Naseeruddin Shah is spending time by doing what he likes the most — catching up on the plays of William Shakespeare. The veteran actor says he can stay indoors for days on end. He has been devouring classics and writing.

Naseer is also helping in the household chores much to wife Ratna Pathak Shah's surprise. He had stopped stepping into the kitchen after marriage decades ago. Now, he is brushing up on his rusty cooking skills.

"I am one of those people who can stay at home and enjoy a lot of indoor. I am watching movies, reading books. I have started helping in the kitchen that I kind of stopped after marriage. I did not cook for a long time. I am reading a couple of plays of Shakespeare to my son. We are spending quality time," the veteran actor told IANS.

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Actress Bhumi Pednekar has been honing her green thumb during the COVID-19 lockdown. The actress has taken to social media to share the yield she has grown at home. The list includes feugreek (methi), mustard (sarson), amaranth (cholai), green chillies, brinjals and strawberries.

Sharing the photos of her homegrown crops on Instagram, the actress wrote: "After months of tender love & care, we present to you #PednekarKePed #homegrown #GharKiKheti #sustainableliving."

 

 

 

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After months of tender love & care,we present to you #PednekarKePed 🌱 #homegrown #GharKiKheti #sustainableliving

A post shared by Bhumi✨ (@bhumipednekar) onApr 25, 2020 at 2:56am PDT

Earlier this month, the actress had announced that she would utilise the lockdown time learning the science of hydroponics (soil-less) farming from her mother Sumitra Pednekar.

"My mom and I always wanted to have a hydroponics garden of our own where we grow our own vegetables and can have a fully sustainable lifestyle. We wanted to have a garden to table lifestyle at home and we are both happy with the progress," she had shared.

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Kiara Advani is bored of sitting in her south Mumbai home. It appears that she is missing the studios and the shoots. More importantly, she can't catch up with her pals. We assume this includes a certain Bandra-based Mr Malhotra as well. In an attempt to describe her mental state, the Kabir Singh (2019) actor shared a childhood video.

She also posted a video in which she is seen riding on her bicycle. She tells mother Genevieve that she is fed up of waiting and playing indoors as she wants to go out to play. Advani captioned the video, "The wonder years... but my mental state right now... nobody's going out. Home sweet home (sic)." Take a look!

 

 

 

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“Mummy, I’m fed up of waiting because I feel like going” My mental state right now🙃 but...nobody’s goin out! Home sweet home! 😇 #thewonderyears 🌈

A post shared by KIARA (@kiaraaliaadvani) onApr 23, 2020 at 2:51am PDT

It's not just this one, but before she rode the bicycle, Kiara Advani confessed how her mom thought she would take up ballet as her career, but chose to be an actress instead.

 

 

 

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When mom thought I would join the Bolshoi ballet but I chose Bollywood instead💁🏻‍♀ï¸Â #thewonderyears 🌈👯‍♀ï¸ÂðŸ‘§ðŸ¼ðŸ¥°

A post shared by KIARA (@kiaraaliaadvani) onApr 21, 2020 at 11:25pm PDT

In another video, Kiara Advani was seen sipping milk from her favourite Cinderella cup. Not kidding! Well, who hates princesses? And Cinderella? So nostalgic! Check this one out.

 

 

 

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#thewonderyears 🍼🌈🍭🧸 doodh ka doodh, paani ka paani.. and my obsession with Cinderella 👧🏼

A post shared by KIARA (@kiaraaliaadvani) onApr 20, 2020 at 11:42pm PDT

Speaking about Kiara Advani's childhood days, the actress also shared a sweet picture with brother Mishaal, where she is seen planting a peck on his cheek. So adorable! So, this is what siblings look like.

 

 

 

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Happy Sibling Day @mishaaladvani squishy for mishy forever❤ï¸ÂðŸ˜˜

A post shared by KIARA (@kiaraaliaadvani) onApr 11, 2020 at 6:50am PDT

Well, many aren't aware that Kiara Advani is really good friends with Isha Ambani. The actress and her childhood friend share a warm bond, and these images are proof enough!

 

 

 

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There are some special people who are a part of your life and you grow up with. My oldest friend, still as caring, as humble and as amazing as you were when we first met! My to be bridey, Ishu never ever let the child in you grow up❤ï¸Â forever your Aliu 👯‍♂ï¸Â Congratulations @_iiishmagish @anandpiramal 💍🎉Comofomo🙃

A post shared by KIARA (@kiaraaliaadvani) onSep 22, 2018 at 9:49pm PDT

Kiara, there there! We completely understand what you are going through right now.

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Turns out, the high-intensity workout program, CrossFit, can do a lot besides just keeping people fit and fine. According to a study conducted by The Physiological Society, a six-week CrossFit exercise programme can lead to improved control of blood sugar levels and decreased risk of heart disease in people with Type II diabetes.

Diabetes is a lifelong condition that causes a person's blood sugar level to become too high. Type II diabetes is the most common form, which is where the body doesn't produce enough of the hormone that controls sugar levels, called insulin. People with Type II diabetes are at significantly higher risk of heart disease. A primary focus for managing diabetes is exercise, as it has been shown to improve the body's ability to control sugar levels by making the body more sensitive to the insulin produced.

However, adherence to exercise advice is particularly low amongst those with Type II diabetes, who are mostly overweight or obese, with lack of time being cited as one of the greatest barriers to regular exercise. This new research suggested that a high-intensity exercise programme such as CrossFit improves the ability of the body to control blood sugar levels by reducing the amount of insulin required.

Importantly, these improvements appear to be similar to the sort of change we would expect from more traditional exercise interventions, despite participants spending considerably less time exercising than health guidelines recommend. CrossFit, therefore, offered a time-effective exercise approach for people with Type II diabetes who struggle to maintain daily exercise.

CrossFit is a high-intensity training intervention incorporating both endurance and strength training. Sessions range from 8-20 minutes in duration and represent a far more time-effective form of exercise than traditional exercise interventions. CrossFit has been growing in popularity over the past decade, although until now it was not clear whether such forms of exercise would improve the ability of individuals with Type II diabetes to control their sugar levels.

For this research, thirteen overweight/obese patients with Type II diabetes were recruited to participate in a 6-week CrossFit exercise programme. Participants' blood sugar levels and insulin sensitivity (an individual's ability to reduce high blood sugar levels effectively) were assessed both before and after the exercise programme, in addition to their blood chemistries and blood pressure, which were tested to predict heart disease risk.

The post-exercise intervention test results showed significant improvements in insulin sensitivity and heart disease risk factors. Importantly, these improvements appeared to be similar to the sort of changes expected from more traditional exercise interventions, despite participants spending considerably less time exercising than such guidelines recommend. The study appears in the journal Experimental Physiology.

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Researchers have found that long term chronic isolation cause the build-up of a chemical in the brain, that increases stress, aggression and fear.

The mice isolated for two weeks showed behavioural changes like, increased aggressiveness towards unfamiliar mice, persistent fear, and hypersensitivity to threatening stimuli.

When encountering a threatening stimulus, mice that have been socially isolated remain frozen in place long after the threat has passed, whereas normal mice stop freezing soon after the threat is removed, the research said.

Although the study was done in mice, it has potential implications for understanding how chronic stress affects humans and has potential applications for treating mental health disorders, said lead author Moriel Zelikowsky, postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology in the US.

Previous studies have determined that social isolation for two weeks in mice resulted in the upregulation of the signalling molecule neuropeptide, tachykinin 2 (Tac2)/neurokinin B (NkB) -- a short protein molecule.

In the new study, published in the journal Cell, the team found that chronic isolation leads to an increase in Tac2 gene expression and the production of a neuropeptide called neurokinin B (NkB) throughout the brain.

But, administration of a drug that chemically blocks NkB-specific receptors enabled the stressed mice to behave normally, eliminating the negative effects of social isolation.

On the other hand, artificially increasing Tac2 levels and activating the corresponding neurons in normal, animals led them to behave like isolated and stressed, the research showed.

Suppressing the Tac2 gene in certain different brain parts, increased fear behaviours, or aggression accordingly, implying that it must increase in different brain regions to produce the various effects of social isolation, the researchers said.

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Researchers have found that a common antibacterial substance found in toothpaste may combat life-threatening diseases such as cystic fibrosis (CF) when combined with a drug.

The study, published in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, found that when triclosan -- a substance that reduces or prevents bacteria from growing -- is combined with an antibiotic called tobramycin, it kills the cells that protect the CF bacteria, known as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, by up to 99.9 per cent.

CF is a common genetic disease with one in every 2,500 to 3,500 people diagnosed with it at an early age. It results in a thick mucus in the lungs, which becomes a magnet for bacteria.

These bacteria are notoriously difficult to kill because they are protected by a slimy barrier known as a biofilm, which allows the disease to thrive even when treated with antibiotics, the researcher said.

"The problem that we're really tackling is finding ways to kill these biofilms," said lead author Chris Waters, Professor at the Michigan State University.

According to the researcher, there are many common biofilm-related infections that people get such as ear infections and swollen, painful gums caused by gingivitis.

But more serious, potentially fatal diseases join the ranks of CF including endocarditis, or inflammation of the heart, as well as infections from artificial hip and pacemaker implants, the researcher added.

For the study, the researchers grew 6,000 biofilms in petri dishes, added in tobramycin along with many different compounds, to see what worked better at killing the bacteria.

Twenty-five potential compounds were effective, but one stood out, the researcher said.

"It's well known that triclosan, when used by itself, isn't effective at killing Pseudomonas aeruginosa. But when I saw it listed as a possible compound to use with tobramycin, I was intrigued. We found triclosan was the one that worked every time," said Alessandra Hunt from the Michigan State University.

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Washington D.C.: Intermittent fasting diets could increase diabetes risk, suggests a study. These findings suggest that fasting-based diets may be associated with long-term health risks and careful consideration should be made before starting such weight loss programmes.

In order to investigate whether an intermittent fasting diet could also generate damaging free radicals, Ana Bonassa and colleagues, from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, examined the effects of fasting every other day on the body weight, free radical levels and insulin function of normal, adult rats, over a 3-month period.

Although the rats' body weight and food intake decreased as expected over the study period, the amount of fat tissue in their abdomen actually increased. Furthermore, the cells of the pancreas that release insulin showed damage, with the presence of increased levels of free radicals and markers of insulin resistance were also detected.

Ana Bonassa commented, "This is the first study to show that, despite weight loss, intermittent fasting diets may actually damage the pancreas and affect insulin function in normal healthy individuals, which could lead to diabetes and serious health issues."

Ana cautioned, "We should consider that overweight or obese people who opt for intermittent fasting diets may already have insulin resistance, so although this diet may lead to early, rapid weight loss, in the long-term there could be potentially serious damaging effects to their health, such as the development of type-2 diabetes."

The findings were presented at the European Society of Endocrinology annual meeting, ECE 2018.

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A lot of men don't pay attention to their skin and let it suffer. Just take out a few minutes from your busy schedule and rinse, tone, exfoliate, moisturise daily without fail for a lasting youthful skin, suggest experts. Shubhika Jain, Founder of RAS Luxury Oils, and Megha Asher, Founder of Juicy Chemistry have listed a regime important for men:

1. Use natural homemade scrub: If you use soap to clean your skin, it is one of the biggest mistakes. Soap strips your skin off of nutrients that are necessary. Men need skin exfoliation to remove the dead skin. Using a natural, herbal/home-made scrub can help you remove impurities and other debris that are clogged in the pores along with keeping the skin healthy. Men who shave will find that their cleanser helps ensure the razor has a clean shaving surface to avoid ingrown hairs and razor burn.

2. Always moisturise: Since your skin is tougher and is thicker, it tends to get rough very easily. Hence, it needs its moisture. In addition to that, not all moisturisers are the same. One of the best ways to ensure proper hydration is to use a face oil or a face serum. It is a myth that using oil on an oily face makes it oilier. Actually it is the reverse of that. Super absorbent face oils are like elixirs and help in balancing the sebum production and controlling oil production.

You can also try active plant ingredients like a light aloe vera gel based moisturiser, that works best naturally by hydrating skin and protecting against the damaging, age-accelerating effects of UVA and UVB rays and seal moisture into the skin.

3. Use toner before and after cleansing: Toners keep you refreshed on the go while making your skin look dewy and naturally glowy. They also balance the oil levels in the skin. The toner can be used before and after cleansing the face.

4. Keep a facial scrub handy: Face scrubs help in exfoliating and removing dead skin cells that makes the skin look dull. It helps to prepare the skin for shaving. Scrub 1-3 times a week depending on the skin type for a better looking skin.

5. Applying sunscreen: Men are not as conscious about their sunscreen use as women, but they should be. UV rays lead to accelerated skin aging and can cause skin cancer. It is important to wear a sunscreen if you are going to be outdoors for more than 30 minutes.

One of the most common causes of wrinkles and premature ageing is sun exposure and damage. Using a daily SPF cream will significantly help your skin in the fight against ageing and also decrease the risk of UV-induced skin damage.

6. Use mild and soothing shaving products: Many men shave either daily or every few days. Shaving products should protect and moisturise the skin. They should also be mild and soothing; harsh products can remove the skin's natural lipids which are already under pressure from shaving.

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Glass containers in which Arora has collected soil from different parts of Aarey. PICS/ABIGAIL D’Souza 

A conversation with artist Vikram Arora throws up a vital piece of insight into the issue of deforestation at Aarey Colony. Arora, along with four artists from Hong Kong and a Serbian national based in Mumbai, is spending a few days living with locals in the city’s jeopardised green cover, and he tells us, “The tribals here have a family that doesn’t include only the people they live with. It includes the trees they planted, the animals and birds that depend on those trees, the leopards around them and so on. So everything is inter-dependent, and the fallout [of deforestation] is ecological in nature, because the birds don’t have those trees any more. And the leopards will confront humans because their habitat has been taken away.”

This is the issue that forms the backbone of a project called Forest Tales: Mysteries Hidden in Concrete. It involves the six people creating individual works of art based on their experience of living in the heart of Aarey Colony, immersing themselves in the local culture by tilling the soil that nurtures the food that their hosts cook for them.

Chim Chi Ho tilling soil

Arora tells us that one of his projects, for instance, requires him to collect 33 types of soil from different parts of Aarey, symbolic of the 33 hectares of land in the area that is lost to the demands of construction work for the disputed Metro project. “I will put these bits of soil into 33 different containers on which I will draw Warli art, a traditional tribal style. The idea is to archive the memory of the soil in case that land is also taken away in the future. I will present the different glass containers as an installation to show how, if we proceed without long-term planning, we will end up building a fragile future for ourselves,” he says.

The other project he has embarked on is called Cut Me a Slice of That. For it, he will bake a pie inspired by savelya, a local sweet dish made with coconut and jaggery, which his host taught him to make. He will then serve that pie cut into different pieces when the various works of art are showcased to the public at an event later this week. “It’s meant to reflect the sentiment of how the land grab is taking place, piece by piece. For example, every time there is an emergency in the city, the NSG commandos are given a space in Aarey. A veterinary college is also given space here if they want it. Now the Metro wants its chunk too for the car shed. So, they keep taking this land away piece by piece, through rampant deforestation,” he explains.

(From left) Michael Leung, Vikram Arora, Gum Cheng, Yip Kai Chun and Chim Chi Ho, the artists living in Aarey. Katarina Rasic is not in the photo

Arora adds, however, that not everyone in the local community is against displacement. A few padas (settlement clusters), he says, are happy because they think they will get a house in a tower, though they eventually might never get to reach this carrot being dangled before them. “They are driven by economic sensibilities, thinking they will be moving into high society when, and if, they get those houses. But the whole idea is not only about them shifting base. Instead, it’s about the trees that are being cut to facilitate that process,” he says, pointing out how unless this urbanisation challenge is managed in a sensitive manner, ecological concerns are bound to be sacrificed at the altar of rampant concretisation.

Vikram Arora

ON May 20 AT Keltipada, Adivasi Pada, Unit no 18, Aarey Milk Colony, Goregaon East.
LOG ON TO artoxygen.org

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Chef Cham Hun Chakap plates a portion of chilli chicken. Chilli chicken is one of the spicier dishes that can be traced back to Tangra. But the food of the Kolkata locality is often a lot sweeter than other Indo-Chinese dishes because that’s how the Bengalis prefered it. This can be evidenced in something like honey chilli potato.

Chef Cham Hun Chakap moves around the kitchen with the assurance of a well-set batsman completing a comfortable single down to deep midwicket. He is running the show behind the scenes at a restaurant in an upscale Powai hotel, which is hosting an event called Tangra Festival. The dish that the chef is whipping up for us is chilli chicken, possibly the most ubiquitous item in the culinary spectrum of Indo-Chinese dishes. And he tells us that it was invented in Tangra, the new Chinatown in Kolkata, considered by many to be the Mecca of this particular cuisine.

Tangra does indeed occupy a unique spot in the country’s food-scape. It all goes back to about 100 years ago, when the British — along with Kolkata’s older Chinese community in Tirreti Bazaar — established the area, setting up leather factories there to manufacture boots and other goods for soldiers at the battlefront during World War I. Business picked up further during World War II. But then, the British packed their bags in 1947. So, the Chinese community took over the tanning operations. Their life ambled comfortably along, only to be turned upside down by the Indo-China war of 1962, when many indigenous Chinese people immigrated to safer havens like Canada, Australia and Taiwan. And suddenly, the community in Kolkata found its numbers to have considerably dwindled.

Food to the rescue
What’s worse is that the ones who were left behind, and who had picked up the mantle of the leather business from their predecessors, found themselves on the wrong side of the law after the state government deemed the tanning industry to be an environmental hazard in the mid-’90s. A large number of factories thus faced closure, with some being shifted to the nearby neighbourhood of Bantala. Many of the owners faced overnight financial ruin. So, to get out of the soup they found themselves in, they turned their attention to another business that had been gaining momentum in the area over the ’70s and ’80s — restaurants serving “Chinese” dishes.

“Initially, these restaurants were serving the authentic cuisine of the Chinese mainland. But that did not suit the palate of Kolkata’s Bengalis, who found it to be too bland. So the restaurants were running in losses in the beginning, till their owners decided to alter the recipes, adding Indian herbs and flavours,” chef Cham says, adding that this formed the genesis of what we call Chindian cuisine.

Illustration/Ravi Jadhav

These dishes, of course, bore as much resemblance to true-blue Chinese food as idli-sambar does to tandoori chicken. Instead of being stir-fried, for instance, most of the preparations were gravy-based. The spice quotient was also so much higher than a Shanghai local would put his chopsticks down to fan his mouth after one bite. Plus, while something like a Peking duck is roasted over a length of time, Tangra food was geared to suit the purposes of the quick-service restaurants there. This automatically also meant that the meat — including the fish items — was almost invariably diced into pieces, instead of being served whole, like some of the dishes in mainland China.

Pan-Indian acceptance
Be that as it may, the cuisine gradually started spreading to other parts of the country. Nelson Wang, a Tangra local who opened SoBo’s China Garden in 1984, is widely credited with having invented chicken Manchurian, a dish which if you say is Chinese, you might also say that the giant panda is India’s national animal. Punjabis also caught on to the trend, developing a brand of Sino-Ludhianvi dishes. And with time, Indo-Chinese food became a mainstay of restaurants in various cities, including Mumbai, where lunch home menus reserve equal space for “Chinese” dishes as they do for stuff like chana masala and aloo matar.

The credit for this goes to the original restaurateurs of Tangra who Indianised their indigenous dishes. But things are no longer hunky-dory in the Kolkata neighbourhood, says Dominic Lee, a fourth-generation Tangra local. “Many of the smaller restaurants are finding it difficult to sustain themselves, with only the bigger eateries, which have space for parking, constantly managing to upgrade themselves because they have the requisite capital,” he tells us, adding that the recent controversy around dubious meat being supposedly sold in the city’s restaurants has led to a further dip in fortunes.

Nonetheless, he continues, the legacy of the cuisine has left a permanent imprint on the history of India’s food. Take chilli chicken, something so popular that it’s travelled all the way from the humble Kolkata locality to the swish Powai hotel where chef Cham is making us his version of it. But when he is done in a matter of mere minutes, he recognises the look of doubt on our face after we have had a taste. “I have to make a blander variety because most of our customers are from the West, and they wouldn’t be able to handle something too spicy,” he explains, revealing how Indo-Chinese cuisine of the Tangra variety is a preserve of only our own countrymen.

Looking for it anywhere else in the world would be like looking for a needle in a haystack, for all practical purposes.

Awesome sauce
A huge contribution that Tangra has had is popularising the concept of chilli sauce. “You will find it in all the kathi roll shops dotted around Kolkata. But before we added it to our food to suit Indian taste buds, people had no clue about it,” says Lee.
Till May 27, 7 pm
To 11.30 pm
AT Emperor's Court, Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel, near Chinmayanand Ashram, Powai.
Call 8291165421

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The by-elections to Palghar and Bhandara-Gondia Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra began this morning for which all major parties have gone all out as the outcome is likely to have a bearing on their future course. There was no untoward incident at any polling booth so far, police said.

In Palghar, the bypoll was necessitated following the death of BJP's Chintaman Wanaga. The BJP's bickering ally Shiv Sena has fielded the late MP's son Srinivas in a bid to garner the sympathy vote. The BJP has put up former Congress minister Rajendra Gavit. The Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) led by Vasai-Virar strongman Hitendra Thakur is also in the fray with the nomination of its ex-MP Baliram Jadhav.

Kiran Raja Gahla of the CPI-M, which has a base in Talasari and Dahanu, and former MP Damu Shingada (Congress) are also contesting in a multi-cornered fight from the seat reserved for scheduled tribes (ST).
The Sena has accused the BJP of distributing cash to voters. During a rally, Uddhav played an audio clip wherein Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis purportedly exhorted party cadre to win the elections "by all means possible." Fadnavis said the audio recording was doctored.

An editorial in the Sena mouthpiece Saamana today said its nominee will win the Palghar seat, despite the BJP roping in UP CM Yogi Adityanath in the poll campaign. "Lord Ram will emerge from the ballot box, wielding bow and arrow (Sena's symbol) and win this seat," it said.

The constituency includes extended suburbs of Mumbai such as Vasai, Virar, Nalasopara, and Palghar in the newly-created Palghar district. As many as 18 candidates are in fray in Bhandara- Gondia and seven in Palghar. There are total 3,49,1218 voters.

In Palghar, out of the 2,097 polling booths, 14 are listed as critical, while in Bhandara-Gondia, out of 2,149 polling booths, 71 are situated in Naxal-hit areas and 113 are listed as critical.

In Bhandara-Gondia, the BJP and the NCP have locked horns in the bypoll, being held after the resignation of BJP MP Nana Patole. Patole, a leader of the powerful OBC Kunbi community, had switched side from the Congress to the BJP and was elected as an MP from the constituency in Vidarbha in 2014 by defeating former union minister and NCP heavyweight Praful Patel.

The NCP, which has allied with the Congress, has fielded former BJP MLA Madhukar Kukde, against BJP's Hemant Patle, who belongs to the Powar community and is also a former legislator.

Counting of votes will be undertaken on May 31.

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Embarking on a promotional spree, Sanya Malhotra had a fun interaction with real-life photographers clicking pictures against Gateway of India as well as with the photographers. Sharing her picture from the visit Sanya Malhotra says,

"Saalon baad jab ye aap photo dekhengi, aapko aapke chehre pe yahi dhoop dikhayi degi, aapke baalon mein ye hawa aur apke kaano mein hazaro logo ki awaaz.. hamesha ke liye sab chalajayega."

 

 

 

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Saalon baad jab ye aap photo dekhengi, aapko aapke chehre pe yahi dhoop dikhayi degi, aapke baalon mein ye hawa aur apke kaano mein hazaro logo ki awaaz.. hamesha ke liye sab chalajayega. . . Smile please!📸 #photograph #gatewayofindia @photographamzn #9daystogo

A post shared by Sanya Malhotra💥 (@sanyamalhotra_) onMar 6, 2019 at 12:39am PST

The film brings to the screen the story of a photographer at Gateway of India who convinces a stranger to act as his love interest to help his ailing grandmother. Nawazuddin Siddiqui will essay the role of the photographer, while Sanya Malhotra plays his muse.

Earlier, Sanya Malhotra who had a working birthday took out time and celebrated the special occasion with the paparazzi. Recently, National Award-winning filmmaker Ritesh Batra hosted a special screening of Photograph for film students prior to its theatrical release. Post the screening, the director interacted with the students and engaged in a discussion about films and their making.

Sanya garnered immense love and appreciation for her performance in Photograph when the film premiered at Sundance Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival 2019. The trailer brings to screen a sweet, innocent, and refreshing chemistry with Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Sanya Malhotra's first association.

Written and directed by Ritesh Batra, Photograph is presented by Amazon Studious in association with The Match Factory and is slated to release in India on March 15, 2019.

Also read: Team Photograph shares a video on Nawazuddin Siddiqui's character

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The world needs The Maniac. That's the name of the central character in a play called The Accidental Death of an Anarchist, written by the Nobel Prize-winning Italian Dario Fo in 1970. The plot is highly political. It involves the protagonist infiltrating a brutally corrupt system, and exposing the powers that be as being the emperor with no clothes. And in the process, he has the bad guys scrambling for cover since their misdeeds are out in the open. These villains — specifically, the police force in this case — are forced to resort to 10 lies to hide just one.

The same play has been adapted in an Indian context by Amitabh Srivastava, and is called Operation Three Star. A staging of it will take place in the city this weekend, directed by Arvind Gaur of Asmita Theatre. Gaur tells us about how the story line is timeless, and can fit any part of the world where there is an unjust hierarchical structure at work. But before we examine why that is, let's draw an outline of the plot.

The Maniac being interrogated

The curtains open to reveal an inspector interrogating The Maniac for being a fraudster. But the dim-witted policeman's IQ is no match for the highly intelligent Maniac's. So, the latter constantly outsmarts him. He intercepts a phone call that the cop gets when he is away for a little while. The caller is a superior who wanted to let the inspector know that he is needed back in the police station for a case where an anarchist has been accidentally killed. A judge is about to arrive to find out about the more minute details of the case. And hearing this, The Maniac gives the inspector the slip and decides to go to the station himself, posing as the judge.
Once there, The Maniac inadvertently learns that the death of the so-called anarchist was not in fact an accident, but a murder at the hands of the police forces. The latter are thus now trying to concoct an elaborate web of deceit to wipe their hands clean. This leads The Maniac to assume the role of a crusader, and trick the police into admitting their own guilt. And the curtains fall with an open ending, where The Maniac asks a journalist covering the case to choose between two possible scenarios.

Arvind Gaur

So, how does the same plot reflect our own times, in India? "It's through the metaphor of encounter killings, for one," Gaur tells us. He says, "There was a time when encounter cases were rampant. But then people started talking about the issue. A hue and cry was made whenever there was such a killing. And the start of that conversation eventually led to the numbers reducing, because if you think about it, there are a lot less encounter cases now than before."

Gaur adds that since there is no one superhero called The Maniac who can single-handedly rid society of corruption — there are, for instance, ethical hackers, rights activists and investigative journalists collectively doing the same job — the onus lies on individuals to address any corruption they come across. "Each of us needs to identify an issue and then talk about it to reach a solution, because if we stay mum, the unjust will get away and things will carry on as they are," he explains. The power to make a difference then lies in our own hands, he says, meaning every member of society is The Maniac to some extent. And it's just that the world needs us to recognise ourselves as being one.

ON March 15, 7.30 pm.
AT Veda Factory, bungalow no - 120, opposite Gulshan Colony Co-Op Housing Society, Aram Nagar Part 2, Versova, Andheri West
LOG ON TO bookmyshow.com
COST Rs 200

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Industrialist Gautam Singhania and wife Nawaz Modi Singhania attended the starry celebration in honour of newly-weds Akash Ambani and Shloka Mehta on March, 10, 2019. Akash Ambani and Shloka Mehta tied the knot on March 09, 2019, in the presence of their family and friends. The newly-married couple's wedding was attended by various celebs from business, politics, Bollywood, and sports worlds. The lovebirds, who are childhood friends, got married in a lavish ceremony at the Jio World Centre, Bandra-Kurla Complex.

A big fat party was thrown by the Ambanis to welcome the newlywed couple the Jio World Centre which saw all the big personalities of Mumbai together. Industrialist Gautam Singhania and wife Nawaz Modi Singhania graced the celebration with their presence at Bandra-Kurla Complex. Gautam Singhania was suited up in a dashing royal blue suit paired with a striped tie. Nawaz Modi Singhania, his wife complimented his dark suit with a bright red saree and a trendy sleeveless blouse with golden embroidery. She also completed her elegant attire with a jewelry set made of heavy green stones.

Also Read: Akash Ambani-Shloka Mehta's party: Natasha Poonawalla makes a glitzy appearance

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Going to a new restaurant is no longer about discovering what it has to offer on arrival. An online recce of the place is now part of the eating-out ritual. So, when we spot bhutte ki kees on the menu of The Culture House in Girgaum, we know we are ordering the much-loved dish from Indore's Sarafa Bazaar to satiate our Madhya Pradeshi palate — and to employ it as a litmus test to gauge the attention the recently opened restaurant pays to the vegetarian flavours of northern and western India it promises to bring to Mumbaikars.

We head to the eatery with a friend on a crisp Wednesday night, where we are welcomed by a hospitable staff. The spacious dining area has a haveli-like feel with chandeliers and wooden engravings. Located on a slightly raised level, it even has a vintage elevator for guests; a thoughtful addition, the friend points out.

Bhutte ki kees

As planned, we call for the bhutte ki kees (Rs 279) from the starters right away. "It will be made of sweet corn, though," the server tells us. Important information, considering the original recipe features desi corn, a monsoon crop, which isn't as sweet. But we are used to this jugaad at home, too, and are keen on seeing how the chef finds his way around it. The dish arrives in quick time, but is of a runnier consistency than it should be, and the mild use of spices does little to combat the extra sweetness. Disappointed, we move on to the one-plate meals, from which we pick the khichu khau suey (Rs 379) and Delhi stuff chilla (Rs 279).

Khichyu khausuey

The chilla, or besan pancake, is a staple on winter shaadi menus up north, served sizzling hot. We like the twist of stuffing it with paneer bhurji, but in the process, the chilla seems to have stayed on the tava a tad too long. The khau suey, a Gujarati twist on the Burmese dish, is what has got us all excited. And digging into the cotton-soft rice flour balls swimming in a coconut milk and curd broth leaves us reaching for more. The fried onions, peanuts and soya sticks make for the perfect accompaniments. But we do agree with our fellow diner when she remarks that the broth could have been thicker.

From the plethora of mains, we go for green Gujarat with bhakri (Rs 449). The undhiyo-like sabzi made with fewer winter veggies tastes just fine, as does the accompanying kadhi, but there is little on the platter that justifies the steep price.

Strawberry phirni

It's time for dessert, and from the seasonal options, we pick their strawberry phirni (Rs 349), which is a regular phirni topped with slices of the fruit. The moongdal sheera (Rs 299), when had later at home, reminds us of another winter shaadi indulgence, but we have tasted better versions. We'll return another day. But only because there is still much left to be tried from the vast menu.

AT The Culture House, Soni Building, opposite Bharati Vidya Bhavan, Girgaum
Time 11 am to 11.30 pm
CALL 30151598

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Breakfast is the most important meal, which many of us tend to skip due to hectic schedules, leaving only Sundays to indulge in a lazy brekkie. Ours consists of pork sausages, creamy and cheesy scrambled eggs made in the sausage fat, and toast, with of course, coffee.

Chef Pablo Naranjo Agular of Le 15 Cafe, has fond memories of waffles in the shape of Mickey Mouse, with a pair of sunny side ups, drizzled with sriracha and sesame oil sauce. And so, for this edition of the eatery's monthly Table 13 evening on Wednesday, they are serving breakfast for dinner so you can eat at leisure.

Chef Pablo Naranjo Agular

"Making breakfast was a family activity and a beautiful memory. My parents loved cycling, so they would go off on Sunday mornings for three hours, which gave me enough time to cook something for them, with my little sister. I loved how happy they were when they came back and we sat down to eat. We would listen to old Colombian salsa that my father would put on," chef Agular shares.

Pablo's waffles 

While he is currently struggling to narrow down his list of 48 breakfast items, you can expect pancakes, waffles, bacon, and of course, eggs, along with some Indian options, all with a signature twist. "The menu will be inspired by what the French eat, which is on the sweeter side, as well as the not-so-sweet Colombian flavours," he says. And the idea too germinated when he was eating his favourite breakfast — waffles topped with egg and bacon — and owner Pooja Dhingra walked in and tried it. Book ahead because seats are limited.

Pooja Dhingra

ON March 27, 8 pm
AT Le 15 Cafe, shop number 18, Lansdowne House, MB Marg, Colaba
CALL 9769341994
LOG ON TO insider.in
COST Rs 2,800

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Think of Cambodia, and the first thing that comes to mind are the famed ruins of Angkor Wat — it's even emblazoned on the national flag. But for French architect Olivier Cunin, it was a different temple that sparked his over-two-decade-old love affair with Khmer architecture.

Unlike the Angkor Wat, which has been widely studied and written about, there's a lot more mystery surrounding Cunin's favourite: the Bayon temple site. "Angkor Wat, whose architectural design is considered to be of the 'classical style', is very symmetrical and easy to understand. The design of Bayon seems chaotic and mysterious, as there are more structures linked to each other with several galleries and pavilions to create a complex space. There is no clearly stated path to access the Bayon temple, as in the case of Angkor Wat," said Cunin, who is in Mumbai to conduct a lecture series on ancient Khmer monuments and iconography.

Ravana relief from the temple of Banteay Srei

Among the more intriguing temple icons are the "face towers" at Bayon, which remain an enigma in architectural and archaeological circles. These are 59 towers in the temple complex with massive faces carved into them. "Researchers still argue fiercely about the deity represented on the face tower. Even if the question of identity is not yet resolved, the 59 face towers of the Bayon function both as icon and architecture. By incorporating this unique feature, the Bayon itself became an icon," sa­id Cunin, whose research aims to both solve the puzzle of these temples and also preserve the heritage with the help of digital reconstruction.

Olivier Cunin and Swati Chemburkar

"To understand a temple, we first need to know its original design, and digital reconstruction is a very useful tool. It's not always possible to restore every temple physically but even if we could construct it virtually, it would be a huge help in our understanding of the Khmer monuments," he explains.

It's also interesting to note the Indian link with Khmer temples — some of which are Buddhist while others are dedicated to Hindu gods Vishnu and Shiva — despite the thousands of miles between the two countries. Cunin's colleague Swati Chemburkar, who directs a course on Southeast Asian art and architecture at Jnanapravaha, Fort, said,

"There was no India or Cambodia in the period we discuss. People crossing the Bay of Bengal in either dire­c­tion a 1,000 years ago would have found enough li­n­guistic and cultural connect­i­ons between the regions of India and Cambodia to considered all to be the members of a large and varied but coherent community. The Khmer in­scriptions mention the marriages of Indian Brahmins to Khmer princesses."

So what temples should visitors not miss during their visit? "The Bayon for its sheer complexity," he says, while also recommending Ta Prohm (being restored by the Archaeological Survey of India) and another favourite, Banteay Srei, which replicates Mount Kailasa, Shiva's heavenly abode.

AT Jnanapravaha, Talwatkar Marg, Fort
TILL April 12, 6 pm to 8 pm
COST Rs 3,000 per head

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UN Women India launched a video campaign called #MujheHaqHai on Wednesday which emphasises the power and potential of women in today's world.

The video features a host of independent and courageous women, who have excelled in their respective spheres and mapped India globally. The video sends out a strong message for female empowerment to women all over India with the belief that they have an equal participation in all walks of life.

Apurva Purohit, the President of Jagran Group, is one of the prominent personalities featured in the video alongside the likes of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Mithali Raj and Sania Mirza, to name a few.

Apurva Purohit, President, Jagran Group

Apurva Purohit said, "It’s an absolute honour to be a part of this initiative by UN Women India. Any and every small step towards the empowerment of women and giving them their rightful place under the sun is the need of the hour today. We need more examples of women who are breaking barriers every day so that the girls tomorrow can rise and shine. While there is enough discourse on everything that is not right, this initiative is a beacon of hope, one that celebrates the struggles, dreams and aspirations of women who have emerged as winners. #MujheHaqHai is an ode to the undying spirit and grit of the woman of today."

At the launch event, mid-day online caught up with Nishtha Satyam (Deputy Representative UN Women India MCO), who stated that, "Through this event, we are trying to create a movement that is based on Human Rights, a movement that recognises women rights as Human Rights, where women exercise their voice and make choices without any fear or judgement, and shape their careers and lives. We are trying to create a movement based on women understanding their own rights as individuals."

Talking about the outcome, she added, "Women should realise their own potential and rights and be able to pursue their dreams without any inhibitions or fear of repercussions. That would be the grandest outcome from a movement like this."

Following an outcry from the residents of Dosti Blossom and Dosti Daffodil, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to appoint IIT-Bombay or VJTI engineers for a structural audit of the buildings, to ascertain damage to them due to excavation on the adjoining Krishna Steel plot.

On Monday, a huge landslide at the neighbouring Lloyds Estate raised serious questions about the construction going on Krishna Steel plot, which is being developed by the builder Dosti Realty Ltd. After the accident, residents of Lloyds Estate, Dosti Blossom and Dosti Daffodil alleged that the builder was doing excess excavation at Krishna Steel plot and weak shore piling has been damaging their buildings for the past year. They also claimed no action was taken by BMC and the developer to avert a mishap.

Commissioner's approval needed
Speaking to mid-day, deputy chief engineer of the Building Proposal (BP) Department (city), R S Potdar said, "We have prepared a proposal to appoint experts like IIT-Bombay or VJTI for a structural audit of these buildings. Since we don't do structural audits of private buildings, we will have to take approval from the municipal commissioner. After that we will decide the further course of action." However, residents of Dosti Blossom said that they don't know anything about BMC's plan of appointing IIT-Bombay or VJTI experts. "We met officials from the building proposal department on Wednesday but there was no word about any such plan," said a resident.

'BMC harassed us'
Residents of Dosti Blossom and Dosti Daffodil buildings have alleged that last year when they raised an alarm over the sinking portions of their compound and cracks in their buildings due to excess excavation done at Krishna Steel plot, the BMC harassed them instead of taking action against builder. On Thursday, committee members of Dosti Blossom and Dosti Daffodil showed their letters to different civic departments regarding the dangerous condition of their buildings.

Manoj Gurav of Dosti Blossom said, "Last year after April we observed cracks on the building columns and sinking in the parking area which is adjoining the plot where excavation is going on. A huge portion of our parking area had sunk about a foot. Following this we had sent letters to the builder and the BMC to take action and make the premises safe." He added, "Instead of taking action against the builder, the F-North ward of the BMC sent us a letter, and held us liable for the damage done to the building. BMC officials told us to carry out a structural audit otherwise action would be initiated against us."

Also Read: Lloyd estate wall collapse: BMC bars Dosti Realty from construction at Wadala site

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Earlier this year, while performing at a military training centre in south Kashmir's Pulwama district, singer Ameya Dabli recalls receiving a disturbing piece of news from the army chief Lt Ranbir Singh. Four terror attacks had taken place at a nearby hillock on the same day. The hill, as he soon learnt, was located less than a kilometre away from the centre.

"The chief said to me, 'Don't worry. We will protect you'. This one reassuring line was enough to allay our fears in that high tension zone," he says. Dabli and his team of musicians went on to deliver a power-packed two-hour performance regaling the audience with musical compositions of poems penned by Kabirdas, Guru Nanak, Amir Khusro and Tulsidas. "We didn't realise how those two hours flew by. You see, that's the power of music," he says. Since then, Dabli has performed at several other conflict regions of the country, including eight districts of Jammu and Kashmir, and four in the Northeast.

Singing for peace
It was three years ago that Dabli, a Bhandup resident, conceptualised Ekam Satt, which are essentially pro bono concerts curated for the Indian Armed Forces and civilians, in order to not just motivate jawans, but also bring peace. Born in a family of music lovers - his mother Anuradha Dabli is a trained classical and light music exponent - the 38-year-old was inducted into singing from the age of seven. "But, the idea to use music as a peace building tool was something that took shape during my last stint as the marketing head of Ronny and Zarina Screvwala's Swades Foundation. Here, I got the opportunity to interact with a lot of non-profits," he says.

Dabli, who holds a robust 15 years of corporate experience as marketing head with the Tata Group, HSBC and Citibank, now straddles a music career along with a venture where he mentors start-ups and NGOs to start their businesses. Till date, he has performed over 1,500 concerts across 15 countries. "Initially, it took us a good six months to curate the songs for Ekam Satt, because we wanted it to be a good blend of sufi, folk and contemporary music. We even got RS Mani, the music arranger of Veer Zaara to help us. But now, it's seamless," he says.

While Dable's pieces comprise the works of legendary poets such as Mirabai, Narsinh Mehta, Khwaja Garib Nawab and Tukaram, the songs are infused with peppy global music styles like hip hop, reggae and opera to make it livelier. "When we approached the Army headquarters in New Delhi with the concept, they loved it and immediately asked us to come on board," he says.

On the shaadi front
Interestingly, Dabli is also a sought-after name when it comes to weddings and sangeet and has performed at the glitzy wedding of Sasha Rawal - sister of Bollywood's leading fashion designer Kunal Rawal - and Samarth Bajaj, and very recently, the engagement of Isha Ambani and Anand Piramal. He has also organised gigs for Kumar Mangalam Birla, David and Lali Dhawan, Aditya Birla and Adi Godrej. "It's not the typical shaadi scene. My forte is the pheras, something that most people don't pay much attention to," he laughs. "I perform something called the signature wedding chants, where I don't just recite mantras, but also provide explanation of the vidhis or rituals," adds Dabli, who perfected his Sanskrit under the tutelage of his father, Professor PV Dabli, a scholar in the language.

Dabli says juggling his entrepreneurial venture with his musical endeavours does test his ability to multi-task. "Sometimes, I don't know which one to focus on more. But that's what happens when you love whatever you do equally," he smiles.

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Ghatkopar has some great food destinations for vegetarian patrons. So when Vedge XPRS, a new Quick-Service-Restaurant (QSR) opened its shutters at Ghatkopar's R-City Mall, we decided to check it out.

The Vedge XPRS offered a vast menu comprising the best of vegan food, including options for Jain guests.

Vedge XPRS serves some delicious quick bites ranging from soups, street food, pizzas, combos, shakes and much more

Humble beginnings…
We tucked ourselves into one corner of the food court and ordered some fries and signature nachos on the recommendation of manager Prathamesh. The Fully Loaded Nachos (Rs 265), their signature dish was crunchy with a generous amount of cheese topping, which made the dish a delight, especially for a nachos fan. The animal style fries (Rs 199) came next with five types of toppings - Peri Peri, Sriracha Mayo, Orange Garlic to name a few. Spoilt for choice, we opted for Jalapeño cheese. The potato fries were fried until lightly golden to make them crispy and topped with finely chopped Jalapenos.

Off coolers and pizzas
Next up, we tried our hands at Con Le Verdure Arrosto (Rs 285), a thin crust pizza. The piping hot 9-inch thin crust pizza was laden with loads of veggies and cheese. With every bite, the pizza just got crunchier and tastier. We surely recommend this one! The chilled coolers we ordered to compliment the pizzas arrived on our table. The Raw Mango (Rs 105) cooler was a soothing experience after our tryst with the fiery fries and nachos, while the Peach Ice Tea (Rs 185) was a refreshing twist. 

Choose from different combos on offer or opt for some authentic Indian street food, Chinese dumplings, and more to satiate one's hunger pangs

Dealing ‘In’ combos and pasta's
It was time for the main course and we opted for a Soup Noodle Combo (Rs 510) that consisted of Man chow soup and wok tossed noodles cooked in burnt chilli basil sauce. The generous portion good enough for two average eaters was served piping hot. We mopped up the dish quickly and went for a Penne Pasta (Rs 255) in a pink sauce. Along with the pink sauce twist, the outlet also offers two other funky options in pasta, cooked in white and red sauce.

We were put away by the colour of the dish and the taste of the pasta also did not meet up to our expectations. We would not recommend this variation of the Italian pasta.

Shaking with ‘Shakes’
We finished our meal on a 'sweet' note by going for their signature shake, the Chocolate Hazelnut (Rs 190) and an Oreo Cookies (Rs 185) shake from their ‘Shake It Up - Shakes’ section of the menu. 

You can even choose to have some chilled coolers and shakes as you shop till you drop at R City Mall in Ghatkopar (W)

Our view
The restaurant offers mouth-watering quick bites at affordable prices with a variety of choices ranging from soups, street food, pizzas, combos, shakes and other popular food items. If you are a foodie and love delicious vegetarian cuisines, then Vedge Xprs is a fabulous place to be.

Where: 3rd Floor, Food Court, R City Mall, LBS Marg, Ghatkopar West, Mumbai
Meal for two: Rs 600 to Rs 1,000
Alcohol served: No
Contact: 022 25175500

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It's a busy morning inside the sprawling open kitchen at Chembur's Pot Pourri with blogger-author Saee Koranne-Khandekar helming the activity with help from executive chef Vinod Garde. In the last 10 days she has been pretty much relegated to this section of the 175-seater space. The only time we see her stepping out is to answer a phone call or greet a guest. The reason is a new culinary experiment that will see the restaurant, known for dabbling in global cuisine, present a new face of Maharashtrian food. One that you might not identify by its appearance — we did not — but certainly by taste.

Chicken Bhujing is a street dish available inVirar. Bhujing, derived from the Marathi word, bhujne, is a process of roasting chicken with potatoes on charcoal and then mixing it with nylon poha and masalas

Creating a new avatar
Starting today, Pot Pourri will roll out a new menu curated by Khandekar that will be available only till October 24. The objective is to showcase how traditional Maharashtrian recipes can be tweaked and made palatable to an evolving audience, who might otherwise gawk at the idea of eating faraali misal or varan phala at a gourmet restaurant. Having said that, Khandekar is clear that food won't carry any 'deconstructivist' baggage. Portion sizes are hearty, and there are no foam, vapours and gasses to accompany it.

Pathare Prabhu pot pie with tomato saar

"I had to mainly work on the way I approached certain traditional dishes," says Khandekar, who in 2016, authored Crumbs! Bread Stories and Recipes for the Indian Kitchen, that offered more than 40 recipes of Indian and international breads. She adds, "For instance, if I said thalipeeth with koshimbir, people who are not familiar with the cuisine, might say, 'Oh, this is just too experimental for me'. They might find it intimidating and rustic, and not want to eat it at all." In order to give the spiced Maharashtrian pancake a makeover, Khandekar has created thalipeeth tostadas, topped with a creamy guava-based yoghurt salad. The dish, prepared using bhajanee (flour made from roasted grains, legumes and spices), has been fashioned to look like the Mexican tortilla with guacamole. If you have tasted the Maharashtrian snack, a powerhouse of nutrition, the taste will hit home. It's the yoghurt that helps balance the spiciness of the pancake, making it a sumptuous bar snack.

Faraali misal is eaten while fasting. Here's it's served with a peanut dip

Khandekar believes that although, thalipeeth has for centuries been a 'multigrain' offering, the idea of bringing into the mainstream never took off due to its seemingly regional strappings. "Somewhere, in the name of 'evolution', we have drifted away from what's intrinsic to the culture. Our cuisine which was earlier very millet and rice-heavy has now moved to being wheat heavy. Seasonal items like gourds barely make an appearance," she adds.

Modak icecrean with crispy vermicelli; Baked coconut fudge karanji with vanilla icecream

Getting global recognition
For any regional cuisine to reach the pedestal of a fine dine, it needs to go through a rite of passage, believes Rajendra Agnihotri, executive chef, at White Charcoal Fine Dine, Empressa Hotel, Andheri. "In terms of food, the key lies in the attention to detail when it comes to ingredients and methods of preparation. The ingredients need to be sourced from where it originates and the chefs need to be local who have specialised in the cuisine; it has to be authentic to the T. If you're making the classic kombdi rassa, you would need gavthi chicken. The one purchased from a supermarket won't have the same taste," he says. When it comes to Maharashtrian cuisine, it's the diversity that makes it complex. In fact, the vegetable Kolhapuri that you might have seen on almost every Indian restaurant's menu doesn't exist in the region, adds Khandekar.

Saee Koranne-Khandekar with chef Vinod Garde. Pics/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

"There is nothing called as Veg Kolhapuri. If you go to Kolhapur, there are so many different masalas. There's no one-size-fits all masala." Akshay Deshpande, Sous Chef (Indian specialty), Conrad Pune, who grew up eating Maharashtrian food at home, admits that he's seen little of the food on the fine dine space. "It has been over eight years that I have taken up regional cooking professionally, but I admit that the cuisine in its entirety is an extremely unexplored cuisine. I think it's because it's extremely rustic and there's no standardisation so to speak," he says.

The cuisine from Vidharbha, the north-eastern region of Maharashtra, known for its extreme climates, is famous for its extremely spicy flavours, while Konkan is more mellow given all the coconut and kokum that goes into it. According to Khanderkar, who has extensively researched traditional Maharastrian cuisine, what has made winners out of misal pav and puranpoli, are the people who migrated from Western Maharashtra, introducing it to Mumbai through khanavals. "They made a business out of it and that's why it is what it is," she says. But those dishes that did not transition to the mainland, are yet to enjoy their moment in the sun.

Back to basics
The 'unsophisticated' appearance makes it a tricky business. She, for one, had to battle one critic in her own home. "My husband was of the opinion that Maharashtrian food is not visually appetising," she says. But chefs are now channelling their energies into presentation. The modernist element is consistent throughout Khandekar's menu. Take the Pathare Prabhu Pot Pie with tomato saar, served in a shot glass. The latter is a spicy tomato soup made with curry leaves and chillies. It's eaten with rice in parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka. Here, the dish is a take on the shepherd pie. The taste is unmistakably Pathare Prabhu, courtesy the signature fragrant garam masala which gets its edge from the fennel seeds that are ground along with Bengal gram, fenugreek, whole wheat and black peppercorn. All ingredients, we are told, have been sourced locally.

Agnihotri feels the local and regional cuisines are slowly making their way into the mainstream. And, it's a lot to do with the growing realisation of the food miles concept, which is a way of expressing just how far the food we eat travels from the farm where it is first produced, before it ends up on our tables. Although the expression was first coined back in the 1990s, it has entered public consciousness given the awareness of carbon footprint and environmental degradation. "You want to tap into indigenous resources. It's to do with chefs who are going back to roots. There's a return to basics," he says.

The winners

• Chicken Bhujing, a signature street dish popular in the confines of Virar and Vasai. Those living outside the parameters may have no clue. The chicken is roasted along with potatoes and then fried and steamed with onion. It's then mixed with nylon poha and a special masala mix
• Orange kharvas with dink crumb and kaakvi is a colostrum pudding served with fried edible gum, fresh orange and sugarcane molasses
• Varan Phala Ravioli is their take on the Maharashtrian pasta. It is made with whole wheat and stuffed with coriander and goda masala in a tuar dal sauce

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Aamir Khan had a customary cake-cutting ceremony with the media at his Bandra home, holding a press conference. On his birthday, the actor, who turned 54 today, made an announcement of his next film titled Laal Singh Chadda. Aamir's next release is a remake of Hollywood film Forest Gump (1994). The film starred Tom Hanks and Robin Wright and was based on a novel of the same name.

Following this, Aamir Khan will take off for North Ireland to attend the ongoing Belfast Film Festival. He will be in conversation with Nasreen Munni Kabir on 16th to discuss his body of work.

Check out the pictures of Aamir Khan's 54th birthday celebrations here. (All pictures/Shadab Khan, Yogen Shah)

Aamir Khan's 54th birthday celebration

Aamir Khan was accompanied by his wife Kiran Rao.

Aamir Khan cuts his birthday cake

Fans across the nation have been pouring in wishes for Aamir by posting the actor's pictures, which also saw a strong social trend with the #HappyBirthdayAamirKhan.

Aamir Khan and wife Kiran Rao at his 54th birthday celebrations with media persons

Kiran Rao clicked while feeding the birthday cake to Aamir Khan

Known as Mr Perfectionist of the industry, Aamir Khan for Bollywood has over the years created an image that many look up to. From making films that address the pertinent issues of the society, to speaking his mind on raging issues even off camera, Aamir Khan has always been the one with a calculative brain and has used his position to impart a change in the society.

On the professional front, Aamir Khan likes to explore with the character he plays and the actor likes to surprise his fans with new characters. To experiment with roles, Aamir grows his hair and beard before every film. This also gives him the flexibility to play with multiple looks in one film. We wonder, what Aamir Khan's look would be in Laal Singh Chadda!

Here's wishing a very happy birthday to Aamir Khan!

Also Read: Aamir Khan is a family man, these picture-perfect frames are proof!

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An engineering graduate, Navin Noronha is also an openly gay stand-up comedian, who uses his humour to acquaint people with the struggles of the LGBTQ community. Watch him at his comedy special, The Good Child, which covers humorous takes on what it's like to grow up queer in India. From stories about coming out and online dating, to tackling family and gay relationships, Noronha will cover it all.

ON March 22, 8.30 pm
AT The Habitat, Khar West 
LOG ON TO bookmyshow.com
ENTRY Rs 250

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As part of its commitment to support the local community and its responsibility as a conscientiousness citizen, Growel’s 101 Mall in Kandivali hosted a blood donation campaign at the mall premises. The blood donation drive was organised in association with Rotary Club of Mumbai, Borivali East and was hosted to help children suffering from Thalassemia. People who suffer from Thalassemia need regular blood transfusions to treat Anaemia and other symptoms.

The team from Rotary Club brought their blood donation van which was parked at the mall waiting for volunteers to contribute to the noble cause. A team of around 95 members including doctors and other supporting crew was present at the venue. The activity was held from 10 am till 5 pm. The team approached visitors who were present in the mall to volunteer for the blood donation activity and received a good response with over 100 people donating blood. A total of 26,000 ml blood was donated.

A team of doctors and volunteers together collected 26,000 ml blood as part of the blood donation drive at a mall in Kandivli

Speaking about the activity, Vikas Shetty, Mall Head, Growel’s101 Mall said, "We are pleased to have made our little contribution by organising this blood donation activity in our premises for thalassemia children. Sometimes, regular blood transfusion is the only option for some patients to survive, but the cost of blood is unaffordable for many. Replacing blood donors for obtaining blood is an option. But often parents have difficulty to find a blood donor for their child. So, we wanted to urge people to donate blood for children with thalassemia."

He praised Rotary Club for having done a great job by organising the drive in the mall. “As a responsible organisation, it is our duty to support the community and those in need. We are proud to host such an event at our premises, which highlights a noble cause towards an important contribution to reduce one of the major causes of death due to non-availability of blood,” he added.

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Chunky Panday held a house party at his Bandra residence, and it was attended by his close family and friends. But Malaika Arora-Arjun Kapoor walking in together has already taken the internet by storm. The duo was clicked entering the party in the same car, and they were seen shying away from the camera when clicked by the paparazzi. 

Arjun Kapoor and Malaika Arora/picture courtesy: Yogen Shah

Arjun and Malaika were spotted twinning, and the duo shared the same colour of love, blue. While Arjun Kapoor was seen wearing a blue t-shirt, paired with blue denim, Malaika too looked pretty in a blue outfit. 

Malaika Arora just came back from her beachy vacations, and it is said that the actress was celebrating her bachelorette with the girl gang. In fact, Arjun Kapoor also accompanied the lady love to the Maldives. 

Arjun Kapoor and Malaika Arora are said to tie the knot soon. Though the details are yet to be out, the couple is not going to exchange the vows on April 19. Malaika-Arjun-marriage has been the talk of the town ever since they were spotted walking hand-in-hand at the Milan airport, where they were out to celebrate Malaika's 45th birthday overseas. 

In a media interaction, Arjun Kapoor, neither confirming nor denying, said - "One can pick how much information to share in the public domain".

Arjun was quoted saying, "It's your choice how much you put out there or yourself and your availability. Today, you have a lot of control over how much you want people to know about your life. Speculation and gossip is a part of it. I am not the first actor or the last. Our entire tribe is immune to it... because it is the nature of the business."

Also Read: Malaika Arora shares her piece of mind on Instagram; see photo

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If you are in the mood for some jokes or just want to take a break from mundane life, then this stand-up comedy act is for you. Featuring two boys and girls Shaad Shafi and Joel D'souza, and Sumaira Shaikh and Urooj Ashfaq respectively, the evening will see the four crack some of their favourite jokes and also try out new material.

ON April 27, 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm
AT The Habitat, 1st and 4th, Hotel Unicontinental, road number 3, Khar West
CALL 9833358490
LOG ON TO insider.in
Cost Rs 200

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Coolpad 'Note 6'. Pic courtesy/Twitter

Chinese handset maker Coolpad launched 'Note 6', an offline exclusive product in India on Tuesday. Two of the most notable features of Note 6 are 5.5-inch HD display and 8MP+5MP dual front cameras. The company in a statement said that smartphone will be available from Tuesday in 32GB and 64GB internal storage variants with 4GB RAM for Rs 8,999 and Rs 9,999 respectively.

Note 6 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 chipset, backed by 4,070 mAh battery and runs on Android 7.1 Nougat Operating System (OS). "Coolpad 'Note 6' will offer a great value for money smartphone for Indian customers," said Syed Tajuddin, CEO, Coolpad India.

"We are also planning to introduce more aggressive offline devices in the next few months to expand in the offline market through our retails partners and multi-brand outlets," Tajuddin added.

Coolpad "Note 6" will be available at over 300 multi-brand stores across eight states including Delhi-NCR, Telangana and Maharashtra.

(Edited by mid-day online desk, with inputs from IANS)

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Xiaomi India on Wednesday announced the launch of "Mi Music" and "Mi Video" to offer value-added Internet services in India.

"With the launch of these two apps 'Mi Music' and 'Mi Video', we hope to serve millions of Xiaomi smartphone users with a better user experience through enhanced Internet services," Manu Jain, Vice President, Xiaomi and Managing Director, Xiaomi India, said in a statement.

"Mi Music" is a pre-installed music app which offers an integrated music streaming service along with the ability to store offline music and has nearly seven million daily active users in India, the statement said.

"Mi Video" is a pre-installed video app that provides integrated video streaming across platforms.

"Mi Video" content is currently powered by Hungama Play, SonyLiv and Voot. It offers more than 500,000 hours of content with nearly 80 per cent free content, the statement added.

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More than a quarter of India's population or 337 million people would use a smartphone in 2018 -- a 16 per cent growth which is the highest rate of any country in the world -- market research company eMarketer said on Thursday.

Since its last forecast, eMarketer increased its estimate for the smartphone audience in India by more than 31 million people.

This uptick is thanks to the growth in smartphone usage in urban areas, where affordable smartphones are becoming widely available, the research firm said in a statement.

"India still faces technological challenges that are holding back mass smartphone adoption. "Mobile Internet speeds are among the slowest in the world, around two-thirds of the population still lives in rural areas and feature phones are by no means obsolete," said Chris Bendtsen, Senior Forecasting Analyst, eMarketer.

Advertisers can still be optimistic about the future.

"Smartphones are getting cheaper, mobile data prices have fallen and urbanisation continues. Over the next four years, as speeds and rural reach improve, eMarketer expects the smartphone audience to reach close to half a billion users," Bendtsen noted.

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Digital Transformation with 5G – 2nd 5G India 2018 International Conference & Exhibition. The conference will be held on May 17 and 18, 2018 at The Leela, Mumbai

Bharat Exhibitions is organising the 2nd edition of the 5G India 2018 International Conference and Exhibition, bringing together India’s telecom industry leaders, policymakers and telecom analysts to discuss how 5G will enable the future ushering in a new India. The conference to be held on May 17 and 18 at The Leela, Mumbai will focus on issues and opportunities related to the deployment of 5G and high-speed digital applications that will drive cross-industry applications and spur digital transformation and connectivity to catalyze growth.

With 5G promising to bring about a sea change in the digital ecosystem by servicing more industries through one architecture, the conference will address the tremendous growth that promises to take place in the next few years to revolutionize the Indian Data market and help India to emerge as a qualitative internet market as against a quantitative one. Leading experts will speak about the challenges and opportunities that operators and technology providers will face in the transformation of mobile broadband to 5G.

The event will witness the 5G Demo by various organization (BSNL, Reliance Jio, Intel, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Bombay). The conference will include sessions and panel discussions on what will it take for India to emerge as one amongst the leaders in standardization for 5G technologies and applications, enabling the positive use of Artificial Intelligence for all, global perspectives on 5G, preparing for 5G, trends and drivers shaping 5G, spectrum and technology for 5G and a CXO Round Table on Digital Transformation with 5G.

Shri Manoj Sinha, Hon’ble Minister of Communications (Independent Charge) and Minister of State for Railways, Govt. of India will be the Chief Guest, Smt. Aruna Sundararajan, IAS, Chairman, TC & Secretary (Telecom), Department of Telecommunications, Govt. of India and Mr. Malcolm Johnson, Deputy Secretary-General, ITU will be the Guests of Honour, Introductory Address by Mr. Adrian Scrase, CTO, ETSI and Keynote will be deliver by Shri Anupam Shrivastava, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited. 5G India 2018 International Conference and Exhibition is being supported by the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, Govt. of India and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Govt. of India. With Broadband India Forum as the Knowledge Partner, the conference is also being supported by the industry associations including 3GPP, TSDSI, CEWiT India, COAI and TAIPA.

With plenary sessions, technical tracks in an innovative show formats and international case studies, the agenda will include visionary presentations from 30+ speakers across the globe including Mr. Klaus Pendl, First Counsellor – ICT, Delegation of the European Union to India, Mr. Sebastien Soriano, Chairman, ARCEP France, Mr. Daniel Brower, Vice President, Program, Deutsche Telekom, Mr. Julius Knapp, CTO, FCC USA and Dr. Wu Yong, Senior Standards Expert, 3GPP as well as Senior Spokesperson from BSNL, INTEL, Google, Savitri Telecom Services, Syniverse, Keysight Technologies, UTStarcom, Cambium Networks, CSG International, Rohde & Schwarz, Commscope, Infineon and Siae Microelettronica.

About Bharat Exhibitions

In a world where technology is erasing borders, it is indeed ironical that professionals find it increasingly difficult to maintain peer to peer contact on regular basis. Bharat Exhibitions fills in this space by managing and hosting some of India’s premier Telecom & IT events. We own niche and prestigious conference properties in the new generation technology arena such as 100 Smart Cities India, Cloud & Network Virtualisation India, 5G India, Data Centre India, Broadband Tech India, Smart-Sustainable Cities Technology & Innovation Summit, Cyber Security India, SMC Technology India and Telecom CXO Summit. We have a simple mission: Establish & deliver contacts that create value for your business.

For further details, please visit http://www.bharatexhibitions.com

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Telecommunications service provider Ericsson on Thursday introduced a new category of radio products called Street Macro in India to enable a smooth evolution from 4G to 5G.

Street Macro is a new site type that addresses the need for operators to grow in cities with limited available radio locations.

The company also launched new radio products that support "Massive MIMO" technology to simplify use for wider 5G adoption.

"Operators today are looking at ways and means to increase network capacity, especially in urban areas. Ericsson's Street Macro adds a new layer in the network layer to boost capacity enabling service providers to cater to the growing demands of data users," Nitin Bansal, Managing Director, Ericsson India, told reporters here.

According to Ericsson's new economic study of enhanced mobile broadband, evolution to 5G will enable 10 times lower cost per gigabyte than current 4G networks.

To help operators capture growth opportunities presented by new 5G use cases, Ericsson has expanded its 5G Core System offering with new capabilities to support 5G New Radio (NR) standard and also enhanced its Distributed Cloud solution.

The announcement came on the sidelines of Ericsson's annual technology roadshow in India, where the company recreated a "Do Zone" to showcase the highlights from Mobile World Congress 2018.

To date Ericsson has signed 39 memorandums of understanding with service providers for trials, the company said.

Aiming to disrupt India's mid-segment smartphone market, Samsung is set to launch four new smartphones -- two each in Galaxy "A" and Galaxy "J" series -- this month.

The upcoming Galaxy A6 and Galaxy A6+ smartphones could be priced between Rs 20,000 and Rs 25,000 while the devices in Galaxy "J" series could cost customers Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000, industry sources told IANS on Friday.

Two of the four smartphones in the upcoming line-up would come with dual camera set-up, the sources added.

All of them will be made at the company's Noida facility. The smartphones will feature Samsung's super AMOLED "Infinity Display" -- bezel-less screen that creates an immersive viewing experience.

Notably, Samsung's flagship smartphones such as Galaxy Note 8 and Galaxy S9 series feature the "Infinity Display". Now, with the upcoming devices, the display feature would be introduced at lower price points in the Indian market.

The South Korean giant first introduced the "Infinity Display" in Galaxy S8 series in 2017.

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Microsoft

The fast-emerging field of Artificial Intelligence, which has suddenly caught the attention of the IT industry and the governments across the world, is facing a large skills shortage, a top Microsoft official has said.

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also facing the challenge of appropriate use of data, group programme manager of Microsoft Learning Matt Winkler told PTI.

"There is a pretty large skills shortage. Lots of folks are talking about it (AI). A lot of folks are very, very excited about it and then they want to go and make that real. And when they go to make that real, there's a really large skills shortage," Winkler said.

That's why it's so exciting to be trying to bring these technologies to more developers because it's going to bring more people into the mix, he said. Winkler said the second challenge is really around data.

"How do you get the data in the right shape? How do you prepare the data? Because all of the AI in the world is based on data, and so what makes it interesting is the data that you have, the data that your business has, that what you understand about your customers. So how do you most effectively use that data to go and produce models," he said.

Then within kind of any individual product project, one of the key challenges is the same thing that the industry has seen with software, which is, if one tries and do too much, the project gets much harder.

"And so we'll often times see failed projects, which are the result of trying to create just the most amazing thing having done nothing," he said.

At the recently concluded developers conference ¿ Build 2018 ¿ Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella talked about how to make AI accessible for everyone.

"Our guidance to a lot of customers to pick a domain and pick a used case where you have a high, high-quality data and that it is really well understood. Start there, get some wins with that and then start expanding the use cases so far," Winkler said.

Microsoft is partnering with multiple players in both the private and governmental sectors to use AI for public good.

"Absolutely, AI is being used for public good. For instance, it is being used in school districts in order to predict drop-out rates in India.

"We see a ton of healthcare applications: patient re-admission rates is very very popular one. We have seen medical image analysis. We are doing some really interesting work doing diabetes prediction through scans of retinas," Winkler said.
Microsoft is working with the Snow Leopard Trust, a non-profit organisation dedicated to the preservation of the snow leopard and parts of Nepal and India to analyse in real time the presence of snow leopards.

"So it's fundamentally changed the way they do their research," he said, adding that the Microsoft is working with three-four other conservation agencies doing similar things.

"For a lot of the customers, what AI is enabling is not just an incremental... but It's something they fundamentally couldn't do before. So it really does introduce a step change for the things that they want to do in their business," Winkler added.

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Targeted at millennials, Chinese smartphone maker OPPO on Tuesday debuted its sub-brand "Realme 1" smartphone in India for Rs 8,990 (3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage model).

The 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage variant is priced at Rs 13,990.

The smartphone comes with the world's first 12-nm Artificial Intelligence-based MediaTek Helio P60 chipset with "AI shot" technology.

"Realme 1 is focused at young online consumers and is primed to be a market disruptor with a stylish design," Madhav Seth, Chief Executive Officer, Realme India, said in a statement.

The device will be available on Amazon India, starting May 25, in diamond black and solar red colour variants.

A third variant with 4GB RAM and 64GB onboard storage, in moonlight silver and diamond black colours for Rs 10,990 will go on sale in June.

Realme users will have access to over 500 OPPO service centres across the country with guaranteed 90 per cent repair cases resolved within an hour.

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Representational picture

In India, gaming is considered as a hobby and was less than inclined towards gaming from the get- go. But the scenario is slowling changing. Looking at the growth of the industry over the years, we have finally come to a point where families have started being supportive of this career choice. Rather than opting for a 9-to-5 job, more and more gamers have started taking their careers seriously and are transitioning into professional esports athletes and streamers.

So what is gaming? Gaming is a form of entertainment which is consumed via interaction, participation and viewership. It encompasses PC gaming, mobile gaming and console gaming and is multi-billion dollar industry globally. This industry comprises of gamers who can be a casual or an enthusiast, an amateur or a professional, a player or a viewer. Gaming can be as simple as picking up your mobile and launching some birds at hostile pigs in a castle, or as complex as dedicating years to learning and mastering a game and competing against other similarly dedicated players globally with millions of dollars at stake.

The term 'esports' seem new but the concept isn't. Esports is the part of gaming that’s competitive, where various genres of games are played competitively against other players, on different platforms. From fighting against your friend at the local arcade with a barrage of virtual punches and kicks to being seated together and connected to 100s of other gamers and being the last person alive in a perilous deserted island. Esports is as old as gaming is. The only difference we see nowadays, is the higher stakes and the dedication gamers put in to reach the top. With prize pools running in the millions and a loyal audience who travel halfway across the globe to watch their teams play, esports has become a global phenomenon with major brands investing heavily in the industry and corporations building stadiums larger than conventional sports stadiums.

Professional athletes train their body and mind, regularly to stay at the best of conditions and are supported with the state-of-the-art facilities and a salary for playing their game. Another term people might be unfamiliar with is "video game live streaming”. Streaming is a form of online video broadcast on specialised platforms where you play games and entertain your viewers. A viewer might be engrossed by your playstyle or your witty humour. There can be thousands of players watching you at a point of time and cheering for you. Streaming has become a full-time job for a lot of people with them earning a comfortable six-figure income monthly by just regularly entertaining their viewers. Brands sponsor these streamers to advertise and endorse their products on their stream.

The global gaming industry is still growing at a rapid pace with a valuation of $108.9 billion and a YoY growth of 7.8% in 2017. The Asia Pacific region contributes to 47% of this with India ranked 17 th globally valued at $818 million with an 11.14% CAGR. Gaming in India is still nascent with a lot of scope for growth and recognition. Esports plays a huge part in gaming with $696 million market and whopping 385.5 million viewers watching their favourite teams and players fight for glory. That’s thrice as many subscribers Netflix has.

So how far has India come? India is slowly catching up with the rest of the world. We have 253.2 million gamers in India with 81% of them in the age group of 16 – 30. We have professional teams in India who compete globally against other teams. We have people who have taken up streaming as their jobs. Rather than pursuing a regular career like your average John and Jane, we have emerging brave souls who want to stand out and make their dreams come true. And the space is filled with brands who want to work hand in hand with these people, empowering and enabling such a career into reality.

Insight of target audience by COBX games

Gaming in India has been given a boost in the recent years with the advent of 4G and FTTH. Prices have grown more competitive which has helped not only companies but also gamers across India. We have seen a spike in mobile gaming with 4G being introduced in India and will play a major role in the industry. FTTH, which is already being deployed in tier-1 cities, provides high-speed internet connection over optical fibre directly to your home from the ISP which has increased the quality of service. In tier-2 cities, gaming cafés and colleges act as hotspots for gamers and most tournaments are hosted in these colleges, due to the presence of stable infrastructure which, in turn, promotes the growth of gaming.

Esports is on the rise in India with multiple tournaments being announced with unprecedented prize pools. Esports is dynamically changing the industry with numerous brands joining in and helping the space flourish. Monthly tournaments provide a scope for professional gamers to sustain a living and also provides growth to multiple domains attached to esports like cosplayers, shoutcasters, and analysts and so on. From small tournaments in cafés and college labs to huge events filled with gamers, esports has come a long way in India. 2018 saw numerous companies invest heavily in esports by announcing multiple tournaments with prize pools of over Rs 1 crore.

Mujahid Rupani, Co-founder & C.E.O of COBX Gaming says, "We are also expecting an increase in VR and AR gaming in India. VR gears are being readily accessible to people and families are opting in for the virtual reality experience. Mobile phones are growing powerful every day and proving to be effective AR devices. New games are being launched every day which take advantage of augmented reality and taking use experience to a whole new level. Mobile gaming is also on the rise in India due to the ease of entry and affordable and stable internet connection. With the amount of time people invest on mobiles, a lot of developers are shifting their focus to mobile games and catering to a big chunk of gamers who prefer mobiles over expensive PCs and consoles as their gaming gear. With the number of game development studies in our country, the next big title might be from India."

With the ecosystem growing and evolving every year, the future for gaming in India is bright. Gaming in India is an incipient industry and has a long way to go. We hope to see more professional players, more streamers and more parents supporting their kid’s dream. There was a time when you would idolise a sportsperson, the day is here when kids idolise their favourite professional gamer or streamer. We have a generation of parents who are gamers too and encourage their kids and help them balance gaming along with other life priorities. We hope to see more companies and brands invest their time and resource in the gaming industry and maybe one day, a kid who wants to grow up and be a professional gamer.

Also Read: Hrithik Roshan: Gaming In India Gaining Exponential Popularity

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Facebook has rolled out new updates in its Stories feature that are available for the users in India first and will reach the global users later.

One such update is "Voice Posts" that will let users share their thoughts via audio to their friends and families.

"Voice posts lets you share in the moment without having to share a photo or video. This could also help people who can't necessarily write in the language they want to share in," Connor Hayes, Director of Product Management, Facebook Stories, wrote in a blog post on Wednesday.

People will now be able to save the photos and videos they capture through the Facebook camera, where only they can see them when they log into their Facebook account.

"This allows people to save the photos and videos they capture without taking up space on their phone," the post read.

It can also be used to save photos you might want to share later, so you don't have to edit or post them while you're out with your friends and instead enjoy the moment and share them later.

"In the coming weeks we're rolling out an archive for people to save the stories most important to them. After a photo disappears from your story, you can find it in your story archive - a place only you can see. You can always choose to not save them," said the post.

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Illustration/Amit Bandre

New Delhi: On an average, a college student in India checks his mobile phone over 150 times a day, according to a study conducted by Aligarh Muslim University and the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR).

The research, titled "Smartphone Dependency, Hedonism and Purchase Behaviour: Implications for Digital India Initiatives", has been conducted in 20 central universities, where 200 students each were interviewed.

"Anxiety and fear of missing out on information make university students check their mobile devices as many as 150 times a day on an average, an activity which can have adverse effects on the students' health as well as academics. "Only 26 per cent of the respondents said they use smartphones primarily to make calls. The remaining respondents use smartphones for other purposes such as accessing social networking sites, Google searches and for entertainment such as watching movies," said Mohammed Naved Khan, the Project Director.

At least 14 per cent of the students use smartphones for three hours or less in a day while around 63 per cent of them use it for four to seven hours daily.

"It came as a shock to us that around 23 per cent (of students) use the devices for more than eight hours a day," Khan added.

According to the study, eighty per cent of the students own a mobile phone and most of them prefer smartphones owing to convenience in the installation of applications, host of features, and ease of use and also work as affordable substitutes for a computer. The study conducted by researchers at AMU has been funded by the ICSSR with an aim to understand various facets of smartphone dependency and addiction among college-going students.

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Shrikant Karani takes an early morning walk on the Siri Road steps with his dog Mischief. Pics/Sayed Sameer Abedi

The peace is palpable, the serenity a shock to the system. I'm on Siri Road, the misty-twisty path languidly climbing from Chowpatty to Kamala Nehru Park. Obscure and often missed in a blink by those not knowing it, this thin lane links Walkeshwar to Ridge Road. Every runner's dream, every walker's mini Mahableshwar in Mumbai, the country road you can drive on only till a point is summer-pretty. Heavy with fresh yellow and red flowers, its glowing greens slope up and up to an idyllic city panorama.

This is among the last havens of virgin verdure, affording spectacular sky and sea views at various heights Malabar Hill has hewn since the time it was fully forested. "Around 1534, Siri Road led from Gamdevi village up jungle-covered slopes of Malabar Hill through babul plantations to the banyan-girt temple of Walkeshwar," writes Pheroza Godrej in Bombay to Mumbai: Changing Perspectives. "The stream of worshippers from the west coast followed this path up the hill and, as it was narrow, called it 'Siri' or 'Ladder'."

Nonagenarian Nirmala Kotak in the living room of her home at the Dadyseth bungalow, where she has lived for 70 years since her marriage in 1948

I track down Rajkumar Loyalka, after whose father the road is renamed Chiranjilal Loyalka Marg. "My grandfather Ramchandra from Pilani belonged to the East India Cotton Association. His son, my father Chiranjilal, was a stockbroker and freedom fighter," he says.

Siri Road made news three years back when civic authorities wanted to widen and extend its 300 motorable metres by another 300, for traffic to reach Hanging Gardens via Ridge Road. That environmental disaster was averted by vigilant residents mounting a sharp campaign, my friend Kekoo Colah who walks here daily tells me. They painted "Mala kapu naka – Don't axe me" and "Save us from BMC" on the barks of beloved trees. Tipped at both ends by rowed barbers, bus conductors, paanwalas and ragpickers, Siri Road slumbers amid a jumble of shuttered coal and ration shops turned garages and go-downs. But there's trouble in paradise. Sudden bends and secluded niches swerve into kuchcha mud off-paths, whose messily overgrown carpets of dry leaves and dirt piles are hideouts for hardened bootleggers and junkies.

Named for the shape of its fruit

Near enough, city Zoroastrians got the first open-to-sky dakhma, or Tower of Silence, to dispose their dead in 1672. On the sylvan acres of Doongerwadi, prayers for the deceased are liltingly recited in roofed halls called bunglis. The Dadyseth family built one such in the area. The bungli's barest remnants are skirted by Hibiscus bushes with red blooms brighter than the ancient maroon wall ruins they cling to. Banker Dady Nasarwanji amassed vast land tracts in trust to maintain Dadyseth Agiary at Kalbadevi. He acquired the Chowpatty Band Stand property around 1783 from a Portuguese named Barretto.

Nonagenarian Nirmala Kotak has lived from 1948 in the whispering shadows cast by atmospheric Dadyseth bungalow, which is well over a century old. With daughter-in-law Durrat, she pieces memories of 70 years after her marriage. "Our family planted kesar kairi trees in the compound when my three sons were young," she recollects. "We wake to the shrieking of koels and parrots eating mangoes. Peacocks still fly in to drink water from a dripping tap and cobras coil on tree trunks in the heat."

The Stocking Tree grows uniquely on Siri Road alone in Mumbai. Pic courtesy: Shubhada Nikharge

I discover an interesting former Siri Road tenant thanks to Vinayak Talwar of Khaki Tours nudging me to check Volume III of The Gazetteer of Bombay City and Island. The Duke of Wellington indeed lived here when he was Colonel Arthur Wellesley, in a house Seth Cursetjee Manockjee — of the Khada Parsi statue fame — owned, between road and sea at the curve of the bay. (The landlord became such a great friend that his son Manockjee devotedly retained a hair of the Duke in his locket!). The student Eton described as "not at all a book boy and rather dull" went on to vanquish Napoleon at Waterloo and lead England as Prime Minister twice over, in 1828 and again in 1834.

His Bombay home in 1801-02, was "on your right opposite the wood-wharf as you ascend steep Siri road... The house, Surrey Cottage, stood halfway up the now non-existent eastern brow of Malabar Hill. It comprised a lofty hall, with long verandahs at the sides. In front was a porch, to which led two carriage-ways from different directions. One passed the horse stable near the Siri. The hall commanded a view of Back Bay and Girgaum, also the Esplanade and Fort. The Duke, with his eagle eye, must have scanned a glorious scene from Malabar Hill minus steamers and mills."

A second generation hornbill hops to the Karani family kitchen window to be fed - at one time two older birds would show up with a pair of their babies, of whom this is one. Pic courtesy: Utpal Tijoriwala

Wellesley had company round the corner in George Bellasis at Randall Lodge. The soldier and amateur artist was the son of Major General John Bellasis, whose 1790s orders constructed Nagpada's kilometre-long Bellasis Road, to relieve the poor displaced from famine-struck Surat. George met his neighbour when the future Duke of Wellington was recouping from an attack of ringworm, more colourfully referred to as the Malabar Itch. While the infection stopped him sail for an Egypt expedition, that ill-fated ship sank in the Gulf of Aden.

George Bellasis admiringly dedicated his 1815 book, Views of St Helena, to His Grace Field-Marshall the Duke of Wellington who exiled the French emperor to that island. A watercolour of Randall Lodge paints a two-storey structure with a rectangular lawn edged by cypresses.

What other breeze-kissed trees rustle secrets along this sequestered stretch? Colonial chronicles mention sandalwood, mistletoe, star apple, ivy fig and Christmas trees, with rose bushes, celery and cabbage patches around Surrey Cottage. Usha Desai and Renee Vyas, of Tree Appreciation Walks, detail a wealth of local flora: banyan, frangipani, asopalav, sitaphal, parijat, coconut, mango, jungli badam, putranjiva, jackfruit and aritha.

Flowering in the rain and fruiting in winter, the Stocking Tree is unique to Siri Road, according to Sharadini Dahanukar's book, Green Solace. "We haven't seen it elsewhere in the city," says Desai. "When we saw this one December, its stocking-shaped fruits had fallen. From a seed sprouted in the stocking, Renee grew a sapling on her farm." The originally South American tree leans against a chawl wall here.

"Trees like neem, peepul and kamrak were believed holy for harbouring the souls of rishis like Valmiki," says Rajesh Joshi, introduced to me by Ridge Road resident Jaidev Mehta who has walked the length of Siri Road thrice a day for 60 years. Rajesh's grandfather Hansraj Sawairam, from Sirohi in Rajasthan, heralded a line of four generations of Joshis tending the "swayambhu" — Sanskrit for "self-manifested" — Hanuman temple. It is supposed to have spontaneously risen on soil imprinted sacred by Ram, Sita and Lakshman in the Banganga vicinity. "Ram chose this quiet spot to meditate because of its solitude," Joshi says.

This is temple turf, proffering a trio of 150-year-old examples. Of these, two survive — Hanuman and Shiva mandir, nestled close-necked towards the top of the road. Descending nearer Walkeshwar, devotees thronged, too, to the Ram mandir from the 1880s, till at least a hundred years after. Motor sports entrepreneur Shrikant Karani and his wife Feruza recollect its beautiful idols left abandoned. We tiptoe through filthy, forgotten tracks in thickets below their building, Chitrakut, which faces the Ram temple site (Sita awaited Ram's return from Lanka in Chitrakut). Birdsong spikes the soporific afternoon air. Shrikant remembers dozens of Parsi Dairy bhaiyyas form inky blue clusters in trademark uniform shirts, Siri Road being their shortcut for deliveries from Walkeshwar to Ridge Road.

A tilt across, where Loyalka Estate later rose, was the home of the seven talented Pooviah sisters from Coorg. Their portico, sunken eight or nine feet beneath road height, was designed as an oasis of cool, not letting warm winds waft within on the hottest day. The three youngest sisters, Sita, Chitra and Lata, were renowned Kathak exponents. Sita also worked at Handloom House in the 1960s with Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay.

Their contemporary, Shirin Vajifdar narrates how she and her classical dancer sisters Khurshid and Roshan bonded with the Pooviahs. In a journal her family shares, Shirin has written: "We started weekly lessons at the Pooviah sisters' house. The three charming sisters were the greatest devotees of Kathak dance, the most promising pupils of Jaipur gharana maestro Sunder Prasad. They gave all help to learn at their residence."

The Pooviahs possessed the sole telephone on the road. "They would offer me biscuits when I went across as a boy to make calls," says Shrikant Karani. "I played Chor Police with kids of maalis who clipped the Hanging Gardens' hedges. We knocked dangling drumsticks with catapults, and shook pink and white champas to string garlands from fallen petals."

Old-timers mention a stone Vishnu once reclined under a gulmohur grove in the wilderness (Anantashayana — literally, "sleeping on the serpent Ananta"). Wondering where the divine Preserver must have basked benignly in the crisp sunshine, I pass Gagangiri Maharaj Ashram. A hum of discourses and yoga sessions mesh mellifluous with birds rapping tender-to-throaty tango tunes. Which could these be from Siri Road's trio of feathered regulars — oriole, barbet or hornbill — I try to guess, twigs snap-snapping underfoot every minute.

"We have a hill station in our backyard," declares filmmaker Vivek Kumar, treading this path as part of his exercise workout. "A little landscaping might even make this Bombay's answer to Crookedest Street of San Francisco."

Author-publisher Meher Marfatia writes monthly on everything that makes her love Mumbai and adore Bombay. You can reach her at mehermarfatia@gmail.com

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The numbers don't lie; Mumbai motorists are in selfie-destruct mode. At least 50 per cent of road accidents on the 93-km Mumbai-Pune Expressway are due to cars stopping or stalling on the road.

A report in this paper stated that stopping to take a selfie or to enjoy the greenery along the E-way could cost you your life. The first two months of the year have already seen 91 accidents, in which 52 people have died. Of these, 26 accidents happened because of vehicles halting. We must warn people that however tempting the scenery, it is just not safe to halt on the E-way and take photographs of the greenery. Once you reach Pune or the outskirts, you have the time to park your vehicle, alight and take all the pictures you want, so keep moving along the expressway, which is what is was made for.

Travellers must realise that an expressway is a piece of infrastructure, pure and simple. It is designed to take people to their destination. It is certainly not a picnic spot. It is no place to lounge around and eat, get out of the car and wash your hands, use as a Kodak moment or to idle outside your car for any other reason. Drivers have to drive within the speed limit on the expressway.

Cut going over the speed limits, which is a sure killer. Authorities have to ensure cameras are in excellent condition. If there is a car breakdown, switch on your hazard lights, and get your co-passengers to wave their hands; do all you can to alert oncoming traffic. The upcoming monsoon means more challenges for E-way users. Let us bring those fatality figures down, and let the numbers do some happy talking, for once.

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A top Powai school found itself in a controversy after a lady school bus attendant accused the transport manager of molestation. For a couple of days now, this paper has been running reports about the molestation charge with the complainant saying that the man had harassed her earlier, too, but there was no cognizance taken of her earlier verbal complaints.

This case is interesting and we need to have an outcome here, because it is the protector who has become a molestation survivor. It is mandatory for institutions to have women bus attendants inside school buses. The rule has come in the wake of the molestations of girl students on school buses. All schools and their transporters who may be on contract have been told to abide by the rule to ensure safety of girls in buses. There are other rules such as GPS and CCTV in the buses. It is a matter of great shame that sexual harassment has become so rife that even little girls in school buses need to be protected. One must focus on the fact that an attendant, who is supposed to protect the children, has made allegations of being molested.

The school authorities must launch a thorough internal probe, even as the police are conducting an investigation. The survivor, having had the courage to go to the cops, needs to follow the case to its end. Though this happened outside the school bus, buses need to have a GPS and schools must install CCTV cameras in their premises, buses and outside the school so that footage can be used in cases like these.

A thorough follow up and quick action will assuage the worries and fears of parents who cannot be blamed for thinking their children are extremely vulnerable, given that an adult woman, who is like a caretaker in the school bus, has turned complainant herself.

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The city is shaken up by the brutal murder of a young woman working with an upmarket chain of salons. In what has been dubbed as a case having parallels with the Sheena Bora murder, this beautician's body was kept in a car post the murder and then disposed off in marshy land at Wadala. Police teams are trying to recover the body, but have been unsuccessful so far.

It's time to focus on the reason for this murder. According to the police, two colleagues, who have been caught, killed the young woman because she refused to take back a notice sent to one of the accused because of his shoddy performance at work. Despite their entreaties, the victim had not relented about withdrawing a notice sent to one accused till the last day when his employment may have been terminated.

Both colleagues claim, according to reports, that the murder was done in the heat of the moment. The family of the accused, though, insist they are innocent. What has shocked the city is the triviality of the motive. A life has been lost simply because somebody was going to lose his job. As one tries to absorb this, a much smaller report recently was indication of a society, which is weaned on instant gratification and instant rage. A young gym owner was stabbed to death and his female friend hit with a beer bottle over a quarrel with a Disc Jockey (DJ) over which songs to play.

We have been seeing murders happening over slightest provocations. Bring back regard for human life, which has been cheapened considerably. Cherish patience, logic and encourage our children to think before they act. Put an absolute premium on human life. These seem like knee-jerk murders, where rage consumes the murderers, who are mostly ordinary men and women who have no criminal record. Speed kills and in more ways than one.

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Yesterday, this paper carried a front page report about a Malad resident called Abhijit Mukharji, 25, who was arrested for stalking a 26-year-old woman for eight years. The accused was released on bail five days after the woman lodged a complaint against him. While the court granted bail on strict restrictions, senior officers from the Mumbai Crime Branch have said they will be reviewing the case.

To elaborate, the crime branch arrested Mukharji, who worked for a famous search engine company, on May 3 and remanded in police custody till May 6. This man stalked the woman, hacked into her Tinder account and wiped out all the 'likes' on her account.

While there are restrictions put on the stalker, it is surprising that bail has been granted within five days, for harassment that went on for eight years. The report states that he had even met the woman in Mumbai. Post the meeting, where his conversation rang warning bells for the woman, he started threatening her and warning her not to talk to anybody else because he loved her. She finally filed a complaint.

Let us give stalking the seriousness it deserves. Very often, it is dismissed as casual or harmless. Women who are often told by people that they are imagining there is a stalker. Their fears and concerns are trivialised and they may also be accused to exaggerating the harassment or their discomfort with the stalking.

Making excuses for stalking, like he thought she was someone else, or that he was drunk and did not know he was stalking, are also inexcusable. Online stalking is dangerous and can escalate very quickly to offline situations. Stalking is harassment. It is a crime. It can lead to a dangerous obsession. Treat it with the gravitas it deserves and shut down stalking through severe punishment.

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On the ferry, leaving the island of Burano at dusk. pic courtesy/Rosalyn D'mello

Because the high chairs and tables extending onto the pavements are arranged like invitations; because the indigo sky greets us with its distinct hue, informing us that though the sun has set and it is past 8 pm, the evening has only just begun; because our feet, so tired from daytime explorations, miraculously find the strength to continue their march; because Mac's Ruby Red lipstick enhances our personalities, making spectacles of our skin tone; or maybe because we are not alone, by 9 pm, unfailingly and with impressive regularity, Mona and I become Queens of the Italian night. There are travellers who tuck themselves in early so they can restore their bodies for the future that awaits them when they awake. Not us.

We are nocturnal explorers, un-bound by the limitations of cartography. We find tentative destinations and then walk the streets like we own them, like they belong to us. We allow ourselves to get distracted by the sights we suddenly stumble upon; we make commentaries on street signs, we take pleasure in seducing policemen into smiling sheepishly at us, we keep ourselves open to conversations with strangers. During the day you could ostensibly call us tourists. We visit monumental sites; pay entry fees, download audio guides and take photographs of everything that impress us. But at night, we are uninhibited.

Because we come from a reality that is both condemned and celebrated as third world, we have few filters about what constitutes safe and unsafe European streets. We trust our intuitions that have been fine-tuned through years of navigating streets that ought to be friendlier towards women's presences, that could do much more to encourage women's loitering. Online guides tell us to be wary of specific areas, but because Napoli feels like a somewhat seamless city with one street urging you on to the next, one inviting façade leading you to explore another, we do not exercise too much restraint as we navigate a city that feels overwhelmingly familiar. We walk through gritty and un-pretentious streets, walk into dive bars and surprisingly cheap restaurants. On our first evening in Napoli, for example, we followed a cyber suggestion and found ourselves at an institution where every drink on the menu was priced at one euro. It was teeming with as many people as could be found in a single Mumbai local compartment, all elated and happy drunk. We had a few Apero-Spritzes and proceeded towards a jazz bar, stopping in between because we were lured by a boutique shop on a wayside street.

There we had excellent red wine, and the choicest green olives. The jazz bar was a bust; it turned out to be a pretentious speak-easy where the bartenders wore white coats like mixologist doctors. Yes, there was what sounded like Billy Holiday singing in the background, and plush red sofas and a superbly well stocked bar, but it was cosmetic, and expensive, and after a small moment of indecision, we decided to simply walk out and go elsewhere. It wasn't a disappointment because on the way we had encountered so much of the city's past by way of arcades, historic fountains, grand edifices and random ruins.

This behaviour of ours hasn't been confined just to Napoli. Even in Firenze and Venezia, our nightly excursion was the day's highlight. In those cities, more than in Napoli, night-time turned out to be the only time when we weren't part of a swarming mass of tourists; when we didn't have to wait in extensive, un-ending lines to get in somewhere. It was surreal, navigating the canals of Venice at 2 am, when the water-borne city feels like an abandoned ghost town, when there isn't a single tourist for miles. Our friends and us had no compunctions being the last to leave a bar. Our friends lived just around the corner, while we, for cost-effectiveness, had chosen an Airbnb in neighbouring Mestre. We were undaunted by the prospect of finding our way to the 24x7-hour ferry to Piazzale Roma, then taking the night bus home. There was something deeply thrilling about having the luxury of public transport at that hour.

I always remember the feminist Shilpa Phadke when I've had a successful late-night out. She speaks frequently about the significance of the feminist claim to 'fun'. "Fun in public spaces cannot be quantified or sometimes even explained," she says. "How does one communicate the pleasure of asphalt under your feet; the rush of finding the bus you want at a traffic signal and managing to jump into it… the exhilaration of wandering in your city at night laughing with your friends. This is not simply fun, it's belonging to your city and having it belong to you." I could argue there's something similarly exhilarating about doing all of that as two women in a foreign land. When our male friends in Venice caringly offered to let us crash in their spare bedroom because it was past midnight, we politely declined. "Are you sure you want to go back so late?" they asked. "Yes," Mona replied. "Because we can!"

Deliberating on the life and times of Everywoman, Rosalyn D'Mello is a reputable art critic and the author of A Handbook For My Lover. She tweets @RosaParx Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com

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It is the first weekend in Matheran and we hope to see a number of visitors sporting helmets while horse riding. The paper had reported about how a Mumbai resident had donated a sizeable number of helmets to the hill station, after a little girl suffered head injuries after falling from a horse in Matheran.

Horse owners have also bought helmets and will be providing it to the tourists while horse riding. We appreciate that a start has been made towards ensuring safety for riders. Yet, one hopes that the helmet rule does not run parallel with the helmet rule for bikers in the city. Here, we see that constant vigilance is needed to ensure that bikers wear a helmet. Police nakabandis are set up to catch those riding without a helmet and fines are imposed for the same. One should not need a supervisory body to ensure that riders actually wear a helmet. Horse owners need to be held accountable if their horses are being ridden by visitors without a helmet.

Tourists must understand that the rule is made in the interests of their safety. Good counsel needs to prevail and common sense must rule. Having said that, visitors must go slowly on horses. They should refuse to ride if there is no dedicated helper who will walk along with the animal. Wear closed footwear when you are riding as sandals and slippers are hazardous, especially when mounting a horse, and in case your feet slip out of the stirrup. Parents need to see that their child is with a helper who is in control of the animal.

Matheran horse owners want better roads, which is out of the control of visitors. Tourists and hordes of Mumbaikars who believe if-it-is-May-it-must-be-Matheran should take onus for their safety as far as possible. Wearing a helmet is a good beginning.

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Illustration/Devdutt Pattanaik

In the beginning, people said homosexuality is unnatural. Then scientists showed them that hundreds of species of animals do indulge in homosexuality. So people started saying homosexuality may be natural, but it is best restricted to animals. Amongst humans, it is a social disease. This unscientific understanding is popularised by many religious leaders, who are clueless about science, though they insist that the Vedas/Quran/Agama/Tripitaka/Talmud are essentially scientific.

These religious leaders fall into two categories. The first category is the 'liberal' guru who says sex is great for spirituality, provided it is heterosexual. The second category is the 'conservative' guru who says sex is not great for spirituality, and if you must indulge in it, do it for babies.

A gay man heard how a broad-minded Indian guru presented sexuality as an integral part of spirituality, and so decided to read a bit more of the guru's writings. He was suitably impressed, there was a lot of talk of how exploring sexual desires authentically enhances spiritual growth. But then came the horror! When the guru spoke of sexuality, he was referring only to heterosexuality and was essentially promoting orgies as a tool to liberate yourself. He saw homosexuality as a social disease resulting from heterosexuality being suppressed when men are locked with men in monasteries and prisons and women are locked with women in nunneries. This was his fantasy, which he marketed as mystical knowledge of the East!

A lesbian woman came upon a guru who gave her a sympathetic ear, and who confidently asserted that ancient mystical sages (all male, of course) had revealed to him that natural sexual activity is for making babies only, and that pleasure is just nature's way of incentivising you to make more babies. It is the human perversion to bypass the baby-making and focus on pleasure. Such value placed on pleasure comes from stress, hormones, and a lack of spiritual grounding. He insisted that homosexuality is a social pathology, not a natural physiology. She could stay a single woman if she did not wish to be a man's wife, but she had to engineer her life towards spirituality rather than sexuality if she sought fulfilment and happiness. Her libido, he insisted, was in dire need of fixing!

Most of these gurus do oppose the criminalising of homosexuality, and so appear to be modern. However, they do see homosexuality as a deviance (or its Sanskrit equivalent), or a 'fluidity' that needs explanation, management and re-alignment. They mirror the homophobia directed at queer people (pandakas, napunsakas) that we find in ancient monastic orders such as Buddhism and Jainism. Their discomfort with queerness is similar to their well-disguised discomfort with gender equality: 'Women are as good as men, provided they put the man's needs first.' Essentially, these gurus preach qualified equality, where their personal comfort zone (heterosexuality, celibacy, masculinity) remains privileged.

It is important to recognise gurus as political figures. They are today clearly political vote banks, with a vast number of followers who do whatever the guru tells them to do. Hence the power of their spiritual discourses to influence social and political direction needs to be acknowledged.

We must also recognise the power of followers over gurus. Gurus are expected to be superhuman, and 'pure and pious'. We don't mind them dancing to Bollywood songs or playing golf. But if they were to talk too much in favour of sex and pleasure, we will see them as less than spiritual. In our hearts, many of us are convinced spirituality is an adversary of sexuality. We see Shiva who burnt Kama to ash. We refuse to see Shiva who was enchanted by Kamakshi and Mohini.

The author writes and lectures on the relevance of mythology in modern times. Reach him at devdutt@devdutt.com

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Just months after the newly revamped Kamala Nehru Park reopened, a little girl was left with a crushed thumb after she fell from a broken swing in the handicapped section. While the girl's parents alleged that the play area is not maintained properly, the authorities claim that the handicapped section was off bounds and the parents ignored the guards' warnings.

The park was reopened on February 23 this year, a little less than a year after it shut for a makeover. While the main section of the park was being renovated, the handicapped section remained shut. When the park was opened again, the children's facilities earned high praise. However, in mid-day's report on Saturday, a few parents came forward to say that the swings and see-saws were not well-maintained either.

Let us put the accent on quality at our parks. We have to remember that given the paucity of outdoor play venues for kids, there is a great rush to use parks that are available, and equipment is stretched thin because of the sheer traffic of children.

From the very beginning, the authorities need to focus on play facilities with endurance. They must also ensure that the rides are kept in top order, leaving no risk of such horrific accidents. Park authorities must keep a medical kit with basic supplies.

Having said that, children and their parents, too, need to respect park rules. They must follow instructions issued by the park officials and security. Parents must also ensure that facilities meant for differently abled kids are not used by everyone, as that defeats the purpose. Guardians have to remain alert and stop their wards if they try to access parts of the park that are not meant for them.

Blame games are counterproductive. Only quality rides, maintenance, security and respect for rules can ensure a great outdoors experience.

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A vacation brought nightmare news to a 26-year-old Shillong man's family. The man drowned in the Bhatsa River near Shahapur. He was in the city to spend his summer vacation with his cousins at his aunt's place. He had accompanied his cousins who went to the river to beat the heat. Though he was a good swimmer, he was sucked in by the current and drowned. In fact, the drowned man helped his cousins escape, but could not do so himself.

This report comes just days after the a 24-year-old techie allegedly drowned in a swimming pool in Pune. The deceased hailed from Andhra Pradesh and was a resident of Pune's Hinjewadi. He was taking swimming classes since the past one month.

Reports say the lifeguard realised that the techie had not resurfaced for a while when he jumped in and found the man unconscious. Though he was rushed to hospital, he was declared dead. His post mortem report also mentioned death due to drowning.

Both reports show us that swimmers tend to underestimate the power of water. They tend to overestimate their prowess in the water and end up paying a heavy price for that.

In the former instance, where a Shillong-based man died, people need to desist from jumping into rivers, lakes, ponds to cool off. The waters can be deceptively calm. If you are on a picnic, be content with simply submerging your feet in the water, instead of jumping into it. These lessons must be learnt well. The monsoon will bring with it revellers, who cavort in gushing waterfalls and water bodies at green getaways. Some of these picnics end in tragedies. Take extra caution when you swim, and do not enter a deep pool if you are a beginner or still learning. It must be action caution when it comes to water.

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Controversy and fracas is heating up over sugar imported from Pakistan. Reports have emerged about an NCP MLA from Thane district and party activists tearing sugar bags stored in a godown in Navi Mumbai. The MLA, who represents Kalwa-Mumbra constituency, said hundreds of NCP activists raided the godown, located in Dahisar Mori area of the satellite town of Mumbai, and tore the bags containing the imported sugar.

This comes on the heels of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), which had already opposed the sale and distribution of imported sugar. MNS leaders from Navi Mumbai visited wholesale traders in the Vashi agriculture produce market committee (APMC), and warned them against the distribution of sugar.

While sentiment and belief is one thing, we hope that these sugar raids will not disrupt the ordinary person's life or schedule. Every political party has a right to credo and action, but it should not come at the cost of citizens.

The relevant party and its workers can hold a peaceful protest outside these godowns if they so desire, to raise awareness. They could also put up their resistance on social media and create awareness about why they oppose the Pakistani sugar. Do voice your opposition, do give vent to your anger or ire and do reinstate your stand. That is your right as citizens of a democracy.

Yet, one must always do so with a respect for people and violence should play no part in these protests. Beware of political shenanigans, which aim to capture eyeballs, rather than espouse the party line or philosophy. Actions like this must not snowball into confrontations with innocent people caught in the crosshairs.

Say no to Pakistani sugar if you wish, but do not disrupt daily life. Respect the law and the people, otherwise you fear losing sight of your cause in a spiral of violence and hooliganism.

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The desire to stream his speeding stunt live on social media cost a 20-year-old engineering student his life, while his cousin, who accompanied him, is battling for his life in hospital. He had stolen the keys to his uncle's car. This report highlighted once again that social media distractions and driving are a lethal mix.

The police have identified the deceased as Shivam Prakash Jadhav from Kharadwadi in Pimpri. He died on the spot. His cousin Hrishikesh Vilas Pawar, 22, was cited as critical and undergoing treatment in a Pimpri Chinchwad-based private hospital.A senior police officer was quoted in the report as saying that the car was speeding at 120 kmph. The passenger was streaming live on Instagram when the driver asked him to show the speedometer. Later, he lost control of the car, and it rammed into a grid separator.

The thrill of speed coupled with the thrill of likes, adulation and congratulatory messages is so potent that there can never be enough said about desisting from using social media while driving. Even earphones are a no-no when driving because your hands may be free, but the mind is elsewhere on the conversation and your focus and attention is compromised.

Here, we also had another factor thrown into the tragic cocktail. The driver was speeding. It was the passenger who was streaming live on Instagram, but the driver's attention was compromised as he was distracted by Instagram. It was evident that the young men were on a suicide mission unknown to them.

Let there be more awareness and we want to see a blitzkrieg on social media how it is not cool to drive and be on social media at the same time. Speed should be similarly panned. Youngsters, this is so not cool. Losing a life for some likes? Certainly not.

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