Roving Eye

There were a number of workshops on gender planning, women8217;s power in civil society, bringing government nearer to women etc.

The interaction among the various delegates, said the deputy mayor, made them realise that the problems of the women largely the same all over the world. Even in the developed countries, the societies were male dominated and women were not equal partners in the decision-making process. 8220; We learnt that NGOs can play a major role in increasing the participation of women in the political process and other developmental areas,8221; she stressed.

Harjinder recalls how most delegates thought that being an Indian woman, she would be a shy, quiet person who would not have the confidence to come forward and express herself 8211; her participation in the seminar made them change their opinion considerably. The founder president of Sikh Nari Manch in Chandigarh, Harjinder established a unit of the organisation in Glasgow and put a person in charge of it. Music, she says, is a great force to unite diverse cultures. On the final day of the seminar, the hosts organised a dance party and everybody had a gala time. 8220;I taught them a few Bhangra steps which they immensely enjoyed.8221; The seminar, she says, reinforced her belief that women all over the world are one; they are a potent force and can knit the world too.

The Bezbaruahs
Bezbaruah isn8217;t an easy name to carry these days. As M P Bezbaruah and he8217;ll tell you why. Ever since a business daily carried a picture of the dapper Tourism Secretary and claimed it to be that of the Enforcement Director M K Bezbaruah, the lesser-known Bezbaruah8217;s telephone hasn8217;t stopped ringing. Nor have the jokes his colleagues are subjected him to. As the Tourism Secretary recounted at the silver jubilee celebration of Subhash Goyal8217;s Stic Travels this Subhash Goyal, by the way, has nothing to do with the media baron, though he has come a long way since being the first DUSU chief, he had to issue a statement in Assam to clarify that he wasn8217;t the Enforcement Director. This Bezbaruah, incidentally, is an Assam-cadre officer; the other belongs to the UT cadre. So, the P8217; and the K8217; aren8217;t the only things that separates the two Bezbaruahs.

Well cut !
It8217;s the usual practice for film personalities and socialites to grace the ribbon cutting ceremonies almost everywhere. In fact, the trend seems to have caught on in the City Beautiful also with a bevy of beauties, from Pooja Bhatt to former sex symbols, Zeenat Aman and Reena Roy making their presence felt at the inauguration of bowling centres to hi-tech fitness clinics.

However, in a bid to break away from the conventional, for which Jaspal Bhatti, the well-known theatre and television personality of the region is famous, invited Shah Nawaz, a butcher from the meat market, to cut the negative of his latest venture Mahaul Theek Hai. The film is a satire laced with subtle humour, on the police and bureaucratic structure of the country. According to Jaspal, the butcher is of symbolic value for he indicates the plight of the common man caught in the clutches of police and bureaucracy, much like the murga or bakra in the hands of the butcher. Bhatti8217;s earlier productions have been much liked by the audiences for their satirical value which bring into focus the hardships faced by the common man while the authorities turn a blind eye to their plight also, the sycophancy of the babu culture, corruption, hen-pecked husbands and colossal wastage of public funds are other issiues that he has touched upon.