A cop attached to the Ghoti police station not only got on the wrong side of the law but also managed to give it the slip -- with some help from unknowing members of the public.

Vital Ignorance

A police constable spotting a youth ``moving in a suspicious manner'' at the Central Bus Station pounced on him and frisked him, but found nothing. Then he turned to the bag carried by the youth, and his eyes lit up. The suspect was carrying a gun.

Immediately, the youth, Chandrakant Shankar Salve, who had arrived in Nashik from Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh, was taken to the police station. The cop and his colleagues placed him under arrest and fiddled with the gun to find out how deadly it was. But they could determine neither its make nor the fire power.

They first thought it was a foreign-made gun but finding no mark on it, revised the theory to conclude that it was country-made.

The weapon was then taken to more `informed' officials, who weren't much help. They couldn'tspecify its gauge, nor its firepower or make. They asked the youth about the origin of the gun. The youth replied that he had found it in a forest and picked it up but could not explain how he got the bullets. And why he possessed it without a licence.

Finally, someone told the cops that it was just an airgun and that the bullets were actually pellets. And, an airgun does not require a licence.

Back To Square One

Tribal Development Minister Arjun Pawar recently inaugurated a computerised centre at the tribal development commissionerate.

Speaking on the occasion, the minister pointed out at the advantages of the computer system, explaining how it could reel out statistics on tribals, the various schemes and the backlog of tribals in government jobs, at the touch of a button. Among other things, he vowed to clear the backlog -- at the touch of a button -- very soon.

The minister however failed to explain how he intended to go about it.

The only change is that the data which was earlierhandwritten or typewritten has been transferred to the computer. The `backlog' meanwhile remains, untouched.

Good From Far

The first Indian in space, Rakesh Sharma, was recently in Nashik to receive the Godavari Gaurav award instituted by the Kusumagraj Pratisthan. He said the question he was asked most frequently was about his earth-to-space conversation with then prime minister Indira Gandhi. She had asked him what India looked like at that distance and he had given his famous answer: `Saare Jahan Se Achchha' (Unequalled in the entire universe). The conversation was telecast live and has remained in public memory.

Sharma said people often asked him why he said `Saare Jahan Se...' when the `ground realities' were quite the opposite. To which Sharma would say that he agreed with them and that the country was definitely in a mess. But, the mess has been made by us, he said. Apparently, his reply to the prime minister involved `playing to the gallery' what with millions of hiscountrymen keeping track of the historic venture.

Returned With Thanks

The Chief General Manager of the Maharashtra Telecom Circle, N Sundaresan, who was in Nashik recently told staffers they would have to tighten their belts to meet the challenges ahead, including privatisation of telecom services. `Perform or perish' was his warning.

However, the staff, like their counterparts in other government departments, apparently dismissed it as just another ineffectual warning. An incident in the Kalwan block demonstrates their apathy. The department had provided telephones in the area but had failed to ensure that they functioned properly. The sarpanch of Kanashi (Kalwan) Dattu Shirsat, after six months of complaining, led an agitation in the town and returned all the `dead' telephone instruments to the exchange. Nashik Telecom incidentally launched its directory inquiry service on the Internet. A classic case of one step forward and two backwards.