© 2002 VNN
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WORLD  Hare Ram, Hare Krishna FROM THE TIMES OF INDIA INDIA, Jun 16 (VNN) — SATURDAY, JUNE 15, 2002 - JUGULAR VEIN/JUG SURAIYA Bangalore's cool. It's not just that the temperature is 10 C below Delhi's. The political mercury is also appreciably lower; the hot winds of imminent war seem to stop north of the Vindhyas. Geographical location only partly explains Bangalore's coolth. In no small measure, the Garden City's licence to chill is based on its indigenous mantra of Hare RAM, hare Krishna. RAM as in Random Access Memory, and Krishna as in S M Krishna, arguably the most IT-savvy chief minister in the country. So it's not surprising that when Bunny and I were in Bangalore last week, we didn't get to meet our first mobile nuclear shelter. But we did get to meet our first CM. But I precede myself. We got to Bangalore at about the same time as a bunch of escapee Congress MLAs from Maharashtra. I scrutinised the lobby of the Oberoi for signs of leftover legislators. But the place was free of refugee politicos. As it was of vagrant jehadis who'd taken a wrong turn at Poonch. An affable young man escorted us to our room and took our photograph. I hastened to assure him that I wasn't an MLA on the lam. Of course not, sir, he replied. It's just that we like to photograph our guests on their first visit so that our staff can recognise them and provide better service, he explained. Full story URL Contact VNN about this story  Send this story to a friend
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