Bharat Bandh

Exercises were conducted in the shadow of Bharat Bandh today. Attendance was low. The streets were deserted. A police picket had come up a few yards away from the Garden gate. Bapu Rane came in excited, anouncing that there had been rampant stone pelting near his place.
The nation-wide strike was called by some right-wing and Left parties in protest against the recent petrol price hike.
But at the Garden, it was business as usual. The regular walkers were there, going round and round the walking track. Film actor Om Puri could be seen among them – though initially unrecognisable in scruffy white beard with matching hair. He stopped by to exchange pleasantries with Yusuf Rassiwala (pic above), among others. The latter was in an unusually jolly mood today, as he hummed along with the music playing on Kishor Babani’s mobile during the exercises.
Shekhawat looked equally spirited as he announced that his ‘Kashmir count’ has risen to 36, with Kiran Sajjan’s husband phoning him last evening for two bookings in the hotel at Srinagar. The couple would make their own travel arrangements to-and-fro. Surprisingly, Kiran (right pic) was unaware of this. “I will let you know once we finalise our travel plans… that is, if at all we are going,” she said.
The funny part is that on the one hand, Shekhawat is reluctant to take any more people on the trip because “it would only make things unmanageable”. On the other hand, he is quite thrilled every time someone calls up to join. His initial target was a contingent of 30 and having reached that figure, he announced freezing the list. Now, with one or two new requests cropping up every day, he could well land a 50-strong battalion by August 31. That's exactly three months from today.
Harish Wadhwa:
It is good that more members are willing to take the Kashmir trip. Why not? Our country has so much to offer. Where else do you find so many goodhearted people? Our own tourist spots remain unexplored and therefore make the best of this opportunity. Kal ho na ho! Hats off to the initiative and enthusiasm of Shekhawat-ji.
Today's chai was no good -- especially in those stupid, white, skinny, shapeless, unholdable, environment-polluting plastic cups...