Nudists dine in New York style

NEW YORK, Feb 18: The diners arrived at a nice Manhattan restaurant on a cold February night and stripped off coats, hats, gloves and scarves. They didn't stop there. Skirts, shirts, pants, underwear and stockings all ended up stashed in plastic bags by the bar as the patrons got naked for the monthly "Clothing Optional Dinner." "It's exciting to be in a restaurant nude," said George Keyes, 65, a retired junior high school English teacher. Keyes, a lifelong nudist, wore a necklace, earrings and a black leather "genital bracelet" with red studs. And white sneakers.

The dinner was started by a group of New York nudists who wanted something a bit more elegant than the wilderness getaways and beach resorts they generally frequent. "When you go away on holiday it's more you're roughing it in the woods, whereas this is a really nice restaurant," said Keyes, a member of gay nudist group Males Au Naturel, or MAN.

John Ordover set up the dining club about a year ago, recruiting members through word of mouth and the Internet. "Next month is our Easter bonnet event, where everybody has to come wearing an Easter bonnet," said Ordover, a heavyset man with a jovial smile and glasses.

Around 30 people arrived for the buffet dinner -- organizers specified no hot soup on the menu -- most of them middle-aged, several married couples, some singles, the youngest perhaps in their 30s. "They're a good class of people, they're no different to you or I," said John Bussi, owner of the midtown restaurant. "They're not hurting anybody, it's not a wild Roman orgy."

Health regulations mean staff must remain clothed even if they wanted to join in. And diners must bring something to sit on -- a towel or, for discerning women, an elegant silk scarf. The restaurant's manager covered the windows to maintain privacy at the strictly private party. Extra heaters kept the temperature at a comfortable level for nudity. Ordover's wife, Carol, said they first went on a naturist holiday five years ago and she found the experience empowering. But, she explained, it's "the least sexual thing you can possibly imagine."

"Men in nudist resorts are striking a bargain. They get to see as many naked women as they like as long as they are polite and look them straight in the eye," she said. Sherry Stafford, a petite and elegant 51-year-old with blond hair and high heels, brought brochures and videos advertising her travel business, Internaturally Travel.

One of the flyers was for a resort called "Hedonism II" whose slogan is "Be wicked for a week." But she said nudists should not be confused with swingers. "Wearing clothes and going to church does not protect you from moral evil," Stafford said, lamenting what she saw as a tendency to demonize people just because they like to be naked.

Sandy, a slim woman in her 40s, said she never felt self-conscious about her body and was comfortable dining in the nude. But she did admit to being a bit more nervous before a recent naked yoga class attended by around 25 people. "Everyone was a little concerned there would be people looking around but the good thing is nobody really was," she said, standing at the restaurant's bar before dinner. "If you try to maintain a yoga position you're going to fall if you start looking around -- and that's more embarrassing than anything else."

I was treated like a dog: Nigar

NEW DELHI, Feb 13: Nigar Khan is angry and wants the world to know it. Deported to Norway on February 7 because of alleged visa violations, the item bomb claims she was physically assaulted by officials of the FRRO (Foreigners Regional Registration Office). In an interview on phone from Norway, Nigar says she didn't deserve the kind of treatment meted out to her. "Nobody treats you the way FRRO did. I was dragged by my hair at the airport. I was hit on the head and finally put in a wheelchair and led to the aircraft. I was shivering with shock when all this was happening to me. I still have bruises and marks on my hands and they are turning an ugly blue. The officers who bundled me off to airport were very strong and had an iron grip," she fumes.

The Chadhti Jawani girl questions the manner in which the deportation order was executed. "Is this the way to treat a human being? Was I caught holding a gun in my hand, am I a thief or a terrorist or have I committed a capital crime? Even a dog is not treated the way I was. Deven Bharti of the FRRO would not let me talk to anybody. Within one hour I was put on a plane with no luggage whatsoever. I was not allowed to go home, to pack or call my husband and friends. They took away my mobile phone and dragged me to the aircraft," she laments.

While Bharti was not available for comments, Nigar fires a volley of charges at the FRRO official: "Bharti wanted me to sign some documents which I refused. I told them they could put me in jail if I had done something wrong but I wouldn't sign any papers. It was then that a burly woman appeared on the scene and said she needed just 20 minutes alone with me in a room and she would make me sign all the papers that the FRRO wanted. But I stuck to my guns despite the threats."

The bum-squeezing angel from the raunchy remix video insists there's nothing wrong with travel documents: "My papers are very much in order. I don't know why the FRRO in India has treated me in such a shocking manner. Bharti took a copy of my marriage certificate when I had gone to deposit it in January 2005. I wanted everything to be legal and that's why when I received the deportation notice on January 6, 2005, I flew to Norway three days later to get myself a work permit. However my application was refused apparently because someone from the FRRO had asked the Indian embassy in Oslo to do so. I was made to go back and forth between the Indian mission in Norway and the FRRO in India but there was no real progress on the visa issue", she says.

According to the Iran-born model, she has no idea who is behind her deportation. As far as she's concerned, the buck stops with the FRRO. "I don't know who is behind all this. But when I pointed out that my papers were in order and that I had got a letter from my producers to allow me to work in India, Bharti denies receiving any such documents from me. That man knows I have been working in India for more than two years now and that I had applied for an employment visa. Despite that, he said I would have to go to the Indian embassy in Norway. They in turn sent me right back to the FRRO and this is how I have been given the great run-around. This is just harassment," says Nigar.

Husband Saahil Khan backs up her story: "She had gone with her documents to the registration office. But they turned her away and asked her to go to the Indian embassy in Oslo instead. They confiscated her phone so that she could not talk to family, friends or media. Where does one hear of this kind of treatment? If there is some paperwork to be done, one is given time to complete the process and not thrown aboard the first flight out of the country. No one is deported within an hour of the order being served and whisked off without a chance to talk to their family or gather their luggage. Such was the haste that her luggage went on a different flight and she travelled on another. In fact I don't even know which flight they sent her on. They didn't ask us to buy her flight ticket; they just went ahead and bought it themselves."

Like Nigar, he too blasts the FRRO. "I demand to know what they were doing while Nigar was working in India for the last three years or so. Deven Bharti even denies receiving a copy of the marriage certificate that my wife gave to him. If she was an illegal with no valid papers, how come it took them three years to realise their mistake? What were they doing all this time? After all she's not exactly an unknown person. She's a celebrity and a film star at that," he says.

According to Saahil, Nigar had tried getting a different visa after marriage: "When she got the notice on January 6, she had applied for registration of the marriage certificate on January 7. To put things in order she also went to Norway on January 9 but was refused visa. She then hired a lawyer who advised her to apply for residency as she was married. We had not disclosed our marriage in public because we wanted it to remain a private affair. Everybody knows how the film industry works. However there's no denying the fact that Nigar is my legally wedded wife.

"As her husband I will do everything possible to get her back. I won't be going to Norway, as I have to do all the necessary paperwork here. On Monday I will be applying for a resident visa for her, as we are now a married couple. I plan to approach the human rights commission to protest against the inhuman way in which Nigar was treated during her deportation."

Saahil also denies reports in certain sections of the media that he holds a British passport. "I'm a bonafide citizen of this country as I was born and brought up in India. There's absolutely no truth in the rumour," he says.

Nigar is confident that her husband will beat the odds. "Saahil is in the process of applying for a visa. He will file all necessary documents before a competent court," she says.

Her harrowing experience certainly hasn't lessened Nigar's love for India. "I love the country and am proud of it. I married an Indian man and have been living in Juhu all this while. My husband will come to get me from Norway. Our lives are in India. Why should I leave the country where my work and my life is? I will definitely come back. All my producers and directors have been very supportive and are doing their best to get bail me out of this situation," she insists.

She also discounts the possibility that authorities could seize her assets in India. Her bank account with HSBC is reportedly under scrutiny. Since she's charged with violating her visa terms, any money she had earned during her stay may have been illegal. "They can seize me account and my other possessions, but can't seize my heart and mind. My greatest loss is that I am hurt," says Nigar.

The bombshell certainly intends getting her own country behind her on the deportation issue. "One officer sitting in the FRRO has ruined India's reputation. The way they threw me out after beating me up is what hurts most. How can one person be allowed to do what he wants? How can he be allowed to question the validity of papers issued by his own government? He insulted his own government by doing so.

"There is complete outrage in Norway and all over Europe about this incident. Bharti has destroyed India's fair name in Europe. All the newspapers and TV channels here are questioning the way I was deported. In fact I will be on Oslo's TV2 tonight at 10:30 pm local time where the entire episode will be discussed. However I must add that the Indian media and my producers and directors have all stood by me in this crisis and I am thankful for that. I will soon be back where my husband is," she claims.

Female soldiers bare busts in prison mud-fest!

London, Feb 7: American female soldiers are in the midst of a controversy again, as photographs taken by colleagues show them exposing their bare breasts at a party in an Iraqi prison. According to The Sun, some of the 30 pictures reveal male soldiers cheering on two women in bras and panties in a mud-filled paddling pool. In others photographs, military police women bared their breasts and flashed thongs for male soldiers with cameras.

Investigators probing a breakdown of discipline at the US Army's Camp Bucca jail were informed that sergeants also lent their rooms to soldiers for sex. Ironically, the soldiers had been assigned to guard Iraqi inmates being transferred there from scandal-hit Abu Ghraib jail.

The party was organised last year in October by sergeants of the 160th Military Police battalion reserve unit to celebrate the end of their tour of duty. "It let people blow off steam before coming home after a year in a combat zone," the report quoted sergeant Amil Ganim, who is seen in some pictures refereeing the mud-wrestling soldiers, as saying.

Another participant told investigators that two sergeants had let Army friends use their rooms for sex, which is a serious breach of military rules. A female witness revealed that the two sergeants had been drinking and were noticeably drunk.

US Army spokesman Lt Col Barry Johnson said he was not sure if excessive alcohol consumption had led to the mud-wrestling party, but added, "Alcohol is banned."

Making a clean breast of things

For all those who just cannot stop speculating how many times Pamela Anderson has gone under the knife, the actress sets the records straight. "I had surgery only three times. First I went in for an enhancement, then I had them removed. But I got them put back in again," she says. But that does not mean she recommends surgery.

"Women's bodies are beautiful. I've had a love/hate relationship with my breasts and when I look back, I could beat myself up about it. But I don't, as I created a career out of it."

 

'The Aviator' earns 11 Oscar nominations

BEVERLY HILLS (California), Jan 26: The Howard Hughes epic 'The Aviator' led Academy Awards contenders with 11 nominations, including best picture, plus acting honours for Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett and Alan Alda and a directing slot for Martin Scorsese. The boxing saga 'Million Dollar Baby' and the J M Barrie tale 'Finding Neverland' followed with seven nominations each, among them best picture and acting nominations for Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Hilary Swank and Johnny Depp.

Eastwood also got a directing nomination for 'Million Dollar Baby.' The other best-picture nominees were the Ray Charles portrait 'Ray' and the buddy comedy 'Sideways.' Along with Eastwood, Jamie Foxx also scored two nominations, as best actor for the title role in 'Ray' and supporting actor as a taxi driver whose cab is hijacked by a hit man in 'Collateral'. Foxx's dead-on emulation of Charles has made him the front-runner in the lead-actor category.

Asha Leo faces bum rap in UP

It's bottoms up for Asha Leo in Uttar Pradesh. Shiv Sena has taken strong exception to the model showing her naked back in this year's Kingfisher Calendar and wants the pictures treated as porn. The wide media coverage for the glamour calendar brought out by India's leading beer manufacturer has clearly got the Sena's goat. The rightwing organisation, often in the news as a self-appointed guardian of morality, decided to take matters into its own hands after photographs shot by well-known lensman Atul Kasbekar were shown on a fashion channel and also appeared in print.

Launched in 2003 by United Breweries, the Kingfisher Swimsuit Calendar is not available for sale and is presented every year to a select group of people only. Besides London-based Asha, this year's edition features leading Indian models Yana Gupta, Pia Trivedi and Sheetal Menon. Giving them company is Cindy Burbridge from Thailand.

Shot on location in South Africa, the girls are shown wearing swimsuits by a number of upcoming designers like Surily Goel, Namrata Joshipura, Kiran Uttam Ghosh and Ranna Gill. The Sena is particularly incensed at the March layout that has Anna sitting with her back turned to the camera. Clad in only a bikini bottom, she appears to be topless and has a string of seashells draped around her neck.

"Pictures like these are a shame upon our culture. Imagine what effect they will have when put up in colleges and hostels. It's sure to pollute the minds of our youngsters," fumes UP Shiv Sena chief and High Court lawyer Vijay Kumar Tewari.

Udai Pandey, vice-president of the Sena's state unit, is just as agitated. "It is a sad day when a company uses nudity to sell liquor," says Pandey.
The Sena is not satisfied just venting its ire. Alleging that the Kingfisher Calendar portrays women indecently, the organisation wants police to treat the Kingfisher Calendar as pornographic material in case it is bought and sold in the market. Failing such action by the cops, Sena activists have threatened to make a bonfire out of copies of the calendar.

Uttar Pradesh's morality minders will be out in force on Valentine's Day too. Like every year, a decision has been taken to prohibit hotels and restaurants from holding special celebrations on February 14. So-called 'chimpanzee squads' of the Shiv Sena and the Hindu Jagran Manch will patrol parks and gardens to shoo lovers away.

Ash signs Douglas' next film

MUMBAI, Jan 25: Hollywood star Michael Douglas has signed former Miss World and Bollywood queen Aishwarya Rai for his forthcoming venture - Racing the Monsoon. The deal was signed in Mumbai a few minutes ago.

The international action flick is to be produced jointly by Sahara One Motion Pictures, Percept Pictures Company and Douglas. The film, expected to go on floors early 2006, will be shot entirely in India with a huge portion being shot at the picturesque Amby Valley on the Pune-Mumbai highway.
Aishwarya Rai is being considered for the lead female role although nothing is yet finalised, said a Sahara One official. Douglas will reportedly have a double role in the film. The film is being directed by Steven Carr.

Lebanon Lingerie

Models display creations by Diamony Agency in Beirut on January 17, 2005. The agency held a show of its lingerie collection in the Lebanese capital

Models displaying creations in Beirut	Models displaying lingerie collection