Good Economics,
Risky Politics
Defying the pressures of politics, Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha has come forth with a bold, hard budget. He has committed the Government to a slew of daring economic reforms through this year's budget. But, beyond the initial euphoria generated by sheer promises, lies a rough road to fulfilling them. Will the pressures of coalition politics and an irrational Opposition allow him to deliver?

Interview:
Yashwant Sinha
"It is my budget,
not the PMO's."

Smeltdown
The NDA Government handsomely wins a vote moved by the Opposition in the Lok Sabha against the privatisation of Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO), but it should now start worrying about the poor response to bidding for strategic partnership of public-sector units.

Progress Report
With an overwhelming response from readers, the CARE TODAY society had funds flowing in from all quarters to aid it in its efforts to help those rendered homeless and jobless by the devastating earthquake of January 26.

Reeling Estate
Gujarat is witnessing a strange phenomenon with the two hands of the Sangh Parivar, the RSS and the VHP, earning public goodwill and the BJP leadership finding itself in the hot seat over links with the building mafia.

Bust to Dust
International outrage doesn't deter the Taliban militia from pushing ahead with its plan to destroy historical statues, including the 2,000-year-old Buddha statues in Bamiyan.

Piecing the
Ahar Puzzle Excavations of sites from the 4,500-year-old Ahar culture provide clues to the link between the Harappans and their predecessors.

METROSCAPE

Screen Presence

Photographer: Samar Jodha, 34, who has had a voguishly transcontinental upbringing. Grew up in Tanzania watching cats and Kilimanjaro, had an abbreviated stint at nid Ahmedabad, and later went to study photography in Boston. Balances life between Manhattan and south Delhi (and a yearly trip to Kiev for a lecture).

Project: The television, as the nucleus of most interior decors which Jodha says is "like a hose, on your face the whole time". Show is called "Through the Looking Glass" and is on at the NCPA, Mumbai. He's got 50 prints of the ubiquitous commodity, taken over a period of five years from places as distant as Goa and Ladakh and Jharkhand and Bhuj. He's also taken of photos Nepal and Pakistan but he's going to leave that for next time. Doesn't watch too much tv himself though.

TV TODAY: Jodha in his storeroom toilet; picture taken in Jharkhand

What he's left out: TVs in upmarket homes because the embellishments are so predictable. ("There's no character; they'll get a big set and place a crystal from Austria over it"). Also people, because the idea was to focus on contemporary space rather than personalities. Anyway there are enough of them on TV.

What he's not going to do after the show is over: Leave the tap of his toilet (actually his storeroom) open. Last time that happened, almost 500 negatives of his Jaipur project got heart-breakingly destroyed. (Ask a painter what it's like to lose 5,000 paintings.) Jodha since has stopped using that loo.

-Anshul Avijit

Nice Guys On the Block

Strings' stars, Pakistanis Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia are good-boy rockers. Eight years ago, Sar kiye yeh pahar-Maqsood's voice trailing through a cavernous valley with his guitar and the wind as accompaniment-jolted people out of their weary, Indi-pop-enclined seats. Now the boys who have boys of their own, are back with their third album Duur and a video shot in Baluchistan. "Music is our life, we never left it," says Kapadia, who approached Magnasound (India) Ltd., for a contract through e-mail after recording the album. Two points: They're not into Indo-Pak diplomacy. "If anybody asked we planned to say 'next question'," laughs Maqsood. And stardom second time around isn't as seductive. "We've been in the limelight and out of it," says Kapadia. "While travelling we do meet a lot of women but we have our families to support and know our limits." Darn.

-Sonia Faleiro

The Cool And the Chaotic

An almost fisty altercation between actors Aditya Pancholi (third from left) and Asrani and general disorganisation (with the Press rudely driven away from inside the cricketing arena) couldn't prevent the Raymonds Heroes of Hope Cricket match in Mumbai featuring Bollywood stars (like Aamir Khan, Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and Raveena Tandon) and cricketing pros like Sachin Tendulkar and Steve Waugh from being a success. Amount raised for the Gujarat quake from the auctions alone-Rs 51 lakh.

-Natasha Israni

MetroScape
Personality Matters Those behind the Grasim Mr India contest think it is one up over other male pageants.
But is it?
more...

Looking Glass

Mumbai: Swarovski Boutique

Delhi: Colours 'n' Spice

Delhi: Mindscapes

The Keoladeo National Park Sanctuary in Bharatpur gets an unprecedented number of migratory birds due to the dry spell last year. But experts feel another drought could be disastrous, writes INDIA TODAY's Supriya Bezbaruah in
Despatches.

"The only obvious competition is in bhangra," say the Pakistani duo of the music group, Strings, in conversation with INDIA TODAY's Sonia Faleiro in
Interviews.