Art/Culture

By Shamshad Ali New Delhi : Zaira Wasim, who was unknown a few months ago, has now become a household name in her native...

By IANS, Bhubaneswar: Sudarsan Patnaik, who won a special prize in Moscow for a sand sculpture of the Taj Mahal, was greeted by hundreds on his return Saturday to his Puri hometown in Orissa. "The 15-foot high Taj Mahal created by me at the Kolomenskoe Museum Reserve in Moscow won a special prize," Patnaik told IANS by phone from Puri, 56 km from here. "There were 10 participants from around the world in the World Sand Sculpture Championship Moscow, 2009 held from 30 April-May 7." Hundreds of people greeted the artist when he returned home.

By Subhash K. Jha, IANS,

By Fakir Hassen, IANS, Johannesburg : Bollywood film "Lage Raho Munnabhai" has inspired a slew of protests worldwide using Gandhian methods, such as people swamping officials with flowers. Now it's the turn of the academics to discuss modern Gandhigiri. Mahatma Gandhi had led a march in South Africa in 1908 to protest a law asking all Indians and Chinese to carry registration certificates with them, and hundreds had publicly burnt such documents following him.

By Vikas Datta, One of the rather negative aspects of urbanisation is a sense of alienation, of isolation - that despite being surrounded by masses of people, you are quite unlikely to have any meaningful connection with them. And this perception can be felt more keenly at night when walking through teeming or deserted thoroughfares and markets, brilliantly lit or gloomily dark. This motif and its stark imagery have been employed quite a bit in modern Urdu poetry by some big names. But its champion was a most highly-regarded but short-lived poet of rare sensitivity, though his fame in the non-Urdu speaking world may only rest on a haunting ghazal made popular by the unmatched Ghulam Ali.

By IANS, Ghaziabad : Police were Wednesday investigating the death of a former air hostess under mysterious circumstances at Ghaziabad. Some passers-by noticed Jaya Kaushik, a 26-year-old who earlier worked with Deccan airlines, lying critically injured near railway tracks at 11.30 p.m. Tuesday. They rushed her to a hospital where she succumbed to her injuries. Attending doctors said her left leg and right arm were found broken and there were multiple injuries in her abdomen.

By IANS, New Delhi : The son is waiting for his father to come home. With the Delhi High Court Thursday dismissing three of six disputes against M.F. Husain, son Shamshad is hoping his 93-year-old father will be back from his self-imposed exile in Dubai. For Maqbool Fida Husain, one of the hottest selling names of Indian art, the high court striking down three of the six major legal disputes pertaining to his controversial Bharatmata painting must be welcome news.

By DPA Taipei : Fashion may not have any place in the spreading of the Christian gospel, but when it strides the stage of Bible-selling, something clicks and sales of the Good Book go up. Since 2004, the Taiwan Bible Society has launched several versions of the Bible using trendy covers - jeans, army fatigues and leather - to appeal to young people and women. The Bibles sold out fast, prompting the society to design more trendy versions of the Word of God.

By Rishabh P. Nair, IANS, New Delhi : Guitar and bass are passé. Now it's instruments like the tabla, sitar, flute and harmonium that are being used to create 'alternative progressive rock' - a new genre that is fast becoming a rage among the youth in urban India. Although international bands and artists like Rasmus, Limp Bizkit, Nirvana and Linkin Park are popular in the country for playing traditional rock and heavy metal, homegrown bands like Euphoria, Parikrama, Indian Ocean, Avial and others are trying to explore new avenues in rock, with an Indian flavour.

Mumbai : The date of verdict in the Salman Khan case will be declared on Tuesday by Additional Sessions Judge D.W. Deshpande, an official...

Agartala : The much awaited passenger train service between Tripura and the rest of India is likely to start in April, a railway official...

By IANS, Los Angeles : Indian tabla maestro Zakir Hussain has won the Grammy award as part of the winning team that created the "Global Drum" project. The Global Drum was nominated under the Best Contemporary World Music Album category. Hussain shares the honour with Mickey Hart, Sikiru Adepoju and Giovanni Hidalgo.