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Solar eclipse casts shadow on pilgrim city
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Mixed reaction in Doon
202nd birth anniversary of Louis Braille Uttarakhand Governor Margaret Alva honours Jyotsna, a probationary officer in a bank at Gaya; and (right) Ajay Prasad Dhanak, assistant manager, Dr Reddy’s Laboratory, at a function to honour visually handicapped persons in Dehradun on Tuesday. Also seen is Anuradha Mohit, Director of the NIVH. Tribune photographs
Nupur Jain
Dinkar has uncontrollable desire to amass knowledge
TD Dinkar
Road Safety Week
Workshop on personality development held
Deepak’s hat-trick trips UPS
Motorcycle expedition flagged off from Doon School
State v’ball meet begins today
Sumit, Ashish take TCA into final
Rao Academy win friendly match
2/3 Gorkha Rifle tame U’khand Tigers
Bigwigs visit ice-skating rink
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Solar eclipse casts shadow on pilgrim city
Haridwar, January 4 Though at various places of the country, the eclipse tenure varied, in Haridwar the eclipse started at 3:08 pm extending till 3:50 pm for 42 minutes. The time may be short, but it almost put brakes on the city’s religious-ritual life with deserted roads and markets, indicating that the eclipse still casts its shadow on people, even though it may be the era of IT and cellular phones. Both enthusiasm and fear were visible among people prior and during the solar eclipse. Traditionalists were seen adhering to the dos and don’ts during the eclipse period. Like people refrained from moving out in the open, avoided eating or drinking and even didn’t sleep during the perod when the moon come between the Sun and the Earth. More orthodox ones even had a bath prior to the eclipse and one after its completion, besides filling fresh water for drinking and cooking purposes. Though the younger generation was seen not quite affected with the eclipse, still many were seen changing their tuition, sports, outing or dating times. Universities had made special arrangements to make sure that people saw the eclipse in a safe and appropriate manner. Dev Sanskriti University and Gurukul University had already spread awareness among students on right viewing. With the cosmology department being a separate department in Dev Sanskriti University, enthusiasm and buzz was more among students. Temples remain closed
Due to the solar eclipse all the temples, shrines and akhadas remained closed with even traditional morning rituals and lighting of aartis not being done. The opening of temples and matths was done with cleaning done with the holy Ganga jal and milk. The Har-ki-Pauri area, pilgrim shrines and temples were without devotees owing to the closure of the temples, but in the evening the buzz once again normalised at these places. Many devotees were caught by surprise seeing temples closed in the morning too, particularly the temples devoted to Lord Hanuman, as today being Tuesday, people offer prayer to Lord Hanuman and observe fast.
Post eclipse, buzz returns at ghats
As soon as the clock crossed the 3:50 pm mark, devotees in large numbers thronged the Ganga ghat to make sure that the ill effects, if any, of the eclipse got away. Thousands of people were seen at the Ganga ghats taking a holy dip till late evening. Devotees were also seen chanting hymns, mantras, reading holy scriptures and offering water to the Sun God. Despite the cold wave prevalent in the region, people took a dip with full fervour while many preferred to take bath at home only. Tourists coming from Mussoorie, Dehradun and Garhwal region too preferred to take a dip after the solar eclipse was over, as many, as per notion, avoided travelling during the period.
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Mixed reaction in Doon
Dehradun, January 4 Thousands of people witnessed a unique celestial phenomenon of partial solar eclipse that lasted for less than an hour. The eclipse could be seen in the northern part of India, besides Europe, Arabian Peninsula, North Africa and Western Asia. The solar eclipse started from 12.10 pm and the phenomenon continued till 4.30 pm in India. The shadow of the Moon covered Kutch, parts of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. In Dehradun, the eclipse commenced from 3:12 pm and culminated at 3:52 pm. The effect of the solar eclipse was also seen during the day. Some people went on fast and offered prayers to their deities, while others avoided cooking or having food during the period of the eclipse. Some believe that pregnant women should avoid sewing or using knife and scissors during the eclipse, as it could lead to deformities in newborn babies. Preeti Mittal, an astrologer, said: “The solar eclipse has no ill-effects on the Earth or on any zodiac. It’s just a celestial phenomenon that occurs every year. It has nothing to do with any individual or their zodiacs,” she added. “It’s all rumour that six eclipses that will occur this year are just the beginning of a catastrophe befalling the Earth in 2012. No such activity will occur. Fake astrologers are just running their shops through mythical predictions. One should never panic due to these rumours,” she asserted. Meanwhile, children were quite excited to watch the solar eclipse. Karthik, a student, said: “We saw the celestial activity with sunglasses on which we had fixed a filter. Many other people saw the solar eclipse using special sunglasses, smoked glass, camera film, but we made sure that we didn’t watch it as told by our teachers”.However, priests at the Kali Mata temple performed a mahayagya during the solar eclipse. “It is believed that the solar eclipse is the process of Rahu and Ketu (evil planets) overshadowing Surya (Sun). In order to ease the pain of the Sun and neutralise the radiations of negative energies on Earth, mahayagyas are performed,” said Bhagwati Chand, one of the priests at the temple. Most of the people stayed indoors during the eclipse and preferred reading holy books. “There are no adverse effects of an eclipse on any individual. One should consider it as a regular phenomenon, which will only affect the climate. Avoid panicking due to the rumours about any natural devastation. Reading holy books and chanting mantras can save oneself from the radiations of the negative energies released during an eclipse,” said Dr Suresh Kapil, an astrologer.
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202nd birth anniversary of Louis Braille For trouble-free disbursement of pension to the physically challenged Tribune News Service
Dehradun, January 4 “It will save the disabled from inconvenience and also ensure that the government pension scheme is easily accessible,” said Alva. She was speaking at a programme to mark the 202nd birth anniversary of Louis Braille, the inventor of a system of writing and printing for the visually impaired. “The invention of Braille helped visually impaired persons realise their talent. What an electrifying experience it must have been at that point in time. Later on, even the famous Helen Keller remarked that the precious aid was helping her give shape to her thoughts like a spider uses its web,” emphasised Alva. Praising the significant contribution of the NIVH, Alva commended the Director for having completed 115 research projects out of 123. Speaking on the occasion, Director of the NIVH Anuradha Mohit said that the institute has set ambitious goals for itself that would be achieved in the coming years. “We need to do much more to make reading material accessible to the blind. To that end, we need to develop new codes and also fine tune the existing ones in keeping with the changing times,” she said. The Dehradun-based NIVH played a crucial role in the development of Bhartiya Braille, a system that paved the way for a single code. Prior to that, different regions in India had different Braille codes making communication among visually impaired persons very difficult. It also played a role in developing mutation system codes for science and mathematics. In order to consolidate and regulate standards of Braille production, design of Braille appliances including a Braille conversion software, the government has recently established the Braille Council of India under the aegis of the NIVH. On the occasion, the institute honoured staff members of three departments for achieving targets - Lass Director Braille Press Kripanandan, Jagdish Lakehra TPO, Rehabilitation for Disabled Persons, Bhaskar Gurung, Chanderlal Podar, Ramesh Kumar and P Kala. An orchestra band from Adarsh Model School presented a show of ghazals and popular songs.
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Nupur is a keen mountaineer and loves sports
Dehradun, January 4 “My journey from darkness to light began when I lost my eyesight at the age of nine. I managed to reconcile myself to the emotional holocaust and realised that life would be very different for me now onwards. I plunged myself into studies and after schooling I decided to pursue a management course in Human Behaviour from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences,” she said. A senior executive with Wipro in the Human Resource Department, she takes great interest in understanding human behaviour by exploring the hidden and the not so subtle. “I trained around 30 individuals at Wipro in capacity-building exercise and today they are happy to have achieved their personal and professional goals,” said Nupur. Recognising her achievements, Governor of Uttarakhand Margaret Alva today conferred the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped (NIVH) Excellence Award on her at a function to mark Louis Braille’s birth anniversary. It was a big achievement for Nupur to pursue management studies and then pass out with flying colours. The availability of books and reading material has not kept pace with the aspiration level of visually challenged persons. “The availability of books and reading material continues to be a deterrent. But thanks to the National Blind Association and the Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY) library, I could read what persons with normal eyesight were reading,” she added. Born in Narnaul district of Haryana, it was her parents’ support and perseverance that gave wings to her dreams. Though she finds the atmosphere at Wipro good, she still feels a lot needs to be done to improve the environment enabling the physically challenged to study well. “It is one thing to be a votary of equal opportunities and quite another to actually go about implementing them,” averred Nupur. Not a nerd by any yardstick, Nupur is also a keen mountaineer and loves sports. “One has to push oneself beyond one’s limits and I think sporting activities provide you such opportunities,” said Nupur.
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Dinkar has uncontrollable desire to amass knowledge Like every Indian TD Dinkar, too, harboured a dream of clearing the Indian Administrative Examination and losing eyesight to a muscular degenerative disease did not deter him from achieving his goal. “I wanted to do everything that people of my age and with normal eyesight were doing. You might fault my behaviour but I never had unbridled ambition but only uncontrollable desire to amass knowledge,” said Dinkar He cleared the examination in 2001 that too when the Central Government was yet to announce a reservation policy for the disabled. “Clearing the IAS examination in 2001 was a turning point in my life. It filled me with exhilaration and confidence. I had finally arrived,” said Dinkar. His feat made him bag the NIVH Excellence Award that was conferred upon him by Alva. He is at present posted as Divisional Personnel officer, Indian Railways, in Chennai. A plodder throughout his life, Dinkar never adopted short cuts and began from scratch by learning shorthand, typing and computer-based applications. “Soon I moved on to acquiring degrees and diplomas. These are not trophies of personal glorification but a reminder of the hard fought battle when I burnt the midnight oil,” he added. Not willing to allow the laid back attitude of a bureaucrat’s life get the better of him, he is conscious that he has a role to play in the disabled people’s fight for full integration in society. “Now I have set my sights on developing an e-speech synthesiser in the Unicode font with my collaborator in the United Kingdom. I guess it will prove to be another milestone for the disabled persons,” added Dinkar. Other winners Besides Jyotsna, a probationer officer with Allahabad Bank in Gaya (Bihar), TD Chakravorty, who cleared the Tamil Nadu Government Law examination and is the Assistant Editor of a Tamil Law journal, and Ajay Prakash Dhanak, Assistant Manager with Reddy’s Laboratory, Hyderabad, were also conferred the NIVH Excellence Award.
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Painting contest held
Tribune News Service
Dehradun, January 4 Addressing the seminar, Sunita informed the students about the safety measures that should be taken while driving. She emphasised on wearing helmet by the two-wheeler riders, paying special attention when traffic lights turn red and on pedestrians using the zebra crossing. The painting and quiz competition was also based on the theme of road safety wherein participants were questioned on the subject. Also present on the occasion were Sahilesh Tiwari, Assiatant Transport Officer, Surender Kumar, Public Transport Officer, Umeshwar Singh Rawat, patron, SC Baunthiyal, Rakesh Devli, Traffic Inspector and others.
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Workshop on personality development held
Dehradun, January 4 “Today, in the age of globalisation, privatisation and liberalisation, every educational organisation has to sell its quality in reference to curriculum, pedagogy, student services, value-based education, placement, social responsibilities and nation-building activities etc. Therefore, from a CEO to a security personnel and from a Vice-Chancellor to a student, everybody must know the nuances of sales, skill of a sales personnel and personality required to become an effective sales individual,” said Nicholas David Ross, personality grooming trainer from Hyderabad. He also emphasised on sensitive handling, involving of human elements in teaching and interaction technique. He stated that often some teachers are considered great though they may not be as proficient in the subject as are other teachers. The best explanation for this could be that these teachers possess good human skills. Unless teachers possess good human skills they cannot be called good teachers. Ross with the help of a group-pedagogy technique dealt with time-management, assertiveness, team-building and influencing skills. Dr DK Giri, Dean, Faculty of Education, welcomed the expert by presenting a sapling as part of the culture of the department to sensitise people towards environmental protection. Archana Thapliyal, academic coordinator, coordinated the workshop. From SAP IUD Suman Kapil, Tanisha and Deepika organised the activities. At the end, Dr Priyanka, faculty member, Faculty of Education, presented a memento to the expert.
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Deepak’s hat-trick trips UPS
Dehradun, January 4 The UPS team was an easy prey for the DD Club that rained goals. They started the attack on UPS as early as the third minute of the play through Shahdab. This was followed by a hurricane hat-trick by Deepak Rawat of the winning side to break the backbone of their rivals. He struck goals in the ninth, 20th and 41st minutes of the game. Harinder (43rd, 50th) scored a brace to add to the increasing tally of the DD Club. Sonu (55th) too chipped in with a goal. On the other hand, Rahul was the only hope for UPS who netted two goals to give some confidence to his team. He scored in the 16th and 36th minute of the match. Tomorrow, DD Club will face Doon Hawks at 3 pm.
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Motorcycle expedition flagged off from Doon School
Dehradun, January 4 The above amount included expenses to meet the cost of biking gear like jackets, pants, hand gloves, cotton head masks, skin tights, helmets, shoes and GPS units. An adventurous team, comprising mainly teachers of The Doon School and a few members of the administrative staff, are undertaking the motorcycle expedition from Dehradun to Diu and back via New Delhi-Jaipur-Ajmer-Udaipur-Gandhinagar-Bhavnagar. The expedition members will spread important messages of national and humanitarian concern like “Saving the Girl Child”, “Save Mother Earth”, “Save the Forests”, “Plant More Trees”, “Education for All” and “International Peace and Fellowship” by displaying banners, distributing pamphlets and organising talks en route.
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State v’ball meet begins today
Pithoragarh, January 4 “Twelve volleyball teams including the ones from Uttarakhand Police, SSB, PAC, Gopeshwar, Sports Hostel Dehradun, Dehradun, Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar, Almora, Haldwani and Pithoragarh will participate in the meet which is being co-sponsored by the District Sports Promotion Committee,” said Vinod Singh Waldia, District Sports Officer. The competition will be inaugurated by Pithoragarh District Magistrate NS Negi. Hari Dutt Kapri, basketball player and Arjuna Award winner, will be the chief guest. The final and prize distribution ceremony will take place on January 7 in the presence of local MLA and Uttarakhand Drinking Water Minister Prakash Pant.
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Sumit, Ashish take TCA into final
Winning the toss, TCA chose to bat first. Its innings revolved around Sumit hit 19 fours and three sixes. He was ably supported by Lalit (50*) who contributed with an important partnership in the later part of the innings. TCA scored 252 runs in 35 overs losing six wickets. Subham of Doon Boys was the most successful bowler getting three wickets. Sameer Khan took two wickets. Batting second, Doon Boys utterly failed to match the performance of their opponents. The team was bundled out for 100 runs in 29.1 overs. Tushar (25) and Tarang Rawat (23) were their main scorers. Ashish of TCA claimed five wickets. Preetam got three wickets. Sports Trainees will lock horns with TCA in the final tomorrow.
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Rao Academy win friendly match
In the competition, the teams have been divided into eight groups. The tournament’s matches will restart from tomorrow and the organisers have released the schedule of all the matches. Tomorrow, two matches will be played. Uttarakhand Cricket Academy will take on SIDCUL and Vikasnagar will meet Purohit CA. On January 6, Doon Combined will face Friends Club and Helix CC will play against NICS Doiwala.
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2/3 Gorkha Rifle tame U’khand Tigers
Dehradun, January 4 Gobind of the winning team scored the first goal in the eighth minute. A good competition was witnessed between the two teams, but no more goals came in the first half. In the second half, the GR team struck again through SP Joshi (45th minute) before the Tigers could roar. Uttarakhand Tigers made a few attempts at the goal, but they all proved futile. In the second hard-fought match, Sunderwala Boys managed to edge past Garhwal Sporting 5-4 via sudden death. The score at the end of regulation time was 0-0. Then, a penalty shootout was held. At the end of the shootout, both teams were locked at 4-4. This led to sudden death which Sunderwala won. Vikram, Abhishek, Virender, Santosh and Anil were the successful scorers for the winning side. For Garhwal Sporting, Pardeep, Balam, Prashant and Vijyant scored.
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Bigwigs visit ice-skating rink
Dehradun, January 4 They discussed important points with the Winter Games Federation of India (WGFI) in respect of the event. Prakash Chand Thapliyal, spokesperson of the federation, said Tiwari praised the ice-skating rink and said it would make the state centre of this sport. Meanwhile, artistes, who will perform on the inauguration day of the event on January 10, reached Doon today. The Games will be inaugurated by Sports Minister MS Gill on January 10. After the ice-skating events at Doon, the skiing events will be played at Auli from January 14 to 16.
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The National Institute for the Visually Handicapped (NIVH) should set up a facilitation centre for the trouble-free disbursement of pension to the physically challenged, said Margaret Alva, Governor of
Uttarakhand, today.
Like every Indian TD Dinkar, too, harboured a dream of clearing the Indian Administrative Examination and losing eyesight to a muscular degenerative disease did not deter him from achieving his goal.
“I wanted to do everything that people of my age and with normal eyesight were doing. You might fault my behaviour but I never had unbridled ambition but only uncontrollable desire to amass knowledge,” said Dinkar
He cleared the examination in 2001 that too when the Central Government was yet to announce a reservation policy for the disabled.
A hat-trick by Deepak Rawat helped Dehradun (DD) Club post a 7-2 victory against Uttarakhand Power Sector (UPS) in the District Hockey League Championship for Boys held here today at Shri Guru Nanak Public Boys Inter College, Chukhuwala.
The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has sponsored the motorcycle expedition organised by The Doon School to mark the school's platinum jubilee celebrations. The expedition was flagged off from The Doon School. Earlier, the ONGC had presented a cheque of Rs 6,16,011 to the school.
Dehradun, January 4
Dehradun, January 4
In a league match played today, 2/3 Gorkha Rifle beat Uttarakhand Tigers 2-0 during the Great Vivekanand Memorial Football Tournament at the Pavilion Ground here.