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Election date upsets PU
exam schedule Chandigarh, February 29 With the Election Commission
announcing the poll date today, the university authorities have started
thinking on rescheduling of the datesheet prepared over a week
back. Though most of the examinations of the pass courses are likely to
be over before the voting date, the schedule for the honours
examinations along with a few optional subjects of the undergraduate and
postgraduate classes would have to be advanced. "Tomorrow we will get
in touch with the UT Administration and the Punjab Government on the
days that the election process will take. Given their requirement, we
will revise the datesheet to suit the election needs. It might need
postponing of a few papers until after counting of votes," the
Controller of Examination, Dr Sodhi Ram, said. He informed that an
attempt would be made to get over with the pass course subjects before
the examinations are suspended for the election and hold the honours
examinations later for the undergraduate classes. Similarly, optional
paper examinations of the second year of postgraduation, which continue
into the third week of May, would require rescheduling. The honours
examinations of Panjab University usually begin around .May 5 and
continue till the third week. The papers for the pass course which start
on April 1 are over by May 10. Despite a break in the examinations, the
university would finish all papers by the end of May. The university
has already made a provision for the days to be lost in holding the
elections by delaying the next academic session by five days. According
to the academic calendar prepared for the session 2004-05, the next
session would begin on July 5 instead of July 1. |
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Election
petition awaits PU response Chandigarh, February 29 The petition under Section 38 of the Panjab University Act, 1947, to the Chancellor by University Fellow, Mr Pawan Valecha, on January 27, seeks that order passed by the Dean, Faculty of Law, on January 16, be annulled and that the election of Mr Gopal Krishan Chatrath to the Syndicate, on January 23, be set aside. Though the Officer on Special Duty to the Vice-President of India, Dr K.B. Thakur, had written to the Registrar, Dr Paramjit Singh, and called for para-wise comments of the Dean-cum-Returning Officer, Mr Anmol Rattan Singh Sidhu, as also of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof K.N. Pathak, the university has not replied so far. Taking advantage of the delay in filing a reply and with no specific orders from the Chancellor, Mr Chatrath continues to attend meetings of the Syndicate. Even today, there was a meeting of the Syndicate that Mr Chatrath had attended. Professor Pathak when asked yesterday about the letter received from the office of the Chancellor said the Dean had not filed any comments so far. “I have, however, decided to seek legal opinion and will send a reply to the Chancellor in a day or two.” Meanwhile, Mr Valecha in a complaint to the Chancellor on February 24, said when he enquired from the Registrar and Deputy Registrar, Mr H.C. Malhotra, if a reply to the February 3 letter from Dr Thakur, had been filed, he said he was told that it was not binding upon them to submit comments at an early occasion. However, Dr Thakur in his letter had said that “comments be furnished at the earliest in a tabular format”. The sum and substance of the election petition submitted by Mr Valecha is that at the time of election to the Faculty of Law on December 15 last, of the three candidates, Mr Chatrath and Mr Valecha (the petitioner) polled 15 votes each, whereas Mr Asija secured 16 votes. Thereafter, there was discussion whether the entire election should be held afresh or it should be held only in respect of Mr Chatrath and Mr Valecha, who were locked in a tie. Since there was no conclusion among Fellows, the meeting was adjourned sine die. However, it was decided that a fresh date of another meeting shall be fixed by the Dean-cum-Returning Officer, Mr Sidhu. Rather than convening a fresh meeting, as decided, the petition says a notice was issued to all Fellows assigned to the Faculty of Law, on January 16, by the Deputy Registrar (General) that a meeting would be held on January 23 for election of a representative of the Faculty of Law to the Syndicate for 2004. A note from the Dean-cum-Returning Officer, Mr Sidhu, was also enclosed with this notice, wherein, he had declared Mr Asija elected and had called for a re-poll between Mr Chatrath and Mr Valecha. Again there was a tie, on January 23, with both Mr Chatrath and Mr Valecha, securing 16 votes each. Then the Dean cast his second vote in favour of Mr Chatrath, which the petition has challenged quoting from the Act that Chairman of all the Faculties was the Vice-Chancellor, not the Dean, thus, his casting second vote was “illegal”, as per the Act. Mr Valecha has again pleaded
with the Chancellor that his election petition be disposed of at an
early date. His suspicion was that any delay on the part of the
university, read Registrar, to reply to February 3 letter from the
Chancellor was “deliberate and engineered”. |
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Children's
day out with dinosaurs Chandigarh, February 29 The visit was
jointly organised by the British Library, Chitkara International School
and the Natural History Museum. The selected children were told about
the creatures of the Jurassic era, who inhabited the earth about 65
million years ago. Designed by the paleontologists, Prof Ashok Sahni and
Dr R.S. Loyal, the trip to the museum proved to be a lifetime experience
for the kids, who appeared awe-struck with the magnificence of visuals,
including the fibre glass models of dinosaurs, their fossils, huge eggs,
besides other things. The only thing the children did not seem to
understand was the time scale related to the dinosaurs. They went about
systematically, beginning with a visual depiction of the evolution of
these reptiles. Thereafter, Prof Sahni and Dr Loyal took them to the
gallery that highlighted the important aspects of the life of Indian
dinosaurs. Answering questions pertaining to fossils of dinosaurs,
their eggs and their huge appearance, they instructed kids informally on
the types of dinosaurs found in India, distribution and location of
fossil sites, the environment in which they lived, their diet, the
plants they fed on, their nesting behaviour, the animals and plants they
lived with and their sudden disappearance caused by the possible after
effects of a 10- km diameter asteroid strike. The kids, belonging to
age groups of five to eight, kept enquiring about the asteroid that
struck the earth and how these creatures disappeared. Children were,
however, confused over the time frame. They could hardly elate with the
fact that geological history of dinosaurs in India spanned from 225 to
65 million years and was represented by Triassic, Jurassic and
Cretaceous periods. Karen Haydock made kids aware that the dinosaurs and
humans never cohabited. Karen said, "Though the kids reacted to many
details, they could not understand when the dinosaurs really lived. It
was difficult for their imagination to travel back in time. Moreover,
this gallery is not designed for the kids." Later, the British Library
screened a spectacular BBC series on dinosaurs titled, "Walking with
Dinosaurs." The kids were asked to prepare paper dinosaurs with the help
of instructions contained in the user- friendly kits given to them.
According to Mohit Chitkara, "the idea is to give hands on experience to
children. Today's activity is the first in the series planned by the
Chitkara Championz Club. We will later hold workshops in calligraphy and
stamp collection." |
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From Schools
& Colleges Chandigarh, February 29 The winners were:
Siddharth Chauhan and Daanish Gill stood first; Amandeep Wadhan and
Vikas Kaushik stood second and the third prize was won by Dhanjay and
Varun Raina, respectively.
Awarded Mr Karan Singh, Principal,
Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 33, has been given the
Tara Chand Saboo award for 2003.
First prize Abhinav, a student of
Class VIII has won the first prize in an essay writing competition
organised by the State Aids Control Society at St Anne’s Convent School,
Sector 32. He wrote an essay on ‘ Awareness through education is the
only prevention and cure to fight Aids virus’.
Talk show A talk show
was organised on ‘ How to cope with stress of students’ at Government
Girls High School, Sector 25, here yesterday. As many as 70 students and
their parents participated in the talk. Dr A Jolly from the Servants of
People Society, stressed on the role of parents and teachers in
controlling the stress among children. He said yoga and meditation could
help in fighting stress during the examination time. He added that when a
child was passing through depression, the parents could create a
positive environment at home.
World Forestry Day To mark the World
Forestry Day, Yuvsatta, an NGO, organised an inter- college painting and collage making competition at Dev Samaj College of Education,
Sector 36, here yesterday. The event was organised in coordination
with the Department of Environment, Chandigarh. As many as 50 artists
from different colleges participated in the event.
Athletics meet The
39th annual athletic meet of Government Home Science College, Sector
10, was held here yesterday. Mr Dilp Kumar, DPI ( Colleges) presided
over the function. Welcoming the guests, Dr Sukhvarsha Narula, Principal
of the college, read out the annual report of the
sports activities. Medha Agnihotri of Msc (Home Science, Child
Development) was adjudged the best athlete of the
college.
Headmistress retires Ms Kuldeep Kaur, Headmistress,
Government High School, Sector 24, retired today after putting in 29
years of service. Meanwhile, Prof J.L. Davessar of the Regional
Institute of English, retired yesterday after 35 years of service. Prof
Davessar worked in Government College for Girls, Sector 42, and
Government College for Boys, Sector 11, before joining the institute in
1994. |
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CBSE Class
XII exams begin today Chandigarh, February 29 Of these students, 58,389 are girls and 80,274 boys. The
Class XII examinations are beginning on March 1 and Class X on March 3.
The total number of candidates appearing in the Class X and Class XII
examinations from Chandigarh are 10,555 and 10,767, respectively. The
Regional Officer of the CBSE, Mr P.I. Sabu, said that adequate security
arrangements had been made for the smooth conduct of the examinations.
He said 339 head examiners had been appointed and 86 nodal centres set
up. |
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Hamara School St Thomas School is English medium with classes starting from pre-nursery to class V. Teachers provide the best methods of learning to each student. The school authorities offer concession to deserving students who cannot afford to pay the school fee. To tone up the skills for extra-curricular activities the school regularly organises competitions. The Principal believes in providing quality education and help children grow into a well-adjusted individuals. The school aims to help the children face the competitive world and at the same time it also lays stress on inculcating the values of sharing, caring and universal brotherhood. The teaching faculty of the school considers pre-school education as the foundation for any system. Stress is also laid to enable the students to converse fluently in English. The school library has a collection of 400 books. The school education pays special attention to the development of perceptional, organising, language and reasoning skills. The school has a vast playground and an
adequate building. |
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On schooling: Ms Sheela Holkar, Principal of the school, feels that schooling is not just academic. It adds value to life. It is the responsibility of the school to enable the students to become better human beings. Academic knowledge is important but values of life are equally important. The young generation has to be taught to respect the elders at home and in society. She believes that in today’s context computer education is must for kids. However, the IT revolution cannot reduce the importance of classroom teaching. Face-to-face interaction between students and teachers make helps to improve the level of understanding between the two. The Principal believes that the menace of tuition had distorted the basic concept of learning. The parents are ready to pay the fee for tuitions as they do not have time for their kids. On education: Education should teach values. It was above
religion and should make children good citizens first. If a student is
talented, physically and mentally fit then he or she can face any
challenge in the world. |
Chambers for junior lawyers sought Panchkula, February 29 According to Ms Santosh
Sharma, general secretary of the cell, the decision was taken at a
meeting of the cell under the chairmanship of Kalka MLA, Mr Chander
Mohan, here. Ms Daya Chaudhary, president of the cell, was among those
who attended the meeting. Mr Suresh Rohilla, who was appointed
vice-president, was felicitated at the meeting. The meeting demanded
chambers for junior advocates at the District Courts here. |
Satire is his
forte
Parbina Rashid Chandigarh, February 29 Garg has been inspired by Urdu satirist Kanhaya Lal
Kapoor, who was once his neighbour in his home town in Moga district.
The result was a few short story collections and a major satirical
novel, “Comrade Vulture”, which has been translated into Hindi and
English. “Through my writings, I have been trying to attack the socio-
political system in India and highlight the degrading moral values,”
says the writer. “And it is not rustic humour but sophisticated, offbeat
kind of satire in the form of essays,” he adds. In “Bande Kubande”, he
has incorporated about 55 essays with funny anecdotes. Garg is not just
a firm believer that satire can change society, but also feels that it
is a great stress reliever. “People need humour to relieve stress. I
inject a heavy dose of satirical humour in my family life and that keeps
me young and healthy even at 62,” he says. Though humour is his forte,
the writer is equally into serious literature. In his 25-year-long
career as a writer, Garg has produced about 40 books, including a few
translations. He has translated Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel’s
three books — “Night”, “Down” and “Accident” and James Frazer’s “The
Golden Bough” into Punjabi. At present he is translating Wiesel’s “The
Forgotten” into Punjabi. The success of his bilingual novel, “Taran Wala
Pul”, has inspired him to write another novel. “This time I want to
write something on the social trends in America and I am already doing
research work,” he says. Two of his short stories, “Badda drishtikon”
and “Hath di mel”, have been made into telefilms by Jalandhar
Doordarshan. |
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Malayalis celebrate vigour of arts
Chandigarh, February 29 The show took off at Tagore Theatre with a ceremony
organised to honour included Mr Bhaskaran Nair, the oldest-settled
Malayali in Chandigarh. The other honoured guests were Sadanam
Balakrishnan from the International Kathakali Centre, New Delhi, and Mr
Kalamandalam Unnikrishnan, also a famous kathakali artiste. The fourth
honour of the day went to Mr Innocent, who has recently been presented
with the Later, Vijaylakshmi, the illustrious daughter of
mohiniattam guru Bharati Shivaji, presented her recital. Literally
called, dance of the enchantress, mohiniattam was well presented by
Vijaylakshmi who took measured steps on the space of performance, which
earlier witnessed a kathakali presentation by artistes from the
International Kathakali Centre. The next show was ‘Drums of India’,
presented by Nadam Sreekumar and his group. The instruments included ‘chenda’,
‘maddam’ and the ‘mridangam’. The highlight of the show was the
traditional martial arts of Kerala, kalaripayattu. Presented by S.
Muruguan and his troupe of seven performers, the show focused on the
form that originated in the fourth century BC. It is believed that the
art originated from sage Parshuram in the North and sage Agastya in the
South. The two masters taught the brahmins this art for self-defence. Today,
kalaripayattu is recognised by the Indian Government more as a folk than
a martial art form. Says Muruguan, who sought training in this form
from four gurus, “This art is the mother of all martial arts in the
world. We must recognise it as martial, not folk art. It has many
takers, irrespective of regions. I am even training foreigners at my
academy in Delhi”. Interestingly, kalaripayattu is also a healing art.
As Muruguan said, “The guru knows all 108 vulnerable points in the body.
He can heal everyone.” Muruguan later showcased various forms of
defence under kalaripayattu — chuvadu (the body control exercise),
verumkai prayogam (the bare-handed fight), cheruvadi (a strong wooden
staff), ankatari (fight with sword and shield), kuntham (spear used in
kalari), urumi (with its double-edged blade, it is the most popular
weapon in the kalaris). The martial art show concluded with an
exceptionally daring sequence titled the ‘chakrapadam’ or the fire ring
in which Muruguan displayed how fighters use the weapon to protect
themselves from wild animals, while travelling through a forest. |
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THE famous Malayali comedian, Mr Innocent has
acted in many blockbuster films back home. Many of his films have even
been re-made in Bollywood. Explaining the logic behind his name, Mr
Innocent said, “It is not that I changed my name for films. I was always
called Mr Innocent because of the sobre look on my face. My father gave
me this name.” The acting president of the Association for Malayali
Movie Artistes, Mr Innocent has also been featured by Asia Net in a
special 84 episode series. |
Playing with forms while designing
jewellery
FOR Anuradha Aman, designing jewellery is mainly
playing with forms. So when this Jaipur-based designer let lose her
imagination, the outcome is an outstanding collection of necklaces,
pendants, bracelets or rings, all crafted in semi-precious stones and
silver. “The forms are created in my mind and then I give shape to
them with semi-precious stones and silver,” says Anuradha who is
displaying her creation at Lajpat Rai Bhavan here. All her creations
are handcrafted and she uses Sterling silver which is the purest form
of silver for here jewellery. Her designs vary from traditional to
modern abstract format to suit the taste of each age group. “My
clientele ranges from teenagers to old people and from different
strata of the society,” says the artiste. Anuradha does not uses
Zodiac stones in her creations so that her stone-studded jewellery can
be worn by all. Anuradha gave up a promising teaching career to be a
jewellery designer. “I visited Europe in 1994 and got involved in
this profession. I started by designing for my friends but later my
designs got approval by the Handicraft Export Promotion Council, New
Delhi, and now I am exporting my creations under the banner of Denovo
Exports to the USA and Canada,” says Anuradha. Equally popular at the
home front, Anuradha plans to open a permanent outlet in the City
Beautiful. “I have a number of clients in the city and to meet their
demands I am planning to open up a store here,” she says. Not only
this, the designer also plans to experiment with diamond and precious
stones in gold settings. |
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Morning
Chatter
Wait, I am next
Yapper Scene 1: You are sitting in the waiting room outside your
dentist’s cabin for over an hour, anxiously eying the door as you are
next in line. The instant the previous patient walks out and you brace
yourself to enter, you find yourself elbowed out as a man appears from
nowhere, mutters conspiratorially to the secretary and slides into the
sanctum sanctorum. You collapse in the chair and try to have a shut eye.
This could mean 40 more minutes. Scene 2: You arrive with documents and
proposals to clinch an important business deal. The meeting is against a
confirmed appointment but the client, in an attempt to intimidate you
with his power play, keeps you waiting for over an hour. You seethe with
anger but are forced to maintain a pleasant exterior, for isn’t Customer
supposed to be King? Waiting times are always painful. No one likes his
time being taken for granted. It diminishes one’s ego and brings out all
our latent aggression and pride. While some manage to grin and bear it,
most react in ways which can be a caricaturist’s delight. Our body
language during these ‘waiting times’ is a dead giveaway to the kind of
people we are. People north of Delhi are not particularly known for
being either punctual or for sticking to commitments – both at the
visitor and visited end. More often than not, there is no regret,
apology or guilt. Keeping one’s dignity intact and yet not working
oneself up into a frenzy, ruining your chances of a good meeting as and
when it materialises — it is tough going. Here are some types who
dominate our waiting rooms: Hercules Reincarnate – He’s a busybody who
holds the world on his shoulders. Frantically barking instructions on
his cellphone, he keeps his work factory from collapsing. As a
‘co-waiter’ you become privy to the nature of his business, names of his
associates and projects he is working on. The Impatient type – The
person paces up and down, frowning, scowling, muttering under his breath
and ready to explode. The Aggressive Bloke – He has a lordly air. He
throws names, tries to jump the queue by using bullying tactics. The
Worrier – His eyeballs frantically keep darting towards the door and his
hands are fidgety. His lips move incoherently and he gets more and more
nervous as his time to enter gets closer. The Social One – He loves
talking and believes that the best friendships are formed in waiting
rooms. He will probe and dig into your ‘case history’; give his opinions
and versions and express concern as if you were twins separated at
birth. The Angry One – He walks through the door with an aura exuding
supreme confidence. He expects to be escorted straight inside, failing
which he looks visibly irritated. Each minute gets his temper curve up
and before you know it, he has stormed out in a huff, with an expression
which says, “The loss is all yours” and/or “I will fix you”. Not many
of us have a contingency plan in case a prescheduled meeting fails to
stick to its commitment on getting delayed. We rely on instinct and flow
with the moment. Yet, it would be nice to follow meeting-and-waiting
etiquette: 1. Confirm the appointment 2. Give an estimation of your
arrival (between 5.15 and 5.30, rather than saying I will be there dot 5
pm). 3. Hand over your visiting card or make a mention of the time that
was given to you at the reception. 4. Just before your turn, look
around at no one in particular and say, “it is my turn next.” 5. Use
the waiting time by reading a magazine, jotting points, staying
calm. 6. Keep your cellphone on the silent mode. 7. Give yourself 15
minutes and then if you can afford it, leave after telling the
receptionist that you have another pressing engagement. This may not
always work. Most people who stand up on appointments feel that if you
want to see him, you will jolly well wait or take another appointment. |
IF you want to know more about the traditional art and craft of Orissa, here is a opportunity not just to see the products but also to interact with the artisans of the state. Just walk in at Panchayat Bhavan in Sector 18 to see the bright colours of this cyclone-hit state at the Orissa handicrafts exhibition. On display and sale are an exquisite range of handicraft items — silver filigree work, traditional paintings, figurines cut impressively from wood, stone, sea-shell or brass. Equally impressive are the handloom sarees — in cotton as well as silk — and dress material in all traditional patterns. Organised by the Maa
Mangala Art and Craft Association and sponsored by the Development
Commissioner (Handicraft) by the Ministry of Textiles, Government of
India, under the Ambedkar scheme, the exhibition offers a lucrative 20
per cent discount on handlooms and 10 per cent on handicraft items. The
exhibition is on till March 8. — OC |
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Eye surgeon
with eye for design
This
eye surgeon has also an eye for design. Dr
Rajan Chugh, senior consultant at Fortis Heart Institute and Multi
Specialty Hospital, is as much of an interior designer as an eye
surgeon. “I was always creative, but medicine was my first love. By
the time I could give vent to my creativity in designing, I had
established myself as a doctor,” says Dr Chugh, when asked if he was a
better doctor than an interior designer. “Many of my patients ask for
tips on designing their homes, and colour schemes to be used when they
come for treatment,” he explains. A dekko at his funky clinic- Chugh
Eye Microsurgery Foundation Clinics (CEMiF Eyeons) in Sector 21 — and
one is left with no doubt about his creativity. A milestone outside the
house mentions the house number and CEMiF- the name of his
clinic-cum-residence. It is of a rare colour — black heritage flake
finish and a glass facade — while the signages read the names of all
residents. The reception area has a unique sitting arrangement with
settees laced in gradient and folding chairs. The receptionist’s office
would confuse you if it were a doc’s clinic or a beauty saloon rolled
with a cyber cafe. Red, blue and yellow are the colours of the floor
tiles and use of line as a form - be it gradient, vertical or horizontal
— makes the room look more spacious. One wall is all glass, with a steel
rack over it for spectacle frames - which uses light and reflection in
the right mode. The clinic uses a lot of mirrors and mirror images of
the wall have been created on the ceiling. The wall clock or rather the
ceiling clock looks at you from the ceiling. For example, the curves on
the floor are repeated on the ceiling. The contact lens “island” has
been created on an elevated wooden platform. The furniture and the
chairs are all of glass. The funky interiors are ditto for his wife’s
clinic, which has a head free storage cabinets in red colour and a
heritage finish on the wall. A staircase in red, black and yellow
winds itself to the study on the first floor, which has funky cabinets
and a study table, with an electric blue floor carpeting. Dr Chugh says
he designed this house almost two years ago, eversince, his skills at
interior design are being sought after by friends. Besides this, the
doctor models occasionally for Vansas Models and Concepts. |
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Mydoom
spreads its tentacles
Just
when you thought that the doom
spread by Mydoom virus was over, the virus has returned with a
vengeance, taking many city netizens by surprise. The virus, Mimail.
R, W32/Mydoom@MM, or simply Mydoom, has crippled many computers in the
city. Mydoom, first detected in January end, is still playing havoc with
the systems here and jamming the computer networks by deleting JPEG,
Excel and Word files from the system. It is mainly affecting systems
running on Microsoft Windows. The virus has been making entry in the
netizens; computers through a spoof. It is sent through a technique
wherein the virus-carrying message appears in an unsuspecting net-user’s
e-mail inbox, having been sent by another user, maybe known or a user
like a bank or a newspaper. Since the addresses that the virus uses are
valid, the user has no reasons to suspect that he could be getting
infected by the e-mail. This virus also spreads through mapped drives on
a local area network, as in call centres or in a small organisation. It
sends itself to addresses found on the victim’s machine and by copying
itself to folders on drives C: to Z:. Says businessman I.S. Saluja, “I
got the virus on my system through a mail sent to me with an English
newspaper’s mail address, and the subject was as innocuous as “For Your
Information”. Since I had advertised in the newspaper, I opened the
file, and got the virus.” He says that several important files of his
company’s accounts got deleted, and he had to seek expert help to get
his PC working. Agrees Mr Mahipal Singh, Assistant Manager, Systems,
Pugmarks, a reputed ISP in the city, “One cannot assume that the sender
address is an indication that the sender is infected. Additionally, you
may receive alert messages from a mail server that you are infected,
which may not be the case.” He informs that the extent of the spread of
Mydoom has increased manifold. He suggests that all net users get the
latest anti-virus software running with the latest update loaded on the
computer. “Stinger tool can be downloaded from NAI.com to scan the virus
and remove the virus if already present. Besides, do not open any
suspicious e-mails and delete them immediately,” he adds. |
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‘Helping
Hands’ for poor students Four
engineers, one passion — to serve humanity. The
engineers, all employed with Goetze India Limited at Patiala, have been
working for ensuring that meritorious children from underprivileged
families are able to get proper education. They have also been carrying
on a sapling plantation drive. They embarked on this mission 11 years
ago when they formed a society, Helping Hands. The motto of the society
is ‘Hands that serve humanity are a lot better than lips that talk of
divinity’. Vijay Gupta, president of the society, says he decided to do
social service following a serious accident in 1991 due to which he
remained confined to the bed for two years. “During that period, I
experienced the pains of life and decided to devote myself to serving
others once I got well,” he says. He got help from his colleagues in the
factory. “All of us wanted to do social service, but felt we could not
make much of a change individually. Owing to this, the requisite impetus
to get started never came,” says Jatinder Singh Narula. Once all of them
started discussing it amongst themselves, Helping Hands came into
existence, he adds. Vijay Gupta says he was interested in providing
education to girl children and through Helping Hands they have been able
to provide education to a large number of girls. The number of students
who have been helped by the society so far is more than 500. The
society starts helping children from the eighth standard and continues
to give them aid till they have done post-graduation, says Jatinder
Narula. “Our only condition is that the student should continue to
secure the first division in studies. If this is not done, we stop
giving aid to that child,” they say. Students are given money for fee,
uniform, stationary, help books etc. The experiment of helping only
meritorious students has apparently worked with two girls who are being
supported by the society from Class VIII. At present, they are doing
post-graduation in mathematics and physics. Both girls were toppers in
their respective fields at the graduation level. Jatinder says the
satisfaction that one of the girls, whose father sells vegetables, is
now giving examination to become a Deputy Superintendent in the Delhi
Police, is immense. Mr Surinder Singh and Mr Pritpal Singh, other
founder members of the society, also run a medical programme for
students. Doctors, who are members of the society, provide free medical
consultation and medicines to the students. The society, which now has
250 members, also organises a sapling plantation campaigns in the city.
Under these campaigns, the society takes the responsibility of
maintaining all saplings planted by its members for a period of five
years. The society is now planning to start job-oriented training
courses for youngsters so that they can start their own ventures. |
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Pizza Hut adds South Indian flavours Pizza Hut: After Punju pizzas, Pizza Hut has now added South Indian flavours to its range of pizza toppings. The new range, claims the pizza outlet, offers pizza lovers another opportunity to enjoy the international taste of the pizza with Indian flavours. Rasna offer: Rasna Private Limited, the soft drink concentrate company, now offers 12 glasses of Rasna Utsav at just Rs 10. The product is available at departmental stores in the city. Barbie: Mattel India has now launched
" Really Rosy Barbie". Barbie and her friends, Kayla and Lea, look
fabulous in their new rose- patterned floral shirts and denim minis with
tassels and a rose pattern embroidered on it. Priced at Rs 349, the doll
will be available at all toy shops. |
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The annual function
organised by the Sree Ayappa Samajam featured a variety of presentations
from the delightful mohiniattam to the vigorous kalaripayattu. An added
attraction of the day was the presence of Mr Innocent, the much-revered
Malayali comedian, who has featured in more than 350 films in a career
spanning 25 years.
