Ivanka praises migrant Bihar girl who cycled father 1,200 km to home in Bihar

WASHINGTON, May 22: Ivanka Trump, US president Donald Trump’s daughter, described the feat of an Indian girl cycling 1,200 km with her wounded father to get home under lockdown as a “beautiful feat of endurance and love”.

“15 yr old Jyoti Kumari, carried her wounded father to their home village on the back of her bicycle covering +1,200 km over 7 days. This beautiful feat of endurance & love has captured the imagination of the Indian people and the cycling federation,” Ivanka, Advisor to the US president, tweeted.

Bihar girl who cycled 1,200km carrying injured father offered trial
Stuck in Gurugram due to lockdown, a tenacious Jyoti Kumari asked her father to sit on the rear side carrier of her cycle and took him to his native place, covering 1,200km in seven days

The cycling federation will invite Jyoti Kumari, 15, to appear for a trial next month, impressed with the doggedness with which she pedalled her way to Bihar from Gurugram, carrying her ailing father.

With her father Mohan Paswan riding pillion, Jyoti cycled for seven days, covering 1,200 km to get to Bihar’s Darbhanga.

Presently, the father-daughter duo is at a quarantine centre near their village Sirhulli under Singhwara block of the district.

Paswan, driven to penury following an accident a few months ago, said his landlord gave him an ultimatum to either pay the rent that was due for a few months, or leave.

“I succeeded in buying time on a couple of occasions. I promised him that I would take up whatever job I could land once the lockdown was lifted, earn money and pay all his dues. We were so hard pressed that I had to discontinue my medicines so that we could afford one square meal a day. How could we have arranged money for rent?” he said.

As the lockdown kept getting extended, the threats of the landlord kept getting more severe, he said.

It was then that Jyoti was looking after her father in Gurugram while her mother was taking care of her four younger siblings back in the village while working as an Aanganwadi worker.

“Amid the gloomy situation, Jyoti suggested that we return home. I pointed out that we would not be able to find any trains or buses soon and my condition would not allow me to walk. She said we should get a bicycle,” said Paswan.

Despite attempts to dissuade the daughter, the duo was soon on the road.

The father smiled with a hint of pride when asked about her daughter being compared in the local media to the character of Shravan Kumar from the epic Ramayana, who took his old and frail parents on a long pilgrimage with his mother and father seated in baskets hanging at the ends of a pole he carried on his shoulders.

“She is indeed my Shravan Kumar. The journey back home has been nothing short of a pilgrimage. Having arrived feels like salvation,” Paswan said.

Manvinder Singh Ranauta , Guru Randhawa Figure In The Sikh 100 Under 30 List

By Deepak Arora

LONDON, May 4:

Chandigarh-based Manvinder Singh Ranauta, founder and CEO of Buffet Punjab, has been named in the first-edition of the prestigious The Sikh 100 under 30 list.

The 2020 list includes several other eminent persons such as Guru Randhawa, Ammy Virk, Sidhu Moosewala, Sonam Bajwa and Jass Manak.

The youngest Sikh profiled is Arshnoor Singh Ji, who is just 10 years old and has been fond of Kirtan from a very young age and now travels the country inspiring children to follow in his footsteps and embrace the Sikh faith, according to Navdeep Singh, founder of the UK-based NGO ‘The Sikh Group’.

As with any project we undertake, Navdeep Singh said “a lot of time and research has gone into producing the first list of Sikhs under 30. There are currently 26 million Sikhs worldwide and if we say half are under the age of 30, out of 13 million Sikhs it is a tremendous honor for anyone to be included.”

Just like The Sikh 100, which was first released in 2012, Navdeep Singh said The Sikh 100 under 30 will annually profile 100 Sikhs traversing all sectors, including business, education, politics, media, entertainment, sport and charity.

Navdeep Singh, founder of ‘The Sikh Group’, a global organization which consists of ‘The Sikh Directory,’ ‘The Sikh Awards,’ ‘The Sikh Charity,’ and ‘The Sikh 100,’ said “The Sikh Group is growing from strength to strength each year, highlighting Sikh excellence throughout the world via our various projects.

One of the main aims of this venture is to share the inspirational and real life success stories of individuals from around the world, to encourage future generations to aim high.

In response to public demand The Sikh Group has today released its first edition of The Sikh 100 under 30.

“We have profiled 100 inspirational individuals who continue to contribute immensely to the social, cultural and economic fabric of today’s global village,” added Navdeep Singh.

Manvinder, who has done Masters in International Business from Coventry University UK, has been passionately popularizing his baby “Buffet Punjab”.

While studying in the UK, he felt there was a huge gap between the Indian foods Market. So he came up with an idea of a buffet restaurant whose kitchen would run on curries made from a centralized kitchen in India and will be shipped throughout the globe. He wanted to make sure that this new concept of restaurant has the same taste throughout and can be run by locally trained staff without any exclusive chef, making it convenient for the franchises to set it up anywhere.

He has introduced a concept based restaurant with a specialty in north Indian cuisine. It’s the perfect fusion of everything. Manvinder's style quotient is as extravagant as the person he is in real life. He is an intelligent, self motivated, full of life and explicit young entrepreneur. His strong business skills and fondness for food makes Manvinder ambitious, with an entrepreneurial bent of mind and love for food brings the idea of Buffet Punjab.

Manvinder is passionate about ensuring that the journey of Buffet Punjab which he started in the year 2018 for each guest is a memorable one. As of now with the love of each guest Manvinder has opened three outlets and 20 more are in the pipeline.

Paulo Coelho lauds Shah Rukh Khan for producing Kaamyaab

NEW DELHI, May 6: Acclaimed writer Paulo Coelho wrote a tweet of appreciation for Shah Rukh Khan after watching his production, Kaamyaab. The film, starring Sanjay Mishra in the lead, is about a character actor who never gets his due in the film industry.

“The producers thank you in the very 1st frame, @iamsrk . I am doing the same. 2 days ago a great Brazilian actor , Flavio Migliaccio, committed suicide, leaving a note on how the industry treats their artists. This movie, labeled as “comedy”, is in fact the tragedy of Art,” Coelho wrote in his tweet. Migliaccio died on May 4 in an apparent suicide. He left a letter addressed to his family in which he talked about throwing away 85 years of his life for the country.

Replying to his tweet, Shah Rukh wrote, “Saw the film when it was doing Festival rounds and it touched a chord with the whole team at @RedChilliesEnt Am so moved you appreciate. It’s a sad truth that character actors get forgotten. Look after yourself my friend and be safe & healthy.”

Directed by Hardik Mehta, Kaamyaab throws light on the struggle of the ‘extras’ or the side actors in the Indian cinema; it also stars Deepak Dobriyal in a pivotal role.Talking about getting support form Shah Rukh, Sanjay had said in an interview, “The budget of Kaamyaab is lower than the cost of vanity vans parked on the sets of big budget films. Shah Rukh lives in people’s hearts and the level of energy he brings to the table is unrivaled.”

“I’m getting appreciation from every corner. It is like climbing the steps of a ladder. Now, I feel I have reached a prominent position in my career. Earlier, people could have pushed me off the ladder but abhi maine khamba pakad liya hai (now I am firmly holding on to a poll), boss! People have liked the trailer of the film and the media has given a standing ovation to the film. That’s not regular scene for me so, it feels really nice,” Mishra told IANS. The film released on March 6.

Delhi schools to observe summer vacation from May 11

NEW DELHI, May 6: The Delhi government has announced summer vacation in schools run and aided by the government from May 11 to June 30, officials said on Wednesday.

The government has also clarified that students will not be called to schools for any vacation-related activity in view of the COVID-19 situation.

“Due to ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the teaching and learning activities in the schools have been suspended since March 23. The lockdown has further extended upto May 17.

“The summer vacations in government and government aided schools shall be observed from May 11 to June 30. However, keeping in view the COVID-19 pandemic, students shall not be called to schools for any teaching learning activity during summer vacation,” a senior official of the Directorate of Education (DoE) said.

It’s magical, whether he is there or not there, says Irrfan Khan’s wife Sutapa in moving note

MUMBAI, May 1: Irrfan Khan’s wife Sutapa Sikdar has finally opened up the journey of her husband over the last two-and-a-half years as he battled neuroendocrine tumour with determination. Irrfan died on Wednesday and left millions across the globe grieving.

Sutapa shared a statement on the behalf of her two sons -- Ayan and Babil -- and herself but said she cannot Irrfan’s death a ‘persona loss’ as so many mourn with them. The statement comes hours after she posted a picture with Irrfan with a moving caption.

Sutapa’s statement read:

“How can I write this as a family statement when the whole world is taking it as a personal loss? How can I begin to feel alone when millions are grieving with us at the moment? I want to assure everyone that this is not a loss, it is a gain. It’s a gain of the things he taught us, and now we shall finally begin to truly implement it and evolve. Yet I want to try to fill in the things that people don’t already know.

It’s unbelievable for us but I would put it in Irrfan’s words, “it’s magical” whether he is there or not there, and that’s what he loved, he never loved one dimensional reality. The only thing I have a grudge against him is; he has spoiled me for life. His strive for perfection doesn’t let me settle for ordinary in any thing. There was a rhythm which he always saw in everything, even in cacophony and chaos, so I have learnt to sing and dance to the music of that rhythm, even with my tone-deaf voice and two left feet. Funnily, our life was a masterclass in acting, so when the dramatic entry of the “uninvited guests” happened, I had by then learnt, to see a harmony in the cacophony. The doctor’s reports were like scripts which I wanted to perfect, so I never miss any detail that he sought for in his performance. We met some amazing people in this journey and the list is endless, but there are some whom I have to mention, our oncologist Dr. Nitesh Rohtogi (Max hospital Saket) who held our hand in the beginning, Dr. Dan Krell (UK), Dr. Shidravi (UK), my heartbeat and my lantern in the dark Dr. Sevanti Limaye (Kokilaben hospital). It’s difficult to explain what a wondrous, beautiful, overwhelming, painful and exciting this journey has been. I find this 2 and 1/2 years to have been an interlude, which had it’s own beginning, middle and culmination with Irrfan helming the role of the orchestra conductor, separate from the 35 years of our companionship, ours was not a marriage, it was a union. I see my little family, in a boat, with both my sons Babil and Ayaan, paddling it forward, with Irrfan guiding them “wahan nahi, yahan se modo” but since life is not cinema and there are no retakes, I sincerely wish my children sail this boat safely with their father’s guidance in mind and rockabye through the storm. I asked my children, if possible, they could sum up a lesson taught by their father that has been important to them;

Babil: ’Learn to surrender to the dance of uncertainty and trust your faith in the universe”

Ayaan: “Learn to control your mind and to not let it control you.”

Tears will flow as we will plant a raat ki rani tree, his favourite, to the place where you have put him to rest after a victorious journey. It takes time but it will bloom and the fragrance will spread and touch all the souls whom I won’t call them fans but family for years to come.”

Hrithik Roshan thanks Rishi Kapoor for ‘ridiculous, blatant’ honesty

MUMBAI, May 1: Actor Hrithik Roshan has shared a long and heartfelt note on the death of his beloved ‘Chintu uncle’, veteran Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor. In the note, Hrithik talked about how Rishi would call him after watching his films and compliment or criticise him.

“Even your love had so much energy that I had to stand at attention every time you called. .I don’t think I have ever in my life been able to continue sitting down when you spoke to me . Everytime dad called and said “chintu uncle just saw your movie and he is calling you “, I used to get up, heart palpitating and start walking around in the room, preparing myself for the deluge of love and reprimand mixed so genuinely together in your own inimitable way that it was difficult for an observer to distinguish which was which. You gave me strength at my weakest moments. It felt so god damn amazing to think that Rishi Kapoor liked my work. That It made me believe in myself,” Hrithik wrote in an Instagram post and shared an old picture with the veteran actor and Neetu Singh.

“Thank you for every time you picked up the phone and took the effort , thank you for repeatedly pointing out my mistakes , thank you for that consistent support and encouragement chintu uncle, there will never be any actor or human like you. Thank you for being my childhood , for literally shouting out loud into my ear drums about the importance of hard work. And for being so blatantly and ridiculously honest that it made me believe every single word you ever said . I and the world and everyone you touched and inspired is going to miss you. So so much,” he added.

Earlier, Hrithik’s father Rakesh Roshan had also written about losing his friend of 44 years in a piece for Hindustan Times. “Even now, when I think about it, his passing away is something I still can’t believe in. This loss is irreparable – as a human being as well as an artiste. I know that it’s an irreversible situation but I am still in a lot of pain talking and thinking about Chintu. He was a very dear friend and like a brother to me,” he wrote.

Rishi died on Thursday morning after a two-year battle with leukaemia, his family said in a statement. In September 2019, the veteran actor returned to Mumbai after undergoing cancer treatment in New York for almost a year.

FWICE protests as ‘unethical’ video of Rishi Kapoor from ICU leaks online

NEW DELHI, May 1: Film body, Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) has raised protest against the H N Reliance hospital. The association is upset after video of late actor Rishi Kapoor, shot while he was admitted to the hospital’s ICU, was leaked online.

Indian Film & Television Directors’ Association (IFTDA) president and filmmaker Ashoke Pandit called the video unethical and wrote, “@fwice_mum raises protest over viral video of #RishiKapoor ji in ICU at HN hospital.The video is unethical -without permission &violates fundamental right to live with dignity-privacy of a legend who lived a glorious & dignified life& loved ,regarded , held in high esteem by all.”

The attached letter from FWICE refers to the ‘clandestine video footage of dying moments of late Mr. Rishi Kapoor ji’ and how it was ‘repetition of a similar incident of video footage of dying moment of Mr. Vinod Khanna.’

“We have come across a video footage being widely circulated on WhatsApp on 30.4.2020. The video footage appears to be taken inside the ICU of your hospital where the legendary artist Mr. Rishi Kapoor was hospitalised on 29.4.2020 and died on 30.4.2020 at 8.45 am,” the letter read.

“The video footage also shows an attending nurse with the patient in the ICU. The Video footage leaves no element of doubt that it has been taken in a clandestine manner without the permission of the patient or his family members,” it added.

“The video footage of Rishi Kapoor would show that the ethical medical practices have not been followed and have in fact been compromised and the administration of the hospital is not being carried out in a proper manner,” FWICE wrote in the letter.

“We therefore request you to immediately initiate an in-depth enquiry to ascertain as to how such incident has happened in your hospital and to fix responsibility and to initiate strict action. The aforesaid enquiry be completed in 15 days with intimation in writing to us about the action taken. We hereby convey that should you not take any action as requested we shall be forced to take suitable legal action as we may be advised,” it added.

The management at the hospital issued a statement on Friday saying they would investigate the leak and circulation of videos featuring the actor. A Facebook post on the hospital’s official page reads: “A message from Sir H.N. Reliance Foundation Hospital’s management. #RespectForLife.

“It has come to our attention that a video of one of our patients is surfacing on digital media platforms. At Sir H.N. Reliance Foundation Hospital, patient confidentiality and privacy is of utmost importance to us and we strongly condemn such actions. The hospital management is investigating the incident and strict action will be taken against the perpetrators.”

Kapoor died at the age of 67 on Thursday morning after a two year long battle with leukaemia at the hospital. His funeral was attended by friends and family members including his son Ranbir Kapoor and wife Neetu Kapoor.