What’s in a surnameIJ
William Shakespeare famously said, “What’s in a nameIJ” This may be true when viewed deeply. However, there is indeed something as far as pronouncement of name or surname is concerned. And this is something which some State Secretariat employees are realising now with their utter embarrassment. Their names and surnames being wrongly pronounced are making them blush. Yet, they are helpless despite being visibly hurt by such ‘impertinence’. They cannot wreak vengeance on those who are doing so as they understand they are doing so for pure fun with no humiliation involved. There are instances galore. One or two would suffice to show how things are pinching them. A senior IAS officer is peculiarly inclined to pronounce Ka as Kha. And this is what is making a Congress MlA Umesh Sharma Kau to gasp in agony. The IAS officer always addresses him as Khauji. An IPS officer Nilesh Anand Bharne has been facing the same predicament. He is being addressed as Bharleji..
Diplomacy saved humiliation
An MlA, who is currently the chairman of a committee, was spared physical humiliation from Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) employees during Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s visit. This was because of a former legislator’s adroit intervention. NIM, which exemplifies mission impossible made possible maxim, had unintentionally damaged a structure which had been erected in the aftermath of disaster june-2013. This made the MlA seething with anger. He was found bullying NIM before the portal of Kedarnath was reopened. Angered by it, an officer, who is second in command to Col Ajay Kothiyal, warned the MlA against going too far. However, it failed to make the raging MlA hold fire. He kept on baring venom on NIM. At this critical point of time, Col Kothiyal, who has earned praises from the people, especially the locals, for his and his team’s exemplary zeal in bringing things back on the right tracks, stepped in. Sensing things might spiral out of control to the woe of the vituperative MlA, a former MlA, a seasoned politician, chipped in. He started scolding the abusive MlA hard. This disarmed the exasperated NIM personnel from returning fire with fire. It was the adroit ex-MlA’s diplomacy that saved the audacious MlA from being beaten up, said a senior NIM employee. The ex- MlA said there was no point in abusing NIM for an unintended damage to a reconstructed structure. They worked so hard, so patiently for so long to take Kedarnath back to its past glory, braving the fury of quirky nature, he said, seemingly to put out the raging flame. This is no palliative, but reality as all, including the Governor and the Chief Minister, know and appreciate.