Are you a problem parent?
By Kuldip Dhiman

AFTER being beaten mercilessly with a leather belt, the eight-year-old boy was dragged out of his house by his father. He was then stripped off his clothes and tied to a street pole. As he hung his head in shame and tried to avoid the penetrating gaze of children and grown-ups who had gathered to watch the spectacle, his father shaved off the helpless boy’s head with a razor blade. What had the little boy done to deserve such a barbaric punishment? The father had found a couple of cigarette butts in his son’s pocket. By punishing him in this manner, the father hoped that his son would never smoke a cigarette again in his life.

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• Dumb and more dumb,
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• A truant student, an ideal teacher!
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• Food for thought,
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• The beauty of flowers,
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• Multiple personality,
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• Cashing in on Kargil,
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• Autobiography of a controversial writer,
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• The joyous stylist,
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• YOUR OPTION: Try and try again,
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• FAUJI BEAT: JCOs, too, have a role to play,
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• SUGAR 'N' SPICE: From China with flavour,
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• NATURE: Will you step into my parlour?
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• WIDE ANGLE: A classic remake,
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• FILM & TV: An out-and-out Suman show,
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• BOLLYWOOD BHELPURI: A weighty problem,
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