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Friday, July 25, 2008

Born Muslim, raised Hindu

Every Day for six years, Mohammed Salim Sheikh and his wife mourned the loss of their two-year-old son Muzaffar, missing since a deadly mob attack ruined their home and life during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Last year, they found him.

But Muzaffar had now become Vivek, 7, son of Hindu fish-seller Vikram Patni, a childless man who cared for him since and with whom the boy wants to stay rather than his biological parents. A court battle followed. On Wednesday a court declared he , would continue to live with the Patni family .

"I'll move High Court. This isn't the end," said Sheikh. Muzaffar – or Vivek – clung frightened to the arms of his feeling parents on February 28, 2002 as thousands of rioters raided Ahmedabad's Gulbarg Society in a , six-hour carnage that also killed former MP Ehsan Jaffrey who had given them shelter.

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Thursday, July 24, 2008

Delhi learns to live with Bus Rapid Transit

The long wait at traffic intersections is still there and so are the jaywalkers and lane jumpers but the madness and chaos is now conspicuously missing. Three months after it was made operational, things seem to be finally falling into place at the much-criticised 5.8 km-long Bus Rapid Transit corridor.

The opening of the BRT corridor between Ambedkar Nagar and Moolchand on April 21 had unleashed utter chaos and congestion on the once smooth road. Tempers were frayed and scuffles became common as motorists had to wait up to 40 minutes to cross the Chirag Dilli crossing. The scene was similar at intersections like Archana, Saket and Pushpa Vihar. The traffic signals were not working and the pile-up of cars were a kilometer long and lane jumping was rampant.

Three months down the line, Hindustan Times went back to the stretch and found out traffic on the corridor has finally stabilized and motorists, cursing the new system till sometime ago, have now made their peace with it.

The changes

The first visible change at the corridor is the scrupulous lane discipline being displayed by motorists. In three hours HT spent at the corridor, not even one car or two-wheeler jumped into the nearly empty bus lane. More importantly, the waiting time at the traffic intersections has come down to a good extent. The constantly malfunctioning traffic signaling system of the corridor too is working efficiently now with separate signals for motorized vehicles, cycles and buses.

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Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Lok Sabha Televisions ratings soar

Television Viewers have found India's political drama just as gripping - if not more - than the saas-bahu soaps, the Sensex and even sports. And advertisers are flocking to news channels and the government-run Lok Sabha TV to make the most of the situation.

Viewership for Lok Sabha TV which telecasts the Parliament session live, surged by 46 per cent on July 21, the day the special session of the Parliament began. Industry watchers said there was a surge in the number of advertisers vying for space during commercial breaks between MP speeches, though no conclusive data was available. On the same day, DD News viewership shot up by 20.4 per cent, while NDTV India recorded an 18 per cent rise.

Hiren Pandit, of Group M ESP, a media agency, believes that ratings of news channels will be up by 20 to 30 per cent. "Some advertisers will grab the opportunity," he said, adding that he knew of a few who had joined the action in the past two days.

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Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Chicken tikka, samosa power Israeli troops

Some of the toughest troops in the world have fallen in love with Indian culinary delights. In an outstanding endorsement of Indian cuisine, chicken tikka and samosa have become the staple diet for the Israeli Defence Forces.

If Indian food has found its way around Israeli barracks, the credit goes to an Indian lady who made Tel-Aviv her home 25 years ago. Born in New Delhi to a colonel, Reena Pushkarna's restaurant chain - Tandoori- currently supplies over 1,500 tonnes of packaged food to the forces every year.

Reena told the Hindustan Times from Jerusalem, "Yummy food makes peace all the way I can proudly say that an entire generation of Israeli soldiers is growing on my chicken tikka."

Business has steadily grown since the Tandoori chain bagged an Israeli Defence Forces contract some five years ago, she said. Her restaurants in TelAviv, Jerusalem, Herzliya and Eilat are the favourite ports of call for both army reservists and generals.

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Monday, July 21, 2008

United Progressive Alliance pads up for slog overs

The Murky backroom battle to gain control of India see-sawed all of Sunday as the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) appeared to be just two short of the 272 votes it needs - before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh comes to the Lok Sabha on Monday to move a one-line motion to seek the House's confidence in his council of ministers.

But victory is not certain. The Opposition numbers at midnight on Sunday stood at 266, just four short of the UPA's figures as hectic meetings continued into the night. The Congress tried to keep its flock intact by asking party leaders - also deputed to snatch Opposition MPs - to host dinners, breakfasts and lunches.

The numbers game will continue its roller-coaster ride over the next two days. As the debate before the trust vote unfolds over at least 16 hours, one member parties and MPs are out to strike it rich or push their pet projects either through the UPA or the Opposition (graphic).

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Friday, July 18, 2008

Bussiness of death runs into bad days

The tombstone maker is carving marble name plaques for new homes. The elderly grave digger who has buried hundreds of bullet-ridden bodies is idle. And the post-mortem man in his spotless white coat now only deals with jilted lovers and jobless youth.

Times are changing: the business of death has run into bad days in Kashmir.

From the 4,510 deaths in 2001, the highest number for a year in the insurgency, militancy-related fatalities dropped to about 890 in 2007, officials say. This year, 84 people have been reported dead until mid-June.

So 20 years after the deaths began, three different men in different parts of Srinagar, with similar glazed emotionless eyes — Mohammed Maqbool Tramboo the tombmaker, Abdul Kabir Sheikh the grave digger and Mohammed Maqbool the post-mortem man — have little to do.

“Until a few years ago, there were times when I used to be working day and night, continuously. There is no doubt, the number of militancy deaths is much less and the levels of violence have gone down drastically,” said Mohammed Maqbool Tramboo, 37, a tombmaker who left his home in Anantnag town 15 years ago to make a living in Srinagar.

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Thursday, July 17, 2008

In a year's time, you could ride the lovable bug

It's official. All those who've desired to drive the lovable bug needn't wait too long now.

The Volkswagen Beetle will be in India before 2009 ends. "We should see the car in India within a year," Joerg Muller, managing director, Volkswagen Group India, said on the sidelines of the launch of the Jetta, a sedan aimed at the well heeled youngster and businessman.

The German automaker is waiting to put in place a network of sales, service and quality before the car, made famous in such memorable Hollywood films as Herbie and The Love Bug comedy series, is brought to India.

"It is a car that instantly brings a smile to whoever sees it, and since it is one of our best vehicles, we need to ensure we give customers the best quality and service," Mueller said.

For the uninitiated, the Beetle, which made Volkswagen a household name, is a two- or four door mini-car with a distinctive, rounded appearance.

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