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100 years
of plenitude
More than an actor, Zohra
Segal is an institution. Rakshanda Jalil pays
a tribute to the feisty artiste who lights up the stage and screen and
can rightfully declare Abhi toh main jawaan hoon!
| Sometime
in the year 1361 a Jew from Afghanistan, named Quais,
travelled to Medina. There, he converted to Islam and began to
call himself Abdul Rasheed Quais. A couple of centuries later,
his family settled in the area of Roh in the North-West Frontier
Province. Known as Rohilla Pathans, they eventually made Rampur,
a princely estate in the United Provinces, their home. Zohra
Segal, veteran film and theatre actor and dancer, traces her
lineage to Abdul Rasheed Quais; she attributes her kanjoosi |
Zohra Segal cuts the cake to celebrate
her century
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| (miserliness)
to his being a Jew and her stubbornness and courage to the pure
Rohilla blood flowing in her veins! Fatty, an
affectionate – and astonishingly candid – biography by her
daughter, Kiran Segal, brought out by Niyogi Books to coincide
with Zohra Apa’s 100th birthday tells us all this, and much
more. |
Pheasant
perfect
The number of highly
endangered western tragopan, the least studied bird in the world, has
been multiplying
Vishal Gulati
The
presence of the highly endangered, elusive western tragopan can
now be felt more clearly in the Great Himalayan National Park in Kulu
in Himachal Pradesh, with its numbers multiplying.
Romancing
the rivers in Punjab
A series of treaties between
the British and the Sikhs enabled the use of Sutlej and Indus rivers
for navigation and commerce
G. S. Aujla
Having
found a foothold at Port William in Calcutta in 1600, the East
India Company was looking for a shorter route to India by the Arabian
Sea. In pursuit of this scheme, Sir Thomas Roe was sent as ambassador
of England to the Mughal court of emperor Jehangir on behalf of the
East India Company in the beginning of the 17th century. Sir Thomas
Roe reported that the best way to enhance the trading possibilities
was to use the "commodious" river Indus (Sindh) as a means
of water transport from the west. What was daunting at that time was
the ignorance about the navigational suitability of river Indus and
its connectivity with other major rivers of western India and the
Punjab.
Weaving
history
Situated on the banks of
Narmada, Maheshwar is caught in a time warp
Kalpana Sunder
Chandrakala,
Baingani, Beli and Parbi — the names roll off the tongue like
poetry. They are all designs that are a part of an ancient tradition.
In the weft and warp of the gossamer Maheshwari saree, there are pages
of history. Long ago there was a royal tradition of gifting turbans as
a sign of friendship. Ahilyabai Holkar brought the first weavers from
Surat. They say that the Maheshwar weavers drew their inspiration from
the fort and its architecture — there are no floral motifs; instead
it draws on patterns like bricks, mats and diamonds. The incredibly
light Maheshwari saris come in jewel tones and rich colours of blue,
mauve, dark pink, greens with gold-thread zari borders.
Carrying
the weight of success
Weightlifters K Ravi Kumar
and N Soniya Chanu will be representing India in Olympics
Gagan K. Teja
Indian
weightlifters are on a new high as they have managed to bag one
Olympic spot each in men’s and women’s category based on their
recent performance in the last Olympic Qualifier. The qualifier, 43rd
men and 23rd Women Senior Asian Weightlifting Championship, concluded
in South Korea on April 30. It is all the more important for men
players as they have got this chance after a gap of 12 years. The men
last played in the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
Stars
within reach
From social networking sites
to brand endorsements on TV to dancing at private parties, film stars
are no longer inaccessible — a sharp contrast from the past when
stars maintained a distance from their fans
Shoma A. Chatterji
If
you ask a Dilip Kumar fan whether he has seen his idol in flesh
and blood, the answer will be "Never." People, who once
drooled over Meena Kumari and Raj Kapoor, worshipped the ground they
walked on because they could never set eyes on them. These stars kept
a distance — geographical, social and emotional from their audience.
This ‘distancing’ was a part of the starry aura, the invisible
halo their heads carried. They never answered their fan mail
themselves and had hundreds of identical postcard-size photographs to
send their fans. That was the beginning and end of the star-audience
relationship.
She
made coyness popular
No one blushed better than
Achala Sachdev, who portrayed the teary-eyed mother to perfection
Devinder Bir Kaur
Achala
Sachdev is best remembered as "zohrajabeen",
the beautiful wife of Balraj Sahni in B.R. Chopra’s Waqt (1965). He
crooned for her the Manna Dey-sung "Ae meri zohrajabeen."
And no one blushed better than her.
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