A lot many people owe a ‘thank you’ to the city traffic cops. No, not because they have been conducting the drunken driving checks systematically and successfully but instead, for providing comic relief. Of late, a video doing the rounds on social media and mobile messaging platforms has garnered a lot of buzz. The video clip recorded by media personnel was shot during the routine checks of traffic police for ‘high-spirited’ drivers.
A car driver, who was visibly sloshed, is seen chewing and biting the straw attached to the alcohol-testing device. In spite of the officials’ best attempts, he is seen getting wilder with his funny expressions and body language. Not sure if this video can act as a deterrent for drunk drivers but many did seem to have a hearty laugh.
When the GHMC beat a hasty retreat
It was a move that backfired for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). For the current financial year, the civic body set an ambitious target of collecting Rs.1,470 crore towards property tax and this apparently ended up being too steep a target for officials.
With focus on realising arrears from defaulters, the staff hit upon the idea of a pressure tactic and ended up placing garbage filled bins in front of the premises of some defaulters. The move to use stink to exert pressure instead of yielding desired results, ended up dragging the GHMC to court where it was pulled up and asked under what provision the step was taken.
And the civic body had to beat a hasty retreat and pull out the garbage bins. But then, as an official said, they have targets to achieve and taxes to collect. So, what next, GHMC!
At a loss for words!
Union Minister and senior BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu is usually never lost for words whatever be the occasion. But it was a different situation the other day on Sunday when Mr. Naidu and his Cabinet colleague Bandaru Dattatreya called for a press meet and within no time, realised the folly of calling one as soon as the Union Budget was released.
Newshounds pounced upon Mr. Venkaiah Naidu within no time on the Centre “ignoring” AP’s needs by not giving a single pie towards new capital development, a “pittance” of Rs.100 crore for the prestigious Polavaram project and nothing to bridge the revenue gap post-bifurcation.
It was a strange sight to see “TS journalists” watching in amusement even as their “AP counterparts” were arguing with the Union Minister when it was the other way round just a few months ago!
Mr. Naidu could only say that AP still had a chance of getting Central funding.
Kebab wars
“What’s in a name” goes a popular Shakespeare quote that could have been quoted every time the group of enthusiastic Turks served the Turkish delicacy ‘Doner Kebab’ at last weekend’s Indo-Turkish Culture and Food Festival .
It is a dish where meat is roasted by turning it vertically and then served in a wrapping of the traditional bread. If it reminded you of ‘Shawarma’, so did it appear to those who thronged the stall.
The serving youngsters, given the ‘Young Turks’ they were, politely corrected every person in the queue who came asking for ‘Shawarma’.
Finally, having had enough, one of them just snapped and literally stomped while gritting through his teeth that it was ‘Doner Kebab’ and it be called just that! What’s in a name, indeed?
Reporting by Rahul Devulapalli, T. Lalith Singh,, V. Geetanath and Rohit PS
