Camera-shy Kalmadi aide At the ICICI Bank branch on Karve Road,reporters and cameramen waited for hours for Meera Kalmadi,wife of city MP Suresh Kalmadi,to emerge. They had learnt she was inside with CBI officials who had come to raid Kalmadis accounts in Pune. Through the window,they often caught Meera Kalmadi and Congress leader Sangeeta Tiwari,along with five-six CBI officials. Anyone,even a chaiwalla coming out,would virtually be mobbed by shutterbugs and reporters,for inputs on the action inside. When a Mercedes-Benz arrived and stopped right in front of the bank gate,reporters and cameramen,probably thinking it was either a Kalmadi aide,or an official who had come to add to the action inside the bank,turned around and surrounded the car making the Sikh man who stepped out scramble back with a puzzled expression. The car sped away. Minutes later,he returned on foot,having parked his car at a distance,and was curious to know what was happening. He had nothing to do with Kalmadi. He had come to meet his daughter staying in the area and was looking for a space to park his car when he was caught in his share of media glare. Condom call Hoax callers often disrupt helplines. Recently,an HIV-helpline got a call,which counsellers initially thought was a hoax. An IT professional had called to say he would jump from the tenth floor of a building because a condom had burst. Initially,we thought it was a crank call. He thought he was infected with HIV. He was nervous as a condom had broken during intercourse with a non-brothel sex-worker. As a desperate measure,he had called us and our counsellors had to speak with him for over an hour as he was hysterical, says Dr M Oswal,coordinator of the Mukta helpline. Finally,we assured to help him and make him undergo a test and he calmed down. Fortunately for him,he did not test positive for the virus,she said. Naxal rumour in PMC Rumours of four civic staff being nabbed for alleged links with Naxals sent the civic administration reeling on Friday. As the word spread,heads of various PMC departments started checking whether the arrested were from their departments. No,they are not from my department, said a civic officer scaring others by adding they could be from theirs. However,by evening,it was clear none of the arrested were PMC staff. Retired? Not yet PCMC health chief Dr Nagkumar Kunachagi created a stir in the civic standing committee meeting on Thursday. The panel had taken the initiative to give him a warm send-off as he was retiring on April 30 after over 30 years of service. However,Dr Nagkumar refused the gesture and asked the members to wait for a couple of days. He argued that an order from the state government would come on April 30 giving him an extension of at least six months. While Municipal Commissioner Asheesh Sharma said he had no clue about any service extension,an official said,You never know for sure when its Dr Nagkumar. Once he had got a stay on his transfer,from the health dept,by a powerful civic chief. (Contributed by Pranav Kulkarni,Anuradha Mascarenhas,Ajay Khape and Manoj More)
