Nashik Diary

Pedas Pay Richer DividendsThe board of directors readied for the meeting, waiting for whoops of joy to ring out when the 21 per cent divi...

Pedas Pay Richer Dividends

The board of directors readied for the meeting, waiting for whoops of joy to ring out when the 21 per cent dividend was announced. What they didn8217;t anticipate was a stampede, fisticuffs and a battered glasspane during the general body meeting of the Nashik Merchants8217; Cooperative Bank last week. While someone reeled off figures on the podium, one of the members learnt that boxes of pedas had been stocked for distribution in the lobby outside.

As whispers rippled through the auditorium, members got up, scrambled over each other and then clawed their way to the exit. In the melee, the glass door of the Kalidas Kala Mandir was shattered, drawing blood.

Finally, the police intervened and members were made to queue up for the ambrosia. Instead of talking about dividends, the directors ended up supervising distribution of sweet boxes!

Imported Garbage

A poultry farmer from Raigad had taken a sudden fancy to the Adgaon garbage dump here, driving 230 km along theMumbai-Agra national highway simply to unload his inter-city cargo there. Indignant that the neighbouring district couldn8217;t contain its own entrails, civic officials here lay in wait one day and apprehended a truck laden with rotten eggs and dead chicken from Mangaon. But even the penalty imposed couldn8217;t make the farmer kick the habit. As civic officials here scratched their heads, another truck arrived a few days later. It was also confiscated.

Turned out, the farmer would have been banned from dumping the carcasses in Navi Mumbai or Mumbai which are closer to Raigad than Nashik whereas unloading it on the highway would have invited a shower of rotten eggs from local farmers. A formal complaint finally did the trick.

Gholap8217;s Legacy

The Shiv Sena appears confident of the elective merit of former social welfare minister Babanrao Gholap. Why else would it nominate his nephew, Ravikiran, from the Devlali Assembly constituency for the upcoming elections? The party had refused Gholap a ticketbut when the controversial Sainik suggested his nephew8217;s name instead, the party relented. Well, considering that Ravikiran has never been academically inclined, he has been raised by Gholap and now resides with him in return for tending to his farm, no guesses for the back-seat driver8217;s identity.

Blood Thicker Than Water?

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A blood bank run by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh here has been crying foul over the state government8217;s failure to implement new rules governing private blood banks. Though the central government had directed state governments to set up Transfusion Councils to grant recognition to private blood banks, the powers-that-be in Maharashtra, slumbered along, missing the August 5 deadline.

However, considering that State health minister Dr Daulatrao Aher is a qualified physician and a Bharatiya Janata Party functionary to boot, seems the good doctor may have fallen out of favour with the parivar.