Blind beliefs
Sometimes legislators rush in where rationalists fear to tread. Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde now threatens to bring in a bill to "combat" superstition and "prosecute" those spreading it among people. His enthusiasm for such legislation was spurred by an incident of human sacrifice that reportedly took place in Borwand village in his state. Human sacrifice, of source, is abominable, especially when it takes place on the threshold of a millennium. But it cannot be addressed by an enacting quixotic laws. Instead, it should be treated like any other murder and exemplary punishment awarded to those who may have participated in it for whatever reason.
"We'll see to it that she gets her vision"
Little Shraddha was the cynosure of all eyes at an eye camp held in Thane today. Her parents hope one day she would be able to see how much people like her.
Malayattoor foresaw his death?
Malayattoor Ramakrishnan seemed to have had an uncanny intuition about his death, if his friends are to be believed.The writer's bacchanalian spirit was well known. Some of his friends obviously felt that for a man of his age he was drinking a bit too much.``We told him straight to his face two days before that he was drinking too much,'' said a young man of Sasthri Nagar, who belonged to Malayattoor's ever widening friends circle. ``He told us with a laugh that time was up and that he would not cross February. He asked us to leave him alone to enjoy what time was left.''
Pangs of growth
The synchronised launching of the BJP's election campaign by L.K. Advani from Kollam in Kerala and Atal Behari Vajpayee from Rajkot in Gujarat is a pointer to the headstart the party enjoys in this election. Among all the political parties it is the BJP alone which has got its act together.
The viewer-friendly toaster
"And now we take you over to a hatchery near Pune where hens are laying not only more eggs but bigger eggs too!" the Doordarshan newsreader announced with a merry twinkle in his eye, winding up the bulletin, "and all the credit goes to Dara the rooster... Unfortunately the owner refused to reveal Dara's pedigree and nationality."
