NOT OUT: Dalmiya takes on the ICC again

It's time for the lord of Lord's to start ducking for cover. Jagmohan Dalmiya, president, Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI), is still raging against the International Cricket Council (ICC) and last week he struck another blow at it by presenting a "united Asian" demand that the Mike Denness issue be taken to vote by the ICC executive board.

For those who came in late: Dalmiya and the BCCI are protesting against the three-man committee appointed by the ICC to look into the validity of Denness' rulings against six Indian players during the Port Elizabeth Test of 2001. The heads of the Pakistani, Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi boards, acting under the aegis of the Asian Cricket Council which met in Dubai, went with Dalmiya in demanding that the three-man commission be put on hold until the ICC meeting in Cape Town next month. What's more, they informed the ICC that South Africa, West Indies and Zimbabwe were also with the Asian lobby. This show of unity surprised the ICC as it came after India's Asian brethren maintained a diplomatic silence at the time of the crisis last November.

The turnaround came even as Dalmiya rallied to support boycott-hit Pakistan's cricket schedules, threatening to pull out of India's year-end tour of New Zealand if the Kiwis did not visit Pakistan earlier. Ehsan Mani, chairman of ICC's finance committee and a special invitee to the Dubai confabulations, told India today, "This involves the common interest of Asian cricket." But the plot continues to thicken as it is learnt that the England and Wales Cricket Board, which is as close to Dalmiya as Lord's is to Lonavala, has decided upon its nominee for the elite panel of ICC match referees to be finalised in April. The gentleman in question? Mike Denness.

-Sharda Ugra

Drawing Power

CAPITAL COLOURS: Doig captured the spirit of the city

Delhi, city of invaders and migrants, seen through the eyes of the late Statesman journalist Desmond Doig, was the theme of a recent exhibition in Delhi's India Habitat Centre. Around 100 sketches and watercolours were showcased, bringing alive the quaint mingling of the medieval and modern that characterises the city (tombs of sultans, island-like, in the everyday activity of the city's residential colonies, dhobis washing clothes at the ancient Yamuna ghats).

Bunny Suraiya who organised the show with support from Dubby Bhagat and husband Jug Suraiya, both old colleagues of Doig, says, "The sketches are part of the great 'Desmond Diaspora', they show his eye for detail." Delhi's denizens would agree.

-Shuchi Sinha

ALL SMILES: Tawde

Silver Lining

Bagging 35 of the 227 seats of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is no big deal. But Vinod Tawde, the Mumbai BJP president, is being feted. First, mentor Pramod Mahajan sent a special bouquet, then Union ministers L.K. Advani and Arun Jaitley, and chief ministers Narendra Modi and Rajnath Singh made congratulatory calls. Perhaps the party needed something to gloat about. Tawde didn't speculate either. "I am thrilled" is all he said.

-V. Shankar Aiyar

Modern Mix

NEW DIMENSION: Das' Womb

In 1995, the Heritage Regulations Act for Greater Bombay accorded the Fort area of south Mumbai the status of a heritage precinct. Now, the association that looks after a sub-precinct of the Fort-the Kala Ghoda art district-is keeping conservation alive through an annual festival which is growing in scope each year.

This year, the Kala Ghoda Festival presented a modern approach, including creative forms like architectural photography, street furniture and fashion shows. So if there's Picasso on view at the National Gallery of Modern Art, a digital art exhibition titled "Infinite Visions 2002" is on at the Indigo restaurant. Seventeen artists, including Nilanjan Das, Nandini Gandhi and Yogi Chopra, have created a surreal world with "mouse" brushes and "software program" paints. Das has used bright backgrounds and digital congruency to dramatically alter the presentation of otherwise common themes like Womb and Dance of Life.

-Natasha Israni