Even as Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel was holidaying in the US at the invitation of NRIs, Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani decided to step in for the party, personally delivering the urn of late Naik Mukesh Rathod's ashes to his parents in the nondescript locality of Meghaninagar in Ahmedabad on Friday. But the crowd of 5,000 that came was actually rivetted by what a battle-weary soldier, Sepoy Ranjit Singh of 12 Mahar, had to say.

He had come down from the battlefield to narrate to the dead man's family how their son was lost. So much so that he was invited to the makeshift stage to take the mike. An uncomfortable Singh begged forgiveness from Rathod's family with folded hands for bringing back only the ashes of his dead friend. He promised Rathod's widow that the country would return her debt. The applause couldn't have been louder, as women in tattered sarees and children with running noses spontaneously joined in singing Pukarti Maa Bharati. Advani's speech, incomparison, paled completely.

The Kargil Effect

Kargil's ripple effect continues, especially in the Capital's chattering set. Despite several conscientious objectors, 300 officials of the 1969 batch, including those from the Ministry of Defence, decided to dine and dance the night away at the Taj Mansingh to celebrate 30 years of survival.

Though several wanted the money collected -- Rs 1,200 per couple -- donated to the Kargil fund, others objected, saying since the Government had not put a stop to official entertainment, why should they. In fact, they were supposed to more than merely amuse themselves. The invite exhorted officials to ``let their hair down''. That is, ``those who still have hair''.

Mahajan's High Hopes

Atal Behari Vajpayee's ace troubleshooter, Pramod Mahajan, never loses an opportunity to shoot off his mouth. This is precisely what he did during his first visit to Jammu as a minister. Thanking his predecessors for not conceding the long-pending demand for aDogri news bulletin on Doordarshan, he said that it had given him and his party a chance to go down in history.

Referring to the long list of demands he had received from various quarters, he said it only showed that the people did not treat the Central Government as kaamchalau (caretaker). ``Since many of these demands will take years to fulfill, it is the people's way of saying the BJP-led government will return to power after polls and I will be Information and Broadcasting Minister again,'' he said. Well, it's still early days.

Narayan Munde, we presume?

What's in a name, they say. Try Chief Minister Narayan Munde. That's what the Maharashtra CM was inadvertently addressed as by the chairman of the Bank of Maharastra at a function on June 24. Rane used the faux pas to full advantage, saying heartily that he did not mind the gaffe at all, since it symbolised the ``unity'' with which the BJP-SS alliance had been striding ahead for the last four years. Of course, everyone present noted that theChief Minister paused at great length in an obvious effort at recalling the Chairman M. M. Vaish's name, and referred to the bank as the Bank of India, not Maharashtra.

Arundhati's Angst

The Goddess of Big Causes, Arundhati Roy, spoke about her latest grand obsession -- Narmada -- at Pune's Garware College on Friday, where she had been invited by the city-based environmental group, Parisar, to talk about her involvement with the Narmada Bachao Andolan. A small sample of Roy-speak:

On whether construction work in the Narmada Valley should be abandoned mid-way

The dams on the Narmada should be preserved as historic monuments and in the next millennium, people should buy tickets and see them as examples of how foolish we once were.

What prompted her to donate her Booker Prize money from The God of Small Things to the Narmada Bachao Andolan:

I am deeply happy that my book is being so widely read, but after receiving so much money for it, I felt that every feeling I had putin the book had been converted into hard currency.

On why she doesn't respect novels with a simple message

The God of Small Things is about architecture, and everyone who wants to be a writer should study architecture. My book was the simplest way of expressing a complex world.

On why she does not want to be referred to as an intellectual:

I am all for belonging, for being in a society where we don't stop feeling. As a writer my brief is to write about what is wrong with society.

And if you don't want to participate in the Rally for the Valley:

Then, for God's sake, please don't have children, for they will grow up in a world where there is no water to drink.