Hundreds of them have descended on Koba town near Ahmedabad to attend an eight-day introspection camp organised by the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) which has 750 branches in 32 countries.

But while discussing the various problems of the community, the participants have been spending more time in idle talk on the BJP ex-general secretary Sanjay Joshi's sexual exploits and the cold war between RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan and BJP's L.K. Advani.

While Advani has been favouring a two-child norm, Sudarshan has been hammering into the heads of those who care to listen to him the importance of producing more than two kids, at least by those Hindus who are well-off. According to the RSS chief, the moment Hindu population declines, as happened in J & K and Assam, the terrorists and extremists call the shots.

Sudarshan, indeed, quotes chapter and verse from Hindu religious scriptures like Gita, Ramayana and Mahabhrata to drive home his point and even cites examples of the Germany-France war and lions of Kenya to underline the importance of a high birth rate in Hindu families.

His mathematics, which Advani has surely ignored, calculates that 12 children become 1,700 after 120 years, eight turn 750, four will multiply into 125 and if a Hindu family has only two children, they will remain two even after 120 years!

Kalam and kids

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam loves children no end but when the President visits Gujarat on January 12, he won't find school kids lined up at the airport to welcome him. And yet, this will gladden his heart. Why?

The Narendra Modi government has just asked all collectors and departments concerned as well as school principals to make sure that pre-teen students are not made to wait at the airports or other arrival spots with national flags and the like to greet VVIPs. The circular has been sent following instructions to this effect from the Rashtrapati Bhavan itself to all states. Kalam, indeed, was shell-shocked when he heard recently that children gathered to pay their respects to some top Bahujan Samaj Party leaders in Uttar Pradesh had to stand for a long time under the scorching sun till they fainted and had to be hospitalised.

No wonder, a communique ordering the authorities to stop forcing kids to suffer the torture was dashed off to all state governments.

So, when he doesn't get to see flag-waving schoolkids on his arrival at Porbandar in biting cold on January 12 for opening a Ramakrishna Mission institute, Kalam will be happy to note that the Modi regime has followed his directives.

Sweet record

FEMALE infanticide is on the rise in Gujarat and the major villains have been Patels who have to follow their age-old tradition of arranging for a huge dowry when a daughter is married off.

Though the state government has gone a good length to check the despicable practice of terminating pregnancy, secret 'abortuaries' have mushroomed here, there and everywhere.

But now, the well-heeled community seems to have seen reason. In a bid to create awareness, Patels in Surat have organised a novel, record-breaking programme that is sure to attract the attention of one and all.

On January 1, a grand feast is being held in the diamond city to be attended by a record 1.25 million Patels who will be served pieces from a 35-feet tall gigantic sweet laddu now under preparation. In order to collect the 200,000kg raw material needed for the monstrous laddu, about ten trucks have been going round Patel housing colonies to borrow 100gm each of barley and wheat from 250,000 homes.

Some 15,000 volunteers who have also distributed 31,000 invitation cards to the Patels and 1.7 million booklets have also asked participating community members to relish the yummy sweetmeat but also take a pledge not to abort the female foetus, a practice that has upset the sex ratio in Gujarat.