The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
Spare me the selfie: Actor Saif Ali Khan's daughter Sara chooses to duck passers by and the paparazzi, as she comes out of a Bandra restaurant. Pic/Shadab Khan
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Tell a story, meet Ruskin Bond
This bit of news made us wish we were a child all over again. A leading bookstore chain is organising Child Reading To Child, an annual storytelling initiative for kids between six and 14 years.
Ruskin Bond
Five winners, who will be selected by a jury of eminent authors, will get to travel all the way to Landour to meet none other than Ruskin Bond at his residence. The acclaimed octogenarian author has made the mountains his home for several decades.
The competition requires participants to select a title from Scholastic's repertoire and read out a story to other kids. Bond, who has been regaling generations with his tales, will teach the winners the art of storytelling.
Rahman's soul music for Nhaveen
A disturbing incident took place in Malaysia recently when a teenager was beaten up so brutally for being effeminate and refusing to join a secret society gang that he was pronounced brain dead.
A.R. Rahman
When the news emerged that the boy was to enroll for a music course because he wanted to be like ARâu00c2u0080u00c2u0088Rahman, the music composer took tweeted, "Dear Nhaveen, prayers & love for a speedy recovery. Let all acts of savagery end & people come to senses..." Nhaveen, unfortunately, is no more, but we hope the message resonates.
Gedney frames, in black and white
William Gedney was a key figure in America's black and white street photography. He has also produced some outstanding work on the streets of India, first as a Fulbright scholar when he lived in Benares, and later during a four-month stay in Kolkata.
Ram Rahman at CSMVS, Colaba. Pic/Sneha Kharabe
Earlier this week, photographer, curator and social activist Ram Rahman introduced people to Gedney's work at an event titled Walking the Streets with Gedney. In his talk, Rahman spoke about the photographer's intimate portraits of people, his still photography and other perspectives on the exhibition, Gedney in India, at the Jehangir Nicholson Gallery at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya.
Metro lessons from Kochi
The Mumbai metro project has been drawing flak for the tree-felling spree it has been on across the city, and is often compared to similar yet far better executed projects abroad.
Well, if this leaves any room for counter arguments like how the conditions in other countries are vastly different, the city authorities might want to look south. A slew of recent reports on the eco-friendly and humanitarian approach being followed for the Kochi metro is making us question why it can't be replicated in Mumbai.
From employing transgender people, having vertical gardens and solar panels atop stations, to treating its construction workers to a hearty sadhya on completion, these guys are inspiration for us.
No Mars vs Venus talk here
When Radhika Vaz released a video yesterday, its title, Why Men and Women Are Different, made us wonder if it was venturing into the all-too familiar territory of gender one-upmanship.
Radhika Vaz
But the stand-up comedienne soon put our doubts to rest as she took on the subject of role models among older men and women. While the Internet, she said, is replete with examples of good-looking older men like George Clooney or the Bollywood Khans, a Google search for sexy older women only leads to a host of porn sites!
"Women are under a lot of pressure to be young...or at least to pretend to be young," Vaz said. While the fairness products industry has been under serious scrutiny for some time, we are glad the equally guilty anti-ageing industry is now under the spotlight.