Birthday banner

There was birthday of a corporator’s grand son. A week before that, he called a meeting of his activists to discuss about grand celebration of the birthday. It was going to be his fifth birthday. One of the points for discussion was putting up hoardings and banners in the city in the name of the grand son.

Various ideas came in. an activist said, “Sir, we will put up banners for his birthday in all the cities – Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Bangalore…” “Talk sensibly man”, said the corporator, “I am corporator only of a ward in Pune city. No body knows me outside Pune and some parts of Mumbai. If I want to contest a Lok Sabha election tomorrow, you are cutting my ticket even before I get it.” Others laughed. The activist became nervous. “Okay. I think we should put up the banners all across the city. What about permission from the municipal corporation?” asked the corporator. “What sir! You are the Municipal Corporation. Why do you need to take anybody’s permission? And he is grand son of the great corporator Mr. P. C. Shelar; not any ordinary child. He is the future Prime Minister of India” someone said. The corporator could not hide his happiness on this flattering. Someone added fuel, “See sir, you are very principle oriented. That’s why you lagged behind despite being senior in the party. See the tactics followed by MLA Rajeshinde, how he became city president of our party!”

“Alright. What about printing of banners?” asked corporator. Some other activist suggested name of a reputed printing house for banner printing. “But what about the cost? It will be too much!” said the corporator. “Sir, at least you don’t say like that! We know you received a big sum for ward development from the Municipal Corporation last week. We can use the same money” suggested an activist. “No, I gave it to the party” replied the corporator. “Then why don’t you ask the party only to sponsor the banner cost for your grand son?” one activist. “No, party cannot sponsor it. My grand son is not member of the party, he is only five years old” said corporator.

“Sir I suggest you should use your own money. Because using public money for personal purposes is not a good practice” preached one activist. “Who is this? Take that b...b… away, make him eat vada pav and shut his b… mouth.” said the corporator, “the biggest threat today our country is facing is from these ideologists. They will neither progress themselves nor will they let others progress.” “Calm down sir, he is new in politics. He has not yet digested the rules and practices followed here. Will learn slowly” said one activist.

“Fine. Let’s decide about the contents of the banner” said the corporator. “Sir, I can suggest a very good text,” interrupted one activist, “we should print on the banner – Dear Prince, Wish you a happy wedding anniversary!” “What! Are you in your sense? He is just 5 years old.” “Sorry, sorry,” the activist bit his tongue and said, “I meant to say Dear Prince, may you rise like the moon every day and spread your light like the sun.” “Wow, excellent! Done,” approved the corporator. “Sir, one more thing – we want photos of all of us to appear on the banner” demanded one activist. “Fine, but what about photos of the party president, chief minister and that crooked Rajeshinde?” asked the corporator. “Sir, your grand son is not member of the party. So where is the question of printing their photos on the banner!” said one activist. The corporator got convinced with this.

“Sir I got one suggestion. We should also print Deepika Padukone’s photo on the banner,” suggested one activist. “What has Deepika Padukone to do with my grand son’s birth day?” “Sir, let there be at least one photogenic face on the banner,” came the reply. “Stop that. We can’t do that without permission of that person. Give some fresh ideas” said the corporator. “Sir, I have a very good idea. We can project your grand son like Lord Krishna. We can show in the banner your son walking in the water, the water reaching his neck, he carrying a basket over his head and your grand son lying in that basket,” suggested one activist. “Shut up,” shouted the corporator, “I called you here to give me intelligent ideas about the banner. If your ideas are so rubbish then get lost from here. My son doesn’t have time to do all this nonsense.” “But sir, your son is not seen nowadays. He doesn’t even come to your permit room since quite a few days. What is he doing?” asked one of them. “That is not your business,” said the corporator, “so, we will have photos of my grand son, my son, my photo and photos of all of you.” All of them agreed to it. “Okay, when will we remove the banners?” “What sir! Has anyone ever removed the banners so far? Let it be taken care by people who want to put up the next birthday banners,” reply came.

Suddenly the corporator’s mobile rang. Party’s city president Rajeshinde was calling him. “Yes sir, what can I do for you?” the corporator’s tone had totally changed. “See Shelar, one sensational news. The city MP is defecting from opposition party to our party in the next 10 days. You have to make banners welcoming him to our party and see to it that they are put up all across the city within next 5 days,” said Rajeshinde. “Done sir, don’t worry at all,” replied the corporator. Then he turned to his activists and said, “See, we have to make banners welcoming the city MP to our party. Come on, hurry up!” “But sir, what about banners for your grand son’s birthday?” someone asked. “Forget that now. Do as I tell you. Don’t ask me questions,” replied the corporator.