Snapshots

The line's busyThe country's telecom operators who, along with the Government, have been complaining that mis-reporting by the media has ...

The line8217;s busy

The country8217;s telecom operators who, along with the Government, have been complaining that mis-reporting by the media has given the telecom bailout package a bad name, continue to duck coming out in the open on the issue. Last week, they got their public relations agency IPAN to organise select one-on-one8217;s with editors of select newspapers/magazines. But after the Election Commission lambasted the Government, and the High Court added to this, the operators decided to cancel the appointments. What happens, they probably argued to themselves, if someone asks a tough question and we can8217;t answer it. This was around the time the Prime Minister8217;s Office was hustling them to give the undertakings the court wanted. As part of this, the operators were asking for various concessions and were holding hush-hush meetings with even the Attorney General. Obviously, the last thing they wanted was to have some nosey editor quizzing them on the details.

Uncommon Sen

It8217;s taken him six longyears but film-maker Mrinal Sen is all set to return to the sets call for action. Sen8217;s last film Antareen, starring Dimple Kapadia, didn8217;t set the box office on fire, but then when has Sen ever cared for big bucks? Explaining his absence from direction, he says: 8220;Sometimes I thought my creative faculties have dried up.8221; The filmmaker refuses to divulge much about his forthcoming project except for a few things. The first of them: that the film will be made in Bengali and work will start anytime later this year. And as far as finances are considered, he says it was never a problem with him. Lucky he.

Shopping for a Ticket

Chief of Central Bureau of Investigation, not-quite-bestselling author and now a wannabe politician in search of a party, Joginder Singh covers a lot of ground. Tiger, as he likes to be called, is in the market for a safe seat. But, unfortunately for him, the Congress and the BJP are both not biting. Singh8217;s overtures to the Congress have only led to vague assurances, so now heis trying to contact the BJP using the 8220;I got the Bofors papers card8221;.

Ministerial wrangle

Haj 2000 has turned in to a hot potato as the Ministry of External Affairs and Union Ministry of Civil Aviation squabble over which Ministry will provide the subsidy in the millennium year. In a strongly drafted protest, the Civil Aviation Ministry has maintained that since the foreign office takes all the decisions, they should pay for the Haj from their budgetary grants. The MEA has not even bothered to reply to the letter. And, in a completely calculated insult, the MEA mandarins boycotted the Civil Aviation Ministry meeting called to discuss the thorny issue. Senior Aviation Ministry officials were left high and dry as the MEA officials did not even call to say they were not coming. With the cost of Haj 2000 pegged at more than Rs 150 crore, the Civil Aviation Ministry is still trying to find a way out of paying for it.

Glamour-struck CM

Perhaps no chief minister would risk attending afashion show, let alone especially fly in for the purpose, wait for about half-an-hour for the models to arrive and then make the ramp a dance floor. But Dr Farooq Abdullah, Chief Minister of trouble-torn Jammu and Kashmir, does all this with ease and gets away without an accusing finger being raised. To be fair to him, the National Institute of Fashion Design costume show held at Jammu on Monday was in memory of Kargil martyrs and helped raised funds. On the ramp were models Shweta Menon, Joey Mathews and Ayesha Prem among others. The Chief Minister enjoyed every moment of the show and when, towards the end, the organisers wanted to curtail some rounds, he put his foot down. Later, he called the students and models to the stage and danced with them to the beat of patriotic numbers. Farooq was also the biggest bidder in the auction purchasing a dress for Rs 10,000. For whom, he did not tell.