A month ago, I got a call from a man who identified himself as Pradeep. “Pehchana nahin kya Sir, main Pradeep bol raha hoon,'' he insisted with familiarity. Finally he said, “Main Kishenji bol raha hoon,'' and I exclaimed, “To aise boliye na.'' Post-Lalgarh, Kishenji alias Koteswara Rao was the name, voice and masked face of the Maoist movement.
Atheists of the world, here is conclusive proof that God exists. Last month, elaborate prayers were conducted in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh to pray to the Rain God. The towns in the district were facing an acute drinking water shortage and the people were very desperate.
It was a hot April afternoon deep inside the countryside of Pulivendula in Kadapa district. I was travelling with Y S Jaganmohan Reddy as he campaigned for himself for the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat and for dad YSR for Pulivendula assembly constituency. The YSR family, particularly Jagan's grandfather, the late Y S Raja Reddy, was said to have been a terror in these parts. So I was a little surprised to see so many youth fearlessly approach Jagan to tell him their problems. Some making a request, others demanding, angry.
“No chance the CM would have survived if his chopper hit Rudrakonda,” said a villager who was trekking along with me deep inside the Nallamalla forest to the Rudrakonda hillock, where the CM's chopper was reported to have crashlanded. Another forest official echoed his sentiment. “I hope you both don't have a black tongue,” I remarked as we navigated through difficult, inhospitable terrain.
"Your peti (interview in Tamil) with Vikram today will not be good, Saar." Making the prediction was Kalaipuli S. Dhanu. The veteran film producer was in Hyderabad to promote Mallanna, the Telugu verion of Tamil film Kanthaswamy, along with the lead cast Vikram and Shriya.
God's Own Country may not get bowled over. Lord of the Indian Premier League, Lalit Modi has deigned that from 2011, Kerala will also be part of the IPL, with the Kochi IPL team. Someone please ask if Modi knew Onam is round the corner and he thought padding up the Malayalees would be the best Onam gift to give.
I met Pullela Gopichand first in July 1998 for an interview at the Lal Bahadur stadium, very close to where he used to live those days. When we reached the ground, we found preparations underway at the stadium for a film nite, later that evening. One insolent organiser gestured to us not to set up our camera anywhere on the ground. "Who is he?" he asked rudely, pointing to Gopichand. "He is India's national badminton champion," I replied. "Okay. But you cannot do the interview here. We are organising a Raveena Tandon nite here."
Peter Gade has always been one of my favourite badminton players. The genteel Dane from the land of the awesome Morten Hansen Frost. At the Badminton World Championship in Hyderabad last week, Gade lost in the quarter-finals to Lin Dan of China, the eventual world champion. But what Gade spoke minutes after losing the match showed he was a champion as well.
T S Sudhir is Resident Editor (South) and has been with NDTV since February 1995. He has reported extensively on politics, Naxalism, business, sports, entertainment and is one of the seniormost television journalists in the country today.
T S Sudhir is Resident Editor (South) and has been with NDTV since February 1995. He has reported extensively on politics, Naxalism, business, sports, entertainment and is one of the seniormost television journalists in the country today.
