Saturday, July 25, 1998
We Want Hawkers, Not Encroachers
The word hawker is a misnomer, at least in Mumbai. They are plain encroachers who occupy pavements and roads just about anywhere they please. Some people have accused the BMC of being over-aggressive. They forget that it was a Supreme Court order that asked the BMC to keep areas surrounding railway stations free of hawkers.
Tuition for that "extra edge"
Our `guru-shishya parampara' has long since become a formality that most children consider a tedium to be dispensed with after a decade of captivity. Still, the fading halo which wavered precariously above this once-hallowed precinct bravely held itself aloft despite the erosion of values. Now, even this last vestige of respectability is being ruthlessly peeled away by the forces of avarice.
Eighty years old and still holding on to puppet strings
There are more puppet strings attached to his fingers than the cobweb of wrinkles crisscrossing the face of this Rajput from Rajasthan. Octogenarian Ranaji Rawatji Bhat has made Gujarat his home and the art of puppeteering his mission for life. Ranaji, who hails from Naguar district of Rajasthan, continues to live in the same hut in Chamanpura he shifted to 30 years ago.
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