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The Hindu :

A Sports Club in Vienna built a statue of Indian hockey legend Dhyan Chand with four hands and four sticks. To the Viennese, it seemed that no ordinary man with two hands and one stick could have played as well as Dhyan.

Dino Zoff became the oldest champion in FIFA World Cup history when the 40-year-old Italy goalkeeper and captain lifted the trophy in 1982.

World No.1 women’s tennis player Justine Henin is superstitious about walking on court lines between points.

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The Hindu : The festive season is here again and brings with it a whole gamut of light, sound and colour and memorable experiences for you and your loved ones.

While we are busy decorating our homes and shopping for new apparel, footwear, jewellery and accessories, for ourselves, for our homes and for loved ones, let’s spend a few moments and make a conscious effort to gift ourselves and everyone we interact with a safe Deepavali.

Let’s take a look at some of the dos and don’ts that will render the occasion safe.

The don’ts

Don’t attempt to relight a dud. It could still go off and have even less of a wick. Let it sit for several minutes and then douse it with water.

The dos

Do read and follow the label directions. It’s a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how often people ignore the directions.

For superficial burns

* Remove the child from the heat source.

The Hindu : Her initial training as a set designer may have taught Louise Ann Wilson the art of modelling spaces around ideas and themes. In the years since, however, her passion and skill have tended in the opposite direction: creating theatre using the energies of pre-existing spaces.

For Louise, a site-specific theatre practitioner who has been working on a soon-to-be staged production in Bangalore by Little Jasmine Theatre, every space has its own story to be told. “It’s about scratching beneath the surface to find the hidden depths of a space. When you dig deep enough, you find a rich, full essence. Each place has its own language, its own voice, and it becomes another character, a collaborator in the piece,” says the designer who co-founded Wilson+Wilson in 1997.

Of course, the definition of site varies andWilson+Wilson’s projects have ranged from an exploration of two 19th century terraced houses in Huddersfield to a four-mile journey through the Mulgrave Woods on the Yorkshire coastline, to a bus-tram-and-foot journey through the city of Sheffield. “‘Mapping The Edge’ encompassed the city of Sheffield and the audience was often unsure of what was real and what was part of the piece,” says Louise, explaining that some of the best moments of the play occurred when the city’s inhabitants interacted with the piece in unintended ways, such as when two punks happened to cross paths with two actors dressed as World War II soldiers, creating a montage for the audience.

Whatever the dimensions of the site, the focus of site-specific theatre always stays on the contiguous relationship between actors, audience and the space. “If you have a seated audience, they can easily switch off. There is a particular relationship barrier between actors and audience in any kind of stage and auditorium setup. But here, the audience occupy the same space, they can touch the actors, hear them breathe.”

Moreover, site-specific theatre also attracts audiences…More

The Hindu : After three decades in the performing arts, the glint in Naseeruddin Shah’s eyes has not faded from his silvery woolly-haired bearded face. With legs stretched out, this NSD and FTII alumnus leans back against a hard chair in the green room ofRanga Shankara. He is in a loose buttoned down off-white kurta. He has a bandage around his neck with some fake blood smeared on it. The first performance of Jean Anouilh’s adaptation of Sophocles’ political drama “Antigone” is just over at the Ranga Shankara Theatre Festival 2007.

It is the closing play of the festival and Ranga Shankara is teeming with theatre enthusiasts, celebrities and those who’d just come to catch a glimpse of the stalwart cast and simper for autographs. Naseeruddin curtly nods at beaming, eager fans who push papers under his nose, and he briskly signs heartfelt wishes for them.

“The crowd comes as no surprise. Bangalore has always been known for its play-lovers and theatre-productions. And all kinds of people come to watch them— from literature buffs to theatre-goers. I have been coming here since 1970 as a student of NSD and have performed various plays at Ravindra Kalakshetra.” He pauses and asks: “Is it still there?”

Talking about Ranga Shankara, he says, “It is a small theatre, just like the theatre where we first performed ‘Antigone’ at the National Centre for Performing Arts.”

Naseeruddin’s theatre group, Motley, was created along with theatre personalities Benjamin Gilani and Tom Alter 30 years ago. “‘Dear Liar’, stories in Hindustani by (Munshi) Premchand, Harishankar Parsai, Ismat Chughtai, Saadat Hasan Manto and Kahlil Gibran’s ‘Prophet’ now ‘Antigone’ are some of the plays we keep performing.” Benjamin Gilani chips in: “Hasn’t it been 16 years since you and Ratna (Pathak Shah) have been performing ‘Dear Liar’?” Naseeruddin nods.

“Antigone” was written in 1942 by Jean Anouilh “to represent the struggle of the French Resistance Movement against…More

The Hindu : Is it a case of “old wine in new bottle”? Hope not. The Bangalore District Football Association (BDFA) under the new committee is faced with teething problems, more so due to the apathy shown towards the game by the earlier committees.

The last decade has seen football in Karnataka and particularly Bangalore, go into a slump and officialdom is largely to be blamed for it. The overall scenario of football in the country, despite the recent Nehru trophy triumph, is nothing to write home about. India continues to languish amongst the 140’s in the FIFA rankings.

The ongoing Durand Cup wherein the “big three” from Kolkata stayed away as the IFA Shield was in progress there, is a pointer to that effect.

Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) and Hindustan Aeronautics Sports Club (HASC) the two big names carried the hopes of the State football followers, to bring back the lost glory.

Sadly ITI wound up without a whimper after “dilly-dallying” for a few seasons in the elite National Football League (NFL). HASC since have been in and out.

All this stemmed from the fact that there was no proper structure or system in place back home. Local players moved out for “greener-pastures” and made it big with the likes of Carlton Chapman and Shanmugam Venkatesh even leading the national sides for a couple of seasons. But the men who matter did not learn and failed to open their eyes to the ground reality.

BDFA conducts league in three divisions with nearly 25-28 teams in the fray. But when it comes to team selections there is little “futuristic” thinking and no headway made in the recent past. But most appalling is the state of the ground and the stadium itself!

With increased number of teams in the Super Division, one fathomed a glimmer of hope. But sadly, the progress has stuttered. If more the merrier was the bottom line and “from quantity…More

The Hindu : MSN India has announced its exclusive online association with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s eagerly-awaited “Saawariya”, a musical love story, starring Ranbir Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Rani Mukherjee and Salman Khan.

Fans can now access exclusive content on “Saawariya” atwww.in.msn.com. MSN India also hosts a special contest where fans can win tickets to the movie and autographed audio CDs by answering a few simple questions.

The site (http://server1.msn.co.in/sp07/saawariya/index.asp) contains everything a fan would want to know about the film – from live video interviews of Ranbir Kapoor, Sonam Kapur, Rani Mukherjee, Salman Khan and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the music launch of “Saawariya” to a brief synopsis of the movie, scenes from the movie and wallpapers of their favourite stars.

“We are excited to be associated with ‘Saawariya’, and look forward to offering our users not only exclusive content on the movie but also an opportunity to be an integral part of the movie through a host of interactive features”, said Krishna Prasad, Executive Producer, MSN India.

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The Hindu : Ramesh Kalkur’s recent work, The Great Indian Show, substantiates the artist’s continuing fascination with human torsos. “This body of work produced in the year 2006–07, explores the form of torso with juxtaposition of variousobjects,” says the Bangalore-based artist.

“Torso/perpetrator here enacts several roles. He manifests himself as a creator, mythical character, a magician and at times, as a philosopher… Pompous display of his possession/trophies reveals his glorious past, legacy and an emerging future… The world of images and objects has changed tremendously in the last decade. Images of the past have been recycled; they have transgressed cultural boundaries, gained new meanings and lost many attributes. They are excessive and exclusive at the same time. These works are also about coping, using, looking for relevance and resting with these objects and images.”

Kalkur who completed his Diploma in Painting from the Ken School of Art, Bangalore, proceeded to gain a Post Diploma from the Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University, Baroda.

He received the prestigious Inlaks Foundation Scholarship to study at the Royal College of Art, London (1994-96). The John Minton Travel Grant in 1995 enabled him to participate in a three-month exchange program in Berlin. The 38-year old artist has participated in several group shows including the travelling show “Veil” organised by the Institute of International Visual Arts (iniVA), UK, 2003.

His solo exhibitions titled “Assemblages” (1994), “11 X 11” (1998) and “Body Shop” (2003) received critical appreciation.

“Kalkur’s torso paintings bear a strong reference to the image of the cosmic man or the transcendent being as enshrined in various Indic religious traditions (the Vedic purusha, the Jaina tirthankara, the Mahayana bodhisattva, and the Bhagvata vishwarupa), but these archetypes are reconfigured in a contemporary social and environmental context,” wrote Nancy Adajania about Kalkur’s Bodyshop exhibition.

“The artist deliberately brings the cosmic body into the profane world of materiality, by making it the site of violated…More

The Hindu : ware of our individual actions impacting the environment. Each flush of the toilet and each switching on of a television set have an impact on water bodies. Every small action counts but unless we demand from our institutions accountability in performance we will continue to suffer consequences which will be negative.

In Loktak things are changing. The Chief Minister of Manipur is taking interest in the revival programme and a large initiative is coming from the Planning Commission. Citizens are becoming active and the Loktak Development Authority has been created.

The institution is identifying key short- term and long-term actions necessary to save the lake and is bringing together all stakeholders. A sewage collection and treatment system progresses with French funding. Hopefully, quick action on these fronts will save the lake.

www.arghyam.org www.rainwaterclub.org

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The Hindu :

The Hindu : N.C.S. RAGHAVAN
ARVIND RAGHAVANPursuant to the discussion on rights, interests and titles in immovable properties and property development transactions, it is useful to focus on legal persons and entities who are involved in them and the laws governing them. The first legal person and entity to be taken for discussion is an Individual in all his roles and legal statuses which are as follows:

As a citizen of India or a foreign citizen.

As a Resident or a Non-Resident.

As a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) or a Person of Indian Origin (PIO)

As a person having certain fundamental rights and duties under the Constitution.

As a heir, successor or beneficiary under the personal laws on inheritance and succession.

As a member, coparcener of a Hindu joint family.

As a trustee, beneficiary of a private trust.

As an agent, power of attorney or a legal representative of another person.

As a taxable or assessable entity under different tax laws.

As a partner of a partnership firm.

As a member of an Association of Persons (AOP).

As a member of a society including a cooperative society.

As a shareholder, director or constituent of a company.

As an employee of another person.

As an investor, buyer or seller of transactions in immovable properties and property development.

Matters relating to citizenship, the fundamental rights and duties of an individual are dealt with in the Constitution of India, 1950, as follows:

Citizenship (Articles 5 to 11 under Part-II of the Constitution).

The Constitution of India, 1950, was adopted and enacted by the Constituent Assembly on November 26, 1949 and formally came into force on January 26, 1950.

At the commencement of the Constitution, the following persons were considered as the citizens of India:

Domicile

Every person who has his (her) domicile in the territory of India. The word “domicile” is used to mean that the person has a permanent home in India or is in India for a sufficient period which establishes a clear intention on…More