Some laughter,some action AHMEDABAD: If smile is the universal script of instant bonding between two strangers,laughter cements this bond further. A recent meet of laughing clubs in Indore brought veterans to one platform Dr Mukund Mehta of Ahmedabad Laughing Club along with counterparts from Surat,Bharuch,Mehsana and Vadodara. But,the action hero was the 76-year-old O P Gupta,whose club hosted the event. He has set a record of leading a 5-km marathon. In today's time of the youth aging a bit faster,thanks to modern stressful life,Gupta has also achieved the feat of covering barefoot,the 84-mile route during his sojourn to Kailash Mansarovar,Amarnath and Gangotri. It is this breed of senior Indians from whom the youth can get inspired. Gollywood yet to develop UPENDRA Trivedi,the evergreen actor is immensely popular among the people who love watching Gujarati films. The veteran thespian,who has an equal love for the stage,has come up with his autobiography and it has caught the attention of some of the prominent figures across the spectrum of public life in Gujarat from Morari Bapu to Assembly Speaker Ashok Bhatt. The Gandhinagar Cultural Forum felicitated Trivedi,who lived under the skin of rural characters while giving his best performances in films,which have now become classics. Unfortunately,technology may have developed by leaps and bounds since Trivedi's times,but the technique of acting has not advanced beyond a few steps. Rain & cratersTHE whole thing is that hell hole this just might be the words that Amdavadis would say if someone cared to ask them about the city roads post-monsoon. Yes,while the rain was much awaited,the potholes and craters were much dreaded as they were more certain to happen than the rain itself. Just one spell of downpour and it spelt a torrent of troubles for people on the move. On the following day of the rainy night (rainy days will be here too),craters were big enough on the dug up roads to sink tyres of tractors! Forget the plight of small cars and two-wheelers. But then,as the municipal authorities have said: No Pain,No Gain. The gain part (of storm water drains) is still out of sight,while pain is in plenty. The business of cheatingTHOUGH it may sound a bit of black humour,one must thank God for allowing lattha consumers (who have no grievance redressal forum) more than one source of getting the hard drink. A local councillor was heard saying: In our area,suppliers take care about the quality of stuff. You see,all those who come to our area,have not been affected! Candid enough,isnt it? It is common knowledge that cheating is not practiced in the business of cheating. If one cheats in cheating,then he is the real cheat. So,those producing the low quality brew,stand guilty of being the real cheats. Long arms of law,err. policeJUNAGADH: BOOTLEGGERS and police always seem to be playing the cat and mouse game. In a recent incident,three persons carrying Indian-made foreign made liquor arrived in Veraval. They had just alighted from a State Transport bus and were on their way to the city centre,when they noticed some police personnel coming from the opposite direction. And thereafter began the game . The three quickly changed their direction and entered a nearby hair saloon. The police had already noticed them and so,they rushed into the saloon confident of getting hold of them. But alas,the trio was not to be found! The hairdressers appeared busy in their job and the police were slightly reluctant to take action in absence of any identification. Actually,the bootleggers had asked the hairdressers to give them a clean shave,thus confusing the cops. But that wasn't to be for after a search the police recovered the IFML bottles from the saloon and needless to say,the trio was arrested too,but after much drama. Child is the father of manVADODARA: IT might take years before the indigenous proposals rolled out for education reforms are approved by the top notches,but the kids already seem to have given their approval. A kid,who would be appearing for his SSC board exam this academic year,seems to be absolutely carefree. Well,actually he is never free to ever care about his studies anyway,and is always the target of his fathers scolding. But last week,when he was about to get spanked by his father after he miserably flunked in his tuition test,he coolly brought in Kapil Sibal to his rescue. He said,Su kaam tension lo cho? Modi chopda kholi exam aapwa kahe che ne Sibal e duswi cheeki dewano kidu che. March awta sudhi kasu to theij jase. To su kaam khali khota bhadwama time bagadwano. (Why are you getting so worried? Modi wants open book examination and now Sibal wants to completely scrap off SSC. By the time it's March,something or the other will surely work out,so what's the use in wasting time in studying). What an idea sirji!PARKING vehicles seems to be an issue not just for a Barodian,but also for the local police officials. An occasional visitor to the Vadodara Rural Police Station would be surprised to see motorcycles parked inside the office premises. On being asked as to why are vehicles parked inside the office premises,a Vadodara Rural control policemen promptly replied that if the lower rank policemen park their vehicles in the parking meant for senior officials,the traffic police would tow away their vehicles! So,senior police officials suggested an idea to park the motorcycles inside the office premises just in front of the cells. Well,this would serve dual purpose it would not only act as a solution to the parking problem,but would also be a proactive measure to prevent any attempt of jail break by any undertrial! No green but all pollutionFOR the morning walkers at Sayaji Baug,it was a spoilt and dusty Green March on Sunday. Deplored a regular jogger,The Green March was a polluted one,making the beautiful Sunday morning a smoky one with pollution and dirt all around. The awareness drives seem to have only a face value; pollution and filth scattered in gardens and parks have no values attached. Other joggers complained too,The Green March had nothing but every kind of pollution,right from noise to air pollution,with traffic jams even in the wee hours of Sunday. Contributed by Anupam Chakravartty,Debarati Basu,Sibte Hussain Bukhari,Subhlakshmi Shukla and Tanvir A Siddiqui.
