Below the line

Anyone listening?

Political parties may be going online to reach young voters. But do they listen to what this audience is saying? Unlikely, going by what the ruling AIADMK party did last week at its high-profile meeting in the heart of the city.

The hardship caused to residents of the area and to road-users drew much flak in the social media. There were some who had even posted that they were going to pull down the banners and invited those with “courage” to join them. But was anyone from the party listening?

A new bonhomie

With N Chandrababu Naidu, chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, and his Telangana counterpart, K Chandrasekhar Rao, smoking the peace pipe, the year ahead looks much better for the two States. Naidu’s personal invitation to KCR for the capital foundation stone-laying ceremony at Amaravati in October was accepted by the latter. Recently, KCR flew to Vijayawada for lunch at Naidu’s home on the banks of the Krishna river. Naidu then turned up for KCR’s Ayutha Chandi Yagam. Is the acrimony truly over? Only time will tell.

Ticket to ride

The West Bengal government had a new year gift for journalists, at least some of them. It has offered all accredited journalists free travel in all State government run buses and trams in Kolkata. The facility will be extended to long distance buses operated by State-owned undertakings.

Flummoxed

The Karnataka government was caught unawares when Infosys announced that it will set up its largest campus in Hyderabad. Some in the corridors of power believe that the crumbling infrastructure and unmanageable traffic in India’s Silicon Valley prompted the Bengaluru-headquartered IT major’s decision. Others are wondering what other reasons there were.

Airport aviary

Pigeons continue to flock in the departure lounge of Chennai airport, which has surprised nobody by making it to the list of worst airports in Asia for the third time in a year. Crows have been spotted as well, but it is not clear whether the airport management (which can barely keep the toilets clean) is bothered that the lounge has become something of an aviary.

The State-run Airports Authority of India is readying to expand the airport with the dropping of the privatisation plan. Opposition by AAI unions to hand over the management to private players may well see Chennai at the bottom of the rankings for some years to come.

Apart from the vested interests, the only ones not complaining are the pigeons that enjoy feeding off food that has spilled on to the carpets.

Touting the good old days

Computerisation is said to have speeded up work, but there are times when it does exactly the opposite. A colleague trying to retrieve data to get his driving licence renewed, ran from one authority to the other for three successive days. “Sir, the DL leased line is down. Please call and come the next day,” was the refrain he heard again and again. The staff at the licensing authority agreed to refund the money which had been paid online, but expressed helplessness to actually do so.

Dejected, he was heard muttering about the good old days when the friendly neighbourhood touts came home to pick up and deliver documents — of course, for a price.

Holy Gau!

Journalists at an agri press conference were surprised when a senior expert said there was unanimity in the Modi government over promoting GM products.

Before he could be probed further, the clarification came: he was referring not to genetically modified products but to those made with gau mutra (cow’s urine)!

COMMENT NOW