Passion and people

Sport is all about passion and people. Take out the passion, which supporters bring with them to sporting venues, and sport will be rendered as hollow as bottle of empty wine. Pink ball cricket, a novelty in modern day cricket, choked the labyrinthine lanes of old Gurdaspur as scores of youth stood outside TV showrooms discussing finer points of the game during the recent India-England Test played at Ahmedabad. Many of them did not know the difference between a ‘Chinaman’ and a ‘Googly’. Nevertheless, they had passion and a lot of it rolled up their sleeves. And that is what matters. Forgotten for a moment was the fact that the city has a decades old sewerage that perennially remains blocked. Also forgotten was the fact that Gurdaspur-Mukerian road has been blocked for the last one month due to the ineptness of sewerage officials. And also was forgotten that no new projects have come up in the town in the last several years with officials tottering out their favourite phrase ‘lack of funds’. It was a sheer joy to see these youngsters enjoying every moment of the game notwithstanding the plethora of problems they are surrounded with. This was a moment when many a youth realised that sport-the toy department of life-is a diversion rather than a distraction from the daily drudgery of life. Winning accolades in the form of medals or scoring runs, as was the case here, is merely the icing on the cake. We should not limit ourselves to the end results, to the plain basics because the fact is that the real excitement in any sport lies in appreciating the techniques, tactics and strategies involved in an intense combat. Reason enough why Test cricket, pink ball or otherwise, is a perfect stage where the game unfolds in its purest form. It remains the most watchable form of the game for the genuine connoisseurs. So, sit in front of the telly and just enjoy. Did Van Gogh worry about winning when he painted the Sunflowers? Or did Mozart think about winning at a music festival when he composed all those great works?

When it comes to safety of citizens

Gurdaspur Additional Deputy Commissioner Tejinder Pal Singh Sandhu was given a tribute on Friday, the day he retired after putting in 33 years of service. The entire district administration, including Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Ishfaq, accompanied him to his residence after he superannuated. At night, he was given a farewell party by residents and officials at a hotel. Sandhu had joined the state government in 1988 as a Block Development and Panchayat Officer before being inducted into the Punjab Civil Services (PCS) in 2005. He refused to speak about politicians, but nevertheless had a word of praise for all his colleagues with whom he worked. “PCS is one big family. And in this family, nobody fights alone. We are all together come rain, sunshine or sleet. Safety and honour of countrymen comes first; honour, welfare and comfort of men under your command comes second; and the officer’s own ease, comfort and safety comes last,” said Sandhu.

‘Science behind selfie during vaccination’

Yet another bureaucrat to have been bitten by the Covid-19 bug is soft spoken, affable Pathankot Deputy Commissioner Sanyam Aggarwal. He is using this time to catch up on some reading which, in any case, was his favourite pastime before he was inducted into the civil services. These days he is reading an all time classic- Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead”. He is enchanted by the novel’s protagonist Howard Roark, an individualist young architect who designs modernistic buildings and refuses to compromise with a government unwilling to accept innovation. Aggarwal also recounts how Roark would blast those very buildings created by him if somebody plagiarised the original designs. As for the virus, the DC said, “Without doubt, maintaining a distance from people is the only way to maintaining your equanimity and of course, to avoid catching Covid.” Meanwhile, while still on Covid, a wag commented, “In India, scientists have confirmed that if you do not take a selfie while getting injected, the vaccine will not work.” Reason enough why phone calls go out to the media whenever an officer has to get the jab.

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