A day dominated by Aishwarya's pregnancy (and the truly witty Ramesh Srivats' take: BigB, WannaB and BayB), miffed Munde's decision to stay with the BJP and of course, Arindam Chaudhury filing multiple lawsuits against Caravan magazine, Penguin and Google. As for the other stories, do scroll down.

1. Hazare: Corruption worse than Pak threat
2. Commission to decide on Adarsh land: Deshmukh
3. All-party Lokpal meet on July 3
4. Munde: Didn't meet Maha CM, Ahmed Patel; will not quit BJP
5. All-party meet on Women's Bill fails
6. Arindam Chaudhuri sues Caravan, Penguin, Google for Rs 500 mn
7. Postmortem says Jaipal Reddy's niece was murdered; husband arrested
8. Syrian men to marry women raped during unrest
9. BJP ultimatum to Munde: Clarify your stand
10. UPA turns down probe into Pranab office bug
11. Dey murder not revenge killing: police
12. Grunting female Wimbledon players warned
13. 'Progeny of my son shall bear the name Bachchan'
14. Osama killed Benazir, says Pak minister

More comments on Arindam Chaudhury. Have fun!

And another comment from an Arindam Chaudhuri fan and an IIPM student...

Ankit18 April 2011 04:01 PM:  

To all the haterz....myself student at IIPM Delhi...its the most fantabulus college...does any other college were Shahrukh khan coming ...we have forein tour were v r goin to all campuses nd learning in their classes ..GOTA is too cool man....v also hav best looking handsom faculty featuring on news channels...favorites r rohit manchanda sir and prashanto sir......arindam sir is the best business guru in contry...in short time he has become so gud, plz read his books also...his porsh car is also super duper...plz visit camus nd see for urself b4 commenting on iipm ....v r all years ahead of iims.....placements faculty evrything is so much better..chk out iipm and arindam sir on face book...biggest fans in full india....ty

Ankit might want to learn to spell before he rants. 

Caravan has removed the story online, but here's another link.

A comment from an IIPM student supporting mentor Arindam Chaudhuri on the Caravan story.

Rahul20 April 2011 07:46 AM

All these peoples are totaly jealus of IIPM. I passedout in 2009 frm IIPM delhi and got 180,000$ investment bank plasement. Nobody can able to matching the trackrecord of IIPM, it is also the no.1 in global exposhure, because of which i getting my good job. please dont critsize IIPM without knowladge of it. You might able to learn and benefitting if you listen to Arindam sir. His books is bestsellers all over the USA also. IN USA IIPM consider much better than IIM-IITs, I having IIM passout working under me myself.

Somebody point him to a dictionary and a brain.

In the David Lean film Lawrence of Arabia, there is a mirthful scene where the greedy powerful local Howeitat tribe's chieftain Auda abu Tayi (Anthony Quinn) had to be induced to turn against the Turks during the famous Aqaba expedition, and Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) stumbled upon a brilliant idea.

Read more from MK Bhadrakumar's blog

Much murmurs of discontent at Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy's office after he announced it would soon turn 24x7.

A decision to this effect was taken at the state cabient meeting held today, Chandy said. He said the functioning of the office and other features would be web-cast.

'I will give details of other features after giving finishing touches', Chandy said when asked about the new initiative included in the 100-days programme of UDF Government that assumed office last month.

If you remember, Mamata Banerjee had said there would be no holidays on Saturday for the staff at Writers' Building, the day she took oath of office as CM.

Arindam Chaudhuri is trending on Twitter for suing Caravan magazine, Google and Penguin for Rs 500 million. Tweets...

Arindam Chaudhuri better change his slogan from 'Dare to think beyond the IIM's' to 'Dare to think beyond the High Court'

Time someone sues Arindam Chaudhuri for being such a douche bag.

I bet Ram Jethmalani is itching to become Arindam's lawyer

I bet Arindam Chaudhari suing Google is a conspiracy to distract from Aishwarya's pregnancy

At the risk of sounding counter-culture, any IIPM grads here? Thoughts on recent developments?

And news from the other 'Gandhian', Baba Ramdev. After holding the recent agitation against graft, Ramdev is all set to conduct yoga camps here. Preparations are on in Patanjali Yogpeeth for the camps, Ramdev's close aide Balkrishna said in a press conference last evening.

Ramdev reviewed the programmes being run by Yogpeeth yesterday but he did not meet people and mediapersons, he said.

However, he said the yoga teacher would shortly come before the media and air his views.

Addressing a press meet now, Anna Hazare says he will go on fast on August 16, as promised earlier. Lashing out against the government, Hazare says he has lost faith in the government, pointing out that corruption is worse than a threat from Pakistan.

Former Maharashtra chief minister and Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh today said it is up to the commission, probing irregularities in the scam-tainted Adarsh housing society, to decide" on the controversial land allotment issue.

"Whatever I have to say I have stated in my affidavit. Whatever others have to say, they have already said in their affidavit. Now it is up to the commission to decide. We should not unnecessarily do blame gaming," Deshmukh said.

A blame game involving the two former Maharashtra chief ministers had started over the scam on Monday with Chavan saying the prime land was sanctioned by Deshmukh, then chief minister, and he had no role to play.

An all-party meeting to discuss the government and civil society drafts on the proposed Lokpal Bill will be held on July 3.

The government will present two versions of the anti-corruption bill before the political parties following major differences on several key issues such as exclusion of the Prime Minister from the purview of the ombudsman.

The all-party meeting has been convened on July 3, government sources said here today.

After nine meetings spread over months, the civil society and the government failed to arrive at a common draft on the bill yesterday.

The drafts of the government and civil society will be circulated among political parties in the meeting before being taken up by the Union Cabinet.

The government draft has ruled out scrutiny of Prime Minister, higher judiciary and the conduct of MPs in Parliament by the Lokpal.

However, it proposes several critical powers conferring quasi-judicial status to Lokpal besides powers to attach assets, independent prosecution and investigation machinery with full police powers under the proposed ombudsman

The Pakistan police have arrested a man suspected of being involved in the assassination of former Minorities Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti.

According to The Dawn, the suspect, Hafiz Nazar, was arrested in Karachi and is currently being questioned.   

It happened Bhatti, a Christian and a member of the ruling Pakistan People's Party, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Islamabad on March 2 for advocating reforms of the nation's draconian blasphemy laws.   The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan had claimed responsibility the killing and called Bhatti a blasphemer of Muhammad.

The Andhra Pradesh police today called late Sathya Sai Baba's nephew R J Ratnakar and Sathya Sai Central Trust member V Srinivasan for questioning in connection with the seizure of Rs 35.5 lakh from Puttaparthi town recently.

Notices were issued to Ratnakar and Srinivasan asking them to appear before the Investigating Officer probing the case of seizure of Rs 35.5 lakh in a vehicle allegedly belonging to the Sai Central Trust within the next 3 days.

A four-wheeler carrying Rs 35.5 lakh in cash was confiscated during checking at Kodikonda checkpost under Chilamanthur Police station limits bordering Karnataka on June 18.

BJP leader Sushma Swaraj and Gopinath Munde hold the promised press conference.

Munde says: I am in the BJP and will remain in the BJP. I am not leaving the party. Said he has not met Ahmed Patel (Sonia Gandhi's chief strategist) or Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan and is not joining the Congress.

He says he is pained by certain aspects, but he has spoken to the BJP leaders about it. Sushma butts in saying pain (peedha) is not for public consumption. But the thing that hurts him the most (this is Sushma talking about Munde's pain. The lady knows it all) are the rumours that he will be quitting the party.

Sushma says Munde has spoken to him about the issues, which will be ironed out.

Here is Caravan magazine's excellent rejoinder on why they are fighting Arindam Chaudhuri's Rs 500 million lawsuit.

More power to Caravan...

Read

President Asif Ali Zardari has accused former premier Nawaz Sharif of trying to pit the ruling Pakistan People's Party against the powerful military and said he would not allow this to happen.

Launching a blistering attack against main opposition PML-N chief, Zardari described him as a 'moulvi' inspired by the divisive politics of late military ruler Zia-ul-Haq.

He also alleged that Sharif had sympathies for militants involved in insurgency across Pakistan as he equated the PML-N chief's mindset with that of Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

Wannabe rebel Gopinath Munde has met with Sushma Swaraj and has said he is with the BJP. Any time now, is Munde's press conference.

Pre lunch we had a post on insect cuisine (after careful consideration so your stomach would be able to retain your lunch) and now, here's news of a mouse being swallowed alive.  

A man in the US state of Utah has been charged with animal cruelty after he allegedly ate a live baby rat and posted the video on Facebook.

In the video, Andy Ray Harris, 31, appears to put a tiny, hairless rat in his mouth, before chewing and swallowing it. The video appears to show a small rodent, two to three inches long, lying on top of a notepad.

In fact, Harris picks up the creature, puts it in his mouth, chews and takes a drink through a straw in a giant mug. He was charged with the offence in April after police were alerted to the footage online by charity PETA.

Wonder how that tasted. Grilled mice is said to taste like chicken and is favoured among the Mooshar (literally meaning rat eating) tribals of India.

Yet another effort to reach a consensus on the Women's Reservation Bill failed to make any progress with two major political parties staying away from an all-party meeting in Delhi today and others opposed to the measure sticking to their guns.

The meeting convened by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar saw the Shiv Sena demanding that parties should have a quota for women in ticket distribution, while RJD insisted that there should be a "quota within quota" for OBC women.

Tweet from Caravan Magazine: We are forced to remove our cover story - Feb issue - Sweet Smell of Success.

The ponytailed chap with the slicked back hair that you see in the purple stripe suit in every leading newspaper announcing his management school IIPM has sued Caravan magazine, Penguin and Google for Rs 500 million. Incidentally, the chap's name is Arindam Chaudhuri.

Read why

And the witty tweet from Sidin Vadukut ...

"Hello, is this Arundhati Roy?" "Yes" "This is Aishwarya. I have good news..." *click*

First the background.

In an interview with Stephen Moss in the Guardian, Arundhati Roy tells him, I have been told quite openly by several correspondents of international newspapers, that they have instructions No negative news from India because its an investment destination. So you dont hear about it. But there is an insurrection, and its not just a Maoist insurrection. Everywhere in the country, people are fighting.

Now readAndrew Buncombe's response in the Independent. It's time somebody showed, self-righteous Ms Roy, the light.

A backgrounder on the Reddy murder.

Kiran Reddy, the daughter Jaipal Reddy's elder sister Bharati, was married to Dr Chaitanya Reddy five years ago. The couple have a four-year-old daughter.

Chaitanya was a businessman and Reddy was working with a private hospital On Friday night, the couple had gone to a party hosted by a relative and returned home late. They slept in separate rooms, since Chaitanya snored.

On Saturday morning, finding her unconscious, Chaitanya took her to Apollo hospital, where doctors declared her dead.

On Sunday, Reddy's father Raghottam Reddy complained to the police that his daughter's death was unnatural. He alleged that her husband and in-law's were behind her death. Sources said the police had already questioned Chaitanya, who said there was no problem between him and Kiran.

Just in: Police have arrested Chaitanya Reddy, the husband of Jaipal Reddy's neice Kiran, after the postmortem showed she was smothered to death.

Kiran, who was found dead recently in suspicious circumstances, had blood accumulation in the upper part of her head which is symptomatic of death by smothering.   

A sea and a continent separates us, but the culture sadly, is much the same.

Families in Syria have been known to kill raped female members to reclaim their "honour.' Even if families allow such women to live, they are not eligible to marry.

So, a group of men in Syria have pledged to marry women who were raped during the violence that swept the country in the recent months.  

They have committed themselves to an unlikely way of challenging the violence by government and its allies, who used women as instruments of war.  

Ibrahim Kayyis, a 32-year-old baker from Jisr al-Shugour, a town that was stormed by troops has promised to marry four sisters, who were allegedly raped by pro-government militiamen.  

"It made us so mad. Such an injustice. We have decided, we will marry them," he said.

Hours before BJP senior leader Sushma Swaraj meets with rebel Gopinath Munde, the party has now asked him to clarify his stand -- is he planning to quit the party and join the Congress. No reactions from Munde yet.

Incidentally, Munde will address a press conference at 3 pm, at precisely the same time, Swaraj has sought to meet him.

For a backgrounder see our 11:57 post.

And here's Pranab Mukherjee's take on the issue. The finance minister asked the media not to waste time on "bogus things".

"All these are bogus things. Don't waste your time on this," he shot back at reporters who sought replies on his statement yesterday that the Intelligence Bureau found nothing in the alleged bugging of his offices.

"In respect of news item regarding bugging in my office, the IB investigated into it and found there is nothing in it," Mukherjee had said yesterday.

Describing the reported bugging as "India's Watergate", Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj had sought to know if the government was spying on its own minister or a corporate house was doing so.

The UPA has rejected demands for a probe into the reported attempts of bugging the office of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. The BJP had demanded a probe in the matter saying it was India's Watergate and that either the government was tapping its own, or it was done at the instance of an industrial house. In fact, Janata Party leader Subramaniam Swamy went on record to say home minister P Chidambaram was behind the tapping.

The UPA said there was no basis for a probe since the Intelligence Bureau had given the government a clean chit.  

Update on the murder of Mid Day journalist J Dey:

Additional Commissioner (crime) Deven Bharti has said that while the 3,000 emails in Dey's gmail account are an assortment of links and information that Dey was more interested in, it's the collection of 250 drafts that are very crucial as they give us an insight into what he was planning to do. A detailed scrutiny of Dey's emails and call data records reveal his private nature. According to a high placed source, Dey rarely ever forwarded emails from his one account to another.

For all that, 12 days after Dey was shot dead by four unidentified men at Powai in suburban Mumbai, there are no leads.

The report on Shahzad also says: "So far the investigation has not yielded any lead that could help narrow down the scope of the investigation and bring into sharp relief any possible suspect(s)"

Amazing parallel with Indian journalist, J Dey's murder. Updates in a bit.

An initial probe into the murder of Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad has concluded that allegations against the ISI on his abduction and killing are of a "general nature" and based on a "perceived sequence of events" that allegedly culminated in his death.

These observations were made in an interim report submitted by Punjab's provincial police chief Javed Iqbal to the Supreme Court, which is hearing a case related to Shahzad's murder.

None of Shahzad's friends, colleagues or family members have provided any specific information that might pinpoint suspicion regarding an individual, said the report.

Read only if you are beside yourself with excitement at Aishwarya's pregnancy.

Amitabh Bachchan reacts: "There is joy and happiness around us. The legacy of my father lives on. My father and my mother brought forth two sons - Amitabh and Ajitabh.

Amitabh had two -- Shweta and Abhishek. Ajitabh had four, Nilima, Namrata, Naina and Bhim, who are yet to be married. My daughter is and has two children -- Navya and Agastya.

Now cometh the progeny of my son that shall bear the surname Bachchan -- the first in this generation.

My parents that reside in our hearts and above shall be most pleased and happy to see the family grow - a family that they started with care and love."

Meanwhile, a sampling of Ash pregnancy jokes on Twitter...

Aishwarya is pregnant. At last Abhishek Bachchan has a hit!

How did this happen? Abhishek has 'No Idea'. 

Aishwarya tells Abhishek: "Main tere Bachchan ki maa banne waali hoon." 

Grunting tennis players at Wimbledon have been sounded off saying they are spoiling the game for the millions of spectators and putting off their opponents, the head of Wimbledon said yesterday.

Read more

More on the woman or rather the bottom which seems to have taken Britain by storm -- Pippa Middleton.

Prince Harry has nicknamed Pippa "Commando" - sparking rumours she didn't wear knickers at the royal wedding, reports the sun.co.uk. It also emerged party planner Pippa, 27, has a pet name for Harry - calling him Captain after his Army rank.

Pippa caused a sensation with her shapely rear view as chief bridesmaid at sister Kate's wedding to Harry's brother Prince William in April. And Harry, 26, was among many seen flashing admiring glances.

After that delectable slideshow, on to other other news.

Sulking BJP leader Gopinath Munde now appears to be moving closer to the Congress. An indication to this effect was available today as Munde has not met any BJP central leaders especially L K Advani after his arrival here last night from Mumbai.

"Munde appears to have made up his mind to go to Congress," conceded a senior BJP leader who declined to be named. There was speculation that Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan along with Munde met Ahmed Patel, political secretary to the Congress president, but there was no confirmation.

The Maharashtra Chief Minister, who is in Delhi apparently to give an assessment to the party high command on the Munde issue, met Patel late last night.

A feeling in the BJP camp is that Munde appears to have come to the conclusion that his grievance are unlikely to be resolved by meeting Nitin Gadkari.

Gadkari was junior to Munde in state politics and after he took over as the national president, Munde's clout has gone down in the organisation. Meanwhile, Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who is known to be close to Munde, has also arrived in Delhi to be at hand for possible consultations. Former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, who like Munde hails from Marathwada region, met with Congress President Sonia Gandhi yesterday.

And take a look at this slideshow as well on bug cuisine. Yum!

On cnn.com, a story that will bug you: Sixteen ways to eat a cicada: The fine art of insect cuisine.

Warning: Read it before you lunch.

Days before Mamata Banerjee's poll win in West Bengal, the then chief minister hopeful had said the Tatas were welcome to return to the state. Over a month later, it seems highly unlikely....

The Calcutta High Court today refused to hear ex-parte Tata Motors' petition challenging the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011.

Justice Saumitra Pal, while taking up the petition filed by the Tata Motors, directed its counsel Samaraditya Pal to serve notice to the state government and said the matter would be taken up at 12 noon.

Samaraditya Pal submitted that he wanted to move the petition ex-parte, but the court refused to entertain his plea.

The Act scrapped the previous Left Front government's deal with Tata Motors and provided for return of land to unwilling farmers. The Bill was passed in the state Assembly on June 14, amid a walkout by the Opposition Left parties, by voice vote along with some amendments brought by the government.

This is what the British tabloid, the Daily Mail says on Aishwarya's pregnancy.

Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai, famous for her role in hit film Bride & Prejudice, is pregnant. It will be the first child for the 37-year-old actress and her actor husband Abhishek Bachchan, 35, who married back in 2007.

The news was broken by Abhishek's father, actor and producer Amitabh Bachchan, who tweeted today:  'NEWS NEWS NEWS!! I am going to become a grandfather. Aishwarya expecting... So happy and thrilled!!!'

Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik has revealed that Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was involved in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.   

"The assassins and perpetrators of Benazir Bhutto's murder have been identified. Some have been arrested while others have been declared proclaimed offenders,' The Daily Times quoted Malik, as saying.  

"If party leadership will allow I will disclose who they were, where the plan was prepared and how they came to Rawalpindi,' he added.  

Malik is the man who warned the Pak World Cup cricket team that they were being "closely watched" for match fixing.

Even as Google Inc contemplates chucking the I'm Feeling Lucky link, it has  added five more Indian languages -- Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu -- thus increasing its reach to a potential half a million population.

In addition to this, there's Hindi, Marathi, Punjabi and Malayalam.

And another from Mr Srivats.

The BJP is suffering from Munde morning blues, eh?

Had to share this. A tweet from our favourite Ramesh Srivats on Aishwarya's pregnancy.

Bachchan Household : Three generations of Bachchans - BigB, WannaB, and now BayB.

Morning. The reason behind Aishwarya Rai's weight gain has finally been revealed by her father-in-law. The lady is pregnant and she and Abhishek (the husband) are already trending on Twitter. One tweet goes... After Aishwarya Rai, every fat girl now will be suspected of pregnancy. And that's just the nice one.

The other headlines today...

Government draft on Lokpal Bill excludes PM (The Hindu)
Expressing "deep disappointment" at what it said was the government's watered down version of a Lokpal Bill, Team Anna criticised the exclusion of the Prime Minister from the ambit of the ombudsman and threatened to take to the streets from August 1. Read

Pranab, the No. 2, insecure... shows UPA mistrust, probe his office breach: Oppn (The Indian Express)
North Block Sweep: Trust deficit in UPA all-time high, says BJP; Left joins call for probe. Read

Aishwarya Rai is pregnant, says Amitabh Bachchan on Twitter (DNA)
Bachchan senior has announced to the world his ecstasy at his daughter-in-law being pregnant with the family's heir. Read

Notice issued to 2 Sai Baba Trustees (DNA)
The notice was issued over the seizure of Rs35 lakh in cash from a car belonging to the Trust on June 18. Read

Ban Ki-moon unanimously elected for second term as UN chief (DNA)
The 192-nation UN General Assembly has voted unanimously to elect Ban Ki-moon for a second five-year term as the global body's secretary-general. Read

J Dey murder: Clues in cell phone records, emails? (DNA)
Investigators find recurring pattern with group of numbers J Dey called continuously. Read

Tata Motors to move court today against Singur bill (Hindustan Times)
Tata Motors is likely to move court today against the Singur land rehabilitation and development bill, 2011, which cancels the 997.17-acre land lease given by the erstwhile Left Front government to Tata Motors, sources said. Read

All-party meet on women's bill today; Sushma, Advani to represent BJP (Hindustan Times)
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has called an all-party meet on the women's reservation bill today to build a consensus on the bill passed in Rajya Sabha last year. Read

Tears flow as Karunanidhi, wife meet Kani in Tihar jail (The Times of India)
Jail sources said Karunanidhi entered the room with tears in his eyes. "The moment Kanimozhi came into the room, she clasped his hand. She then embraced her mother and spoke animatedly in Tamil," a source said. Read

Renowned yoga guru Iyengar hits out at Ramdev-style of yoga (The Times of India)
BKS Iyengar, who for the past 75 years is teaching yoga on the world stage, said over-publicizing of specific aspects like 'kapalbhati' is wrong and is a "short-cut" best avoided. Read