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She started singing four decades ago and today at 58 she’s a proud grandmother. Yet, her vocal chords boom the way they did way back in the 1960s and there’s still a raw energy that permeates her music. "I want to laugh till I cry, and sing till I die," says Usha Uthup as she releases a foot-tapping album, We Believe in Now whose video is being rotated by music channels. "This is a collector’s item," says Usha about the album released by Dr Manmohan Singh, an admirer of her music. There’s been no dearth of admirers. And not just in India but around the world as she sings in 13 Indian and eight foreign languages. Even now, she’s a busy singer and has at least three to four concerts lined up every month. "I am working on a multi-lingual album and on a new series of children’s songs," says Usha made Mumbai’s Talk of the Town the talk of the nation in the 1970s. The new generation may not have heard that name, but Usha Uthup’s charm still endears along with the silk saris, gajras, gold chokers and glass bangles. Glitter of gold
Centuries since its discovery, gold still radiates great power. Cold Hard Cash, June 21, 8 p.m. on the History Channel takes viewers back in time to the legendary cities of Constantinople and Venice to see how gold was used to develop and control the global economy as well as the society. The show begins with King Croesus who ruled the earliest civilisation that actually minted gold coins. It traces how national economies became based on gold and how certain areas, such as Venice and London, became centres of banking and trade. The programme explains how Spain was on the verge of bankruptcy after its gold -laden ships heading home from Central and South America were sunk by violent storms. It tells how even the US economy was rattled by the sinking of the SS Central America and how the gold standard has affected US politics and its economy. — NF
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