Sightings

* THE final clincher is an Indian summer. It is going to be sizzling, exotic and vibrant. Be it fashion or beauty, India seems to be the flavour of the new millennium so far. If it isn't the start-up kids in the dot.com industry in far away US, it's our own fashion designers taking the ramps by storm. Aiding and, then of course, the bevy of sultry beauties from India who seem to have made a habit of winning beauty paegents. The latest to stump judges was Lara Dutta, a confident young thing whose head was firmly fixed upon her shoulders despite her looks and the admiration she won for them.

* NOT to be left behind is CNN with more of India on its channel. Indian content and more of Indian faces will dot a new CNN channel which is slated to be South Asia specific from July 1. The channel , said Rena Golden, senior vice president CNN international, was part of the group's stress "on regionalising its programmes in order to serve local audiences better."

* THE other Indians to carve a little niche of their own were Delhi's own Hindi rockers, Euphoria - ecstatic after their recent performance at Memphis Street Festival (USA). Each year the festival has a theme and this year it was "honouring India". Euphoria was the first band to be selected for this festival. The members of the band got to play with Bryan Adams, BB King, Collective Soul and others. Euphoria sang its usual Hindi numbers and some English ones too and said that they got a great response.

* IT was a unique exhibition "Gems of Indian Thought" unveiled by a man who professes to love all beautiful women and a woman who many find stunning. Khushwant Singh and Lisa Ray unveiled the calligraphic art piece containing the Gyahi Mantra by Rajeev Kumar but the show was actually put up to announce the arrival of Rado's "Cerix" brand of watches. The exhibition had a compilation of thoughts from vedas to modern literature.

* IT was not a political mission and yet when the 60-member strong delegation of Pakistani women activists - lawyers, journalists and theatre personalities - came to India it was bound to be an occasion for people to sit up and take note. Asma Jehangir the chairperson of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission and leader of the delegation, was of the view that the time for sympolic gestures had come to an end and the time had come to sit up and take note and get policy makers to take note by taking adequate decisions.

* THEY may be different but they are certainly not children of a lesser god. In a pioneering venture, Rashmi Paliwal, so far a designer for children's wear, has now promoted garments stitched by disabled children, with 50 old physically and mentally challenged children working on this novel scheme called Disha.Paliwal has approached schools in the Capital, for them to agree to their uniforms being stitched by this team. The initial response, she says, has been cautious with two schools placing orders. Others have shown some interest but there are no concrete orders on the anvil. Paliwal has been employing people with special needs at her factory for a while now. Winner of the National Council for Employment of the Disabled. persons award, Paliwal's ultimate dream is to be able to provide "gainful employment and opportunity for the disabled." She hopes to be able to supply uniforms and linen to schools and hospitals Each garment manufactured by this team bears a special label with the international symbol on disability. Paliwal has many plans to help this section of people, "I know it is tough, but I want to do what I can," she said.

* KAIFI AZMI is no stranger to awards, but as the recipient of the Delhi government's millennium Award for his immense contribution to Urdu, Azmi and fellow patrons of Urdu had a special reason to be jubilant - that of Delhi recognising Urdu as a second official language in the capital. While Azmi was all praise for the government and its determination to put Urdu back on the map, he said "Urdu is a secular language and this is an award for secularism." For Chief Minister Sheila Dixit, it was a, long cherished dream come true, that this "sweet" language to reatored to its rightful status. Veteran actor Dilip Kumar, while lauding the entire effort, said that "mere lip service never served any cause.... for years Urdu has been orphaned, but now it has found a mother in Ms. Dixit". However it remains to be seen how far the millennium award will finally help this beautiful language.

SUCHITRA BEHAL

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