Madhu Neotia and Lovey Burman judge the Lay the Table Contest. Picture by Rashbehari Das

It was a birthday bash with a difference for the members of the Inner Wheel Club of Central Calcutta, which celebrated its 15th charter day with a unique contest. Called Lay the Table Contest, members of all chapters and guests were invited to participate in the competition held at the Grain of Salt on Monday afternoon.

Each participant was required to dress up a table top and prizes were given to the best six, judged by Madhu Neotia, Lovey Burman and Praveen Chawla.

The 24 participants brought a lot of creativity to the tables. There were settings on varied themes of which underwater and beach motifs were prominent. Quite a few tables were beautifully laid with coral, shells, sands, straw mats, blue crockery and linen. A couple were done up in Kerala style, with banana leaves and south Indian brass crockery. Terracotta crockery and banana leaves dominated the Bengali settings. A couple of tables had a regal feel with lavish silver crockery and cutlery and semi-precious stones.

The first prize, however, was bagged by the most simple and elegant of the settings, by Neerja Chand. Called The Proposal, the main colour was white — for crockery and lacy table linen — with sleek silver cutlery. Red roses in an interesting arrangement, long red candles and a box of vermillion at the centre added a lot of romance.

“This is the first time I am participating in such a contest. When I entertain guests at home I like to do up the table nicely. Some of my friends who have seen my table settings persuaded me to participate,” said Neerja, a doctor by profession.

Second prize went to the most innovative theme. Radhika Mehra put together a table for a blind couple, with all the items labelled in Braille. Ritu Sarawgi came in third for her presentation of Raj Gharana. Two special prizes were given to Ratna Dasgupta for her table called Oriental Blue and Praveena Lohia for her table on the underwater theme. The President’s choice prize went to Anita Mohan for her Kerala-style table setting.

Praveen Chawla, general manager, Hyatt Regency also passed on some useful tips to the audience. “There are many dos and don’t regarding table settings, but at the end of the day, whatever looks good and appeals to the eye is what one should go for. One has to keep in mind the interiors of the room, the season and the occasion. Avoid clutter and co-ordinate the crockery, cutlery and linen and see the whole setting is functional,” he said. “But remember, the setting should highlight the food. The crockery shouldn’t be so gorgeous that the food will be subdued. Simple white crockery is what highlights food best,” stressed Chawla. The participants were also treated to some mocktail recipes from the master blenders of the Grain of Salt.

Strings get ready to jam at Dublin on Sunday night

Boys next door

Giving remixes a run for their money, next-door neighbours Strings from Karachi rocked Dublin, turning the lean Sunday night into a musical extravaganza lapped up by a crowd hungry for sing-along original tracks. In town to promote their latest album Dhaani, part of a six-city India tour, the band kicked in to a “well-informed” audience already fed on their videos Dhaani and Chhaye Chhaye.

They belted out a string of numbers including Sarkiye Yeh Pahad, Duur, Jaane and Dhaani. The song Duur emerged the clear winner owing to its lilting melody and nostalgic lyrics, which quite a number of teenyboppers seemed to know by heart. “We put a lot of stress on melody. We come up with the melody first and the lyrics follow thereafter,” says vocalist Faisal Kapadia.

What started as a college band in 1989 has come into its own with a number of live performances and four albums. “Myself and Bilal (guitarist and composer) got together to kill time in college and started strumming. We got the opportunity to play at a farewell party and the MC asked us how we’d like to be introduced. Strings was the first thing that came to mind,” reminisces Faisal.

The four-member band went on to perform on Pakistan TV and recorded their first album, Strings, released by EMI in 1990. A second album followed two years later called Strings 2 and a video for the song Sarkiye Yeh Pahad that was aired on MTV Asia. “The video got heavy air play and turned out to be our biggest break,” smiles Bilal. A number of concert offers followed. “We performed all over Europe and America, wherever there is a concentration of the Indian and Pakistani diaspora,” says Faisal.

The band members took an eight-year hiatus, but they met again in 1999 and started all over again. Their original approach to music remained the same, where melodies are eastern but arrangements western, but their latest album is much more happy, with strong melody lines. Dhaani, which means light green, also reflects a lot of influences from nature. “We went to an idyllic hill station in Pakistan called Murree to record the album. We had a great time composing the songs surrounded by mountains,” recalls Faisal.

If natural wonders were not enough to cut across national boundaries, a collaboration with Indian musicians on the album is a sure fire way to win hearts here (after Jeet Lo Dil with Euphoria). While the song Pal has been composed in association with Sagarika, Bolo Bolo features Hariharan.

The musicians are glad to be performing in India, especially in Calcutta. “The city has a reputation of being clued in to music. Even the common man on the street seems to have some interest in music. We welcome this opportunity to perform here,” announced Faisal to an ecstatic crowd at the pub.

The Chettinad spread. Picture by Rashbehari Das

Southern duet

Food festivals and promotions are not new to hotels and restaurants, but a hotel hosting a food festival in association with another restaurant is quite a unique concept. That’s precisely what The Astor Hotel is doing with its Chettinad food festival, for which it has tied up with Bull Banthia’s Indian speciality restaurant India Gate. Since June 12, Cloud 9 is offering a delectable selection from this Tamilian cuisine, dished out by India Gate’s south Indian chef Manogaran.

“I tried a few south Indian dishes at India Gate and I realised the chef has the potential to do much more than what is offered at the restaurant. That’s how the idea of doing a joint festival came up,” explains R.K. Palta, general manager, Astor.

Chettinad food is all about coconut flavour, spices and meat, says chef Manogaran, who has specialised in this cuisine for the past 17 years. Originally from Chennai, his 10-year stint with the Taj Bengal has given him an insight into the preferences of the Bengali palate. “Calcuttans don’t like their food with too much coconut oil and so I mix a little in with the normal cooking medium. Also, I tone down the spices a bit,” reveals the chef.

The festival, which is on for dinner till June 20 at the restobar, offers a wide variety of both vegetarian and non-vegetarian delicacies. One can start the southward journey with a Kulipaniaran (rice and lentil balls served with onion chutney), Meen Tawa Fry (fish marinated in Chettinad spices and grilled on a hot plate) or Era Karuvepiallai (fried jumbo prawns with onion chutney). For a vegetarian main course the chef recommends Palkhati Palhani Masala (green peas and cottage cheese in a thick gravy), Uralai Palhani Masala (green peas and potatoes with south Indian gravy) and Vegetable Chettinad (vegetables cooked with Chettinad spices). For the non-veg, he suggests the Kozhi Chettinad (chicken with Chettinad spices), Mutton Pepper Fry (mutton cooked in pepper gravy) and Meen Moilee (fish cooked in coconut milk).

To accompany these dakshini wonders, there’s the all-time favourite Appam, along with Flavoured Rice (lemon or tomato), Thair Sadam (curd rice) and Bisibela Uliyanna (sambhar with rice). For a sweet ending, one can try the chef’s speciality White Pumpkin Halwa, Mixed Fruit Rawa Kesari or the Pal Paniaran (fried rice balls in thickened milk).