MY KOLKATA EDUGRAPH
ADVERTISEMENT
Regular-article-logo Thursday, 10 July 2025

DIARY 11-12-2005

Oil?s well Getting ready for the act A day?s work Changing colour Unfaithfully yours Growing up Better now How to move statues

The Telegraph Online Published 11.12.05, 12:00 AM


Oil?s well

No full stops to Lalu. The circus surrounding the Volcker report seems to have given the dethroned king of trivia reason to stage a joyous comeback. Lying low since the poll debacle, Lalu was heard ?whispering? (the voice modulated to convey the message far beyond the vicinity of his immediate neighbour), ?Mujhe to kehte hain ki chaara khaya hai. Yeh to tel pee gaye (People accused me of having eaten all the fodder. This one has drunk oil).?


Getting ready for the act

Family scandals behind him, is P Chidambaram preparing himself to take on more controversies? The word is gaining ground that with Natwar gone, it is probably time for the FM to test his talent in either the home or foreign affairs department. PC?s ratings with 10 Janpath are at an all time high. He is seen as a man of all seasons. The mood has caught on. Chidambaram was seen to be in his elements while fielding non-finance questions recently. At the Economic Editors? conference last week, he clarified that the Congress had not tried to sue the UN, but had merely sent it a ?comprehensive, legal notice?. Then in his trademark patronizing drawl he added, ?It is comprehensive because it is four pages long, it is legal because it is signed by a lawyer and it is a notice that asks for the relevant documents.? Understood.


A day?s work

The Union minister for tourism, Renuka Chowdhury, thought she was being funny when she started yelling, ?Uma Bharti zindabad? in parliament. It was December 6, and the slogan probably sounded more loaded than it should have. Heads turned and Renuka gradually fell silent as not one from the Congress benches joined the shouting.


Changing colour

For years, it has been the same dull yellow. We are talking about the exterior of most of government offices and apartments in the capital. Barring the original North and South Blocks, most of the post-independence bhawans and residential quarters of babus have borne the same colour. All that is set to change. The urban welfare ministry has decided to give a new look to the landscape within six-km radius of the central vista of the Rajpath. Senior bureaucrats are being asked to choose the colour of their houses. Apparently, a substantial sum of money has been kept aside for the purpose and the task is supposed to be carried out by private contractors on the panel. Babus, however, are unlikely to change their spots. Most of them are in fact apprehensive of the goings-on. Aware of the ways of their world, babus feel that the call for the uplift of the profiles of the colonies on Moti Bag, Kaka Nagar, Rabindra Nagar and such other areas is just another way to divert official money into private pockets. Good thought.


Unfaithfully yours

Down-but-not-out Uma Bharti is still carrying on with her roadshow and harping on swadeshi everytime she launches an attack on the BJP biggies. And yet the sadhvi herself is said to have been spotted sporting a pair of shoes of a top multinational brand, drinking mineral water from pet bottles of another MNC and using mobiles of a Japanese brand. With so much firangi items in use, can one still ask why her faithfuls have suddenly turned their backs on her?


Growing up

Often targeted by the media for missing all the action, Rahul Gandhi is visible again, and not only for turning Bill Gates?s gaze towards kala-azar-afflicted Bihar. The young Gandhi has kept hundred per cent attendance in parliament, and in spite of the din and frequent adjournments. The only one who can rival his record is Jairam Ramesh, but that is in the Rajya Sabha. Keep it up!


Better now

Short of wandering into Leelavati again as a doctor in the ICU, scribes are doing everything to get their bytes on Big B. So when Hema Malini walked out of Amitabh?s room, there was a mad scramble to get a quote on the recuperating man. Hema answered that he was fine and added, much to the journos? delight, that he?d better get better, because ?we are shooting another film together?. What Baghban II?


How to move statues

Its never say die among the tin soldiers of Sonia Gandhi, and no one should be surprised if anyone claims that there is a titanic battle going on between madam?s political secretary, Ahmed Patel, and her wordsmith, Jairam Ramesh. One fine day at the parliament, Ramesh is said to have turned his back on Patel when he saw him approaching the Central Hall. The latter got the hint. Another day, when Patel was coming out of the Rajya Sabha, he found Jairam sitting outside the house, waiting in his car. To get even, Patel yelled across asking Ramesh why he was sitting like a ?statue?. As Jairam remained unmoved, more taunts followed. He was asked if he were planning to give the Mahatma Gandhi statue at the entrance stiff competition. At this, a reluctant Jairam is said to have got up to say hello to Patel. A party MP was soon heard commenting that Patel may not be able to get cabinet ministers to resign, but he could move statues!


Follow us on:
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT