Category: Arts, Culture & Entertainment

** Chennai’s Chef Damu gets a lifetime achievement award in London

Chef Damu is the first recipient of the prestigious award instituted by World Tamil Organisation, U.K.

Chef K. Damodaran, affectionately known as Chef Damu, is characteristically warm and chatty, despite being in a London taxi en route to the airport.

On his way home to Chennai, undeterred by airport lounges and transfers, the popular TV show host and cook book author, enthusiastically chats on the phone about his latest triumph: The Culinary Legend Lifetime Achievement Award at the Global Food, Hospitality and Tourism Achievements Award 2021.

** Sonal Ved: Indian food’s origin stories

Her book, ‘Whose Samosa is it Anyway?’, tracks down our cuisine’s early influencers

When author-journalist Sonal Ved gave us the award-winning Tiffin three years ago, it was a celebration of regional cuisine with recipes selected by local culinary experts, including wedding caterers.

But with Whose Samosa is it Anyway? she traces the influences behind many of our modern Indian dishes.

** Back from Canada gallery, 18th Century Annapurna idol to be returned to Kashi

An ancient idol of Goddess Annapurna, brought back to India after over a century from Canada, would begin an over 800 km journey from Delhi on November 11 for its original location — the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, where it is scheduled to be placed on November 15, said Minister for Tourism, Culture and DoNER G Kishan Reddy. The five-day ‘Shobha Yatra’ will see Uttar Pradesh ministers accompany the idol, which was received by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on October 5.

In Lucknow, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said in-charge ministers of each district on the idol’s route will accompany the yatra in that district. The ASI will ascertain security arrangements at the idol’s original location before handing it to temple trustees.

** First Dimasa language movie to open Indian Panorama at IFFI

 During the nine-day-long 52nd International Film Festival of India (IFFI) at Goa, 25 Indian language feature films will be screened as part of Indian Panorama. 

The jury has picked films for screening from a wide pool of 221 contemporary Indian films.

** Ganga most visited pilgrim site in world, attracts over 2 crore people every year, says Union Minister

Union Tourism and Culture Minister G.Kishan Reddy on Tuesday said Ganga is the most visited pilgrim site in the world and over 2 crore people come to pay their respect every year to it.

“Hinduism teaches that Ganga is not just a river for bathing, it is a sacred river that is why cleaning it is our prime responsibility. People should make it a custom to keep Ganga clean,” he said at the Ganga Utsav.

** Indian-origin Hollywood actor Kal Penn comes out as gay; engaged to longtime boyfriend

Actor and comedian Kal Penn has come out as gay and has also stated that he is engaged to his partner Josh. The couple has been together for 11 years and is planning on a grand wedding soon.

Penn, known for his role portraying Lawrence Kutner on the hit television program House, as well as the character Kumar Patel in the Harold & Kumar film series, shared his story during an interview with CBS Sunday Morning programme on which he was promoting his new memoir, “You Can’t Be Serious”

** Railway, I&B ministries launch one-stop permission website to ease process of filming on trains

This website aims to make the process of getting permission to film across railways premises more efficient.

In a first, to ease the process of shooting a film on trains or at railway stations, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s Film Facilitation Office (FFO) and the Ministry of Railways have collaborated to create a ‘single window filming mechanism’.

This website aims to make the process of getting permission to film across railways premises more efficient.

** National Mission for Clean Ganga gets registered in Guinness Book of World Records

The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) got registered in the Guinness Book of World Records on the first day of the Ganga Utsav — the River Festival 2021 for the highest number of photos of handwritten notes uploaded on Facebook in an hour.

Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat posted his message on the Ganga on Facebook, after which the Guinness activity was opened for the public at large.