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The Hindu : Mad about cricketThe turnout at the test match between India and Pakistan has been good in comparison to other matches. Fans were out in full swing, wearing painted faces, masks, the Indian team outfit, carrying flags and the works. What is more, people seemed to beon mass-leave – taking off from work, school, college and play – all to watch a match between two favourite contending teams of all time.Moreover, even the roads seem to wear a deserted look – everyone was either basking in the warm winter sun in true test match spirit for five days at a stretch or enjoying the five day game by staying glued to the television either in the environs of home or a restaurant.With the domineering popularity of one-day internationals and the recent 20-20 World Cup which India has managed to bring home, test cricket fever has still not died down. There are avid fans who still express their love and fan-following for test-cricket because they feel that that’s what truly represents and brings out the best in the game.They are willing to take leave from office, bunk school and college – all to watch a game which has captured the imagination and hopes of a nation. There are, however, some people who feel that they just don’t have the time or patience to sit through a test match for five days.Five days is just too long for cricket for a fan’s attention to be sustained. It should be of a much shorter duration as it’s more interesting and captivating. But the response of this test match in the city has been good in comparison to other test matches.ManjunathSoftware engineerI think that five days of cricket is much better than a few hours or the just one day. Test cricket is of a much longer duration, so as a cricket fan there is so much more to enjoy…More

The Hindu : You have to live in an opaque, sound-proof bubble to deny child sexual abuse (CSA) exists. Hard-drives of documented cases are available with NGOs working in this field (you don’t want to read them). Reports from the media, UNESCO and the government are awash with evidence. The long silence and denial about CSA seem to be breaking. It is mainstream, occupying public and political space. You can’t argue the need for it.Accept it, say the NGOs, and work to protect the child. Know the facts.There’s a high percentage of child-trafficking in the sex trade. Paedophiles stalk websites in search of unwary, curious kids. Abusers target unsupervised children of busy parents, children from broken families. Children who run away from home (violence? drunkenness?) are specially vulnerable. Child labourers and street children are easy prey. There is CSA in middle and upper middle-class families; it just goes unreported.Activists are taking the matter head-on. The Nalamdana troupe enacts plays to spread awareness. Tulir talks of safety through posters, billboards, illustrated do’s and don’ts in newspapers and advocacy; it works with sexually abused kids and their families, conducts training workshops.Currently it’s campaigning for a legal definition of child pornography. Ashraya runs workshops in educational institutions and the Police Training College.All of them distribute informative flyers and booklets among schools. Rotary Club has Project Selvi.Language is an important component.“It’s a sensitive topic,” said Nitya Balaji of Nalamdana. “So programmes have soft names – safe child, life skill teaching, adolescent health program. Do we talk to children about their physical and emotional changes in a scientific way?” Vidya Reddy of Tulir wants “shame” removed from the child’s awareness of his body. “Terms should be simple and age appropriate. Saying, ‘Don’t allow anyone to touch you,’ puts the burden of responsibility on the child. Say, ‘It is not all right for anyone to touch you except for medical reasons.’ Empower children. Their…More

The Hindu : Ruddy-faced, masked by a salt-and-pepper beard and impeccably clad in a brown suit and black t-shirt, Tom Alter had just finished watching the third day of the Test cricket match between India and Pakistan. “It was a bit slow, but we have a good team”, he says.In between mouthfuls of buttery ham and chicken sandwiches and pots of strong English tea, he says: “The last plays I acted in were ‘Maulana Azad’, an adaptation of William Dalrymple’s ‘City of Djinns’ and ‘K.L. Saigal’. Though ‘City of Djinns’ was performed 17 years after the travelogue was written, it still remains significant. “It was a daring production and it addressed issues like the 1984 Sikh riots, Partition, Delhi’s segregation as a city and corruption. Dalrymple loved it.”Alter who has been acting in television, features and on stage since 1974 believes that the plays he acted in have been “Indian, original, powerful and have all had something to say”. He adds, “They’ve dealt with everything from history, religion and mythology to prominent figures like Buddha, Maulana and Swami Vivekananda.”“The press keeps on talking about big names in art and literature. That is fair enough, but there are so many people who we don’t know about who deserve to be written about.” He says that for seven days at the Mysore Association Mumbai, he and his friends brought together a seven-day festival of plays called ‘Raahat’. “We performed eleven plays in Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi and English of well-known writers like Tagore, Mirza Ghalib, Maithili Charan Gupte and others but nobody knew about it.But the way things are going in Indian theatre, I am happy to be a part of it.”“I am also acting in three movies. ‘Foto’ is about a young boy who aspires to become a film director, ‘Cycle Kick’, has football in the background and ‘Shadows’ is about the effect of the Tsunami in the Andamans.”With…More

The Hindu : In a country that is known for giving new meaning to the acronym IST – Indian Stretchable Time, who who is bang on time when it comes to honouring timelines? Men or women?Sai Divya a process consultant with a software company says, “Punctuality is a matter of discipline and is ingrainedright from childhood by one’s parents and the education system. Much depends onupbringing. It is a tool with which to brand yourself. As a trainer it is extremely important for me to be on time.”However people in certain types of jobs reason that time is not always in their hands but controlled largely by those they serve.Suresh K. Nair who manufactureswater and waste-water treatment plants explains, “My time is decided by clients. Supposing I go to a meeting expecting it to finish in half-an-hour it may stretch for longer for a variety of reasons and then the second one gets delayed. People also work late hours. If I have something lined up with the family for the evening there is a 50-50 chance that I will make it. But for the first meeting of the day I am invariably on time. As far as business meetings go, women are more punctual. Zuhair, a business development manager in an auto ancillary says, “In our line of work we find very few women and most of them tend to stick to deadlines. At work I have to make an effort to be on time. This is because of the way I structure my day and my tendency to bite off more than I can chew.”But if one had to take a pick – who is more punctual men or women?Joel a HR professional replies, “I would say men are more punctual not because I am a man but since a lot of leaders happen to be men and leaderscan’t afford to miss time cues. In actual experience…More

The Hindu : In the fourth episode of “The Amazing Race Asia 2” after a hazardous last leg of the race, Sophie and Aurelia argued their way to the bottom of the rung. The two Hong Kong residents had better buck up if they want to remain in the race. The two ladies actually arrived at the previous pit stop in Auckland, New Zealand, seven hours after the last team, which means everyone else has a strong head start. So this time, teams get to experience the watery wonders of New Zealand, in more ways than one. First off, teams get to wade in one of the rivers with nothing except a float, life-jacket and… a helmet. If you’re wondering what swim requires the use of a helmet, so does poor Natasha. As soon as she sees the river, her first question to the people running the show is, “Has anyone ever died doing this?”Amidst the smoke and stench, which can be described as a combination of sulphur and rotten eggs, teams must take a dive in a brown, gooey pool. Will hunks Marc and Rovilson prove that brawn serves them better, when they face an arts and craft challenge? Find out in Episode 4 of “The Amazing Race Asia 2” every Thursday at 10 p.m. on AXN….More

The Hindu : The Hindu MetroPlus Lifestyle Show 2007 is presented by Samsung at R.B.A.N.M.S. Grounds, Near Commercial Street, from December 13 to 17. The Hindu MetroPlus Lifestyle Show is South India’s largest consumer fair, where you can look forward to ashopping extravaganza offering a variety of product categories under one roof. Beginning with Chennai in 2004, the show grew to three cities in 2005 and seven cities in 2006. This year, the show will be held at nine cities — Chennai, Madurai, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Vishakhapatnam, Bangalore, Coimbatore and Kochi.The show has 240 stalls spread over the 48,000 sq.ft. air-conditioned space with products ranging from consumer electronics, automobiles and accessories, furniture and furnishing, kitchen accessories, home appliances, bathroom fittings, arts and handicrafts, beauty and health care products, home needs and interiors, textile and jewellery, computer and IT products and gift items.You can also look forward to a special Thai corner bringing to India quintessential Thai jewellery, textiles and handicrafts.From Pakistan there will be decorative pieces in Onyx and also variety of fabrics.The chief sponsor of the event, Samsung will showcase its high-end LCD’s and plasma televisions. The associate sponsors for the event are General Motors, Jute Manufacturing Development Council and Ahsan Perfumes. NDTV 24X7 is channel partner and Radio City FM 91.1 will be the radio partner, and Taj West End is Official Host & Sabols will be the Official Water Partner for the event. The show is open from 10.30 a.m. to 8.30 p.m. with an entry ticket of Rs. 40 along with a free gift for every person. I Care Communication, a leading professional event management company, is managing the event….More

The Hindu : Book endsTom Alter’s book reading was a pleasant mix of observations and anecdotesA couple of evenings ago, Tom Alter did a reading from three of his books at Asian Woman, which sounds like a book shop but is actually a spa off Sarjapura Road. Alter read from three of his books: “Rerun at Rialto”, “The Longest Race” and “The Best in The World – India’s Ten Greatest World Cup Matches; he kept the readings short, talking animatedly in between about cricket, running and films.Alter started the reading with a piece about the legendary World Cup match at Tunbridge, Wells, in which Kapil Dev batted 175 not out, then the highest individual score in an ODI, taking India from dismal 17/5 to victory. The extract was soon forgotten in the magic of Alter’s stories about that match and about cricketers, including the “great G.R.Vishwanath”, and Vishwanath Sadanand, who was “ not like the other cricketers of Bangalore, whose expressions never changed”. He made a striking point about Kapil Dev being important for the nation because he proved that one did not have to be wealthy or from the city in order to play excellent cricket.The audience appeared to be happy that it wasn’t a formal reading and that Alter was digressing from the reading to talk, because what he said and how he said it was fascinating! With the reading from “Rerun at Rialto”, a mystery about a woman who disappears during a rerun of “Mughal-e-Azam” the audience was transported to the world of films and acting. Later in the evening, asked about the connection between creativity and reality, Alter said that it is deep and that what he, and every artists does, is “take one’s own passions and give them to strangers”. It was here that the audience learnt that Alter’s “one special film” is “Anand” and his special song, “Kahin door jab din dhal…More