No room for love in Dehli Hotels

if you are a lesbian couple in the Capital. While the law may have changed, Delhi hotels are yet to step out of the closet. Ishita Sharma and Vasudha Grover find out

Delhi watched as the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community celebrated the decriminalisation of Article 377, even pitched in when the stepping-out parties were thrown. But a month after the landmark ruling and a lot of brouhaha, it seems saadi Dilli hasn't really had a change of heart.

MiD DAY reporters Ishita Sharma and Vasudha Grover posed as a lesbian couple and went searching for the most basic requirement - a hotel room to spend some cosy time. The response they received ranged from curiosity to embarrassing questions and even ignorance.

Girls only?

We started with the affordable hotels of Karol Bagh. Our first stop was Crown DLX, where the owner refused to rent out a room to 'only girls'. "Agar Delhi mein rehte ho to apne ghar jao (If you have a home in Delhi, go there)," said the bespectacled man, as he showed us the door.

The manager at our next stop, Hotel Arihant, was more accommodating maybe because his hotel seemed to have seen better days. But even he was perplexed about our 'couple' status.

Our final destination at Karol Bagh was Hotel Sunstar, whose owner asked, "Aap dono ladkiyon ko room mein karna kya hai (What will you girls do in a room?)" Embarrassed, we thought it was best to leave.

After touring a few hotels in the Paharganj area and being greeted with the same doubtful response, we decided to approach a more expensive and respectable hotel. We walked into the jazzy Le Meridien property at Connaught Place.

We asked for a room and hinted we needed it for just a couple of hours. The hotel staff was polite and accommodating but wasn't too eager to show us the room. After 30 minutes of waiting and being ignored, we walked out. Advertisement

B'Day Special..Rare Photos of Arbaaz Khan

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I am not a fool: Shilpa Sethi

The authorities of Orissa's revered Gopinath Deb temple at Sakhigopal filed a complaint recently against Shilpa Shetty accusing her of having walked into the temple with footwear on and hurting religious sentiments. The authorities filed the FIR at Satyabadi police station.

However, Shilpa insists that they were being biased against her. "I know one should enter a temple with taking your shoes off. In fact, we were supposed to be shooting inside the temple, but the punditjis raised an objection, so we shot on the steps outside. I had kept my footwear in my car, as I didn't want to wear them even in the vicinity of the temple! I had no footwear on when we shot the whole scene," says Shilpa. "Later, I decided to enter the temple without the footwear of course to take God's darshan. How could I not go and visit the temple when I was there? But I don't know what happened, when I came out, one of the guys started screaming,
'How could she be allowed inside?' I didn't know why he was making such a fuss. Thankfully, my bodyguard took me to safety quickly. And the next thing I know was that a case was filed against me that I entered the temple with footwear on!"

She adds, "This is preposterous! I am a spiritually inclined person and I know the temple laws very well. I am not a fool to enter a temple with my footwear on. This is rubbish. They are just looking for attention."

Then on a lighter note, Shilpa says, "It's all right, I am getting used to controversies now. Wherever I go, one is created." Advertisement

Pervez Musharraf tries his hand on Tabla

Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf seems to have found some solace in playing the 'tabla' as troubles pile up for him.

During a cultural show here, the former military ruler tried his hand on the tabla, according to a British Peer who is a staunch critic of Musharraf.

"I heard him play tabla myself. It was during a recent music show in London," Lord Nazir Ahmed told journalists.

Musharraf had been watching an Indian classical concert when he became irritated by tabla performer's odd beats, Ahmed said. He then stormed the stage, ousted the performer and entertained the audience himself by playing tabla, he added.

According to sources, Musharraf is currently in Paris and is expected back here on August 10.

The former President is facing an uncertain future after Pakistan Supreme Court recently declared that the emergency imposed by him in 2007 was "unconstitutional and illegal."

Demands have been growing in Pakistan that he should be tried for high treason. Advertisement

Megan Fox banned on men's Sites for a day

Hollywood stunner Megan Fox has failed to work her charm on several editors of U.S. biggest male Websites as they have decided to boycott news and pictures of the actress for a day.

The Transformers beauty has stormed into the popular press in the last year and is regularly voted as the sexiest women in the world. She has also become a men's magazine favourite, appearing on the covers of GQ, Esquire, Maxim and Empire in just a matter of months, reports said.

But bosses of several U.S. Websites aimed at men have decided to ban any news about the actress for a full 24 hours, insisting they fear she is becoming over-exposed.

"We're joining in the media blackout and giving our readers a one-day reprieve from the woman we've been drowning in all summer," AskMen.com editor James Bassil said.

"It's time to give another young actress a shot at the attention. We're taking a one-day break from covering Megan's latest nail polish colour and instead promoting another Next Big Thing," Eric Rogell at TheBachelorGuy.com added.

The Megan Fox 'media blackout' will take place on August 4. Advertisement

Tendulkar-Dhoni Wear Turbans

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Ranbir Kapoor Falls asleep on sets

Ranbir Kapoor who is known to play mostly lover boy in his films will get an altogether new role to portray where at anytime and at anywhere, he will fall asleep, feel dull, bored and confused. That’s why the title goes as ‘Wake Up Sid’. Ranbir had a gala time while shooting for the film because anytime the director asks him to sleep on the set to get into the skin of the character.

Ranbir Kapoor is playing a character named Siddharth Mehra who is about to finish college but is aimless. He does not know which way to go and always seems lazy. In the fast life of Mumbai, Siddharth sleeps late before exams and likes to sleep till the late hours of the day.

His comfortable and tension free life starts to wake up when he comes across lively Konkona Sen Sharma, she spices Sid’s life and by the time the film proceeds towards its end, Sid wakes up, leaving behind all idleness. Karan Johar’s ‘Wake Up Sid’ is slated to release in October. Advertisement