Mushroom trouble in House proceedings

Is kukurmutta (mushroom) an unparliamentary word? At least in the Hindi literary world, it is not. One of the greatest Hindi poets, Suryakant Tripathi Nirala, penned a famous poem under the title Kukurmutta. But the Assembly Speaker, Uday Narain Choudhary, thinks otherwise. In fact, he asked the official reporters to delete the word used by Abdul Bari Siddiqui, the Leader of Opposition, in the House. iddiqui had said: “Patna mein kukurmutta ki tarah apartment banane lage hain, builders ki manmani chalti hai (Apartments are mushrooming in Patna, there is no check on the builders).” The RJD leader lost his cool after the Speaker described the word “kukurmutta” as unparliamentary. He also said he would produce a list words that are unprintable. Though Choudhary did not show the list, he stuck to his decision to delete the word “kukurmutta” from the proceedings. The Hindi litterateurs, however, find the Speaker’s action as the manifestation of his lack of knowledge about the word.

Too cold to walk

Senior citizens, particularly septuagenarians and octogenarians, have suddenly vanished from morning walk sessions at Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park. Reason: The wind and foggy weather condition in the past few days. Dr B.K. Singh, a regular morning-walker and chief orthopaedic surgeon at Sashtri Nagar Hospital, explained why. “Old people should never venture out on morning walks when it is very cold. The cold condition aggravates arthritis, pains and other bone-related problems, afflicting especially the elders.” Singh suggested that the elders should also avoid getting up too early in the morning, have a bath or offer pujas. “They should be near a bonfire or heater to be warm and snug,” he added.

Religious obstacles

The state government recently decided to identify religious structures — temples, mosques and churches — built on encroached public lands and remove them. Patna has many religious structures on roads. A temple in the middle of Kadamkuan road is a case in point. Religious structures illegally built on public land are a big traffic hazard. But there are doubts if the government would be able to remove them. Besides roads, several police stations in the city have temples right on their premises. The religious structures on the police station premises or government offices are, of course, not in conformity to the secular character of our Constitution. “How can cops, who have temples on their office premises, remove religious structures from other public places?” asked a city resident. The decision-makers, apparently, do not have an answer.       

Lalu’s cows back in Nitish era

The cows have returned to their homes, it seems. After the Nitish Kumar government took over six years ago, the Patna Municipal Corporation swung into action to remove the ubiquitous khatals from the city. Khatals, identified with the cattle-raising Yadav community, were virtually the hallmark of the city during the Lalu-Rabri regime. But they also caused a lot of trouble. The administration removed the illegal khatals and put them up either on public land or by roadside. Of late, many cows have spotted sitting in the middle of the Bailey Road during peak hours. And the traffic policemen, who check bikes and rash drivers, remain oblivious to the presence of the bovine in the middle of the road. There is no sign of the Lalu-Rabri regime, which patronised the cows, staging a comeback. But how have the cows returned? The chief minister’s official residence, which was a home to over 100 cows when Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi were there, is free of bovines. We are waiting for the answer as to why the streets are yet to be free of them.