ergo december 15

8/14/2019 Ergo December 15

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Monday, December 15, 2008A BYTE OF LIFE

A PAIR OF

MOUSTACHIOSBrad Pitt on his creative facial hair

FREE CIRCULATION Vol. 2 No. 238

BATTLE READYSridhar eyes January comeback

0910

Six SenseIn this weeks FirstInnings, Ergo caughtup with the Chennai-based health start-upthat promises to gogreat guns with theirmedical devicescompany.

COUNTING ON

HIS PASSIONTwo decades ofsingle-minded de-dication havegiven Biju Phi-lips a ratherenviable col-lection of oldcurrency, fos-sils, stamps,

palm leaf scrip-tures and fossils

PAGE 03

Page 05

PHOTO: S.S. KUMAR


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ERGO Monday, December 15, 2008NAMMA CHENNAI02

Volunteers at Madras Crocodile Bank.

FILE PHOTO: R. RAVINDRAN

Christmas withcrocodiles

Just for an actress A well-known Kollywood ac-

tress had gone to meet Mahendra

Singh Dhoni, who is in the city aspart of the ongoing test series.She wasnt allowed entry into thehotel where the cricketer wasstaying as her name didnt fea-ture in the visitors list which isgiven to the security officials pri-or to the tour. Therefore theplayer himself came down to thereception, recommended heavilyand accompanied her to hisroom.

Investigationmenace

Police seems to be goingthrough tough times in the proc-ess of cracking the mystery be-hind the murder of a beautician

in Chennai. The victim had over360 clients and an order to inves-tigate all of them by a senior in-vestigating officer has irked his

juniors. The small khakis are bitrelaxed after the matter subduedafter the Mumbai attacks and thecricket match security here.

Doping cops A drug dealer from Che

who was recently in news for

quent paroles from Puzhal on, is back in jail now. Reliprison sources say that the vict is running his drug busiinside prison in a big way.clientele include not only priers but also some drugee kh

New entryThe new entry in bribery in

police force is to transfer post A grade constables tofortless duties like being orlies and computer operators.fresh breeds are ready to paysums as bribes in order to evgetting posted as guards stand for hours in a glocation.

Xmas surprisesGati Limited, the express distribution and supply chain solutions provider, has introduced a specialservice called Gati Santa Goodies. As a part of the service you can send cakes to your loved ones.The flavors offered are black forest and pineapple at a price of Rs. 699. Gatis santa claus will delivethe cakes on December 25 in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and Kottayam.Call 180 0- 180 - 4284 or 09860354284 for details. Orders can be placed till December 22.

PHOTO:R.

RAVINDRAN

It should be a Christmas with a lot of funand adventure. The Madras CrocodileBank Trust (MCBT) is organising Christ-mas with Crocs for children between

December 24 and 28. The highlights of theprogramme include: A special presentationon gharials, guided tour, photo ops whereone can hold a snake or a baby croc and playgames that teach about endangered gharial.

Also, there are plenty of goodies that you cantake away.

Fee for the half-day session is Rs. 150 perperson. For information and registration,email [email protected]. Or call27472447/ 2747 2953.

TrafficUMBRELLA

Anew and chic traffic umbrellahas come to the aid of trafficcops of our city. The stylishumbrella, which will replace theconventional ones, could be asaviour for the men in white andkhaki regulating vehicular trafficin the scorching heat and rains.The umbrella was recentlyinstalled on Beach Road, oppositethe Presidency College. With anin-built fan above the head, set oflights, a plug point and storagespace with locker, these umbrellaslook different. The cop on dutycan also enjoy a cushioned andfoldable seating inside hiscylindrical workspace. Moreumbrellas are likely to come up inother traffic junctions, say policesources.Despite all the advantages, theumbrella has a big disadvantage.The entire umbrella becomes likea hot frying pan in no time when

the sun is beating down, a trafficcop said.

Ergo Correspondent


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ERGO Monday, December 15, 2008KALEIDOSCOPE04

This five-part series will demysti-fy everything you wanted toknow about Income Tax.

Tax planning has been ayear-end issue filled with anxieties. Atime when auditors, tax consultants,

insurance agents, your office ac-countant and so many otherspounce on you for investments. Andat the same time the government iseager to take its share of your salary.

The problem is that you end up with a plan which is not synchro-nous with your long-term financialplans. People borrow money at 18%to invest in bonds giving 8% returnsto save tax.

The question is, do I invest onlyfor the sake of saving tax? The an-swer is a big no. In fact, there aresituations when it is advisable to pay

your taxes rather than getting into aninvestment which does not contrib-

ute to achieving your financial goals.Every decision has to contribute to-

wards your life goals.

Tax benefits

The basic concept of giving relief

is that, the investments expenses incertain instruments can be used tobuild the nations resources and in-frastructure. By building a house youhelp industries like cement, steel,banks and brick making; and pro-vides employment to many skilledand unskilled workers. So you are in-volved in the development of the na-tion. Thus reducing thegovernments burden and to that ex-tent you are given relief from payingtaxes for spending your money.

By paying insurance premiums you are sharing the governmentsburden to give financial security toits citizens. You are rewarded with

tax reliefs.Your investments in ELSS with

year lock-in period helps buildcapital markets, over a periotime. This in turn brings morevestment and foreign exchange

the country, thus developing economy as a whole.Your expenses for the educatio

your children, reduces the govments burden to provide them education. You get a tax relief. Ththe reason only specific instrumgive you tax relief.

The bottom-line: The choice oinstrument and the quantum inved/spent should depend on younancial goals and not just base

your tax-liability. The next arwill help you take the decisions red to your income tax.

V. Ramachandran, Branch Man

ram@finerva

Tax planning demystified PART 1 A five-part serieson Income Tax

MINI QUIZWinner gets a free Personal Finance HealthCheck up from Finerva.

1. What is the rate of Income Tax for a per-son with salary between 3, 00,001 and5,00,000?

A. 15%B. 21%C. 20%D. 33.33%2. Which is the only type of mutual fund

given below which will gives you tax benefits?A. Mid-cap fundsB. Income FundsC. Monthly income planssD. Equity Linked Savings SchemesSend your answers to [email protected] or SMS

your answers to 92813 98889. For example if youchoose A as the answer to question 1 and B as

the answer to question 2 type it as 1A2B andsend it.

Word power

Find out as many as possible words whichcan be made using the letters of the wordsgiven below

Words should be at least 4 letters long.Proper nouns do not count. Duplicates

dont count.Money, Income, Wealth, Invest

Answers A.1 meno 2 money 3 mony 4 nome5 omen

B.1 cine 2 cion 3 coin 4 come 5 cone 6 coni 7emic 8 icon 9 income 10 meno 11 mice 12mien 13 mince 14 mine 15 monie 16 nice 17nome 18 omen 19 once

C.1 eath 2 haet 3 hale 4 halt 5 hate 6 heal 7heat 8 late 9 lath 10 lathe 11 tael 12 tale 13 teal14 tela 15 thae 16 thaw 17 thew 18 twae 19 wale20 weal 21 wealth 22 welt 23 whale 24 what 25

wheal 26 wheat 27 whetD.1 inset 2 invest 3 neist 4 nest 5 nets 6 nevi

7 nite 8 nites 9 nits 10 sent 11 senti 12 sine 13site 14 snit 15 stein 16 tens 17 ties 18 tine 19tines 20 tins 21 vein 22 veins 23 vent 24 vents25 vest 26 vets 27 vies 28 vine 29 vines 30 vise

Gold Rush

A saleswoman displays a diamond ringworth Rs.1.5 crores and bangles worthRs.50 lakhs, at the Vijayawada Gold andDiamond Jewellery Fair-2008 that beganon Sunday. PHOTO:CH.VIJAYA BHASKAR.


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Monday, December 15, 2008

Websites of the dayLearn about the circle http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Curves/Circle.htmlThe fun and games of Monkey Magazine http://www.monkeymag.co.uk/registration/

Can innovation be far be-hind when six formerGE Healthcare profes-sionals come together

with a common goal and pas-sion? No! The result was Per-fint Healthcare Pvt. Ltd ahealth start-up founded inOctober 2005 with an invest-ment of Rs. 1.87 crore, whichincluded angel funding.

B.D. Vijaya (a.k.a. BDV), S.Nandakumar, K. Puhazhendi,N. Kannan, K. Guruswamyand G. Sekhar make up thesix-member team who quit

their respective positions atGE to pursue their separateinterests. So while Nandaku-mar and Puhazhendi spent abrief stint with Cognizant andScope respectively (exploringthe services sector), others,too, left the healthcare space.But, passion for healthcarebrought them together, inci-dentally in Chennai, wherethey sowed seeds of their en-trepreneurial plans.

Perfint (for Performing with Integrity) is an aggres-sive team, with an averageage of 38, promising to makea dent in the global health-care devices market.

We wanted to touch andfeel technology and see howit impacts peoples lives,

bringing us one by one to thehealthcare space, says Nan-dakumar, CEO. Perfint Engi-neering Service was the resultof brainstorming over end-less cups of coffee at Sarava-na Bhavan and Murugan Idli

Shop for about six months. Inthe following months theyknew they wanted to be a

product service company,where they manufacture, de-sign and deliver medical de-vices.

Team play Apart from the core team,

Perfints journey in the initialdays was supported by a pan-el of 21 doctors who sharedtheir expertise in developingmedical equipments. Or,Kannan is always there toplay the role of a semi-sur-geon, others quip.

PIGA, a tool positioner forfacilitating image-guidedminimally invasive proce-dures in CT environment,

was the first product fromtheir stable. About sevenunits have already been in-stalled, they say.

But, thats just the begin-

ning for the team with a bigvision. We will next be tak-ing projects in the nano andbiotechnology space; thatsthe future of cancer treat-ment, says BDV, who callsPerfint an Emerging Society

Enterprise.

Starting troublesHow has their journey

been in the last three years?Three of them going withoutsalary for at least six monthsand the firm having difficultyin hiring have all been part ofthe initial troubles they haveovercome.

Our journey has been tur-bulent but enjoyable, saysNandakumar. Guruswamy,director-sales, recalls theirfirst marketing assignment toChandigarh. There was no

problem of credibility whilemeeting clients, given the

years of experience we had with us. Another achieve-ment to their credit is thattwo years after starting, theyhave also raised funding from

early state venture capitalistsfirms.

Future plansPerfint will soon be explor-

ing emerging markets like In-dia, Middle East, Latin

America and Eastern Europe,to name some. Until then,this defensive sector wherethe effect of recession is lessthan in other industries issure to sail smoothly.

(If you are an entrepreneur

with a successful businessmodel or know one, write to us

at [email protected])

A bunch of former GE Healthcare professionals use theirexpertise to tap the growing medical space

Six sense

In a MinuteCompany: Perfint Healthcare Pvt. Ltd.Started: 2005Founders: B.D. Vijaya, S. Nandakumar, K. Puhazhendi, N.Kannan, K. Guruswamy, G. SekharTeam Size: 32Focus Areas: Product serviceFunding: Series AWebsite: www.perfinttech.comContact Nos: 4550 6412/ 2434 1246

Boosting others health: At their office in South West Boag Road. PHOTO: R. RAVINDRAN


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ERGO Monday, December 15, 2008VILLAGE06

Gun-toting granA grandmother from England was stunneto unwrap a package sent to her in the po- only to discover it was a machine gunintended for a police station.

Somali president sacks

prime ministerSomalias President Abulahi Yusuf sacked his prime minister onSunday, saying he had failed to bring security to the chaoticcountry. I have dismissed Prime Minister Nur Abdi and willappoint a new one within three days. His government failed toextend the federal system and security to the nation, Yusuftold members of parliament at a meeting attending by media.Hassan Hussein Nur Adde has been prime minister for one yearbut and has been embroiled in a spat with President Yusufover Yusufs rejection of some cabinet ministers. They have alsodisagreed on the direction of peace talks held in Djibouti,where moderate opposition signed an agreement allowingthem to join government.

Reuters

Beijing holds drill for

Mumbai-style attackPolice in Beijing held a drill on Saturday for aterrorist attack similar to the one last month inMumbai, state media said on Sunday. The drillfollowed a scenario that terrorists had rocked thecity with a series of explosions and kidnappedhostages at an international hotel used for theexercise, the governments official Xinhua newsagency said. The Chinese capital held the drill toboost its response capabilities against Mumbai-stylemilitant attacks, the agency said. The agencyshowed photographs of the Beijing Special ArmedPolice Unit using a helicopter and abseiling ropes todrop commandos into the hotel and rescue hostages.

DPA

Castro to hold more talks

on visit to VenezuelaCuban President Raul Castro was to hold talks withdiplomats and military officials Sunday during hissymbolic first official trip to Venezuela, Cubas vitalpolitical and economic ally. The visit is the first by RaulCastro, 77, outside Cuba since he formally took over thepresidency of Cuba in February, after replacing his ailingbrother Fidel, 82, more than two years ago. Initially setto last only a few hours, the trip was extended untilMonday morning when Castro will fly directly to Brazilto take part in a Latin American summit, diplomats andofficials said on Saturday. Castro was also to meet withCuban specialists working in Venezuela.

AFP

UK tells Pak its time for

action, not wordsIn a stern message to Pakistan in the wake of theMumbai attacks, Britain on Sunday asked it to actagainst terrorists operating from its soil saying timehas come for action and not words and offered it acomprehensive US$ 9 million pact, the largest of itskind ever undertaken by the UK, to combat themenace. British Premier Gordon Brown, who metPresident Asif Ali Zardari, said that three-quarters ofmajor terror plots investigated in the UK had links toal-Qaeda in Pakistan. We will work to ensure thateverything is done to make sure that terrorists aredenied any safe haven in Pakistan, Brown said.

PTI

The inauguration of Presi-dent- elect Barack Obamaon January 20 is going to bethe most star -studded event

in US history with die-hard fanswanting to be part of the wa-

tershed event.Celebrities from all over the en-

tertainment spectrum are plan-ning to flock to Washington, D.C.,

to welcome 47-year-old Obama,the first black-American as the44th US President.

Stars at an inauguration ballhosted by the Creative Coalitionon January 20 include musiciansSting, Elvis Costello and SamMoore, People.com reported.

The group says it has alreadyconfirmed a bevy of big- nameguests to the inauguration cere-

mony itself, including AnneHathaway, Susan Sarandon, Mar-cia Cross, Tim Robbins, Seal,

Adrian Grenier, Ashley Judd, JaneKrakowski, Rachael Leigh Cook,Spike Lee and Ron Howard.

Die-hard Obama supporterslike Oprah Winfrey and BruceSpringsteen are in talks to per-form at Obamas inauguration

ceremony, so as A-listers likeBeyonce, Diddy and Mary J Blige,according to New Yorks DailyNews. Some say the lists of stars

would be longer as the fact is thateven celebrities are having trou-bles that regular Obama fans aregrappling with as the inaugura-tion nears. All the hotel rooms in

Washington, D.C., are sold out. PTI

Die-hard Obama supporters like Oprah Winfreyand Bruce Springsteen are in talks to performat Obamas inauguration ceremony

Obama set formost star-spangledinauguration


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Miss Russia Ksenya Sukhinova crowned 58th Miss World, Miss India Parvathay Omanakuttan First runner up, and Miss Trinidad and Tobago Gabriel Walcott crowsecond runner up wave at the 2008 Miss world pageant held in South Africa. AFP PHOTO

Ksenya Sukhinova from Russia blows a kiss onSaturday after being crowned Miss World 200at the miss world pageant. AFP PHOTO

In India and

South Africa

people are warm and

warm-hearted. I felt at

home inJohannesburg.

Presence of two great

leaders Mahatma

Gandhi and Nelson

Mandela have

influenced millions of

people in both the

countries

Indias Parvathy Omanakuttan,

said during the final round ofMiss World 2008 beauty pageant.

ONE LOOK IS ALL IT TAKESNEWS AND NEWSMAKER

IN PICTURES

Quote of the day

Parvathay Omanakuttan, Miss India, waves onSaturday after being crowned the first runnerup at the 2008 Miss world pageant. AFP PHOTO


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ERGO Monday, December 15, 2008SPORT08

ECB to monitor Mushtaqsphone callsUnder pressure from the ICC to keep an eye onMushtaq Ahmed during his stint as Englands spinbowling coach, the ECB may have to monitor thephone calls of the former Pakistan player, who wasimplicated in the 2000 match-fixing scandal.According to a report in The Daily Telegraph, ICCand the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)have agreed upon a monitoring system forMushtaq, who was found guilty of having linkswith bookmakers during an inquiry in Pakistan.Monitoring procedures for Englands new spinbowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed have been agreedafter discussions in Chennai between the Englandand Wales Cricket Board and the International

Cricket Council, the newspaper reported. OnSaturday the ICCs chief executive Haroon Lorgatand the managing director of English cricket Hugh

Morris, verbally agreed on themonitoring procedures forMushtaq, which can be expectedto include extra surveillance ofhis mobile phone calls, it added.Mushtaq was to join the Englishsquad during the ongoing Testseries against India but hecouldnt, reportedly because the

ICC had objected to his appointment due to histainted past. The ECB, however, maintained thatthe reason for the delay was that he had notreceived his work permit, a claim that was refutedby the Home Office, which stated that the Pakistanihad been granted a work permit on November 26.

PTI

CA expects billion-dollarturnover

Cricket Australia is expecting aturnover of one billion dollars inthe next four years but thefinancial windfall does notguarantee any major pay-hike forthe players. Cricket Australiasnewly-appointed chairman JackClarke has made it clear that CAwill pay only as much as it can

afford because the money will also have to be madeavailable to state sides.We have 568,000 players in Australia, and we planto boost that to 750,000 by 2013. CA is responsiblefor paying the elite, but equally it has so manyother areas to consider when slicing the pie, Clarke

was quoted as saying by Herald Sun. People alwaysthink they are worth more than they are getting.They are entitled to seek what they are asking. Butyou can only pay players what you can afford, headded.Clarke said CA has to support domestic competitionsthe cost of which will keep escalating every year. Itis not just about them. We have a secondarycompetition, the Sheffield Shield, that incurs massivelosses, but that is vital to the structure of ournational game. Then there is maintenance andground rental, local cricket competitions that survivemainly because of volunteers. If everyone put outtheir hands, there would be nothing left, hepointed out.Clarke said CA was also aiming to promote thegame in countries where it is not as popular whichwould also require some funding.

PTI

Indian boxers failed to make itpast the semi-finals at the AI-BA Boxing World Cup in Mos-cow. The four Indian fighters

in the fray settled for bronze andprize money worth USD 2,500 af-ter losing their respective semi-finals bout.

Only senior pro and bantam- weight (54 kg) fighter Akhil Ku-mar put up a stiff fight and mightconsider himself unlucky. Thegritty 27-year-old countered hisCuban opponent well and ex-changed punches blow-by-blow

and was tied at 4-4 at the end ofthe four rounds. But to Akhilsdisappointment the ensuingcountdown to pick the

winner by the judgesfound him trailingOlympic silver med-allist Leon Alarcon

Yankiel in theoverall tally of

punches.I had worked out a defensive

plan and it seemed he had a simi-lar strategy. We both remainedcautious and though I lost I canproudly say I gave it my best, Ak-hil told PTI. It hurts not to have

won the gold medal that I alwaysaim for but I am happy that Icould give an Olympic silvermedallist a run for his money. It

was an exciting fight which I en- joyed thoroughly. Anyways, mymotto in life is get up and keepmoving until you achieve yourgoal.

The more accomplished Cu-bans were a thorn for the Indians

in the semi-finals with three of

the Indians, including Akhil, going down to Cuban pugilists.

Jitender Kumar also lost to another Olympic medallist and Cuban Hernandez Laffita in the 5kg (flyweight) category. Thoughe began on a positive note btaking a 4-2 lead, he concedethe advantage as Laffita got thbetter of the Indian, beating hiby a scoreline of 14-6.

In the featherweight (57 kcategory, A.L. Lakra had a maginally better showing but lost tCuban Idel Torriente 3-6. Th

worst, however, was reserved flight-heavyweight Dinesh Kuma

who was forced retire in the se

ond round after receiving a heavbeating from burly Russian Athur Beterbiev, who had alreadtaken a 10-1 lead.

The pedigree of Cuba shonthrough with all eight of i

boxers advancing througto the final.

With inputs fro

Agenci

Knockedd out,44 times overKKnnoocckkeedd oouutt,,44 ttiimmeess oovveerrAll four Indians in the AIBA Boxing World Cup semi-finals

lose to Cuban-dominated opposition

ERGO CORRESPONDENT

[email protected]

PHOTO:SHIV

KUMAR

PUSHPAKAR

Barca down RealSamuel Etoo and Lionel Messi scored in the final 10 minutes togive Barcelona a 2-0 win over Real Madrid, spoiling the Spanishleague return of the defending champions new coach JuandeRamos. Etoo, who had missed a penalty 13 minutes earlier,deflected the ball home from close range in the 83rd minute.Messi then chipped past goalkeeper Iker Casillas in injury time.


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When these two neighbouring countries (India and Pakistan) cant playagainst each other then why should we expect other teams to come and

play in the subcontinent? When England can accept assurances from the Indiansand return why not the same policy for Pakistan?

Inzamam-ul Haq

Ace shuttler Anup Sridhar says hisankle injury would have healedfaster had he given the BeijingOlympics a miss, but insisted

that he doesnt regret risking his ca-reer for playing in the worlds biggestsporting extravaganza. I wouldvehealed quicker if Id given the Olym-pics a miss, specially since I then

wouldnt have taken a cortisone shot which delays complete recovery,Anup, who beat Marco Vasconcelos of

Portugal in the first round before go-ing down to Shoji Sato of Japan in thesecond round in Beijing Games, said.But I had a shot at the biggest compe-tition in the world and if I had to dothings over I would still go ahead withthe cortisone shot and participate inthe Olympics games, he added.

Heavy priceThough his dream of representing

India at the Olympics materialised,what followed was a prolonged periodof frustration as he was forced to stayaway from the court for more thanthree months, owing to his injury. Ithas been a very tough time in my life.My whole life revolves around bad-minton and if Im not even sure of get-

ting back to full fitness, thats a veryhard thing to deal with. I havent beenout of the court for even two weeks at astretch in the last three years or so andthis has been the hardest thing forme, Anup said. Initially after gettingback from Beijing, I tried to get fit a bittoo quickly, and paid the price for it. Ieven tried taking rest for a few weeksbut that didnt help either. Ive beenforced to figure things out for myselflike whos the right doctor to consult,

what kind of treatment routine to fol-low etc. So that has made it quitehard, he said.

I think I have been forgotten to alarge extent, but more than that thething bothers me is that I have notbeen able to reach my goals for the

year. But I guess, at the end of it all, Iam stronger in my mind than I wasbefore and I know that this will showon the court when I get back to play-ing, Anup added.

Looking ahead Although yet to regain full fitness

Anup is gearing up for the 2009 seasonand hopes to play in the forthcomingsuper series in January. At the mo-ment, the strength and stability of myankle are back to normal, its the mo-bility of the ankle that still needs a lotof improvement. I am planning to playin the two super series (i.e. the Malay-sian and Korean super series in Janu-ary), Anup said. I know it will not betoo easy to get back to my original lev-el, but its hard to say when that willhappen as I have never been injuredbefore. After the two tournaments inJanuary, Ill decide further, he added.Initially I will go easy on myself as faras results go, maybe for the first fewtournaments that I play. But I have al-

ways set myself high standards and I

have some big things I want to achievenext year, he said.His injury lay-off has also taken a

toll on his world ranking as the Olym-pian shuttler has slipped from worldnumber 14 to 45, according to the lat-est BWF ranking. However, Anup re-mains unperturbed. I dont like tolook at the rankings anymore and seehow far Ive dropped, but I know thatits only a matter of time before Imback higher than ever. I need maybesix months, and I will be in the top 20,he said.

PTI

I dont regret playing Olympics with injury

PHOTO:

AFP

Raring to go


10/16

If youve heard Sukhvinder

Singh singing Haule haulefor Shah Rukh Khan in YashChopras Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi,

you would immediately spot itssimilarity to Adnan Samis Kabhinahin number from a private al-bum. But Adnan wont talkabout the apparent similarities.And for a very special reason.

It now appears that Yash Cho-pra is a primary architect inbuilding the London-born Pakis-tani singers home in Mumbai.

Speaking reluctantly on thesensitive issue Adnan says diplo-matically, I love Yashji verymuch. Hes very special to me,and not just as a filmmaker. Butalso because he is one of the per-

sons who has endorsed my ap-

plication for my citizenship inIndia. I wont say anything be-yond that.

The application for Adnans In-dian citizenship is under consid-eration. Im as Indian asanyone. Ive been here for 10years. Mumbai is my home. Theprocedure to acquire an officialcitizenship is still on. And I dontwant to jump the line. Or jeopar-dise it in any way.

Adnan is all set to finally turnan actor. I know there was a lotof talk on me doing Bela Sehgalsfilm. The point is, she came upwith an idea to do a film like Ed-die Murphys The Nutty Profes-sor where a fat man looks for

Adnan Sami on Yash Chopra, Indian citizenship and films

I wont play amusician or singer

ERGO Monday, December 15, 2008FLICK10

Green Reeves

Keanu Reeves is apparently jealous of HughJackman because he lost his dream role inX-Men to the Australia star.

Reeves, who is a long-time comic book fan,was quite keen to playthe role of Wolverinein the movie series.

However, the partwent to Jackman andMatrixstar is not quitehappy about it.

I had a little actorenvy when HughJackman got to playWolverine and Ididnt, Contactmusicquoted him as saying.

He added: Theclaws are cool and Iliked his fortitude andhonour.

ANI

Wonder in Dancing with the Stars?Stevie Wonder may soon be seen shaking a leg on Dancwith the Stars.Although the hit-maker is reportedly in talks to star in teight season of the show, he hasnt confirmed the newsItd be fun. Its not impossible, but right now its just athought, he added.

No competition within

the family

Hrithik Roshan is his brother-in-law, FardeenKhan is his cousin and he has veteran actorFeroz Khan as his dad, but actor Zayed Khan saysthat there is absolutely no competition withinthe family.If you are a truly well-meaning brother andfamily member, words like competition have noconsequence. I am a well-meaning person, saysZayed.Zayed, who recently starred in Yuvvraaj, adds: Ialways want the best for my family and well-wishers. Thats the honest truth and I dont letnegative things cloud my mind.

IANS

love. When she approached me I

was physically equipped for it.But now Im 140 kgs down. Its abrilliant script. But no more rightfor me unless you get me specialeffects from Hollywood to makeme look fat.

Adnan is sure about one thing.I want to play something thatthe public hasnt seen me do yet.I wont play a musician or singer.I can do that in my music videos.Its so clichd for me to play amusician when I turn actor.Weve musicians-turned-actorslike Frank Sinatra, Barbra Strei-sand and Cher who did roles thatwere not music-related, and verysuccessfully.

IANS


11/16

Actress Meryl Streep criticises the practise of campaigningfor awards because she hates the idea of seeing the starwith the best ad grabbing the top prize.According to Contactmusic.com, Streep, who has won theOscar twice, is a favourite to win another this year for herperformance in Doubt. Streep, who just picked up aGolden Globe nomination, doesnt want to buy anyadvertising space to promote herself.She said: I hate the campaigning thing. Its unseemly. Youshould be honoured for something. It shouldnt be forwhose campaign was better.

IANS

May not the

best ad win

Brad Pitts favourite ac-cessory these days ascruffy thin mous-tache has raised

many eyebrows, and the ac-tor has defended the criti-cism by calling the facial hairfashion.

While the two-time Sex-iest Man Alive title-holder is

used to people dissecting hislooks, the actors sure knowshow to take criticism in hisstride.

Its fashion. Who am Iwithout creative facial hair?People quoted him as say-ing.

And for those who do notapprove of his facial add-on,he added: I consider it verybrave.

Pitt is donning the mous-tache for his role in theQuentin Tarantino movie,Inglorious Bastards. Whentold his pal George Clooneyis also sporting facial hair,Pitt quipped: I cannot get

this guy out of my slip-stream. He calls me up and

wants to know what Imwearing and then he showsup in the same thing. Nextthing you know hes going tohave six kids. Just got to tell

you its getting really old. ANI

CREATIVE FACIAL

HHAAIIRR,, IT SEEMS


When the mostphotographed couldntafford a photographer

Cate Blanchett has revealed that she wouldlove to don the wedding gown one moretime because she regrets having nopictures of the special day.The Academy Award-winningAustralian actress had tiedthe knot with playwrighthubby Andrew Upton in1997 and is a proud

mother of three children.The star said that shewould be keen onrecapturing themoments of D-daysince she had nophotographs torevisit her memories.The only momentof my life I wouldpossibly recapture isgetting remarriedagain because wedidnt take anyphotographs, theDaily Telegraphquoted her assaying.We didnt haveany money at thetime and wecouldnt afford aphotographer,she added.

ANI

Tom Cruise to reprise Les Grossman character foronline videosTom Cruise is drawing plans to reprise new material relating to his Golden Globe-nominated Tropic Thundercharacter, Les Grossman. Cruise said that both he and BenStiller (who had produced the 2008 action comedy) had decided to team up again for astring of hilarious online videos based on the character.


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Fridays Question:

If you were ascientist whatwould you like toinvent and why?Would invent Nimbus 2000for multipurpose

Annapoorani M, TCS

I will invent a chemical tomake me invisible, so I can goto all strange places

Arun, CGSL

Robot like me to go to officeJayakumar R, Infosys, ShabberSutherlandI will invent 10 clones ofSachin

Ahalya TCS

Ponnuga manasula enna dhanirukungradha kandupudikaramachine

Raja TCS, Rajan, Sella Elnetcity,

Karthikeyan Infosys, MageshKumar TCS, Pavan SG Infosys,

Praveen CGSL, Manikandan RR

Donnelley

My own replica for doing myworkRevathy iNautix, Nikhil Krishnadas

Infosys

Mobile phone where one canspeak only with boys

Arunkumar Raja, CGSL

I would like to invent timemachine because I want to goback to my past and want toomit my love life because ithurts me a lotTapash Biswas, Wipro Technologies

I would love to invent amachine which clones aheroine

Javid, Cognizant

I would like to inventportable printing machine toprint currencies whenever IrequirePraveen Kumar, Allsec Tech, Rajesh

Khanna J Datamark Prodapt

I would like to inventpeaceful world with selflesskind of people

Anandbabu N, TCS

I would like to invent amedicine which wouldincrease the life span ofhuman beings

Vinoth Kumar, Allsec and Sundar

Narayan, Polaris

I would like to invent a magicstick, which gives houses to allpeople, who lives in platform

Shantha Kumar, RR Donnelley

I would invent a machine toknow what others think

Padmini, CSS Slash Support

I would invent a machine thatfreezes time. It will help us beas babies throughout our life

Vignesh C, Cognizant

I will invent a substance whichwould vapourize the garbage,human wastes, and drainageswithout harming theenvironment

R.Viswanathan, Hexaware

I will invent a flying machinewhich can make me cross 1000miles in just 5 minutes

Rakshita Sreenivasan, Wipro

I will invent medicine toremove negative thoughts andimprove positive thinking

Sathya, TCS

I would invent a perpetualmotion machine to power the

world foreverJ Kannu Stephen, Firstsource

My Query: From my childhood,i wonder what girls reallythink in their mind. Theyspeak something, and theymeant something else.I would like to invent aninstrument to uncover theirthoughts ...

Sunny M from TCS

Todays query

Which pair fromthe Indian film

industry do youthink would matchperfectly theRomeo and Julietcharacters?

Question nominated by Sridher of

Perot Systems, one of the regularcontributors for this column. You

too can suggest a question for this

column. Just email us [email protected] with the

subject: Mobile Query suggestion

and if chosen we will credit you for

it.

Praveen Babu T of Hewitt Associates nominated his friends for the column.The photograph was clicked at Aguda Fort in Goa.

Yuva Kishore Karamala of Infosys, Mahindra City, nominates his team forPartners in Crime

Dhana Balan From HCL Technologies, nominates his team members aspartners in crime. The photo was clicked at Kodaikanal.


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ERGO Monday, December 15, 2008TRAFFIC JAM14

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KAKURO

Dead wrongRomanian Gheroghe Stirbu has won ayear-long fight to prove hes still alive.The man tried to renew his identitycard but was told by officials he hadbeen registered as officially dead.

So you think you would make a terrific photographer but never really had theplatform? Mail us your best work and well publish it in this space, with credit.E-mail: [email protected]

G.Shanmugasundaram ofTCS clicked thisphotograph inScotland withhis Sonycamera.Hobbies:

Watching TV,reading books


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B.C

BORN LOSER

FREE RANGE WORKING IT OUT

PREVIOUS

ISSUES

SOLUTIONS

ARIES MARCH 21 - APRIL 20

TAURUS APRIL 21 - MAY 20

GEMINI MAY 21 - JUNE 20

CANCER JUNE 21 - JULY 20

LEO JULY 21 - AUG 20

VIRGO AUG 21 - SEPT 20

LIBRA SEPT 21 - OCT 20

SCORPIO OCT 21 - NOV 20

SAGITTARIUS NOV 21 - DEC 20

CAPRICORN DEC 21 - JAN 20

AQUARIUS JAN 21 - FEB 20

PISCES FEB 21 - MARCH 20

Predictions by Bhavesh N. Pa

You might have to focus a lot on pending work take care of social engagements. Ganesha thinksyou will have to do a lot of communication todaYour work efficiency might turn some eyes greenLove life might remain uneventful.

You might have to agree on everything yoursuperiors say. Ganesha thinks you might have totake a back seat at work, but this is a temporarphase. Unmarried couples may start planning forsome events like engagement or marriage.

Ganesha does not find this day to be very

favourable for you. Try not to confront anyone ayour office today or else you might not be able prove your point. You might lose your temper onyour beloved for no strong reason.

Ganesha thinks you may lack support at work pThere may be some events where you will have prove your worth. Stress at workplace will surelyreflect on your personal life. Ganesha feels you whave a wonderful evening with family and friend

It is the right time to look for better opportunitieGanesha feels you have a lot of potential which be used correctly if you consider a field change.There will be a lot of support from family. In lovlife, it is best to let things be as they are.

There has been an eternal fight between career romantic life. Ganesha feels you may have to go

through something of the same sort. Do nothesitate to take the help of friends or family.Ganesha advises you to think of a lot of options

A brilliant day at work today. All the officialcommunications will happen smoothly. If you areleading a team, everyone under you will appreciayour work today. On the domestic front, it is agood time for a family dinner or a get together.

Ganesha feels that your domestic life will requirespecial attention today. Nevertheless, your practiand logical abilities will help you balance office awork simultaneously. However, do not enter intoany kind of arguments with your superiors.

The best way to achieve success is to stay calm.Ganesha feels there may be some problems on tdomestic front; work place will be smooth enoug

There are chances of appraisals happening verysoon. Be ready for happy events.

Hold on to your seat as there may be some evewhich take you completely by surprise. Ganeshafeels this is a good day to introspect and observyour behaviour with family and spouse. On therelationship front, you need to work on your bon

You are in a mood to talk a lot today. Hence yomight feel like giving suggestions to everyonearound you. However Ganesha wants you to becareful with your words as everyone might not bable to welcome suggestions.

If you assess things in advance, you will find easin dealing with them. Overall, Ganesha finds yoube very decisive. Try to be very practical when yoare handling issues related to your love life.However do not ignore your love life.

Words worth"Sachentege" (satch-un-tej) a torture device describe inthe Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as "fastened to a beam,having a sharp iron to go round the throat and neck, sothat the person tortured could in no wise sit, lie, orsleep, but that he must at all times bear all the iron."

Brain damageA Chinese schoolboy has had a lucky escape afterhe was shot in the eye with an arrow - by his pal.The arrow was only stopped by the back of the11-year-olds skull. He survived because it narrowlymissed his brain.


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