Singer Selena Gomez greeted her fans with a racy photograph of herself.
The singer on Tuesday posted a photograph on photo-sharing website Instagram with the caption: “morning”.
In the image, which was taken in a bathroom, shows the former Disney princess in a white halter top that bared her midriff and leopard print underwear.
Behind her, two friends were seen wearing bathrobes and drinking coffee.
Jennifer Lopez, Shakira And Pitbull are among the artists who have contributed to music mogul Tommy Mottola’s new documentary about the cultural importance of Latin music in America.
The “Latin Explosion: A New America” will also feature interviews with Gloria Estefan, Marc Anthony, Eva Longoria, Los Lobos, Rita Moreno, Romeo Santos, Thalia and Sofia Vergara, while John Leguizamo provides narration, reported RollingStone magazine. The film charts the history of Latin music in the United States and focuses on the success of acts like Desi Arnaz, Carlos Santana, Emilio and Gloria Estefan and Ricky Martin.
The documentary, produced by Mottola, will premiere in America on cable network HBO in November.
“We have assembled the largest array of Latino superstars ever in a film telling a powerful story of their history and immigration, politics, and rise from a small minority population to the most critical demographic in the United State,” Mottola said.
Model-actress Cara Delevingne has posed nude under a blazer for a Yves Saint Laurent campaign, promoting the brand’s Rouge Pur Couture lipstick.
Captioning a photograph of Delevingne, the YSL Beauty official photo-sharing website Instagram account wrote: “A colour so bold you’d feel naked without it #YSLrougepurcouture #YSLbeauty (sic)”
And the 23-year-old model says she is a big fan of bold lip shades, reports femalefirst.co.uk. “I love red or deep purple lips for events,” she added. When asked what makeup look she prefers on her day off, she said: “No makeup. That’s my signature.”
Onam, the festival of Malayalee community is being celebrated in a colourful way. The festival represents the spirit of the Malayalees in India in general and all over the world in particular. The people of Kerala believe that on the Thiruonam day King Mahaballi visits his subjects and hence the day is marked by Onasadhya in traditional Kerala style.
Onam feast is a nostalgic memory for every Keralite who live away from their place. Thirty one types of dishes are served in plantain leaves to the members.
The festival marks the home coming of legendary King Mahabali. According to Hindu mythology, Mahabali reaches his old kingdom from the nether world to meet and bless his citizen. He is also popularly called Maveli and Onathappan. Mahabali is the son of Virochana and grandson of Prahlad, the devout son of demon King Hiranyakashipu. He also belonged to the Asura (demon) dynasty but was an ardent worshipper of Lord Vishnu. Mahabali was greatly respected and was considered to be wise, judicious and extremely generous. Everybody was happy and the rich and the poor were treated at par. There was neither crime, nor corruption prevalent in his kingdom. It is said that people did not even lock their doors just like it happens in Shani Shingnapur. There was no poverty, sorrow or disease in his kingdom.
Various elements of culture are interwoven in Onam including ‘Onatthappan’, ‘Vallam Kali’, ‘Kazhchakkula’, ‘Atthachamayam’, ‘Onapottan’, ‘Pookkalam’, ‘Pulikali’, ‘Onavillu’, ‘Thumbi Thullal’, etc. ‘Pookalam’ is the name of a flower mat which is seen outside the house of every Keralite. This is prepared by arranging colourful attractive flowers in a unique pattern, and is one of the most significant rituals of Onam. The flower mat is a symbol of welcome for the great king Mahabali.
People prepare for the festival of Onam by tidying up their houses and beautifying or decorating them. Children rise-up early in the morning to prepare for celebration all the ten days since Atham. Flower decorations are continued until the sunset of grand celebration day, Thiruvonam. With the passage of time things have changed a lot. The sight of children wandering for flowers is also rare in villages. Thumpa and Thechy have become rare today. Flowers are imported from other states. Artificial flowers have also become a replacement of natural flowers. But whenever Onam comes, expatriate Malayalees start to think about the cultural wonders of Kerala. It is one of the Indian festivals which bring together all the masses irrespective of their castes and creed.
C.K Subramaniam
Ileana D’Cruz who has not signed any project post her last outing Happy Ending said that she is on a break. But she will return to the silver screen with a “significant” role very soon.
The 27-year-old actress said that she is not happy with the film offers and have been rejecting them.
“I am on a small break because I wanted to do something different. The kind of offers I was receiving, were not to my liking. So, I thought I should wait for a while. There is something interesting in the pipeline right now but it is not yet confirmed,” said Ileana.
The Mumbai-born actress, who was in the capital recently, to launch an online shopping portal also said that she has been busy with photography.
“Couple of months ago, I purchased a camera. I completely prefer online shopping because it is more convenient. It is nice to have everything under one portal. And I think my latest buy is one of the best online purchases. I love photography. I love taking pictures of kids because they are the best models,” said the actress, who unlike her contemporaries is not a fan of selfies.
Ileana started her career in the showbiz industry with Tamil films and had a dream launch in Bollywood opposite Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra in Anurag Basu’s much acclaimed Barfi!. She also featured in movies like followed by Phata Poster Nikla Hero, Main Tera Hero and Happy Ending.
But her last outing, in which she featured as a novelist, also starred Saif Ali Khan and failed to perform at the box-office.
Bollywood hunk John Abraham has finally spoken on his divorce rumours. The stylish actor has denied that he is heading for a splitsville with wife Priya Runchal and maintained that all is well in their married life.
Earlier, reports had suggested that John and Priya are heading for a divorce as long distance relationship is not working out between the two. However, John was recently quoted as saying, ‘All is superb in paradise… To set the record straight. Everything is beautiful in paradise. It is not true. You believe all that crap. I just feel bad when people put out things. All is beautiful in (my) paradise”.
“I was doing a comedy film but I did not know that comedy was happening outside my life…Just put all this rumours to rest…There is nothing happening. It is all superb,” he added.
John said he feels frustrated that his silence on his personal life is misunderstood. “It is difficult because you are trying to explain your point of view sometimes to people. John Abraham is always silent. And because he is quiet… The silence is often mistaken for his weakness.”
Bollywood beauty Esha Gupta, who made her debut opposite Emraan Hashmi in ‘Jannat 2’ clears all speculation about her being roped in multi-starrer ‘Housefull 3’.
The 29-year-old actress took to Twitter to mention that she is not a part of the comedy film series.
She posted: “Some papers need to calm down… I was never ‘approached’ for housefull 3 and SizeZero…,”.
The third instalment of the comedy movie ‘Housefull’, reportedly stars Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh and Abhishek Bachchan.
They have threatened to launch a state wide agitation if their demands are unfulfilled.
The Patel community’s agitation for reservation has given a fillip to other communities like Marathas and Brahmins to come forward and make similar demands. The agitation has already turned violent with several protestors pelting stones and vandalising vehicles in Gujarat. Even though the erstwhile Democratic Front had announced 16 per cent reservation for Marathas in public employment the High Court had asked the state not to grant separate reservation for the community. The total ceiling of the reservation has already crossed 50 per cent in the state.
The court made the observation while directing the government not to keep 16% posts in public employment vacant for the community. Instead, the bench granted the government liberty to fill in such seats on temporary or ad-hoc basis till the time the petitions challenging the validity of the decision are decided by the court.
The Maratha reservation was a poll plank of the Democratic Front government which has now failed to materialise. Most of the Congress and NCP leaders belong to the Maratha community which comprise around 35 per cent of the state’s population. The Marathas can play a vital role in deciding the outcome of polls in the state. It is dominant in Western Maharashtra, Marathwada and Vidarbha. Its significance could be judged with a fact that 191 out of the 288 members in the outgoing Assembly belonged to this caste.
Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil said, “The state government should provide reservation to Maratha, Muslims and Dhangar community within 15 days failing which we will block the vehicles of legislators. After coming to power the Fadnavis government had promised to grant reservation to the Dhangar community but they have failed to implement it.”
Brahmins too are imposing pressure on the state government to provide reservation to them in education and jobs. They have threatened to launch a state wide agitation if their demands are unfulfilled. Brahmins have suffered the most due to the reservation policy as many youth belonging to this community are unable to get admission in prestigious colleges despite scoring higher percentage. Reservation system was meant to continue only till few years but politicians had continued it for seeking votes.
“Reservation is ground to play political games and politicians are playing it. We must fight against reservation,” Sumit Saxena a Borivali resident.
“Today more than 80 per cent of the taxi and auto drivers belong to Brahmin community. Thus Brahmins are struggling to find employment despite possessing education qualifications,” said Amar Dubey, an auto driver.
“Injustice has been meted against the Brahmin community. Either the government must provide reservation to Brahmins or abolish the entire reservation system. Nowadays, deserving candidates are unable to get employment due to the faulty reservation policy,” said Satish Rohankar a private firm employee from Andheri.
“Reservation is not a real solution to the uplifting of a community. The political party and politician play the reservation card for vote-bank politics. So long as reservation is being practised in an unhealthy manner, India can never think of improving the community as a whole. It is a perfect practice of breeding mediocrity,” said Pravin Singh, a Kandivali resident.
“Politicians try to loot the country in the name of providing social justice. Today we find a very competitive society, where persons with better skills alone could survive. Without making concerted efforts to improve the capacity-building, reservation would go to the undeserving,” said Ravi Baisare, a Dahisar resident.
The Patels have for decades been loyal supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party, but their recent agitation has now put the economically and socially strong community at loggerheads with the ruling party. Hardik Patel, the 22-year-old leader of the Patel community and Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti convenor, is spearheading the community’s quota agitation.
Caste based reservations is one of the biggest issues in India especially it is used as a political tool to create ruckus. In India, the Other Backward Castes (OBC) status is an affirmative action which provides reserved quotas in education and government jobs. In Gujarat, 27% seats are reserved for OBC, 7.5% for Scheduled Castes and 15% for Scheduled Tribes totaling 49.5% of all seats. The Supreme Court has capped the maximum reservation at 50% in 1992 judgement. In 1981, the Government of Gujarat headed by Indian National Congress (INC) chief minister Madhavsinh Solanki, introduced the reservation for socially and economically backward castes (SEBC) based on recommendations of Bakshi Commission. It resulted in anti-reservation agitation across the state which spilled over in riots resulting in more than hundred deaths. Solanki resigned in 1985 but later returned to power winning 149 out of 182 assembly seats. He was supported by Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi and Muslims; called collectively as KHAM. It resulted in other communities including Patidars losing the political influence which later alienated the INC. The SEBC (later OBC) list initially had 81 communities which expanded to 146 communities by 2014.The agitation took inspiration from the agitation by Gujjar community in Rajasthan which ended in May 2015.
We must appreciate that in upper classes also there are economically weaker section. Agricultural land is being divided and sub divided among family members. The vendors, who are selling eatable items on the roads, are earning more than these upper class communities. Most of the Brahmins in cities are taxi drivers and security guards. Their income is very low and children have no facilities anywhere. Brahmin Samaj is considered as an upper class community but today it is very difficult for them to arrange two times meals to their children. Brahmins are respected by the people without giving any financial assistance to them. Their children also require government jobs. Is it crime to be borne in the family of upper classes? Similarly, like Gujarati Patel and Marathas others are also victims of reservation system. Reservation is becoming a curse day by day. Our politicians are reserving their vote banks in the name of reservation. If the jobs are not given to those candidates who are on merit, naturally they will come out and protest. Many more Hardik Patels from every community, religion, states will come out with those people who are denied their rights of jobs.
It is in the interest of the people to abolish reservation system and the jobs should be given only on merit basis irrespective of their castes or religion. If our government failed to stop this reservation system, we should expect more riots, bloodshed, division, further sub-division among pubic in the name of castes and religions. Why candidates from upper class should sacrifice inspite of good merits. Reservation quota is just a votebank for political parties.
The Bombay High Court earlier stayed then Maharashtra government’s (Congress-NCP) decision to give 16 per cent reservation to Marathas in public service and educational institutions. The HC also stayed state’s decision to provide 5 per cent reservation to Muslims in public service, but offered them quota in education. After over 68 years of independence we are unable to overcome the reservation policy. Before this announcement Maharashtra had 52 per cent reservations, which had crossed the limit set at 50 per cent by the Supreme Court. With these fresh reservations, the total percentage of reservations in the state has gone up to 73 per cent. A Public Interest Litigation has already been filed, claiming that the Marathas are not a poor and backward caste. Marathas are richest people in Maharashtra. On the other hand, there seems to be no argument against the 5 per cent reservations for Muslims, the community have a high population of poor and deprived people. The main controversy erupted over reservations for the Marathas, was just to please Maratha votebank. Most powerful politicians in the state belong to the Maratha community. Ten of Maharashtra’s 18 chief ministers have been Marathas including the first CM, Yashwantrao Chavan. Same with Patels in Gujarat, they are considered to be most dominating politicians and also resourceful people, Maratha and Patels are of two extreme types, some are extremely privileged and some are underprivileged and poor.
Since the birth of Maharashtra in 1960 a majority of legislators belong to the Maratha community. The community also controls educational institutions, developmental boards and 168 out of the 200 sugar cooperatives in the state. It is no surprise then that people tend to believe it is a rich and powerful community and do not need any reservation. The tragedy of this community is that only 137 Maratha families are the dominant players in state politics, rest of them don’t even have half the money of these 137. The reason being that, there are 96 clans and most are backward and poor. The Kunbis, known as poor tillers, form a large part of this community. The problem within the Marathas is that Maratha politicians have failed their community. They failed to deliver the goods to the community. As a result, Maratha politicians encounter growing bitterness and want to appease their community by announcing reservations for employment and education. The politicians have hurriedly ignored the most pertinent issues. It is clear that the social stratification and economic distress faced by the Marathas engaged in agriculture is unlikely to be meaningfully addressed merely by demanding OBC status for the community. We can’t forget that Maharashtra is primarily an agrarian economy. Many agricultural peasants and small-time farmers have been reduced to labours, among them are many clans of Marathas. Even the Brahmins in Maharashtra are living an average life. However, no one thought of giving them reservation, as they are the actual minorities now.
Political parties are dividing the people on such useless issues. Is there any need to declare reservation? Basically, the reservation should not be there for general people. Let the new generation come with their own charisma instead of depending upon such tactics. By offering such quotas, the government wants to gain cheap popularity at the end. However, youngsters should go with competitive mind instead of going on easy routes. No government should try to offer such quotas. There should be some limit to populism. Politicians can go to any limits to secure votes for capturing power. Reservation is a magic formula for this purpose. Every class wants reservations as shortcuts and nobody pleads for merit or efficiency, by making it a country of intellectual pygmies.
A day after Indrani Mukherjea, the wife of former TV honcho Peter Mukherjea, was arrested in connection with the murder of her. Motive of the murder is not clear but Indrani’s son and Sheena’s brother given some speculation about the motive behind the murder.
Mikhail Bora confirmed that Indrani is his and Sheena’s mother. Mikhail also revealed that Indrani Mukherjea and Sheena Bora had a lot of conflicts.
Mikhail, who stays in Guwahati with his maternal grandparents, said he was certain that Indrani murdered Sheena and he would disclose the probable reason for the murder after he gets to know the statement his mother gave to the police.
He, however, ruled out property or money as the motive of the murder, as claimed by one of the theories doing the rounds surrounding Sheena’s murder.
“If Indrani Mukherjee doesn’t admit to her crime, I will tell police the exact reason for the murder and provide evidence, added Mikhail. Since last September, we are not getting any financial help from Indrani,” Mikhail said.
I want justice for her, she was innocent and didn’t deserve this death, said Mikhail.
Mikhail said that his sister had been living with him and his grandparents in Guwahati for a long time and Indrani had been living in Mumbai.
He said that Sheena had gone to Mumbai to study in St. Xavier’s college.
The last time he had a contact with Sheena was in February 2012 when she came to Guwahati for a wedding of her friend. “After that she has no contact,” he said.
Mikhail said that he had always asked his mother where his elder sister was. “She always replied she was abroad. She said she (Sheena) had got a job there,” he told.
“In September also, when Indrani Mukerjea came here I asked her where she was,” he said, adding she had maintained that Sheena was abroad.
Indrani was arrested by Khar Police on Tuesday night following questioning over her alleged role in the murder of Sheena Bora in 2012. Maharashtra’s Raigad police had found remains of Bora in a forest following which a murder case was registered against unidentified persons.
Indrani was produced before the Bandra Metropolitan Magistrate court, which remanded her in police custody till August 31, DCP (Detection) Dhananjay Kulkarni said.
Indrani’s driver, a co-accused who was picked by the police few days back in connection with the murder, too was arrested.
During interrogation, the driver claimed that Indrani had killed Bora and that he had helped her in disposing of the body by dumping it in the forests of Raigad district, the officer said.
Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria had interrogated Indrani at Khar police station on Tuesday.
The officer said they would take the two accused to the crime spot where the body was dumped.
