Date:08/07/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/07/08/stories/2005070802040200.htm

Kerala

How to burn effigies

Burning an effigy is not an easy task. ABVP activists learned it the hard way when they burned Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh in effigy to protest against the Centre's failure to enact a legislation on self-financing professional colleges in Kozhikode on Wednesday.

One of them threw a lighted matchstick on the effigy, which was doused with petrol.

He looked more scared than a child trying to burst a cracker for the first time in his life.

Six or seven times the lighted matchstick used to set fire to the effigy got extinguished.

Seeing their helplessness, policemen, who were tense and trying to look serious, broke into smiles.

Finally one smart fellow threw a burning newspaper into the effigy, and to everyone's relief, it caught fire.Perhaps the SFI or even the KSU (Indira) could have taught them a few lessons in efficient burning of effigies.

J.S. Bablu