The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Insensitivity to the fore

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Tuesday, May 13, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Insensitivity to the fore

The callous felling of over 200 year-old Banyan tree in front of Paigah Palace, erstwhile headquarters of HUDA and presently housing US Consulate, which left many shocked, turns out to be yet another instance of different Government wings working at cross purposes.

While there are laws prohibiting indiscriminate felling of huge trees, sometimes it becomes inevitable to chop them off to facilitate road widening. But in the latest case, it appears no alternatives were considered before axing the tree, which over the years became an important land mark in the lane.

Moreover Paigah Palace is allotted only as temporary accommodation for US Consulate, till it shifts to its own building. “Is it necessary to chop off centuries old trees for it?” lamented many. The insensitive felling triggered protest with several NGOs taking out a rally.

What beats one however are though all the bigwigs of different service agencies including GHMC talk about protecting greenery, the message it appears, is not passed down the rank and file of these organisations.

What has God to do with cricket? It can be the logical query after officials of Deccan Chargers franchisee performed ‘Drishti Vinayaka Homam’ to invoke God’s blessings and look for a change in fortunes on the eve of the match against Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here.

It’s a different issue that God smiled on the visitors as the hosts suffered yet another loss. But when Kings XI captain Yuvraj Singh was asked this question – “Do you believe that God was on your side despite Deccan Chargers performing this ‘homam’ – pat came the reply: “God will be with everyone in this world. And the team which plays better on the field on the given day wins!”

There is also a very strong feeling within the Hyderabad Cricket Association circles that the ‘vaasthu’ of the home team’s dressing team – be it when India plays or the Hyderabad team in the Ranji Trophy – has something to do with the poor run of Deccan Chargers. Not a bad idea to find out excuses.

Call it coincidence or a grim reality, the Chargers lost all four matches on the trot in IPL. An official pointed out to a simple piece of statistics – Hyderabad Ranji recording it’s first-ever win over Mumbai after a gap of a couple of decades when the same dressing room was used. “Nothing wrong if you believe in God but ultimately it’s the performance that counts and nothing else once you enter the arena,” was his pithy comment.

The number of mistakes in the EAMCET pointed out this year perhaps created a new record of sorts. Officially, JNTU, that conducts the test, has accepted six mistakes in the initial key. Then the corporate colleges came up with their own list of mistakes adding an additional another nine errors. Some individuals might have observed some other inaccuracies that are known to the media so far.

Even if all those mistakes pointed out by various people are taken into consideration and officials agree to give full marks to all such controversial questions, justice will not be done. It is not the marks that matter here but the ordeal that the good students were put to. They might have wasted lot of time in trying to find out correct answers for the wrong questions. When time management is a key ingredient in entrance examinations such things do matter. And it is the good students who will lose out due to such mistakes while the average students might be damn happy.

Yoga expert Baba Ramdev is not a person to mince words on issues on which he feels strongly about. On a recent visit to the city, the Yoga Guru commented on eating or rather overeating habits of the affluent and middle class.

He waxed eloquent on the virtues of controlling the urge and observing austerity, as far as eating habits are concerned. Just after his interaction, the organisers hosted a high tea of sorts. Ironically, the high tea was decorated with choicest of fare. There were over 10 to 15 different food items waiting to be devoured. Apart from that, 25 to 30 food stuffs were laid out very attractively at another table.

“These are special dishes for dinner time,” the organisers informed. So much for the Baba’s austerity drive!

With the Secunderabad Cantonment Board elections drawing near, contestants are wooing the electors hard to garner votes even while making sure they do not to get involved in any kind of controversies.

Recently, while canvassing in ward number seven, a candidate employed several children from slums to ‘drum up’ support but soon as journalists and news photographers arrived in the locality, the contestant made the children to stand behind his followers. All along the children were beating drums to canvass support.

“I don’t want to take any chances. If a picture of these children gets published in newspapers then it will become a good issue for my opponents to degrade me and I don’t want to give them any chances,” remarked the contestant.

The city Police have definitely proved their mettle by cracking down on all anti-social elements. Almost all organised criminal gangs have been put behind bars by the Commissioner’s Task Force officials.

They even tracked down alleged gangster Azeez Reddy, who created terror in Mumbai criminal circles, and gunned him down. But Ayoob Khan, the man wanted in many murders and extortions, is still eluding them. Well. Is it the greatness of Khan who is man aging to elude police all the time or failure of Task Force officials?

Great confusion reigns in media circles over the Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development D. Purandeshwari’s real name. While she is written as Purandeshwari in some papers, some others refer to her as Purandhareshwari. Though the latter is the apt pronunciation according to chaste Telugu, she had never objected to the use of the former. At a recent book release function, the extremely affable Minister revealed the story behind her name. Though the nam e given by her legendary father was ‘Purandhareshwari’, school records misspelt it as ‘Purandeshwari’. However, the Minister does not mind either of the names. That makes one to paraphrase Shakespeare by saying ‘What’s in a name, Purandeshwari by any other name would smile as sweet’.

M. L. Melly Maitreyi,

V.V. Subrahmanyam,

R. Ravikanth Reddy,

M. Sai Gopal,

S. Sandeep Kumar,

M. Marri Ramu & Swathi. V

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Andhra Pradesh