Vajpayee's patriotic poem goes pop
One of the patriotic poems of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has gone lyrical, the pop way. Pop singer Parvati Khan recently completed an audio recording of Vajpayee's poem Unki Yaad Karen (Let's Remember Them) from his latest compilation Meri Ikkyawan Kavitayen (My 51 Poems), for her new album Good India.

Woman sacrificed to village deity
A 55-year-old woman has been sacrificed to ward off the influence of evil spirits on a family at the border village of Gadapur under Bisra police station, about 30 km from here, on June 23, a delayed report received here yesterday said.After recovery of the headless body of Parbati Badaik, the victim of the brutal practice, Bisra police led by Sundergarh superintendent of police Sudhansu Shekhar Sarangi exhumed her severed head from a field at Rungi village under Manoharpur police station in Bihar.

Soccer crazy Kolhapur king keeps the ball rolling
Polo might be known as the `royal' sport in India, but Kolhapur's king favours a different game altogether: he is a soccer fan from the top of his head down to the soles of his feet. In fact, Srimant Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj -- scion of the erstwhile Maratha kingdom -- is so football-crazy that he turned the royal polo grounds into four soccer fields. And of course he never skips a soccer game, even if it is just a bunch of school children playing.