All-girls NCC team to mount Everest
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 10
In the first-ever expedition of its kind, an all-girls team is being prepared by the NCC to conquer Mt Everest, the world’s highest summit.

The purpose of organising the expedition is to commemorate the golden jubilee of the first expedition organised to scale the peak 50 years ago, plus to give an opportunity to the cadets to scale new heights.

The Deputy Director-General, NCC, Brig D S Dhillon, told TNS that the modalities for the expedition had been worked out and selection of the team and consequent training would begin this month.

The expedition would be attempted sometimes between March to June next year. The climb from the base to the summit and the descent back was expected to take 45 days.

Cadets volunteering for the expedition should have some prior mountaineering experience. Besides a rigorous physical and medical examination, they would also be required to undergo an IQ and mental ability test to judge their ability to react in dangerous situations.

Selection would be followed by mountaineering and climbing training for the next about three months. Thereafter, a “pre-Everest” expedition, which would involve scaling a 7000-meter high peak in the Greater Himalayas, would be conducted in August or September.

Winter months would see the cadets undergoing extreme-cold-weather survival training, which would be conducted on a selected glacier.

The team was expected to comprise a total of 30 persons. This included a team leader, a base camp manager, eight to 10 climbing team members, eight to 10 support team members and about 10 persons for administrative duties, including medical assistance.

Though the core climbing team would comprise only girl cadets, NCC officers said that the team leader could possibly be an Army officer. Besides two experienced mountaineers from the Army would also be a part of the support or administrative teams. Women associate NCC officers were also being encouraged to volunteer for the expedition.

NIFD summer courses from April 14
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 10
The National Institute of Fashion Design (NIFD), Sector 8, has announced short-term courses in fashion, textile and interior designing. The courses have been launched to meet the growing demand from various quarters as the institute has been closed for summer break.

The duration of the courses is five weeks and the batch is starting from April 14. The course is meant to target students who have just finished Class X and XII examination and also housewives who are keen on learning things. The course fee will be Rs 1500.

Apart from these courses, the institute will also introduce special classes in communication skills and personality grooming, covering aspects like body language, fashion make-up, nail art, presentation techniques, positive attitude, voice modulation, diction, dining art and career opportunity. During these courses, classes will be conducted by experts in the fields of jewellery designing, fashion photography, vaastu shastra, Feng Shui, landscaping and stress management. Students will also be introduced to the use of computers and internet facilities.

The detail of short-term courses is as follows:

Fashion designing: Design concept, garment construction and drafting, visual merchandising, art appreciation, illustration, fabric study, fashion and styling, draping.

Textile designing: Printing, home accessories, fabric study, embroidery, fashion and styling, draping.

Interior designing: Interior materials and fabric, lighting for interiors, choosing furniture, guidelines for different rooms, glass painting, pot decoration and mural making.

Food Craft Institute function held
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 10
Trophies, medals and certificates were given away to students for outstanding performance in various activities during the annual day function of the Food Craft Institute, held here today. The UT Finance Secretary, Mr Karan A.Singh, was the chief guest on the occasion, while Mr S P Singh was the guest of honour.

A cultural programme, in which a Tibetan yak dance and a bhangra were the main attractions, was also presented by students. The institute’s annual magazine, ‘Cater Craft’ was also released on the occasion.

Those who received prizes were include: Sportswomen of the year — Radhika Soni; sportsman of the year — Kakinder Singh; Highest advertisement collection — Gaurav Deep; selling maximum tourism tickets —Janpreet; most regular student — Ritu Bhardwaj; lady of the year — Rajni Sawhney and Priya; gentleman of the year — Pritpal Singh and Rajesh Bisht; most dedicated student — Sanjay Kumar and Daljeet Singh; All round best student : Divya Makin.

Ajit Karam Singh win state-level quiz
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, April 10
The state-level HelpAge India All-India Inter-School Quiz Contest at Ajit Karam Singh International Public School in Sector 41 came to an end today with the host school bagging the prize.

Seven teams from the city contested for the title. The winning team will represent Chandigarh in the regional-level contest on April 19 and subsequently in the national final on May 5. The contest is being organised by HelpAge India, a Delhi-based voluntary organisation. The quiz contest is a part of the Silver jubilee celebrations of the organisation.

The contest had four rounds, films and entertainment, sports, science and technology and modern world history and literature. “This series of contest has been done in the light to generate awareness among students about the activities of the HelpAge India to impart moral education to the younger generation by involving them into a number of social activities,” said Mr Joygopal Poddar, Assistant Director-General, HelpAge India.

Mount Carmel School, Sector 47, stood second, followed by DAV Public School, Sector 8.

SCHOOL WORLD
History
The boy who would be emperor

Babar born: 14th February 1483 of the Common Era [C.E.] First major conquest: Samarqand: 1497 C.E. Entire kingdom Lost: 1499 C.E. Authored: Tuzuk-I-Babri or the Babarnama, written in his mother tongue, Turki [and not the court language of those days, Persian] is perhaps the first autobiography written by an Asian in Asia. Many of his important campaign decisions were taken in consultation with his mother and sister.

Instead of concentrating on learning history, at the age of 11, Mirza Zahiruddin Muhammad had begun to make history. His father, Mirza Umar Sheikh, the ruler of Farghana called him Babar, or “The Tiger”. The boy showed all the persistence and cunning of a tiger out to establish an independent range for himself when he ascended the throne of Farghana in June 1494.

Farghana was small but prosperous. Made up of seven cities, its capital was at Andijan. The pheasants [titar] of Andijan, Babar recalled in his autobiography, were so fat that even four people had difficulty in finishing one. Farghana was, Babar tells us, at the edge of civilisation. To the west lay the even more prosperous principality of Samarqand On the other three sides, Babar tells us, were the uncivilized people of the Mughal and Mongol tribes. Babar revelled in being a Turk of the Chaghtai clan. The uncivilised Mughals of the steppe region were his enemies and the Mongols he barely tolerated. The Mughals, according to him, were the various quasi-Buddhistic, quasi-Shamanistic tribes from the remoter parts of central Asia who were always bringing in havoc and destruction and rebelling against their lawful rulers, including Babar himself. It remains one of the delicious ironies of history that in India Babar is known as a Mughal.

The usual practice in those days was for all brothers, uncles and cousins to fight with each other till such time that one of them proved to be the most powerful. Babar was merely 17 years old when he launched a successful attack on Samarqand. The fleeing defenders of Samarqand gathered together and, in turn, conquered Farghana. Babar was now forced to attack Farghana and drive out its new occupants. As luck would have it, his occupation of Farghana was very short. His opponents re-grouped their strength and threw him first out of Samarqand and then Farghana. The boy who wanted to be an emperor was now without a kingdom. He had expanded his kingdom and lost it, all in a little more than 5 years.

Driven away from his homeland Babar now made to go towards Tashkent. His first poem, a ghazal, written at the age of 18 gives a sense of loneliness and apartness that this young man could feel: “Other than my own soul I never found a faithful friend/ Other than my own heart I never found a confidant.” Life at Tashkent was full of poverty and humiliation, he recounts. Most of his retainers were gone. The one’s left behind were too poor to do credit to an emperor without a throne. It was in such circumstances that Babar thought of secretly going away to China to try out his fortunes. He even did not inform his mother of his plans; so secret they were to be. But luck had something else in store for him.

The land of the Uzbeks was riven with rebellions. Kabul in a remote corner of the Uzbek Empire was left unguarded. Moreover, the Uzbeks preferred to rule over Farghana and Samarqand. Babar on his side collected, from his uncle’s troop, a few hundred of the Mughal soldiers whom he had so despised till now and moved towards Kabul. In 1504, having just turned 21, Kabul was his. The plans of going to China were shelved for the moment.

Afghanistan and Kabul became his base for the next 20 years. He continued to pine for Samarqand, but the beauty of Kabul, its dry fruits, grapes and nuts too held him in thrall. He tried to recreate many of the garden and beautiful buildings of Samarqand in Kabul wrote a large amount of poetry and came to be known as a ruler who was partial to a luxurious life. That was till the mis-rule of the Afghans in the region of Hind beckoned him to move into the riverine plains of India.

 M. Rajivlochan, Department of History, Panjab University, Chandigarh.

School World Helpline
Impact of TV on children

One of the most common parental concerns that I encounter in my clinical practice is regarding excessive TV viewing among children. Parental queries range from the amount of time the child should be allowed to watch TV, whether TV negatively impacts on child's behaviour and academic achievement, and whether the child should be allowed to watch shows with recurrent themes of violence and horror. Parents also seek specific guidelines regarding TV viewing and strategies for modifying the impact of TV on children.

With the expansion of the cable network, TV viewing has indeed become an universal phenomenon and on an average children watch 3 hours of TV per day and 25 hours in a week. One of the most striking effects of TV is the displacement effect and children who watch several hours of TV everyday spend less time with friends, play fewer games, get less physical exercise, get less sleep and are less likely to read or pursue other creative hobbies. Excessive TV viewing is also related to compromised school performance as it impairs the development of good study habits and mastery of reading skills. Since TV presents complete sensory data, excessive watching leads to reduced mental effort and shallow information processing.

Research has documented consistent and strong associations between exposure to violence on TV and a variety of physical and mental health problems for children and adolescents including aggressive behaviour, desensitisation to violence, fear, depression, nightmares, sleep disturbances, withdrawal from friends, and missing school. Children learn by observing and trying out. TV not only inflates the prevalence of violence in the world but also glamorises it and hence cultivates in children the "mean world" syndrome. TV also increases feelings of hostility; expectations that other will behave aggressively, makes children less sensitive to others pain and increases the likelihood of children responding to others in verbally and physically aggression manner. Infact, the highest proportion of violence is found in children's shows, including cartoons.

Television viewing has also been shown to be associated with increase in risky behaviours among adolescents including drinking, smoking, stealing, cutting classes.

There is no doubt that TV has a tremendous capacity to teach which is different from standard teaching techniques. Viewing habits of children, however, reveal that they seldom watch educational shows. With rapid advances in technology, one can predict that time spent with TV will only increase. This leads to further concerns about its potential harmful effects. It is important that parents monitor media use in ways that promote curiosity, creativity and interest to learn in children, yet simultaneously protects them from being overexposed to material that has potential to cause both short and long term negative effects.

* In charge, Adolescent Clinic APC, PGIMER, Chandigarh.

PU students submit memo
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 10
A delegation of Panjab University students today submitted a memorandum against the 10 per cent fee hike announced by the university from the forthcoming academic session to the Dean University Instructions.

HIGH COURT
Speaking orders

Taking up a petition filed by the “National Federation of Life Insurance of India Class-I Marketing Officers of India” seeking directions to the Union of India and other respondents against filling up the posts of Assistant Branch Manager (Sales) on job rotation basis, a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court asked the respondents to pass speaking orders on their plea within three months.

In their petition filed through federation secretary S.K. Saini and another petitioner, directions were also sought for promoting the federation members working as Assistant Branch Managers to the posts of Branch Managers.

Bail plea: In a petition filed before the High Court, President of the Bhartiya Kisan Union Ghasi Ram Nain on Thursday sought the grant of bail in a case registered at a police station in Ambala district under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code, besides Prevention of Damage of Public Property Act.

Taking up the petition, Mr Justice K.S. Garewal of the High Court issued notice of motion for April 29. Claiming to be innocent, Nain’s counsel had earlier contended that he was being implicated in the case.

Policy sought: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday issued notice of motion on a petition filed by Chandigarh’s Naya Gaon resident seeking directions for compensating freedom fighters, the victims of natural calamities, even those of custodial deaths and other such cases.

The petitioner, Dr B. Singh, had added that policy had not been framed in Punjab, Haryana or Chandigarh for compensating the families of residents who had lost their lives or whose properties had been destroyed, lost or damaged.

DISTRICT COURTS
CBI asked to file reply
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, April 10
Acting on an application moved by Navjot Singh, one of the accused alleged to be involved in the Beant Singh assassination case, the UT Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mr Balbir Singh, today issued a notice for April 22 to file a reply.

Navjot Singh has filed the application through his counsel, Mr N.S. Minhas, stating that Jagtar Singh Tara, another accused in the case, was willing to file an affidavit in his favour that he has nothing to do with the case. The judge has also adjourned the hearing on the contempt application moved by Navjot Singh against the CBI counsel for April 22.

Meanwhile, deposing before the judge, the witness, Mr Nehar Singh, stated that Dilawar Singh, believed to be the human bomb involved in the assassination of Beant Singh, was SPO with the Punjab Police. The official record of Dilawar Singh was taken by senior CBI officials from him during the investigations, he added.

Judicial remand: Four persons — Gurpreet, Gur Iqbal Singh, Pushpinder Singh and Ajit Singh — arrested by the police in the murder of Burail youth, Mandeep, in Sector 44 were remanded in judicial custody till April 24 by the UT Duty Magistrate. Mandeep Kumar was allegedly murdered by the four along with other persons while he was sitting with his friend in a park in Sector 44.

Bharatnatyam expert to start training sessions
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 10
Navtej Singh Johar has always taken the road less trodden by others. Years ago, he caught the world of Indian classical dance unawares when he entered the female bastion of Bharatnatyam and enriched it with his creative verve. Years later, he is still doing things new and exciting.

The latest being his decision to collaborate with the Punjab Sangeet Natak Akademi and offer Bharatnatyam training to aspirants in the city. This will be for the first time that Chandigarh see have a celebrated performer of a dance tradition conduct special classes for those ready to dedicate themselves to the rigours of the tradition.

In the city today to formally announce his decision to start the batches from April 19, Navtej clarified that there would be no restriction when it came to admission of people to the dance group. “Such announcements always draw tremendous response. Gradually, however, only those remain in the discipline who have the devotion. Like any other tradition, Bharatnatyam requires concentration and practice.”

Classes will be held at Punjab Kala Bhavan in Sector 16 every weekend. The timings have been roughly decided as 4 pm to 5 pm; 5 pm to 6 pm on Saturdays. Sundays will witness morning classes between 11 am and 12 noon and again from 12 noon and 1 pm. Registrations are already open and those who wish to join can contact the authorities concerned at Punjab Kala Bhavan.

The dancer said that he would accept children from the age of seven years and above. “There is no upper limit for Bharatnatyam,” he said, adding that the classes would go on religiously. “If I can’t make it on certain occasions, my assistants will be there to take over.”

Rooted as he is in the city, Navtej is viewing this project with the Punjab Sangeet Natak Akademi as a stepping stone towards something bigger in future. “A part of me feels responsible to the city. When I was struggling as an artiste, I did not have anyone to lead me through. But now I am there to offer technique to the talented. In the absence of technique, talent always remains in a state of deprivation. I already have a dance academy by the name of Studio Abhyaas in Delhi. Now I want to start serious training in Chandigarh. I don’t even mind settling here.”

The reputed co-director of the Commonwealth Parade on the occasion of Queen’s golden jubilee celebrations in London, Navtej lately created yet another masterpiece in association with Madan Gopal Sharma, a famous Delhi-based Sufi singer and composer. “Ranjha turda jaave”, the piece traces the wanderings of Ranjha. It has been staged once. The next presentation will be made at a mega scale, said Navtej.

Extremely vocal about his Punjabi inclination, Navtej said he always wanted to have a Bharatnatyam company comprising people with Punjabi sensibilities. “It is a vital combination. The current project in Chandigarh will be the first step towards striking this vital balance,” he said.

And if you ask him why Punjabis, he smiles back, “because they are blessed with an innate sense of vigour. Also because they get inspired easily — by words, by images, by movements. This energy is very conducive to dance.”

NEW RELEASE
Can ‘Hero’ recapture ‘Gadar’ magic?

DIRECTOR Anil Sharma’s pre-Independence venture ‘Gadar’ was one of the biggest hits of 2001. Will his new directorial film ‘The Hero — Love Story of a Spy’ be able to match the pace and grace of ‘Gadar’ in 2003? Quite likely, going by the talent of Sharma’s team and the pre-release reports of the film. Time Movies ‘The Hero’ is ready to take centrestage at Piccadily, Chandigarh, and K.C. Panchkula.

The Rs 50-crore spy thriller has a patriotic theme. Guns, lavish sets, including the Rs 1-crore Film City’s set, and an estimated Rs 10 crore spent on the outdoor locations of Canada have made the film the second costliest film after Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s magnum opus “Devdas”. “The Hero” is being touted as a could-be blockbuster by trade pundits.

“The Hero” starring Preity Zinta and debutant Miss World Priyanka Chopra, is an international espionage drama. This one has Sunny as the super spy who dons many disguises and fights bravely with Pakistan-sponsored Jehadis.

Canada’s outdoor locations and Hollywood’s stunt co-ordinator Dick Zaker’s dare-devil action scenes could make this film a perfect action movie full of thrills. Anil Sharma and his entire team are hoping to give us a movie which has enough Pakistan bashing to make it a film that could make box-office history. Those who have seen the rushes say the film has shaped into quite a whammer.

Amrish Puri, Kabir Bedi, Parvin Dabass, Shahbaz Khan, Rajpal Yadav, Khalid Mohammad, Deep Dhillon, Rajat Bedi and American stars Mike, Jenny Snisky and Richard support the main star cast.

Produced by Dhirajlal Shah, Pravin Shah and Hashmukh Shah, the film has cinematography by Kabir Lal, story, screenplay and dialogue by Shaktiman, lyrics by late Anand Bakshi and music by Uttam Singh. If this film can recapture the ‘Gadar’ magic, it will bring cheers to Bollywood. DP