Theatre for children need not to be theatre by children, claims the trio - Jaimini Pathak, Nayantara Roy and Asif Ali Beg - who under the banner of Working Title came to the city on Monday to stage their latest presentation Day I Met The Prince, brought by the Durga Das Foundation "Children actually enjoy seeing adults enact kids' roles," says Beg. "And the trained actors can put across the matter much more efficiently," offers Nayantara.

Jaimini Pathak struggled through science, arts and 'seven days of MBA' before he could reach his dream place - an MA in literature class. Love with theatre started during college days and it's been now almost two decades that he is in this field. "Theatre is all about people and human relationships. Creating and presenting a work of art amongst a live audience is what gives me immense joy," he says. "The world has changed so much in the past 10 years for kids. They are receiving a constant stimulus from all sides without a moment to stop and think. Day I Met The Prince is an attempt to provide a pause," he shares. About the theatre scene in India, Jaimini says, "Theatre is doing pretty good here. The good part is the government authorities are also realising its importance. Yet, I feel a lot more could be done."

She handled the pressures and pleasures of being the perfect bride. She had almost a chance of living her love story on National television. But now Pooja Tandon is back home and a relieved soul. After the hopes of winning Star Plus's The Perfect Bride coming to a surprise end, Pooja is glad that she didn't have to consult a psychiatrist after returning home. "After surviving with Hitesh and his mother on that show, I am thankful to them for eliminating me. A show that started off with a pure and beautiful concept is turning into an akhada where all kinds of politics and games are being played and I started feeling sick in there," she says.

Well, considering her popularity on the show and her 'bonding' with Hitesh, isn't she shocked at the change of fortune on the show? "Not at all. Since day one, I was being pressurised by Hitesh's mother to stay focused on her son only. But I wanted to give him a chance since a guy should not suffer because of his mother's attitude. And then I realised that it was a mother-son package that manipulated everything," she defends. But that wasn't the case for the young actor from the city who floored the three mentors Shekhar Suman, Malaika Arora Khan and Amrita Rao, the audience with her poise and the mummies inside the house with her behavior, week after week. "When I first came to the show, I was confident to prove myself. Marriage was not a condition on the show but being the perfect bride was. But once it became one woman show, the show lost its charm," she says.

And the woman mentioned is Sudesh Rani Chauhan. Now, as one can understand, the lady is virtually calling the shots on show. But changing her affections from Pooja to Rumpa must have some reasons behind. "Of course. She is in awe of the limelight that her son's televised marriage would bring. She would go on fighting and abusing other moms if they tried to talk to me about their sons. That's what she did with Rajbir's mom when I wanted to go out on date with him," explains Pooja. Hmm…and what about Hitesh's heartbreak moment. "I never made any commitments. Everything was a staged drama by Hitesh and his mom and the allegations made were not in good taste," she retorts.

Ask her who she thinks is the most fake person on show and she has problem of plenty. "I feel that nobody entered the show with genuine intentions of getting married, but Priyanka Sharma is not exactly what she pretends to be. Even Gurpreet is a very negative person but nothing beats the mother-son duo." But with the bad comes the good. And so, she is glad to have found atleast two genuine souls on show, "Rajbir's mother and Vivek's mother were my two support systems," she says.

But even after her 'perfect' life is over, does she have any intentions of going back? "I don't know. Though the producers want me back, but I am still considering." We guess what how Rumpa might feel about this U-turn, if it happens! nehawalia@tribunemail.com

Anticipate. We do it all the time, everyday, in routine. It gives us a sense of security, 'we-know-it-all feeling' to expect certain things in life. On Monday, as we went to interview (as was mentioned in the invite), 'thriller and crime fiction writer' Jake Arnott, who inaugurated an exhibition of crime fiction at the British Library, we quite anticipated (yet again) what he would tell us. Certain probabilities were: how interesting it is to write crime fiction, the nuances of it, characters of crime fiction and his opinion on P.D. James, Arthur Conan Doyle, Simon Hall and others of the same league.

We thus began with the anticipated question, "How do you feel to be recognized as a crime fiction author?" The answer to which was 'not quite anticipated', "I am not a crime fiction writer. I have been misunderstood by the literary world; instead, I am a literary writer, who prefers to focus on the culture and history of a place", grossly misunderstood must say! And the reason for the wrong notion is, "Anticipation. Readers feel that if a story involves crime and scandal, it has to be crime fiction. What they overlook are the vital factors like the social set-up of a place, its traditions and political scenario."

So, the message is clear that his latest novel, The Devil's Paintbrush, is not crime fiction. It is a story of a Major- General, Sir Hector Macdonald, who gets involved in a scandal set in the period from 1870 to 1903 in the British Empire, "Which is just a part of the story that also talks about the imperialistic nature of British society then. The protagonist, Hector Macdonald is not readily accepted at the top of a hierarchical order, since he comes from the lower strata of society. Also, he is a homosexual, which makes life tough for him, as homosexuality wasn't legal then." Thus, the social, political and cultural backdrops become evident.

Yet again, much against the expected, he doesn't research much before writing the character and developing it, "No amount of research would help, if the writer isn't blessed with imagination." On a three-day visit to the city, he went to the Rock Garden, the experience of which he explains in his own terms, "It was so close to a complete novel, with ample characters, a backdrop and plot."

He has of late read Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things and is now reading Burnt Shadows, written with the background of India-Pakistan Partition by Kamila Shamsie, a Pakistani author. His knowledge and interest in the subcontinent becomes apparent as Hector Macdonald, in the book, also travels to Afghanistan, "As a part of the British Army, he had to travel to various turbulent countries like Afghanistan, Sudan and France then."

Having written several books, Jake doesn't want his readers to pick any of his books with presumptions, " I will never write what readers are expecting of me. Rather, I prefer to write what readers don't know about." He takes up this challenge everytime to make people understand, "Anticipation kills the thrill. Reading, if takes the readers by surprise, is worth it." In a nutshell, "I am not a crime fiction writer. And please don't anticipate." We promise, we won't.

Bollywood starlet Kareena Kapoor, known for her devil-may-care attitude, has shot back at Shiv Sena who recently targeted the actors bareback shots in her upcoming film Kurbaan. Shiv Sena workers expressed their anger over a poster of Karan Johar’s latest production Kurbaan in Mumbai yesterday, where the actor is shown flashing her bare back. “We will soon visit Kareena’s residence and present her a sari,” party’s area Vibhagpramukh Jitendra Janawale had said.

While the actor has not received any gift from the party as yet, Kareena insisted that if they do send a sari it better be good. “I have not received any sari yet but I hope it will be beautiful one,” Kareena said on the sidelines of a promotional event of Kurbaan in the capital. Women Shiv Sena members, led by Janawale, tied a sari around the poster of Kareena, who is shown holding a bare-chested Saif Ali Khan, her real life boyfriend in the image.

Reacting to the claim that the posters are vulgar, the actor said, “I do not find anything wrong with the poster. I think it is very aesthetic.” The film starring Saif Ali Khan and Vivek Oberoi along with Kareena is slated to hit the theatres on November 20. Directed by Rensil D’Silva, it is “essentially a love story set against the backdrop of terrorism,” Kareena said. —PTI

Stressing that the film industry has to reorient itself to reflect the aspirations and needs of the children of the contemporary society, noted lyricist Gulzar today said that most of the Bollywood films are insensitive to aspirations of children.“One could say that most of the films made in Bollywood are just childish even when they were made for adults, due to their lack of social perspective and insensitive to aspirations of children,” he said.

Gulzar was speaking at the Open Forum on the theme of “Is it time to redefine children’s cinema?” at the 16th International Children’s Film Festival. He said that the Indian film industry has still not realised the huge potential of the children’s films market and added, “Children films need original ideas and cannot be produced on borrowed thoughts and themes.” Director of award winning children’s films, Vishal Bharadwaj said that it was time all film makers say “Yes to Kids” and produce films, which reflect the issues that affected them in their daily chores - like travel in buses, school, home and at play ground. ——PTI

Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan are leaving no stone unturned to promote their upcoming films Paa and 3 Idiots respectively - the two are meeting Sunday to discuss marketing gimmicks for both the films. Paa is releasing December 4, while 3 Idiots hits the screens December 25.

“Aamir comes over Sunday at my initiative to discuss a few promotional points for our respective films. It is always a joy to meet him... We have always spent time together discussing various topics of common interest and yes films is one of them. Lets see how things go,” Amitabh posted on his blog www.bigb.bigadda.com Saturday.

Aamir, who excels at promotional gimmicks for his movies, has so far had live chat with fans on the Internet, reportedly got in touch with them through social-networking websites and even launched the music of the film online. 

Directed by Rajkumar Hirani, 3 Idiots has been produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Based on Chetan Bhagat’s bestseller Five Point Someone, it stars R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi and Kareena Kapoor apart from Aamir. Big B too is promoting Paa, in which he plays a 13-year-old suffering from the disease progeria that causes premature ageing. 

He says his fans often come to visit him on Sundays and that he plans to “give hand outs autographed by me or maybe by Auro”. “There is a unique way in which the promotion for Paa is scheduled over the radio and soon you shall all be in a position to witness it...,” he wrote. “Talks have now been initiated for the premiere to be held in not one, not two, but three centres.

And we are diligently working on a London-Dubai-Mumbai destination... The logistics and the mechanics are being worked out and hopefully there will be some news soon,” he added. Directed by R. Balakrishnan, Paa stars Abhishek Bachchan and Vidya Balan as Amitabh’s parents. IANS

Aftab Shivdasani, who has turned producer with his just-released Aao Wish Karein, says he is grateful to superstar Shah Rukh Khan for having lent his voice to promote the fairytale love story. “I was looking for a very popular voice... which people can easily recognise and could think only of Shah Rukh. He readily agreed to lend his voice and I am thankful to him for that,” Aftab.

He admits that a producer’s job is more difficult than an actor’s, having experienced both sides now. “This is my debut production, and I found that a producer’s job is tougher than that of an actor,” Aftab said. “While doing other films I had to concentrate only on acting, but in this case I had to be multi-tasking, which became tough at times,” he added.

Aao Wish Karein is like a fairytale where a child’s life gets transformed after his wish to be a grown-up actually materialises, said Aftab. “It’s a very positive story about hopes, imagination, wishes and miracles,” he added. ‘Aao Wish Karein is a full-fledged entertainment which a family can enjoy together,” he said. Directed by Glenn Baretto, Aftab and Aamna Shariff play the lead roles in the film.

Aamna, who became a household name after featuring in popular daily soap Kahiin To Hoga, forayed into Bollywood earlier this year with Aloo Chaat, in which she also paired opposite Aftab. The two are rumoured to be dating each other now. Aao Wish Karein is Aftab’s fifth film this year after Daddy Cool, Aloo Chat, Kambakkht Ishq and Acid Factory.

While he played Akshay Kumar’s brother in Kambakkht Ishq, the other films turned out to be duds. Aftab is, however, optimistic about his debut production. “This is a very sweet and simple romantic fairytale and I am sure people will enjoy watching the film,” Aftab said. —IANS

Oscar winner musician A. R. Rahman appears to be focusing on international live concerts. In January alone, he is giving three live performances and all are out of India. Starting with a live concert on January eight at Doha (Qatar), he will give two-and-a-half hour outdoor free and exclusive music-dance performance involving over 40 Bollywood dancers-singers-musicians near Sydney (Australia) on January 16. On January 21, he will showcase another live concert in Muscat (Oman).Rahman is also using social networking sites Twitter and Facebook.

Acclaimed Indo-American statesman Rajan Zed has applauded Rahman for creating a bridge between the music of east and west and for strengthening the worldwide market and stature of Indian music. Rahman, who has reportedly recorded sales of over 300 million, was called Mozart of Madras' by Time magazine. —ANI

Nearly 2100 friends on Facebook, and almost 300 friend requests pending, Swati Trehan, a student of commerce from SD College and an avid blogger wonder’s what to do with the growing Facebook friends and the pending ones too. “Now, I repent accepting all the requests that came my way. It has become impossible to maintain the huge friends list. Honestly, I don’t like some of the names in the list, and I wish I could do away with them,” says Swati. Here you go.

With almost every second soul on the earth, sitting pretty on the Facebook, Orkut and twitter and trying to connect to every third soul, net result is umpteen friends request waiting to be accepted. Some coming from complete strangers and some from friends of friends; some that you cannot turn down, and some that you want to conventionally ignore, and some requests, which you just cannot tolerate on your list. So, what is your criterion for accepting and turning down friend requests on various social networking sites?

Says Sukhdev Singh Dhaliwal, city-based tutor in mathematics, “The networking sites have their own flaws. If on one hand, it has brought the world together on a single page, it was also invited unwanted problems.” “On an average, remarks Sukhdev, I get three friends requests everyday. Earlier I used to mark ‘yes’ to all, but soon I realised it was doing no good. I’d rather do with a close network of friends, so that I can share things with them unhindered. Many requests come from complete strangers, and I don’t say yes to any. I don’t want the whole world to know my world.”

Jatinder Singh, lecturer, Punjabi in GCG-11 agrees with Sukhdev. “I had to close my Orkut account because it got too cluttered, with approximately 2000 friends. I couldn’t keep pace with it. Besides, it was getting irritating with somebody or the other leaving ‘stupid’ and sometimes personal scraps.” Jatinder holds that the scene is no different with the Facebook. “People leave personal comments on the wall, which is disgusting. I feel, the less friends you have the better it is.”

The idea is to maintain a level of privacy, which somehow is getting impossible to maintain on the networking sites. As Ajay Mattu, from the department of Sociology, PU adds, “One should be careful with selecting requests. I don’t say yes to requests for people I haven’t heard of. When I get any kind of request from ‘friends of friends’ I ask my friends first about how good or bad they are, and then accept or turn down. Lastly, I maintain some kind of formal relation on networking sites. I haven’t given anyone the liberty to write anything on the wall or leave useless tweets. I guess we should maintain some kind of decorum on networking sites.” Better still, you can follow security instructions and lock your account, so that only close friends can view it. jasmine@tribunemail.com

Cyberbullying - where children face taunts, threats and insults via the Internet and mobile phones - is now the most common form of bullying, according to a new research. The survey, carried out by the National Centre for Social Research, analysed bullying among more than 10,000 secondary school pupils in England aged 14-16.

The initial findings of the Government-commissioned research showed that 47 per cent of young people report being bullied at the age of 14.

This fell to 41 per cent among 15-year-olds and less than a third 29 per cent among 16-year-olds.

After cyberbullying and name calling, the most common type of bullying was teenagers being threatened with violence, being excluded by their friends and facing actual violence.

Girls were more likely to be bullied than boys at the age of 14 and 15, the study showed.

The survey also showed that girls were more likely to face name-calling than boys, and to be excluded from friendships, whereas boys were more likely to have their money and possessions taken, and to face violence.

It also revealed that teenagers with a disability were more likely to be the victim of name-calling and to be excluded by others.

Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, urged parents to report incidents of bullying to their child’s school.

‘’It’s really important that young people can use new technology and the internet to learn, have fun and stay in touch with their friends,” the Telegraph quoted him as saying.

‘’But we also know that mobile phones or computer screens can be used to taunt and bully young people, which can have devastating consequences. I want parents to feel confident coming forward and reporting bullying incidents to schools, as we know this helps to stop bullying continuing.

‘’Schools, parents, young people and technology providers all need to work together to tackle cyberbullying and I’m really pleased that we are working closely with the Anti-Bullying Alliance to ensure this happens. Through our cyberbullying campaign we will continue the push to help stamp it out for good,’’ he added. — ANI

Coming soon, contact lenses with built-in virtual graphics Researchers are working on the idea of projecting images into the eye from a contact lens. Scientists at the University of Washington are labouring on a contact lens that is a prototype of a device that could display information beamed from a mobile device. The proposal was the brainchild of Babak Parviz, at the University of Washington, in Seattle.

“Our hope is to create images that effectively float in front of the user perhaps 50 cm to 1 m away,” News Scientist quoted Parviz as saying. Mark Billinghurst, director of the Human Interface Technology Laboratory, in Christchurch, New Zealand, added: “A contact lens that allows virtual graphics to be seamlessly overlaid on the real world could provide a compelling augmented reality experience.” The team is due to present their prototype at the Biomedical Circuits and Systems (BioCas 2009) conference at Beijing. — ANI

The size of computers keeps coming down every year. From massive mainframes that occupied whole warehouses, we now have computers tiny enough to fit in the palm of our hands, while still providing exceptional power.

The latest trend in computers has been the growing popularity of netbooks. These are lightweight notebooks that are built specifically for surfing the Internet. Since most of us spend 79% to 90% of our time on the Internet, using web apps like Facebook or Twitters instead of software’s that should run on the computer itself. Netbooks become a very cost-effective solution to fulfilling the requirements of the computer user of today.

Netbooks tend to be somewhat underpowered when compared with notebooks. On the other hand, because of this, they also happen to be a whole lot cheaper than compared to notebooks. Therefore, if power is not a concern for you, a netbook would be a very viable choice.

The Intel Atom CPU was designed specifically for netbooks. Its small size, compact design, and low power consumption makes it ideal for use inside these scaled down laptops. But don’t let the ‘small, atom or even the size comparisons’ fool you, the atom CPU can provide enough juice to run your machine at a healthy speed without draining your batteries.

When it comes to picking a netbook, choose one that has a smaller screen (This doesn’t mean that go for a three inch screen) than that of a regular laptop and try to get a led screen if possible. The ideal screen size would vary from person to person, but if it was me going for a buy I would go for minimum 9 inches, maximum 12 inches screen, ideal for those who are above 40 I would say that 9 inches is just too small for comfortable use, while others might love the compactness that the small screen offers. So choose one that you are comfortable with. Use it at the store for a few minutes; try writing out an email, opening a few apps on it to see if your eyes can adjust to the small screen size.

Among other things, the Intel Atom CPU is great at reducing power consumption. The processor is one of the most power draining components of a computer, and a processor like the Atom CPU apt reduce this usage. This helps manufacturers to use a lighter, smaller battery, which eventually means a lighter netbook for you. You shouldn’t buy any netbook if it weighs over 2kg. Doing so would go against the very idea of a netbook.

When it comes to price, netbooks tend to blow the competition out of the water. Because of the smaller size, cheaper components with low power consumption, netbooks can be a whole lot cheaper than regular notebooks. The processor most used in netbooks is the Atom CPU, and it is a whole lot cheaper than more powerful processors such as the Core 2 Duo, helping bring down the price of the entire machine .

It is usually said that fruits like mango, papaya, chicku, banana etc need to be plucked and ripened using 'masala'. It is not compulsory to ripen the fruits using calcium carbide, which is generally called 'masala'. This is the chemical, which is used by almost all and also kept low as to commercial sellers in ripening the fruits.

It is very dangerous when applied above a particular small amount, which is never followed. In fact, it is criminal to use this chemical the way it is used. In the home gardens you need not to follow this practice. When you pluck the fruit, wrap individual fruits in a piece of paper and pack it in a carton, which can be sealed by applying adhesive tape.

In this carton a fully ripened fruit can also be kept that will enhance the process of ripening as the gas released by this ripened fruit is the same as is released by the chemical used to artificially ripen the fruits. It will take a few days and the fruit will be ready.

Godrej Interio has brought the unique Interio Knowledge Center to City Beautiful. The Chandigarh Knowledge Center, initiated under Godrej Interio, a business unit of Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. aims to share knowledge with key interio customers and architects, across this region, on complete solutions to office furniture and furnishing requirements.

Located in Sector 17 the showroom will showcase all the latest trends, products and customised solutions available to consumers under the Interio brand. It will facilitate key customers and architects in selecting the furnishing solutions most suited to their particular requirements. The Interio Knowledge Center will present the complete array of interio products, services and assist customers in creating office infrastructure of international standard.

The functional and elegant furniture on offer will include a wide range of modular workstations, ergonomically designed chairs, executive desks and tables, new concepts in effective and optimised record storage systems, specialised furniture for education segment, newly launched laboratory furniture and hospital furniture etc.