What will the BCCI do with all this Power?

Ed Smith

All empires lose power. But their achievements - and their sins - long survive them. The judgement of history will not celebrate the gaining power, or even clinging on to it, but the manner in which power was exercised.

For Indian cricket, that is now the only question that matters. Everything else follows from that central debate. No one doubts that India is now cricket's preeminent power. Money will continue to pour in, sometimes faster, sometimes slower. Contracts will come and go. Alliances with other cricket boards will form and then dissolve. These things will matter a great deal in the short term, little over the long term.

Because the big picture is settled: India is the country everyone wants to tour; India has the IPL; India is the country with the biggest markets and revenues; India has the loudest voice and the deepest pockets. India cannot quite do whatever it pleases, but it has far more autonomy and power than any other nation.

But what will India do with all this power? That is the issue. What is its vision for the world game? Has it even thought about it? Or has the thrilling accumulation of power been all-consuming? Has it acknowledged the responsibilities that follow?

Recent evidence suggests not. Consider its attitude to the future of Test cricket. The BCCI talks a good game about safeguarding the most precious form of the sport, but has done very little about it. Indian cricket has long endured the fact that the showpiece events of the Test match calendar, such as the Boxing Day Test, have been scheduled to suit other cultures. But nothing is now stopping India organising a home Test schedule that will attract the most local attention and the biggest crowds. If India wants to make every home Test match a major event, how about creating a bespoke Test match calendar - the right venue on the right date - to coincide with the prospect of drawing decent crowds?

The BCCI has been perfectly happy to block out international cricket during the IPL window. How about blocking in some high-profile Test matches, organised around Indian holidays, with the same kind of precision and determination? Test cricket needs help. The BCCI can provide it.

India has long aspired to leadership of the world game. But it should aspire to provide not only new leadership but better leadership. It is often said that England ruled international cricket for too long and with too much introspection. The first three World Cups were all hosted by England. Why was London the seat of cricketing power? The simple answer, I suppose, is because it always had been.

That is why I have long argued that there are some very good reasons for the game's axis of power to move to India. India has vastly more cricket fans than the rest of the world added up together. Democracy, in a way, has trumped history.

But do many people doubt, that for all their conservatism, the grey-haired Englishmen who once ran cricket did so largely for the right reasons, in the right spirit, in the hope that they were acting as custodians of the game? Does the same apply to the moneymen who drive decisions today?

All sports have an uneasy relationship with money. And, of course, entrepreneurs and marketeers have their role in the development of sport. But sports are never only businesses, especially not cricket. The game is manifestly very different from the more market-driven American model. American sports always follow the same pattern: the matches nearly always happen in America, and this product is sold around the world. So while global markets may evolve, the identity and flavour of the sport remains essentially American.

Cricket is different. It is a world game that serves many different constituencies. The dictates of the market cannot be allowed to determine who survives or dies. If international cricket consisted of franchises competing in a free market, Pakistan - let alone Zimbabwe and Bangladesh - would have folded and gone bust long ago. But cricket needs its precious breadth and diversity. So it must nurture the weak as well as the strong.

	All sports have an uneasy relationship with money, but sports are never only businesses, especially not cricket

World cricket is not just a business. It is an organic being. The well-being of the whole influences the health of every aspect. That is why the leadership of world cricket is more like the stewardship of a trust than a straightforward business. India has a wonderful opportunity to show how well it can serve and administer a precious world enterprise.

International sport has a huge role in shaping a nation's global reputation. India should think carefully about the signals it sends when the BCCI makes sudden demands on broadcasters. For many people around the world, cricket is the only prism through which they see India. First impressions count.

Just think of the kudos New Zealand gains through the achievements and culture of All Black rugby. A nation of three million people produces not only the best team but a sporting dynasty that is an example to the rest of the world. The All Blacks do not trifle with their traditions and responsibilities. Even without the equivalent power exercised by Indian cricket, New Zealand's rugby punches far above its weight - in terms of victories and reputation.

I write as someone who loves India and Indian cricket. The piece of advice that most changed my cricket career came from Rahul Dravid. "Go to India," he said, "bat there, but also just spend time there." I flew myself to India several times in my early 20s and did just that. My exposure to Indian cricket and culture ranks as one of the most formative and valuable experiences of my life.

That was one of the reasons, when my father became seriously ill seven years ago, that I took him to India in the weeks preceding his operation. I knew he would be inspired and revived by the experience. One day we walked around the well-preserved Fatehpur Sikri, the city built by Emperor Akbar in the 16th century. We stood in the courts of justice, we read about Akbar's policy of religious tolerance and his system of fairer taxation. We heard the story of Elizabeth I dispatching an envoy to express England's admiration.

Fatehpur Sikri was the seat of power for only 14 years. Its legacy? Elegance, tolerance and, briefly, an example to the rest of the world.

What will be the legacy of the BCCI's period as the most powerful court in world cricket? They should start thinking about that now. Power can fade as quickly as it arrives.

Hedge funds betting millions against Britain's high street

Hedge funds are betting there will be blood on the high-street this Christmas as Britain’s retail stocks dominate a list of big short positions that has been published for the first time.

The secretive financiers have bet millions of pounds that companies including WH Smith, Home Retail Group, Ocado, Sainsbury, Tesco and Dixons will fall in value, according to a list published under new rules by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

Lansdowne Partners, one of London’s best known hedge funds, has short sold 0.63pc of the value of Tesco - a £163m bet that the supermarket’s shares will fall. The Mayfair-based group has a 2.51pc short position in WM Morrisons, worth £159.8m.

GMT Capital, an American group, has built up a 3.56pc short position in Carpetright - which is worth just £16.3m but is the third biggest position of the list relative to the size of the company.

Barrington Wilshire, another US fund, has a bet against Mothercare worth £8.24m or 3.18pc of the company’s market value. Two hedge funds have revealed big short positions in Marks & Spencer, whose shares rose 1.18pc yesterday despite revealing a 10pc slide in profits.

Jim Chanos, the famed US short-seller who runs Kynikos Associates, has a 2.52pc short position in Asos, the online fashion retailer. 

The biggest short position by percentage of market value is Greenlight Capital’s bet against Daily Mail & General Trust. The fund manager David Einhorn has built up a short position of 4.4pc of the company worth £80.7m.

But in terms of monetary value, Glencore has attracted among the biggest bearish bets. Och Ziff has a 0.82pc short stake worth £202m in the mining giant which is trying to merge with Xstrata. Elliot Management has a 0.71pc short stake in Glencore worth £175m.

The list, which is the most comprehensive view of bearish bets ever seen, follows the introduction of European rules that came into force on November 1. Under the regulations, all short positions worth more than 0.2pc of a company’s market capitalisation have to be revealed to the regulator. Positions of more than 0.5pc of the market value have to be published.

Hedge fund managers, who prove their worth by making money in markets that go down as well as up, are concerned that the disclosures could hamper their efforts.

Experts in London, where more than 80pc of Europe’s hedge funds are based, argue that short selling improves efficiencies in the markets. But European politicians have held the opaque trading practises responsible for volatility in the markets.

On Tuesday, fund managers said the rules unfairly penalise independent funds while allowing the big investment houses to keep their short positions secret.

Tim Steer, a fund manager at Artemis, said: “Under the rules, managers have to disclose a net short position so big asset management groups can hide their short positions because somewhere they will have a fund that has long-only positions which cancel them out. Pure hedge funds are being penalised because their short positions could antagonise companies.” Investment houses that have hedge funds as well as long-only funds are absent from the list, including Blackrock, JP Morgan Cazenove and Jupiter Asset Management.

The UK's Protection racket in the Middle East

The Gulf protection racket is corrupt and dangerous folly

Sooner or later the Arab despots David Cameron is selling arms to will fall, and the states that backed them will pay the price

• 
• • Seumas Milne
  • The Guardian, Tuesday 6 November 2012 22.20 GMT

Illustration by Helen Wakefield

On the nauseating political doublespeak scale, David Cameron's claim to "support the Arab spring" on a trip to sell weapons to Gulf dictators this week hit a new low. No stern demands for free elections from the autocrats of Arabia – or calls for respect for human rights routinely dished out even to major powers like Russia and China.

As the kings and emirs crack down on democratic protest, the prime minister assured them of his "respect and friendship". Different countries, he explained soothingly in Abu Dhabi, needed "different paths, different timetables" on the road to reform: countries that were western allies, spent billions on British arms and sat on some of the world's largest oil reserves in particular, he might have added by way of explanation.

Cameron went to the Gulf as a salesman for BAE Systems – the private arms corporation that makes Typhoon jets – drumming up business from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Oman, as well as smoothing ruffled feathers over British and European parliamentary criticism of their human rights records on behalf of BP and other companies.

No wonder the prime minister restricted media coverage of the jaunt. But, following hard on the heels of a similar trip by the French president, the western message to the monarchies was clear enough: Arab revolution or not, it's business as usual with Gulf despots.

The spread of protest across the Arab world has given these visits added urgency. A year ago, in the wake of the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, it seemed the Gulf regimes and their western backers had headed off revolt by crushing it in Bahrain, buying it off in Saudi Arabia, and attempting to hijack it in Libya and then Syria – while successfully playing the anti-Shia sectarian card.

But popular unrest has now reached the shores of the Gulf. In Kuwait, tens of thousands of demonstrators, including Islamists, liberals and nationalists, have faced barrages of teargas and stun grenades as they protest against a rigged election law, while all gatherings of more than 20 have been banned.

After 18 months of violent suppression of the opposition in Bahrain, armed by Britain and America, the regime has outlawed all anti-government demonstrations. In western-embraced Saudi Arabia, protests have been brutally repressed, as thousands are held without charge or proper trial.

Meanwhile, scores have been jailed in the UAE for campaigning for democratic reform, and in Britain's favourite Arab police state of Jordan, protests have mushroomed against a Kuwaiti-style electoral stitchup. London, Paris and Washington all express concern – but arm and back the autocrats.

Cameron insists they need weapons to defend themselves. When it comes to the small arms and equipment Britain and the US supply to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and other Gulf states, he must mean from their own people. But if he's talking about fighter jets, they're not really about defence at all.

This is effectively a mafia-style protection racket, in which Gulf regimes use oil wealth their families have commandeered to buy equipment from western firms they will never use. The companies pay huge kickbacks to the relevant princelings, while a revolving door of political corruption provides lucrative employment for former defence ministers, officials and generals with the arms corporations they secured contracts for in office.

Naturally, western leaders and Arab autocrats claim the Gulf states are threatened by Iran. In reality, that would only be a risk if the US or Israel attacked Iran – and in that case, it would be the US and its allies, not the regimes' forces, that would be defending them. Hypocrisy doesn't begin to describe this relationship, which has long embedded corruption in a web of political, commercial and intelligence links at the heart of British public life.

But support for the Gulf dictatorships – colonial-era feudal confections built on heavily exploited foreign workforces – is central to western control of the Middle East and its energy resources. That's why the US has major military bases in Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, Oman and Bahrain.

The danger now is of escalating military buildup against Iran and intervention in the popular upheavals that have been unleashed across the region. Both the US and Britain have sent troops to Jordan in recent months to bolster the tottering regime and increase leverage in the Syrian civil war. Cameron held talks with emirates leaders this week about setting up a permanent British military airbase in the UAE.

The prime minister defended arms sales to dictators on the basis of 300,000 jobs in Britain's "defence industries". Those numbers are inflated and in any case heavily reliant on government subsidy. But there's also no doubt that British manufacturing is over-dependent on the arms industry and some of that support could usefully be diverted to, say, renewable technologies.

But even if morality and corruption are dismissed as side issues, the likelihood is that, sooner or later, these autocrats will fall – as did the Shah's regime in Iran, on which so many British and US arms contracts depended at the time. Without western support, they would have certainly been toppled already. As Rached Ghannouchi, the Tunisian leader whose democratic Islamist movement was swept to power in elections last year, predicted: "Next year it will be the turn of monarchies." When that happens, the western world risks a new backlash from its leaders' corrupt folly.

The vultures are circling after Hurricane Sandy!

Hurricane Sandy: Beware of America's disaster capitalists

The aftermath of the storm offers a chance to rebuild a fairer society. How can we seize it?

• 
• • Naomi Klein
  • The Guardian, Tuesday 6 November 2012 18.22 GMT

Destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy in Breezy Point, New York. Photograph: Julie Hau/Demotix/Corbis

Less than three days after Sandy made landfall on the east coast of the United States, Iain Murray of the Competitive Enterprise Institute blamed New Yorkers' resistance to Big Box stores for the misery they were about to endure. Writing on Forbes.com, he explained that the city's refusal to embrace Walmart will likely make the recovery much harder: "Mom-and-pop stores simply can't do what big stores can in these circumstances," he wrote. He also warned that if the pace of reconstruction turned out to be sluggish (as it so often is) then "pro-union rules such as the Davis-Bacon Act" would be to blame, a reference to the statute that requires workers on public works projects to be paid not the minimum wage, but the prevailing wage in the region.

The same day, Frank Rapoport, a lawyer representing several billion-dollar construction and real estate contractors, jumped in to suggest that many of those public works projects shouldn't be public at all. Instead, cash-strapped governments should turn to public private partnerships, known as "P3s" in the US. That means roads, bridges and tunnels being rebuilt by private companies, which, for instance, could install tolls and keep the profits. These deals aren't legal in New York or New Jersey, but Rapoport believes that can change. "There were some bridges that were washed out in New Jersey that need structural replacement, and it's going to be very expensive," he told the Nation. "And so the government may well not have the money to build it the right way. And that's when you turn to a P3."

The prize for shameless disaster capitalism, however, surely goes to rightwing economist Russell S Sobel, writing in a New York Times online forum. Sobel suggested that, in hard-hit areas, Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) should create "free-trade zones – in which all normal regulations, licensing and taxes [are] suspended". This corporate free-for-all would, apparently, "better provide the goods and services victims need".

Yes, that's right: this catastrophe, very likely created by climate change – a crisis born of the colossal regulatory failure to prevent corporations from treating the atmosphere as their open sewer – is just one more opportunity for further deregulation. And the fact that this storm has demonstrated that poor and working-class people are far more vulnerable to the climate crisis shows that this is clearly the right moment to strip those people of what few labour protections they have left, as well as to privatise the meagre public services available to them. Most of all, when faced with an extraordinarily costly crisis born of corporate greed, hand out tax holidays to corporations.

The flurry of attempts to use Sandy's destructive power as a cash grab is just the latest chapter in the very long story I have called the The Shock Doctrine. And it is but the tiniest glimpse into the ways large corporations are seeking to reap enormous profits from climate chaos.

One example: between 2008 and 2010, at least 261 patents were filed or issued relating to "climate-ready" crops – seeds supposedly able to withstand extreme conditions such as droughts and floods; of these patents close to 80% were controlled by just six agribusiness giants, including Monsanto and Syngenta. With history as our teacher, we know that small farmers will go into debt trying to buy these new miracle seeds, and that many will lose their land.

In November 2010, the Economist ran a climate change cover story that provides a useful (if harrowing) blueprint for how climate change could serve as the pretext for the last great land grab, a final colonial clearing of the forests, farms and coastlines by a handful of multinationals. The editors explain that droughts and heat stress are such a threat to farmers that only big players can survive the turmoil, and that "abandoning the farm may be the way many farmers choose to adapt". They had the same message for fisherfolk occupying valuable ocean-front lands: wouldn't it be so much safer, given rising seas and all, if they joined their fellow farmers in the urban slums? "Protecting a single port city from floods is easier than protecting a similar population spread out along a coastline of fishing villages."

But, you might wonder, isn't there a joblessness problem in most of these cities? Nothing a little "reform of labour markets" and free trade can't fix. Besides, cities, they explain, have "social strategies, formal or informal". I'm pretty sure that means people whose "social strategies" used to involve growing and catching their own food can now cling to life by selling broken pens at intersections, or perhaps by dealing drugs. What the informal social strategy should be when superstorm winds howl through those precarious slums remains unspoken.

For a long time, climate change was treated by environmentalists as a great equaliser, the one issue that affected everyone, rich or poor. They failed to account for the myriad ways by which the super rich would protect themselves from the less savory effects of the economic model that made them so wealthy. In the past six years, we have seen in the US the emergence of private fire fighters, hired by insurance companies to offer a "concierge" service to their wealthier clients, as well as the short-lived "HelpJet" – a charter airline in Florida that offered five-star evacuation services from hurricane zones. Now, post-Sandy, upmarket real estate agents are predicting that back-up power generators will be the new status symbol with the penthouse and mansion set.

For some, it seems, climate change is imagined less as a clear and present danger than as a kind of spa vacation; nothing that the right combination of bespoke services and well-curated accessories can't overcome. That, at least, was the impression left by the Barneys New York's pre-Sandy sale – which offered deals on sencha green tea, backgammon sets and $500 throw blankets so its high-end customers could "settle in with style". 

So we know how the shock doctors are readying to exploit the climate crisis, and we know from the past how that story ends. But here is the real question: could this crisis present a different kind of opportunity, one that disperses power into the hands of the many rather than consolidating it the hands of the few; one that radically expands the commons, rather than auctions it off in pieces? In short, could Sandy be the beginning of A People's Shock?

I think it can. As I outlined last year, there are changes we can make that actually have a chance of getting our emissions down to the level science demands. These include re-localising our economies (so we are going to need those farmers where they are); vastly expanding and reimagining the public sphere to not just hold back the next storm but to prevent even worse disruptions in the future; regulating the hell out of corporations and reducing their poisonous political power; and reinventing economics so it no longer defines success as the endless expansion of consumption.  

Just as the Great Depression and the second world war launched movements that claimed as their proud legacies social safety nets across the industrialised world, so climate change can be a historic occasion to usher in the next great wave of progressive change. Moreover, none of the anti-democratic trickery I described in The Shock Doctrine is necessary to advance this agenda. Far from seizing on the climate crisis to push through unpopular policies, our task is to seize upon it to demand a truly populist agenda.

The reconstruction from Sandy is a great place to start road testing these ideas. Unlike the disaster capitalists who use crisis to end-run democracy, a People's Recovery (as many from the Occupy movement are already demanding) would call for new democratic processes, including neighbourhood assemblies, to decide how hard-hit communities should be rebuilt. The overriding principle must be addressing the twin crises of inequality and climate change at the same time. For starters, that means reconstruction that doesn't just create jobs but jobs that pay a living wage. It means not just more public transit, but energy-efficient, affordable housing along those transit lines. It also means not just more renewable power, but democratic community control over those projects.

But at the same time as we ramp up alternatives, we need to step up the fight against the forces actively making the climate crisis worse. That means standing firm against the continued expansion of the fossil fuel sector into new and high-risk territories, whether through tar sands, fracking, coal exports to China or Arctic drilling. It also means recognising the limits of political pressure and going after the fossil fuel companies directly, as we are doing at 350.org with our "Do The Math" tour. These companies have shown that they are willing to burn five times as much carbon as the most conservative estimates say is compatible with a liveable planet. We've done the maths, and we simply can't let them.

Either this crisis will become an opportunity for an evolutionary leap, a holistic readjustment of our relationship with the natural world. Or it will become an opportunity for the biggest disaster capitalism free-for-all in human history, leaving the world even more brutally cleaved between winners and losers.

When I wrote The Shock Doctrine, I was documenting crimes of the past. The good news is that this is a crime in progress; it is still within our power to stop it. Let's make sure that, this time, the good guys win.

Freemasons launch recruitment drive for young women

Charlotte Philby in The Independent

Nikki Roberts is someone a teacher might call a good “all-rounder”: smart, pretty, lots of friends. Aged 31, she is also a far cry from your typical Freemason. But that, if the Federation of the International Order of Co-Freemasonry has its way, is about to change.

Forget secretive circles of white-haired men locking fingers in strange handshakes, they say. A British branch is in the throes of a thoroughly modern recruitment drive. It is using Facebook and Twitter to sign up new members, particularly young women, to its society.

“A lot of people have misconceptions about what Masonry is,” Ms Roberts says. Not surprising, given that for centuries members of this traditionally male club have refused to divulge what goes on behind closed doors in meetings and ceremonies. “I can say that it [the Freemasons] is an association, a fellowship if you like, dictated by a system of morals, with lot of symbols and philosophy...” Roberts explains. She compares it to an “occult”: “You need to believe in a divine intelligence or supreme being.”

Since joining the Freemasons five years ago, Roberts says her life has been transformed. “I gave up a lucrative job in the City and now I work in health and social care, something more rewarding,” she says. While cohorts at her lodge (one of the only mixed gender orders in the world, the British Federation) range from party-planners to nurses – many of them female – there are other common elements among members, she says. “The kind of people it draws are interested in being good people; we have respect for laws, we like giving to charity... we live by certain morals.” It is a “life-long commitment”, she adds.

The biggest misconception, Roberts says, is that women are not suited to joining the club. “People choose the Masons in order to become more aware and to awaken areas of their mind to their true nature; women, being naturally nurturing and intuitive, are particularly responsive to that.” That, however, is a matter of opinion. Ask Ken Kirk, 86, a former policeman and a member of the strictly-male United Grand Lodge of England and the answer is clear: “Mixed gender orders? Absurd.”

At first glance, Hexagon House, the British Federation’s Masonic headquarters in Surrey, does little to shift the fusty image. Inside this Surbiton base-camp, the 21st century seems a world away. The hallway is stuffed full of archaic artefacts, such as one might expect from a fraternal system dating back 500 years (the first clubs were recorded in Scotland in the late 16th century): ceremonial firing glasses, brass etchings and silk wall-hangings adorned with obscure symbols.

Follow the carved wooden staircase to the second floor, however, and there are small signs that that this particular order is trying to embrace the modern world.

On the shelves, alongside The Book of Mirdad and The House of the Temple (and a dark cloak hanging on the back of the door) is an A4 folder labelled “Website statistics” and a novelty mug with the logo “old masons never die / you’ll have to join to find out why”.

Worldwide, there are 6 million active Freemasons, with 2 million in the US and around 400,000 in Britain. At the moment the Federation of the International Order of Co-Freemasonry, founded by ideological polymath Annie Besant in 1902, has around 300 members (the majority of them women), and is one of the most progressive – and smaller – orders; many orders won’t let a young women through the door.

Conspiracy theories about what being a Freemason entails are rife. With famous alumni including Winston Churchill and Robbie Burns, the most common perception is that this is an elite club populated by powerful men. That is the dated image the Federation is seeking to change, explains Suzanne Jozefowicz, its secretary. “Masonic membership worldwide is dropping,” she says, and an image refresh is in order. “Freemasonry isn’t about the past, it is about the future, we need to reflect the world around us.”

Jozefowicz, who joined the British federation in 1984, is a suitably modern figurehead for the British Federation. Raised as a Catholic (“But I asked questions like ‘why isn’t God a woman?’ and never got an answer”), she worked as a school-teacher and then a rock musician before joining this, one of the few mixed-sex fellowships, in her twenties. “When confronted with challenges in life people invariably look for an explanation... [we] frequently turn to religion but more and more people are finding that doesn’t necessarily answer the sort of nagging ache within them to understand the purpose of life and what happens or not afterwards.”

So what does Freemasonry offer that is so different? “The natural processes of life come into play,” she says. “Masonry is experiential, it’s not something you can learn like you would for an exam... because Masonry is about your own personal search for truth.” Jozefowicz will confirm that there are various levels of membership, although not the existence of a supreme 33rd degree, which is one popular conspiracy.

“The most basic level is the apprentice, as found in the old building trades,” she says. “He would join with an expert craftsman and spend his time learning the basics; it was a very passive learning process...” Jozefowicz explains by way of analogy: “The apprentice then becomes a journeyman or, as we phrase it, a fellow of the craft, who is able to do work under the direction of the expert craftsman but isn’t yet able to go out of his own....”

At that point, he (or she) is given “some kind of broken token, half of which he would take, and the other half of which his mentor would keep; so the journeyman could go to different places but ultimately he was still bound to his teacher. “In the third and final degree, the secretary says, “the journeyman reaches his maturity and is able to go out as a recognised craftsman in his own right.” By which, she says, she also means “journeywoman”. “We have people of every background in our order,” she adds. “Now the majority are professionals, but we want to expand that out. We will open our door to anyone who knocks.”

Heading back downstairs to the library, past the loo (“It says Gentleman on the door but actually it is for women, too!”), Jozefowicz employs yet another analogy to explain what Freemasonry can bring to the contemporary citizen: “It is about gaining self-knowledge by way of practical instruments: there is the trowel, the gavel, the chisel, the ruler, the square... these are metaphorical instruments of measurement and calculation.”

Keeping their secrets secret is a Masonic priority. In order to ensure a low drop-out rate, candidates are thoroughly vetted; only once that has been done does the initiation begin.

At Hexagon House the magic happens in The Grand Temple room, replete with astrological symbols painted on the ceiling, there are wooden thrones surrounded by carved wooden objects and an organ. But what really goes on once the music starts and the incense has been lit?

“There is a handshake, yes,” Jozefowicz confirms. “But they are part of the things that are secret in each ceremony so [what they consist of] is one thing that I can’t disclose to you.” Even if she did, she says, the knowledge would be useless out of context: “It’s purely a means of recognition and generally speaking it’s only used within the lodge.”

What about the noose, which according to hearsay is placed around the inductee’s neck? “Let’s not call it a noose, let’s call it a cable-tow,” Jozefowicz says. “The significance is quite complex... [a similar rope] is used to moor a ship to its mooring, so it is a way of associating the person with the lodge, and also a symbol of something referred to as the silver cord... It is also is a reminder of the mortality of the individual because obviously if you get hung, you die.”

The rolled-up trouser leg? “For anything you go through in life there is always a specific preparation, and Masonry there is the same,” the secretary explains. “The practice varies, according to which obedience or which working or which lodge you go to... but always some of that is physical and some is mental. You will find in other orders that the rolled up trouser leg is part of that preparation. We tend not to get too distracted by things like that...”

“We open our arms to anybody, of any background, religion or gender,” Josefowicz concludes. “Other Masonic organisations have historically taken a lot more controlled approach to what they release in public. We have always advertised our presence, we’ve had numerous open days, people have been invited even to attend open ceremonies... We hide our answers in plain sight.”

40 types of special Bombay dishes

From street food spice bombs to favourite fasting foods and meat dishes fit for a Mughal invader, here are a selection of foods that any true Mumbaiker revels in


The history of food in Mumbai is closely linked to the growth of this city from fishing village to mega polis. As wave after wave of immigrants from all over the country came with dreams of gold in their eyes, they brought their culinary treasures with them. The result? A smorgasbord of cooking styles and street food that reflects our cosmopolitanism as much as our carbohydrate-fuelled work ethic.

Here's a sampling of 40 must-try foods that define Mumbai's food culture, with Muslim, Gujarati, Goan, coastal, South Indian, Parsi and local Maharashtran influences.


Parsi akuri, Mumbai's scrambled eggs

1. Akuri on toast
Move over scrambled eggs, the Parsi Akuri cometh. Rated as one of the great Parsi dishes, every family has its own special way of making this breakfast meal. Though variations of the ingredients are vociferously debated, Akuri is usually made by scrambling eggs with onions, tomatoes (or even raw mangoes when in season), red chilli powder, green chillies and topped with fresh coriander. Others add milk, jeera (cumin) powder, curry leaves and even ginger and garlic paste.
Try the Akuri on Toast at Jimmy Boy, 11 Bank Street, Vikas Building, Off Horniman Circle, Fort. Tel: +91 (0) 22 2266 2503

2. Baida roti
This one is an interesting envelope. Spiced meat -- chicken or minced mutton, even bheja (brain) -- and whipped eggs with masala-fied fried onions enveloped in a square shaped dough and pan fried. Though served with sliced onion rings and green chutney, they're delicious even without accompaniment.
A lot of people swear by the Baida Roti at Bade Mian, Tullock Road, Behind Taj Mahal Hotel, Apollo Bunder, evenings only. Tel: +91 (0) 22 2284 8038


Batata vada, a Mumbai icon
3. Batata vada
Whether it's for breakfast, teatime, or anytime, one thing is for sure, Mumbaikars can’t live without the Batata Vada bite. This well-liked fast food dumpling is made by mashing boiled potatoes with green chillies, ginger, garlic, lime juice, turmeric, and fresh coriander, then dipped in a besan (gram flour) batter and deep fried. It's served either with a green chutney or fried green chillies.
Virtually every street corner will have an outstanding Batata Vada seller but it’s hard to beat the ones made at Shrikrishna, near Chabildas High School, Dadar Market.

4. Butter chicken
This ubiquitous dish traces its roots to the days of the Mughals when calorie counting was a thing of the future. This must-order dish when Indian families go out for dinner is made from chunks of chicken, marinated overnight in a yogurt and spice mix that includes ginger garlic paste and lime juice. It is then grilled or pan-fried. An ultra rich sauce made with butter, tomato puree, cumin, garam masalas and fresh cream is then poured over it. Best had with Indian breads like rotis, naan or parathas. Don't confuse it with chicken tikka masala, which is a story for another day.
While available at every kind of eatery, the butter chicken at Punjab Grill is worth dying for. Level 3, Palladium Mall, Phoenix Mills, Lower Parel. Tel: +91 (0) 22 4347 3980



The classic Bombay Sandwich.
5. The Bombay sandwich
This street side invention is a combination of the most unlikely ingredients. Lavishly buttered white bread and sandwiched between them thin slices of beetroot, boiled potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, onion rings, and mint chutney. Cut into four triangles so that you can handle all the layers without spilling them, you get the most refreshing tangy taste, after each bite. A toasted version steams up the vegetables inside and adds another dimension. Truly, there is no other sandwich quite like it in the world.
Though widely available throughout the city, try it at Amar Juice Centre, near Cooper Hospital, opp. Juhu Galli. Or the Mafco Stall outside Worli Dairy on Worli Sea Face.



Bheja fry, fried brain, not for the weak hearted.
6. Bheja fry
Bheja, or goat brain, sautéed with tomatoes, onions, turmeric, green chillies, spices and garnished with fresh coriander, is a staple of all those with hardcore carnivorous leanings in the city. Eaten with a roti (Indian bread) or pao, this melt in the mouth dish has a rich Muslim heritage behind it and you often find that one plate is not enough.
Radio Restaurant, 10, Musafir Khana, Palton Road, Tel: +91 (0) 22 2261 7171, serves up a really good Bheja Fry.



Fried Bombil aka Bombay Duck.
7. Bombil fry
Bombil, or Bombay Duck, is a fish (and not a duck) found in plenty in the waters around Mumbai. A fisher folk favourite, Bombils are flattened, then dipped in a spice-filled besan (gram flour) batter and fried. This crunchy-on-the-outside and mushy-soft-on-the-inside fish dish can be eaten on its own as a starter, or as a main course with chapattis.
Gajalee restaurant does a mean Bombil Fry. They have branches at Hanuman Road, Vile Parle (E), Tel: +91 22 26114093. And at Phoenix Mills, Lower Parel, Tel: +91 22 2495 0667

8. Brun maska
You may wonder how bread and butter can become such an iconic union. But it's not merely bread and this is not merely butter. It's brun or gutli pao -- a local bread that is unique to Mumbai -- and it's crisp and hard and crumbly on the outside and soft inside. The Brun is then sliced and lashings of butter are applied lavishly. Some even sprinkle quite a bit of sugar. It is usually accompanied by the sweet Irani chai. Dipping the brun maska in the chai is the only way to eat it.
Available at most Irani restaurants, the Brun Maska at Kyani & Co is historic. 657 Jer Mahal Estate, Opp. Metro Cinema, Dhobi Talao, Tel: +91 (0) 22 2201 1492. Also try it at B Merwan, Opp. Grant Road Station (E), Tel: +91 (0) 22 2309 3321



Bhel puri at the Taj Hotel.
9. Bhel Puri
The most commonly sold chaat on the streets of Mumbai, every Bhel Walla will have his own matchless blend and a considerable 7pm fan following. While the ingredients -- puffed rice, Papadis (small crisp deep fried flour puri), sev, onions, potatoes, raw mango and sweet and sour chutney -- remain the same, it is the proportions in which they are thrown together on the street side that makes the difference.
Bhel puri is available everywhere. The stalls at Chowpatty and Juhu beaches draw throngs of die-hard fans. But if you want a Bhel puri with ambience, try it at Sea Lounge, Taj Mahal Hotel, Apollo Bunder. Tel: +91 (0) 22 6665 3366

10. Chicken Mayo Roll
Almost every school or college canteen serves it. Most single screen cinema houses showing English movies display it during the interval. Most bakeries will have their version, neatly wrapped in cellophane, at the counter. Some grocery stores in up market areas stock it along with grain and rice. It's hard to believe that plain boiled chicken doused in sweet-ish mayonnaise with a celery leaf for dressing, all wrapped up in a bread roll can be so popular in a spice loving city. But it is.
One of the creamiest chicken mayo rolls can be had at Paradise, Sindh Chambers, Shahid Bhagat Singh Road, Colaba, Tel: +91 22 22832874. Or try it at Candies, Mac Ronells, 5A Pali Hill, St. Andrews Road, Bandra (W). Tel: +91 22 26424125

11. Chicken Manchurian
Here's a dish that even the Chinese over on the mainland haven't heard about. Snigger, snigger. Yet it's on the menu of the roadside handcart Chinese food hawker and the Chinese restaurant in the fancy five-star hotel. Chicken Manchurian, a phrase that has come to be the face of Chinese food in India, is nothing but deep-fried batter-coated chicken cubes in an onion, green chillies, garlic, vinegar and soy sauce gravy. Eaten with rice, it never fails to get a sigh of contentment from those partaking of this gastronomic oddity.
If you want to taste the real thing, try it where it was created, China Garden, Om Chambers, Kemps Corner. Tel: +91 (0) 22 2363 0841



Trishna's butter pepper garlic crab.
12. Butter Garlic Crab
It doesn't trace its roots to Chinese, Continental or Indian cuisines. It comes from Butter Land, an imagined place that thrives on the premise that anything tastes great with melted butter. A delicious, simple dish, a big crab is drowned in tons of butter garlic sauce that seeps into every nook and cranny and coats every morsel of the flesh. Crack open the crab and take a bite. You’ll know immediately that sweet crabmeat and butter with a twist of garlic is a combination made by gods.
The best butter garlic crab can be found at Mumbai's most famous seafood restaurant. Trishna, Sai Baba Marg, Near Rhythm House, Kala Ghoda, Fort. Tel: +91 22 22703213

13. Dhoklas and Farsaan
These popular snacks are so integral to food loving Gujaratis that no meal is complete without them. And when travelling abroad, they don’t leave home without a little parcel tucked away in their luggage. Dhoklas or 'khummun' are made from the fermented batter of chickpeas, steamed and then spiced with chillies and ginger and tempered with mustard seed. Farsaan, a broad term for savouries encompassing sev and gathiya are crisp deep-fried spiced gram flour creations in pasta like shapes.
Several stores stock these popular snacks. But try them here: Chedda Dry Fruits & Snacks, 41 Ridge Road, Walkeshwar. Tel: +91 22 (0) 2369 9442. Dave Farsan Mart, 10 Babulnath Road, near Chowpatty. Tel: +91 (0) 22 6657 8311. Go-Go Snacks, Bhavan’s College Lane, Chowpatty. Tel: +91 22 (0) 2361 9968.



Falooda, a desi dessert
14. Falooda
This adaptation of a Persian dessert was brought to India by the Mughals. A rich drink, Falooda is vermicelli mixed with milk, almonds, pistachios, a bit of rose syrup and the key ingredient -- sabza or basil seeds -- topped up with two scoops of ice cream. Refreshing, rosy, energizing, it's a great pick-me-up on a hot day.
Badshah, at 152/156 LT Marg, Opp. Crawford Market. Tel: +91 (0) 22 2342 1943, has a reputation for their falooda.

15. Fish and Prawn Curry
These two dishes are as old as Mumbai herself (remember, this city started off as a fishing village under various kings and sultanates until the Portuguese and English discovered it in 1534). This coconut-based light curry can be prepared using a variety of fish or prawn. But the most popular curries use surmai (kingfish), pomfret (butter fish), bangda (mackerel) or bombil (Bombay duck). And the only way to truly enjoy it is with par boiled country rice.
For Konkani and Malvani style fish curry go to Sadichha, B-5 Gandhi Nagar, Opp. MIG Club, Bandra (E), Tel: +91 (0) 22 2651 0175. For Karwar style fish curry there's Fresh Catch, Lt. Kotnis Marg, Near Fire Brigade, Off L J Road, Mahim (W). Tel: +91 (0) 22 2444 8942

16. Frankie
Inspired by the Lebanese pita bread wrap and suitably Indianized, the Frankie, or should I say the Tibbs Frankie, has satiated hordes of the hungry in search of a quick lip-smacking snack. Basically, it's a juicy naan bread with an egg coating and stuffed with mutton or chicken, rolled up and sprinkled with a unique masala that gives it its special flavor. The vegetarian option does not use eggs and the stuffings include paneer or potatoes.
Available all over the city. For a Tibbs Frankie closest to you, call +91 (0) 22 2821 4698



Locals call it the gujju thaali
17. Gujarati thaalis
In fast food terms think of this as a large, all-you-can-eat combo platter served on your table in unlimited quantities. Three types of farsan (fried snacky things with a plethora of chutneys). Two kinds of vegetables. Two kinds of lentils. Dal and kadhi (hot and spicy yoghurt based dish). A basket of different rotis and puris (deep fried breads). Two kinds of rice. Two desserts. And mango pulp which the purists pour all over the plate. All this for a modest price. Gasp! A note on Gujarati cuisine: most dishes tend to be on the sweet side and that makes an interesting combination with the spiciness of the food. Mumbaikers either love it or ignore it.
Try Golden Star Thali, 330 Raja Rammohan Roy Road, Opp. Charni Road Station, Girgaum, Tel: +91 (0) 22 2363 1983. Or, Chetana, 34 K Dubash Marg, Kala Ghoda, Fort. Tel: +91 (0) 22 2284 4968

18. Kheema Pao
Minced mutton cooked with onions, garlic, tomatoes, chillies and spices takes on many avatars here. In its original form, it is refereed to as plain Kheema. Topped with a crisply fried sunny side up egg, it is called kheema single fry. And scrambled with eggs, it is called ghotala. And all three are best eaten with Mumbai's signature pao bread bun. Traditionally a breakfast dish, it is now eaten at all times of the day or night.
Try it at Stadium Restaurant, IMC Building, Veer Nariman Road, Churchgate, Tel: +91 (0) 22 2204 6819. Or at Olympia, Rahim Mansion, 1 Shahid Bhagat Singh Road, Colaba, Tel: +91 (0) 22 2202 1043.



Grilled kebabs are a staple
19. Kebabs
While the kebab per se may not be unique to Mumbai or the region, a few varieties that emerged from the Bohri Muslim community are truly unique. Gurda (kidney) and kaleji (liver) top this list. Charcoal grilled, they go great with freshly sliced onions and a squeeze of lime.
Try it at Ayubs, on the street behind Rhythm House, Kala Ghoda, open only in the evenings. The best beef kebabs are to be found at Sarvi, 184/196 Dimtimkar Road, opposite Nagpada Police Station, Byculla (W). Tel: +91 9833 533 305. And for some outstanding north west frontier style Kebabs, go to Peshawari, ITC Grand Maratha, Sahar Road, Andheri (E), Tel: +91 (0) 22 2830 3030

20. Kolhapuri Mutton
The hotter the temperature of a city, the hotter the food. And it's true of this mutton dish that has its roots in Kolhapur, a city in the south of Maharashtra. It comes in two coconut based gravy variations. The nuclear strength version is called Tambda Rassa (a red chili spiced extravaganza). And the milder version is called Pandhara Rassa (yoghurt, cashew nuts and raisin embellished). Both go well with either rotis or rice when you're in the mood for a feast.
Taste the heat at Purepur Kolhapur, 1, Aditya Apartments, Parleshwar Road, Parleshwar Mandir, Vile Parle (E). Tel: +91 (0) 22 2613 4569



Maharashtran style Kanda Poha
21. Kanda poha
A must-have in Maharashtrian families, you will rarely find a badly made kanda poha dish. This simple, easy to make snack is made with kanda (onions) and poha (flaked rice) mixed with chopped potatoes and green chillies, sometimes even peas. Tempered with mustard seeds and garnished with fresh coriander and a squeeze of lime, it lights up dull days. And cements the many days in a marriage together.
Try it at Aswad, L J Road, Opp. Shiv Sena Bhavan, Dadar (W). Tel: +91 (0) 22 2445 1871

22. Misal Pao
Quintessentially from Pune, this rustic dish is made from a mix of curried sprouted lentils, topped with batata (potato) bhaji, poha (rice flakes), chivda, farsan, raw chopped onions and tomato. This hot and spicy dish is eaten with pao bread. To cut the fire, add some yogurt.
A good version can be found at Vinay Health Home, 71/83, Jawahar Mansion, Fanaswadi-Thakurdwar Corner, Girgaum. Tel: +91 (0) 22 2208 1211

23. Modak
A Maharashtrian sweet prepared during the Ganesh festival around August, modak is offered to Lord Ganesha, the elephant-headed god, because it is his favorite sweet. Wheat flour dough kneaded with milk, stuffed with grated coconut and mixed with sugar or jaggery. Shaped like a teardrop and steamed or fried. Typically 21 are made as an auspicious offering to the god and tons more for the rest of the family. It's a pity that it's made only once a year and in this region.
Some sweet shops do keep modak during the festival season but it is made of khoya (thickened milk) and is not the real thing. For that, you’ll have to drop into a home that is celebrating the festival.

24. Mutton Dhansak
Representative of Parsi cuisine, the mutton dhansak falls in the category of soul food. It is mutton cooked till tender in a lentil dal laden with spices. And it is eaten with browned rice topped with deep fried onions, garnished with mutton kebabs and sprinkled with a crunchy mix of chopped raw onions, raw tomatoes and coriander. And the aftereffects are usually exhibited in a sound afternoon nap.
This rich dish, outside of a home, is best had at Ripon Club, 123A MG Road, Opp. Bombay University, Fountain. Find a member to take you there. Failing which, go to Britannia, Wakefield House, 11 Sprott Road, Ballard Estate. Tel: +91 (0) 22 2261 5264



Mutton Sukke is without gravy
25. Mutton sukke
Mumbaikers break out into sweat over this Malvani-style mutton dish. Chunks of mutton on the bone marinated in a hot Malvani masala and fried with onions and garlic and red chillies until everything browns and the meat is tender. It can be eaten with chapattis or wadé, rice flour pancakes.
Try it at Jai Hind Lunch Home, 6 Mantri Corner, Gokhale Road South, Dadar. Tel: +91 (0) 22 2431 4256

26. Patra ni Machhi
Another top of the line Parsi dish. This is freshly caught pomfret, marinated in a chutney that includes grated coconut, green chillies, fresh coriander and mint leaves, cumin, sugar, lime and salt. It is then wrapped in banana leaf and steamed for about ten minutes. Gently unwrap and consume quietly, close your eyes and savor the flavor of a culinary culture that will fill your senses.
A very good patra ni machhi can be had at Ideal Corner, 12/F/G, Hornby View, Gunbow Street, Fort. Tel: +91 (0) 22 2262 1930. Only available on Saturdays.



Pao bhaji off the street.
27. Pao Bhaji
This specialty dish from the by-lanes of Mumbai has mashed steamed mixed vegetables (mainly potatoes, peas, tomatoes, onions and green pepper) cooked in spices and loads of butter. It is eaten with pao, which is shallow fried in even more butter and served with chopped onions. Sometimes cheese and paneer (cottage cheese) are added. People from all over India come to Mumbai to eat pao bhaji.
Though widely available at local restaurants, try the sinful pao bhaji at Sardar, 166A Tardeo Road Junction, Opp. Bus Depot, Tardeo. Tel: +91 (0) 22 2353 0208

28. Prawns Kkoliwada
Contrary to popular belief that this dish originated on the Konkan coast, it is actually a very Mumbai dish and the story goes that it was created in the Sion fishing village, or koliwada, by -- and here’s the twist -- a north Indian immigrant from Punjab. These deep-fried prawns marinated in a batter of flour, spices and ginger garlic paste can be identified by their signature red color. And they are crunchy yet melt in the mouth. Pick the smaller sized prawns, they taste better.
Try the real thing at Hazara, GTB Nagar, Near the Gurudwara, Sion (W). Tel: +91 (0) 22 2409 2617



Nalli nihari, a Muslim specialty
29. Nalli nihari
The phrase "breakfast like a king" gets taken to another level when you dig into a plate of Muslim nalli nihari. You could probably fight a war after this power meal made of soft and tender mutton shanks in a rich, greasy gravy filled with marrow and steeped in spices, the flavors exploding with delight. A crisp roti makes for the perfect accompaniment. Can you stomach this for breakfast?
The best Nalli Nihari can be had at Noor Mohammadi, 179 Wazir Building, Abdul Hakim Noor Mohammadi Chowk, Bhendi Bazaar. Tel: +91 (0) 22 2347 6188. Just make sure you reach before noon or you may leave disappointed.

30. Puran Poli
A festive dish made by Maharashtrians and Gujaratis especially during Holi (to celebrate the end of the winter season) and Dussehra (to celebrate the triumph of Lord Ram over the demon Raavan). It is made by simmering chana dal (yellow gram) with sugar or jaggery (molasses or gur) till it dries up, and then hand-ground to smoothen it out. Nutmeg and cardamom powders are the flavorings. Palm sized balls of this paste are stuffed into wheat flour dough and rolled out to be roasted on a tawa frying pan with a little ghee (clarified butter). Do add a lot of ghee when you're eating them, they taste tops then.
Puran polis can be found in some grocery stores but they are a poor mass produced version of the real thing. The real ones can only be found in a Maharashtrian or Gujarati home.
31. Ragda Pattice
This twin delight is a combination of ragda, soft spicy rugged flavored chickpeas, and pattice, mashed potatoes shaped into fat patties and fried. The ideal way is to eat it is to crush the ragda with the pattice and pile on the accompaniments -- finely chopped onions, tangy tamarind sauce and fiery green chutney. Mash it all up and dig in for the true flavor of Mumbai.
A favorite street food, it is part of the chaat family and is commonly found all over. A good place to try it is Kailash Parbat, Sheela Mahal, 1st Pasta Lane, Colaba. Tel: +91 (0) 22 2284 1972



Sabudana vada is fasting food
32. Sabudana Vada
For Maharashtrians, sabudana vada is the traditional 'upvas' or fasting food and the really hardcore folk fast up to four times a week. And the good news is that the restaurants never fail to oblige with hot crisp sabudana vadas for those who don’t have the time to make it at home. Sago is soaked until it puffs up. Crushed boiled potatoes, green chillies, coriander leaves and salt are kneaded in. They are then fashioned into palm-sized patties and deep fried until they turn crisp and golden. And then one bite leads to another and another.
Sabudana vadas are available at most Udipi hotels and roadside stalls. But try the ones at the R K Studio Canteen, Chembur. They are really special.

33. Samosa
It's best to bite into a hot one, hiding under a street stall during a typical Mumbai monsoon downpour. When you go through the crisp crust, you meet the steaming and savory-with-a-hint-of-sour chunks of spiced potatoes and peas. Lovingly shaped into triangles and deep fried, these calorie busters are worth the one week that you’ll need on the treadmill to work it off. But a samosa can also give you heart at that last leg of your day when transport is not in sight, it's dark and there's a long way home.
You can ask for Guru Kripa samosas at many stores across Mumbai. Or go to the original Guru Kripa Hotel, 40, Guru Kripa Building, near SIES College, Sion. Tel: +91 (0) 22 2407 1237



Mumbai's favorite sizzler from Kobe
34. Sizzlers
As kids, a sizzler was part of the "growing up in Mumbai" experience. The sight of a sizzler arriving at your table, like an old steam engine, sizzling and steaming and spluttering to a halt in front of you, was an exciting experience. A combination of grilled meats and vegetables served on what looks like a hot chunk of black iron, with a side of mashed potatoes or fries and gravy. Sizzlers come in several vegetarian options too. Long lines at restaurants are a testimony to its enduring popularity.
Give sizzlers a try at places synonymous with the word. Such as Kobe, 13/14 Sukh Sagar, Hughes Road, Opera House. Tel: +91 (0) 22 23632174. Or Yoko, West View, S V Road, near Akbarally’s, Santacruz (W). Tel: +91 (0) 22 2649 2313



Pork Sorpatel, a Goan delicacy
35. Sorpatel and Vindaloo
These Goan specialties set your taste buds on fire and grandmothers are rumored to pass out feni shots (a strong Goan brew made from palm or cashew nuts) to douse the flames. The sorpatel has all parts of the pig, including its blood, in the recipe. And the vindaloo is made with chunks of fatty pork meat cooked with spices, red chillies and lots of vinegar. Ideally, they are eaten the next day, after having spent the night soaking in all the juices and flavors.
Try sorpatel, vindaloo and other Goan delicacies at City Kitchen, 301 Shahid Bhagat Singh Road, Fort. Tel: +91 (0) 22 2261 0002. Or, New Martin Hotel, 11 Glamour House, Strand Cinema Road, Colaba. Tel: +91 (0) 22 2202 9606

36. South Indian 'Meals'
"Meals Ready" is a common sign found outside South Indian restaurants. In front of Udipi hotels, a euphemism for all south Indian cuisine, it means vegetarian meals laid out on a thaali, a stainless steel plate, or on a traditional banana leaf. A couple of vegetables, sambar (spicy and sour lentils and vegetables boiled with masalas and spices), rasam (a hot and fiery lentil soup-like dish) and curds (yoghurt) served with heaps of rice and eaten in that order. A non-vegetarian version of the 'Meals' can be found in 'Military' hotels.
Try the 'meals' at this 68-year-old haven: Rama Nayak’s Udipi Shree Krishna Boarding, bang outside the Matunga (E) station. Tel: +91 (0) 22 2414 2422



Zhunka Bhakar
37. Zhunka Bhakar
This dish has deep roots in the farming and working class communities of interior Maharashtra. Considered the common man's food, a political decision was made at the highest echelons of government to make it available everywhere. Overnight, thousands of zhunka bhakar stalls opened, none pricing it more than Rs 10. Traditionally, the zhunka is made using chopped onions tempered with mustard seeds and kadipatta leaves mixed with chickpea flour and is dry. It is eaten with jowar (millet) bhakri or roti.
Try the stalls opposite Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (originally called Victoria Terminus) and BMC Headquarters.

38. Varan Bhaat
If you wanted to name one truly soul satisfying food of Mumbai city, then this would be it. The simple and truly humble dish is made by lightly tempering cooked-till-soft toor dal (a lentil) with ghee (clarified butter), turmeric and cumin powder. Served over steaming hot rice, or bhaat, it assumes magical, mythical proportions.
A staple in Maharashtrian homes, that's really where you should be eating it. But do give Diva Maharashtracha a try. T H Kataria Marg, Mahim. Tel: +91 (0) 22 2445 4433.



Fresh, steamed, healthy South Indian Idlis
39. South Indian Tiffin (Idlis and Vadas)
What started as tiffin in British India -- a light meal that was had between meals -- has become a rage all over the country. And especially in hard working Mumbai. Here you will find a South Indian tiffin available every half a kilometer and at any time of day or night. These steamed (idlis) or fried (vadas) dumplings made with multi-grain lentil batter are best scooped up with coconut chutney or dunked into hot sambar (spicy and sour lentil and vegetable soup, boiled with masalas and spices).
The finest South Indian Tiffin can be found at Madras Café (+91 (0) 22 2401 4419), Anand Bhavan (+91 (0) 22 2401 5745) and Idli House (+91 (0) 22 3246 0111), all located around King’s Circle, Matunga.



Vada Pao is a Mumbai icon
40. Vada Pao
In the vast fast food world of Mumbai, this is the tastiest "cutlet in a bun" by a mile. And no, it's not available at McDonald's. Every Mumbaiker's favorite on-the-go snack, the vada pao satiates millions every day. And the recipe, hard to duplicate because each stall owner has his own secret ingredient, uses a combination of boiled potatoes mashed with fresh coriander, green chillies, a bit of ginger and sometimes garlic, made into palm-sized balls, dipped in a chickpea flour batter and deep fried till golden. They are stuffed into a pao, which has been applied with a layer of spicy green chutney and a fiery red garlic crush. Tastes best when eaten hot.
It's a crime to eat vada pao anywhere else but on the street. Try Ashok Satam's Stall, on the Flora Fountain side of the Central Telegraph Office (CTO), Fort.

Unlimited Liability for Speculative Bankers

Bankers must be made to bear the cost of their reckless risk-taking

Separating retail and investment banking is not enough. Speculative banking needs to have unlimited liability

• 
• • Prem Sikka
  • guardian.co.uk, Sunday 4 November 2012 13.10 GMT

Lehman Brothers employees leaving the Canary Wharf building in London, carrying their possessions in boxes, aftert the bank collapsed in 2008. Photograph: Graeme Robertson

 

Hot on the heels of the Libor scandal and money-laundering at HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank comes the allegation that Barclays Bank attempted to manipulate the US energy markets to make profits. Of course, Barclays has no direct interest in buying or selling oil, gas or electricity. Its aim is to make profits by betting on the price changes, a process that often drives up the price of the underlying commodity and forces ordinary people to pay sky-high prices.

This speculative activity is facilitated by complex financial instruments known as derivatives, described by investment guru Warren Buffett as "financial weapons of mass destruction". Behind the technical jargon lies a giant gambling machine, which bets on anything that can be priced. The hard cash needed to settle the outcome of the bets is always highly uncertain until the contracts mature, which could be 10 to 15 years in the future. And, like other bets, derivatives don't always pay off – as the cases of Nick Leeson at Barings and more recently Jérôme Kerviel at Société Générale exemplify.
The UK government claims that speculation will be curbed by a separation of investment banking from the retail side. This, it is claimed, will protect savers and taxpayers from the toxic effects of risky positions adopted by bankers. This policy will not work. Even after separation, investment banks will continue to use funds from retail banks, pension funds and insurance companies for their speculative activities. The speculators will continue to shelter behind limited liability and dump losses on to innocent bystanders. Unless the benefit of limited liability is removed from investment banks, their losses and reckless risks will inevitably be transferred to other sectors. The separation between retail and speculative operations needs to be accompanied by unlimited liability for investment banking, ensuring that those who take excessive risks are 100% liable for their mistakes.

Derivatives are central to the current economic crisis. In 2008, Lehman Brothers collapsed with 1.2 million derivatives contracts, which had a face value of nearly $39 trillion, though the economic exposure was considerably less. For nearly six years before its demise, almost all of the pre-tax profits at Bear Stearns came from speculative activities. It could not continue to pick winners indefinitely, and collapsed in 2008. It had shareholder funds of $11.8bn, debts of $384bn and a derivatives portfolio with a face value of $13.4 trillion. The derivatives gambles also brought down American International Group (AIG) – the world's largest insurer – and Washington Mutual. Then in October 2011, MF Global, a US brokerage firm that specialised in delivering trading and hedging solutions, filed for bankruptcy. It had nearly 3 million derivatives contracts with a notional value of more than $100bn.

Despite these high-profile casualties, risk-hungry investment bankers remain undeterred. The face value of the global derivatives trade is about $1,200 trillion (£749 trillion). With a global GDP of $65-70 trillion, the world economy is not in a position to absorb even 0.1% ($1.2 trillion) of losses.
The UK's GDP is about £1.5 trillion. Just three UK banks – Barclays, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) – alone have a derivatives portfolio, with a face value totalling nearly £100 trillion. Barclays leads the way with £43 trillion. It has recently reported a third-quarter loss of £47 million, but its balance sheet points to a more serious position. Barclays' last full-year accounts show assets of £1.56 trillion and capital of only £65bn, meaning that its gross leverage is nearly 24 times its capital base. A decline of just 4% in asset values would wipe out its entire capital. Barclays' balance sheet shows gross exposure to derivatives of £539bn, though the bank could argue that this is offset by hedges of £528bn, leaving a net exposure of £11bn. The difficulty is that the hedges, as Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and Northern Rock have learnt, do not necessarily work in the desired way and always depend on the position of the counter parties in a highly unpredictable environment.

Merely separating retail and investment banking will neither choke off nor contain the effects of toxic gambles, because speculative activities will affect other sectors of the economy. For any possibility of containing the crisis, speculative banking needs to have unlimited liability. Thus, if the bets go bad, bankers will personally need to bear the negative consequences. One of the tasks of the banking regulator should be to ensure that the size of the bets bears a reasonable relationship to the assets of the gamblers, so that cavalier bankers are not able to gamble more than they can lose. No retail bank, pension fund, insurance company or pension fund should be able to provide money to any investment bank without specific approval from its stakeholders.

The above reforms will help to reduce speculative activity and quarantine the negative effects of reckless gambling. They will also remind neoliberals that the freedom to speculate needs to be accompanied by responsibilities.