No Show

Just gunshots ricochet. Pop and precirc;t have given way to panic 8212; and in no small measure. A nation looking with glazed eyes at body bags coming out of Mumbai hotels...

Live Earth is doubtful; Stella McCartney cancels her tour; and even Pakistani band Strings will not fly in

Just gunshots ricochet. Pop and precirc;t have given way to panic 8212; and in no small measure. A nation looking with glazed eyes at body bags coming out of Mumbai hotels and the Operation Black Tornado raging within does not have patience with pastimes now. Elsewhere, there is paranoia, and from London to Lahore to Los Angeles, people are cancelling their India trips.

Live Earth India, which boasts a huge cache of participating artists like Jon Bon Jovi, Will.i.am and Roger Waters, was scheduled to take place at Mumbai8217;s Andheri Sports Complex on December 7. But the authorities are yet to decide on whether to go ahead with the concert, considering that the city will take time to recover. 8220;We8217;ll decide by December 4, depending on how things stand then,8221; says a source.

Fashion designer Stella McCartney, who was scheduled to be in Delhi next week to meet with Charu and Priya Sachdev and explore her options in India, has cancelled her visit. The International Herald Tribune8217;s luxury conference, scheduled at the Hotel Imperial from December 2 to 4, too has been put off. Stephen Dunbar Johnson, publisher of the IHT, has said in a statement, 8220;We had already put in place security measures, but we are, of course, sensitive to the safety concerns of all our conference participants following the terrorist attack on Mumbai. While reluctant to postpone the event, we felt it was inappropriate to hold this conference at such a difficult time for India 8212; but we plan to be back as soon as the situation is stabilised.8221;

The Pakistani band Strings were supposed to perform on a college campus in Pune on November 29, but instead Indian Ocean has been asked to play. 8220;Given the grim situation, the college festival should be cancelled altogether, but as of now they have asked us to play. There8217;s yet to be a confirmation on this,8221; says Rahul Ram of Indian Ocean. Strings refused to comment.

The annual Jazz Utsav is playing at Delhi8217;s FICCI auditorium, but its Mumbai leg has been cancelled. Artists such as Canada8217;s Francois Bourassa Quartet and Ireland8217;s Honor Heffernan are expected to fly back as soon as their performances in the Capital are over.

Bollywood too has postponed its shoots and functions. The music release of the Akshay Kumar-Deepika Padukone starrer Chandni Chowk to China on December 2 has been tentatively postponed to December 9. 8220;Everything that8217;s happening has stunned Mumbai. That8217;s why we have cancelled the launch,8221; says Paresh Kamath of the band Kailasa, which has composed for the film. Vishal Bhardwaj8217;s Kamine with Shahid Kapoor was to be shot near the Taj and Oberoi hotels on Wednesday night when the terror began. It has been called off.

With inputs from Paromita Chakrabarti