Mumbai boy Sahir Doshi is trying to initiate a breakthrough in the Indian Hip-Hop scene. And he's just 16.  FYI waited for him to get back from school to chat with him about why he raps in Marathi, Hindi and Swahili

He ain't a wack dude, but a bag of chips and all that, his rhyming is phat and an attitude to match.

 
If that doesn't sound right to you, you are absolutely right. It's far from right, because rapping and Hip-Hop sure isn't easy, even though 16 year-old Sahir Doshi makes it look effortless. "You don't learn how to rap. Either you have  it, or you don't," says the student of The Cathedral & John Connon School, Fort.

And although you notice his Hip-Hop garb, complete with knee-length shorts and a pee cap, what you end up going back impressed with is his ability to converse like an adult. "What do you mean? I am not a child," shrugs the aspiring rapper, in a mock-angry tone. If his rhymes about upliftment of the poor and Mumbai's tragic state are anything to go by, you will end up agreeing with him.

Just back from a brain-numbing day at school, packed with classes and sport matches, Sahir may look the part of a cool rapper, but he doesn't want you to mistake him for a "blinger". "Old school Hip-Hop is about so much more than that. It's about raising issues," he says.

 
The only time you see the teen in him creeping out is when the mention of his music crops up. Sahir, whose single Rize (written and sung in Swahili) created waves on the Kenyan and Ugandan charts, is excited about how aamchi Mumbai will react to his music. "I have family in Uganda and have been visiting them since I was a kid. The Hip-Hop scene there is really mad everyone is a fan. Three years ago, I realised my penchant for Hip-Hip. So, when Steve Jean, one of Uganda's biggest producers was keen to produce my song, I was thrilled."

But it took more that that for his music to make waves in a country that's still alien to CDs, where music is heard only on radio and TV. Finally, daily trips to radio stations and dogged persistence paid off, and through a lucky twist of fate, Sahir ended up performing at a ghetto concert in Kampala, that made him a mini-celebrity overnight. "That was such a great experience. There were these ghetto lords who loved the song; you'll see them in my video. If the rude boys love your music, they will support it unconditionally," says the young rapper, who picked up Swahili while hanging out with his peeps in Uganda. "I wanted the people of Uganda to identify with my song. There are so many Indians in Uganda, but they don't associate with the locals. There's bad blood. I wanted to create a meeting ground."

Sahir's lucky streak didn't end there. The teen artist hit gold when he got a chance to appear alongside Senegalese-American R&B singer-songwriter Akon, at a charity event. "That was a massive break! Akon was not even scheduled to stay for my performance. But he did and he was on his feet, waving his hands to my song! It was unbelievable."

Next on his agenda is to try and release Rize and the other songs he has written, including one in Marathi where he sings "Ala Ala Pausa" with an oh-so cool swagger. "In India, Hip-Hop is about songs by 50 Cent and Usher, that have been playing in clubs for an eternity. I am not here to ride the curve, but to create it," he signs off.
 

(malathi)

N S Prasad, Bangalore's most famous mandolin artiste, is gravitating towards fusion shows and solo albums

N S Prasad is featured on hundreds of film and sugama sangeeta albums as a sessions artiste, but only in the past year has he started recording independent albums.

Prasad (49) hails from Mysore, where he started playing the mandolin in college. At 11, he had started learning the veena from V Desikachar. But he was drawn to the mandolin when he heard a player who was to later become his teacher, Ratan.

 
As a science graduate, Prasad might have ended up in a regular job, but he was already Ratan's favourite disciple, much in demand as a stage musician.

In the 1980s, when the Kannada recording industry boomed in Bangalore, he settled in this city and became a busy sessions artiste, playing for some of India's best-known film and non-film music composers.

He particularly remembers his time with Vijay Raghava Rao, the highly regarded Films Division music director. "He had a 16-day project in Bangalore," recalls Prasad. "But he didn't give me any work for the first four days".

A dejected Prasad was about to give up and go home when the flautist-composer heard him during a break. "He gave me plenty to do through the rest of the project," says Prasad.

When sugama sangeeta became all the rage in the 1980s, Prasad was a regular with its star performers, first Mysore Ananthaswamy, and then C Ashwath, Shimoga Subbanna, and Narasimha Nayak. With his brother N S Muralidhar, he played on the stage with almost everyone who was anyone in Kannada music. He composed tunes for Geeta Ratna, a bhavageete album featuring Ratnamala Prakash, one of the biggest draws of Kannada sugama sangeeta.

The hearty Prasad has a reputation for being short-tempered, but that, he says, is because he can't stand the idea that producers treat musicians without respect. "I throw tantrums so that they talk to us on equal terms," he says, matter-of-factly.

As an arranger for C Aswath, Prasad worked on some big film projects, including the commercially successful Chinnari Mutta and Kotreshi Kanasu. He also fondly remembers working with the late L Vaidyanathan, whom he considers a thinking composer.

As a regular on the sugama sangeeta circuit, Prasad does get tired, repetitive, and bogged down, but his imagination is fired when faced with real musical challenges. Not many know that he can play the banjo (in Bangalore music circles, his name has become synonymous with the mandolin); he has recorded some inspired passages on that infrequently used instrument.

He has many stories to tell from his studio days. A composer divided the violin section into smaller groups and gave notations. When they played together, it was ugly and cacophonic... And then he synced the take with the film. It was an appalling shot of a polluted river. The stink hit us when the music came on... such was his creativity.

A serious road accident robbed him of the strength in his hand for some years, but he has overcome that setback, and is now busy planning solo shows and albums.

Among his better-known fusion albums are Beginning of Beginning with Vishwamohan Bhat, Earth, Wind and Fire, with flautist Ronu Majumdar and saxophonist Kadri Gopalnath, and Strings, featuring the violin maestro M S Gopalakrishnan. Unni Menon and Kavitha Krishnamurthy have sung his compositions, but one regret is that a dream project with Lata Mangeshkar fell through at the last moment.

Prasad travels all over the globe for his shows, and has just returned from a fusion concert at Dubai. He teaches at Ragashree Institute of Music, which he has set up near Banashankari. The latest award to come his way is from the Sangeet Academy.

Sur Madhur was Prasad's first solo album. In the recent past, he has been more prolific with his solo recordings.

In Raagamaalika, released earlier this year, he plays five ragas, and in Serene Melodies, he renders popular Dasa compositions. But the album that's selling wildly is Ellelli Nodali, in which he plays Rajkumar hits.
 

(malathi)

The Lalbagh Gardens are now home to the second largest Cactus House in the world

In just two weeks, Bangalore will be on the world map for all the right reasons. Keeping up with its rich horticultural traditions, Lalbagh is soon to become home to the world's second largest xerophyte park.

Spread over 6,000 sq feet, the Cactus House is a transparent structure that has taken almost seven years to complete. Modelled after the Kew Gardens in London, the Cacti Park is being lauded as the second largest in the world.

The park came into being when in 2002, the authorities at Lalbagh decided to collect several species of these dry-climate lovers for botanical research. The idea soon evolved into a blueprint for the present Cactus House.

"We want to elevate these botanical gardens to international recognition," said Dr N Jayaram, director of horticulture, Lalbagh. "Other than Cacti, we also hope to open Orchid and Pteridophyte houses shortly," he added.

The deputy director of horticulture, Lalbagh, Dr M Jagadish adds, "Our purpose is to propagate the growth of these cacti, but we are also thinking of selling later."

The department is however cautious about allowing visitors to get full access to these plants. "These are very rare and endangered species and will be destroyed if we allow the public without any instruction. The public also often ignore every instruction we beg them to adhere to, so we're appointing separate guards and might possibly have a separate fee to enter the area," Dr Jagadish said.

Botanist Krishnaraju, in-charge of growing these plants agrees, "Apart from maintaining a constant temperature and light, the authorities shouldn't allow the public inside the house. They should instead watch it from the outside," he adds.  A final decision on the separate fee will however be taken by a committee in charge of such matters.

 Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder: Cactii might not be the most popular garden plant, but it sure is as decorative as any other
 The department currently has more than 1,500 varieties of cacti and is increasing its collection to reach around 2,500 in about three years. Lalbagh however, currently has nearly 300 varieties of such xerophytes, including rare species like Opuntia and Gasteria.
 

(malathi)

With faulty service and worse communication, travellers on Jet Airways are getting service at its worst

It won't be surprising if those who are forced to use Jet Airways during the pilots' strike decided to start their own union.

 
 
Despite widespread cancellations and re-bookings, Jet officials seem to be taking customers for granted and hoping that they will 'bear' with them.

At the Jet Airways booking counter at BIAL, Vinay Medhekar, Director, DACS, Pune said, "In spite of all these already existing problems, they charged cancellation charges even before I got my refund." He added, "There was absolutely no prior information about the flight status."

Ratan Khanna from Delhi who was booked on the last Jet Lite flight from Delhi to Bangalore on Sept 8 says, "I was charged a cancellation fee when I asked for a refund and that's really unfair, considering they gave me no information even though I called them all afternoon. I had to book another flight, just so I was on the safer side."

According to Manilal Ghoshal, a businessman from Kolkata, "they told me that my flight is scheduled for tonight but they haven't confirmed, worse still, they say speak to the supervisor and he might arrange something for you, it's just terrible." Manilal had to buy another ticket from Indigo airlines paying an extra Rs 8,000, but had to make do without a Rs 3,000 worth ticket from Jet that was 'unrefundable'.

Outrageous

"The management should have made arrangements or told us way ahead. This way, they cancel flights, they do not contact us and we are still held responsible! It's outrageous," Manilal said.  Santhanam K who came to bid farewell to his son at the airport couldn't agree more. "This is haphazard management at the least and is causing unnecessary anxiety. Not only are the officials not revealing information on the phone, when I was connected to a top authority, he asked me to check at the airport."

"My son has a connecting flight to New York at 11 tonight, I hope he gets it," he added. Jet Airways has released official press releases that says the airline "regrets the inconvenience caused to its esteemed guests and seeks their understanding and support during this difficult phase." That's fine as long as they work with the problem at hand and ensure that passengers aren't inconvenienced due to a managerial imbroglio.

(malathi)

Three erring MLAs might spend a month behind bars for not declaring their assets to Lokayukta on time

Three legislators who are yet to comply with the Lokayukta directive to declare their assets would now want to hurry up.

Satish Reddy an MLA from Bommannahalli, Varthur Prakash from Kolar and Mahesh S R from K R Nagar have been found to have defaulted and are liable to face criminal proceedings, according to the Lokayukta.

 
Judge Dredd: Justice Hegde says those MLAs who filed assets late must face action
 
"They must be serious in these issues, if they don't care for deadlines, it only says they don't respect the system," said Justice N Santhosh Hegde.

"We have issued notices to initiate criminal procedures against them, if they don't reply within a week's time they would be prosecuted," he said.

The rules demand that legislators file annual declarations by January under Section 22 (1) of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act 1984.

If they fail to comply, they can be prosecuted under Section 176 of IPC and might get a jail term of one month if the reply is not satisfactory and the court decides against their stand.

Rush hour

An apparently panicky Mahesh has filed the declaration, hurriedly, on Monday, after receiving the notice. "I should have filed it earlier, but anyway I have done it now and I have acknowledgement with me," said Mahesh.

However, it looks like that will not be enough for Mahesh to escape punitive action, as he's still liable to face proceedings for the delay in the 'mandatory' declaration of assets. Satish Reddy said he could not file the papers because he was out of station and he would do it in a couple of days. "My father was not well, I had to go visit him. My lawyers are preparing the papers and you will get know about my assets very shortly," Satish said.

Varthur Prakash was not available for his comments.

Talking tough

Lokayukta is getting tougher on MLAs, who don't care for the law of land. The Lokayukta sleuths recently arrested Sampangi, an MLA representing KGF, when he was caught accepting a bribe at a legislators' house recently. The Lokayukta got the sanction from the speaker to prosecute Sampangi in no time and went ahead with the legalities.

"We even extended the deadline to 31 March and then to 31 June, when the assets weren't declared. If they fail to declare even now, action must be taken," said Justice Hegde.

When asked about Mahesh, the Justice said, "He is late by six months and four days and the late submission is not an excuse."

(malathi)

Police suspect that a housewife found murdered in VV Puram late evening yesterday may have been the victim of someone who was known to her.

Komalamma, the 55-year-old wife of Venkatesh, was found with her throat slit in their Rama Iyengar Road house in VV Puram around 8.45 last night.

 Her husband Venkatesh said that he had left home in the afternoon for a business-related matter in Cubbonpet. Venkatesh, a liquor wholesaler, usually returns home around nine pm every night. Yesterday, he got a call from a relative, who informed him that after repeated attempts to reach Komalamma on the landline and on her mobile, he couldn't get through.

He reached home early to check and found his wife lying in a pool of blood, flowers lying scattered all around her from the garlands she was making for pooja. Venkatesh fainted, and came to his sense only when a neighbour chanced upon the scene.

 "Usually, if we have visitors when she is alone, she checks through the window before opening the door. So I suspect it was someone known to her," Venkatesh told MiD DAY. The couple has two daughters, who are both married.

VV Puram Central police station has registered a case and has already started investigation. joint commissioner of police (crime) Alok Kumar too had visited the spot to lead the proceedings.

DCP (Crime) SN Siddaramappa said, "The murder happened between 7 and 8 pm. Her mobile phone records show that she had received a call around 7 pm, and we are investigating that lead. We suspect that not more than two people are involved in this."

According to Venkatesh, gold ornaments including mangalsutra, two chains, rings and bangles worth nearly 2 lakhs that Kaomalamma wore was missing, although there was no sign of attempts to steal other valuables from the house.

However, according to a neighbour who didn't want to reveal his name, Venkatesh used to sell seconds liquor at home, and one of his 'customers' could have been behind the crime.
 

(malathi)

Salman, Kareena, Saif shoot for their films in Pune post swine flu threat

Film stars are no longer scared of big bad H1N1. Actor Ashmit Patel, who was in the city a fortnight ago for the promotion of the movie Twist, feels the swine flu situation was overhyped.

"The situation was not as bad as it was made to be. There was no reason to worry. However, I did take necessary precautions during my last trip to Pune," Ashmit said.

Patel is not alone. Even Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor shot some scenes at the Agricultural College on Sunday, and Sharmila Tagore and Amol Palekar came to the city on Friday to promote their Marathi film Samantar.

Also, Salman Khan shot some scenes near the Corinthian Club yesterday and intends to return to the city on September 11.

Actress Diya Mirza will be part of the Blender's Pride Fashion Show to be held today at the Stone Water Grill in Koregaon Park, where she will showcase designer Vikram Phadnis's creations on the ramp.
 

(malathi)

Say inexperienced drivers hired by private operators who run PMPML buses are responsible for fatal accidents

Pune traffic police say inexperienced drivers hired by eight private operators who run 421 Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd (PMPML) buses are responsible for most of the fatal road accidents that have occurred this year.

Four such accidents involving PMPML buses, including one that claimed the life of six-year-old Yash Waghmare on September 5, have occurred in the last 30 days alone.

Cops speak
Manoj Patil, deputy commissioner of police (Taffic), said "In the last one month, two fatal accidents occured by drivers hired by private operators. We are planning to hold awareness sessions for PMPML drivers to make them adopt more responsible driving practices."

However, PMPML Joint Executive Director Satish Kulkarni said that the PMPML conducts extensive training programme for drivers of private buses. "We have already begun the training but 140 drivers employed by private contractors are yet to be trained. Problems occur when private operators change their drivers frequently," Kulkarni explained.

Lack of training
Anil Malusare of Prasanna Travels, a private contractor hired by PMPML, admitted that Ramdas Sopan Agarkar, the driver who allegedly ran Yash Waghmare on September 5 over and works for Prasanna Travels, had not been given a driving test by the PMPML. However, he said, "Agarkar used to work with PMPML earlier. It is therefore improper to say that private contractors are hiring inexperienced
drivers."

(malathi)

Jet Authorities want health proof of 400 pilots who went on mass sick leave yesterday, but pilots refuse to let them into their homes

If the 400 Jet Airways pilots who went on mass sick leave and affected services of 186 flights yesterday are indeed sick, then the authorities want proof.

It has decided to send a team of doctors to their homes to check on their health.

The pilots, who are members of National Aviators Guild (NAG), went on a mass sick leave after a notice from regional labour commissioner (Central) prohibited them to go on strike.

 
GROUNDED: Jet Airways air hostesses return to the bus stationed outside the departure gate at the Chhatrapati Shivaji domestic airport yesterday.
 

They were protesting the sacking of two senior pilots last month. Yesterday, Jet sacked three more senior pilots Suhail Jain, Rashmi Gaur and Venkat Vinod for joining the pilots' union.

Srirupa Sen, spokesperson, Jet Airways, said she did not have any information and refused to comment.

No step back

"They can sack people, but we will not step back. We will talk only to Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal," said Captain Girish Kaushik, president of the Guild.

No entry

Meanwhile, the pilots have decided to close their doors to doctors. Kaushik added, "We will not entertain any Jet official in our homes.
 
Our residence is our personal property and even the president of India does not have
the right to enter without permission."

"This is not my personal decision. The union has taken this decision against Jet and I have pulled back the strike application from the labour commissioner's office," added Kaushik.

Another pilot, on condition of anonymity, said, "We have been asking them to reinstate the sacked pilots for a long time, but Jet authorities haven't taken it seriously.
 
They are are entirely responsible for this situation."
A commercial booking staff of Jet Airways said that all bookings were stopped indefinitely yesterday.

The National Union of Seafarers of India (NUSI) have decided not to use Jet flights to reach their ships, nationally or internationally.

Abdul Gani Sarang, general secretary, NUSI, told MiD DAY, "We are with the Jet pilots and are ready to support them in every way." NUSI is supported by more than one lakh seafarers in the country.

Punishment

The government may implement the Essential Services Maintenance Act on the civil aviation industry to control the situation.

Under this act, violators can be punished with imprisonment up to one year, according to M S Khan, senior lawyer of Delhi High Court.

(malathi)

Defence lawyer mukul sinha, who has brought to trial three other encounter deaths, found the similarities telling

It was just one man among billions who finally brought justice and peace to the family of Ishrat Jahan Shaikh, killed in a fake encounter on June 14, 2004. His name Mukul Sinha.
 
It was 4.30 pm in 2007 when Musarat Jahan, Shamima Jahan and a friend entered advocate Mukul Sinha's Ahmedabad office.

The women were Ishrat Jahan Shaikh's sister and mother, desperate to get justice for their slain daughter.

Experience talks

"I knew they were coming to see me and I had been briefed about the case.

But I was still unprepared for the impact of what they told me. Musarat gave me all the details of the case and I almost immediately knew Ishrat had been murdered.
 
My experience told me it was a fake encounter," said Sinha, who has spent 32 years in court.

That experience came from three specific cases the Sadiq Jamal case, and the Sohrabuddin Shaikh and Kausarbi cases.
 
All three had been allegedly killed in encounters by the Gujarat police.

Similarities

"The more I read up on Ishrat's case, which had been pending for over three years with the Mumbai High Court, I realised there were startling similarities with the other three encounter deaths in Gujarat.
 
In fact, there were four clear factors that pointed to a fake encounter.

Sinha took up the case pro bono because it was a human rights violation case.

 
Justice, at Last: Ishrat Jahan's family is relieved that the terrorist tag attached to their daughter has been proved false.

Right: Ishrat's sister Musarat, mother Shamima, younger sister Nusrat and brother Anwar went through a traumatic time during the last five years
 

"I work for the Jan Sangharsh Manch and that is how the Shaikh family approached me," said the lawyer, who dismissed the largesse immediately.
 
In fact, Sinha is a known name in Gujarat, working with riot victims through the Manch, which brings the poor and lawyers together. "The Maharashtra police is hand-in-glove with the Gujarat police.
 
These fake encounters are conducted with the same ease as flesh trade across the state borders.

Police claim lives of innocent people who are tagged as terrorists and are shot point blank without any evidence," said Sinha.

The lawyer was all praise for Musarat. "Her poor mother could not stop crying for even a moment in the 30 minutes they spent with me.
 
But Musarat held the family together. She was clear-eyed and absolutely calm narrating her sister's death."

Fake Encounter Trail

The fake encounter cases Mukul Sinha has been representing include...

Sadiq Jamal case: On January 13, 2003, Sadiq Jamal (26) was killed in an alleged encounter in the Naroda area of Ahmedabad.

The Gujarat police claimed he was a member of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and was going to kill Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Pravin Togadia.

Sohrabuddin Sheikh case: Sohrabuddin was shot dead by the Gujarat police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on November 26, 2005. The Gujarat and Rajasthan police killed Sheikh in a joint operation.
 
They alleged that he was an LeT outfit member and was on a mission to kill senior BJP leaders, including Modi.

Kausarbi case: On November 27, 2005, the Gujarat police killed Sohrabuddin's wife Kausarbi, claiming that she was part of the LeT gang, out to kill Modi.

(malathi)