The second edition of our Sunday readings.
An Old Doordarshan Video of Usha Uthup Singing the American band Bread’s “If”
It is now a well-known fact that Usha Uthup began her singing career in Chennai in a nightclub called Night Gems. It happened without much preparation. Her uncle and aunt had taken her family to the club that evening during one of their holidays. Read more here.
Nehru and My Mother
At the age of five Bia rejected the name my Nani gave her and renamed herself Shehnaz, Pride of Kings. However, even before this tempest in the chipped old teacup that was our ancestral haveli in Bhopal, took place, everyone knew there was something different about my mother. Read more here
Silences That Never Broke: Amrita, Sahir and Imroz
When Amrita Pritam first met Sahir Ludhiyanvi, it was at a mushayara, a poetry recital. Their eyes met, and love happened. A rather cinematic start to a love story that would never find the comforts of a cliched Bollywood romance. Amrita and Sahir’s love was a silent one. It was like that poem which had been silenced by a line drawn over it, it existed, but it did not need saying. Amrita writes in her poem “Ek Mulaqat”, that she dedicates to Sahir, of their love which could have existed only in these silences. Read more here