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Monumental Glory
One legacy of India’s
rich and varied history is the numerous forts and palaces that dot the
country’s landscape. Bindu Manchanda
looks at them in detail in Forts and Palaces of India: Sentinels of
History
IN
popular imagination, forts and palaces are redolent of mystique,
romance, pleasure and intrigue; but above all—melding beauty and
grace with strength and substance — these proud sentinels are living
reminders of India’s breathtakingly rich civilisation and culture. |
Amba Vilas is a mélange of Hindu, Islamic, Moorish and Indo-Saracenic architectural styles
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From Gujarat with
grace
Bhavai dance has been traced to
the feudal era. Talented dancers broke away from their castes and
gradually created a community of their own known as Bhavai, writes Vinaya
Kumar
THE
famous Bhavai folk dance-drama is a special feature of the cultural
scene of Gujarat, in which the male and female artistes perform on a
folk tale or a given situation. The dance gets complex with the
successive stages of the plot.
Tiger tales at
Pench
Usha
Bande comes back awestruck from a tiger reserve which was the
setting of Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book
IF
the tiger is happy, the land will be fertile." I heard this Gond
belief at a time when Sariska was in the news for wrong reasons. We
were at Karmaziri, better known as Pench Tiger Reserve and our local
Gond guide was regaling us with tiger tales. We could feel the awe in
his tone when he spoke of the tiger while giving a commentary on the
wildlife in Pench. Pench is the setting for Kipling’s Jungle
Book.
In memory of a
martyr Guru
S.J.S. Pall
remembers Guru Arjan Dev’s sacrifice on the 400th martyrdom
day which falls on June 16
When
Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth master in the line of Guru Nanak, ascended
the spiritual throne, the new faith propounded by his predecessors had
achieved immense popularity. Bhai Gurdas, the contemporary of the
masters, makes a mention of this popularity in his poems called in
Punjabi as Vaars.
Rock opera on
Genghis Khan
Andrew Osborn in Moscow
Thirteenth
century warlord Genghis Khan is best known as one of history’s most
bloodthirsty rulers and at first glance appears an unlikely subject
for a rock opera.
Cause celebre and
cinema
Whenever people faced a
calamity or a crisis, be it a famine, drought, an earthquake or
floods, film celebrities came forward to help the masses, writes M.
L. Dhawan
Some
time back, actor Aamir Khan had expressed concern over delay in relief
and rehabilitation of the Narmada Dam oustees. However, it is not for
the first time that an actor rose to the occasion for a social cause.
Football fiesta
Soccer may be the real thing but
films on it are the next best, writes Ervell E.
Menezes
Soccer
is to Germany what cricket is to India. And if their national
pastime is taking a walk in the forests, watching soccer is not far
behind. In the light of these facts the Max Mueller Bhavan in Mumbai
screened soccer films recently from from various countries like
Sweden, Brazil and of course Germany.
Return of the
titan
Amitabh Bachchan is kicking
and fine. After his illness, he is back not only as an actor but in
other roles as well. The Big B in an interview with Vickey
Lalwani talks about his next film Zamaanat and more
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