VOL. 2 NUMBER. 03 extras 1 extrasextrasNOW! NOT TO BE SOLD SEPARATELY THE NOW! SPECIAL 8-PAGE PULL-OUT GUBERNATORIAL RAIN-CHECK a NOW REPORT ... and in the meanwhile check this out! he “rubbish awards,” might have done little to ac tivate the residents of featured areas into getting Ttheir act together, but it did concern the Raj Bhavan enough to trigger a visit by the Governor V Rama Rao to Gairi Gaon [Tadong], and Arithang. Both areas were fea- tured in the last issue of NOW! for being acutely lacking in civic sense when it came to waste management. Accompanied by members of the district administra- tion and Civil Defence, the Governor saw for himself the garbage disposal condition and jhora clogging in the two areas. The DC [East], K. Srinivasulu, while talking to NOW! revealed that the Governor was specially disturbed by the clogging of the jhoras. The tangle of water pipes running through the jhoras was something that disturbed him enough to call a meeting with officials of the PHE, Forest, UD&HD and PWD departments to discuss possibilities of less congested drains. Ordering immediate action on this front, the Governor was pacified only when officials in- The second ‘AMBLENT AIR QUALITY MONTIORING STATION’ installed near STNM Hospital by the formed him that work on that front was already underway. STATE POLLUTON CONTROL BOARD SIKKIM. a HOW? pic 7 extras 2 extraneous GOOD AFTERNOON, GANGTOK THE GANGTOK STATE OF MIND pic by KARCHOONG DIYALI NOW!rubbish AWARDS NOW!, now has a weekly award that will see no celebrations when it is announced. “The NOW! Rubbish Awards” each week, goes to a locality which the office camera finds to be specially dirty and littered. Not just an embarassment for the department responsible for clearing the mess, each pic also speaks of the social consciousness of the residents. Needless to add, we will be the uhhhh..... [tom tom tom] gladdest when the awards need to be discontinued for want of areas filthy enough to make it to this space. This is the fourth instalment. The award this week goes to the New Lall Bazaar complex PANORAMA COLOR LAB offers a panorama of photo which has appropriated the top floor of a public toilet as it’s garbage dump. services: Mounting and Hard-board lamination, enlargements, slide processing and framing in imported mould. SANGRAM SANKALP “slammed” Apollo, as it is wont MG Marg, Gangtok, Sikkim - 737 101. ph: 225098 / 222488 hese are strange times in to do in such situations. The lo- deed for the Sikkim BAZAAR cal weekly “splashed” the story TSangram Parishad. Mixed and we were convinced that signals from would-be partners Buzz Apollo Millenium guys were is leaving them quite confused. verry bad indeed. When what WHAT’S UP, SIKKIM As is apparent by the jottings . happens? The next week the found in a diary belonging to an when they thought they had got said paper signs an exclusive CONTEST SSP man. It reads “What kind everything right, the weather contract with Apollo Millenium for of days are these dear diary. gods have let them down. Their routing patients from Sikkim to Where in Sikkim will a 100ft Why is the Cong party behaving daily monsoon prediction of the hospital, run by as they now tall statue of Bhanu Bhakta like this. Leading us up the aisle “Rain will occur at isolated call them, “well meaning and be installed? and then refusing to say I Do. places in Sikkim,” has been re- wealthy people”. What is the WIN A FREE MEAL Don’t they have any compas- ported faithfully by a local daily reader supposed to make out of FOR 2 AT sion? Any heart at all? How and also the cable channel. this volte face. Is it just a case ------------------------------------ many times have we traveled in Seemed like a safe enough bet. of wrong “ascription” or just busi- the searing heat to meet But last week was bad. Not only ness prevailing over ethics? You NAME: Madam. How many hours have did it not rain for three days at tell us. And what about a recent ...................................................... any spot in Sikkim, but some Address Mi tin been spent waiting for a small corrigendum on quotes ascribed g HOTEL .................................................... darshan. We have laid bare our people have actually been call- to a SSP leader. There were Italian, Mexican, Chinese, intentions, agreed to all their ing in asking to specify “isolated some quotes he did not make Last Week’s answer: Jelep La places”. How the hell are they Winner: Kipa Bhutia, PNG Road Indian and conditions, given up on all of we were told. And which ones Continental cuisine ours. And look where it has got supposed to know? Anyway, af- were those? Your guess is as Tibet Road, Gangtok. ph: 224101 us. They told us go and wait and ter much brainstorming a solu- good as mine. we’re still waiting. Where is that tion has been found. From now Khurshid fellow? Why isn’t he on the weather report will read THE “PHALEY” MAN here? Why? Why? This is so “Rain will or will not occur at ife is hard most times but - QUESTION OF THE WEEK - embarrassing. Now they’re even some isolated places in Sikkim”. never as hard as it seems What is the part of the denying giving us that tiny table- That should do the trick. Lto Pappu, the “Phaley” brain that coffee affects? top Congress flag. When will this man right now. Just the other day cortex vertex humiliation end? I’m promising BAD GUY/GOOD GUY he was walking about, selling his you one thing, dear diary, if noth- t’s becoming more and more “Phaley” in the morning, when a latex ing happens within a week, we’ll difficult to understand what truck knocked him down near wait one more week, and then Inewspapers believe these Hotel Shere Punjab. Today he another and another. That is our days. Take the example of the lies at the orthopeadic ward at fresh everyday NAME: ......................................... Sankalp. Who the hell do the Apollo Millenium Hospital. We STNM with both legs bandaged, did not even know of its exist- Congress think they are? Only wondering what happened to ADDRESS: ................................... they can make Sankalps!” ence till we were informed by a the truck owner who had prom- coffee Last week’s answer:TWO. Winner: local English weekly about how ised him compensation. Unable IT ONLY RAINS ON ME some officials of the said hospi- to get up and go find him, he can Khagendra Sharma, Lower Luing redicting the weather is a tal were “spreading malicious only curse his fate. Maybe the CONTEST thankless task most lies” and “deliberately mislead- police can help locate the man Tick the right answer and rush entries to NOW! office at Tadong to Ptimes. This the met office ing the people of Sikkim”. The and get some money for the here is slowly discovering. Just Sikkim Journalists Association poor fellow? WIN A COFFEE & SNACKS COUPON WORTH Rs. 100 AT BAKER’S CAFE, [email protected] MG MARG, GANGTOK 8 extras 3 PRESTOLITE batteris start from: for MARUTI - Rs. 1250/- for COMMANDER - Rs. 2550/- WHAT THE Kalimpong Supply Agency CAPITAL’S NH Way 31 A, Gangtok (Sikkim) Ph: 226237, 9434103124 BEEN Deals in: Genuine Spare Parts, Lubricants & Batteries UP TO Distributor: Exide, Amron, Shell, Prestolite rajdhani No holding back Deorali’s Shiv Mandir anymore to the people of Sikkim to see to it lar. The Mandir Committee ap- a NOW! pic by TINA RAI that such an ugly turn of events is pears to have finally brought avoided,” he said. things under control now. he delays in initiating work Reminding the people that This new mandir is being built to reconstruct the Shiv Sikkim had till date not suffered at an estimated cost of Rs. 35 TMandir at Deorali seem fi- any disturbances in the name of Lakhs. Manoj Pradhan, a mem- nally resolved. On July 11, last religion, the CM urged that such ber of the mandir committee told Friday, the Chief Minister Pawan a situation not be allowed to de- NOW! that the members have al- Chamling laid the foundation velop in the future either. ready raised about Rs. 7 lakhs stone of the Shiv-Mandir, now re- “Religion should not be lim- and RC Mundra, the contractor christened Shri Kedarnath ited just to temples, churches, for the project, assured that work Shivalaya Mandir. would not suffer any Also present at the more delays. “Our tar- ceremony were Minis- get is to complete this ter Tourism and area mandir within fifteen MLA, KT Gyaltsen months,” he said. and UD&HD Minister, The Shri TT Bhutia. Kedarnath Shivalaya Given the Mandir is planned as rumblings of commu- a three-storeyed nal discord running complex with a library through the State, it was only gumpas or mosques. All reli- consisting of holy books on the natural for the CM to speak on gions teach the truth and this ground floor, a meditation hall on communal harmony at this reli- search for the Truth unites the the first floor and the main tem- gious event. people. As Sikkimese, we ple on the top storey. “Some people have been should use our different religions Even Pratimaan Gautam, floating rumours that Sikkim could as the binding factors of our the worried priest of this temple soon face a Babri Masjid-like situ- unity,” Mr. Chamling said. appeared satisfied on the day. ation and some people seem to Built in the year 1985, the old His grand son told NOW! that Chief Minister Pawan Chamling at the foundation stone laying ceremony have worked towards creating Shiv Mandir was dismantled on the priest was overjoyed that fi- of the reconstruction of the Deorali Shiv Mandir on July 11, 2003 such a situation.