You are never without a pipe or cigar...
Cigar, nowadays. I gave up the pipe in 1995, when I had my heart operation. But I sometimes miss smoking it. The tobaccos used to have such good aromas. I remember the brands... Marco Polo, Three Nuns, and another one called Henry the something! I had a huge collection of pipes. I even liked that municipal job of cleaning them regularly with Eau de Cologne!
Where do you get your cigars from?
From friends who travel abroad, I�ve never bought them. I smoke Churchill from Havana. It�s a good cigar. I like them thick and long. But I don�t smoke continuously. There are many breaks.
And, what else?
Seafood. Grilled pomfret and trout, and prawns.
When did you develop such expensive tastes?
In 1954, actually. I was a cartoonist with Free Press Journal and suffered a cold the year round. I could neither blow my nose nor draw, it was that bad! Smoking, I discovered, dried my nose. Those days it was Peacock brand cheeroots from Tiruchirapalli. Until someone convinced me a pipe was more my style. And then, cigars.
Are you an addict?
No, I can give up smoking. But it helps me tide over my loneliness. I�m often miserable. And alone. After I lost my wife, and my son in an accident, I found that the cigar helped me to relax. It keeps me going... and from returning to loneliness.
And your passion for Heineken beer?
That, again, started during my cartoonist days. I never looked beyond a cold drink, until an American lady told me that in her country, even children drank beer! Heineken is a good brand. But I�ve had all the local beers too. Yes, with the glycerine!
Were you a foodie in your early days?
Yes, and I had the taste for good food. We used to order from the best restaurants and eat at home. My wife, who was a good cook, used to like the Chinese food at Flora in Worli. I liked Thai food, because it is so tasty.
And also Maharashtrian seafood. Now politics has spoilt my appetite! I cannot relish food because I have no time to eat. There are too many visitors, too many phone calls. No sleep, no time to read. I miss my appetite for good food.
What do you eat now?
Simple Indian vegetarian food, steamed or boiled. No mutton biryanis and pomfret curries anymore. I like light food, no chillies and no spices. Rice, dal, some vegetables, two, three phulkas. Not too many sweets. Perhaps, some coconut-based dessert. And no tea and coffee. To think that in my Free Press Journal days I used to live on cashewnuts and cold coffee!
Can Balasaheb Thackeray cook?
Yes... he could! When I spent time in the US of A with a great artist called Bradford, I used to make soups with cheese, eggs and cream cracker biscuits. Bradford used to say, Cool, man! even if the soup was bad!
You gave up beer...
Because beer has too many calories in it. Even though I was drinking it in tins... not tonnes!
So what do you drink now?
White wine. French or Indian. Sometimes champagne. I think Sham Chougule�s Chantili is superb. And so is his Marquise de Pompadour. I drink a glass or two every day.
At home or in public?
At home! I rarely drink in public. I like to behave like a gentleman.
Isn�t red wine better for your heart condition?
I guess it should be. But white suits me fine. Besides, who says I have a heart! The media says I am heartless!
Shiv Sena supremo, Balasaheb Thackeray, was once a great connoisseur of food. Particularly home-cooked Maharastrian seafood and Italian pastas from the old Gourdon restaurant at Churchgate. But that was in the 1950s, when he was a cartoonist with the Free Press Journal.
