Books
Return of the Titans
Bibliophiles have been crying themselves hoarse in anticipation of these books. Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy is making her comeback to fiction with The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, an exact two decades after she wrote The God of Small Things.
It will be published by Hamish Hamilton. Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Girl, a sequel to A Suitable Boy, has been in the works for about four years now. The book is a jump sequel, set not in 1952—when A Suitable Boy ends—but in today’s times. Much noise has surrounded the book—missed deadlines, writer’s block, change of publishers (Penguin was supposed to publish it, but now it will be published by Orion, the same publisher who published A Suitable Boy.)
Music
Celebrating Ghalib
Piyush Mishra’s acting is inimitable. His eccentricities have become an urban legend of sorts. His melancholic verses have gone viral without him having an actual digital presence. His Coke Studio gigs are soothingly rustic.
The actor-writer has now found a new way to engage his audience. Last month, the self-proclaimed reclusive poet launched his band, Ballimaaraan, with a debut performance in Gurgaon at a literary festival.
Named after the nook in old Delhi where Mirza Ghalib lived, Mishra will present songs from his theatre days, films and otherwise in an orchestra style. There will not be much going on the stage in terms of instruments—a harmonium that travels with him, a guitarist and a percussionist—but his rich baritone and play of words are enough to send the audience into a tizzy.
The ‘desi’ band, which is in the process of launching its event calendar, promises to evoke the feeling of nostalgia, stir memories of unrequited love and deeply move the Y-generation on a cerebral level. Too much of Piyush Mishra is not good, said no one.
Fintech boom
Show Me the Virtual Money
The rising value of Paytm, Mobikwik and other e-wallets is just not an Indian phenomenon given the recent demonetisation drive. The use of technology to replace traditional financial resources is a global trend. Be it peer-to-peer lending, crowd funding, micro-loans... everything is now being transcended to the digital space. Passbooks and cash might become a thing of the past. And this trend is not just exclusive to traditional currency, but is also giving birth to digital money like Bitcoin.
Mobile Phone
Connecting People Again
These were the phones that we saw our parents using. And then their popularity dipped given the arrival of smartphones. And then they disappeared. But for all the hardcore Nokia phone fans, good news is around the corner. Nokia is all set to make a comeback with two Android phones—a mid-range model and a flagship handset. The flagship is all set to compete with the likes of Samsung Galaxy Note and iPhone. The phone is rumoured to have a dual camera and imaging has been done by none other than Carl Zeiss. It also allegedly has a 4GB RAM.
Liquor
Young and Happening
Things are going to get interesting at the drinks corner in 2017 as experiments will run high. Whiskey will board the flavoured bandwagon, albeit more refined.
Targeted at flavoured-vodka or tequila fans, the whiskies will have tinge of smoked maple, cider, vanilla and pumpkin spice, making you tipsy in the coming year.
People will also open up warmly to younger malts. Another trend that will see a major filip is craft beer, owing its growing popularity this year. Produced in small batches at micro-breweries, craft beer is all set to take over your evenings.
Movies
They are All Back
Sequels, sequels and more sequels. Clearly, when Hollywood and Bollywood like something, they stick to it. This is the year for Guardians of the Galaxy 2; Fast and the Furious 8 (Deepika Padukone getting her Hollywood moment); Logan—the last solo appearance of Hugh Jackman in a Wolverine movie; Star Wars: Episode VIII;
Toy Story 4; Kong: Skull Island, starring Tom Hiddleston; Thor: Ragnarok and Fifty Shades Darker. And if all this is too mainstream for you, then maybe Trainspotting 2 will get your groove going.
Closer home, we have Golmaal 4, Commando 2, Hera Pheri 3, Dabangg 3, Sarkar 3, Bahubali: The Conclusion and Jolly LLB 2 releasing this year. If sequels are not your thing, then there is Raees with Shah Rukh Khan playing the ultimate miyan-bhai; Jagga Jasoos, where ex-flames Ranbir and Katrina will share screen space under the direction of Anurag Basu—another Barfi in the making, we wonder?
Cityscape
Flight of Fanciful Fun
For the last several decades, Delhi has seen the rise of cultural, shopping and food hubs. Sleepy neighbourhoods such as Khan Market became the most-visited spots in town. Hauz Khas Village became the busiest watering hole and Shahpur Jat became synonymous with designers’ labels. The latest entrant on which we would bet our money is Aerocity, the stretch between T1 and T3 airports. It began as a drab, hotel-only area, but not anymore.
Today it is buzzing with restaurants serving breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner. Café Pluck and Honk at The Pullman, and K3 at JW Marriott are just a few names in the long list. And then there are spas. Cyberhub and Next Generation Central by the Future Group are all set to up the fun quotient at Aerocity. So, no more pretending to read faces at the airport waiting for your flight or get disappointed by the boxed flight food.
Gastronomy
Eating Out of His Hand
Zorawar Kalra is the man responsible for infusing fun into eating out. Remember molecular shenanigans? He is also the person behind raising the bar for restaurants in India on various levels. The year 2016 was phenomenal as he opened doors to 11 restaurants in just 12 months, including a Farzi Café in Dubai. Also, Masala Library and Pa Pa Ya took Delhi by storm.
His Massive Restaurants’ revenue tripled in a year. Now his company plans to open 22 restaurants in 2017 and take two to international waters. He is also working on a new brand of bar and café to be opened in Mumbai first, which according to him has a revolutionary concept working behind it. The newest member of the MasterChef circuit, Kalra is being approached for more shows and plans to pick up something that suits sensibility and personality. It would be interesting to see what’s next on his plate.
Netflix
Take the Chill Pill
It is officially a thing now. Netflix and chill. The Obamas do it (they admitted to having binge-watched House of Cards); your ex and so does your BFF. Order in that pizza, pop open that bottle of wine you have been saving and chill. Netflix has 16 new shows that will make for amazing company this coming year, including Marvel’s Defenders and Iron Fist.
Then there is Santa Clarita Diet with Drew Barymore and Timothy Olyphant. Anne of Green Gables makes its digital debut with Anne. And if you liked the first edition of the Wet Hot American Summer, then be prepared for Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later. If you crave split-your-sides laughter, then stream Nick Kroll’s Big Mouth.
Retail
Jazz It Up
This news has made most urban women in India giddy with joy. The men might be scurrying for cover. Ikea, the Swedish lifestyle and furniture giant, will finally be opening its flagship store in Hyderabad this year. So all that light-weight furniture, foldable chairs and customised shelves, those coffee mugs you so craved but could not buy (given the exorbitant shipping costs)—have at it.
Now one will no longer have to ask relatives and friends coming from foreign shores to pick up that soup bowl set that you so coveted. One other welcome addition for all believers of retail therapy is Kate Spade. The well-known fashion brand from New York is all set to make its India debut. The handbags are to die for, while the clothes and accessories are something that will definitely add that oomph and help you make a statement, Manhattan style. So, buy a new closet from Ikea, and then fill it up with a new wardrobe from Kate Spade. It’s a win-win.