City Scape

Calling Delhi ...With the change of leadership in the local Congress, various lobbies and groups have started changing sides many having ...

Calling Delhi 8230;
With the change of leadership in the local Congress, various lobbies and groups have started changing sides many having already switched over with the present powers-that-be. What we see now, as the city Congress prepares to get together, is heavy traffic on the road to Delhi: each Congress leader is running to his bosses there to lobby for a berth in the proposed list of CTCC office-bearers and executive members.

Even those Congressmen who stayed put in the City were hard to find as they were busy getting a word put in for themselves to Venod Sharma, the new CTCC chief.

A day too soon
The Action Committee for Development of Villages seem to have worked really hard for their ongoing 17-day hunger strike. But it was just a little too late that they realised how advantageous it would have been if they had begun their bhookh-hartal just a day earlier. And even ladies would have willingly participated, they said.

Why? It was karva chauth only a day before their strike.

Pay amp; re-pay
Strange are the ways of the Telecom Department. This story comes from a Sector 17 STD PCO owner Captain S. Dev. Dev received two bills asking him to pay only 8220;if old bills are not paid8221;. Now get this: while each of these bills are said to be arrears for two months, Dev says he has paid them more than the actual bills.

Home on the range
Do Sectors 12 and Sector 14 come under the local Municipal Corporation? Although the Sectors fall within City municipal limits and elect a municipal councillor, they have been left out in the Sectors identified by the Corporation for the removal of cattle and pigs.

The Corporation recently considered a proposal to recruit 15 livestock-catchers an experimental basis from Sectors 15, 16, 17, 22, 23 and 25. But what about Sectors 12 and Sector 14? Residents of these Sectors are sick having to cope with cattle and pigs in the sector.

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Answer amp; re-answer
Heard of a question paper where students are asked to solve the same questions over and over again? This was the experience of students appearing in the test for Assistant Municipal Engineer and Assistant Trust Engineer conducted by the Directorate of Local Government.

All students were supposed to attempt 100 questions. However those students whose question papers were of sequence A8217; and C8217;, discovered to their surprise that 20 questions had been repeated in both the papers, implying that they would actually have to attempt 80 questions only. Those who attempted the paper are now confused as to whether they would be evaluated for 80 questions or 100.

That choking feeling
Attention all dupatta-draping ladies who drive two-wheelers: Chunri sambhaal gori. Be sure to tie them properly or better yet, tuck the drapery into the carrier until you reach your destination. Not long back a colleague hobbled back to work with a big red welt on her neck the consequence of a dupatta that suddenly wrapped itself around the rear wheel. And since then one has heard of several more near-fatal close calls. So girls, next time you venture out, save your neck.

Hungry herd
The birth anniversary function of Maharaj Agrasen at Sri Sanatan Dharam Mandir in Mohali8217;s Phase IV was going fine until dinner was announced. Five hundred or so guests immediately jumped up and rushed for loaded tables in the temple hall. Talk about a feeding frenzy! Mediamen trying to put questions to the chief guest, Punjab minister Madan Mohan Mittal, had to scramble to get out of the way.

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Everything but IT
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh was supposed to inaugurate the new software technology park in Mohali this weekend but he couldn8217;t make it, so in his place Punjab Minister of State for Industries Sucha Singh Lengah stepped in to do the needful.

Lengah used the occasion to recite a qaseeda in praise of his beloved chief minister bestower of oil refineries, fertiliser plants, hydro-electric projcts, international airports, etc. Given the occasion, why couldn8217;t he at least include a mention of software parks in this long list? Maybe the concept is not entirely clear to him.

Car-nival atmosphere
Expositions organised by the CII at the Sector 17 Parade Grounds normally pull good crowds, as City folk are keen to get a peek at the latest trends. The CII Auto Show which ended on Sunday was no exception 8212; indeed, the venue remained crowded with gawkers from beginning to end.

The exhibitors must have been gratified to see such pie-eyed throngs 8212; although they probably also realise that a guy who looks at a fancy car doesn8217;t necessarily mean to plunk down his money on it.

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The Auto Show and Consumer Show organised simultaneously by the CII normally has a separate enclosure for 8220;VIPs/Media8221; and quite a comfy spot it was. It was for the first time that an air-conditioned enclosure was set up at the Parade Grounds.

Thanks
Could Chandigarh Newsline celebrate a fifth anniversary without Yasmin Dutta popping up with one of her unique cards? No way!

Her handmade greeting, aglitter with twinkle-dust and sitare, featured five miniature CN front-pages on the cover and a message inside that said 8220;great to see you every day8221;.

Thanks, Yasmin 8230; and thanks to CN8217;s many readers for five years of both criticism and encouragement.