In aid of Orissa, the premiere of the new Merchant-Ivory movie Cotton Mary will be held in London on December 17th.

For tickets, call +44 (0) 171-439-4335.

Update on Orissa:

Newspaper reports say that at least 10,000 bodies are still lying in the open, and thousands of corpses lay submerged in paddy fields. The final death toll is feared to be over 100,000. The head of the American agency CARE has reportedly said that he has not seen such devastation anywhere in the world. 12 million people are homeless; infrastructure damage is estimated at $2.3 billion.

Please note we are not taking donations at this site. Please make contributions through your usual charities. Alternatively, to make a donation online, please visit the American Red Cross's site, http://www.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp Please stipulate that the donation is for Orissa Cyclone Relief.

The views of this column are the author's own, and do not necessarily represent the views of NRI Online.