CN & Heard; Honest reaction

The Chandigarh cops seem to be well aware that Wednesday is a ‘ladies night out’ at pubs in the city. Hoping to catch hold of some inebriated drivers,on Wednesday this week,the cops had special nakas along Madhya Marg and stopped one vehicle after another at about 9 pm,craning their necks in and sniffing earnestly to detect any smell of alcohol. Acting on intelligence inputs,for sure.

The question,please

At an interaction organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) recently,it took a Delhi-based European speaker on entrepreneurial solutions to call a spade a spade. During the question-answer session at the end,a couple of entrepreneurs from the region got up to ask questions,but instead went on to make long,boring speeches. Even as the audience yawned but endured them in the usual Indian way,David Wittenberg politely cut in and asked,“What is the question.” The audience was visibly startled by his directness and relieved.

Struggling till the end

The final few months of the PU Vice-Chancellor’s (V-C) term do not seem to be coming easy. For,the Panjab University Teachers’ Association (PUTA) has consistently been taking exception to his moves. While the association first objected to the mass recruitment of teachers being taken up by the V-C,via written communication,all of its members also refused to attend the meeting convened by him last week. So much so,that the PUTA general secretary offered his resignation pointing out the fact that the V-C called a meeting without keeping him in the loop.

Chain Reaction

The problem of dirty water being supplied to EWS Colony in Sector 38 (W) led to several residents complaining of illness. While residents of one block fell sick,the reaction in the whole colony was visible. The residents of the other blocks complained that after hearing about the condition of others they too had started having stomach aches. Some complained of appearance of skin allergies.

No entry

Days after facing criticism from the media for allowing a movie shooting Police Lines,the authorities come up with a solution to stop mediapersons entering the Lines. From now on,if anyone wants to enter Police Lines,they will first have to seek permission from the authorities. Earlier,if anyone wanted to meet any officer,he/she could straightaway go to the office. However,the police claim they have taken the decision to stop people from the nearby vegetable market who unnecessarily enter Police Lines.

Mutual admiration

The newly-formed Chandigarh Literacy Society (CLS) invited popular actor and now a best-selling author Anupam Kher for its inaugural event on Thursday. Kher had the audience in splits with his one-liners. At one point,Kher wondered why CLS invited him. One,maybe they are going alphabetically,so A for Anupam. Two,Kher said,maybe they chose the Guest of Honour first — K K Sharma,Advisor to the UT Administrator. Then they wanted a guest whose hairstyle would not make Sharma feel bad. The audience roared with laughter,because both Kher and Sharma are beautifully bald. Kher said he and Sharma have exactly 18 hair in the middle of their head. The Advisor,already grinning ear to ear,said ‘17’ for himself,and the audience laughed more. Kher went on. “But I tell you,this is the most dignified and sexy hairstyle”. Now Sharma was glowing. Kher noted this. “Mr Sharma is very happy at hearing this,but you know who is happier? Mrs Sharma,” Kher said,referring to the Advisor’s wife sitting in the front row. Truly a happy evening it was for UT’s boss.