Riding The Tide
The US endorsement of Pakistan's position on Kashmir bolsters Musharraf's fortunes even as anti-American outrage gathers steam.

Powell And Patience
President Bush's invitation to Vajpayee for a one-on-one in Washington next month makes up for the disappointment in New Delhi in the wake of Colin Powell's visit.

Autumn Of Turmoil
The Northern Alliance waits and watches the US moves in anticipation of a post-US-attack power struggle with the Taliban.
A look at the mood and the ground realities in Kabul.

CAPLOOKS

Meetings And Partings

Delhi: Is Karnataka Chief Minister S.M. Krishna running out of luck with his bosses in Delhi? First he was forced to call off the Davos-type meeting between state chief ministers and the Union Government that he had offered to host. Then the Congress high command began encouraging state leaders opposed to him. Party circles say Krishna is paying the price for getting in touch with Sonia Gandhi, bypassing Ambika Soni who is in charge of the state.

Big Foot In The Mouth

Delhi: These days, a US C-130 Hercules transport plane landing in the subcontinent makes news. So last Sunday, journalists rushed to Delhi's Palam airport on being told a C-130 had landed there and could be part of the US war effort. Airport officials confirmed that a C-130 had indeed landed but maintained it had come from Morocco. Eventually it was discovered that the plane had come to airlift an elephant the Indian Government had presented to Morocco. The C-130 was sent as Air-India could not get permission to lift the pachyderm to Paris for a connecting flight because of French fears of foot and mouth disease on an elephantine scale.

Flop Flip

Chennai: O. Paneerselvam, self-proclaimed ad hoc chief minister of Tamil Nadu, had his hardest job first: to order the removal of Amma's images from government offices since rules have it that only portraits of serving chief ministers and national leaders should adorn government establishments. After some hesitation, Amma's pictures went following "informal orders". They reappeared in a couple of days, again on "informal orders". As papers feasted on the confusion, Paneerselvam, reportedly with Amma's consent, finally had her pictures replaced with his.

Naveen Boiled or Fried

Bhubaneswar: Having recently invented a new variety of rice, the Central Rice Research Institute here has promptly named it Naveen. The brazen sycophancy is quite the norm in Orissa, where institutions and inventions get named after living politicians. Some years ago, a new mango variety was named after J.B. Patnaik while a hybrid fish was named Jayanti after the former chief minister's wife. There is more: the Member of Parliament from Bhubaneswar has no less than 16 schools and colleges named after him.

MetroScape

Looking Glass

Kolkata Restaurant: Tangerine

Delhi Yoga: Morarji Desai National Yoga Institute

Delhi Cultural Festival : Qutab Festival