Tribal heartland

Vibha Sharma captures the pristine glory of Bastar in words and images

Surprisingly bewitching and beautiful — there can be no other way to describe Bastar, the tribal district of the young state of Chhattisgarh. Surprising — because Bastar, one of the last strongholds of the tribal way of life and culture in India, leaves the first-time visitor almost in awe because this is not what an unaware tourist to the hinterland expects to find.

Mystic minstrel
Jamila Verghese on how Rev. Barakat Ullah used Christmas carols in Punjabi to bring together the rural and urban members of his congregation
IT was the December of 1933 when a young Punjabi priest and his beautiful Pathan bride, both fresh from the academic world of Lahore and Delhi, came to serve in the towns of rural Punjab. During the years that followed, their problem was, how to bring together the largely illiterate rural and urban members of their varied congregation into an integrated community.

Shortest film ever
FOR the first time in the world, an ant figured as the pivot of a ‘nano’ movie, whose director claims his 10-second-long work is the shortest film ever made. Though the film is of a fleeting span and its lead character a tiny creature, director Sathar Adhoor said the work was a serious attempt to reflect on the good and evil sides of man.