The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
Classy Rahul will figure it out at home
India batsman KL Rahul will play his second Test on his home ground, the M Chinnaswamy Stadium at Bangalore, in two weeks' time. The opposing Afghanistan team, foxy spinner Rashid Khan notwithstanding, will not be overly formidable and the Karnataka batsman will want to thrive on that opportunity to get his first Test hundred on home turf. The last time he was seen in Test whites there was in March 2017 when he missed his hundred by 10 runs against the Australians led by the now-banned Steve Smith. He followed that up with a 51 in the second innings.
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KL Rahul
The stylish batsman would also want to do better than the other Rahul of Karnataka cricket — Dravid — in front of the Bangalore crowd. Dravid, much to the chagrin of his home fans, couldn't register a century at Chinnaswamy in his illustrious career. He deserved better returns than just two half centuries in eight Tests there. Gundappa Viswanath, another great Bangalorean, could manage only one hundred in six home Tests, but he scored his runs there at an average to kill for — 75.00. That's why India's best batsman of the 1970s (that's how his fellow batting great and brother-in-law Sunil Gavaskar described him) was incomparable in many ways!
Priyanka to tell it all?
In the last five years, Priyanka Chopra has donned many new hats. From cutting her own music album to her brief Bollywood sabbatical for a career in Hollywood, and then producing films with her mum Madhu, PeeCee has had her fingers in too many pies, and need we say, she has rocked each of them. Now, we hear that Priyanka is writing a book as well.
Priyanka Chopra
And, having made a special appearance for the Penguin Annual Lecture in December last year, there was little doubt about the actor's choice of publisher. Sources have told this diarist that Penguin has already bagged the deal. While one can't be sure if this is going to be a wholesome tell-all memoir or just a chapter in her life, we think it's going to be a delicious read, nonetheless.
All for a musical cause
After musician Dhruv Visvanath successfully crowdfunded his album, The Lost Cause, Mumbai-based singer/songwriter Raghav Meattle is asking your help to fund his first album. Yesterday, he re-released his song, Better Than It All, with a new video, just to give people a sneak peek of what his sound promises to be like.
Raghav Meattle
"I wanted to give people an idea of what the album would sound like before they paid for it," Meattle told this diarist. Meattle decided to take the step as he had a bunch of songs ready, which he needed to record ASAP, and didn't have the moolah to do so. In his earnest pitch on Instamojo, Meattle explains exactly how much money he will need and how he plans to spend it. He even assures you it doesn't really matter if you donate or not, you can still be a part of his journey by recommending his music to a listener next time. We wish him all the best!
Still wooing collectors
While Christie's has scaled back operations by cancelling their India auctions that used to take place in the city, they tell us that there is still much to look forward to. At a breakfast presentation at a luxury hotel in Colaba, Sonal Singh, who handles business development for the auction house in India, said that from August onward, the city can look forward to exhibitions from private collections, especially watches, given that there is a rising interest among Indian collectors for these.
In the meanwhile, international buyers can take a look at Christie's two London auctions on June 12, which will feature Tyeb Mehta's Falling Figure. The work was used as the central backdrop for Artists against Communalism in Shivaji Park in March 1992, and made a reappearance for flautist Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia's performance in 2014 in Mumbai.
Sita is back in a new avatar
If you are an '80s kid, you might remember Dipika Chikhalia who shot to fame as Sita in Ramanand Sagar's mythological series, Ramayan. After a gap of 24 years, she's set to make a comeback with two films. The first is a Gujarati remake of Marathi blockbuster Natsamrat, and the second is titled Gaalib, directed by playwright Dhiraj Mishra.
Dipika Chikhalia
"All this while I was assisting my husband with market research. In my free time, I would paint. But I was toying with the idea of acting, now that my daughter has grown up," says Chikhalia. It was the challenge that the roles offered that made her sign on the dotted line. "The only prerequisite was that I should feel good," she says.
Baby, turn around for the paps, won't you?
Kareena Kapoor Khan in serious conversation with son, Taimur, as she leaves the gym in Bandra West on Saturday.
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