Pune Notebook

Monkey businessIt took nearly three days for this lady corporator to rave and rant about the antics of certain monkeys who were creating hav...

Monkey business
It took nearly three days for this lady corporator to rave and rant about the antics of certain monkeys who were creating havoc in areas like New Gadgil school and Shaniwarwada. At the recent general body meeting of the Pune Municipal Corporation, corporator Jyotsna Deshpande lamented the futility of lodging grievances which were never redressed by the civic administration. To top it all, the lady rued that officals at the garden department reportedly suggested that she should resort to bursting atom bombs8217; to scare the monkeys away!

Fairly judged
It was business as usual as far as passing the buck goes. A seminar on how to speed up police investigations and court trials could well have been turned into an occasion where the people working with the three different agencies police, public prosecution, and court find ways to speed up the process. Instead, they blamed each other for the delays in investigations and trials. The speakers, several of them senior retired police officers, and others including members of the judiciary, dwelt on various aspects of the subject and invariably pointed out, with examples, the lacunae in the system.

It was left to Ranjana Desai, Bombay High Court judge, the chief guest at the seminar to sum up the discussions. While dwelling on the recommendations, Desai stressed that the police, the public prosecutors, and the courts must make a joint and concerted effort for speeding up investigations and court trials. At the end of it all, Desai while making her statement said she probably had given a fair judgement which was not in favour of any particular official agency.

Grounded flyover
While a few citizens8217; organisations are seemingly restless due to the lack of a dignitary to throw open the flyover at Paud Phata, the shifting of the Kasba Peth ward office by the PMC to its new location had a few BJP corporators visibly irritated, specially as they had extended invitations to Vitthal Tupe, MP, Suresh Kalmadi, Rajya Sabha MP and Girish Bapat, MLA for the formal function.

And even as BJP leader in the PMC Suhas Kulkarni made no bones about his resentment when he specifically raised the issue at the general body meeting of the PMC, other corporators took the opportunity to lament the shortage of space at their ward offices!

Proud papaji
It was a touching moment when J.N. Kaul, the man who started the SOS Children8217;s Villages of India project in Delhi 34 years ago, visited promising girl students 8212; orphans and destitutes who have been brought up in the villages and put up at Aundh to undergo higher education.

The moment his car stopped at the institute, the old man was surrounded by flowers and smiles and loving children all of who wanted to touch him and talk to him. 8220;Papaji, aap kaise hain,8221; somebody wanted to know, while somebody else wondered why Papaji had not paid them a visit earlier.

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A cheek was tweaked and an ear pulled as Kaul returned the affection. Who got the highest marks this time, whose room was the cleanest, who wanted to get married, all his queries were answered with utmost seriousness and love.

After a lot of leg pulling he gave the adolescents a short talk on protecting themselves and not letting anybody exploit them. 8220;Become independent first, then we will get you married,8221; he promised in all seriousness. The children might have to share their father with thousands of others but he is giving them an upbringing they can well be proud of.