SNAPSHOTS

Ghising goes on to regale his listeners on his 8220;communions8221; with gods and godmen reminding one of Congress founder A. O. Hume8217;s extra-terrestrial communications. 8220;Here, in this very office, Sai Baba has appeared to me several times,8221; says the mellowed firebrand. 8220;I saw him and talked to him like I see and talk to you.8221; Added to this are his visions of Ma Durga, Ma Kali and Mahakal Lord Shiva. Apparently, they keep appearing to him by day and by night, and not just in his dreams.

The scribes, naturally, can8217;t quite hide their pedestrian curiosity. For, after ten years of ruling the hills he once set on fire, he faces another election in March. So, what do his gods and godmen predict?Though Ghising dismisses such talk, he8217;s smart enough not to dismiss his detractors, who have grown in strength over the years. But watch out, warn old Ghising hands, there8217;s a method to his madness.

Religion No Bar

Even as Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal chalked out his plans to get 8220;India8217;s greatest singer8221; to celebrate the tercentenary of the Khalsa so what if he couldn8217;t recall Lata Mangeshkar8217;s name and had to prompted by an aide Train To Pakistan star Mangal Dhillon was busy raising funds for his dream project, Khalsa.

With only a third of the tab being picked up by the Punjab Government, he8217;s now scouting for dollar-laden NRIs to finance his film. But collecting money for Khalsa has been far from easy for this clean-shaven Sikh. More than once he was asked why he should be given money for a religious project, what with his cropped hair and chopped beard. Whether Dhillon managed to convince that appearances can be deceptive is doubtful, considering he8217;s still crying for funds.He may have done better pointing out to his detractors that many non-Sikhs, too, are involved in the tercentenary bash, with Jewish architect Moshe Safdi designing the Khalsa heritage memorial complex at Anandpur Sahib.

Author As Babu

The musty corridors of the Capital8217;s Shastri Bhavan are certainly not where you8217;d expect to find one of India8217;s premier English writers, but if you8217;re the author of English, August, surreal reality is a way of life. Upamanyu Chatterjee has just returned from Paris, where he was on a year8217;s study leave, and is busy coming to grips with the intricacies of the mid-day meal scheme and all that goes with it as Director in the Department of Education.

He8217;s no stranger to Shastri Bhavan, of course, having done a stint earlier in the Department of Culture. And apart from teaching Bangla to his daughter, all of six-and-a-half, he8217;s busy completing his third novel.

8220;It8217;s going to be a comedy,8221; he says. Another English, August, you say wisely. Well, no, not quite, hesays, 8220;that wasn8217;t very funny.8221; Which makes you wonder whether the one to come is going to be a string of jokes.

Joginder8217;s Dud

It has finally been proven: ex-CBI chief Joginder Singh is indeed irrepressible. At a reading from his latest 8220;revelations8221;, Inside CBI, at the still festively adorned Crossword bookstore in the Capital, he refused to let an abysmally low turnout and the depressing winter rain dampen his spirits as he held forth on the CBI8217;s work culture, Vishnu Bhagwat8217;s dismissal, and the timidity of foreign publishers two, he claimed, had been interested in raking in the bucks, but chickened out lest they annoyed the powers that be.

Happily for the former cop, the handful of browsers present obliged with a litany of questions; in fact, poems were also recited in his honour. But Singh, ever eager to give potential readers their money8217;s worth, digressed to anecdotes he had to expunge from the book 8220;for space reasons8221;. And for anyone thirsting for more on the premierinvestigating agency, he promised another tome is on the way!

Home Food

When Home Minister L. K. Advani says, 8220;I leave it to my leader, he8217;s better at it,8221; you8217;d assume he8217;s talking about running the country. Well, not exactly. And he puts your doubts to rest by adding, 8220;I8217;ve tasted his cooking and it8217;s delicious.8221;

This juicy nugget about Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee came out as Advani spent a quiet evening with daughter Pratibha and son Jayant sampling piping hot curry, fried bhein lotus stem, and the savoury, jalebi-like gheear at Maurya Sheraton8217;s Sindhi Khadhao Food Festival in the Capital. 8220;I don8217;t generally like to eat out,8221; Advani said between mouthfuls, 8220;but this was like eating at home.8221; He had fellow Sindhi Chef Madhu Wadhwani beaming when he told her, 8220;Indian food is associated with Punjabi cuisine all over the world, so it8217;s a good idea to promote a taste not many know about.8221; The way to the home minister8217;s heart, clearly, is through his stomach.

By AshisChakrabarti in Calcutta, Bajinder Pal Singh in Chandigarh and Menaka Jayasankar in New Delhi