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January 14, 2002, Chandigarh, India
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SCHOOL BUZZ Mothers are always heard complaining that bad eating habits of their children drive them up the wall. The nutritious food drives kids away, who’d rather dig their teeth into a sumptuous but harmful junk grub. Kids on their part want moms to churn out mouth-watering delicacies. This is probably the reason why culinary expert, Ms Rano Suri has come out with a book titled, Food For Kids. The Union Minister for Law, Justice and Company Affairs, Mr Arun Jaitely released the book. He praised Ms. Suri’s efforts and said that the book would be useful for mothers. The book contains recipes for 55 delicious dishes. The book brought out as a part of the Happy Mothers series includes nutritious breakfast ideas, tasty munches and new ways to make veggies taste good.
Sports Meet The G.H.P.S. Loni Road was abuzz with excitement as the school celebrated the Annual Sports Meet. The three-day event witnessed a perfect display of March Past, colourful drills and athletics. The Lt. Governor of Delhi, Mr Vijai Kapoor, Chairman of the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Committee, Mr Avatar Singh Hit and Chairman of the school, Mr S.S.S. Bajwa were present on the occasion. The Principal of the school, Mr J.S. Ghuman, presented the guests with shawls and
mementos. Mr Vijai Kapoor felicitated the students for their performance and emphasised the need for having quality education in schools. Among those awarded for bringing laurels to the schools are, Shantanu and Gurdeep Singh, who represented the school at national level, Yashika Luthra, Yogesh Kumar and Deepak Uniyal who made achievements at the state level and Arun Menon, Inderpal Soni and Anika Sareen who adjudged best athletes of the school.
Visitors from
Australia
Teachers from all over Australia will be visiting Delhi for a week. This is the fourth batch of teachers coming to India. They will be visiting various schools to learn more about the country and the teaching methods. TEACH - a body formed in collaboration with the Australian High Commission and Australia Education International body, celebrated Lori in the Guru Harkrishan Public School, Vasant Vihar. The function will include a programme of Punjabi folk songs and dance. The artifacts of Punjabi origin will also be shown to the visiting teachers. Among those who will attend the function are, the Education Minister, Raj Kumar Chauhan, Chairman of CBSE, Mr Ashok Ganguly, Secretary of CBSE, Mr B.R. Sharma, Secretary of Punjabi Academy, Mr. Rawail Singh and other senior officials from the Australian High Commission.
Bicentennial celebration As a part of the celebrations of the bicentennial celebration of the coronation of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, a play Sher-e-Punjab - Maharaja Ranjit Singh, was staged in Guru Harkrishan Guru Harkrishan Public School, Shahdara. The play based on the life of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, was directed by Kewal Dhaliwal and transported the audience back into time. The Vice President of DSGMC, S. Shamsher Singh Sandhu was the Chief Guest, Secretary Punjabi Academy, S. Rawail Singh, President Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, S. Chiranjeev Singh and SDM, S. Pritam Singh were also present. The Principal of the school, Mr. Ghuman welcomed the guests, who praised for the production. In his address the Chief Guest said the play had brought to light many important facts about the life of the great leader.
Coaching centre FIITJEE, a coaching centre for those who wish to make it to the IIT, will conduct an Intensive Contact Program for IIT-JEE 2002 from the 15th of this month. This program will be conducted for the first time in Delhi, Amritsar, Bhopal, Dehradun, Gwalior, Meerut and Raibareilly for five weeks of 100 hours duration. In Chandigarh, Chennai, Lucknow and Ranch it will be conducted for four weeks for 96 hours duration. The program includes specifically and strategically formulated assignments with problem solving techniques besides tests and lectures. The Contact Program, based on specialised study material includes Grand Masters Package and Mini test Series.
Students awarded The students of the Jain community, who have excelled in studies, were honoured in a function held in the Capital recently by the Digamber Jain Samaj. The Union Minister for textiles, Mr Dhanajay Kumar gave away the prizes to those students, who has scored more than 90 per cent in their board exams. Upadh. Gian Sagar Ji Maharaj called for unity and said that we must be ready to give up ourselves for the sake of the nation. While honouring the students, he reminded them of their moral duty towards the community and the country. He highlighted the importance of Lord Mahavira’s teachings in the present times. Sagar Ji Maharaj explained that Mahavira’s lesson of non-violence prohibits deforestation and over exploitation of natural resources. He added that their use should be based on perpetual sustainability to ensure balanced ecological conditions. And if those teachings were followed conservationists and ecologists would not have to worry about the deteriorating conditions of the ecology.
Computer Yojana
In order to take computer education to the doorstep of those who have little or no access to it, Massif Techno-Research and Info development Pvt. Ltd. has started Rashtriya Computer Swa-Rojgar Yojana. The idea is to take computer education to the door of the learners and providing access to high quality computer education to those who cannot afford it. The specially designed curriculum consisting of comprehensive courses in software programming as well as short-term courses to students and motivate them to become self-employed. The Minister of State for Health, Dr A.K. Walia, inaugurated the programme last week. He welcomed the programme and said that increased literacy brings about positive changes in the society and is helpful in checking population explosion as well. Citing the example of Kerala, Dr Walia said that because of high literacy rate the growth of population has come down in the state.
Debate competition The North West District Traffic Police organised a debate at Mata Jai Kaur Public School in Ashok Vihar. The topic was ‘Creating Traffic Consciousness Is The Responsibility of The Government’. While six students spoke against the motion, four spoke for the motion. In between there was an interjection round were students could pose questions to the speakers. Karneet Kaur of class XI won the prize for the best interjector. Through her question, she asked why is arousing traffic consciousness only the responsibility of the government and as responsible people why don’t we cooperate with the government?
Inception Day In the memory of Late Chand Arora, Annual Inception day was celebrated at Defence Enclave based Bal Mandir Sr. Sec. School. The Lt. Governor of Delhi, Mr Vijai Kapoor, inaugurated the programme and lit the inaugural lamp. The students presented a cultural programme on the occasion and performed two plays, “Gulami se Aaj tak” and “Sansad Pe Hamla”. |
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MOVING FINGER Life in Punjab is a mela. It is about a crowd of happy-go-lucky people – men, women and children who get together to have boisterous and joyful time. It is about song and dance, eats and drinks, games and gossip. Time was when there was no need to put up a façade of the mela in the shape of tents, banners and hoardings at a particular place. Life itself was a mela round the clock or what the Italians say, ‘la dolce vita’ (the sweet life). There used to be spontaneous crowds of people, groups coming in processions from villages and small towns and congregating in an open space. Many would bring their tiffin. The occasion could be a religious or social festival or even a national holiday. There would not be people who throw their weight around. No police to manage crowds or traffic. The elderly folks would maintain the order. It was all fun. The youngsters would break into impromptu dances, not the kind of drilled steps, described as Bhangra today. Groups of women, both young and old, went about singing. Sometimes, there were swings and other simple games which did not cost a bomb. There would be vendors selling snacks like ‘packoras’ and ‘samosas’, inexpensive sweets and trinkets which women in particular liked to buy. Of course, there were those ‘cinema wallas’ showing pictures like “Barah Man Ki Dhoban” and “Bhands” (traditional comedians). Besides, the so-called hypnotists who would sell tooth-powder. The whole place was bubbling with life. There was no order and yet everything was so orderly. There were no sponsors, no banners, no gates, no boundaries, no canopies. There was no stage either with expensive sound system. But there was a lot of ‘joie de vivre’. Gone are those days. I was reminded of those days in the Punjab of yore when I visited the Punjabi Mela at Talkatora Gardens recently. It is different these days. It perhaps costs money for everything now. Mela land to be spruced up, stalls to be put up and the like. I wonder why they had thatched roof as it did not represent Punjab in any way. Sure, there was no entry fee, only Rs 10 for parking the vehicle. Anyway, the three sponsors must have spent a packet to put up the show, including the stage and enclosure for the cultural programme in the evening. There were stalls selling eats – popcorns, ice cream, chaat, Chinese dishes, Biryani and so on. Of course, there was saag and makki ki roti. There was traditional furniture on sale, but there could have been many more items of Punjabi crafts which would appeal to a visitor. There could also have been a lot more games and fun during the day. No wonder, the place looked rather empty that time of the day. I deliberately visited the fair in the afternoon of Sunday but even then there were few visitors. It was no mela. By the by, mela is defined as a crowd or a fair. Stamp search Those love to call it a National Capital Region where almost all the facilities are available, may be in for a rude shock. This one is from Gurgaon, considered to be the most important of the satellite towns. I needed some stamps to post letters. Now, you need a four-rupee stamp for an envelope and 50-paise stamp for a post card. These, naturally, would be most in demand. I was surprised when my son who had gone to buy four-rupee stamps from the nearby post office, told me that they had only 25-paise stamps and all others were out of stock. I did not believe it. If you have to paste 25-paise stamps on an envelope, you will need 16 of them and there will be no space left for writing an address! I decided to go to the main post office of the town, thinking it would be well stocked. I was in for a surprise. I went to the window for bulk sales as I needed quite a lot of them. The man at the counter who came after lunch, said that he had only 25-paise stamps. I had seen him giving two kinds of stamps behind the counter to somebody. When told about it, he tried to pull a fast one and said he had only 25-paise and 15-rupee stamps. Perhaps he thought that I would give up as I would not buy either. I persisted as I had cooled my heels for more than 45 minutes. I asked him to show me the register. Once cornered, he came up with the information that he had stamps for the following denominations: - Rs 15, Rs 10, Rs 3, 25 paise, 15 paise and 10 paise. I decided to buy those worth Rs 3, but he said that he would give me 30 and not 25 as he believed in round figures. I agreed to buy 30. Then, he said he wanted exact change, that is, Rs 90 as he could not give me a balance of Rs 10 if I gave him a 100-rupee note. I agreed to this also. All this took over 20 minutes and the rest of the queue had been left with just 10 minutes before the window was closed. Was he just trying to putt off the customers. I had to go to Delhi to buy Re 1 stamps to make it four rupees for posting my envelopes. Some efficiency, postal system!
Bawana of future Bawana used to be a small, sleepy village off Grand Trunk Road just before you enter Delhi. It is a noisy, dusty place on way to becoming perhaps the largest industrial estate of the country. Three thousand industrial plots have already been allotted to the owners of industries, relocated from Delhi residential areas, considered polluting and, therefore, a public nuisance and health hazard. Another 12,000 such plots are being prepared and will be allotted when ready. The once-sleepy village will have 15,000 industrial units—we do not know if they will be health hazards. Only time will tell. The State Government, on its part, has foolproof plans for the place. They will build dwelling units for the workers of these factories at Bawana so that they do not create slums. We are told that most of the farmers who had acres of farmland and sold it for square metre rates are happy. They have made pots of money. Some of them have cars and other city amenities. It has been distributed among sons and sons-in-law. The village of 5,000 population and about a score of shops once, is already crowded. Many are not happy. Vakil Om Prakash Sharma is one of them. He had preferred his ancestral village after having lived and studied in bigger cities and shifted here in 1960 to make it as his base for practising law at Tis Hazari courts. He built a house but has of late shifted to Delhi city itself. What is the difference between the city and the village, he asks. He will get a good rent from his house but will miss his village.
litter management There is nothing to laugh about it. Managing garbage in Delhi is a serious business. If you know about the size of its population, the amount of garbage, sold waste in a sophisticated language, and the limited ways to dispose it of, you would have an idea of how grave the problem is. Fortunately for the authorities, somebody in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi has decided to solve this problem in all seriousness. So far, it has been dumped at filling sites selected out of depressions, which are later developed into parks or utilised for some other purpose. But there would have to be a limit to such sites in a city which does not have enough land for its residents to sleep on. What should be done? They decided to covert it into compost and sell it to the farmers. But the economics did not work as it turned out to be costly for them. It did not sell. There is a move to subsidise it in the next plan and make it more attractive. Some entrepreneurs have come forward to export it to countries like Saudi Arabia. Incidentally, all this will be in private sector. One of them is going to convert at least 500 tonnes of solid waste into compost daily and export it. The MOU has already been signed. More parties are expected. Another interesting enterprise likely is to make tallow oil and chicken feed from meat waste. There is about 200 tonnes of meat waste every day. The Corporation is happy as more such queries are being made and garbage may become big business one day.
Artist Prem Singh Prem Singh, an artist of international repute who retired as principal of the Government College of Art, Chandigarh, has decided to make Delhi his home after retirement. He has been allotted a studio by the Lalit Kala Academy at Garhi near Lajpat Nagger. The National Gallery of Modern Art has made him a member of its Advisory Committee. The art circles have known him as the one who got Triennial Award for Art and who has numerous exhibitions to his credit in many cities. Those connected with social causes have known him as a dedicated teacher who organized workshops to train children and others and as a social activist who worked for environment preservation and promotion of culture. He was a participant in various cultural activities in Chandigarh. Delhi and the NCR towns will be the gainers, however. Prem Kumar |
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