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: 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...
KASHISH 2020: Ram Kamal Mukherjee’s Season Greetings pays homage to Rituparno, LGBTQ+ themes
For cinema connoisseurs and Rituparno fans, journalist-turned director Ram Kamal Mukherjee's Season's Greetings was a delightful 45-minutes tribute to the celebrated filmmaker with subtle references from Ghosh's films overlapping at various moments, making it an intense watch, for the first time, on Zee5, earlier this year. You can now catch the movie on 26th July 5pm Indian time as part...
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: Harish Iyer helps sex workers and their families in Kamathipura
Harish Iyer espouses many causes. He was one of the few people who appealed to the Supreme Court against section 377, an archaic law criminalising certain forms of consensual sex between adults and one that was often used against the queer community. He is the only Indian listed in the World Pride Power List by The Guardian, among other...
Lockdown Diaries: Mira Kaushik OBE spearheads an online platform to celebrate dance through UK’s performing artists
During lockdown, one of the things we art audiences are missing the most is being able to watch live performances. In the generosity of the universe, many top artists have been performing online for free. However, for London-based producer director and performing arts consultant Mira Kaushik, there was still something missing. “While the desire for viewing performances was being satisfied...
Bridge India takes on the challenges of tackling Covid across India
India is grappling with the COVID-19 situation, while Indian-diaspora-driven organisations across the world have stepped up their efforts to help Indians tide over this most challenging time. UK-based Bridge India, a non-profit think tank dedicated to the discourse on public policy, is one such organisation that has done phenomenal work in the past week. The esteemed Members have reached out for support...
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...
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...
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...
