Sharad Pawar effect – IMD scales down quake intensity

Being conservative with numbers seems to be the flavor of the season.

Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) after initially pegging the Wednesday night’s earthquake at 6.6, scaled it down to 4.2 in just under 5 hours. While the official explanation is that the folks at IMD initially quoted a news channel report to say that the intensity was 6.6 and later corrected themselves, no one, including Sharad Pawar, is buying this explanation.

Keep it low

IMD officials contacted by Humor Unplugged said that the actual reason behind the scaling down is union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar. “He (Pawar) is the one who has started the trend by pegging his assets at 12 crores. We feel even his pet might be worth more than that. We are merely following his lead. He taught us how to be conservative and humble when reporting numbers and we are deeply inspired by him. The downgrade in intensity is our tribute to this great genius who can downsize everything, except his waist size,” an IMD official said.    

Sharad Pawar on the other hand is not impressed. “Do they think we are BCCI selectors? I know the intensity is 6.6. I have stored nearly 33 crores in my official bungalow and the stack moved by almost 10 cms which corresponds to a 6.5 plus earthquake in my earthquake manual,” Pawar said before scooting off to put his money back in place.