Students are learning to tackle basic mathematics through new methods. Mental maths is a quick way to compute, but does it benefit the development of the child’s brain? Sourabh Gupta explores

Young students in top schools of Jalandhar and Phagwara are learning mathematics through new ways these days. They add, subtract, multiply and divide a long series of single to four-digit numbers in their mind and blurt out correct answers faster than it takes to put all the numbers on a calculator.

The young ones use finger counting technique and mind abacus calculations while the older ones put to use controversial ‘Vedic Mathematics’ to become faster with numbers.

Teachers trained in this quick mathematical ‘art’ use the lateral process of arithmetic calculation. The children learn to count on an abacus, and after they memorise the entire system, the abacus is removed.

It was a harrowing experience for commuters passing through Rama Mandi Chowk in Jalandhar today.

With traffic moving at a snail’s pace, most of the commuters were stranded on the National Highway 1 for nearly an hour. All this was thanks to the water-logged chowk.

Sweltering heat made it all the more difficult for drivers and passengers. “It was very tough driving in the heat. With bumper-to-bumper traffic inching forward, I had to drive my car at an excruciatingly slow speed. By the time I reached Jalandhar, I was drenched in sweat and my foot was numb,” said a young professional.

Another car driver whose new Alto was scraped by another car was furious. “We keep talking about developmental works. But when it comes to ground reality, we are woefully short of what is required. Just think of it. So many commuters have been stranded. If we calculate the number of work hours lost, it would be no mean figure. But we people think ‘chalta hai’ and then forget all about it. This is the main reason for the undoing of our national progress,” he explained.

For those travelling by bus, the discomfort was no less. “It was a bumpy ride. The bus seemed to wobble about, courtesy the potholes. Bus drivers tried to overtake other vehicles, and in the process the ride became all the more bumpy. Soaring temperature added to the discomfort,” rued a bus passenger.

For two-wheelers, it was tougher still. Smoke-spewing four-wheelers that seemed to close in on them from all sides were a test of their driving skills. “It’s not easy to negotiate your way when the road is chock-a-block with heavy vehicles,” was an aged man’s complaint.

Interestingly, it was a sort of anti-climax when the commuters found a couple of men engaged in water-draining exercise right at the chowk. But till noon, it seemed they had not made much headway as water continued to flood the potholed chowk. 

It is an honour for Damanpreet Kaur, now a student of Lovely Institutes, who has been selected for the coveted Rashtrapati Award by the National Commission for Scouts and Guides.

As a student of Little Angels Public School in Faridkot, Damanpreet had attended a Rashtrapati Guide Award Testing Camp at Guide House in Model Town here in September 2003, for which she would be given the award soon. She has already got a provisional certificate from the national headquarters of Bharat Scouts and Guides, New Delhi, for having been selected for the award.

Even as the award is coming almost two years later, this has not dampened the spirit of the young guide. “I am eagerly waiting to get the prize from the President of India. I had called up the Delhi office to know about the schedule. I was told that it had been postponed a bit and it could be in a month’s time,” Damanpreet said.

Recalling her days in the camp, she said, “We were 107 girls from all parts of the state and beyond. We did tent pegging, learnt tying different knots, constructing a monkey-bridge and making stretchers out of mufflers, belts and other available stuff. There were cultural programmes also every evening, which we always looked forward to.”

In fact, Damanpreet had attended a Rashtrapati Guide Testing Camp at Raiwala near Haridwar in September 2002. “The camp was very adventurous, for we were taken for trekking and hiking to Tara Devi near Shimla. But I was not that lucky at that time for I was not short-listed for the award,” she added.

Daughter of a laboratory assistant with the Agricultural Department at Faridkot, Damanpreet said that it was always her father who motivated her to take part in those camps. “My mother, who is a physical education teacher in a government school, too, was very supportive. The District Guides and Scouts Centre is located in her school where I used to go sometimes and watch the activities,” she explained. Having joined as a first-year student in BSc (medical with bio-technology) at Lovely Institutes here, she said that she was looking forward to joining some social club on the campus.

The disappearance of heritage sites have caused colossal damage to the tourism potential of this border district.

Few people know that Amritsar has remains of prehistoric and medieval period, which could not be preserved by the departments concerned.

A big mound containing pot shreds in Rasulpur village has been levelled and converted into green fields, leaving no archaeological traces behind.

Nobody bothered to protect it (mound) from getting obliterated. At present, the mound has been completely been levelled by the landowners.

With most of the heritage sites having vanished from Amritsar, a tourist now prefers to leave the district the same day after following the routine trail of Golden Temple, Durgiana Temple, Jallianwala Bagh and retreat ceremony at the Wagah.

The tourist would have had spent a few more days in Amritsar had the heritage sites been preserved.

The ancient buildings, once nurtured by Maharaja Ranjit Singh and his army commanders, were neglected by their descendants and the sucessive state governments as well.

A visit to Rasulpur village, few kilometres from the Pakistan border, revealed that frescos of the Samadh of Sardar Punjab Singh Kumedan, a commander in Ranjit Singh’s army, has been damaged beyond repair. An attempt to restore the wall paintings by cleaning ruined the frescos.

Many frescos have disappeared after the lower portion of the Samadh was white washed.

Floral designs and imitation of small domes could also be seen near the neck of the Samadh’s dome. The Samadh is built of Nanakshahi bricks. It has openings in the east, west, north and south. The mortal remains of Sardar Punjab Singh are buried underneath.

Rasulpur village, known as Bir Teja Singh in the revenue records, is situated on Attari-Jhabal road at a distance of five km on the western side of the road near Indo-Pak international border. Sardar Teja Singh, a commander in Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s army, owned this area. He gifted this land to Punjab Singh, a Kumedan (commander) who had built a fort-type haveli for residing in the village. The remnants of the haveli could still be seen.

However, a large portion of the majestic building of Punjab Singh Kumedan has been converted into modern dwellings by his descendants.

Sometime back, a team of the Punjab Archeological Department visited the site at behest of Dev Dard, a heritage lover.

Prem Singh Hotimardan, a famous Sikh historian in his acclaimed book, “Sikh Raj De Usraie” (The Builders of Sikh Rule) eulogised the contribution of Punjab Singh Kumedan during the rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He claimed that Kumedan was a close confidant of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He was one of the few great Sikh Sardars who were gifted “big jagirs” during the Sikh Raj.

He fought 32 battles for Maharaja Ranjit Singh. His sons— Jawala Singh and Ala Singh— too were great Sikh warriors.

Harbagh Singh, a descendant of Punjab Singh Kumedan, has been residing in one of the portions of the old haveli by converting the heritage building into a modern house.

He took the Amritsar Plus team around the remains of the old building. He also showed the place where the gate of the haveli and big walls existed. The haveli and the gates were built with Nanakshahi bricks. Dev Dard showed some of the portions of the haveli which are still intact. He said the heritage building was once occupied by Muslims who migrated to Pakistan after Partition. The original design of the building had started changing before Partition.

The majestic haveli was destroyed in a phased manner. Outside the building, a regal serai was built, now in a dilapidated condition.

Near the Samadh, there is a well built with the Nanakshahi bricks. The well has dried up with the depleting water table.

Another old building of that era belongs to Baba Hira Das, considered the founder of Rasulpur village. The Baba commands great respect among the descendants of Sardar Punjab Singh. The gurdwara and the shrine, built in the memory of Baba Hira Das too have frescos.

According to a survey conducted by a state Archeological Department team, the Samadh of Sardar Punjab Singh Kumedan has been built on an elevated platform which is 3’-8” high and 31x31 feet in length and breadth with brick pavement. It is an octagonal Samadh surmounted by a fluted dome with an inverted lotus and kalasha on the top of the building.

Amritsar, like other parts of the Kingdom of Lahore, suffered persistent disorders during the period of anarchy, after the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The decade from 1839 to 1849 was thus marked by chronic civil commotion, which had become the order of the day on the rapid deterioration of the central authority under weak and inefficient successors of the

“Lion of the Punjab”. The unbridled armed forces had created a dangerous situation in respect of law and order. Hence it was difficult to preserve the rich heritage sites, in such bizarre conditions.

Though the presence of a genset provides relief from power cuts, the sound it generates is irritating for some.

The noise of generators during long power cuts adds to the miseries of the residents. As a result, the public is put to much inconvenienced.

The generators installed in commercial establishments and shops on Banga Road, Model Town and Hargobind Nagar create noise pollution and air pollution and create hurdles for the public as well, but the Phagwara Nagar Council turns a blind eye.

“During long power cuts, we have no other alternative but to install generators to run our business. It has become a necessity,” a shopkeeper on the Banga Road said.

Some commercial establishments and shopkeepers have encroached upon the government land to place generators along the parks on the GT Road. This has become a nuisance for commuters and vehicular traffic.

“I occasionally pass through Cinema Road towards the bus stand, but the gensets have been placed on the roadside making it difficult to get a smooth passage”, Mohinder Partap, a local resident, said.

Upasna, a college student, said: “Though we understand that the people are left with no other option but to go in for generators during long power cuts, they should not cause inconvenience to the general public. The local administration should act against these violators who have not properly maintained their generators.”

Doctors also agree that frequent power cuts render students and elderly susceptible to allergies due to the smoke emanating from these gensets.

As per paediatricians, the problem has added a new factor to the prevalence of respiratory diseases if the city hospitals and clinics is any indication. “We are getting fairly frequent number of bronchial asthma and naso-bronchial allergy cases on a daily basis, a doctor said.

“Since the use of gensets has become a compulsion, thousands of students in a large numbers of private schools, especially those located in congested areas, are exposed the most to this new menace,” Jaswinder Kaur, principal of a local school, said.

A portion of the road by the side of a park along the GT Road has been taken over by gensets, but the civic authorities prefer to look the other way.

“It is sometimes difficult even for the two-wheelers to cross at times due to the encroachments,” Raj Kumar, a rickshaw-puller, said.

When contacted, NC President Malkiat Singh Ragbotra said they did serve notices to the violators and plan to serve legal notices again.

He said the shopkeepers, especially commercial establishments, should cooperate with the civic body.

The move of Guru Nanak Dev University to charge fee from morning and evening walkers in the campus has drawn flak from various quarters.

Most walkers who visit the university campus in the morning said there was no other space left for them and the campus was the only place that was free from pollution and heavy traffic. They said if the university does not relent, then they would have to discontinue the practice of morning and evening walks, as their life would not be safe on the busy GT Road.

Moreover, the area in the campus was serene and they could interact with the academicians, the added.

Mr Satyapal Dang, veteran CPI leader and a former MLA said he had requested the university Vice-Chancellor, Dr Jai Rup Singh, to reconsider his decision of charging Rs 120 per month for taking a morning walk. —TNS

Lovely Professional University (LPU) has called in overseas experts to train faculty members.  A series of lectures and workshops are slated to be organised in this regard in the coming days.

The series will be implemented in phases in the next few days. It began with a four-day workshop by Ms Anami Jacqueline Naths, a research scholar and a trainer of repute from Canada. She holds a Masters Degree in Education from the University of British Columbia and has experience of undertaking education related projects at international level. 

In an extended program, attended by more than 50 faculty members, Ms Anami enlightened the trainees with different models and approaches that need to be implemented to make education more meaningful and effective. Mr Ashok Mittal, president, Lovely Professional University, said in the era of globalisation, the university had to adhere to the international standards. 

The university is offering courses in management, engineering, IT, education, pharmacy, biotechnology and SCIENCE among others.

Singing for nation An inter-house solo singing competition on patriotic songs was organised for the students of classes VI to IX at Ambika Modern School. It was a treat to see the students performing in front of the mike as they sang the latest pop numbers, folk numbers and patriotic songs. Meanwhile, tiny tots of the school’s pre-primary wing had a pool party. Children danced to the music as they got wet in an artificial rain. Students of Ambika Modern School, Jalandhar, enjoying a pool party on Saturday

College starts TV channel

The Department of Mass Communication and Video Production of BD Arya Girls’ College inaugurated its own in-house TV channel, “BDA Channel”, today.

Through the channel, the students from the department would telecast live as well as recorded programmes daily at the student centre of the college through the audio-visual studio of the department.

News bulletins as well as college events of the last week were broadcast on the inaugural day. Interviews with the college principal, Dr Sarita Verma, and college director, Ms Swaraj Mohan, were also telecast live from the studio.

The students have also prepared a programme on career options.

Students would be able to watch various programmes prepared by the media students daily during the recess in a programme titled “Break Time”.

Apart from this, all DTH TV and radio channels would also be broadcast from the studio, Ms Mohan said.

The director said the studio would soon be equipped with a software for video editing.

She said the aim of the channel was to provide better exposure to the students and make them competent to work in the TV industry as anchors, producers and camera personnel.

Talent hunt

A talent hunt was organised at Prem Chand Markanda SD College for Women that concluded on Saturday.

During the three-day event, contests for literary, cultural and fine arts events were organised. Ms Kiran Arora, principal, gave prizes away prizes to the winners in different categories:

Shabad/bhajan singing: Shweta (1), Nisha and Esha (2) and Anu Bhardwaj and Sakshi (3).

Fancy dress: Anu (1), Suruchi (2) and Neha (3)

Debate: Bharti (1), Gurjot (2) and Rajni (3).

Poetry recitation: Rashi (1), Neha (2) and

Pallavi (3).

Declamation: Sakshi (1), Anu Gupta (2) and Rajni, Deepika (3).

Mehndi: Nancy (1), Divya (2) and

Surinder (3).

Nail art: Kamaljyoti (1), Monica (2) and

Sukhpreet (3).

Phulkari: Anupama (1) and Jaspreet (2).

Flower arrangement: Aabha (1), Shilpa (2) and Juhi (3).

Folder-making contest

A folder making contest was organised at Delhi Public School where students of Classes III to V participated.

The children decorated folders with braids, flowers, ribbon and glitters.

The first prize winners were Kritvi, Sayesha, Inderbir, Taney, Tanveen, Rhea, Jannat, Shivansh, Siddharth, Rohan and Anupreet.

Poetry contest

Sanskriti KMV School organised an inter-house English poem recitation contest. Students from Classes I to VI participated in the event.

Neha Joshi and Anmol Saini were declared winners. Ms Usha Pandey, principal, congratulated the winners. Pre-primary wing of school had a food sharing day.

The students of pre-nursery, nursery and KG brought a variety of snacks and shared their tiffins with friends.

Freshers’ party

To welcome first-year students of Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya, the senior students organised “Abhinav”, a freshers’ party, on Saturday.

A ‘Ms Fresher Contest’ was held during which the first-year girls sashayed down the ramp in their best party outfits. Balreet Kaur Bajwa was chosen for the title while Bani Sandhu and Rachna were declared the first and second runners up, respectively. Ms P.P. Sharma, principal, gave prizes to the winners.

Lecture

A lecture on “Etiquette and inter-personal relations” was organised at Apeejay College of Fine Arts on Monday. Ms Kamna Raj Agarwal, convener, Fastener Panel Engineering Export Promotion Council, was the resource person.

She focused on the importance of Emotional Quotient (EQ) to excel in interpersonal relations at home and work. She said a person with a high EQ could adapt easily to his surroundings and get along better with his fellow colleagues. The interactive session had pertinent questions and witty rejoinders.

Blood donation

Youth Club of Apeejay College of Fine Arts in association of Pahal, an NGO, organised a blood donation camp on Monday. Seventytwo boys and girls donated blood that was collected by the doctors from the Civil Hospital. Addressing the students, Mr Lakhbir Singh, president, Pahal, said if any youth started donating blood at the age of 18 and donated it every 90 days, he would have donated 188 units of blood till the age of 65 and served 752 persons requiring blood.

Workshop

A three-day workshop for developing sample papers in English for Class VIII and IX concluded at Dayanand Model Senior Secondary School on Friday. As many as 150 teachers from DAV Institutes all across the country participated in the event. A cultural show was organised by the young artistes of the school. Mr Raj Kumar Sehgal, principal of the host school, coordinated the event.

Interaction

The students of Mass Communication and Video Production from Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya attended Bharat Nirman Campaign at Hoshiarpur organised by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. The students interacted with Mr Ashwini Kumar, Minister of State for Industrial Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and Ms Deepak Sandhu, Director General, Press Information Bureau. They also visited the exhibition and media centre.

Quiz contest

An English Literary Society of BD Arya Girls’ College organised a quiz competition on Friday to test the knowledge of the students in English literature and language.

Four teams participated in the contest. Ms Surinder Chuhan, head of department of English, was the quiz master. Dr Sarita Verma, principal, gave prize to the winner team.

Admission

Guru Nanak Dev University would fill up vacant seats in the five-year BA, LLB (Honours) course in School of Legal Studies, Regional Campus, Ladhewali.

Dr S.C. Sharma, head of the department, said the seats would be filled up on merit basis from the state-level common law entrance test held earlier this year.

He has asked the candidates to submit applications in the campus by August 30 for admission to be held the next day.

New institute

St Soldier Institute of Hotel Management opened on GT Road this week. Mr Anil Chopra, chairman, said mock training guest rooms had been designed to replicate ambience of a five-star hotel. He said collaboration with foreign universities for student exchange programme and advanced courses in hospitality were in the offing.

University topper

Parminder Kaur, a student of Guru Nanak College, Phagwara, has stood second in Guru Nanak Dev University in M.Sc (Computer Science) Examination conducted this year. She secured 1844 marks out of a total of 2400.

Merit list

Jyoti Anand, a student of M.A. I (Economics) of the Kamla Nehru College for Women, Phagwara, has bagged the third position in Guru Nanak Dev Varsity merit list. She secured 283 marks out of a total of 400, and stood first in the district. Richa Aggarwal got the 8th position in the university merit list, and stood second in the district, according to college Principal, Ms Kusum Verma.

Declamation contest

The Rotract Club of the Kamla Nehru College for Women, Phagwara, organised a declamation and poetry recitation competition on Thursday on the college premises. The topics for the competition were related to current affairs.

Ms Saroj Balram, a senior lecturer of the college, and Dr Asha Sharma from the Hindi Department were the judges.

In the declamation contest, Jyoti Anand got the first position, while Ruminder and Neha Oberoi were adjudged the second and third, respectively.

In the poetry recitation contest, Jyoti Walia, Shavina and Pankaj Bhardwaj stood first, second and third, respectively.

Dr Neelam Sethi, incharge of the Rotract Club informed that a personality development programme for the students of the college would be held very shortly.

Ms Kusum Verma, Principal of the college, presided over the function.

Election

Mr Sudarshan Goel was unanimously elected as the president of the Ramlila and Festival Committee for which a meeting was held on Hanuman Garhi Temple premises, Phagwara, on Sunday.

A 19-member team was also elected to run the affairs of the committee on the occasion.

Cleanliness drive

Youths of Valmiki Mohalla, Hadiabad in Phagwara, launched a cleanliness drive of the locality to bring about awareness among the public to keep their surroundings clean.

Youths led by Mr Krishan Kumar Hero and Mr Daljit Singh Raju picked up the garbage from the area and put it in the Nagar Council pick-up vans.

They also sprayed DDT on the garbage. On this occasion, Mr Hero said that due to shortage of “safai karamcharis” with the Nagar Council, youths could play an important role in keeping themselves free from water-borne diseases by keeping their surroundings clean.

Nisha Kapur enthralled the audience by her ghazals during the meeting of the Rotary Club Phagwara held on Saturday. Besides ghazals, she kept the audience spellbound by her songs like “Terian mohabbtan ne maar sutiya” and “Kajrare tere kale-kale naina”.

Mr S.P.S. Grover, District Governor of the club, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said that the first duty of the Rotarians was to help the needy. He also honoured the members of the club for their “selfless service to the humanity”.

It seems the initial lessons on minding one’s P’s and Q’s lose their sheen once one hits teenage.

The abusive words that form the vocabulary of a present day teenager has got more to do with staying popular with the peers one hangs out with. Is it a wonder then that both Zinedine Zidane’s head butt and Marcos Materazzi’s loose comments that brought it on, are viewed as perfectly normal and justified by the expletive-toting generation?

Whether it’s playing in grounds, sitting cooped up in their rooms with friends watching TV or browsing the net, parents and teachers are nowadays pretty much alienated from the language used by their teenaged children who are still ‘just kids’ in their eyes.

Preeti Kapur, a sociology teacher at S.D. Model School in Phagwara, feels that kids catch up with expletives once they are out of school. “In school, there is usually strict monitoring of the language used. The moment they step into colleges, with parents ill-affording the time and no teachers to keep a look out, this influence is bound to take effect.”

Preeti, however, feels that there is nothing that spending quality time with child cannot set right. “When you leave young children to grow up with maids, they will pick the language used in their company. With no one to reprove, it will also lead to loss of inhibition in using that vocabulary. The child will accept it in the subconscious as right.”

“I was flabbergasted when my son told me how kids use foul language at school and in their groups by Class V students,” Jaskirat Kaur, a mother of two, says.

Pallavi Dhingra, a child career and emotional counsellor, feels that it’s a pity that the words used by children in their peer group are also used without a thought against their parents.

“I have seen cases where children have used derogatory words for their own parents as if they were talking to a friend they had fallen out with.” Initially this trend was associated with teenage boys, but now similar behaviour patterns are becoming evident amongst girls too.

“It’s happening with girls because now they are seeking their identity with a vengeance. They want to be a part of the gang now. That explains both the dress and language,” says Pallavi.

But what about parents being subjected to bad mouthing?

Pallavi puts things in perspective, “The basic respect for relationship is vanishing. Children must be taught the basics of communications like all other values.”

Akshita Arora, a communication expert who also holds communication classes for children, says, “We talk about the smaller things like behaving in a particular situation in order to make interpersonal communication smoother.

Reinforcing values of respect for others goes a long way in improving the quality of interaction and consequently life.” Preeti feels these basics in communication must first be taught at home.

Ganesh Chaturthi that began this Sunday may be a festival of the Marathas it has a following in the city too.

Not only is the festival being celebrated with fanfare at some parts including Kartarpur since Sunday, artistes making Ganesh idols can be seen selling these at the Rama Mandi Chowk here.

Sarwan, an artiste from Rajasthan, has been in the city for the last one week, making and selling these idols.

Carving these out of jute and Plaster of Paris, he has displayed a few idols near the roundabout on the pavement just outside the cantonment.

He said these had then been painted with waterproof colours and glitter.

Sarvan’s father, Jeewan Ram, said he had been making idols for five decades now.

Passing on his skill to his son, he said together they had shifted their business to Chandigarh few years back from where they had brought a few idols here since the last one week.

He said he had been making idols of Lord Shiva, Lord Krishna or as desired by the customers.

The father-son duo said the customers coming to him were not just Marathis but also Punjabis.

He said he was selling three to four feet-high idols for Rs 1,500 to 2,000. With three days of the festival already over, he said the festivities would be on for another week after which they would be back to Chandigarh preparing for festivals ahead.