Whispers Forum — 17 Jul 2018
Does this gentleman, by the name of AK Saxena, know the working of Deepali Rastogi? By treating Deepali and Faisal differently, after allegedly committing the same offence, the government may deepen the differences between Kashmir with the rest of the country.
ABC
Waistline of Natraj
It was during the Governor's rule in the turbulent Punjab ,some decades back, that a very prominent classical dancer was invited to perform at Jalandhar. Jalandhar kalasangam,a society headed by the divisional commissioner, often painstakingly organized such cultural shows at grand scale. In the first meeting, almost all the district heads of the various important departments, were made to participate. Sub- committees, as usual, were constituted to make arrangements for the success of the show. I was made member of some of the committees and immediate job assigned to me was to select the venue. It was felt that the show must be held inside a cinema hall, where ready-made stage would be available for the performance. At the time of site selection visit, only district public relations officer, was left to accompany me, as others had very plausible excuses for better works. Though the city had about ten cinemas, only Sant cinema, had reportedly the stage for such performance. Most of the new cinemas had slanting structures near the screen. It was an old cinema hall, which did not have the curtains in front of the screen and most of the front-line chairs were broken. The flooring etc was also shabby. All these shortcomings were duly reported to the deputy commissioner and the the commissioner. A meeting of the officers was convened immediately in the cinema hall. The owner was also called. Each item was discussed threadbare as the chief secretary was to be the chief guest of this function. The owner agreed to get the first three rows of chairs repaired. The fixing of the curtain was entrusted to the lucrative departments .The cleanliness and repairs of flooring was also entrusted to the municipal corporation and the PWD respectively. It was also decided that the portrait of Natraj, the God of dancing, would be prominently displayed in the lobby of the cinema
On the day of the performance, it was decided that in the morning wives of Commissioner, deputy commissioner and some other prominent ladies would inspect the arrangements. All officers were present during their visit. The team of ladies stood around the portrait of Natraj. Most of them appreciated the painter ,who had prepared it. Suddenly, all started looking at the face of one very well known person. This handsome man was prominent member of all the cultural committees of the district and performed repeatedly at the Doordarshan and the All India Radio. He was very politely and artistically telling the wife of the Commissioner,''Mam,please look at the waist of the deity,is not it protruding conspicuously.He added in punjabi also 'Natraj da lakk mota lagda hai (Natraj has a bulging waistline).''The lady looked critically at the portrait and very empirically and impetuously remarked, ''Yes, yes, of course! who has brought this ugly portrait ? ''I looked at the district public relations officer and he very worryingly at me. I timidly ventured to say, ''Mam, Natraj has a standard portrait and its waistline is always like this''. I was already very tired because all burden of the function had been put on me and many a times ,i was made to answer midnight jittery calls of the worried officers. My gentle words made the lady more angry and she said, ''It has to be replaced and must be done forthwith.'' I could say, ''mam, the function is to start at 6pmand it is already 1 pm. It will be impossible to replace it''. ''You will have to do it, I will tell my husband''. She put me under the threat of person, whom we knew as a very unreasonable person. I felt like leaving this job, which was considered a premier service of the state. After half an hour , i got a call at cinema manager's number from the PA of the commissioner, who told me that commissioner had desired that the Natraj portrait must be changed. I discussed the matter with the district public relations officer. He told me something in my ear. At 3pm, I rang up the commissioner and told him that the Natraj's portrait has been changed as per madam's directions. We told a blatant lie and incidentally it saved me from the wrath of two robots. Till day , whenever i come across that cultural czar, who pointed out Natraj's bulging waistline, I look the other way.
Surinderjit Singh Sandhu, Amritsar
ABC
Waistline of Natraj
It was during the Governor's rule in the turbulent Punjab ,some decades back, that a very prominent classical dancer was invited to perform at Jalandhar. Jalandhar kalasangam,a society headed by the divisional commissioner, often painstakingly organized such cultural shows at grand scale. In the first meeting, almost all the district heads of the various important departments, were made to participate. Sub- committees, as usual, were constituted to make arrangements for the success of the show. I was made member of some of the committees and immediate job assigned to me was to select the venue. It was felt that the show must be held inside a cinema hall, where ready-made stage would be available for the performance. At the time of site selection visit, only district public relations officer, was left to accompany me, as others had very plausible excuses for better works. Though the city had about ten cinemas, only Sant cinema, had reportedly the stage for such performance. Most of the new cinemas had slanting structures near the screen. It was an old cinema hall, which did not have the curtains in front of the screen and most of the front-line chairs were broken. The flooring etc was also shabby. All these shortcomings were duly reported to the deputy commissioner and the the commissioner. A meeting of the officers was convened immediately in the cinema hall. The owner was also called. Each item was discussed threadbare as the chief secretary was to be the chief guest of this function. The owner agreed to get the first three rows of chairs repaired. The fixing of the curtain was entrusted to the lucrative departments .The cleanliness and repairs of flooring was also entrusted to the municipal corporation and the PWD respectively. It was also decided that the portrait of Natraj, the God of dancing, would be prominently displayed in the lobby of the cinema
On the day of the performance, it was decided that in the morning wives of Commissioner, deputy commissioner and some other prominent ladies would inspect the arrangements. All officers were present during their visit. The team of ladies stood around the portrait of Natraj. Most of them appreciated the painter ,who had prepared it. Suddenly, all started looking at the face of one very well known person. This handsome man was prominent member of all the cultural committees of the district and performed repeatedly at the Doordarshan and the All India Radio. He was very politely and artistically telling the wife of the Commissioner,''Mam,please look at the waist of the deity,is not it protruding conspicuously.He added in punjabi also 'Natraj da lakk mota lagda hai (Natraj has a bulging waistline).''The lady looked critically at the portrait and very empirically and impetuously remarked, ''Yes, yes, of course! who has brought this ugly portrait ? ''I looked at the district public relations officer and he very worryingly at me. I timidly ventured to say, ''Mam, Natraj has a standard portrait and its waistline is always like this''. I was already very tired because all burden of the function had been put on me and many a times ,i was made to answer midnight jittery calls of the worried officers. My gentle words made the lady more angry and she said, ''It has to be replaced and must be done forthwith.'' I could say, ''mam, the function is to start at 6pmand it is already 1 pm. It will be impossible to replace it''. ''You will have to do it, I will tell my husband''. She put me under the threat of person, whom we knew as a very unreasonable person. I felt like leaving this job, which was considered a premier service of the state. After half an hour , i got a call at cinema manager's number from the PA of the commissioner, who told me that commissioner had desired that the Natraj portrait must be changed. I discussed the matter with the district public relations officer. He told me something in my ear. At 3pm, I rang up the commissioner and told him that the Natraj's portrait has been changed as per madam's directions. We told a blatant lie and incidentally it saved me from the wrath of two robots. Till day , whenever i come across that cultural czar, who pointed out Natraj's bulging waistline, I look the other way.
Surinderjit Singh Sandhu, Amritsar
