Munnabhais out for rule remedy

Sanjay Dutt is out. So are the Munnabhais of Chennai.

MBBS students are cleaning cars and bikes at the busiest traffic signals to protest against the Centre’s proposal to make a year of rural service compulsory for medical degrees.

“This is our Gandhigiri, doctor-style,” a final-year student said. His batchmate echoed him. “This is one of the worst things that we doctors thought we would have to do. Our aim is to shock the public through our protest.”

Although it may have more than a hint of elitism, the protest is getting the attention the students want to draw.

“I never knew about this issue. Now that I do, I will tell my friends about it and ask them to spread the word,” said one Chennai resident who watched the protest.

Gandhigiri may work when it comes to awareness. But the protesters still have to convince the Sambasiva Rao Committee, which has been set up to look into the demand for withdrawal of the mandatory rural service norm.

Recipe book to soup it up

As winter sets in, this book may just be your ideal companion.

Delhi recently witnessed the launch of Soups and More, a book with over 150 recipes for the most delicious soups from across the world. The book is a joint product of Knorr soups and Good Housekeeping magazine.

Mala Bindra, Rohini Chopra and Kamla Lal, food experts for the magazine, teamed up with chefs from Knorr to devise the recipes that find mention in the book.

“Our research has shown that customers are not looking just for ease and convenience while making soups at home. They also wanted to add that little extra that could make their home-made soup a little more exciting and delicious for the family,” said Mahesh Kanchan, marketing manager (culinary products division) of Hindustan Unilever, which owns the Knorr brand.

Sacrifice gets activists’ goat

An alleged goat sacrifice in a yagna for the “welfare and betterment of the world” has got the goat of animal rights groups.

The row snared Kanchi seer Jayendra Saraswathi, who attended the yagna in the temple-town of Kumbakonam. The flap has come as a new headache for Saraswathi, charged in the Shankar Raman murder case.

The activists, led by volunteers of Blue Cross and the atheistic Dravidar Kazhagam, have questioned just how the pontiff could associate himself with rituals that allegedly involved the killing of animals.

Sensing that tension was building up in the area, a Kanchi spokesperson tried to clear the air by denying the charge that goats had been sacrificed. A goat was merely brought, dressed up for the yagna and a symbolic offering made amid the chanting of mantras, he insisted.

The goat was gifted away, and while the person who received it was “free to make a meal of it”, there was no sacrifice during the yagna itself, the spokesperson said. Saraswathi left the town immediately but the row has followed him.

No-seal zone

A redevelopment scheme for special zones, which will be kept out of the sealing drive, will be prepared by February.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi made the announcement this week. “The Delhi master plan for 2021 has recognised that some areas need special treatment. They can’t be developed on the basis of normal rules,” Vijender Gupta, the chairman of the municipal body’s standing committee, said. Karol Bagh and the areas adjoining it have been declared special areas.

Delhi: Goa, best known for its beaches and seafood, has also produced some great art. Surprised? Don’t miss “Mapping the Roots”, a collection of works by artists from the beach-studded state. The venue: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, near India Gate. Time: 11am to 7pm.