Coke Tales
The arrest and interrogation of a peddler in Delhi reveal that at glitzy parties in faraway farmhouses, money and power go on high with the kick of cocaine. It's the haute drug for the stylish people in black. A peep into the world of the cocaine-users.

Invisible Dialogue
Vajpayee has promised a solution by March next year. But who is he talking to? Nobody knows.

Gunning For Arun
Jaswant Singh's special adviser is again at the centre of a controversy. This one though is not of his own making.

New Metro Hotspots
Establishments combining a rash of activities have taken over from the one-dimensional discos in urban India.

MUSIC: MUSINGS

REVERBERATIONS
No Monkey Business

This is a departure from the usual for Karadi Tales. The series has so far been a source of Indian fables for children with its audio-cassette-and-book combination. Earlier this year though, it ventured into Indian mythology. Young Hanuman and Hanuman the Mighty are the third and fourth additions to the Karadi Tales mythology library with playwright-director Girish Karnad as the sutradhar, Karadi the Bear. He succeeds Naseeruddin Shah, Saeed Jaffrey and Gulzar.

Young Hanuman and Hanuman the Mighty; Sky Music; Cassette & book; Rs 125 a set

As usual it's a charming mix of song, narrative and colourfully illustrated text with Karnad's smooth voice complementing the light, foot-tapping music composed by the 3 Brothers & A Violin group. Karnad does not sing, but C.P. Viswanath, one of The Brothers who does, sounds so uncannily similar to him that you will find yourself glancing at the credits to be sure who's who. It's evident that the singing and speaking voices have been carefully chosen to showcase a range of Indian English accents so that no young listener comes away from the experience believing that the propah British way is the only way to speak the language. But it's a pity that the producers let go of singer S.P. Balasubramaniam who was simply brilliant in the earlier Rangeela Geedhad and Laloo Bandar Natthu Magarmach stories. Gulzar's polished choice of words was another high point of those two tales; Shobha Viswanath's script and lyrics for Hanuman do not quite match up to either Gulzar or to her own earlier work on Karadi Tales. The two Hanuman titles are not the best the series has offered so far. But they should not be missed either.

—Anna M.M. Vetticad

HOT TRACKS
SACRED MEMORIES OF THE FUTURE, Cybertribe (Times Music; Rs 100)

In the Dream Time, the world was empty and flat. Then creatures began to emerge from the earth. They made the first songs and the didgeridoo.

Cybertribe's Sacred Memories Of The Future combines the Australian aboriginal wind instrument of legend with synthesiser sounds to make music that is somewhere between ambient and trance. To the aborigines, songs are memory. The eight tracks attempt to project memory into the future: from a number called First contact through to Voices from a distant planet. A line from Osho on the jacket, "This planet has been visited by other planetary beings..." indicates the line of thought. The drone of the didgeridoo is a constant in the album. Turn down the volume and it becomes a hypnotic faraway sound like jungle and ocean. Turn it up and it's definitely trance with a beat one may even dance to.

Fusion music fans will want Sacred Memories for its world beat. For the others, it's a quirky album, in equal parts strange and charming.

—Samrat Choudhury

The name of a website and its contents do not always relate to each other. But happily, in the case of www.musicindiaonline.com they do. This regularly updated site has categorised music into Carnatic, Hindustani, jugalbandi, light and regional. For example, the Tamil film section lists all the new releases. The Hindustani and Carnatic music sections have been further divided into instrumental and vocal. But what is missing is folk music which is the real beat of India. An interesting feature is the "Get Comfortable" slot. Here you can mail a song or share it with a friend. For those who like debating on musical issues there is forum to exchange views. It has the usual features-film countdowns, what's new and offers for personalised albums. With its excellent search facility, the site is a boon for music lovers.

—S. Sahaya Ranjit

Arrivals

Kuch Kehta Hai ... (Universal; Rs 45) Compilation of rain songs from films-to remind you of the refreshing monsoon showers.		Pandit D.K. Datar (HMV Saregama; Rs 65) The master of classical violin presents timeless ragas with grace, colour and spiritual depth.		Bhaktamar Stotra (Times Music; Rs 55) Stotras sung by guru-disciple duo of Pandit Jasraj and Ratan Mohan Sharma.		Kamli Hoi (HMV; Rs 65) Shafqat Ali Khan of Pakistan with the beat of Punjabi pop-on both sides of the border.

MetroScape

Looking Glass

Delhi Restaurant:
Kootub Restaurant

Delhi Dance Festival: Abhinaya Sudha

Delhi Restro-bar:
Buzz, Get It Here

Bangalore Exhibitions: Cinnamon