The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : ‘Starry’ affairs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 23, 2007
ePaper

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

‘Starry’ affairs

The episode of actor Chiranjeevi’s daughter Srija and her lover Bharadwaj who eloped to marry at Arya Samaj in Hyderabad last week made headlines all over the country. Initially, it was Andhra Pradesh and south India but when the newly-weds approached Delhi High Court to seek protection, the national and international media also highlighted the issue.

A woman libber says the episode smacks of gender bias. After all, Srija left home only to legally marry her lover which is not uncommon. But it still shocked her star-studded family as well as Chiranjeevi and Pavan Kalyan fans. However, Pavan Kalyan’s troubled married life and his living with another film star Renu Desai without tying the nuptial knot and the latter giving birth to a child don’t seem to shock the family of the star brothers who had many times donned the traditional youth and Good Samaritan roles, their fans and the general public, which seems strange indeed in an Indian context, she points out.

Offers galore

Come festival season, it’s a gala time for the people to go on a buying spree. Being an industrial hub, most of the employees do get bonus or production incentive on the eve of Diwali.

Now there are irresistible offers of buy one, take one free and buy one and take some freebies like vacation at resort for self and family and hefty discount. Some malls are also offering bumper draws with expensive gifts.

Shockwaves

The killing of State Bank of Indore’s Chief Manager K.K. Prasad has sent shockwaves through the banking community.

The unions had condemned the killing in strongest words. Apart from officials who rushed to the city, the tragic killing of Prasad had brought to the city three of his grieving batchmates. Two from Mumbai and one from Chennai landed in the city as soon as they came to know of the tragedy. They were present when the funeral took place.

One of them describes the bank officers working in various places (other than their home state) as new age nomads. After nine months of working here, his life was snuffed out in what appears to be a desperate act.

The most touching account of the loss to the family and his shell-shocked wife was narrated by one of his friends.

She wanted his friends to quit their jobs.