Talk of the town

What has long hair to do with polo? Probably nothing. Then why was Shah Rukh Khan sporting a funky hairstyle with strands of hair falling over his shoulders when he put in an appearance at a function in the Capital on Sunday evening?

Well, those who have been following the Bollywood star's career closely knew the answer. In an image overhaul, Shah Rukh has renounced all those leather jackets, shoes and sunglasses that one associates with him. The reason -- he is shooting for a costume drama being produced under his home banner ``Dreamz Unlimited'' called ``Ashoka The Great''.

Shah Rukh himself admitted he had been growing his hair long for the movie and on top of it, he had sported a wig.``I haven't had time to cut my hair and the shooting is also not over,'' he revealed.

At the function, where in his capacity as brand ambassador of Omega he signed a memorandum with Sawai Bhawani Singh, Officiating President of the Indian Polo Association, he also endorsed the former's effort to promote polo. ``I just love the game,'' confessed the ``Baazigar'' in the presence of illustrious royal families associated with polo.

* * * It pays to have a sense of humour and in politics it can bail a leader out when confronted with difficult questions, especially from hacks.

Last week suddenly the city was agog with news of a patch-up between the Jitendra Prasada faction and the Congress(I) president, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi. After having carried a tirade in the run up to the party chief's election, suddenly the dissidents started signing chirpy notes in favour of the leadership. As correspondents started preparing their arsenal for the official announcement of the new found bonhomie, the Rampur MP, Begum Noor Bano, who sided with Mr. Prasada, softened the blow. She termed the change of heart as yet another ``ceasefire'' during the holy month of Ramzan after which there was not much left to be said.

Similarly, on Tuesday the Communications Minister Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan, was announcing the induction of the farmer leader, Captain Bhopal Singh, who was associated with Mahendra Singh Tikait. However, inadvertently, Mr. Paswan dropped the title which led to some confusion. As scribes sought a clarification, Mr. Paswan quipped that his nascent party already had two Captains, pointing in the direction of the other leader, Captain Jai Narain Prasad ``Nishad'' who is with the Jan Shakti.

* * *

In this age of ``literary activism'', book launches and reading sessions are much sought after events. A case in point was an evening hosted by Penguin India this past Saturday to announce the arrival of Upamanyu Chatterjee's sequel to his debut novel ``English August''.

Delhi's chatterati were out in strength to hear Chatterjee read from ``The Mammaries of the Welfare State''. And since he happens to wear two hats -- writer and bureaucrat -- the gathering had a fair mix of both along with the regulars of the Capital's cocktail circuit.

For Chatterjee, it was an eventful night in more ways than one. Not only did the evening announce the return of Agastya Sen, the main protagonist of ``English August'', it also saw all his three books -- put up for sale in a corner of the room by Penguin -- disappearing from the counter rather fast.

While it was but natural for ``The Mammaries...'' to be picked up by most invitees -- even if only to get the author's autograph or because it is the right thing to do at such events -- the surprise of the evening was the brisk sale of ``English August''. Evidently, Chatterjee's off-the-cuff remark that in his sequel ``Agastya Sen finally gets to have some sex'' revived an interest in his bestselling ``English August''.

- (Contributed By K. Kannan, K.V.Prasad and Anita Joshua).

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