Goan nights with SRK

The last time wersquod interviewed him it happened to be in Goa Which is why when news came in that SRK would be gracing Goarsquos silly season with his presence on an extended outdoor location at the end of the year we could not help but recall the last time wersquod met him thereHersquod been brought down by a luxury watch company for a party to launch one of its latest products of which hersquod been brand ambassador The festivities were being conducted in a tiny and quaint old Portuguese bungalow in BogmaloAs part of the press detail wersquod been invited to interview the great man on the terrace of this establishment before the event Outside we could hear the ebb and flow of hysterical fans whorsquod gathered at the gate and on the beach when theyrsquod heard of his presence at the hotelWhat had struck us was that hersquod barely acknowledged the electric frisson in the air And later when hersquod sportingly agreed to play a game of volleyball at midnight hersquod done so with an athletersquos concentration despite the thronging cheering screaming crowdsHow will Goa receive SRK this time around Already fourfive prime waterfront bungalows have been booked to accommodate the stars and unit of the film Will SRK once again agree to engage sportingly in the beach resortrsquos celebrated nightlife adding a special thrill to the festive spirit One thingrsquos for sure Itrsquos going to be a starstudded New Yearrsquos in Goa this yearBirthday extravaganzaCan there be any thing more OTT than the invitation card to announce the birthday of Hyderabadrsquos T Subbarami Reddy the flamboyant industrialist politician film producer philanthropist and serial party host who appears to have outdone even himself with this latest exerciseT Subbarami Reddy and left the invitationThe generously illustrated missive featuring Reddy in all his spiritual magnificence informs that the gregarious Congressman and former MP will be felicitating lsquospiritual personalities and priests from scared shrines of Indiarsquo this Saturday in VishakhapatnamExpect topflight stars heavyduty politicos and sundry heavyweights in attendance And walltowall coverage the next dayFitting riposteldquoI felt compelled to write about it as I donrsquot think any one person should feel entitled to define what Indian culture is Culture in itself is and should be amorphousrdquo Isheta Salgaocar was explaining how she came to write what is being seen as one of the most fitting responses to our Minister of Culture Mahesh Sharma who last week evoked outrage over his attempt to define Indian cultureIsheta Salgaocar PicTwitterldquoA 14yearold girl wanting a night out maybe all right elsewhere but not in Indiardquo had said the blithe spirit with an alarming case of footinthemouthitusldquoI first read about his comments in the Huffington Post on Saturday and began a series of tweets with ldquodear culture ministerrdquo said Huffington Postrsquos editor at large an alumni of the Columbia School of Journalism who happens to be daughter of industrialist Raj Salgaocar and his cultural philanthropist wife Dipti herself the daughter of Indiarsquos iconic industrialist the late Dhirubhai AmbanildquoI then decided to write a letter to him as I also think that any argument is worth discussing and if it doesnrsquot stand up to rationality and logic then maybe itrsquos time to rethink the argumentrdquo she said ldquoIt is always easier to respect what is similar than what is differentrdquo shersquod said in a pointbypoint rebuttal that nimbly demolished Sharmarsquos regressive assumptions that Indian culture was predicated on such things as three generations of Indians cooking together in the same kitchenIncidentally Sharma whorsquod promised to elucidate on the subject with seven points has only so far offered five Asked what the two other points were hersquod said he would explain that later What might they be mdash a treatise on Chavanprash A paean to hamam baths The mind bogglesNew media partnersAnd whereas sources in Zee say theyrsquore still waiting for the contract to be signed and sealed other equally credible sources have told us that the CNNZee MOU is a done deal and is only awaiting public announcementSubhash Chandra Goel and Rajdeep SardesaiEver since the arrangement between the American TV conglomerate came unstuck with its Indian partner TV 18rsquos IBN18 Broadcast speculation has been rife about who the network would partner with That it has chosen Subhash Chandra Goelrsquos Zee ostensibly to strengthen its plans for the latterrsquos imminent English current affairs channel bodes well for the TV watching publicHowever one thing remains up in the air Who will be the face of such a channel After all CNNrsquos earlier a certain Mr Sardesai as we know is happily ensconced in India Todayrsquos electronic arm Will he be approached to do the honours again Of such things is Press Club lunchtime chatter composedAn ode to the typewriterldquoIn 2009 I came to know that Godrej mdash the market leader and the last of the Indian companies mdash was soon planning to discontinue manufacturing the manual typewriterrdquo said photojournalist Chirodeep Chaudhari whose book on the now antiquated machine is expected to be out by early 2016Chirodeep Chaudhari and Pheroza GodrejldquoThatrsquos when I got in touch with a friend who was heading Godrej Archives and requested if I could photograph the last machines as they rolled off the assembly linesrdquo he said about an idea that didnrsquot materialise but which led to Pheroza Godrej expressing a keenness to green light a book on manual typewriters a year laterldquoFor the next 3odd years we travelled across India searching and locating stories around the typewriters interviewing peoplerdquo said ChaudharildquoI photographed typists outside courts in many cities around the country and in Allahabad we found the last manufacturers of the typesrdquo said the photographer adding ldquotypewriters make for a great technology story or rather about the death of a technology a technology that just a decade back we seemed to take so much for grantedrdquoHe said ldquoI had remained so obsessed with typewriters for the past few years that I would find them everywhere as hotel decor and even on a matchbox label mdash a brand called Naya Typewriterrdquo