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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013 HYDERABAD

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HYDERABAD’S FIRST COMPACT AFTERNOON NEWSPAPER

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

city events

FILM APPRECIATION WEEKEND

A shared experience of viewing selected films (classic as well as contemporary), along with analysis and reflections on the same will be held from March 2-3 by Yavanika Films. Further details can be found on www.facebook.com/yavanikafilms. The contact number is 94901 00404.

Weather for Hyderabad

Evening

Overnight

Morning

Afternoon

29°C

20°C

26°C

35°C

Clear.

Sunny.

New Delhi Mumbai Max 23 Max 35 Min 11 Min 25 Clear.

Chennai Max 31 Min 23

Clear.

Bangalore Max 34 Min 19 Partly cloudy.

AROUND THE CITY: YOUR GUIDE TO THE TWIN CITIES When: March 4, 10.30am onwards

ART Return Of Innocence Sculptural paintings by Lester Paul will be on display. Where: Iconart Gallery, Banjara Hills When: Up to March 2, 11.30am to 7pm Contact: www.iconart.in

ConfiDance 2013 Shiamak Davar’s ConfiDance show is a display of dance styles from different parts of the world. These are performed by hand-picked students who get advanced training. When: March 3 Where: Shilpa Kala Vedika

Solo art show Display of works by Saraswathi L. Where: Muse, Marriott Hotel & Convention Centre When: Up to March 2

Awadh food festival Lazzat-E-Awadhbrings brings kebabs, qormas and kalias from the Nawab’s kitchen. Where: Kangan, Westin Hyderabad Mindspace When: Up to March 3 Contact: (040) 6767 6838

Art for children Open-ended sessions to expose children to art and simultaneously refine their fine-motor skills. It is for children between two and 10 years of age. Where: Treasure House, Saptaparni building, Plot no. 21, Road no. 8, Banjara Hills When: Ongoing, Contact: (040) 2335 5118 www.treasurehouse.in For the love of fauna ‘For the love of fauna’ is a group art exhibition by G Jagadeesh, Jaya Prakash and Maddileti Gaddam. Where: : Residence Inn, Opp SBH Bank, Kavuri Hills,

MISCELLANEOUS IN SEARCH OF BLUE GOLD: A woman carries empty plastic pots, looking for water, at the Osmania University N SHIVA KUMAR campus on Monday. When: Up to March 6 11am to 7pm Contact: (040) 2311 3709

Sushi Food Festival There is a Feng Sushi food festival. Where: Deccan Pavilion, Begumpet When: Up to March 3, 7.30pm onwards Contact: (040) 2340 0132

DINING Double the love Papa John’s offers heart shaped thin crust pizza for an entire month. It is available in all existent flavours and at no extra cost. Where: All Papa John’s outlets. When: February. All you can eat Guests can taste unlimited amount of food from a variety of cuisines, from hot curries to delicious desserts, at a fixed price. Where: Holy Basil, Radisson Blu Plaza When: Ongoing

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

Special lunch A changing menu, with a wide spread of food items, and special packages for kitty and group lunches. Where: Kailash Parbat Above Ebony Gautier, 2nd floor, Road No. 36, Jubilee Hills When: Ongoing Contact: (040) 23558856

SHOWS ANANTA Opus 195 Concerto for Sarod electronic and

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

symphonic orchestra by Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and Pierre Thilloy. Where: Shilpa Kala Vedika When: March 1 Contact: (040) 2355 4486 Imany World music- jazz and soul. Where: Hyderabad International Convention Centre Novotel & HICC complex Near Hitec City Cyberabad Post Ofﬁce When: March 15, Contact: (040) 2355 4486

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, 10am to 10pm Contact: (040) 31002959

The First Cut A festival of short films and documentaries, where amateurs can showcase their talents. Where: St Francis College for Women, Uma Nagar, Begumpet

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

Urban Stampede The run is aimed at encouraging amateurs and seasoned runners alike to take part in a sport that is enjoyable and beneficial. Where: CBIT, Gandipet When: March 3 Contact: urban-stampede.com

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

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

City

YESTERDAY’S QUESTION

DO YOU THINK GOVT TAKES MATTERS LIKE EX-GRATIA TOO LIGHTLY? 82% 18%

YES (A) NO (B)

TODAY’S QUESTION

DO YOU THINK METRO RAIL REQUIRES MORE ATTENTION THAN MMTS? A)

YES

To vote visit www.postnoon.com

CRIME

Out-of-town madrasa students under police lens

Parents of students studying in the City have appealed to the Cyberabad police commissioner to ensure innocent students are not harassed by the SOT.

DILSUKNAGAR BLASTS: ANOTHER STUDENT HELD

Mohd SUBHAN mohd.s@postnoon.com

he Special Operation Team (SOT) of the Cyberabad police have taken another student into custody in connection with the Dilsukhnagar twin blasts. Syed Haji Ahmed, a retired government official, said that his son, Syed Adnan Ahmed, 21, was held on Wednesday from Anwar Ul Uloom College in Mallepally, where he went to write his pre-finals exam. “My son is in his final year of B.Com and has no criminal record. On Wednesday, he was going to college as usual but was picked up by policemen. We weren’t even informed. Some people

he City police have upped their vigilance since the Dilsukhnagar blasts last week. After announcing a slew of measures like installing CCTVs in RTC buses and deploying security men in market areas, they are now keeping a close eye on madrasas and masjids which house students from other cities. This move hasn’t gone down well with parents. Hundreds of students from across the State come to the City to study and work. The parents of these students are worried about the consequences that their wards will have to face, given the police’s current attitude. Over the past two days, special branch wing officials have been doing the rounds at different places in the Old City. They visited the Puranapul, Afzal Gunj, Kulsumpura, Qazipura, Charminar, Khilwat, Sultan Shai mosques and collected details of the students there. They took a

particular interest in one of them: Shahbaaz Khan from Mahbubnagar district, a final year MBA student. The officials took him in for questioning and released him after two hours. Kareem Pasha, a student from Ananathapur, questioned the

CRIME

Man smuggling ganja held

need for such enquiries. At the time of admission, he says, the mosque committee does a thorough check of each student and admits them only once they are pleased with their record. “The committee is very strict and we must adhere to the rules. They

don’t tolerate any misbehaviour. We are not even allowed to have a radio or tape recorder at the premises. If we come five minutes late we are questioned and warned,” he said. The officials, however, said that they are doing nothing out of

the ordinary. “We visited these mosques simply to collect details of the students there. This is not unusual since these students are all from out of town,” said one special branch official.

RALLY

BOLD MOVES

‘Chalo Hyderabad’ rally by the disabled

POSTNOON NEWS feedback@postnoon.com

he railway police have arrested a man at Qazipet station for trying to smuggle ganja illegally, seizing lakhs of rupees worth ganja from his possession. B Mohan, 28, was unemployed. He is a native of Warangal district. Due to extreme poverty, he joined a gang of criminals and began indulging in illegal activities, like selling ganja and gudamba. The police seized 20 kgs of ganja from 20 bags in his possession. Dr M Kantha Rao, superintendent of police, railways, said Mohan has been linked to professional ganja smugglers, and the police are trying to trace them. He said a special team has been sent to catch them. Mohan had been hired for a few thousand rupees to do the job, he said.

who saw this happen informed me,” said Haji. Shaik Saifullah Khalid, an advocate, said that SOT officials have been harassing local youths in the name of the twin blast investigation. He said the officials usually go to their homes late in the night, which creates panic in the locality. Fearing police action, some residents have appealed to Cyberabad police commissioner Ch Dwarka Tirmal Rao and sought his intervention to ensure that innocent youth are not picked up and harassed by the SOT officials.

Jana Vignana Vedika activists performed stunts and carried out a rally on the occasion of the 25th anniversary celebrations of the organisation on Thursday. N SHIVA KUMAR

emanding that the State government hike the pension for disabled persons up to `2,500 and also grant political reservation in the coming local body elections, Disabled Rights Forum (DRF) is organising ‘Chalo Hyderabad’ under the banner of ‘Vikalangula Ranabheri’ at Indira Park today. State DRF president Kolli Nageshwar Rao appealed to all handicapped persons in the State to remain united and join the ‘Chalo Assembly’ rally. He accused the government for its “step-motherly” treatment towards the disabled and paying a paltry `500 pension, while other State governments like Delhi, Gujarat and Puducheri give `2,500 as pension. All India Vikalangula Samakhya secretary M Narasimha, vice-president SK Anwar and others also expressed their views. NSS

city THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

GOVERNANCE

LAST YEAR... HERE City cops on witch-hunt

ast year we had reported how the police in Old City had began cracking their whips against ‘black magicians,’ following widespread complaints from citizens. Police found that men outnumbered women in the business, and their main targets were women who were said to be ‘seized by evil spirits.’ They even seized passports in the name of driving away spirits.

FEBRUARY 28, 2012

NUMEROLOGY

`30

crore was the amount received for Phase II of MMTS, as opposed to `750 crore that was initially proposed.

Ever since the Metro project took centre stage, they have killed the MMTS silently. The MMTS reaches parts of the City that the Metro cannot touch. Prof C Ramachandriah, CSES

See page 6

THINGS WE 5LEARNT TODAY The column that teaches everyone something new about the way the City functions.

Government turns blind eye to disabled people? While on the one hand there is a rally in the City today, demanding an increase in the pension of handicapped people, the UCD ofﬁce on the other hand has been shifted from Tankbund, making life difﬁcult for these people.

MMTS being treated as a ‘joke’ by government? Of the promised `750 crore, only `30 crore was received by the MMTS. Is it being overlooked because of the Metro project?

Differently-abled, elders left in the lurch

As the Urban Community Development office was shifted to ‘enjoy a certain level of autonomy,’ a section of people suffer the consequences. Md NIZAMUDDIN nizamuddin.a@postnoon.com

he shifting of the Urban C o m m u n i t y Development (UCD) office from the GHMC head office in Tankbund to Secunderabad has only added to the woes of physically handicapped people and senior citizens. AASRA and VIKASAM were the two functions under the UCD working for the benefit of senior citizens and physically handicapped people. These services have now been crippled, as most of the beneficiaries who had easy access to the old office at Tankbund are finding it increasingly difficult to travel to Secunderabad with their condition. “Every day around eight to 10 senior citizens come to us seeking the address of the AASRA office. They feel dejected when we tell them that it has been shifted to Secunderabad,” said one employee at the GHMC head office. The shifting of the office to the Patny commercial centre is strange because there is no other government office there. Even the nearby Secunderabad GHMC Circle Office has been shifted to Marredpally. Due to the confusion, most of the physically handicapped people lose a chance to get any work done, as they reach the Secunderabad office near closing time. “I just reached the new office and they have already shut shop. Now I will have to come back all the way again tomorrow,” said Md Jaleel, a different-

ly abled citizen. The government apathy towards the physically handicapped is not new. Those who took part in the SADAREM camp (eligibility tests for pension benefits) were given their certificates after a delay of almost six months. They are entitled to avail pension benefits under the Indira Kranti Velugu Scheme, but many are yet to receive benefits as the process of issuing certificates got delayed. “Of the 1,260 certificates

Shifting of the UCD office from Tankbund has led to confusion and most of the physically handicapped people say they lose a chance to get any work done, as they reach the Secunderabad office near closing time.

applied for, we have only received 750 certificates after six months,” said N Malla Reddy, president of the Qutbullapur Town Vikalangula Samakya. Sources in the know of internal machinations said that the UCD office was moved out of the GHMC head office so that the department could enjoy a certain level of autonomy. However, there are some officials who now wish to go back to the old office due to space constraints at the new office.

NEWS BRIEFS

Is the SOT right in picking students for questioning? Parents of out-of-town students studying in the City say the special operation team is harassing innocent students.

Players practice amidst tight security

Unemployed youth commits suicide

Man found dead in a lodge room

YSRC wins DDCB chairman post

Criminals take advantage of poverty. A poor man was hired for a few thousand rupees to smuggle lakhs worth of illegal ganja.

Politicians and their power games. There is heated competition among TDP leaders for the upcoming MLC election seats.

midst tight security, the Indian and Australian teams reached Hyderabad for the test match to be played at Uppal Stadium from March 2. The teams came by special ﬂight and taken to a hotel under heavy security. The teams will be practicing on Thursday and Friday. The police have taken control of the stadium since Tuesday.

n MSC B-Ed youth, V Santosh, committed suicide by hanging himself at his residence in Brindavan colony of Champapet. The deceased, 27, was unemployed. In a suicide note, he wrote that if a separate Telangana had been formed, he would have got a job. Saroornagar police registered a case and started investigation.

he Abids police found a man dead under suspicious circumstances on Wednesday in a lodge. He was identiﬁed as K Ramesh, 40, a native of Vijaywada, who came to the City just two days back and stayed in this lodge. The management lodged a complaint when a foul smell was being emitted from the room.

pposition YSRC ﬁnally grabbed the Kadapa District Cooperative Central Bank (DCCB) chairman's post. Party supporter E Tirupal Reddy was elected as the chairman during the election held this morning in the district headquarters. Despite their efforts to win the chairman's post, the ruling Congress party did not succeed.

city THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

POLITICS

Who will be nominated?

There is fierce competition among TDP leaders to be nominated for the MLC elections to be held next month. INKESHAF AHMED ahmed.m@postnoon.com

A party senior leader said that it would be challenge for the party president to take a call on the issue, owing to huge competition. Many of the leaders are seeking the MLC seat citing their years of services to the party.

he announcement of Member of Legislative Elections under Assembly quota has lead to huge competition among aspirants of mainstream political parties in the State. This competition seems to be very high in main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP). A total of 10 seats are up for grabs during the elections scheduled to be held on March 21. These seats are getting vacant due to completion of term by the 10 sitting MLCs next month. According to the existing strength of the political parties, the TDP can win two seats comfortably. It is poised to win one more seat if it takes the help of Left parties. From the TDP, three sitting MLCs are completing their term this year. These MLCs include Ibrahim Bin Abdullah Maskati, P Yadagiri and Sidda Raghava Rao. Among these MLCs, two leaders, Ibrahim Bin Abdullah Maskati and Sidda Raghava Rao are seeking a re-nomination. Interestingly, both these leaders are known industrialists in the party. Apart from these leaders, scores of other senior leaders are expecting to be nom-

inated to the MLC post. Party floor leader in Legislative Council Dadi Veerabadhra Rao (pictured), former MLA V Narender Reddy, SC cell president D Srisailam

Madiga, former Waqf Board chairman Md Saleem, P Anuradha, women’s cell president Shoba Hymavathi, Garikapati Mohan Rao, party media committee members Md Salam and LVSRK Prasad are competing for the posts. While D Veerabadhra Rao, P Anuradha, G Mohan Rao and Shoba Hymavathi hail from Andhra region, the other leaders belong to Telangana. According to party sources, all these leaders have met with party president N Chandrababu Naidu, and have requested him to nominate them to the MLC post. Speaking to Postnoon, a party senior leader said that it would be challenge for the party president to take a call on the issue, owing to huge competition. Many of the leaders are seeking the MLC seat citing their years of services to the party. The others are requesting the party president to look for merit and individual strength of the leaders before taking a decision, he said. He further informed that the party president would take all requirements into consideration before announcing his decision. Party floor leader in the council, D Veerabadhar Rao, is likely to get a re-nomination, owing to his proximity with the party president.

POLITICS

CM adopts pro-employee strategy In a swift move, which he took this morning in the wake of the government employees’ announcement to go on strike, the CM announced the constitution of 10th Pay Revision Commission (PRC) and appointed PK Agarwal as its chairman. POSTNOON NEWS feedback@postnoon.com

hief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy seems to have become a smart administrator in his more than two-year stint as the head of the government. The CM torpedoed the plans of State government employees to go on strike with an objective to fulfill their long pending demands. In a swift move, which he took this morning in the wake of the government employees’ announcement to go on strike, the CM announced the constitution of 10th Pay Revision Commission (PRC) and appointed PK Agarwal as its chairman. Agarwal is currently working as the director of

National Academy of Construction (NAC). He retired as the special chief secretary of the State government and is a well respected person among the officials of the State. The decision of the chief minister has floored the State government employees, especially the AP Non-Government Employees (APNGO) Association. The association, which had earlier decided to serve strike notices to chief secretary of the State today, has now put off its decision. Interestingly, the demand for appointment of the PRC has been the most pressed demand of the government employees in the last one year. Apart from this, the CM played a crucial role in breaking the deadlock between

The demand for appointment of the PRC has been the most pressed demand of the government employees in the last one year. the government and its employees over the controversial issue of health cards. Commenting on the swift action of the CM, the Telangana Non-Gazetted Officers Association (TNGOA) secretariat branch president B Sravan Kumar Reddy thanked the CM for addressing thier long pending demands. “I whole heartedly thank the CM for fulfilling our demands. The CM has

taken this much needed decision by keeping the welfare of his employees in mind. We have been facing problems. The appointment of PRC will solve many of our problems,” he said. Reacting on the swift decision of the CM, a senior Congress Leader has said that the proemployee decisions of the CM will have greater impact on the State government in the coming days. “We hardly have one year to go for elections (which are due in the first half of next year) and the decision of the State government employees to go on strike will paralyse the functioning of the government. The fresh decision of the CM helps us reach out to people and implement our welfare programmes,” he said.

city THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

RAILWAY BUDGET

Metro clouds over MMTS

Phase II of MMTS, which was to receive `750 cr, got a meagre `30 cr and an indirect, silent burial. Everybody’s attention is directed towards the Metro Rail project instead. RAHUL RAMAKRISHNA rahul.r@postnoon.com

he MMTS service in Hyderabad pinned its hopes on the Indian Railway Budget of 2013, awaiting funds and attention. What it got was a meagre allocation and an indirect, silent burial to its second phase. Of the expected `750 crore, the MMTS’ allocation was a mere `30 crore. Authorities at the SCR are wondering if the train service was overlooked or is being treated as a joke. The MMTS’ phase 2 service was expected to cost about `632 crore of which the State government was expected to share two thirds of the cost, after a survey done last December. Following the success and demand for more trains in Phase 1, the second phase was mooted. The State government agreed to share the cost in two stages. `20 crore were

earmarked for passenger services and amenities, `85 crore for new rakes. According to last year’s Railway Budget, the Central government announced `99 crore as the MMTS’ share. Doubling and electrification works were planned along the Secunderabad-MalkajgiriBolarum, FalaknumaShamshabad, LingampallyShankarpally, and Secunderabad-Ghatkesar stretches. Added to the MMTS’ woes is the brand new Metro Rail project coming up in the City. Despite the success of the MMTS and the demand for increased connectivity and frequency, the Metro Rail has gained more prominence of the train service. Professor C Ramachandriah, Centre for Social and Economic Studies says, “Ever since the Metro project took centre stage, they have killed the MMTS silently. The MMTS caters its reach to sections and parts of the

DANGEROUS HYDERABAD

SRINIVAS SETTY

RISKY AFFAIR

young woman rushes to cross the road at the busy Habsiguda stretch. In her haste though, she didn’t bother to check oncoming traffic. In this picture she is seen running across the road looking the other way, while a bus heads towards her.

Fortunately, she managed to cross safely. However, this image points towards the need for proper zebra crossings and foot over bridges to ensure pedestrian safety. Nobody respects that zebra crossing in the City and several FoBs are still in the pipeline.

N SHIVA KUMAR

City that the Metro cannot touch. Despite us registering our protests with the State government, we’ve received a petty amount in the budget. Even this will never be released.” Southern Central Railways officials too murmur that the project will never get completed if every year’s railway budget keeps putting the MMTS behind. “`30 crore is not sufficient for maintaining all the stations we have in the City. When and how the MMTS second phase will actually begin is a mystery right now,” says a PRO at Rail Bhavan. Despite memorandums being submitted to minister Kotla Surya Prakash Reddy after last year’s budget, the second phase of the project is yet to be moved out its current inert state. The MMTS travellers group, Suburban Train and Bus travellers association had requested the minister to expedite the works.

city THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

PASSING THROUGH

With incredible flair

He’s gathered quite a fan following with his incredible skill as a flair bartender. But it’s not only about entertainment for Atilla Iskifoglu, who is also an advocate for responsible drinking. KANCHAN AGARWAL kanchan.a@postnoon.com

world class flair entertainer he is indeed. Juggling bottles and glasses like a natural Atilla Iskifoglu, who is in the City, can leave you spellbound in no time. He was 18 when he made his first cocktail. Originally from Turkey, he lived in London and trained long and hard to be a flair bartender and mixologist. It was Tom Cruise in the movie Cocktail that pulled him towards this rare skill. “I care more about the show, the flair. It just lifts me up. When I started, there were good mixologists at the time. But I was good at flair. So I was challenging them. They knew the technique but I was good at the showmanship. I managed to be more popular than these guys because mixing can be boring sometimes you know. They mix drinks, shake it up, they look serious, there is no showmanship, no entertainment. I am more into entertainment. I do mixology because I have to,” Atilla confesses. Having said that, you would

think a bartender may be all for alcohol and getting drunk. But Atilla surprises you by claiming he hates to get people drunk. Going by the current drinking

WATER CRISIS

Give priority to drinking water: CM C hief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Wednesday declared that no water would be let out for cultivation this season. He also made it clear that the water would be utilised for drinking purposes only as top priority. The chief minister held a high-level review meeting with the officials of the Irrigation Department in the Secretariat and enquired with them about the present water levels in all the reservoirs in the State. The officials explained to the chief minister that the present water available in the reservoirs would serve drinking water purpose for only three months from now. After patiently hearing the Irrigation officials, the CM directed them to give top priority for meeting drinking purposes only. If at all there was any surplus water after meeting the drinking water needs of the people, the same may be spared for

the agriculture purposes, he added. Speaking on the occasion, engineer-in-chief Muralidhar said there would be no problem for the drinking water needs of the Greater Hyderabad citizens during the summer months. NSS

patterns where one makes it a matter of pride to drink until you pass out, there is only so much that can be done but Atilla does all he can. “I don’t like to get peo-

ple drunk. I’d rather give them a good time. If my customers are going overboard, I use my skills to stop them from drinking too much,” he says. As a bartending trainee, who has trained about 900 people and still counting, he assures that we can trust the many good mixologists around to induce responsible bartending into students. “In the future, it is going to get better. There are many mixologists who are training bartenders about responsible drinking. We should give them the right knowledge about alcohol and how to drink it,” he says. As a bigger step, with all the knowledge at his disposal, he is working towards healthy drinking by concocting and serving drinks that can be less damaging, if not at all. By using ingredients such as fresh juices instead of canned juice or honey instead of sugar syrup, the damage can be reduced. “I have been in this business for 15 years. I know alcohol is not good. With better ingredients you can ensure not to have a horrible hangover the next day. These can also be antiageing,” he elaborates. For all his humbleness, if you

had not been told, you would not have any idea of all the glory behind him. Soon after he began training, he was participating and winning many flair competitions. Of 36 of them so far, in 2000, he stood second in World Flair Championship. He also had his stint on television with Britain’s Got Talen. “BBC got really interested because I am Turkish. They wondered if I was the only guy who could represent London. They did stories around me, came with me to Cuba and Havana when I was competing. After that things happened and flair bartending grew very fast,” he reminisces. Besides he has also had the chance to serve celebrities like Madonna and John Travolta. While Madonna was at a house party and asked for a wine cocktail, John Travolta too walked into a private party in Bank of America. “I made him a whisky cocktail. I don’t know about Madonna but meeting John Travolta is something else for me. It was amazing,” he smiles. Now he organises and judges many competitions himself and is working on music videos where he will only be flairing.

RUDE AWAKENING

A week after the twin blasts in Dilsukhnagar, the City police has finally stepped up security in the City. They were seen halting traffic near the Imax Circle at Necklace Road to frisk commuters. M ANIL KUMAR

AGE OF THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

A PAGE DEDICATED TO THE TRIUMPHS AND TRIBULATIONS OF GEN Z

MONEY MATTERS Parents are not the only ones worried about their teens’ expenses. The present generation is stressed about it too. After all, they need the dough to keep up with their ‘extra curricular activities’ and more importantly... the lifestyles of their friends. Postnoon talks to a few Generation Zeds who bank on pocket money, seasonal jobs and internships to stay financially independent.

NIDHI BHUSHAN

nidhi.b@postnoon.com

‘W

hen I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is.’ – Oscar Wilde The present generation – those born in 1990s and 2000s – definitely agrees. Children today, especially teenagers, are under immense pressure to know it all, to experience everything and be ‘wise’. And, according to them, that doesn’t come cheap. They need money to explore the world, buy their fancy gadgets, socialise with their friends and generally stay in the know of everything. While those with parents as good as ATMs have it going easy for them, others have to try a little harder to stay ‘accepted’. But don’t get me wrong, students today are not the kinds to nod along either — they want to be part of a group but still maintain

their own unique identity. “I need money to buy clothes of my choice, especially the kinds I can wear when I go out with friends,” says Gen Z Ankita Dayal, adding that discussing brands is very common among college students as they feel freed of wearing school uniforms. “I’ve heard people say things like ‘Oh, you’re wearing a Vero Moda dress! Mine is from Promod’.” However, such discussions aren’t condescending in any way. They are more about showing off the knowledge of brands and the capacity to afford them. “I get around `1,000 as my weekly allowance, which I save for over a period of four to five weeks to

be able to buy what I really want,” says Dayal. A number of students also take up part-time jobs to meet their expenses. “Managing money while you’re still a student is a learning process in itself,” says techie Naman Gupta, a generation Y member. A changing trend that companies have noticed among enthusiastic interns is the fact that they expect to be paid. A generation X member myself, I didn’t expect a n y

stipend when I interned with a news channel. “Most youngsters these days expect to be paid even for an internship. While earlier exposure to a working environment and learning on the job played the incentive role, today it is the money that is prioritised,” reveals Gupta. Another important factor that has enhanced the need for money among the youth today is social media. Staying connected with the world at large exposes youngsters to a number of things like music, movies, gaming and more. And, to enjoy most of these, one needs the money. In fact, thanks to a burst of music festivals pan India, more and more children are pulled towards raising money to travel and watch concerts. “I went to the Coldplay concert held in Abu Dhabi last year with a bunch of my friends. Though it was tough to convince my parents at first, they agreed once they spoke to other parents who were on board with the plan,” recalls Dayal. Though money is the prereq-

uisite of a satisfactory lifestyle among the youth, it also spells independence for many. “Earning my own buck is important as it’s easier to make decisions for myself then. I bought a phone for myself with the stipend I earned through a twomonth internship and I didn’t have to run it by my parents before I bought the gadget,” says Aarushi Aggarwal, adding she can’t wait to start working and earning real money. Even Kindergartens in India hold fairs to introduce the concept of money to children at a very young age. “We recently organised a mock trade fair in our preschool to help children understand the concept of buying and selling. We gave all the students `500 and gave them the freedom to buy things like candies, scarves, toys, etc displayed at the fair. Through this exercise, we hoped to make them value money, budget what they have and generally know their way around,” says 58-year-old Chitra Bhushan, who is a Kindergarten teacher.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

nation

RULING CONGRESS CANDIDATE WINS CHALFILH BYPOLL

Ruling Congress nominee Ngurdingliana won the by-poll to Chalfilh Assembly seat, defeating his nearest rival Mizo National Front candidate Lalvenhima Hmar by a margin of 2,834 votes. This is the highest-ever victory margin in the seat since 1972.

NORTH EAST ELECTIONS

BLAKE PAT FOR INDIA

STATUS QUO! Congress leads in Meghalaya SHILLONG: The ruling Congress has opened its account in the ninth Meghalaya Assembly with former deputy chief minister Deborah Ch Marak winning from Williamnagar constituency. Chief Minister Mukul Sangma is set to return for the fifth consecutive time from the Ampati constituency. He is leading by a big margin of 4,000 votes. Before the vote counts, Sangma had said: "We are close to half-way mark and we are hoping to get more." Election Commission officials said Congress candidates were leading in 23 seats of the 60-member House assembly. Former Congress chief minister and state Congress party chief DD Lapang is leading in Nongpoh constituency. The Congress fielded candidates in all 60 constituencies while the United Democratic Party (UDP) contested 50 seats. IANS

TRIPURA

NAGALAND

MEGHALAYA

Left Front set to return to power with more seats. Congress makes significant gains in Meghalaya. Naga People’s Front emerges stronger in Nagaland at the expense of the Congress.

Left heads for landslide victory in Tripura

AGARTALA: Tripura's ruling CPM-led Left Front was on Thursday heading for a landslide victory and seemed set to retain power for a fifth straight term. According to trends available from 58 constituencies, the CPI-M was leading in 49 seats out of 60. The Congress was leading in just nine seats. Opposition leader in the outgoing assembly and Congress' key leader Ratan Lal Nath, who was elected to the state assembly four times since 1993, was trailing in the Mohanpur assembly segment in western Tripura. Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, Finance Minister Badal Chowdhury and their cabinet colleagues were leading by huge margins. Tripura made electoral history when a record 93.57 percent of the 2.3 million voters exercised their franchise in the February 14 election.

NPF leading in Nagaland KOHIMA: The Nagaland Peoples' Front (NPF) was on Thursday ahead in the counting of ballots for the 60-member Nagaland assembly, officials said. The NPF had bagged one seat and was ahead in 17 seats. The Congress was in the lead in seven seats, officials said. Counting had started at 8 a.m. While the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was leading in two seats, the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) were leading in one seat each, the sources added. The state's ruling NPF-led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) alliance is hoping for a third consecutive term. The counting of ballots will decide the fates of 188 candidates, including two women. In the last elections in the state in 2008, the NPF had secured 26 seats, while the Congress managed 23. The BJP and NCP secured two seats each. IANS

MEGHALAYA (60)

NAGALAND (60)

TRIPURA (60)

Alliance Leads Result Change Total Cong 28 0 +9 29 UDP 11 0 0 11 Others 15 0 15 Awaited 5 59 5

Alliance Leads Result Change Total NPF+ 17 1 +3 27 Cong 6 0 -5 11 Others 10 0 7 Awaited 15 59 15

Alliance Leads Result Change Total LEFT 53 0 +4 53 Cong+ 7 0 -4 7 Others 0 0 0 Awaited 0 60 0

10g GOLD `30,100 10g GOLD`31,100 1kg `60,100 1kg SILVER `54,300

24C 24C

forfor

for for

DOLLAR `53.79 `53.78 `81.56 POUND `85.15

After Chuck Hagel's controversial remarks on India's role in Afghanistan, a top US ofﬁcial has strongly backed New Delhi's investment program and said they have a holistic view of the war-torn region. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake yesterday at a Congressional hearing said," India has taken a very kind of holistic view of what needs to be done there, and they have a $2 billion assistance program." "They've hosted an investment conference. They have been a champion of this regional integration vision," Blake said. He was responding to questions from lawmakers on the contributions of India and China in Afghanistan. "I think China has taken a far less holistic view and a much more self-serving view, frankly," Blake said.

WB KUDOS FOR BIHAR

A senior ofﬁcer of World Bank today praised the high growth rate achieved by Bihar which indicates that an "encouraging" environment of progress has been created for faster economic development of the hitherto laggard state. Bihar clocked highest growth rate of 16.71 per cent during 2011-12, as per Economic Survey presented in Parliament. Bihar's growth rate was followed by Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra during the period, according to the report.

BSE 6,057.70 5,807.15 NSE

20,025.67 19,193.31 44.10 40.90 9.20 10.25

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

budget 2013

ECONOMY AT TURNING POINT: RAGHURAM RAJAN The Indian economy is likely to improve in this financial year beginning April 1, helped by moderate inflation and better external factors, chief economic advisor to the finance ministry Raghuram Rajan said Wednesday.

Union finance minister PC Chidamabaram presented his budget amid a gloomy backdrop, with the economy projected to expand by 5 per cent this fiscal year to March — marking a decade low — and far under the 7.6 per cent growth projected in last year’s budget.

PRUDENCE OVER POPULISM? PENNY MACRAE feedback@postnoon.com

India’s 82nd, PC’s 8th

hen Union finance minister P Chidambaram presents his annual budget today it is expected to see him opt for austerity over free-spending populism despite elections due early next year and a sharply slowing economy. Chidambaram has pledged a “responsible” budget and voiced eagerness to restore confidence in India’s public finances and economic management by tightening spending. The Harvard-educated lawyer, who has a reputation as a committed pro-market reformer, will present “an austere budget” in a bid to bring Asia’s thirdlargest economy back on track, said Nomura economist Sonal Varma. “We expect the government to announce some populist schemes — but all within the limits of fiscal prudence,” Varma said, predicting lower spending growth and public asset sales. The veteran minister in the Congress government has been attempting a course correction since being reappointed to the

Investors have given a wide berth to India — deterred by corruption scandals, suffocating red tape, high inflation, sharply slowing growth and the deteriorating government finances. finance portfolio in mid-2012 when his leftist and widely criticised predecessor Pranab Mukherjee was elected president. He has introduced a string of reforms — opening India to wider foreign investment and cutting deficit-ballooning spending and subsidies — to avert a damaging credit rating downgrade. He is presenting his budget amid a gloomy backdrop, with the economy projected to expand by 5 per cent this fiscal year to

March — marking a decade low — and far under the 7.6 percent growth projected in last year’s budget. Figures for the OctoberDecember quarter are also set to be released on Thursday, providing a snapshot into the health of the once-booming economy which has been hit by a dramatic fall in investment and high interest rates. An official forecast on the budget’s eve was more upbeat for the 2013/14 fiscal year, saying growth would reach 6.1-6.7 percent next year. “The economy is looking up,” concluded the report, while saying the government must keep up reforms to reignite investor confidence. Investors have given a wide berth to India — deterred by corruption scandals, suffocating red tape, high inflation, sharply

slowing growth and the deteriorating government finances. “The slowdown is a wake-up call for increasing the pace of actions and reforms,” said finance ministry chief economic advisor Raghuram Rajan. “These are difficult times but India has navigated such times before and with good policies it will come through stronger.” Chidambaram has called the government’s fiscal deficit targets of 5.3 per cent of gross domestic product for this year and 4.8 per cent next year “red lines” that cannot be breached. Cuts are expected to hit defence spending as well as the important rural development ministry, which has the secondlargest budget after the military. But economists say the real test will be in the run-up to national elections due in the first half of next year when politicians

from the struggling ruling Congress party are likely to clamour for him to open the purse strings. “Fiscal contraction in the run-up to an election is hardly a recipe for electoral success,” noted CLSA economist Rajeev Malik. Chidambaram is likely to tap the public finances for one major populist measure — the government’s long-promised Food Security Bill targeting the poor masses that Congress hopes will turn around its sagging electoral fortunes. The bill says cheaper grain will be supplied to up to 75 percent of the population in rural areas and up to 50 percent of the population in urban areas. The government will showcase the act as one of its “key achievements in a bid to woo the electorate ahead of the election”, said Nomura’s Varma. AFP

hen P Chidambaram present India’s 82nd national budget in the Lok Sabha today that will be the eighth such personal exercise for him — two short of the record of 10 set by former prime minister Morarji Desai. Since independence in August 1947, the country has seen a total of 25 ministers hold the finance portfolio. It has also seen 81 budgets — 65 normal annual budgets, 12 interim budgets and four special-occasion budgetary measures, also called mini-budgets. Among them, Morarji Desai presented eight normal and two interim budgets, which had taken his tally to a record 10 — this remains unchallenged so far. Thursday will see Chidambaram equal the eight-budget track record of his predecessor, Pranab Mukherjee, who is now president. Chidambaram, thus, will surpass Yashwant Sinha, YB Chavan and CD Deshmukh who all presented seven budgets each. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the country’s fourth finance minister TT Krishnamachari have presented six budgets each. The next in line in terms of number of budgets presented are R Venkataraman and HM Patel with three Budgets each, while Jaswant Singh, VP Singh, C Subramaniam, John Mathai and RK Shanmukham Chetty have two each to their credit. Among those who have presented one budget each all as prime ministers holding additional charge of the finance portfolio are Jawaharlal Nehru, his daughter Indira Gandhi and his grandson Rajiv Gandhi. These apart, Charan Singh, N.D. Tiwari, Madhu Dandavate, SB Chavan and Sachindra Chaudhuri have also presented one budget each. IANS

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

`80,194 crore allocation for Ministry of Rural Development in 2013-14. About `33,000 crore for MGNREGA. `5,000 crore will be made available to NABARD to finance construction of godowns and warehouses. `6,000 crore to be allocated for rural housing fund in 2013-14.

DEFENCE

n Defence allocated `2 lakh 3,672 cr

ENERGY

n `800 crore provided to promoting wind energy n Gas handling terminal at Dabhol in Maharashtra to be fully operational during 2013-14 n State governments urged to sign restructuring plans with electricity discoms

BUDGET SHUNS AUSTERITY, AIMS FOR GROWTH Getting back to the growth rates of over 8-9 per cent seen some years ago is the main challenge. We have done it before, and we can do it again, Chidambaram said, in what is his 8th national budget for the country. Whatever may be the final outcome, growth is below potential. But there is no need for gloom.

TAX

n No changes in Income Tax rates or slabs, tax credit of `2000 for income between `2-5 lakh n Tax free bonds issue to be allowed up to `50,000 crore in 2013-14 strictly on capacity to raise funds from the market n Rajiv Gandhi Equity Scheme will be liberalised to allow first time investor to invest in Mutual Fund and equity. n First housing loan up to `25 lakh would get additional deduction of interest of up to `1 lakh in 2013-14. n Rajiv Gandhi Equity Scheme to be liberalised

P Chidambaram

INFRASTRUCTURE

n Infrastructure debt funds to be encouraged n Regulator to be appointed for road projects; 3,000 km of road projects to be awarded in first six months of 2013-14 n Incentive allowance of 15 percent over and above permitted depreciation to those investing over `100 crore in infrastructure projects n Seven new cities identified along Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor n Preliminary work begun on Bangalore-Mumbai Industrial corridor n `14,873 crore for JNNURM for urban transportation in 2013-14 against `7,880 crore in the current fiscal, says FM n Govt to construct power transmission system from Srinagar to Leh at the cost of `1,840 crore, `226 crore provided in current Budget. n Two new major ports to be set up in WB and AP.

FINANCE

n SIDBI's re-financing facility to MSMEs to be doubled to `10,000 crore. n Govt to set up India's first women's bank as a public sector bank by October. n Capital infusion of `12,570 crore in 13 public sector banks during 2012-13; another `14,000 crore for capital infusion in 2013-14 to meet Basel-3 norms. n Will need $75 billion to finance current account deficit n WPI inflation down to 7 per cent; food inflation worrying. n National Housing Bank (NHB) to set up urban housing bank fund and `2,000 crore will be allocated in this regard n Insurance companies will be empowered to open branches in Tier-II cities.

EDUCATION

n Medical colleges in six more AIIMS-like institutions to start functioning this year; Rs 1650 crore allocated for the purpose. n `4,727 crore to be allocated for medical education and research. `1,069 crore to be given to Department of Ayush. n `5,284 crore to various Ministries for scholarships for SC/ST, OBC. n Human resource development ministry to get `65,867 crore

HEALTH

n `37,330 crore for health ministry

AGRICULTURE

n `27,049 crore allocation to the

10&11

Agriculture Ministry in 2013-14, n Foodgrain production during 2013-13 estimated at 250 million tonnes n Average annual growth rate of agriculture and allied services estimated at 3.6 per cent in 201213 when 250 MT foodgrains was produced. n Eastern Indian states to get `1,000 crore allocation for improving agricultural production.

WELFARE

n 'Nirbhaya Fund' of `1,000 crore to empower women and provide safety in the wake of the Delhi gang-rape incident. n Budget expenditure for 2013-14 at `16 lakh 65,297 crore; plan expenditure at 5 lakh 55,224 crore n `41,000 crore for SC plan n `97,000 crore for women's development n `110 crore for department of dis-

abilities n `13,250 crore allocated for midday meals scheme n `17,700 crore allocated for Integrated Child Development Scheme n Drinking water and sanitation ministry allocated `15,260 crore n Allocation of rural development ministry allocation raised by 46 percent to `80,294 crore; `33,000 crore for rural jobs scheme n `15,260 crore to be allocated to Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.

PICK YOUR

FDI

n Need to encourage FDI in consonance with economic priorities n FIIs will be allowed to participate in exchange traded currency derivatives n Investor with stake of 10 per cent or less will be treated as FII; more than 10 per cent will be FDI.

Across Stores

ities Twin C

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

World AUSTRALIA

It’s a close shave off Rusty blade

SYDNEY: Australians in the remote northwest mining belt described their lucky escape Thursday after a major cyclone made landfall at a lower intensity than forecast and spared the more populous areas. Tropical cyclone Rusty crossed Australia’s northwest coast on Wednesday evening as a mid-strength category three storm -short of the category four than had been expected and well below a top-level category five. The massive, slow-moving storm also took a lastminute turn to come onshore further east of the major iron ore mining centre Port Hedland than forecast, pummeling the isolated outpost of Pardoo but sparing most residents the worst. “We were expecting the worst, we were expecting to get smashed,” South Hedland police senior sergeant Ron Patchett told ABC radio. “As a result we’re all feeling a bit lucky.”

NEWS BRIEFS Thailand, rebels to talk peace KUALA LUMPUR: Thailand signed its ﬁrst-ever public agreement with a rebel group in its Muslim-majority south on Thursday, pledging to work toward peace talks aimed at ending a festering insurgency. The potentially historic deal was signed in Kuala Lumpur between Thai ofﬁcials and a representative of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) rebel group.

Strike paralyses Bangladesh DHAKA: A nationwide strike left Bangladesh paralysed Thursday, ahead of a verdict against a senior Islamist opposition leader accused of genocide during the 1971 war of independence against Pakistan. Delwar Hossain Sayedee, vice-president of the Jamaat-e-Islami party and a ﬁery Islamic preacher, is set to be the second Islamist to be sentenced by a war crimes court.

500 FAMILIES BECOME HOMELESS IN MANILA FIRE A resident clearing out a burnt out home to search for salvageable materials amongst destroyed houses after a fire engulfed a slum area in Manila. According to local reports, some 400 homes were destroyed leaving at least 500 families homeless.

SYRIAN CRISIS

MORE TALKS OVER IRAN

US trains rebels This is the first time the US is offering nonlethal assistance.

Nonlethal help

nder a broad definition of “nonlethal,” assistance to the opposition could include items like vehicles, communications equipment and night vision gear.

Smoke rises from the site of a missile attack in Hawiqah neighbourhood in the eastern Syrian town of Deir Ezzor on February 26, 2013. An AFP correspondent in Deir Ezzor said on February 26, that two MiGs flew repeated low-level sorties over the Sheikh Yassin neighbourhood for more than three hours during the morning, droping at least 50 bombs on rebel positions. AFP PHOTO/ZAC BAILLIE

WASHINGTON The United States is significantly stepping up its support for the Syrian opposition, senior administration officials said on Wednesday, helping to train rebels at a base in the region and for the first time offering armed groups nonlethal assistance and equipment that could help their military campaign.

The New York Times report says the training mission, already under way, represents the deepest American involvement yet in the Syrian conflict, though the size and scope of the mission is not clear, nor is its host country. The offer of nonlethal assistance is expected to come from Secretary of State John Kerry at a meeting on

VATICAN CITY

Pope to meet cardinals before his last bow VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI will meet cardinals from around the world on Thursday in his final hours as leader of 1.2 billion Catholics before he becomes the first pontiff to resign since the Middle Ages. The 85-year-old pontiff stunned the globe when he announced his momentous decision in a surprise speech in Latin on February 11, saying he no longer had the “strength of mind and body” to carry on in a fast-changing modern world. “I took this step in full awareness of its gravity and novelty but with profound serenity of spirit,” the pope told a cheering crowd of 150,000 pilgrims in St Peter’s Square in his final public farewell on Wednesday.

Oz Cardinal raps Pope

ustralia’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, criticised outgoing Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday, describing his historic resignation as destabilising and questioning his governance skills. Pell, Australia’s representative at next month’s secret conclave to elect a successor, said Benedict was a “brilliant teacher” but “government wasn’t his strong point” in a candid interview on the eve of the pope’s departure.”I think I prefer somebody who can lead the Church and pull it together a bit,” Pell said.

Thursday in Rome with opposition leaders. Mr. Kerry is also expected to raise the prospect of direct financial aid, though officials cautioned that the White House still had to sign off on all the elements. Before arriving in Rome on Wednesday, Mr. Kerry declared in Paris that the Syrian opposition needed additional assistance and indicated that the United States and its partners planned to provide some. Under a broad definition of “nonlethal,” assistance to the opposition could include items like vehicles, communications equipment and night vision gear. The Obama administration has said it will not — at least for now — provide arms to the opposition.

Talks between Iran and six world powers being conducted over the former’s disputed nuclear programme concluded here Wednesday without reaching any agreement. But the two sides pledged to hold further meetings in the coming weeks. The six world powers — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US — had proposed scaling back sanctions against Iran in exchange for the closure of its underground Fordo enrichment facility and an undertaking to halt uranium enrichment.

NUMEROLOGY

men who took part in the whipping of a Muslim convert to punish him for drinking alcohol and taking drugs have been found guilty of assault in Sydney.

SIGNS OF FURY A deﬁant Beijing restaurant manager refused to apologise Thursday despite removing a “racist” sign barring citizens of states in maritime disputes with China, along with dogs, following an international outcry. The notice in the window of the Beijing Snacks restaurant read: “This shop does not receive the Japanese, the Philippines, the Vietnamese and dog(s)” in both Chinese and English.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

Technology BARCELONA MOBILE FAIR

THE PROFESSIONALS

Beijing hotly denies accusations of official involvement in massive cyberattacks against foreign targets, insinuating such activity is the work of rogues. But at least one piece of evidence cited by experts points to professional cyberspies: China’s hackers don’t work weekends. Accusations of state-sanctioned hacking took center stage this past week following a detailed report by a U.S.-based Internet security firm Mandiant. It added to growing suspicions that the Chinese military is not only stealing national defense secrets and harassing dissidents but also pilfering information from foreign companies that could be worth millions or even billions of dollars.

MEMO PAD LAUNCHED A hostess wearing a mobile phone costume walks at the 2013 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

BIGGER THE BETTER? SMARTPHONES AND TABLETS MEET IN ‘PHABLET’ MANIA

VIRGINIE GROGNOU feedback@postnoon.com BARCELONA: The “phablet” phenomenon is taking the mobile world by storm. Manufacturers at the world’s biggest mobile fair in Barcelona, Spain released a slew of outsized smartphones that can barely fit in one hand and tablets that have shrunk dramatically. Further blurring the lines between smartphone and tablet, a selection of the latest tablets can be used as phones, albeit somewhat awkwardly. At the February 25-28 World Mobile Congress, the Ascend Mate by Chinese manufacturer Huawei, the world’s number three smartphone manufacturer, was the champion with a vast six-inch screen. Not far behind in the smartphone screen real estate contest, rival Chinese handset maker ZTE released its Grand Memo boasting a 5.7-inch display. South Korean giant LG trailed with its Optimus Pro, at

5.5 inches. “It’s a growing trend, especially in Asia, and a lot of these phones are favoured by women, women who don’t have to worry putting it into their pockets, they carry it in their purse,” said Ken Hong, communications director at LG. More than 120 million tablets were sold worldwide in 2012, up 50 percent from the previous year, and shipments of smartphones are predicted to hit one billion this year according to global consultants Deloitte. But the size of tablets is shrinking. The Samsung Galaxy Note 8, released just ahead of the congress, trimmed its screen to eight inches to compete with Apple’s new iPad mini. Taiwan’s Asus has managed to marry the two devices. Asus showed off the Padfone Infinity, a five-inch, high-definition screen smartphone that can harness the latest superfast fourth-generation wireless network and which

Manufacturers at the world’s biggest mobile fair in Barcelona, Spain released a slew of outsized smartphones that can barely fit in one hand and tablets that have shrunk dramatically. slots into 10.1-inch tablet. The smartphones of 2013 have to be fast, too, however, as the 4G network, also known as Long Term Evolution, or LTE, expands worldwide. China’s Huawei unveiled a new mobile at the show, the Ascend P2, which it claims is the fastest in the world. Sharp-cornered and thinner than a pencil at 8.4 mm, the company said it can achieve speeds of 150 Mbps, fast enough to download a twohour high-definition movie in less than five minutes. The mobile, which has a

more modest 4.7-inch, high definition screen, is powered by a 1.5 GHz quad-core processor and is able to use LTE networks. Huawei held 5.3 percent of the market in the fourth quarter of 2012. That is still well behind Samsung and Apple which held more than 50 percent of the sales combined — 29 per cent for Samsung and 22.1 per cent for Apple. If you can’t be the biggest, smallest or fastest, there is another way to the hearts of mobile phone consumers. Finnish manufacturer Nokia, once the leader of the mobile phone world, tried to lure shoppers with lower prices. Nokia released two Windows Phone-operated smartphones — the Lumia 520 and 720 — to be offered with pre-tax price tags of 139 euros ($189) and 249 euros respectively. But Nokia also offered the Nokia 105, the kind of mobile handset people use mostly for making telephone calls, for just 15 euros. AFP

Asus launched their 7-inch MeMo Pad that runs on Android in India and this will be the ﬁrst tablet made by the company in this segment. MeMO Pad runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and has a 7-inch display with a resolution of 1024x600. It supports 10 ﬁnger multi-touch and has up to 7 hours of battery life. The front facing camera can take HD videos at 30 frames per second. It has internal storage space of 8 GB that can be expanded up to 32GB a Micro-SD card. The device is currently available in three colours – Pink, White and Black.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

Comment Republicans are for both the man and the dollar, but in case of conflict the man before the dollar.

METEOR CRASH

Agence France-Presse

rom a dirty plastic chair in a rundown district of the Philippine capital, an ailing man claiming to be the head of an ancient Muslim dynasty whispers defiant decrees that infuriate a president. Jamalul Kiram III, who insists he is the genuine “Sultan of Sulu”, emerged from political obscurity this month after a few dozen of his armed followers sailed to neighbouring Malaysia to stake an ancestral territorial claim. The gunmen took control of a small coastal village in Sabah state on Borneo island, triggering a standoff with Malaysian security forces that has yet to be resolved and deeply embarrassing Philippine President Benigno Aquino. Although he is weak from kidney disease that needs twiceweekly dialysis, Kiram, 74, insists he is willing to take on the Philippine and Malaysian governments to assert his family’s claim to resource-rich Sabah. Speaking in a voice barely above a whisper, he tells reporters who gather daily at his modest two-storey home that his “royal army” will never abandon Sabah. “If they have to die, then they will die. They are sacrificing (themselves) for whatever may happen,” he said this week after Aquino ordered Kiram to withdraw his men back to their southern Philippine island homes. Kiram’s house in Manila is festooned with banners proclaiming the “Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo,” with a coat of arms showing two crossed swords, informing visitors on the pot-holed street that they are in royal territory. Kiram speaks nostalgically of the Sulu sultanate’s glory days before European colonisation, when it ruled over Sabah.

Things that go ‘Boom Boom’ at night BUT SERIOUSLY

Abraham Lincoln Former US President

The return of the Sultan MYNARDO MACARAIG

HIGH-FLYING THOUGHTS

If people had been obsessed with Messi and Ronaldo, there’s a new star on the block who could share some of their limelight. Not that he’s a meteor who landed from now where, Gareth Bale has been quietly working his way up and been superbly consistant. It’s a wonder if any player is talked about than Leo and CR7.

Ajay Hotchandani

n February 14th, 2013 many a guys hopes came crashing down when their attempts to woo a girl on Valentine’s Day failed. On February 15th, 2013 a meteor came crashing down in Russia. Within seconds of the “BOOM” over 1,500 people were injured and buildings in six cities were damaged. (I’m like the meteor at times, only takes me seconds to go “BOOM”, damaging mainly bed sheets, but not really injuring anyone!) That morning I woke up to a message asking if I heard about the meteor and other possible impact sites. Without hesitation I did what anyone else would have done, put on a pair of clean underwear, so incase I die, I’m not embarrassed by being found in dirty underwear. Next I went online to find out what really happened. The initial reports noted that it was only one meteor and the rest of the world had nothing to worry about. Let’s revisit the scenario, but this time it’s a bit different. You wake up to a text mes-

sage (because despite the world coming to an end, people will send a text message or post it on facebook before calling to give you a heads up), saying “Meteorite about to impact earth, we all will be dead in 10 minutes if you don’t forward this message to 10 people on your contact list!” So you find out you have 10 minutes to live, what do you do? First off, we are assuming that you got this message the minute it was sent out and not 5 minutes after, thereby giving you only 5 minutes to wrap things up. Of course there is the usual, call family members and say “you *#&$#*, you borrowed my Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge DVD and didn’t return it!” Then you call up those other friends and family to say bye, some of them, not because you want to, but do so just in case you run into them in heaven (assuming you even go there) and they are like “Hey I was trying to call you but you sent me to voicemail”, or you don’t want to feel guilty right before dying. For those of you who like to plan ahead, I’m sure there is a website or phone number that you can use to make an appointment, because when you get to heaven (or hell), there will be one line for those who have appointments and one line to make an appointment, and there is no bribing anyone to get

ahead of line in heaven (seriously, if you thought you would try to cut into the line or bride someone, we all know where you are going). Now that you have made your appointment online, you still have 4 minutes left. When you come to think of it, four minutes might be too much time. You now have to sit for four minutes to wait and die and you really can’t think of what else there is to do. You can update your facebook status, “About to check out of Earth and this body, it’s been great knowing you all, hope to see some of you up there…I hope they have facebook in heaven.”

(hit Like button). You now have three minutes left. Seriously! Did someone just suggest praying? You had your entire life to pray and you wait till eminent death to pray! That’s like studying for four years of medical school in five minutes and expecting to pass without any issues. This is where it gets a bit tricky because in certain religions you can be forgiven for all your sins within seconds (or a minute if your list is as long as mine), while in other religions you may spend a lifetime paying for those sins…let’s get the forgiving thing over quickly before “BOOM” happens!

EDITORIALS It Don’t Matter If You’re Black Or White

fter Pope Benedict XVII announced his decision to call it a day, it set many tongues wagging and among many of them were about who would the next pope be and would it be a black pope. A black pope? Yes, of the ﬁfteen Cardinals that could become the representative of God on earth for millions of Roman Catholics, Peter Turkson of Ghana is among the front-runners. Not because of his compassion, not for his piety, not for his faith, it’s as if his eligibility arises from that fact that he is black. But should that matter at all, should the fact that he is black be the deciding factor? No. In matters of religion, such aspects must not hold sway. The criteria must be based upon the qualities of the men in the race. The Cardinal of Australia says Benedict was a good teacher, but did not have the

READERS’ VIEWS

knack for governance. If the ability for governance is indeed something a pope must have, then let the next man be someone who is known for that. The Pope’s statements and speeches hint at more than his physical incapability to lead believers in these modern times when the foundation upon which the church was built is beginning to look shaky with the advance of science and technology and with every report that exposes the wrongs and iniquities of the men charged with holding aloft the faith and show millions the way. It matters not whether the next pope is black or white. He must start from where Benedict is leaving. He must bravely address the issues that have put the church in crisis and earned it infamy. That is what’s important, not colour, race or any other factor.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

tELEVISION

RON LIVINGSTON ON BOARDWALK EMPIRE

Ron Livingston is returning to HBO as a series regular on Boardwalk Empire. The Office Space and Band of Brothers actor has signed onto the period drama’s fourth season. He’ll play a wealthy out-of-town businessman who comes to the Jersey shore and catches the eye of brothel owner Gillian Darmody (Gretchen Mol).

COLD WAR INTRIGUE

Turning up the heat

NEW SERIES

FX’s new TV series The Americans is a well-crafted spy drama about KGB agents leading double lives in the US during the Cold War era.

HEMANTH KUMAR hemanth.k@postnoon.com

n 2010, when the FBI arrested 10 Russian secret agents who had been living in the US for years, it came as a big surprise to many that sleeper cells were still in vogue despite the end of Cold War between US and Russia. These Russian agents led double lives from the moment they landed in the US, enrolled in universities and led a normal life to convince everyone around them about their new identity. The story inspired Joe Weisberg, a former CIA officer-turned-executive producer, so much, that he ended up writ-

ing The Americans, a spy drama set in 1980s about KGB agents carrying out operations in US. It’s an explosive premise and the TV show promises to be an edge-of-the-seat spy thriller, thanks to commendable performances by its lead cast. The opening sequence of The Americans introduces us to Elizabeth (Keri Russell), who seduces a US government official to know the whereabouts of Timochev, a former KGB agent who defected to the US. Elizabeth’s husband Philip (Matthew Rhys) joins her quest to nab Timochev, but their mission goes terribly wrong. Elsewhere, FBI counter-intelli-

gence agent Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich) moves to a house in the same locality where Elizabeth and Philip stay. Stan believes that Philip is not who he claims to be, but his wife brushes off his hunch as a mere delusion. Philip is so stressed with everything that he has been doing that he wants to stop everything and live a normal life, an idea which Elizabeth turns down without a second thought. For her, serving her motherland comes first. The duo’s children, Paige and Henry, have no idea about their secret lives. It just keeps getting complicated and for once, we are forced to make a

choice on whom to root for. Looking at how well The Americans unveils its cards, rooting for an anti-hero like Philip or Elizabeth hasn’t been so gratifying in recent times. The Americans is as much a spy drama as it is about a family where the parents are forced to let go of their emotional baggage when it comes to their children. Henry and Paige have no idea that their parents grew up in Russia and that their parents never got a chance to enjoy the comforts which they take for granted in US. In one scene, Elizabeth frowns upon her daughter when the latter buys a red bra from a mall and when she confronts her daughter, the latter replies, “Things are different now, mom. People are, like, freer.” Elizabeth wants to inculcate socialist values in her children, while the latter seem to be drawn towards consumerism. Amidst all this drama, Philip finds himself caught in a dilemma over whose side to take, but both Philip and Elizabeth agree that keeping their identity a secret is paramount. Much of the series’ finest moments revolve around the lead pair’s brave attempts to accomplish missions on behalf of KGB and both Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys fit into their characters quite well. Fights, sex, Ronald Reagan, Cold War, FBI’s attempts to weed out Russian agents and above all, a couple that is caught between their love for their children and their native country — The Americans has them all. What’s not to like about an interesting spy drama like this? A must watch.

Saraswatichandra The much talked-about show on Indian television ﬁnally went on air yesterday at 7.30pm on Star Plus. Based on the famous novel by Govardhanram Madhavram Tripathi, producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali has taken over the responsibility of putting it together in the form of a television series. The novel, set in the 19th century, has a story which revolves around two Gujarati families but for the television adaptation, Bhansali is giving a modern twist to the story and characters.

DID YOU KNOW...

Gossip Girl

was originally pitched as a feature with Lindsay Lohan as Blair Waldorf. When that fell through, its backers (who had the rights to the stories) approached Josh Schwartz about turning it into a series.

TRENDING...

FX has shrewdly turned to Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter to ﬁnd another potential hit for the cable network. Sutter, together with John Shiban (Hell on Wheels), has closed a series script deal for Lucas Stand, which FX describes as a dark, action/horror drama with both episodic and serialised elements.

Lindsay Sloane (Weeds, Grosse Pointe) has joined the cast of NBC’s Sean Hayes-fronted comedy pilot (tentatively titled Happiness). The project, from Victor Fresco, centers on a man (Hayes) attempting to be both parent to the teenage daughter who just moved in and appease a temperamental boss.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

spotlight

A ROCKING NIGHT

The night at Rush Sports Cafe & Bar is dedicated especially for the ladies in the house. So, gang up with your girl pals and have a blast at the pub.

S BALAKRISHNA

FUN-FILLED DO

OTS ON A ROLL

OTS Advertising scooped eight awards at PRCI Communication Conclave 2013 held in the City. Managing director, OTS Venkat Jagdish Nalluri received the awards at the ceremony.

CELEBRATION TIME Members of Kakatiya Ladies Club marked full attendance at the clubâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annual day celebration held at ITC Kakatiya. Fashion show and Salsa were some of the performances put up by the members.

APP CREATORS ALL

More than 1,000 students from across the state took part in the record 36-hour application (app) development marathon organised by Microsoft. The event was held at Gurunanak Institutions (GNI) Technical campus, Ibrahimpatnam.

1 Deepa, Chinna

5 Isha

2 Harshit, Harpreet 3 Manisha, Radhika

6 Laila Kakade 7 Vinita

4 Nidha, Fiaz Khan

8 Reena

REACHING OUT FOR THE STAR

The launch of Star Homeopathy and Star Ayurveda was a gala event with Tollywood actress Madhavi Latha turned up at the do. The healthcare chain recently opened up a new outlet in Tirupati.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

health

1 MORE SWINE FLU DEATH, 40 NEW CASES IN DELHI A swine flu patient died while 40 more people tested positive Tuesday, taking the toll to 12 and the number of people infected by the Influenza A (H1N1) virus in the national capital to 834, an official said. In January, 39 cases were reported and one died.

ADDISON’S DISEASE

Notice scars looking brown instead of the usual pink? Or find that you’re exhausted all the time? The symptoms might point towards Addison’s Disease.

Missing that adrenaline rush? RANJANI RAJENDRA

ranjani.r@postnoon.com

ack in 1955, Hilary Richardson’s father would carry home bags of powdered pig glands every week as it meant a new life for his daughter. This powder would then be put into capsules that would then be refrigerated, according to an article on www.bbc.co.uk. At that time this was the only treatment available for Addison’s disease, a rare, chronic condition that occurs due to the failure of the adrenal glands. According to research, Addison’s affects one in every 15,000 people and is caused by the lack of steroid hormones in the body. When the adrenal glands are damaged, the steroid hormones produced by them drop. Since the adrenal gland produces hormones that help regulate blood sugar production, salt and water levels in the body and sex hormones, any damage can affect these aspects as well. However, the most significant fall out of Addison’s disease is the body’s ability to cope with stress in the absence of adequate steroid cover and this might result in a state of shock, which is a medical emergency. Addison’s disease could occur due to factors like tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, fungal infections, adrenal cancer, adrenal haemorrhage and destructive

ANEWS PP-LYBRIEFS YOURSELF

HOUSECALL

Vegan Kickstart

Neurofibromatosis

The 21-Day Vegan Kickstart app gives you resources to improve and regain your health and includes step-by-step recipe photos. It is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Based on research by Neal Barnard, MD, a leading health advocate, it is for anyone wanting to explore the health beneﬁts of a vegan diet.

NF is a neurocutaneous disorder. It affects the skin and the nervous system (including the brain). Soft, non-cancerous tumours (neuroﬁbromas) develop on the skin and along nerve tissue throughout the body. However, virtually every system and organ in the body may be affected. There are two main types, NF1 (also known as Von Recklinghausen's disease or peripheral NF) and NF2 (also known as bilateral acoustic NF).

DID YOU KNOW? Your largest organ is one cell thick It’s your endothelium, the interior lining of your body’s 60,000miles (plus) of blood vessels. If stretched out, your endothelium, which helps regulate blood pressure, control blood clotting and ﬁght disease, would cover six tennis courts.

Fact of the matter

n The condition was discovered by Dr Thomas Addison in London in 1849. Jane Austen, John F Kennedy and Osama bin Laden are all thought to have been affected. n Following Kennedy's assassination in 1963, pathologists found "almost no adrenal tissue" according to an article in the Annals of Internal Medicine. n Now patients are treated with cheap steroid tablets, unchanged since Hilary Richardson was diagnosed back in the 1950s. Source: www.bbc.co.uk

atrophy where an over-active immune system starts attacking the body’s own organs. It has been noticed that Addison’s disease affects more women than men. Symptoms of the disease include changes in blood pressure or heart rate, chronic diarrhoea, nausea, and vomiting, or loss of appetite resulting in weight loss, darkening of the skin in some places, causing the skin to look patchy, paleness, extreme weakness, fatigue, and slow, sluggish movement, mouth lesions and an intense salt craving. Treatment usually involves replacing the corticosteroids to help control the symptoms and usually lasts a lifetime. Doctors often prescribe a combination of glucocorticoids and mineralcorticoids. However, it is important to take the medication regularly or it can cause lifethreatening complications.

PIONEERS Richard Axel American neuroscientist Richard Axel is best known for his work on the olfactory system, exploring how the brain interprets smell through the olfactory cells at the back of the nasal cavity. He and his partner Linda B Buck discovered that there are nearly 1,000 genes that encode olfactory cells, a discovery which can lead to the genetic analysis of the olfaction mechanisms. They won Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2004.

health THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

STUDY

RESEARCH

BPA in plastic bottles

impairs brain development WASHINGTON: Bisphenol A (BPA), a compound present in plastics and resins, may suppress a gene vital to nerve cell function and impair the growth of the central nervous system, says a new study. The chemical can be ingested if it seeps into the contents of food and beverage containers, according to medical researchers from Duke University. "Our study found that BPA may impair the development of the central nervous system and raises the question as to whether exposure could predispose animals and humans to neurodevelopmental disorders," said Wolfgang Liedtke, associate professor of medicine, neurology and neurobiology at Duke, who led the study. BPA, a molecule that mimics estrogen and interferes with the body's endocrine system, can be found in a wide variety of manufactured products, including thermal printer paper, some plastic water bottles and the lining of metal cans, the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports. Research in animals has raised concerns that exposure to BPA may cause health problems such as behavioural issues, endocrine and reproductive disorders, obesity, cancer and immune system disorders, according to a Duke statement. Some studies suggest that infants and young children may be the most vulnerable to the effects of BPA, which led the US Food and Drug Administration to ban the use of the chemical in baby bottles and cups in July 2012. While BPA has been shown to affect the developing nervous system, little is understood as to how this occurs. The research team developed a series of

experiments in rodent and human nerve cells to learn how BPA induces changes that disrupt gene regulation. Exposing neurons to minute amounts of BPA alters the chloride levels inside the cells by somehow shutting down the KCC2 gene, which makes the KCC2 protein, thereby delaying the removal of chloride from neurons. MECP2, another protein important for normal brain function, was found to be a possible culprit behind this change. When exposed to BPA, MECP2 is more abundant and binds to the KCC2 gene at a higher rate, which might help to shut it down. This could trigger problems in the developing brain due to a delay in chloride removal. "Our findings improve our understanding of how environmental exposure to BPA can affect the regulation of the KCC2 gene," Liedtke said.

BPA, which interferes with the body’s endocrine system, can be found in a wide variety of manufactured products.

Researchers identify superbug's Achilles’ heel WASHINGTON: Researchers have identified a soft spot in a superbug which boosts the odds of killing it more effectively. Superbugs are resistant to antibiotics, making infections even more difficult to treat. Biologists Gloria Culver at Rochester University and Keith Connolly at Harvard, thought one key to stopping the deadly bug may lie with proteins. So they studied the mechanism behind the development of bacterial ribosomes — the cell's protein-creating machine. "We targeted the ribosomes in our research because cells and organisms cannot live if they do not make proteins, and they can't make proteins if their ribosomes aren't functioning properly," said Culver, according to a Molecular Microbiology journal report . They discovered that two proteins already present in E. coli cells — RbfA and KsgA — need to be in balance with each other in order for ribosomes to function. If those proteins are present in the wrong concentrations, the ribosomes will not be unable to produce proteins, leading to the death of the cells. Culver said the next goal is to determine an effective way to disrupt that balance. Crucially, RbfA does not exist in humans. "That may make it possible to kill E. coli without having a harmful effect on people," Culver said. IANS

IANS

BREAKTHROUGH

Kidney cells successfully generated artificially

SINGAPORE: Scientists in Singapore have successfully produced kidney cells under laboratory conditions, without using animals or cells from other organs. Researchers at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) generated human kidney cells from human embryonic stem cells in vitro.

IBN Executive Director Jackie Y Ying said: "This discovery has wide-reaching implications for in vitro toxicology, drug screening, disease models and regenerative medicine. In particular, we are interested in applying our technology to develop predictive in vitro drug testing and renal toxicity models as alternatives to animal testing." The scientists said that the kidney is a major target organ

for drug-induced toxic effects. Therefore, it is important for pharmaceutical companies to find out early in the development phase whether their drugs would cause nephrotoxicity in humans. However, animal models are of limited predictability, and there is currently no regulatory accepted in vitro assay based on renal cells to predict nephrotoxic effects, reports Science Daily. IANS

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

Entertainment GEARING UP FOR RELEASE

CINE BYTES

I took a big risk with Greekuveerudu:

NAGARJUNA “I

t took me a long time to get out of the character I played in Shirdi Sai and soon after that I danced for a song like Sakkubai in Damarukam. I knew that doing a film like Greekuveerudu was a big risk after films like Shirdi Sai, but it’s more of a family entertainer. I won’t do films where I have to run around trees along with the heroines anymore, but I’m game for more matured love stories like Greekuveerudu,” Nagarjuna said. He was speaking soon after unveiling the first teaser of the film. Ever since the first look appeared online, social media has been abuzz with discussion about Nagarjuna’s new look in the film. “The other day, my son, Akhil called me from the US and told me that his friends have been asking him if he was aping his father’s style. They were all the more keen to know how I look so young. That made me smile,” Nagarjuna recalled. Directed by Dasarath, the film also stars Nayanthara, Brahmanandam and MS Narayana in key roles. “I have played the role of an event manager who comes to India for the first time and the story is about how his life changes after this visit. Dasarath has done a fantastic job. Greekuveerudu is going to be a good entertainer. Initially, I was afraid that people might think it’s an action film when our team came up with this title, but then Dasarath and producer Sivaprasad Reddy convinced me that it was an apt title. I still don’t know what Greekuveerudu means,” Nagarjuna said on a lighter note. The film’s shooting has been wrapped up and it’s gearing up for release on April 19. Thaman has scored the music.

Srihari joins Zanjeer’s cast

rihari is the latest actor to join the cast of the Telugu version of Zanjeer. Ram Charan and Priyanka Chopra are playing the lead roles in the film. Initially, Sonu Sood was roped in to play an important role in the film; however, he recently suffered a major injury. Now, Srihari has replaced Sonu Sood in the film.

Manchu Manoj signs five films

anchu Manoj, who was last seen in Uu Kodathara Ullikki Padathara, is gearing up for an extremely busy year ahead. “Well :-) I'm not doin Sai Ratna creations movie.. Aprt frm tht i signed 5 projects for 2013:) wil try my bst to ﬁnish thm up by this dec:) (sic),” he posted on twitter.

Special 26 to be remade in Telugu

kshay Kumar, Kajal Aggarwal starrer Special 26 is all set to be remade in Telugu and Tamil. The remake rights have been reportedly bought by Lingusamy’s production house Thirupathi Brothers and the cast and crew will be announced soon. Directed by Neeraj Pandey, Special 26 went on to become a critical and commercial success post its release earlier this month.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

fashion

ANNE HATHAWAY APOLOGISES FOR OSCAR DRESS SWAP

ANNE HATHAWAY has explained why she opted to wear Prada over her expected choice of Valentino on this year's Oscars red carpet — because another attendee was set to wear a very similar gown.

Young’s

opening act, a roaring

success

aris fashion week kicked off with a bold, “masculine” collection for women in neutral colours by experimental South Korean designer Moon Young Hee. With Paris playing host to close on 90 ready-towear collections and presentations over nine days, the Paris-based designer was among the first on show, sending out an eye-

catching autumn/winter 2013/14 collection of voluminous trousers, rufflecovered tops and floorlength skirts. A master of layering, known for her fluid, feminine designs, she limited herself to a restrained palette of black, white, grey and ecru. Speaking after the show through a translator, she said that her collection aimed to combine her trade-

mark style with a more “masculine” silhouette. Elsewhere, vibrant reds and blues dominated at the Ground Zero show. Trousers, jackets, skirts and mini-dresses came in prints that were almost hallucinogenic, teamed with bright red or blue trousers or ribbed ecru sweaters. Le Moine Tricote stuck to a sombre palette of black and beige with dashes of

orange for its winter collection. Long knitted tops edged with frills were teamed with short skirts. Other looks included full skirts with a lace effect and streamlined two-tone dresses. Cedric Charlier, meanwhile, was just one of three Belgian designers — along with Veronique Branquinho and Anthony Vaccarello — with shows on the first day.

22&23

JENNIFER LAWRENCE’S LAST-MINUTE OSCAR DRESS FITTING

JENNIFER LAWRENCE's Dior Couture Oscars gown wasn't the result of hours of fittings: the Best Actress winner simply tried on the dress the morning of the ceremony — and was relieved to discover that it was the right size.

Known for her fluid, feminine designs, South Korean designer Moon Young Hee was the first to showcase her creations at Paris Fashion Week.

The talented trio are the latest in a string of Belgians who have found success in Paris including Dries Van Noten and Dior’s Raf Simons. Asked to explain the success of his compatriots, Charlier told AFP this week that Belgium was a country full of surprises. “It’s such a small country. One had the impression that there is nothing there, that we must create every-

thing... That pushes one to be imaginative,” he said. “There’s a freedom of expression there that you don’t find in Paris... where the past influence of couture is always felt. In Belgium, everyone finds their own way,” he added. Big-name customers include US reality television star Kim Kardashian who was pictured in one of his dresses on Monday. High-necked ruffle col-

lars and multi-fabric combinations gave Charlier’s collection a luxurious feel, with ensembles in shades of blue interspersed with others in cheeringly unwintery pinks, yellows and greens. The highlight of the week is expected to be New York star Alexander Wang’s first show on Thursday for Balenciaga, the illustrious avant-garde fashion house founded in

1919 and now one of the jewels in the crown of the PPR luxury group. Wang, one of the hottest names in US fashion whose own label is thriving with over 200 stateside outlets, was announced last December as the replacement for Nicolas Ghesquiere whose surprise departure came after 15 years with the French fashion house. AFP

Entertainment THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

Chai Time

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

My life has been one great big joke, a dance that's walked a song that's spoke, I laugh so hard I almost choke when I think about myself. Maya Angelou, Poet.

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 Sandler of comedy 5 Furtive “Hey, you!” 9 “Ballet Rehearsal” artist Edgar 14 Start again from scratch 15 Destructive Sicilian peak 16 Respond to the alarm clock 17 Some party nights 18 Time for a Wild West shootout 19 From dusk ‘til dawn 20 Personal trainer’s slogan 23 Bit of high jinks 24 Lyric form 25 Place to unwind 28 Neighbor of Sudan 30 Easily donned item 32 They grow when fertilized 35 Musical melodrama, often 38 It may come before we forget 39 Exactly 43 Offed, in the biblical sense 44 Stereo knob that balances volume 45 Susan the TV Partridge 46 Nonetheless 49 Molders away 51 Blue Jays, on a scoreboard 52 Spasm of pain 55 Oprah’s production company 59 Sales pitch for a cleaning product 61 Common sense 64 Japanese restaurant soup 65 Work without ___ (have no safety backup) 66 Crude cabin 67 Happy-hour choice 68 Lecherous man 69 Bashful companion? 70 ___ 51 (secretive site) 71 Front end of China?

DOWN

1 Sports facility 2 Cornwall neighbor

3 Well-suited to the task 4 Art made from bits and pieces 5 William with a state named after him 6 More than hard-of-hearing 7 Buttinsky 8 Suggestive dance 9 Man in the lion’s den 10 Home to Blarney Castle 11 Job for a musician 12 Volcano plume 13 What the band’s gonna play 21 Blood of the Greek gods 22 Commercial bits 25 Puma’s attribute 26 Oater search squad 27 Fidgety 29 Gibraltar beast 31 Word with “equipped” or “mannered” 32 Initial phase 33 Swedish car company 34 One of three spellings for an Islamic ruler 36 Genetic info carrier 37 Who’s got mail 40 Boast possession of 41 Kind of romanticism 42 Prefix with “pedic” 47 Build like a bulldog 48 It represents the resistance 50 African expedition, e.g. 53 Dance of Cuban origin 54 Wicker source 56 Oft-discouraged sentence 57 False front? 58 Prefix meaning “bone” 59 Not mean 60 Prolific romance writer Roberts 61 Hallucinogen, for short 62 Outburst of surprise 63 Word with “generation” or “gender”

Chai Time THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013 Thiruvaikumar

STAR POWER for 1-3-2013

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

ARIES

TAURUS

GEMINI

CANCER

LEO

VIRGO

LIBRA

SCORPIO

SAGITTARIUS

CAPRICORN

AQUARIUS

PISCES

Govt. officials will be of great help. Expected transfer and promotion are on the cards for employees. Colleagues too will be very much co-operative with them. Businessmen will win over the competitors and gain upper hand.

STRIP TEASE AGNES

You will spend good time with family and children which make them cheerful. Relationship with blood relatives is cordial. Practice yoga and meditation to drive away the tensions and confusions you face.

Journey undertaken will be successful and purpose will be met. Employees will get appreciation from superiors as they work hard and complete their duties in time. Demands put forward by them also will be accepted by the management.

Politicians are advised to keep away from the internal controversies within the party. Businessmen are advised to keep their records updated or else there are chances of getting penalized by the departments concerned.

Blood relatives will help you in performing good events that are to take place at home. Increased workload is likely for the employees but they will also be rewarded suitably. Businessmen will get new customers.

Employees will manage the problems faced in a wise manner. Deficit financial flow is most likely as expected payments might get delayed. Transfer on cards for employees of their choice and hence they will feel cheerful.

Parents will support and extend their wholehearted help to you. Avoid handing over important works to colleagues which if executed by you will yield the best results. Those planning to shift are advised to postpone it.

Financial position will be satisfactory. You will take part in religious and temple renovation activities. Employees will be under pressure as superiors will put them on their toes. Businessmen will get good support from their staff.

Chance of theft or losses is likely; need to be careful and protect your household items and movable assets with foolproof methods. Family members will co-operate well with you. Employees are likely to get promotion.

TAROT READ

Sumaa Tekur

tarotreadhyd@gmail. com

ARIES:

GEMINI:

The Moon – Logic and reason may not work as well as intuition and insight. Trust your gut feel; live in the moment, and believe it’ll all be fine.

LEO:

Seven of Swords – You’re feeling tired and need to get away. It’s like you’re on the treadmill nonstop. Switch off the BlackBerry and go away for the weekend.

LIBRA:

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE

Nine of Pentacles – You’ve created a comfort zone for yourself with the things that matter most to you. You’re unwilling to trade-off this comfort for anything.

SAGITTARIUS:

Justice – Blame no one if you’re feeling left out and wish you could share more – with colleagues or friends. You’re not the best at group work these days.

TAURUS:

The Chariot – If you’ve been feeling stuck in a situation it won’t be so for long. Things are about to move forward in a positive way and bring many changes.

CANCER:

Queen of Pentacles – Those around you are seeking advice on the best course of action. You’re not impulsive and that quality is appreciated.

VIRGO:

Three of Pentacles – Your skill and training are important and will determine the quality of your work and also the kind of job offers you get.

SCORPIO:

Judgement – You’re at a crossroads and decisions need to be made. Consider the longterm impact of seemingly minor moves at this point.

CAPRICORN:

The World – You need to conquer your fear and the world will be at your feet. Your own apprehensions are stopping you from going ahead with confidence.

PREVIOUS SOLUTIONS

PISCES:

Five of Cups – There’s too much confusion and you need space and time to let it all settle down. You don’t have the full picture. So don’t jump to conclusions.

NUMBER GAME

– Your intuition is taking you places. You don’t know how, but the ideas are just popping up and you’re doing a swell job of making them work.

SCRABBLE

AQUARIUS: The Magician

POOCH CAFE

Employees might be overburdened but and transfer to a not so favorable destination is likely. But keep your cool and be cordial with colleagues and superiors. Businessmen can expect a good jump in the profits.

for 1-3-2013

Six of Cups – You’re missing home (the things that remind you of your childhood). You get nostalgic and want to get out of this situation.

NON SEQUITUR

You will get due share of the ancestral property without much efforts. Blood relatives will be more affectionate towards you and support you very much. Employees will be entrusted with new responsibilities.

SUDUKO

Avoid unwanted apprehensions that are worrying you a lot. You need to be cheerful as you will a good support from parents. Self confidence level will increase with which you will be able to cope up with the situation. Health will be fine.

Boggle LIME PEAR PEACH APPLE MANGO Vol: 2, No 223 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 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

NEW YET FAMILIAR

CINE BYTES

Headed in the right DIRECTION

SUNORY DUTT feedback@postnoon.com

hile his father, eminent astronaut Rakesh Sharma was conquering the final frontier in the early ‘80s, Kapil Sharma, an impressionable kid back then, was exploring his own little universe from different angles: “I started shooting still photography at an early age with my dad’s point and shoot Kodak Brownie. I guess that's where my interest in image-making really began.” What followed was a love for theatre, a Masters in Communication, a professional certificate in filmmaking from the prestigious Maine Media College, Rockport; working in a number of films, documentaries, and now his directorial debut — I, Me Aur Main. What is it about this medium that makes it saare jahan se achha for Kapil ? “It’s the fantasy, imagination, leaps of faith — the ability to transport viewers to different time zones, experiences and places. While the beauty of documentaries lies in its unplanned spontaneity that keeps you on your toes, with films you’re trying to create an elevated magical quality of experiences.” And this heightened perception is what he explores in I, Me aur Main— a youth-centric film on the complication of relationships (starring John Abraham, Chitrangda Singh, Prachi Desai) set in a new urban scale fastchanging India. “We’re trying to do stories that are bit centric. Blockbusters tend to stick to fairly straightforward superficial stories that try to straddle a bit of everything to cater to a larger audience. But with I, Me aur Main we’re trying to tell a nuanced urban-centric story with a bit more drama and entertainment that reflects what it’s like living in a big city today,” shares Kapil. Having worked in both Hollywood (The Darjeeling Limited, Outsourced, The Fall) and Bollywood (Teen Patti, Ghajini, Drona) films, Kapil is part of an Indian crew who work on hybrid Indian setups for visiting Hollywood film directors and Bollywood films as well, working along a more process-driven way of things which they hope is a little more ‘organised’. He says that while

With Kapil Sharma’s directorial debut I Me aur Main releasing this Friday, he talks about his journey and the art of filmmaking.

the experiences with Hollywood films are always great fun, and with a lot of variety, the key difference lies in the kind of filmmaking. “The craft is the same but our grammar of storytelling is a little bit different from that of the West,” he adds. “The bigger budget independent films are usually more fun to work on because it’s extremely quick, and has a smaller crew. There’s an intimacy about the making of it, and a certain magic in a group of people coming together to tell a particular story that they’re all committed to telling. Of course when that becomes bigger and larger it tends to get more impersonal, the stakes are much higher, the scrutiny levels are more insane, and the personal connect tends to get lost or diluted.” While the onus of his directorial debut looms large, Kapil reminisces, “It’s been a thrilling journey of making the film with a cast and crew who’ve been extremely supportive and trusting. At the same time having worked so much on films, what’s been fantastic is the familiarity one has on the film set. So it’s been a unique combination of incredibly new, yet familiar.”

Riteish to work with Mohit Suri?

uzz was that Siddharth Malhotra was the lead in Mohit Suri's Villain. However the hunt for actor for the villain's role was still on then. Now the buzz is that Riteish Deshmukh would be seen playing the title role of the villain in this film. If that happens, it would indeed be a rather unusual, having Riteish play a negative role. Riteish's manager confirmed that the actor has been approached for the film and things are being discussed.

More stage shows for Hrithik

ollywood actor Hrithik Roshan, who is undoubtedly the best dancer that the ﬁlm fraternity boasts off, took the audience by surprise by setting the stage on ﬁre with his performance at a recently held award function. The actor, who returned back to stage after a hiatus of six-longyears, has been reportedly approached for two stage shows for this year.

Ram Kapoor sets new trend on television

am Kapoor took a bold step when he decided to lock lips with co-star Sakshi Tanwar for a sequence in Bade Achhe Lagte Hai and surprised everyone. The actor is happy with his decision and says he will be known as a trendsetter. Ram had already set a trend when he appeared in the romantic drama as the lead despite being overweight and with grey hair.

sports

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

WORLD TITLE

Lamont Peterson looks to reclaim lost crown JIM SLATER Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON: Lamont Peterson (right) wants a chance to reclaim the world title that was stripped from him after a positive doping test, but first he probably will have to fight South American standout Lucas Matthysse. And the co-feature on what is likely to be a May 18 boxing card in Atlantic City will also include Britain’s unbeaten Kell Brook finally having his first world title bout, a twicedelayed showdown with US southpaw Devon Alexander. Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions has said he wants those fights on a May 18 card after Alexander and Brook were postponed from earlier this month due to a biceps strain suffered by Alexander. Alexander, 24-1 with 13 knockouts, would defend his IBF welterweight title against Brook, 29-0 with 19 knockouts. It would be the Englishman’s first world title fight and only his second fight outside Britain. Peterson, who signed with Golden Boy earlier this year, is hopeful he can eventually land a chance against another Golden Boy boxer, Danny Garcia. Peterson beat England’s Amir Khan in December 2011 to

Jayaram enters pre-quarters

NEW DELHI: Indian shuttler Ajay Jayram (above) stormed into the pre-quarterfinals of the men’s singles event of the German Open badminton championship after notching up a straight game win over Riichi Takeshita of Japan in Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany today. World number 32 and seeded 10th in the tournament, Jayram prevailed over his Japanese rival Takeshita 21-17 21-16 in 37 minutes to set up a clash against eighth seed Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia in the next round. PTI

win the World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation light-welterweight titles only to test positive for synthetic testosterone ahead of a planned rematch. The WBA returned its title to Khan, who then lost it to American Garcia, while the IBF granted an appeal from Peterson, saying his low testosterone treatments gave him no unfair advantage, and kept him as the champion. Peterson defended the crown last weekend, stopping Kendall Holt in the eighth round to end a 14-month layoff

and improve to 31-1-1 with 16 knockouts. His once-dismal prospects have suddenly brightened. “I’m happy and looking forward to the future,” Peterson said. “Hopefully we can get the guys we want to fight -- Danny Garcia, Lucas Matthysse or a rematch with Khan. I’m anxious to see what the future holds. “I would like to fight Danny Garcia. I still think I’m the WBA champion and he has still got that belt. I want to get that fight to show who the real champion is. “I’ll fight whoever at this point. I want the best fights we can make. Whoever wants to fight me, I want to fight them.” Garcia will defend the WBA and World Boxing Council crowns against Zab Judah on April 27, three weeks before Argentina’s Matthysse and Peterson would meet. A unification matchup of the winners later in the year could be a top draw. “I’m all about fighting the top fighters out there and Matthysse is one of the top fighters out there,” Peterson said. “And that’s enough time for me to recover and get ready. “I don’t think he’s going to pose any problem for me. If I fight Matthysse it will give me a chance to do all the boxing and banging I want.” AFP

LEAGUE CRICKET VST lose to HMWS&SB ‘A’ institution one day VST 74 (Shyam Sundar 4/24, Yousuf 4/31) lost to HMWS&SB 75 for no loss (Ravinder Reddy 42 n.o.) FCI 92 (Arvind K Shah 41, Manga Rao 3/20, Chaitanya 5/22 lost to APSEB 96/9 (B Balraj 30 n.o., Md Rasheed 35, Harsh Kumar 6/21) Kishan Prasad HCA knock out Southern Stars 238/6 (Krishnamurthy 111, Azhar Khan 66, Chaitanya 3/20) bt CK Blues 108 (Mohammed Ahmed 6/22, Irfan 3/15) WMCC 199/4 (Srinivas Rao 79, Kashap 47) lost to Kishore Sons 200/6 (Rahul 48, Sanjay 46) Vijay Bharath 219/7 (Sailesh 31, Nadeem 45, Saleem 37 n.o., Shakir 3/26) lost to Agarwal Seniors 221/9 (Ghouse Juned 31, Syed Shakir 30 n.o., Abood 79, Noor 3/25) Elegant 194/9 (Manohar 59,

Kundan 35, Luvien 32 n.o., BH Raj 5/29) lost to Lal Bahadur 195/5 (Gaffar Khan 45, Dinesh 42 n.o., Jai 3/36) Starlets 234/6 (CH Manohar 61, Srujan 30, Srikanth Sagar 84) bt XI Masters 125/8 (Chandrakanth 30, CH Manohar 4/20) Amberpet 202 (Salam 32, Ramakrishna 43, S Srinivasulu 36, Chaitanya 4/35) bt Yadav Dairy 144/7 (Srinath 30 n.o.) Time 230/8 (Kapil Kumar 31, Sanjeev 31, Rohan Barancha 53, Raghu Ram Reddy 38 n.o., Sailesh 3/46, Vishal 3/50) bt Eklavya 56 (Rohan Barancha 3/13, Raghu Ram Reddy 3/4) Col Kumar Acrylic 305/6 (Md Kaleemuddin 130, Syed Azhar Alam 34, Aftab Mehdi Ali 36 n.o., Mohd Bilal Ahmed 32 n.o.) bt St Patricks 128 (C Sai Sandeep 71, Mohd Yousuf 3/30, Mohd Bilal Ahmed 5/14).

Football tourney from Friday The NGO, Make a Difference (MAD) is organizing a football tournament — ‘Resistente Torneo’ from March 1 to 3 at the Gymkhana grounds in partnership with Radio City 92.7 Big FM. It will be a 7-a-side (+3) knockout tournament in accordance with the Futsal rules. The best team shall be awarded a cash prize, gift coupons and vouchers. The event is targeted at college students, corporate, local clubs and youth. It is aimed at raising funds for the kids attending MAD across all the 8 centres in the Twin cities.

FNCC TENNIS COURT INAUGURATION

Ace Tennis star Sania Mirza plays a shot during the inauguration of the synthetic tennis courts for the members of the Film Nagar Cultural Club (FNCC), in the city, on Wednesday.

Make a Difference is a youth driven organization that aims at providing quality education to under privileged children in street shelters, orphanages, and poor homes. Targeting a reduction in dropout rates in schools, MAD works towards bridging the inequality divide through education. India’s largest youth teacher network and the fastest growing organization in the country today. MAD deploys 1300 trained and motivated young teachers every week to teach 3500 children in 19 Indian cities.

Snooker event from March 7

LAHORE: The Pakistan government gave clearance to its national snooker and billiards fedeartion for organizing a bilateral snooker series against arch-rivals India in Karachi from March 7-10. “It is a big breakthrough for sports and snooker because this bilateral series means we will also have Indian participation in the Asian Championship which follows in April,” PBSA President, Alamgir Sheikh said. He said that it would be after nearly seven years that a Indian team will visit Pakistan for a bilateral snooker series. “The last time I can recall that an Indian contingent came in 2005 and played a bilateral snooker series but since then we had not got clearance,” he added. He said relations were also badly affected from the Indian side after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. “Pakistan and India have always been close in snooker and we have got a lot of support from them.” PTI

sports

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

AUGUSTA MASTERS

Bubba laughs off miracle shot It was a wonder shot that got him to his first major, but Bubba said he'd try avoiding a repeat at this year's Masters that helped him win at Augusta. WASHINGTON: It was the wonder shot that propelled him to his first major, but Bubba Watson (in pic) said Wednesday he'd try and avoid a repeat at this year's Masters of the astonishing lob that helped him win at Augusta. "Hopefully I hit the fairway from now on so I don't need to practice that shot anymore," he said of the high hook he hit from the pine straw at the Georgia club's 10th hole, the second hole in a victorious sudden-death playoff. Watson's ball sailed through a gap in the trees and onto the green, rolling to a stop 10 feet from the hole, and helped him defeat South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen minutes later.

The memory was alive in the big-hitting player's comments in a conference call to promote his defense of The Masters at Augusta National, golf's first major championship of the year, scheduled for April 11-14. Watson, 34, said it might not even have been the most difficult shot he hit that week, recalling a shot from ground trampled down by the gallery at the 17th in the final round of regulation play among several others. "Obviously the playoff shot was the most important and the most exciting, but the other ones were difficult, just nobody cared what Bubba Watson was doing those other days or other

HONDA CLASSIC

SNIPPETS

After Tiger test, Rory to defend title PALM BEACH GARDENS: Rory McIlroy (below), fresh off a private one-on-one matchplay showdown with Tiger Woods, starts defending the Honda Classic title on Thursday, a win that first put him atop the rankings. Northern Ireland's McIlroy held off a closing charge by Woods last year to claim the $6 million US PGA

shots," he said. Now that the shot has its place in championship golf history, Watson seemed happy to let its legend grow. "I want that to live," he said. "That might be my only

Tour event, which launched him to World No. 1 for the first time. After falling behind England's Luke Donald, McIlroy took possession of the top ranking with a victory at the PGA Championship last August and has been World No. 1 ever since. McIlroy has had a disappointing start to the 2013 season, missing the cut in his January debut in Abu Dhabi and losing in the first round at last week's World Golf Championships Match Play Championship. World No. 2 Woods also lost in his WGC opener, prompting golf's most popular stars to book a private date last Sunday at Medalist, a nearby course where Woods is a member. "We were kind of hoping it wouldn't be that Sunday, but we were both free," Woods said. Woods won the first 18-hole match and McIlroy took the second in what he described as "speed golf" on a course he had never played before. AFP

Fraser calls for life ban on sleeping pill users SYDNEY: Veteran swimming star Dawn Fraser on Thursday urged a lifelong competition ban for members of the London Olympics 4x100 relay team who last week admitted taking prohibited sleeping pills. The much-vaunted Australian relay side, who talked themselves up as the "Weapons of Mass Destruction" but failed to make a podium finish, confessed to taking Stilnox â&#x20AC;&#x201D; banned by Australian team officials â&#x20AC;&#x201D; for a "bonding" night. Five of the six team members called a media conference last week to come clean on using the pills as part of a team-building night at their training camp ahead of the Games that descended into pranks.

legacy of winning the Masters, so I want that shot to live, and I want it to grow, and hopefully 20 years from now it's even tougher and there was bigger trees and was a tougher situation." AFP

Rain washes out play DELRAY BEACH, FLORIDA: Rain prevented completion of any matches Wednesday at the $455,775 ATP Delray Beach International tennis championships. Second-round matches now scheduled for Thursday include top seed John Isner against Japan's Go Soeda. America's Isner hammered 28 aces in a three-set first-round victory over Jesse Levine on Tuesday night. Defending champ Kevin Anderson of South Africa, the sixth seed, is scheduled to take on Taiwan's Lu Yen Hsun on Thursday night. The only singles match to make it on court Wednesday featured Xavier Malisse against Daniel Munoz, but they were unable to make it through the first set before showers took over. AFP

DUBAI OPEN

Djoker, Fedex close in on showdown

Knicks lose Wallace for two months to broken foot NEW YORK: New York Knicks forward Rasheed Wallace will need surgery to repair a broken left foot and doctors expect him to miss the next eight weeks of the NBA season, the team announced on Wednesday. Wallace, a 38-year-old big man who came out of retirement to join the Knicks this season, has not played since December 13 and figures to miss the remainder of the regular season and start of the NBA playoffs due to the recent fracture. In 20 games, Wallace averaged 7.2 points and 4.2 rebounds for the Knicks. The four-time NBA AllStar won an NBA title with Detroit in 2004. AFP

DELRAY BEACH

DUBAI: Novak Djokovic (above), the world number one, and Roger Federer, the defending champion, moved nearer to a showdown in Saturday's final when both raced into the quarter-finals of the Dubai Open. Federer set the pace by getting there in only 71 minutes against Marcel Granollers, the world number 34 from Spain, with Djokovic taking just 90 minutes to get past another Spaniard, Roberto BautistaAgut, the world number 55. Djokovic applied constant pressure with his speedy court coverage and the weight and angles of his ground strokes, and might have won in under an hour had he not lapsed

briefly in the second set, letting Bautista Agut back into it. This enabled the man nicknamed "Bati" to launch some hard blows, come from 2-5 down, and save four match points in a 24-point ninth game before going down 6-1, 7-6 (7/4). Federer mixed phases where he appeared to be coasting, with moments when he suddenly switched two gears to deliver stunning winners, in a 6-3, 6-4 success. He was also tactically unpredictable. Encouraged by the fast court and perhaps by his opponent's frequent charges into the forecourt, Federer came to the net more often than usual. But he was curiously unclear about why he did not attempt this more often. "It's something I have been trying my whole life, to be more aggressive," he said. "I would like to serve-volley more - but I'm winning, so it's okay. "I don't know why I don't do it more. Perhaps because courts around the world are on the slower side, and you come to the quicker courts like this and you don't dare. It's a habit." Later he explained it as an outcome of his bright new pink shoes, about which he was questioned. AFP

sports

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

2024 OLYMPICS

MCC for T20 at Games

LONDON: MCC’s world cricket committee has said it would like to see T20s included at the 2024 Games to boost take-up of the game around the world. Cricket is on the first rung for inclusion at a future Games, having received full Olympic recognition in 2010, but would still have to apply to be on the programme. Now the earliest the ICC can apply for the sport to feature at an Olympic Games is 2024. But following a two-day meeting, the MCC world cricket committee said that any financial losses the game might suffer from the sport being included at an Olympics would be outweighed by extra exposure. “The MCC world cricket committee appreciates that a great deal of effort may be needed to lobby for the inclusion of cricket in the Olympic Games of 2024,” it said in a state-

FUTURE OF CRICKET

Greg excited about India

Former Team India coach Greg Chappell said he was excited about the future of Indian cricket but worried about the future of Test matches. KOLKATA: Former Team India coach Greg Chappell said he was excited about the future of Indian cricket but worried about the future of Test matches. “I think the future of Indian cricket is very strong. I am excited to think where Indian cricket can go and can lead the game,” Chappell said while delivering the annual Tiger Pataudi lecture. However, one thing which worries the former Aussie skipper though is the future of Test cricket in the age of Twenty20’s. Chappell said it would be a big mistake and detrimental to the future of cricket if the longer version of the game lost its importance. Remarking that Test matches are the soul of cricket, Chappell said,”If we allow Tests to lose, cricket will lose its soul. Cricket will be poorer.” “T20 has taken the game to a different level. It is here to stay, no doubt about that. We don’t

need to change that,” he said while stressing that Test cricket needs to be protected in such a scenario. Explaining the importance of Tests, he said the five-day game threw up challenges which test

ENGLAND IN NEW ZEALAND Bell chimes for England QUEENSTOWN, NEW ZEALAND: An unbeaten century from Ian Bell (in pic) anchored England’s innings against a New Zealand XI Wednesday, as rookie paceman Jimmy Neesham made short work of the tourists’ top order including Kevin Pietersen. England were seven for 357 at stumps on the opening day of the four-day warm-up for next month’s Test series, with Bell on 127 not out and Stuart Broad unbeaten on six. Pietersen was rested in the recent one-day and Twenty20 series against the Black Caps. He did not last long in his first hit-out since arriving in New Zealand, dismissed for 14 after just 35 minutes at the crease. Neesham claimed the prized scalp, also dismissing Nick Compton (21) and Jonathan Trott (1) before lunch to leave England teetering at 3-81. Alastair Cook and Bell steadied the innings before the England captain departed on 60, with Joe Root (49) and Matt Prior (41) both making starts as Bell resolutely held up the other end.

the patience of cricketers and make them learn how to deal with the good and the bad together. Talking about the future of Indian cricket, he said if Indian players could perform well

under different conditions, then nothing could stop the team. Stating that challenges change not only with different pitches but with the progress of a Test, Chappell said,”That is where you develop players who can play all over the world. I think once your cricket embraces this, there will be no stopping what Indian cricket can achieve.” The former Aussie skipper said Indian cricket should have the best side in the world as it has the natural advantage of huge population. “The reason why it has not happened is the plans have not been put in place,” Chappell said. “It (India) should be the next cricket super-power. It should dominate cricket in the longterm. For that, changes are needed but not ad-hoc strategies,” he said adding that India should win more matches away from home. AFP

REDEMPTION TIME

Australian players during a practice session at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Uppal today. M ANIL KUMAR Australia take on India in the second Test, in Hyderabad from March 2-6.

PAKISTAN’S TOUR OF SOUTH AFARICA

T20s: Pakistan’s chance to fight back

DURBAN: Pakistan have a chance to hit back after a trouncing in the Test series when they meet South Africa in the first of two Twenty20 internationals at Kingsmead on Friday. The tourists were outclassed in the Tests, losing all match-

es, but can be reasonably optimistic about their prospects in the shorter forms of the game with the T20 games followed by five one-day internationals. Only five of South Africa’s current Test players are in the T20 squad — Faf du Plessis,

who has been appointed captain in the shortest format, AB de Villiers, Robin Peterson, Rory Kleinveldt and fast bowling discovery Kyle Abbott. The change of emphasis in South Africa’s approach is underlined by the fact that

national coach Gary Kirsten handed the T20 reins to Russell Domingo, his assistant coach, before a three-match series against New Zealand earlier in the season. South Africa won that series 2-1. Pakistan will be boosted by

the inclusion of the experienced duo of Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik. Mohammad Hafeez takes over as T20 captain, although Test skipper Misbah-ul-Haq will resume the leadership for the ODIs. AFP

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

sports

LENNON SLAMS CELTIC STARS AS 'LAZY'

Celtic manager Neil Lennon labelled his players lazy after the runaway league leaders fell to their first Scottish Premier League defeat of 2013. The Hoops went down to a shock 2-1 at the hands of Motherwell that moved the Fir Park side up to second place in the table.

SPANISH CUP

Atletico in an all-Madrid final Atletico killed the tie off in the opening half hour as fine goals from Diego Costa and Radamel Falcao left Sevilla needing four without reply to go through. MADRID: Atletico Madrid will play Real Madrid in the final of the Spanish Cup after a 2-2 with Sevilla at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan saw them progress 4-3 on aggregate. The visitors killed the tie off in the opening half hour as fine goals from Diego Costa and Radamel Falcao (left) left Sevilla needing four without reply to go through.

FA CUP

Rafa snaps! Says he’s leaving

Chelsea manager Benitez has been targeted by sections of the club’s support ever since he was appointed as successor to Roberto Di Matteo.

LONDON: Chelsea interim manager Rafael Benitez’s (above) patience with the club’s fans finally snapped on Wednesday as he confirmed his intention to leave the club at the end of the season. Chelsea beat Middlesbrough 2-0 on Wednesday to reach the FA Cup

quarter-finals and they are also in the last 16 of the Europa League, but they have slipped to fourth place in the Premier League. Benitez was only appointed on a temporary basis but he confirmed in an angry press conference that the abuse he has received from some of Chelsea’s fans had prompted him to abandon his ambition to coach the team on a permanent basis. “I have been in charge in football for 26 years,” he said after the victory at Middlesbrough. “A group of fans, they are not doing any favours for the team when they are singing and wasting time preparing banners.”

GERMAN CUP

Bayern beat Dortmund RYLAND JAMES Agence France-Presse MUNICH: Bayern Munich ended their three-year wait for a competitive win over Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday as Arjen Robben’s first-half strike sealed a 1-0 German Cup quarter-final victory. February 2010 had been the occasion of Bayern’s last league or cup win over Dortmund — a six-game stretch — but Robben’s thunderbolt two minutes before the break at the Allianz Arena was enough to put Munich in the last four.

A pre-season Supercup final win in Munich last August had been Bayern’s only source of comfort against Borussia recently.

German Cup results VfB Stuttgart 2 beat VfL Bochum 0 Bayern Munich 1 beat Borussia Dortmund 0 Mainz 2 lost to Freiburg 3 Kickers Offenbach 1 lost to VfL Wolfsburg 2

Unai Emery’s men though did manage to get back on level terms on the evening as Jesus Navas curled in a wonderful shot off the inside of the post six minutes before half-time and Ivan Rakitic added a consolation with a low shot into the far corner in stoppage time. However, the hosts also ended with nine men as Gary Medel and

Geoffrey Kondogbia saw red cards for late challenges on Costa. It will be the fifth time that both sides from the capital will meet in the cup final and despite Atletico currently leading Real by four points in the league, it will be Los Blancos who start as strong favourites as they haven’t lost a derby since 1999.