Panai ,: Though a celebrity name after The Inheritance of Loss won the 2006 Man Booker Award, author Kiran Desai says she is still not recognised on the streets of Mumbai and New Delhi, allowing her to live hassle-free during her visits to India. The New York-based novelist said she was enjoying her month long working retreat to Goa.
Kiran Desai and Turkish novelist and Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk have rented a beach front villa to write their respective novels. The pair have, however, been spotted at several of the state’s evening cultural events. They made an appearance at the release of Dayanita Singh’s new book on Saturday at Candolim’s trendy bookstore CafeLiterati that had author Amitav Ghosh do the honours.  
Last week, Pamuk and Desai dropped in at the Monte Fusion Classical Music festival in Old Goa, while they made a brief appearance at the opening of a new heritage home museum in Loutolim on Sunday.

Pamela D’Mello

Oslo: A South African man has won the 2010 Mr Gay World pageant, beating rivals from Australia, Hong Kong, China and Spain, the organisers said on Sunday.

New York: Setting a new world record, a 51-year-old Ohio man has given 7,777 hugs in a day. Jeff Ondash who also holds the one-hour world record for hugging 1,205 people within the 60 minute period in May 2008, broke another record on Saturday outside the Paris Las Vegas hotel where he embraced 7,777 people, E-Portage, Ohio’s online newspaper reported.

GENEVA, FRIDAY WAS a banner day for director Roman Polanski: His new film premiered in Berlin and Swiss authorities pledged not to extradite him to the US as long as his appeal on a sex case was still being considered in Los Angeles. Compared to

London: An untitled work by Indian-origin sculptor Anish Kapoor sold for more than double the pre-sale estimates while a monumental copper installation by contemporary artist Subodh Gupta fetched £229,250 at a Sotheby’s auction here.

London: A liquor outlet in Britain has come up with a unique way to combat underage drinking — it has installed an electronic "fingerprinting" gadget. Shoppers who prove they are 18 by showing their passport or driving licence will have their fingerprint

Cape Canaveral, Florida: Astronauts swung open the door to the International Space Station’s newest room on Friday night, using flashlights to illuminate the shadowy chamber and wearing goggles and masks to keep themselves safe from any floating debris.

London: Fashion designer Alexander McQueen who committed suicide on Friday has left behind a legacy worth billions with sales of his collections shooting up a staggering 1400 per cent.

Lagos: A Nigerian pentecostal church on Saturday announced that it was charging a fee of 2,000 naira for connecting would-be lovers on Valentine’s Day. The House of God Fellowship Church, located near a Lagos prison, is charging the fee to defray the cost

Geneva: Swiss authorities won’t extradite Roman Polanski to the United States until courts in Los Angeles rule definitively that the director must face further sentencing in person in a 32-year-old sex case, a senior official said on Friday.