by Siraj Syed June through December is film festival season in India. G5A flagged it off, running though June and July, followed by Jagran in September. October is for MAMI and November for IFFI. The year will end with the Third Eye Asian Film Festival. Of course, these are in addition to many smaller festivals, organised by Consular missions and cultural organisations. IFFI stands for the International Film Festival of India, the only state-sponsored event, held annually in Goa. Some years ...

TheBIG GUNS   Catching my eye on arrival was the “newest, largest and most powerful of the big guns” - not a producer - but a British 15” naval gun previously mounted on the HMS Ramillies and first seeing action in 1920 during The Greco-Turkish War before firing on the Italian landforces and warships… it could fire a 876kg shell a distance of 29kms… that’s like propelling an equivalent of 10 well proportioned men over The EnglishChannel. This gun ha...