Snapshots

Last week, Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel carried out a cabinet expansion-cum-reshuffle. As it happens in every such exercise, Patel rewarded some, punished some. Among those rewarded was Minister of State for Education Anandiben Patel, who was elevated to the cabinet rank. But Anandiben looked at it differently. Apparently, she believed that the chair she occupied as minister of state was lucky for her. So, when she moved to her new office, she ensured that her old perch wasn8217;t left behind. Who knows the lucky chair may land her into the chief minister8217;s office.

However, some believe that Anandiben has taken a big risk in moving into the new chamber. For, it is the same room that wasoccupied by former PWD Minister Savjibhai Korat, whose political career was cut short by an untimely death last year. Maybe, Anandiben believes that the lucky chair will more than cancel out the evil associated with her new room. Like Anandiben, Bharat Barot, who was BJP chief whip in the assembly before Keshubhai Patel made him Minister of State for Higher and Technical Education with independent charge, has also brought along his old chair. In fact, Barot is doubly blessed: he moves into Anandiben8217;s old office.

Fearing For Life

After the return of the film crews to the Kashmir Valley, it is the turn of the Jammu region to host the film units. Although much of the trouble was in the Valley, locations in the Jammu region suffered by proxy as the very name Jammu amp; Kashmir conjured up images of armed militants for most people in the country. Recently, however, the film industry has rediscovered old favourite spots such Patnitop, Mansar, Sanasar and of course, Katra, the base camp of the Mata VaishnoDevi shrine. Some weeks ago it was the newly-weds Kajol and Ajay Devgan who visited the temple, but more recently some film crews are also finding the area a good location. Including Bollywood8217;s angry, not-so-young man Nana Patekar who was shooting there for Kohram. But the tough hero bared his chicken-hearted self when he pleaded before newspersons not to use his photograph in print or even mention his name because he was afraid it might lead to his getting on the hit-list8217; of the militants. 8220;If you want that I should get on the hit-list then you may go ahead and print my photograph,8221; Patekar said to his stunned audience.

Commercial City

Mumbai is not known as the Commercial Capital of the country for nothing. While the entire nation goes ga-ga over cricket, for the Maharashtra government, money prevails over the game. Last week, the World Cup almost made it to three movie theatres in Mumbai. But due to a last minute volte-face by the State Government, Mumbai was deprived of viewing thematches live on big screen. The Government8217;s excuse: They would lose out on the entertainment tax revenue. Manoj Desai, owner of Gaity theatre which was going to be one of the theatres to telecast all matches live is deeply disappointed as he says: 8220;This is how our government functions.8221; He says it was all but finalised to screen the matches at Gaity, Cinemax and Maratha Mandir when the Government had second thoughts. If the theatres don8217;t have regular movie shows, the state could stand to lose around Rs 30 lakh in one month. But looking at the Indian team8217;s performance Desai seems almost relieved to not have run the matches. Because if the Indian team does not make it to the semi-finals then he would have suffered the losses instead of the State Government. However, now it seems like a case of sour grapes.

To Kiran Bedi with love

Within a week of blasting the Chandigarh Administration, particularly the stern and touchy UT Home Secretary Anuradha Gupta, for raping8217; the city police by usurpingthe Inspector General of Police8217;s powers and not following the Punjab Police rules, Magsaysay Award winner Kiran Bedi received a letter from Amritsar from her businessman-social worker husband, Brij Bedi. Bedi has advised his wife not to get worked up and to take the affair in her stride. He writes: 8220;I really wonder sometimes why you are so harsh to the offenders. Don8217;t you know it is not good for health?8221; Bedi8217;s sarcasm is too biting to be missed: 8220;Our police follows the golden rule of being friendly to all, especially the offenders. I don8217;t know why you are trying to change the ecology of this region8230;.Please pay a visit to this city and you will definitely learn to control your anger. God bless you. Your husband, Brij.8221; Role reversal, that.

Pawar of Science

While the national political scenario in Delhi was in utter turbulence, thanks to the controversial letter dashed off by then-in-the Congress, Sharad Pawar, at Pune the politician was busy showing a scientific temperament. He wasparticipating in a seminar with such zest and interest, that he was seemingly totally unruffled by the storm that he had brewed, much to the surprise of the audience. Talking actively about lab to land8217; movement and Intellectual Property Rights8217; issues, he seemed bowled over by bio-technology. During the days of the seminar, he even fixed his political appointments late in the evening so that he would not be interrupted during the proceedings. No hectic politicking round-the-clock for him just because he was a political target. Or was this unusual stance a political move in itself? We don8217;t know but Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is sure to say 8220;Jai Vigyan!8221;

8212; Sameer Bhasin in Jammu; Swati Deshpande-Aguiar in Mumbai; Harpal Singh in Chandigarh; Satyajit Joshi in Pune andTanvir Siddiqui in Ahmedabad