Ergo edition dated July 28 (Monday)

8/14/2019 Ergo edition dated July 28 (Monday)

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Monday, July 28, 2008A BYTE OF LIFE

COMIC-CONkicks off in San Diego

FREE CIRCULATION Vol. 2 No. 146

Hover.in

Pune-based start-up taps the in-textad market

0510

Man of theMOMENT

Young director-producer M.Sasikumar in afreewheeling chat on the success ofSubramaniapuram and future plans

PHOTO:S.S.

KUMAR

In the wake of the seriall bomb blasts in Bangalore Ahmedabad and intelligence reports on temples in tstate being possible targets, heavy securityarrangements have been made at all key temples of

state. Seen in the picture above is Chennai city policCommissioner R. Sekar at the Sri Parthasarthy templTriplicane. PHOTO: R. RAVINDRAN

PAGE 03

SECURITY SCAN


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ERGO Monday, July 28, 2008NAMMA CHENNAI02

Anna NagarSubhiksha storeburgled againBurglars struck at theSubhiksha supermarket on 3rd Avenue inAnna Nagar in the wee hours of Sundayand decamped with mobile phones worthRs. 5 lakh. This is the second such incidentat the store over the last two months.According to Anna Nagar police, the cellphone section inside the supermarket wasthe target this time, too. The burglarycame to light after the store was openedfor operations on Sunday morning.The culprits had gained access to the storeafter breaking open a lock at the rear end.

Nearly 150 handsets were reportedlymissing.Anna Nagar police are investigating thematter. The previous burglary at the samestore also witnessed the theft of cellphones worth more than Rs. 4 lakh. Thecase is yet to be cracked.

Six booked under

Goondas ActSix men, including a history-sheeter, werebooked under the Goondas Act. Policesuspect their involvement in the murder ofone Rajesh (28) of Choolaimedu lastmonth.On June 25, Rajesh was killed by a six-member gang comprising Muthu, Selvam,Senthil, Pratap, Jairaj and Radhakrishnan at a TASMAC shop in Choolaimedu.Following investigations, the six werearrested.One of the accused, Muthu, was alreadyinvolved in another murder, while theothers were involved in minor offences.The six were booked under the GoondasAct and sent to Puzhal prison on Saturday.

Ask a school teacher how shemanages a class of 60 stu-dents. It is a Herculeantask, she might say. But the

Polaris staff Karthik and Padmini, were extremely at ease, whenthey were given the task of ma-naging 2,500 students and to lit-erally make them dance to theirtunes.

Ullas, the Corporate Social re-

sponsibility initiative of Polaris, witnessed about 2,500 studentsgathered at Madras UniversityCentenary Auditorium to hearthe speech made by Dr A.P.J.Ab-dul Kalam. Started in 1997 by Po-laris employees, Ullas celebratedits 11th annual workshop last Fri-day. The trust recognises aca-demic excellence in studentsstudying in Corporation and Go-vernment schools. An initiative

which started with 32 childrenhas today awarded over 20,000scholarships to students in

schools across all districts of Ta-mil Nadu and cities of Mumbaiand Delhi.

This year, 1,965 students from197 Corporation, Governmentand Government-aided schoolsin Chennai and 128 schoolsacross the 29 district headquar-ters of Tamil Nadu were awarded

Ullas Scholarships.Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, released

the Diary of Dreams whicgiven to Ullas achievers tocourage them pen down dreams and draw up an acplan to realise the same.

Arun Jain, Chairman and of Polaris Software lab said the Ullas programme has plan important role in integra

the company with the lacommunity.

ERGO [email protected]

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam interacting with students at MadrasUniversity Centenary Auditorium. PHOTO: S.S. KUMAR

1,965 students from 197 schoolsin Chennai and 128 schools acrossthe 29 districts of Tamil Nadu

were awarded Scholarships

Ullas Trust hands overscholarships

BPO zoneSitagita.com has launched an all-India onlinewomens BPO zone, enabling women in the ITeSsector to receive guidelines on various topics thatconcern their day-to-day life. A BPO blog and anAgony Aunt section are also available.

I will be back soonThe recent transfer of a city-based Deputy

Commissioner of Police is known to be apolitical move as the IPS officer had a long-standing rift with a state minister who re-sides in the area under his jurisdiction. Thecop is known to have tried all means to re-voke the transfer order, but the minister en-sured he moved out of the DC chair. Theofficer has moved out but has not decidedto give up. He has told his orderlies to stayafter the words, I will be back soon.

Could he be the psycho?The police hunt to trap

the so-called psychokiller is on in full

flow at Vadapala-ni and adjoiningareas. Appar-ently, a mental-ly-challengedman wascaught a few

days back whoallegedly threat-

ened people saying, You will be killedlike Vadapalani. A few panic denizenshad informed the cops who rushed in toapprehend the man only to realise thathe doesnt speak Tamil but only Hindi.

Transfer politicsThe recent transfer of a number of As-

sistant Commissioner ranked khakisfrom the city is said to have been orderedafter a particular political party was oust-ed from the state coalition. Police circlessay that the officers transferred were ei-ther from a particular caste or sympa-thisers of the political party.

Influential inspector

A south Chennai based police inspec-tor was transferred recently followingsexual assault allegations against him.The new man who replaced him wasknown to have been recommended byfour ministers from the State cabinet,leaving several top-level IPS officersstunned over the influence wielded by anordinary inspector.


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Monday, July 28, 2008

Learn Bolly danceDance to your favourite Bollywood numbers with Senthils BollyDance at Pink and FitnessOne. The fitness model is designed to burnthe calories. Classes will be held on Tuesdays, Thursdays andSaturdays at Pink (7 to 8 p.m.) and FitnessOne (6 to 7 p.m.). Thecourse is priced at Rs. 1096. For details, contact 26471 222/ 2621 1222.

The Sasikumar that we meet at his Sa-ligramam office is relaxed, comforta-ble and also prone to breaking intolaughter once in a while; a far cry from

the brooding, violent youth, whose out-break in the closing portions of the sleeperhit Subramaniyapuram, has disturbedand continues to disturb thousands of Ta-mil film fans.

Dressed in a cool blue t-shirt and jean, helooks more like a software engineer. Whenpeople first looked at me at the labs (for hispost-production work), they could not be-lieve I was the director and producer. I hadto get some of my assistants to confirm it tothem, he laughs.

It is evident that he has heard one goodnews after another about his debut film the most recent one was that the multiplex-es in the city last week finally startedscreening Subramaniyapuram, three

weeks after it received great word of mouththat propelled it to being a sleeper hit noone expected. Not even the youngdirector-producer.

Happy but scaredI thoroughly believed in my script and

knew the movie would succeed. But neverin my dreams did I think of achieving sucha big success. The audience seem to havetaken to the movie at an altogether differ-ent plane. While I am happy, it is a bit un-nerving. The expectations from my nextfilm are going to be humungous. No matter

what I do from here on, people are going tocompare it with Subramaniyapuram, hesays, a smile spreading across his face.

Sasikumar, a native of Madurai (mostevidently, one might add), had earlier as-sisted directors Bala and Ameer and seemsto have been influenced by both the direc-tors, especially with regards to their atten-tion to detail and penchant for raw realism.Both the elements are at play all the time inSubramaniyapuram. Though the actorsand technicians in the film were all new-comers, saving a lot of cost for Sasikumarthe producer, he nevertheless spent con-

siderable amounts on getting the 1980sfeel for the movie and in keeping it as realas possible.

It is most certainly not a low-budgetmovie, he asserts. I quite literally startedcollecting 1980s props for the movies. Thetwo government buses that you see thegovernment no longer makes those two-seaters. Also that Lambretta classic scooterthat the character Kanagan rides.

The attention to detail does not endthere: from the clothes that the characters

wear the printed fabrics that were in fash-ion in the 1980s to the 4-digit dialing intelephones to even the tortoise advertise-ments on the compound walls. Sasikumarfeels that the attention has paid dividends.The movie is attracting repeat audiences

where we have people getting to the cine-mas just to see if we have committed anyerrors in recreating the Madurai of the1980s. But so far, we have heard nothingbut praise.

The biggest challenge in making the mo-vie? Facing the camera, he laughs. Trustme, it is a lot easier to direct than act. WhenI was an assistant director, I always won-dered why actors were unable to act evensimple scenes. But now I know. Sitting infront of the monitor and screaming at theactors is one thing but getting in front of

camera is totally different. I struggled a lotin the initial sequence but later onswitched off thinking the two personalities the actor and the director.

One of the biggest surprise packages inthe movie is its music by James Vasanthan.He was Sasikumars music teacher atschool but the director says he was hardlysympathetic to his teacher. I told himclearly that he had to satisfy my creativeneeds.

Future plansSasikumar says it would take another six

months for him to launch his next film. Inthe meanwhile, he will star in the lead rolein a movie to be directed by Samudirakani,

whom Subramaniyapuram audiencesknow better as Kanagan, Thulasis uncle

who in the end does not have a very firmhead on his shoulders.

Director M. Sasikumar in a freewheeling chat on his hard workfor his first film, his tryst with success and future plans

KARTHIK [email protected]

""II tthhoorroouugghhllyybbeelliieevveedd iinnmmyy ssccrriipptt""

Catch the audio ofthe entire interviewon www.goergo.in

PHOTOS: S. S. KUMAR


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ERGO Monday, July 28, 2008KALEIDOSCOPE04

Internet users are currently be-ing warned too look out fore-mail messages claiming tobe from package courier UPS.

The messages, delivered in En-glish and in German, actuallyoriginate from hackers, the Ger-man Federal Agency for Securityin Information Technology (BSI)reported recently. The messagestell the recipient that a packagecould not be delivered due to anon-existent address. The mes-sage then encourages the user toclick on an e-mail attachment tocheck the delivery slip data;anyone who does so allows a Tro-

jan virus to sneak onto their com-puter. The subject line of the fakee-mail messages usually containssomething like Your UPS pack-age, followed by a string of let-ters and numbers.

DPA

Spam with the subject line Your UPS package ismaking the rounds

Beware of courier

service e-mails

It may sound bizarre but an un-known granny is making waves

on the Internet with her poledancing video titled Grannys

Gone Wild.The video, posted on YouTube,shows the lady grabbing hold of apole and mimicking sexy moveswhile stunned guests look on.

Ever wonder what happens tothose who love to dance, but gettoo old to stand up on their own?is the caption given to the video,reports the Sun.

ANI

Ever wonder whathappens to those wholove to dance, butget too old to stand

up on their own?

Pole dancing grannysvideo a hit on YouTube!

Let me tell you the secret thathas led me to my goal: my

strength lies solely in my tenacityLouis Pasteur

A Chinese man carries his daughter as they watchperformances at a park in Beijing on Saturday. Chinwill stage the biggest Olympic cultural festival ever

seen during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games,headlined by top international and domestic starsand will fill Beijings theatres with the "richest andmost diverse" programme ever run in a games hostcity. AFP PHOTO

"Boston", an orphan dog, is adopted during thecampaign "Adopt a dog, friends cant be bought" inMexico City, on Saturday. Animal lovers organisedan exhibition with some of the three million astraydogs that swarm around in the Mexican capital,with exhibitions of sports and canine obedience, toseduce people to adopt them. AFP PHOTO


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Some dismiss it as the most in-trusive form of advertising. How-ever, there is no denying the factthat in-text advertising (ads that

are targeted at the keywords on yourweb page) is fast growing to be one ofthe many ways to generate money on-line. Today, in India, the market forin-text ads is estimated to bearound Rs. 500 crores.

Arun Prabhudesai andBhasker V. Kode, foundersof hover.in, a Pune-basedstart-up that provides

web publishers and blog-gers in-text customisedcontent, are gearing up tolaunch their product in thepublic domain. Arun, who has

worked for a number of IT compa-nies before deciding to turn entrepre-neur, answers queries on thecompanys journey.Q: How did you meet and whenwas the idea conceived?

Sometime in mid-2007, I was look-ing to pursue my entrepreneurial in-stincts in the US. It was then that Istumbled upon Bhaskers project

called Returnable, which dealt within-text technology. Having worked ina start-up himself, Bhasker and I werequick to realise the potential of in-textfor web publishers. For months, wespent time refining the concept fromboth business and technology per-spectives and thats how hover.in

was born.Q: Hover.in was born out ofconstant frustration that mostbloggers and web publishers faceregarding their content presentationand monetisation. Could youexplain how hover bridges this gap?

As a professional blogger, oneof my main problems has

been monetising (makingmoney) from my blog without compromisingon user experience. Nor-mally, a visitor does notlike to see too many ads

on a blog or a website.Most of the new visitors will

turn away from the blog onseeing too many ads. Hover was

born to address this pain point!Hover.in is an in-text customised

content and customised ad deliv-ery platform for websites and blogs. Itenables web publishers to link andmonetise keywords or phrases withintheir existing content.

Till date, in-text technology hasbeen primarily used only to display

contextual ads mostly automated, without any publisher control. How-ever, with hover.in, publishers cancreate and customise the content ap-pearing within the hover bubble (ho-verlet). Hover.in goes even further,allowing the publisher to change thelook and feel of the hoverlet as per thetheme of the website or blog.

Example: A visitor might be readingan article on a blog/site(publisher) on cricket, say amatch between India and

Australia. The publisherhere can choose keywords

where hoverlet should ap-pear like cricket or India-

Australia or cricket match.

The publisher then choosesthe content or ad that ap-pears within the hoverlet.He can choose to show a

YouTube video of the matchor show an affiliate ad to acricket website or put anytext/html/rich media that he wishesto. This allows the publisher to decide

what will be a value-addition to hisvisitors.Q: What has been the biggestchallenge for the start-up andhow did you meet it?

Getting away from your existingcomfort zones, into unchartereredterritories is one of the toughest deci-sions to make. Our complimentaryskills, ability to think big, adapt to

changing circumstances, and con-stant learning from the start-up eco-system have helped us wade throughtough waters.Q: Who are your clients and howdo you plan to expand?

Every blogger or web publisher onthe internet is a potential client forhover. In this age of social media, wid-gets and online marketing, we want toenable our users to give their visitors a

rich and contextual user ex-perience. Ours being a viralproduct, we are confidentthat word-of-mouth pub-licity will make us the big-gest in-text content and addelivery platform in Indiaand globally.

Q: Have you receivedany funding? Yes, we have received

strategic angel investment;however we cannot divulgethe details now.

Q: Who are your competitors?We do not have competitors in In-

dia, and on the global front, althoughthere are several pure play in-text ad-vertising providers we are the firstplayers to provide the ability to custo-mise the content that appears. Theconcept of a hoverlet is somethingelse that we would love to share withour users.

(If you are an entrepreneur with a

successful business model or know one,write to us at [email protected])


Websites of the dayThis funny site, now being made into a book,brings up the age old battle of the sexes debatehttp://www.menarebetterthanwomen.com/ Typesomething to see what it looks backwards http://bored.com/writebackwards/index.html

US $ 42.23

Pound 83.88

Euro 66.41

100 Yen 39.58 SOURCE:RBI

RARING TO GO:

Arun and Bhasker

In a MinuteCompany I HoverTechnologiesPvt. Ltd.Started I 2007Founders I Arun

Prabhudesai andBhasker V KodeTeam size I 6Know me Better Ihttp://hover.in

Hover-ingwithoutintruding


6/16

P

eople in San Francisco may soon be

able to find parking space via theirlaptops and mobile phones, thanks to anetwork of wireless sensors to be embed-ded in the streets.

The sensors from the company Street-line can detect when a car parks in thespot beside it, and monitor passing traf-fic.

About 6,000 wireless sensors will befixed alongside many parking spots,which will then monitor both parking

availability and the volume and speed ofpassing traffic.

The city hopes that displaying infor-mation from the sensors on Web maps,smart phones, and signs on the streetmay reduce the traffic and pollutioncaused by circling cars, said Jim Reich,the vice president of engineering atStreetline.

Magnetic sensors detect when a large

metal object locally disrupts Earths mag-

netic field.He points out that one challenge withmagnetic sensors is avoiding false posi-tives.

We rely on the magnetometer themost, but in order to fix errors, we useother types of sensors (that) give youmuch higher reliability, TechnologyRe-view.com quoted him as saying.

He insists that the Streetline systemhas a high 90 per cent accuracy in recog-nising parked cars.

Since the sensors in Streetlines mon-itoring system do not have any wires, itsinstallation will be cheaper and easierthan tearing up roads to put down cables.

The researchers have plans to furtherdevelop the network to include noise, airand other kinds of detection sensors as

well. ANI

People in San Francisco may soon be able to find parkingspace via their laptops and mobile phones, thanks to a

network of wireless sensors to be embedded in the streets

Find parking spacevia laptops, mobiles

ERGO Monday, July 28, 2008VILLAGE06

Oxygen masks faulted onAustralian jetOxygen masks failed to work properly when aQantas jumbo jet plunged thousands of metres aftera hole appeared in the side of the plane in mid-air,passengers said in reports published on Sunday.Some said they were forced to share a mask whenthe Qantas Boeing 747 ran into trouble, while otherspanicked when they failed to open. Investigators arestill trying to determine how the gaping hole waspunched in the fuselage of the plane Friday.

AFP

Oz women dumping clothes afterone weekLadies Down Under are going on a shopping spree buyingcheap clothes, and then are dumping the garments in theback of the wardrobe or charity shops after wearing themfor just a week, a new report has found. Australian womenaged under 30 bought, on average, 112 garments a year -double that of women aged over 30, the Council of Textileand Fashion Industries of Australia report found. Bycomparison, the average male bought 29 items of clothing

a year. TCTFIA executivedirector Jo Kellock saidyoung people hadbecome victims of thefast fashionphenomenon, wherecheap clothing wasdropped into stores

more frequently - oftenweekly. There are nowconcerns about theenvironmental impact ofdisposable fashion andwhere the clothing endsup once its use-by dateis up or it is replaced bythe next fleeting trend.

ANI

US newspapermisspells ownname onfront page!American newspaperValley News has set anew media standardfor spelling mistakes,somehow managing tomisspell its own nameon its front pagemasthead. The NewHampshire tabloid

called itself the ValleyNewss on July 21 in aremarkable blunder.The next day the newspaper, which covers the UpperValley area straddling New Hampshire and Vermont,published an Editors Note acknowledging the error.Given that we routinely call on other institutions to holdthemselves accountable for the mistakes, let us say for therecord: We sure feel silly, the note added. Online blogRegret the Error - which monitors media spelling mistakes- has already named the Valley Newss as the favourite totake out its Typo of the Year award.

ANI

18 kids in 20 years!A Romanian immigrant has given birth to her18th child in Canada, making her one of the

most prolific mothers in 20 years. According toreports reaching here, Proud dad AlexandruIonce said Saturday that his 44-year-old wife,Livia, gave birth in Abbotsford, British Columbiaon Tuesday. Their daughter weighed 3.5kilograms. We never planned how manychildren to have. We just let God guide ourlives, said Alexandru Ionce. The family now has10 girls and eight boys.

Xinhua

No moustacheThe king of hearts is the only kingwithout a moustache on a playing c


7/16

A

modern-day love story of aman spotting the girl of hisdreams across a New York

subway train and trackingher down over the Internet hasfailed to have a fairytale ending

with the relationship over.For Web designer Patrick Mob-

erg, then 21, from Brooklyn, it was love at first sight when hespotted a woman on a Manhattantrain last November. But he losther in the crowd so he set up a

website with a sketch to find her www.nygirlofmydreams.com.

Unbelievably in a city of 8 mil-lion people, it only took Moberg48 hours to track down the wom-an.

The mysterious brunette wasnamed as Camille Hayton, fromMelbourne, Australia, who was

working as an intern at the maga-zine BlackBook and also lived inBrooklyn. One of her friends

spotted the sketched picture onthe Web site and recognised her.

But after finding each other,appearing on TV and getting in-ternational press, the couple tooktheir romance out of the publiceye, with Moberg closing downthe Web site and with both refus-ing to making any more com-ments until now.

Hayton told Australian new-spaper The Sunday Telegraphthat she dated Moberg for abouttwo months but it just didnt

work out.I say we dated for a while but

now were just friends, Hayton,now 23, told the newspaper. Itsreally nice that people embraced

the story. It is part of my lifenow.

Hayton said she is still recog-

nised about three times a weekon the streets of Manhattan asthat girl and the question is al-

ways the same: So what hap-pened?

I think the situation was so in-tense that it bonded us, she said,adding it bonded us in a waythat you could mistake, I guess,for being more romantic than it

was. I dont know. But I wanted togive it a go so I didnt wonder

what if, what if?Hayton told The Sunday Tele-

graph that she is enjoying singlelife in New York, keeping busy

with acting classes, working intwo vintage clothing stores and asa waitress. Moberg, however, was

still refusing to comment on therelationship.

Reuters

Patrick met a girl in NY subway train and set up a website to find her. And

New York subway romance hitsend of the line


Parents will be sent fat reportsof their children by schools ina sign of growing alarm over theobesity problem among youthsin Britain.

The scheme is an attempt toraise awareness among parentsfollowing a government-com-missioned research showing

that obesity is a far bigger prob-lem than previously thought.Officials are getting tough af-

ter latest figures showed thatwhile many parents were ignor-ing the problem more than 30per cent of kids aged 10 and 11are obese or overweight, The In-dependent newspaper said.

Government regulations to beintroduced in the new semesterfrom Septemberwill see parents au-tomatically sentfat reports show-ing the weight of achild.

In addition, par-ents will also re-ceive informationabout healthy eat-

ing and physical activity, and de-tails about local supportservices.

According to the British daily,an independent study foundthat despite a massive govern-ment campaign to produce acomprehensive picture of theproblem, the results may un-

derestimate the true populationprevalence of obesity and over-weight at national, regional andlocal level.

Other measures being intro-duced in September include therequirement for schools to com-ply with nutritional standards indiets served to children, the re-port said.

The British Medical Associa-tion predicts thatchildren will havea shorter life ex-pectancy thantheir parents withmore than a quar-ter of all childrenbecoming obeseby 2020.

PTI

They will alsoreceiveinformation abouthealthy eatingand physical

activity

Fat reports to parents

Thai dancers perform a Manora traditional dance during a culture, art and travelshow in the troubled southern province of Narathiwat on July 27, 2008. AFP PHOTO

Goddesses of seduction

Koalas foodThe koala eats nothing buteucalyptus leaves.

This day, that yearIn July 28, 1944 it was so hot inWashington, D.C. that newspaperran pictures of an egg frying on tsteps of the United States Capitol


8/16

ERGO Monday, July 28, 2008SPORT08

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Sania-Mattek oustedSania Mirza and her American partner Bethanie Mattek bowed of the WTA East West Bank Classic tournament after retiringmidway through their semi-final match. Second seeds Sania andMattek were trailing 2-6, 1-2 when they pulled out of their matagainst the Czech pair of Eva Hrdinova and Vladimira Uhlirova.

Members of the Indian contingentfor the Beijing Olympic Games.PHOTO: S. SUBRAMANIUM

ERGO CORREfeedback@goergo

Indias

Me


9/16

lympics has been abysmal so farteam, eight-time gold medallists,

ready out with their knives. But aember-strong contingent may tell

have a few surprise packages andocket a few medals at Beijing.tics contingent, spearheaded bybby George, is the largest of all. Itpart to expect medals from our

e well in recentl way behind the

ast Olympics An-ersonal best toixth. With a cur-

s year it will bey surprises. Withunder their belt,m of Chitra So-

eep Kaur and K.it to the final.anything more

xt with nine Indi-

Olympics silvern Singh Rathore,e shooters havelly well in recentbest medal pro-Gagan Narang,

ndhu and Anjaliense internation-uccess and if theyheir cool at thedals are a possi-

h-pressure eventup with our bestite the pressure.

China will bes. But lets hope for the best,

andhu says. Bhagwat is also opti-s hoping to be third time lucky.y third Olympics and I want to

edal this time. I think I am moreed compared to the last twoand its all about temperament.

e shooters at the Games can get aperfect score but it boils down tother you can cope up with theure, Anjali says.e boxers led by Vijender Singh,had recently outclassed Athens

medallist Bakhtiyar Artigev at AI-esidents Cup, have emerged as

s medal contenders.gh the Indian swimmers are yeta splash, as many as four of thempart of the field in Beijing. The

he same in tennis as well, whereMahesh Bhupathi, Sania Mirzawould have to live up to the

The four archers have shrugged off their poor form and areready to take on the world. We have a decent chance and justpray that were not pitted against Korea in the initial rounds,

World Cup winner Dola Banerjee says. Among us, BombayalaDevi has been very consistent over the last couple of years,

while Pranitha (Vardhineni) is also in good form. I think Im alsopeaking at the right time. I have not had a great year so far,compared to my performance last year, but Im happy that Ive

come out of the slump.The contingent will also include three grapplers and as many

rowers. Two Indians each will represent the country in tabletennis, judo and badminton, while weightlifting and yachting

will have one each. Indian Olympic Association chief SureshKalmadi is also optimistic about a good show-ing. Hopefully, well win a few medals in Beij-ing. The shooters are right on top of the listand Im expecting the boxers as well to winthere. We have a strong chance in archery andthen, of course, you have tennis, Kalmadiadds.

A 42-member support staff would accompa-ny the contingent, according to sources.

Indias Olympic team:Archery: Dola Banerjee, Pranitha Vardhine-

ni, L Bombayala Devi, Mangal Singh Champia.Athletics: Anju Bobby George (Long Jump),

Krishna Poonia (Discus), Harwant Kaur (Dis-cus), Preeja Sreedharan (10,000m), ManjitKaur (400m), Chitra Soman (4x400m relay), Si-ni Jose (4x400m relay), MR Poovamma(4x400m relay), Mandeep Kaur (4x400m relay),S Geeta (4x400m relay), K Mridula (4x400m re-lay), J J Shobha (Heptathlon), Sushmita SinghRoy (Heptathlon), G G Pramila (Heptathlon),

Vikas Gowda (Discus), Renjith Maheswary(Triple Jump), Surender Singh (10000m).

Badminton: Anup Sridhar, Saina NehwalBoxing: Jitender (51kg), Akhil Kumar (54kg),

A L Lakhra (57kg), Vijender(75kg) and DineshKumar (81kg)

Judo: Khumujam Tombi Devi, Divya. Row-ing: Bajrang Lal Takhar (Single M1X), Devnder Khandwal andManjeet Singh (Light Weight Double Scull).

Shooting: Manavjit Singh Sandhu (Clay Pigeon Trap), Mansh-er Singh (Clay Pigeon Trap), Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (Clay

Pigeon Double Trap), Gagan Narang (10m Air Rifle), AbhinavBindra (10m Air Rifle), Samresh Jung (10m Air Pistol), SanjeevRajput (50m Rifle 3 Position), Anjali Bhagwat (50m Rifle 3 Posi-tion), Avneet Kaur Sidhu (10m Air Rifle).

Swimming: Virdawal Khade (50m, 100m, 200m Freestyle), Ankur Poseria (100m Butterfly), Sandeep Sejwal (100m, 200mBreaststrokes), Rehan Poncha (200m butterfly).

Table Tennis: Achanta Sharath Kamal, Neha Aggarwal.Tennis: Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi (doubles), Sania

Mirza (singles and doubles), Sunitha Rao (doubles). Weightlift-ing: L Monika Devi (69kg)

Wrestling: Sushil Ku-mar (66 kg Freestyle), Yo-geshwar Dutt (60 kgFreestyle), Rajiv Tomar(120 kg Freestyle).

Yachting: Major NS Jo-hal (Heavyweight Ding-hy).


11

China on Sunday officially opened the Olympic Village will house close to 16,000 athletes and officials during months Games with the host countrys delegation firscheck in at the heavily guarded complex. The key to

village was handed over to its Mayor Chen Zhilli, a ruling Comnist Party of China official, at the 66-hectare sprawling comlocated close to the Beijing Olympics showpiece venues,Birds Nest stadium and the aquatic venue Water Cube.

We now welcome athletes from around the world to comthe Games, Chen, who is the Vice-President of the Beijing Onising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG), said. Ch

which has announced the largest-ever Olympic delegation of 1members, including 639 athletes, was the first to check inraising its national flag at the village. Athens Olympics 110 mhurdles champion Liu Xiang and basketball star Yao Ming wamong the 100 odd athletes who witnessed the ceremony.

As athletes from the host country, I hope you will presentpeaceful, civilized and open stance of China, Chen was quotesaying by the Xinhua news agency. The village is divided

international area, residential area and operation area, wimain restaurant that can feed 5,000 people, its own fire statteahouses, coffee shops, a barber shop, post office, shops, liband a clinic. China, a declared atheist nation which mainttight control over religion, has made provision for adherents omajor religions to practice their faiths at the village, whichspace for religious masses.

A toilet with an Olympic sticker at the Olympicvillage in Beijing. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

CHECK INBeijing athletes village opens 12days before Games

DAYS TO GO..

Paes-Dlouhy knocked outLeander Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy crashed out of the ATP Rogers Masterswith a straight-set defeat at the hands of second seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic inthe semi-finals. The seventh seeded Indo-Czech pair went down 3-6, 6-7 (5-7) to Nestor andZimonjic, who are now into their sixth straight final.

r Olympic contingent might pull a few pleasant surprises

tle for medals?


10/16

ERGO Monday, July 28, 2008FLICK10

With The Dark Knight continuing to

blow away box-office records, Hol-lywood is working on another waveof cinema challengers resurrected

from the pages of comic books.Forthcoming flicks based on comics are

dominating attention at the InternationalComic-Con convention in San Diego, from

Austin, Texas director-producer Robert Ro-driguezs planned slasher adaptations ofRed Sonja and Conan to a series of DVDsbased on the Incredible Hulk.

What makes comics so popular in Holly-wood, of course, is money. Last weekendsrelease ofThe Dark Knightraked in the big-gest box-office take ever $158 million surpassing another comic-based movie,Spider-Man 3. The Batman thriller went onto smash another box-office record, reac-hing the $200 million mark faster than any

other film in history. According to IMDB, at least 22 comics-based movies are scheduled to debut by theend of this year. Another 29 are planned forrelease next year. And at least 26 more arealready in the works for 2010.

Many of the movies are based on classiccharacters, including Sgt. Rock, Green Lan-tern, Green Hornet, Wonder Woman, SilverSurfer and the Teen Titans. Even theSmurfs, the Belgian comic book characters

who were a hit on U.S. television in the1980s, are headed to the big screen in a live-action version.

Others are less well known at least fornow.

The Surrogates, for example, is based on adebut graphic novel penned by Atlanta-based writer Robert Venditti and produced

by Marietta, Ga.-based Top Shelf Produc-tions. The film, scheduled for release nextyear, stars Bruce Willis, Rosamund Pike and

Ving Rhames in a sci-fi thriller about a fu-ture world where humans interact with each

other only through surrogaterobots.The Spirit is a character who is well

known among comic book aficionados, butnot by others. That may change in Decem-ber, when a movie based on the comic bookhits the big screen, starring Samuel L. Jack-son, Scarlett Johansson and Gabriel Macht.

Likewise for the Watchmen, a 2009 moviestarring Malin Akerman and Billy Crudupthats based on a 1986 graphic novel classic.

The migration of comics to movies andtelevision, of course, is nothing new. Re-member Michael Keaton as Batman in1989? Or before that George Reeves (and lat-er, Christopher Reeve) as Superman on TVand in the theatre?

While money matters above all in Holly-wood, so do the interests of movie makers.

At Comic-Con, Rodriguez said it was a

Texas connection he felt with Red Sonja andConan creator Robert E. Howard that calledhim to want to do movies based on thecharacters.

With so many comic book charactersheaded to the big screen, is there a dangerthat Hollywood will overdo it, dooming thegenre to fade away like so many Westernsand filmnoir classics?

Maybe not, said Seaton Hall Universityprofessor Christopher Sharrett. Comic bookheroes, he said, have stood the test of time.

Meanwhile, young people are condi-tioned to think now that cinema is com-posed of films with fast edits, not muchcharacter development and unending rap-id-fire action scenes, Sharrett said. Super-hero characters fit in very well with that.

NYT News Service

AT THE INTERNATIONAL COMIC-CON CONVENTION IN SAN DIEGO FORTHCOMING FILMS BASED ON COMICS ARE HOGGING THE SPOTLIGHT

A life-size Incredible Hulk at the 39th annual Comic Con

Convention in San Diego, California.

Actors Carla Gugino (left), and MalinAkerman after a panel discussion forWatchmen.

Actor Samuel L. Jackson talks aboutAfro Samurai.

In green and purpleBruces dreams in Hulk (2003) areprimarily coloured green and purplethe distinctive colours of the Hulk, whas green skin and wears purple pa

Dressed as a G.I. Joe character, JessicaJaszczak on the first day of Comic-ConInternational 2008.

Legendary comic bookcreator Stan Lee posesduring a newsconference at theDisney booth at theComic-Con.


11/16


T wo paparazzi in camouflagegear scuffled with body-guards of Angelina Jolie andBrad Pitt after they were

found hiding on the grounds of theHollywood stars French estate, thecouples security chief said on Fri-day. Tony Webb, head of the teamguarding the Chateau Miraval es-tate where the couple are staying

following the birth of their twinsearlier this month, said the inci-dent took placeon Thursday af-ternoon.

The two indi-viduals were infull camouflagedgear and carriedhigh-poweredphotographicequipment typi-cally used by so-phisticatedpaparazzi, usmagazine.com quot-ed him, as saying in a statement.

Security then attempted to es-cort the individuals down the hillin order to wait for the local police.

Then one photographer becameviolent, kicked one of the securityguards, said he has Hepatitis C andbit another security guard, hesaid.

The security personnel are nowbeing checked at the hospital.

Agencies

Padmapriya in Marmayogi?If internet buzz is to be believed, Kamal Hassanhas roped in actress Padmapriya to the play the

female lead in Marmayogi. Unconfirmed sourcessay that Kamal has zeroed in on Padmapriya afterher impressive performance in offbeat movies inboth Tamil as well as Malayalam. We also hearthat 10 months of Padmas dates have been askedfor Marmayogi. Padmapriya is currently shootingthe Cheran-starrer Pokkisham and is likely to beavailable for Marmayogishoots after that.

Britney to pay $20,000 a month child supportBritney Spears will pay $20,000 a month in child support to ex-husband KevinFederline for the care of their two children and will make a final payment of$250,000 to his lawyers, according to a final custody agreement filed in court onFriday. The monthly child support payment is a $5,000 increase over what Spearsand Federline agreed to last year, the court papers showed.

Cine City

Vijayalakshmi topair up with Rajini

Actress Vijayalakshmi has been selectedto play the female lead in Soundarya Raji-nikanths animation flick Sultan TheWarrior. The shooting ofSultan started re-cently in Hyderabad and Vijayalakshmi

was on the sets. The actress said that shewas very nervous at Rajinis presence butthe superstar made her comfortable by hiskind words. She said that Rajini applaud-ed her for selecting good films such asChennai 600 028 and Anjathey and ad-vised her to choose such films in futuretoo.

Paparazzi clash with bodyguards at Jolie estateShutterbug bug


12/16

So many plays I act and somany people I meet, butsome remain unforgottenfor the care they show. Like-

wise some incidents remainetched forever, for the sheer funand the great times I have en-

joyed. For me school was a col-lage of studies, teachers, seniors,

juniors, friends, foes and many

more, not to mention the highschool plays we put up.

I used to love participating inthe English play every year and

was known for it. Then once, when I was in the sixth grade Ishifted focus! Many were taken inby surprise when I dropped out ofthe English play to do the Hindiplay that year. The reason for theshift was that it was put up by theninth grade girls! I wouldnt wantto miss that. There were two oth-

er seventh grade guys, but beingthe youngest I got the completeattention showered all over bythe girls. They saw to it that I was

well fed, well taken care of anddropped back home safe. Ihogged the limelight with plea-sure spoilt by them. The Hindiplay was worth it.

I still do miss my ninth gradegirls and will never forget them.The best experience I had as a kidI should say.

NANDHINI RAMKUMAR

DEAR DIARY

Lifes a stage:Karthik KumarPHOTOS: S.S. KUMAR

ERGO Monday, July 28, 2008SCAN12

PICK OF THE DAY

Star Movies

The Last King of Scotland 9.00 p.m.In the early 1970s, Nicholas

Garrigan, a young semi-idealisticScottish doctor, comes to Uganda toassist in a rural hospital. Once there,he soon meets up with the newPresident, Idi Amin, who promises agolden age for the African nation.

AXN

Whacked out sports 10 p.m.Sports enthusiasts will dig this showwhich showcases some of the most

amazing footage of sports stuntsgone wrong. Extreme sports havenever gotten crazier in the secondinstalment of this series.

Star Gold

Taxi No. 9211 - 8.00 p.m.Raghav is a hot tempered taxi driverand Jai, a rich mans son. The plot

revolves around their meeting, anaccident and a lost key.

Filmy

Sarfarosh 12.00 a.m.A seemingly innocuous ghazal evillysinger perpetuates the spread of

terrorism, but is constantly thwartedby a dauntless ACP in this intensedrama about insurgency in India.

First StepsVidya Balan made her debut as amodel in a Surf Excel advertisement in1998. She has acted in more than 25 adfilms, most of which were directed byPradeep Sarkar.


13/16


1.Spider-man Upside-Down Kiss

Fantasies were created by the upside-down kissbetween Spider-Man and Mary Jane, Ratedamong the top 10 Hollywood kisses, the kissbetween a superhero and his childhoodsweetheart makes it original and aww!inspiring.

2.Museum Kiss valued at $1,260In 1977, Ruth van Herpen visited an art museumin Oxford, England and made the mistake ofkissing a painting. Ruth left a lipstick smear inher wake and was ordered by law to pay therestoration costs of $1,260. She claimed to kissthe cold artwork in order to cheer it up.

3.MTV Kisseveryone knows about the Britney-Madonna kiss

during the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards at the

end of the performance of "Like A

Virgin"Suffice to say it out-shined the awardshow!

4.Sleeping Beauty, the Kiss ofAwakeningA timeless fairy tale and a timeless kiss, adeep sleep from which Aurora can beawakened only by loves first kiss. Romantic,climatic and perfect timing make this a kiss tremember.

5.The Betrayal Kiss of JudasJudas Iscariot used a kiss to identify JesusChrist in the Garden of Gethsemane. The higpriest Caiaphas paid Judas 30 pieces of silverto betray Jesus with a kiss. Jesus was then

arrested, condemned to death and crucified.

TOP 5 FAMOUS KISSES

1

2

3

4

5

Po is lazy, Po is fat, Po is funny and Po is now available in BossinInspired by the Blockbuster movie Kung Fu Panda, Bossini hlaunched a new and exciting range of Tees and Caps for little boand girls. The range vividly brings to life the memorable and adoble characters in the movie and gives kids an opportunity to spotheir favourite Kung Fu Panda character.

Where: Pondy Bazaar, T NagarPrice: Ranges from Rs. 499 - Rs. 549Contact: 044 42694785

Get the Kung Fu Panda look

Italian fine dining restaurant, Prego hasintroduced Executive Lunch for peopleon the move. Specially designed byMaster Chef Giovanna Marson, the Ex-ecutive Lunch is timed for a 60- minuteexperience of a three-course meal withthree choices in each course.

Prego, Taj Coromandel,MG Road,NungambakkamWhen: July 28

ExecutiveLunch

A special range of MonsoonCollection watches have beenintroduced by the Tommy Hil-figer watches. Watch enthu-siasts will have an opportunityto own the colourful & bold de-signs from Tommy Hilfiger.These trendiest fashion acces-sories for both ladies & gentsoffer a sense of fresh style, un-derpinned by careful attentionto quality and functionality,and finished with unique Tom-

my Hilfiger signature details.Where:The new collections are

available at select World ofTitan, Tommy HilfigerFlagship Stores, ShoppersStop, Lifestyle, Central, Just inVogue, Zimson and otherleading Multi Brand Outlets.

Price: Ranges from Rs.5995 Rs.6995

The Monsoon Collection

Tennis cheatAn eight-year-old New Zealand girl wasejected from a tennis tournament forwearing a radio earpiece that allowed herto receive instructions from her father.

Dear KGV Sir,Have a Wonderful YearAhead!Belated Birthday WishesHearty wishes

Surendra & Poongodi,

UCS III Team,

Hexaware Technologies

Dear Bharathi,Wish you many more happyreturns of the day.Let this day bring you a lotof happiness.

Best Wishes from,SCMS & PG Team,

Great (S & D) Owner,

Lovable Joe,Financial Software and Systems.

Dear Santha,May the preparations thatyou make for this special daylast for the whole year andall through your life...Happy birthday,

Punitha, Hemalatha, Lakshu,

SaviHCL Technologies

Dear Nandhu,My Hearty Birthday Wishesto you!!!!! May all yourdreams come true!!

Luv,Jyothi,

TCS

Hi Vidhya,

Many more happy returns ofthe day dear....!With Love,

Regi & Uma,

Wipro Technologies.

Sweet brother Selva,Get well soon

Loving sister Divya,inautix Technologies

Hi Suja,Wish you many many happyreturns of the day.May God bless you withhealth, wealth andprosperityin your life.

From Jayashree, Lalitha,Wipro Technologies

Dear Arul,

Wish you happy bday!!Regards,Priya, TCS

Hello Gang,Send your greetings [email protected], with theword greeting and the pre-ferred date of publication inthe subject line. Example:greeting: July 30. This willhelp us organise the column.Also, those who want to ded-icate greetings, please sendyour full name, companyname and contact number forverification.

Cheers,

Team Ergo

Greetings


14/16

ERGO Monday, July 28, 2008TRAFFIC JAM14

TEAMEditor: Karthik [email protected]

Sr Dy Chief Designer: J.A. Prem KumarDy Chief Designer: R. Ravi KannanIllustrator: R. Venugopal

Technical Support:V.R. Vasudevan, K.G. GurumurthyN. Ravichandran, E. Baskar

Head of Advertising:Sriya [email protected]

Head of Circulation:RA. Babu Vijay

[email protected]

SNAIL MAIL

859/860, Anna Salai,Chennai - 600 002mail your feedback [email protected]

FAX 2857 6691

ADVERTISING ENQUIRIESCall ourAdvertisement Managerat 2857 6695.email: [email protected]: www.goergo.in

Printed and Published by S. Karthik on behalf ofKASTURI & SONS LTD., at Plot B-6 & B-7,CMDA Industrial Complex, Maraimalai Nagar,Chengleput Taluk, Kancheepuram Dist., Pin:603209 & at Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860,Anna Salai, Chennai-600002. Editor: S. Karthik(Editor responsible for selection of news underthe PRB Act). RNI No. TNENG/2007/24553

sudoku

KAKURO

Pup leanerA Chinese couple have received a policewarning for teaching their dog how to drive.Police pulled over a car they noticed going verslowly and discovered a dog sitting on itsowners lap, steering the car with its front paw

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

Raghu from Verizon and hiswife Saranyafrom ILinkSolutions sentus an album of

pictures ontheir recent tripto Munnar and

Allepey. Wechoose thehouse boat.They shot thepicture withtheir CanonSD750.


15/16


B.C

BORN LOSER

FREE RANGE WORKING IT OUT

PREVIOUS

ISSUES

SOLUTIONS

ARIES MARCH 21 - APRIL 20

TAURUS APRIL 21 - MAY 20

GEMINI MAY 21 - JUNE 20

CANCER JUNE 21 - JULY 20

LEO JULY 21 - AUG 20

VIRGO AUG 21 - SEPT 20

LIBRA SEPT 21 - OCT 20

SCORPIO OCT 21 - NOV 20

SAGITTARIUS NOV 21 - DEC 20

CAPRICORN DEC 21 - JAN 20

AQUARIUS JAN 21 - FEB 20

PISCES FEB 21 - MARCH 20

Predictions by Bhavesh N. Pa

You need to streamline your thoughts or you miget confused, suggests Ganesha. It is a favourabday for research regarding your work and forgathering additional knowledge. Love life or marlife for that matter, will remain problem free.

Day for new things in life. A new computer or aflash drive may help you boost your productivity.Hence, assignments are likely to be completed otime. Your friendly nature will keep your relationsmooth and will make your beloved feel special.

Ganesha finds you a bit confused at decision

making. Although work seems demanding, it is agood day for analysis. On the personal front, youbeloved might respond positively as you may winhis/her heart with charming looks, smiles Ganesh

Your memory will be very sharp today. Hence yowill remain good with calculations. Also, memorywill also ease the process of rectifying past errorrelated to work. On the love front, you might neto develop a compromising approach for the day

Grace of Ganesha is bountiful today. You will geappreciated by superiors. Dont start anything netoday. Your beloved will be in a romantic moodwhen you are taking it easy. But you will definitmake the most of the situation, wont you?

Voila! Today is one of the best days of the monas far as career is concerned. All your actions w

be of utmost importance. Ganesha feels you migside-line home and personal life due to work, wmight create stress. Spice it up with a party.

A bright day for developing a new software. Youmay make travel plans or long distance telephoncalls might take place, feels Ganesha. In personarelations, you will be very sensitive; but oversensitivity should be avoided, suggests Ganesha.

Watch out! You will have to be very careful fromgreen-eyed people. There may be interruptions work due to technical issues someone might try hack your computer. Ganesha feels you have theperfect anti-virus for your love life.

Ganesha foresees a busy day ahead with droppelevels of energy. The day is not favourable forsoftware designing. Ganesha feels you may rema

flexible in personal relations. This might prove usas your beloved might shower you with love.

You might face competition at work. Ganeshawants you to be alert and careful or you might lup in a huge mess. Alertness will have to bepractised in your personal life as well as Ganeshfinds scopes for conflicts with your beloved.

Workload might cause mood swings for you, henconcentration might dwindle. Ganesha finds youpracticing multitasking at work today. For personrelations; ups and down are not foreseen but it advisable to give a miss to arguments.

Today your mind will function in complete harmowith things that need your immediate attention.Ganesha finds you working on your priority list.This will provide a sense of satisfaction. Soon asday ends, you might want to rush to your belove

Words worth"Farandman" (fuh-rand-man) an obsolete Scottish law term fora stranger or traveler. The law of farandman allowed for apedlar who didnt reside in a jurisdiction to bring someone upon charges of theft, and required that the trial should happenbefore the tide had gone in and out three times.

Scary WinehouseAn English farmer finally figured out whatwould be frightening enough to scare awayunwanted garden intruders - an Amy Winehousescarecrow, complete with beehive and tattoos.


16/16

ERGO Monday, July 28, 2008!16

Accident onlooker killedby passing trainA woman was killed on Saturday by apassing train near the Luomashi-desamalcity of Buenos Aires state as she wasstanding on a railway line to look on atan accident site, police said.The 30-year-old woman was tooconcentrated on the horrified scene of anaccident to forget she was standing on arailway line and a train travelling by athigh speed killed her instantly, the policesaid.The tragedy occurred shortly after acollision between a car and a train nearby,in which four people aboard the car werekilled on the spot and the driver wasseriously injured.

According to the police, the driver of thecar broke a guardrail and slammed into atrain due to brake failure.

Xinhua

Cops steal paintings of

national valueRobbers disguised as policemen stole away15 paintings of national value of AntonioBerni, one of the most importantArgentinian artists, authorities in BuenosAires said on Saturday.The paintings were being transported in atruck to Bellas Artes National Museum in thecapital city when fake policemen turned up,forced the truck to another road and movedthe paintings to another vehicle, mediareports quoted officials as saying.The stolen paintings were of great nationalvalue but no commercial value since theycouldnt be sold legally in Argentina, CultureSecretary Jose Nun said.Berni, a neofigurative artist, died on October13, 1981.

Xinhua

4 panda cubs in

14 hoursFour giant panda cubs were bornwithin 14 hours in separate birthsat a panda breeding base insouthwest Chinas Sichuan Provincefrom Saturday evening to Sundaymorning. The event was considereda rarity in panda breeding history.Nine-year-old Qiyuan (Magic Luck in Chinese)gave birth to a pair of twin female cubs onSaturday at the Chengdu Panda BreedingResearch Center, said Yang Feifei, a centreexpert. Eight-year-old Chenggong (success inChinese) gave birth to a 117-gram cub onSaturday. Zhuzhu, also eight-year-old, gavebirth to a 186-gram cub on Sunday, Yang said.Currently, the centre has 71 pandas incaptivity, the largest of its kind in the world.Twelve panda twins were born in captivity inthe country last year, the most since anartificial breeding programme started morethan 40 years ago.

Xinhua

The diamond chandeliers,carpeted walls, fluted pillarsand panels of cherubs madefor a spectacular vision as

one entered Mowbrays Hall atITC Park Sheraton. Known fortheir elaborate sets, directors Aa-mir Raza Husain and Virat Hu-sain, reputed Delhi theatrepersonalities, were certainly intheir element, as they let the setsgrab the limelight over the play.

The play was Love in a Tub byGeorge Etherege, staged on Sat-urday to personal invitees. Thestory is set in 1970s London, dur-

ing the course of a day, and re-volves around British MP Richard

Willey (Akshay Chadha) who isstaying at the Westminster Hotel

with his wife Pamela (Virat Hu-sain). He packs her off to a theat-re so he can romance hismistress, Jennifer Bristow (Radhi-ka Mitra), who is alsoone of the secretariesin the Prime Minis-ters office.

This he plots withhis pushover PPS(parliamentary pri-

vate secretary), Pid-geon (Aamir RazaHusain).

What follows is acomedy of capers,thrown in with man-nerisms and idiosyn-crasies borrowedfrom Mind Your Lan-guage. The ethnicslurs are reduced to comedy, as

was habit in the times, such asthe blithering Chinese waiter (Ta-riq Vasudev) whose indeciphera-ble English leads tomisunderstandings, as does thereceptionist whose misplacedrage and vacuity is justified as heis played as a Sardar (Sanjeev De-

i)

because the repertory is repenough to maintain a standabut it is not good enough. actors certainly seemed unrehearsed with props and set

was illustrated with the doothat fell off, the doors

wouldnt open and the worthe door incidenthat the actors didknow which way of the doors opeThere were sevother instancespoor foresight suc

the champagne ges that got knooff the food tr

which was trippinthe carpets.

And the costand casting Pam

wore what Viratsain wears off stespecially where

Turkish scarf is concerned. empty-headed Jennifer shoulsubstituting her lack of wits tits but is certainly not sexy portrayed by a visibly midaged Radhika.

Her husband, Edward (GaySanyal), dressed in a semi-foshirt, with jeans and cah l k d lik h

Aamir Raza Husain does not walk thetalk with his play, Love in a TubMITHRA [email protected]

Damp squib

Cardboard copsCutouts of fake, cardboard cops havbeen so successful at getting Romandrivers to slow down, police are nowadding cardboard police cars to sitalongside roads.

The acting onthe wholeworks, becausethe repertory

is reputedenough tomaintain astandard butit is not goodenough.

Aamir Raza Husain, Akshay Chadha and Isha Sanyal at a rehearsal for Love in a Tub.Photographs were not allowed during the play which was staged at ITC Park Sheraton.PHOTOS: S.S. KUMAR

IN

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Ergo edition dated July 28 (Monday)