The
Sunday Times International - South Asia
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Exposed!
Bare flesh in spotlight at Indian fashion shows Carol Gracias was the first to inadvertently show a bit of skin at Lakme Fashion Week in India's financial capital when her bustier slipped, exposing her breasts and unleashing a flesh frenzy in the media. Two days later another model, Gauhar Khan, exposed a hint of bare bottom after a zip broke on a black skirt designed by Lascelles Symmons, creating fresh waves of excitement. While the two models had little in the way of coverage, the same could not be said for their catwalk mishaps. The flashes of nudity earned pages of ink in the nation's print media, with analysis pieces on the state of the models' undress and the quality of the nation's fastenings. Newspaper photographs blocked the sight of Gracias's breasts -- who reportedly broke down in tears later on -- and television networks obliged with fuzzy pictures. Although
the occasional flash of unintentional nudity is common at fashion
shows, papers questioned whether designers had conspired to create
a stir for the low-key style festival ahead of a rival event in
New Delhi next week. Bhopal
gas leak activists see hope of redress Around
40 survivors of the poisoning who reached New Delhi last week after
a month-long 800-kilometre (500-mile) walk from Bhopal in central
Madhya Pradesh state have been camping in the Indian capital for
talks with officials. "We have said as long as they clean up, it is OK with us," Satinath Sarangi, spokesman for the Bhopal Group for Information and Action, told reporters at a press conference. Indian
officials said after talks with Dow Chemicals, which is facing a
court case in India, that the company was not willing to reach an
out-of-court settlement, saying it would set a precedent for other
such cases. More than 3,500 people died immediately after 40 tonnes of lethal methyl isocyanate gas seeped from a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal just before midnight on December 2, 1984. The death toll has since climbed to more than 15,000, according to government figures. Rights activists say the toll is double that and people are still suffering from drinking toxic water. Sarangi
said there was an estimated 5,000 tonnes of deadly chemicals still
present, some of which had contaminated soil and water up to five
kilometers (three miles) away from the plant, which has been shut
since the disaster. The activists said it was difficult to estimate the cost of the clean-up and that it posed a technological challenge. Survivors are also demanding better medical treatment, supply of uncontaminated piped water from a nearby dam, prosecution of former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson and the closure of Dow's business in India. Union Carbide had paid 470 million dollars in compensation, against 3.3 billion dollars the Indian government had claimed. Five
killed in Kashmir fighting Six policemen were injured when their vehicle hit a landmine in the Soura area of the region's summer capital Srinagar, police said. One of them later died in hospital. Kashmir's dominant rebel group Hizbul Mujahedin, which is fighting for the merger of Indian Kashmir with Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call to a local news agency. Both India and Pakistan control parts of Kashmir but each claims full sovereignty over the region. In other violence, three rebels were killed in two separate raids by the security forces in southern Pulwama district, army spokesman Vijay Batra told AFP. Batra said the raids, which took place late Thursday and early Friday, were launched on a tip-off from locals. In the neighbouring district of Anantnag, suspected militants abducted and later shot dead 38-year-old local folk singer and dancer Hassan Shah late Thursday, police said. "He used to entertain the public and also dance during political rallies (by pro-India parties)," a police spokesman said. In another incident, six civilians were injured when a grenade hurled at a police guard post exploded in Srinagar late Thursday, police said. Rebels
who are waging an insurgency against Indian rule in Kashmir have
been targetting pro-India politicians and suspected police informers. India
vows to fence its borders against Bangladesh aliens The announcement came 10 days after Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia held talks with Singh in New Delhi on a raft of issues, including the problem of illegal immigration. “We are taking firm action and all other possible measures to check infiltration from across the border,” Singh said after kicking off a provincial electoral rally in Assam, the largest of the seven frontier states. “We are in the process of strengthening border fencings and increasing security personnel in the border areas to check infiltration,” he said in Guwahati, Assam's de facto capital. Bangladesh has rejected accusations that it encourages migration of its citizens to India. The two countries share a 4,095-kilometer (2,545-mile) border, more than half of which touches Assam, Tripura, Mizoram, and Meghalaya states — four of the “Seven Sisters” in the northeast. Singh told reporters he hoped the fencing project would soon be completed. Indian
man sacrifices son after visions of Kali "The goddess appeared before me and commanded me to offer either myself or my son," the 28-year-old barber, identified only as Pramod, told police after slitting the boy's throat with a razor on the outskirts of Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh state, late on Friday. "I chose my son because if I had died then the rest of my family would suffer," he said. The man's wife, Kusum, said her husband had developed a split personality after being given a "potion" by a relative during a family property dispute. "Subsequently, he started visiting a tantrik (black magic practitioner)," she said. Pramod told police the tantrik had assured him that the row over property would be solved if he were to offer a human sacrifice. "Thereafter
I could repeatedly see Goddess Kali appearing before me and asking
for the sacrifice -- which I ultimately offered," he told police. Police superintendent Ashutosh Pandey said officers were wary of the claims. "We do not rule out the possibility that the killing was done because Pramod suspected the boy had been fathered by another man." Killing
Bin Laden will inspire 10 more: Dalai Lama The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader told The Daily Telegraph that terrorists should be treated humanely. He also revealed the workings of his relationship with US President George W. Bush, said Westerners had become too self-absorbed and repeated his opposition to homosexuality in a wide-ranging interview. The Dalai Lama said modern terrorism was born out of jealousy of Western lifestyles. "Fundamentalism is terrifying because it is based purely on emotion, rather than intelligence," the 70-year-old monk said at the seat of his government-in-exile in the northern Indian hilltop town of Dharamsala. "It prevents followers from thinking as individuals and about the good of the world. "This new terrorism has been brewing for many years. Much of it is caused by jealousy and frustration at the West because it looks so highly developed and successful on television. Leaders in the East use religion to counter that, to bind these countries together." Terrorists, he warned, must be treated humanely. "Otherwise, the problem will escalate. If there is one Bin Laden killed today, soon there will be 10 Bin Ladens. Awesome. Ten Bin Ladens killed, the hatred is spread; 100 bombed, and 1,000 lose members of their families." Although he appeared not to approve of the war in Iraq, he was admiring of Bush. "He is very straightforward," said the monk. "On our first visit, I was faced with a large plate of biscuits. President Bush immediately offered me his favourites, and after that, we got on fine. On my next visit, he didn't mind when I was blunt about the war. "By my third visit, I was ushering him into the Oval Office. I was astonished by his grasp of Buddhism." Tribal
rebels black out Pakistani province The official was on his way to the site of the explosions, some 80 km (50 miles) east of provincial capital, Quetta, when the landmine went off. Three people were wounded. The attack came a day after Baluchistan's provincial assembly set up a panel of peacebrokers to negotiate with tribal chiefs leading the revolt against the Pakistan military in the resource-rich province. About 80 per cent of Baluchistan, including Quetta, was without electricity as a result of the sabotage, according to Quetta Electric Supply Company chief Nooruddin Mengal. |
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Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers
Ltd. All rights reserved. |
MUMBAI,
India, Saturday (AFP) - With a slip of a zip, models strutting the
catwalk at Mumbai fashion week unveiled more than new clothes for
next winter, creating a stir in traditionally conservative India.
