Talk of the town

Heroines from the south reigning in Bollywood is old news while leading ladies from the north being sought after down under is the in thing. In the line is Namrata Shirodkar, former Miss India, who's relatively a latecomer into showbiz when compared to the likes of Sushmita or Aishwarya who bagged plum offers on a platter as soon as they landed with the coveted international beauty crowns.

Namrata did sign pictures early on but as is the wont in Bollywood they took ages to be released. With `Pukar' and `Vaastav', she came into her own. When last heard, she was getting some real good offers with the top honchos of Hindi film industry. She's also been trying her luck in Telugu films.

While the dusky beauty is paired with Mahesh Babu in `Vamsi' which is ready for release, there's another one with Chiru in the making. Three cheers for Namrata.

For those having these high powered mobikes like the 350 cc or 500 cc Enfield, driving on city roads is pure fun. The deep throb of the powerful engine when engaged in the fourth gear is the most captivating one for mobike lovers and understandably, the proud owners of these mobikes were the happiest lot on Tuesday.

With the entire fleet of city buses remaining off the road due to the bandh, there was ample opportunity for these mobike lovers to cruise along the city roads at comfortable speeds, notwithstanding the potholes.

No wonder, Bullet drivers could be seen with a big grin on their faces in the twin cities as they never had the chance to complain that they could never reach the fourth gear while driving.

As chirping birds begin their flight back home, a young boy busies himself, stoking embers on a pavement at the Necklace road. And then, he places the maize on the smoldering coal and keeps shifting it on all the sides. Finely scorched, a dash of lemon laced with salt, and lo the popular snack of the rainy season, corn, is ready.

Witness to unprecedented rain as the skies opened up like never before and the devastated city limping back to normalcy, the maize sellers have again started dotting every nook and cranny. Cars and scooters screech to a halt on spotting these road-side sellers while pedestrians make their way to them with a spring in their step. "Rupai me ek..rupai me ek...," the vendor yells. A young couple stop by and make a selection from the pile of corn lying alongside. Accompanied by parents, a girl insists on having two corn and persists with her demand.

"Barsaat mein makka butta khane ka maza hi kuch aur hai," says Razak, a seller, at Public Gardens. Some want the corn to be scorched for that crunchy bite while others prefer the tender ones. "People come here to spend time leisurely and `butta' is their favourite choice," says Kiran Babu, another seller at Necklace Road.

Waiting for a bus? What better way to kill time than nibbling corn flakes. Peering over the railings at the Tank Bund or busy whispering sweet nothings to your beloved, dig into a corn. Just peel the grains, fling them into the mouth, munch them and keep on munching.

For a Government which boasts of its administration being `alert' and `smart', the functioning of the senior officers in charge of the relief operations left much to be desired.

When the Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, was seeking a specific action plan and suggestions from the officials gathered on the second day of the deluge which hit the city, the coordinating officer, who took the mike, warbled on and on about procedures and protocol which practically meant little on what needed to be done urgently.

And as Naidu asked another senior official to present his views because of the `excellent job' done during floods in East Godavari last year, the city coordinator protested: "Sir, I am an expert in disaster management having covered nine floods, cyclones and drought."

At the daily briefings, it was quite exasperating to mediapersons as he was invariably talking about his wonderful deeds during earlier crises and about how affected people "tell lies" to get relief and how "figures of those killed are exaggerated during these times." More than proper information, it was flashback.com.

By K. Srinivas Reddy, T. Lalith Singh and V. Geetanath

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