Finally, Chief Minister Manohar Joshi found the time to visit Nashik, to inaugurate the renovated birthplace of Swatanryaveer V D Savarkar at Bhagur village. The revamped house had been closed to visitors for a year, pending its recent inauguration.

A couple of hours before the ribbon was cut, Minister of State for Education and Cultural Affairs, Anil Deshmukh, said Savarkar's descendents would be felicitated, including two daughters and a son.

Then came the bombshell. Savarkar's nephew, Vikram Savarkar, told the gathering that his uncle had only one son, Vishwasrao, and the two ladies felicitated were actually Savarkar's nieces!

But there was no apology from the government, only sheepish smiles on the visages of Joshi, Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde and four of their Cabinet colleagues.

That is not surprising. Politicians are known to shame the chameleon, changing colours much more adroitly than their reptilian counterpart.

Moments later, Joshi and Munde sang paens toSavarkar, loudly criticised past governments for neglecting the house where Savarkar was born and pounded their chests for "undoing the wrongs of their predecessors".

What they conveniently forgot was that Savarkar's house was declared a monument and acquired by the erstwhile Congress government. The renovation too had begun before the Joshi government assumed power in 1995. Tut, tut... to what lengths politicians will stoop to hog the credit.

Changing Colours

Scribes in Nashik had yet another opportunity to witness the reptilian ways of our politicians, in all their colourful splendour. This time, the demonstration was provided courtesy Transport Minister, Diwakar Raote.

Only recently appointed to the post, Raote was in Nashik claiming all was well with the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC).

When his attention was drawn to the clandestine activities at the Central Bus Station, which is being used by private jeep operators to snatch ST passengers, he blinked indisbelief.

However, during a surprise visit to the depot, the minister discovered three private tempo vehicles waiting for passengers and was forced to urge officials to impound them. However, when the wily operators turned out to be Shiv Sainiks, Raote quickly changed tack, waxing sympathetic on the plight of the unemployed. He said the Sainiks were jobless youth merely trying to earn a living.

The icing on the cake? The minister announced that the government would try to regularise such jeep operators by licensing them!

Eating the Cake...

After being elected mayor of Nashik by the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance, Republican Party of India (RPI) corporator, Ashok Dive, has been living recklessly, off the saffron combine's magnanimity.

Inaugurating a conference of backward class government staff, Dive expressed concern over the persecution of Dalits by higher castes. After dishing out the usual spiel on the evils of the caste system, the mayor sat back and basked in the applause of the audience.

Putit down to selective amnesia or a case of supreme self-confidence. Either way, Dive would never have become mayor of Nashik without the support of the BJP and Sena since the RPI has just two corporators in a House of 87.

Even if Dive can be excused for playing to the gallery, can the conference organisers, who were shouting themselves hoarse over communal forces, explain the invitation to a mayor who rode to power on the saffron wagon?

Unity is Strength

Hit by drought? Create a traffic diversion on a bustling road at the height of summer. Villagers of Baragaon-Pimpri in Sinnar taluka recently discovered a sureshot way to ensure water supply.

When demands for a single tanker daily got entangled in red tape, despite repeated visits to the panchayat samiti and the district collectorate, the villagers decided to take to the streets.

One fine morning, they simply blocked the Sinnar-Niphad road and caused the most godawful traffic jam there. Within two hours, stranded motorists summoned the police.Local officials also rushed to the spot and tried to calm the agitators. But in vain. Finally, a panchayat samiti official arrived - in a loaded water tanker, wearing a broad smile.

Emboldened by their success, the protestors decided to ask for more. One tanker would not suffice for the whole village, they said, but three a day just might. Haunted by visions of angry motorists screaming blue murder, the officials quickly signed the papers sanctioning the villagers' demand!