He has a theory on food. If there was only one meal to choose, he would any day choose Japanese. And if there were three great meals to eat, they would be French with French wines. And if he was told he could have only one type of cuisine for the rest of his life, it would be Chinese. Where does that leave Indian food? �I get all the good Indian food at home. I love Gujarati-Marwari vegetarian food, I guess that comes from my mother�s side. And from my father�s side, I love Punjabi tandoori food. And now that I spend so much time in Goa, I have developed a taste for seafood and shellfish.

OF Asit Chandmal, Busybee had once written: �My vote for Bombay�s bon vivant goes to the portly Asit Chandmal. He both looks the part and is, in his Hong Kong-tailored clothes, a single malt Logabulin in his right hand, a Cohiba cigar in left, talking of the baroque Bavarian ambience of the Zodiac Grill. He is no phoney, he knows his wines and his meats, he is the only genuine gourmet I know, and a bit of an aesthete. He travels the world on business and pleasure, stays in the best hotels, eats at the classiest restaurants, has cultured tastes in food, wine, cigars.�

It is true, Asit Chandmal is a man of sartorial style. �I love good clothes and shoes. When I could afford it, I used to have suits made at Savile Row, shirts custom-tailored at Charvet in Paris, Turnbull and Asser in London, and Battisoni in Rome. Now I can�t afford all that. But because I am short and fat, nothing off the rack fits me, so I have all my clothes custom-tailored in Hong Kong. Ascot Chang is the world�s greatest shirt-maker. A Man Hing Cheong is as good as Savile Row, and at one-third the price. I have always worn shoes from Lobb, Tanino Cresei, and Perragamo,� he says.

He stays at Sterling Apartments on Peddar Road in Bombay (arguably the best constructed and maintained apartment block in town), in a flat with Japanese tatami mats and a chair designed by Monsieur Le Corbusier, is a member of the Belvedere Club, has a house on Candolim Beach in Goa where the family gathers from three continents annually for the family dinner, and travels around the world at least three times a year, flying exclusively by Singapore Airlines and, at one time, Swiss Air. There are other things in the Bombay house, Japanese screens, Italian sofas by Marulunga, German chairs by Wassily, Japanese lamps by Isamu Noguchi.

There is also a well-equipped kitchen which prepares some of the best food in town. He explains: �I go to five-stars because some of them serve what we can�t make at home. The Thai Pavilion, Golden Dragon, Zodiac Grill, which all import their foods, wines, ingredients, cheeses. These are, for this reason, my three favourite restaurants.� Outside of the five-stars, Asit Chandmal�s favourite restaurants are Rahul Akerkar�s Indigo and the Oberoi Towers� India Jones.

He has a theory on food. If there was only one meal to choose, he would any day choose Japanese. And if there were three great meals to eat, they would be French with French wines. And if he was told he could have only one type of cuisine for the rest of his life, it would be Chinese. Where does that leave Indian food? �I get all the good Indian food at home. I love Gujarati-Marwari vegetarian food, I guess that comes from my mother�s side. And from my father�s side, I love Punjabi tandoori food. And now that I spend so much time in Goa, I have developed a taste for seafood and shellfish. But seafood on this coast, not Bengal. I don�t care so much for Goan Pork Sorpatel and Vindaloo, I prefer the seafood.�

Asit Chandmal is a hippy in Goa, a creature of pink bermuda shorts, white singlet, Hawaii slippers. He lives on the terrace of his beach house, smoking cigars, meditating, reading anything that catches his fancy from paperbacks to J. Krishnamurti. The house is something! It reflects the man�s sunny, cheerful and colourful personality. Lavenders, blues, yellows, greens, reds, these are the colours of his walls and towels! He is more energetic in Goa than he is in Bombay. He travels with an entourage of maids, cook, driver, electrician, they all drive down to set up the house, Asit Chandmal flies in later. Having explored the finest restaurants of the world, he is now discovering the eateries of Goa. He loves talking to people and takes great interest in their lifestyles, especially people like himself who make the time for life�s subtle pleasures.

But behind the hedonistic lifestyle, there is a professional person, a financial adviser and computer consultant. He is an NRI now and the companies he advices are abroad, mainly in the US, some in Japan, but in the past he has been associated with Indian companies and even the government of India. He is not one of our regular businessmen. He does not trade, produce, sell clothes, articles, he is an intellectual businessman, he gives advice. �I work completely independent,� he says, �I have no secretary, no travel agency, I employ nobody, because if you employ people, you end up working for them. I have no office, I have been using phone and fax from home for the past 20 years. I am not tied to the office routine. I can close shop tomorrow and take a break in Goa.�

And he smokes cigars. Asit Chandmal has never smoked a cigarette in his life, because in a cigarette you are obliged to inhale the smoke. But a cigar you don�t inhale into the lungs, the main thing is the aroma that is left in the mouth. His Havanas were once specially made for Fidel Castro. Castro smoked them and presented them to heads of state and friends, they were not available otherwise. Now they are sold, since Castro has given up smoking. They are expensive and not always available, but friends bring them along, or Asit Chandmal picks them up himself on one of his three trips around the world each year.