Track and field
A railway flagman on a service track near Ram Mandir Station
Will Australia settle through its Shield?
No, Australia doesn’t provide a shining example of a perfect Test cricket setup. The Ashes start in Perth on November 21, but they haven’t settled on their opening batsmen for the big-ticket event.
Australia’s under-pressure opener Usman Khawaja. Pic/Getty Images
An unsettled team is just what England would want to face as they look to win the urn on Australian soil for the first time since 2010-11. That’s 15 years ago by the way! Doubtless, England’s pace stalwarts Jofra Archer and Mark Wood will be raring to go on the bouncy Perth strip. Usman Khawaja, 38, who opened with the discarded Sam Konstas in Australia’s last Test series against the West Indies, has one century to show in his last 41 Test innings.
However, unlike India, Australia have given domestic cricket the importance it merits. Trying his best to sound optimistic chief selector George Bailey said: “I think 14 out of the 15 will play in the next round of Sheffield Shield matches so we can gather more information from that before choosing the final XI.” Can you imagine India’s Test squad involved in the Ranji Trophy before a Test series? It’s going to be a well-contested Ashes series, say the pundits. But it won’t be great for Australia if they don’t get good, solid starts.
‘Journalists still exist?’
Media matters – still. REPRESENTATIONAL PIC/ISTOCK
Last week, at a dinner in Versova, the air thick with chatter and the sea close enough to taste, when this diarist’ was introduced to fellow diners, the questions flew: “Journalists still exist?” We were quizzed about the death of print, disbelief that ink still runs, and more. It’s good to remember that words still matter, that stories still find their way, whether in a newspaper or across a dinner table. By the end of the evening, we realised that even in the supposed death of journalism, we’re still trusted to be the voice of reason. And so we must listen, really listen, even when the recorder’s off.
Drop it to the folk core!
The album cover
Delhi-based electronica duo Tech Panda x Kenzani are back with their latest dancefloor banger, ‘Jija’, released on October 31. Known for their signature folktronica sound, the duo once again blend Punjabi folk with slick electronic production. This time reimagining the classic gidda tune ‘Jeeja Kalrha Kyun Aaya’. “We’ve grown up listening to this song, and it evokes a certain emotional response that we wanted our production to incite as well,” says Kenzani. The result? A nostalgic yet euphoric track that’s equally at home at wedding sangeets and festival stages. After touring the world from Australia to Germany, Tech Panda x Kenzani return to their roots with a beat that builds, blooms, and explodes into pure joy. Jija, streaming now, proves once again that Indian folk and global electronica make a killer combo.
From book to ballet
A still from the ballet
You have probably heard of Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy’s stirring tale of love, sacrifice and forbidden passion. Ace Russian choreographer Boris Eifman has taken the classic to another realm with his ballet, set to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s mesmerising music. It’s coming to the NCPA next month in the premier of its India tour, and we have a suggestion. It’s usually a better theatre or cinema experience if you have read the work that the production is based on. In this case, it’s Tolstoy so there is every reason to find out that “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,” in the famous opening words of the novel. You can read the novel from the OG free e-books site, Project Gutenberg (www.gutenberg.org/files/1399/1399-h/1399-h.htm) either downloaded or directly online. Anna Karenina is on December 8, 9, and 10, 7pm at the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, NCPA at Nariman Point. The box office is already open, so we strongly recommend you make a rush for your seats. And start reading!
Green message with a difference
Verdant and wise
Call it the “lawn” of a new era, or dawn actually. In an innovative way of commemorating 150 years of the national song Vande Mataram, the Garden Department of R Central Ward mowed “Vande Mataram” on the ground at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s Pramod Mahajan Manoranjan Maidan in Chikuwadi, Borivli West. Assistant Superintendent of Gardens Janardan Mane said, “This took approximately two days and was done with a lawn mower. The idea is to commemorate it in a green and pleasant way.” Here’s to history and health walking together.
