Siddharth Dasgupta
'Frequently, heaven erupts': A new book of poetry takes readers across 37 Indian cities
An excerpt from 'The Penguin Book of Poems on the Indian City', by Bilal Moin.
Siddharth Dasgupta
,
Arun Kolatkar
,
Nandini Sen Mehra
,
Satya Dash
,
Malovika Pawar
,
Ashwani Kumar
,
Jayant Parmar
,
Riyaz Latif
&
Gopal Lahiri
The Art of Solitude: In these surreal times, John Coltrane's jazz is an invitation to believe
As we flit between existential anxiousness and soulfulness within a chosen sanctuary, the American jazz legend is never too far away.
Siddharth Dasgupta
· May 30, 2020 · 11:30 am
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Indian Express
13 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Amitabh Bachchan says doctors advised him to sit while wearing trousers, has handlebars installed throughout Jalsa: ‘I smile in disbelief until…'
Although he is inching closer to 85, Amitabh Bachchan is in no mood for retirement and continues to entice fans with his magnetic presence both on and off screen. Just recently, he launched the 17th edition of his much-acclaimed television game show Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), making a grand comeback to our mini-screens. With a massive fanbase spanning multiple generations, Bachchan can undoubtedly be dubbed one of the most accomplished actors in the history of Indian cinema. Despite his efforts to stay young at heart, it seems that old age is finally catching up with Big B. Recently, he opened up about struggling with even the simplest tasks, like putting on trousers. The superstar also revealed that handlebars have been installed throughout his official residence, Jalsa. After the custom of greeting fans who gather outside his house, Bachchan penned a long note on his blog on Sunday, expressing his feelings about this tradition. He also commented on his deteriorating physical ability to perform certain mundane tasks. Mentioning that he still hesitates to believe all these fans have gathered outside his house just to catch a glimpse of him, Big B shared that it only feels real when he actually sees them. 'As I climb the steps to face them, the reassurance grips my body and the reactions all come with the provocation of the cheers from all to steady my nerves. Then the love and admiration take over,' he wrote. Sharing that he observes the absence of regular faces too, Bachchan noted, 'Am I too common and unwanted? Are they fed up with this 5-10 minute appearance for those who have gathered from the afternoon to get vantage positions? Why and what?' He shared that the routines planned for the day are now dictated by the routines of medication and essentials, which include mobility exercises at the gym to be able to 'walk the talk and talk the walk'. He quipped, 'Some routines that were there earlier seem to suggest that because it was done some years ago, it shall be a cake walk to initiate them again. Nah, no baby! Just one day's absence and the pains and the mobility go for a very long walk.' Opening up about his struggles with previously easy routine tasks, Big B wrote, 'It is a wonder that the normal actions earlier, now require the mind to think before they can be exercised. Simple acts like putting on the trousers. The doctors advise, 'Please Mr Bachchan, sit down and wear them. Do not try to stand while you put them on… You could lose balance and fall.' And inside, I sort of smile in disbelief until I find they were so right.' To assist him with such tasks, he revealed that handlebars have been installed throughout the house. 'You need them all over to hold and steady thy body before any physical act. The simplest of them (the actions) is bending down to pick up a piece of paper that has flown off your desk with the breeze. The bravado tells you to go ahead until you realise, 'goodness, it's a major problem.' The rapidity of its performance has slowed down with uncertainty.' Expressing his deep desire that none of his fans have to go through such a phase in life, Bachchan stated that such a time will, nonetheless, come for everyone. He added, 'The down trend begins at birth. Sad, but that's the reality of life. Youth races through life's challenges with aplomb. Age suddenly speed brakes your vehicle and tells you, 'Apply the brakes to avoid the accelerated bump when you drive the vehicle of life.''
Hindustan Times
13 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
How Crocs Conquered China
SHANGHAI—For the better part of a decade, Crocs stumbled in China. Its stores stocked shoes Chinese people didn't want, such as loafers, and its celebrity endorsers were the likes of reality-show contestants and midtier actresses. Retail experts say that Crocs offers lessons for Western brands. Today, Shanghai subway cars are packed with fashionable Crocs-wearers, often young women in platform clogs studded with charms known as Jibbitz. So many fans of the hole-filled shoes make posts with the hashtag 'dongmen'—Chinese slang for Crocs fan—that the company has announced on earnings calls the number of dongmen mentions, which today tally in the hundreds of millions. Once a tiny fraction of Crocs sales, China has grown into the brand's second-largest market after the U.S. This month, the company said revenue in the most recent quarter fell 6.4% in North America, but was up more than 30% in China. Crocs, which is based in Broomfield, Colo., has become a rarity: an American company that is growing rapidly in China. Nike and Starbucks have struggled against fast-moving local competitors with lower prices, though both say they're turning a corner. China's slowing growth has caused many budget-conscious consumers to turn away from premium American products. Retail experts say that Crocs offers lessons for Western brands. The biggest is to focus on the unique preferences of the Chinese consumer—such as a love for platform clogs, which many Chinese women consider a leg-lengthening, comfortable alternative to heels. Crocs marketing campaigns, such as an ad featuring pop star Tan Jianci in pink platform Crocs riding a pink whale through the sky, are dreamed up in Shanghai, not Colorado. The company recruits the glitziest names in Chinese pop culture as brand ambassadors. It tweaked its global slogan 'Come as you are' to a Chinese-language version, 'Born to Be Free'—appealing to many young Chinese who yearn for a more relaxed and less competitive life. The company has taken creative risks, partnering with Chinese-born designer Feng Cheng Wang, who released a knee-length biker-style Crocs boot that one fashion website called 'straight from the future.' An American TikTok influencer asked, 'Those are Crocs?!' They are. So are the KFC collaboration Crocs, with chicken-shaped Jibbitz charms that smell like fried chicken, released in China and the U.S. The black knee-length Crocs boots seen at Paris Fashion Week. 'Crocs has run a playbook that most global organizations know that they should run,' said Zak Dychtwald of the Young China Group, which researches Chinese youth trends. 'They've just done it well.' While some U.S. brands are tarnished by their association with China's main geopolitical competitor, Crocs has another advantage: Few Chinese know it is American. Even as Crocs revenue has begun to flag in North America, it has more than tripled since 2022 in China, where certain sought-after Crocs can go for $250 or more a pair. It reinvests much of the margin it earns on its shoes into marketing. Anne Mehlman, Crocs's brand president, visited Shanghai in early 2020 and hardly saw any Crocs on the street. When she came back in 2023, she remembers stepping off the plane and immediately seeing a fashionable man with a Balenciaga bag and platform 'Crush' Crocs. 'I was like 'OK, this is real,'' she said. Andrew Rees, Crocs's CEO, said the company groups its buyers into two buckets. There are the 'feel-goods,' represented by a suburban mom looking to purchase durable and affordable shoes for the family. Then there are the 'explorers': young urban women with bold fashion tastes. In the U.S., Crocs-wearers are mainly feel-goods, said Rees. In China and other Asian countries, explorers are better represented. 'We wanted to exaggerate their classic clog and provide height and more fashion and more style,' he said. 'It's a shoe to anywhere,' said Sylvia Yiu, 30 years old, a Shanghai-based marketing professional who clip-clopped into a Shanghai Crocs store in black platform Crocs studded with Jibbitz. She said she wears her Crocs to nightclubs or for daily errands—such as picking up another pair of Crocs. This time she tried on a few, but ended up settling for a shiny flower-shaped Jibbitz. 'I just take what I like, what matches my vibe,' Yiu said. Her vibe, she said, is 'Cool girl, with a bit romantic,' hence the rose Jibbitz displayed prominently on her right Croc. The vibe of Wang Tianyang, 29, has more parts: The athletic young man said the tiger-like creatures in his right clog symbolize his love of animals, while a basketball hoop and football goal post in the left clog symbolize his love of sports, and two fried eggs next to the hoop stand for his love of protein. His collection also includes a red flame-shaped Jibbitz for the dance floor, which lights up when he takes a step. Joseph Ranieri Jr., Crocs's first distributor in China, came to Shanghai in 2006 with a duffel bag full of Crocs. He clomped around the streets of Shanghai wearing matching colored shirts and Crocs, handing out business cards and asking if anyone wanted to buy a pair. 'Guerrilla brand building,' he calls it. The brand gradually gained traction. But a few years after Crocs bought out Ranieri's distributorship in 2008, it began to struggle. Ranieri said the company made misguided decisions such as emphasizing loafers in China instead of clogs. It was a difficult period for Crocs outside of China too. The brand had soared in the 2000s, riding on controversy over whether its signature look was fun or ugly, but it was hit hard by the global financial crisis. In 2013, investment group Blackstone agreed to put $200 million into the company and Rees, the current CEO, became a senior executive the next year. He quickly realized China was both an opportunity and a problem. One issue was Crocs's reliance on local distributors, which often bought too much stock and dumped merchandise in sales that undercut the brand image. The answer was to focus on directly operated stores in buzzy shopping malls. 'It was a long reset because we needed to actually change the entire perception of the brand,' said Mehlman, the Crocs brand president. In 2020, the company announced its first A-list Chinese celebrity ambassador, actress Yang Mi from the drama 'Eternal Love,' a smash hit with tens of billions of views. Off-screen she was photographed in Crocs adorned with personalized Jibbitz charms such as golden bees and foxes. These were a nod to Yang's fans, who are known as 'honey bees' and address her as 'Little Fox.' When Covid hit and foot traffic dwindled, the company debated pulling back as other big brands did. Instead, Crocs doubled down, funding Chinese advertising with money from sales in the U.S., where the pandemic-era work-from-home set drove a boom. 'That was the big turning point,' said Mehlman. Crocs has a roster of celebrity endorsers, including Chinese pop star Tan Jianci, featured in this ad. Mia Wong, 30, a Shanghai tech worker, saw a stranger on the street in 2021 pairing platform Crocs with light-colored socks. 'It was ugly at first, but the more I wore them the more I liked it,' Wong said. She eventually ordered four pairs. Influencers and ordinary people took to posting photos of their Crocs with a customized selection of Jibbitz on the Chinese social-media app RedNote. It played well on a platform based around user-generated content and self-expression, with many posting it under the 'dongmen' hashtag. 'Crocs, just the product itself, lends itself really well to social media and this Gen Z culture around personalization,' said Olivia Plotnick, founder of Wai Social, a China-based marketing agency. Today it has a roster of celebrity endorsers and collaborations. Crocs is working with the hottest Chinese retail brand, PopMart, maker of the viral Crybaby dolls—with Crybaby-themed Jibbitz that can be attached to Crocs. Rees said there was plenty of room for growth in China—despite, or because of, its torpid economy. 'I think in the current environment where people are having a tough time, we're winning because of that fun factor,' Rees said. Write to Jon Emont at How Crocs Conquered China
Mint
13 minutes ago
- Mint
Coolie Box Office Collection Day 5: Rajinikanth movie finally hits ₹200 crore mark amid Monday blues
Coolie Box Office Collection Day 5: Rajinikanth's Coolie has finally hit the ₹ 200 crore milestone amid a sharp decline in its earnings on Monday. The movie, released on August 14 to mark the superstar's 50th year in the industry, enjoyed a long weekend at the Indian box office. After a record-breaking opening day collection and hitting the ₹ 150 crore milestone in three days, the movie has hit a slowdown, earning a total of ₹ 194.25 crore till Sunday. The Rajinikanth movie is facing fierce competition from Hrithik Roshan and Jr NTR's War 2. According to early estimates of industry tracker Sacnilk, Coolie, directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj, earned just ₹ 5.6 crore on Monday until 6:30 PM. This figure is significantly lower than what the movie earned in the previous days. The movie's earnings have already dropped nearly 55% since its opening day, and its collection on its first Monday is likely to widen the gap significantly. With this, Coolie's 4-day total stands at ₹ 200.1 crore. The total earnings will be revised later in the evening, once the figures for the evening and night show are declared. The movie has been released in five languages: Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, and Kannada, boosting a pan-India appeal. Coolie, the biggest Indian opener of 2025 at the worldwide box office, earned a gross of ₹ 385 crore globally on Day 4. Of this, the movie minted ₹ 154.5 crore overseas, while its India gross was ₹ 230.5 crore. Sacnilk said Coolie became the first Tamil movie to cross the Rs150 crore worldwide mark on its opening day, cementing its place in cinematic history. Coolie's Day 5 global earnings will be published tomorrow, Tuesday. Coolie and War 2 were released on the same day, 14 August, during Independence Day week. Coolie surpassed War 2's Day 5 earnings, with Hrithik's film bringing in ₹ 4.38 crore. Though the margin isn't very large, it still impacts War 2's overall collections, which now stand at ₹ 179.13 crore. Rajinikanth's Coolie stars Nagarjuna, Upendra, Soubin Shahir, Sathyaraj, Shruti Haasan, Reba Monica John, Junior MGR, and Monisha Blessy. Bollywood actors Aamir Khan and Pooja Hegde also appear in a cameo.
