FROM BRAD BALFOUR'S CONVERSATION WITH MIRA NAIR:

"G21: How different was the original script from what you had in your head.

MIRA NAIR: Basically, we started over. The script the [producers] had was admirable but it was much more about the rise of the material girl rather than what I loved about the book -- which is the whole democratic swirl, the milieu of which Thackeray was writing. He was born and raised in India, and you know, in a sense, I always viewed him as an outsider in his own society.

He had this incredibly satiric, acerbic, and political point of view on the mi lieu that he was writing about. He wrote the book [around] 1850, although it was set in 1802. He wrote the book about the Regency Era after it was over and, at that time, was the peak of the relationship between the empire and the colonies. So for him -- and me -- that was an important context to talk about.

So that was really important to me and all the themes that he was writing so brilliantly of, the sham and facade of things, the fact that early 19th-century London was the filthiest, most cacophonous city in the world; he described, like cinema verité, the streets and details.

You couldn't drag me to see a wellmannered period drawing-room drama where the girls wait and hope they will get proposed to tomorrow -- that is not normally my thing at all ..." READ MORE


NGOZI RAZAK-SOYEBI : "'My baby will be walking in no time, and he's only six months.'

'My baby crawled at four months. Unbelievable, huh? She's a real genius!'

'My baby's so-o-o intelligent. He can say ten words already, and he's only one!'

Familiar lines, huh? They should be ... to any mother. Interestingly, I didn't realize there was a war going on out there until I had my little girl last November. Until then, the focus was on me and my rapidly changing figure.

'You don't look a day more than six months,' a lot of people would say when I was already thirty-six weeks gone.

'Pregnancy suits you,' some would declare even on days when I felt like Godzilla.

Half the time, I felt as though I was under scrutiny, even by complete strangers. Not a very pleasant experience, to say the least. In any case, I assumed it would all end once my baby was born. Wrong! ... " READ MORE


GAYNOR PAYNTER'S TAKE ON THE SUMMER OLYMPICS IN ATHENS: " ... My six year old came home from créche recently and asked me: 'Mommy, do you know it's the 'lympics coming soon?' I said that I did and asked him what he knew about the Olympics. 'It's running and jumping and stuff. We're learning about it at school.'

My son is now the self proclaimed Olympics expert in our house (but he does keep asking me when the 'running and jumping and stuff' is going to come on!) with his interest in it it has had pride of place in our lounge -- we have religiously watched most of the events from the stunning opening ceremony to the events of today.

With the Ga mes being in full swing, I would like to make the point that there is nothing like a nation's victory in the sports arena to instantaneously and effectively unite a country (much more effectively than any politician could ever hope to do!) ... " READ MORE

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