Young scribes

Recently, during a media interaction of the Congress bigwigs including Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ambika Soni, over a 100 media persons turned up to cover the event in Jammu. A majority of them were teenagers working for Facebook portals and were carrying mobile phones with them. As both Azad and Soni were sitting on the dais, these 'over-enthusiastic' mediapersons were constantly chatting. Ultimately, PCC chief GA Mir stood up and asked them to keep quiet and maintain silence.

No relief from slush

Huge rush was witnessed in shops selling gumboots at the Maisuma market in the commercial hub owing to recent rains and snow, which submerged all lanes and roads. Due to the drainage failure in Srinagar localities, the water pumps installed by Srinagar Municipal Corporation and the vehicles of Fire and Emergency Services Department have failed to provide any relief to people, as there is no place to drain the water out of localities. While the government wakes up in bad weather, it again closes its eyes when the sun shines.

Evening shows gaining popularity

Unlike a few years ago, when the multiplexes in the winter capital witnessed heavy rush in the morning and afternoon only, movie goers are now preferring evening shows. Whether tickets are being booked online in advance or manually by visiting the counters, most of the people prefer watching evening/late-evening shows. Theaters are running late-night shows on weekends too. "The trend is changing now. Even students from schools and colleges, who earlier used to watch morning shows, are coming to watch movies in the evening after attending tuition/coaching classes," said Vinod, manager of a multiplex.

Walking on ice

Four days after another spell of heavy snowfall in Kashmir Valley, lanes are still laden with snow. Though main roads have mostly been cleared, interior ones are still covered with snow. Not only this, as the night temperatures fall below zero, snow turns into ice. As a result, walking on frozen roads has become a problem, especially in the wee hours. The elderly and children are often advised not to walk on these slippery roads. At the same time, hanging icicles from rooftops also pose a risk.