Sunday, February 1, 2004

ART & LITERATURE

'ART AND SOUL

MUSINGS

TIME OFF

ENTERTAINMENT

TELEVISION

GARDEN LIFE

NATURE

TRAVEL

LIFE TIES

LIFE'S LESSONS

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

HOLLYWOOD FLICKS

ULTA-PULTA

INTERACTIVE FEATURES

CAPTION CONTEST

Bans and turbans
A matter of honour

THE French government’s move to ban the turban has triggered protests from Sikhs across the world. This is not the first time the turban has run into trouble. It has seen some trying times on foreign shores during its long and chequered history. It has stirred opposition, curiosity, ridicule and was even spurned in cultures unfamiliar with what it stood for. The turban has existed in India since time immemorial as a symbol of pride and honour. After 9/11, turbaned persons have been targeted by bigots in the US and Europe. Much like the enterprising Sikh, who ventures unafraid to distant lands, the turban too has endured. The turban tells its tale of travails and triumph in the words of Roopinder Singh.

More pictures...

The peacock-man cometh
Move over, pretty woman. The beautiful man has arrived. Today’s metrosexual male spends as much time prettifying himself and dressing up as the female of the species, discovers Ritusmita Biswas.

Middle class puts art above the artist
Janaki Bhatt
Possessing art in India is no longer the privilege of the rich and famous. From the royalty and landed aristocracy, this indulgence percolated down to corporate moguls and film stars. Today, even that element of exclusivity has gone as the middle class has begun collecting art.

Facing hard times
R.C. Sharma
"Life is not a bed of roses. It is a struggle for existence", somebody has rightly put it. Our lives are a mixture of good and bad days. Good days pass by happily but bad days seem to linger on. To face hard time, we need patience and perseverance.

Ifs of life and history
M.K. Agarwal
Everybody is familiar with the ‘if only’ syndrome signifying, inter alia, wishfulness, condition, or supposition. How it affects or might have affected human behaviour and history is a very fascinating and provocative study.

Relationships
When looking younger becomes a problem
Taru Bahl
Rahul was the quintessential good-looking young boy. If at 22 he looked as if he was just out of school, at 45 one could have easily mistaken him from being right out of college had it not been for his receding hairline and wispy streaks of grey around his temples. While others worked hard at acquiring youthful looks, Rahul did everything he could to look older.

God only knows what this ad guru is up to
What has ad guru and theatre director Bharat Dabholkar, known for his 'Bottoms Up' kind of humour, been up to lately? Vickey Lalwani reports.

“I identify with Munnabhai”
Sitesh Debnath
As the goofy, do-gooder goon in Munnabhai MBBS, Sanjay Dutt gets his first solo hit in almost a decade. He plays a Quixotic small-time toughie, superbly supported by his Sancho Panza, Arshad Warsi, who in turn discovers a formidable foil in Boman Irani’s by-the-book dean of a medical college.