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Destination
LEH
It is the land of
breath-freezing chill and breathtaking views.
A.J. Philip gives a glimpse of life in the Cold Desert
IT
was a dream journey. Inside the navigator’s cabin in the Indian Air
Force transport aircraft, it was not very comfortable for the two of
us. But Wing Commander Nicholas Roy not only made it enjoyable but
also gave us a fascinating description of the places we overflew and
the peaks and valleys we saw, as he directed the flight path in
consultation with pilot Rammurthy.
‘An
image is more than a pretty picture’
Raghu Rai recalls his
journey in photography during a recent workshop, writes Roopinder
Singh
Raghu
Rai is engaging, penetrating, philosophical, humorous and humble — a
combination of qualities that leave his audience captivated. At a
recent lecture-cum-slide-show held in Chandigarh, he explained his
journey into photography and through it, life. As Rai shared his
experiences, he touched many a chord among the audience that filled
the auditorium to the brim.
Gateway to Uzbekistan
Trees and museums are
two major attractions of Tashkent, a showpiece of Central Asia,
writes
Lalit Mohan
IF Tashkent ever had a
patron saint, he must have been a horticulturist. The city, which was
flattened by an earthquake in April 1966, was rebuilt by the Soviets
around its trees. It can be, in fact, called a ‘city of trees’ as
trees are its most striking feature, soaring high along the roads, in
the parks, they are everywhere.
Fights of fancy
Certain themes,
characters or events on the screen have evoked many a protest,
writes Surendra
Miglani
Protests
and logic do not always go together, particularly with regard to Hindi
movies. It is not rare to see political parties, religious
organisations, historians and even ordinary cinegoers registering
their opposition to the depiction of certain themes, characters or
events on the screen.
Unusual war film
Action slowly builds up
in Rachid Bouchareb’s Days of Glory, writes
Ervell E. Menezes
THAT
the French are racists, especially in respect to their`A0black African
colonialists, is evident in the metro or in the streets. And targeting
the Algerians for special discrimination is no secret. In Days of Glory
French director Rachid Bouchareb picks on a slice of history where
four Algerian soldiers, fighting for a country they have never seen
and for whom they are willing to sacrifice their lives, are subjected
to utter humiliation by their own countrymen.
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Web wise |
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| A female burrowing wolf spider
(Lycosa tarantula), the Mediterranean tarantula, is photographed while feeding on a male is this undated photograph. A team of researchers from Spain and the US led an investigation to reveal the extent to which sexual cannibalism occurs in nature and whether this behaviour benefits female spiders. According to their results, in a natural population of burrowing wolf spiders, one-third of the females kill males rather than mating with them, and the females accrue substantial benefits from consuming their kill. The researchers found that the female spiders who eat would-be suitors produce more babies, and those babies are stronger and bigger, than spiders who stick to more mundane fare, researchers reported. And the merciless mother spiders waited until they had mated with another — ensuring they would hatch spiderlings — before consuming their new beaux. These results appeared in the open-access journal PLoS
ONE. — Reuters |
SOCIETY
HIGHWATER MARK
Long treks across arid
stretches for a pitcher of water are becoming a thing of the past as
water-harvesting projects are transforming the landscape of Rajasthan.
Sarbjit Dhaliwal on how a report
in The Tribune brought about a change in the water deficit
Sikar-Alwar belt
Rajasthan,
a state whose very name conjures up images of sand dunes, dry barren
landscape, camels and poverty, is the scene of a silent revolution as
it is fast changing from the land of sand dunes to the land of lakes. Several man-made lakes
have come up amid Aravalli hills in Sikar and Alwar districts.
SOCIETY
Wedded
to tradition
Radhika Bose
THE present wedding
season in India is witnessing a grand revival of couture from the
courts of Mughal maharajas and Rajput kings. Sherwanis, bandhgalas
and achkans are once again jostling for attention with angarkhas,
salwar suits and lehenga-cholis. Richly
embroidered and embellished with pearls and semi-precious stones,
these outfits are available in silk, spun-tussar, terry-wool, jamavar
and sand-washed silk.
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