Year-ender photo features

2001: A WORLD AT WAR WITH ITSELF
TERRORIST violence whiplashed the world in 2001, startling it out of its smugness. There were several wars in the last century, including two World Wars, but the first year of this century saw a radically different scenario — highly motivated groups of people launching attacks on nation-states. Whether it was an attack on the WTC, New York, or on the Indian Parliament, the shadowy figure of the terrorist loomed large in homes and outside, menacingly. The subcontinent specially was in turmoil with conflicts emerging sharply in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. As the year draws to a close, many hold their breath anxiously and wonder— what next?

MOMENTS OF JOY & GLORY

IT WAS A TURBULENT YEAR

New ways to usher in the New Year
by Chetna Banerjee
THE last Sunday of the year. It’s the time to look back at the weeks and months gone by, to remember happenings happy and sad. To relive events interesting and absurd. And what better way to do that than to plan a bash at your home where you can recapture vignettes of the outgoing year. The fun of it actually lies in doing it at short notice!

Grappling with ‘happy art’
by Suvir Saran
THE sudden popularity of bright and cheerful paintings, as opposed to the so-called ‘angst-ridden and tortured art’ of yore, has thrown the community of urban Indian artists in a tizzy. Many are even asking themselves for once, why they are in the profession in the first place.

Forgotten feats of Indian jugglers
by Pran Nevile
THE most amazing and mind-boggling tricks and feats are said to have been performed by Indian jugglers. European accounts refer at length to their performances, including the famous rope trick, and other feats of legerdemain unknown in the West. Foreigners were so completely wonder-struck after seeing these that some of them attributed mysterious and supernatural powers to these jugglers.