Delhi underground

Take note

Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Deepak Singh visited colleges on the first day of the second semester. While Singh was taking a round of the Arts department of the Kirori Mal College,a senior teacher was overheard saying how the syllabus of Arts courses has remained unchanged over the years. He said he had once noticed a girl student in the class who was not taking notes. When the teacher questioned her,the girl said her mother had studied the same course at KMC. “She said she would use her mother’s notes to study the subjects. I wonder how our syllabus has remained unchanged over all these years,” the teacher said.

White elephant

At an ASSOCHAM event to release a study on ‘Emerging Cities and the Mega Metro Network’,Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit openly lashed out at Delhi Development Authority (DDA),calling it a “huge elephant that can’t even move” and has failed to keep pace with the times. Dikshit skimmed over the main topic of a widening Metro network in the Capital,and chose to dwell on urban development and how DDA had failed the city over the decades. “The body envisaged a 20 year plan for a city that is changing every next day. Though we (Delhi government) insisted we will review the plans every five years,what we have found is that the Master Plan 2021 is irrelevant and does not hold good for the city,” the Chief Minister said.

Specialty problem

As a bunch of doctors,who have challenged a particular rule by the Central government,fought their case through a lawyer,the counsel recently sought an adjournment in the Delhi High Court stating he would require the assistance of the petitioner doctors before making submissions in the matter. Representing more than 200 doctors,the lawyer said they had to sit for an examination on Sunday and the case could be taken up on any date after that,so they could be free to assist him. The bench,however,found the reason intriguing. “Lawyers seeking doctors’ medical assistance is completely understandable,but it is curious that a lawyer would also want legal assistance from the doctors. We hope the doctors can really help you,” said Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw,while deferring the matter.

Leading by example

It was after the inauguration function for a pedestrian signal at India Gate that the driver of Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) chose to break a traffic rule. While he was exiting the parking he found that hoardings and banners of Delhi Traffic Police were blocking the way. Instead of turning right,he then decided to go straight,in violation of the traffic rules for the area. But he was stopped immediately by the Special Commissioner,who told the driver to remove the banners and take the correct route.

Not happy to lose sleep

Delhi BJP chief Vijender Gupta’s recorded Happy New Year messages kept many awake on January 1,as they played over and over again on the phone in the middle of the night. “The first call came in at 1 am,and then I got two or three more calls later in the night. I could not go back to sleep after that. Since,they were recorded messages,I just cut the calls after the first two,hoping that they would stop eventually,” said one who stayed up all night.