Date:16/03/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/03/16/stories/2004031615200300.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Reporter's Diary

A COUPLE from somewhere on the outskirts of Bangalore caused considerable bother to fellow passengers on a bus owned by the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation.

No sooner had the bus started than the husband and wife, who were on their way from Hoodi village to K.R. Puram, opened their big basket of bananas. They lost little time in venturing into a frenzied, apparently competitive banana-eating spree.

The conductor was busy issuing tickets and the passengers did not give them a glance as long as they were eating. But angry looks came their way when they started throwing the banana peels inside the bus. When one banana skin landed on the conductor, the unhappy man asked the couple to stop feasting and start acquiring some concern for their surroundings.

Apparently, the couple was not used to receiving advice. With earthy logic, the husband collected the pile of banana skins and threw them out of the window. They fell on Residency Road. It is not known what comment this invoked from motorists on the busy road.

* * *

THE PROGRAMME was organised to felicitate a few "ideal couples." Now, we don't know what criteria were considered before labelling some couples as "ideal." That was something left entirely to the organisers' discretion.

The guests of honour at Sunday's function were an actor and her actor/politician husband. The organisers explained that the couple exemplified the "most ideal" of couples. Just how ideal a couple they were, the audience soon found out. Although the function was supposed to start at 6 p.m., the husband walked in at 7.50 p.m., alone.

But that did not deter the organisers who described him as "anna" (brother). They went on to shower flowers on him as he sat on the stage. Ten minutes later, the man's wife came in.

Of course, she joined her husband on the stage. But no loving words passed between the couple.

Instead, they sat with their faces turned away from each other. At this, one wag murmured.

"They must have had a fight. But then, both are veteran actors. Couldn't they at least have acted as an ideal couple?"

By Rasheed Kappan and Divya Sreedharan