The Telegraph - Calcutta: Sports

The I-League, which will be kicked off by film star John Abraham in Goa, will have a mascot in the shape of a snail.

I can just smell the excitement! Go Fighting Snails!!

Sixty years ago, India’s most loved actress was Suraiya. She entranced our fathers in the romantic roles she played opposite Dilip Kumar. It is not entirely certain whether she broke his heart when she left for Lahore in 1947, for he stayed on in India, married Saira Banoo, and went on to make films with Nargis. But Suraiya broke millions of Indian hearts when she left.

It would have been all right if she had won millions of Pakistani hearts. But there was no film industry in Pakistan at that time, and nowhere could Suraiya display her talents. She married and sank into the humdrum life of an ordinary housewife — sorry, a distinguished homemaker.

But then, in the Sixties, emerged another actress who stole Pakistani hearts — Noor Jehan.

Here are ten goof-ups to get you started —

• Suraiya didn’t move to Pakistan in 1947…
• …or later
• She certainly hadn’t worked opposite Dilip Kumar then…
• …and looks like she never did!
• Both Dilip Kumar and Suraiya were the speculation of much tabloid speculation and romantically linked to various people, but never to each other
• Dilip Kumar actually never worked with Nargis after he his marriage
• Suraiya was never married.
• There was a flourishing film industry in Lahore at, and in fact muchbefore, “that time”.
• Noor Jehan did not “emerge” in the sixties — she had by then been a superstar for two decades, and been in the movies for over thirty years!
• Sixty years ago, Suraiya was only seventeen, and not quite “India’s most loved actress” yet (if she ever was).

For extra credit — have you ever read anything about anything that contained more factual errors?

“The only way to rid the country of corruption is to hang a few of you on the lamp post. The law does not permit us to do it but otherwise we would prefer to hang people like you at the lamp post,” a Bench of Justices S B Sinha and Markandeya Katju remarked during arguments put forth by counsel for an accused.

As counsel R Singh, tried to make some submission Justice Katju further said, “Everywhere, we have corruption. Nothing is free from corruption. Everybody wants to loot this country. The only solution for this menace is to hang some people in the public so that it acts as a deterrent on others.”

KOLKATA: It was packed with explosives and shrapnel, triggered to explode at the slightest pressure. Yet they dragged it around, toyed with it, tried to unscrew it, and then went at it with a hammer and chisel — all on camera as journalists milled round for the best shot.

No surprise then that the mine exploded, killing CID bomb disposal constables Utpal Bhakta and Basudeb Chakraborty and injuring 29 onlookers, including two senior police officers and seven journalists.

As she went closer, the snake hissed. We all moved back, but Sushmita went down on her knees and closed her eyes,” said Chandra. “She bowed before the snake and chanted some mantras.”

Chandra said the unit members were surprised when “the snake didn’t move from that place for a few hours. Later it left quietly.”

Sen, who plays a rock star in the movie “Zindagi Rocks,” or “Life Rocks,” said she wasn’t afraid.

“The snake is considered very auspicious so I asked everyone not to get scared of Nag Devta (snake god),” she told the paper. “I assured Tanuja that with the blessings of Nag Devta the film is bound to rock.”

In a bizarre turn to BJP protests against the rise in militant attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, the party today offered to pay Rs 1 lakh to any civilian who kills a militant.

Best of all, the minorities are welcome to kill themselves! –

Asking people “not to look to the government for help”, BJP general secretary Vinay Katiyar told a party workers rally at the Parade Ground here: “Rs 1 lakh will be paid by the party for each militant killed by a civilian, irrespective of caste, creed or religion.”

Yup, discrimination on the basis of caste — bad. Frenzied civilians collecting booty on each other’s heads — totally kosher.

The Delhi police, starting today, will watch all Page 3 parties in Mumbai very closely. A three-member team headed by Station House Officer of the Connaught Place police station, Suresh Kaushik, arrived in the city yesterday. They will visit parties at short-listed pubs and discos where drugs are taken.

Page 3 scan

Pondicherry, June 5: BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu escaped unhurt when the driver of his car applied brakes suddenly to try avoid hitting a man who was crossing the road at Kalapet near Pondicherry.

Police said Naidu did not suffer any injury. The BJP leader’s car hit the man, who fractured his right leg, they said.

BANGI, Malaysia (Reuters) - As Malaysia prepares to pick its first astronaut, the country’s space agency is hunting for solutions to the problems it expects devout Muslims to face while in orbit, such as in which direction to pray.

Clearly this calls for a two-day conference of scientists and mullahs.

One of the five pillars of Islam requires the faithful to pray five times a day, and to face Mecca, the birthplace of Islam, while doing so. Astronauts aboard spaceships could have difficulty meeting these requirements.

“Among the astronaut’s needs, if he is a Muslim, are guidelines on performing prayers in space, and other aspects of life according to Islamic principles,” Malaysian government official Mohd Ruddin Abdul Ghani told a two-day meeting of scientists and religious experts to thrash out solutions.

Malaysia weighs concerns of Muslim space travelers - Yahoo! News