Rushdie does a Hat-trick with "Midnight's children"

Salman Rushdie's literary work Midnight's Children, which has already won the Booker and the "Booker of Bookers" has been adjudged the "Best of the Booker" among works published since 1969. The other worthy contenders for the honor were literary heavy weights like Peter Carey, Pat Barker, JM Coetzee, Nadine Gordimer and JG Farrell. Midnight's Children, a post colonial account of Independent India with Rushdie's unique language and style, was published in 1981 and created a new trend in English language fiction.

Kannathil Muthamittal my opinion

It's a tough one because there are so many movies I like. I like Mouna Raagam, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, Lakshya, Roja Andaz Apna Apna and Sindhu Bhairavai. In Malayalam I love Cherunarupunjity and Vanaprastham. I like most of Mani Ratnam's movies. If I have to choose one, it has to be Kannathil Muthamittal. This was his first National award. It is really sad he won it so late. The Movie is too strong and shows how great a director he is. I shed a tear during the scene when the girl comes back to the house and the mother initially doesn't speak and finally returns by hugging her. The emotions, the chemistry between the actors, the honesty of the characters and the music is brilliant, especially Rahman's 'Vellai Pookal'.

New Wimbledon agreement

An agreement that will allow Wimbledon organizers to buy back complete control of the All England Club passed a vote with the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA). The agreement, in which the LTA will supposedly get $83 million in installments over a five-year period, will take effect in 2013 and last until 2053. Besides buying back the 50 per cent of the club it gave away in 1934, the organizers of the grass-court tournament will also be allowed to keep 10 per cent of the profits instead of giving it all to the LTA, the governing body of British tennis.

Phone From a Car

No one really knows if dinosaurs had voices. Maybe some did and others didn't. Hadrosaurs had a hollow in their head crest, and they may have trumpeted sounds through it almost the way an elephant uses its trunk. Sound leaves no visible record and so the question of whether dinosaurs could communicate may be the most difficult question of all. However, there is fossil evidence to show that the nostrils of Hadrosaurs were elongated. The hollow in the head crest might have acted as a kind of echo chamber; a noise formed in the throat trumpeted through the crest for identification of species, communication, mating and warnings. Parasaurolophus, or the archetypal Hadrosaaurus, was named the trombone duckbill because of its facial structure.