Ringside view

Blowing one’s own trumpet

Talking of Indore,the city has its own character with leaders of all hues,colours and sizes popping up holding out congratulatory messages,which is not so uncommon elsewhere. What is unusual is that on every festival worth celebration,they prepare large hoardings with photographs of at least two dozen leaders filling the 90 per cent of the flexi boards adoring all street corners and squares. “Ham sab ki taraf se tahe dil se mubarakbad”(Hearty congratulations from us all) being the only message along with the name of the festival. The latest being Id,the city is strewn with billboards and posters. Indeed,they literally lend the city a face!

Master at his best

Wherever you see some or other civic work going on at some place. You will see a man breathing down the neck of poor labourers. This carpet knight has nothing to do with the work or the labourer. He is there only to be seen on the spot,to give an impression that it is he,who has got the work cleared and now taking great pains to see that the work is actually being done.

Shoppers’ paradise,really

As Diwali shopping has started across the city,the policemen have been put on the jobs. The police force across the stations is quite ‘busy’ these days giving protection to malls and multiplexes in the city. When one such policeman was called to get some vital information,he expressed (sounding quite helpless but also sarcastic),”I am on patrolling. Since there’s nothing much these days due to the upcoming festival,we are all ‘busy’ monitoring shopping centres to ensure people shop safely. After all a policeman’s job is to provide security.” Well,the ‘busy’ policemen in the city understand why we call festive times- truly a shopper’s paradise.

MSU gears up to groom wannabe Venkis

VADODARA: With Nobel Prize for chemistry going to M S University (MSU) alumini Venkatraman Ramakrishnan,MSU while looks happy and glee from outside,some professors are in a deep thought from within. While media thronged at Physics and Biochemistry taking interviews of professors and lecturers,what remained hidden beneath was their thirst to do better research by avoiding administrative bottlenecks. A professor said,”We still have people doing good work,but university has far below its expectations,the discipline and the seriousness in the varsity for better academics is gone. A lot needs to be done to grooms several Venkis in MSU.”

Digging up Venki’s archives

With fresh rumours every minute,the reporters were rushing from one school to another to trace the Nobel laureate Venki’s school days. On the other hand,the completely dazed off school administration who were caught off in the surprise,were trying to hunt out Venki’s documents dating back to 1960’s. The confusion and dilemma persisted the next day as well,where the school authorities were desperately hunting for school archives,photographs and old acquaintances all day long. Dr Venki,you just had everyone on their heels in the city.

—Contributed by

Debarati Basu,Shubhlakshmi Shukla,Tanvir A Siddiqui and Ujjwala Nayudu

Curated For You

Dhurandhar Box Office Collection Worldwide Day 24 Update: RGV says Ranveer Singh film has ‘kicked out South Indian movies’; earns over Rs 1100 cr worldwide

‘They called him Chinese and momo, he said he’s from Tripura’: In Dehradun, racial attack snuffs out young life

Rajesh Khanna stood in line for a public toilet with a dabba; it gave him his last hit; Dimple Kapadia called his state ‘pathetic’