Citygritty

Caged safetySchoolchildren in auto-rickshaws are the perennial talk of town. While nothing concrete seems to be on the anvil, readers have b...

Caged safety
Schoolchildren in auto-rickshaws are the perennial talk of town. While nothing concrete seems to be on the anvil, readers have been reacting in different ways. Capt A B Chemburkar, a resident of Pashan, sent us a letter, accompanied by a photograph, on his recent trip to Siliguri in West Bengal.

The picture shows a caged cycle rickshaw, with children huddled in it. He says that he first noticed this form of “school bus” in Siliguri “but later I saw it in almost all the towns along the highway, nearly all the way to Calcutta.”

“The photograph,” he laments, “is self-explanatory and highlights the plight of schoolchildren in our country.” That’s true, but we think that a caged “school bus” in the picture looks so safe compared to our “open” auto-rickshaws where children are crammed. And in case of a mishap, they would be literally thrown out on the roads, being vulnerable to accidents.

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Bah! Home video
Residency Club, on the evening of June 14, played host not just to its regular members but a truckload of lights and cameras and models of all ages too, who were combining their mite to put together the only thing that seems to be doing roaring business these days – a music video. Produced by singer Sanjay More and directed by Ayaz Khan, the video features local lad Zakir Hussain, who, alongwith being a part-time model, is also a full-time automobiles consultant in the Camp area. Appropriately titled Koshish, it is an attempt to highlight Pune’s talent and try and strike it lucky in the glitzy and glamorous world of music channels.

Inn on it
Going beyond the aroma and flavour of multi-coloured cuisine, Holiday Inn, one of the leading hotels in Pune, is providing much food for thought, in black and white literally, with some seasoning of colour too. It is The Hindustan Times, a bi-monthly journal published by Holiday Inn, that comprises an update on the events in the hotels as well as articles in a lighter vein, on health, fitness and food. In its March-April issue (the latest, May-June, is still not out), there’s an interesting column on awards. One of them is the Honesty Award, and it went to four employees of the hotel who had found two alarm clocks, a silver artefact, a silver bowl and a calculator in various rooms and returned it to the hotel. The results were also out for the Ek-minute banana eating competition.’ Really, Inn-teresting!