Most Wanted

You've heard of dream jobs. Well, this is dream selection. No CV, no suit-and-tie interview, just plenty of madness. When MTV went on an eight-week-long, nationwide veejay hunt, that's precisely what they did -- hunt. Thousands of youngsters were picked up from pubs, college campuses, restaurants -- happening places, the MTV generation would say -- and after impromptu auditions, 11 made it to the finals last week. Funny selection this. No IQ test, just WQ and FQ (weirdness and fetish quotients). And the winners -- the weirdest, wittiest, wackiest best -- have landed themselves jobs as MTV veejays. There's Maria Goretti (who was high on FQ), Nikhil Chinappa (the darling of the crowd), Amrita Arora and Binoy Joseph. Said this last gentleman: "I want to anchor the programme, MTV Most Wanted, because I am MTV's most wanted." Oh, they wanted him all right.

The Lady G

Sweet Simi, elegant Simi, Simi of the English accent, Simi of the designer dresses, Simi Garewal, sometime-actress-turned-filmmaker ... just the kind of lady with whom you'd want a rendezvous. You lucky devils, she's giving you what you want. Rendezvous with Simi Garewal -- coming soon on STAR Plus -- is a chance to meet the lady Garewal and some interesting others as well. "The chat show with an emphasis on people" (so the Star people say) will have Simi interviewing Ratan Tata, Kumaramangalam Birla and his wife, Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar, and a steady stream of big names. Movies maybe where she made a kind of name, but Ms Garewal's not new to tv shows either. Remember It's A Woman's World? If you liked it, check this one out. Written, directed, produced and hosted by her, the show is a Simi affair all the way. We wouldn't want less, now, would we?

Freedom Struggle

Climb every mountain is the name of the song. If some folks had their way, they'd make that Climb every building. Like 19-year-old Bangalore student Sheetal Jain. Celebrating 50 years of Indian Independence, like the rest of the world, he scaled the city's tallest building -- the 24-storey, 340-ft-high Public Utility Building -- unlike the rest of the world. Says Jain for whom scaling heights is a hobby: "I did it to remember the pain and struggle that went into getting us our freedom." He's learnt the ropes so he's looking for more. Next stop, on Republic Day 1998: Mumbai's Air India building -- all 400 ft of it. Says Jayant Dofe, his friend who will accompany him: "We'll climb the building, go across to the Oberoi with a rope, and come down from there." ... Flutter, flutter ... gasp, faint ... bring out those smelling salts, please.

Piece of Mind

Poet-politician -- that we know he is. But poet-politician-songwriter? That's new. When composer Madhur Lata read Atal Bihari Vajpayee's book, Meri Ekyavan Kavitayen, one poem moved her patriotic soul. So she set it to tune, sang it for Vajpayee and "he liked it", she grins gleefully. The song -- Jang na hone denge -- is now part of an album dedicated to world peace. Says the PM of 13 days: "I wrote it in the late '80s when Indo-Pak ties had hit a low. I like the song version." You might like it too. Sample: "Bharat Pakistan padosi/Saath saath rehna hai/Pyar kare ya vaar kare/Dono ko hi sehna hai (As neighbours, India and Pakistan have to live with each other/Love or war/Both are in it together)." No disputing that.

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