The Smithian

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…Sanjay Dutt has surrendered before a Mumbai court and will begin serving time for a weapons conviction linked to a deadly terror attack in the city in 1993. The Bollywood actor surrendered on Thursday to a five-year jail sentence handed by India’s Supreme Court in March for illegal possession of weapons supplied by mafia bosses linked to the terror attack, which killed 257 people in the city ten years ago.

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“We know in India that the Alphonso is the king of all mangoes…”

The current Bangalore season is Virat Kohli’s [pictured above] first extended experience in a position of leadership. Choosing him to captain a squad that also includes the former international captains Daniel Vettori, Tillekaratne Dilshan and Chris Gayle, is a tribute to the potential that many see in him as India’s future captain—quite possibly its next one, when Mahendra Singh Dhoni stands down from the post.

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Vijay Iyer…has recently made the transition from a highly regarded jazz outlier to one of its ascendant pacesetters.

The weekly Punjabi broadcast of “Hockey Night in Canada,” as venerated an institution for Canadians as “Monday Night Football” is for Americans, is the only N.H.L. game called in a language other than English or French. The broadcast marries Canada’s national pastime with the sounds and flavors of the Indian subcontinent, providing a glimpse into the changing face of ice hockey.

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…Why not cast female Jewish Indian dancers as Hindu heroines, since their families allowed them to perform onstage? In a largely untold and nearly forgotten story, Indian Jewish actresses rose to become some of the most famous starlets during the golden age of Bollywood.

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art: Nadira

Time.

Fifteen years ago, Africa…particularly its…centre, was seen almost exclusively as an exotic high-risk investment destination for the brave and adventurous, for those with privileged connections to Africa’s dictatorships and large pools of capital to risk. Most investors had all but forsaken central Africa after Rwanda’s 1994 genocide…The Rwandan conflict spilled over into neighbouring Zaire (now called Democratic Republic of Congo), sparking a war that toppled one of its presidents, killed another, and drew in armies from nine different countries. But the economic interest in Africa has lately become intense. It is now routinely described as the continent of the future: by some measures it is soon to be the world’s fastest growing region, with a large and rapidly expanding consumer base—its middle class is now estimated to be larger than India’s…

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‘It was at a friend’s wedding that I began thinking of…the ones who really don’t want to get married but do anyway, just because it’s a goal they feel they have to reach. From the short story it grew into the idea of various kinds of relationships and different women and how people react to love.’

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Vogue India.

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