Talk of the town

- FOR SOME die-hard fans or party workers, the proudest possession is a body tattoo of a political leader, party flag or film star.

Actor Arjun, however, has trod a slightly different path. He has chosen the ``national flag'' to wear on his forearm. Known for ``action'' roles depicting patriotism in reel life, it has now spilled over into real life.

To those who are sceptical about the tattoo being real, he says the tri-colour, bright and visible on his forearm, is not a sticker but the real thing.

The story of the patriotic tattoo goes something like this.

He had the flag tattooed on his arm when he was shooting in Canada. The ``patriotic act'' however, created a fortnight of agony for the actor, as his forearm was swollen.

Incidentally, the foreign tattoo is done not manually but by a numerically controlled machine, which makes it look perfect.

Arjun says the patriotic feeling runs in the family. His father is remembered as an actor, but he was also a freedom fighter. Continuing his father's practice, his autographs always carry the prefix, `Jai Hind'.

The actor often spends his free time with children of a blind school in Poonamallee.

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- LATE LAST month, there was a shuffle of senior IAS officers. Hints of these postings had been doing the rounds even earlier and had even appeared in the media.

People are now watching the next move of the State Government, on how it will deal with crucial administrative departments, including the Police. Many of the senior IPS officers, some of them in top positions have been holding the same positions for a long time. This has also led to ``stagnation'' in the way problems are being approached, a factor which is worrying the ruling party.

The Government is looking at the possibilities of shifting some officers in time for the impact to be felt for the elections, as well as keeping well ahead of any restrictions of the Election Commission.

But, within the IAS, the recent postings and transfers has led to a fresh bout of ``petitions'', a lesser-known aspect of the service.

Though the service is close knit as seen from the outside, there are `lobbies' within and some have resumed writing ``anonymous petitions'' about their colleagues, who in their opinion have risen up the ladder too fast.

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- SENIOR OFFICIALS are careful when they are participating in public events, to be politically correct.

Dr. R. Rajagopalan, director of Tamil Nadu Police Housing Corporation, spoke about the coincidence of the number 7 with the Chief Minister Mr. M. Karunanidhi who was the chief guest.

The Chief Minister, he said, had recently celebrated his 77th birthday, and here he was inaugurating 2543 units, in which the first two digits and the last two, individually totalled seven.

The CM was quick to reply that the DGP could have stretched his idea further by adding his entry into public life at the age of 14 (7 plus 7) and the birth of the DMK party which was in 1949 (7 multiplied by 7). Incidentally, the number 77 has a special significance, it being the year when the first non-Congress Government was formed at the Centre (in 1977).

Numbers have always had a fascination for many in politics as well. When MGR was Chief Minister, one Minister at the time described himself and his colleagues as ``zeros'' who derived their power from the leader, who was the ``one'' that stood next, making ``ten''. Strong arithmetic.

By S. Shivakumar and K. Ramachandran

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