In an equal world, there would be no difference between how you bring up a son and a daughter. But in this messed up, unequal, volatile world, it is easier said than done, says national award winning filmmaker Janaki Viswanathan. Despite best intentions, she ran into some road blocks when it came to certain rules she applied to her daughter. She tells us how these road blocks taught her about herself, as much as it forced her to introspect deeply. Parenting is a skill, a technique, an art, or whatever you may call it, that most of us learn from…
Author: oiop
Urban women are more than ready to take their place in this world, says V. Gangadhar. In fact, they already have. Will their rural sisters join them soon? HHalt, stop there. You have said enough on…Women! Yet, there are lingering doubts. Do women talk all that much as compared to men? Along with the much-written-about ‘fasts unto death’ in the Anna Hazare (a man) style, this kind of protest had not proved to be popular with women. Why? Women may well be able to avoid food and can well observe more ‘religious’ fasts than me. But ask them to keep…
The locked room mystery is an intriguing type of crime fiction that revolves around an offence being committed in such a way that it seems impossible to determine how it was done. Usually a murder victim is discovered in a room locked from inside with no other apparent exit or entry route, making the readers wonder how the killer gained access and then vanished into thin air! The plot uses the ‘red herring’ technique in which the author deliberately casts an innocent person as guilty in order to distract or mislead the reader. The true culprit is armed with a…
Down and out with a nasty cold and a running nose? A. Radhakrishnan gives you some simple and effective home remedies which will help you through this common illness. Winter, it is said, can ‘leave you out in the cold’! On a cold winter’s morning, you wake up feeling ‘under the weather.’ You’re sneezing, coughing and hacking up a storm, signs that you’ll be spending your day sick and ‘groggy’. When someone sneezes, we almost automatically say ‘God Bless You’. The belief is that when one sneezes, their heart stops. Saying this is believed to make the sneezer return to…
The garbage disposal system of a city shows its true character. Mumbai’s abysmal attitude towards disposal of its waste shows it to be a callous, uncaring city. The recent fire at its Deonar garbage dumping ground and the resultant toxic pollution should teach Mumbai that it will have to take better care of its waste disposal and environment. It will also do well to spare a thought to people living in abject poverty around its dumping grounds, who are most affected by what Mumbai discards, writes Rishi Aggarwal. On the night of 27 January 2016, a big fire broke out…
Disabled people are asking for just one thing – right of access to public places. Indian cities are notoriously unfriendly. Unless the disabled can access shops, toilets, offices, restaurants and public buildings with ease, they will continue to feel and be seen as second class citizens, says Malini Chib. This is even more true of disabled women. Is India listening? Having spent half my life, in London and half my life in Mumbai, I am caught between two cities. I was born disabled in Calcutta (now Kolkata) fifty years ago. At that time nothing was known about my condition, which…
If you visit some of the old, Colonial era buildings in Mumbai especially, one of the most striking features you will find is the stunning floor designs. In vivid and intricate patterns, this floor art with tiles really enchants. And most of them have endured. The main company behind this, Bharat Floorings & Tiles, was started as a response to the call to Swadeshi, but almost a century later, continues to innovate and thrive. Text and photos: Katie Dubey The ornate teak door opened. The maid stepped aside for me to enter the house. I lowered my eyes to cross…
Our fascination for our co-planets of the solar system continues. The latest under investigation is Venus. With the Akatsuki spacecraft in orbit around Venus, there is now hope among space scientists that finally, this planet, so close to Earth, will yield at least some of its secrets. Planet Venus is similar to Earth in many ways and is often referred to as Earth’s ‘twin planet’. Yet, it is also very different. This has been an area which has fascinated space scientists for some time now. Since 1962, Venus has been investigated by many spacecraft – from fly-bys, orbiters, descending probes…
The use of social media and mobile phone to harass and stalk women has become very common today. And will only rise, unless we teach our girls that they can and must fight back, says Reshma Jain. Supporting this must be a strong cyber investigation arm of the police. Misogyny – described as hatred of or ingrained prejudice against women – finds ever new ways to express itself, it appears. The social media, the internet, the mobile phone – all powerful tools of communication, with the last mentioned even considered a safety aid for women are being used to stalk,…
Saeed Jaffrey was truly an actor who straddled the worlds of Indian and British cinema effortlessly, displaying remarkable sangfroid. We will surely miss his excellent voice, diction, presence, and the characters he played with so much ease, says Shoma A. Chatterji in this tribute. With the passing away of Saeed Jaffrey at the age of 86 (1929-2015), an era of scholarly, versatile and talented actors seems to have ended. Jaffrey was multi-talented and is an actor who spanned every performing media in several capacities in radio, theatre, television and cinema. Fluent in several languages such as English, Urdu and Hindi,…