Clubs and pubs used to refuse entry to men wearing veshtis — the traditional Tamil attire — until the State government passed a law making the practice illegal. Now, Gallop, the sports bar at Radisson Blu GRT in Chennai, has turned this practice on its head by offering ‘The Dhoti Party’. Guests visiting Gallop on weekends in their veshtis get two shots on the house.

“During the Madras 375 celebrations, we encouraged people to come in our traditional attire, which was well taken. So, we are extending this offer now,” says Vikram Kota, Senior Vice-President, GRT Hotels and Resorts. Smart marketing or taking political correctness to another level? Never mind. No one’s (hic!) complaining.

Gowda derailed by son

The subject of rape dominated the press conference called by Railway Minister D Sadanand Gowda as part of the ‘100 days series’ of the Government. In the face of tough questions from the media over his son’s alleged connection with a rape case, Gowda found his ministry’s achievements, or lack thereof, taking a back seat.

The minister was whisked away after the conference as reporters remained unsatisfied with the standard “law will take its own course” response.

False hopes

There are many misconceptions around the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, thanks to the Finance Ministry’s low-key publicity. One villager loudly announced at a local camp in an unbanked village that he had rushed to open a bank account for an important reason: that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to credit ₹1 lakh in each of the accounts! No wonder many others in the village started queuing up.

Refusing to bite

It has been the RBI’s stated position that it does not target a specific exchange rate for the rupee. It has said it will only intervene in the market to curb volatility and usually, when it happens, over a very short period of time. Yet market participants never give up trying to find out whether the RBI has a particular exchange rate in mind — and in a variety of ways.

At a foreign exchange seminar, a participant asked a senior Central banker whether the RBI would intervene if the rupee moved gradually, say over the period of a year, in a range between ₹55 and ₹65 to the dollar. The seasoned banker refused to take the bait. “I will not commit to a rate, even if the question is posed indirectly,” he retorted, drawing laughter.

Foreign dreams, desi reality

Novelist Ben Okri famously said magicians and politicians have much in common — both have to take our attention away from reality. This is precisely what Chandrababu Naidu and K Chandrasekhara Rao, the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana respectively, seem to be doing.

Ever since Andhra Pradesh was divided, they’ve been indulging in competitive promises, particularly where it comes to transforming towns into global cities. If KCR promised to make Karimnagar a New York and Hyderabad a Singapore, Naidu set his sights on Chicago first and then on London. But ground realities led him to visit Raipur, in Chhattisgarh, to study how to build a capital.

Of friends and relatives

A particular airline down south is seeing interesting times. First, the sister of a senior executive was inducted into the airline; next the brother of another senior executive was hired as an analyst. The buzz is that these relatives were hired for their professional competence and nothing else. While the employees aren’t protesting, some are planning to mail the CVs of their own relatives hoping that they too will be hired for their excellent skills.

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