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Vintage vignettes
 Pran Nevile
presents some rare snapshots of India from the US Library of
Congress collection
THE
invention of the camera in 1839 was hailed for its ‘exact’
reporting of reality. The invention caught on like wildfire and within
a year, it surfaced in Calcutta. Photography also received support
from the government.
Simply
stereographs
THE
most rewarding outcome of my wanderings in the Prints and
Photographs Division was the discovery of a remarkable collection of
stereographs of the Indian panorama, dating from the 1870s to the
1920s.
Mystique
of Cleopatra
This queen of Egypt
continues to inspire, confound and intrigue even after centuries, says
Kanwarjit Singh Kang
CLEOPATRA,
the queen of Egypt, has drawn the attention of artists of almost every
genre. She is portrayed in paintings, in stone, metal, caricature,
songs, on the screen. So much so that some companies use her name to
sell their cosmetic products.
The
Guru’s brave Banda
The battle of Chapper Chiri
is a daring saga of Sikh valour, which broke the myth of invincibility
of the Mughal army. Banda Singh Bahadur’s triumph was the victory of
the good over the evil, writes Maj-Gen (retd)
Kulwant Singh
DURING
the very first meeting with Guru Gobind Singh at Nanded in 1708, Madho
Dass, then 38, declared: "O Master, I am thy slave (banda)."
The Guru soon saw the immense loyalty and potential in him, and
baptised him into Sikhism, renaming him Banda Singh Bahadur.
Balm
for men
Several laws have been passed
in the name of women's empowerment. The All India Men's Welfare
Association aims to protect men from domestic violence and other forms
of abuse, reports Nivedita Choudhuri
ASK
someone about the problems of women, and a list would emerge
that would never seem to end. Ask about men's problems, and you see
only blank faces. Does that mean that men do not have any problem?
Keep
it simple
Simple clothes with
contemporary patterns are in vogue today, writes Ritusmita
Biswas
INDIAN
fashion does not need to mean exotic with a capital E any more.
Fashion trendsetters seem to have taken a respite from the usual fare
of jewel-studded lehengas and halter tops.
Land of
red river and blue hills
With its emerald-green tea gardens, sanctuaries and carpets of green paddy fields stretching to
the horizon, Ranjita Biswas finds Assam’s natural beauty quite exquisite
ASSAM,
stretching across the Brahmaputra valley and surrounded by garlands of
hills is the land of the ‘Red river and blue hills’. The red
refers to another name of the mighty Brahmaputra — Lauhitya (Luit
as the Assamese fondly call it) and the blue from the hills simmering
in the distance creating a blue haze.
Kashmiri
students’ window to art
Aamir Nowshahri
THEIR
art thrived in the shadow of militancy but was never visible to the
world. Now, at last, nearly 70 young artists from the Kashmir Valley
will get to display their works thanks to a clutch of students based
outside the troubled state.
Dare
to be different
Filmmakers like Rajkumar
Hirani, Vishal Bhardwaj and Dibakar Banerjee have debunked the bogey
of Bollywood facing a bankruptcy of ideas and have come to represent
the brave new face of Indian cinema, writes Derek
Bose
Conventional
Bollywood wisdom holds that commercial success and critical acclaim
cannot go hand in hand. Barring a few notable exceptions like V.
Shantaram, Guru Dutt and Bimal Roy in the past, by and large, this has
held true.
Sci-fi
duds
Abhishek
Kaul checks out why Bollywood movies based on the science
fiction genre fail to work at the boxoffice
Rudraksh,
Alag, Love Story 2050 and Prince — all belong to the
sci-fi genre, but the other common factor linking these movies is they
were duds at the box office. The sci-fi genre suffers due to lack of
good storyline and technology, say experts.
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