Talk of the town

- GUESS WHO let her hair down in Chennai at the big bash on Tuesday night? Supermodel Bipasha Basu. Yes, she was back in the city after the Swarovksi show to endorse yet another product.

This time it was to let her hair down, literally. To be washed. Bipasha made an entry with intensely oiled hair which the beautician washed with shampoo, a promo for Pantene Pro-V.

Times RJ Rajiv Moolani played host as DJ George played music that kept the party animals on their toes. Even Bipasha danced with the janta.

The supermodel has her feet firm on the ground. She spent quite some time with the media answering some rather uncomfortable questions with a smile on her face - questions on property, tax, investments, money and others straight out of the King Commission.

Incidentally, Bipasha was cast opposite Little B Abhishek in the shelved `Aakhri Mughal'. She's looking out for good scripts. And she might do projects down South too for she believes there are better scripts, style and budgets here.

- SUPERCOP JULIO Francis Ribeiro, is known for his campaign against terrorism, but now at 71, he is fighting a different enemy - pirates in the audio and video cassette industries. He works for the Indian Music Industry (IMI), an agency evolved from the Indian Phonographic Industry, working with local police against piracy.

Mr. Ribeiro, was in Chennai and he said IMI's policing had led to rise in sales for genuine audio and video CDs. Apart from the IMI, Mr. Ribeiro is involved in social work, organising programmes for school drop- outs from slums with the participation of local policemen. He organised a workshop for local policemen to create awareness about Copyright Act provisions.

- POSTINGS IN Government are switched overnight: Mr. R. Sekar, IPS, Joint Commissioner of Police, Traffic, was transferred and posted as DIG, Villupuram range on Tuesday. Just two days later, the officer was given a fresh posting as DIG, Home Guards, Chennai. Who said Government does not work fast ?

- SOME POSTINGS draw even a public reaction: women's self-help groups in Tiruvellore district are least impressed with the shifting of the Additional Collector, Dr. Santosh Babu, whose initiative helped form dozens of such groups. The IAS officer has been posted in the Chief Minister's cell. The women planned a demonstration, but they were told that it would be seen as interference in administration. Now, it is to be confined to a farewell at Tiruvellore.

KAN AMUSING spectacle was witnessed earlier this week, when Dr. T. R. Janarthanam, president of the World Tamils' Federation, decided to play the part of George Norton, who was closely associated with the founding of Pachaiyappa's institutions.

Dr. Janarthanam hired a cinema make-up man for his act, and arrived at Pachaiyappa's college in a vintage Austin, with a retinue of assistants, to demand that elections be conducted to the Pachaiyappas Trust Board.

Pachaiyappa's Will of 1794 was first decreed by the Supreme Court of Madras at the instance of Sir Herbert Crompton, Norton's predecessor as AG. A large part of the philanthropist's legacy was salvaged by Norton, making available Rs. 4.5 lakhs for educational ventures.

By Sudhish Kamath, P. Oppili and K. Ramachandran.

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