Department of Hotel Management, Christ University, Hosur Road, Bangalore– 560029

Vol. 9 (3), October 2012

Repertoire

After the resonating success that was our Anniversary issue, we are back with a focus on festivals and

culture, be it Halloween, or the upcoming Diwali and Dusshera celebrations. As this power-packed

semester draws to a close, we remember some of our major events, such as the National Conference

and Bhasha Utsav. I also want to take this chance to wish all students the very best for their current examinations.

Here’s looking forward to a refreshing break!

II National Conference

“Hospitality Tomorrow- A Vision for

Sustainability”

Prof. Zacharia Joseph and Prof. Usha Dinakaran

The second National Hospitality Conference was

held on the 15th of September 2012 in Christ University.

This year’s conference aimed at focusing on sustainabil-

ity, throughout the hospitality industry. The term sustain-

ability is used quite frequently in today’s world and it’s

need is felt in all societies.

The key note speech was delivered by Mr. Sudhir

Andrews, arguably India’s best know hotel educator. Mr.

Andrews has set up the country’s top hospitality schools

and his textbooks are considered sacred to all hotel man-

agement students. Mr. Andrews spoke about today’s ho-

tel scenario with the world becoming less dependent on

human resource and more dependent on society. This

provides a challenge to all hospitality professionals to be

versatile and adapt to the ever changing hospitality

world. Even a country like India which prides itself on

great service must adapt to this change. Although mecha-

nization reduces jobs, the number of hotels in India has

seen a tremendous boom, Bangalore a prime example.

Mr. Andrews gave all the students present in the confer-

ence his take on today’s HR, and his advice to all of us. To

say that the speech was informative and gave all the stu-

dents a wakeup call would be an understatement.

Keeping up with the sustainability theme, the

stage was handed over to Mr. C.B. Ramkumar, founder

and owner of our Native Village. The hospitality industry

can no longer turn a blind eye on the ever growing mar-

ket which demands eco friendly amenities and services.

Of course, there are several hotels which have already

been set up as ecotels. But, how eco friendly are these

hotels? Our Native Village is a 100% eco retreat situated

in Hesarghatta, Bangalore. The vision of the hotel is to

provide exemplary services to the guest while not damag-

ing the earth. Mr. Ramkumar’s retreat is a shining exam-

ple of sustainability and has left all ecotels thinking.

Professors from M.S. Ramaiah, WGSHA to name a

few delivered paper presentations. The afternoon session

consisted of a panel discussion moderated by Mr. Kripal

Ammana, a well known figure in Bangalore’s restaurant

scene and managing director of Hospitality Initiatives In-

dia Pvt.Ltd. The panel included Chef Abhijit Saha of

Caperberry and Fava, Mr.Amit Samson, General Manager

of the Lalit Ashok, Mr. Biswajit Chakroborthy, GM of

Movenpick, Bangalore and Mr. Arul Mani, Taj Corporate

Learning and Development Head. The panel engaged the

audience on the topic of sustainability in employee reten-

tion. The discussion was ably moderated by Mr. Amman-

na who got a healthy debate going on India’s employee

retention issues as well as India’s hotel potential in the

future.

To hotel management students grooming them-

selves to step into the industry, hard work and skills are

not enough, morals and ethics with a vision for sustaina-

bility is critical.

Thinking about going high on your weekend? Head

to Skyye, the highest party destination in the city.

Here is where euphoria sets in! Located at the 16th

floor of the ultra- sophisticated U B City, this luxury

lounge has earned a reputation of being one of best

outlet in town and the highest grossing bar in the

city!

Shivanth Nishkam, operations

manager at Skyye is the man be-

hind the conquest. Alumni of the

CSI Bishop Appasamy college of

Arts and Science Coimbatore, he

boasts a very interesting portfolio

working and training with some of

the best hotels and stand alones including The TAJ,

TGIF Carlton Group, The Park, Le Meridian and

Avant Garde Hospitalty and now Skyye Lounge and

Tower kitchen.

Megha Moturi and Chirag Gurung get candid with

Shivanth Nishkam at Skyye lounge U B City, about

how he makes it happen and how to always Keep it

Simple!

How did Hotel Management happen to you and

how did you develop interest in Operations Man-

agement?

The dream of joining hotel management occurred

to me during my early school years in Ooty. It was in

standard 9 when my friend and i visited a restaurant

in a hotel just for the experience and were floored

by the way the manager at the restaurant spoke to

us and made us feel important. That one experience

made me get into this field. During that time inter-

net was not so popular and thus I was on my own. I

made a few enquiries about how the industry is and

took a leap of faith and plunged into the industry

which has been my family since then. The original

plan was to be a chef but gradually my passion to

serve people and make them smile and make learn-

ing the priority of my life landed me my first job at

TGIF, Bangalore as a waiter. Since then there has

been no looking back. I have been fairly lucky

throughout my journey. I met the right people at

the right time. I love this industry, I love doing this

day in and day out and I will never get tired doing

what I’m doing.

Where do you think the present hospitality indus-

try is heading?

I think the industry is growing and becoming hu-

mungous just for the simple fact that people are

travelling much more than they used to. Although

as much the industry is growing, there is a dearth of

skilled professionals to handle different outlets and

different genres of the industry. Even when there is

an exponential growth of outlets in the country,

there are hundreds of outlets shutting everyday due

to lack of the right kind of people not only the man-

agers and chefs but also support staff. There can be

a breakthrough in the industry only when this gap is

filled.

A Glimpse in the Life

of Shivanth Nishkam

How important is location for the success of Skyye?

It is absolutely important. The location is the deciding

factor for any outlet. It decides the clientele of the

outlet and thus the genre of the outlet. A bar in the

centre of the city business hub will attract corporate

clients and will do well throughout the

week ,whereas a bar in the suburbs, even though

open till late will attract only a weekend crowd. Thus

location is everything. The traffic also plays a major

role. People generally choose to hangout in places

near to their workplaces to cool off after a hard day’s

work rather than drive to faraway places due to the

impossible traffic. One of the major reasons for the

success of Skyye is the corporate and upmarket

crowd that the outlet attracts due to its location. If

you need to hit the right note you need to choose

the location study is vital.

What are your business strategies that keep you

ahead in the pursuit of success, and who are your

biggest competitors?

A lot of people and outlets try a lot many things and

adopt different strategies to stay in the game and go

that extra mile, but at Skyye we believe the best busi-

ness strategy is to Keep it Simple! A smile on your

face, a good welcome, seating on time, serving the

food and beverage be it anything, on time and at the

right temperature and with the right accessories, ask

for a repeat and you have floored the guest and

made the evening special. Always talk to the guest!

Talking about competition, for us Skyye itself is our

biggest competition in terms of how to keep the ex-

perience new and make our processes better. If you

ask me to name any competitors I would just say,

there are many. We can’t compete with anybody but

anybody can compete with us!

How do you handle negative publicity and bad re-

views pertaining to you outlet?

Any publicity is good publicity for Skyye. But having

said that, we take customer feedback with all seri-

ousness. The first step towards working on this will

be to accept the shortcomings because only then you

will be able to make amends. When we started the

outlet we did not have a customer feedback form

and after we realized how essential it was we intro-

duced the comment card. We’ve made a sincere

effort to track all the people who have written bad

reviews about Skyye on online portals and have

made many amends. Its better late than never. We

have made some obvious errors we will always be

miles away from what we should be. There will al-

ways be those guests who may not have enjoyed

their experience at Skyye as much as they wanted to

but we strive towards making sure they come back

and change their opinion about Skyye. If you are able

to do that, you are on the right track.

What is your favourite drink and food at Skyye?

A dry martini made with a Tanqueray 10 or Blue Rib-

and without vermouth, stirred of course. And my fa-

vourite meal would be rice with Malay curry.

Megha Moturi and Chirag Gurung

Photo credits: www.flickr.com

The Brewing Brunch at the Biere Club

Nadhiya Cs

Beer, bier, biere or biero – no matter what

the language is the city of Bangalore has had a long-

standing love affair with the amber liquid. Eating

out has become de-rigueur and the microbrewery

trade is seen as the

next big story. The

Biere Club have been

pioneers in this field.

They have grown ex-

plosively in the past

one year. The Biere

Club is strategically lo-

cated on Lavelle Road,

which is vulnerable to a huge drinking population.

The students of the fourth year BHM on Sep-

tember 8, 2012 set out to study some aspects of the

craft brews with a brunch and a beer tour at The

Biere Club, the first microbrewery in South India. A

table d’hote menu with three courses was planned

by Chef Julus Jack. Upon entering you are first

greeted by gleaming brewing equipment, towering

way above. The Biere Club,

Chophouse on the first floor,

hosted the brunch. It chan-

nels the charm and sophisti-

cation of the glory days of

old-school fine-dining gran-

deur, with its oak-clad walls,

white linen-laid tables and

dimmed lighting.

The man behind the beer

here is Mr.

Padmahal, who has worked in breweries

across the world. He took us through the

beer tour and taught us some of the in-

tricacies in beer making and being a suc-

cessful brew master. Beer is brewed

fresh every day, and at present, six types

are served – ale, lager, club special, seasonal beer,

wheat and stout, with the exotic flavouring. The

golden ale takes the pick - if you enjoy a beer with

heft: the ale has a full-bodied, “hoppy” flavour,

which spells higher alcohol content, and a lovely

bitter aftertaste that grows on you. The German

malt is the key to the taste of these brews. The

mashing occurs in the ground floor and fermenting

in the next two floors. The storage tanks at the back

of the ground floor have never failed to get empty

at the end of every

month.

Most of us

opted for the non-

veg mixed leaves,

grilled chicken and

sun dried tomato

salad with croutons

and parmesan. Then we went on to explore the 6oz

beef burger, farfalle and ended on a sweet note

with a warm apple pie and ice cream. The tasting

portions of the fresh brew tempted us to gulp a

glass of hand crafted beer, which not only made us

beer connoisseurs but also left us in high spirits!

Photo Credits: Arun G

Monthly Chronicles

Bhasha Utsav, 2012

Anahita Girish

In the midst of a few South Indian festivals, Christ

University celebrated Bhasha Utsav, a fest held in

honour of Indian languages and cultures.

With regular classes put on pause for a day, the

campus grounds saw all students dressed in their

ethnic best.

As tribal and traditional music groups toured the

grounds, all students let their hair down and surren-

dered to the electrifying beats. Walking through the

campus was a visual treat as students danced their

hearts away in what appeared to be a blast of col-

our and movement.

Even the international student group dressed their

best, and danced traditional dances to our Indian

beats: a cultural fusion of the best kind.

Here are a few exciting moments that capture the

essence of what Bhasha Utsav is all about.

Monthly Chronicles

Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye!!

-Angelina Maben

Indians celebrate festivals throughout the year as

it is a diverse country. Sweets or ‘mithai’ are an integral

part of our culture. No festival is devoid of sweets. Ex-

changing or eating them signifies good omen, happiness

and prosperity. Each religion or even region has its own

unique array of sweets. Festivals are also tradition bound.

Sweets are either traditional like rabri, pedha or

barfi which are milk based. Mohanthal , ladoo or halwa

are melt in the mouth creations made of flour, gram flour

or even sesame seeds. Khowa and mawa (milk boiled to

remove moisture) form the base of many sweets. Grand-

mothers, aunties, and mothers meticulously choose the

best ingredients and

sweat over the stove to

lovingly prepare these

sweets. Steamed, fried,

boiled they all taste

amazing. The intricacies

of sugar work or the

crunchiness of nuts add

to their charm.

The almost cotton ball softness of

rasgullas are a legend. Light as air they were created by

K.C Das and are an experience few can resist. Jalebis-

pretzel shaped juicy delights are a common sight at every

corner of our country.

As the festival season approaches sweets will be

made, offered to the Gods, and exchanged with friends

and family. Diwali means homemade vermicelli or rice

kheer, gajar halwa and besan ladoo. Modaks are made

during Ganesh Chaturthi. Eid-Al-Fitr cannot be celebrated

without seviyan or shahi tukra.

Durga Puja is a major festival in West Bengal, the

rhythm of the “dhak” resounds in the air, and the gaily

dressed people throng to the pandals to celebrate for five

days. The entire city comes to a virtual standstill. The

sweet makers work overtime to create fantastic cham

cham, chanar payesh, labanga latika, sankher sandesh,

kacha golla- exotic names which are all delectable.

Chefs on the other hand will add their twist to the

old favourites with the help of molecular gastronomy-

(distilling flavours and forms of food), they will infuse new

techniques creating and inventing newer concoctions.

Monthly Chronicles

Halloween through the Ages

-Mahira Alvares

Ah, October. Its’ that time of the year again! Hal-loween is observed as a holiday world-wide on October 31st. So while you bring out those pumpkins, scary cos-tumes, and that party spirit here’s a little insight into the history of Halloween.

Although the etymology is Christian, the practice of Hallowe’en or All Hallows Evening (the day before All Hallows Day or All Saints Day) is said to have pagan roots.

Halloween is typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain, or summer’s end. It was this time of the year that people stocked up on supplies for winter as autumn was coming to an end. It was also the time of the year when the physical and supernatural world came into close contact and magical things could happen. The souls of the dead were supposed to re-visit their homes and large bonfires were set up to ward of these spirits.

The Samhain practice of carving turnips for the departed is what stemmed the current practice carving Jack-o-Lanterns.

The practice of Halloween was strengthened

greatly after Christianity was established. In 837, Pope Gregory lV, ordered a church-wide observance of All Saints Day and All Souls Day on November 1 and Novem-ber 2, respectively. People believed that souls would get their last chance at vengeance before passing on , on the eve of All Hallows Day so people began to guise them-selves or dress up so that the souls wouldn’t recognise them.

Trick-or-treating began as food given to beggars who knocked on doors on Halloween in exchange for prayers made for the departed.

Through the times, these practices evolved and although All Saints Day and All Souls Day is still observed through-out the world, Halloween has gone from a night of protecting oneself to what we see today , a night of pure adrenaline fun for kids and teens (and some adults) high on sugar and scared as hell.

For those of you who would like to celebrate this year, you will not find a shortage in the abun-dance of parties that take place in Bangalore on the Eve of Halloween.

So get carving those pumpkins!

National Conference on Hospitality

-Srujana Sagi

The Second National Conference on Hospitali-

ty held in Christ University on the 14th of September

2012 dealt with a theme that is extremely relevant

today- SUSTAINABILITY. The entire conference was

a real eye opener as we saw the various facets of

sustainability.

The conference was kicked off by emcee

Tanya Fernandes introducing the guests for the day.

This was followed by a short address to the

audience by our Head of Department, Professor

Sushil Dwarkanath, welcoming everyone and giving

us an insight into sustainability and the topics to be

covered in the conference. Next, Professor Avin

Thaliath took the stage to briefly address the audi-

ence and then, the moment that was much awaited

by all of us- The unveiling of the 1st Anniversary Is-

sue of our magazine, Akshar! Professor Thaliath

spoke about the Magazine, what it aims at, and the

work that goes into it. The magazine was then un-

veiled by Professor Sushil Dwarkanath and the

guests of honor for the day.

The stage was then handed

over to the first keynote speaker for

the day, Professor Sudhir Andrews.

He spoke about sustainability in a

different light, as a combination of

People, Energy and Resources. He

emphasized on the importance of

sustaining the workforce in order to

have a sustainable future in hospi-

tality. At the end of his speech, Professor Andrews

took questions from the audience.

Next, papers were presented by the various

participants, on topics ranging

from the old authentic food of Delhi to the growth

of the housekeeping industry over the years. Next

came the second keynote speech of the day by Mr.

Ramkumar, of Our Native Vil-

lage, Bangalore. He won the au-

dience over with his easy going

and jovial manner and spoke

about sustainability from the

ecological point of view. He out-

lined the importance of re-

specting our resources and ad-

vocated the slow life- from slow

food to snail mail! The conference

then broke for lunch.

The second leg of the conference was dedicat-

ed to a panel discussion on Sustainable Hospitality.

The discussion was moderated by Mr. Kripal Aman-

na, Founder and Managing Director, Hospitality Ini-

tiatives India. The participating panel members

were Mr. Arul Mani, GM, Learning and Develop-

ment, Taj Hotels, Mr. Amit Samson, GM, The Lalit

Ashok, Mr. Biswajit Chakraborty, GM, Movenpick

Hotels and Chef Abhijit Saha, Director, Avant Garde

Hospitality. The panel discussed various elements of

sustainability, ranging from the benefits of using

local produce, the importance of retaining and sus-

taining human resources, old and new establish-

ments in the city etc. They also handled questions

and concerns raised by the students

and spoke about what the industry

should do for the student community.

Then came the distribution of

certificates to all the paper presenters

and votes of thanks on behalf of the

students as well as teachers. This

brought us to the end of this eye open-

er of an event, with more to come... next year!

Monthly Chronicles

Restaurant Week, India comes to Bengaluru!

Vishwas Badami and Amandeep Singh

Our five star dining experiences are limited. Sure, we’ve worked behind the scenes and toiled for

hours. We might have even had a nibble (don’t tell our supervisors). But for us students, dinner at a five

star restaurant is way out of budget. Or so you’d imagine. Sponsored by Citibank, Restaurant week is a

week- long celebration of the city’s finest restaurants offering their choicest dishes via prix fixe menu.

Previously the prix fixe menu was at a price of above 1000 rupees, but in order to reach to a wider

audience, this season the menu was priced at 750. Although that doesn’t quite classify as cheap for

Aman and I, this was far more reasonable than the a la carte options available at the restaurant. There

were 17 participating restaurants which included Baluchi, Olive Beach, Caperberry, Fava, Shiro to name a

few. But what really caught our eye was Benjarong.

Benjarong is one of India’s finest Thai restaurants. The choice wasn’t really hard for Aman and I

(Thai ranks pretty high among our favourite cuisines). The ambience at Benjarong is very Asian inspired

with a heady scent of lemongrass wafting through the restaurant (who’s complaining?). We were giving a

choice of vegetarian and non vegetarian options for a soup, appetizer, main course and dessert. We

started off with the platter of lettuce with peanuts, chilli, ginger, palm sugar, onion and lemon. We then

moved on to the Tom Yum soup, Aman and me were a bit disappointed that there wasn’t a more exotic

option. We kept reminding ourselves of the 750 rupees tag and to be fair the soup had a really good fla-

vour balance.

The signature dish was the Gai Hur Baitey, chicken morsels wrapped in pandanus leaves with a chilli

honey dip, absolutely spectacular. Our main course was a simple Thai red and green curry with rice and

Plad Rad Prik, a fillet of fish with a chilli and sweet basil sauce. Our oriental dessert was the Tub Tim

Grob, water chestnuts in a chilled coconut milk. Overall, the experience was amazing and a definite

thumbs up to Benjarong.

Cover StoryCover Story

Karan Nagpal

From humble beginnings, the Empire has

grown into one of the leading chain of restaurants

in Bangalore. Hotel Empire began with the purchase

of a small restaurant on Central Street, Shivaji Nagar

in 1966 by Mr. Abdul Rahim from Malaysia, who

had a number of successful years in the field of ca-

tering.

Empire went through its transformation and

growth under a number of efficient managements

till it has reached the present popularity. It has gone

from strength to strength, thanks to its mouth wa-

tering food.

The restaurant was constantly upgrades

with new services and tastier delicacies. Air-

conditioned dining halls were introduced and the

premises expanded in the early eighties to meet the

ever growing demand of the patrons. The original

building was rebuilt in the late Nineties and thirty

very cosy and reasonably priced rooms were added

to make it a full-fledged hotel. In the meantime,

new restaurants of Hotel Empire were opened in

the Russell Market and Kammanahalli.

The progress of The Empire continued, as a

new venture called Hotel Empire International, with

more than thirty aesthetically designed rooms and a

restaurant and juice centre, was opened in 2004 in

the heart of Bangalore on the Church Street.

The expansion of the

group went ahead with the opening of another ho-

tel and restaurant, Empire International in the

Koramangala, in 2006. Two more

restaurants, Little Empire and

Empire Restaurant were subse-

quently opened on Millers Road,

Vasanth Nagar (2007) and

Mosque Road, Frazer Town

(2009). In order to cater to a

different class of customers, Em-

pire opened its flagship project,

the Empire Suites, in the up-

market Brigade Road and MG

Road area, offering 32 comforta-

ble apartments complimented

by a top-floor swimming pool,

gym and spa.

The Empire Restaurant on the 80 feet Road

in Indiranagar which was opened in September

2010 is a terrific place to savour the mouth water-

ing Empire dishes. The ambience is superb and the

place is very large, with a seating capacity of ap-

proximately 250 pax.

All in all, The Empire is now a household

name in Bangalore, and is synonymous with fantas-

tic food at affordable prices in convenient locations

and truly is among the best restaurants in the city.

Definitely worth a visit if you’re ever in the city!

Credits-www.hotelempire.in

Entrepreneurs’

Corner “High expectations are the key to everything”

-Sam Walton

The Hopeless Traveller

Bali mein ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’

Ruby Islam

Studying Hotel Management in Christ Universi-

ty put one compulsion on us students. ‘Industrial

Training’. And for me, as delightful as this Industrial

Interface was; I couldn’t think of any other possible

way of treating myself for having endured 15 hours of

strenuous work every day for those six months, than a

10 day trip to Bali.

Stepping down the flight at Denpasar Airport, I

felt the gush of humidity from the seas, clear blue

skies, garbage free streets covered with coconut Palms

on both sides, and men working on the construction of

miniature Hindu Idols. I just wished the city of Banga-

lore offered that. I was amused by the level of simplici-

ty and honesty in Hospitality the people had to offer.

Effortless genuine smiles and helping gestures, it

somehow became a mystery to me. How were they so

happy? Fun loving, and influenced by Bollywood! They

were hilarious! Every time we spoke of coming from

India, one would exclaim “Oh India! Mumbai! Shah

Rukh Khan!”. This once I also had a bunch of boys sing-

ing the song ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ to me as I walked

across the streets.

The province, religiously bound and culturally

diverse had so much to offer: from the most scenic

beaches, to water-

falls, rivers, and vol-

canoes. Amazing ad-

venturous activities

during the day, a

whole morning of

rafting at a 10 km

river with synchronised efforts from the four of us; in-

dulging in delicious lunch on the top of a mountain

over viewing an active Volcano; water sports at the

beach; and I have to mention Scuba Diving

in those clear waters. Putting on the suit,

the oxygen tank on my back and travelling

depths of ten feet under, I would see

Clown fish in their Sea Anemones and it

was just like the movies. Literally! It was

another dimension, where an hour long of being under

water just felt like ten minutes.

That perfect most rejuvenating long awaited

massage at sun set;

and dinners at

beach front. Every

night we’d have din-

ner along the beach

with all the restau-

rants beautifully lit;

offering traditional

dance performances

and watch planes land and take off.

I have to pay special mention to the Hotel Con-

cierge Associate Mr Dev, who made our trip so memo-

rable with planning tour Itineraries, arranging

transport, accompanying us to every outing we had

including walking those longs stretches of shopping

galleries whilst we ladies shopped, and did I mention;

boy was he Cute!

Amidst all the exhaustive exam schedules, pro-

ject submissions, gagging in laughter with cynicism at

the movies and enjoying that glass of Cosmopolitan

with the girlfriend, we often reach a point when one

just needs to step out of this circle of life and find

some time for ourselves. Give yourself that chance to

miss what you love. These ten days of Bali was just the

ticket, to that peaceful, adventurous, relaxing, time of

my life.

Photo credits: www.photobucket.com

Are you serious?

The Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai is haunted by the ghost

of W.A. Chambers the hotels’ chief engineer. Chambers

travelled to France shortly before the hotel’s comple-

tion . He later returned to India to find out that it was

built in the opposite direction. He was so heart broken

that he took his own life. Hotel staff and guests claim

that his ghost roams the old wing of the hotel obviously

still lamenting his design gone bad.

Source: www.hotelclub.com

Julie & Julia

Julie Powell

Yes, the movie was absolutely heart warming,

Amy Adams was adorable, Meryl Streep was (as

usual) mesmerizing and the food, the food... was

blissfully divine. However, like most present day

movies, we have to remember that it all began with

a book (or in this context a blog). Based not just on

one but two true stories, 'Julie & Julia' transports

you into the kitchen of two ordinary woman, who

for the love of food, transformed their mundane

lives into a gastronomical firework.

Contemplating on two remarkable women

you are drawn into two very different yet similar

worlds. Julia Child, a French immigrant to the USA,

was what Madhur Jaffrey was to the Indian house-

hold. She brought French cuisine the American

homemaker in the 1960s. An animated personality,

her bold candour encouraged many women across

the country to pick up that wooden spoons and get

to cooking not just food but an expression of their

love and creativity.

She won over the admiration and respect of thou-

sands of followers and one such woman was the

lost and doe- eyed Julie Powell. In the determina-

tion to transform her life, Julie decides to challenge

herself to cook 536 Julia Child recipes in 365 days,

in her diminutive run down New York kitchen and

with the support of her faithful

blog readers and loving (yet

sometimes confused) husband.

A daunting task that she suc-

cessfully accomplishes. She

finds through food an unkin-

dled passion and the approval

of her idol, Ms. Julia Child her-

self.

It just goes to show that

food has the power to be transformative, undis-

criminating and life altering. You may have to flip

over 30 crepes to create the perfect one but in the

end you can proudly gain a gift that is incomprehen-

sibly comforting and healing. And, if you ask Julie

Powell a book deal as well!

Tanya Nicole Fernandes

Photo credits: www.amazon.com

Literary Lounge

Sunset with a few drinks right on the edge of

the sea at Phu Quoc, a magical mango-

shaped Island off the south of Vietnam

Anahita Girish

Photo

Bug!

Kerala Style Mutton Curry

Anahita Girish

Ingredients:

For the masala:

1 tbsp Coriander seeds

½ tbsp Cumin seeds

½ tbsp Peppercorns

6 dry Red Chillies

½ cup Grated Coconut

Dry roast and grind to a paste with a little water.

2 tbsp Oil

2 sticks Cinnamon

4-5 Cloves

1 Bay leaf

2 Large Onions – finely chopped

1 tsp Ginger paste

1 tsp Garlic paste

3-4 Green Chillies- slit lengthwise (depending on

desired heat)

1 small bunch Curry leaves

1 kg Mutton pieces

½ tsp Turmeric powder

2-3 tsp Chilli powder

4-6 tsp Coriander powder

2 tsp Jeera powder

Method:

In a pressure cooker, heat the oil and add cinna-

mon, cloves, bay leaf.

After a minute, lower the heat and add the onions,

ginger, garlic, green chillies and curry leaves. Fry

well.

Add mutton pierces and fry a little and add turmer-

ic, chilli powder, coriander powder and jeera

powder. Fry well.

Add the previously made paste and combine well.

Pour in enough water to cover the mutton by about

an inch.

Indigenous Recipe

Editor-in chief

Avin Thaliath

Conceptualized and Designed by

C Rahila Sahrish

Editorial Team

Avin Thaliath

Tanya Nicole Fernandes

C Rahila Sahrish

Mayank Agarwal

Anahita Girish

Vishwas Badami

Mahira Alvares

Bryan John Fernandes

Karan Nagpal

Srujana Sagi

Contact us at:

Christ University, Hosur Road

Bangalore— 560029

Karnataka India

Phone Numbers: +91.80.4012.9100

+91.80.4012.9600

Fax: +91.80.4012.9000

Email: akshar@bhm.christuniveristy.in

Website: www.christuniversity.in

Available on:

© For Private Circulation Only