<h2>Seated in the new normal</h2>
A woman is glued to her cellphone on a bench where signage clearly outlines new social distancing norms inside a reopened mall in Kandivali. Pic/ Satej Shinde
<h2>Gaurav and his 22 yarns</h2>
<img title="Gaurav" src="https://images.mid-day.com/images/2020/aug/Gaurav-Kapu.jpg" alt="Gaurav" />
Following the success of his Spotify show, 22 Yarns with Gaurav Kapur, a little birdie told this diarist that the celeb presenter is back with all-new episodes. Going live from today, Kapur's first guest on the show is going to be celebrated umpire Simon Taufel. Kapur also gave us a sneak peek into what to expect from the first episode of the programme, "Simon speaks of his start as a fast bowler, and then goes on to share how he became an umpire by accident, his process-oriented approach to umpiring and his views on how umpires must 'earn the right to be wrong'. I enjoyed hearing him talk about his interactions with MS Dhoni and Makhaya Ntini. You're in for amusing anecdotes interwoven with amazing management and life lessons."
<h2>Keeping dastangoi alive</h2>
<img title="Das" src="https://images.mid-day.com/images/2020/aug/danish-husain.jpg" alt="Dasg" />
Like all other performing arts, the Urdu oral tradition of dastangoi also received a hit during the pandemic and the lockdown that ensued. However, platforms like Offbeat Circuit that host digital sessions with actor-storyteller and renowned dastango Danish Husain at the helm, are ensuring it stays alive. On the eve of his next session, Husain elaborates about the edge that dastangoi has over the rest, "Theatres are shut and no shows are happening. But what is interesting about dastangoi is that unlike other theatre forms, it doesn't rely as heavily on blocking, stage movement, light or other elements of the stage. This is because the dastango is the sutradhaar; he is directly conversing with the audience, looking them in the eye, performing through voice modulations and his expressions. All of this, while remaining stationary. The spoken word is what matters the most." In the session on August 8, the dastango will take you on a journey to rediscover the dying art form, he said. Titled The tilism of Dastangoi, Husain, during the Instagram live, will guide you through the rich history of how the artform rose to its zenith in the 18th and 19th century and became extinct in the 20th century, until its modern revival.
<h2>Desi tales on the Internet</h2>
<img title="Nisha" src="https://images.mid-day.com/images/2020/aug/Nisha-Profile-3.jpg" alt="Nisha" />
From a classical musician who finds a prince in a chat room to a Mumbai woman who gets obsessed with a dead woman's online relics, The Women Who Forgot to Invent Facebook and Other Stories, Ladies Finger founder and columnist Nisha Susan's debut anthology of fiction, dissects love, violence and intimacy in the time of the Internet. "From the early 2000s chat rooms to the late '90s when we connected over email, the stories explore the desi experiences of the Internet, from the joys of connection to the horrors of the dark web." When asked about the quirky title, she laughs, "It is an inside joke you'll discover when you read the book."&nbsp;
<h2>Laughter from the living room</h2>
<img title="Abush" src="https://images.mid-day.com/images/2020/aug/Abish.jpg" alt="Abush" />
Like everyone from his community, Abish Mathew is also treading new ground. His show, Son of Abish, will be back, this time, in a home-made avatar for its seventh season and will feature guests and celebs, including rapper Utkarsh, Shruti Haasan, Kalki Koechlin and Asif Ali. Conceptualised, shot and executed from his house during the lockdown, he shared about the show, "Shooting at home has been an insane experience. We could have never imagined doing a digital show. But the lockdown taught us that we could either evolve or die.
<img title="kalki" src="https://images.mid-day.com/images/2020/aug/KalkiKoechlin5.jpg" alt="kalki" />
This new season, I collaborated extensively with my friends where we'd all enter video calls for 10 minutes of official work and spend the rest chatting. We meet every day in work hours but nobody is ever stationary. We are ideating and writing while cleaning the dishes, cooking and just having a gala time."
<h2>Merit vs nepotism, India speaks</h2>
You don't have to be a Bollywood actor to be a victim of nepotism. That's the opinion of around 51 per cent of two lakh resp-ondents, who took a recent poll on the topic on a popular app. While about 80 per cent of the participants expressed displeasure at the practice, 55 per cent revealed being victims of nepotism. More than half of them also reiterated that the practice hampered talent not just in B-Town but also across professions of all kinds. A job, an internship, or a promotion &mdash; we have all been there. Can it be controlled though? Nearly 58 per cent of the respondents seemed to believe it can. But what if it benefited you? Nearly 62 per cent of them revealed that they will not take a job or promotion as a favour from a friend/relative in power. Looks like the merit vs privilege conversation is here to stay, and will not be muffled anymore.
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