Hyderabad’s first compact afternoon newspaper

`2WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2011 HYDERABAD WWW.POSTNOON.COM WEATHER: A MIX OF CLEAR AND CLOUDY SKIES; 20°C 32 PAGES

The Rupee tanked 52 paise to a record low of `53.75per US dollar in early trading on Wednesday, a day afterbreaching the `53 per dollar-mark. Inflation in Novemberdropped to 9.11 per cent from 9.73 per cent in October. TheRBI will review the policy rates on Friday.

Luc Besson‑Angelina

JolieTIE UP WITHUNIVERSAL

P26

It was a night of auctions in New York on Tuesday. The founding paperssetting up Apple Computers sold for just under $1.6 million,10 times the maximum amount that had been expected by Sotheby's

auctioneers. In another auction extravaganza, a huge pearl once worn byEuropean royalty and last owned by Elizabeth Taylor sold for a record $11.84million. Suspended from a Cartier necklace, the pearl had been estimated tosell by Christie's for $2-3 million but the figure shot up in fierce bidding.

Going... going... gone!

Amala Paul

RUPEE HEADSDOWN DOLLARSPIRAL

P11

P27

As it becomesincreasingly difficult

to be ‘obscene’ in thecity, revellers have

taken to partying onthe fringes of the city.

Farmhouses and resortshave become sought-after venues for ‘par-

ties’. But the policehave cottoned on to

this and are clampingdown

DANCINGON THE

FRINGESREPORT ON PG 3

GODʼS OWNCHILD

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2011 2Spirit of Twin CitiesPage Two

A

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Let’s playFloating gardens is a play in English bySamahaara Workshop production anddirected by Devendranath SankaraNarayanan .

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Christmas treatIt's Christmas time,Novotel Hyderabad'sLe Café celebrates thefestive season with agingerbread house.View this marvel aswell as pick upChristmas goodiessuch as ChristmasCookies and moulded chocolate that areavailable on site.

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Myriad ReflectionsView a collectionof paintings atAlankritha ArtGallery byRamachandra BPokale at anexhibition titled "MyriadReflections". Hiswork depicts the youth. Through hispaintings he depicts women as glam-orous, enticing, alluring and charming.

Where: Alankritha, Jubilee HillsWhen: Ongoing, 11am-7pmContact: (040) 23113709

Life in the darkAn innovative format to experience andunderstand the daily life of the visuallychallenged. Get a tour in complete dark-ness with visually impaired guides asthey lead you through situations such ascrossing the road and shopping at asupermarket.

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A night of ghazals and food Enjoy live ghazal’s along with authenticIndian dishes at Novotel Shamshabad’sIndian speciality restaurant Haldi.

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4play at 4Hard Rock Café’s Happy Hour “4Play at4” is on from Monday – Friday between4:00-7:00pm.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY RANA

Inkeshaf Ahmedahmed.m@postnoon.com

Hyderabad: Selection ofthe new Mayor for theCity is likely to get

delayed. In all probability, thebosses of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehaadul Muslimeen (AIMIM)will finalise the name of the firstcitizen only after the Parliamentsessions are over.

As part of the pact with theMIM, the Congress ensured thatits candidate B Karthika Reddywould be the Mayor for the firsttwo years, after which MIM’scandidate would take charge forthe remaining three years.

The process of transfer ofreins, which was to happen soonafter the resignation of KarthikaReddy, is getting delayed byanother five days due to the

ongoing Parliament session. TheCity, hence, is not likely to have aMayor for at least a month. Theformalities involved in the pro-cess could take that much time.The first step in the processinvolves convening of theGeneral Body Meeting (GBM) toapprove the resignation ofKarthika Reddy. The second stepis the acceptance of the resigna-tion by the GBM.

After this process, the GHMCcommissioner will send arequest to the State governmentappealing it to issue an electionnotification. This process willtake at least a week's time. Oncethe State government approvesthe notification and clears thedeck for the issuance of a freshelection notification, theHyderabad district collector willtake charge as the presiding offi-

cer and issue a notification. As per this notification, the

election of the Mayor will beconducted by convening anoth-

er GBM. The deputy Mayor ofthe corporation will also benamed in this meeting.

This entire process requires8–10 working days. This meansthat the whole process willcomplete in a month's time orso. GHMC Secretary MSSSomaraju has also confirmedthat in the present circum-stances, it would take about amonth's time to complete theMayor election process.

MIM party leader andDeputy Mayor Jaffer Hussaintold Postnoon that their termwould start from the day theyassume charge and would lastas per the agreement reachedbetween the Congress and

MIM parties. The GBM toapprove the resignation of theMayor is scheduled to be held onDecember 17.

New Mayor in New YearThe Cyberabad police today

(Wednesday) arrested a 45-year-old man for allegedlyattempting to kill his wife whileshe was asleep at their residence inRajendranagar. The woman, whoescaped the attack, approachedthe police for help.

T Yadiah, a labourer fromKismatpur and the victim Sabita,40, married for 15, have two chil-dren. "Around 1am today, Yadiahwent to his home in an inebriatedcondition. The door was left openfor him and his wife and childrenwere asleep. He tried to smotherhis wife, but their elder daughter,Swetha woke up to the commo-tion and screamed out for help,"said police Inspector S Jayaram. Acase under Sections 307 and 498Aof IPC is registeredagainst Yadiah.

Attempt to killwife leads toman’s arrest

round the city: Your guide to the Twin Cities

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2011 3Campaigns, hard news and spirit of Twin CitiesHyper Local

City borderson obscenity

D Sree Charansreecharan@postnoon.com

Behind the curtain of serenity inresorts that dot the City outskirtsare now hidden many a sin. Farmhouses and resorts, once known

as weekend retreat for the high andmighty to spend a few peaceful hoursaway from the hustle-bustle of the citylife are gradually turning into virtualbrothels and clubs for cabaret dancers.

If the recent police raids are anyindication, city youth and high profilebusinessmen are indulging in sex. Somestar hotels too are in the race, as theyhave now become the new addressedfor the bar dancers. The police have nowdecided to conduct special drives tocurb such illegal activities for theupcoming New Year.

The Cyberabad police on Tuesdayarrested 11 women for obscene dancingat a birthday party that was held at aguest house in Party World Resort inPaswamma village. On November 12, theMedchal police raided a restaurant andarrested 31 customers and rescued 19girls who were roped in to attract cus-tomers with seductive “obscene danceand act” and recovered `1.92 lakh, 49 cellphones, two cases of beer bottles and aDJ system. The Cyberabad police arrest-ed 19 customers and two hotel staff ofGreen Valley on Rajiv Rahadari road onSeptember 5 for organising obscenedancing and serving liquor withoutobtaining permission and rescued six

girls. The police also recovered `3.35lakh, 32 cell phones, 19 beer bottles anda DJ system. All the incidents took placein the city outskirts and within less thanthree months of time.

Senior police officials say that as theHyderabad police has increased theirvigil, the party animals to avoid frombeing caught has now shifted their baseto the city outskirts. Farm houses, resortsand star hotels act as perfect cover forsuch activities as the police don’t paymuch attention.

The organisers are roping in girlsfrom Karnataka, Mumbai, Rajasthan andMizoram by paying them huge amountsranging from `30,000 to `40,000 for 15days. These organisers get their moneyback after organising just two events,such is the demand and the moneyinvolved in this business.

The police have not got a clue aboutvarious illegal activities being organisedon the outskirts and have increased theirvigil. “Based on tip-offs, we used to sendin a decoy and arrest the organisers andthe obscene dancers. However, we gotcredible information that various orga-nizers are planning to organise suchevents/parties for the New Year. We arenow planning to conduct special drivesat random places and time. The organis-ers are arrested for forcing the girls toattract customers with seductive‘obscene dance and act’ and bookedunder Section 294 (obscene acts) of IPC,”said Cyberabad police Commissioner ofPolice D Tirumala Rao.

COVER STORY

Congress in a dilemmaPostnoon News

The Congress may not force the Speakerfor the disqualification of the 16 MLAsas it is apprehensive of the outcome of

the by-elections. Their defiance has thrownup a challenge to Chief Minister N KiranKumar Reddy directly. Even before SpeakerNadendla Manohar takes a decision on thedisqualification of MLAs, a tussle betweenthe CM and the PCC chief is on over theselection of candidates it is reported. Both ofthem want their own followers to contest.

The political developments since thedeath of YSR have changed the dynamics ofthe politics in the State. Most of time thecongress leaders are adapting wait andwatch game. They are unable to attack theopponents and are always on the defensive.They are unable to take action on the erring

congress MLAs. They want to retain them byhook or crook otherwise they would joinJagan. After lodging a complaint with theSpeaker, the Congress has to wait for theSpeaker to take a decision according to theprocedure and convenience.

It may be recalled that former speakerSuresh Reddy, took more than a year todecide on the fate of the nine TRS MLAs whodefied the TRS whip and voted for theCongress in the Council election. If theCongress insists on the action, the entireprocess might take considerable time as theSpeaker has to ascertain the opinion of theMLAs on individual basis as he did foraccepting the resignations earlier.

The formal complaint made by KondruMurali could be useful for the Congress tomake some of the MLAs to take a U turn inthe mean time.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2011 4Hyper Local

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Helpline

Readers’ viewsWe invite you to write to us

comments, suggestions, viewpointor just about anything to

feedback@postnoon.com or #1246, Level 3, Jubilee Casa, Road

No 62, Jubilee Hills,Hyderabad – 500 033

or even by way ofa call on 4067 2222

Sudeshna Kokasudeshna.k@postnoon.com

The Metro Rail Project wasinitiated in Hyderabadwith the view to give theCity a modern public

transport system, rivaling othermetro cities. But the project hasnot won takers from all quarters.Quite a few residents are nothappy with it and they have validreasons to be so.

For constructing the metrorail, areas from many privateproperties have been bought overby the government as these areaslie in the third corridor route. Therail line will be constructed in themiddle of the road and manyshops and properties will beeither broken down or lose somearea to make way for road widen-ing. This has left many shopkeep-ers very angry. “There is an ulteri-or motive behind the constructionof the metro line in the ThirdCorridor. There is definitely abusiness strategy planned when

they chose this route. Metro RailProject is a joint venture betweenthe government and L&T. GHMChas marked only 20m on themunicipal market which is a gov-ernment property and 6ft from abig showroom. Our property hasbeen marked off to the L&T freeoff cost. Their eventual plan is todestroy the existing market andconstruct their own malls on ourland”, laments Shankarspokesperson of GAMYS(Greenlands, Ameerpet andMadhuranagar, Yousufguda andSri Krishnagar) JAC.

Starting from tomorrow theGHMC will demolish buildings inMusheerabad, Chikkadpally, andNarayanaguda for road widening.Traders from these areas havebeen losing sleep over thesedemolition plans. “We have thestay order issued by the high courtwhich does not permit any pro-ject-related work to start here.This is nothing but contempt ofcourt,” said M Saianna, president,Anti-Metro Rail Project JAC. The

traders have appointed a lawyerand are in the last leg of winningthe case.

“We are not against the MetroRail project, but unless the gov-ernment deicides on another railroute we will lose our livelihoodand homes,” says Dayanandh,resident of Sri Krishna Nagarmain road houses owners associ-ation.

Several years back, small andmedium businessmen from theCity had come to Krishna Nagarand set up homes and shops here.The new land acquisition by theHyderabad metro rail project isaffecting senior citizens the mostbecause their only source ofincome is from these shops. “Ihave shops on the ground floorand two flats but with this roadwidening 16 feet of my propertywill be gone. My business will suf-fer terribly and at this age there isnothing I can do,” lamentsShamshi Ali, a resident.

M Vittal echoes, “after twogenerations of hardwork we havecreated a great business here, butwith this demolishing our busi-ness will incur a setback. We arenot against the metro, we wantthem to make an undergroundroute.”

However the Metro RailDepartment has a complete dif-ferent take on this issue. NVSReddy, managing director ofHMRL says “after a thorough tech-nical examination we have decid-ed on these routes in 2003. Thereis no scope for an undergroundplan. An underground route isexpensive and not technicallypossible in our City. And mostimportantly, underground routerequires demolishment of manyplots and historical structures.Hence we have decided to go foran elevated route and this will notbe change at any cost.”

Hyderabad Metro Rail andGHMC officials will begin thedemolition drive along the MetroRail third Corridor early next year.

Conspiracy theoriesdog Metro Rail

Power cuts spellmixed fortunesInkeshaf AhmedAhmed.m@postnoon.com

Frequent power cuts in theState for the last threemonths have been

impacting generator andinverter manufacturers anddealers, but in diverse ways.Dealers and manufacturers ofgenerator registered neitherprofit nor increase in sales,but those of inverters havebenefitted.

Apparently, the hike indiesel prices, and the slump inthe realty sector caused by theTelangana agitation are the rea-sons behind the decrease ofgenerator sales. “Earlier, farm-ers would use gensets, as dieselprice was lower than that ofstate supply. But the rising priceof diesel has discouraged farm-ers from using generators,”CVN Sudhakar, managingdirector of Sri SaradambaEngineers Private Limited toldPostnoon. He said while thecost of producing 1 unit of elec-tricity using diesel is `10, thecost of a unit of state supply isjust `4 per unit now.

Sudhakar also explainedhow the T-agitation has affectedsales of generators. “Before the

T-agitation realty sector inHyderabad had been witness-ing an immense boom. But,when it began, real estate sectorplunged causing a dip in gener-ator sales,” he said.

Rental Business FlourishesSales of generators may havedipped in the last three months,but the usage of generators onrents has risen. Public and pri-vate banks, hospitals, educa-tional institutions prefer to rentgenerators on a monthly oryearly basis than buy them asthey find it economical. “A gen-erator of 62.5 KV capacity gen-erally costs `5 lakh, which is tooexpensive for commercialestablishments. When it comesto renting it monthly, they haveto spend `8000 to `10,000 permonth.

Inverter sales jumpPeople in the inverter businesssay sales have gone up by about15 per cent over the last threemonths. Many from all walks oflife, especially netizens andsoftware engineers, boughtinverters to counter power cuts.Venkat, owner of Verma SalesEnterprises, said the power cutshas increased sales by 20%.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2011 5Campaigns, hard news and spirit of Twin CitiesHyper Local

CM triumphs over adversityU Srinivas

Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddytoday said that the government isyet to recover from the damagecreated by recent General Strike.

Addressing the first collectors meetingafter coming to power, Kiran Kumar Reddywanted the collectors to become morealert and monitor the power situationfrom time to time. He wanted the collec-tors to look into the literacy, housing andwomen empowerment areas.

He noted that the collectors have beenneglecting the farmers and urged themlook into the plight of the farming commu-nity and reduce their hardships.

He wanted the collectors to make sur-prise checks from time to time to ensurethe quality of Re 1 rice doesn't drop.

He felt if the collectors would havebeen alert microfinance issues could havebeen averted.

He said welfare and development mustgo hand in hand and without the activeparticipation of the collectors in the dis-tricts it is not possible. He spoke aboutMee Seva programme aiming at trans-parency in the administration and bring-ing it to the door step of the poor people.Kiran Kumar Reddy was the epitome ofconfidence and perhaps gave his bestspeech today.

Kiran Kumar Reddy might bethe youngest chief minister of

the state but he is proving hismettle by turning adversaries intoadvantages and forging ahead fordevelopment of the state saidRevenue Minister RaguveeraReddy. He was addressing the firstcollectors meet of the KiranKumar Reddy government in the

Jubilee Hall today.He praised the chief Minister

for his clean image and his striveto clean the Government fromtime to time. Raguveera Reddystates that out of all the collectorsonly 3-4 are old and the meetinghas been planned under specialconditions which the collectorsare aware of.

Collectors are part of a sys-tem and should not operate asindividuals, he says. He wantedthe collectors to work in tandemwith the Government and hestressed on the need for increas-ing literacy and birth control.

He also said that the SPswould be joining the collectors inthe meeting on Thursday.

CM turns hurdles to his advantage

These are rough timesin the state said ChiefSecretary Pankaj

Dwivedi, while address-ing the collectors meet dur-ing his first conference asthe chief Secretary,

He advised collectors tolessen the burden on the

farming community andstand by them during thishour of crisis. He men-tioned the Mee Seva pro-gramme which aims attransparency for peoplebelow the poverty line.While some ministers werelate for the meeting,Minister for Informationand Public Relations, Aryancame around 10 am for themeeting. The Chief minsterwas on time. While collec-tors were expected to carrylaptops, very few of themwere seen carrying them.

Help for thefarmingcommunity

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2011 6Campaigns, hard news and spirit of Twin CitiesHyper Local

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One footstep,a giant leapfor mankindAishwarya Yerra

HYDERABAD: As children wehave taken the national pledge,swearing allegiance to the countryand asserting that we are proud of it.Year 2011 saw country’s harsh truthsstripped bare. One can’t help butwonder if the people really feel proudabout being part of the system.Honest Footsteps wants to make adifference and restore the prideIndians had for themselves and theircountry.

Corruption is undoubtedly adeep-rooted evil, a poison that sapsaway the well-being of a country. Ithas its roots so firmly entwined in thesystem that it’s hard to pry it loose,said Rohit Lingineni of Honest Foo -tsteps. Hence, Honest Footsteps hastaken an old but courageous route totackle the problem of corruption thathas been plaguing India. They havedecided not to indulge in the blamegame, but, instead, start addressingthe issue at the individual level.

We want people to tackle the cor-ruption that stems from within. Bycorruption we do not mean multi-crore bribes but simple things such as

online piracy, dowry, ragging and driv-ing under influence. We want toaddress these basic problems and inturn make the collective impact felt,said Mujeeb Abdul Khan of Footsteps.

And Footsteps members say thelogical culmination to this would beto have a Zero Corruption Day (ZCD).They know It is not possible to eradi-cate the entire corruption in one daybut having an ZCD would be slow butsure start in that direction. India is acountry where the voice of the youthrings strongest. Not just by sheernumber but also through their com-mand over social media, youthspower to communicate is more.

And Footsteps is aiming at thisgeneration, that has a supple mindand the energy to give India the boostto break free of corruption. Throwingits arms open to the young and thebright they want to make sure theirvoice is heard without raising asound.

Footsteps is looking to make ZCDa reality by adopting a padyatra. Awalk that starts on December 18 atthe Vivekananda Rock beach atKanyakumari will end in Delhi.

Footsteps said they have no rea-

son to shout slogans or get violent orgrab eyeballs through cheap tricks.They are confident that quiet resolveand the strength of mind will guidethem through challenges and hur-dles.

A corruption-free India is all theywant and they don’t mind having alittle fun on the way. After all workand no play makes Jack a dull boy.So let us Indians help spread theword and join them on this wonder-ful journey to bring back the Indiaour forefathers wanted us to haveand now we shall dedicate it to ourchildren.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2011 7India unveiledIndia‑View

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Kerala University cancelsPhD registration ofAchuthanandan's sonThiruvananthapuram:

The Kerala University has decidedto cancel the PhD registration ofVA Arun Kumar, son of formerchief minister VS Achuthanandan,an official said on Tuesday.

The university syndicate meet-ing held here on Tuesday acceptedthe report of its sub-committeecancelling the PhD registration ofArun Kumar.

The sub-committee, whichlooked into the registration papersof Kumar following a directionfrom the Kerala High Court, foundthat he did not have the mandato-ry qualifications to apply for aPhD. Varghese Perayil, a memberof the syndicate sub-committee,said Kumar did not meet therequirement for a PhD registra-tion. "Three years back he man-aged to get the registration, but

following media reports that hedid not meet the eligibility, thethen syndicate cancelled the regis-tration. Kumar approached theHigh Court which asked the pre-sent syndicate to re-examine thecase," said Perayil.

He added that the mandatoryrequirements for a PhD registra-tion is the applicant should haveeither seven years teaching experi-ence or should have cleared thenational eligibility test.

"We found out that he has nei-ther of the two and we decided tocancel his PhD registration in Bio-informatics. It was a unanimousdecision to cancel his registra-tion," added Perayil. The KeralaAssembly has also appointed anine-member committee to probewhether rules were flouted when,during the tenure of Achuth -anandan as CM, Kumar wasappointed as director of a state-run IT institute early this year.

GHAZIABAD: RJD chief LaluPrasad Yadav's daughter Raginigot engaged with Samajwadi Partyleader Jitendra Yadav's son at a lowkey ceremony in New Delhi.

The ceremony was attendedby close family members of LaluYadav, including his wife and for-mer Bihar chief minister RabriDevi, three daughters and a son,the groom's father Jitendra Yadav,who is the SP's Uttar Pradesh sec-retary, said.

The simple function, held inthe national capital, was kept outof bounds for the media, he said.

The SP leader's 26-year-oldson has pursued a course in HotelManagement along with an MBAfrom Switzerland, while RJDchief's fourth daughter is a B Techdegree holder. PTI

Prime MinisterManmohanSingh paystribute to themartyrs of the2001 Parliamentattacks in NewDelhi onTuesday. PTI

REMEMBERING OUR FALLEN HEROES

CANNING (WB): At leastseven persons died and severalothers were taken ill today afterdrinking toxic illicit liquor atMograhat in South 24-Parganasdistrict.

The police said the sevendied early this morning, hoursafter drinking the toxic brew at aliquor joint at Sangrampur vil-lage.

They died after suffering

from severe stomach ache,vomiting and loose motion.Five others have been admittedto Diamond Harbour hospital.Angry locals smashed the liquordens this morning. PTI

Seven die after drinking illicit liquor

Lalu daughterengaged toSP leader son

Court rejectsBangaru pleain graft caseNEW DELHI: TheDelhi High CourtTuesday dismissedformer BJP presi-dent BangaruLaxman's pleaseeking direction tothe CBI to re-arrestan approver in agraft case againsthim.

Justice Mukta Gupta dismissed the plea tore-arrest T Satyamurthy, a co-accused whowas granted pardon by the trial court after heturned an approver in the case. The formerBJP president sought the re-arrest ofSatyamurthy, saying that legal provisionsrequired an approver to remain in jail till theconclusion of the trial.

Laxman sought the quashing of the FIRlodged by the CBI, after he was caught oncamera taking money from an undercoverjournalists, posing as arms dealers, for recom-mending to the defence ministry the purchaseof their wares for the army.

The video CDs of the sting operation werereleased on May 13, 2001 by the journalists.

Laxman approached the HC challengingthe CBI special court's order dismissing hisplea for the arrest of Satyamurthy.

Counsel for Laxman submitted that as perthe law, Satyamurthy should be taken intocustody as the trial against him had com-menced in the corruption case and 15 wit-nesses had been examined. IANS

Varsity withdrawsnod for Kerala ex-CM son’s PhD

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2011 8India unveiled India‑View

NEW DELHI: Pushed into acorner by an aggressiveOpposition and the loomingthreat of Anna Hazare, the gov-ernment on Tuesday cleared aslew of anti-graft Bills to tacklecorruption at high places,including in the judiciary, andarrived at a “broad consensus”on the Lokpal Bill with its allies.

The Cabinet, at a meetingchaired by Prime MinisterManmohan Singh, approved theJudicial Standards andAccountability Bill, theGrievances Redressal Bill andthe Whistleblowers’ ProtectionBill, a slew of anti-corruptionlegislations expected to helpblunt criticism from the

Opposition and Team Annaabout the government’s resolveto fight graft.

The three Bills were clearedeven as Hazare has demandedthat grievance redress should bepart of the Lokpal Bill and thejudiciary should also be broughtin the ambit of the anti-graftombudsman.

The Cabinet decision cameon a day when Uttar PradeshChief Minister Mayawati refusedto back the government on theLokpal Bill in its current form.

Keen on building wide polit-ical consensus on the LokpalBill, with the Opposition joininghands with Hazare to opposesome recommendations of thestanding committee, the govern-ment also tried to bring its allieson board so the UPA presents aunited approach at the all-partymeeting on the Lokpal today.Manmohan Singh discussed theLokpal issue with the UPA lead-ers to arrive at a “broad consen-sus”.

“There is a broad consensusin the UPA on its approach to theLokpal,” home minister PChidambaram told reportersafter the meeting. He was hope-ful the all-party meeting wouldbe “productive” and “wouldreach conclusions on theamendments to the draft LokpalBill and bring it beforeParliament”.

The Congress core too groupmet earlier in the day.

Team Anna memberPrashant Bhushan, however,termed the three bills as “merewindow-dressing”. “The issue isif government is serious aboutbringing down corruption. Justhaving bills is not enough,”Bhushan said in a discussion ona news channel. “It is obviouslyonly window dressing.”

The 74-year-old Hazare alsoreiterated his threat to resumeprotests from December 27 if astrong Jan Lokpal bill was notpassed in the Winter Session ofParliament. IANS

Centre’s anti-graft volleyto counter Anna fusillade

LUCKNOW: UP Chief MinisterMayawati’s confidant and highprofile multi-portfolio ministerNaseemuddin Siddiqui is nowunder the Lok Ayukta’s scanner —the fifth minister in the State to beprobed for corruption.

“A case has been formally reg-istered against cabinet ministerNaseemuddin Siddiqui followingmultiple complaints againsthim,” Lokayukta, Justice (retd.)NK Mehrotra, said on Tuesday.

“The cases include large-scalemanipulation in official work,blatant nepotism and extendingundue favours to his family mem-bers including illegal allotment ofgovernment land,” he said.

Among the key portfoliosheld by Siddiqui are public works,irrigation, housing, health andindustries. The minister hailsfrom Banda, one of the mostbackward districts in the State.

Maya mantriunder scanfor graft

Shanti BhushanCD row: Courtpulls up policeNEW DELHI: A court here onTuesday pulled up the Delhi Policefor not recording the statements ofSamajwadi Party chief MulayamSingh Yadav and Rajya Sabhamember Amar Singh to verify thecontents of a controversial CDpurportedly containing their con-versation with lawyer and TeamAnna member Shanti Bhushan.

During the conversation,Shanti Bhushan allegedlypromised Mulayam Singh that ajudge could be influenced for aprice and suggested that his sonand lawyer Prashant Bhushanwould facilitate this.

IAF personnel inspect the debris of a Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft that crashed soon after taking off from Lohegaon airbase nearPune on Tuesday. Both the pilots managed to bail out safely. PTI

NARROW ESCAPE

NEW DELHI: Already battlingOpposition attacks over the pricerise and its handling of corruptionscandals, the Congress-led govern-ment has been buffeted by some ofits own allies on key policy deci-sions including foreign equity inmulti-brand retail and the foodsecurity bill.

While Trinamool Congress chiefand West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee’s firm oppositionforced the government to suspend

its decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retail, agriculture ministerSharad Pawar on Tuesday expressedapprehensions over the mountingsubsidy related to the Food SecurityBill, leading the Cabinet to defer adecision on the Bill.

Official sources said Pawar haswritten to the food ministryexpressing concern that the subsidymay go up to `1.2 lakh crore oncethe right to food in enacted. Thefood security bill has been in the

works for almost 18 months andthere is apprehension amongCongress leaders that a delay inbringing the ambitious legislationwill lead to criticism about theparty not being sincere in fulfullingthe promises made in its electionmanifesto.

With Banerjee opposed toopening multi-brand retail to for-eign equity, Congress leaders saythere is no timeline for the govern-ment reviving the decision.

Congress faces opposition from allies

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2011 9Around the World Beyond Borders

GLOBE AT A GLANCEMICROSOFT CO-FOUNDERUNVEILS SPACE TRAVEL PLANSWASHINGTON: A giant airplane that canin mid-flight launch a rocket carrying cargoand humans into orbit is the future of spacetravel, billionaire philanthropist and Microsoftco-founder Paul Allen said on Tuesday. The firsttest flight of the ambitious venture by Allen’snew company Stratolaunch Systems is notscheduled until 2015, but partners in the pro-ject vowed it would revolutionize orbital trav-el in the post-space shuttle era.

RUSSIAN JOURNALISTS FIREDFOR ANTI-PUTIN PHOTOS MOSCOW: The chief executive officer andthe editor-in-chief of Russia’s KommersantVlast magazine have been fired for publishingphotos with offensive remarks targeting PrimeMinister Vladimir Putin. CEO Andrey Galievand editor-in-chief Maxim Kovalsky were firedby the magazine’s owner, Russian tycoonAlisher Usmanov.

CHINA TELLS US TO STOPINTERFERING IN ITS AFFAIRSBEIJING: China Tuesday told the US to stopinterfering in its internal affairs under the pre-text of human rights issues. China is willing toengage in dialogues with the US on humanrights issues based on issues such as equalityand mutual respect, spokesperson for the for-eign ministry Liu Weimin said. “But we arefirmly against the US interfering in our inter-nal affairs under the pretext of human rightsissues.” he added.

IRAN TO HOLD WAR GAMESTEHRAN: Iran will hold naval war games inthe Strait of Hormuz, Xinhua reported onTuesday. It is to test Iran’s ability to close thestrait in the near future, said member ofMajlis, Parviz Sorouri. The Strait of Hormuz isone of the most important passage for oilshipments from the Persian Gulf region. TheMiddle East supplies 70 percent of the world’senergy needs, most of which are transportedthrough Hormuz.

Palestinian and UN flags are pictured atthe Unesco Headquarters AFP

The 14th king of Malaysia, Sultan AbdulHalim Mu’adzam Shah , during the kingswelcoming ceremony AFP

Fresh questions about the extent ofJames Murdoch’s knowledge of thephone-hacking scandal were raisedon Tuesday when it emerged he

received an email that included a briefingindicating that the activity had not beenconfined to a single ‘rogue reporter’.

News International’s executive chair-man wrote to MPs to say he had not proper-ly read the June 7 2008 mail from News of theWorld editor Colin Myler which forwardedan account of the case being broughtagainst the paper by the ProfessionalFootballers’ Association boss GordonTaylor.

The email chain appears to contradictMurdoch’s insistence that he was notbriefed in detail on the case which was latersettled for more than £700,000.

The forwarded note from the paper’slegal manager Tom Crone warned of a‘nightmare scenario’ because Taylor hadobtained firm evidence of the hacking ofone of his colleague’s phones whichinvolved at least one other News of the Worldjournalist.

Myler’s email also contained a secondwarning, from another lawyer retained bythe News of the World, which added thatTaylor’s legal team wanted to demonstratethat phone hacking was rife throughoutNews International, the British parent com-pany of the red top title.

Murdoch replied to the revealing emailwithin three minutes of it being sent to himbut insisted on the day the email chain wasmade public by the culture and media com-mittee for the first time that he had onlyread the top of the email, not the emailchain below.

Murdoch said: “I am confident that I didnot review the full email chain at the time orafterwards,” in part because Myler’s notehad been sent to him at the weekend.

Crone’s forwarded note places pressureon Murdoch’s account of his handling of thehacking affair because it refers to the emailwhich became known as the “For Neville”

mail, a key piece of evidence that showedhacking extended beyond a single roguereporter.

Murdoch has always insisted he was nottold about the existence of the “For Neville”email.

Crone and Myler have repeatedly toldMPs that they briefed Murdoch about theemail in reference to the reporter who hadtranscribed hacked voicemails allegedlyintended for the paper’s chief reporterNeville Thurlbeck.

Three days after Myler sent the note thatMurdoch says he did not read in full, theNews Corp boss met the editor and Croneon 10 June 2008 to agree to settle the case insecret. News Corp, however, continued tomaintain publicly that hacking was con-fined to a single rogue reporter until the endof 2010.

That rogue reporter was Clive Goodmanwho was jailed in 2007, for his part in hack-ing into phones belonging to officials work-ing for Prince William and Prince Harry.

Myler and Crone have repeatedly dis-puted Murdoch’s account, saying the “ForNeville” email was the sole reason for set-tling the case.

The Murdoch disclosure came on thesame day that Crone told the Levesoninquiry into press standards that he hadalways suspected phone hacking at thepaper went beyond a single journalist.

James Murdoch admits he did not reademail indicating phone hacking REUTERS

A lone gunman has broughtbloodshed and mayhem to

the eastern Belgian city of Liège,killing three people in a frenziedattack during which he lobbedhand grenades and fired anassault rifle into crowds of shop-pers and commuters.

The man, named as 33-year-old Nordine Amrani, died aftergoing on the rampage in PlaceSaint-Lambert, near the city’s busstation, court and Christmasmarket. Two boys aged 15 and 17were killed on the spot, while a75-year-old woman died of herinjuries later. A two-year-oldchild was reported to be in a crit-ical condition in hospital, and atleast 75 people were injured.

Police said it was not clearwhether Amrani, who had servedtime in jail for offences involvingguns and drugs, had killed him-self or died accidentally.

He had been due to appearfor police questioning this after-noon.

The prosecutor of Liège,Danièle Reynders, said he hadbrought the weapons in a ruck-sack from his home and walkedalone to the square in the city

centre.The attack began shortly after

12.30pm Belgian time, whenAmrani is believed to havethrown three hand grenades intoa bus shelter before opening firewith a revolver and a rifle.

The blasts and gunfire spreadchaos across the city centre asshoppers ran to safety and policeurged those in the area to stayinside while explosives expertssearched the area for unexplodedgrenades.

Ambulances and police at thePlace Saint-Lambert AFP

US drone is now Iran’sproperty: Minister

TEHRAN: Iran on Tuesday dismissed a request from theUS to return a spy drone that crashed in the country, say-ing that the aircraft was now the ‘property of the Islamicrepublic’ and that it would decide what to do in thisregard.Iran announced on December 4 that it haddowned an RQ-170 Sentinel drone of the US in the Tabasdesert in the eastern region. Tehran claimed it hackedinto the operating system of the unmanned aircraft caus-ing it to crash.

“The US spy drone is the property of the IslamicRepublic and our country decides what to do in thisregard,” Defence Minister Brigadier General AhmadVahidi was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

US officials have denied that the aircraft was broughtdown by Iran. They said that the drone, used for surveil-lance in Afghanistan, crashed due to mechanical prob-lems.Vahidi said the US should apologise for invadingIranian air space rather than asking for the return of thedrone, the Mehr news agency reported.

The defence minister’s remarks came after USPresident Obama announced that a formal request forthe return of the drone would be made to Iran.

Lone gunman in Liègecreates havoc, kills three

Murdoch: Did not readphone-hacking e-mail

OSLO: One hundred years agoNor wegian explorer Roald Am -undsen won the race to the So -uth Pole in a dramatic and ul -timately fatal duel with Britishadventurer Robert Scott thatcaptured the world’s attention.

On December 14, 1911, notlong before the outbreak ofWorld War I as nationalism wason the rise in Europe, Amunds -en and the four members of histeam were the first to plant theNorwegian flag at the southern-most tip of the globe.

His victory over theEnglish naval officer is the

monumental tale of a prag-matic and wily Scandinavianover the courageous but obdu-rate gentleman.

With the rest of the worldalready largely discovered, thetwo explorers each dreamed ofconquering “their” pole. Whilethe Norwegian was eyeingthe North Pole, theEnglishman had his eyes seton the South Pole.

“I cannot say though Iknow it would sound muchmore effective that the objectof my life was attained,”Amundsen later wrote.

“That would be romancingrather too bare-facedly. I hadbetter be honest and admitstraight out that I have neverknown any man to be placedin such a diametrically oppo-site position to the goal of hisdesires.

In 1926, Amundsen made itto the North Pole .

Amundsen died two yearslater while on a mission to res-cue an Italian explorer .

Scott’s body, and those ofhis two team members, werefound in their tent, inNovember 1912. AFP

Norwegian PrimeMinister JensStoltenberg will join

dozens of adventurers at theSouth Pole to mark the 100thanniversary of countrymanRoald Amun dsen’s ground-breaking expedition to thefrozen continent.

Often described as “noman’s land”, the pole will bea relative hive of activity forWednesday’s anniversary.

Stoltenberg will travel byplane to the region unlikeAmundsen who made the trekon skis ,making him only thesecond head of government tovisit the South Pole after NewZealand’s Prime Minister HelenClark made the trip in 2007.

Stoltenberg is scheduledto welcome Norwegianadventurers attempting toreach the pole on the anniver-sary, some of whom areretracing the route taken bythe heroic explorer.

British visitors are alsoexpected to visit To payhomage to Robert Scott. AFP

Visitorscrowd South Polefor anniversaryof conquest

Tragic heroScott

remembered CAMBRIDGE: A new

exhibition to mark a cen-tury since the epic strug-

gle of Robert Scott and hismen to conquer the South

Pole lays bare the sufferingand desperation of the

beaten explorers.Letters, diaries and

photographs from theTerra Nova expedition are

on show in Britain to markthe centenary of Captain

Scott’s tragic journey,many for the first time.

Together again, theaccounts of their race to

the end of the Earth tell amoving tale of hope, dis-covery, defeat, adversity

and finally the inevitabilityof death.

Scott’s five-man teamreached the Pole on

January 17, 1912 — only tofind Norwegian explorer

Roald Amundsen hadbeaten them to it more

than a month earlier, onDecember 14, 1911.Crushed, the British

team began the long andhellish trudge back to

their coastal base.Two men died along

the way. The remainingthree — Scott, Lietuenant

Henry Bowers and chiefscientist Edward Wilson

died in their tent, trappedinside for days by a freak

blizzard.“Had we lived, I should

have had a tale to tell ofthe hardihood, endurance

and courage of my com-panions which would have

stirred the heart of everyEnglishman,” Scott wrote

in his diary.“These rough notes

and our dead bodies musttell the tale.”

His final entry onMarch 29 was: “It seems a

pity but I do not think Ican write more.”

Their tent was foundin November 1912. An

exhibition , “These roughnotes: Captain Scott’s lastexpedition” is on till May.

AFP

File image ofNorwegianexplorer RoaldAmundsen inhis study inNorway in theyear 1910 AFP

A file photo ofDecember 16,1911 withAmundsen andhis companionsat the SouthPole AFP

Robert Scott

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 201110Insight Behind the news

Antarctica hasno native popu-lation or perma-nent residents,but there are anumber ofresearchers andexplorers whostay for extend-ed periods.

It almostnever getsabove 0° C inAntarcticaand the high-est recordedtemperatureat the SouthPole is 7° F -13.8° C.

The world’slowest tem-perature of -128 degreesF wasrecorded atthe RussiaVostokStation inAntarctica.

The South Pole hasa desert climate,almost neverreceiving any pre-cipitation. Airhumidity is nearzero. However, highwinds can causethe blowing ofsnowfall, and theaccumulation ofsnow amounts toabout 20 cm peryear.

During the SouthPole Winter (lateMarch to lateSeptember) it isdark all the time

100 YEARS OFEXPLORATION

Norwegian PM Jens Stoltenberg posing at the South PoleAFP / NORWEGIAN PRIME MINISTER OFFICE / HO

Antarctica is thecoldest, windiest,and driest placeon earth.

100 years ago on December 14 Anderson a feat consid-ered impossible was accomplished. Roald Amundsenbecame the first man to reach the South Pole

Postnoon News &Agencies

MUMBAI: The Indian rupeedipped 52 paise to a record lowof ` 53.75 per US dollar in earlytrade on Wednesday, a day afterbreaching the ` 53 per dollar-mark, on increased demand forthe American currency frombanks and importers and sus-tained foreign capital outflowsamid an economic slowdown.

Industry expressed fearsowing to policy review by RBI,the low industrial output anddeclining consumer demand.

Dollar gains against the euro

and other currency rivals over-seas amid the lingering eurozone debt crisis put pressure onthe Indian rupee, forex dealerssaid. In addition, continued for-eign capital outflows amid aslowdown of the domestic econ-omy contributed to the weakrupee sentiment, they said.

Furthermore, increaseddemand for the US currencyfrom importers and banks led tothe fall in the rupee value inearly trade, the forex dealersadded. The domestic currencyhad depreciated by 39 paise toclose at ` 53.23/24 per dollar in

the previoussession afterwitnessing an

all-time low of ` 53.51 as the dol-lar strengthened in marketsworldwide.

The BSE benchmark Sensexdeclined by over 65 points inopening trade on Wednesday onfresh selling triggered by a weak-ening trend on other Asianbourses following an overnightfall on Wall Street as Europeandebt problems continued to bat-ter the investor sentiment.

However, it recovered to pos-

itive and went up by 70 points.The 30-share BSE index,

which gained 132.16 points inthe previous session, declinedby 65.19 points, or 0.41 per cent,to 15,937.32 in opening trade.

In a similar fashion, thewide-based National StockExchange Nifty index shed 22.45points, or 0.46 per cent, to4,778.15. Oil and gas, power,PSU, metal and capital goodsstocks led the fall.

Brokers said fresh selling byfunds in tandem with a weak

trend on other Asian boursesfollowing an overnight fall onWall Street amid the persistingeuro zone debt crisis was mainlyresponsible for the early declineon the bourses.

Meanwhile, in the Asiaregion, Hong Kong’s Hang SengIndex fell by 0.68 per cent andJapan’s Nikkei Index by 0.46 percent in early trade today. TheDow Jones Industrial Average inthe US ended 0.55 per centlower on Wednesday.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 201111Matters of saving and spendingBusiness

Proposing to go public intwo years, KrishnaInstitute of MedicalSciences (KIMS) will be

touching a turnover of ` 300crore this year and the group isexpanding, CEO of the group BBhaskara Rao tells K PrudhviRaju of Postnoon.n What are the expansion plans

of KIMS and what is the goal?KIMS group has five hospitals inAndhra Pradesh. We have oneeach in Secunderabad,Vijayawada, and Srikakulam. Wealso have hospitals inRajahmundry and Nellore underthe name of Bollineni Hospitalsby the same promoters.

We are going to expand inVisakhapatnam and at a hugelevel in Vijayawada. We are plan-ning to start hospitals in Indoreand Bhubanes war. Our main tar-get areas are tier-II and tier-IIIcities, where there is an opportu-nity to establish hospitals withbetter facilities. In the next five to10 years, the goal is to reach10,000 beds.n What is your turnover? How

is the growth rate?The turnover of KIMS group is `200 crore last year. This year, wewould be touching ` 300 crore.We are growing at 25 to 30 percent every year, since we started.The growth rate will be the samein next two to three years as weare expanding. And, we proposeto go public in about two years.n What is the bed strength of

the hospitals?As a group, we already have 900

beds including those in BollineniHospitals and we are planning toadd another 600 beds inSecunderabad. The break up isthere are 300 beds inSecunderabad and 150 each inVijayawada, Srikakulam,Rajamundry and Nellore.n You have recently launched

robotic-assisted surgery.Which parts of human bodycan the robotic surgery beused?

As a surgeon moves a joystick,robotic arms will go into theabdomen of a human-being withthe light source which helps ussee with 10 times higher magnifi-

cation. This enables us to dividethe lesions precisely. Surgeons’hands cannot reach certain areaslike pelvic organs. Robotic armscan go there and work in 360degree angle. They can cutnerves in micros. With the accu-rate precision, the complicationswill also come down. The bleed-ing is less and the patient can gohome in 24 hours, and attendwork in a week time.

Robotic assistance can beapplied to all abdomen surgeries.Except brain and bone, we anapply robotic assistance to allorgans. We did sixty operationswith 100 per cent success rate.

We will do heart surgeries likeheart hole closure and mitralvalve repair with the help ofrobotics in near future.n What are your research areas?We have started research sixmonths ago on chemo sensitivityand drug resistance. We don’tknow whether particular drug istreating that particular tumouror not in chemotherapy. We canfind that out that with the help ofchemo sensitivity which canbring down the costs and get bet-ter results in areas of cancer.

We are also working on biobank. We want to preserve thesample tissues removed duringthe surgery. We will study thosetissues and find out the reasonsfor cause of the disease. We arealso working on Lipoxin inCoronary Heart disease andEssential Fatty acids in Cancer.n How many employees do you

have in different depart-ments?

We have around 1,600 employeesout of which 150 are doctors and150 are administrative staff, 200technical staff, 500 nursing and600 paramedical (class 4) staff.n What are the steps you are

initiating for fire safety inKIMS?

The safety norms are not meantfor the sake of government rules,but they are for our own safety.We are also living in the sameplace and need to get protected.Safety measures are given thehighest priority for that. We arecomplying with all the requiredstandards.

Employeesshare insuranceburden

Rupee hits all-time lowThe Indian rupee dipped 52 paise to a record low of Rs 53.75 per US dollar in

early trade on Wednesday, a day after breaching the Rs 53 a dollar-mark

“We’ll touch `. 300-croreturnover this fiscal year”

B Bhaskara RaoMD&CEO, KIMS

BSE – 16,076.64574.13, NSE – 4,822.20521.60, Gold 24k(10g)– `29,100, Silver (1kg)–56,700, Dollar $ – `53.56, Pound £ – `82.94

Postnoon News

HYDERABAD: The average pol-icy premium cost per employeehas increased from ̀ 6,800 in 2008-09 to ` 9,300 in 2011. The increas-ing costs of medical insurance areforcing employers to makechanges to the way they providethis benefit to their employees.

Employees were asked to con-tribute to cost of company benefitschemes according to findingsreleased by the sixth annualemployee benefits study: employ-ee engagement, conducted byMarsh India, Insurance Brokersand Risk advisors.

The survey found that 92 percent employers want to aligntheir benefits to the market ascompared to 58 per cent in 2008-09. Almost two-thirds of sur-veyed organisations have alreadymade at least one change to theirbenefit plan design in the lasttwo years by requiring employ-ees to make a greater contribu-tion to the company benefitsscheme.

Plan design changes provideimmediate respite from premiumincrease but it is not a sustainablestrategy. Understanding theunderlying cost drivers and adopt-ing appropriate measures such asemployee engagement and well-ness initiatives will result ingreater long-term suitability, saidSanjay Kedia, CEO, Marsh India.

The study also highlighted theneed to improve employee com-munication and engagement with62 per cent of employees describ-ing communication by theiremployers as either “average” or“inadequate”.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 201112The games people playPlaying Field

Manchester United and Sc -ot land midfielder DarrenFletcher is to take “an

exte nded break from football” owi -ng to a chronic inflammatory bo -wel condition, his club haveannounced. United have revealedthat Fletcher, who has been side-lined at various points in recenttimes with what was reported tobe a virus, has been suffering with

the condition for some time. The27-year-old has now been advisedto take a complete break from thegame.

The club said in a statement:“On behalf of Darren Fletcher,Manchester United wishes toannounce that he is taking anextended break from football forhealth reasons.”

Fletcher made only one start

for United last term after March 1and was an unused substitute forthe 3-1 Champions League finaldefeat to Barcelona.

He has made 10 appearancesin all competitions for United dur-ing the current campaign, with thelast coming on November 22.

The statement from Unitedcontinued: “Over the past year hehas had several absence periodswhich we have attributed to a viralillness. Darren has, in fact, beensuffering from ulcerative colitis (achronic inflammatory bowel con-dition) for some time precedingthis. Whilst he was able to main-tain remission of symptoms for aconsiderable period this hasproved more difficult recently andDarren’s continued desire to playand his loyalty to both his club andcountry has probably compro-mised the chances of optimisinghis own health and fitness.” ES

‘Frankly, I have no clue’Frank Lampard voiced his frustration over Chelsea coach Andre Villas-

Boas not telling him why he has been dropped to the bench

The England midfielderscored a late penalty inthe 2-1 win over PremierLeague leaders Manch -

ester City last night after comingon as a 73rd-minute substitute atStamford Bridge. It was the sec-ond big match in a row thatLampard has not been in the firstXI, having also sat out the vitalChampions League win overValencia last week.

The 33-year-old, who is Che -lsea’s joint top scorer this term oneight goals, insists he is commit-ted as ever to the club but is mys-tified why he is now out of favour.He said, “I want to play, simple asthat. Being 33 or not, I’m as fit asI’ve ever been. I’ve be en in a goodrun of form and now I’ve notbeen playing. I ha ven’t spoken [toVillas-Boas] so I don’t know[why], simple as that.

“I want to play. If I didn’t,there wouldn’t be any point turn-ing up, so maybe there’s a bit offrustration because of that.

“I’m always at my best whenI’m playing regularly. I know I’vegot a lot to give. I just want to beon the pitch and let the footballdo the talking.”

Despite Lampard’s com-

ments, Juan Mata insists thethrilling win over City, who wereunbeaten in the League thisterm, proves all the players arebehind Villas-Boas and thatChelsea can challenge for silver-ware this season. The coach hasbeen under intense pressure inrecent weeks with speculation

that his job was on the line andthat his methods had split thedressing room.

Chelsea have now won threeLeague games in a row to climbto third in the table, seven pointsbehind City, and Mata insists therevival proves the squad are fight-ing for the former Porto coach.

The Spain midfielder said,“The team have shown in theworst moments that we’re unitedbehind the manager. Now thatwe’re in a run of results wherethings are more positive, every-thing is easier, but we haveshown that we are together withthe manager and the technicalstaff, like a family.

“It was a very important winagainst the League leaders and itgives us a lot of confidence. Canwe win the title? We have to keeptrying. We have not won anythingjust by beating these teams butwe have to keep fighting to wingames because we are still in witha chance of a lot of trophies.”

City took the lead throughMario Balotelli’s goal after justtwo minutes although RaulMeireles equalised before thebreak. Mata added, “To turnaround the game against theLeague leaders and a team whohad not lost a game before thisseason gives us a lot of belief.”

Ashley Cole, who wasaccused by City boss RobertoMancini of sparking a spat in thetunnel after the final whistle,feels City can now be caught.

EVENING STANDARD

Redknappwarned overFoy comments

Harry Redknapp has beenwarned over his future conduct

following his post-match commentsabout the performance of refereeChris Foy during Tottenham’s defeatat Stoke.

The Spurs boss said he felt likeFoy “was quite enjoying not givingus anything” during the 2-1 defeaton Sunday.

The Football Associationlooked at the comments but decid-ed against taking disciplinary reac-tion and instead have written toRedknapp.

He is reported to have saidafter the game: “He’ll look at it onTV, when his wife is making him abacon sandwich and think, ‘Oh**** me, what have I donethere?’” ES

Fletcher to take a long break

Manchester City managerRoberto Mancini has urged

his players to “stay strong” fol-lowing their first Premier Leaguedefeat of the season.

After enjoying such a sensa-tional start to the campaign, Cityare finally experiencing a signifi-cant wobble. Dumped out of theCh ampions League by Napoli, theBlues were on the wrong end of acomeback win by Chelsea atStamford Bridge despite gettingoff to the perfect start thanks toMario Balotelli. However, Man ci niwas defiant, saying, “At this mo -ment, we should be very strong.”

Strange as it may haveappeared a couple of weeks ago,City might have been knockedoff top spot by Manchester

United when they walk out toface in-form Arsenal at theEtihad Stadium on Sunday.

That in itself would bringadded pressure to Mancini andhis men, who remain odds-onfavourites to clinch their firstchampionship since 1968. ES

Stay strong, coachMancini tells City

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 201113The games people playPlaying Field

BHOPAL: Indian cricket captainMahendra Singh Dhoni has writ-ten to the Madhya Pradesh gov-ernment expressing his desire toestablish a sports academy and

school in the state to promote tal-ent, a state official said.

According to a TV channel,Dhoni wrote to the Chief MinisterShivraj Singh Chouhan stating

that he wishes to groom thestate’s talent with complete dedi-cation and commitment not onlyin the field of the cricket, but inother sports, too. He requestedChouhan to make the suitablesites available for establishmentof these institutions.

“Many youths wish to bringlaurels to the state and the coun-try as well. And our efforts wouldmake their dreams come true,”Dhoni wrote. “Several youths andsports persons of the countrywish to represent the country indifferent fields. However, theycould not deliver the goods dueto non availability of properinfrastructure and training facili-ties,” he said in his letter, the offi-cial said.

Doug Bracewell’s snub-bing as Man of theMatch in Hobart hasforced Cricket Australia

to back down on its controversialviewer-voting system,ESPNcricinfo.com has reported.The decision on who should bethe Man of the Match will revert toan expert panel after DavidWarner was given the award forhis century at Bellerive Oval,despite Bracewell’s match-win-ning fourth-day spell.

Cricket Australia used theNew Zealand series to trial a sys-tem in which the public couldvote for the official Man of theMatch using a mobile phoneapplication. James Pattinson’s winin Brisbane was not contentious,but the overwhelming support forWarner — he polled 58% inHobart to Bracewell’s 27% — leftthe New Zealanders rightlyaffronted.

“We were always running a bitof a trial for these two Tests withthose Man of the Match awardsbut we will definitely revert backto an expert’s choice for that deci-sion about man of the match,”Sutherland said on a radio show.However, he was keen to see thecontinuation of the viewer’schoice application, which he

called “ahead of its time”, in otherways.

Bracewell finished with matchfigures of 9 for 60 and clearlyaltered the course of the match onthe fourth day, when he collectedthree wickets in nine balls todemolish Australia’s middle orderand set New Zealand on the pathto their first Test win in Australiain 26 years. The New Zealandassistant coach, Trent Woodhill,said the decision was obviouslywrong.

“It’s embarrassing. DavidWarner had a fantastic innings,”

Woodhill said. “But, Bracewell wasthe player of that match. If itwasn’t for him we wouldn’t havewon the match. To me that’s whothe player of the match shouldbe.”

It was not surprising that thepublic-voting system was contro-versial — there was always the riskthat Australian fans would voteoverwhelmingly for Australianplayers. The traditional method ofselecting the Man of the Match,via expert opinion, will resume forthe upcoming Test series againstIndia.

Cricket Australia backsdown on Man of the Match

Win was good, but batsmencan improve, says Wright

While New Zealand basks inthe glory of a first testmatch win over Australia

in more than 18 years, nationalcricket coach John Wright put thevictory in perspective and againtold his top order batsmen theymust put more runs on the board.

The Black Caps beat Australiaby seven runs in the second test atBellerive Oval in Hobart on Mondayto record their first win over theirclosest neighbours since 1993, andfirst across the Tasman since 1985.

New Zealand will look to buildon the victory when they hostZimbabwe early next year beforeSouth Africa, the world’s thirdranked test side, arrive for a seriesin February and March.

Wright, a former New Zealandopening batsman, said his batterswould have to improve.

“We won a test match withoutscoring 300 runs in any innings,which usually isn’t enough,” saidWright, who had urged his bats-men to raise their game after anine-wicket loss in the first test in

Brisbane. “The expectation in the top six

is that you have to get runs. I’mfairly confident we have got thebest players, but we just didn’thandle the conditions particularlywell.

“In the end if you’re not get-ting runs then your positionbecomes part of speculation. Youcan’t not score runs and expect tomake the team.”

Neither side scored more than240 in an innings in the Hobartmatch with only Australian openerDavid Warner (123 not out) andNew Zealand’s Ross Taylor andDean Brownlie passing 50.

Of particular concern forWright is the poor form of JesseRyder, who was shunted up anddown the order and scored just 58runs at 14.50 in the Australia tests.

Opener Martin Guptill, whoscored 44 runs at 11.00, fared littlebetter. None of the top-five bats-men averaged more than 20 in theseries.

REUTERS

Mahi mulls sports academyKhan can do it: Froch

Carl Froch has urged fellowEnglishman Amir Khan toforget about fighting

Floyd Mayweather Jr and “goback to the drawing board” fol-lowing his shock defeat at theweekend.

Khan has publicly pursueda clash with pound-for-poundgreat Mayweather only to losehis WBA and IBF light-welter-weight titles to Lamont

Peterson on Saturday. He hasblamed the loss on poor refer-eeing and questionable judgingbut WBC super-middleweightchampion Froch believes hiscompatriot should look closerto home. Froch said, “I thoughtthe right man won, if I’m totallyhonest. It was a shame forKhan, I thought he fought wellbut he got his tactics wrongtowards the end of the fight. Hewas moving too much at timesand I think he ran out of gas alittle bit and when he held hisfeet, he held them for too long.”

He added, “But Khan isyoung, he’s fit and strong, andmentally determined. I thinkhe’s got the rematch so he’ll getanother chance to put thatright.” ES

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 201114Fun and frolic in a flat world Wacky World

Cincinnati-based pho-tographer, KellyMcCollam recreatesclassic paintings, par-

ticularly Vincent Van Gogh’s,using salts, spices and foodcolouring. You could say KellyMcCollam is literally spicingthings up in the art world, withher original interpretations ofVan Gogh’s masterpieces.

While most people usepinches of seasoning to maketheir cooking tolerable, theskilled photographer uses hand-fuls to create artworks.

Her favourite materialsinclude salt, food colouring andvarious spices, from cloves andonion chips to mustard andlemon powder. After carefullyspreading the spices on a boardand arranging them to bestreplicate Van Gogh’s works, she

photographs them and simplywipes them off.

It’s kind of painful, consider-ing the effort and patience thatmust go into something like this,but Kelly is a photographer, andthat’s what she’s really all about.

The grainy and flaky texturesof the artworks really improvesthe quality and effectiveness ofher photos, which become mas-terpieces in their own right.

The Royals of ancient timeswore clothes that were stud-ded with precious stones

and metals. Now you can too, ifyou are ready to pay an arm and aleg, that is. Or just five millionrupees.

This pricey shirt was createdby an Indian designer, AmitabhChandel. A descendant of a royalfamily himself, he says he wantedto create a shirt suitable fortoday’s royalty.

What makes the shirt soexpensive is the fine silk it’s madeof, and the diamond buttons, setin gold. The shirt is in fact part ofan entire collection, the pricerange starting at around 50,000Rupees ($950).

He says that modern royalmen, as well as commoners arewelcome to place orders for theshirts. Mr. Chandel says claimsthese shirts are a perfect blend ofthe practical and the royal.

Since traditional royal attirecannot be worn every day, these

shirts allow a sense of richness topervade regular clothing.

Mr. Chandel hasn’t receivedany orders for his shirt yet, but heis optimistic.

A few orders have come in forthe less expensive shirts, however.

This is the first time he is making asale in public.

The delivery of the shirts is freewithin 200 miles of the purchase.However, customers would needto pay the shipping charges for faroff places.

Any takers for a ` 5 million shirt?

An amazing video showswhat appears to be a dogwe aring a shirt, with hu m -

an arms and hands, devouring apacket of Dairylea Dunkers.

With nearly 2 million viewsin just over a fortnight, Bizzle thebiscuit-eating bulldog is the lat-est Youtube sensation mesmeris-ing viewers the world over.

Devised and filmed by a cou-ple from Northampton, thehilarious film shows that, with abit of ingenuity, and the rightfriends to hand, anyone canmake a viral vi d eo clip.

‘I had seen some similarvideos on YouTube and thought Iwould give it a go with Bizzle,’said Mr Jenkins, a worker at theGreat Oakley Brewery.

‘He has got such a hugeappetite I thought eating wouldbe the best way of getting him toperform for the camera.’

On a roll, Mr Jenkins grabbedthe first thing in his fridge thatcame to hand and positionedhimself under the table, withBizzle above and Miss Medrifilming on her mobile phone.

The video shows Bizzle, atwo-year-old mongrel enthusi-astically feeding himself thesavoury snack with a pair ofhuman arms. he added: ‘When Isaw the video, it was fantasticand I am really pleased so manypeople have viewed it.’

Animal videos are a perenni-al love of internet users andattract viewers, with Bizzle's justthe latest to go viral.

Qu Zhibo, a chef from ZigongCity, China’s SichuanProvince, spent three years

and just 4,000 Yuan ($628) build-ing his own knockoff Jeep.

His efforts have made himsomewhat of an internet celebri-ty, in China.

As he was busy running hisown restaurant, Qu Zhibo tookthree years to complete work onhis 2-meters-long, 1.5-meters-high Jeep, but he used just $628 todo it.

The car, which many Chinesenetizens ca lled a “knockoffHummer” was ac tually inspired byan American mi litary vehicle, and

even though ri ght now it prettymuch looks like a pile of junk onwheels, a bit of ca mouflage paint

could go a long way.A military fan, Qu admits he

worked days and nights hand-crafting and designing the partsfor his unique vehicle, and admitat one point he became obsessedwith it. Except for the engine,steering wheel, tires and gas tank,the ambitious chef made all theparts himself, which explains thelow price tag.

While it doesn’t really comparewith modern automobiles on themarket today, in terms of design,comfort and performance, itdrives the same way, the only bigdifference being you have to startit somewhere at the back, beforejumping in the driver’s seat, as it’spowered by a motorcycle engine.

The homemade jeep reaches atop speed of 30 km/h, and eventhough it’s not road legal, QuZhibo and his friends drive itaround his restaurant.

Classicalpainting

with aspicy

twist!A bulldog is the latestYouTube sensation!

Chinese chef buildsjeep with just $628 A Christmas tree made

of 600,000 Lego brickshas been put up in StPancreas Station inLondon. It’s ten metreshigh and took twomonths to build. Even the decorationsare made out of Lego.The company says it’sthe tallest tree evermade with its bricks.There are no detailsyet of what willhappen to them comeJanuary 6 when thetree is dismantled, butmaybe there will beanother one next year.

BUILDING THE X’MAS SPIRIT

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 201115From the world of science & researchBrave New World

“UAVs (pilotlessaircraft) areused in cropdusting, bu -

sh fire monitoring, trackingalgal blooms or crop growthand infrastructure inspectionas well as defence roles,” saysRichard Moore, researcher atthe Vision Centre and theQueensland Brain Institute.

“Some of these tasksrequire the aircraft to flyclose to the ground andamongst obstacles, so it iscrucial that the aircraftknows its heading directionand roll and pitch anglesaccurately,” adds Moore,according to a Queensland

institute statement.But all of them suffer

from problems such asnoise-induced drift, and canbe adversely affected by themotions of the aircraft ormaterials in the environ-ment surrounding the sen-sors, he explains.

“This means that UAVscan’t perform significantmanoeuvres without losingtheir sense of direction for awhile,” Moore points out.

Accordingly, researchershave designed a vision-basedsystem that provides aircraftwith the same advantage thatinsects have — a fixed imageof the sky and the horizon.

“If you watch a flyinginsect, you will see that theirheads are upright when they

turn their bodies,” Mooresays. “Keeping their headsstill allows them to have a stabilised image of thehorizon and the sky, which iscrucial in determining theirheading.”

“With the new system, weonly have to tell the aircraftthat it’s in the upright posi-tion when it starts flying. Itwill then use that as a startingpoint to work out which is skyand which is ground, andtrain itself to recognise thedifferences.

“The ability to estimatethe precise roll and pitchangles and the heading direc-tion instantaneously is cru-cial for UAVs, as small errorscan lead to misalignmentsand crashes,” he adds. IANS

Insects toguidedrones flypreciselyA new visual system will tweak pilotless air-craft’s ability to navigate even more accu-rately by imitating how insects do it

Does social networkingpromote alcohol use?

Mars may have basic lifePatches of Mars sub-surface

could contain water and sus-tain a rudimentary form of life,such as Martian microbes,reveals a study.

“Our models tell us that ifthere is water present in theMartian sub-surface, then itcould be habitable,” said doctor-al student Eriita Jones from thePlanetary Science Institute of theAustralian National University.

“We know that there is a hot,deep biosphere on Earth thatextends to around five kilome-tres. If there is a hot deep bio-

sphere on Mars, our modellingshows that it could extend toaround 30 kilometres,” study co-author Charley Lineweaveradded. The same scientists hadmodelled the earth earlier andidentified water that was inhab-ited and water that was not, theAstrobiology Journal reported.

Researchers applied thesame technique to Mars andfound that a large fraction of the Martian sub-surface couldbe har bouring habitable water, ac cording to a universitystatement. IANS

Social networking may bepromoting alcohol useamong young people in so

subtle a manner that users arenot even aware of it.

“It (social networking) isbeing employed to organiseevents, communicate with peo-ple while out drinking, andenabling participants to sharephotos of their socialising anddrinking online,” said AntoniaLyons, associate professor in psy-chology at Massey Universitywho led the study.

Lyons said the research hasalso revealed that just as somepeople saw excessive alcoholuse as a way of excusingbehaviour, some social network-ing users were expressing simi-lar attitudes about theirFacebook pages, according to auniversity statement.

Researchers talked withgroups of people aged between18 and 25 years about differentaspects of their online behaviour,drinking experiences and expo-sure to celebrities drinking viapop culture websites.

Lyons said that while therespondents believed the linksbetween social networking andalcohol promotion were pleasur-able, fun and exciting, they werenot aware of how closely alignedthe marketing of alcohol hadbecome with their online usage.

“For example, many partici-pants see themselves as ‘savvy’online in respect to alcohol pro-motion and yet they spend timeon alcohol brand sites, ‘friend’

them on Facebook, and engage inonline interactions (such as play-ing alcohol-centred games orposting photos).”

Drinkify is a website thatmatches a person’s musical tastesto particular drinks. A new iPhonecover has been designed to doubleas a bottle opener and it comeswith a free app that counts howmany bottles have been opened,and plays selected music each timeit is used, Lyon said. IANS

HISTORIC EDGE

A rock (different views shown) from which sharp flakes werepounded off around 106,000 years ago in southern Arabiademonstrates an ancient East African tool-making method

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 201118Holistic view of mind, body and soulH‑Factor

Carrying excessfat is not good

Dr Sunil Kapoor

Why is it that there is so muchemphasis on staying fit?If you look at yourself in the mirrorand think that you are looking fat,this is the time to start working in thedirection of a slimmer self.

Obesity is a disease, resulting inhigh blood pressure, diabetes melli-tus, venous edema, insulin resistancedue to more fat, increasedatherosclerosis resulting in moreheart attacks and brain strokes,hypoventilation resulting in less oxy-gen in the blood and a host of relatedproblems.

The incidence of obesity is on therise in India, with sedentary lifestyles,mostly deskwork, availability of fastfood and continuos supply of junkeatables and beverages, which arehigh on calories and fats. In factMacDonald’s and Pizza Huts in theUSA have contributed in making theUS population look extremely pros-perous and added to their body fat.Over the last 20 years, during myannual academic sojourn to the USA,I have noticed an increasing popula-tion of obese people there. It is diffi-cult to find a slim American unless heis a fitness enthusiast or has fallen onbad times. On the contrary, the Parispopulation is slim in a majoritybecause being the fashion capital ofthe world, it is ingrained in the mindsof people there that SLIM is LIFE andBEAUTY and OBESE is UGLY andDISEASE. Obese Parisians are soashamed of themselves that they donot venture out on the streets unlessthey have shed their fat.

Here’s what we can do to shapeup:Diet: At the top of the list is eat less.Eat to live; do not eat a full stomach,end your meal when you are 75% full.It is better to start with some raw veg-etable salad. This will give you vita-mins, very little calories and impor-tantly will feel filling so that you con-sume lesser calories and fats. Exercise: Walking everyday for 30minutes is good unless there is a con-traindication. It is better to buy atreadmill, as we may not have to timeto dress up and go for a walk. Dowear proper walking shoes, as ithelps prevent arthritis. (The concluding part of this columnwill appear next week. The writer is asenior consultant cardiologist prac-tising at Care Hospital, Hyderabad)

TORONTO, CANADA: Res e a - rchers at the University ofToronto have found an explana-tion for how the intestinal tractinfluences a key component ofthe immune system to preventinfection, offering a potentialclue to the cause of autoimmunedisorders like rheumatoidarthritis and multiple sclerosis.

“The findings shed light onthe complex balance betweenbeneficial and harmful bacteriain the gut,” said Prof JenniferGommerman, an AssociateProfessor in the Department ofImmunology at U of T, whosefindings were published onlineby the scientific journal, Nature.“There has been a long-standingmystery of how certain cells candifferentiate between and attackharmful bacteria in the intestinewithout damaging beneficialbacteria and other necessarycells. Our research is working tosolve it.”

The researchers found thatsome B cells — a type of whiteblood cell that produces anti-bodies — acquire functions thatallow them to neutralisepathogens only while spendingtime in the gut. Moreover, thissubset of B cells is critical tohealth. “When we got rid of thatB-cell function, the host wasunable to clear a gut pathogenand there were other negativeoutcomes, so it appears to be

very important for the cells toadopt this function in the gut,”said Prof. Gommerman, whoselab conducted the research inmice. Textbook immunology —based mostly on research donein the spleen, lymph nodes orother sterile sites distant fromgut microbes — has suggestedthat B cells develop a specificimmune function and rigidlymaintain that identity. Over thelast few years, however, somelabs have shown the microbe-rich environment of the gut caninduce flexibility in immune cellidentity.

Prof. Gommerman and hercolleagues, including traineesfrom her lab doctors Jörg Fritz,Olga Rojas and Doug McCarthy,found that as B cells differentiateinto plasma cells in thegut, they adopt char-acteristics ofinnate immunecells — despitetheir traditionala s s o c i a t i o nwith the adap-tive immunes y s t e m .Specifically, theybegin to look and actlike inflammatory cellscalled monocytes, while main-taining their ability to produce akey antibody called Immu -noglobulin A. “What intriguedus was that this theme — B cells

behaving like monocytes—hadbeen seen before in fish and invitro. But now we have a livingexample in a mammalian sys-tem, where this kind of bipoten-tiality is realised,” said Prof.

Gommerman.This B-cell plas-

ticity provides apotential expla-nation how cellsdedicated toc o n t r o l l i n gpathogens canrespond to a

large burden ofharmful bacteria

without damagingbeneficial bacteria and

other cells essential for properfunction of the intestine. It alsomay explain how scientists hadfailed to appreciate the multi-functionality of some B cells.

“There are classical markersimmunologists use to identify Bcells — receptors that are dis-played on their surface —andmost of them are absent fromplasma cells,” said Prof.Gommerman. “So in somecases, what people thought wasa monocyte could have been aplasma cell because it hadchanged its surface identity,although monocytes play animportant role in innate immu-nity as well.” This transforma-tional ability, the researchersalso found, is dependent onbacteria called commensalmicro flora that digests food andprovides nutrients. That rela-tionship highlights the impor-tance of the gut in fighting infec-tion, and begs the question ofwhether plasma cells trained inthe gut to secrete specific anti-microbial molecules can play arole in other infectious diseasescenarios, such as food-bornelisteria infection.

It also opens a line of investi-gation into whether a systemicrelationship exists betweenthose anti-microbial moleculesand healthy cells in sites remotefrom the intestine. Unders -tanding the nature of that rela-tionship could improve under-standing of inflammatory mech-anisms in autoimmune disor-ders such as lupus, rheumatoidarthritis and multiple sclerosis.

Intestine crucial to functionof immune cells, study shows

Unders tanding thenature of the relation-ship between anti-microbial moleculesand healthy cellscould improve under-standing of inflamma-tory mechanisms

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 201119Because you are what you wearF‑Folio

Animalinstinct on theprowl

The animal print trend isnot just a passing fad asperceived earlier, there ismuch more to this trendthan what meets the eye

Taniya Talukdartaniya.t@postnoon.com

From jackets to hats, to tops, to dresses, topants and to even swimwear, the animalprint can be seen everywhere! And they areavailable in a variety of designs because it

is in fact a very popular trend, which many a celebswears by. If Beyonce loves her leopard print kaf-tan then Nicole Richie loves her animal printshoes and Jennifer Lopez feels the same about heranimal print dress. It’s not only the Hollywoodcelebrities who are dressing up in animal prints,but the ones back home too, have a great pen-chant for them. While many assumed it to be a fadthat will eventually give way to other trends, 2011did see the return of animal prints in a big way.And going by the looks, we can only say that thetrend is here to stay.

Pregnant charm

Whoever said pregnancy takesaway fashion didn’t really

have a fashion sense. Time and againour celebrities have proven that it’sonly a myth and you can be at your

fashionable best at all times. LaraDutta, who is glowing in her pregnan-cy, seems to be only too happy to give

us another lesson in fashion. Thismommy-to-be was recently seen at

one of the dos in an animal printshort dress that she teamed up with a

black clutch and kittenheels. The pregnancy

glow only addedto her sex quotient.

Old is gold

Though she had worn this lookquite a while back, we can’t really

let Sushmita Sen’s look in the longflowing kaftan gown go without amention. A fashionista in her ownright, Sushmita always does morethan justice to whatever she adorns,whether it is a sari, an anarkali, a for-mal suit or a gown. She ends up look-ing ethereal when she wants too. Theanimal print chiffon gown thatSushmita had worn in one of theevents still continues to demandattention.

Variety is the spice

Beyonce is perhaps the most versa-tile of all celebs when it comes to

the animal print trend, for she hastried it in her wardrobe like no other.Whether it is lingerie, a kaftan, shoesor even a scarf, she wears them all

and does it in style. She has the looksand the oomph to carry it all andmight we say that we are mighty

impressed. But of all the animal printlooks that she has worn, the leopard

print kaftan stood out the most.

Light footShe might be in the news for all the wrong reasons but hats off to her for

she manages to surprise us once in a while with her fashion sense. Liloknows she is quirky and plays it well too. Her leopard print flat pumps onlyenhance that, and we must say that we are quite impressed, for she is ableto carry the look without much effort.

Bag itFrom Elizabeth Hurley to Elle Macpherson, to Halle Berry, to Hillary Duff,

they have all carried the animal print bag and have made quite a fashion statement. It gets difficult for us to make a choice in this case

as to who rocked it better because the animal print bags come in varioussizes and shapes and these leading ladies carried them off pretty well.

But what we also want to add here is that the bags are for the less-experimental ones too.

CELEBPICK

So this season, make have at least one animal print item in your wardrobe; beit a pair of trousers, lingerie, footwear or a scarf. If you are not the experimental

sorts, then an accessory in animal print should do — don’t be scared to try!

With a record of 27 prequels, sequels,remakes or spin-offs, 2011 has been ayear in which Hollywood has solelyrelied on past glories to fill its coffers.Take a look

Padmini Cpadmini.c@postnoon.com

It’s often said thatthere can never betoo much of a goodthing. Hollywood

seems to have taken the

adage quite seriously.Movie-makers and pro-duction houses have re-hatched tried and test-ed hits of the pastdecade to offer audi-ences, more and moreof their favourites.

Some have worked,while others havebombed. Today, we takea look at some of thebiggest names frompopular franchises thathave returned to the bigscreen this year.

Sequels that bombedn Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwreckn Final Destination 5n Johnny English Reborn n Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rulesn Happy Feet 2

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 201120Movies

Going with the golden formula

Twilight: BreakingDawn (Part I)

Despite having proven to bemediocre movies at best, the

craze of the Twilight saga doesn’tseem to have ebbed. If anything, itseems to intensify with each edition.Less than three weeks since it’srelease, it’s sitting on a cool 250 mil-lion. No prizes for guessing how pop-ular the finale will be.

Transformers Dark of the Moon

If you ask the Box-office, it will besure to tell you it loved Dark of the

Moon. Us? Not so much. Yeah, surethe 3D and special effects are great,and the Autobots and Decepticons areback in action but we do wish theypowered down for a bit.

Kung Fu Panda 2 If there’s one sequel on this list we

are glad to see, it’s the return of theDragon Warrior. While this edition suf-fers a little in terms of plot and fresh-ness, the visual effects are on par, ifnot it surpasses, the original and aresimply to die for. All in all, a thumbs-up for Po.

Fast FiveMoving away from its previous

editions, the Fast Five followsDominic, Brian and Mia as they plana $100M heist. That the fifth install-ment of the Fast and Furious seriesis the fifth-highest grossing movie ofthe year, tells its own story.

X Men: First Class That Marvel heroes make for great

movies is no news. A prequel tothe X-men series, First Class tells thestory of how Charles and Erik, oncebest friends, became the Prof X andMagneto as we know them today.As they say, mutant and proud!

Pirates of theCaribbean: OnStranger Tides

Those who watched Dead Man’sChest and swore that they would

never get enough of Captain JackSparrow are now on the verge of say-ing ‘enough’. Without Keira Knightleyor Orlando Bloom; an ounce of origi-nality or moderation, On Stranger Tideswithout the power of its predecessorswould have sank without a trace.

The Hangover Part IIThat Hangover is a brilliant movie,

we have no doubt. But it’s followup...well, not so much. We are notsaying it’s not funny, we are just say-ing it’s not anything like the original.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes Okay, so this caught us by surprise.

It came at a time when we hadquite forgotten the original. But AndyMerkis and the super stylish specialeffects makes for a worthwhilewatch! If you can brave the cameo byFrieda Pinto, that is.

Mission Impossible,Ghost Protocol

So, technically it hasn’t evenreleased yet. But we already know

it’s going straight to the top. EthanHunt is back on another mission,which is ‘impossible.’ Will he be afourth time lucky? We’ll have to waitand watch.

Harry Potter and theDeathly Hallows (Part II)

Ten years after the first movie, theeighth and final installment in the

Harry Potter series opened to hystericaudiences across the world. This rous-ing finale is not only the highest gross-ing movie of 2011 but also the highestgrossing movie of the entire franchise,having surpassed the 1-billion mark bya long shot. A fitting end to a magicalseries, we say.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 201121The glamour behind the glitzMagic Screen

Shiba Minaishiba.m@postnoon.com

Bollywood is forever wel-coming new actors intoits fold. On December 16it welcomes the model

duo Simran Kaur Mundi andSunny Gill. While Simran wasMiss India in 2008, Sunny hasbeen an international supermod-el. Like every other model tryingtheir luck in tinsel town, was it apre-planned decision for them aswell? Sunny promptly replies, “Ihave always wanted to act. I wasfascinated how one person canenact a million characters andlive all of them in one life. Ibelieve there are only two waysof making it into Bollywood —either as a star or as a model.Modelling does help in makingcontacts and it gives you a betterscope of getting into movies.”Such an honest cookie.

However, Simran’s approachwas more relaxed. “Acting wasnever on my mind. I was inLondon when I was summonedfor the role. I returned two weekslater and was almost sure I wouldnot get it, but since I had nothingto lose I called up the makers ofthe film and luckily it was stillavailable. Though I had to audi-tion thrice, I finally got the role.”

The duo then give us a sneakpeek into the film. Sunny refersto it as an aspirational journey ofthe youth of today. It’s aboutimpatience and immediacy hesays. “By youth I don’t mean aparticular age group, I meaneveryone who is young at heart.It can even be a 70-year-old whowishes for a lottery and promisesto do xyz once he wins the

money.” To which Simran adds,“It’s an interesting romantic-comedy. The movie has a mes-sage without being arty. It’s funthat everyone will relate to.”

She continues, “I play thecharacter of Neha Kapoor, a girlwho is level-headed and sortedand does not believe in frivolousrelationships. She meets RohanBhatia played by Sunny, and he iseverything she would never wantin a man.”

Her explanation is interrupt-ed by Sunny who says, “Oh, thisis her version of my character. I

am a man who loves women!” Helaughs and continues, “Just likein real life, I love being aroundwomen and so does my charac-ter! Also, in the film, I am a go-getter and I don’t follow therules.”

“This movie is a beautifuljourney of how the two charac-ters meet and eventually howlove blossoms between the two,adds Simran.

Every debutant has theirshare of jitters. Did they face thesame emotions? “I alwaysthought acting was probably

about looking good and giving ashot or two. But it’s much morethan that. It requires an immenseamount of hard work, focus anddedication,” explains Simran,going on to add, “We had somany great experiences duringthe shoot. One of the funniestinvolved Sunny and swimming.”She is in splits while trying tonarrate the incident, but man-ages to say, “Sunny tried to actheroic and dived hard into thepool. What he didn’t realise isthat his shorts had come off andwhile he swam, the camera cap-

tured his scandalous swim. Whenhe came out of the pool, he actu-ally suggested we take the shot!”By now she bursts into anuncontrollable fit of laughter.Sunny too, joins in and adds,“That is an exaggerated version. Ihad never been to a movie setbefore. The first day I was takenaback by the enormity of thewhole movie making procedure.”

Like all of us, surely the twomust idolise someone in theindustry, to which Sunny says,“I have always looked up to myfather. But when it came tomovies, I remember when I was young someone told me thatSunny Deol was the son of Dharmendra, and I just could not believe him. From my childhood I developed a tastefor movies and eventually fell inlove with the actors. So I don’t think it’s fair to say Iidolise one person.”

“I don’t think I will want to emulate anyone, but I defi-nitely would want people toreceive me the way they receivedMadhuri Dixit,” opines Simran.

Getting to the nitty-gritty, weinquire about their love lives.There is a grin on Simran’s face.“Life on the personal front looksset as of now.” Has she found MrRight then? She replies, “I mayhave found him. Let’s see whathappens.”

Sunny however, is still onthe lookout. “I always believe inliving in the moment and likemy dad says, live life to thefullest. I enjoy meeting a lot ofpeople, but I don’t think I havefound the special one as thebells have not rung for me yet,”he says.

New kidson theblock

Jo Hum Chahein introduces two new actors Sunny Gill and Simran Mundi this Friday and the excitement

in their voices can be felt when they talk to us

B-TOWN TWEETIES

@rampalarjun Just finished, shooting with@juniorbachchan one of themost genuine sensitive andendearing moments on#love2hateu a complete gen-tleman. Ty AB.

@ImarshadwarsiIn Delhi waking up to bright

n sunny but cold morningn listening to christmascarols, it's a perfect Christmasfeeling.

@bipsluvurself Happy Birthday@RanaDaggubati .Wish youSuccess, Happiness, Love &Luck always!

@FarOutAkhtarWelcome back Vardhaan"@bomanirani: Confession:Extremely excited about therelease of Don2. Normally I amchup!!!!"

@SrBachchan T 589 - 'It is a mark of manyfamous people that they can-not part with their brightesthour : what worked once,must always work ' ~LH

@NeilNMukeshMy grandparents love storywas the best They ran awayand got married in a Temple:)They ran to a temple got mar-ried and came. Back home totake aashirvaad :D

@IamsrkBags packed...plane ready...myBihari accent was also beingworked upon. Feel awfulcouldn't make it...but inshaAllah will go there soon.

@kjohar25K3G completes a decadetoday....the illustrious cast andbrilliant crew made mybiggest celluloid dream possi-ble!!!

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2011 22The glamour behind the glitzMagic Screen

I’ve let myselfgo, says JohnAbraham B

y his own admission, John Abraham is achanged man. He is talking more, danc-ing more and is certainly more visiblethan ever before. With a slate of films

lined up in the New Year, Bollywood’squintessential handsome hunk hopes to find‘inspired living’.

“I think I have let myself go. I have openedup and let my hair down gradually. So thechange is evident, both in my personal as wellas professional life,” John says.

The 38-year-old who split from his girlfriendof eight years, actress Bipasha Basu, was quitereticent earlier. But thanks to movie promotions,which required him to be in the limelight as wellas meet and greet fans and mediapersons, Johnhas come out of his shell.

This year has been significant for John as hehad three releases — 7 Khoon Maaf, Force andDesi Boyz. If 7 Khoon Maaf won critical appreci-ation, the other two fared well at the box office.In fact, Force is being considered as one of John’sbiggest releases so far in his eight-year-old act-ing career, which kickstarted with Jism.

“I am happy. This is the best phase of mycareer so far. But you never know how long thiswill last. With my present slate of films, I canlook forward to ups and downs, but I would liketo believe that I have a safe set of projects in mykitty,” said John.

His visibility on screen and off screen willbump up next year thanks to his long line-up offilms — I, Me Aur Main, Housefull 2, Race 2 andShootout At Wadala.

IANS

I’m mostcertainly notgay, says Jackie

BollywoodactorJackie

Shroff dismiss-es reports thathe gave aninterview to aPakistani web-site about hissexual prefer-

ence and clarifies that he is notgay. “Can you believe it? Bas abyehi baqi reh gaya tha. Logon kokaam-dhanda nahin hai. Bas,yehi sab… For the record, I’venever spoken to any journalist onthis subject and certainly madeno such declaration. Main pagalhoon kya,” he said.

“In any case, what’s the bigdeal about sexual preference? Ifone is gay, one is gay. If I was, I’dhave no qualms in accepting it.But the fact is, I am most certainlynot. And I’m surprised at theaudacity of the journalist whocooked up this imaginary scan-dal,” added the 54-year-old.

IANS

RGV announcesfilm on 26/11terror attack

When Ram Gopal Varma visitedthe Taj Mahal Palace andTower Hotel soon after the

26/11 terror attacks, it was specu-lated he would make a film on theincident. The news is confirmednow. Varma has tentatively titledhis film 26/11, and he aims tocapture the ‘behind-the-sce nes’aspects of the terror attack aswell as the heroism of the offi-cers. “Everyone more or lesshas seen or heard of what hap-pened during that time (26/11).

But my attempt now would benot only to capture the physical

aspect but also behind-the-scenesaspects of what exactly happenedfrom the time Kasab and rest of the

team landed on Amar Singh Solanki’strawler in the high seas, till Kasab’s heroiccapture by the late Tukaram Ombale at

Girgaum Chowpatty,” Varma said in apress statement. “This will be intercut withwhat the various gallant police officers didin their attempt to get the situation undercontrol,” he added. IANS

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 201123Magic Screen

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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 201124The glamour behind the glitzMagic Screen

Supermodel and TV host TyraBanks has ended her four-yearrelationship with banker John

Utendahl. The 38-year-old, who wasdating Utendahl since 2007, is on a‘spiritual trip’ in Bali to get over herbreak-up.

“Tyra (Banks) has gone away

with a female friend and has beenisland-hopping, visiting Bali andtaking a spiritual retreat,” female-first.co.uk quoted Banks as saying.

However, after the separation,the banker was reportedly spottedwith a Russian model at New Yorknight spot Catch. IANS

Tyra Banks splits from boyfriend

Ke$ha takes on aBob Dylan song

Ke$ha raised eyebrows when it was revealedher cover of Bob Dylan’s classic Don’t ThinkTwice, It’s Alright would be included on themassive 76-song compilation, Chimes of

Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan, coming out on Jan 24. She is joinedby such artists as Adele, My Morning Jacket and Miley Cyrus on theset, which benefits Amnesty International.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 201125The glamour behind the glitzMagic Screen

Winona Ryder has just committed tostar with Michael Shannon and ChrisEvans in The Iceman, the Ariel

Vromen-directed drama based on the AnthonyBruno book about Richard Kuklinski, a familyman who secretly carried out contract killingsfor the mob. Millennium Films/Nu Image isfinancing the film. Shannon is playingKuklinski, aka The Iceman, and Evans is play-ing his mentor, Robert Pronge. Ryder, mostrecently seen in Black Swan and The Dilemma,will play Kuklinski’s wife, Deborah, who didnot know that he was a contract killer. Ryderrecently wrapped the indie series The Stareopposite James Franco.

WINONA RYDERTO PLAY AKILLER’S WIFEIN THE ICEMAN

MAKING OFPARADISE LOSTSHELVEDBradley Cooper really wants

to make Paradise Lost.Attached to play Lucifer

since May with Alex Proyas inthe director’s chair, Cooper actu-ally went as far as to drop out ofthe remake of The Crow becausethe two projects were scheduledto be in production at the exactsame time. Now it looks like hemay have jumped the gun with

that decision, as the project hashit a major roadblock. Accordingto Deadline, Legendary Pictureshas brought Paradise Lost to ascreeching halt and has post-poned production indefinitely.The stop is being likened to whathappened to The Lone Rangerearlier this fall, when Disneydecided to freeze the movie dueto budget concerns.

Charlie Sheen lets outpersonal number Turns out, Ashton Kutcher and

Charlie Sheen have morein common than wethought. As it happens,Sheen neglected to dothat over the week-end and once againturned himself intoa cautionary celebri-ty tale. While attempt-ing to send a privatedirect message toJustin Beiber, the TVstar accidentally tweet-ed out his personalphone number to eachand every one of his5.5 million follow-ers. Do weeven needto say any-thing

more? The gaffe happened lastThursday, when Sheen

tweeted out his phonenumber, along with a

note. “310-954-7277Call me, bro. C,” ina message report-edly meant for theBeibs. The tweet

has wisely sincebeen removed (andhis number discon-nected andchanged), but notbefore receiving1,800 text messages

and countlessmore actual

phone callsall in a mat-ter of min-utes.

UniversalPictureshasacquired

80 per cent of distri-bution rights —including in the US— to the large-scaledramatic thrillerthat Luc Besson willdirect with AngelinaJolie in the starringrole. The untitledfilm would be Jolie’snext as an actress,and it would comebefore she teamswith director RidleyScott on a historicalepic about GertrudeBell that TheConstant Gardenerscribe Jeffrey Caineis currently rewrit-ing. Jolie is alsomoving quickly onMaleficent, theLinda Woolverton-scripted revisionisttake on the SleepingBeauty tale for WaltDisney Pictures, andshe is getting closerto playing medicalexaminer KayScarpetta in the Fox2000 drama basedon the PatriciaCornwell novelseries. Jolie also isgetting ready for therelease In The LandOf Blood And Honey,her feature directo-rial and screenwrit-ing debut, which isbeing released byFilm District in theheat of the Oscarrace.

Luc Besson-Angelina Jolie tie up with

Universal

26The glamour behind the glitzMagic Screen WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2011

ScorsesegetsAmericanRivieraAward Martin Scorsese is not

in love with awardscampaigning. But

accepting awards — that's arelatively painless part ofthe road to the Oscars. Thushe is going to attend the27th Santa Barbara FilmInternational Festival trib-ute to him on January 30 toreceive the AmericanRiviera Award. While lastyear Leonardo DiCapriopresented the Master Awardto director ChristopherNolan, this marks the firsttime the fest has given theRiviera award, to a director.

Atrio of new banners forThe Amazing Spider-Manhave emerged online,

and they’re taking a very differ-ent tack to the new teaserposter released at the weekend.Designed to promote the filmto the international market, thenew artwork is loud, colourfuland extremely reminiscent ofthe Sam Raimi films. In fact, ifyou didn’t know the back storybehind the project, you’d prob-

ably assume this was a contin-uation of that series. They cer-tainly represent a change ofpace when compared to themean and moody image beingused in the domestic market.That said, the suit still lookspretty good, and that bobbledexterior is sure getting someattention. Directed by MarcWebb, the film will be releasedin 3D, and arrives in cinemason 4 July 2012.

New banners for TheAmazing Spider-Man

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 201127The glamour behind the glitzMagic Screen

Hemanth Kumarhemanth.k@postnoon.com

Amala Paul, the 20-some-thing actor from Cochin,has emerged as one ofthe most promising

actresses in the South. There’ssomething seductive about hereyes that distracts a lot of peopleand she puts them to good usein almost all of her films. Sheloves having animated conversa-tions punctuated with laughterwhich can totally take anyone bysurprise. We ask her if she wouldever act in a silent film. “I wouldlove to. Then, I can express a lotmore through my eyes,” shebreaks into laughter, once again.

She’s completely aware ofwhat people like most about her.“I have lost track of the numberof people who told me that Iresemble Deepika Padukone andPriyanka Chopra. The funny partis I don’t bear any resemblanceto them, but people still think Ido,” she smiles.

Born and brought up inCochin, Amala Paul is the firstfrom her family to enter the filmindustry. “My parents were con-

cerned in thebeginning but they have beenquite supportive about what Iwanted to do,” she says.

After several inconsequentialroles, her life changed afterPrabhu Solomon’s Mynaareleased late last year. The filmwas dubbed in Telugu as PremaKhaidi and it opened to goodreviews all over Andhra Pradesh.

“I consider my look in PremaKhaidi as my best,” Amala sayswhich takes us off-guard. Didshe really refer to her pimple-faced look with absolutely nomake-up? “Yes,” she insists andadds, “I didn’t even know that Ihad expressive eyes till Solomontold me. It was a great learningexperience and I learnt whatlook and camera angle suits me.On the first day of the film’sshooting, I couldn’t believe thelook which Solomon gave me.But he was my mentor and I hadgreat confidence in him. After apoint of time, I really liked theinnocent and raw look which Ihad throughout the film.” Youdon’t really expect to hear all that from a 20-year-old who got her first big break earlier this

year inAL Vijay’s Nanna. We ask herwhat has made her so confidentin such a short span of time? “Ithink it’s because I had learnt alot while shooting for PremaKhaidi. I had to work really hardto prove myself and whatever Iam today is because of my talentand hard work. I think I can sur-vive in the industry for a longtime if I believe in myself, mycharacters and my directors,”she beams another smile. Pointnoted.

She may have been in thenews for a lot of wrong reasons,but you can’t deny that she hasindeed made people sit up andtake notice. She’s currently act-ing in Balaji Mohan’s LoveFailure starring Siddharth in alead role, which was shot inHyderabad recently. “Siddharthis the most energetic hero I haveworked with so far. I still remem-ber watching his debut film Boysand it took me a moment tobelieve that I am acting with

him. He’s veryfocused on the sets andthanks to him, I am tryingto learn Telugu,” she says.So where does she seeherself in the near future?“I want to try differentroles and want to beremembered as a goodactress like my idols Sridevi,Madhuri Dixit andSoundarya. I think I havebecome quite mature inthe past few months andnow my friends are con-fused why I behave likea middle-agedwoman,” she says.

We hope herfriend’s are lying forit is hard to imag-ine someone having a seri-ous conver-sation withthis doe-eyed live-wire.

GOD’SOWN

CHILD

Amala Paul joins the long list ofactresses from Kerala who have madetheir debut in Telugu Cinema. The doe-eyed beauty from the backwaters ofCochin gets candid about how lifechanged after Mynaa

T-TOWN TWEETIES

@LakshmiManchuTouch down India. Mybeautiful Hyderabad. Off towork from the airport. Blessedfeeling. Lots of updates. Staytuned.

@PriyaWajAnandHappy Birthday to myAdorable 78 year oldAmmama... The birthday girl iscelebrating tomorrow with her4 children! Love U 'Stitch'Muuuuaah

@ramsayzHollywood in order 2 get ahuge opening created-SuperMAN,SpiderMAN,BatMAN n IronMAN..but in India wejust have SalMAN!

@shrutihaasanHad a fab day of shoot forGabbar Singh,such a lovelylively energetic cast and crew:) #lovemyjob

@pnavdeep26Heres wishing our dear victo-ry Venkatesh a very happybirthday :) last we met waswhen we shared our luv forhigh speeds at the Delhi f 1 :)

@sneha_ullalOff to Hyd tomorrow..launchingRS brothers on 15th..goodnighteveryone..see u there

@RanaDaggubatiSorry for being off the radar,been in Araku shooting for"Naa Ishtam". Out of cellphone/internet reach. Backnow in Hyderabad.

@AlwayscharanMy team RC polo won thePataudi cup in Delhi.I dedicatethis cup to the Nawab ofPataudi (tiger). My love to SaifAli Khan and his family.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2011 28The glamour behind the glitzMagic Screen

Veedintheto releaseon Dec 30Vi

kram

’s

Vikram, Deeksha Sethstarrer Veedinthe isgoing to be the lastfilm to hit the

screens this year. Earlier thisyear, Vikram played the leadrole in AL Vijay’s Nanna,

which was criticallyacclaimed and now inVeedinthe, Vikram is going toflex his muscles and amp uphis style quotient. Directedby Suseenthiran, the filmmarks the foray of Prasad VPotluri’s PVP Cinemas intofilm production. YuvanShankar Raja has composedthe music of this film whichis touted to be a mass enter-tainer. Vikram will reportedlybe seen in 17 differentavatars in the film which isanother feather in his cap.Saloni, Reema Sen andShriya Saran have playedcameos in Veedinthe. Thefilm is all set to hit thescreens on December 30.

Rana’s Krishnum VandeJagadgurum launched

Rana’s fourth Telugu film,Krishnum Vande Jagadgurum,was launched earlier today in

Ramanaidu Studios. Criticallyacclaimed director Krish, ofGamyam and Vedam fame, isgoing to direct the film. A little

bird tell us that Rana is play-ing a theatre artist in the film

which is an action revengedrama. M M Keeravani isgoing to compose themusic. Although there

were reports in the past thatAnushka has been chosen as thefilm’s lead actress, Krish is reportedlystill searching for a tall heroine,who’s at least 5’ 8’ or above, for thisfilm to match Rana’s height. This isn’tthe first time directors have facedsome difficulty in choosing the rightheroine for Rana. In the past,Selvaraghavan’s period film withRana was delayed for a long timebecause he couldn’t find a heroinewho could match Rana’s height.

Lakshmi Manchu is on a roll these days.After making her debut as a producer

with Jhummandhi Naadam in 2010, shemade her onscreen debut in Anaganaga O

Dheerudu. After playing supporting roles inRGV’s Dongala Muta and Department, she’s all

set to star in her home production titledGundello Godaari. She’s pairing up withAadi Pinishetty in the film which will bedirected by Kumar. For the past fewmonths, Lakshmi Manchu has beenjuggling between her responsibilitiesas a producer of Manchu Manoj star-rer Uu Kodathara Ulikki Padathaaraand Gundello Godaari. Ilayaraaja isgoing to compose the music of thisfilm which will go on floors shortly.

next film titledGundello Godaari

Lakshmi Manchu’s

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 201129Telly sitcoms, news and movie listingsChai Time

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‘India's Minute To Win It’at 2100 Hrs on AXN

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Chashma1830 R.K. Laxman Ki Duniya1900 Chidiya Ghar1930 Don't Worry Chachu !!!2000 Chintu Chinky Aur Ek Badi

Si Love Story2030 Taarak Mehta Ka Oolta

Chashma2100 Chidiya Ghar2130 R.K. Laxman Ki Duniya2200 Lapataganj2230 FIR2300 Taarak Mehta Ka Oolta

Chashma2330 Sajan Re Jhoot Mat Bolo0900 Don't Worry Chachu !!!0930 Sajan Re Jhoot Mat Bolo1000 Taarak Mehta Ka Oolta

Chashma

MOVIES OF THE DAY AND OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

‘Diya Aur Bati Hum’ at2100 Hrs on STAR PLUS1400 Sapnon Se Bharey Naina1500 Navya1530 Diya Aur Bati Hum1600 Ek Hazaaron Mein Meri

Behnaa Hai1630 Sasuraal Genda Phool1700 Saath Nibhaana Saathiya1730 Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam

Doon1800 Mann Ki Awaaz… Pratigya1900 Saath Nibhaana Saathiya1930 Sasuraal Genda Phool2000 Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam

Doon2030 Ek Hazaaron Mein Meri

Behnaa Hai2100 Diya Aur Bati Hum2130 Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai2200 Navya2230 Mann Ki Awaaz… Pratigya2300 Maryaada ... Lekin Kab Tak?

PhulwaStoryline - Bade Thakurexpresses Joy to Abhayabout the money he gotback. Phulwa goes to meetBaabu and tells him thatsoon she will get the realpicture of Thakur in front ofAbhay.

‘Phulwa‘ at 2100 Hrs on COLORS

Storyline - Sweety realizesher mistake and convincesGinny to join the bandagain. But she is disheart-ened when she finds outthat her daughter has beenreplaced by another girl inthe band.

‘Parvarrish… Kuchh Khatti KuchhMeethi’ at 2130 Hrs on SONY

Parvarrish

‘Deconstructed’ at 2200Hrs on DISCOVERYSCIENCE

‘CSI - New York’ at 2300Hrs on BIG CBS PRIME1430 Jerry Springer 1530 Aspire 1600 Survivor 1700 Bellator 1800 Galileo Extreme 1900 The Defenders 2000 Entertainment Tonight 2030 Galileo Extreme 2100 The Defenders 2200 Jerry Springer 2300 CSI - New York 0700 Aspire 0730 Big Wheels 0800 Galileo Extreme 0900 CSI - New York 1000 Bellator 1100 Jerry Springer 1200 Aspire 1230 Entertainment Tonight 1300 Galileo Extreme 1330 The Defenders

1430 Mummy Autopsy1530 Through The Wormhole

With Morgan Freeman1630 Science Of The Movies1730 Massive Machines1800 Massive Speed1830 Best Of Discovery Science1930 Connections 32030 Megascience2130 Food Detectives2200 Deconstructed2230 The Greatest Ever2330 The New Inventors0700 How It's Made0730 Connections 30830 Mummy Autopsy0930 Industrial Revelations -

Best Of British Engineering1030 Megascience1130 Food Detectives1200 Deconstructed1330 100 Greatest Discoveries

1315 Ocean's Eleven 1530 10,000 Bc 1735 Jason X 1920 Jason Goes To Hell - The Final

Friday 2100 Iron Man 2330 The Phantom 0855 Friends 0925 New Adventures Of Old

Christine 0955 The Long Kiss Goodnight 1210 Iron Man

1520 Turistas1705 Wild Child1910 Spiders2100 Get Him To The Greek2320 Sherlock Holmes 0800 Platoon Leader1005 Mortal Kombat Annihilation1210 Sherlock Holmes

‘Choti Bahu 2’ at 1930 Hrson ZEE TV1400 Hitler Didi1430 Mrs. Kaushik Ki Paanch

Bahuein1500 Bhagonwali1530 Yahaaan Main Ghar Ghar

Kheli1600 Pavitra Rishta1630 Star Ya Rockstar1800 Ram Milaye Jodi1830 Mrs. Kaushik Ki Paanch

Bahuein1900 Ek Nayi Choti Si Zindagi1930 Choti Bahu 22000 Hitler Didi2030 Yahaaan Main Ghar Ghar

Kheli2100 Pavitra Rishta2130 Ram Milaye Jodi2200 Mrs. Kaushik Ki Paanch

Bahuein2230 Bhagonwali2300 Pavitra Rishta

‘Get Him To The Greek’ at 2100 Hrs HBO

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 201130Chai Time

How to Play KakuroKakuro is a popular game similar to sudoku in some ways. But is alsosuitably different. The key question: “How do you play Kakuro?”, wellhere are the rules of kakuro. The answer: The kakuro grid, unlike insudoku, can be of any size. It has rows and columns, and dark cells likein a crossword. And, just like in a crossword, some of the dark cells willcontain numbers. Some cells will contain two numbers.

However, in a crossword the numbers reference clues. In a kakuro,the numbers are all you get! They denote the total of the digits in therow or column referenced by the number.

Within each collection of cells - called a run - any of the numbers 1to 9 may be used but, like sudoku, each number may only be used once.

Let’s have an example to explain this concept more clearly:In the image above, which shows a section of a kakuro puzzle, you

will see the numbers ‘26’ and ‘14’ in the top row. Look at the 14. Thismeans that the total of the three cells underneath must sum to 14.Therefore 9, 4, 1 could be the answer, or perhaps 7, 4, 3 and so on...

So, how do you work out the actual combination? Well, this is donethrough elimination and cross-referencing. For instance, as you work outthe answers for other kakuro clues, this will naturally limit the valid com-binations, and hence the answer for this particular run.

Note the second cell in row two - it contains two numbers, 30 and11. The 30 refers to the vertical run underneath the number 30 and the11 refers to the two cells to the right, horizontally, of the number 11.

KAKUROACROSS1 G or F, on sheet music5 Grocers stock them9 Bashful companion?14 Overhead light15 Skin lotion plant16 Antipasto ingredient,

often17 A couple of words from

Caesar18 Memorization by repeti-

tion19 Fringe areas20 What you're certain to

find at the lake?23 Finger count24 Winter outerwear25 Take from the crate30 ___ choy (Chinese cab-

bage)31 Oberon's wife in "A

Midsummer Night'sDream"

32 Moonshine maker35 Translucent gem37 Annoys with constant

complaints38 Beggar's request at the

lake?41 Country star Jackson42 Invisible emanation43 Natural rope fiber44 Last days of long week-

ends46 Bygone Ford47 Villainous visages48 Christiania, today50 A Greek letter53 Boots to wear at the

lake?56 Like yester- day's news60 Saroyan's "My Name is

___"61 Egyptian symbol of life62 Nut that gets squirreled

away?63 "Two Mules for Sister

___" (Clint Eastwoodfilm)

64 Wight, for one65 Bookkeeping entry66 Concordes, e.g.67 Look lustfully

DOWN

1 Where medals hang2 Machine for shaping

wood3 "Circle of Life" rocker

John4 Number of Gospels5 "Duke Bluebeard's

Castle" composer Bela6 Hawaii, the ___ State7 Catch phrase?8 Witnessed9 "Alice ___ Live Here

Anymore"10 Ancient11 Pork source12 Mother of all matri-

archs13 Thumbs-up vote21 Parisian school22 Cunning26 Forthright27 "Under a Glass Bell"

author Nin28 "The Sweetheart of ___

Chi"29 Flip-chart stand30 One with light locks31 The O'Hara home32 Confidence games33 Condor's weapon34 Lacking sense35 Musical work36 Golfing standard39 "Well done,

if I do ___myself"

40 Furrier JohnJacob

45 Intenselydevoted

46 Camels'cousins

48 Gumbo veg-gies

49 Quick onthe uptake

50 Walking oneggshells

51 Spot for a spat52 Theater employee54 Mama ___ Elliot55 Follow, as a suspect56 Inflate, as expenses57 Best pitcher on the staff58 Weep loudly59 ___ Lanka

SCRI

BBLI

NG P

AD

SUDOKU

I am always

doing things I

can't do,

that's how I

get to do

them.

THOUGHT OFTHE DAY

Take a shot at the brain game while sipping your cuppa

QUICK CROSSWORD

PREVIOUS PUZZLE ANSWER

– Pablo Picasso

31Chai TimeC

OM

ICS

Fred

Bas

set

Ston

e so

up

TAROT READ

Queen of Wands –Youʼve created anatmosphere of com‑fort and are on theright path to whatexactly you need atthis point in time.Avoid mental tension.

Three of Pentacles –Upgrade your skillsand learn somethingnew. This is theonly way you canmove ahead in yourcareer and not getstuck in any one job.

Death – This doesnot mean physicaldeath. It means achange in perception,which is so deep thatit alters your veryway of living life andthinking.

ARIES TAURUS GEMINIARIESEmployees will complete work. Incomeexceeds your expectation. Businessmenwill get relief from disputes with part‑ners. Debt will be under control. Fresh,tiny investment may be contemplated.

CANCER

LIBRAPoliticians will get recognition for theirwelfare schemes. Enemies will becomesilent. False cases will be withdrawn.Business men will see profits. Postponeinvestment and expansion plans.

CAPRICORNSuperiors might give trouble, keeppatience and work with a determination.Business done with partners will scalenew heights provided they are in goodharmony.

TAURUSProperty cases will be resolved.Financial position will look up gradual‑ly. Employees will complete work.Colleagues will help. Businessmen willadopt new techniques.

LEOBusinessmen will get government sops.Business deals will bring profits. Maintaincordial relationship with partners.Employees will get rewarded for their hardwork. Politicians will get good posts

SCORPIOApprehensions will disappear and you willbe appreciated by all. Employees likely toget promotion. Businessmen will collectthe old dues. Farmersʼ produce will getsold for a good price.

AQUARIUSAvoid increasing the business by giv‑ing more credits. Expenses must bekept under control. Politicians mayface obstacles in their growth path,created by enemies.

GEMINISavings will grow. Some will either changetheir residence or buy a house.Businessmen will have a smooth sailing. Asound financial position is certain. Old writ‑ten off dues will be recovered.

VIRGOEmployees will complete work within thestipulated time. Promotion is in the offing.Smooth financial flow is also seen.Businessmen might face some hurdles intransactions. Medical expenses will fall.

SAGITTARIUSJourneys may not bring desired results.Employees will get appreciation fromsuperiors. Pay hike you get will matchyour expectations. Politicians will getvital posts in the party.

PISCESEmployees will complete their work intime and get rewarded. Court verdictswill go in your favour. Businessmen willhave smooth transactions. Politicianswill get a good support for their plans.

For B

ette

r or f

or W

orse

Ink

pen

Queen of Swords –You may be feeling lo ‑nely and yearn for so ‑me good company. Butbeing the intellectualtype, youʼre too choosyabout who you wantto spend time with.

King of Swords –Youʼre very cut anddried and this mightwork best in the officespace where peoplemay be trying to takeadvantage of you. Itwonʼt work at home.

King of Wands –This is a perfectmeeting point ofyour creative andintellectual urges.Both are getting anequal share of yourtime and attention.

CANCER LEO VIRGO

The Tower – Bigchanges are on theway. It may be relat‑ed to the job andmay even bringabout changes inyour living situation.Keen an open mind.

The Sun – Youʼrebright and cheerfuland this happy dis‑position wins youmany friends. Peopleeven come to you foradvice because youseem so practical.

Ten of Pentacles –Finances are in focus.Theyʼre doing ex ‑tremely well and youneed to figure outways to protect whatyou earn. Consult agood tax man.

LIBRA SCORPIO SAGITTARIUS

Three of Wands –Creativity is at its peak.You find solutions toseemingly nonnego‑tiable problems atwork, and your seniorsare mighty impressed.Donʼt over‑promise.

Judgment – You willeventually get what isdue to you. You maynot need to do muchto get it. Just go withthe flow of life and itwill come your way.

Five of Pentacles –There is some sort ofmisery or disappoint‑ment indicated. Thingsmay not be going toplan. You need to stickit out through thisrough patch.

CAPRICORN AQUARIUS PISCES

STAR POWER SUMAA TEKURtarotreadhyd@gmail.com

THIRUVAIKUMARthiruvaikumar@yahoo.co.in

040-27177230 / 9177596118

SOLUTIONS

Sudu

ko

Scrabble

Num

ber g

ame

Boggle

TAP MAMBO TANGO TWIST WALTZ

Businessmen will manage competition well.Adopt an amicable approach with partners.Trouble faced by employees will disappear.Superiors and colleagues will be very co‑operative. Politicians will get pulm posts.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2011Your tomorrow today̶Star Power and Tarot

Date 15-12-2011

March 20 – April 18 April 19 – May 19 May 20 – June 20

June 21 – July 21 July 22 – August 21 August 22 – September21

September 22 – October 22 October 23 – November 20 November 21 – Dec 20

Dec 21 – January 19 January 20 – February 18 February 19 – March 19

Vol: 1, No. 151 RNI No: APENG/2011/39337 Published for the proprietors, Scribble Media and Entertainment Pvt Ltd, by V Harshavardhan Reddy, at #1246, Level 3, Jubilee Casa, Road No. 62, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad–500033 and printed by himat Jagati Publications Ltd, Plot No D-75&E-52, APIE Industrial Estate, Balanagar, Ranga Reddy Dist, Hyderabad–500037, Editor: Dean Williams – Responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act

All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. For feedback, please write to: feedback@postnoon.com and for subscription, please call 040-40672222, Fax: 040-40672211

The Art of GiftingThe Art of GiftingWelcome to India’s finest

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Models dis-play new wed-ding collec-tions for 2012at the Neeru’sstore in KingKoti. This yearthe store cele-brates 40years of serv-ing the city.

Actor SayaliBhagat was spot-ted at Isda Thai onTuesday promotingher upcomingmovie Ghost. Theactor relished acouple of Thaidishes as well.

Movie talkover food

Go ethnicthis season

Actor Sayali Bhagat with Suleman Hirani, MD Darpan FurnishingShowroom, at the launch of Soft Home Deals at the store onTilak Road on Tuesday.

PIC: N SHIVA KUMAR

PIC

S: S

RIN

IVA

S SE

TTY

Priyanka Sanjay Sonu and Ruchita

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 201132Spotlight

Designer Abhiram organiseda party for rapper BabaSehgal and his friend at hisresidence on Tuesday.

PARTY RAP