Utpal Bhaskar - Livemint.com
ABOUT RECENT POSTS
Member since 09-16-2008
Last visited 05-18-2009
Timezone 5.00 GMT
Total Posts 19
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  • Wednesday, April 29, 2009
    Posted at 8:16:00 PM
    I reach Patna at 2 am. On my way to the hotel, I find a lot of people on the streets (during the previous regime the streets used to be empty by 8 am as kidnapping was rampant). After checking in, I ring room service for some food as I am famished. To my horror, I am told that the room service serves only till 11 pm and the only food that I can be served is toast and omelet. The waiters in Patna have an annoying habit. They believe that tips are a matter of right, even though the service is atrocious. I believe this has been due to the victory of.
  • Monday, April 27, 2009
    Posted at 6:15:00 PM
    After leaving Bhagalpur at 6 am, I am on my way to the naxal affected Munger district, former capital of Mir Qasim, the nawab of Bengal to meet arms manufacturers of two kinds---licensed and illegal operators. The great ROAD story continues and the National Highway-80 that I am traveling on offers an exceptionally smooth ride going by my previous experiences, apart from some stretches (where work is still going on). The day holds a lot of promise going by the ‘appointments’ I have lined up. Illegal arms have played an important role in Bihar’s politics.
  • Friday, April 24, 2009
    Posted at 2:09:00 AM
    23 April I GO TO JAIL Morning’s come early to Bhagalpur. By 5 am, households are fully awake. I am going to meet the candidates fielded by various parties. Bhagalpur has a significant number of marriage halls, which are encashing on the room demands created by the party cadre accompanying the candidate. BJP and RJD campaigners along with their candidates are housed in separate marriage halls, minutes away from each other. A marriage hall owner refuses to reveal his earnings. With elections due on 30 April, he does not want to become an unwilling.
  • Thursday, April 23, 2009
    Posted at 12:12:00 AM
    I reach Bhagalpur in the evening (22 April) after an incredibly long journey aboard the ‘super fast’ Vikramshila Express. The city is bursting at the seams with the Ganga bridge connecting the town with far-flung areas such as Naugachia. The World Bank sponsored bridge project (commissioned in 2001), has not only reduced the distance between Bihar and the NE states, it has also spared the travelers from the water transport mafia, who used to extort a premium to help them cross the raging river on boats during the monsoon . I go to meet the district.
  • Thursday, April 23, 2009
    Posted at 12:28:00 AM
    I wake up to a cacophony of cell phone rings. A Bihar Military Police (BMP) jawan rudely nudges me to give him space to sit. Planning to go back to sleep, I feebly tell him that it is only 7 am. He tells me in no uncertain terms that as it is already daylight; I do not have any right to sleep on the reserved berth for which my office paid Rs1, 363. Other contestants for space on the same berth include an Indian Railways clerk, who claims she can travel without reservation and a college student who given his age should have been a professor. The.
  • Tuesday, April 21, 2009
    Posted at 6:52:00 PM
    The passengers aboard the Super fast (or not!) Vikramshila express to Bhagalpur, Bihar have a lot in common. Apart from a shared ambition to be the first to put their luggage in the storage space beneath their berths, they all have an active interest in the political situation in Bihar. I am on my way to cover elections in the land of education (Bihar is the home of Nalanda and Vikramshila University). And as I board B1, my AC three-tier compartment, I find an interesting debate raging between the occupants of seats 17 to 24. My co-passengers on.
  • Wednesday, April 15, 2009
    Posted at 8:41:00 PM
    The Rs one crore coughed out by the Congress to buy the rights of Oscar winning song Jai ho has not been able to meet the hype created at the onset. Not only, the jingle being heard less, it has met a stiff competition in BJP’s spoof Bhai ho...phir bhi Jai ho. To make matters worse, the radio jockeys at the government owned All India Radio have stopped airing the song under strict directive from the babus, fearing EC’s objection of the government machinery being used for campaigning. So every time, a dialer calls in with a request to play the song.
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