At the Lokayukta office, located next to the Vidhana Soudha, a fleet of TV broadcast vans stood lined up, waiting for footage on the Lokayukata's report on illegal mining. Wednesday was a big day: Lokayukta Santosh Hegde would submit the long-awaited and prematurely leaked report that could bring down the Yeddyurappa government any moment.

The van standing closest to the Lokayukata office  belonged to Janashri, a Kannada channel run by the Reddy brothers. The report, submitted later in the day, indicted Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, but it is common knowledge that the ones who profited the most from mining are the Reddy brothers. Yeddyurappa finds himself pronounced guilty on at least on three counts, one of them being that a mining company paid kickbacks of Rs 10 crore to a trust run by his sons, and by cheque. But the Reddys, if rumours are to  be believed, make that much every two days from illegal mining. Yeddyurappa may end up paying a heavy price. He could well look like a

The morning after we learned of Amy Winehouse's death my friend, an indie musician doggedly loyal to the legends, posted on Facebook: "Did Amy say to herself: %^$# it, I'm 27, I want to be a legend and OD?"

The Forever 27 Club, a sort of modern-day Dead Poets Society that posthumously enfolds Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Brian Jones and now, Winehouse, has been much fussed about. I'm tempted to imagine that my friend may be right, especially since Winehouse didn't have much going for herself in her last years. Then again, looking at the bright side (everything has one, doesn't it?), I'm relieved that it wasn't Britney Spears, who turns 30 in December, or Avril Lavigne — wait, she still has time.

For better or for worse, the members of the 27 Club were falling stars in their own right. Joplin fell to heroin and Morrison to alcohol. Jones' rollicking career with the Rolling Stones began early but, going by Keith Richards' account of his sometime bandmate in his memoir Life,

By naming Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram in the telecom scandal, former minister A Raja has begun a chess game that he hopes will eventually get him out of jail.

Accused of causing a loss of Rs 1.7 lakh crore by giving away mobile spectrum cheap, Raja told a court yesterday Chidambaram and Manmohan Singh were fully aware of what he was doing with the national asset.

A lawyer himself, Raja has achieved his immediate objective of putting the Congress on the defensive. The BJP is already demanding the resignation of Manmohan Singh, acknowledged as 'clean', and Chidambaram, finance minister when the scam took place. By flinging mud at them, Raja's immediate objective is to divert attention from his own misdeeds.

Predictably, Chidambaram has rejected the demand for his resignation, saying he had only looked at the equity aspect of the deal, and not at the sale of spectrum. Raja and Kanimozhi, two prominent DMK leaders, are in jail in connection with the

It looks like Smriti Irani is not doing it anymore for BJP. They might have had an all-party meet and realised that severe buns, big bindis and propah pallus will only go so far in gaining them public empathy, confidence and a chance to triumph during 2014's elections. Because, you know, sometimes, you have to leave the all-suffering Bhabhi figure way behind to make way for the Indian version of the ditzy blonde, especially when you consider the demographic of the blue-blooded, woman-respecting, take-no-nonsense-from-the-wife-but-forgive-the-nubile-nymphet-gyrating-on-the-silverscreen-all-her-sins, well-intentioned alpha male that populate one of the world's most intolerably patriarchal societies that is India.

BJP, in what seems to be a desperate attempt at gaining glory (read eyeballs) when everything they do seems to be backfiring on them, is now trying to woo Katrina Kaif to campaign for them during UP's elections next year, after her rather incendiary (dry, very dry) dig at Rahul

It's uncanny, but it happened. I was on a Amy Winehouse overdose last week. Blame it on my state of mind, or just a premonition. I was listening to Back to Black and Rehab almost in a loop. And to think, I didn't even know this soulful singer existed till my music aficionado colleague Khristina Patra introduced me to her some time last year. Something just kept telling me her talent was going to be shortlived, so make the most of what she's given. Sure enough, I was proved right on Saturday.

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The first song I heard was obviously Back to Black and the first thing that struck me was her brand of music - soulful yet brassy, mix of jazz, blues, retro and pop. For a 26 year old to write a depressing song like that and sing it like she did, was so not her generation! No wonder she dissed her peers saying "So much pop these days is like, 'What can you do for me? I don't need you. You don't know me.' Back in the '60s it really was like, 'I don't care if you love me, I'm gonna lay down and die

If you haven't heard of Govind Tiwari yet, you can't be a Net junkie. He's a Twitter celebrity who has brought joy to millions since yesterday. Today, he has been the subject of several articles. His claim to fame: A blog that stands out for its tackiness.

No one in the media seems to have caught Govind Tiwari in flesh and blood yet. If they had, he would have made it to the TV channels as well. Is he real at all? We don't know. First Post believes he could be the creation of a smart, search-engine savvy blogger somewhere.

Many are saying whoever created the blog could have made Rs 15 lakh in just a day, thanks to the traffic frenzy that even crashed Photobucket, the site hosting his pictures. I don't believe he has, but then, social media experts have their own estimates.

Nishad Ramachandran writes in First Post: "To me Govind Tiwari is truly a well worked experiment in Transmedia story telling. Perhaps the best we have seen from India, or done by an Indian somewhere. Create a well

On Sunday, as B S Yeddyurappa returned from a holiday in Mauritius, he faced increased hostility against his leadership, and not just from the opposition. It was clear he would continue to be combative: as soon as he landed in Delhi, he said he wasn't going to resign.

BJP Vice-President Shanth Kumar came out openly against him on Monday morning, demanding that he be ousted. That is a big blow to Yeddyurappa's chances of hanging on, and indicates that the party isn't united in its support for him.

Yeddyurappa is accused of abetting illegal mining, and Lokayukta Santosh Hegde's report indicting him is due on Wednesday. But many parts of the report are already in the public domain, thanks to a leak. Late last week, after he was accused of speaking prematurely to the media, Hegde made the shocking charge that his phone had been tapped. Yeddyurappa has denied his government eavesdropped on the ombudsman.

Last week, as the Lokayukta time bomb ticked away, and Karnataka readied for a

Managing human-leopard conflict has to be recognized as an important priority

Another brazen attack. Another fearsome mauling. Another leopard branded a man-eater pays for its crimes against humanity.

You've read the news. Now, will you teach your kids to kill leopards on sight? Or will you join cause with the (seemingly hare-brained) minority and cry yourself hoarse to protect leopards from humans?

Decide. We're out of time.

I'm a wildlife enthusiast. I'm also a parent. And, like you, I have a ravenous appetite for bizarre news, especially horrible things that happen to other people. But I'm batting for leopards here. And before you hurl something at me, let me explain my stand.

Leopards aren't exactly wild animals. A childhood conditioned by Amar Chitra Katha and Chandamama has most of us believe that leopards are confined to forests. They are, in fact, the most cosmopolitan of large felids. Panthers, as they are also known in India, are very much at home in the jungle where prey is available in plenty but, being hardy opportunists, they will expand their