Knick n knack

K rishna Janamashti is a week away and Delhi has started preparations for celebrating the Krishna janam divas. Last  week witnessed ‘Raksha Bandhan’, which portrays the strong roots of our great Indian families. Come August-September, and the country start preparing itself for months of festivals which start with ‘Raksha Bandhan’ and ends on ‘Diwali’. While Diwali is the festival which celebrates the homecoming of Lord Rama, Janamashtmi celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna, one of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu. Temples across the country celebrates the festival with grandeur and poise. The actual celebrations start at 12 midnight, when lord made his divine appearance. Prayers, fasts, devotional songs and many other rituals are performed to mark his birth on Earth. Celebrations in Dwarka, Mathura, Vrindavan and Gokula are high in its festivities and devotional mood reaches its peak. Maharashtra celebrates Janamashtmi with Dahi Handi where earthen pot containing butter and mil...

Gone are the days when information used to be the property of the West and all the information flow was directed from west to east and north to south. Emerging technology and new ways of communications have changed the directions, turned the business of news with its head down and has started taking newer roads and turns. The days have moved out when developing countries had to fight for the proper flow of information, opposing to the news showcased by Western news agencies in which third world countries were shown as poor, uneducated, hunger stricken and corrupt states. With science developing at a faster speed, formation of glocal world, Westerns are running for their money and space in developing nations and are losing their influence. Now technology is cutting costs and stoking competition, eroding the Westerner’s advantage. BBC World Service and Voice of America are no longer the only source of news in countries like Afghanistan. Now the country has its own satellite news chan...

I T IS believed that marriages are made in heaven and arrangement is made on earth by the friends and families. But in some parts of our country the young eligible bachelors are kidnapped and forced to marry th e girls at gun point with the bride that gunmen has chosen. The issue has been explored in the upcoming film ‘Antardwand’, directed by first time director Sushil Rajpal. The film won the 55th National Film Award for the best social film as it deals with the social cruelty which is inflicted on young boys and girls. The film starring Vinay Pathak, Raj Singh Choudhary, Akhilendra Mishra and newcomer Swati Sen. The story revolves around Raghuveer (played by Raj Singh Choudhary), a Delhi University student who wants to become an IAS officer. The story picks up when Raghuveer visits his village to meet his parents in Bihar. When he leaves for Delhi, he is abducted by gunmen and forced to marry a daughter of a fervent father, who is looking for an IAS groom for his daughter. The ninet...

NDIAN COUNCIL for Cultural Relations(ICCR) is holding an exhibition of photos, paintings, fine arts and crafts work of artists from Democratic People’s Republic of Korea from August 26 to September 1, 2010, at Azad BhavanArt Gallery. T he council promotes and strengthens the cultural ties with countries across the world and this seven day exhibition will further build up India’s cultural ties with Democratic Republic of Korea. The event will allow the artists and common people from India to witness the art forms and cultural diversity of the country and will develop the sense of appreciation for art. While taking the opportunity of this festival, the artists from Korea will be able to interact with Indian media and showcase their art to other people across the country. The exhibition will remain open from 10 am to 6 pm on all days and entry is free. The exhibition will also allow the people to take a peek at the ancient and contemporary art of a nation, which has close busines...

There are many firsts we acknowledge and embrace, hail those who made significant achievements in life and helped in developing the mankind. Indian women are perceived to be the submissive gender but some of the few rose above this sentiment and left their marks behind. Homai Vyarawalla, is one such extraordinary woman who opened the gates of photo journalism for female photographers. She is considered as India’s first women photo-journalist who came out with great photographs from 1938 to 1973. Celebrating her contributions in the field of journalism, Photography exhibition ‘Homai Vyayawalla-A Retrospective’ will be held from 27th August to 31st October, 2010 at National Gallery of Modern Art, Jaipur House, New Delhi. The evhibition will showcase approximately 150-200 images including original silver gelatine prints, many printed by the photographer herself. On display would be her old cameras, photographic equipment and other memorabilia. Some of the key events Homai photographed ...

Legends never die, they are remembered forever. One such legendry figure is the king of pop, Michael Jackson. It has been an year the world lost him, but he still rules the hearts of zillions. His body has died but his soul lives in his fans. Today is 52nd birth anniversary of the great artist who was born on 29th August, 1958. The legendary singer is no more but the fans are celebrating his birthday in various corners of the world and paying their respect to him in numerous ways. The devoted fans assembled outside the home of the singer and paid their tribute to their star. Michael Bearden has composed a song named One Last Goodbye to pay homage to the stalwart singer on his birthday. In India, Ganesh Hegde, the celebrated choreographer is paying tribute to his idol by releasing his latest music video which stars Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra and Katrina Kaif with Ganesh himself. Also a birthday party will be hosted for the fans of the singer at the Nethermead Meadow of Prospect...

It was nani's 71st birthday yesterday. Nani, mother of all mothers, our beauty queen...ready with tips on how to look good and fair and our kitchen queen!. She is the most important person in the entire family, like sun in the solar system. We all revolve and rotate around her. It was the special day for her and cannot be missed.  While it was a working day, none of our four set of parents could manage to meet her, but the day cannot be missed. So, understanding the situation we five brothers and sisters chalked out a plan to meet her on the day...IT WAS SUPPOSE TO BE A SURPRISE!! but as they say,,,,there is no secret in a family!! Well we.... famous five reached at nani's place..bought a bouquet for her, dhokla for nani and nanu...(as they do not eat cakes and pastries...eggs and non-veg!!) and blackforest pastries for ourselves. We all coordinated with each other... messaged, called and reached the venue(nani's place) on time...BUT again as they say....

Till one and a half year back i was a normal human being with my nervous system working like all normal beings, but now m left with one torn-out, wrecked, refusing to work body system. SIGH!! Thanks to all faux paus personalities buzzing with life around me. Iam fated to meet them almost everyday and like all normal people i also think...Yes, i think and that's my fault! I think when i see them behaving tunelessly, aimlessly and lifelessly.... MINDWIDTH MISMATCH or i don't know what ...but there is surely some problem out there. God has been so kind to me for making me experience all weird and bizarre things in world at one go. My heart refuses to beat and i go into emotional numbness whenever i see these godly creatures around me...parceled from above only and only for me. THANK YOU GOD!!

Facebook has emerged as a useful tool for those who want to be in touch with their friends and distant relatives, but don't have time to meet them and socialize. However, in this fast paced life, everyone is busy to meet any of friends. Well like all, i also own a Facebook account and login about 20-30 times daily without any fail..barring those days when my internet connection do not support my love for real yet virtual set of friends.,,SUPER THANKS to MTNL lines.  Well, talking about me...i have nearly 190 plus friends...some good ones while others colleagues, acquaintances, contacts...whatever one calls them. The posts are of all kinds that appear on my homepage..right from phrases to lines of songs, poems to Hindi sher-o-shaiyri, to real times posts. The recent trend is that of posting you tube links, blog links or link of some website which they (friends) find interesting. Some people keep on using Facebook...

 CELEBRATING its 20 th   anniversary The Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) is organizing ‘Imaging Asia 2010’ with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) from 18 th -22 nd   August, 2010. The five day event will see conference, film festival, exhibitions and performances at different venues across   Delhi . The festival celebrates the spirit of Asian cinema which has grown exponentially in past years. The five day conference on ‘The Culture and Politics of Asian Cinema’ will focus on the specificity of Asian cinema and the need to recognize and respect the diversity it portrays. The discussions will take place on the politics that governs the cinema’s evolving identity.   Alongside the conference, workshops will also be conducted at IGNCA and Max Mueller Bhavan. Paintings are considered as the initial forms story telling and portraying emotions. To give an owe to this ancient form, exhibitions of sumi-e paintings ‘Eastern Strokes’ by Yuriko Loc...