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As Buffy alumni speak out against Joss Whedon, fans reckon with show creator's troubling legacy

As Buffy alumni speak out against Joss Whedon, fans reckon with show creator's troubling legacy
For years, fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer have had to reconcile their adoration for a show about a teenage girl who slays monsters, with the criticism that often swirled around her creator.
(L) Joss Whedon was accused of 'abusing his power on numerous occasions... on the sets of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel' by actress Charisma Carpenter. Buffy's star Sarah Michelle Gellar was among those who expressed support for Carpenter. Photo by Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons. (R) Still from BtVS
The Whedon Studies Association, a society of academics devoted to studying the works of Joss Whedon, is debating whether to change its name. Fans who grew up with his signature show,

Florida , United-states , California , Sacramento , Apopka , Jose-molina , Jodi-eichler-levine , Ray-fisher , Nat-brehmer , Jane-espenson , Marti-noxon , Sarah-michelle-gellar

Johnny Pacheco, salsa idol and co-founder of Fania Records, dies at 85 - Art-and-culture News , Firstpost

Johnny Pacheco, salsa idol and co-founder of Fania Records, dies at 85
Pacheco was the music director, composer, arranger and producer, overseeing Fania Records' genre of music that came to be known as salsa — a mixture of Cuban mambo, guaracha and chachachá, Puerto Rican rhythms and Dominican meringue.
The Associated Press
February 16, 2021 12:13:41 IST
Johnny Pacheco was well-known for creating and popularising the genre of salsa music. Image via The Associated Press/ Wilfredo Lee
New York: Salsa idol Johnny Pacheco, who was a co-founder of Fania Records, Eddie Palmieri’s bandmate and backer of music stars such as Rubén Bladés, Willie Colón and Celia Cruz, died on 15 February. He was 85.

New-york , United-states , Cuba , Puerto-rico , Santiago , Regióetropolitana , Chile , Dominican-republic , Santo-domingo , Cuban , Puerto-rican , Gabriel-abaroa-jr

Curious case of Aravind Adiga as a famous literary recluse: Booker-winning author is anomaly in publishing world

Curious case of Aravind Adiga as a famous literary recluse: Booker-winning author is anomaly in publishing world
In an inversion of the mantra that marketing is a necessary evil, the bane of an author’s existence that ultimately has its reward, Adiga refuses to do too much publicity around his books, often to the chagrin of his publishers.
Nawaid Anjum
February 16, 2021 11:04:58 IST
Aravind Adiga. Photo by Fernando Morales
Aravind Adiga, the Booker Prize-winning author of
The White Tiger (2008), has always struck me as India’s most famous literary recluse, an anomaly in the modern publishing world where the order of the day seems to be: Publicise

Madras , Tamil-nadu , India , New-york , United-states , Australia , Kittur , Karnataka , United-kingdom , Iran , New-delhi , Delhi

Read an excerpt from Devesh Verma's The Politician, a fast-paced novel about ambition, power and politics

Read an excerpt from Devesh Verma's The Politician, a fast-paced novel about ambition, power and politics
The Politician's protagonist Ram Mohan is an intrepid and ambitious young man in newly independent India, who refuses to be held down by his humble origins.
Devesh Verma
February 16, 2021 11:15:57 IST
Devesh Verma's The Politician
(Penguin Random House) is a fast-paced, electrifying political saga based in Uttar Pradesh. Having grown up there, Devesh writes candidly about the lawlessness and allure of power and politics that exist in the state.
The Politician's
protagonist Ram Mohan is an intrepid and ambitious young man in newly independent India, who refuses to be held down by his humble origins. Spurred on by his diehard optimism, he aims for things usually inaccessible to people of his extraction. However, he soon realizes that without political or bureaucratic power, the idea of a respectable life in India is nothing but pretence, and when Gulab Singh rescues him from being insulted by a thug, Ram Mohan becomes persuaded of the efficacy of violence in certain situations.

Baijnath , Himachal-pradesh , India , Kanti , Haryana , United-kingdom , Paris , France-general , France , Kanpur , Uttar-pradesh , Bihar

Amid casteism and opposition, a Kurundvad man's fight to ensure people can have dignity in death

Amid casteism and opposition, a Kurundvad man's fight to ensure people can have dignity in death
Driven by the understanding that people need moral and emotional support when a loved one dies, Appasso has often pitched in with his own funds for others' funerals.
Sanket Jain
February 15, 2021 10:26:31 IST
In the last three decades, Appasso has helped over a thousand families in Kurundvad to bid goodbye to their deceased family members in a dignified way. All photographs by the author
Every February, Appasso Bandgar would submit an application to the municipal council. In 2019, when it was rejected for the 15th year in a row, he decided he'd had enough. His demand was simple: the Nagarpalika should set up a fund to give the family of deceased individuals Rs 2500, to complete the

India , Dhangar , Madhya-pradesh , Kolhapur , Maharashtra , Sundarabai-dhale , Appasso-bandgar , Vatsala-bandgar , Babasaheb-ambedkar , Govinda-dhale , Govind-dhale , Kurundvad-municipal-council

Remembering Chick Corea: From Spain to Sorceress, 12 essential performances from the virtuoso

Remembering Chick Corea: From Spain to Sorceress, 12 essential performances from the virtuoso
Corea helped enrich the lexicon of jazz, merging its harmonic language with the heaviness (and amplification) of rock and funk.
Chick Corea in1976. Polydor Records/Wikimedia Commons
Chick Corea, the pioneering keyboardist and bandleader who died last Tuesday at 79, will be forever regarded as a crucial architect of jazz-rock fusion.
It’s a fitting one-line tribute. Whether on his own, leading the collective Return to Forever or accompanying giants like Miles Davis (on landmark albums including “In a Silent Way” and “Bitches Brew”), Corea helped enrich the lexicon of jazz, merging its harmonic language with the heaviness (and amplification) of rock and funk. But no description, even one this broad, can encompass a vision so limitless.

New-york , United-states , Spain , Spanish , Joe-farrell , Scott-henderson , Dan-aja , Flora-purim , Harvey-brooks , Dave-holland , John-patitucci , Bobby-mcferrin

Love poems for the lockdown: From Shakespeare to Carol Ann Duffy, verses on intimacy, distance, desire

From Ted Hughes' poems on Sylvia Plath to Kim Addonizio's take on past love, an offering of poetry apt for the lockdown.

Carol-ann-duffy , Kim-addonizio , Sylvia-plath , Kim-moore , Alice-willitt , William-shakespeare , Guggenheim-foundation , Poet-laureate-ted-hughes , Birthday-letters , Pushcart-prize , Stolen-moment , With-love

To revive dying ponds in Goa, local community seeks help from stranded migrant labourers

To revive dying ponds in Goa, local community seeks help from stranded migrant labourers
A group of concerned citizens realised the value of neglected water bodies and came together to form a citizen action group called Catch2o to revive water systems in and around their villages.
Mongabay- India
February 15, 2021 16:35:01 IST
Migrant workers who were stranded in Goa during the lockdown and Lamani women have been roped in to help out with reviving the ponds in Goa which in turns helps them earn an income. Image via Mongabay India/Sharada Kerkar.
By Rashi Goel
When Goan artist Harshada Kerkar looked out of her home window, she was used to seeing the scorched, parched buffaloes gravitating to the pond in front of her house in large numbers. During the summer months last year, when she didn’t see them lounging in their favourite watering hole, their absence concerned her. “This pond is their respite during the summer months.” she says. Harshada, who is now in her fifties, reminisces the old days when traditionally there was a pond in every village in Goa. Buffaloes used the water to wallow in, other cattle came to drink from it, farmers used it to water their crops. Now it seems that the water woes may have left these animals stranded.

India , Pilerne , Goa , Saligao , Uttar-pradesh , Bihar , Pradip-sarmokadam , Lamani-banjara , Aaron-lobo , Harshada-kerkar , Sharada-kerkar , Rashi-goel

Discovery of Hangul carcass in Dachigam Sanctuary fuels concerns over suspected poaching of Kashmir's iconic deer

Discovery of Hangul carcass in Dachigam Sanctuary fuels concerns over suspected poaching of Kashmir's iconic deer
Along with the poaching of Hangul, leopards, bears, musk deer and other mammals, poaching of birds is also worrying wildlife lovers and experts in Kashmir.
The Third Pole
February 15, 2021 15:30:54 IST
By Athar Parvaiz
On 17 January, a group of young men out on a winter trek in the Dachigam Wildlife Sanctuary near Srinagar were stunned to see the carcass of a Hangul with bullet wounds in the Pehlipora area of the forest.
“We were shocked when we saw the dead Hangul. There were clear signs of a bullet injury on its body,” said one of the trekkers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “There was no footprint of a wild animal such as a leopard on the snow around that spot. It appeared that the Hangul fled from where it was shot and succumbed after covering some distance.”

Jammu , Jammu-and-kashmir , India , Western-ghats , Karnataka , Mongolia , Udhampur , Himachal-pradesh , Anantnag , Kashmir , China , Chinese

An Oral History of the COVID-19 Crisis: 'I was strolling through land once ruled by the infamous dacoits of Chambal'

An Oral History of the COVID-19 Crisis: 'I was strolling through land once ruled by the infamous dacoits of Chambal'
This account is part of Firstpost’s Oral History Project of the COVID-19 Crisis in India. The Oral History Project aims to be an ongoing compendium of individual experiences of the pandemic, with a focus on one significant day in our respondents’ lives during this time.
Andrew Menezes
February 13, 2021 12:43:13 IST
Andrew Menezes is a Mumbai-based IT professional.
Once I began working from home due to the ongoing pandemic, I realised that instead of cycling in circles, I could head out in one direction and take my work with me. How difficult could it be with the roads being empty and hotels cheaper due to the dwindling demand? I was, after all, used to cycling in Mumbai, sometimes for three hours at a stretch. And so, in preparation of my upcoming journey – much of which was spontaneous – I began venturing out, keeping myself safe but still getting a taste of the outdoors in the age of social distancing.

Madhya-pradesh , India , Chambal-river , Uttar-pradesh , Mumbai , Maharashtra , Nasik , Indore , Andrew-menezes , Chambal-andrew-meneze , Oral-history