Baby Kohli, and the tiny A-listers who’ve become big stars
Celeb offspring are now more ferociously followed than their star parents with even Taimur’s nanny getting her own fan page. But are the cameras crossing the line?
CULTURE & COMMUNITY
Filters & Sorting
This unique collection of foreign posters tells the global story of Indian cinema
It seems, time travel to an alternate universe may in fact be possible. Only that the time machine isn’t a spinning wheel that disappears in a puff of smoke but comes in the shape of Indian film posters where a Govinda potboiler Gareebon ka Dost inhabits the world of Russian avant-garde, Raj Kapoor’s Jagte Raho finds expression in East German reductive art and Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman is a Japanese manga artist’s muse.
'Adopt' a museum artefact, save history this festive season
Know someone who would like a sixth century ‘ Head of a Damsel ’ for Christmas? Or maybe a 400-year-old silk thangka painting of Chundhaa, goddess and protector from epidemics and diseases? Instead of the predictable exchange of presents this festive season, these endangered objects can make for a gift that can keep on giving with the CSMVS allowing people to adopt centuries-old artefacts as a way to mitigate pandemic-induced losses and care for precious pieces from the past.
Tackling the new homeschool challenge of kids playing hooky
Remember the time when playing hooky in school meant making excuses to go to the toilet or to drink water and cheating was all about peeking into the neighbour’s answer sheet, writing precious information on thighs or carrying scribbled notes inside the pencil box? The homeschooling era has curiously ushered in a new truant landscape with students using their imagination and—inadvisable but ingenious—digital hacks to steal a march on their virtual invigilators.
Digital makeover turns back time on Ajanta’s 5th century murals
The idea of digital technology to resurrect a 5th century painting might seem a bit odd at first but the creative effects of such anachronism can occasionally be startling. Twenty nine years after photographer and art historian Benoy Behl stepped into the dark recesses of the Ajanta and revealed its cave paintings as it had never been revealed before, the 65-year-old has managed to digitally repair the ravages of time, blunders of less competent restorers and damages inflicted by the occasional visitor — to arrive at what they looked like 1500 years ago.
In a 1st, Mumbai development plan makes space for women
Cities have historically been built with no particular care or thought in its design and planning for women. But Mumbai has become the first Indian city to have an urban plan with a gender-specific focus—land reservations for physical-social infrastructure designed to meet women’s needs.
Your lockdown videos, handmade face masks to tell pandemic story
That face mask you made at home, your child’s homeschool routine, the poem you wrote in lockdown, video recordings of your remote work meetings and happy hours, and other such fleeting moments from your stay-at-home life in the coronavirus pandemic have historical value that could soon become an artefact.
Keema is losing the mutton, and bhurji its anda
Guess the meal these ingredients make when you blend wheat, rice, gram and quinoa flour; throw in beetroot powder and some pea protein; a dash of garlic, onion, salt and dhania; a smattering of binders; and then toss the mix into a hot kadai? A bowl of what its creators call the “unmutton curry”. One part plant, one part tech-engineered meat and one part activism—this jigsaw aimed at making it easier for meateaters to embrace a world-saving movement—comes in the shape of a kebab, omelette and sausage.
Locals fear construction work is muddying 1,000-year-old Banganga
All is not well at Banganga , the ancient talao or freshwater tank that rests at the southwest corner of Malabar Hill and survived for centuries as a living heritage precinct in the city where pilgrims have found their way since the 12th century Shilahara period.
‘Maal’: A slang that’s open to interpretations
At a time when eavesdropping on people’s phone conversations could lead you to words like ‘dope’ (which isn’t drug but millennial lingo for ‘cool’) or ‘slay’ (that doesn’t mean killing someone but excelling at something), the Hindi word ‘maal’ is curiously at risk after it drew the attention of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and a lot of fire on social media.
Hush-hush parties keep neighbours on toes
Nightclubs may still be waiting to unbolt and watering holes running dry, but that doesn’t mean the city is staying home. Despite the grim rise in cases everyday, Mumbai’s party loving folks have chosen to return to their pre-pandemic ways, ditching safety guidelines and socialising at house parties or at beaches and parks — sometimes openly or in secret, despite the risks and the backlash.
Earlier this month, at a hush-hush party organised quietly behind downed-shutters of a plush restaurant
Eating in has elevated food delivery to restaurant-level experience
That fine dining can arrive at your home in a cardboard box was the kind of idea that would have seemed preposterous even a few months ago. Now, it’s just another part of the new world order. The Covid-19 outbreak may have forced restaurants to put up their shutters but behind their darkened windows the kitchens have been a hive of activity.
Covid plays villain with film preservation efforts, rare material ruined
Unlike typical desk jobs where one could pack up their laptop and embrace the work-from-home culture when the growing coronavirus emptied out offices and institutions, remote work for archivists can be tricky and almost unfeasible in a line of work that requires physical access to the fragile pieces of history in their care.
Sack of potatoes for squats, bottles for dumbbells...
When the Covid-19 outbreak locked him out of the gym, Rahul Tarfe’s search for items that could double as weights didn’t need to go any further than his kitchen. He grabbed the gas cylinder for a deadlift; yanked the wooden rod from an old cupboard to do pull ups; stuffed his backpack with potatoes to balance on his back for squats, and filled a bucket with water to practise bicep curls.
Boomerang kids turn childhood bedrooms into their offices
Many young adults, who left home to build their own independent lives, have now moved back in with mom and dad in the pandemic. They speak to Sunday Times losing freedom, finding a safe haven, and rediscovering karelas and curfews.
The holiday is back but it’s now called a workation
Can’t go to office but you can take your office for a holiday. Tired of being stuck in city apartments, some WFHers are opting for for long-stay breaks in beach, mountain resorts. After the pandemic forced people out of their office and strapped them to their couch for months, the idea of a ‘workation’ — previously deemed problematic for blurring the line between work and leisure — now seems like an appealing compromise.
Lights, camera but no action! Social distancing is killing the sex scene
Fear of a different sort of Covid casualty is looming large over film and TV folks — the death of the steamy sex scene in the wake of a pandemic and strict social distancing protocol imposed by an official directive from the cultural affairs ministry that allows shooting to resume within the two weeks but with a compulsory two-metre distance between members of the cast and crew.
Solo dwellers master solitude skills to beat lockdown loneliness
Rinesh got “smashed” drinking with friends across the laptop screen; Sreyashi spent four relentless hours playing online Scrabble with strangers willing to humour her next move; Olinca box-braided her hair and performed solo karaokes for her mirror; and Turna had a conversation with her pressure cooker, “because it’s the only thing that responds!” Sixty eight days into the stay-at-home mandate, as parents complain about homeschooling and couples about their partner’s annoying habits, solo dwellers have a problem that is quite the opposite — being too alone.
Locked at home, people running marathons in their bedroom & balcony
Desperate times call for desperate measures. The pandemic and subsequent lockdown may have stopped runners from letting loose on unending roads, but that doesn’t mean they can’t go for a long-distance run.
With ban on crowds, e-funerals are the new normal
If the Hindu shradh is a long, social goodbye packed with rites and rituals, hundreds gather at church pews to honour and eulogise their loved one at a Roman Catholic funeral mass . The rituals of saying final goodbyes run deep in every faith. But the Covid-19 pandemic has robbed families of such tradition, no matter the cause of death. Now, the new normal is a few prayers in a cemetery or crematorium attended by the barest few.
Load More Articles