Snapshots

Patiently waiting for Bhatia to vacate the house, the new Divisional Commissioner, Rajiv Agarwal, remains entrenched in the Municipal Commissioner8217;s bungalow served by the civic household staff and the revenue department8217;s car. But that8217;s not the only wrong man in the wrong house.

Girish Pradhan, Director-General of the Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration, now installed in the hotseat as Municipal Commissioner, continues to stay in his modest bungalow on the academy8217;s campus at Pune8217;s Raj Bhavan, and prefers to keep the municipal chief8217;s official car parked for the night in thesafety of Agarwal8217;s municipal commissioner8217;s bungalow.

But the municipal corporation staff has now shifted their off-duty-hour focus from the Divisional Commissioner8217;s bungalow 8212; when Bhatia was staying there as the weeklong Municipal Commissioner 8212; to that of the administrative academy8217;s head. Bhatia, meanwhile, is left with no official car, having gone on a month8217;s leave before taking over his next charge as Commissioner of Archives in Mumbai.

Board In The Dark

The Prasar Bharati board may not say a word in protest against the Iamp;B Ministry, but that hasn8217;t stopped them from meeting yet again on April 7, this time to debate the state of Doordarshan and All India Radio. Not only has Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee not got back to them on their 8220;concerns,8221; but the Ministry is also busy stocking DD with people from outside.

With Rakesh Bahadur being moved out as Joint Secretary Film in the Ministry, his place as DD8217;s Deputy Director-General Sports is likely to be taken over by AmritMathur, a Railway Service official, who8217;s also Secretary, Sports Authority of India, and was manager of the Indian cricket team that went on the Friendship Tour to South Africa in 1992. If he takes it, he8217;ll be a key person handling the Minister8217;s pet project, DD Sports, the satellite channel launched on March 18. Will there be more such changes in DD? Well, you can be sure the board will be the last to find out.

Civil Switch

After Arun Bhatia8217;s juggernaut rumbled along Pune8217;s arterial Jungli Maharaj Road demolishing encroachments and sparing none in the process, including the high-profile Kalmadi family and the former chief minister Manohar Joshi8217;s son-in-law, at least the Kalmadi family seems to have decided to steer clear of any further controversy.

When a journo last week drove into Kalmadi8217;s Sai Service Station along the road to buy some spares, the attendant asked him to park the car outside on the road if he had no repair work to be carried out in the garage.

Emboldened by Bhatia8217;sdrive, the journalist, without disclosing his identity, refused to park his vehicle on the road and insisted on parking the car inside because he had come specifically to the service station.

An alarmed attendant called an executive, who decided to go on the defensive. Sure, he assured, the car can indeed be parked at the auto station itself. Why should it be on the road? Such alarming civility!

Mountain Woman

Climb every mountain, cross every stream 8230; . If the song from The Sound Of Music haunts you, meet the lady who puts these words into practice. Santosh Yadav, the only woman to conquer the Everest twice, is all set to break records yet again. And she8217;s not opting for the easy way out this time. This determined young woman from Rewari, Haryana, is all set to take on the Kansai phase, from China, which is supposed to be the most challenging route to the top, attempted successfully by only four people.

8220;I wanted to do something special for the millennium, and no Indian has done thisbefore,8221; explains this gutsy lady, who8217;s heading the 10-member team. 8220;I first became interested in mountaineering because of my love for painting and my curiosity to see snow-covered peaks. But now my second hobby has completely overshadowed the first.8221;

She8217;s been on the ascent since she was 17, and has never looked back. 8220;It8217;s a very exciting sport,8221; she enthuses, adding that it needs a lot more publicity, 8220;There are a lot of obstacles and hazards, but when you survive and succeed, it8217;s a great feeling.8221; And even dangers like encountering a blizzard and getting her fingers frost-bitten don8217;t deter her. 8220;As of now, my mind is only on the task ahead. There8217;s so much organisation involved before a trip,8221; she says, 8220;but once you8217;re off, it is all about physical fitness, mental alertness and the will to succeed.8221;

Model Face-Off

The silver 1960 Mercedes Benz 190 SL owned by Nitin Dossa, and rolling spiritedly at The Indian Express-Vintage and Classic Car Club of India rally on March21 at Pune, was a show-stopper in its own right 8212; having been gifted to Jawaharlal Nehru by the manufacturer 8212; but model and blue-eyed beauty of the Gabbar Mix video, Namrata Baruwa, was not far behind. In her role as navigator, the long-legged dudette, clad casually in pink T-shirt and jeans, brought a lot of traffic to a stop. A case of two classic beauties rallying together their forces?

Kaveree Bamzai and Menaka Jayasankar in New Delhi; Satyajit Joshi and Aishwarya Mavinkurve in Pune