Sinha (left) with Chavez

CARACAS In Pakistan he played gentleman's cricket and scored with the home team. In Washington, he had coffee with George Bush and impressed on the American president the virtues of Indian elections. And in Caracas last week, Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha found a soulmate in the mercurial and often larger-than-life Hugo Chavez.

The embattled president of Venezuela, in between quoting Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, felt enthused enough to join hands with Sinha to breathe fresh life into the G-15 group of developing nations. "If we can't do it this time, let us call the Americans and tell them we have WMDs and they can bomb us," he declared to Sinha with a decided twinkle in his eye. Sinha promised $100 million to an Africa fund and an inspired Chavez followed India's example.

Chavez, who stood up India twice before-once even on Republic Day-has promised to come in June wearing the South American "kamiza" to beat the heat. The India-Venezuela "flirtation" is finally getting ready for the altar with the Indian pharma sector setting up house in Caracas and Reliance Industries planning to ship oil across from Venezuela.

-By Indrani Bagchi

Historic Surgery

The patient post surgery

DELHI For three years, like many busy housewives, juggling a hundred daily chores, a 49-year-old Afghan lady had no time to worry about her own niggling abdominal pain. Little did she realise that the cause of her pain would make history. When she could no longer ignore the aches and finally made her way to the doctor, she was diagnosed with kidney tumour. She came to Delhi's Pushpavati Singhania Research Institute for surgery. The hospital specialises in kidney and liver diseases.

Last month, when the team led by Dr Rajesh Taneja operated upon her, they found themselves looking at the largest tumour they had ever seen. And weighing 7.5 kg, it was indeed the world's largest kidney tumour. An extensive search of medical literature corroborated this, for the largest tumour of this kind previously reported in the world was 5.7 kg in a 33-year-old woman. "We knew the present case was unique because of its size and weight," says an excited Taneja.

Carefully preserved, the tumour is now a show-piece at the hospital. And the story has a happy ending. The patient recovered well and was discharged from the hospital after five days, feeling considerably lighter.

-By Supriya Bezbaruah

BOSE 3.2.1 GS DVD HOME ENTERTAINMENT Rs 89,990 (taxes extra)

Complete Entertainer

Enhanced is the key word here. The Bose 3.2.1 GS DVD home entertainment system provides a compelling surround sound experience, advanced control features and much of the same home theatre experience, minus all those cumbersome wires and complexity. The compact speakers are half the size of those in the original 3.2.1 system. Also, consumers can connect up to three additional sources, such as TV, VCR and cable box/satellite, and operate them all on a single advanced easy-to use remote control.

The Bose 3.2.1 GS system is available through easy finance option and comes with a one-year transferable warranty.