The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
Pic/Atul Kamble
Mumbai meri jaan
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It may be ailing right now, but as this picture from Bandra reclamation reminds us, Mumbaikars still love their city. Pic/Atul Kamble
The happy dance
With scores of fitness instructors out of jobs, there couldn't be a better time for Zumba(R) Fitness, brainchild of Miami-based Beto Perez, to strengthen its online presence. Their new live streaming platform, zumba.dance is offering licensed Zumba(R) instructors a chance to conduct online classes.
"The purpose behind this is to re-emphasise the fact that now, more than ever, each of us need to boost our fitness levels and what will work better than one of the happiest workout programmes," says Sucheta Pal, the Indian ambassador of the brand. Recently, the Indian team comprising 17 fitnes specialists hosted the largest Zumba (R) online class on this platform.
You talking to me?
Goa-based Vanessa Almeida recently started a unique initiative on Instagram. Almeida, who runs a personalised gifting business online, has started giving lessons on how to talk to women on social media.
She says, "Even in genuine cases, men end up asking creepy questions. The lessons are short and easy to understand, for both men and women. It's 2020, we shouldn't have to tolerate this," she told this diarist.
An Army man's diary
A file photograph of Lt Gen H S Panag (Retd)
Veteran Army officer Lt Gen H S Panag (Retd) and father of model-actor Gul Panag is penning a book, which will examine the burning questions surrounding the Indian Armed Forces.
The Indian Army: Reminiscences, Reforms & Romance (Westland Books), which is slated for a July release, will comprise select articles that Gen Panag wrote for newspapers and magazines. The obsession with Pakistan as an impending threat to national security, and the intense militarisation of Kashmir post the abrogation of Article 370, are among the issues that he will be discussing in the book.
"I have seen human endeavour at work in a unique environment. Unique because in the military, ordinary human beings are trained to use force in defence and offence at the behest of the State to protect its core values even at the cost of their lives. This vast experience in times of both war and peace, should be a good enough reason for many to tell their stories to the world," Gen Panag told this diarist.
The veteran says that he wanted to "familiarise the people of India with strategic and military affairs concerning India as well as the human side of life in the Army."
Cheeka and Chennai, that old love story
Crowd-puller Krishnamachari Srikkanth blazes away in the 1984-85 season. Pic/Getty Images
These days, when there is no shortage of talk about cricketers having to now play in front of empty stands due to the COVID-19 pandemic, fans of the willow game often remind themselves of the days when they used to endure financial and travel inconveniences just to be part of the crowd at grounds for a cricket match.
This diarist, while reading a March 1988 interview of Krishnamachari Srikkanth, conducted by his former skipper Sunil Gavaskar for Sportsweek & Lifestyle magazine, discovered that Chennai-based Srikkanth watched every Test in that city until he became a part of the Indian cricket Test set-up in the 1981-82 season. Of course, he had to wait till 1984-85 to play his first Test on his home ground.
In the interview, Gavaskar, the then editor of the magazine, asked Srikkanth (nicknamed Cheeka) about the kind of impact Gundappa Viswanath had on him. In response, Srikkanth revealed that he had watched a lot of great innings by Viswanath over the years including his epic 97 not out against the 1974-75 West Indies team in Chennai. In fact, he said he was at every Chennai Test since the India v West Indies one in 1967. This means 1959-born Srikkanth has witnessed nine Chennai Tests as a spectator ever since he was eight.
Leave alone, as a Test player, former India captain and ex-chief of national selectors, the men who call the shots at MA Chidambaram Stadium must honour this special cricket personality as a fan too!
Play chess for a cause
Jokes are not the only thing comedian Samay Raina cares about. Raina has been regularly hosting virtual chess tournaments to support organisations carrying out relief work during the Coronavirus crisis. He has managed to raise R20 lakh so far. These funds have been donated to various NGOs helping waste pickers, background dancers from the film industry and stray dogs affected during the lockdown. The funnyman was a chess enthusiast growing up and the lockdown has given him the time to reconnect with the game. Encouraged by fellow comic Tanmay Bhatt's gaming live streams, he decided to begin streaming chess matches on his YouTube channel.
"I have had the likes of Indian grandmasters Viswanathan Anand, Vidit Gujrathi and international players like Antonio RadiÄu00c2u0087 participate in some of my chess-related videos," he exclaims. His latest initiative, in collaboration with chess.com, is being hosted for his subscribers. He wants to raise funds for the cyclone Amphan-affected areas in West Bengal. Anyone can sign up by paying about R100. If you are not the playing kind, you can watch the matches live streamed.
"I didn't expect to receive the kind of enthusiastic response that I have, so, I plan to continue. It goes to show that if you do something that you are passionate about, it works."
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