Delhi: When Home Minister L.K. Advani inaugurated the installation of 47 CCTV cameras at the Indira Gandhi international airport recently, the idea was to monitor the Customs counters where arriving passengers declare dutiable goods. The counters were to be pushed back by 20 ft, but were shifted by only 10 ft. Now the cameras cover the heads of Customs officers, nothing else.

Sindh Out, Sikkim In

Gangtok: Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling thinks his hill state doesn't count enough in the Indian Union even 28 years after joining it. He has a lyrical solution. At a public meeting where Vice-President Krishan Kant and Governor Kidar Nath Sharma were also present, Chamling suggested that the words of the national anthem be modified to include Sikkim in place of Sindh. "It (Sindh) is now in Pakistan, so this word should not be there," he declared, adding that it was also a birambana (political embarrassment). But Mr Chamling, what about Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh ...

Starry Secret

Bhubaneswar: It was perhaps the most low-key visit to Orissa by any VIP to date. Former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao flew into the state capital almost unnoticed. It turns out that the veteran Congress leader had a date with a fortuneteller called Jhinti Baba and wanted it kept a secret. With not many cronies around this time, it got only easier. So is Rao, who has been on a whirlwind all-India pilgrimage tour since being acquitted in the JMM bribery case, readying for a comeback? Jhinti Baba would know.

Fear of Flying Out

Bangalore: S.M. Krishna, Karnataka chief minister, has been planning a trip to the US-to woo investors to the state, obviously. His itinerary includes New York and Kellogg School of Management near Chicago. But there's a hitch, he has to first choose someone to take over in his absence. In 1992, one such state Congress chief minister S. Bangarappa went on a foreign tour and came back to find his seat usurped. With the recent bypoll defeat in Kanakapura and Sonia Gandhi's rejection of his Rajya Sabha nominees weighing on his mind, the chief minister does not want to take any chances. Uncle Sam can wait.