Who will carry the Olympic Torch?

THE TORCH OF FREEDOM

By Manuwant Choudhary

Indian footballer Baichung Bhutia is a practicing Buddhist so he will not carry the Olympic torch.
Aamir Khan, despite his firebrand film Rang de Basanti, says he will carry the torch since human rights violations take place all over the world, but yes while he runs he will have a prayer in his heart - for Tibet.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon says he will not be attending the opening ceremony, but not to offend China he says his decision has nothing to do with the protests over Tibet.
Saif Ali says he would carry the torch since the Indian government has no objections over it (since when did Saif become a law abiding citizen....wish he was like that always and a few Chinkaras would have lived).
Presidential candidates urge President Bush not to attend the opening ceremony, but he can attend the games itself otherwise China may throw out US MNCs and that may not be in the interests of the US.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy will not attend the opening ceremony because the French feel more strongly about human rights violations than the British and his speach in the UK was among the best I have heard and he deserves to be the President of the United States, not France.
Hollywood Actor Richard Gere is in campaign mode and says its clear there is a problem in China.
Indian Actress Diya Mirza says she would not carry the torch since she has a lot of regard for His Holiness The Dalai Lama, whom China does not allow to return home.
Now resigned former IPS officer Kiran Bedi first says she is a sportswoman first and last and will carry the torch and then despite her policewoman's life says she will not carry the torch because she feels suffocated with all the security around the flame.
Then India's IOC chief Suresh Kalmadi makes a telephone call through news channels from Beijing saying Rahul Gandhi has been invited to carry the torch.
And the young Gandhi Member of Parliament is still trying to discover India and so he quietly turns down the offer.
And after all this there is news that the torch may just bypass India.
But what if the torch does arrive and someone will have to take the torch to the Amar Jawan Jyoti a memorial for Indian soldiers killed by China.
So who will carry the torch?
Perhaps, the right person for the job is CPI (M) leader Prakash Karat and he could run to Beijing closely followed by India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, otherwise his government may fall - only for Tibet!
And finally, His Holiness The Dalai Lama wants to carry the Olympic torch but the Chinese won't let him.

A NEAR CRASH EXPERIENCE

MID-AIR JETLITE PILOT DETECTS TECHNICAL SNAG

BOMBAY-PATNA JETLITE FLIGHT 6721 DIVERTED TO AHMEDABAD

`HAWA MEIN PLANE KHARAB HO GAYA' frantic passengers call home after landing...

A first person account by Manuwant Choudhary

After a liberal meeting in Bombay taking the early morning Jetlite flight at 5.35 is never easy and the only consolation is that within 2-and-a-half hours I would be in Patna but not this time. What does it feel when mid-air you hear a crackle and your pilots voice says all is not well.
We had almost done some 40 minutes of flying when I could feel suddenly the engines making less noise than they did and a few seconds later the crackle of the speakers, "This is your pilot. We have detected a technical snag and will be diverting this plane to Ahmedabad...."
A pause...
And then to reassure passengers the pilot stammers ...."The...the....situation is under control...so nothing to worry."
One could hear the silence.
A few passengers just slept, but those awake tried to look out from their windows.
As the pilot changed direction we could feel the flight was not normal.
At one point it swayed but found its path again.
And a girl in front called the airhostess and asked, "Is this serious?"
Airhostess "There is a snag so only the pilot knows but we will keep you informed if anything changes."
But within ten minutes the pilot spoke again, "We are ready to land at Ahmedabad so please fasten your seat belts."
And we held our breadth.
The pilot successfully landed.
There was a sigh amongst passengers but no celebrations...just murmurs and people frantically reaching out for their cellphones.
As soon as the plane taxied to a halt people called up their relatives, "Hawa mein plane kharab ho gaya" (Our plane got spoilt mid-air).
But a journalist does not call relatives. He calls the news channels. I sent SMSs to my freinds and soon the news was on air.
First passengers were asked to remain seated and the plane would take off once engineers rectify the problem.
But then there was another announcement, "All passengers are to deplane and they must take another flight to Delhi and then another to Patna and Ranchi. The Ranchi passengers did not even have a connecting flight.
A few Jetlite ground-staff were there but clearly they were not sure of what they must do in such situations.
We were issued some four boarding paases for this journey from Bombay to Patna.
And in Delhi after the usual identification of baggages etc..passengers were issued new boarding passes.
When passengers got on board the scene looked like a train or worse a bus in Bihar where passengers fought over seats.
Soon it was found that Jetlite issed similar number seats to passengers.
Two foreigners on the flight were having a harrowing experience due to the confusion, until I helped them out.
Fortunately, everyone did finally get a seat and we landed at Patna at 12.35 p.m. after an all-India tour and a near-crash experience.
Jetlite's are the planes that came with the Jet-Sahara deal.