CN and Heard

In support

So that the Bar can “honour” its word,the Bar Council of India (BCI),on Sunday,exempted the Bar Association of Punjab and Haryana from the nation wide strike. The strike was called in order to express solidarity for the “injustice” meted out to lawyers of Chandigarh and Jaipur. Interestingly,the Delhi High Court Bar Association had also sought exemption since the Delhi Bar had refrained from work on March 7. However,when it was learnt that a nation wide strike was called by the BCI,the Delhi Bar Association changed its mind and decided to abstain from work on March 11 (Monday). “In support of nationwide call given by the BCI,the Delhi High Court Bar Association expresses its solidarity with the members of the fraternity and resolves to request its members to abstain from attending court on Monday,” read the SMS sent by the Bar’s honorary secretary.

A humble CM

Mindful of the discomfort the 90-year-old war heroes and their families will have to face in ascending the stairs,a humble elder Badal chose to honour them by coming down from the stage. While the officials advised Parkash Singh Badal,Chief Minister,Punjab not to bother,the Chief Minister insisted on the convenience of the war decorated soldiers. Paying his respect,Badal repeatedly thanked the war veterans for guarding the borders of the nation and requested them to seek any kind of help from the state. Badal was present to attend the Ward Decorated India (WDI) Triennial National Convention cum Re-union 2013 programme.

The Art of PR

On an average,a lifestyle reporter gets half a dozen phone calls from Public Relations executives every day. The conversations are mostly direct – about a press release mailed,invites,brand talk etc. However,it was a pleasant surprise to hear the male executives wish a Happy Woman’s Day each time they called on March 8. As a lady reporter accidentally replied,“Same to you”,the gentleman on the other side quipped,“Of course. I am happy I have a woman in my life too!”

On sale

After over three years,the UT Administration has finally been able to accomplish the task of framing the draft master plan for the city. It was natural for the plan to run into hundreds of pages. Every one,including the media persons,are keen to lay their hands on a copy of the draft plan. Peeved by repeated requests for photocopies of the bulky plan,officials are now mulling to charge for each copy in order to discourage journalists from asking for the photocopies.

One of the officials said,“It is so expensive to give free photocopies to everyone.Its better one is charged for it”.

Safety mantra

On the occasion of Women’s Day,the city unit of Bharatiya Janata Party came up with a unique idea. During a programme held to mark the day,the party distributed packets of chilly powder among the women. The aim was that the women should be able to protect themselves from unscrupulous elements. With the increased focus on incidents of atrocities against women,the BJP leaders seemed to have come up with a novel idea.

Sugar and Spice

Though the advocates of the Punjab and Haryana High Court were on a “protest”,they had all the arrangements to keep themselves up and running. While on one hand,there were bitter remarks for the Chandigarh Administration and the UT Police department which were being yelled out by the leaders of the mob,the junior advocates were running along with their superiors with packets of sugar and water for energy. Moreover,sitting outside the Raj Bhawan,all that was missing was the environment as all the other arrangements for a picnic were already there. As soon as the mob left,paper cups were found strewn all around.

Misguided missiles

The UT Police officials have been good friends with some of the advocates of the Punjab and Haryana High Court over the past many years,but the senior officials called the advocates in the forefront “misguided missiles”. “We do not know what is wrong with them as they are not able to see the actual picture of the entire situation. They are like misguided missiles loaded with words and set in one direction are nearly impossible to bring back,” said an officer.