KhoobSurat secret: No cellphones
Sheila Dikshit and Deshmukh should listen to S R Rao on how he used the
bulldozer in Surat
LUCKNOW, JANUARY 7: It was with a certain sense of deja vu that S R Rao
recently read, in The Indian Express, of a Delhi MLA demanding,
‘‘Demolish the MCD’’. Been there, heard that—and beat that, too.
Ten years ago, Rao was at the centre of the melee that erupts in Delhi
and Mumbai and every other big city every time the bulldozers move in.
Residents dig in their heels, politicians flash their party cards,
rent-a-quotes beat their breasts and sneaky offenders rebuild walls as
soon as the officials tear them down.
....
‘‘The one big advantage I had was that there were no cellphones,’’ grins
Rao-saheb, as he came to be known during his Surat stint. ‘‘There was no
way I could be tracked down at a demolition site. I was hardly ever at a
landline, and if there were any angry or desperate calls on the
wireless, I didn’t take them.
‘‘And the ones that I did take, I would say, ‘Hello, there is
disturbance on the line, please speak loudly. Hello, I can’t hear you,
I’ll get back.’ I seldom did.’’
cont'd...
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=85541