Chandigarh, May 27
The 21-day Inservice Course for Trained Graduate Teachers of English concluded at K.V. No. 2, 3BRD Air Force Station, Chandigarh yesterday.

Teachers from Kendriya Vidyalayas in Chandigarh, Delhi, Jammu and Dehra Dun Region participated in this course and learnt language learning and teaching strategies in class-rooms.

Mr Chander Shekhar, ADGP (Law and Order), Punjab, who was the chief guest, lauded the efforts of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan for organising such training programmes for KV teachers and gave away certificates.

He also inaugurated the exhibition on teaching aids.

Ms Ranjana Kumari Bassi, venue principal and course director, highlighted the success of aims and objectives of the Inservice Training Programme.

Ms Amita Sharma, Vice-Principal, KV, High Ground, Chandigarh, and associate course director, gave a detailed report of the training schedule and presented a description of the activities undertaken by the resource persons, namely Ms Jatinder Kaur, PGT (Eng.) KV Sector 29, Chandigarh, Ms Neena Bhardwaj, PGT (Eng.), KV, High Ground, Chandigarh, Ms Narender Kaur, KV No. 5, Bathinda Cantt, and Mr Zafar Iqbal, TGT(Bio.), K.V. No.1, Chandi Mandir.

The cultural programme presented by the participants was the centre of attraction that reflected their artistic skill.

Their impressions of the experiences was summed up as ecstatic.

Ms Jatinder Kaur, resource person, proposed a vote of thanks by acknowledging the participation of the teachers in making the training a joyful and memorable experience for all. 

Chandigarh, May 27
One of the counsels for Jagtar Singh Hawara and his other accomplice in the Beant Singh assassination case was denied entry into the Burail Jail during the recording of statement of Balwant Singh, one of the accused, by the CBI Special Judge here today.

The counsels, Gaurav Kathuria and Gagan Aggarwal, had gone to the jail in connection with the recording of the statement of Balwant Singh under Section 313 of the CrPC.

While Gagan Aggarwal was allowed in, Gaurav Kathuria was denied entry by the Jail Superintendent and the Deputy Jail Superintendent.

Gagan Aggarwal said: “When the issue was brought to the notice of the CBI judge, he directed the jail authorities to allow entry to the other counsel.”

Chandigarh: Let us say it up front. There is an extraordinary hype surrounding “The Da Vinci Code” (Fun Republic), which is an ordinary movie to watch. For all its ballyhooed brilliance, it is a routine Hollywood thriller which would have sunk without a trace had it not been based on a controversial book, which, nevertheless is a best-seller.

Its premise which has earned the ire of the Christians goes like this: There is a murder at Louvre. American religious symbology expert, Dr Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), who is on a visit to France, is summoned to the museum by the French version of the FBI led by Capt Bezu Fache(Jean Reno) to decipher a chain of cryptic codes and puzzles left by the slain curator. Helped by cryptographer and government agent, Sophie (Audrey Tautou),who is also the granddaughter of the murdered man, the US symbologist soon discovers that he is the main suspect for the murder of the historian who, incidentally, was scheduled to meet him before his death.

On the run from Fache’s force and a vicious killer monk belonging to a sect (Paul Bettany),Langdon and Sophie have to uncover the nature of a secret dating back to Leonardo Da Vinci and earlier. As the narrative rambles across countries and Langdon and Sophie along with wealthy and eccentric British scholar Leigh Teabing (Sir Ian McKellan) go from one place to another in search of Holy Grail, for a moment it looks like you are watching “Indiana Jones And the Secret Code”. But Hanks soon dispels the impression that either he is Harrison Ford or the movie you are watching is another cinematic version of the Indiana Jones series. He hams and runs his way through the plot and restricts himself to giving explanations about symbols, codes and covert messages.

Audrey is easy on the eye though she looks startled most of the time (whether the worldwide media and religious attention or the awe-inspiring presence of a Hollywood giant had that effect on the upcoming actress is not known). Paul Bettany couldn’t have been more menacing and looks every inch the killer monk that he is supposed to be in the movie. Sir McKellan adds some jest and mystery and acts with elan. Jean Reno as the French policeman looks grumpy but gives a restrained performance.