The night they can never forget

Owning a farmhouse in Gurgaon can be fearsome. Ask Fernandes couple if you don’t believe us.

Owning a farmhouse in Chhattarpur, Ghitorni or Sultanpur area might be a style statement as well as comfort factor for many in Delhi, but, in Gurgaon, even if you dream of buying a farmhouse, think twice. It can actually be a pain, a cause of fear, mental agony and helplessness. If you wonder how, read on.

A couple (in their mid-60s) residing in their farmhouse on the outskirts of Gurgaon realised it the hard way. Running a successful restaurant 'Bernandos' in DLF Galleria market, the Fernandes couple was too scared to come out for an interview. However, their brush with the law thereafter left an ugly scar on their memory and set them talking.

On August 1 last year, at about 1.30 am, they were returning to their farm from Gurgaon after folding up the day’s business. As soon as they hit the unmetalled road leading to their gates, they saw a man flashing a revolver and asking them to stop. Behind him they could see few shadows. Without thinking twice, the husband pressed the accelerator of their Maruti Esteem. However, the man with the help of the revolver smashed the windscreen of the car and was knocking on the door. They could see his face clearly now.

“We just kept speeding away. The men fired at us thrice. We were lucky to escape unhurt,” says Mr Fernandes. “A few labourers who stay in adjoining farm came for our help. But by then, the miscreants had sped away on their bikes.”

After about an hour, a PCR van came there, but the cops wanted the couple to come to the main road and fetch them to the scene of crime. “Imagine the kind of mental agony we were in and then such an odd request from the cops leaves you numbed. When we got them to our farmhouse, they wanted to know how much we are worth and not bothered about us or the shooting. They never bothered to visit the spot and left saying ‘come to the station in the morning’,” says Fernandes.

The incident and inaction by cops only led the couple to hire a private armed security guard and a cab for their office and back. They were too scared to drive alone. It was only after intervention from senior cops in Delhi, that the couple were able to get them heard at the police station.

Meanwhile, the armed guard they had hired started carrying out probe on his own. The Lal family was in for a shock when they found out that their own servant for four years was part of the gang which attacked them. “Later, we remembered he used to talk much about robbery, crime, etc in the area. He was trying to scare us about the environs. His cousin was the main man behind the attack. And the gang they hired to kill us was arrested by cops in a case of murder in some other district of Haryana. When we saw the news, we were relieved that worst is over. However, none of the cops came to us when they arrested him,” says Fernandes.

“After a few months, a constable came to us and told me that our life was in danger and they wanted to kill us for property. Since our children stay in Delhi and everybody thought we live alone here, the property mafia wanted this prime land. However, after the incident lots of our friends visit us regularly so the notion has been done away with,” he adds.

The couple feels that recession in property market has also helped their cause and the reason why they are alive too. “Land prices have gone southwards, builders have shelved their plan of developing property here and that’s the reason why we are safe right now,” says Mrs Fernandes.

Nine months have passed and Lals still haven’t forgotten the deadly night of August 1. Although they still live in the shadow of fear, but they can’t leave the place which they have nurtured for years.

Gurgaon's own brewery

With Haryana only among four states in India allowing brewing of beer by restaurants, Gurgaon has become the first city in north India to brew beer. Currently beer is being brewed and served fresh at Galaxy Hotel’s Howzatt and Rockman’s Beer Island at the Ambience Mall.

Enter Howzatt, and the aroma of fresh beer leaves the connoisseurs of the ale awestruck. Cricketing ambience just adds to the flavour of the IPL season. According to restaurant manager Hemant Nautiyal, “All ingredients are imported from Germany. And the end product doesn’t have any preservatives added to it but retains the nutrient quality of beer. In fact we are the first in the country to brew fresh wheat beer.”

Imported bottled German wheat beers are available in India but nobody has brewed a wheat beer in the country till now.

Even the fizz in the beer is kept to a bare minimum level saving the patrons of the restaurant from ugly burps. The brewery which is right behind the bar is separated through a glass and the patrons can see the two levels of the brewery.

However, the pub also sells other liquor beverages and is showcasing the telecast of Indian Premier League. Cricket décor also revs up the ambience. With sofas in the shape of cricket glove, bar stools in the shape of bails, flags of cricket playing nations adorning the ceiling, it’s the right place to be in for watching the electric IPL matches from South Africa.

The Process
It takes 14 days to brew a beer. For starters, around 300 litres of water is added with malt and kept in a Mashton. After two-and-a-half hours, the extract (wort roughly around 250 litres) is shifted to a Wort kettle where it is boiled for 90 degrees. The hops are added here which gives a taste of bitterness and aroma. After approximately three hours the boiling wort is mixed and freezing water (kept in -250 degrees with glycol as anti freezing element) at 10 degrees temperature. Yeast is also added here and then the liquid is sent to fermentation vessels, where it is kept for 11 days. After 11 days, the beer is filtered and then kept in bright beer tank after which it is served directly to customers.

What ails the Kings’ sport

After a gruelling season of polo, Samir Suhag—one of India’s top polo players—is finally enjoying a well-deserved break. A proud Gurgaon resident, Samir is busy overlooking the construction of a new shed for his six horses that are lodged in his friend’s farmhouse at Chhattarpur.
“You need to pamper your horses and one has to be extremely careful with them. You have to ensure that they drink enough water and the grass that they eat is of fine quality besides taking care of their eating habits,” says Samir. Almost all his horses have come off the race course and he is now busy training his latest two acquisitions for polo.
“It’s very hard to train them in the blazing sun. You need to give them proper rest and also maintain their fitness level,” he says.
The game, too, has taken a hit in times of recession as there were few sponsors and tournaments. “Until two years ago, sponsors outnumbered tournaments. Royal patronage and the celeb touch the game gets in India draws many corporates towards the game. We hope it continues for the next season,” he adds.
A resident of Residency Greens in Sector 46, Samir feels that somehow Polo, as a game, hasn’t been able to take off among the sponsors and corporate, the way golf did. “In the early 90s, polo and golf started at the same level. However, after 15 years now, golf is at a different level than polo. There are no endorsements in the game like golfers have,” he says.
However, he is hopeful that things might change with celeb endorsement. Samir says, “Karishma Kapur’s husband Sunjay is a polo player. Recently, Diya Mirza and Randeep Hooda, too, have taken to riding. With the celeb quotient running high on the game, it’s high time the game gets a boost now.”
The game currently has just about 20 professionals in the country and 90 per cent of them are based in NCR and Jaipur.
Apart from training his new horses, Samir is coaching youngsters in Mumbai and Delhi. He is also looking towards western shores as polo season will start in Europe. “I am looking forward to play in Europe. Season starts in May and continues until July. Also it’s a good break for wife and kids.”
Samir wanted to join Army. His father, Maj Gen (Retd) B.S. Suhag, too, was a polo player. “I played polo when I was young, but I never imagined that I would be a professional polo player. It was Naveen Jindal who saw me playing and offered me a job in 1993 and I couldn’t resist. I was getting paid for what I liked the best.”
But he finds living in Gurgaon a bliss. “It was two years ago that I shifted from Noida to Gurgoan and the two cities are poles apart. Gurgaon is more metro, has malls, lot of golf courses, wide roads and superb cinema halls. The best part is that almost all brands are available in Gurgaon and is far less polluted than other parts of the NCR region,” he says.

Parking parents jam Hamilton Court road

It’s a traffic nightmare for a little over thousand residents of Hamilton Court in DLF Phase IV from 8 am to 8.30 in the morning as well as 2.15 pm to 3 pm. For them having The Shriram School as their neighbours is a pain as hordes of vehicles come here to drop and pick up children from school.
All these vehicles are parked on the main road and the main gate of Hamilton Court is being used by these vehicles for the U-turn making it nearly impossible for the residents to go out during these times.

“Earlier, there was no problem as there was a vacant space next to the school from where the parents used to pick up their children. Now some construction is going on there and thus there’s no option for parents but to park on the main road,” says Om Prakash Khetan, president, Hamilton Court Residents’ Welfare Association.
“We have approached the previous police commissioner, Mohinder Lal, as well as the DCP Traffic to solve this problem. We are still waiting for their response,” says SK Dutta, General Secretary of DLF City Senior citizen council and a resident of Hamilton Court.
According to Khetan, there are three solutions to this problem.
Either the authorities make this road one-way during 8 am to 9 am and 2 pm to 3 pm or the school authorities stagger the timings of the school. If both are not possible, then there’s a huge vacant land next to the school. If it is cleaned up, parents can easily drive there and pick up their wards from there.
Estate Officer of Hamilton Court, Surender Sharma, says, “It’s not only about traffic jams here. There can be accidents as nobody follows rules here. The school kids can be in danger as they come out of the school. A solution is urgently needed.”

Gurgaon’s own Forrest Gump

For some, running is not just a plain sport, it is also a platform to share and support a cause. For Gurgaon resident, Harsh Thakkar, who has participated in the Mumbai and Delhi half-marathons—he has recently got himself registered for the May 31 Bangalore Marathon also—it’s not just participating, instead it’s running for a cause as he has registered himself as a Care Champion and is promoting the cause of an NGO — RangDe, a society that aims to make low-cost micro credit a reality.
“I have registered as a ‘Care Champion’ and am committed to raise social investment (not charity) of Rs 1 lakh for NGO RangDe. This will help increase their visibility and will also help them with their work of supporting micro-entrepreneurs on the lines of what Noble Prize winner Prof Muhammad Yunus did. I would be running 10 km to raise Rs 1 lakh,” says the TCS employee and a volunteer of Maitree.
“RangDe connects a social investor to a needy individual looking for a means to set up or expand his means of livelihood. RangDe believes in providing a sustainable alternative to charity and this has been endorsed with a 100 per cent repayment rate after more than a year of operation,” he adds.
Says Thakkar, “People say I am addicted to running. If I really am addicted then it’s a good addiction to have. For, before any marathon I have to follow a strict 18-week
fitness regime.” That does it!

Project Chauraha cries for help after fire engulfs slum

Last week’s fire in the slums behind DLF Phase-V, which left close to 100 families homeless and without food, also spelt doom for over hundred kids studying in a school run by Edwell Society.
Named Project Chauraha, the school used modern technology to impart education to more than 100 kids working as rag pickers in the slums. However, undeterred by the losses, the slum dwellers have approached Edwell again to restart the school as they were happy with the results the project has managed to deliver within a few months time.
“I salute their courage and their willingness to educate their kids as they have approached us again. However, we have to start all this again from scratch,” Edwell CEO Vivek Tyagi says.
“All the books and furniture have been destroyed. We are not getting any funding from any organisation. Whatever we had invested was from our own pocket,” he adds. Tyagi is now banking on support from Gurgaon samaritans to start his project in the slum again.
“I just request people to contribute in which ever way they can. We wish people or institutions, which really believe in changing lives of underprivileged, should come forward at this time of crisis and help us in bringing these families to normal life,” he adds.

A TALE OF TWO CITIES

Separated by the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, the two halves of Gurgaon are two different, but inseparable worlds -:


Separated by the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, the two halves of Gurgaon are two worlds, each with a distinct identity. Old Gurgaon is like any other small town district headquarters, with a railway station, an ISBT, the local transport system, at least a strong police presence and the entire district machinery is located here. On the other hand, New Gurgaon is a jungle of high-end concrete masses separated by wide roads with shopping complexes where you don’t bargain. The economy of New Gurgaon mostly runs on plastic money.



Old vs New
India’s top polo player Samir Suhag, a resident of Sector 46, says, “New Gurgaon has wide streets and accessibility is great. However, it is incomplete without Old Gurgaon. If you want to buy the smallest things for your home, you need to rush to Old Gurgaon. I think the problem the Gurgaon residents face is that the two are badly interlinked.”

It was 11 years ago that Sunnaina Sachdeva shifted to Gurgaon from her Vikaspuri apartment in Delhi. A resident of Sector 56, Sachdeva has lived on both sides of Gurgaon. “Old Gurgaon is way too crowded but New Gurgaon, too, has its problems areas. There’s water shortage in New Gurgaon, sewage system is broken in most places and the authorities are hardly bothered to repair it. Only good thing about New Gurgaon is that you’ll find good companies, malls and housing complexes. I feel girls are far more secure in Old Gurgaon than in New Gurgaon. You don’t have to worry about travelling in public transport in the old city. In the new city, you are stranded without your car,” says Sachdeva.

Raza Khan, a resident of DLF phase V, says, “New Gurgaon has wide roads, apartment complexes are clean and the gentry is good. However, unlike Old Gurgaon, you won’t find shops where you can bargain. There are malls and high-end shopping centres. In old town, you find range of commodities. It’s then on the consumer to choose. The standard of living in Gurgaon is much higher than South Delhi.”

Sachdeva agrees, “In the old town, I have an option of buying a thing for Rs 10 as well as Rs 100. However, in New Gurgaon, you will only find costlier products.”
So does Samir Suhag when he says, “You will find well-settled old dealers of products. There are certain things which you will only get in old shops.”

The Great Divide
Virendar Dawar, owner of Dawar Internationals which deals in consumer durables, says, “The New Gurgaon residents look down upon residents of Old Gurgaon as well as don’t even think this place as Gurgaon. Whenever they come here for shopping, most of them relate to New Gurgaon as Gurgaon, as if they have come to a nearby town. But most residents of New Gurgaon will come to shop in Old Gurgaon. It is economical; they get value for money which they won’t find in the new town.”

Arjun Gulati, a businessman from Delhi who has recently invested in the Gurgaon real estate, says, “Old Gurgaon is just like North Delhi or the Walled City, where people will go with wads of cash to shop while in New Gurgaon, the purchasing power is triggered by plastic money.”

Agrees a restaurant owner located in Galleria market. “During the times of recession, we hardly have any crowd here. Earlier, we used to struggle to find space for all our customers. There was a huge waiting line and our customers used to flaunt their corporate cards. It’s all gone now. Until last year we used to reach home by 2 am but now we wrap up by 11,” he says, pleading anonymity.



E Factor
Vivek Tyagi, CEO of Edwell Society, feels the only thing that lacks in Old Gurgaon is an entertainment centre. “Old Gurgaon is a complete city in itself but without a good entertainment centre, it is incomplete. One has to go to New Gurgaon for entertainment. All good malls and cineplexes are located there,” says Tyagi, a Palam Vihar resident.
Raza Khan says, “Come what may, but the two towns are inseparable. Old Gurgaon residents have to come here and new ones have to go to Sadar Bazaar to shop. You can see bustling life there on the streets. But, in New Gurgaon, residents are safely ensconced inside their condominiums having their own little world. So the best part for a Gurgaon resident is to enjoy life in both worlds.