Q:Indonesia's President Megawati Sukarnoputri's granddaughter is called...
a. Orissaputri after family friend Biju Patnaik.
b. Atalwati after Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
c. Kilowati as she is likened to a tiny version of her grandmother.

Q 2. BrahMos is...
a. An anti-ship missile being developed by India and Russia.
b. A new magazine on the Brahmo community.
c. The multi-ethnic rock group that has sung the theme song for the India-West Indies cricket series.

Q 3. India's representative at the Queen Mother's funeral in London was...
a. Jaswant Singh.
b. I.K. Gujral.
c. P.M. Sayeed.

Answers: 1(a), 2(a), 3(c)

FASHION FEUD
Keeping Clones Out

NOT AMUSED: Kumar

Copycats and aspiring clones beware. Gauri Kumar is here. The new director-general of the prestigious National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Delhi, is not amused at fashion schools that imitate NIFT's logo or confuse students with similar names and acronyms. Like IIFT (International Institute of Fashion Technology), NAFT (National Academy of Fashion Technology) and a bunch of others that have sprung up over the years.

In her first press interview after taking over as head of the country's premier design institute, Kumar says rather purposefully: "We will initiate legal proceedings after studying each case."

Kumar has a legacy to fall back on. NIFT already has a case pending in the Delhi High Court against the National Institute of Fashion Design (NIFD)-a chain of 84 institutes all over the country with its head office in Chandigarh-for allegedly sporting a similar logo.

"I don't think people are so uneducated that they would get confused between an NIFT and an NIFD. This is not some nursery school," retorts Vikramjit Singh Sahney, chairperson (Delhi region) for NIFD. "I think NIFT's main worry stems from other reasons such as the fact that at a recent contest in Kolkata, I'm told an NIFD student won the first prize and only the second prize went to an NIFT student." Over to Kumar.

-Anna M.M. Vetticad

MUSIC REVIEW
Half a Century of Ms Versatile Voice

Safar: A Journey; HMV; Rs 200

Why do compilations of old film songs under various categories continue to do good business? Maybe because they hark back to the era of romantic music and poetry. Asha Bhosle symbolises that era and still maintains her youthful voice. This four-album compilation traces her career from the 1950s to 2001: Eena meena deeka (Aasha) to Kambakht ishq hai (Pyar Tune Kya Kiya). There are only two songs between 1999 and 2001. Is that because she didn't get the right compositions or the composers couldn't exploit her talent? Probably both.

This collection has songs by music directors ranging from O.P. Nayyar, C. Ramchandra and Madan Mohan to A.R. Rahman and Sandeep Chowta. Check out Ambar ki ek pak suraha from Kadambari by sitar maestro Ustad Vilayat Khan, who has rarely composed music for films. But there are lapses too. Most of the songs are by R.D. Burman, but there is not even one by Laxmikant-Pyarelal. Asha's duets with Kishore Kumar and songs with Jaidev are excluded. Nevertheless this is worth listening to.

-S. Sahaya Ranjit

SOTTO VOCE

The turf authorities have found top jockey Pesi Shroff guilty of excessively whipping his horse ... While in prison former POTO man Mohammed Afroz loved the Art of Living course but hated the vegetarian food ... The Sourav Ganguly-Deep Dasgupta relationship has old-timers nostalgic about Sunil Gavaskar's affinity for Suru Nayak ... Andrew Lloyd Webber has been raving about A.R. Rahman, comparing him to Paul McCartney, no less ... Sheshadri Chari, Organiser editor, is speaking at a Rajiv Gandhi Foundation seminar ... Who'll take over from Yanks and Brits when western armies leave Afghanistan? Frontrunners are the Turks but has Uncle Sam sounded out India?