Postnoon E-Paper for 10 December 2012 by Scribble Media & Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

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HYDERABAD’S FIRST COMPACT AFTERNOON NEWSPAPER

THE RACE IS ON

KCR SPRINTS FOR While other parties are still finding their moorings, the TRS, headed by K Chandrasekhar Rao, has decided to not wait for the whistle and sprint for the General Election.

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MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

city events

THE KABUL CARDS

This documentary by Sahar Fetrat, Sadaf Fetrat and Nargis Azaryun, about the daily life in Kabul, beyond violence and terrorism, will be screened by University Of Hyderabad Club For Indian Movies & Documentaries at Hyderabad Central University on December 10.

Weather for Hyderabad

Evening

Overnight

23°C

17°C Mostly clear

Clear

Morning

Afternoon

23°C

32°C

Mix of sun and cloud

Sunny with cloudy periods

New Delhi Mumbai Max 24 Max 28 Min 11 Min 20 Mostly sunny, clear at night

Chennai Max 29 Min 22

Sunny, clear skies

Bangalore Max 27 Min 16

Mostly sunnt

Clear skies

AROUND THE CITY: YOUR GUIDE TO THE TWIN CITIES When: December 3-January 6

SHOWS

Music workshop There is a 3-day workshop on Hindustani classical music and ghazal singing by Ustad Rajkumar Rizvi Sutradhar and Naadbrah. Where: 3-6-145/9/1/1, Himayatnagar When: December 12-14 6:30pm-10pm Contact: 77990 00792

Sound of Music This musical drama is the theatre version of the 1965 classic performed by Oakridge International School. Where: Shilpa Kala Vedika, Near Cyber Towers, Hitec City When: December 11, 7pm onwards Contact: 93965 55888

Handloom exhibition Pochampally Handloom Park is organizing IKAT Mela, exhibiting handloom linen, dress material and saris. Where: State Gallery of fine Arts , Department of Culture, Kavuri Hills, Madhapur When: 13-16 December from 6-9:30pm Contact: 98488 42471

The last Christmas The last Christmas, a large-scale production featuring live singing, dancing and acting, is the heart-warming story of Retired Gen Roy who recounts his seven favourite Christmases. Where: RNR auditorium, Banjara Hills, Rd No 12 When: December 8, 9 and 10 Contact: (040) 6515 7558 Célimène and the Cardinal Alliance Française of Hyderabad & Qadir Ali Baig theatre foundation present Célimène and the Cardinal by Jacques Rampal. Where: Nift Auditorium, Madhapur When: December 11, 7pm onwards Contact: (040) 2355 4485

DINING Moplah Magic Moplan cuisine, form Kerala, will be

ALADDIN–THE MUSICAL: A mega cultural event was held at Nasr school, Khairatabad, on December 9. This interS BALAKRISHNA active play was about Aladdin and the evil magician Jafar, and the triumph of good over evil. served with Arabic and Samarkandi touches. Where: Dakshin, Begumpet When: December 10-16 Contact: (040) 2340 0132

play, along with his invention, “ecofriendly clay.” Where: The Rainbow Art Gallery, Paryatak Bhavan When: Upto December 12 Contact: 99596 31898

1 Night 2 Give There is a gala dinner to raise funds for the “Girl child education” campaign. It will be launched by activist Amala Akkineni. Where: Park Hyatt Hyderabad, Road No 2, Banjara Hills When: December 12, 7pm onwards Contact: (040) 4949 1234

Tales of an idyllic world Alliance Française, Hyderabad, is hosting an exhibition of paintings: Tales of an Idyllic World by Bala Abhiram. Where: Alliance Francaise, Banjara Hills, Rd No 3 When: Upto December 14 from 9am Contact: (040) 2355 4485

ART Art exhibition Works of K Muralidhar will be on dis-

Commissioner & Spl Officer

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

198 155313

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

155333 23431178 23431179

MUNICIPAL CORPORATION

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

Po10tial A show of recent works by various artists like Anand Bekwan, Jinson Jospeh and Maredu Ramu.

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

155313 23307328 23313163

27505566 23314095 23390933 24600146 27001134 23607777 30418888 30417777 30419000 30416666 39879999

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

Where: Kalakrithi Art Gallery, Rd No 10, Banjara Hills When: Ongoing, 11am onwards Contact: (040) 6656 4466

MISCELLANEOUS Treasure Hunt Amar Chitra Katha is organizing a treasure hunt for kids. Where: Landmark, KMC Retail Mall, Somajiguda When: December 15 2pm onwards Contact: 88855 10382

Story Writing Contest Annapurna International School of Film and Media has launched the preliminary phase National Level Story writing Competition. It is open to both UG and graduate students. Where: www.script2screen.in When: Before December 10

Photo competition Alliance Francaise, Hyderabad, is conducting a photo competition. The theme is Professions of the world. Where: http://hyderabad.afindia.org

27567892 23559555 23226624 27633087 27035588 27550238 30799999 30418296 30417445

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

Public speaking workshop There is a four-day workshop on effective public speaking. Where: Media Junction, Parthani Towers, , Golconda Cross Roads, Musheerabad When: 13-16 December from 6-9:30pm Contact: 98488 42471

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

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

24523211 232431300/7641 24521029

Readers’ views

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

MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

City

YESTERDAY’S QUESTION

ARE HINDU-MUSLIM TENSIONS OVER BABRI PURELY POLITICAL? 76% 24%

YES (A) NO (B)

TODAY’S QUESTION

WERE MPS WHO MISSED FDI VOTING PLOTTING WITH CONGRESS? A)

YES

To vote visit www.postnoon.com

CRIME

Teenager dies mysteriously Mohd SUBHAN mohd.s@postnoon.com

olice are investigating the mysterious death of a 15-year-old girl and the prime suspect is the mother. Neighbours told the police that the victim, Neha, a student of Arabic school in Jalpally, was hale and healthy only a week ago. But her mother and her paramour suddenly spread the news of her death and within hours, the mother managed to bury her. Pahadi Shareef police are now preparing to exhume the body and conduct post mortem. Forensic experts have been summoned to conduct the examination to find

out the cause of her death. The story of Neha, as revealed by the police, runs like this: Neha’s mother, Shabnam, and her father, Sarwar, came from Maharashtra about two decades ago. They settled in Falaknuma. After a while, the couple quarrelled and it ended in a divorce. With the man gone, Shabnam turned to selling footwear for a living. She then came in contact with another man, Shanu. They married and started living together. Neha objected to this man, who tried to patronise the young step-daughter. After some time, trouble brewed between the man and wife and he too left Shabnam. But he began to frequent the house afterward and Neha

vehemently protested against her mother’s way of life. But the mother wanted no talking back by her daughter and the two used to quarrel almost every day on this issue. On November 30, Neha is said to have had a bout of quarrel at night before she went into her room to sleep. Next day, her mother told the neighbours that her daughter suddenly died due to some illness. What made the neighbours suspicious, said Sub Inspector B Vikram Singh, was not just the mysterious death, but the lack of remorse or sorrow in mother and the man who frequented her home. The duo are under observation. If there is enough evidence, they will be arrested.

The ‘remorseless’ mother and her lover are under observation, police say.

city MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

DRUNK DRIVING

LAST YEAR... HERE A long bridge to nowhere

Crème de la crème caught drunk driving

ast year we had reported how the GHMC was struggling to meet expenses with its coffers half empty. If the Corporation had promptly collected property tax they would be able to meet the deﬁcit. However, a few months later the GHMC was rolling in riches because it did just that — collected property tax. While they yet have to cover a lot more, it was a start.

DECEMBER 10, 2011

Of the 10,000-odd people pulled up for drunk driving, most of them were bigwigs.

NUMEROLOGY

Percentages of people booked

22%

Govt employees Software employees Private employees Businessmen Blue collar workers Students Retired employees Note: Again, barring an insignificant number of women, all were men.

is the percentage by which the market for organic food products has grown in the last five years in the City. Despite that farmers have no branding or financial aid.

Most of the foods we eat have two to 74 times more pesticide residue than the maximum permissible limit. Organic products have more nutrients. KS Datta, Sresta See page 6

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

Mother’s love may not always be unconditional. The recent case where a mother is suspected of having murdered her daughter so she could live with her paramour goes to show that sometimes love is not enough.

Bigwigs are high on the list of offenders for DUI. Of the 10,000 people pulled up for DUI, many of them are the City’s movers and shakers. A ﬁne example to set for the society.

KCR pulls up his socks, guns for General Elections. KCR seems to have woken from his stupor and is now going all out to ensure that the party is in a good place ahead of the 2014 elections.

GHMC works are nothing but an eyewash. How else can you explain the presence of civic engineers on sites who have no equipment. Not even a measuring tape!

It is a grossly misunderstood drink. Contradiciting popular perception about cognac being had neat only, Vincent Cleme says it can be had like any spirit.

1.04 14.23 16.13 27.86 35.74 4.83 0.13.

known lawyers practising in High Court, eight doctors, seven cine artistes and several showbiz men. Police officials say the blood alcohol content (BAC) per 100 ml was above 400 mg while the permissible level is 30 mg per

M NAZIMUDDIN md.nazim@postnoon.com

CAMPAIGN

he intensive campaign against drunk driving in the City in the outgoing year has brought out startling facts. Postnoon dissected the scene and found that many of those caught for the offence of driving after a liberal intake of liquor are well-placed professionals, not semi-literate drivers. Among the worthies are doctors, film personalities, businessmen, High Court lawyers, rich kids of shakers and movers. Of the 10,000 odd people pulled up after the breath analyser accused them are executives from the lower-rung to the top level. Nearly 107 of those apprehended were highlyplaced government employees, 1,658 were executives, 2,864

were influential businessmen and 497 were students. But what was disconcerting was the fact that the arraigned included 15 advocates, four of them well Shradha Das, actress

Voices Chaitanya Krishna, actor

lease don’t drink and drive. You are not only putting your life in peril but others’ lives too. It may not seem like a big deal for many of us but the consequences, once things go wrong, are terrible. Let’s face it; we can never be sure of what we are doing while driving under the inﬂuence of liquor.

n Mumbai when people party and get drunk they either take a cab or take help from party drivers. I had a terrible accident when I was in class XII. My friend was driving the car. I used to be thrilled by the speed but I realised later that it was stupid. At the end of the day I was paralysed for three months. A few minutes of carelessness can ruin your life and others’ as well.

Nearly 107 of those apprehended were highly-placed government employees, 1,658 were executives. 100 mg of blood. Sought his response, a leading medical practitioner Dr Ram Mohan said, “India is a maledominated country, the youth are more susceptible to this as they suddenly feel relaxed. But it is an escape from the reality.” Dr Akun Sabharwal, DCP, who happens to be a qualified doctor too, said, “Everyone should follow the law. Some efforts are made now to make the law foolproof so nobody can break it”. An RTA official said when one crosses the limit, he should hire the services of a driver or summon a relative to drive him home. It is a prudent step.

NEWS BRIEFS Flight to Bangalore diverted to City

Kavitha lampoons CM TDP crisis deepens, over all party meet delay Sujana resigns

Mopidevi seeks bail to go to Sabarimala

British Airways flight from London to Bangalore was diverted to Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport yesterday due to bad weather conditions in Bangalore. The flight was forced to stay put in Hyderabad for one full day. The British Airways flight, a Boeing 747, eventually left for Bangalore today at 8.57am.

he president of Telangana Jagruthi, K Kavitha condemned Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy’s request to the centre seeking postponement of the all party meeting on the Telangana issue that had been scheduled for December 28. She jibbed at the CM saying it was a meeting of leaders of various parties and not of chief ministers.

DP was in neck deep crisis after the voting on FDIs. The reason was the three TDP Rajya Sabha members, T Devender Goud, Gundu Sudha Rani and Sujana Chowdhari abstained from voting, attracting severe criticism. Responding to the unexpected criticism within the party, Sujana Chowdhari tendered his resignation on Sunday.

opidevi Venktaramana, who is currently in jail in connection with the illegal assets case, has moved the CBI court for a bail to go on a pilgrimage to Sabarimala. He has sought nine days starting from December 24 so he may go on the pilgrimage. He has been going for the pilgrimage for the past 19 years. Court direction is awaited.

city MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

POLITICS

KCR runs fast for 2014 trophy While other parties are still finding their moorings, the TRS, headed by K Chandrasekhar Rao, has decided to not wait for the whistle and run fast for the General Election.

INKESHAF AHMED ahmed.m@postnoon.com

repeat it,” Party senior leader and MLA K Eeswar said. As part of the plan, the party has appointed four new district party presidents. Interestingly, two of these presidents are former legislators of the party. Apart from this, the party has strategically leaked out the names of its prospective candidates for various Assembly and Lok Sabha segments to find out response of its cadres. The names of the party leaders D Sravan Kumar, G Jagadeeswar Reddy, K Srinivas Yadav, B Rammohan are doing the rounds. All these leaders are serving the party.

he separate Telangana champion, the TRS, which recently launched a mass contact programme called Palle Baata with the sole aim of strengthening itself across the entire Telangana region, seems to be gearing up for the next General Elections. The party has primarily decided to announce party candidates' names to be fielded during the next General Elections both for the State Assembly and Parliament. The idea of the party is to achieve three goals with a single shot. The first among this is to prevent growing grumblings among the majority of the party leaders who have sacrificed everything for the growth of the party by fielding them as party candidates. Announcement of party candidates in advance will also help the party to encourage the candidates to begin their work to ensure victory. The second objective is to accommodate senior leaders, who did not have the calibre of winning an election. By appointing them in suitable party posts or promising them to offer nomi-

KAVITHA TO JOIN TRS

nated posts like MLC after the election, the party has stemmed the possible revolt. The third objective is to checkmate any attempts of the rival political parties like Congress, TDP and YSR Congress to forge a pre-poll alliance. "Our party president KCR had already set up a target

The most important name doing the rounds as the prospective party candidate is the name K Kavitha, daughter of KCR.

of winning 100 assembly and 16 MP seats on our own in the entire Telangana region in the next General Elections. It would not be possible if we have an alliance with any other political party and would lead to a similar result what we experienced during the 2009 General Elections. We do not want to

The most important name doing the rounds as the prospective party candidate is K Kavitha, KCR’s daughter. Kavitha shot to fame with her active role in the ongoing separate Telangana agitation as the head of Telangana Jagruthi, a Voluntary organisation formed to create the awareness among the people about Telangana culture and heritage. According to sources, Kavitha will formally join the party before announcement of her name. She is planning to contest assembly election from Nizambad seat.

POLITICS

Worried Cong to self appraise soon YSRC’s psychological war on Congress causes concern as it can’t afford to lose more MLAs. POSTNOON NEWS feedback@postnoon.com

midst the reports of continuous decline of its image and once old allies gunning for its defeat, the ruling Congress is going to hold another brainstorming session on December 16. The meeting is being held at LB Stadium, where the former Chief Minister YS Rajashekar Reddy took oath of office twice after steering the Congress to victory in 2004 and 2009 General Elections. Preceding this, the Congress Party’s coordination panel is meeting on December 15 to take stock of the latest political situation in the aftermath of the Central government’s decision to hold an all-party meeting on the

contentious issue of a separate Telangana later this month, and the impact of opposition political parties’ Padayatras across the State. The coordination panel meeting will be chaired by a Central minister it is learnt Minister and AICC AP incharge Ghulam Nabi Azad, CM N Kiran Kumar Reddy, APCC president Botsa Satyanarayana are among the panel. The most important worry causing the ruling party is the continuous desertion of leaders from its fold to the rival YSR Congress in recent times. Adding fuel to fire, YSR Congress MLA B Karunakar Reddy has announced that a total of 15 Congress MLAs are in constant touch with them and ready to switch the loyalties at

any time. “The situation is very fluid in the Congress. We don't know who would stay in the party and who will jump into the YSR

Congress. We will try to find out an alternative during our meeting," the party MLA R Padmaraju told Postnoon in an interview.

Another party leader and former BC commission member V Krishnamohan Rao reasoned that many of these leaders are leaving the party as they are not properly accommodated. He cited the example of nominated posts still lying vacant. Apart from the organisational issues, the conference is likely to throw some light on the stand of Congress on separate Telangana issue. Though, the PCC president Botsa Satyanarayanna claimed that would not discuss on the issue of presenting party's stand during the all-party meet proposed to be held by the UPA government, a section of party leaders have publicly demanded the party to make its stand clear by supporting the separate Telangana state formation.

city MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

GHMC

‘Lazy’ engineers get an earful

The commissioner, during a recent visit to a work site along with the mayor, was surprised to find that the GHMC engineers didn’t even carry measuring tape with them. Md NIZAMUDDIN nizamuddin.a@postnoon.com

hat else could have been more ironical than the presence of GHMC engineers on their work sites sans their tools and equipment during a recent visit by mayor and the commissioner? To the utter dismay of the commissioner MT Krishna Babu who has been doing his best to bring about a change in work culture it was observed that all officials and engineers of South Zone came as ‘officials.’ One of the much publicised visits of this month and after CoP works would be remembered amongst the GHMC employees. Even as the commissioner was frantically trying to clear red tape he found himself helpless as none of the accompanying assistant engineers had even a mea-

suring tape or a scale when they presented at the work sites. Unlike the inspections during the CoP, the commissioner took time to thoroughly peruse the

works. With several of the projects compromised on quality, Krishna Babu found the omission unpardonable. He took to

task officials and pointed out that they had indeed been neglecting their duty. He asked as to how the engineers completely relied on the contractors

without properly inspecting and knowing what was happening on the field. For instance, the murky nallah works at Akbarbagh looked like a hacker’s job. Babu demanded immediate completion of the bridge. The delay, informed the local corporator, was due to the delay in payment. The revelation highlighted the basic predicament of the corporation — lack of coordination between head office and Zone. Echoing the opinion the Mayor Majid Hussain, also asked the officials to disburse the checks and to acquire the remaining lands within 15 days. With the commissioner asking the engineers to take up the issue of road widening as a special drive near Phisalbanda, people would have to keep their fingers crossed as to how the engineers would end up.

FOOD

‘Costly’ organic food deters consumers ANUBHA K SINGH anubha.k@postnoon.com

oday, the urge to spend a perfect day at work and home consumes us, ensuring that a normal day is anything but normal. Organic food gives hope in such times, with its promise of great health. In recent years, Hyderabad's organic food market has charted remarkable growth. But one thing that is saddening is it’s still out of the reach for a middle class family. The market of organic product has grown by 20 to 22 per cent in last five years. The demand for the products had increased a lot but the major problems that farmers face are no branding, financial aid or any kind of help from the government. “There is no doubt that the demand for organic products has grown. But then the products are

still out of reach for a middleclass family and the reason is the price. The products are 10 to 30 per cent higher than the normal products,” said Mukesh Kumar, Balaji Supermarket. “In Hyderabad, the organic products are sold only in exclusive organic stores and that’s the reason it is far from the reach of many customers. These products should also be available in local kirana stores and supermarkets with affordable prices. But for that the government needs to take steps,” he added. “It’s scary but most of the foods we eat now a day have two to 74 times more pesticide residue than the maximum permissible limit. Organic products are proven to have more nutrients, proteins, minerals, vitamins and antioxidants,” said KS Datta, consultant, Sresta, Natural Bioproducts Pvt Ltd.

“We all know that organic food is good for health and its cost is more, and one of the major reasons is that organic farmers do not receive any subsidies like conventional farmers get. The price of conventional food does not reflect the cost of environ-

Pick

mental cleanups that we pay for through our tax. Organic farming is more labour and management intensive. Organic farms are usually smaller than conventional farms and do not benefit from the economies of scale that larger growers get,” Datta said.

at the

Many organic farming schemes like National Project on Organic Farming (NPOF), National Horticulture Mission (NHM) and Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) were launched to promote organic products, but the results are yet to be seen. “Organic product is not affordable. If a household shifts completely to organic food products, their monthly budget will easily cost them `3,000 to `4,000 more,” said, Sunita Raj, customer at 24 Letter Mantra. But organic shop owners say that the products are costly as they bear greater risk of growing by avoiding pesticides. In addition to it, they need to pay per unit transport cost as their volumes are much smaller when compared to transport of conventional product and there is zero help from the government.

airport,

classifieds MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012 HEALTH/ CLINIC

INTERVIEW

A drink to remember

Vincent Cleme, brand ambassador for Louis XIII cognac, waxes eloquent about the rare drink. S BALAKRISHNA

RAJESH RAVINDRAN rajesh.r@postnoon.com

DEALER

ognac. The word brings to mind a picture of someone comfortably ensconced in a sofa by the fire, with the dog by his or her feet, reading a book while taking sips from a balloon snifter glass. Even if not in pictures, our notions of cognac are varied: It’s something to be had after dinner, it’s a seasonal drink, it’s to be had in winter, it may not be mixed, but should be had neat… but the truth is these are notions — to be precise, myths — that hold no water. “There are some cognacs like that, but there are many others that can be consumed like any other spirit,” said the brand ambassador for Remy Martin, Vincent Cleme, who was in town for the promotion of Louis XIII, a very, very rare cognac, at Park Hyatt. “For instance, it’s said cognac may not be mixed with anything, but should be had neat. But the fact is that you may mix it with any juice like any other spirit and the result is wonderful. I like cognac with ginger ale.” Indians are mostly lovers of whiskey and beer. But Cleme believes that by dispelling the myths about cognac, it can find admirers here. “I have come across many people here and abroad who had wrong ideas about cognac. There were

many lovers of the single malt who said they would stick to that. There were many who thought it would be too strong. But I have been able to win them over with Louis XIII.” Cleme said the single malt lovers were surprised when they tried it, and those who thought it would be too strong were equally so, “because they found it very smooth”.

So what’s special about Louis XIII? “It’s made from eaux de vie that has been aged a 100 years,” Cleme said, with gravity. Eaux de vie, which translates from French to “water of life”, is a clear, colourless fruit brandy that is produced by means of fermentation and double distillation. The tale goes that Paul Emile

Remy Martin in 1874 decided that he would make cognac from the eaux de vie that’s been in the family cellar for a 100 years. These were being saved up as dowry for his daughters. Perhaps he had more than that required for the original purpose and so he decided to make cognac with it. Cleme calls it with reverence: “An act of genius”.

CRIME

Brothel raid yields gold, cash Three pimps and two customers were arrested. Five sex workers were sent to a rescue shelter. Mohd SUBHAN mohd.s@postnoon.com

To advertise on this page, contact: 9866074747

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he task force on Saturday night conducted a surprise raid at a house at Kamsali Bazar where flesh trade allegedly flourished since a year or so. At the time of the police barging into the brothel, the house had five sex workers, all from West Bengal, three male pimps and two customers. Searches yielded some gold ornaments, a box full of condoms, several mobile phones and some cash. Police said they prevented the customers from escaping through the rear door. After rounding up the people in the house, inquiries revealed that one of the five sex workers, namely Piya, was the pivot of the trade. Piya is only 23, a native of Gokhe Sekherpada, West Bengal. She was married. Within a short span of time, she became the mother of two girls. It so happened

that her husband proved to be a man of wayward ways, and after the children were born, he abandoned her. Left with two young children, Piya, who hails from a poor family, turned to prostitution to keep the family going. She was brought to Hyderabad by one Babloo and started living with one Saleem as man and wife. It was then that she turned to running a brothel and brought several girls from her native place. They had three male security guards who solicited customers and protected the girls. The trio, the police learnt, had made good money as they, besides the payment Piya made to them, extracted `1,000 from each customer. The girls were promised `15,000 a month while the Madame and her accomplices earned `15,000 from one girl a day. The police have booked cases of immoral trafficking and running a brothel against three pimps and

two customers. The women have been sent to a rescue shelter. The arrested have been identified as Siddhartha Mondal, 25, working as a goldsmith at General Bazaar, Secunderabad; Niranjan Barick

Police said they prevented customers from escaping through the rear door. After rounding up the people, inquiries revealed that one of the five sex workers, Piya, was the pivot of the trade. alias Tuna, 39, who works as a goldsmith and is a resident of Saptagiri Chikoti Complex, General Bazaar; and Vilas, 30, who too is a goldsmith. All of the arrested are from West Bengal.

city MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

WHO IS THE BEST COOK? S BALAKRISHNA

FROM PULAO TO BIRYANI

The City is two weeks closer to finding out who the best cook really is. Needless to say, the competition is becoming fierce. While the second Sunday started with a few sulks, it ended on a sweet note. Postnoon reports. NIDHI BHUSHAN nidhi.b@postnoon.com

“H

ow can people cook nonvegetarian and vegetarian food on the same platform and expect a fair result?” an elderly lady asked angrily. She was attending the second round of the cooking competition ‘Who is the best cook,’ organised by www.studentmug.com. The woman, who was cheering in the audience while her daughter-in-law was readying an ‘Indian Risotto’ during the culinary expedition, expressed her disappointment when Hima Bindu was shortlisted for the finals of the competition. The reason? Bindu was the only participant in the lunch round who had cooked a non-vegetarian dish. A total of 13 women participated at Divya Shakti apartments in Ameerpet yesterday. From ‘bread dahi bahar’ to ‘kaju ki barfi’, the women seemed to know it all. In an hour’s time, the participants chopped, fried, baked and sautéed their favourite recipes. While a few made dishes that came straight from their moms’ kitchens, others showed off what they had been praised for. Ultimately, a young operations manager, Hima Bindu bagged the first prize for her perfect chicken pulao. Though a number of co-participants, along with the sulky elderly lady, believed Bindu won only because

Hima Bindu’s Chicken Pulao Ingredients: l Cloves, cinnamon, Shajeera, nutmeg, coriander seeds, jeera, cardamom and fennel (a dash each); l 2 tomatoes; l 4 onions; l Coriander leaves; l Mint leaves; l Curry leaves; l One bay leaf; l Chicken: ½ kg; l Rice: ½ kg; l Oil: 20-30ml; l Ginger-garlic paste; l Salt to taste and ghee. Method: First, make a powder of all the above given spices and keep it aside. Then, make a puree of the two tomatoes and keep that aside too. Meanwhile, wash the rice and boil the chicken with a pinch of salt. Heat the oil and ghee in a pan and fry all the leaves, onion and the ginger-garlic paste. Then, fry the chicken pieces separately and take them out of the oil. Add the rice to the oil and fry it with salt and masala powder. Add the tomato puree and the fried chicken. Then, add double the amount of water to the mixture and put the entire thing in a cooker. Give it two whistles on a low ﬂame and the chicken pulao will be ready to serve.

Samriti Aggarwal’s Chocolate Brownie Cake Ingredients: l 6 eggs; l One cup of white flour; l 170 gms of butter; l One cup of cocoa; l 2½ teaspoons of vanilla essence; l 1 teaspoon of baking powder; l 1½ cups of sugar; l 150gms of broken walnuts Method: First, beat the eggs and sugar till it becomes fluffy. Add the rest of the ingredients and continue to whip it till it fluffs. Grease a baking pan with butter and sprinkle flour on its surface too. Pour the batter into the pan and bake it in the oven for 35 minutes at 180 degrees Fahrenheit. You can prepare an icing for the cake by whipping dark chocolate (Selbourne) with Amul fresh cream.

A total of 13 women participated at Divya Shakti apartments in Ameerpet yesterday. From ‘bread dahi bahar’ to ‘kaju ki barfi’, the women seemed to be capable of it all. she cooked something non-vegetarian, judges felt otherwise. They said her dish scored in all three categories – presentation, taste and aroma. For Bindu, it was a Sunday well spent. She had nailed her mother-in-law’s recipe and seemed more than excited to join last week’s winners — Haritha and Fatima — in the final competition scheduled to be held in the first week of January 2013. The second resident who will be seen cooking among nine others — two will be shortlisted every Sunday from various apartment buildings in the City — is Samriti Aggarwal. She literally took the cake for her cooking skills during the latter half of yesterday. Competing against other residents of Shanti Bagh apartments in Begumpet, Aggarwal stole the show with her purseshaped chocolate brownie cake. She proved that non-vegetarian food does not always win. And, for that little lesson, she sure gets ‘brownie’ points from us, doesn’t she?

city MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

EXHIBITION

N SHIVA KUMAR

The Hyderabad Rose Society organised the 36th annual rose show at Jubilee Hall in Public Gardens on December 9.

ROSE SHOW

MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

Business

CHINA’S TRADE SURPLUS FALLS

China’s monthly trade surplus fell to $19.6 billion in November, down 38.6 per cent from October, the government said on Monday as weak overseas demand weighed on the world’s second-largest economy.

BRAND BUILDING

BAE bags £1.2 bn deal

LONDON: British defence giant BAE Systems will complete construction of the Royal Navy’s new submarine HMS Audacious in a deal worth £1.2 billion, the Ministry of Defence announced on Monday. The contract, the fourth of seven Astute Class vessels being built, will secure 3,000 jobs at the company’s shipyard in Barrow, north-west England.

Psy, Samsung sing ‘brand Korea’ song GILES HEWITT feedback@postnoon.com SEOUL: A breakthrough year for “brand Korea” — led by the rapper Psy and electronics giant Samsung — has boosted efforts to promote a country that still feels overshadowed, under-appreciated and misunderstood. While some may question the benefit of a chubby thirty-something and his horse-riding dance becoming your best-known cultural export, the phenomenal success of Psy’s “Gangnam Style” undoubtedly raised the national profile. Name-checked and imitated by everyone from US President Barack Obama, to Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei and pop icon Madonna, Psy bestrode his invisible horse and the music world like a colossus in 2012. The hit video is already the most popular of all time on YouTube, having racked up more than 922 million views, and could well break through the one-billion mark before the end of the year. A one-hit wonder maybe, but one with such staying power that the main sufferer of “Gangnam Style” fatigue was Psy himself. “Sometimes, honestly, yes I get tired or I get sick of it,” the rapper said in Singapore, during one of his endless overseas promotional stops. In South Korea they gave him a medal in November for, as one foreign ministry official put it, “increasing the world’s interest in Korea”. Despite achieving extraordinary things in an extraordinarily short space of time, South Korea remains a frustrated understudy on the global stage compared to leading players like neighbours China and Japan. The narrative of its rapid transformation from dictatorship to vibrant democracy and war-torn, impoverished backwater to Asia’s fourth-largest economy is a source of immense national pride. But outside views of the country

A file picture of South Korean singer Psy doing the ‘Gangnam-style’ dance-step with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon just before their meeting at UN headquarters.

South Korea has struggled to build a reputation for creativity and genuine innovation, with even Samsung’s success tainted by accusations of piracy and lawsuits with Apple. are all too often dominated by glib stereotypes about dog restaurants or filtered from spurious sources like the long-running US television series M*A*S*H. Even its obvious export success stories went unrecognised until recently, with many believing companies such as Samsung Electronics and LG to be Japanese or Taiwanese. For Samsung, 2012 was a watershed year that saw it take a giant bite out of Apple Inc as it carved out a dominant position in the global mobile computing market. Having ended Nokia’s 14-year rule top cell phone manufacturer, Samsung saw its share of the lucrative smartphone market surge to

31.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2012, up from just 3.3 per cent in late 2009. Apple smartphone sales in the July-September period were half those of Samsung’s for a total market share of 15 per cent. The government has spent a substantial amount of time and money in recent years on raising the country’s international profile — notably through its support of the “Korean wave” of TV dramas and pop music that have become enormously popular in Asia and beyond. For nation branding expert Simon Anholt, the success of someone like Psy is proof that state-sponsored or state-controlled cultural output is never as potent or attractive as individual self-expression. “Countries are judged by what they do and what they make, not by what they say about themselves,” Anholt told AFP. “If a country wants to be admired, it has to be admirable, and in a way which catches people’s imaginations: it’s as simple as that.” The film industry too scored a major success in 2012 when director Kim Ki-Duk’s anti-capitalist movie Pieta won the coveted Golden Lion prize at the Venice film festival. AFP

BSE 5,917.05 `54.36 5,209.05 DOLLAR`55.14 17,179.95DOLLAR NSEPOUND `86.60 `87.09 POUND BSE NSE GOLD`31,700 10g SILVER `63,000 1kg

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Since our country is a union of states, we abide by its federal character and, therefore, are bound by the consensus on the issue, ANAND SHARMA, COMMERCE MINISTER

19,473.22 48.70

ANAND SHARMA, 9.65 COMMERCE MINISTER

MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

nation

TWO KILLED IN CLASH Two persons were killed and six others injured when two groups clashed and opened fire at each other over a dispute related to panchayat polls in Unnao (UP), police said today. Four persons have been detained in this connection and a rifle has been recovered, they said.

HALL OF SHAME

NOTICE TO KATJU

Guards for Capital’s girls At least 500 primary schools to deploy guards to protect girl students. NEW DELHI: Private security guards are to be deployed at the gates of over 500 civic agency-run primary schools in Delhi to tackle rising incidences of harassment and molestation of girl students, an official has said. "We have planned to deploy private security guards, from governmentapproved agencies, in primary schools by the next academic year after several cases of molestation came to our notice," Manish Gupta, commissioner of South Delhi Municipal Corporation, told IANS. The guards would be deployed at the 548 primary schools — till Class 6 — in the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) territory. The girls are between the ages five to 13 and too young to tackle roadside molesters. "We have received several complaints from parents of girls regarding molestation taking place outside the school premises, due to which they stopped sending their

BRUTALITY

Cricketers kill 14-yr-old for mocking misfield LUCKNOW: In a bizarre incident, a 14year-old boy was beaten to death by cricketers during a game on Sunday at Lakhimpur Kheri, police said. The boy, a spectator of the game, was beaten for poking fun at a fielder who missed a catch. The match was played at Shuklapur, Lakhimpur Kheri. The deceased boy, Simran, had clapped in derision after a fielder missed a catch. The boy's father, Raziullah, a mason, lodged an FIR with the local police that two boys from the neighbourhood, Anas and Yaseer, players in the match, had beaten his son with sticks and iron rods. According to the complaint lodged by his father, Simran had lost conscious-

child to school. We are taking this step in order to draw the girl students back to school," he added. "Men loiter outside schools in order to molest and harass the girls... some even follow them... This makes the girls afraid of going to school," said the mother of a 12year-old girl said. Many of the civic agencyrun schools are located in crowded poor neighbourhoods. If the project is successful, it would be replicated in all the schools falling under the three municipal corporations - the other two being East and North, the official added. Delhi has 18,000 municipal-run schools with over 10 lakh students, both boys and girls. The 548 schools in South MCD have around five lakh students. In 2010, the MCD had decided to install CCTV cameras in and outside school premises in order to tackle harassment of students. The CCTV cameras were installed in some schools at the time. IANS

Two students from Lucknow have sent a legal notice to Press Council of India chairperson Justice Markandey Katju for his comment at a seminar last week that "90 per cent of Indians were idiots." The notice to Katju was sent by law student Tanaya Thakur and her brother, Class XI student Aditya Thakur. Both said they found the comments hurtful: "We are deeply hurt and humiliated by Justice Katju's words," the duo said on Monday, adding that Justice Katju's statements "would depreciate the reputation of India and its citizens". "A person of Justice Katju's stature should have deliberated on the implications of his statement," they told IANS, and sought a public apology from the former Supreme Court judge. The students said that if a public apology was not forthcoming, they would move the court in a month's time.

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The players beat up the teen with sticks and iron rods. He died before reaching the nearest hospital ness after being beaten, and was rushed to CHC medical facility by other spectators. He was declared dead at the hospital. Saumitra Yadav, ASP, Lakhimpur Kheri told IANS that the boy was apparently killed during the cricket match. "We are collecting accounts of witnesses, and will arrest the guilty soon," Yadav said. IANS

/095 Rs.1 9/: e c 4 r Pri Rs.5 Cove r Price: : 50% g e f n f i O l Sav Tota

NEWS BRIEFS Eight killed as car hits lorry NADIA (WB): Eight occupants of a car were killed on the spot today and two others were injured after the vehicle in which they were travelling hit a lorry on NH-34 in Nadia district, police said. The incident occurred at Dhugulia area when the SUV was returning to Krishnagar and hit the lorry, district SP Sabyasachi Raman Mishra said. Eight passengers, including the driver of the car, died on the spot while the two injured were taken to a local hospital, police said.

UAE Cabinet clears extradition agreement NEW DELHI: The UAE Cabinet has approved an extradition agreement that the Gulf nation had signed with India for facilitating the transfer of Indian convicts to spend the remaining jail term in their home country. The agreement, which was signed by the two countries in November last year, is expected to help around 1,200 Indian prisoners who have been languishing in UAE prisons.

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MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

World

PERU MINISTER QUITS AFTER ROUGHING UP WORKER Peru’s labor minister resigned Sunday amid an uproar for allegedly roughing up an airport worker as he rushed to catch a departing plane. Jose Villena’s resignation came as a surprise, and he was immediately replaced by Teresa Laos, a lawyer.

EGYPT

SCALING THE ‘CLIFF’

KILLER PRANKSTERS

Crisis continues

Obama meets Boehner

Chances of more violence after calls have been issued for more mass protests against the constitutional referendum.

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama and House of Representatives speaker John Boehner met Sunday to discuss the so-called impending fiscal cliff of steep tax hikes and spending cuts.No details of the talks were given, but a statement from Boehner’s office said “the lines of communication remain open.” And White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, word for word, the same thing, also refusing to go into details. The fact that the two sides avoided a chance to put dueling spins on the talks stood in contrast to the more hostile tone that has pervaded the showdown in recent days. Boehner said Friday he could report “no progress” in deficit talks. He accused the White House of recklessly pushing the country to the fiscal brink over tax hikes. The last time the two leaders had spoken was Wednesday, by telephone. The so-called fiscal cliff refers to a combination of severe tax increases and spending cuts due to kick in automatically in January if the president and Congress don’t find a compromise plan to cut the deficit first.

CAIRO: Rival mass protests have been called for next Tuesday in Egypt over a bitterly disputed constitutional referendum, raising the potential for more violent street clashes in a sharpening political crisis. President Mohamed Morsi’s chief foes, the opposition National Salvation Front, late Sunday called for huge protests in Cairo to reject the December 15 referendum on a new charter. The Muslim Brotherhood, from which Morsi hails, told AFP that it and allied Islamist movements would counter with their own big rallies in the capital in support of the referendum. If the duelling demonstrations go ahead, there is a risk of vicious further clashes like the ones that erupted between both sides outside the presidential palace last Wednesday, killing seven people and wounding hundreds. Egypt’s powerful army, which is trying to remain neutral in the deepening struggle, warned on the weekend it

The two presenters who made a prank call to a London hospital treating Prince William’s wife Kate are set to break their silence Monday in a “raw and emotional” interview with Australian television. Mel Greig and Michael Christian, from Sydney radio station 2Day FM, have been in hiding and undergoing counselling since their hoax sparked global outrage following the death of the nurse who ﬁelded their call. Australia’s Nine Network said it would air an interview with the pair at 6:30 pm (0730 GMT). An Egyptian woman has her photo taken in front of graffiti portraying Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi during demonstration outside the presidential palace on December 9, 2012 in Cairo. PATRICK BAZ

“will not allow” a worsening of the crisis. It said both sides must start dialogue. Morsi has made a key concession to the opposition on the weekend by rescinding a decree giving himself wideranging powers free from judicial challenge. But the opposition was unmoved, and maintained its position that no talks could happen while the referendum was going ahead.

“The Front calls for demonstrations in the capital and in the regions on Tuesday as a rejection of the president’s decision that goes against our legitimate demands,” National Salvation Front spokesman Sameh Ashour told a news conference. “We do not recognise the draft constitution because it does not represent the Egyptian people,” he said, reading a statement.

TRAGEDY STRIKES

Jenni Rivera killed in plane crash

MONTERREY: A small plane carrying Mexican-American star singer Jenni Rivera crashed in northern Mexico on Sunday, leaving no survivors and sparking an outpouring of grief among fans and fellow celebrities. The wreckage of the Lear Jet, which was carrying six other people, was found by farmers in the state of Nuevo Leon hours

after it had taken off from Monterrey on its way to Toluca, in the center of Mexico, authorities said. Radio contact with the plane was lost shortly after it took off at 3:15 am. The singer had given a concert in Monterrey Saturday night and was supposed to participate in a television show in Mexico City on Sunday, local media said.

Transportation Minister Gerardo Ruiz told Milenio television the crash site was a “disastrous scene” with no survivors. Rivera, 43, was a Caliornian of Mexican origin, best known for her music in genres known as Banda and Norteno. Her records have sold 15 million copies. AFP

NEWS BRIEFS China sacks twin mistresses cop

Clinton postpones Morocco trip

McAfee seeks return to the United States

N. Korea replacing faulty rocket stage: report

BEIJING: A Chinese police chief accused online of keeping twin sisters as mistresses has been sacked, state media said Monday, the latest ofﬁcial to fall in a sex and corruption scandal in China in recent weeks. Qi Fang was removed from his post after it emerged he kept twin mistresses and found them jobs in the police force.

WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pushed back until Tuesday a planned trip to Morocco because of illness, a spokesman said on Sunday. Sources said, “Because she has a stomach virus, our departure for Morocco has been moved from Monday to Tuesday. She will not have any schedule tomorrow in Washington.”

GUATEMALA CITY: US antivirus software pioneer John McAfee said that he has ﬁled legal motions with the Guatemalan government to avoid extradition to Belize, in hopes of being sent instead to the US. “What we are doing is ﬁling papers to keep me here long enough for the world to see the injustice of sending me back to Belize.”

SEOUL: North Korea is replacing a faulty section of a long-range rocket in a bid to put its launch schedule back on track, and is receiving help from Iranian missile experts, a South Korean newspaper reported Monday. North Korea had said Sunday it was considering delaying the launch: slated for some time between December 10-22.

NUMEROLOGY

600

is the death toll in the typhoon tragedy in Philippines and nearly 800 missing, prompting the UN to launch a global appeal on Monday for help.

DEADLY APPLE Australian police warned motorists about using Apple iPhone maps after rescuing many people left stranded in the wilderness. Victoria state police said drivers were sent “off the beaten track” in recent weeks while attempting to get to the inland town of Mildura, being directed instead to the middle of a national park. “Police are extremely concerned as there is no water supply within the park and temperatures can reach as high as 46 degrees Celsius (114 F), making this a potentially life threatening issue,” police said in a statement.

The police are keeping me in my home until Tuesday to prevent me from meeting with people like you so that I will not be photographed or filmed for Human Rights Day. Hu Jia Chinese dissident to AFP

MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

Technology CHICAGO GOES GREEN

ME TOO ME TOO

Go green and go clean Some 70 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions in Chicago comes from the electricity and gas used to heat, cool and power homes, businesses, schools and other government buildings. MIRA OBERMAN hicago’s skyline is going green, as property managers install energy-efficient tools like motion-detectors on office lights, in a project officials hope will inspire changes across the United States. At the riverside Sheraton hotel, chief engineer Ryan Egan cannot get over what his new thermostats can do — or the $136,000 a year in savings they are producing. First off, they’re tied into the booking management system, which means he can let the room temperature drift beyond standard comfort levels until the moment a guest checks in. An infrared sensor means the savings don’t stop there. Once the guest leaves the room, the temperature starts to drift again, giving the heating or cooling system a break until it’s needed again. It’s not a random drift — the thermostat is programmed to only allow the room to warm up or cool down to the point where it can get back to the pre-set temperature within 12 minutes of the guest’s return. “The brains behind how much it can drift is really interesting,” Egan said. “If you’re on the shady side [in the summer], it’ll drift more because it knows it can recover faster.”

In addition to the greening in commercial buildings, the city plans to cut energy use by 20 per cent in hundreds of municipal buildings, for an estimated monetary saving of $20 million a year and emissions savings equivalent to taking about 30,000 vehicles off the road.

Chief engineer Ryan Egan demonstrates a new smart thermostat system installed at Chicago’s riverside Sheraton hotel.

The Sheraton is one of 14 major commercial buildings that signed onto the Retrofit Chicago challenge to cut energy use by 20 per cent over the next five years, for savings estimated at more than $5 million a year. If they succeed, it will be like taking 8,000 cars off the road. “The fact that this is the city that built the first skyscraper, we love that we’re trying to green the skyline,” Karen Weigert, chief sustainability officer for the city of Chicago, told AFP. Some 70 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions in the Windy City comes from the electricity and gas used to heat, cool and power homes, businesses, schools and other government buildings. In addition to the greening in commercial buildings, the city plans to cut energy use by 20 per cent in hundreds of municipal buildings, for an estimated monetary saving of $20 million a year and emissions savings equivalent to taking about 30,000 vehicles off the road. It has also launched a programme to help retrofit residential properties and expects more big commercial buildings to join the challenge. “Fighting climate change can take all sorts of forms. This one happens to also save build-

ing owners a lot of money,” said Rebecca Stanfield, a senior energy advocate for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “We’re excited about the potential for big property owners who are in the Chicago initiative to use what they learn here in buildings across the country.” A similar programme is being promoted by Department of Energy, which has racked up commitments from schools, cities and businesses to reduce energy use by 20 per cent in 2 billion square feet. AT&T — the first company to sign up for Chicago’s challenge — is testing out a host of new energy efficiency technologies at its downtown office tower. All the improvements tested in Chicago will pay for themselves in three years or less, and most will be rolled out to the 1,000 corporate and 500 retail buildings that AT&T is targeting in its sustainability plan, Schinter said. “If a project doesn’t have scalability for an enterprise as large as ours, we don’t spend much corporate time on it,” he said in an interview. Americans are ready to accept change, said Dan Tishman, whose realty company owns the Sheraton Chicago and nine other major US hotels. AFP

Twitter will be launching a photo-filter feature around Christmas, months after Instagram's takeover by Facebook. This move seems to be a part of tit-for-tat war that has been on between the two networks since the Facebook takeover. Just last week, Instagram disabled Twitter's ability to display Instagram images in tweets. The social network, that was initially available only to iPhone users, exploded after it launched the Android version and is extremely popular among Twitter users.

STEAM VS CONSOLE Valve is taking on the console industry and is planning to launch a media-centre device that will be able to play games. Microsoft is not pleased as this 'PC console', being dubbed Steambox by gamers, will not be running on Microsoft’s operating system. It’ll instead run on a version of Linux. However, it needs to be seen if this will work since most PCs can run Valves’ games. So the console might not make much sense for a PC gamer.

YOUR MOVE SIRI 'Google Now' is Android’s equivalent of Apple’s voicebased assistant Siri and the company is now bringing the feature to desktop. Soon, users of Chrome browsers will receive birthday, mail alerts and other features much like on their Android phones. This move comes at a time when there are rumours of Apple porting Siri for OS X. According to people who have tried early builds of OS X 10.9, Siri will be a feature, though there have been no ofﬁcial word from Apple.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

Comment Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.

CIVIC ISSUES

REALITY CHECK Syed Shoaib

t is one thing to be gung ho about India becoming a force to reckon with on the international arena and another to deliver when it matters. After winning a difficult battle to host the 10th edition of the world junior table tennis championships and making necessary preparations within a short span of six months, to have to bow to an avoidable situation is not becoming of a nation challenging superpowers of the world. In an encouraging administration and chief minister, Hyderabad has every chance to be a force. Sportspersons in the State too are doing their bit, be it in playing well different sports or coaching and facilitating others. One look at the infrastructure of the Gachibowli sports complex and it is not difficult to understand why the country was offered the chance to host the event and Hyderabad became the first city here to host the event — after the original allottee South Africa backed out. Let’s set things right at the very beginning — the self. Small responsible acts like turning off a light or fan that is not being used or/and shutting a tap — and properly — after using one, will go a long way in making us understand the difficulty an association or the government goes through to realise a billion dreams. To pass the buck or shrug collective responsibility will do no good to the individual or the state. A good opportunity must and can be used to open the doors to many more. The writer works for Postnoon.

HYDERABAD’S MODERN DESTINY HARD TALK

Oscar Wilde Author

Time to introspect

HIGH-FLYING THOUGHTS People of Karnataka: do not fall for the crocodile tears of BSY who has launched a new party. He will come to you as a victim of injustice dealt him by the higher powers in Delhi of his party despite his blood and sweat to bring it up in that state. He fell because he was a corrupt man.

PK Surendran

omewhere in recent times, Hyderabad quickly decided to deviate from the orthodox track that it had been on, and don the mask of modernity. The result has been astounding. It set up the country’s first and most modern airport in the private sector. Attendant details followed. It set up house for the god of modern times—the computer—and its IT with gusto and cheekily called it ‘hi-tech’ city! The bluff worked and it began to lay claims of being the most modern face along with Bangalore, Pune. The captain at the helm at the time of transformation was a bearded, unsmiling man called Chandrababu Naidu, though the Congress wants to banish him into history’s dustbin. The point is how a City known all along for communal strife and ghettoes became so reverent that the US president decided to make his second stop here while in India. And, it continues to draw international events like the recently concluded World Biodiversity summit, international sports events and many others. Rocket became its metaphor, albeit, a rocket trans-

ported on a bullock cart! All this stunning achievements notwithstanding, it’s disconcerting how the city’s old face, the old city areas, continue to get mired in sorcery, highstrung behaviour, illiteracy and ignorance. Hundreds get cheated in the name of black magic, wives get beaten up, divorces galore, and children deprived of education. It is here where a rumour could spark a fire which may set alight the whole area. Here, again, a national monument is identified as the religious symbol of a community which somebody should have corrected long ago. Not a day passes without heart-rending stories of ill-treatment of girls and young women. How could one explain a mother killing her own daughter and lying that she died of a sudden, mysterious disease? How could one explain dowry, legally banned and a hated word, ruling the mind of masses, causing untold miseries to several young women and their parents? Why, it is here a highlyeducated woman, a doctor by profession, with considerable wealth, was cruelly done to death by her greedy husband who claims to be an American citizen; all this happened despite his getting a fortune from her parents. This incident saw the light, as the victim happens to be the niece of a union

minister. Similar cases occur daily, but see the light rarely. It’s all the more sad that it has infected the Muslim community which professes brotherhood and equality. Why a rotten system like dowry is associated with such a community is worth a serious research. Further puzzling is the ever high crime rate. With the world’s best technology available, the City should have moved ahead on its avowed path of modernity. But ghettoism is pulling it back. It’s the duty of the social and political leadership to ensure that people are not forever treated like so many votes but also as aspiring human beings who ought to have led a better life than their forefathers. It’s nothing unachievable. Only needed is the will to admit the mistakes

and correct them. May this great city find its modern destiny! Tailend Heard in a cafe in Jubilee Hills: an apparent proletarian worker (probably in IT) was telling his friend about what was the solution to the rot in the City. “I don’t know what the reason is,” he said stirring his cup, “but I know what the solution is.’ His friend stopped sipping and anxiously looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Bring the old Surat commissioner to Hyderabad and give him 24 bulldozers. You need to shock the people, not make harangues for transformation.” I thought he was not wrong. Well, didn’t Hyderabad do it in its quest for modernity as I explained earlier? Shock causes transformation. Let it happen in the city’s collective mind.

EDITORIALS Hooliganism and violence are not sporty

boy who mocked a player for dropping a catch was bludgeoned to death by the latter and the rest on the ﬁeld in Uttar Pradesh. Before we dismiss this as an odd incident, let’s also consider the incident in an I-League match in Kolkata where a player was injured following hit by a brick hurled by the spectators who were fuming at the ouster of a star player by the referee. 40 people were injured in all. That’s not all. There’s similar stuff happening at the international front, too. At the Manchester Derby, United’s veteran Rio Ferdinand suffered a cut above his left eye, apparently inﬂicted by a missile from the crowd; most likely from City fans after their team lost 2-3. Passion for sport is understandable. But hooliganism and

READERS’ VIEWS

violence in sport are not and cannot be tolerated. One should not venture into sport if he or she has no tolerance for criticism. If one cannot deal with triumph and disaster in games and treat it like a game, then he or she has no business becoming a sportsperson, let alone be in the stands. Be it any game... in the end it’s just a game played for sport. Rags may portray it as a matter of life and death, but true lovers of sport will see success and failure as part of the game and not as something that sparks hatred and violence. There are the crazed lot for whom chaos and rows on the ﬁeld and in the stands are a perverse joy. They must be isolated and dealt with, for hooliganism and violence are not sporty.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

campus

MUSICAL EXTRAVAGANZA Samaahaara Theater is organising musical drama Sound of Music on December 11 at Oakridge International School from 7.000 pm to 8.30 pm.

NOT HAPPY AND GAY

DEEPASHRI VARADHARAJAN deepashri.v@postnoon.com

hen I asked my friend how important he thinks it is to have a support group for LGBT students in colleges, he said, “What is LGBT?” And so I spelt it out for him: “Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender.” He laughed, saying he doesn’t know any anyone like “that.” Ahmed Feroz stopped attending college when his friends started teasing him and discriminating against him. “I used to like some LGBT posts on Facebook. One of my friends saw that and spread the news to the entire college.” Ahmed is a final year b-tech student at a Muslim minority college in Hyderabad. “It is considered a sin. They think people like us should be burnt alive.” Ahmed has not told his friends that he is gay. This is not the story of Ahmed alone. How many of us have studied with a transgender or had a gay or lesbian friend who could be open about his or her sexual orientation in college, without the fear of being discriminated or being the butt of all jokes? We find that there is very little or no help available within colleges in Hyderabad to help

COLLEGE FEST

Let’s get this ‘straight!’ How do students belonging to sexual minority groups cope with their everyday struggles in college? Postnoon finds out.

LGBT students cope with their day-to-day struggles. For most of them who cannot come out at home to their parents or at college to their friends, it is like living two parallel lives: one within and one to show the world. “I have a friend who is gay. Guys especially are not comfortable around him,” said Faustina Johnson, a psychology student at Loyola College. “I wouldn’t have a very special experience if I came out to my friends.” In most Indian movies involving gays, the part they play has always got something to do with sex. What about other problems they face; all the ups and downs of life, happiness, sorrow, like anybody else?

This misrepresentation is one of the main causes of homophobia. Faustina’s friend, who got to know she is a lesbian, is not very comfortable around her anymore. She does not want to be “caught alone” with her. Dr Niranjan Reddy, a retired professor in clinical psychology, recalled a particular instance of a gay student, undergoing tremendous emotional stress, approach him: “He had very few friends. Others were not forthcoming in the fear of being ridiculed.” He said though many colleges have counselors, not all of them are trained to deal with such sensitive issues. “I had a teacher till a month back, who was very open. I could go to her with my prob-

lems,” Faustina said. Now, with that teacher gone, she can’t approach anyone else in college if she needs help. “It is a taboo subject. My girlfriend will probably get suspended from her college if they get to know (about her sexual orientation).” She thinks if the staff explicitly showed their support, it would be the first step towards acceptance. She doesn’t want a separate group in college to represent them. She just wants to be treated as normally as other students. If teachers showed their support, how would a majority of parents react to it? Dr Niranjan Reddy said that when the parents of a gay student’s roommate got to know about him, they came and took their son away. While a seminar or awareness programme for both parents and students could be a good start. But the question is will colleges brave it? Are we, as a society, ready to accept it? When we term one section of the society as “straight,” do we imply the other is “crooked” or “abnormal?” “We are not animals. We are not even diceased. The sexual orientation of a child is decided in the womb itself,” said an employee of a leading advertising company, Sandip R, who feels more accepted at work than he did in college.

Mood Indigo Mood Indigo is the annual cultural festival of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. It draws a footfall of more than 80,000 students from more than 600 colleges from across the country. Started in 1971 by a bunch of enthusiastic IITians, Mood Indigo, now in its 42nd edition, has snowballed to become the largest festival of its kind in Asia. The fest will be held this year on December 21.

COLLEGE OF THE WEEK

Manipal

Academy of Higher Education, branded as Manipal University is a deemed university located in Manipal, Karnataka, India. It has over 26,000 students from over 54 countries. The university has branch campuses in Bangalore, Mangalore, Jaipur, Dubai, Malaysia and Antigua. It is a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities. The campus covers 500 acres of land and is centered in the town of Manipal. The campus is divided into two areas: the healthsciences campus and the engineering campus.

TRENDING...

Evernote: This has to be hands down the most useful app for a college student. With great handwriting recognition, just take a photo of a board from class and it’s saved. You can do a search for a word, and you can ﬁnd it. This app is also great for taking notes in class!

Readability: Reading long articles on the Web can be a little tricky. Readability strips down all the garbage from a webpage and gives you a simple reading view. The app also allows you to change the font of the text you’re reading, making reading easier.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

spotlight

PARTY TALK

Enjoy music from the sexy 80s and the swinging 90s with DJ Ricky at Outswinger pub, Basera Hotel, Secunderabad. The fun begins at 8pm.

A display of fine art

The Pochampally Handloom park organised a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Pochampally IKAT Mela 2012â&#x20AC;&#x2122; at the State Gallery of fine arts, Madhapur. The exposition will be on till December 16.

Devotion at a click

An exclusive devotional online global radio website www.bhakthiradio.com, was launched by Tollywood actor Sri Suman at the Country Club in Begumpet.

THE OOMPH FACTOR

BALAKRISHNA

Hotness quotient

Ladies came in droves to Kismet where the auditions for Miss Maxim 2012 was held. The pageant winner will be judged on her hotness, her attitude and on how well she carries herself.

Soapy solution

Actress Sneha was present at the launch of Divine soap by AVA Cholayil Health Care, the maker of Medimix soap. The launch was organised at The Park on Sunday.

The classic form of art

Artist Usha Rani's fine arts exhibition opened to public viewing on Sunday. Vatti Vasanth Kumar, minister for Tourism, Culture, Sports and Youth inaugurated the exhibition.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

health

AVOID BREAST CANCER WITH FRUIT, VEGETABLES

A diet full of fruits and vegetables could help women reduce risk of developing breast cancer, a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute said. Long hailed for their anti-oxidant properties, researchers now believe carotenoids can also help prevent cancerous tissue in the breast.

HEADACHE

Don’t spoil your vacation

If travelling by plane gives you a headache, you must be suffering from travel headaches. Simple remedies can prevent their occurrence. STANISLAW TOKARSKI/SHUTTERSTOCK

ANISHAA KUMAR

Anishaa.k@postnoon.com

aima loved to travel. From the planning to the actual visit — food, historical sites along with fun and frolic. She had planned her Christmas vacation three months ago and was so excited as she had got a holiday after nearly a year of hard work. The problems began when the plane began to descend. She experienced a piercing headache which continued till the plane landed. She was distraught as her vacation had not begun on a good note. Known in common language as airplane headache, it refers to a headache characterised by pain on one side of the face during flight travel. Unlike other forms of headache, the exact causes of these kinds of headaches are unknown. Over the years, a number of studies have been conducted to help try and understand what could be causing them and how a person suffering from it can find relief. Dr Sudhir Kumar, senior neurologist Apollo Hospital says, “ The exact cause of this is not known . But, it is said that the headache is not because of the aircraft per se but because of the cabin pressure. Usually in aircrafts the cabin pressure is normal. The problem arises when the cabin pressure rises or falls.” Dr EC Vinaya Kumar, consultant ENT, Apollo Hospitals says,” This is more persistent if

the person is suffering from the cold. Usually the sinuses drain into the nose but when the person has a cold the sinuses are blocked. During air travel, as one gain altitude, the pressure is less. So it comes out through the oestrum during descent. Air needs to enter the sinuses. When a person has a cold, a blockage is formed, thus causing negative pressure that leads to a

ANEWS PP-LYBRIEFS YOURSELF

headache. The patient will suffer from severe pain and in extreme cases the blood vessels can also bleed.” Dr Sudhir says, “Another possibility is during rapid ascend and descend a blockade can form in the Eustachian tube because of which a person may notice pain between the head and ear.”

HOUSECALL

PREVALENCE

Dr Vinaya says, “ It is not that common. People who are more susceptible to allergies and sinus infections may suffer from these problems.” Many people may suffer from light-headedness while travelling which is different from the travel headaches.

TACKLING THE PROBLEM

About measures to prevent these

problems, Dr Vinaya says, “If one is suffering from a cold then anti-cough medicines/decongestant drops/ sprays must be taken before boarding the flight. Even during the flight, nasals sprays can be of great help.In case of problems due to the ear one should stay awake and even while sleeping swallowing ones saliva or chewing gum can help.”

DID YOU KNOW?

PIONEERS

Fleetly fitness

Osteomyelitis

We all have a philtrum

Sydney Pestika

Fleety Fitness is a great app for all kinds of people with different requirements. The app gives users detailed instruction for exercises that match their specific fitness requirements, levels and goals. Users can also track their progress with the help of training logs and charts.

Osteomyelitis is an infection of the bone. It commonly affects the bones on either side of the knee but any bone can be affected. Osteomyelitis is usually caused by bacteria, most commonly Staphylococcus aureus, but many other bacteria can be to blame, and occasionally fungal infections occur. Osteomyelitis usually results from the spread of micro-organisms through the blood.

The indentation in the middle of the area between the nose and the upper lip is called the philtrum. Even after so many years, Scientists have yet to figure out what purpose this indentation serves, though the ancient Greeks thought it to be one of the most erogenous places on the body.

Sidney Pestka is an American biochemist and geneticist. He is also often referred to by many as the "father of interferon". He has been given this title for his work developing the interferons as treatments for major diseases such as hepatitis, multiple sclerosis, and cancer. He was also a part of the team working on research involving the genetic code, protein synthesis and ribosome function.

health MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

RESEARCH

BREAKTHROUGH

Antibioticgobbling bacterium unearthed

Gel to prevent and protect against HIV transmission?

course. Importantly, the protection was demonstrated in a non human primate model which represents an essential step prior needed to progress to a prospective clinical trial. The study was published in the journal PLOS Pathogens.

TORONTO: Bugs exposed to antibiotics for long periods are known to develop resistance to drugs by quickly pumping them out of their cells or modifying the compounds so that they’re no longer toxic. Now new research has uncovered a soil bacterium that breaks down the antibiotic and uses it for growth. Uncovering a possible mechanism of antibiotic “resistance” in soil, the new research by a group of Canadian and French scientists reports about a soil bacterium that breaks down the common veterinary antibiotic, sulfamethazine, and uses it for growth. Certain soil bacteria are already known to live off, or “eat”, agricultural pesticides and herbicides, said the study leader, Ed Topp, soil microbiologist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in London, Ontario. In fact, the microbes’ presence in farm fields can cause these agri-chemicals to fail, the Journal of Environmental Quality reported. But to Topp’s knowledge, this is the first report of a soil micro-organism that degrades an antibiotic both to protect itself and get nutrition. “I think it’s kind of a gamechanger in terms of how we think about our environment and antibiotic resistance,” he said, according to an Agri-Food statement. What the new research suggests, though, is that soil bacteria could be swapping genes for breaking down antibiotics at the same time. In particular, long-term exposure to antibiotics puts significant pressure on soil bacteria to evolve resistance, which they typically do by giving and receiving genes that let them.

PTI

IANS

The gel’s key ingredient, which are small peptides engineered to present a decoy to bind up the virus and prevent it from entering and infecting the body cells. LONDON: A new vaginal microbicide gel could be highly effective in blocking infection by the Aids virus, a new study has claimed. Researchers led by Dereuddre-Bosquet from the European Combined Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Microbicides (Chaarm) Consortium describe the gel’s key ingredient, which are small peptides engineered to present a decoy to bind up the virus and prevent it from entering and infecting the body cells. Because this is a gel it can be topically applied and could represent a powerful preventative agent against sexual transmission of HIV. The scientific community, worldwide, is working on the development of a vaccine against HIV. To date, few treatments that block virus entry have shown promising protection.Research is also focused on the reduction of the spread of the virus by the application of a microbicide gel to protect users during intercourse which is a time of first exposure to virus. Bosquet and colleagues engineered peptides named “miniCD4s” because they mimic the CD4 receptor used by HIV to gain entry into immune cells of the body. The study shows that the miniCD4s blocks HIV entry into isolated cells in a dish and tissue models that mimic mucous membranes which are points of virus entry. The authors then formulated miniCD4s at 0.3 per cent in a microbicide gel that was vaginally applied to six female cynomolgus macaques monkeys for one hour before the animals were given a high dose of the

virus also in the vagina. This dose would ordinarily make the animals prone to infection but instead, five of the six were completely protected from HIV infection. No trace of virus was found in any body tissue. They were also unable to detect any antibodies to the

Growing pains My 6-year-old daughter has the habit of eating mud. I noticed this recently. When I turned around I found her picking up a fistful of mud and putting it into her mouth. I have caught her doing so on numerous occasions since. How can I get rid of this problem? Many kids eat non-nutritive substances when they are young so this is not an uncommon thing. Many times however, it can be indicative of some other

virus in the plasma of the animals, indicating that the virus was completely repelled and there was full protection. This study provides a proof of principle that for a promising strategy for the prevention and protection against HIV transmission during sexual inter-

Dr Diana Monteiro

EATING MUD COULD BE A SIGN OF PICA issues that a child might be experiencing. If a child has a developmental delay or disability, this issue, called Pica, is often seen. While there is very limited research, it is suggested that children who eat non-nutritive things like mud, chalk, clay, dirt, etc can have problems with mineral deficiencies. Thus, the first step would be to get your child

examined by a doctor to ensure that she is not suffering from any such deficiency. Another reason for this behaviour could be problems that a child might be experiencing. If your child is experiencing any stress or difficulties, then understanding and reducing the stress will also help. If no other problems exist,

then the simplest way is to talk with your child about how mud is bad to eat and how she can get ill from doing so. Don’t allow her to play in the mud and allow her to play in such areas only under close supervision. Make sure that you constantly tell your child about eating food and not things that are not good for her. Most children grow out of

this behaviour, so it’s not too worrisome, unless you notice that the behaviour is not reducing. If you notice that the behaviour is continuing, then get professional help as it’s extremely unusual for a child without a developmental disability to continue to do so. The writer is a counselling psychologist at the Hyderabad Academy of Psychology. You can write to her at askdrdiana@gmail.com

MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

Entertainment TIME FOR CHANGE

PURI JAGANNADH pulls out all the stops for

Iddarammayilatho Right from a rejig of his core team to spending a bomb on the costumes, Puri Jagannadh is leaving no stone unturned for his upcoming film Iddarammayilatho.

uri Jagannadh’s reputation for wrapping up even big-starrer films faster than the time few directors spend on writing scripts is legendary. In recent times, starting from Businessman to his recent film Cameraman Ganga Tho Rambabu, almost all the films were wrapped up within 80 days. However, it’s all about to change for his upcoming film Iddarammayilatho. We hear that the film is going to be shot in Thailand and New Zealand for almost three months and this time, Puri Jagannadh doesn’t seem to be in a mood to overlook even minor aspects. The film stars Allu Arjun, Amala Paul and Catherine Tresa in lead roles. Recently, a photoshoot was done on Allu Arjun with as many as 60 different costume changes. Buzz is that producer Bandla Ganesh has spent a bomb on the film’s costumes alone. It’s also worth noting that Puri Jagannadh has dropped some key members from his team, including the cinematographer Shyam K Naidu and art director Chinna. Instead, Puri Jagannadh has roped in Amol Rathod, who’ll be the chief cinematographer of the film.

Iddarammayilatho is likely to go on floors on December 16 in Mumbai where a song will be shot starring the film’s lead pair and later, the film unit will head to Bangkok for a month. Meanwhile, Puri Jagannadh is planning his third outing in Bollywood and he recently met a top actor in Mumbai to discuss the film. After directing Amitabh Bachchan in Buddah Hoga Tera Baap, it remains to be seen who’s going to star in Puri Jagannadh’s next Hindi film.

CINE BYTES A dream comes true for Lakshmi Manchu

akshmi Manchu will be the ﬁrst Telugu ﬁlm celebrity to launch her own perfume line, a trend which has been in vogue since early 2000s. “WoW.. My perfume line is going to have a pre-launch on 17th of this month. Another dream come true. So fragrantly happy. Excitement:) (sic),” she posted on Twitter.

Naayak’s audio launch on December 15

he audio launch of Ram Charan’s upcoming ﬁlm Naayak has been postponed by a day and it’ll be launched on December 15 at Necklace Road. Kajal Aggarwal and Amala Paul are the lead actresses. VV Vinayak has directed it.

Sundeep, Nisha team up for a new film

undeep Kishan and Nisha Aggarwal are going to team up for an action adventure love story to be directed by newcomer An Bose. Anand Ranga, Seshu Reddy are going to produce the film. Achu is producing the score. The film is to go on floors on December 12.

Entertainment MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

PICKING HER NEXT MOVE

CINE BYTES

BALKI Paresh can’t get enough of computer games

BONEY?

ctor Paresh Rawal’s addiction to computer games disturbed the shooting of his ﬁlm Table No. 21 so much that director Aditya Dutt had to put it away to meet the deadline. During the shoot of his ﬁlm, the technophobe actor surprised the rest of the cast and crew when he just couldn’t tear himself away from his tablet computer games. IANS

Pooja happy over Rog obscenity case win

ilmmaker Pooja Bhatt is delighted after an obscenity case against her, for 2005 ﬁlm Rog, has been quashed. The Bombay High Court quashed obscenity charges against Pooja and her company Fish Eye Network Pvt. Ltd. “Divine Justice — in the form of a high court hearing in my favour for an obscenity case against my ﬁlm Rog,” Pooja tweeted . IANS

When Khiladi met Chulbul Pandey!

fter the phenomenal success of English Vinglish, both Boney Kapoor and R Balki are keen to do another film with Sridevi, but the actress is still unsure about her next step. While Balki plans to cast her in a sequel to English Vinglish, Sridevi’s husband Boney plans to produce another film that

would do justice to her tremendous screen presence. “She is not against doing another film right away. But she wants her next film to be as special. She is waiting for both to come up with a script that would take her beyond English Vinglish. Both Boney and Balki are welcome to come up with the required script. Sridevi is game,” said a source.

The plans of casting Sridevi opposite Amitabh Bachchan in a film by Balki have also been put on hold. A source close to Sridevi and her producer-husband Boney said: “The intention is to take her ‘comeback advantage’ to another level. English Vinglish should and must not be a one-off success for Sridevi.” Speaking right after

the film’s success, Sridevi said: “Right now, I am in a daze. I’ve never in my life given so many interviews. I’ve attended more media events and been seen on more television shows in the past few weeks than my entire life. What I’d like is to take a break, spend time with my husband and daughters. I’ve only been seeing them sporadically.” IANS

kshay Kumar reached the sets of reality show Bigg Boss 6, hosted by Salman Khan, to promote his ﬁlm Khiladi 786 and said it was great when Khiladi met Chulbul Pandey. “It was great, we enjoyed it and had fun. It was nice, a bit of a jig between Khiladi and Chulbul Pandey. It was fun,” the 44-year-old said. Khiladi 786 is Akshay’s co-production with Himesh Reshammiya. IANS

Entertainment MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

Entertainment MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012 CINE BYTES Fergie, hubby love watching films together

lack Eyed Peas singer Fergie and her husband, actor Josh Duhamel, love going out for dinner or watching movies in bed. The couple make sure to take time out of their busy schedules for each other, reports contactmusic.com. “Last night, we laid in bed and watched movies. Sometimes we got to dinner. We like to go to new places,” Fergie told Hollyscoop.com. IANS

Skyfall Back on Top, Keeps Misses

No more questions on bipolar disorder

ctress Catherine ZetaJones is sick of answering queries about her bipolar disorder. When asked about how she’s coping on Good Morning America, ZetaJones said, “I’m sick of talking about it because I never wanted to be the poster child for this. I never wanted this to come out publicly.”

laying for Keeps opened outside of the Top Five on Friday, which allowed Skyfall to reclaim the top spot ahead of Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2. The James Bond adventure dipped 36 per cent to an estimated $3.1 million. It will finish the weekend with over $10 million, which should be enough for first place; that would make it the first movie to lead on its fifth weekend since Avatar in January 2010.

‘THE LESS CLOTHES THE BETTER’

AGUILERA likes to be free

inger Christina Aguilera says that she chose to appear nude on the cover of her seventh studio album because she likes to be free. “I like to be free. Sometimes, the less clothing, the better! I’m just comfortable in my skin and my body. Had I had this beautiful sweater... I would have worn that on the cover of Lotus,” said the 31year-old on the The Ellen DeGeneres show. It is also said that Aguilera recently had butt implants as she wanted to show off her booty at the recent American Music Awards, reports contactmusic.com. IANS

MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

Chai Time

Play & Win

Please send in your filled-in entries to Postnoon, #1246, Level 3, Jubilee Casa, Road No 62, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad – 500033. The winners will be announced on this page in Sunday’s edition.

KAKURO

How to play kakuro Kakuro is a popular game similar to sudoku in some ways. But is also suitably different. The key question: ‘How do you play kakuro?’, well here are the rules of kakuro. The answer: The kakuro grid, unlike in sudoku, can be of any size. It has rows and columns, and dark cells like in a crossword. And, just like in a crossword, some of the dark cells will contain numbers. Some cells will contain two numbers. However, in a crossword the numbers reference clues. In a kakuro, the numbers are all you get! They denote the total of the digits in the row or column refer-

QUICK CROSSWORD

enced by the number. Within each collection of cells — called a run — any of the numbers 1 to 9 may be used but, like sudoku, each number may only be used once.Let’s have an example to explain this concept more clearly: In the image above, which shows a section of a kakuro puzzle, you will see the numbers ‘26’ and ‘14’ in the top row. Look at the 14. This means that the total of the three cells underneath must sum to 14. Therefore 9, 4, 1 could be the answer, or perhaps 7, 4, 3 and so

on... So, how do you work out the actual combination? Well, this is done through elimination and cross-referencing. For instance, as you work out the answers for other kakuro clues, this will naturally limit the valid combinations, and hence the answer for this particular run. Note the second cell in row two — it contains two numbers, 30 and 11. The 30 refers to the vertical run underneath the number 30 and the 11 refers to the two cells to the right, horizontally, of the number 11.

Play & Win

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ACROSS

SCRIBBLING PAD

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SUDOKU

PREVIOUS PUZZLE ANSWER

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1 Two-coloured whale 5 They’re often apparent 10 A bit cuckoo 14 Aft area 15 How beer may be served 16 Dollar overseas 17 Succeeds in a certain kids’ game 20 Goes bad 21 Genesis follower 22 Party times, sometimes 24 Prince of amphibians? 25 Hardened campaigner 28 Org for doctors 29 Wimbledon do-over 30 Black History Month (Abbr) 33 Hard outer covering of a seed 35 Clarinet type 37 Device of the wryly humorous 39 Consider 42 ‘Home’ or ‘bed’ addon 43 Tiny amount 44 Jeans opener? 45 Tokyo tender 46 Ending with ‘Ecuador’ and ‘Caesar’

48 Flow back 50 Bro’s sibling 51 Open-mouthed stare 52 Carries out 54 Like a tough battle 57 Nabbed 61 Have an afternoon lie-down 65 Collected anecdotes 66 San ___ (Californian city) 67 Prison sentences 68 Bad day for Caesar 69 Brains alternative 70 Greek god of war

DOWN 1 Tolkien villains 2 Opposite of sow 3 Mafia kingpin 4 Big Band musician Shaw 5 Sleepy Hollow’s headless villain 6 Vegas-to-NYC direction 7 Word often given an incorrect apostrophe 8 Traitor 9 Shape the world is in 10 Clear up, as a windshield 11 ‘___ Lang Syne’ 12 Mrs, in Munich 13 Clothes

18 Seaweed you can eat 19 Like Fantasy Island 23 Type of cracker 24 Behaved like a buoy 25 Swindler’s easy mark 26 Speak in a pompous manner 27 Equate 30 They lead to free throws 31 World-weariness 32 Computer memory units 34 Country meadow 36 ‘I’m ___ tired’ 38 Fitting name for a thief? 40 Highest standards 41 Polished uncut stone 47 Poise 49 Geste or Bridges 51 Sarcastic taunts 53 ‘Kama ___’ 54 Tangelo variety 55 Poke or provoke 56 Big-eared hopper 58 Transmission component 59 Talk up 60 ‘Dick Tracy’ gal 62 Spoil the finish of 63 Pilot’s announcement, briefly 64 Darn that hole

Chai Time MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012 Thiruvaikumar

STAR POWER for 11-12-2012

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

ARIES

TAURUS

GEMINI

CANCER

LEO

VIRGO

LIBRA

SCORPIO

SAGITTARIUS

CAPRICORN

AQUARIUS

PISCES

Efforts will be highly successful. Customers will support businessmen and turnover is set to increase for them. Couples will be cordial. A person you are planning to meet will surprise you with a visit. Opposing relatives will stand by you now.

STRIP TEASE AGNES

Expectations will get fulfilled. Financial position will improve. Spouse's longterm goal will be achieved. Influence will go up in the midst of friends and relatives. Some have a bright chance to go abroad. A little effort will see this goal materialise.

Some will change their residence. You will execute all work faster than you normally would. Expected financial help will come. Travel will be beneficial. Have a free and frank talk with relatives to ease the tension. Take care of your spouse’s health.

Govt officials in powerful position will become friends. Enemies will be inactive. You plan your son's future now itself. Some will pay advance for purchase of a new asset. Chances of indirect opposition and health scare; take good care of yourself.

Good effects will increase. Proper planning and direct monitoring of work will yield desired results. Some have to stay away from family due to an unexpected transfer. But that will be for good. Dull trend at workplace will change.

Self-confidence will increase and your determination will be obvious. Fortune is beckoning you. Your skills will earn appreciation from all. Friends may not be favourable. Businessmen need to take care of statutory compliances.

Sudden fortune will surprise you and bring cheer. Confusion in the family will come to an end. Delayed govt works will now take place with minor efforts. Forgotten due will come to your surprise. Careful while driving as an accident is likely.

Even the biggest will be completed without much difficulty. You will receive your dues with lesser efforts. Expected help from paternal relatives will come. Your wishes get fulfilled. Businessmen will enjoy a boom time and earn decent profits.

Avoid getting closer and sharing family secrets with new friends. Be strict in financial transactions. Businessmen might face tough competition. New efforts will end successfully, though there will be teething problems.

TAROT READ

Sumaa Tekur

tarotreadhyd@gmail. com

ARIES:

GEMINI:

Seven of Cups – You’re focusing on the money now and all your plans are directed towards how much you’ll make. Take it easy. Money will only get you that far.

LEO:

Six of Swords – All overseas contacts are highlighted. Is there a foreign contact that can improve your current work/relationship situation? Don’t be afraid to ask.

LIBRA:

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE

Three of Swords – You’re disappointed with the failure of a project you worked very hard on. Grieve if you have to, but get up and move on. Life has more chances.

SAGITTARIUS:

The Wheel of Fortune – Bad times give way to good ones. Things are going to look up from here. There will be no need to be anxious. March ahead with confidence.

TAURUS:

Page of Cups – You’re feeling vulnerable and emotional. It’s alright to feel that way but make sure no one is taking you for a ride.

CANCER:

The Magician – Use your intuition to guide you through a difficult decision. When the decision is right, you’ll somehow know – even if not through logic.

VIRGO:

King of Wands – You’re in control when it comes to managing your thoughts. You’re able to focus on important projects and also lend them a creative twist.

SCORPIO:

Ace of Cups – This is the cup of life and the good news is that it’s overflowing. You’re reaching a creativity crescendo from where you see life differently.

CAPRICORN:

The Emperor – You’re the leader and everyone around you is looking to you for advice and guidance. Trick is to manage the balance of power and emotions.

PREVIOUS SOLUTIONS

PISCES:

Page of Wands – You’re in an uncomfortable waiting period, waiting for things to move so you can make your plans work. Be patient. It will all work out.

NUMBER GAME

You get a job opportunity – something that suits your requirement. You’re in the mood to try a novel idea. Don’t bend backwards over it.

SCRABBLE

AQUARIUS: Judgment –

POOCH CAFE

You will be more positive and cheerful. With determination and a push, you will win wherever you failed earlier and that makes you further cheerful. Taking right steps at the right time will bring you success. Strained relationship resume.

for 11-12-2012

The Lovers – Love is on your mind. Plus, you need to make some decisions real quick. Being a fence-sitter means you’re missing out on important opportunities.

NON SEQUITUR

Avoid unwanted discussions. Employees may not get any favourable decisions from the management. Businessmen too will have a limited growth. Postpone plans of expansion. Women will have some sort of apprehensions; do not worry.

SUDUKO

Misunderstanding with maternal relatives likely but will get resolved soon. You will hold an important discussion with blood relatives to decide on a burning issue. Happy events will make everyone cheerful at home. Debts might haunt you.

Boggle NEPAL HAITI CHILE INDIA JAPAN Vol: 2, No 144 RNI No: APENG/2011/39337 Published for the proprietors, Scribble Media and Entertainment Pvt Ltd, by V Harshavardhan Reddy, at #1246, Level 3, Jubilee Casa, Road No 62, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad – 500033 and printed by him at Jagati Publications Ltd, Plot No D-75&E-52, APIE Industrial Estate, Balanagar, Ranga Reddy Dist, Hyderabad – 500037, Editor: Dean Williams – Responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. For feedback, please write to: feedback@postnoon. com and for subscription, please call 040-4067 2222, Fax: 040-4067 2211

Entertainment MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

BECOMING A MOM CHANGED HER ATTITUDE

CINE BYTES

NO MORE bikini shoots for Megan Fox

ctress Megan Fox is worried her son will be “horrified” when he sees her old bikini shoots. The 26-year-old gave birth to Noah, her first child with husband Brian Austin Green, in September and revealed that becoming a mother has changed her approach to her work. “It changes your perspective about being overly sexual in a film when you have a baby,”mirror.co.uk quoted Fox as saying. “I’m going to be more cautious about choosing films because I’m already thinking about when he’s in school and his friends are going to be showing him my photo shoots with me in a bikini and he’s going to be horrified. So that will deter me from making some of the choices I made before,” she added. IANS

Jennifer Lawrence, Anne Hathaway on Heroines List

he New York Times took it upon themselves to honour some of Hollywood’s hottest women, who also happen to be 2012’s leading heroines. The awardees include Anne Hathaway in Dark Knight Rises, Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games and Rebel Wilson in Bridesmaids and Pitch Perfect.

Mollie King can’t live without chocolates

inger Mollie King constantly thinks about food and can’t resist eating her favourite chocolate. The 25year-old is known for her hourglass ﬁgure, but she admits she thinks about food all the time. “My life revolves around food. I’m always thinking about what I’m going to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner,” femaleﬁrst.co.uk quoted King as saying.

Not marrying Wood for money, says fiancee

onnie Wood’s ﬁancee Sally Humphreys has brushed off reports that she is marrying the veteran singer for money. “There is an age gap. I would prefer it if there wasn’t but there is. But maybe I’m a bit older and he’s a bit younger at heart... People say, are you a gold-digger, are you this, are you that? I’m not. If I was, I wouldn’t be at work every day. But I suppose only time will tell.” IANS

sports

MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

10TH WORLD JUNIOR TABLE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Power backup backed up for TT championships To ensure uninterrupted power supply in the international event, the organisers have now in place an additional generator of higher capacity as a standby. HYDERABAD: Guess what India has in common with Mexico and Guatemala? Erratic power supply. These are two countries while playing in which much-travelled 16-year-ole Diaz Melanie of Puerto Rico was left in the dark, due to power failure. “I have played in many countries like Bahrain, Ecuador, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Mexico and Guatemala. We had the power going off during play in Mexico and Guatemala, where it was restored in 10–15 minutes, but here it took so long,” a flustered Melanie said. Interruption of play could hamper a player’s rhythm and cause a lapse in concentration. Melanie lost 11–5, 11–6, 11–5 to Hsu Ya-Ting. “It did not have a bearing on the outcome of my match, the girl from Chinese Taipei I was playing then was too good for me,” she conceded. No athlete likes that the body cool down when in the middle of a workout, let alone in the middle of a match. The main exercise or game is entered into only after a warm-up session. “I kept jumping and doing stuff to not get cold,” said

We had the power going off during play in Mexico and Guatemala, where it was restored in 10–15 minutes. Melanie Melanie of Puerto Rico Melanie. Organisers of the 10th World Junior Table Tennis Championships that began at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in

We had arranged backup power in case of a power failure but that too failed and so we now have in place a backup for that. SM Sultan secretary APTTA the City that began on Sunday were left red in the face over the power fiasco as the first rounds were in progress. While politicians have recent-

Unfortunate occurrences can happen in any part of the world, only the nature of the occurrence may differ. Cyril Sen visiting dignitary ly started harping on the massive progress that India is supposed to have made and the superpower that it has become, ground realities begged to differ. Three

interruptions due to power failure at the stadium brought proceedings to a complete standstill, showing the country worldwide in poor light. The person responsible for electricity in the stadium said that they were putting the system through tests to ensure uninterrupted power in the evening during the inauguration, which the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Kiran Kumar Reddy chaired as the chief guest. The explanation leaves you wondering why test during play when it could be done a day or so earlier and why thrice at that! “We had arranged backup power in case of a power failure but that too failed and so we now have in place a backup for the backup by way of an additional generator,” secretary Andhra Pradesh Table Tennis Association SM Sultan said referring to the measures taken to correct the unfortunate incident. Cyril Sen of Malaysia, here as part of the referees and umpires committee, brushed the incident aside saying, “Unfortunate occurrences can happen in any part of the world, only the nature of the occurrence may differ.”

CM encourages international events Says the State is willing to do its part in bringing more such sporting events to encourage sportspersons here and project Hyderabad as a city with world class infrastructure. HYDERABAD: Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy promised that the State government would do all possible to encourage sports in Andhra Pradesh. At the inauguration of the 10th World Junior Table Tennis Championships at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in the City on Sunday, he lauded the efforts of the Sports Authority of India and Andhra Pradesh Table Tennis Association in bringing the big event to the country for the first time. He also mentioned other international events that the City played host to recently, the Conference of Biodiversity and a forum of 2,000 doctors from 90 countries. “I want Hyderabad to host more such world conferences

In a blow to the country’s chances of repeating the bronze medal feat at Bahrain in the last edition of the championships, Indian girls lost 3–0 to Korea Republic in the team event on Monday morning.

Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy applauds as about 300 participants from 27 countries march past his dais in the inaugural ceremony of the 10th World Junior Table Tennis Championships in the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium on Sunday. SRINIVAS SETTY

and sporting events,” he said. He told the visiting players and dignitaries that the City was famous for various cuisines, especially Mughlai and Chinese. He wished them good playing a pleasant stay in India.

Sujeertha Mukherjee in action on Day 2.

sports

MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

FORMULA ONE

BRILLIANT TROPHY CHESS TOURNEY

‘GLADIATOR ’ Fernando targets 2013 revenge Alonso reckoned his 2012 title bid was undermined by his Ferrari’s lack of competitiveness compared to RedBull’s. NICK REEVES Agence France-Presse PARIS: Anyone within earshot of Fernando Alonso after the chaotic season-closing race at Interlagos could have been forgiven for believing it was the Spaniard and not Sebastian Vettel who had just won the title. The 2012 season will be remembered as one of the most thrilling ever — with Vettel crowned Formula One’s youngest ever triple world champion by a mere three points. The 25-year-old German’s sixth to Alonso’s second in Brazil made him only the third driver in history to win three successive titles, equalling the feats of the great Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio and childhood idol Michael Schumacher, who finished seventh for Mercedes in his final race before retiring. But while plaudits rained down on Vettel runner-up Alonso was mapping out ways to end his Red Bull rival’s supremacy in 2013 after what the 2005 and 2006 champion called “the best season of my life”. The 31-year-old reckoned his title bid was undermined by his Ferrari’s lack of competitiveness compared to the super reliable and super fast Red Bull, and rough justice at Spa and Suzuka.

In Belgium and Japan, Alonso finished pointless after being shunted out of contention by Lotus duo Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen. “We definitely did not lose the title in Brazil; that happened in Spa and Suzuka,” argued Alonso. “In the end, we lost the title by three points, however I did the best season of my life and now I can only think of the year to come. “It was a miracle to see, race after race, what we managed to achieve: Next year, we will try and improve the car, trying to start further up the grid, thus avoiding accidents. Let’s hope we also have a bit more luck.” He shrugged off any anger he and Ferrari stirred up amongst Vettel’s fanbase in Germany when lodging an ultimately fruitless appeal to the sport’s governing body against Vettel’s Brazil win. The action was based on suggestions that Vettel may have carried out an illegal overtaking manoeuvre. He said: “Frankly, I’m not that interested in what the opinion is of me in Germany or elsewhere. “What I know is that people who see me in the streets hug me and call me gladiator or samurai.” The unassuming Vettel will be hard to dislodge from the top of the F1 tree — the mantle of champion

resting comfortably on his broad shoulders. After different winners of the first seven races he took the 2012 championship by the scruff of the neck in Asia, rattling off four straight wins. And his reputation for coolness under pressure was plain for all to see in Brazil, when he overcame a neardisastrous first-lap collision to pick his way through the pack in treacherous rain-swept conditions for the all important sixth place finish. “He’s in a club on his own now, three in a row is going some..,” said his teammate Mark Webber. Vettel, who has committed to Red Bull until 2014, reflected: “We stepped up our game in the second half of the season which allowed us to come back in this championship.” The season witnessed the end of the marriage between Lewis Hamilton and McLaren with the 2008 champion turning his back on the British team in favour of a fresh start at Ross Brawn’s Mercedes, with his drive alongside Jenson Button handed to highly-rated Mexican Sergio Perez. A 20-race menu is again on offer in 2013, but the planned Grand Prix of America on the Jersey shore opposite New York City won’t be on it. Next year’s grid has been reduced to 22 cars after the HRT team missed the deadline.

Avikshit claims top spot HYDERABAD: Avikshith of Sri Aurobindo International School and B. Srinath were tied for first place by scoring 5.5 points out of 6 rounds in the 79th Brilliant Trophy chess tournament. In the tie-break Avikshith won the Juniors category. B. Srinath was placed second while Shankar Bharadwaj was third with 5 points. In the open category Amithpal Singh won the event by scoring 6 points, while P. Kranthi was second with 5.5 points and P. Ramakrishna third with 5 points. Winners List: Under 14: (boys): 1. Rishiteja, 2. Ganesh Narayan (girls): 1.Charitha Manusri, 2. Divyan Maitri Under 12: (boys): 1. B. Srinath, 2. Shanmukha, (girls): Likhitha Reddy, 2. Nanditha Under 10: (boys): 1. Sankara Bharadwaj, 2. Ch.Siddarth, (girls): 1. S. Meghana, 2. Devi Srujana Under 8: (boys): 1. N. Varun Gopal, 2. S. Midhush, (girls): 1. Sunaina 2. Varshitha Under 6: (boys): 1. Jaswanth, 2. Nikhil Dutt, 3.Sriharsha, (girls): 1.Sri Anitha Reddy. Best Woman: M. Janaki Devi. Best Veteran: K. Madhusudhan Rao Open Category: 1. Amithpal Singh 2. P. Kranthi, 3. P. Ramakrishna, 4. D. Suresh Babu, 5. M. Satyanarayana, 6. V. Varun, 7. G.V. Srinivas, 8. Pratyush Srivastav 9. Chetan Sarma, 10. Venkata Kishore. Selected Results (Final Round): Open Category: D. Suresh Babu (5) lost to Amithpal Singh (6), P. Kranthi (5.5) bt M.Y. Raju (4), P. Ramakrishna (5) bt Raja Rithwik (4), DSSN Raju (4) lost to V. Varun (5), R. Sriram (4) lost to G.V. Srinivas (5). Juniors: Aviksith (5.5) drew with R. Shankar Bharadwaj (5), B. Srinath (5.5) bt M.Tarun (4), Harshith Krishna (4) lost to P. Charutha Manushree (5), K. Pranav Sai (4) lost to Rishiteja (5), M. Shourya (4.5) drew with Ch. Siddarth (4.5).

FRANKLIN TEMPLETON TOURNAMENT

Perry, O’Hair win title NAPLES: Kenny Perry and Sean O’Hair birdied five of the last six holes in the final-round scramble on Sunday to win the Franklin Templeton post-season golf event by one stroke. The duo combined for a 12-under 60 to finish at 31-under-par 185. O’Hair won this event for the first time, while Perry won for the third

time with his third different partner and at 52 became the oldest winner in the event. He won with John Huston in 2005 and Scott Hoch in 2008. “All three have been different,” Perry said. “John and I were pretty even partners, and then the year Scott and I won, I played fantastic that week.” AFP

LEAGUE CRICKET Cooch Behar Trophy U-19 Elite Group ‘A’ (day 2) Mumbai 416 (Akhil Herwadkar 182, Vikranth Auti 30, Sagar Kerkar 57, C.V. Milind 5/94, Ahmed Askari 3/63, Vamshi Vardhan Reddy 2/62) vs Hyderabad 102/4 (P.S. Chaitanya Reddy 39 n.o., G. Rahul Singh 38 n.o., Akash Parkar 3/31). Col CK Nayudu Trophy Andhra ‘A’ 220/7 (G. Chiranjeevi 82, Praneeth Kumar 2/9, Akash Bhandari 2/66) vs Hyderabad ‘A’. A4-11 division one-day

Sportive 133 (Govind 5/30, Lalith 5/27) bt Vijaynagar 109 (Ramu 4/27). Hyderabad Wonderers 137 (Farhan 31, Afzal 58, A. Vijay Kumar 7/30) lost to Bharath CC 141/7 (P. Sai Raghu Varun 30, Vamshi Vardhan Reddy 53, Aijaz 3/59, Bhavesh 3/39). Hyderabad Panthers 211/6 (Saikanth 53, Ankith 69 n.o., Aminuddin 3/46) lost to Walker Town 213/4 (Sridhar 65, Aminuddin 57). Satyam Colts 272 (Teja 34, Shaker 46, Ashok Sunkara 146,

Shajeel 6/59) bt Golconda 228 (Mohsin 35, Tausif 51, Jaber 52, Shashi 5/38). CK Blues 310/6 (Paven 134, Saradhi 76, Shahshank 30, Raghu 4/88) bt Gunrock 99/9 (Venkat 3/14, Sharan 3/20). St-Patrick’s 257/9 (Anirudh N 81, C. Sai Sandeep 72, Manohar Karthik 3/55) bt Chums XI 214 (Shiva 89, Ruthiv 46, A. Sai Samaran 5/37). Ameerpet 186 (Rao 39, Sharan Pal Singh 75, Berard George 3/50, Lesley Daniel 3/38) lost to Sacred Heart 189/6 (John Mac

Donald 30, Lesty Anthony 34, Jerome Arokianadhan 46 n.o.). Consult 278 (Pambi Praveen 103, Prassana 43, Najeeb Sohail 6/69) bt Noble 159 (Rohit Raju 43, Najeeb Sohail 30, Sanjit 4/53, Venkatesh 4/27). Concord CC 227 (Mohit 30, A Bin-Abdulla 100, Tarun 3/79, Syed Adil 5/38) bt International 209 (Ram Reddy 37, Girish 51, Akhil 43, A Bin-Abdullah 4/44, Suraj 5/45). Navjeevan Friends 158 (Vatan 37, B. Satish 3/25) lost to MP Blues 189/2 (Swamy 53, T.P.

Varun 30). Reliance 149 (Kaleem 6/32) lost to Col K Acrylic 150/4 (Md Kaleem Uddin 64, Yusuf 43). S Raymond’s 245/4 (Bragdish 34, V. Abhinay 80, Rohit Yadav 53, Rohit Kumar 47, Mahender Kumar 4/30) bt Deccan Blues 134 (G. Pavan Verma 31, Ajaz Ahmed 3/18). SK Blues 219/8 ( Akhil 4/36) bt AB Colony 186/7 (Sirish 63, Imtiyaz 4/42). AVCC 130 (Upender 3/12) lost to Picket 131/8 (Parvez 43, Ajay Dev 5/40, M Varun Reddy 3/59).

sports

MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

ENGLAND’S TOUR OF INDIA

Are India down and out?

Time after time senseless and inept batting in favourable conditions has cost India dearly. It first happened during the second Test in Mumbai and this was repeated once again at Kolkata. TWELFTH MAN

Babu Kalyanpur

t seems the word ‘fightback’ has been deleted from the dictionary of the Indian team. Time after time senseless and inept batting in favourable conditions has cost India dearly. It happened once again at Kolkata. A 12-year record of losing two home Tests in a row was broken. The series cannot be won now and there is only a remote chance of drawing it. Where do we go from here? All the promises of a grand season after the fine start against New Zealand and the first Test win have been wiped away in one stroke. Starting as underdogs at home is an insult. All the balderdash about producing spinning wickets has now become a pie in the face of skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Indian fans are hurt, even the most optimistic among them. It is frustrating to see India’s star players batting like amateurs. There is no will to apply themselves and try to change the situation. The same mistakes are often repeated by players who have accounted for thousands of runs in the past. There is lethargy and a sense

of tiredness. The body language is that of a man struck with some incurable disease. Patience is running out. Even a staunch supporter is fast losing out on sympathy. The selectors have part cleared out some of the baggage. Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh have been

RANJI TROPHY ROUND-UP At Vadodara: Odisha 181 vs Baroda 290/6 (Waghmode 72, Chauhan 60, Rayudu 64, Shah 50). At Pune: Haryana 257 vs Maharashtra 302/3(Sangram Dilp Atitkar 118 not out, Ankit Bawne 83, Amit Mishra 2/41). At Malappuram: J&K 215 & 68/3 vs Kerala 163 (Pervez Rassol 3/66, Mohammed Mudhasir 3/15). At Mumbai: Punjab 580 (Ravi Inder Singh 76, Mandeep Singh 211, Amitoze Singh 91; A Agarkar 3/95, Ankit Chavan 3/142) vs Mumbai 69/1. At Bangalore: Karnataka 192 & 136 for no loss (Robin Uthappa 77 n.o.) vs Delhi 258 (Parvinder Awana 74, HS Sharath 4/52). At Rajkot: Saurashtra 209 & 134/4 (R Jadeja 67 n.o.) vs Bengal 112 (Manoj Tiwary retd 55, Ravindra Jadeja 4/48, Nayan Doshi 3/24). At Ahmedabad: Rajasthan 294

all out (Hrishikesh Kanitkar 100 n.o., Rakesh Dhurv 6/65) vs Gujarat 104/1 ( Samit Gohel 43 n.o.). At Bhubaneswar: MP 377 (Rameez Khan 128, Anand Rajan 69; Sanjay Bangar 4/81) vs Railways 63/3. At Guwahati: Assam 354 (P Das 90, Rishi Dhawan 4/60) vs Himachal Pradesh 62 for no loss. At Agartala: Tripura: 106 & 86(Abhijit Dey 24, Abbas Ali 15; Shankar Rao 5/36; Ajay Yadav 4/29) lost to Jharkhand 139 & 55 (Saurabh Tiwary 58, Timir Chanda 6/44). At Porvorim: Services 473 (Yashpal Singh 166 n.o., Soumik Chatterjee 103; Shadab Jakati 4/100, Saurabh Bandekar 3/101) vs Goa 64/1. At Nagpur: Uttar Pradesh 524/7 (Mukul Dagar 116, Arish Alam batting 93, Mohammad Kaif 85, Piyush Chawla 85; Sandeep Singh 3/75) vs Vidarbha.

shown the door. Of them, Yuvraj did not do as badly but ultimately paid the price for not scoring enough. Harbhajan did not capitalise on the one chance he got. And the track was tailor-made for him. Zaheer has been fraught with fitness problems. Though he has bowled adequately, his lack of

wickets and sluggish fielding led to his exit. There are some questions about their replacements. Ravindra Jadeja is in fine nick in the Ranji Trophy but will face lots of challenges against a resurgent England side. Parvinder Awana is an unknown factor. The choice of Piyush Chawla is controversial. He has not done enough on the big stage to merit selection. It is up to him to grab what maybe his last chance. It is sad that the selectors did not turn to Manoj Tiwary or Rohit Sharma. It seems the sheer weight of runs has become a criterion for selection. It will take a major effort by Dhoni to rally the team. Cricket is after all a game and the principle of all sport is to keep it simple and go back to basics. The was amply revealed by the only batsman who had an answer to the England bowlers. Ravinchandran Ashwin mixed aggression with caution to produce one the best innings by an Indian in the series. The whole advantage of winning the toss was lost on the first day of a sporting wicket in Kolkata. India lacked badly in the usage of the feet. Many of them were caught in awkward positions. They made England’s bowlers, good as they were, into demonic figures.

Sachin Tendukar was the only batsman who managed to cobble together an innings of note, though scratchily. It was only’s Dhoni’s blast at the end which helped India to get past 300. England batted beautifully. Alistair Cook got another big hundred and all the others chipped in. India’s bowlers were found wanting. With Dhoni pleading for the ball to be pitched up to the stumps, the spinners did not pay heed. Though they bowled badly the blame cannot be put on them alone. The batsmen were primarily responsible for the disaster. The Indian spinners experimented too much too. All that was needed was a bit of pace and a proper line and length. England deserve praise for their single-mindedness. Cook epitomises this. He has rallied his troops well and led by example. This has turned out to be one of England’s best tours to India. They are now favourites to win at Nagpur. Even the pace bowlers have joined the spin party. Jimmy Anderson bowled superbly in Kolkata and Steve Finn added a bit of menace to the attack. It is not going to be easy for India at Nagpur. They have the resources and the time has come to deliver. Nothing less than a victory will win back the millions of fans.

DEFEAT’S AFTERSHOCKS

‘Split captaincy for MSD’ NEW DELHI: Former skipper Sourav Ganguly on Sunday endorsed the idea of “split captaincy” and said Mahendra Singh Dhoni should not be leading the Indian cricket team in all formats. “I am not saying just ship him off all the formats of the game because India are going into a transition phase and building a new team. “Sit with Dhoni and ask him what form of cricket he wants to captain. He has done a lot of good things for Indian cricket, but at the present moment, I am just fearing that we will lose him as a player if he continues like this,” Ganguly said with a note of caution. Despite having lost six out

of the last seven Tests against England, Ganguly chose not to be too harsh on Dhoni. “Keeping is never easy and when you have a bowling attack like ours, which has not performed over a period of time. You keep for hours and then you captain the side and you come out and bat at no. 7.

“So it’s never easy for for Dhoni and I’m a firm believer that his job has to be split and he needs a reprieve in some format,” Ganguly told ‘Headlines Today’. Talking on Sachin Tendulkar’s form, the former India skipper said, “Sachin desperately needs to get runs. He has achieved a lot. He is getting a long rope because of what he has achieved. He should know himself that how he needs to turn it around. “As somebody watching it from outside Tendulkar not performing, I think if I was Tendulkar I would go. But it’s upto him at the present moment. We want to see the great mangoing with a bat held high and not in terrible form. PTI

MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012

sports

ARSENAL LEGEND HENRY SET FOR THIRD SPELL? French World Cup winner Thierry Henry is set for another loan return to EPL giants Arsenal, the club where he remains an icon and all-time top scorer, Britain’s press reported Monday. The New York Red Bulls striker could make his debut in the Gunners’ FA Cup clash against Swansea on January 6.

THE LEGEND

Messi takes his seat among the greats Messi broke Gerd Mueller’s 40-year-old record for the most goals in a calendar year. MADRID: Lionel Messi broke German legend Gerd Mueller’s 40-year-old record for the most goals in a calendar year on Sunday, netting his 85th and 86th goals of 2012 in the 2-1 win over Real Betis. The 25-year-old from Rosario, Santa Fe is also set to add to his impressive haul of silverware as he is in line for a record fourth consecutive Ballon d’Or. What sets him apart is the effervescence of his dribbling, the inventiveness of his team play and the extraordinary regularity of his goalscoring. Messi has

Factfile Name: Lionel Messi (ARG) Birth date: June 24, 1987; age 25 Birthplace: Rosario, Argentina Height: 1.69m (5ft 7in) Club: Barcelona (ESP) since 2004 Major club honours: Three Champions Leagues, ﬁve league titles in Spain, two Spanish Cups, two Super Cups, two Club World Cups International caps: 76 (31 goals) International honours: Olympic gold medal (2008) Individual honours: Three Ballons d’Or titles (2009, 2010, 2011) The man nicknamed La Pulga

(the ﬂea) has terrorised defences in La Liga and scored around a goal a game over the past three seasons -- most of them spectacular. On Sunday, in Seville, he broke the record of goals scored in a calendar year, his double at Real Betis putting his haul for 2012 onto 86, one more than the previous record set by German legend Gerd Mueller set in 1972. Brilliant on the ball, sublime ﬁnisher and as good as unplayable when on top form -- though that form can become submerged on occasion when he dons the colours of Argentina.

also proven himself capable of rising to the occasion when the sport’s biggest prizes are on the line with three Champions League winners’ medals and five La Liga crowns to his name. He has also won the FIFA Club World Cup twice and is Barca’s leading scorer with 283 goals in all competitions. In terms of pure ability, Messi bears comparison with any player who has ever played the game.

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

Everton rocks AVB’s Spurs

David Moyes’ men snatched a deserved victory thanks to an equaliser from Pienaar in the 90th minute and Jelavic’s winner in the second minute of stoppage-time. CHRIS MCKENNA Agence France-Presse

Liverpool fight back

iverpool staged an impressive fightback as the Reds scored twice in the closing stages to secure a 3-2 win over West Ham at Upton Park. Brendan Rodgers’ side were in danger of suffering the latest setback of a disappointing campaign after Mark Noble’s penalty and a Steven Gerrard own goal put the Hammers 2-1 up following Glen Johnson’s early opener. Liverpool dug deep to equalise through another Hammers old boy Joe Cole before James Collins turned a Jordan Henderson cross into his own net with 11 minutes to go.

LIVERPOOL, UK: Nikica Jelavic (right) and Steven Pienaar grabbed late goals to complete a remarkable fight-back as Everton beat Tottenham 2-1 at Goodison Park to go fourth in the Premier League on Sunday. Clint Dempsey struck for Tottenham in the 76th minute with the help of a deflection off Everton defender Sylvain Distin and that goal looked set to win it for the north London side. But David Moyes’ men snatched a deserved victory thanks to an equaliser from South Africa midfielder Pienaar

in the 90th minute and Croatia striker Jelavic’s winner in the second minute of stoppagetime. The sensational finale lifted Everton above Tottenham on goal difference and ended a run of three successive wins for Andre Villas-Boas’s side. “It was the right conclusion. We found ourselves 1-0 down after playing really well,” Moyes said. “The effort and commitment the players showed was terrific. When you get to the 90th minute you think this isn’t going to be your day but credit to the boys as they kept going.” Villas-Boas added: “It’s difficult to take and in the end we didn’t deserve this.”

BRIEFS FA probe ‘appalling’ Ferdinand coin attack

West Ham star Diame out for up to 12 weeks

Fan bailed after allegation of abuse

Thousands turn out for slain Dutch linesman

MANCHESTER, UK: The Football Association have opened an investigation into the incident that saw Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand hit by a coin during his side’s 3-2 win at Manchester City on Sunday. The English centre-back was left with blood pouring from his face after being hit by the coin apparently thrown from the crowd.

LONDON: Midﬁelder Mohamed Diame could be sidelined for up to 12 weeks after the West Ham star suffered a torn hamstring in Sunday’s 3-2 defeat against Liverpool. Diame was stretchered off after pulling up near the touchline and Hammers manager Sam Allardyce is concerned he will be out until well into the new year.

LONDON: A Swansea fan arrested for allegedly making a racist gesture at Norwich’s Sebastien Bassong was released on bail. The 23-yearold man was arrested after aiming what is believed to have been a monkey gesture at Bassong following Robert Snodgrass’s 77th minute goal for Norwich in their 4-3 win at the Liberty Stadium.

THE HAGUE: Thousands of people turned out to pay tribute to a football linesman who died after he was assaulted at the end of a youth game in the Netherlands. Local ofﬁcials said crowds of up to 12,000 people gathered in Almere, near Amsterdam, to pay tribute to Richard Nieuwenhuizen, 41, who died after the December 2 beating.

United late show was no fluke: Rooney TOM WILLIAMS Agence France-Presse MANCHESTER, UK: Wayne Rooney (below) believes Manchester United owe their thrilling derby triumph over neighbours Manchester City to the will to win instilled in the squad by manager Alex Ferguson. Ferguson’s sides have long been renowned for mounting improbable late comebacks, but it looked like the tables were about to be turned at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday when Pablo Zabaleta netted an 86th-minute equaliser for City. But an injurytime free-kick by Robin van Persie ensured United came out on top. United’s win gives Ferguson’s team a six-point lead over their derby rivals.