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Photo: AFPBowled over Try out the new games as you watch our boys in blue

Keeping up with the passion for cricket in India, the gaming portal, Gaming Hungama, has launched a bouquet of four interactive online cricket games. The games are available free of cost. Reach the Pitch is a game where the players must steer a team bus to the cricket stadium without colliding with any of the obstacles, planted along their way.

Cricket Colours provides an opportunity to players to form the correct cricket teams by putting together the caps of each team according the respective colour codes, while Cricket Jigsaw involves a simple jigsaw puzzle, which also allows fans the option of downloading the image of their favourite cricketers.

For more information,visitwww.hungama.org.

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The Hindu :

A lively and engaging tribute to Simon and Garfunkel was marred by a chattering audience

Memory lane Colin and Charles have devoted their life to old music

It was a trip down memory lane for those who sat down to listen to the Simon and Garfunkel tribute show held recently at the Kyra Theatre. The musical experience, dished out by performers Colin and Charles was engaging, even though the second half was completely hijacked by the singers who belted out oldies and chose to display their multi-lingual talents.

The die-hard S&G fan was a tad irritated, but the track list comprising good old numbers from the Sixties and Seventies kept them glued to their seats.

So, were Colin and Charles able to live up to the gargantuan task of stepping into the shoes of this legendary music duo? Well, not entirely. But their lively rendition of the inimitable tunes of the musical legends was able to preserve the soft and acoustic temper of the original music.

The audience, brimming with a sense of nostalgia, swayed to the music and even sang along to more catchy numbers like “Cecilia” and “Mrs. Robinson”

Colin on the guitars with his light voice perfectly complimented Charles’ heavier tone, as is in the case of their inspiration. Kick-starting the two-hour performance with “Sounds of Silence”, they moved on to tougher songs like “Scarborough Fair”, and the short but extremely sweet “El Condor Pasa”. Their interaction with the audience was minimal, but their seemingly engrossed audience did not seem to mind.

The widely-travelled duo from Kerala, who claim to have devoted their life to “old music”, sat down during their break to talk a bit about their music. An enthusiastic Colin said: “We were shocked in Muscat to see that people were craving for some good old country music. They were tired of all this rock and pop!”

Forced to return to India…More

The Hindu :

Susan Visvanathan speaks of the joys and trials of being a full-time sociologist, writer and mum

Photo: Sandeep SaxenaIn part Susan Visvanathan makes time for her many pursuits

At a book reading session organised at Easy Library, Susan Visvanathan, who has authored many novels such as “Something Barely Remembered”, “The Visiting Moon” and “Seine at Noon” among others talked of her experiences in balancing a regular job, as sociology professor at JNU with her writing and family.

The mother of three says, “In my childhood, I used to dream of becoming a writer. It was only in my early 30’s that I managed to write a short story that was liked by colleagues and friends at college. One of my friends managed to get it published in a local magazine.”

Susan adds, “I began writing on a regular basis. Finding publishers took time. Eventually, they were published and my publishers have been extremely understanding and helpful.”

“I took up writing as a hobby and not as a stand alone profession. I was able to maintain an equilibrium between my household responsibilities and my professional duties and was also able to devote time to my writing.” She contends, “It was not always a smooth ride. There were small sacrifices to be made. The best part was I had a regular job that gave me a steady income. So, in spite of being a low-profile writer, I did not have to depend on royalties alone to survive.”

She says that she has never felt the need to resigning her job and take up writing full time. “I have been teaching for more than 20 years and enjoy it. Writing also interests me. As long as I can manage to strike a balance between the two, I see no reason to leave my job.”

For young writers, she says, “If you are confident, you can take up writing as a…More

The Hindu : y>A dimple here and a pout there, aspiring models and actors are under pressure to enhance their looks. PRABALIKA M. BORAH checks out the beauty business

Photo: S. SubramaniumThe nose story Shilpa Shetty’s glamorous look is an inspiration to many

You are camera friendly, love acting, and recently won a beauty pageant and movie offers are pouring in. The screen test says you have that dream frame. Your dance moves meet the choreographer’s jhatkas and matkas. But there is a hitch — the producer says he wants ‘deep’ dimples when you smile.A deep dimple or an extra mole on a well-defined jaw-line is not that difficult to acquire. Increasingly, producers and model coordinators make sure starlets and budding models get a few corrections done before signing them on.Million-dollar smile

A director signed a 19-year-old actor on the condition that she agrees for a prosthodontist surgery. Though her screen test was okay, she didn’t look too good when she smiled. “When I smile my canine teeth would show and this made me look awful on screen. I agreed for the correction and bagged the movie offer,” says the actor.

While it is common knowledge that actors go under the knife to enhance their looks, what is shocking is that those beginning their careers are opting for surgery.

When the not-so-attractive Karishma Kapoor in “Prem Qaidi” reappeared in “Raja Hindustani” (RH), she stunned cine-goers. In a bid to exploit modern techniques, Lolo didn’t stop there; post “RH”, she wowed the audience with her looks in “Dil to Pagal Hain”. Ayesha Takia of “Tarzan – The Wonder Car” was oozing oomph when she made her debut in the Telugu Film industry. Eyebrows raised, but that provided some food for ‘makeover’ thoughts.

Things would have been simpler if most of them had Shilpa Shetty or a Rakhi Sawant’s courage to admit the obvious.

Adding to this, director of Anoos herbal beauty…More

The Hindu :

Ten-year-old Damini K. Gowda is emerging as one of Karnataka’s strong swimming talents

Photo: Bhagya Prakash K.TESTING THE WATERS Damini Gowda’s forte is the individual medley

Swimming in Karnataka has always been full of talented youngsters and has delivered many a State and national champion in the sport. Damini K. Gowda is the new kid on the block and is all set emulate her illustrious peers such as Lorraine Verghese, Shanaz Shacoor, Sangita Rao, Sajini Shetty, Abhinaya Shetty, Nisha Millet and Shikha Tandon, who have done the State and country proud with their exploits in the pool.

Damini dominated the 26th National Sub-junior Aquatic Championship held at the Campal Pool in Panaji last month.

The 10-year-old student of St. Paul’s School in J.P. Nagar is being trained by coach Bhushan Kumar at the Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre.

She emerged as the best swimmer of the championship with six golds, and also established five new National meet records. Her performance managed to mitigate the pain of Karnataka’s third place finish in the championship.Determined protégé

Damini’s coach, Bhushan Kumar observes, “She is extremely dedicated and has the talent and determination to reach the top.”

Kumar recognised the latent talent in Damini, when she was training as a seven year old. “I was convinced that I had a champion in the making after watching her swim. She has a natural flair for swimming.”

After three years of sustained practice, which saw Damini log almost four kilometres of swimming everyday, Damini was ready for the big challenge.

Damini won all six races in the State sub-junior championship, which preceded the Nationals at Panaji. In the Nationals, she secured new records and managed to win almost all events. Her nationals records came in the 50m freestyle (32.01 s), 100m freestyle (1:10.22s), 50m backstroke (36.25s) and 50m butterfly (33.34s), 4×50m freestyle relay (2:18.27s). She also won the 50m breast stroke gold in 40.80s, narrowly…More

The Hindu :

The little bird, which was once ubiquitous in Bangalore, has faded away thanks to over-construction and garden deserts

Photo: Sampath kumar G.P.Take wing Lack of insect food is one of the main causes of decline of house sparrows

It was while I walked to the University in Denmark that I realised that the ubiquitous house sparrow or the Passer domesticus is not that common any more in Bangalore. The darker coloured male birds and the more subdued and insignificant looking female, were a common sight in our city in the not too distant past. In fact they were considered pests when we were kids, as they made messy nests in the eaves of windows or the cups of the fan. Scraps of cloth, coir from coconut husks, even long bits of wool were hung in untidy heaps in any available hole during nesting time.

Friends in Hyderabad, allowed sparrows to breed in a lamp in their verandah, year after year as it is considered a good omen if the house sparrow built a nest inside their house. If the featherless babies fell out of the lamp they were cautiously picked up with a pair of tongs and returned to the nest. The tongs were used to avoid direct human contact as it was believed that the parent bird would shun the chick if it picked up an alien scent.

That was the time of the household help, sitting in the back verandah and cleaning rice, sifting the broken grain with her sieve for the waiting sparrows to enjoy. Today we get pre-cleaned and packed grains and there are no verandahs or gardens to sit out in behind the kitchen. Had they become so domesticated that once high rise buildings came up their numbers dropped due to lack of food?

One wonders if it is also climate change that has caused the rapid decline in the…More

The Hindu :

Anurag Kashyap gets up close and personal with his favourite movie characters

Licence to thrill The name is Kashyap, Anurag Kashyap

“I enjoy doing things that excite me,” says Anurag Kashyap of his new avatar as a TV anchor for FOX History and Entertainment. Anurag will host “True Stories” – a show that explores real life inspirations behind popular movie icons like James Bond, Al Capone, Frank Morris and Indiana Jones. About the experience, he says it is special because it gives him a chance to talk about his favourite subject — cinema. “I grew up watching their movies and am a big fan. Before coming on to the show, I had asked for the documentaries. And, all of them blew me away. Indiana Jones was by far my favourite because he has been my childhood hero,” says the ace director who gave us mind-blowing altering films like “Dev D”.

He says documentaries are fascinating for any curious mind. “Film appreciation in India is mostly limited to what we see on screen. A lot goes into a writer’s research or the director’s vision and inspiration. What I love about this show is that it makes an effort to bring forth the research and inspiration that goes behind the making of some of the iconic characters. I hope viewers enjoy the stories.”

Viewers will get to see Anurag in a new avatar in every show. “I’ll be dressed as James Bond, as Frank Morris, as Indiana Jones, and Al Capone. For the show on Indiana Jones, you will see me wearing the famous fedora, which I bought when I visited the U.S,” says the director.

Facing the camera, he says was quite nerve wrecking. While the series explores the true stories behind these popular screen icons, the director gives his perspective on the movies that made them big. “All I had to do was talk about…More