Mumbai: Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan spoke about a dancing style he wishes to learn and said that it is “partner work” he is terrible at.
Hrithik said: “I’ve been terrible in partner work. I feel relaxed when it’s just me, but when it’s partner work, there is a certain synchronising and coordinating, there’s beauty in that. I have never been able to achieve that. I am very fascinated with Ballet. Just the long lines, the expanse and flight of it.”
“I had the opportunity in Guzaarish to train in the dance form and it was an incredible experience. It was like a ball and I was holding the ball and swirling. During the take, I was not able to get three turns – you know, the pirouettes. Finally, after two hours, we had lunch, and then we tried again. In a single take, somehow it happened.”
Hrithik also revealed to IMDb that some of the signature dance steps he enjoyed throughout his career are The Bang Bang title track, Ghungroo from War and It’s Magic from Koia Mil Gaya.
Speaking about his way of working, Hrithik said: “It’s always about the process. I have a favourite process. Anybody who fits in the process, we create amazing things! The process is working with no egos, absolute communication, no feeling bad. And if you’re feeling bad, express it. Be honest and work hard. Give me time to work hard.”
“If you tell someone, I want one month to rehearse, and if it’s coming from me, they will think I’m joking. Prabhu Deva, Farhan in Main Aisa Kyon Hoon (Lakshya), they gave me a month. Mr Bhansali once gave me two months. Once you have time and you have will, you just have to work hard.”
On the work front, the actor will next be seen in ‘Fighter’ along with Deepika Padukone and Anil Kapoor.
Mumbai: This is not the first time that Abhishek Bachchan has been questioned about his wife’s professional choices and so on. But the junior Bachchan knows how to shut down the trolls and he came up with a befitting reply.
Praising Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s latest release ‘Ponniyin Selvan 2’ Abhishek wrote on Twitter on Saturday, “#PS2 is simply FANTASTIC!!! At a loss for words right now. So overwhelmed. Well done to the entire team #ManiRatnam@chiyaan@trishtrashers @actor_jayamravi @Karthi_Offl and the rest of the cast and crew. And so, so proud of the Mrs. Her best by far. #AishwaryaRaiBachchan.”
In that thread, a person commented, “As you should! Now let her sign more movies and you take care of Aaradhya.” Retorting back to the said person, Abhishek wrote, “Let her sign??? Sir, she certainly doesn’t need my permission to do anything. Especially something she loves.”
Ponniyin Selvan 2, directed by Mani Ratnam, is the sequel to the 2022 film. Actor Kamal Haasan has lent his voice to the film’s narration. Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman has been entrusted with the music for the film.
Actors Vikram, Karthi, Jayam Ravi, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Trisha, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Sobhita Dhulipala, Prakash Raj, Jayaram, Prabhu, R Sarathkumar, Parthiban, and Vikram Prabhu reprise their roles in the second installment of the epic drama that narrates the story of the Chola Dynasty. The film is an adaptation of Kalki Krishnamurthy’s five-part novel series of the same name.
Ponniyin Selvan Part 1 covered one-third of the novel series and the rest is expected to be told in the second part.
Earlier, Aishwarya and Abhishek worked together in Mani Ratnam’s directorial ‘Guru’ which was a landmark movie in their careers.
AAP senior leader and former Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia (File Photo)
New Delhi: A court here on Saturday extended the judicial custody of Manish Sisodia, the former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, till May 8 in connection with the excise policy case being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Addressing the media outside the courtroom, Sisodia said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not be able to stop Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s work in the national capital.
“Modi ji may try as much as he wants, but he won’t be able to stop the work of Kejriwal ji in Delhi. Modi ji may conspire as much as he wants,” Sisodia said.
On Friday, Special Judge M.K. Nagpal of the Rouse Avenue Court had denied bail to Sisodia, holding that the evidence, prima facie, “speaks volumes” of his involvement in the commission of the offence.
Additionally, he said that it is impossible to rule out the potential of Sisodia influencing key witnesses in the case.
On Thursday, the same court had extended Sisodia’s judicial custody till May 12, in the case being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The ED had earlier submitted before the judge that Sisodia had planted fabricated emails to show that there was public approval for the 2021-22 excise policy.
The cracks on the walls started to appear two days earlier. But despite the warning signs, Moushumi Begum still came to work on 24 April 2013. Moments later, she was buried under heavy rubble. “It all happened so quickly. I vividly remember every detail about that day, even though it was 10 years ago,” says Begum, who spent three hours trapped under Rana Plaza, the eight-storey building on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, that came crashing down.
That morning, garment workers and some factory managers had argued in the dusty courtyard outside the building, many reluctant to enter as they feared it was unsafe. Workers had been evacuated the day before because of those fears. Some say they were told they would not be paid that month’s wages if they did not go to work; others say that an internal gate was closed behind them.
In the 90 seconds it took to collapse, Rana Plaza became a symbol of global inequality. The final death toll was 1,134 people, with 2,500 injured. There were harrowing stories of survival, of people having their limbs amputated without anaesthetic to prise them from the rubble.
A new report by ActionAid Bangladesh has shed light on the devastating toll the disaster has taken on survivors a decade on, revealing that more than half (54.5%) of the survivors are still unemployed. The key reason is health conditions such as breathing difficulties, vision impairment and physical challenges, including not being able to stand or walk properly.
The report also assessed the safety of 200 current garment workers, with more than half feeling that initiatives taken by factory management were inadequate. Almost 20% of those interviewed reported that their factories lacked firefighting equipment, while 23% said emergency fire exits were not available.
Moushumi Begum, now 24, has been given a sewing machine by ActionAid Bangladesh to ease her path back to work. But she still does not dare enter a tall building.
Begum was just 14 years old. Now married with two small children, she has tried to move on, but her health continues to affect her daily activities. She suffers from acute respiratory distress syndrome, a life-threatening lung injury that makes it difficult for her to breathe. She takes regular pauses as she speaks.
Since the disaster, Begum has been too scared to step foot in another factory. “The memories of that day continue to haunt me,” she says. “I feel immense anxiety just standing near a tall building.”
Acute health conditions caused by the Rana Plaza disaster have left survivors dependent on medication.
“It has not been easy for anyone affected by Rana Plaza to return to a normal life,” says Begum, who receives counselling and financial support from ActionAid Bangladesh. The charity operates a workers’ cafe for garment workers through which Begum has acquired a free sewing machine to motivate her in returning to work. She remains reluctant: “I don’t think I’ll ever find the courage to work in one of those buildings again.”
‘How disposable we garment workers are’ … Husnara Akhtar lay for five hours under the rubble. After she was rescued, she learned her husband had died.
Husnara Akhtar, 30, remembers having breakfast with her husband, Abu Sufyan, before they went to work that day. Both worked in the Rana Plaza building, but in different factories.
As Akhtar went to her floor, she could tell something was wrong. “People were anxious; some of the workers were standing around, refusing to sit down. Someone said it wasn’t safe, but I saw the look on my manager’s face and quickly took my place on the denim line. The lights began to flicker and the floor beneath my feet shook. Within seconds, we were plunged into darkness.”
When Akhtar regained consciousness, she found herself wedged between two dead bodies. “I lay there for five whole hours unable to move,” she recalls. “It felt like a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from. There was so much dust and so many dead bodies.”
Akhtar was eventually found by rescue workers and taken to a nearby hospital, where she discovered the extent of her injuries: concussion, cracked ribs and fractured arms that would make it impossible for her to work again.
Sufyan’s body was found a week later, crushed under a concrete pillar. “My husband was just one of the hundreds of workers that died that day,” says Akhtar tearfully. “I remember looking at his crumpled body and thinking how disposable we garment workers are.”
Safiya Khatun searched for 15 days for her son. On day 16, she found out he was dead.
Safiya Khatun cries whenever she thinks about what happened that day. She was in the Savar district of Dhaka when she heard a deafening sound. “It felt like the world was ending,” recalls the 66-year-old, who watched as people began to panic. “Someone said a bomb had exploded. Another said a building had collapsed. Then I heard the words Rana Plaza and my heart sank.”
Khatun rushed to the scene, where her 18-year-old son, Lal Miah, worked as a seamster on the third floor. She spent the next 15 days desperately searching for him. She carried a passport-sized photo of him and asked rescue workers at the site if they had seen him. On the 16th day, one recognised him.
A mother’s last hope: the photo of 18-year-old garment worker Lal Miah.
When Khatun saw her son’s body, she could barely breathe. “How could something like this happen to my precious son? The collapse of Rana Plaza left thousands of mothers like me empty-handed. It was a tragedy that could have been avoided if only the owners had listened to the workers’ concerns.”
The family now live in poverty because her son was the earner. Khatun lives in a small hut made from bamboo and metal scraps. “I was given land as compensation for the loss of my dear boy but nothing can compensate us for what we have gone through.” Many of the victims’ families were given land, but most cannot afford to build homes on it.
In Savar today, garment workers walk past an enormous pair of granite fists grasping a hammer and sickle – a monument erected in memory of Rana Plaza victims. Around the monument, on the land where Rana Plaza once stood, only weeds and litter mark the spot.
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
Don’t have plans for the coronation bank holiday? Fear not. The king invites you to join the Big Help Out, a national day of volunteering designed to mark the new reign. Or as the Telegraph breathlessly describes it, a “tribute to Charles’s many decades of public service”.
The Big Help Out will, according to the official website, “give everyone an opportunity to join in”. What acts of charity would Buckingham Palace like us to join in with, exactly? Squeezing out toothpaste for an elderly neighbour, perhaps. Or staffing a local art centre (do remember not to take the art home with you).
With the cost of living crisis leading to growing hardship across the country, especially in the poorest communities, there is said to be a national shortage of volunteers to meet the demand for them. Organisers were hoping the Big Help Out would inspire a new wave of volunteering, but some in the charity fear the event will be “damp squib”, due to lack of participants.
Is one really shocked? A man whose car collection alone is estimated to be worth more than £6m asking the rest of us to celebrate his kingship by helping out at the local food bank feels, shall we say, a little “let them eat quiche”.
Volunteering can be hugely rewarding, and many organisations are in desperate need of more help, but there may be better ways to promote the cause than an event that is literally about deference to hereditary privilege. People who are already working every hour just to put food on the table hardly need a billionaire to ask them to use their day off to do more.
As commentary on this country’s relationship with class goes, it could only be more crass if one of the volunteering jobs on offer was for families to scrub King Charles’s golden carriage with their electricity bills.
Charity, monarchy fans insist, is a longstanding personal interest of the royal family. In the runup to the coronation, the Princess of Wales made a “previously unannounced” visit to Windsor’s baby bank for deprived newborns (photographers were there entirely coincidentally, you understand). More than 850 community and charity representatives have been invited to the coronation to show the king’s deep respect for their work and 400 young volunteers will also watch from St Margaret’s church, Westminster Abbey.
Charles, complete with Aston Martin DB6 Volante, visits the car maker’s new factory in St Athan, Wales, on 21 February 2020. Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty Images
No news as yet as to whether any representatives from HMRC have been invited. Royals always seem to prefer ad hoc charity work to taxation, much like the boss of Amazon or the Victorians. The £1bn Duchy of Cornwall estate – previously inherited by Charles and recently passed on to Prince William – is not liable for either corporation tax or capital gains tax.
But don’t worry, according to the duchy’s website, under Charles’s leadership, the estate’s annual multimillion-pound revenue was used to fund his “public, private and charitable activities”.Charles notably didn’t pay a single penny of inheritance tax on the fortune the late Queen left him last year (the jewellery alone was estimated to beworth at least £533m), though he has “volunteered” to pay income tax, as he also did on the duchy estate. “Volunteering” to pay tax always feels a little like a wanted criminal “volunteering” to hand himself over to the authorities. It doesn’t seem to be something you typically get a choice in.
For the little people, tax isn’t a hobby – it funds the key services we all rely on. Indeed, the “crisis in volunteering” that the Big Help Out hopes to fill has largely been created by years of government cuts, all while the richest have hoarded and increased their wealth. Over the last decade, local councils have faced £15bn in real-terms cuts with neighbourhood services such as parks, libraries and children’s centres “hollowed out” since 2010.
There is apparently no money for Sure Start centres but you’ll be relieved to hear ministers have found £8m to offer every public body a free portrait of King Charles. Oliver Dowden, the new deputy prime minister and patriot in chief, says the portraits would bring the nation together. So would working hospitals.
The coronation itself is estimated to be costing the public purse anywhere from £50m to £100m. Charles’s personal fortune is thought to be almost £2bn, but as anyone who has ever gotten a £60 ticket to St Pancras on expenses knows, a 1.3-mile coronation precession can very much be put down as a “work trip”.
In the coming days, there will be endless commentators ready to declare that the coronation makes them “proud to be British”, while anyone who criticises any aspect of it will be accused of “hating their country”. I have never quite understood the mindset that feels more pride in producing Prince Andrew than the welfare state. At the very least, we should surely be allowed to ask some questions. Can a modern nation call itself democratic if it retains an unelected head of state? Is a growing reliance on charity a point of celebration or shame? Does sanitising the existence of royalty normalise wider inequality? As a diamond-encrusted crown is placed on the king’s head, your packed local homeless shelter is desperate for help. Don’t you feel proud to be British?
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#billionaire #king #crowned #urges #charity #work #Britain #Frances #Ryan
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
Mumbai: Despite limited staff, the Indian embassy in Sudan operated round-the-clock to evacuate those stranded in the war-torn country, said some of the people who arrived in Mumbai from the African nation under ‘Operation Kaveri’ mission.
These passengers, who landed in Mumbai on Thursday, narrated their harrowing experiences of the last seven days. Abdul Kadir, a 39-year-old businessman, said after the situation in Khartoum worsened, India’s ambassador B S Mubarak and his team of eight officials worked tirelessly.
“With limited staff, they did unlimited work,” he said, adding that the Indian embassy was operating 24×7 during this period. Mubarak himself was stuck in the worst-affected part of the city, but he was continuously in touch with the staff and volunteers, he said.
The ambassador created WhatsApp groups of Indians in each locality and ensured that every person got help, Kadir added. Defence attache Gurpreet Singh took risk and brought Mubarak to a safe area, he said.
Kadir, who was living in Sudan since 2017, said they were used to the tense situation in the country, but this time things took a bad turn unexpectedly, though they were hoping that tensions would decrease in the holy month of Ramadan.
“Within one hour, the situation went out of control,” he said, adding that they did not get a chance even to buy food and groceries. “We got the benefit of being Indians. We were allowed to pass peacefully through numerous checkpoints,” Kadir said, adding that the Indian community at Port Sudan not only opened their homes but also their hearts for the rescued compatriots.
Another passenger said the situation was very bad, and the work done by the embassy staff could not be described in words. “I only pray to Allah that all our stranded brothers and those in the embassy reach home safely,” he added.
Many people were still waiting for their relatives to reach Mumbai from Sudan. Anita Pandey, a resident of Kalyan, was one of them.
Her husband had been working as a fitter in Khartoum for the last one year. “My husband’s friend told me that he has been rescued and is safe. I don’t know where he is at present, but we are waiting for his arrival….,” Pandey said.
Speaking to reporters for the first time since a nearly 10-month detainment in Russia on drug-related charges, the WNBA star had to take a moment to compose herself after being asked about her resiliency through the ordeal.
“I’m no stranger to hard times,” Griner said Thursday from the lobby of the Footprint Center, home of her new team the Phoenix Mercury and the NBA’s Phoenix Suns. “Just digging deep. You’re going to be faced with adversities in life. This was a pretty big one. I just relied on my hard work to get through it.”
Griner’s first news conference drew more than 100 people, including Arizona governor Katie Hobbs, members of the Mercury organization and her wife, Cherelle.
Griner was arrested in February 2022 at a Moscow airport after Russian authorities said a search of her luggage revealed vape cartridges containing cannabis oil. She later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nine years in prison.
She said her abilities as an athlete helped her cope. “I know this sounds so small but dying in practice and just hard workouts, you find a way to just grind it out, just put your head down and keep going and keep moving forward,” she said.
“You can never stand still and that was my thing; just never be still, never get too focused on the now and looking forward to what’s to come.”
After nearly 10 months of strained negotiations between Washington and Moscow, Griner was exchanged in the United Arab Emirates for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout on 8 December.
Griner kept a low profile following her return to the US while adjusting to life back at home, outside of appearances at the Super Bowl, the PGA Tour’s Phoenix Open and an MLK Day event in Phoenix.
But she said she never doubted she would be back playing professionally again.
“I believe in me,” Griner said. “I believe in what I can do. I know if I put my mind to it I can achieve any goal.
She added: “I’m not trying to sound big-headed, but I bet on me. I have all the resources here to help me get to that point where I can play, and it was no question to be back in the WNBA, back in Phoenix playing.”
Griner also said her management team has been in touch with the family of Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter detained in Russia who has become a symbol of attacks on the press in Russia.
“No one should be in those conditions,” she said.
She added: “You’re in foreign territory and you’re in unknown waters. So there’s a lot that we might know that they didn’t know so there’s been a lot of communication between both teams.”
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#relied #hard #work #Brittney #Griner #coping #Russian #detention
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday directed officials to expedite pending works related to digital libraries, village clinics and rythu bharosa kendras (RBKs) and village secretariats.
Chairing a review meeting of the Panchayat Raj and Rural Development (PR & RD) department, Reddy instructed officials to pay special attention towards the quality of work with regard to roads so that they last at least five years, according to a release issued by the CM’s office.
“Some roads are getting damaged in the second year itself,” the Chief Minister said, adding necessary steps should be taken to avoid shoddy work.
Further, he told them to strive to find opportunities for women for whom the state government is implementing a plethora of welfare schemes such as YSR Cheyutha, Asara, Kapu Nestham and EBC Nestham which offer bank loans.
In addition to forging tie-ups with multi-national companies for selling the wares of these women, the CM noted that officials should encourage them to grow in to entrepreneurs during the same year they receive the benefits.
Meanwhile, officials said as many as nine lakh SC, ST, BC and minority women have started their own business enterprises with the help of YSR Cheyutha scheme, by teaming up with companies such as Hindustan Uniliver, ITC, Reliance, Mahindra and P&G for marketing their products.
Reddy instructed officials to procure the Rs 880 crore amount due from the Central government under the employment guarantee scheme for the fiscal 2022-23.
A record number of river barriers, including dams and weirs, were removed across Europe in 2022, with at least 325 taken down in 16 countries, allowing rivers to flow freely and migratory fish to reach breeding areas.
In its annual report, Dam Removal Europe said Spain led the way for the second year with 133 removals, followed by Sweden and France. The UK completed 29 removals, including Bowston Weir, which was built on the River Kent nearly 150 years ago for a paper mill. Its removal will help restore the health of the river, which is home to white-clawed crayfish, freshwater pearl mussels, and water crowfoot (an oxygenating aquatic plant).
“These numbers make me proud because we’re doing a lot to mainstream dam removal, and it works,” said Herman Wanningen, director of the World Fish Migration Foundation (WFMF) and founder of Dam Removal Europe. “It shows countries are picking up speed on implementing this river restoration tool.”
Across Europe, hundreds of rivers are blocked by dams, weirs, culverts and levees, with 15% considered obsolete, and many at risk of collapse.
A dam is removed on the Tromsa River in Norway. Photograph: Rob Kleinjans
In Norway, dynamite was used to destroy a seven-metre-high dam that had blocked the Tromsa River since 1916. But the year’s largest known project was the removal of La Roche qui Boit hydropower dam on the Sélune River in France.
Two countries – Latvia and Luxembourg – completed removals for the first time. “Sometimes the smallest projects make a difference for an entire country,” said Wanningen.
One of the more surprising removals was the obsolete Bayurivka dam in Ukraine, where WWF-Ukraine’s river restoration work continued, despite the war. Taking out the abandoned six-metre-high dam, in the Carpathian mountains of Verkhovyna national park, opened 27km of the Perkalaba River to migratory fish for the first time in 120 years and removed the risk of it collapsing.
“By removing Bayurivka, we hope the river has a chance to again become a biodiversity hotspot,” said Oksana Konovalenko, WWF-Ukraine’s freshwater practice lead. “Protected fish species, including brook trout, Danube salmon, and Ukrainian lamprey, are expected to return upstream and attract fish-eating animals, such as brown bear, otters and various bird species.”
Almost 75% of the barriers removed were weirs, followed by culverts and dams. At least 10 hydropower dams were dismantled in England, Finland, France, Norway, Spain and Sweden.
The number of removals was a 36% increase from the previous year when there were 239 removals.
“Removing barriers to restore rivers’ natural flow and connectivity brings many ecosystem service benefits, such as flood protection, water purification, and recreational opportunities,” said Wanningen.
San Prudentzio dam on the Deba River was one of 133 barriers removed in Spain in 2022. Photograph: Gipuzkoa Provincial Council
With an estimated 150,000 old and obsolete dams and weirs across Europe, there is still a long way to go. “Dam removals are still controversial,” said Wanningen. “Some countries haven’t even started yet, because the topic is too sensitive to talk about. Hydropower companies don’t like seeing their dams going down, though [they] weren’t economically viable any more. Local villagers are worried there will be more flooding, even though removing dams creates more space for flooding if done properly. It’s a matter of providing the right information and making sure politicians and citizens understand why unnecessary dams should be removed.”
The year-on-year increase in removals is expected to continue in 2023, as the argument for freeing rivers gathers momentum. “I hope the European Commission accepts the new Nature Restoration Law this summer, which will give a solid policy base for member states to implement dam removal to restore 25,000km of rivers and maybe more,” said Wanningen. “And I hope we can keep this amazing movement growing.”
Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on Twitter for all the latest news and features
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
India has become the world’s most populous country, according to the United Nations’ latest projections, knocking China off the top spot for the first time since the UN began keeping records.
Both countries are facing significant demographic challenges, be it dealing with the legacy of a disastrous one-child policy and ageing population or working out how to take advantage of a booming youth cohort while managing huge disparities in the growth rates of different states.
We asked two 25-year-olds – one from each country – about their lives and aspirations.
‘I don’t have time for myself’
Xue Pengyu, 25, Anyang, China
For Xue Pengyu, his life is his work. As a teaching assistant at an arts college in his home city of Anyang, a small city in Henan, a poor, northern province, he lives on campus alongside his students, who aren’t much younger than himself.
When 25-year-old Xue left high school seven years ago, he moved to Tianjin to study graphic design. The city’s population is more than double the size of Anyang’s, and it is only around 30 minutes by high-speed train from Beijing. After graduating from university Xue stayed in Tianjin and got a job working in a preschool. He hoped to stay there, or move to another big city, but the disruption of the pandemic forced him to return home.
Arts college worker Xue Pengyu, 25, lives in Anyang, China Photograph: Xue Pengyu
His living situation makes it hard to find a girlfriend. He doesn’t want to date a colleague and the job itself is all consuming. “The kids are in their rebellious period, so I need to take care of their emotions, monitor their behaviour and arrange study tasks for them,” he says. “Basically, I don’t have time for myself except for eating and sleeping.”
Xue’s income also limits his options. Although Anyang is a relatively cheap city, and his accommodation is provided by his school, his salary of about 3,000 yuan (£349.78) a month is “enough for myself” but “not enough to support having a family”. But he is sanguine about the future: the job has the potential for promotion, and he thinks it will keep him satisfied for at least the next three years.
And Xue reckons he is better off than his friends who moved to big cities such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen in the south, or Shanghai on the east coast. “The salaries there are still not enough to build a family. For them, the distance to starting a family is even further.”
For now, Xue isn’t thinking about having children. He is relaxed about his lifestyle, but having a child would be a “big burden … and I like to do whatever I want. I don’t want to be confined at home and having to look after a child. I would get annoyed by it.
“When I worked in preschool education, some of the kids were really cute, and I kind of wanted my own child. However my desire to have a child went down after I considered reality.”
‘I’m growing and developing but it’s slow’
Ranjan Kujur, 25, Jharkhand, India
Ranjan Kujur’s biggest break in life came when his aunt recognised that he was a bright boy, but would have little opportunity in his small village of Raintoli in Jharkhand state. Kujur’s father was unemployed, his mother had had no education, the village school was a shed.
He went to stay with his aunt in the city of Ranchi when he was six years old and attended the local school. The move spared him from rural poverty. The local school gave him a decent grounding and city life provided him with exposure to a more vibrant world.
Kujur became interested in dancing. After working odd jobs for a year, he plucked up the courage to join a dance class. The coach found him so talented that he waived the fees. “I feel free when I dance. It’s my life and I love it,” Kujur says.
Ranjan Kujur, a 25-year-old dancer, was born in Jharkhand state, India. Photograph: Ranjan Kujur
With his eyes set firmly on Bollywood he wants to do a three-year dance diploma in Mumbai but it costs around £500 a month, far beyond his means. His average monthly income is 16,000 rupees (£160) and while it’s enough for his daily needs (his aunt does not ask him to pay rent), it is not enough for college.
“I’m growing and developing but it’s slow. I have to focus on working even harder and saving the money for this diploma which will open up all sorts of opportunities for me.”
Until he has finished the diploma, he refuses to think of marriage or starting a family – “I’m still young!” he says. He says he doesn’t have time for a girlfriend either right now.
“Of course I will get married one day but only when I’m settled. There is a lot of competition in dancing so I need to be really, really good to get anywhere.”
Kujur spends most of his time practising for video clips that YouTube dance channels commission from him occasionally, teaching classes and going to homes to provide tuition, mostly Bollywood or hip hop. His day rarely ends before 8pm.
“My parents never thought there would be a dancer in the family and it’s not the work they had in mind but I don’t ask them for money. They can see how hard I’m working to make something of myself,” he says.
Additional research by Chi Hui Lin
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#Life #India #China #money #worries #hard #work #plans #family
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
