Amidst a raging controversy over remarks on smoking by a Bharatiya Janata Party MP who is a 'beedi' baron, another Member of Parliament from the party Ram Prasad Sarmah on Friday waded into the row, claiming there is no clear proof yet linking cigarette puffing and cancer while wondering whether tobacco contains "herbal medicine"
Damu Nagar -- a shanty colony built around a hillock in Mumbai's northern suburb of Kandivali, abutting the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, was engulfed in an inferno Monday, December 7, that left more than 2,000 homes gutted and thousands homeless. Residents displayed exemplary courage, camaraderie and chutzpah as they grappled with ways and means to overcome their personal catastrophes when Rediff.com visited them.