The long and short of it
Chandrahas Choudhury, a book critic who's graduated to a writer with, Arzee- The Dwarf was in the city for the launch of his book
One afternoon, on the tapering roads of Mumbai, the writer noticed a very good-looking young man. Yet, looks weren't an advantage, wasn't the factor that caught attention of every onlooker he passed. He was a dwarf, unusually short. Height was the reason for all gazes targeting him. Those few moments of empathising with the short man triggered the thought process of the author- was an inspiration enough to write down the debut novel, Arzee, The Dwarf.

Write day
Saturday will see a couple of writers and poets in the city, some to launch poetry collections, others to launch books. Amarinder Sandhu's book 'Jat Sikh Women: Social Transformation', an important documentation of the changing face of rural Punjab, will be released by the Inderjeet Kaur Sandhu, the vice-chancellor, Punjabi University, Patiala at the Press club.

Hello TUNEZ
Melody maker
Kaminey (T-Series): Vishal Bhardwaj not only likes to break new grounds in film-making, he also experiments in music. Here he packs quite some variety. One song which has become the signature tune of the film is Dhan te nan by Sukhwinder Singh and Vishal Dadlani with rap by Robert Bob Omulo. Sukhwinder Singh is really in his element after Slumdog Millionaire here and seems to personify the carefree attitude of the hero. Listen carefully, and you would notice that it is not just a tapori song. Gulzar has suffused it with hidden qualities. What also matters is that the tune is catchy.

King Khan on King of Pop
SRK's TV company pays tribute to MJ on his 51st birthday
Shah Rukh Khan's television company "Red Chillies Idiot Box" has created a video featuring India's best music talent from the film industry to pay homage to King of pop Michael Jackson on his 51st birth anniversary. The video titled Make it large will be released on music channels across India on August 29, Jackson's birthday.

Hindi Chilli, Thai Thai
Two Thai food fests take the tricity’s culinary experimentation further on the global spice route, writes Chetna Keer Banerjee
When two hospitality giants of the tricity simultaneously woo the denizens' taste buds with all things Thai, it's nothing short of the clash of the Thai-tans. So, bringing to the city flavours of the Far East this week are Citco's Hotel Shivalikview and Hotel Taj. Having already taken gourmands on the spice route with global cuisines like Arabian (Citco's Mountview) and Around the World platters (Taj) earlier, the gourmets now get to go high on Thai.

Bon Appetit
More peppy paneer!
Let me live up to last week's paneer-promise now! There are truckloads of main dishes you can dish out, using paneer as the chief guest. In a curry form, paneer certainly does require pepping up, since it's frankly…actually…truthfully, quite bland on its own! One needs to bathe it in a flavorful gravy or a sauce to complement its texture.