The connection with her acting skills may be purely coincidental but starlet Udita Goswami, last seen draped all over Emraan Hashmi in Aksar, has just agreed to endorse a plywood brand. About the endorsement, her first since she turned actor, Goswami, a former model says, "When the company showed me the plan, I was impressed." She has not signed any films yet, for a guru she believes in has asked her not to do so before a certain date. Till then, you can catch her romancing the stone, we mean, wood.

STARRY APPROACH

She's part of a team that has just discovered the first galaxy in the short sub-millimetre wavelength range but she doesn't behave like a star. Twenty-eight-year-old Sophia Ali Khan, a NASA astrophysicist, was in Delhi recently to meet President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and though she loved talking to him about what makes the universe go round, she had a small complaint: the President spent a lot of time with her grandmother, who happens to be from an area close to his home. Enough to bring anyone down to earth.

Peace on Track

Salman Ahmad, a member of the Pakistan-based band Junoon, is going solo with Infiniti, which he says, "suggests there is life beyond Junoon". The album includes Ghoom tana, a track in collaboration with Shubha Mudgal, the video of which was released for private viewing two years ago, though the audio is seeing the light of day now. "The idea was to send a message of peace," says Mudgal. Not an original idea. Perhaps the album will be.

Game Point Paes

Tennis champion Leander Paes has won a big title ahead of the forthcoming Davis Cup match. Paes and Rhea Pillai, an Art of Living teacher, won mixed doubles with a baby girl, delivered through Caesarean section on Monday. A close friend of Pillai confirmed that the parents are "simply over the moon", and have named their bundle of joy Aiyanna. Well, it is definitely a case of game, set and match for Paes.

-Compiled by Kimi Dangor

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