The Hindu : New Delhi News : Inside delhi

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Tuesday, Apr 15, 2008
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New Delhi

Inside delhi

Identity crisis

It is easy to lose one’s identity in a city of millions. But what if one does not have an identity to start with?

Running from pillar to post and back to pillar, a distraught newcomer to the Capital was made to traverse the full circle of bureaucratic red tape for the relatively minor requirement of getting a new landline phone installed.

Having had the misfortune of losing his driving licence and not being prudent enough to have kept his Voter Identity Card safe, the man was bounced off several departments like an orphaned tennis ball with the telephone guys demanding a PAN card, the Income Tax Department wanting a ration card, and the Road Transport Organisation asking him to scoot off unless he could provide them a landline number for identity verification.

As he recounted his experiences at various government offices and how the clerks had refused to turn a single page of his application form till he provided some kind of identity proof, one could not help being bemused at the recollection that in the not too distant past the redoubtable Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi had proposed to make mandatory for Delhiites the carrying of an identity proof.

Standing at the local tea shop and teetering on the precipice of a nervous breakdown, it did not help one bit that the dejected protagonist of this story overheard the stall-owner brag to his cronies that he was the possessor of multiple identity proofs issued by various authorising organisations.

“Don’t talk through your hat,” said the flustered customer, “I am finding it difficult getting even a telephone installed”, bringing heartfelt anguish into his cracking voice.

The stall-owner did not say anything; he simply pulled out his fat wallet and prised out the various cards.

Kunal Diwan

Dispelling myths

To dispel the irrational fear surrounding the total solar eclipse, Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators has announced a unique programme for school children. “Heliodyssey-2008” will give students from Class VI to XII a chance to go on a sponsored trip to Novosibirsk in Russia to view the total solar eclipse on August 1. The participants would first have to clear an online competition in which there would be questions relating to astronomy, science and general knowledge.

Heliodyssey is a project of SPACE in which students travel across the world to track eclipses and perform experiments along with scientists and astronomers.

The tentative dates for travel to Russia are from July 29 and August 2.

Winners would become part of the official SPACE team of astronomers and scientists to work on various experiments during the eclipse and scientifically record the event.

“The idea behind the programme is to dispel the myth surrounding the total solar eclipse as some people think if they view it then misfortune would fall on them. On the contrary, students would get a chance to represent their schools and themselves internationally. The exposure will open up their horizon for scientific research,” says SPACE president C.B. Devgan.

Registration is open up to April 25 and the examination will be conducted on May 10. Detailed information is available on www.heliodyssey.org and www.space-india.org.

Madhur Tankha

Falling prey

Much gets written about Delhi’s famous chaat culture that beckons one and all from within and outside the city.

For many, there is nothing better on a balmy summer evening or perky winter night than the simple pleasure of guiltless indulgence on a plate of paani-puri and chaat.

Unfortunately, as a friend learnt the hard way, behind this seemingly innocuous pampering of taste buds lurks the possibility of getting infected by numerous diseases if one is unmindful of the hygiene involved.

Out on an evening to grab a mouthful of paani-puri from a roadside vendor nearby, the friend had her fill not realising what was to follow. Just two days later she was down with fever. And when it showed no signs of abating even after a week, it was finally time to press the panic button and get admitted to a hospital.

Numerous blood tests and injections later, it became clear that she had contracted typhoid.

With another scorching summer here, one can only hope that fewer people fall prey to such water-borne diseases in such unsuspecting ways.

Manisha Jha

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