Author Archives: vpdot

Showbiz India's Reshma Dordi

By Vidya Pradhan

Reshma Dordi is the host and producer of the popular weekly Bollywood program ' Showbiz India'. WNI caught up with her when she was in town showing her support for Ruchika, an organisation that supports schools for homeless children in India.

Gorgeous and gracious, Reshma spent a few minutes talking about her career track and plans for the future of her successful show.

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Tennis Ball Cricket – for the fun of the game

By Vidya Pradhan

If the recent World Cup debacle has completely turned you off Indian cricket, here is a way to recapture some of the simple joy that the game has brought us over the years. Remember the fun of ‘galli’ cricket? A few kids, a cardboard sheet with three lines drawn on it, a narrow alley and a tennis ball; that’s all it took for an afternoon of uncomplicated masti. That’s the spirit that the Tennis Ball Cricket Association(TCA) has been trying to bring to the Bay Area and the weekend Kapil Dev’s in all of us.

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Container gardening 1- Nature in a nutshell

By Laxmi Natarajan
Summer is here and is a good time to start sprucing up the decks and yards, add color and fun to your living environment, both outdoors and indoors.  Container gardening is an easy way to get an instant garden and provides immense gratification for very little effort. Container gardens are to a landscape what paintings are to a home. They add to the character, personality and the pizzazz in your garden or home. They are portable, flexible, easy to change and experiment with and very rewarding.
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Cheeni Kum – watchable

By Vidya Pradhan
Finally, a Bollywood comedy for grownups! Ad film director R. Balki brings the same slick approach to the story of a May-December romance, though in this case the December may be quite a few years apart.

Amitabh Bachchan is the high-strung, temperamental and arrogant chef/owner of an exclusive Indian restaurant in London, who has the unlikely name of Buddha. He meets his match in more ways than one in one of his disgruntled customers, Nina, played by Tabu. The story follows the arc of their unlikely romance and all the chaos that ensues when the news is broken to Nina’s father, who happens to be younger than her suitor.
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Joost -Internet TV for real

  By Basab Pradhan

I got an invite for Joost and tried it out yesterday. It rocked.

Joost, for those who haven’t heard about it yet, is basically internet TV. Full screen, high(er) quality, mainstream TV content streamed to your computer over broad band. The guys behind it are Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström, the same duo that did Kazaa and Skype. With their backgrounds you have to take Joost seriously.

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Kahani – Once upon a time

By Vidya Pradhan

“Hey, here is a story about a girl who would rather read comic books than practice piano,” I said, hiding a grin. “Let me see, let me see,” said my 11-year old son, who is definitely guilty of the same behavior. He grabbed the magazine out of my hands. By the end of the evening the glossy pages were sticky with jam and milk and decorated in curry colors. Such is the power of Kahani .

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The compassion of the long-distance runner – Team Asha

By Vidya Pradhan

At 39, the mid-life clock was ticking for Anu Singh. She wanted to do something challenging and significant in her life and also benefit others in some way. When a friend suggested joining the Team Asha marathon program, Anu was intrigued but doubtful. She had never run for more than two minutes without huffing and puffing. 26.2 miles seemed like a daunting, if not impossible, goal.

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Autism Etiquette

By Nandini Minocha

rishabh.JPGA very odd title for an article isn’t it? I guess it’s not something most people think about. Unfortunately it is something that affects me and my life profoundly.
As a parent of an autistic child, I am often faced with situations where well meaning people around me flounder when they encounter certain types of behavior peculiar to the special needs world. So here is my little primer for all you wonderful people out there who would like to approach my world with sensitivity and kindness.

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Helping the environment – the Social Way

By Vidya Pradhan
socialwaylogo.jpgNita Goyal of Tavant Technologies imagines the following Socratic dialogue between the Average John, Jaani or Janardhan and an environmentalist.

•    AJ: You keep on asking us to do more and more – first it was recycling and cutting up the plastic holding the 6-pack, then turning off the water while brushing teeth. I am even thinking of buying a HYBRID SUV. But you guys are still not satisfied. Why can’t I just live my life in peace? When will it end?