DURBAN
FAREWELL AT LAST
Indian High Commissioner to South Africa L.C. Jain, who was in the news earlier forrefusing to return to Delhi despite being recalled, has finally done the decent thing. Heleft for home on Wednesday. Before leaving, he gushed about his last meeting withPresident Nelson Mandela and his wife. Their discussions revolved around his 10-month stayin South Africa, and he hoped that Mandela would be able to visit India before the end ofthe year, said Jain.
LONDON
KHALSA RULES
The real exhibition on Sikh arts to mark the 300th anniversary of theKhalsa will open at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London next year. But thefund-raising dinner for the event was an exhibition by itself. All of 400 guests, paying£200 each. With the venue provided by the museum, the food and drinks by donors,thats fair income for an exhibition. Add to it the auctions, in which a Mercedesconvertible was bought by Sunil Mittal for about £55,000, and the fattish brochure thatcollected donations through advertise-ments. The final tally: well, over £200,000.
KARACHI
FOMENTING TROUBLE
Syringe-wielding sadists attacking women, pricking them with HIV-infected blood; arazor-wielding zealot attacking a woman for wearing a sleeveless dress; a girlstresses lopped off in a main city bazaar for not wearing a dupatta; Pakistansbiggest metro where dozens die every month in sectarian and ethnic violencenow has these frightening rumours to contend with. Some bureaucrats, however, say thatgroups within the Pakistani establishment play this game whenever they want to createinstability.
NEW YORK
BIG APPLE BITES BAKHT
Indian politicos swarm to this city before Ole Man Winter comes along with his bitinggrip. Close on the heels of the Vajpayee bandwagon, politicos of all hues made a beelinehere, pushing this cause and that. There was N. Chandrababu Naidu, Sushma Swaraj (beforeshe was made Delhi chief minister), Sharad Pawar, Yashwant Sinha et al. But the piece deresistance was undoubtedly industries minister Sikandar Bakht, introduced at theprestigious Harvard Club as a devout Muslim in the "Hindu nationalist party",the BJP. "The words (Hindu nationalist) sent shivers down my whole body," Bakhtcomplained in an emotional voice. Financial analysts and investment bankers evenHindu parivar acolytes were stunned as he thundered on. It needed a PowerPointpresentation from industry secretary T.S.R. Prasad to save the day.
KATHMANDU
SPOT THE YETI
An American climber claims to have seen the Yeti, not one but two, in September whileon a skiing expedition on the Chinese side of Mt Everest. "I saw something and what Isaw was not human, not gorilla, not bear, not goat and not deer. Their arms were verylong, their hands very big."
"It goes with the territory. I donthave any complaints"
Media baron Rupert Murdoch, 68, on the coverage ofhis romance with employee Wendy Deng, 31.
