Outlook English - Print Subscribers Copy Outlook English, 26 February 2018 | Page 12

In & Around
The Subcontinental Menu
PARENTAL studies
sought their household staff’s
help. A Class-I student’s
Bengali mother was quoted
as saying, “I am taking my
maid’s help as she studied in
a Kannada-medium school
till Class-IX, besides relying
on audio content prepared by
the school.” Schools too are
providing homework sheets
with Kannada transliterated
into the Roman and
Devanagari scripts.
T
here’s a new trend
in Bangalore: learning
Kannada. Non-­Kannadiga
parents have taken the
initiative to learn the language
after the gover­nment made
it compuls­ory in schools.
Having to help their children
do their homework, they have
set up WhatsApp groups,
signed up for online lessons,
hired private tutors and even
RIP, VIP
K
omban, Tamil Nadu’s ‘VIP
bull’, was killed at a Jallikkattu
arena in Pudukkottai district. As
he was being forced out of the
narrow passage that leads to the
arena, his horns got ent­angled in
the iron railings, resulting in his
death. Dying und­efeated, Komban
is the second bull to be killed
this season, while animal rights
activists say more than 15 people
have been gored to death thus
far. The champion bull was given
a vedic funeral at its owner TN
health minister C. Vijayabaskar’s
family estate. “Komban’s death
substantiates our finding that bulls
are forced into the Jallikkattu arena
against their wishes and subjected
to cruelty on resisting,” said Nikunj
Sha­rma of PETA.
Speaker Spectacle(s)
Bohemian Adieu
R
espectability has
murdered yet another era.
According to reports, Kath­
mandu’s Thamel district, a
hotspot for latter-day hipp­ies
since the 1980s, is being
colonised by (under-construct­
ion) posh hotels, while new
regulations restrict cycle rick­
shaws to the outskirts—pre­
venting them from plying their
accustomed trade in adultera­
ted hashish. The music shops,
where pirated Bob Marley
albums jostled for space with
collections of Tibetan chants,
are a thing of the past, and
the Rs 65 Nepalese breakfast,
which featured toast garnis­hed
with fluorescent pink jam along
with fried potatoes, a banana
and instant coffee, has all but
vanished from the streets. The
Pilgrims Book House, which
burned down in 2013, has been
replaced by a concrete mall
where you can buy Apple prod­
ucts to your heart’s content.
On the other hand, Pilgrims
has found a new location, and
banning motor vehicles from
the narrow and bustling streets
of Thamel’s centre will work
wonders in helping to ensure a
safe and pleasant experience
for shoppers and tourists.
H
e presides over the assembled
legislators with a watchful eye,
enhanced by Rs 50k glasses. Now,
Kerala Assembly Speaker P.
Sreeramakrishnan finds himself in
the public eye after details of
expenses reimbursed by the state
exchequer came to light following
an RTI application. In
addition to Rs 4.25
lakh claimed for
medical
expenses for
himself and his
family, including
his dependent
mother,
between
October 2016
and January
2018, the speaker
was reimbursed for
the Rs 49,500 he
spent on his new
glasses (Rs 45,000
for the lens and Rs
4,900 for the frame). He defended
the expenditure saying, “The
doctor said my eye problem could
be solved only by using a costly
lens. However, I have opted for a
less expensive frame, which was
my choice.” This is all a little
awkward as it comes in the wake
of austerity measures announced
in the state’s budget.
Illustrations by Sajith Kumar
12 Outlook 26 February 2018