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Unfair
obsession
Our claims to being liberated are
merely skin-deep, if we go by the deep-rooted bias against dark skin
Aruti Nayar
That
we Indians are extremely colour conscious is an understatement.
In fact, it is an age-old bias that is reflected in various ways and
it predates even the Britishers, who reinforced this. Be it in social
conversation or in matrimonial advertisements, references to skin
colour are made without any thought to the effect they have on the
listener. We have become so used to references to "fair and
beautiful," that we do not bother to deconstruct the prejudice
that lies behind these statements.
’Art
& Soul
The
imperial image
Under the discerning eye of
Mughal emperor Jahangir, master painters produced great paintings,
besides portryaing him as an unusual man
B.N.Goswamy
One
knows Jahangir, the Emperor of India (1605-1627), to have been
a connoisseur. Not only because he laid claim to being one in the
memoir he wrote — the Tuzuk, also called the Jahangirnama
— but also because under his discerning eye, master painters
produced some truly great paintings: men like Abu’l Hasan and Ustad
Mansur and Farrukh Beg and Bishandas. What one does not immediately
realise, however, is the width of the range of work done for him or
the fact that so many of these works were intended to send out a
message, to project an image. Almost always, he emerges from these
renderings an unusual man: now as a devoted son, now as having brought
peace and justice to the world, now as a man who preferred men of God
to those who possessed domain and power. There is great fascination in
all this.
Broad brush
Fitness
Cleanse
thyself
Our body is being attacked by
toxins as we ingest new chemicals and drugs, eat junk food and abuse
it with stimulants, sedatives, alcohol, etc. Detoxification can help
in cleansing these toxins and make you feel rejuvenated
As
bathing can keep your body clean, you need to bathe your
insides with the right kind of food, water and juices to keep it clean
or in other words 'detoxify' it. Detoxifying is about cleansing the
toxins from your body and cleaning out excess mucous and congestion
that is flooding the blood stream.
Health Capsules
Society
Whose
hobby is it anyway
Allowing children to choose a
hobby that they would like to cultivate has taken a backseat as
enthusiastic parents often go on an overdrive
Kanwalpreet
We
grew up choosing our hobbies. The process was not only
interesting but also exploratory in nature. With technology not on our
side, we grew up without Facebook, Twitter or WhatsApp. Good for us,
it gave us the time to explore our interests and our surroundings. So
it was a ritual for the kids in the neighbourhood to come together to
play. During this playtime, hobbies and interests were discussed.
Collecting stamps, coins and first-day covers issued by the Postal
Department depicting the rich history of India were the interests that
occupied the children.
travel
Cruising
along the Silk Road
Eleven vehicles, 11
countries, 15,000 km and 50 days to drive from Berlin to Mumbai via
the Silk Road
Bob Rupani
The
Silk Road 2013 was an expedition organised by Land
Rover-Experience, Germany. Though trade on this road is said to have
begun in (202 BC-220 AD) in the first and second centuries AD, the
name 'The Great Silk Road' was only given in the 12th century by the
German geographer and geologist Ferdinand Von Richthofen. Stretching
more than 10,000 km, the Silk Road gets its name from the lucrative
trade of Chinese and Indian silk. Along with silk. many other goods
were traded and various technologies, religions and philosophies,
cultural practices, languages, recipes and cuisine along with tales
and disease also travelled via the Silk Road.
Globetrotting
Entertainment
Stamp
of musical excellence
Music is an integral part of
Indian cinema. The recent ~5 stamps on music stalwarts issued by the
Postal Department is a tribute to the doyens of music
M. L. Dhawan
The
Department of Posts recently issued commemorative Rs 5 stamps
on stalwart musicians, who created unforgettable music that marks a
watershed in the world. Indian cinema is indebted to these stalwarts
for creating unparalleled music.
The
rise and rise of Rahman
Rahmanishq, the national tour
of the Mozart of Madras, pays a tribute to Indian music, particularly
old songs
Shoma A. Chatterji
Oscar
award-winning composer, singer and songwriter A.R. Rahman’s
much-awaited national road tour Rahmanishq kicked off in Kolkata
recently. Talking to the extremely grounded and unassuming Rahman is
only half the story. The remaining half is what his team thinks of him
and how they relate to being part of his entourage. "Indian music
has its own charm. It is like an ocean from which you can pick
precious gems. I think this is one of the reasons why we should be
proud of our culture of which music is an integral part and take it
further. It is important to use our culture to shape what people
listen to. So, if you take the CokeStudio (@MTV Season 3), we
have brought some old songs back, and strangely, it seems to be the
favourite among people like ‘aao balam’ and ‘soz o
salaam’," said Rahman.
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