Vandals Of History Afghanistan's Taliban regime remains undeterred from its hard-line agenda of destroying historically valuable Buddhist idols. A look at the present regime and its slide to orthodox fundamentalism at a time when a drought has ravaged its economy and people.

Taking On the Family
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Laloo Yadav is once again facing a tough fight for survival--this time prompted by a near revolt in the RJD fuelled by rumours of a dynastic takeover. Ranjan Yadav has emerged as a potential rival to Rabri Devi, enjoying the support of both the party rebels and the NDA allies.

Chennai Confusion
The upshot of the great Tamil circus: Jayalalitha needs Moopanar, but not the Congress.

Creepy Acquisition
With Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha determined to bring corporate payslips comprehensively into the taxman's dragnet, the salaried class is having a few palpitations. For them, it means that a long era of tax-free emoluments is coming to an end.

"Indians lack unity"
Two of cricket's finest brains met for a rare conversation:Bishen Singh Bedi takes on the role of interviewer for Aaj Tak, seeking to get into the mind of Australian captain Stephen Waugh.

Revenge Of the Bears The sudden fall in share-prices points to yet another rigging controversy, and raises questions about the efficacy and credibility of SEBI as a regulator.

METROSCAPE

Triple Act

Anyone For Ice

Two Become One

Role Play

Crafts and the Man

Literati Lady

Polo Stars

Me City ' Eld A Play

Looking Glass

NEW LOOK AT THE OLD: Gurcharan Das; a scene from Larins Sahib set in 19th century Punjab

A slice of life from the 1960s with actors Bhaskar Ghose and Kusum Haidar in 9 Jakhoo Hill

What I would love to do more than anything else in the world is to write another play," says Gurcharan Das. "But I don't know if I have the courage." He should have dollops of it, going by the audience reaction to his 9 Jakhoo Hill-performed to mark the release of Three English Plays by Das (OUP; Rs 295)-at Delhi's India Habitat Centre last week. It's a play about a family in 1960s Shimla, and their memories of past prosperity. Endearing. Enduring too. But the indulgent crowd laughed at even the more staid dialogues, were unaffected by several muffed lines. If actor Sunit Tandon wasn't quite the right age for a 27-year-old man-of-the-world, they seemed willing to forgive. And despite the modesty, Das, 57, was smiling too. For one, in a country where original English plays authored by Indians are a rarity, the book brings together "three plays I wrote in my 20s (Larins Sahib, Mira and Jakhoo) with a new foreword I've written now, many many years later". The performances of Jakhoo were part of the celebration along with Larins Sahib, for the first time in Punjabi. So okay, the strained accents of Punjabi-actors-trying-to-sound-like-Englishmen-trying-to-speak-Punjabi were hard to take. "You are talking to the Gawaaaner General," said one chap. But Das had other things on his mind: like the fact that Shyam Benegal is likely to make a serial based on his novel A Fine Family; an anthology of his columns is soon to be out; and he's working on his next book, tentatively titled Indutva, which "will try to answer the question, what is the Indian way?" Enough to get his mind off some bad acting.

-Anna M.M. Vetticad

MetroScape
Triple Act
What I would love to do more than anything else in the world is to write another play," says Gurcharan Das. "But I don't know if I have the courage." He should have dollops of it, going by the audience reaction to his 9 Jakhoo Hill--performed to mark the release of Three English Plays by Das --at Delhi's India Habitat Centre
last week.
more...

Looking Glass

Delhi and Mumbai: Adventure One Sport

Mumbai: Smooth Bar

Delhi: Good Earth Showroom

Polo, like many other events, is bringing about the resurgence of the almost forgotten royals. A chance, writes INDIA TODAY's Principal Correspondent Anshul Avijit, to say Maharaja again with an unctuous post-modernist gusto 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.