HEALTH

‘India rich source of faith healing’
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 3
Even as Indian psychiatrists debate over various aspects of faith healing, Prof Antii Pakaslathi, a psychiatrist from Finland, says that faith healers and witch doctors in India may well turn out to be a great cultural resource for persons facing mental-health problems. The possibility of this being true is more so in view of scant mental-health facilities here.

“In India, about 80 per cent of all persons seeking help for mental-health problems, first, consult local traditional healers, be it in villages or big cities,” he says. He had come to India to attend the International Congress on Child and Allied Psychiatry that concluded in New Delhi yesterday. In the past few years, he has extensively toured India to study transcultural aspects of traditional healing in India. He is a Professor of the University of Oulu Department of Psychiatry in Finland.

He is keen to conduct a joint study with his Indian colleagues on the scientific aspects of faith healing. He has discussed this with doctors in the PGI, but getting finance for the task is a problem. “Immigrants to the West from developing countries like India have immense faith in these traditional healers. Some of them even travel back to their country to receive treatment for mental-health problems from ‘fakirs’ and ‘sadhus’ at various shrines,” he says.

“Though little scientific research has been done on traditional cultural resources, a bridge between culture and modern psychology can be made for treating mentally ill patients in ways that respect their sentiments,” says Dr Pakaslathi. A study on this aspect has been conducted by Prof Tobie Nathan in the University of Paris.

The number of patients and their families visiting traditional healers is on the rise, showing that patients do benefit in some or the other way. Before being definite, however, a scientific study to test the efficacy of these traditional methods is a must, he says.

Dr Pakaslathi has visited Hindu and Muslim shrines in north and south India. He has seen the popularity of these shrines increasing, for which, factors like cultural prestige, hope and expectations, peer support group, low expenses, easy availability, congenial religious idiom and scant mental-health facilities are responsible.

Dr Antii Pakaslahti, who speaks a fluent Hindi, has visited the shrines of Balaji, Badayun, Matka Pir and Mahanubhav in north India and Gunaseelam, Chotanikkara, Shabarimalai and Murugmalla in south India. “I love India, its people and the culture; and I need to keep coming here frequently to remain fit and in good mental health,” he says. He says that there are many other parts of the world, like Africa, South America and North America, where, too, people have immense faith in traditional healers.

SPORTS

Godrej club humble Panchkula club
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 3
Superb batting by Manav Asopa (86 n.o., 73 balls, 9x4, 4x6) enabled Godrej Cricket Club defeat Panchkula Cricket Club by 113 runs in the inaugural Shirdi Sai Cup Cricket Tournament here today.

After winning the toss and electing to bat, Godrej Cricket Club were in dire straits as they lost four wickets for 38 runs . Manav repaired the early damage with fine partnerships with Vaneet Chawla (34) and naresh Saini (26). Godrej club reached 100 runs after 21 overs. The last four overs changed the complexion of the game as Manav struck 41 runs off just 17 balls to enable Godrej club to score 172 runs in 25 overs.

Chasing the target, Panchkula club were never in the race as wickets fell at regular intervals. Only Ravi Shankar (21), Arun Sood (17) and Gaurav (16) could reach double figures as the entire team was bundled out for a paltry 59 runs.

Brief scores: (Godrej CC: 172 for 7 in 25 overs (Manav Asopa 86 n.o., Vaneet Chawla 34, Madan Lal 29 n.o., Naresh Saini 21; Dhirender 3 for 17, Ranjeet Rana 2 for 24).

Panchkula CC: 59 all out (Ravi Shankar 21, Arun Sood 17, Gaurav 16; Satish chaudhry 3 for 14, Umesh Kaira 2 for 11, Ajay Bhardwaj 2 for 18).

Jai Kapil shines

A fine all-round performance by Jai kapil (51 n.o. and 4 for 14) was not enough as Satluj Coaching Centre tied their crucial match with IDS. XI in a league encounter of the ninth JAL Cup league cricket tournament here today.

Requiring 10 runs off the last over and two runs off the last ball, Satluj coaching centre batsmen, chasing a total of 122 runs in 22 overs, took the required two runs, but umpire Baljeet Bawa ruled one run short and the match was declared a tie.

Brief scores:

IDS XI: 122 all out (Lalit Joshi 41, Vishal Radi 21; jai Kapil 4 for 14, Ravinder 3 for 19, Surinder Chauhan 2 for 19).

Satluj Coaching Centre: 122 for 7 (jai Kapil 51 n.o., Pawan Chaudhry 18, mandeep 18, Rahul 17; Lalit Joshi 3 for 21, jagjit Saini 2 for 19, parveen 2 for 21).

In another match Insurance XI routed City XI by 95 runs, thanks to a fine knock of 73 by Rajesh Vaid.

Brief scores:

Insurance XI: 266 for 4 in 25 overs (Rajesh Vaid 73, Dinesh Gupta 53 n.o., Sandeep 28; Madan joshi 2 for 48, Parminder 2 for 43).

City XI: 171 all out (Sajeev Rawat 28, Kintu 26, Madan Joshi 26, Parminder 24; Ravi Verma 2 for 29, Sumandeep 2 for 31).

Chandigarh judo

Sonia Saini won the gold medal while Sarita had to settle for silver in the 36 kg class in the two-day Chandigarh Junior State Judo Championship held at Sharda Sarv Hitkari School, Sector 40, here.

Richa and Anju shared the bronze medal. In the boys 40 kg category Bhupinder Singh emerged the winner while Pushpinder took the silver.

The results:

Girls: 36kg: Sonia Saini 1,Sarita 2, Richa, Anju 3; 40kg: Pooja Jallan 1, Shallu 2, Jyoti, Sugandha 3; 44kg: Dimple Sharma 1, Sapna 2, Ishrat, Ranjana Rana 3; 48kg: Komal Saini 1, Shailpreet 2, Reeta, Deep Shika 3; 52kg: Kiran Negi1, Shilpi Katoch 2, Geeta, Dimple 3; 57kg: Meena Gill 1, Anisha Gupta 2, Akta, Bhavya 3; 63kg: Vandana 1, Ritika 2; +63kg: Yogesh.

Boys: 40kg: Bhupinder Singh 1, Pushpinder 2, Naman Sharma, Satbir Singh 3; 45kg:Vivek Thakur 1, Rav Kumar 2, Surjeet Singh, Rajbir 3; 50kg: Sagar Diwan 1, Aman Rana 2, Arvind, Bhagwan Singh 3; 55kg: Meraban Singh 1, Ani Singh 2, Sandeep Kumar, Punit Rana 3; 60kg: Naresh Kumar 1, Sanjeev Kumar 2, Rahul Ghai, Munish 3; 66kg: Barinder Singh 1, Devesh Sharma 2, Bahu Dutt, Khushal Bhatia 3; 73kg: Yogesh Dev 1, Amit Thakur 2, Gurminder Singh, Gorang 3; +73kg: Rajbir Singh 1, Nitin Sharma 2, Saurabh Jagota, Gulsher Singh 3.

Duggal billiards

The 19th NK Duggal Memorial Chandigarh State Senior and Junior Billiards and Snooker Championship will be held from November 6, according to a press note of the Chandigarh Billiards and Snooker Association. The winner of the championship will represent Chandigarh in the nationals to be held in Jammu.

Entries close on November 5 at 6 pm with Mr RK Duggal, secretary, Chandigarh Billiards and Snooker Association and Mr Parveen Duggal, organising secretary of the championship.

School skating

Sri Guru Harkrishan Model Senior Secondary School will organise the first Guru Harkrishan skating competition on November 9 and 10 at the school premises in Sector 38-D. The competition will be inaugurated by Mr DS Mangat, DPI, Schools (UT) on November 8, at 5 pm.

The competition will have speed and roller hockey events in the speed event will be rink race 1, rink race 2, road race for under-4 years, U-6. U-8, U-10 years, U-12 years and U-14 and above-14 years categories. The roller hockey event is open for sub-junior teams in the under-12 group and junior teams in the 12-16 year age group.

The last date for sending entries is November 7.