Hear Shekhar Suman read Sahir Ludhianvi's poems - At: 5PM; Where: Instagram, @shekhusuman
Lol with the funny folk
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Attend the Circuit digital comedy festival's Small-Talk Show, featuring comedians such as Prashasti Singh, Pavitra Shetty, Shankar Chugani, Joel Dsouza, Aishwarya Mohanraj and Shaad Shaf.
When: April 26, 9 PM
Price: Rs 199
Call: 9867045900
Find solutions for a better world
Hear conservationists Cara Tejpal and Anish Andheria speak. Tejpal is the head of campaigns at Sanctuary Nature Foundation, and Andheria is the president of Wildlife Conservation Trust.
When: April 30, 6 PM
Where: @sanctuaryasiapage, Facebook
Watch a classical dance show
Feast your eyes on a classical Bharatanatyam dance presentation called Kala. Screened as part of the NCPA @Home series, it stars classical dancer Malavika Sarukkai.
When: April 26, 6 PM
Where: YouTube.com, NCPA Mumbai
Meet a person with a skill you can use
Mira Felicia Malhotra, 36 Visual artist, illustrator and graphic designer
Malhotra is a founding member of Kadak, a global collective of South Asian women graphic artists and her work as a visual artist speaks a lot about feminism and mental health.
Available for: Illustrations, graphic designing, brand designing
Charges: Rs 5 lakh onwards for brand designing, Rs 15k onwards for illustrations
Email: hello@studiokohl.com
Mira has worked in multiple sectors like advertising, editing and with a music label. She is an alumnus of the National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad). Studio Kohl is the name of her boutique design firm in Mumbai. She works passionately towards creating image-based work for brands. One of her best works can be seen inside the Facebook office at BKC. It is a mural called Desi People.
Recommended by: Tejas Menon, Indie Pop musician, says, "Mira was the first person to come to mind when I was deciding which studio to work with for my previous album, Make It Happen. I love her colours and themes."
Ray's life, in her voice
The last time we really enjoyed listening—not reading—a memoir, was Michelle Obama's brilliant audio book, Becoming, which won her a Grammy for the Best Spoken Word Album. Lisa Ray's 2019 release, Close To The Bone (HarperCollins India), where she recounts her fight against multiple myeloma, is just as good. We've seen Ray in different avatars—model, actor and poet. But, having heard her read from the pages of her memoir, was an experience we've most savoured. The audio book runs into 15 hours plus, but at no point does she slack in storytelling. Perfect intonations and inflections, along with good rhythm, are key to the listening experience. Ray gets it right from the very beginning. She pleases the listener when imitating her mum's Polish accent, and the intermittent Bangla spoken by her Bengali father. The journey to stardom, the pain of the diagnosis, the illness that changed her idea of the physical self, and her life now, become deeply personal and moving, when told in Ray's voice.
To all pandemic prats
As covidiots continue to endanger the lives of others by defying social distancing norms, Bollywood writer-director Karun Punchhi has released a rap song to knock some sense into them. The song stars his nine-year-old twins, Reyhaan and Samaira. "To see the lockdown lift, one must follow the lockdown," says Punchhi, who has worked on King Lear and Do Dooni Chaar. Punchhi says his kids understand social responsibility. The 1.28 minute track is catchy and the siblings look like performer material. Punchhi convinced his entire household to participate. While the grandfather was in charge of the lights, the grandmother had to sing along. "I asked my wife, Deepika, to take the lead and perform in front of the camera to put our kids at ease."
Reyhaan and Samaira Punchhi
Watch: https://youtu.be/4kYnP7WIT8g
It's policies Vs reality
The docu takes a look at the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013
Independent filmmaker Vaishnavi Sundar took three years to make, But What Was She Wearing?—India's first feature-length documentary on workplace sexual harassment (WSH). It is now available online. "This was the pre-Harvey Weinstein period when #MeToo was not a movement," says Sundar 33, about the 110-minute film. It spurred grassroots changes when organisations implemented internal complaints committees (ICCs) and started taking WSH seriously. The women in the film—it carries case studies of actors, sportspersons and others—also provided inspiration to female audience members to file complaints and seek redressal. Sundar interviewed G Selva and Suganthi P for her film. "I want women to start engaging with each other without reeling under the 'shame' of being survivors. I want them to speak up, seek help, as difficult as it may be." The film is streaming on GumRoad, and Sundar justifies the viewing fee. "The amount will go towards making more screenings possible, and for our team to continue making films about women's sexual rights."
G Selva, Suganthi P and Vaishnavi Sundar
To watch https://gum.co/bwwsw; (Rs 2,229)
Embroiderer that takes a stand
Rubina, 31, describes herself as a craftivist. Craftivism, like the name suggests, is a blend of craft and activism, or the use of craft as a tool for change. The term was coined by Betsy Greer in 2003 and, although Greer has been instrumental in promoting its usage globally, "South Asian communities, women in particular, have been craftivists for centuries. The activism is not just in the final work but in the process of making itself. For example, earlier when Punjabi women would get together to make Phulkari [traditional embroidery], they would do so in groups while sharing stories, finding inspiration and courage in each other. It became a women's circle in a way, with each of the stories weaving their way into the fabric," explains Rubina. She runs an Instagram page where she uses embroidery to take a stand on socio-political issues. The bio of her page reads: My needle has a point. Hers is an attempt to reclaim embroidery as a legitimate artistic medium, which she uses to reflect and resist, creatively.
Instagram @singhleton
The svelte return to office
Have you heard the joke: The next time PM Modi addresses the nation, he'll start with "Haathiyon", thanks to the weight everyone is gaining, stuffing their faces at home, away from the gyms. But, why not stand out in the crowd? Just like many other services out there, SHARAN—Sanctuary for Health and Reconnection to Animals and Nature, an organisation devoted to spreading awareness about holistic health and an ecologically sustainable compassionate lifestyle—is offering classes online (R1,000 onwards). Not just do you have its 21-day diabetes reversal programme at your fingertips (a known comorbidity in Coronavirus cases, this might be a time to attack diabetes), but if you sign up, you will get their raw recipes for a month on WhatsApp and can attend their basic cooking class. Learn how to cook without oil or make desserts without sugar.
Log in https://sharan-india.org/
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