erfan curtains up
review of another edition Portrait of a Turkish Family is as close to time-travel as one can get--not the kind of time travel where one is merely an observer but the even more intense kind of time travel in which the reader becomes someone from another world.The book opens in Istanbul the fabled and romantic capital of a crumbling Ottoman Empire when Irfan Orga is just five years old; it reaches its poignant close in October 1941 as Orga, now a young pilot in the Turkish air force and ready to ship out to England, spends Henk-Jan van der Klis Originally published in 1950, Portrait of a Turkish Family is a memoir by Irfan Orga (October 31, 1908 – November 29,1970) that describes the story of his life from early childhood, in Istanbul in the early 1900s, up until World War 2.A delightful opening starts with a description of a happy and prosperous childhood as part of a wealthy Ottoman family. Things start to change following the death of Irfan Orga's grandfather and the family's fortunes take a turn for the worse.
The growth of messaging apps helped here for a while. People broke out into groups where they make announcements and stay in touch, but now that chat apps are used by almost everyone, there’s a lot more information and it becomes impossible to read everything.
kavanaghs curtains newbridgeSo, once again, I miss most of my friends’ news and updates, but, added to that, they know I’m not reading or taking part in the discussion like I should be.
erfan curtains up That’s where The Chat Bot Club, one of the projects from the TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon in New York this weekend, wants to help. It allows you to create a bot of yourself, which interacts and talks to your friends like you but without you having to do so. In other words, they think you’re there and paying attention, even though you (read: me!) are often not.
Jersey resident Irene Chang came up with the idea after finding it impossible to keep up with her friends and their group chats on Facebook Messenger. The Chat Bot Club uses Cisco Spark and IBM Watson to run bots which learn your style — such as favorite phrases, emojis of choice, etc — and mimic it in groups. The Chat Bot Club is initially a working concept which was created in just over a day at the hackathon. It isn’t ready for your usage yet, but Chang plans to integrate APIs add support for services like WeChat, WhatsApp, Kik, Facebook Messenger and others. One thing I’d love to see added is a daily digest — some kind of report which gives me the down-low on what news and chatter my bot has seen each day. But, until then, you’d need to go back and recap the discussions to get that information. The competition to masterplan Muscat, Oman’s new district, Al-Irfan, is over. Organized by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), five teams were chosen to submit proposals for the development project.
Of those five, international firm Allies and Morrison has been selected to oversee the design process. The firm will be working in with the Oman Tourism Development Company SAOC (Omran) to develop a site of over 7.4 million square meters into a thriving urban center that will provide business and residential opportunities for the people of Oman.Other competitors in the Al-Irfan competition included Broadway Malyan, HOK, Nikken Sekkei, and SOM. All were all praised by the competition jury for their compelling designs, but Allies and Morrison’s submission was singled out for its “rich narrative together with a contextual landscape driven response to the Brief which had been designed to work with the topography while enhancing the site’s unique natural setting.” The project will also establish connections to the nearby Muscat International Airport, and the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre.Eng. Wael Al Lawati, CEO of Omran, had this to say about the project: “Al-Irfan is the Sultanate’s largest mixed-use urban development project, and we wanted to ensure it is designed in a sustainable manner while reflecting the uniqueness of Omani culture and aligns with the Sultanate’s long-term developmental strategy.
We are delighted that the RIBA Competitions process enabled us to achieve such a successful result, which has led to the appointment of Allies and Morrison, a world-class firm in architecture and urban design.”When it is completed, Al-Irfan will include residential and commercial elements, as well as infrastructure geared towards tourism in and around Muscat. You have successfully submitted your information. Thank you again for your interest in Hunter Douglas window fashions. Your current browser is out of date. , we recommend upgrading to the current version of one of the following supported browsers: Thank you again for your interest in Hunter Douglas window fashions.When I walk into his living room on a sultry afternoon, Irrfan Khan is attempting to move a pond.Arguably the finest actor in current Hindi cinema, Irrfan has moved from a home on Madh Island—a quick boat-ride away from the Mumbai mainland—to a high-rise in Oshiwara, an area close to Lokhandwala, the suburban neighbourhood that houses many of his film and television colleagues.
It is a literal hop from the fringes to the thick of it, akin to the actor’s career. Last year, for instance, he played romantic hero to Deepika Padukone, and then Aishwarya Rai. This month, his next release features Tom Hanks. Going from an off-centre idyll to a mainstream neighbourhood, he’s holding on to what matters most.“It is important for me to have a water body,” Irrfan explains, passionately (and oddly) specific, pointing to something that looks like a Turkish bathtub, a square of blue stone. “It has to have its own ecosystem, survive on its own. That the fishes don’t have to be given oxygen separately, that the water doesn’t have to be cleaned or changed.” It is, literally, a living- room pond.Shabnam Gupta, who designed the interiors, feels this pond—which was relocated from a corner to the middle of the living room—posed a unique challenge. “When he ideates, he enjoys the sound of water,” she says. “But this has to be an extremely controlled amount of sound, otherwise it gets on your nerves.
Plus, he wants fishes and lotuses and reeds.” INNER SANCTUM Stepping out of the lift into Irrfan’s fifth-floor apartment is like walking into an inkwell. All is dark-blue, and dimly lit—save for a pair of latticed arches with a cut-out floral motif. “So that when you enter the house from the noise outside, it changes your mindset. It brings you in,” says Irrfan, thumping his chest à la Matthew McConnaughey in The Wolf Of Wall Street, rhythmically accentuating the entrant’s journey.The Khan residence—home to Irrfan, his wife Sutapa and teenage sons Baabil and Ayan—is an intimately made one. They are not a family that call guests over often, and he doesn’t like playing host to big gatherings. Walking in through the darkness, you step abruptly—and, by dint of the contrast, almost shockingly—into a spacious house bathed in natural light. It makes the head spin.“The jhoola is a must,” he says, as he stops by a swing. A two-seater, it has a plank the size of an open newspaper, and hangs from dark-green ropes—the ornate, thick kind that could hold open a stage curtain, or disallow entry at a discotheque.
This is possibly where Irrfan sits after turning down yet another Christopher Nolan offer, or ruminates over what may become the next Lunchbox. He confesses to a mirror fetish—“I always peer into them even if I’m walking by in a hurry”—dating back to well before he considered becoming an actor, and this house fulfils one of his longest-held fantasies. “I finally have an area surrounded by mirrors, where I can see myself from every angle.” His thrill at this dressing room appears endearingly narcissistic, till I remember an actor needs to be aware of every aspect of his physicality—body, costume, and look. Irrfan himself had once told me that one of his most profound acting influences was a Naseeruddin Shah film, where he felt captivated by the actor’s back, which seemed to be emoting in its own right. There are no small parts.Sutapa’s bedroom, with its floral motif and Gond art, is a more individualistic area, standing out in a house built around varied knick-knacks, collected across far-flung travels.
It comes with a tiny balcony, barely big enough to hold a round yellow table and two chairs. This is what Irrfan defines as the sanctuary of the house, a quiet space he envies. “I like her room because it is its own thing; it has evolved on its own. There is no school of design here. There is nothing synthetic about the way it feels.” DETAIL-ORIENTED We stand over the dining table and he points out a set of five black wire lamps hanging just above eye-level. Irrfan marvels about craft and symmetry, about the cross-hatched intricacy and the differing density of the wires shielding the light, and it’s clear: the man is obsessed with detail.He waves one of his trademark hand-rolled cigarettes like a crayon as he talks, and shrugs resignedly when I ask if the whole house is a smoking zone. We step through the hall into his bedroom, and he nearly trips over a stray football left behind by one of his sons. “A smoking zone and a football field,” he corrects.His new television hasn’t been delivered yet.
The corresponding gap in the bedroom bookshelf, thus, has been temporarily stacked, haphazardly, with awards of every description, from GQ’s ‘Man Of The Year’ prize, to a Screen Award for Paan Singh Tomar. He’s sheepish about these awards, claiming they are only visible while things are still being shuffled into place. “They will all be put away out of sight. Where will you keep the Oscar?” That famed trophy has been dismissively stashed away by some of its winners. Sean Connery keeps his in the bathroom, while Timothy Hutton’s lies in his fridge. “So many awards mean so little, but that… that is an award that would change everything; it can open up every choice for an actor.” He pauses, surely, I think, aware that, as an actor on the radar of the world’s best film-makers, he isn’t too far from that possibility. “I know I won’t keep it in the bathroom,” he smiles, and then, thoughtful for but an instant, dismisses the decision-making. “If it were ever to come, it would come with its own place.
It would find its own place.” Much like he has.1 Irrfan in his living room; the swing was designed and refurbished by Peacock Life; the urns are from Irrfan and Sutapa’s collection.On Irrfan: Jeans and shirt from Ermenegildo Zegna Fashion stylist: Akshay Tyagi Hairstylist: Mohammad Naqi Make-up artist: Vijay ShikareIn Irrfan Khan’s room and study, the drawing on the wall is by the in-house artists at Peacock Life; the lamp was sourced from artisans in Jaipur; the table and chair are from Irrfan and his wife Sutapa’s collection; the rug is by Peacock Life. In Irrfan’s room and study, the centre table was sourced from artisans in Jaipur.In Sutapa’s room, the bed is by Peacock Life; the table lamps were sourced from artisans in Jodhpur and the Gond art is from her collection.In the foyer, the frames and carved panels were sourced from artisans in Jodhpur; the artefacts are from Irrfan and Sutapa’s collection.Sutapa and Irrfan with interior decorator and Peacock Life founder Shabnam Gupta, who designed the Khans’ home.