MAKEOVER : Sanghvi with the new HT

For over 75 years, the Hindustan Times has faithfully reported the news. Last week, Delhi's largest newspaper made news. The old lady of Kasturba Gandhi Marg hired a foreign make-up artist, shed some weight and got herself an image makeover.

The new-look HT, with seven columns in place of the eight that newspaper readers in India are familiar with, has, in the words of its editor Vir Sanghvi, "the smart look and sleek size of the world's greatest newspapers. The leaner, narrower page is in keeping with international trends ... Other newspapers will progressively introduce the new paper size, but at HT we are proud to be the paper that leads the rest."

For much of its existence, the paper resisted change though the city in which it was the undisputed leader changed beyond recognition. It wasn't too long ago that HT was derisively referred to the only "Punjabi newspaper written in the Roman script". Then industrialist K.K. Birla's daughter Shobhana Bhartiya became editorial director of the company. Coupled with the arrival of Sanghvi as editor, the paper underwent a total overhaul. HT got a new masthead, it looked a lot smarter, the design was elegant and the articles intelligently written and presented. And despite the competition resorting to discounts and price cuts, HT circulation soared. From 5.66 lakh in 1998, it touched 8.78 lakh last year. Other papers may be in a hurry to follow suit since the new format is expected to save ht Rs 27 crore in newsprint costs, which constitutes half the expenses of a newspaper.

-Ashok Damodaran

RULING A DECADENT EMPIRE: Jaitley

They said all that was needed for the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) to turn over a new leaf was a new emperor. Let's just say, he came, he saw and he threw up his hands, professing helplessness.

DDCA president and Union Law Minister Arun Jaitley was expected to transform the most unprofessionally managed cricket association in the country. Typically, no one said a word when the Delhi team practised next to open drains or when the DDCA could not arrange a proper net for the Indian team.

But for the England vs India one-day international, the nest of vipers stirred itself. Only 6,000 out of 26,000 printed tickets were sold to the public, and of the DDCA's own quota of tickets 400 were returned. Yet, bona fide ticket holders were lathi-charged and refused entry while a galaxy of freeloaders (with or without passes) walked in unhindered-usually as part of some VIP entourage. Jaitley says, "Delhi is a city of freedom fighters. Everyone fights for free stuff." The DDCA makes the last days of the Roman Empire look like a vipassana camp. It has now made its emperor look like the one famous for those new clothes.

DIED: Bhagwan Dada, 89, noted character actor, in Mumbai.

AWARDED: The Shram Ratna, to NTPC employee R.P.P. Nair, for innovative skills in repairing pump motors at the Korba power project.

REVIVED: The Malabar series of joint naval exercises by India and the US.

REOPENED: An inquiry into the Hinduja passport scandal, by UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, after former cabinet minister Peter Mandelson produced new evidence in the case.

ALLOWED: By the Delhi High Court, Sanjeev Nanda, accused in the 1999 BMW hit-and-run case, to go to the US.

CONFERRED: The G.D. Birla Award for Scientific Research for 2001, to Dr Seyed E. Hasnain, director, Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad.