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

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 11, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Reporter's Diary

Patient hearing

CHIEF MINISTER H.D. Kumaraswamy once again proved that he is a patient listener. At an event in the city on Monday, he was accosted by several people even before he got a chance to step on the dais.

While the function was going on, an aged farmer got up and demanded eight hours of uninterrupted power supply in rural areas.

The organisers were shocked and tried to hush him, but the Chief Minister urged them to let him be heard. Later in his speech, he acknowledged the old man's demand and promised to take action in that regard. Whether he does it or not, people at least are sure to get a patient hearing of their problems.

A dressing down

PEOPLE OF Mumbai were outraged when an English magazine recently ranked Mumbai as the rudest city. he citizens responded vociferously on television channels, newspapers and on every public forum of repute. Perhaps they were right. Now, will Bangaloreans respond the same way if a survey revealed that our hospitals have some of the rudest men and women among their staff?

Admitted in a hospital attached to a reputed public sector undertaking, a patient complained about the lack of attention from the paramedical staff. The duty nurse gave him a dressing down. At his wit's end, the patient — a retired employee of the same PSU — hit back, gifting the nurse a lecture about her responsibilities. The nurse promptly alerted her superiors, who dutifully informed a senior doctor. The doctor came calling, and the abuses the medical practitioner hurled on the patient shook the entire ward. The patient simply withdrew to his shell. He had no choice.

The wrong speech

SOME PEOPLE are of the belief that a large section of Indians are obsessed with the United States of America. If you listened to what a Union Minister had to say, you would agree.

At an award distribution ceremony, the Minister, while completely veering of the topic of the evening, said that the U.S. faces a shortage of 70,000 math and science teachers.

"We fall short of that target," he said as if implying that we in the audience and Indians in general are expected to meet the shortage.

Going on what was supposed to be a congratulatory mode, he said that Indians are behind the entire development of the U.S.

Clearly, the Minister was not familiar with the debate on the debilitating effects of brain drain.

Chitra V. Ramani, Rasheed Kappan, Swathi Shivanand

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