20 June,2020 07:27 AM IST | Mumbai | Team mid-day
Four Mumbai Police personnel take a moment off duty to click a selfie, at Dadar on Friday
Four Mumbai Police personnel take a moment off duty to click a selfie, at Dadar on Friday. Pic/Suresh Karkera
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Amish is back. The wildly popular writer of epic mythological fiction has announced the launch of his new book, Legend of Suheldev: The King Who Saved India. It revolves around the warrior king named in the title, who united the country across religious and regional lines to ward off the invading Turkic forces under Mahmud of Ghazni. Speaking exclusively to mid-day about the story, Amish told this diarist, "The idea behind writing this book was to bring to national consciousness an inspiring story that has been ignored in the pages of Indian history. It's a story that has particular relevance today. An epic adventure and an inspiring tale of unity, the message of King Suheldev echoes across the chasm of time: when we Indians are united, we are unbeatable."
This is big. Master storyteller Neil Gaiman - who wrote the iconic Sandman graphic novels - is the guest at an online discussion that author Nilanjana S Roy will anchor this evening. Speaking about the influence that the genius has had on her, Roy told this diarist, "We have been reading him for about 34 years; he was a liberating writer to me because he made even graphic novels seem important. You know, we would have people tell us, 'Oh, graphic novels aren't really fiction,' and we would tell them, 'Go and read Gaiman.'" The talk is scheduled at 7 pm. Log on to @JLFLitfest on Twitter, or miss out.
Untitled (Double Sided) by SH Raza, circa 1940. Pic courtesy/Astaguru
Indian modernist artists like SH Raza and MF Husain have carved their niche in the pantheon of the global art community, and an online auction scheduled for June 27 and 28 gives you the chance to lay your hands on the works of those masters. Some of the featured artists - apart from Raza and Husain - include FN Souza, VS Gaitonde and Amrita Sher-Gil. Tushar Sethi, CEO of Kala Ghoda auction house AstaGuru, which is hosting the online event, said, "Our focus has been to present quality works that would be a great acquisition for those looking to expand their collection, as well as for new bidders who are looking to purchase significant works and get into art collecting."
This diarist had spoken to Indian Ocean bassist Rahul Ram in the early days of the lockdown, when the music industry was as uncertain about its future as Londoners are about sunshine. Ram had then suggested that once things ease up a bit, a viable financial model for bands might be to get together at a nice little spot and play a concert that will be streamed online for a fee. That's exactly what is happening now that restrictions have been eased, with a trio in Kolkata - guitarist Bodhisattwa Ghosh, bassist Mainak Nag Chowdhury and drummer Premjit Dutta - getting together at a jazz club in the city called Skinny Mo's. They will play an online gig on Word Music Day, for which they are charging a fee. But Ghosh (in pic) feels that this financial model is a temporary measure at best. He told this diarist, "Right now, we don't have a choice. But the moment we do, online concerts won't work anymore because even if it's a live gig with limited-capacity seating, we can still recreate the experience of an actual physical concert, and nothing can take away from that."
If music be the food of love, play on." We can paraphrase that Shakespeare quote and replace 'love' with 'life', going by the results of a survey conducted recently about how important music is to people, especially in the present scenario. It was conducted across India with 2,000 respondents, half of whom said that life without music is meaningless. A whopping 92 per cent agreed that songs had helped them overcome a difficult period, while 87 per cent said that they are more productive when they are listening to their favourite tunes. Pradeep Chaudhry, country manager of the audio company that helped carry out the survey, said, "We are inspired by music's profound and positive impact on our emotional and physical health during challenging times." Ditto to that.
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