Tricity buzz: Of golfing gentleman, colourful V-C and a handshake worth ₹20 - Hindustan Times
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Tricity buzz: Of golfing gentleman, colourful V-C and a handshake worth 20

Hindustan Times, Chandigarh | By
Sep 23, 2018 06:43 PM IST

HT Reporters’ tracker on all those making, or faking, news.

Shubhankar, the golfing gentleman

Shubhankar, the golfing gentleman.(Biswajit Debnath)
Shubhankar, the golfing gentleman.(Biswajit Debnath)

Shubhankar Sharma, the ace golfer, may be creating ripples on the greens the world over, but he prefers to take the back seat when on greens of another kind. A yoga teacher in a Sector 12 Panchkula park was pleasantly surprised when Sharma stopped by for a session and quietly blended in with the class by following the asanas. Later, he stayed back to thank her. The Arjuna award is fine, but we would like to nominate this gifted golfer for the Gentleman of the Year award. No one deserves it more.

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Caught on camera

Students of the Panjab University’s Department of Evening Studies were in quite a combative mood last week. Wednesday saw them protesting outside the department, demanding better access to library books, installation of streetlights and drinking water in the department. Though there was quite a din, the chairperson, Gurpal Singh, when contacted, opened his eyes wide and said he had no knowledge about the protests. Alas, if only he had seen the live streaming of the protests that showed him trying to hush them. Moral of the story: Never tell a lie in this digital age. Big brother is always watching you.

The colourful V-C

While Panjab University’s previous vice-chancellor, Arun K Grover, was rather staid in his sartorial choices, preferring to dress up in white, grey and beige, the new incumbent, Raj Kumar, has a healthy appetite for colours. He certainly enjoys sporting a maroon shirt on special occasions. It seems this colour, which denotes strength, power and confidence, is his favourite.

PU VC Raj Kumar
PU VC Raj Kumar

The dean of social welfare, Emanual Nahar, too enjoys one particular shade in his wardrobe. Such is his love for the colour purple (you can see him in a purple shirt at every function) that even students have started noticing it. For your information, purple is the symbol of peace, wisdom as well as mystery. Hmm.

An ode to the air marshal

Late Air Marshal Randhir Singh leaves behind quite a big void in the civic circles of the city. The erstwhile fighter pilot, who took part in the first fly-past of Independent India, had the brains of an engineer. This young reporter, who met him a few months ago, recalls how he had prepared a plan to get rid of water-logging in the parks near his house. He recounted how it was his design of gullies that made a certain sector in the south free of water-logging. Here’s a toast to you, Sir! They don’t make men like you anymore.

Late Air marshal Randhir Singh
Late Air marshal Randhir Singh

This commissioner leads by example

Uneasy is the head that wears the crown. These days no one knows it better than MC commissioner KK Yadav. The young bureaucrat, who notified a watertight solid waste management policy recently, is now having to lock horns with waste collectors. Although the MC has agreed to absorb them in their workforce, the collectors, whose rage is fuelled mostly by contractors and some vested interests, are refusing to budge.

In a recent negotiation, they tried to embarrass Yadav by declaring that he had no moral right to order segregation of waste when he wasn’t doing it himself. Cool as a cucumber, the commissioner told them that he had been composting his wet waste for a couple of weeks now. Now that’s called leading by example.

KK Yadav, MC Commissioner
KK Yadav, MC Commissioner

The sifarish week

The Chandigarh MC office has never got so much VIP attention as in the last few days. Reason: the strike by waste collectors. An official mopped his brow as he recounted the long list of ‘sifarish’ he has been getting all last week. The high and mighty have just one request: send your people to collect our garbage. Seems like the waste collectors have driven home the importance of their daily visit.

A handshake worth 20

The parking lot attendants at the district court, Kharar, have different rules for different people. This reporter was surprised when soon after she had shelled out 20 for the parking ticket, a policeman got a prime parking slot after merely pumping the hand of the attendant. The lesson for the day: A handshake is all that it takes for a man in khaki to park there. The hoi polloi have to pay.

Back to prison

The policemen stationed at the Mohali courts wore a grim look as they juggled prisoners attending their hearings a day after the rural polls in Punjab. The prison staff deployed on election duty had been given a day off and the policemen at the courts were saddled with this additional responsibility of ensuring that these men had a safe passage back to the jail. One man’s holiday is another man’s pain.

(Inputs by Vivek Gupta, Arshdeep Arshi, Shailee Dogra and Rajanbir Singh)

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