6SUNDC_COL_01R1.QXD (Page 1)

Transcription

œ ND ‰ ‰ † ‰ CMK
O
YES
F
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N
D
I
A
SALMAN KHAN
MINISTER
KO GUSSA KYON
AATA HAI ...
MEN & WOMEN
SPECIAL REPORT
New Delhi
MIGHTY
MOUSE?
ALL THAT MATTERS
April 6, 2003, Capital • 42 pages including Men & Women & Classifieds + 8 pages of Delhi Times
SNAPSHOTS
AFP
We are there, claims US
AP
Where are they,
counters Iraq
Baghdad: The United States
said its troops thrust into
Baghdad for the first time on
Saturday, taking the 17-dayold war to topple President
Saddam Hussein right into
his battered capital.
Iraq, meanwhile, denied
the US forces were in Baghdad and said its troops had
driven the Americans from
the international airport.
A US official countered
this claim, denying Iraqi
claims of recapturing the airport. The Americans said
they had won the control of
the airport on Friday.
The US spokesman said
the push into Baghdad was
‘‘more than a patrol that goes
in and comes back out’’,
adding a ‘‘significant number of troops’’ and tanks was
moving into the city.
‘‘We have troops in the city
of Baghdad... they’re in the
middle of Baghdad,’’ Captain
Frank Thorp said at the Central Command in Qatar.
As the US units pushed
into Baghdad, other troops
protected their rear with a
ground and air assault on
the Shi’ite Muslim city of
Kerbala, 110 km to the
southwest.
Iraqi information minister
Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf,
holding his regular daily
news conference in a city ho-
WHEREVER, WHENEVER: Colombian
singer Shakira performs during her
concert in Frankfurt on Friday.
Grass blasts Bush, Laden: US president George Bush and al-Qaida leader
Osama bin Laden have both ‘‘taken God
hostage to support their horrible aims’’,
German novelist Guenter Grass has said.
Bush displayed his religious convictions
in a way none of his predecessors had
ever done and bin Laden was conducting
a holy war against the US, the Nobel
prize winner said at a German TV show .
Panel clears Bhopal patient: A
pneumonia-affected patient, admitted to
a hospital in Bhopal, was not suffering
from the dreaded respiratory disease
SARS, a five-member committee set up
by Madhya Pradesh government said on
Saturday. The panel reached the conclusion after all tests were conducted on the
patient, official sources said.
Buddhist claim over site: Staking
claim to the disputed RamjanmabhoomiBabri Masjid site, a Buddhist body has
filed a petition in the Allahabad High
Court demanding that the land be handed over to them or they be made a party
in the Ayodhya suit. Chairman of Lord
Buddha Club, Udit Raj said Ayodhya was
a Buddhist city with the presence of over
3,000 monks and stupas.
tel, denied the US claims of
entering Baghdad and said
Republican Guards had driven the Americans from the
international airport.
Four US soldiers were
wounded in fighting in and
around Baghdad, and an
unidentified Iraqi general
was captured, US military
sources said. US forces called
in air support to attack Iraqi
tanks on the northern edge of
the airport, sources said.
An
Iraqi
military
spokesman said hundreds of
US troops had been killed in
the airport fighting. There
was no word on the whereabouts of Saddam.
The Red Cross said several
hundred wounded Iraqis had
been admitted to Baghdad
hospitals after the US troops
reached the city and fighting
erupted. As the war came
closer, many people fled in
cars packed with blankets
and belongings. The US will
unveil the first stages of a
civil administration for postwar Iraq in the next few days,
a US official said. Reuters
Comment:
The
messy
endgame begins now, with
casualties of both combatants and non-combatants
likely to rise steeply, and concerted international political
pressure being exerted on
the coalition of the ‘willing’.
Introducing
‘Erratica’: From
this week, the All
That Matters page
will carry a new
column ‘Erratica’ by
Bachi Karkaria.
India-Pak clash in UN: India and
Pakistan clashed in the Security Council
after New Delhi described Islamabad as
the ‘‘epicentre of terrorism’’ and charged
it with not living up to its commitments to
the international community. In a
statement on Friday, India’s UN
Ambassador Vijay Nambiar demanded
that the Council’s counter-terrorism committee identify the countries that violate
its resolutions.
US soldiers from the 7th infantry regiment search buildings at an Iraqi military compound south of Baghdad.
indiatimes.com POLL
Yesterday’s results: Would Aishwarya Rai make
a better James Bond girl than Halle Berry?
Yes 53%
No 47%
• The poll reflects the opinions of Net users who chose to
participate, and not necessarily of the general public.
Today’s question: Do you think Saddam’s exit
will improve the lives of Iraqis?
Cast your vote on
www.indiatimes.com or SMS ‘Poll’ to 8888
Graphic: Neelabh
Maiden over: Who’s that girl?
W E AT H E R
Book your Classifieds
24 hours service: “51-666-888”
Times InfoLine “51-68-68-68”
The ATM of information
The Largest Classifieds Site
By Ramu Bhagwat
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
In fact, the friendship between
the Pendharkars and Dravids
dates back even before Rahul and
Vijeta were born. And it continued
even after retired Vijeta’s father
Nagpur: Vijeta Pendharkar has
found the weak spot in The Wall.
Who is this girl who has hooked
TOI
Rahul Dravid, one of India’s most
eligible bachelors? Does she love
the game of cricket, like her future husband?
Vijeta doesn’t know much about
cricket. But you could try her out
at badminton, which she played in
school. Born at Gorakhpur, she is
the youngest of three children.
She was a brilliant student all
through. After initial schooling in
Delhi, she passed the higher secondary with flying colours from
Nagpur and secured an MBBS seat
at the Government Medical College here. She completed her postgraduation in general surgery in
November.
So what is she like? ‘‘She is a
simple, homely, girl-next-door-type,’’ gushed aunt Mrs Gandhe. The
media blitz, says her father, Wg
Comm (retd) S P Pendharkar, has
left her ‘‘very much disturbed.’’
She has strict instructions from BOWLED OUT! Vijeta Pendharkar’s
found the weak spot in ‘The Wall’
Rahul not to talk to them.
settled down in Nagpur. The marriage proposal was moved by the
Pendharkars just before the recent
World Cup tour. The Dravids ayed.
But the matter was kept under
wraps lest it disturb Rahul at the
crucial tournament.
Will Vijeta continue wielding
the scalpel even after marriage?
Yes, that seems to have been sorted
out. Though she has little time for
sports, some family members have
more than a liking for it.
Her maternal grandfather Mamasaheb Gandhe was a great promoter of traditional Indian sport.
Uncle Pardip Gandhe played badminton at the international level.
As for Rahul, he is shunning
publicity. ‘‘He has been so busy in
the last two months that they
skipped a formal engagement,’’ explained Vijeta’s uncle Ravindra
Gandhe.
For security reasons, Bangalore
has been chosen as the venue of
the marriage. It’ll be a quiet, ritualistic affair and will be attended
by only close relatives and friends.
Both the Dravids and Pendharkars
are traditional Marathi ‘Deshast’
Brahmins.
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Price Rs. 2.75
US warns
India on
Pakistan
Washington: The Bush
administration has said
that India must not use
the US-led pre-emptive
war against iraq as a
pretext for an attack on
Pakistan.
‘‘Any attempts to draw
parallels between the
Iraq and Kashmir situations are wrong and
there are overwhelming
differences
between
them,’’ state department
spokeswoman Joanne
Prokopowicz said on
Friday.
She was responding
to a comment by external affairs minister
Yashwant Sinha on Friday that India would be
justified in taking preemptive action across
the Pakistan border.
Citing Iraq’s 12-year
refusal to disarm in the
face of United Nations
Security Council resolutions, Prokopowicz said
the circumstances that
made military actions
necessary in Iraq do not
apply in the subcontinent and should not be
considered a precedent.
‘‘The US recognises
the very serious nature
of the situation in Kashmir,’’ she said. ‘‘Our joint statement last week
with UK made clear our
repugnance of the killings of innocents that
have been taking place
in Kashmir.’’ AP
See Yashwant Sinha’s
interview on page 10
œ ND ‰ ‰ † ‰ CMK
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D E L H I
SUNDAY TIMES OF INDIA New Delhi, April 6, 2003
Find remixed videos offensive? Switch channels
PEOPLE
POWER
Question of the week
● Do you find
remixed videos such
as Kaanta laga and
Tumse milke
offensive?
● Should they be
off air?
Yes, I do find
r e m i x e d
videos such as
Kaanta laga..
of fensive.
They should
be taken off
the air as they tend to pollute
the tender minds of the
young. Cases of rape, eve
yes
60%
teasing are already on the increase thanks to such explicit entertainment material.
Omkar Chopra, Janakpuri
Yes. No doubt these remixed
are refreshing but they are
really offensive and should
be taken off the air as they
create a bad impact on the
younger generation, espe-
To chat on SMS send 'cchat' <your question> to 8888
“Root of a lot of problems is gender inequality”
— SHONALI NAGARANI, Femina Miss India International
cially as they get influenced.
Neha, Sarojini Nagar
Yes, they are offensive, Particularly for children, as they
are cheap and vulgar and
should be taken off the air.
Neelam Saxena, Green Park
Yes, these types of videos
are offensive. They create a
negative impact on young
minds. They should be taken
off the air.
Deepak, Vijay Enclave.
Yes, these videos are very
cheap. It’s not only that the
older generation finds them
repulsive. My 19-year-old-son
told me to give his vote
against it.
Neesha, Gujranwala Town
No, The music videos are
a big relief in
between the
Saas Bahu serials or our
politicians.
Y.K.Vir, Tilak Nagar
no
40%
No. If people can see Ben
Afleck J Lo’s underwear, why
can’t they see an Indian couple in the bath tub? Why
don’t you grow up,- people?
Ajay Gupta, Vikas Puri
No, there is nothing wrong
in remixing videos if only it
is done to improve the original fare. There is no need to
take them off the air.
R.L.Pathak, Lodhi Colony
Q. Among all the
Indian Miss
World’s and Miss
Universe’s who do
you admire the
most and why?- atomicjelly
A: Well I would say Aishwarya Rai as she has done a
wonderful job maintaining
her success and she has
also maintained her Indianess. Miss Universe would
be Lara Dutta as she oozes
sophistication and grace.
Q. If you could change one
thing about yourself what
would it be?- atomicjelly
A: I wish I was a better listener because then I could
step back and appreciate
different point of views.
Q. If you can rule the world
for a day, what changes will
you make?- atomicjelly33
A: I’ll make a woman as
physically strong as a man
because I believe root of a
lot of problems is gender inequality that way a man
can’t use his physical superiority over a woman.
Q. If you can pick any guy in
Bollywood to be your hero,
who will you pick?- atomic
A: Saif Ali Khan because he
is full of life and energy
which is very evident when
he is on screen.
Q. Who is your dream man
have you identified him? If
not how you want him to
be?- ajay_m
A: I have found him, he
should be my chaperone
and a child at times, he
should promise me his honesty and integrity and he
should love me for what I am
and should appreciate my
cooking over his mother’s.
Q. Who’s been the guiding
anchor in your life? - jenny
A: Guiding anchor is my
mother who always supported me and encouraged me
in every sphere of life.
For complete chat log on to
http://chat.indiatimes.com
IN THE LINE OF FIRE
I haven’t
seen the
video Kaanta laga.
Though I
have nothing against remixed
videos, I am told it is
atrocious.I have lovely
memories of filming the
song, but look what
they have done to it.
They should stop it.
Asha Parekh, actress
Times have
changed.
Viewers
should have
the freedom of
choice. This is a free
world and there must
be space for everything- all kinds of entertainment. Moreover, if people are watching it,
there is a market for it.
Rahul Dev, model
CINEMA OF THE WEEK
Yeh Dil (romance) ★1/2
Cast: Tushar Kapoor, Anitha
Direction: Teja
Showing at: Shiela
ow topical can Bollywood grow? Yeh Dil
anchors its rich boypoor girl romance against
the Thakur-Yadav feud that
has become endemic to con-
H
temporary Indian politics.
And if you still don’t get the
point,
the
hard-hearted
Thakur with his black moustache and his band of blackguards is called Raghuraj
Pratap Singh. Needless to say,
he is a law unto himself and
believes feudalism is still the
order of the day. Pitted
against him is Mithu Yadav
and his foul-mouthed, amazonish sister who begins to
foam or picks up the axe
whenever things begin to go
against her wishes. Need we
say more?
But wait, wait, wait. If you
thought that was funny, how
about this? The young lovers
(badly dressed, badly rehearsed, bad screen presence) rebel against their parents and flee on a truck to noman’s land. Like Aamir and
Juhi in Qayamat se Qayamat
Tak. But, unlike the QSQT
pair, this duo finds a means
of survival too. The Yadav
girl sells off her engagement
ring, buys a pair of buffaloes
and makes a milkman out of
her beau. The two sing songs
while cycling down the village road with swaying milk
cans on their cycle.
And
if
that’s
not
cowherdish enough, they
continue their milk cansoirees even after their battle
has been won, the parents
have relented, the thakur-yadav feud has faded. Only now,
they carry the milk cans to
college. Presumably, to sell
milk in the college canteen.
Too much spilt milk in this
bovine affair. End result? A
curdled love story.
POOR★
Shanghai Knights
(comedy) ★★★
Cast: Jackie Chan,
Owen Wilson
Direction: David Dobkin
Showing at: Chanakya
his happened when CharT
lie Chaplin was still a kid
— a grubby little orphan —
roaming the streets of London in search of a pocket to
pick, a morsel to grab. In
short, his Little Tramp days.
When Arthur Conan Doyle
was still serving in Scotland
Yard even as he was contemplating the exploits of Sherlock Holmes in his imagination. When John Wayne was
a Chinese imperial guardturned-Nevada-sheriff who
had dual duty: sometimes he
policed the American outback; and sometimes he had
to protect Imperial China’s
interests.
But more than all this, it
was the age of Roy O Bannon, America’s sub-altern
cowboy who couldn’t do anyhing that John Wayne-Clint
Eastwood did. Yet, he could
accomplish Mission Impossibles with impeccable expertise: without losing his chuckle and his glee.
Essentially a sequel to
Shanghai Noon, Shanghai
Knights carries the Jackie
Chan formula of film-making few steps forward. One,
where action is a cross between comedy and choreography and the fun quotient is
paramount. Here however,
Chan looks aged and overgrown. Maybe, a bit overshadowed too by the perfect
comic timing of Owen Wilson. Nevertheless, between
them, the duo whips up a lot
of laughs as they bumble
across the back alleys of London — they hang from the Big
Ben too— trying to save the
Royals of Britain and China.
Good fun, great one-liners
and loads of goofy action.
Nikhat Kazmi
AV E R A G E ★ ★ G O O D ★ ★ ★ V E RY G O O D
★ ★ ★ ★ O U T S TA N D I N G ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
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D E L H I
Teen mows down two children
Times News Network
New Delhi: In what seems like a freak
accident, a 13-year-old boy, who apparently wanted to listen to music on his
brother’s car stereo, mistakenly set off
its ignition and killed two children in
the Sarita Vihar area on Friday night.
The victims’ mother was also injured
in the accident.
‘‘Mariam Khatoon is still recuperating at the hospital but her son, Mohammad Huzma (4) and Maria (6) died
on way to the Holy Family hospital,’’ a
police official said.
‘‘They had just returned after buying medicine at a nearby pharmacy
and were entering their home when
they were hit,’’ the officer said. The
impact of the car was so severe that all
three sustained injuries to the brain.
‘‘Mariam has also had injuries on her
hand,’’ the officer added.
The incident occured at 9:30 pm in
Abul Fazal Enclave, Part-I. The accused and the victims were neigh-
Crime of innocence?
• Two children killed as 13-year
old reverses car into them
• The boy had apparently attempted to listen to music on the
car stereo, but set of the ignition
• The car was in reverse-gear
and he was unable to apply the
brakes in time
• His brother, who owns the car,
says he has no idea the teen got
the keys
• The boy is currently out on bail
bours. ‘‘The accused’s father is dead.
He lives with his four elder brothers,’’
a police officer added.
He said the accused was arrested
but released on bail. ‘‘The accused’s
elder brother stood as his surety,’’ the
officer said.At the time of the incident, the police said, the accused’s
brother had just returned from the office. ‘‘He runs his own business,’’ the
officer said.
The brother claims that he parked
his Maruti outside the house and went
inside to freshen up. A few minutes
later, the accused came and sat inside
the car.
In his statement, the accused claims
he went to listen to music on the car
stereo. He says he simply meant to
switch on the car’s battery. ‘‘It seems
the car was parked in reverse-gear.
The accused, instead, started the ignition, causing the car to move back.
Since he was unable to apply the
brakes on time, the car mowed into
Mariam and her children.
The accused’s family is yet to explain how he managed to procure the
keys to the car. ‘‘The brother says he
did not give him the key. None of the
other family members are offering an
explanation. The accused too is unwilling to talk to us,’’ the officer said.
Girl, chauffeur kill themselves
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: When Tejna
(20) left for her tuition class
on Saturday morning, it
was to be the last time her
family saw her alive.
The second year Economics (Hons) student and her
driver Anil Kumar (32) were
found dead in a white Mitsubishi Lancer. The two had
allegedly committed suicide.
Deputy commissioner of
police (northwest), Sanjay
Singh, said Tejna and Kumar consumed sulphas, a
pesticide.
Kumar had apparently
called Tejna’s parents to inform them of their intentions before committing suicide.
While Tejna’s parents
were in state of shock and
avoided the media, Kumar’s
wife Babli alleged that the
two were having an affair.
The police is ascertaining
the veracity of Babli’s statement.
A case of suicide has been
registered in Keshavpuram
Crime of passion?
• Girl and family chauffer
found dead in car
• The driver’ wife is alleging that the two were
having an affair
• The two had drank sulphas, a pesticide
• The driver had called
the family before he
drank the poison
• Tejna had already consumed the pesticide by
then
police station. A local officer
said: ‘‘The suicide must
have
been
committed
around 9.30 am when Tejna,
a student at Guru Gobind
Singh College in Pitampura,
was going for her tuitions to
Shalimar Bagh.
“Kumar was driving the
car. She consumed the poison first and kumar consumed it after calling Tejna’s parents.’’
Tejna’s family rushed to
the spot, opposite Wazirpur
bus depot where they found
the car with the two bodies
in it. According to witnesses, Kumar’s body was in the
driver’s seat, while Tejna
was lying in the rear seat.
The police was informed
about the suicide at 10.10
am.
‘‘The family had rushed
the two to a private hospital
nearby. But the girl died in
the car, while the driver died
at the clinic,’’ a police officer said.
The bodies were sent for
autopsy to Babu Jagjivan
Ram Hospital and were
handed over to the family in
the evening.
Tejna was a resident of
Farmers Apartment in Sector-13, Rohini. Her father,
Rajvir Singh, is a building
contractor. Kumar has been
in their employment for
over two years.
Kumar, a native of
Samaipur Badli was living
in a rented accommodation
in Rajapur Village, Rohini,
with his wife Babli and their
six-year-old son. The couple
had been married for eight
years.
5 of family
end lives
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: In a tragic incident, five members of a
family committed suicide
after they failed to repay a
debt of Rs 20,000 to their
creditor who had set Saturday as the deadline to return the money.
Ramkishen (50) and his
wife Ramkali (40), belonging to Sonepat, ended their
lives on Friday night on
the railway track in
Narela. They also tied
their two sons, Ashok (18),
Niranjan (12) and daughter Priyanka (15), to the
tracks.
A suicide note in the
form of a stamp paper affidavit was recovered from
Ramkishen’s pocket. The
letter said that they owed
Rs 20,000 to Bakhtawarmal
Verma of Sonepat. Verma
had allegedly hiked the
rate of interest from two
per cent to five per cent. He
had also threatened them
with dire consequences if
they did not pay up.
Bio-park to
breathe new
life into the
dying Yamuna
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The Delhi Development Authority (DDA), in
collaboration with Delhi University, is building India’s
first biodiversity park along
the Yamuna riverbed in
north Delhi. The project has
been undertaken in an attempt to save the endangered
flora and fauna around the
river. Urbanisation, felling of
trees, pollution and chemical
effluence in the river has
dealt a lethal blow to more
than 35 eco-systems comprising several thousand plant
and animals species struggling for survival in the river.
The project aims to save
nearly 8,200 biotic communities in the river that are on
the verge of extinction because of the highly toxic water and soil.
‘‘We are also trying to raise
a gene bank of species of
high quality agricultural
plants which have been growing along the river, but are
perishing because of the toxicity,’’ says C R Babu, the director of Centre for Environmental Management of Degraded Eco-systems.
‘‘The project not only has
environmental value. We expect students, scholars and
scientists to visit the site
from an educational view
point,’’ says Savita Bhandari,
DDA director (landscape).
The plan includes planting
trees, changing soil, building
lakes and water bodies.
Lean wedding season ahead,
pandits blame the planets
By Anuradha Mukherjee
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New
Delhi: Planetary
alignments have put the
wedding business in the
doldrums. Astrologers say
the period between July 23
and October 7 is extremely
inauspicious, and marriages should be put off till
this phase passes.
This particular planetary alignment is said to occur once in 12 years. Popular wedding reception venues like the Ashoka Hotel
convention hall and restaurants like Phulwari, DLF
Golf Club and Delhi Golf
club do not have any reservations after July 23.
‘‘Our convention hall is
normally reserved two
years in advance. But I see
there is nothing scheduled
after July 23. The next
reservation for a wedding is
for October 20,’’ said
Ashoka Hotel spokesperson
Manjula Arun.
Mehrauli picnic huts
general manager N K
Khanna also confirmed the
trend. He said there was
hardly any business be-
Heavenly match breaker
• The period between July 23
and October 7 is inauspicious
for weddings, say astrologers
• This is due to a planetary
alignment that occurs once in
12 years
• Many popular wedding
venues do not have any
booking after July 23
Uday Shankar
tween July 21 and October
19. ‘‘We are also looking after the DLF Golf Club and
Delhi Golf Club. Things are
not very different there,’’
he said.
Jupiter enters the house
of Leo on July 23. Astrologers say this does not
bode too well for those planning to get married. While
malefic Jupiter stays in Leo
August 31, 2004, the worst
phase will be between July
23 and October 7.
‘‘Jupiter is basically a
beneficial
planet,
but
Simhasta
Brihaspati
(Jupiter in Leo) is considered bad for certain activities. Apart from weddings,
Vehicle lifters held: With the arrest of nine persons on Thursday, the central district police claimed to have busted a gang of
autolifters and recovered 20 stolen vehicles. They used to operate in west and northwest Delhi and with their arrests, six cases
were solved. TNN
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one should also avoid buying property or moving into
a new house,’’ said Acharya
Vikramaditya
of
Vivekanand Yuvashram.
Astrologer Shashi Walia
agreed. He said despite
Jupiter being in the fifth
house for over a year, things
will brighten for prospective couples once Venus enters the house of Libra
around October 5.
‘‘Along with Jupiter,
Venus is considered vivahakaraka, or related to weddings. While Jupiter in Leo
is a malefic, aspects of
Venus can soften the effect,’’ said astrologer Pandit Mahendra Mishra.
3
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Jet Air 0610
GUWAHATI—BAGDOGRA:
I-A 0555★★, 1010•
★ Jet Air 1010
WEATHER
Rain or thundershowers are likely to occur at isolated
places in Andaman and Nicobar Islands,Arunachal, Assam and Meghalaya, Nagaland - Manipur - Mizoram Tripura, West Bengal and Sikkim, Orissa, Jharkhand,
Bihar, Uttaranchal, Himachal, J&K, east Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Goa, Chattisgarh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, coastal and
south interior Karnataka, Kerala and Lakshadweep. Mainly dry
weather will prevail over the rest of the country.
INDIA
WORLD
Max
Max Min
Delhi
Mumbai
Chennai
Kolkata
Bangalore
Ahm’bad
T’puram
Bhopal
B’eshwar
Pune
33
33
38
34
33
38
34
38
34
34
19
27
28
24
22
25
25
19
26
19
Guwahati
Dehradun
Hyd’bad
Indore
Jaipur
Lucknow
Patna
Rajkot
Shimla
Srinagar
n.a.
29
39
37
37
37
35
38
21
13
Max Min
Min
21
14
24
18
23
18
21
23
07
04
Amsterdam
Bahrain
Bangkok
Beijing
Chicago
Geneva
Hong Kong
London
Los Angeles
Moscow
08
31
36
21
08
09
28
17
18
05
01
22
28
04
02
03
22
06
11
01
TRAIN RESERVATIONS
Earliest date on which berth / seats were available at 2000 hrs. on
05.04.2003 in important trains leaving various Delhi stations.
AHMEDABAD:
0120 (AI 610)
MUMBAI: 0615 (AI 140),
0700 (AI 170), 1855
(AI 301), 2145 (AI 319)
Train No. Train / Exp / Mail
NORTH
4033
Jammu Mail
4645
Shalimar Exp
2403
Jammu Exp
EAST
2302
Kolkata Rajdhani
2304
Poorva Exp
2382
Poorva Exp
2312
Kalka Mail
2392
Magadh Exp
2402
Shramjeevi Exp
2418
Prayag Raj Exp
4056
Brahmputra Mail
5622
North East Exp
2554
Vaishali Exp
2816
Puri Exp
2802
Purshottam Exp
8476
Neelanchal Exp
4230
Lucknow Mail
WEST
2904
Golden Temple Mail
2926
Paschim Exp
2952
Mumbai Rajdhani
2954
AG Kranti Rajdhani
2474
Sarvodaya Exp
1078
Jhelum Exp
2916
Ashram Exp
SOUTH
2616
G T Exp
2622
Tamil Nadu Exp
2432
Trivandrum Raj
2626
Kerala Exp
2618
Mangala Exp
2628
Karnataka Exp
2724
A P Exp
2430
Banglore Rajdhani
7022
Dakshin Express
A-I: (City)23736446 /47/48
(Air.)25652050, British Air:
(Air.) 25652908, Lufthansa:
23323310, Singapore Airlines
23356286, Thai Air: 3323638
No. of passengers dealt on 04.04.2003 (Delhi Area): 65,294 (N. Rly. Area)
2,40,274 It does not necessarily mean that reservation is available on all
subsequent dates. For further information regarding reservation: Ph: 131 for
computerised PNR, for status enquiry contact 1330, 1335, 1345.
(Information supplied by Indian Railways)
Ph: I-A:140,142. ★ Mon, Wed,
Fri, ★★Tue, Thu, Sat, ★★★
Mon-Fri, Sun, Jet Air: (City)
6853700, (Airport) 25665404
Sahara: (City) 2335901-9,
(Airport) 25675234/875, (TeleCheckin) 25662600. • Mon, Fri.
INTERNATIONAL
BANGKOK/TOKYO:
Thai Air 0010 (TG-316),
A-I 0050 (IC-855)
FRANKFURT: Lufthansa
0305 (LH-761)
AMSTERDAM:
KLM 0745 (KL-476)
LONDON: British Air
0210 (BA-142)
PARIS: Air France
0040 (AF-147),
A-I 0735 (AI-141)
SINGAPORE: Sin’pore
Airlines 2315 (SQ-407),
I-A 0050 (IC-855)
HONG KONG/OSAKA:
A-I 2320 (AI-318)
ROME/GENEVA:
A-I 0350 (AI-171)
AIR INDIA
1 ac
2 ac
Ac 3t Sl
06.04
—
09.04
07.04 09.04 08.04
02.05 30.04 08.04
28.04 27.04 27.04
08.04
06.04
08.04
N.A.
N.A.
—
11.04
—
—
07.04
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—
—
09.04
08.04
16.04
08.04
08.04
13.04
06.04
08.04
N.A.
23.04
16.04
07.04
23.04
27.04
11.04
16.04
09.04
07.04
07.04
08.04
06.04
07.04
26.05
21.04
09.04
17.04
07.04
20.04
13.04
—
14.05
13.05
14.05
16.04
09.04
07.04
08.05
09.05
28.05
23.04
21.04
18.04
14.04
07.04
06.04
06.04
06.04
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—
06.04
07.04
24.04
09.04
07.04
01.05
20.05
16.04
07.04
N.A.
07.04
07.04
17.04
15.06
07.04
28.04
02.06
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—
10.04
08.05
07.04
06.04
07.04
06.04
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—
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06.04
07.04
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06.04
06.04
N.A.
08.04
03.06
06.04
16.04
02.06
07.04
07.04
16.04
N.A.
09.04
03.06
06.04
08.04
06.05
—
07.04
07.04
—
24.04
22.04
08.04
07.04
—
06.04
Pulse polio programme today
New Delhi: The next phase of the Pulse Polio Immunisation
Programme (PPIP) will be organised on Sunday under which
children upto the age of five years will be administered pulse
polio drops. On Saturday, Delhi state chief minister Sheila
Dikshit launched the programme. State health minister A K
Walia, Dr Burk Holder of WHO Maria Calivis of UNICEF and
principal health secretary S P Aggarwal were present.TNN
Three more held in DDA scam
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
has arrested three more persons in connection with the
corruption case, involving
senior Delhi Development
Authority (DDA) officials.
One of the accused is a former clerk working with the
New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC). The CBI said
Ved Prakash Kaushik, the
clerk, was a conduit on behalf of former DDA vice-
chairman Subhash Sharma.
An officer said: ‘‘Sharma was
the chairperson of the
NDMC before joining the
DDA.’’
Anil Wadhwa and Pradeep
Kapoor, who have been arrested, are the partners of a
M/s APY Hoteliers and Developers who are constructing a restaurant-cum-bar in
Paschim Vihar.
This is the third case
which the CBI has registered
against Sharma. ‘‘Wadhwa
and Kapoor’s company is carrying out construction work
at Rajendra Mahavira TowerII where they have installed a
lift illegally. As per our investigation, Sharma had demanding Rs 20 to 25 lakh for
not demolishing the lift,’’ an
officer said.
With the help of Kaushik,
Sharma allegedly fixed the
deal at Rs 10 lakh. The CBI
are yet to arrest Wadhwa and
Kapoor’s third partner, Yash
Minocha.
The CBI said Kaushik and
Kapoor were arrested after
several NDMC files were
seized from their premises
during raids conducted last
night. All the three have been
sent to CBI’s custody till
April 10.
TIMES FLYING COLOURS
Walking
away with
prizes
colourful crowd gathered at Lifestyle,
Gurgaon, on Saturday to try their luck and
Win With The Times.
Singer and lead guitarist
Bobby Cash was there to
give away the prizes to the
chosen few.
Shashi Munjal won the
first prize, a Whirlpool
microwave owen, and Neerav Kumar and Nirmal Singer Bobby Cash (right) presents a Whirlpool microwave
walked away with Nike oven to Shashi Munjal at Lifestyle, Gurgaon, on Saturday.
vouchers.
that makes it read for casion were full of praise
When asked what he longer duration.’’
for the recently launched
thought about the new allCash, too replied in a sim- all-colour Delhi edition of
colour The Times of India ilar vein when he said: ‘‘It The Times of India.
edition, Shashi Munjal said: brings colour to our lives
They also appreciated the
‘‘It is more attractive that every day.’’
new look given to Times
any other newspaper and
People present on the oc- House.
A
Gangster’s autopsy
delayed by 3 days
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: A lot of drama
preceded the autopsy of
gangster Charanjit Singh
alias Bittoo, gunned down by
crime branch team in Rohini
on Wednesday night.
While the gangster’s family was kept waiting for the
body for three days, the principal secretary (health) had
to intervene to get the autopsy started on Saturday
evening. It is alleged that
Anil Mehra, the medical superintendent (MS) of Sanjay
Gandhi Memorial Hospital,
refused to conduct autopsy.
Bittoo, who extorted money from traders in northwest
and east Delhi areas, was
killed in an encounter by a
crime branch team led by inspector Jasvir Singh Malik.
According to crime branch
officials, ‘‘the MS directed to
stall the autopsy till the
board was constituted.’’
This went on for a day and
the deceased’s wife and father met the MS and requested him to handover the body
for cremation.
But Mehra did not allow
for the autopsy even then.
The matter was reported to
the police who sought principal secretary’s (health) intervention.
The principal secretary
clarified that the power to
constitute the medical board
rested with the police, the
sub-divisional
magistrate
and the court.
The MS has no authority to
stop the autopsy, the officer
said, directing to initiate the
procedure.
But the MS did not reportedly communicate the direction to his subordinates and
the gangster’s body kept lying in the mortuary.
A medical board of three
doctors, P C Dikshit, B N
Acharya and Rahul Puniya,
was constituted and the autopsy started at 7.30 pm.
For Booking and Information
Call : 51-666-888
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I N D I A
L E T ’ S TA L K M O N E Y
BJP failed in Gujarat: Manmohan
Hooked: A new innings for Gavaskar junior
PTI
He splurges on
Armani, Ferrari...
Ajit Ninan
hen Lalit Suri
came
from
Rawalpindi to Delhi after Partition, he was
only a few months old. Suri
went to school and college
here and later graduated in
automation engineering
from the UK. He owns
Bharat Hotels, which runs
seven properties under the
Grand banner including
the Grand Intercontinental. He was elected a Rajya
Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh last year.
Are you a saver or spender?
Both. But I don’t buy on an impulse, and I like to save
to build assets.
How much money do you have in your wallet?
Rs 5,000, which is roughly what I carry.
Do you have any credit cards?
Many. I use four or five regularly.
Is there anything you splurge on?
I like to spend on myself. Clothes, watches, pens and
cars...I have a huge collection of watches, I wear
Armani, Versace and Prada, and I carry a Mont Blanc
pen. Frankly, cars are my weakness. I love sport
models — I have a Ferrari, Lamborghini and a sports
model Merc.
Have you ever been hard up?
Not really. I come from a very well to do family of
Rawalpindi. The only time was when as a student I
went to a London casino and ran out of money.
Do you own any property?
My house in Panchsheel Park. And the properties my
company owns — in Indian cities and some abroad.
Do you dabble in shares?
Not anymore — I am stuck with some I bought. I have
burnt my fingers, but I won’t again.
What has been your worst and best investment ?
A friend who I was very close to, let me down. He
turned out to be someone not worth knowing. He was a
poor investment. My wife Jyotsna has given me the
greatest happiness, giving me my big happy family, being a good mother to my children and a good friend to
me. She is my best investment.
The most extravagant thing you ever bought?
My property in Srinagar, which I have not closed
down in the belief that Kashmir will one day be peaceful. A lot of people tell me it’s a bad investment.
What is the most important lesson you have
learnt about money?
One should have enough to have a comfortable life.
Work hard, work honestly and the money will come. I
have no love for money, but I am a workaholic. I am
willing to give up my money for peace, health and
happiness.
W
Sanghamitra Chakraborty
Ahmedabad: Senior Congress leader Manmohan
Singh said the BJP ‘‘needs to
shed its communal agenda to
put Gujarat on a progressive
path’’.
Singh said the riots had
tarnished the image of the
country. ‘‘Gujarat has everything...What it needs is a government which can provide
Sachin with his wife Anjali at the wedding reception of Sunil Gavaskar’s son Rohan and bride Swati in Mumbai on Friday.
Second tape on Maya to embarrass BJP
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Lucknow: After the heat
that the first Mayawati tape
generated, another tape on
the Uttar Pradesh chief minister is likely to kick up more
storm. The sequel is set to
cause a major embarrassment to the BJP, her coalition
partner in Uttar Pradesh.
Unlike Tape One, which
showed Mayawati asking
money from party MPs and
legislators, Mayawati Tape
Two deals with sensitive issues like religion, Hindu
mythology, rituals, idol worshipping,
her
remarks
against Lord Rama and BJP
Dalit leader Sangh Priya
Gautam, now a minister in
the Vajpayee government.
The Tape Two is an extension of Tape One, which was
shot on February 11, 2001 in
Ambedkarnagar during the
inauguration of BSP’s Poorvanchal office, and contains
remaining portions of her
speech which were hitherto
not released. The TNN is in
possession of the Mayawati
Expose Two video tape.
The 51-minute video tape
is repetition of her speech
aired earlier. However, there
are few quotes which would
surely end up souring its relations with the BJP. It is due
to sensitive nature of her utterances, the Samajwadi Party (SP), which had submitted
the first tape to the UP Governor Vishnu Kant Shasti, so
far refrained from releasing
the second one.
But the SP chief Mulayam
Singh Yadav stated in Ballia
on Thursday that the party
would release the second
tape shortly. Interestingly, a
copy of the Maya Tape Two
has already been submitted
to the Election Commission
(EC) by a delegation of JNU
students demanding cancellation of BSP’s recognition
as a national political party.
Since the tape is yet to be
released, no BJP state leader
is ready to react. The BSP has
termed Tape Two as another
attempt by the SP to destabilise its coalition government. ‘As it is from the same
concocted tape, who would
believe it? Moreover, this
speech was made on February 11, 2001 when neither the
party had any alliance with
the BJP nor it was in power,’’
said a BSP minister.
Crisis in Bihar Samata Party
Patna: The shadow-boxing
between Samata party leaders George Fernandes and
Nitish Kumar on Saturday
returned to haunt the outfit
in Bihar with a majority of
MLAs adopting a censure
resolution against the party
president for ‘‘promoting
anti-party activities’’.
Twenty-five of the 28
MLAs, who held an emergency meeting here, ‘‘removed’’ Fernandes’ loyalist P
5
K Sinha from the post of the
leader of the legislative
council. They objected to the
submission made on behalf
of Fernandes before the EC
that the Bihar state committee, ‘‘dissolved’’ in January
this year by MPs loyal to railway minister Nitish Kumar,
has not been dissolved. PTI
SUND60403/CR1/05/K/1
CMYK
the right leadership and direction.’’ Singh charged that
the BJP has not been able to
project the right image. ‘‘Gujarat has everything except
confidence of the investors,
and confidence is very fickle...When people go to the CM
to discuss the development of
ports, he talks about starting
cruise tours.’’ TNN
œ ND ‰ ‰ † ‰ CMK
6
T E N D E R S
&
C O N T R A C T S
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œ ND ‰ ‰ † ‰ CMK
I N D I A
For a share of
the ad pie..
Is more news on television good news?
News channels are making news. Some new ones have already hit our TV screens, some are on their way and some old ones have got a new look.
Sunday Times surfs across channels to find out if television has space for so much current affairs programming
reaking news is making news. A clutch of
news channels —
“new, improved” — have
burst on to TV screens. Others are coming soon. Viewers are waiting. ‘‘In the new
maze, I wonder if they will
be able to give us the quality
one sees in international
news channels like BBC,’’
says couch potato Raghu
Rao.
●Star News in Hindi is here
— glitches and all. Star is not
willing to comment, but
viewers say they are not impressed.
‘‘They are too
fresh,’’ says
Arvind
Tiwari
who
spends hours
watching TV
e v e r y
evening. ‘‘Anyway, unless a
channel gives quality coverage with good presentation
— which is lacking in most
cases — more news channels
will not really make a difference,’’
● NDTV 24X7 (English) and
NDTV India (Hindi) with A
R Rehman’s signature will
go on air from April 14.
‘‘Rehman is somebody who’s
always done his own thing,
and as an organisation that’s
exactly what NDTV does,’’
says chief executive producer Radhika Roy. Prannoy Roy
will be back and Shekhar
Gupta will do a weekly pro-
B
gramme on 24X7.
●Sahara promises a bouquet of seven regional
news channels by JulyAugust with local news
networks from 31 cities.
‘‘There’s a lack of local
coverage on news channels. Hopefully, the channels will take care of
that,’’ says Arundhati
Saxena a college student.
● Headlines Today the
English news channel
from Aaj Tak will come
live on April 7. Says G.
Krishnan, CEO TV Today Network Limited, ‘‘The
channel is
meant for
people for
w h o m
time
is
precious, but want to
know everything that is
of interest to them.’’
●The smart studios in
shades of crimson, red,
steel grey and yellow at
Zee News are “a reflection of the channel’s new
brighter and bolder image,’’ says Alka Saxena,
editor, Zee News.
DEEP
FOCUS
Enough eyeballs to
grab?
‘‘Yes, there’s certainly a
very big market waiting to
be tapped,’’ says Krishnan.
‘‘The news channel market
has been on the upswing. All
Channel-Speak: Viewers, spot the difference
NDTV 24x7
English, for the ‘classes’
NDTV INDIA
Hindi, for the ‘masses’
The Promise: Journalists,
not news readers
• Fleet of helicopters to
get the news first
HEADLINES TODAY
The Promise:
Instant news
• Slick, smart and
well-scripted format
ets will be able to hang
out there.’’
But viewers couldn’t really care. ‘‘News is not like
soap. Only those that give
balanced reports will survive. Anyway, I don’t like
switching channels while
watching news,’’ says Rao.
Infotaiment as
news?
Views differ. NDTsV
is all for individuality
and claims that ‘‘news
SAHARA SAMAY
covers
everything’’.
The Promise: The junta
Headline Today’s Krishnan too says, ‘‘We
channel
STAR NEWS
define news to suit the
• 7 news channels from
The Promise:
viewer. It should be of
Hindi
belt
Infotainment
relevance to our target
Reporters
in
remote
•
• ‘Everything’ makes
audience and meet
interiors of UP, Bihar, MP
news
their
information
and
Rajasthan
needs. So we cover
• Coiffeured anchors
news from diverse
fields such as business,
sports, health, enterDD
tainment, stocks.’’SaZEE NEWS
• Old and reliable
hara is more categoriThe Promise: ‘Speed
• Widest reach
cal. Says Ghosh, ‘‘The
with Credibility’
moment we see news as
• On the makeover mode
• Target — masses,
entertainment it benot classes
comes nonsensical. The
treatment of news and
presentation is impor(As told to STOI by the channel spokespersons)
tant. We are hitting 100
Times Graphic plus news items every
categories of advertisers are coming out. It’s the same plus
attracted to news channels with news channels. There’s people and just 20-odd news day and it’s not entertainbecause of the higher return space, the market is grow- channels. There’s desperate ment. News as entertainneed to cover the happen- ment has never worked and
on investment offered. More ing.’’
players will only expand the
Sahara echoes him. ‘‘The ings,’’ says national channel never will.’’
news market.’’ Zee’s Saxena US with a population of 250 head Arup Ghosh, but adds
Zee’s Saxena is more in
agrees: ‘‘There are so many million has some 90 news ‘‘There will be a shake-out. tune with Sahara: ‘‘We want
newspapers, yet more keep channels. We have a billion Only those with deep pock- to remain a channel of the
masses, so hard news will
always be a priority. That’s
the only way to become a
leader and stay on top.’’
Viewer as king?
Yes, says Headline Today’s
Krishnan. ‘‘Viewers will
reign supreme in an environment where content will
drive their choice. In such a
scenario, it would be important for broadcasters to understand the viewers need
while planning and designing content.’’ If you are a pay
channel being a part of a
bouquet helps. So NDTV has
joined the Sony bandwagon.
Now if you opt for Sony-Discovery’s One Alliance with
Set Max, AXN and HBO you
get NDTV.
Free-to-air news channels
have an obvious advantage.
Zee accepts that it cannot
match viwership with freeto-air channels. ‘‘We cannot
match eyeballs with Aaj
Tak,’’ says Saxena. ‘‘They
have DD as their competitors.’’ And Sahara, which is
also free-to-air. They are going about winning viewers
in their own way. ‘‘Our
strength will be our city specific news. Ask your cable
operator you want to watch
only Agra and Varanasi
news you can get it.’’
Rachna Subramanian
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CMYK
s the Rs 6000 crore ad
pie large enough to sustain a slew of new
channels? Meenakshi Madhvani, CEO, Carat, a media
company, strikes a pessimistic note. “News channels grossed between Rs
250-300 crore in 2002. Even
if they were to earn an additional Rs 330 crore this
year, keeping a 15 per cent
growth rate in mind, the
money would not be sufficient to sustain five new
national channels.”
Others believe news
channels will follow the
Aaj Tak Hindi path and
break even within the first
year itself. Anand Bhardwaj, senior associate director, Lowe maintains,”Advertisers have always operated on the basis of offering alternative fares for
high and low viewership
categories.
Aaj Tak started the trend
of moving away from
multinationals and allowing the smaller retailers to
hop aboard. This trend is
expected to continue and
already NDTV is promising
a
specific
Delhi feed for local advertisers.
Media analyst Iqbal Malhotra, chairman AIM,
says, “Traditionally news
channels have been subsidised by entertainment
channels. But today, several media groups are starting channels to acquire political clout.”
I
Rashme Sehgal
7
œ ND ‰ ‰ † ‰ CMK
8
TENDERS & CONTRACTS
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CMYK
œ ND ‰ ‰ † ‰‹ CMK
I N D I A
9
Mission
Iraq
waits
Science is Number One for students and parents for MEA’s go-ahead
By Bonita Baruah
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: It’s science and
only science they want.
Notwithstanding marks or
whether they have a head
for it. Come admission time,
and there is a big scramble
for science among class X
pass-outs.
Every year, school principals are bombarded with requests from parents who
want their children to be admitted into the science
stream.
Commerce, the number
one option in the last few
years, is finding fewer takers. With biotech and IT
beckoning, science is the
preferred choice once again.
‘‘There is a greater clamour for science subjects this
year,’’ says Jyoti Bose, prin-
cipal, Springdales. Here, the
number of students in the
commerce section has gone
down from 50 to 30 since last
year. But there are 90 science students.
Mother’s International
has had to increase their science sections to three. Commerce and arts each have
one. ‘‘At one time, commerce
was very popular, but now
there is a definite trend towards science,’’ says viceprincipal P L Bhola. ‘‘The
majority of students want
science. Commerce is their
second choice, and it’s mostly children whose parents
are in business.’’
Delhi Public School, R K
Puram, has 18 science sections, four commerce and
two arts. Delhi Public
School, Mathura Road, has
Scramble for science
• Many students change schools if they are denied the
subject
• Schools have increased their science sections
• Parents feel there are better job prospects
• Commerce has taken a backseat with option of
biotech and IT opening up
six science sections, five
commerce and two arts. The
trend is the same in most of
Delhi’s elite schools.
What makes the stream so
alluring: ‘‘Early gratification,’’ says Shyama Chona of
DPS, RKP. It’s the domino effect: You score more, can
compete with cut-off marks
in colleges and there are better job prospects.
Hardly surprising then
that aptitude is not exactly
what matters for most parents. So lobbying for this allimportant stream begins
much in advance.
For Rekha Sharma, it’s
admission time once again
for her daughter, Prerna.
She and her husband have
met the principal four times.
Their daughter’s name does
not even figure on the waiting list, but they are not
ready to take no for an answer; They have asked for an
appointment with the principal again, and are ready to
beg, plead and go to any
lengths. Their last recourse:
change schools.
In fact, a science stream
has become so important
that many students change
schools if they are denied it.
Most schools decide the
stream for students on the
basis of pre-boards and
Class IX performances, but
there are some who admit
on the basis of the board results, like Vasant Valley.
‘‘There are so many options nowadays for a science
student,’’ says Sharma. ‘‘It’s
not fair to deny her if she
does well in the boards.’’
‘‘There is a general trend
in the education system over
Troubled times: Can India fight the IT backlash?
By R Edwin Sudhir
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Turmoil abroad
Deepak Harichandan
Bangalore: A few black
sheep in the Indian Information Technology fraternity
could well click doom for
everybody. Indian professionals in European and SouthEast Asian markets are now
facing, according to some industry watchers, a systematic backlash by economies
down in the slump.
Even as i-flex Solutions
scrambled to mobilise the release of its Senthil Kumar,
doubts were raised whether
these were isolated instances
of high-handedness by police
officials in some countries.
Were these dangerous portents that may affect the credibility of the Indian software
industry?
In fact, the i-flex incident is
only the most recent case of
foreign governments flexing
their legal muscles and
cracking down on Indian
software companies (see
‘Trouble Abroad’).
And the unabashed wooing
of Indian IT talent is a thing
of the past. The US is reduc-
• March 27, 2003: 13 employees of i-flex Solutions
held for questioning by Dutch authorities for alleged
visa violation; Senthil Kumar, London-based CEO
of i-Flex BV, the Netherlands subsidiary, detained
for investigation in the UK
• March 9, 2003: Several Indian IT professionals
harassed, handcuffed and detained for several hours
• December 13, 2002: Chairman and MD of Polaris
Software Arun Jain and his team of senior executives
detained by the Indonesian police on a commercial
dispute
G.B.
ing the number of H1 visas
from October 2003 and its
dreaded New Jersey Bill,
which seeks to prevent outsourcing of government
work from India, is on the
cards. Telecom unions in the
United Kingdom have threatened to go on strike against
British Telecom’s decision to
move BPO jobs to India.
Similarly, there has been
growing pressure on the German government to stop re-
newal of special work permits to technology professionals outside the non-EU
region. In fact, its Green
Card Scheme, launched with
much fanfare to attract Indians, will be withdrawn from
July 31 this year.
India Inc’s damage control
has been swift and multipronged. The government
says it will provide an ‘‘escort service’’ to its software
professionals to guide them
on visa regulations. IT minister Arun Shourie has announced that the ministry
will work with the National
Association of Software and
Service Companies (Nasscom) to jointly provide an escort service to every software
professional who goes out to
such countries as Germany
and the Netherlands. The
ministry will also work with
the industry on meeting the
visa requirements in different countries and ensuring
that they are obeyed scrupulously.
On its own initiative, Nasscom is planning to sensitise
political
establishments,
diplomatic missions and immigration authorities in the
US and the UK about various
IT business models in India.
By outlining the benefits of
the BPO sector in India,
Nasscom hopes that the Indian IT-enabled services industry do not suffer any major
reverses in the near future.
These efforts, however, will
pay off only if companies
themselves don’t give room
for crackdowns (see ‘Indian
Ingenuity’).
(With inputs from Gaurav
Bhagowati, Delhi)
the last few years towards
giving a low priority to the
humanities,’’ says Bose. ‘‘A
lot of prestige is associated
with science.’’
‘‘Parents feel their children
have
better
job
prospects if they take up science and then get a technical degree,’’ says Chona.
Parents put a lot of pressure on children as well as
the school, admit principals.
Schools try to resist it, but if
they do give in, the results
are mostly disastrous, they
say.
As for the arts? Bose says
her best students are in the
humanities, but as Tanuja, a
class X student says, ‘‘Science is prestigious. Only
those who can’t get into science or commerce go for
arts.’’
Mobs clash with
police in Dariapur
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Ahmedabad:
Tension
gripped sensitive Dariapur
area when residents clashed
with the police on Friday.
The police had to fire one
round in the air and burst 50
teargas shells to bring the
situation under control.
Five policemen sustained
minor injuries in the incident. Sources said the nearriot situation was the result
of local police’s attempts to
stop roadside food stalls from
operating beyond midnight.
Around 11.45 p.m. on Friday a police mobile van
reached the Charwad area in
Dariapur, where numerous
temporary food stalls were
operating. On being asked to
close shop the stall owners
protested along with some local residents who were buying eatables then.
By Mohit Dubey
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Kanpur: A goodwill mission
from the state to war-battered Iraq has been grounded
two days before take-off.
The mission, aimed at providing succour to the Iraqis,
was to be spearheaded by a
32-member pan-Indian team,
including 12 city medicos.
But the mission has been delayed for want of clearance
from the Syrian authorities
and the ministry of external
affairs, sources said.
N A Farooqui, director of
health projects for JamiatUlama-i-Hind — the organisation co-ordinating the
peace efforts in India — said,
‘‘We need to fulfill some logistical requirements.’’
Talking to Times News
Network over the phone from
Delhi, Farooqui said that requisitioning of the DC-10, the
cargo aircraft which would
carry the 22-tonne consignment of medicines and a
team of doctors, was in
process, and the plane was
likely to come from Dubai in
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a day.
City mission co-ordinator
and a reputed ophthalmologist Mahmood H Rehmani
also admitted of some glitches, but said these were minor
irritants that would be sorted
out in a few days.
On Friday night, the Embassy of the Republic of Iraq
had given the green signal for
the visit.
In a letter, Maan Abrahim,
a senior official of the Iraqi
embassy, informed about the
clearance by his government.
He requested the mission
leader to ‘‘inform them of the
date of their arrival in Syria
so that officials of the Iraqi
government are there to receive them at Damascus airport’’.
Among the volunteers are
people from Hyderabad,
Mumbai, Delhi and Kerala.
A truck full of medicines
— mainly antibiotics, lotions, IV drugs, drips, bandages, life-saving drugs and injections — was despatched
from Kanpur on Saturday
evening to Delhi.
œ ND ‰ ‰ † ‰ CMK
10
I N D I A
Scientists for unmanned mission to moon
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Mumbai: India’s plan to
launch an unmanned scientific mission to the moon received a major boost on Friday with the country’s top
scientists giving it the green
signal at a meeting held in
Bangalore.
The meeting, organised by
the Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO), discussed a report prepared by a
task force. Among the 100 scientists who participated in
the session were S M Chitre,
Jayant Narlikar, Yash Pal
and M G K Menon.
Chitre told Times News
Network: ‘‘The scientific
community has backed the
mission and there was absolutely no voice of dissent.’’
He said students from various technical and scientific
institutes like the IITs will be
invited to participate in the
project.
The approval of the scientific community means that
the project has crossed an im-
portant milestone. In the
next phase, ISRO will submit
the proposal to the Centre for
its approval. Prime Minister
Atal Bihari Vajpayee has already favoured the project .
Once the Centre clears the
project, the mission will be
launched either in 2008 or
2009. The rocket to be used
for this flight will be the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle
and the lift-off will be from
the Satish Dhawan Space
Centre, Sriharikota, near
Chennai.
War against Pak-sponsored Killer flu is giving
terror is India’s alone: Sinha airline crew jitters
By Aunohita Mojumdar
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: External affairs minister Yashwant
Sinha is unfazed by recent
remarks from Washington,
which suggest a softening
of approach towards Pakistan. In an interview to
The Times of India, he denies this is a setback for Indian foreign policy and
says the fight against crossborder terrorism has to be
fought and won by India
alone.
What has been the
achievement of our foreign policy?
A major success is that
the international community has realised that Pakistan is responsible for
cross-border terror. Many
countries have said Pakistan should desist from
sponsoring terrorism. Has
it stopped it from doing so?
No. Will it stop Pakistan in
future? One cannot be sure.
This’s why the war against
terrorism will have to be
fought and won by India.
The US continues to treat
India and Pakistan with
an even hand. Will this
change in the future?
I think any country
which tries to balance Pakistan with India is making
a grievous mistake because
the international community has accepted that Pakistan is guilty of cross-border terrorism. We are victims of this. There cannot
be a balance between a victim and an assailant. We
have always said that India
is in a different league, be it
in economic strength, military prowess or our stand-
pressure on Pakistan, but
it has not been effective.
India doesn’t want to
hold talks until Pakistan
has created the climate.
Doesn’t this run the risk
of escalating the situation?
No, I think it has been an
effective policy so far. It has
created the desired impact
Indo-Pak freeze
• The international community has realised Pakistan is responsible for
cross-border terror
• We are the victims
• Many countries are putting pressure on Pakistan,
but it has not been very
effective
ing in the world.
When you say that India
should not depend on
anybody else, aren’t you
actually admitting that
foreign policy has not
been able to deliver on
this front?
You don‘t expect me to
say ‘yes’ to this, do you?
But our foreign policy has
been effective in convincing the international community. We are assured that
many countries are putting
to a large extent. When we
say that terrorism and dialogue cannot go together,
we are being pragmatic.
Suppose we were talking
and the Nadimarg massacre takes place, what
would be the first impulse?
To break off talks. So in
order to have a sustained
dialogue and to arrive at
a long-term solution, terrorism should be brought
to an end by Pakistan and a
proper climate created.
6 hurt in J&K blast: Six persons, including four BSF men,
were injured when militants triggered an improvised explosive
device in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday.
Two of the BSF personnel are stated to be critical. TNN
By Shobha John
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: India has not
been hit by the SARS (Severe
Acute
Respiratory
Syndrome) yet, but airlines crew,
who are among the first to
come in contact with travellers, are edgy about getting
caught in the cross-fire.
Many are reluctant to fly to
countries in Southeast Asia
which have been afflicted by
this disease. ‘‘I definitely
don’t want to be the one to get
this flu to India,’’ says a pilot
wryly.
An Indian Commercial Pilots
Association
(ICPA)
spokesman confirmed there
was nervousness among pilots about flying to places
where this virulent form of
pneumonia had struck. ICPA
members are in consultation
with each other to decide the
future course of action.
Another pilot said, ‘‘I am
scared. Flights which were
normally overbooked and
where passengers had to be
offloaded and put on other
flights, now barely have 50-60
passengers.’’ He has a flight
scheduled for mid-April to
Singapore, but he’s now
ready to exchange this lucrative sector with anybody willing to go there.
That seems easier said
than done now. Incase he had
to make that trip, he would
prefer not to have a night halt
there.
That would ensure he didn’t come in contact with hotel
staff and citizens who may
be harbouring the virus, he
says. And yes, shopping
would definitely be given the
go-by.
An I-A spokesman said the
airlines had no plans yet to
curtail any of the 48 weekly
flights to Bangkok, Kuala
Lumpur and Singapore. An IA crew said he had received
instructions from the management regarding passengers travelling to Singapore,
a high-risk country. It said
any crew suspecting a passenger of having SARS,
should notify the pilot, who
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in turn should alert the
ground staff.
Another pilot said he was
nervous of the SingaporeBangkok flight which mainly
carried ethnic populations
such as Thais, Chinese, etc
who may be harbouring the
virus. ‘‘At least passengers
have the choice of not travelling; we don’t,’’ he said.
A-I has already curtailed
two flights, one each to Hong
Kong and Bangkok. It has
also placed an embargo on
the free tickets to the staff on
the Singapore-Hong Kong
Reluctant takeoff
• Many airlines crew are
edgy about contracting
the flu from travellers
• An otherwise lucrative
sector, flying to Southeast Asia has now become a tense affair
• Crew and staff asked
to keep a watch on passengers, but haven’t
been provided masks for
protection
sector. Its spokesman said the
load factor on A-I planes to SE Asia had dropped by 25 per
cent due to cancellations.
Crew and staff at airports
had been told to keep a watch
on passengers found sneezing and coughing.
Asked if the crew themselves needed protection in
the form of masks, Dr A K Diwan of I-A said, ‘‘No, that
would create panic. Normal
fumigation of planes is done
every 5-6 days and more often, if required.’’
He said till the first case of
SARS is not found in India,
these measures would be
enough.
œ ND ‰ ‰ † CMK
I N D I A
C A P I TA L N O T E B O O K
Beijing blues
Ajit Ninan
THE outbreak of
SARS (severe acute
respiratory
syndrome) seems to
have claimed an Indian victim. This
time, it’s the proposed visit of defence
minister
George Fernandes
to China in Aprilend. However, the
kiss-and-make up
with the Red Dragon is definitely not
off. Rather than join
the panic-stricken
Beijing now, King
George may delay
his path-breaking visit to the Great Wall of China, Raksha Mantralaya sources say.
No minister
DID British foreign secretary Jack Straw tilt too much
towards India at a time when the ‘‘coalition of the willing’’ was unwilling to lose its delicate balance between
India and Pakistan? Straw’s description of Pak-occupied
Kashmir as the ‘‘so-called Azad Kashmir’’ in a recent interview may have been too much for the British foreign
office mandarins. The first transcript released by the
British Government dropped the words ‘‘so-called’’ and
it was only later that they issued a second transcript
restoring the actual text. Insiders said it was a ‘‘socalled’’ inadvertent error.
History heave ho
THE Indian Council of Historical Research is in the
process of creating history of its own by its internal
wranglings. A senior HRD ministry official, who has
been helpful to the council and who attended its Foundation Day function, found his portfolio changed within
a week. This is said to be the handiwork of some Sangh
Parivar acolytes among the general council members
who are pushing for a hard line on history.
Don’s don’ts
UNIVERSITY dons don’t become controversial easily.
They do so at times when their subordinates speak out
— and are heard in the right quarters. Soon after the resignation of the Kumaon University VC B S Rajput, on
charge of plagiarising a colleague’s work, has come an
inquiry against B T Patil, vice-chancellor of Pondicherry University. While the outcome is not known, that
Pondy’s is a central university has got tongues in the national capital wagging.
Mahajan to oversee
assembly elections
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Indore: The gradual rehabilitation of BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan appears to have begun. On Saturday, he was named by party president M Venkaiah
Naidu as the person who will
oversee the crucial assembly
polls due later this year in
Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan,
Delhi and Chhattisgarh.
Additionally, he will replace treasurer Ramdas Aggarwal as the central officebearer, who will coordinate
with the election committee
in Rajasthan. Given that the
party considers that winning
these four states will provide
the key to victory in next
year’s general elections, this
will bring Mahajan on the
centrestage once again .
Three other general secretaries have been asked to coordinate with election committees in other states —
Sanjay Joshi for MP, Rajnath
Singh for Chhattisgarh, and
Mukthar Abbas Naqvi for
Delhi. Minister of state for
information and broadcasting will help in Rajasthan,
law minister Arun Jaitley in
MP,
foreign
minister
Yashwant Sinha for Chhattisgarh, and urban development minister Ananth Kumar for Delhi.
11
Arrest infighting, indiscipline: Advani tells workers
By Smita Gupta
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Indore: Clean up your act
and resist Congressisation,
or see yourself withering
away. That was Deputy
Prime Minister L K Advani’s unambiguous message to the BJP national executive, encapsulating the
growing unease in the party
at the way in which the conduct of its members was undermining its ideology and
claim to a distinct identity.
Advani was delivering his
valedictory address at the
BJP’s two-day national executive meet, which concluded
here on Saturday.
Advani told his party colleagues that if they were serious about wresting four
Congress-ruled states by the
end of this year and aspiring to win 300 seats in the
parliamentary elections of
2004, voters needed to be-
lieve the BJP could combine
‘‘idealism and power politics’’.
Drawing the attention of
the delegates to the fact that
while the party’s ideology
made it distinct from other
parties, the conduct of its
members was threatening to
make it like any other. The
party was risking a gradual
erosion of its support base
as the Congress had done
earlier.
Translated, that meant
that the growing indiscipline and factionalism in
the BJP and the enjoyment
of the good life by its leaders
had already eroded the party’s proud claim of being ‘‘a
party with a difference’’.
‘‘Government performance is important, but more
important is the behaviour
and conduct of BJP ministers, MLAs, office-bearers
etc,’’ Advani underlined.
‘‘Our culture of selfless-
ness, our distinctive tradition of idealism must be understood as our greatest
strength. Ideology is important, and we are distinctive
in that respect, too. But ordinary people do not judge a
political worker by his ideology, by what he preaches.
They judge us by our conduct in public life,’’ warned
the DPM.
‘‘The question is: Why
should something that has
been our strength get diluted when we are in power?
Does this mean that idealism and power politics cannot go together. There are
many who think so. We have
to prove them wrong. And
we have to remind ourselves
that without that distinctive
strength we risk ourselves
to be rejected by the people
in the same way as they rejected the Congress from
1967 onwards,’’ he added.
The Prime Minister’s
PTI
• Workers told to combine
idealism, power politics
• Contain indiscipline and
factionalism
• Resolution appreciates
NDA allies, especially TDP
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee addresses the concluding session of the BJP’s national executive in Indore.
brief speech in the morning that lay ahead when he
was more of a pep talk, an stressed: ‘‘The sweet taste of
exhortation to the party, but victory in Gujarat had not
it hinted at the difficulties gone when the sourness of
Stones clones are
stonewalled in India
By Abhijit Majumder
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Mumbai: ‘‘Hi, I am doing a
story on Indian rock music.’’
There is a brief pause at
the other end. ‘‘That should
be a short story,’’ comes the
reply from Cyrus Oshidar,
vice-president, on-air promotions, MTV.
Oshidar could be joking,
but probably he is not. The
hype
around
Monday’s
Rolling Stones Forty Licks
concert is deafening. However, the noise is unlikely to
startle to life the Indian rock
music scene or rescue its
struggling musicians.
Unless big record companies, sponsors, advertisers,
radio stations, television
channels and promoters back
up India’s rockers, they are
going to remain moribund,
says Gary Lawyer, perhaps
India’s best-known rocker.
‘‘A lot of people think rock
is against our culture. It is
looked down upon. But our
Constitution is written in
English. English is the single-most binding language in
India. Rock has a huge audience. You can get 30,00040,000 people easily for a concert like Rolling Stones,’’ he
says. Oshidar says: ‘‘But
Stones is Stones. Even my
mom would go for it.’’
Counters Lawyer, ‘‘It’s not
that. Somebody has to support the local bands with fullfledged promos.’’ He points to
the girl group Viva. ‘‘I am not
commenting on their musical talent, but at least the
massive promotions made
The rule book
sure they were known all
over India,’’ he says. ‘‘When
it comes to Indian rock
bands, I don’t think there is
even one person who is willing to take a giant leap.’’
With even nightclubs spinning out dance music, most
rock musicians drop out and
start playing Hindi tunes —
A R Rahman being a bright
instance. Many others get
into singing ad jingles, because that pays.
Take Mahesh Tinaikar of
Indus Creed. One of the alltime brightest in the Indian
rock
firmament,
Creed
(which was earlier called
Rock Machine) gave up after
more than a decade of music
and struggle. Tinaikar now
sings jingles and title songs
for TV serials. His fellow
band members Uday Benegal
and Jayesh Gandhi are in
New York, still roughing it
out all these years later.
‘‘We got fed up, not with
each other but our circumstances,’’ says Tinaikar. ‘‘Music promoters here shove
rubbish down everyone’s
throat. Most A&R (artiste
and repertoire) guys at music companies are MBAs or
advertising idiots, who don’t
have a clue about music.’’
While record companies
and channels claim that making a rock music video is
very expensive, Tinaikar argues that with the technology available, one can make
an album at home. ‘‘Why do
you need to make a video?
You could make good music
for the radio,’’ he says.
AP Govt may
withdraw
Pota against
Cong MLA
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Hyderabad: The Andhra
Pradesh government may
withdraw the Prevention of
Terrorism Act (Pota) case
lodged against Congress
MLA Konda Surekha and her
husband Murali. Both were
allegedly linked to the
banned People’s War.
Chief
minister Chandrababu Naidu and home
minister T Devender Goud
on Saturday called a meeting
of senior officials to discuss
the issue and decided that
Pota shall be invoked only
against extremists.
Official sources told The
Times of India that the chief
minister and the home minister were not informed of
the police decision to book
the Congress MLA and her
husband under Pota.
The decision to use Pota
against Surekha was apparently taken by the deputy inspector-general of police
(Warangal range) and announced without the assent
of the government. The officer was said to be acting under pressure from some local
politicians.
Naidu and Goud reportedly felt the case against
Surekha should be dropped.
However, the government
was of the view that the MLA
and her husband could be
booked under provisions of
the IPC and the Arms Act.
The government also decided to limit the use of Pota
only against extremists. The
chief minister and home
minister recalled that the
Telugu Desam Party had opposed Pota and wanted safeguards embedded in the Bill
when introduced in Parliament.
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defeat in Himachal Pradesh
mingled with it. The two incidents should prepare us
for the days ahead.’’
Advani devoting half his
speech to the need for major
correctives provided a reality check to the generally
self-congratulatory tone of
the political resolution,
which focussed on the
achievements of the Vajpayee government.
The resolution did place
on record its appreciation of
all the NDA allies, and singled out the Telugu Desam
Party ‘‘for its contribution’’.
12
S P E C I A L
Brat Boy or lovelorn Romeo?
Golden-hearted Samaritan or
simply a Raging Bull? Will the real
Salman Khan please stand up...
Sunday Times on Bollywood’s
enfant terrible and Film City’s
Broken-Heart Boulevard
Piali Banerjee
S
alman Khan’s shadow
is peeping out again,
the shadow that cocks
a snook at society
every time it emerges. This
time it has allegedly made 41
hostile calls to colleague
Vivek Oberoi.
When this shadow was
younger and friskier, it used
to pour cola on people’s
heads if it felt the stirrings of
uncontrollable anger. (Exgirlfriend Somy Ali might
vouch for that shadow.) At
that time, society was
amused.
Now the shadow is several
years older, but it still reaches for that bottle of cola when
it’s angry. (Manisha’s brother
Siddharth
Koirala
may
recognise this shadow.) It
also hunts rare game, drives
dangerously, picks fights,
roughs up people in general
and Aishwarya Rai in particular. This time around, society is not amused.
The Salman Khan that his
friends talk about seems to
be an avuncular chap, hotheaded
but
rather sweet.
The shadow
that
people
have heard of
is callous, aggressive and
persistently
irresponsible,
with
disregard for rules and laws. The
Salman Khan that his wellwishers know seemsto be a
soft-hearted do-gooder. The
shadow
that
the
public have heard of has
chased black bucks around
the countryside, flashing
harsh light into their frightened eyes.
‘‘This is a case of anti-social personality disorder,’’
explains a psychologist. ‘‘The
symptoms for this include repeated irresponsible behaviour, a low threshold for
anger and aggression, constant disregard for social
norms and laws, and the tendency to rationalise one’s behaviour. Khan also seems to
have a problem with impulse
control. If all these traits
continue after 18 years, it becomes a serious problem.’’
Khan is 38 years old, twenty years above the permissible age for social irresponsibility. ‘‘Somewhere, in some
part of his mind, he hasn’t
grown up,’’ says TV host
Shekhar Suman who has
known him long and admits
to have seen him losing his
temper with fans. ‘‘I think he
takes his screen image too seriously. Whether it’s (alleged)
black buck shooting or a pub
brawl, it’s all part of his
R E P O R T
Fatal Attraction
‘Salman Khan is
a soft target’
bravado. He has to realise
that he’s an adult and can’t
get away with it forever. His
family has to counsel him.’’
In the recent instance of
his alleged phone calls to
Oberoi, however, Suman insists that it was just another
fight, which shouldn’t have
gone public.
And half of Bollywood
agrees with him. ‘‘Shouldn’t
all problems be sorted out internally?’’ asks Abhishek
Bachchan. ‘‘You can’t wash
your dirty linen in public,’’
add Suneil Shetty and Jackie
Shroff.
The other half of Bollywood, led by director Shaad
Ali, claims that Khan has
pushed too many people
around too long, and needs to
get his comeuppance.
‘‘Salman Khan is perfectly
sane. His problem is that he
thinks with his heart,’’ explains director Sanjay Leela
Bhansali. ‘‘He gives his life to
the people he loves, that’s
why his friends always stand
by him.’’
It’s obvious that Khan
makes a habit of thinking
with
his
heart.
His
emotions
have been all
over the national media
ever since the
matters of his
heart
received a setback over Aishwarya Rai.
His heart refused to take
no for an answer, leading him
to Rai’s house and shootings
repeatedly, screaming for
love and attention. He even
let his heart bleed in an interview, saying that if at all
he roughed her up, it was
because he loved her so.
‘‘I don’t think it’s fair for
us to comment on his relationship with Aishwarya,’’
says choreographer Farha
Khan, who has witnessed
Khan disrupting a shoot.
‘‘We don’t know who incites
whom or what anyone says
that drives him mad. He’s a
genuinely nice guy, so I really don’t know why he does
what he does.’’
According to industry insiders, Khan’s friends have
asked him to take help to control his impulses. But he refuses to believe that anything
is wrong with him. In this, he
is only spurred on by
Bollywood. ‘‘Why does society expect Salman Khan to
change?’’ asks filmmaker
Mahesh Bhatt. ‘‘Whom does
it want him to emulate?
All our role models have
a demon in them. Khan is
reckless and a non-conformist. But he pays the price
for it too.’’
Salman’s brother Arbaaz
Khan believes the quicker the
storm blows over the better.
What are your views on
the Vivek-Salman fracas?
The issue is dying a natural
death. Even Suresh Oberoi
wants things to die down.
If it’s a non-issue why did
you speak on Aaj Tak?
I was emotionally charged. The whole family
had been dragged into it and I wanted to clarify
our position.
You called Vivek Oberoi a wimp.
Don’t you agree? He is too smart. No one does
these things unless... He’s also very immature
and has a lot to learn.
The industry has closed ranks behind
Salman.
That’s nice. In the industry, issues keep cropping up. Actors will be out of business if producers start giving press conferences each time
there’s a dispute. A fight between two people
shouldn’t have an audience of two crore.
Vivek says he felt threatened.
Threatened? When there’s a genuine threat do
people hold a press conference? No. Salman is a
soft target, a sitting duck. I’m not condoning
what happened — the conversation may have
got ugly, but to gain mileage is unacceptable.
How has Salman reacted?
He’s okay. He has his own way of handling
things. But if there’s a chance for a reconciliation, we don’t have a problem.
Salman is perfect“ly sane.
His problem
is that he thinks
with his heart.
’’
‘He’s young, he
has to learn’
Suresh Oberoi says he has
asked Vivek to cool down.
Was it immature to call a
press conference?
Salman threatening Vivek
was a serious non-bailable offence. And Vivek felt that if he
let it pass, he would look like a
coward. After a reporter at
the Coke press conference asked him about being threatened, he felt he had to clarify his position. He didn’t want the media to say, ‘Dar ke
bhag gaya’. He’s young, he has to learn.
Have you filed a police complaint?
No, we will not be filing one either. What has
happened has happened, now the matter is over.
Has Vivek agreed to drop the matter?
I had to convince him. I told him not to get provoked by what people have to say. I’ve temporarily taken away his phone — it wasn’t easy
(laughs). It was like taking away his favourite
puppy.
Your comments on the role of the media...
The controversy started because a reporter
asked Vivek about Salman. I’ve told Vivek not to
speak to the press anymore on the issue.
Arbaaz says that if there are chances for a
reconciliation he is open to it.
Has he said that?It was my job to cool down the
situation at my end. It’s upto them to explain to
Salman.
Nina Martyris
The Prince and the Showgirl
Nikhat Kazmi
T
here’s something about
dream city. Dreams
rarely come true here,
despite the fact that
everyday on every floor of
every film studio there’s one
story that’s being relentlessly retold: A Love Story. Be it
Bollywood or Hollywood,
heartbreak has been the
dominant mood whenever
the Prince and the Showgirl
have tried to script a personal romance. Tom and Nicole,
Salman and Aishwarya are
just pilgrims on an oft-trodden road that has seen little
progress.
A flip through tinsel town
and its tattered love stories...
● ‘‘The first time I saw him
(sometime in 1946)... I
thought he was very fat.
When I came home, I boasted
to my friends that I had
talked and played with Raj
Kapoor, though I had done
nothing of the kind. I often
tried and failed to attract his
attention. Then came a day
when I was busy in the
kitchen making bhajias. Raj
Kapoor called to meet my
mother, and my little nephew
called me from the fireplace
saying Raj Kapoor wanted to
see me. I did not believe him
and to make sure I came out
as I was, dirty with besan,
shabby and hot from the fireplace. I was ashamed of my
appearance and quickly hid
my hands behind my back.’’
This was Nargis reminiscing about her first meeting
with Raj Kapoor in 1952
(Filmfare). Twenty seven
Pyar hua, ikrar hua... But Raj was already a married man
years later Raj Kapoor paid
tribute to his real-life romance by recreating his first
encounter with Nargis in his
1970s blockbuster Bobby. By
then, however, the couple had
split even though film history had immortalised their romance through the perennial
melody of ‘pyaar hua, ikrar
hua’ and the passionate embrace of the RK Films emblem. Reason for split?
Nargis wanted marriage but
Raj Kapoor was already
married....
Pyar kiya to darna kya... Father Attaullah was the fear factor
While shooting for Kishore
Kumar’s Dhake ki Mal Mal,
Dilip Kumar realised he had
had enough of (Madhubala’s
father) Attaullah Khan’s interference in his life. He proposed to Madhubala, with
Om Prakash as his witness,
stating: ‘‘I have the Qazi waiting at home, come with me
now. I will marry you, my
only condition is you break
all ties with your father.’’
Madhubala couldn’t rebel
against her father and Dilip
Kumar walked out of her life
●
forever (Life and Films of
Dilip Kumar by Urmila Lamba). Later, while shooting for
Mughal-e-Azam, he reportedly slapped her really hard (in
the scene where Prince Salim slaps Anarkali in prison).
So much so, the actress broke
down and could only be consoled when director K Asif
told her: ‘‘Yusuf must still
love you; it was the action of
a man in love expressing his
anger!’’
● While shooting for Jeet, Dev
Anand may have been a
fledgling star. Nevertheless,
he proposed to his co-star
Suraiya and presented her a
diamond ring worth Rs 3,000
— a princely sum for an upcoming actor. Once again,
love
was
doomed
in
Heartache City. Suraiya’s
naani snatched the ring and
threw it into the sea. In 1951,
Dev Anand married Kalpana
Kartik — ending one of silver screen’s greatest romances. Not forgetting the
grand passion between Guru
Dutt and Waheeda Rehman,
Far and Away... 10 years & unhappily ever after
the tragic Tamma Tamma
between Sanjay Dutt and
Madhuri Dixit and that mysterious something between
Him and Her, Bollywood’s
homegrown
answer
to
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.
It’s been heartbreak headlines down Hollywood boulevard too. Here’s Splitsville’s
hot list:
● Jim Carrey and Lauren
Holly split after 11 months.
● Sly Stallone and Brigitte
Nelson: 18 months
● Julia Roberts and Lyle
Lovett: two years
● Richard Gere and Cindy
Crawford: three years
● Madonna and Sean Penn:
four years
● Kim Bassinger and Alec
Baldwin: seven years
● Meg Ryan and Dennis
Quaid: nine years
● Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman: 10 years
● Bruce Willis and Demi
Moore: 11 years
Fairytale marriages which
were supposed to have been
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stamped with the till-deathdo-us-part seal have been
felled by the ravages of fickle
emotions and impermanent
passions. Frank Sinatra and
Ava
Gardner,
Debbie
Reynolds and Eddie Fisher,
Woody Allen and Mia Farrow, Don Johnson and
Melanie Griffith — the marital merry-go-round has been
on a whirligig, both in Hollywood and Bollywood.
Why then is it so difficult
to be rich, famous and happy
in film city? Because of old
tinsel town saying which
states: In Hollywood — and
Bollywood — the eternal triangle consists of an actor, his
wife (or girlfriend) and himself/herself.So that, as Douglas Thomas, Hollywood biographer points out: ‘‘On a
quiet evening you can hear
the clash of egos in the Hollywood (Bollywood) Hills. In
a town where you can’t be too
thin or too rich, you can be
too famous to make marriages and relationships last
long term.’’
Small wonder then it’s
hardly happily-ever-after in
Heartbreak Hotel. Even
though emotions are destined to fly and passion preordained to ignite in this
high-strung industry. For as
Dilip Kumar points out in his
biography: ‘‘Actors getting attracted to actresses is not an
uncommon occurrence; it
was not uncommon in our
time, it isn’t uncommon now.
But you cannot let yourself
go. You have to keep an absolutely firm control over
yourself and strive to strike a
better relationship with your
heroines — you have to develop a sense of friendship
with them... You cannot allow yourself to get attracted
to everybody. One has to be
disciplined.’’
Key words? Control and
Discipline, fellas.
I N T E R N A T I O N A L
Killer flu: 3 more die in Hong Kong
Singapore: Hong Kong and
Malaysia reported new
deaths from a mystery illness Saturday, bringing the
global death toll to at least
89, while China vowed to
share more information on
the disease that apparently
started in one of its southern provinces.
Hong Kong reported
three new deaths on Saturday and said the number of
its people infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, had risen
to 800 — accounting for
more than a third of the
world’s more than 2,300 cases. The disease has killed 20
in the territory.
Malaysia became the 20th
place to join the list of
SARS-affected areas after
confirming that the illness
killed a 64-year-old man
who died on March 30 in
Kuala Lumpur. He developed SARS symptoms during a visit to China, said
health ministry officials.
In China, where the government has been criticized
for failing to notify the international
community
when SARS first hit in No-
How a Coronavirus spreads
Experts
believe a
member of the
Coronavirus
family is causing the mystery illness
STAGE I
Virus attaches
and injects itself
into the cell. Then
discards its outer
shell, flooding the
host with viral
material
STAGE II
The invading
virus copies
itself by
borrowing and
rewriting the
host’s cellular
material
STAGE III
Virus multiplies within
the host cell, which
often bursts open and
dies. The newly
released virus particle
can now attack
other cells
Invading
virus
Times graphic
Source: Human Body, DK
vember, Vice Premier Wu Yi
promised to start releasing
more information to the
public, the official Xinhua
News Agency reported.
In southern Guangdong
province, a WHO team met
at Zhongshan University
where experts have collected hundreds of specimens
of blood, lung fluid and other materials from people
who died of SARS and those
who recovered, team leader
Dr Robert Breiman said.
WHO wants to compare
the samples to determine
whether those who died
were killed by a combination of viruses or bacteria
or just one strain, he said.
The meeting came after
the head of the Chinese
Center for Disease Control,
Li Liming, offered the world
an extraordinary apology
for failing to release information sooner about the
disease — first detected in
China in November.
In Hong Kong, hygiene
workers in protective suits
collected rats and roaches
for testing at the Amoy Gardens apartment complex,
where at least 250 residents
were infected. They hope
the pests may hold a clue to
how the disease was transmitted.
Officials also rounded up
pets, from dogs to turtles,
from the building after a cat
was found to carry a type of
animal virus called a coronavirus. Experts believe
SARS might be a new form
of the virus.AP
Cellphone inventor dreams of automatic dialling
Chicago: Thirty years after the first cellular phone call, inventor Martin Cooper still dreams about the day when futuristic telephone technology is a reality. Cooper’s dream telephone is so small
that it fits behind his ear, automatically
dials out when he thinks about calling
someone and it notifies him of incoming calls with a tickle instead of a ring.
The 74-year-old Cooper has yet to see
that vision become a reality, but in the
three decades since he invented cellphones, more than half of Americans
have come to own them. Their size has
shrunk so much that they fit into users’
palms. At about 4 ounces, a cell phone
weighs little more than a lemon.
That’s a far cry from the 30-ounce
phone Cooper used when he made the
first portable phone call on April 3, 1973.
The phone was 10 inches in height, 3
inches deep and an 1.5 inch wide.
“Our basic dream was that people
didn’t want to talk to cars. They didn’t
want to talk to a desk or a wall
(where phones were generally placed).
They want to talk to other people,” he
said.
Cooper’s invention would be considered a clunker by today’s standards, but
back then it was revolutionary. The closest “portable” phone was a car phone
that weighed more than 30 pounds and
cost thousands of dollars.
An owner had to drill a hole in his car
to install the antenna and most of the
phone sat in the trunk. A control unit
with a handset was placed inside the
car. Cooper believes the next big advancement in the wireless industry will
be ubiquitous, wide-area, high-speed access to the Internet. Reuters
DUBYAMAIL
Dubyaman strip? Bakwaas cartoon
with first-class humour and entertainment.
— Anand Mohan Jain
Hi Dubyaji, I must admit I like you the
most among all the comic heroes (or
rather the menaces) published in TOI. I
understand you are preoccupied with
Saddam Uncle these days. But you
should pay a little more attention to
other issues as well. All the best pardner, please continue appearing daily.
— Amit Mittal
e-mail: [email protected]
Brittle bones
are stronger
predictor of
heart diseases
Washington:
US
researchers have found that
women who suffer from osteoporosis are five times
more likely to have damaged
arteries than those with
healthy bones.
The researchers found that
the link was a stronger predictor of heart disease than
other risk factors such as
high blood pressure, diabetes
or a family history of heart
disease, according to reports
presented at the American
College of Cardiology in
Chicago.
Dr Hillary Tran, from the
William Beaumont Hospital
in Royal Oak, Michigan, said:
“Our study is the first to report an increase in documented coronary artery disease in patients with osteoporosis. The presence of osteoporosis predicts significant coronary stenosis, narrowing of the arteries, with
higher odds ratio than traditional risk factors.”
However, the findings do
fit with earlier research suggesting women taking vitamin D supplements to protect
against thinning bones also
see a decline in heart attacks,
reports BBC.
Dr Tran and colleagues decided to investigate whether
patients with one disease
were more likely to have the
other. They carried out bone
scans and angiograms on 209
patients, most of them
women, over a two-year period.
The results showed women
who had early signs of bone
disease were five times more
likely than healthy volunteers to have damaged blood
vessels.
For those with a family
history of cardiac disease,
the risk was 2.79 times
greater and if they had high
blood pressure, it was 2.3
times higher.
Other tests showed those
with low bone density were
likely to have a greater number of damaged blood vessels
than women with normal
bones. ANI
13
I N T E R N AT I O N A L G R A F F I T I
Reuters
Ricky Martin returns: After a five-year hiatus from
recording an all-Spanish album, Ricky Martin is poised
to return with a bang. His
new single, Tal Vez (Perhaps),
debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks chart.
Martin’s album Las Almas del
Silencio (The Souls of Silence) is due May 20. “I feel
like the first day ... excited
and thankful to everyone
who’s collaborated in this
project,” Martin said from
Brazil, where he was filming
his second video. Reuters
Sophie inks book deal:
Supermodel-turned-author
Sophie
Dahl has
signed a
deal to
publish a
second
novel,
say publishers
Bloomsbury. The
publishing company behind
the best-selling Harry Potter
children’s books said on Friday it had bought Dahl’s new
work for an undisclosed
amount. The granddaughter
of world-famous children’s
writer Roald Dahl made bestseller lists herself earlier this
year with her literary debut
The Man with the Dancing
Eyes. Reuters
Walking holiday for Pitt,
Aniston: Hollywood hunk
Brad Pitt and his wife,
Friends star Jennifer Aniston,
are all set for a walking holiday in the Lake District of
Cumbria in the north of England. The reason for the
rather unusual choice of location is that Pitt is to start
filming Troy in the UK later
A model wearing a blue sweater and print shorts take part
this month. In the film, he will at the Fall/Winter 2003 showing of the Petro Zillia fashion
be playing Achilles, the myth- line in Los Angeles on Friday.
ical Greek hero. And since he
Russell Crowe’s wedding to
his 39th birthday in the family
misses his wife during away
girlfriend Danielle Spencer.
chapel on his ranch in the
shoots, Aniston has decided
Crowe will marry Spencer on
lush hills near Coffs Harbor.AP
to join him as soon as she
finishes filming the final season of Friends. ANI
Rambo turns writer: Rambo star Sylvester Stallone
Crowe set for wedding:
has decided to revert to a more peaceful role of an auThe bride has arrived and so
thor. The ageing muscleman is planhas Italian fashion designer
ning to write an action novel. The
Giorgio Armani with her
details of the novel are as yet undress. Despite a planning
known, but insiders say publishers
hiccup, the chapel is ready
will happily snap it up. “With
and tents are up to protect
Sylvester’s name on the cover, the
guests from the prying eyes
book is bound to be a big hit. There
of the media. But that hasn’t
are still enough people out there
stopped reporters and phowho remember and respect
tographers from trying to
Rambo,” said one source. ANI
peek at the preparations for
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14
GULF WAR II
WA R D I A R Y
Cigar crisis
US troops in Iraq are running low on cigars, cigarettes and chewing tobacco, plunging them into a
hard-nosed world of
barter where nicotine
commands a premium
price. “I can give you a
ham — it’s all I have left.
Then after that, all my
goodies are gone,” said
Ross, a US Marine keen
for a drag on a Jose L
Piedra Cuban cheroot.
His offer declined, the
private
first
class
shrugged and resumed
playing solitaire with
cards depicting naked
women, relying on the
heavy metal blaring from
his earphones for stimulation. Cigars are among
the most highly valued
luxuries among members of the American-led
invasion force, but cigarettes are also leaping in
value as reserves burn
up. “I’d offer anything
from $10 to $20 a pack,
which I’ll get through in
a day,” said Lance Cpl
Sean Enghauser, wandering a sandy roadside in
search of smokes. Reuters
US reporter killed
Michael Kelly, a former
editor in chief of The Atlantic
Monthly,
was
killed along with an
American soldier in an
accident involving their
Humvee military vehicle
in Iraq, magazine staff
and US officials said on
Friday. Kelly, 46, was the
first American journalist
and the first “embedded”
journalist to die in the 2week-old conflict. The Atlantic Monthly said Kelly,
who was embedded with
the US Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, died on
Thursday night while on
assignment for the magazine. US defence officials
said the circumstances
and cause of the accident
were still under investigation. Reuters
Al-Jazeera is back
Correspondents for alJazeera satellite television resumed reporting
from Iraq on Friday after
Baghdad lifted bans on
two of its journalists. “AlJazeera welcomes the
move by the Iraqi Information Ministry to reverse its decision and immediately relaunches the
activity of its correspondents in Baghdad, Basra
and Mosul,” the channel
said. Reuters
US enters the phase of methodical fight
NYT
By Michael R Gordon
Camp Doha: As American
troops rushed to the outskirts of Baghdad, many people seemed to have the impression that the war was all
but over. But the American
forces are now moving from a
fast-paced
operation
in
which they covered vast distances in days to a more methodical fight in a confined
area: the streets of the Iraqi
capital.
The lightning thrust deep
into Iraq has brought about
20,000 Army soldiers and
marines to the doorstep of a
capital of 4.5 million that is
still defended by 15,000 to
20,000 Special Republican
Guard troops and security
forces.
The war is going well for
American commanders, but
taking the fight to downtown
Baghdad has always been the
more complicated part.
American
commanders
are now developing several
strategies for the days ahead.
One bold approach under
consideration is to seize a
part of the city, both to prevent the Iraqis from using it
for their troops and to employ it as a base for future
American operations in the
capital.
Another would employ armoured thrusts to attack key
headquarters or use light infantry to raid government
command centres and other
key targets.
Either way, Americans are
about to enter a complex
ne after the other, a foreign yoke.
the gravity-defying
This is not quite the
opinion polls de- white man’s burden, just a
clare rising public support British load of self-belief.
for Blair’s war without In that role play, the Amerend, helmet to helmet with icans become lobotomised
Bush’s boys. Almost in tough grunts with a
concert, by coincidence, charisma bypass and abilinot design, the blowsy daf- ty only to shoot citizens in
fodils have sprung up one cold blood. UK and Blair,
after the other, up and instead, become the salvadown the land, to declare tion of both the American
that spring has oer- invading army and its pubrimmed.
War-time tative Iraqi subjects.
Britain is a remarkably
The truth is surely
cheerful place.
rather different. Judge for
No echoes here of World yourself. Here’s a snapshot
War II, the terrifying Blitz of Northern Ireland, the
over London with the British Army’s so-called
death and
success
destruction
story, after
wrought by
30 years of
5,300 tons of
hard-hat
high explopolicing,
s i v e s
armoured
dropped on
personnel
the capital
carrier paby the Lufttrols and
waffe in just
a r m y
24 nights.
watch towThere is a
ers threatc e r t a i n Blair has issued a leaflet
eningly
poignance, promising Iraqis that UK will l o o k i n g
of course, help them build a new Iraq,
out on to
about the run by and for its own people. C a t h o l i c
luminous quality of UK’s territory during the most
glorious
spring.
The recent, three-decade cycle
weatherman put it down to of the uprising.
an area of high pressure
Just days before the war
over Europe, which is con- began, I was in Northern
versely, the reason for the Ireland, that mossy green
s a n d tip of the
storms that
Irish Isles,
blinded
which is yet
A n g l o fully
to
American
swallow the
troops in
indignity of
Iraq.
a
peace
Rashmee Z Ahmed
B u t
process
there is ansundering
other reason for UK to feel it from its blood family.
good about itself. As the Northern Ireland’s divide,
mother country, the origi- a primeval, violent hatred
nal imperial master, it has across religious and comalmost convinced itself it munity lines, still reis the sole civilising force mains, 700 years after the
in the bomb-happy Anglo- English began to meddle
Saxon hordes pushing on with its natural destiny.
to Baghdad. British troops Protestant vs Catholic;
have swapped combat hel- Loyalist (to the English
mets for soft berets in “lib- Queen) vs Republican.
erated” Basra, we are told.
In the hardline Catholic
The crowning glory is areas of
the capital
apparently the defiantly Belfast, vivid murals span
scarlet tam-o-shanter on whole walls to wish the
the caps of soldiers used to British Army “safe home”.
subjugating Northern Ire- That’s the Celtic way, it
land’s mutinous, indige- seems, of telling a guest he
nous Catholic community. has overstayed his welDay after day, we are re- come.
galed with reports of the
Iraqi murals too may
way the “friendly” Brit come, tragically stained as
glad-handles the suspi- blood-red as the cocky tamcious Iraqi, fishing out o-shanters on the British
chocolate
bars,
fruit berets. ‘Twas well said
dumplings and custard long ages ago, the past is
from his rations to sweeten the only dead thing that
the hardship of life under smells sweet.
O
Members of the US 3rd Infantry Division take cover in the VIP terminal of the Saddam International Airport on Friday.
phase of the war that is the
very anti-thesis of the lightning campaign they have
waged so far. “We have to
make a transition,” an American official said. As a result,
the tactics and techniques
will be different.”
Instead of manoeuvring in
the open desert, where the
forces can see 3,000 to 5,000
yards, they will be operating
in an arena where the visibility might be limited to 300 to
500 yards. The weapon of
choice will no longer be the
M-1 tank, which can handily
outrange the Iraqi T-72 tank,
but small arms, weapons the
Iraqis also have in abundance. The formations will
also be different. Instead of
being spread out, they will be
compact.
The Americans will try to
take full advantage of air
power to deliver precisionguided strikes. But the urban
setting will force American
commanders to be far more
selective in bombing their
foe. For their part, the Iraqis
will try to blunt the American advantage in air power
by using antiaircraft artillery, which is also a threat
to helicopter operations that
could be used to insert American troops into Baghdad.
The Iraqis may also light
fires, a tactic they employed
tonight, apparently in an ef-
fort to obscure the movements of Republican Guard
units on the northern and
western approaches to the
capital.
The success of the raids or
airstrikes will also depend
critically on timely and
reliable intelligence about
the location and inner workings of the Iraqi government,
which has long experience in
deception and authoritarian
rule. NYT News Service
What happened to the promised counter-offensive?
Reuters
By Manoj Joshi
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Just two days
ago, a statement attributed to
Iraqi president Saddam Hussein said that so far only onethird of the Iraqi forces had
been committed to battle.
On Friday, the day the US
forces captured Saddam International Airport, the Iraqi
leadership threatened “unconventional action” against
the Americans. But, with the
US armies probing the suburbs of Baghdad, there are
no signs of the promised
counter-stroke, only Saddam’s bizarre walkabout in
the city.
Having served notice that
they intended to put up a
fight in a place and manner
of their choosing, the collapse of Iraqi defences in
front of Baghdad is surprising.
Wherever
they
have
fought, the Iraqis have done
Britain takes up
white man’s
burden of belief
US Marines take a break before the final push to Baghdad.
so with suicidal bravery, but
their defences seem disorganised and desultory. No
equivalent of Stalingrad or
the Vietnamese Tet offensive
now seems to be around the
corner.
The Iraqi defence of Saddam International Airport
on Thursday night displayed
little tactical finesse, but a
great deal of bravery. Some
tanks and armoured vehicles
and Iraqi infantry mounted
on civilian dump trucks and
pickups took on the Americans and were decimated:
Some 400 Iraqis were killed
without the loss of a single
American life.
The
elite
Republican
Guard were supposed to have
guarded the arterial routes
into Baghdad, yet they did
not delay the American advance. While US fire-power
may have been a major factor,
what cannot be explained is
why they did not demolish
bridges and culverts on the
roads which would have imposed some delay.
This lends itself to two inferences: That the American
bombardment severely degraded Saddam’s command
and control apparatus or that
after the ferocity of the initial resistance, the Iraqi leadership’s will to resist has collapsed.
But there is still the problem of accounting for large
Republican Guard and Special
Republican
Guard
forces, as well as the numerous Fidayeen Saddam. The
only room for a counteroffen-
sive available to them now is
within the city, but it is unlikely that the US will oblige
them by making an all-out assault on the Iraqi capital.
Instead they appear to be
using tactics seen in Basra,
where they maintain a tight
control of the entry and exit
routes and conduct deep
raids into the city by special
units protected by armour
and attack helicopters and
helped by unmanned aerial
vehicles.
These will be to take-out
specific buildings and concentrations of forces and encourage the Iraqi forces within to surrender or turn
against Saddam. So far Iraq’s
alleged chemical and biological arsenal has not been
brought into play.
With the US forces so close
to Iraq’s capital, there appears to be little room now to
employ such weapons, assuming that Iraq had them in
the first place.
EURO
VISION
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GULF WAR II
Confusion grips Baghdad
Baghdad: Black-clad members of President Saddam
Hussein’s Fidayeen militia
appeared Saturday for the
first time in the street’s of
central Baghdad, where rumours about the arrival of
US-led forces created a
storm of confusion.
US troops penetrated to
the “heart” of the city, according to coalition officials, but there was no sign
of them around the Tigris
River, which flows through
the heart of the city of 5
million. A reporter touring
the city by car at mid-day
saw no coalition soldiers.
Clouds of black smoke
darkened the skies from
trenches of oil set alight as
a defence, but a steady
stream of cars and buses
passed through the plaza in
front of Baghdad’s large,
ornate Mosque of the Unknown Soldier.
Police cars moved in
groups in two or three with
sirens squealing and occupants flashing “V for victory” signs, carrying portraits of Saddam and waving Iraqi flags.
There appeared to be fewer armed men on downtown streets than about a
week ago. But members of
the Fidayeen appeared in
the city centre for the first
time since the war began.
Knots of soldiers clad in
Republican Guard uniforms, distinctive by their
red triangular insignia, patrolled the southern outskirts of Baghdad around
the neighbourhood of Baladiya.
Bombing and artillery
fire sounded throughout
that area, anti-aircraft guns
and mortars lined the
southern entrance to the
city, but they were mostly
off the road away from the
TOI
An Iraqi woman, holding a white flag and carrying a baby,
flees Baghdad on Saturday as US troops entered the city.
main road —the most likely city center. The gunmen’s
entry point of American cars screeched to a halt.
forces.
Kalashnikovs at the ready,
Throughout the morn- they sprinted to an area
ing, armed men in pickup among high-rise apartment
cars dashed across Bagh- blocs in central Baghdad.
dad at high speed. Long There was no indication
lines at gasoline stations that the report was true.
underscored the sense of On Friday, the capital’s decrisis.
fenders prepared to make
Some shops were still their last stand — digging
open. In the fabled Shorja ditches and stocking up on
market, also in the heart of ammunition. At the same
Baghdad, hawkers selling time, thousands of frightbatteries and flashlights ened residents fled in
were doing brisk business. bumper-to-bumper traffic.
Curiously, a small store They packed buses, trucks,
that sells birds was open.
pickup cars, taxis, private
Some signs of panic were cars — even horse-drawn
beginning to appear, how- carts —with blankets, foodever. Armed men ran to- stuffs, furniture, heaters,
ward an area where a ru- television sets, pillows,
mour said a coalition pilot stoves, cooking pots, mathad parachuted into the tresses and pillows. AP
Liberation is
coming, Bush
tells Iraqis
Washington: US President
Bush said on Saturday the
Iraq war has made clear that
“free nations will not sit and
wait” while enemies plot another Sept. 11-style attack.
In his weekly radio address, Bush vowed that invasion forces will keep fighting
until Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein’s government is
gone, and said his loyalists
will face war crimes charges.
“Village by village, city by
city, liberation is coming,” he
said. “The people of Iraq
have my pledge: Our fighting
forces will press on until
their oppressors are gone
and their whole country is
free,” said Bush, who plans to
meet war ally British Prime
Minister Tony Blair on Monday and Tuesday in Northern
Ireland.
Bush said the Iraq war was
part of a “great and just
cause.” He has tried to link
Iraq to Al-Qaida, blamed for
the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, but
no definitive proof has been
established.
“Free nations will not sit
and wait, leaving enemies to
plot another September 11 —
this time perhaps, with
chemical, biological or nuclear terror,” Bush said.
“We’ll remove weapons of
mass destruction from the
hands of mass murderers.
And by defending our own security, we are ridding the
people of Iraq of one of the
cruelest regimes on Earth.
The US and our allies
pledged to act if the dictator
did not disarm. The regime
in Iraq is now learning that
we keep our word,” he
said.Reuters
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TA L K I N G T E R M S
Dileep Padgaonkar
The music of colours
Ever since a Tyeb Mehta painting
drawn from the Times Group collection
fetched a record price at a Christies auction in New York in September last year,
international attention has focussed
more sharply than at any time in the
past on contemporary Indian art. Sensing the new mood, Ravi Kumar, a Parisbased publisher of art books with contacts in the art business world-wide,
took it upon himself to promote Indian artists, both
renowned and up-coming, in a manner that can only be
called manic.
Ravi’s latest venture is an exhibition of the works of seven abstract artists which has already been shown in Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi. It will now move on to Tokyo, New
York and Paris. Coinciding with the exhibition is a book
conceived by Ravi and authored by the noted Hindi poet
Ashok Vajpeyi. The seven artists — S H Raza, Rajendra
Dhawan, Velu Viswanadhan, Sujata Bajaj, Akhilesh,
Seema Ghurayya and Manish Pushkale — belong to different generations. They have grown up in different environments and followed different artistic trajectories.
Why then have they been brought together? Part of the
answer lies in the fact that France has had something to do
with their artistic vocation. Four of the painters indeed
live in Paris while the other three have had some exposure
to France. While each artist draws from his or her own
repertoire of impressions, memories, perceptions and experiences, France has provided them with an opportunity
to develop le sens plastique i.e. to develop a painterly idiom.
What the seven artists also share in common is that their
work has been freed from the tyranny of representation.
They do not depict objects, human or animal forms or landscapes and, by that token, defy aesthetic cannons, standards, rules and conventions associated with the act of representing reality. We are squarely in the world of abstraction where it is difficult to discern what is incidental, accidental or intentional. Is there something archetypal in
this splash of red, that strip of ochre, this jagged triangle,
that line racing across the canvass? Have these seemingly
haphazard gestures been guided by some ancient thought,
some primal instinct, some millenarian insight? Do they
resound with what a French poet called ‘‘the little music of
our soul’’? It is questions of this nature that draw us to
these works. They impel us to understand that the forms
and colours laid out on the canvas are not mere embellishments but are an expression of an emotion that we are
called upon to respond to much as we respond to the musical emotion that a musician creates when he harnesses
sounds in a specific pattern. Thus Raza enchants us with
his supremely controlled anarchic forms, the tensions between his colours and the serenity that emerges from within the luxuriant proliferation of both.
Much the same is true of the slivers of light that filter
through, ever so slyly, from behind Viswanadhan’s broad,
slim, straight or jagged slabs of colour. Or take Manish
who courts austerity with an application that would earn
a nod of approval from a Zen master. Akhilesh, too, paints
the way a singer sings: the latter ties knots in the wind.
While Sujata Bajaj demonstrates uncommon verve, Seema
Ghurayya strives with an extreme economy of means to
beckon us to contemplate what lies behind the apparent
meaninglessness of her work.
But the real surprise is Dhawan whose paintings, like
the life he leads, exude an enigmatic aura that one associates with a recluse. His understated, unobtrusive and a tad
reluctant work conveys an emotion of exquisite calm. The
artist neither serves nor commands. He has circumvented,
if not altogether escaped, the illusionary nature of what
we lesser mortals call reality.
JUGULAR VEIN
A L L
T H A T
M A T T E R S
Is the Indian IT mouse becoming a global threat?
Yes. Our IT professionals are bearing the brunt of protectionist anger.
No. Occasional cases of harassment do not mean we are a threat.
In December 2002, the
CEO of Indian
software company
Polaris
was
jailed in Indonesia, alAbheek Barman
legedly for
Senior Assistant Editor,
violating a
The Economic Times
contract
with client Bank Artha Graha. He was released after 11
days, but Jakarta’s action
triggered off a worldwide
backlash against Indian IT
professionals. In March this
year, the Dutch police
charged 12 employees of Citigroup IT company i-flex,
with visa fraud. Later that
month, 270 Indian IT software engineers were arrested in Kuala Lumpur, again
for alleged immigration-related offences. You don’t have
to be a conspiracy-theorist to
see these things form a pattern. The world over, governments are trying to protect
local jobs by keeping foreigners out. India’s biggest export
today is IT skills. Unsurprisingly, IT professionals working overseas bear the brunt
of protectionist anger.
The surge of global xenophobia is rooted in economic
recession. Through the long
boom of the 1990s, America’s
thirst for workers was insatiable.The Clinton administration, prodded by companies like Microsoft and Sun,
The three
cases in the
recent past
— in Indonesia,
Malaysia
and
more
recently in
the NetherHarish Mehta
lands — of
Chairman, Onward Group
Indian
IT
& co-founder Nasscom
professionals being harassed, when
studied in detail show that
they are really one-of-a-kind
hiked quotas for H-1B visas,
which allow foreigners to
work in the US if they don’t
displace local jobs. Towards
the end of the tech boom,
even stodgy Europe realised
that it had to import cheap IT
skills or be left behind. Today
the boom is over, jobs are
threatened and protectionism is fashionable again.
This closed-door strategy
will be disastrous for business. Struggling companies
must replace costly workers
with lower-paid folks from
countries like India. It’s easy
to pay big wages in good
times, but when revenues dry
up the only way to stay afloat
is by shedding flab. US and
European unions don’t want
that. Recently, 14 laid-off employees at Siemens USA sued
the company for bringing in
cheaper replacements from
India’s TCS. The court dismissed their case, but more
suits are likely.
Xenophobia is bad for
business. If cheap Indian
programmers can’t be employed in south-east Asia or
Europe or America, companies will shift operations out
of these locations to places
like Gurgaon or or Bangalore. Protectionist regimes
will try to stop that: New Jersey has passed laws that forbid government work being
outsourced and American
unions want the federal government to tighten up on L-1
visas. If implemented, these
measures won’t create new
jobs, they’ll deepen the recession. India, which locked itself out of global markets for
many decades, suddenly
finds itself a feared exporter
of IT skills. One way to combat this is through diplomatic pressure. A better way is
to ease curbs that overseas
investors face in India. Companies itching to get out of
costly, protected markets
need someplace to work out
of. Invite the jobs over.
S U N D AY D E B A T E
Deepak Harichandan
incidents. First look at it
from a statistical perspective.
The Indian IT industry,
which has been growing at
the rate of 40 per cent for the
past 15 years, has 8,50,000 professionals of which 6,50,000
are based in India. The rest
work outside in 85 countries
and at over 25,000 physical locations. The industry also
has a floating population of
more than 1,00, 000 professionals, who move in and out
of these countries continuously on either project work
or business development
work or for business. So the
occasional cases of harassment should not be read as if
we are a threat to them.
It also shows that at present we are governed by the
laws driven by an industrial
economy,
for
managing
movements of physical goods
across the borders. Now the
knowledge economy is taking over, where the mobility
of people is critical and it’s a
part of the natural growth
process to change the laws to
reflect new realities. .
And this is where we also
need to adopt global mindsets. We live in times of rapid changes — technological
changes, disruptive technologies, deregulations, globalisation. Aggressive young
start-ups are coming up the
world over. The current market dynamics are threatening
established companies everywhere and their margins are
Pneumonia and old-moania
E R R AT I C A
Bachi Karkaria
I thought I was going to
be high flying, but instead I’ve crashlanded
into Fear of Fluing. The
rogue virus is everywhere, and nowhere
more than in Delhi. The
local strain is called Severe Acute Political Syndrome (SAPS). This enervating affliction is caused by airborne netas. When they sneeze, everybody must
shiver. Vermaji proved himself to be the
Sahib of all such airborne viruses. He just
assumed that he could come and Goyal as
he pleased on flights. Hoewever, I must admit that the politicos of my erstwhile home
state took off way before him. Ex-chief minister Narayan Rane took it for granted that
his security guards were immune to airport
security rules, and that they could carry
their weapons on board without bothering
about statutory clearances. And long, long
ago, Ramrao Adik fastened himself to an
air-hostess, no doubt mistaking her for a
seat-belt while he was in a not-quite-upright
position. Still, whether as a native or exotic
strain, Delhi is the place with the greatest
concentration of these rampaging viruses.
Airborne netas can infect and affect anything. Which is why just one week here, and
I’m already convinced that they truly wield
great power and influenza.
Severe Acute Political Syndrome is more
daunting than the prospect of summer in
waterless Chittaranjan Park. As the Celsius
soars, SAPS could find serious competition
from SARRS, Severe Acute Road Rage Syndrome. The original SARS, like all viruses,
has insidiously mutated, and now afflicts
everything that’s taking place in the world.
Mr Am-Bush, who has already discovered
that anthrax is nothing to be sneezed, may
find that the killer bug has ‘embedded’ itself
in the US while he was busy trying to Bag
Iraq for Dad.
I need to warn Doctoring Bush that his
self-proclaimed Severe Acute Superpower
Syndrome (SASS) may have given him immunity to the UN, world opinion and
French fries, but it is grossly inadequate as
a barrier against SARS. Taming Saddam
may turn out to be as easy as shredding a
bunch of Iraqi civilians compared to the
task of tackling this virological weapon of
mass destruction.
As a result, the rogue Corona virus now
joins the world’s Wanted List, just below
Osama Bin Laden, several rungs above
Veerappan, and on par with Kylie Minogue.
To return to India, while our hypochondriacs are getting increasingly hyper at the
first sign of a cough, the entertainment industry has reportedly caught the Corona
virua, and hopes to treat it with a strong
dose of sequins. Hip nightclubs are in the
grip of an infectious new Saturday night
fever, shaking and shivering in that retro
under tremendous pressure.
To improve profitability, on
the services front, India has
an excellent track record. Indian IT industry offers highproductivity, high-quality, affordable technology solutions in enhancing company
revenues, and lower costs.
According to a survey by
Nasscom, Indian IT industry
has enabled the US banking
and insurance sector to save
approximately eight billion
US dollars over the last four
years by outsourcing their
business and technology
processes to India.
India is now poised to
emerge as a services capital
of the world, driven by a
highly talented workforce,
world-class telecom and
physical
infrastructure,
strong government support,
all in an ecosystem that
favours
entrepreneurship
and thrives on innovation.
Frankly, economies around
the world will have to reorient their growth plans and
make outsourcing to India an
integral part of their planning strategy, in the same
way they did when manufacturing started moving to lower cost locations in the FarEast.
And a key component of
this reorientation will be to
invest in reskilling the workforces impacted by the outsourcing, providing safety
nets, and far greater focus on
higher education.
dance step, the Jitter Bug.
The film industry has also screened
SARS. Vivek Oberoi is on the road to signing up with a company making a movie on
this theme. The usual unreliable sources
say that its entire dialogue is in sms. The
plot revolves around the cleancut hero being pitted against a virulent SARS attack,
Severe Acute Salman Syndrome. The film is
tentatively titled Corona Pyar Hai. They
were going to cast Aishwarya, but her leg
ended up in one.
While the fanzines have been raving
about this jockbuster, a TV production
house endemic to Indian drawing rooms is
extremely bugged. With its legal notices piling up like SARS cases, it has accused this
company of stealing the plot of one of its
forthcoming serials. It was named Kyonki
SARS bhi abhi bahut hai.
***
Alec Smart said, ‘‘What happens if
you come anywhere near Aishwarya?
You get Salmanhandled.’’
Jug Suraiya
Bangs & bucks
George: That’s the trouble with havin’ a
blast. It’s great fun, but the cleanin’ up’s
terrible. People will leave their cigarette
stubs all over the place. And lookit!
Someone’s set the carpet on fire.
Colin: Those aren’t cigarette stubs, Mr
President. That’s an ariel reconnaissance shot of body bags. And that’s not
smoke from a smouldering carpet but
from flaming oil wells.
George: Whatever the heck it is, someone’s gotta go an’
clean up the mess. Fortunately I’ve got hired help.
Hey, Tony! Where’re ya? Where’s that guy gone, moochin’
off again?
Colin: I think he’s busy cleaning up a different kind of
mess. The one on his own doorstep at 10 Downing Street.
I’m sure he’ll be back.
George: I sure hope so. We’re creatin’ one hell of a mess
in I-wreck.
Colin: I know you wreck, Mr President. But the country
you’re wrecking right now is pronounced Ee-rak,
not I-wreck.
George: Whatever you say, Colin. But people keep askin’ me
how long this here war is gonna last. What do I tell ‘em?
Colin: Tell them the truth: That you haven’t a clue.
George: Tarnation, I can’t tell people that! I’m supposed to
be the president of these here United States, supreme commander of the armed forces, an’ founder member of the
Cowboy Bob Fan Club! I can’t go round tellin’ people
I don’t have a clue.
Colin: All right. Tell them this war is going to take as long
as it takes.
George: What’s that supposed to mean?
Colin: That you don’t have a clue.
George: Oh, right. But tell me, Colin. Who’s gonna pay for
this war when it’s all over?
Colin: Don’t you worry your little head about that. You
know the secret of war? The bigger the bangs, the bigger
the bucks — for those who make the big bangs happen.
George: More bucks for our bangs? I love it! But how do we
make it work?
Colin: Simple. Heard about World War II?
George: Did they have that on TV? I musta missed the
re-run. And I was too little to take in the original
real-time show.
Colin: Thank God. Or we’d all be going around saying
‘Heil’ instead of ‘Hi’. Anyway, in World War II we reduced
Europe to rubble. Then we dropped the two Big Ones
on Japan. Then we gave them a special aid plan to
help them rebuild and reconstruct their bombed-out
countries.
George: The Martian Plan, wasn’t it?
Colin: Marshall, actually. But Martian is apt. It was
pretty way out.
George: It must have been, if we ended up making the
bucks by giving them bucks to spend. How’d we do that?
Colin: Simple. Since we were only ones left in business,
they couldn’t spend the money we gave anywhere else but
with us, who then helped them rebuild and reconstruct.
George: Wow! Some Martian, some Plan! But tell me, Colin. What’ll we do after we’ve rebuilt Ee-rak?
Colin: Well, there’s always Iran, and Syria, and Saudi,
and a couple of others. And guess what they all
have in common.
George: Oil?
Colin: That too. Plus sand. Lots of sand.
George: Whee! I love buildin’ sand castles. An’ kickin’ ‘em
over as soon as they’re built. You know sumthin’, Colin. I’m
beginning to understand why our economy is called the
economy — there’s more Eek! to it than onomy.
Colin: Attaboy, Mr President. Now you’re getting it.
MEN AND IDEAS
In defence of hypocrisy
S WA M I N O M I C S
Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar
Hypocrisy is generally castigated as a
sin. I find this excessive. Often castigation of hypocrisy is
itself hypocritical.
Last week, I highlighted the hypocrisy of
almost
everybody in the
Iraq war. But I regard that as less than
sinful. First, because decision-makers
in countries keep changing, and it’s silly to blame today’s governments for not
acting like past governments. Second,
individuals and parties change their
views as time passes, and this is better
described as flexibility or maturity
than hypocrisy. Third, remember that a
country has no permanent enemies or
friends, only permanent interests.
Switching friends and policies may
look inconsistent but might be consistent in promoting self-interest.
The US supported and armed Saddam, helped him make chemical
weapons and encouraged his disgraceful war on Iran. Then, the US ignored
Saddam’s mass murders at home. But
if the US now says that Saddam is a terrible killer, do we denounce that as
hypocrisy or celebrate it? Should the
US consistently support mass killers?
The framers of the US Constitution
declared all men to be free, yet allowed
slavery. Later, out of opportunism to
gain a military advantage in the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln outlawed slavery. He was elected on the
plank that states had a constitutional
right to impose or abolish slavery. Yet
he abandoned that election platform
when convenient. Do we denounce that
as hypocrisy or celebrate it as
progress? In India, upper castes oppressed dalits for centuries. Today we
have formally outlawed this, yet oppression continues on a huge scale. Do
we criticise this as hypocrisy or laud it
as improvement? Would we be better
off if all upper castes unhypocritically
harassed dalits, and we had no laws
against it? The French and Germans
disapprove of the US action. Yet in a
March Pew poll 73% in France and 71%
in Germany said Iraqis would be better
off if Saddam were deposed.
Human beings are fallible and constantly torn by multiple loyalties and
aims. They know self-interest leads in
one direction, public interest in another. Notions of public interest can also
diverge widely. And so humans vacillate and engage in double-talk and double standards. This is castigated as
hypocrisy. Yet this hypocrisy represents a struggle of humans to change
PA S S I N G T H O U G H T
Gurcharan Das
for the better. The world would not be
better off if countries and citizens consistently stuck to slavery, caste prejudice or support of autocracies.
What looks like hypocrisy often represents a conflict between different
principles, often muddled, that in the
long run represents a moral improvement. We should call this upward
hypocrisy. There is also downward
hypocrisy, where we start from a position of broad public interest and principle, and degenerate towards narrow
self-interest. Indian politicians have always denounced corruption but have
become more corrupt. This is downward hypocrisy. The hypocrisy of the
BJP in stoking communal riots when
in opposition but controlling riots
when in power is surely upward
hypocrisy. What a pity the BJP abandoned this hypocrisy in post-Godhra
Gujarat. What matters is whether a
policy is wrong, not whether it is hypocritical. The main issue in Iraq is not
whether the US is being a cynical hypocrite, but whether at the end of it all
Iraq and the world will be better off. Replacing Saddam by a democracy, or
even a lesser autocracy, will at worst be
upward hypocrisy. On the other hand
rising US disregard of international
law and multilateralism when convenient represents downward hypocrisy.
Where the balance lies, only time will
tell. I have more fears than hopes.
LETTERS
Good intentions, bad
decisions
Forget your private quarrels and start fighting,
please! People are waiting.
In the ‘Sunday Debate’ on ‘Can
excavation help resolve the Ayodhya tangle?’ (March 16), Devendra Swarup argues in
favour and adds, ‘‘It shows the
court is earnest about solving
the issue.’’ Since you have introduced Swarup as a ‘‘historian’’, may one ask if this gentleman (notwithstanding his RSS
handicap!) is aware of the fact
that the Indian History Congress at its annual session held
on Feb 15, 1993 (the first after
the demolition of the Babri
Masjid by the Sangh Parivar,
including the RSS, on December 6, 1992) passed a near-unanimous resolution protesting
against the principle that ‘‘a
monument can be destroyed or
removed, if there are any
grounds for assuming that a religious structure of another
community had stood at its
site’’ and that ‘‘such a post facto rationalisation of what was
done on December 6, 1992
would place in jeopardy the
fate of numerous historical
monuments all over the country, an increasing number of
which are being targetted for
destruction by the communal
forces’’? The Allahabad High
Court may have been ‘‘earnest’’
while ordering the excavation
but, it is said not for nothing
that the road to hell is paved
with good intentions!
Norma Louis, Mumbai
We are like that only
I agree with Swaminathan Aiyer in his analysis ‘Victory
changes everything’ (March
23). Let alone war-victories, in
India even those of us who
have voted for opposition candidates in the great poll-war,
change sides once we know
who’s the winner.
S C Agarawal, Delhi
Vol. 14 No. 14 : Air charge: Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai ,Cochin, Chennai & via Rs.3, Indore and via 50 paise. National edition: No aircharge.Price in Nepal: NEP Rs 5, except Sunday: NEP Rs 7. RNI No. 507/87/90 MADE IN NEW DELHI REGD. NO. DL25001/92. Published for the proprietors, Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd., by Balraj Arora at Times House, 7, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi - 110 002, and printed by him at13, Site IV Industrial Area, Sahibabad (UP), MNS Printers Pvt. Ltd., Industrial Area, Phase II, Panchkula, Haryana - 134109 and Vasundhara Printers Ltd., Tiwari Ganj, Faizabad Road, Chinhat, Lucknow. Regd. Office: Dr Dadabhai Naoroji Road, Mumbai - 400 001. Editor (Delhi Market): Bachi Karkaria-responsible for selection of news under PRB Act. Executive Editor: Shekhar
Bhatia. © All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. Postal Registration No.: TN/Chief PMG/399/2002
Imperial fault lines
Whether it is the continuing ugly massacres in Kashmir or this dreadful war
in Iraq, the truth is that far too many of
the trouble spots in the world are the
consequence of the frontiers created ad
hoc by Britain’s wicked old imperialism
and the legacy of its divide and quit policy. Christopher Hitchens, the author of
Why Orwell Matters, points this out in
an elegant essay in the Atlantic Monthly. In 1916, it was one Sir Mark Sykes who divided the Middle East into Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and Jordan. Six
years later, Sir Percy Cox carved Kuwait out of Iraq. The
year before the Irish were told they could either have an
independent or a united state but not both. And as we
know, it was Sir Cyril Radcliffe’s pen that carved a Pakistani state in 1947 out of what had formerly been India.
More recently, Lords Carrington and Owen of the British
Foreign Office advanced the ethnic division of BosniaHerzegovina, and before Nelson Mandela came out of jail,
the same Carrington wanted to split South Africa threeways into a white Afrikaner area, a Zulu reservation, and
a free for all among the others.
Marya Mannes captured this historic legacy with wonderful irony in a poem that no one reads any more. She
wrote: ‘‘Borders are scratched across the hearts of men/By
strangers with a calm judicial pen,/And when the borders
bleed we watch with dread/The lines of ink across the map
turn red.’’ Ruefully, one remembers that most of those
lines would not have been there had the map not been
coloured red in the first place. The year after she wrote
this, the British government informed the people of
Cyprus in 1960 that they must either accept a sullen
independence or face an outright division of their island
between Greece and Turkey.
But for us in India it was Audens poem, ‘Partition’, that
truly brought out our sweet sourness over Mountbatten’s
disengaging mission: ‘‘Unbiased at least he was when/ he
arrived on his mission,/ Having never set eyes on this/
land he was called to partition/ Between two peoples fanatically at odds,/ With their different diets and/ incompatible gods./ Time, they had briefed him in/ London, is
short. It’s too late/ For mutual reconciliation or/ rational
debate:/The only solution now lies in separation.’’
Hitchens questions the popular view that Islam was a
big loser from colonialism. In India, he says, ‘‘the British
were openly partial to the Muslims, and helped to midwife
the modern state consecrated to Islam. In Cyprus they
favoured the Turks. In the Middle East Muslim Hashemite
and Saudi dynasties benefitted as much as anyone from the
imperial carve-up. Had there been a British partition of Eritrea after 1945, the Muslims would have been the beneficiaries.’’ No, the Muslims were not losers but they do have
reasons to feel resentful over the loss of the Islamic
empire, which is a different grievance.
There certainly were Muslim losers in Palestine and
elsewhere, but the big losers were the many people of the
other creeds and those who believed in modernity andtranscended tribalism. It is the same in today’s India where
amidst the fanaticism of the Hindu nationalists and the
Muslim terrorists, the losers are the ordinary people who
want to get on with their lives. This unhappy British colonial legacy not only holds lessons for imperial America in
Iraq — when its time comes to quit it ought not to botch
things — but it is a reminder to all of us on the sub-continent that our borders emerged from scornful bureacratic
pens, and deserve to be treated with similar contempt.
[email protected]
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CMYK
M I N D
•
• • I AM
Neelabh
O V E R
M A T T E R
So what if I don’t
feel perfect?
L
We are in this world to experience all of life’s situations as reality,
says psycho-orientologist Bruce Schneider
Music is my devotion and
my prayer, says
Ravi Shankar
F
or me, the words love, spirituality
and God go hand in hand. By love, I
do not mean only that which is
shared by a man and a woman. Love is
what we could have for your neighbour,
the respect we have for others. There
are so many layers of emotions all
around me — there’s love, there’s spirituality, there’s peace and there’s music
— which is my life. Anything that
brings peace to me becomes a source of
spirituality. I am sometimes moved to
tears when I experience love, peace and
spirituality. It is a subtle feeling — one
cannot pinpoint exactly what makes
you feel spiritual — there’s nothing
constant about this state of mind, it is a
high, a Godly feeling.
It pains me when I see that many
temples have become a haven for frauds
and cheats, people misbehave with girls
taking advantage of crowds and chaos,
signboards are put up saying ‘beware of
pick-pockets’... what does all this show?
That one needs to worry about material belongings at a place where one is
supposed to forget all else?
For me, music is one such form
which is beyond all else. It is my dedication my devotion and my prayer. My
music comes from my heart, my heart
is connected to my soul and my soul is
one with God.
(As told to Divya Vasisht)
et me try something new but please, please,
please, let me do it right and well the first time.
If we always do things well, always do things
right, and people know us as someone who
always gets it right, then we’ve set ourselves
up. It’s costing us.
Why do we feel we have to be good at something to
try it, that we have to succeed at something in order
to enjoy it, that we have to do something right before
we feel accomplished? Striving for perfection can create frustration and disappointment. But doing something imperfectly leads to new insights and a new
way of looking at things.
Some of the most difficult questions I have ever
been asked are: If we are one with God, then why
wouldn’t God have created us with that thought to
begin with? What is the
purpose of not knowing?
Why don’t we feel perfect?
I meditated upon these
questions for two decades
before I was ready to see
the answer.
Before we are born, we
choose to exist and decide
how best to help ourselves
and the Spirit in the
process of rediscovery.
This is because each individual soul develops as it
wishes, while assisting all
other souls in their journeys. All along, we experience and gain more of an
understanding of the nature of Love. We choose
who we will be and to
whom we will be born, to best serve this purpose.
We also choose to experience ‘transformational
amnesia’, to temporarily forget our spiritual consciousness in order to adjust to the physical world
and allow us ‘real’ physical experiences. If we knew
we were invulnerable spiritual beings, the effects of
these physical experiences would have little or no significance for us. We would know they were not real.
Before we are born, we choose to forget who we are so
we can get the most out of what is available for us to
experience. We are in this world to experience
all of life’s situations as ‘reality’, so we can eventually know ourselves wholly, body, mind, and spirit,
as Love.
If you realise you are here as a spiritual being, this
suggests you have had enough physical experiences
to begin to awaken. You start to remember who
you are and why you came here. You lose the feeling
of isolation and ‘remember’ yourself as part of the
Spirit. When and if this happens, you are ready to experience a new perspective on life. You either experience it first-hand or, by using your memory, knowing
you are a spiritual being inside a physical body. You
then begin to realise. Higher Intelligence is within
Deepak Harichandan and all around you, regardless of what you
think you see.
Here’s what perfection
is costing us: 1. Spontaneity. Perfection is a way to
be in control. But control
limits spontaneity. 2.
Process. When we focus
on perfection, we’re in the
game for the product, for
mastery, not the process.
We compare ourselves
against people who are
further along in the
process and can’t enjoy
our own progress. 3.
Completion.
The higher the goals of
perfection, the lower the
hopes of completion. 4.
Mystery. There is mystery
all around us and enjoying the mystery evolves
us. Perfection doesn’t honour the mystery. 5.
Authenticity. Striving for perfection does not allow
us to be authentic.
When we let go of perfection, allow ourselves to do
things imperfectly, we come to see how perfect we
are, just the way we are. It’s a subtle difference but
it’s true. Our lives can be more perfect when we let go
of perfection.
17
BOOKS
Meditation: The
First And Last
Freedom — Osho
Price: Rs 300
Meditation is indigenous to all religions, and this book
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A practical how-to-guide, the book spotlights more than 60 meditation techniques
from Zazen, the ancient Buddhist practice,
to Osho’s own revolutionary techniques de-
signed scientifically and specifically for
the modern-day seeker.
An Excerpt
Western psychology insists on introspection, and Eastern psychology insists
on self-remembering. When you introspect, what do you do? For example, you
are angry: you start thinking about anger,
how it is caused. You start analysing why it
is caused. You start judging whether it is
good or bad. You start rationalising that
you had been angry because the situation
was such. You brood about anger, you
analyse anger, but the focus of attention is
on the anger, not on the self. Your whole
consciousness is focused on the anger, you
are watching, analysing, associating,
thinking about it, trying to figure out how
to avoid, how to get rid of it, how not to do
it again. This is a thinking process.
Buy this book @ 15% off. Our price Rs 255
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Stretch out with
yogaerobics!
Y
ogaerobics is everything you could ask
for in a fitness performance. Yogaerobics is A quick-paced aerobic routine,
followed by basic yoga that will not only increase your flexibility and strength, but will
leave you feeling
relaxed
and ready to
face the day as
well. A combination
of
the best of low
impact aerobics and yoga,
set to relaxing
medium-paced music. Continuous movement to stretch, tone and build cardiovascular fitness. The exercise pattern you follow
during this type of workout increases
flexibility in the spine thus strengthening
your back.
In short your mind body spirit will become a chorus or symphony of balance
strength and flexibility.
The magic of this ritual is timeless, and
will give you a sense of youthfulness.
Man is the only creature that refuses
to be what he is.
— Albert Camus
◆
Love has nothing to do with what you are
expecting to get, it’s what you are expected
to give — which is everything.
— Anonymous
◆
The world needs anger. The world often
continues to allow evil because it isn’t
angry enough.
— Bede Jarrett
◆
Love can sometimes be magic. But magic
can sometimes just be an illusion.
— Mae West
◆
The cynic knows the price of everything and
the value of nothing.
— Oscar Wilde
◆
In love the paradox occurs that two beings
become one and yet remain two.
— Erich Fromm
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CMYK
18
O P E N
CONFLICKS OF
INTEREST
e4
Since we've been stuck on
films like editing tape for the
last two weeks, I thought we
may as well finale it off as a trilogy and earn some brownie
points in the bargain. The 14
clues below refer to only English films and the stuff in brackets is the year and number of
words in the original titles. For
instance "Magical month in
spring (1990; 2)" would work
out as the film 'Enchanted
April'. Your call. All 27 feet
(2000; 4); Turning blue (1990;
3); Pride (1980; 4); Stuck wisdom tooth (1998; 2); Salman
Khan vs Vivek Oberoi (1977;
2); Snakes and apples and sex
and ... (1950; 3); Beijing or
Shanghai (1974; 1); Clairvoyance perhaps (1999; 3); You
can't put your finger on it but
she's different (1998; 4); Jack
the Ripper (1982; 2); As
Meena Kumari and Raj Kumar
were once in 'Pakeezah'
(1951; 4); The Simon Commission (2002; 2); Punchline:
Earth! (1968; 4); Better than
the next best thing (1979; 2).
M I N D S P O RT
Mukul Sharma
DEAR MS,
Tick-Who's-Talking-Dept:
After a lot of 'tick-tocking'
with my wits, here is the solution to the Endgame submitted
by S C Khungar of Fujairah,
UAE, regarding the erring 12hour digital clock. The minimum time required to set the
correct time (at 12 o'clock) is
five minutes and 30 seconds.
At 12 o'clock, when the battery
is connected the time automatically resets to one o'clock.
This means to set the correct
time, we need to advance the
clock by 11 hours (ie, 660 minutes). Now, the time taken to
advance the clock by one
minute is half a second. Hence
to advance the clock by 11
hours, we require all 330 seconds, which is five minutes
and 30 seconds. (Considering
the time required to set the
correct time, the clock will be
set to 12 hours five minutes in
precisely five minutes and
32.5 sec)
— Gazala Parveen, Mumbai
Since the minute key takes
half a second to advance one
minute, this means we can
drive the clock at a speed of
two minutes per second or
120 seconds per second
whereas time is passing at the
rate of one second per second. So the relative speed is
119 seconds per second and
the time that needs to covered
is 11 hours (12 - 1) or 39600
seconds. So the time required
is 39600/119, which is 332.77
seconds or five minutes and
32.77 seconds. However since
we can synchronise only up to
minutes and not up to seconds we can make the clock
show the correct time (correct up to seconds) at 12:06.
—Roopang Chauhan, Indore
Low-Qs-Talking-Dept:
It took me 15 minutes (the
dummy's time limit) to figure
out the words MORON, IMBECILE, and CRETIN which are
what I called myself for taking
so long to solve such a quickie. Hope you'll pose “moron”
slightly tougher lines next
time. (PS: I'm in Std IX;
shouldn't I actually be cramming at this time?)
— Siddharth Achaya,
[email protected]
The answer to your dummy
question is three more dummies: MORON, IMBECILE and
CRETIN.
—Patricia A Beddoe, Noida
OLDENGAME
The scene: closing stages of a
World Cup Final. Team A have
made 250/9 off their 50 overs.
Entering the last over at 250/0
with both their openers not out
at 120 each, Team B is all but
holding the cup. Strangely (or
shall we say, predictably) it's
Team A that does the victory
lap! (The rules for tied scores
decide the winner on lesser
wickets lost.) Given that all the
players were fit to play and no
two batsmen returned to the
pavilion in identical manner,
(caught being same whether
by the keeper, bowler or rest);
how did Team B manage to let
the cup slip?— (Submitted
by Varunesh Kumar,
Ahmedabad)
Snailmail: D-268 Sushant LokI, Gurgaon, Haryana 122001
Email:
[email protected]
Website:
http://www.mindsport.org
S P A C E
Why is a drawing room called so?
AFP
Two children feed swans in the Svisloch river, some 20 km west of the Belarussian capital Minsk. QUESTION: What is a swan song?
OPEN SPACE
What causes jet lag?
There are many reasons and
factors that cause jet lag.
Some of these are crossing
time zones, pre-flight conditions, dry atmosphere, cabin
pressure, stale air, alcohol,
food and drink, lack of exercise taking into consideration that the dry air in an aircraft causes dehydration.
Drinking plenty of non-alcoholic fluids counters this. Water is better than coffee, tea
and fruit juices. Alcohol is
not only useless in combating
dehydration, but has a
markedly greater intoxicating effect when drunk in the
rarefied atmosphere of an
airliner than it does at
ground level.
— Dipti Lavya Swain,
Jodhpur
Why is a piggybank
called so?
In earlier times in Western
society, a pig was a poor
man’s money-box. A piglet,
bought in the market in
spring, could live on the leftovers of the household and
was ready for the butcher
just before the winter.
Metaphorically
speaking,
this is also the life-cycle of a
piggy-bank: the left-overs of
your money are for the piggybank. When the capital has
grown,
one can harvest
it by smashing the
piggy-bank to pieces.
— Jitendra Shiralkar, recd
via e-mail
Why is a drawing room
called so?
In England (around the 17th
century), after dinner, the
men of the house used to assemble for wine and cigars or
just linger on in the same
room. The women would
withdraw to a different room
called the “withdrawing
room’’, for obvious reasons.
The word ‘drawing room’’ is
just a crude change of the
original “withdrawing room’’
though in India the way its
pronounced it gives an impression of a “draaying
room’’, a room used for drying!
— Ankur Warikoo, New Delhi
What is ‘fire and forget’ principle used in the BrahMos
missile?
In conventional guided missiles, the aircraft that had
fired the missile has to stay
in the vicinity of the target
till the missile strikes. But a
‘fire and forget’ principle
missile has a smart computer which decides its own path
once the target is set in it so
the pilot doesn’t have to wait
until the final result. This
makes pilots less vulnerable
to enemy fire and also have
increased accuracy.
— Anuj Kulshrestha, recd
via e-mail
How are holograms
prepared?
Hologram is a picture. Like
an ordinary picture, it has
width and height. But a hologram also has depth. As you
move around it, you can see
the sides or top of the face,
and even behind it. Like a
real face, the hologram is in
three dimensions. But it is on
a flat surface, with only two
dimensions. Holograms are
made using laser light. There
are two main types of holograms — a transmission
hologram and a reflection
hologram.
— Jaydeep Chug, Surat
How does a lizard walk\ stay
on vertical and horizontal
walls?
Lizards have pads on their
feet. These pads consist of
wide plates or scales and are
present below their fingers
and toes. The outer layer of
each plate or scale is composed of innumerable tiny
hooks for-med by free, bent
tips of cells. These min-ute
hooks create the conditions
like a suction pump and
thus, enable lizards to run
up on apparently smooth
walls and even upside down
on plaster ceilings. Because
these hook-like cells are
bent downward and to the
rear, the lizard curls its toes
upwards to disengage them.
Thus while walking or running on horizontal or vertical
walls, a lizard curls and uncurls its toes thus creating a
suction pressure which enables it to cling on to the
walls.
— Kalyani Dhake, Nashik
What is the origin of the
word ‘peacenik’?
The word peacenik is made
of ‘peace’ and ‘nik’. The
meaning of suffix ‘nik’ is
“one associated with or characterised
by’’.
Hence
‘peacenik’ is a person who is
associated with peace, especially in relation to a war.
‘Nik’ is of Slavic origin from
Russia.
— S.P.S. Jain, Mumbai
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CMYK
ANY ANSWERS?
Why do we feel a tickling
sensation when someone
touches our belly or the
lower surface of our foot?
— Rahul Prakash,
Allahabad
How is the expiry date of
medicine calculated?
— Dhruman Purohit, recd
via e-mail
What is the principle behind
a boomerang?
— Kamal Jit Singh, Trichy
Which is the world’s deadliest animal?
— Hitesh Mangtani,
Ulhasnagar
Which is the longest word in
the English language?
— Sudeep Pagedar, Mumbai
You ask. Or you answer.
Mark the envelopes
‘Open Space’ and address your
answers and questions to:
Open Space, Sunday Times of India,
II Floor, S&B Towers, 40/1, M.G. Road,
Bangalore — 560 001
email: [email protected]
œ ND ‰ ‰ † ‹ CMK
The Sunday Times of India, New Delhi, April 6, 2003
Fast woman
Katja Poensgen’s attempt at
breaching the all-male bastion
of motorcycle GP racing was foiled
as she failed to make the grid for
the season-opener at Suzuka.
Valentino Rossi claimed pole position
No selling Becks
Strapped!
Man U’s manager Alex Ferguson
has laid to rest rumours that
David Beckham’s days at Old
Trafford could be numbered.
“Why would I want to sell my
best players?” he asks
Professional cyclists were
advised but not forced to wear
helmets. Now following the
death of Kazakh rider Andrei
Kivilev in a crash, they’ve been
told to either strap up or sit out
Coach John Wright will not accompany the Indian team to Dhaka
B R I E F LY
SPORT
AP
It’s a marathon Hunt
AP
By Saumyajit Basu
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Shahid Afridi of Pakistan hits a six
against Zimbabwe during the double
wicket World Championship at the
Beausejour Cricket Ground in Gros
Islet, St. Lucia on Friday.
Wright to miss Dhaka meet: Indian
cricket coach John Wright will not accompany the Indian team to the tri-series in
Dhaka from April 11 following the demise
of his father. Jagmohan Dalmiya, the president of BCCI said that Wright had informed him about the death of his father
and his inability to accompany the team.
When asked whether the board has decided on an alternative to Wright, Dalmiya
said “it is being worked out and an announcement will be made in a couple of
days”.Wright’s father had been seriously ill
for quite some time. Wright rushed to
New Zealand immediately after the World
Cup final on March 23.PTI
ICC extends panel: The ICC elevated
three new umpires to its elite panel on
Saturday with Australia duo Darrell Hair
and Simon Taufel as well as New
Zealand’s Billy Bowden all added.
The trio’s performances at the recent
World Cup in South Africa sealed their rise
to the top tier of umpiring.ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said: “The ICC has
been monitoring the performance of these
three umpires on a regular basis, particularly during this World Cup, where each of
them has performed with distinction.”
ICC elite umpire panel:Steve Bucknor (WIS), Asoka de Silva
(SRI), Daryl Harper (AUS), Rudi Koertzen (RSA), Dave Orchard
(RSA), David Shepherd (ENG), Russell Tiffin (ZIM), Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan (IND), Darrell Hair (AUS), Simon Taufel (AUS), Billy Bowden (NZL). AFP
Pakistan, Windies shine: Pakistan’s
Shahid Afridi hit 11 sixes to provide most
of the excitement on the opening day of
the inaugural World Double Wicket tournament at Castries, St Lucia. But it was
the West Indies pair of Carl Hooper and
Chris Gayle who took the honours on Friday, ending with two wins from their two
matches to top the table with four points.
Results: West Indies (39), def. England (32), by seven runs.
Australia (27), def. South Africa (-10), by 37 runs. Pakistan
(107), def. Zimbabwe (43), by 64 runs. New Zealand (31),
def. Sri Lanka (26), by five runs. West Indies (34), def. Zimbabwe (26), by eight runs. Sri Lanka (54), def. Australia (21) by 75 runs. AP
Top stars for ITF Futures: Rushmi
Chakravarthi and Sai Jayalakshmi would
spearhead the Indian challenge in the
women’s singles of the $10,000 prize money ITF-Futures tennis circuit (second leg) at
the Shivaji Park Gymkhana at Mumbai
from April 7-12. Honorary General Secretary of the Gymkhana, Sanjeev P
Khanolkar said on Saturday that the other
Indians in the fray include Megha Vakharia,
Gautam Sheetal, Sonal Phadke, Ankita
Bhambri, Geeta Manohar, Archana Venkatraman, Liza Pereira, Sekhar Somrita and
Isha Lakhani. PTI
Air India qualify: Fancied Air India
were held to a goalless draw by State
Bank of Travancore at Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday, but still qualifed for the
four-team final single leg of the second
division National Football League. The
match between BSF and TFA will decide
the second qualifier. SBT has ten points
from five matches while BSF seven points
from four matches. Meanwhile at
Jamshedpur, Punjab Police defeated Manipur Police 3-1 while Kerala’s Titanium
held Allwyn Hindustan 1-1 in the Group
‘B’ matches. PTI
BETTING METER
Formula 1
Brazilian Grand Prix, Sunday
Michael Schumacher 11/8; Rubens Barrichello 7/2
David Coulthard 4/1; Kimi Raikkonen 4/1
Juan Pablo Montoya 10/1; Ralf Schumacher 16/1
as per ladbrokes.com
Kolkata: The pressure was entirely on Alistair Hunt when the New Zealander walked
into the South Club on Saturday morning.
Down 1-0, the onus was on the man with a
huge frame to keep New Zealand afloat in the
Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group I second
round tie.
The conditions weren’t at all to his liking.
It was hot, humid and Friday’s rain had left
the surface soft. Still, it didn’t stop Hunt from
scripting a fairytale come-from-behind victory over India’s top-ranked player Rohan
Bopanna in a five-setter, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 9-7, an
endurance test that went on for 189 minutes.
On Friday, Leander Paes had ‘‘taught’’
Mark Nielsen a grass court lesson, and Hunt
taught the young Bopanna how to survive
and fight against immense odds. After losing
the first tie, Kiwi coach Glenn Wilson hoped
that experience will overcome youth. Hunt,
30, and the oldest among the visitors, did just
that and more. He pulled New Zealand back
from an impossible situation.
Since the second tie lasted more than 45
games, 53 to be precise, umpire Nao Kawate
had to reschedule the doubles tie on Sunday
morning. Hunt was nominated to play the
doubles tie, slated after the singles which
could not be played on Friday due to rains. But
Rule 39 of the tournament (entitlement to
rest) says, “a player who shall already have
played more than 45 games in either singles or
doubles shall not be called upon to play another match on the same day.”
It is unlikely that the Kiwis will field
Nielsen-Hunt duo for the doubles against
Paes-Bhupathi as was announced during the
draw. It would be judicious on part of the Kiwi
coach to keep Nielsen fresh for Bopanna in the
first reverse singles and play either James
Shortall or Robert Cheyne in the doubles.
The day didn’t start too bad for Bopanna.
Though the tie had a delayed start (by 72 minutes), the Karnataka lad was off the blocks
faster and claimed the first two sets in 73
minutes. In the first game itself, Bopanna
fired two aces to set the pace and his serves
caught Hunt mostly on the heels.
In both the sets, he broke Hunt in the tenth
games when Hunt was struggling to find his
feet, literally. He kept complaining about the
underfoot conditions which were made to
look even worse by Wilson’s court invasions.
The groundstaff were called into action for
repair work between the games.
The sun was beating down hard and court
started drying up. Hunt’s game and fortune
improved with the ground condition. The
bounce got more consistent and the Kiwi dug
deep into his resources to get out of the
woods.
Hunt started his journey up the hill in the
second game of the third set where he fought
hard to hold serve. In the fourth game, he survived a break point as the sliced backhand return kept him alive. He finished the game
with an ace. Bopanna failed to read the writing on the wall and an unforced error found
A lot to learn from
the Australian team
THE SPORTING LIFE
Ayaz Memon
Rohan Bopanna serves to Alistair Hunt during the second singles match of the India-New
Zealand Davis Cup tie at the South Club, Kolkata on Saturday.
him trailing 30-40 in the fifth. A superb re- one point in four service games in the set.
turn gave Hunt the break he needed desperWhile Bopanna’s shots flowed in fits and
ately. The two held serves till the ninth game starts, Hunt was more composed and consiswhen Hunt earned a break and the set to tent. The battle of attrition reached its peak
make it 1-2. Then it was Hunt all the way. His in the fifth and final set that stretched to 16
movements were confident, much in contrast games and the handsome gathering witto those in the second set, and he was dictat- nessed some unbelievable groundstrokes.
ing terms. Smoothly attacking the net, Hunt Since Hunt served first, Bopanna was always
exploited his skills as a serve-and-volleyer to serving to stay in the match from the tenth
the hilt and with another scorching back- game onwards. The pressure must have been
hand broke Bopanna in the sixth game, held too much on Bopanna’s young mind and he
his serve and broke again in the eighth to succumbed even after serving 26 aces, just
catch up with the Indian. He only conceded double of what Hunt fired.
Felicitations for
Sourav Ganguly’s side — well
deserved as they
are — must
quickly transform into a
vision to win the 2007
World Cup if the gains
from the recently-concluded tournament are not to
be squandered. Four years
might seem a long way off,
but Australia planned
their 2003 conquest immediately after winning in
1999 and have already set
their sights on a hat-trick
of Cup victories.
In resource terms, India
seem even better placed
than Australia to take the
momentum of this World
Cup into the next. The
BCCI is in sound financial
health, which means that
expertise, equipment and
anything else can be acquired easily. More importantly, there is a clutch of
highly talented players,
most of whom should be
around four years later too.
The Big Three — Tendulkar,
Ganguly
and
Dravid — are 30 or thereabouts, and should still be
in their prime in 2007.
‘Oldies’ Srinath and Kumble, who have looked vulnerable for various reasons over the last 12
months, are still in their
early 30s. But the real bonanza is that ten other
players are under 25. By
the time the next World
Cup comes around, the Indian team could be extraordinarily rich in skill
and experience.
It would be impetuous to
believe that all those who
played in South Africa will
be back in the West Indies
in circa 2007. The rigours
of international cricket —
and more particularly the
stress and pressure of expectations that Indian
cricketers are subject to —
will take their toll. But if
some members of the current lot fall, their replacements will have to be better, which is a gain in itself.
Yes, there is good reason
to be gung-ho about the fu-
Kenya manage fighting total
Sharjah: A fighting 57
by opener David Obuya
and 46 by Thomas Odoyo
helped Kenya post a modest 225 for six against
Zimbabwe in the Sharjah
one-day
internat i o n a l
cricket
tournament here
on Saturday.
In reply, Zimb a b w e
were 89
for two in
26 overs
w h e n
news last
came in.
Kenya were heading
towards a big total but restricted by some fine
bowling by the Zimbabweans, who are looking
to extract revenge for
their World Cup loss to
the Kenyans in South
Africa last month.
Left-arm spinner Raymond Price was the most
impressive of the Zimbabwean bowlers claiming two wickets for 36
runs in his ten overs,
while pacer
Douglas Hondo
returned
with figures
of
two for 37
off eight.
However, it was
captain
H e a t h
Streak
who was
most economical
taking one wicket for 28
runs off ten overs.
Though Kenya started
poorly losing opener
Kenedy Otieno in the
third over of the match
for zero, Obuya managed
to steady the innings
adding 52 runs for the
AFP
BACK TO BACK: Too much below par cricket is
reflected by this duo who watch Kenya play Zimbabwe in Sharjah Cup on Saturday.
second wicket with Brijal Patel, who scored 18.
After the dismissals of
Obuya, whose knock
came off 89 balls and included four boundaries
and one six, captain
Steve Tikolo (37) and
Odoyo came up with
valuable scores to take
the side past the 200
mark.
Kenya reached the
four-an-over mark in the
26th, with Steve Tikolo
and David Obuya going
strong, but then lost
three wickets in the next
12 overs, and never quite
regained the momentum.
SCORE BOARD
Kenya: K Otieno c Taibu b Streak 0,D
Obuya c Rennie b Price 57, B Patel b
Hondo 18
S Tikolo c Marillier b Price 37, T Odoyo
c Marillier b Hondo 46, M Odumbe c &
b Rennie 17, H Modi not out 27, P Ongondo not out 10
Extras (lb 1, w 12) 13
Total (6 wickets, 50 overs) 225
Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-55, 3-114, 4131, 5-161, 6-201
Bowling: Streak 10-3-28-1, Blignaut
4-0-27-0, Hondo 8-0-37-2, Price 100-36-2, Flower 3-0-20-0, Marillier 60-30-0, Ervine 4-0-26-0, Rennie 5-020-1.
(Scoreboard incomplete)
Doping report will take a fortnight, says IOA
By Indraneel Das
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The Indian Olympic Association is in the final stages of
cracking the doping scandal that is
threatening to rock the world of Indian sport.
Chairman of the IOA medical commission Dr Manmohan Singh confirmed to the Times News Network
from Patiala that it would take another fortnight to complete the
process of evaluating the reports of
the 15-odd athletes who had tested
positive (A samples) during the National Games in Hyderabad.
“We have intimated the names to
the respective federations who will
ask the athletes to appear before the
commission if they want to contest
the A-sample tests,” Dr Singh said on
Saturday. “Everything will be done according to International Olympic
Council rules and the players will be
given a chance to explain themselves.
After completing the final report the
respective federations will be free to
take punitive action. Till then we
won’t
divulge
anything.”
Meanwhile, according to our Hyderabad bureau, one of the athletes
who has tested positive is a multiple
medal winner in cycling. Nijappa Yenteth who pocketed a gold in the 120-km
mass start, a silver in the 60-km time
trial and a bronze in the 30-km time
trial, has tested positive for
Pseuduephedrine, a soft substance according to article 129 of Union of Cyclists International (UCI) manual.
The Andhra Pradesh Cycling Association is however hopeful that he will
not be punished as he had only taken a
popular syrup for his cough and cold
during the Games.
Lalit Bhanot,
secretary of the
Amateur Athletic
Federation of India, confirmed here
on Saturday that there were few athletes from his federation as well. “Yes,
I accept that there are few athletes in
the list, but I’m not sure of the exact
number,” he clarified.
When asked whether any winners
figure in the list, he said cryptically:
“I am not sure. But since the urine
THE DOPE TRAIL
samples of medal winners were tested there might be one or two of
them.” Bhanot assured that stringent
action would be taken against players found guilty after the final report.
“We can’t leave any loopholes in the
process of evaluation otherwise the
athletes might go to court,” he said.
According to sources, some of the
athletes have already reported to the
anti-doping commission.”All the athletes who figured in the list, except
for one who had gone abroad during
the investigations, have reported to
the federation and the commission,”
the source said. IOA officials, however, have denied this. The boxing federation has already confirmed the reports that three pugilists failed dope
tests at the Games.
SUND60403/CR1/19/M/1
SUND60403/CR1/19/C/1
SUND60403/CR1/19/K/1
SUND60403/CR1/19/Y/1
CMYK
ture of Indian cricket. But
there is no reason to be
complacent.
There
is
much to be learned from
these darned Aussies —
and not only about how to
bat, bowl and field.
****
After a fortnight of reflection, I am emboldened
to vouch that India played
the most entertaining
cricket in South Africa.
Australia were far and
away the best side, but
most of the magic moments, the expressions of
pure genius, came from Indian players.
I would venture to say
that India’s turnaround
came because the players
freed themselves of selfimposed shackles. Tendulkar began to bat like
Tendulkar and not a run
accumulator, Yuvraj gave
up ambitions of high
scores to become a good
finisher, Dravid slid superbly into the role of pivot, the fast bowlers combined
experimentation
with accuracy, and Ganguly gave everybody the leeway to show their mettle.
There was a flair and finesse to this side that must
be encouraged further,
even at the risk of occasional failure. Too often
modern sport — and especially cricket — is ruled by
theory, subjugating individualism.
This
only
makes the sport lacklustre.
The doyen Sir Neville
writes in a ‘A Cardus for
All Seasons’: ‘‘Cricket is a
barren occupation only
when it is turned into a
labour. For, as labour, it is
productive of no utility
value known in all the science of the economists.
Another Golden Age will
not be brought back by legislation or by any arbitrary change in the rules.
In the long run the game is
the sum total of the character of the men who take
part in it. Negation on the
field of play indicates
negation of mind and soul.
The style and spirit are the
cricketers themselves.’’
Written in 1969, but its
truth value undiminished
even 44 years later.
œ ND ‰ ‰ † ‰ CMK
20
S P O R T
By Bobilli Vijay Kumar
Fitness awareness
is dismal in India
By Pradeep Kumar
Dr P.S.M. Chandran is director of the Sports
Medicine Centre of the Sports Authority of India. He spoke to Times News Network on the
fitness levels among Indian athletes. Excerpts:
Are we giving importance to fitness?
The fitness level of Indian athletes is low. The basic
reason for that is that Indian children are undernourished. They confront this
handicap from their very
birth. As many as 40 per
cent of our children are undernourished. Undernourishment is a disease. It affects muscles as well as
bones.
Do we have any programme for imparting
fitness awareness to the
players?
We don’t have any programme even at the national level. We lack infrastructure and equipment too. For
stamina you may not need
an equipemnt. But to develop strength you need some
basic gym-work.
In some disciplines,
coaches also act as trainers. Is this a good trend?
A coach may not be good
trainer in all cases. Coaches have a different role to
play. They should take care
of skill, techniques and the
trainers should take care of
the fitness aspect.
How important is the
trainer’s role?
It’s essential as trainers
can focus on different
needs of the player at different times of his career.
To illustrate, the formative
years of a child requires
different training inputs
vis-a-vis what is required
when he is competing at,
say, the national level. Coupled with the fact that we
are not not a fitness conscious nation unlike coun-
tries like Australia, the
trainer assumes paramount importance.
Why have some of our
cricketers and players in
other disciplines become
more injury prone?
One of the causes that
lack of optimum fitness.
Take the case of cricketers,
if they don’t attain optimum fitness they are
bound to be injury prone.
There’s a lot of difference
between optimum fitness
and basic fitness. We all
may have basic fitness, but
not the specific fitness
needed for a cricketer. Our
cricketers seem hesitant
diving to stop a boundary.
Suppleness and agility required for that can only
come from gymanstic-type
training. Only a trainer
can initiate them into that.
Body movements should
be taught to all sportsmen
at a very young age. If they
don’t develop that in the
formative years it becomes
a gigantic ask later as the
body becomes stiff after a
certain age. Improvement
comes even from guidance
in the later years but the
optimum fitness level can’t
be achieved.
Are our players committed to improving their
fitness?
The commitment of our
athletes is remarkably bad.
Most of them undergo
training out of compulsion
and not because of personal motivation. Fitness
schedules can be very boring. Unless the motivation
level is high the drop-out
rates will be quite high.
EVERGREEN STARS
Dhanraj Pillay (Hockey captain — 1989-still
playing): I prefer jogging on the beach to increase
my stamina and strengthen my calf muscles. Besides, I have gained a lot from my foreign stints. The
variation in exercises have rejuvenated me.A sound
sleep is a must for all and for that I prefer to sleep
on the floor. I am also a regular visitor to the gym.
Subrata Bhattacharyya: (Former soccer stalwart and now Mohun
Bagan coach — 1973-1991): One cannot cheat himself. I worked for extra sessions and enjoyed jogging at the Kolkata race course. We also used
to tie parachutes to our backs and run in short bursts. I always aimed to
keep my pulse rate down.
PT Usha: (Sprint Queen — 1977-2000): I always used to adhere to a
strict fitness schedule. Nambiar sir (her coach) was a fitness freak himself
and that was infectious. I ran on beaches and never took time off from
training. I gained some weight after my marriage which I later reduced
through exercise and running.
Madhumita Bisht (Badminton star — 19752002): I depended on weight-training, speed-training and sprints. I followed a strict programme during off-seasons also. That helped me play for 27
years. But then in badminton, fitness aspects come
into picture during off-seasons. Those were never
that rigorous.
Jaideep Mukherjea (Davis Cupper — 1960-73): In school, I used to play
diverse sports. Once in the circuit, a lot of running and weight training were
incorporated into the schedule. A stint under Harry Hopman in Australia
opened my eyes. The Aussies used to train at a different level. We were
lucky to play on natural surfaces. The transition to synthetic courts has
phenomenally increased the strain the modern player undergoes.
ndia’s almost glorious
run in the World Cup
has expectedly created
a few heroes and given
birth to some heartwarming stories. Some of
them are, of course, exaggerated while some others merely the creation of hype or
over-enthusiasm.
There is, however, one little tale that remained on the
periphery of most of these
freely embellished stories: It
is the tale of the sluggish Indian players slowly but evidently transforming into
well-oiled machines. We call
it the Roux effect.
Some day, when most of
the chapters related to the
conquests of Sourav Ganguly fade into a blur, this one
will still be fresh and clear in
everybody’s minds.
It started more than a year
back when Adrian le Roux
was inducted into the cricket
team as trainer; it reached a
crescendo during the World
Cup as India conquered one
peak after another. Many attribute
this
amazing
sequence to the Great Indian
Huddle. But that is only
partly true: the more significant
reason
is
the
fitness ethos that permeated
into the players.
It has broken down all barriers of superiority or inferiority within the team. Everybody is now equal. Tendulkar
may still be earning or scoring a lot more than the others; but he has no hesitation
in accepting that he is just
another cog (albeit a slightly
more important one) in the
wheel.
One can now see a smile
even on Srinath’s face as he
twists and twirls his body in
search of that painful but
elusive muscle.
The story of the Class of
2003 will be told and retold as
the days go by. Is there a lesson in the Roux effect that
needs to be learnt by players
and officials of other sports
in the country? Is it really the
missing link that Indian
sport has been vainly looking
for all these years?
‘‘We are not a fitness conscious nation,’’ agrees Dr
P.S.M. Chandran, director of
the Sports Medicine Centre
at SAI.
‘‘The fitness level of our
athletes is very low. That is
because 40 per cent of
our children are undernourished. This is a sort of
disease. It affects muscles as
well as bones. While the
former leads to stunted
growth, the latter leads to
brittle bones,’’ he explains
(see interview).
Dr Djoran Djokic, a master
in physical education and
sports science who is associated with Indian table tennis,
agrees. ‘‘Players here don’t
give enough importance to
physical fitness,’’ he says. ‘‘In
Europe,’’ the Yugoslav adds,
‘‘a lot of emphasis is given to
this aspect. If they don’t
work enough on this, they
will find it hard to beat the
best in the world.’’
Tennis
ace
Jaideep
Mukherjea, who has the distinction of playing Davis Cup
for 13 long years, doesn’t envisage a completely grim picture.
‘‘The need for trainers is
Ajit Ninan
I
CHESS
Pravin Thipsay
n the ending, the game must
be played entirely on correct
calculations. The principles like
centre control, development, etc.
make no sense in a game’s
ending. White is in a difficult
situation in the diagram, but can
hold the game by precise
defence. Can you find out
how?
POSITION:
White: Kd3; P-a2,b3,e4.
Black: Kf3, P-a5,c5,e5.
PROBLEM: White to play and
draw.
SOLUTION:
White could have drawn with
1.a3!! (in the game White
played 1.a4?? and lost by
force after 1..Kf4 2.Kc4, Kxe4
I
BRIDGE
Prakash Paranjpe
nline Bridge can be social,
competitive, or
educational, according to your
choice. Watching an online
game can also be exciting. For
this week's deal, join me in
kibitzing Benito Garozzo, a
member of the worldconquering Italian Blue Team.
North opens 1C, Defalco
overcalls 1D, South responds
1H and Benito bids 2S. North
rebids 3H, Defalco tries the 4H
cue bid on the way to 4S, and
Benito signs off in 4S. When
the bidding comes back to
South, he judges in favour of
a sacrifice bidding 5H. Defalco
doubles. 5H Dbl by South,
lead ♦8.
Benito leads the ♦8, as per
the Middle-Up-Down
convention. Even as South
considers his play, someone
from the 100-strong online
kibitzers comments that South
is in for trouble. Another
kibitzer supports him saying
that ‘double dummy’ the
contract could go down four
O
THE ROUX EFFECT: IS
INDIA READY FOR IT?
Adrian le Roux is just a trainer. But he has transformed the
Indian cricket team into a fighting fit machine. Times News Network investigates the emerging fitness scenario in the country’s
sport and learns that there’s still a long way to go
not an option any more,’’ he
says. ‘‘It’s a necessity in modern tennis.’’ That is the bottom-line in virtually every
sport.
Indian hockey president
K.P.S. Gill realised this adage
earlier than others: he sends
the country’s probables and
team members to the
National Security Guards’
training centre in Manesar
every year. ‘‘The team spends
almost 45 days every season
at the NSG camp,’’ informs
chief coach Rajinder Singh.
‘‘We
understand
the
importance of fitness and devote 50 per cent of our time
on it,’’ he adds.
The others too are catching up. The country’s footballers, athletes, and virtually all sportspersons are given
detailed fitness schedules (by
their own motley group of
experts
and
trainers)
just like out national cricketers. Unfortunately, the instructions are followed only
when the players are at
camps; as soon as they go
home, they dive into all their
bad, old habits.
The peak syndrome is, of
course, not enough. ‘‘Body
movements should be taught
to all sportsmen at a very
young age. The body becomes
stiff after a certain stage and
some movements might never be mastered,’’ Dr Chandran explains. ‘‘Late starters
might obtain basic fitness by
proper guidance but they
will never reach optimum fitness,’’ he warns.
Sprint queen P.T. Usha
agrees. ‘‘I feel our athletes
lack motivation. They don’t
follow fitness schedules and
often take things easy, especially when there is nobody
to supervise them or when
they are not at regulated
camps.’’
Football coach Stephen
Constantine has a different
theory.
‘‘Our players are not as fit
as they could be because of
the number of games that
they play and the amount of
time they spend travelling,’’
he says. ‘‘It is just not possible to keep them at the right
fitness levels or fresh enough
for the big games,’’ he explains.
The England-born coach
has another major handicap.
‘‘I don’t give them any sched-
3.Kxc5, Kd3! 4.b4,axb4
5.Kxb4,e4! When the Black
Pawn Queens with a CHECK,
preventing White from
Queening his own) 1..Kf4!
2.Kc4 Kxe4 3.Kxc5 Kd3 4.b4
axb4 5.axb4! (But not
5.Kxb4??, e4, 6.a4,e3 7.a5,e2
8.a6.e1=Q Ch) 5..e4 6.b5 e3
7.b6 e2 8.b7 e1Q 9.b8Q
Qc1+10.Kb6! with an obvious
draw.
The man behind the revolution
for -1100.
In the meantime, the play
proceeds. Defalco wins the
♦King with ♦A, cashes the ♦Q
and ♠King, and continues
with the ♠Queen. In a flash,
Benito overtakes with the ♠Ace
and plays the third, Diamond,
giving a ruff and discard! South
ruffs in Dummy and pulls a
trump. Defalco wins the ♥Ace
and pushes another Diamond
♠5 3 2
N Dealer
BOTH ♥VulJ 9 3
♦KT
♣A K Q 6 5
♠A J T 9 6
♠ KQ4
♥A
♦ AQJ743
♣ T97
♥Q 6
♦9 8 5
♣J 4 2
♠
♥
♦
♣
87
KT87542
62
83
to promote Benito's ♥Queen!!
Double Dummy? “This game
was always Double Dummy for
Benito,” someone shouts in
excitement. We agree. We are
fortunate. We can watch 'Bridge
with the Blue Team' live!
www.demicoma.com
[email protected]
ules once they leave me as
they may be different or even
contradictory to what the
club coach wants,’’ he says.
‘‘Yes, it would really be nice if
the clubs have full-time trainers. I could then concentrate
on the tactical and psychological aspects of the game.’’
The biggest problem is the
absence of a sports culture in
the country.
‘‘We don’t have any programme for imparting fitness awareness even at the
national level,’’ confirms Dr
Chandran.
‘‘There
isn’t
enough equipment or even
sufficient infrastructure to
enthuse the youngsters,’’ he
says.
There have, of course,
been evergreen stars like
Kapil Dev, P.T. Usha and
Dhanraj Pillay. They have
survived the vicissitudes of
time and age and often appear fitter and sharper than
the younger ones. But then,
they are exceptions. Not of
accident but of their own
hard work and determination.
‘‘I learnt about the importance of prime fitness at a
very young age,’’ reveals
By Dinesh Chopra
omeone needs to spike this confusion. And fast. One India regular
calls him ‘‘Lay rocks’’. Another
one tries his first name and comes up
only with ‘‘Andre’’. The third just refuses to accept that ‘X’ in Le Roux is silent!
Someone please hand over that Webster’s. To be safe they mouth the more
pliant ‘Trainer’ or ‘Le’. Whatever.
Forget the confusion as Adrian Le
Roux, Team India’s one-year-new physical trainer, emerges. ‘‘The best part
about him is that Adrian understands
our bodies and their demands so very
well,’’ says India off-spinner Harbhajan
Singh. ‘‘It’s not the drab jogging, sprint
business. If I’m doing a particular routine I know exactly why I am doing it.
Besides, you don’t feel that it’s a strain
to do those routines. They are actually
quite enjoyable.’’
Le Roux must be a satisfied man.
Even Javagal Srinath for whom a VRS
S
Madhumita Bisht. ‘‘I followed a strict programme of
weights, speed and sprint
training, even during the offseason.’’ It’s not really surprising that the beautiful
shuttler ruled the courts for
almost 27 years.
Like in every sphere of
life, the system must take the
blame again. Parents are not
interested in sports; schools
don’t have time for games
and there aren’t enough
parks or playing facilities
near home.
More importantly, a majority of our countrymen are
still waging a war against
survival, hunger and poverty; how can they even think
of fighting the very best in
the world of sport?
There are a number of le
Roux’s waiting to impart
their expertise and scientific
knowledge.
We just need a few right
people at the right places to
make India a world of happy
and physically fit people.
(With inputs from Pradeep
Kumar , Vineeta Pandey,
B
Shrikant,
Nilanjan
Datta, Sukhwant Basra,
Indraneel Das)
FADED STARS
Rohit Rajpal (Tennis player): By
17 he was living with pain and by
21 he was out of the game due to
a ruptured disc in the lower back.
That after being in the same
league as Andre Agassi and
Michael Chang in the sub-juniors.
He was a classic case of wrong
training with little rest and rehabilitation. His condition was compunded by running on metalled
roads. The game almost left him
crippled before a surgeon
managed to fix his back but by
then India had lost a star.
Sudip Chatterjee (Former soccer skipper): Sudip, famous for
his all-round skills, was offered a
stint by Denmark’s first division
club Lyngby. But the midfield
general had a recurring knee
problem. Doctor’s knives robbed
him of his reflexes and pushed
him towards premature retirement.
Rajiv Mishra (Hockey striker):
A talented
forward who
shot
into
limelight
during the
Junior World
Cup in Milton Keynes
where India
finished runners-up.
Just as Mishra was settling down
into the senior Indian team, a
freak knee injury came as a big
blow and ruined his career. A
couple of surgeries and a long
course of treatment later he still
couldn’t regain his form.
Cornilius Costa: (Hockey player): The promising full back had
a spectacular performance in the
1993 Asia Cup. But a knee injury
during the end of the tournament
crippled his career. He was operated upon but picked up the stick
even before he could recover fully to play in the Mumbai National
Games. The injury aggravated
and it took nearly four years for
him to get fully fit.
was being drafted seems
as if he is having an energising drink thrice a day.
‘‘It’s a combination of
both the inner will to do
well and of course the educated training. But then
the inner will needs to be
A le Roux complimented by your
body. Adrian and Andrew
Leipus have been like a boon for me,’’
says Srinath.
The man himself shunts between
Fitness is a combination of both the
inner will to do well and, of course,
educated training.The boys are
now fitter than ever.
modesty and quiet confidence. ‘‘The
boys are fitter than ever. They can
match any international side on that,’’
says Le Roux. Beyond the reps and the
sets in a gymnasium, he feels that the
most important area has been the diet of
the players. ‘‘Sports nutrition is one
thing that we tried to bring in. What to
eat during the season, off season, on
field, off field, I think this was the most
important aspect in the last one year.’’
He’s dealing with some of the brightest and the biggest nameplates of the
country. Tendulkars, Dravids, Gangulys, Sehwags et al asking them to run
that extra lap may leave a dent on your
CV. Challenging? ‘‘No, the boys are conscious of the demands. They are pretty
enthusiastic and follow even the off-season routines well. We can check that out
by a test battery that gives us body-fats
percentage,’’ he says.
Education of ‘‘Why am I doing this
routine’’ is more important than ‘‘What
routine am I doing’’ he says quietly.
Surely, more important than whether
‘X’ in Le Roux is silent or active.
Jaguar’s Webber goes out last, comes in first
Sao Paulo: Jaguar driver
Mark Webber was surprisingly quickest in the first
qualifying session for the
Brazilian Grand Prix here on
Friday. Webber, second last
out on track, benefited from
drying conditions to take top
spot in the session from Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello, who had been set to take
provisional pole.
The Australian set the
pace with a lap time of one
min 23.111sec. Barrichello
finished ahead of McLaren
drivers Kimi Raikkonen and
David Coulthard. Michael
Schumacher, who went out
sixth on track, by which time
the rain had retured for a
brief spell, spun on his outlap and ended the session
fifth quickest. AFP
AP
Michael Schumacher drives his Ferrari during Saturday’s free practice session at Sao Paulo.
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CMYK
S P O R T
Red Devils fly high, Elite ‘B’ survive to live another day
Plate ‘A’ batsmen
Gunners stumble
fail to make amends
By Madhu Jawali
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
London: Manchester United
swept arch rivals Liverpool 40 on Saturday to move level
with Arsenal on points and
set the stage for a thrilling
six-match finale to the closest
Premiership title race in
years. Arsenal remain top
but only on goal difference after an own goal by Ivory
Coast international Kolo
Toure gifted Aston Villa a 1-1
draw at Villa Park.
Freddie Ljungberg seemed
to have set the champions on
their way to three points
when he put them ahead ten
minutes after the break. But
the lead was squandered in
agonising fashion in the 71st
minute when Toure sliced a
goalline clearance into his
own net.
Arsenal’s
misfortune
rounded off a great day for
United, who took full advantage of Liverpool skipper
Sami Hyypia’s fourth-minute
dismissal to run out 4-0 winners at Old Trafford.
A brace of Ruud van Nistelrooy penalties and late
strikes from Ryan Giggs and
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer gave
United their biggest win over
Liverpool in 50 years and
their first league double over
the Merseysiders since 1969.
For Liverpool, the defeat
was a serious blow to their
hopes of securing fourth
place in the league and a return to the Champions
League next season.
Chelsea took full advantage with a 2-1 win at Sunderland that leaves them with a
five-point cushion in fourth.
But they were made to work
hard at the Stadium of Light
after Sunderland had taken a
shock 12th minute lead
thanks to midfielder Sean
Thornton’s first goal for the
club.
At the bottom, Birmingham were sent back closer to
the drop zone by a 2-1 defeat
at Tottenham while Bolton
and Leeds both won. AFP
Argentina triumph
New York: Argentina
eliminated
defending
champion Russia from the
Davis Cup in the quarterfinal on Saturday while Australia and Spain also advanced to the semifinals
after taking unbeatable 3-0
leads. Also, Switzerland
took a 2-1 lead in its quarterfinal tie against France.
In Saturday’s doubles,
David Nalbandian and Lucas Arnold of Argentina
defeated Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Mikhail Youzhny 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3;
Spaniards Albert Costa
and Alex Corretja defeated
Ivan Ljubicic and Lovro
Zovko 6-2, 6-3, 6-4; and
Wayne Arthurs and Todd
Woodbridge beat Jonas
Bjorkman and Thomas Enqvist 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.
In the other tie, Switzerland’s Roger Federer and
Marc Rosset downed Nicolas Escude and Fabrice
Santoro of France 6-4, 3-6,
6-3, 7-6. Spain will host Argentina on clay in the
semifinals while Australia
takes on either Switzerland or France. Arthurs
and Woodbridge were never broken during the twohour match. AP
Bangalore: For the first time in the
Duleep Trophy tournament, Elite ‘A’ are
enjoying the luxury of calling the shots.
Had it not been for the rains, Elite ‘A’
would have enhanced their chances of
earning full points against Elite ‘B’.
Having been at the receiving end for
three matches, it must be a nice feeling
for them to be at the other end.
Thanks to overnight rains, match began four hours late, effectively ruining
200 minutes of third day’s play on Saturday. Elite ‘A’ having already established a 143-run lead, made a good decision by declaring at the overnight score
of 362/8 in 98 overs. At that time Sridharan Sreeram was batting on 130 and
Sarandeep Singh on eight.
Elite ‘A’ bowlers then gobbled up four
Elite ‘B’ batsmen for 64 runs to take their
team closer to victory. In fact Elite ‘B’
had been reduced to 4/34 before the combined effort of skipper M.S.K. Prasad
(batting 15), Arjun Yadav (batting 19) and
the rain saved them for the day.
Left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan sent
back Elite ‘B’s first innings hero Wasim
Jaffer early in the innings. The Mumbai
opener began stroking Pathan to the
fence but was flummoxed by the Baroda
bowler in the next over. Jaffer had to
check his pre-meditated shot when the
ball came a trifle late onto the bat re-
sulting in a simple catch for Venugopal
Rao at short-leg.
An overcautious Amit Pagnis, who
consumed 37 balls during his 49-minute
stay at the crease, played a rank bad
shot pushing Sarandeep Singh uppishly
back to him. The bowler gleefully accepted the offer as Pagnis collected the
duck. Ambati Rayudu disappointed
once again nicking a rising Sarandeep
delivery to D. Vinay Kumar.
Vinayak Mane (22), the most productive batsman on scene today, effectively
employed his square-drive against
Pathan to collect some runs in the region between backward square-leg and
D U L E E P T RO P H Y
third-man, though he edged a couple of
them. He chased an outside the offstump delivery by Retinder Singh Sodhi
and dragged it on to his stumps as Elite
‘B’ were reduced to 4/34. The defeat now
looked imminent. Still adrift of 109 runs
to avoid innings loss, Prasad and Yadav
did their best drag the innings on before
bad light and then rain cried halt.
Elite ‘B’ (1st Innings): 219,
Elite ‘A’ (1st Innings: 362/8 decl
Elite ‘B’ (2nd Innings): Pagnis c and b Sarandeep 0, Jaffer c
Venugopal b Pathan 5, Mane b Sodhi 22, Rayudu c Vinaykumar b Sarandeep 0, Yadav (batting) 19, M.S.K. Prasad 15. Extras: (b-2, nb-1) 3
Total: (For 4 wkts in 33 overs) 64
Fall of wickets: 1/5, 2/23, 3/23, 4/34
Bowling: Pathan 10-3-27-1; Bangar 4-3-1-0; Sarandeep 85-14-2; Sodhi 6-2-11-1; Kanwat 4-1-5-0; Sreeram 1-0-4-0.
CAPITAL SPORT
SAIL shocked: Golden Hawks CC
Farman dazzles: Indira Gandhi
defeated SAIL by 13 runs to enter the
semifinals of the 13th SAIL Trophy
cricket meet at the Mohan Meakins
ground. Sonu Vaid was declared the
man of the match.
Stadium entered the final of the Jawaharlal Nehru memorial cricket tournament after swamping Rajdhani Sports
Club by 8 wickets. Rajdhani Sports
Club 219 in 35 overs (Joginder Singh
50, Ashish Sharma 40, Farman Ahmad 2/35) lost to IG Stadium 220 for
2 in 25.3 overs (Farman Ahmad 133
n.o., Varun Kumar 47).
Golden Hawks 173 in 38.2 overs (Kuldeep Rawat
32, Gaurav Sharma 27, Ajit Singh 4/26, Sumit Dogra
2/34) beat SAIL 160 in 39.4 overs (Pradeep Chawla
50, Sumit Dogra 42, Sonu Vaid 4/29.
Pressmen victorious: Press Club
of India beat Perfect Relations by 56
runs in their annual cricket tie at the
Kamla Nehru College ground on Saturday.
Press Club of India 165 (Jaswinder Sidhu 73, Amit
3/24, Durgesh 2/10, Deepak 2/15) beat Perfect Relations 109 (Ashish 42, Sunil Narula 3/10, C Rajshekhar Rao 2/15, Rakesh Thapliyal 2/20).
Volleyball camp: YMCA is going to
organise a volleyball coaching camp
for men and women with help from
the Delhi Volleyball Association. The
camp will be run from April 10 at the
YMCA court. Enquiries can be made
at 23361915 (Ext 341).
IInd Rajdhani Cup cricket: Surrmount Club:
177 for 7 in 35 overs (Sanjeev Sharma 59, Kripal Singh 41, Tarun Gupta 26; Satish Kumar 3
for 30) lost to Shubham Club: 178 for 7 in 34.3
overs (Parvinder Singh 38, Harpreet Singh 36;
Sandeep Saini 3/ 25).
1st Dr. Hedgewar U-15 cricket tournament:
Hans Raj Academy: 220 for 7 in 40 overs (Onant
Jai Singh 72, Prateek Vadera 41 not out, Mohit
Sharma 40; Varun Sood 3 for 27) beat Saveur
Academy (Ansit Singh 26; Prateek Vadera 3 for
21).
Reebok cricket tournament: Daksh 154 for 9
in 25 overs (Vineet Vij 41, Anupam Singhi 24;
Rajeev 4 for 23) lost to KPMG 156 for 5 in 23.3
overs (Preet Singh 63, Rajat Marwah 32 not out;
Mohit Kaushal 2 for 25).
21
SPORTING WORLD AT A GLANCE
AFP
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Hyderabad: Barring a miracle, Elite C
should pocket eight points from their
encounter against Plate A. At close of
play on the penultimate day, Elite C
were 24 without loss, still needing 144
for an outright victory.
Plate A, who had conceded the vital
first innings lead, did well in the morning to restrict Elite C to 278 — a lead of
just 15. Nikhil Doru, who held the innings together in the company of the
tailenders, was the last man to fall, making a superb 74 with eight hits to the
fence.
But the Plate A players did not seem
to have the will to make a fight of the
match. It was a mixture of injudicious
strokes and lack of application coupled
with some superb bowling by Elite C
mediumpacers that did Plate A in.
Plate A (1st innings): 263
Elite C (1st innings): 278
Plate A (2nd innings): R Jaiswal c Patel b Trivedi 1, B Rowland b Agarkar 4, H Kanitkar c Patel b Trivedi 0, A Kale c Goud
b Trivedi 3, R Kumar c Goud b Agarkar 55, Y Singh b Bhandari
9, VST Naidu b Kulkarni 75, S Joshi c Patel b Agarkar 4, D
Ganesh c Patel b Agarkar 9, K Ananthapadmanabhan lbw
Trivedi 13, F Shaik (not out) 1; Extras: (lb-7, w-1) 8. Total: (all
out in 61.5 overs) 182
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-5, 3-5, 4-14, 5-29, 6-139, 7-143, 8155, 9-180
Bowling: Agarkar 15-5-40-4, Trivedi 14.5-2-41-4, Bhandari
15-7-35-1, Kulkarni 15-3-44-1, Das 2-0-15-0.
Lin Dan dives during his semi-final against Kenneth
Jonassen in the Japan Open in Tokyo on Saturday.
INTERNATIONAL
BADMINTON
Japan Open, Tokyo: Men’s singles
semi-finals: Lin Dan (CHN) beat Kenneth Jonassen (DEN) 15-8 16-17 1510, Xia Xuanze (CHN) beat Taufik Hidayat (INA) 15-9 17-15. Women’s singles semi-finals: Camilla Martin (DEN)
beat Pi Hongyan (FRA) 11-3 11-7, Xie
Xingfang (CHN) bt Wang Chen (HKG)
11-3 11-0. Men’s doubles semi-finals: Cheng Rui & Chen Qiqiu (CHN)
beat Lars Paaske & Jonas Rasumussen
(Den) 15-9 5-15 17-16, Flandy Limpele
& Eng Hian (ENG) beat Michael Lamp &
Mathias Boe (DEN) 15-7 15-11.
Rapi ready for the dash
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Rapidash, an impressive debutant, should complete a double in the Gool
S Poonawalla Million (GR III), the main
event of the Mumbai races on Sunday.
Selections: Choreography Plate; 1,800m: 2.30pm: Truffles 1,
Goin N Style 2, Simple Red 3. BTC Ltd Trophy: 1,200m: Aerospace 1, Terrestrial 2, Al Humair 3. Satinello Trophy: 1,600m:
Supreme Crown 1, Captivated 2, Pitlochry 3.Goldilocks Plate:
1,200m: Venire 1, Truth Prevails 2, Colour of Joy 3. Gool S Poonawalla Million: 1,200m: Rapidash 1, Kanthara 2, Dunbar 3.
Arecibo Plate: 1,200m: Synergize 1, Battle Launch 2,
R AC E
Lochmaben 3. Rising Brave Plate; 1,600m: Lord of Thunder 1,
Norton 2, Tajjub 3. Simplew Logic Plate: 1,200m: Ladybank 1,
Divine Elegance 2, Positano 3.
Golden Bell shines: Golden Bell and Kenilworth shone well in the morning tryouts here on Saturday.
Inner-sand; 800m: Art Nouveau (naresh) - 52 secs: excelled well
in the straight. Golden Bell (Faiz) - 52 secs: not extended. Kenilworth (Rohit) - 52 secs: moved fluently till 400m then freely, note.
Bahulika (Rajinder) and River Fantasy (Bhawani) - 53 secs: duo
pleased. Worth A Look (N Singh) - 51 secs: fully in hand. Bahuratna (Rajinder) - 54 secs: not extended. Super Trooper (Narain)
and Storm Catcher (Shekhawat) - 53 secs; duo was kept on a
tight leash in the straight. 3 Y-O Daring Eagle (N Singh) - 56 secs:
fully in hand. Vertigo (Narender Singh) - 52 secs: tracking well.
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CMYK
Women’s doubles semi-finals: Gao
Ling & Hwang Sui (CHN) beat Yim
Kyung-Jin & Lee Hyo-Jung (KOR) 11-5
11-0, Wei Yili & Zhao Tingting (CHN)
beat Ra Kyung-Min & Lee Kyung-Won
(KOR) 11-8 8-11 11-9. Mixed doubles
semi-finals: Jens Eriksen & Mette
Schjoldager (DEN) beat Chen Qiqiu &
Zhao Tingting (CHN) 11-8 11-4, Zhang
Jun & Gao Ling (CHN) beat Kim DongMoon & Ra Kyung-Min (KOR) 11-7 9-11
11-7.
BASKETBALL
National Basketball Association, US
Atlanta 91 Washington 89, Utah 93
Portland 88, LA Lakers 100 Dallas 89.

6SUNDC_COL_01R1.QXD (Page 1)

Transcription

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