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Inside delhi

They might come from different fields, but Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra and former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu shared a platform for a noble cause this past week.

To motivate Delhiites to donate their organs, the duo pledged to donate their own and explained how one could help someone in need. The occasion was the 16th Annual Conference of the Indian National Association for Study of Liver-2008.

Priyanka made a spirited attempt to popularise the concept of organ donation by narrating her own experience in real life. She said the importance of organ donation dawned on her after her father fell seriously ill.

“I feel particularly proud to be part of this effort as at one point in time my father was in need for such a transplant but thankfully things turned out for the better,” said the actor with an Army upbringing. She said that she had come to the organ pledging ceremony because it was organised by the Armed Forces Organ Retrieval and Transplantation Authority.

Famous for his oratorical skills, Mr. Sidhu said donating one’s organs was a sure-shot way of achieving immortality. “Long after you are dead, you continue to live through the people who have got a new life from your organs,” he said, exhorting more and more people to undertake donation of their organs.

Madhur Tankha

Jungle raj

The Byzantine sphere of semiotics and linguistics is understandably beyond the comprehension of a vast majority of the population and best left to abstract practitioners theorising within the secluded cocoon of a reputed university. But surely, public announcements made at metro railway stations and on board trains fall well within the recognition parameters of even those vaguely acquainted with the spoken word and have been drummed into the psyche of metro regulars by virtue of their irksome repetitiveness.

Bilingual and decipherable, the announcements clarify the do’s and don’ts for passengers, either in transit or waiting on platforms, advising them to allow passengers to disembark first and only then get on board themselves.

This, apparently, is not enough because each time a train whines into a station, the waiting crowd rolls its sleeves up and braces itself to hurl into the crowd of passengers trying to get off.

The rationality of letting people alight first is that it is easier for a person who has missed a train to take the next one (with the minor inconvenience of a couple of minutes) rather than the tougher proposition that a person who misses his stop is faced with, that of reaching the next station and then retracing his journey to arrive at the correct destination.

Though rationality is usually and conveniently tossed out of the window in these parts, it is hoped that this “unique” metro experience will at least help build a decent rugby team for Delhi.

Kunal Diwan

Butter and caviar….

The Eurasian Foundation organised an evening of festivities at the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus this past week to celebrate the Russian spring festival “Maslenitsa”.

A group of Russian artistes along with students and teachers from different universities of the Capital took part in the event. Several dance performances were staged and the visitors took part in different games.

“Maslenitsa” is traditionally celebrated to bid farewell to the long winter season and welcome the spring. “Maslenitsa (Pancake Week) is the only purely Russian Holiday that dates back to the Pagan times. The most characteristic element of the festival is Russian pancakes, popularly taken to symbolise the sun. These pancakes are served hot with either butter or cream or caviar or mushrooms,” says Eurasian Foundation director Arun Mohanty, who is also a JNU faculty member.

The two-hour celebration ended with the burning of an effigy, personifying the end of winter the Russian way.

“All in all, Maslenitsa is a good excuse to go out and have a good time and do something you wouldn’t do at any other time of the year!” adds Dr. Mohanty.

Parul Sharma

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