Diaspora News Briefs | DesPardes.com

London, Sep 19: An NRI doctor, who fitted the porn actress Cathy Barry with record-breaking breast implants, is facing investigation into his conduct on the ground that he is not a qualified specialist plastic surgeon, media reported in London on Sunday.

Shiva Singh carried out the operation for live television on Channel Five. According to a report in The Sunday Times, the London Bridge hospital, where Singh works, is to call him before its committee responsible for ethics. The General Medical Council (GMC) is also studying the television programme and may take action.

According to the report, Singh maintains that he is qualified to carry out the procedure and acted responsibly. He accuses his critics of trying to preserve a 'monopoly'.

Barry's operation took three times as long as a regular breast augmentation because Singh needed three attempts to insert the implants, into her breasts, the report claimed.

She revealed her new bust last Saturday on Cosmetic Surgery Live, which has been shown every night for the past two weeks on Channel Five. Branding the operation as unethical, Dr Richard Nicholson, editor of the 'Bulletin of Medical Ethics', said: "There are some uses of medical skills that are unethical and I would say this is one of them." (PTI)

2 NRIs plan to ‘revolutionize’ Indian potatoes

Allahabad, Sept. 19: Two non-resident Indians (NRI) entrepreneurs - US-based Rakesh Singh and Canada-based Harish Joshi – want to "revolutionize" the country’s potato economy.

The two are currently working to bring to India a potato processing technology, which they claim, has the potential to do so.

According Ashish Chopra, a chartered accountant, who is working on the project with the two NRIs, technology involves preservation and "flaking" of potatoes which results in drastic reduction in storage costs.

"Unprocessed potatoes have a shelf life of 3-4 days with the new technology, which simply involves dehydrating the commodity, potatoes can be safely preserved for months," Chopra said.

The "simple and cost effective" technology was first tested in the US state of Idaho -- potatoes produced by contract farmers were preserved and flaked before their further processing, bringing huge benefits to all stakeholders, he said. (NNN)

Indian sleeps on Chicago train, wakes to fame

CHICAGO, SEP 19: When a 25-year-old Indian student at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) dozed off in a Chicago subway train, he did not realise his predicament would quickly become a cause celebre.

Gaurav Bhatia unwittingly got caught in a controversy over Chicago's bureaucracy after he was given a $50 ticket for sleeping on the train.

The incident occurred when Bhatia, who does not own a car and resides on the IIT campus, fell asleep while riding to work.

Local TV and radio channels have highlighted Bhatia's experience, but Chicago Transport Authority (CTA) and police officials say he was penalised for "sleeping dangerously".

"How dare they?" asked an outraged Bhatia. "If the police officer had written those words on the ticket I would have told him to lock me up because I won't accept the ticket."

Explaining how the incident had occurred, Bhatia said: "My work starts at 8 a.m., so I leave the house at 7 a.m. I usually sleep on the train.

"A lot of people sleep on the train. I mean, I don't put up my feet and lie down. I just sit there and sometimes I fall asleep, because there is nothing to do.

"So the other day, I was coming to my workplace and I fell asleep on the train. I was tired. The night before, I was with my parents who were here on a visit. I was showing them around and it was a bit late, so I was a bit sleepy the next morning."

As his station approached, people started to get down, but Bhatia didn't realise it.

A police officer came in. "He did not have to shake me up or anything like that. My body is programmed. Every day I take the same train, so my eyes just open up at the same time," Bhatia said.

The police officer then gave a very surprised Bhatia a ticket with a fine for $50. Bhatia said the officer was friendly and polite and warned him about criminals, saying that he could have his wallet stolen.

But Bhatia found it ridiculous. "I told my friends and they all started laughing. How can you give someone a ticket for sleeping on the train? There are so many people sleeping on the train every day.

"I wasn't like homeless people. I was just sitting there. The police officer told me I could mail in the $50. I refused. They want revenue, surely. But not from me."

Officials said Bhatia had "violated a CTA ordinance by obstructing the operation of a train".

After local television and radio channels interviewed Bhatia, CTA officials gave their explanation a new spin, saying he was "sleeping dangerously".

Chicago police spokesman David Bayless, who affirmed Bhatia was "sleeping dangerously", said: "I am told his legs were blocking the aisle."

When told that all passengers had got off, the spokesman said: "That does not mean there wouldn't be other people getting on who could trip over him. We were trying to prevent that."

CTA spokesperson Robyn Ziegler conceded: "Napping is one of the advantages of taking public transit instead of driving."

But she said there was a CTA rule that prohibited sleeping or dozing "where such activity may be hazardous to such persons or others, or where such activity may interfere with the operation of CTA".

Bhatia has decided not to take the citation lying down. He will contest it and has a court date scheduled for Oct 1.

He does not accept the police version either.

Bhatia explained he had his face against the train window, so he could not possibly have stretched into the aisle. "It would have been physically impossible," he said, "Even Keanu Reeves from 'Matrix" could not do it." (IANS)

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