LIFESTYLE & LEISURE


IANS 11 November 2020
Now content providers such as Netflix and Amazon Prime are under the ambit of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, through an order. Online news portals have too been brought under it.   The notification, which was signed by President Ram Nath Kovind, was issued on...

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I was looking back at a foreign company that had started in India in the 1960s. It had a few well-known brands, but had only a notional presence in India. It was keen to come into the country in a big way. It was careful to select an outstanding executive to be their first chief executive...

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SUGANDHA RAWAL (IANS) 06 November 2020
Cinema halls have reopened after the pandemic, but exhibitors say they are struggling to bounce back in business.   Lack of new content, missing magic of big Bollywood entertainers and fear of the virus have all led people to avoid the cinematic experience, forcing theatre-owners run...

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Many years ago, I was presented with a signed and autographed copy of SCAM 1992, and it was read from end to end by many at our office, also because our little infotech company was moving into the financial business domain. The fraud prevention part. Sucheta Dalal and Debashis Basu's book ...

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When we now watch television, or read the papers and see the photographs, we can only have pity for the victims of our 'mad media crowds.' So many of them, armed with high-tech cameras, crowding around Rhea Chakraborrty, trying to get a snap shot – a better one than other photographers in the...

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IANS 28 October 2020
The lockdown due to coronavirus affected everyone's livelihood significantly. The lockdown has adversely affected the future of circuses as there is no audience for the shows. Many circus operators don't even have money to recharge their phones.   Clowns, who bring smiles to many...

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What happens when a will, registered or otherwise, an intestate demise (where there is no will), or a combination of factors causes a family to come apart over differences in the resolution of a person’s estate because mutual cooperation becomes impossible? Even when the legatees,...

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Keith Roy, who was an ICS officer with the government of India, quit the service in 1947 and joined the private sector, as personnel director of Glaxo India – the largest pharma company in the country at that time. An impressive personality he was – tall, fair and handsome, the product of a...

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IANS 16 October 2020
In a delight for music lovers, Google has announced a new capability where you can hum, whistle or sing a melody to find out the song that has been stuck in your head -- no lyrics, artist name or perfect pitch required.   On your mobile device, open the latest version of the Google...

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Some years after training as management trainee, I was appointed a sales executive at the head office, Glaxo, Bombay. I had enjoyed my time as a salesman for nearly two years, in areas as far flung as Belgaum/Bijapur, Saugar and Bhatinda. In Bijapur, among other things, I had learnt to live...

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A new column by marketing whiz Walter Vieira   Just at the beginning of the 'Corvid era,' Moneylife reported that the brihanMumbai municipal corporation (BMC) was going to buy a large quantity of face masks at a price over 10 times the market price for the same masks. And this was...

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IANS 06 October 2020
The Health Ministry on Tuesday issued the standard operating procedures (SOP) on preventive measures to contain the spread of Coronavirus during ensuing festivities and urged people in containment zones, and vulnerable populations to celebrate festivals at their homes.   "Festive...

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One of the major fallouts of the Sushant Singh Rajput (SSR) case is the sudden interest in legalising/decriminalising consumption of a small list of psychotropic substances in the country.   The timing of the debate may have had Bollywood origins, but the economics of the debate has a...

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IANS 02 October 2020
On the 151st anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on Friday, OTT platforms have laid out a spread of binge-worthy options based on the Father of the Nation.   IANS lists a few lesser-known films on Gandhi, whose teachings, practice of non-violence, and significant contribution towards...

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A new column by marketing whiz Walter Vieira   There was an article written recently by Jayanta Roy, in Speaking Tree, a supplement of the Times of India, Mumbai. This article really made me think back to my 50-year career in the corporate world, where I have seen that adherence to...

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A new fortnightly column by marketing whiz Walter Vieira   My second interview in the 1960s was with Glaxo Laboratories. At that time, it was the largest pharmaceuticals company in India. They were selecting management trainees. Some 40 selected colleges in India were asked to send...

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IANS 12 September 2020
Global populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish have suffered an average two-thirds' decline in less than half a century. This has contributed to environmental degradation, leading to the emergence of zoonotic diseases such as Covid-19, according to WWF's Living Planet...

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The Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has barred Muthoot Fincorp Ltd from showing its campaign 'Restart India’ for depicting wrong use of facemask during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. On 31 July 2020, I had filed a complaint to ASCI...

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Elizabeth Weil (ProPublica) 10 September 2020
Record high temperatures. Record fires. Record smoke. ProPublica reporter Elizabeth Weil spoke to former California Gov. Jerry Brown about the state’s converging apocalypses.   Two weeks ago, after freak lightning strikes torched Northern California but before the inferno of Labor Day...

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A new fortnightly column by marketing whiz Walter Vieira   It was Peter Drucker who set the example. By writing an interesting and immensely readable book, titled “My Times, Others’ Lives”. So, when Debashis Basu, the editor of MoneyLife and I were swapping stories one evening, he...

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