Football! Bloody ‘ell

It’s David vs Goliath as Rajasthan take on Mumbai’s might

Kolkata: They have shown remarkable fighting spirit despite the demoralising spot-fixing scandal and the Rajasthan Royals will now look to upstage the mighty Mumbai Indians in the second qualifier here tomorrow to book, what would be, a dream final berth in the Pepsi IPL. On paper, Mumbai Indians may appear stronger but Rajasthan will be [...]

21 lawmakers back Chandigarh-born as top US judge

Washington: Ahead of an expected Senate vote on the nomination of Chandigarh-born Indian-American legal luminary Srikanth ‘Sri’ Srinivasan to a top US court, 21 lawmakers have penned their support for him. Srinivasan, 46, currently principal deputy solicitor general of the US last week won unanimous approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee for his nomination as [...]

It was like bereavement: Dravid on spot-fixing

New Delhi: Rajasthan Royals skipper Rahul Dravid says dealing with the turmoil caused by the spot-fixing scandal, which has left his team’s reputation in tatters, has turned out to be as tough as handling “bereavement in some ways”. “I would not lie it was a very tough phase for us. It was a blow to [...]

The final kick-off for passion

Tonight the football season will finally come to a close with the Champions League final being played at Wembley stadium. It’s been a tumultuous season for all the wrong reasons. The four big leagues were wrapped up early: Manchester United in the EPL, Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga, Juventus in Serie A and Barcelona in [...]

Why we love… The Monsoon

The summer has dripped off our brows, drop by drop. It’s stuck to us like a second skin, seeping with the strain of existence, but not for long. According to the weatherman the monsoon is round the corner and such liquid succour it will be too. Needless to say the city will flood and lives [...]

Chanting for change?

Earlier this week, I received an email about the Gayatri Mantra being proven to be the most divine and powerful hymn in the world. An American scientist called Dr Howard Steingeril is said to have collected hymns, prayers, mantras and invocations from all over the world and from all religions. He tested these for sound [...]

Reporter’s diary: Waste not flowers

A flower is most beautiful when it is in the garden, like a deer or a lamb seen in its natural habitat. If this wisdom is known to the mayor and the GHMC, they would not have wasted several hundred lovely flowers at the function declaring the GHMC’s plan to open 14 biodiversity parks on [...]

Reporter’s diary: Bravo, Naidu

TDP leader Chandrababu Nai­du is a visionary. Few will dou­bt this considering what he did to give Hyderabad a modern face, and many of his welfare schemes are now implemented (of course, renamed after Rajiv Gandhi or Indira Gandhi). But many could not understand his logic of asking for a ban of `500 and `1,000 [...]