Desicritics Category: Culture: Celebrities

Movie Review: The Pink Panther 2 - Pink Diamonds And Jade

IdeaSmith — Wed, 4 Mar 2009 06:44:06 EST

After a spate of Pudinhara-inducing movies like Valkyrie (heavy: good but seriously serious) and Dilli 6 (does this city produce anything palatable??), I decided I really needed something different. So underlining my pukka suburbanite status with Vodafone Tuesdays, I found myself in a multiplex late last night, watching Pink Panther 2.

The movie was just what the doctor had ordered for my ailing mid-week spirits.

What really works for the film is that it is just implausible enough to be funny, never erring into the area of ridiculous. Also, if you missed the first Pink Panther, no worries - even with a repeat cast and plotline, the movie is complete in itself. All you need to know is that the Pink Panther is not a person or even an animal (don't scoff, I was asked that at this show and I asked the same question at my first movie!).

Steve Martin as Inspector Clouseau, gives a perfect encore with the flourishy, fumbling, funny Frenchman act. His comedy is resplete with slam-dunk-downstairs slapstick and liberally laced with lingua franca humour. He's undoubtedly the star of the show.

The movie does have a few other goodies to offer other than this talented white-haired funny guy, though. A few of the jokes from the earlier movie show up again in snide references to hamburgers and karate. I particularly loved the irritating Ms.Manners with her unrelenting demands of politically correct speech. My favorite exchange in the movie was:

She's ze kind ov' woman you have ze babies with.
Ze babies??
Yez. Lots of ze babies. All day long ze babies.

Alfredo Molina, the evil Doc Ock of Spiderman 2 makes an appearance as a Brit detective and he's flanked by Andy Garcia repeating his romantic villian act of oily-guy-who-almost-bags-girl-but-she-finally-picks-the-hero act (Ocean's Eleven). He is a perfect counterfoil to Steve Martin as Clouseau's Italian rival at work and in love. The odd thing is that the first time I saw each of these actors in their respective aforementioned roles, I thought,

He looks like an Indian!

Which brings us to the Indian who is not that woman they all want to have 'ze babies' with. Please, please stop calling her India's ambassador to Hollywood! If you must, give that title to A.R.Rehman; at the least the man has talent! But Ms.Rai? She's got a real talent for not being noticeable at all!

Yes, yes I got that she turned out to be the real crook. Could anyone miss that with the last scene having her draped in hot pink? But really, tell me just how does a hot (?) woman in fabulous clothes, surrounded by not-so-hot-guys and one decidedly drab madam in Paris manage to not stand out at all? I mean, at least as eye candy? So much for her dusky features making her look exotic, La Rai just looks tired, over made-up and haggard. All the chances for some high drama are wasted in her affected, posturing. Jade isn't just the colour of her eyes, it describes the person.

Really, don't go watch Pink Panther 2 because it has an Indian in it. Go watch it for Steve Martin and his madcap capers.

Movie Review: The Pink Panther 2 - Aishwarya, Retire Gracefully

Bubbly — Mon, 2 Mar 2009 11:56:37 EST

For the Indian audience, this one did not work. Although touted as Aishwarya Rai’s big one from Hollywood, Pink Panther 2 (PP2) sank without a trace abroad. There was not even the slightest craze in India. Consider this: the press conference wore as deserted a look as the theatrical release.

Remember the lovable Peter Sellers with whom Pink Panther was almost synonymous? What Sellers did to construct a brand, Steve Martin sinks it all single-handedly. And he is ably supported by the supporting cast.

PP2 is a sequel to The Pink Panther (2006). Inspector Clouseau (Steve Martin) must team up with international detectives to catch a burglar The Tornado. At stake is Pope’s ring and of course the Pink Panther diamond. It is a foregone conclusion Clouseau will end up catching the burglar along with his bumbling act.

With an impressive star cast of Andy Garcia, Alfred Molina, Lily Tomlin, Jeremy Irons and Aish, it should have been a run-away comedy hit. Alas it is far far away from being one.

With a wafer thin storyline and equally insipid performances, we eagerly waited for it to come to an end soon. We were not lucky. We had to suffer it.

Aish has earlier done a reel Khakee and a real-life Salman Khan act. She reprises this theme in Pink Panther 2. It is a repeat of double-crossing and betrayal.

One can’t say that her role is miss-and-blink but the role by itself is nothing much. She is the PETTY THIEF! She is trying hard to carry off a convincing ‘accent’ and admiring herself. One wonders where is the time for acting when she is so busy otherwise.

Prior to the movie, she was giving high-profile interviews about PP2 and her role. When the cat was out of the bag, she said it is not about the role but being able to work with Martin. Consider this. The producers didn’t even consider her good enough for the posters. She was missing from them. They didn’t call her for the promotional tours too as “her appeal is limited to South Asia.”

At 35+ and looking plump, Bollywood offers have dried up for her. And if PP2 is her ‘big’ Hollywood release, what can one do except pity her.

Bollywood centers on nubile nymphets (we now have Hansika Motwani, 16) and gorgeous fresh looks. And if one knows acting, that is just icing on the cake. Where is Aish on these three vital scores? She may not benefit from Hollywood but the future Indian actresses definitely will as there is increased awareness about them. One can thank Aish for that.

After acting with Amitabh as his sister in Hum Kisise Kam Nahin and now opposite fatherly Rajnikant, she can only go higher (next maybe gramps Dilip Kumar).

With her ad campaigns being bagged by younger Katrina Kaif and roles collectively going to Kareena, Katrian, Priyanka and Deepika, where does Aish find herself? Is giggling acting? Is remaining in news by criticising Slumdog Millionaire enough?

There is a shelf life for all heroes and heroines. Kajol, Karisma, and Ravina are fine examples of being fine actresses and good home-makers. Kajol is still in demand.

After PP2, a word of advice to Aish: Retire gracefully.

Girls, Women and the Legacy of Mahatma Phule

Shantanu Dutta — Sun, 1 Mar 2009 10:26:00 EST

It is common wisdom that literacy is a reasonably good indicator of development in a society. Increase and distribution of literacy is generally associated with necessary traits of today's civilization such as modernization, urbanization, industrialization, communication and commerce. For the purpose of census, a person aged seven and above, who can both read and write with any understanding in any language, is treated as literate.

As per the 2001 Census, the overall literacy rate of India is 65.38%. The male literacy rate is 75.96% and female literacy rate is 54.28% Historically, a variety of factors have been found to be responsible for poor female literate rate,viz Gender based inequality, Social discrimination and economic exploitation, Occupation of girl child in domestic chores, Low enrolment of girls in schools, Low retention rate and high dropout rate.

A literacy rate of 54 percent means that there is a long way to go yet for women’s’ literacy in India to get to where it ought to be – a literacy rate of close to 100. But we should still be grateful for where we are in the journey and for the man who began it all, the mahatma of the 19th century who has been some what obscured by time – Mahatma Jyotiba Phule.

Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and his wife Savitribai were remarkable personalities, especially for their times. He started the first school for girls, at Pune, in the year 1848. He advocated Education for women- female students from the downtrodden (Shudras/ Atee Shudras) communities and adults. He started schools. He established institutes like the 'Pune Female Native Schools' and the 'Society for Promoting Education for Mahar, Mangs'.

But of course Pune has forgotten all that. The historical structure where the school functioned was taken over by a builder, demolished and replaced with a commercial complex, but the government has now realised its mistake and wants this piece of history back. The structure was taken over by a builder, demolished and replaced with a commercial complex, but the government has now realised its mistake and wants this piece of history back.

More importantly or equally importantly, he engaged in his education at home too. Jotirao prepared his wife Savitribai to teach in the girls' school, with a view to educating the women first, in order to bring in the value of equality at home. Savitribai had to face bitter opposition from the orthodox society of the time for teaching girls and people from the underprivileged groups in the school. Despite this bitter opposition, Jotirao and Savitribai continued their work with sincerity.

Interestingly, Mahatma Phule nurtured a favourable perspective on the British Rule in India because he thought it at least introduced the modern notions of justice and equality into the Indian society. Phule vehemently advocated widow-remarriage and even got a home built for housing upper caste widows during 1854. In order to set an example before the people, he opened his own house and let all make use of the well water without any prejudice. Similarly he started the infanticide prevention centre ('Balhatya Pratibandhak Griha') for infants born to hapless widows because of their deviant behaviour or exploitation.

Considering the legacy that Mahatma Phule has left; grappling with issues that we have still not resolved more than 125 years after his death in 1890, he could have deserved better name recognition than having the building from where he ran his school for the education of the girl child being demolished by a nameless builder. May be Aamir Khan can add some other slices to his campaign to the defacing and destruction of historical monuments and give his legacy a facelift!

Irrfan 'The Mindblowing' Khan

Ankur Bhatia — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:06:50 EST

Irrfan Khan is not your regular hero but he is one of the rare breed of actors who can kick some serious butt even if he is pitted against your typical hero in his very own backyard. But he hasn’t reached such a stature overnight. It’s taken years of TV serials, numerous passable films and a lot of hard work. He got his first break in films with Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay but unfortunately his scene was deleted before the release. He went on to play the role of Senapati in the famous Chankya on TV and was also seen in the award winning film Ek Doctor Ki Maut in 1991. Still, it wasn’t until 2003 that he was really noticed in India even though he did The Warrior which won the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film.

In 2003 came Haasil, a gem of a film based in Allahabad about student politics and love which got Irrfan his first Filmfare award for the negative role as Ranvijay Singh. This was what his career needed and he hasn’t looked back since then. Over the past 6 years he has done films across various genres and played so many memorable characters. His performance in films like Maqbool, Life…In a Metro and Mumbai Meri Jaan speaks volumes about his range and talent. It was because of such performances that he got films like The Namesake and the Angelina Jolie starrer A Mighty Heart which got him rave reviews in Hollywood.

The Namesake in particular was a special performance by the man who just expresses so much by his body language that he doesn’t even need dialogues. He makes you live his character along with him which is something that can only be said for the likes of Al Pacino, Robert De Niro etc.

If people were wondering what more can this man offer, he has given us another unforgettable performance as Billu. He captured the helplessness and simplicity of Billu perfectly and did it so naturally that it was hard to believe he had ever been anybody else but Billu. Hats off to this fine actor who, in spite of not having the personality of a star continues to inspire and amaze. He is a complete superstar in my book and I hope we see many such performances.

MTV Roadies: Bloodshed In Gandhinagar

Deepti Lamba — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 14:09:17 EST

There was bloodshed in Gandhinagar! Raghu and Rajiv brought their evil vibes to the latest episode of Roadies and the Brats were decimated not by the hands of the brothers but by womanly wiles and manly delusions.

In the immunity task, Bobby was bullied into stepping into the coffin whereas Dev volunteered to step in for the 'benefit' of his team. The person that was left behind the coffin basically was out of the game and hare-brained Dev got his ass kicked out by an enraged Raghu. And before Raghu too left he bestowed upon the injured cry baby Bobby the right to grant immunity to two people.

Thanks to Dev's foolishness, Om Blues were safe but the Brats lay open to be voted out except for Bobby. As always they wanted to vote Suzanna out but then Bobby felt it might seem that they are picking on her and suggested Natasha's name and Sandeep protected Natasha saying she was his friend whereas Suzanna wasn't all that friendly towards him.

So in a group of pretty women like Roop, Bobby, Natasha and Suzanna megalomaniac Sandeep was irked that one woman was impervious to his boyish charms and wanted her out!

Suzanna knowing her pretty ass was being cooked by the narcissistic team mates sought the help of Samrat who told her to have a word with Tamanna and rest of the Om Blues team.

There had already been bad blood between Kiri and his ex-Brat mates, he couldn't stand the sight of Roop who he considered to be manipulative and Tamana hated Pradeep and Sandeep's guts for causing Nauman's departure.

The goose was cooked that night but it wasn't Suzy's but Roop's. Roop knew Om Blues would turn against her but she hadn't expected Natasha to vote against her as well.

Bobby cried tears of blood for granting immunity to her male buddies and not saving Roop but she hadn't expected Natasha to turn. Indian soap opera at its best!

The sense of betrayal was strong and there was a massive cat fight between the Brats' women (except for close to tears soft spoken Suzanna) where they called Natasha characterless and a conniving woman hiding behind an innocent face but what I saw at work wasn't some animosity due to personality clash between head strong beautiful women.

There was power struggle over the 'boys' between Natasha and Roop. Kiri had already said that Roop held the reins over the boys and that probably irked Natasha. Her response that Roop had to go sometime or the other didn't hold much water. There can only be one queen bee in the hive. Roop wanted Suzanna out since she was prettier and kind of snooty but didn't expect Natasha had a thing against her's and Bobby's bossy behavior. Natasha had kept her dislike well under wraps until the time was right.

A visibly upset Suzanna stood next to Natasha and the divisions between the group had become clear. Sandeep acted like a betrayed Lothario, Pradeep shook his head and Bobby continued to cry crocodile tears. Two against three but luckily for them in the next episode there aren't going to be any more gangs, every Roadie is going to be alone once again.

Next week's episode has some actual mud wrestling matches and get this there are babes lying on the field in shorts accusing each other of trying to pull each other's shirts up.

Yeah, maintaining one's dignity has never been a wannabe Roadie's forte;)

And the visas did come through. Some lucky Roadies (not all) will get to cry some outback croc tears in Australia.

Was Vanity Fair To Freida Pinto?

Aditi Nadkarni — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 12:52:14 EST

Let me just start by saying how very pissed I am that Freida Pinto looks like a fifties pin-up model on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine. Let me correct that. A white, fifties pin-up model.

No matter what one thinks of Slumdog Millionaire, we can all agree on one thing: little La Pinto is a darling. She has beautiful kohl-lined brown eyes and a slender figure. And have you seen the legs on that woman? Now when the ample award nominations have inspired movie theaters to start showing the film again, fresh trailers appear with Rahman's upbeat score, the screen lit up with her smile. At the Golden Globes she wore a golden gown. How cute is that? At the Baftas she dazzled even more and the list of best-dressed included her name.

I waited through a string of commercials just because Access Hollywood mentioned Freida Pinto before they cut to the advertisements. They called her "the new star" and even discussed her couture for a total of 7 seconds (yeah, I was counting). Indians might find Freida Pinto a little skinny for their taste. I can already see the South-Indian film industry demanding that she wear a push-up bra before she ever decides to act again. But America seems reluctantly smitten with this debutante. I admit, it makes me happy to see a familiar brown face on the mostly color-blind American television. The only brown I get to feast my eyes on is Fareed Zakaria's and Asif Mandvi's. Anoop Desai was voted off Idol this season and so I am back to taking naps in place of evening television on the respective days.

The last time I saw desis on Access Hollywood was when during an interview with George Clooney, the "Water" team consisting of a saree clad Deepa Mehta walked the red carpet unnoticed a safe distance away from the camera's focus. I was momentarily excited by the sight of a saree on American television. This why Freida Pinto's 7-second appearance on AH made me a happy in an odd sort of way.

So now you can understand why I was miffed when I heard online rumors that Vanity Fair might have whitened La Pinto when putting her on their cover. I took a look at the said picture and whoah! She is as pale as Conan O'Brien. Her magnificent cheekbones have been flattened and the brown in her eyes no longer visible. She is wearing a red, bra-like top and what looks dangerously like a yellow slimming underwear. Her legs still look gorgeous but the glow that was so apparent on her brown face has been replaced by a white-out effect. So lets review what this means for those of us who felt a certain childish pride in watching an Indian person's face flash on American TVs. Her name is not suggestive of her heritage and now that she appears almost white, there is practically no way to tell if Pinto is from India or Sweden. I suddenly realized that the prophecy of this happening was clearly etched out in the name of the magazine itself. With a name like Vanity Fair, what were we expecting, inner beauty with brown skin? That would be such an oxymoron.

Through Access Hollywood, Vanity Fair clarified that the "whitening out" rumors were absolutely untrue and it was just "lighting". Well, in that case other magazines should take swift notes. Apparently, there is a quick tip Vanity Fair has to offer that may save them several touch-ups. You don't need to Photoshop or air-brush pictures to make dark people more appealing in America. You can just take care of it with a little bit of lighting.

Sanjay Dutt a Security Threat - Ram Jethmalani

Sakshi Juneja — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 10:32:41 EST

(Ram) Jethmalani, who had unsuccessfully argued for Dutt's bail before the Supreme Court in the late 1990s and had the privilege of going through the probe agency's dossier against him in the serial blasts case, did not mince words in waging a battle against his proposed candidature as a Samajwadi Party nominee for the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat.

"He (Dutt) does not deserve to be a Member of Parliament and any political party that sets him as its candidate is totally impervious to the security to the nation," the noted criminal law expert said in a press release. [Link]

Amusing. Very amusing in fact. A classic case of - woh angreezi main khehete hain na "Pot calling the Kettle black".

So let’s get this straight – Noted criminal lawyer/politician Ram Jethmalani is no saint himself. Rightly tagged as ‘the Devil’s Advocate’, Jethmalani has more so often sided with those on the wrong side of the law (technically speaking). Underworld gangsters, drug smugglers, stock market scammers & cold blooded murderers fill up his clientele list. The man is also known for making astounding (read: bullshit) statements to serve his agenda or at times simply to satisfy his hunger for limelight. After all out of sight out of mind no?

His stand against Bollywood’s Munnabhai, labeling him as security threat to the nation, to me appears to be nothing but letmegetbackatya aka a revenge scheme. Why? Because Sunil Dutt & family had found Mr. Jethmalani’s legal expertise to be in-effective back in the 1990s when the TADA case was still hanging over Sanjay Dutt’s Mohawk hair styled head. Since then Dutt Jr. has had the country’s best defense legal team propagating his cause; Farhana Shah, Satish Maneshinde, Karan Singh and V R Manohar.

A flip onto the other side; the only reason I see behind Sanjay Dutt’s political debut is the on-going feud with sister Priya Dutt, who also happens to be Lok Sabha Member representing the Indian National Congress Party. What feud? Honestly this question would be best answered only by a certain Mrs. Manyata Dutt.

Update :

Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh said on Saturday that if Sanjay Dutt is unable to contest because of legal issues, SP may field his wife Manyata from Lucknow, according to a PTI report.

"If Sanjay Dutt is unable to contest the polls, we will request the Dutt family to allow (his wife) Manyata to fight from Lucknow," he said. [Link]

Yes and if wife Manyata is filmy busy then there is pet Alaskan Husky. And if Husky is breeding busy then there is the red Ferrari. It's desi-politics baby!

Chennai Test: Where The Spirit Stays Alive

Adithya — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 08:26:14 EST

Slumdog Millionaire, the movie, starts with a multiple choice question. One of the options is - "It is written. It is destiny."

What happened at M.A Chidambaram stadium, Chepauk, Madras turned out to be quite like it.

The cricket fans of Madras are often referred to as the most sportive and the most intelligent of the lot. Nobody thinks twice or feigns modesty before bringing up the standing ovation the crowd gave the Pakistan team after the match of 1999. The sight of a Pakistan team doing a victory march in an Indian city, speaks volumes about the power of sports. And the heart of the Madras cricket fan.

One man had his dreams turned into nightmare that same afternoon. Sachin Tendulkar, broken back or not, played a masterful innings. A typical effort from him, during an era when he was shouldering India's hopes and he was the only one. What could have been a match winning and career defying knock turned into the most excruciating and regrettable moment of his life in Test cricket. There were some, praising him for the effort and for carrying on without a soul for support. There were many, finding faults in him, for repeatedly failing to finish the job.

Sachin would later come back to Madras and score a century against Australia. It was business as usual. But the euphoria of a match winning knock was missing. The pride of a fourth innings century was missing. The chance to silence his critics once and for all was missing.

Sachin was not the only one missing all the fun. The other guy missing all the fun was the Madras cricket fan. There have been 5 Test matches played in this venue since 2002. And three One Day Internationals. One ODI was abandoned and the other had no result as only about 25 overs could be played. A Test match against Sri Lanka could not be played during the first three days. The Test match against Australia, superbly poised at the end of fourth day, with India all set to win, had its fifth day's play washed out. I still remember going to the match on fourth day, during internal exams at college, watching Damien Martyn and Gillespie grind the bowling attack. Another against South Africa was a boring draw.

The M.A.Chidambaram stadium is not used to such ordinary levels of cricket. It is a historic and famous venue for the kind of cricket played over there and for the fans of Madras. The place was just waiting to witness Test cricket of the finest quality and that is exactly what was handed on a platter in the match against England. A match where the opposition were in full control for the first four days. A match where one single session on the fourth day made a huge difference. A match where four players scored above fifty in a fourth innings of a match. Sehwag's in particular, for laying the foundation.

The script, couldn't be more perfect. Madras was destined to witness one of the highest run chases in Test history and the highest in India. The city and its fans rightly deserved the match of a lifetime, after being treated to very mediocre plays and abandoned games. It regained its glory as the best venue to play cricket on, in India.

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, scoring his 41st Test century and the match winning runs, and ultimately burying the demon of 1999, was only the icing on the cake. It was written.

Is Dieting Required? Ask Oprah

Deepti Lamba — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 13:18:59 EST

"I want to be thin. I want to lose weight fast. Put me on a diet."

My dietitian frowned at me and replied "No diet. Eat fruits, vegetables, salads. Lots of water, no sugar, no bakery stuff and you will naturally lose if you exercise regularly."

I was exasperated "But its gradual."

She smiled "That's good. You want to glow not look like a starved mannequin. No diet. Don't your clothes fit you better? Haven't you already lost 5 kilos with exercise and regular eating habits? Diets don't last. You will fall off the wagon, feel disappointed and one day you will stop exercising as well. This has to be a life long habit not a hardship."

I returned to my crunches chastened but unconvinced until I read an article about Oprah falling of the bandwagon:

"I'm mad at myself," Winfrey writes in the article. "I'm embarrassed. I can't believe that after all these years, all the things I know how to do, I'm still talking about my weight. I look at my thinner self and think, 'How did I let this happen again?' "

Oprah's mea culpa comes at a time when a growing number of books, including "Rethinking Thin" by journalist Gina Kolata, argue that diet-induced weight loss is extremely difficult to sustain long-term.

Oprah also confessed that she starved herself on a liquid protein diet back in 2005 to get in shape.

In the end she seems to have come to the grand realization that being thin is not the end goal but to be fit and healthy. Given her thyroid problem its good she realized that size zero may be possible but would make life miserable for her.

At my gym there is a thin girl who works out infrequently. She wants to take part in the Miss India contest. She is about 5 feet 7 inches, she is all teeth and has a rake of a figure. She is less than size zero if that's possible.

She wanted to know if she was imperfect in any way and whether she needed to go on a rigorous diet. My instructor laughed and said she needed food not lack of it.

I looked at her reflection and then mine in the mirror and tried my best not to laugh. The realization that I could never be a size zero didn't seem all that bad all of a sudden. That kind of thinking requires a 'foodless existence.' and a certain kind of zeal that I lack.

I realized I could never be 'thin' and it was alright. I will always be a curvy babe in love with food and life. Right food, healthy self esteem and regular exercise is something I can see myself incorporating as a lifelong habit.

Skinny jeans will never be mine and I can live with that.

Obituary: Sabina Sehgal Saikia

Kim — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 14:27:34 EST

Sabina Sehgal Saikia was a food writer who had been with the Times of India group for over 17 years who at the time of her untimely demise had risen to Consulting Editor at the publication. She died in the Terror attacks in Mumbai where she was staying on the 6th floor. She was in Mumbai for the wedding of Bachi Karkaria's son next week.

Sabina could make or break a Delhi restaurant based on her reviews. She initially wrote an extremely popular column called "Main Course" for the Saturday Times, which later moved to the Delhi Times.

I was first introduced to her, when I picked up the Times of India Restaurant Guide for Delhi, 8 years ago. My next 2 years in Delhi were made tolerable by this handy book. I tried out restaurants based on her recommendations and agreed with her judgment over 80% of the time. She was honest and direct.

The Times of India Restaurant Guides to Hyderabad and Bombay could never match up to the standard that Sabina had set. She had spoiled me against other guides with her perfection and accuracy.

I subscribed to the Times of India in Delhi, just to read her column, although the Hindustan Times gave much better news coverage in Delhi.

An excellent cook herself, she soon visited me in my living room on NDTV cooks demonstrating an especially fiery looking Green Chilli Pickle.

I never met her face-to-face, but I felt like I knew a part of her. The part of her that loved good food and in Saif Ali Khan's words "acha khaana khane ke liye, hum kahin pe bhi chalenge" (to eat good food, we will travel anywhere) and in a wierd way, I identified with this part of her.

Sabina will be sorely missed in the food writers world. Our sympathies go out to her husband Shantanu and her two young children who will feel her absence much more than her millions of devoted readers.

Sabina you brought joy into the lives of food lovers: May your Soul, Rest in Peace.