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Resentment against hike in bus fare mounting in Bhopal

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NK SINGH Though a Govt. directive has frustrated the earlier efforts of the MPSRTC to increase the city bus fares by as much as 300 per cent, the public resent even the 25 per cent hike. It is "totally unjust, uncalled for and arbitrary", this is the consensus that has emerged from an opinion conducted by "Commoner" among a cross-section of politicians, public men, trade union leaders, and last but not least, the common bus travelling public. However, a section of the people held, that an average passenger would not grudge a slight pinche in his pocket provided the MPSRTC toned up its services. But far from being satisfactory, the MPSRTC-run city bus service in the capital is an endless tale of woe. Hours of long waiting, over-crowding people clinging to window panes frequent breakdowns, age-old fleet of buses, unimaginative routes and the attitude of passengers one can be patient only when he is sure to get into the next bus are some of the ills plaguing the city b...
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Srashti Jain: clicking young

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NK SINGH


At an age when girls would be more interested in playing with dolls, Srashti Jain started toying with a camera. She shot her first picture when she was just five years old. 

And now, two years and 5,000 photographs later, the little girl from Bhopal is recognised as an accomplished photographer.  

Says S.K. Mawal, head of the Photography Department at Bhopal's Prachya Niketan College: "Srashti's compositions are perfect and the choice of subjects is very mature for a girl of her age." 

A second standard student, Srashti easily handles the technical side of her craft - loading and unloading films, setting exposure and focus, using various lenses and even developing her own films. 

But for making prints, she needs the help of her father, S.K.D. Jain, a medical doctor, to operate the enlarger. 

What is striking is her self-confidence. With the camera and at large gatherings. In Bhopal, people have become used to the little girl even covering political meetings. 

In September 1990, when she was just six, Srashti went to Delhi and covered a SAARC function where she vied with seasoned press photographers. Says she of her fellow lensmen: "They jostled me. The security people were also not very nice."  

That experience led her to avoid covering political functions. Also because as she says: "Politicians speak so much and it becomes boring." 

She concentrates on portraits and human interest subjects. Unfortunately, Srashti cannot participate in competitions as most have a minimum age limit. 

Srashti finds photography easier than her homework. But she is not enamoured of her talent. 

Says she: "I like photography but I would like to become a doctor like my father when I grow up."

India Today, 15 January 1992

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