Musical soiree to remember
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/384547/musical-soiree-remember.html
Music is that magic potion
that lifts one’s mood, drives away the blues and infuses one with hope and desire to face all challenges with a smile.
Metrolife found itself drawn
in one such magical moment at the recently held Winter Fantasia, a music night
by Viva Divavos, a Delhi-based group of talented musicians, at Epicentre,
Gurgaon. Viva Divavos is the newest and most versatile ensemble group that sets
the crowd grooving with its Broadway, contemporary and light opera songs.
The group includes India’s best
known lyric/dramatic soprano Situ Singh Buehler who has sung in 11 languages
and specialises in many genres of vocal music as Oratorio, Lieder and Opera
arias.
Other lead singers include
Ashwati Parameshwar, Jyotsna Laroiya, Mezzo, Catherine Barbier Prakash, Prabhat
Chandola, Toshanbor Nongbet and Bhanu Sharma. Their superlative musical act
left the crowd asking for more.
The singers mesmerised their
fans with compositions such as Edith Piaf’s If you love me really love me,
Puccini’s Quando M’en Vo, O Mio babbino Caro apart from the other melodious
jazz numbers and solo performances. They set the hearts racing with their
musical prowess and the audience cheered, clapped and sang along with the band.
People from all walks of life gathered to enjoy the performances of the
music maestros.
One of the singers, Jyotsna
Laroiya spoke to Metrolife about her own singing passions and the musical
journey of the group. “We have been singing for a long time, but this group is
just a little old. Many singers were there who are actually good and can entertain
audience but a few of us came together and became a part of this show,” says
Jyotsna.
“I used to sing from my
college days in Bombay.
But then I left singing because I was not in the country for many years as I
was working with British Airways. But I am happy as I am again singing. Singing
is one of my passions and other is organising shows”, shares the singer.
Jyotsna feels that “People
should support western music. I want to tell all of you that so much can be
achieved through music. We again have a show on
February 8 at Baha’I House of Worship, Bahapur, Kalkaji,” says the
singer urging everyone to be part of her next musical event.
Living an animated life
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/384542/living-animated-life.html
When a teacher asked her
class, comprising seven to eight-year-olds about their hero, a boy said
‘Spider-Man’! In all eagerness to receive an applause, he got informed by his
teacher that Spider-Man didn’t exist. The child was
left “devastated”!
Jason Quinn, fondly referred
to as a graphic-novelist today, learnt reading more or less because he wanted
to read comics and today is a creator of superheroes. Currently working as
Campfire publication’s Creative Head, Jason has his fingers crossed for his
graphic novel Gandhi: My Life Is My Message . He
is nominated for Best Writer award at the upcoming 4th Annual Comic Con
India. “To get a nomination is great but
to win is even better,” says Jason. Ensconced in his office at Ashram, he holds
forth about his past, present
and future.
“My elder brother used to
read out a lot of American comics to me when I was
three. We used to source it from one of our lodgers who was an officer at the
US Air Force base,” recollects the British author who was
born in Liverpool and later brought up in Yorkshire and Leeds.
When he was a little older, he started buying comics by saving his pocket
money. “The Mighty World of Marvel was the first in my collection. I still remember the free T-shirt that I got with it and had the sticker of a superhero which
shone on being ironed.”
From the aisle of his childhood, Jason’s
memories relocate to his days at Drama Centre London. “I wanted to be an actor
but couldn’t understand my teacher who also guided Pierce Brosnan,” reveals the
author who found philosophical things “stupid at the age of 18.” His teacher
Yat Malmgram used to say, ‘A character is not good or bad, but like a sun which
can either nourish or burn you’. The place thus became a prison for me.”
Jason could not bear the
gruelling sessions and dropped out after a year and found his way to the post
of editor at Marvel Comics. “Occasionally, I feel it
would have been better if I had continued the
course as the school has produced many Hollywood
stars.”
Nevertheless, he continued to
implement what he learnt, “It was an amazing feeling to create superheroes and
I did end up working on Spider- Man eventually. When I set to writing a graphic novel on Steve Jobs, I adopted the technique of getting into the skin of the
character and took to Steve’s weird diets of apple which made me repel
non-vegetarian food ultimately!”
The offer to migrate to India, came at
a time when he was working on his graphic novel Gandhi... and he accepted the
opportunity with open arms.
“There is something new every
time you step out of the door here,” says Jason in context of Delhi. “It is an adventure to live here,
especially in Lajpat Nagar which is always abuzz with something. There is
always something odd, if you keep your eyes open,” he says while walking out of
his office to leave for home.
“I love the Afghani naan
available here and of course the momos and samosa with green chutney. I get aggressive if my colleagues gobble them up in my
absence,” he bursts into an animated laughter and bids goodbye.
Life in the world's most
polluted city
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/384552/life-world039s-most-polluted-city.html
One can quit smoking, give up
alcohol, exercise daily and even eat right to stay fit. But, what if one has to
give up breathing? Sounds scary?
At least the current scenario
is such that breathing is now fraught with many hazards. According to a recent
survey by the Yale University, it has emerged that the national capital,
Delhi is the world’s most polluted city beating Beijing.
Further according to the
report, Delhi’s air pollution is twice that of Beijing, which results in
the infamous smog that hangs low over the City for days. And this rising level
of pollution in the City seems to have so far been ignored by the government
agencies.
The report also says that Delhi’s air pollution levels have risen to an
alarming 44 per cent since last year and it is caused mainly due to vehicular
and industrial emissions. Alarmingly, a whopping 1, 400 vehicles are added to Delhi roads every day.
Citing the main cause for
pollution, environmentalist Govind Singh, says, “This situation is caused
mainly due to the increase in the number of vehicles in the City. People are
not working to reduce that but they are rather enhancing the infrastructure for
car owners like building flyovers. Government should improve the public
transport system so that people use them more often. Car pooling can be one
option for office goers if they want to avoid the public transport.”
“Also, the Delhi Ridge which
is known as the ‘green lungs’ is under threat due to degradation and
encroachment. The government doesn’t even know the boundary of the ridge area.
Then comes the policing on pollution certificates which are easily available
with the help of some cash,” adds Govind.
As per the report by the
university, on the green index, India
is worse than all the other BRICS nations – China,
Brazil, Russia and South Africa. India has also
been found to perform below the global average on biodiversity and habitat
protection. And India’s low
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and high population has been found to further
increase India’s
environmental challenges.
Anumita Roy Chaudhary,
executive director, research and advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment
(CSE), says, “The momentum of action on this issue is lost somewhere. Stringent
actions are missing by the government to curb this problem. We need a second
generation focused plan to check motorisation policy, parking policy,
congestion reduction policy and also work on the public transport system. Also,
the government should check the daily air quality and release a health advisory
every month depending on that report.”
If the data is alarming, so
are the health problems caused by pollution. About two in every five people in Delhi complain of
respiratory problems and this might just increase keeping in mind the current
scenario.
Dr Ratan Kumar Vaish, senior
consultant, respiratory, Rockland
Hospital, says,
“Pollution affect infants and elder people the most because their immunity is
less. Pollution can cause respiratory problems, it can harm the skin and eyes
too.
And people with breathing
issues should avoid heavy traffic and densely polluted areas. Even construction
sites can cause fungal infection. People having diabetics, kidney problems or
even HIV are the most vulnerable and pollution can be life threatening for
them.”