Postnoon E-Paper for 08 April 2012 by Scribble Media & Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.

THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY

THE COTSWOLD CHEF

visit to Zagreb, the capital city of Croatia defies description. It’s a tourist’s delight, a visitor’s dream destination and most of all, a foodie’s paradise!

‘Y

ou eat better, you do better’ is British celebrity chef Rob Rees’s mantra. Ten minutes into the conversation, he has us pretty convinced.

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APRIL 8, 2012 HYDERABAD

WAKE UP BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE

PG 5

his is no doomsday prediction, just cold facts. Postnoon encapsulates for its readers the crux of the State of the World– 2012 report recently released. 32 PAGES

ON SUNDAY

BLACK SUNDAY

Group clashes erupted in the Madanapet-Kurmaguda area this morning resulting in injury to six people, including one woman. One of them suffered stab wounds. Rampaging mobs damaged many SRTC buses, business establishments and houses. Police reinforcements reached the affected areas — Kurmaguda, Madanapet Mandi, Zakir Hussain Colony, Madanapet — and resorted to a lathicharge and lobbed several tear gas shells to disperse angry mobs. Madanapet police said the trouble began around 9am after hooligans threw dirt on a temple at Saidabad. Soon a group gathered and attacked passing buses. A group belonging to another community then came on to the streets to confront the first group. The situation soon degenerated and resulted in a free-for-all. Rumours spread to other areas in the Old City and shops downed shutters. A number of media photographers also had their equipment damaged in the melee.

CITY SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

BRAVING THE SUN

Goan food festival The Momo Cafe at Hyderabad Marriot and Convention Centre will host a Goan festival. Where: Hyderabad Marriott and Convention Centre, Tank Bund When: Ongoing, 12.30pm onwards Contact: (040) 2752 2999

N SHIVA KUMAR

Art and craft Oxford bookstore is all set to organise a special arts and crafts event for kids. Construction paper craft is a workshop for children age 5 and above. Where: Oxford Bookstore, The Park, Raj Bhavan Road When: April 8, 5pm onwards Contact: 91601 48444

It’s Easter Bring in Easter with loads of goodies and hampers. Head to Novotel for a special Easter brunch, spirits fun, games and egg painting for the children. Where: Novotel, Kondapur When: Ongoing, 12pm onwards Contact: (040) 6682 4422

Solo show A display of paintings by well known artist Rayees Ahmed will be held. The exhibit is being held at Indian Art Gallery B, Chitramayee State Art Gallery. Where: Chitramayee State Art Gallery, Madhapur When: Ongoing, 10.30 am onwards Contact: (040) 2311 3308

The great Sunday brunch ITC Kakatiya offers The Grand Sunday Brunch. Great food is the best way to spend your Sunday. You can choose from the brunches at Deccan Pavilion, Dakshin, Kebabs and Kurries. Where: ITC Kakatiya, Begumpet When: April 8 Contact: (040) 2340 0132

Parenting discussion On the occasion of completing 15 years of it’s inception, Gitanjali Devshala is conducting a panel discussion on good parenting with various eminent personalities such as Ms Uma Sudhir, Mr Gopichand and many more on April 11. Where: Fortune Katriya, Somajiguda When: April 11, 5.15 pm

A suitable lunch Syn at Taj Deccan is offering Syn-to-suit you lunches. Various lunch offers for various requirements from the quick 15 minute lunch to the healthy and long lunches.

CINEMAS

Where: Syn — Asian Bar and Grill, Taj Deccan, Banjara Hills, Rd No 1 When: Ongoing, 12 pm to 3.30pm Contact: (040) 6666 3939

Asian barbeque The Square, Novotel, Madhapur plays host to an Asian barbeque. Sample grilled specialities from around the world. Where: The Square, Novotel, Madhapur When: Every Saturday, 7pm onwards Contact: (040) 6682 4422

Photo exhibition Villart is hosting a photography and video exhibition from April 6- April 8. The exhibition which basically is for photography and videography aims at promoting aims to promote and educate the various selfemployed photographers that are present in AP. Where: Villart Photography, Hitech City, Madhapur When: Ongoing Contact: (040) 6663 3327

Go Splash Splash lounge is the perfect

leisure destination for you to unwind. There is also great music, martinis and aperitifs. Where: The Westin, Mindspace, Madhapur When: Monday - Friday, 5pm - 10.30pm Weekends, 8am - 10.30pm Contact: (040) 6767 6828

Easter time Godrej Nature’s Basket is offering Easter treats which include some delightful hot cross buns and marzipan cakes. Celebrate Easter with a variety of Easter eggs. Where: Nature’s Basket, Banjara Hills, Rd No10 When: Ongoing Contact: (040) 2335 5399

Being ’together’ Together, an exhibition of paintings by Shravan Kumar GK will be on display from April 6. Where: Iconart Gallery, Banjara Hills, Rd No 12 When: Ongoing Contact: 98499 6879

Play time Catch two humorous back to back plays April Fool and Miya-Biwi only

at Nift auditorium on April 8. Where: Nift, Madhapur When: April 8, 7pm onwards Contact: (040)2311 4537

Water colours Iconart is hosting Aquarelle as a part of it’s Buy Art initiative. Where: Iconart Gallery, Banjara Hills, Rd No 12 When: Ongoing, 11.30 am onwards Contact: 98499 6879

Exotic fest Lover of waffles and crepes? Deli9 is offering a crepe and waffle festival. Taste a variety of waffles such as fruit waffle and the classic waffle or a variety of exotic crepes such as caramel apple. Where: Delhi 9, Banjara Hills, Rd No 1 When: April 7 onwards, 8am to 8pm Contact: (040) 6550 6662

Art display An exhibition of artworks by various artists who have come from across the country is on display at the Deccan Art Foundation. Where: Deccan Art Foundation, Abids When: Ongoing, 11am onwards Contact: (040) 6661 4504

Big Cinemas, Ameerpet, 30581470; Cinemax, Banjara Hills, 44565555; Cine Planet , Kompally, 61606060; INOX, Banjara Hills, 44767777, Prasads, Tank Bund Rd, 23448888; PVR, Punjagutta, 8800900009; Talkie Town, Miyapur, 40214175; Tivoli, Secunderabad 27844973

CITY SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

Student attempts suicide

Class X student, S Anil, of government school in Miyapur locality attempted suicide on Thursday by cutting his throat using a blade. It is said that the boy was unhappy after his parents sent him to a hostel for studies. He was rushed to a hospital where he is undergoing treatment. Doctors said he is out of danger.

Naidu slams cop’s transfer

Cops thrash youths

DP president N Chandrababu Naidu has sought explanation from Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy for transferring ACB additional director Srinivasa Reddy who was probing the liquor syndicate case. Naidu said at a media meeting on Saturday that the shifting of an honest officer was obviously to save the liquor lobby.

ension gripped Mallepally last night after some policemen of Habeebnagar police station allegedly beat up four youths near the Zakir Hussain community hall. Two sustained injuries and that spurred a protest dharna. Situation was controlled by the timely intervention of Inspector NSVV Rao who assured the gathering that action would be taken.

Double shame!

Gender-biased crime against young wives continues to happen in the State. Absence of strict punitive action leads to repeat of these inhuman acts The sex ratio has since gone up to 933 in 2001. In contrast, the child sex ratio for the age group of 0-6 years in 2001 is 927 girls per thousand boys against 945 recorded in 1991 Census. As far as worldwide sex ratio is concerned, it is 1.01 male (s)/females as in 2006.

M ALE

CRAZY SOCIETY

Despite medical science telling them that sex is just a variation in chromosome and the male, not female, is often responsible, even urban elites carries the bias against girl child. While reputable hospitals refuse

Munni at the time of marriage

MOHD SUBHAN

mohd.s@postnoon.com

his cruelty happened not in a voodoo land but in Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur district. A young mother was beaten and kicked around by her husband and inlaws to destroy her pregnancy. The reason? She was carrying a female foetus! And, it happened to the poor woman, Munni, twice. Doctors are surprised how she survived the cruel treatment. Since it is the Speaker N Manohar’s constituency, he came to know of it and immediately asked the collector to visit her and make available all medical helps besides taking action against the husband and in-laws. Collector NV Vishnu visited the girl in hospital and her parents. After pressure mounted, Guntur SP Ravi Chandran asked the police to trace the fugitive husband and in-laws. Munni, 28, belongs to a poor family of Kurnool. She was married to Shaikh Allabaksh four years ago. They have two

ON DISCOVERING THAT MUNNI WAS CARRYING A FEMALE FOETUS, SHAIKH GOT ANGRY AND STARTED KICKING AND BEATING HER TO MAKE HER ABORT, IN-LAWS TOO JOINED. WHEN SHE FELL UNCONSCIOUS BLEEDING, HE ESCAPED. SOMEONE GOT HER ADMITTED TO A HOSPITAL.

to do prenatal test, many shady ones operate. Now, to make it easier, some also use the US-patented sex determination kit called ‘Baby Gender Mentor Home DNA Gender Testing Kit’ which does the backdoor foetus determination tests, media reports say. The kit, priced at $275 was sold online on the website www.pregnancystore.com and was popularly known as ‘Jantar Mantar’ in rural Punjab. It had a builtin-equipment for collecting and sending a finger-prick blood sample to a Massachusetts laboratory from where confidential results were sent via e-mail within 48 hours.

Munni today children, one male and one girl. She got pregnant soon after the second child and an Amil (a sorcerer) told the in-laws that she was carrying a female baby. The household did not want another girl and to confirm it, they took her to a scanning centre last week which confirmed what Amil said. Shaikh got angry and started kicking and beating her to make her abort. In-laws allegedly joined the cruel game. When she fell unconscious bleeding, Allabaksh escaped and someone got her admitted to the nearby hospital. The doctors were horrified at the condition of the woman. They went in for an emergency operation and saved her life. She is recuperating in the hospital. Munni told police this had happened once before but she had survived.

WORK

OF SCANNING CENTRES

Despite the law banning the prenatal test, scanning centres operate with impunity — for obvious reasons of corruption in khakhi. Soon after the Munni incident, and also because the Speaker had expressed his anguish, the police launched a search on the sex determination centres. Guntur SP Ravi Chandran told Postnoon that the district is found to have 267 scanning centres which do sex determination test in the garb of checking for abnormality. Most hospitals for the safe side display board saying “sex determination is illegal. It is not done in this hospital” and they precisely do that, SP said, while expressing the difficulty in taking action as the medical practioners can claim that they were checking for any deficiency of defect in the baby.

CRIME

THEY ARE DOING

Sex ratio in India has declined over the century from 972 in 1901 to 927 in 1991.

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CITY SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

Ask YSR, we’re all innocent

CHILLING OUT

The ministers and bureaucrats who received SC notices in the Jagan Mohan Reddy assets case are likely to blame it all on the then chief minister YSR Options for CM n Ask the ministers to give resig-

U SRINIVAS

nation n Ask the IAS officials to file SPL in

srinivas.u@postnoon.com

the court

he six ministers who are issued notices on Jagan Mohan Reddy assets case are learnt to have decided to plead innocent, dumping the whole blame on the late chief minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy. The issue of 26 impugned government orders issued during YSR’s chief ministership has become the bone of contention and Supreme Court has issued notices to six ministers and eight bureaucrats in the assets case.

Three of the six ministers whom Postnoon talked with expressed their innocence in the matter saying all those happened under the pressure from the CM. The legal advisor to government Jandhyala Ravishankar said that there are instances the CM of the day accessed the files directly and instructed officials to issue orders. This could happen despite the objections of the minister or secretary concerned. PCC Chief Botsa Satyanarayana said that he had in fact cautioned YS Rajasekhar Reddy over some GOs but he did not take it seriously and in the process Botsa had no option but to issue the GOs.

n Government support to both

ministers and IAS officials. n All of them shift the blame on

YSR Interestingly, home minister Sabitha Indra Reddy, one of the six recipients of the notices, too has blamed incarcerated IAS officer Srilakshmi for ‘putting pressure on YSR’ to consider some files. Sabitha has been known to be close to YSR. Ponnala Lakshmiah too has taken a stance saying, “I can show you all the details and also the GOs. I have done nothing wrong. I can explain it.” Out of the 26 GOs named by the Supreme Court the CBI is already investigating 24 GOs. Ramachandra Rao, an advocate said that the ministers can in fact say they have received oral instructions from the CM and have done it. In some cases the CM could have directly asked the officials to go ahead with the GOs even when the ministers refused. Caught between a persistent Opposition demanding the sacking of the six ministers and the need to keep his flock, Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy is in a fix whether to defend the corruption of YSR regime or disown it. It is common knowledge that Kiran had been very critical of the role of all seniors in his Cabinet and that he had even sought the Congress high command’s permission to drop them as they were causing him more discomfort and always eroded his authority. The CM has sought the legal opinion of advocate general A Sudershan Reddy on the issue.

As mercury keeps rising in the City, children cool off in the fountain at Lumbini Park to beat the heat. DEEPAK DESHPANDE

Cop’s transfer hits govt credibility Postnoon News feedback@postnoon.com

he abrupt transfer of ACB additional director K Srinivasa Reddy ahead of the Delhi visit of Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and PCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana may have been out of political compulsions but in the bargain the government has suffered bruises in its image and visage. More, it has aggravated the not-so-happy relationship between the government and the IPS-IAS officers. A screen of mistrust has sprung up between

the people’s representatives and heads of state machinery. Though the transfer of Reddy was given an aura of transfer with promotion, nobody is fooled. Masses who keep in touch with media knew pretty well that it was a move to placate a disturbed PCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana who had been carping at the aggressive move of the ACB in liquor scam case. Liquor shops selling above MRP and indulging in bribery have been alleged but the officials have established that it was true. Consequently, a public interest litigation too has been filed before the High Court that

put Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy in a spot. The others received judicial notices included Botsa Ratyanarayana and Opposition leader Chandrababu Naidu. It is also true that the chief minister had a meeting with the DGP Dinesh Reddy before he left

for Delhi and had sanctioned the transfer of Reddy. ACB chief, Bhoopathi Babu’s protest against the transfer and later his plea to retain Reddy at least till April 16, when the High Court is scheduled to hear the PIL against liquor mafia too has not been honoured. It shows how heavy the pressure has been on the CM. The CM-IAS tiff over mining scam is well known. Coming as it does after that the current CMIPS lobby stand-off puts the government in poor light. “How do we trust a politician and put our 100 percent in work?” wondered a senior offi-

cer. His query is reverberating in the power lobby. The very fact that the AICC secretary Krishnamurthy and party’s state in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad have come to Hyderabad indicate that all is not well in the State Congress politics. The Congress leadership has asked the CM and PCCI chief to sink differences but this move is seen as an expensive wage for such a truce. And, loads of good work done by the ACB too is in danger of getting trash-caned. The by elections in 18 seats will tell if the gamble has been paid off.

FOCUS SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

Wake up, before it’s too late This is no doomsday prediction, just cold facts. Postnoon encapsulates for its readers the crux of the State of the World-2012 report recently released LORENZO

The Status Quo n

Over the last 50 years, the world's middle and upper classes have more than doubled their consumption levels, and an additional 1 to 2 billion people globally aspire to join the consumer class. Humanity uses 1.5 Earths worth of ecological capacity, with much of that consumed by overdeveloped industrial countries. World population has crossed 7 billion last year. The growth is unsustainable. Corresponding extinction of species spell doom for humanity. Production method is wasteful and polluting. We live on borrowed time. It can’t continue. Human-made issues like government, politics, business divided the humanity to a debilitating degree.

So what are the solutions? PK SURENDRAN

pksurendran@gmail.com

he Rio +20 world meet in June on the need to shift to green economy will set the tone for CBD 11 to be held in Hyderabad in October. Finally, the ascetics of the Orient, particularly those of India, can exclaim to the Occident, “We told you so!” The Western development model based on the premise of economic prosperity for a happy life is undergoing a semantic change. It’s not the material bounty alone that makes a happy or fulfilling life, it is now understood. Money is a convenience, a necessity and it gives one a sense of power too but it will not guarantee you that state of mind called peace and pride, as the wise in the Oriental world had foreseen ages ago.

Cold facts World population today 7 billion plus World population in 1900 1.55 billion (Earth says nothing doing) Car population today 800 million plus (80% pollution is by motor vehicles) Hungry statistics 2 billion go to sleep on an empty stomach Slum growth 828 million Slums in 1912 20 million How many Earths required 2 Earths at this rate of procreation and lifestyle

The state of the world 2012 report from World Watch Institute is a wake-up alarm. Slumber if you must, and be doomed. The report released on Tuesday drums up two things above all: Go for green economy (for sustainable development), stop extinction of species. The report seeks a relook at the lifestyle itself. Our prevailing lifestyle, it is pointed out is wasteful and polluted. Clean energy, sustainable use of natural resources which means ‘to everybody’s need, not greed’ understanding that we have no spare earth to go for. All this is possible if nations give up selfishness for the common survival on this planet. We only have to give up wasteful comforts; the Earth will replenish its bounty. But each day is taking us far from our task. There is a tearing hurry indicated. And this paradigm shift it seeks is going to be the most talked about at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development taking place in Rio

de Janeiro, Brazil, in June. This gathering of Rio +20 offers a chance to set the course for an economic system that promotes the health of both people and ecosystems. Worldwatch President Robert Engelman has put it succinctly, "We know the state of the world and we have to change the way we live and the way we do business… perpetual economic and demographic growth aren't a finite planet. We can work with the hope that ecological stability is possible, along with a good life based on health, literacy, strong communities, and access to 'enough' rather than ever more." UN and other world leaders agree that we have made little progress since the first Earth Summit in Rio 20 years ago. It’s a folly to ignore the obvious. We can’t close our eyes in broad daylight and pretend that it is night. It is self-defeating. So where do the problems lie? It’s because, the solution begins from there.

n n n

n n

A Green Economy that works for everyone. Degrowth in overdeveloped countries. Sustainable Urban Development: Urban poverty is pervasive, some 828 million people live in slums worldwide. Sustainable Transportation: The developing world transportation is the source of (up to) 80 per cent of harmful air pollutants. Cut down on cars, make mass transport popular. Make people who pollute pay heavily. Evaluate ecosystem, account them in currency.

NATION SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

CLASSIFIEDS FABRICATION

UAV squadron on anvil

Six held with tiger skin

Flights to Uzbekistan

RAMANATHAPURAM (TN):

ERODE: Six persons were arrested

The Uchipuli naval base near here will soon commission an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle squadron. The objective of the UAV squadron was to strengthen surveillance and reconnaissance in the Gulf of Mannar, Palk strait and Palk bay, which were strategic locations, official sources said.

and a tiger skin and skeleton of a tiger cub seized near Perundurai here, forest department sources said on Sunday. The officials were on a vehicle check on the Perundurai-Kochi National Highway on Saturday when they chanced upon the gang of eight with the tiger skin. Two of them escaped.

MUMBAI: The Uzbek national

Ahead of Zardari visit, Ajmer remembers Bhutto Gaurav Sharma

A Delhi court ‘forgives’ drunk driver NEW DELHI: Observing that “forgiveness is the best punishment”, a Delhi court has waived a seven-day jail term imposed upon a road-side egg seller for driving under the influence of liquor. Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Virender Bhat let off Shakurpur resident Vijay Kumar, asking him to do community service instead in a temple for two months. “It is seen that the sentence of imprisonment sometimes hardens the first-time offender and instead of reforming him, makes him a hardened criminal,” said the court, setting aside the magisterial court order for the seven-day jail term. “While dealing with petty cases, such as the present one, wherever it is felt necessary, the principle contained in almost all the religious scripture that forgiveness is the best punishment should be invoked,” the ASJ said, releasing Kumar on probation. “Doesn’t each religion teach forgiveness and compassion? The court can take aid of the provisions contained in Section 360 CrPc in such cases by releasing the offender on probation and watch his conduct,” the judge said.

jmer: When Syed Iqbal Kaptan helps Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari perform ‘ziyarat’ (prayer) at the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, the memories of his slain wife and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who had visited the shrine in 2005, will come back to him. “There will be something amiss this time as she (Bhutto) is not there anymore. However, she will always be in our memory. We still have her memories of her coming to the shrine and offering prayers,” Kaptan told IANS. Kaptan is one of the ‘khadims’ (caretakers) at the shrine. “I still remember her when she came here in 2005 with Zardari and spent some time and offered prayers. She visited the shrine thrice and her last visit was in 2005,” Kaptan said. “She prayed for the cordial and harmonious relationship between the two countries,” said Kaptan. According to another khadim, Bhutto who was then living in exile, seemed to be longing to return to Pakistan. “I remember her saying that she wanted to return to her motherland,” the khadim, in his late 20s, told. Natik Chisti, who will assist Kaptan, expressed grief over Bhutto’s assassination Dec 27, 2007. “This shrine is the symbol of peace and harmony. Sufisim can be the bridge between the people IANS of two countries.”

Prez discusses Saeed case with Gilani, Kayani LAHORE: The issue of LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, on whose head the US has offered a bounty of $10 million, came up for discussion during the talks Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari had with Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani and Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on the eve of his India visit. Foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Interior minister Rehman Malik and Foreign secretary Jalil Abbas Jillani were also present at the meeting last night. Officials sources said the $10 million US bounty for

Saeed necessitated the meeting of the top civil and military leadership at the governor’s house here. Zardari today left for India for a day-long visit that has primarily been billed as a personal one for paying obeisance at the Sufi shrine at Ajmer, but will also see him having a luncheon meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Sources at the governor’s told PTI that the president, during the last night meeting, took the army chief and prime minister into confidence over his visit to India. PTI

Hydel’s answer to crisis

NEW DELHI: Against the backdrop of coal shortages impacting the power sector, increasing hydro power generation capacity would help in strengthening India’s energy security, says a report. Many hydro power projects are grappling with delays and cost

overruns, mainly due to geological as well as geopolitical obstacles. “Given India’s tight domestic coal supply and increasing reliance on imported coal, hydro capacity provides the country with greater energy security...,” HSBC Global Research, part of banking giant HSBC, said in a recent report on the Indian hydro power sector. Going by estimates, hydro power makes up for little over 20 per cent of the country’s total installed capacity of more than 1,90,000MW. The hydro capacity addition was revised to about 8,200MW from earlier target of 15,600MW in the 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-12). PTI

Narayanasamy pitches for solar power MADURAI: Observing that the country was going through a power crisis, Minister of state in PMO V Narayanasamy has said people were looking for alternatives and appealed to scientists to help tap solar power to the maximum extent possible. Government was determined to step up solar power generation in the country as it was clean, the minister said.

carrier is working on launching a couple of flights to Mumbai from the capital city of Tashkent and Samarkand in the next three to four months. “We are actively considering the introduction of a flight service connecting Tashkent and Samarkand with Mumbai,” official sources said.

Up to 135 feared dead in avalanche ISLAMABAD: Up to 135 people, mostly soldiers, were feared dead on Sunday after an avalanche buried a Pakistan army camp in mountainous Kashmir, in an area known as the world’s highest battleground. The avalanche early on Saturday engulfed the camp near the Siachen glacier, an inhospitable area. No survivors had been found after a huge all-day search involving more than 150 soldiers, sniffer dogs, and helicopters through the avalanche that covered an area of one-square. The search was called off late on Saturday as darkness set in and the weather worsened, but was due to resume at first light today (Sunday). In a statement, the military said that up to 135 people “including 124 army soldiers and 11 civilians... came under a huge snow slide early this morning” in mountainous Gayari district. Among the missing were a colonel, a major, a captain and four junior officers, said the military, in a list of those missing under the snow. A tailor and two hairdressers were among civilians buried as the avalanche hit the militarised region. India and Pakistan fought a fierce battle over Siachen in 1987, raising fears of an all-out conflict, although the guns on the glacier have largely fallen silent since a peace process was launched in 2004. After 12 hours of searching on Saturday, army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP that, contrary to local media reports, no bodies or survivors had been found. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani expressed his deep shock at the avalanche, but insisted in a statement that the disaster “in no way would undermine the high morale of soldiers and officers.” Heavy machinery to assist with rescue efforts has been transported to the far-flung and deeply inhospitable area, a security official said. A team of doctors and paramedics were also rushed to the region after the avalanche. The avalanche struck early in the morning, a military statement said, raising the possibility that the buried soldiers were asleep at the time. India and Pakistan have spent heavily to keep a military AFP presence there.

WORLD SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

Second candidate put up

Malawi’s first woman prez

FARC kills 6 soldiers

CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood,

LILONGWE: Malawi’s Joyce Banda

BOGOTA: At least six Colombian sol-

Egypt’s top political force, announced it was putting up a second presidential candidate for May elections in case their first choice was not allowed to stand. The second candidate, Khairat al-Shater, looked to be in doubt. Shater was freed from prison in March 2011 after having been jailed for seven years on charges of terrorism and money laundering.

on Saturday told supporters there was no room for revenge as she was sworn in after the death of the divisive Bingu wa Mutharika. Banda offered the conciliatory words following two days of political intrigue in which Mutharika’s inner circle tried to block her assuming the post, which fell to her as vice president under the terms of the constitution.

diers and three leftist rebels were killed on Saturday when guerrillas attempted an ambush on a military unit in the western department of Choco, officials said. A patrol was attacked by the “terrorists” of the FARC as it guarded a stretch road near the city of Pretoria, a military spokesman told AFP.

Manhunt launched after gunman kills 3

Bahrain inmate gets Denmark aid

B Tulsa Chief of Police Chuck Jordan said ‘’I want to say to the perpetrator...’We’re coming for you’’’.

A victim is lifted into an ambulance after she was shot in Tulsa early Friday.

police.

uthorities in Tulsa, in the US state of Oklahoma, have launched a manhunt after a series of shootings which police say may have been hate crimes. Five attacks took place within hours of each other on Friday, killing three and critically wounding two others, within a three-mile (5km) radius. All the victims were black and police say there are searching for a white male in connection to the attacks. Community leaders have tried to calm fears of further attacks. The police said they were searching for a white man driving a white pick-up truck, who

was seen in the area of three of the shootings. “It pains me to talk about such a violent event that we in this community have not seen certainly in modern history,” Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett said about the shooting, urging people to watch for clues of the lone suspected shooter. “We need your help. This is not a game,” he said at a news conference. No witnesses have yet come forward. The BBC’s Jonathan Blake says the crimes have shocked people living in a relatively quiet part of north Tulsa, and that there is a fear that the killer may strike again. Our correspondent says detectives are hoping for people to help them, but that many in the community do not trust the

‘Nervous’ Tulsa police chief Chuck Jordan said they were investigating whether the attacks were hate crimes, after investigators earlier said the incidents were linked. The FBI has joined a task force set up to investigate the killings, he said. Jack Henderson, a city councillor for the district where the attacks occurred, urged people to come forward with information. “This is Tulsa, Oklahoma. We should have the ability to stand out on your porch anytime, day or night, that you want to, to walk down the street, day or night. He urged local residents to

overcome their misgivings toward police to help with the investigation. “And the only way that this person is going to be brought to justice is we need some leads.” A 49-year-old was the first killed at about 1am local time (6am GMT) on Friday. Minutes later the gunman approached two other men and asked for directions before shooting them. They survived but later two more were shot dead nearby. “We’re all nervous,” said one resident, 52year-old Renaldo Works. “I’ve got a 15-year-old, and I’m not going to let him out late. People are scared. We need facts.” “You don’t want to be a prisoner in your own home,” he said.

ahrain is considering a request from Denmark to transfer political prisoner Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, on hunger strike for almost two months. State media in the Gulf kingdom said a request had been made by Danish Foreign Minister Villy Soevndal, citing the prisoner’s Danish citizenship. Human rights organisations have called for Khawaja to be freed. His daughter Zainab has been protesting over her father’s worsening condition. Having been arrested on Thursday at a rally, she was released on Saturday but vowed to continue her campaign for her father’s release. Khawaja has been moved to a hospital clinic and is being fed intravenously after 58 days on hunger strike. He is protesting against a life sentence he received for his role in anti-government protests by Bahrain’s Shia Muslim majority last year. A special security court convicted him of trying to overthrow Bahrain’s royal family, who are Sunni Muslims.

Home Office website hacked

Mali junta to stand down under deal

Indonesia plane attack kills one

LONDON: The hacking group Anonymous is alleged

BAMAKO: World powers on Saturday welcomed the Mali military junta’s decision to step aside ahead of elections, as the man named to handle the transition flew back into the country. But there was fresh international condemnation of a declaration of independence by Tuareg rebels who have seized control of the north of the country. The junior officers who seized power last month have agreed with West African bloc ECOWAS to give up power in return for an amnesty deal and a lifting of sanctions that the regional body had imposed on landlocked Mali. The deal, brokered late on Friday, came amid growing concern at the situation in northern Mali, which is now torn between the Tuareg rebels who have declared independence and Islamists determined to impose sharia law.

TIMIKA: Gunmen fired on a small plane after it land-

to have disrupted access to the Home Office website, apparently in protest at government policies. The website became inaccessible at about 9pm GMT on Saturday. The website was accessible again by 2am on Sunday but by 5am access had become difficult once more One message on Twitter said it was a protest against “draconian surveillance proposals” but another claimed it was over extradition from the UK to the US. There were also claims on Twitter that the 10 Downing Street website had been targeted as part of the same protest. This was dismissed by a Downing Street spokesman — but access to Number 10’s site was slow and intermittent for a time.

ed in Indonesia’s restive Papua region on Sunday, killing one passenger and wounding four people including both pilots, police and a district official said. The Twin Otter plane, operated by domestic carrier Trigana Air and carrying eight passengers and crew, ran into a building at the airport in the town of Mulia after the pilots lost control. Gun attacks are common in the Papua region in Indonesia’s extreme east, where poorly armed separatist groups have for decades fought a low-level insurgency for the mostly ethnic Melanesian population. District official Agus Fakaubun told AFP the pilot was hurt in the leg and the co-pilot in the hand.

COMMENT SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

Entertainment for kids

Life after life

our paper seems to be touching new boundaries and setting bars higher for other publications. I enjoy reading the weekend editions because it feels like there is so much to do in regards to activities within the paper itself. It's not just fun for me but it helps keep my children entertained as well. Madhuri Shah Begumpet

simply love reading Sumaa Tekur's articles because they take an indepth view of the subject. This week's article, Life and the Afterlife got me thinking and since it's Easter and it is the day of resurrection of Jesus Christ, it got me wondering what happens to people after they die. Margaret S Jubilee Hills

EDITORIALS 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 040-4067 2222.

God is omnipresent

n yesterday's edition of Postnoon I read Padmini's article on the Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanams. It set me thinking at our 'richest temple in the world's' management and reflect on whether God resides inside temples or is, as they say, omnipresent. If you really feel like it, give to the poor, I say. Meena Alwal

EDITORIALS NATURE’S WAKE-UP call on Siachen The death of 124 Pakistani soldiers in an avalanche at the Siachen glacier has brought to fore the world’s highest battlefield that has faded from public memory due to the relative calm prevailing there over the years. The barren icescape at a height of 22,000 feet above sea level is manned by roughly 3,000 troops each of both India and Pakistan. Ever since India asserted its control on the key ridges there in the 1984 Operation Meghdoot, the glacier has seen several major military efforts by Pakistan to capture it — the last attempt was made in 1999 as part of Kargil incursions. Since 1984, both sides have lost about 2,500 soldiers in the Siachen region — mostly due to the effect of severe weather and natural disasters like avalanches and snow storms. On an average, India spends around $350 million a year to maintain its operational readiness in the region and Pakistanis about $250 million. The latest disaster is a wake-up call to the neighbours regarding the status of the glacier. Unless both sides reach a pragmatic solution, it will be the harsh terrain that will have the last laugh.

WHY WE LOVE... Housework The plight of maids, or ‘servants’ as we call them in India speaks volumes about the growing indolence in our society. We are a nation that refuses to pick up after ourselves, believing that those we hire to do so for us, are beneath us. It’s high time parents taught their children to fend for themselves when it comes to cleaning up. It’s only when we realise what our housemaids do that we will begin to treat them as human beings. Washing a few dishes and getting your own tea is hardly manual labour, so get off your butts.

Statesmanship key to dance with dragon From the Hip SYED SHOAIB

xternal affairs minister SM Krishna on Friday declared that the South China Sea region is the property of the world and must be freed from any "national interference" so that trade ways could be used freely by nations in that region for the development of trade. This statement becomes relevant as it is the second-most used sea lane in the world. More than 50 per cent of the annual merchant fleet tonnage passes through the Strait of Malacca, the Sunda Strait and the Lombok Strait. For India, the area is of interest as ONGC Videsh Limited, the wing of ONGC that does oil exploration overseas,

has a three-year agreement with Petro Vietnam to promote oil exploration in the South China Sea, to supply oil and natural gas to the two countries. India’s domestic oil production is only 7,63,000 barrels per day that meets about 30 per cent of our requirement. For the rest of our daily need, we depend on imports. Even if we achieve the targeted additional 11 per cent in 2012-13 and a further 8 per cent in 2013-14 from internal sources, we will still need to import about 50 per cent of the oil required by a rapidly growing economy. Tying up with other countries with prospects of fulfilling this demand is a tried and tested way. The South China Sea has proven oil reserves. A partnership with Vietnam for exploration of oil would be beneficial to both countries. However, claiming the entire South China Sea, China discourages oil and gas exploration activities in waters it considers its jurisdic-

tion. There have been skirmishes between China and Vietnam over the control of Paracel Islands and Spratly Islands, which are located in the sea and supposed to have large reserves of oil. China has staked its claim over the sea with its boundary called the ‘nine-dotted line’ that overlaps other countries’ claims of the area. China, therefore, has warned off India not to get involved in disputes of the region. Keeping in view the oil requirement of the nation, India’s foreign policy on the issue needs to be pegged against the backdrop of our bilateral relations with China. We will have to consider the history of hostilities with our northern neighbour, without ignoring China’s practice of befriending neighbouring countries, like Pakistan and Sri Lanka that have issues with India. Our purpose in the South China Sea obviously is not playing the game the Chinese way, yet we

will have to balance the scales so that China does not arm-twist us by increasing its interference in our neighbourhood and tighten its noose around us so as to make us drop our overseas plans. While it would not do to let down countries like Vietnam, with whom we have a legal agreement of joint explorations, we need to help Vietnam to conduct peaceful negotiations with China (which it has offered) so that armed conflict is avoided in the region. We must explore possibilities of tying up with other countries of the area like Malaysia, Philippines and Brunei. Such a move would be beneficial for India’s overall economic interests and political goals. Making the area’s trade ways free is a first step to diffuse tensions in the area. This needs to be done multilaterally and not bilaterally as China wishes. The writer works for Postnoon.

BUSINESS SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

India to host Pak expo

Apple to hit trillion dollars

n a major step towards normalising business relations, India will host an exhibition in which over 100 Pakistani lifestyle companies will showcase their products and services. Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma and his Pakistani counterpart Mohammad Amin Fahim will inaugurate “Lifestyle Pakistan” to be held from April 12-15 at Pragati Maidan, an official said.

Worldhotels to expand ops

pple will become the world’s first trillion-dollar company when its shares top $1,000 each, Wall Street analysts have predicted. The technology giant’s shares were worth $633.38 last week. Brian White, of Topeka Capital Markets, then claimed Apple’s sky-high share price will hit four figures within 12 months — making the company worth $1 trillion.

S-headquartered Worldhotels, which provides sales, marketing and technology services to hotels, is aiming to develop 10 hotels in India by next year. “We are looking at expanding our portfolio in India and are planning to develop 10 hotels by next year,” Worldhotels regional director, Indian Subcontinent & Maldives Naresh Chandnani said.

Residential property market headed for hard landing? R NARULA

Realty Check HIMADRI MAYANK

n 1959, Charles E Lindblom, the American political scientist, published a paper in the Public Administration Review entitled The Science of ‘Muddling Through’. In this, he contrasted what he called the ‘root method’ of decision-making with the ‘branch approach’. The root method involves comprehensive evaluation of options in the light of defined objectives, whereas the branch method involves building up, step-bystep and by small degrees, from the current situation. Prof Lindblom claimed that the root method was, in fact, not usable for complex policy questions. His verdict was that the practical individual must follow the branch approach – applying the science of muddling through. The residential property market in India, particularly in the Tier I cities, has remained sluggish for the past 12 months, with significantly lower sale volumes when compared to the high absorption rates of 2010. Home loan interest rates now seem to be at their cyclical highs (but should soon decline) and unforeseen tax levies have come at a time when the industry is facing its moment of reckoning. In these uncertain times, the question arises whether strategic decision-making for residential property developers to improve sales should follow the root method – a comprehensive evaluation of options, or the branch approach – a process of muddling through. In a multiple stakeholder environment with several large uncertainty input parameters, the branch approach seems to be the instrument of choice. In adverse market conditions, developers want to ascertain facts on some key issues. n They consider whether they should: n Lower prices in on-going projects n Proceed with construction n Launch new projects at lower

prices Sell non-performing assets such as land

THE ‘LOGIC’

OF PRICING

While others require comprehensive evaluation, determining residential property prices usually entails a trial-and-error approach. During good times, prices are invented. When the going gets tough, prices are discovered (hence the term ‘price discovery’). Developers continually assess the market with trial price levels to increase sales in on-going projects. To avoid adversely signalling the market (which could lead to a downward spiral) prices in on-going pro-

jects are kept ‘sticky-upward’. In the first phase, negotiations are held behind closed doors to test the market’s appetite. If sales do not recover, discounts are offered up-front on the table. If there is still no perceived recovery, discounts are advertised to increase visitors to the sales office. At this stage, the market is said to have witnessed a correction. This is fundamentally a process of ‘muddling through’, in which residential prices offered by developers in on-going projects rise like rockets but fall like feathers. However, during a slowdown, developers try to register sales by launching new projects which

are different from on-going projects —and priced much lower than the market average (the price levels being decided by the root method of decision making). Since new projects have a high construction risk, the lower price is somewhat justified and avoids the signalling effect to the market.

TROUBLE AHEAD?

Is the Indian residential property market headed for a hard landing? During the slowdown in 2009, prices in some on-going projects witnessed corrections while a large number of projects maintained stable prices. New launches were made at highly

discounted prices; subsequently, a significant rise in absorption was observed as prices were termed ‘affordable’. Prices then increased rapidly by as much as 30-40% (mostly in newlylaunched projects) across Indian Tier I cities until end-2010, followed by slower growth in 2011. However, all predictions of a hard landing for the residential property market in 2011 have failed to come true. Despite slow sales, highly leveraged balance sheets, expensive finance in a high interest rate environment and rising input costs, developers have been able to avoid a market-wide crash. They have been able to generate sufficient cash flow through the gradual process of price discovery, and several factors are in their favour in the near term. Over 60% of residential launches in the top seven cities (mostly in cities other than NCR and Mumbai) are priced in the range of `2000–4000 per sq ft, which meets the demand of middle-income buyers. The RBI has given sufficient indications of probable cuts in key rates during 2H12, which will improve affordability for home buyers and provide lower interest costs for developers. Prevailing absorption rates at nearly 10-12 per cent translate into an average absorption period of 8-10 quarters for a residential project. This implies that at average prices, any average residential project should be sold out before construction is completed. New project launches, slow in Mumbai and NCR during 1H11 due to approval and land acquisition issues, have started to pick up and should improve cash flows for developers with land banks during 2012. With rising input costs, developers do not want to sell below a threshold which does not justify their minimum replacement returns. This leaves home buyers with a small window of opportunity — the next six months, when home prices should witness marginal appreciation. After six months, a second wave of high appreciation is predicted. Are you geared for it? The writer is senior manager, Research & REIS, Jones Lang LaSalle India

YOUNG AT NOON SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012 Mini Singh

feedback@postnoon.com Who Hephaestus What God of Fire Son Of Zeus and Hera Symbol Hammer, Anvil, Tongs

UNIQUE FEATURES

This Olympian god was born deformed; he was sickly and lame, with one shrunken leg. Hephaestus was a master craftsman and is worshipped by craftsmen for his smithing skills with metals. He is responsible for creating many of the beautiful, intricate and indestructible objects used by gods; and he also created artificial gold supports for his legs, that helped him to move around in spite of his bad leg.

STORIES

How Hephaestus married Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love When Hera saw that her baby was deformed, she was disgusted, and threw him out of Olympus. Fortunately for him, Eurynome and Thetis caught Hephaestus as he was falling; and for the next nine years, he lived with them, learning the work of a blacksmith and creating intricate objects — U-shaped pins, intricate clasps, cups and necklaces. He soon started sending his intricately fashioned crafts as gifts to the gods in Mount Olympus. Among other things, he sent a splendid magical, gold throne as a gift for his mother, Hera. In reality, it was a trap; and as soon as Hera sat in it, she was bound and could not move. Nothing could persuade the bitter Hephaestus to release Hera. Eventually, the gods persuaded Dionysus, the god of wine to offer wine to Hephaestus so that he would mellow down. Hephaestus agreed to release Hera when he was offered the hand of the very beautiful Aphrodite in marriage by the gods. This was the first arranged marriage among the gods. (I don’t think Aphrodite was consulted though!) Creativity thrived at Mount Olympus The gods also created a marvellous palace for Hephaestus on Mount Olympus, imperishable and shining like the stars. Here, he had his workshop; with the anvil, and the magical 20 bellows, which worked spontaneously at his bidding. He manufactured wonderful articles from various materials, mainly from metal. With help from the Cyclopes, who were his workmen and assistants, he fashioned the thunderbolts for Zeus and his sceptre. He made weapons and armours for the other gods and heroes. For Athena, he made the shield or Aegis and for the god of love, Eros, he made the arrows. The wonderful chariot which the sun god Helios rode across the sky was made by Hephaestus. He also fashioned the invincible armour of Achilles. Hephaestus also helped to create the first woman, Pandora.

LESSONS Channel your energy: Though Hephaestus was rejected for being deformed; he made himself indispensable to the gods by channelling his energy into learning a fine art and becoming the best at his craft. How do you use your power?: Fire can destroy and fire can cook your food. What it does depend on is what you want it to do. Barring his initial outburst where Hephaestus was angry with his mother, he always used fire to create wonderful things. What do you do with your fire? For example – do you use your physical strength to bully others, or to help them? Think about it. Build on your strengths: Though his legs were not in the best shape, Hephaestus gained tremendous upper-body strength due to his constant work as a blacksmith. So instead of worrying about your weaknesses, build on your strengths.

The fire within

Hephaestus, despite his deformity used his skills to become indispensable to the gods TAREGH D SABER

INSIGHT SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

NEW BEGINNINGS From festivities to coups and towering infernos AFP/ ISSOUF SANOGO

AFP/ MARIO LAPORTA

AFP/ MANAN VATSYAYANA

A Tamil Hindu devotee with a steel rod pierced through his tongue pulls Lord Murugan’s chariot during a religious procession in New Delhi on April 5. Tamil Hindus seeking penance and blessings of the Lord Murugan, son of Lord Shiva pierce their body with metal skewers and carry pots of milk on their heads.

A Malian soldier takes position as a junta leader speaks on April 3, at Kati military camp near Bamako

AFP/CHINA OUT AFP/ RICHARD A BROOKS

Chinese families gather on April 3 for the annual “Qingming” festival or Tomb Sweeping Day at a cemetery in Jinjiang, southeast China’s Fujian province. During “Qingming” Chinese traditionally tend the graves of their departed loved ones and often burn paper money, model houses, cars, mobile phones and other goods as offerings to honour them and keep them comfortable in the afterlife.

ALEXANDER NEMENOV

“Yokozuna” or grand champion Hakuho of Mongolia (L) holds his child in the ring as he jokes around for the crowd as fellow Mongolian wrestler Tokitenku (R) looks on before taking part in a sumo exhibition at Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo on April 6. Penitents walk and sing during a Good Friday procession in Sorrento on April 6. Christian believers around the world mark the Holy Week of Easter in celebration of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Europe’s tallest-to-be tower under-construction burns in central Moscow, late on April 2. No injuries have been reported at the fire in the eastern tower of the Federation Tower complex, some 2 km west of the Kremlin. The tower, when completed, is to be 360 metres (1,150 feet) tall.

AFP/ ROSLAN RAHMAN

Towering Supertrees Grove which are part of horticultural themed gardens sit in the Garden by the Bay in Singapore on April 3. Situated in Marina Bay, the 101-hectare Gardens by the Bay will include two greenhouses and 220,000 plants from almost every continent.

ART AND CULTURE SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

Fine art fair

Rebecca Horn in India

Rylands Haggadah

The San Francisco Fine Art Fair returns from April 17 through to April 20. In 2011, a rousing 16,500 art enthusiasts lined up and streamed through the fair. There was a bursting energy in the air and contagious enthusiasm as attendees were stunned, entertained and amazed by the wide spectrum of hi-caliber fine art displayed by the 73 exhibiting galleries.

The National Gallery of Modern Art is carrying the inter-cultural dialogue between India and the west with an exposition of multi-media and performance art by Rebecca Horn from April 7. The showcase, ''Passage Through Light'', dedicated to India will also exhibit Horn's multimedia body sculptures, clips from her movies and old performance art acts.

A 14th-century Catalonian haggadah from the collection of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, England, is being displayed in the Gallery for Western European Art from 1050 to 1300 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. A haggadah is the book used at the ritual meal that commemorates the exodus of the ancient Israelites from Egypt.

SH RAZA

YUSUF ARAKKAL

etter known as the 'master of colours', he is one of the most distinguished Indian artists. He was awarded a scholarship in 1950 by the government of France where he studied painting at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux Arts. His paintings always have depicted abstraction and integrated rudiments of Tantrism. What remains unique to Raza's work is his pulsating colours and use of heavy paints. He is indeed an inspiration and will continue to remain a living legend in the eyes of the art aficionado.

orn in one of the most prominent Muslim families in Kerala, Yusuf moved to Bangalore to hone his skills as a painter. He went ahead and got a diploma from the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat (KCP) and later specialised in graphic print making from the National Academy community studious, Garhi, Delhi. Arakkal's paintings reflected his thoughts about man and society set against dark, oppressive backgrounds. Popular not just in India, he has received international recognition through shows and awards. He is also the author of several publications.

The elite art club As we move into an era without geniuses like MF Hussain, there are several other talented Indian painters whose works have fetched astronomical sums at international auctions Compiled by Sana Mirza sana.m@postnoon.com

SUBHASH AWCHAT

FRANCIS NEWTON SOUZA

e started off as a graphic designer, but left it to become a painter. His paintings are filled with bright colours like reds, oranges, saffrons. Awchat uses a story telling theme and bridges the gap between cultures, binding all of humanity together. His work strongly showcases the rich cultural heritage of India and transposes it on the canvas to create images, transforming them into a extraordinary visual treat. Awchat is also famous for compiling the novel Madam in memory of actress Smita Patil, a collection of short stories, and a book of essays.

e was thrown out of the Sir JJ School of Art in Mumbai because he had openly and relentlessly supported the Quit India Movement. Despite the abrupt halt in his education, he was regarded as an eminent artist of his time and played a major role in establishing the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group. It was during the time when India had just gained independence that one of Souza's paintings got selected by the Institute of Contemporary Art. During his career, he put together an autobiography which also cemented his literary reputation.

Art sans frontiers

ART FOR DUMMIES

Raw Art came into existence in the early 20th century and was art created by people outside the boundaries of mainstream art

oodle doodles during boring lectures and splashes and strokes of colour by a three-year- old might just seem like rubbish but they're actually not. Such simple forms of expression have been a great inspiration to art. During the 20th century, a French painter named John

Dubuffet reflected his critical attitude towards western art through his paintings. These paintings emphasised primal culture rejecting the contemporary trends of art. He believed that mainstream culture was incorporated in art to such an extent that it had begun to choke expression through art. His doodles while talking on

the telephone inspired one of the master pieces of the 20th century â&#x20AC;&#x201D; The King of Heart. Art of the insane or raw art got special attention when Dr. Walter Morgenthlear published a monograph about a psychotic patient of his, Adolf Wolfli, who had taken a special interest in art. According to Dr. Moregenthaler, this form of

expression calmed Wolfli and he had actually created his own imaginary world in his collection of paintings. Dr. Morgenthaler's monograph caught the attention of Jean

JAIDEEP MEHROTRA

self-taught artist, he started showcasing his work at the age of 12. Open to experimentation, he likes creating a body of works around a specific theme or medium. He is regarded as the pioneer of the digital medium in India as an art form and believes in integrating different elements in his works â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the historical with the contemporary, the traditional with the modern. A multi-talented artist, he has produced movie titles, designed book covers and also made short films on Amitabh Bachchan and Mahatma Gandhi.

Dubuffet who started collecting such works of art by himself also coining the term 'Art Brut' which means 'Raw Art'. Artists who engaged in this form of art believe that the values of instinct, passion and madness are the only ones that can counteract the chaos and trauma created by modern society. According to them, universal truths were best expressed through imagination and insanity. Few other artists who are known popularly for Art Brut are Henry Darger, Charles AA Dellschau, Madge Gill and Vojislav Jakic.

ENVIRONMENT SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

Alarming whale shark deaths

Long-fingered frog found

MUMBAI : Two giant Baleen’s humpback

AFRICA: In a handy stroke of luck, sci-

whale sharks washed up dead on the Mumbai and Thane beaches in separate incidents last week. This was preceded by a Bryde’s whale shark getting washed ashore at a beach in Ratnagiri. In the past couple of months alone, over a dozen dead dolphins, washed up on different virgin beaches in the region.

entists have rediscovered a “lost” African species: the Bururi long-fingered frog. Last seen in 1949, the 1.3inch-long (3.2-centimeter-long) amphibian was found during a December 2011 biodiversity survey in the small central African country of Burundi, scientists announced in March.

Fluffy and fierce BEIJING: A newly discovered giant

feathered dinosaur—a distant cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex—sported a fine down coat, making it the largest feathered animal known to have lived, scientists say. The new dinosaur species, detailed in this week’s issue of the journal Nature has been named Yutyrannus huali which means “beautiful feathered tyrant.”

Recharging the elixir of life While the GHMC has come up with serious measures to recharge the existing and fast-drying-up groundwater table in Hyderabad, the words ‘groundwater recharge’ seem alien to citizens

RAHUL RAMAKRISHNA

rahul.r@postnoon.com

he recent rainfall in the city provided us with much needed relief but the question of the longevity of water table in Hyderabad continues to draw a blank. Many parts of the city are not equipped with groundwater recharge structures leading to a severe dearth in groundwater tables. While the GHMC has come up with serious measures to recharge the existing and fast drying up groundwater table in Hyderabad, the word “groundwater recharge” seem alien to the citizens. Groundwater is what percolates into the soil after rainfall. This is called infiltration and this forms water tables called

static water reservoirs. With rapid urbanisation, incessant felling of trees, lack of rain water harvesting and the heavy concretisation of the city’s surface, what little rainfall the city witnesses is left to waste as much of the water flows through the drains. Hyderabad’s water levels have taken a nose dive as recent statistics suggest a disappointing decrease of 3.88 meters since last year. The GHMC has made it mandatory for every commercial building or housing complex to construct rainwater harvesting pits to allow water seepage thereby replenishing the existing groundwater table, but this rule continues to be boldly flouted. R Gopalakrishna, a rainwater harvesting activist and an energy auditor, suggests the immediate construction of rainwater harvesting pits and structures in the city as an effective measure to rejuvenate ground water in the city.

The situation

n Hyderabad has received an average 830 mm rainfall annually, which translates to a mammoth 539.5 billion litres of water a year. n Divided with the city’s population, it roughly translates to about 200 litres of water per person every day. n Sewage Treatment Plants are being set up at Attapur to treat sewage water and allow it to seep through the ground for recharging ground water. n Under the Urban Lakes Restoration programme, the GHMC is all set to restore about 40 lakes in the Hyderabad Developmental Area, to allow collection of natural water and channel the same through bunds, tanks and pipes.

“Residents of the Padma Shalini colony in Secunderabad have constructed rainwater harvesting pits and rooftop structures that have served their water needs while replenishing the ground water table. This is a noble initiative that must be taken up on a wider scale,” he said. “Apart from rainwater harvesting, there is a massive scope for setting up sewage treatment plants that can purify water from sewage canals and drainpipes. This water can be channelled into ground through seepage units thereby recharging the city’s ground water,” he said. On an average, about 38 litres of water is lost due to leaky taps and fixtures from a single household, everyday. It is the moral responsibility of the citizens to effectively use water by ensuring usage of fixtures like good quality pumps, taps and pipes that reduce leakage of water. Identification of natural

wells and tanks and ensuring that these are not encroached upon for commercial reasons is of utmost importance. Hyderabad had once accommodated artificial and natural water tanks that had served the purpose of recharging ground water. It is with only collective efforts that this present state of affairs can be solved. N SHIVA KUMAR

FOOD SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

Agriculture in Bihar

Poor harvest of vanilla

MUMBAI: The department of agriculture, Government of Bihar, has drawn up its second roadmap for the development of agriculture and allied sectors. In this regard, the government is contemplating setting up fruit and vegetable co-operative societies and federations along the lines of the Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation (COMPFED).

anilla-growers the world over are reporting a poor harvest of vanilla pods this year, and industry insiders say the shortage could hurt the pockets of those who are hoping to beat the heat with scoops of vanilla ice cream. According to market analysts at Mintec, the global price of vanilla has skyrocketed from $25 per kg to about $40 per kg.

Yakult launches in Chennai

n equal joint venture with the French food company Danone and Japanese food and beverage maker Yakult Honsha, the company entered the southern market last month with the launch of the drink in Hyderabad. First launched in 1935, Yakult is present in 32 countries.

N marks the spot

Experience the wonderful culinary journey that Hyderabad’s newest restaurant, N Asian, has to offer

OSAMA SALMAN

salman.o@postnoon.com

here are few restaurants in Hyderabad that offer gourmet Chinese, keeping the authenticity of the flavours intact. And then there are even fewer restaurants that offer cuisine beyond the tried and tested Chinese cuisine. N Asian, the newest Asian restaurant in Jubilee Hills, from the N Grill stable does both. Trust us when we say, you will be taken aback right from the word go. Touted to be the city’s biggest stand-alone restaurant, all of the five dining areas in N Asian are tastefully done. Even the grand staircase leading to the main dining hall immediately lets you know that this is no ordinary restaurant. The furniture here reflects Japanese style dining, with

the upholstery of the chairs in velvet purple and low backrests. Take a look around and you might even spot a red porcelain Buddha. There is a strong oriental theme running through. Beyond the main dining hall, through the French windows is the alfresco dining area with its own open air bar. It has a more casual ambience with vintage ceiling fans and even a mist sprayer. What is interesting to watch is the live kitchen in the main dining area where you can see the chefs dishing out the delicacies. We started our meal with fried Tiger Prawns which were brilliant—fried to make the meat soft and easy to eat, yet not cooked so much as to lose their moisture. Vegetarians can try the melt-in-the-mouth Fried Corn Curd starter— soft creamy cubes sautéed in a spicy dipping sauce. For those opting for salads, the Asian Tossed Vegetables is worth consideration. With red and yellow peppers, glass noo-

dles generously tossed in olive oil and chilli flakes , its delicious. For main course you can choose between Japanese, Thai or Chinese. We tried the Thai Pot Rice, a creamy rose and coconut-milk flavoured concoction to go with Grilled Miso Chicken, a Japanese speciality (grilled chicken in a sweet translucent sauce and celery), Mongolian Beef, Duck With Broccoli and Chilli, and Fried Spinach and Mushrooms. Everything we tasted was unique in its own way, but the ones that really stood out were The Duck with Broccoli and Chilli, and the Mongolian beef. As if the options weren’t enough, we ended our meal with the Asian dessert platter— scoops of mango and vanilla icecream, fresh fruit, mango soufflé and green tea bruleé. The green tea brulee is a must-have, crispy on the outside with the melted sugar and soft mousse-like consistency on the inside. It will

have you licking your lips in no time. We would have liked to have our gourmet meal with chopsticks, which weren’t available, an oversight we’re willing to forgive only because it’s new. The service is laidback, so its not a place for which you should set aside time. The prices are on the higher side, which is expected from the N stable. But the portions are decent and the food is fantastic. We hear N Asian plans to start sushi on weekends and specials for dinner very soon. But till we are more than happy to explore their current menu!

Name: N Asian Place: Off road no 36, Lane next to Chutneys , Jubilee Hills, Meal for two: `1,500 + taxes

FOOD SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

Shola Noor’s Kitchen NOOR JAFRI

The brand ambassador of Diageo, Tim Etherington talks to Postnoon about the art of bartending, the secret to making great drinks and more Padmini C padmini.c@postnoon.com

ecently in the city for Worldclass, an international training programme and competition for bartenders, we caught up with Diageo's Brand Ambassador in India Tim Etherington.Here are some excerpts from our conversation l Tells us a little about the art of bartending It's a very, very complex thing. It's a waiter and chef all rolled into one. A chef only creates works of art on a plate but are always in the kitchen. A waiter only interacts with the guests, they don't create anything, they just give service. But bartenders have to be creative, they have to create drinks but they also have to give amazing service. It's not just about whose made the best drinks, it’s also about who can give the best service at the same time. l What do you take inspiration from?

Ingredients 1. Rice - 200 gms 2. Split green gram - 150 gms 3. Finely chopped & crispy fried

onions - 50 gms 4. Chilli powder - 1 tsp 5. Haldi (Turmeric) powder - 1/2 tsp 6. Ginger-garlic - paste 1 and a 1/2 tsp 7. Jeera powder - 1 tsp 8. Dhania powder - 1/2 tsp 9. Salt to taste 10. Oil - 50 ml to fry the onions 11. Two big bunches of spinach

washed clean and finely chopped.

Blithe spirits Everything. I once made a drink called I say Bombay, you say Mumbai. I was having a conversation with a taxi driver. He was using the two names interchangeably. People can't stop calling it Bombay. So I created a drink that was two martinis in one drink. One was an old style martini with gin, sweet vermouth and Indian spices, orange zest, a tribute to the old Bombay; the Mumbai side of it was Keravan vodka, cardamom, and spices to represent the modern city. l Whats the craziest drink you've ever made? The craziest drink I ever made was for a whisky competition. It involved two different types of Japanese green tea, whisky, lots of liquid nitrogen, vodka, lime and foam. So on one side of the plate, there was this steaming whisky and tea drink and then on the other side, there was this ice cold liquid nitrogen and foam. It was called the Zen Garden. l How much do bartenders actually drink?

Sciroco

Method

he cocktail sensation of the summer! A refreshing lovechild of everyone’s favourite cocktails, the Cosmopolitan and the Mojito with Ciroc grape vodka, cranberry juice, fresh lime and a handful of mint

That's a trade secret (laughs) But as I can tell you, I drink a lot less than my friends do, even though it’s my job to. l They say you can tell a lot about people by what they drink. True? You can tell a lot about the people they drink. If people are drinking the really sweet, sugary, poppy drinks, they are young, vibrant and probably into pop culture, led by mainstream trends and sensibilities. People who drink traditional style cocktails are more elegant, follow their own path and are much more likely to be creative and original. No rule. But this is what I've generally found. l Do you think women make for good bartenders? Absolutely. Some of the best bartenders in the world are women. In many ways, women make better drinks because their olfactory senses are better, so they can separate flavours and aromas better than men l Tell me what you mean when you say there's a

story behind every drink? People love stories. If you could combine a good story with a good drink, a little bit of theatre, people love that. That's why people come to bars. Otherwise, there'd be vending machines. People are looking for a little bit of entertaining, lose their inhibitions. Some of the great drinks have great stories. l What are the five essentials to make a great cocktail at home? You need some passion. Some fresh ingredients. Lots of ice. Good quality spirits. An open mind. The biggest mistake people make is to throw all the spirits they find into a glass. l And the secret to making it? Build from the base. First thing is to balance the sweet and sour elements. Say for instance, lime juice and sugar syrup. Once you have that, add the spirit of your choice. If you add rum, it becomes a daiquiri, vodka and it’s a Kamikaze, some gin and cointreau and it's a white lady. And so on...

Procedure 1. Pressure cook, rice, dal and spinach

2. 3. 4.

(palak) till the mixture is soft and uniform. Mix well. Heat the oil, fry the onions till they are pink and crispy. Remove and keep it aside for garnishing. In the same oil, add all the masalas and temper the rice and dal mixture. Serve hot with crispy fried onion and a table spoon of butter or ghee, and the accompaniments of kotmeer chutney or pickled carrots.

For the Kotmeer chutney 1. Clean two bunches of kotmeer, and two three green chillies with four to six garlic pods. 2. Grind into a fine paste, with salt, half a teaspoon of lemon juice and two table spoons of water.

For the Carrot Pickle 1. Peel and dice (2 to 3) carrots, boil it with little haldi (turmeric), salt and water till tender ; 2. Drain the water, and add fine paste of 1 tsp mustard seeds, 2, 3 garlic pods and 1 tsp of white vinegar

Chef’s note:It is a light and rich dish, full of nutrients, with very little oil used in tempering , an ideal dish for everybody.

ut Ciroc, lime juice, sugar syrup into the bottom of the glass and gently press the mint to extract the flavours from the leaves. Next, fill the glass with ice and stir for 10 seconds to combine the ingredients together. Add more ice and top with cranberry juice, stir again and garnish with a sprig of fresh mint

Singleton Iced Tea n n n n n

Ciroc 60ml Cranberry Juice 60ml Freshly squeezed lime juice 10ml Sugar Syrup 10ml Fresh Mint 4 sprigs

Ingredients: n 60ml The Singleton of Glen Ord 12 n 15ml Sugar syrup n 10ml lime juice n 90ml English breakfast Tea Method: n Combine all ingredients in the cup with ice and stir.

Contact n Noor’s Kitchen n Mobile:- 91-9441282318 n Residence:- 91-40-2356947

HISTORY SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

April 12

April 7

1945 - US President Franklin D Roosevelt died in Warm Spring, GA. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 63. Harry S Truman became president.

1940 - Booker T Washington became the first black man to be on a US postage stamp.

April 11

Apple announced that the iTunes Store had sold more than two million movies.

April 11

April 7

1979 - Idi Amin was deposed as president of Uganda as rebels and exiles backed by Tanzanian forces seized control.

1953 - IBM unveiled the IBM 701 Electronic Data Processing Machine. It was IBM’s first commercially available scientific computer.

April 12

April 13

2002 - It was announced that the South African version of Sesame Street would be introducing a character that was HIV-positive — Kami.

1997 - Tiger Woods became the youngest person to win the Masters Tournament at the age of 21. He also set a record when he finished at 18 under par.

April 8

1953 - Warner Bros. released House of Wax. It was the first 3-D movie to be released by a major Hollywood studio.

1986 - Clint Eastwood was elected mayor of Carmel, CA.

April 8 2002 - Suzan-Lori Parks became the first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for drama for her play Topdog/Underdog.

April 10

April 9

April 10

1953 - TV Guide was published for the first time.

1959 - Nasa announced the selection of America‘s first seven astronauts.

1925 - F Scott Fitzgerald published The Great Gatsby.

SPOTLIGHT SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

Amala Akkineni

Jwala Gutta

Samantha

Asmita Marwa

Diandra Soares

Poonam Kaur

Nthralling It was a star studded affair when the who’s who of tinsel town made their presence felt at Hyderabad’s hottest new venue, N Asian on Saturday, at the launch of Shilpa Reddy’s new studio which houses her own creations

Sahitya and Susanth

Kavya Reddy

Naga Chaitanya

Rana Daggubati

Kamalini Mukherjee

Samrat, Shilpa Reddy and Nagarjuna

Suhana and Stuvant Pittie

Sumanth

Nandini Reddy

INTERVIEW SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

The Cotswold chef

‘You eat better, you do better’ is British celebrity chef Rob Rees’ mantra. Ten minutes into the conversation, he has us pretty convinced PADMINI C

padmini.c@postnoon.com

f most chefs can’t seem to see beyond the confines of their own kitchen, Master chef Rob Rees has his sights steadily set on the bigger picture. He is convinced all great wars in the future will be about food. And so changing Britain’s food culture for a better future is currently number one on his list of things-to-do. In fact, we caught up with Rob at Taj Krishna on his recent Festival of Britain tour. Unlike

TWO YEARS AGO IF YOU SAID I WOULD BE RUNNING A RESTAURANT WITH DISABLED PEOPLE, I WOULDN’T HAVE BELIEVED IT. many celebrity chefs who are known by the number of their appearances on television or cookbooks they’ve published, Rob is at the helm of a gastronomic revolution. He has actively campaigned around issues on education, health, nutrition, food safety and consumer issues for many years. Most notably, as Chair of the School Food Trust and Children’s Food Trust in the UK, he has successfully managed to transform the food habits of millions of children across 25,000 schools in the country. And, now the Trust also reaches out to over 5,000 cooking clubs, which is changing the way people eat, and cook. “I suppose it all started 13 or 14 years ago when I started my first restaurant. My grandmother and my mother were both very

proud cooks and that’s how I came to be a chef. So it came to me naturally. But I realised, I wanted to do more than just cook. So that’s when we started working on the CSR agenda. During that, I discovered that I could talk. My idea is to use food as a tool for people to get talking. So it began,” recalls Rob. But the most interesting project that The Cotswold Chef has yet undertaken is his Star Bistro, the first of its kind restaurant in Britain. “Our chefs are all teenagers with head injuries, stroke victims or are deaf, blind or dyslexic but who make really good food. I didn’t want people to patronise them. I want customers to go there because the product is really good and the ambience is really good. I love it. I really love it. It’s so much better than the Michelin restaurants, you know?” says Rob, for whom it’s still all dreamlike. “Two years ago if you said I was running a restaurant with disabled people, I wouldn’t have believed it. But we developed a project called Kitchen Challenge where we got drug addicts, stroke victims, young offenders or any disadvantaged people and involved them in cooking, bee keeping, farming or whatever and saw what was a huge change in them. They stopped using medication, changed for the better and found a purpose because suddenly they felt useful. It’s been a huge learning curve for both me and them. And so here we are today,” says Rob, Chief Executive of The Wiggly Worm Ltd, Director of The Cotswold Chef “My children do well. They sleep well. They are healthy. They have got a mother who knows the nutritional value of everything she feeds them. I want children everywhere to be like that,” says Rob and we have no doubt, he’s going to do everything in his power to ensure it. M ANILKUMAR

CINEMA SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

T-TOWN TWEETIES @RanaDaggubati

@pnavdeep26

@sundeepkishan

@sneha_ullal

Wishing BunnyMan (Allu Arjun) the best b’day ever. Full Power to you my friend!! http://t.co/rWsD3Xgj

heres wishing my dear frnd bunny a very happy birthday... :-) a true star...

off to Rajamundry now for my second schedule of #GundelloGodari , A long one at that,excited..Godari Amma Thalli Vadilo 25 rojulu :)

Waking up to a bird screaming..cudnt ask for a better morning..good morning people

@actressanjjanaa

@Actor_Siddharth

@LakshmiManchu

@shraddhadas43

TV9 GOOGLI RE GOOGLI GORGEOUS ACTRESS “SANJANA” MADE BAKRA BY TV9 TEAM: http://t.co/6RANGNHu via .. must watch

The champions demolished us... We did somethings right but too many things wrong... Csk rules, chargers look on... On to MI... Hope:)

Just watched 3. Couldn’t be more proud of Aishwarya..what a brave attempt. Thoroughly enjoyed it

At a family function! Soo many kids! Funnn!

YVS Chowdary ropes in Saiyami Kher

VS Chowdary’s upcoming film Rey has been under production for almost a year now. It was in the news for being the launchpad of Chiranjeevi’s nephew Sai Dharam Tej and the film was launched in style. Subrah Aiyappa and Amruta Patki were cast in the film. However, even before the film’s shooting began, Amruta Patki walked out of the film and YVS Chowdary replaced her with Shraddha Das. Now, we hear that even Subrah Aiyappa has walked out of the film. In August, 2011 Sai Dharam Tej suffered an injury while shooting near Las Vegas and the film’s shooting was put on hold for months. Later, YVS Chowdary got busy with the production of Ravi Teja starrer Nippu. Since Rey was put on the backburner for a long time, Subrah Aiyappa walked out of the film. So, the director roped in Saiyami Kher, a Mumbai-based model turned actor to play the lead role in the film. Saiyami Kher is the niece of Bollywood actor Tanvi Azmi and recently, she had posed for the Kingfisher Calendar. Rey is currently being shot in Hyderabad and the film unit will soon go to the US to shoot some key scenes. Chakri is composing the music for this film.

Julaayi’s first look unveiled

he first look of Allu Arjun, Ileana starrer Julaayi has been unveiled and the early buzz surrounding the film suggests that it’s going to be a thorough entertainer. Allu Arjun, who’s celebrating his birthday today, is teaming up with ace director Trivikram Srinivas for the first time and incidentally it’s been 10 years since he turned actor. Among others, Rajendra Prasad and Brahmanandam are playing impor-

tant roles in Julaayi. The film’s story has been kept under wraps but we hear that Rajendra Prasad is going to play the role of a cop and Brahmanandam will be seen as a thief. Devi Sri Prasad has composed the music, Amol Rathod is the cinematographer and most parts of the film was shot in Hyderabad, Chennai and Vizag. Radhakrishna has produced the film. Julaayi is expected to hit the screens in June.

DSP quashes rumours about Gabbar Singh

evi Sri Prasad has been having a tough time clarifying rumours about Gabbar Singh’s audio. Few days ago, when someone had uploaded a song on YouTube and claimed that it was from Gabbar Singh, fans of Pawan Kalyan questioned Devi Sri Prasad if the song was leaked. Recently, another song, allegedly from the same film, has begun doing rounds on the Internet. To put an end to all these rumours about songs being leaked, Devi Sri Prasad stated that the songs are not from the film. “Jst one more week for the audio launch of GS..!! And none of these leaked songs belong to GS.. So pls don’t believe all this..I think some1 is trying to use the platform of GS to popularise their songs..Looks like that..Its not ethical.. And dfntly not a good idea..(sic),” DSP posted on Twitter. The film’s audio is going to be launched in a grand way at Shilpakala Vedika on April 15. The film starring Pawan Kalyan and Shruti Haasan is in its last leg of production. Harish Shankar is directing the film and Ganesh Babu is producing it.

CINEMA SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

B-TOWN TWEETIES @AnupamPkher

@FarOutAkhtar

@priyankachopra

@SrBachchan

Happy Easter my friends. Jai Ho.:)

Happy Easter. May you be bestowed with a hundred chocolate eggs...

Gosh!! Runnin so late!!thank god for flying private..won’t have the entire plane giving me dirty looks!Just my staff!Yeesh!fast maqbool bhai

T 706 - TITANIC in 3D released in India. Joke doing the rounds : “ If they don’t see the iceberg this time, they deserve to sink “ !!

@imarshadwarsi

@MallikaLA

@bipsluvurself

@rampalarjun

HAPPY EASTER EVERYBODY.... God bless you n keep u healthy n happy forever....

Lunching with Sheriff Le Baca and his lovely wife Carol at Soho House,luv them both :)xo

Awesome win for CSK! Congrats to Jadeja Bravo Mahi n the entire team!Well done:)

Getting into character for Chakravayu @AalimHakim the best in the business sorting it out, bye hair. http://yfrog.com/gz7mjtvlj

Bollywoood films going the 3D way

ollywood-made 3D films do roaring business, and now Hindi films too have taken the plunge. Though there are not too many success stories yet, Bollywood has lined up a slew of releases in the format. Dangerous Ishhq, Joker, ABCD, Raaz 3 and Sher Khan are among those being made with 3D technology. Director Remo D’Souza, who is making ABCD, feels using the technology in the right manner is important and cites the instance of Haunted last year. “Haunted has worked because it was shot in 3D. ‘Don 2 and RA.One did not work because it was converted from 2D to 3D. These are two different things. If you shoot the entire film in 3D, it stands out,” Remo said. Another problem is 3D films don’t just cost more money to produce but also demand more time. “It is not easy to shoot in 3D. It takes a lot of time. We can’t block such long dates from established stars,” said director Shirish Kunder, who is making Joker with Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha. “So, for a big star cast, it is better to convert the film in 3D from 2D,” Kunder, who is also converting Joker from 2D to 3D, said. “You will never see a Tom Cruise or a Brad Pitt in a 3D film as it’s time consuming. You will see 3D with non-stars acting in films like Avatar, which had newcomers,” he added. “It is so time-consuming that stars might lose their patience. If I want to shoot the film in 3D, I would try it with newcomers,” said Kunder. Remo agreed. “It is difficult to shoot in 3D as we can shoot only a scene a day. Acting in 3D is also difficult because it requires patience.” But Vikram Bhatt, who is working with some established stars in Dangerous Ishhq and Raaz 3 and had made Haunted,

begs to differ. “It is great directing 3D films. I have Emraan Hashmi, Karisma Kapoor and Bipasha Basu working in 3D films. I don’t think that established stars don’t want to work in 3D films. It depends on your output,” he said.

The budget is crucial. “The new technology will take time to pick up. Besides, it’s a very expensive genre to try,” said Kunder. Bhatt agrees. “As far as the budget of the film is concerned, a 40 per cent extra amount has to be put into small films.” Remo said the initial budget for ABCD was `14 crore, but now “the budget has reached about `20 crore. For the first time a production house has spent that much money on a non-star cast film because they believed in the script.” Even though there have not been too many success stories so far, filmmakers claim 3D has a bright future in India. “It’s altogether a different experience wearing glasses and feeling the effects. Currently, we need people from Hollywood for help in 3D, but soon we will start making independent films. It’s just a matter of time,” Remo said. Bhatt said, “3D is here to stay. What is now an exception may well be the norm in times

to come. 3D is an adornment. It enhances the subject. 3D has come as evolved. The time of throwing things at you in the name of 3D has gone, it’s become more of an immersing experience now.” As far as facilities at the theatres to screen 3D films are concerned, Ranjip Thakur, CEO of Scrabble Entertainment, said,”Currently all multiplexes have two screens to show 3D films. On single screens, only those 3D films that were dubbed from English to Hindi have clicked. “Hindi films in 3D are not doing a great business. Titanic 3D will change the fate, but again that’s an English film.” Pramod Arora, CEO of PVR, said, “If we have 3D films despite increased ticket rates, we see a 20 per cent increase in revenue. So the profit margin goes a little higher. Compared to Bollywood films, Hollywood films are crowd-pullers in the 3D genre because the content from the West is of superior IANS quality.”

Kyaa Super Kool... takes a cool dig at Johar’s K3G

roducer Ekta Kapoor’s forthcoming film Kyaa Super Kool Hai Hum takes a dig at filmmaker Karan Johar’s 2001 family entertainer Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham. After the success of the 2005 sex comedy Kyaa Kool Hai Hum, actors Tusshar Kapoor and Riteish Deshmukh are back with the sequel, Kya Super Kool Hain Hum. The duo reprise their roles from the previous part. The trailer of the film, available on the web, opens with the signature tune and some shots from Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham. Then comes the tagline – ‘Some movies bring families together, this is not that movie’. The Kyaa Super Kool... trailer is insanely funny and the manner in which some footage of K3G has been integrated with it, gives the actors’ reactions a whole new meaning!” Johar said in a statement here. The movie, directed by Sachin Yardi and produced by Ekta and Shobha Kapoor, is up for release on August 3. Actresses Neha Sharma and Sarah Jane Dias are the new additions to the second installment. Its story revolves around friendship between the male leads and how circumstances lead them to venture on a mad road trip to Goa in pursuit of PTI love.

CINEMA SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

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CINEMA SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

ritney Spears’s father is taking an extra step in bonding with his future son-in-law. Jamie Spears is asking a court to add Jason Trawick as a co-conservator over his pop star daughter, a source confirms to People. Trawick will only have shared legal control over Spears’s general well being — not her finances, according to the source. In general, a conservator can make decisions over a person’s food, clothing and medical care. But Spears has plenty of personal freedom and the conservatorship is just a formality, another source previously told People.

Amanda Bynes

arrested for drunk driving

fter colliding with a police car early Friday morning, Amanda Bynes was arrested for driving under influence, police confirm to People. According to the West Hollywood Sheriff ’s Department, at 3 am on Friday, “a Los Angeles County Sheriff ’s Deputy in a marked black and white radio car, was stopped at the intersection of Robertson Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard preparing to turn right onto Santa Monica Boulevard when a black BMW driven by actor Amanda Bynes attempted to pass the right of the radio car, colliding with the right rear quarter panel of the car. There was minor paint transfer damage to both vehicles,” the police statement continues. “Amanda Bynes was subsequently arrested for driving under the influence and booked at West Hollywood Sheriff ’s Station.” According to GossipCop (who first broke the story) Bynes, who celebrated her 26th birthday on April 3, was still in custody on Friday morning with bail reportedly set at $5,000.

Kanye’s new song ruffles feathers T

heraflu big wigs are giving Kanye West the cold shoulder over his new song, named after the cold and flucalming brand. Shortly after releasing Theraflu, the hip-hopper came under fire from Theraflu reps, who told TMZ, “We in no way endorse or approve of the references or use of the image and likeness of Theraflu in this matter.” And they aren’t the only ones miffed by the single... Peta is also peeved about the song, due to this particular lyric from the loquacious rapper: Tell Peta my mink is draggin’ on the floor. “What’s draggin’ on the floor is Kanye’s reputation as a man with no empathy for animals or human beings,” Peta Senior Vice President Dan Mathews told E! News in a statement. “He’s a great musician but doesn’t seem to have the fashion sense to design anything more than caveman costumes. We keep hoping that one day he’ll find his heart and join evolved style icons—including Russell Simmons, Pink and Natalie Portman—who have dropped animal skins.”

Jason Trawick to share legal control over Britney Spears

CHAI TIME SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

SUNDAY CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 Show pleasure 6 Wild 11 Flooring piece 15 Tell the truth 20 ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ singer 21 Ammonia compound 22 From the top 24 — board 25 Put on guard 26 Orlando attraction 27 Lead-in 28 Prevailed upon 29 Dr Fu — 31 Dice roll 33 Cato’s road 34 Alto or tenor 35 Like a monkey’s tail 37 Formality 39 — kwon do 41 Business suff 42 Enter again 43 Minor weakness 44 Part of the wk 46 Sighs of relief 50 Bail out 51 — noire 52 Kick out 53 Bean-sprouts bean 57 ‘I’ trouble 59 High spirits 60 ‘Balcony scene’ swain 61 Heavy hydrogen discoverer 62 Distant 63 Flight inducer 64 Cause for pause 65 Body part 66 Feckless 67 Treehouse underpinning 68 Sticky 69 Handles with ease 72 Citrus cooler 73 Fishing lures 74 — kebab 75 Stoic founder 76 Varnishes 79 Soaring 80 Corrupts 84 Bear constellation 85 Deep fissure 86 Wire thicknesses 87 Nettle 88 Very strong 91 Used a prie-dieu 92 Amazon source 93 Angelina — of films 95 I knew it! 96 Quick with a quip 97 Gin-fizz flavour 98 Reason 99 Part of a foot 101 Smith and Winslet 102 Sufficient, in verse 103 Advisory group 104 Very bad end 105 Makes haste 106 Just fine 107 Sticker 108 Bane of pvts 109 Wherewithal 111 Goody-goody 112 Jeweler’s weight 114 Nautilus locale 117 Annapolis grad 118 Chester — Arthur 119 Orange flower

124 ‘Oklahoma!’ aunt 126 Made the scene 128 Like pi 130 Waste time 131 Prefix for media 132 Reckon 134 Art class item 136 Softens 137 Grenoble’s river 138 Circus arenas 139 Political division 140 Fellow citizens 141 More timid 142 ‘Naked Maja’ artist 143 Trunk 144 Digress DOWN 1 Rascal 2 Balloon material 3 Sherlock’s lady friend 4 Pitch suddenly 5 Swimmer — Williams 6 ‘A pox upon thee!’ 7 Poured out 8 Abundantly 9 Dote on 10 Apollo’s mother 11 ‘— -Pan’ 12 Light one’s fire 13 Espresso with milk 14 Blarney Stone site

15 Shutter part 16 Mark’s successor 17 Sentry’s watch 18 Bounce 19 Did dock work 23 English Channel terminus (2 wds) 30 Creepy feeling 32 Put on paper 36 Nonfat milk 38 Frost 40 Graph starter 43 Turn sharply 44 Breadbasket 45 The Mustangs 46 Kind of survey 47 Slate 48 Domestic sci (2 wds) 49 Traffic sign 51 Tell all 52 Get-up-and-go 54 Europe-Asia range 55 Dweeb 56 Fitness centers 58 Gomez’s cousin 59 Rare minerals 60 Perch 63 Brownish fruit 64 Hairdos 67 Old Italian currency 68 Spook

69 Geese feet 70 Mdse bill 71 Nondiscriminatory hirer abbr 73 ‘Surely you —!’ 74 In a devious manner 75 Language with clicks 77 ‘— Sera, Sera’ 78 40-cup brewer 79 Helps with a heist 80 Foal’s parent 81 Ticking off 82 Hot dish holder 83 Clay target games 85 Gambling stakes 86 Kitty’s greeting 88 Reimbursed 89 Cry of woe (2 wds) 90 Tortilla snack 91 Wind catchers 92 Tactic 93 Chore 94 Elevator pioneer 96 Wood paneling 97 River hazard 98 Plunder 100 Muser’s mumbling 101 Genghis — 102 Making ends meet 103 Brusque 106 Mouths, in biology 107 Picnic hampers

110 More uncanny 111 Lots and lots 112 Victim of Brutus 113 Hikes 114 18-wheelers 115 Luxurious 116 Dumpster locale 118 Protein-building acid 119 Groovy 120 Bird call

121 Lazy one 122 Very 123 Cluttered 125 Raison d’— 127 Take down — — 129 Crash, so to speak 133 NASA counterpart 135 August kid, maybe PREVIOUS PUZZLE ANSWER

CHAI TIME SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

STAR POWER Date 9-4-2012

As per Hindu panchang

THIRUVAIKUMAR

thiruvaikumar@yahoo.co.in 040-27177230 / 9949870449

TAURUS

GEMINI

Money as expected will come. Marriage talks will end favourably. Some have bright chances to buy a house of their own taste. You will take wise and bold decisions which will yield results.

New and well-crafted plans will succeed. Renovation of ancestral property will be taken up. Friends and relatives will extend help. Strong financial position likely. You will be physically active.

Expectations will be fulfilled without difficulties. Friendship with powerful persons likely. Court verdicts will go in favour. Blood relatives will help. Dream of buying a house will become reality.

CANCER

LEO

VIRGO

Though in certain issues you will be blamed and humiliated, you will get a courage to manage any sort of problem. VIP friends will support you. Cold war with spouse will be over.

You will follow a new path which will be smooth and lead you to success. You will demand and get your share in ancestral property. Daughter's marriage will be finalised with a good match.

You will plan and achieve big things. VIPs will help in solving major issues. Finance situation is satisfactory. In-laws will extend support. Some friends might create disturbances; stay away from them.

LIBRA

SCORPIO

SAGITTARIUS

You will start construction of your house, as bank loan gets sanctioned. Son will get a job with an MNC firm of repute and his choice. Businessmen might have to struggle hard but profit.

You will get a boost in your activities. Family will remain in a happy atmosphere. In-laws will extend their wholehearted support. Worries will disappear. Court verdicts will go in your favour.

You will understand intricacies of life and act accordingly. Friends and relatives will help. Obstacles in the way of marriage will go. Father's health will be alright. Property will come to you.

CAPRICORN

AQUARIUS

PISCES

You will take wise and bold decisions. With help of VIP friends, you will achieve plenty. Govt sops will come through. Expected money will come. Daughter's marriage will be finalised.

Health needs to be taken care of. Employees will get overburdened. Your talks will do the magic. Financial deficit will reduce. With help of VIPs, you admit your son to university of his choice.

Your approach will do the magic and works will progress. Persons in powerful posts will benefit enormously. Minor tensions to take place between couples, which can be managed by adjustment.

For Better or for Worse Stone soup

SUMAA TEKUR

tarotreadhyd@gmail.com

ARIES

TAURUS

GEMINI

Five of Cups – You’re feeling low and out of sorts because of a disappointment. Someone you trusted let you down. Move on; don’t get negative about anything.

Knight of Pentacles – Planning is key today. Keep some buffer time between appointments and account for delays and disappointments.

The Chariot – Travel is on the cards. This will be an important journey when you meet interesting people who make an impact on your future life course.

CANCER

LEO

VIRGO

Eight of Swords – Some bonds are being severed. But they may not be strong ties. You will be forced to give up some friends; they are negative.

Ace of Pentacles – This is the meeting of the left and right brains. You’re able to use your creativity and make it work in a largely structured format.

Nine of Swords – Some disappointment is indicated. You may be feeling let down by someone you trusted very deeply. Get over it and move on.

LIBRA

SCORPIO

SAGITTARIUS

Three of Cups – It’s celebration time! Be prepared for a string of good news to hit you, regarding work and also family life. Time to relax and undo the year’s stresses.

The Empress – You’re tied to some commitments you just cannot get out of. You feel strongly about the duty and responsibilities expected of you.

The Moon – Mood swings can make you irritable to others. Avoid being part of large or small groups, if you can. Stay by yourself and spend time alone.

CAPRICORN

AQUARIUS

PISCES

Ten of Wands – You’ve reached the end of a phase of your life. Though it has been fruitful, you’re exhausted and need a break before the next project.

Judgement – An international trip is possible in the next few weeks. Don’t get your hopes up too high. It may be a short trip with little down time.

The Sun – You’re bright and cheerful and this disposition wins you many friends. People come to you for advice because you are practical.

Funny but right answers

Ink pen

COMICS

Fred Basset

ARIES

TAROT READ Date 9-4-2012

In which battle did Napoleon die? A. His last battle. Q. Where was the Declaration of Independence signed? A. At the bottom of the page. Q. River Nile flows in which state? A. Liquid. Q. What is the main reason for divorce? A. Marriage. Q. What is the main reason for failure? A. Exams. Q. What can you never eat for breakfast? A. Lunch & dinner.

Q. What looks like half an apple? A. The other half. Q. If you throw a red stone into blue sea what will it become? A. It will simply become wet. Q. How can a man go eight days without sleeping? A. No probs, he sleeps at night. Q. How can you lift an elephant with one hand? A. You will never find an elephant that has only one hand. Q. How can u drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor without cracking it? A. Any way you want, concrete floors are very hard to crack.

Vol: 1, No 266 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

WACKY WORLD SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

World’s quietest place

he room at Orfield Laboratories in South Minneapolis is also known as the ‘anechoic chamber’, is 99.99 per cent sound absorbent. The double-insulated walls are made of steel and foot-thick concrete. In this quietest place on Earth you can actually hear your internal organs at work. And after a while, the hallucinations begin.

Made-to-measure penis warmers

Hire fake girlfriends for $5

roatian woman, Radmilla Kus, an avid knitter, hired a small army of knitters to knit these ‘willy warmers’. Winters in Croatia’s mountains are so severe that frostbite was a serious problem for men in the past, especially during long horse rides. So to avoid permanent damage to their genitals, the warmers, called “Nakurnjak” came into use. They were more popular in the mountain region where wives would knit penis warmers for their husbands.

Woman marries herself

I HAVE A JOB TO DO

irlfriendHire.com is a new website where you can hire a girl to do ‘girlfriend-type’ things for you at a cost of just $5. There are no ‘dirty’ services available though. The website targets tweens and teens, so typical girlfriend activities would include doing your homework, flirting on Facebook and making your friends jealous.

AFP/ JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN

adine Schweigert, 36, from North Dakota, got married last month. She had a beautiful wedding. Nadine was dressed in a peacock blue satin dress and carried a bouquet of white roses. The catch is there is no groom. Nadine married herself. Self-marriage can be a confusing concept to those who don’t know what it’s all about. Nadine isn’t alone, however, many others have done it before. These ceremonies are considered secular and purely symbolic.

Dancing with the dead - Famadihana

he people of Madagascar have a unique ritual to celebrate family ties called Famadihana, also known as ‘turning of the bones’. It is a festival celebrated every seven years or so, during which family crypts are opened up and the remains of dead ancestors are brought out to be wrapped in a new cloth. The Malagasy then dance with the corpses in great joy. Live music is played and animals are sacrificed. According to elders Famadihana is viewed as a day to show your family just how much you love them.

Mexico’s living jewellery

he Maquech Beetle is actually a live bejewelled insect. They are something of a fashion statement in Mexico. Gemstones and gold are glued on the beetle’s body in which sounds like a cruel process. The insects themselves are pretty harmless and docile, quite perfect to play the part of living jewellery. Each one has a decorative safety pin attached to it with a two-inchlong chain leash. When pinned to clothing, the beetles can wander around, but can never get away.

Ya Kwanza, a silverback gorilla male, stands in its enclosure ‘Gorilla's Camp’ at the Amneville zoo, eastern France, Ya Kwanza arrived with seven other gorillas from other western zoos, as part of a the European breeding of Endangered species Programme (EEP) to promote their breeding.

SUNDAY APRIL 8, 2012

METRE

6S 47

Dwayne Bravo (CSK)

5 4S133

Ajinkya Rahane (RR)

HIGHEST SCORE

Ajinkya Rahane (RR)

BEST BOWLER

5-16

Ravindra Jadeja (CSK)

ROYALS, KNIGHTS TO CLASH It's always good to be on the winning side. We were a bit rusty in the first match, but the boys executed the plans well today to put up a big score. We were not sure about the dew factor but we still thought [that a score of] 190 odd is a good score to defend [on this track]. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, CSK Captain

BRIEF SCORES: RCB VS DD

RCB 157/8 IN 20 OVERS (AB DE VILLIERS 64, DOUG BRACEWELL 3/32) BEAT DD 137/7 IN 20 OVERS (NAMAN OJHA 33, MURALITHARAN 3/25)

G APARNA SAI

feedback@postnoon.com

ollywod star and owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders side, Shahrukh Khan, would hope that his Knights in their shinning armours would go all out and annihilate the Rajasthan Royals when they clash today in Jaipur. The Kolkata Knight Riders, led by Gautam Gambhir, are yet to register a win in IPL this season. Having lost to Delhi Daredevils in their first match, KKR would eagerly be looking forward to changing the tide in their favour. KKR has always been a team with big names. It was earlier the home for players like Ganguly, Chris Gayle, David Hussey and Ricky Ponting to name a few. KKR is certainly one of the strongest teams on paper. The present squad also has players worth a mention like the skipper Gautam Gambhir, Jacques Kallis, Brett Lee and Yusuf Pathan. But

BRIEF SCORES:

KKR VS RR AT 4PM ON SET MAX ability to strike the ball hard and fast, he at the moment is certainly the fore- runner for the orange cap. Kolkata Knight Riders certainly thrashed Rajasthan Royals on both the occasions when they met last season. But do they have it in them to repeat their act, remains to be seen. INDRANIL MUKHERJEE / AFP

CSK VS DC

CSK 193/6 IN 20 OVERS (RAVINDRA JADEJA 48, DALE STEYN 2/25) BEAT DC 119 IN 17.1 OVERS (CAMERON WHITE 23, RAVINDRA JADEJA 5/16)

P W L T PT NR RR 1 1 0 0 2 1.55 PWI 1 1 0 0 2 1.4 CSK 2 1 1 0 2 1.272 RCB 1 1 0 0 2 1.0 MI 2 1 1 0 2 -0.16 DD 2 1 1 0 2 -0.33 KKR 1 0 1 0 0 -0.87 KXIP 1 0 1 0 0 -1.55 DC 1 0 1 0 0 -3.7 P-played; W-win; L-lost; T-tie; NR-net run rate; PT-points

The king of good times

CB played brilliantly in their opening match against DD last night. Having won with a comfortable margin of 20 runs, RCB seem to be on a roll. But will RCB face the same fate as their owner’s airlines or will they stay afloat, one will have to wait and see.

RAVEENDRAN / AFP

it is unclear if this side would be able to fire this time or take the same strides like on earlier occasions. Rajasthan Royals on the other hand would enter this game as a very confident side. Having dented blows to the Kings XI Punjab side, the Royals would hope to send the Knights running for cover. Unlike the KKR, the Rahul Dravid led side may seem like a team with a few superstar players but going but the unpredictable nature of the matches in IPL, it would not come as a surprise if RR emerges victorious. Ajinkya Rahane, would narrowly missed out on his century in the previous match, will be a player to watch out for. With his

POT-BELLIES FOR SECURITY

S PWI vs KXIP at 8pm on Set Max

Pune Warriors eye win on home turf RAJESH RAVINDRAN

rajesh.r@postnoon.com

ot many would have thought that Pune Warriors India could upset one of the strongest teams in the IPL and that too defending a meek total. They did. Some superb bowling from Ashok Dinda and support from spinners like Murali Karthik and Rahul Sharma proved big names don’t matter in this game. Yes it’s too early to judge but now those who had ruled them out till now have started

to recognise the Warriors. As the Warriors take on Kings XI Punjab in Pune, they will look forward to win this one too. It’s their home turf. And the weaknesses in Kings’ bowling were revealed when Ajinkya Rahane had a field day in Jaipur. Praveen’s bowling looked ineffective with reduced pace. He himself has admitted that there are problems with the white ball. “For the first few overs it’s manageable, but then both the new balls are an advantage to the batsmen,” he was quoted as saying by ESPN cricinfo. 0PWI will expect Robin Uthappa to perform. They may pick Tamim Iqbal to bolster the batting department.

ecurity concerns have always been prevalent in our country since we can remember; be it political rallies or religious gatherings or bollywood parties or high profile social get-togethers. There are a million reasons for us to have a proper ‘security system’. Cricket is no exception in this case. With the craze and emotional attachment that surrounds this sport in our country, security at stadiums is of utmost priority. IPL being a major tournament in India and with high profile people gracing the matches, security at such events is supposed to be of the highest grade. But one look at the security personel and one wonders how good they really are. The people they protect (mainly the players) maintain the highest amount of fitness with well sculpted bodies and high levels of stamina and strength but when it comes to their protectors, what is there level of fitness, strength and agilities. With most of the cops at the IPL matches sporting pot-bellies, one wonders about their efficiency. Would they be able to run behind culprits or will they inability to chase help the guilty roam scot-free? Guess it is ‘zyaada’ pet-pooja before fitness for them.

PLAYER OF THE DAY RAVINDRA JADEJA: Million-dollarboy, Ravindra Jadeja, certainly showed the world that he was worth every penny spent on him when he was awarded the man of the match for his exceptional performance in the match between Chennai Super Kings and Deccan Chargers last night. Jadeja hammered 48 runs of just 29 deliveries, an innings which saw him hit three sixes and three fours. Not only did he torment the Deccan Chargers bowlers, he went on to trouble the batsmen as well. The 23-year-old all-rounder scalped five wickets giving away just 16 runs from his quota of four overs. He was well supported by team-mates Dwayne Bravo and Badrinath. While the remaining participating teams would be hope that they do not have to face the misery that the Deccan Chargers were made to, it was certainly a whistle podu day for this young lad

SPORTS SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

Lorenzo pips Stoner for pole DOHA: Spain’s Jorge Lorenzo (right), riding a Yamaha, clinched pole position for Sunday’s season-opening, floodlit Qatar MotoGP on Saturday after clocking the fastest time in qualifying. Lorenzo was 0.221sec faster than reigning world champion Casey Stoner of Australia, on a Honda, and 0.388sec ahead of fellow Yamaha rider, Cal Crutchlow of Britain.

Lorenzo, the 2010 world champion, recorded the 45th pole of his career and 18th in the elite MotoGP class. His performance represented a stunning turnaround in his fortunes in Qatar after Stoner had dominated the first two practice sessions before Lorenzo clocked the fastest lap in the third session of practice on Friday. Four-times a winner in Qatar in the 125cc and 250cc classes,

Serena sends Stosur packing

Shock & Oar on the River Thames Danny Kemp

LONDON: Britain’s historic Boat Race was dramatically disrupted Saturday when a wetsuit-clad protester swam across the River Thames, before Cambridge claimed a controversial victory over rivals Oxford. Trenton Oldfield caused a halfhour hiatus in the race between England’s two oldest universities, which is in now its 158th year. After the race was restarted there was fresh chaos when the two crews clashed and one of Oxford’s oars snapped off. The team’s desperate, abortive efforts to recover caused one of their rowers to collapse as they crossed the finish line, although Oxford boat club president Karl Hudspith later said he “is conscious and will hopefully be OK”. Hudspith blamed the protester for Oxford’s defeat.

Lorenzo will be on the front row in Doha for the ninth time. But Stoner cannot be written off with the Australian having won four times in the MotoGP division in his six visits to the Losail circuit. “I am really happy with tonight’s result. I had to push more than 100% to make pole position but I pushed to the limit and managed to make a perfect lap,” said Lorenzo.

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA: Serena Williams,

(Top) The Oxford University team; (above) Cambridge University’s team takes part in the 58th annual Oxford and Cambridge University Boat Race on the river Thames. Cambridge went on to win the race. AFP/LEON NEAL

Windies grind down Oz Graham Davis

BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS: A slow Kensington Oval pitch and three dropped catches helped the West Indies make a solid start against Australia on the opening day of the first Test on Saturday. When rain curtailed the action, the home side were 179 for 3 with the backbone of the score being a century second-wicket partnership between Kraigg Brathwaite (left) and Kirk Edwards. Having won the toss, the West Indies’ openers made a

steady start and the initial breakthrough for Australia didn’t come until the 18th over. Siddle was probably the pick of a pace attack that had kept things tight all day and he was rewarded when Brathwaite played one loose shot too many. Steady rain arrived with 17 overs left in the day and with the light getting worse the umpires called an early end. Windies are aiming for their first Test win against Australia for nine years and their first series win over the visitors in 19 years.

playing what she called one of the best matches of her career, steamrolled Samantha Stosur 61, 6-1 on Saturday to reach the WTA’s Charleston final. Williams needed just 59 minutes to subdue the second-seeded Australian, who beat the American in the US Open final last September but has now lost to her twice in two events. In Sunday’s final on the green clay court at Charleston, the fifth-seeded American will face ninth-seeded Czech Lucie Safarova, who notched her own lopsided semi-final win, 6-0, 6-0 over Slovenia’s Polona Hercog. “I have to say, this is probably the best match I’ve played in my career, either in a long time or it’s up there in the top five,” said Williams, owner of 13 Grand Slam titles and 39 singles titles overall. “It was one of those days I could have done anything against anybody,” added Williams, who belted 29 winners. “It didn’t really seem to matter what I did,” said Stosur, who won the Charleston title in 2010. “She came out with the goods every time.” Williams improved to 6-3 overall against Stosur, including a straight-sets victory in Miami 11 days ago in which Williams fired 20 aces. Williams had a relatively sedate seven aces on Saturday, but that was plenty to prevent Stosur from becoming just the eighth player to beat both Williams sisters in the same tournament.

SPORTS SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

Hanson approach, Major pay off? Peter Hanson produced golf of supreme quality to card a tournament-best seven-under 65 and stood at nine-under par, one stroke clear of fan favourite Phil Mickelson Leaderboard

FINAL ROUND n n n n n n

Kelly Kraft, Stewart Cink Edoardo Molinari, Robert Karlsson Trevor Immelman, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano Bo Van Pelt, Scott Verplank Thomas Bjorn, Luke Donald Bill Haas, Patrick Cantlay

n Charl Schwartzel, Martin

Kaymer n n n

David Toms, Martin Laird Anders Hansen, Ross Fisher Rickie Fowler, Keegan Bradley

n Angel Cabrera, Steve

Stricker

-9 Peter Hanson (Sweden) -8 Phil Mickelson -7 Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa) -6 Bubba Watson -5 Matt Kuchar -4 Hunter Mahan Padraig Harrington (Ireland) Henrik Stenson (Sweden) Lee Westwood (England)

n Zach Johnson,

n Vijay Singh, Tiger Woods n n n n

Allan Kelly

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA: Sweden’s Peter Hanson emerged as the third-round leader of the Masters at Augusta National on Saturday after a day of high drama and fluctuating fortunes. The 34-year-old World No. 25 produced golf of supreme quality to card a tournament-best seven-under 65 and stood at nine-under par, one stroke clear of fan favorite Phil Mickelson, who covered the back nine in six-under 30, one shy of the tournament record. A stroke further back at seven under came South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen after he had a 69 while Bubba Watson of the

Adam Scott, Yang Yong-Eun Kevin Chappell, Kevin Na Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell Hideki Matsuyama, Miguel Angel Jimenez

Selected others -2 Nick Watney -1 Jim Furyk Sergio Garcia (Spain) E Justin Rose (England) Webb Simpson +1 Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) +2 Adam Scott (Australia) +3 Tiger Woods +4 Steve Stricker +6 Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) Martin Kaymer (Germany) +7 Luke Donald (England)

Aaron

Baddeley

Scott Stallings, Geoff Ogilvy Charles Howell Sergio Garcia, Webb Simpson Jim Furyk, Jonathan Byrd Brandt Snedeker, Bae SangMoon

n Justin Rose, n n n

n Jason Dufner, Fred Couples n n

Peter Hanson acknowledges the gallery after completing the third round of the 76th Masters golf tournament at Augusta. AFP/ROBYN BECK

Nick Watney, Ben Crane Fredrik Jacobson, Sean O’Hair

n Francesco Molinari, Ian

Poulter n Lee Westwood,

United States was on six under after a 70. Matt Kuchar (70) was on five under with four players -Hunter Mahan of the United States (68), Henrik Stenson of Sweden (70), Lee Westwood of England (72) and Padraig Harrington of Ireland (68) -- all on four under. On a day of perfect playing conditions, eight players shared the lead at different stages drawing huge roars of appreciation from the big galleries assembled for the occasion. Tiger Woods fired a par 72 and, at three over, his chances of winning a fourth green jacket are doomed, standing 12 strokes off the pace. Rory McIlroy, one back from the leaders at the start of the day, was stunned by two doublebogey sixes on the front nine as

he went out in a jaw-dropping 42 that brought back dark memories of his closing 80 here last year. He steadied the ship somewhat down the back nine but his total of 77 left him at two over and out of contention. Hanson, who played with Mickelson in the first two rounds, is one of the quiet men of golf, but after bogeying the first he made all the right sounds as he rattled off eight birdies, including the last two holes, to leap up the leaderboard. It is only the Ryder Cup player’s second Masters, having missed the cut last year. Asked what he would need to manage on Sunday he replied: “Emotions, of course. That’s going to be the biggest thing. “This is kind of a new situation to me, being in the spotlight

like this, and playing the last group. “So it’s going to be about controlling my emotions and trying to be in the present and trying to play the same kind of golf that I’ve been doing today.” The 41-year-old Mickelson, though, was clearly the big story of the day for the Augusta National faithful who flocked to his side. The three-time former winner in 2004, 2006 and 2010 started the day three strokes behind coleaders Freddie Couples and Jason Dufner and he got little going early on with nine straight pars down the front side. But, similar to the Saturday round in 2010 when he last won the Masters, Mickelson fired on all cyclinders going round Amen Corner after the turn. Oosthuizen, aiming to make

Paul Lawrie Henrik

n Padraig Harrington,

Stenson n Matt Kuchar, Hunter Mahan n Louis Oosthuizen, Bubba

Watson n Peter Hanson, Phil

Mickelson it back-to-back wins for South Africa after Charl Schwartzel’s victory last year, had a chance to draw level with Hanson at the last but instead of the birdie he needed he got a bogey after a poor approach. “I felt in control of my swing which always helps,” he said. “I felt calm and just wanted to put myself close to the leaders and have a go at it tomorrow.” Woods mounted a brief mini-charge early on, but quickly fell back.

SPORTS SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

Blues snatch late winner J

NITED KINGDOM, Manchester : Manchester City’s Italian manager Roberto Mancini (R) walks past Manchester City’s Argentinian striker Carlos Tevez after the English Premier League football match between Manchester City and Sunderland at The Etihad stadium in Manchester, north-west England on March 31, 2012. AFP PHOTO/PAUL ELLIS.

Mancini still hopeful LONDON: Roberto Mancini admits

Manchester City’s title challenge will be over if they fail to win at Arsenal on Sunday, but the Italian doesn’t expect his side to surrender just yet. With Manchester United’s game against QPR finishing before City take to the pitch at the Emirates Stadium, Mancini’s men could be eight points behind the defending Premier League champions by the time they kick off. Mancini concedes that would be too big a gap for City to close if they don’t beat Arsenal, but he remains positive his players will make United sweat right until the end of the season. City dropped off the top for the first time in five months after defeat

at Swansea and draws with Stoke and Sunderland in what could prove to be a costly March. However, Mancini won’t give up hope with seven games to go in the title race. “If we lose against Arsenal and they beat QPR, yes,” Mancini said when asked if the title race would be over. “But I can say I am proud of what the players have done in this championship. We were on the top for a long time and we have been fighting with United until now. “I think we have improved as a team, in the Premier League title. I think we have improved a lot as a team but it is not finished now. I don’t believe this championship is finished.

“If United win all their games, congratulations they deserved to win the title. But seven games from the end I think anything can happen. We lost four points in two games. It can happen to them.” While Mancini remains positive, he also hinted that tiredness could be a factor in City’s recent slump. “After seven months it could be that we have some players tired but it is not only us,” he said. “The other teams have tired players. In this moment it is important to be strong.” Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has warned City a draw will not be good enough for them this weekend. “What is for sure is that a draw for them is not good enough certainly,” Wenger said.

Leo takes tally to 60 MADRID: Lionel Messi

Barcelona’s Argentinian forward Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring a goal against Real Zaragoza. Barcelona won 1-4. AFP/LLUIS GENE

became the first player in almost 40 years to score 60 goals in a single European top-flight season after a brace helped Barcelona come from behind to beat 10-man Zaragoza 4-1 on Saturday. Messi’s 23 goals from the last 12 games has helped him arrive at the landmark 60 figure, the first time since Gerd Muller scored 67 goals in the 1972-73 season for Bayern Munich. With a minimum of nine games still to play in the league and cup, 24year-old Messi has the German’s record well within his sights.

Barca’s victory on Saturday also helped the champions slash Real Madrid’s lead to three points with Jose Mourinho’s side facing a tough April schedule, starting against thirdplaced Valencia on Sunday. After that comes the Madrid derby against Atletico and the El Clasico showdown with Barca also to feature. Relegation-haunted Zaragoza took advantage of a slow start from Barca with Carlos Aranda heading them in front in the 30th minute after earlier missing a penalty.

uan Mata’s last-gasp winner moved Chelsea to within two points of the top four after Branislav Ivanovic’s controversial opener set them on course for a 2-1 win over Wigan on Saturday. Mata found himself in the right place at the right time to turn home from close range after Fernando Torres had fired a volley against the post in the third minute of stoppage-time at Stamford Bridge. But it was Chelsea’s first goal that sparked a furious reaction from Wigan, who were convinced the Serb was well offside when his turned home a Raul Meireles cross. Referee Mike Jones ignored the protests of the visitors and awarded the goal after consulting

with his assistant, although replays supported Wigan’s claims that they had been hard done by. Wigan’s misery didn’t end there and they left empty-handed after believing they had secured a deserved point after Mohamed Diame’s 82nd minute effort had cancelled out Ivanovic’s 62nd minute strike. Chelsea are now up to fifth, above Newcastle on goal difference, and within two points of fourth placed Arsenal, who host Manchester City on Sunday. The midweek Champions League quarter-final win over Benfica had kept the Blues’ recent impressive run going and set up the tantalising prospect of a semi-final meeting with Barcelona.