The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

COURTS

KILLERS ROADS
HC dismisses PIL on accidental deaths due to lack of first-aid facilities
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 18
The Delhi High Court today dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) for the lack of independent investigation content and having failed to bring proper instances before the court about the high accident deaths on the Capital’s roads.

The PIL alleged that the accidental deaths take place due to lack of first-aid facilities to the victims and sought a direction to the government to bring about changes in the traffic system.

The court also dismissed the PIL seeking a direction to the government to provide separate lanes for scooterists/motorists and cyclists on the Capital’s roads. The PIL had raised several other issues pertaining to traffic management, including stopping of traffic to give way to VIP vehicles.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice B. C. Patel and Justice B. D. Ahmed dismissed the PIL saying that the Delhi Government in its affidavit has given details about the measures to be adopted during accidents but the petitioner has not cited the instances which brought him to the court.

“In view of this (Delhi Government’s) reply and in the absence of specific instances being brought by the petitioner, it is not possible to entertain the petition as a PIL,” the court said.

“The petition was based on some media information and there was nothing to indicate that the petitioner himself had investigated the matter. In a PIL, it is the duty of the petitioner to investigate the matter and bring to notice the instances where the authority failed to discharge its duty,” the Bench observed.

The PIL, filed by an NGO, Free Legal Aid (FLA), had sought direction to the government to give priority on providing medical treatment to accident victims instead of waiting for the completion of the medico-legal formalities by the police.

FLA activist Sugan Chand Agarwal has contended that the absence of proper first aid with the Police Control Room vans and the police giving priority to completion of the medico-legal formalities over treatment have resulted in the death of many victims.

The PIL had also sought direction on displaying registration numbers in commercial vehicles on all four sides as had been done by the Maharashtra Government to make it easier to note down a vehicle’s number in a hit-and-run case.

The Delhi Government in its reply said all the autonomous bodies as well as big state-run hospitals are well-equipped to attend to accident victims round the clock in the city. The autonomous institutions as well as the government-run hospitals have a fleet of ambulances and have been attending all accident cases in a reasonable time, the affidavit said.

The petitioner had also expressed concern over the private hospitals and nursing homes allegedly denying admission or first aid to accident victims despite the Supreme Court guidelines.

CULTURE

GLITZ&GLAMOUR
Making Holi more than just a colourful occasion
Smriti Kak

The consequence of Holi is not just spoilt clothes and floors, but thanks to the chemicals that are so lavishly mixed with the colours, the skin and hair are traumatised. With health and beauty experts recommending natural colours and herbal dyes, Holi may after all turn out to be less grisly.

To make your Holi truly colourful, try the tips generously handed to us by skin care experts. Use natural colours or the ones made by reputed companies using natural products. They are safe and promise colour not scars.

To make your own colours, all you need is a few plants and little bit of ingenuity. For the colour green, take plants like Henna, dry and powder it. Use separately or mix it with suitable flour to make green colour. Alternately, you could use paste of green leafy veggies to turn others green.

Turmeric mixed with gram flour is a beauty potion, and apart from colouring you, it can be used to brighten your face. To make the skin glow further, go for Multani mitti and sandal wood powder if you are feeling rich. Marigold flowers can also be dried and the paste can be used instead for artificial colour.

Red sandalwood powder can be used to colour the cheeks crimson. Rose petals or gulal is also a good option and so is vermilion. Red hibiscus flowers soaked in water overnight, also gives a red colour. For those wishing to colour themselves blue, Jacaranda flowers and blue Hibiscus can be dried and powdered to obtain the colour.

Though black is one colour most would like to give a skip, there is, however, an alternative to the harmful chemical variety. The black colour can be obtained by boiling dried fruits of Indian Gooseberry in an iron vessel and leaving it overnight. Mix with water and use it.

As for tips to save your precious epidermis from resembling a patchwork of colours, here’s what skin specialists recommend. Wear clothes that cover the maximum part of your body. Apply cold cream on all exposed parts and follow it up with sunscreen, preferably waterproof. For the hair, use oils or gel to counter the harmful effects of colours.

The post play operations include using warm water and moisturising soap to scrub off the colours. Using a cream cleanser or baby oil, gently massage off the left over colour.

Apply a pack of curd or mashed papaya for 20 minutes. Liberal use of cold cream or a moisturiser is good for the skin. Apply a hair-pack of olive oil and honey after shampooing.

This year, apart from natural colours, a number of skin care products can be bought off the shelves. VLCC for instance has specially introduced a gift hamper containing three personal care products. The hamper is a protective kit for pre-and post-festival skin care during Holi. This includes ‘VL Body Butter’ (Skin Protection Cream), ‘VL Amla’ (Purifying Cleanser), and ‘VL Glow’ (Insta-Glow Pack).

Fashion Festival

Models showcasing i-D’s new spring/summer collection 2003 at India Fashion Preview in the Capital.

The ‘Singapore Fashion Festival 2003’ has turned three. The fashion event will showcase the spring-summer collections from March 21 to April 6. ‘Bollywood cutting edge’ from April 2- 3 will unveil collections of designers like Ranna Gill and Kavita Bhartiya. A total of 15 designers are scheduled to participate in the event.

Festive collection

Taking a cue from the festival of colours, Oriflame cosmetics have launched a special collection. The festive collection comprises of lipsticks, nail paints and waterproof mascara. The product range for Holi also includes an Aloe face wash and a Swedish care deep cleansing scrub.

Wooing India

Sita Thompson, an American actress, was recently in town to promote her debut film ‘Valentine Days’. The actress, whose mother was inspired by the teachings of Baba Ram Das and the writings of U G Krishnamurthi, spent most part of her childhood with her American Indian father on a farm.

Sita plays the lead role in the film, which sees her being wooed by three suitors. According to her, the role is close to what she is in real life, energetic and someone who believes in celebrating life. Incidentally, the actress claims “India is home to me and Sita is not a recently adopted, trendy fusion name, it is the name I was born with”.

Hindi cinema encapsulated

Hindi cinema, a world of dazzling characters, where the make believe is surreal, just as long as you allow yourself to withdraw from your immediate surroundings and enter the orb of what can be fantastic and sometimes absurd.

Dating back to the black and white silent films, Hindi cinema has been encapsulated by the Encyclopaedia Britannica in their latest Encyclopaedia of Hindi Cinema. The encyclopaedia, inaugurated by Dada Saheb Phalke winner Yash Chopra, has contributions from stalwarts like Gulzar, Govind Nihalani and Saibal Chatterjee.

Thirty-four essays divided into four sections, present a comprehensive historical record of the Hindi films complete with the historical perspective on the journey that began from the silent era to reach the present day milestone.

First person accounts recounting various experiences, some happy others poignant, make interesting reading. A special section on milestones presents interviews with legendary film personalities, while the biography section features over 200 individuals, whose contribution to the Hindi cinema has been invaluable.

The idea behind the project, according to the Managing Director, Aalok Wadhwa, was “to capture the big picture in a manner that is informative, scholarly and yet entertaining, without being cynical, sensational or judgmental”.

Showcasing Indian dances

A folk dance programme by Pummi Bai and team was the highlight of the cultural programme Khadi and Village Commission under the Ministry of Agro and Rural India organised a cultural programme in Pragati Maidan as part of the three-day national convention on rural industrialisation. Inaugurated by the Prime Minister, the programme showcased both folk and classical dances apart from magic shows. Manoj Dabral, a disciple of Pandit Birju Maharaj, performed the Radha Krishan Holi raas.
A folk dance programme by Pummi Bai and team was the highlight of the cultural programme organised by the Khadi and Village Commission.

‘Putul Yatra’ to showcase traditional
and modern puppetry
Tribune News Service

PULLING STRINGS FOR A CULTURAL CAUSE.

New Delhi, March 18
Thirty-two puppet theatre groups from across the country will join the Sangeet Natak Academy’s golden jubilee celebrations. As part of the celebrations, the Sangeet Natak Academy is organising the ‘Putul Yatra’, a national festival of puppet theatre.

Paying homage to the memory of the former Chairman of the Akademi, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, who made significant contribution to the revival and promotion of puppetry in India, the festival will showcase both the traditional as well as modern puppetry.

The festival is being organised in association with the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR), the India International Centre and the Union Internationale de la Marionnette (UNIMA).

Being held from March 17-28 at the Meghdoot theatre, Rabindra Bhavan, the festival will showcase a major exhibition of Indian puppets, international seminar and video documentaries on puppet theatre from the archives of the academy.

The seminar, ‘Puppet East-West, West-East’ will explore cultural interchange in the world of puppet theatre, direct influences and borrowings, socio-cultural aspects of traditions of puppetry transplanted from their original contexts and cross cultural experimentation in puppet theatre.

Prior to this festival, the Academy has organised a series of workshops and festivals devoted to each type of puppetry, string, rod, shadow and glove puppetry. Besides the traditional puppetry forms followed in Kerala, Bengal, Orissa and Rajasthan, modern puppet theatre has also won a place for itself.

Apart from various Indian states, the festival will be attended by foreign delegates, including members of the UNIMA.