mass.

They have had their issues in the past. Sunil left the show to start his own show – Mad in India, which folded up without creating any waves. Sunil then rejoined Kapil’s team, which must have given Kapil’s ego a huge boost.

All I hear now after the flight fight, Sunil has had enough and finally has said goodbye to The Kapil Sharma Show. But you never know as they say never say never. But for all Sunil Grover fans, Kapil Sharma or no Kapil Sharma, he as Dr Mashoor Gulati alias Rinku Bhabhi alias Gutthi has carved a unique space in the television industry to sustain him a lifetime.

If your television set were to stop beaming entertainment one fine day or if someone decided to cut your TV cable connection, wouldn’t it be a disaster? I am one of the few people whose life would go on as usual as if nothing had happened/changed because the saas-bahu soaps don’t interest me and the shouting slanging match that goes on in the name of prime time News or Debate never got me interested.

I do though like to watch a couple of reality shows on telly. An occasional Koffee with Karan, with its potent mix of celebrities and living room gossip, is engaging. Catching a good movie doesn’t hurt either. The hidden singer in me also loves to follow the singing reality shows like Indian Idol. These days, I am heart and neck deep into the current season of Indian Idol, the song-based reality show on Sony TV, which has some exceptional singers.

For a music lover, it is heartening to hear this talented bunch of singers. Don’t know by design or chance, the show has singers from across the length and breadth of the country. Majority of the contestants have seen hardship in their lives before making it to the show. The list of contestants includes –

Indian Idol 9 Contestants with Rekha and Vishal Bharadwaj

• Khuda Baksh, a powerful singer from Punjab, who has seen rough days after the death of his qawwal father
• The Jagrata boy Mohit Chopra, another strong contender, who hails from Jahangirpuri, Delhi
• LV Revanth, who has already made his debut in playback singing with a song in Baahubali and has the looks and body language of a hero
• Maalavika Sundar, who has trained in a Gurukul since childhood opting to stay away from her parents to pursue sangeet ki sadhna (the end surely justifies the means)

• The whimsically talented PVSN Rohith (he stammers while speaking but his voice and flow is like honey and sugar when singing)
• Tejinder Singh from Faridabad who can sing in the voice of a girl as well as guy
• RP Shravan, the trained singer, from Tamil Nadu, who wowed the judges and the audience alike with his effortless and error free rendition of Ketaki Gulab ki, a 1960’s classic sung by Manna Dey & Pandit Bhimsen Joshi

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Hubby and I have been making sure to catch the weekend episodes for our fix of good singing. It was sad to see RP Shravan getting eliminated in one of the early rounds. The net result hubby refused to watch the next episode…it was then I knew that Shravan was his favourite.

Leaving aside this pain, the show definitely throws up talented singers. After the initial push, it depends on the persistence and sheer will of the singer to push the boundaries, struggle, continue to evolve and survive and then continue to shine in the industry.

The two golden rules for being successful and continuing to succeed are

• Never give up and continue to persevere and evolve
• Don’t let success go to your head

A good example is Arijit Singh, who did not give up even after losing in the TV show “Fame Gurukul”. For many days he did not get work as a singer. He chose to struggle; worked as an assistant music director till he got a chance to sing in Aashiqui 2 and the rest as they say is history. He was not a winner in the TV show where he participated; he continued to work on his talent and dream. His hard work and determination finally paid off and made him the Voice of the Modern day hero in the Hindi film industry.

Khuda Baksh, my favourite contestant, admitted that his initial success on the show had gone to his head. The result was a couple of insipid performances where he seemed out of place and failed to rise up to the bar that he himself had set up. It was a case of “too much too soon”, he said. To his credit he realized this and picked himself up. The result is that he is again back in form and hitting the right notes and the bull’s eye in his songs, connecting with the audiences and earning applause from the judges.

Winning the contest is not the end, rather participating is part of journey to showcase your talent and let the music directors/companies pick you. As Tejinder Singh, who was evicted last week said, “I’m leaving Indian Idol but I’m not leaving singing”. It is your attitude and actions that will ultimately define your success or failure. A contest like Indian Idol will have one winner as per its format. But all those who do not win the contest, you are not a failure till you decide to give up on your training and dream.

I’m sure we have not seen the last of RP Shravan. If he keeps at it, continues to practice and works hard at his skill, and is ready to struggle till he gets the right opportunities, it is only as matter of time before we will hear him singing – in our movies or on the radio or TV sets at home. Who knows!

It was her speech on feminism that aroused my curiosity about her as an author and drew me to read Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s book on the Nigerian Civil War ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’.

It’s not a review; the book was published a decade ago and set way back in the 1960s. I’m excited to share my take on it, as it’s so relevant in today’s time and am looking forward to watch the movie based on the book as well.

There are a couple of striking parallels with what happened in Nigeria in 1967-1970 with the Great Partition which divided our country into two- India and Pakistan in 1947. Like India, Nigeria too was a British colony and the British did what they knew best – Divide and Rule.

While in India, they divided on the basis of religion; in Nigeria, it was on the basis of ethnicity. They pitted North against the South. Such was the divide created and havoc caused in both the countries that the issues, which brought about the strife are still very much alive in Nigeria as well as in India.

A story about war has to be about disruption, destruction, despair, death and devastation. How war changes people, how it brings about the beast in the best of us, how common masses are just a pawn in the larger political game that the leaders play to feed their ambition and egos, how leaders whip up frenzy and incite people to grab and then remain in power. These themes are universal and still current.

However it is more than just the story of Nigeria’s civil war and the creation of a new country Biafra. There is a sublime theme of woman empowerment that runs in the novel. The protagonist Olanna and her sister Kainene are both strong characters who live life on their own terms. Another striking character is Aunty Ifeka, a rural matronly woman who runs a kiosk to support her family; her husband and kids.

When Olanna, the protagonist, leaves her partner and goes to the village because her partner slept with a village girl, Aunty Ifeka advises Olanna to stop moping, return to the town immediately and rejoin her job. Giving the example of her own husband, she says, ”Nothing he does will make my life change. My life will change only if I want it to change. You must never behave as if your life belongs to a man. Your life belongs to you and you alone.” Sterling advice, which is relevant to women today all over the world to be in control of their own life, come what may.

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The other striking character is Richard, the white guy who is enamoured by African Art. A misfit in his own community, he connects with African people, falls in love with an Igbo (African) woman, picks up the language and makes Africa his home. What is remarkable is that though his main objective of coming to Africa was ostensibly to write a book on African Art, he consistently struggles to put his thoughts to paper.

Unsure and uncertain about his writing, Richard constantly doubts whether his writing is any good, his questioning eats his insides whether he will ever be able to write a book at all? This is something that people can identify with as we have all struggled at some point in our life when we decided to chase our dreams and passions.

When there is uncertainty and self-doubt whether we are on the right track, the key is to be open and flexible to do something that comes your way while you are following your passion. When he is asked to write to provide the white man’s perspective on the war, Richard is not sure if he wants to take up the assignment. He after all wanted to write about African Art. Finally he decides to take up the assignment and gains recognition and respect for his War reporting.

Don’t be so fixated on what you think is your passion that you let go of assignments which are “not really but somewhat” close to your passion and where you can also bring value to others.