Ringside view

Diwali revelry for govt staff

Diwali,the Festival of Lights,this time brought a longish vacation for all,and more so for the government employees. It was an eight-day long holiday for them beginning Sunday followed by closed holidays on Monday and Tuesday being New-Year day and Bhai Beej respectively. Then it was Labh Pancham till Friday. Saturday being a government holiday,followed by a confirmed holiday on Sunday,all that the government employees had to do was to apply for leave for Wednesday,Thursday and Friday. Getting this golden chance,every true-to-his-salt Gujarati would definitely move away from Gujarat to wallow in the kind of celebrations not possible in the State.

A vacation for clean drive too
A long vacation also meant holiday for cleaning of streets in interiors of the city. The major roads might have been cleaned manually and mechanically but the interiors presented an extremely sorry situation where dumps of garbage looked like dumping sites surrounded by houses. To the absentee sweepers’ contribution to the garbage build up,the resident in the localities also contributed their mite by openly throwing all garbage on the street. It might be a wild guess how many complaints landed in the civic body about garbage piles but very few would care to keep own garbage in manageable limits to be handed over to the safai worker as and when he appears on the scene.

Time loss for trauma centre
The newly-constructed trauma centre,equipped to provide comprehensive emergency medical services to the critically injured,at the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation-run VS Hospital started functioning this week almost ten days after the Chief Minister,Narenda Modi,inaugurated the centre. Apparently the inauguration was scheduled in accordance with the dates given by the Chief Minister’s Office and last minute appointments continued till the time of the inauguration and the doctors appointed have been on duty without work till this week when the trauma centre actually started working.

Too many cooks….
The structure of the Forest department in Gujarat is becoming like an inverted pyramid with too many bureaucrats at the top management and too less on the field,where more man power is actually required. Commenting on this sorry state of affairs,an official from the forest department said,”It is very strange,an official at the rank of Principal Conservator of Forest (PCCF) gets Rs 80,000 as salary but the beat guards working on filed get Rs 15,000. It up to the government to decide who is important and what is their priority.”

Nano car,big expectations
Tata’s much-touted small car,Nano,though might have gained much publicity,but it might not turn out to be customer-friendly. There are lot many complications with this car,say Tata Motors dealers in Ahmedabad. Furthermore,the back seat is not comfortable and the expectations of customers are not fulfilled,said one of the dealers,adding that,”The Nano fad,might turn out to be a damp squib.”

Blowing hot and cold
RAJKOT: In a hot water after Union Environmental Ministry sent a team to recheck the report of Gujarat Pollution Control Board that discarded the US passenger ship Platinum II contained only asbestos,and not radioactive substances,the GPCB team went into hiding to avoid any further controversies and also enjoy Diwali. The top most official,who was miffed following media queries,when contacted a day before the arrival of the central team said,”Do not call me from tomorrow. I am going to switch off my cell phone and enjoy Diwali”. The team had arrived on Monday,which was New Year Day for Gujaratis.

Changing taste buds
After wedding menus,the Gujarati delicacies also hard to find in New Year offerings. Gone are the days when Ghooghras,mohanthal,singpak,mathia used to be part of the dishes offered to the guests visiting home on New Year eve. If Punjabi and Chinese cuisines now dominate wedding receptions of globe-trotting Gujarats,it is Bengali and other sweets have become favourites of Gujaratis even on the New Year.

Queen’s language and Gujaratis
VADODARA: Gujaratis,known for their money-making skills,certainly take pride in the manner in which they have become tech savvy. With the swank websites of various departments,they have all the right to be proud of. But somehow,the entire endeavour goes down the drains when the State Information Bureau sends e-mails in English,the Queen’s language,where Gujarati creeps in — Town Hall becomes Taun Hole,Shri becomes Sheri or Shari and the most recent mail in which Deepawali Deewapalli.

Reporter takes ‘cover drive’
Saturday evening,the day prior to the most awaited ODI match,was a sight to be seen as people poured in the Express office to get their hands on complimentary passes with reporters. The saga didn’t end after the office hours either. The moment one of the reporters entered home,neighbours poured in asking if there were any extra passes left. The reporter could,however,safely slip away as an elderly neighbour’s remarks of watching cricket match on TV was a better option,converted into a debate in the locality. But by the end of it,the poor elderly soul was completely cornered off by the rest.

Contributed by Amrita Didyala,Debarati Basu,Hiral Dave,Shubhlakshmi Shukla,Syed Khalique Ahmed,and Tanvir Siddiqui