Special Session

All eyes are now on Parliament with a Special Session having been convened by the government from September 18-22. It now transpires that there will be no question hour, zero hour and even Private Members business on those five days!

Now the question uppermost on Parliament observers’ mind is: will the all five days be used only for discussing proposed ‘One Nation One Election’ Bill? Or will the government label this Bill too as a Money Bill to ensure smooth passage in Parliament? Interesting times, these.

A unique request

Celebration of 100 years is a significant event for the stakeholders in any company. In this regard, there was a unique request by a shareholder at the 99th annual general meeting (AGM) of Karnataka Bank recently. Congratulating the bank for entering the 100th year of its service, the shareholder urged the bank management to arrange for some goodies to the shareholders also through online food delivery platforms.

Such a move would make them happy, said the shareholder. The 99th AGM was conducted through videoconferencing.

Onam from Manchester

English Premier League team Manchester City wished Malayalis across the world ‘Happy Onam’ over social media by displaying the greetings in Malayalam. The team’s Instagram picture has gone viral, cheering the club’s fan base in Kerala.

The image focuses on superstar Erling Haaland in blue jersey biting into a fried pappadam in the background of two houseboats lined up close to a green plot of land defined by coconut trees.

Kerala Tourism reposted the image on Facebook, saying the team with 32 major honours in the English Premier League wishes all Malayali’s a happy Onam. Manchester City has quite a dedicated Malayali following all over the world.”

With football has for long been part of the State’s sporting culture, the Instagram picture is effectively a token of the club’s gratitude towards Kerala, adds Kerala Tourism Minister PA Mohamed Riyas.

Langur cutouts

The monkey menace is being taken seriously in Delhi, especially ahead of G20 summit. All government offices — especially around Central Delhi — have put out brand new cut outs of langurs and some of these are reportedly being put around the G20 meeting venue too.

The central ridge is said to be a natural habitat of monkeys who roam the streets. A handful of people have also been hired to mimic langur sounds to scare the primates away.

A senior bureaucrat pointed out that the problem remains because the simians are smart enough to figure out the difference between “langurs” and “langur cut-outs”. “Cut outs don’t smell like a langur. Nor move like one. So after some initial trepidation, you will see the monkeys run around those cut outs, if not pull them down.”

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