Tunir Biswas
-
Pints, professors, and packed houses: How Pint of View is turning bars into classrooms
On a typical evening at a bar, people gather to unwind. At a Pint of View (PoV) event, they gather to learn. The Bengaluru-based startup has built a growing community around an unusual proposition: academic lectures delivered in neighbourhood bars. From bat ecology and neuroscience to history, literature, and art, its events attract hundreds of…
-
‘This city has changed immensely for athletes’: Rahul Dravid on Bengaluru
Former player, captain of the Indian cricket team and currently its head coach, Rahul Dravid once spoke about the bamboo principle. A philosophical lesson that asks one to adapt to their strengths, focus on the larger goal and remain patient. Dravid believes that, in India’s case, academic strengths can complement a student’s sporting development and…
-
‘Answering people was more tiring than the Wimbledon final’: Björn Borg
Björn Borg is truly the ‘iceman’, on and off the court, and Bengaluru recently got a taste of it. Staying at the Leela Palace, Borg and Indian tennis legend Vijay Amritraj retrospected their careers. The two faced one another six times during the 1970s and early ’80s, out of which two were in Grand Slams,…
-
‘Happy to move on from Davis Cup’: Rohan Bopanna
While it is undoubtedly true that Indian tennis ace Rohan Bopanna is in the twilight years of his sporting career, a quick look at his recent achievements denotes he is still far from being finished. The 43-year-old, in the recently concluded Wimbledon, reached as far as the semi-finals in the doubles category with his partner,…
-
‘It’s really good to see sports women getting medals for the country’: PV Sindhu
In an interview with badminton ace PV Sindhu, who was in the city recently to inaugurate the second season of the Prime Volleyball League, she speaks about both her parents being elite-level volleyball players and developing an interest in the sport during her childhood by watching her father play. Recently, Indian sportswomen have been making…
-
‘This book has been living in my mind for 25 years’: Ramachandra Guha
In the first half of the 20th century, British-born Indian anthropologist Verrier Elwin became the voice for the tribals of India. In those years — the 1940s — his life underwent multiple changes in succession. He denounced the clergy to work with Mahatma Gandhi, then parted ways to champion tribal communities, and became the first…
-
‘You can’t write poetry with dishonesty’: Javed Akhtar
“In a free society, you should be allowed to offend people to some extent,” remarked notable screenwriter, lyricist and poet Javed Akhtar to the audience at the Bengaluru Poetry Festival on Sunday. Akhtar engaged in a session with Delhi-based writer Humra Quraishi, where they discussed Akhtar’s early influences and Jadunama (the book on him), among other…
-
‘Everything I’m saying is hiding in plain sight’: William Dalrymple
One, two buckle my shoe, three, four shut the door…We all know how it goes. But what are these one and two and three and four? As students, we learned that they are Arabic numerals. But we had learned wrong. If you rewind the chronicler’s tape a couple of centuries before the Islamic Golden Age…
-
‘There’s no romance in modern restaurants’: Marco Pierre White
In one of the more grandiose rooms of the JW Marriott on Vittal Mallya Road on Saturday afternoon, sat a white gentleman not in his Sunday best. But maybe in his most relaxed outfit. Blue jeans, a white tee and a white handkerchief fashioned into a headgear. The man could be mistaken for a sailor…
-
‘Strange that Indians have no recollection of Opium Wars’: Amitav Ghosh
Over the past two decades, one of the subjects that has managed to grip author Amitav Ghosh’s psyche on almost jacked-up levels has been opium. But not as a consumer, as an academic. He has been on a scholarly voyage to understand the opium trade and the Opium Wars of the 19th century, and to…
