New Delhi, Aug 22 (IANS) After the deluge of corruption and inefficiency charges, it is the unexpected bout of rain that is giving Commonwealth Games organisers nightmares. Special pujas are being held to pray for a ‘fair-weather’ event!
‘We are praying to the rain gods to stop pouring in Delhi,’ said a worried member of the organising committee.
The continuing heavy downpour in Delhi has further delayed preparatory works for the Oct 3-14 event. The organising committee reportedly used the heavy rains to justify the delay when Commonwealth Games Federation president Mike Fennel met them.
The organisers have been religiously monitoring the meteorological predictions for October which speak of a pleasant non-wet period. ‘Still we are conducting special pujas for a fair-weather Games,’ said the member.
Quipped an official: ‘Half human effort, half god’s grace.’
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PM wants to restrict outside movements
Two months ago, when a distraught mother blamed the prime minister’s security for her son’s death in Kanpur, Manmohan Singh was distressed.
‘The prime minister took that incident to heart. He is now wary of elaborate security for his travel and has decided to go out for a function only when it is absolutely necessary,’ revealed an aide. That is why more and more events concerning the prime minister are being held at Panchvati, the hall that was added to the official residence at 7 Race Course Road during the Vajpayee era.
Political meetings and book releases that involve the prime minister are all held here, followed by tea sometimes in the lush back lawns.
Manmohan Singh has instructed his security staff to make sure that ordinary people’s daily lives does not suffer due to his movements.
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E-mail blues for groom Tharoor
Shashi Tharoor, MP and former minister, has sent e-mail invites for his Sep 3 wedding reception to the capital’s poweratti and glitterati as time constraints prevented him from using snail mail. But much to his dismay, many of his fellow MPs are yet to get the e-mail invite!
Tharoor got to know about it by pure chance. In parliament, Tharoor was heard greeting BJP leader Maneka Gandhi and asked her if she would make it to the Sep 3 do. ‘I have sent you the e-mail invitation,’ Tharoor told her, only to be told she had not received it.
‘The e-mail system in parliament is not working properly. I guess half the MPs have not received the invitation,’ he said. The wedding itself took place Sunday in Kerala.
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Shera feels media heat
What did poor Shera do to deserve this? When the muck surrounding the Commonwealth Games was flying thick and fast and the Organising Committee was bearing the brunt of it all, Shera, the mascot of the Games, also found himself in the firing line.
During an event to launch the Games theme song by Oscar-winning maestro A.R. Rahman earlier this week, it was Shera who got inadvertently bashed by the paparazzi, while the target of their wrath, OC chief Suresh Kalmadi, got away unscathed.
Kalmadi tried to quickly make an exit from the venue after the function got over, but the vigilant media caught up with him.
The man dressed as Shera, who was standing next to him, was pushed left and right and finally out of the stage by camera persons who did not want to miss a single byte of Kalmadi.
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Hair-raising speculation
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra sported a soft curled hairstyle during the functions at Vir Bhumi and other venues on the 66th birth anniversary of her father Rajiv Gandhi. Socialites rate it as a ‘pretty look’ to suit the coming Commonwealth Games VVIP gallery. Now they are wondering about her brother Rahul Gandhi.
Rahul Gandhi often changes hairstyles, sending fashion journos on a chase of his stylists. And many hairstylists in Delhi’s hotels display photos of Rahul’s visit to their salons. Of late, Rahul has been sporting a new style which sceptics describe as ‘similar to the Lalu Yadav hairstyle’.
But the 40-year-old Nehru-Gandhi family scion may yet spring a surprise with a spanking new hairdo, say the capital’s socialites and fashionistas.
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Nine decades and counting
At 95, India’s grand old man of letters Khushwant Singh still loves a piping hot plate of kebabs and a swig of whisky. Last week, he made a rare public appearance for the launch of his book, ‘Absolute Khushwant’, which he authored with Humra Quraishi. The writer refused to speak to the media saying he was tired.
For once, the bubbling ‘Sardarji’ looked all of his nine decades and more with fatigue showing in his gait and body language. In his book, he talks of death. He says he is not afraid to die, but he wishes that death comes to him swiftly, softly, painlessly.
Old time fans like Mani Shankar Aiyar, Shashi Tharoor, M.J. Akbar and the like – bred on the Illustrated Weekly of India of which he was editor – wished him a long life. But the looming sense of mortality was palpable.
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BJP finally scores a hit
After a long string of flops, the BJP finally has a hit to flaunt. Having forced the government to accept changes in the civil nuclear liability bill, the BJP leaders are upbeat and are trumpeting it as a major achievement.
Party leaders say the earlier draft bill, which was soft on suppliers’ liability, was brought by the government under US pressure, and it was only after the BJP ratcheted up its opposition that the clauses were made stringent.
As the government braces to table the bill in the coming week in parliament, one can expect BJP leaders to underscore this in their speeches.
BJP insiders say the choices before the government, which was determined to get the bill passed in the monsoon session much before US President Barack Obama visits India in November, were limited – either to accede to demands of the opposition regarding the bill or give in to pressure from parties such as the Bahujan Samaj Party.
The government opted to go with the BJP, quipped an insider, ‘appealing to its national interests rather than narrow, parochial interests of parties like the BSP and the Samajwadi Party that have no world view’.
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When in air, drink only water
‘You should not eat anything in airplanes. Just drink water,’ this was the advice given by Vice President and Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari during question hour on the quality of food in Air India flights.
When the issue came up in the upper house, the parliamentarians seemed unusually interested in the topic, jeering Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel.
‘Why is there so much unseemly noise over such a frivolous topic?’ an irritated Ansari said. Have only a liquid diet in air, he said and told the agitated members to calm them.
