That ‘alcohol consumption is injurious to health’ is a statutory warning on bottles seldom taken seriously by sellers or buyers of liquor.
But a few former bar owners who had dished out stiff drinks for years seem to be on the path of atonement now.
Determined to set right the wrong they did to the society, a few of them recently came together and convened a press meet in the city where they put forth 17 suggestions to curb the use of alcohol.
Some of their recommendations include stopping the issue of bar licences; cutting down production while doubling the price of alcohol; stopping the sale of liquor through military canteens; increasing the distance between alcohol outlets to 400 metres; restricting the operation of bars between 12 noon and 8 p.m.
It would do the government good to sit up and take notice, especially as the recommendations come at a time when the government is grappling with the vexed issue of bars. For, the suggestions come from ‘insiders’, who have first-hand knowledge of the business.
An unusual casualty
The ongoing doctors’ strike in the State had an unusual casualty.
The curative and the hugely popular ‘arts and medicine’ programme held on the Ernakulam General Hospital premises for the past 27 Wednesdays suddenly slipped into a coma last Wednesday, thanks to the indefinite ‘non-cooperation strike’ of government doctors.
Ever since its inception in February this year, the ‘arts and medicine’ series conceptualised by Dr. Iva Fattorini of Cleveland Clinic’s Global Arts and Medicine Institute and conducted by Kochi Biennale Foundation with support from Mehboob Memorial Orchestra and Ernakulam district administration has been a stupendous success.
Over the last four months, several preeminent artists, musicians, doctors and celebrities expressed their solidarity with the concept of ‘healing through art’ by forming part of the series and performing for the patients and bystanders at the General Hospital. Notably, the entire medical fraternity stood firmly behind the programme, lending it credence and strength.
But it is unlikely that the much-acclaimed programme will die an unnatural death.
The programme, we understand, would soon be back in a completely different avatar. As we reported earlier, it would now be expanded to palliative care centres and health centres for the differently-abled.
Clash of titles
Mollywood now knows what has been ailing it over the recent years — the dearth of film titles in Malayalam.
At least, that’s the impression one gets going by the recommendation of an expert committee headed by renowned filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan of giving government subsidy only to movies with titles in the mother tongue.
But there remains the million dollar question of who would teach the Kerala Chalachitra Academy and its film jury the proper use of Malayalam language.
For, the language used in the award citations will put off any lover of the language. From grammatical errors to wrong usage, the series of mistakes found in the citations would have left the award winners over the years aghast.
Award citations had even misspelt the names of the actors and directors. The award citation for a film that won the popular movie category in 2006 is perhaps a case in point.
The citation reads that the movie holds the ‘contempt’ of the audience till the climax, while the word the jury had actually meant to use was ‘attention’.
The numbers game
It looks like the Regional Transport Office in Kakkanad will have to wait for a while longer before witnessing a high-profile contest for fancy registration numbers.
The Regional Transport Office came within the whisker of yet another spark-flying bidding game in the KL-07 CB series with the name of actor Mammootty emerging as one among the bidders for the number ‘369’. But the actor sprang a surprise by withdrawing from the race, leaving the officials a disappointed lot.
What gave the officials hope was that the actor had previously won the numbers, KL 7M 369, KL7 AS 369 and KL 7X 369, all by bidding for huge sums from the same office.
Worse still, the actor’s keeping away from the auction also pulled down the overall price bar of the number with a Kochiite romping home by shelling out just Rs.10,000.
“This unprecedented move from the actor has not just dashed our hopes to rake in some moolah through fancy number sales, but it also affected the overall competitive spirit,” it was overheard at the RTO.
A week before, the office had gone through a similar episode when actors Mohanlal and Dileep drove home with their fancy numbers without any bidding.
