Author: Tirthankar Mitra

Heart Lamp written by Banu Mushtaq  and translated into English by Deepa Bhasthi  have won the International Booker Prize for translated fiction. This heartening news at a time when incidents are hitting the headlines for wrong reasons.

Courage is stated to be grace under pressure. But two men/women, brow knit in concentration facing each other with a chess board in between cannot be stated to be engaged in a courageous act. 

A deceptively simple tale of four city bred youth leaving behind the concrete jungle and slumming with a vengeance amidst the forests of Palamau in what was then Bihar turned out to be one of the finest films directed by Satyajit Ray -Aranyer Din Ratri. When it was released 56 years ago, people made a beeline for the theatres in Kolkata, while critics were almost at a loss for words in its praise. 

Jayant Narlikar who passed away at 87 dedicated his life to science. He challenged dominant theories, nurtured talent and made niche research accessible.

It has been a little more than two months when Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati expelled her nephew Akash Anand from the party. But it has been a month when he returned to BSP and has now been appointed the party’s chief national coordinator. 

Robert De Nero’s film acting career seems to come a full circle when he was recently awarded Cannes Lifetime Achievement Award. His screen performance was the cynosure of all eyes in 1976 at this film festival when Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver”.

Time was when the waters of Yamuna flowing past were pristine blue, but now it is considered to be  one of the severely polluted rivers in the world. Referred to as “Delhi’s dying holy river”, plans to rejuvenate Yamuna ticks done right boxes but much more needs to be done for the river to get its freshwater back.

Australians have defied the global trend of incumbent fatigue. It has rejected conservative coalition led by Peter Dutton widely perceived as aligning himself with the rhetoric, posture and tactics of “Trumpian” politics. 

Nearly two million people of Indian origin live in Canada while four lakh Indian students study there. Diplomatic fallout notwithstanding trade between the two countries have remained largely unaffected. 

West Bengal unit of BJP is a divided house. Another yawning crack in it is discernible post former state chief Dilip Ghosh’s visit to the inauguration ceremony of Jagannath temple in Digha at chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s invitation.