rajdhania NOW! supplement for GANGTOK

21-27 August,2002 NOW! Vol 1 No 12

PIZZAS! PASTA!

& OTHER

EXCELLENT

DISHES

PIZZAS! PASTA!

& OTHER

EXCELLENT

DISHES

The BAR

with Beautiful Food,

Strong Drinks &

Shanti Music,

open from 9:00 a.m. till late

� 81980

italylittle

SNOD COMPLEX

DEORALI

Little Italy is a Restaurant Bar designed to make Sikkim Nite Life richer through the introduction of exciting Old/New Music (an open minded

but sharp mix of Rock, Reggae, Dub, Drum & Base, Trip Hop, Intelligent Techno and House & World Music) IN A CHILLED LANDSCAPE!

MI TINgggggRESTAURANT

TIBET ROAD, GANGTOK

The Sun is barely down and wealready have drunken driving

on the streets, I mutter to myselfas I keep a safe distance behindthe hulking Bolero and navigatethe steep incline of the Nam NangOralo. Few roads could demand asmuch dexterity from a driver as thisstretch and it’s a miracle that thestretch has not been outlawed yetfor traffic. I have resisted from re-ferring to “it” as a road thus farbecause the snatches of roadwhich remain between the pot-holes do not really qualify to takethe name of the whole. The tarmacis so nonexistent that the cables,which shall soon swing above thetree-line, dangling cable cars, havesunk into the Nam Nang connec-tor to Deorali rather pliantly.Ah! The highway finally and what’sthis, the Bolero not driven by adrunk any more. A honk from theback and a friend pulls me up.“Drunk already?” and he drives off.It figures.Drinking, well that’s another story.Of course we drink, smoke, live toeat. Typically debauched in the typi-cally wet Gangtok summer. Whatelse can one do - take some timeout, get a slice of Italy and it’s backto SCTV and re-runs of an uneditedversion of some school function. It’seasy to get debauched here.But no, the moral police is watch-ing. Its already a crime, but it ap-pears that very soon I won’t actuallybe able to light up in public. My Gutkasupplies are already being boot-legged by the neighbourhood driverfrom Rangpo paari and people tellme that very soon I will have to ac-company him if I wanted a smoke inany place other than the loo.Passive smoking they tell me is in-jurious to health. Couldn’t possiblyrot the lungs more than the activeversion of the deed. And if it is pas-sive smoking that has everyone soconcerned, how come the passivehernia that the ancient fiats give youon the Phatak route does not havea legislation governing them? Sit inone and you will know how the rodsand bolts that hold the contraptiontogether can poke in the most un-comfortable of places.Passive smoking you say? Whatabout getting those belching Tatasand the black smog they contrib-ute to our breathing space? Won’twork, because they have unionsand unions can protest, they haveto. So until we have a DecayingLungs By Choice Collectif, I guessI will have to shift the ashtray intomy bathroom.But hey, it’s not as if I am not con-cerned about my health. Elbowedout of the bed for a morning walkto start a sedentary day, I rejoicedwhen the monsoons hit and I lostmy umbrella. But then this gymcraze caught up and I was gifted amembership to one. Three days ofaching joints and the embarrass-ment of having a personal trainer(I later learnt he moonlighted as apersonal trainer for all other fivemembers) were too much for me.Not to mention, having to stare atall the flab in the wall to wall mir-rors. I am into depression now. Indire straits. Guess it’s nicotine forbreakfast again.

It all began in the October of2001. The “then incomplete”line-up of Still Waters (hell,

they hadn’t even thought of thename then) entered the studio(Raagini at Deorali) for the veryfirst time, to record their first sin-gle -Farsighted Woman. Just thevocalist, Ananth Pradhan, the leadguitarist, Sonam, and the bassist,Suman.

The product turned out good,the feedback from anyone whoheard it was positive and the en-couragement from well-wishersoverflowed. So, the next obviousstep for the trio was to find a drum-mer and a rhythm guitarist and starta full-fledged band. A band thatwould give equal (maybe evenmore) importance to original mu-sic rather than just follow the oldSikkimese rock tradition of rippingoff covers at concerts. Basically,they wanted to revive the age-oldrock scenario of Sikkim with a newlook - the look of originality. Theyfelt that while the rock bands allover the country were already do-ing their own stuff, bands in thefoothills of Khangchendzonga tooshould grow beyond just perform-ing cover versions of someone else’shit. Had to show that Sikkim’s gotwhat it takes too, the band main-tains now.

And so they roped in two morelike-minded bozos, the Still Watersthat we know today was born.Drummer Nethra and Rhythmn gui-tarist Sameer were commissioned.Soon enough, they got to doing whatthey had got together to do - maketheir own music. Two more num-bers out of the studio and the GreatIndian Rock inclusion came alongand along with it came instant rec-ognition (if not fame) and somequick, but well deserved mind you,bucks too. Now, the release of a full-length Still Waters album seemedmore of a possibility than just an-other distant, doubtful close en-counter of the third kind.

A third visit to Raagini was in-evitable.

With five new songs to go thistime, i.e. five more songs to add upto the previous three, so that a rea-sonable total of eight songs could

be compiled for their debut album.Here, an obvious question

arises: “Why are they recording atDeorali in a mere eight-track facil-ity, that too for a rock album,whereas most local artists shell outa good sum and head either forDarjeeling or Kathmandu to recordtheir stuff?”

To this, Ananth answers: “Twosimple reasons really. First, we aredoing this on our own steam; theband’s own earnings so far. To bor-row a NOW! headline, it’s all aboutmoney, honey! And the second rea-son is that since the recordist atRaagini is a wiz with his eight -track, we are pretty satisfied withthe quality of the previous three re-cordings. Also, the band’s got agood rapport with him.” So, that’sthat then.

Now coming to the album itself- the aptly titled “Such a longtime...” (named with emphasis tothe period that each member per-formed prior to Still Waters with-out too many fruitful results) is duefor release any time around mid-September.

On being asked about the con-tents, theme and style of music thatone should expect from their album,the band says that the album oughtto appeal to music lovers of all kinds.

“Music wise, there’s straightforward rock, some pop, a prettygood amount of guitar-shreddingand screaming, a few blues proces-sions and a pretty good portion towhich people can head-bang to. Ba-sically there’s something for every-one here,” they say.

“Theme wise too the subjectsdiffer. For instance, FarsightedWoman and In Love With a Strangerdeal with - you got it - love. On theother hand. Live a Little and Happygo Lucky are songs which tell youto live life easy, songs about life ingeneral... stay free from tensions...lead a good life.. coz that’s whatmatters most in the end. Standingon Thin Ice is about someone who’strying to save a good-relationship-gone-bad. Life in a bottle’s about adrunkard comparing his first sip ofthe juice to his present state. Para-dise Lost is dedicated to the 9/11(NY) tragedy. And the opening

track; Rock to the Rescue is allabout us and many other rockerslike us. So, the theme thing isaplenty too,” they add.

Okay guys, we got your point.Now how about sharing some ex-periences whilst recording?

“Lots of hard work and pa-tience,” they say. “There were timeswhen we’d feel like just droppingthe whole album and throwing it allaway, but we guess perseverancekept us going. So many problemspopped up almost daily. The mainpain being the frequent power cutsand fluctuations.”

“It was a genuine case of ratioand proportions,” says Ananth imp-ishly, “as the duration of the record-ing increased, the size of our wal-lets decreased! We started off withArambagh’s chicken and chowmeinfor lunch, had momos midway, thentook a step down to samosas, andfor the past few days its been fin-ger rolls and alu-dum. I guess,

within the next week (that’s whenwe hope to famish, sorry finish, offour recording) its gonna be justgulping tap water for us.”

Fair enough for him to think thatway, especially since they’ve alreadyshelled out about a cool 40K merelyfor the recording itself. The master-ing (Somani’s gonna do it) and mar-keting expenses are yet to come.Technically too they had their shareof problems. Sonam, the lead gui-tarist, explains, “The strings rust soquickly. I mean, you play for a songtoday, let the vocalist and bassist givetheir takes the next day, mix thewhole thing the day after, and pickup the guitar for the next song a daylater and the whole damn set is rusty.Maybe it’s the climate... all damp...I don’t know. But it sure beats thetemperamental shit out of you. Andthe studio is pretty damp too.”

Strings are one thing, whatabout the vocal chords?

CALL

24101 FOR

HOME DELIVERY

Still Waters ripple againThe band that rocked Delhi at the Great Indian Rock is all set

to shimmer some ripples in the music industry with their

debut album - “Such a Long Time”. a NOW! FEATURE takes you

deeper into the making of the album...

- turn to pg (iv)

The Still Waters [left to right]: Suman, Nethra, Sonam, Sameer and Ananth

21-27 August, 2002iirajdhani

Which pen

does Amitabh

Bachchan

endorse?The first correct entry gets to play

1hr Pool and 1/2 hr playstation

at Jordy’s, Kundeh-Khang Bldg.,

Next to Sadar Thana, Tibet Road.

SUBMIT ENTRIES AT JORDY’S

ANSWER:

........................................................................

NAME:

................................................................

LAST WEEK’S ANSWER:

THUMS UP. WINNER:

SHYAM SUNDER, GANGTOK

AD MAD

CONTEST

Chief Minister, PawanChamling was felicitatedby the Sikkim Teachers’

Association here for his govern-ment’s efforts in the educationsector.

Mr. Chamling was presented

Pang Lhabsol, which falls every year

on the 15th day of the seventh month

as per the lunar calendar is one of

the most important religious festivals

of Sikkim and is observed to mark

the end of the harvest season when

the people of Sikkim offer their

produces to the guardian deities of

Sikkim including Mt. Khang-chen-

dzo-nga as a mark of respect and

gratitude and pray for peace and

prosperity for the State. On this day,

the Warrior Dance or Pangtoed

Cham, introduced by the illustrious

third ruler of Sikkim, Chogyal

Chagdor Namgyal, is also performed

to commemorate the auspicious

occasion.

Issued byDepartment of Information & Public Relations

Government of SikkimRelease Order No: 51/IPR/02-03Date: 16/8/02

The Governor of Sikkim,Kidar Nath Sahani inaugu-rated the “State of Art Lat-

est Technology Optic Fiber” on theoccasion of Independence Day, 2002.The Optical Fiber Cable fromGangtok to the District Headquartersof Gyalshing, Namchi and Manganhas laid down the strongest, most ad-vanced foundation for an informationsuper highway in Sikkim.

The Governor in his inauguralspeech said that he was particularlyimpressed with the completion ofsuch a huge project over a terrainas inhospitable as Sikkim’s andlauded the work done by theTelecom Department in establish-ing such advanced infrastructure of

with a citation, and an ‘angawasthra’by the STA for “making educationas one of the priority sectors in theState and the efforts made towardsimproving the standard of educationand working for the welfare and ben-efit of the teachers in the State.”

In his address, Mr. Chamlingreiterated his government’s com-

mitment to make Sikkim a 100 per-cent literate State. He stressed onthe responsibility of the teacherstowards moulding the children toface the world and imparting theright values.

Mr. Chamling said that his gov-ernment is making efforts to makethe teaching an attractive job by of-fering lucrative salaries and perks.

He mentioned that Sikkim is oneof the few States in the countrywith a rewarding salary structurefor teachers.

Stressing on the need for capac-ity building, Mr. Chamling said thathuman resource developmentshould be done in such a way thatthe future generations become self-reliant and independent. He also

said that environmental studiesshould be taken up on a prioritybasis in schools.

The Chief Minister released“Guru Samvad,” a magazinebrought out by the STA on the oc-casion. He also felicitated Mr.Gahar ‘Udasi’, this year’s BhanuPuraskar winner during the pro-gramme.

a NOW REPORT

TEACHERS GIVE CHAMLING AN ‘A’

Telecom goes fibreoptic in Sikkim

the highest standards within such ashort period of time.

The Governor made the inaugu-ral calls over the fibre-optic cablesto SB Subedi, Minister, SNT, atGyalshing, Hissey Lachungpa, Min-ister, Power, at Mangan and GMGurung, Minister Agriculture, atNamchi.

Optical Fibre Cables make upthe backbone of the IT infrastruc-ture. This Optical Fibre Cable willbe able to carry all types of infor-mation, “data circuits of Press, Se-cret Services, Internet, Multimediainformation, Telephone, Telegraph,Aided information, Video informa-tion, Picture information, Photophone, Cable TV, Doordarshan,Online Reservation facility of vari-ous services like Telemedicine, Tel-etherapy at a very high bandwidth

and speed of transmission media bysimply attaching appropriate equip-ment at the terminal end” informsa Telecom Press release.

MK Seth, GM Telecom, Sik-kim, and all his subordinates havebeen instrumental in revolutioniz-ing Telecom and Information Tech-nology in the State. Bharat SancharNigam Limited plans to provide tel-ecommunication for all the villageswith the new technology in phases.

This Rs. 50 crore project willbe a major step towards the devel-opment of information technologyin the State and it would be anadded boon to the people of Sikkim,as it will give a lot of indirect em-ployment opportunities in the formof increased tourist inflow, whichshould result from better telecom-munication in the State.

a NOW REPORT

The State Cabinet, which meton August 11 atMintokgang, has accorded

approval to proposals of various de-partments.

The cabinet has approved theAgricultural Department’s proposalfor the procurement of High Yield-ing Variety Seeds and implementa-tion of various other schemes, forwhich Rs. 56,49,000 was sanc-tioned.

The proposal of the Food andCivil Supplies Department was ap-proved and a sum of Rs. 84.36 lakhs

was sanctioned as subsidy for the pro-curement of rice for BPL families.

Similarly, the cabinet approvedthe proposal of the Culture Depart-ment for a revision in the estimate ofthe Lepcha House cum Museum atDaramdim, West Sikkim, and sanc-tioned Rs. 27,76,725 in this regard.

The cabinet approved the pro-posal of the Transport Departmentseeking funds for the renovation andextension of Sikkim NationalisedTransport (SNT) guesthouse atSiliguri and accorded Rs. 26,45,900for this propose.

The cabinet approved the pro-posal of the Power Department forimplementation of short-term meas-

ures for improvement andupgradation of sub-transmissionand distribution network withinLagyap powerhouse and the SouthWest Circle.

Also, the date for the next As-sembly session of Sikkim Legisla-tive Assembly was fixed for August29 and 30.

THE CABINET APPROVES PROPOSALSFOR BETTER POWER AND SEEDS

a NOW REPORT

the latest issue is out in the news-stands

21-27 August, 2002 iiirajdhani

NAME: ............................................... Address.............................................

Last week’s answer: The ‘Boss’. Winner: Rajeev Rai

Britney Spears walked off the stage during a concert in

� YUGOSLAVIA

� MEXICO

� PUERTO RICO’

Pick the correct answer and win

an Audio CD of your choice sponsored by

Hot Stuff, MG Marg. In case of more than one

correct entry, the winner will be decided by a

draw of lots. The prizes cannot be exchanged

or reimbursed in cash. Cut out this comptt.

and reach the entries to NOW! Gairi Gaon,

Tadong; or Oberois, MG Marg; or Jordy’s,

Tibet Road, on or before Sunday.

MigtinT H E

AROUND GANGTOK

CONTESTThe statue of Thekong Tek and Khye Bumsa at MG Marg is known as

� STATUE OF UNITY

� STATUE OF LIBERTY

� STATUE OF FRATERNITY

NAME: ............................................... Address.............................................

Last Week’s answer: Nam Nang Winner: Karma Namgyal, Nam-Nang. Tick

mark the correct answer and reach the entry to Oberois’ MG Marg, Jordy’s,

Tibet Road, or NOW! Gair Gaon before Sunday and you stand to win a free

meal for two at Migtin Restaurant, Tibet Road. The Winner’s Coupon should be

collected from the NOW! office, Gairi Gaon, Tadong.

OUT NOW!

THENEXTBESTTHING

Capital

Irony

There is a whiff of delightfulchange for the flower loversof Gangtok. Sikkim Flora is

the new florist in town. Housed in

the SNOD Complex at Deorali, itpromises to be different with itswide range of bouquets and pot-purées (dry flower arrangements)that can be ordered here for anyoccasion. Now you can presentyour loved one, with a bouquet offresh gerberas, ms or carnations oreven the queen of flowers, rosesand not depend on the plastic roses

that we had to make do with forso long.

You can also place orders herefor flower decorations forweddings, parties, birthdays,offices and home. Sikkim Floraalso takes orders for home deliverywithin Gangtok. They also offer awide range of cut flowers. You cancall up 81596 and place yourorders.

Nanula Kazi, who runs theshop, did her training in flowerarrangement in Calcutta. Alsoarmed with a diploma in HotelManagement and having workedfor Club Mahindra Beach Varca inGoa, she makes the perfect hostessfor a shop dealing in such delicaterefinements as flowers. The shopcame about after three years ofthinking up the right investment forher skills. The wait was well worthit. Check it out.

FLOWER POWER

GENERAL CARE &

GROOMING FOR

DOGSPART ICare of a dog means keeping itsteeth, coat, ears, eyes and feet ingood condition. Grooming usuallywould mean brushing andcombing, clipping, shampooingand conditioning. Care andgrooming go together, for if the dogis groomed regularly, many minordisorders of skin, eyes, teeth or feetmay be avoided completely, whileothers will be caught at an earlystage when curing them isrelatively simple.GROOMING TOOLSYou will need a comb, a brush, dogshampoo or soap, a pair of scissorsand nail clippers. A steel comb,especially designed for dogs ispreferable, with round-end teeth.The bristles of the brush should beas stiff as possible.TRIMMINGThe dog should be trimmed everymonth. Avoid combing while thehair is wet. While trimming, makesure not to take all the hair off thebelly, but only those are shaggy orsnarled.BRUSHINGBrushing will give your dog apleasant tingly sensation andstimulate the oil flow to its skin.Comb the dog before you startbrushing. Brush along the growthof hair to clean the surface coat.Next, brush stiffly against thegrowth to clean out the undercoatand massage the skin. Finally,brush the hair back to its originalposition.NEXT WEEK: Bathing and dental care

a NOW! guide to pet-care

NOW!insideinside

Indian Airlines has introduced aspecial ticket called ‘Wings of Free-dom’ which gives you unlimited airtravel for 7 days for just Rs. 15,000.The offer is valid between August15, 2002 to March 31, 2003. Youcan choose from more than 50 des-tinations across India. This schemeis essentially targeted at businessand leisure travelers. For more de-tails, log on to www.indian-airlines.com. We’re waiting for Jet’sanswer to this one!

Jayna introduces lifestyle seriesdesigner kitchen sinks. Apart fromscoring on the aesthetic front, thesesinks which are made of 1 mm thickSalem stainless steel have severalinnovative features like attachedgarbage bins and soap containers.

Positioned on the convenience ofone touch messaging is the newSamsung N500 with Insta SMSkey. Just one touch and voila, youcan start typing to get your messageacross to your recipient. The phonealso has 11 games for the gamingenthusiast and one-touch InternetAccess. The Ocean blue LCD dis-play serves as quite a powerful torchsubstitute for those times whenyou’re caught unawares by our fre-quent power cuts.

Running out of options? Bet youdidn’t know that we get good ole’Italian and Mexican cuisine at Mig-tin Hotel’s ‘Khampee’ Restaurant,Tibet Road. Foreigners swear by thefood out there - they say it tastesreal good and authentic. There youare, the best seal of approval. Asfor the cook, just call him Pedro!Or even Guiseppe! Actually plainold ‘genius’will do fine. Check outthe food there or win yourself a freemeal by entering our contest.

We’re not dentists but we don’tneed a degree in dentistry to extolthe virtues of the all-new ColgateTotal toothpaste. The marketing jar-gon of the big bosses at ColgatePalmolive claims that its co-poly-mer formulation with Gantrez, at-taches triclosan, an antibacterialagent, to your teeth giving it 12 hourprotection from germs. Now thatdoesn’t mean you can hog theKwality Walls blackberry ice-cream–the toothpaste can’t protect youfrom the calories!

NOW! encourages our Gangtok shop-

keepers to write in or call our office with

product information of new products to

hit town. Their contribution will be ac-

knowledged.

There is no purpose behind carry-ing this photograph other than tocrib. Play the spoilsport so tospeak. Its monsoons and its timefor landslides. In fact we have hadone right at Metro-point (see frontpage) and this pic illustrates whywe will always have to deal withnatural mishaps which are man-made (!?!).This rather well-meaning boardsomewhere along the NationalHighway announces “Karam hiDharam hai” (Work is worship).Contrast that with the severedlimbs of trees older than you andme and you can work out whatkind of worship Gangtok is into.What such worship will fetch inreward is something no one wantsto talk about.As Gangtokians, we make a nastylot. Going green is fine so long assomeone else has to do it. Theclogged jhoras which continue toreceive kitchen refuse and plasticdespite the (again well-meaningwith a touch of threat) boardswhich announce a Rs. 5,000 fineand even imprisonment for litter-ing bear out the Gangtokian inso-lence.No, the board in the pic does nottry to say that Karam and Dharamare the same person.

INDRA

BAHADUR RAI

GETS

ON-RECORD

womenIN

NOW!

CINDRELLA

REVERSED

Across6. Hue (6)7. First man (4)8. Story (4)9. Kingdom in N Europe (6)10. Farm bird (5)12. Scapegoat (5)15. Die from lack of food (6)17. Swindle (4)18. Small child (4)19. Tank ship (6)

Down1. Edible tuber (6)2. Acting part (4)3. Rubbish (5)4. Photographic device (6)5. Ornamental fabric (4)11. Fruit ice (6)13. Posts (6)14. End of life (5)16. Tailless amphibian (4)17. Vocalize melodically (4)

21-27 August, 2002iv rajdhani

CROSSWORD

QQuickBITE

T H E

012

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Last week’s answers: ACROSS: 1. Construct 8. Abode 9. Sinew 10. Duster 12. Side 14.

Leak 15. Battle 17. Sieve 18. Trade 20. Reverends DOWN: 2. Oho 3. Shekel 4. Rose 5. Con-

vict 6. Vandalism 7. Sweetener 11. Siamese 13. Rattle 16. Fete 19. Add. WINNER: DawaSherpa, Daragaon

100100100100100Rs.

Solve the crossword correctly. Rush it to Oberois (MG Marg) or NOW! Gairi Gaon, Tadong, on or before Sunday and

a lucky draw of all correct entries will win the Chosen One a Snacks Coupon worth Rs. 100 at Quick Bite, MG Marg.

SNACKS COUPONS TO BE COLLECTED FROM NOW! OFFICE

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� NEW MODERN ROCK

VOL 2

[MP3 VERSION]

BuzzBAZAAR

. . .

XXX is exactly what it seemsto be: James Bond for shortattention spans, and no less

fun for that. This high-gloss piledriver cares nothing for character,buildup or wit, just the next thrill,the next babe, the next chance forstar Vin Diesel to burst into a stunt.XXX will be huge, and double thatfor Diesel. The guy talks like hegargles with glass, but he’s adynamite screen presence. How’shis acting? Sheesh. Acting wouldonly get in the way.

Diesel plays Xander Cage, anextreme-sports athlete recruited bythe US National Security Agencybiggie Augustus Gibbons (Samuel L.

Jackson) to infiltrate a Russian gangin Prague. Led by Yorgi (MartonCsokas) and his lover Yelena (AsiaArgento), the gang is bent on — whatelse? — destroying the world.

Xander has no training to stopthem. He previously spent his dayspulling such stunts as stealing asenator’s Corvette, base-jumpingthe car off a bridge and selling thevideo for a quick buck. AgentGibbons tests Xander further bydropping him into a Colombiancocaine plantation, from whichXander escapes on a motorbikewhile dodging helicopter gunfire inperhaps the most boisterous andsplendid of action sequencesstaged in recent times.

“I live for this shit,” says Xander,which just about sums up the appealof this movie. In Prague, AgentXander — now christened Triple Xfor the trio of X’s tattooed on the backof his neck — finds more trouble,

including a fling with Yelena, whocomes at him in spike-heeled boots,sticks her tongue down his throat, askshim if he likes it and then tells himthat’s all he’s going to get. But evenafter Xander beds a more availablebabe (“The things I’m gonna do formy country,” he quips 007-style) it’sclear that sex isn’t the fuel driving thescript by Rich Wilkes. Action is, anddirector Rob Cohen (The Fast and theFurious) loads the film with pow:Xander surfing down a banister on atray, Xander snowboarding down amountain not racing baddies like staid007, but a full-fledged avalanche hetriggered. There’s even Xander facingthe ultimate terror given hisintellectual capacity: a rehearsal ofDon Giovanni at the Prague StateOpera. “That’s cruel and unusual,” hetells Gibbons. It’s hard to hate amovie, even one this droolingly crass,that knows how to laugh at itself.

ACTION GOES INTO OVERDRIVE

GOOD GIRLS GO TO

HEAVEN

The search for the right girl topresent the Lotto draw on TV

carries on. The first phase of audi-tioning had nearly a dozen girlsstruting their stuff. A few havemade the shortlist. After the secondround, the training of the ChosenOne will begin. In the meanwhile,a clear frontrunner in the last roundseems to be the girl in purple satinwith large purple hoops for earrings.The ZeeTV mandarins were quiteappreciative of her efforts. Appar-ently, the lady in question has actedin a couple of local music videos.A Hindi video that she has acted inwas banned on the initiative of thenari niketan types who said it wasexploitative of womanhood. Noscope of that here!

CAUTIOUS SPENDER

For all those who are still interested in what Bimal Gajmer

plans to do with his crores, here arethe dull details. The man has puthis whole fortune in the State Bankof India, MG Marg branch. Most ofit in the form of fixed deposits. Onecrore for Mommy dearest, anotherfor daddy and four crores for him-self. All secure for the future. Theonly indulgence he has allowedhimself for the moment is a spank-ing new Wagon R and a motorbike- long cherished dream. However,passers-by say Hotel Mountview isseeing furious renovations. That’snot really splurging. He was last

spotted outside aPlaywin booth onT h u r s d a yevening buying aticket!

SOMETHINGS

DON’T

CHANGE

The residents of Chandmari hadmuch to be happy about in the

months of May-June. At last thestretch of road from Chandmari wasbeing repaired. Work continued fora month or so and the contractorcould be seen being quite busy atthe site. But just a month later, eve-rything is back to square one. Fa-miliar potholes dot the stretch.Some of the residents now plan to

petition the CMregarding this.

WHERE’S

MY SHARE?

Talking ofPWD, the envi-ronment in the

accounts section of the works de-partment has some new some newcontractors and suppliers quite dis-turbed although it’s familiar groundfor old-timers. Apparently, bill col-lection time is quite torturous andthe employees keep everyone wait-ing while they finish every otherbusiness. From the weather fore-casting to networking on the tel-ephone. Any pleas of “Sir/Madam,I’m in a hurry” are met with a sharp

Ananth replies: “The flu-thing... common cold and all that crapsure had me in deep shit this time.I had to sing for 5 hours continu-ous for a song. ...take pe takemaaraa yaar. And to make thingsworse our bassist who usually pro-vides the chorus, had his voice allwrapped up in a cough. So, soonafter my marathon I had to do hisparts too, for another hour... it wasa nightmare man!”

“Been ages since we last sleptbefore 1:30 a.m in the morning,”adds Sameer.

So, all the hardships apart, Iguess it’s anticipation time now. Thealbum’s gonna be out any day nowand all that remains to be seen nowis how well their efforts will be re-warded when the all-powerful jantaget hold of the first ever western al-bum released by any band in Sikkim.Will the guys who impressed Delhiwith their performance at the GIRconcert be able to impress the peo-ple back home with their album???

Knowing them so far... theyought to. ..ahhh what theheck...they will!!!

“Ani hami le chai ke pauncha.” Iguess salary doesn’t count.

JANATA RAJ

With Panchayat electionsaround the corner, it is only

natural that many conversations re-volve around the subject. A friendtravelling through the districts in ajeep overheard the following. Oneman to another: “In panchayati raj,they tell us Janata is the raja. Thenthey elect their own candidates andtell us to make sure he wins. Tellme, how is the janata raja in this?”Good question.

Still Waters

ripple againContd from pg (i)

womenIN

NOW!

SOLID HIT!The week-end beganon a scary note forthe capital when asection of theretaining wall atmetro-point gaveaway and dumpeddebris on the high-way. A slide, nomatter how“mini” hadinvaded theheart ofthe town...

the RIGHT line