Of flying mangoes & Chinese welcome
K.R.N. Swamy
THE weirdest mango story I have heard of, concerns the assassination of the Pakistani President General Zia-ul-Haq in 1988. When he was killed in the crash of his presidential aircraft near Bahawalpur, there was no clue except that he had been assassinated by forces unknown.

Spiderman casts celluloid web Nutan Sehgal KAPOW! Whammo! Splat! Ask any four-year-old boy about his most favourite comic book heroes and chances are he’ll name three — Superman, Batman and Spiderman. That’s because ever since these superheroes first appeared they have made an indelible niche for themselves in the psyche of children. And they’ve been around for years. Superman first came to Planet Earth in 1938, which makes him 64, Batman followed a year later and turned 63 this year.

Spiderman: Leaping out of comics to the silver screen

The toughest test of endurance
Almost half a century after they conquered Mount Everest, Hillary and Tenzing are all set to repeat history. Hillary’s son Peter and the late Sherpa Tenzing Norgay’s grandson Tashi meet on top of the world for a historic 50th birthday party. So do hundreds of other mountaineers from all over the world. What is it about the Everest that has lured adventurers for over half a century, wonders Sanjeeb Mukherjee.

TELEVISION: All set to rock in new avataar
by Mukesh Khosla

LIFE TIES: Downplaying intellect
by Taru Bahl