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Punjabi Parmesan by Pallavi Aiyar
Pallavi Aiyar is an award-winning foreign correspondent. Earlier this century she had lived in China for nearly a decade and wrote a wonderful book about the rise of China titled “Smokes and Mirrors” which I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Then she moved with her family to Brussels and lived there for the next four to five years. After Belgium, she lived in Jakarta (Indonesia) for a few years and then in Japan. You cannot find a better author to analyse and provide a candid perspective of a country than Pallavi Aiyar. With her own experience of living in Belgium, the interviews she had conducted, and her role as an UN-accredited journalist,…
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The Kashmir Files (2022)
For the last few days, the recently released film, The Kashmir Files (2022) by Director Vivek Agnihotri has been making waves across India. The movie is running houseful. These are not surprising – In India, the mention of ‘Kashmir’ always invokes an emotional response – every Indian has an opinion on what went wrong in the state and how it should be fixed. The film works as a (fictional) biography of the protagonist, but the narration was slow paced, and the screenplay was unimaginative, due to which, as a movie it fell short of what it could’ve been. Unlike what critics say, the film does display the militants’ point of…
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டாக்டர் ஏ.பி.ஜே.அப்துல் கலாம் காமிக்ஸ்
எல்லோரும் படிக்க வேண்டிய ஒரு புத்தகம் முன்னாள் இந்தியக் குடியரசுத் தலைவர் டாக்டர் ஏ.பி.ஜே.அப்துல் கலாமின் “அக்னிச்சிறகுகள்” (Dr A P J Abdul Kalam’s Wings of Fire). சிறுவர்கள் இந்தப் புத்தகத்தை எளிதாகப் படிக்கும் வகையில் “அமர் சித்ர கதை” (Amar Chita Katha) நிறுவனம் படக்கதையாக (காமிக்ஸ்) வெளியிட்டியுள்ளது. ரூ 150க்கு (10% தள்ளிபடி உண்டு) சென்னை புத்தகக் காட்சி 2022யில் அவர்களின் அரங்கில் கிடைக்கிறது. “உறக்கத்தில் வருவதல்ல கனவு, உன்னை உறங்க விடாமல் செய்வதே கனவு”
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King Richard (2021)
King Richard (2021) is a familiar story of a young sportsperson succeeding against odds. The film, a biography of tennis star Venus Williams stands out for being told from the point of view of her father Richard Williams – that is the reason for the title. The film starring Will Smith is directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green and benefits from having Venus and Serena Williams as the executive producers. For an Indian audience, the film is sure to remind the superhit Dangal (2016) which was about a similar loving father raising his two daughters to be successful wrestlers. King Richard gets my rating of Ripe. The character of Richard Williams…
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Listening to Chef Damu
Listening in person to Chef Damu (Chef Dr K Damodaran) about his life journey was fascinating. Apart from the arduous work and his aspiration, I learned from his autobiography it was his ability to continuously upgrade his skills, reinvent himself that has been the reason for his success. It was a great inspiration. He had started his career as a trainee in Taj Mumbai, working the deep-freeze room, suffering cuts and bleeding, then after years of hard work became a chef; then he made a switch to be a vice-principal in a hotel management college, then promoted as a principal in another college, working hard to get his name in…
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The Bit Player (2019)
The Bit Player (2019) is a documentary film by IEEE that was engaging to watch and shouldn’t be missed. It was a biography of Mr Claude Shannon, called as the father of information theory and credited with most of the fundamental mathematical and theoretical inventions powering the current digital era we are living in. The documentary by Mark Levinson is a collection of interviews with Mr Shannon, historic footages from Bell Labs, recreated enactments of his early years, descriptions of his works by renowned experts & scientists – this style makes the film enjoyable and not having a dull moment. Mr Shannon had worked at The Institute for Advanced Study…
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Simply Fly by Captain G.R.Gopinath
What a journey Captain G.R. Gopinath seems to have lived so far! Reading his autobiography “Simply Fly” I am envious of him: Not for his money or the number of businesses he had run, but for the experiences he has had the fortune of living through and his perseverance when the going gets tougher. Nothing can be harder than fighting in a war or living in the inhumane high-altitude terrains of the Himalayas; both of which Captain Gopinath has been through. The two toughest businesses in India to venture will be “Farming” and “Aviation”, the former being a working-class noble profession and the latter a glamorous one with numerous regulations,…
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Obituary to our Doctor
Unbelievable that our beloved doctor is no more and he passed away today morning due to Heart Attack – he took good care of all his patient’s heart! I went to consult him last Wednesday (10th June 2020) and he was in his usual wits and we were chatting about Coronavirus. I never imagined that will be our last meeting. Dr R Ravindranath, M.D., F.C.C.P. Cardiologist, (aged 70) was our family doctor for the last three decades. He was a gentle, humorous and kind person. Just a visit to his clinic will do miracles to our wellbeing, giving us the mental strength to handle the illness. We got introduced to…
