postnoon e-paper for 8 january 2012

Hyderabad’s first compact afternoon newspaper

`2SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 2012 HYDERABAD WWW.POSTNOON.COM WEATHER: A MIX OF CLEAR AND CLOUDY SKIES; 23°C 32 PAGES

Bollywood ismy dream

destination

Puja Gupta P21

P11

Surprise checks againstdrunk driving by City traf-fic police last night nettedsome glamour when they

stopped the young cineheartthrob Siva Balaji fordriving drunk. He tested

69.6mg as against thepermissible limit of 30mg.

Siva was driving backhome alone. But he threwno tantrum. Rather, he co-

operated with the policetelling them jovially thathe was not feeling dizzy.But, in another instance,

Sunil Narayan, a business-man, threw his toys out of

the pram and got whatwas coming…

the lock-up.

Coppingit with

poise

CITY PARENTSCommissioner of City Police AbdulKhayum Khan lays the blame for ourCity’s delinquent youth on lack of par-enting. In an exclusive interview, hetalks about the plight of the force andwhy the police should not be doing ajob that starts and ends at home.

KHANTARGETS

XCLUSIVEEREPORT ON PG 4

Spare our feathered friendsThis Sankranti, spare a thought for the City’s birds

as they battle a maze of razor-sharp manja. Keep alookout for injured birds and contact the numbers

we’ve listed. Having fun is all well and good, but itshould never be at the expense of other living

creatures.

PIC: N SHIVA KUMAR

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 2012 2Spirit of Twin CitiesPage Two

Big Cinemas, Ameerpet, 30581470; Cinemax, Banjara Hills, 44565555; Cine Planet , Kompally, 61606060; INOX, Banjara Hills, 447677770,Prasads, Tank Bund Rd, 23448888; PVR, Punjagutta, 08800900009; Talkie Town, Miyapur, 40214175; Tivoli, Secunderabad 27844973CINEMAS

Different strokesTo witness strokes of various kindshead to Gallery Space. It’s an exhibi-tion presenting paintings and draw-ings by various artists and will beheld at Gallery Space from December24.

Where: Gallery Space, Banjara HillsWhen: Ongoing, 11am to 7pmContact: (040) 65541836

Martini ‘n musicEnjoy the winter evenings with GreyGoose martinis and crooner Kelly dish-ing out your favourite numbers.

Where: Taj Krishna, Banjara HillsWhen: Every EveningContact: (040) 66662323

Cognac and CigarThe Seasons Bar opens up again with aCigar and Cognac lounge with a wideselection of cognac, Rare whiskies, sin-gle malts and cigars.

Where: Taj Krishna, Banjara Hills When: Ongoing, 7pmContact: (040) 66662323

Visual artAn exhibition cum sale of paintings byHari Srinivas. The Exhibition is on dis-play till 30 January 2012.

Where: :VSL Visual Art Gallery, Plot no 100, AP Text Book Colony, Gun Rock Enclave

When: OngoingContact: 9247175135

NumaishA childhood favourite of everyHyderabadi, The All India IndustrialExhibition is on.

Where: Exhibition Grounds, Nampally

When: Ongoing

Food DramaFor the biggest buffet in town headto Nautanki Gali. Dinner Buffet @ Rs

388Where: Nautanki Gali, MadhapurWhen: Ongoing, 7.30-10.30pmContact: 7893010000

Brunch onBrunch with Lokhi and Ruben at ViaMilano. Enjoy a hearty Italian meal asyou chill with friends or family whileLokhi and Ruben croon out some reggae numbers.

Where: Via Milano, Jubilee HillsWhen: Ongoing,11.30am-3.30pmContact: (040) 6455667

My name is MinnuIt is the first solo Art show by actorKamal Kamaraju on a series of paint-ings he has done on ‘MINNU’ in2011. The show will also launch cal-endars with kamal’s paintings andwill be exclusively on sale at the

Muse gallery.The proceeds from thisshow will be donated to CAPFoundation.

Where: Marriott hotel & Convention Centre, Tank Bund

When: Ongoing, 6pmContact: (040) 2752-2999

Learn to laughWant to learn how to be funny? Thanthis is for you.Nishumbita and the USConsulate of Hyderabad present atwo hour workshop to make youlaugh your heart out and make othershappy too.

Where: Vidyaranya School, Secretariat Road

When: January 8, 10am to noonContact: 09849256440

Controlled freedomCatch a preview of Controlled freedom,an exhibition of portrait photography

that showcases the works of two pho-tographers with contrastingapproaches to capturing people -Sucharitha Rao and LakshmiPrabhala.

Where: Alankritha Art Gallery, Kavuri Hills

When: January 7, 6.30pmContact: (040) 23113709

Eat in the darkHave you ever wondered how it feelsto eat in the dark? Come and experi-ence this. Pay ` 499 to enjoy a 4-course meal worth ` 1000 at Dialoguein the Dark.

Where: Dialogue in the Dark, Inorbit Mall, Hitech city

When: Ongoing, 12,30pmContact: (040) 64603341

Get HandyHead to the Lepakshi showroom foran Orissa Handicrafts exhibition setup by the Khadi and VillageIndustries Association.

Where: Lepakshi, MusheerabadWhen: Ongoing, 10am to 9pmContact: (040) 27668178

Lunch BuffetEnjoy a lavish spread of South Indiandishes for `149 plus taxes (for vege-tarians) and `199 plus taxes (fornon-vegetarians).

Where: Indian Art Cafe, MadhapurWhen: Ongoing, 12.30 to 3.30pmContact: (040) 40117445

Interpreting TagoreAstad Deboo along with his troupewill present Interpreting Tagore usingworld music, movement, and alterna-tive theatre forms, like puppets andmasks,

Where: Taramati Baradari, Gandipet

When: January 8, 7pmContact: (040) 23520172

FROM DUSK TILL DAWN

Around the city: Your guide to the Twin Cities

PIC

: A S

UD

HEE

R R

EDD

Y

Electricity bills torment citizensOsama [email protected]

The 52-day general strike(sakala janula samme)created havoc in the livesof citizens. Along with

disrupting normal routines, italso caused problems in thebilling process of the electricitydepartment. As a result of which,there has been much confusionover electricity bills issued whichcontinue to haunt citizens evenas the JAC called for a new strikefrom January 17.

When employees of APCPD-CL went on strike, the staff of theagencies, to which the billingprocess is outsourced, also joinedthem. This led to the non-issuance of bills for October 2011.The APCPDCL requested theconsumers to pay an amount

equal to the their bill amount inSeptember. The Discom madethis appeal in a bid to ensure con-

tinuity in the billing cycle.Discom had said that all

adjustments would be made

eventually, explaining that therewas no one to determine theexact bill amount due to thestrike. In spite of their assurancessome still had to pay inflated billsand no adjustments have beenmade till date.

“My bill in September was`350 and in October, it shot up to`1,000. When we complained, wewere told by the electricitydepartment that it will be adjust-ed in the following month, but itwas not,” said Shonita Joshi, 23,an IT professional residing inJubilee Hills.

Though many people endedup paying the inflated billsoffline, but it was not updated onthe APCPDCL website database.In some cases, the adjustment isdone offline, but the same wasnot updated online.

This became an impediment

to those who wanted to use theonline payment facility as theamount to be paid is system-gen-erated and the adjustments arenot registered.

Sadhana Thakur, 51, a schoolprincipal who lives in Mangalhat,faced similar problems as well.She was issued an inflated bill,which got adjusted in December.“I got a heavy electricity bill of`2,800 even though my bill neveramounted to more than `1,200.Although it was adjusted later, Istill had to face problems,” shelamented. People are wary of fac-ing this issue again. “My concernis that not only will I have to faceincreased power cuts, but payhigher bills unnecessarily whenhalf the time there is no electrici-ty,” complained Shonita who alsoadded that this comes at a timewhen summer is setting in.

PIC: A SUDHEER REDDY

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 2012 3Campaigns, hard news and spirit of Twin CitiesHyper Local

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Inkeshaf [email protected]

HYDERABAD: The State govern-ment, which preaches to the pub-lic about basic responsibilities ofcitizens, turned out to be themajor defaulter in paying propertytax to Greater HyderabadMunicipal Corporation (GHMC).

Important government build-ings like the AP Secretariat, whichis the centre for State govern-ment's administration, HyderabadMetro Development Authority(HMDA), Hyderabad Metro WaterSupply & Sewerage Board(HMWS&SB), APSRTC, Police andAP Transco have emerged majordefaulters of property tax.

These governmental depart-ments put together owe a total of`150 crore to the GHMC. The cor-poration has in its limit a total of1,246 State government depart-ments. They need to pay `72 croreas property tax to the GHMC everyyear. But the corporation has beenreceiving only `20 crore since2007.

“They have been defaulting onproperty tax since the year 2001-02. They have been paying us only

`20 crore every year resulting inan accumulation of dues to thetune `150 crore. We have beenissuing notices to all thesedepartments to pay the proper-ty tax,” AdditionalCommissioner Shiva Parvathitold Postnoon on Friday.

While AP Secretariat owes`22.5 crores to the corporation,AP Transco owes `20 crore,APSRTC `15 crore and HMDAand HMWS&SB owe `17.1 crore.

Interestingly, many sections ofpolice department also turned outto be property tax defaulters.

U Srinivas [email protected]

Minister for Rural Development ,Dokka Manikya Vara Prasadagreed today that misappropri-

ation of funds occurred in MahatmaGandhi National Rural EmploymentGuarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).

About `17,000 crore has been spentin 6 years by the State under this pro-gramme. When Postnoon asked himwhether was any political involvementin the misappropriation, Vara Prasadsaid that he was prepared to resign ifanything was proved against him.

Andhra Pradesh is the first state toimplement the MGNREGS with anexpenditure of `2,921crore during thecurrent financial year.

UP is second state to implement andRajasthan is the third.

The minister said that while con-ducting the social audit with the partici-pation of people in all welfare schemes

and developmental activities for poor,government has noticed misappropria-tion of funds and it is a serious concern.

Special Mobile Courts would be setup soon to punish the persons foundguilty in the social audit, he said. Anordinance has been passed underArticle 213 of the Constitution tostrengthen the social audit and stop cor-ruption, he said.

The social audit was conducted in all1098 mandals in five rounds. The totalamount found deviated in the socialaudit team was `109.04 crore.

The amount determined as misap-propriated was `46.94 crore. Of this,`17.5 crore were recovered and the bal-ance remains to be claimed.

Govt offices top defaultState government offices are brazenly refusing to pay GHMC its dues on propertytax. As a last resort, the Corporation has published the top defaulters on its website

In an attempt to collect property tax from the defaulters, the corporationofficials have published the list of hosted the list of top 1000 defaulters onits website to put pressure on the property tax defaulters. This list of default-ers includes various governments organisations

Disturbing figures

Property tax to be recovered fromgovernment organisation this year

`72 crore

Property tax arears since 2001-02 `150 crore

Major defaulters

AP Secretariat `22. 5 croreAPSRTC `15 croreHMDA `6 croreHMWS&SB `12.1 croreAP Transco `20 crore

Rural job scheme fundsembezzled, says minister

Performance in 865 drought mandals:Wage expenditure `244 croreTotal expenditure `373 crorePerson days generated `269 lakh No of Individuals covered `23.7 lakh No of Households covered `14 lakh

MGNREGS-State at a Glance:Total wage expenditure `12,941 crore Total expenditure `17,528 croreHouseholds getting employment `91.3.lakhIndividuals getting wages `183 lakhPerson days generated `142.7 croreHouse holds completing 100 days `37.5 lakh

Mohd [email protected]

The ‘Anand Brigade’ (traffic)had a busy time last nightand they netted two big

names but in the bargain theyhad to hear an earful of profani-ties from one of them whenpulled up for driving drunk.

While Siva Balaji (of the Aryafame) who was caught for driv-ing drunk, made no fuss and sur-rendered to the cops after testinghigh on alcohol, the other, SunilNarayan, a businessman andsaid to be connected with cineproduction, made a fuss andallegedly abused the police fortheir ‘canine behaviour.’

Siva was stopped at FilmNagar, Bharatiya Vidya BahavanCrossing around 1pm. He had aparty and had downed quite anumber of pegs. He said he hadno idea it was beyond the per-missible limit as he was capableof driving home. His car, a Fordmake, was seized and he wasbooked. Siva tested 69.6 mg asagainst 30mg limit.

ACP Traffic Banjara Hills, KM

Madhu had, however, a word ofpraise for the gentlemanlybehaviour of the actor, who, theinspector said, admitted hisindiscretion and cooperated.

But it was a different story ofSunil Narayan. Jubilee HillsTraffic Inspector V SuryaChander Rao and his team hadconfronted Sunil at Jubilee HillsRoad No.2. He was at the driverseat and behind him sat hisfather and mother. On breathanalyser he tested 58.6 mg. But,when he was told he was beingbooked for drink-and-drive,Sunil is said to have lost his cooland began a harangue.

Rao, who was called names,later lodged a complaint againstSunil at the Jubilee Hills policestation. The car was seized andSunil was arrested. His parentswere safely transported home.

The enforcement driveagainst drink-and- drive willhave an element of surprise, interms of locations and timings.

About 3,500 cases havebeen booked since the anti-drunk driving campaign waslaunched four months ago.

Cops get an earfulfrom drunk driver

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 2012 4Urban Talkies

What is the size of the Citypolice force? How are youcoping with the increasingchallenges in terms of spurt incrimes in the City?We are 11,850 officers and men.Another 7,500 are special policeofficers, who are working afterretirement. We are actually 30 to35 per cent less compared toBangalore and Ahmedabad,which are comparable to our cityin terms of size.

We have nearly 3,000 vacantposts — 40 per cent of them areat the crucial sub-inspector level,affecting the quality of policing.Recruitment met with hurdles.We just now started the processand by the time a constablecompletes the process andcomes on board, it will be a yearand half more.

City police is passing througha very difficult period, thanks toagitations, communal problemsetc. Now, there is a need toimprove the system in city polic-ing. We are attempting that. TheIT industry has grown big in last10 years. Use of cyber technolo-gies in daily life and cybercrimetoo increased proportionately.We need to train and provideequipment to our staff.

What type of new crimesreared their head in therecent past? Influx of narcotics is the mainproblem. Compared to the peri-od a decade ago, such cases wentup drastically. Last year wecaught 17 such rackets, arrested42 accused and of them 20 areforeign nationals. We are publi-cising this to educate the civilsociety. The control on thisshould begin at home. Physicaltell-tale signs like loss of moneyfrom a house, behaviour changein growing-up children shouldall be noticed by parents.

Incidentally, females too areno exception to this. On a singleday, there were 47 text messageswere sent out from a female’smobile phone.

Such boys and girls are fromaffluent families with good fami-ly backgrounds. I feel painedwhen I see moral degradationhappening in the City.

How are the police gearing totackle burgeoning number oftraffic accidents?If you see the world statistics,

India is the bloodiest countrywith maximum deaths in roadaccidents and Andhra Pradesh isthe worst in the country.Hyderabad recorded most num-ber of deaths — 500 in the Cityand 1,200 in Cyberabad last year.Compared to the previous year,the toll fell by 15 per cent. This isagainst the normal trend, wherethere is a rise of five per cent. Weare hopeful of bringing it downby following golden hour princi-ple of providing timely medicalhelp and controlling drunkendriving.

How are you going about it?For most of the fatal accidents,drunken driving between 10pmand 2am is the cause. Only oneaccident occurred on January 1,if you see. The problem is moreon weekend days, especially thenights of Fridays and Saturdays.The number of deaths has comedown and we want to make it adaily activity and spread thisacross.

Speeding and racing onroads is another effect of drunk-enness. In most cases, parentsdid not have control over theirwards. They don’t even know iftheir children are out on thestreets causing nuisance. Ourstrict enforcement of restrictionsdrove them away from placeslike KBR Park-Jubilee Hills Road;and Begumpet-Tarnaka Road. In

fact, I went to counsel the par-ents and their children atBanjara Hills police station twiceafter midnight.

There are 60 to 70 youngsterswho were gifted bikes of 600cc to1000 cc which can attain the 300to 400 km speed in a span of 15to 20 seconds. Is there one roadon which they can drive thesemachines? Parents are to blamein this.

Aren’t some restrictions issuedto clubs, pubs, hotel etc.rather strange? With regards to control on clubs,pubs and bars, some rules wegave are mandatory and someare advisory. The rules we gavewere misunderstood in somecases. When you can keep a ther-mometer at your house, whycan’t a bar/pub have a breathanalyser to aid and advise theircustomers? But drunkennesscauses most problems. Maincause for harassment of womenat public places is drunkenness.The number of petty cases in theCity touched a staggering 3.50lakh a year and close to 40 percent of work of the police is deal-ing with drunkenness in publicplaces. All of us have to thrive tomake city better.

Do you think the police arebecoming punching bags forevery flaw?

When it comes to speeding, nar-cotics and crime, I feel sorry ifthey say police is responsible.The first blame should rest withparents. Poor parenting is themain cause.

The police may bring somefear and element of deterrence.But sanity could be achievedonly when parents and teacherswork for it.

Regarding the situation inagitations, Hyderabad hasbecome epicentre for politicalagitations in the last two yearsand I give full credit to my offi-cers and men for the way theyconducted themselves. Theymaintained utmost restraint andremained totally apolitical andneutral. Everybody praised themfor their restraint.

Is restraint seen as weakness?If it is done for strategic reasons,I don’t think so. It has actedwhen it has to act. Unfortunatelypolice is always judged by nega-tive things. It is never given cred-it for 100 positive things it does.In cricket, you play 100 balls allof which you cannot meddle.One ball can go wrong. Why isn’tSachin given credit for the 80runs he scored than the one ballhe missed.

We were never given creditfor the substantial peace wemaintain. For instance, howmany know that 15 to 20 proces-

sions are taken out in the Cityevery day? There were 4,000 pro-cessions taken out last year. Atleast 40 per cent of our manpower, working time, and think-ing time goes to processions,which I think is totally unpro-ductive. Every year, their numberis growing. If you can bring it toa reasonable level, we can workfor a better traffic control, bettercrime control. We are restrictingnew processions.

How are the policemen onduty handling this stress?A lot of chronic fatigue is settlingdown in the force which isaffecting its morale, perfor-mance and efficiency. You can-not continue this happening.They also need rest. They alsohave to spend time with familymembers. They are also part ofthe society. But, being a disci-plined force, they are doing allthis. Today, an average constableis working for about 12 to 14hours a day amidst the hardestof circumstances.

What about the policemeninvolved in criminal cases andmisbehaving with women? Last year, as many as 43 policeofficers were suspended on dif-ferent charges. Most of theseactions are suo motu. Comparethe number with the total num-ber of policemen. I am not sup-porting criminality among thepolicemen, though. A dirtybroom cannot clean the room.Social scavenging duty is givento the police. Even if one consta-ble does wrong, it is attributed tothe whole police force.

Subconscious expectation ofthe society is that when theyhave to control how they cantransgress. We give them exem-plary punishment. Seeing that,the rest of the force will learn alesson.

Regarding nightlife, why dothe police keep on proddingthose small shops, roadsidepushcarts to shut down at10.30 or 11 in the night? Eventhose heading home are askedto prove their identity. Why?Regarding restrictions onnightlife, most of the seriousaccidents, housebreakings, andmurders happen during nights.To control serious crimes, therehas to be restrictions.

‘I AM PAINED WHEN I SEE MORALDEGRADATION IN THE CITY’

Heading a constabulary of 15 officers of the Indian Police Service and 20,000 officers and policemen ofmultiple ranks, the Commissioner of City Police Abdul Khayum Khan wants the State capital to be a

much better place to live in. He talks to A SAYE SEKHAR

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 2012 5Spotlight

The cast and crew of The Lotus Pond celebrated the film’s success ata party in Hotel Isda Thai, Jubilee Hills. Actors Akash and RohitRanka interacted with school children and the film’s director A.L.Nitin Kumar spoke to the press.

Time for Tissot

VJ Gaelyn best known for her show CollegeBeat on MTV was in the city on Saturday topromote Season I of on-ground MTVUnplugged partnered by Tissot watches.

A reason to celebrate

Club-goers of the citywere found making theirway to Kismet at thePark. What better way tospend a Saturday nightthan to dance it away.

Anu and AliAsiya and Muskaan

Prasanth Jain

Prachi

MahimaBararia

GRANDTAMBOLA

The JCI Hyderabad Deccan released a Grand Tambola logoat the Platinum hotel in Himayat Nagar. The main

event is to be held this evening at Imperial garden..

Afreen

PICS: A SUDHEER REDDY

PICS : A SUDHEER REDDY

PICS: N SHIVA KUMAR

Club Night

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 2012 6India unveiled India‑View

FABRICATION

CLASSIFIEDS

A leopard attacks and wounds a man in a residential neighbourhood in Guwahati on Saturday. Three people were seriously injured in theattack before the feline was tranquilised and taken to Assam State Zoo. AFP

Devoteesfrom

Maharashtraand

Karnatakacelebrate

KhandobaPali festival

at Palivillage near

Karad,Maharashtraon Saturday.

PTI

Youngstersplay withsnow at a

park duringheavy

snowfall inSrinagar on

Saturday. PTI

Anti-corruption

activistAnna

Hazareexercising

at ahospital in

Pune onSaturday.

PTI

West BengalChief MinisterMamataBanerjee attheinaugurationof SwamiVivekananad’sstatue at KaliTemple inKolkata onSaturdayevening.

PTI

GEARINGUP

FESTIVEFERVOUR

DIDI’S DAY OUT

WINTERGAMES

FELINE FURY

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 20127Around the World Beyond Borders

US reaches outto Brotherhood

Republican presidential candidates, left to right, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorumparticipate in the Republican Presidential Debate in New Hampshire. The GOP contenders are inthe final stretch of campaigning for the New Hampshire primary, the first in the nation, to be heldon January 10. AFP

HAMPSHIRE SHOWDOWN

The Monrovia-flagged container ship Rena is splits into two in a storm as it is pounded by high seas off the New Zealand coast onSunday. Rena has been stuck on Astrolabe Reef since October 5. When the Rena ran aground, about 350 tonnes of oil spilled into thesea and was washed on to once-pristine beaches, killing at least 1,300 birds. More than 1,000 tonnes of oil have since been pumpedoff ship but there is more on board. AFP

THAT SINKING FEELING

Good news for Argentine prezBUENOS AIRES: ArgentinePresident Cristina Fernandezleft hospital on Saturday andreturned to her official resi-dence in Buenos Aires withgood news. Following her thy-roid operation, doctors saidshe does not have cancer.

“The histopathologicalexamination definitively showsthe presence of nodules inboth lobes of the president’sthyroid gland, but dismissesthe presence of carcinogeniccells, modifying the originaldiagnosis,” said to the medicalreport read out by presidentialspokesman AlfredoScoccimarro.

The 58-year-old Fernandez

was admitted on Wednesday tothe Austral Hospital to undergoa total removal of the thyroidgland because of cancerouscells detected in the right lobeof her thyroid.

Biopsies, however, foundonly a benign thyroid tumor.

According to the medicalreport, it means thatFernandez will not requiretreatment with radioactiveiodine as previouslyannounced.

Fernandez boarded thepresidential helicopter waitingfor her on the hospital premis-es and returned to her resi-dence near Buenos Aires,accompanied by her sonMaximo and daughterFlorencia.

Fernandez was operated bysurgeon Pedro Saco, among themost highly regarded in thecountry, under the supervisionof the presidential medicalteam. AFP

WASHINGTON: A once reluc-tant United States is reaching outto the Muslim Brotherhood in anod to Egypt’s new political reali-ty, but concerns linger about thegroup’s attitude toward minori-ties, women and the peace treatywith Israel.

In the wake of presidentHosni Mubarak’s ouster, theFreedom and Justice Party, theBrotherhood’s political arm, hasclaimed the lead in the final stageof parliamentary elections afterleading throughout. Liberal andsecular opposition parties havefared poorly.

“It’s clear that they are nowthe only game in town,” and USofficials must talk to them, saidMarina Ottaway, who heads theMiddle East program for theCarnegie Endowment forInternational Peace.

UK bosses tofeel heat fromshareholders

Tibetan diesafter settinghimself alightBEIJING: A Tibetan man diedafter he and another man setthemselves on fire in southwest-ern China, state media saidSunday, taking the total numberof similar acts to 14 in the restiveregion in less than a year.

The incidents happenedFriday near the Kirti monasteryin Sichuan province’s Aba county— the scene of a sporadic boutsof unrest since a young monknamed Phuntsog self-immolatedlast March — the official Xinhuanews agency said. Rights groupssay nine monks and two nunshave previously set themselveson fire over the past year.

LONDON: British PrimeMinister David Cameron hasvowed to give shareholders theright to veto executives’ paypackages, amid mounting politi-cal pressure and public angerover huge salaries and bonuses.

With Britons bracing for atough year amid a gloomy eco-nomic outlook and the politicallycharged bank bonus seasonapproaching, Cameron took atough line on sky-high salaries ina Sunday newspaper interview.

He called for the end of the“merry-go-round”, where highly-paid bosses sit on each other’sboards and approve pay awards.

“The market for top peopleisn’t working, it needs to be sort-ed out,” he told The SundayTelegraph. “Let’s empower theshareholders by having a straight,shareholder vote on top paidpackages.”

The comments came amidgrowing political pressure for thegovernment to prove it is seriousabout tackling so-called “fat cat”pay, with repeated calls from theopposition Labour party leaderfor action.

Despite repeated controver-sies over bosses being handedhuge payoffs even in cases wherecompanies have failed, currentlyshareholders can only expresstheir disapproval through anadvisory vote. AFP

Iran praises US navyTEHRAN: Iran has hailed theactions of the US navy as“humanitarian” after anAmerican warship freed 13Iranians held by Somali pirates.

“We consider the actions ofthe US forces in saving the lives ofIranian seamen to be a humani-tarian and positive act and wewelcome such behaviour,”Iranian foreign ministryspokesman as saying onSaturday.

The pirates were believed tobe Somalis. The Iranians werereleased after the US Navyrestocked and refueled their ves-sel. IANS

TALK BACKLucky you!I have grave disagreements about the articlethat claims that street food out-lets offer good, healthy andhygienic food. True that one savesa lot of time not having to cook,but those who gorge on street foodand save money and time will haveto spend both in hospitals — sooneror later. What officials understand ascleanliness is debatable. I have comeacross bits of rock, hair and fluff insome of the delectable but cheap streetfood. At times, some bandies save oil thatthey used the previous day for the followingone. It’s just that the writer of the article hasluck… he’s still alive and writing.

Anand VediBegumpet

Good Job, PostnoonThe feature on Chor Bazaarwas a good one. It’s interest-ing that such places exist. Atleast I was not aware of thisplace. The picture along withthe story shows manythings useful and beautiful.When I read that second-hand bicycles are avail-able too, I was reminded

of mine that had vanishedtwo years back. I had kept it locked aftergoing on a ride one evening, and the nextmorning it was gone. Maybe I ought tocheck this place out: I may find mine andcould buy it ‘cheap’.

Ray ThomasSecunderabad

Impressive workI came across Postnoon recently and I mustsay that I am impressed. It'spackaged well, but at thesame time, the quality ofwriting needs to beimproved. Having said that, Ibelieve Postnoon is a goodstep forward in bringing outvarious facets of Hyderabad. Ihope to see more reportingabout local events especiallytheatre,film festivals. Also, Allowme to suggest that there can bemore editorials and opinionpieces in the newspaper ratherthan just reporting.

Abhishek Banjara Hills

Citizen connectionI have been reading yourpaper for sometime nowand I like the recent addi-tion that you have in yourpaper. The recent featureabout Faces of Hyderabadis really good. I like thefact how your paper isconnecting to the citi-zens and actuallyrelates to it throughthis new addition. Thebest part about it is

that rather than featur-ing celebrities, it features the readers. Goodjob and keep it up.

Esha GuptaSecunderabad

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 2012 8Fair, free and forthrightComment

In the consumerist culture that we livein, we’re encouraged to be always onthe lookout for the novel and the inter-esting; to add variety to life; to trysomething new; to experiment. During

my recent visit to Kerala, I encountered sev-eral people who were leading a large part oftheir lives in what we may term as ‘pre-dictable routine’ — doing the same thingover and over again, day in and day out —either due to circumstance or by their rejec-tion for the need to do anything else at all.

After three days of work in Trivandrum, Idrove down some 30km to the picturesquebeaches of Kovalam for some unwindingand feet-up time in the sun. I found acharming island resort in the midst of a lakewith the beach barely a few metres away. Butone had to get into a boat to reach the beachor to access another part of the resort, whichalso was built on water. The balcony of theroom I was renting was at a vantage pointfrom where I could see all three parts of thisresort — the lake, the beach and the twoconcrete structures.

I spent a day watching the water andnoticed that a boatman (he must have been inhis late 50s) was responsible for taking peopleacross the water, to wherever they wished togo. He spent all day ferrying the resort staff andguests those 150 metres across — to the lake orbeach. And this is all he has been doing formost of his life. The only variety this boatmanexperiences in his job is the different peoplewho occupy his boat. Barring that, his job wasas predictable as the ripples in the lake.

The second person who intrigued me wasthe taxi driver who drove me from the Kochiairport to the city centre on the day I arrived.Though his job, unlike the boatman’s,involved finding new roads, negotiating traf-fic and meeting different people, he told mehe finds comfort in the routine of being a taxidriver. A few years ago, he quit Kochi andwent to the coastal city of Mangalore to earn aliving as a bus driver. He stayed there for twoyears but returned to Kochi to drive taxis

because he wanted to be in familiar territory. He told me that he picked up some

Kannada when in Mangalore and that wasnice. But he was itching to get back home. Itwas not homesickness as much as the need tobe in a comfort zone.

On my last day in Kochi, I met AbdulRehman. He runs a shop in Broadway, a largelywholesale market, where he sells women’snight clothes — ‘nighty’, as it is popularly kno -wn. Rehman sources cotton cloth and stitchesthis gown-like, unshapely garment, which hehas been doing for over 20 years. The winds ofchange have brought newer consumer needs,better ways of getting things done. ButRehman insists that his set of regular cus-tomers shun those new ways and find comfortin the fact that they can predict what the nightyhe stitches for them will be like. Rehman refus-es to change or do it any other way. Magazinedesigns for night clothes don’t work in this

market, he said. Would he not like to diversifyand do more? Absolutely not, he says.

Routine and repetition are seen asdrudgery for dullards with no imagination.But are these three men in Kerala dullards? I’dsay not at all. They have each found a way tobring energy and attention to each of theirdaily activities. They don’t just breeze throughlife and its numerous demands. They addqua lity to each moment by enriching the ex -pe rience of each task. They are making eachday feel new with their attitude and intentionby not seeing their jobs as repetition but moreas special and unique in its own way. Thoughthey do the same job over and over again, theysee each job as a one-time encounter.

How fascinating it would be to look at lifethrough the prism of uniqueness in everymoment/every job! Perhaps the biggest chal-lenge would be to give in to predictability andlet the individual moments take over.

Soul CurrySumaa Tekur

Editorials Can’t avoid repetition(and that’s good)!

Readers’ viewsWe invite you to write to us

comments, suggestions, view-point or just about anything to

[email protected] or #1246, Level 3, Jubilee Casa,

Road No 62, Jubilee Hills,Hyderabad – 500 033

or even by way ofa call on 4067 2222

ONUS ON PARENTSto rein in children

Police Commissioner AK Khan’sstatement that parents mustbe responsible for their chil-

dren’s behaviour is spot-on. Far toooften in this digital age, parents

leave the disciplining of their chil-dren to others. Teachers and the

police are dumped with the unenvi-able job of weeding out habits thatare often ingrained in the home. It’stime parents realised that their jobdoes not end at brining a child into

this world and paying for their food,clothing and education. The rearing

of a child is a job that requires aninnate sense of responsibility. If youdon’t have it, then don’t have kids.

The job of the police is toughenough without having to watchover youngsters thrown into the

world without a strong foundation ofprinciples and values. The buck stops

in the home, and it’s high time par-ents woke up and smelled the roses.

If your child is a delinquent, it’sprobably because you weren’t a verygood parent. Giving your child a fastcar or bike and then failing to incul-cate a sense of duty to his own life,

and that of others, is a failure of epicproportions. Tears shed after the factmean little when they don’t need to

be shed in the first place

WHY WE LOVEPlagiarism

Plagiarism is OK, according to ourdirectors and scriptwriters. The

days when originality wasappreciated are gone, for none has

the time to think and put forth newideas. It’s easier to trek the proven,

safe track; at least we shall reachsomewhere instead of getting lost.Rip-offs are not one-offs anymore;

they are the norm. An egregious con-sequence of plagiarism finding

approval is that success got throughsuch means cuts the distance

between mediocrity and genius. Butwhat does that matter as long as we

succeed, isn’t it?

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 2012 9Matters of saving and spendingBusiness

What’s the costliest ofeverything that islaunched so far andeven perhaps

amongst the yet-to-be launchedmachines too at the Auto Expo2012 in New Delhi? Hold yourbreath. It’s neither a car nor abike.

Auto Expo 2012 was the mostvenerable public platform cho-sen by Ratan Tata, not only for thelaunch of CNG version of Nanoand a variant of Tata Safari, buteven to ‘unveil’ his heir-apparentCyrus Mistry, 43.

The elegant business tycoonof India Ratan Tata almost didthat necessary handholdingbefore ‘launching’ the 43-year-old Mistry, who is anointed theChairman of the Tata Sons afterRatan demits the office on attain-ing 75 years of age.

Not that the handing over of

the reins hasn’t begun. Ratantook him to London first. Later,he took him to Gandhinagar tomeet Chief Minister Narendra

Modi. Now the Auto Expo provid-ed a perfect platform for thelaunch of the ‘yuva raja’ of $ 83-billion global conglomerate.

Mistry, known for his passionfor cars, must have admired hisoutgoing mentor when the lattercandidly admitted that Nano wasan opportunity missed, but theproduct had not lost.

Tata’s unambiguous refer-ence to Nano’s lack of effective adcampaign and a proper dealernetwork and a promise that thecompany would surely move upthe value chain with the launchof new variants boosted themorale, not only of Mistry but thewistful teams in Tata Motors too.

Perhaps, Nano will be the firstthing that Mistry’s team wouldrework on to enhance its salestorque. And, the demeanour ofMistry is as dignified as the Tatasand he already is spreading theaura around him to fill theobservers’ view that he is a per-fect fit, though he doesn’t have asqueaky physique.

It is an attack by No. 2 on the No. 1.Deputy Chief Minister Damodar C Raja

Narsimha took on his boss head on. WhenAPCC Chief Botsa Satyanarayana andmatinee-idol-turned-emerging leaderChiranjeevi tried to intervene, he qui-etened them asking them to ‘wait’, almostlike an order.

He nearly queered the pitch at thebreakfast bonhomie of the coordinationcommittee headed by Ghulam Nabi Azad.The Dy CM asked the Chief Minister pointblank as to why the latter was soft-ped-alling with YS Jagan, who is cursing Soniaand Rahul with bell, book and candle.

He fired his salvos one after the other.Why is the Government doling outlargesse to Jagan’s media? The Dy CMreportedly pointed out that theGovernment billing was Rs. 150 crore toSakshi group alone. “Why should westrengthen him financially?”

The Dy CM also reportedly pointed outthat the Chief Minister’s silence hadcaused confusion among the rank and fileof the party across the State.

But the washing of the proverbial dirtylinen in the presence of Azad gave rise toseveral questions. Was the generally com-posed Narsimha, who also is the son of aformer minister like Kiran Kumar Reddy,made to lose his cool by anybody?

Kiran Kumar Reddy was flabbergastedby the way he was questioned by hisdeputy. What was face-saving for him washis advance briefing to Azad on what allcould pour out in the visit.

Chiranjeevi, who had the temerity tothreaten the Congress when the party wasfacing a floor test in the wake of the no-trust move brought in by the OppositionTelugu Desam, drifted away from his tem-porary mentor Botsa Satyanarayana.

Kiran Kumar is said to have dangledthe carrot of posts and lured the fledglingpolitician onto his side. Now everyoneknows who is behind Damodar’s volleyof questions.

Politicians are always taken forgranted. Ploutus or Plutus was

the god of wealth. He was at firstassociated purely with bounty ofrich harvests in agrarian Greece.Later he came to represent wealthin more general terms. So, what?

That Plutus wants to dance onthe desk of Health Minister D LRavindra Reddy. Just four daysago, Jaya Kumari, District Medicaland Health Officer of RangaReddy district, called on the min-ister to seek a transfer.

Ravindra Reddy, a doctor him-self, was in for a major shockwhen she flashed wads of curren-cy notes – said to be Rs 3 lakh –and offered the same to the min-

ister in return of the favour. The ‘obdurate’ minister, as is

his wont, did not yield. Currencycould not conquer his counte-nance. For a while, he lost his cooland chided the doctor for herbravado and turned her away.

But another doctor who triedto coerce the minister into acced-ing to his request for a promotion

made DLR’s heart miss a beat. SDileep Kumar Sastry, who learntthat his name figured in the pro-motion list, saw the minister afortnight ago. He appealed toconsider his case for an elevationas joint director and ‘assured’ theminister that he could take care ofany ‘formalities’.

Stunned, DLR asked him tosee the Health Secretary. But DrSastry, who earned a good reputa-tion for himself in West Godavaridistrict where he works, realisedhis mistake but could not put theclock back. A week later, he wassuspended on the charge of ‘talk-ing to the minister about promo-tion’. Is morality still alive?

God of smallthingsLord Venkateswara indeed

is a powerful god. This isknown to all those who had abrush with His ‘deeds on theirrespective destinies’. No needof narrating all that here.

Chief Minister NallariKiran Kumar Reddy, whohails from Chittoor district,knows more than anybodyelse how powerful the Lord ofSeven Hills is. He also knowsBalaji is the God of gods.

Finance Minister PranabMukherjee came down to Ti -ru pati on Friday. Protocoldo e sn’t let him walk throughthe Mahadwaram. Yet,Kanumuri Bapi Raju, in hiscapacity of the Chairman ofTirumala TirupatiDevasthanam (TTD), couldhave organised it.

But recall the night ofNovember 25, 2010, and youwould know why Kiran air-dashed to Tirupati after see-ing off Ghulam Nabi Azad inHyderabad. It was Pranabwho announced the name ofKiran Kumar Reddy as theChief Ministerial nominee ofthe party high command tosucceed Rosaiah.

Ever since, Kiran knowswho his godfather is. Now, henever misses an opportunityto propitiate the small gods.After all, it is an investment.

NO. 2 STRIKES AT KIRAN

Launch of Cyrus-43 @ Auto Expo 2012

SundaySoup

A Saye Sekhar

MORTALITY OF MORALITY

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 201210Week in Pictures

A Dutch local, standing in his house, looks at high watersthrough his window, in Dordrecht on January 5, 2012.

Gale force winds reaching up to 110 kilometres an houras well as heavy rains lashed the Dutch coast. About a

quarter of the country sits below sea level. AFP/ANP/ROBIN UTRECHT

Zoo keeper Adrian Walls (R) poses for photographers in front ofpenguins during the annual stocktake at London Zoo in north Londonon January 4. AFP/CARL COURT

Lava spews from a crater of thegiant Etna Volcano on the

southern Italian island of Sicily.A column of hot ash spewedhigh into the sky as Europe's

highest active volcano rumbledback to life.

AFP/MARCELLO PATERNOSTRO

Hook Eagle Morris Men making their way tothe local orchard, part of the annual Wassail

ceremony in Hartley Wintney, 40 miles west ofLondon. AFP/ADRIAN DENNIS

A woman grips herumbrella against the windin front of the Jubelpark -Cinquantenaire in Brussels

as a storm moved overBelgium.

AFP/BENOIT DOPPAGNE

A man watches as anairliner flies over his house

into HongqiaoInternational airport in

Shanghai. Chinese airlineswill not pay a charge on

carbon emissions imposedby the European Union

from January 1. AFP/PETER PARKS

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 201211Insight

Sudeshna [email protected]

Come winter and migratorybirds from Siberia, Australia,China, Mongolia and

Afghanistan define India as theirhome sweet home. With climaticconditions getting extreme in thenorthern hemisphere, birds fromthese locations travel to tropicalregions. Andhra Pradesh has beena favourite destination with flam -ingoes, bar headed goose, openbilled stork, lesser whistling duck,brahimy shad duck, northern pin-tail, spot billed duck and thenorthern shoveller.

However, since the last twoyears the number of these migrato-ry birds coming to the city has fall-en. Bird watchers and expertsattribute it to the bad climatic con-dition. “We used to spot severalnew migratory birds every yearduring winter but of late we do not

see any new birds. Even their num-bers have been dwindling over thepast few years. We cannot quotethe number but definitely can saythat there has been a great dip,”says Malla Giridhar of the ProjectFacility, Environment ProtectionTraining and Research Institute.

Researchers claim that deple-

tion of wetlands are also fuellingthis change. Due to global warm-ing, the numbers of wetlands inand around Hyderabad have beenreducing. This is the primary rea-son why migratory birds have notbeen coming to Hyderabad.

The second reason they cite forthis dip in the numbers of migra-

tory birds is water pollution. “As itis cold in their region, birds comehere for food and reproduction.Eggs need warmth and this cli-mate is best suited for that. Of late,because of the pollution, theseeggs are getting infertile and nothatching. Even before they devel-op they are dying due to the pollu-

tion,” opined Giridhar. Excessamounts of iron, mercury, sulphurand phosphorus along with theGanesh idols’ immersion wasteand toxic waste is the main reasonfor pollution in the city’s lakes. Fewyears back flocks of brahimy shadducks would be found in theHussain Sagar lake but nowbecause of the increased level ofpollution, none have been foundsince the last two years.Ornithologists in the city believethat though the pollution levelsare increasing, birds find otherresorts. “Migratory birds have nochoice so they come here. Whenthey find one lake polluted theylook for another one,” says ShafatUllah, the honorary secretary ofAndhra Pradesh Bird Watchers’Society. Now the birds havechanged their haunt from HussianSagar and some birds have beenseen near the Gandipet Lake andthe Durgam Cheruvu,” he adds.

No place for migratory birds in city

Aishwarya [email protected]

Sankranti time spells fun andfestivities for Hyderbadis.Each year this festival is

awaited by one and all as this isthe day when it’s time to unleashthe kid within you. Kite flying istaken to a new level every yearwith new types of kites being in -troduced in the market. The kitewith the strongest, sharpest manjabecomes the hottest selling item.Fun as it may seem for humans,the festival is literally a death trapfor our feathered friends.

Thousands of birds die this

season when they get entangled inkite strings while flying. Themanja or string that is used to flykites is coated with special ingredi-ents to make to it as sharp as pos-sible so that cutting the oppo-nent’s kite becomes easy.Powdered glass, glue and colourare mixed together and applied onthe strong cotton thread. Thethread is so sharp, that kite fliersare often left with bloody fingersas it slices into their flesh often. It’snot hard to imagine what will hap-pen when an unfortunate birddoes not see the manja in its flightpath and gets entangled in it.Shafat Ullah, honorary secretary ofAndhra Pradesh Bird Watchers’Society, tells us more, “ This prob-lem is prevalent all over India. Thepoor birds get hurt every year andmany of them die. They get stuckin the manja and cannot untanglethemselves. Their wings and legsget cut and they helplessly bleedto death. The newly availableChinese manja is razor sharp, asure death-trap for birds. There is

no solution to this problembecause we cannot prevent any-one from flying kites.”

According Shafat Ullah, blackkites and pigeons are the birdsmost hit by this festival. Black kitesbasically glide in the sky and thismake them most liable to run intothe manja. And pigeons dwell nearhuman surroundings so it’s no sur-prise that they, too, are ones thatare badly affected. Sadly, Hyder -abad does not have any emergen-cy services to rescue hurt birds likethere is in Ahme dabad. The onlything one can do to help an injur -ed bird is to take it to a vet’s clinicor call the Bird Watchers’ Society.

Festivals may be a time for joyfor us but that does not mean birdsand other animals can get hurt.

Animal Care CentreAddress: 8-2-414, Road No 4, Banjara Hills,

Hyderabad, Andhra PradeshPhone number: 040-2335 2474

Bluplus Pet ClinicAddress: C-39, Sharada Theatre Lane, Hyderabad,Andhra Pradesh. Phone number: 040-2712 1739

Blue Cresent Veterinary ClinicAddress: Toli Chowki, Surya Nagar Colony,

Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. Phone number: 040-2356 2214

Vet N Pet Multi Speciality ClinicAddress: 23, Ameerpet, Hyderabad, Andhra PradeshPhone number: 040-2655 3953

Raipets Animal ClinicAddress: Padmakshi Apartment, Mettuguda,

Hyderabad, Andhra PradeshPhone number: 040-2782 5147

All Creatures Animal ClinicAddress: 10-3-18/2, Marredpally (East),Hyderabad, Andhra PradeshPhone number: 040-2773 0885

Spare our feathered friends

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 201212The Arts

Sana [email protected]

In the words of Henry Miller,“An artist is always alone — ifhe is an artist. No, what the

artist needs is loneliness.” Theidea of inner stillness seems likea distant luxury, especially in thebustle of daily life.

The artist is on the constantlookout for that space in timeand quietude that enables himto flex his/her creative muscles.Every symphony you hear, eachplay you watch, every dancemove you make, every book youread begins with a person in aroom with an idea and a pas-sion to do something creative.In order to satisfy that hunger, anumber of fellowships, grants,and residencies are available,which provide writers, design-ers, photographers and film-makers with resources andcommon platforms to collabo-

rate, interact and learn fromeach other and explore theirpotential in the midst of like-minded people.

Anupa Mehta, a publishedwriter and columnist, is an inde-pendent arts consultant and theDirector of The Loft in Mumbaiand Arts Reverie, a home-stay inAhmedabad.

The Loft began in 2008 as anartist’s studio and art source andbrings together Anupa’s variedexperiences and interests underone roof. “The space at The Loftis mainly for creative interaction,artist residencies, curatorial pro-jects, and we also encourage newart,” says Anupa going on to add,“We have a panel comprisingeminent collectors, establishedartists and critic-curators whorecommend artists for The Loft’sannual programme.

We also have Arts Reverie,which is a special house thatsupports contemporary craft

development and a place whereartists can stay to develop theirideas.”

Sridala Swami is a writer anda poet who’s first collection ofpoems, A Reluctant Survivor, waspublished by the SahityaAcademy in 2007 and shortlistedfor the Shakti Bhatt First BookAward in 2008. A filmmaker anda children’s book author, Sridalaspent three months in Stirling asthe 2011 Charles Wallace Fellow.“The Charles Wallace Fellowshipis like a blessing to any writerwho has been awarded that.Through the fellowship, I got the

chance to devote all my time tomy writing. I also had the chanceto interact with professionalsfrom different fields and sincethe university was very small, theexperience was intimate too.During that time, I worked onthe manuscript of my secondcollection of poetry and anotherchildren’s book,” she says, andadds, “My only regret was thatmy tenure wasn’t longer. But Ibelieve that the next fellow willhave that too.”

The Caversham Centre forArtists and Writers, based inSouth Africa, provides scholar-ships in literature, printmakingand visual arts. While they hostresidencies for local and interna-tional artists, they also undertakelocal community collaborationprojects. Masuram Ravikant is anartist who received the HRDScholarship in 2008 in painting.

“My scholarship was for twoyears and I worked with 150 stu-dents. It was an enlighteningexperience for me as I got sup-port not only from my fellowartists but the judges as well. Itwas a platform for me to show-case my work to a large group ofpeople from all over India.”

These fellowships arejust some of the suggestedavenues that artists can opt for.An extensive search online doesresult in far more fellowships andresidencies.

Art Nouveau is an inter-national philosophy andstyle of art — especially

the decorative arts — thatwere popular during 1890–1914. The name Art Nouveauis French for ‘new art.’ Theart developed as a reactionto academic art of the 19thcentury, was inspired by nat-ural forms and structures,not only in flowers andplants but also in curvedlines. The style was influ-enced strongly by Czechartist Alphonse Mucha. Thatis, when he produced alithographed poster, whichappeared on January 1, 1895in the streets of Paris as anadvertisement for the playGismonda by VictorienSardou, featuring SarahBernhardt.

Art Nouveau flourished ina number of European coun-tries, many of which devel-oped their own names forthe style. Art Nouveau wasknown in France as styleGuimard, after French design-er Hector Guimard; in Italy asthe stile Floreale (floralstyle); stile Liberty, afterBritish Art Nouveau designerArthur Lasenby Liberty; inSpain as Modernisme; inAustria as Sezessionstil(Vienna Secession); and inGermany as Jugendstil.

Although Art Nouveauwas replaced by 20th-centurymodernist styles, it is consid-ered now as an importanttransition between the his-toricism of Neoclassicism andmodernism. Furthermore, ArtNouveau monuments arenow recognised by UNESCOwith their World HeritageList as significant contribu-tions to cultural heritage.

ART FOR DUMMIES

New Artmovement

A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN

An artist, by nature,is one who seeks soli-

tude, constantlyaching for the com-pany, if ever, of like-

minded people and isa dreamer, consentingto dream of the actu-

al world. An artist’sretreat is what

converts this dreaminto a possibility

Suggested fellowships

n Himalayan Art MuseumZendai

n Caversham Centre for Artistsand Writers

n Bengalaru Artist Residency

n Global Arts Village

n Goa Center for AlternativePhotography

n New India Foundation

n Sangam Residency

n France-KrishnakritiFellowship

n British Chevening Scholarship

Sridala Swami

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 201213Design Talks

Cast in Iron If you want to buyfurniture with

which you can savespace and moneyand not compromiseon the look, then,wrought iron is thesolution! There isthis new wrought-iron sofa availablefor `5,000, at theNampally market.And a cot for `4,500.The best place tobuy these, though,would be a GodrejFurniture outlet. It’simportant that youkeep in mind thatwrought iron usuallyneeds repairs atleast once a year.However, it gives the house a very chic look

Bargainyour way to a

If you have been wanting to redecorate your house, then here’s a great guide for you.They are easy on the pocket and great additions to any room, writes Shiba Minai

Beige Comfort

This beige and cream coloured sofais built for comfort. The complete

set has a three seater, a two seaterand a small seater and all of thiswith upholstery for `15,000 only, andit’s brand new! You can find it atNampally.

The king’sthrone

This can be bought as asingle piece for a

library or as a pair. Ablend of the old and new.The intricate carving onthe chair’s back-rest iswhat gets your attention.You will find this andmany more in Shil -paramam, and this sturdychair is made out of walnut wood and costs`4,500. Our source tellsus it comes down to even`3,000. Now, here’s a bargain you can look forward to.

Tring-tring

If you are the kinds who loves reminiscing the oldendays and like collecting knick-knacks that create the

ancient feel around you, you surely can’t miss thisphone with a rotating dial and it’s ring can beat a bus’horn any day! Shilparamam is the place to get this. It isavailable for `2,700 and like always, we say, bargain!

Check this out!This checkered sofa,

although second hand, is aperfect find. You will have tolook hard to get a good pieceas you may not have a choiceof 'classy pieces'. It can befound at the Nampally furni-ture market for `3,500, butthen you can always negotiate.

Weave them in

This sofa set has been madeby 'double weaving' and

the centre piece with the glasscompletes the look. This sturdyand classy set along withcushions costs only `17,500.You can find this in shops onthe Lakdi-ka-pul stretch thatsell cane furniture. We recom-mend Bombay Cane Furnitureshop, which has a great vari-ety, but the trick is to bargainwell and the costs might comedown by a thousand or two!

GOOD HOME

Wine is a subject that is so vast and

diverse, that mo st times I’m atloss for whe re to begin and

where to stop. As I chat withmost Indi ans to day who are curious abo ut wi -

ne, I realise that basic wi ne te rms and grapevarietals are not known to them. So here it is

—Classic white wine grape varietals are

Chardonnay, Sau vi gnon Blanc, Chenin Bla nc,Semillon, Viognier and Riesling.

Yes, these are the names of grape varietiesthat white wine is made from. For the reds, the

most common varieties are Shiraz, Merlot,Cabernet, Savi gnon, Zinfandel and Pinot Noir.

So most new world wines will mention thegrape variety on the label and of course the

name of the brand and the year. Now the yearon the bottle denotes the year these grapes wereharvested in and is not the year of bottling. New

world wines are a product of new wine coun-tries such as Australia, New Zealand, Argentina,

Chile, India, Canada and America and the oldworld wine countries are mainly Spain, France,Italy and Germany. These countries name their

wines after the region it was produced in anddon’t always give away the grape varieties used

in the making. For example a Bordeaux winefrom the region in France.

One of the factors that determine the basictaste or flavour of the wine is the grape varietal,

as each grape variety has its peculiar taste orcharacteristic. So here is what you can expect

from each varietal.

The best way to discover the joys of wine is tobe adventurous and taste every grape varietal,to try and detect hints of different flavours ineach. Only then can you let your own palatebe your guide to finally decide which is yourmost favourite grape variety.

RED

Pinot Noir — Red fruit and vegetal flavours.Cabernet sauvignon — Black fruit, oak andcedar aromas.Merlot — Red fruit flavours. Aromas of choco-late and fruit cake.Shiraz — Black fruit, pepper and spice.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 201214Food & Wine

VARIOUS VARIETIESIN WINE

SUPERMODEL

Shamita SinghaTelevision anchor, VJ, andanimal rights enthusiast.

Singha is a wine enthusi-ast-turned-wine taster

Stalking foodSyed Shoaib

Do visit thisbiryani factory

WHITE

Chardonnay — green or tropical fruit flavours.Creamy with citrus notes.Sauvignon Blanc — Vegetal and green fruitflavours. Aromas of herbs.Riesling — Green and citrus fruit flavours. Honeyand a hint of minerals.Chenin Blanc — Tropical fruit with hints of citrusfruit flavours.Viognier — Very perfumed variety. Floral aromaswith an oily texture.

There are countless varieties of wine in theworld. Different blends, fortified wines, still

wines, sparkling wines, dry wines and sweetwines. Today we discuss those varieties that

you're most likely to encounter

WhatHotel City Diamond

WhereMehdipatnam Chaurasta

PriceChiken Biryani: `85

Must-tryKhichdi Kheema Khatta

City Diamond is a gemof an eatery. Eventhough situated, as it

is, among a score of similarjoints, Diamond has its cutof regulars. “Well, this isbecause we have been inthe business for the pastseven years and have anestablished clientele,”explains owner, SyedAnwar, adding, “Word ofmouth works well in thefood industry. Youngtechies from Hi-tech Cityhave taken a fancy to ourfood.” “I like it here becausethe place is clean, apartfrom the affordable pric-ing,” says Mohammed Faizwho is pursuing an Mtechin the city. Syed Irshad, whohelps in maintaining theplace, says he has learnt theart of insulating himselffrom the fluctuating marketprices of essentials throughexperience. “We protect ourcustomers from change incosts by buying thingssmartly,” he explains.

It is more of a food fac-tory, if one was to go by theprocess of production offood over here, which is a24/7 affair… well almost.And the output too, is asprecise. One can relish aChicken Biryani here at anyhour of the day. Ali Arif,who sells stationery at astore in Masab Tank, how-ever, swears by the KhichdiKheema Khatta. “It tastesamazing and is availablefrom five in the morningand is a perfect way to startyour day,” he says, while lit-erally drooling.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 201215History Forward to the past

A miraculous jab Jan 11, 1922: At TorontoGeneral Hospital, LeonardThompson became the firstperson to be successfully treatedwith insulin. However, the extractwas so impure, Thompsonsuffered a severe allergic reaction,and further injections werecanceled.

From Paris,with loveJan 12, 1908: A wireless mes-sage was sent long-distancefor the first time from the EiffelTower in Paris. Named after itsdesigner and engineer GustaveEiffel, the tower was built asthe entrance arch to the 1889World's Fair.

Liz becomes queenJan 15, 1559: England's QueenElizabeth I (Elizabeth Tudor) wascrowned in Westminster Abbey.Her reign is famous for the defeatof the Spanish Armada, and forsuccessful raids against theSpanish, such as those on Cádiz in1587 and 1596, but some histori-ans point to military failures onland and at sea.

JAN 9, 1951The United Nations Headquarters officially opened in New York City. The United Nations

Headquarters complex was constructed in New York City in 1949-1950 beside the East River, on 17 acres ofland purchased from the foremost New York real estate developer of that time, William Zeckendorf.

For the recordJan 10 1949: Vinyl records were intro-duced by RCA (45rpm) and Columbia(33.3rpm). The vinyl record regainedpopularity by 2008, with early 2.9 mil-lion units shipped that year, the most inany year since 1998.

Smoking kills!Jan 11, 1964: US Surgeon General Luther Terry released a report thatsaid smoking cigarettes was a definite health hazard. Cigarette smok-ing of nicotine was defined as not an addiction in the General's firstreport on smoking (published by a committee of doctors who ironical-ly were largely smokers themselves).

Clinton comes unstuck Jan 14, 1999: The impeachment trial ofUS President Clinton began inWashington, DC. This made Clinton onlythe second US president to be impeached(the first being Andrew Johnson).Impeachment proceedings were based onallegations that Clinton had lied abouthis relationship with White House internMonica Lewinsky in a sworn depositionin the Paula Jones lawsuit.

Nuptial miss Jan 14, 1954: Marilyn Monroe

and Joe DiMaggio were married.The marriage only lasted ninemonths. He quit his job with a

military post-exchange supplieron August 1, 1962, to ask her to

remarry him; she was found deadon August 5.

A giant falls Jan 9, 2002: The US JusticeDepartment announced that it waspursuing a criminal investigation ofEnron Corp. The company had filed forbankruptcy on December 2, 2001.Before its bankruptcy, Enronemployed approximately 22,000 asstaff and was one of the world's lead-ing electricity, natural gas, communi-cations, pulp and paper companies,with claimed revenues of nearly $101billion in 2000.

Flight goessupersonic Jan 9, 1969: The supersonic aero-plane Concorde made its first trialflight at Bristol. Concorde enteredservice in 1976 and continued com-mercial flights for 27 years. Withonly 20 aircrafts built, their develop-ment represented a substantial eco-nomic loss, in addition to which AirFrance and British Airways were subsidised by their governments to buy them.

Tito becomes prezJan 14, 1953: Josip Broz Tito was elected

President of Yugoslavia by the country'sParliament. He gained international attention asthe chief leader of the Non-Aligned Movement,

working with Jawaharlal Nehru and GamalAbdel Nasser of Egypt.

THE UNGETS A HOME

Jordanretires

Jan 13, 1999: Michael Jordan (ChicagoBulls) announced his retirement from the

NBA. Jordan was one of the most effectivelymarketed athletes of his generation and wasinstrumental in popularising the NBA around

the world in the 1980s and 1990s.

Silent sci-fi Jan 10, 1927: Fritz

Lang's film Metropoliswas first shown in

Berlin. It was ranked#12 in Empire maga-

zine's The 100 BestFilms Of World Cinemain 2010. It was ranked

number 2 in a list of the100 greatest films of

the Silent Era.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 201218Because you are what you wearF‑Folio

COMBATTINGHARSH WINTERS

Your skin doesn't have to resemble the weather outside during those cold,wintry, brash months. With our list of moisturisers, body lotions and skin ton-

ics, you can give your winter skin, the much-required regimen boost

Sana [email protected]

As daylight hours dwindle, a sort of fear settles inand the cold clear days of winter bring in morethan just a rosy glow to your cheeks. They also

make your skin dry, which, in severe cases, results incracking, eczema and even flaking. A lot of women out

there are faced with the challenge of keeping their skinwell-moisturised but even then, using too much of amoisturiser may damage your skin and you may risksuffering from acne or too less of it may give you dry,itchy skin.

No worries! Here is a list of the five best skin careproducts for winter, so you can have soft, glowing skinall winter long.

Nivea Smooth SensationFor residue-free daytime moisture, look no further thanNivea Smooth Sensation body lotion. With a light,fresh scent — plus hydrating gingko extracts, Sheabutter, and Vitamin E — you can say goodbye to dry,flaky skin within minutes.

The Body Shop Aloe Gentle ExfoliatorIt gently exfoliates dry skin cells and other impurities and soothesthe skin at the same time. It contains natural jojoba beads to gentlyscrub away anything that ought not be on your skin. Aloe helpssoothe and protect irritated winter-dry skin. Dermatologically tested,it’s proven to be gentle for even delicate, sensitive skin. Perfect forgiving you a rosy glow!

LancomeExfolianceConfort

This creamy-rich mousseturns into a luxurious

cleansing foam to gentlyremove make-up andimpurities. This instantlycomforting formula con-tains honey and sweetalmond extracts to cleansedry skin with a soft, com-forted feeling.Dermatologist-tested.

The Body Shop Vitamin E Moisture Lotion

After a warm shower, you should always apply a good quality mois-turiser to help keep your body's natural oils sealed inside. This mois-

turiser is full of antioxidants like Vitamin E and wheat germ oil, whichprotects your skin from the winter chill and even premature aging. It alsoprotects you from sun damage as it contains SPF 15. Take it with youwherever you go, so you can reapply when you feel a little dry.

NeutrogenaHealthyDefense

Neutrogena HealthyDefense SPF 30 Daily

Moisturiser offersdaily protection

against incidental sunexposure. It also

helps prevent thesigns of prematureaging. Lightweightand non-greasy, it

absorbs quickly andkeeps skin hydrated

all day.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 201219The glamour behind the glitzMagic Screen

Formula for instantsuccess is… plagiarism!

Plagiarism is not a newphenomenon in Telugucinema. Some term it asinspiration, others saythat they are paying atribute to their favouritefilms every time they areasked about plagiarising.We dig deeper

Hemanth [email protected]

Plagiarism has been an integralpart of art right from thebeginning. De an Inge, aBritish aut hor, once said,

“What is originality? Undetected pla-giarism.” But over the last few years,strin gent laws were introduced in theWest to curb plagiarism and even theaudience has become quite vocal intheir criticism against this practice.However, the Telugu film industry isyet to come to terms with the factthat plagiarism is a crime. In fact, it’sseen as a formula for instant success.Telugu cinema’s tryst with plagiarismdates back to the ‘70s and ‘80s, whenseveral Hindi films were unofficiallyremade and popular scenes fromEnglish films were ripped off, all inthe name of offering something newto the audience. Time and again, sev-eral leading filmmakers, music direc-tors and writers have been accused ofplagiarising content. The issue isonce again in the limelight after peo-ple found out that the song PillaChao from the movie The Business -man was copied from an ItalianWWII song, Bella Ciao. Recently,when SS Thaman was asked aboutthe source of the song, PuriJagannadh defended him saying, “Itwas my idea. This is not the first timeI have copied or found inspirationfrom various sources. Nothing wemake is original since it has to beinspired from somewhere.”

The surprising part about thewhole issue is that, despite acknowl-edging the fact that plagiarism is

wrong, filmmakers can’t seem tostop resorting to it. Why? Because it’sa ticket to instant success. “If youwant to do something original,sometimes producers are not sure ifit will work with the majority of theaudience. There has to be a crowd-pulling element in the film and tak-ing good scenes or tunes from otherlanguages seems to be giving pro-ducers that confidence. You can’t

blame them either. It is business atthe end of the day,” says KrishnaChaitanya, a lyricist.

Another producer, Shobu Yarla -gadda opines, “Plagiarism is the easi-est way to get the desired outputbecause you already know how it will

look on screen. The copyright law hasno teeth, but the day someone getssued for a hefty amount for plagia-rism, I think it will stop.”

So who do you blame when yourealise that scenes, songs or fights areplagiarised? “No one does it inten-tionally. Sometimes it is forced uponus,” confesses Gopi Mohan, a leadingscriptwriter. The power lies in thehands of producers, directors andsometimes even the hero. “I believethat nothing is original. You have totake inspiration from life, books ormovies to make your own film.People suggest a lot of things as a ref-erence and the onus is upon us toadapt such scenes. The day someoneclaims that people will stop watchingfilms that are copied from some-where else, there won’t be any plagia-rism,” Gopi Mohan adds.

The lackadaisical approach todealing with plagiarism seems to beanother major issue. “People don’tseem to think it’s a big deal. Theydon’t see filmmaking as an art. Evenposters and trailers are copied fromother sources. Just because some-thing looks cool, doesn’t mean thatyou can copy it,” says PraveenSattaru, a filmmaker who blames iton the get-rich-quick formula, whichthe industry adheres to.

“I think there are very few honestfilmmakers here and I don’t considermyself one of them. I blame even theaudience for this. Honest filmshaven’t been appreciated, so film-makers tend to copy. When the film-makers themselves aren’t honest,they can never fight plagiarism,” saysfilmmaker Anand Ranga.

Aha Naa Pellanta inspired byMarrying the Mafia

Maryada Ramanna inspiredby Our Hospitality

The Businessman

T-TOWN TWEETIES

@mamtamohanConnected .. From Bahrainand a very Happy new year!

@shraddhadas43Laughed like crazyyyyy non-stop till my stomach couldburst wd frds,today aftr alongg time..over someonefartin n gettin caught!#memo-ry#

@Actor_SiddharthHaving the best time on DavidDhawans shoot. I feel 10 yearsyounger just because of all thelaughter..wonderful gang.Great moments of fun!

@ramsayzok..a small surprise..willrelease one more pic from theintro song of #EP tomorrowpeople.. ;)

@AlwayscharanGive more value than themoney you are receiving in urjob, in business and in evrymoment of ur life...

@sneha_ullal“When dogs bark. Let them”

@shrutihaasanPromise I shall do a q and asoon! Promise I’m not avoid-ing it! Just been uber duperbusy! But soon tweeple:) xoxo

@geneliadNaa ishtam has debutant dirPrakash who is talent 2lookout 4,dedicated,devoted ngives his film everythin, soglad 2wrk under his direction


Supreethheads toBollywoodSupreeth, who has played

the villain in several Telugufilms, is going to make his

debut in Bollywood later thisyear. He has been chosen toplay the antagonist’s role in theAkshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinhastarrer Rowdy Rathore, which isa remake of SS Rajamouli’sVikramarkudu.

Prabhu Deva is directing thefilm. Supreeth is going to jointhe film’s crew on January 9 inBadami to shoot the actionsequences between him andAkshay Kumar.

Interestingly, Supreeth hadplayed the same role inSiruthai, the Tamil version ofVikramarkudu, which wasdirected by Souryam Siva.

Cast of Lovelyheads

to KeralaA

adi, Shanvi and Anchal starrerLovely has begun shooting a

song in Chalakudy, Kerala.The film’s talkie part has

already been completed andafter the shoot in Chalakudy,the film unit will head to for-

eign locales to shoot threemore songs. B Jaya is directing

the film and BA Raju is pro-ducing it. Both of them can’t

stop lavishing praises on Aadi,who made his debut last year with

Prema Kavali. “Lovely has a beautifulstory and Aadi has done a great job. We

also have Rajendra Prasad playing animportant role. “It’s going to be a good

romantic entertainer,” said BA Raju. AnupRubens has composed the music. The film

is going to hit the screens on Valentine’s Day.

Ravi Teja’s upcoming film, whichis currently on floors has beennamed as Daruvu — The Sound

of Mass. Siva Kumar is directing thefilm who earlier made films likeShouryam, Shankam and Siruthai.

Taapsee is playing the lead roleopposite Ravi Teja in the film.Burugupalli Sivaramakrishna is pro-

ducing it. Recently, the film was shotin Badami for more than a week.Couple of years ago, Ravi Teja wasgiven the title ‘Mass Maharaj’ by oneof the directors and since then theproducers and directors of all hisfilms seem to be drumming up themass entertainment quotient in allhis movies.

Ravi Teja’sfilm namedDaruvu

There will be Saif Ali Khan,Vir Das and Kunal Khemu,and one Puja Gupta! Theone-film-old actress says

she is not at all insecure aboutbeing cast with three male actors inher next film, Go Goa Gone. In herdebut Bollywood vehicle F.A.L.T.U.as well, the former beauty queenwas the only female among theboys — Jackky Bhagnani, RiteshDeshmukh and Arshad Warsi. "I'mjust happy with my character. Andinsecure? Not at all! Being the onlygirl on the sets, it's just second timelucky for me! It's a lot of fun shoot-ing with them," Puja said. After

winning the Miss India Universecrown in 2007, the 25-year-old wenton to represent the country at theMiss Universe 2007 competition inMexico. She didn't make it to thetop five, but the platform openedmany doors for her. She bagged thechance to model for brands likeMario's Hair & Care, Pantaloons,Coca Cola, Monte Carlo, Bausch &Lomb as well as the Lay's Tangocampaign with Saif. In her upcom-ing film, produced by IlluminatiFilms, Puja plays a college girl.

"In the movie, I play a youngcollege girl, who is very indepen-dent and believes in herself strong-

ly. She is a very easy going yetadventurous person and that'swhat brings her to Goa with herfriends in the movie," she said. Themovie is being directed by RajNidimoru and Krishna DK of ShorIn The City and 99 fame. Puja hasalready shot the first schedule ofthe film.

So has she had any crazy andadventurous experience so far? "Ido get to hold the real gun! We arejust finished with the first scheduleright now, and we have one moreschedule to shoot. So there's muchmore adventurous and bizarrethings coming my way. I'm abso-

lutely thrilled about it," she added.So far the crew has shot at a

place named Chorla Ghat, whichis on the Goa-Karnataka-Maharashtra border. She says itwas beautiful. "The place is sur-rounded by wildlife and greenery,cottages, not much civilisation,there were no phone signals andso no BBM (BlackBerryMessenger)... so it was a hugedeal for me," said Puja, whoadmits Bollywood has alwaysbeen a "dream destination". But,as she says, there's a "long longway to go".

IANS

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 201221The glamour behind the glitzMagic ScreenB

olly

wood is

my

DREAM DESTINATION

Sheis only

a film oldbut her

confidence ishigh. From

modelling toromancing

some of thehottest men in

Bollywood,pretty girl PujaGupta seems

to have herplate full

After nearly two years of negotia-tions, discussions, trials anddelays, Bollywood actor Arjun

Rampal’s perfume is finally ready to belaunched in Mumbai on January 12.

Arjun’s perfume, Alive, is pro-duced by Drom Fragrances

International, and will be available in two different scents to begin with.

The perfume line will be dis-tributed by Baccarose, a distri-bution chain responsible forbrands like Burberry, Cartier,Caroline Herrera, Azzaro,Elizabeth Arden, Ferrari and Prada.

It took Arjun morethan six months toselect the fragrance forhis perfume.

“Selecting a fra-grance for a per-

fume is anextremely time-

consuming and tough task. It took mesix months to do so. One can’t allotmore than three hours a day tosavouring scents because after thatyour sense of smell goes for a toss,”said Arjun.

After Arjun had finally shortlistedthe fragrances, he invited all hisfriends from the film industry for asmelling party. “Unanimously, theyall liked the best of the two fra-grances that I had selected. Those arethe two scents that have gone intothe two perfumes that I am puttingout,” said Arjun.

When asked about the poor suc-cess ratio of Bollywood’s denizens inthe field of fragrance, he said, “I’vedone my best. Picked the scents that Ithink are unique and likable. I person-ally am very fond of perfumes. I thinkthey give every individual a sense ofconfidence and an identity. I am hop-ing to increase my range of perfumesin the coming months.” IANS

B-TOWN TWEETIES

@NeilNMukesh Cold morning everybody.Oopsy I mean good morning :)

@DuttaLara Note to self: Learn when toput down a book when read-ing before bed time! How didthe night get so short?!G'mornin Sunday People!!

@iamsrk The curse of early morningwake up & nothing to dostrikes. TV showing fat menpredicting future & givinghealth tips. Need a lullabyinstead

@imarshadwarsi Met Ranbir Kapoor at thePolice show, every time I meethim, I love him a little more,what a FANTASTIC, wellbrought up boy he is...

@FarOutAkhtar Did miss @iHrithik our 3rdMantal Bwoy. Believe his backis troubling him. Hope it will bebehind him soon. #cornyjoke

@AnupamPkher If you want your dreams tocome true, you must wake up.:)

@SrBachchan T 616 - If only we would usethe amount of time spent infinding fault in others, onimproving ourselves..thisworld would be a better place

@konkonas Anybody else not tweetingproperly because they'rescared of their followers?!


There have been newspaper reports that actress Dia Mirzahas been fined over `1 lakh for carrying undeclared itemsworth `2 lakh upon her arrival at the international air-port. A senior customs official has been quoted say-

ing. Along with this quote Dia’s comment that she was notaware of Customs rules about dutiable goods and didnot intend to evade duty was also mentioned in thereports. With this incident Dia is supposed to havejoined the long list of stars who have beendetained over declaration of dutiable goods.Last year Bipasha Basu and Minissha Lamba,among other film and television personali-ties, were detained at the airport afterthey were found carrying undeclaredgoods.

However, on Saturday the actortook to twitter and expressed herirritation by writing “For thosethat are running unverifiednews about me please beinformed that I was notquestioned by cus-toms for unde-clared jewellery.”So, whom dowe believeDia?

Dia miffed by media reports

on customsfiasco

Rampal’s perfume to belaunched on Jan 12

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 201223Magic Screen

` 150 sq. cm

For Further DetailsPlease

Contact

Abhinay 9989399972

Nandlal 9951467988

Ravi Chander8106039919

DISPLAYA

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 201224The glamour behind the glitzMagic ScreenDisney sets RobertStromberg to helmMaleficent

Disney has tapped Robert Stromberg to make hisfeature directorial debut with Maleficent, theLinda Woolverton-scripted revisionist take onthe Sleeping Beauty fairy tale that is being con-

structed as a star vehicle for Angelina Jolie to play thevillainess. While Stromberg is new to the director’s chair,he is no stranger to dealing with big-ticket spectaclefilms. He has been production designer on Avatar andAlice In Wonderland, and Disney’s upcoming Oz TheGreat And Powerful. He also worked on visual effects forsuch films as 2012, Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’sEnd and Master And Commander. Joe Roth is producing.This gives Disney feature heads Sean Bailey and RichRoss another tentpole feature to complement the Marvelproduct, with A-list talent. Maleficent stacks up along-side Oz The Great And Powerful, and the Johnny Depp-starrer The Lone Ranger.

What is Bristol Palindoing for a living?

Hefner ‘proud’ of twinson Celebrity Big Brother

Hugh Hefner has revealedthat he is “proud” of

Kristina and Karissa Shannon’sappearance on Celebrity Big

Brother. The Playboyentrepreneur dated the twinsbetween 2008 and 2010, butasked them to leave the Playboymansion when his relationshipwith Crystal Harris becamemore serious. He was also saidto be unhappy that bothKristina and Karissa had foundnew boyfriends, but invitedthem back to the mansion inJune 2011. “I’m hearing goodthings about the twins on BigBrother UK. Makes me proud,”Hefner wrote on Twitter.

Bristol Palin has kicked offher dancing shoes for amore modest occupation

(and location). And you’ll neverguess what the former DancingWith the Stars hoofer is doingto make ends meet thesedays... Working as a dermatolo-gist’s assistant in Alaska. SarahPalin’s daughter has steppedout of the spotlight and back toher sheltered Wasilla home-front, following a big “turningpoint” which she said cameabout after her notorious spatwith a heckler while she wasshooting a reality show lastSeptember, according to InTouch. “I wasn’t really into theHollywood thing,” Bristol toldthe magazine. “After that, I justrealised that I was over it. I wasready to come home.” But thatwasn’t the only reason Bristolpacked up her bags. The 21-year-old mom, who now livesin an apartment under hermom’s TV studio, said she wasalso concerned about herthree-year-old son, Tripp’s, wel-

fare. “He’s going to be startingpreschool soon, so we neededto settle into a routine,” Bristolcontinued. And Tripp’s grand-mother is happy to have themboth back home. “It’s great hav-ing Bristol here,” Sarah told themagazine. “She makes gooddecisions, and she’s alwaysthinking long-term about herand Tripp’s future.”


It turns out not everythingJames Franco does in2012 will be some kind ofan elaborate perfor-

mance piece. The actor andartist has landed a prettyinteresting new film, one thatwill find him in full commandof his skills with the ladies.The Hollywood Reporterreports that Franco has takenthe lead role in The Game, thelatest from Solitary Man writ-ing and directing pair BrianKoppelman and DavidLevien. First signing on to theproject over the summer,Koppelman and Levien havemade quick work adaptingNeil Strauss’ breakout best-seller, a book that is partmemoir and part exposé,chronicling the author’s ownadventures in the guys clubworld of pick-up artists andhis experiences and successeswith the techniques helearned in how to score withwomen. Helping him on hisjourney is Mystery, the manwho teaches Strauss andmany others all of his secretson how to go from nerd tostud, and that’s the roleFranco will play.

BAGSLEADROLE

IN THEGAME

JAMESFRANCO

E! News has learnedthat NazneenContractor (24)

has been cast in theupcoming sequel to JJAbrams’ 2009 Star Trekreboot. The actress hasbeen tapped to play thewife of Noel Clarke’s char-acter in the film. (Varietyreported earlier this weekthat the DoctorWho star hassigned on as “afamily manwith a wife andyoung daugh-ter” Contractoris just one of thenewcomers tocome on board for

the yet-to-be-titled StarTrek sequel. In additionto Contractor and Clarke,Benedict Cumberbatch,Peter Weller, and AliceEve will all appear in thefilm, which will also fea-ture original cast mem-bers Chris Pine andZachary Quinto. Theeagerly anticipated fol-low-up, which hasAbrams at the helm

again with screenwrit-ers Damon Lindelof,Alex Kurtzman andRoberto Orci, isscheduled to engage

moviegoers on May17, 2013.

24 actress joinsStar Trek sequel

Sienna Millerengaged

When it comes to Sienna Miller and Tom Sturridge,there’s obviously a lot more going on than just a

little PDA. So much so that the two lovebirds are nowexpecting their first child together. Oh, and if that wasn’t

big news in and of itself, get this: The 29-year-oldactress is not only pregnant, but is reportedly betrothedto her baby daddy as well! Guess this means things defi-

nitely have gotten serious. While reps for both Millerand Sturridge have yet to respond, one person has con-

firmed the pregnancy news — Sienna’s sister, Savannah.“THRILLED,” she tweeted regarding her sibling’s

pending bundle of joy, first reported by Us Weekly. Later,when one of her followers wrote how there’s “no greater

feeling than welcoming a new life into the world inthe comfort of home,” Savannah replied with a

simple “thank you.” As for being engaged, Life & Style cites a source

saying that Sturridge popped the question with avintage Victorian ring during a post-Christmas

trip to Paris.

Josh gets readyto tie the knotJosh Lucas is ready to tie the knot... thanks to a fright-

ening experience with a mountain lion. The J Edgarstar revealed on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno lastnight that he proposed to his girlfriend shortly after hecame face-to-face with the intimidating beast whileshooting a movie in Big Sur, Calif. So, what went downprior to the proposal? And, wait — who’s he marrying?!The lovely brunette by his side at the J Edgar premiereremains nameless for now (if that’s even her!) — but wehave a feeling Lucas won’t be able to keep a lid onher identity much longer. (A rep for the actordidn’t immediately return a request for com-ment.) A longtime bachelor, the 40-year-oldLucas was romantically linked over the years toAnne Hathaway, Rachel McAdams and SalmaHayek, among others.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 201226Chai Time Take a shot at the brain game while sipping your cuppa

ACROSS1 Paint undercoat7 Bedside noise12 — suzette17 All mammals have it21 Used-car deal22 News summary23 Cowboy flick24 Hindu god of fire25 Perfect place26 Contacted (2 wds.)28 Exploding star29 Ballpoint point30 Pasta style(2 wds.)32 Playing marbles33 Colonial dance35 Of a time period37 Mrs. Eisenhower38 Singer Mitchell39 Late, great crooner40 Mattress brand42 Disencumber43 Bjorn of tennis44 Get scolded (2 wds.)45 Mortgages, e.g.47 Lazily48 Cantata performers49 Garden hose plastic52 — Moines, Iowa53 Tarzan’s title54 Euro casualty55 Furtive whisper59 End a shutdown61 Like a bad actor62 Pave the way63 Bring about64 Hideous monsters65 Finger-paint66 Party tray cheese67 Sure! (2 wds.)68 DEA operative69 Quicklime70 Asian immigrant72 More than snacks73 Wildebeest74 Taverns75 Clues76 Lower jaw77 One — — million80 Fringe benefits82 Paddock youngsters83 Underhand throws84 Strong — —ox85 Menu choice87 It runs on runners88 Contented murmurs89 Rock climber’s aid90 Sheath91 Indian Ocean vessel92 Pellet shooter (2 wds.)94 Roman galley95 Nigerian pop singer96 Refrain from97 Bulrush or cattail98 Stage signal99 Insult, slangily100 Outer garments101 Urge on102 Big name in country

music104 Sewer access107 Roast pig repast108 Menacing sound109 Nutritional

supplement113 Most promising114 Did batik115 Hang down

117 Duke or count118 Proclamations119 They carry a charge120 Of earthquakes122 Fish-to-be123 Scottish philosopher124 Gentle rises (2 wds.)127 Dished out129 Oodles (2 wds.)130 Bid131 "— — a Rainy Night"132 Tolerate133 Flock of quail134 Buttered up135 November lever

puller136 Talked back

DOWN1 Wrinkled fruits2 Stop working3 Front line, maybe?4 Survey5 He directed Marlon6 Domain7 Apollo’s twin8 Late fall meteor shower9 Keen10 Rev the engine11 Speed meas.12 Encrypting

13 Torah reciter14 LAX postings15 Foot, in zoology16 Like a recluse17 Actress Daryl 18 Sugar cane rodent19 Turn upside down20 Lariat27 Atlanta university31 Blowgun weapons34 Raise (abbr.)36 Soho co.38 Merry39 Rhone tributary41 Yellow-fever carrier43 Apt. unit44 Pursue46 Jerry’s ice-cream partner47 Anapest alternative48 Diet guru Jenny 49 Lamp-plug part50 Meat avoider51 Bribed53 — de vie (brandies)54 Spore producers55 Fab Four name56 Lived on, as food57 NNW opposite

58 New Year in Hanoi60 Push-up muscle61 Greer and Roach

63 Fossil fuel65 Pats lightly66 Physiques, slangily67 Somber evergreens69 Gourd cousin70 Aim toward71 Bad prefix72 Wild crowds74 Veep’s boss75 "Camelot" composer76 Magna Carta signer78 Eldest Judd79 Queen — lace81 Gaelic82 Embroidery thread83 Praise highly84 Melody85 Publishing execs86 Hunter’s org.87 Condition88 Made cheddar better89 Devoutness91 Began a card game92 Wide93 Sweetheart94 Prickle96 Medieval weapon98 Ricochet100 Hone101 Speculate102 More disgusting

103 Not square104 Unit105 Noted sci-fi writer106 Fine point107 — Skynyrd108 Mourn110 Wind god111 Rigorous112 Bought and sold113 Fixed-up building

114 Gift recipient115 Railroad terminal116 Heaps119 The lowdown120 By oneself121 Water-to-wine site125 ET vehicle126 Ms. Ullmann128 Tooth pro’s deg.

SUNDAY CROSSWORD

PREVIOUS PUZZLE ANSWER

27Chai TimeC

OM

ICS

Fred

Bas

set

Ston

e so

up

TAROT READ

Six of Swords –Overseas contactsare in focus. Youmay get a job oppor‑tunity or an idea onmeeting someonefrom another cul‑ture/country.

Eight of Swords –Bonds are being sev‑ered. But new rela‑tionships are alsobeing made. Each hasa lifetime. No pointholding on to friendswho have moved on.

Nine of Swords – Payattention to yourdreams. Something isbothering you, andthe answer to thatlies in your dreams.You may be restlessand anxious.

ARIES TAURUS GEMINIARIESFamily will be very happy. Employeesneed to be flexible at work place. Youwill plan for the future course of ac tion.Chances of misunderstanding withspouse possible; avoid such a situation.

CANCER

LIBRAStay away from disputes. A good dayto take important decisions about newventures, fresh investments and pur‑chase of essential household articles.House warming in the offing.

CAPRICORNPostpone important decisions and jobsfor a couple of days. Be careful at work ‑place and while travelling as chances ofgetting hurt. Businessmen will do well.Employees face unexpected allegations.

TAURUSEmployees may face the ire of superi‑ors. A good news will be received.Happy events like marriage to takeplace at home. Recently married canget ready to invite the offspring.

LEOYour respect and fame are set toincrease. Some have bright chances tobuy a house or plot. Benefits and helpslikely from an unexpected source.Unexpected finances will come by.

SCORPIOA day to make self‑assesment and takecorrective action for shortcomings. Avo ‑id undertaking journey. Avoid be ing em ‑o tional and disputes as the day is notfavourable. Pass day with less action.

AQUARIUSYou might face tensions and hurdlesin your assignments. Do not panic; sit‑uation will change. Financial positionlooks strong. Businessmen will get VIPcustomers and get a boost.

GEMINIYour social status is set to improve.You might take important decisionstoday; it will have an impact in thefuture. Hence, avoid taking decisionsblindly on someone's advise.

VIRGOYour advise and suggestions will beaccepted by all. Your stock is set to pileup. Those who have been interviewed,will get a favourable result. You will bedetermined to achieve set goals.

SAGITTARIUSIntroduction to powerful VIPs likely.You will understand needs of familymembers and fulfil them. A good dayto start new ventures, seeking finan‑cial assistance and undertaking travel.

PISCESExpected sops will come by for emplo ‑yees; promotion and pay hike too ispossible. Self‑confidence levels mightdip, which should be avoided. Neverget into disputes as you face defeat.

For B

ette

r or f

or W

orse

Ink

pen

Eight of Pentacles –You need to lear n anew skill or get intoa workshop or cour ‑se to enhance yourkno w ledge. Or, yourun the ris k of stag‑nating in your job.

King of Cups – Youʼrebeing emotional – inall the wrong places.Especially at work, becareful to check whatyou say. Donʼt get toofriendly with anyonetoo soon.

Seven of Wands –Co n flict and some ki ‑nd of disturbance areindicated. You maynot be able to avoidthis conflict com‑pletely. But you canchoose to not react.

CANCER LEO VIRGO

The Fool –Take theplunge, with bothfeet. Youʼre in ahappy position,unaware of impend‑ing danger. But itʼsalso the best way tolearn.

Five of Wands –Thereʼs some contra‑diction in your thou ‑ght. This is confusingthose around you.Communicate clearly,especially with clie ‑nts and coworkers.

King of Swords – Alot of intellectualwork is beingexpected of you. Youmay be getting emo‑tional about some‑thing unnecessarily.Think practically.

LIBRA SCORPIO SAGITTARIUS

The Moon – Youʼrefeeling moody andnot in the frame ofmind to stick to therulebook. Take sometime out for thingsyou like to do.

Eight of Cups – Youhave everything youever wanted – free‑dom, power, position– yet you feel unhap‑py. You realise hap‑piness is not linkedto any of these.

Seven of Wands –Youʼre feeling tiredwith the rat race andwant to take a break.But financial consid‑erations may notallow you to give upthis soon.

CAPRICORN AQUARIUS PISCES

STAR POWER SUMAA [email protected]

[email protected]

040-27177230 / 9949870449

Businessmen will sell their productswith novel techniques and earn goodprofits. Friends or relatives stayingabroad will help. Employees may facework burden and indirect opposition.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 2012Your tomorrow today̶Star Power and Tarot

Date 9-1-2012

Abereaved woman goesinto a funeral home tomake arrangements for

her husband's funeral. Shetells the director that shewants her husband to beburied in a dark blue suit.

He asks, "Wouldn't it just beeasier to bury him in the blacksuit that he's wearing?"

"No," she insists. "It must bea blue suit." She then giveshim a blank check to buy one.

When she comes back forthe wake, she sees her hus-band in the coffin and he is

wearing a beautiful blue suit.She tells the director, "That isabsolutely perfect! I love it!How much did it cost?"

He says, "Actually, it didn'tcost anything. The funniestthing happened. As soon asyou left, another corpse wasbrought in, this one wearing ablue suit. I noticed that theywere about the same size, andasked the other widow if shewould mind if her husbandwere buried in a black suit.

She said that it’s fine with her. So, I switched the heads."

Funeral suit

Vol: 1, No. 176 RNI No: APENG/2011/39337 Published for the proprietors, Scribble Media and Entertainment Pvt Ltd, by V Harshavardhan Reddy, at #1246, Level 3, Jubilee Casa, Road No. 62, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad–500033 and printed by himat Jagati Publications Ltd, Plot No D-75&E-52, APIE Industrial Estate, Balanagar, Ranga Reddy Dist, Hyderabad–500037, Editor: Dean Williams – Responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act

All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. For feedback, please write to: [email protected] and for subscription, please call 040-40672222, Fax: 040-40672211

As per Hindu panchang

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 201228Telly sitcoms, news and movie listingsChai Time

1230 Movie - Happy Days 1530 Movie - Parugu1900 Movie - Dhada2300 Alajadi 2330 Songs0800 Ayurvedam 0900 Challenge1100 CID 1200 Maa Voori Vanta

1230 Movie - Rama RamaKrishna Krishna

1530 Movie - Ragada1800 Movie - Katha Screenplay

Darsakatvam Appalaraju2130 Celebrity Cricket League0800 Gemini Talkies0830 Movie - Pranam1130 Aha Emi Ruchi

1300 Movie - Alibaba Ara DozenDongalu

1600 Femina Miss India South1800 Movie - Nuvve Kavali2100 Etv News 2130 Paripoorna Mahila2230 Movie - Raktha Sindhuram0800 Jeevanajyothi

1300 Movie - Village LoVinayakudu

1730 Luckku Kickku1800 Comedy Club1900 Movie - Bujjigaadu - Made

In Chennai2230 Luckku Kickku 2330 Latest Songs0800 Gopuram0900 Sri Raghavendra Vybhavam

‘Timeline’ at 2200 Hrs onAXN

1350 Movie - School Of Rock1610 Sports Crash1800 Wipeout 22000 Criss Angel Mindfreak 2200 Movie - Timeline0700 Infomercial/30 Min0730 Sky Teleshopping0830 Infomercial/30 Min0900 Sky Teleshopping0930 Criss Angel Mindfreak 0955 Infomercial/5 Min1000 Criss Angel Mindfreak 1025 Infomercial/5 Min1030 Flipping Out 1130 Wipeout 21225 Live To Dance 1320 Minute To Win It

‘Veer’ at 2000 Hrs onIMAGINE1230 Movie - Jab We Met1600 Sawaare Sabke Sapne –

Preeto1730 Nach Le Ve With Saroj

Khan - Grand Finale2000 Movie – Veer 0900 Box Office India 0930 Mahima Shani Dev Ki 1000 Sawaare Sabke Sapne –

Preeto 1030 Haar Jeet 1100 Nach Le Ve With Saroj

Khan 1200 Baba Aisa Varr Dhoondo 1230 Dwarkadheesh - Bhagwan

Shri Krishn 1300 Sawaare Sabke Sapne –

Preeto ‘Robot’ at 1200 Hrs onSONY

1200 Movie - Robot1600 CID1900 Crime Patrol Dastak2000 Adaalat2100 Kahani Comedy Circus Ki2330 Crime Patrol - Dastak 0730 Sky Star Advertising0900 Adaalat1100 Crime Patrol - 31200 Kuch Toh Log Kahenge1245 Dekha Ek Khwaab1330 Parvarrish - Kuchh Khatti

Kuchh Meethi

‘[V] Steal Ur Girlfriend’ at1900 Hrs on CHANNEL [V]

1400 [V] Love Net1500 [V] Spot1530 [V] Trailers1555 [V] Fresh Songs1600 [V] Steal Ur Girlfriend1700 [V] Humse Hai Life1900 [V] Steal Ur Girlfriend2000 Love Kiya To Darna Kya2100 Love 2 Hate U2155 [V] Fresh Songs2200 [V] Trailers2230 [V] Behind The Sins2300 [V] Steal Ur Girlfriend2355 [V] Fresh Songs0700 [V] Trailers0730 [V] Zabardast Hits0800 [V] Mind Blasting

Mornings1100 [V] Fresh Songs1200 [V] D3 Dil Dosti Dance1230 [V] Humse Hai Life1300 [V] Steal Ur Girlfriend

‘Et Insight’ at 2100 Hrsonly on ET NOW1400 Bollywood This Week1430 Et Insight1500 The Market Makers1530 Tee Time With Shaili Chopra1600 Technoholik1630 Your Trades1700 Zigwheels1730 Market Summit 20111830 The Market Makers1900 Investor's Guide1930 Starting Up2000 Zigwheels2030 Talking Technicals2100 Et Insight2130 Your Trades2200 Tee Time With Shaili Chopra2230 Brand Equity2300 The Market Makers0900 First Trades1000 Hot Stocks1100 Buy Now Sell Now - The

Stock Game1130 Buy Now Sell Now1200 Market Sense1300 Business Day1330 Markets Now

‘Lucha Libre’ at 1900 Hrsonly on BIG CBS PRIME

1300 Movie1500 Big Wheels1530 Galileo Extreme1600 How To Be A Gentleman1630 Aspire1700 Survivor 1800 Defenders1900 Lucha Libre2000 Movie2200 Aspire2230 Defenders0800 Galileo Extreme0900 Survivor 1000 Bellator

‘Hulchul’ at 1400 Hrs onZOOM1400 Movie - Hulchul1730 Letz Go!1900 Planet Bollywood News1930 Business Of Bollywood2000 Bollywood Big Story2030 Love Dobara2100 Just For Love2300 Bollywood Bonanza0700 Fresh Mornings0800 Red Carpet0805 Fresh Mornings0900 Zoom Barabar Jhoom Top

201000 Fresh Mornings1100 Zoom Box1200 Garma Garam1300 Planet Bollywood News1330 Business Of Bollywood

‘Private Practice’ at 2100Hrs on ZEE CAFE

1400 Cougar Town1500 The Big Bang Theory1600 Scrubs1700 Britannia High1800 Parenthood2000 No Ordinary Family2100 Private Practice2200 The Fashionista Diaries2300 Scrubs0700 Slot0800 Criss Angel - Mindreak0900 Parenthood1000 Scrubs1030 America's Funniest Home

Videos1100 Criss Angel - Mindreak1200 Parenthood1300 Slot1330 America's Funniest Home

Videos

‘Charlie’s Angels’ at 2000Hrs on STAR WORLD1400 Achievers' Club1500 Love2 Hate U 1600 Supernatural 1900 Combat Hospital 2000 Charlie’s Angels 2100 Love2 Hate U 2200 Combat Hospital 2300 Dexter0700 Glee 0800 Las Vegas 0900 Charlie’s Angels 1000 The Shield 1100 Love2 Hate U 1200 Two And A Half Men 1230 The Simpsons 1300 The Big Bang Theory 1330 Friends

‘Ajnabee’ at 1230 Hrs onCOLORS

1230 Movie - Ajnabee 1530 Movie - Dhamkee 1830 Bigg Boss - Grand Finale 0700 Balika Vadhu - Kacchi

Umar Ke Pakke Rishte 0730 Home Shop 18 2100 Movie - Ready 0800 Veer Shivaji 0830 Sasural Simar Ka 0900 Parichay - Nayee Zindagi

Kay Sapno Ka 1000 Hawan 1030 Uttaran 1100 Phulwa 1130 Balika Vadhu - Kacchi

Umar Ke Pakke Rishte 1200 Sasural Simar Ka 1300 Na Aana Is Des Laado 1330 Hawan

‘Kati Patang’ at 2000 Hrson SAB TV1400 Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah

Chashmah 1530 R. K. Laxman Ki Duniya 1730 F.I.R. 2000 Movie - Kati Patang2300 F.I.R. 0800 Teleshopping 0900 Gutur Gu1200 Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah

Chashmah

‘Gold Rush Alaska’ at2200 Hrs on DISCOVERYCHANNEL

1400 Man Vs Wild1600 Swords1700 Discovery Showcase1800 Wild Discovery1900 Speed At Its Best2000 Super Sunday Nights2100 Man Vs Wild2200 Gold Rush Alaska2300 Curiosity1000 Rampage1100 How Do They Do It?1130 Feast India1200 Gold Rush Alaska1300 Wild Discovery

MOVIES OF THE DAY AND OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

‘Singham’ at 1800 Hrs onSTAR PLUS1300 Movie - Meri Taaqat 1600 Ruk Jana Nahin 1800 Movie - Singham 2100 Survivor India 2200 Survivor India - Exclusive 0800 Superstar Preview0830 Ruk Jana Nahin0900 Diya Aur Bati Hum1000 Saath Nibhaana Saathiya1030 Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam

Doon1100 Mann Ki Awaaz… Pratigya1130 Maryaada ... Lekin Kab Tak?1200 Diya Aur Bati Hum1300 Ruk Jana Nahin1330 Hamari Devrani

Dance IndiaDanceStoryline - Audiences havealready seen the shock onTerence Lewis’s face whenhe saw Neerav auditioningfor the DID auditions.Neerav has been Terence’sdance assistant for the pastfive years. ‘Dance India Dance’ at 2030 Hrs onZEE TV

Storyline - Marks receive aworrisome call from homeand confides in Pedersen.Rebecca and Bobby partici-pate in Pederson's grouptherapy session, leavingRebecca feeling vulnerablewhen she over-shares. ‘Combat Hospital’ at 2100 Hrs onSTAR WORLD

CombatHospital

‘The New Inventors’ at2200 Hrs on DISCOVERYSCIENCE

‘The Foodie’ at 1830 Hrsonly on TIMES NOW

1400 News Now1430 Headline Grabbers1500 Best Of Newshour Debates1600 News Now1630 Times Drive1700 News Now1730 Victory1800 News Now1830 Heroes 20111900 News Now1930 Fond Farewells 20112000 Total Recall2100 9 PM2130 Total Recall2200 10 PM2230 Cinema 20112300 News Now Overnight2330 Headline Grabbers0700 News Now0800 The Morning Show0900 News Now1200 Live Report1300 News Now At 1

1430 Discovery Science Presents1630 Massive Machines1700 Massive Speed1730 Showdown - Air Combat1830 Best Of Discovery Science1930 Weird Or What?2030 The Indestructibles2100 Deconstructed2130 How It's Made2200 The New Inventors2230 Frontline Battle Machines

With Mike Brewer2330 Industrial Revelations1030 Discovery Science Presents1230 Best Of Discovery Science1330 Weird Or What?

1410 Harry Potter And The Order OfThe Phoenix

1655 The Time Machine1845 Romeo Must Die2100 Rush Hour 2 2245 Bloodsport 0915 The New Adventures Of Old

Christine 0945 Scooby Doo 2 - Monsters

Unleashed

1305 The Scorpion King1505 The Goods - Live Hard, Sell

Hard1645 The Wedding Date1835 The Time Traveler's Wife 2100 Death Race 22310 Die Another Day 0800 The Time Traveler's Wife 1010 Ace Ventura - Pet Detective 1200 Death Race 2

‘Vivah’ at 1500 Hrs on ZEE TV1130 Dance India Dance 1500 Movie - Vivah 1900 Apka Sapna Hamara Apna1930 Shobha Somnath Ki2030 Dance India Dance 2200 Dance India Dance -

Limelight2330 Jalsa - Music For Soul0900 Bhagonwali0930 Afsar Bitiya1000 Choti Bahu 21030 Yahaaan Main Ghar Ghar

Kheli1100 Ram Milaye Jodi1130 Hitler Didi1200 Mrs. Kaushik Ki Paanch

Bahuein1230 Afsar Bitiya1300 Choti Bahu 2

‘Death Race 2’ at 2100 Hrs on HBO

‘K S D A’ at 1800 Hrs onGEMINI TV

‘B - M I C’ at 1900 Hrs onZEE TELUGU

‘Nuvve Kavali’ at 1800 Hrson ETV‘Dhada’ at 1900 Hrs on

MAA TV

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 201229The games people playPlaying Field

KAPALUA: Steve Stricker fired a10-under par 63 on Saturday totake a five-shot lead at thehalfway stage of the US PGATour’s season-opening Tourn-ament of Champions.

Stricker, at number six in theworld the highest-ranked playerin the 27-man field, had eightbirdies and an eagle without abogey as the American took his36-hole total to 15-under par 131.

Webb Simpson posted hissecond straight 68 to sit secondon 136, while South Korean-bornAmerican Kevin Na climbed intothird place on 137 with asparkling 64.

Stricker was already six-underfor the day when he eagled thepar-five 15th, where he hit athree-wood to 12 feet. He addedtwo more birdies at 17 and 18.

“This game is never easy, but Ihad it going today,” Stricker said.“I felt like I was going to makeevery putt I looked at there for awhile and I gave myself a lot ofopportunities — which is thekey.”

Na thrust himself into con-tention with an eagle-eagle fin-ish. He started the day even andwas still at even par for the tour-nament through eight holes.

AFP

LOUISVILLE: Boxing icon Muhammad Aliwill celebrate his 70th birthday in his home-town of Louisville, where the Muhammad AliCenter will mark the occasion with a series ofevents starting January 14.

“On January 14, 2012, in his hometown ofLouisville, Kentucky, Ali will be celebratinghis 70th birthday among friends, admirers,and people who have made a difference inhis life,” center officials said in a statement.

The fund-raiser is part of the center’s“Seven Days for Seven Decades” programmeof community activities.

Ali, who was born Cassius Clay Jnr inLouisville on January 17, 1942, has homeswith his wife, Lonnie, in Arizona andMichigan as well as Louisville.

In November, the heavyweight great was

briefly hospitalized in Phoenix, where doc-tors treated him for dehydration.

That came a few days after Ali attendedthe funeral of his old rival Joe Frazier, whodied of liver cancer in Philadelphia onNovember 8.

Ali, whose Parkinson’s Disease hasdiminished his physical capacities in recentyears, has nevertheless used his publicstature raise awareness of the illness andcampaign for research funding.

He has also continued to involve himselfin various charitable ventures and cam-paigned for boxing reform.

The Muhammad Ali Center, a culturalcenter that celebrates his life and career,opened in November of 2005.

AFP

LONDON: Promoters for Britishboxing star Amir Khan haveclaimed that he has been offereda world title rematch withLamont Peterson after theInternational Boxing Federationrevealed to them that the “mys-tery man” seen ringside at lastmonth’s fight was one of theirofficials. Khan lost both his WBAand IBF light-welterweight titlesafter home-town fighter Petersonwas awarded a controversialsplit-decision victory followingtheir bout in Washington onDecember 10. AFP

Big B’day bash planned for The Greatest

Al-Attiyah keeps hopes aliveCOPIAPO: Defending champi-on Nasser al-Attiyah’s rollercoast-er Dakar Rally took another twiston Saturday when he clinchedthe seventh stage, two days aftera broken radiator dealt a poten-tial hammer blow to his hopes.

The Qatari took his Hummerto a second stage win on thisyear’s gruelling event, crossingthe line 7min 30sec ahead of Am -e rican teammate Robby Gordon.

Al-Attiyah had lost 20 min-utes on Thursday when the sparewheel on his vehicle came loose,damaged the radiator and causedthe engine to overheat.

On the first stage, al-Attiyahhad lost almost 10 minutesbecause of mechanical troublebefore bouncing back to claimthe second stage.

Overall leader StephanePeterhansel, a six-time winner inthe motorcycle section and atriple champion on four wheels,finished third on Saturday in hisMini, 7min 53sec off the lead.

Fellow Mini driver KrzysztofHolowczyc of Poland was fourth,14min 57sec behind al-Attiyahwhich allowed Peterhansel toextend his overall lead to 11min22sec.

“The car worked perfectly

well today and we attacked fromthe beginning to the end of thespecial,” said the Qatari, whobegan the day down in eighthplace overall and more than 50minutes behind Peterhansel.

“We took a lot ofrisks to set the besttime. Our objectiveis to claw back sevenor eight minutes ev -e ry day. And todaywe did it perfectly. We will do ourbest to repeat this pe r formancein all stages from Mondayonwards, or even try to do better.

“At any rate, we have no otherchoice if we still want to win theDakar.”

Spain’s Marc Coma, riding aKTM, won the seventh stage ofthe motorcycle event ahead ofFrench teammate Cyril Despreswho held onto the overall lead.

Coma covered the course inand around Copi -apo in 3hr 51min35sec, two minutesand three secondsahead of Despres.

“It’s commonknowledge that the stage beforethe rest day is always difficult,and today was not an exception,with stifling heat and very softsand,” said Coma.

“Nevertheless, we rode veryfast and I was able to attack. I

gained two minutes on Cyril butthat is obviously not enough.”

Despres was critical of hisown performance.

“I was a bit lazy today, sinceMarc led the race from 200kmonwards, the start of the secondspecial, but I think that is alsopart of the race,” he said.

“I finished with my handsparalysed, but it was a reallybeautiful special with beautifuldunes.” Portugal’s PauloGoncalves, on a Husqvarna,completed the top three on thefirst Chilean stage of this year’srace, 2min 49sec off the pace.

Despres goes into Sunday’srest day with a 7min 48sec leadover Coma in the overall motor-cycling standings. Chilean riderFrancisco Lopez pulled out of therace on Saturday after falling offhis Aprilia.

Lopez, who was in ninthplace overall and had won

the first stage, tore liga-ments in his right knee inthe incident which hap-pened at the first check-

point.

Strickertakes lead

Amir getsrematch

Argentine Javier Pizzolito (left) and BritishTobias Younger at the Dakar Rally.

France’s Christophe Blondeau tries to restarthis motorbike after a fall.

Qatar’s driver Nasser Al-Attiyah steers his Hummerduring Stage 7 of Dakar Rally.

Steve Stricker bounces a ball ofhis putter on the 10th hole atthe Hyundai Tournament.

Muhammed Ali


MADRID: Real Madrid extended their lead overBarcelona at the top of La Liga to six points onSaturday with a 5-1 rout of Granada in the min-nows’ first trip to the Santiago Bernabeu in 36years.

The pressure is now on champions Barcelona,who still boast the psychological advantage ofhaving beaten Real last month, when they meetEspanyol on Sunday. Real coach Jose Mourinhopromised there would be no repeat of the sloppyfirst half performance in the King’s Cup againstMalaga in midweek where they had to come frombehind to win 3-2.

But it was still a laboured first 45 minutes withthe team fortunate to go in 2-1 up at the break.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Mesut Ozil combinedto set up Karim Benzema to slot in the homeside’s first goal, but Granada replied from theirfirst real attack with an unmarked Mikel Ricoheading into the corner after 22 minutes.

With the Real defence dozing again, Granadacould have gone ahead after they cut through thebackline but Rico saw his shot saved well by IkerCasillas. Sergio Ramos then headed Real backinto the lead from a corner after 34 minutes.

The game turned in the first few minutes afterthe break when Gonzalo Higuain and Benzemafinished off Granada’s hopes of a comeback andthen, with a minute to go, Ronaldo hit the fifth.

Real up lead

Racism: 1 held

Tevez deal set

LIVERPOOL: A 20-year-old man was arrested onSaturday on suspicion of a racially aggravatedpublic order offence during Liverpool’s FA Cupclash with Oldham.

Oldham player Tom Adeyemi was allegedlyabused by fans during Friday’s third round gameat Anfield which Liverpool won 5-1.

The incident comes as Liverpool are on thedefensive over the handling of the Luis Suarezaffair.

Adeyemi who is on loan from Premier Leagueside Norwich, seemed to be in tears, andLiverpool captain Steven Gerrard moved acrossto the corner of the ground where the incidentoccurred, and comforted the 20-year-old.

Liverpool released a statement after the gamein which they confirmed that police were nowinvestigating the incident. “An incident occurredin the second half of the match which is nowbeing investigated by both the Club and thepolice,” said the club statement. “We will contin-ue to work closely with the police to establish thedetails of what actually happened.”

ROME: AC Milan have agreed terms with CarlosTevez and are waiting to hear back fromManchester City about their latest offer for theArgentine forward.

Milan chief executive Adriano Gallianirevealed the news when asked by journalistswhether or not Brazilian forward AlexandrePato is for sale. “We are not negotiating the saleof Pato, I have an agreement with Tevez but notwith City,” he said. Galliani said on Thursdayhe had sent an “imaginative” offer to Citywhich the Italian press claim consists of a loanuntil the end of the season with an obligationto buy, under set conditions, in the summer.However, City have already rejected a previousoffer from Milan to borrow the player, claimingthey will only sell him outright. Italian press onSaturday claimed Inter Milan have entered thebidding by offering 25 million euros for the 27-year-old.

BRISBANE: Murray, runner-up atMelbourne Park for the past two years,showed no mercy against the worldNo.15 from Ukraine as he cruised to thetitle 6-1, 6-3 in the Pat Rafter Arena.

The Scotsman was lethal in alldepartments as he dominatedDolgopolov, a player who had pushedhim to four close games in theAustralian Open quarter-finals lastyear.

He broke Dolgopolov twice in thefirst set and did not lose a point on hisfirst three service games to claim theopener in just 26 minutes.

Murray went on a run of nine con-secutive games from 2-1 in the first to4-0 in the second before the Ukrainianfinally stemmed the flow by holdingserve for only the second time in thematch.

That signalled a slight comebackfrom Dolgopolov, who then surprising-ly got a service game back before hold-ing after a struggle to make it 4-3.

But Murray held his next serve thenbroke Dolgopolov to love to clinch his22nd title on the ATP tour.

Murray had started the week slowlyand struggled to win his first twomatches, against Mikhail Kushkin andGilles Muller.

But he hit top gear from then on,easily accounting for Marcos Baghdatisin the quarter-finals and Bernard Tomicin the semis before his impressive dis-play against Dolgopolov.

He now heads to Melbourne wherehis only outing before the AustralianOpen will be an exhibition match at theKooyong Classic.

Murray ready for Oz Open World No 4 Andy Murray laid down a marker for the Australian Open with a 65-minutedemolition of Alexandr Dolgopolov in the final of the Brisbane International on Sunday

Andy Murray poses with his trophy after winning the Brisbane Internationalon Sunday.

Messi bids todo a PlatiniPARIS: Lionel Messi will find out onMonday if he has become the first mansince Michel Platini to win the Ballond’Or for three years running when thewinner of the 2011 award is announcedat a ceremony in Zurich.

The Barcelona superstar won theinaugural FIFA Ballon d’Or — a combi-nation of the France Football Ballond’Or prize and FIFA’s World Player ofthe Year award — last year, havingpicked up both awards in 2009.

Messi’s rivals for the honour are hisBarcelona team-mate Xavi and hisgreat Real Madrid rival CristianoRonaldo, who won the Ballon d’Or in2008.

Xavi was also shortlisted for the2010 prize and finished in third place,behind another Barca colleague,Andres Iniesta.

Messi, 24, will start as a strongfavourite to retain his prize, after a yearin which he inspired his club to a LaLiga and Champions League double.


South Africa will always find it diffi-cult to shake off the label of ‘chokers’despite constantly denying it. Howelse can one justify that it took oneof the best teams in the world three

years to register a home series victory. It is not as if the South Afri cans have

been doing badly. On the contrary, they havebeen do minating mostly in the series beforeletting the door ajar at some point to let theopposition in.

South Africa won 2-1 against Sri Lankabut not without the latter winning the sec-ond Test at Durban emphatically.

South Africa always seem to go wrongsomewhere. Earlier in the season, they letAustralia come from behind to square theseries. Australia were reeling at one time withthe score at six for 215 but reached the targetof 310 with two wickets to spare.

Sri Lanka took the Durban Test by a mas-sive 208 runs and gave themselves a chancein the series.

However, South Africa got their acttogether in the decider at Cape Town andcruised to victory in the third Test by 10wickets.

This may well be the turning point. Thebest thing the South Africans have done is toappoint the excellent Gary Kirsten as coach.

Having played with some of the olderbrigade, he knows the team better than any-body else. He did such great work with Indiaand is certain to do the same with theProteas.

It is refreshing to see that the SouthAfrican selectors giving a chance to playerswho merit selection.

The masterstroke this season was to giveVernon Philander a chance in Test cricket.

Philander more than repaid the faith, tak-ing 30 Test wickets in the season and moreoften than not was the key behind SouthAfrica’s victories this season.

The batsmen too contributed at one timeor another. The return of AB de Villiers alsostrengthened the middle-order and he deliv-ered in almost every Test.

The reliable Jacques Kallis did not haveone of his best seasons but he ended itstrongly with his second double hundred inTests.

Sri Lanka continued their slide despite

the rare victory in Durban. This was therefourth series loss in a row in South Africa.

They have been down in the dumps sincea long period now. The Tilakaratne Dilshanera has been a disaster all the way through.

A combination of politics and poor crick-et has put Sri Lankan cricket in a quandary.There have been quirky selections and a totallack of commitment. The Sri Lankan cap hasbeen cheapened by the selectors.

The worst statement of the season madeby the selection committee was that ThilanSamaraweera was not good enough to playfor Sri Lanka and that the team was lookingbeyond him.

Samaraweera had the last laugh. Hescored two centuries in South Africa andwas the architect of Sri Lanka’s first win inSouth Africa.

Kumar Sangakkara’s hard-hitting speechearlier this year in England summed up thestory of Sri Lankan cricket.

The ignoring of spinner Ajantha Mendis,the woeful form of former skipper MahelaJayawardene and the directionless captaincyof Dilshan have proved detrimental to SriLankan cricket.

With South Africa now on the thresholdof better things to come, Sri Lanka are plum-meting steadily into a bottomless pit.

BetterthingsawaitProteas

Twelfth ManBabu Kalyanpur

Australian cricket cap-tain Michael Clarkehas reportedly agreed

to sign a new contract worthmore than $1 million with abat sponsor, says a report inthe Sydney Morning Herald.

Fairfax newspapers saidthe 30-year-old, who scoreda record at the SCG of 329not out against India lastweek, has made a handshakeagreement with bat manu-

facturer Spartan Sports.“The last I heard, there

was a handshake agreementand a contract for a three-year deal with Spartan worthseven figures,” a sourcereportedly told Fairfax.

“If you said the deal wasworth well over a milliondollars, you wouldn’t bewrong.” Clarke played with-out any logos on his bat dur-ing the Sydney Test, as his18-year association withSlaze nger had endedbecause it reportedly couldnot come to agreement overhis commercial demands.

Fairfax reported Clarke’sbat, and potentially otherme r chandise, would be em -blazoned with his initials.

He is expected to join thecompany’s sports ambas-sadors, which include NewZealand rugby league playerBenji Marshall, injured fastbowler Mitchell Johnson,boxing champion DanielGeale, netballer Laura Geitzand women’s footballer KyahSimon.

Clarkeinks $1mbat deal


Tsongabags QatarOpen title

DOHA: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga,who reached the AustralianOpen final four years ago, gavehimself a great build-up to thisyear’s opening Grand Slam bycapturing the eighth title of hiscareer at the Qatar Open onSaturday.

The world number fourfrom France beat his 16th ra -nked compatriot Gael Monfils7-5, 6-3 in a final with greatshots and misses, delights andunexpected irritations, and anintriguing outcome when itseemed at one stage theremight not be one at all.

In the process Tsongashowed again that he has thearmoury to achieve his ambi-tion of breaking into the bigfour, and did so in a contestbetween the two most excitingblack male players sinceYannick Noah retired a decadeand a half ago. “I tried to bemore aggressive and be verycompetitive because againstRoger (Federer), Rafa (Nadal)or Novak (Djokovic) that’s what

you have to do,” Tsonga said.“You have to be aggressive.

I tried to do that this week andit worked.”

However the on-off natureof the first set suggestedTsonga might not get thechance. A sea fog swirled overthe court, and although visibil-ity was more than adequatethe surface became slipperyand uncertain. “It was difficult.The surface was very slipperyespecially on the ‘Qatar’ signpainted on the court,” addedthe 26-year-old Tsonga. “It wasdangerous but they didenough to make it OK.”

After 15 minutes it wasdecided to start, but only eightminutes later, by which timeMonfils had broken serve andthen indicated his insecurityunderfoot, they decided tostop again.

Nothing appeared to havechanged in the conditions, norhad it during the 36 minutesdelay, except that there hadbeen mopping and dryingoperations, especially to largelogos not far behind the base-lines.

For a while Monfils had theadvantage — better balancedand faster in movement, andmore confident after his earlylead. But it evaporated fromthe moment he tried to closeout the set at 5-4.

AFP

postnoon e-paper for 8 january 2012

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