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HIGH WATER AND HELL
 In
the wake of the recent tsunami disaster, how prepared are we to face
natural calamities. Ramesh Ramachandran reports.
Murphy’s
Law may not have many
takers in the scientific community but ironically, for a minister who
presides over the science and technology establishment in India, Kapil
Sibal has learnt it the hard way. From the time tremors rocked Sumatra, Indonesia, at 6.29 am to when tsunamis hit the eastern coast and an earthquake jolted Indira Point, the southern-most tip of the country, in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, two odd hours were not inadequate to get into emergency mode.
Troubled
coast
Of all the states, Andhra Pradesh
is the most threatened by cyclones. Ramesh Babu
Kandula from Hyderabad on the ordeals endured by the state.
Tsunami
may be the new face of
disaster, but the people of east coast along the Bay of Bengal are no
strangers to the swirl of the sea and the terror of the tides.
AGAINST
THE TIDE
Orissa
has been regularly
battered by floods and killer cyclones. The last major cyclone in 1999
killed more than 10,000 people. Bibhuti
Mishra in Bhubaneswar checks out the disaster management
plans afoot in the state.
Tourists
should not be ashamed to go back soon
Tony Wheeler
As
lucky tourist escapees
stream home from the tsunami-devastated coastlines , is it better to
stay away, give the rescue experts time and space to move, let the
locals clean up, grieve? The question comes up equally regularly,
though less dramatically, with countries emerging from years of
isolation.
Cheer of
chocolate
The calorie count of chocolates need not make you feel guilty.
They have health benefits too, claims
Mohinder
Singh
"YOU
could leave me in a room quite safely with your husband, your tiara or
your cheque book, but not with your open box of chocolates," says
a young lady member of Chocolate Unanimous — an appreciation
society, not a self-help group.
Forgotten
heroes win a battle
A
memorial has been built for the soldiers of the subcontinent who
fought for the British in the two world wars. The memorial is the
result of a single-handed campaign by Chanan Singh Dhillon. A report
by Naveen S. Garewal
Hollywood with
shades of Bollywood
Ervell E. Menezes
THE
rise and fall of Rebecca (Becky) Sharp, an impoverished orphan of an
alcoholic painter who transforms herself into an adornment of the
upper reaches of British aristocracy, is the focal point of Mira
Nair’s Vanity Fair and though it is set in 18th century England it
is a theme which is almost timeless and eternal.
Zeba’s new role
Nirupama Dutt
Indian
audiences remember as a
cherubic beauty singing Main hoon khushrang hina and Anardana-asan
roomi topi wale naal jaana in the RK film directed by Randhir
Kapoor after the death of his famous father, Raj Kapoor. Randhir’s
first directorial venture in 1991 had the theme of a cross-border love
story.
Wish upon a rising star
Tipped
to be in the
limelight this year, Priyanka Chopra speaks of her forthcoming films. Vickey
Lalwani in conversation with the former Miss World.
Fair directions
Women
directors such
as Revathy, Farah Khan and Gurinder Chadha are setting the tone with
movies that are off the beaten path.
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