Lockdown Diaries: Ten-plus-year olds review animation film Sitara, make statements to stop child marriage
Sitara: Let Girls Dream, made by renowned two-time Academy and three-time Emmy Award-winning director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, is the best film we've seen in the last weeks during the Coronavirus lockdown. It is out on Netflix. As sisters aged ten and eleven, we were quite excited when our mum showed us the trailer of the movie about two sisters in the...
Lockdown Diaries: Senior journalist Senthil Chengalvarayan shares a Chicken Badun recipe to impress your wife
The coronavirus pandemic has changed the world in massive ways. Pollution has dropped, community spirit is up, and the importance of general hygiene has been given the prominence it rightly deserves. An interesting trend that's popped up is that a lot of men, particularly in cultures where it's traditionally the woman's role to cook, have taken up cooking. They are...
Lockdown Diaries: Captain Sir Tom Moore, 100, dies with Covid 19 at the NHS Bedford hospital
Sir Thomas Moore, the 100-year-old legendary war veteran and NHS hero who won the nation's heart by raising £32 million for the NHS Charities to support their services during the coronavirus pandemic has died at the Bedford Hospital on Tuesday. He was admitted at the hospital on 31 January, after being tested positive for COVID-19. His condition deteriorated as...
Lockdown Diaries: Children express themselves in the times of Corona
Children in times of Corona is one example of challenging usual pathways. It started as an idea to create an intercultural digital space that then expanded even further as a platform to co-create, co-produce creative content with children between the age of five and fifteen, mainly working with South-Asian community, nurseries and schools in United Kingdom. We understand the...
KASHISH 2021: Film Submissions open for South Asia’s biggest LGBTQI Film Festival
The twelfth edition of KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival is scheduled to be held online next year from May 20 to 30, taking into consideration the prevailing pandemic situation. The organisers have mentioned that they are still considering a two day on-ground festival if the situation improves, a decision which will be taken only in February 2021. Festival director Sridhar...
Remembering Chiku, our squirrel child
This poem's been inspired by real events and has been written to make children understand the power of compassion towards animals. It is meant to encourage them to love them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I heard the crows scream out quite loud And ran outside to see, There lay on the grass in our Mumbai backyard Tiny balls of three! It was early hours, we were barely awake But...
Lockdown Diaries: Baithak UK brings artists virtually together for music video celebrating togetherness
Despite the logistical issues posed by COVID-19, Baithak UK has managed to bring together artists virtually in order to make a music video which celebrates togetherness. "Those were the days" celebrates the power of music and memory, beautifully melding the globally popular folk song by Robert Burns "Auld Lang Syne", its Bengali adaptation by Rabindranath Tagore, and the recent translation (written exclusively...
Lockdown Diaries: story of the peas egg bhurji and tawa paratha, scrambled up in ten minutes
For a Guju like me, the ultimate "comfort food" is DBRS (daal-bhaat-rotli-shaak or daal, chawal, roti, sabji, or lentils, rice, Indian bread and veggies for the uninitiated). But if there is one more food item which provides the ultimate warmth of home cooked food and that long lingering ghar-ka-khana taste (home-style taste) on your taste buds, that is Vimla Aunty's...
Parin Somani – a life dedicated to others
Parin Somani has been a busy woman. On the surface, she is an accomplished academician, educator, lecturer, author, and motivational speaker, but this is only a fraction of her achievements. Over her 31 years of professional experience, she has been a TV presenter at Ahmedabad Doordarshan, a radio presenter at All India Radio, author of multiple recipe books, and been...
Lockdown Diaries: The Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe remember VE day in London
The Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe (ZTFE) commemorated the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day or VE Day in London, by following the national two minute silence at 11am on 8 May. At 11.15am, the resident priest at the Zoroastrian Centre, Ervad Yazad T Bhadha commenced reciting the Stum-no kardo in front of the fire in the Setayash Gah,...
