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Celebrity moments

Rajdeep Sardesai quietly submit to the culinary designs of the chef at Radisson MBD in Delhi

Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

A VIEWER FOR ONCE Rajdeep Sardesai looks on as Chef Raymond Sim cooks his lunch

Rajdeep Sardesai is not a celebrity. At least not so by the yardstick you usually measure one with. High airs, big talk, even bigger hobbies, tantrums, name-dropping, flashy car, stylish gizmos, reeking with classy perfume... he fails miserably in exhibiting any of these musts. He is a `name' himself.

But noticing fellow diners' stares at him at the restaurant, you still risk asking Rajdeep when he first realised he had become famous. With a shy smile, he puts his humble self forward, "No no... nothing, I am still the same old journalist that I was at INS building. Dal, roti, achaar is still my favourite food."

But we are at R.E.D. (Rare Eastern Dining), one of the finest Oriental restaurants in Noida in Delhi.Anyway, Rajdeep is not in his office and the way Chef Raymond Sim is going about things, it becomes quite clear who is the boss here. Smilingly, the chef finds out Rajdeep's food preferences... are you a non-vegetarian, should I start with a soup, do you prefer more dim sums as starters... . etc.

Submitting completely to Chef Sim, Rajdeep gets talking about topics he has a better grip on. Just before switching over from NDTV 24/7 to start CNN-IBN, he had talked about changing the concept of breaking news on television. And now his channel is often found not so radically different from others, you want his byte on it.

`TV a buffet'

"Television is a buffet. There is no loyalty factor here unlike newspapers. You have to keep giving something or the other to keep viewers hooked. But I would still say we are on track. We have done a lot of good investigative stories. In just a short while, IBN has got 10 legal notices. So I should say that is a good track record," defends Rajdeep. As to what should go on air and what not, he feels most English news channels know their bounds. "But in the genre of Hindi, it is much more confusing. They still don't know whether to go live on a juicy love story in a quaint town or to do serious stuff," he says.

The conversation breaks as starters arrive on the table. Chef Sim rolls out an impressive array: crispy chicken in bean sauce, mayonnaise prawns, chun chiao (vegetable dumpling) and prawn sui mai. Over morsels of starters, over compliments about the food, particularly the mayonnaise prawns, the lunchtime banter swerves back on track. Rajdeep this time talks about the power of images in television journalism.

"Take the story of Shiv Sainiks rampaging in Maharashtra the other day. Every channel kept on showing the visual of a burning bus. The image was so powerful in itself that it didn't need words." . "Surely you can't sensationalise," he assents.

Soon a yet bigger spread from Chef Sim's kitchen reaches the table. Fresh fish in nonya sauce , Thai prawns with basil, chicken with fragrant sauce, mapu tofu, vegetable fried rice and Hong Kong noodles. Raising his eyebrow, Rajdeep almost exclaims, "Oh! no! Starters have already made me full." A small eater, he however calls himself "a lover of food." With a Bengali mother-in-law who is "a great cook", he says he discovered the real taste of Bengali cuisine through her. Though his love of fish stems from his mother's Goan genes. "In Mumbai, you get great fish. I love fried clams," he says. Appears Chef Sim, this time to stir-fry some vegetables with almonds at the induction table meant for those diners interested in cooking their own meal. He wants Rajdeep to wear an apron, don a chef's hat and try his hand at cooking. Rajdeep looks at him with disbelief! Cooking... he has never done it! Anyway, he ends up as a viewer for a change. Soon, the dish finds its way onto the table. Blaming his high cholesterol, Rajdeep skips the dessert but takes a bite of the chocolate . Already late for a meeting, he soon takes leave. See, you knew it, he is not the textbook celebrity!

SANGEETA BAROOAH PISHAROTY

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