Card for cash
By Peeyush Agnihotri

IT’S a game of cards. The players — financial institutions. The stake - market share. Hold your breath! War is on the cards or more precisely cards are on a war. Credit, a dreaded word not long ago, has suddenly become the buzzword and credit card, unheard of till some five years back, has become the latest mantra. Propelled by the recession bug, corporate sector and individuals are keen to buy on credit, and credit cards are being eyed as the best option. To top it, even the government does not want to ban this plastic, for it is a cash cow.

• Glass beads jewellery
  In Gujarat the Ahir community has been traditionally using glass beads to make simple necklaces. In Punjab, too, glass beads have been used in villages to make small wall hangings, usually by the students of primary and middle schools, as taught to them by their craft teachers, contends Thakur Paramjit
• Mianji's adventure at Heathrow, by Baljit Kang
• Singing in praise of the Lord, by Devi Singh Naruka
• Peace that surpasseth understanding, by Vimla Patil
• The double burden, by Usha Bande

• Interview: "We waste energy in trying to fight the system", Jaspal Rana tells Belu Maheshwari
• Fauji beat: Can we insulate soldiers from society?, by Pritam Bhullar
• Laugh lines: High stakes and desperate men, by Amrita Dhingra
• Your option: The virtue that heals, by Taru Bahl
• A soldier's diary: The blinkers are still in place, by K. S. Bajwa
• Time off: Of images and image-breakers, by Manohar Malgonkar
• Fitness: Look good, feel even better, writes Anup Deb Nath
• Garden life: Carry your specimens gently, observes Satish Narula
• Travel: A passage to Portugal, opines Mohinder Singh
• Feedback: A wounded state
• Nature: Hawks are birds of prey, observes Nutan Shukla
• Living space: Clever planning and some ingenuity, writes Harkiran Sodhi
• Film and TV: Biddu's eastern sojourn, by Mukesh Khosla
• Bollywood bhelpuri: Real-life hero Jackie!, by Madhur Mittal