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The Hindu : Not long ago, Karnataka enjoyed the pride of place in Indian sports. Not anymore. One does not have to look far for the reason. The infrastructure barring cricket is crumbling and the respective State associations are doing little or nothing about it. Governmental support over the years has been lukewarm.Cricket has a structured system in place and the grading of a player is largely transparent. The same cannot be said about other disciplines.Lacking supportFor instance football lacks administrative and sponsorship support in our country. Bangalore was home to many a football great, but today there is neither a national level tournament being conducted anywhere in the State nor any representation from the State in the National Football league of the current I-League.The BDFA recently conducted the Prasanna Kumar Memorial Football Tournament for A and B division teams and attracted just six entries.Rail Wheel Factory (RWF) walked away with the championship trophy. The ongoing Puttaiah Memorial for Super division teams saw nine entries, but with one team scrapped, Group ‘B’ has been reduced to a three-legged race.The Super division league in itself was enlarged to 15 teams last season in an effort by the new committee to give more opportunity and exposure, but the experiment fell flat as one team having lost five matches in a row, pulled out halfway while two other teams just about managed three and five points at the end of 14 matches.The State basketball scenario is in a similar state. There is just one State-level championship for the under-13 group and the players are short-listed, sent for the National championship annually and forgotten till the next year.The matches are invariably delayed, there is no age verification and most often no scoreboards on view to follow the progress of the matches.The hard surface (cement courts) that the State championships and the senior league is being played has only added to the injury…More

The Hindu : On the Ranga Shankara stage with steel book racks against the backdrop of the curtain, a carpet, tyres piled up on top of each other, rope-twined skeleton umbrellas perched to resemble the mangosteen tree, a man, resplendently dressed in a red flimsykurta and printed lungi lights a cigarette. The lighting is subtle and he begins to survey the audience – counts the numbers present for the first-day, first-show of “Sangathi Arinhya!” (Have you heard!) and gestures that the numbers are satisfactory, salaams and dozes off.In a bout of distinctive beats, Vaikom Muhammed Basheer in his trademark starch-white kurta, munde, thick black rimmed glasses places his hand-fan on the floor. Then, in a riot of colours, sounds, gestures and costumes, all his colourful characters from his short stories flock to stage and greet him.“Sthalathe Pradhana Divyan” (The Chief Mystic of the Place”) takes centre-stage first.In this story, the easy merging of fantasy, imagination, mystique and literary creation was fabulous in every theatrical aspect and narrative structure.The positing of Basheer, the iconic progressive Malayalee writer in the Malayalam (1908-1994) was noteworthy. He becomes one of the characters, he struggles or gets lost in his writing as his characters grow larger than life and, sometimes, he is on the sidetracks as a catalytic spectator.The trademark Malayalee gesticulations, accents, traits enacted were impressive — from the slapping of the munde and the black umbrellas, to the rubber slippers, Moplah women’s headdress and letter ‘s’ which is reduced to a snake’s hiss…“Poovan Pazham” (Poovan Banana), the most enjoyable story for its hilarious depiction and character caricature had everyone delirious with laughter. The bucktoothed, scrawny Abdul Khader Sahib, secretary of the local Beedi Workers’ Union has won the heart of the gorgeous Jameela Bibi, daughter of the owner of the beedi factory. The acting out of the exaggerated roles was spectacular, and delightfully humorous.Each of the stories do not complete itself…More

The Hindu : Domino’s Pizza India Limited announced the launch of Domino’s Sicilian wheat treat pizza. The new pizza promises to take the pizza tasting experience to another level.The Sicilian wheat treat pizza is made of a wheat base by the traditional Sicilian method of adding ingredients such as butter flavour and special herb seasoning. Domino’s has launched several new products such as the Cheese burst pizza, the new fun meal range of pizzas, the calzone, the Chinese range of pizzas etc over the last few months.Ajay Kaul, CEO Indian Subcontinent, Domino’s Pizza India Limited, said, “This product comes after meticulous planning and research. We aim to bring products that are relevant to the pizza lovers in India.Sicilian Wheat Treat Pizza will be available with all existing topping combinations in a 10″ medium size. The pizza will be priced only Rs. 10 more than similar pizzas with hand tossed base….More

The Hindu : ContestFILM Send in your film or photographson water issuesVoices from the Waters an international film festival on water, which will be held in Bangalore from September 13 to 18 has extended the deadline for acceptance of entries to May 31. Bangalore Film Society, Arghyam, Svaraj-Society for Voluntary Action Revitalisation and Justice, Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival, Ithaca College, U.S.A. Mountainfilm in Telluride, U.S.A., Alliance Francaise de Bangalore and Water Journeys-Campaign for Fundamental Right to Water are organising the festival. To be part of this festival, you can contribute short, documentary, animation and feature films (DVD format only) with English subtitles on water and related issues. The films should be under the following categories – water scarcity, dams and the displaced, water harvest, water struggles, floods and droughts, global warming and climate change, impact of deforestation on water bodies and water and life.There is no entry fee. For more information, contact Georgekutty A.L., Secretary, Bangalore Film Society, No. 33/1-9, Thyagaraja Layout, Jai Bharath Nagar, M.S. Nagar P.O., Bangalore 560 033. Call 80-25493705, email:bangalorefilmsociety@gmail.com orwaterjourneys@rediffmail.com. Visit www.voices fromthewaters.com…More

The Hindu : Chetan Bhagat, like another famous novelist insists he is not in the Shakespeare stakes. The other novelist was Ian Fleming and he created James Bond. Chetan is also responsible for a seismic shift in Indian writing in English.With “Five Point Someone” a coming-of-age novel set in IIT, Chetan opened the floodgates and soon the market was inundated with bildungsroman. Chetan followed “Five Point Someone” with “One Night at the Call Centre”. Chetan has moved back to Mumbai after 12 years in Hong Kong and continues with his day job as investment banker while putting final touches on his third novel, “The Three Mistakes of my Life.” In town for good friend, Shinie Antony’s book launch, Chetan took time out to talk about books, films and coming home. Excerpts.What is “The Three Mistakes of My Life” about?Like the tagline says, it is about cricket, religion and business. While the book is more serious compared to my other two novels, the time-pass element is very much there. It is light treatment against a serious backdrop. The book tells the story of three boys in Gujarat who decide to start a sports shop.Any particular reason for setting the novel in Gujarat?Gujarat is the only State where businessmen are considered ideal husband material. Salaried people are looked down upon because they work for others. Also I felt I had to earn the title of youth writer. Both “Five Point Someone” and “One Night at the Call Centre” have a cosmopolitan look and feel. The themes they tackle are also rather urban and elitist. I wanted to broaden my base, to do something different and talk to youth across the country.I think the ‘60s-to-‘80s generation is boring and intolerant. The generation before that were very cool as they got us Independence. I think a lot of our problems are because of the Doordarshan generation ruling the STAR TV generation. We…More

The Hindu : Cricket or circus?The much talked about IPL (Indian premier league) has finally kicked off. The tournament has drawn mixed reviews, with some purists mourning the death of cricket as we knew it, while others seem fairly enthused by the new concept.However, all do seem to agree that the concept has revolutionised the game to a great extent, though for better or worse still remains to be seen. The IPL features cheerleaders, hailing every boundary and wicket, performances by a plethora of bollywood stars, who seem rather smitten by the concept.It involves a great deal more of entertainment than regular sporting events. Some Bollywood stars have also purchased teams such as Preity Zinta (Kings XI Punjab) and Shah Rukh Khan (Kolkata Knight riders) for massive sums.With the advent of more money, glamour and city-based teams, instead of the traditional country based tournaments, it still remains to be seen if the Indian public embrace this new format as readily as the other formats of the sport. Metroplus asks city residents about their views on the IPL and whether it will benefit cricket in the long run…The IPL is a very good concept. It will help domestic players get more exposure to International cricket. The entertainment factor will aid in bringing about more eyeballs. It will also help cricket compete with other sports popular in the west.RajaramWeb professionalIt has definitely changed cricket. Though I do not watch all the matches, I feel that soon IPL will provide competition to cult followings that international events like the Premier league football. IPL will also provide more exposure to Indian domestic players.KerthiSales managerThe IPL is a step in the right direction. It will help cricket compete with other sports. It will also be beneficial as there will be more exposure to local players. The shorter games will be good for people who want to head home and watch the game.SaurabhSoftware professionalI…More

The Hindu : At first sight, Bani Abidi’s two-channel video, “Reserved”, looks like a simple visual documentary. Covering a couple of street scenes in addition to happenings in and around an auditorium, the take is essentially on people and the act of waiting.Children waving flags quite mechanically and disinterestedly, stand in a line in the hot sun waiting for an unidentified VIP. There is a traffic jam elsewhere and people are impatiently waiting for the VIP and convoy to pass.The scene shifts to the entrance of an auditorium where it is the turn of suited, booted organisers to become part of the waiting game on the red carpet. Inside the auditorium, there are rows and rows of vacant but ‘reserved’ seats. It is quite stuffy in there and some people come in, take seats, fan themselves and … wait. The overall feeling inside and outside is one of anxiety, anticipation and unbridled uneasiness.Abidi’s nine-minute video was commissioned by the Singapore National Arts Council for the Singapore Biennale in 2006. Sonia Campagnola writing for Flash Art feels that the shots of pupils and city’s blocked traffic “indicate the paralysis of a system awaiting a leader, a lucid allusion to all forms of dictatorship and submission”.By itself, the theme of waiting is not new. Artists, poets and writers have dealt with the notion of waiting even before Samuel Beckett wrote “En attendant Godot” (“Waiting for Godot”) almost sixty years ago.Unlike Beckett who often created unrecognisable characters, Abidi’s protagonists are quite familiar to the viewer. The 37-year old artist who was born in Karachi, Pakistan and trained at the Art Institute of Chicago employs uncomplicated shots and effective camera movements in her work.While there are moments of irritation and intrigue, Abidi laces her work with a slice of humour too. Stuck in the traffic jam, a car driver puts a cigarette on his lips which will be lit by an unseen…More