Footloose

Of the lament of a son of the soil

NO MATTER the new (?) increasing numbers of cement roads in Nagpur and their paved sidewalks, the first impression one gets while moving around town is that the city-roads suffer from bad maintenance -- countless pot-holes, countless water puddles, countless street corners needing urgent repair, countless boulders and cement blocks at critical turns on roads ... ! There are countless spots on different city-roads where people keep tripping and hurting themselves and their two-wheelers or even four-wheelers..

Of the mockery of tall claims by administration

THE pictures tell the story without words. The pictures ‘The Hitavada CityLine’ published on September 25, 2024 -- of the pools of rain water at Kachipura and Bajaj Nagar squares -- actually mock at the tall claims of the city leadership that they are modernising the city’s road system. The two pictures prove that the claims are just hollow. Both the intersections are in the city’s prime area, and yet give a clear impression of a failed civic management. One small rainy spell, and many areas in ..

Of ‘Bada Talab’, the city’s signature

EVERY Bhopalite will agree with Sports and Youth Welfare Minister Mr. Vishwas Kailash Sarang that the Upper Lake -- Bada Talab -- is a Nature’s gift to the city. Its size is certainly a matter of pride for every Bhopalite. But more importantly, the Bada Talab has become an integral part of the city’s personality. In other words, Bada Talab is the city’s signature -- by which the city is known and talked about everywhere in the country. So important Bada Talab is to the city’s psyche that nobody can ..

Of an inexplicable apathy: Some troubling questions !!!

THE story of Ganesh immersion in Nagpur has changed altogether. Lakes are being spared from the immersion. Instead, innumerable small tanks come up everywhere to accommodate small idols every year. The civic administration, the Police as well as countless voluntary organisations stand together to ensure that the lakes are not invaded by over-enthusiastic devotees to immerse their Ganesh idols into actual lake waters. This is, of course, the most welcome development. For, when the lakes are kept free ..

Of the question of fine culture

ARE we -- the Nagpurians -- the people of a fine culture, or more precisely, a fine civic culture ? This question haunts not just the loosefooter but also everybody with a good sense of public conduct -- in Nagpur. And there are countless dimensions to this haunting question -- of the sense of personal responsibility towards others in the society, of the sense of dignity of one’s own and of others, of the importance of smoothness and polish in collective conduct ...! In almost every social conversation ..

Of so so so many complaints !!!

SO, THE Union Minister received as many as 840 complaints about the Nagpur Improvements Trust (NIT) and the Nagpur Metropolitan Regional Developmental Authority (NMRDA) -- at his ‘Janata Darbar’. And a few days earlier, people had thronged around him to present to him as many as 1,500 complaints about the civic issues such as bad roads and water-logging in the city, at the first ‘Janata Darbar’. The people’s throngs were so thick and sticky that the security formed a cordon around the Union Minister ..

I-Day musings

THE trigger is obvious -- Independence Day -- to indulge in a free-wheeling thinking on the meaning of Independence for common people. So, the ‘I-Day musings’, so to say. Of course, the word ‘Independence’ -- or ‘Freedom’ -- has multiple nuances, as highlighted by poets and writers of all shades of different ideologies. But, among the most important of these nuances is one of a sense of well-being under self-rule. And an important dimension of well-being is good basic standards of living. This ..