Friday, December 15, 2006

Korean teenage swimmer wins MVP award

Dateline DOHA
Although it was a big disappoint for Jaspal Rana as he missed out on Samsung's MVP award here at the Doha Asian Games, but he is a happy man. After the announcement of the award, the shooter said, "Although there was some confusion before regarding my nomination as the MVP of the Doha Asian Games, but I feel my MVP nomination itself is a big achievement."
Earlier, there was a lot of confusion relating to the Indian shooter's nomination, as some in the shooting federation thought that he has won the award. "I was told by shooting federation officials that I have won the award. There was some communication gap between Doha and India. Anyways, I take it in good stride," he said after the South Korean teenage swimmer Park Tae-Hwan was named as the Asian Games most valuable player.
Commenting on the Korean winner, Rana said, "It takes a lot to equal the world record. But the verdict of the jury is final. I wish there were more media people from India in Doha to vote for me."
The MVP was decided after a media poll in Doha and the South Korean schoolboy polled more than 200 votes from accredited journalists here. Rana secured 96 votes and was in third position.
“But it’s a big honour for me to be here and even to be named among the five finalists here. I had never dreamed of this and not even thought about me being nominated here. Whatever I have got is a bonus for me and so I have no regrets. Although I was told that I deserved to win here, but the criteria was such that the Korean got more votes,” he added.
The 17-year-old schoolboy from South Korea won three golds here in the 1,500m freestyle, the 200m and 400m freestyle. He also collected a silver medal in the 100m freestyle and three relay bronze apart from creating two Asian Games record.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

India's golden double at Khalifa Tennis Complex

Men doubles victory ceremony. We are standing next to the flag behind. Rohit is wearing white jacket and me brown.

India's dream run in tennis was reduced from trble to double when India's dream gal Sania Mirza was beaten left, right and centre by Chinese Doubles world No.1 Zheng Jie. Although Sania sent her packing in the second set 6-1, before losing the first one to her 4-6, but it was the Chinese babe who taught some lessons on court to the hotty Indian miss.

Well she taught her to miss the gold, which could have been easily her's. With the massive crowd support, everybody thought her to win, but Sania let off everything astray and lost control. Maddening it was at the Khalifa Tennis Complex's Centre Court. According to a local scribe, "Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova and most of the tennis greats have been here, but never has the stadium witnessed a crowd like this. It's amazing for Doha, what Sania has done to tennis and the Asian Games."
If Tuesday was Sania's day (all semifinals happened on this day), Wednesday was the day of "Lee-Hesh".

The Indian pair were down and out in straight sets in the men's doubles finals, but battled seven matchpoints to come back into the game and beat 24-year-old Thai twins Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana 5-7, 7-6, 6-3 in a rain-hit final that lasted close to three hours.

However, after their win, which lifted million hearts came the plunge. Well, it was expected. Day before the finals, Mahesh Bhupathi had told some media guys about the inevitable. "Wait for me after the finals. I am suffering for the past 11 days, and take it out only after the finals. I have had enough. Meet me after the finals. I will open my heart out." Indian scribes knew about it, but still were praying that the Indian pair would make up.

However, Bhupathi lashed out against his partner Leander. The same partner, with whom, for the first time in the tournament, he had done their trademark - chest thumping - a few hours back. In fact, for the first time in the Asian Games, the pair jumped and pumped their hearts during the finals.

The crowd roared, journalists soared and the Indian flag fluttered high. The packed crowd at the stadium had it all - the rowdiness of English football fans, slogans of Indian political rallies, and atmosphere of a cricket stadium. An experience of a lifetime! (To be continued...)

Meanwhile, the party continues in Doha...


Jitu, Vikas and Rohit in front of the Main Media Centre


On our way back home early December 13th morning.





Tuesday, December 12, 2006

This one's a picture post

Me and Rohit enjoying the afternoon Sun and Sania!

Beauty Queen!

Amazing crowd!

Sania playing here singles semis against top seed Li Na at the Khalifa Tennis Complex. Sania beat the World No. 21 in straight sets 6-2, 6-2. What a match! It looks like the stadium is in India. Full of Indian crowd and even the stadium guys play hindi music... bhangra prominently. It's maddening here. Love to be here.

At the Al Rayyan hockey stadium witnessing the historic India vs South Korea match in which India, for the first time in the history of Asian Games were kicked out of medal contention.














Friday, December 08, 2006

Day 7: Finally gold comes in shooting


Indian shooters at Doha's city centre

Dateline DOHA

Indian shooters finally heaved a sigh of relief when India’s best bet and veteran shooter Jaspal Rana shot a gold in the men’s 25m Standard Pistol event at the Lusail Shooting Complex, yesterday.
Indian shooting coach must be a happy man now as the Indian national anthem was sung for the first time at the venue. Indian shooters have a rich haul of one gold, five silver and six bronze medals at the penultimate day of the Asian Games shooting as compared to two silver medals in Busan Asian Games.
But yesterday was the day of Jaspal Rana. He proved that class remains permanent. A down to earth shooter, Rana added another gold to his collection of Hiroshima Asian Games gold medal, which he won breaking the 15-year-old record of now Indian Olympic Association Secretary General Randhir Singh of India. This is India’s first shooting gold since 1994.
Rana scored 574 points to fetch the gold, comfortably. With this, he become the first Indian to win the two Asiad golds in shooting. “I was not well, but I tried my best to shoot well and concentrate on my technique. So my team should not lose a medal,” said an elated Rana after the victory.
Day before the D-day, Rana was indisposed with fever his body temperature shooting up to 103-degree Fahrenheit. Despite this he decided to shoot for the bull’s eye with élan. In the team event, Rana along with Samaresh Jung and Ronak Pandit smashed the silver and in the men’s 3 position rifle event Gagan Narang strike bronze.
However, when questioned about his return to form, Rana lashed out saying, “It’s not a come back of sorts for me. I was always in form. The problem is of providing quality ammunition and adequate training facilities for the shooters.”
About future plans, he said “I haven’t planned yet. I will go back to India and will devote time to the shooters in my academy, so that in future they seldom face problems that we faced.”
Meanwhile, Gagan Narang became the fifth Indian individual medalist in men’s shooting at Doha 2006. Gagan’s bronze also marked the first medal for an Indian shooter in the Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event.
“This is my first individual medal at the event, so I feel good,” he said. Talking about his performance in the final, Gagan said, “I didn’t have any strategy. I just concentrated on my game.”
Gagan, who is known for shooting under pressure, was lying in fifth position after the qualification. “I was in a difficult position after the the qualification, especially as I was not good with kneeling. It was regrettable that I was not getting top scores in qualification.
“I noticed that I was about three points behind Igor Pirekeev after qualification, It was a big difference. I didn’t think of him and just concentrated on my shot during the final period. I was thinking only about myself. I didn’t give up until the end.”

DAY 7: The melee

Well, this one's a good picture!

Me at Doha's City Center. Bad job done by Pemba! Not a good shooter at all ;-)

Pemba Tamang at Doha's City Center

Asian Games Main Media Centre

Me and Jitender Negi at the Main Media Center

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Day 6: Vijay brings glory to Himachal



Dateline DOHA

The new Asian Games rules became a boon for young Indian pistol shooter Vijay Kumar when he was awarded the bronze medal despite finishing at the fourth position after the top three positions were filled up by the Chinese shooters in the men’s 25m rapid fire event at the Lusail Shooting Complex yesterday.

The 21-year-old shooter hailing from the tiny north Indian state of Himachal Pradesh finished behind the Chinese trio of Zhongsheng Liu, Penghui Zhang and Guohui Liu, but the Indian was awarded the bronze medal because of the new Games rule that no country can sweep all the medals in a single event. The two other Indians in the fray in the event - Pemba Tamang (574) and Rahul Panwar (563) - finished ninth and 20th respectively.

The Indian team finished fourth. “Had Rahul Panwar shot a better score, we could have even won a silver as the difference between silver and bronze in the team event was just a point,” said the Indian coach Sunny Thomas.

For Vijay, who becomes only the second Asian medalist ever from the tiny state to win a medal, this joy is special. “I was lucky to win the bronze. However, I had the best score in the final round. Had I shot better in the qualifying rounds, I could have done better. But I am happy to win a medal here. This victory is special to me,” said the Indian Army shooter, who took up the sport after joining the Indian army.

A hugely popular figure and an icon of sorts in his native state, Vijay shot to the fame when he won two gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne earlier this year. The Indian army acknowledged his contribution by promoting him.

Vijay is now focusing on the 25 metres centre fire pistol event to be held tomorrow. “I am aiming to win a medal there and I will try my hard to win a medal there,” he said. The Indian coach is still looking for that elusive gold medal in shooting.

“Tomorrow is an important day for India and our top shooters Gagan Narang, Jaspal Rana and Samaresh Jung are in the field. Although the field is very strong, but I am still hopeful of winning a gold,” the coach added.

Talking about Vijay’s medal, Sunny Thomas said, “This is the first individual medal that India have won in pistol. Now we should give importance to the rapid fire too. It is good for us that our shooters are making a mark here. In few years we will be the best team.”

DAY 6: A day off in Doha

Doha Skyline

Joe of Qatar Tribune, me and Rohit






It was all about beer, food and sailing in Doha. Three hours on the sea... it was a heavenly bliss!


Doha Skyline at the back

Add Image
Inside the boat that costs US one million dollars.







Westward Ho!




Rohit Wadhwaney




Heavenly Bliss!





Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Day 5: Pankaj Advani pots gold

Pankaj Advani (left) with Ashok Shandilya after the medal ceremony




Dateline DOHA
There is steely resolve beneath those boyish charms. At 20, Pankaj Advani defeated his much older compatriot Ashok Shandilya in the final of the English Billiard Singles to win the India’s second Asiad gold at the Al Sadd Sports Club here, yesterday. Peter Gilchrist of Singapore won the bronze medal beating Aung San Oo of Myanmar.
Already a winner of world amateur snooker and world amateur billiards titles, this Bangalore boy is right on top of the world. “I have kept my 100 per cent record intact,” he said after his victory against Shandilya. “He (Shandilya) was my toughest opponent here and an excellent player. Thankfully I kept my nerves and won.”
Although he is a master of both snooker and billiards, but the Indian federation rules only let him participate in one game. “I chose billiards and have done the job for the country. Now I can say that I have also contributed to the medals tally here. I dedicate my victory to my mother (Kajal), coach Arvind Savur and my brother Shree,” he added.
On being asked about his next target, the coy student of Commerce said, “My next target is now to win the national championships.” Don’t get surprised by his answer, as the boy has been-there-and-done-that in cue sports. “There is no cue sport in the Olympics. So this is the maximum I could achieve after the world titles.”
Talking about his final match against Shandilya, Pankaj said, “I played on the top of the table. In both the games today (final and semifinal match), I had to absolutely come back from behind. I played under tremendous pressure but I handled the pressure well and went on to win.”.
Although he is a world champion, but he hasn’t lost his boyish charm. “I want to continue winning as I have a long road ahead,” he said, adding, “Today I will treat all my colleagues and will then go and watch the latest James Bond flick Casino Royale.”
An aggressive player, Pankaj said, “Aggression doesn't mean showing your emotions or throwing tantrums when you're in the arena. It means that you're a more attacking player. You go for your shots, try and finish off the game as quickly as possible.”
On his mentor and coach, Arvind Savur, Pankaj said, “He is the best coach in India and to be trained by him is an honour in itself. Without him I wouldn't have reached such a high level in the game."
And his talent was well recognized by the country when the Indian government awarded him the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award for 2005, India's highest national recognition for sportpersons. He pipped Indian cricket captain Rahul Dravid for the award. A big achievement in itself considering the mass popularity and hysteria attached to the game in the country.
When he won the 2005 International Billiards and Snooker Federation World Billiards Championships, he became only the second person, and first Asian, to have won both the billiards and snooker amateur world titles, adding the win to his victory in the 2003 IBSF World Snooker Championships. Only Malta's Paul Mifsud had achieved the distinction previously.




Pankaj Advani and Ashok Shandilya at the Al Sadd complex in Doha






Monday, December 04, 2006

Day Three: Gold medal is yet to come

DATELINE DOHA
India has achieved the set target of five medals in the shooting arena in the first two days itself, but its shooting coach Sunny Thomas is not overjoyed yet with the team’s performance here at the Lusail shooting complex.
The Indian shooting contingent has won three silver medals and two bronze, but the Gold rush is yet to come. Shooters won bronze in the Men’s and Women’s 10m Air Rifle team event on the first day, while yesterday they won three silver medals.
“Gold has to come. I am satisfied to some extent but not overjoyed with the performance,” said the chief coach.
Talking about the country’s hunt for the precious metal, Thomas said, “It can happen anytime. All the shooters are capable of winning gold.” Talking about Melbourne Commonwealth Games’ best athlete award winner Samaresh Jung, Thomas said, “It was not his day. It happens but he has still three events left. Let’s see what he does.”
The Indian coach also spoke about how Air Rifle shooter Abhinav Bindra’s absence in the team has affected the medal prospects. “Yesterday the Men’s 10m Air Rifle team lost the silver by just one point. Had he (Abhinav Bindra) been there, we would have won the silver too. Similarly, the women’s team too lost the silver by couple of points.”
Bindra had pulled out of Asian Games due to back injury.
India missed out on another bronze medal yesterday when shooter Harven Srao shot a total of 484.5 missing out on a bronze by just 0.1 point to Korea’s Byung Hee Kim. “Harven shot 101.5 in the final, which is a very good score. It’s sad she missed out on a bronze,” said the Indian coach.
However, Joseph kept mum on chances of India’s Athens Olympic silver medalist Lt Col Rajavardhan Singh Rathore in the men’s double trap event. In the absence of UAE’s Ahmed Al Maktoum, Rathore has a strong chance of winning the gold. “We are good in double trap. Let’s see we hope to pick up more medals,” he added.
India has already lost out on a gold yesterday, when reigning world champion Manavjit Singh Sandhu lost to Kuwait’s Naser Meqlad.
However, shooting at Lusail was a kind of different experience for shooters. “Normally, shooting ranges in Japan have kind of wall in front of you, it cab be forest or wall but, her in Lusail Shooting Complex, the desert stretched as far as the eye could see. And then you only see the horizon and sky. We are not used to this kind of range,” said Japan’s lone male trap shooter, Hiroshi Susuki.
Sandhu too complained about the strong windy conditions due to which his vision was hampered by a contact lens problem in his left eye. He only scored 22 and 21 out of possible 25 in the last two qualification rounds.
Rising Kuwaiti 24-year-old shooting star Naser Meqlad’s gold is the third gold medal that Kuwait has won in shooting at the Asian Games. Kuwait now dominate the men’s trap shooting event in the Asian Games, having won gold in three of the last four Asian Games. Only China’s win at Busan 2002 has interrupted the sequence. Kuwait finished fourth in Busan. Meanwhile, India has now a distinction of finishing as runner-ups in this event for the maximum number of four times.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

DAY 2: Gagan shoots for bronze and fans

DATELINE DOHA
It was China all the way round at the Lusail Shooting Complex on the opening day of the shooting competition in Doha on December 2. The Chinese won the team and individual events in all the three categories contested in the day - the men's and women's 10m Air Rifle and the women's Trap - without facing any resistence.
Liu and Zhu made it a 1-2 in the 10m Air Rifle and South Korean Yu Jae-Chul won bronze.
World champion Li Du showed why she is unmatched in the women's 10m Air Rifle event by taking the gold ahead of team-mate and world number three Zhao Yinghui.
Wu Liuxi finished third, but the bronze medal was awarded to fourth-placed Olga Dovgun of Kazakhstan.
China’s World number one Li Chen won the women's Trap individual event. The biggest
Upset for India was when Gagan Narang failed to bag an individual medal in his favourite Men’s 10m Air Rifle Competition. “I was under extreme pressure. Pressure took the toll on me,” he said after the finals.
Talking about changing his technique, the shooter said, “Well, I shoot fast. That’s my style, but I need to change it.” In his comparison, the Chinese took their own time and shot calmly and hardly showed any nervousness. In fact World Number one and Olympic champion Zhu Qinan was struggling initially, but he came from behind and shot the silver medal.
Indian spectators present at the venue including shooters like Anjali Bhagwat, Pemba Tamang, Vijay Kumar, among others, talked about this issue of Gagan shooting very fast (as soon as the signal to fire is given) among themselves when the contest was on.
The Indian girls too won bronze in the women’s team event of the 10m Air Rifle event.
Among the Indian dignitaries present, were Jagdish Tytler and Digvijay Singh.
Although, it was a bad day for the Indian television channels.
While, Chinese journalists had a hectic day on the range, sending updates and doing phone-in interviews as the red flag was flying on the top, Indian TV channel journalists were taken by surprise, when they got calls from their respective offices in New Delhi that India won gold in the Men's trap event. This happened after Aaj Tak - a leading Hindi channel flashed this news on the television (SABSE TEZ). It also went ahead and called up its correspondent here in Doha and even did a phone-in interview announcing that India won its first gold in shooting.
This created confusion among the rival channels and some of their correspondents here were pulled up for being late in informing them that India took the gold. However, the confusion was cleared a little later and thus AAJ TAK made a fool out of themselves.
Meanwhile, Chinese shooting head coach Wang Yifu said, "Overall we performed very well today, but our shooters were a bit nervous and under pressure today. It's not easy to win a gold medal in the rifle event because Indian and Korean shooters are very strong competitors, but I'm confident enough our shooters perfrom the best under pressure."
Although the Indian shooters were complaining about the rudeness of the officials here a few days ago, they are impressed with the world class shooting range here. According to some Indian shooters, the Lusail Shooting Complex is the best they have seen till now.
Indian fans too thronged on the first day as the Indian star Gagan Narang was competing. However, Narang could add only a bronze medal in the Men's 10M Air Rifle team event and lost out on an individual medal. "I was under extreme pressure. It just wasn't my day," he said after the event.
But spectators and even some foreign journalists, were taken by surprise to see Narang's shooting spree continue after his event was over, only this time, it was with his camera.
Gagan is a keen photographer and also has a coffee-table book on Melbourne Commonwealth Games under his belt. He was busy shooting pictures of the medal ceremony and even of the Indian delegates present for the event. Gagan had shot around 3,000 pictures in Melbourne and with a week's break for him here in Doha, it seems he is all game for double the number of pictures of the Asian Games.
Hosts Qatar had little to cheer about in the shooting range yesterday. Qatar's Abdulaziz Al Jabri participated in the Men's 10M Air Rifle and finished 42nd. Regarding his performance, the shooter said, "Today's performance was okay, but I want to perform better in 50M rifle event."
On his future preparations, he added, “My preparartion for the future is going well and I want to perform better in the upcoming events.”
In the women's Trap Team event, Qatar team comprising of Zaineb Al Suwaidi, Zulaikha Al Kubaisi and Noora Al Ali, finished at the bottom with a total score of 133 points. Whereas, in the Men's 10M Air Rifle Team event, Qatar took the penultimate spot with 1,715 points. Members of the home team were Abdulla Al Ahmad, Abdulaziz Al Jabri and and Abdulla Al Madeed.
In the Women's 10M Air Rifle Team event, Qatar finished 12th out of 15 teams participating. Qatar's team comprising of Mahububeh Akhlagi, Shaikha Al Mohammed and Huda Al Muntasr scored a total of 1,153 points.

Friday, December 01, 2006

DOHA: Gagan all set to bag India's first medal




DATELINE DOHA
Commonwealth Champions India start their shooting campaign today with India’s best bet Gagan Narang hoping to add the Doha Asian Games gold to his kitty, which is already full with World Cup and Commonwealth gold medals in the men’s 10m Air Rifle shooting. However, going would not be easy for India here like it was in the Melbourne Commonwealth Games where they topped the table with 16 gold, 7 silver and 4 bronze.
Speaking to The Peninsula, India’s shooting coach Sunny Thomas said: “The biggest threat is from China here and it’s very difficult to beat them. Yesterday, during the practice, even Japanese shooters shot good scores, so we cannot take it easy.”
Talking about India’s medal hope Gagan Narang, Thomas added, “Gagan is in good form and is shooting consistently. There’s a possibility that we can see him standing atop the podium tomorrow.”
Gagan, who has a knack of performing well under pressure situations, said: “The biggest competition tomorrow will be from self. Yes, China is the Olympic champion and their shooters are the best, so the competition is from them as well. But in shooting, it all depends on the day. If Chinese shooters falter on a particular day, we have a high chance of winning medals then. In shooting, everybody has the saem standard, what matters is who comes out the best on that particular day.”
According to Gagan, who hails from the same city as Sania Mirza – Hyderabad, the biggest threat is from Zhu Qinan of China. Qinan won gold at Athens Olympics breaking the World record in Men’s 10m Air Rifle.
“But I expect India will win at least a medal in the 10m air rifle event,” Gagan added.
For India apart from Gagan, Raghunath Padinchare Thermad and Navanath Bhanud Faratade will participate in the event.
Medals will also be decided in the women’s 10m Air Rifle event. India will be represented by Tejaswini Sawant, Avneet Sidhu and Suma Shirur today. All are good shooters in their own right, it all depends on whose day it is. After today, Gagan’s next event will be on December 8 and the shooter said, “India is expected to win anywhere between 6-12 medals in shooting.”
Coach Thomas played it safe. “I am expecting a minimum of five medals and anything above that. Even shotgun shooters are practicing well and I expect medals from them as well.”
India has fielded a 33-member contingent for the Games including Lt Col Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Samaresh Jung, Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Tesjaswini Sawant among others.
In the Busan Asian Games, the Indians had managed just two silver medals (men's trap team and the women's 10 m air rifle team) but expectations are high this year and shooting can be the only saving grace for India - the nation of one billion people.

India: Billion hopes but little expectations



DATELINE: DOHA
Finally after lot of uncertainties, the Indian flag was hoisted at the Athletes’ Village yesterday. The Indian tri-colour was unfurled in the presence of Chef de Mission Ram Lal Thakur, Indian Olympic Association President Suresh Kalmadi and other officials of the Indian contingent.
Adding glamour to the Indian contingent were the two tennis glamour girls, Sania Mirza and US-based Shikha Uberoi. India’s star footballer and captain Bhaichung Bhutia was also present at the event . The boxing contingent was lead by Vijender Singh. Vijender, who beat South Korean Athens Olympics bronze medalist few months back in Delhi in an exhibition match, said, “There are 50-50 per cent chances of me bagging the gold. I have kept my fingers crossed. Let the gloves do the talking on the ring.” Leading the charge for India in boxing would be this year’s Arjuna Awardee winner, the second highest sporting honour in India, and Commonwealth Games gold medalist Akhil Kumar. However, Akhil was absent from the event.
Speaking to The Peninsula, India’s Chef de Mission, Ram Lal Thakur, who himself was a keen sportsman during his heydays, said, “Leading a strong Indian contingent is an entirely different experience altogether for me. First I would like to congratulate for the excellent arrangements made by Dagoc here in Doha.”
Born in 1951, the same year when New Delhi hosted the first Asian Games, Thakur who is also a Sports minister of the northern India state of Himachal Pradesh, said, “What started as a small event in India in 1951, has now turned into the World’s second largest Games after the summer Olympics and obviously it makes me proud and I feel honoured to lead India, a country of more than one billion, here in Doha. Playing the National anthem and see the Indian tri-colour (flag) fluttering here in the Athletes Village is really thrilling.”
However, President of Indian Olympic Association, Suresh Kalmadi said, “We haven’t set any medal target for us. We are not here with great expectations. We are happy with whatever medals come in our kitty. Main thing here is giving international exposure to the athletes as Delhi will host the next Commonwealth games in 2010. We will also give presentation to the General Assembly and our target is to bid for the Asian Games 2014 with Delhi as the venue.”
Talking about football in which India’s participation fell into jeopardy with the Indian government not giving the green signal for their participation, Kalmadi said, “Football is a global game and we want to give exposure to our players. They should have experience of playing at this level.”
Earlier in the day, Indian tennis glam-girls, Shikha Uberoi and Sania Mirza, landed at the Doha Airport. Although it will be Sania’s second appearance in Doha, Shikha is dying to don the Indian colours at the court. Cousin sister of Bollywood star Viveik Oberoi, Shikha came wearing the Indian jacket and told reporters, “I am thrilled to play for the country and I cannot wait to get started. I am already wearing the Indian outfit and would try hard to make India proud.” Regarding partnering Mahesh Bhupathi, Shikha said, “It would be a nice experience and am looking forward to play for with him.”

(picture) From top: Shooter Gagan Narang, cueist Pankaj Advani and boxer Akhil Kumar


Meanwhile, mediapersons and shutterbugs went crazy chasing Sania at the airport. She created a flutter as local and Indian journalists chased her for quotes and that perfect picture. Looking slimmer than before, on her chances at Doha, Sania said, “Let’s hope for the best. It feels great to come here again and I am really excited to be here. I am coming back here after three years and Doha feels like second India to me.”
Sania, who has represented India in the 2002 Busan Asian Games, said, “I have improved from the previous Asian Games and will give everything I have to make my country proud.”
India’s another medla hope in cue sports, World Amateur snooker and billiards champion, Pankaj Advani will be landing in Doha on December 2. Advani is the second person in the world to don the hat of world billiards as well as snooker champion and is a definite medal hope for the country.
India would also be looking to reap it rich at the Lusail shooting range. Lt Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Gagan Narang, Samaresh ‘Goldfinger’ Jung, Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Pemba Tamang, Vijay Kumar and Tejaswini Sawant are the India's medal contenders in shooting. India had a rich haul of 16 gold, 7 silver and 4 bronze medals at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games earlier this year. However, giving them tough fight in the arena would be shooters from the Central Asian countries.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Kailash musings



Allah ka banda is smiling and how! Kailash Kher is back in India after winning the Best Album and the Best Singer of the Year awards at the Bollywood Music Awards held in Atlantic City recently. And from the hands of none other than singer and chief guest Michael Bolton.
"It was a very good experience for me to see the reaction of the Indian expats who flew in not just from different states of America but also from Guyana and other Caribbean islands. They are mad about our music. I was really amazed to see how much they knew about Hindi music," Kher said.
He isn’t sitting on his laurels though. He is working on his second album, due for release early next year. "My new album will be fierier than the previous one. I have put my soul into it and I can say that people will love the music. There's a song that talks about my struggle when I first came to Mumbai. I have even done an invocation to Lord Shiva. Very few people try and include a religious song in an album. To add to the variety, I have given a Rajasthani flavour to a song. I am shooting the video for the song in Rajasthan.”
Kailash also has some filmi aces up his soulful sleeve, "After O Sikander in Corporate and Chak De in Khosla Ka Ghosla watch out for my new song in Salaam E Ishq composed by Shankar-Ehsan Loy. I feel it will be a big hit."
But in the era of downloads and iPod it’s the live shows that bring in the moolah and Kher knows that pretty well. But he claims to be choosy.
"Everyday there is an offer for a show, but one has to be very selective about it. I first see the kind of crowd in front of whom I am going to perform, only
then I choose to sing there," he adds. Carry on Kher, Allah ke bande are listening.

All for money

It's raining cricketers at non-cricket events. Everyone’s got to keep endorsement commitments. Irfan and Dhoni walked the runway for the launch of Reebok's autumn-winter collection a few days back. Sehwag was teeing at the DLF golf course at the TaylorMade Invitational Skins challenge. Cricket? What’s that? Even cricketers need a break from losing one match game after the other.
Ask Sehwag. “Golf is a nice game and one needs a better level of concentration. I am planning to take up the sport as it is very relaxing. The
best part is that nobody disturbs you on the golf course. I will start playing it when I retire from cricket."
Sehwag took some tips from retired cricketer and now golfer Kapil Dev. "Paaji spoke about maintaining balance and gave some tips on putting. There is less pressure while playing golf. In cricket, pressure gets the better of us,” Sehwag told us. “Youngsters should take up golf and make India proud like Jeev did.” Ironically, the day Jeev Milkha Singh won the Volvo Masters in Spain, India was kicked out of the Champions Trophy.
As the Nawab of Najafgarh was going gaga over golf, but his teammates Dhoni and Pathan were talking cricket in Bengal. When in Kolkata, do as Kolkatans do: Chant Dada is Da Biggest Kriketaar India has Ebher sheen. "He is an excellent cricketer," both the boys squealed in delight, saying it’s for the selectors to decide on his comeback. That’s what we call two shweet boys in Salt Lake.
But Pathan was grilled by the unforgiving cricket fans. "I am running well and getting my rhythm back," is his solution for his own bowling problems. He is confident about his batting: "I am ready to bat any position." Including the ramp? "I am not very comfortable with it but when your sponsors ask you to do it, you have to." Why don’t sponsors ask him to perform on the pitch?

Friday, November 10, 2006

Million dollar babes

Indian girls are ready to punch it out at the World Boxing Championship

It’s a season to feast on the fiery punches of the eves, as Delhi is ready to host the fourth World Women’s Boxing Championship at the Talkatora stadium from November 18. Well, after Manipur’s MC Mary Kom’s feat of annexing the title twice, women’s boxing is not an unknown sport in India.

Kid gloves: Mary Kom, one of the two women world champions Manipur has produced (the other is weightlifter N Kunjarani
Devi), recalls her journey: “I started as an athlete and tried boxing in 2000. Within two months I became the state champion and then won the nationals.” But if you look at the well-manicured hands of this sub inspector with the Manipur Police, you would not believe that these are the hands of a world champion.

Unfair deal: However, life for women boxers is not easy, especially when compared to their male counterparts. Says Mary Kom, “People think we are supposed to marry and sit at home. When I got married, everybody in the village suggested I quit boxing. Had it not been for my family, my husband and the in-laws, I wouldn’t have been here. I proved everybody wrong as just after my marriage, I won the world championship.” She informs her peers too face similar problems. “Nobody wants women to take up such a dangerous sport. Only when they start winning medals do they get any appreciation,” she adds.
But the determination of the Indian lady pugilists is beginning to bear fruits. Last year in the Moscow world championship, India won one gold and four bronze medals. They also annexed the coveted Championship Trophy in October at the Venus Box Cup Invitational held in Denmark.

Ready punch: About the forthcoming world championship, Col PK Muralidharan Raja, secretary general of the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation, says, “Russians will start as favourites, but our women boxers are motivated enough to take on their might in front of the home crowd.”
The contingent’s coach Anoop Kumar Singh echoes the sentiment, “We expect all 13 boxers to end up at the podium. They have had a very tough training and with crowd support, tables can turn even for the best boxer in the ring.”
Apart from Mary Kom, other Indian girls adding spunk in the ring are Kalpana Chaudhary, Chhotu Laura, L Sarita Devi and I Ibomcha Devi. And each of them is definitely a Million Dollar Baby.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Party, interrupted

Organisers go underground as India’s first trance festival ends in disarray and controversy

With Mallvika Nanda & Siddhartha S. Bose
India’s biggest rave was busted two days before its scheduled end, when the poilce raided the party early Monday morning on the outskirts of Jaipur. Touted as the first festival of its kind in India, Moon Dust, according to the organisers, was supposed to host India’s finest psytrance talent alongside some of the world’s most respected and sought-after artistes. The festival, that began on November 3 and was scheduled to go on till November 7 in the forest area near the famous Ramgarh Dam around 40 km from Jaipur, had attracted a huge number of music lovers from all over the country — Bangalore, Ludhiana, Mumbai and Ahmedabad — as well as Dubai. But the party was raided early Monday morning and several police cases registered against the organisers who are now underground.
Superintendent of Police (rural), Anil Paliwal said: “The organisers have been framed under the Foreign Act that specifies registration of foreign citizens coming to the city. Cases have also been registered under the Noise Control Act,” he said. Under the Foreign Act, putting up of a foreign citizen in the city calls for a tourist’s registration with the local police, a formality apparently not observed in this case. Reports suggest that most of the festival’s 3,000 participants were foreigners, many of whom made it to the rave from from Pushkar, Manali and Goa.
Police are trying to trace the event’s main organiser in Jaipur, Kulbhushan Paliwal. And the violation of excise laws and the noise pollution near a forest area has also forced the Jaipur district administration to order a probe, said Additional District Magistrate (Jaipur city north) DN Pandey. Apparently, villagers had also complained about the rendezvous, which had high-watt speakers blaring into the night.
Says Delhi’s Saurav Chaddha: “The idea was fantastic but it wasn’t executed well. We didn’t get encouraging reviews from people inside, so we decided to leave soon. Everything at the venue was heavily priced.” He adds that the disaster (read bust) was imminent as the festival had attracted a huge crowd, mostly foreigners, who “naturally didn’t function according to the Indian mindset”.
Incidentally, when the police raided the site on November 6, the picture was that of a place abandoned in haste, with scattered beer bottles, cigarettes and hookahs strewn around. With entry tickets priced at around Rs 2,500 per head, those who turned up at the site were angered by the festival’s untimely closure. Some ticket holders were even thinking of demanding a refund.
Indraneel Dasgupta, who had just about entered the Moon Dust campus when it all ended, says: “The organisers got to know about the raid 40 minutes before the officials arrived and hence were found missing from the scene. However, people who had spent huge money on accommodation were disappointed.”
A Delhi-based DJ, scheduled to perform at Moon Dust, pulled out at the last moment. “I got in touch with the organisers over the Internet and quite a few of my foreign friends were also scheduled to play there. I suspected something fishy and, therefore, withdrew,” he says.
The “festival” was heavily publicised through Orkut and other social networking websites.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Spider on the wall

Sport Climbing, a relatively new sport in the country, is winning converts
There is some hope for the 600-odd Sport Climbing professionals in the country, as it might become an Olympic discipline soon. Otherwise, this poor cousin of other sports has no major source of funding except some government grants.
The 12th National Sport Climbing Competition is presently on at the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) in the South Campus. For the uninitiated, Sport Climbing involves climbing an artificial wall and emphasises on the gymnast’s ability to make difficult moves on risk-free routes on the wall. It was introduced in India in ’92.

On their own: Says chairman of the IMF committee for Sport Climbing, AVM (retd) AK Bhattacharyya, “The scenario might change once it becomes an Olympic discipline. Here, each professional works voluntarily, we just pay for their travel expenses. Even in terms of jobs, there are no specific prospects for these sportspersons.”

Gaining ground: However, the sport is gaining support in certain pockets of India. Says Shanti Rani Devi, who has shifted to Bangalore from Manipur to pursue the game, “In Bangalore, youngsters climb the artificial wall in the heart of the city daily. Even professionals, who want to stay fit, are getting attracted towards this sport.” The reigning women’s national champ Vathsala MN, who also works for an outdoor adventure sports management company in Bangalore, adds, “Cycling and climbing are topmost on the minds of our corporate clients who want their employees to be physically and mentally fit.”
But in Delhi, it seems the sport still has a lot of altitude to scale.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

In love, unabashedly

Delhi musician explores Kama Sutra in his new album
While music videos of all hues and genre ooze oomph de rigueur, here comes one which explores the gist of Kama Sutra unabashedly. Titled Moods of Love — Kama Sutra, the album is Delhi-based singer/ composer Abhishek Ray’s debut in the world of commercial music and will be released today. He says, “This album captures the myriad moods of love, ranging from furtive glances and romantic swells to torrid passion and the pathway to Nirvana as well.”

Diverse notes: The album has seven tracks sung by Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal, Sunidhi Chauhan, Udit Narayan, Harshdeep and Abhishek himself. The lyrics are by Nusrat Badr (lyricist of Devdas) and Syed Gulrez (lyricist of Taj Mahal). Abhishek, who has also done three solo albums with Gulzar, adds, “I’ve also written a script for a musical on the album and plan to have performances abroad.”
A video of one of the songs from the album has already been shot, featuring the Garam Masala babe, Neetu Chandra. “We’ve highlighted sensuality rather than just skin. The Censor Board has cleared it,” informs this trained Indian classical musician and pianist. He has also scored the
music for a Tamil film, Tundil.

The wild side: Abhishek is also an active member of the Tiger and Leopard census teams and is also a wildlife photographer. This Physics (Hons.) graduate from Hansraj College says, “Fusion comes naturally to me as I’ve the voice of a black man and fingers of a white man.” Keep scoring!

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Power rangers

Do the young need to get together more often to seek justice? Yes, says Gen Z
Generation Z triumphs convincingly. The verdict given out in the Priyadarshini
Mattoo murder case proves just that. It all began with the movie Rang De Basanti triggering the trend of mass protests by Delhiites against the release of Manu Sharma in the Jessica Lal murder case. And with youngsters taking their new-found voice to the streets, other issues that were gathering dust in the corridors of justice also came under the spotlight.
The Priyadarshini Mattoo murder is a case in point. Now, with the accused, Santosh Kumar Singh, son of a high profile police officer, being given the death penalty, youngsters feel that there is power in their voice.
Young vindicated: Says Class XII student Priyanka Arora, “It proves that the youngsters can do things if they get together, even if it means taking to the streets to be heard. But at the same time, other pending cases also need to be looked into.” The protest rally held at the India Gate recently for justice in the Jessica Lal murder case had seen participation by many school and college students of the city.
Social change: As the young feel vindicated, it may eventually lead to the society taking an active interest in public issues. Says Dr Surendra Nath, head of the department, Anthropology, Delhi University, “Such judgments help in restoring people’s faith in justice and changing human behaviour too. It sends a strong signal that nobody is above the law and thus contributes towards behavioural changes in society.” Shalini Iyer, a BA student says, “The verdict in the Mattoo case will act as a warning for those who want to harm others.” Affirms advocate Santosh Jain, “This judgement has also instilled confidence in women that they will get justice and highly connected persons too can be brought to book. However, it shouldn’t take 10 years to decide on a case. ”
So, the common man’s effort of organising mass protests, filing petitions and lighting candles at the India Gate is beginning to bear fruit
after all.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Superstar next door

Not many in this part of the country would know Naresh Iyer but all would be familiar with his voice, as this 25-year-old from Mumbai is the one behind hit youth anthems from Rang De Basanti — Rubaroo, Masti Ki Pathshala and Tu Bin Bataye.
It was at Channel V’s talent hunt Super Singer that AR Rahman had spotted Naresh and had offered him an opportunity to sing for his next movie, RDB. Soon thereafter, Naresh walked into the recording studio, little realising what future had in store for him. “It was after 12 hours of recording that Rahman asked me to sing Rubaroo at 4.30 am. I was dead tired, but who would miss such an opportunity? I recorded the song but made a mistake in two lines. Though Rahman was supposed to sing the track himself later, when the film’s music was released, I came to know that he had used my track. The part where I had made a mistake was sung by Rahman and thus I got to share credit for this song with him. This was my first Hindi film and I can just thank my stars for this,” he says.
Naresh, who was in Delhi to record a song for a new movie on cricket, adds, “Some of my Tamil songs are topping the charts and I’ve recorded Hindi songs too.” The singer is a foodie too. He says, “I love spicy food and on my next trip to Delhi, I’ll visit the walled city. I’ll also buy some funky clothes as after RDB, I try to keep the image of a hip-hop artiste.” The stardom bug has not yet bitten him and he can be mistaken for the boy next door.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Kailasa!

Kailash Kher is a Delhiite to the core. Street-smart, can catch the nerve of the crowd in front of whom he is performing and has always been a wanderer to the core. In 12 years he shifted 26 houses within Delhi. Well, that sums up his attitude – always asking for more and never satisfied with what he has. With 200 commercial film songs, 300 jingles and an album – Kailasa - under his belt, sky is the limit for him. And only thing he knows, he says, is his “unique talent coupled with intelligence”.

“My voice is a gift of God, but lot of people have it. I reached the heights, because people used to tell me that I am very intelligent when I was a child. Maybe I have used my intelligence to nurture the gift of God that I have,” he says looking content to the core and showing an exuberance of a child.

But why Sufi? “When I started, classical music was a long road, especially for people not having the right pedigree. Pop, too was boring to an extent, as people cannot carry on dancing. So I chose the middle path – Sufi. It can move the emotions of the corporate world too as well as the kids will also love them. It has energy in it.”

After wandering on the streets of Delhi for 12 years, in 2001 Kailash Kher decided to move to the dream City –Mumbai. Although he had its own trials and tribulations there, but it was just a matter of a year and a half there that things picked up in the right direction for him. “I struggled a lot initially but I had faith in me,” he adds.

However, with Allah Ke Bande, Kailash Kher got an instant fame, especially with him featuring in the movie while playing the song. “Well, I didn’t believe it since I just started my career that I would be featured in the movie while playing the song. I though it was a fluke. Moreover, when I asked the name of the movie while it was being shot from Vishal (music director), he said ‘Waisa Bhi Hota Hai’. I thought ‘waisa bhi hota hoga’; it happens like this in Bollywood too that they don’t decide the movie name and are already shooting for the movie. I was just a starter so I kept mum. To top it all, I didn’t even know who Arshad Warsi (hero of the movie) was? I called up my sister in Delhi to ask about his credentials. Well, what happened after the movie was out is history.”

Although people thought that he is just a one-song wonder. “They thought I got famous in fluke. But after one song and another, I kept my consistency going.”
With solid footing in Bollywood now, people quite relate Kailash Kher to as Bollywood singer, Kailash feels, “I am a singer but I like to do it solo. For movies, one has to listen to the music director but for making my own album, I like doing my own composition. That way I can express my own feelings. Kailasa is doing very well and now I am working on my second album Kailasa II.”

Regarding the Hyderabad connection of shooting of his two numbers of Kailasa, Teri Deewani and Tauba Tauba, he says, “It was never in my thoughts that I would shoot in Hyderabad. It was sheer shortage of money, which forced me to go to Hyderabad. The video director was already shooting in Hyderabad. When I called him to Mumbai, he asked me to join him there as his entire crew was already there. So it just happened by chance.”

Regarding Nusrat, the singer says, “I am inspired by his selection of the lyrics. In Sufi, I just listen to him only. I don’t listen to other singers. I am happy that Sufi has gained much acceptance now. It is the newest flavour of music and has a blend of spiritual as well as entertainment.”

Monday, August 21, 2006

Along the Arctic Circle


Living true to its motto, “Fighting spirit through sports and adventure”, 11 members of the Indian Navy undertook a grueling month long ski expedition into the Greenland Ice Cap in the Arctic region in July this year. A grueling task, the 600-kilometre journey was arduous and consisted of nerve-wracking moments for the team.
According to Commander Satyabrata Dam, team leader, “In this one-month, we didn’t see a single animal or a human face apart from the team members and even though the average intake of the members was around 4000 K Cal each day, each member lost weight ranging from four-12 Kg. Another interesting feature was that there was no sunset in the Arctic Circle.”
The team first went to the Vatnajokull Glacier, the third largest glacier in the world in Iceland and climbed Hvannadalshnukur (7100 ft), the highest peak in Iceland, through extreme bad weather conditions and zero visibility. The team also scaled an unnamed virgin peak at 11,000 ft approximately in the Mt Forrel region and named it the ‘Indian Peak’.


Encountering temperatures ranging from minus 10 to minus 35 degree Celsius and Hurricane blizzards averaging 50kmph, the team had its own nervous moments. “One of the team members fell into a deep crevice with his sledge. He was just in front of me so I saw him, otherwise we wouldn’t have known about the incident. I thought either he is dead or is badly injured. But luck would have it that his sledge got struck in between and he fell on top of it. So he was saved. It took three hours to rescue him and due to this, some of the members froze due to non-movement of the body. After taking him out, I had to go down the crevice to get his sled,” says Commander Dam, who at 41 years was the oldest member of the team while the youngest member was Sonam Tamchos, 20, from Ladakh.
According to Commmander Dam, “The chores of cooking and eating were most tedious, since blocks of ice had to be cut and melted for every need. It took hours to cut the ice and then melt over small fuel burners. The team had only one proper meal a day at night, and what we missed the most was the home-made pickles.”
A deep dug pit into ice would be the make shift kitchen with ice block walls cordoning off to keep the howling winds at bay. The team had only one proper meal a day at night. The day began with a meager meal of cereals in the morning, with a cup of coco and then during the skiing through the day, they would stop after every 1 hr or 1.30 hrs for 10 – 15 min active rest, when they would munch chocolates, cheese, biscuits, dry fish, meat, etc along with sips of water. This rest period could not exceed since once the body stopped skiing, it rapidly cooled down and one can freeze instantly. At the end of the day, when they put up the tents for night, they would have soup and a freeze dried food, like pasta, rice, etc.
Now just stop thinking about how they addressed the nature’s call!

The Team
a) Satyabrata Dam Cdr (Leader)
(b) KS Balaji Lt Cdr (Dy Leader)
(c) GP Pande Lt Cdr
(d) Ajay Sharma Surg Lt
(e) Avinash Khajuria Lt
(f) Raj Kumar MCERA I
(g) Rakesh Kumar POMA
(h) Vikas Kumar POMA
(j) Manoj Vats Sea I PT-III
(k) Sonam Tamchos MA I
(l) B Singh Sea I PT II

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Tihar's tale: Pay and play

It is the biggest prison of South East Asia. Although Tihar jail has a sanctioned capacity of 5,648 prisoners, more than 13,000 are lodged here. Many of these are high profile prisoners - from former IG (Prisons, Haryana) RK Sharma, accused in the Shivani murder case, to Vikas Yadav, accused in the Nitish Katara murder case.
As the Capital awaits the arrival of Abu Salem, currently lodged in Mumbai, HT caught up with an undertrial (now acquitted from the courts), who was lodged in Jail Number 1 in Tihar for about two months to find what life for VIP prisoners is like inside Tihar. This is his account:
Convicts rule Tihar
"The first day I entered Tihar, I was in a state of shock. I had visited jails in Rajasthan and Punjab along with friends, but those jails were nothing like this one. I could hardly sleep the first night. No sooner had the clock struck five, I was woken up and put in line to clean toilets. When I saw the state of the toilets just couldn't do anything except want to puke.
The convicts, who are dressed in pure white clothes, are the guys who actually rule the jails. One convict came to me and told me that for a certain sum of money, I could have my way and wouldn't have to do this job while I was here. The price? Rs 10,000 a month to live a cool life without cleaning toilets or having to stand in line for food etc. I agreed. But because I knew another high profile undertrial who intervened on my behalf, I had to pay a discounted rate of only Rs 4,000 to a low ranked prison official. The only problem was that, when his superior came to know that I had paid, he too wanted his share. Once again, my friend intervened and I was saved from paying up.
VIP undertrials and convicts stay in rooms, which have no lock-up inside the jail premises. There are about four such rooms and each room has a television. They have all the luxuries in life, including a separate kitchen, a refrigerator, chef and servants. Outside their room is a badminton court where they can play any time they like.
For the non VIPs, however, conditions at Tihar are such that the greasy - and greedy - palms of the jail officials made life tough for me. They could see that I could afford to pay, and they wanted more. My parents were taken for a ride and my two-month stay in the jail cost them a little more than Rs one lakh.
Coming to food. One gets one subzi, a dal and four Pots at each meal. Paneer and milk are on the diet chart, but nobody gets these. Jail officials use rotten vegetables and the Pots are inedible. But here again, if you're willing to pay, you're OK; you can eat as much as you want. But if you can't afford to pay, you might not even get food, forget about rotten stuff. The tea is so watery at Tihar; I used to buy milk from the canteen and get my own tea made from the canteen guy.
In Tihar, you can buy whatever you want - even services of the poorer inmates to do menial jobs. I had an illegal Bangladeshi national for odd jobs. And believe me there's a mad rush among people to do such jobs.
Then, there was an Australian inmate who used to buy yeast. With this, we would fill a five-litre mineral water bottle with bananas or apply, add some sugar and after nine or 10 days, would have our own booze.
Now, inmates are allowed only two visits a week. But by paying off officials, my parents used to come three times in the week. For every visit they used to buy a Rs 200 coupon and give it to me. I used to transfer it on my swipe card. Through this swipe card, I could buy goods from the canteen. Things aren't cheap: a single Gold Flake cigarette costs Rs 50, and a joint of charas Rs 30. The problem was with lighting the cigarette, as matchboxes aren't allowed in the premises. We used to burn a piece of cloth by putting it on a glowing bulb and use this to light our cigarettes.
The prime place to stay in Tihar is the 'chandukhana'. This is one of the sections in Jail Number One, which has several lock-ups within the premises. There are three large dormitories, which are further compartmentalised into three sections. One of these sections is known as the 'chandukhana' where the privileged lot stay. To gain entry here, you must have the approval of an existing inmate, and pay anything between Rs 500 and Rs 5,000 (depending on how much the Tihar officials think you can afford) for the privilege. When I was in Tihar, there were only 10 men here, compared to over 500 prisoners in the other sections.
Prison routine falls into a predictable pattern. From 6 am to 12 noon, we could walk in the compound to get some fresh air. Between 4 pm and 6 pm, one could again come out of the lock-up. People who paid up were free to roam around inside the jail premises. For me, the best thing about Tihar was the library I read a lot and played basketball to kill time.
The most important thing to buy at Tihar is transportation to courts. There's a common bus. It will not stop on the way, whatever the provocation. This can be dangerous. People who get convicted by courts, can attack you with blades on the way back. This way, another case gets registered against them and they get to stay on as undertrials. The catch? Undertrials don't have to work, while convicts have to.
If you're willing to pay, you get to go to the courts in a special high-rise bus. It's not cheap. One has to pay Rs 10,000 per month. I used to travel along with Kashmiri terrorists who were involved in the Lajpat Nagar blasts. They used to mind their own business. They were well dressed too. The privilege extends to your time in the courts as well where you have the luxury of staying in a special lock-up away from other undertrials. For an additional charge, you can also get home-cooked food in the court lock-ups.
My two-month stay in Tihar changed my perspective on life. Corruption prevails at every level, from top to bottom. Jail officials realise that people like me can't live in hell, and are willing to pay for better standards. For poorer people such luxuries can be availed at a much lower cost. The motto of the jail staff is to extract as much as it can - perhaps the only exception is the Tamil Nadu police, posted there for security.
The day I was released, I got a stern statutory warning: "Don't talk about this to anyone or else..." But I am still doing it as it may help improve the conditions of other inmates.

Joint family: Arms and the man
















Two months back Bareilly heralded the transfer of Anand Swarup as Senior Superintendent of Police, Bareilly with front page headlines of an encounter specialist coming to town. Media went agog over it. However, it’s been more than two months now and media is busy witnessing a different kind of spectacle, here. Almost every Saturday they have a bagful of stories of wife mending relationship with husband, brothers settling disputes and dowry cases and sometimes, they even act as judges in some cases. Well, thinking about covering an encounter is a thing of past now.
Everybody is involved in ‘Project Didi’. Be it community leaders, politicians, police, journalists and social workers. They all are a part of the surrogate joint family and pronounce judgements relating to family and marital disputes and try to settle it amicably without registering a case. If the concerned person is still unhappy about the judgement, they can lodge an FIR and then proceed to court.
Again this is the brainchild of SSP Anand Swarup who started this project in Bareilly in 2002 during his previous posting. He continued this project to wherever he went in Etah, in Firozabad and now back again in his old robes in Bareilly. “After a certain point of time in your career when you begin to realise the mystery of the day to day functioning, your mind begins to wander into the innovations in your working. This is how I bumped into the idea of criminal policing and social policing.”
“In the area of social policing, family disputes and marital disputes does not require either police or court intervention. The joint family setup was the panacea. We lost it in the run to materialism. So I tried to restore it. Collected the doctors and teachers and lawyers of the society and asked them to spare a day for us. We ensured the warring sides of the family are put together before them and asked them to solve their problem like a joint family would,” he adds.
Take the case of 25-year-old Rashmi Sharma. It was a complex case of her alleging that her one-and-a-half year old daughter Gungun’s father is her brother-in law Virender and that her husband Rajesh is having an affair with Preeti, Virender’s wife. Rashmi came to the police alleging that Virender has now stopped giving money to her for the upkeep of the baby. According to Rashmi, she was having affair with Virender for the past three years and he was running both the household, since Rashmi’s husband was a drunkard and unemployed. A complex case and it would have taken years for the judgement to pass, had they gone to the court.
The case was handled by Madhu Aggarwal, a municipal corporator and lady police officers of the district and finally the matter was settled by asking the four brothers to jointly take responsibility of the baby and deposit Rs 1,000 every month in her account for the next 18 years. Although not an easy job, after much trials and tribulations this was done. Says, Madhu Aggarwal, “Although it is not an easy job, still we are able to resolve cases in maximum four sittings. That’s the benchmark. If it takes more, then obviously the matter is resolved in courts.”
Pawan Mishra, a youth leader in Bareilly, who is also involved with then project says, “This project has tremendous social implications. Most of the crime incidents happen when there is infighting among the family members. Court cases keep on lingering the family disputes and anything can happen during the heat of the moment. A rapid and out of court settlement helps bridge the gap and thus the crime rate comes down. This also saves them from the fleecing advocates and relieves the judiciary from the extra burden of cases.”
Mishra feels that this exercise also helps in connecting the leaders as well as police to the mass. Jawahar Sinha, a lecturer in Bareilly College, who says, “In three years we have received about 2,300 family disputes and we have settled almost 1,500 such cases. Everyday the police receive applications and it is compiled and then passed on to us on Saturdays by the police. We have an office in police lines and every Saturday we sit and review these cases and conduct hearings. We have divided 12 counsellors into four groups and each group looks into a case.”
Regarding cases, most of them are related to dowry. 62-year-old Surjit Singh, a businessman by profession feels that his degree is law is now coming to use. His knowledge of the law, although unutilized till now, helps him to resolve cases. He says, “Till now I have resolved 60 cases successfully relating to dowry. Among the dowry applications, only 20 per cent are genuine. Rest 80 per cent were just to put pressure on the groom side to take better care of their daughters,” he adds.
Qamar Akhtar, a hotelier in Bareilly citing a case says, “15 days back we resolved a case in which a young couple were having marital problems only because of ego problems of their parents. This was a no case, but life for Deepesh and Neha was hell and that too it was an arranged marriage.”
25-year-old Deepesh Saksena, a junior engineer in the hydel project in Bareilly married Neha four months back. “Although we liked each other, but there was a continuous misunderstanding between our parents. So for four months it was hell. Due to the ego problems of our parents we were made to suffer,” he adds. His wife Neha, however, is now relieved after this ordeal ended. “Thank god that we had a quick hearing and the matter was solved out of court only. Otherwise it’s very difficult for ladies going to the court thousand people are looking at you. In courts, everything is in the open, but here one gets a bit of privacy also,” adds 23-year-old Neha.
Social worker Pawan Kumar Aggarwal feels, “It’s very difficult for a lady to go to the court. You are a centre of attraction there. Moreover, kind of money people spend in court cases is a lot and even worthless. Only advocates have the last laugh here. And in court one has to give proofs and a lot depends on the integrity of the lawyer too. And we don’t give judgements in cases, we give them the solutions, if the feuding parties accept, it is well and good otherwise we ask the police to register cases and then the matter is goes to court.”
Swarup although feels, “In both my previous postings (Etah and Ferozabad), criminal policing project was the first thing that I undertook. Since Bareilly sees more of family dispute and crime is only limited to certain pockets so I focused on Project Didi here first. It is running smoothly and successfully now, so I am turning towards criminal policing now.”

Set a thief to catch a thief

Gone are the days when robbers used to loot the area in the garb of the policemen. It’s just the opposite now. Robbers will be donning the Khakis to patrol the criminal-infested areas of Bareilly district and few would even become crime counselors for the police at the scene of crime.
This can be the changing face of police patrolling in the country. Call it reformative policing or just another innovative idea in the field of policing, but Bareilly is all geared up for this. Brainchild of UP’s firebrand IPS officer Anand Swarup, presently Senior Superintendent of Police, Bareilly, this experiment has given him tremendous results in terms of curbing crime and helping criminals of the past join the mainstream.
“I implemented this for the first time when I was SSP in Etah in 2004 and carried forward this legacy in Firozabad in 2005,” says Swarup, who has seen 31 transfers in his 12 year career and also holds the reputation of being an ‘encounter specialist’.
“We have already identified parts of Bareilly district, where this will be implemented. This helps petty criminals earning their livelihood through fairer means and even police can use the expertise of history-sheeters of the past to track the criminals,” he adds.
Swarup says, someone who has done crime in the past knows how the crime is committed. As police officers we can only guess and investigate, but they can actually guide you to the criminal. My idea was to use their expertise.
It was in 2004 in Etah, when Swarup first implemented this. He divided the area in a cluster of 50 shops each and assigned a criminal to patrol the area for eight hours and gave him a beat book. In return each shopkeeper had to pay Rs 50 a month, which amounted to Rs 2500 collectively, as monthly salary to the criminal. His work was reviewed jointly by the police and the employers (50 shop owners) on a monthly basis. This option of patrolling was not only given to criminals but to unemployed youth as well. For the first time when he called history-sheeters for a meeting, out of 500, only 100 turned up. Initial hesitation was there and Swarup too faced the ire of the senior bosses as his idea was termed as ‘maverick’ by them.
“It was a daring task as it could have had bad pitfalls and I was keeping faith on criminals. But one has to be innovative and I took the risk. In India, policing is all about catching criminals randomly in order to solve cases. But the conventional method of tracking the actual criminals from the crime scene is a passé. With the help of these crime counselors, we were able to solve cases easily and catch the real culprits,” he says.
Regarding the selection of criminals to do the right job, he says, “There are three types of criminals or HS (history-sheeters). The first is one who has a history of doing petty crimes (HS-A), second is one who commits petty crimes and is still active (HS-A*) and third habitual offenders who are into more serious crimes (HS-B). We selected people having no crime record for the past five years or more of HS-B category and having a likelihood of improvement and HS-A.”
It brought immediate results as the first experiment that took in Jalesar in Etah, saw theft cases stop in the first month itself. Incidents of house trespassing came down tremendously and crime chart dipped to a new low in comparison to the records of past five years.
Seeing the success rate, other clusters who were skeptical about the project also came forward to adopt the scheme. Regarding solving a case of crime, Swarup remembers that a former robber was instrumental in solving a case of a big robbery and looting in the area. “He gave us such vital clues that we busted an entirely new gang of young criminals having no past criminal record and who were in the job for quite sometime. Earlier, what used to happen was, police would round up other criminals with similar past crime records and arrest them for the crime committed. Cases of false implication were rampant. For these criminals too who were falsely implicated, more cases, irrespective whether they committed or not, meant enhancing their reputation and building fear factor among public.
“Thus newer gangs keep on committing crimes and live a life of anonymity and police doesn’t even know about it. Busting of newer gangs also acted as a deterrent for amateurs wanting to enter the world of crime. Also instances of a particular crime pattern stopped when newer gangs were busted.”
This also improved the relationship between past history-sheeters and the police as well as their village neighbours. They also acted as informers. Although, according to him, the system of mukhbir or informer is still prevalent in UP but they have become politicians and influential people in the society. They only keep in touch with the senior district police officials and don’t go to the thana, where they are supposed to share information. It is much of a status symbol than what it was actually meant to be – help police in nabbing criminals and continuous flow of information at the thana level.
These ‘reformed’ criminals were also given law and order duties. “In fact they participated in the Republic Day parade in Etah and took an oath never to commit a crime again,” adds Swarup.
Another factor that helped these criminals to join the mainstream was deleting their history sheets. According to the provisions in the law, once a history sheet is opened, it can only be deleted once a history-sheeter dies or he hasn’t committed a single crime in 30 years. But until the time they have history sheets, the criminals have to constantly go to the police stations for review. But there’s another provision in the law which states that if the SSP is convinced that an HS has reformed, his history-sheet can be deleted.
“I tore down the history-sheets of 14 in Etah and 30 in Firozabad in front of other history-sheeters. Being a history-sheeter has its own social implications in villages and there’s also a stigma attached to it. Seeing this, other history-sheeters too got inspired to join the mainstream,” he adds.
However, Swarup’s idea was put in the bin once he moved out of these districts as “it needs a tremendous amount of responsibility and nobody wants to risk his job”. A district posting anywhere in country is considered a plum posting and a small mistake can cost you the job and one can easily be shunted out to an insensitive post. So none dared to implement this.
As far as Bareilly is considered, Swarup is just two months old here. “Instances of crime are lesser than Etah and Firozabad. So I launched Project Didi first and now I am about to kick-start my pet project here,” Swarup adds. Pockets have been identified and scrutiny of the criminal records is going on. The out-of-the-box ‘meeting’ of history-sheeters and the police is just a step away.
Welcome to the world of criminal patrolling!

Friday, June 23, 2006

Rustic Charm

Modelling world is all about glamour, fame and quick money, but only for a few of them. For the rest it’s all about aspirations, hard work, splashing money on themselves, running from door to door for some work and pepping up by friends who falsely tell them that they are no less than Bollywood filmstars. Welcome to the vicious world of the male models, especially Jats, who rule the ramp in Delhi and few, have made it big in Bollywood too.
However, their success story is not a typical Bollywood success story of the 90’s and 2000, but of chasing the big Bombay dream of making it big and getting rich overnight typical of the movies made in the decade of 70s and 80s. It’s all about existential angst and toiling to succeed with very few of them making the cut.
Delhi for these aspiring Jat models is a stepping stone and also a litmus test. Once they prove themselves here, only then they can aspire to make it big in Bollywood and the fashion and advertising industry. Coming from suburbs of Delhi and small towns of Haryana and some even from Rajasthan, the Jats are smart, tall and well built, almost everything that an aspiring model can dream of. But most of them lack in personality, education, are not fluent with English and are not refined.
Most of the successful Jat models had almost everything in them. However, for the rest of the lot in their villages and localities, these Jat models and actors are Idols. They want to emulate them and for this they keep on splashing money for gymnasium membership fee, traveling, portfolios and getting the right looks, etc. The list is endless. Ajay Pal, a Jat model hailing from Nagaur in Rajasthan says, “It’s a struggle out there. There roughly are more than a thousand aspiring male models in Delhi. So it’s all about making an impression on the choreographers, keeping yourself fit, boast of a good portfolio and having a good personality.” Ajay, who’s a student of Hansraj College and stays in a rented accommodation in North Campus has done a TV Commercial for ICICI Bank and also worked on a television serial. “I spend almost seven to eight grand on hair cut, gym and travel; expenses a month. It’s not easy. You have to go back again and again to choreographers. The first assignment I landed up was for a shoot of Honda Activa that was given to me by the photographer who shot my portfolio,” he adds.
However, with Ajay coming from a well off family, so he can spend money and now with work coming survival is not a problem for him.
First runner-up of Grasim India 2006, Nishant Dahiya says, “The basic problem of lot of Jat models coming from Haryana and suburban villages and towns of Delhi that they are not fit to become models. They don’t have the finesse and sophistication. They are misguided by friends of their locality and villages that they resemble a Bollywood hero and thus the aspiration to become a model come on to their minds. They go on splashing money on themselves and keep on struggling in Delhi. It feels bad to see them struggling. Most of these struggling models do a free shoot too to boast their CVs.”
“I want to have a safe place in Bollywood. I want to do a stunning role like Manoj Bajpai in Shool,” says a resume of an upcoming Jat model from Delhi. Another Jat model spends around Rs 20,000 on his maintenance per month. “One has to take supplements which costs a lot to keep those muscles in the right place. Then going to a proper gym with proper facilities, parlour, etc costs a lot,” he adds. Says Rajat Choudhary, twice body building champion from Delhi University hailing from Badarpur, “I had a good physique so I tried my hand in modeling. Did couple of ramps, earned some money also, before getting a break with a production house to shoot a film on Assam Rifles. Once the shooting of the movie is done, I’ll think about modeling as a career.”
However, Delhi-based Nishant, comes from an Army background, and did his software engineering from REC Kurukshetra. He was working with Wipro, as a desktop engineer in their backend operations in Okhla before he decided to enter the contest. “I resigned from my job to participate in Grasim Mr India contest. Since the age of 20 I started dreaming of becoming a model. But I wanted to start from the right platform so I never tried it before participating in the contest. After the launchpad, work started coming smoothly to me,” he adds.
The contest also gave him a chance to work with the best in the industry. “It was free grooming for fifteen days for me. Walking on the ramp is an art and I learnt it there. Lot of these aspiring models spend loads of money attending grooming classes, etc.”
Nishant’s is one success story.
Top Fashion photographer Tarun Khiwal feels strongly for them, “Jats are really very good. Some of the best models these days are coming from this area. Some of them look like Italians. Almost 60 per cent of them are worth being models. All they need is some training to deal with this market.”

Monday, May 15, 2006

Male for Sale

The double murder of Akhtar Afindi and Jamshed Alam at their Shaheen Park residence recently, has thrown up interesting facts like, it had a gay angle. According to cops, Akhtar was a bisexual and in relationship with Jamshed. It reminds one of the sensational Pushkin Chandra double murder case.
Pushkin Chandra, a USAID employee, and his friend Kuldeep were murdered in former’s posh Anand Lok residence in August 2004 by gay prostitutes. These murders are just the tip of the iceberg. The business of gay prostitutes and gigolos is thriving in Delhi’s underbelly. Unable to make it big in the glam world, some struggling models and college hunks are lured by sex with different women and earning quick money to make their lives easy. Some unemployed youth, generally having weak economical background, become gay prostitutes.
A gigolo’s tale
It was in 1991 that a young 18-year-old Suresh came from Dehradun, nurturing his dreams of becoming a footballer and donning Indian colours. However, his tale wasn’t of success and glory, it had other ingredients to it, full with spice and sexual flavours.
Struggling to make a career in football, Suresh was introduced to male prostitution by a colony aunt. She was fascinated by the sporty physique of Suresh and for sexual favours she started giving her money. Soon he was introduced to few more ladies who were ready to pay for sexual favours. He left football and became a professional prostitute or a gigolo often meandering around Ring Road at South Extension or Andrewsganj. Three years of joyride, Suresh was finally diagnosed of veneral disease. All that boasting about sleeping with different women and money splashing at home in Dehradun became his nemesis.
Gigolo factoid
Gigolos then remained inside the closet. However, as Delhi entered a new millennium, things changed. Gigolos became widespread here; perhaps the booming Indian economy has also a share in their growth. They come in all forms – masseurs, escorts, male strippers and male prostitutes. Few who don’t fit in that bracket have managed to become gay prostitutes earning just Rs 200-300 per hour. A search in google for ‘gigolos in Delhi’ returns 644 web pages mostly having phone numbers and contact details of them. And never do they land up in the hands of the law. It’s a business where these male and gay prostitutes roam around doing their business scot-free.
“It’s a profession where one enters by choice and has the elements of everything that today’s youth dreams of. Unlimited sex with different partners in cooler climes of five top hotels, dining and partying in top nightclubs and meeting the likes of rich and famous of the city, not to mention about maintaining hefty bank balances and driving flashy cars,” says a Delhi-based gigolo.
Hardships too lead to it
Bollywood hero Vikram Kumar who played a character in the movie Sauten where he has an affair with both, daughter and stepmother simultaneously says, “Becoming a gigolo is quick money for aspiring actors and models with smart looks and nice body, only thing is they have to sleep with ugly looking aunty.” Vikram, who spent quite a time in Delhi before shifting his base to Mumbai, says, “It mostly happens in Mehrauli and chattarpur areas in farm houses. These good-looking guys go to parties organised by rich ladies and do a strip show and so on.”
In Mumbai too Vikram says, “Most of the budding models in search for a career in Bollywood hang out in innumerous coffee joints so that someone from the industry might notice them and give a break. Since Mumbai is an expensive city, they need money to survive. Till the time they get support from parents it is ok. But then they start indulging into such activities to sustain a living. In Mumbai there are some coordinators who facilitate them in getting business. So daytime, it’s coffee joints for them and night they do business sleeping around with aunties.”
Male prostitution in Delhi, Vikram says, is not that organised. “Lot of such things happen at the ramp shows. Sadly, male models get ruined by designers, as some have to sleep with them too, not to talk about women,” he adds.
As of now, business for gigolos, gay prostitutes and male escorts is rocking. With the gleaning eye of cops closed, welcome to Delhi - the world full of sex, sleaze and disease.