Reflections of Passions

The Friiendless God Pic Courtesy: Goodreads  Book: The Friendless God Author: S. Anuradha Publishers: Moonlight Publications Pages: 350 There is little doubt that India is a country of myriad facets, where the ancient co-exists with the modern. "The Friendless God" is S. Anuradha's debut novel. The Singapore based journalist specialises  in equities. Set against the backdrop of the turbulent demolition of the Babri Masjid and the Ram Janmabhoomi in 1992 for the larger premise, the novel interestingly follows the parallel yet overlapping journeys of an atheist single mother Vaidehi, who is also a struggling Carnatic music exponent and her son Kodanda, who tries to befriend Rama, meets with resistance from his mother Vaidehi. In addition, the book follows the life of an orphan Raman, for whom Rama is a tool to scale ahead in life. It is within this framework that "The Friendless God" traces the lives of the three characters and their equations with the ...

The first Internet sensation of 2018 is here: Priya Prakash Varrier. Until last weekend, nobody knew the 18 year old actor from Kerala. In the run up to Valentine's Day on Wednesdsy, promoters of the Malayalam movie "Oru Adaar Love" uploaded a 3:16 minute video of the song " Manikya Malaraya Poovi " on YouTube. In the trailer, we can see Priya Varrier winking at her co-star which instantly catapulted her to what many believe she is the "national Valentine".  The clip features the song "Manikya Malaraya Poovi", with an ensemble cast playing uniformed school kids falling in love in seemingly soft-lit slow motion. Priya Varrier, in a bit that lasts for just 30 seconds, locks gazes with a boy, raises her eyebrows and even winks at him, thus flooring him and seemingly the country as well. On Wednesday evening, popular Hindi channel Aaj Tak fell prey to a parody tweet and aired a full debate around it. The tweet, issued by a parody and sa...