The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Love mantra

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 04, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Love mantra

How to win the heart of a girl? This question often bothers many youngsters. Vice-Chancellor of Acharya Nagarjuna University V. Balamohandas, who is good at offering some unconventional solutions to various problems of the youth, recently came out with one such suggestion.

Addressing a seminar on ‘Promotion of Telugu language’ at a college, he told the gathering: “There are many beautiful girls here and it is obvious that boys would fall in love with them. Let me tell you boys: don’t depend on SMS to express your love. Instead, write a letter in chaste Telugu. Your loved one will definitely accept it,” he said, triggering some intense giggling among the youth.

Prof. Balamohandas’s wife Vasantha was candid about how difficult it is to tell mythological stories to the present generation of children. “Recently, I tried to narrate Ramayana to my grandchildren. The moment I told them that King Dasaratha had three wives, they asked why their grandfather doesn’t have as many? I was speechless,” she said.

Embarrassment

Speakers, who came to ‘bash’ corporate giants at a seminar on ‘how to get the State’s share in the KG basin gas’ were caught off-guard when they were made to wait on stage for a mimicry artiste to perform. Representatives of several local think tanks and radical political parties, who came to lash out at the Central Government for selling all the natural gas in the KG basin to a multinational company, were embarrassed when the organisers, without any notice, invited DTS Anand, who mimics Western instruments with his mouth, for a performance.

The few minutes of ‘comic relief’ was like ages for the leaders who are used to serious discussions and fiery speeches.

Communication skill

For many of those who attended a function organised by an NGO to distribute artificial limbs and tri-cycles to some physically-challenged persons on the World Disabled Day, the role played by Sister Selva Rani of the Madonna School for the Deaf and the Dumb remained etched on minds.

Standing on the stage, she kept gesticulating to communicate in sign language the essence of the speeches delivered by the guests to the hearing challenged. The rapport between the teacher and the students was so effective that the students reacted with thunderous applause whenever she conveyed to them that they were in no way inferior to others.

Common target

When things don’t go their way, blame it on the media seems to have become the common recipe for ‘netas.’ Mediapersons, who attended an informal press briefing by Home Minister K. Jana Reddy on Sunday morning were a bit amused when the Minister turned it on the media.

Replying to a query if the killing of an MPP in Mahabubnagar by the Maoists indicated a renewed threat to elected representatives, the minister quipped: “It is the responsibility of the Government to protect the lives of elected representatives, the common man and media too.” He went on to explain that the level of Maoist violence had come down considerably over the last three years due to several measures taken by the Government. He then sighed and rounded off, “It does not matter how hard we work, it is very difficult to earn praise from you.”

(K.N. Murali Sankar, G.V. Ramana Rao, J.R. Shridharan in Vijayawada and P. Samuel Jonathan in Guntur)

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