Back Of The Book: The Best Places To Schmooze

BACK OF THE BOOK
The Best Places To Schmooze

This is where the rich and the powerful congregate, deepen acquaintances, and strike deals in Delhi, the city of power, and Mumbai, the city of money.

By Abir Pal & Moinak Mitra

Delhi's Taj Mahal Hotel: whispers in the lobby

Geoffrey's at Hotel Marine Plaza, Mumbai

WHY: Located on the edge of Mumbai's high-rise heart, Nariman Point; a conservative colonial ambience with dark, teak wall panels, oversize leather couches and brass footrests; personalised service for regulars (bartender Daigo remembers favourite drinks); and above all, privacy.

WHO: Investment bankers, stock brokers, bank CEOs, consulate staff, reps of foreign brokerage houses.

DRINK: Gin and tonic, single malts, frozen margaritas, lots of beer.

EAT: Chicken peppercorn, tandoori prawns.

NOTABLES: Alok Vajpeyi and Robert Gray from DSP Merrill Lynch. Stockbrokers like Ketan Parekh and Rakesh Jhunjhunwala.

Lodhi Garden: the power of green

Lodhi Gardens at Delhi

WHY: The ultimate power walk; India's most powerful babus walk down from their Lutyens bungalows, while eager corporate honchos land up from places as far as Gurgaon for an early morning or late-evening rendezvous; lots of nooks and crannies.

WHO: Bureaucrats, retired bureaucrats, CEOs keen on meeting bureaucrats, CEOs keen on hiring retired bureaucrats, corporate spies looking in on the CEO-bureaucrat nexus.

DRINK: The air; crisp and clean.

NOTABLES: Discovery Channel's Deepak Shourie, Bharti's Sunil Mittal, ad man Suhel Seth, former CBI director Joginder Singh, former Cabinet Secretary K. Padmanabhaiah, Union minister Arun Jaitley.

Indigo: get the table near the marigold pond

Indigo at Colaba, Mumbai

WHY: Trendy fusion cuisine; snob value; ambience is clean and minimalist; tables are scattered over two floors; favourite tables are common (the one by the marigold pond is especially popular); a lounge; lots of private alcoves; and discreet staff.

WHO: All manner of CEOs, expat managers and foreign visitors, and investment bankers

DRINK: Single malts, wines, and house specialities.

EAT: Pan-fried rawas with warm artichoke salad, pan-seared cold-duck breaks with grilled shitake (mushrooms) and cranberry sorbet, creamy lobsters bisque, dark and white chocolate terrine.

Bayview Bar at The Oberoi, Mumbai

WHY: Great view of the Queen's Necklace and the Bay; it has an air of power-chunky wooden sofas, soft light and music; the aroma of Cohibas; predominantly a male preserve, the tables are well spaced out; and favourite tables are beside the huge bay windows overlooking the Arabian Sea.

WHO: CEOs and owners of big business enterprises.

DRINK: Absolut, single malts, cognac, and house cocktails like Green Demon and Golden Cadillac.

EAT: Chicken drumsticks with barbecue sauce, stir-fried prawns, assorted kabab platter.

NOTABLES: Ajay Piramal of Piramal Enterprises, Ajit Gulabchand of Hindustan Construction, and Ashwini Kakkar of Thomas Cook.

The Delhi Golf Club

WHY: It stands at the crossroads of government authority and private influence; members come from both worlds, so it's the ideal place for a power tete-a-tete; ties are deepened not just around the greens, but at the bar, at the swimming pool, even in the baths; lots of space for everyone.

WHO: Senior bureaucrats and judges, CEOs, Japanese and Korean expats.

EAT: Not really a gourmet haunt; basic, efficient Indian and Continental food.

DRINK: Again, a nice bar, but no real specialities.

NOTABLES: Justice B.N. Kirpal of the Supreme Court, Disinvestment secretary Pradip Baijal, the Oberoi family, Dr Bharat Ram of DCM, and cricketers Kapil Dev and Ajay Jadeja.

Hyatt Regency: home to the health club

Club Olympus at Hyatt Regency, Delhi

WHY: Lots of space; it's never too crammed; what could be better than working up a sweat and schmoozing while the adrenaline flows; and at nearly Rs 90,000, be assured there's no riff-raff here.

WHO: A range of CEOs and top management.

WHEN: The best time is after 6 p.m. when the power workouts begin

NOTABLES: Amit Burman, Chairman Emeritus of Dabur, Gautam and Sameer Thapar of JCT, Pawan Munjal, CEO, Hero Honda, Vijay Mallya, Chairman, UB Group.

Chambers at The Taj Mahal Hotel, Delhi

WHY: Very exclusive; members are chosen only by invitation; very quiet; there are alcoves with wooden lattice work to divide them from the main lounge; also, a lot of pillars ensure privacy.

WHO: MDs, CEOs, senior management, filmstars, and politicians.

EAT: Anything really. Continental, Chinese, and Indian.

DRINK: Cognac, scotch, and super-premium liquor

NOTABLES: Subir Raha, Chairman, ONGC, Ashok Chawla, MD, Centaur, Subroto Bose, MD, Sahara, P.M. Sinha, CEO, Pepsi, filmstar-turned-politico Sunil Dutt, the Dalmias.

TREADMILL

Two Pegs A Day?

Finally, after bouts of cajoling, occasional threats and lots of arm-twisting, it happened. Last week, the other half of the household convinced me to go for that complete medical check-up. Victory, at last for her, considering that the proposal first popped up two years back when I'd just touched the dreaded four-decade mark. So off I went on a Friday morning to the swank new healthcare centre, clutching my box of two vials of bodily excreta, expecting the worst but hoping for the best. As it happened, I got through with flying colours. The ticker was ship-shape or so the treadmill test said (they attach sensors to your chest, put you on a treadmill and then monitor your heart rate); the lungs were also in fine fettle (the chest x-ray was normal and the pulmonary force test said the old blowers were doing alright); what's more, the cholesterol levels were fine too. So were my liver, my prostate, and colon.

But the best part was when the consultant reviewed my lipid profile. The overall cholesterol level was normal and LDL (bad cholesterol) was low enough. The problem was that my HDL (good cholesterol) level was a bit low. Nothing alarming, just a little low. Ideally, said the consultant physician, it should be a bit higher. Since good cholesterol seems to help prevent heart attacks, I asked her how I could raise its levels. ''Well, there is a way to do that, but we normally don't recommend that to patients,'' she said. Curious, I asked what it was. ''You can boost it by regular intake of moderate amounts of alcohol,'' she said, hastily adding that this wasn't a prescription and that I should keep a check on my fat intake and keep exercising regularly. I don't know about you, but this is the closest since college that I've had anyone recommend alcohol. At least that's the way I like to interpret what the good doctor said last week.

Not that there's anything wrong with moderate drinking. There isn't. If, I may add, you complement it with a bunch of other things. Like eating the right kind of food. Don't reach for the batter-fried onion rings or gooey neon-coloured sticky sweets. And, most important don't skip too many workouts. If you're following an exercise regimen try and stick with it. Three or four days a week of a good cardiovascular-weight training combo are enough to burn off the effects of that extra beer. One more thing: try not to binge on weekends. Moderate drinking spread through the week is better than binge drinking on weekends. You don't agree? Just ask my good doctor.

-MUSCLES MANI

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