Touts Take To HeelsAt Exam Board

Of late, Bihar School Examination Board and its subsidiary Intermediate Council office have become a hub of activities with officials keenly moving around with their day-to-day work to streamline the Board's functioning. However, what is missing from the scene are the infamous touts, who used to hover around both Board offices and eked out their living by getting petty works of students done in exchange of handsome gratification. With Lalkeshwar Singh gone and a new chairman in place, BSEB sources say that middlemen, once a common sight outside the office gates, are nowhere to be seen. "Even people are coming directly to the employees with their problems instead of looking for touts for getting their work done 'kuch le dekar'," an officer said. Meanwhile, people claiming to have been harassed by Lalkeshwar are turning up at the office almost daily. "They were fine with Lalkeshwar's ways when he was in office. But, ever since the scam has been unearthed, they have started crying foul," the source mused and added that the number of such people is going up by the day.

VC In A Bind

Even as Patna University vice-chancellor Y C Simhadri tries his best to keep a safe distance from the local politicians, he is always confronted with the leaders of different political parties. During the recent agitation launched by the students of College of Arts and Crafts, at least two political leaders, namely CPI (ML) leader Dipankar Bhattacharya and Jan Adhikar Party leader Pappu Yadav addressed the agitating students and demanded immediate redressal of their genuine grievances. Ultimately, the VC invited the students' representatives for a dialogue and assured them of sympathetic consideration of their demands. But, at the same time, he counselled the students not to invite political leaders on the campus for redressal of their grievances as they would ruin their careers. Student leaders, however, claimed that the VC agreed to listen to their grievances only after the intervention of the politicians. On an earlier occasion too, the VC had to report to the chairman of the Bihar Legislative Council in connection with a privilege motion.

Discount On Drugs

If money saved is money earned, here is some good news for those Patnaites who regularly take various medicines for different ailments. A city startup has started delivering medicines at one's doorstep at a discount of 15 to 40 per cent! One can order medicines either online on www.medicinemovers.com or on its WhatsApp no by uploading doctor's prescription. Delivery is free on orders of Rs 500 and above. Diabeto Care is another agency which is involved in doorstep delivery of medicines for diabetics. A diabetic residing in Kankarbagh said this agency's name was given to her by a Boring Road-based diabetologist's staff. It supplies medicines at a discount of 15 per cent. "With my monthly medicine bill being about Rs 5,000, this 15% discount results into a handsome saving of about Rs 750," she said. Medicinemovers also supplies other health products and surgical goods available at any medical store. Orders placed till 2pm are delivered within six hours, and those received later the next day. It also offers cash-on-delivery facility.

Ramdev's Goodies

Baba Ramdev has earned much name across villages and cities in the country as an expert yoga guru. He has now capitalized on that fame to build a fast-expanding business empire, which is giving a run for money to multinationals like Hindustan Unilever and Nestle India. Even corporate biggies like Ambanis and Biyanis would envy the scorching pace at which the market for Patanjali brand of goods is expanding. Even though there has been some controversy about the quality of Baba Ramdev's products, Patnaites are going for Patanjali brand products in a big way. A colleague was recently surprised to find Patanjali range of products in a number of houses he visited. Toothpaste and cosmetic products are among the items selling like hot cakes.

Shir Chai

Shir chai is flavour of the season, the month of Ramzan. It is available only during this month, and that too at shops in Sabzibagh area of the city. Thousands flock to these shops everyday, some from outside Patna. It takes about eight hours to brew this chai, with ingredients like Kashmiri tea leaf, cashewnut, almonds, walnut, saffron (kesar), sugar and milk, among others. However, it is available for a very affordable Rs 10 a cup. A vendor selling sheer chai said he gets about a thousand customers every day. Besides Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs also flock to these shops to sip sheer chai.

Friendly City

A section of people from other states complain of rowdy behaviour and racist comments in Bihar. However, a chef and his team from Darjeeling find the city hospitable and friendly. Meet Anil Gurung (38), a resident of Darjeeling. He has worked as a chef at eateries in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Recently, he has started his innings at a takeaway restaurant near Boring Road. "I have faced racial slur in Bangalore. I had a hard time tackling the locals in Karnataka. Patna is far more hospitable and friendly. People are civilized and respect outsiders. The (eatery) owners are also very nice and care about us. I stay near AN College. I find the area nice and neighbours friendly," said Anil.

Of Roundabout

The new headquarters of Bihar police is coming up opposite the golf course on Bailey Road. Nothing wrong with that. However, road construction department (RCD) officials have constructed a very large roundabout in front of the upcoming building's entrance. So much so that several vehicles collided with the roundabout, resulting in injuries to many. However, instead of making the roundabout smaller, the RCD officials broadened the road separator near it, increasing the chances of mishaps, causing more injuries and damage to vehicles!.

For Dad-In-Law

While most residents of the city celebrated Father's Day with their dads on Sunday, Rahul Chhabra (25) from Fraser Road area, who is getting married next year, did it a little differently as a loving gesture to his life partner-to-be. "On Father's Day this year, I sent cakes and flowers to my prospective father-in-law, who lives in Meerut. I feel it's my duty to make my extended family feel special and loved on this day," said Rahul.

Publicity Exercise

Traffic congestion is a daily affair in Patna, and commuters have no choice but to wait for hours together in the jam. Many are waiting eagerly for the Metro to come up, which seems like a dream as it was visualized in 2011. But even before the Metro project really gets off the ground, the urban development and housing department is in talks with a private firm which has the Intellectual Property (IP) rights to install 'skyTran' (a pod-like structure which is said to be faster than Metros and mono rails) in South-East Asia. Are the officials serious about improving the traffic situation or just indulging in publicity exercise?Contributed by Vithika Salomi, B K Mishra, Navendu

Sharma, Sanjay Ojha, Dibyandu Shekhar Das, Debashish Karmakar and Sheezan Nezami