Diet Sabya, the new fashion police is looking out for blatant plagiarism by Indian fashion designers. They are unlike the usual patrolling done on Bollywood celebrities for not dressing up to the mark Is surfing the internet before we take on any creative task, a norm now? For the times, we want a ‘unique’ birthday […]

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Every city has its “official” street food. Mumbai has vada pao and bhel. Bangalore, its Bisi Bele Bath and set dosae, Kolkata’s, jhal muri and ghughni, and Chennai’s tiffin. Then there’s Ahmedabad’s khakra and other farsan, Patna’s litti chokha and Jaipur’s onion kachori. What is the official street food of NCR? Kulcha matar? Chhole bhature? […]

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India may be dealing with Pakistan less as a policy imperative and more as a pathology. It is entirely possible that the policy is to not have a policy. If Modi’s approach on Pakistan survives after him, it will be a success Although Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s detractors have persisted with the canard that he […]

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From Manika to Saina, women led the way at CWG. Women are clearly making their mark in the international sporting arena Traditionally, India’s sporting history has always been male dominated. Fortunately, the emergence of few star female players in the last few years has signalled a major shift in this sphere. Gold Coast 2018 was no different.  The recently concluded Commonwealth Games held from April 4 to 15 in Australia have once again proved that woman power is lightning up stadiums. Fifty per cent of all golds won by India were brought in by our female athletes. And mind it, all these medals have come from quite diverse sports, indicating emergence of great female domination across categories.  Out of the total number of 66 medals won Down Under, it was women’s dominance which helped India clinch third spot, including 26 gold, 20 silver and 20 bronze. Notably, 31 (28 individual and three mixed team events) out of total 66 were our female athletes’ contribution, either individually or in a combined effort. In fact, if there was one single big superstar emerged out of CWG this time around, it was none other than Table Tennis’ new queen Manika Batra. She not only sent shock waves around table tennis world by beating world No. 4 world No. 4 Tianwei Feng twice during the campaign but contributed the most (two gold, one silver and a bronze) by an Indian athlete at Gold Coast. This has been India’s second-best performance at the Games, following their 101-medal haul at the 2010 Delhi edition. In fact, India ended up with two more medals than the last edition in 2014 Glasgow Games.   No equality   There are also naysayers who have arguments like “Men’s events are much tougher than the women’s one”.  Going by their logic, to offer equal number of medals — out of total 275 medals, 133 each for men and women while remaining nine for mixed team events — was a mistake because compared to boxer Mary Kom who was assured of a medal after winning just one bout by virtue of having just five contestants in the draw, her male colleagues had to win at least three bouts to earn a medal. Despite all these arguments, India’s golden girls like Saina Nehwal, Manu Bhaker, Manika Batra, Vinesh Phogat, MC Mary Kom, Tejaswini Sawant, Shreyasi Singh, Heena Sidhu, Punam Yadav, Sanjita Chanu and Mirabai Chanu took the sporting world by storm. In the end, India bagged most number of 16 medals in shooting, followed by the wrestlers (12), weightlifters (9), boxers (9), table tennis (8), badminton (6), athletics (3), squash (2) and para-power-lifting (1).     Lady luck   Had it not been for PV Sindhu’s silver or Sakshi Malik’s bronze in Rio, India would have fired blanks during the 2016 Olympic Games. This time around, men have caught up in big way. But then the role of women athletes can’t be discounted. In fact, TT ace Manika would be a top contender for the Indian athlete of the Games award because of what she has achieved for her country. In a game where Indian paddlers hardly have made any mark in the past, this 21-year-old triumphed over world No. 4 and multiple Olympic medallist, twice to say the least.  The 16-year-old shooter, Manu Bhaker, is another one to create a space for herself in the world of shooting by winning 10m air pistol gold with a Games record to boot. Such an achievement at such young age has compelled the pundits to gush that India may just have found its next Olympic champion after Abhinav Bindra.  Experienced 27-year-old Shreyasi Singh can’t be missed here because of her hunger to get onto the top of double trap event. After finishing outside the podium in 2010, Shreyasi managed silver at the 2014 Glasgow Games before now winning the coveted gold.  She is a perfect role model for new-age Indian women’s determination and perseverance along with boxing legend Mary Kom. Mother of three and winner of London Olympic bronze, Mary Kom’s never-say-die spirit was at its best during the CWG.  On the wrestling mat, Vinesh Phogat was the star of Indian campaign by winning gold in 50 kg freestyle event. India’s best bet Sakshi, however, suffered a setback and had to settle for bronze in the 69-kg category. Pooja Dhanda (57 kg) picked up silver along with Babita Phogat (53 kg) while Divya Kakran (68 kg) and Kiran notched a bronze each on their CWG debut.  The efforts of discus thrower Seema Punia, who won a silver in the discus throw, must be lauded here for her fourth successive CWG medal. In a power game where not many have lasted for this long, Seema still has the next Asian and Olympic Games in her sight. Last but not the least, it was a kind of rebirth for shuttler Saina by staging her most famous victory in recent times over her own country-mate PV Sindhu to win gold. There were question marks over Saina’s form after her return from injury post Rio Games. There is no denying that after her younger partner Sindhu overtook her […]

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TEAM PATRIOT BRINGS TO YOU THE CITY’S MOST HAPPENING EVENTS. TAKE A LOOK AND PLAN YOUR WEEK AHEAD Remembering Manna Dey What: ‘Zindagi kaisi hai paheli haye, Kabhi toh hasaye, kabhi yeh rulaye’… This alluring song from the famous film “Anand” reverberates in our mind even today. Bollywood’s legendary singer Manna Dey has immortalised many […]

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About a decade ago, a young mechanical engineer left his job to pursue his dream — to make a mark in the theatre scene in Delhi and to experiment with different genres. Now, Sunil Rawat is one of the founder-members of Saksham Theatre Group, which for the past nine years has been holding a theatre […]

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The culinary force behind the Kylin group is Executive Chef Lenam Lepcha. His culinary career truly began to flourish after completing his Hotel Restaurant Management degree from Siliguri Hotel School.  He worked in a variety of hospitality outlets ranging from hotels to restaurants, absorbing nuances and specialties of ethnic cuisine, particularly Pan Asian. Chef Lenam’s […]

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Confessions of a broken heart, in a haze of alcohol and tumbling memories that refuse to go away even in the cold harsh light of day It’s 2 am on Thursday. I wake up with a terrible headache, courtesy of all the drinking of the past few days. It has started to rain, crazy mid-November […]

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