Q 1. "Once a swayamsevak, always a swayamsevak", says the RSS of...
a. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
b. Gujarat Congress President S. Vaghela.
c. Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Vinay Katiyar.

Q 2. The Indian football team had to wait for hours to practice at a Delhi stadium as...
a. There were minor matches going on.
b. The balls were stolen.
c. The coach had a case of Delhi-belly.

Q 3. Actor Salman Khan wants an arms permit...
a. To go deer hunting.
b. As he wants to win a Commonwealth gold.
c. Because he faces underworld threats.

MUSIC
Promising Voices Hit a High Note

NEW BLLOD: Shende (left) and Kumar

Fresh faces, especially talented ones unchaperoned by godfathers, are a rarity in music concerts. So the Vishnu Digambar Jayanti Sangeet Samaroh held in Delhi last week was a pleasant surprise. Sawani Shende from Pune and Sri Venkatesh Kumar from Lakshmipura in Bellary were the stars of the festival. Shende is undergoing training from Veena Sahasrabuddhe and Kumar from Pandit Puttaraja Gawai.

Kumar wants to maintain the purity of the Gwalior gharana. "I know sangeet sadhna and the guru's blessings are the keys to keeping my music alive. So what if I am orthodox, I preserve my tradition," he says. A lecturer at Dharwad University, Karnataka, Kumar's deep-rooted commitment and unadulterated music speak for themselves.

In contrast, Shende's voice has the flavour of the Gwalior and Kirana gharanas. "Being open to influences is the mantra my guru has given me," she says. With talents such as these, Hindustani classical music's future rests assured.

-S. Sahaya Ranjit

TRENDS
Urban Focus

ACQUIRING A LIGHTNESS OF TOUGH: Titli

Bengali directors seem to have discovered a "metropolitan mind", producing work with a new sensibility about city folk and their concerns. The cinematic U-turn has taken them the Yash Chopra way, with bubblegum romances and designer costumes. Director Subrata Sen's next production has an under-30 cast and a rock band in the lead. Then there's Haranath Chakraborty's recently released college romance Saathi (Companion). As National Award-winning director Rituparno Ghosh says, there's a desire to acquire a "lightness of touch". Ghosh's previous film Titli, about a star-struck girl, has it. So probably will Aparna Sen's new film Mr and Mrs Iyer. Other upcoming films have the look and subjects that only city moviegoers can admire.

"None of these films has worked well outside Kolkata, except at festivals," says Arijit Dutta, member of the Eastern India Motion Pictures Association. "Nor is any expected to." They probably make enough in the metropolis. While Subrata Sen's Ek Je Acche Kanya (There was a Girl)-about a teenager's crush-grossed Rs 35 lakh in the city, it earned only Rs 5 lakh from the rest of Bengal.

-Labonita Ghosh

FIGURE CONSCIOUS
Bollywood's Blockbusters

The past five decades have seen the earnings of Bollywood's top hits shoot up about 30 times

1950s Mother India Rs 3 crore	1960s Mughat-e-Azam Rs 3 crore	1970s Sholay Rs 15 crore
1980s Maine Pyaar Kiya Rs 20 crore	1990s Hum Apke Hain Koun! Rs 100 crore	2001 Gadar Rs 90 crore