Convict Queen
Though AIADMK leader Jayalalitha was debarred from contesting the elections on grounds of her conviction in a corruption case, she was sworn in as chief minister of Tamil Nadu. Will her aggressive game plan work? And should popular mandate overrule judicial verdicts?

Great Call Of China
Indian entrepreneurs are eagerly joining the swiftly growing queue to set up shop in China.
The land once considered forbidden has suddenly become
the hottest destination for Indian businessmen.

Looking East
Atal Bihari Vajpayee's visit to Malaysia may have achieved little on Quattrochi's extradition and India's greater ties with ASEAN, but it showed there is more to their bilateral relations than these two issues.

Mother's Day
Stalinist methods played a vital role in the humiliating finale of M. Karunanidhi's dynastic ambition.

Readying For Nukes For the first time after India became a nuclear power, the Army stages a nuclear war game to check preparedness.

BOOKS

Dance Of Life

Celebrating Odissi's greatest master

By S. Kalidas

This book is as much a tribute to its illustrious subject as it is a narration of the author's cultural journey. Ileana Citaristi, a sari-clad Oriya speaking Chhau-Odissi dancer who lives in Bhubaneswar, was born in Bergamo, Italy. She came to Orissa in 1979, for a crash course in Odissi conducted by guru Kelucharan Mahapatra, and then stayed on for 22 long years. A trained Jungian psychoanalyst, Citaristi's raison d'être has since been the dance and living the guru-shishya tradition-intertwined as it is with the life of the venerable Kelu Babu. And being a "foreigner" she could ask questions that would have been considered impolite or overly inquisitive from an Indian acolyte. The Making of a Guru: Kelucharan Mahapatra is an account of the answers to some of those questions.

HER MASTER'S LIFE: (Left) Citaristi, Kapila Vatsyayan and Mahapatra at the book release

As an authorised biography this work comes with the handicap of being an "as told to" account. Nonetheless, Citaristi has delved into some uncomfortable aspects of the master's life and relationships, revealing interesting findings: Kelu Babu's equation with one of his teachers, Pankaj Charan Das; his tempestuous and passionate pupil Protima Gauri Bedi's Nrityagram and the "rising son" factor. Like many celebrity children, Kelu Babu's son Ratikanta is being groomed to take over his father's mantle.

Above all, this is the story of a boy from the Patachitra painter community from Rahgurajpur near Puri who grew up to become the greatest master of the Odissi dance form. It is a perception of how modern Odissi was recreated from stray vestiges in folk and popular culture over the last 50-odd years. And it is a record of the many famous dance pupils Kelu Babu produced over the decades beginning with the late Sanjukta Panigrahi, Kumkum Das and Sonal Mansingh down to Citaristi herself. Though Citaristi has not personalised the work in any great manner, her empathy for Oriya culture is stamped throughout, creating a sensitive, evocative biography.

MetroScape

Delhi Cinema:
"Flicks Down Under"

Mumbai Restaurant:
Karma

Kolkata Restaurant:
Teej

The Madhya Pradesh governor orders a CBI inquiry into a land allotment by the chief minister to the Nai Duniya group, kicking off a constitutional crisis. INDIA TODAY Special Correspondent Neeraj Mishra reports in
Conflict Of Interest.