Dil Se

Glacial recession may be a worldwide phenomenon but New Zealand’s ice retreats are the fastest and thus most alarming.  MEENAKSHI RAO  reports about the worrying ice dwindle from the Aoraki/Mt Cook region that houses the island nation’s largest glacier, which is thinning down fast enough to vanish by 2100 Deep turquoise, still and mirror clean, this 7-km-long wonder lake adjoining the grime covered face of the Tasman Glacier is breathtakingly beautiful, what with some blue, some white, some small, some big icebergs dotting its ethereal expanse. You feel blessed to be floating over its icy waters, surrounded by imposing peaks of the stunning Aoraki/Mt Cook region. But wait! This celestial Tasman Lake is not good news. In 1973, it was not even a puddle at the foot of the mighty Tasman Glacier. Today, in 2017, it is more than 7 km long, 2 km wide and carries the depth of the nearby river-fed, 18-km-long Pukaki Lake. The fast expanding lake is the direct result of New ...

Stand-up comedy is on fire, spiralling up the ladder to fill the gaping hole in India’s live entertainment sector.  MEENAKSHI RAO  takes a look It’s a young sport, this stand-up comedy thing. You see these 25 to 35 somethings, more men than women, delivering funny ones as the people around them bite into a chicken leg or some such. They are like the restaurant singers of yore who sang some of the best — and the worst — music to an audience listening to the clinking of glasses more than to the artiste at helm. In pubs in and around metros, the good old DJ has given way to happening laughter rioters, some new, some somewhat seasoned, in dealing with audience disinterest as much as with pulling their interest back from those chicken wings. And that’s what powers the comedy sector in India where live entertainment is yet to come on a full roll. From hasya  kavi sammellans  which your father took you to some decades back in open parks, to  mushairas  in ...

MEENAKSHI RAO  goes stargazing in one of the 11 dark sky reserves in the world at Mt Cook National Park & gets completely star-struck Temperature: Super shivery at 4 degrees. Backdrop: Blue, snowclad mountains on all sides. Job at hand: Tracking down none less than Jupiter, Saturn (with all its rings), the Southern Cross and, well, some butterflies in the sky. All this while you are trying not to get waylaid by a shiny white patch splashed across the twinkling sky, much like an artist’s wanton brushstroke to give his dark canvas its first break of art. That’s the Milky Way, upclose, upfront and breathtaking. As a workplace, it couldn’t have gotten groovier than this. At Mt Cook, Sir Edmund Hillary’s playground before he got the Everest bug, there are many things you can do, including merely gazing awestruck at the sky-kissing peaks from your unrestricted room window of the Hermitage Hotel, the only heritage property in the heart of the Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park...

MEENAKSHI RAO  discusses why the Bahubali saga is such a big deal for Indian cinema I know it’s pretty unrelated but the frenzy for  The Game of Thrones  is just about gathering up, yet again — this time for the upcoming Season 7. We have all binged on it, feeling like rogues on a secret and shameless hunt, not wanting to, but sitting through the nights through Seasons 1 to 6, in bulk at that. We have vehemently derided it, we have curdled at the wanton violence, we have been ashamed at the portrayal of women and we have cringed every time the blood and gore splashed our eyes. But we have again started waiting for June because that’s when this biggest grossing TV series with worldwide appeal will hit you after a veritable gap. Director SS Rajamouli’s  Bahubali  created and sustained a similar kind of frenzy with much less at hand. No political, social or cultural pornography here, no disrobing women and parading them naked through the story, no callo...

 Renowned British filmmaker MCaillister talks to MEENAKSHI RAO about his much acclaimed documentary A Syrian Love Story which documents the war with a unique perspective — showing Syria before, during and after the devastating war through the travails of a couple A Syrian Love Story is a moving and stunning documentary with international acclaim and award nominations. From 2009 to now, what are your views on the implosion in Syria? The story of Syria is tragic, many of those that rose feel abandoned by the West, millions of refugees displaced around the world and the country now split and still in the hands of the murderer Assad. After so much hope, people can’t comprehend the death toll of over half a million people. Are you working on any other stories from this region? No, but I’m working on a new film in my hometown — Hull in the UK. It is the city of culture for 2017 where I was also creative director for the opening event. Currently, I’m working on a feature docu...

Eco-tourism is a young but fastest growing concept in India even as environmentalists mull its efficacy to conserve Nature and boost economies of the local populace.  MEENAKSHI RAO  visited Coorg, a leader in eco-tourism, to tell you that this is one place where it is truly working The Silver Oak tree is very English. So is Scotland. But Coorg is far removed from both in distance and environment. No cold sea here threatening to rise over mountain wilderness to engulf you. No snow trying to bury you in. And no weather greys whatsoever, pushing your mood into the pits. Yet, Coorg is called the Scotland of India and yet, you see miles and miles of silver oaks trying to reach the skies. They sway gently in the gentle breeze over gentle slopes, performing their daily chore with becoming grace — the chore being guarding the fledgling coffee plants from rough weather and sun. The dewy fresh terrain, the heady smell of coffee, the therapeutic solitude broken only by the ...

Sebastian Perumpullikadan, a shipping tycoon from Dubai, came into the hospitality industry quite by accident. But his love for Nature and respect for the environment took him headlong into the eco-tourism industry where he is a leading name today.  MEENAKSHI RAO  talked to him at his newly opened coffee plantation resort The Ibnii at Coorg. Excerpts of the conversation What are your views on eco-tourism? Whether we make money or not, my pledge is that we will build only eco-friendly resorts. I am very passionate about Nature. At The Ibnii, as you can see, construction has been done with minimal destruction to flora. For every tree that had to be cut, I planted 100 saplings on the plantation. Every drop of water is accounted for, no food is wasted here and we have invested heavily in setting up a sewage treatment plant on the property itself. Water is recycled for nurturing the landscape. Each drop is calculated. The only water wastage is the amount that gets e...