The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Buta Mandi women hold traffic to ransom Demand shifting of liquor vend Dharmendra Joshi Tribune News Service Jalandhar, June 12 A large number of women of several residential localities of the Buta Mandi area blocked the Nakodar road here today demanding the shifting of a liquor vend located in the area. Women, wielding lathis, broke windowpanes of some of the vehicles during blockade. Some of the protesting women alleged that it had become difficult for them to move in the area as drunkards teased them by passing indecent remarks. They raised slogans against the administration for failing to shift the liquor vend. They sought a written assurance from the district administration about the shifting of the liquor vend. Meanwhile, the police reached the spot and persuaded them to lift the blockade. But they lifted the dharna only after the assurance that the final decision about the liquor shop would be taken soon.
	Unending wait for medical reimbursement Dharmendra Joshi Tribune News Service Jalandhar, June 12 In an example of how usually government departments delay completion of work of common man apparently due to their vested interests, Tarlok Singh, a retired superintendent, PWD public health, has not been reimbursed his medical bill for the past six months. A resident of Ravinder Nagar here, Tarlok Singh told The Tribune that operation of one of his eyes was conducted at a private hospital here. Subsequently as per required procedure, the civil surgeon sent the medical bill for reimbursement to the director, Punjab health department, Chandigarh, on January 23 this year. Before sending the bill for reimbursement, a panel of doctors examined Tarlok Singh, he added. Fed up with the delay, Tarlok Singh sent a complaint against the director to Punjab health minister Luxmi Kanta Chawla on May 15 and requested her to direct the director to reimburse his bill at the earliest. Interestingly, he did not get any response even after three weeks of sending his complaint to the health minister. He then sent her a reminder on June 8. Tarlok Singh stated in his reminder that the finance department sanctioned the amount which should be paid for the intra ocular lens worth Rs 6,500 or actual expenditure, whichever is less.
	With dreams in his eyes Our Correspondent Phagwara, June 12 Sumit Sharma of Amritsar has been part of the U-19 Indian cricket team which won various cricket matches held in New Zealand, Pakistan, England and Malaysia in 2006 and 2007. The young cricketer now aims at joining the senior cricket team. Sumit was here with the Punjab Cricket Association coach on a visit to the Phagwara Coaching Centre. Talking to The Tribune, he said he played in the under 19 Indian team in four matches in New Zealand held in February 2007, six matches in Pakistan, six in the UK and five in Malaysia. Arun Bedi, international cricket coach accompanying him, said that Sumit, an all-rounder cricketer, had also played a triangular series held among Malaysia, England and India in February 2007. Bedi disclosed that Sumit was now preparing for the senior Indian cricket team. Sumit remained captain of the under 19 Punjab team and had played in the Ranji Cup and Dalip Trophy. Bedi and Sumit visited the Phagwara Cricket Coaching Centre being run by its president Amit Ohri. They also met some budding cricketers.
	PSEB sets up more nodal offices Our Correspondent Phagwara, June 12 Punjab State Electricity Board has set up six nodal offices at zonal centres and headquarter Patiala for the convenience of power consumers and monitoring power supply during current summer and paddy season, said H.S.Thukral, chief engineer north. The PSEB has set up control rooms to function round the clock at each sub division, division, circle, zonal office and member/distribution office. People can contact these control rooms in case of serious interruption of power supply, non-replacement of damaged transformers and to know about the shutdowns. He said as per instructions issued by PSEB, SE S.D. Katal will be nodal officer for south zone, SE H.S. Randhawa for central zone, Dy CE K.K. Vohra for north zone, Dy CE Rajiv Kuumar for border zone, SE D.P. Singh for west zone and SE M.L. Garg for control room at PSEB headquarter Patiala.
	Young World Fun games: City schools play host to summer camps Tribune News Service Jalandhar, June 12 An overnight summer camp was held at Seth Hukum Chand SD Public Senior Secondary School. Students came out in large numbers and took part in various games, including passing the parcel, musical chairs and antakshri. A summer camp concluded at Police DAV Public School on Monday. Over 400 children took part in the camp that offered a wide spectrum of fun-filled activities. The day was divided into four sessions beginning with physical activities such as swimming, badminton, skating, table-tennis, yoga, aerobics, football and basketball. After breakfast, activities like public speaking, English speaking, dramatics, quiz, computer education and personality development were held. This was followed by craft activities such as soft toy-making, paper folding, finger and vegetable printing, pot-painting, paper mache, calligraphy, paper folding, block printing, mehndi and training sessions in music, dance and bhangra. The camp concluded with an exhibition of items prepared by the participating children, including T-shirts, glass-painted pieces, bowls made of paper mache, kitchen napkins, towels, dolls, paper bags, lamps, flowers and candles. Somali Vij and Anandita recited poems. A summer workshop is on at Sanskriti KMV School. Participants are learning skating, indoor and outdoor games, thread painting, bird making, sculpturing and noodles in cookery classes. Tiny tots made beautiful pictures using thumb printing. Dance and music classes were also conducted. A five-day summer camp conducted at the CT Public School came to an end today with a grand surprise party given by the teachers to the camping children. A cake was cut and compliments were sung for each and every child. Charanjit Singh Channi, chairman, CT Educational Society, Manbir Singh, managing director and Lakhvinder Kaur, principal, were present on the occasion. Children had a gala time on the dance floor. Job offers As many as 105 students from 12 colleges took part in a two-day joint campus placement programme that concluded at Lovely Institute campus on Tuesday. Crompton Greaves, an electrical equipment manufacturing company, conducted the placement programme for recruitment to the post of junior engineers. The program saw the participation of students from Punjab and adjoining states, including Rajasthan, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
	Golf for rookies Golf is no longer a game of the elite. Thanks to the media and better performance of Indian golfers at the international level, the popularity graph of the game is on the rise says Lt-Col Kuldip Dosanjh (retd) Basically, golf originated in Scotland. King James of Scotland played it during the 15th century. It is generally considered that the Royal Black Heath Club of London is the oldest exisitng club of the world. A society of golfers was formed at Black Heath (Heath is a large open area with sandy soil and scrubby vegetation) during 1608. As the Britishers spread their tentacles over two-thirds of the world, other countries also picked up the game during the 19th and 20th centuries. Not lagging behind, the first ladies golf union was formed in 1893 and championship held. Byron Nelson dominated the game during the 1940s as Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman did in the last quarter of the 20th century. For the past 10 years more or less, Tiger Woods of the USA is number one golfer in the world. In the recent years, India also did exceedingly well at the international level and Jeev Milkha Singh is number one at the Asian level. Jyoti Randhawa and Arjun Atwal are the other well-known players. Common terms The word golf stems from the Dutch word “Kolf” meaning club. The mound on which the Dutchman placed the ball was “tuitje”, pronounced as “toy-tee”, presently called tee (made of plastic or wood). The club used for hitting the ball has three parts, grip, shaft and club head with which the ball is hit by giving a swing to the club. To begin with golf ball was feather stuffed, improved to be made of gutta-percha and then of rubber. Ultimately in the 1960s a molded ball was introduced which is now in use. The golf course in a standard form consists of 18 holes. Most of the courses measure from 6,500 to 7,000 yards. Handicap means that a player is allotted some additional number of strokes than the laid down 72 strokes to complete the whole course. It varies from scratch i.e. zero to 18 strokes. Both the players can complete the whole course, which generally doesn’t happen in any other game. Handicap is fixed by the club for each player depending upon the level of his game. A caddie, who himself can be a good player, is the carrier of the clubs in a golf bag. The maximum of 14 clubs can be carried during a round. Out of which three or four clubs can be woods and the remaining as irons and putter used for putting on green. For hitting below 200 yards irons and above 200 yards generally woods are used, though there is nothing hard and fast about it. Pitch and chip-pitch is an approach in which the ball is lofted in a high arc, whereas chip is short-approach shot on which the ball flies close to the ground. The whole game revolves around a term “par”. It is calculated on the basis of number of strokes taken by an expert to complete a hole. Distance of par-3 hole is up to 250 yards, par-4 between 251 and 470 yards and par-5 is 471 yards and above. A birdie means less than one stroke of par and eagle means less than two strokes of par. The hole in one (generally possible at par-3 holes), rolling the ball into cup with one stroke only and bogey refers to one over par score. The cup into which the ball is rolled is 41/2 inch in diameter and 4 inch deep. The pin is a rod with a flag on top, which fits into the groove in the cup. The bunker is an area of bare depression, usually covered with sand. Sand wedge is used to play from bunker. To make the game challenging the number of bunkers, water obstacles, slanting green, undulated ground and lofty trees can be added in the fairway i.e. the route between tea and cup. The golf range is an open area in funnel shape generally next to a golf course where a beginner or a player can practise all sorts of shots. Regular practice on the range is highly needed to improve upon. How it’s played Golf is both individual and team game. If between two or three players it is individually played and for team game, four players are divided into each team of two. As it should be clear by now, the game is played by striking the golf ball with various clubs from a teeing off line into a series of holes and who covers the course in the fewest strokes is the winner. Playing 18 holes is quite exercising to the extent of tiring and even exhaustating. With the age one may reduce the number of holes to be played. Jalandhar has two good golf courses. One is that of the Army between Garha and the cantonment. It has a driving range next to the course. Another course is in the PAP complex. Similarly, the RCF Kapurthala has got an 18-hole course.
	Sweden visit: Students of Police DAV return home enriched Tribune News Service Jalandhar, June 12 As part of an academic and cultural exchange programme, a group of seven students from Police DAV Public School, their principal Rashmi Vij and faculty member Ratlandeep visited Sollentina International School Sweden for 14 days. During a press conference today, the students said they got an opportunity to study and compare the cultures of the two countries and workforce behind their progress. Seven children, Arvind, Sargam, Harneet, Taranpreet, Rajdeep, Apoorv and Simarpreet, all of class X, visited the main tourist spots of the country, including Vasa Museum, Skansan Zoo, Stockholm - old city, City Hall and Archipalego - a group of small islands. Each student stayed with the same Swedish child who had earlier visited the school in November last. The students gave a presentation on the Indian culture. They said that their counterparts in Sweden expressed a desire to learn Indian dances. Describing the education in Sweden, the principal said that a plus three system was followed there unlike the plus two system here. “A child after class IX cannot go for higher education unless he has undergone some work experience. The school counsellor helps the children find jobs. Parents are quite enthusiastic about their child’s activities. After 18, they leave them on their own”, Vij said. The best thing that Harneet described about the country was lush green and tranquil environment. Sargam found the climate too cold. Rajdeep was surprised to see that students did not wear school uniform. Tarun observed that people did not take spicy food and mostly had a sweet tooth. He relished cakes, pies and deserts of different flavours. Their teacher Ratlandeep observed: “Swedish people are very patriotic. We could see a Swedish flag atop almost every house”.