Autos top polluters?Unlike the slogger at a T 20 match, who has to throw his bat at everything (surely the IPL fever is catching on to me as well!), a blogger can be a chooser. And I have chosen to share my thoughts, my concerns and my ideas regarding this dear city andAn Afraa experienceAfraa in City Centre has a lounge bar and a restaurant. ‘Afraa’ means white in Arabic and the decor is in shades of white. The walls are adorned with bottles and there is soft lighting all around. The food is delicious and the presentation is lovely. The service is great and the music isn’t too loud. I was introduced to the DJ Sethi there and he played some soft lounge music. You can actually have conversations at Afraa.Can IPL succeed?This is a question not only in the minds of the common man but also in the minds of the millionaires who have taken the plunge. As long as there is a struggle for supremacy between two countries, there are spectators to cheer them on. Sides are taA tribute to my old CalcuttaAt the outset let me make it clear that I am not a regular resident of Kolkata. My association with the city has been an on-and-off affair. Whenever I have come here, I have noticed the gradually changing skyline and have carried back memories, both pleasant and unpleasant, which I nurtured carefully till the next visit……No deadlines?That's music to my ears - literally! While most of us spend life following deadlines, it's amazing that Calcutta nightlife doesn't have one. A big advantage, that. While party animals and night owls step out at 9pm in other cities (case in point, Bangalore), the clubs here don't get steamy before 11pm. There isn't much sense in making it to a club before that, unless you have your eye on that cute bartender!Campus creativityStarting from photography to ad spoof and documentary films, the students of Techno India made management fest Uniex special. More than 10 city colleges participated in the two-day fest organised on March 30 and 31.Whose hand is this, anyway?Women are always at the receiving end of things. This is especially true of the nudges and pinches from elements which women have to put up with almost every day. Women who use public transport are only too well acquainted with this form of harassment. Take buses for instance. During rush hours, pressed against others like dried Bombay Ducks, women continually ward off elbows positioned at just the angle needed to sneak into them at the slightest opportunity. It’s Knight Riders vs Challengers, not Dravid vs myself: SouravSourav Ganguly, captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders’ team in the Indian Premier League (IPL), spoke to The Telegraph at the Windsor here on Thursday afternoon.Search for my Kolkata – Part – IDuring my last visit to Kolkata in November 2007, I somehow managed to keep a few days reserved completely to myself. There were no pending social obligations, and no commitments that would have encroached into my very private domain. Therefore, I decided to go on a search for the Kolkata I knew, the city that I felt sounded better in its earlier version of Calcutta.I’m used to big events, says Shah RukhIt’s like a release — perhaps even bigger — for Shah Rukh Khan and he’s looking forward to what has been billed as a Super Friday, Day I of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Kolkata Knight Riders’ owner, who’ll be here some hours before the first match, spoke to The Telegraph in the lead-up to the opener.Sachin hopeful of playing in openerSachin Tendulkar on Thursday brushed aside reports of his being doubtful for Mumbai Indians’s opening IPL tie against Bangalore Royal Challengers.SRK to performThe badshah, Shah Rukh Khan, will himself perform in the 20-minute break between innings at the Eden on Sunday night. Among those applauding will be Priyanka Vadra and, in all probability, brother Rahul Gandhi, too. “Priyanka has accepted Shah RBuzz over, it’s time to fireThere’s much riding on the Indian Premier League (IPL), not least being millions of bucks. Come Friday, of course, and it will be time for it to move beyond the buzz stage. On test won’t just be the Twenty20 skills of the biggest names in contAmazing spectacle from start to finish on cardsSince I first heard of this concept, the IPL and its proposed delivery, to the time when we are only a day away from the inaugural game, my excitement continues to grow.Commerce meets cricket, at fine legThe girl screwed up her eyes against the sun and asked: “What’s the name of the game again?” Brijesh Patel, swashbuckler of yore turned mover-shaker of the Karnataka Cricket Association, let out a sardonic little grunt and said: “Cricket, Jeetlam re!It's a heady mix of cricket, Bollywood and hype and we are all its victims. Shah Rukh Khan peeps out from the frontpage of every Kolkata newspaper. The boy from Delhi who made his fortune in Mumbai has decided to make Kolkata his third home. And he's succeeding. Even non-fans have decided to embrace this 40-something actor who has been winning hearts with his dimpled smile and talent for creating a buzz.No time for you man...Good news or bad, I don't know, but this one comes from June—who can on any given day boast of shaping a chunk of Calcutta's P3 culture. After all, she has often left one baffled. Shall one call her an actress, a so-cialite or an event man-ager? Poor Boy, he won't survive this GameTalking of DVDs, this one just fell into my hands. In the most literal sense. I was shifting through the stacks of my local DVD library. Mine, situated deep inside a winding lane that opens into one of the busiest crossings in old North Calcutta, stocks an interesting collection. You will get X-rated movies (hard-core and softcore), Hitchcock and Chaplin classics, Hollywood blockbusters with an odd Godard or Renoir all together, with an equal share of reckless reluctance. All stacked one on top of the other in flimsy plastic covers, equally dust-ridden. Star’s song saves the dayCalcutta, April 20: Tonight was solely on the spur of a song four words long. Korbo, lorbo, jeetbo re… korbo, lorbo, jeetbo re….
Sourav Ganguly’s Knight Riders had very little going for them for the better part of their riposte to the Deccan Chargers’ modest 110.Pitch-dark: old habits die hard Calcutta, April 20: Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s old Calcutta tonight spoiled the introduction of Shah Rukh Khan’s Calcutta to new-age cricket. A 31-minute floodlight failure, a dead scorecard and waterless toilets at the Eden reinforced the cityI’m the energy for this team: SRKThe Kolkata Knight Riders’ owner, Shah Rukh Khan, spoke to The Telegraph soon after his team’s five-wicket win over the rather highly rated Deccan Chargers of Hyderabad on Sunday.Knights ride David Hussey knock to tame ChargersThe city’s first tryst with Twenty20 cricket with an international flavour had all the elements to make it special — drama, tension, fireworks, character, glitz and glamour. To cap it all on a Super Sunday, the hosts emerged triumphant.Shocking pitch: LaxmanV.V.S. Laxman blamed the Eden Gardens wicket and the power failure for Sunday’s loss to Kolkata Knight Riders. The Deccan Chargers captain also said he was happy with the team’s performance.My dream came true: HusseyDavid Hussey said he would have preferred a fast bouncy wicket at the Eden. Nevertheless he was happy that Kolkata Knight Riders players showed character to pull off a thrilling victory. The following are excerpts... The pitch Kids test their abacus skillsLast Sunday was eventful for all abacus fans. Two contests were held in the city to spot the sharpest ones.Ready for actionFor students of Mahadevi Birla, school days are a heady cocktail of work and play.Sree tells ‘scuffle’ storyApril 27: Kings XI Punjab cricketer S. Sreesanth has said Harbhajan Singh’s Mohali blow was more a “scuffle” than a “slap”, ahead of the disciplinary hearing in New Delhi tomorrow.Cool Sreesanth takes things in strideThe body language was different. There were no frayed tempers and no tears shed on Sunday as Sreesanth shook hands with the Delhi DareDevils after Kings XI Punjab won convincingly. The ceremonial handshakes, this time, were conducted well inside tOur behaviour has to be exemplary: BuchananSourav Ganguly and Co. were, on Sunday, reminded that their behaviour had to be “exemplary” on and off the field during the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL).Unlike GrishamJust tucked the latest John Grisham into the upper rack of my bookshelf. I picked it up at Kolkata airport on my way to Delhi. The Indian capital is about two hours by air from Kolkata, and I was sure to complete the read on my return flight, because I thought four hours should be enough for a pulpy read. But I was wrong. Ami KolkatanCall me a mixed-fruit jam, khichuri, dhansag…my lineage is as mixed as it gets. While most of my friends have a simple answer for “Tui Bangal na Ghoti”, I have to start tracing my family tree from Adam. The result is that the food served at our table is a culinary mixture of North-South-East and West (we were the forerunners of the ‘multicuisine’ diet) and our native tongue Beng-Hinglish. While such a background gives one a very broad cultural perspective, it may threaten to leave a person rootless…you fit in or you don’t fit in. This almost became the case with me till we came to Kolkata.“Is this Tantra?”That's what the sedate-looking gentleman behind me demanded of the twenty-somethings dancing to 'Om Shanti Om'. He didn't want directions. Genuine wonder combined with exasperation gave rise to this question.Cinema etiquette – or the lack thereofWarning – this is going to be a rant. Maya wants to spread her 'Mayajal'Mayawati's decision to fight the election on her own has left many amazed. More so with her claim to form a Non-NDA and Non-UPA government on her own. This definitely has to be the boldest statement for the election season. She might have the largest state in India under her control with 80 seats to the Lok Sabha but to challenge the two national parties is quite amazing.Nano finally ignites its enginesAfter lots of hurdles and roadblocks both corporate and political the Tata Nano finally has pushed the fuel into the ignition cylinder. The world's cheapest car and one of modern India's engineering marvel will finally be seen on the roads. Had it not been for some insane politics the car popularly rechristened as the 'Lakhtakia' would have been five months old now. But as they say “better late than never”.Throwing the shoesThomas Bata has been famously described as one ‘born to shoe people’. So successfully did he, or rather the company founded by him, ‘shoe’ people that his four-letter surname became synonymous with shoes. Tagore’s poem on the discovery of shoes revealed how inconvenient a world without shoes was.India doesn't know how to honour its sporting heroesIndian cricket has been blessed with Princes and Maharajahs ever since its inception. We have had Royals like Ranjitsinghji, the Maharajah of Vizianagram and Duleepsinghji don the sport and make it richer. But indisputably Indian cricket's Greatest Maharajah has been the man who is so aptly nicknamed ‘Maharaj’- Sourav Chandidas Ganguly. He started like a prince, ruled like a king and left the game like an emperor. The story of cricketers from Bengal being given a rude awakening by the controllers of cricket in the country has been a historically continuous process. It started with Shute Banerjee and Putu Chowdhury while Sourav Ganguly’s case shows that things haven’t changed. But defying all odds, the Tiger of Behala has stood like a Prince among the ruins of his predecessors to become arguably his country's finest captain.IPL picks up paceWith the cash rich Indian Premier League taking off from the Rainbow Nation of South Africa, the word ‘recession’ will take a back seat for at least a month. It will be a honeymoon period for the Franchise owners from India who hope to make the IPL the next big thing in world sport. Mr. Lalit Modi has even compared the IPL with the UEFA Champions League and has asked the governing body of world Football FIFA to take a lesson from it. As the focus shifts to cricket, viewers all across the world should be in for a cracker of a tournament with most of the international players being available, making each team perform better.Rain rain go away, IPL players wanna playThis is probably the nursery rhyme that all the players and the fans of Indian Premiere League are rhyming at the moment. Almost half a week after the tournament began the weather god hasn't showered his blessings on the tournament and rain has played a spoilt sport in most of the matches. It seems to be raining everywhere in South Africa be it in Durban or Cape Town.Sourav won the match for KKR‘Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo Re’ was the song of Tuesday afternoon as the Kolkata Knight Riders took on the Kings XI Punjab on a gloomy day at Kingsmead, Durban. And the Knight Riders did not disappoint. Riding on the magnificent performances of Sourav Ganguly with the ball and Chris Gayle with the bat, Shah Rukh's boys ended up smiling thanks to the Duckworth and Lewis Rule. The setting was perfect for seam bowling and Ishant Sharma showed why he is one of International cricket's emerging superstars. But with Irfan Pathan wreaking havoc, the Kings XI were all set for a mammoth score. In comes the man with the golden arm — Sourav Ganguly. One over of classical seam bowling – and the tides are changed. First Pathan and then Ravi Bopara, Ganguly all on his own halted the speeding train of the Kings XI.Perfect finish again eludes DadaIf critics still doubted the talent the 'Bengal Tiger' Sourav Ganguly had, yesterday's innings against the Rajasthan Royals was an answer for all of them. Nobody expected the match to go down to the wire once Brendon McCullum and Chris Gayle had shown their back. It was the man of steel the former Indian captain Sourav who came good and almost did it for the Knight Riders silencing the Ganguly bashers.Is 'Fake IPL Player' faking it?It’s just five days into the IPL and we already have a superstar; his name –FAKE IPL PLAYER. Don’t be surprised— he is undisputedly the biggest hit of this year’s IPL, as of now. But the big question is: who is this superstar? No one knows,Kolkata deserves a better performance from its KnightsSo near yet so far— this was the tale of the two teams that played better cricket in their respective games on Thursday: the Chennai Super Kings and the Kolkata Knight Riders. Both the teams should have cruised to victory yet they manufactured a loLankan crisis to impact Tamil Nadu pollsThe war between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) in northern Sri Lanka is likely to have a huge impact on the Lok Sabha polls in in Tamil Nadu. Political parties from Tamil Nadu like the DMK, AIADMK and PMK are trying to draw maximum mileage out of the Lankan issue. The BJP and the Congress are watching their steps on the issue and refraining themselves from making any controversial remarks on the issue.Bowlers— the backbone of a team Mark Waugh was once nicknamed “the forgotten Waugh" because the more famous Waugh, his twin Steve, used to hog most of the limelight. Similarly, bowlers, in the T-20 format seem to be the forgotten bunch as much of the credit goes to the batsmen. TLegends’ day outIt was a national holiday on Monday in South Africa and the Double header matches at the IPL provided the crowds with amazing entertainment. In the first match of the day, Team Chennai led by India skipper MS Dhoni took on the revamped Deccan Chargers. The Super Kings were given a super start by the Orange cap holder Matthew Hayden only to lose impetus at the strategy break. This strategy break, which was initially intended for commercial reasons, has proved to be the undoing for many of the teams, especially the team that bats. This is because it is difficult to regain concentration after the break, and bowlers take advantage of this big time. But some lusty hitting by Jacob Oram at the death provided the Chennai team with a respectable total of 165. But when as a captain you have to tackle Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs batting at the top of the powers, even 265 would seem a low total to defend. Gilchrist literally finished the match in the first 6 overs with a 19 ball 44 and Gibbs carried forward the team with a beautifully paced innings. It is so heartening to see Herschelle Gibbs overcome his personal problems and play the type of cricket he is used to playing. One of South Africa's greatest ever cricketers hitting a purple patch has come in as a boon for the Deccan Chargers who are in to prove a point this time. The only worrying factor in the Charge of their brigade has been the form of the very very special Laxman, who seems at the moment to be playing artificially and forcing the pace a little too early. As the Chargers are on a winning spree, the importance of his failure has been negated. He just needs to spend some time in the middle to regain his silken touch and once he starts firing, the Charger would be the team to beat.Hangla's storyHangla’s is a roadside snack food chain in Mumbai. They sell Kolkata-style rolls, Biriyani and other items from four outlets across the city that many seem to relish; needless to say how much the Bengali community enjoys them. Saunter down to any of the stalls on a weekend eve, and you will know.