The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Saying it with flowers

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Tuesday, Feb 19, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Saying it with flowers

If you can’t say it with words, say it with flowers. No, this isn’t a suggestion to the yet-to fall-in-love folks. This was the mantra that the policemen in the city followed for five days during the traffic safety week celebrations.

The violators of road rules, much to their surprise, encountered smiling policemen and NCC cadets offering flowers of various kinds, reminding them of their fault in a subtle way and following the now famous ‘Gandhigiri’.

However, lest any one thought that the policemen would continue to hand over roses only, the cops made no secret of their love for slapping fines on violators of rules from Monday onwards. Carrot seems to have lasted its utility only for a few days, with stick making a comeback immediately.

An ancient problem!

It is an ‘ancient’ problem, indeed.

The Victoria Jubilee Museum in the city, maintained by the State Archaeological Department, was closed months ago to facilitate repairs to the old dilapidated monument. Asked about the inordinate delay in carrying out the same, the department’s Assistant Director (technical) V. Jayaprada had an ‘archaic’ explanation to offer.

“Just when the tenders were about to be called for allotment of works, the director of the department was transferred. The repair works will now have to wait until we get a new regular director,” she said in a matter-of-fact way.

Ceremony in absentia

Candidates, who have not taken their degrees in advance and also could not attend the convocation of the NTR University of Health Sciences to receive their degrees were conferred the same ‘in absentia’.

The word ‘absentia’ sounds grand, because of its root in Latin.

The number of students, who attended the convocation to collect their degrees was just a fraction of those who collected them ‘in absentia’.

The faculty and the students, who enthusiastically attended the convocation, were disappointed to know that Governor N.D. Tiwari, the Chancellor who officiates over the ceremony, did not turn up and left the job to Vice-Chancellor.

“This is the second consecutive year that the Chancellor is conducting the ceremony ‘in absentia’,” said faculty members who could not conceal their disappointment.

A long wait for students

Was it a university convocation or a college annual day, the students wondered.

Particularly, the students named for various degrees had to wait longer than usual to celebrate their achievement, as Vice-Chancellor A.V. Krishnam Raju spent a good amount of time to read out the annual report of the university.

Just as they thought that the report was over,

Dr. Raju read out in detail the sports and NSS activities organised by the university. Straying from the beaten path, he listed the amounts spent for various sports and cultural meets and NSS programmes.

(J. R. Shridharan, P. Sujatha Varma and G.V. Ramana Rao in Vijayawada)

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