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NDTV
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- NDTV
A Gen Z Review Of Life In A Metro: What It Got Right About Love And (Very) Wrong About Women
New Delhi: You know the kind: two strangers talking softly near the window seat, one confessing they miss someone they shouldn't, the other nodding like they've lived it too. You don't mean to listen, but something about it pulls you in. That's Life In A... Metro. Not loud, not preachy, just quietly chaotic. Like Mumbai itself. Released in 2007, before therapy was trending and red flags were labelled, Life In A... Metro was that rare Hindi film that dared to sit with urban loneliness, sexual tension, failing marriages and late-in-life romance-without making a spectacle of it. Anurag Basu's hyperlink drama is back in conversation as its long-awaited spiritual sequel, Metro... In Dino, is gearing up for the release on Friday (July 4). So we did what any curious Gen Z viewer would do: we rewatched the original. But this time, through the lens of a generation raised on emotional boundaries, green flags and the art of the soft block. So, does it still hold up? Or does nostalgia come with a few hard pills to swallow? A Map Of Messy Lives At its core, Life In A... Metro is a story of modern loneliness told through the lives of nine characters in Mumbai, a city that's constantly on the move, even when the people inside it are falling apart. Their stories were small, but the emotions were large and in many ways, still relevant. The stories collide, cross paths, and brush past each other, just like we do on a crowded Mumbai local. Let's give it credit where it's due. Anurag Basu knew how to connect threads without making it feel gimmicky. The editing is crisp, the pacing sharp and Pritam's music, played literally by a wandering band, is a risk that pays off emotionally, if not always stylistically. But the biggest win? The casting. Shruti (Konkona) and Monty (Irrfan) are the kind of opposites-attract pairing that rom-com dreams are made of. Their chemistry is endearing, authentic and manages to avoid cliches. Amol (Dharmendra) and Shivani (Nafisa Ali) give us something we still don't see enough of: older characters with agency, desire and romantic arcs that don't feel like token nostalgia. Even Kangana as Neha, in a performance that predates her tabloid persona, delivers a heartbreaking portrait of self-worth eroded by power dynamics. For Gen Z audiences, however, the viewing experience is split. The film impresses with its quiet honesty and strong performances, but also frustrates with its lack of accountability, particularly when it comes to how it treats its women. Still... A Tough Pill to Swallow in 2025 Now for the part that made Gen-Z collectively squint. We're talking about Shikha's storyline and how it was written as a "compromise" that feels like a betrayal. Where Life in a... Metro begins to falter is in how it handles accountability in relationships, particularly the one between Shikha (Shilpa Shetty) and her husband Ranjit (Kay Kay Menon). Ranjit is emotionally unavailable, openly unfaithful and deeply entitled. His affair with Neha (Kangana) spans two years and when confronted, he lashes out with cruelty and misogyny. Yet when Shikha, who finds a momentary emotional connection with another man (Shiney Ahuja's Akash), confesses her feelings, she becomes the one burdened with guilt. In the film's climax, she returns to her marriage. Not because her husband has changed, or shown growth but because apparently "bacchi toh meri hai na?" is a valid enough mic-drop for redemption. The narrative never really questions Ranjit's entitlement or double standards. Instead, it punishes both Shikha and Neha with guilt, shame and heartbreak while the man who set fire to everyone's peace ends up... forgiven? From a 2025 lens, this isn't just problematic, it's disheartening and exhausting. It sends the tired message that a woman's capacity to forgive is her greatest virtue. Not her courage to walk away. Not her ability to rebuild. In a post-therapy, post-#MeToo world, it just doesn't sit right. Desire, Shame And The Double Standards If there's one theme that still hits hard, it's how Life In A... Metro handles female desire, especially the way it's punished. Two characters in particular, Shikha and Neha, carry the weight of judgment for daring to want more. Their stories are filled with shame, self-doubt and emotional punishment, while the men in their lives navigate moral lapses with ease. Neha is slut-shamed, gaslit and told by her married boss that she's lucky to be "used" in exchange for business class flights. Shikha can't even kiss someone in private without spiraling into guilt. In her most vulnerable moment, internalises blame with a line that still stings: "I feel like a slut."Shruti? Still being judged on her "body count" (spoiler: it's zero). For Gen Z, a generation that's trying to unlearn generational shame, this is rage-inducing. But also... painfully familiar. Because 15+ years later, we're still untangling the same knots, just with slightly better vocabulary. The Verdict: It's Complicated (Just Like Real Life) Watching Life In A... Metro in 2025 is like texting your ex "wyd" at 2 AM, you know it's not perfect, but there's something undeniably human in the mess. Yes, it's dated. Yes, it needs an asterisk next to Shikha's ending and a rewrite of Ranjit's redemption arc. But there's also something heartbreakingly true about how these stories unfold. Love, loneliness, bad decisions, missed connections, they don't follow perfect arcs. And Anurag Basu gets that. For Gen Z, the film is both a cautionary tale and a time capsule. A glimpse into what our parents may have silently endured and a mirror to what we're still trying to outgrow. So will we be watching Metro... In Dino this week? Of course. But with fingers crossed for female agency, healthier men and an ending that doesn't reward toxic behaviour with forgiveness. Because, Gen Z knows better than to romanticise the wreckage. And maybe, just maybe, someone will finally scream "I deserve better!" and mean it.
NDTV
11-06-2025
- Business
- NDTV
Why Chongqing In China Has Become An Instagram-Favourite Travel Destination
Show Quick Read Summary is AI-generated, newsroom-reviewed Imagine going to a city where the petrol stations are on roofs, trains run through residential buildings, buses float in the sky, there are elevators for cars, multi-storey restaurants on rivers, and when you think you're on the ground floor, you're actually on the 22nd. Welcome to Chongqing where even Google Maps as well as China's navigation apps Baidu Maps and AMap struggle to make sense of the city's chaotic topography and multi-level madness. With over 32 million residents, it is the largest city in the world by urban population, and easily one of the most unique by design. "Look closely here. You would think that we are on the ground floor, but in reality, we are on the 22nd floor of a storied building," excitedly claims Malina aka Malinavibes, a travel vlogger in one of her travel vlogs. Her video on YouTube panning from what looks like a regular pavement down to an endless drop. Malina is among thousands of creators who've made Chongqing the 'most viral city' in Asia right now. For context, Chongqing is one of China's national central cities and is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. It is around 1800 kms from China's capital, Beijing. '186% Rise In Tourism' The buzz isn't just online. According to local media outlets, Chongqing's inbound tourism market has exploded, welcoming 1.27 million tourists in 2024 alone-up 183.6 % from the previous year. The city now ranks among China's top travel destinations on social media platforms, especially TikTok, Instagram and Xiaohongshu (China's Instagram equivalent). Chongqing's cultural industry has also flourished, generating Rs 1.67 lakh crore (145.27 billion yuan) in added value, up 5.6 % from 2023. The tourism sector alone grew by 7.4 % with most visitors coming from Southeast Asia. A growing number of Indians too are exploring the city, thanks to improved visa policies and better connectivity. However, the top reason why Chongqing is gaining popularity is because of the way it's built. But, Why Is Chongqing Built That Way? To understand Chongqing, you need to know its geography. This is a mountain city, nestled at the confluence of the Yangtze and Jialing rivers, with massive elevation changes. The city is essentially a series of plateaus, hills and cliffs stitched together by bridges, tunnels, escalators and flyovers. Because of the terrain, developers built vertically instead of horizontally. Hence, a building in Chongqing could have entrances on the 1st, 10th, and 20th floor, depending on which side of the property you're on. For instance, the viral Liziba Station, where a train cuts through a residential complex, is not a quirky design decision - it's an urban necessity. Its design is a response to the need to maximise space and connectivity in a challenging environment. This unique city has now been given various names, such as "5D city" or "cyberpunk city", which only add to its popularity. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dylan Page (@ The city infrastructure was also impacted by various historical events. For instance, during World War II, Chongqing served as China's wartime capital, enduring heavy bombing campaigns. This led to the development of underground shelters and tunnels, which later influenced the city's layered urban structure. Additionally, the war accelerated rapid urban expansion, as refugees and government institutions relocated to the city. Now, let's look at the other reasons. Direct Flights And Easy Visas In recent years, there has been a shift in how China is approaching tourism. Once known for its stringent visa policies, the country is now making travel more accessible - even for Indians. Recently, China relaxed visa rules to foster tourism and business opportunities for Indian travellers. The new policy allows them to experience the country with simplified documentation. Between January and April 2025, the Chinese Embassy in India issued over 85,000 visas to Indian citizens. Whether for leisure, business, or backpacking, the doors to China are now more open than ever. While Chongqing was once a challenging destination, there are now direct flights from Bangkok, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. With plans underway to restore and expand direct connectivity with India, particularly from New Delhi and Kolkata, we can only expect the popularity to continue growing. Improved air routes and easier accessibility have further fuelled travel demand. A Dream For Content Creators Social media has transformed travel trends, turning once-hidden gems into global hotspots almost overnight. Chongqing, with its futuristic skyline, neon-lit streets, and multi-level roads, has become a visual spectacle that thrives on digital exposure. View this post on Instagram A post shared by SHEV AND DEV | Travel Creator (@shev_n_dev) From drone shots of mist-covered mountains surrounding skyscrapers to timelapses of the cable cars gliding over a buzzing city and Yangtze river, Chongqing offers endless content opportunities. No wonder #Chongqing is rising fast on global platforms such as Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. Super Efficient (And Trippy) Transport System The CRT (Chongqing Rail Transit) is a marvel in itself, and many just travel to Chongqing to experience this. Trains here defy expectations-rising on stilts, plunging through buildings, and navigating hairpin curves around mountains. Once designed due to space constraints and increasing dense population, the Liziba monorail station in Chongqing is now one of the major tourist attractions. It is a unique structure where a light rail train passes through a 19-storey residential building. The station and building were constructed together as one whole structure, with the monorail integrated into the sixth to eighth floors (without making any noise, btw). Then there are elevated buses and sky bridges which helps people climb massive vertical distances in minutes. Add to that the Yangtze River cableway, where you can glide across the river in a suspended cable car and wave at cargo ships floating below you. Hotpot, Nightlife and Floating Restaurants Food is another major draw. Chongqing is often called the hotpot (which is again popular on social media, even in India) capital of China. You can find souvenirs of hotpots here. The local version is spicier than what you'd find elsewhere, with fiery Sichuan peppercorns that can make your lips tingle for hours. One of the most sought-after experiences? Hotpot on a boat floating down the Yangtze, surrounded by neon reflections of the skyline. Some of these boats are multi-storeyed, complete with karaoke lounges, game zones, and rooftop decks. The nightlife is equally fascinating. Thanks to its tall buildings layered across hills, reflections in the river, and LED-lit bridges, Chongqing's skyline is straight out of a cyberpunk film. Chongqing's Hongya Cave is a fairy-tale complex of stilt houses and restaurants clinging to a cliffside, lit up like a festival every night. It's not just scenic - it's Instagram gold, with a history. The complex is believed to have functioned as a fortress from the time of the ancient Ba State (1046 B.C. - 256 B.C) through the end of the Qing dynasty. Affordable Travel And Accommodation While most big Chinese cities such as Shanghai or Beijing can dent your wallet, Chongqing remains surprisingly affordable. Budget hotels start at around Rs 2,000 per night, hotpot meals are under Rs 500 for two, and local transport services are also reasonable.
Korea Herald
23-05-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
OceanBase Hosts Technical Symposium on Data x AI and Has Six Papers Accepted at ICDE 2025
HONG KONG, May 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- OceanBase hosted a technical symposium during the annual IEEE International Conference on Data Engineering (ICDE 2025), a leading global conference in data and information engineering held in Hong Kong this week. The symposium brought together database researchers and professionals from academia and industry to delve into the transformative intersection of database and AI technologies. In the symposium, Charlie Yang, Chief Technology Officer of OceanBase, presented OceanBase's vision for an AI-ready data infrastructure, emphasizing its commitment to empowering intelligent, scalable, and resilient data ecosystems. Notable professors, researchers and experts from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), Northeastern University, and OneConnect Financial Technology (Hong Kong), shared their research findings and industry insights around data x AI innovations and applications. Meanwhile, six papers authored or contributed to by the OceanBase team were accepted at ICDE 2025. Among them, " OceanBase Unionization: Building the Next Generation of Online Map Applications," co-authored with Alibaba and Cornell University researchers, was recognized as the Best Industry and Application Paper Runner Up. This paper proposes the architectural design of OceanBase's distributed database system, which "unitizes" services and operations into individual machines, bringing stronger disaster tolerance and achieving better performance in real-world testing with AMap, an online map application platform supporting large-scale distributed services. Serving over 2,000 customers globally, including Alipay, Pop Mart, GCash and DANA, OceanBase remains dedicated to advancing database technologies in today's AI-driven era. Since 2024, more than ten of its research papers have been accepted at top database conferences worldwide, including ICDE, SIGMOD, and VLDB. These papers cover a wide range of topics in distributed database technology, such as innovative algorithm for solving the fair clustering problem, Paxos-backed Append-only Log File (PALF) system, and functionality-aware database tuning. Since its inception in 2010, OceanBase has actively collaborated with esteemed universities and research institutes such as East China Normal University, Renmin University of China, Wuhan University, and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, to explore the forefront of database technologies. These collaborations involve establishing joint laboratories, pursuing research projects, and co-hosting database competitions. Moreover, OceanBase has partnered with institutions like Ant Research and the China Computer Federation to establish funds to conduct in-depth research on major technical challenges for modern databases, including "stand-alone and distributed integrated architecture," "transaction processing and analytical processing (TP and AP) integration," "storage-computing separation," and "database performance optimization", and bring scientific research into real-world applications. About OceanBase OceanBase is a distributed database launched in 2010. It provides strong data consistency, high availability, high performance, cost efficiency, elastic scalability, and compatibility with mainstream relational databases. It handles transactional, analytical, and AI workloads through a unified data engine, enabling mission-critical applications and real-time analytics.
Malaysian Reserve
23-05-2025
- Business
- Malaysian Reserve
OceanBase Hosts Technical Symposium on Data x AI and Has Six Papers Accepted at ICDE 2025
HONG KONG, May 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — OceanBase hosted a technical symposium during the annual IEEE International Conference on Data Engineering (ICDE 2025), a leading global conference in data and information engineering held in Hong Kong this week. The symposium brought together database researchers and professionals from academia and industry to delve into the transformative intersection of database and AI technologies. In the symposium, Charlie Yang, Chief Technology Officer of OceanBase, presented OceanBase's vision for an AI-ready data infrastructure, emphasizing its commitment to empowering intelligent, scalable, and resilient data ecosystems. Notable professors, researchers and experts from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), Northeastern University, and OneConnect Financial Technology (Hong Kong), shared their research findings and industry insights around data x AI innovations and applications. Meanwhile, six papers authored or contributed to by the OceanBase team were accepted at ICDE 2025. Among them, 'OceanBase Unionization: Building the Next Generation of Online Map Applications,' co-authored with Alibaba and Cornell University researchers, was recognized as the Best Industry and Application Paper Runner Up. This paper proposes the architectural design of OceanBase's distributed database system, which 'unitizes' services and operations into individual machines, bringing stronger disaster tolerance and achieving better performance in real-world testing with AMap, an online map application platform supporting large-scale distributed services. Serving over 2,000 customers globally, including Alipay, Pop Mart, GCash and DANA, OceanBase remains dedicated to advancing database technologies in today's AI-driven era. Since 2024, more than ten of its research papers have been accepted at top database conferences worldwide, including ICDE, SIGMOD, and VLDB. These papers cover a wide range of topics in distributed database technology, such as innovative algorithm for solving the fair clustering problem, Paxos-backed Append-only Log File (PALF) system, and functionality-aware database tuning. Since its inception in 2010, OceanBase has actively collaborated with esteemed universities and research institutes such as East China Normal University, Renmin University of China, Wuhan University, and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, to explore the forefront of database technologies. These collaborations involve establishing joint laboratories, pursuing research projects, and co-hosting database competitions. Moreover, OceanBase has partnered with institutions like Ant Research and the China Computer Federation to establish funds to conduct in-depth research on major technical challenges for modern databases, including 'stand-alone and distributed integrated architecture,' 'transaction processing and analytical processing (TP and AP) integration,' 'storage-computing separation,' and 'database performance optimization', and bring scientific research into real-world applications. About OceanBase OceanBase is a distributed database launched in 2010. It provides strong data consistency, high availability, high performance, cost efficiency, elastic scalability, and compatibility with mainstream relational databases. It handles transactional, analytical, and AI workloads through a unified data engine, enabling mission-critical applications and real-time analytics. To learn more, please visit:
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
OceanBase Hosts Technical Symposium on Data x AI and Has Six Papers Accepted at ICDE 2025
HONG KONG, May 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- OceanBase hosted a technical symposium during the annual IEEE International Conference on Data Engineering (ICDE 2025), a leading global conference in data and information engineering held in Hong Kong this week. The symposium brought together database researchers and professionals from academia and industry to delve into the transformative intersection of database and AI technologies. In the symposium, Charlie Yang, Chief Technology Officer of OceanBase, presented OceanBase's vision for an AI-ready data infrastructure, emphasizing its commitment to empowering intelligent, scalable, and resilient data ecosystems. Notable professors, researchers and experts from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), Northeastern University, and OneConnect Financial Technology (Hong Kong), shared their research findings and industry insights around data x AI innovations and applications. Meanwhile, six papers authored or contributed to by the OceanBase team were accepted at ICDE 2025. Among them, "OceanBase Unionization: Building the Next Generation of Online Map Applications," co-authored with Alibaba and Cornell University researchers, was recognized as the Best Industry and Application Paper Runner Up. This paper proposes the architectural design of OceanBase's distributed database system, which "unitizes" services and operations into individual machines, bringing stronger disaster tolerance and achieving better performance in real-world testing with AMap, an online map application platform supporting large-scale distributed services. Serving over 2,000 customers globally, including Alipay, Pop Mart, GCash and DANA, OceanBase remains dedicated to advancing database technologies in today's AI-driven era. Since 2024, more than ten of its research papers have been accepted at top database conferences worldwide, including ICDE, SIGMOD, and VLDB. These papers cover a wide range of topics in distributed database technology, such as innovative algorithm for solving the fair clustering problem, Paxos-backed Append-only Log File (PALF) system, and functionality-aware database tuning. Since its inception in 2010, OceanBase has actively collaborated with esteemed universities and research institutes such as East China Normal University, Renmin University of China, Wuhan University, and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, to explore the forefront of database technologies. These collaborations involve establishing joint laboratories, pursuing research projects, and co-hosting database competitions. Moreover, OceanBase has partnered with institutions like Ant Research and the China Computer Federation to establish funds to conduct in-depth research on major technical challenges for modern databases, including "stand-alone and distributed integrated architecture," "transaction processing and analytical processing (TP and AP) integration," "storage-computing separation," and "database performance optimization", and bring scientific research into real-world applications. About OceanBase OceanBase is a distributed database launched in 2010. It provides strong data consistency, high availability, high performance, cost efficiency, elastic scalability, and compatibility with mainstream relational databases. It handles transactional, analytical, and AI workloads through a unified data engine, enabling mission-critical applications and real-time analytics. To learn more, please visit: View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE OceanBase
