Vis-a-Vis

K.P.S. GILL Indian Hockey Federation chief versus ZAFAR IQBAL Former hockey captain and 1980 Olympics gold medallist

"Those hockey players who played in the Olympics after 1966 are losers. They got a gold in the 1980 Olympics against very weak opposition."

"It is a laughing matter. I don't think he made the comment with a stable mind. I don't even know how much he understands hockey."

EPILOGUE: Gill's verbal gunslinging once again threatens to overshadow the sport itself.

VOICES

"There are no complaints. We will sort out our differences."

Lalu Prasad Yadav, Union railways minister, after Congress leaders mollified him over the Congress-JMM tie-up in Jharkhand

"The few months of the UPA regime have shown that it is us and not the BJP which is actually playing the role of an opposition party."

Prakash Karat, CPI(M) politburo member

"I have advised the brothers to settle their differences within the four walls of their home."

P. Chidambaram, Union finance minister, on the dispute over Reliance ownership between Anil and Mukesh Ambani

"In the past five years my face has been on newspapers many more times than in the past 45 years. It is sad as I looked better then. Now I just notice the double chin."

Ruskin Bond, writer

"I would rather make money than listen to the praise of self-appointed custodians of taste."

Mahesh Bhatt, filmmaker

THE BUZZ OF THE WEEK

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's earlier stand on Kashmir and his view that it would be difficult for India to get a permanent Security Council seat may have led to India turning down his request to tour Tamil Nadu.

PICTURE SPEAK

UNCERTAIN DAYS: Dalmiya

DELHI To think that the time of the highest court in the land was used to decide whether the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) went about its business in a fair or foul manner. The fairness of the BCCI's September election remains under a cloud and as for foul ... well, the BCCI's roster of inefficiencies is long and legendary.

The Supreme Court finally decided to end a three-month-long impasse that had left Indian cricket administration in limbo. The court ordered the BCCI to formally conclude its contentious September AGM and allow the not-so- newly elected office-bearers to take charge.

Where all this leaves BCCI supremo Jagmohan Dalmiya is uncertain: his election as patron-in-chief and special representative to the ICC has been stayed by the court. If he aims to regain that office, the BCCI will have to vote all over again. For the past three months, Dalmiya continued to run the BCCI, even as the newly elected President Ranbir Singh Mahendra struggled to have his voice heard. Now suddenly Mahendra has plenty on his plate: a tsunami relief match must be held, the Pakistanis will be here within a month and the Indian team needs a new physio.

DELHI "Tsunami is a Japanese word and so we have a special sentiment for those affected by it," declared Japanese Ambassador to India Yasukoni Enoki. But when it came to extending aid to relief efforts in India, Enoki committed a gaffe. He said India had refused all foreign aid. When asked why Japan didn't contribute to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund, Enoki had a diplomatic tsunami in store: "We need a written request and also an accountability report on how the money will be used which India is unwilling to give."

Well, the epicentre of the gaffe can be traced to the Gujarat quake of 2001 when a similar request from the then Japanese envoy ruffled prime minister A.B.Vajpayee so much that he asked the money be returned to Tokyo.

-By Saurabh Shukla

ANNOUNCED: Dual citizenship for all Indians who left the country after January 26, 1950, subject to the laws of the country they live in.

APPOINTED: Ranjit Singh Mooshahary, an IPS officer of 1967 batch, as director-general of the Border Security Force.

CHOSEN: Mrinal Sen, filmmaker, for the Dada Saheb Phalke Award for 2003. The director of films like Kharij and Ek Din Pratidin will receive the award on February 2.

CONFERRED: The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, on 11 noted overseas Indians, including technocrat Sam Pitroda and political scientists Sunil Khilnani and Bhiku Patel, by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

LAUNCHED: CrashLab, India's first mobile collision and research laboratory that can reconstruct road accidents and pinpoint their exact cause, by the Institute of Road Traffic Education.

Next

Index