News

The Hindu : y>Medical equipment that could improve the treatment of injuries

Waqar Younis holds the record for the most number of consecutive five-wicket hauls in ODIs, picking up three five-fors (two against New Zealand and one against the West Indies) in November 1990. Australian Ryan Harris came close to equalling the record when he picked up two five wicket hauls on the bounce against Pakistan in the recently concluded ODI series.

Ole Gunnar Solskjær was known for his ability to change matches after coming on as substitute. While he is best known for his injury-time win in the 1999 Champions League final, his most remarkable feat as a sub came three months earlier, when he came off the bench to score four goals in the last twelve minutes in Manchester United’s 8-1 win over Nottingham Forest.

<FONT …More

The Hindu :

Kiran Uttam Ghosh stresses that wearability is not a dirty word

PHOTO: R. SHIVAJI RAODOWN DESIGN LANE Kiran Uttam Ghosh has walked the evolution path

For 15 years Kiran Uttam Ghosh has slipped effortlessly into the wardrobes of the chic and the famous. But the lady behind the label has none of those flaky oh-dahling airs associated with happening designers. Like her clothes, she’s rooted to her moorings.

The Kolkata-based designer traces her career that started with creating a “tacky piece” of textured stole in 1994.

Having bypassed trends in favour of individualistic interpretations, Kiran’s designs are more evolved today.

“It matters to me the way women want to dress,” she says candidly, fully acknowledging the fact that not all can look like models of preternatural physical perfection. “Wearability is not a dirty word.”

Practical design

The capsule collection that features key elements from her past lines expresses Kiran’s hard-headed practicality when it comes to design. “Even a line like Ethelectic (inspired by Big Ethel of Archies comics) that celebrates imperfections has to be wearable. You cannot afford to fly in fancy zone. I travel with my laptop constantly checking mails for updates on merchandise and dispatches.”

From the hint of the Sixties’ sexiness in Flapper Girl’s Oriental tryst to the more recent Kilm rugs-spurred digital prints, “Retrospective Experiential”, Kiran’s show, will cover all major metros in the country.

To keep dowdiness from the door, Kiran has worked on cowls and drapes in deep-toned kurtas. For those who gravitate to a brighter palette, there are ensembles in pink with plenty of embellishment.

“Embroidery is clearly a strong point in my work. It reflects my roots — Kolkata. The art and craft-rich environment has shaped my work. Today, it’s natural that Kolkata has emerged as a hub of fashion with many designers vying for their space on the springboard to fame.”

Rejuvenating pret

Besides the retrospective, the designer’s agenda for 2010 includes rejuvenating…More

The Hindu : y>An e-book about love and longing

Love is in the air The e-way

This year on February 14, you can read Sharon Shefali Gupta’s eBook, “Toofani Days, Valentine Nights”.

A multicultural love story set in Agra, the novel is showcased on the London-based website www.abook2read.com, from where it can be purchased online.

“Toofani Days, Valentine Nights” tells the story of British research scholar, Jennifer Gayle, who visits Agra to study the Mughal history and falls in love with the flamboyant Indian businessman, Sanjay Rana.

Their relationship brings them into conflict with a right-wing group that opposes ‘pub culture’, ‘mall culture’, westernisation, and foreign festivals like Valentine’s Day.

This organisation bans young people from all celebrations on February 14.

Sanjay and Jennifer defy them and stir up the youth of Agra to form the Valentine Express, a convoy of vehicles that travels through the city centre to a pub called Shanti on the outskirts of the city on Valentine’s Day.

The novel is a riveting and humorous account of love and longing in the medieval city that’s on every tourist’s radar.

It is also a statement about the need to stand up against fundamentalism and intolerance. Sharon Shefali Gupta is a Delhi-based civil servant.

She has written four novels, three of which have been published.

You may visit her online at www.sharongupta.com.

<FONT …More

The Hindu : y>

Romance frenzy An overdose of mush

Stay home this Valentine’s Day and cuddle up with your loved ones in the cosy confines of your living room. Star Network is celebrating Valentine’s season with a whole line up of entertaining programmes. Till February 13, Star World will air “Cupid’s Cuddle”, a special Valentine’s package of the much loved sitcom, “How I Met your Mother.” Two episodes of the show will air back-to-back from 7 p.m. On Valentine’s Day, Star World will air 10 back-to-back episodes of “How I Met your Mother” from 5 p.m. onwards.

Star Movies will showcase many special movies such as “Blonde Ambition”, “Just Married”, “27 Dresses” “Pretty Woman” and “Penelope” on Sunday.

Catch the VJ’s play pranks with people on a special programme – “Bhanda Phod” on February 14 at 1 p.m. Catch “Love Confessions” at 4 p.m.,

Tune in to Star One for an hour long special episode of “Miley Jab Hum Tum” on February 13 at 9 p.m.

<FONT …More

The Hindu : y>The Hindu crossword has become more than a collection of clues and grids. DIVYA KUMAR says it has spawned an active online community that discusses every aspect of it

PHOTO: R. Ravindran

There’s something about The Hindu crossword. The neat, unassuming grey-and-white grid tucked away in a corner of the daily paper seems to inspire a particularly passionate brand of devotion, one that cuts across age, gender and geographical barriers, affecting 80-something scientists and 20-something software engineers, former journalists and retired army officers, Chennai-ites and Californians alike.

This isn’t your garden-variety enthusiasm. We’re talking about the kind that spawns multiple blogs and highly active groups on social networking sites, generates intense scrutiny and in-depth analysis of every clue and composer, and even a statistical study to be published in an international linguistics journal soon.

Colonel Deepak Gopinath (retired), for instance, does The Hindu crossword (let’s call it THC as the online enthusiasts do from here on) “every morning without fail.” And by 8.30 a.m., the solutions are up on his blog The Hindu Crossword Corner.

Without fail. “I schedule it for 8.30 a.m. though I’m usually done much earlier,” says the Bangalore-based gentleman who begins every morning at 6.45 a.m., as soon as the paper arrives. He adds in his precise way: “I don’t put it up sooner to give others a chance to exercise their brain cells.”

I DON’T PUT IT UP SOONER TO GIVE OTHERS A CHANCE TO EXERCISE THEIR BRAIN CELLS COL. GOPINATH

For NRI fans such as California-based T.S. Ganesh, the solving actually starts sooner. “We get a time advantage since the crossword gets uploaded online at around 2 a.m. IST when the on-paper solvers back in India are fast asleep,” says the 27-year-old computer engineer, who began the popular THC-solving Orkut group as a masters student back in 2004. “The first post on our Orkut forum appears within an hour or so…More

The Hindu :

An asthma patient once, 10-year-old Mouna Babu is setting skating rinks ablaze with her performances

Photo: Murali Kumar K.GRACE TO RACE Mouna Babu won a clutch of medals at the Nationals held in Nagpur

Zipping around on skates is her forte. And she has been doing it for almost seven years now. Mouna Babu is only 10 years old. This fifth standard student of Cluny Convent, Malleswaram made a mark at the recently-concluded Nationals at Nagpur.

Mouna is very determined to achieve success in her field. Her father and coach, Balaji Babu says: “She is very focussed and determined.” Babu and his wife Sudha impart training to 80 children at the Dr Ambedkar Stadium in Basaveshwaranagar and the newly-constructed Dr Rajkumar rink at Mahalakshmipuram respectively.

When not on the skating rink, Mouna enjoys drawing, painting and reading. “She is a source of inspiration for many beginners at the rink,” says her father. Mouna was inspired to join the sport by her brother Dhanush, who has won four medals in the national competitions so far.

Dhanush relies on his speed. However, a bout of illness impacted his performance. He finished fourth in his category. Babu contends, “He was yet to recover from a bout of jaundice. The competition in his age category (under 14) for boys is very tough.”

Apart from skating, Mouna also tries her hand at basketball, throw-ball and kho-kho in her school and has developed good stamina levels.

Babu says, “She is very energetic and makes up for occasional poor starts. She has been doing well in the longer distance category. I feel that she would be a good prospect on the ‘road’ rather than the ‘tracks’,” says her coach.

Her mother, Sudha, adds: “Mouna was an asthma patient since she was nine months old. The regular training on skates has helped. It is a prime example of the manner in which skating helps people with…More

The Hindu :

Sheeba Chaddha talks of her role in Hedda Gabler, which opens tomorrow

Classic Sheeba Chaddha plays Hedda

“Hedda is unlikeable and that makes her fascinating,” says artist Sheeba Chaddha about her lead character Hedda in Henrik Ibsen’s classic play “Hedda Gabler”, considered the most interesting woman ever created for the stage.

“She is fragmented and is caught in extreme conflicts, a kind of entrapment and has a great sense of claustrophobia,” she adds.

Fragmented

And, the fragments are forever in conflict with each other. “One fragment of hers yearns for something and the other fragment does everything in conflict to that notion,” Sheeba adds.

Gomber Education Foundation presents Hedda Gabler, A Just Theatre Production at Ranga Shankara from February 12 to 14. Hedda returning from her honeymoon is already desperately bored with her marriage to George Tesman, an aspiring professor. She begins plotting against the brilliant and dissolute Eilert Lovborg, an old admirer of hers and a rival of her husband’s for a coveted academic post.

In the process, she finds herself drawn into the clutches of the predatory Judge Brack.

Hidden motives

“She is entrapped in the complexities and there is a sense of compulsiveness,” the actor says about Hedda. Sheeba describes it as a play of conflicting interests, hidden motives, revelations, entrapment and claustrophobia.

“Also, a sense of waste, how wasted life can be. It’s a character to which I have brought out the best of the truth of one’s self and the best of your instincts.”

The play has its share of funny moments too. “ It’s not a funny play but the eccentricities puts the character in funny situations,” the actor adds, who was seen in films such as “Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam”, “Parzania”, “Delhi 6” and “Luck by Chance”.

Her forthcoming films include “Zokkomon” and “West is West”.

In theatre, she has to her credit “C for Clown”, “The Blue Mug”, “Othella in Black” and more.

Ask Sheeba…More

The Hindu :

Medical equipment that could improve the treatment of injuries

Joint effort The scanner could be of help in sports medicine

Commonwealth Youth Games silver medallist, Sikki Reddy, was searching for a doctor who could diagnose the problem in her knees. The gifted shuttler is just one of the many athletes who are not aware of the availability of the latest technology to take care of recurring problems with knees, wrist and joints. Now Dr. M.C. Balaji Reddy, in association with his partner Dr. K. Srinivas, is taking special interest to cater to this category. Dr. Reddy, a sports-lover himself, has imported the US-manufactured ONI 1.5 Tesla Joint MRI (costing Rs. 2.5 crore) and installed it at Focus Diagnostics in Hyderabad.

Incidentally, Dr. Balaji says that this is the first of its kind in South Asia and should go a long way to help doctors diagnose the actual problems with most sports-related injuries, to the smallest detail.

Dr. Balaji says that unlike conventional MRI scanning equipment, this state-of-the-art machine ensures there is no tunnel and therefore, no claustrophobia involved. And any patient can just step into the room and relax in an easy chair and undergo the scan. “Earlier, there was no proper imaging to see the small joints. The treatment was not targeted. Athletes are prone to injuries to small joints, which can be seen clearly in this scan. This technology prevents disability and underperformance if detected early,” he explains.

“Any athlete with even the most painful injury can avail this technology, without discomfort. For instance, when we are scanning a person with elbow, wrist joint problems they have to lie down in awkward (free-style swimming position) for 40 minutes. In this case, you can just sit and get the scan done with ease,” Dr. Balaji says.

“Though this is a big boon to athletes, it is not out of bounds for general patients. ,” Dr….More