Delhi: Union HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi is not the most patient of men. He recently presided over a biosciences award function in Delhi and was expected to give away medals to 24 schoolchildren. After the 20th winner had been given his piece of metal, Joshi abruptly walked off the dais, followed by Minister of State for Science and Technology Bachi Singh Rawat. Bureaucrats scurried after them but Joshi refused to retrace his steps. Instead, he directed Rawat to do the honours and marched away, inviting sarcasm from the award-winners' parents. What happened, Doc?

Eager Beaver

Delhi: Communism and protocol don't go together. As the Gujarat violence ballooned, Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee called an all-party meeting. Post-confab, it was expected the prime minister would depute a representative to brief the media. But A.B. Bardhan, CPI general secretary, pre-empted everybody by giving details of what had occurred to select journalists immediately after the meeting. Maybe those left out belonged to the "bourgeois press". Maybe Bardhan wants to become spokesman in the PMO. With these communists, you can never tell.

Dilli Dally

Patna: During his visit to Shirdi (famous for the Sai Baba) for the municipal elections in Maharashtra, RJD supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav had a "divine vision"—to return to national politics via the Rajya Sabha. But there's a thorn in his flesh: his over-ambitious brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav, who's vying for the same prize. Sadhu is a formidable rival-when Laloo had to go to prison in connection with the fodder scandal, he quietly got 50 MLAs to back him as successor. But Laloo adroitly nudged wife Rabri Devi into the chief minister's chair. Who will win this time?

Weighty Success

Chandigarh: After tasting victory in the polls, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh is flexing his muscles for another battle—that of the bulge. The former soldier feels the sweets his euphoric supporters thrust upon him are to blame for the flab he has put on. His strategy? Hitting the treadmill that predecessor Parkash Singh Badal installed in the gymnasium at his official residence. That's why while the rest of the house was done up, the gym was left untouched.