Snapshots

The first time Kalb came to India was in 1962 to cover the war with China. That was when he interviewed Nehru, whom he had admired for many years as a writer he had, in fact, bought the first edition of Glimpses8230;, a paperback version of which he picked up on this latest trip. During the course of the interview, Kalb asked Nehru why he wore the famous rose. To which Nehru said that during the freedom struggle, when everyone donned white khadi, it became such a landscape of sameness, that he just wanted to add a splash of colour. That splash of colour became his trademark and a well-loved symbol in itself.

LuckyIndian

8220;I am a Hindu by virtue of being born in this country and I am a Muslim, for I have chosen the faith,8221; declared Lucky Sifar Ali, as he prepared for a Valentine8217;s Day concert in Pune. He was holding forth on what he called his 8220;faith,8221; something very personal, as opposed to religion. 8220;Do you know that my faith tells me?8221; asked the man who has given O Sanam to the charts. 8220;That if someone were to hit me, I can either hit him back, or forgive him and achieve eternal happiness.8221; But, clearly, the soft-spoken singing sensation prefers happiness to the Law of Moses. And he attributed this frame of mind to his being an Indian. 8220;Everywhere I go, I am an Indian,8221; he said. 8220;When I am welcomed as one, I carry the label with pride, but when I am looked down upon, I also carry the pain that my country has to shoulder.8221;

Saving Wives

There8217;s a logic to her bad sartorial sense. Kanjeevarams and massive bindis may make Usha Uthup look ev-ery bit of an amma, but she says the image helps.8220;It makes me stand out among other pop singers,8221; she said in Pune last week. 8220;I can only say thank you8217; to the sari, because it has made all the women in the audience my best friends 8212; it ensures their husbands won8217;t stray,8221; the sensational singer laughs. Some consolation, that.

Saffron Savvy

With the Gujarat Government drawing flak for Christain-bashing in the STATE, the VHP8217;s Ahmedabad Dharmasansad could not have come at a worse time. Yet, VHP8217;s General Secretary, Pravin Togadia, couldn8217;t stop smiling when Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel arrived at the Dharmasansad, that too when the demand for a ban on cow slaughter was being aired. Togadia announced that the Gujarat Government would not only impose the ban, but also set up a cow protection ministry8217;.

But Patel refused to be drawn in. 8220;I have come here for the darshan of holy men and to receive their blessings,8221; was all he said, before voicing a full-throated Jai Shri Ram8217;. Why didn8217;t Patel, an old RSS hand, announce a ban? He musthave known it wasn8217;t possible in view of certain judgments of the Gujarat High Court and the Supreme Court.

Torch Of Hope

The US-based megacorp Enron, evidently, is taking no chances with the country8217;s precarious power situation, though Phase I of its much-maligned Dabhol project in Maharashtra is on stream and it is close to tying up finances for Phase II. At a celebratory do in the Capital last week, the company gifted solid-state energisers that8217;s Americanese for torches to guests as a going-home present. This summer, a lot of state electricity boards may need these in a big way, but such sombre thoughts did not weigh heavily on the party.

Most of Enron8217;s high-profile board, including the former US ambassador to India, Frank Wisner, had flown in to toast the occasion. And the star of the evening, needless to say, was Enron International8217;s chief, Rebecca Mark, who was introduced, quite appropriately, by Joe Sutton the company8217;s president and CEO as a 8220;familiar Indian face.8221; He wasn8217;t, ofcourse, referring to her ghagra-choli that had heads turning through the evening.

Natural Wit

Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Maneka Gandhi, our self-anointed green queen, finally has competition. That too from another partner of the BJP-led alliance at the Centre, namely, the Shiv Sena8217;s Suresh Prabhu, who8217;s also the Environment and Forests Minister. The dapper minister was in Pune recently to inaugurate the university8217;s Ayurveda Department. As it had taken over a decade for it to come up, most of the speakers at the inaugural function aptly described the long wait as vanvaas.

But Prabhu would have none of it. 8220;Ayurveda is the science of nature,8221; he tut-tutted, 8220;and for any nature-lover, an exile in a forest should be a matter of joy, not a complaint.8221; Not that many in the audience approved of such a sabbatical.

8212; Sunil Jain and Kaveree Bamzai in New Delhi; Shaan Chavan, Saikat Datta and Davinder Kumar in Pune; Virender Kumar in Ahmedabad

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