Karina Pandya

Was it just the anti-regime graffiti painted on walls that served as a catalyst for the Syrian War in 2011? Was it the public protests that began in Daraa, the cradle of the revolution where 15 boys from prominent families began painting graffiti with anti-government slogans that sparked the beginning of the Syrian Uprising of 2011?      Authoritarianism, unemployment, government corruption, some of the main motives behind the Syrian War was to make Bashar al-Assad resign, have democratic reforms, have a regime change, expand civil rights and ensure equality for the Kurds. A war, which has gone on longer than World War II, the Syrian War is one of the most complicated and bloodiest conflicts in the world. Shattering the lives of hundreds and thousands of Syrian lives; destroying cities, straining global politics, spurring diplomatic efforts; the Syrian Crisis has been ongoing since the past 8 years and 5 months. What for?   Bord...

Is it not axiomatic to say how different life was in India as compared to that in the United States during 1995? I ts 2019, quite a while since 1995, and sometimes its important to look back on some of the years that mattered to you the most. People used devices such as pagers (and beepers)  to receive messages; and/or also to reply to them. In India, it was the time when the Shiv Sena came into power in Maharashtra and Bombay became Mumbai; it was also a time when Mayawati (Mayawati Prabhu Das)  became Uttar Pradesh’s first Dalit chief Minister.  It was the year the iconic film DDLJ ( Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge)  was released, the directorial debut of Aditya Chopra.      In the United States of America it was also a time when Bill Clinton ( born  William Jefferson Blythe III) was the  the 42nd  president of the United States  (from 1993 to 2001).  The South Africa State President was Nelson...

Its been awhile since Facebook has been around, right… since the end of 2006 right about when the very first  I-phone  (smartphone) that was launched in India was the iPhone 3G in 2008.  This brought about a massive change in our generation and perception of reality.  With smartphones social media, came all the uncompromising people with it! What this means, is that, the I-phone generation brought along with it a sweeping generation of people who got glued to using their cell-phones and laptops, living and breathing in a virtual world!  Communication became more online and ‘text-based’ rather than spend time in face-to face interaction, because its simple; we just get more time to construct (frame) what we want to say and even get to refine it. There are times when face-to-face interaction can even be too emotional and messy and who wants to get involved in that?  The ‘cuddle chemical’ –  oxytocin  and the ‘pleasure chem...

Concert: Perfect Amalgamation Artiste/Composer: Siddharth Kasyap Genre: Fusion, New Age Venue: St. Andrews Auditorium, Bandra Date: Aug 2 nd 2019 Time: 8-10 PM A typical pre-weekend plan is usually a plan for a movie, at least for me; or something of the sorts; however THIS weekend I really wanted to do something different – a little bit out of the BOX! So, I scrolled through all the activities, events and concerts happening throughout the city and Perfect Amalgamation caught my eye. Who were they, I didn't know; how was their music; again I didn't know but something about them kept me riveted about them.  I quickly researched about them and although it was a performance with no vocals I was in awe with the number of musical instruments that were to be used – a sitar, a flute, violin, sarangi to keyboards; Bass Guitar, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Gutar, Rabad, oud, drums; Indian as well as Western percussion instruments all to be performed by 13 different ...