April the 15 th

After a night of long vigil on 14th , staying awake past midnight to see and savour Tiger’s 15th Major , and an early pre 6 am tee off, the second on the trot in as many days, I tucked in early yesterday. Well rested, I woke up late but  was shocked to see the first page of Times of India. 

A massive fire had broken out at Notre Dame, bringing down its iconic spire - a photo capturing the tilt before it went down. Built with recycled materials of earlier structures which stood there, the Notre Dame cathedral, attacked by Huguenots, desecrated by atheist and deistic elements of the French Revolution, and targeted by terrorists, is “part of the fate, the destiny of France “.

Though not as intense as for the French, , Notre Dame holds some sentiments and is familiar for people like me who studied in Jesuit schools . The male priests were from Society of Jesus with S.J as their post-nominal letters while the nuns in the junior section and in the two Mount Carmel Schools in the coalfield city of Dhanbad were drawn from Sisters of Notre Dame or S.N.D.

I had visited Notre Dame in 2005. We hung around for over an hour in the huge open space outside its much photographed western facade - part of the many who thronged the place. From the market abutting the cathedral , I bought a few paintings of some Paris landmarks and a Black Tee- the Eiffel Tower stylistically swirling in the multi hues of Olympic Games - the city was making a bid for the 2012 Olympics .

Sharing space with picture of Notre Dame was the EC gag on some leading politicians,an IMD
prediction of near normal monsoon and a small picture of an injured Shashi Tharoor , promising more on the incident at page 8. I flipped over to the page and found the injury was on account of a freak accident while offering the Thulambharam ritual - the honourable MP and candidate for the LSE, 2019 and writer of Why I am a Hindu, was weighing himself against offerings of sugar, jaggery and banana. He had earlier tweeted a word floccinaucinihilipilification , and I wondered whether this freak accident could be described as one such.

Separated by a column announcing Ravi Kishan’s candidature from Gorakhpur was a picture of Pari, the buffalo captioned Moo-ving Graffitti. I wonder whether EC’s regulation against wall graffitis could cover ‘buffaloboards’ or not. Pari was now viral on Whatsapp, and I instinctively checked my phone . While I did not find any forward, I caught many forwards on “the exasperating farrago of distorted ropes …..resulting in disintegration of calciferous structure and hydraulic damages …..” to describe the freak accident during Thulabharam. 

The Global page had an interesting news “ Could a gay mayor from a small town become POTUS?” , something more on the Notre Dame fire, made a small mention on gender mainstreaming of Taliban talks , a news item the Ecuador president leaking information on Wikileak Assange’s activities in Ecuador’s embassy in London, and even a tiny bit on “Man sues parents for destroying his porn collection “.

Exports hit record in FY 19 on the business page, WPI inflation hit a three month high , the Sensex
rallied on normal monsoon prediction and Foxconn announced set up of mass iPhone production outside Chennai. I moved on quickly to the Sports pages which were lapped up by World Cup selection DK- Pant debate , IPL , more IPL but finally settled into a full page on Tiger’s comeback and his 15 Masters.

I moved back into the City newspages. At 268 meters, with the casting of the roof of the 65th floor, The 42 at 268 meters now stood tallest in India. Road accidents and delinquent driving rivalled Poila Baishakh’s gastronomic excesses also held their ground. Looking for something more interesting to accompany the second cup of tea I moved to Time Trends.

Holding Centrestage in the only half of the page not consumed by advertisements, amidst columns on inhalable chemotherapy, Green protests in London, weight bias in women caused by celebrity fat shaming and 3D printing of heart using human tissues was Helen Coffey’s 4 columns on “No mini toiletries at California hotels?”. A bill is pending for Governor Gavin Newsom decision to ban “lodging establishments ---- from offering small plastic bottles from distributing single-use toiletries”.

I do not know whether the prohibition placed on carrying larger quantities of gel and shampoo post 9/11 attack in hand baggage led to a significant surge in supply of single use toiletry bouquet by the hospitality industry. I know for sure the prohibitions were loaded heavily against mustachioed travellers because I have surrendered quite a few moochh clippers to the X ray man at the Security check.

9/11 or not, there is no denying the fact that hospitality business has started to stack a huge variety of single use toiletries small plastic pouches and bottles - conditioners , shampoo , body wash, face wash ( yes , while the pharmaceutical business researches on broadening the spectrum of its antibiotics , the cosmetic industry splices its products as per the body parts ).

Much like the quality of lunch which informs the success of official meetings, the toilet bouquet has ,for many, come to take precedence over quality of room service , linen, the food , etc . More important , these items become the most poignant memory of their stay patrons carry home. The unintended consequences of this carry-to- home offer has been the growing trend of taking away towels and stationary, as well something which the hotel management suffers in simpering, silent agony and wives with red faced embarrassment at their husbands when pointed to by the concierge during departure.

However, the California Bill is not about pinched towels or spousal embarrassment. It is about the recognition of the need to control  plastic pollution from entering our waste streams. I hope Governor Newsom signs the bill into law , and inspire others states and nations to do likewise. One has got to make all the right noises and tick all the boxes in this fight. Disneyland Paris has banned the plastic straws  and the European Parliament single-use plastic products like cutlery and cotton buds from 20121.

My friend Anurag Shukla did not even wait for that- at  his daughter’s wedding at Mhow which I attended with a few school friends last month, all food and drinks were served in arecanut plates and kulhars. He laid out his courage of conviction and simplicity with a panache - to him and his family,  I dedicate this blog as well.