The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Reporter's Diary

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 03, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Reporter's Diary

Of vehicles and numbers

THIS IS not about numerology. Neither is it about numbers that add up to a certain digit that would guarantee you a lifetime of happiness. This is just about fancy numbers, where a digit repeats itself two, three or four times to make them sound good. This is all about looking good on a registration plate.

Now, with such fancy ideas, vehicle buyers walk into a showroom to check out the latest car or bikes. As for the vehicle model, they would have already spent weeks or even months finalising the make and colour. The next natural choice to make would be about the registration number.

The other day, a call centre executive had booked a 150cc motorcycle. He wanted a good number for his new bike. But the minute he got an answer from the showroom, he was stumped. The demand was for Rs. 25,000 for a fancy number. Adding another Rs. 10,000, he would have got a 100cc bike.

Diary as a source

THE BEGINNING of every year brings its flood of gifts, which a reporter may or not accept, depending on what it is. Diaries, of course, come in large numbers. Some are given away to clerks and others working in offices of persons who are one's regular sources of news.

While most diaries are fit for giving away, some are worth keeping. Some government agencies or their employees' associations, like the power transmission corporation bring out an "engineer's diary." It lists several technical facts and also the names and telephone numbers of top officials. Handy for a reporter tracking, say a major power outage or the commissioning of a new power plant.

For the Mayor

ANY PLACE that needs to be cleaned should be in the Mayor itinerary. This was of course true in the case of Puttanna Chitramandira in Jayanagar 4th Block Shopping Complex, which is now closed.

Mayor Mumtaz Begum had included the cinema in the list of places that she was supposed to visit on Saturday. On the same day, Bangalore Mahanagara Palike officials took up the task of cleaning the dilapidated theatre and its surrounding. Workers were engaged to clean the dusty entrance and interiors, which till recently housed the Jayanagar police station.

One person was seen removing the weeds grown on the cinema's roof, while some were removing a heap of construction material found next to the compound wall. The corporator, accompanied by a few BMP officials, who were awaiting Mayor's visit, was overseeing the work. The corporator left the place soon after he received a call that the visit was cancelled. As the BMP officials left the place, so did the people involved in the cleaning work.

Rasheed Kappan, K. Satyamurty,

Raghava M.

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