Shamed And Crippled
With Tehelka.com's spy-camera taking a heavy political toll after the damning revelations of corruption in defence deals, the beleaguered Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government will have an uphill task restoring its credibility and undoing the damage to its image.

BJP: Old Hype

Interview:
Bangaru Laxman

Jaya Jaitly:
Jhola To Purse

Opposition: On A Roll

INDIA TODAY-ORG-MARG Poll: Outraged !

Defence Establishment
: Surgery For Graft

Interview: G. Fernandes

Barak Missiles:
Off The Mark

Tehelka:
Sting Theory

Highlights Of The Findings

Rakesh Kumar Jain: Gasbag Man

Wheeling A Good Deal
The battle for BALCO degenerates into a political chess match between Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, and Union Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie. Jogi holds most of the aces at the moment--but will he play them all when it could mean loss of investments to the state?

The New Targets
The 60,000 policemen in Kashmir are caught in a dilemma. On the one hand, they are the target of militant attacks, and, on the other, the Army sees them with suspicion. It is not just themselves, but their families that the policemen worry about as they struggle to battle militancy and falling morale.

Crisis Of Confidence While stock prices haven't recovered since the collapse of March 2, the panic has spread from Mumbai to Kolkata. Underlying the fear is a deepening fear of the Securities and Exchange Board of India's will or capacity to regulate the stockmarkets.

Escape to Victory
Down and virtually out, India create a miracle at the Eden Gardens to stun the Australians and break their winning streak.

Mixing Metaphors Music, dance, and tourism synthesise in the famed textile centre of Maheshwar to provide sustainable synergies for its growth.

SPORTS: BADMINTON

Zen And The Art Of Badminton

This is the moment rancour could rule and bitterness billow like a cloud of noxious gas. Fortunately, this is not your man for that kind of moment. He is instead the guy who could write "Zen and the Art of Badminton" without any help. A 27-year-old with the quiet voice of a thinker and the reclusive disposition of a monk, Gopi turned inwards a long time ago. He once asked former Thomas Cup skipper Sanjay Sharma to help him locate ashrams in Rishikesh or Hardwar where he could learn meditation. Today he is an Art of Living devotee. And according to mentor and one-time coach Padukone, Gopi believes mind training has helped him find equanimity off court and calm on it: "I've not seen any other player spend so much time doing something that takes hours and could easily be called boring. It has helped Gopi with his powers of focus and concentration. The difference at the top is so minimal that the mentally tough player will have the edge."

Gopi's first coach Mohammed Arif, who worked with him for 11 years, says his student took care of both mind and body. Ice-creams were a no-no because even one would mean extra calories to burn. Doubles partner, J.B.S. Vidyadhar says Gopi is far from a boring prima donna. "He's a great team man. He gets us to relax." Old friend G. Vijay Raghavan calls his buddy a "new generation icon".

BORN: Nov. 16, 1973 WORLD RANKING: 10 HIGHLIGHTS: Winner, All England Championships 2001, Toulouse and Scottish Opens, Asian Satellite, 1999. Medallist at Commonwealth Games 1999.

New generation enough to fling a racket down in anger like he did in the All England semi-final against Peter Gade Christiansen and speak his mind ("I would rather be undiplomatic than dishonest"). But also so old-world as to engineer, in tandem with Padukone, the most graceful of formal partings with Padukone BPL Academy. The differences arose last June over a matter of style, Gopi saying he wanted to take his game forward and fuse Indian deception with East-Asian power. It was months before news of the parting of ways filtered out and to this day, the distance between the two men is merely geographical. They are badminton's unlikeliest revolutionaries, the older man with the whisper of a voice, the younger with the visage of a still, deep pool. Annoyed at the stagnation of his sport, Padukone took on the system in 1997 rallying disgruntled players, demanding change from the Badminton Association of India (BAI). Gopi stood firmly behind the Master and the BAI had to relent, to bend and to change. The new All England champion is now a beacon for younger Indians and he has set the highest of standards.

Gopi's new home in the sai sports hostel in Kengeri, off Bangalore, is particularly spartan. There is no telephone or television in his room and he gleefully admits he likes it. Every few days he heads for a cybercafe, makes a few phone calls and retreats once more to his monastic life, six hours of training, some music, some reading and sleep. The wildest thing he's ever done was to grow a goatee during the All England but when his mother Subbaravamma told him to lose it, he did. He doesn't drink, prefers vegetarian food and stays away from discos. It is a life he would choose over any other. "I know that my biggest disappointments have come from sport. But I also know that the only happiness I get in my life is also through my sport. This is where I belong. I've seen my life without badminton and it's not very nice."

MetroScape
Pop Corn
"You are the best audience in the whole world," the Vengaboys tell raving crowds
in Delhi.
more...

Looking Glass

Delhi Exhibition:
Pop To Classic

Delhi Restaurant:
San Gimignano

Mumbai Accessories Store: Watches Of Switzerland

Bangalore Concert: Deep Purple

A bloody crackdown on Naxalites in the south-eastern fringes of Uttar Pradesh proves that only developmental programmes, not guns, can help fight the menace. INDIA TODAY's Special Correspondent Subhash Mishra explains why in
Despatches.