Delhi
Tigers Vs Lions
Forget man, even a lion is apparently no match in a one-to-one encounter with a tiger. The Smithsonian magazine reports that in the late 18th century, the Maharaja of Baroda lost Rs 37,000 when the lion he bet on was finished off by a tiger in an exhibition fight. This is apparently because the tiger is usually heavier than a lion, and also because they are loners, trained to, literally, go for the jugular. Lions, who live in groups, are not such exacting killers. Is it any wonder then why Maqsood, who fell into the white tiger’s enclosure in Delhi zoo, stood no chance?
Karnataka
Rub On The Grub
Rolling over the fresh food offered to the deity (‘ede snana’) is better than rolling over leftover food eaten by priests or Brahmins (‘madae snana’), the SC has ruled. While the priests in Udupi are elated (they had suggested the compromise formula), activists are grumbling at the SC for allowing a regressive and dehumanising ritual to continue.
Orissa
Rupee On A String
Imagine Sunny Leone doing a striptease and a group of drunks dancing and throwing currency notes at her. The admission is by a stockbroker in Mumbai arrested by the CBI probing the state’s chit fund scam. Head honchos of AT (Artha Tatwa) visited Mumbai often and rave parties were organised for them in a hotel on the Mumbai-Pune highway. Starlets were invited to dance and bare. Easy money is also spent easily, it seems.
West Bengal
The Puja Politics
Puja and politics are seldom apart and the Durga puja has had its dose of palaces, pyramids and politics. Artists go overboard this time of the year vying with each other to put up ‘theme’ pandals; the Titanic, Jaipur palace, pyramids, even the Buddhist stupa at Sanchi, it’s all been done. As puja committees struggle with fund flows and sponsorship, this year they have been compensated by a renewed spurt of political parties putting up stalls and paying for them. The BJP, the new kid on the block, has been the most enthusiastic (it claims to have put up as some 4,000 stalls). And true to form, the CPI(M) admits they can’t find enough volunteers to man theirs.
Mizoram
Flower Power
It somehow doesn’t strike you as a winter onset dance. But this is the ‘Anthurium’ festival, an annual event in an idyllic resort just an hour’s drive from Aizawl. The anthurium flower grows around this time, it comes in various colours including green and blue, looks like wax and lasts several weeks. The festival, meanwhile, showcases Mizo culture, cuisine, fashion and sports. While touted as an event to promote tourism, few seem aware of the state’s best kept secret. Curiously, the Union minister for DONER (Development of North East Region) Gen (rtd) V.K. Singh was conspicuous by his absence at the festival, which is being held since ’06 at the picturesque resort of Reiek. Mizoram has been exporting decorated and medicated anthurium flowers to Japan, UAE and Europe for long.
Jammu & Kashmir
Gone For Good?
What if all the records in all the courts of the country were destroyed? Would it be such a bad idea to start over, from scratch? It’s a question the Valley has been asking a lot these days, and at least for some litigants, the devastation caused by the flood in Srinagar seems to have come as a boon. With water flooding the ground floor and basement of the high court building, service records, case files, judgements and law books are “all gone”. Desperate attempts are being made to dry what’s left on the lawns now.
Maharashtra
Enough Is Enough
Harshad Chimanlal Shah has had enough. After enduring for 18 long years the Election Commission’s failure to deliver him an error-free voter’s card, he has given up, vowing never again to approach the EC for one. Shah has been applying since 1995, he’s filled up Form 6 more than four times and every time the cards were delivered with distorted names or wrong addresses and dates of birth. No he’s not amused when a Chimanlal becomes a Thimanlal or a Sourabh turns Suresh. Anyone for ‘Make in India’?
