Gurdaspur Diary: King-sized chowks causing traffic jam in town
Gurdaspur is famous for being the only city in Punjab which has neither traffic lights nor footpaths. If somebody finds this incredible, one can take a tour of the town. To add to its woes, some politicians, rather MLAs, masquerading as messiahs of the people, thought it prudent to build oversized intersections, also called ‘chowks’ in Punjabi. They mistakenly thought that followers of the deity, or leader in whose name the entity has been established, would hand over their votes. Bhagwan Shri Parshuram chowk is one such glaring example. It is akin to a square peg in a round hole. Needless to say, it is a misfit from all sides. The commuters are certainly not happy with it. It is so big that buses and trucks find it difficult to traverse. The then Deputy Commissioner said he had vehemently opposed its construction and asked the MLA to get its size reduced. However, his repeated requests fell on deaf ears. Likewise, another under-construction intersection called the Bhai Lalo chowk, on the Tibri road-New Bus Stand road, poses its own set of problems. It is definitely oversized. The other day, an ADGP and SSP got stuck in traffic for 30 minutes. A week ago, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Uma Shankar Gupta was trapped in the traffic. He knew the problem, that traffic failed to move because it had little space to move. The DC called up the officials concerned and gave them a dressing down. They were told in no uncertain terms that the intersection could not be built. He was ready to address the problems of the followers of Bhai Lalo, a renowned figure in Sikh history, by naming some park or other public entity in his memory. But definitely the chowk would not be built. The construction was stopped midway, much to the delight of thousands of residents. The followers of Bhai Lalo, too, saw logic and rationality in the bureaucrat’s move. As Thomas Jefferson said, “Wisdom is knowing what to do next. Skill is knowing how to do it. Virtue is doing it.”
Sunny Deol leaves behind ‘fond’ memories for residents
Ex-MP and action-hero Sunny Deol may not have devoted much time to his erstwhile parliamentary constituency of Gurdaspur. His constituents, despite being cold-shouldered by the actor for five years, are finding it hard to forget him. They remember him on different occasions, in different ways. Recently, a teacher confided that during a school function, a student was asked to give an example of the Hindi proverb, “Naach Na Jaane, Aangan Tedha.” Pat came the reply, “When Sunny Deol is asked to do a dance sequence, he starts blaming the dance director.” Needless, to say, the reply had the audience in splits. Perhaps, that is the only way by which his constituents recall the actor.
