Wing Commander (Retd.) Dr. Vijayalakshmi Ramanan, who passed away recently in Bengaluru, was a true Indian icon. Her niece Prema Viswanathan recounts how the first woman commissioned officer of the Indian Air Force was a woman of substance who excelled in everything she took up – from medicine to music and cooking to knitting. When Dr Vijayalakshmi Ramanan (or Viji, as she is known in her family) was growing up, her role models were Sarojini Naidu and Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy. Not surprising, as both Naidu and Reddy were strongly independent women, much like Viji herself. Sarojini Naidu, whose poetry earned…
Author: oiop
The glow of Kamala Harris having made history is not expected to last much after January 20, 2021 when President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Harris formally take over because they will inherit a sharply irreconciled nation, opines Mayank Chhaya. The rise of Kamala Harris as the first ever woman and non-white vice president of America comes at a time when the country is in the throes of deep socio-cultural toxicity. Perhaps nothing exposes more powerfully the country’s fault lines than the fact that notwithstanding his repeated and egregious transgressions over the last four years President Donald Trump received over…
We have to come to look at our planet as a resource for our species, which is funny when you think that the planet has been around for about five billion years, and Homo sapiens for perhaps one hundred thousand. But what we are witnessing is human species killing/destroying another human species for their own survival and selfish ends, argues Manali Chowdhury. An evolutionary perspective of our place in the history of the earth reminds us that Homo sapiens have occupied the planet for the tiniest fraction of that planet’s 4500 million years of existence. Ideally, their advent should have been a trigger…
The moving story of a poverty-stricken 12-year-old girl who loses her mother to Covid and is taken to care at a shelter home shows that humanity – though fledgling – still exists, discerns Naisha Agarwal….. The sun shone softly as the day dawned with a pearly glow in the sky. Nitya, 12, sat nervously on the edge of the footpath in tattered clothes, staring at the deserted road ahead. She hadn’t sold a single tissue roll in the entire week. She had jet black hair and piercing black eyes. Living in a small slum pocket in the heart of…
The forts of India are architectural marvels that tell us the exploits of brave warriors who once ruled this land. These standing sentinels hold within them memories as solid as the stones they are made of. Today they are the guardians of history and legacy – the ghosts of a time gone by. Text & Photographs: Akul Tripathi (Part-1 of a three-part series on the Forts of India) They stand atop mountains, or in the middle of dense jungles, and sometimes by the shore; forlorn, deserted, and often dilapidated…in ruins. Once upon a time, they were eulogised and paeans composed…
A born fighter (1921-2008) Born in September 1921 in Phalpu in Western Nepal, Bhanubhagta Gurung joined the Indian Army in 1939 and was posted to 3rd Battalion 2nd Gorkha Rifles (3/2 GR, known as the Seymur Rifles). The Japanese Army captured Rangoon in March 1942 and the British decided to evacuate their forces from Burma. They managed to reach Imphal in Manipur by May 1942. An offensive operation by the British into Arakan was unsuccessful. Not equipped with adequate resources to carry out a major attack, they opted for deep penetration by Special Forces under Brigadier (later Major General) Wingate.…
A gentleman politician (1938-2020) One of the founders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Jaswant Singh was born on 3 January 1938 in Jasol in Barmer District of Rajasthan in a Rajput family. He was an alumnus of the Mayo College and later continued his education at the National Defence Academy (NDA) in Khadakvasla. After a ten year stint as army officer he plunged headlong into politics in the 1960s as member of the erstwhile Jan Sangh. Jaswant Singh was also affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) from the 1960s.He was first elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1980…
The Sher of Sher-o-Shayari (1950-2020) The story of Rahat Quraishi Indori born on 1 January 1950 has a typical tough-time-to-tinsel-town flavour to it. An accomplished commercial painter of film posters/banners, he earned name as professor, celebrated Urdu poet and a pedagogist of Urdu literature before being spotted by Bollywood and Urdu poetry connoisseurs. Rahat actively performed in mushairas and kavi sammelans in the last four decades. Recipient of number of national and international awards for Urdu sher-o-shayari, his poetry was simple, lucid and very evocative. The fourth child of a mill-hand was raised in poverty. At 10, he was forced to eke out…
The role of a wedding planner includes all aspects of the day – from clothing and flowers, to venues for ceremony and reception, to food, drink and entertainment, and can even include arranging accommodation, comforts and facilities for wedding guests. Here Deepak Mundada, Operations Head, Bandhan Weddings, talks to A. Radhakrihnan about the business of planning Indian weddings. How did you end up in this business? Born and raised in a business family, I had a knack for it since childhood. Academically though not a really bright student, I managed to complete my engineering from the esteemed College of Engineering,…
Whether it is the ordinary idol maker or a celebrated artist, Durga Puja celebration is about artistic expressions where the artists and the artisans evoke respect and love, writes Manjira Majumdar. Over the years Durga Puja celebrations have changed. At the core it is all the same – new clothes, gifted or purchased, community celebration, five-day feasting of vegetarian and non-vegetarian cuisine and varioucultural programmes funded by donations and sponsors. At the centre of it remains the pratima or Mother Goddess Durga, with her four children Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesh and Kartik housed in a beautiful mandap. Earlier the idols…