Michemin-starred restaurant from London, Yauatcha, has taken this essentially hawker food item and it turned into a high-end dishIn India, the concept of dim sums is roadside momos. They have become ubiquitous now, with roadside hawkers selling them at almost every marketplace and street corner. But if you are looking for authentic dim sums, the more delectable variety and not the roadside momos, then your search ends at Yauatcha. A Michelin-starred restaurant from London, Yauatcha has taken this essentially hawker food item and turned it into a high-end dish that you can order off the menu.
In India, the brand has been brought in by Ka Hospitality, with branches in four cities — Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Located on the second floor of Ambience Mall in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, Yauatcha is essentially a Cantonese restaurant. The upscale restaurant was not so buzzing, it being a Tuesday afternoon, and had just a few tables occupied.
The restaurant also has a big bar, occupying one side of the wall at the far end. The bar size is reflected in the menu, with an enormously long list of cocktails, mocktails, hard drinks with a country-wise listing of rum, whisky, vodka, gin and beers, and an equally extensive wine list, along with the Japanese sake selection. It also has a selection of teas: black, green, flower, blue and Indian teas.
There is a long table right opposite the bar, set on a higher platform, from where you can get a view of the entire restaurant. Seated in one corner of the restaurant, we got a good view of its expansive space. The waiters here are courteous, sometimes a little too overbearing, though. While our order was perfect, we heard complaints about appetisers being served after the main course, from the table next door.
The restaurant has extensive lunch and dinner menus. The lunch menu is designed in a way to provide quick service, and is done keeping business lunch goers in mind. For lunch, there is also a separate Dim Sum Trail menu, which provides you a quick selection of six varieties for `2,000 for two people. It’s a quick and easy way to get a sampling of what Yauatcha offers.
Of the six dim sums, I opted for the har gau, char siu bun, chicken and prawn shanghai dumpling, baked chicken puff, crispy duck roll and the shanghai siew long bun. The selection included four steamed dumplings and two baked ones. You get three pieces of each, except the crispy duck roll, of which there are two pieces.
The har gau is a delicate dumpling made from a mix of wheat and tapioca flours. This makes the casing translucent and it has mildly spiced diced prawn filling. The char siu bun has delectable Cantonese roast pork in nutty sesame oil and a mixture of oyster and hoisin sauce. The casing is slightly thicker, like a soft, white bread. The prawn shanghai dumplings came in light, translucent casing, served with a light soupy soy sauce mix. But the best was the shanghai siew long bun, also known as soup dumplings. The filling of seasoned pork and a gelatinous broth made it perfect. When you bite into it, you get a mouthful of soupy broth first and then the meat.
Of the two baked ones, the crispy duck roll has duck breast with crunchy spring onions flavoured with chilli, ginger, soy and lemon zest. Also known as “So” in China, the baked chicken puffs were stuffed with a sticky, sweet mixture of chicken mince baked in a small bun, similar to a French croissant, glazed with sesame seeds on top.
Yautacha also offers a pronto menu, which is a little more elaborate at `888 for vegetarian, and `998 for non-vegetarian, per person. For this you can choose a soup, a dumpling, a selection of stir-fried veggies or meat, rice or noodle dish, and a dessert.
The dinner menu is a little more elaborate – it runs into several pages and you get a selection of roast meats, stir fries, noodles and rice. Once while having dinner there, I discovered that the although the cuisine is mainly Cantonese, I got a feeling some of the dishes have been put in there to cater to the Indian palate, such as the spicy prawn curry or the wok-fried lobster in spicy XO sauce.And surprisingly, it has a wide selection of desserts. I tried two options — chocolate hazelnut mousse, with chocolate mousse, crunchy hazelnut served with honeycomb ice cream, and a raspberry delice. I must say the desserts were plated delightfully and were also great to taste.
The lunch costs about `2,000 for two, without alcohol a la carte, unless you opt for a pronto meal. Dinner is more expensive at `3,000 for two, without alcohol or dessert. Be warned: alcohol costs a lot and it may be wiser to catch a drink at a pub outside and then have your meal here.
Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Surface Transport, Highways, and Shipping, on the strengths of the current Central government, future challenges and promises, and his plans for Indian roads and riversUnion Minister for Surface Transport, Highways, and Shipping, Nitin Gadkari, has an easy smile — and one which he flashes often. It hovers near his lips as he listens to my question, turns into laughter when he shares a joke, and becomes a tad sarcastic when we discuss the pitfalls of power. The smile vanishes when we discuss the Union minister’s name featuring in the CAG report regarding violation of norms for loan given to Purti Sahkar Karkhana Ltd, a company of which he is a promoter. And then it comes back as a confident smirk as we discuss his comments on using human urine as a fertiliser.
That is another thing that strikes you about Gadkari – his confidence. Born in a middle-class agrarian family in Nagpur, Gadkari has risen to power slowly, but surely, and his confidence and tenacity of efforts have played a crucial role. The 57-year-old Maharashtra politician became a national-level leader when he took over as BJP president from heavyweight Rajnath Singh in 2009. As the youngest president of the party, Gadkari proved his prowess as a keen negotiator, peacemaker and strategist. “I don’t work as if I am making a political career. I work for the poor and downtrodden sections of society who don’t have food to eat, house to live in, or clothes to wear. I strive to bring about a transformation in their lives,” said Gadkari, when he was made the party president.
When he was the party president in Maharashtra, Gadkari played a lead role in getting the BJP-Shiv Sena coalition to win 42 out of 48 seats, including all 10 seats from the Vidarbha region, a first for the BJP since Independence. Last year was the icing on the cake, however, when he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Nagpur in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. A Congress stronghold for several years, Gadkari defeated seven-time winner Vilas Muthemwar by about three lakh votes!
Gadkari’s commitment to his ministry can’t be denied either. With nearly five million km, India has the second-largest network of roads in the world, and there’s a lot of ground the minister needs to cover when it comes to surface transport. “Since 1947, the Congress invested in steel factories and power projects, but never allocated any funds towards development of roads,” he says adding, “Prosperity comes from roads and in India, and Vajpayee was the only prime minister who thought in that direction.”
Gadkari also recounts how, as the minister in Maharashtra, he was told to conceive of a plan to connect all Indian cities by road, after which he got the chance to work on the four-lane national highway network under the Pradhan Mantri Sadak Yojana. He wants to give the credit to former Prime Minister Vajpayee for connecting 1,70,000 villages out of 6,50,000 by road. “You will also see such a massive change and development in this sector in the coming five years under Modi ji that you might not have seen in the past 50 years. I can assure you we will make the Indian roads network strong,” he commits.
At present, the minister’s aim is to lay 30 km of road daily from the current 14 km; under the UPA, it was just two km of roads a day. The project comes at a cost, however, and the budget is pegged at a whopping Rs 42,000 crore. The government is looking at Rs 60,000-70,000 crore through tax exemption bonds, and 8,000 crore from tolls. “We are also looking at Rs 100,000 crore from the 5,000 km of EPC roads, on which toll tax is charged,” adding how the government is also considering foreign and domestic insurance and pension funds for this.
Gadkari wants surface transport to extend beyond roads and onto waterways. “The government is considering it,” he says, talking about how the Parliament has accorded permission for waterways on the Ganga, Mahanadi and Brahmaputra. “We have started work on the Ganga project from Varanasi in UP, to Haldia in West Bengal, which will also cover Sahebganj in Jharkhand,” he says. It is also worth mentioning here that Haldia is being developed into a hub where railways, waterways and roadways will converge. At present, the ministry has hired consultants for analysing the potential for 65 rivers as waterways.
The Union minister fields questions about not only his ministry, but the government as well. In fact, Gadkari’s excellent communication skills and candid way of putting things makes him a joy to interact with. Inspired by great orators and speakers such as those from the RSS, Gadkari also considers his mother as a big influence in his life, since she inculcated the spirit of social work in him.
Not only has he adopted 500 farmer families in his constituency, he also runs 650 schools in the district without any aid from the government, and has established four hospitals, where more than 6,000 heart surgeries have been performed. “I am working with the farmers of my area and want to increase the employment opportunities there,” says Gadkari, adding, “I am not an industrialist, but have provided employment opportunities to 15,000 people. I work as a social entrepreneur to eradicate unemployment from my constituency.”
Talking about fielding questions on the Central government, Gadkari defends the promise of acchey din. “The country has given 60 years to the Congress and all that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is asking of the people is to give him 60 months,” he says. Gadkari takes pains to explain how a year before the BJP came to power, India’s GDP was a dismal 4.25 per cent, which has now jumped to 7.5 per cent. “The country is now on a path of development; industries that were closed down are now being revived. Coal mines have reopened, we are laying kms of new roads every days, and ‘Atal Pension Yojana’ has meant the opening of 15 crore bank accounts,” he shares.
The Central government is still under the fire, though; while some call it pro-coporate, the industry is ironically expressing its disappointment with the current government. The proposed Land Acquisition Bill, for instance, is being looked upon as favouring the capitalists. Gadkari says nothing could be further from the truth. “We are not going to acquire even an inch of land for any private educational institutions. There are important conditions under which land can be acquired under the bill,” he says. These conditions include rural infrastructure such as irrigation, village roads, drinking water and storage tanks, transformers, village government schools, and hospitals. Gadkari also says 80 per cent of the land is acquired only for irrigation purposes. “Is it not necessary to provide water to farmers so that they earn their livelihood and stop committing suicide?” he shoots back, adding how the dams will also help in water conservation as well as power production.
“We need ethics, economy, ecology, and environment. We want development, a good environment, pollution-free India and financial policies that strengthen the Indian farmer,” he says, lamenting the fact that only 1 per cent of India’s population can afford to buy a house that costs more than Rs 10 lakh.
Gadkari repeats the prime minister’s promise of ensuring 99 per cent people having houses by 2022. “But for that we need land. We need land to build airports for the arms as well as storehouses for our missiles,” he says. Amidst all this progress and development, Gadkari emphasises his government’s commitment to the Antyodaya scheme, which means serving the last man in the queue, and reaching out to the most marginalised sections of society. “For us, this last man in the queue is our focal point and we are striving for his socioeconomic development,” he says, adding, “We want to create employment opportunities and also make it possible to pay the farmer what he deserves for his crop.”
Gadkari is also a strong advocate against migration and is championing the cause of industrial corridors, so that industries can expand beyond congested metro cities and their suburbs. For instance, the plan to have readymade garment factories close to villages that have cotton plantations, juice factories near mango orchards, and process potato wafers near where potatoes are cultivated. “Village youth will get employment in their villages. Is it necessary for them to migrate to Delhi, stay in slums, and earn a living by pulling cycle rickshaws and e-rickshaws?” he retorts. Spoken from the heart.
DIPLOMACY// Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 7 said the ratification of the over 40-year-old Land Boundary Agreement was a bridge to join hearts and cited a media report that compared it to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Bangladesh and India sealed a historic land pact to swap territories, which will finally allow thousands of people living in border areas to choose their nationality after decades of stateless limbo.
Modi’s first trip to Dhaka since his election win last May has been dominated by the deal to fix permanently the contours of a border which stretches some 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) along India’s eastern flank. Addressing a gathering of intellectuals at Dhaka University, Modi said the Land Boundary Agreement is not just about land being exchanged but “an agreement to join hearts”. He quoted a newspaper report that compared the inking of the LBA to being “no less significant than the fall of the Berlin Wall”. His comments came as India and Bangladesh in a joint declaration — titled “Notun Projonmo - Nayi Disha” — said the two prime ministers, Modi and Sheikh Hasina, “gave directives to the concerned officials on both sides for expeditious implementation of the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement and its 2011 Protocol on the ground”. Both reaffirmed their commitment to extend all facilities to the residents of the enclaves and ensure that the rights of all citizens are protected, it said.
The two leaders also inaugurated bus services connecting the Bangladeshi capital with four eastern India cities, and Dhaka declared a special economic zone near a southern port exclusively for Indian investors. Modi has been keen to play a greater leadership role in South Asia since coming to power, inspite of China’s growing interest in India’s backyard. After Modi’s arrival in Bangladesh, both countries inked 22 agreements, including renewing a bilateral trade agreement; an agreement on coastal shipping; on using of Chittagong and Mongla Ports; and prevention of smuggling and circulation of fake currency notes. Bangladesh also inked two MoUs with Adani Power Limited and Reliance Group to set up 4,600 MW power plants in the country.
The deals worth $5.5 billion were inked by Power Development Board of Bangladesh and the Indian companies. Adani Power is to invest some $5 billion in the country’s rickety power sector. The deal is to generate 4,600 megawatts of electricity for Bangladesh. The sites for setting up the plants are yet to be decided. But there was no breakthrough in a dispute about the sharing of water from the Teesta river which flows through both nations.
POLITICS// The BJP battled a deepening row involving two of its top leaders, Vasundhara Raje and Sushma Swaraj, for helping Lalit Modi, tainted former IPL Commissioner, “an economic offender and a fugitive”. Modi moved to London amid an avalanche of corruption charges and has refused to return to India claiming death threats from the underworld. His passport had been cancelled by India. Between 2008 and 2010, Modi, paid just over Rs 96,000 per share for more than 900 shares in a company owned by Raje’s son, law-maker Dushyant Singh. The sweetness of the deal is apparent from the fact that in his income tax returns, Singh has said his shares in the same firm are worth just Rs 10 each. Modi’s firm also purveyed a Rs three crore loan without any guarantees to Singh’s company. Though Raje’s party, the BJP, has defended the deal as one that met all legal requirements including taxes, sources in the Enforcement Directorate disagree and said “there is no clean chit to anyone at this stage.” Earlier in 2011, in a signed statement, Raje described the expansive investigation against cricket tycoon Lalit Modi as “a full frontal attack” that was “politically motivated.” The document also read, “I make this statement with support of any immigration/application that Lalit Modi makes. But do so on the strict condition that my assistance will not become known to the Indian authority.” That affidavit, was presented to a UK court in 2011, for Modi to stay on in the UK. Last year, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj backed another request by him in the UK for urgent travel documents. The minister, whose husband and daughter have worked as lawyers for Modi, said her intervention was humanitarian, because he needed to travel to help his ailing wife. The two ministers are in a spot for supporting a man wanted in corruption cases in India.
YOGA// Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the first International Yoga Day, on June 21, as heralding a “new era of peace”, moments before he surprised thousands in New Delhi by taking to a mat himself to celebrate the ancient Indian practice. Modi, a yoga enthusiast himself, led more than 35,000 people, from all walks of life in performing poses such as the half camel and cobra in a 35-minute mass outdoor yoga session which was held at the grand Rajpath in New Delhi. The event set two new Guinness Book of World Records — one for the largest yoga class at a single venue with 35,985 participants and another for the most number of nationalities to attend with people from 84 countries, a government statement said. “Yoga is more than only physical fitness. We are not only celebrating a day but we are training the human mind to begin a new era of peace,” Modi told the crowd at Rajpath. He thanked the United Nations and the 177 co-sponsoring countries for adopting his idea for a world Yoga Day. Security was tight in the city with thousands of police and paramilitary deployed for this morning event.
CRICKET// Two-time world champions India managed to grab a face-saving 77-run victory against Bangladesh in the third and the last one-day international, in Mirpur, saving themselves from the embarrassment of a humiliating whitewash. The beleagured team is set to return home on a winning note following an embarrassing 2-1 series loss. The Indian team has drawn a lot of flak after failing to put up a fight and losing their first-ever series to a much-improved Bangladesh team. Dhoni’s Men in Blue were outplayed by Bangladesh in every department of the game in the first two ODIs. The biggest takeaway from the series is that the Bangla Tigers are no longer minnows of the game as they have upped their game a few notches. But it remains to be seen if they can emulate such performance in the future.
SCANDAL// The soccer world is abuzz with the allegations that officials at FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) were engaged in racketeering, money laundering and other criminal activities. The officials at FIFA are engaged in a “24- year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer”, according to a statement released by the United States Department of Justice. They also hinted that some $10 million in transfer payments were sent from FIFA bank accounts in Switzerland to a Caribbean soccer organisation in 2008 and were used to pay bribes to secure votes for South Africa’s bid to host the World Cup in 2010. This could emerge as the most direct link between FIFA’s executive offices and the corruption probe shaking the world’s most popular sport. FIFA has declined to comment on any specific allegations made in the Justice Department’s indictment of 14 officials and executives of soccer confederations. Meanwhile three days after winning a fifth term as FIFA president in the aftermath of the arrest of leading FIFA officials, Sepp Blatter has announced his resignation as president of football’s world governing body. Blatter announced his resignation in a hastily arranged news conference in Zurich and said that a special election would be held between December 2015 and March 2016 to appoint his successor. “FIFA needs profound restructuring”, Blatter said. According to reports in South America, Diego Maradona wants to stand for FIFA presidency to succeed Blatter.
ELECTIONS// Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, a one time rising star from the Republican Party, has officially announced his US presidential campaign for 2016. “My name is Bobby Jindal and I am running for President of the United States of America,” Jindal, who is the first person of Indian-American heritage to run for US president, said on his website. Jindal is also expected to launch his campaign with a speech at the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner, Louisiana. He has recorded a hidden video in which he and his wife tell their kids about the campaign. In the video that was filmed from a camera in a nearby tree and posted on Facebook, the Jindals tell their three kids they aren’t allowed to tell their soccer and baseball teammates about the secret they’re letting them in on. Jindal is currently in last place in a 15-person Republican field.
CALAMITY// More than 1000 people have died from a heatwave in southern Pakistan’s port city of Karachi, as medics battled to treat victims after a state of emergency is declared in hospitals. Most of them have died of heatstroke, dehydration or other heat-related illnesses as mercury touched 45 degrees Celsius recently during the holy month of Ramadan. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called for emergency measures to be put in place. The provincial government in Sindh had declared a public holiday for schools and government offices due to the extreme heat. The government has also set up several heatstroke aid centres to battle the situation.
More than diplomacy and governmentto- government engagement, it lies in stronger people-to-people relationsTHE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN the United States and India has been a tumultuous one during the past 60 years. The ties between two of the world’s largest democracies suddenly declined to one of the lowest levels when Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade was arrested in New York in 2013.
In January 2014, Washington and New Delhi were locked in a bitter diplomatic row over the Indian diplomat’s alleged exploitation of her housekeeper that ultimately saw the resignation of the US ambassador to India.
When the BJP won the election last year, the US, although still in the midst of a chill in Indo-US relations, reached out quickly with a phone call from President Barack Obama inviting the Indian PM-elect to the US. And it seemed like an eternity since the former leader of Gujarat was a persona non-grata in the US.
The idea that Obama would be the first American president to be the chief guest at India’s Republic Day parade this year was unthinkable just 12 months before that.
But the first six months of the Modi administration saw a dramatic surge in US-India engagement across the board, including PM Modi's visit to Washington in September 2014, and President Obama's return visit to Delhi in January 2015, making him the first US president to visit India twice during his presidency, and the firstever US leader visiting as chief guest at India's signature Republic Day celebrations. So is the US-India relationship now poised to be, as President Obama has predicted, “one of the defining relationships of the 21st century?”
The US and India have differing policy priorities in a number of key areas. However, there are equally, if not more powerful factors pulling the two sides together. On a range of issues, such as the rise of China and international terrorism, New Delhi and Washington are increasingly on the same page. The Modi-Obama relationship appears to have given new energy and new purpose to a strategic partnership.
The new US Ambassador to India, Richard Verma, is the first Indian-American to serve as Washington’s envoy to New Delhi. He is seen as the ideal diplomat to help further strengthen ties between the world’s oldest and largest democracies.
Verma’s nomination received widespread praise. Congressman Joe Crowley (D-NY), co-chair of the House Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans, described Verma as “exactly who we need at the helm as we look further to strengthen US-India relations.”
People to people
However, I think it’s the people-to-people ties that will define the USIndia relationship in the 21st century, much more than diplomacy and government-to-government engagement, which will have its ups and downs. The US-India partnership is today bolstered by people-to-people relationship. In fact, the people of the two countries have outpaced the two governments in many respects.
In this context, the vast contributions Indian Americans have made to the US-India relationship by contributing to America’s progress in many ways and creating a respectable, positive image in the US about the Indian culture and India, cannot be overemphasised. Similarly, professionals from America are contributing to the progress of India. There are 27,000 US students studying in Indian educational institutions.
India and the US today enjoy a deep, friendly, and a mutuallybeneficial relationship, mainly because of people-to-people ties. A considerable number of Indian elites and opinion leaders were educated and built their professional track records in the US, and this is an important factor in facilitating mutual understanding.
India and the United States have maintained close and extensive non-governmental ties in three major areas: business, tourism, and education.
Business: B2B relationship between the US and India began to strengthen as soon as the Indian government began to liberalise its commerce and trade policies and globalised its economic vision. Many US companies made forays into India, and many Indian big companies were quick to open offices in the US, even buying several smaller US companies. Several people born and educated in India are at the helm of some of the biggest US corporations. The most interesting (and controversial) things are happening in the IT industry, however. Thousands of young, talented and hardworking Indian IT professionals brought to the US by big Indian IT companies such as TCS and Infosys are being increasingly seen as a threat to the domestic workforce.
Recently, Walt Disney World in Orlando and Southern California Edison, a power utility company, laid off hundreds of tech employees, who were replaced by temporary workers recruited by outsourcing firms based in India.
The question whether the current immigration policy in US is undermining Americans’ jobs, wages or working conditions is often under the US media focus. The largest number of H-1B visas (from the 65,000 annual quota) are issued every year to Indians. Education: One of the brightest areas of India-US people-to-people contact and relationship is the growing presence of Indian students on American campuses. Because of their sound, professional, and advanced systems and international esteem, American institutions of higher education have been the first choice for Indian students.
During the 2013-14 academic year, more than one lakh Indian students were enrolled in US institutions of higher education. For the past eight years, Indian students have been the second largest group of foreign students in the US after the Chinese. Last year, Indian students in the US contributed $3.3 billion to the US economy. They not only bring money, but a rich cultural tradition and heritage as well. Many universities celebrate international students’ day at their campuses that features dance, music and sampling of ethnic food. And guess what? Most times it’s the Bollywood dance that steals the show.
Bollywood dance is a new phenomenon that is spreading fast on the art and culture scene of America. Many young Americans are learning this modern Indian dance at Bollywood dance schools that have emerged in every big city in the US. Indian wedding has, in recent times, become a huge attraction in America. Once in a while, we hear about an American couple getting married Indian-style, with a Hindu priest and a Christian priest together solemnising the marriage — the bride and the groom attired in tradition Indian wedding dress bought online. Many Indian boutiques in big Indian cities are selling fabulous dresses online, too.
In April, the Indian wedding of US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard in Hawaii was not surprising. The only Hindu in the US Congress, Tulsi had earlier taken her oath on the Gita.
Tourism: The two-way tourism traffic has been steadily increasing, too. Americans form the largest group of tourists visiting India — more than 1.1 million Americans visited India in 2013 on tourist visa. More than one million Indian are expected to visit the US this year. Medical tourism looks promising, too, as India is attracting people from many countries, including the US, for cheaper, yet high-class, medical treatment. And more people are taking an interest in India as the ultimate destination for spiritual tourism. India simplifying its visa rules is adding to the lure of India for tourists. E-visa is making it easier to visit India on a business or personal trip.
India’s cultural diplomacy to the US should be strengthened. Cultural flows between India and the United States have laid a solid foundation for social interactions between the two countries. Culture — including language, food, art, literature, music, films, and television — is also a major element of a country’s soft power. Given its rich cultural heritage, India should be devoted to outreach in this arena.