A promise of fun
The Hindu
Aaji was promised a trip to the amusement park. But lockdown is declared. What’s next?
My Aaji never forgets anything. She remembers things that everyone else has forgotten! Want to know how many times I threw up on a bus ride to Shimla when I was three? Ask Aaji.
She never forgets promises either. I once promised her 10 ice-creams if I passed a surprise Maths test. Of course, I passed. Aaji should have been happy and bought me ice-creams, right? Instead, she made me buy her the ice-creams and then ate them all herself. So, I’ve learnt to be careful what I promise. But my father hasn’t. He heard Aaji say she’d like to see an amusement park and promised we’d go on my 10th birthday.
Soon after I turned nine, Aaji began to talk of amusement parks. At first, Baba was puzzled. When he understood why his mother was talking about roller coasters, he came to me and said, “Your Aaji wants to go to an amusement park!”
“Promises,” I told him, “are meant to be kept.” He’s always telling me this, but he didn’t like hearing it.
“I know!” he snapped. “But how? There’s a pandemic…a lockdown!...”
Telling Aaji she couldn’t go would mean a lot of sad sighing, unhappy sniffing and stories about how people who broke promises were punished. But, how could we take Aaji to an amusement park?
“If Aaji can’t go to the amusement park, the amusement park will come to her,” I said.
“We are judges and therefore, cannot act like Mughals of a bygone era ... the writ courts in the guise of doing justice cannot transcend the barriers of law,” the High Court of Karnataka observed while setting aside an order of a single judge, who in 2016 had extended the lease of a public premises allotted to a physically challenged person to 20 years contrary to 12-year period stipulated in the law.
The High Court of Karnataka on Monday declined to interfere, at present, in the investigation against a Bharatiya Janata Party worker, who is among the accused persons facing charges of circulating obscene clips, related to “morphed” images and videos clips related to Prajwal Revanna, former Hassan MP, in public domain through pen drives and other modes.
The 16th edition of Bhoomi Habba was held on June 8, at the Visthar campus. The festival drew a vibrant crowd who came together to celebrate eco-consciousness through a variety of engaging activities, creative workshops, panel discussions, interactive exhibits and performances, all centered around this year’s theme: “Save Water, Save Lives.”