A ‘healthy’ advice

When the Health Minister speaks at a seminar on female foeticide, obviously, people expect some enlightening speech. But at the seminar on PNDT Act here last week, Minister for Health and Family Welfare and Information Kagodu Thimmappa certainly didn’t seem to have any ‘information’ about the ‘health’ issue. When asked to speak a few words, the minister had this to say:

“I don’t believe in dual personality, but India is known for dual personality because of which most of our efforts in various activities fail. If one is a scientist, he should believe in science alone and not in superstitious beliefs. Beliefs dominate our society. So men and women play different designated roles . There has not been a single revolution to remove social inequalities. So, how does one bring about equality? If two men come out of the same room together, people don’t mind. But when a man and woman emerge out of a room together, people view them with suspicion.”

After beating about the bush for about 20 minutes, he tried to explain that deep-rooted beliefs in society make people crave for a male progeny and that in most cases of female foeticide, the educated are the culprits. Then, in true ‘minister-style’, he called for a continuous and coordinated campaign to root out this evil. He certainly had some information to share on health!

Rashmi

Tricky question

Union Minister Ananth Kumar fears two persons most, first one being his wife and the second one journalists. He revealed this at the inaugural ceremony of a golden jubilee hall built by Karnataka Journalists’ Cooperative Society. Mr Kumar added that he feared the way journalists depict the news which they gather in their newspapers.

He narrated an anecdote to prove his point;; “ A saint happened to visit the US once. The media advisor of the saint told him to be careful with mediapersons. A simple solution offered by the saint’s media advisor was that the saint should answer a question by putting another question. For example, if the saint was asked: ‘Would you like to have lunch?’ The reply must by ‘Should I have lunch?’ Immediately after landing at the airport he was surrounded by many mediapersons. The saint followed his media advisor’s advice and felt that he had passed that litmus test. Finally, a reporter asked the saint, ‘What do you want to say about night clubs of USA?’ The saint replied, ‘Should I visit night clubs?’ Next day , The Wash-ington Post carried the headline: The saint from India enquires about night clubs of America after landing in the US.” 

Nagachandra N S

Sound barrier!

At some point or the other, most of us would have been irritated by the deafening noise from the zooming bikes. But, why do the hot-blooded young bikers do it? What are they trying to say? This became a topic of discussion during a casual chat. From ‘means of attention seeking’ to ‘funny ways of modern youth’- several answers came up. They may be true, but none of them matched this gem: “They do so because they think they are breaking the sound barrier!”

Venky