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 Bold step
A recent decision of the Delhi High Court allowing women permanent commission in
the armed forces has opened a Pandora’s box. While women officers have hailed
the verdict, the top brass is not too enthusiastic. Ajay Banerjee
takes a look
March
has been clearly a good month for women, what with the Women’s
Reservation Bill being passed by the Rajya Sabha, and a landmark
ruling of the Delhi High Court breaking another glass ceiling by
allowing them Permanent Commission in the armed forces.
He
deciphered India’s past
Besides unlocking the mystery
of the Brahmi and Kharoshti scripts, James Prinsep deciphered numerous
inscriptions, including those used during Emperor Ashoka’s reign, writes
Kanwarjit Singh Kang
WHEN
James Prinsep died in 1840, Dr Huge Falconer’s obituary, published
in the Colonial Magazine, said, "Of his intellectual
character, the most prominent feature was enthusiasm — one of the
prime elements of genius; a burning, irrepressible enthusiasm, to
which nothing could set bounds.
Paradise
lost
Forty years ago, Bangalore
was a paradise. Today, the green avenues and lakes are disappearing
due to mushrooming buildings and increasing population. Will the city
be allowed to wither away in the name of development, asks Roshin
Varghese
WHEN
Sohrab Mistry settled in Bangalore 20 years ago, his new home did not
have any ceiling fans. Bangalorean Tara Joseph always went to church
bundled up in her cashmere coat. As for Anand Gowda, cycling to
college, to a friend’s home, or to the cinema was the quickest means
of transport in the city.
Bring
out your wild side
From teenagers to
middle-aged men and women, animal prints have caught on, says Anju
Chotrani
WHILE
animal prints make men look macho, women, when using such prints, come
out more attractive. Feeling wild, lately? When you feel like
showing your untamed side off, nothing speaks like a classy yet sassy
animal print.
Emperor’s
afterlife army
Hugh &
Colleen Gantzer travel to Xi’an, where creator of the Great
Wall of China, Emperor Qin Shihuang, had built another wonder — a
terracotta army of 8,000 life-size warriors and horses — presumably
to serve as his guardians in the afterlife
WE
went to Xi’an in quest of warriors who could never die, because they
had never lived. Xi’an, pronounced She-aan, is a beautiful
old, walled, town, which, initially, reminded us of a very, very,
updated Panaji.
From
canvas to camera
Painter Paresh Maity enters
the world of films with an 18-minute landscape
docu-feature The Mystic Melody: A Day in the Golden Desert
LEading
contemporary artist Paresh Maity has made his screen debut as a
filmmaker with an 18-minute landscape docu-feature The Mystic
Melody: A Day in the Golden Desert.
Smallest
seahorse
Scientists
have discovered what they claim is the world’s smallest sea horse,
which is little bigger than a pea, on reefs in Indonesia.
A fairy tale
Aparna Sen’s The Japanese Wife is a touching account of love between a schoolteacher in the Sundarbans and a Japanese girl, says
Shoma A. Chatterji
THE
long wait for Aparna Sen’s much-discussed The Japanese
Wife, her second film in English after 36, Chowringhee Lane,
is over. The film, completed more than two years ago had its release
held up for various reasons.
Grave
matter
M. L. Dhawan
LoVeS
of Hindi cinema have been shocked at the way the trust managing the
Juhu cemetery in Mumbai, where bodies of some of the film industry’s
legends were interred, recently demolished as many as 21 tombs,
including those of stars like Mohammad Rafi, Talat Mahmood, Naushad
Ali, Sahir Ludhianvi, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Ali Sardar Jafri, Jan Nisar
Akhtar, Naseem Banu and Madhubala, etc., to make room for new graves.
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