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Monday, January 16, 2006

cows, bikinis, polio drops

In a small town near Jodhpur, saw a cow chewing at Celina Jaitley's bikini.

The cow was calmly munching away strips of paper off a wall, which was adorned with large posters of Jawani Diwani, which has Ms Jaitley in a bikini (again!). First, the top went, then the little scarf round her hips (the one Mr Hashmi was tugging the edge of), then her pretty face.


I desperately wished I had a camera.
I realised I did have one. But I was out of film. So I said 'damn!' and blogged it, instead.

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At Old Delhi railway station, on the bridge, saw a tiny table, manned by a man and a woman.

The woman called out to a family hurrying past: "Oye suno! Polio ki davaai toh pilaa do bachhon ko..." (Hey listen! Why don't you give your kids some polio medicine...)

The father stopped, looked at his small son, who must have been about three. Then he asked: "Kyon, beta? Peeni hai davaai?" (Do you want to drink some medicine, son?)

The small boy looked, bewildered, from medicine-woman to father. He clearly wasn't sure whether this polio dose was tasty or not.

Then, the father said: "Ja, davaai pee le." (Go on, drink some medicine.)

And I'm thinking - Seriously? Is this how it's done? Surely, it can't be a matter of 'go, drink some medicine then'?

14 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:20 PM

    :) :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. "oye suno! thodi daru marni hai kya? to pehele bacche ko polio ki dawa pilao"

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous1:40 AM

    gawker - LOL, I am still alughing at your comment.

    This sort of soliciting reminds me of my walks down the streets of Kamathipura :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous1:40 PM

    worse than 'go drink some medicine' is 'do you want the medicine?' but I guess if all of amitabh bacchan's finger wagging on tv doesn't work and this kind of direct selling does, then good for everyone... :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. pawan: :)
    gawker: :p
    indianpad: walks (in the plural) down kamathipura? blog it!
    vij: you should have seen it!
    charu: yeah, as long as it somehow works... though i was wondering what would happen if the kid's already had as many doses as needed?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hiya, love ur blog :-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous6:33 PM

    Polio: That's the reason one should talk to the mothers. And there should be a test for fatherhood/parenthood!

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  8. this takes the cake :)

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  9. I should have indeed... And even now, i just thought of those Polio Drops campaigns featuring Amitabh Bachchan and Sachin Tendulkar...

    Big B: (In trademark baritone) - Polio ki davai to pila do bachche ko...

    Sachin T: (In trademark squeak) - Go drink some medicine...

    ROTFL!!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Sigh!

    YOu know this adds to my confirmation of long held suspicions. When seen from the outside, we view so many things to have some kind of inner technique or secret tricks of the trade to be done. Before jumping into the water, I always thought swimming involved some special "taught" techniques. As would sales jobs. As would driving. Almost everything around.

    And most of the stuff actually is on auto-pilot, of happening a "despite" it not a because of it.

    Sigh!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous4:20 PM

    Hey Annie,

    While I understand what you are saying :)

    ...the polio campaign is one of the most successful,best planned initiatives of social outreach today. Volunteers actually station themselves on bus stations; highways; mid-way stops; neighbourhood markets in cities to ensure that children are administered doses. Of course there are gaps but they are doing a good job.

    Rajesh l

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  12. Hi Annie that's why you ought to have a Camera Cell Phone. A journalist must have at least Nokia 6600 these days I guess to do video recording or take photo....I bought one but unfortunately ever since I am yet to find any thing worth filming.

    ReplyDelete
  13. patrakar2b, cuteindiangirl, nessa: thanks
    vej: :)
    rakesh l: i know, not running down the effort. i just think its hilarious.
    editindia: such are the ways of technology.
    smriti: unfortunately, no. am not taking so mnay pictures. :( that camera got lost recently. that is, disappeared in a taxi after i returned from one of my travels. waaah!! i so miss it

    ReplyDelete