Nitin Sawhney

Heal the world

He’s spent years mixing techno beats with the taal of the tabla. But now British-Asian musician Nitin Sawhney is letting his music take him another way. He’s teamed up with Talvin Singh, another British musician with roots in India, for a charity concert. The performance, to be held at Los Angeles’ UCLA campus, will raise money for Global Fund, a Geneva-based foundation. The money will be spent on fighting AIDS in India, which is projected to take over the mantle of the nation with the highest number of AIDS cases by 2010. The show will also feature other performers like Macy Gray and Michelle Branch. Titled “One Night in India”, the programme promises to be a pulsating, cross-cultural extravaganza. And with tickets ranging from $25 to $500, it should be an event to watch out for.

On-screen learning

This is a course of your dreams, bringing together technology, art and lots of fun. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) has come out with a new course in video game studies. You not only play video games, but also design them — everything from animation to music. RPI has always been held in awe for its mathematics and engineering courses. But this programme is not just about going on a trigger-happy mission, shooting down aliens. Students will work on modules different from the blood-and-gore games, learning to design contests which are more realistic. Today there are more women hooked to video games than ever before, and the industry rakes in millions every year. Similar courses are also offered at Princeton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and University of California. Classes are usually held in an art studio, where students work on couches with coffee and doughnuts for refreshments.

Sunidhi Chauhan has scored another first. The feisty singer is crooning to the tunes of pianist Richard Clayderman these days. Recor-ding for the title track of Rajshree Production’s new movie, the two were all praise for each other.

Arms and the man

This is what happens when you order things on the Internet. Brandon Buchan, a 21-year-old student from Saskatchewan, bid for an MP3 player through an online sale. What appeared instead at his doorstep was a .22-calibre Smith & Wesson gun, neatly parcelled and complete with a license. Brandon had the common sense to call the police before doing anything silly. Thankfully, the gun was not loaded.

Web master

At a base near you

It’s not just cricket, even baseball is not being spared. Advertisements are slowly taking over America’s favourite sport. Sponsors have decided to put the ads for Spider-Man 2 atop bases during baseball league matches in June. This is part of an effort to attract young viewers to the game. Mind you, not everybody is happy with this. New York Yankees, one of the teams in the fray, has agreed to place the ads only during batting practice and for just one game. Ads for the movie, which releases on June 30 in the US, have been circulating for the past one year.

AWARD OF THE WEEK

Goes to Mansi Sinha, the Delhi University student who was refused admission into the university for being underage. She filed a case and the court, in a recent order, has asked DU to consider admitting Mansi into its political science honours course.