NEW DELHI: The civil aviation ministry on Monday night stepped in to avert the possibility of a suspension of operations by Air India, after the
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national carrier decided not to accept fresh bookings for the next 15 days.

The decision to stop bookings was taken after two rounds of talks failed to end a strike by pilots that disrupted services for the third day on Monday. The airline cancelled 40 flights on Monday. The ministry asked the airline management to enter into dialogue with all sections of employees to end the impasse.

“Bookings will not be taken for the next 15 days,” said an official in Air India’s corporate communications department. However, the airline continued to accept bookings through its website.

The situation was aggravated with pilots of Air India, who were spared the cut in perks that sparked the agitation, too joining the strike on Monday by reporting sick. In a late night statement, Air India said the management was deliberating various options to deal with the strike. Civil aviation secretary MM Nambiar ruled out the possibility of a lock-out at the national carrier.

Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav met pilots here on Monday to discuss their concerns on the proposed PLI cut.
The first round of talks happened in a tense environment, said an official familiar with the negotiations. “While pilots insisted on a roll-back of productivity linked incentives of 7,000 employees including executive pilots with erstwhile Indian Airlines and payment of arrears, the management remained non-committal on reinstating part of the salary,” he said, requesting anonymity.

Executive pilots, with more than 15 years of service, in the airline have been reporting sick to protest the cut in incentives by up to 50%. “The CMD had on Sunday asked all executive directors to prepare a contingency plan and submit a preparedness report in case other sections of employees such as engineers go on strike,” said an executive director who was part of the meeting.

AHMEDABAD: In a show of solidarity, Gujarat University (GU) has decided to take a token amount of Rs 1 lakh from state government for using its
ground for 20 days during Vibrant Gujarat Navratri festivities this year.
The daily rent of university ground comes to around Rs 51,000, amounting to Rs 10 lakh for the duration of the event. This move is likely to prompt protest from syndicate members who had opposed last year as well when GU had acted in similar manner.

“The event is not being organized for generating charity for the poor. It is a platform of interaction for rich and affluent industrialists and NRIs,” said a syndicate member. Students are also irked over the fact that invitation cards of this event mention GU ground as that of Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC). “I’ve registered strong protest with the government, urging it to mention the name of university in the invitation and asked government not to make this mistake again next year,” said GU vice-chancellor Parimal Trivedi.

About the issue of token fee, Trivedi cited cooperative attitude towards the government. “Had the function belonged to any NGO or private organization, GU would have charged it Rs 51,000 per day. But as this event belongs to the government, we have to be reasonable,” he said.

Tarun Mansukhani, the young and happening director of ‘Dostana’, who is currently spending sleepless nights scripting a sequel to his gay comedy tells Smita Mishra of Spicezee.com about what’s keeping him in New York these days and who’s going to be part of his next movie.

Tell us about your film’s screening in New York.

I am here for the screening of Dostana which has been selected in the iView Film Festival organised by the Engendered Society which aims at creating awareness on gender and sexuality. I was surprised when the film got selected but the organisers are very excited to have its screening. My film will open the Festival.

What made you select homosexuality as a theme of your movie Dostana, knowing fully well that it is still not openly acceptable in India?

Unless you make something new, you can’t tell with certainty what response it will get. The perception and thinking of the people about gay sex has changed dramatically, which of course was reflected in the tremendous response that Dostana got. You can’t tell the fate of a film unless you make it. So risk has to be taken somewhere.

What made you select such macho men John and Abhishek as the ‘gay pair’?

I chose such macho men as Abhi and John because when you cast men about whose sexuality you are so sure, the humour element is greater. Abhi was part of Dostana since the very beginning; however I took some time to decide on John.

Will Dostana Part 2 have the same cast? Is its storyline also similar?

The film right now is in the scripting stage, so I am unable to comment on its story. Abhishek and John are part of it of course. I am not sure who will play the female lead.

Tell us one special thing each about Abhishek. John and Priyanka?

The best thing about Abhishek is his comic timing which is just perfect! I have known him since long. He has no false ego and is a fantastic company.

John puts himself in your hands and obediently does what the director asks him to do. He is a director’s actor in the true sense. And his hard work is matchless.

I call Priyanka my other wife. We keep fighting all the time and enjoy each other’s company a lot. She is a dear friend.

Dostana was all fun and spice. Have you ever thought of making off-beat cinema?

I do. I want to make all sorts of movies and would be very happy making an art film.

Making a comedy is easy of difficult?

Extremely difficult. You need to have an extra punch line everywhere for having the fun factor. It should be such that it appeals to every one’s taste and is able to tickle the humour bone.

In India, films succeed also because of their music. Do you think this was the reason for Dostana’s success?

Ya, its true. In fact Dostana had great music because we really worked hard on it. In fact Vishal Shekhar took great pain, rejecting many tunes-before zeroing down on the final ones.

What are your upcoming ventures?

Right now I am solely occupied with Dostana Part 2.

Have you ever thought about acting as a career?

I have done small flicks in several movies. In fact I did a small role in Karan’s film also. However currently I am concentrating on direction only.

Actor Salman Khan has said he is serious about owning an IPL team.

Speaking exclusively to NDTV for the first time after he met IPL boss Lalit Modi, the star said that he did not follow cricket but that he would make a good team owner.

Salman also denied that bidding for a team is linked to his rivalry with Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan.

Shah Rukh owns an IPL team, the Kolkata Knight Riders, and has been an active participant for two years. Other actors who own IPL teams are Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty.

AHMEDABAD: Foreign students who are scheduled to visit the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), as a part of the exchange
programme, have been directed to get medical certificates declaring their swine flu status. Institute authorities are keeping pace with the preventive arrangements in view of the swine flu scare on the campus. The institute has had three positive cases of, two of which were detected on August 22.
“We have asked exchange students to bring health certificates from their home countries. This is just a precautionary measure. Once they arrive on campus, the institute’s doctor will conduct a thorough check-up. Once all cleared, they will be allotted rooms and the session will start for them. This process is being followed for students already residing on campus as well,” said a member of the student exchange committee. “There have been no cancellations yet,” said Karan Varmani, the student coordinator of the exchange programme cell. Exchange students mostly come from the partner institutes in the UK, US, south America and some Asian countries. Students from swine flu-infected countries have become a worry for the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC).

A senior AMC official said, “IIM-A will have many students coming from foreign countries in the next two to three months. This will require strict swine flu checkups. We have advised IIM-A authorities to keep a complete history of the students. In case, any exchange student is found of complaining of flu-like symptoms, he should be immediately isolated and given medical treatment.” “We had a detailed discussion with the campus doctor on the swine flu-cases and on the precautionary measures to be followed for next few months.” added the official.

In an attempt to enter the Guinness Book of World Records, Rajendra Prasad, protagonist of upcoming south Indian flick “Quick Gun Murugan”, made a 32.5 feet long dosa, a delicacy popular in southern parts of the country.

The attempt is also aimed at promoting the movie.

Sixteen chefs helped Prasad made the dosa at the Sankalp restaurant in Ahmedabad in less than 40 minutes.

Speaking on the occasion, Prasad said that by making the world’s longest dosa, he wants to promote the importance of promoting vegetarian lifestyle.

“The main subject of the “Quick Gun Murugan” is the epic battle between the vegetarian and non-vegetarian. But in this we are highlighting the importance of vegetarian in today’s time. So we wanted our vegetarian food to be into the world. So that’s why we are promoting this dosa,” said Prasad.

“Quick Gun Murugan”, the protagonist, is a cowboy fighting for the virtues of vegetarian food while the villain advocates non-vegetarian dishes. The film is a satire on the war between vegetarian and non-vegetarian food enthusiasts.

The movie is set to hit the theatres on August 28. (ANI)

Nevada (US), Aug.18 (ANI): “We Are All Hindus Now”-headlines the article in the upcoming edition of prestigious newsmagazine “Newsweek”, saying “U.S. Views on God and Life Are Turning Hindu”.

Written by its religion editor Lisa Miller, it says, “…recent poll data show that conceptually, at least, we are slowly becoming more like Hindus and less like traditional Christians in the ways we think about God, our selves, each other, and eternity.”

Commenting about the Newsweek viewpoint, Rajan Zed said that community was glad that rich philosophical thought of Hinduism was being recognized and accepted widely outside the Hindu circles.

The article quotes a religion professor at Boston University who has long framed the American propensity for “the divine-deli-cafeteria religion” as “very much in the spirit of Hinduism…”

It further says: “So here is another way in which Americans are becoming more Hindu: 24 percent of Americans say they believe in reincarnation, according to a 2008 Harris poll. So agnostic are we about the ultimate fates of our bodies that we’re burning them-like Hindus-after death. More than a third of Americans now choose cremation, according to the Cremation Association of North America.”

The article ends with: So let us all say “om.” (ANI)

New Delhi, Aug 15, India’s swine flu toll rose to 23 Friday and 107 new cases were detected positive for the viral infection, taking the total number of those affected by influenza A (H1N1) virus to 1,390.

At least “6,897 people have been tested so far, out of which 1,390 are positive for influenza A (H1N1). Of the positive cases, 648 have been discharged, while 742 are at various stages of recovery,” the health ministry said in a statement.

As Maharashtra, where educational institutions and public places have been closed for a week, has reported the maximum number of cases as well as deaths, a central health team is stationed in the state to assist the state government in instituting appropriate public health measures.

On Friday, the worst hit Pune city reported only four positive cases, but Mumbai had 29 confirmed cases.

The other new cases were from - Osmanabad (4), Nanded (2), Nagpur (2), Dhule (1), Nasik (1), Latur (1), Delhi (13), Bangalore (9), Mangalore (2), Hyderabad (13) Kolkata (6), Ahmedabad (5), Surat (5) Gurgaon (5), Goa (2), Srinagar (2) and Panchkula (1).

In Gurgaon and Bangalore, all cases are indigenous cases with no foreign travel history.

Of the 13 cases from Hyderabad, eight are indigenous cases with no overseas travel history, the rest have history of having traveled abroad.

In Kolkata also all cases are indigenous cases. The same was seen in Gujarat where the 10 cases - five each from Ahmedabad and Surat - are indigenous.

Pravin Patel, a US based NRI died of swine flu in Gujarat. He is the first victim of the dread swine flu which he had contracted in the US. He had symptoms of swine flue when he arrived here on July 31.

Patel’s wife who has also been diagnosed as H1N1 positive is hospitalized and said to be stable. The Atlanta based couple had come here for one month holiday. They were admitted to a private hospital on August 5 and were shifted to Civil Hospital as their condition deteriorated.

NEW DELHI: Rains lashed some parts of the national capital this afternoon bringing respite to Delhiites braving humid weather from the past few days.

There were reports of waterlogging in Chanakyapuri area. “This was unexpected. I was not carrying a raincoat and I am drenched,” Tushar Sharma, a media professional who was on his way to his Connaught Place office on his motorcycle, said.

Heavy rains were eluding the capital for the past fortnight and heavy rains had lashed the city last on July 27 when the rain guages measured 126 mm of showers, throwing normal life out of gear.

Two persons were killed in the heavy rains on that day. The capital has been witnessing high humidity levels in the past some days with the maximum hovering over 90%.