If well begun is truly half done, Vivek Venkatachalam, 18, is the man on whom all eyes should be riveted. An Intel-Corp competition ranks the MIT-aspirant among the 10 top young scientists of the US. The second generation Indian is also an accomplished piano player. Thermodynamics at work, eh?

Lord Willing

After the furore created by the painting depicting the glamorous Beckhams as the Shiva family, here comes the appeasement in the form of His son. Lord Ganesh has entered UK's House of Lords, appearing on the arm of Lord Navnit Dholakia's coat. The president of the Liberal Democratic Party is leaving no stone unturned in propitiating everyone, the elephant god included. "Ganesh is the god of luck and I hope he will bring me that in the Lords," says the mortal lord. Ganesh willing?

Squaring Off

Lagaan came, was seen and eventually conquered, but the director-producer duo of the film didn't return home empty-fisted. Instead, they brought back a slice of India. They weren't the only ones, though-each nominee, presenter and performer at the 74th Academy Awards ceremony got a gift basket that included scarves created by the New York-based Flying Fig, a creation of the mother-daughter team of Titu Metge (pronounced Mitch) and Jagriti Chadha. "It was quite a coup for us," admits Jagriti, president of the fledgling firm. The prolific brace has already launched about 70 designs of scarves in pure silk and merino wool priced between $300-1,000. "There can be no greater honour bestowed on a new and chic fashion house than to be invited to accessorise Hollywood's glamorous elite," gushes Jagriti. Indian did win, after all.

The Other Issue

Call her fickle if you want-she flitted from aspiring to be a jazz singer, to cutting a predominantly pop album to now having a proclivity for the genre of country-but come, she is merely 22. Norah Jones has nonetheless earned the honour of being heralded as one of the top new artists of 2002 by Rolling Stone, no less. With her debut CD Come Away With Me generating a buzz, one could somewhat callously attribute her obviously immense talent to her genes-she is the daughter of sitarist Pandit Ravi Shankar from one of his girlfriends-but she quips, "I don't want to give my dad credit for something he didn't do ... he wasn't around." She may have only just burst into the limelight but her media savvy is in place. Acquired art?

—Compiled by Anil Padmanabhan and Ishra Bhasi