The Hindu : New Delhi News : INSIDE DELHI''.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

INSIDE DELHI''.

Sports loving PM

Did you know that the New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clarke, climbed Africa's highest peak -- the 5,895 metre high Mount Kilimanjaru -- in January 1999? Or that she is a concertgoer, opera lover and arts and culture supporter with a passion for hiking and cross-country skiing.

These and other interesting facets of her personality -- which the media did not get to know about during her recent visit to Delhi -- have been discovered by Prof. Vinod Chowdhury, Head of the Department of Economics at St. Stephen's College, who along with a student of his, Hari Om Dahiya, attended a reception hosted by the New Zealand High Commissioner in India on October 17.

While Ms. Clarke is a regular visitor to the gymnasium, she is also a cricket lover. Her speech at a function organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) was peppered with references to cricket and cricketers like Sir Richard Hadlee, whose record for the most test wickets was broken by Kapil Dev and John Wright, the New Zealander currently coaching the Indian team with IT software to help it analyse its opposition. And of course, there is Dipak Patel, the Indian-born cricketer who played for New Zealand.

"What struck us at the October 17 reception for Ms. Clarke and the speech she delivered at the CII was how she embodied a healthy mind in a healthy body,'' says Prof. Chowdhury. "Indeed, till his recent heart murmur, the 51-year-old British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, was shown beating a 16-year-old lad at badminton and Mr. George W. Bush still does vigorous jogging.''

And here is his poser: "Can the average Indian politician, paunch firmly in place, learn from people like Ms. Clarke how to keep physically fit? It just may change their perspective on life for the better!''

A nuisance

It happens to be the only week every year when an otherwise quiet and conservative Chittranjan Park comes out in good strength to party. From toddlers to octogenarians, Durga Puja is one time when the generation gap ceases to exist, with the old actually beating the young crowd here in spirit and energy.

With pushpanjali and rock music co-existing in the various pandals of CR Park -- which hosts some of the most colourful pujas in the city -- this year yet again saw an earthy mix on display. And while both the young and the old had their own way of going about the pujas, there was one thing that both seemed to agree upon -- heading outside CR Park to escape the crowd.

Being the most popular hub during festival time can have its disadvantages and, as residents of this colony have realised over the years, even a nuisance. As security guards tried their best to keep outside vehicles at bay and those hoping for a safe passage looked for every possible nook and corner to seek refuge, there was much competition happening here.

As most elders remarked, the Durga Puja at CR Park is no more relaxing, what with the crowd making it difficult to even move around freely. Since no one can stop the inflow of crowd, most seem to have found a way out of the problem -- visiting pandals outside the area. And anyone here will tell you, if you are planning to escape the jam, making an early exit from the area helps.

Dejected lot

Those applying for jobs in the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) are a dejected lot these days as they have to wait for months and sometimes even years before the selection process gets completed. Applicants allege that often they have to appear for re-tests without being told the reason for it and even after the training period they are not allowed to join office.

Citing an example, they said a written test for selection of about three dozen meter readers was held in March 2003. Subsequently, the Council announced selection of about 150 candidates who were then given a month-long training. However, after the training, they were neither called for a re-test nor were made to join duty, an applicant said.

"Instead, the department concerned started the whole selection procedure afresh by conducting another written test for the same post. Months have passed since the second test was conducted, but still the Council has to declare its result. Several applicants who have done their tests well are hoping that soon the civic body would announce the results and they might get a job," he added.

Another similar incident is related to the selection process conducted for recruitment of clerical assistant where some Class IV employees of the Council also applied to get into the list of departmental promotions. After being postponed once, the exam was held in July this year where about 100 applicants were selected who had to undergo training schedule.

"But once the training period was over, the department concerned arbitrarily decided to conduct another test before asking us to join duty. This is for the first time that such a thing was happening in the Council where a `final test' is being held for selection. Ironically, the department at the time of calling for applications never announced that such a re-test would be conducted. This is totally illogical and illegal," the applicant asserted.

By K. Kannan, Lakshmi B. Ghosh and Sandeep Joshi.

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