Haridwar, February 13
Maha Kumbh proceedings have affected every bit of the pilgrim city be it politics, social activities, trade, education, movement of animals to migration of birds. So, how can the Valentine week be untouched?

In the past week, the effect of the first Shahi Snan could be felt on the movement of love birds! With the attention of the entire city on the royal bath, the Valentine buzz and celebrations appeared to have taken a back seat this year.

But now with the completion of the first Shahi Snan yesterday, Generation Next was seen in large numbers at gift galleries, accessories shops, restaurants and parks.

Till yesterday, the entire city was cordoned off by security personnel. Today, with the sun shining bright, Gen-X and couples thronged city markets and bought Valentine gifts, cards, chocolates and other items for tomorrow’s celebrations.

Tanishqa Ohri, an MCom student, said due to the Maha Kumbh, the Valentine buzz this time was surely missing. “Even in the local media, coverage for Valentine’s Day was very less as the Maha Kumbh aura had shadowed everything else”.

“But I have a surprise for my Valentine which I will reveal to him tomorrow. For me, Valentine’s Day is a Kumbh Mela for lovers,” said Tanishqa.

Amita Singh, Manager of Archies Gallery in the posh Ranipur Chowk market, accepted that Kumbh had affected their business, but still sales touched an all-time high today.

“The concept of Valentine’s Day has now penetrated deep into young couples’ as well as married persons’ lives. As this is a way to show love, persons are coming in large numbers to buy gifts”.

She said just like in the past years, this time too, married women came in large number to buy gifts for their husbands. Some also bought items for their mother-in-law and children too.

“V-Day is not just for lovers. Gifts can be exchanged in any love-filled relationship -husband-wife, brother-sister and among friends,” said Amita Singh.

A gallery salesman at Madan Gift Emporium said, “We offer a variety of cards for all family members be it father, mother, brother, sister, friends or lover. There is something for every relationship. The trends among cards and gifts have moved from bulky to lighter, from showy to decent and cute,” he added.

Buyers were making a beeline at bakeries and confectionery shops today with orders being placed in large numbers. Heart-shaped cakes and pastries were much in demand.

Due to the intense security in Haridwar because of the mega fair, Valentine birds can feel safer this time compared to previous years. Staunch Hindu outfits like the Hindu Kranti Manch have warned couples not to ‘malign’ the Hindu culture, but anti V-Day protests have not attained a high pitch.

With the paramilitary forces and the state mela police at every nook and corner of the holy city, these outfits will not find it easy to rough up Valentine couples provided they keep a low profile and avoid public showoff.

Dehradun, February 13
Valentine’s Day is not only for young couples, but a day to celebrate love, affection and togetherness that can be celebrated with family and friends too. This was stated by Mamta Gurung, City President of the Mahanagar Mahila Congress Committee, today in a press conference held at Congress Bhawan here. She also condemned the activities of handful of goons who tried to spoil the sanctity of the festival.

The party announced their programme of visiting an oldage home on the occasion of Valentine’s Day tomorrow. The association members also expressed grief at the pain of loneliness homeless senior citizens go through, while youngsters are excited about exchanging gifts and flowers with each other.

She added, “Though the festival originates from the West, it conveys the message of affection and love, and therefore, we will visit an oldage home, Premdham, located on the Curzon Road, tomorrow to spend some time with those unfortunate people who are neglected by their own kin. We will give gifts and flowers to the inmates”.

Dehradun, February 13
The recent rain in the Doon valley has created a perfect romantic prelude to Valentine’s Day. But girls in the city have a different story to tell.Shagun, a college student, said, “I had to go to the college in the rain and now my hair has become very limp.” Others complained of having frizzy and unmanageable hair.

Sukrit, a student, said, “The damp weather and wearing a helmet makes trying out new hairstyles impossible. It is very dull”. Also, excessive use of heat-styling products in this weather damages the hair.

Ajay Thakur, hairstylist at Lakme Salon, said, “Hair damaged due to damp weather and other reasons can be cured through various treatments”.

The vital indulgence treatment to prevent hair loss, hydra indulgence to calm unruly hair and refresh indulgence to treat chemically damaged hair are some of the popular hair treatments. The salon also offers a college campus specials package exclusively for college students.

Some salons offer hair re-bonding therapy which is the best alternative to using hair straighteners. Ajay Thakur said, “Hair re-bonding has been replaced by the new hair straightening treatment. It does not cause frizz and lasts for one year unlike hair re-bonding which lasts for 4-5 months”.

However, Sarwar Ali, hairstylist at Wildcat, said, “The hair-straightening treatment is very expensive and includes several hair therapies which are mostly not well administered”.

He added that the hair-straightening treatment made the hair look dull. Seema Sadeque, at Wildcat said, “Asymmetrical blunt cut is a favourite among girls. Fun hair colours like red, green, violet, pink and blue are quite popular”.

Ali suggested having short hair and perming for boys to up their style quotient during rain.

The Shahnaz Hussain Signature Salon is another option to get ayurvedic treatment for damaged hair.

Dehradun, February 13
Losar or the Tibetan New Year falls on the Valentine’s Day this year making it all the more special. This year is the year of “Iron Tiger” according to the traditional Tibetan calendar. Traditionally, Losar is celebrated for 15 days, but the first three days are the most important. Tibetan dishes like ‘thukpa’, ‘khabsi’, ‘guthuk’, ‘changkol’ etc are also prepared.

Norden, a shop owner and member of Dundupling Tibetan Youth Association (DTYA), said, “Losar celebrations for the past three years have been a low-key affair as a mark of protest against Chinese atrocities in Tibet, especially the verdict of awarding death sentence to Tibetan protestors. This year too, we are silently protesting against this injustice in our own way. When our brothers and sisters in Tibet cannot celebrate Losar happily, how can we?”

He reminisced that in the past there used to be gatherings where everyone discussed their New Year resolutions and had fun at the Losar.

But for most Tibetans, it is the day of rejoicing and catching up with family and friends as the festivities extend to several days.

Tsering Bhutia, visiting her family for Losar, said, “On the first day we are supposed to stay at home and have a family gathering, but for youngsters it is party time all the way for 15 days. We play cards or other games and also have a special game in which we put coal, cotton, chilies etc in the ‘thukpa’. If a person gets coal in their ‘thukpa’ that means they have a ‘black heart’, cotton means having a ‘soft heart’, chilies mean that the person is talkative”.

She also added that youngsters have their own ways of celebrating the festival. With the changing times, they now prefer to play western music rather their own traditional Tibetan music. A fete is also organised where everybody plays cards, eats, drinks and makes merry.

Nitin, in town to celebrate Losar, said, “The 15-day Losar celebrations are like a vacation. The fete has not been taking place because the Rinpoche of the Nyigma Sect died and to protest against the Chinese violence in Tibet”.

The Losar fete at Clement Town is taking place this year, after a gap of three years. So youngsters in Doon have an exciting event to look forward to.

Some people also commented that the low-key celebration of the New Year has an adverse effect on Doon markets. “A Tibetan family spends an average of Rs 10,000 on decorations alone. But now due to protests, the celebrations have been toned down,” said a local shopkeeper.

Dehradun, February 13
Keeping its commitment for the well-being of students and teaching community at large, Green Field School, organised a face-to-face open house workshop on “Exam Phobia: Stress Management, Evaluation Process” here today.This is for the fourth consecutive year that the school has organised an interactive session with parents before the commencement of the final examinations.

Briefing about the workshop and philosophy of Green Field School, Reena Jaggi, Principal, described about the importance of such interactive workshops with parents, teachers and other experts, especially during exam time, when the pressure is high. “Sometime parents are not able to handle the situation on their own and therefore such interactive sessions provide them big support and help,” said Reena.

“Understanding the child psychology, their natural ability to perform during exams, their other interests in sports, arts and music has to be taken care during their grooming period in school,” said Anil Jaggi, Director of the school.

He also gave example of Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, who has taken many revolutionary steps to reduce the stress of students during exams, which otherwise is turning harmful for the society and young students in particular.

The parents equally appreciated the steps taken by the CBSE Board to transform evaluation process during the exams.

It is important to understand the difference between discipline and punishment and the habit of self-discipline needs to be cultivated among students at young age, asserted Archna Shukla, a teacher of MKP PG College.

Regular studies, proper diet and participation in physical activities are equally important to face the pressure of exams, added Archna Shukla. Parents need to set examples for kids as far as watching TV, eating habits and social life is concerned.

She said, “The value of results and marks is important but not everything, so parents has to acknowledge other important attributes of the child, Archana added.”

However, amid discussions, parents raised the issue of under achievers, low esteem/concentration, short temper, students living in isolation, poor time management, which were timely answered by present teachers and experts.

Guests present were Neha Gupta, Monika Pathak, Neha Tondan, Archna Chand, Anjani Bhandari, Sumit Sabarwal, Sakshi Bahuguna, Smriti Sharma and many students.

Dehradun, February 13
Carman School, Dalanwala, organised its annual sports day for primary and junior sections here today. The theme of the day was “Saving the Environment”.Tiny toddlers from nursery to class II participated in the event. Managing Director of Fliz S Haroon declared the sports open. The sports began with the primary school parade.

Arman and Bushra won the “Flower and the bees” race, while Madhavi and Jahanvi were placed second. Praptika and Mukul got the third spots.

Jay Kapoor and Astha Rawat were winners in the “Save endangered species” race, whereas Daksh Tyagi and Abhijeet Hellen bagged silver and Pragati and Adarsh Kumar a bronze.

In the “Say no to plastic” race, Alviron and Abhinav Jaiswal emerged winners followed by Vansh Kumar and Vaibhav Rawat, while the third spot was won by Chhaya Kumari and Himanshu Joshi.

Tanya and Vasu won the “Be kind to animals” race, Tanishk Sharma and Tanisha Singh came second in the race, while Kartikay and Monal were third.

In the “Plant more trees” race, Kartikay and Anshita Nautiyal were the winners, whereas Anurag and Ananya Bisht were second and Ansh and Panchi Malhotra third.

In the “Save our trees” race, Anushha, Kunal and Aman were the winners, while in the “Keep our country clean” race Serena Mann and Vanshraj were first, Anshul Rawat and Tanya Khan second and Mayank and Kriti Talwar third.

Dehradun, February 13
Gorkha Brigade will meet the 2/3 Gorkha Rifle team at the final of the second President’s Cup Football Tournament underway at Pavallion Ground here.In the first semifinal match, the Gorkha Brigade team defeated Uttarakhand Police in a close contest. Both the teams had well planned strategies and kept a close man-to-man check.

The Uttarakhand Police team came close on scoring the first goal in the 8th minute of the match. But strong defence put-up by Gorkha Brigade team denied them the scoring opportunity.

Thereafter attacks and counter attacks were seen from both sides, but none of them managed to score a goal. It was only in the closing minutes of the first half that Brigade team struck its first goal of the match making it 1-0.

It was Rajesh for the team who scored for his team in the 37th minute making it 1-0.

In the second half Brigade team managed to maintain the lead and won the match by a solitary goal.

Meanwhile, in the second semifinal match, 2/3 Gorkha Rifle beat Sunderwala Boys team by a solitary goal. The match was evenly poised right throughout with none of the team managing to score a goal.

It was only in the 88th minute of that the 2/3 Gorkha Rifle team scored it first goal through Himanshu, thus winning the match by 1-0. 

Roorkee, February 13
The Kaliyar Urs will start in a week’s time. This will put additional burden on the Roorkee police which is busy with the ongoing Maha Kumbh at Haridwar.

The local administration claimed that all arrangements to welcome and accommodate the ‘jaireens’ (pilgrims) would be in place on time. At least 5 lakh devotees are expected to visit the shrine.

Meetings at different levels are on among administrative officers, police, shrine authorities and officials of other concerned departments.

“To facilitate the ‘jaireens’, focus will be on basic necessities including medical, transportation, water, electricity, toilets and bathrooms and safety. Directions to the departments concerned have been issued,” said the local authorities.

While the Health Department has been directed to set up at least 150 extra toilets in the mela area, the Transport Department has been asked to ply special buses with proper stickers for the pilgrims from Roorkee railway station to the shrine.

According to the Transport Department, a total of eight buses with a label ‘Urs Special’ will be ply during the mela.

Under medical arrangements, a four-bed hospital will be set up in the mela area while 24 beds will be reserved for pilgrims in the Civil Hospital, Roorkee, claimed the authorities concerned.

To maintain law and order, policemen in required number will be deployed in the area. “We have divided the area into 14 sectors. Besides that, CCTVs have been put up in the area to keep vigil on the mischievous elements,” said Roshan Lal Sharma, SP (Rural).

As incidents of drowning of pilgrims occur every year, divers along with motorboats will be deployed in the Gang Canal where pilgrims take a holy dip before ‘jiyarat’.

Lakhs of pilgrims turn up to celebrate Urs here from across the country and abroad, especially from Pakistan. It is not yet clear whether pilgrims from Pakistan will come this time or not.