Say Hello to Another
Scam
The raging corporate war over the introduction of limited mobility telephone services has turned political, with the Prime Minister's Office being charged with subverting the regulatory system and favouring a few business houses. An INDIA TODAY investigation looks at the conflict between the sanctimonious claims and the grim reality.

Ballot Boxwallahs
The approaching assembly elections have brought to life five states which are set to witness a stiff fight and whose results can have a big impact on all major parties. A profile of the prime contenders who could tilt the balance either way.

Fall From Grace
Despite a triple-digit growth in net profits of Infosys Technologies and Satyam Computers, the stock prices of the two companies have plunged. Is it the gloomy forecast for software companies that's hammering down the prices?

Unnatural Alliance
The CNG controversy has taken a new turn, with doubts being raised about the propriety of the Delhi Government's selection of Nugas as the sole supplier of the conversion kit.

The Doon Boom
The city that houses Doon School is now playing host to a whole array of new education barons--with big money and even bigger ambitions.

Ronald Vivian Smith
Set On Stone

The study of journalist and amateur historian R.V. Smith is piled high with manuscripts and newspaper cuttings and books rubbing yellowed pages and typewritten words with Russian prints of Jesus Christ on the wall. Smith, 63, the author of Tales the Monuments Tell (Journalists' Literary Circle), is the seeker of the hidden dome, the turret, the stairway, the mausoleum; the chronicler of places that history now calls home.

A descendant of Salvadore Smith, a pre-Mutiny soldier of fortune, Smith grew up in Agra watching his journalist father key his findings nightly into a typewriter. He knew even then that all he wanted to do was write about monuments. In the 1960s, Smith moved to Delhi's Jama Masjid area where he rented a room at Azad Hind, a hotel every brick of which had "ghar ghar Urdu" inscribed on it. When Pakistani poet Josh Malihabadi became Smith's neighbour for three months, the ensuing nights of inebriated merriment and dawns of frenzied composition convinced Smith he was "watching history being made". Meanwhile he was writing his own history-during his 10 years at Azad Hind he went from bachelor to father of five and from sub-editor-cum-reporter to news-editor of The Stateman. Since his retirement in 1996, Smith has found less time to indulge his passion: traversing the steaming-dry congestion of Delhi and its outskirts "walking around cemeteries and deserted monuments". He writes weekly columns-Quaint Corner, Rambles with Ambler, Down Memory Lane-for three newspapers, has authored five books and is his own best publicist and publisher. "I sell my work sitting at home," he says.

Smith's favourite monument is the Red Fort: "It's unique and well-preserved, and holds so many mysteries that each time I visit it I learn something new." Not that history is ever an eager talker. "I've wandered around monuments on hot afternoons, cold days and long nights. It's a challenge to discover the real story behind a monument, but every week I wonder whether I'll be able to do it the following week!" We'll keep our fingers crossed.

-Sonia Faleiro

MetroScape

Wealth Of Art
April 8 saw an unabashed get together of Mumbai's Who's Who when the annual Harmony Show, well known as "Tina Ambani's baby", celebrated its sixth showing at the Nehru Centre.
more...

Looking Glass

Bangalore Hotel:
Park.hotel

Mumbai Store:
Regent Watch and Jewellery Boutique

A war of words is on at the Jammu border where India is trying to build a fence to stop infiltration, much to Pakistan's dislike, reports
INDIA TODAY's Special Correspondent Ramesh Vinayak in Despatches.