Bharat Dogra regrets we no longer wake up to the sweet chirping of birds as the bird population has dwindled rapidly across the world. Listing the reasons for the decline, he points out the situation can be reversed if forests, wetlands, grasslands are protected and organic farming is adopted. Birds are the most endearing friends of humanity and waking up to their calls is such a delight. But we are hearing less often the Good Morning call of sparrows and seeing a dancing peacock is now a rare sight. A recent study on bird population states that in the last…
Author: shubhangi
True blue litterateur if there was one! Narasimha Chintaman Kelkar, was a great literary mind of 20th-century Maharashtra. A lawyer, dramatist, novelist, short story writer, poet, essayist, biographer, critic,historian, philosophical and political theme writer, editor, and a nationalist politician, he was a trusted, but moderate lieutenant of Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Born in Modnimb near Miraj in a Chitpavan Brahmin family, he completed his B.A., LLB. After practising law in Satara he came to Pune in 1895 and became editor of the newspaper Mahratta, co-founded by Tilak. For almost five decades, Kelkar carved a niche for himself in the political and cultural…
The one and only! The name Mohammed Yusuf Khan Peshawari may not ring a bell with many but Dilip Kumar does – not just as one of the trinity along with Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand but also as one of the greatest actors on the Indian celluloid. Born on 11 December 1922, the first Khan of Indian cinema went on to earn the sobriquet of ‘Tragedy King’ in a career that lasted more than 75 years. There are not enough words that can encapsulate Dilip Kumar and his work succinctly. His career, stuff folklores are made of, can be…
Born to rule the skies Varun Singh hailed from a family of armymen in Deoria district in Uttar Pradesh. His father, K.P Singh retired as a Colonel from the Indian Army. His brother, Lieutenant Commander Tanuj Singh served in the Indian Navy. He studied at the Army Public School, Chandigarh. His mother, Mrs Uma Singh was a teacher in the primary section of the school. Inspired by his father, Varun was passionate about aeronautics at school. He was quick to identify that he was doing something he liked helped him to excel. Vice-Principal Vijay Laxmi, who taught Varun Singh English…
Bharat Dogra says that with the summers getting more and more brutal as a consequence of climate change, the farmer- worker class in the country is condemned to suffer. He says working for long hours in the grueling heat without water and nutrition ultimately forces them to migrate to far off cities where they meet a worse fate. An important aspect of climate change that clearly affects many Asian and African countries more is that a large part of their working population toil in open spaces. In India where over two-thirds of the population is rural and a significant section…
Dattatreya .G. Bhatt argues that the claim of European and India’s Left-leaning historians on the birth era of Adi Shankaracharya is patently wrong and quotes verses from the scriptures to make out a case that he was born Before Christ. The controversy over the birth era of the great Indian philosopher Adi Shankaracharya continues. May 6, 2022 marked the 1234th birth anniversary of Adi Shankara- also known as Jagatguru Shankaracharya. European historians and many left-leaning Indian historians wrongly proclaimed the 38th Shankaracharya of the Kanchi Peetha i.e. Abhinava Shankara of 8 th CE (Common Era) as the first Adi Shankara.…
Aparna Sen’s award winning “The Rapist” is an eloquent commentary on the algorithm that defines caste, anger, power assertion, toxic masculinity and low self-esteem, all of which play on the rapist’s psyche to culminate in crimes like rape. Without being judgmental, the film makes one ponder whether a rapist is born or made. Shoma A. Chatterji reviews. In the Indian context rape usually gets bandied about as stigma. But the book “Why Men Rape” by Tara Kaushal delves deeper into the malaise through critical investigations into nine case studies – of men inclined to commit acts of sexual violence. The…
As one of the largest monoliths of Asia, Madhugiri has a humongous sense of history to it but its grandeur is evident only in its physical existence and there is precious little information that educates people about it. Usha Hariprasad says it is thanks to ample literature, folk songs, archaeological sources and foreign travellers that the majestic hillock gets its preternatural status. It is a challenge that has to be experienced to understand just how tough it is to trek this rock nestled close to Tumkur in Karnataka. Madhugiri -This monolithic rock is 3935 feet in height and surrounded by…
Humble, soft spoken, much respected, extremely well read in Cricket, Clayton Murzello (54), is Group Sports Editor, of India’s largest selling tabloid MID-DAY, Mumbai. He has covered the Cricket World Cups of 1996 and 2003, apart from a host of international events. Here he talks to A.Radhakrishnan about his passion and work. Clayton Murzello Trace your career. I started off selling books at The Marine Sports shop in 1985, the day after my SSC exams. In May 1988, I wrote my first article in Mid-Day. It was about a less fancied team, St Mary’s ICSE, beating giants Shardarshram Vidyamandir for…
Gajanan Khergamker unveils the multi-splendoured majesty of monsoon and how evocative the season in every walk of life down to the boot – the romantic weather after the dry and arid parched months, the indulgence of buying the right gear, the small but compulsive joys of gorging seasonal snacks and many more. Oh, the gusto of the gusty monsoon winds and nature’s showers! Pyaar hua ikraar hua- the iconic rain song from Shree 420 So, they’ve finally arrived. The fact that the monsoons are closely synonymous with our lives is the reason for the rains featuring almost ceremoniously in every…