DELHI
Zubin Mehta is history. It is A R Rahman now. The acclaimed Oscar-winning musician, composer and singer has wished to perform in Kashmir but only if the Kashmiris want him to. Though he has recorded in Kashmir in past but he wants to have a public show. “I would perform there if an opportunity arose but only if the Kashmiri people want me to, not at the cost of controversy,” Rahman has stated. Any embassy there. Germans did it already.
SRINAGAR
In the state Academy of Art and Culture’s Annual Theatre Festival, it was Shafia who won the Best Actor (female) and Farooq Sheikh who was adjudged the best male actor. They had performed in plays Rath Vandai Malinyo and Gopali and Zohra. The Best Director award was won by Ayash Arif for Rath Vandai Malinyo as Reshi Rashid gpt the second slot for Phir Thur. The theatre festival revived by Khalid Bashir was held in June last. The awards were given by Principal secretary Atul Dullo and DD Jammu boss Shabir Mujahid.
PUNE
Central Bee Research and Training Institute at Pune is working to create a super bee and the researchers are keen to create a hybrid between the North Indian species with the bets honey producing bees from south. Kashmir bee is considered the best, fatter and healthier. But the problem is that all earlier experiments have failed for climatic reasons. Now plans are afoot to take a colony from Kashmir, help it acclimatize to different climates and finally reach the laboratory in Pune. Let us see what happens to the experiment in fourth year. The idea is to have a species that has better lifespan and more capacity to collect nectar.
LONDON
This impressive piece of theatre triggered immense interest in India where it was staged at a few places. Now The Djinns of Eidgah, scripted by Abhishek Majumdar was played at the Royal Court and it set the theatre world literally ablaze. It was termed to be highly political, educative and ruthlessly harrowing as it brought to light the turbulent situation in Kashmir and the inability of both sides to escape its relentless violence. Set against the backdrop of the Kashmir dispute, the play centres around Bilal and Ashrafi, siblings orphaned by conflict.
DELHI
They shouted that they will get the former army chief in the assembly and make him to explain the allegation of army paying money to the unionist politicians. That might wait but Speaker Mubarak Gul has issued a show cause notice to General V K Singh. He was acting on the breach of privilege motion that 15 lawmakers had moved and within 20 days he will have to explain his position. The notice was issued on the eve of Dubar move’s last functional day in Srinagar. Over to Jammu!
URI
Now it is the turn of south. For full four days from October 14 to 18, a group of Marathi actresses performed at the LoC in Kashmir, entertaining soldiers. This was for the first time in last more than two decades when eight noted Marathi film actresses comprising Hemangi Kavi, Amruta Khanvilkar, Megha Ghadge, Teja Deokar, Smita Shevale, Neha Pendse, Puja Sawant and Nutan Jayant flew to Kashmir and performed for the soldiers near the LoC. It was the initiative of filmmaker Mahesh Tilekar. The actresses interacted with the soldiers in Baramulla and Uri.
SAMBA
It took Home Minister Sunilkumar Shinde a bit of time to understand why his host Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was not wearing the hat that BSF 68 Bn officers presented to both of them at the start of the function. Omar wore it a bit but asserted it did not fit him. Shinde had flown to Jammu to oversee the security situation in wake of shelling exchanges between rival armies on borders and LoC. Omar had initially suggested that Delhi must respond in kind to Pakistan as it is not adhering to the ceasefire of 2003. He mellowed down on his stand and spoke of peace at Tangdar after Shinde had cooled the tempers.
Of the 393 injured civilians that SKIMS received in 2010 unrest, 157 (39.94%) had head injuries; 131 (33.33%) had limb injuries; 28 (7.12%) had chest injuries; 24 (6.10%) had abdominal injuries; and 43(10.94%) had multisystem injuries.
Against the requirement of 56000000 kgs mutton, J&K imported 24800000 kgs in 2012-13.
