The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
Aanchal Malhotra
A Partition story for the UK
Writer Aanchal Malhotra's debut non-fiction Remnants of A Separation (HarperCollins India) is literally going places. After being shortlisted for a prestigious literary award recently, the book, which takes us through the history of Partition through material memory, will be published in the UK, with a new cover and title in March next year.
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"I hope that such work will broaden the ways in which Western audiences view what is arguably the most critical event in South Asia's contemporary history, highlighting the nature of traumatic memory and migration," the writer shared.
When lovers turn foes
An anonymous Instagram account, a champion of #MeToo, has managed to ruffle the art world in the past week. While a few allegations have led to much-needed soul-searching among male artists, one post left us confused. The female artist claimed that a male curator was guilty of "financial abuse, threats, gaslighting, psychological abuse and character assassination of women artists." A follow-up post accused him of "harassing" even though she has "forgotten about the money and diplomatically tried my best to maintain a distance." Something didn't feel right, so we called up the said curator.
It turns out, the two were living together for three years, but called things off in 2016. This is when the curator made his first mistake: he borrowed money from his former girlfriend. This became an extended bone of contention, leading the woman to accuse him of the above on Facebook, SMS, and in front of friends and family, over two years. The curator told this diarist, "I've been in the art world for 20 years, and I know the level of workplace sexual harassment and gender exploitation that occurs. And then, I'm one of the first people to be named in the #MeToo movement, and for an accusation like this?"
Chandra's India cap for sale
An auction house in England is hoping for an encouraging response to their November 3-4 sale which includes all types of cricketana — balls, bats, caps, bails and even letters written by famous personalities including the great Sir Don Bradman. The late Australian in a 1994 letter, requests his autograph-seeking admirer not to send letters through 'certified post' because that involves a trip to the post office.
This one-page correspondence will be sold for anything between £50 and £80. If cricket lovers find that affordable, they'll think quite a bit before even considering to bid for Bhagwat Chandrasekhar's India cap. The catalogue states that the blue cap has a "wired Indian emblem" in front and the seller bought this at an auction in London. No date, no auction house either. It is also not known from which of Chandra's four Test trips to England this cap is from. But serious collectors won't let details come in the way of a good buy. In this case, anything between R24,000 to Rs 33,000.
From New Zealand, with love!
The Consul General and Trade Commissioner for New Zealand, Ralph Hays was playing gracious host on Thursday night. An intimate group was in attendance to celebrate the launch of a wine from Brancott Estate in Marlborough at Hays' Bandra residence.
(Left to right) Ralph Hays with Dael Cassam Chenai and Patrick Materman
Pernod in fact, has been evaluating another wine, we hear, exclusively for Indians who are known to enjoy spicy and aromatic food. Dael Cassam Chenai of Pernod India, told this diarist that we could expect the bottle to hit the market next year. Just when Hays began to address the 20-odd guests, speaking of how a cool glass of the new tipple was a fancy way to beat the October heat, the rain Gods who must've been eavesdropping, worked their magic, bringing the temperature down a few notches after a thunderous night shower.
It's about time for #timesup
Bollywood lyricist Prashant Ingole's new short film couldn't have released at a better time. Titled Budh, the movie looks at how women are treated in India. The film recently won The Judges Choice Award at UK's Public Health Film Festival. And now, it will be screened on December 7 at the Oxford University.
"It was a product of the gender inequalities we see around us. If you think it's bad in the metros, it's worse in the villages. My film basically says it's time we start respecting women," says Ingole, who has written popular songs like Malhari from Bajirao Mastani and Ziddi Dil from Mary Kom.
Like mother, like daughter
Actor Shilpa Shetty and mother Sunanda, with twinning sunglasses, were spotted at the international airport on Saturday. Pic/Sneha Kharabe
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