The morning newspaper was splattered with
The Chief Ministers face in every alternate page
One was even an illustration that made him look a rock cut monument
Wherein he was extolling on the tourist friendliness of his government
A government that turns a ripe four years, the headlines boasted
Equivalent to 90, if governments were to be compared to human age
Unless they are fed by another five years lifeline of hopeful hopelessness by the masses
Turning to Page 5
Next to the column ‘China – Pakistan Trade Corridor’ screamed a headline
‘The Dalai Lama will be in Bengaluru on May 23 as key speaker…
…. at a seminar on Dr B R Ambedkar organised by the social welfare department.
as part of the 125th birth anniversary of Ambedkar.
The article ends with
‘The event, to be held at Ambedkar Bhavan, Miller’s Road, is going to be inaugurated by Chief Minister at 10 am.’
I would have loved to go and listen to the Lama
But 10 am? Did I read it correct? What about the bloody traffic?
Why do I have to rush to listen to a man of peace and calm
But now that steel flyover is scrapped I hear we will be driving through underground tunnels.
What happens to the innumerable statues doting the landscape?
If the whole damn city becomes tunnels and flyovers
Shall we have a Gandhi hanging with his ‘Chari’
And Ambedkar Pointing towards the heaven in thin air….
‘Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake’
Tagore perhaps had foreseen it
I notice a subsection in the same clipping titled:
RECRUITMENTS:
All the 22,308 vacancies in the social welfare department as well as boards and corporations that fall under the department, would be filled up soon.
And then an affix:
The government has made SSLC pass mandatory to become eligible for the D group jobs.
Another Month, another day
The frontpage image is of an underage migrant girl working at the family’s blacksmith shop in Cuddalore
June 13 being World Day against Child Labour
The way things are it seems we might be the global record holder in child labour
With 8.3 million and more children working we can perhaps service Gulliver’s country
I put down the commode seat
The CM appears again this time launching a broadsheet
Good I thought, the more people read, the more they will be misinformed
Then something catches my attention
A Header of a column reads
‘Cow vigilantes attack TN team in Rajasthan’
This has become so common that people don’t even ‘mow’
The report reads ‘about 50 miscreants at Barmer in Rajasthan attacked staff and officials of the Tamil Nadu government’s Animal Husbandry Department on suspicion of cattle smuggling on Sunday
Continued on Page 10
The cattle (cows, bulls & calves) was intercepted while being transported in 5 trucks to the District Livestick Farm, Chettinad, under Rashtriya Gokul Mission
The mob thrashed the officials and the drivers and the cleaners and tried to set fire to one of the trucks.
In the melee two cows ran away.
Smart Cows like our soon to be smart cities I thought
From the case of vigilantism and missing cows
My attention goes to
Learning about ‘birds and bees’ in peacocks
The subhead reads
More flocks to Palakkad sanctuary after the judge’s remark on mating habits of peacocks
The Forest Guard at the sanctuary comments
With more than 200 people visiting the sanctuary daily over the last one week, we have the additional task of clearing doubts about the reproductive behavior of peafowls.
Another forester Mr.Babu further adds
In order to make it a perfect haven for the national bird, we keep most areas of the sanctuary semi-wild.
I wonder if ‘ignorance is bliss’ or ‘bliss is ignorance’
I fold the paper and keep it on the rack amidst the comics
A small column peeps out in between the folds
A beef feast will be held today in Mizoram capital Aizawl
to coincide with Union Home Minister’s visit to the state.
Security has been beefed up in view of the minister’s visit.
I flush.
Bishweshwar Das works as Creative Director for an ad agency and resides in Bengaluru. Apart from reading, writing and daydreaming, he relishes the beauty of heritage and has a modest assortment of cool stuff. Other than surviving on green tea, he uses LP records to keep himself sane and away from the madness of sheer routine.
People are habituated with the routine news items
The minister visits, the crimes and atrocities, the security forces with fake encounters
And host of ads filling a large space
To cover up the papers finances ….