Ever wondered what is the commonalty between the sadhu in the mountains, a cranky wailing toddler, Po in Kung-Fu Panda and you? Very simple vatsa.

On 24 June 2013, a day ahead of the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, eight soldiers were killed and 16 injured when terrorists ambushed an Army convoy near Hyderpora on the outskirts of Srinagar.

They are born stand-up comedians and have been traditional folk entertainers for centuries, but now members of the Muslim Bhand community say they are struggling hard to keep alive their art. “We live neglected by society and there are few takers for this art,” says Subrati, a senior member of the community.

In this dog-eat-dog world which is so stress-ridden and besieged with fierce cut-throat competitions, buying a slice of spiritual peace certainly seems a luxury. Notwithstanding this difficulty, a retreat of sanctified serenity amidst a fast-paced life of tension, pollution and medication comes as a boon in disguise.

With its ancient roots and myriad population, India is a linguistic haven. As years change into centuries, the sound of umpteen languages and dialects have filled the country’s air. Their stories, of course, do not follow a similar pattern, some are in extinction mode, some barely survive while some are flourishing in equal measure.

What kind of a person was Lal Bahadur Shastri, India’s second Prime Minister after Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru?
He was a person who fiercely guarded his self esteem and that of the nation, even if that meant going hungry for half-a-day, his son and former Union minister Anil Kumar Shastri said.

Dramatised Readings are a strange thing. They are not quite fully mounted productions, and yet are often staged with great intricacy and stylisation.

It may sound somewhat childlike and gushing, but I have to admit that my first visit to the Karlovy Vary Film Festival had me racing back to my childhood days when fairytale books enchanted you with illustrations of castles and woods, streams and flowers, kings and humble folk.

Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation anniversary celebrations in the Buckingham Palace have the feel of a country fair, or rather a posh version of Indian mela, with food, drinks, dance, music and an array of things on sale.

For an actor who failed his initial screen test with such flourish that it prompted his prospective director to proclaim that he rather give up on his dream, Sanjeev Kumar did end up with more than just an impressive body of work.