A BYTE OF LIFE Tuesday, March 17, 2009

02 05
M.S. LAVANYA REGIONAL SEARCH
The rare lady saxophonist An IAS officer posted in UP comes up
with a search engine chhotugoogle.com

FREE CIRCULATION Vol. 3 No. 50

Mission Made In Chennai

Catering to customers for the last six
decades, Ratna cafe is a landmark
joint in Chennai. The hot idli sambar

Resurrection? of the restaurant is still a favourite

with many.

» Page 03

India, twice Asian Games champions in the 1950s, were

a force in continental competitions until the end of the
amateur era are now looking to muscle through the
next competition in 2011. But an ambitious plan envis-
aged by their foreign coach may fall flat because of
financial constraints.

» Page 08
02 NAMMA CHENNAI ERGO Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Photo contest
Chennaimoms.com is organising a ‘Funny Photo Online Contest’. The
contest requires moms to send pictures, which are “funny face or
funny dress”, with a caption or comment posted to each picture. Visit
www.chennaimoms.com to know more details.

Lavanya’s last laugh

A female saxophone player in the Carnatic music field
in the country, and making it big, is unheard of. Those
who called it impossible, however, ate humble pie

ANUSHA PARTHASARATHY an unforgettable moment.”

As she lists out major awards she has received –

S
porting a traditional yellow salwar with a hint Rajyotsava Young Talent award, Padmabharathi,
of makeup and a million-dollar smile, India’s Yuva Kala Bharathi and K.S. Mahadevan Critic’s
only lady saxophone player seemed, to me, award to name a few – I am taken aback by the
like a demure Carnatic vocalist who was sudden change in mood and the scepticism in her
about to run to a concert. I discovered how right I eyes as I ask her how difficult it was to get there.
was, only later. “I come from a poor family. When I first came to
M.S. Lavanya, 27, began her career as a saxo- Chennai, I lived in a hostel. Sometimes, I couldn’t
phone player 13 years ago as a student of saxo- even afford to pay my hostel bills and felt like pack-
phone legend Kadri Gopalnath. Between ing my bags home. And, in the hostel, I was never
numerous phone calls about concert dates and allowed to practise in my room. I had to go to
train tickets, she talks passionately about her fa- the terrace from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. everyday
ther, her guru and her first love; the saxophone. Oh and practise in the hot sun because
... I almost forgot... she consented for the interview that was the only time they would
half hour before a concert! give me. There were times when I
“My father is a mridangam player and used to felt so demotivated that I just
accompany Padmasree Kalaimamani Dr. Kadri Go- wanted to quit. But something
palnath in his concerts. I tagged along with them to drove me on. I saw my par-
a few and fell in love with the saxophone’s sounds. ents’ sacrifice. How my
I was also greatly inspired by the legend himself. mother kept encouraging
One day, I walked up to my dad and asked him if I me to play all day long.
could learn the instrument. He immediately ap- She is no more now.
proached Dr. Kadri Gopalnath, who later became And that pushed me
my guru,” she recalls. on... to reach my goal.”
Though a Carnatic saxophone player, she did not The momentary mel-
begin her musical journey as one. “I was a singer ancholy lapses and her
once”, she laughs, turning a tad pink, adding, “Sax- smile is back with a bang
ophone concerts now take up most of my time. when I ask her about her
But, I’ve started brushing up my singing again un- critics. “I have two. My
der the guidance of Srimushnam V. Raja Rao.” father and my guru.
Lavanya sticks out like a sore thumb in the sax- My guru is a thor-
ophone arena, being the only woman in a world ough professional
dominated by men. But she brushes it off non- and expects noth-
chalantly and continues talking with a smile that ing less than per-
seems to be a part of her charming personality. fection. This has
“Saxophone is a hard instrument to play. You need made him my best
a lot of physical energy to sustain a note and it’s critic. My father,
pretty difficult to control. When I began playing, too, is never satisfied
friends and relatives jeered and taunted me saying with whatever I do. He keeps
a woman can never make it big. But now, I’m hav- pushing me harder to make me a
ing the last laugh.” better performer.”
With 500-odd concerts and counting, it is no She finishes the interview with
wonder she is in high spirits. The spirit gets higher a blush and giggle and excuses
when I mention her tryst with Kollywood. “I’ve herself to attend a call as a sax-
been approached many times but haven’t had the ophone tune begins to play on
time. Just once, I played a bit for Sivaji and had the her phone. “My father is happy
most amazing experience – meeting A.R. Rahman. I with my success. And like I
was so taken aback by the fact that he called me. I said, he is never satisfied and
spent the entire day worried and nervous. But he’s keeps asking me to aim high-
such an amazing person and made me feel at er. But when I visit home, the
home. After the recording, he complimented me good thing is, I am always his
saying I am talented and must foray into western naughty little daughter.” ■
music. He even mentioned this to ace drummer
Sivamani who congratulated me personally. It was PHOTO: R. RAVINDRAN
 Tuesday, March 17, 2009
The sambar’s just the same
Ratna Café in
Triplicane has
people pouring
in for a taste of
the coffee and
idli sambar
that their
grandparents
loved and
enjoyed
V. HARIPRIYA
haripriya@goergo.in
F
or around six decades now,
a visit to Sri Parthasarathy
Swamy Temple in Tripli-
cane is not complete with-
out a cup of coffee at Ratna Café.
Started in 1948 by Triloknath
Gupta, a native of Mathura in Ut-
tar Pradesh, Ratna Café is a land-
mark joint in namma Chennai.
Despite hailing from North India,
Gupta had the prudence to work
wonders with idli sambar, the fa-
vourite breakfast of South Indi-
ans. Hiring chefs and masters
locally, he started selling food
that is synonymous with your
home food. This attracted the
conservative Tamils of Tripli-
cane, who found the food clean
and tasty.
As Triplicane was also the
‘Bachelors’ Paradise’ with a num-
ber of mansions, customers
poured in. So with one branch
Gupta tasted success till 2002.
But, due to his deteriorating
health conditions he later sold
the café to his nephew, Rajendra
Gupta.
Power shift
Rajendra Gupta, who was born
and brought up in Chennai, was
also into the hotel business when
he acquired Ratna Café in De-
cember 2002. Owner of Picnic
Hotel near Central Railway Sta-
tion, Gupta retained the original
name of the café.
03
Take me home
Snowy is a female Pomeranian and is just over one year old.
She’s friendly and enjoys the company of people. If you’d like
to be her new owner, call AWPT at 22781381 or
99629-68265.
“Ratna Café is a brand in itself.
And I was particular that I would
retain the name that brought in
customers,” Gupta reveals. “Even
though there is no parking space
in front of the hotel, we still have
customers who park their vehi-
cles on Bells Road, near Kalaivaa-
nar Arangam or Clock Tower to
hire an auto to the restaurant.”
Branching out
From one hotel in Triplicane,
Gupta expanded it to six outlets –
of which four function now. “We
prepare 15, 000 litres of sambar
everyday at Triplicane, where we
have the central kitchen. The day
starts at 3.30 a.m. for our staff as
we open at 4.30 a.m. at Central
Station. Thanks to chef Kaliape-
rumal, sambar still tastes the
same.”
According to Gupta, the secret
of the preparation is the use of
quality raw materials and puri-
fied water. “We never compro-
mise on raw materials. Nowhere
in Chennai will you see hotels us-
ing small onions for sambar and
we avoid using garlic, because of
which Brahmins prefer the food
we serve. The dhania (coriander)
is sourced from Rajasthan.”
Customer is king
Rajendra Gupta at Ratna Cafe in Triplicane. PHOTOS: R.RAGU Ratna Café, which serves
breakfast, lunch and dinner, val-
ues customer satisfaction more
Chef Kaliaperumal preparing the sambar than anything. “We treat all cus-
tomers equally.” Though there
are suggestions that the interior
of the restaurant needs a change,
Gupta has a reason behind not
doing up the place.
“A few years ago we replaced
the wooden tables and chairs
with granite. But some of our cus-
Timeline tomers were not that happy. They
1948 Triloknath Gupta requested us to retain at least two
opens Ratna Café in sets of wooden chairs and tables,
Triplicane since they were in use since their
grandparents’ times. The satis-
2002 Rajendra Gupta faction they get when they sit on
buys Ratna Café from his antique chairs is wordless and we
uncle had to heed to their request.”
2005 Opens first branch Gupta has plans to open 10
in T. Nagar more outlets in Chennai within
2006 The Velachery two years. “Very soon you can ex-
branch opens pect one more outlet in T. Nagar.
Also, we are planning to shift the
2007 A new branch at kitchen to OMR and make it a
Central Railway Station state-of-the-art kind.” ■
opens (Made in Chennai is a column
2008 Opens at RMZ that showcases the evolution of
Millienium, Perungudi home-grown businesses that began
when the city was Madras)
04 TECHNORAMA ERGO Tuesday, March 17, 2009

‘‘
I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of
them
Isaac Asimov

Snippets sourced
from T3 magazine
of Infomedia18
Group

Tune in
The Samsung LA22A480
is no ordinary LCD TV. A
first of its kind, it allows
you to tune into FM
stations with a click.
How? Smarty pants, it’s
called innovation. It has
a 30-channel memory and
a five band graphic
equaliser. To save power, the
screen switches off in the FM mode –
neat! Go get yours.

BEAST Rs 18,500, www.samsung.com/in

UNLEASHED Dream Dram

LENOVO’S NEW SMOLDERING LAPTOP It’s 40 YO, one of the elitist’s
single malt, distilled in
Dalmore’s traditional dram-
making process and matured
in oak casks for the smoky
M ake way for Leno’s new bouncer, the ThinkPad W700 Workstation. Designed for the
creative crew, this think tank is chock-a-block with features that will make you
swoon. There’s a built-in digitiser which can be mapped to the entire screen – a boon
cigar flavour: behold Dalmore,
the King of Scotch that
promises to bring the flavours
for animators and designers. For photographers, the built in colour calibrator comes of the bygone era back. And
handy. Hardware specs include a quad core processor, upto 8GB RAM, Quadro mobile with a price tag like this, sip
graphics, hard drives in RAID 0/1, 7-in-1 card don’t gulp, we suggest.
reader, fingerprint reader, Blu-ray burner … hold on, let us catch our breath! Rs 2,95,000,
Rs 1,49,000, www.lenovo.com/in www.theubgroup.com

PURE BLISS LOGITECH PURE-FI

Fitted with dual 2inch drivers and two mics - one
The good thing about mobile phones is to pick up vocal nuances, the other to cancel
that they can replace iPods nicely. The
bad part: the sound unwanted background noise – this slate-box puts
quality. Now how about an all-in-one back the ahhh into listening. There are dedicated
device that’s a Bluetooth Speaker +
Speakerphone + lighter than Bell’s buttons for call answer/end and an auxillary input
tripod? Logitech’s Pure-Fi Mobile means you can pair an MP3 player too.
speaker system, for example.
Rs 10,995, www.logitech.com
 Tuesday, March 17, 2009
05
Audiophile Alert!
Sony has introduced new noise-cancelling headphones. Its new MDR-NC7 seems
perfect for commute. Convenient to use, foldable and with a swivel action, it
has a battery life of 50 hours. The best part: its price at Rs. 4,490.

An IAS officer, currently under

deputation in UP, combines Google’s
Transliteration and Search APIs to come up
with a regional search engine www.chhotugoogle.com
IAS officer Ranvir Prasad
creator, chhotugoogle.com
ERGO CORRESPONDENT
feedback@goergo.in
who is currently posted as the
district magistrate in Sant Kabir
Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, has come
up with a website that would help
search for Hindi documents in
Unicode and Kruti Dev fonts; and
Tamil documents in Unicode and
Bamini fonts. The portal is curi-
ously named ‘chottugoogle’ and
combines effectively Google’s
Transliteration and Search En-
gine APIs and throws up a myriad
of possibilities for searching in
Hindi and Tamil languages.
In an email interview with Er-
go, Mr.Prasad said: “You do not
need to know how to type in
these scripts. The site has been
developed using Google APIs and
font converter javascripts. Good
thing is that it is easy to add sup-
port for any other font based on
feedback. I have put together this
website during my free time
posted right now, most of the
documents on Government sites
are in Kruti Dev 010 font and
there was no method to search
for any term in those
documents.”
“Now I can search using chho-
tugoogle.com, for example, docu-
ments about Revenue Manual
when I type ‘rajasv mainual’. This
would be useful for common
public mostly as information un-
der RTI, BPL list etc. was in these
fonts. I could find many sites on
Hindi Literature and Tamil litera-
ture about which I was not aware
of earlier using
chhotugoogle.com.”
The inspiration for starting the
website came from Mr.Prasad’s
wife, who is also an IAS officer in
UP cadre. “She is from Tamil Na-
du and she is learning … well, has
learnt … Hindi and Administra-
tive Hindi. She felt that if there
was a search portal for searching
Hindi documents on Govern-
ment websites, it would be useful
for one and all. Then I read about
Google APIs for search and trans-
literation and some javascripts
for conversion of fonts and I
could assemble the site. My sister
provided inputs and suggestions
and also bought the domain for
me.”
As for the name chhotugoogle-
.com, the young IAS officer just
hopes Google would not find any
problem with it. “I thought it
would be easy to remember. Cur-
rently the site has feature for
search only. Interesting addition
would be dierctory of good web-
sites in Hindi/Tamil. I am plan-
ning to add more languages and
fonts based on the feedback. I am
planning to add a typepad with
spell check and also dictionar-
ies.” ■
Mr.Ranvir Prasad welcomes
feedback on the site. Log on to
www.chottugoogle.com and send
your feedback.

T
he World Wide Web is not a
friendly place for regional
languages. The search en-
gine worms mostly scan on-
ly English documents, and it
makes hosting documents in re-
gional languages a near pointless
exercise sometimes.
No less than an IAS officer has
now come up with an innovative
portal to address the challenge
that is vernacular document
search. Ranvir Prasad, who had
earlier served as the district col-
lector of Thiruvallur district and
mainly to bring out in open a
large number of webpages in Ta-
mil and Hindi which were hidden
from public view as they were not
reflected in earlier searches.”
Though there are some sites
where one can search in Tamil
and Hindi, Mr.Prasad points out
that one could not search in fonts
like Bamini (Tamil) and KrutiDev
(Hindi). “This was a great handi-
cap as there were several sites
which would have documents in
these fonts. For example, in Uttar
Pradesh Government, where I am
06 VILLAGE ERGO Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Ye olde book
A Cambridge academic has uncovered
what is believed to be the world’s
oldest joke book – from the third
century.

Cops called in as crowds overwhelm IT fair Discovery

More than 700,000 Singaporeans looking for recession-
busting bargains swamped an electronics fair over the lifts off
weekend, forcing organisers to call in the police to maintain The shuttle Discovery
order. blasted off on a
Officers were deployed at an underground link to the venue mission to outfit the
of the IT Show 2009 from a train station to ‘manage the International Space
crowd’, a spokesman for the Singapore Police Force said. Station with a final
“It was really crowded and packed... (but) it was worth pair of solar wings
going because the items were going for rock-bottom ahead of the arrival in
prices,” a visitor said. a few weeks of an
. expanded space crew.
AFP The spacecraft
launched from the
Kennedy Space Centre
in Florida. Just over
Gandhi snaps in poll eight minutes later, the shuttle entered orbit and was
soaring at 28,000 kilometres per hour.
campaign irk Indians The journey was expected to take two days to reach the
The use of Mahatma Gandhi’s photos by the ruling ANC ISS, where the seven-member crew was to deliver and
party in election campaign has created a furore among the install the fourth and final pair of solar wings on the
India-origin people here in Durban. orbiting ISS. Mike Leinbach, launch director for the
The posters are part of the strategy being pursued by the mission, said the lift-off was picture perfect.
African National Congress to get people of Indian-origin to “I have seen a lot of launches and this was the most
vote for it in the forthcoming general election on April 22. visually beautiful,” he told reporters. “It was just
A woman caller to an election talk show on the national spectacular. When the orbiter and the tank, booster got
broadcaster, SABC’s up in the sun light it was just gorgeous.”
Lotus FM radio said AFP
Gandhi was being used
to get Indian people to
vote for the ANC. “I
would like to know
whether this is morally 2 Sri Lankan players still in hospital
and ethically right?,” Two Sri Lankan cricket players remain hospitalised in
she queried. Colombo, two weeks after the squad was attacked by
A political analyst on militant gunmen in Pakistan, the team’s doctor said on
the show, Professor Monday.
Karthy Govender, Thilan Samaraweera, who had a bullet removed from his
responded that he did left thigh, and Ajantha Mendis, who had shrapnel extracted
not think it was from his head and back, are being treated at a private
appropriate for anyone hospital, Geethanjana Mendis said.
to use Gandhi’s name “Samaraweera and Mendis need a little bit more attention
without the permission and we are hopeful we can discharge them within a few
of the family. days,” the doctor said.
PTI AFP

Film premiere
goes solar
A
new film warning of the devas-
tating effects of climate change
was screened in London in what
organisers said was the world’s
first solar-powered premiere.
Oscar-nominated British actor Pete
Postlethwaite stars in The Age of Stupid,
which was shown in a solar cinema tent
in Leicester Square and beamed to more
than 70 cinemas nationwide via a live
satellite link.
The event’s organisers said they
hoped up to 16,000 people would watch
the premiere but discouraged anyone
from flying to London to see it.
Postlethwaite turned up in a solar car
to the premiere, which was also attend-
ed by actress Gillian Anderson, designer
Vivienne Westwood on a bicycle and
Energy and Climate Change Secretary
Ed Miliband. In the film, Postlethwaite
plays an old man living alone in a devas-
tated 2055, looking back on archive
footage of 2008 and asking why no one
acted to stop climate change.
The Age of Stupid, which opens here
on March 20, took 3.5 years to make and
had a budget of just USD 630,000 dollars
provided by 228 individual investors. ■
AFP
 Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Websites of the day
Want to know what Paris Hilton is wearing this
Autumn? Check out the latest Hollywood fashions:
http://www.lastarstyle.co.uk/
Treat a sore throat:
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/sorethroat.htm
Riding the recession
the Daniel way
H
is goal was to get a job and
his tactic was a road trip
through all 50 US states in
50 weeks that landed the
unemployed economics major
with, yes, 50 jobs. The work
ranged from rodeos to archaeol-
ogy and even a stint keeping job-
seekers of the illegal sort out of
the country.
After failing 40 interviews in a
row, University of Southern Cali-
fornia graduate Daniel Seddiqui,
26, got creative and launched a
mission to cross every US state in
as many weeks, rolling up his
sleeves in each one with some
kind of employment.
“I went through hell almost. I
invested so much time and effort
in my university and yet I did not
get anything. It was pretty frus-
trating. Then I was persistent
enough to land 50 jobs in 50
states,” he said. “It’s kind of help-
ing me decide what I want to do
with my life.”
“Dan is probably one of the
most adaptable people I’ve ever
met, said Randy Cruse, business
manager at the Boilermakers Lo-
Court serves papers
via Facebook
A New Zealand judge on Mon-
day approved the serving of
court documents through the so-
cial networking website Face-
book on a man being sued over
his business dealings. High Court
associate justice David Glendall
approved the serving of legal pa-
pers on Craig Axe, who is alleged
to have taken 241,000 dollars
cal 83 union in Kansas City, Mis-
souri. “He was quick, smart. He’s
enjoyed it and the guys enjoyed
having him,” he said after Seddi-
qui trained with them in January.
Seddiqui has already worked as
a logger in Medford, Oregon, a
from his family’s market garden
company account.
Axe was believed to be in Bri-
tain but had been corresponding
by email and was known to have
a site on Facebook, the court in
Wellington was told. Daniel Vin-
cent, the lawyer for the family
company who requested the use
of Facebook, said there had been
difficulties serving the papers, in-
forming Axe that he is being sued,
by conventional methods.
He told the New Zealand Press
Association after the hearing he
believed it was first time a court
in this country had allowed pa-
pers to be served through Face-
book. The idea came from a case
in Australia in December, when
Facebook was used to serve a
court order after a couple default-
ed on a home loan. ■
AFP
border patrol agent in Tucson,
Arizona and an archeologist in
Fayetteville, Arkansas. Most em-
ployers have paid him or offered
to hire him full-time. Halfway
through his mission on week 25,
he was working as an auto me-
Dreaming About Me?
쒀 A Saint Bernard dog called ‘Zuma’ watches a fully-grown miniature horse called
‘Willow’ at the “Woofstock 90210" pet show in Beverly Hills. AFP PHOTO/MARK RALSTON
07
Chocolate power
A Devon woman who eats 30
bars of chocolate a week has just
celebrated her 100th birthday.
launched his driving tour in Sep-
tember 2008 in Salt Lake City,
50 jobs in Utah, where he worked at a Mor-
mon humanitarian centre. He
50 weeks: then headed to Colorado, where
he took on a hydrologist job, be-
US man’s fore donning cowboy gear to be a
rodeo announcer in South Dako-
economic ta. Seddiqui set up most of the
jobs in advance and found places
odyssey to stay on the road, most often
with his employer or a co-worker.
“I’ve stayed with all kinds of peo-
ple, from cowboys to Indians to
This handout Arabs to rednecks to just about
photo shows everybody,” he said.
Daniel Seddiqui Seddiqui, who said he wants to
working as a make a documentary and write a
co-pilot in Fargo, book about his journey, had a
North Dakota. sound piece of advice for stu-
AFP PHOTO dents struggling to launch their
careers.
“I recommend to network and
travel. Be willing to try anything.
chanic in Dearborn, Michigan. Nowadays, you can’t be too
“This is my 25th state, I’m half- picky, especially if you are a new
way there and I’ve seen a lot of grad,” he said. “It’s going to be
different things,” he said, de- hard; you are not going to get
scribing how one man had pulled your dream job on the first day.
out a gun in the auto repair shop Step out of your comfort zone.” ■
just outside Detroit. Seddiqui AFP
08 SPORT ERGO Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Plot to oust dictator

Moves to oust embattled Asian Football Confederation president Mohammed bin Hammam are
gaining momentum with his key challenger insisting support for his “autocratic” rule is rapidly
waning. Bahrain’s Shaikh Salman Ebrahim Al Khalifa will pit himself against Bin Hammam for his
FIFA executive committee seat on May 8 after several recent moves by the Qatari upset powerful
factions of the regional football body.

HAMILTON READY
FOR STERNEST TEST
Lewis Hamilton has come a long way in his
24 years, from a humble English housing
estate to a Swiss mansion, a pop-star
girlfriend and an MBE from the Queen. He is
the youngest champion in
Mission r
Formula One history, its
first black winner and a National football coach Bob Houghton’s plan for
multi-millionaire who splits
opinion both inside and
outside the paddock. Now
Hamilton is braced for what AYON SENGUPTA and former players, has reached a financial situation if we can ar-
could be his most bruising ayon@goergo.in stumbling block related to spon- range such money.”
battle as he defends the sorship. Interestingly, other developing

title he won by just a point
in 2008’s rain-drenched,
knife-edge Brazilian finale.
“You can’t live in the past.
I don’t say ‘I am world champion’, I say ‘I
want to be world champion’,”said Hamilton.
His F1 debut in 2007 in Australia saw him
finish third, quickly followed by runner-up
positions in Malaysia, Bahrain, Spain and
Monaco. He won his first Grand Prix in
Montreal after a flawless drive and followed
it up a week later at the famed Indianapolis
track. However, his lack of experience
eventually saw him squander a 13-point lead
in the championship to lose the 2007 title by
a point to Kimi Raikkonen.
AFP
A
n ambitious project to get
Indian football back on its
feet at the international lev-
el may have at last hit a
roadblock after running in un-
usually clear tracks from some-
time. National coach Bob
Houghton has envisaged a plan
that will keep the country’s top 25
professionals out of contract with
any club sides for two years. The
project, which has already drawn
flak from club owners, managers
The AIFF, which was always in
the doldrums at the management
level, is now without a head since
its ever-serving president Priya
Ranjan Das Munshi is still in co-
ma after suffering a stroke late
last year and is yet to take a final
call on it. One AIFF source says:
“Financially, the project seems
Herculean. We need at least Rs.
40 crore for the players’ salary,
accommodation and other costs.
And we are not sure in the current
soccer nations had run with suc-
cess similar programmes, like the
US before hosting the 1994 World
Cup, South Korea before the 2002
Cup and Mexico in 1986.
The 25-odd players would di-
rectly be under contract to the
All-India Football Federation and
train together in preparation for
the Asian Cup in Doha in June
2011. The players would be paid
their contract amounts equiva-
lent to what they would have

NADAL BREEZES
INTO THIRD ROUND
World number one Rafael Nadal breezed
past qualifier Michael Berrer and into the
third round of the Indian Wells Masters
series. Nadal downed Berrer 6-2, 6-1 in just
67 minutes to join defending champion
Novak Djokovic in the third round.
Djokovic, seeded third in the 4.5 million-
dollar tournament behind Nadal and Roger
Federer, defeated 54th-ranked Argentinian
Martin Vasallo Arguello 7-5, 6-4. The
Serbian, who claimed his first title of 2009
at Dubai two weeks ago, went up an early
break in each set
only to
surrender his
serve before
breaking Vasallo
Arguello again.
He closed out
the match on his
second match
point, when the
Argentinian sent
a service return
long. Djokovic
next faces
German veteran
Tommy Haas,
who downed
compatriot
Rainer Schuettler 6-7 (4/7), 6-2, 6-4. Nadal
booked a meeting with Russian Dmitry
Tursunov, a 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-3 winner over
American qualifier Michael Russell. National coach Bob Houghton trains with his ward
AFP Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi. PHOTO: SHANKER CHA
 Tuesday, March 17, 2009
09

‘‘
In 2007 I supported the West Indies (to win) due to the fact that, as a team, we may have been short in Test
cricket but very good over a shorter game and twenty20 was a version of the game, with players like Chris Gayle,
Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo, I thought we would love. But then Bangladesh came and beat us and we didn’t win
a match so that shows how difficult it is to predict. A team like India or Pakistan, accustomed to good batting tracks, flat
tracks and capable of being very innovative could be the ones to walk away with the trophy.
Brian Lara

resurrection?
r Asian Cup 2011, although ambitious, might be too farfetched to implement

earned at the club levels and will
only be available for national
duty.
AIFF vice-president Subrata
Dutta, part of the committee de-
liberating on the project, says:
“We had a meeting and have
drawn some tentative plans. We
have put those on paper and it
would be handed over to our act-
ing president (Civil Aviation Min-
ister Praful Patel). A final call will
be taken after he goes through it.”
According to sources, the AIFF
top brass is serious about the pro-
ject and is already in talks with a
few of the corporate houses for
lead and associate sponsorship
deals. Top on the list is telecom-
munications giant Airtel, which
had earlier entered into a Rs. 100
crore deal for AIFF’s proposed a-
cademy in Goa. However, the
talks have not been fruitful so far.
Houghton’s plan says the
players will live and train together
and play at least 30 international
matches prior to the competition.
But if there are takers for the
plan, there are many more de-
tractors. Mohun Bagan secretary
Anjan Mitra, taking a dig at the
federation, says: “The AIFF
doesn’t even have the capacity to
nurture five players and they are
talking about 25. What about the
clubs, their supporters? Without
the top 25 national players the
domestic league will lose its
sheen.”
The clubs are united in their
stand and officials of defending
I-League champions Dempo also
walk the same line. “I-League was
structured as a professional setup
to put football back in its rightful
place and now if we take all the
top players away, the whole pur-
pose is nullified. It’s a backward
step,” the official says.
Former skipper Chuni Goswa-
mi, though, sees the logic behind
the plan; he fails to understand
the need to spend so much mon-
ey on players who are almost past
their prime. “Bhaichung (Bhutia),
Deepak (Mandal) and Mahesh
Gawli are all good players but at
the most they will last another
two or three years. And after
spending crores if we are knocked
out in the first round the whole
money goes waste,” he says. “On
the other hand, if we invest on
under-19 players, there is hope
for the future even if we fail at the
Asian Cup.”
National captain Bhutia tacitly
supports Houghton’s project and
says: “Even Guss Hiddink did the
same with the South Korean side
in 2002 and they had great suc-
cess. (They reached the semi-fi-
nals of the World Cup). I have
only heard about it from new-
spaper reports and it won’t be
right for me to make sweeping
statements about it. But if han-
dled in a proper way it can help
immensely.” ■

ds at the
AKRAVARTY
10 FLICK
Tees saal baad
‘Little Zizou’ puts Parsis in comic spotlight after 30 years
ROBIN BANSAL
B
ollywood provided a hilari-
ous take on Parsis with the
1978 film Khatta Meetha,
which starred Ashok Ku-
mar and Pearl Padamsee. Thirty
years later, Sooni Taraporewala’s
Little Zizou is another humorous
insight into the community, tak-
ing digs at their stereotypical
oddities.
Khaata Meetha highlighted the
biggest dilemma among Parsis –
their problem with inter-caste
marriage. An offspring from such
a union is considered to be a non-
Parsi, resulting in their fast dwin-
dling numbers, which is pegged
at about 100,000 now in India.
But Little Zizou talks about reli-
gious fundamentalism and re-
form, while putting the spotlight
on traits unique to the
community.
One did have Basu Chatterjee’s
Baaton Baaton Mein (1979), but
that was more focussed on rela-
Khatta Meetha
tionships. Since then all movies
on Parsis have brushed aside the
comic punch to portray the com-
munity’s angst with grim dramas
like Pestonjee (1988), Percy (1990),
1947: Earth (1998) and Being Cy-
rus (2005).
“Thematically, Parsis in films
have been a more modest and se-
rious vein with only two films,
Khatta Meetha and Baaton Baa-
ton Mein, being made on a lighter
note than the handful of the rest.
While the former is remembered
for its comic genius, the latter
was a mixed-affair in terms of
comic touches,” says noted film
historian Gautam Kaul.
Baton
Baton
Mein
Photographer-writer Tarapore-
wala, who made her directorial
debut with Little Zizou after writ-
ing Mira Nair’s acclaimed films
like Salaam Bombay! and Missis-
sippi Masala, has woven together
every possible trait of the
community.
For example, Parsis’ habit of
boasting about every little
achievement is lucidly shown in
Little Zizou. This includes the
presence of a Zubin Mehta por-
trait in every Parsi house and the
oft-repeated talk about Indira
Gandhi being married to a Parsi.
“Zubin Mehta collectively be-
longs to every Parsi mother – he is
“apro” or “our” Zubin. A love for
and deep knowledge of Western
classical music is a very Parsi
trait. Many people in Mumbai
have an experience of their Parsi
neighbours blasting classical mu-
sic and I used that in the opening
Being Cyrus
ERGO Tuesday, March 17, 2009
of Little Zizou along with apro
Zubin’s portrait on the wall,” says
Taraporewala.
“Indira Gandhi was married to
a Parsi (Feroze Gandhi) and
many in the community thought
it was lucky for her that he had
the ‘Gandhi’ surname, as most
people thought she was related to
the Mahatma and had no clue
that this was not so. I brought this
up in a humorous way to link it
with the character of Khodaiji
(one of the characters) whose
name literally means ‘god’ but
who in reality is nothing of the
sort and capitalises on his fortu-
nate name, just as Mrs. Gandhi
sometimes did,” she explains.
Both Kaul and Taraporewala
point out that there have been
numerous instances where Parsis
have been typecast for small ap-
pearances in Bollywood movies.
“There have been movies over
the years that have typecast the
community by depicting a Parsi
character in comic situations in
trademark attire for a Parsi re-
semblance,” says Kaul.
“The stock Parsi man in his
white dugli and black pheta and
the woman in her gara sari – this
is what some of us (Parsis) wear
to weddings but in Bollywood
films all Parsis have to be dressed
like this even if they are standing
at the bus stop waiting for a bus,”
remarks Taraporewala.
National Award-winning film-
maker Jahnu Barua says, “It’s ve-
ry unfortunate that our audience
has been spoiled over the years
and they are not mature enough
to accept such films. Take Khatta
Meetha for example and now Lit-
tle Zizou – these films are brilliant
attempts at bringing back the el-
bowed out culture of their com-
munities.” ■
IANS
 Tuesday, March 17, 2009
11
Manisha rejects cameo role
Actress Manisha Koirala was overjoyed when she was offered a role by
actor-turned-director Amol Palekar in his new film. But later she refused
to accept the role as it turned out to be just a cameo.

Rourke on a roll Cine City

Mickey Rourke to play
Russian villain in ‘Iron
Man 2’

A
ctor Mickey Rourke has bagged
yet another good role as the Rus-
sian villain in Iron Man 2, after
being nominated for an Oscar for
his work in The Wrestler.
A report published by the website
deadlinehollywooddaily.com says that
the producers had earlier offered
Rourke just 250,000 dollars for this role.
However, they significantly increased
the money offer after Rourke’s agent,
David Unger, played hardball.
According to the New York Post,
Rourke was also being considered for a
villainous role in Sony’s Spider-Man 4.
Ayan for April release
Rourke has also been offered a role Actor Suriya’s upcoming flick, Ayan, would hit
by Sylvester Stallone in the fifth Rambo the theatres soon. Sources predict that the movie
film. He will reportedly play the baddie might release on April 3. Said to be a love story,
in the flick, which is due to be filmed the movie is directed by K.V. Anand, who earlier
later this year. made Srikanth, Prithviraj and Gopika starrer
The actor will also start filming Stal- Kana Kandaien. Suriya and Tamannah pair up
lone’s new thriller, The Expendables, for the first time in Ayan. The music scored by
alongside Ben Kingsley, Sandra Bullock, Harris Jeyaraj is already topping the charts.
Jet Li, Jason Statham and Forest Whi-
taker. ■
ANI

Who dumped who?

J ennifer Aniston is angry and
is telling friends that she
dumped singer John Mayer.
However, media reports say
Mayer was the one who
dumped her.
The 40-year-old Aniston and
the 32-year-old rocker broke up
after she returned to the US
from Britain after promoting
her new movie Marley and Me,
reports thesun.co.uk.
A source said: “Aniston start-
ed considering dumping Mayer
Busy bee
after he apparently went cold Director Vikram K. Kumar is a happy man
after the Oscars.” these days. His latest movie, Yaavarum Nalam,
Her friends reveal that Anis- has reaped good collections at the box office.
ton felt angry and used. A Even the Hindi version, 13B, has generated
source said: “They had a great positive vibes. 13B was released in the US in 10
time at the Oscars, but he theatres and made a collection of $1,752 so
seemed to go cold right after. far. Though the director has received plenty of
It’s humiliating.” ■ offers from Bollywood, he is keen on doing a
IANS Tamil film next.
12 ERGO Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Vivek
Srinivasan
Monday’s Query: from HCL has
nominated his
friends. The
The Pussycat Dolls are picture was
clicked at
working with A.R. Mamalla
Resort in ECR.
Rahman on a ‘Jai Ho’
remix. What is your
favourite remixed song
till date and why?
Thottal poo malarum. Because it is
much better than the original, and
Hariharan and Harini lend freshness
to the song that makes it very
appealing
Ahalya (TCS)
Ponmagal vandhaal from Azhagiya
Thamizh Magan. Because of
Illayathalapathy’s excellent dance and Premi Moses
acting. No one can beat him. from Cognizant
Kuppusamy Nattudurai (CSS), Shebin Performance
Benjamin (Allsec) Testing CoE
A.R.Rahman’s thottal poo malarum sent us this
from New. Unlike other music picture.
directors he did not emulate the The picture was
same old tone. Came up with a new clicked for the
tone and it was a massive hit, which Testing Annual
created a trend for remixes. Event called
Deena (Wipro), Ganesh Kumar (Technip) ’Nakshatra’,
Mitwa - revisited from Kabhi Alvida where the
Na Kehna by Shankar-Eshaan-Loy. members
They remixed their own tune of the walked the
same movie. It was a good classical- ramp.
western fusion
Mukund SCB (Scope International)
Margo margo margayi. A very nice
song wonderfully remixed in the
ragam kanada of the famous
“alaipayuthey” song
Padma Gopal (Cognizant)
En aasai mythiliye (Manmadhan)
Pradeep (Mphasis)
Western suprapaatham by Rahman Vijay from
because it’s trendy Accenture has
Hashim (Allsec) nominated his
Inji eduppalagha because I like the friends as
female voice Partners in
Yuvaraj (Technip) Crime. The
Remix of Vande Mataram is my picture was
favourite. Whenever listening to this shot before a
my eyes drop a couple of tears for hotel in ECR.
my mother India
Saranya.M (Cognizant)

Today’s query:
One extra-curricular
activity companies
must add to their
agenda
 Tuesday, March 17, 2009
■ Dear Rajkumar (Gun),
Wishing you a Happy Birthday. I
hope all your dreams and wishes
Jagan Mohan K. V. N. of come true. Not just a year older, but
Sella Synergy India has a year better. Here’s to another year
been nominated as Office of experience. A simple celebration, a
Angel by M. Ilayaraja. gathering of friends; here’s wishing
Jagan Mohan is kind, you great happiness, a joy that never
cool-headed and fun-lov- ends. A birthday is just the first day
ing person. He is a great of another 365-day journey around
motivator of our team. He the sun. Enjoy the trip.
handles any issues with Jesi, Christo, Rajesh, Hari, Murali, Srini,
ease. He is a positive Kani, Chinpapa, Cheattu, Suresh, Senthil,
thinker and team builder. Samy, Jeni
■ Dear Shailu,
When god made you he was having
a good day! You are so special to us,
we all respect you and get inspired
by you. Your dedication is great. You
mean so much to us. Many many
happy returns of the day.
May you live 100 more years.
Always with you,
Hari & Siri
■ Dear Buhari,
Wishing you belated birthday
wishes!! May all your dreams come
true!!
God bless you!!
Friends,
New Age Software and Solutions, Ashok
Art featured in this Nagar
column will re- ■ Hi Vani (Immigration team, CTS)
ceive gift coupons Congrats!! You have won again! You
from Fruit Shop on have proved to this world that your
Greams Road. words will reach greater heights. You
Send in your ad- have shown me how a woman can
dresses so that we be so powerful, caring and an
can post the cou- affectionate friend. Above all I still
pons. admire your goodness. Keep rocking.
Almighty god and your best friend
(that’s me) are always with you. Wish
you all success in your future
Endeavour’s. I wanna you see more
Narayanan L.R. of Williams Lea of your success… TATA
India, Tidel Park doodle this Regards
picture of ’Father of the Nation’. Shankar Nagappan
■ My dear Sweet Gayathri,
Pappu wishes you many more happy
returns of the day. You’re my most
precious wealth I have ever earned.
I wish you a peaceful and happy life.
I thank god for blessing me with such
a loving and caring girl like you.
With lots of luv, Urs,
Birahadish, Wipro Technologies
■ Dear Shamee,
Wish you a many more happy returns
of the day. Each year of your
Man-1: Do you know my friend is a very good fast bowler? birthday reminds us that we really
Man-2: Really? want to say we are very much glad
Man-1: Yes, while we play cricket in the first ground, he will be we know you. We think of you each
running from the second ground to bowl and the wicket keeper day. We hope you enjoy your
will be standing in the third ground with fear. birthday. All the pleasures it has in
------------------------ store. And because we appreciate
Man-1: Yesterday we couldn’t touch your friend bowling with you. We hope you have many more!
our bat? Cheers
Man-2: Has he bowled excellently? SDP TEAM & Friends
Man-1: No, he has bowled only wide balls, then how could we
touch with bat?
Mohamed Yusufdeen J, HCL Technologies
13
■ Hi Anil,
Glad congratulations and heartfelt
wishes
Wish you Happy Married life.
Best Regards,
D.Yaseen Taj, Cognizant Technology
Solutions
■ Dear Balaji,
I’m wishing you another year of
laughter, joy and fun.
Surprises, love and happiness and
when your birthday’s done,
I hope you feel deep in your heart
As your birthdays come and go
How very much you mean to me
More than you can know
Aparna S, Tata Consultancy Services
■ Dear RJ Balaji
Wish u happy birthday.
Kodiyil pookkum malarai vida oru
nodiyil pookkum punnagai than
azhagu
So always keep smiling.
Happy birthday.
Regards,
Balaji Perumal
Tata Consultancy Services
■ Akka,
Wish you many more happy returns
of the day.
With love,
Tharuthala Thambi
■ My dear Fathima Mariam,
Making happy birthday wishes,
is a pleasant thing to do,
especially when the birthday is yours,
and the wishes are for you.
From Morning till night,
May your birthday be bright,
And nicer than ever before.
And as years come and go,
May your happiness grow,
and your dreams come true.
Happy Birthday My Dear Fathima!!!
Regards
Shehanaz, Nasreen, Ismail
Thirdware Solutions Pvt Ltd
Belated messages
■ Like the sweet music from the
flute of Kannan,
Your warm and friendly nature can
be matched by none,
You remove darkness from our life
by lighting the lamp of knowledge,
You make us feel precious & rare like
24ct gold,
How much you mean to us in a
words it can never be told,
May god fill with joy & happiness
your every single day,
Team DEPOSITS wishes you a very
Happy Birthday.
Vijay Vaidyanathan, Accenture
14 TRAFFIC JAM ERGO Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Coffin catastrophe
A Croatian motorist who
crashed through an undertakers’
window woke up to find
himself in an open coffin.

sudoku

Anything for that catch!

Sent by Sivakumar
Sriramulu of TCS

Preference this month is being

given to photographs that talk
about ‘happiness’, which you
need to tell us in a line or two.
Please do not repeat any of
your previous pictures and also
make sure that the photograph
is people-oriented. Happiness is
not always a smile, so put on
your thinking caps and keep
clicking!
Winners can collect their gift
vouchers on Sundays, between
3 p.m. and 5 p.m. at Ergo
office
KAKURO
So you think you would make a terrific photographer but never really had the
platform? Mail us your best work and we’ll publish it in this space, with credit.
E-mail: clickpick@goergo.in

TEAM
Editor: Karthik Subramanian
karthik@goergo.in

Sr Dy Chief Designer: J.A. Prem Kumar

Dy Chief Designer: R. Ravi Kannan
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Anna Salai, Chennai-600002. Editor: S. Karthik
(Editor responsible for selection of news under
the PRB Act). RNI No. TNENG/2007/24553
 Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Trusty cuppa
A psychologist says tea
and coffee really do taste
better from your favourite
cup or mug.
15
Word’s worth
“Deglutition” (dee-gloo-tish-uhn) the action of swallowing. The
verb, even rarer than the noun, is deglute. It could be brought back
into fashion with a new figurative sense: “You can’t expect me to
deglute that excuse! What a feat of deglutition that would be.”

B.C

ARIES MARCH 21 - APRIL 20

Try to move out somewhat today. You’ve got to
take action soon. It’s one of those days when
you’re at your best in constant motion, so make
sure you’re as busy as you can possibly be. Ganesha
suggests you to be quick but make right decisions.

TAURUS APRIL 21 - MAY 20

You’re brimming with anger over some recent
injustice and need to do whatever you can to make
it right. See if you can get your friends to rally
behind a new way of doing things. Ganesha is with
you in every right step you take.

GEMINI MAY 21 - JUNE 20

There’s no need to take much of anything seriously
BORN LOSER today. You’ve got plenty going on, but it’s just the
kind of day in which you can take a break and just
enjoy the superficial pleasures of life. So go ahead
and enjoy, says Ganesha.
CANCER JUNE 21 - JULY 20
When shopping today, go for quality over price. You
need the very best! Ingredients for baking, tech
gadgets and even your morning coffee are all part
of the program and you want what you deserve.
Ganesha says go ahead and have a great day.
LEO JULY 21 - AUG 20
You have the ability to think out of the box and
today your creative ideas are going to make a great
impact on your colleagues and friends. Be the
centre of attraction and enjoy says Ganesha.

VIRGO AUG 21 - SEPT 20

You thrive on activity, but today brings almost too
FREE RANGE WORKING IT OUT much for you to handle! It’s one of those days
when you wish you were still in bed every few
hours or so, but you can handle it all with a smile.
A calm and wonderful day for you.
LIBRA SEPT 21 - OCT 20
You can see the big picture today, probably better
than most of the people around you, so speak out
and lead the way toward the next big thing. It’s
easy for you to make a difference. You have that
quality in you, Ganesha wishes all the very best.
SCORPIO OCT 21 - NOV 20
Your sense of power is making life a lot more
interesting and you ought to be able to get your
friends to see that things are working out for all of
you. A little more time to tip the balance is all you
need. Wait and watch, suggests Ganesha.
SAGITTARIUS NOV 21 - DEC 20
Say something that feels a little risky and see how
it goes. You are more likely than ever to get
yourself some good feedback if you try a little
harder. People want to see you push the envelope.
Give it a push, says Ganesha.
CAPRICORN DEC 21 - JAN 20
The warmth and goodwill you generate today will
benefit you now and even later. Those living away
from home and family will return after successful
sojourn. Pack your suitcase and get ready, says
Ganesha.
AQUARIUS JAN 21 - FEB 20
PREVIOUS Try not to get too worked up over your latest
relationship glitch. These things happen and today’s
ISSUE’S is just a sign that things are working normally. So
spend some quality time with your loved ones and
SOLUTIONS clear all the misunderstandings, suggests Ganesha.
PISCES FEB 21 - MARCH 20
You need to slow down and cut back your schedule
just a bit. Things are getting a little out of hand!
Say no a few times just to practice, so you can say
it and mean it when the time is right, says
Ganesha.
Predictions by Bhavesh N. Pattni
16 ! ERGO Tuesday, March 17, 2009

This handout
photograph released
by Tourism New
Zealand on Monday
shows Indian
cricketers (L-R)
Harbhajan Singh,
V.V.S. Laxman, Yuvraj
Actor Mary-Kate Singh, Sachin
Olsen attends The Tendulkar and Zaheer
Metropolitan Khan walking on the
Opera’s 125th edge of the Auckland
Anniversary Gala Sky Tower in
at The Auckland on
Metropolitan Saturday. The
Opera House, cricketers performed a
Lincoln Center sky walk atop the
on Sunday in 192-metre Auckland
New York City. Sky Tower, the tallest
AFP PHOTO man-made structure
in the Southern
Hemisphere. AFP PHOTO

Japan’s government-sponsored research

laboratory AIST unveils the new
humanoid robot ’HRP-4C’. It is 158 cm
tall and weighs 43 kg and is able to
make human face-like motions. The
HRP-4C, called Cybernetic Human, has
42 actuators and several sensors on its
body and will debut at a fashion show
in Tokyo later this month. AFP PHOTO