Among those invited to a Vedic Sammelan organised jointly by the Kailash Math and the Maharshi Sandipani Vedvidya Pratisthan were the Shankaracharya of the Karveer Peeth, Swami Vidyashankar Bharati. And Asha Bhonsle.

In fact, it was the singer, not the Shankaracharya, who inaugurated the Sammelan, leading many in the audience to suppose that she was a Vedic scholar.

Asha however stuck to the theme she knows best -- music -- but tried to put it in perspective. In her inaugural address, she spoke about the greatness of Hinduism and the need to guard against Western influences.

In the same breath, she praised pop singer Madonna who has supposedly embarked on a spiritual quest, turning to Vedic mantras for solace, even incorporating them in her songs.

Madonna was studying Sanskrit in Varanasi, a point that must be appreciated, Asha told the assembled scholars. She also urged them to excuse the Material Girl's pronunciation (following the song's release, somescholars had flayed the singer, saying correct pronunciation was necessary for the shlokas to have the desired effect). Her point was that even internationally known celebrities were attracted to Hinduism.

On this occasion, however, the scholars, took in the remarks without a murmur.

Asha probably set a precedent, talking about Western pop at a Hindu religious congregation. Incidentally, so did the Kailash Math.

In 1996, the Math honoured Asha with its `Saraswati' award, two years before presenting her sister, Lata, with the same award (Lata got it last Monday).

Besides Lata Mangeshkar, the Math on Monday also honoured doyen of the cooperatives sector Bhausaheb Thorat and Vedic scholar Dr Yugal Kishor Mishra. The awards carried a cash prize of Rs 25,000 and a memento. Lata donated Rs 1.25 lakh (including her cash prize) to the Math for rebuilding its wall recently demolished by the municipal corporation.

Most Wanted

At a function organised recently in aid of the Police Welfare Fund,District Superintendent of Police Bhagwantrao More surprised and charmed the audience by singing ``romantic songs from old Hindi films''.

His gesture -- he sang Ye Raatein Ye Mausam Nadi Ka Kinara and Tumhe Yaad Hoga -- earned him hearty applause from the audience, consisting mainly of local citizens and cops.

The police touch wasn't missing, though.

As More pointed out, the songs he had chosen were from films whose titles had something to do with the police and/or criminals (Dilli Ka Thug and Satta Bazar, get it?)

Passing The Buck

Even as the DSP won applause for his musical prowess, his subordinates soured the mood the very next day.

A dacoity was reported at Darna Sangvi village and scribes who contacted the police to get details of the incident were shunted from the city police control room to the rural control room and back. Nobody seemed to know which police station had jurisdiction over the village.

Those who contacted the Nashik Road police station werereferred to the Deolali Camp police, who in turn passed the buck to Ozar police station under rural police control. A couple of hours later, the Ozar police admitted that it was in charge.

Change Takes Time

The first concrete step taken by the Shiv Sena to change the name of Bombay to Mumbai was in 1985 when Chhagan Bhujbal, now in the Congress, was mayor of the metropolis. He had unveiled marble plaques bearing the legend `Mumbai' at the Gateway of India. But 14 years later, it still takes some getting used to.

As Asha Bhonsle demonstrated recently: At the Vedic Sammelan, she blurted out the `B' word when she said she had to `rush back to Bombay'' to attend the Screen-Videocon awards function the same day.

But she corrected her mistake almost immediately -- in typical Asha style. She was, ``in Balasaheb's words,'' returning to `Mumbai' and not `Bombay', the singer said.