SAYING IT: Botham

Even though the English team is doing well in India and Ram Prakash is in great form, former English captain Ian Botham still thinks the trip to India should have been called off because of the nation's proximity to Afghanisthan. In an interview to The Times, he says, "OK. I have to admit that if I was 20, I would go and I am going as a commentator because you are not in the thick of things. But for senior players who are married with families, it was tough on them to ask them to go out there just when the ground troops were preparing to go in." If India is so unsafe, why then has the UK declared a state of emergency?

-IB

More Food For Thought

LINGERING AROMA: The Veetee team at the launch of the new basmati rice

In the hugely competitive basmati rice market in Britain which is becoming ever so rice and curryholic, Veetee has introduced a new variety which it promises will become a darling of chefs. Veetee's head of operations, Vikas Magoon, believes the latest product has much more to offer than simply a superior taste. At a press launch, Magoon commented, "Asian consumers may be looking for good value but they are equally interested in superb results when they are cooking rice day-in-day-out. We have developed a rice which we feel meets the standards of the most exacting housewives, particularly during the festival season when the quality of the rice is likely to come under the security of not just family members but friends, too." More helpings, anyone.

-IB

Millennium Honour

A Leicester woman has won a grant to run a website which looks at the impact of Asian businesses on the city. Jaemeena Joshi, 21, was selected for Millennium Commission-funded Commedia Millennium Awards to enable people to create community-based productions for TV, radio or the Internet. Joshi said she was delighted her project had the backing to get off the ground. "Being an Asian I decided to base the project on Asian businesses in Leicester and see how they contributed to the local economy and community," she said.

-Prasun Sonwalker