Lockdown Diaries: Ankit Bhuptani’s views on self-isolation and how our actions will define a generation
50 or 100 years from today we will not be able to talk about the year 2020 without talking about this COVID-19 pandemic. I wonder, will a teen of that time be able to believe that all the commercial planes of the world were grounded? Businesspersons, film-stars, industry leaders and other powerful people who hardly had time to eat a meal peacefully,...
Kaushalya UK’s upcoming project will share stories to empower and uplift women around the world
An upcoming anthology of women titled ‘The New Woman’ - a project lead by Ritu Sharma, is a collection of 34 stories of women who have undergone transformation through adversity, spread across five continents,. The book will be launched on 27 July. Under the umbrella of Ritu's organisation Kaushalya UK, the anthology will showcase "women who have been broken by...
‘Evening Shadows’ to screen in London marking LGBTQ+ History Month
Sridhar Rangayan’s gay drama kicks off series of films as part of London Indian Film Festival (LIFF) The UK and Europe’s largest South Asian film festival, the London Indian Film Festival (LIFF) is kicking off its 2021 series of films and marking LGBT+ History Month with a screening of Sridhar Rangayan’s feature film Evening Shadows, a tender heart-warming story, set in...
Lockdown Diaries: Restauranteur Chinten Pandya supports NHS workers and the needy with free Indian meals
Chinten Pandya, a civil engineer and restaurant owner of Desi Dhaba, had to close his businesses following the government's guidelines but he and his wife Mona have never been busier. They are using his Feb-launched restaurant to feed hundreds of NHS workers, the vulnerable and needy in the community. The Wembley-based Director of Apna Construction Ltd. has turned the restaurant...
Tales from the lockdown
From the minds of Samar and Ashish Hingorani come a collection of stories that follow three characters adapting to the new "normal" in these days of coronavirus. The illustrations are by Lakshmi Hingorani. Enjoy. NOTE: the controls to move back and forth through the pages are at the bottom of each page.
Feeling Zoomed Out? – Advice for the fatigued
Do you remember when a videoconference was an infrequent occurrence - something special that you looked forward to? Whilst being locked down, video-calling gave us a way to see each other, even when we couldn't be with each other. The novelty wears thin My first few months of the pandemic were filled with virtual business meetings, virtual learning, virtual happy hour, and...
Lockdown Diaries: Respecting the anxieties of a five-year-old during the prolonged lockdown period
I am keeping lockdown diaries of my five-year-old daughter Inishka Bhattacharya for research. I talk with her to understand the tensions that she is going through during the lockdown period. All the bits shared at the bottom are her words from my COVID-19 diaries. I thought it would be good to share these as it can help other parents to...
Lockdown Diaries: Sumit Pawar makes the most of the lockdown, helps others keep mentally fit in isolation
The uncertain arrival of a highly unwanted guest, the COVID19 was unexpected for most people, including me. In my entire life I never thought or even had a distant nightmare of a scenario where we will have to lock ourselves inside our homes for weeks on end, like this. The beginning of the lockdown was very difficult for a...
Flowers – an environmental poem
I haven’t been able to make much music recently. Processing the news around us has been far from easy. So here’s a different kind of offering, with words and paint, this one is called — Flowers. It rained last night, From a monsoon sky, Soaked my soil, Burrowed its way Deep into my heart, Until I was swollen... Dark earth, Bubbled bright, And it hurt To be brimming with...
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...
