Postnoon E-Paper for March 20th 2013 by Scribble Media & Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.

HYDERABAD’S FIRST COMPACT AFTERNOON NEWSPAPER

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013

city events

FRENCH ARTIST B2FAYS

Alliance Française of Hyderabad, Kalakriti Art Gallery and Park Hyatt Hyderabad present French artist B2Fays. It is an exhibition of paintings and multimedia installations. The preview is on March 28, at 6.30pm at Park Hyatt. The exhibition will continue at Kalakriti Art Gallery.

Weather for Hyderabad

Evening

Overnight

31°C

23°C

A mix of cloudy and clear skies.

Clear with cloudy periods.

Morning

Afternoon

29°C

37°C

Mostly sunny.

Sunny.

New Delhi Mumbai Max 34 Max 33 Min 20 Min 24 Clear.

Chennai Max 33 Min 25

Clear.

Bangalore Max 33 Min 22 Mostly cloudy.

AROUND THE CITY: YOUR GUIDE TO THE TWIN CITIES Gigi Scaria, Rishi Singhal, Serena Chopra, Isabel Saij along with JeanPierre Dubois. Where: Kalakriti Art Gallery, Banjara Hills When: March 16-21 11am to 7pm Contact: (040) 6656 4466

DINING Easter goodies Hot cross buns, Easter Bunnies, and Easter chocolates are part of the special Easter menu. Where: Novotel Hyderabad Convention Centre When: March 25-31

MISCELLANEOUS

St Patrick’s Day – Brunch Menu includes Irish soda bread, boxty and colcannon. Where: The Square, Novotel Hyderabad Convention Centre When: from March 17, noon onwards Contact: (040) 6682 4422

The great Oxford sale Discounts on books, magazines, stationery and gift items. Where: Oxford Bookstore, Tresorie, The Park, 22 Raj Bhavan Road When: Up to March 31, Contact: (040) 31002959

Shaam-e-Deccan GreenPark is hosting Royal Hyderabadi Food Festival – Shaame-Deccan. There will be a spread of vegetarian and non vegetarian delights, especially the nawabi kebabs and a wide choice of biriyanis. Where: Once Upon a Time, GreenPark, Greenlands, Begumpet When: March 15-24, 7.30pm to 11pm Contact: (040) 6651 5151

Spring Treasure Sale There is a sale of up to 50 per cent off at Taj Khazana, which showcases artefacts as well as a selection of garments, stoles, shawls and accessories from various Indian designers. Where: Taj Khazana Taj Falaknuma Palace When: March 15-25 Contact: (040) 6629 8600

Daily treats Orange is the fruit of the month at The Westin Hyderabad Mindspace. Dishes include orange blossom cheesecake, orange creme brule and dark chocolate orange tart. Where: Daily Treats, The Westin

PROTEST: Andhra Pradesh Fisherman's Association members protest against government policies at Dharna Chowk, N SHIVA KUMAR Indira Park, on Tuesday. Hyderabad Mindspace When: Up to March 31 Contact: (040) 6767 6818 It’s Easter! There is a special Easter brunch. Where: : Seasonal Tastes, The Westin Hyderabad Mindspace When: March 31, noon to 4pm Contact: (040) 6767 6888

SHOWS DocuSplash! Barf, 1997 & Sita’s Family, 2002, Delhi Mumbai Delhi, 2006 and Naach, 2008, will be screened. Where: Goethe-Zentrum, Hyderabad 20 Journalist Colony, Road no. 3, Banjara Hills When: March 24,

Commissioner & Spl Officer

Helpline GAS BOOKING IVRS NO HP 9666023456 Indane 9848824365 BSNL Complaints HMWS & SB Complaints

198 155313

POLICE CONTROL ROOM Hyderabad 27852435 Traffic Control Room 27852482 DCP Traffic 23234065, 23243499F Pollution Control Board 23887500 ELECTRICITY General Complaints Breakdown Section

155333 23431178 23431179

MUNICIPAL CORPORATION

23262266 24166666R ENC 23225267 Engineering 23220418 MCH Tankbund 23225397 Emergency MCH Circle I&II 24525842 MCH Circle III 24736912 MCH Circle IV 23326975 MCH Circle V 23326976 MCH Circle VI MCH Complaints 1100 Head Office 23225397 IVRS CUM MANUAL ENQUIRY PHONE NUMBERS (TRAIN & RESERVATION) RAILWAYS Rail Nilayam 27833169, 27824216 Railway Information 131 Reservations 135 Recorded Information 1345 Enquiry (IVRS) 1331, 1332, 1333

11am onwards Contact: gothe.de/hyderabad Tales of the night fairies Five sex workers and the filmmaker embark on a journey of storytelling. Tales of the Night Fairies explores the power of collective organizing and resistance while reflecting upon contemporary debates around sex work. Where: Lamakaan, Opposite GVKOne, Road No 1, Banjara Hills When: March 24, 11am onwards Contact: gothe.de/hyderabad

ART Thinking form and content An exhibition of art work by Gopal

WATER SUPPLY Complaint Cell Sewerage Complaint Hyd. Water Supply HOSPITAL General Hospital, Sec-bad Niloufer Hospital, Red Hills NIMS, Director, Punjagutta Osmania General Hospital Railway Hospital, Lalaguda Apollo, Jubilee Hills Care Hospital, Banjara Hills Care Hospital, Nampally Care Hospital, Musheerabad Care Hospital, Sec-bad Kamineni Hospital, LB Nagar

155313 23307328 23313163

27505566 23314095 23390933 24600146 27001134 23607777 30418888 30417777 30419000 30416666 39879999

BLOOD BANKS Blood Bank,Narayanguda Chiranjeevi Blood Bank Blood Bank Mediton Goal Red Cross, Vidyanagar ADRM Blood Bank Mythri Charitable Trust NTR Memorial Trust Care Banjara Hills

Nayak. Where: ICONART Gallery, Road no. 12, Sri Ram Nagar Colony, Banjara Hills When: Up to March 30, from 11.30 am to 7pm Contact: 98499 68797 Women in Public Spaces Goethe-Zentrum Hyderabad had called for applications for a group photography exhibition on ‘Women in Public Spaces.’ This is an exhibition of selected entries. Where: Goethe-Zentrum, Hyderabad When: March 15-24, 9.30am to 5.30pm Contact: (040) 2335 0443 French heritage A photographic voyage of French heritage in India with Anay Mann,

27567892 23559555 23226624 27633087 27035588 27550238 30799999 30418296 30417445

AMBULANCES Apollo 23548888, 23607777 Kamineni 24022222 Medwin 23202902, 23204616 Smile Line Dental Hospital 23747979 Red Cross 27627973 Niloufer Hospital 23314095 Gandhi 23320332 AIRLINES

DSLR workshop Nikon India is organising its first ever basic DSLR workshop in Hyderabad. Registrations start at 10.30am and will be done on first come first serve basis. Where: Hotel Basera, 1-9-167/168, SD Road, Secunderabad When: March 24, noon to 4pm

Airport Director 27903785, 27906001 For Air India Flight Information Toll free (from any network) for IC Flights 18001801407 And for All Flights: 1800227722 Air India has revised its flight timings. For more information call (Toll free) 18001801407, 1800227722 from BSNL/MTNL 04023430334 from other lines and mobile Website; www.airindia.in TOURISM OFFICES AP Tourism, Hyd 23262152/53/54 Sec-bad 27893100 Dept of Tourism 23453110 India Tourism 23261360 AP Tourism information Centre (24x7) 23450444, 23455999 UK VISA OFFICE VFS India Pvt Ltd Building, 8-2-542/A, Sunil Chamber, Road No. 7

Beside Meridian School, Banjara Hills34. Working hours are from 8 AM to 1 PM And 2 PM to 3PM. MUSEUMS Salar Jung Museum AP State Museum Nizams Museum

24523211 232431300/7641 24521029

Readers’ views

We invite you to write to us comments, suggestions, viewpoint or just about anything to feedback@postnoon.com or #1246, Level 3, Jubilee Casa, Road No 62, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad – 500 033 or even by way of a call on 4067 2222

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013 HYDERABAD

WWW.POSTNOON.COM

FLIGHT TO

32 PAGES

WEATHER: A MIX OF CLOUDY AND CLEAR SKIES; 31°C

EXTINCTION

Universally familiar in appearance, the widespread and once abundant, House Sparrow is now finding itself on the road to extinction. On the least-concern list, their numbers are dwindling consistently. On World Sparrow Day, we take time to know more about this feathered friend.

P14&15

HYDERABAD’S FIRST COMPACT AFTERNOON NEWSPAPER

TECHNOLOGY EXPOSES

CHEATING SPOUSES

The digital age has finally invaded family courts where technological proof has replaced physical evidence, leading to quicker dissolution of marriages. Most divorce cases have extra-marital affairs as the main reason for seeking separation. So the next time you log on for lust, be afraid... be very afraid.

REPORT ON P5

BEAT GETTING BAWLED OVER Wondering what could possibly be making your baby cry so much? Here are a few reasons why your little bundle of joy is not too happy. Read on…

P17

CHILD LAW KEEPS CORPORATORS ON EDGE P2

The GHMC leads the country with a progressive Act. Its 1994 amendment to the Act that stipulates a corporator should not have more than two children has had a rather curious fallout. It is believed that there could be more than 10 corporators representing different parties who have more than two children. And they’re a worried lot.

RAPE FEARS FUEL TOURISTS’ ANXIETY IN INDIA Foreign countries have issued advisories on safety issues while travelling in India.

city WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013

CIVIC

LAST YEAR... HERE Funding communal discord?

ast year we had reported how several bike burning incidents had been taking place in the City, especially in the Old City area. However, the police managed to nab a youth redhanded at Chellapur near Charminar. The man from Karnataka had during the course of investigation hinted that there was a mysterious paymaster who had been commissioning this.

MARCH 20, 2012

NUMEROLOGY

1,300

Law on children keeps corporators on edge The GHMC leads the country with a progressive Act. Its 1994 amendment to the Act that stipulates a corporator should not have more than two children has curious fallouts. More councilors are kept on tenterhooks on this issue.

cases of the 1,700 divorce cases filed last year were because one of the spouses was having an extra-marital relationship.

With the advancement of technology, couples are easily able to find out if their partner is cheating on them and immediately approach the court.

C Uday Kumar, corporator, Langar House

The leadership of all the parties maintain that they verify the credentials of the candidate before elections.

Dhananjaya, advocate See page 5

THINGS WE LEARNT TODAY

The column that teaches everyone something new about the way the City functions.

GHMC corporators are now on tenterhooks. With the two children rule now in force, nearly 10 corporators with the municipal corporation are wondering if they will lose their posts since they have more than two children.

No respite for women in City from rape and molestation. Even as the whole country is up in arms against rapists, some continue to have a free run in our City. Recently, a 12-year-old girl was raped by a 25-year-old man.

Congress goes for the kill after co-op poll success. After its success in the co-operative elections, Congress is getting ready to go in for local body polls.

Having an affair? You might just be caught on camera! An increasing number of couples are turning to creating videos of their spouse’s infidelity when filing for a divorce. Cops now offer `10 lakh bounty to blast informants. Even as cops struggle to find clues, the NIA has announced a reward to anyone who offers information.

Singireddy Srinivas Reddy (standing in black)

Md NIZAMUDDIN nizamuddin.a@postnoon.com

ven as two of the GHMC corporators have lost cases in the courts for having more than two children, another corporator is reportedly fighting the case in the High Court. Mohammed Mukrram Ali (Moghalpura) has already lost the case in the Civil court and now the case is with the High Court. It is believed that around 10 corporators representing different parties having more than

two children have butterflies in their tummy. “Unless and until there is a strong evidence like Date of Birth certificates of their children, it’s hard to pin point and nail them,” says C Uday Kumar, who recently won the case for becoming Corporator from Langar House.

ONE CURIOUS TWIST TO THE LAW According to legal experts, the children born before the law was implemented in 1994, will all be counted as one even if there are more one. But there is no exclusiveness for Muslims. “The children born to a man

would be taken into account even if they are born of more than one wife,” says Osman Shaheed, former chairman of MCH Standing Committee and president, Telangana Advocates’ Joint Action Committee. While MIM corporators feel that given the cost of living for the average person, the phenomenon of marrying more than one woman is rare amongst the corporators. “This can be seen amongst the rich, like a few MLAs and MPs, but I do not think corporators of these days can afford to maintain more than one wife and

children,” says an MIM corporator, who do not want to be named. The leadership of all the parties maintain that they verify the credentials of the candidate before elections. But there could be some cases, which may have missed cross checking, if there is a strong reference for the candidate. Singireddy Srinivas Reddy, TDP floor leader, similar to other leaders maintains there are no cases right now in the courts. “There are other cases of corporators pending in court. But as of now, I did not learn about any other case,” he says.

NEWS BRIEFS TRS leaders meet home minister for permission

Ponnala urges Chiru to set up Tourism centre

Man crossing tracks run over by train

Class VI student drowns in lake near home

deﬁant group of TRS leaders and MLAs who wanted the ‘sadak bandh’ to be allowed in the City on Thursday met Home Minister Sabita Indra Reddy today to seek her intervention for police permission. The leaders said the party will go ahead with the programme as part of its agitation for a separate Telangana state.

T Minister Ponnala Laxmaiah has urged Union Tourism Minister Dr K Chiranjeevi to set up a Tourism Convention Center at the historical Warangal city. Ponnala met Chiranjeevi on Tuesday and thanked him for sanctioning funds to set up 10 Tourism Convention Centers across the State to develop the tourism sector further.

senior citizen, K Ram Singh, 65, said to be a resident of VV Nagar of Borabanda was fatally run over by a speeding train while he was crossing live tracks between Borabanda and Hitec City staions on Tuesday. Severely injured, he died on the spot. The railway police have booked a case and are looking into the matter.

class VI student by name Mohammed Muzamil drowned accidentally in a lake while swimming. Muzamil, 12, a resident of Tukkuguda of Pahadishareef had gone to the lake near his home on Tuesday afternoon for a swim with his friends where he is said to have been drowned. It is not clear if he could swim or was just practising.

city WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013

CRIME

Minor schoolgirl abducted, raped The 12-year-old was held captive in Nalgonda by a youth who sexually assaulted her for a week. POSTNOON NEWS feedback@postnoon.com

n yet another case of abduction and rape in the City, a minor girl, aged 12, was taken forcibly by a 25-yearold man who kept her captive and sexually assaulted her for a week. He has been arrested and the girl is undergoing treatment. The girl’s family had come to the City from Nalgonda seven years ago. The girl’s father, P Chary, is an agriculturist. They rented a home in LB Nagar. The girl, studying in a government school, was alone at home in the evening last week when a man, identified as J Kanaka Raju, who also hails from Nalgonda, came and asked her to get into an autorickshaw. She knew the man but not very well. She was reluctant but Raju

pulled her into the vehicle. She was taken to a house in Nalgonda where he kept her in captivity for a week and repeatedly raped her. Meanwhile, the girl’s parents lodged a complaint with the police. The cops, with help they received from the

neighbours, went in search of the man in Nalgonda. When rescued, the girl was in a state of shock and she was taken to the hospital for forensic tests. The youth has been arrested and charged with the abduction and rape of a minor girl.

Boulders become killing tools Mohd SUBHAN mohd.s@postnoon.com

hree persons were murdered in separate incidents at different places in the City and outskirts in the past two days. All three were found with their heads smashed in with boulders. According to details, the body of a man, aged about 40 years, was found on RCI Road near a garden in Pahadishareef area. He had head injuries and was lying in a pool of blood. Police say they have started investigating but have got no definite clues so far. In another incident, a man, around 50 years of age, was found dead near Miyan Sahab lake of Vanasthalipuram area. His head and face were smashed in with boulders. In another incident, an unidentified person, aged around 45 years, was found badly injured at Nagmaiah Kunta of Chikkadpally area.

Three separate cases of murder, where the victims were bludgeoned to death with boulders, have been registered. His attackers had injured him using boulders and he died while undergoing treatment. In this case, two men, Ramesh and Chitty Babu, have been arrested.

city WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013

POLITICS

Cong goes in for the kill FILE PHOTO

After its success in the co-operative elections, the Congress is getting ready to go in for local body polls.

Mayhem on Day 5

POSTNOON NEWS feedback@postnoon.com

he Opposition stirred up trouble on the fifth day of the Assembly session, prompting the Chair to adjourn the House twice before noon. Each party wanted to move adjournment motions to discuss issues such as VAT on textiles, water shortage, and so on. The Speaker disallowed them all, leading to fracas and adjournment.

INKESHAF AHMED ahmed.m@postnoon.com meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) will be held this evening. The meeting is being held almost after a gap of one year. CLP assumes importance in the wake of the State governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision to hold local body elections for all gram panchayats and MPTC, ZPTC seats across the State in either April or May. The agenda prepared for the CLP meeting also includes the issue of nine dissident party MLAs who, defying the party whip, voted in favour of the noconfidence motion (NCM) moved by the Opposition YSR Congress and TRS in the Assembly on March 15. The meeting is likely to adopt a unanimous resolution to complain

ASSEMBLY

BREACH OF PRIVILEGE NOTICE SERVED against the rebel party MLAs to the Speaker, seeking their disqualification from the house. The meeting will also discuss in detail the strategies to be adopted by the party to face the local body election by gearing up party cadres from grassroots level. The issue of strengthening party cadres by recognising the services of loyal local workers of the party and giving them leadership roles would be taken on a serious note. The party has already decided to field youth Congress leaders in the ensuing local body elections as an experiment. The incentive being offered to these young

SMALL WONDERS

School children participate in a series of events to commemorate World Sparrow Day at Nehru Zoological Park. N SHIVA KUMAR

leaders is that those who ensure the partyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s victory in the local body elections would be given MLA tickets during the next General Elections. Speaking to Postnoon, Congress MLA Masthan Wali said that the meeting would set a road map to gain mileage for the welfare schemes the government has been implementing. The CLP meeting would also discuss how to counter criticism from rival political parties in the ongoing budget session of the House and evolve a strategy accordingly. Senior ministers and MLAs would likely be entrusted with this responsibility.

In AP Legislative Council, opposition party leaders from TDP and TRS gave breach of privilege notices to the Council chairman against the State government for committing visible mistakes in preparation of a separate budget for agriculture.

FIN MIN CONCEDES MISTAKE

Finance minister A Ramanarayana Reddy agreed that they had committed a lot of mistakes due to lack of co-ordination between various departments. He, along with legislative affairs minister D Sridhar Babu, met the Assembly Speaker and gave a letter to him, promising that the State would again present it as agriculture action plan. He also brought to the notice of the Speaker that they put before the House corrected copies of the action plan.

classifieds WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013

FAMILY COURTS

Tech to stalk cheating spouses The digital age has invaded family courts. Technological proof has replaced physical evidence, leading to quicker dissolution of marriages involving extramarital affairs. ALEENA ALICE aleena.t@postnoon.com

one are the days when an estranged spouse, who suspected his/her other half of cheating on him/her, would bring hard copies of photographs, eyewitnesses or other sorts of physical evidence to the courts. Majority of the divorce cases that reach the family court these days are filed on the basis of extramarital affairs. However, couples now use technology to present facts before the courts. Last year, out of 1,700 divorce cases that reached the courts, nearly 1,300 cases were filed because a spouse was having an extramarital affair. Most of the couples were young, educated people between the ages of 25 and 30. According to advocates, these couples bring in proof either as recordings on their high-end mobile phones or by recording their confession and presenting the CDs to the court. “Out of every 10 cases I deal with, nearly six of my clients have applied for divorce because their spouse has been cheating on them. Nowadays, with the advancement of technology, couples are easily able to find

CRIME

City blasts: `10 lakh reward for informants

Advocates say couples record the proof on their high-end phones and present that, or a CD, to the court as evidence. out whether their partner is cheating on them or not. Half of the cases that come to the courts are (those with) mobile proof, where the husband or wife finds out about their partner’s extramarital affairs by checking the SMS and call history on their partner’s phone,” said advocate C Srinath. The court, on the other hand, has been honouring these proofs presented before them, and immediately granting divorce to the couples. “There was this case where a husband, who suspected that his wife was having an extramarital affair, acquired her email password by recording it on the web cam. He then later checked her mail and caught her redhanded with the email she exchanged with her secret lover. He confronted her and recorded her confession. All this was provided to the court as evi-

dence. So the court immediately granted his divorce petition,” said advocate GK Kalanidhi. Adding that electronic communication h a s been playing an important role in the increasing number of divorce cases, a d v o c a t e Dhananjaya said, “Earlier, if the husband or the wife suspected each other, they would only restrict it to that and later forget about it, most of the time. Now with the advancement of technology, couples are easily able to find out if their partner is cheating on them and immediately approach the court with the proof.” Mobile, mail, spy cam and GPS have come to the aid of the tech-savvy young generation.

NEEDS OF INDUSTRIES A Classified Display Feature

he National Investigation Agency, which took over the probe into the twin blasts in Dilsukhnagar on February 21, has announced a reward of `10 lakh for those who pass on information about the culprits. The agency also promised to keep the identity of informants a top secret. It may be mentioned here that DGP Dinesh Reddy had announced two days ago that the police identified the prime accused of the blasts from the CCTV footage. Speaking to the media on Saturday, the DGP said all that remained now was to locate the criminal. He also denied charges that the police had taken into custody people from a particular section for interrogation. He said all the suspects were being taken into custody. It was improper to say that one particular section was targeted, he added. The DGP said police were investigating the case from all angles. NSS

To advertise on this page, contact:

040-40672222

AGE OF WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013

A PAGE DEDICATED TO THE TRIUMPHS AND TRIBULATIONS OF GEN Z

Long and short of relationships Gen Z doesn’t find any difference between instant chat and face-to-face interactions. They have a different take on relationships. The question is, will marriage survive Gen Z? FLEME VARKEY

fleme.v@postnoon.com

umerous surveys have found that young adults today spend more time being single than the previous generations. Instances of live-in relationships, bearing children out of wedlock and refusal to have children have become increasingly common. These rising trends have more or less grabbed the attention of researchers and sociologists world over. Concern is being expressed about its social impact and the adverse effects it may have on future generations. When it comes to love, we get a mixed reaction. While some give no thought to frequently changing their partners, for what they call ‘experimenting with the right one’, there are others who are taking the longterm relationship route. But marriage does not seem to figure anywhere on the cards. "It's good to get to know your partner before marrying, but one wonders how long you need," says Maheshwari M, mother of a teenage daughter. But her daughter Anisha says, “Marriage is not something I can afford to think of. For me, companionship and living my adult life completely matters. My order of preference is: Career, independence, money, stability, fun, and then marriage. And children.… just out of the question!” Some try to subvert the institution of marriage, proclaiming that it is no longer an acceptable – or tolerable – way of life. Sangeeta Chauhan, an aspiring engineer, feels that it’s just a way to get women to become submissive. There are others who share her view. Gen Z children were born in the years that marked the turning point for same-sex couples. Md Asif, an apprentice with a fashion designer says, “Though the stigma still remains, more and more teens are confident enough to come out of the closet and stand up for their sexual orientation. Being gay or lesbian is now not frowned upon. And with some

parts of the world even allowing same-sex couples to marry, it won’t be long before the revolution reaches India.” While many Gen Zers will fall in love and get married eventually, the casualness of sexual relationships and the breakdown of traditional courtship has made dating among Gen Zs painful at times. The millennial generation too had their reservations about

marriage, but now youngsters are waiting longer before saying their vows. They aren’t necessarily anti-marriage; what they most want, it appears, is to get marriage right. Online relationships are now the norm. What earlier generations would have thought twice about doing, Gen-Z has already been there and done that. Nowadays the virtual lives

they lead is making it difficult to differentiate between fiction and reality. This social-networking generation believes in living every minute on it. Inter-personal relationships are discarded. Children prefer to talk to their parents via phone, Skype or even Facebook, despite living in the same house. As a result, even parenting has changed drastically. Francis Mathew, a father of a boy and girl, says, “For our generation, parenting was a big deal. We learnt from our parents and grandparents how to bring up our kids. But now, it’s become fashionable to dole out expert advice on parenting.” Tessy Sebastian, a married girl of 22, is now expecting her first child,. “Most people are surprised that I chose to marry so young and now am expecting. Rather than listening to advice from hundred relatives, I believe there are some good books out in the market which will help me through this.” When the talks of lowering

the age of consensual sex were on, Gen Z had mixed views. Dipti Sharma, a medical student said, “I think it’s a bold and progressive move. It gives you the right to choose (what is) right and wrong for yourself. I think now relationships may be given a chance.” On the other hand, Tanishkh Mansukhani, a student of sociology, felt it’s a ploy to let adults get their way. “We as a generation have become more promiscuous and sex doesn’t have the value or general importance that it used to. Losing one’s virginity is no longer a matter of concern; rather if you haven’t by the age of 20, then you are considered an old fossil. This kind of behaviour leads to unstable relationships, reckless drug abuse, depression and a skewed sense of freedom.” As the years pass, a new generation takes the old one’s place. They have their own quirks and problems to deal with and finally through trial and error come up with their own solutions.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013

focus

LIVING IN DENIAL

At the Delhi office of the Indian Association of Tour Operators, executive director Gour Kanjilal said it was unfair to portray India as dangerous. “Our industry is the first casualty when crime against foreigners is reported in India, but the reporting does not always reflect the truth," he said. “Tourists should be responsible. They should follow some do’s and don’ts."

HALL OF SHAME

Rape fears fuel tourists’

ANXIETY IN INDIA

AMMU KANNAMPILLY feedback@postnoon.com

anish tourist Judith Jensen has a long list of don’ts to help her feel safe during her holiday in India. She won’t hail a taxi off the street, she won’t stay in an obscure hotel and she won’t go out after dark — all decisions made in response to the growing reporting of sexual crime in the country. “I have read and heard so much about rape in India that now I feel this persistent sense of danger," Jensen, 42, told AFP. The tourism ministry’s ubiquitous Incredible India marketing campaign has helped boost the number of foreign visitors over the past decade to around 6.6 million a year. But that push is now hampered by a growing sense that India is simply not a safe destination. The fatal gang-rape of a student in December shone a disturbing light on the levels of sexual violence and a series of subsequent attacks on foreigners

have added to the sense of unease. On Friday night, a Swiss tourist was gang-raped while on a cycling holiday in Madhya Pradesh. Her husband was tied

since the December bus gangrape include that of a South Korean student who said she had been raped and drugged by the son of the owner of the hotel where she stayed. A Chinese woman working in Gurgaon, was also reportedly raped by an acquaintance last month.

Foreign countries have issued advisories on safety issues while travelling in India.

up by the gang who are also accused of stealing a laptop, a mobile phone and `10,000. On the same night, a group of men in a city near Delhi briefly kidnapped an Indian male executive working for the French engineering giant Alstom. Other incidents reported

Officials say there is no need for alarm, pointing out that foreigners are victims of crime the world over and the vast majority experience no problems. But travel advice from a host of countries stresses the need for visitors to take care. An advisory from the Swiss foreign ministry, issued before Friday’s attack, urged men and women visiting India to travel in large groups and with guides. The US State Department’s

website warns female travellers to “observe stringent security precautions” and “avoid travelling alone in hired taxis, especially at night". Britain’s foreign office updated its advisory for India last week, saying that “women travellers often receive unwanted attention in the form of verbal and physical harassment by individuals or groups of men". In a notorious case five years ago, 15-year-old British schoolgirl Scarlett Keeling was raped and left to die on a beach in Goa. Jensen recalled how she spent a carefree week backpacking around southern India a decade ago. But now, travelling with her 10-year-old daughter, it is a different story with her husband texting her several times a day to check up on their safety. “Women will prefer to visit other places like Singapore or Bali or Thailand, where safety is not such a big concern." At the Delhi office of the Indian Association of Tour Operators, executive director Gour Kanjilal said it was unfair

to portray India as dangerous. “Our industry is the first casualty when crime against foreigners is reported in India, but the reporting does not always reflect the truth," he said. “Tourists should be responsible. They should follow some do’s and don’ts." A state minister in MP, where the attacks on the Swiss and South Korean tourists took place, told reporters on Sunday that travellers must inform local police officials whenever they move from one town to the next. That suggestion is hardly realistic for most tourists like 26year-old Peruvian Marilu Labarthe, who squeezed in visits to seven cities during a twoweek trip to the country. Labarthe, shopping for ethnic trinkets in Delhi on the last day of her vacation, travelled to the country with 11 other women. “You have to always be careful. And after hearing of these recent incidents, one obviously feels a sense of fear," she said, as one of her companions nodded in agreement. AFP

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013

Business

Petrobras aims to triple Brazil's offshore oil output Brazil's state-run energy giant Petrobras said Tuesday it aims to triple oil production from its huge deep-water fields by 2017. By that date, the company plans to extract 962,500 barrels a day, more than three times the current 300,000, according to the plan released to investors.

GOING THE ECO WAY

Y! sets eyes on video

The organic advantage The organic sector has seen growth in the last five years. Using bio pesticides in farming helps bring down the cost to farmers. PRUDHVI RAJU K prudhvi.k@postnoon.com

rganic living seems to be the new mantra and organic food is gaining ground not only as a viable and sustainable alternative for farmers but also as a healthy option for consumers. Earlier, organic foods were mainly cultivated for export, but recent trends show that the demand from villages and retail stores in cities, along with the benefit to farmers, are driving organic cultivation. Although, this is a good start, there is a growing need to educate farmers and government support is vital to substitute chemical-based farming. Dr GV Ramanjaneyulu, executive director of the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, feels that it is important for farmers to opt for a sustainable approach. “Either the farmer has to produce bio-pesticides locally or buy them from companies. The latter will increase the market dependence and costs will not reduce. It is impor-

tant for farmers to be independent,” he says. He advises farmers to adopt the agro-ecological approach before choosing the crop. This depends on the soil and water conditions along with the local demand for the produce. For instance, in Guntur you can still find residues of pesticides in the soil that were banned 30 years ago. Chemicals and pesticides can also spread from neighbouring fields through water, air and soil. But with specific practices — like maintaining distance in organic cultivation — can bring down the residue levels. Farmers can opt for the incremental approach by which they abandon pesticides initially and follow it up with chemical fertilisers over time. But one must not expect results immediately as the whole process takes place gradually. Any land can be converted over two to three years with this approach. Although this process sounds

tiresome intially, it actually helps reduce expenses over time. “These methods not only help in ecological sustainability but also help bring down costs to farmers by a minimum of 10

The organic food sector has seen a rapid rise. In the last five years, it has grown at around 400 per cent in exports. per cent. Productivity can also be increased by around 10 per cent with good management techniques. If a farmer can get at least 10 per cent better price through proper distribution mechanisms, it will be beneficial,” says Dr Ramanjaneyulu. The organic food sector has seen a rapid rise. In the last five years, it has grown at around 400 per cent in exports. However, growth in the domestic market is hard to calculate as it is largely an unorganised sector. Around

five per cent of farms are certified as organic; but in reality this figure is around 30 per cent as many are into organic farming by default in the country. With 70 per cent farmers still dependant on chemical farming, taking organic methods to the mainstream will only be possible with investment from the government. The price of organic foods can also be lowered if the subsidy provided on chemical fertilisers is given directly to the farmer. For instance, the government spends around `2,500 as subsidy on every bag of DAP fertiliser. Around six bags are used per acre of land and this costs the government around `15,000 for a single crop. If this subsidy is given to the farmer, he can spend it on organic fertilisers. In the name of subsidies, the government is helping the industry and not the farmer. By subsidising chemical fertilisers, the government is directly responsible for spoiling the ecology, livelihood and health of cores of people.

10g GOLD `30,100 10g GOLD`31,100 1kg `60,100 1kg SILVER `54,900

24C 24C

forfor

for for

DOLLAR `54.38 `53.79 `85.15 POUND `82.03

The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday reported that Yahoo! may take a controlling interest in France-based online video-sharing website Dailymotion. Yahoo! could buy as much as 75 per cent of Dailymotion from France Telecom in what would be the California Internet pioneer's biggest acquisition under chief Marissa Mayer. He said at a recent ﬁnancial analysts conference in San Francisco that she was making a priority of markets outside the US, where the company makes most of its money. Yahoo! and Dailymotion declined to comment on the report that talks between the companies were underway.

NUMEROLOGY

$15.6

is the massive order put at Boeing catalog prices, one of the US aerospace giant’s largest orders ever, though discounts could bring the total value to much less than that.

Ford to pay $750mn US automaker Ford said Tuesday that it would pay at least $750 million to workers being let go as it closes its plant in Genk, Belgium, after reaching an agreement with unions. Ford Motor Company, which has suffered heavy losses in Europe, announced in October it would shutter the Genk plant at the end of 2014, wiping out more than 10,000 direct and indirect jobs. The announcement triggered shock waves in Belgium and union blockades at the plant, which employs 4,000 hourly workers and 300 salaried employees. "We recently completed negotiations with representatives of our hourly employees at the Genk facility regarding separation benefits, and the resulting proposal has been approved by a majority vote," Ford said in a regulatory filing. "We estimate the cost of these hourly employee separation benefits, subject to formal closure of the information and consultation process, to be about $750 million, which will be cash expenditures."

20,025.67 18,913.89

BSE 6,057.70 5,710.40 NSE 44.10 92.30 9.20 35.55

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013

nation

MILITANTS KILL MAN IN MANIPUR Militants shot dead a 51-year old villager in Manipur's interior Chandel hill district bordering Myanmar, police said today. The militants barged into the house of Soshon Maring late last night at Khukthar village, dragged him out and shot him dead from point blank range. The victim died on the spot.

LANKA RESOLUTION

ACCIDENT

Truck runs over eight in a slum

Talks on, government confident of survival

Uproar over issues relating to Sri Lankan Tamils and Union Minister Beni Prasad Verma's remarks against Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav led to the adjournment of Parliament for an hour today.

LUCKNOW: In a tragic incident late Tuesday night, eight children were killed and over a dozen injured when a speeding truck overturned at Nagla Patwari near the bypass in Aligarh, police said. The incident happened when the truck, loaded with bricks, got stuck in a pothole. The driver lost control, the truck turned turtle and then hurtled into a roadside slum in the village. Angry at the delay in arrival of cranes to begin rescue operations to pull out the children from under the truck, a mob went on a rampage and chased away senior district officials from the accident site. Angry residents alleged that they had petitioned district authorities many times to get the road repaired, as they feared an accident that could cause loss of lives. They said their pleas fell on deaf ears. The condition of the injured is stated to be serious, though out of danger, police officials said. The truck driver and its cleaner were also among the injured. Angry people blocked the road for many hours, protesting the laxity of authorities in repairing the road.

PTI

DMK ministers submit resignations to PM, Parliament adjourned over uproar NEW DELHI: The government Wednesday said it was talking to political parties on a resolution concerning the Sri Lankan Tamil issue in parliament, but the move was not linked to the withdrawal of support by the DMK to the UPA. The remarks were made by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram here, while addressing media people. He said the government was mulling over the resolution, seeing the sentiments of the Tamils. Answering a query, he said the government was stable: "No one has questioned our stability," Chidambaram said. BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the party has no plans to bring a no-confidence motion; “the government will collapse on its own”, he said. Information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari said it was part of government's duty to highlight the feelings of the people of a state. "Talks are being held (on the resolution)," he said.

DMK leader TR Baalu (second from left) with party leaders outside Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

Referring to the resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council, he said India's foreign policy was decided keeping the national interest at the forefront. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said the SP

was satisfied with the government's response on the controversy over union minister Beni Prasad Verma's alleged remarks that Mulayam Singh Yadav had "terrorist links". "They are satisfied. The issue is closed," Kamal Nath said.

KASHMIR Teen killed inside mosque

NEWS BRIEFS 1 killed, 6 injured as train rams into bus

Nagaland minister Chang resigns

Two persons electrocuted in UP

SUPAUL: A goods train rammed into a bus at an unmanned railway crossing near Saraigarh in Bihar's Supaul district today, leaving one person dead and six others injured. Superintendent of Police Vinod Kumar said the goods train coming from Raghopur to Saharsa hit a passenger bus when it was passing through the unmanned railway crossing. One person died on the spot and six others were injured, About 26 passengers were on board the bus which was on way to Supaul from state capital Patna.

KANNUR: Newly-appointed state school education minister CM Chang of the Naga People's Frontled Democratic Alliance of Nagaland has resigned from his post, ofﬁcials said today. Chang, elected from Noksen constituency in the February 23 Assembly election, had submitted his resignation on March 14, state Assembly Speaker Chotisuh Sazo said. Chang resigned in order to avoid a Lok Sabha by-election, Sazo said, adding that Chang's resignation has been accepted.

GHAZIPUR: Two persons were electrocuted when a high tension wire fell on a transformer resulting in ﬂow of high voltage in Dildarnagar area, police said today. The incident occurred late last evening when the high tension wire fell on the transformer in Phulli village. Police said that Waseem, 20, and Ibrar, 17, who were repairing cellphones at a mobile store, were electrocuted due to the high voltage. An ex-gratia of `1 lakh each and ﬁnancial assistance from the Chief Minister's discretionary fund has been alloted to their kin.

Pick

SRINAGAR: Unidentified gunmen late Tuesday night killed an 18-year-old boy in Sopore town, police said here. Sopore SP Syed Imtiyaz Hussain told IANS on Wednesday: "Suhail Ahmad Sofi, resident of Doabgah area of Sopore, was sitting with another boy in the grounds near the local mosque when unidentified militants fired at him. "However, Suhail escaped the bullets and ran into the mosque.

at the

One militant chased him and fired five shots at the boy inside the mosque. Suhail died on the spot. We have registered a case in this regard and investigations have started." Commenting on the killing, CM Omar Abdullah tweeted: "Militants chase an 18-year-old boy into a mosque and shoot him. Imagine the outrage if this had been done by security forces #hypocrisy". IANS

airport,

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013

World

GENOCIDE TRIAL OF FORMER GUATEMALA DICTATOR BEGINS Former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt went on trial Tuesday on genocide charges over the killing of almost 1,800 indigenous people during his country’s civil war. The trial of the 86-year-old former strongman, who could face five decades in prison, had a raucous opening with the court rejecting several motions for a postponement.

DIPLOMATIC TIES

Obama sets off for Israel

RUDD IN COMEBACK?

Hoping to ease tensions and to narrow differences over Iran’s nuclear threat.

JERUSALEM: Barack Obama was on his way to Israel Wednesday for the first time as US president, hoping to ease past tensions with his hosts and under pressure to narrow differences over handling Iran’s nuclear threat. Obama’s long-awaited visit, the debut overseas trip of his second term, comes as Israel’s new government settles in and will also expose Obama’s diminished ambitions of forging peace between Israelis and Palestinians. The president’s airplane, Air Force One, took off at 8:15 pm from Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington. Obama was scheduled to touch down in Tel Aviv at around 1030 GMT and embark on a four-day trip during which he will meet Israeli leaders and travel to the West Bank. There he will find Palestinians who feel he did not live up to early vows to dedicate

Barack Obama makes his way to board Air Force One on March 19 at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. AFP/MANDEL NGAN

himself to a two-state deal. Obama will also consult with King Abdullah II in Jordan. “My goal on this trip is to listen. I intend to meet with Bibi (Netanyahu)... I intend to meet with Fayyad and Abu Mazen (Abbas) and to hear from them what is their strategy, what is their vision, where do they

think this should go?” Obama told Israeli television. Upon arrival Obama will immediately come face-to-face with Israel’s security challenge, viewing a mobile battery of Israel’s US-funded Iron Dome anti-missile system. Then he will head to Jerusalem, to visit President

Shimon Peres before going into talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On his trip, Obama will pointedly court symbolism as he will be inspecting the Dead Sea Scrolls and visiting the tomb of Theodor Herzl, founder of modern Zionism. The choreography is intended to show Israelis, Arabs and political foes back home that Obama is deeply committed to Israel’s security and future, despite some scepticism about his motives. Obama normally gets a hero’s welcome on foreign trips but after his call for a “new beginning” with the Muslim world in his first term, he will confront questionable personal popularity among Israelis. A Jerusalem Post poll Tuesday found 36 per cent of Israelis found Obama more proPalestinian than pro-Israel compared to 26 per cent who saw him as favouring Israel more.

CYPRIOT CRISIS

FIERY FIESTA

Cyprus MPs reject levy

A woman jumps over a bonfire in southern Tehran on March 19 during the Fire feast, or Chaharshanbeh Soori, held annually on the last Wednesday eve before the Spring holiday of Noruz. AFP PHOTO

NICOSIA: Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades has called an emergency meeting of party leaders Wednesday in a frantic search for a viable plan B after MPs rejected the terms of an EU bailout aimed at saving Cyprus from bankruptcy. Angry lawmakers on Tuesday voiced their disapproval for a divisive levy on bank accounts, devised as part of the bailout EU-IMF rescue package, decrying as “blackmail” the recently forged deal. Under the bailout deal reached at the weekend, the

troika of the EU, European Central Bank and IMF were to provide Cyprus with 10 billion euros on condition the island raises another 5.8 billion euros. It called for a levy of up to 9.9 per cent to be slapped on all Cyprus bank deposits, an unprecedented move that triggered outrage among savers and raised fears other financially crippled EU states like Italy and Spain could be next. The Cypriot government backtracked, and on Tuesday dropped the proposed tax on savings below 20,000.

NEWS BRIEFS Al-Qaeda says French hostage killed in Mali

Anti-whalers return to Seven US marines killed Oz claiming win over Jap in training exercise

NOUAKCHOTT: A French hostage has been executed in Mali, a man claiming to be a spokesman for AlQaeda in North Africa told Mauritania’s ANI news agency. A French foreign office spokesman said they were trying to verify the report of the killing of Philippe Verdon, who was kidnapped in 2011.

SYDNEY: The Sea Shepherd antiwhaling fleet docked in Australia claiming victory over Japan, as the activist group urged Canberra to grant fugitive founder Paul Watson free passage into the country. The ships returned from a bitter campaign in the isolated Southern Ocean in Antarctica with an estimated Aus$1.0 million damage bill.

WASHINGTON: Seven US Marines were killed and eight others wounded when a mortar round exploded while still in its launch tube during a training exercise in Nevada, the military said Tuesday. The accident involved a powerful 60 mm round and the Marine Corps ordered a ban on the use of such mortars after the incident.

Diana dresses raise over £850,000 at London sale LONDON: Ten dresses owned by Princess Diana, including the one worn when she danced with actor John Travolta at a White House dinner, sold for £862,800 at a London auction on Tuesday. The most iconic item — the strapless dark blue velvet gown worn at a 1985 dinner thrown by US president Ronald Reagan — raised £240,000.

Speculation intensified that Australian PM Julia Gillard could be toppled by her party within days, with one report saying exleader Kevin Rudd was five votes from victory. The Australian Financial Review said Gillard was lagging so badly in opinion polls that even her more strident supporters doubted she could win the September 14 election. It said three senior sources had confirmed momentum was moving towards Rudd.

NUMEROLOGY

People were killed by landslides caused by heavy rains in a mountainous area of the Brazilian sate of Rio de Janeiro, authorities said Tuesday. The heavy downpour also forced 1,466 people to leave their homes or left them homeless.

FUKUSHIMA COOLED Technicians have restored power to all cooling systems at the reactors of Japan’s tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear plant, the operating company said Wednesday after a blackout sparked a new crisis. Equipment in pools used to cool used fuel became fully operational from 0:12 am (1512 GMT), some 30 hours after the blackout, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said. Used nuclear fuel becomes dangerous if its temperature is allowed to rise uncontrollably to the point where a self-sustaining critical reaction begins, causing a meltdown.

We are very seriously concerned by the fact that chemical weapons have fallen in the hands of the armed opposition in Syria. Russian Foreign Ministry Statement

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013

Technology PRICE OF ‘SOCIALISING’ Number of Broadband Subscribers (Millions)

United States

Prepaid Pre/postpaid Postpaid

UNDER INVESTIGATION Monthly Price For 1GB of Mobile Broadband Data (PPP$) The US are the Highest users of mobile broadband, with monthly contracts dominating the US and Europe. While the cost of data continues to fall, mobile data usage is expected to grow twenty-fold by 2017

IS IT WORTH

People love being connected on the go, but is your phone really the best place for social media?

Cost per megabyte ($US)

Smartphone megabyte per month usage

US regulators are investigating Microsoft’s relationship with business partners that allegedly bribed foreign government officials in return for software contracts. US Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission are examining allegations made by a former Microsoft representative in China, as well as the company's relationship with certain resellers and consultants in Romania and Italy. The investigation is in a preliminary phase, according to people familiar with the probe, and the government hasn't accused Microsoft of wrongdoing. Such investigations can end with no charges being filed.

GOOD DEAL?

Social Media on Your Phone is worse then Cannabis and Alcohol for driving Distraction and how much they slow driving reaction times: Using a smartphone social networking

Cannabis

Legal limit Alcohol

Drivers using a mobile phone are

More likely to crash Every additional Mobile phone subcriptions

Araceli Beas hit and killed a pedestrian as she was allegedly updating her Facebook status

Two women were killed by a derailed train as they were drinking and Tweeting

In distracted driving fatalities

Taylor Sauer drove into a truck on a highway as she posted on Facebook every 90 seconds while driving

Yahoo is in talks to buy a controlling stake in France Telecom's online-video site Dailymotion. Yahoo could buy as much as 75% of Dailymotion as part of an ownership structure that is under consideration, these people said. The site could be valued at around $300 million, one of these people said, and would help Yahoo to gain a bigger toehold in online video in parts of Europe and Asia. Yahoo may be able to buy the remainder of the site in the future, this person said.

NEW VENTURE According to a tweet issued by CNBC, Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch will leave the company this week to join Apple. “Kevin Lynch, Adobe CTO, is leaving the company effective March 22 to take a position at Apple. We will not be replacing the CTO position; responsibility for technology development lies with our business unit heads under the leadership of Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen. Bryan Lamkin, who has recently returned to Adobe, will assume responsibilities for cross company research and technology initiatives as well as Corporate Development. We wish Kevin well in this new chapter of his career,” Adobe said.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013

Comment The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim.

CRIME AGAINST WOMEN

MATTERS OF THE PRESS Robin MILLARD

he British government has insisted that bloggers and posts on social media would not be caught by a new system of press regulation, but campaigners warned the new rules could be open to interpretation. Britain’s newspapers are urgently considering whether to sign up to the new system agreed by political leaders on Monday in the wake of a phonehacking scandal at the now defunct Rupert Murdoch-owned News of the World tabloid. The new watchdog, underpinned by law, would have the power to issue harsh sanctions on misbehaving publications, including fines of up to £1 million. While the Leveson Inquiry into press standards resulting from the hacking scandal did not cover online publishing, the new royal charter hammered out by political leaders specifically covers “news-related” websites too, sparking uncertainty. In recent years, the authorities have taken a growing interest in prosecuting people for comments made on the Internet. Meanwhile newspapers have railed that details of court rulings preventing them from publishing stories about celebrities have been openly circulated online, effectively making a mockery of the rulings. Though the Department for Culture, Media and Sport stressed that small-scale bloggers and comments on Twitter and Facebook would not be subject to the new royal charter regulating publishers, campaigners feared that the new system could still be ambiguous.

SEXUAL PREDATORS HAVE OUR SUPPORT FUSILLADE

Sun Tzu Military strategist

Britain and its bloggers

HIGH-FLYING THOUGHTS

PJ Kurien heads Indian delegation to new Pope’s consecration. When new imam of Mecca mosque takes charge, the Indian delegation should be headed by none other than PK Kunjalikutty.

Arun Koshy Philip

he Lok Sabha has given its approval to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013 that prescribes stringent punishment to sex offenders; however, the voices of prominent parliamentarians show how the mindsets have hardly changed. JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav’s ‘humorous’ reminder, “Who among us have not followed girls,” may have evoked peels of laughter in the House, but there is nothing funny about it. Even while passing a law to protect women, he has indirectly supported stalking. I am sure thousands of women across the country who are stalked do not agree with the JD(U) leader. There are frequent reports of stalkers attacking women for spurning their advances or refusing proposals of marriage. May be the likes of Sharad Yadav should see the faces of those women disfigured in acid attacks by jilted Romeos before coming up with these funny one-liners. Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav was also equally worried about the law being misused or abused to set-

tle personal scores. He also fears that co-education will have to be abolished to protect boys from legal trouble. SP parliamentarian Shailendra Kumar expressed his worries about the provocative dressing of female actors in television serials and movies. For all the thunder over the ‘controversial’ law, hardly onethird of the members were present in the House. If these satraps think that the good old way of life should continue, they are also supporting institutions like khap panchayats that order physical and sexual abuse of women as modes of punishment. The recent incident of Punjab cops thrashing a

woman who approached them to complain about eve-teasers speaks volumes about what is ailing our system. Every time there is a sexual assault, cops, politicians and ‘spiritual leaders’ don’t waste time in blaming the victim. How can there be any hope for women of this country when those in charge of creating and maintaining the machinery that is supposed to protect have a mindset that approves and justifies the actions of the perpetrators of sexual violence? In this great land (Bharat included), assault on women start from the foetal stage itself. If she survives sex determina-

tion and selective abortion centres, she enters a world where predators don’t differentiate between children and adults. Throughout her life she is forced to restrict her freedoms for fear of sexual assaults. With every incident of reported sexual violence, her movements are further restricted and this, in turn, curtails her opportunities and makes her more dependent on the patriarchal male (father/brother/husband/son). No matter how many laws we make, unless we are willing to change our mindset about the inalienable rights of our women, they will never fulfil their objectives.

EDITORIALS Porn is passé; in-House violence is the new fad

he arm of the law might be long, but may not be strong enough — Maharashtra police inspector Sachin Suryavanshi learned this the hard way. The unpardonable mistake the policeman made was to stop MLA Kshitij Thakur’s vehicle for exceeding the speed limit. The lawmaker took umbrage to the measly cop daring to ‘misbehave’ with him and moved a privilege notice against him. And this was when some MLAs noticed the policeman at the visitor’s gallery making ‘provocative gestures’ at the legislators. A posse of lawmakers led by Kshitij Thakur (Independent), Ram Kadam (MNS), Rajan Salvi (Shiv Sena) and Pradeep Jaiswal (Independent) thrashed him so badly that he had to be hospitalised. According to a report in India Today, the Deputy Chairman of the House Vasant Davkhare

READERS’ VIEWS

had on Thakur’s complaint, directed the government to send Suryavanshi on compulsory leave. However, the cop turned down Davkhare’s offer to ‘settle’ the matter with an apology to the MLA and dared Thakur to get action taken against him for discharging his duty. Little did cop know the netas, who consider themselves above all laws and armed with ‘breach of privilege’ powers would lynch him. Though ﬁsticuffs and use of unparliamentary language in the House is considered a norm rather than exception in India, violence by an MLA mob is scaling new heights. Earlier we saw several MLAs watching porn on their smartphones when the House was in section. They are still MLAs... after all, how can we expect them to give up their ‘privileges’ when they are hard at work for us.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013

Cinema

TOYS FOR MAMMA

Actress Evan Rachel Wood has been using the gadgets she has bought for her unborn baby, to help her get some sleep. The 25-year-old and her husband Jamie Bell are expecting their first child together and she can't resist testing out all of the things they have bought for their impending new arrival, reports contactmusic.com.

IN THE LINE OF FIRE

SCREEN POOPERS

eave aside terrorists and sharp shooters, Hollywood even managed to put the US President’s life in danger in a film like X-Men. In the beginning of X-Men 2, a teleporting mutant tries to assassinate the US President McKenna but fails. Colonel William Stryker uses this incident as an excuse to order a full-blown assault on Professor Xavier’s Mansion and take every mutant into custody. All hell breaks lose, but before Stryker succeeds, Wolverine enters and saves many lives. In the end, the President realises who his real friends are and joins hands with Professor Xavier.

AIR FORCE ONE

IN THE LINE OF FIRE

HEMANTH KUMAR hemanth.k@postnoon.com

X-MEN 2

Hollywood loves putting the US President’s life in jeopardy. The sheer number of films where a hero must rescue the US President from all sorts of trouble including terrorist attacks, kidnapping, hijacking and assassination attempts is mind boggling. Aaron Eckhart is the latest actor to don the role of a US President whose life is in danger after a terrorist holds him hostage in Antoine Fuqua’s upcoming film Olympus Has Fallen. We take a look at few other films from the past which shared this theme.

arrison Ford played President Marshall in Wolfgang Petersen’s Air Force One in which a group of terrorists hijack Air Force One, the plane carrying the President, his family and Secret Service agents. It’s an edge of the seat thriller and one of the few times in movie history where the President took the onus of protecting hostages onboard upon himself. There have been several films in the past where the US President is in trouble, but nothing has come close to being as audacious as Air Force One was. Harrison Ford, as President Marshall, takes on the terrorists single handedly and it had all the makings of a blockbuster. The film grossed more than $315 million.

MARS ATTACKS

im Burton’s Mars Attacks, which is based on trading card series of the same name, begins on a funny note where US President James ‘Jimmy’ Dale, played by Jack Nicholson, welcomes Martians to Earth. Little does he know that the Martians have other plans. A war breaks out between the Martians and armed forces across the world. In an attempt to negotiate peace, President Dale meets the ambassador of Martians and he’s eventually killed, but before the Martians can take control of the planet, a teenager discovers that their heads explode when they hear Slim Whitman's Indian Love Call. It’s a hilarious film, although it bombed at box-office.

lint Eastwood starred as Agent Frank Horrigan who must put the past behind him to save the life of the US President in Wolfgang Petersen’s smash hit In the Line of Fire. Written by Jeff Maguire, Frank Horrigan is shown as one of the secret service agents who was supposed to guard JF Kennedy whereas Mitch Leary (John Malkovich), a former CIA agent becomes obsessed with the idea of killing the President. Stellar performances by Clint Eastwood and John Malkovich made it a critical and commercial success upon its release in 1993 and John Malkovich bagged an Oscar nomination for his role.

VANTAGE POINT

ete Travis broke the record for the number of times a President’s assassination was showed in a film, thanks to the screenplay where the story is narrated from different points of view to unravel the mystery. Vantage Point starring Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker, William Hurt, and Sigourney Weaver is about an assassination attempt on US President Henry Ashton while he delivers a speech at a political summit in Salamanca, Spain. When the film released in 2008, the film met with mixed reviews but it went on to become a commercial success. William Hurt played President Ashton, but the film truly belonged to Dennis Quaid.

e i s l g D a o E w e n h ! T

‘Sheila, Munni...now Badmaash’ So, Piggy Chops recently said that her item number in Shootout at Wadala – Babli Badmaash – doesn’t warrant an ‘A’ certiﬁcation. Her reason was simple – the lyrics: ‘Neeyat ayiaash hai, Na bann shareef tu, Babli badmaash hai’ aren’t provocative or suggestive in any way! Well, we ask you this Ms Priyanka Chopra, if telling a man to drop his act of decency as the girl is in a naughty mood isn’t provocative, then what is?

Better late than never Talk about late realisation and you get Kajol’s recent makeover. The actress, who maintained a frank attitude along with her unﬂattering paunch throughout her acting career, has recently lost the kilos saying that it’s “important to establish yourself as a brand”. In Bollywood where looking thin is a little more important than being a good actress, Kajol seems to have woken a wee bit late. Crediting Karan Johar for the transition, the actress also seems desperate to make headlines.

TRENDING...

All's been quiet on The Man From U.N.C.L.E. front for the better part of the year, but the long in-development secret agent showcase apparently hasn't been handed its burn notice just yet as Tom Cruise is now in talks to star, according to Deadline.

Hugh Jackman has made his first film commitment since landing a Best Actor Oscar nom for last year’s Les Miserables. The actor has signed on to star in Paramount’s feature film adaptation of the upcoming Harlan Coben mystery novel Six Years.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013

spotlight

DIVA STATION

Kismet and 10 Downing Street are hosting Ladies Night tonight so head to these pubs to dance the night away.

S BALAKRISHNA

BREAK LOOSE 1

Party all night 5

Party animals headed to Cuba on Tuesday night to beat their work blues and let their hair down. Spotted were Neelam, Smriti and others. 6

Winner takes it all Winners of first Invitational Golf Tournament that was organised on March 9 and 10 were awarded with trophies at Park Hotel, Somajiguda on Tuesday. The event was organised by Mak projects.

1 Neha

2 Shaine

3 Reeth 4 Anitha 5 Saiha

6 Neelam, Smrithi 7 Monica 8 Neil, Gothica

9 Utsav, Dolly 10 Syed, Rajiv, Sushanth

and a friend

SHINY NEW TOYS

Pride Honda opened a new outlet at Banjara Hills on Tuesday. The outlet, which is the sales facility for Honda Cars India Ltd, was inaugurated by National Head Sales, Honda Cars India Ltd. Vikram Pawah.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013

health

PATHOGEN EXPOSURE LINKED TO TYPE 1 DIABETES

Scientists have linked lack of exposure to pathogens to increasing rates of Type 1 diabetes, said a study. Countries with lower mortality from infectious disease exhibit higher rates of Type 1 diabetes, according to a new study by Dr A Abela and Prof S Fava of the University of Malta.

NEW PARENTS

Beat getting bawled over Wondering what could possibly be making your baby cry so much? Here are a few reasons why your little bundle of joy is not too happy. Read on… RANJANI RAJENDRA

ranjani.r@postnoon.com

t’s been a couple of weeks since you had your first baby and while you are revelling in the joys of motherhood, you can’t for the life of you figure out why your little bundle of joy keeps crying so much. While we agree, that the baby crying can be rather distressing for parents, especially new parents, it is really not all that worrisome. All you need to do is read the signs and try to understand what it is that is making your little one bawl. “Crying is the only way a baby can communicate his/her needs to the -parent. While common reasons for the baby crying include hunger, wet nappy, sleepiness or discomfort of any kind, there could be other reasons like colic also that can make the baby cry. While initially, parents find it hard to figure out why their child is crying, with time they learn to understand what it is the baby needs and how they can soothe the infant,” says Dr Kasi Vishwanath, consultant paediatrician

at Apollo Hospital. He goes on to add that babies normally cry before and after wetting or soiling their nappies. “A soiled nappy makes the baby very uncomfortable and they need it changed as soon as possible. Crying is their way of alerting their parents of this need. Babies also cry when they are hungry and need a feed. If the baby’s sleep has been disrupted, that too will be a cause for them to cry,” says Dr Vishwanath. Too much excitement or stimulation can also cause the baby to cry. Also when the baby is not tired enough to sleep and is bored, he/she will let his/her displeasure known. Remember that every time your baby cries you need not offer him/her a feed. The baby could also be crying due to thirst. So offer your little one a drink of water instead. “If the baby is kept too warm or too cold, it will also cause them discomfort and they will try to let the parent know of this by crying. Colic is also another reason. It basically means excessive crying in the baby and starts from two weeks. This usually gets better by four months of age. Crying peaks during afternoons and evenings,” says Dr Vishwanath.

Sleepless in parentville POSTNOON NEWS feedback@postnoon.com

ou’ve recently announced your pregnancy and along with the congratulations pouring in, friends and wellwishers are going all out to warn you of the sleepless nights you’re going to be up for over the next several months. But is parenting really that difficult and do you really need to be sleep deprived for a long time before you finally begin to enjoy parenting? Apparently not. All you need is to learn to manage your time and sleep patterns a bit, along with your baby’s. “A baby’s sleeping patterns are very different and understandably so. For

the first couple of months they will sleep for nearly 22 hours in a day and only wake up for their feeds. So this period should not be too stressful on parents. The baby’s sleeping pattern however begins to change from the second month,” says Dr Kasi Vishwanath, consultant paediatrician at Apollo Hospital. Babies’ sleeping patterns tend to change periodically. “I have a lot of parents who come to me and say that their baby sleeps during the day and stays up all night. They find it very difficult to manage since they also have to work during the day. In such cases, I encourage them to play with their baby in the evenings. This will help the baby to sleep better in the

night, reducing the burden on the parents as well,” says Dr Vishwanath. If you notice the baby sleeping through the day, experts suggest waking them up every three to four hours for a feed. It helps to keep the house bright with natural light during the day and maintaining normal levels of volume to encourage the baby to stay active. Engage your infant in fun games. Put your baby down for a nap when he/she tires. At night, keep the room where the baby is sleeping dark and if possible play soothing white noise. Don’t wake the baby for feeds unless the doctor has asked you to. This should help your baby develop a sleep pattern that is in tandem with yours.

health WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013

STUDY Children who were overweight were likelier to drink skimmed milk or semi-skimmed milk, which has one-percent butterfat, than counterparts of normal weight.

RESEARCH

SKIMMED MILK ineffective against toddler obesity PARIS: Giving your toddler skimmed or semiskimmed milk is unlikely to make inroads against the risk of obesity, a large

ANEWS PP-LYBRIEFS YOURSELF

study conducted among American children has found. Researchers trawled through data from a longterm probe into the health of 10,700 children born in 2001. Parents or caregivers were asked about milk consumption when the infant was two and were questioned again two years later, when the child was again weighed and measured. Overweight or obesity was widespread: 30.1 percent of the children at two years fell into this category, rising to 32.2 percent at the age of four. But children who were overweight or obese were likelier to drink skimmed milk or semi-skimmed milk, which has one-percent butterfat, than counterparts of normal weight, the probe found. Low-fat or fat-free milk was consumed by 14 percent of heavy two-yearolds and 16 per cent of heavy four-year-olds. This compared with nine percent of normal-weight two-year-olds and 13 percent of normal-weight

HOUSECALL

iDrated

Ocular histoplasmosis

iDrated is a way to keep track of your water intake. With simplicity and gesture-based interaction at it's core, iDrated makes it quick and simple to log your water levels and check how hydrated you are. It can even give you a gentle nudge when the app isn't running should you need the extra incentive.

Histoplasmosis is an infection with the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum. The tiny spores of histoplasmosis are carried in the air and inhaled to cause an initial lung infection. This is usually very mild and most people feel as though they have a slight cold. Their immune system soon deals with the infection and it may never even be properly diagnosed. Very rarely the organism spreads to the eye to cause acute ocular histoplasmosis.

four-year-olds. Children who drank fullfat milk, which has a 3.5 per cent fat component, or reduced-fat milk, which has two per cent fat, also tended to weigh less than counterparts who drank skimmed or semi-skimmed. US health watchdogs â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Heart Association â&#x20AC;&#x201D; recommend that all children drink skimmed or semi-skimmed milk after the age of two to reduce intake of saturated fat. The study says that the logic behind this recommendation is to reduce consumption of calories and thus prevent weight gain. But the reality could be more complex, it cautions. Milk fat may increase a sense of fullness, thus reducing craving for fatty or calorie-rich foods, the authors argue. Obesity fighters, they argue, should look at other sources of weight control, "such as decreased television viewing, increased physical activity and decreased juice and sugar-sweetened beverage intake, as well as a focus on non-Western diets with higher vegetable content." The paper, published on Monday in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, was led by Mark DeBoer at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. AFP

DID YOU KNOW? Chocolate promotes fertility To the Mayans, chocolate symbolised life, fertility, health, and royalty. Chocolate is rich in vitamins and minerals, which are essential for a healthy pregnancy. Because they had no sugar, the Mayans often drank chocolate mashed with chilis and various spices.

Universal vaccine against influenza WASHINGTON: Scientists have shown that a combination of immune cells and antibodies could pave the way for a universal vaccine against influenza, says a study. Seasonal epidemics of influenza result in nearly 36,000 deaths annually in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Current vaccines against the influenza virus elicit an antibody response specific for proteins on the outside of the virus, specifically the hemagglutinin (HA) protein. Yearly vaccines are made by growing the flu virus in eggs. The viral envelope proteins, including HA are cleaved off and used as the vaccine, but vary from year to year, depending on what flu strains are prevalent. However, high mutation rates in envelope HA proteins result in the emergence of new viral types each year, which elude neutralization by pre-existing antibodies in the body. On the other hand, other immune cell types are capable of mediating protection through recognition of other, more conserved parts of HAs or highly conserved internal proteins in the influenza virus. E John Wherry, PhD, associate professor of Microbiology and director of the Institute for Immunology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues, report in PLOS Pathogens that influenza virus-specific CD8+ T cells or virus-specific non-neutralizing antibodies are each relatively ineffective at conferring protective immunity alone. But, when combined, the virus-specific CD8 T cells and non-neutralising antibodies cooperatively elicit robust protective immunity. This synergistic improvement in protective immunity is dependent, at least in part, on other immune cells. IANS

PIONEERS Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas AlZahrawi, also known in the West as Albucasis, was an Arab Muslim physician who lived in Al-Andalus. He is considered the greatest medieval surgeon to have appeared from the Islamic World, and has been described by many as the father of modern surgery. His greatest contribution to medicine is the Kitab alTasrif, a thirty-volume encyclopedia of medical practices.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013

Entertainment CINE BYTES

Manoj in Govindaya Namaha’s remake?

anchu Manoj has signed a new film which will be directed by Pavan Wadeyar and produced by Lagadapati Sridhar. The film is being touted as a remake of superhit Kannada film Govindaya Namaha, also directed by Pavan Wadeyar. The film has been titled as Potugadu.

Gautham Menon on Suriya’s film

GJG to release on April 19

ithin’s upcoming film Gunde Jaari Gallanthayindhe is set for an April 19 launch. With Nithya Menen and Isha Talwar playing leads, ace badminton player Jwala Gutta will be seen in a special song. While Vijay Kumar Konda has directed the film, Anup Rubens has scored the music.

autham Menon has been the centre of a controversy since producer Elred Kumar filed a case against him. Menon, who announced a film with Suriya a while back, clarified that the project will go on floors in May amidst rumours that it’ll be delayed till the issue is resolved.

FROM ONE HEAVYWEIGHT TO ANOTHER

After Stan Winston,

SHANKAR

knocks WETA’s doors

hankar is back to doing what he does best — create lavish sets, cutting edge special effects, gorgeous costumes, unconventional make up and above all, a cast which only a few directors can manage to command. Not to forget an enviable budget which only a Shankar’s film can justify. In the past, some of his films like Bharatheeyudu, Shivaju and Robot had ticked all the boxes which are necessary for a Shankar’s film and his latest film Manoharudu is expected to follow suit. The film’s Tamil version is titled as I. Vikram and Amy Jackson are teaming up for the second time and in Manoharudu, buzz is that Vikram is sporting two different looks which is taking a toll on his body. Already, two-thirds of the film has been shot in places like Chennai, Pollachi, Kodaikanal, Jodhpur, Bangkok and several places in China. After working closely with Stan Winston Studios for creating special effects in Rajinikanth-starrer

Robot, Shankar has now roped in the other heavyweight in digital effects, WETA, a New Zealandbased firm which was co-founded by The Lord of Rings director Peter Jackson and Richard Taylor. “WETA is taking an important part in our film through the special make-up department. The way Stan Winston Studios played a major role in Enthiran, Weta is doing in I. “As a start we shot a song in which Vikram had special make-up done by Weta Workshop artist Sean Foot, and Vikram did a top class performance with it. Weta has done a fantastic job which is going to be something new for Indian cinema. And the balance 1/3rd of the movie will be full ‘N full Weta Workshop’s craft,” Shankar wrote on his blog on WETA. Aascar Ravichandran is producing the film and the budget is said to be under `100 crore. AR Rahman has scored the music and PC Sreeram is the cinematographer. The film is expected to hit the screens later this year.

Entertainment WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013

LAST MAN STANDING

THE RIGHT

SPERMS

WIN

CINE BYTES

Critical comments don't bother Abhishek

ctor Abhishek Bachchan, who often interacts with his fanbase through social networking mediums, says being a celebrity, he is always ready for both appreciation and criticism on the web space. He posts on Twitter often. “Twitter is a public platform and people have the right to express themselves on it freely. If I am on Twitter, then I feel that I am willing to listen to whatever is there in the public domain," the 37year-old said. IANS

Priyanka sad as 'Barfi' gets no national award

riyanka Chopra-starrer Barfi may have won accolades at almost all the film awards, but it failed to garner any appreciation at the national awards, which has left the actress disappointed. “I am feeling bad that Barfi did not win a national award. But then it is up to the jury why they did not give the award," Priyanka said. PTI

Got my first bikini at 2, says Bipasha

irector Shoojit Sircar is “ecstatic” after his film Vicky Donor ended up pocketing three National Awards, including the best film providing wholesome entertainment. He says he broke into a “sperm dance” as soon as he heard the news. The movie was not just the production debut

of Bollywood star John Abraham, but also marked the foray of video jockey Ayushmann Khurrana in the world of acting. It also won the best supporting actor award for Anu Kapoor, and the best supporting actress award for Dolly Ahluwalia. Actors Annu Kapoor and Dolly Ahluwalia, who have won the National

Awards for Best Supporting Actor and Actress respectively, for their quirky roles in Vicky Donor, are humbled with the recognition. “This is all thanks to my director (Shoojit Sircar) and my audience for having faith and seeing me as Dolly Arora. For me, being happy is a small word. I am flying right now," Dolly, who

played a loving mother to debutant Ayushmann Khurrana in the movie, said in a statement. Actor Anu Kapoor, who played a Baldev Chaddha, a fertility expert in the movie, for a man who turns a sperm donor to earn quick money, said: “I feel humbled and express my gratitude for the National Award, which I

dedicate to my mother, late Shrimati Kamal Kapoor." Ayushmann, who played the lead in Vicky Donor, was happy with the recognition for his debut film. “It's extremely overwhelming and I am proud to be a part of this project, which has a rare combo of quirk and credibility,” said Ayushmann.

ollywood actress Bipasha Basu says she is comfortable with bikinis and her fascination for the swimsuit started when she was a kid. “When I was two years old, my dad got me a bikini from Australia. I have that picture and that looks really cute. So, from that time I have been a girl who loves the sun and the beach,” the 34-year-old said . IANS

Entertainment WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013

WILL DARKNESS PREVAIL?

ustin Bieber had Never Say Never, Katy Perry had Part of Me and now, One Direction will have This Is Us. After releasing the official teaser trailer for their highly anticipated 3-D movie, Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne and Zayn Malik finally revealed the title of the flick that was formerly called 1D3D.

Nick gets cosy with Isabel in erotic thriller

ith his music career decidedly on the skids, Nick Jonas has turned to acting. The Jonas Brother has joined Isabel Lucas in the upcoming erotic thriller Careful What You Wish For, in which he’ll play the lead role of Doug, a young man who embarks on an affair with the wife of an investment banker, played by Lucas.

Jack Nicholson Rejects Nina Dobrev?

ina Dobrev is no Jennifer Lawrence. At least, not in Jack Nicholson’s eyes. On Sunday, the Vampire Diaries star and Julianne Hough went to the Lakers game, but Nina’s request for a pic with Hollywood’s coolest man was denied! “Just asked jack Nicholson to take a picture With Me.. He said no. #rejected," the 24-year-old actress wrote, “Haha so I took a pic of him solo #paparazzi Lol".

TH E

One Direction’s 3D movie gets a title — This Is Us

e o ki f h hav OR ea e a L D rt ?

TH O Do DA ch es R R an L K : g o W

CINE BYTES

oes Thor’s misguided brother have a change of heart in Thor: The Dark

World? Loki, who attacked Earth in last year’s megahit The Avengers, returns. But just how evil or if he’s had a softening of the heart, Tom Hiddleston can’t reveal, but he will say what he hopes happens. Hiddleston reprises Loki, Thor’s adopted brother, who’s such a terrific menace that he’s been nominated for an MTV Movie Awards for Best Fight Scene and Best Villain. “The fun of playing Loki is that the character itself constantly keeps people guessing," Hiddleston tells Zap2it. “And he provokes a doubleedged sentiment in the people who allegedly he has invested in, and who he cares about. As someone, who was then cast out as the black sheep of the royal family, whether he can be accepted into that fold is a question that remains to be answered. Just how dark and evil he has become is another question I hope the film will answer." He has every intention of playing Loki for as long as he can — in between other roles.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013

Chai Time

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

I'm going to tell you the story about the geese which fly 5,000 miles from Canada to France. They fly in V-formation but the second ones don't fly. They're the subs for the first ones. And then the second ones take over - so it's teamwork. Alex Ferguson

KAKURO

QUICK CROSSWORD

SUDOKU How to play kakuro Kakuro is a popular game similar to sudoku in some ways. But is also suitably different. The key question: ‘How do you play kakuro?’, well here are the rules of kakuro. The answer: The kakuro grid, unlike in sudoku, can be of any size. It has rows and columns, and dark cells like in a crossword. And, just like in a crossword, some of the dark cells will contain numbers. Some cells will contain two numbers. However, in a crossword the numbers reference clues. In a kakuro, the numbers are all you get! They denote the total of the digits in the row or column referenced by the number. Within each collection of cells — called a run — any of the numbers 1 to 9 may be used but, like sudoku, each number may only be used once. Let’s have an example to explain this concept more clearly: In the image above, which shows a section of a kakuro puzzle, you will see the numbers ‘26’ and ‘14’ in the top row. Look at the 14. This means that the total of the three cells underneath must sum to 14. Therefore 9, 4, 1 could be the answer, or perhaps 7, 4, 3 and so on... So, how do you work out the actual combination? Well, this is done through elimination and cross-referencing. For instance, as you work out the answers for other kakuro clues, this will naturally limit the valid combinations, and hence the answer for this particular run. Note the second cell in row two — it contains two numbers, 30 and 11. The 30 refers to the vertical run underneath the number 30 and the 11 refers to the two cells to the right, horizontally, of the number 11.

ACROSS

PREVIOUS PUZZLE ANSWER

SCRIBBLING PAD

1 Shorts supports 5 Striker's substitute 9 Boot out 14 Diva's opera delivery 15 Fine-tune 16 Porsche propeller 17 Disagreeably damp 18 Jannings of old films 19 Uninviting, to a vegan 20 Store for future use 23 Diner's prerogative 24 It divides to multiply 25 Bathtub ring gunk 29 FBI guy 30 Tenth mo. 32 "___ seen worse" 33 Given new life 36 Immodestly brag about 38 Rounded molding 39 Marine mayday 40 Perfect in all ways 41 Eat hastily 43 Tropical fly 44 Rap sheet letters 45 Relaxing resort 46 Byte parts 47 Nitti nemesis 49 Have staying power 51 ___ de Cologne 54 Goof off 57 To whom a Muslim prays 60 Bibliographical abbreviation 61 Suitable for cacti, environmentally 62 Sphere of influence 63 Fishing eagle 64 Opposite of none 65 Siamese sobs 66 Shoddy clothing 67 Peter I, for one

DOWN

1 Possessed, in the Bible 2 Gulf War soldier 3 Locker room photo, perhaps 4 Japanese rice wine 5 Tank type 6 Adman's lure 7 Old-womanish 8 Beats a dead horse 9 Austen novel 10 Kids in pouches 11 Schedule letters 12 Barracks bed 13 Take a shot 21 Muzzle loaders 22 Texas city south of Dallas 26 Catlike carnivore with a spotted coat 27 Some eye parts 28 Country music's Haggard 29 Game on a green 31 Chubby Checker, famously 33 Atkinson of "Mr. Bean" 34 Conjure up 35 Gaucho's cattle-catchers 36 Jailbird 37 Lyrical tributes 39 More upscale 42 Candid 43 Long-winded rants 46 Giving credence to 48 Petty 50 Actress Winger of "Shadowlands" 51 Continental coins 52 Jung's feminine component 53 Whence milk comes 55 Units of electrical resistance 56 Brewer's kiln 57 Furnish with firepower 58 Bruce of martial arts films 59 Perry Mason's profession

Chai Time WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013 Thiruvaikumar

STAR POWER for 21-3-2013

As per Hindu panchang thiruvaikumar@yahoo. co. in, 040-27177230 / 9177596118

ARIES

TAURUS

GEMINI

CANCER

LEO

VIRGO

LIBRA

SCORPIO

SAGITTARIUS

CAPRICORN

AQUARIUS

PISCES

Employees are advised to avoid sharing confidential matters with colleagues. Discharge your duties carefully. Magnifying minor mistakes of family members might drive away the happy situation at home, try to avoid.

STRIP TEASE AGNES

Businessmen should be alert in their transactions. Children will do well and make you proud by their achievements. Employees will get recognition from the management as they will discharge their duties in time.

Workload and pressure from superiors will increase. You will be able to clear debts. Income is possible from ancestral property. Health problems are likely. Avoid eating junk foods and items which don’t suit you.

Avoid frank talk with strangers and new friends. Indirect opposition and criticism are likely. Employees might face non-co-operation from colleagues. Businessmen will be successful in satisfying their customer’s needs.

Children will be cheerful as you will fulfill their needs. Employees get appreciation from superiors and management too. Family members will give you importance and accept your good suggestions.

Mental tension and worries are likely. Practice of yoga and meditation will help. Businessmen too will have to struggle hard. Monetary gains possible through travels. Employees will be overburdened.

Businessmen are likely to receive sops from the government. Your stock is set to pileup. Be alert while undertaking journey. Employees need to obey the superiors and be cordial. Controversial behavior might cost you your job.

Employees need to plan the work well and execute the same in time. Pay hike and promotion are likely. You will spend good time with children and family members. Children might leave for abroad to continue their studies.

Blood relatives and close friends will benefit from your advice and appreciate you. Elevation with pay hike is certain for employees. Avoid extending financial help to anyone. Your influence will increase.

TAROT READ

Sumaa Tekur

tarotreadhyd@gmail. com

ARIES:

GEMINI:

Four of Pentacles - The financial stability is making it seem worth it despite the lack of challenge you feel in your current position. You’ll stick on.

LEO:

The Wheel of Fortune - Times are not going to be the same all the time. If they’re bad now, things will look up. This card urges you to keep your chin up.

LIBRA:

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE

Death - This is not physical death but an indication of changes that will make you look at life with a brand new perspective. You see everything differently.

SAGITTARIUS:

Five of Wands - Don’t let your guard down at any point of time. Be watchful of what others are saying about you. That will impact your decisions and growth.

TAURUS:

Eight of Cups You have everything and your life is near perfect. This is to the outside world. But only you know that you’re missing something.

CANCER:

The World - The world is at your feet, and it may be quite literally, too. You may take a long distance trip overseas and it all goes well.

VIRGO:

The Lovers Decision time! It’s in your control whether you want to settle for less or wait for something absolutely perfect and risk never getting it.

SCORPIO:

The High Priest - Use your intuition to guide you into making decisions. It may be a difficult decision time. But listen to your heart.

CAPRICORN:

Two of Swords - You may be too rigid in your approach to life and learning. Your own attitude may be preventing you from exploring new avenues.

PREVIOUS SOLUTIONS

PISCES:

Two of Wands Patience is key to make things work and allow them to happen on their own time and course. Don’t make impulsive decisions.

NUMBER GAME

Pentacles - Finances are well taken care of and you’ve done amazingly well with organizing your money and putting away cash for a rainy day.

SCRABBLE

AQUARIUS: Ten of

POOCH CAFE

Employees need to be active in completing their works in time. Avoid handing over important works to others. Wasteful expenditures need to be curtailed. Some have bright chance to buy a new vehicle.

for 21-3-2013

Queen of Cups You seem very vulnerable and those around you feel you might need to protect yourself better. What you feel is what you show on your face.

NON SEQUITUR

Parents will extend good support to you. Though financial position is strong and inflow is steady, avoid helping anyone financially as you might not get back the money. Superioremployee relationship looks cordial.

SUDUKO

Employees will complete the works as per their plan. Income will be steady and as per the expectations. Pay attention to children’s studies. Happy events likely to take place at home. Friendship circle is likely to expand.

Boggle DOVER BOISE DENVER ATLANTA Vol: 2, No 243 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 him at 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: feedback@postnoon. com and for subscription, please call 040-4067 2222, Fax: 040-4067 2211

Entertainment WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013

BLUNT ‘TAKE’

Emily Blunt to play Princess Diana? A

ctress Emily Blunt has been tipped to follow in the footsteps of Naomi Watts by playing late Princess Of Wales Diana in a new film. Watts plays the late British royal in upcoming movie Diana, which focuses on the last two years of the Princess' life before she died in a car crash in Paris, France in 1997. Blunt, who was rumoured to have turned down the role earlier, is now said to be in talks to play the royal in another project, based on the memoirs of Diana's former bodyguard Ken Wharfe, reports contactmusic.com. The movie adaptation of Diana: Closely Guarded Secret, is being developed by producer Stephen Evans. IANS

CINE BYTES

'Hansel and Gretel' will return to hunt more

o rest for the Witch Hunters. Paramount has announced a sequel to Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. It is ofﬁcially in development, according to Deadline. The revisionist fairy tale stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as super-sexy grown-up versions of the hapless brother and sister who ran afoul of a witch and almost ended up as witch food.

Lindsay Lohan gets locked-down rehab in plea deal

t's back to rehab for Lindsay Lohan - 90 days in a centre under lock and key - plus psychotherapy and community service. This was how the actress resolved her latest court case, the one that started over a Porsche crash in Santa Monica last summer when she was ﬁlming Liz & Dick.

Bradley Cooper, Suki Waterhouse spotted

radley Cooper deﬁnitely isn't dating Silver Linings Playbook costar Jennifer Lawrence, but it might not have been the age gap that stopped the two. The actor was spotted enjoying Boston and it's freezing temperature with his possible new love interest, 20year-old model Suki Waterhouse earlier on Monday. "They were having a good time together, touching and teasing each other," an eyewitness told E! News.

sports

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013

LONDON OLYMPICS SHAME

Oz swim coach out

TOUR OF CATALONIA

Meersman makes it two in a row

Officials said Leigh Nugent will resign after a dismal ‘12 Games campaign marred by ill-discipline, drug use and drunkenness. SYDNEY: Australian swimming officials on Wednesday said head coach Leigh Nugent (right) will resign after a dismal ‘12 Games campaign marred by illdiscipline, drug use and drunkenness. Swimming Australia president Barclay Nettlefold said Nugent no longer wanted to continue in the role, although press reports claimed he was sacked. “Leigh actually approached us to discuss his future and where he would best fit into the new structure of the High Performance Unit,” Nettlefold said in a statement. “In those discussions it soon became very clear that while he still wanted to remain involved in the sport, he didn’t want to continue in the position of head coach.”

Nugent has been under pressure after reports into Australia’s disappointing performance in the Olympic pool found drunkenness, misuse of prescription drugs and bullying were among “toxic” incidents at the Games. So bad was morale, one swimmer described the 2012 London Games as the “lonely Olympics”, one report revealed. A broader review into the sport’s high performance programme also found failings in strategic planning and transparency in decision-making which fuelled disillusionment. Australia’s swimmers won just one gold medal, six silver and three bronze in London — their lowest tally in the pool since 1992 in Barcelona.

MADRID: Belgian rider Gianni Meersman retained the overall lead in the Tour of Catalonia after making it two stages wins in as many days on Tuesday. The 27-year-old beat home Italian Daniele Ratto and Brett Lancaster of Australia in a sprint finish to the 160.7km ride from Girona to Banyuls. Meersman sits atop the overall standings, 16sec ahead of Spain’s Alejandro Valverde with Swiss Danilo Wyss a further four second adrift. Meersman benefited from a crash on the final bend which saw several contenders for the stage win come to grief or being hindered so badly they had no chance of recovering. On Wednesday the overall favourites for the title such as Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins should come to the fore as the riders face their first tough challenge with the 180km ride climaxing at the ski station of Vallter 2000.

NBA

LeBron comes home Nuggets stretch win streak for Cavaliers match

CLEVELAND, OHIO: LeBron James (in pic) is coming back to his home region to play against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the NBA team he spurned to join the Miami Heat, with his new teammates on a historic win streak. The Heat risk their 23-game win streak, the second-longest in NBA history, on Wednesday at Cleveland in what will be James’ first game in the arena where he was once a star since he won his first NBA title last June with the Heat. Only the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers, who own the all-time record of 33 wins in a row, have had a longer NBA win streak than Miami’s epic run in the 67-

year history of the NBA. “It’s a special team,” James said. “It’s a special ride right now that we’re on. I think the best thing about it is we’re doing it together. We’re doing it for one another and we just want to try to keep it going.” The 28-year-old forward spent his first seven NBA seasons with the Cavaliers just down the road from Akron, where he was a high school phenomenon whose prep games attracted national attention. But in that span, the Cavaliers struggled in the playoffs. In 2006, they won their first playoff series since 1993 but lost in the second round. In 2007, they reached the NBA Finals but were swept by San Antonio. Second-round ousters followed in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and after the last of those, James made a live announcement in a made-for-television special called “The Decision” that he would leave for Miami. Teaming with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, James openly boasted about bringing multiple championships to Miami before he had won even one, a detail he took care of with a victory over Oklahoma City in last year’s NBA Finals after Miami lost the 2011 final to Dallas. This season, the Heat own the best record in the NBA at 52-14.

OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA: Ty Lawson scored 25 points and Andre Miller added 20 off the bench to spark the Denver Nuggets to their 13th NBA victory in a row, a 114-104 triumph Tuesday at Oklahoma City. Kenneth Faried added 13 points and 15 rebounds for the Nuggets, who improved to 47-22 and closed their gap on the Northwest division-leading Thunder to 50-18. The Nuggets’ win streak set a record for the team’s NBA history, although the club has its roots in the nowdefunct rival American Basketball Association where they once won 15 games in a row. NBA scoring leader Kevin Durant netted 34 points for

LEAGUE CRICKET Visaka beat SBI A3 division one day Visaka 144/5 (Sai 44 n.o., Naresh 58, Abrar 3/19) bt SBI 126 (Iftekhar 32) Nizam College 199/9 (Sharath 32, Sahir 53, Akhil 30) bt Vijay Hanuman 119 (Sukhein Jain 36, Sahir Hussain 5/28) A division one day Sportive 218/4 (Murali 59, Ramu 83) lost to Vijaypuri Willowmen 223/5 (Shakir 75, Vijay 37, Santosh 35) A institution one day National Institute 62 (Yousuf 3/19) lost to HMWS & SB 64/2 (Ravinder Reddy 30).

Andre Iguodala #9 of the Denver Nuggets goes up for the dunk against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday. AFP/LAYNE MURDOCH JR.

Oklahoma City and Russell Westbrook added 25 in a losing cause. It was only the fifth home loss of the season for the Thunder. While Miami

Heat have run off the secondlongest win streak in NBA history at 23 games, the Nuggets have enjoyed their success in relative anonymity.

SYED MUSHTAQ ALI T20 TOURNEY

Mumbai lose tie

AHMEDABAD: An all-round performance by Kuldip Raval propelled Saurashtra to a comprehensive 60-run victory over Mumbai in a West Zone leg match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament here today. This was the Ranji champions’ third successive defeat in as many days in the tournament. Raval scored 53 off 26 balls, helped by eight fours and a six. His whirlwind knock enabled Saurashtra to reach a fighting 152 for 7 in 20 overs. He also took two wickets, giving away 23 runs

in four overs. Unable to get a good start, the visitors kept losing wickets at a regular interval and were skittled out for just 92 in 18.5 overs. Mumbai play their last match against Maharashtra on Thursday. Electing to bat first, Saurashtra started off cautiously, adding 27 runs for the first wicket in 4.4 overs before captain Jaydev Shah (13 off 12 balls) departed. He was caught by Shoaib Shaikh off the bowling of Kshemal Waingankar. PTI

sports

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013

MALAYSIAN GRAND PRIX PREVIEW

‘Iceman’ likely to feel the heat

Kimi won the Australian GP but he will feel heat from his rivals this weekend at the demanding Malaysian GP.

KUALA LUMPUR: Kimi Raikkonen ignited the F1 season with a stunning win in Australia but the “Iceman” will feel heat from his rivals this weekend at the notoriously demanding Malaysian Grand Prix. Masterful tyre-management in a surprisingly quick Lotus put the colourful Finn top of the podium in Melbourne, with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso second and Sebastian Vettel, gunning for his fourth straight world title, third. “Finntastic” trumpeted Australian press, and “Finn puts party back into Formula 1”, as media welcomed a challenge to the accepted order at the start of the new season.

WIMBLEDON WARM-UP

Del Potro commits to Queen’s

LONDON: Indian Wells finalist Juan Martin del Potro has become the latest leading player to announce he will take part in the traditional Wimbledon grasscourt warm-up event at London’s Queen’s Club in June. The Argentine, who lost in three sets to a resurgent Rafael Nadal in the final in California last week, joined US Open champion Andy Murray and world number six Tomas Berdych in committing himself to play at Queen’s in the June 10-16 event. “I like to play on grass, and at the Aegon Championships you feel like you are at home,” said del Potro, the world number seven. Del Potro is looking forward to returning to London, where he won an Olympic bronze medal during the 2012 Games tennis tournament at Wimbledon. “I have a fantastic memory from last year when I won the bronze medal at the Olympics,” he said. AFP

Three championships in three years have already placed Red Bull’s German pilot Vettel, 25, among the sport’s greats, but the return of the party-loving Raikkonen, world champion with Ferrari in 2007, has proved invigorating. And after rain storms wiped out Saturday qualifying in Australia, teams will be braced for another tough weekend at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit, where tropical downpours played havoc last year and in 2009. A year ago, Raikkonen marked his return to Malaysia after a two-year stint in rallying by handing out ice-creams, a nod to an episode on his previous visit in 2009,

Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen holds the trophy after winning the F1 Australian GP on Sunday. AFP

STANDINGS Drivers 1. Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) 25.0pts, 2. Fernando Alonso (ESP) 18.0, 3. Sebastian Vettel (GER) 15.0, 4. Felipe Massa (BRA) 12.0, 5. Lewis Hamilton 10.0, 6. Mark Webber (AUS), 8.0, 7. Adrian Sutil (GER) 6.0, 8. Paul di Resta (GBR) 4.0, 9. Jenson Button (GBR) 2.0, 10. Romain Grosjean (FRA) 1.0 Constructors: 1. Ferrari 30.0pts, 2. LotusRenault 26.0, 3. Red Bull RacingRenault 23.0, 4. Mercedes 10.0, 5. Force India-Mercedes 10.0, 6. McLaren-Mercedes 2.0

WTA AND ATP MASTERS MIAMI

Flavia in Serena’s path

MIAMI: Italy’s Flavia Pennetta booked herself a second round clash with World No. 1 Serena Williams at the WTA and ATP Masters Miami hardcourt event after a 6-4, 6-1 first-round victory Tuesday over Swede Johanna Larsson. Pennetta, ranked 103rd, will meet Williams on Thursday in a second-round match at the $8.5 million event, which awarded byes to all 32 seeded players in both the men’s and women’s draws. The third-round foe for Williams if she beats Pennetta will be either 31st seed Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium or Japan’s Ayumi Morita, who outlasted Britain’s Heather Watson 1-6, 7-5, 6-4. Williams will try to become the first six-time winner at Miami in her first event since reclaim the top ranking, while World No. 1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia tries to

Flavia Pennetta of Italy in action against Johanna Larsson of Sweden during the Sony Open at the Crandon Park Tennis Center on Tuesday in Key Biscayne, Florida. AFP/AL BELLO

claim his fourth Miami crown. Williams, a 15-time Grand Slam singles champion, won at Miami in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2008. The 31-year-old American, who also reached the final in 1999 and 2009, is

when he coolly snacked on a Magnum during a rain delay. He has twice been a winner on the long straights and tight hairpins of the Sepang circuit, built on former jungle near the Malaysian capital, but has also failed to finish four times and was fifth last year. His ability to maintain Pirelli’s new, deliberately fast-wearing tyres was critical in Melbourne, but he will face an entirely different test in Malaysia’s heat, humidity and possible rain come race day Sunday. “I had a good feeling that we would be OK with the tyres after practice,” Raikkonen told the team website after the Australian race. AFP

MALAYSIAN OPEN

Luke Donald seeks Masters tune-up

KUALA LUMPUR: World No. 3 Luke Donald and Padraig Harrington and Charl Schwartzel will look to fine-tune their games for the coming Masters during this week’s Maybank Malaysian Open. The trio head the field for the tournament starting Thursday at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club, which has a prize purse of $2.75 million, along with rising young star Matteo Manassero of Italy, who won here in 2011. Donald who was world No. 1 until Rory McIlroy took over last year, is gunning for his eighth European Tour win in Kuala Lumpur. He also has five US PGA Tour wins under his belt.

the reigning US Open, Wimbledon and Olympic champion. Williams’ 19th-seeded sister Venus, a former World No. 1 with seven Grand Slam singles crowns, will open against Japan’s Kimiko Date-Krumm.

2020 OLYMPICS

‘Madrid Games worth billions to Spain’ MADRID: Hosting the 2020 Olympic Games in Madrid would provide a 3.87-billion euro ($5.0-billion) boost to the Spanish economy and generate 83,000 full-time jobs, Madrid bid organisers said Tuesday. “Organising the Games

would also generate a positive impact on citizens’ welfare estimated at over 800 million dollars,” added Juan Antonio Samaranch, a member of Madrid’s bid committee on the second day of an inspection visit by the International Olympic

Committee’s evaluation commission. With 28 of the 35 proposed venues already completed, the cost of building and refurbishing venues for the Games would amount to around 1.5 billion euros, far lower than the price

tag for the London 2012 Olympics and the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, said Samaranch. “The London Games were based on the concept of the reconstruction of the East End. That is great for them.” AFP

sports

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013

SHEFFIELD SHIELD

Ponting voted player of year

SYDNEY: Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting was Wednesday voted Sheffield Shield player of the year for his sizzling form since quitting international cricket. Ponting, who retired from Tests, has been in fine touch with the bat, scoring 875 at an average of 87.5 for Tasmania, who are into the Shield final against Queensland. He had been expected to make the current Australian domestic season his last, but has indicated he could continue. AFP

ENGLAND IN NEW ZEALAND

Decider looms for both sides New Zealand and England face-off in a winner-takes-all third and final Test, with both sides vowing to press for a series-clinching victory.

AUCKLAND: New Zealand and England face off in a winnertakes-all third and final Test this week, with both sides vowing to press for a series-clinching victory at Auckland’s Eden Park. After rain-affected draws in Dunedin and Wellington, hopes are high for a result in the match beginning Friday, as New Zealand eye a rare series win and England seek to cement their position as the number-two ranked Test nation. Clear weather is forecast for the Test and Eden Park’s drop-in wicket promises more bounce than the docile pitches seen in the opening two fixtures, which have drawn criticism from the England camp. “In an ideal world a pitch with more pace and bounce would make for a more exciting wicket,” England captain

In this photo, England’s Matt Prior (L) jokes with New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum as rain halted play during day five of the Test match between New Zealand and England on Monday. AFP/MARTY MELVILLE

AUSTRALIA’S TOUR OF INDIA

‘Clarke, Watson need to sort out differences’ MELBOURNE: Former skipper Steve Waugh has urged current captain Michael Clarke and his deputy Shane Watson to sort out their differences for the betterment of Australian cricket. Watson was one of the four players to be suspended from the squad ahead of the third Test against India at Mohali for failing to submit performance reviews nine days ago, fuelling rumours of a possible rift between the all-rounder and Clarke. Former Australian captains Waugh, Mark Taylor and Allan Border wanted the Test skipper to draw intensively on the advice

Dhawan ruled out

NEW DELHI: India’s latest batting sensation Shikhar Dhawan was today ruled out of the fourth and final Test against Australia starting here on Friday, as he will be out of action for six weeks due to a fracture on his left hand which he sustained while fielding during the third match at Mohali. The BCCI said in a statement that Gautam Gambhir, who was omitted from the initial squad for the fourmatch series due to a prolonged form slump, was included in the team but he also could bot be available due to jaundice.

Watson arrives in Delhi

NEW DELHI: In a much-needed boost for the beleaguered Australian side, vice-captain Shane Watson today landed in the Capital ahead of the fourth and final Test against India, scheduled to start here from Friday. Australia have already lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after three heavy defeats in the first three Tests of the four-match series. One of the four players suspended from the squad ahead of the third Test at Mohali on disciplinary grounds, Watson, who had left for Sydney for the birth of his son last Thursday.

of his deputy in assembling the 2011 Argus review of national team performance. “Part of the Argus report we recommended was we wanted an increased role for the vice captain as we felt the captain and vice captain had to work together in Australia’s rebuilding phase,” Waugh told ‘Courier Mail’. “They will have to work and fix it up. To Michael and Mickey’s credit they have said this is the way we want to do things, if you want to play for Australia you have to fall in line,” said Waugh who won 41 of 57 matches as skipper during his 168-Test career. “At the same time they have to be flexible, got to realise a cricket team is made up of different characters. There will always be clashes of personality, it is just how you manage it and get all the people going in the same direction. The skill they have to have is to work together.” Waugh recalled the time when he had started his career 27 years ago, incidentally against India. The team was then recovering from the exits of Greg Chappell, Rod Marsh and Dennis Lillee. PTI

Alastair Cook said. “But whichever pitch we get in Auckland we’ll try to find the best way to win the game.” New Zealand, ranked eighth in Test cricket, have not won a series against England since 1999, with their sole series victory on home soil back in 1984. Skipper Brendon McCullum, whose only other Test series since taking the helm late last year resulted in two innings defeats to South Africa, said a victory would provide a huge boost for his team. “We go into every game trying to win. Certainly, for us, it’s not about trying to hang on for a draw,” he said. “We see this as a great opportunity to clinch a series win against England and that’s something that we’d all hold very fondly.” AFP

HELPING HAND

Wasim wants to help Pak

KARACHI: Pakistan pace legend and former captain Wasim Akram wants to play a role in helping the Cricket Board resolve, what he calls, a “crisis” in the fast bowling department. Wasim said he was willing to not only help the Pakistan Cricket Board in any venture but would also launch his own talent hunt scheme to unearth raw pace talent and then groom them in a specialised camp in April. “I want to see Pakistan at the top of the cricket world

SNIPPETS

‘Didn’t want to break down in front of Yuvi’

NEW DELHI: Sachin Tendulkar on Monday said that he was scared of breaking down in front of Yuvraj Singh when he met the left-handed batsman in London after his treatment in the United States for a rare germ cell cancer. “When I went to meet him in London, I was telling my wife (Anjali) that I don’t want to break down when I see him. I met him and gave him a tight hug. We enjoyed a meal and from the way he (Yuvraj) ate, I was convinced that he is back on track,” Tendulkar told a select gathering during the release of Yuvraj’s book “The Test of My Life’. It was a poignant evening with the likes of Tendulkar, Dhoni and Virat Kohli recollecting stories. PTI

and the recent performance in the Test series in South Africa has been very disappointing for me. I strongly believe we can still find exciting new pace talent in the country,” Wasim said. PTI

FIFA World Cup final draw set for Dec 6

ZURICH: The draw for the 2014 World Cup finals will be made on December 6 at the Brazilian holiday seaside resort of Costa do Sauipe it was announced by FIFA after a meeting here on Tuesday with the Brazilian organisers. “It was confirmed at the meeting that the draw for the 2014 World Cup finals would take place at Costa do Sauipe, in Bahia State, at 1300 local time (1600GMT) on December 6 2013,” FIFA said in a statement. After the meeting FIFA president Sepp Blatter had expressed his confidence Brazil would be ready in time to host the finals despite the continual delays in constructing the stadia amd that the finals would be ‘formidable’.