Pune Notebook

Elaborating, Bayas said that the ongoing tussle between the PMT and six-seaters was nothing less then the 8220;Miss World8221; contest.8220;We want to bag the Miss World title,8221; he said, expressing confidence that the PMT would soon be able to outdo the six-seaters.

8220;But, there is no use of getting crowned as the beauty queen when no one else is allowed to participate in the contest8221;, Bayas said asserting that the six-seaters should not be banned.

So, it8217;s a beauty contest. And, who will be the judge? The commuters, of course. They will decide who is more beautiful, the irregular PMT or the smoky six-seater.

Massage while you travel
The PMT administration may continue making tall claims about the service provided by the public road transport undertaking, but its staff knows exactly what8217;s going on at the PMT.

The PMT general manager Prithviraj Bayas recently held a press conference announcing that the PMT would be able to outdo the six-seaters by improving on its service. While the press conference was on at the PMT8217;s Swargate headquarters, a salesman walked into one of the PMT offices in the premises.He was selling a body massager, a revolver-shaped device. He tried to explain to the PMT staff how useful the small and handy instrument was, saying 8220;If you want a head massage, just alter this cap. If you want to massage your back use this cap8230;8221;.

8220;We do not need that. Please go from here and allow us to work,8221; intervened a PMT employee.

Shocked, the salesman said 8220;But sir, this is a very useful instrument. You can use it anywhere. At the office, at home or even on a journey.8220;Have you ever traveled by PMT?8221; the employee asked. 8220;No sir. I have a bike8221;.

8220;Well. Then travel by PMT and you will know why we do not require your instrument. A ride by PMT from home to work and then back home again is enough to thoroughly shake up every part of one8217;s body. In fact we are considering hiking the ticket rates for providing this additional service,8221; the PMT employee said. The salesman packed his bag and left, outtalked, outmaneuvered and outsold.

Raj owns up
Shiv Sena youth leader Raj Thackeray was quite modest when he displayed his talent as a cartoonist. 8220;I am a dropout from the J J school of Arts. I always wanted to become a renowned cartoonist and somehow, I now draw cartoons for Marmik8221;8217;, he said at the Vasant Vyakhanmala where he spoke on the problem of unemployment. At the same programme, he drew spontaneous caricatures of leading political personalities. Prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, L K Advani, Manohar Joshi and Bal Thackeray took shape on paper before an appreciative audience. Later on a request from the audience, he made a cartoon of Congress leader Sharad Pawar. While the people applauded his talent, some more outlandish requests were promptly turned down. While a request for one on Chagan Bhujbal was refused, he had a different retort for the clamour for a cartoon on himself. 8220;Why should I draw a cartoon when the living cartoon is here before you?8221; he kidded them.

Anticipatory feeler
Prevention is better than cure, they say. But this over-zealous official seemed to stretch the phrase to the limit. One busy evening this week, this scribe suddenly received a call from this highly-placed official who demanded to know if the elected representatives had called up the office.When the scribe, who smelt something fishy, asked him if anything serious had occured at his office, he hastily replied in the negative and repeated the same question again. It was only when the reporter told him that there was no such call that he heaved a sigh of relief but persisted with his plea that he should certainly be telephoned if this happened.

Waste Management
A recent seminar on Waste Management in Hospitals8217; organised by the Bhumata Charitable Trust and the United States and Asia Government Partnership, Maharashtra, had an over-enthusiastic Bhumata chief Budhajirao Mulik, very successfully putting his foot in his mouth.

In his speech introducing invitees, Mulik first went on compliment the Chief Secretary P Subramaniyam, who had been invited to inaugurate the seminar, by calling him an honest bureaucrat and if that wasn8217;t enough, subsequently went on to compliment Dr Grant by expressing his delight at how the renowned doctor, who was touching 80, could still walk and talk.

Needless to say, both the gentlemen let him have it publicly for this. While a visibly upset Subramaniyam, began his speech by saying it was ironical that something so basic to a human being should be quoted as a virtue and then stated in public, a bristling Dr Grant declared that he was in perfect senses and not yet 80, though people thought he had turned 80 and senile.8220;As a public servant one is supposed to be a person committed and of integrity and this compliment is a sad commentary on the state of affairs in the country,8221; emphasised the Chief Secretary. Lesson learnt for the day was, compliments don8217;t always please.

Reason to smile
Have you got a SMART-PT S-M-I-L-E8230;.Whereever you may be, whatever you may see, be sure to have a SMART-PT- S-M-I-L-E8230; was the refrain as over 500 joyous teachers bid adieu to their trainers and resource persons. For nearly a fortnight, primary school teachers underwent a state-wide Massive and Rigorous Training programme for the competency-based curriculum of Standard III and IV.

They sang, danced, made educational aids, complained of stomach ache if they had to make an early exit from the 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. workshop at Gogate School, while each visiting dignitary was received with clapping of the hands8217; and later as if to impress them about the hardships8217; they faced, groaned and took paper fans to vigorously shake it around the nape of their neck. The harried resource person embarrassed at such behaviour was left to mouth an 8220;Oh, after all it8217;s a corporation school 8211; so no fans, you see8221;.All8217;s well that ends well, though. And the valedictory function by no means had them crying. Oh no, loudly they crooned 8211; Have you got a SMART- PT -L-A-U-G-H . You bet they did. Only , chief guests were a bit taken aback when teachers insisted on knowing whether the curriculum change in SSC texts would not put their students at a disadvantage as against those studying under the tough CBSE and ICSE boards ??

Tailpiece
The venue for the All-India conference on political reform, the Dnyaneshwar Sabhagriha of the Pune University, was quite ironic historically, according to a delegate. Sixty years ago it was the banquet hall of the British Governor, 8220;Now we are seated here deliberating on political reforms,8221; reflected the delegate. In those days if someone had predicted that this venue would host a conference on political reforms for Independent India, he would have been relegated to a padded cell or branded quot;anti-nationalquot;. However, as Tennyson once said, quot; The old order changeth yielding place to new8230;.quot;

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