Category Archives: Arts, Culture & Entertainment

WORLD RECORDS : ARTS & CULTURE : Veteran Bengali Writer Amar Mitra Wins Coveted O. Henry Award for 1977 Story

Sahitya Akademi awardee Amar Mitra wrote the story  Gaonburo back in 1977, when he was only 26; today,

it has fetched him the 1919-founded O. Henry Award, whose past winners include William Faulkner, Saul Bellow and Raymond Carver.

The award has reinforced Mr. Mitra’s belief that the short story — titled Gaonburo in Bangla and The Old Man of Kusumpur in English — must have some “internal force” for even the Western audience to find it relevant after 45 long years.

The O. Henry Award is the only yearly award given to short stories of exceptional merit. The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories is an annual collection of the year’s twenty best stories published in U.S. and Canadian magazines, written in English.

source/content; thehindu.com (edited)

GLOBAL – GRAMMY AWARDS : ARTS & CULTURE : India’s Rickey Kej and Falguni Shah Win Big at 2022 Grammy Awards

Rickey Kej earned his second coveted gramophone trophy in the best new album category for Divine Tides. Falguni Shah, a New York-based Indian singer known by her stage name Falu, won her first Grammy Award for A Colorful World in the best children’s album category.

A Mumbai-born singer went to the US and made her career in music, while the other, born in the US, moved back to India, the country of his parents’ birth. The ‘crossover’ stars Falguni Shah and Rickey Kej have now won their respective Grammy Awards .

At the 64th Annual Grammy Awards held on Sunday night in Las Vegas, Kej earned his second coveted gramophone trophy in the best new album category for Divine Tides, his collaboration with The Police drummer Stewart Copeland.

Shah, a New York-based Indian singer known by her stage name Falu, won her first Grammy Award for A Colorful World in the best children’s album category.

source/content: indianexpress.com (edited)

INTERNATIONAL : Beulah Ruth Pinto Performs at EXPO 2020 Dubai

UAE Golden Visa nominee and the renowned English singer nicknamed as ‘The Queen of the Stage’  Beulah Pinto performs in EXPO 2020 on March 11.

Indian origin, Beulah’s performance witnesses a huge crowd at the Australian pavilion, incredible moments as audience members join in singing along with her and rejoicing in dancing.

On December 16, 2021 Beulah Ruth Pinto performed at the Fashion Show among national and international models at Fashion Week 2021 in Dubai at Arena IMG Worlds of Adventure and was organised to showcase the national and international designers sharing the stage at this unique event in Dubai.

source/content: daijiworld.com (edited)

ARTS & CULTURE : Irish Sanskrit Scholar, Rutger Kortenhorst Awarded Padma Shri

President Ramnath Kovind  presented Rutger Kortenhorst, a Sanskrit teacher at John Scottus Senior School in Dublin, Ireland, with the Padma Shri Award for Literature and Education.

Kortenhorst, a Sanskrit enthusiast and researcher, has been a pioneer in propagating Sanskrit in Ireland.

source/content: daijiworld.com

RECORDS : ARTS & CULTURE :Delhi University Professor Arun Kumar Jha Bags ‘World Poetry Award

This award was conferred on him in a high-powered linguistic discourse held on ‘Poetic Skills and Social Impacts of Poetry’ marking the occasion of ‘World Poetry Day ‘,which was held under the auspices of British Lingua, an institute of international repute for English language skills in New Delhi.

Notably, Prof AK Jha is the son of the freedom fighter and former Education Minister of Bihar Late Lokesh Nath Jha.

Prof Jha, who taught English Literature from 1974 to 2019 at the English Department of Sri Aurobindo College under the University of Delhi, is currently a practising advocate at the Supreme Court of India.

To his credit, he has the World Maiden Poetic Treatise on the Indian constitution in English and Hindi namely the ” People, the Constitution and its Pillars,  Reign of the People, and Jangan Samvidhan Ke Stambh in Hindi.

source/content: newindianexpress.com

INDIA’s PRESENCE OVERSEAS : ‘Green Triangle’ Named after Mahatma Gandhi Inaugurated in Madagascar’s Capital

As part of the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ to commemorate India’s 75th year of independence, a “Green Triangle” named after Mahatma Gandhi was jointly inaugurated in Madagascar’s capital Antananarivo.

Indian Ambassador Abhay Kumar said Gandh was the “greatest Pravasi’ who returned to India from South Africa, led India’s freedom struggle and changed lives of indians.

Mayor of Antananarivo Naina Andriantsitohaina and India’s Ambassador to Madagascar Abhay Kumar inaugurated the green space on Wednesday March 17th, at a special ceremony in Madagascar’s capital Antananarivo

source: thehindu.com

‘Medharam Jathara’ – Asia’s Largest Tribal Festival celebrated in Telangana. February 16th, 2022

The celebrations of the First Day of the auspicious and much-awaited biennial “Medaram Jathara” commenced on the 16th of February 2022 as the arrival of Saralamma on to the ‘Medaram Gaddhe’ (Platform) was undertaken by the Koya Tribe of Telangana.

Medaram Jatara is the second-largest fair of India, after the Kumbh Mela, celebrated by the second-largest Tribal Community of Telangana- the Koya tribe for four days.

As the largest tribal fair in Asia, Medaram Jathara is conducted in honour of the Goddesses Sammakka and Saralamma. It is celebrated once in two years in the month of ‘Magha’ (February) on the full moon day. Saralamma was the daughter of Sammakka. Her idol, according to the rituals, is installed in a temple at Kannepalli, a small village near Medaram.