The number of tableaux was much less this year; last year, a large number of local schools had presented a colourful parade with their tableaux. The tableau of the Traffic Warden Cell won the first prize this year too. But what was really funny about the public function was that it seemed to have been organised more for the officials than the public really. Barricades were put up on the road leading from the Sector 16 Cricket Stadium roundabout towards the bus stand. And the divider on this road was broken at two places so that vehicles of powers-that-be could easily cross into the parking slot of Sector 22, instead of going round the small traffic island midway through the road.

The Crash and After
One would think the Capital's diamond-dripping shahtoosh set -- otherwise constantly checking over their chiffon-clad shoulders to make sure nobody was overtaking them on the Who's Who list -- would at least put up a united front when one of their fraternity got into trouble. The BMW crash that has been hogging the headlines, as much for the fact that the young men involved in the accident belong to socialite families, as for the crime itself, has proved that this is not so.

At the sangeet party held a few days after the accident to celebrate the marriage of Bhai Mohan Singh's grandson, Vikramjit `Tunoo' Singh, many a nasty crack were made at the BMW and its occupants. ``Sanjeev Nanda deserved what he got,'' remarked one high-profile guest, who just happens to have two BMWs of his own. What's more, there seemed to be no lessons learnt from the accident. When the bride and groom's friends were to move to the dance floor, the host announced: ``Will the bar please get some drinks? The glasses must be topped up before the young people can start dancing''.

Obviously, the issue of drinking and driving, and its consequences, the hot topic of debate up and down the Capital that whole week, wasn't on anybody's mind. One guest, who was shocked by the attitude that evening, gave her version of the inside story. Host Maheep Singh, she said, had had a showdown some time back with Nanda's aunt, Veena Mehra. Since then, anybody associated with Mehra had been blacklisted and any show of sympathy for the Nandas at a party hosted by the Singhs would've betrayed an allegiance to the rival camp.

Nevertheless, unconcerned about such trivial matters, the guests, who included the likes of Sharmila Tagore, Lekha Poddar, Arun Singh's sons Anirudh and Hanut, Vijay Mallya's mother, Lalita, and Lalit Mohan Thapar, jived the night away. And the heat must certainly have been on, considering that the shamiana mysteriously caught fire at the end of the party.

The shadow of the crash, though, seems to be only getting longer. For, Siddharth Gupta, who was in the BMW with Nanda and Manik Kapoor, had got engaged to Parul, daughter of businessman Sunil Sarin, just a day before the crash. Strange are the ways of fate: one speeding BMW, six lives lost, and a question mark on the future of three young men and all those associated with them. And innumerable versions and opinions aired over glasses of bubbly.

Intel Inside
Perhaps this quote fits no one better than Manpreet Singh Khaira, a city resident who has made it big in the United States. For Manpreet heads the Strategic CAD (Computer Aided Design) Lab (also known as SCL) of none other than the microprocessor giant, Intel. He is the director of the lab and as its manager, Manpreet is responsible for research of tools and methodologies for designing next generation Intel microprocessors.

A Chandigarhian, Manpreet was in city back from the US last week. Busy at his home with his parents and other family members, he said that before coming to Chandigarh he had delivered a lecture at Goa regarding his company and the heights to which the tiny computer chip is scaling.

Having done his bachelors in Computer Science and Technology with the prestigious President's Gold Medal from IIT, Kharagpur in 1988, he went to the Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh for his MS. "It seems to be the unwritten rule that the gold medalist from IIT Kharagpur lands up at Carnegie Mellon," says Manpreet. While studying there he bagged an offer with intel. He invented the Technology Maturity Model that is used as a key tool for technology development in the Microprocessor products group at Intel today. In fact he was the person who established SCL and took it from a start-up of five founding engineers to a highly successful lab which employs nearly 40 Ph.Ds.

While others complain of brain drain, he concedes he was a part of it. But then this is a City lad who can proudly claim to be Inter Inside.

Star Struck
Filmstar Anil Kapoor looked mighty pleased with himself on his arrival in the city for a television interview. Reason: He shared the flight with the Pakistani cricket team.

``Javed Miandad is a friend of mine. I got to know the team when I'd gone for one of the Sharjah matches,'' he explained, merrily dropping names. What's more, he even got to share the gym with them at Taj Palace the next morning. ``I exercised with them,'' he declared proudly. All the exercises? ``Well, not all,'' he admitted, turning red behind his designer dark glasses. ``When they started on the push-ups, I said, `You go ahead, I'll watch'.'' For once, the star was playing star-struck.