Can railway minister Lalu Prasad defy the law of diminishing marginal appreciation? Indian Railways has been the ?turnaround story? of our times for so long that travellers? expectations have overshot ground realities. So, while the good men at Rail Bhawan project bigger profits for this year, and Lalu wants these extended as far as his eyes can see (no two parallel lines ever meet, say intrepid mathematicians, but railway tracks are obviously made of sterner stuff), Eavesdropper hears that ?turnaround jokes? are becoming more and more common aboard Indian trains. If a tea cup is leaky, for example, ?turn it around? suggestions come thick and fast. If a train is late, the reason is quickly attributed to the one thing people know the railways have been put through under the able minister?s charge. ?Yeh train mahashey ?turn around? ho rahe thhe,? quipped a flustered passenger just the other day, much to his co-passengers? amusement.
Enlightenment
Press conferences are generally called to announce something big. But the rule obviously doesn?t hold for government conferences. So it was that a senior government official, at the beginning of one such gathering, decided to declare upfront that there was no new announcement to be made, and?hence, no news. Instead, he would enlighten the media on a particular subject. The mediapersons present duly put their pens down and recorders off. And sure enough, there was absolutely no coverage of the event in the next day?s newspapers. Nor, disappointingly, were there sightings of radiance around anyone?s head.
