the photographer as artist · graphic designer — shivaji b. gaikwad image editor — mrunali...

The photographer as artist

M A G A Z I N E

Vivek NairChairman & Managing Director,The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts

In May this year, The Leela Group marked the second death

anniversary of its Founder Chairman, Captain C.P. Krishnan Nair. As a

tribute to his legacy of environmental conservatism — Cap. Nair was

on the Global 500 Laureate Roll of Honour by the United Nations for

We are now in the monsoons. Many states welcome the season

in their unique way; and many of India’s most important festivals

are celebrated during the monsoon. Teej is a three-day festival in

Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan, in which the women

keep a fast and wear colourful and stylish saris and jewellery. Raja is

celebrated in Odisa, to mark the arrival of the rains, when agricultural

activity is suspended and people indulge in sundry revelries and games

like kabaddi. Kerala boasts of Onam, a rice harvest festival, the state’s

biggest.

For tourists who will be in Kerala to enjoy Onam, it will also be a

perfect time to experience an Ayurvedic therapy at The Leela Kovalam’s

spanning one to three weeks, which combine Ayurvedic treatments and

customised diets to detoxify your body and balance its three doshas

(vatta, pitta, and khappa), the three fundamental bodily energies.

All the Leela leisure hotels — The Leela Kovalam, The Leela Goa

and The Leela Palace Udaipur — will be glad to host you this season as

part of their special Leela Getaway packages. For instance, ‘The Leela

Moments’ enables you to unwind at the resort with your family; and

‘Sights and Culture’ is about exploring the heritage of the city.

In the upcoming months, the e-Tourist Visa scheme, which the central

government introduced in 2015-2016, is expected to become an even

bigger success. Over 7.5 lakh e-visas have been issued so far, translating

to an average of 3,500 on a daily basis, to foreign nationals. The hotel

For tourists who will be in Kerala to enjoy

Onam, it will also be a perfect time to experience an

Ayurvedic therapy at The Leela Kovalam’s

Divya Spa

THE LEELA MAGAZINE | 4 | MONSOON 2016

CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE

64Adventure

A bouldering pioneer and

his Shangri La

70Art

The conceptual art of

Sunil Gawde

T H E L E E L A M A G A Z I N E — M O N S O O N 2 0 1 6

26Wheels

The world’s fastest

luxury SUV comes to India

12Luxe Effect

Cool watches, stunning

lights and more

30Business

Nepal’s only billionaire

and his noodle empire

22Offbeat

A new way of travelling:

vacation with an artist

50Fashion

The success story of fashion

designer Bibhu Mohapatra

56Travel

A road trip in the wild African

province of Limpopo

42Photography

Tomasz Gudzowaty is Poland’s

biggest photographer

38Food

A gluttonous weekend in

Abergavenny, in Wales

34Style

Our picks of linen suits, and a

guide about wearing them

42

CONTENTST H E L E E L A M A G A Z I N E — M O N S O O N 2 0 1 6

CONTENTSCOVER Model Melody Mir with a meerkat in Namibia. Photographed by Tomasz Gudzowaty

“This Magazine is published by Hotel Leela Ventures Limited (“Leela”) and produced by Mediascope Publicitas (India) Pvt. Ltd., on behalf of and under agreement with Leela. Opinions expressed herein are of the authors

about editorial matters, reproduction of articles and advertising should be addressed to The Leela Magazine, Mediascope Publicitas (India) Private Ltd., 51 Doli Chamber, Arthur Bunder Road, Colaba, Mumbai 400 005, India. Email: [email protected] in this publication may not be reproduced, whether in part or in whole, without the consent of the publisher. Neither Leela nor MSP assumes any responsibility or endorses any claim made by the advertisers herein.”Printed at Parksons Graphics, Andheri (West), Mumbai 400053.

This magazine is printed on environment-friendly, wood-free paper.

T H E L E E L A M A G A Z I N E — M O N S O O N 2 0 1 6

C O N T E N T S

BACK OF THE BOOK

THE LEELAEDITOR-IN-CHIEF — Lakshmi NairPRODUCTION DIRECTOR — Shobha Patel PRODUCTION — Prakash Bachche

PUBLICITAS PUBLISHINGEDITORIALEDITOR-IN-CHIEF — Deepali Nandwani EDITOR — Jaideep DaveWRITER — Nisha ShroffCLIENT SERVICE MANAGER — Reshma Malvankar

ARTCREATIVE DIRECTOR — Muhammad Jaan FaruquiART DIRECTOR — Rane Sanjay VamanGRAPHIC DESIGNER — Shivaji B. GaikwadIMAGE EDITOR — Mrunali Gujarathi PRODUCTION MANAGER — Elidio Fernandes

ADVERTISING SALESMUMBAI (022- 61377400) Vice President — Monica ChopraKatty Gia, Lamont Dias, Rashmi Kapoor DELHI (011-23730873/66599300) Regional Manager (North) — Sanjay SethBANGALORE (09886041356) — Nagesh RaoHYDERABAD (08978866599) — Sheetal Petkar KERALA (09414069321) — Sanjai Krishnan

AD SALES - INTERNATIONALHONG KONG (+852-2516 1003) — Winky Wong MALAYSIA (+60-3-7729 6923) — Shallie Cheng SINGAPORE (+65 6735 8681) — Joui Ong DUBAI (+9714 3913360) — Sunil Kanchan

MARKETINGMANAGER MARKETING SERVICES — Salim B.

FINANCE & ACCOUNTSSR. MANAGER - ACCOUNTS & ADMIN.— Girish SharmaACCOUNTS EXECUTIVE — Ashwin MakwanaCREDIT CONTROLLER — Girish Joshi

CORPORATECEO & MANAGING DIRECTOR — Marzban Patel EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR — Anita Patel CFO — Anup Dutta DIRECTOR — Indu Joshi

CONNECT WITH US ON

76 Snapshot

78 Chef’s Corner

79 Jet Set Go

80 Retreats

82 Events

84 Launchpad

85 Social Index

86 Perspective

87 Insider’s Guide

78 86 87

THE LEELA MAGAZINE | 6 | MONSOON 2016 MONSOON 2016 | 7 | THE LEELA MAGAZINE

LANCÔME

HERMÈS

CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN

RALPH LAUREN

The best of style


The lowdown on the most interesting new watches.

Masters of time

ROLEX Rolex’s latest version of its classic gem-set Oyster Perpetual

Pearlmaster 39 timepiece is stunning. The case is crafted

from a solid block of 18 ct Everose gold. The watch is

equipped with a new generation movement, calibre 3235,

entirely developed and manufactured by Rolex. It features a

self-winding module via a perpetual rotor. The striking dial

in 18 ct pink gold is paved with 713 diamonds.

OMEGA Omega’s Seamaster Planet Ocean’s Deep Black collection

boasts a case that is entirely made of ceramic. The watch

is driven by the Omega Master Chronometer calibre 8906

and has a power reserve is up to 60 hours. This piece is a

combination of a GMT model and a diving watch.

VACHERON CONSTANTINEVacheron Constantine’s Overseas World Time piece tells the time in

37 time zones simultaneously, on its dial. The unique dial features a

projection map depicting the continents and the oceans and marked

with city names. The watch boasts about 40 hours of power reserve

and is water resistant up to 150m. Housed in a 43.5mm-diameter

case, it operates at a frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour,

corresponding to a frequency of 4 Hz.

BREGUET This 2016 edition of Classique

Breguet’s Hora Mundi replaces

the original depiction of the

globe with a “clou de Paris”

hobnail motif. On the exterior,

the watch has a 43mm diameter

and a thickness of 12.6mm. It

caseback and features a number

of sophisticated touches, such

as a slim rounded bezel, a

sides, as well as added welded

strap lugs.


LUXE EFFECT

Make an extravagant addition to

your home with any one of these

Let there be light

JEREMY COLEWhite Flax, a statement

lamp from the house of

Jeremy Cole, is made of

350 handcrafted porcelain

leaves are geometrically

arranged for even light

and contains a central glass

ROCHE BOBOISRoche Bobois’ new products

include lights with suspension

extensible rods in brushed

natural shades of transparent and

JONATHAN ADLERJonathan Adler’s Ultra

chandelier features

a minimal alignment

by large globe bulbs,

this stylish piece is

covered in rose gold,

TIMOTHY OULTON

lamp draws inspiration from

19th century experimental

physicist Leon Foucault’s

materials used are antique rust


New York-based designer Geetika Anand had always been

drawn to art, right from childhood. At school, she found herself

focussing more in her Technical Design class than in the

Chemistry one. And it was this love that drove her to give engineering a

miss and instead build a career in design. Her work has led her to more

than 35 countries, and everytime she travelled, she tried to seek local

artists and work with them. However it proved to be an onerous task, as

some who were looking to take a break from work and get creative, some

who wanted to learn something new or enhance their skills and others

who were looking for an adventure. That’s when the idea of VAWAA,

Vacation With An Artist, was born.”

destinations such as Hanoi (Vietnam) and Penang (Malaysia) to Ljubljana

(Slovenia) and Prague (Czech Republic), and featuring a diverse range of

creative artists and craftsmen, from writers to bespoke shoemakers.

So, for example, in Buenos Aires, you can spend a few days with

Argentinian street artist Pum Pum, who is ruling the city walls with her

her distinctive characters, like the big bangs girl, rabbits, cats in boots,

on the street or canvas, create your own artwork or assist Pum Pum in

art scene and then paint your own artwork on the streets of Buenos Aires.

writer/editor/poet Nguyen Qui Duc in his home studio — a self-designed

over the jungle.” You can work on a personal project or collaborate —

feedback on theme, character development, plot structure or language.

The holidaying idea Vacation With An Artist is exactly what the

name says: travellers spend time at a destination and soak up some

Flights of imagination Learn about ceramic art from Katja

Spiler, in Ljubljana, in Slovenia

By Akhila Ranganna

Flights of imagination


a small town 46 kms from Ljubljana, in Slovenia, where, apart from

enjoying the stunning views of the Julian Alps, you spend a few days in

create cylinders and bowls and learn about surface decoration and

Still another package takes you to another small town near Ljubljana,

photographer Borut Peterlin’s studio. Go on a photography expedition in

the deep forests and even go rafting as you learn analog photography

printing; work with vintage cameras, visit old studios and create memories

with your handmade prints.

One of the Penang packages is about cooking with Nazlina Hussin,

with healing local herbs that have healing properties. See how malay

ingredients grow in their natural habitat, go for a local market tour

packages is about spending a week with Vijay Sharma — the man who

bamboo bicycle, in Bengaluru.

Anand was working as Creative Director with R/GA, a New York based

digital agency, when last summer, she became one of 75 people chosen

lifestyle of travelling and working remotely. This became her sabbatical

America — and it was during these travels that VAWAA took shape. Anand

discovered her love for travel and learning during her college days,

where she spent summers working with artisans in the small towns of

there’s no time to tap into our inner creativity and grow,” says Anand, who

is currently in Cusco in Peru, preparing to hike to Macchu Picchu.

country, looking for artists who have deep knowledge of their art, have

artists even from countries she is not travelling to via Skype, and with the

help of local ambassadors.

an artist or a stay at an artist’s village? According to Anand, VAWAA is

more immersive and personal, involving not more than three guests. A

vacation with an artist is your personal time with the artist in their studio.

While VAWAA will provide a general outline, you can focus on any area

shape the experience.

Geetika Anand, the founder of Vacation With An Artist, and Uruguay-based music producer Francisco Lapetina

(From left) Explore your literary side with award-winning writer, editor and poet Nguyen Qui Duc, in Hanoi, in Vietnam; and experience rattan

weaving with Sim Buck Teik, in Penang, in Malaysia


Tthe storied British company, now owned by Volkswagen, would

one day be making SUVs, he would have gone apoplectic. But, this

is the 21st century, and every manufacturer worth its salt, big or small,

has to have one in its line-up. Mercedes introduced one back in the late

1990s, Rolls-Royce is developing one. And since Bentley is already out

with its Bentayga, chances are that the said owner is already queueing up

to buy one.

Like with all other Bentleys, or cars that cost a massive amount of

money, the Bentayga is engineered and handcrafted at its own facility,

in Crewe, England. The cabin looks to be a fantastic place to spend some

veneers, handcrafted metal elements, front seats that feature 22-way

adjustment, including adjustable cushion and backrest bolsters; and the

seats are also equipped with a massage system, heating and ventilation.

as Bentley do not use cow hide because cows get pregnant, and once that

happens, the skin is not as blemishless as, well, a bull’s), all of which, says,

Bentley, is “sourced from cool European climates, and naturally tanned”.

The Bentley Bentayga is the world’s fastest SUV. And

By Rajshekhar Rao

Need speedforThe Bentley Bentayga claims

a top speed of 301kph

option of dual tone interiors.

A full-length panoramic sunroof with acoustic interlays allows ample

natural sunlight to highlight the surfaces and detailing. And, while it

might not seem to be a great idea in India, the SUV also has a full-length

panoramic sunroof with acoustic interlays.

Under the hood of the car is, true to Bentley tradition, an enormous

engine. We are talking 12 cylinders — for some perspective, the Hyundai

Creta has four cylinders — and two turbochargers. The W12 engine — the

cylinders are arranged in the shape of the alphabet ‘W’ — develops some

600bhp and 900Nm of torque. Auto enthusiasts will tell you that all that

power and torque can take it from standstill to a 100kph in 4.1 seconds,

and onwards to a top speed of 301kph. We think this car is so powerful

the point is if you wanted to, you could. Like, if you are getting away from

With its four headlamps and that large matrix grille, the Bentayga is

unmistakably a Bentley, shouldering the legacy of popular Bentleys of the

past rather well, especially considering it’s an SUV, and that the car maker

ever.

tackle varied conditions, from sand to rocky outcrops. The Driver Info

Panel displays information on pitch, roll, wheel articulation, steering

angle, compass bearing and altitude. And there’s Adaptive Cruise Control

that allows drivers to maintain a set distance from the vehicle in front.

The Bentayga zips from 0 to 100kph in 4.1 seconds


WHEELS

More technologies, such as the Predictive Assist, uses a variety of data

— navigational, from sensors, and from cameras — to inform drivers of

upcoming bends in the road, city boundaries and speed limit changes.

uses four cameras to beam an overall pic of the vehicle’s surroundings. Of

still not allowed by authorities here. But, they should have no problems

steering to allow drivers to wedge into the tightest of spaces.

Bentley Standard Audio, Bentley Signature Audio and Naim for Bentley

Premium Audio. The last is the most powerful system in the segment, with

Apparently, the company has only allocated 20 Bentaygas for India.

According to newspaper reports, the car, which was launched in India late

April, has already got over a 100 bookings. Which means that irrespective

of how rich you are, you might have to wait for quite sometime before you

can sink your posterior into the world’s fastest SUV.

hides; and (right)


Nepal’s noodle tycoon

Binod Chaudhary, 61, is the Chairman of the

Chaudhary Group, which has more than 80 companies

under its aegis, with a presence in sectors such as

banking, retail, real estate and electronics. Chaudhary

was in Mumbai in May this year to launch his

autobiography, Making it Big. The following excerpts

narrate what inspired the creation of Wai Wai noodles,

the group’s most famous export and product, and how

the brand came to dominate the market in Nepal.

T

noodles could be seen trundling down the baggage belt once international

I had been looking for another product that could be made out of

suggested to me one day.

and tour operators of Nepal in those days, and had noticed the large

One of the reasons for the popularity of the noodles was the growing

number of Nepalis who were going abroad and trying out new foods. A

by two noodle companies. Gandaki Noodles had launched Rara while

concluded that nothing could be more appropriate than instant noodles

needed was the technical knowledge related to noodle production. As far

as the market was concerned, Rara and Maggi had blazed the trail. I just

had to blacktop it.

Wai Wai hit the Nepal market in 1984. Now we needed a strong

Within two years, Wai Wai had brought about a sea change in the

it came to instant noodles. We set up our second plant at the CG Industrial

bought yet another plant that was being sold by an Indonesian instant

noodle company.

Today we produce approximately 1.5 million packets of Wai Wai in

had doubted we could sell.

— —

After the success of Wai Wai, instant noodles companies mushroomed

Forbes estimates Chaudhary’s wealth to be at $1.3 billion


market that they almost destroyed the

market itself. At one point, all the

other instant noodles companies

formed a coalition against Wai

Wai. They were not working

to expand the market but to

take a share of Wai Wai’s by

slashing prices to such an extent

that they were making losses.

established company like ours was jolted. Wai Wai’s share of the market

Wai Wai and other brands became negligible. After our competitors

minimum price we had agreed on. Minimum price is the strongest indicator

of a product’s place in the market. If the minimum price of your product

products in the market falls dramatically. I passed through that phase in

buy Mayos, we might get a diamond necklace.’

then we’ll face a tough time in the market.’

slogan should be: “No more just a diamond necklace: now a full set of

diamond jewellery.”

than a dozen customers within a month. We came up with prizes such

as houses, cars, motorcycles, laptops,

long-term prospects of boosting sales by

First, we decided to focus on wooing

young people and making our product

more suitable for children. We launched a

new product called Wai Wai Quick with the

more nutrients such as calcium, minerals and

The second strategy related to media. We started to produce

Third, we pulled Wai Wai out from the cut-throat price war and

launched many cheaper brands such as Gol Mol, Mama and Rin Tin, which

a counter-attack against our competitors through these brands, but we

produce the best results because they not only understand the mindset of

Nepali employees can be seen in it. That photograph shows how much my

organisation has grown, as most of our employees today are Nepali.

was successful. Wai Wai not only regained its initial position as the leading

of Rs.250 crore.

It is not that we were not successful before Wai Wai, but that brand

structure. An idea born at the baggage belt of Tribhuwan International

Airport created the largest FMCG company in Nepal.

Excerpted, with permission, from Making it Big:

Wai Wai has a market share of 60 per cent in Nepal, and 20 per cent in India


Men’s suits are getting weather-friendly and taking on a cool, new look, with linen. By Prerna Singh Butalia

The Language of

Linen

STYLE

L inen has stepped out of the holiday, just-lounging-around

wardrobe, and into the daily closet of the more style-conscious

urban man. In fact, it has even found its way into the boardroom.

“There is a linen suit out there, for every kind of occasion,” says designer

Narendra Kumar Ahmed, a pioneer of the linen suit, not just on the ramp,

but on his own person, too. “The beauty of linen lies in the fact that you

can get away with a far wider range in colour palettes, than you have

the liberty of, with other fabrics. There’s a summer palette, which is all

bright and pop colours, and there’s a winter palette, which is mostly

earth tones, but you really don’t have to restrict yourself in a seasonal

manner, as long as what you’re wearing is occasion-appropriate.” While

Ahmed maintains that linen is essentially a summer fabric, for him,

that’s hardly a limitation. “Except for the north, you can get away with

wearing linen 11 months out of 12, in a year, and in places like Mumbai,

it’s always summer!” However, designer duo Pratham & Gyanesh,

who specialise in linen, argue that linen is an all-season fabric. “Most

people don’t know this, but linen has thermo-regulating properties,”

they say. “So, it keeps you cool in the summer and warm in the winter.”

How about that! Still need more reason to put away those heavy suits,

and stock up on this stylish fabric? If you’re wondering where to lay

your hands on them, we’ve got you the lowdown on the designers with

the best linen suits on their racks, right now.

ROHIT GANDHI & RAHUL KHANNA

the modern, ultra-connected world, with all its innovation, and a

constant desire for comfort and simplicity. Their suits maintain the

stylish edge, which has come to be synonymous with their designs,

through a combination of pastel tones and sharp silhouettes. The idea

is that you have it all, in one ensemble.

Pratham & Gyanesh’s Dawn collection features single- as well as double-breasted jackets

Rohit Gandhi & Rahul Khanna’s latest collection has that

stylish edge the duo’s designs are known for

Stock up. Exploit the fact that linen suits come in so many

styles and colours. Buy full suits, combinations, just jackets,

plain shirts, whatever you can. “Linen separates work very well,

too,” says Ahmed. So keep that in mind. Also, the wider range

your look.

Have your basics in place. “Linen suits in earthy tones,

like beige and olive, are a must-have,” say Pratham & Gyanesh.

And these are the suits you’ll be wearing to work. “Your business

look needs to be sober, so keep your palette at grey, blue,

brown, khaki,” adds Ahmed. To go for a quick work-to-play look,

just swap your jacket for a more vibrant colour. Or, if your suit’s

a darker blue or brown, swap your shirt for a tee, and switch to

more casual footwear, like a smart pair of loafers.

Play it cool. “Linen works really well with jeans,” says

Ahmed. “Even if you’re going for Friday dressing,

at work, throw a linen jacket over your jeans, and

put on a smart pair of brogues.” Trust us, you’ll

be taken more seriously! “If you’re just lounging

around, on an afternoon, wear a T-shirt instead of

a shirt, pick a suit with shorts and not trousers, and

look for fun colours like pink and orange,” he adds.

Pratham & Gyanesh recommend linen suits be worn

to brunches, sundowners and day weddings.

Look after your linen. the world loses its shape and charm if not treated

well,” say Pratham & Gyanesh. “Only and only dry

clean your linen.” The best way to iron your linen

is to steam it. “You can actually just let your suit

hang in the bathroom while you take a hot shower,”

says Ahmed. “The steam from your bath will iron

it out.”

Enjoy your linen. Don’t obsess too much about

the wrinkles. But if you must, Ahmed suggests you

carry your ironed jacket out on a hanger, and put

it on once you’ve reached your destination. Don’t

mix your fabrics because you think it will make

your linen more resilient to crushing. It will only

dilute the quality and dampen your style. “At the

most, get a jacket with polyester mixed into the

lining on the sleeve, but keep it to that, please,” he

says. The trick really is to revel in the fabric. “That’s

the beauty of linen,” say Pratham & Gyanesh.

“Carry your suit the way it is and don’t think too

much. Trust us, those wrinkles look great!”

Your Linen Guide

Pair up a linen suit

with shorts for casual occasions


PRATHAM & GYANESHTheir debut collection, Dawn, features light-weight, unstructured

single- as well as double-breasted and also sporty jackets, along with

tapered, turned-up trousers, shirt and kurtis, mostly in linen, in colours

that go from midnight blue to turquoise to yellow, charcoal greys and

while keeping it comfortable.

RAJESH PRATAP SINGHThis season, the designer, known for his experimentations with linen,

explores the possibilities of linen through innovations in reversible

fabrics, light-weight weaves, prints and embroideries. He maintains that

linen, being the perfect all-weather fabric, is extremely versatile and,

with equal elan. Rajesh Pratap’s bespoke services allow you to pick his

creations in a wide range of colours.

“Except for the north, you can get away with

wearing linen 11 months out of 12, in a year, and

in places like Mumbai, it’s always summer!” says

Narendra Kumar Ahmed


Driving across the Brecon Beacons National Park is like going

through a vast green tunnel, populated solely by trees and

shrubs, and nearly endless, or so you begin to think till suddenly

a pretty little village turns up. The phrase ‘in the middle of nowhere’

kind of loses its punch in Wales because you arrive there too easily. The

few villages and small towns that dot Brecon Beacons have names out

of some fable—Bwlch, LLangattock, Clydach—and a setting to match,

wide. Compared to them, Abergavenny, where I was, was almost a city

(it has a population of over 10,000!), or a biggish town just on the edge

of the forest.

But even Abergavenny was no place

miles out of town, in a village whose

name you cannot even pronounce, yes,

quite in the middle of nowhere, appears

after British star chef Shaun Hill took

it over recently. It was also voted the

‘Best Restaurant in Wales’ in 2014’s

edition of National Restaurant Awards

in the UK. Chef Hill, who used to earlier

which was routinely voted among the

best restaurants in the world, has put

Abergavenny on the gourmet map with

this little gem. The Walnut Tree is like

an old inn instead of a stylish modern

eatery, decorated understatedly with just

a few paintings. This is perhaps because

it was an inn in the 1960s, turned into a

restaurant only later, and if you want you

can still stay at the two cottages here.

The food at The Walnut Tree is from no particular cuisine: Hill gets

what he can from the market and turns the ingredients into whatever

he wishes on the day. As a result, the menu changes daily. If you like

something you ate, you must call and beg him to make it again. (No, I

dauphinoise potatoes, which you really must try, though how anyone can

The little town of Abergavenny , in Wales, will surprise you with

fresh produce, and gastronomes with a passion for good food.

By Kalyani Prasher

A gluttonous Welsh weekend(Clockwise from left) The Marches Delicatessen

| 38 | | 39 |

FOOD

garlic, a side dish is beyond my understanding.

When I explored Abergavenny the next day, the location of The

the ceiling by way of decoration and the hall was full of little kiosks of

food—jellies, jams, chutneys, cheese, meats, candies and oh, such a lot of

lovely bread. Freshly baked rounds, loaves, and tins of bread! Filled with

Was I in heaven and could I stay here forever?

The people of Abergavenny clearly love food, which is evident in the

bottle of ‘Kashmiri Chutney’, which looks too much like tomato preserve at

the Cherry Tree stall, a British company that has a range of other delicious

chutneys and preserves, and get a sheepish grin when I question its origin.

I did buy their caramelised onion relish though, apart from a number of

other preserves that taste superb. Everywhere in the market you can

Festival, where you can buy seasonal produce and fresh farm products

from over 80 exhibitors from around the area.

Had I known about the food market, I would have planned the day

better and had breakfast there and then lunched at the Angel Hotel in

the centre of town. However, having pigged out at the food market, I had

no room for lunch and walked around the town instead. Abergavenny is

small and stylish, its town centre about two miles long, ending soon into a

unpronounceable village, is the oldest pub in Wales and is supposed to be

as dire as stealing sheep.

A wine detour

Not far from Abergavenny, less than an hour’s drive away, is the

beautiful Ancre Hill Estate vineyard, where you can sample the

children—Ancre Hill Estate is a sprawling vineyard where you can

watch and learn the tricks of picking, processing and bottling the right

grapes. The new bottling building on the estate is the biggest straw

structure in the world with a height of 7ft and a capacity of 3000 cubic

mg. You can walk around the greenery, learn the art of winemaking and

eat good food—but the real pleasure at Ancre is to witness Richard’s

passion for wine, as he takes you around the place, and tells you all

the little things that make it so special. Apart from wine tasting and

lunch sessions, you can even stay at the cottage on the vineyard

at £774 per week. Book for wine tasting or stay, much in advance.

the town centre of Abergavenny, a delightful little store that has a

range of cheeses and meat, apart from some superbly packaged tea.

Their cheeses win awards every year and have got none less than a

Super Gold in the Specialist Cheesemakers category at the 2014 World

Cheese Awards.

Bags of cheese and miles of walking later, I was ready for some food

and went to the Wedgewood Room at The Angel Hotel for their afternoon

tea. And, was I glad I had skipped lunch! The high tea here is one of those

things people experience once in their life and talk about for years. With

over 30 types of teas to choose from, I settled for a pot of Chinese White

the tea came éclairs and scones and three types of sandwiches, tiramisu,

sausage rolls, and almost an endless amount of food.

Abergavenny is truly a place for food lovers—you eat great food, buy

fabulous fresh produce, meet people who understand and share your love

for food, and you go away happy as a child.

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The photographer as artist

Shooting sport: My subject is sport as spiritual experience and

cultural phenomenon. These are values often neglected, if not absent, in

today's mainstream sport, so I look for them in fringe areas, for example,

in isolated, exotic cultures. That doesn't mean that my photography

is focussed on the exotic. On the contrary, I want to keep the universal

aspect of sport clearly in sight. My narration is about sport as a common

denominator of human culture. This is why I photograph traditional as

well as emerging sports that lack any established tradition. Of course, as

a photographer who comes from the documentary photography tradition,

I want to preserve, in art, vanishing disciplines, but I believe that human

nature remains the same through ages. People will always want to go

beyond limits.

The fascination with India: India is indeed a fascinating country,

languages and cultures squeezed in a relatively small area. Perhaps not so

many people realise that it is less than 30 percent bigger than Argentina or

in India was themed on a local form of wrestling called “nada kusti”. A year

later I went to the southern tip of the peninsula to photograph the ancient

martial art of kalaripayattu and a boxing club for women. Then I decided to Ukrainian synchronised swimmers, Warsaw, Poland, 2008

Award-winning Polish photographer

Tomasz Gudzowaty

one of his most famous shoots in the country

has been that of nada kusti practitioners

of Mysore. One of the shots from that

project is the cover of the recently released

book Beyond the Body, a curation of his

photographs of exotic and non-traditional

sports shot across a dozen countries. The

book captures, among others, synchronised

swimmers of Ukraine, Mongolian horse racers,

and Shaolin monks. In an interview with

Jaideep Dave, Gudzowaty talks about the

book, India, and portrait photography.


PHOTOGRAPHY

(Clockwise from left)Penguins at the South Georgia Island, a stunningly beautiful wildlife sanctuary, accessible only by sea, 2014; a yoga practitioner, Varanasi, 2007; and nada kusti wrestlers, Mysore, 2011 (Facing page) “Of all elements, a wise man should choose water to be his teacher”, Shaolin Temple, Henan, China, 2002; and Iron head kung fu — Shaolin monks during practice

tackle the subject of yoga, and in 2011 I returned to Mysore, to the same

sports journalist from Mysore, Coimbatore Muralidharan, who proved to

pick out the best experience. In terms of pure photographic quality, I was

probably most happy with nada kusti, or female boxers, but yoga was also

a big challenge and a rewarding experience. It has strong connections to

religion, and due to its spiritual nature it is rarely associated with sport.

Sport should involve competition, shouldn't it? I discovered that that sort

of “yoga contest” was actually practised in the form of confrontation of

subject into my overarching project called “Beyond the Body”.


“Photography got recognition as an art form when it was monochrome. Colour is very “acquisitive”, and I think that self-conscious abstinence from it makes my message more clear and stronger. I used to quote the

deafen the ear’.”

(Above) Model Melody Mir, who is Tomasz Gudzowaty’s wife, at the Cook Glacier at St Andrews Bay, South Georgia Island, 2014. (Left) Tomasz Gudzowaty himself

(Facing page) Melody Mir in the Soussevlei Desert, Namibia, 2014


Favourite pics: I deem all pictures to be presented to the audience to

be relevant and important — otherwise they wouldn't see daylight anyway.

I am perhaps most sentimental about portraits. Portraiture has been taking

a more and more important part in my photography since 2007, when I

switched to a large-format camera, but its importance is visible in some of

my earlier projects.

Black and white photography: The preference is not absolute.

I employ color quite regularly in my recent projects, but indeed it used

to play a minor role in my photography, especially that drawing on the

tradition of classical reportage. Photography got recognition as an art form

when it was monochrome. Colour is very “acquisitive”, and I think that self-

conscious abstinence from it makes my message more clear and stronger.

tones deafen the ear."

The book ‘Beyond the Body’: It all started with a chance meeting

with Nan Goldin, the famous American photographer, in Amsterdamm

where she delivered a lecture during the Word Press Photo Award Days.

An acquaintance, then a friendship, developed, and eventually she

proposed to edit my sport photographs into a book. She took a perspective

around purely visual qualities of the images. The title, “Beyond the Body”,

points to what I termed “metaphysics of sport”. While retaining qualities

pictures taken over the span of 10 years, in some dozens of countries,

Nan chose images for their emotional evocation of the sense and desire of

freedom from the limitations of the body.

Recent projects: I have been working on a big project far beyond

the traditional photography, but this is not something I can talk about right

now. However, I'd like to mention my recent books published by Steidl,

including Beyond the Body, Photography As A New Kind Of Love Poem,

Closer, and Proof. The last especially brings a quite new quality into my

photography. I am attempting to explore the “esthetics of chance”, so to

speak, by using proof prints that were normally not intended as artworks.

We plan a travelling exhibition next year. I hope that one of Indian cities

will be on our tour route.

Kinokawa, a sumo wrestler from the Azumazeki stable, walking his master’s dog, Tokyo, Japan, 2010

‘Urban Golf’ is a Gudzowaty project that captures boys from slums in Mumbai playing the sport, with plastic

balls, and moulded iron rods serving as clubs, 2009

‘Urban Golf’ is a Gudzowaty project that captures boys from slums in Mumbai playing the sport, with plastic

balls, and moulded iron rods serving as clubs, 2009


New York’s

Odisha-born Bibhu Mohapatra is one of the few Indian

couturiers to make it big in the Big Apple. Nolan Lewis,

who met the man when he was in Mumbai recently,

charts out his success story.

As poker-faced models sashayed down the runway dressed in

classic American aesthetic, it was hard to believe that it wasn’t

New York Fashion Week, but the launch of a jewellery collection in one

of South Bombay’s swanky hotels. New York-based fashion designer

Bibhu Mohapatra had chosen one of India’s fashion capitals to unveil the

Artemis Collection, a limited edition of diamond jewellery, a collaboration

between him and Forevermark. The models were wearing gowns from

Mohapatra’s Fall-Winter collection, and the haute couture was rounded

— bracelets, danglers, ear studs and necklaces — each engraved with

celestial inscriptions of the moon, stars and heavenly constellations.

shoulder monotone gown, fringed with trails of gold, and simple ear-

drops accented by a chunky jewellery watch. When Sachin Jain, President,

Forevermark India, addressed the audience, he said that the collection was

named after the Greek lunar goddess Artemis, whose name translates to

‘incorrigible’ or ‘invincible’. The words somehow also seemed descriptive

of the spirit of the small town boy from Odisha who went on to New York

and became a global name in fashion, who is one of the India designers

to have styled icons like Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Lopez

and Eva Longoria.

DIAMOND IN THE ROUGHBorn in the small Oriya town of Rourkela, Mohapatra’s aptitude for

needlework made itself apparent as early as the age of 12, when he began

toying with his mother’s sewing machine. Everyone ranging from cousins

to family friends shrieked in delight every time he sewed them a dress in

his growing years; even as an amateur, he was more creative in his design

than even the best seamstresses of Rourkela. The talent notwithstanding,

his childhood days were more disheartening than anything else, as he

is Odisha was studying either to be a doctor or engineer. For a man to

contemplate a career in design was unthinkable. The mere suggestion

that are far too personal to be revealed in an interview.

But, in the midst of this creative crisis, Mohapatra’s parents remained

his beacons of light. They understood that, while his pursuits were

far ahead of the times in small, dusty Rourkela, his ingenuity would be

recognised elsewhere.

ROUGH SKETCHESFashion designing hadn’t been a formal career choice in India back then,

let alone Rourkela. The alternatives screamed at Mohapatra from the

Desi DesignerNew York’s

One of Mohapatra’s

sketches


FASHION

television, newspapers and magazines. Mohapatra immediately knew

he had to migrate and the choice was fairly simple. It had to be the

Mecca of world fashion, the city of New York. Following the advice of

his pragmatic father who, despite being supportive of his dreams,

to complete a Masters in Economics. And there he made ends meet by

working as a janitor on campus. Yet, with his eye on his goal, he was

able to secure a scholarship to study fashion at the Fashion Institute of

The leap of faith proved lucrative. Mohapatra was hired by the

house of Halston, a womenswear label that emerged on New York’s

fashion landscape when Roy Halston Frowick made a name for himself by

designing hats. Roy designed the hat that Jacqueline Kennedy wore to her

husband’s presidential inauguration in 1961. Even though hats eventually

went out of style, Halston’s label did not, and the house seamlessly

transitioned into designing mainstream clothing.

Another major design label picked up Mohapatra, recognising his

talent: J Mendel, the renowned bridal couture and fur coat label, hired

still visible in Mohapatra’s creations. In the decade that Mohapatra worked

there and grew to the position of Design Director, he learnt how to handle

the technical knowhow needed to launch a design label.

Mendel’s, circulating his designs to editors and celebrities came naturally.

porter, couture and fur under his name in New York, Mumbai, Frankfurt,

Beijing, and New Delhi. His collections are sold by Bergdorf Goodman in

Lane Crawford in China, and other boutiques around the world.

RULING THE RUNWAYAmidst a plethora of labels that clash to rule New York’s runways, it is

trim an aqua silk column with gold titanium or make a coat out of woven

eccentric but not deviant enough to defy American sensibilities. None of

Mohapatra’s clothes are cherubic, though; there is something very regal From Mohapatra’s Fall-Winter 2016 collection

One of Mohapatra’s signature gowns


not the Lolita.

Mohapatra says that he isn’t fascinated at all by the stereotypical

more than a fair share of iconic stars and models but has also draped

unconventional beauties like (as previously

mentioned) Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama.

“Dressing someone up isn’t about looking at

His seasonal collections often have a

de résistance. British-Irish artist Daphne

Guinness underlined his debut collection;

Schwarzenbach, China’s Empress Dowager

been some of his previous point of references. While he has designed for

so many famous women, the one stylista he fantasises about dressing up

is Bollywood’s Rekha.

INDIAN AT HEARTWhile most couturiers win over patronage of their native land before

going international, it has been the opposite for

Mohapatra. Le Mill has stocked his label since

what the nation has in store. His appearances

on India’s fashion map have only gained

momentum recently, with national beauties

Sonam Kapoor sporting his couture, lately.

“I am the one with a Western mind and an

Indian heart. I’m trained in the West for the

Mohapatra says that he isn’t fascinated at all by the stereotypical pin-up girl

With actors Leven Rambin and Waris Ahluwalia, novelist Salman Rushdie, and producer Shruti Ganguly, at the Bibhu Mohapatra

Fall 2016 fashion show during New York Fashion Week:

Artemis Collection, a limited edition of diamond jewellery, is borne out of a collaboration

between Mohapatra and Forevermark

With actors Leven Rambin and Waris Ahluwalia, novelist Salman Rushdie, and producer Shruti Ganguly, at the Bibhu Mohapatra

Fall 2016 fashion show during the New York Fashion Week


South Africa’s N1 Highway, which

cuts through Limpopo and ends at

the Kruger National Park, introduces

you to an untamed country, dotted

with lush baobab and cycad forests,

and home to its indigenous people.

By Deepali Nandwani

How can a tree trunk hold an entire bar, I thought, as I walked

across grassland of the pristine Limpopo Province bushveld

to the humungous 6,000-year-old baobab tree, with gnarled,

knotted trunk and roots.

tree, next to The Sunland Farm in the Modjadjiskloof region of Limpopo,

is the largest of its species in the world, with a massive 47 metre

circumference and a height of 22 metres. And if that wasn’t amazing

enough, it is also possibly one of the oldest — carbon dating has placed

it at 6000 years old.

In 1993, van Heerdens, the owners of Sunland farm, turned their

Big Baobab into a bar, complete with beautiful wooden benches, a sound

system, dartboards, an outdoor restaurant area, and even a wine cellar.

Indoor seating can accommodate 15 people, but the van Heerdens

claim to have once hosted a party of 60 under the tree! Extravagant

South African weddings are held under the shade of this large tree and

the farm forms an ideal base for exploring the surrounding area — the

Modjadjiskloof Cycad Forest, the Magoebaskloof hills and forest, the

verdant area of Tzaneen and more.

This is my second day in the region and already I have encountered

some interesting sights on this ancient road. In this three day sojourn, I

explored Limpopo’s wild outback, home to tribal villages and sweet little

towns, the W country and its wild elephants, and the Kruger National Park,

the largest game reserve in the country.

DAY 1, 10.30AM

India, to Polokwane, the capital city of Limpopo. South African Airways

and South Africa had torrential winter rains.

The propeller plane had landed with a thud in what seemed like the

backyard of someone’s house. A three-second walk, and I was outside the

airport and it took me another second to reach the van that would take

us on further journey to The Ranch, a popular family owned Game Park.

Polokwane is a sparsely populated town, 269 km from Pretoria, the

capital of South Africa, from where, once, the Pretoria regime ruled a

country sharply divided on race lines. Most people here work in chrome

mines and mining tourism is a big draw for travellers looking for that

This road is meant for a biker, I thought, as the Toyota Coach cruised

down a smooth stretch on the N1 highway, which cuts through the heart

The Savannah Diaries

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TRAVEL

of Polokwane. Fringed by lush grasslands and stunted trees, it curves at

spots, rises over the mountainous parts and then dips gently. The Ranch is

The elegant game lodge has an English countryside look — a white

and yellow building with high ceiling, high-backed chairs and paintings

of gorgeous African women on the walls. I walk through the manicured

gardens to my room, which overlooks the grasslands and the Afrikaans

bushveld, covered by acacia and baobab tree.

potatoes eaten on a sunny outer deck, I hop onto the military truck, which

is used for lion safaris. Game reserves like The Ranch sprawl over 1,000

acres and hold licences to rear wild animals. This is a land that feeds on and

from succulent zebra meat to little worms is relished. Little knick knacks

that you pick up — tribal drums, bags, even trinkets — are made from

animal fur.

Graeme Bristow, the man who runs The Ranch, says, “Here, we

research animals and train them for the movies. We bring in orphaned lion

act in documentaries.” And all these years I had thought that the stunning

shots of animals running through the beautiful and savage Kenyan and

South African countryside, seen in shows aired on various TV channels,

A drive down a mud path brings me to the Albanian double-hooved

buck, a beautiful white creature lounging in his 700m wide enclosure,

surrounded by two white females. A little ahead, far in the distance, I

themselves, hemmed in by a wire that carries 1,000 watts of electricity,

lounging, playing, sleeping. They look up curiously; some walk up to their

Gawky tourists are a regular feature in these parts.

A little ahead is another enclosure, where Frank decides to bust some

of our myths. He hangs a few pieces of raw meat on a long bamboo pole,

swings it right up and grins, “You thought lions cannot climb trees?” Three

agile lions clamber onto the trees in the enclosure and make an attempt to

up to claim it. Awed by the show, I walk ahead to an enclosure that houses

a hyena, Schizo, named so “because he thinks he is a lion”, Frank tells me.

“He grew up with them.”

and a soft orange glow covers the ethereally beautiful Savannahs. I watch

my guides gulp down a meal of Pap Stew (a bland porridge made from

ground maize) and Ox Tail. I stick to my cheese laden pasta, a huge bowl

of rich creamy custard and a gooey brownie covered with cream, washed

down with a South African red.

DAY 2, ON ANCIENT AFRICAN IVORY ROUTE, 8.30 AMI had risen early, walked out to the little porch behind my room and

the mountains and the rays slowly spreading their warm glow on the

Savannahs. This is truly a sun-kissed country.

The van speeds through a fast-changing landscape. The road from

Polokwane to the Olifants Valley, on the way to the Kruger National Park,

passes through a landscape that transforms from grasslands to alpine

forests and mountains. Also called the Great North Road, it connects

Polokwane to Pretoria, and then to the Zimbabwe border. Mountain ranges

rise suddenly and dramatically out of the bushveld plains. The sunlight is

the colour of molten gold. The van’s music system plays an ode to Nelson

Mandela, a peppy, happy number.

The guide book on Limpopo I had picked up tells me that I am on

the ancient African ivory route, also the elephant’s migration route, which

skirts the endless vistas of the African bush, before merging into the

alpine mountains and the park. Wild and untamed in parts, the route runs

Botswana, which border Kruger. The ivory route, once ruled by avaricious

ivory hunters and gold traders, is now popular with safari enthusiasts.

Over the next two days, we sight several herds of elephants — close to

water holes within the forest, next to the Olifants (the Bapedi tribe’s word

for ‘elephant’) River and even on the roadside. The Olifants Valley, through

which runs the river, is home to several old tribes. Large populations have

shifted base from villages to small towns and cities; the ones left behind

The Kruger National Park features a considerable number of elephants

Baobab trees dot the landscape in Limpopo; and (below) food and drinks under a baobab tree, next to The Sunland Farm in the Modjadjiskloof region of Limpopo


dedicated to the tribe with the same name. An elderly lady, bent with age,

shows me around. The traditional Malapa village has been painstakingly

vu. They have red walls splattered with cow dung, wall paintings made

from rice paste and look as if they belong to Kutch’s desert landscape

back home.

DAY 2, RAIN QUEEN’S TERRAIN, 3.30 PMAfter a few swigs of South African beer, we hit the road to Mopani, a lazy

little town with a huge cycad forest. The reserve, home to the legendary

Rain Queens worshipped by South African tribes, is dark and wet. Around

me is a maze of stunted cycad trees that grow in clusters. Beyond the

mellow winter sun. When mist does not obscure your view, you can gaze

over the cycad forest, at the Kruger National Park in the distance. The

history is fascinating, but so is the view. Approximately 12 kms of well-

constructed walks drop from the cycad forest to the acacia and bushveld

below, inhabited by waterbuck, nyala, impala, bushbuck, and over 170

species of birds.

To wrap up the intensely African experience, we head to a small

village, home to the Bapedi tribe. Life within the villages has a certain

rhythm that has remained unbroken down centuries. It’s evening, and

women and kids are at the local water pump. There is bonhomie in the air;

some people bring out a meal of pap and stew for a communal meal. I take

hardened piece of glue. Dinner that night at the warm, Irish-style Coach

delicious white coloured pecan nuts.

DAY 3, AMARULA COUNTRY, 11.30 AMWe are sitting within the Amarula factory, a few kilometres outside

Tzaneen. Limpopo is called Amarula country; this is where they make the

airport, in pubs and in little department stores.

down my throat. At the heart of Amarula is the Marula fruit, also called the

elephant fruit, which grows wild in the forests. Obviously, Marula is the

elephant’s favourite food. “Now you know why these giants act so wild at

times,” laughs the guide who takes us through the process that goes into

down to Tzaneen, a small town that has a single market road dotted with

malls, which sell everything, from designer clothes to sunglasses. The

town was already buzzing when we got there. After a brief stroll down

one of the malls, I headed to the local bazaar. It was the weekly market

day, and little carts had been put up across the street, on which women

accessories made in China.

Suddenly Paul stopped, all excited, and gesticulated towards a stall,

upon buckets of dried, shrivelled-up worms, a delicacy in these parts. They

are cooked into a spicy curry or are eaten dried and pickled with a meal.

DAY 3, SEFAPANE LODGE, OUTSIDE KRUGER, 4.30 PMAll through the afternoon, I had been driven down a curvy mountain

road. I had stopped at the Baobab Bar and haled along the way to stare

at the intense green Olifant Valley. Deep within, I could see a little village

with red and white homes. I had also driven past several depressing

townships, built as black ghettos by the Pretoria regime, at the height of

the apartheid years. Fortunately, South Africa gave up on apartheid and

these sad townships lie deserted by the wayside. In post-apartheid South

Africa, lines between the white-dominated areas and the black townships

still exist, but the boundaries are increasingly blurring, evident from the

ritzy black townships being built close to the white-dominated residential

areas in Polokwane and Mopani.

Now here I am, sitting at one end of a long table laid out within

(Clockwise from top left) Limpopo is a nature lover’s delight; a tourist village in Mapungubwe; sunset during a game drive; a white lion at The

Ranch Conservatory; and rhinos at the Kruger National Park

Amarula is a cream liqueur made from African marula trees, which largely grow in the Limpopo and Mpumalanga regions


lettuce and vegetable salad, washed down with a tall glass of watermelon

Aida, a buxom blonde from Holland, is my guide on the tour. At 5.30

in the evening, we drive along the road located within the chrome mines.

boat is waiting for us at the edge of the Olifant River, which is a brilliant

blue in colour. It originates in Johannesburg, runs through the Kruger

groves located along its banks. Kruger National Park’s dramatic landscape

spawns mountains, bush plains, lush tropical forests and six huge rivers,

and the Olifant is the second biggest.

The water isn’t very deep, and along the 5 km cruise, we spot hippos

that make their way to the river bank for a drink and a bath. An elephant

mamma looks nervous as the boat glides to a halt close to where she

we head back.

temperature has dropped to about 5 degrees and the chill is eating into

my bones. Juan Schuite, a ranger, is our guide. After driving for about 15

minutes, he pulls over, near a massive termite hill, and asks us to wait till

the sun goes down. “There is a possibility we may be attacked if we move

around during the dusk hours,” he says. We are a group of six and he hands

An animal’s eyes shine in the light, making it easier to locate him.”

The horizon beyond is dark and dusky; the terrain is rugged,

surrounded by huge mines. The forest is interspersed with grasslands

dominated by huge bulbous baobab trees. There aren’t too many big

sightings. But we do see herds of elephants — some walking backwards,

innumerable birds.

That night, dinner is peppered with stories of how refugees walk by

night from Zimbabwe, through Kruger, into South Africa. They brave wild

animals and many get killed, like these two gentlemen who were mauled

by a lion and then left on the edge of the Phalaborwa town, where the

Sefapane Lodge is located. South Africa, with its stable polity and growing

governments of the three countries that border Kruger are in talks for

creating a conservation zone, a huge national park without any borders.

You will see wild animals walk through the mines without being harmed,

or harming anyone. In Phalaborwa, though we live in close contact, animal-

The only time they attack you, he says, is when you encroach into

their terrain.

An hippo walking across the Crocodile River in the Kruger National Park

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A pioneering boulderer and his utopia

Zangerl trying the beginning moves on a new boulder during an expedition in

the Himalayas, India, in 2015

Austrian Bernd Zangerl, who has more

has made eight trips to the Indian

By Akhila Ranganna

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Bouldering 101

me and my friends to witness it.” Zangerl got tremendous support from

Zangerl climbing ‘Shangri-La’, in the Himalayas, in India, 2015

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Switzerland, in 2015; and Zangerl topping

Himalayas, in 2015

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THE LEELA MAGAZINE | | MONSOON 2016 MONSOON 2016 | 69 | THE LEELA MAGAZINE

Sunil Gawde is among the few conceptual artists

in India, and a sculptor. Over the years, Gawde

has moved far beyond his medium of choice,

abstract or pure painting, which was largely

two-dimensional, to create thought-provoking

kinetic sculptural and installation works. Yet, his

foundation in art, design and craft remains strong

as ever, and he uses them often, in seamless

consonance with mechanics and engineering, to

create art that is layered and textured, but which

also displays his own unique sense of humour.

This 56-year-old Sir J. J. School of Art and Glasgow

School of Art alumnus has shown his complex

sculptural works across the world. In an interview

with Deepali Nandwani, he talks about his

philosophy of minimalism, and his evolution.

Sunil Gawde is a JJ School of Art alumnus

centre of gravity on a tilted horizon. It was after this series that my abstract

I consider ‘Blind Bulb etc’ a breakthrough exhibition: it was a blend

of formal sculpture-installations and works of science or kinetics. Many

of them were just mechanical devices, which needed simple gears to

operate. One of the bulbs was sheer black, which is quite an odd thing

when you are talking, well, bulbs. If you want to understand life, you

need to withdraw into yourself, it seemed to say. Among the sculptural

installations was an interactive work — a pendulum crafted out of high

sheen steel. Every time the pendulum swung, the audience were able to

see themselves in the polished steel.

It was a very interactive exhibition. Art objects came alive to a gaze or

at it; a spring in the form of an earthworm that makes its way around the

pendulum; the moon phases that dip in and out of view on a darkened sky

map. ‘Blind Bulb’ spoke about the fragility of human hours, or even the

cast resin, and steel, which was either left dull or polished to a high sheen

That is a rather varied and diverse range of materials, and also materials

that are not easy to work with.

Yes, casting was quite tough, because you are putting resin in a cavity

remove the mould. Also, in a transparent bulb, you have to ensure that

no joints are visible. It almost takes six to seven years to create a suite of

I used mirrored acrylic sheets, stainless steel and iron. A kinetic sculpture

created using blades, there were holes punched or cut out into the

boundaries, and I should have the freedom to use any medium or material

as long as it supports the concept.

Your kinetic sculptural work, which has got more sophisticated over

the years, found its logical extension in the work you sent to the Venice

Biennale. Tell us a bit about that.

Alliteration is a huge two-and-a-half tonne, 7.5x15.2 feet, installation

that deals with my concept of time. I have always been fascinated by

this concept. We have divided our life into seconds, minutes, hours,

days, months and years and are now slave to that system. But we do

not understand the real value of time. I subtitled it ‘28 moons’; it had a

perforated wall were seven belt-driven wheels. While the number 28

stands for number of days in a lunar month, the work was not bound by

any astronomical pattern. The wheels, and correspondingly the moons,

that our entire idea of time goes completely haywire. It (the sculpture)

forces you to think about living in the present time. I used engineering

Geometryas poetry

showed kinetic sculptural works at Sakshi Art Gallery?

To answer that question, I will have to trace the trajectory of my work

over the past few years. The seeds for the Sakshi exhibition were sowed

at the Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai. I added some twist and turns and

created humour out of everyday objects and situations. It was my attempt

The objects were also my attempt to portray ‘navarasa’, or the nine Indian

emotions, using humour. It was an oblique way of thinking. I went back

to painting with my next show, again at Sakshi, called ‘1 mm’, which

consisted of minimal, clean abstract monochromatic paintings. That was

the pinnacle of my achievement as a pure painter. Minimalists like me

tend to focus on the content, instead of focussing on the fringe elements.

For a while, I concentrated on paintings, once in a while working

nature; they are almost sculptural in their form. In another series, ‘8

Seconds Ahead of Time’, again at Sakshi Gallery, Bangalore, each work was

a set of several canvasses placed at close sequence of progression, and

(From left) glass and wood; and Virtually Untouchable I, a mobile sculpture (2004)


ART

to prove that the human mind has a certain kind of tunnel processing

and waning characterises the life cycle of individuals and empires, alike.

However, my work is multi-layered and stimulates, I believe, more than

one train of thought. So, ultimately it’s the viewer who is left to take away

his own interpretation of the work. ‘Like Heart Beat, Beat Heart’, a work I

showed in a group show in Mumbai. There was a wooden heart, and there

were others which had nails embedded in them. I burnt them, I scraped

them, I destroyed them to quite an extent,

and left it to the viewer to take what he

or she wants from this process. It was a

subversion of the popular image of the red

heart we are used to seeing.

What was the point at which you began

using engineering or mechanics as a

device in your sculptural installations?

To me, the concept is more important

than the means. So engineering is a tool I

use to express my concepts of movement

and time. But the use of engineering or

mechanical concepts is interesting in my

work, because personally, I am not a very

logical person, whereas engineering is all

about logic. It started with ‘Blind Bulb etc’, but now my work is largely

conceptual in nature. Of course, this means that the nature of my

individuals who understand mechanics and engineering, who can advise

me on structural issues and material stress. Of course, like most Indians,

they are used to working in a set pattern, so one has to continuously push

them to create something new, to push the boundaries of their own work

so that, together, we can achieve the right form for my concepts.

How do you arrive at the form you are going to use to express the

concept?

I believe the form should be simple or minimal. As I have always said, I

love to turn geometry into poetry. Geometry is the most basic form and

can be quite boring, but the moment you add poetry to the form, it comes

alive. So if had to draw a circle and at the centre write, or paint, ‘myself’,

and title the painting, ‘Self-Centred’, it would automatically turn into my

portrait; it doesn’t remain just a circle. I think as an artist I have the quality

to manipulate forms and shapes in the way I want. For ‘Ghost in the Bottle,’

a 2007 sculptural, I got huge-sized Borosil bottles, and distorted them. It

consists of a number of 2ft bottles in assorted shapes, which are mirror-

coated from the inside. These shapes represent the force of suppressed

thoughts that, like a ghost, are pressing to come out of the mind.

What I do next is always unpredictable, but the fun lies in that sense of

unpredictability. Every time there is a block, and I feel cornered, I use my

intuition to decide which wall to break so I can branch out. So many ideas

come to my mind almost every day, but there is that one idea that stays

with me, or gives me sleepless nights, attracts me the most, which I turn

medium and the process I use to create a work of art. I don’t like being

repetitive. So sometimes, I fall back on engineering, at other times I even

use crafts as a medium.

razor blades pasted on the wing, which moved mechanically, was not just

about mechanics. I made it for the ‘Blind Bulb etc’ series; I found the right

people to paste the blades on the body of the art work, and then we slowly

packed in hundreds of red powder-coated razor blades in the shape of

heavy garlands that are associated with the ceremonial public culture — of

gods and politicians being garlanded — in the south of India. But to Indians

of a certain generation, this work would also recall the assassination of

Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi by the LTTE. The bomb was concealed in a

medium to use here. My work, over the years, has gotten more minimal in

the way it is conceived, but there are layers and layers of meaning hidden

in its simple exterior.

There is a lot of philosophy embedded in your art…

As an artist my concerns are perception and reality. My work could be seen

as a means to bridge the gap. There is philosophy, but there is also humour

and history and a certain graphic quality. I research, I learn during the

creation of a work of art, and it often changes my perception. For instance,

while researching a project for Rajeev Sethi, I read about both, Lord Shiva,

and about Galileo’s discovery of the phenomenon of planetary satellites in

the solar system. I feel my sense of scale was transformed by this reading.

could not look at the sky in the same way, afterwards.

From Gawde’s ‘Still Alive’ series

‘Blind Bulb etc’ (2004/05) marked a shift in Gawde’s ouevre, from abstract paintings to kinetic sculptures and installations

Gawde with his ‘Vicious Circle’ installation

‘Almost Untouchable III’ communicated the idea of how violence can burst out unexpectedly from anywhere



Painter Surendra Pal Joshi’s artwork Basant (the spring season) adorns the reception

area at The Leela Palace Chennai. In the middle of the painting is the Pai Paisa, a

pre-Independence bronze coin with a hole in the centre, dating back to the ‘40s. This

painting expresses the fact that India is currently experiencing its Spring, having come

a long way from the days of the Pai Paisa, to its present strong economy. The yellow

as poet Amir Khusrow’s verses on sarson (mustard).

SNAPSHOT

A metaphor for India

I started cooking when I was four, with my mom

was 10 years ago, at the restaurant Villa Elisa as

a commis (junior chef).

modern minimal cuisine.

A guest requested me to make a dish which was

and avocado, when I was working at a famous

The three tools that I can’t do without are

Before cooking something, you should know the

Lorenzo Severeni

foods you are using — touch, smell and taste,

even if it is raw. It will make you understand

and classic food remake in a modern key.

Le Cirque Signature at The Leela Mumbai serves a

mix of Italian and French cuisines

The Leela Palace Udaipur

weekend out of the city every month with my

wife. I never forget my Kindle, although many

when you arrive at the hotel, it is time

hot day and after having travelled across

Adviser to the Vice-President, Minister for the Presidency and

Spokesperson of the Government of Spain

even some drinks and cold water. That is very

for a room service dinner. We had amazing

from our room, and the dinner was very

and wine, and the outstanding service.

romantic and welcoming cities that I have ever


This season, The Leela Kovalam

has three specially crafted

Ayurvedic packages that will

detoxify and recharge you.

(Above) The Leela Kovalam’s Divya Spa boasts eight treatment rooms (Left) A Shirodhara massage at Divya Spa

The Yoga Studio at The Leela Kovalam

Holistic Rejuvenation

based on the aforementioned Tridosha theory. Body massages use

natural herbal powders and Ayurvedic medicines are prescribed for

consultation with the doctor and the chef.

THE THERAPEUTIC PACKAGE

The most intensive of the programmes, it lasts for three weeks.

This programme addresses ailments related to rheumatoid arthritis,

spondylitis, migraine, and heals lower back pain. Treatments depend on

the recommendations made by the doctor post consultation.

Each of these packages takes an holistic approach and sticks to

the Ayurvedic roots. The ancient Indian science of Ayurveda is a time-

tested healing system, and The Leela Kovalam an excellent place to

experience it.

Ayurveda is among the oldest healthcare systems in the world,

and Kerala is a state known for its long and unbroken Ayurvedic

practitioners of Ayurveda) were almost the only access for people seeking

now, Ayurveda is more than about medicines: it’s a lifestyle symbolising

wholesome physical, mental and spiritual health.

Ayurveda tourism is a thing when it comes to Kerala, drawing both

travellers from other parts of India as well as abroad, and Ayurvedic

treatments are a big draw at The Leela Kovalam, a secluded resort spread

view of the Arabian Sea. The elegantly done Divya Spa at the resort features

Kalari massage. This massage evolved as an adjunct to the martial art

Kalaripayattu. The ancient martial art required a tough and supple body,

and the warriors used kalari massage to not just recuperate from aches

doctors at Divya Spa — all of them trained in Ayurveda — recommend this

This season, The Leela Kovalam has three specially crafted

comprehensive packages to recharge your mind and body. They are not

just about enjoying massages at the spa — they include interactions with

a chef and a doctor for wellness and diet consultations, wellness talks, and

THE LIFESTYLE PACKAGEA seven-day relaxation and rejuvenation plan, using herbal oils and

medicines, which nourishes the body tissues. These massages and

recommended for best results.

THE WELLNESS PACKAGEA two-week program designed to tone the body and improve the

programme also includes weight management treatments based on the

principle that losing weight is not about starvation but balancing the

fat metabolism. Therapies are tailormade to suit the body’s constitution


RETREATS

Th

instant online restaurant reservation platform) Foodie Awards 2016:

the hotel’s Le Cirque bagged ‘Vir’s Critic’s Choice Award’, by renowned

food critic Vir Sanghvi, for ‘Best European Restaurant in a Hotel’, and the

tea at The Lobby Lounge was voted as the ‘Best Brewed’ in the capital

the celebrated New York restaurant, serving an eclectic mix of French and

Italian cuisines. The ceremony was hosted by standup comic Papa CJ, and

featured celebs and who’s who of the industry, from cricketer Yuvraj Singh

to restaurateurs Riyaz Amlani and AD Singh.

Critical acclaim

World-class dining

Nancy NovogrodFormer Editor, Travel & Leisure

Kenneth ChenaultCEO and Chairman, American Express

Amjad Ali KhanIndian classical musician

Sachin TendulkarLegendary

Indian cricketer

The Leela Palace Bangalore

“Thank you for a most enjoyable stay.

The service was outstanding.”

The Leela Palace Chennai

“Felt at home. Beautiful hotel and hospitality.

Best wishes and looking forward to coming

back again.”

The Leela Palace Udaipur

“What an extraordinarily,

beautiful and magical palace hotel. The

service matches with the physical perfection.

All considered, the Leela Palace Udaipur is

a triumph!”

The Leela Palace New Delhi

“Fantastic stay and warm hospitality.

Thanks for all the love. I will be back soon.”

The Leela Ambience Convention Hotel, Delhi hosted the Global

Leadership Forum in March this year, as part of the World Culture

Festival, a celebration of The Art of Living Foundation’s 35 years of service

to humanity. Top leaders from private as well as public sector came

together to discuss the dillemas and challenges of leadership. Inaugurating

the forum, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Founder of WFEB, Global Humanitarian and

Founder, Art of Living, said, “A leader always walks the last, and makes

everyone move ahead. A leader is not meant to create followers, but rather

create leaders.” Many accomplished personalities, like Suresh Prabhu,

Kjell Magne Bondevik, former Prime Minister of Norway, spoke about the

obstacles they had overcame in their journey to success.

Leadership for the 21st century


ACCOLADES

Jamavar at The Leela Palace Chennai has been recognised as one of the

Distinguished Restaurants by the Rochester Institute of Accreditation,

New York. KM Chengappa, GM of the property, and Executive Chef

Dharmen Makawana received this award from Mr Hashmim, MD of

customer satisfaction at the signature Indian restaurant.

GUEST SPEAK

EVENTS

The brand’s new-age,

all-device responsive website is now live.

www.theleela.com

Tavailable rate (vis-a-vis all other online channels). Rates are calibrated to incentivise

and nowhere else.

streams, and the new website is a big step in that direction.


and celebrated environmentalist, the late Capt. C.P Krishnan Nair,

The ‘Remembrance Day’ poster

Plantation 2016: Shridhar Nair, GM, The Leela Mumbai team planting a plumeria tree saplingsaplings with the employees of the hotel

A green tribute

T

‘Way back in the day before social media became the norm,

Myspace used to be quite big with the hipsters. I used to

be interested to come to the country to collaborate on an album. At

seriously but when I got a message from them asking me to record a

few Indian chants and send it over, I obliged.

Months later, I remember it was snowing that day, I was surprised

a Sonu Nigam album, but educated me about what a big name he was

in Bollywood. I started researching Indian music and was fascinated

gauge the opportunities here.

When I returned back to Toronto, I was on the verge of relocating

to Italy to consider building a musical career there. I knew I had to

return to India though, something about this country kept pulling me

back. I also met Sonuji backstage after a concert in Toronto, and he

encouraged me to give returning to India a second thought.

the crowds thronging on the streets. Not that they seemed dangerous

or anything but seeing so many people gathered together was a

completely new experience for me. I just stayed indoors so I could suck

it all in.

What strikes me most about India is that the emotional bonds here

are so strong. When I got here everyone was so welcoming – inviting

me into their homes and feeding me big meals. Coming from a world

that is structured and scheduled, I notice that people here genuinely

make time for each other and are very spontaneous in their planning!

The value for friends and family is so much more. You could live in the

most beautiful country in the world, but if its people are cold, none of

that matters…

Since I grew up training in

western classical music, the joke

is that I rarely sing in English.

French and English. The people

here often wonder how I sing

in Hindi or Tamil, but the truth

is the process is just the same.

Every time I had to sing a piece

in a foreign language, I had a

diction coach, I drew a picture or

visual for every word association my mind had to make. Singing in a

foreign language thus became easy. Singing in Indian languages was

an application of that technique.

is a Canadian crossover-classical

multilingual singer who now calls Mumbai home. She has

lent her soprano voice to several Bollywood movies like English Vinglish, Chennai Express and has collaborated with musical stalwarts like A.R. Rahman and

Sonu Nigam.

Canadian singer talks about life

in Mumbai, and learning to sing in Hindi and Tamil.

The Bollywood Soprano

PERSPECTIVE

As told to Nolan Lewis

The city has crafted a name

for itself when it comes

like Raghavendra

Rathore have given a

contemporary spin to the

legendary bandh gala.

traditional jewellery. Clock

is a local market where

from traditional clothes,

crockery, pottery and

other souvenirs that

Rajasthan is famous for.

Handicrafts are widely

available around the

forget to pick a pair of

jutis (for men) or colourful

bangles (for women). The versatile safa loom can be used to create bright

colourful shamianas (tents) and used as head gear during festivities.

Bawari, the restored exemplary Raas Haveli, and Hanwant Mahal to soak

public park. Take a walk at the Balsamand Lake Palace, an elongated bagh

(garden) that engulfs the acres of land, and one of the widely visited

royal family, crafted in white marble and instantly catches the eye of

an onlooker. The Mehrangarh Fort, which has witnessed numerous wars

for its intricate jaali work, mammoth walls and a gargantuan haathi pol

or entrance.

around Mehrangarh Fort, grab a chilled beer at the fort restaurant, which is

paired best with Bikaneri Bhujia.

Luxury interior designer and architect Shantanu Garg tells us

the must-dos in the city of Jodhpur.

Colourful Rajasthan

designer and architect has worked on

Stosa Cucine showrooms, Trunks Company Lounge in Mumbai and

in merging the traditional with the contemporary. A recent project of his

Moroccan and modern design.

Inside the Mehrangarh Fort

GET

TY IM

AG

ES


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