The Hindu : Karnataka News : Sleeping over problems?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 15, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Karnataka

Karnataka

Sleeping over problems?

We often see politicians catch up on their sleep even as parliamentary or legislative proceedings drone on. For a change it was the turn of a police officer here on Monday, in the middle of much drama.

The occasion was the Police Commissioner’s first public grievance meeting which saw a lot of grief aired by the suffering and the dispossessed. Even as Shankar Bidari and two officers were hearing the grievances, another officer, who was sitting in between the two, took a catnap.

Television channels, not to miss an opportunity, soon turned their cameras on “Sleeping Beauty,” prompting a police official to hastily scribble a note to Mr. Bidari, who woke up his colleague and gently told him to take rest elsewhere.

A Smart Alec among the mediapersons wondered if the sleepy official later came to grief.

Babel indeed

Even as Kannada litterateurs are up in arms against the recent High Court verdict on Kannada as a medium of instruction, Minister for Higher Education Aravind Limbavali appears to have begun a new tradition.

The occasion was inauguration of Pune-based Symbiosis International University’s Bangalore campus here.

When called to address the gathering, Mr. Limbavali, to journalists’ surprise, began his speech in Hindi, obviously as a nod to the presence Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh.

Sadly, his speech was riddled with grammar mistakes and journalists had to struggle to keep a straight face.

Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa read out a written English speech delivered in a monotone!

RAGHAVA M.,

ANIL KUMAR SASTRY

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka