Modern jazz instrumental trio from Kolkata The Bodhisattwa Trio is making all the right noises with the release of their new offering, The Grey Alb­um. With the bonus track in th­eir seven-song effort, the ba­nd is mapping the evolution of their own sound over the last seven years. The track, called The Cronos, is a part of all their albums, and marks a change from their up-tempo and rock vibe in their debut album to their jazz sound today, complete with intricate drumming details and synth bass that compel you to keep the beat with your body movements.

A lot of this shift has to do with Arunava Shonai Chatterjee (synth and synth bass) replacing the band’s ba­ssist early last year, which nudged Bo­dhisattwa Ghosh (guitar) and Pr­emjit Dutta (drums) to experiment wi­th their sound. "We always had an inclination towards jazz but started out with progressive rock as we thought we could do justice to that kind of music. Having played as an outfit for so long, and opted for a synth bass, we felt we could go into uncharted territory and could handle difficult sounds and spontaneous creativity," says Ghosh.

Their Mumbai gig will feature all the tracks from their new album, which is divided into two pa­r­ts — chaos to creation, and creation to chaos. The first three songs comprise story-telling between the members and is built on the idea of the duality of an artist’s mind, explains Ghosh, adding that, "There’s an abstraction as artistes don’t think in one particular direction, and this dual nature can be seen in our art as well." Their music is inspired by life events and observations rather than sounds, says Ghosh.

The second half comments on how civilisation is spiralling out of control into chaos, with songs like The Last Train, which talks about the trains in the holocaust in the Second World War and the Indian Partition, and American Dream, which was composed after the members got talking about American capitalism and how we’re on the brink of nuclear war. "We end with Shame, which speaks about the death of a nation, and our chaotic political scenario," informs Ghosh.
They will also be playing songs from their previous album but in a new avatar.

TIME 9 pm onwards
AT The Little Door, off New Link Road, Andheri West 
CALL 9899928776

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The Nature Club of Wilson College is an active one, with me­m­bers participati­ng in platforms to raise awareness about environment­al issues. And with professor Sudhakar So­l­omon Raj, HOD of the political science depa­r­tment and head of the club, being a music aficionado, the move to celebrate the 40th year of the club's initiation by combining his two pass­ions to organise a nature concert this Monday was only natural. A part of a year-long series, which includes environmental talks, this celebration aims to highlight crucial issues via songs about nature.

The evening will feature collaborations between students of the college. A choir perfo­r­mance by North East Collective comprises 10 students from the re­gion, for examp­le. Then there is the college a cappella gr­oup, which, inter­e­­s­tingly, resulted from a dare issued by St Xavier's College. The college band, led by Sambhav Singh, will also perform, besides alumni Keegan Pereira, Reinhardt Dias and Riya Kartha. Plus, students from Andrew Vi­sion Centre will perform co­vers. "We have been using nature-themed songs as an educational tool since 1983. We wanted to share this by providing a platform for our students to express their talent," says Raj.

Keegan Pereira and Reinhardt Dias

Proceeds will go towards organizing nature trails for underprivileged kids, a tree planting drive and publishing an environmental handbook.

ON Today, 7 pm to 9.30 pm
AT St Andrew's Auditorium, St Dominic Road, Bandra West.
LOG ON TO bookmyshow.com
COST Rs 500 onwards

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In what it termed a 'surgical closure' on trespassing and track crossing, Western Railway authorities on Thursday morning permanently shut the age-old Jogeshwari railway track crossing, inviting both bouquets and brickbats. With an average of 35 to 38 deaths from crossing tracks here every year, the station authorities were forced to make this move. The railways also posted teams of policemen between the tracks and the fencing on Thursday to avoid any chaos. The first day of this closure saw many angry locals along with commuters who welcomed the move.

"This is julum. How will we cross now? The government should not do this. They should have built escalators for people like us and then shut down the crossing," Mohammad Ansar, a senior citizen arguing with an RPF constable said. "Yeh accha kiya [good job]," was another reaction. "They should have done this earlier. But it is better late than never. The public here used to jump the tracks very often," another commuter Ramesh Narayan said.

Abundance of FOBs
On visiting the station, mid-day found that there are three big foot-over bridges here, one at the Churchgate end connecting east to west, the other one is in the middle connecting the station to the west side and the third one is at the Virar-end, again connecting east to west and the Harbour line station through a walkway. However, the only one at the Churchgate end sees heavy traffic during rush hours. The bridge is connected to a wide elevated deck. The only problem is with the narrow staircase landing on platforms one and two. The WR intends to widen platforms and extend them towards Churchgate for 15-car trains.

"We are saving lives. Closing the open holes in the walls was a priority to stop people from crossing tracks. The bridge access is being improved but things do not happen overnight. There is a short-term and a long-term plan in place which the Western Railway is working on," Western Railway Mumbai Divisional Railway Manager Sunil Kumar told mid-day.

"The Western Railway has elaborate plans to widen the existing platform one and two soon," Western Railway's chief public relations officer Ravinder Bhakar said. Bhakar said that the widening (by two metres) of platform one and two is planned by reducing the width of platform three and four. This will be done under platform extension work in connection with the 15-coach work. A total of four escalators, one in the first phase and three in the second phase are planned too.

"At present the width of the platform is only 7.5 metres, which will be increased to 9.5 metres by realigning tracks. The staircases will be widened to six metres and the station manager's room will be shifted to the elevated deck. There is also a plan to build one foot-over bridge to connect the Harbour line platform with the east side of the station," he added. The WR also plans to have a long-distance train terminal at Jogeshwari towards the Borivali end of the station later.

Also Read: Mumbai bridge collapse: CST foot overbridge was audited after 2017 stampede

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For Celeste Cordo, growing up in Bandra was a lot about figuring out the right harmonies and vocal arrangements in her choir. But, when the neighbourhood children's choir became defunct about a decade ago, Celeste, now 60, decided to start her own music education avenue with Gleehive, spearheaded by a children's choir. "She wanted to start her own choir for the neighbourhood kids to learn and appreciate music," says Dawn Cordo, her 30-year-old daughter. And they will be bringing some of the magic and sense of belonging that comes with being part of a choir to Mumbaikars at their annual concert, The Gleehive Buzz, tomorrow.

It's their teaching style that makes this concert a tad different from others. "Our classes are not academically driven and we don't have any certification. So, it's not just meant for people who can sing, but anyone who appreciates music," says Dawn, who completed her degree in music education from Berkley College of Music and decided to come back to start an education programme, besides singing backing vocals in studios and doing vocal arrangements for artistic projects.

Dawn Cordo

The evening will go on to show their growth from being just a choir, as there will also be small instrumental ensembles with students playing string and woodwind instruments. The kids, aged between five and 15, will show their dancing skills as well as play different characters on stage. "The music won't just be classical or jazz, but also include songs from musicals like The Ugly Duckling. The theme is markets from around the world because we wanted to show that life is like a marketplace where you meet people from varied cultures, you get things and you lose things, and even when there's a disagreement, we always approach one another with kindness and love," adds Dawn.

The performers also include kids with autism and ADHD, who, Dawn says, have only benefited from pursuing their musical interests. "Music is therapeutic. There's a student who communicates better because of the feeling of being included. It's also important for kids who aren't exposed to those with special needs to mingle with them," shares Dawn.

ON March 20, 7 pm to 8.30 pm
AT St Andrew's Auditorium, St Dominic Road, Bandra West 
CALL 26410926 (for passes)

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It's time for some pocket-friendly shopping. Summer has already hit the bay, and people are busy working out to get the beach body right. But, is your body summer ready? If not, it is the right time to hit the gym and get rid of those extra kilos right away!

Malaika Arora was clicked at her gym in Bandra, Mumbai, and the actresses were sporting some easy-breezy gym gears for their workout session. Here's how you can get Malaika Arora's gym look at the affordable price. 

Malaika Arora's shades of grey:

Grey t-shirt: You can buy Fleximaa Women's Cotton Round Neck T-Shirt Plain t-shirt at the discounted price of Rs 249 only. Shop here.

Grey shorts: Get your yoga shorts and keep the workout going with a comfortable pair of gym gears. One shorts might just not be enough for you to keep the pace going. Get two pair of yoga pants at a discounted price of Rs 299 only. Shop here. 

Sports shoes: You can buy Staylo sports shoes to run, walk, training yourself for yoga marathon for women. Get your pair of similar shoes at the discounted price of Rs 419 only. Shop here.

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If you are in the mood for some jokes or just want to take a break from mundane life, then this stand-up comedy act is for you. Featuring two boys and girls Shaad Shafi and Joel D'souza, and Sumaira Shaikh and Urooj Ashfaq respectively, the evening will see the four crack some of their favourite jokes and also try out new material.

ON April 27, 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm
AT The Habitat, 1st and 4th, Hotel Unicontinental, road number 3, Khar West
CALL 9833358490
LOG ON TO insider.in
Cost Rs 200

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The trailer of Student Of The Year 2 was launched today. The movie, which stars Tiger Shroff as the lead actor, marks the Bollywood debut of two pretty ladies - Ananya Panday (daughter of actor Chunky Pandey) and Tara Sutaria. While Tara is playing the character of Mia, Ananya is playing the role of Shreya in the 'SOTY' sequel.

While Tiger Shroff was seen doing his usual best - dance, action and power-pact dialogue deliveries, Tara and Ananya looked fresh and promising, throughout the trailer.

Check out Student Of The Year 2's trailer:

The first instalment of the movie, which released in 2012, marked the debut of actors Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan and Sidharth Malhotra in Bollywood. The film was directed by Karan Johar. SOTY2 has been directed by Punit Malhotra and produced by Karan Johar.

Director Shashank Khaitan, who has worked with Dharma Productions with films such has Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania, Badrinath Ki Dulhania and Dhadak, took to Twitter, and wrote: "Go Puneet... let the high school games begin ... again ... @iTIGERSHROFF #TaraSutaria #AnanyaPandey @karanjohar @DharmaMovies".

Varun Dhawan also tweeted the trailer and wrote alongside: "Here’s wishing all the new student #tara #ananya and the tiger of our industry @iTIGERSHROFF congratulations on getting into st Teresa. Great job Punit #SOTY2Trailer"

Alia Bhatt wished the team luck and wrote: All the best guys!!!! Looking like soo much fun... @iTIGERSHROFF #AnanyaPanday #TaraSutaria.

Deanne Panday commented on Ananya Panday's Instagram post saying, "So proud of you Ani."

Bhavana Pandey, was all praises for her daughter, after watching the trailer. She wrote, "Fab" on Ananya's Instagram post.

While Warda Nadiadwala commented "Ananya... Kickass", Neelam Kothari wrote "All the Best"

Student Of The Year 2 is slated to hit the screens on May 12.

Also Read: Here's everything you need to know about Student of The Year 2

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Summers is here and its to get your summer body to flaunt it! Janhvi Kapoor was clicked at the gym in Bandra, Mumbai. Janhvi Kapoor opted for an all-grey gym outfit, and her latest gym look is doing rounds on the internet. 

Janhvi Kapoor/picture courtesy: Yogen Shah

Black and grey sports bra: Buy Enamor Padded Wirefree Medium Impact Sports Bra at the discounted price of Rs 389 only. Shop here.

Grey top: Zesteez Women Grey and Black Sports Tshirts Activewear at the discounted price of Rs 499 only. Shop here.

Grey yoga shorts: Get Avaatar Women's Cotton Yoga Shorts at the discounted price of Rs 250 only. Show here.

Filmmaker Boney Kapoor and late actress Sridevi's daughter Janhvi's debut film, Dhadak with Ishaan Khatter was appreciated by critics and audience alike. The film was a remake of a blockbuster Marathi film titled, Sairat. Janhvi Kapoor is currently shooting on the biopic of Indian Air Force combat pilot Gunjan Saxena. The film has been titled Kargil 83.

Apart from this, she will be seen in a double role in Dinesh Vijan's Rooh-Afza with Rajkummar Rao and Karan Johar's directorial, Takht. This film comprises an ensemble cast of Ranveer Singh, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Bhumi Pednekar, Anil Kapoor and Vicky Kaushal.

Also Read: This gym look of Janhvi Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra is pocket-friendly

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Suniel Shetty's son Ahan Shetty was snapped at a coffee shop in Bandra, Mumbai. The star kid was all smiles when clicked by the paparazzi in the city. While on the stroll to the city with a friend, the actor, who is all set to make his Bollywood debut with Milan Luthria's next, showed off his uber cool side. 

"RX 100 caught our attention amongst many other scripts. But this story stood out since the film has been appreciated. The idea was to provide Ahan with a film that is gripping and entertaining. We were looking for a complete package. It's in the space of action-drama, a genre I wanted to tap into," said Milan Luthria in an old interview with mid-day. 

Take a look at his casual outfit right away:

White t-shirt: 

Buy a basic white t-shirt at the discounted price of Rs 315/- and be that cool fashionista of your group. You can get it in a few easy steps. Shop here. 

Blue denim:

No matter how many denims you buy, they are always a few. Get Diverse Men's Relaxed Fit Jeans at the discounted price of Rs 589/- only. Shop here. 

Checkered shirt:

Look stylish in a checks casual shirt. Buy it at the discounted price of Rs 699/- only. Shop here. 

Boots: 

Buy Brown Leatherette Zipper High Ankle Length Casual Chelsea Boots at the discounted price of Rs 399/- only. Shop here. 

Also Read: Gauri Khan's airport look will give every woman fashion inspiration; see photos

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Representational picture

San Francisco: Global wearable brand Fitbit has announced to use Google's new Cloud Healthcare API to help the company integrate further into the healthcare system, such as by connecting user data with electronic medical records (EMR). Combining Fitbit data with EMRs can provide patients and clinicians a more comprehensive view of the patient profile, leading to more personalised care, the company said in a statement late Monday.

"Working with Google gives us an opportunity to transform how we scale our business, allowing us to reach more people around the world faster, while also enhancing the experience we offer to our users and the healthcare system," said James Park, co-founder and CEO of Fitbit.

"This collaboration will accelerate the pace of innovation to define the next generation of healthcare and wearables," he added.

The companies will also look to help better manage chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension by using services such as Fitbit's recently acquired "Twine Health".

Using Google's Cloud Healthcare API, "Twine" can make it easier for clinicians and patients to collaborate on care, helping lead to better health outcomes and positive returns for employers, health plans and hospitals.

"At Google, our vision is to transform the way health information is organised and made useful. By enabling Fitbit to connect and manage key health and fitness data using our Google Cloud Healthcare API, we are getting one step closer to this goal," said Gregory Moore Vice President, Healthcare, Google Cloud.

"Together, we have the opportunity to deliver up-to-date information to providers, enhancing their ability to follow and manage the health of their patients and guide their treatment," he added.

Google Cloud will provide Fitbit with next-generation cloud services and engineering support, allowing Fitbit to scale faster.

Fitbit products are carried in over 45,000 retail stores and in 86 countries.

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This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

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San Francisco: To help small and large businesses reach out to 1.3 billion people who use Messenger every month, Facebook has launched an Augmented Reality (AR) tool for them. With this tool, the businesses can leverage the "Camera Effects Platform" to easily integrate AR into their Messenger experience, bringing the virtual and physical worlds one step closer together.

"When a person interacts with your business in Messenger, you can prompt them to open the camera, which will be pre-populated with filters and AR effects that are specific to your brand," David Marcus, Vice President of Messaging Products, said in a blog post on Tuesday.

From there, people can share the image or video to their story or in a group or one-to conversation or they can simply save it to their camera roll.

"To date, there are over 300,000 active bots on Messenger, and over 8 billion messages are exchanged between people and businesses each month -- that's 4 times the amount of messages exchanged since just last year," Marcus informed as Facebook began its annual two-day F8 Developers' Conference in San Jose on Tuesday.

"Today, there are 200,000 developers actively building experiences, forging connections between people and the brands they love and bringing real value to their everyday lives," the post added.

To begin with, ASUS, Kia, Nike and Sephora will launch AR effects for their Messenger experiences.

Facebook also announced that buyers and sellers in its Marketplace will be able to communicate across languages with "M Translations".

"Now when people connected through Marketplace receive a message in a language that is different from their default language in Messenger, M will ask them if they want to translate the message.

"This will help drive commerce between buyers and sellers despite language barriers. At launch, translations from English to Spanish (and vice-versa) will be available in Marketplace conversations taking place in the US," the post further said.

Facebook will gradually roll out "M suggestions for translations" in additional languages and countries.

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California: A year after introducing the ability to send or request money on Android app, Gmail is finally extending its pay friends feature to its iOS users.

As part of the new update version 5.0.180422, iOS users will be able to send and request money from Gmail, Cnet reports.

In addition to that, iOS users will also be able to snooze emails. The feature makes the email disappear for a while and then show up later as a fresh email.

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Microsoft

The fast-emerging field of Artificial Intelligence, which has suddenly caught the attention of the IT industry and the governments across the world, is facing a large skills shortage, a top Microsoft official has said.

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also facing the challenge of appropriate use of data, group programme manager of Microsoft Learning Matt Winkler told PTI.

"There is a pretty large skills shortage. Lots of folks are talking about it (AI). A lot of folks are very, very excited about it and then they want to go and make that real. And when they go to make that real, there's a really large skills shortage," Winkler said.

That's why it's so exciting to be trying to bring these technologies to more developers because it's going to bring more people into the mix, he said. Winkler said the second challenge is really around data.

"How do you get the data in the right shape? How do you prepare the data? Because all of the AI in the world is based on data, and so what makes it interesting is the data that you have, the data that your business has, that what you understand about your customers. So how do you most effectively use that data to go and produce models," he said.

Then within kind of any individual product project, one of the key challenges is the same thing that the industry has seen with software, which is, if one tries and do too much, the project gets much harder.

"And so we'll often times see failed projects, which are the result of trying to create just the most amazing thing having done nothing," he said.

At the recently concluded developers conference ¿ Build 2018 ¿ Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella talked about how to make AI accessible for everyone.

"Our guidance to a lot of customers to pick a domain and pick a used case where you have a high, high-quality data and that it is really well understood. Start there, get some wins with that and then start expanding the use cases so far," Winkler said.

Microsoft is partnering with multiple players in both the private and governmental sectors to use AI for public good.

"Absolutely, AI is being used for public good. For instance, it is being used in school districts in order to predict drop-out rates in India.

"We see a ton of healthcare applications: patient re-admission rates is very very popular one. We have seen medical image analysis. We are doing some really interesting work doing diabetes prediction through scans of retinas," Winkler said.
Microsoft is working with the Snow Leopard Trust, a non-profit organisation dedicated to the preservation of the snow leopard and parts of Nepal and India to analyse in real time the presence of snow leopards.

"So it's fundamentally changed the way they do their research," he said, adding that the Microsoft is working with three-four other conservation agencies doing similar things.

"For a lot of the customers, what AI is enabling is not just an incremental... but It's something they fundamentally couldn't do before. So it really does introduce a step change for the things that they want to do in their business," Winkler added.

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Illustration/Amit Bandre

New Delhi: On an average, a college student in India checks his mobile phone over 150 times a day, according to a study conducted by Aligarh Muslim University and the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR).

The research, titled "Smartphone Dependency, Hedonism and Purchase Behaviour: Implications for Digital India Initiatives", has been conducted in 20 central universities, where 200 students each were interviewed.

"Anxiety and fear of missing out on information make university students check their mobile devices as many as 150 times a day on an average, an activity which can have adverse effects on the students' health as well as academics. "Only 26 per cent of the respondents said they use smartphones primarily to make calls. The remaining respondents use smartphones for other purposes such as accessing social networking sites, Google searches and for entertainment such as watching movies," said Mohammed Naved Khan, the Project Director.

At least 14 per cent of the students use smartphones for three hours or less in a day while around 63 per cent of them use it for four to seven hours daily.

"It came as a shock to us that around 23 per cent (of students) use the devices for more than eight hours a day," Khan added.

According to the study, eighty per cent of the students own a mobile phone and most of them prefer smartphones owing to convenience in the installation of applications, host of features, and ease of use and also work as affordable substitutes for a computer. The study conducted by researchers at AMU has been funded by the ICSSR with an aim to understand various facets of smartphone dependency and addiction among college-going students.

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A law firm has filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple alleging that MacBook and MacBook Pro's "butterfly" keyboard design is "prone to fail".

According to a report in Forbes, Apple was hit with the lawsuit over the design and functionality of its "butterfly" keyboard system after a string of complaints that alleged defects in the keyboard's design.

Law firm Girard Gibbs filed the lawsuit on behalf of two MacBook Pro owners after nearly 25,000 people signed a petition requesting Apple to address the problem.

The owners of these devices have complained that the "butterfly" mechanism under each key causes keys to stick and fail.

The lawsuit also takes issue with Apple's repair process for faulty keyboards, saying it doesn't permanently fix problems during the repair process.

Apple first introduced its "butterfly" keyboard with the 12-inch MacBook three years ago.

Apple claims that when a user strikes a key on this keyboard, it goes down and bounces back with a crisp motion -- unlike the traditional scissor mechanism.

This is not the first time Apple has been sued for its products. Earlier this year, it was sued for deliberately making iPhones slower.

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Surgeons are developing a new smartphone-based tool that can detect urethral or urine blockage, potentially making it easier for patients to test themselves for the condition from the comfort of their own homes.

The novel technique could take high-speed photography which could capture subtle differences between a normal steady stream of liquid and a stream of liquid with an obstruction.

Urethral strictures are a slowing or blocking of the natural flow of urine due to an injury or infection. It is normally diagnosed by uroflowmetry, a test administered at a physician's office.

"The problem is that patient follow-up after we treat this condition is very poor," said Matthew Gretzer, Associate Professor at the University of Arizona in the US.

"But we need patients to come back to our clinic for a uroflow test to determine if the obstruction is still present," he added.

In order to test Gretzer's hypothesis on high-speed photography, the team created a model of a urethral structure using tubing hooked to a saline bag that could drain through.

Saline fluid was passed through the tubing with and without blockages, created using 3D printed strictures,placed within the tubing. High-speed photography captured both the regular and blocked stream of liquid exiting the tube.

Gretzer contended that photos can be a medium to diagnose blockages and he hopes that patients could send him these images to analyse and make the diagnosis. He plans to create a mobile app which can be downloaded by the patients.

"All patients would need to do is take high-speed images of their urine flow using a strobe light," Gretzer said.

"Strobe light apps are readily available right now for people to use on their phones".

According to the researchers, as fluid exits an opening, a natural breakpoint occurs where the liquid stream forms droplets, but with obstructions in place, it changes.

The results showed that by analysing photos, they could measure the length to this point of droplet formation. This length then directly related to the presence of an obstruction in the tube.

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Australia's new head coach and former batsman Justin Langer interacts with the media at Melbourne on May 3. He replaced Darren Lehmann. Pic/Getty Images

Australia have a great coach in Justin Langer to guide them through one of their worst cricketing crises. Correction: They have a batting great as coach. The majority of permanent coaches of the Australian cricket team were not Test greats. In fact, the last batting great to wear the coach's cap was Bob Simpson; their first ever coach.

It was under Simpson that newly-appointed coach Justin Langer made his Test debut for Australia — in the summer of 1992-93 — when the West Indies were still the number one team in the world. Langer will not forget it. How could he? The first ball he faced in Test cricket, off the swift Ian Bishop, landed firmly at the back of his helmet. The blow left him dizzy and dazed at the Adelaide Oval. Interestingly, he was also knocked down in his 100th Test — at Johannesburg in 2006 — when he was hit hard behind the right ear by South African Makhaya Ntini to play no further part in the match.

Much like that delivery, Langer's entry into international cricket in the early 1990s was hard. He expected to be on the flight with Allan Border's England troops in 1993, but he didn't find favour with the selectors. He only became a regular one-drop batsman for his country five years down the line, before combining splendidly with Matthew Hayden in the opening position.

He was part of the 1997 Ashes series in England, but did not feature in any of the five Tests. That did not stop him from playing the perfect team man. Mark Taylor was in the throes of a treacherous slump that got the critics dissecting every one of his innings. Langer and his skipper happened to be batting together in the side game against Derbyshire, who were captained by former teammate Dean Jones. Taylor slashed at one off Philip DeFreitas and Jones dropped the catch at slip. At the end of the over, Taylor exclaimed to his junior partner, "That's bloody it, mate. I just can't f****n play!" The young bull (that's what Taylor called Langer when he related this incident in his autobiography Time to Declare) refused to accept the negativity from his skipper. "Mark, that's bloody rubbish," Langer shot back and added, "Of course, you can play. You know that. Just watch the bloody ball really close, stick in here and it will come."

Taylor listened to Langer's advice and ended up hitting his first straight drive in six months to score 63 in 181 minutes. In the next game — the opening Test of the 1997 Ashes — Taylor helped himself to a second innings hundred. The following year, while Langer continued to deal with his in-out, in-out situations, he toured Pakistan where his teammates nicknamed him Arthur Morris.

In The Power of Passion, one of Langer's four literary works, he revealed that Morris (who was part of Don Bradman's 1948 Invincibles) used to be asked often by cricket lovers about how it felt to be in the same team as Bradman. Now, Morris happened to be at the non-striker's end when Bradman was famously bowled by Eric Hollies for a duck in his last Test innings at The Oval in 1948. The dismissal prevented The Don from ending up with a three-figure batting average. Morris used to remind his audience about the fact that while Bradman's duck was most talked-about, people forget that he scored 196 in that same innings. Similarly, Taylor's 334 not out is celebrated as an epic performance, but Langer scored a hundred in that innings — his first in Test cricket — at Peshawar, but it never gets talked about. Given the shared irony of their stories, the Arthur Morris moniker stuck.

Langer ended his career in 2006-07, when Australia claimed the Ashes back after England regained the urn in 2005. Gripping cricket notwithstanding, not many Australians will look back on that contest, their first Ashes series loss since 1986-87, with pleasure. While the Australians were playing poorly in 2005 and were made to follow on at Trent Bridge, my Australian friend Andrew Ramsey, who was reporting the series for The Australian newspaper, was asked to pen a piece for The Times in London.

The guest writer was critical of Australia's performance. As Ramsey left his room for the breakfast lounge in the team hotel at Nottingham, he bumped into Langer, who told him that he read the article. Ramsey was expecting a negative reaction, but Langer called Ramsey's analysis "spot on." He patted him on his shoulder twice and ran towards the elevator to join his teammates in the team bus.

Acceptance is a great trait to have. Langer has many more, developed ever since his 11-year-old eyes watched on television his Western Australian hero Dennis Lillee shatter Viv Richards' stumps off the last ball on Boxing Day in 1981 at Melbourne. Lillee's incredible inswinger made Langer yearn to play for Australia someday. Doubtless, he'll want to be a great coach now.

mid-day's group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance. He tweets @ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com

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QSQT - perhaps the first Hindi film to be referred to by its abbreviated title - finished 30 years of its release this week

If you think about it, the reason the girl (Juhi Chawla) can't be with the boy (Aamir Khan) in Mansoor Khan's directorial debut Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988) - path-breaking romance for its time - is rather simple. Years ago, the boy's father had killed the girl's uncle. This is because the uncle had impregnated the boy's aunt, but forced to marry someone else - abetting her suicide.

Now, why this uncle and aunt couldn't get together isn't quite clear in this adaptation of Romeo And Juliet. Unlike the couple in Sairat (2016), both belonged to rich, neighbouring families, from the same (Rajput) caste. The thorn in their backsides was the khadoos patriarch (Goga Kapoor). He enjoyed the sole right to decide who his son (and later his grand-daughter) would marry. Also, that girl had slept with his son out of wedlock.

For a movie mirroring such rigid, patriarchal values, it's amazing that it remains, up until 2018, a rare occasion where the heroine (Juhi) falls for first, and actively chases the hero (Aamir) - a sign of ultimate gender equality (to my mind), making it one of the most feministic films I know. QSQT - perhaps the first Hindi film to be referred to by its abbreviated title - finished 30 years of its release this week. Aamir, who also shared writing credit for the movie, organised a special screening with cast and crew to mark and discuss the moment.

I just saw QSQT myself, after several years, to observe with much relief that the film hasn't aged much (certainly not as much as humans have, since), although it's not as young as the all-time favourite, Mansoor's Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikander (1992), which still looks as fresh as last Friday's catch.

One of the things that Mansoor revealed after the QSQT screening, which is rather ironic given the film's subject, were the constant creative differences/fights he would have with his late father, producer-writer Nasir Husain, during the making, making others worry if they could ever move on. That way, QSQT is full of ironies.

To begin with, for a 2-hour, 43-minute movie, there are only four-and-a-half songs. This, coming from Nasir, king of Bollywood musicals, who produced, among other great soundtracks, the 10-minute-plus medley in Hum Kisise Kum Naheen (1977; best piece of music ever).

Once, being told that a track in QSQT had been composed, while it hadn't been, Nasir decided to hop over to the studio of music composer sons of Chitragupta, Anand-Milind, giving them only a 15-minute heads up. In that interim, Anand-Milind came up with the song, Aye Mere Hum Safar.

Don't know if the pressures were equally high throughout, for I recently discovered the track, Return To Alamo (1977) by The Shadows, which even by Bollywood's liberal standards for 'inspiration', seems shockingly lifted, note for note, even tempo intact, for the number Akele Hain Toh Kya Gham Hai. The only stroke of genius being that a war-cry has been turned into a romantic melody!

In 1995, Mansoor and Aamir teamed up to unofficially remake Kramer Vs Kramer (1979), even picking up scenes from the original, while one of the main songs was copied from The Godfather score. I once asked Aamir if he thought this was a complete, creative low. He didn't agree.

What young Mansoor, and indeed Aamir, did with one foot firmly on traditions and family customs/values, and the other on relatively modern sensibilities/outlook with QSQT, is take baby steps out of the shadows of the veteran Nasir Husain. This is very similar to how the Barjatyas' reticent scion Sooraj, 25, made his directorial debut with Salman Khan in Maine Pyar Kiya (MPK, 1989), and Yash Chopra's son Aditya, 24, smartly, gently pushed the mainstream bar with Shah Rukh Khan in his first film, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ, 1995).

Together, with soft romances involving hardened parents, the three newbie Khans invaded Bollywood, gradually extricating it from the '80s 'Angry Young Man' hangover, rape-avenger actioners, and family melodramas driven by baffling sensibilities of the money-making, assembly line movies, adapted from the South. QSQT, originally titled Nafrat Ke Waaris, was as much 10 years ahead of its time, as comforting for mainstream audiences from 20 years before. I remember older family members (and teenage girls alike) being struck by Aamir and Juhi, who were formally "introduced" in the film, although Aamir had earlier already starred in Ketan Mehta's Holi (1984).

Leading up to QSQT's release, a hoarding teaser campaign had been launched across Mumbai (and perhaps other cities), with just the question, "Who's Aamir Khan? Ask the girl next door!" The billboards turned into QSQT's posters upon the film's release. Yup, it's been 30 frickin' years. Of course, we know who's Aamir Khan. What film-buffs have always been curious about ever since, and for good reason, is what's he up to next! We always inevitably remember his last film. Which is why, I suspect, QSQT, unlike MPK, DDLJ, if you think about it, hasn't actually got its due.

Mayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture. He tweets @mayankw14 Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com

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Yakuza 6 is the final chapter in the Kazuma Kiryu saga and the debut of a new engine for the game. For those who have never played Yakuza before, there is a handy back story that you can read through complete with choice visuals from the previous game. Even without the story mode, the game is self-sufficient and you won't feel like you are missing something. It plays out like a melodramatic Japanese movie — there are lots of cut-scenes and it will be a while before you go around breaking bones and destroying property. Fortunately, the story is decent enough to keep you engaged, considering it is around 30 hours long.

For the uninitiated, you play Kazuma Kiryu, a yakuza, who is part of the Japanese mafiosi. The idea of the game is to go around completing the tasks assigned in the story mode. However, you are also in Japan, which means there are many fun distractions to while away time. In the past, these distractions have been many and made Yakuza a game that you could play forever. In Yakuza 6, however, the side activities are few, but they are well made. Some choices are playing mahjong, working out, playing baseball, visiting a hostess bar or a cat café.

The biggest addition to the side activities is the Clan Creator mini-game, where you direct gang members in a top down view of a brawl. You can add special characters to your clan, by defeating them in combat. This mini-game is a lot of fun, even though defeating your foes is often too easy. The overall combat in Yakuza is also super easy. Kiryu is capable of handling multiple thugs with just a few basic moves. You can pick up anything off the street and use it as a weapon. Building rage can trigger special moves, which is essentially just beating people senseless with whatever you have in your hand. The simplicity of combat makes it easy to learn, but it can get repetitive after a while.

Visually, the new engine shows off the cut-scenes and characters really shine through. The motion is seamless and once you are in an area, the game never stutters. Japan is recreated beautifully, it is like you are roaming the streets of the country. You can enter stores, narrow lanes and explore anything that is on the map. The game is a fitting end to the story of Kazuma Kiryu. The top-notch storytelling and the graphics more than do justice to the Yakuza series. More side activities and layered combat could have kept the game interesting beyond the main storyline, but despite all of this, Yakuza manages to entertain.

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life
Rating: 4/5
Developer: Sega
Publisher: Sega
Platform: PS4
Price: Rs 2,999

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Sanjukta Basu

Delhi-based photographer Sanjukta Basu had an epiphany right before her 39th birthday. "I was introspecting on the years gone by, and realised that although I had achieved much, I didn't think I had reached a 'destination'. It was as if I was lost at sea, and needed direction. But then I decided to embrace the fact that I go where the wind takes me. I was going to be 40, and this was me. I wasn't going to change. That's how my first tattoo took shape in my mind," says Basu, who once practiced law.

And so, her first tattoo was a sailboat, with a wave and birds in flight, with the line "wherever the wind takes me". This was also the time the idea of a project on women with tattoos took shape. Typically, some of them got one to signify something profound, like a break up with a lover or a violent relationship. Others didn't think it needed a reason. "The project is about challenging the stereotype around women with tattoos. They don't get them because they are slutty or hippie, or because they are reckless," she argues.

The photographer, who is on the lookout for new subjects to shoot in Mumbai and Delhi, says, ideally, all women should get in touch with her and tell her their stories. Sunday mid-day got Basu to shares some of her favourites.

Vimala is an aviation professional, and loves wings. Years after she got married to the man she loved, she realised he was addicted to gambling, and draining her of finances. At 48, when she found herself free from the toxic relationship, she got a tattoo — a heart with wings. It was time to fly again.

Parama, Sanjukta's first subject for the Women And Body Art project, is not one person. Within her sits the essence of Kolkata, the city she comes from and loves. The tattoo on her forearm and is an image of Kolkata landmark Victoria Memorial, an angel atop it. It signifies her belief that something good lies in everything she sees.

Archana, a women's rights activist, grew up in a protective, privileged Tamil Brahmin family. While she has grappled with body image issues, she also didn't know that you could be anything else other than a doctor, an engineer or a lawyer. When she went to college, she met women from a variety of backgrounds and, before she knew it, the seeds of female solidarity had been sown. Her first tattoo is a symbol of feminism, and she got it on the day she learnt that feminism in fact, had a symbol.

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Pics/Crossing lines

On a fine April morning, when Mumbai-based slackliner Samar Farooqui drove into Settlement Number 63 in Chtaura, a town wedged between Beirut and Damascus, all he could see was a sea of white tents glistening in the sun. Under the plastic tarps lived thousands of displaced Syrians who had fled to the Bekaa Valley, the largest affected area and temporary home to over 3,00,000 Syrian refugees, when a brutal civil war broke out in 2011. Lugging the nylon webbings, carbiners and other slacklining equipment, Farooqui and 14 other volunteers, stationed themselves at the nearby parking lot waiting for the refugee children.

This was to be their playground for the next two weeks. Life on the line Slacklining is the art of balancing along a narrow, flexible piece of portable fabric which is usually anchored between two points, mostly trees. "Apart from being a fun fitness activity, it has an incredible ability to connect people, start conversations and change lives," says 27- year old Farooqui. It's the reason he booked a flight to Beirut and signed up for the Crossing Lines Project, an initiative launched in 2013 by Sonya Iverson, a scientist from San Francisco, who uses slacklining to change the way we see and talk about refugees. "I had met Sonya several times at different events. The last time we interacted was at the Move Copengagen festival in Denmark, when she mentioned her plan to introduce slacklining to Syrian refugees and organise a highline festival in Lebanon. It was just the kind of inspiration I was looking for," says the Neral resident who made a career out of slacklining when he founded Slacklife Inc. — a sport and recreation company — in 2014. A level playing field At the Chtaura parking lot, the lines are hooked to the cars in the absence of trees. It's one of the things the sport has taught him — to make the best use of whatever is available at hand. "In Mumbai, I've slacklined in building compounds, garden and promenades. In fact, I was even been arrested for slacklining at Marine Drive," he laughs. Once the line was set up at the camp, Farooqui says the excitement among kids was palpable.

"Children everywhere are the same. You don't have to be concerned about the language or the way you look. I didn't speak Arabic but we managed to communicate fairly well through non-verbal cues in those two weeks. With hand gestures, I would tell them to slow down or stop or move ahead," he says. It was through two local volunteer-based NGOs Salaam and Sonbola that provides education and recreational facilities to those living in the camps in the Bekaa Valley, that the team got access to the children. Forging a personal rapport with each child — there were nearly 400 of them — was difficult for the volunteers who hailed from Iran, America and the UK.

"On the face of it, you couldn't tell that the children had gone through so much trauma. There were some who were more reserved and took time to open up," he says. Periodically, the team would sit down and discuss the day's progress. "If one of students perhaps struggled through the slacklining experience and we noticed it, we discussed it and psycho-analysed it till we came up with a solution to make sure that we didn't leave with someone feeling demoralised," he says. In the two weeks, Farooqui picked up a couple of Arabic words from them, and in turn taught them English. What was most interesting, though was how the sport changed the dynamics among the children themselves. "When you are standing on the rope, wobbling and holding the hand of the person standing on ground, you are opening up to them. So the bullies in the group ended up bonding with the rest. Everybody was on the level playing field," he says.

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There is nothing like a blind tasting to make you realise how your senses need an overhaul. But when there is chocolate involved, then it's a worthwhile endeavour. Especially when the chocolate-maker that invites you is the 140-year old Du Rhone Chocolatier from Geneva, which is a Swiss handmade chocolate brand. After I tasted a few chocolates at the new Du Rhone Chocolatier store that opened this week at Peddar Road (our favourite was the Coline which is a dark ganache with 70 per cent cocoa beans from Brazil and Papua New Guinea), we were treated to a fun game of blind chocolate tasting. We liked what CEO and owner Frederico Marangoni had to say, when he said he never wants Du Rhone to be a mass produced chocolate. "It's as old school as it gets. Every flavour is taken directly from the root. When you taste raspberry, that's real raspberry jelly," said Marangoni, and we have to agree, especially after tasting the richness of the chocolates.

The game was simple — smell a flavour, taste a chocolate and then write down what we experienced. The first one was our lucky one, as it's the only one we got right. We took in a whiff of orange, and bit into a delicate slab of chocolate. And then what Marangoni said suddenly made sense to us. "Most factory made chocolates have thick outer crusts and barely any chocolate inside. Here, the exterior is thin and fine, and full of rich chocolate inside. You can't have more than two at a time." And he was right.

Pic/Sneha Kharabe

I then tasted lemon (which I identified as peppermint), raspberry (which I called strawberry) and passionfruit (which I felt was kiwi). If you are dying to eye roll right about now, know that I am already doing it. The best part of this experiment was that I got to try these ultra fine, luxurious chocolates that made me feel like we were getting a taste of Swiss tradition. It also made me sure of the fact that we would be visiting the store again soon, to try out the Mocca Glacé, whose ingredients are a well-kept secret. But when you make chocolate as good as Du Rhone, it makes sense to guard with your life.

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Dario Brandt

The frenetic pace of life in Mumbai is such that it can sometimes suck you in like the last bit of water disappearing down the sinkhole of a swimming pool that's being emptied out. And before you know it, you become enmeshed in the social fabric of the city, riding a see-saw that oscillates between chasing dreams and paying absurd rent for a matchbox house. Yet, we trudge on, like troopers who feel most at home in a battleground. For, despite an inevitable sense of ruthlessness, there is also the milk of human kindness that nourishes this city's soul. And everyone's thus welcome to ride that see-saw. But sometimes, it's best to take a step back, pause, reflect and then start hurtling once again towards your goal.

Lydia Hendrikje Hornung. Pic/Datta Kumbhar

That, in a nutshell, is the message in Bombay Aaram Se, a new song that encapsulates what living in this city is all about. And what sets it apart from other musical tributes to Mumbai, such as the folksy 1969 classic Bombay Meri Hai, is that the two people who have composed it - Lydia Hendrikje Hornung and Dario Brandt - are both German. They landed in the city a few years ago to teach at The True School of Music in Lower Parel, and started sharing a flat in the process. Then, at some point, Hornung floated the idea to Brandt that they use the medium of music to give concrete shape to what their experience of living in the city has been like.

A still from the Bombay Aaram Se video

Brandt tells us, "Lydia is the one who came up with the chorus, and it felt perfect because going 'aaram se' is exactly how we were both feeling about being here. I then added some beats to it and she came up with the hook lines, and we had time to work on it since we were living together. So, we would just knock on each other's doors and say, 'Hey, what do you think about this input, or that one?'"

The product they eventually came up with is a catchy, EDM-inflected number with a modern, hip-hop vibe. The track starts with a 1970s-like Bollywood song sample, before it takes an edgy turn five seconds in. The lyrics capture the intrinsic tumult of the Maximum City, with lines like "I'm hailing kaali-peeli cabs/ I'm waking up in Bombay flats" interspersed with "Let me cough up rickshaw fumes/ Don't care what time we do". And the accompanying video feels as if the two of them are on a drive around town, stopping at quintessential Bambaiyya locations such as the Gateway of India, an Irani café, Land's End in Bandra and Marine Drive.

So all in all, it seems as if both Hornung and Brandt have internalised Mumbai to the extent that they, too, are riding the see-saw that life here can be about. Brandt says, "I find that despite it being such a welcoming place, it's also easy to disappear in this city. I mean, I step out of my house and I feel as if I have vanished sometimes," while Hornung adds, "Moving here was a completely life-changing matter for me. I got the feeling of, 'This is going to be my new home for a while.' And that made me find my peace with some of the things that annoy me, like traffic for instance. And eventually that's what also led me to think, 'Bombay, aaram se.' I mean, just chill, right?"

Log on to: YouTube and type "Bombay Aaram Se" to listen to the track

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Caroline (Laura Mishra) pours out her fears about her rocky marriage to the governess Ms Chacko (Pooja Nair)

All the world's a stage, but that doesn't make all of us actors, as we discovered after three long hours of watching an adaptation of Agatha Christie's Go Back For Murder by the theatre group, Making Noise. The play follows the protagonist Chloe Miranda (played by director Laura Mishra), on her journey to prove her mother innocent of her father's murder.

The catch is, the murder happened 15 years ago, and her mother is no longer around to defend herself, having passed away in prison. So, Chloe joins hands with her lawyer Filip Calisto (male lead essayed by Navin Talreja) to piece together who really killed her father. They track down friends and family members who were present on the day of the murder. Everyone returns to the scene of a crime in Goa to recreate the events leading up to the murder.

True to form, the tight plot devised by the queen of crime writing keeps the audience guessing until the very end when the killer is finally revealed in the denouement.

Unfortunately, there is another murder that needs to be addressed — that of the play itself. The warning signs appeared from the very beginning: Actors stumbling over their words, even forgetting their lines at times; lacklustre delivery was a problem throughout the play. Direction was, dare we say, missing. Actors killed a ridiculous amount of time milling about on stage, unable to hold still even during conversations with other characters. As a result, even though the advertised run time was two hours and 15 minutes (including the interval), the audience was trapped for an extra 45 minutes. The delay did not go unnoticed by the director, who apologised for having taken up so much time.

It would not be an exaggeration to call the performance a snoozefest; many in the audience had nodded off within the first half hour, while others gave up and left the auditorium midway.

Actor-director Laura delivered one of the few believable performances but failed to draw out the same from her cast. There were other peculiar directorial calls, such as one of the characters holding the same cigarette to his mouth for over two hours. In all the scenes with multiple characters, several actors had visibly zoned out on stage while the lead actors droned on. A theatre aficionado who accompanied us said it was like a "school play", hardly the kind of fare one would expect to see at St Andrew's Auditorium.
When: May 27, 7.30 pm
Where: St Andrews Auditorium
Entry: Rs 200-Rs 1,000
Contact: 26410926

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A frame from the series, Music for Everyone. Pic/Yuyang Liu

The town of Siem Reap in Cambodia is a fascinating blend of history, modernity and culture. While the magnificent temple complex of Angkor Wat is no more than 6 km away from the picturesque location, it is also home to artisan collectives and Cambodian Cultural Village that gives a glimpse of the country's diverse cultural heritage. Since 2005, the city has also been the venue for Angkor Photo Festival & Workshops (APFW), a non-profit cultural association founded by noted names in photography from across the world - including members of Magnum Photos - to nurture Asia's photographic community by providing an affordable and self-sustainable platform for professional training.

From the series, Two Eyes Good, Four Eyes Bad. Pic/Rebecca Chew

Over the years, emerging photographers from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iran, Indonesia, Japan and Cambodia among other Asian countries have attended tuition-free professional workshops, worked on a photo story inspired by their surroundings and showcased their project at the end of the festival. The APFW alumni community is a thriving one, where collaborations and creative exchange is common. Photographers from Mumbai, too, have participated in the festival, and to introduce emerging lensmen from the city to its upcoming edition in December, APFW alumni will conduct an interactive session this Saturday. The session, being held in Mumbai for the first time, is part the Angkor Hangover series of events organised across Asia.

From the series, Bokator, on young Cambodians trying to resurrect a traditional form of martial arts. Pic/Zishaan A Latif 

"The mentors are people whose work I admire. And when a group of 30 individuals with eclectic practices and realities specific to their countries come to learn from them, they also learn from each other," says freelance photographer and filmmaker Aishwarya Arumbakkam, who participated in the festival in 2016 and is one of the organisers of the Mumbai session. Multimedia projections by photographers from the 2016 batch are also a part of the evening.

From the series, Ahp. Pic/Aishwarya Arumbakkam

While applications are shortlisted on the basis of merit, freelance photographer and alumna Karen Dias explains that to keep the programme accessible and inclusive, there is no upper age limit for applicants. Fellow alumnus of the 2009 batch, Zishaan Akbar Latif, recalls, "As a budding photographer, you are terrified of showing your work, but you realise that others are in the same boat, too. Being in that quaint part of the world at a workshop that's different from its uptight counterparts helps you loosen up," he shares.

APFW organising committee member Andrea Fernandes, who has been associated with the festival for five years, sums up its nature, "This event is initiated by alumni and this is the direction we want the festival to go in - where every person associated can have a space to speak about their work and collaborations."

ON: May 12, 5 pm to 7 pm
AT: Trilogy by the Eternal Library, Raghuvanshi Mills Compound, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel.
CALL: 8080590590

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Representational picture

Are you someone that likes living life on the edge, from salary to salary, buying something as and when you set eyes on it, without worrying about your savings, and a "dekha jayega" attitude? That may seem cool -- but it's also a short cut to financial disaster. Walnut App CEO and Co-Founder Patanjali Somayaji lists five ways to ensure you don't go broke. Ever.

Download a money management app to track your expenses
If you have never been the type to track your expenses, now is a good time to start. You can download an app that tracks your spends and set a budget, keep a watch on your upcoming credit card and utility bill payments, as well as see how much you owe or have to get from others. This is the first step to getting your finances streamlined.

Make a plan and set goals for yourself
Set short-term (a few months ahead) and long-term (a year and beyond) goals. It could be anything from taking up a new hobby like learning the guitar, to buying a new phone/laptop/camera, getting married, buying a new house or being debt-free by a certain date, and so on. Based on the plan, break it down into quarterly and monthly goals so you know how much to save, how much is safe to spend and so on. Having a plan will give you an overview and much better control of your finances.

Set up an emergency fund
Once you're tracking your spends and have set goals, you know how much money you need to allocate to each of them. You would also get an estimate of your spending pattern and expenses for each month. Based on this, have an emergency fund in place that will take care of at least 6-8 months' worth of living expenses so that in case of a mishap or a loss of job, you don't go broke, and have something to fall back on. You can set it up so that a certain percentage of your salary/income each month is automatically transferred to this fund. It could be in a different bank account, a fixed deposit, or even a liquid fund -- and most importantly, it should be accessible easily and quickly when needed urgently.

Set limits for your spend categories
Take a look at your spends in greater detail to understand where the money goes each month. Assign limits to each of these categories for the month and see how you're doing at the end of the month. This will give you an idea of your lifestyle and if you're spending more than you earn, as well as where you can cut down on unnecessary spends.

Stay debt-free
Credit cards can be extremely useful -- for regular spends as well as during emergencies, and over time, with a good payment history, can boost your credit score too. However, if you're the type of person who cannot pay off credit card bills in full each month or who just pays the minimum amount due, stick to using your debit card or cash, or even a Line of Credit, which has a lower interest rate. Revolving credit on a credit card can be dangerous for your finances, and it can take you several years to repay the entire outstanding amount.

There will always be changes in situations, your current needs and requirements as well as your cash flow, so every 3-6 months, you should re-look at your plan and goals, and modify as needed to stay on top of your finances.

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Sonam Kapoor and Anand Ahuja

Bollywood's resident fashionista Sonam Kapoor got married to entrepreneur Anand Ahuja in a star-studded ceremony on May 8. The fairytale wedding was filled with glitz, glamour and romance, as one of the hottest couples tied the knot in front family and Bollywood's best.

The theme was "Indian festive shades of white". Celebrity hairstylist Asgar Saboo who is the go-to stylist for Sonam shows you a step-by- step guide on how you can get Kapoor's glamorous hair for you to steal the show!

Step 1
Begin by centre parting your hair, and dividing it into three separate parts. Do this by making two at the front and one, which will be to accommodate the large braid, at the back.

Step 2
Start with the left section of your hair by French braiding it and attaching more from the sides as you go along. Then loosen the braid before you move on to the right side by setting it aside. Repeat on the right.

Step 3
After braiding, tie elastic at the end of your hair to keep it in place. Take the front sections and tie them to the back.

Step 4
Then take the gajra you have chosen for your hair and place a bobby pin at the top. Wrap the gajra in a zigzag manner down the braid and as you come to the very end, secure it with an elastic band. Fancy trying out others? Then check out some of these simple easy-to- do styles to get the ideal locks!

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Busy Mumbaikars who cannot stop at the local vegetable vendor have found increasing comfort in stocking up their groceries from online portals offering attractive discounts and home delivery, a recent study has found.

The study, titled, Assessing the Impact of Online Grocery Shopping in Mumbai found that middle class citizens spent the highest amount of time shopping online due to time constraints.

The study found that people between the age group of 35-45, primarily married couples, are regular user of online grocery shopping portals. Representation pic/Getty Images

The survey, conducted among 117 respondents in Mumbai, found that people between the age group of 35-45 are regular user of online grocery shopping portals like Amazon Pantry, Grofers, Nature's Basket, Big Basket and others.

Married couples are more regular on the sites as well, due to their nature of their jobs. It also observed that websites combining offers or discounts on products along with home delivery services were the main attraction for customers.

Pick-up points to collect groceries ordered online, like this one by D-Mart in Bandra east, have also proved to be a hit. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

Dr Rupali Rajesh, associate professor at the Vivekanand Education Society Institute of Management Studies and Research, who published the paper, said accessibility and discounts offered are the main attractions for buyers.

"Mumbai is considered as one of the busiest cities where people have to commute for hours. It becomes really hectic for people to go for grocery shopping, which is why the demand for online grocery shopping is growing. I found out through my study that discounts and saving time were the two biggest parameters for deciding the mood of the buyers," Dr Rajesh said.

Dr Rupali Rajesh

"Our data shows that as many as 41.9 per cent of the surveyed people who regularly use online grocery portals are in the age group of 35-45 years. This is followed by the age group in 25-35, who have a daily usage rate of 31.6 per cent. While interviewing respondents, it was observed that 68 per cent of the users who fall into these two age categories were married. They have to handle office work along with domestic activities, which hardly laves them with enough time to go to the markets," added Dr Rajesh.

The study also revealed that citizens earning in the range of R1 lakh to 5 lakh annually did the highest amount of online grocery shopping, mainly due to discounts provided there. Most of these sites provide discounts on groceries, with several offering the highest discounts on weekends. It also pointed out that the possibility of replacing products, wide variety and availability also proved to be a factor for online shopping.

41.9% People in the age group of 35-45 who shop for groceries online

31.6% People in the age group of 25-35 who shop for groceries online

68% Married couples in the two age groups who shop online

Rs 1 lakh -Rs 5 lakh Income range of middle class online shoppers

(The survey was conducted among 117 participants)

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Soon, medical colleges might have to keep one expert from the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) to address cases of medical negligence.

MMC wrote to the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) earlier this month, asking them to implement this across the state. "We have written to DMER, asking them to introduce one council member on the expert panel investigating medical negligence cases in medical colleges. This would help in bringing more transparency and better judgment of orders," said Shivkumar Utture, president of MMC.

Dr TP Lahane, director, DMER confirmed receiving the request, "The proposal is extremely welcoming but before coming to a conclusion, we need to discuss it with the council members." So far, around 500 cases of medical negligence or issues regarding treatment are still pending with the council.

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NCP chief Sharad Pawar pitched for a stable government at the Centre and urged citizens to come out in large numbers to cast their votes as he exercised his democratic right on Monday. Voting was underway for the fourth phase of Lok Sabha polls in 72 parliamentary constituencies spread across nine states.

#Mumbai: NCP Chief Sharad Pawar after casting his vote at polling booth 31 in Tardeo. #LokSabhaElections2019 pic.twitter.com/G8VNrNwESd

— ANI (@ANI) April 29, 2019

In Maharashtra, polling was being held in 17 seats, including Mumbai. "Today is an important day for the country. It is required that a stable government is formed. It is expected that Mumbaikars will not lag behind, and will exercise their voting right by coming out in large numbers and voting decisively," Pawar, the former Union minister, tweeted in Marathi.

Earlier, BJP MP Poonam Mahajan, Congress nominee Urmila Matondkar, industrialist Anil Ambani and actor Rekha cast their votes in Mumbai in the initial hours of polling. State education minister Vinod Tawde, BJP candidate from Mumhai-North East Manoj Kotak and Congress nominee from Mumbai-Central Eknath Gaikwad were also among the early voters.

Pic courtesy/Bipin Kokate

Anil Ambani was spotted casting his vote in Mumbai

Pic courtesy/Faizan Khan

Manoj Kotak cast his vote in Mumbai

Pic courtesy/Yogen Shah

Urmila Matondkar present at the polling booth to cast her vote.

It was a delight to participate in the festival of democracy, casting my vote is for progressive development of every Indian, for #NewIndia. I urge Mumbaikars to join in and make each vote count! #MumbaikarVoteKar pic.twitter.com/epS3g0Vwk4

— Chowkidar Vinod Tawde (@TawdeVinod) April 29, 2019

An average 18.39 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the first four hours in Maharashtra's 17 seats on Monday as polling for the fourth and last phase of Lok Sabha elections in the state was underway. Polling began at 7 am and long queues were seen outside many booths, some of which were decorated with balloons and 'rangolis' (colourful decorations). The voting figures till 11 am in other constituencies are as follows: Dhule- 18.26 per cent, Dindori - 21.06 per cent, Nashik- 17.22 per cent, Palghar- 21.46 per cent, Bhiwandi- 17.25 per cent, Thane-17.43 per cent, Mumbai-North- 19.46 per cent, Mumbai-North West 17.64 per cent, Mumbai-North East-18.39 per cent, Mumbai-North Central- 16.21 per cent, Mumbai-South Central-16.80 per cent, Mumbai- South 15.51 per cent, Maval- 18.23 per cent, Shirur- 18.65 per cent and Shirdi 20.55 per cent.

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Edited by mid-day online desk with inputs from Agencies

While many polling stations were bereft of facilities for the physically challenged and senior citizens, the situation was refreshingly different in Palghar district, where arrangements were made to bring in physically challenged voters and drop them back to their homes.

The voters had a car to take them to the polling stations, where they didn't have to wait in queue to cast their votes, and drop them back home once they were done. This process had begun as a part of the run-up to the polls.

Explaining the same, the district's social development officer Vibha Jadhav said, "We had conducted a survey and made a list of physically challenged voters before the election. Now, we have been calling them to know when they would be able to come to the polling stations to vote."

Election 2019: Prominent personalities, other Mumbaikars come out to caste vote!

The voters had a car to take them to the polling stations, where they didn’t have to wait in queue to cast their votes, and drop them back home once they were done

Virar resident Suresh Pawar, 43, thanked the government for the initiative, "I am visually challenged person, as is my wife. Until last year, we had to take an auto rickshaw to reach the polling booth. But this time, the government has given us relief by arranging vehicles for us.

The polling booths also had representatives stationed to help physically challenged voters. Jidnyasa Polekar, from the National Service Scheme, who was one of the assistants, said, "We kept wheelchairs for physically challenged and senior citizens. We also assisted visually challenged voters to understand the process of voting so that they can cast their ballot sans any hassle."

Bolstering voter turnout

Palghar collector Dr. Prashant Narnaware told mid-day that they had taken a number of initiatives to bolster voters' turnout in the district. "We had carried out campaigns to spread awareness among voters. We reached out to 13 lakh voters during our 25-day campaign titled 'I Shall Vote.' We also involved school students in the initiative by asking them to write letters to their parents, urging them to cast their vote," said Narnavare. On voting day, however, the district was hit with a slight EVM glitch. "There are 2,170 polling booths in Palghar, out of which the EVMs of 50 booths faced glitches. But they were changed within 10 minutes, as all the zonal officials were given additional EVMs to tackle the crisis," said Narnavare.

Salman Khan, SRK, Ranveer Singh, Kangana, Bachchans step out for voting

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I have been trapped in a bad marriage for years now. My husband doesn't respect me, we fight constantly, and nothing we have done to fix this has worked. I know we will never be happy together, because he won't change, and I am tired of trying to make him happy. I would like to end this nightmare, but I can't tell my family about this because they won't support me. They believe I should be with him no matter what and that I should try and make it work. My husband has given up on this a long time ago and probably has relationships with other women that I know nothing about. I don't care if he does either because we have been living separate lives for years now. My family will refuse to accept the fact that we have tried for years and failed. Without their support, it will be impossible for me to get a divorce and move on. What should I do?
Families can be tricky when we are raised to believe that they will always stand by us, because they sometimes don't. We believe what we are conditioned to believe, and your family may not know how to deal with this. I suggest you stop relying on them for support and consider other options. You owe it to yourself to be happy, with or without their support, and that is all you should focus on for now. It may be hard for you to think about moving on without their help, but there are other societal systems in place that can offer you some kind of support. Speak to friends, reach out to groups that can counsel you on options, think about what kind of help you will need to get a divorce and move out, and you may be surprised to find assistance in the most unexpected quarters. No one deserves to live in a constant state of unhappiness, so speak to professionals and worry about how your family will react later.

The inbox is now open to take your most carnal and amorous queries. Send your questions on email to lovedoc@mid-day.com

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I began my Monday by first casting my vote and returned with both my index fingers inked at Municipal School No 1, Pratiksha Nagar.

I reached the polling station at 7.15 am and joined the queue there, but due to some technical snag, it took half an hour for the proceedings to start. Four voters who cast their votes before me were inked on their right-hand index finger and the official there wanted to do the same with me too.

Election 2019: Prominent personalities, other Mumbaikars come out to caste vote!

I informed him that the correct way was to mark the left index finger. He insisted on marking my right hand though and when I requested meeting his senior official to confirm, his colleagues told him that it was indeed the left-hand index finger that must be marked. When he realised his mistake, he wanted to ink my left index finger to rectify his error.

I tried to reason with him saying it was okay now that he had marked my right hand, but he wouldn't budge. While he was ultimately satisfied at having done his job, I had to roam around with two fingers inked.

Salman Khan, SRK, Ranveer Singh, Kangana, Bachchans step out for voting

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Despite the Election Commission (EC) announcing several initiatives to help the physically challenged and senior citizens during the voting process, no such arrangements were visible at many of the polling centres on Monday. Contrary to claims made by EC, no volunteers were present to guide the physically challenged or senior citizens to their polling booths, leaving them to either find a way on their own or rely on their family members.

No one came to help

Bagubai Shirwale, 70, who has a hunched back, had to inch forward using her walking stick as she tried to find her polling booth. She only had the help of her brother, Trimbak Shirwale, 72, who, like her relies on a walking stick. "We come to vote every time without fail. But I have diabetes, due to which I am not able to walk properly. My sister has chronic backache and can't walk much either. No one came to help us; we had to find the way around ourselves," he said.

They had to walk nearly 1 km to reach the polling station. Even after they successfully reached their venue, SK Pantwalkar Madhyamik Vidyalaya in Kurla west, finding the booth took some time. After asking around, they were pointed in the right direction.

In the absence of a wheelchair at the St Judes High School in Malad West, local Antony Roasario, who is physically challenged, is forced to crawl over a gutter under the burning sun. Pics/Suresh Karkera

Despite the sweltering heat, Sayaji Mokashi, 50, a visually challenged man, walked to his polling station, the Mahatma Gandhi Vidya Mandir in Bandra east, along with his wife Prajakta who also has problems with her eyesight, and their seven-year-old son. Mokashis, residents of the government colony in Bandra east, recall walking to their booth back in 2014 as well.

"It is our responsibility to vote and we take it seriously. We don't mind the walk but it would help if EC could arrange for some transportation," said Sayaji. Sudha Shantaram Nadkar, 75, who requires a walking aid, is thankful that her polling station is just across the road from her building in Kurla. However, she too has to rely on her neighbours to help her reach her booth.

"I have been voting since I turned eligible and I don't miss any election. But I fell three years ago, which made it difficult for me to walk. There is no one to help us find the booth and no one came forward to help me walk in either," she said.

Where are the ramps?

EC had also promised to provide ramps at all polling stations, as well as dolis (chairs with poles). Many of the polling stations across the city neither had any ramps for wheelchairs nor dolis. The police personnel stationed at the Central Railway Social Welfare Centre in Kurla east said no volunteers had showed up at the venue and no dolis were sent either.

"We are allowing senior citizens to go in directly; they don't have to wait in line. But their family members are helping them," said a policeman. Similarly, at L S Raheja College, an elderly man with an amputated leg walked to his booth with the help of crutches and his relative. Another aged man at the same venue had been brought inside by his family on a wheelchair, but had to walk the rest of the way with the help of his walking stick, while leaning on his son for support.

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After waiting for a year, most fans of Avengers Endgame would have left the cinema hall in tears. As the final credits rolled, what had come to an end wasn't just the longest feature film in the series, but also an era of comic goodness we knew as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or the MCU.

Celebrating the culmination of the 22-movie series, the folks at Cancetta Mumbai, a social media-handling firm, will organise a gathering for all Mumbaikars to meet like-minded fans and discuss the conclusion of the series.

"It's the Star Wars of this generation," says curator Anthony Stephen Mendes. The event will include fun activities like cosplay and scene recreations, fact-sharing sessions, and character-based rapid-fire rounds. There's even a quiz where the winners will stand a chance to bag cool merchandise from the series.

A still from the film

The meet-up is sure to take you on a trip down memory lane from what started with an experimental move at the end of Iron Man (2008) over a decade ago to a movement and hysteria that has resulted in a new genre of movies and growing fan base, stemming from readers of the original comic books. "The gathering is an offline way to bid goodbye to one of the best cinematic universes of all time," adds Mendes. The event is open to all but participants below 21 years will have to be accompanied by parents.

On Tonight, 7 pm onwards at Doolally Taproom, 135 Kwality House, Kemps Corner.
Call 48931314
Free

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Twice as nice

Thanks to a happy coincidence, Ustad Zakir Hussain is the biggest draw at this year's edition of the annual International Jazz Day celebrations at the NCPA. The tabla maestro is usually abroad at this time of the year. But this summer, he is in Mumbai to celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of Ustad Allarakha Khan, and he performed at the Abbaji Festival yesterday, held to mark his legendary father's path-breaking contribution to Indian classical music. Tonight, Hussain will take the stage again — this time with city-bred stalwarts including pianist Louiz Banks and guitarist Sanjay Divecha — and play a set that falls under the genre of jazz fusion.

Neil Banks, the show's producer, tells us, "We'll have a longer slot for him as compared to the other musicians, since a lot of people are coming mainly to watch Zakir Hussain play. So, the second half of the event will mostly have him on stage, and we cut down on two acts just to accommodate that kind of time frame."

Isheeta Chakrvarty

Banks adds that another distinguishing feature of this year's edition is the inclusion of a bunch of relatively younger musicians. They include Vinay Kaushal, who'll play tracks from a funk jazz album he released recently, and Rahul Wadhwani, who'll perform a short piano set. Then there's Isheeta Chakrvarty and her band — comprising Rohan Ganguli, Clement Rooney, Sambit Chatterjee and Raghuraman Ramasubramanian — who will play an original list of songs that, like Hussain's gig, also fall under the jazz fusion bracket. We ask Chakravarty how she feels about sharing the same stage as the maestro, and she tells us, '"Oh my god!'

That's how I feel. It's of course an honour to be in the same space as him to begin with. But when dreams like this come true, there's also a bit of fear involved, so there's a mix of nervousness and excitement," which, in our books, are understandable emotions given the fact that her band will play right before Hussain takes the NCPA stage a second time in two days, thanks to the fortunate coincidence.

Ustad Zakir Hussain

Time 7 pm to 10 pm
At National Centre for the Performing Arts, NCPA Marg, Nariman Point.
Log on to bookmyshow.com
Entry Rs 300 onwards

Getting back to the roots

You'll be short-changing yourself if you approach jazz music only through an American prism. Yes, the genre did originate in New Orleans at the turn of the last century. But since then, many influences from across the world have seeped in, making it like a packet of M&Ms where each sweet is a different colour, even though the core flavour is the same. Now, a gig at Lower Parel will showcase some of these styles with a line-up of four acts.

The Many Roots Ensemble performs at a SoBo venue

The Adil Manuel Collective, for example, will play a jazz fusion set. Ahora Flamenco, on the other hand, will bring a taste of Spain to the proceedings. And while Da Trio will stick to American jazz standards by the likes of Chick Correa and Wayne Shorter, The Many Roots Ensemble will spice things up with a set of originals that — as the band's name suggests — have their roots in a variety of sources such as folk, disco and reggae. "We will also have a bunch of guest artistes performing with us who will add their own original music," informs Subid Khan, the outfit's guitarist.

Time 9.30 pm onwards
At FLEA Bazaar Cafe, first floor, Trade View Building, Oasis Complex, PB Marg, Lower Parel.
Log on to insider.in
Entry Rs 1,000 with full cover

Let's talk about sax

One of the ways in which a person can view jazz music is to see it as a conversation between different instruments. The drums rattle off something. The guitar adds two bits to that. The saxophone then chimes in with a sensual voice, and so on and so forth. That being the case, an ability to improvise becomes a key quality that the musicians need to possess, given the genre's free-flowing nature.

Rosen Gonsalves

And Rosen Gonsalves will display just that at a gig in a Lower Parel restaurant, where the saxophonist will play a completely impromptu set along with guitarist Vernon Misquita.

"I usually perform with just one other person, who is different almost every time. And for this gig, Vernon and I will meet straight at the venue without having practised together," Gonsalves says about a concert that will essentially involve a two-sided conversation between a wind and string instrument.

Time 7 pm onwards
At TYGR, Level 1, Palladium Mall Pedestrian Walkway, Lower Parel.
Call 9136921735 to RSVP (making a reservation at the restaurant is mandatory)
Free

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Thunderbird. Pic/Illustrated by Tomislav Tomic © Bloomsbury Publishing 2017, taken from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

One for the muggle library

If you're a Potterhead, you'll love the updated version of Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them (Bloomsbury; '599) that comes on shelves 16 years after JK Rowling gave muggles the original edition. An A to Z guide of the magical creatures lurking in the wizarding world, this one includes six new beasts (total of 81 species), new illustrations (neat work by Tomislav Tomic) and a revised foreword by the book's fictional author and magizoologist Newt Scamander. The breezy 144-pager teleported us into the Potter universe as familiar images of Hungarian Horntail and Basilisk flashed before our eyes. We also discovered incredible new beasts, including Thunderbird or Hidebehind. Apart from Scamander's wry humour, evident in the footnotes, we were hooked by the foreword, where he clarifies wild assertions made by Rita Skeeter and hints at being the secret-keeper for Albus Dumbledore. That's some fine foreshadowing, JK.

Gluten-free goodness

We've never shied away from going for the bread basket when it's placed in front of us at a restaurant. But, for those who have embarked on a let's-eat-healthy mission, Kitchen Garden by Suzette has launched the country's first organic, multigrain, gluten free bread, which they say looks and tastes like 'normal' bread. We decided to call for a loaf this week, not knowing what to expect. Organic goodness or just fancy jargon? The bread came as a nicely packaged gigantic loaf. The texture was soft and fluffy. You might not fall in love with it at first go, but with each bite the taste grows on you. Packed with nutrients and fibre, it's got the flavour of buckwheat. We had it with peanut butter and it went well. If you're having a PB & J craving, this could be the healthier version to try.

Bhrigu Sahni at a concert at antiSOCIAL earlier this week. Pic/Satej Shinde

The use of guitar isn't limited to playing solos and rhythms using a plectrum (a small flexible piece of plastic). When a discussion emerges about the co-existence of genres within the guitar language, there is a lack of clarity between Flamenco, Western Classical and finger-style. One can pluck (guitar) strings with their fingers but finger-style is a technique that involves the usage of fingertips, nails and the palm. You need to hit the woodwork for percussions. The sound is a perfect balance of bass, treble and harmonies. These days, Mumbai is witnessing the rise of finger-style guitarists. While some learnt from watching videos of legends like Andy McKee and Tommy Emmanuel, others took a cue out of popular songs.

Manan Gupta

One-man band
"By playing finger-style, one can arrange a whole song by playing the bass line, melody, rhythm and harmony simultaneously without using any backing track," shares Manan Gupta. The 23-year-old started off as a pianist but the track Drifting (by McKee) brought him closer to guitar.

Gupta believes finger-style also helps a musician to be self-sufficient. "You are a one-man band; there is no need to rely on other musicians to co-ordinate rehearsal timings," chuckles Gupta, whose tune Dear Mother (released in 2013) is an online hit.

Local inspirations
Bhrigu Sahni, who has toured the Mumbai-Pune circuit, took to the genre after watching his father play Western Classical. "As a kid, I realised that this style had the ability to create a rich musical tapestry. It is challenging to sustain being just a finger-style player but that shouldn't deter one from following his heart," says Sahni, who is a Berklee graduate and has jammed with Karsh Kale and Angelique Kidjo.

Unlike others, he also pointed out a few names among Indians who inspired him. "I went to Rock and Jazz concerts when I was 15. I used to improvise after watching guitarists like Sanjay Joseph and Derek Julian," he adds. Sahni released his debut album, What is Now, last year in New York. "I shuffle between Brooklyn, Khadki (Pune) and Mumbai for gigs," he shares.

Varun Singh started his journey listening to Eric Clapton. He even played for Metal band Albatross for sometime, but the song More Than Words (Extreme) pushed him towards finger-style. He seconds Sahni highlighting guitarists from India who are fluent with it. "Mahesh Tinaikar (Indus Creed) and Floyd Fernandes are great examples. Clapton's Tears In Heaven is a finger-style song too," he shares. The 23-year-old recently released a video of a song called Midnight Express paying tribute to Nuno Bettencourt. "He is my hero."

How do you improve on a 1998 game that is so good it is still played today? Not many games can make that claim but Starcraft can with legions of fans and stadium level competitions not bad for a 20-year-old game.

The original Starcraft is free and so anyone with a battle.net account can potentially download and play it, no fancy hardware required. The remastered version, however, costs $15 and it is worth every penny. The game's graphics and sound have had a major update, you can also play multiplayer online complete with leaderboards.

While the new game is friendly to first-time players the online multiplayer is brutal. Prepare to die in minutes. Unfortunately, there is no system in place to train players in the complexity of multiplayer battles in a game that people have been potentially been playing for 20 years.

For fans of Starcraft there is everything that you would ever want in the game. The original game mechanisms are untouched which means everything plays as it should.

Starcraft Remastered
Rating: 4/5
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Platform: PC, Mac
Price: $14.99 (Rs 960 approx)

The dim light of candles engulfs Andheri's Harkat Studios in a warm glow. A 25-member audience settles on the mattresses around an elevated gadda under a spotlight. The mushaira's (poetic symposium) setting is perfect. Before seven Urdu shayars begin the performance, Devroop Sharma of Irshaad poetry collective acquaints the audience with the basics: Say 'mukarrar' for an encore and 'waah waah' as applause.

(Clockwise from top) Artistes Devroop Sharma, Khan Faisal Barkaati and Ashwani perform at the mushaira held last weekend. Pics/Tanvi Phondekar

For the next two hours, the fragrance of Urdu fills the room as the shayars - including 20-year-old Khan Faisal Barkaati, and Ashwani, who recites poetry in a Haryanvi accent - share original nazms on love, heartbreak, politics, education and motherhood. They make it interactive, asking the audience to complete a misra (a couplet line). They also ensure the guests aren't overwhelmed by the language, by explaining the meaning of lesser-known words like ilm (knowledge) and baa-safaa (chaste) before narrating the verses. Some members in the audience repeat the words under their breath to savour their taste. One of them, Sankalp Rawal, tells us after the show that was held last Saturday, "I understood 70 per cent of what was recited but still enjoyed the performance."

Shamir Reuben and Hussain Haidry

For Sharma, that's an achievement. "The idea isn't to spoon-feed but help expand your vocabulary. When you don't understand a word, you look it up and then, enjoy the shayari more. It stays with you even after the performance," says the 29-year-old poet and salsa dance teacher, who launched Irshaad six months ago, to promote regional language poetry.

Mohammed Sadriwala

Urdu takes the centre stage
Recent months have seen a spurt in groups supporting the language. Earlier this year, Studio Tamaasha kicked off Urdu Readings, a series of dramatic readings of Urdu short stories, conceived with the help of academic Aslam Parvez. Its finale will be held on October 28.

The Poetry Club (TPC) introduced Mehfil, where members discuss popular Urdu poets, besides Hindi and English. "We wanted to challenge the notion that Urdu is difficult to understand. We use words from it in everyday conversation without realising it. Like, darwaza," says Ankita Shah, co-founder of TPC, which will host the next session in November at G5A.

Write and learn
Workshops that help you hone Urdu poetry skills are also finding takers. Last month, Karan Talwar, curator at Harkat Studios, collaborated with Sharma to present a ghazal-writing workshop. Led by college professor Abhishek Choudhary, it deconstructed the form to drive home the point that every ghazal uses the same kind of metre. "The idea was to help the participants realise that a ghazal isn't difficult to master, if you know the math of it," says Talwar. On October 27, the duo is also collaborating for Kissagoi, comprising theatrical readings of original Urdu stories by three young poets.

Meanwhile, a Hindi and Urdu spoken word masterclass, titled Lafzon Ki Kaarigari, saw 15 participants aged 18 to 40 in attendance. Held last Sunday, it was curated by YourQuote, a mobile app for writers to share original poetry. The 25-year-old poet Mohammed Sadriwala, who conducted it with fellow poet Rakesh Tiwari, says he was impressed at the turnout. "When I started out in 2014, I saw eight out of 10 poets performing in English at open mics. Today, over 50 per cent use Urdu in their performance. It's more expressive. There's also a certain pride in performing in your own language," he observes. Another masterclass is scheduled for next month.

"Of the 2.5 lakh Indian users of our app, 35 per cent [87,500] prefer writing in Hindi and Urdu. That's also because today, more content consumed online is in regional languages," says the app's co-founder Harsh Snehanshu.

Case in point: 31-year-old Indore-born, Mumbai-based Hussain Haidry's poem, Hindustani Musalmaan, which went viral as soon as Kommune launched it on its platform in February, and at last count had seen 5 lakh views. "People are more receptive and attentive to Urdu. Credit goes to [Delhi-based] organisations such as Rekhta Foundation, which are responsible for reviving and preserving the language," says Haidry, a go-to artiste to add to the line-up at Hindustani poetry performances. He also narrated his poems at The Urdu Exhibit, a launch event for Design Fabric's latest issue featuring artworks themed on the language.

Haidry will perform next on October 12 at a Hindi-Urdu poetry open mic at The Cuckoo Club, curated by Kommune as a prelude to their debut spoken word festival. "We've also prepared a list of new, young poets writing in the language. A pure Urdu poem may be difficult to understand but the younger poets are mixing it with Hindi to make it conversational and audience-friendly. It also has a greater impact when used to make a political and social commentary. While at it, they are keeping Urdu alive," says Shamir Reuben, member of the storytelling collective.

Poetry meets activism
Talwar adds that celebrating Urdu is important in today's political scenario. "Recently, at a curatorial workshop in Delhi, I learnt that India doesn't have an Islamic art gallery. That's strange considering it's an integral part of our culture. At a time when Islamic influences in Indian art and culture are being underplayed, curating Urdu-focused events is our shot at activism, where we try to rediscover the language in a safe space."

Mary Poppins Returns

U/A: Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Director: Rob Marshall
Cast: Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Angela Lansbury, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer
Rating: 

Disney drums up age-old magic by picking up the threads of an unforgettable original which had the unassailable diva Julie Andrews mesmerize way back in 1964. This time around Emily Blunt essays the all-important role of the magical nanny whose job is to put things right in the Banks’ siblings Michael(Ben Whishaw) and Jane’s (Emily Mortimer)now adult world just as she did when they were kids – with Lin-Manuel Miranda doing a Dick Van Dyke in this Rob Marshall sequel.

The setting is 1930’s London, Michael is a widower with three lovely kids and his sister Jane is an activist who appears to have lost out on love. Burdened by debt and threatened by the bank, Michael can barely keep his head up when Mary Poppins flies into their lives and makes all the difference!

Check out the trailer here:

Director Rob Marshall manages to tie-in to the original with enchanting ease - spelling forth a magical 130 minutes of music and fantasy that keeps you reminiscing while laying out an entirely fresh scenario that’s just as trippy as the original. Marshall reteams with cinematographer Dion Beebe, to give the narrative an inveigling widescreen luster, with production designer John Myhre and costume designer Sandy Powell chipping in with their nostalgia imbuing contributions. The pre-war 1930s setting is superbly presented just as the bath-time routine, excursion in the park and journey into an all-too brittle adventure, rekindle the vivacity and colorfulness of yore. It’s a wondrous amalgamation of ideas from the past and present, merging together in synchronicity of technique and wonder that is entirely enthralling.

Also Read: Emily Blunt Got Scared With Mary Poppins Returns Offer

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One Less God

U/A: Drama, Thriller
Director: Lliam Worthington
Cast: Joseph Mahler Taylor, Sukhraj Deepak, Mihika Rao
Rating: 

As a film that hopes to capture the terror heralded by the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai, 'One Less God' is rather feeble, nondescript and ineffective. The scope is narrow and the budget too small to do justice to a disaster that is amongst the most unforgettable in recent history. This is drama written around a real-life crisis but at no point does it feel real. The 2008 Mumbai attacks included a series of terrorist strikes that felled 164 people across south Mumbai - carried out by 10 members of the Laskar-e-Taiba, an Islamic terrorist organisation based in Pakistan. But none of that drama or tragedy is captured here with any grit or enticement.

The Mumbai siege is presented in a slap-dash fashion that never really gets the audience involved. The focus is largely on the Taj Mahal hotel and what it's guests went through in the final hours before their falling victim to the terrorist onslaught. The film focuses its efforts on the men and women attempting to survive, while intermittently cutting across to the two men perpetrating the attack. The bits of humour that creep in at odd times appears to be in bad taste.

Check out the trailer here:

Everything here seems rather pretentious and ineffective. The general cross-national mix of characters, their touristy experiences and the aftermath of the siege may have some diverse moments but we never feel attached or interested enough to be affected. There are barely any validating moments here. The performances are bad, the direction is sloppy, there are continuity breaks that look ridiculous, the art direction and production values leave a lot to be desired. Even the attempt to go one-up on the much awaited Dev Patel, Armie Hammer, Nazanin Boniadi, Jason Isaacs starrer 'Hotel Mumbai'- (a film that covers the same territory), by releasing earlier, reeks of Opportunism.

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Alita: Battle Angel
U/A: Action, Adventure
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Cast: Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali
Rating: 

This film, which has Robert Rodriguez and James Cameron working together with Peter Jackson's visual effects, has wonders never experienced before in cinema. The film may have taken a long while (twenty years) coming to screen, but the end result is fantastic enough to keep you asking for more. A manga-based action thriller, James Cameron's $200 million-worth, long cherished dream is aimed at young adults seeking fresher pastures from that of The Hunger Games variety and hopes to make it to bigger box-office returns than that sub-genre hit-starter.

Cameron started on the cinematic adaptation of Yukito Kishiro's original manga comics way back in the late 1990s, (much before Avatar), but the phenomenal success of Avatar had him relinquishing directorial control to Rodriguez while holding firm as screenwriter (with Jon Landau and Laeta Kalogridis) and producer.

The resultant kick-ass cyberpunk adventure may not be as original as he imagined it, but it has certainly got all the chops to make it to a long-term fan-following on its own.

The filmed adventure is set 500 years from now, in Iron city - a junkyard that is a wasteland for the flying citadel of Zalem. The city is peopled with AI controlled cyborgs mingling with real humans in a community so tech-spangled that it's hard to decipher one from the other. Kindly Doctor Dyson Ido (Christoph Waltz) reconfigures a former robot superweapon and rechristens her Alita (Rosa Salazar), after his own daughter. I do, who moonlights as a hunter-warrior, tries to protect the young Alita, but her mind has memories of a past that keeps haunting her present. She even develops a crush on handsome robo-junk dealer Hugo (Keean Johnson) and eventually ends up becoming the super weapon she once was.

The plotting here is a little too jumbled up, ensnared as it is in creating set-piece thrills and out-of-this-world experiences. Stereotype characters and genre tropes make the engagement less than wondrous. The tech-specs are certainly the best we've seen in a long time, the IMAX imagery is splendid and beguiling and the vivid expressions of the actors make it feel all the more real and intimately experiential.

Watch the trailer of Alita: Battle Angel

Even though Salazar is the most riveting and fascinating of characters, she does feel a little artificial at times. The CGI blends in effortlessly with digitally morphed motion-capture performance, but the artifice can be felt - too strongly at times. The array of side characters also feels like old hat killing the originality of the experience and allowing déjà-vu to creep in. Even so, there's no belittling this explosive cutting-edge adventure that takes cinema thrills to never-seen-before heights!

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Kesari
U/A: Drama History
Director: Anurag Singh
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Parineeti Chopra
Rating:

First off, this might well be actor Akshay Kumar's finest performance ever. And this has much to do with an earthy, true-blue, proud Punjabiness that he exudes in his natural persona that translates so seamlessly on to the big screen; him fitting into the get-up like a glove, as Havildar Ishar Singh, a die-hard, hatta-katta soldier with a sharp disc on his huge turban, belonging to what the British deemed the 'martial race'—born to fight and protect, for community, and honour.

And that's tall compliment for a superstar, currently at the brightest phase of his career, who for years since he made his debut was condescendingly dismissed as woodwork—chiefly for the kind of work he starred in, of course.

Kumar, lesser known as Rajiv Bhatia, over the past few years, has upped his game to a point that you can't tell one character of his from the next (his last outing was as the iPhone sensation, Pakshi Rajan, in 2.0), naturally generating curiosity in ways that Aamir Khan has been capable of. Surely there are other contenders too, but hardly as prolific.

That said, you know where this film is coming from: 1897, Battle of Saragarhi, fought between Sikh soldiers under the British, and Afghan/Pashtun tribesmen from North West Frontier Province, or what's now the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan.

What's more important for the viewer to figure/gauge/understand is where this film is going—mainly towards mainstream, mass-belt audiences in Punjab/North, naturally inclined towards manic action films, exhibiting bravado of a community that has enough history to prove for it.

The director is most loved for massive Punjabi hits like Jatt And Juliet, and its sequel. Frankly, Sunny Deol is the only other actor I can think of who could so easily have pulled off this rustic 'gadarness' with gusto. The younger lot doesn't quite cut it in that sense. And Kumar has a cred that precedes his presence. Here he does to Sikh pride through dialogue-heavy, relatively over-the-top, period action-drama, what he attempted in Singh Is Kinng (2008) through comedy, with considerable success.

The key is the story of course. But the downer, the script/screenplay, probably naturally flows from there as well. For how do you spin off an entire feature from what's essentially a merciless, brutal battle between two groups, where the side you're on (the Sikhs) has no stake in the system?

They're minor soldiers. Their bravado is deliriously captivating, yes. You can see it. You can feel it. But the battle can't be the whole film. Well it is already half of it, with scenes leading up to the big moment essentially checking off boxes for issues that the film wants to perfunctorily highlight: caste, religion, colonialism, slavery. What you seek is simply what you get; no more, no less.

At the heart of this pic is the fact that 21 soldiers of a Sikh regiment held fort, carried on what was self-admittedly a suicide mission, against an army of over 10,000 tribesmen attacking them one fine day. Could this be a case-study on tactical warfare? How else did the Sikhs survive even more than a second? Or were the Afghans/Pashtun soldiers completely daft to suffer huge casualties still? Was there unlimited ammo at Saragarhi, or was the opposing side marching in with seriously primitive weapons?

Watch Kesari Trailer

The statistics are staggering. This explains why this film has been made and can be loved for that moment in military records alone. And which is why there is already a movie on the same episode on Netflix (with Mukul Dev; haven't seen yet), and another one that director Rajkumar Santoshi is currently shooting still.

Maybe there's more to the battle. Or maybe this in-your-face, goose-bumpy ride—heartwarming, because its history; and hysterical, because it's that kinda movie—is just the best one can do. Well, either way, this works alright.

Also read: Sikhs dress up in saffron hues to watch Akshay Kumar-starrer Kesari

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The Least Of These
U/A: Drama
Dir: Aneesh Daniel
Cast: Sharman Joshi, Stephen Baldwin, Shari Rigby
Ratings: 

Aneesh Daniel's attempt to relook at real-life events that triggered the grisly murder of Graham Stuart Staines - Australian born evangelist/poor leprosy patients' caregiver, living and working in the remote regions of Orissa - is a rather tame experience.

It's obvious the filmmakers were eager to avoid any confrontations with right-wing fanatics, who had a major role to play in triggering the gruesome killing of Staines (Stephen Baldwin) and his two sons. Don't know how much of a spoiler the censor board played in this regard, but needless to say, this is a largely sanitised version of the truth and does a great disservice to the lives lost in the throes of a communal crossfire. Defanged of the court ordained facts, including the name of the convicted killer (Dara Singh) and his right-wing Hindu fundamentalist political affiliations, this film merely plays around with the 'conversion' issue.

The narrative device employed here is in itself flawed. It's the late 1990's. Journalist Manav Banerjee (Sharman Joshi) moves with his pregnant wife to a small town in Orissa. The editor (Prakash Belawadi) of the New Orissa Daily treats him like a stringer and expects him to coerce stories about forced conversions from the villagers. Manav, who shuns lepers and is clearly biased against Christian groups, would rather do the exposé without being personally involved. But his editor deems it necessary that Manav himself play victim to the conversion hoax to expose the Australian missionary's so-deemed unlawful activity. With his wife delivering prematurely and costs of hospitalisation mounting by the day, Manav is forced to toe the line.

While forgiveness plays an important part in this misrepresented drama, it doesn't have the effect of a great act here. It is depicted so ineffectually that there is little impact on the viewer. The actors are either over-the-top or inconsistent. Joshi overstates his eagerness by repeating phrases like 'I am a journalist' and 'He is a leper'. Scripting by Andrew E Mathews is so slack that his turnaround defies logic. Even Baldwin and Shari Rigby fail to arouse empathy. Technically too, this film is not upto the mark. The direction, editing and cinematography lack distinctive focus. This unaccomplished production doesn't amount to anything!

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Hellboy
U/A: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Director: Neil Marshall
Cast: David Harbour, Ian McShane, Milla Jovovich, Sasha Lane, Daniel Dae Kim
Rating: 

This latest adaptation of the Mike Mignola comic book is a reboot and not a sequel. Most of the sequences and plot points take for granted that- the viewer is familiar with the story. This film has a rather peculiar blend of history, myth, supernatural and occult playing peekaboo in a narrative that opens up in the past and flashes forward to the post-modern present with rather too much haste. We see a time when everything is acceptable including the paranormal, the other-worldly, different dimensions and the freak. We see Hellboy with horns, crimson skin, and thorny attitude passed out in a Mexican bar or observing a wrestling match and he doesn't raise any eyebrows. And just as we get familiar with the characters and interested in the theme we are subjected to a flashback and that's the pattern we are exposed to throughout this rather jerky, coarse re-imagining of the Hellboy universe. The real problem here is that there's just too much back story and not much of going forward.

Hellboy of course looks more or less the same. The overall look is replicated from the original – this one though looks more worn and unkempt. Hellboy (David Harbour) works with his adoptive father Professor Broom (Ian McShane) at the B.P.R.D, an organization devoted to investigating and generally exterminating paranormal threats. The gruff Superhero heads to England when called upon by the Osiris club to help nullify the Blood Queen's(Milla Jovovich) demonic plot to resurrect herself and bring ruin upon the world.

Check out the trailer here:

The narrative jumps from one plot point to another without acquiring much coherence. We get it that the Blood Queen is part of the main conflict here but by the time she gets into her stride the narrative gets all rushed up and the ensuing melee doesn't have much engagement. Andrew Cosby's screenplay writes in some inner conflict for Hellboy but it doesn't translate all that well on screen. Even the other main characters don't have smooth enough arcs. Neil Marshall is no Guillermo Del Toro and his vision for the action here is also not consistent enough- even though there are a few flashes of brilliance. David Harbour's performance, lacks the confident stamp of authority that Ron Perlman's did. Some of the CGI effects are good but there are moments when they look conspicuous and patched on. Too many characters, too many plot threads and just as many merges between the unimaginable, plagues this tale of a superhero winding his way through tales of legends and destiny - ending it with cataclysmic bedlam that works out to be a rather chaotic gory mess!

Also Read: Milla Jovovich said yes to Hellboy for this reason

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Avengers: Endgame
U/A:  Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson
Rating: 

Avengers: Endgame, undoubtedly the most anticipated film of recent year's, lives up to most expectations. This film is a befitting finale for the decades-old, 21 films, Marvel Cinematic Universe that heralded the likes of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye. Together they formed the original Avengers team while the newer allies and villains added more power to subsequent outings. This may not be a non-stop action spectacle. Instead, what we get is a well- proportioned, engagingly structured narrative that spreads out its content and thrills in momentous expansiveness, End game basically posits a finale worthy of the superhero characters it promotes. Marvel's time-travelling sci-fi adventure saga throws up a few surprises too along the way.

The story is rather basic - After the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War (2018), which ended with Thanos getting all of the six Infinity Stones and then using them to wipe out half of existence, including beloved heroes like Black Panther, Star-Lord, and Spider-Man. The surviving heroes go through a period of self-recrimination, hopelessness, heartache and self-doubt before they take the necessary steps to reverse Thanos' actions, they're fatalism keeps us grounded.  

Also Read: Box Office report: Avengers: Endgame sells 1 million advance tickets in India

The script by Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely among others, is surprisingly inventive, fraught with emotion and funny. The performances live up to the iconoclastic expectations of the fans while the CGI and effects lend whole new meaning and dimension to quantum physics and chaos theory. The film is a sort of nirvana for the thousands of people who sweated night and day to make such a unique and unprecedented experience come good. Endgame has a much slower, deliberate pace allowing for deeper character development and strong motivations while developing intensity and attachment all the way through. A major portion of the action happens only towards the last half hour of a nearly 3-hour runtime – yet, doesn't feel bloated or unnecessarily expanded.

Also read: Avengers: Endgame Box Office Prediction: Will the film open at Rs 50 crore in India?

This film incorporates beloved elements from earlier outings and recalls character beats, origins, and sub-plots while adding texture and complexity to the inter-galactic drama envisioned as homage to the never-say-die superhero spirit. Alan Silvestri's amazing background score elevates the intensity and involvement. The helming by the Russo brothers is also quite remarkable – creating a well-sprung of entreaty that is truly an event!

Also Read: Avengers Endgame release: A look at how Avengers films fared at the Indian box office

Check out the Avengers: Endgame trailer here:

Also Read: Critics review Avengers: Endgame, say it's 'everything you want it to be and more'

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Avengers: Endgame
U/A: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson
Rating: 

How does one put together words about a film that, for all practical purposes, anything and everything you write, is likely to be misconstrued/diagnosed as a spoiler?

Suffice it to know that this expectedly dramatic conclusion of Marvel's three-part Infinity Saga is a relatively internalised, deep and sober film, concerned more with the motivations of super-heroes, the choices before them, and what they should pick, in order to take on super-villain Thanos—of course.

For one, the earth is a much quieter place, since as you're aware, its species have been annihilated, decimated by Devil Thanos, ever since he got his hands on the infinity stones, and went on to execute the bizarre plan of supposedly ethical ethnic cleansing—randomly ridding planets of half its populations, to make them more sustainable, by restoring balance of sorts, as it were.

Of course, there will be survivors. And Iron Man or Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr), to start with, is thankfully rescued or reunited with the human family back home. So is Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). Both of them, like all the others, seem to be somberly dealing with the aftermath of a universal tragedy.

Surely, you have your own favourites from this cinematic universe (and how can Iron Man not top that list?). But there's something about the inherent cuteness of Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) that saves this franchise's final installment from turning into a complete depresso—left to be downed over rounds of espresso, what with the screen-time running three hours plus.

Also Read: Box Office report: Avengers: Endgame sells 1 million advance tickets in India

Indians might thank their theatres for the usually hated interval. I caught it without one, but didn't miss it either. There's enough material here to keep you engaged, even if to wonder, on occasion, if some of it makes any sense. You may or may not be impressed with the long drawn explanations, but you're only too happy to go with it.

Frankly, I'm no Marvel fanboy/fanatic—if the movie-world is indeed divided into two types, then more the DC demographic. That said, there is an infectious verve and energy that multiple super-heroes bring to this cinematic universe that is hard to not be swayed by, even if an individual or sub-set, Guardians Of Galaxy in particular, may be difficult to appreciate on their own.

Check out the Avengers: Endgame trailer here:

Avengers: Endgame does a fine job of navigating a reasonably cogent script without over-populating the screen. Avengers: Infinity War seemed more overwrought in comparison. I re-watched portions of the 2018 prequel on my phone (for quick revision), which of course means I didn't watch it at all.

For, at the end of the day, battle sequences and pyrotechnics is the point of it all, isn't it? Endgame, despite all the philosophy, is not an exception. It shines gloriously as 3D spectacle on the IMAX screen, ideally viewed from the third-row, from the back—and if you're not on IMAX, then the third row from the front—for a stunningly immersive experience, with such depth of field that the points where the camera focuses on a river, the ripples flowing towards you, you almost feel like you can wade through the frickin' water!

I know, don't need to put in a word (spoilers be damned). Suffice it to know that seldom has the excitement of audiences entering a theatre, matched by those exiting, after a hugely hyped pic. Endgame equals its astounding anticipation. And that's saying a whole lot!

Also read: Avengers: Endgame Box Office Prediction: Will the film open at Rs 50 crore in India?

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Your mother gets more and more confused these days. She forgets names, does not recognise usually familiar faces and often starts speaking only to forget the rest of the sentence. She gets tired easily and slumbers a lot. Sometimes she drools like a baby while asleep on the easy chair. You feel a little sadness inside: she is 73, poor thing.

Old age sucks.

Your father, who ran marathons and stayed fit all his life, can hardly take a reliable step any more. His gait is unsteady, he seems wobbly and you constantly fear that he will fall. He has taken a couple of tumbles already and been injured. Poor man, he is 79.

This is how the end begins, you think, with halting steps and frequent falls. It will lead, you suppose, to dementia, forgetfulness, perhaps Alzheimer's, dignity pads, nannies and probably finally pneumonia through too much food going down the wrong way.

You realise both of them will need more care and probably more of your time. One day you might notice a tremor in his hand which makes it impossible for him to feed himself — and an ayah will be hired for the job. This will only get worse, you tell yourself, until the day they find release through death. With any luck, it will not be a lingering, painful one.

This, you tell yourself, is what ageing and senility look like. You don't look forward to the day it will come to you.

My mind has been on the elderly in our lives ever since COVID-19 entered our world. It has a particular appetite for taking away our senior citizens, particularly those over 60, we are told, and more especially if they have underlying conditions. No matter who you are, how young you are, you will one day watch a beloved parent or senior relative decline — and like the overwhelming majority of us, you will dismiss it as creeping old age.

What if you were very very wrong about the signs of old age? What if all the things we call ageing are the result of a single missing vitamin called B12?

My digging began around 2010 when my mother started falling forward every time she stood up. Her hands were unsteady, her once 20-20 vision was blurry, she misheard things, spoke disjointedly, frequently forgot names and faces and frequently dozed off while watching TV. She was then 77, and I thought — she's getting old.

I began reading and googling, meanwhile, and one day, I made a list of all the behaviours and symptoms that I naturally assumed were a part of normal ageing.

Clumsiness
Irregular gait, stumbling
Frequent falls
Forgetfulness
Depression and moodiness
Deteriorating vision
Disorganised speech
Tangential or incoherent thinking
Easily tired, needing more sleep
Being feeble, anaemic
Trembling
Being incontinent (not being able to hold pee in)

Guess what? Every one of these is a symptom of a deficiency of vitamin B12, otherwise known as cobalamin. It is one of the most complex vitamins, with a single cobalt atom in the centre, and the only one that your body does not synthesise. Vegetarians and vegans must get it through dairy or soy products. Eating meat and animal products like dairy products, milk and cheese provide your body with the 2.4 or so micrograms you need every day.

That microscopic amount, it seems, is all your body requires to maintain a healthy central nervous system, produce healthy DNA and make red blood cells.

And then old age starts creeping up on you. Unknown to you, your stomach starts producing less gastric juices, and this directly affects your body's ability to synthesise vitamin B12 from the food you eat. Some people turn into belch and fart factories as they age, struggling with acid reflux at night, popping proton pump inhibitors and antacids. These pills make it even harder for your body to synthesise and absorb vitamin B12.

Your near and dear see what they suppose are signs of senility but they're actually the first signs of a developing B12 deficiency in your ageing parents — weakness, fatigue, shakiness, unsteady gait, incontinence, low blood pressure, depression and other mood disorders, and cognitive problems like poor memory. Since B12 is water-soluble and stored by the body in the liver along with other B vitamins, the deficiency cannot be detected in a blood test until the level drops below 250 picograms per millilitre of blood serum.

There is no good estimate of how many senior citizens we label as aged without checking if they are actually only displaying signs of vitamin B12 deficit. Once detected, it can often be fixed with a single injection once or twice a year.

My mother did have a vitamin B12 deficiency. Injections restored her to a semblance of a more normal life for some years till she died of other causes.

Here, viewed from there. C Y Gopinath, in Bangkok, throws unique light and shadows on Mumbai, the city that raised him. You can reach him at cygopi@gmail.com
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The views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't represent those of the paper

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The fight against Coronavirus is a constantly evolving one and is mainly reactive at the present moment in many contexts.

The BEST authorities are putting into place a plan which reduces the number of conductors in the few big, reds plying the city.

This is because, as a report stated in this newspaper, a few from the BEST workforce have contracted the Coronavirus. They are now going to run buses, some being already operational in this manner, with a driver and no conductor. The commuters will have to pay at the end of the journey.

It is important that the few passengers we see in buses today, follow rules whether there is a conductor or not. Maintain social distance in the bus, even if there is no conductor to enforce this.

Adults must know that the distancing is mandated for their safety and the security of their family too, so one surely does not and should not need somebody literally telling them to observe social distancing.

Ride in the bus wearing a mask, and do not slip it off your face or hang it around the neck during the journey. Do get on at the proper stop and follow correct etiquette even while alighting. Do pay the correct fare for the journey you took.

We must recognise that this is special, though necessary, service for workers and those providing essential services, thus necessitating commuting during these times.

The report also cited a BEST Kamghar Sanghatna official opposed to keeping conductors out, saying this was a ruse to start one-man operations amid Coronavirus.

Dialogue must ensure that there is transparency and talks within the Undertaking which is facing so many challenges — Coronavirus or not. May all do the BEST for Mumbai.

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