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Light on the life of a master

B.K.S. Iyengar is the pre-eminent yoga teacher of our times. He introduced yoga to the West and made it a household name. His book Light on Yoga, published in 1966, is the best-selling yoga book of all times. Harsh Desai met him recently for an exclusive interview to The Tribune, on the publication of his 18th book Light on Life. He turns 87 on December 14.


B.K.S. Iyengar has over 5,000 students who teach yoga in India and abroad. Photos by Courtesy Ramamani Yoga Ashram, Pune
B.K.S. Iyengar

Some horse sense this
Usha Bande
Tourists coming to Shimla enjoy two aspects of the animal world – the monkey tricks and horse or pony rides. The monkeys of Shimla find favour with the tourists. It is particularly intriguing to find the ones at Jakhoo hill bold enough to demand roasted gram (chana); and if you are a little stingy with your bounty they may cling to you or put their tiny paws in your pocket.

Metaphor for a new age
Girish Karnad’s latest play A Heap of Broken Images marks his return to direction after 
nearly three decades

Girish Karnad breaks new ground with his A Heap of Broken Images that explores facets of the urban Indian society with its fascination for technology. The play staged as part of a theatre festival in Bangalore, was written especially for the Ranga Shankara theatre there, in English, as well as in Kannada, as Odakallu Bimba.

Another Virasat
Couch potatoes are being spoilt for choice with an abundance of viewing riches. The flavour of the season seems to be middle class dreams. Whether it is Kituu Sabb Jaantii Hai on Sahara or Ek Ladki Anjaani Si on Sony or even Hum Paanch on Zee TV, they are all pandering to the joys and sorrows of the family-next-door.

‘I have grown with every film’
I regret having made my debut with an item number in Road as I missed out on the chance to have a better launch as an actor, Koena Mitra tells V. Ananth
Koena Mitra may have made her debut with a sizzling item number in Ramgopal Varma’s Road four years ago. But when quizzed about it, on the eve of the release of her latest film Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena, she tells you that she considers Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena as her debut film and not Road.

They flatter to deceive
Two films screened at IFFI 2005, Oridam and Kanne Madanguka, do not live up to their promise. May be these two are not the best examples of Malayalam cinema, reports Ervell E. Menezes
If the two Malayalam films screened at IFFI 2005 so far—Oridam (An Abode) and Kanne Madanguka (Revert, Oh My Vision)—are any indication, it doesn’t augur too well for Malayalam cinema.

Rethinking Taj
The day and age of pure historicals is apparently over and it is the fictional ones that are thriving, observes Nirupama Dutt
While the Taj Mahal may have been derided in poetry and painting but come to the world of Hindi cinema and it is celebration all the way. Not only have specific films been made on one of the Seven Wonders of the World, it has figured as a metaphor of love in many a Bollywood romance on celluloid.

Vidya moves beyond Parineeta
Parineeta actress Vidya Balan has signed two new films outside the Vidhu Vinod Chopra banner but says she remains totally loyal to the production house. "Why is belonging to a camp considered such a negative thing in this industry?" Balan asks.

COLUMNS

‘art and soul: Woven chants
by B. N. Goswamy

televisioN: Call centre is the hero

FOOD TALK: Pardanashin kebab
by Pushpesh Pant

Garden Life: Envoy of winter
by Anuradha Thakur

CONSUMER RIGHTS: Patients have the right to know
by
Pushpa Girimaji

HOLLYWOOD HUES: Liaisons and mishaps
b
y Ervell E. Menezes

BRIDGE
by David Bird

ULTA PULTA: Unstuffed samosa
by Jaspal Bhatti

BOOKS

By no means hypnotic
V. N. Datta

The Thoughtful Guide to Sufism.
Shyakh Fadhlalla Haeri.
Bhavana Books and Prints, New Delhi.
Pages 127. Price not stated.

T
his
small book of thirteen short chapters explains briefly the origins, history, meaning, practice and significance of Sufism throughout the stages of its development.

The man who was called Lawrence of Arabia
Ghansham Sharma
Seven Pillars of Wisdom
T. E. Lawrence.
Rupa & Co. Pages 672. Rs 195.

A
book on military history cannot be expected to give a balanced and true picture of the events—it is, too often coloured with national prejudices, political hatred and patriotic ambitions and goals.

Books received:
Punjabi

Feat in the air
Jyoti Singh

An Angel in the Cockpit
by Dr Vijaypat Singhania. Lotus, Roli Books. Pages 288. Rs 395.

T
he
Chairman Emeritus, Raymond group, became the first man to fly a hot air balloon to a height of 69,000 feet above sea level recently.

The other face of Bihar
How many people know that the first-ever book written in English was by Dean Mahomed from Bihar, asks writer and journalist
Tabish Khair as he makes out a case for highlighting the literary achievements of a state whose image needs correction.

Jinnah, the abiding enigma
Amar Nath Wadehra
Jinnah: Secular and Nationalist Dr Ajeet Jawed.
Faizbooks, New Delhi. Pages 392. Rs 295.

L
ike
his place in history, Jinnah’s precise place and date of birth, normally given as Karachi on December 25, 1876, are disputed. In India, Jinnah has been slotted as the demagogue whose fiery communalism led to the subcontinent’s bloody Partition.

Women in the information world
Rajesh Kumar Aggarwal
Gender and the Digital Economy: Perspectives from the Developing World
ed. Cecilia Ng and Swasti Mitter.
Sage Publications. Pages 262. Rs 540.

D
igital
economy means the economy in the world of information and communication technologies. The book focuses on different issues on the positive aspects of this economy, as these relate to women in the developing world.

Losing Lennon
Y
oko
Ono, the woman once regarded as the most disliked figure in pop, has written in a new book of her continuing desolation at the loss of her husband, John Lennon of the Beatles.

HINDI REVIEW
Fiction that is close to life
Harbans Singh

Astitva
by Gyanprakash Vivek
Published by Bharatiya
Jnanpith Rs 150. Pages 215.

G
yanprakash
Vivek attempts to explore and bring centre-stage, the conflicts and complexities as well as apprehensions of a woman. Narrated through the character of Saryu, Astitva takes the reader through the world of the young, immersed in the pleasure of living in the present.

SHORT TAKES
Enriching lives
Randeep Wadehra
Studying Organizations
by Chris Grey Response Books, New. Delhi. Pages: ix + 145. Rs. 195

O
rganisation
is a generic term that includes such social entities as families, clubs etc, economic set-ups like firms, limited companies etc and politico-administrative units like state or central governments, municipalities etc.

Through The Eagle’s Eye
by M.B. Lal Pages: 141. Rs 100
Atul Sir’s Star Student
by Dhara Anjaria
Frog Books, Mumbai. Pages: 125. Rs. 150.

Confetti
Holy cow
S. Nihal Singh

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