Kirsten Dunst
Two feet or four,
likes to Google herself!
software is the same
P27
P14
Anushka in SVSC?
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CEAT special award for Laxman CEAT Ltd conferred a special award for contribution to Indian cricket on Hyderabadi cricketer VVS Laxman. West Indies legend Courtney Walsh bagged the lifetime achievement award. P2
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Bleary-eyed CBI Hyderabad longs for a good sleep Lacking in infrastructure and short of staff, the CBI Hyderabad is struggling for See page 2 fresh air, and no rescuer is in sight
SUICIDE A young wife, still in her honeymoon phase, was found hanging in her apartment in Gachibowli on Sunday REPORT ON PG 2
Page Two
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011
Spirit of Twin Cities
Bleary-eyed CBI Hyderabad longs for a good sleep U Srinivas srinivas.u@postnoon.com
I
f one goes for the popularity test in Hyderabad today, the acronym CBI that stands for Central Bureau of Investigation wins hands down. And, the name sends a chill down the spine of many hitherto heroes who fear they would be zero if the CBI is unleashed on them. After New Delhi, the CBI Hyderabad has of late been in the spotlight for several highprofile political cases. It is more because Bangalore CBI operations also comes under the Hyderabad office. But, the CBI personnel too are human beings who need rest and refreshments to function effectively. But, going by the ever swelling high-profile cases being handed over to them on the one hand and the dwindling strength of the personnel on the other, the CBI staff are dozing off weary of non-stop works. Sources whisper that they work 18 hours and yet can barely catch up with the never ending work load. “Of late, the Anna effect
Ganesh laddu does AP proud
A
huge laddu of weighing 5,570 kg prepared during recent Ganesh festival in the State on Friday entered the Guinness Book of World Records. The laddu was prepared by Suvarnabhoomi Developers Pvt Limited in Tapeswaram, in the East Godavari district, which is well known for sweet ‘Khaja.’ The laddu was prepared for the 117-feet tall idol of Ganesh installed at MVP colony in Visakhapatnam last September and was used as ‘prasadam’ for devotees during the festival. It was the tallest idol installed in the State. As many as 50 workers laboured for a week to make the laddu. The record of the largest laddu (551 kg) was earlier held by a Hindu temple in Britain. Interestingly, a sweet shop of Tapeswaram in East Godavari had prepared 450 kg laddu for a 55 ft tall idol at Khairatabad in Hyderabad.
Position in Hyderabad office of CBI Sanctioned strength (in all) 264 Effective strength 194 Immediate requirement 30
Whopping crime! About 10,000 criminal cases are pending with the CBI New Delhi due to severe shortage of staff, the agency's director AP Singh is quoted as saying, “We are short of officers. At least 30 per cent of the posts within the CBI are vacant. The central and state governments are also not meeting our requirement through deputation of additional officers. We are loaded with fresh cases from states, Centre and the courts.”
has propelled the government and judiciary to go after corruption in governance and that has given rise to a great jump in work-load,” said an official who till recently worked with the CBI. The past three months especially have been particularly gruelling after the Gali Janardhana Reddy mining scam broke out. It was followed by the highly-publicised Jagan’s wealth cases and now the court order to probe
TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu adds to the overflowing file rack. On an average 12-13 people are under constant interrogation every day. All of these demand extensive leg work and paper work. Apart from being understaffed the CBI Hyderabad has no proper infrastructure, it is reported. Since the Koti office is not sufficient they are using Dilkusha guest house also. They do not have a proper lockup so the Central Crime Station, Nampally, is used to put people in the lock up overnight. Due to lack of facilities big people like Koneru Prasad arrested by CBI had to pay Rs 500 for a coffee and Gali brothers have paid Rs 1000 for a bucket of hot water it is learnt. The people looking after Koneru and Gali brothers paid this kind of amounts to middle men who arranged for them at the jail and also at the Central Crime Station. Even law officers’ posts are vacant with the Hyderabad CBI office. CBI now may look for contracted works in logistics.
Unable to study further, woman commits suicide D Sree Charan
A
23-year-old female software engineer committed suicide on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday in her residence at Gachibowli. The reason for the suicide is heart-wrenching — she took the extreme step as she was married off resulting in stoppage of higher studies. Nellisetti Sri Sindhuura, a native of Tenali in Guntur district, was living in an apartment in Kendriya Vihar Complex at Gachibowli, along with her parents. Four months ago she was married to Manikantha, a software engineer in Infosys. Manikantha was also living with his in-laws. However, Sindhuura, who was working
as a software engineer with Intelli Group, wanted to pursue a degree in MBA in the US. Although she did not leave behind any suicide note, her husband and parents informed the Rayadurgam police that she was very keen on pur-
COVER STORY suing her higher studies abroad and had not wanted to get married. The fact that she could not pursue her higher studies left her very upset and resorted to hanging herself by hanging herself from the ceiling fan using a saree. According to her parents, she retired into a room other than her bedroom in the apartment after dinner on Saturday. On Sunday morning when her husband tried to call
her by knocking on the door he was met with stony silence. Suspecting trouble, the family member broke open the door to find her hanging. A pall of gloom descended on the apartment complex as her parents and husband wailed inconsolably. While her father, Hanumanthulu, tried to bang his head against a wall, the police and others prevented him. Unable to bear the shock, her mother fainted and upon recovering was said to be staring at her daughter’s photographs in a daze. When asked for details, Manikantha pleaded that he be left alone. The mandal revenue officer conducted the inquest, while the body of the deceased was shifted to Osmania General Hospital for an autopsy.
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CEAT award for VVS Laxman Courtney Walsh conferred with Lifetime Achievement Award • CEAT International Cricketer of the Year Jonathan Trott (England) • CEAT International Batsman of the year Jonathan Trott (England) • CEAT International Bowler of the year James Anderson (England) • CEAT Special Award – Contribution to Indian Cricket Award VVS Laxman (India)
T
yre major CEAT Ltd celebrated the success and glory of international cricket with ‘CEAT Cricket Rating Awards 2011’at a glittering ceremony on Saturday at Cricket Club of India in Mumbai. The awards were conferred on the best of the international cricketers based on their performances as rated by the CEAT cricket ratings (CCR) for the year 2010-2011. This year CEAT Cricket Rating (CCR) awards have been awarded in nine different categories. English cricketer Jonathan Trott won the award of CEAT International Cricketer and CEAT International Batsman and his team mate James Anderson was awarded the CEAT International Bowler of the year. In addition to the awards honoured to the international players, Virat Kohli from Team India won the CEAT International Youngster of the year and Virender Sehwag was honoured with the Special Award on completion of 10 years in International Cricket. VVS Laxman won the special award for contribution to Indian cricket and Gautam Gambhir walked away with the award for the innings of the year for his innings of 97 during the 2011 World Cup Final.
Hyper Local
Campaigns, hard news and spirit of Twin Cities
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CBI may start sniffing around T leaders Postnoon News
H
aving netted many bigwigs in the mining and Emaar scams, the CBI is learnt to be training its eyes on KVP Ramachandra Rao, the then advisor to the YSR government and Rajyasabha. And, it would be TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao next. The officials interrogated by the CBI are understood to have given in writing that it is KVP who had influenced the officials in the Emaar deal on behalf of the then chief minister YSR. An official
from Dubai, dealing with Emaar, also has given information on the same lines. Officials have dropped hints that KVP and KCR could be summoned as witnesses, if not accused. Police sources say that the vigilance report submitted by the DGP Dinesh
Kumar when he was holding charge of vigilance too has all the details and that KVP figures in the report. Cases against KCR are also on the way. It would be like the case against the Chandrababu Naidu. Even Harish Rao, K Taraka Rama Rao and Kavitha will also be included.
Hyper Local
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011
Campaigns, hard news and spirit of Twin Cities
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PICS: N SHIVA KUMAR
A lip-smacking gourmet affair Dim-sums, butter garlic prawns and more were up for grabs at the Golden Dragon in Taj Krishna on Saturday.
Getting it politically right Nallari Radhika Reddy was the cynosure of all eyes at a Christmas cake mixing ceremony organised at Hotel Grand Kakatiya on Saturday.
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Around the World
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011
Universally fresh
Egypt gets unruly once again Two dead, more than 600 hurt in clashes between anti-regime protesters and police CAIRO: Two people were killed and hundreds injured in Egypt this weekend as police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters in a violent countdown to the first elections since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak. “Down with Tantawi,” hundreds of demonstrators cried in Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square, referring to the post-Mubarak military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, as they lobbed rocks and other objects towards armed police. Medics announced the deaths of Ahmed Mahmoud, 23, who sustained a bullet wound to the chest in Cairo, and Baha Eddin Mohamed Hussein, 25, hit by a rubber bullet in Alexandria as the protests spread from the capital. The clashes began on Saturday in Tahrir Square, as police fired tear gas as well as rubber bullets to break up a lengthy sit-in organised by
An Egyptian police vehicle burns as protesters clash with riot AFP police at Cairo’s landmark Tahrir Square on Saturday some of the driving forces behind the Arab Spring revolt that ousted Mubarak in February. The sit-in was joined by some of the tens of thousands of protesters who had flooded the square on Friday to
demand a quick transition to civilian rule and an end to Tantawi’s military council, which replaced the Mubarak regime. Police had seized the square, only to be beaten back by protesters who triumphant-
Last of Gaddafi legacy comes to an end Seif al-Islam captured after three months on run ZINTAN: Muammer Gaddafi’s son Seif al-Islam has been captured after a three-month manhunt and will be given a ‘fair trial’, Libya’s interim prime minister Abdel Rahim al-Kib announced on Saturday. World powers urged Libya’s interim National Transitional Council to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC), which issued a warrant for Seif’s arrest on charges of crimes against humanity in June. Video footage showed Gaddafi’s longtime heir apparent being hauled off into captivity in a northwestern hill town after getting off a flight from the desert south where he was seized. A fist was thrown as Seif was mobbed by a large crowd of curious onlookers, many of them veterans of the eight-month uprising, but he was spared the brutal lynching dealt out to his father. Sporting a brown cloak and headdress, Seif showed no sign of emotion as he braved the surging spectators at the small airport terminal in Zintan, a mainly Berber town in the Nafusa mountains southwest of Tripoli that was a launchpad for the rebels in their victorious push on the capital in August. “I reassure our people and the
ly retook it on Saturday evening chanting “The people want to topple the field marshal”, Tantawi. One of the protesters, Ali Abdel Aziz, said security forces beat up people indiscriminately. “They beat us harshly, they didn’t care for either men or women. The interior ministry must take responsibility. We have one demand, the military council must go,” said the 32-yearold accountancy professor. Protesters fear a potential return to power by members of Mubarak’s now-dissolved National Democratic Party. “We didn’t have a revolution so the people we removed could come back to parliament,” said 30-year-old activist Ahmed Abol Enein. “None of the revolution’s demands have been met,” he added. “We need a transfer of power to civilians. Everything that is happening shows the military wants to stay in power.”
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Lobbyists seek to end OWS via smear NEW YORK: A top US lobbying firm tied to the financial industry pitched a $850,000 plan to smear the Occupy Wall Street movement and discredit sympathetic politicians. A memo written on the letterhead of well-known Washington lobbying firm Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford urged the American Bankers Association (ABA), a client, to conduct ‘opposition research’ on Occupy Wall Street in order to construct ‘negative narratives’ about the protests and its political backers. Warning that the movement could lead to weakened support for Wall Street among both Democratic and Republican politicians, the four-page memo targeted specific states. If Democrats make the OWS movement’s anti-capitalist message a centrepiece of their campaigns, “this would mean more than just shortterm political discomfort for Wall Street,” said the memo.
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An image grab taken from Al-Ahrar TV station on Saturday shows Seif alIslam (L), the fugitive son of Gaddafi, guarded by a Libyan fighter after he AFP was captured in southern Libya world that Seif, and those with him, will be given a fair trial in which international rights and norms will be guaranteed,” Kib told a news conference in Zintan. “The judicial authorities will communicate with the International Criminal Court to examine where Seif al-Islam must be tried,” he said. “Seif al-Islam was arrested at 1:30 am (2330 GMT Friday)” in the Wadi alAjal district, near Awbari in Libya’s farflung Saharan south, Al-Ajmi al-Atiri told a news conference. They received a tip-off from one of Seif’s bodyguards.
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India unveiled nice and full
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Advani’s sixth yatra a case study in law of diminishing returns Prashant Sood
NEW DELHI: As Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran LK Advani’s 40-day Jan Chetna Yatra concludes today (Sunday) after rolling across 22 states and five union territories, political analysts say it has reaped little benefit for either the man or the party. While it was meant to put the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in the dock over corruption and black money, BJP insiders admit that the sixth rath yatra by the man, who many say nurses prime ministerial ambitions, did not enthuse people as he may have desired. Political scientist Aswini K Ray said Advani, 84, had sought to bolster his own image in a party, which is “quite divided”. “The hidden agenda of the yatra (was) to promote his candidature for the post of prime minister. There is no doubt about that,” Ray said. Ray said the Jan Chetna Yatra or public awareness campaign was no match for Advani’s famed
FABRICATION
Ram Rath Yatra of 1990 that ignited nationwide passions over Ayodhya’s temple-mosque row. He said the political sentiment of the earlier yatra, whether “good or bad”, was shared by many. But the Jan Chetna Yatra has remained on the backburner. “I am not sure if it has gone beyond converting the converted,” he said. Analyst VP Vaidik said that while the response to Advani was not “too good”, it was “not too bad either”. Advani’s yatra will culminate today, two days before the start of the winter session of parliament. It also came ahead of major assembly polls, including the politically crucial Uttar Pradesh. The BJP is trying hard to maximise the impact of the yatra by putting up a show of strength at a rally in the Ramlila Maidan in the capital today (Sunday). But a party leader admitted that the campaign could not catch the imagination of people in the way the party expected. He said controversies like cash-for-coverage in BJP-ruled
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Yatra concludes today Madhya Pradesh and the media focus on proceedings against the party’s former Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa had sullied the yatra. Nisar-ul-Haq, head of the department of political science, Jamia Millia Islamia, said Ad vani’s yatra did not have much impact, though it was aimed at ta king advantage of the atmosphere created by the anti-corruption movement
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of Anna Hazare. He said it was linked to Advani’s “desire to become prime minister. But there are many power centres in the BJP for the post of prime minister”. On the issue of corruption raised by Advani during the yatra, Haq said though corruption was an issue among people, the BJP cannot claim it is a “corruption-less party”. “No party can claim it is clear
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as far as corruption is concerned... People want to see if a party is taking up development issues. It is the politics of inclusiveness that is the larger issue,” Haq said, adding that Advani’s yatra “hardly had an impact”. In his speeches during the yatra, which commenced on October 11, Advani signalled the intention of the BJP to raise the issue of black money in a big way in parliament. BRP Bhaskar, a Kerala-based political commentator, said the “law of diminishing returns” had caught up with the BJP leader. “It could not create the kind of impact he expected.” He said all parties were handicapped on the issue of corruption as they have attracted charges of graft in the states where they were in power. On the issue of black money, which has been repeatedly raised by Advani, he said the BJP-led government had been in power in New Delhi for six years but was not perceived to have gone after black money.
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Sunday Business
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011
7
Forged, corroded
Sunset industry ? I
t is a sunrise industry, but appears to be withering. Three-fourths of a year is sunny in Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh. That, perhaps, is the reason why the solar semiconductor industry came here. After much hype and hoopla, the Fab City project was given to the city and the then poster boy of the Congress Y S Rajasekhara Reddy wore the project on his sleeve wherever he went to showcase the ‘Advantage Hyderabad’. Yak about billions of dollars of investment coming into Hyderabad flew thick in the air for a long time and eventually evaporated into the blue skies. So are the Jun Mins and Vinod Agarwals. SemIndia created a buzz by doling out a promise that it would be investing $ 3 billion. As the time passed, hopes eroded what with the ever-elusive esoteric detail of the project.
A few solar companies like Solar Semiconductor set up shop and 20 others followed suit, manufacturing solar photovoltaic modules. This put the chip making plans off the block. This kindled the rays of hope among the stakeholders on the possibility of growth in economic activity. What’s all this now? The city was identified as the permanent host to Solarcon, mainly organised by SEMI India. The fourth edition of Solarcon happened from November 8 to 11. The number of participants on record must have gone up, but surely not the initial euphoria and the enthusiasm found in the first edition four years ago. What’s appalling was that there was no Farooq Abdullah, Minister for New and Renewable Energy Resources, who was a regular till last year, no Chief Minister, no policy decisions and not many journalists too at the venue.
W
hat’s the smog that surrounded the forging industry? The 20th International Forging Congress from November 13 to 17 too couldn’t bring in the clang to echo in the city. But for the opening day’s broadside launched by Baba Kalyani of Bharat Forge on the lack of comprehensive policy, the event ended in a whimper. The industry cried hoarse over the export of iron ore, even as the ‘iron man’, with ‘air’ in his surname, Gali Janardhana Reddy, is counting bars in Chanchalguda after having lost the grip over the oars of
his much-tainted businesses. He put up big airs a few years ago, but now he is deflated. Without taking his name, the industry leaders made oblique references and snide remarks for all that he has done and also not done. It is impossible to find any trace of the hope-serrated steel plant, which is just now on a comeback trail with the SAIL coming forth to tinker with the bygone project, in Kadapa district that was allotted to Gali Janardhana Reddy. Turns out, it’s the dug-up strides of opencast mines of iron ore in Anantapur district that became the bone of contention for the steel-nerved Baba Kalyanis. The whirr of the blades of his helicopter must be still doing the illusionary hoop in front of Janardhana Reddy’s eyes. The intent is not questionable, but the corrosion that queered the pitch is. Like the Congress educed many likes and comments too on the Facebook, Forging Congress too made some critics say in a hushed tone: “What is the antonym of pro? It is con. So, is Forging Congress a reversal of Forging Progress?”
TIPSY, sloshed Propitiating God “P
eople don’t matter. It’s the power that matters.” This is what Koneru Prasad believes in and says when he gets candid. He did so at a press conference of Trimex Group organised at Grand Kakatiya on June 25, 2010. Look at the irony of life. In prison, it is not the power but the fellow inmates who matter. His philosophy apparently boomeranged. Now, it is a conjecture of time before he returns to his barrack in jail, after a holy darshan of Lord Ayyappa. Thank God, he, at least, got an opportunity to go on a pilgrimage to the pristine precincts of a holy shrine down south, warbling slogans of the Lord wangling his mercy. That could be his private font of faith. Prasad is the next corporate to enjoy the August company of the South India’s ‘gold finger’ Gali Janardhana Reddy.
Who all he rubbed shoulders with? How many Governments used to be at his beck and call? Koneru Rajendra Prasad, who turned out to be the eyes and ears of Ras Al Khaima’s businesses has an affable and suave persona. Prasad doesn’t talk in units, tens and hundreds. Not even thousands. His investments run into hundreds of crores and at times, thousands of crores too. He was the points-man for Chandrababu Naidu, and later to YS Rajasekhara Reddy. And, now he is under the CBI scanner. Clad in pale saffron robes, Prasad wore a pious look and carried his own water bottle and some clothes in a plastic carry bag (that was banned by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation) for CBI probe and also into the prison. When will he comb his dishevelled hair and shave his frowzy face?
K
ingfisher is almost grounded. It wants to get ‘high’, but is grappling for funds. Mallya is now feeling ‘loanly’. He wants State Bank of India (SBI) to lend Rs. 400 crore and some ‘credit’, if not credibility. The flashy KF airlines is contemplating cancelling 200 flights. Lessers want to seize the aircraft. Now, Kingfisher pleads for more loans from banks to come out of red. A barrage of questions hit the flamboyant Vijay Mallya, who was all over the Budh International Formula 1 Circuit, recently. Employees too cavilled him for taking the extravagant airline carrier beyond the reasonable business horizons. Recently, a business analyst at MasterClass described the acquisition of low-cost Deccan Aviation by Mallya as an imprecise decision. “It just doesn’t suit Mallya not to have frills in his service.” As if driven by premonition, he christened the airline as Kingfisher Red. This pushed the entire ecosystem of Kingfisher into red. Now the toff-nosed liquor baron finds his airline carriers sloshed and crashed in the aerodromes. The company is looking at
saviours. The company’s claim that it reconfigured the flights raised many a question from the Government. The airline is battered by attrition of pilots and other crew, causing the company to cobble up strengths from nowhere. While he has become punching bag for regulators like Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), he is wiping the sweat on his forehead tweeting: "Every government has gone out of the way to support airlines and connectivity. In India airlines are overtaxed and overcharged. Wonder why?" It now seems to him that running an airline is more Herculean a task than having a semi-erotic shoot of gorgeous girls for the new-year Kingfisher calendar. Raise toast to that.
A SAYE SEKHAR
Play Field
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011
A critical look at games and players
8
Liverpool have no need to worry about Torres Fernando’s record speaks for itself. He is a top goalscorer and a really good player. His contribution is there to see
Simon Johnson
A
ndre-Villas Boas today warned Liverpool that Fernando Torres is back to his best and ready to fire Chelsea to victory against his former club on Sunday. Torres, who joined Chelsea from Liverpool for a British record £50million in January, has scored just five goals since making the switch from Anfield. The Spain international admits he has struggled to settle in west London but Villas-Boas is happy with the striker’s performances since he took over as manager in the summer. Torres made his debut for Chelsea against his former club
nine months ago and was kept quiet as Kenny Dalglish’s side secured a 1-0 victory, but VillasBoas believes they face a much tougher task this time. “I think Fernando has, of course, picked up from last season not only with his form, physically, but also his availability and movement for the team,” he said. “He is back to his old sharpness and goal-scoring form. We’re pretty happy with the way he’s performed. We just have to make a decision on our frontline, but Fernando will always be in contention.” Liverpool assistant manager Steve Clarke claims they are not overly concerned about facing the 27-year-old, who scored 65
goals in 91 starts during his three-and-a-half years at Anfield. Only one of his goals in a blue shirt has come against major opposition - in a losing cause against Manchester United at Old Trafford in September - underlining why Clarke is not planning to man-mark him. Asked if Liverpool will give the forward special attention on Sunday, the former Chelsea player and coach said: “No, I don’t think so. “When you play in the big games against the top sides they’ve got dangerous players all over the pitch so to single out one player would be a little bit silly. “It’s better if you concentrate on defending and working as a team so you can stop all the threats. “I think Fernando’s record speaks for itself. He is a top goalscorer and a really good player. He has gone to Chelsea and it hasn’t quite worked out the way he hoped but when you watch the games, his contribution is there to see.” At the start of the season
Torres cited a lack of speed in Chelsea’s attacking play for his problems and last week he moaned that the move from Liverpool to a city as large as London has proved unsettling.
It’s unpredictable at the moment, but when you get past the halfway mark, you will see a pattern “It has been difficult for me to adapt here compared to when I arrived in Liverpool, where I was surrounded by Spanish team-mates. “In the end, the important thing is to try to organise yourself as quickly as possible. That’s what I’m doing.” Torres denied the size of his transfer fee was a burden, saying: “That’s just a number. The only thing I know is that opportunities such as the one Chelsea offered me cannot be turned down. “The important thing is the confidence they have in me.
Liverpool were going down a strange path. “I believe the departure of Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid [in 2009] was a clear message that something was changing. I have the ambition to improve and Chelsea could offer me what every footballer desires - titles.” But Villas-Boas added: “Chelsea’s recovery last season was from February onwards. That must play a part. April, March and May are still tight in terms of calendar. “All the top teams will most likely be involved in the Champions League, which can dictate tiredness in terms of the Premier League. “It’s unpredictable at the moment, but when you get past the halfway mark, you will see a pattern.” Meanwhile, Villas-Boas is not concerned by former Chelsea coach Guus Hiddink being back on the market after leaving his post with Turkey on Wednesday. He said: “I have no problem with it. He’s a top manager. At the moment, there’s no vacancy.”
Windies women’s cricketer gets five-month ban BRIDGETOWN (BARBADOS): West Indies batsman Tremayne Smartt has been slapped with a five-month ban by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for a doping violation. The 26-year-old Guyanese tested positive for the drug Furosemide following a random test at the end of a Twenty20 International against Pakistan in Georgetown in September, and will now be out of action until March 25 next year. Furosemide is a diuretic and is on the World Anti Doping Agency’s banned list of substances. On Friday in London, an independent anti-doping tribunal comprising acting chairman Tim Kerr, Anik Sax and Peter Sever heard the case after
mulling over written and legal evidence along with live testimony from Smartt. The player pleaded guilty to the offence. An ICC release said the tribunal “exercised its discretion under the ICC Code to impose upon her a period of
ineligibility of five months”. Smartt, who has played 15 One-Day Internationals and 12 Twenty20 Internationals since making her debut two years ago, was deeply apologetic over the episode. “It was never my intention to
breach the anti-doping regulations and I did attempt to check the Prohibited List myself,” she said. “However, I acknowledge that I did not do this effectively and have to accept the consequences. My experience should act as a warning to all cricketers that they should never take any medical products without first consulting a qualified sports medicine practitioner. “I deeply regret the embarrassment that this episode has brought upon me and the West Indies Cricket Board, and apologize to my team-mates and all fans of West Indies cricket.” The tribunal accepted evidence that Smartt had taken the substance to treat a swelling in her knee and that she had no in-
tention to enhance her sporting performance or mask the use of another performance enhancer. However, the tribunal said Smartt had “failed to satisfy the high levels of personal responsi-
Furosemide is a diuretic and is on the Anti Doping Agency’s banned list of substances bility implicit upon her as an international cricketer subject to anti-doping rules.” Smartt was left out of the West Indies squad for the current World Cup qualifiers in Bangladesh.
Sunday Special
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011
Tom Collomosse
K
yle Walker’s journey from Tottenham squad player to international right-back in six months has been the stuff of dreams but he needed help from another Kyle — Jeremy — to doze off after a man-of-the-match display on his debut for England. Unable to sleep after a sparkling performance against Sweden, Walker tuned in to the talk show and finally got some shut-eye at 3.30am on Wednesday with the television still on in the background. “It’s always hard to sleep after a night game,” admitted the 21-year-old. “I played a bit of FIFA on the computer — I always play as the team I support, Sheffield United — and then went to bed but I was just tossing and turning. After that, I put on Jeremy Kyle and I soon managed to get to sleep.” Walker will be wide awake, though, when Spurs take on Aston Villa — the club where he established himself as a Premier League regular during a loan spell last season — at White Hart Lane on Monday. Given the progress he has made this term, it is difficult to believe that Walker has made only a little more than 100 firstteam appearances at club level. Away from football, too, his life is moving quickly — in two weeks, his girlfriend, Annie, is due to give birth to a baby boy. Walker’s rise has been so sharp that it would be easy for him to forget the staging posts that have shaped his career. As important as his spells at Villa and Queens Park Rangers last season were, Walker cites a loan period at Northampton early in the 2008-09 campaign as a key factor in his development. When he was signed by the then League One club, Walker had no first-team experience at his home-town club, Sheffield United, and knew little of the country outside the city of his birth. Joining Northampton showed Walker an aspect of professional football, and of life, that he still recalls frequently as he advances in the game. “I was told I’d be joining Northampton on loan but I’d never driven on the motorway before, so I had to follow my mum and dad down the M1,” he said. “My dad was petrified of me driving on the motorway and thought I was going to kill myself or something. “On my first day, we had two training sessions. In the first, we all wore the standard
‘My dad was petrified I’d get killed on the M1, so I had to follow him’ Sometimes I look at who we have on the bench and I think to myself: ‘How am I playing?’ You look at the players we have and you know we can beat anyone Northampton training kit but in the second, we just wore Tshirts with the ‘Kick It Out’ logo on the front, and ordinary pairs of shorts and socks. There was no Northampton badge or anything because they didn’t have a spare set of training kit. It was a reality check for me but a very good one. “There were players there whose mortgages were on the line and winning football
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SHORT TAKES Australia clinch Four Nations title Three quick fire second-half tries helped Australia inflict a 30-8 defeat on England in the Gillette Four Nations final. Despite being under pressure for most of the first half, England were level at 8-8 after 57 minutes at Elland Road thanks to a Ryan Hall penalty try. But the Kangaroos, who had led early on through Sam Thaiday, enjoyed a purple patch with Jharal Yow Yeh, five-goal Johnathan Thurston and Greg Inglis all crossing. Darren Lockyer then ended his glorious career on a high with a late fifth try.
United States in control Greg Norman needs his International side to win eight out of 12 singles at Royal Melbourne on Sunday if they are to avoid a fourth successive Presidents Cup defeat. With Tiger Woods finally opening his account for the week in the third day foursomes, the United States go into the final session with a commanding 13-9 lead. Neither side has come back from such a deficit in the previous eight matches, although it is possible — America won the 1999 Ryder Cup in Boston from 10-6 behind.
City end unbeaten Magpies run Penalties from Mario Balotelli and Sergio Aguero either side of a Micah Richards effort ensured Manchester City ended Newcastle's unbeaten record as they claimed a 3-1 victory at the Etihad Stadium. The Premier League leaders took a decisive stranglehold on the game in the last five minutes of the opening period when Balotelli drove home following Ryan Taylor's handball and Richards took advantage of a mistake from the Newcastle defender.
Hernandez effort enough at Swansea matches made it easier for them to look after their families. You could tell how passionate some of the senior players were by what they did to hang on to the result if we were winning, chucking themselves in front of everything to stop the ball going in. “You have to remember that professional football is a job, too, and some people have to get results on the
pitch to pay to live. If you’re lucky enough to get into a Premier League or Championship team straight away, well done to you, but I feel grateful for the experience that I had at the lower end.” If Walker were to miss out on a place in Fabio Capello’s England squad for next summer, he would be a prime candidate for the Team GB Olympic football squad.
Manchester United remain five points adrift of Barclays Premier League leaders Manchester City after Javier Hernandez's early goal gave them a 1-0 victory over Swansea at the Liberty Stadium. The Mexico international struck in the 11th minute, sliding home his fifth goal of the season from Ryan Giggs' pass after Angel Rangel had carelessly given away the ball on the edge of his own box, to give United their first win at Swansea at the ninth attempt. EVENING STANDARD
Issues
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011
Fair, free and forthright comment
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Da Vinci’s Virgin and atheist’s cold logic SARAH SANDS
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cause needs champions, and Stephen Fry and Richard Dawkins make an irresistible argument for the rationalism of atheism over the hocus pocus of religion. I watched them at the Royal Festival Hall the other evening, celebrating their comrade in arms, Christopher Hitchens, who was too unwell to appear alongside them. Dawkins challenged the portrayal of atheists as “angry”, saying he was no such thing. Enlightenment is a state of calm reflection. It is religion which froths at the mouth. To demonstrate the difference, Dawkins gave the correct atheist response to the phrase: “I will pray for you.” It is: “And I will think for you.” Both Fry and Dawkins combine a charm of manner with relentless powers of persuasion, so they would have won round the audience at the Intelligence Squared event, even had they needed to. As it happened, they never met any significant oppo-
sition. The first audience intervention came from a young man who heralded Fry and Dawkins as Horsemen of the Atheist Movement. He struggled to come up with a question, but to him the case against God was flawless. No liberal can countenance a divine dictatorship (the Christopher Hitchens view) nor an obstacle to scientific truths (the Dawkins position). Yet even as Fry and Dawkins preached to their secular congregation, religion fought back in the form of a BBC2 sitcom and a blockbuster art exhibition. Art critics have dwelt on the charisma and eroticism of character in Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings at the National Gallery but not on the aura of holiness within The Virgin of the Rocks or The Virgin and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist. It is overwhelming, nevertheless. In a different way, the return of Rev, starring Tom Hollander, is also a clear church vote-winner, which is why the Archbishop of Canterbury loves the programme so much. Ditchkins, as Dawkins and Hitchens have collectively been described, demand ignorant absolutism from the enemy. Rev is about muddled goodness,
Dominic West and Rebecca Hall in The Awakening with moments of soaring liturgy or epi-phany. And how would Ditchkins account for Ralph Fiennes’s moral grandeur as the Bishop of London? What was the quality he was acting? I have
certainly glimpsed the same holiness in the real thing, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres. There is also the anniversary problem for atheists. Because it is 400 years since the King
James bible, the poetry of the language is under examination. We have just had Remembrance Day and are heading for Christmas. The resonance of the Christian tradition is stronger than ever. The Sea of Faith followers - who recognise the ethics and culture of Christianity, while remaining agnostic about a divine being, seem to me to have a formidable argument on their side. The Ditchkins view may play well at the Royal Festival Hall but it lacks depth. Last week I went to the funeral of an atheist whose family opted for a Christian burial. Because, frankly, it felt more beautiful and fitting. How do atheists counter the yearning for form as well as meaning? * It does not surprise me to read that multi-millionaires are more likely to cut their children out of wills. It is a Faustian pact that those who make money rarely pass on their gifts to their children. The next generation are often spenders and airheads. The pleasure of watching Tamara Ecclestone outspend the European Central Bank lies in imagining the effect on her father. Was this what all the blood and sweat was for?
In east Jerusalem, streets will soon have names SHATHA YAISH
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any east Jerusalem residents have for decades lived on anonymous streets where home delivery is almost impossible — but that is about to change thanks to a longawaited plan to name the roads. The programme should end years of confusion and, crucially, give Palestinians in the annexed eastern sector access to services including home mail delivery, a tall order in the absence of street names or house numbers. “We have been demanding that our streets be named for years,” said Hossam Watad, head of the community centre in Beit Hanina neighbourhood. “If you need an ambulance or any emergency service, you should be able to tell them
exactly where you live.” For residents living in homes without numbers and streets without names, jobs as simple as calling a plumber was a matter of finding local landmarks to direct the technician. And getting post delivered to a home address was simply impossible, with residents relying on post boxes at the nearest post office to receive letters and bills, which often ended up
being paid late because of the difficulties. Palestinian residents of east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed in a move never recognised by the international community, often complain of discrimination by the municipality. Though they are not Israeli citizens, they pay the same municipal taxes as the city’s
Jewish residents. But they say the city provides fewer services in Arab neighbourhoods, makes it almost impossible to build, and only agreed to allow street names and house numbers after years of requests. “This is happening after years of petitioning the municipality, the post office, and the ministry of communications,” Watad told AFP. Residents have even petitioned Israel’s high court on the issue of mail delivery, with the court accepting a communication ministry pledge to work with the municipality and postal authority to find a solution. The Jerusalem municipality has promised that all the unnamed streets in the eastern part of the city will be given names by the end of 2012, with house numbers to follow. “Residents can give us names and then a committee will examine them, then another committee headed by a Supreme Court judge will exam-
ine them,” a municipality official said on condition of anonymity. “It is the same process in west Jerusalem and all of Israel,” he added. He said the programme was part of a push by Mayor Nir Barkat to “improve a lot of issues in east Jerusalem,” though he did not say why it had taken the municipality so long to implement the project. “Residents will be able to get mail correctly and call service people — it will help improve all aspects of life,” he said. Jerusalem city councillor Meir Margalit, who belongs to the left-wing Meretz party, was the main person pushing the programme from inside the municipality. Among the street names suggested were those of Lebanese poet Khalil Gibran and Egyptian writer Taha Hussein, as well as simpler choices such as “Al-Nakheel,” meaning palm tree, and “AlSadaqa,” Arabic for friendship.
Issues
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011
Fair, free and forthright comment
11
Time to test your tolerance levels SUMAA TEKUR
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he UN International Day of Tolerance just went by, on November 16. This day is observed to create awareness of the need for higher tolerance to the more important issues of religious diversity, gender equality and racial diversity. We face these issues in both seen and unseen ways. But it is the daily irritants that test our tolerance levels on a more regular basis, threatening to ruin our peace of mind. Living in an Indian city means constantly facing irritants that eat into our time and energy. The neighbor throws garbage onto the street carelessly. The taxi driver doesn’t take his hand off the horn in bumper-to-bumper traffic even though he can see the red light. The newspaper reports a Page 3 diva’s shenanigans on Page 1 when a scientist’s achievements are pushed to page 7. A loud, brash man chooses to be insensitive to the others standing in the long queue and cuts the line as if
the others were invisible. It’s another matter whether these are worth tolerating. The fact is that they exist, and the average urban Indian is forced to tolerate them. In all these situations, the choice is to talk to the source of irritation or shrug and walk away. But in either case, how it is done is what determines if one’s BP will rise. A famous Chinese saying goes: "Lack of tolerance for petty annoyances ruins great plans." Anger and frustration are twins feeding off each other. Controlling one is essential to manage the other. Minor irritants will always be around us. They are there, in some ways, also to test our patience and to ensure we don’t take our eyes off our main goal in life. Achieving
Soul Curry higher levels of tolerance requires us to keep an open mind and be willing to at least listen to the other point of view, even if we do not necessarily agree. The Dalai Lama said: In our daily life, tolerance and
patience have great benefits: developing them will allow us to sustain and maintain our presence of mind." Presence of
mind is important to our progress. We cannot move ahead if we give too much attention to the minor irritants.
We cannot also move ahead if we allow the negative emotions born of dealing with these minor irritants to take over our minds. Developing mental toughness is no easy task. It calls for us to take responsibility for our own actions, thoughts and emotions. Psychologists have called for the need to develop High Frustration Tolerance, mental toughness that makes us aware of the limitations of our environment and if we can or cannot control it. For example, if the red light at the traffic signal is just not moving, we get impatient, frustrated at the loss of time and then eventually angry that our traffic management system is so inefficient. We would be doing ourselves a world of difference if we focused, instead, on the fact that the wait is not going to last forever; now that I am in this queue, I have to get through it successfully; the goal is to cross this signal and get to the other side; things are not always going to be exactly the way I want them. Moving gradually from Low Frustration Tolerance to High Frustration Tolerance can help reduce irritation and help us see the world around us through more realistic lenses.
Working parents can’t have it all ANNE MCELVOY
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e are all enlightened about childcare nowadays - especially our own. Gone are the days when we used to pretend we were leaving early because the carburettor needed fixing. We confess to parents’ nights and inconveniently timetabled school concerts (though I draw the line at assemblies). Yet beyond the polite rules of office intercourse lurk unspoken irritations and resentments. Other people’s childcare is the subject that causes more frissons in the workplace than anything else. So it was with some amuse-
ment that I watched Louise Mensch last week, assertively telling James Murdoch and the Culture and Media Select Committee that she would be leaving the session pronto to pick up her kids. No doubt some of her colleagues and a fair few viewers wondered whether, this being one of the great set-piece interrogations of the parliamentary year, Ms Mensch might have thought of getting some help to tide her over the lunchtime. Being an MP is, after all, a full-time job, and as sympathetic as I am to women who do it and have to juggle work with family commitments, that’s part of the deal. Staying till 1pm isn’t exactly an onerous requirement. She isn’t the only MP to say something daft on this issue: I remember Labour’s Kitty Ussher complaining that Westminster hours meant she
rarely got back for her children’s bathtime in the week. But most women with demanding professional jobs and the associated rewards can’t bank on being home for rubber-duck time either. As the philosopher Kant said (though not of bath times): “The great goods cannot live together.” Something has to give, and it is generally contact time in the day and early evening with your little ones, while you make your
The great goods cannot live together mark in the world. The real change since I had my children has been dads taking seriously the stuff that women used to dash around to do alone. This is generally a blessing but it also means that female bosses who rarely took more than a few weeks off for their own children have to smile nicely while male colleagues take lengthy paternity leave and look virtuous about it. In one highly paced outfit I know, this led to a female senior manager working six days a week to cover for a male deputy on paternity leave, while her own kids wondered why they rarely saw her. Legislation rarely considers the poor blighters who have to
pick up the pieces these days, when there is so little financial scope for casual stand-ins. Still, this is better than the situation I encountered when first having children and my then boss turned up at our house to ask when I was coming back to do a new job that had become vacant and needed doing pronto (and of course I said “Sure, immediately”: it’s called Working Woman Syndrome and there is no cure). By little shoves and shifts of mores in the workplace, we have got closer to a fair balance in the treatment of professionals who are also parents. Yet there’s another side to the equation, which is not intruding our own arrangements too much into the lives of the other members of the team. If I were Ms Mensch, I’d add “stand-in nanny” to speed-dial as soon as possible.
Allure
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011
Rosy red
Darkest berry
I call this Snow White red. It comes with a hint of pink and looks like you’ve been biting into Red Delicious apples. If you want a wear-with-everything lipstick that suits all skin shades, apply Chanel’s Rouge Allure Famous, straight from the bullet for a satin-like finish that feels balmy to the touch.
Fabulous on Rihanna and models at the Holly Fulton show, aubergine purples are tricky for the rest of us. “The key is to create a flawless canvas with the skin and allow the lips to be the central focus of the face,” says make-up artist Kay Montano. YSL’s Rouge Pur Couture Golden Lustre in Violet Singulier, looks as good on olive skins as it does on pale complexions and comes with a metallic finish that makes it less goth and more luxe.
Deep Burgundy Stop this shade from looking like something you dug out of your grandmother’s make-up bag and make it modern with a matte texture. “A wine red suits extremes. Think pale, peroxide blondes or dark skins with raven hair,” says make-up artist Caroline Barnes. MAC’s new Such Flare lipstick is the perfect maroonmatte combination.
Lipstick index:
choosing the shade that suits your skin W
ith models and celebrities pouting over everything from goth-like berries to barely there nudes - in multiple matte, gloss and shimmer finishes matching your skin tone to the shade,
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texture and shape of your lip look feels like a case of playing cosmetics Sudoku. So we created the lip index: the quickfire guide to this season’s sliding scale of lip shades. Bella Blissett
It’s no secret that women buy more lipsticks when the global economy shudders to a halt because these small sticks of colour can change the way we look and feel almost as effectively as an expensive new outfit
Coral
Caramel nude
Coral looks great on olive complexions and those with a slightly yellow undertone to their skin. Apply Max Factor’s Colour Elixir Lipstick in Bewitching Coral, over clear lip balm, then pat it on to the tops of cheekbones and temples to fake a dewy post-mini- break glow even in the depths of winter, says Barnes.
Like brushing your hair or spritzing on perfume, a caramel shade like Sisley’s Phyto-Lip Sheer in Nude instantly smartens your look. “Dust loose powder onto lips before applying to make it last longer,” advises Barnes. The lighter your skin tone, the paler your nude lip shade should be. Keep it high shine and imagine it’s honey-lipped starlet Blake Lively staring back at you in the mirror.
Baby pink The tendency with baby pink is to fall into the frosted-texture trap. Apart from being too Barbie-like for most, the overt shimmer will only make a flat winter complexion look worse. For something far cooler, Maybelline’s Colour Sensational Lip Stain in Wink of Pink applies like a felt tip to create a matte stain that gently enhances a classic English rose complexion.
Special Notes
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011
Music and dance of all genre
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RIHANNA
MICHAEL JACKSON
Talk That Talk or all her ever-present in-your-faceness and worldwide popularity, it's hard to discern Rihanna Fenty's gifts. She doesn't write her own songs, she's so-so live and she's not one for an opinion, even after she's been beaten up. It's as if she won X Factor without actually going on X Factor. Her sixth album offers few clues. Totalling just 37 minutes, these 11 relentless tracks are milking things while they last. Having little part in the creative process, Rihanna herself is a spectator on an album dominated by its eight sets of producers, including Stargate - who worked with Rihanna's obvious template, Britney Spears. The scarfwaving We All Want Love has what sounds like depth charges in the background, Where Have You Been resurrects Eighties stadium house and Calvin Harris sprinkles his tub-thumping thunder over We Found Love. Offering a soupçon of vocal urgency, Jay-Z rattles out the first half of the title track, but then disappears until he returns for a couple of grunts as it fades. Cockiness (Love It) goes for sex ("suck my cockiness, lick my persuasion," indeed) but ends up as nudgenudge playground smut. Roc Me Out is packed with
Immortal ike Tupac before him, Michael Jackson is becoming more prolific in death than he was in life. This is the second album that's been released since his passing in 2009 and, again, there's a distinct feeling of money being exchanged for old rope. This time round, it's as the soundtrack to Michael Jackson's The Immortal Tour by Cirque Du Soleil. A similar feat was achieved with The Beatles' Love album, where George Martin brilliantly reimagined the group's back catalogue, but producer Kevin Antunes lacks the lightness of touch, hurriedly constructing songs that lurch from one section to another.
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grandstanding synthesiser swirls, Watch'n'Learn has a certain cheeky twinkle and the whopping closer Farewell is the best thing here by some distance. So, while no grandstanding triumph, Talk That Talk is no disgrace; but surely the clock is ticking...
CDs of the week RIHANNA, MICHAEL JACKSON, KATE BUSH MARY J BLIGE KATE BUSH 50 Words For Snow ne could hardly have expected great things from the notoriously unproductive Kate Bush, who has released 50 Words For Snow hard on the heels of Director's Cut. The album's title is not auspicious - the theory that the icemoustached denizens of the polar regions have many words for snow was debunked long ago - but the central metaphor holds good: these songs may seem alike, but like snowflakes, they are all different. You are going to have to give this record a bit of time. The opening Snowflake is mesmeric, built on Bush vocals and simple piano, as is Lake Tahoe and Misty. Things get interesting when Elton John joins in for a duet on Snowed in at Wheeler Street, perilously close to a show tune, and Stephen Fry gets his dictionary out for the title song. Kate Bush sings erotically throughout. Make of that what you will.
My Life II ‌ The Journey Continues (Act I) he queen of hip hop soul gives a jump start to a fading recording career by giving a new album the same name as a past hit. My Life, from 1994, "changed a lot of lives", according to her spoken intro here. Among the new songs there are plenty of examples of what she does best - thudding hip hop beats and smooth melodic vocals on Don't Mind, Feel Inside and Midnight Drive. Over 18 tracks she necessarily branches out, sounding dull on the acoustic Need Someone and too obvious on the synthed-up cover of Rufus and Chaka Khan's Ain't Nobody. On Someone to Love Me (Naked), however, she discovers a slinky groove that is irresistible. For the most part, her talent lives on.
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O
HAVANA CULTURA The Search Continues o we really need Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, Damon Albarn and Gilles Peterson to make Latin or African music acceptable to a wider audience? There are great tracks here chosen by Peterson from contemporary groups working in Cuba, but it all becomes a comfortable Western stereotype of radio-friendly tracks with beats and rap vocals. But these won't be the presiding memory of anybody who has been to Havana and got a taste of the scene there where dance music still rules. A highlight here is Check La Rima with underground artists Los Aldeanos and vocalist Danay Suarez. Cuban music still has a cutting edge and it comes across in many of these tracks.
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Brave New World
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011
From the world of science & research
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Two feet or four,
software is the same Nick Bascom
S
tanding fully erect and balancing on only two feet gives humans a strange strut that sets them apart from all other mobile critters. Yet the basic motor commands that direct a human stride may also get other animals moving, a new study suggests. Although legged vertebrates come in many different shapes and sizes and exhibit a wide variety of walking styles, they may all employ a similar nerve system, located in the spine, to coordinate the muscle activity needed for locomotion, neurophysiologist Francesco Lacquaniti of the University of Rome Tor Vergata and colleagues report in Science. Networks of spinal nerve cells, called central pattern generators, contain all the necessary information to time the muscles for the step cycle, says neuroscientist Sten Grillner of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, who was not involved in the study. The networks still need to be turned on by the brain, but once triggered, the spinal nerves handle locomotion all on their own. A message to start moving gets generated in the spinal cord and travels down the nerve pathway to specialised nerve cells that deliver the
message directly to muscle fibres. The central pattern generators are so autonomous that, in some cases, cats can still walk after having their spinal cords severely damaged. It doesn’t work the same in humans, who typically suffer permanent paralysis after significant spinal shock. “CPGs are still a little bit mysterious,” says Lacquaniti. But he hopes that recognising the similarities in nerve-muscle interactions between different species will help physicians design better approaches to rehabilitating damaged spinal cords and developing robotic prosthetics. Many herd animals take their first steps a few minutes after being born, and several species of bird walk directly after hatching. But it takes a human baby a lot longer to learn how to walk unassisted; leading some scientists to believe that there must be something fundamentally different about the human gait. But even though the musculature and biomechanics in humans might be different, “the motor pathways are strikingly similar across species,” says Lacquaniti. In fact, newborn rats and newborn humans had nearly identical neurological stepping profiles, the researchers found. And adult rats, cats, macaques and guinea fowl demonstrated motor nerve
patterns that very closely resembled those of stepping human toddlers. “Our findings suggest that all types of vertebrate locomotion may derive from an ancestral neural network,” Lacquaniti says. To compare the nerve activity of human locomotion to that of felines, rodents, birds and other primates, the researchers used strategically placed electrodes to measure the electrical activity in 24 walking muscles in newborns (who were held up and allowed to make the walking motion), toddlers, preschoolers and adults. The motor nerves of newborns exhibited two patterns of electrical activity that appeared as long waves on a monitoring device called an electromyograph. These same two electrical patterns were present in older participants, but so were two new patterns — not waves, but flat lines with sharp peaks. “In adults, we saw much shorter pulses of neural activity because they time muscle contraction at precise phases of the gait cycle,” says Lacquaniti. Adults get the most out of each stride, minimising muscle use to save energy, something human newborns haven’t yet learned how to do. The longer waves of nerve activity seen in babies are evidence of prolonged muscle contractions, “a very uneconomical way to
All walking animals use the same basic nerve patterns to put one leg in front of the other(s)
move,” says Lacquaniti. Adults don’t totally abandon the less efficient nerve patterns that first get them stepping, but refine such patterns and overlay new ones to improve the timing of the step cycle and maximise energy
use while walking around. Newborns can only partially support their body weight and swing their limbs, but adults use additional nerve pathways to roll the foot heel-totoe on the ground, seamlessly decelerating and accelerating once again.
Walk through doors causes forgetting We’ve all experienced N it: The frustration of entering a room and forgetting what we were going to do. Or get. Or find
ew research from University of Notre Dame Psychology Professor Gabriel Radvansky suggests that passing through doorways is the cause of these memory lapses. “Entering or exiting through a doorway serves as an ‘event boundary’ in the mind, which separates episodes of activity and files them away,” Radvansky explains. “Recalling the decision or activity that was made in a different room is difficult because it has been compartmentalised.” The study was published recently in the Quarterly Journal
of Experimental Psychology. Conducting experiments in both real and virtual environments, Radvansky’s subjects — college students — performed memory tasks while crossing a room and while exiting a door. In the first experiment, subjects used a virtual environment and moved from one room to another, selecting an object on a table and exchanging it for an object at a different table. They did the same thing while simply moving across a room but not crossing through a doorway. Radvansky found that the subjects forgot more after walk-
ing through a doorway compared to moving the same distance across a room, suggesting that the doorway or “event boundary” impedes one’s ability to retrieve thoughts or decisions made in a different room. The second experiment in a real-world setting required subjects to conceal in boxes objects chosen from the table and move either across a room or travel the same distance and walk through a doorway. Results in the real-world environment replicated those in the virtual world: walking through a doorway diminished subjects’ memories.
Turning pages
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011
Explore a world without borders
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The hugely anticipated final book in the Inheritance saga is everything you've ever wanted it to be
The End of an Era Padmini C padmini.c@postnoon.com
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he year 2011 has been an incredible one for fantasy fiction lovers. We saw some spectacular sequels in popular series such as George RR’s Martin’s Dance With the Dragons, Patrick Rothfuss’ The Wise Man's Fear, Joe Abercombie’s The Heroes, Brandon Sanderson's The Alloy of Law, among others. But they all pale in comparison to the anticipation with which Inheritance and The Vault of Souls, the final book in the Inheritance cycle was awaited. It was perhaps more so because the book was unplanned. The original series, as conceived by Christopher Paolini was a trilogy, with Eragon, Eldest and Brisingr. At the last moment however, Paolini decided to extend it to conclude the series in a fourth book. It was worth the wait for legions of Paolini fans. The book which released a couple of weeks ago, shot to No 1 on the charts and became the fastest selling book of the year so far, averaging one sale every
five-and-a-half seconds. It sold to a record 500,000 copies in the US on it's release date alone. During the course of the series, Paolini traces the journey of Eragon, from being a 15-year-old farm boy to becoming a Dragon Rider, a Shadeslayer and now, the last hope of civilisation.
characters, letting the reader getting a wholesome glimpse into the story. The final edition also gives more depth to the characters, and most questions from the previous books are answered. However, some loose ends remain and deliberately so, as Paolini recently stated in an interview that he has left enough material to write another three books! The conclusion is bound to evoke mixed feelings in the reader. It's after all hard to end a series to everyone's satisfaction. The best part, however, is that Paolini refrains from making it just a happily-ever-after fairy tale. Instead, he gives it a realistic and a feasible ending, which leaves the reader wanting for more. Having started the series when he was just 15, Paolini celebrated his 28th birthday this week. As bittersweet as ending as a 13- year-old journey might be, what better birthday gift than knowing that Inheritance continues the legacy of Eragon, Eldest and Brisingr which have already sold over 25 million copies worldwide.
The original series, as conceived by Christopher Paolini was a trilogy, with Eragon, Eldestand Brisingr. Now, in the fourth and final title, Inheritance sees Eragon and Saphira, his fiesty dragon, who have long since been preparing for this, attempt their final quest — to unite with the Varden and defeat the tyrant evil King Galbatroix and bring peace and freedom back to the land of Alagaesia. Inheritance is more restrained and balanced than any of its predecessors. Each chapter is well spaced out, holds significant revelations and plot points and alternates between points of view of main
At your nearest bookstore... BOOK: Then Again Author: Diane Keaton ISBN:1400068789 Publisher:Random House om liked to THINK. So begins Diane Keaton’s unforgettable memoir about her mother and herself. In it you will meet the woman known to tens of millions as Annie Hall, but you will also meet, and fall in love with, her mother, Dorothy Hall. To write about herself, Diane realised she had to write about her mother, too. In a remarkable act of creation, Diane not only reveals herself to us, she also lets us meet in intimate detail her mother.
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BOOK: Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope Author: Gabrielle Giffords, Mark Kelly, Jeffrey Zaslow ISBN: 1451661061 Publisher:Scribner rom one of the most admired and beloved couples in recent American history, an extraordinarily moving story of public service,risktaking, romance—and the journey toward recovery. This book delivers hope and redemption in the face of the tragic shooting, and introduces two unforgettable heroes.
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BOOK: Throw Them All Out Author:Peter Schweizer ISBN: 0547573146 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade ne of the biggest scandals in American politics is waiting to explode: the full story of the inside game in Washington shows how the permanent political class enriches itself at the expense of the rest of us. Insider trading is illegal on Wall Street, yet it is routine among members of Congress. Normal individuals cannot get in on IPOs at the asking price, but politicians do so routinely.
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BOOK: Kill Alex Cross Author: James Patterson ISBN: 0316198730 Publisher: Little,Brown and Company he President's son and daughter are abducted, and Detective Alex Cross is one of the first on the scene. But someone very high-up is using the FBI, Secret Service, and CIA to keep him off the case. A deadly contagion in the water supply cripples half of the capital, and Alex discovers that someone may be about to unleash the most devastating attack the United States has ever experienced. A fast-paced thriller by James Patterson.
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BOOK: The Drop Author: Michael Connelly ISBN: 0316069418 Publisher: Little,Brown and Company arry Bosch has been given three years before he must retire from the LAPD, and he wants cases more fiercely than ever. In one morning, he gets two. A DNA from a 1989 rape and murder matches a 29-year-old convicted rapist. Was he an eightyear-old killer or has something gone terribly wrong in the new Regional Crime Lab? The latter possibility could compromise all of the lab's DNA cases currently in court.
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Aspire
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011
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It boasts of being the oldest US winery and its wines having graced the White House tables. Let’s see what they have on offer
Oldest US winery offers ‘crazy’ tipples Mariano Andrade
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n a bucolic valley an hour from New York City, the oldest vineyard in the United States is producing everything from wines that end up on the White House dining table to what the chief winemaster calls ‘crazy’ tipples. Established in 1839 by Jean Jacques, a French Huguenot immigrant, the Brotherhood vineyard has produced wine ever since, surviving the Prohibition, thanks to a loophole for church wine, and a big fire in 1999. Baeza says that Brotherhood is proud of its deep roots —and its head start over the more famous US wine in the west. “We were making wine before California became part of the United States. So there is no doubt about which is older,” he said. However, although the cellars are in Washingtonville, Brotherhood’s vineyards extend throughout the Hudson Valley, in the northern Fingers Lake area
and Long Island. “We are growing, expanding our infrastructure with construction of a fermentation cellar,”
Baeza, 61, said while showing off one of the chilly chambers where the wine is left to age. “Right now we are bottling 200,000 boxes’ worth.” Brotherhood produces high quality Riesling, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines, as well as sparkling wines. Some have been
selected for meals at the White House. In fact, just recently a Brotherhood wine was chosen for a dinner for US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and past office holders such as Henry Kissinger. “The chef, who comes from New York, decided to include our wine in this prestigious dinner. The truth is that we heard it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Many people don’t know there is good quality wine so close to Manhattan,” he says. But tradition is not all you find at Brotherhood. Baez is also open to new ideas and he works with outsiders who have new marketing ideas but need the facilities. One product is Senor Sangria, a fancy version of the popular summer drink that comes ready mixed in a bottle. Another is Happy Bitch Wine, a brand created by Keryl Pesce, who aims at women looking to get over relationships. “They are people who want to realise an idea, an invention. I say ‘yes’ to them. Most of the
time these are products I couldn’t even imagine,” Baeza said, welcoming a light side to the usually closed world of wines. “We are lucky to be in a very diverse market. If we exploit these niches, we will have many opportunities to develop,” said Baeza, who trained at the Universidad de Chile, University of California Davis, and also in Spain and France.
The Discerning drinker: Beaujolais Andrew Neather
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e Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé! And who gives a toss? Back in the Eighties, when the tradition of releasing the new Beaujolais vintage on the third Thursday of November was invented, wine bars heaved with drinkers trying to get their slice of this thin, astringent action. In 2011, all that looks as silly as Iron Maiden tours, frothy royal weddings and Thatcher veneration... Yup, it’s back to the future in
2011: Beaujolais is (sort of) in again. Fine vintages in 2009 and 2010, plus new interest in the region from serious Burgundy producers, are giving the wines new interest — though granted, very little of it in nouveau. For a decent Beaujolais, look for wines from the 10 named villages or “crus” (which, er, don’t have the word “Beaujolais” on their labels.) And — aside from the first below — stick to 09 and 10. Domaine Rochette Beaujolais—Villages Nouveau 2011
For a decent Beaujolais, look for wines from the 10 named villages or ‘crus’
(Lea and Sandeman, £9.95 or £8.95 as part of a mixed dozen) First, the exception that
proves the rule: a Nouveau from a top producer in the cru village of Regnié — bright, ripe, silky fruit, fresh and very moreish. Henry Fessy Morgon 2010 (Oddbins, £10) Morgon is traditionally the fullest-bodied Beaujolais cru. This is fresh and sweet but bigger, richer and more structured than many lesser Burgundies. Fessy’s Moulin-a-Vent 2010 (Oddbins, £12), another cru for bigger wines, also has pleasing weight and depth underlying its fruitiness.
Jean-Paul Dubost “Tracot” 2010, Beaujolais-Villages (Berry Brothers, 3 St James St, SW1, or bbr.com, £9.95) Classic Beaujolais: fresh and fruity, with firm acidity, but extremely quaffable. Louis Jadot Combe aux Jacques 2010, Beaujolais-Villages (Waitrose, Tesco, from £9.39; £7.49 in Tesco until November 22) Big Burgundian operator Louis Jadot makes one of the best straight Beaujolais- Villages: bright red fruit, slightly rounded despite its acidity.
Potpourri
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011
Four very different personalities, all part of a music band, tell us about the 15 years of togetherness and what it feels like to grow up together — in music Indira Atluri indira.a@postnoon.com
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s we wait in the lobby of the hotel that hosts the four very talented chamber musicians — Ulrich Isfort, Annette Reisenger, Aroa Sorin and Matthias Diener come, just in time and charm us with their friendly demeanour. It is no exaggeration, when we say that their entry into the lobby was ‘melodious’. Annette the second violin player, is the most expressive of the lot. She tells us, “We have just come from the airport. We have been travelling and performing for the last few days, but we are so fascinated with the sights, smells and the
The four notes of the Minguet Quartet sounds that there is no scope for feeling tired!” Minguet Quartet started in the year 1988, and since then have marked their musical presence in almost all continents. The Minguet Quartet’s musical sojourn is interesting. Annette started her first music lesson when she was 7. She says, “I believed that I was the best of the lot; I felt that the rest stood no chance in my presence,” and laughs at her childhood confidence. Aroa, is a Romanian, but has also lived in Switzerland, France and Italy where she picked up her lessons in music. Annette believes that Aroa is a wonderful child, gifted with the art of music. Ulrich loved football,
THOUGHT CORNER Padmini C padmini.c@postnoon.com
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group of poets and novelists emerged in the second half of 1950s and early 1960s in the West who were brought together by a similar set of social attitudes. They were largely anti-establishment, anti-intellectual, anti-political, essentially, anti-everything. They were opposed to the prevailing cultural, literary and political values of the time and were instead, in favour of unfettered self-realisation and selfexpression. Mostly, they performed in small run down coffee shops and public places. And also
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because they considered themselves beaten down by the oppressive culture of the time, they came to be known as the Beat Writers. This group included some diverse figures such as Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and novelists such as William Burroughs and of course, the legendary Jack Kerouc. Unlike other novelists and writers of their time who stuck to mainstream themes, the Beat Writers revelled in the idea of writing about the sub-cultures of the marginalised — the destitute, the drug addicts, the social misfits and the compulsive wanderers. However, Kerouac
and wanted to become a footballer. But when he held the violin, he realised that this was his passion, and thus became a violin player. Matthias, who now plays the violoncello too had his share of interests, of which football was one of them. He studied music in Basel, Switzerland, and also worked as a solo cello player before joining the Minguet Quartet. Aroa says, “Chamber music is a special form of music. Unlike a philharmonic orchestra, we do not have conductors, or a lot of instrument players. “We are our own bosses, we have our own language, and we do our own programmes. The String Quartet is like the king of classical music disciplines — it
is like a diamond.” “We practice every single day, and do 80 concerts in a year – which is why we need to be in sync with each other’s ideas all the time!” adds Ulrich, the first violin player. The four idolise Joseph Haydn, one of the most important personalities of the classical music era. Asked about how the four manage each others’ moods and temperaments, pat comes the reply from Matthias, “We have been with each other since 15 years — got married, had kids, moved houses, discussed our lives all through. “But each day is a new day, and we are always prepared for what’s to come. It is not always
the best of days, but we are able to manage situations beautifully.” Annette recalls an unforgettable event that she believes made them closer as friends. “We were in Kazakhstan for a performance in 2001. There was a fire in our hotel, and four people died in the mishap. Luckily, all of us escaped unhurt, and so did our precious instruments! I feel that incidents like these made us stronger as a team, and I am proud of us,” she says. With so much being written about and talked about the popular band, we are sure that in whatever country the Minguet Quartet is set to perform, all roads lead to the venue where they will be performing.
Marching to their own beat Their work still continues to inspire millions of budding poets and writers across the globe. Presenting the beat writers refuted this claim and wrote in an essay, "But yet, but yet, woe, woe unto those who think that the Beat Generation means crime, delinquency, immorality, amorality ... woe unto those who attack it on the grounds that they simply don’t understand history and the yearning of human souls ... woe in fact unto those who those who make evil movies about the Beat Generation where innocent housewives are raped by beatniks! ... woe unto those who spit on the Beat Generation, the wind’ll blow it back."
While the Beat movement was short-lived, it left its imprint on subjects and forms of many writers in the years to the come.
The 1960s and 1970s, for instance, saw substantial work in counter culture, inspired by the beat writers.
Body & Soul
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011
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SLIM FAST PLANS: LOOK A LITTLE SLINKIER R
ecent studies show that high-protein diets not only produce the fastest weight loss but also help women retain muscle. As muscle burns more calories than fat, this is important to keep the weight off. Snapped as she sashayed down a London street, Nigella Lawson cut a svelte figure. The curvaceous cook, 51, had clearly lost at least a dress size, possibly
two, and looked both elegant and radiantly healthy. With Christmas a mere fiveand-a-half weeks away, many of us would like to do a Nigella and look a little slinkier in a party dress this year. So how did Lawson achieve her new look? While she refuses to be drawn on her weight-loss secrets, it's likely she's returned to an old favourite, the high- fat, high-protein, low-carb diet. She has previously written about her experiences on the Atkins diet, describing it as "the perfect diet for those who love food". In 2000, she lost half a stone in two weeks while eschewing bread, pasta, sugar and fruit, eating bacon and eggs and "great wodge of brie" instead. She described how she had to become "shockingly unafraid of fat" and even included a recipe for Parmesan "crisps" in her Vogue food column. Nigella employs a personal trainer and does Pilates regularly but if you want to drop a
dress size fast, what you put in your mouth is the single most important element. Recently I dropped a dress size and nearly half a stone in less than two weeks by signing up with Educogym, a small personal training gym in Harley Street. As a gym-phobic, I find it hard to motivate myself to pound a treadmill, but the Educogym system involves 12 tough but mercifully brief 15minute daily workouts to preserve and tone vital muscle and promote the release of youthifying, fat-burning human growth hormone. This is combined with supplements and a very specific Nigella-like high-fat diet known to adherents as "the cream cheese plan" — which is designed to reduce the amount of insulin the body produces. Insulin is a hormone produced to mop up sugar in the blood, but it is also known as the "fattening hormone" as it causes fat storage.
Both sweet things and starchy carbs raise insulin levels. Protein raises it less, while fat creates almost zero insulin response. While on the Edocogym 12-day plan, my firm-but-fair trainer, Zana Morris, insisted that the more fat I ate, the more fat I'd lose. It seemed to work. While eating vast amounts of steak, cream cheese, macadamia nuts, salmon and bacon, and pouring double cream into my coffee, I not only never felt hungry but I lost 6.6lb of fat with no muscle loss, plus a staggering 3in off my stomach, nearly 2in off my waist
and 1.5in from my hips. I even lost fat from my neck. Thanks to Zana, I also toned up, and the sciatica that has plagued me since I hurt my back doing Pilates - ironically in the spring vanished. The downside? I took so many supplements I rattled, craved fruit and will never look at cream cheese in the same way again. I've got another stone to go, so have been put on a modified medium-fat programme to whittle away the last 14lb. I shall put a picture of Nigella on my fridge as Leah Hardy thin-spiration.
Three ways to drop a dress size by Christmas The Harcombe diet: An eating plan designed by nutritionist ZoĂŤ Harcombe. It's based on eating only unprocessed foods and cutting out all sugar. The key element for long-term success is to only eat fat with protein and never with carbs. The five-day Phase 1 induction plan includes unlimited meat, fish, eggs, salad and vegetables, plus small amounts of brown rice and natural yoghurt. Downside? No booze. How much can you lose? Up to 7lb of fat and water in the first five days.
Eurodiet: Eurodiet is the number one high-protein diet in Europe. It was invented by a French doctor, Dr Bernard Pinon, and is recommended by 99 per cent of GPs in Europe. It's based on eating high-protein, low-calorie packaged food, such as soups, shakes and bars, plus high-protein versions of pasta and risotto and even chocolate, which you order online. Those with a BMI of 30-plus start with a two-week Phase 1 plan, eating four Eurodiet meals a day, plus green vegetables or salad. Downside? The dehydrated meals can taste very processed How much can you lose? Up to 9lb in a week on Phase 1.
The Celebrity Diet: Denise Van Outen, Ruby Wax, Patsy Kensit and Lisa Snowdon have all turned to the Pure Package to lose weight fast. Arriving on your doorstep every morning, a day's food includes breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks, all of which is fresh, healthy, free-range, ethical and delicious. Pure Package has just launched its Fabulous Figure programme for the run-up to Christmas, designed to help you lose weight, de-bloat and have more radiant skin. Downside? The cost. The new One Month Slimmer programme includes 20 days of food, plus eight laser inch loss treatments, lymphatic massage and Power Plate sessions. How much can you lose? 5-7lbs in a fortnight on the food plan.
Decor
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011
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Afraid of dipping your toes into the cold home-upgrade pool? Don’t be. It’s just a splash of colour here, a change in fabric there and voila! Your home is as good as new. Postnoon helps you with a few tips Sana Mirza sana.m@postnoon.com
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ach November, homeowners come to a mental crossroad. A part of us wants to stay outdoors and enjoy the pleasant weather. But we also want to plunge into preparations for winter, the upcoming holidays and guests who may be headed our way. Time — and the nice weather — do not last long, and so we end up in a flurry of activity, trying to finish those home-improvement projects on our to-do list. Let's go for the ‘redo and renew’ motto this winter and here's how to go about it.
COLOUR: This season, you can redo your home with deep, rich colours like dark blues,warm mustard yellows, and vibrant plums. But, the real colours to watch out for are the deep jade greens, peppy oranges and intense reds. This not only makes your home environment cosier but inspires a feeling within for you to explore your home. “New paint makes everything look neat and bright again. Paint does wonders to your home. In order to make it look trendier, paint the same wall with three different shades of the same colour. Start at the bottom with it being the darkest, then the middle with a lighter shade to that and so on,”
REDO YOUR SPACE
advises Anwar, a designer with a popular interior store in Mumbai.
NEUTRAL FABRICS: Make sure to always use simple, neutral fabrics in the proximity of your live-in space. Make use of fabrics which are timeless as they will blend in with the design trends of the coming seasons. Interior designer Bhavna Bhatnagar says that colours like whites and even tans are always in season, “Make sure that you don’t have fabrics that are too dark because they can only be used for one season. Use patterns of neutral colours as a backdrop for more bold choices in accessories.”
TEXTURES:
“Fluffy faux-fur cushions are so comfortable so have a lot of them on the couches as well as in your bedroom. Velvets are back in now, so you could use them more for the living area. The use of texture adds dimension to your design and visual interest to the room. So bundle up on that,” advises Kanika Bahl, a Pune-based interior designer.
PATTERNS: Watch for patterns featuring various repetitive and geometric designs playing on angles and shapes. “You could use patterns in wallpapers, accessories, art pieces and furniture. This makes the room visually appealing as well as interesting at the same time. Of course, let the space breathe refrain from adding too many patterns. Keep it simple but let it attract you each time you enter the room,” says Laksh.
GREEN: Green is not just a colour anymore. It is quite the movement. Green design is not only heating up the building and auto industry, it's also heating up the interior design market as well. “Choose recycled and ecofriendly fabrics and materials for your home,” advises Chandrika, one of the two partners at Daaram, Hyderabad.
Animal Kingdom
PET FINDER W
hen it comes to emotional support, nothing compares to the support you get from a pet. Adopt a pet and give it as much love and care as you can. Adoption is the loving option. Consider adopting from the Blue Cross before buying an animal from the pet store. Contact: 91 40 3298 9858, 2354 4355 / 5523; Website: www.bluecrosshyd@gmail.com
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011
Take care of your fish tank Would it surprise you to know that every time you are cleaning your fish tank the way you think is the best, your fish are probably telling each other, "Fish! Wish they knew how to clean our tank!" High time we found out how
Indira Atluri indira.a@postnoon.com
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et us accept it. We are no pros when it comes to dealing with fish and the little homes we build for them. Every time we clean their tanks, and we see them going all over their place, more often than not, we tend to think that they are happy to see their tanks clean, and hence checking out their 'new' home. But in reality, they are feeling exposed to the elements of the newly filled water in the tank. Whenever you change the water in your aquarium, a natural cycle begins. This cycle, called the biological filter consists of good bacteria friends, who convert nitrite (harmful pollutants) into nitrate (harmless). The nitrite is created by the fish waste and excess food, which also turns into ammonia. And this process takes some time to establish. So a tank that may look dirty to you, maybe a haven for your little fish. Dr Niranjan Velapati, a vet based in Hyderabad says, "One of the common mistakes is to take out the accessories like the artificial plants, and pebbles
and clean them with detergents. The problem is that, much as we rinse thoroughly, there is always some amount of chemical left behind. That is any day harmful to the fish, so it is best to rinse with tap water." Gautam Chadha, an employee with a private company in Hyderabad says, “I love pets in general, but since I live on my own, I cannot have dogs or cats. So my two fish give me great company. Both of them are goldfish, and are called Cruisy and Katy! I like to think they love me, and are happy to see me come back home everyday! I clean their tanks once a week and put a few drops of specially made antibacterial and anti-fungal medicines available in the pet shop.”
FUNNY BONE The Frog Hotline
GINGER
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Recently, the Psychic Hotline and Psychic Friends Network have launched hotlines for frogs. Here is the story of one frog and his discussing with his psychic. A frog telephones the Psychic Hotline and is told, "You are going to meet a beautiful young girl who will want to know everything about you." The frog says, "This is great! Will I meet her at a party, or what?" "No," says the psychic. "Next semester in her biology class."
Let us look at some easy steps to clean the fish tanks. n
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It is good to put the fish in a container with water from the tank before you begin your cleaning process. It helps reduce the stress your fish may go through later. Shake the pebbles as you are removing them from the tank so that they are free of the residue. Transfer them to a bucket, and rinse them with clean water. Use an algae scraper to clean up the sides of the tank that have become opaque. It is not necessary to scrape it clean, as fish need familiar environment. Once you have cleaned the tank, replace the pebbles and the plants that you had taken out earlier. Refill the tank with non chlorinated water. Water than contains chlorine is fatal for the fish. When the tank is set up, empty the fish bowl gently so that some of the water in the tank fills into the bowl. This enables the fish to get accustomed to the new water slowly.
INTERESTING FACTS n n n n n n n
A single cow lets out the amount of harmful methane gas, which can fill about 400-litre bottles; that too in a single day. Bulls are known to be colourblind. It’s a black-and-white life for them! A mosquito has 47 teeth. A garden caterpillar has 248 muscles in its head. The memory span of goldfish is just about 3 seconds. A lion’s roar is so loud that it can be heard up to a distance of five miles. Cheetahs maybe large and fast, but when they roar they chirp.
Everyone can help preserve the world’s amazing, irreplaceable endangered species. One should time and again educate oneself about the dangers facing them, volunteer at conservation organisations and write to local officials highlighting issues facing conservation of animals
Magic Screen
About stars, actors, and a bit of fun
I’m open to criticism: Sikander Kher
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ctor Sikander Kher didn’t have a dream start in Bollywood like other star kids, but the son of veteran actors Anupam and Kirron Kher has no complaints. He says he is always open to criticism and constantly tries to improve himself. “I have never really thought about praise or criticism. I just believe in working. However, I am definitely open to criticism as it gives you the scope to improve upon yourself,” Sikander said. “You have to continue to improve yourself always. I know criticism is a part and parcel of our job and it doesn’t affect me,” he added. Sikander has been interested in acting since childhood. As a kid, he used to enact fictitious scenes created by his father, Anupam. But his break on the big screen came in 2008
with Hansal Mehta’s Woodstock Villa. The film failed to rake in moolah at the boxoffice, but his acting was appreciated. “I have had a slow start, but I am happy with the kind of work I have done so far. I have no complaints. It has been a learning experience every day,” said the 31-year-old. “All the people that I have worked with have been very good and very kind to me. I feared failure, but gradually I learnt to deal with it. With failure comes success, and you earn respect. I’m hoping happier things will happen to me soon,” he added. Sikander was later seen in intense characters in films like Summer 2007, Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey and most recently, in Game, and he admits he likes such roles.
“I am not looking forward to doing any particular kind of role, but I like to do intense roles as I am good at it. I would also love to do some comedy,” he said. “It is important for me to be convinced about the script of any film that I choose to do. So I take my own time to decide, many a time projects don’t work out. So, I really wouldn’t mind doing little, but I’d like doing good stuff,” he added. He is now gearing up for the release of his new film Players, the official Hindi remake of Hollywood film The Italian Job. Directed by AbbasMustan the action thriller also features his best buddy, Abhishek Bachchan, apart from actors Sonam Kapoor, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Bobby Deol and Bipasha Basu. IANS
Lara seeks help with baby names
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B-TOWN TWEETIES
@NeilNMukesh Have a terrible cold ! I hate getting a cold. Body goes for a complete toss!!
@iamsrk Wow!!,..now my son will think I am way cooler than anybody...I got to meet my star mr. Jet li.yay! yfrog.com/j2ppgelj
@bipsluvurself Hope you all like the #Players theme Song!Had an awesome time shooting it! Bosco n team did d choreography!They r amazing!
@imarshadwarsi To all my followers, I LOVE U ALL, u guys are too sweet. Really feels great reading what u all feel about me....
@SrBachchan T 565 -Those that cannot rise up above must perforce go down ; in this movable world to remain immovable will get you nothing ...
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fter Aishwarya Rai Bachchan who welcomed her little girl into the world recently it is now the turn of another tinsel town beauty. Former Miss Universe Lara Dutta got hitched a few months back and is expecting her first baby with husband Mahesh Bhupathi. Mommy-tobe Lara is already excited and is waiting for the delivery date. The actress is in her seventh month of pregnancy is maintaining a disciplined fitness routine these days and is already thinking of names for the baby. She is also using this time to come up with a new fitness DVD as she posted on Twitter, “Busy day and wk ahead! Working on a pre-natal yoga dvd so all the Mama’s out thr can keep themselves and their babies healthy!” The actress also chose to ask the help of her Twitter fans so she wrote on the microblogging website on Saturday, “Trying to zero in on baby names!! Send ur suggestions in!! Boy/Girl names welcome! So excited!!!,”. Now that’s one excited mother for sure.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011
@udaychopra
Veena Malik to star in a 3D horror film P
akistani actress Veena Malik is busy shooting a 3D horror movie in a jungle in southern India. Though the destination is being kept a secret for security reasons, Veena says she is having a lot of fun and adventure shooting the film. Disclosing a few details about the project, Veena said, “It’s a 3D horror film with Telugu filmmaker Hemant Madhukar, and it’s really hard to shoot.” “For one, we are shooting in the wilderness. There are no luxury hotels, no daily comforts. Then it’s a 3D film, not like the other 3D films in Hindi where the 2D format is converted into 3D. We are shooting in 3D which means every shot takes hours sometimes. It’s really time consuming because I am playing both the ‘thriller’ and ‘horror’ element of the film,” she added. Veena will perform all her stunts on her own IANS in the film.
I’m in a beautiful courthouse building...No, not paying for any crimes, just thinking of ways to get away with them when I commit them
@AnupamPkher Hardeep Singh, a farmer from Nainital drives a cab in Philly. He said,” East or West, India is the BEST.:) lockerz.com/s/157557860
@reddysameera @TheVijayMallya when the going gets tough the tough gets going! :) but you always shine Rockstar!
Magic Screen
‘Being single is not cool’
P
op star Rihanna, who recently denied reports that she is dating boxer Dudley O’Shaughnessy, says that it is “not really that cool” being single. “I’m not dating anyone right now. I’m not dating at all. I’m not necessarily happy being single. It’s not really that cool,” a website quoted the 23-year-old as saying. “I do put a lot into my job — most of my time if not all of it. It definitely affects my personal life,” she added. IANS
I’m going to take guitar lessons: Kelly Rowland A
merican singer Kelly Rowland says she wants to take guitar lessons in a bid to improve as an artist. “I don’t really switch off. I’m always thinking of songs or ideas. I’m going to take guitar lessons. I watched a documentary on producer Berry Gordy and it showed that, in between albums, his acts — The Jackson Five, Stevie Wonder — wouldn’t be chilling; they’d be learning an
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011
About stars, actors, and a bit of fun
instrument, brushing up on as true artists,” a website quoted her as saying. Rowland also admits that she learned to be a professional when she began to understand that time was money. “The way I grew up, I knew when to be on, you know? Like a photo shoot costs money. Time costs. So it’s important to get in, be professional, treat people with respect and have IANS fun,” she said.
24
Pixie Lott not comfortable doing sexy songs S
inger Pixie Lott says she has no plans to portray herself as a sexy singer like Rihanna because she worries her grandfather would disapprove of a raunchier look. “I just don’t think I’d feel comfortable doing lyrics like that (Rihanna’s)...Different artists do different things and you have to feel and look comfortable doing it. It totally suits Rihanna. She is amazing but even if I wanted to do that, I just couldn’t,” a website quoted the 20-year-old as saying. “I can’t imagine playing that kind of stuff to my family. My grandad gets a copy of my album and I wouldn’t want him to hear me like that. He watches the shows and stuff. For fans I like to leave some things to the imagination,” she added. IANS
Magic Screen
D I S P L A YA
D S RATE ` 150 sq. cm
For Further Details Please Contact Abhinay 9989399972 Nandlal 9951467988 Ravi Chander 8106039919
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011
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Magic Screen
About stars, actors, and a bit of fun
Katy Perry planning career break
S
inger Katy Perry is considering a career break after she finishes her California Dreams Tour to take some time off to "work on her family". According to the New York Post newspaper, the 27year-old will finish her California Dreams tour next week and she has told her management team that she intends to take a year off to be with her husband Russell Brand and start thinking of family. Perry's final show is at Los Angeles' Staples Centre on November 23, however, she is scheduled to perform a one-off concert in Manila in the Philippines January IANS 22, 2012.
Simpson learns from fashion mistakes
S
inger-actress Jessica Simpson says her past fashion mistakes helped her to create best designs for her apparel and shoes line."There are a lot of things I've worn and look back on and think, 'Oh, my'. “When it comes to beauty, I think a big misconception is the tanner you are, the more beautiful you are. It's not always true. I look back on a lot of pictures where I'm really tan, and I'm like, 'Whoa," a website quoted the 31-year-old Simpson as saying. "I'm in all those meetings. I know the zipper pulls, I know what you're going to be purchasing next spring. I know what's going to be trending. It's really fun to take all those meetings and try and play great guessing games of what the pubIANS lic's going to buy," she added.
Argentine actress thrilled to sing, act in Twilight
A
rgentine actress Mia Maestro, who plays Carmen Denali in Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn. Part 1, says she is thrilled she had the chance to act and even sing in the film. The 33-year-old Buenos Aires native not only acts but also vocalises the song Rain on the original soundtrack of the fourth episode of the hit saga
about vampires and wolf-men. In the movie based on the first part of the fourth book of the saga by Stephenie Meyer, the leading character Isabella "Bella" Swan, again played by Kristen Stewart, and Edward Cullen, played by Robert Pattinson, are off to enjoy a honeymoon in Brazil. "It's a very interesting, touching movie. And the fans are going to love it," Maestro, who plays one of the new characters in the film, said. The actress is one of the nine vampires of the Danali Clan, specifically "a Spanish vegetarian vampire who lives in Alaska and is a cousin of the Cullens". Maestro said the movie will be a very opportune presentation of her music, since her first album goes on sale in January or IANS February next year.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011
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Magic Screen
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011
About stars, actors, and a bit of fun
27
Dunst likes to Google herself! A
ctress Kirsten Dunst says she has a habit of searching for stories about herself on the Internet. Dunst goes online to read the latest gossip about her although negative criticism hurts her feelings, reports a website. Asked if she Googles herself, she replied, “Of course, who doesn’t? It’s not good to do because ultimately the two nice comments (outweigh) the one bad one you’re going to be focused on. It’s not very healthy to do. It’s a very dangerous place. It’s not healthy.” The Spider-Man actress started getting worried after saucy pictures of her surfaced online after she stripped for full-frontal nude scenes in Lars Von
Lady Gaga to receive LGBT honour P
op star Lady Gaga is to be honoured in recognition of her work with lesbians, gays and bisexuals. Gaga will be honoured by the Trevor Project, a non-profit company that offers suicideprevention services to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. The award will be given to her at the annual Trevor Live event. Google Inc will receive a special Trevor 2020 award, reports a website. “Our young are at the centre of a health crisis, and vocal leaders like Lady Gaga and technology leaders like Google have stepped up to help change our culture,” said David
McFarland, Trevor Project CEO and executive officer. “We are proud to honour Lady Gaga with the Trevor Hero Award and Google Inc with the Trevor 2020 award for their
work to help young people express their true selves with pride,” McFarland added. The Trevor Live event is slated to take place on December 4 at the Hollywood Palladiu. IANS
Trier’s drama Melancholia. “I hadn’t been that nude in a film before. It’s nerve-wracking but at that point I knew everyone pretty well and it was a closed set. Lars and I were making jokes to each other. It was cold, I was lying there. But I knew it was going to be pretty. Doing a Lars Von Trier film, you know you’re going to be naked in one of the scenes, for sure. “I’m doing the work at that point but then later (after filming wrapped), I do think about it because I’m out, I’m not in Sweden anymore in this remote countryside. I’m in LA thinking, ‘Well, this is going to be all over the Internet, great!’” she said. IANS
Clooney to play Steve Jobs in film? A
ctor George Clooney might play late Apple boss Steve Jobs in a new film. The 50-year-old is in the running with his former ER co-star Noah Wyle, 40, for the role, reports a website. The biopic is expected to start filming next year. It will chart the life of the entrepreneur who died last month
from pancreatic cancer at age 56. Clooney and Noah both played doctors in the long-running hospital series ER, which picked up 23 Emmy Awards. Clooney was recently forced to pull out of TV series The Man From U.N.C.L.E. as the role required physical IANS exertion.
Magic Screen
About stars, actors, and a bit of fun
N
agarjuna and Dasaradh are going to team up again after nine years. The duo had worked together for Santosham back in 2002. Nagarjuna had played the lead role in Santosham and it was Dasaradh’s debut film as a director. The latest buzz about this upcoming film is that it is going to be a complete entertainer and Siva Prasad Reddy is going to produce the film under the Kamakshi Movies banner. More details about the film will be revealed soon. Meanwhile, Nagarjuna has plenty of projects to look forward to in the next few months. Rajanna is going to release in December and after that he’ll soon be seen in Damarukam and K Raghavendra Rao’s Shiridi Sai.
Dasaradh
set to direct
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011
28
T-TOWN TWEETIES
@Actor_Siddharth “Blessed are those who are flexible for they shall not be bent out of shape...” words i shouldve read a long time ago:)
@Alwayscharan Rachaa team working really hard in freezing cold in the thickest bamboo forest in china. http://t.co/o0SKZcds
@richyricha
Nagarjuna
Heading to a beautiful outdoor location in Goa for the CCL calendar shoot!
after nine years
Anushka in SVSC? I Gopimohan, Kona Venkat team up with Meher Ramesh P opular writers Gopimohan and Kona Venkat who usually collaborate with Srinu Vaitla have teamed up with Meher Ramesh. They have reportedly co-written the film’s script and screenplay for Meher Ramesh’s next film and if the rumours are to be believed this might be for the director’s upcoming film titled Power which has Ravi Teja in the lead role. The film is likely to go on floors in early 2012. Recently, Gopimohan and Kona Venkat had co-written the script of Dookudu along with Srinu Vaitla and the film went on to become a smash hit at box-office. While Kona Venkat is currently writing scripts for few Bollywood films, Gopimohan is reportedly going to make his directorial debut in mid2012.
f the rumours are to be believed, Anushka has been approached to play an important role in an upcoming Telugu film titled Seetamma Vaakitlo Sirimalle Chettu. Venkatesh and Mahesh Babu are going to be seen as brothers in this film and if all goes well, Anushka will play Venkatesh’s wife in this family drama. A formal announcement is expected to be made soon. The film has already been making news for its star cast since it’s the first time in several years that two of the biggest stars are teaming up for a film. Srikanth Addala is going to direct the film. Dil Raju is going to produce this film and Mickey J Meyer is composing the music.
@RanaDaggubati A huge welcome to Director Vishnu Vardhan and actress @sarahjanedias03 to the telugu film industry.
@mamtamohan Im thinkin how can i bring u all into the power of the music that im experiencing right now. I luv sharing good moments like this.
@tashu_02 Before you talk, listen. Before you react, think. Before you criticize, wait. Before you pray, forgive. Before you quit, try.. Gudmorning!!
@shraddhadas43 I justtt loveee my costumes for rey,done tryin just a quarter of the lot,spellbound! Hats off to yvs sir’s choice and his team of designers!
@PriyaWajAnand Its a wrap for me on ‘English Vinglish’ I can’t believe i got 2 work with my favoriteestest Sri Devi! Somebody pinch me! My reason to :) U?
Chai Time 1230 Movie - Leader 1530 Movie - Alasyam Amrutham 1900 Movie - 100% Love 0800 Ayurvedam 0900 Challenge 1200 Maa Voori Vanta
‘100% Love’ at 1900 Hrs on MAA TV
1230 Movie - Aarya 2 1600 Movie - Yagnam 1800 Movie - Khaleja 2130 Movie - For Your Eyes Only 0800 Vendithera 0830 24 Frames 0900 Movie - Missamma 1200 Aha Emi Ruchi
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011
Telly sitcoms, news and movie listings
1300 Movie - Allulu Vasthunnaru 1600 Sree Rama Sangeeta Samrajyam 1800 Movie - Sandade Sandadi 2100 Etv News 2130 Paripoorna Mahila 2230 Movie - Evaru 0900 Movie - Budjet Padmanabham
1400 Got To Dance 1600 Wipeout 1700 Spring Wipeout 1800 The X Factor 2000 India's Minute To Win It 2100 The X Factor 2200 Movie - Eagle Eye 0840 Infomercial/30 Min 0905 Sky Teleshopping 0930 Scare Tactics 0955 Infomercial/5 Min 1000 Scare Tactics 1025 Infomercial/5 Min 1030 Top Chef - Just Desserts 1125 Movie - Eagle Eye 1350 Sony Lifestyle Tv Magazine
‘Evaru’ at 2230 Hrs on ETV
1300 Movie - Baava 1630 Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Little Champs 2010 1800 Teenmar Just Mass Dance 1900 Movie - Munna 2230 Magadheera 0800 Gopuram 0900 Sri Raghavendra Vybhavam 1000 70mm A/c 1030 Gadasariatta Sogasarikodalu
‘Eagle Eye’ at 2200 Hrs on AXN
‘Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge’ at 2000 Hrs on IMAGINE 1230 Movie - Veer 1530 Sawaare Sabke Sapne – Preeto 1630 Dharampatni 1730 Movie - Paa 2000 Movie - Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge 2200 Chandragupt Maurya 2300 Gajab Desh Ki Ajab Kahaaniyaan 0900 Baba Aisa Varr Dhoondo 0930 Sawaare Sabke Sapne – Preeto 1000 Beendh Banuga Ghodi Chadhunga 1030 Haar Jeet 1100 Gajab Desh Ki Ajab Kahaaniyaan
1300 Movie - Thank You 1600 Movie - Dabangg 1800 Movie - Ready 2100 Balika Vadhu - Kacchi Umar Ke Pakke Rishte 2200 Bigg Boss - Undekha Action 2300 Parichay - Nayee Zindagi Kay Sapno Ka 0900 Parichay - Nayee Zindagi Kay Sapno Ka 0930 Bigg Boss 1000 Havan 1030 Uttaran 1100 Balika Vadhu - Kacchi Umar Ke Pakke Rishte 1200 Bigg Boss - Aapka Farman
‘Ready’ at 1800 Hrs on COLORS
‘Om Shanti Om’ at 1230 Hrs on ZEE TV 1230 Movie - Om Shanti Om 1630 Hitler Didi 1900 Apka Sapna Hamara Apna 1930 Shobha Somnath Ki 2030 Star Ya Rockstar 2200 Star Ya Rockstar Spotlight 2230 Shobha Somnath Ki 2330 Idea Jalsa 0800 Telemart 0900 Bhagonwali 0930 Mrs. Kaushik Ki Paanch Bahuein 1000 Choti Bahu 1030 Yahaaan Main Ghar Ghar Kheli 1100 Ram Milaye Jodi 1130 Hitler Didi
1200 Movie - Mere Brother Ki Dulhann 1530 Kaun Banega Crorepati 1900 CID 2000 Movie - Mere Brother Ki Dulhann 2330 Crime Patrol - Dastak 0700 Telebrands 0730 Sky Star Advertising 0900 Adaalat 1000 Crime Patrol - 1 1130 Kuch Toh Log Kahenge 1230 Comedy Circus Ka Naya Daur
‘Mere Brother Ki Dulhann’ at 1200 Hrs on SONY
29
‘Hum Tum Aur Shabana’ at 1300 Hrs on STAR PLUS 1300 Movie - Hum Tum Aur Shabana 1530 Movie - Kuch Kuch Hota Hai 1930 Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon 2100 Master Chef India 2200 Masterchef India Zaykebaazon Ka Safar 2230 Master Chef India 2330 Masterchef India Zaykebaazon Ka Safar 0900 Diya Aur Bati Hum 0930 Ek Hazaaron Mein Meri Behnaa Hai 1000 Saath Nibhaana Saathiya 1030 Mann Ki Awaaz… Pratigya
MOVIES OF THE DAY AND OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
‘Khaleja’ at 1800 Hrs on GEMINI TV
1400 [V] Spot 1430 [V] Axe Ur Ex 1530 [V] Trailers 1555 [V] Fresh Songs 1600 Gladrags Megamodel Manhunt 2011 1700 [V] Humse Hai Life 1900 [V] Steal Ur Girlfriend 2000 [V] D3 Dil Dosti Dance 2100 Star World - Love 2 Hate U 2155 [V] Fresh Songs 2200 [V] Trailers 2230 [V] Humse Hai Life 2300 [V] Steal Ur Girlfriend 2355 [V] Fresh Songs 0700 [V] Trailers 0730 [V] Zabardast Hits 0800 [V] Mind Blasting Mornings 1130 [V] Fresh Songs 1200 [V] D3 Dil Dosti Dance
‘[V] Steal Ur Girlfriend’ at 1900 Hrs on CHANNEL [V]
‘Munna’ at 1900 Hrs on ZEE TELUGU
‘Et Insight’ at 2100 Hrs only on ET NOW 1400 Bollywood This Week 1430 Et Insight 1500 The Market Makers 1530 Tee Time With Shaili Chopra 1600 Technoholik 1630 Your Trades 1700 Zigwheels 1730 Market Summit 2011 1830 The Market Makers 1900 Investor's Guide 1930 Starting Up 2000 Zigwheels 2030 Talking Technicals 2100 Et Insight 2130 Your Trades 2200 Tee Time With Shaili Chopra 2230 Brand Equity 2300 The Market Makers 0900 First Trades 1000 Hot Stocks 1100 Buy Now Sell Now - The Stock Game 1130 Buy Now Sell Now 1200 Market Sense 1300 Business Day 1330 Markets Now
1300 Movie - The Guru 1500 Survivor 1600 Bellator 1700 Aspire 1730 Big Wheels 1800 The Defenders 1900 Galileo Extreme 2000 Movie - The Guru 2200 Aspire 2230 The Defenders 2330 Big Wheels 0900 Bellator 1100 Jerry Springer
‘Shor’ at 2000 Hrs on SAB TV
‘The Guru’ at 1300 Hrs only on BIG CBS PRIME
1400 Taarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chashma 1600 Sab Ka Evening Show 1730 Fir 2000 Movie - Shor 2300 Fir 0800 Teleshopping 0900 Happy Housewives Club 0930 Don't Worry Chachu !!! 1200 Taarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chashma
1320 Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire 1630 The Matrix Revolutions 1905 Cradle 2 The Grave 2100 Tekken 2245 300 0740 Friends 0810 Good Morning, Miami 0840 Friends 0910 Mars Attacks! 1110 Money Talks
1515 Shorts 1715 The Lost Future 1920 Entourage - Mother* 2005 Entourage - The Big Bang 2100 Cats & Dogs - The Revenge Of Kitty Galore 2255 The Hangover 0810 Commando Squad 1000 Freejack 1220 Up In The Air
1400 Cougar Town 1500 Scrubs 1600 Californication 1700 Better With You 1800 The Event 2000 Happy Endings 2100 Private Practice 2200 Californication 2300 Better With You 0800 Just For Laughs 0830 Scrubs 0900 The Real Housewives Of New Jersey 1000 Pretty Little Liars 1100 America's Funniest Home Videos 20 1130 Better With You 1200 Hell's Kitchen 1300 Slot 1330 America's Funniest Home Videos 20
‘Californication’ at 2200 Hrs on ZEE CAFE
Star Ya Rockstar MasterChef Storyline - Akshay Kumar who was on the show to promote his upcoming movie Desi Boyz, praised the way Sachin had maintained himself over the years. ‘Star Ya Rockstar’ at 2030 Hrs on ZEE TV
India Storyline - Catch Pankaj Bhadouria throw unique culinary challenges to the zaikebaaz. ‘MasterChef India’ at 2100 Hrs on STAR PLUS ‘Cats & Dogs - The Revenge Of Kitty Galore’ at 2100 Hrs on HBO
1400 Curiosity 1500 Discovery Biggest Shows 1700 Discovery Showcase 1800 Wild Discovery 1900 Man Woman Wild 2000 Dual Survival 2100 Man Vs Wild 2200 Gold Rush - Alaska 2300 Curiosity 1000 Detonators 1100 Worst Case Scenario 1130 Million 2 One 1200 Gold Rush - Alaska 1300 Wild Discovery
‘Love2 Hate U’ at 2100 Hrs on STAR WORLD 1300 Home Improvement 1400 Extreme Trail 1500 Necessary Roughness 1600 Masterchef Australia 1800 Terra Nova 1900 Necessary Roughness 2000 The Dewarists 2100 Love2 Hate U 2200 Breakout Kings 2300 Dexter 0700 The Big Bang Theory 0730 Home Improvement 0800 Rules Of Engagement 0830 The Simpsons 0900 Masterchef Australia 0930 Mr. Sunshine 1000 Criminal Minds Suspect Behavior 1100 Love2 Hate U 1200 Terra Nova
‘Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani’ at 1400 Hrs on ZOOM
‘Wild Discovery’ at 1800 Hrs on DISCOVERY CHANNEL
1400 Movie - Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani 1730 Letz Go! 1900 Planet Bollywood News 1930 Business Of Bollywood 2000 Bollywood Big Story 2030 Just For Love 2300 Bollywood Bonanza 0700 Fresh Mornings 0800 Red Carpet 0805 20 - 20 Songs 0825 Fresh Mornings 0900 My Top 20 1000 Fresh Mornings 1100 Zoom Box 1200 Garma Garam 1300 Planet Bollywood News 1330 Business Of Bollywood
1430 Discovery Science Classics 1530 Stan Lee's Superhumans 1630 Breaking Point 1730 How Do They Do It? 1830 Best Of Discovery Science 1930 Weird Or What? 2030 Treasure Quest 2130 How It’s Made 2200 New Inventors 2230 Weaponology 2330 The New Inventors 1030 Treasure Quest 1130 How It’s Made 1200 New Inventors 1230 Best Of Discovery Science 1330 Catalyst
‘Treasure Quest’ at 2030 Hrs on DISCOVERY SCIENCE
‘The Foodie’ at 1830 Hrs only on TIMES NOW 1300 News Now At 1 1330 Total Recall 1400 News Now 1430 Enow Spice 1500 News Now 1530 Times Now Sport Weekend 1600 News Now 1630 Times Drive 1700 News Now 1730 Amazing Indians 1800 Versus 1900 News Now 2000 Total Recall 2100 9 PM 2130 Total Recall 2200 News Now 2230 Times Now Sport Weekend 2300 News Now Overnight 0800 The Morning News 0900 News Now 1200 Live Report 1230 News Now 1300 News Now At 1
Chai Time
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011
Take a shot at the brain game while sipping your cuppa
30
SUNDAY CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Empire builder 5 Elephant owner, maybe 10 Big Ben's town 16 Flooded 21 Polite cough 22 Carve a canyon 23 May or Stritch 24 A la — 25 Oz pooch 26 Sleep phenomenon 27 Sniff out 28 Break a record 29 Swimming hazard 31 Bulldog cousin 33 Like some colors 35 Buffet standby 36 Neutral tones 37 Hold on to 40 Forest grazer 41 Margarita ingredient 42 Razor brand 45 Surprised yelps 46 Author Rita — Brown 48 Itinerary word 50 Most uncanny 52 Island welcomes 54 By — and starts 55 Apiece 57 Prefix for meter 58 Mullah's text 59 Dwelling 60 Cpl. and Sgt. 62 Big Dipper neighbor 66 Perpetually 67 Synthetic fabrics 69 Made of fleece 71 Leopard feature 72 Security devices 74 Part of TNT 76 Where Damascus is 78 Is, to Fritz 79 Somewhat, in music 80 Downy fruit 83 Firm, as pasta (2 wds.) 85 Impressionist painter 88 Parish donation 89 Whodunit award 90 Piece of cutlery 93 Amber-colored wine 95 Crewmate of Uhura 97 Querying sounds 98 Leave-taking 100 Approx. 101 Take to court 106 Fewer 108 Mooring sites 110 Mention casually 112 Vast region 113 Hits the brakes 115 Lanchester of “Bride of Frankenstein” 116 Pinch 117 Short pencils 118 Relief 120 Post-kindergarten 122 Dogmas 123 Maurice's darling 124 Offender 128 Winter Games org. 129 Apply makeup 130 One of us 131 Crony 132 Historical periods 133 Nocturnal predator 135 Mark's successor
137 Loafer insert 139 Hebrew letter 140 Refrigerant 142 Mi. above sea level 144 Growing on a trellis 148 Butter spreader 150 Frolicked 153 Pastis flavor 155 Urn homophone 156 Optimal 157 Sham 158 Typeface choices 159 Ponce de — 160 Schnoz-related 161 Bell ringer 162 Lovers' meeting 163 Water condensations DOWN 1 Tumblers' pads 2 “Cat on — — ...” 3 Himalayan sighting 4 In between 5 Sketches again 6 Decks out 7 Young kangaroos 8 Nabokov novel 9 Rope fiber 10 Window sill 11 Pamplona shout 12 “Unforgettable” singer
13 Carpe —! 14 Perfectly timed (2 wds.) 15 Perturb 16 More than passed 17 Floor polish 18 Mr. Bunker 19 Cooks veggies 20 Biker's protection 30 Creak 32 Mini-guitars 34 Just scraped by 38 Festive night 39 Grand or upright 41 Fibbers, plus 42 Made cookies 43 “— — a Rainy Night” 44 Chick — of jazz 46 Flowering tree 47 Pharaoh's god 49 Confront boldly 51 Eliminate 53 Subsoil layer 54 Unser rival 56 Part of H.R.E. 59 Moon ring 61 Vaccines 63 Mimicry 64 Spain's — del Sol 65 Web-footed mammal 67 Sinbad's transport
68 Big steps 69 Arkansas River city 70 Zilch 73 — nova 75 Ceremonies 77 Astaire sister 81 Grade-school org. 82 Poet's contraction 84 Train 85 Sword fights 86 Lucy's friend 87 Fresco base 91 Deposed Amin 92 Wrinkle 93 Granola kin 94 Self-assurance 95 Fizzy beverage 96 Capitalize on 99 She, to Marie 102 Habits 103 Seize power 104 Shinbone 105 Art class item 107 Barters 109 Lake near Reno 111 Sax-playing Simpson 114 Private's word 117 Railroad switch 119 Designer label 121 RN posting 122 Goddess's statue
123 Match 124 Willow bloom 125 Kenya neighbor 126 Taxes 127 Punks 130 Brewers' needs 134 Free to roam 136 Inert gas 137 Roman naturalist 138 Traffic sign
140 Declined 141 Santa Fe loc. 143 Wilson predecessor 145 Manitoba tribe 146 Sufficient, in verse 147 Hibernates 149 Air-traffic org. 151 — down roots 152 Ancient Tokyo 154 Fjord terr.
PREVIOUS PUZZLE ANSWER
Chai Time STAR POWER
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011
Your tomorrow today̶Star Power and Tarot THIRUVAIKUMAR
Date 21-11-2011
thiruvaikumar@yahoo.co.in 040-27177230 / 9949870449
ARIES
March 20 – April 18 Some adverse circumstances likely if involved in a dispute and hence advised to be cautious. Be cordial with all today. Help from maternal uncle likely. Keep on hold purchase of household items.
TAURUS
April 19 – May 19 Some news regarding children may be a cause of concern. Take good care of them, fulfill their needs and give good counselling. Important profit‑oriented decisions can be taken today.
GEMINI
CANCER
June 21 – July 21 Your intellectual capabilities will impr‑ ove. You will be appreciated by all. Name and fame will increase. You will be focussed in completing pending jobs today on a war footing.
LEO
July 22 – August 21 Avoid company of unwanted persons. Journey can be undertaken today. Avoid making fresh major investment or taking a fresh loan. Maintain healthy relationship with neighbours.
VIRGO
LIBRA
September 22 – October 22 Avoid ego clashes with life partner. Bu‑ sinessmen will earn good profits. Plans for expansion can be taken up. Avoid consumption of alcohol today. Medi‑ tate if your are upset or depressed.
SCORPIO
October 23 – November 20 Be affectionate with blood relatives. Id‑ entify your well wishers and give them due respect. You will be praised by all for your qualities. Those in love will feel happy because of favourable trends.
SAGITTARIUS November 21 – Dec 20
CAPRICORN
AQUARIUS
PISCES
January 20 – February 18 Avoid controversial stand as you might face insult and humiliation. Hurdles are seen in your work; adopt slow and steady approach. Avoid mak‑ ing friendship with strangers.
August 22 – September21 You will feel fresh and healthy. Avoid talking bad about others. Try to bring out willpower and other strengths hid‑ den in you and make use of them. Develop your interest in art and culture.
You will involve in religious activities. Those who want to change their job, this is a good day to start efforts towards it. Fatherʼs health needs attention. Employe‑ es to stay focussed in discharging duties. February 19 – March 19 You will feel cheerful today. To achieve success, you need to struggle hard. Tho‑ se who are to undertake journey, need to plan well and carefully execute the works. Analyse loyalty of friends well.
SUMAA TEKUR
tarotreadhyd@gmail.com
ARIES
TAURUS
GEMINI
The Empress – The focus is on your home life. You have the nurturing insti‑ nct and are using it to make a happy home with love and positive energy.
Ten of Swords – Youʼre anxious about something and it is affecting your health. Take one day at a time and donʼt get worried about whatʼs not in your control.
Strength – You have it in you to use your inner strength and fortitude to solve issues that threaten to topple all your plans.
CANCER
LEO
VIRGO
Nine of Wands – Youʼve reached the final stage and one last test or interview remains between you and that which you truly want. Donʼt get tense.
Ten of Cups – Family is in focus. You spend time with loved ones and go out of your way to make this time mat‑ ter. Career is on the backburner for now.
Six of Wands – You complete an impor‑ tant task or project successfully. Take a break and enjoy the fruits of your labour. A new job or raise is possible.
LIBRA
SCORPIO
SAGITTARIUS
Two of Cups – Singles are thinking seriously about mar‑ riage. When you know youʼve found the one you want to spend your life with, why the delay?
The High Priestess – Intuition is height‑ ened and you know things that are about to happen and feel a bit spooked. No need to worry about this. Itʼs the timing.
Eight of Cups –Lon‑ eliness is creeping in, especially for singles who have avoided getting into a rela‑ tionship for a long time. Donʼt rush into anything impetuously.
CAPRICORN
AQUARIUS
PISCES
Justice – You get what you deserve and you begin to see the world differently. Youʼve been through many difficult phases and this is the time to reap the benefits.
The Tower – Your sit‑ uation has changed considerably and yo‑ uʼre finding it difficu‑ lt to adjust to the ch‑ anges. Keep an open mind and understand that itʼs temporary.
Six of Pentacles – You get help from an elderly and experi‑ enced person in mak‑ ing some important career‑related deci‑ sion. Be grateful and keep the ego in check.
For Better or for Worse Stone soup Ink pen
COMICS
Fred Basset
Dec 21 – January 19 Charity and selfless help can improve your fortune. A suitable day to under‑ take a journey. You will be praised by all for your involvement in various religious and social activities.
May 20 – June 20 Be cordial with relatives and friends. Spend good time with family members and keep them happy. Take care of motherʼs health and needs. Your cre‑ ativity will be active today.
TAROT READ
31
Short little groaners Two aerial antennas meet on a roof, fall in love and get married. The ceremony wasn’t much, but the reception was excellent. Two hydrogen atoms walk into a bar. One says, “I’ve lost my electron”. The other says, “Are you sure?” The first replies, “Yes, I’m positive...” A jumper cable walks into a bar. The bartender says “I’ll serve you, but don’t start anything.” Two peanuts walk into a bar, and one was a salted. A sandwich walks into a bar. The bartender says, “Sorry we don’t serve food in here.” A dyslexic man walks into a bra.
A man walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under his arm and says: “A beer please, and one for the road.” Two cannibals are eating a clown. One says to the other: “Does this taste funny to you?” “Doc, I can’t stop singing ‘The Green, Green Grass of Home.’” “That sounds like Tom Jones Syndrome.” “Is it common?” “It’s Not Unusual.” Two cows standing next to each other in a field, Daisy says to Dolly, “I was artificially inseminated this morning.” “I don’t believe you,” said Dolly. “It’s true, no bull!” exclaimed Daisy.
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