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M a g a z i n e
The Art & Culture Issue
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chairman’s message
Every journey is marked with milestones to remind you how far
you’ve reached. Today, as The Leela Group steps into its 25th
year of existence, it marks an important milestone for the Group
and also for me.
When I started the first hotel in Mumbai, I never imagined
it to be an acorn that I was planting, which would grow into an
oak tree one day. I attribute this to my wife Leela, who inspired
me to enter the world of hospitality, along with my two sons Vivek
and Dinesh.
Today, in retrospect, The Leela Group’s journey seems like a
living dream. I had begun this journey with a vision and conviction
to be a host to the world and show one and all how India treats its
guests, and is guided by the ethos — Atithi Devo Bhava (Guest is
God). It gives me immense satisfaction to see every member of
The Leela Group going all out to ensure that this belief is part of
their lives.
It’s the year of celebration, introspection and also a time to
envisage a new road ahead to reach the next milestone with as
much success.
The Leela magazine, too, is echoing this celebratory mood
through its special ‘Art and Culture’ Issue.
So, we bring to you Indian art legends like Anish Kapoor and
Subodh Gupta (one of his work adorns our cover), whose art has
received worldwide acclaim.
While the world takes notice of our rich art, culture and
history, we, at The Leela, are showcasing Indian culture through
our hotels, its traditional décor and its exemplary services, which
are so Indian and yet so world-class.
With a prayer on my lips, I wish the silver turns to gold
and brings in many more successes and goodwill during its
journey ahead.
Captain C. p. Krishnan nairChairman
The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts
i had begun this journey with a vision and
conviction to be a host to the world and show one and all how india
treats its guests, and is guided by the ethos
— atithi Devo Bhava
The LeeLa magazine – summer 2012 1
Travelogue
The leela Magazine – Monsoon 2010 7
contents The LeeLa Magazine
SuMMer 2012
26collector
Tête-à-tête with entrepreneur and art expert rajshree Pathy
12luxe effect
Say it with silver to celebrate landmark occasions
52literaryPondicherry captured on lens, sans its clichés
42photography
Stunning visuals are a work of art in today’s age and time
32mixed media
3-D installations are a rage among indian artists
16fashion
haute couture steps into the realm of art
48music
Musical journey of The Symphony Orchestra of india
48music
Musical journey of The Symphony Orchestra of india
61accolades
62events
71PersPectIve
“This Magazine is published by Hotel Leelaventures Limited (“Leela”) and produced by Mediascope Publicitas (India) Pvt. LTD. (“MSP”) on behalf of and under agreement with Leela. Opinions expressed herein are of the Authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Leela or of MSP. Editorial, reproduction of articles and advertising enquiries should be addressed to The Leela Magazine, Mediascope Publicitas (India) Private Ltd, 51 Doli Chamber, Arthur Bunder Road, Colaba, Mumbai 400 005, India. Email: sujata.dugar@publicitas.com Material in this publication may not be reproduced, whether in part or in whole, without the consent of the publisher. Leela or MSP do not assume any responsibility or endorse any claim made by the advertiser herein”Printed at Parksons Graphics, Andheri (West), Mumbai 400053.
COvERart and culture Issue: Cheap Rice, an installation by Delhi-based artist Subodh Gupta, shows a rickshaw spilling with shiny brass pots. It highlights the plight of itinerant workers in urban India, who carry the burden of a society loaded with spirituality (the pots are used in India to hold the holy water) and all he gets in return is a meagre amount.
Th
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M a g a z i n e
The Art & Culture Issue
This magazine is printed on environment-friendly, wood-free paper.
59jet set go
54tête-à-tête
THE LEELA
PuBLISHER — Amruda Nair
EDITOR-IN-CHIEf — Lakshmi Nair
PRODuCTION DIRECTOR — Shobha Patel
CONTENT AND DISTRIBuTION — Priyanka Paul
PRODuCTION — Prakash Bachche
MEDIASCOPE PuBLICITAS
EDITORIAL
EDITOR-IN-CHIEf — Deepali Nandwani
EDITOR — Sujata Dugar
CLIENT SERvICE MANAGER — Reshma Malvankar
ART
CREATIvE DIRECTOR — faruqui Mohd Jaan
ART DIRECTOR — Sanjay Rane
SENIOR DESIGNER — Shamkant More
IMAGE EDITOR — Atul Jangam
PRODuCTION MANAGER — Elidio fernandes
ADvERTISING SALES
MuMBAI (022-22850188 / 61377200)
— Lamont Dias, Mallika Jamsandekar,
Sumit Shetty, Gokul Dharan, Shruti Baghel
DELHI (011-23730873/74)
Asha Augustine, Nikhil Mehrotra
BANGALORE (080-25592714/82514)
— Yogeesha A
LuCkNOW (0522-2780560/754) — P P S Marwa
PuNE (09850086865) — Shailesh Amonkar
kOLkATA (09831131395) — Subrata Mazumder
CHENNAI (09841091288) — J v Naveen
kERALA (0484-2354867/2381417)
— Hari M Das
JAIPuR (09828150706) — Peeush Gupta
AHMEDABAD (09898002522) — Madan Menon
SECuNDERABAD (08978866599)
— Sheetal Petkar
AD SALES - INTERNATIONAL
HONG kONG (+852-2516 1003) Winky Wong
MALAYSIA (+60-3-7729 6923) Shallie Cheng
SINGAPORE (+65 6735 8681) Joui Ong
DuBAI (+9714 3913360) Sunil kanchan
MARkETING
MANAGER MARkETING SERvICES — Salim B.
MANAGER Ritcha verma
ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENT
SR. MANAGER - ACCOuNTS & ADMIN.
— Girish Sharma
ACCOuNTS ExECuTIvE — Ashwin Makwana
CREDIT CONTROLLER — Girish Joshi
DELHI ASST. MANAGER - ACCOuNTS & ADMIN.
— Raj Bhushan Singh
CORPORATE
CEO & MANAGING DIRECTOR — Marzban Patel
ExECuTIvE DIRECTOR — Anita Patel
CfO — Manish Mehta
COO — Indu Joshi
contents The LeeLa Magazine
SuMMer 2012
Travelogue
The leela Magazine – Monsoon 2011 11The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 201210
LeTTerS To The ediTor
i wish to thank
Honourable Captain
Nair for his kindness
and thoughtfulness
while paying tribute
to Mr. Bijan Pakzad
in the beautiful
The Leela magazine.
Manijeh Messa
general Manager
house of Bijan
For all correspondence and feedback, e-mail: theleelamagazine@theleela.com
in this section, we share feedback and suggestions from guests, patrons and readers of The Leela magazine
The Leela
magazine is
fantastic with a
great new look.
Sabine van Ommen
Sabine van ommen
Public relations gmbh,
Berlin
i received The Leela magazine and was transfixed with
wonder by the beauty of the cover and every page in this
publication. It is the most beautiful magazine I have ever
had the pleasure of receiving — it is more elegant and
sophisticated than what is distributed by other luxury hotel
companies. The photos are breathtaking.
Congratulations on accomplishing such an amazing
publication.
Bernd K. Wosgien, CHA
President & Ceo,
executive Search international
orlando, Florida, uSa
The team at house of BijanThe team at house of Bijan
Travelogue
The leela Magazine – Monsoon 2011 13The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 2012
Silver is celebration, silver is sheen, silver is glitter and also a milestone. We celebrate our 25th anniversary with some interesting objets d’art which are sure to attract the eyeballs and add a sparkle each time they are used
Add sparkle to your home with SWAROVSKI’s crystalline vase. The crystalline centre with thousands of glittering
chatons adds sheer brilliance to your floral arrangement. It costs `29,800 and is available at the DLF Promenade mall,
New Delhi,Contact: 91 11 4606 0924; Ambience Mall, Gurgaon,
Contact: 0124 4029104; and at Palladium Mall High Street
Phoenix, Mumbai,Contact: 91 22 6610 0140/ 2,
among others.swarovski.com
Silverstreak
Luxe effecT
Famous for its hand-crafted jewellery, AmRApAlI’s beautifully designed tribal cuff, which is plated in both silver and gold, is sure to turn heads. The smooth silver textured cuff has tribal motifs in gold. It is just the right bling to pair with any Western or Indian outfit. Its price is available on request. To buy, visit Amrapali Jewels, Juhu, Mumbai. Contact: 91 22 2612 5001. Or, visit Santushti Shopping Complex, New Delhi. Contact: 91 11 2467 2025. amrapalijewels.com
12
lOngIneS, the Swiss, high range watchmakers’ Agassi Collection,
boasts of a white gold watch with diamonds on the bezel. Andre
Agassi, one of the greatest tennis players, is famous for his precision
and exceptional timing during the game. He also had a remarkable
endurance and was extremely combative. Agassi’s unique style,
his kindness and the emotions he evoked while playing has been
transmitted by Longines into its sport collection watches, named
after the player. Its price is available on request. Buy this precision tool
at the Longines Boutique, CRII Mall, Nariman Point, Mumbai.
Contact: 91 22 6743 9852. longines.com
Audelade in French means beyond, and taking this cue is the AudelAde brand that has taken luxury and fashion beyond its standard confines. This moccasin (photo above) is hand-crafted and hand-woven in a fabric made of silver and combined with the finest quality of natural patent leather. It costs `63,500. The ladies boots (left) are similarly made of hand-crafted silver fabric and leather. Its mid-level heels and a zip opening at the side adds a touch of style and comfort. It costs `1,17,300. It is available at the Atria Mall, Ist Floor, Worli, Mumbai. Contact: 91 22 2481 3771.audelade.com
For exquisite silverware and signature collectibles, SHAZe, the sterling silver store, is the place to go to. A Pyramid photoframe in solid silver is available for `47,700 at Palladium Mall High Street Phoenix, Mumbai, Contact: 91 22 3222 5557; and at Infnity-2 Mall, Mumbai, Contact: 91 22 3220 8610. shaze.in
The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 2012
Luxe effecT
14
The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 201216 The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 2012 17
Stepping down from its high ground, from where fashion seemed lowbrow and trivial,
artists and art museums are embracing haute couture as an exquisite expression of
art and craftsmanship
FaShion
By Deepali Nandwani
andy
meetsalexander
Warhol
McQueen
The Christian Dior retrospective at the Pushkin Museum, Moscow
Way back in 2009, it was Warhol who exhibited his
quirky art with the creations of French fashion
legend Yves Saint Laurent at the historic Parisian
museum, Grand Palais. The show, a huge success, blurred the
rigid lines that divide art from fashion. “From being considered
trivial, unworthy and inferior, fashion is now seen as a form of
high art,” says designer Manish Arora, among the few Indian
designers whose beautifully structured and tailored garments are
considered akin to a piece of installation or art.
“Why do people think artists are special? it’s just
another job.” — andy Warhol
andy Warhol
The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 201220
Much before
Warhol broke the barrier,
way back in the 18th
century, fashion was
considered as another
expression of art, even
the defining characteristic
of human civilisation.
New York-based fashion
historian and writer
Samuel Phillips says, “In
the mid-18th century, the nobility separated their high fashion
from their everyday dress. An English Duke might have worn
lace, embroidery and velvet on a formal occasion.” In India, too,
the unstructured garment, the sari, traces its origins back to
the Indus Valley Civilisation. “Sculptures from the Gandharva,
Mathura and Gupta schools of art show goddesses and dancers
wearing exquisite saris,” says art historian and curator, Siddhi Das.
But then, somewhere down history, art took a high
ground, losing its way into a desert of complex concepts of what
is fine art and what is pedestrian. According to Harvard University
sociologist Stanley Lieberson, who authored the book, A Matter
of Taste: How Names, Fashions and Culture Change, fashion was
considered suspect because of its fickleness. “Fashion simply
means that something is now more attractive than what was
previously deemed attractive,” he says.
Now, however, as art itself moves away from the traditional
painting and sculpture mediums into several unexplored terrains,
haute couture is finding its way back into museums and galleries.
Alice Rawsthorn, director of The Design Museum, London, says,
“I would never say that fashion, at its best, is not a suitable subject
for museums or that it cannot share some of the attributes of art.
On the contrary, an exquisite haute couture dress — like the ones
that Cristóbal Balenciaga created in his 1950s heyday — can look
as perfect as a beautiful painting or sculpture.”
The trend, reports Wall Street Journal, has been building
for decades. Several designers, starting from Coco Chanel
to Alexander McQueen and our very own Manish Arora are
considered as much artists as couturiers. “Coco Chanel, for
instance, changed the language of fashion, from flamboyant,
uncomfortable dressing to a rather simple style that she herself
liked,” says Phillips.
The first step towards demolishing the outdated notion
of fashion being trivial was when the art powerhouse, The
Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met), arranged a retrospective
of the late Alexander McQueen in May 2011. The exhibition,
organised by The Costume Institute, celebrated McQueen’s
genius and his contribution to fashion. From his Central Saint
Martins postgraduate collection of 1992 to his final runway
presentation after his death in February 2010, the designer
constantly has expanded the understanding of fashion beyond
utility, to a conceptual expression of culture.
The stunningly brilliant ‘The Savage Beauty’ exhibition was
the most-visited among those curated by the Met’s Costume
Institute since its inception in 1946, and drew in 23,000 new
members to the Met during its three-month run. According to
a note written by the Met experts, McQueen’s “iconic designs
constitute the work of an artist whose medium of expression
was fashion”. The exhibition featured over 100 ensembles and 70
accessories designed by the designer in his 19-year-long career,
all drawn from the Alexander McQueen Archive in London,
while some pieces came from the Givenchy Archive in Paris and
private collections. “McQueen’s fashion often referenced the
exaggerated silhouettes of the 1860s, 1880s, 1890s, and 1950s,
but his technical ingenuity always imbued his designs with an
innovative sensibility that kept him at the vanguard,” says the
Met essay on the designer. Each of McQueen’s ensemble and
accessories were not only exquisitely produced, much like art
is, but also broke the mould. Collectors preserve a McQueen
creation as they would preserve a Van Gogh painting.
This retrospective sort of triggered off an avalanche.
In November last year, Dallas Museum of Art hosted The
Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the
Catwalk. It ran for three months and showcased several different
aspects of the design philosophy that defined the work of the man
considered the enfant terrible of the fashion world. It highlighted
the several different influences on the designer and his vibrant
sources of inspiration through a carefully curated selection
of over 140 haute couture dresses and ready-to-wear pieces,
crafted between early 1970s and 2011. “By acknowledging the
importance of fashion as design through hosting this exhibition,
the Dallas Museum of Art was simply fulfilling its mission to
bring to the public a broad spectrum of art in a variety of media,”
says Kevin Tucker, coordinating curator for The Fashion World of
Jean Paul Gaultier. The exhibition spawned an entire gamut of
mediums — from sketches, stage costumes and video clips from
fashion films, runway shows, concerts, dance performances and
television programmes. Among the accessories on show were the
corsets worn by Madonna during her 1990 tour, besides artwork
of legends like Andy Warhol, Mario Testino and Steven Meisel.
“For me, Gaultier’s work, like that of Vivienne Westwood’s,
celebrates life through a visceral kind of energy and a sense of
spectacle that is full of unexpected sources of influence, thereby
making it undeniably exciting and ideal for the Dallas Museum of
Art’s first major foray into the world of contemporary fashion,”
says Tucker.
In November itself, The Design Museum, London,
organised a retrospective of the iconic French shoe designer,
Christian Louboutin, the man who pushed the boundaries of high
The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 2012 21
FaShion
FACING PAGE & AbovE alexander McQueen’s iconic designs curated by the MeT, reveal how he drew inspiration from historical references from medieval england and the Salem witch trials, of which one of his ancestors was a victim
alexander McQueen
Travelogue
The leela Magazine – Monsoon 2011 23
fashion shoe design. These sculptural shoes, with their unique
red soles, are masterpieces in which fashion, craftsmanship,
engineering and sculpture segue seamlessly. It drew liberally
from Louboutin’s personal archive, referencing the origins of the
iconic red sole, through to the latest collections.
Then, on March 25, 2012, the Denver Art Museum
hosted the Yves Saint Laurent Retrospective. To run till July 8,
the retrospective, organised by the Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves
Saint Laurent (run by his partner Pierre Bergé) in collaboration
with the Denver Art Museum, it celebrates the genius of the
designer through 200 haute couture creations. In Beijing,
Louis Vuitton’s exhibition, Voyages, at the National Museum in
Tiananmen Square drew throngs who stood in line for hours to
see iconic pieces from the archives, as well as some of the more
sensationalistic concepts dreamed up for the brand’s nouveau
riche clientele. Quick on their heels are nearly a dozen other
brands who have, or will soon mount major exhibitions, including
Ferragamo, Van Cleef and Arpels, and Prada — all eager to boast
of their heritage of craft and design. Louis Vuitton is also currently
building a massive space designed by architect Frank Gehry in the
Bois de Boulogne and slated to open in 2013.
The India FactorIn India, the only designer whose work has come close to the
eclecticism, structure and sculptural profile is Manish Arora.
On March 4, Arora exhibited 1950s silhouettes in nipped-waist
dresses, lit up by subversive images lifted from Brooklyn street art
to the backdrop of black-hooded graffiti artists. The haute couture
designer’s Autumn/Winter 2012 collection is inspired by street
art. “I’m very attracted
to street art,” says the
designer. “It deserves a
lot more attention than it
gets.” For the collection,
he met several artists,
from the Brooklyn-based
Judith Supine, whose
bright-coloured, surreal
work Arora superimposed
onto his clothes, to
The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 201222
FaShion
LEFT Cleopatra by Vivan Sundaram
Vivan Sundaram
Travelogue
The leela Magazine – Monsoon 2011 25The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 201224
the Paris graffiti art trio
called Rude, Vision and
Broke. Motifs ranged
from urban landscapes
to fragmented figures
or faces, and bright red
kissing lips dotted all over
a black knee-length dress
under a little black bolero.
However, the
avant-garde work in which fashion seamlessly segues into
art is not by a designer, but interestingly by an artist, Vivan
Sundaram, whose art practice includes working with trash and
found objects, returned recently with a flamboyant exhibition in
which high fashion met cutting edge art. He first showed the
intriguingly titled Gagawaka series, which includes masquerade-
isque haute couture creations that he calls ‘sheltering sculptures’
or ‘sculptural garments’ in Delhi, and then in Mumbai’s Gallery
Chemould Prescott Road.
He collaborated with professionals like designer Pratima
Pandey, NIFT graduate Tanmay Gupta, and two tailors for the
collection, who helped translate his sketches into fashion
ShowTImEThe four fashion-art shows you must catch up on
Exhibition: Christian Louboutin, a retrospective At: Design Museum, Londonwhen: Till July 1, 2012
Exhibition: Ballgowns: British Glamour Since 1950At: The Victoria and Albert Museum, Londonwhen: May 19, 2012 – January 26, 2013
Exhibition: Louis Vuitton- Marc Jacobs, a retrospective of Jacobs’ work at LVAt: Les Arts Décoratifs, Pariswhen: Till September 16
Exhibition: Fifty Years of James Bond Style with pieces from Giorgio Armani, Prada, Oscar de la Renta and other designersAt: The Barbican, Londonwhen: April 2012
AbovE Manish arora’s garments blend design, art and fashion
installations, which range from a sculptural black gown called
Cleopatra’s Trail to the red Dervish skirt, the architectural Flow
Wrap dress and the men’s wedding suit, a white garment made
from sanitary napkins.
Researching the history of fashion and the close linkages
between fashion and art down centuries, both in India and
Europe, led Sundaram to believe that the two concepts are not
as exclusive as they seem. “In India, there is very little debate
on whether fashion and art overlap. Worldwide, however, there
is a movement to take fashion back into the art museums. There
are designers whose work is more art than fashion. Alexander
McQueen’s work was sculptural and his seashell constructions
remind me of works created during the modern art movement,
Arte Povera’s phase in the 1960s, when works were made from
perishable materials and fabrics. In the West, the relationship
between art and fashion is quite complex and a lot of experiments
have taken place.”
Manish arora
FaShion
The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 201226 The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 2012
coLLecTor
entrepreneur, art collector, philanthropist and the founder of the
recently held india Design Forum, Rajshree Pathy, chairman and managing
director of rajshree Sugars and chemicals
is a multi-faceted woman. apart from
starting contemplate: an arts initiative that supports workshops,
she is also building an art museum and an
institute in coimbatore to provide a platform for
contemporary art
Tell us a bit about your collection — who are the artists you buy, what
kind of works do you collect and do you also collect installations,
sculptures and multi-media?
The collection mostly comprises of contemporary art. This
includes all genres of art from video installations, site-specific
works, installations, sculptures, prints and paintings.
Which are some of your favourite works from your own collection?
The Encounter by S.H. Raza, Man by Rameshwar Broota,
Veena Box by Anjolie Ela Menon, Rickshawpolis by Jitish Kallat,
Glowing Embers by A. Balasubramaniam, Reaching Out by
Vasundara Broota Tiwari, untitled works by Jaishree Chakravarty
and Rekha Rodwittiya, a sculpture by Anita Dube, Penetration,
an installation by Mia Westerlund Roosen and The Womb, an
installation by Janet Echelman are some of my favourites. My
collection is eclectic, both in its genre and its language.
Besides collecting individual artists, have you also collected works
that belong to a particular school of art, or a particular genre?
As most of the collection is contemporary, it is non-linear
in nature. I mostly built the collection by being inclusive of genres
and disciplines than looking at schools of thought.
What prompted you to set up Contemplate: an arts initiative? What do
you hope to achieve with the initiative?
Contemplate, as an initiative, was set up to expand art
awareness. We work out of Delhi and Coimbatore. In Coimbatore,
the gallery has a full calendar and we focus our programmes on
providing art education to an interested audience of all age groups.
Could you share details about the Coimbatore College of Contemporary
Arts (CoCCA) and what do you aim to do through this institute?
Coimbatore Centre for Contemporary Arts (CoCCA) will
be a centre for continuing fine arts education, both practical and
theoretical. The Centre will serve as a space in which students
will be given an opportunity to explore, question, experiment
and innovate. It will strive to provide an integrated art education
experience that is interdisciplinary in spirit.
CoCCA’s major contribution to the contemporary Indian art
world will be to offer artists an educational experience that assists
in the development of their thinking about art making, its pedagogy
and the social functions of art. These will be learned along with
other disciplines such as film theory, anthropology, ethnography,
art history, sociology, media theory, economics, ecology and
political science, among others. This will help introduce intellectual
diversity and rigour to creativity, conceptualisation and practice.
Do you hold shows regularly at CoCCA? Tell us a bit about some
forthcoming shows?
So far, CoCCA’s work in Coimbatore has been to lay the
groundwork for the institute and the museum. We are achieving
this through our outreach programs. We have conducted
RIGHT a painting by artist rekha rodwittiya is part of Pathy’s collectionABOVE art connoisseur rajshree Pathy
Queen of artsWhat inspired you towards art? Since when did you begin collecting
and do you recall the first painting you bought?
Art was all-pervasive in my parent’s home in Coimbatore
during my growing years. My mother had a unique aesthetic
sensibility and as she, along with my father, travelled around the
world both on work and pleasure, she brought back antiques and
curios of exquisite beauty that filled our home.
Frequent visits to Mumbai brought my mother in contact
with contemporary art galleries like Chemould and Pundole. As
a child, I vividly remember my mother buying a beautiful Shanti
Dave orange and green abstract painting, which hung on the wall
of our living room for several years.
When you grow up surrounded by beauty, somehow
the eye gets trained to search for and relate only to a particular
sensibility. I felt very responsive to contemporary art at a very
early age. Those days, only one gallery existed in Chennai —
Sarala’s, that was owned and managed by a lovely lady called Mrs
Daruwala who sold mainly M.F. Husain’s works along with some
other masters.
I still remember that day when I managed to buy my first
M.F. Husain — a 3 by 3 oil on canvas for just `18,000. I was barely
17-years-old and married, and I could feel my heart pounding with
excitement at having bought a Husain. It still adorns the same wall
and I have never been tempted to replace it with another painting.
By Sujata Dugar
27
PhoT
o co
urTe
Sy: r
ajSh
ree
PaTh
y
The LeeLa Magazine – suMMer 2012 29
Art
28 The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 2012
workshops in collaboration with artists from across India for
children and adults. We hold lecture sessions conducted by artists
at various institutions as a part of our awareness initiatives.
CoCCA’s past events included a comic illustration for
children with comics author Bharath Murthy; a paper making
project with artist Shanthamani Muddaiah and a paper plane
making workshop with artist Baptist Coelho. Some of the
forthcoming events are life study / portrait drawing workshop
with artist Reema Alva and an image making workshop with
Rakhi Peswani.
What are the other initiatives undertaken by CoCCA in the recent past?
On the global level, we recently organised the India Design
Forum (IDF) 2012 in New Delhi (March 2-10). It is a pioneering
international platform for design disciplines cutting across
architecture, fashion, interior, product and graphic design. It has
been conceived by me and my daughter Aishwarya as a space for
creative dialogue, to showcase and collaborate around design. It
highlights the power of design to change our lives and focusses
on sustainable and urban design.
The inaugural edition of IDF, a nine day celebration of India’s
distinctive design aesthetic and the way in which it continues
its conversation with the international design world, saw two
components. The first was the Design Week — a week-long
schedule of cutting edge design exhibitions and curated events
in venues across New Delhi, and open to the public, the second
was the Design Forum — a private, registration-only programme
featuring two days of talks by highly acclaimed design experts
from around India and the rest of the world.
Some of the keynote speakers included Karim Rashid,
the celebrated industrial designer, Sam Pitroda, entrepreneur,
policymaker and advisor to the Prime Minister of India on
public information infrastructure and innovation, Tim Marshall,
chief academic officer, Parsons The New School for Design and
Justin McGuirk, the award-winning design critic at The Guardian,
publishing director of the Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture
and Design in Moscow, among many others.
It brought global design thought leaders together in
India to enable strategic alliances, encourage dialogue between
academia and industry and facilitate cross design cultural thinking
and application.
What are your views on the current crop of artists and who among these
are your favourites?
There are many young and emerging artists. The
commercial success of their peers in the last decade has been
a great motivation for young people to pursue a career in art. It’s
difficult to name just a few but Aditya Pande, Manil and Rohit
Gupta, Kiran Subbiah, Venkanna, Vibha Galhotra and Princess Pea
are some talented artistes whose works I admire.
coLLecTor
ABOVE Works of artist anita Dube (left) and jayashree chakravarty (right) are among Pathy’s favourite artworks
The LeeLa Magazine – suMMer 2012 31
Art
The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 201230LEFT an installation artwork by artist a Balasubramaniam
is another of Pathy’s favourite work
What do you think of the ‘art as an investment’ concept? Do you think it
has helped the art scene and artists?
The concept of art as an investment has proven to be quite
a challenge for the artist. Nowadays, the artist has to keep his
practice going to produce art that is interesting and challenging.
He/ she has to better himself/ herself with every exhibition. It
gives a consumerist nature to the art work.
What, according to you, is lacking in Indian art and what are the
drawbacks that are curtailing its reach to a global audience?
Indian art is reaching out to a global audience. We have
Indian artists winning prestigious awards such as the Artes Mundi.
We need a more active state-level/ national-level participation; the
government needs to provide an infrastructure for arts.
India lacks a serious art infrastructure. We have no museums
of the stature of, say, MOMA or Victoria & Albert Museum. Even
art research and education seem to be in shambles.
What do you think India should do to build its infrastructure?
Most of India’s renowned museums are private. We need
a larger, more involved participation from the state. At CoCCA, my
attempt is to provide an exposure of global standards. CoCCA will
be a one of its kind museum/ art institute in the south of India.
The Indian art scene is in a flux right now and where do you see it going
from here?
What is happening to the art market today is both good
and bad. Good, because never has Indian art become so popular
and so global. Thanks to the booming Indian economy, newer
collectors and investors are coming into the market to buy art.
Auction houses like Sotheby’s and Christie’s are proving that
investments in Indian art are extremely profitable. This is all good
news for our artists and I am excited for them.
The bad side of this madness is that just anything sells. So
many galleries without any credentials have sprouted in the cities,
selling just anything in the name of contemporary art with the
sole objective of making money and exploiting unaware buyers in
search of quick short term gains. Some upcoming artists, instead
of waiting for recognition, are hiking their prices to abominable
levels and churning out trashy art.
I believe we need to have more discerning galleries,
such as a Leo Castelli in New York, who, in the years 1957-1999,
launched the careers of Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg,
Frank Stella and Jasper Johns and helped to create an awareness
of what is good art.
As a collector, what tips would you offer to people who have just started
collecting?
So many young collectors constantly call me for advice on
what to buy. I have only one piece of advice — follow your heart.
Creativity is something so personal, so emotional and should
remain vibrant within oneself. I believe you are either an investor
or a collector — two very different agendas.
indian art is reaching out to a global audience. We have indian artists winning prestigious awards such as the artes Mundi
coLLecTor
The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 201232 The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 2012 33
art is coming off the wall and into the public realm in india with artists displaying an unbridled
affinity for three-dimensional installations
Mixed Media
By Maria Louis
Beyondframes
Beyondframes
From the series Match Fixed by Thukral and Tagra
The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 201234ABOVE Sheela gowda’s Collateral
BELOW a sculptural work at the uttarayan art Centre, Vadodara
At the India Art Fair held in the capital this January, visitors
could hardly miss the 38-foot-long concrete wall displaying
pictures and illustrations from around the world. Titled
Discord, it consisted of seven blocks (weighing 250kg) fabricated
with images of conflict that reflected artist Samar Jodha’s work
inspired by migrant workers in the Middle East, coal miners in
Burma, Polish and Russian waitresses in London, and workers at
oilrigs in Ghana as well as at the Commonwealth Games 2010 site
in Delhi.
At the Kala Ghoda Art Festival in February, bemused
Mumbaikars found themselves circulating around strange and
sublime works of art, craning their necks to take it all in. The
pièce de résistance was the life-size Volkswagen Beetle created
out of 800 spark plugs, 800 cold drink crowns, 200 bottle caps,
60 mother boards, computer keyboards, hard disks, CDs, audio
cassettes, speakers, barbecue sticks, beer cans, telecom wires,
flat screen monitor, pens, typewriters and other scrap by city-
based artist Haribabu Natesan.
A more permanent new installation in Mumbai is Charkha,
the 30-foot-tall steel sculpture designed by architect Nuru Karim.
Strategically located at Cross Maidan, between the Churchgate
railway station and Flora Fountain, it was commissioned by Tata
Steel in collaboration with the Oval Trust and unveiled on Gandhi
Jayanti. Charkha is an asymmetrical, stylised representation of the
spinning wheel that could be described as a ‘futuristic version’
of Gandhiji’s ‘weapon’ of non-violent protest. Karim didn’t want a
metaphorical interpretation of the spinning wheel. “I didn’t want
to take it literally,” he explains, adding “I wanted to represent the
energy, the motion — the dynamic, abstract quality.”
So, almost a century after Marcel Duchamp provocatively
installed a urinal in a New York art gallery (Fountain, 1917), artistic
outpourings have made the wall space of our galleries woefully
inadequate. Contemporary Indian artists are exploiting a unique
vocabulary to express themselves — but it all began with the
experimentation of the ’80s.
Who could forget the irrepressible but trendsetting M.F.
Husain, who used this art form most dramatically when he booked
the Jehangir Art Gallery — only to fill it up with crumpled balls of
newspapers for a show titled Shwetambari. He was denounced
by purists whose sensibilities were outraged at his impudence.
Mixed Media
Baji
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using materials ranging from everyday or found objects to new media like video, sound, performance, computers and the internet, artists even make installations that are site-specific
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ABOVE LEFT Mute figures by g.r. irannaRIGHT The Flying Bus installation by artist Sudarshan Shetty
in Mumbai’s Bandra-Kurla Complex
Sunil Gawde’s inverted feminine bases masquerading as
heart-shaped balloons bobbed up and down within his designated
Frame/Grid/Room/Cell at the group show of seven artists including
Nalini Malani, Anita Dube, Riyas Komu, Shilpa Gupta and Jagannath
Panda, curated by Gayatri Sinha for the now defunct Bodhi Art
Gallery, a few years ago.
Not long before that, the same space hosted a procession
of gleaming high-rise dabbas going round in circles on a sushi
conveyor belt at Subodh Gupta’s solo show; and Tushar Joag made
a powerful room-size statement with a suspended ‘periscope’
at Galerie Mirchandani+Steinruecke’s group show, Pink. Bose
Krishnamachari’s Ghost Transmemoir, which travelled around the
world, even had video interviews beamed through small screens
fitted into rows of tiffin dabbas, with headphones to access sound.
Using materials ranging from everyday or found objects
to new media like video, sound, performance, computers and
the internet, artists even make installations that are site-specific
— such as pioneering artist Sudarshan Shetty’s Flying Bus that
is anchored to the ground outside the Maker Maxity complex in
Mumbai’s Bandra-Kurla Complex. Using the city’s iconic double-
decker bus that will soon be obsolete, the artist has given it a new
lease of life — and stainless steel wings — as a public art venue
hosting exhibitions.
The bus (open for viewing from noon to 7 pm) is symbolic of
the constant fluctuations in the city. “The work is poised between
states of relevance and obsolescence, things being remembered
and things being replaced,” discloses the artist. “The double-
decker bus persists as an icon of Mumbai despite now being
phased out. The work is about accepting that things do and must
change, and is about determining a useful way to handle loss that
does not drift toward nostalgia; a re-phrasing of loss as something
vital. The steel wings with their potential of flight, whilst being
burdened by the huge weight of the bus, hint towards this change
and whatever may come in its place,” he states.
Anguish and struggle have long been the preoccupations
of G.R. Iranna, whose profound paintings and sculptures capture
the plight of those who remain cowed down by repressive social
and economic disparities. His sculptural installations created
from fibreglass, titled The Birth of Blindness, make a powerful
statement of protest. Lined up in rows of military precision, his
protagonists are muffled and suffocated — unable to speak out
against the injustices that hold them prisoners.
Bangalore-based artist Sheela Gowda has turned old bits of
house timber into battered versions of abstract sculptures. Cow
dung, thread, spice and oil drums have all been transfigured in her
installations, bringing to light the daily lives of those living on the
economic margins.
Gallery Threshold recently presented a solo show by Israel-
born artist Achia Anzi (now living in India) titled Peaceful be your
return O lovely bird... It is a line borrowed from Zionist poet, Hayim
Nachman Bialik, who wrote these while studying in Europe and
long before immigrating to Israel. In this poem, Bialik addresses
Two Indian artists have managed to
break out from the traditional sculptural
forms to take installation art to a complex
conceptual level — Anish Kapoor and Subodh
Gupta. London-based Kapoor, of Indian-
Iraqi Jewish ancestry, is considered among
the most influential sculptors/conceptual
artists of his generation. Born in Bombay,
the 58-year-old artist has lived and worked
in London since the early ’70s and his art is
in numerous private and public collections,
including the Tate Gallery, the Museum of
Modern Art in New York, the Reina Sofia in
Madrid and Stedlijk Museum in Amsterdam.
Winner of the prestigious Turner Art Prize, among Kapoor’s
much-admired works is a 110-ton stainless steel sculpture, Cloud
Gate, in Chicago’s Millennium Park, an ambitious and controversial
project by architect Frank Gehry, which opened on July 16, 2005.
Standing 33 feet high, with enough space below for people to walk
through, it is said to be one of the largest sculptures in the world.
Nicknamed The Bean because of its shape, it has been fabricated
on site by thousands of Chicago residents. “It perches on two
down-turned ends, allowing viewers to walk underneath,” says
Kapoor. To the southwest of the sculpture
is a fountain designed by the Barcelona
artist, Jaume Plensa, with two 50-foot-high
glass-block towers in one-eighth-inch deep
reflecting pool.
Kapoor, who showed a couple of years
ago in Mumbai and Delhi, his first exhibition
in India, says it has always been “a struggle
as a non-Western artist not to be labelled”
with one’s country of origin. “I’m Indian, my
sensibility is Indian. And I welcome that,
rejoice in that, but the great battle nowadays
is to occupy an aesthetic territory that isn’t
linked to nationality.” Among his newest
public installation is Orbit, commissioned by
the Greater London Authority from a shortlist
of the artist’s proposals for a permanent
artwork for the Olympic Park. It is due for
completion anytime soon.
Delhi-located Gupta is often
compared to the British conceptual artist
Marcel Duchamp, for the kind of raw
materials he uses for his art and installations
— pots, pans and squat stools from his
childhood in Bihar, which recall his rustic
roots. A mainstay of big international art fairs,
Gupta has exhibited at some of the biggest
art events and galleries across the world
— the Venice Biennale, London's Frieze and shows in Moscow,
Miami, Lille and Japan.
Among Gupta’s seminal works is the one owned by collector
and French billionaire François Pinault, who bought a one-ton skull
called A Very Hungry God, crafted out of aluminum pots and pans,
after one of his curators spotted it in a remarkable show at Paris's
Eglise Saint-Bernard church. It now occupies the premium space
outside Pinault’s museum in Milan.
Among his recent works is This Side is the Other Side, an
installation with milk cans slung on either
side of a Priya scooter, a comment on the
chasm that exists between the old and the
new India; Colgate, a quirky piece of metallic
sculptures of bundles of neem sticks and
Oil on Canvas, a series he exhibited at
the Nature Morte Gallery in New Delhi
in December 2011, for which he worked
with bronze, marble, brass and wood and
explored themes of the readymade and
the found object. He has also collaborated
as a scenographer for a ballet staged at
Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre at the invitation of
the French choreographer, Angelin Preljocaj.
The global Voices
anish Kapoor
Subodh gupta’s The Very hungry god
Mixed Media
The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 201236 The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 2012 37
Travelogue
The leela Magazine – suMMer 2012 39
an imaginary bird that migrated from Palestine to his window,
expressing his loneliness and longing to return to Israel.
While exploring the fall of the Zionist dream, the sculptures
readdress that old vision. Anzi uses iron, plaster, tin sheet and
scrap material for his sculptures and sculptural installations. The
works are crude, coarse, distressed and abrasive so as to convey
feelings of pain and destruction.
At their exhibition at the Ullens Centre for Contemporary
Art in Beijing in 2010, the artist duo Thukral and Tagra presented a
series of works entitled, Match Fixed. The works on display were
a delightful take on sexual double standards and social hypocrisy,
stuck in the middle of a contemporary India.
While art installations are engaging and gripping, adding
life to inner spaces as well as the outdoors, one wonders if art
buyers are ready to accommodate the less ephemeral but still
unwieldy works in their collections. If not, why do artists indulge
themselves and where do they get the financial support to do so?
Shireen Gandhy of Chemould Prescott Road, who hosted Pakistani
artist Rashid Rana’s “sold out” solo show, maintains that this art
form has come into its own, yet laments that the climate is not
completely conducive.
But Mortimer Chatterjee, partner, Chatterjee & Lal, which
launched its new gallery space designed to hold new media art as
well as paintings and sculptures with a show of video installation
work by international artist Sophie Ernst, feels that the tide is
turning — as “at last there are viable spaces that can effectively
house installations.” He points to Subodh Gupta and Sudarshan
Shetty as India’s leading installation-based artists.
The avowed aim of such practitioners is to challenge the
status quo by encouraging their audience to see familiar objects in
an unfamiliar light and, half the fun lies in decoding the scrambled
message. For instance, if one did not know about Riyas Komu’s
political preoccupations, one could easily miss the point in his
satirical Oil’s Well at Bodhi.
“Though there are few takers, it’s heartening that purchases
are being made outside of the canvas,” says Gandhy, pointing out
that “almost everything Subodh Gupta makes is sold. His Hungry
God (skull sculpture made of vessels) was bought by Francois
Pinault, one of the world’s biggest collectors.”
Installations are, more often than not, a financially non-
viable exercise. Yet, artists like Delhi-based Atul Bhalla continue
to sink their hard-earned cash into voicing their concerns through
expansive statement-making visuals. “One doesn’t work because
of the climate, but because one finds it essential to work like that,”
shrugs Bhalla, who drew attention to the pollution of the river
Yamuna in his solo show at Project 88. “If artists work according
to the climate, there wouldn’t be avant-garde or cutting-edge art.
It is mediocrity that waits for climate to change rather than make
attempts to change it.”
Ranjana Steinruecke of Galerie Mirchandani+Steinruecke
feels that galleries should encourage artists by bearing the cost of
unsold works, though this does not always happen.
The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 201238ABOVE LEFT grid by riyas Komu
RIGHT israel-born artist achia anzi’s recent show held at gallery Threshold
Mixed Media
Travelogue
The leela Magazine – suMMer 2012 41
Bhalla often has to dismantle and store the huge tanks
that depict his environmental concerns, he insists that there
are buyers — “essentially good collectors and institutions
that appreciate cutting-edge art, and are willing to support it.”
Collectors are currently acquiring what they think is important
within the contemporary art scene. “They are supporting artists
who they think are going to be very essential to the definition of
contemporary Indian art in the coming years,” observes Bhalla.
Anupam Poddar is one among a handful of Indian collectors
who champion such art.
“The interesting thing is, from being a collector he has now
gone on to setting up a foundation that will house, display and
store his collection,” discloses Gandhy, adding that the walls are
designed to display projections rather than only paintings. “If there
are collectors whose passions give birth to foundations (in lieu of
the sad death of museums in our country), then art buying can go
beyond the realm of painting,” she reasons.
Now that we are being surrounded by installations in public
spaces, traditionalists claim that Indian artists are just aping the
West — but Gandhy refutes this indignantly: “It’s not about being
trendy, it’s a process that becomes essential. The stimulus, the
world that sensitises our artists is so intense, that to sustain
themselves creatively they feel the need to make work that’s
not bound by a frame. Art is a reflection of society; so if society
has the privilege of moving forward, why should artists be caged
within the 2-D formula?”
Shetty, who chooses not to describe himself specifically
as an installation artist, finds it essential to be free to move
between different techniques and materials. He echoes Gandhy’s
sentiments when he says, “It is vital to continually find new ways
to re-state things.” He likes working outside the context of the
white walls of the gallery, and accepts that he does not have
complete control over the environment. “That means the work is
allowed to transform and be transformed, and new meanings can
enter,” he explains. “It is interesting to open up the work to as
many different readings as possible.”
After all, that is really the essence of art installations and
public art — to engage the audience and set them thinking,
whether or not they buy or fund the work on display.
(Maria Louis is the editor of Architect and Interiors India)
ABOVE Charkha, the 30-foot-tall steel sculpture designed by architect nuru Karim, located at Cross Maidan
BELOW a Volkswagen Beetle installation by haribabu natesan at the Kala ghoda art Festival 2012
Mixed Media
The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 201240
The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 201242 The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 2012 43
“i have discovered photography. now i can kill myself. i have nothing else to learn.”
— Pablo Picasso
There is more to photography then merely capturing static images. They tell a story
and increasingly are being seen as exquisite works of art
Photographer norman Parkinson’ Floating with Flower, india, Vogue, 1956. his impulsive and unstructured style changed the
static approach to fashion photography
PhoTograPhy
By Deepali Nandwani
The art of images
Even before the world had discovered the art in photography,
one of the world’s greatest artists had begun using the
medium as an art form. Years later, in 1993, auction house
Sotheby’s auctioned off a Man Ray photograph for $194,000 and
Christie’s sold an Alfred Steiglitz photograph of Georgia O’Keefe’s
hands for $398,000. Since then, photography has attracted high
prices at auctions and a strong presence at international festivals.
Vicki Goldberg, the photography critic for The New York
Times, says, “The first time photography was subject to a legal
definition of whether it could be considered art was in France in
1862, when one photographer sued another for using his photos.”
In 1910, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo became the first
museum to buy a photography collection. New York’s Museum of
Modern Art mounted an exhibition of photography in 1937. PhoT
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The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 201244
ABOVE Pablo Bartholomew’s portrait of Mumbai in the 1970s
ABOVE alex Prager’s portrait of a woman in a store. The american photographer’s images are stylised and often large-scaleBELOW chinese photographer Liu Xiaofeng’s work was first shown internationally at Paris Photo, 2010
Internationally, among the biggest photographers-
artists are Andreas Gursky, whose evocative image, Frankfurt
of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange’s trading floor, sold for a record
$2.1million at Sotheby’s New York auction, a couple of years ago.
Chinese photographer Liu Xiaofang, was chosen for reGeneration
2, a selection of 50 photographers of tomorrow curated by Swiss
Musée de l’Elysée. Yet another one is American photographer and
filmmaker, Alex Prager, a self-taught photographer who takes her
cues from pulp fiction.
India’s love affair with photography is centuries old. Our
maharajas first discovered the medium which helped them
preserve their family history and their ancestry through exquisitely
The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 2012 45
PhoTograPhy
The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 2012 47The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 201246
FACING PAGE (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT) a photograph by derry Moore; The great Migration, Serengeti, by Paul Souders; works of T S Satyan and raghu rai ABOVE Madhuban Mitra and Manas Bhattacharya’s photography of an abandoned camera factory in kolkataTOP RIGHT Frankfurt by andrew gursky which sold at $2.1 million at the Sotheby’s auction, new york
PhoTograPhy
shot photographs. In India, shutterbugs like Lala Deen Dayal
photographed rare images of the maharajas. Besides, our royalty,
like the Maharaja of Kapurthala, Sirdar Charanjit Singh, and the
ruler of Mysore, Yuvraja Sir Kanthirava Narasimharaja Wodeyar
Bahadur got themselves captured on film for posterity at photo
studios like the Hamilton Studio in Mumbai and the Lafayette
Studio in London.
In later years, Indian photographers like T S Satyan, Raghu
Rai and Dayanita Singh took photography to great heights by
capturing everyday life and Indian landscape through their lens,
but in a way that transformed these intimate portraits into works
of art. Agencies and photogalleries like Tasveer and PhotoInk in
India promote the fine art of photography in India. In recent times,
contemporary photographers like Karen Knorr and Pushpmala
N have turned photography into performance art, where the
images are set up through detailed intervention. Much like Cindy
Sherman, considered among the important post-modern artists of
our times, Pushpmala masquerades as characters in front of her
own camera.
In India and internationally, wildlife photography has also
moved from mere images of beauty to art, and ones that help
in conservation efforts. Sweeping portraits of the landscape and
beautifully shot photographs help tell us the story of a world we
rarely encounter in our urban lives, but one which contributes so
richly not just to the beauty of the planet Earth, but also to its
ecological health.
PhoTograPhy
RARE VIEW — THE LEELA FINDTheyyam, a popular hindu ritual form of worship practised in the north Malabar region of kerala in south india, is also a rarely photographed event, in keeping with the norms
laid down by the temple. We managed to capture the beauty of this celebration in its full regalia and bring you an interesting snapshot (BELOW RIGHT) of the holy dance
or invocation performed in front of the Muchilottu Bhagavathi, the nair family temple. The dancer is dressed in red clothes and his face, shoulder and chest is covered in red
sandal paste. Theyyam artists are from low-caste communities and once dressed, even the high-caste people worship them as they are supposed to be gods in the form of
Theyyam. The dancer, along with the drummers, recites the ritual song, which describes the myths and legends of the deity of the shrine
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On a high noteThe Symphony Orchestra of India has transformed India’s musical landscape by introducing Western classical music to a country known for its strong folk and indigenous classical music traditions
muSIc
RIGHT Zane Dalal, Resident conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of India, during a performance
Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Ruggero
Leoncavallos’s Pagliacci — euphemistically known as
opera’s heavenly twins — were recently presented by the
Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI) at the National Centre for the
Performing Arts (NCPA) in Mumbai. At the concert, apart from the
sophisticated opera regulars, there were a considerable number
of young, first-time opera goers. The spellbindingly impassioned
music of the orchestra smoothly took the audience through the
many stories of love, jealousy, betrayal, murder and societal
privation that the verismo (true to life) opera unfolded. There was
no real need to demystify the opera for the Indian audience who
was not exposed to Western classical music as the music did
the needful. “Opera orchestras are supple, fluid and attentive,
and create the homogenous sound for the whole production. It
makes our musicians better musicians, and provides a sense of
pride that we can accomplish this very complicated art form and
take it to a high standard. We hope to continue to bring opera
to local audiences for years to come,” says Zane Dalal, Resident
Conductor, SOI.
Founded by the NCPA Chairman Khusroo N Suntook and
the international virtuoso violinist Marat Bisengaliev in 2006, the
SOI is the country’s first fully professional orchestra. “Players are
recruited from an international field, with a core of instrumentalists
drawn from Kazakhstan and many other countries of Europe and
the UK. Many of the principal players are also teachers and the
orchestra places great emphasis on developing musical potential
within India,” says Dalal, who himself was educated in England
and holds a masters degree in music from the University of Oxford
and Indiana University. “There is a growing number of Indian
players representing the finest local talent and providing a solid
foundation for the future of orchestral playing in this country. We
have recently expanded our search for talent to include players
from Kolkata and Darjeeling, adding to our already diverse group
of performers from Goa, Bangalore, Mumbai and Kerala. We are
proud that the SOI is taking on a truly national spirit,” he adds.
With its formation, Mumbai has joined the ranks of
major international cities that support a professional performing
ensemble. “Since the time we started, we have been greeted
with tremendous enthusiasm by Mumbai’s Western classical
music fans. Beyond providing the audiences with a chance
to listen to good Western classical music, the idea was to also
expose them to a genre of music that’s loved and played all over
the world, so on occasions when they are travelling abroad, they
feel right at home,” says Dalal. Apart from their national tours and
concerts in Mumbai over the course of two seasons each year,
the SOI has also performed internationally at the Fifth Festival of
the World’s Symphony Orchestras in Moscow. “The SOI played on
the concluding night as part of the Grand Finale, which incidentally
was also the eve of Russia Day, in the presence of the highest
echelons of Russian society. The performance of Beethoven’s 9th
Symphony was indeed a great success,” shares Dalal.
Talking about the special methods and techniques taught to
make students develop a strong bond with music, Dalal says, “The
NCPA is providing teachers for the successful Suzuki Method,
which introduces players as young as four-years-old to the basics
of string technique, providing a foundation for their future musical
development. The project was started in 2008 and till date it has
nine participating schools with over 300 children enrolled,” he
says. The Suzuki Method, which has already transformed the
musical landscape of Japan and China, is based on the principle
that all children possess ability, which can be enhanced through a
nurturing environment, like the way they learn to speak their own
language with relative ease. “There is also a quintet in residence,
which represents the various sections of the string orchestra. They
The LeeLa magaZIne – SummeR 201248 The LeeLa magaZIne – SummeR 2012 49
“Players are recruitedfrom an international field”
— Zane Dalal
By Kriti Sharma
The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 2012 51
top gear
The LeeLa magaZIne – SummeR 201250
muSIc
form the core teaching staff of the SOI and with them, the NCPA
plans to provide for the future of the orchestra with talent that has
been nurtured over the years in India,” he adds.
Though it may be an elementary phase for India in the
operatic history, Mumbai is no stranger to this ancient performing
art. The Royal Opera House in the southern part of the city stands
testimony to the importance the British gave towards popularising
this internationally acclaimed music form in the country.
“The first truly professional opera staged in India was in 2008, in
Mumbai, when the NCPA produced Puccini’s Madama Butterfly
at par with international standards. This piece had a heavy
element of foreign participation but the great advantage of staging
an opera in India was the easy availability of stage craftsmen,
costume makers and technical assistance due to the presence of
Bollywood and the theatre community, which avails their services
constantly. These were also available at affordable prices. Our
second opera, TOSCA, which was produced in September 2010
was a major undertaking and turned out to be quite successful,”
says Dalal.
Since 2008, every opera performed by the SOI is
accompanied by sub-titles to help audiences understand what
is going on the stage. “Audiences need to come to all artistic
performances with an open mind and open ears. Indian audiences
are no strangers to subtlety or appreciation of good sounds, drama
and the grand spectacle. If we can bring people to listen, the opera
will do all the magic on its own, as it has done for the last 415
years,” says Dalal.
With the growing popularity of opera and orchestra in India,
the NCPA’s concerted efforts are to bring the best of international
music to Indian shores. “We are in the process of providing an
artistic choice that will widen horizons for our local audiences —
and make them appreciate all that it is happening here,” he says.
The orchestra has worked with internationally renowned
soloists including Michael Collins, Raphael Wallfisch, John
Lenehan and Andrei Gavrilov. It has also collaborated with eminent
conductors including Adrian Leaper and Alexander Annisimov. In
the last seven seasons, the SOI presented great masterworks
including Strauss’ Don Juan and Stravinski’s Firebell Suite and the
Beethoven: symphony No. 9 in D-minor, showcasing its virtuosity.
Speaking on his musical journey in India so far, Dalal
says, “The process so far has been miraculous. The rewards far
outweigh the obvious challenges — and I am extremely gratified
that the orchestra has grown from strength to strength. Our visiting
international musicians look forward to coming here because
they know the standards will be worth their effort. Our growing
number of international supporters are recognising the value and
the standard of the orchestra, and India can take much pride in
what we have accomplished. When people hear the orchestra we
don’t want them to say “That is a great orchestra for India. We
want them to say ‘That is a great orchestra.’ And they do.”
ABOVE LEFT maestro alexander anissimov conducts Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at the ncPa
RIGHT Indian musicians performing at a SOI concert
“audiences need to come to all artistic performances with an open mind and open ears” — Dalal
The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 201252 The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 2012 53
Photographer Sebastian Cortes goes beyond the clichéd images of this former French colony, to explore private spheres, homes, spaces and routines, which exemplify a culture
remain true to the same criteria only on a much wider scale, that
of a city, which is criss-crossed by many different influences. The
challenge on this book was to avoid and incorporate the obvious. I
had to go beyond the walls and penetrate into the private sphere,
into homes, spaces and routines, which exemplified a certain
culture or cultures, where I could perceive and record a series of
recognisable messages.
The photographic approach was essentially that of ‘straight
photography’ as opposed to journalistic style photography. I have
not used the large or medium format but remained with the
simplicity of the 35mm camera, but almost always on a tripod
and with long exposures. The images are captured digitally and
in colour, so I have, in a sense, only tried to keep the discipline of
straight photography but not all the aesthetic criteria. The access
to certain locations and the time needed to photograph what I was
interested in forced me to return many times to the same location.
The project was in continuous evolution as to what it would
ultimately produce. I kept all doors open and placed no limits.
Besides the photographs, the books have essays on
Pondicherry written by some very talented writers, who offer
readers an alternative view of Pondicherry — always from a very
personal and perceptive position. It was clear for me from the
start of the project that I wanted to have a cross-cultural view so
I contacted writers of very diverse backgrounds. Pascal Bruckner,
a French intellectual with a good understanding and love for India,
shares his observations on Pondicherry and how the photographs
affect his perception of a city he visited several times. Akash
Kapur, an Indian, who has deep roots in Pondicherry but has
travelled and lived abroad for many years, shares with the reader
his worldly Pondicherian view — his observations on south Indian
transformation may surprise many people. The third author is
Amin Jaffer, an Indian, who is both an art historian and director of
Christie’s in India. He recalls the time he spent in Pondicherry as
a student researching Indo-French furniture.
Photographing is a way of imprisoning reality, understood
as recalcitrant, inaccessible; of making it stand still. One can’t
posses reality, one can posses (and be possessed by) images —
as, according to Proust, one can’t posses the present but one can
posses the past. To posses the particular world of Pondicherry,
as experienced by me, was my objective and sharing this in the
form of images — to re-experience the unreality and remoteness
of the real.”
CLOCKWISE FROM FACING PAGE an interior shot of the rue Dumas, a colonial heritage guest house in Pondicherry; a house at ananda rangapillai Street; La Clinique; The Chamber of Commerce as seen on the book cover
an alt view of Pondicherry
LiTerary
Seven years ago, Sebastian
Cortes moved to Auroville
in Pondicherry from Milan,
where he worked as a lifestyle
and fashion photographer and
had a studio. Over the years,
Cortes has travelled across India,
photographing the life and times of
a country under transition, often for
international magazines, even as
he pursued his artistic practice on a
personal level. Among his long-term projects is an extended photo
essay on the former French colony of Pondicherry, now known as
Puducherry, which was recently published by Roli Books.
Here, he writes about what
went into the making of the book,
Pondicherry:
“It (the book) is a further
step on my exploration of ‘the
place’, my perception of a specific
environment and how it’s lived by
individuals. My last book, Poetic
Places, was an extended photo
essay composed of a series of
panoramic portraits of 21 major
Italian poets photographed in their space of artistic activity — the
key to discovering each poet was again ‘the place’— in a literary
and metaphorical sense. In my Pondicherry book I have tried to
Pondicherry is at a distance of about 160kms from the upcoming The Leela Palace Chennai. The drive from the hotel to the
beautiful French colony, along the scenic East Coast Road, takes roughly two and a half hours.
The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 201254
In 1986, he planted an acorn and called it The Leela Mumbai.
Now, 25 years later, this acorn is a full-grown oak tree and has
spread itself to Goa, Bangalore, Kovalam, Udaipur, Gurgaon,
New Delhi and now, also to Chennai. Meet Captain Chittarath
Poovakkatt Krishnan Nair, the founder of The Leela Palaces, Hotels
and Resorts. In a short span of time, Captain Nair has built not just
a landmark hotel chain — The Leela, but also shown to the world
what traditional Indian hospitality is all about.
A visionary in the true sense of the term, Captain Nair
is a living example of dreaming big and what living a dream
really means.
From being an army officer in Netaji Subhas Chandra
Bose’s Indian National Army, fighting for the country’s freedom,
joining his father-in-law’s handloom business at the insistence
of his wife Leela (The hotel is named after her), pioneering the
‘Bleeding Madras’ fabric and
making it the most sought-
after cloth and a huge success
in the US, to venturing into the
hospitality industry at the age of
64, when most Indians dream
of retirement, his life is guided
by the grit to constantly take on
challenges, risk everything on a
dream, test his limit and push it further.
“One should dream big and dream unfettered,” says
Captain Nair, as he looks through the round-rimmed spectacle
frames. It’s this dream of showcasing Indian hospitality and its
ethos — Atithi Devo Bhava (Guest is God) — to the world that
made him start a hotel, close to the airport at Sahar, Mumbai.
He had stayed in some of the best hotels across the world and
desired to have a similar hotel in India someday.
“As a young officer, seeing the country’s struggle to
gain freedom and being part of the historic moment when the
country finally gained independence from the British rule, was
a big motivating factor in my life. I saw how a nation gained
freedom by translating its thoughts into action. At that moment,
I too felt like doing something positive to make this country
proud,” recalls Captain Nair, while sitting in the plush living
room of his suite.
Establishing The Leela was his way of displaying India’s
inherent hospitality to the world. There was a growing need for
more hotels in the country and Captain Nair realised that he could
do his bit, along with the others, and make India gain worldwide
recognition for its hospitality.
He gave wings to his dreams and what began as a
getaway to Indian hospitality with the setting up of The Leela
Mumbai, has now gone to attain dizzying heights of success.
Captain Nair has been feted with the Padma Bhushan, one of
the highest civilian honours given by the government of India.
He has been conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award by The
American Academy of Hospitality Sciences (AAHS), an award
few from the hotel industry have been honoured with. He’s
won the Global 500 Roll of Honour award in 1999, conferred by
the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); has been
awarded the Hotelier of The
Century by International Hotels
and Restaurant Association,
based in Geneva, in 2009, and
has been even felicitated by
the House of Commons, UK.
His hotels have gone on to
win coveted awards from the
government of India, earned
plaudits from the global hospitality industry, and received
rave reviews across media publications. He has been featured
alongside millionaire investor Warren Buffet and media
moghul Rupert Murdoch in the American business magazine
Business Week in its Top 50 septuagenarian business heads
across the world.
All this, in a span of just 25 years!
One wonders how.
It’s a mid-week morning and I’m told that the Chairman
has several back-to-back meetings: a photo shoot with a business
channel on his pioneering journey, a lunch with some guests and
a last-minute meeting with a corporate honcho of an MNC firm
thereafter. Not to forget the evening car ride with wife Leela, which
he religiously undertakes every day. It’s all-in-a-day’s work for the
90-year-old veteran, who has defied age and all its trappings and
still continues to work for long hours daily. He is completely up-
The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 2012 55
as The Leela group reaches the 25 year milestone and celebrates its silver anniversary, Captain C.P. Krishnan Nair, the founder and Chairman of
The Leela Palaces, hotels and resorts, shares his vision of india, the hospitality industry and its future in a freewheeling chat with Sujata Dugar
Location: The Chairman’s Suite, The Leela Mumbai
Captain nair: Leagues ahead
TêTe-à-TêTe
“if hotels, airports and ports are given the infrastructural
status, it will give a big boost to the indian economy”Padma Bhushan awardee
Captain nair has been honoured with three Lifetime achievement awards: the Times Travel honours, hotelier india and the Condé nast Traveller, for his outstanding contribution towards the hospitality industry
The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 201256
to-date with all the happenings in each of The Leela properties
across the country. Nothing misses his sharp mind and keen eye
for detail. Yet, when he meets you, his warmth and smile takes
over and he indulges you with his life’s many memorable events,
highpoints and feats with such alacrity and relaxed disposition
that never even for once do you feel he’s in a hurry and has a tight
schedule to meet up with.
Such is his genuine warmth, amiability and ability to
befriend one and all. Little wonder, in his lifetime, he’s made
friends that most individuals would take several lives to achieve.
He’s touched a chord with people he has met even once. His
list includes the Dalai Lama, Congress President Sonia Gandhi,
Venezuela President Hugo Chavez, former US President Bill
Clinton and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher,
among many others.
“I speak from the heart and put things across in a very
simple way, one that touches the other person deeply,” he
reveals. Citing an example, he says, the vast acres of green that
surround his home in Mumbai and across all his properties is
always covered in grass, courtesy, a simple talk he had with his
gardeners one day on seeing a patch of barren strip.
“I told them that the lawn was like Mother Earth. I asked
them if they would like to see their Mother Earth lying uncovered
and naked.” This was enough to touch a chord in the gardeners’
heart and till this day, not a patch of the greens surrounding any
of The Leela properties, including Captain Nair’s home, lies barren
and bereft of grass.
In fact, he is a keen environmentalist and both his home
and hotels are surrounded in vast acres of greenery. He is also the
only Indian representative on the United Nations committee for
Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, established in 2004.
Ask him about his journey as a hotelier so far and he
candidly admits, “It’s a big milestone. I never realised that The
Leela Group would achieve such success and fame in such a short
time. We were rank outsiders when we got into the hospitality
business and it’s amazing how we still managed to create such a
profound impact. I remain grateful and truly indebted to our guests,
patrons and thankful to every individual, including the government
officials and ministers of tourism, who have supported us in our
endeavour and co-operated with us all these years.”
An icon for showcasing Indian tradition, hospitality and
its richness of culture through his stunning hotels, Captain Nair
feels the road ahead is exciting for the hospitality industry and
the country at large.
“India has reached unimaginable heights of success,
and I truly believe that it will evolve as a superpower. I see that
dream coming true soon. The youth are its strength and today’s
younger generation is extremely intelligent and ready to compete
with any advanced country’s youth, anywhere in the world,” he
feels. He believes that information technology, agriculture, textile
and tourism will be the cornerstones of the country’s economic
growth in the future.
“Earlier, the political system did not allow the hospitality
industry to grow rapidly as they thought it to be a luxury and not
an essential requirement. Now, things have changed and with the
world looking at India and its economy growing, hotels and airports
have become a necessity and this infrastructure is instrumental
in the overall growth of the country. If hotels, airports and ports
are given the infrastructural status, it will give a big boost to the
Indian economy and generate employment for millions of people
and these will become the single largest employer,” he advises.
On his part, Captain Nair is already doing his bit by adding
yet another Leela hotel to his credit — The Leela Palace Chennai.
For a man like him, there is little time to stand and stare as he has
many dreams to fulfill and miles to go.
TêTe-à-TêTe
The LeeLa Magazine – SuMMer 2012 57
viewPoinT
What are the new milestones you
have set for the company?
We subscribe to the India growth
story and are therefore focused
on achieving a pan India presence
in all the key locations. We are
already RevPAR (Revenue Per
Available Room) leaders in most of
the destinations we operate in. In
the near term, we look forward to
stabilising operations in New Delhi
and Chennai, and completing our
projects in destinations such as Agra,
where we already own the land. We
are also in the process of evaluating
joint venture and management
contract proposals in the remaining
destinations in India such as
Hyderabad, Pune and Jaipur, where
an investment in a hotel of The Leela
brand standard is warranted. Our long
term plan is to realise value from our
non-core assets through divestment
and focus on our core competency of
managing hotels.
What have been the achievements of
The Leela Group in the last 25 years?
Over the last 25 years, The Leela Group
with its eight properties, has focused
both in the business and leisure sectors
and has successfully created a pan
India presence with hotels that are
synonymous with high-end luxury and
international standards. Our vision to
innovate and excel has enabled us
to develop and operate hotels with
consistency and quality over the years.
What are the new milestones that you have
set for yourself and the company?
Being involved in the day-to-day hotel
operations and standardising operational
procedures of the company have
been my core focus areas to steer the
company towards growth in both the
domestic and international market.
Additionally, paving the way for the
development of our five star entrant
category brand with a presence in India
is our current focus.
How do you see the company moving ahead
in the next five years?
Brand Leela shall further consolidate
itself as the luxury hotel leader. We are
in an exciting growth phase, which shall
maintain momentum over the next many
years. In the forthcoming two years, we
expect to take Brand Leela overseas
and also launch a secondary brand in
the upscale tier market. We presently
operate eight hotels with another two
newly acquired management contracts
are on line by the year-end. Our
development pipeline shall add another
five hotels in the next five years, growing
our portfolio to 15 properties. Our growth
ambitions are calculated, and we shall
ease our asset burden through pursuit of
more management contracts.
What are the core strengths of the group?
It is the staff of The Leela combined with
sophisticated design, state-of-the-art
technology and innovative partnerships
that have made The Leela brand unique.
Vivek NairVice ChairmanThe Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts
Dinesh NairJoint Managing DirectorThe Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts
Rajiv KaulPresidentThe Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts
way to go
ABOVE Captain nair (sitting) with sons vivek nair (standing at the centre), Dinesh nair (right) and rajiv Kaul (left)
LEFT Captain nair with his wife Leela, who has been his inspiration and the reason for his stepping into the hospitality industry. he has named the hotel after her
Which was the first Leela hotel you stayed at? I first stayed at the Leela Mumbai during a trip that combined
business and pleasure and after some days, I spent some additional time at The Leela Goa.
How was your first interactionwith Captain Nair?
I first spoke to Captain Nair after publishing a book I had written on India. Captain Nair contacted me with a wish to buy it for the hotel.
Since the book was not for sale, I offered him some copies. What impressed me most was his genuine love and passion for India and
especially for the people that are the country’s real treasure.For me, seeing him is like entering a sunny place after being in the
shadow, his words warm my heart. He is a leader who inspires people around him and makes them believe in themselves. Apart from his
unique enthusiasm and energy, he is a true visionary, inspiring belief through his actions in a loving and joyous way. That’s why all the
people close to him adore him — from the doorman or the driver of the hotel, to the general manager.
You were present at his 90th birthday celebration. Describe your feelings on being a part
of such a milestone event?It was an honour and a great pleasure for me to attend his 90th
birthday. I consider myself a very lucky person to have such a friend. Lifetime relationships teach us lifetime lessons, things we must build
upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation.
Name one thing about The Leela hotelsthat strikes you the most?
The Leela Group has landmark hotels in India. What impresses me most is the attention to the smallest details, the charm and quality of service and the exquisite decor. One can find little need to leave the
hotel if he desires not to. Anything he chooses, from dining, relaxation in the swimming pool to spa services, they are all excellent.
Camillo ProntiFashion Designer & Managing Director,
Asja SRL
The Leela Palace New Delhi“Glamour,
elegance, style and exceptional
service.“
Dr. G. BerendtFormer member of
board of management, Kempinski Hotels
The Leela Mumbai “The hotel is a jewel.
There are very limited international hotels
which are able to match such standards.”
Hrithik RoshanActor
The Leela Kempinski Gurgaon (N.C.R.)
“Thank you for a wonderful stay. See
you again soon.”
Naomi CampbellSupermodel
The Leela Kovalam“You have taken such great care of me. Everyone is so wonderful. It’s for sure, I will come back. Your hospitality is one of the best.”
Colin A GurleySenior Manager, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, London
The Leela Goa“The new restaurant is world class and the Thai chef’s dishes are better than some of the best I have had.”
Dr. Amartya SenNobel laureate, economist, professor
The Leela Palace Bangalore“Great stay — wonderful service. A most enjoyable occasion.”
Guess the Leela property in this photograph and win a luxurious monogrammed bathrobe from The Leela. Send in your entry along with your contact details to theleelamagazine@theleela.com. All entries must be sent before June 10, 2012.
A lucky draw from all the correct entries will declare the winner.
Previous contest’s winner is:Irfan VazirallyPharmamatch B.V.Vittal Mallya Road,Bangalore
contestsnapshot
Guest speak
jet set Go
Dimitra StasinopoulouAward-winning photographer
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accoLades
I have one wish should I ever become 90 years old:
Everyone shall call me Captain and I will show young
hotel and restaurateur-sailors, where the ship is cruising to.
You ask why I am so declamatory today?
Because I am a big fan of Captain C.P. Krishnan Nair. At
65 years of age, the Indian gentleman started his innings
in tourism. Long before, in 1947, he was a young freedom
fighter, served in the Indian army and then went on to
become a major textile exporter.
Today, at the age of 90, the founder of the Leela
group is travelling from one of his resorts to the next:
Captain Nair is opening yet another five star hotel in
Chennai this year, flying to Goa, Bangalore, Udaipur and
Mumbai, and to Delhi to visit The Leela Palace New Delhi.
At The Leela Palace New Delhi — from a culinary
point of view — he has founded a new India. With the
opening of Le Cirque, he has introduced for the first time,
an international restaurant concept from the US into one of
his five star hotels. Leela’s co-operation with the American
brand Le Cirque is unique in India and a showcase project
for fine dining in New Delhi.
Besides Le Cirque, there is another food concept
from New York at The Leela Palace New Delhi: Megu,
which represents modern Japanese cuisine. Its signature
dishes include kanzumi shrimps, salmon tatar as well as
Kobe and satsuma beef in diverse variations.
And all of this in India. Sounds like a revolution from
the Captain — a culinary one.
(This is a translated version of the column which appeared in
the European trade magazine Rolling Pin, a German publication,
on February 2012)
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By Robert Kropf
Le Cirque, the internationally renowned
French and Italian gourmet restaurant,
which set foot in Asia at The Leela Palace
New Delhi in 2011, was adjudged the winner in
the inaugural edition of the Travel+Leisure India
& South Asia’s India’s Best Awards. It won in
the Best Hotel Restaurant India category.
Yet another winner is the world-class
Japanese cuisine restaurant Megu, which
opened this year at The Leela Palace New Delhi.
It has been conferred the Six Star Diamond
Award given by the American Academy of
Hospitality Sciences.
The Library Bar at The Leela Palace
Bangalore has been awarded the 2012
Whisky Bars of the world Gold Medal-India
award for outstanding presentation, promotion
and knowledge of great whiskies from around
the world.
The Rubicon Bar at The Leela Kempinski
Gurgaon (N.C.R.) also received the 2012 Whisky
Bars of the world Gold Medal-India award.
Joining the league is The Library Bar at
The Leela Palace New Delhi. It received the
Best Whisky Bar of India by Icons of Whisky
2012. The gold certification was given in
recognition of its unrivalled guest experience
and for offering the best whisky collection in
the country.
Restaurantspar excellence
in golden league new milestoneThe Leela Palace New Delhi has been voted amongst the
top hotels across the Asia-Pacific region for the highest
standards of service excellence by the internationally
acclaimed DestinAsian magazine.
Adjudged by the readers of DestinAsian magazine
across Asia including Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and
India, The Leela Palace New Delhi has been acclaimed
for its grand opulence and contemporary sophistication,
impeccable guest service and convenient geographical
location, making it the preferred destination for discerning
business and leisure travellers. The DestinAsian reader poll
results also recommended the Kiziswedhna Spa Ritual at
ESPA — a synchronised Ayurveda-inspired massage — as a
must-try at the hotel. This seventh annual Readers’ Choice
Awards was conferred at a star-studded event in Hong
Kong in the presence of major players of the hospitality
industry in the region.
Joining the winner’s list is the The Leela Palace
Udaipur. It has been selected in the World’s Best Hotels
category — Gold List 2012 by Condé Nast Traveller.
culinary revolution
in india
LEFT the Library Bar at the Leela palace Bangalore
LEFT Le cirque restaurant at the Leela palace new delhi ABOVE Ronald Liem, publisher, destinasian presenting the award to amit chopra, director of sales and Marketing, the Leela palace new delhi
events
Legendary hotelier Captain C.P. Krishnan Nair, Chairman
and founder of The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts
turned 90 this year and what better way to celebrate than
to be amidst family, friends and the extended Leela family.
The Nair family organised a glittering party to celebrate
the occasion at the poolside of The Leela Mumbai. While
younger son Dinesh Nair and his wife Madhu looked into the
décor and food arrangements, granddaughter Aishwarya
created a uniquely designed birthday cake. The Nair family
was in full attendance and grandson Aushim, who flew
down from Switzerland to be part of the celebration, was
seen welcoming the guests.
1: chairman captain nair receives a bouquet of flowers from union Minister for tourism shri subodh kant sahay 2: captain nair with his wife Leela 3: captain nair’s daughter-in-law Madhu nair with her daughter samyukta4: captain nair with shreeji arvind singhji Mewar, Maharana of udaipur5: captain nair flanked by filmstar Mammootty and sons vivek nair (second from left) vice chairman and dinesh nair (extreme right) joint Managing director, the Leela palaces, hotels and Resorts6: captain nair with shashi tharoor, Member of parliament and wife sunanda 7: captain nair with M. veerappa Moily, union Minister for corporate affairs8: captain nair along with his sons greet film director priyadarshan 9: (Left to right) vivek nair with daughters aishwarya, amruda, wife Lakshmi and son aushim
Glorious90!
1 5
7
9
2
3
4
6
8
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events
The party was well-attended by businessmen,
corporate bigwigs, celebrities from the Malayalam film
industry, prominent cabinet ministers, close friends and
relatives of the family. Prominent among these were
Maharana of Udaipur Shreeji Arvind Singhji Mewar,
Union Minister of Corporate Affairs M. Veerappa Moily,
Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor with wife Sunanda
and Malayalam film superstar Mammootty, among
several others.
12
16
18
1110 13
1714 15
10,11,13,15,17: the poolside at the Leela Mumbai was beautifully decorated with flowers and the entire property was lit up for the birthday celebration. sumptuous food and a musical evening added an extra edge to the occasion12: captain nair being greeted on his birthday by Ram kohli, chairman and Managing director, creative travel 14: k.k. unni, board member of Bilag industries pvt. Ltd. with the chairman16: chairman flanked by Rajiv pratap Rudy, Rajya sabha member and shri subodh kant sahay 18: praful patel, union Minister for heavy industries and public enterprises with Madhu nair
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pRoMotion
the LeeLa MaGazine – suMMeR 201266
Re-engineer your lifeDr Jyotsna Changrani, co-founder of Meta Wellness, tells us how our lifestyle impacts our
health and how Meta Wellness programmes weave in the science for good health
younger, but you may fit into larger sized clothes when you hit
middle-age. Why? Fat is approximately four times muscle volume.
As your body’s muscle is replaced with fat, you may continue to
weigh the same, but the volume has expanded.
Track your body’s fat along with your weight. You may weigh
normal but still have high body fat. The World Health Organisation
(WHO) defines obesity as more than 25 per cent body fat in men
and more than 35 per cent body fat in women. High body fat
increases risk for heart disease, osteoarthritis, stroke, gall bladder
disease, sleep apnea and some sort of cancer, even for normal
weight people.
Meta Wellness solution: Conduct regular assessment of the body
fat. Design a weight-training programme to build and maintain
muscle.
Poor quality of sleep = high blood pressure
New research has shown that lack of
deep resting sleep at night can increase
the risk of high blood pressure. It is not
just hours, but the quality of sleep at
night that matters. Normal individuals
enter into nearly two hours of deep sleep
every night. The normal nightly dip in
blood pressure is considered beneficial.
Individuals who have the least deep
sleep are the most likely to develop high
blood pressure.
Meta Wellness solution: Screen for
factors that may influence the quality
of sleep and address through medical
management and lifestyle change.
Mindful eating
As a child you may have been told to chew your food slowly.
Science tells us that if we gobble down our food, we will end up
consuming more calories than if we ate slowly.
We now know that the hormonal signals that alert your
brain when you are full are swung into action if you chew slowly
but don’t respond if you’re eating quickly. Research shows the risk
of being overweight is tripled if one is eating quickly.
Meta Wellness solution: Eating for health should be pleasurable,
not adversarial. Practice mindful eating while at The Leela, and
sustain it in your regular eating routines.
Artificial sweetener and weight gain
You may switch from sugar to artificial sweeteners to lose
weight, and in the short-term, you may
show some success. But recent studies
have hinted that artificial sweeteners
may actually be causing weight gain in
the long-term. It has been suggested
that sugar substitutes desensitise
people to sweetness because they are
excessively sweet. Nutritious foods such
as fruits and vegetables fail to appeal
to the desensitised palate, and the
unhealthy cravings are magnified. There
is also some research linking artificial
sweeteners to stimulating development
of fat cells.
Meta Wellness solution: Indulge in delicious
food that is also heart healthy and made
entirely with natural ingredients.
Health is not something gained by a visit to the doctor or
at an annual health check-up. Everyday choices — what
we order at a restaurant, how we spend time with our
children, how we commute to work — all add up. Our lifestyle is
the single biggest factor in determining whether we are healthy
or not. Luckily, it is all within our control.
Meta Wellness is a New York-based innovative healthcare
company offering a range of physician-led programmes to prevent
and treat diseases caused by one’s lifestyle, such as heart disease,
diabetes and obesity. It has partnered with The Leela Group in
India and offers lifestyle change programmes for health based on
internationally-proven experiential models.
Do you have sitting disease?
Latest research is focusing on the harm done by a sedentary
lifestyle. Two or more hours a day of leisure screen time doubles
the risk of a heart attack compared with those who spent less
time. Unfortunately, a few hours a week at the gym does not
offset the harm.
Recent studies have shown that inactivity leads to blood
sugar levels spiking significantly after meals. The unused muscle
needs less energy, and draws less sugar from the blood, causing
the spiking.
Meta Wellness solution: Creatively convert sedentary time into
active time based on work-life routines.
What’s the bare minimum for exercise?
Figuring out ideal exercise dosage is not simple. The US
Department of Health and Human Services reviewed dozens
of studies and concluded that the minimum amount of exercise
required for health benefits is 500 MET (Metabolic Equivalent of
Task) minutes of exercise a week. 500 MET minutes of exercise
does not mean 500 minutes of exercise. A single MET is the
amount of energy a person uses at rest. Two METs is twice
the energy burned at rest, and so on. The MET minute varies
according to the intensity of exercise. Approximately 150 minutes
a week of a moderate, three to five MET activity, such as walking,
add up to about 500 MET minutes.
Meta Wellness solution: Resting metabolism and your heart’s
response to exercise is measured for personalised exercise
prescriptions.
Your weight is only part of the story
You may weigh approximately the same as you did when you were
Meta Wellness re:verse is a 90-day programme combining intensive in-person treatment with remote follow-up delivered either in a convenient in-city weekends format or as a rejuvenating retreat.
re:verse in-city, available at The Leela Mumbai, begins with a weekend stay at the Meta Wellness Re:newal Centre at The Leela.
There are four day-long weekend sessions at Week-3, Week-6, Week-9 and Week-12.re:tune, available at The Leela Kovalam Beach, Kerala, begins with an intensive 10-day stay at the
Meta Wellness Re:newal Centre, in the luxurious environs of the property. It offers spa therapies, exercises and gourmet meals perfected by leading nutritionists and weight-loss programmes.
Both the programmes offer personalised monitoring of the clinical team.
HEAL
THY
HEAR
T
ABOVE a sedentary lifestyle, coupled with leisure activities which involve sitting for two hours and more, doubles the risk of a heart disease ABOVE dishes prepared with natural ingredients are beneficial for the heart the LeeLa MaGazine – suMMeR 2012 67
the LeeLa MaGazine – suMMeR 201268 the LeeLa MaGazine – suMMeR 2012 69
LeeLa
Quintessentially famed to be a British style wine,
Port has an extremely interesting history. Made for
the British as a result of a political embargo on the French
wines, the wines from Portugal and Spain became much
sought-after due to their proximity with England.
The Methuen treaty, signed between Britain and
Portugal in 1703, fortified and boosted trade between the
two nations. It is said that two English wine traders on a
mission to select wines to take back home discovered one
— slightly sweet, light and a red varietal that they thought
was appropriate to buy for the English consumers. When
asked how the wine was made, they were told that it had
been fortified by the winemaker with a touch of brandy,
making its palate slightly off dry and higher in alcohol. This
higher alcohol percentage appealed to the merchants as
they were in search of a wine that would travel well across
the Bay of Biscay, from the Douro region in Portugal to the
British homeland.
The fortification of port wine is a result of the
addition of a neutral spirit to stop the fermentation process
in the wine. Its addition creates the residual sugar in the
wine, which results in its sweet and luscious palate. In the
vinification process, a very unique process is the pressing of
the grapes in large granite troughs, which is carried out for
optimal extraction of tannins and colour. In certain quintas
or houses, manual trodding of the grapes is carried by
skilled labour. These houses have the more traditional and
expensive of the Ports.
The modern and preferred blend of grapes used
in the Port are Tinta Roriz, Touriga
Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Cão
and Tinta Barroca, amongst 75
other traditional varietals that are
permitted in its production. The
various Port styles include White
Port, Ruby Port, Reserve Ruby, Tawny Port, Reserve Tawny
Port, Crusted Port, Late Bottled Vintage Port, Colheita Port,
Vintage Port, and the last but not the least, Single Quinta
Vintage Port.
My pairing recommendation for cheese would be the
classic Stilton, Roquefort or Azeitão, an ewe’s milk cheese
from Portugal.
Aishwarya NairFood & wine merchandising,The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts
Grapes of port
oenoLoGyinteresting history, unique vinification
process and its sweet taste makes the fortified port wine, produced in the
douro valley in portugal, a must-have
The Leela Palace New Delhi partnered with FINE
Wine & Chamapgne magazine to celebrate the FINE
Life award. Dirk Niepoort of Niepoort Vinhos from
Portugal, a legendary Port maker from the Duoro
region, was conferred the FINE Life Award 2012 for his
exceptional contribution.
The event also saw the FINE Iconic Tasting being
conducted by Niepoort. It had Port wines of vintages
from the last three centuries — 1863, 1900, 1912, 1917,
1937, 1947, 1952, 1957, 1970, 1976, 1977 and 2005.
RAISE A TOAST
ABOVE port wine of vintages from the last three centuries were part of the tasting session held at the Leela palace new delhi
in sea-swept kovalam — the land of palm-fringed beaches,bountiful verdant greenery and traditional ayurvedic massages,
a visit assures to soothe your every frayed nerve. Aji Padmanabhan at The Leela Kovalam gives you a ready reckoner
What are the must-do things for a guest staying at The Leela Kovalam?Start your day by soaking in the beauty of Kerala’s largest
beachside resort, cradled between two sweeping beaches.
Perched on a rock-face, it offers the most panoramic view
of the famed Kovalam shoreline. Take your camera along as
you might spot the resident peacock family posing for you.
Enjoy a sumptuous breakfast at The Terrace, which serves
a buffet breakfast, both international cuisine and authentic
Kerala home-cooked delicacies. If you are keen to try the
fresh catch of the day, a visit to the Tide restaurant, located
on the beach, is a must. Eating apart, you can enjoy indoor
and outdoor games, attend cookery lessons conducted by
the chefs and pamper yourself with a host of traditional
Ayurvedic massages at the Divya spa. It is a sure shot way
to help you destress and rejuvenate.
Of Kovalam’s tourist sites, which are the must-see places and why?The Padmanabhaswamy Temple, around which the city
has literally developed, is an architectural
wonder and a must-see. Situated in
the heart of the old city, the massive
structure has a staggering 100 feet
high gopuram, the main temple
tower. Dedicated to Lord Vishnu, the
family deity of the royal family of Travancore,
to whom the temple belongs, the massive idol in
the sanctum measures 18 feet in length and is
covered with gold and other precious stones.
The Horse Palace Museum is a rare specimen
of workmanship in the traditional Travancore style of
architecture with exquisite wood carvings. It displays
priceless collections belonging to the royal family.
The Napier Museum is yet another attraction and
houses a rare collection of archaeological and historic
artefacts, bronze idols, ancient ornaments, a temple chariot
and ivory carvings. The premises also houses the zoo, one
of the oldest in the country and the Sree Chithra Art Gallery,
which has on display a rare collection of paintings by Raja
Ravi Varma and Nicholas Roerich, among many others.
Where can one shop for traditional goods?Handicrafts: SMSM Institute, Kairali and Natesan’s Antiques
on M.G. Road.
Handlooms and silks: Parthas, Khadi Emporium, Jayalakshmi
Silks and Pothys Silks on M.G. Road, Kalyan Silks on East
Fort and Karalkada at the Karalkada junction.
Gold: Josco Jewellers, Jos Alukkas & Sons on East Fort and
Bhima Jewellers near the overbridge.
Spices: Kerala Spices on Bypass Road and Chalai Bazar
at Chalai.
concieRGe speak
TOP a picturesque view of the Leela kovalam ABOVE the vishnu idol in a sleeping posture is the main deity
at the padmanabhaswamy temple
70 The LeeLa Magazine – SUMMeR 2012 71
Which photographers have
given a unique perspective of
Delhi through their works?
the early years of photography
in india is inextricably linked
to the colonial regime in the
mid-19th century. among the
photographers who have offered
interesting insights into the
city, i especially like the works
produced by h.a. Mirza & sons,
Bourne & shepherd, Lala deen
dayal, Robert tytler, Felice Beato
and Motivala, an amateur parsi
photographer, who was present
in delhi at the time of the 1911
British durbar.
Among the contemporary
photographers, whose works
do you find intriguing?
i like shahid datawala’s work
on Mumbai titled Where the
city Rests, adil hasan’s the tv,
Ronny sen’s a tale of three
Rooms and probir Gupta’s series
on cinema.
If you had to pick some
interesting spaces in Delhi
that are great views for
photography, which ones
would you choose and why?
i find agrasen ki baoli near
connaught place quite
fascinating. this historic stepwell
juxtaposed against the modern-
day highrises has an element
of starkness, which is quite
captivating. shahjahanabad or
old delhi is another such place.
it exudes a sense of history and
shows how modern life runs
seamlessly against the backdrop
of the historical monuments.
nizammuddin, known for the
dargah (mausoleum) of the
famous sufi saint nizamuddin
auliya, is another compelling
space. the modern-day Bus
Rapid transit (BRt) transport
system, the fast-paced urban life
running parallel to the dargah,
all showcase the transition of
the city.
Which are some of the best
museums in the country to
view works on photography?
some of the royal palaces have
an invaluable collection of
photographs, which are now
on display for the public. these
photographs give an insight into
the history, culture and society of
those times. the chowmahalla
palace in hyderabad, the city
palace at udaipur and the
Gwalior Museum are a few such
places worth a visit.
Are there any interesting
cultural hubs in Delhi that
promote photography?
the nazar Foundation, begun
by two senior photographers
— prashant panjiar and dinesh
khanna, hosts the nazar ka
adda, an interactive session on
photography at the kunzum café
at hauz khas. it also conducts
workshops on photography and
holds a biennial photo festival.
photoink, the delhi-
based photograph agency
established by devika daulet-
singh, runs a gallery which
presents contemporary as well as
vintage photographic works and
also hosts talk shows.
our photography
quarterly pix, too, hosts lectures
and exhibitions on photography
at the Max Mueller Bhavan.
curator of the new delhi-based alkazi Foundation for the arts, Rahaab allana oversees a world-class repository of over 95,000 photographs in the archive, collected by his grandfather, the renowned theatre doyen, ebrahim alkazi. he has been associated with the field of photography through writing, curating and exhibiting over the years. he also edits a photography quarterly pix, which provides a platform to budding photographers and also sensitises the younger generation towards the evolving medium of photography
RahaaB aLLana
By Sujata Dugar
insideR’s Guide
deLhi With
the LeeLa MaGazine – suMMeR 201270ABOVE the agrasen ki baoli is rated by allana as a great photographic site
LEFT a photograph of the jantar Mantar taken by Lala deen dayal shows the open spaces that defined the city of delhi before it became the country’s capital
Rahaab allana
LeeLa
I landed from the cold, grey, windy and silent six years
spent in Germany, performing and teaching contemporary
dance, into a new chapter of my life called Incredible India.
The Indian Council for Cultural Relations awarded
me a special six years scholarship to study the classical
South Indian dance form Bharatnatyam, which originated
in the temples of Tamil Nadu. It is, perhaps, the most
evolved dance form and encompasses music, rhythm
and expressional dance. Using narrative movements called
hasthas or mudras, the dancer depicts stories based
on the Indian epics and literature. Bharatnatyam is a
perfect medium to bring people closer to Indian mythology
and spirituality.
For me, all those amazing pictures, fragrances and
perceptions I had visualised and imagined, just became real
and a part of my life.
My dance performances have given me a deep insight
into the rich Indian culture. I’ve performed Bharatnatyam
in some of India’s greatest dance festivals and venues
such as the ancient temples of Thanjavur, Kumbakonam
and Brihadeswara; against the backdrop of the place
where Arjuna sat in penance at Mahabalipuram; at
Kurukshetra’s battlefield; Ganga Mahotsav
at the ghats of Varanasi; at the
magnificent Taj Mahal; at Rajgir,
the abode where Lord Buddha gained enlightenment, and
at so many other magical, breathtaking destinations.
Everywhere, the response of the audience has been
overwhelming and warm, and I’ve felt a deep sense of
respect and amazement towards me. They admire seeing
a foreigner like me coming all the way from Croatia to learn
and professionally perform classical Bharatnatyam.
Such opportunities have also allowed me to promote
Croatia. Indians are very curious and like to learn about other
cultures. So, I feel like a perfect cultural bridge between my
two homes — Croatia and India. I call India my home and it
has been the most beautiful nine years of my life.
The city of Delhi is so complex, buzzing and ever
so demanding. There is a rush for time and for space, yet
in this maze-like urban jungle, one can still connect and
recharge in those hundreds of cultural programmes that the
city has on offer. India is culturally so rich and superior.
I simply enjoy walking into the theatres every
evening and viewing the innumerable concerts, dance
performances, exhibitions, talks… It’s overwhelming.
New Delhi is a great melting pot where traditional
Indian culture so easily communicates contemporary and
classical Western art.
Besides my Bharatnatyam performances, I
enjoy performing contemporary dance at so
many different events like the Italian Opera, the
Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week, etc. All this
right here in a metropolis that is changing its face
and features every passing day. It has been a joy
watching Delhi change and evolve so much in the last
nine years.
I look forward to welcome many more
changes as we grow together in sharing
and bridging cultures through the universal
language of dance.
peRspectiveNikolina Nikoleski is a professional Bharatnatyam dancer presently living in New Delhi. A Croatian by birth, Nikoleski learnt Bharatnatyam at the Ganesa Natyalaya Dance Institute, New Delhi, under the tutelage of Padmashri Guru Dr. Saroja Vaidyanathan. Nikoleski is also a dance professor at the French Embassy School — Lycee Francais de Delhi. She has learnt contemporary dance in Germany at the prestigious dance school of Pina Bausch and is well-versed in rhythmic gymnastic, classical ballet, contemporary dance and yoga.
nikolina nikoleski in striking Bharatnatyam poses
Footsteps to incredible india
nikolina nikoleski in a striking Bharatnatyam pose