Phew! It's been one hectic year in the life of UpperCrust. The entire team, nationally and world-wide, put in tremendous effort in bringing to the UpperCrust pages superlative stories.

Interesting, off-beat stuff. Researching, sourcing, persuing, and succeeding! The simple appreciation that has come our way from readers here in our country and abroad has gladdened my heart and reinforced my belief that hard work pays. And I would like to state here and now that I consider myself rather fortunate that I have such wonderful colleagues and contributors to work with. I would like to thank them for helping me achieve what we set out to do four years ago: put India on the world culinary map!

The huge success of our UpperCrust Show, a synergy between a trade fair, cookery demos and lectures held at the World Trade Centre, Bombay, has further fanned our confidence and proved beyond doubt the high esteem UpperCrust is held in. Do you want to know how many new subscribers signed up in the three days? Two thousand, five hundred and forty-four!

I guess life will just continue to be hectic. I still have to get over the pace of the photo-shoot of the cover of the issue you are holding right now. Let me tell you how it was. It was like I was in a Kinder-Garten class. Yes, KG. No, I wasn't student. I was teacher. And I had a crazy class of 13. Boisterous, noisy, indisciplined, fun-poking, completely-out-of control kids. But then all the world's a stage for our theatre-wallahs. So infrequently do they get together that when UpperCrust gave them an opportunity, they went wild with happiness and in turn gave me grief � and good photos and a good time!

Ah! and finally we turned our sights to Panchgani. That laidback, tiny hill-station of Maharashtra, quietly nestling in the Sahyadris. For me, it feels like I am almost connected to this place by the umbilical cord. It has been the family summer retreat for four generations. I have seen it grow from a one-horse town to shall we say two-and-a-half now! Though it would be incorrect to call Panchgani a gourmet's delight, what you can experience here in totality is very special. Rest, relax, go for long quiet walks, eat simple farmer food at unpretentious wayside places, soothe your soul, calm your spirit, watch how the world doesn't go by! You Have A Happy New Year!

Farzana Contractor