Delhi Notes

But a photographer does not seem to think so. His claim – he lost his I-D card, a good amount of money and some valuable addresses.

Just after the conference ended, the police chief invited 270 journalists for a sumptuous lunch.

The lunch was one of the attractions for the massive turnout, but the real reason for the annual interest in crime among many was what the police had to offer, a pocket-size police diary.

For reporters, those reporting on crime especially, this diary is a must. Others think it is just as necessary because it often helps them to wriggle out of a tight spot. Therefore, many rushed through their lunch and mobbed the hapless personnel behind the gift counter. For the next 10 minutes, the lobby outside the auditorium resembled a cinema ticket-counter.

The madness ended only after the Police Commissioner intervened personally. Our photographer friend along with many others left the scene, but not before announcing that he had lost his wallet.

Now this was serious, at least that is what a politician thought when she raised the issue in the Delhi Assembly on the same day. She boomed: “If a man can have his pockets picked in presence of the police chief, what is the fate of the commoner.”

The police were embarrassed and so were we. Fortunately, — unfortunately for our lensman — the matter ended there. As a senior officer said: “Ghar ki baat ghar ki andar hi rahena chahiyen”. But did it remain so?

Zorawar Singh’s samadhi neglected in Tibet

In 1841, a brave Dogra General in the army of Maharaja Gulab Singh of Jammu and Kashmir led an expedition and captured Ladakh, then a part of Tibet. General Zorawar Singh pressed further routing every army that dared challenge him. He reached Rudok deep inside Tibet when premature snowfall caught the army unprepared. The Dogra army had neither fuel nor fodder. They broke the wooden part of the matchlocks (gun) and burnt it to keep warm.

It was then the Tibetan Army attacked. The General and his army fought bravely to the last man. General Zorawar Singh, who expanded India’s frontiers, became a martyr and a grand samadhi (memorial) was built in Toyo, Tibet by the Dogra Army which carried out another expedition and recovered some of the territory.

“Unfortunately today the samadhi is lying in a state of disrepair,” said Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant at the screening of his film on Tibet at the India International Centre. “When the Indian pilgrims going to Mount Kailash and lake Mansarovar hear about the state of the memorial they have a sense of despair. Sometimes the local officials even feign ignorance about its existence,” he said. Brig Sawant suggested that both the governments take up the question of restoration in the right earnest.

Having undertaken the Yatra to Holy mount Kailash and lake Mansarovar he also urged the Chinese government to facilitate the pilgrimage of a large number of Indians by removing the visa barriers as a gesture of goodwill.

Elephants do not wait for VIPs

At noon on a weekday the outer ring road was cordoned off for a Haryana politician entering Delhi. The sight was familiar. Traffic policemen tensely watched the gathering traffic at a bottleneck created some distance off. The wireless in the police control vans crackled with news of the approaching cavalcade. Tired of the ritual, the lucky few with mobile phones kept themselves busy. Others waited patiently, even though in all likelihood they had more important matters to deal with than the politician.

Just then an elephant slowly climbed onto the embankment separating the road from the nearby fields. The mahout who could not see the road from the field, panicked on finding himself inside a security cordon. He tried persuading the elephant to change its mind, but in vain.

The pachyderm lumbered across the road, sending the policemen into a tizzy. They got busy on the wireless trying to find out how much time they had before the politician arrived at the spot.

The harried commuters were the only ones who enjoyed the show. And though the elephant finally reached the other side of the road, the policemen did not breathe easy till the motorcade whizzed past.

DVB shuts up DD

Not much is expected of Doordarshan in terms of imaginative visuals, but with some providential help their goof-ups can be strikingly appropriate. A newsreader on DD’s national channel was reading a news report on the poor state of the power supply in the Capital. As she went on about the numerous power cuts the city had to face, a sudden blackout made the newsreader disappear from the screen. A good few minutes later, when the power supply was finally restored, the newsreader returned with a sheepish apology that there had been a power failure in their studio!

Too transparent a law

The ban on dark solar films and tinted glasses on car windows might not have deterred criminals, but for law abiding citizens seeking privacy, it often spells trouble. Among the later category are senior citizens and women who travel alone. There are others with motives that need to be considered sympathetically.

One such citizen finally got tired of his girl friends’ refusal to sit with him in a car which didn’t screen her off from the eyes of numerous prying relatives.

He finally got solar film installed exactly according to the specifications laid down by the law. But the law errs too much on the side of transparency.

As the two happily chatted, thinking they had finally found freedom from `peeping toms’ a car stopped next to them. A familiar face popped out, the girl’s mother asking for directions. Following the inevitable fireworks, the police have lost two more admirers.

Keeping them fed

A journalist on her way to office would often see a woman begging at a traffic signal near Vasant Vihar. She would be accompanied by three children, the youngest seemed to be around 3-years-old. The children, who didn’t even have a stitch of clothing on, would remain seated on the sidewalk while the woman would go from vehicle to vehicle asking for money.

Finally, unable to bear the sight, the journalist gave the woman some clothes for the children and told her that she expected to see them clothed from now on. The next day she saw the children seated in their usual state of undress. When asked about the clothes, the beggar replied that she had given them to her sister. She explained that if she were to keep them clothed she couldn’t keep them fed. With the children clothed, her collections for the day had dropped alarmingly.

Blueline ways

Painted on the back of a Blueline bus plying between Kondli and Red Fort (Route 301): “Hum to aise hi chalenge, kuchh kar lo!”. (We will not mend our ways, do what you will). The threatening lines were in red!

— Contributed by Joy Purkayastha, Kota Neelima, Ritu Raizada, Saurabh Shukla, M Gopal