Heri‘table’ heirlooms

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Out of the tenets of history, some pages deserve credence. Propelled forward by personal yearnings, taking lessons from family, friends, chronology and a desire to keep traditions and culture alive, they come with a wealth of emotions.

They sit pretty on a book shelf, with a storehouse of life’s battles and triumphs, packaged in hardback, beautifully eloquent and succinctly written. These coffee table books of today are all driven by a common thread — family and lineage.
They create their own ripple of yore, be it Lakshmi Mittal’s niece Swasti Mittal-Chaudhary’s ballad on Rajasthanis across the world, Harathi Reddy’s book of traditional recipes straight from the log-filled Nellore kitchen or Dipika Khaitan’s story of her filmstar mother T. Krishnakumari who starred with the likes of Raj Kumar and NTR in her day.
They are personal notes that affirm beliefs and create a legacy. Written as a labour of love that celebrates families, communities or lifestyles, they are heartfelt and emotive. An anthology by them for them.

Desert uprising
Swasti Mittal-Chaudhary, designer and yoga aficionado, delved into the lineage and accomplishments of Marwaris and Rajasthanis, bringing to the fore a wonderfully adept, skillful and talented community — 50 Rajasthanis, Faces of the Community.
Swasti, who is married to Nepal’s first billionaire Binod Chaudhary’s son Nirvana Chaudhary, delved deeper thanks to her father-in-law’s insistence that she write about the lineage of Rajasthanis. “I am a Marwari married in Nepal. I had always wanted to write about the community, but it was my father-in-law who pushed me. The idea was to dispel the myth about Marwaris being sometimes perceived as crude, and highlight their wonderful dimensions. Bringing people from all walks of life, philosophies and thinking together has been an enriching experience,” she explains.
Her book has journeyed through the professional lives of business honchos like Kumaramangalam Birla, S.M. Goenka, Venugopal Dhoot of Videocon, Swati Piramal, Subhash Chandra, chairman of Essel Group; taken a step back into a royal era with Maharaja Gaj Singh of Jodhpur, Princess Diya Kumari of Jaipur; delved into the politics of it all with Milind Deora; and creativity with designers Raghavendra Rathore, Rocky S; even crunched numbers with stockbroker Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and gone into diverse backgrounds with Dr Raj Kanodia, Ritu Biyani, Sarina Jain of Masala Bhangra, and so many more. Her uncles, the Mittal and Ruia brothers, are also featured.

Jetsetting across the globe, she brought the community together in a classic coffee table anthology. “Maharaja Arvind Singh of Mewar wrote a personal note appreciating the book, insisting that he didn’t share his personal email and details with even Bill Gates or Clinton but he did with me, he sent a personal handwritten note from the royal office,” says Swasti, adding, “S.M. Goenkaji also personally appreciated the effort.”
Ritu Dalmia, who finds herself on the glossy pages, says, “What’s nice is the book aspires to keep tradition alive, with people from every sphere. With some revelations — I didn’t know ad man Piyush Pandey is a Rajasthani. As I am getting older, many rituals and customs are getting lost in time and it’s great for someone to pen down culture. It’s not about getting sychophantic, but just trying to preserve history.”
This encyclopaedia of people, their work and life, details personal nuances written as an autobiographical ode that looks into lives and fascinating stories. Meeting Sooraj Barjatya was memorable for Swasti, “He is simple, and so shy. He took us to his studio where Hum Aapke Hain Kaun was shot,” she adds.
For Swasti, it’s a celebration of the true essence of the Rajasthani and an attempt to reach out to the world and bring back the lost glory of a Rajasthani’s life’s work.

Mum’s the cine world

T. Krishna Kumari was an actress of great repute in the ’60s and ’70s. Her daughter Dipika Khaitan, an interior designer, decided to walk down memory lane, reminiscing about the days when she was lead heroine in many Telugu, Tamil and Kannada films.
Both wanted to impart a life’s story told from a daughter’s perspective. T. Krishna Kumari’s love for cooking, which she has carefully chronicled, led the mother and daughter duo to work on two books — one of recipes and another a coffee table biography. The idea came to Dipika when her dad was unwell. Roping in a team who sifted through memories and moments, she started writing an interesting and fun story of her mother, the famous actress,
“When I started writing at the hospital, my mom and I tried two rounds of interviews, but after five minutes we ended up fighting, so we hired a team to help us,” she laughs.
The books has photographer Sanjay Ramchandran’s beautiful photographs. “The more I learnt, the more I was awed as one usually takes a parent’s life for granted,” she adds. “Those were the golden years, the best. We used to be doing continuous shoots, dialogues would be sent home and there were no cut shots. If one of us made a mistake, the whole scene was spoilt. It was hard work. When I worked with Raj Kumar or NTR, it was a pleasure. Dr Raj Kumar was a very sweet person, very cooperative and NTR was very disciplined and both were highly talented,” recalls Krishna Kumari, who at one time ruled the Telugu industry. Her sister is famous Tamil actress Sowcar Janaki who herself acted in over 385 regional films.
Biographer Aravinda puts it in a nutshell, “I find that all people have stories, some interesting ones. I don’t think of Dipika’s book as a family book as Mrs Krishna Kumari was a public persona for over two decades. For me, her life and stories are interesting, intriguing and warm and funny. It’s a life well-led and there are fabulous stories that pepper it.”

Nellore nibbles

Harathi Reddy’s book of recipes will be a coffee table delight for foodies. It encapsulates an era when her great-great-great-grandmother, great-grandmother and grandmother would cook fresh seasonal vegetables and ingredients taken fresh from the fields, with the wholesome goodness of a traditional kitchen. And the Reddy household cooked, chatted and bonded in an open courtyard.
Reminiscing those days in the two adjacent villages in Nellore where her grandmothers lived, Harathi Reddy wanted to document the recipes and cooking of the old Telugu kitchens, before it was forgotten forever.
Currently researching and writing a coffee table book that will bring traditional village recipes of Nellore to life, she says, “My grandmother passed away and I realised that I had to preserve this for the future, and bring back that olden day feel.”
Taking lessons from the cooking of her family elders, the book has photographer Ramya Reddy creating a shutter stock of beautiful images that tell a story of village cooking while Harathi’s dogged determination will unearth kitchen secrets that are “fresh, wholesome and made right,” from a family vault of traditional recipes. “I remember going to the village and eating food that was freshly made, spices freshly ground and we would all sit in the portico, chat while greens were cut, chicken was cleaned, it was a family affair. I wanted to bring back a time when five generations would sit and cook fresh village food. Today, my mom and I still cook, but it was a wonder to see them make fresh aromatic food five times a day. It’s my attempt to keep this alive. The organic food, fresh seafood, beautiful greens and traditional preparations, which I think need to be preserved for generations to come.”