Amritsar, May 30
The city’s night life is buzzing like never before. The generation next is looking for fresh kicks, which stir the palate and are easy on the wallet, when it comes to spending evenings with their families.

Keeping the trend in mind, almost all international chains, including Pizza Hut, Dominoes, Café Coffee Day, Barista, Bakes and Beans, Subway and Kobe Sizzlers have opened their outlets to give choices to the residents.

Even the ancient joints like “Kesar Da Dhaba” and “Bharavan Da Dhaba” continue to attract hordes of locals and tourists which serve best of Indian delights. Though these outlets don’t have chains, they do have replicas which have sprung up throughout the walled city, especially around the bus stand and the railway station.

Non-vegetarian foods which are heartthrob for Punjabis too have noticed a large number of fans falling. A large number of roadside outlets have come up in the Civil Lines area serving chicken and mutton dishes to the clientele. However, “Parkash Da Meat” and “Beera Chicken” are still the hot favourites.

Although the pub culture has yet to catch the fancy of the people here, still all the bars at clubs, hotels and restaurants are doing a brisk business cashing upon the IPL Twenty20 matches. A number of restaurants have put up large screens both outside and inside to woo the customers.

Teg Resort on the city outskirts is one of the perfect freaks out joint for both old and young. The resort has all the trappings of the best in every sphere of life, including three sets of swimming pool, squash court, badminton and terrace courts and a cutting course for golfers.

Thus calling Amritsar a dining den won’t be wrong as it is the favourite entertainment and pastime for both locals and tourists. 

Amritsar, May 30
Mission Aagaaz, an NGO, planted saplings in a triangle park at the Lala Lajpat Rai locality in the holy city besides conducting a survey on the progress of the Go Green - Go Clean campaign, funded and initiated by BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu.

The survey found that plants are dying due to lack of care at many places while tree guards have also been stolen.

Sidhu, when contacted, said he would take up the matter with the mayor and the corporation authorities to monitor the plants so that no tree should die for want of maintenance. He said people should actively participate in large numbers to maintain and nurse trees planted at his initiative. He urged the NGOs to come forward and join hands to maintain the ecological balance environment of the city.

Gurbhej Singh, general secretary, Aagaaz, said there was also no arrangement for the lifting of the garbage, especially in the inner parts of the walled city. Household waste could be seen dumped in several streets and chowks.

He said the residents of Katra Moti Ram, inside Hathi Gate, did not want the dumper to be kept in front of their houses and the municipal corporation had not found any other place for keeping it. One could witness more waste outside than inside the dumper, he added.

Members of the NGO urged Bikram Singh Majithia, environment minister, to save the holy city from further degradation.

Amritsar, May 30
The Light House, a theatre group of Delhi Public School, would stage the premiere show of the famous play “The Montgomery Bus Boycott” tomorrow at Punjab Naatshala here.

Jatinder Brar, founder and brain behind Punjab Naatshala along with Rotarian Kamal Uppal, would be the chief guests, while Sangeeta Singh, principal of the school would preside over the event. The plot is based on the historic boycott of Montgomery bus by black Americans during the first half of the twentieth century when the latter were not allowed to go to same schools as whites. They could not eat in restaurants with white people or live with them in the same neighborhoods. Moreover, the facilities provided to blacks were substandard, allegedly designed to humiliate them.

In south, the segregation was not merely a custom but it was a sort of law and people violating these laws could be arrested and jailed.

In 1955, a woman named Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat for a white man. This simple act led to a year-long boycott within the black community of Montgomery, Albama which proved to be a historic one and laid the foundation of the civil rights movement which was also jointed by Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sangeeta Singh said the school children from class V to X would perform in this unique play. 

Amritsar, May 30
Guru Nanak Dev University is fast proving to be the new Mecca for admission seekers in various disciplines, especially science and technology. Reason: excellent placement record. Around 3,000 students have been placed in various MNCs so far.

Placement director Dr Sukhdev Singh said the placement department helped students of all the three campuses - Amritsar, Jalandhar and Gurdaspur - to get jobs. Besides, it took care of academic and career counselling and organised events like seminars and workshops.

He expressed the hope that the university would be the first preference of students appearing for counselling at Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar, in June 2008.

Talking about the latest trend, Dr Sukhdev said all the technical courses in general and computers and electronics in particular were in great demand.

“So the university has increased seats for these courses in the coming session,” he added.

Established in March, 1998, the placement department has proved its worth by placing students in renowned companies across the globe.

Dr Sukhdev said since inception the department had been placing students in multinational companies like TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Satyam, Accenture, L&T, Cognizant, Vardhman, Ranbaxy, and Trident.

The highest salary package offered to the varsity student was Rs 9 lakh per annum by Trident, he added.

Dr Sukhdev said 638 students of the batch passing out in June-2008 were already placed and had been drawing handsome salaries. From the batch passing out in June-2009, 283 students had been placed and 100 per cent placement was expected 
for the batch.

Amritsar, May 30
The local Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) organised medical check-up camps regarding anaemia in young girls at Daburji and Nagkalan villages recently.

The camps were organised in collaboration with the health centres of the villages to ascertain the prevalence of anaemia in young girls in villages.

The hemoglobin level of girls from low and medium socio-economic status families was checked along with body weight and height.

Dr Satpal Saini, deputy director, told the girls about the importance of balanced diet and role of KVKs in uplifting the status of women, nutritionally.

Shaminder Bawa, assistant professor, home science, gave information on causes of iron deficiency, anaemia in girls, its symptoms and diet to be taken such as vitamin C-rich foods to enhance the absorption of iron.

Data was also collected regarding the food habits of the girls and they were guided regarding healthy habits, taking balanced meals and regular de-worming. Iron supplements were distributed among girls as per prescription of the physician.

Amritsar, May 30
The postgraduate department of textile designing and fine arts of Khalsa College for Women organised an exhibition of items prepared by college students as per their course scheme at Art Gallery here. The exhibition is held every year.

Still life and oil paintings, including glass work, pottery and many more artistic goods were major attraction of the exhibition.

Course in charge Kanwaljeet Kaur said the items were the result of hard work and and talent of students. She said the department was affiliated to Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. She said students learn batik, freehand painting, screen printing, spray printing, tie and die, block printing, etc.

Manveen Sandhu, principal, Spring Dale Senior Secondary School, while inaugurated the exhibition.

Amritsar, May 30
The HDFC Bank opened its 10th branch in the holy city today which was inaugurated by municipal corporation additional commissioner Vimal Setia.

Bank country head Navin Puri said the new branch would offer world-class banking services under one roof ranging from savings account, fixed deposits, current account, mutual funds, lockers to sophisticated direct access banking channels like ATM and phone banking. Besides, it would offer a wide range of corporate and retail banking too, he added.

In November, 2004, a letter appeared in The Tribune pointing out that acres of land behind Guru Nanak Hospital was lying waste where weeds were growing. The letter writer suggested that this land could be used to grow trees, vegetables and flowers.

The matter was taken up by Amritsar Plus. A news item, “Government Medical College a breeding ground for diseases”, appeared in September, 2005, with a photo of weed growing on the campus. And today one can find hundreds of shady trees planted there.

College principal Dr Gargi gives credit for this transformation of the land to Navjot Singh Sidhu, MP, and the minister for medical education. Dr Gargi wants to develop this area as the best place for morning walk. But the grass and weed in between the trees needs to be cleared and desires that some voluntary organisation to come forward to do the job.

— Dr A.L. Adlakha, Amritsar