The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
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Models Dippannita Sharma (left) and Alesia Raut share a warm moment at the launch of a spa in Chembur over the weekend. Pic/Sameer Markande
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And the wait is over
It was almost a year ago when, miffed with trying the conventional route to finance his film, actor-director Rajat Kapoor launched a crowd-funding campaign for his next directorial venture, RK/RKay. It was a waiting game that threw up many pleasant surprises with contributions coming in from unknown people, amounting to almost Rs 34 lakh, although that wasn't enough to make a movie. But good things come to those who wait. A production house has finally come on board as co-producers for the project. And work, Kapoor says, is starting right away.
Diaper-changing truths
You need to be a parent, a mother especially, to be able to throw some light on the corollaries of patriarchy we can all be blamed for perpetuating knowingly or unknowingly. A recent tweet by DJ Pearl Miglani, who gave birth to a baby girl in February, got us thinking. "Why in God's name are there no diaper tables in men's loos?" she asked. The tweet evoked several responses — "Because it's a woman's job" was comedian Radhika Vaz's tongue-in-cheek reply, while husband Nikhil Chinapa said in jest, "Yes, totally unfair but I'm not complaining." Jokes aside, this is one simple but necessary change we'd love to see in malls and airports sooner rather than later.
A file picture of Robin and Marsha Williams. Pic/AFP
Of remembrances
If you spent a lot of your time laughing while watching movies, there's a good chance it was because of Robin Williams. The actor and comedian's sudden demise shocked many. Now, Sotheby's is set to host an auction in New York which is sure to bring back memories of the man. The auction will include memorabilia from his collection as well as that of his widow, film producer and philanthropist Marsha Garces Williams. It will feature autographed scripts, awards, props, contemporary art and more.
Celebrating women poets
The newly opened St Andrew's Centre for Philosophy & Performing Arts has been offering some interesting courses that you may not easily come across in the city. From sessions on Mesopotamian and Nordic mythology to one on existentialism, there is quite a bouquet of themes to choose from. Now, the centre is launching a course in myticism, women and poetry that will be conducted by subject experts including Jerry Pinto, Amita Valmiki, Anish Vyawahare and Ulka Mayur. Interestingly, the fee structure is in true Bhakti-style too. "We are taking a leap of faith, and have decided to make it a donation-based course, where students can anonymously pay whatever they wish to," founder Omkar Bhatkar told this diarist.
Dutt's the way
Former MP Priya Dutt is known to take to Twitter only occasionally, largely to express her views on a big political or social development, or when she feels the need to draw the attention of civic authorities to a problem in what was once her constituency. But over the weekend, we were in for a pleasant surprise, when she tweeted a news report about a ragpicker's son clearing the AIIMS entrance exam, saying, "My first post to bring out happy and positive stories left out from all the negative [news] we are subjected to each day." When this diarist asked Dutt about whether she intends to make it a regular feature on her social media accounts, she said, "I want to do this on a daily basis. I am fed up of reading negative news. Rather than spread anger, hate and fear through social media, I thought I would try and spread a bit of happiness through this medium." Twitter, in particular, could do with some sunshine.
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