Dharna amid strike

If the Air India pilot strike made life difficult for passengers, the Government did its bit to ensure that the media also had a tough time.

On the day the pilots were to meet at the Ministry of Civil Aviation to find a way out of the impasse, the security guards stopped the media, even after the journalists flashed the Home Ministry card that allows free access to most Government offices.

Eventually, it was a dharna that worked. Three journalists refused to back their car or move until they were allowed in. After a heated exchange, the three were let in. Then followed a stampede and eventually a horde of journalists barged in to cover the event. So much for the Ministry's order not to let in the journalists.

Emptea!

Coffee, tea yes, but no cups to serve was the sheepish response from air-hostess on board a Kingfisher flight the other day. Two colleagues travelling on an early morning flight from Delhi to Chennai were surprised that no hot beverages were being served. When they called the air-hostess to enquire why there was no tea or coffee with the breakfast, she said the catering company had forgotten to load the cups.

Calculated move?

‘Kahin pey nigaahein, kahin pey nishaana!' (looking somewhere, target elsewhere), the classic Hindi song could aptly fit the recent Reserve Bank of India's move to disallow the priority sector tag to banks' loans to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), observed Mahesh Thakkar, Director General of the Finance Industry Development Council.

Thakkar felt that the intended target of the apex bank's missive was the NBFCs, but the regulator got it routed through the banks. Industry watchers wonder why such an important move, effective from April 1was innocuously slipped into paragraph 92 under the Malegam Committee Recommendations. They smell a rat in the RBI's move.

CMs and copters

With two chief ministers (Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy of Andhra Pradesh and Dorjee Khandu of Arunachal Pradesh) killed in helicopter crashes in recent times, the Karnataka Chief Minister, B. S. Yeddyurappa, seems to have got the jitters over heli-hopping. .

The Chief Minister has now decided to minimise the use of the helicopter for his frequent trips across the State. He will opt for the chopper only during the week-ends. Here's hoping that this change in schedule helps him ward off danger during most part of the week at least. The rest (week-ends), as they say, is left to God.

Vote appeal on mobiles

New media, especially mass voice messages (on mobile phones) are the latest in the West Bengal elections as parties and candidates try to give a personal touch to appeal to voters. Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Bannerjee again topped with her message.

A section of subscribers were surprised to receive her call “Go and cast your vote ”. It's not known whether the poll percentage this year was higher than the 2009 election as a result of her appeal?

The Kadapa game

Kadapa, the traditional stronghold of the late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy family, was known for its bomb culture and mass rigging during election time. With the son, claiming to be heir-apparent to his father's political legacy and fighting the electoral battle this time, things have changed. Reports suggest money is flowing and security personnel are swarming the Parliamentary constituency, where the by-poll has become a battle of prestige for the Congress(I), facing the rebellious Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy. Rs 300 crore and over 15,000 security men is what the by-election is all about. So much for democracy!

Of devils and nightmares

Vivek B.Gadgil, Chief Executive and Managing Director of L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Ltd., a construction veteran, was candid when asked what kind of challenges the firm would face in implementing one of the biggest (Rs 16,300-crore) public-private-partnership (PPP) project in the country. “We are implementing several metro projects as EPC contractor and this one as a concessionaire.

Having worked in the toughest climatic conditions and terrains in India and abroad, it is always challenging to take up such projects. It is said when you marry the devil, you must be prepared for the nightmares that come along after the wedlock,” he said.

The good Samaritan

That the cardinal dictum of charity, of the left hand not knowing what the right is giving away, operates in India, was evident in this incident.

A freak storm tore down a tree across railway lines, near Ariyalur, an hour from Tiruchirapalli on the night of April 29-30, snapping the traction wires and forcing the train to just about manage to lug itself to the nearest station.

Guess what followed the next morning? At the railway station, stranded passengers were given tea, biscuit packets and water sachets — free. Initially, most passengers supposed that the good Samaritan was the Railways, but it turned out to be Dalmia Cements, which has a factory at Ariyalur.

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