Mumbai Underground: Tweaking custom

The two “tied the knot” at a friend’s place via a traditional Hindu ceremony.

Just hours before Vaibhav and Milind participated in the Gay Pride march that wound its way from August Kranti Maidan on Saturday, the two “tied the knot” at a friend’s place via a traditional Hindu ceremony. The young pandit who conducted the rituals reportedly did some research and, according to Vaibhav, didn’t seem too apprehensive. “He did alter a few details in the rituals to suit our relationship such as the mangalsutra, which was just a thread that both of us exchanged,” Vaibhav said.

Sparing none
It has to be a measure of the unbelievable crowds that jostle to get into the 6.40 pm Virar local that starts from Borivali station that the entire strength of the Borivali railway police is deployed to monitor this single train before it departs from Platform No 1. Last Tuesday, a Borivali railway police officer actually injured his shoulder while trying to manage the crowds. The experienced crowd manager had been standing at the gate of the ladies compartment, trying to maintain some order, but the press of humans in a hurry spared nobody, not even a police officer.

United in litigation
An ageing woman made for an unusual scene outside the Bombay High Court, distributing pamphlets asking litigants to unite. Her flier stated that 3.3 crore cases are pending in Indian courts over the past three or four decades. “You have lost your health, wealth, happiness, business and family life running after unending litigations,” it declared. Her organisation, Forum Fast Justice, and other organisations are reportedly planning to form what she called a National Litigants Union.In Mumbai, they will hold their first meeting on February 8.

Maha Disconnect
While the Maharashtra government is wooing international industry promising them the moon, the state’s own industries secretary was left struggling for an entire day without a basic communication tool – the Internet. On Thursday, bureaucrat Apurva Chandra had to rely on an old whirring fax machine for all communication with other officials, potential investors and other stakeholders as his Internet went on the blink. A Mantralaya employee said the Internet line of Chandra’s office was connected via the office of a BJP minister who is known for a rather large posse of advisors. The secretary’s office has now insisted that Chandra be given an Internet connection via another line.

A complex brew
Fermentation is used in day-to- day life, said one, pointing out that idli batter also requires fermentation through yeast. “Yes, beer is also made through fermentation and so is curd from milk,” another replied. What sounds like a conversation out of a science classroom actually took place in a court room, between a judge and a defence lawyer. The court was examining a doctor called in as a witness in the 2002 Salman Khan hit-and-run trial. The witness had been assigned to clinically examine Khan’s blood sample for alcohol analysis, on September 28, 2002, after Khan allegedly rammed his car into a pavement in Bandra, causing the death of one and injuring four others. The defence alleged that if blood ferments, then alcohol could be produced and such a process could have affected the test results. A chemical analyst earlier told the court that the blood sample tested positive for alcohol.

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