Mohanlal for khadi

Thiruvananthapuram: Superstar Mohanlal who has endorsed a lot of luxury items like gold, real estate, financial companies, textiles and has even done a surrogate ad for a liquor company, is now turning Gandhian!

Mohanlal has accepted Kerala Industries Minister Elamaram Karim’s plea to become the goodwill ambassador of Khadi and Handloom clothes in the State. Karim also said that the actor would do it free of cost.
Elamaram Karim said : “ The clothes woven by these sectors wove many lives as well. Support for them would not only boost their production but also strengthen the culture and heritage of the State. Hats off to Mohanlal for supporting Khadi.”

Win against Pakistan is our Holi gift to the country: Rajpal

NEW DELHI: It called for a massive Holi celebration for the Indians. They had earned it; they had played out of their skins to get it. Only, the day after their memorable win over Pakistan, they had no time to get into the festive mood. Bigger and tougher tasks beckoned.

"When is the time to celebrate? We have the match against Australia coming up (on Tuesday), next we play Spain, then England. We can't relax now, we have begun well, we would like to carry on the good work," said midfielder Arjun Hallapa.

The team did have a small celebration at the team hotel on Sunday night, where they just sat together after dinner and poured out their emotions.

"That was no celebration actually, we just shared our thoughts. It was a very emotional moment for all of us. The stadium ambience was simply unforgettable!" added Dhananjay Mahadik, who had an excellent day in the deep.

After a sound night's sleep, the Indians were back for practice by 11 on Monday morning. One, though, could feel the jovial mood. There was a new spring in their steps as they went through the fitness drills.

"More than us, we are glad to have made the whole of India happy. This is our Holi gift to the country," chipped in Rajpal Singh, the Indian skipper.

What were the things they did right against Pakistan? "We had formed a strategy and we just followed it. We had identified the players we had to mark out. Like we managed to pin down Waseem (Ahmed), and that choked their midfield. We also managed to restrict the movements of Rehan Butt, who can be really dangerous upfront. We stuck to the gameplan," explained Halappa.

He added that India would play the same way against Australia. "We will finalise our tactics in the team meeting tonight. We know it would be a tough game. The Australians are known to be relentless in their attacks so we need to be solid in the midfield. We should be able to match them in physical fitness too. The mood in the team is very positive, we are confident of going the distance," said the Bangalore lad.

Vikram Pillay, too, voiced the same thoughts. "We are all very happy," he said, but added that there was a whole tournament left to play. "There are no celebrations. After all it's just one match and it is not a point for big celebrations as yet. There are tougher matches ahead."

The unassuming right-half felt it was teamwork that led to the emphatic win. "Every player did his job. Everyone worked hard and wanted to win, all 16 of us. We played focussed hockey, minute by minute," Pillay, part of the 2001 Junior World Cup-winning squad at Hobart, added.

But he ended the retrospection then and there. "We play Australia in our next match and they will come hard at us," he said. "It's a new match, a new day and like us, Australia want three points badly''

KUNNUKARA_VAYALKARA_APPUSIVOLLY

Be eco-friendly, go for organic colours

Holi is synonymous with smiles, gaiety and colours. However, the harsh chemicals used in colours can put a dampener on your spirits. So, raid your kitchen to conjure up some homemade Holi colours!

Experts say the chemicals in these colours can harm our skin, hair and can cause respiratory problems too. Many people suffer from skin and eye allergies because of the chemicals present.

Health hazards of colours
Different kinds of harmful chemicals are used to produce Holi colours.

Green: The copper sulphate used can cause temporary blindness and eye allergies.

Silver: It may include aluminium bromide, a carcinogenic or agent involved in causing cancer.

Red : Your favourite gulal may contain mercury sulphite, which can cause skin cancer, mental retardation or paralysis.

Purple: It may contain chromium iodide that can lead to various allergies and asthma.

Staying indoors on this festival of cheer is not a great idea. Instead, doctors suggest playing Holi with organic colours. Many stores now offer these natural colours.

Pleasures of organic colours
You can even make these colours at home and add to the joy and fun factor of this festival. So here a few tips to help you prepare for an ‘Organic Holi’.

Yellow: Say it with flowers
Turmeric (haldi) and gram flour (besan) are an important part of our homemade face packs. You can mix both to create the colour yellow. You can substitute gram flour with talcum powder or fuller’s earth (multani mitti) too. You can also dry flowers like marigold (gainda) or yellow chrysanthemums and crush them to a fine powder. Then, mix this powder with gram flour.

Red: Ek chutki sindoor
Red seems to be everybody’s favourite colour on Holi. This year rather than smearing gulal on others, wish your friends with an amazing colour made of red sandalwood powder, which is very good for the skin too. Apart from that, you can use sindoor as well. Powder dry red hibiscus flowers and use them as gulal. You can also soak these flowers in water overnight to get wet colour.

Saffron: Ummm... smells good
It’s said that Lord Krishna played Holi with tesu flowers, known as the Flame of the Forest (butea monosperma). You can either boil these flowers or soak them overnight to obtain a nice smelling orange colour. You can also crush these dried tesu flowers to a powder, and then mix with sandalwood powder. It smells great and gives a very smooth touch.

Green: Beauty on duty
You can use henna powder (mehendi), mixed with any suitable flour to attain a lovely green shade. Mehendi only leaves behind its colour when it’s wet and dry mehendi can be brushed off very easily. Those who love putting colour on people’s hair, do it with henna and save everyone a parlour visit too! Leaves of gulmohur (delonix regia) can also be dried and powdered to attain a fine green colour.

Pink: The wet look
For a wet pink, slice a few beetroots and soak them overnight in water or boil for a few minutes.

Black: Colour-cum-conditioner
You can boil gooseberries (fruits of amla) in an iron container for a few minutes and then keep it aside for a while. Dilute it with water and use. It also works as a conditioner!

Make a pact to go organic this Holi. You’ll be surprised at how much people welcome the colours and you. So, play Holi the natural way!

Raavan's premiere

Mani's bilingual magnum opus Raavan is in the final stage of production and although no official release date has been announced yet, it might hit the screens post summer. But, interestingly, as has become customary to Bollywood movies these days, it will have an international premiere before being released in India. Speculations are rife in the media about a possible premiere of Raavan at the IIFA award events, scheduled to be held in South Korea this year.

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B With this, Raavan will join the league of Bollywood biggies to have premiered overseas, including the latest KJo - SRK blockbuster My Name is Khan. Raavan has an ensemble star cast including Ash - Abi, Vikram, Prithviraj and Priyamani and is scored by double Oscar and Grammy winner A R Rahman
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Floating mall on Kerala backwaters catches tourists’ eye

Alappuzha : A floating shopping mall on Kerala’s beautiful backwaters is catching the attention of tourists.

The mall on a boat floats in the backwaters of the low-lying Kuttanadu area of Alappuzha district.
“The floating Triveni Super Store, which sells everything a home needs including refrigerators and TV sets at subsidised rates, is the brainchild of state Cooperative Minister G. Sudhakaran,” an employee of state government-run Consumerfed, which runs the mall, sais.

Kerala’s tourism department is very happy with the Consumerfed initiative as it catches the attention of tourists visiting the backwaters of Kerala, an area that ranks above the Taj Mahal in National Geographic Traveller’s best destinations of the world.

“Ever since the launch of the floating mall in June last year, it has become a tourist attraction,” says M. Shivshankar, director, Kerala Tourism.

The boat, lined with shelves full of grain to perfumes and health drinks to shampoos, caters to more than 100,000 people in 12 panchayats of Alappuzha. It docks at 53 villages along the backwaters.

These villages cannot access the mainland except through boats. A Triveni store official said the timings of the boat’s arrival in each village is announced beforehand, and villagers look forward to it.

The mall is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. For safety reasons, only 20 people are allowed on board at a time.

“Ours is a supermarket,” says Reji R. Nair, managing director of Consumerfed, which was chosen the best cooperative in the state last year. “For the villagers, there is a lot of excitement to step into the boat which has everything for their needs under one roof.”

Provisions like rice, wheat and sugar are priced at least 10-15 percent below market rates.

“The villagers can buy even refrigerators and TV sets from the floating mall. For that one has to just place an order and it will be delivered at your doorstep within two-three weeks,” says A.K. Anoop, the mall’s manager.

“The mall has average daily sales of Rs.60,000,” he said. The sales go up during festivals like Onam and Christmas.

“We wait for the boat to arrive in our village,” says M.C. Vijayan, a farm labourer in Changankery, 18 km from Alappuzha.

“Earlier we used to take a bus to the town for shopping, which took a lot of time and money,” Vijayan said.

The mall was designed by the University of Cochin’s naval department. It was built at a dock in Kochi at a cost of Rs.50 lakh.

Cement was mixed with certain polymers and reinforced with steel to build the boat, which is anti-corrosive. A solar panel was added to light the boat and power the billing machine.

Consumerfed, which runs 100 Triveni super markets and 46 liquor shops in Kerala, is building two more floating malls because of demand from villagers.

Special Single Window System in Kochi

New Delhi: The union budget carries instructions to

Bsubmitting returns to income tax payers and to resolve complaints through a single window system in Kochi.

Apart from Kochi, the single window system will be executed in Pune and Chandigarh.

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The budget allots Rs.89 crore for FACT, Rs.76 crore for Cochin port, Rs.12 crore for Hindustan News Print Factory, Rs. 170 crore for Rubber Board, Rs.249 crore for Spice Board and Rs. 52 crore for MBEDA, Kochi.

Meanwhile, the state was disappointed with respect to declaration on IIT or Kochi Metro Rail

Libya's Gaddafi urges jihad against Switzerland,

BENGHAZI, Libya: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi called on Thursday for a "jihad" or armed struggle against Switzerland, saying it was an infidel state that was destroying mosques.

"Any Muslim in any part of the world who works with Switzerland is an apostate, is against (the Prophet) Mohammad, God and the Koran," Gaddafi said during a meeting in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi to mark the Prophet's birthday.

"The masses of Muslims must go to all airports in the Islamic world and prevent any Swiss plane landing, to all harbours and prevent any Swiss ships docking, inspect all shops and markets to stop any Swiss goods being sold," Gaddafi said.

The Swiss Foreign Ministry said it had no comment on Gaddafi's remarks. Libya's relations with Switzerland broke down in 2008 when a son of Gaddafi was arrested in a Geneva hotel and charged with abusing domestic servants.

He was released shortly afterwards and the charges were dropped, but Libya cut oil supplies to Switzerland, withdrew billions of dollars from Swiss bank accounts and arrested two Swiss businessmen working in the North African country.

One has been released but the other was forced this week to leave the Swiss embassy in Tripoli where he had been sheltering and move to a prison to serve a four-month sentence, apparently avoiding a major confrontation.

Libya says the Geneva arrest and the case of the two businessmen are not linked. "Let us fight against Switzerland, Zionism and foreign aggression," said Gaddafi, adding that "this is not terrorism", in contrast with the work of al Qaeda which he called a "kind of crime and a psychological disease". "There is a big difference between terrorism and jihad which is a right to armed struggle," he said.

Gaddafi accused Switzerland of being an "infidel, obscene state which is destroying mosques", in reference to a Swiss referendum verdict barring construction of minarets. He called for a "jihad against it with all means".

Gaddafi was speaking before leading prayers in a Benghazi square in the presence of envoys from dozens of Muslim countries. Swiss nationals voted 57.5 percent in favour of the minaret ban in the Nov. 29 referendum backed by the right-wing Swiss People's Party.

REUTERS