Quaint obsession: Lawyer Abhik Muzumdar has successfully turned aquarium design into an avant garde art

Aquaria seems an inadequate term to describe the ecological marvels that Delhi-based lawyer Abhik Mazumdar designs. The 30-year-old part-time aquarium designer-the vocation is hot elsewhere in the world where there are people willing to pay good money (horror of horrors) for fish that they can never eat-prefers the term biotope (simply put, the natural environment of an organism).

Mazumdar once served as an under study to K.K. Venugopal, one of India's best-known lawyers and now manages his own firm, Jain and Mazumdar, but it is designing aquaria for the rich and famous that gives him his jollies. So, what started a shark (oops!, bad lawyer joke) off on his obsession with aquaria? "My father bought me a small glass aquarium that fit into my window sill," reminisces Mazumdar. He was then eight years old, a student at Kolkata's Don Bosco, and something about life inside the small glass enclosure appealed to him. Today, he says, he "recreates the working of an eco-system". For a price: he charges anything between Rs 30,000 and Rs 25 lakh for a biotope. Aquarium design is, in equal parts, art and science: recreating an ecosystem involves recreating the associated climatic conditions artificially. That could be something as simple as using salt water. And it could be as complex as engineering gravity, light, density, and waves. Mazumdar, who takes an average of 60 days to create a biotope has the whole range on offer: from coral reefs to mangrove estuaries to Amazon rainforest to African rift valley lakes.

Most customers, concedes Mazumdar, know little about fish. "They largely want a talking point for their parties." Still, he insists on taking customers through plates of biotopes designed by masters such as Takashi Amano (an aquarium designer who has written several best sellers on the subject). Once a biotope has been identified, Mazumdar imports natural ecosystems that can be, or recreates substitutes. "I create legal tanks," he adds. "But I wish our government would ease lifestock import norms." He rattles off a list of customers, but insists that names on it aren't to be publicised. What would he like at home? "A South American open stream abstract with driftwood."

-Amanpreet Singh

FRIED FISH, ANYONE?

For those into fish for entirely different reasons, here's what is probably one of the best ways to eat it. The Mangalore Naked Fish fry (or Nacked Fish Fry depending on the erudition of the person who framed the bill of fare) isn't that well known even within India, with most restaurants preferring the batter-fried option. Still, for those interested in the real thing (the batter-fried option isn't a patch on the naked fried one) here's the recipe in three easy steps.

1 Fish: Opt for thick slices of king fish (surmai in local lingo). Any other fish will do as well, as long as its flesh is firm. Salt and add a dash of lemon juice on the cleaned slices. After five minutes wash thoroughly and pat dry.

2 Spices: Grind two or three red chillies, a few black peppercorns, a pinch of turmeric powder, some cumi seeds, a few coriander seeds (dhania), a small onion, two cloves of garlic, a small piece of ginger, a few curry leaves, and salt into a paste. Marinate slices in paste and refrigerate for 30-45 minutes.

3 Cooking: Heat skillet (tava). Add dash of oil, and roast/shallow fry slices. Turn around after one side is well done and repeat with the other.

* To really get the authentic taste, add some (a tsp.) of East Indian Bottle Masala in the marinade!

HEALTH NOTES

CHEAT YOUR BODY

We all know that cardio-vascular exercise is the best bet for losing fat, but just jumping on a treadmill and jogging at the same speed for half an hour is probably not the best way to shed the calories. When you do a cardio session at the same pace for, say, 30 minutes or so your body can go into what is known as the 'steady state', adjusting itself to the speed you are moving at and trying to conserve instead of expend calories. That defeats the purpose of exercising-or at least implies that you have to do more of it to burn enough calories.

The solution is High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT. The essence of interval training is not to let the body get used to the pace of exercise. How do you change the pace of your exercise? Let's take a cardio session on a treadmill. Start off at a good moderate pace for five minutes. Then break into a full-tilt sprint for a minute or two and then slow down to a moderate pace for, say a minute, and then speed up again. Change your speed every two minutes and you will trick the body into burning more calories, as it then can't slip into a steady state.

Another combo for HIIT could be a steadily increasing pace. Begin with an easy pace for a minute; switch to a slightly higher intensity for another minute; then increase the intensity a little more for yet another minute and finally follow up with an all-out sprint (at the fastest rate that you can go) for 20 seconds. Go easy for 10 seconds and then sprint again for 20 seconds before going easy for 10 seconds. Then do the same thing in reverse (in order of decreasing intensity). Do this 20/10 combo for six sets or three minutes. Then begin all over again. Easy pace for a minute, slightly higher for another minute... and so on till another of those 20/10 sec combos.

Of course, you could also, through experimenting, find a combination of HIIT that works the best for you. Or even improvise on the workouts cited above. Another suggestion: If you weight train regularly, do your cardio sessions after you lift. That way, since your heart rate is already pumped up, you may be able to burn more calories through cardio sessions than by beginning your workouts with them. One more tip: you could try to do lower-body cardio exercises (stepper, bike, elliptical trainer) after weight-training your legs and upper body ones (rowing machine) after upper body weight training. Or, if you think you're too pooped when you're through with weights, do cardio sessions on the days that you don't hit the weight room. The choice is yours.

-Muscles Mani

THE PERFECT DIET

Fad western diets such as Atkins Diet and South Beach Diet are just, er, fads. Tuned to western needs, unsuitable for Indians. Here's the lowdown.

Atkins Diet: Induction phase: Carbohydrate intake less than 20 grams; Pre-maintenance phase: Gradual reintroduction of carbohydrates; Lifetime maintenance phase: Low levels of carbohydrate. Lots of proteins such as meat and saturated fats like cheese, butter and cream recommended across all phases.

South Beach Diet: Phase 1: Strict two-week period; no carbohydrates or fats; proteins and vegetables allowed. Phase 2: Carbohydrates reintroduced (more than Atkins). Phase 3: Carbohydrates, fats in regulated quantities. Proteins encouraged throughout.

Not for India: Dr. Rekha Sharma, Chief Dietician, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), has this to say about these diets: "Just don't try them. Westerners are used to a lot of sugar and meat; Indian palates are more vegetables-oriented." According to Sharma, heavy intake of protein is bad for kidneys. Combined with saturated fats, it can lead to coronary artery disease. And with time you'll quickly regain whatever weight you've lost.

Perfect Indian diet: Sharma prescribes lots of complex carbohydrates such as whole wheat flour, six to seven servings of fruits every day, green vegetables, whole grain, whole dal, moderate protein (40 to 45 grams per day) and fat. For cooking, use mustard oil or soyabean oil. And yes, combine this regimen with exercise. Nothing like it.

-Alokesh Bhattacharyya