Mandi Ahmedgarh, August 30
In view of spurt in terrorist activities and reported threats to VVIPs, including Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, the organisation of Chhappar Mela has become a litmus test for the Ludhiana (Rural) police.

Though no formal announcement of vigil over suspected hideouts of anti-social elements, linked with the sedition cases has been made, the district police is learnt to have enhanced security in the area.

Special teams have been deputed to keep a watch on the activities of declared terrorists, their sympathisers and owners of places that had once been used as hideouts by the hardcore terrorists.

The police is also keeping a watch on those ‘social’ and political leaders, who tried to defend terrorists and their sympathisers during the dark days.

The Ludhiana (Rural) police had intensified surveillance at and around Maherna Kalan, Barundi, Latala, Rachhin, Rangoowal, Kalakh, Dhulkot, Butahri, Narangwal Khurad Rajoana, Halwara, Leelan, Toosse and Sarabha villages where either hardcore terrorists had been living or hiding after committing heinous crimes during terrorism days.

Though a few of the suspects had returned to mainstream, the police has no other option but to act on the basis of records maintained at the Dehlon and the Sudhar police stations of the area.

The police had also launched a massive manhunt for terrorists who had been identified for anti-social activities during the terrorism era. It had succeeding in arresting a number of terrorists and their sympathisers in the past. Huge quantities of explosives and arms and ammunition were also recovered from their possession.

The conspiracy for the Shingaar blast was also allegedly hatched at Ghuman village in the area.

Admitting that the hardcore terrorists owing alliance to the Babbar Khalsa, Khalistan Liberation Force and the Khalistan Liberation Force (Panjwar Group) had been active in the area during terrorism days, Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, SSP, Ludhiana (Rural), claimed that the surveillance had been intensified to ensure security of all those who would visit Chhappar Mela. He called upon the residents to help the police in solving the case.

Ludhiana, August 30
Rain failed to dampen the enthusiasm of visitors on the inaugural day of the "Virasati Mela Dhiyan Da", which commenced by organisers and corresponding enthusiasm of exhibitors.

The department of cultural affairs, Punjab, and the Punjab Arts Council is organising the two-day mela.

Bringing alive the concept of "vehras", the organisers had engaged people from different villages to built mud houses emphasising the traditional structural designs of houses in rural Punjab. Self-help groups operational under the Pendu Vikas and Panchayati Vibhag too had put up stalls of daris, pakhis, phulkaris and painted sheets at the mela.

Balbir Kaur, chairman of the Ekta Group from Malakpur Bet, said, "There are 10 members in our group and each one makes four daris in a month which are sold at the weddings in nearby villages."

Apart from teaching the traditional form of dari making, each member of the group earns Rs 4,500-Rs 5,000 per month.

Doli Guleria and Pali Detwalia also mesmerised the audience with their folk songs. Besides, peoms, poster making competition, etc were also organised on the first day.

Describing the mela as a welcome step, an art connoisseur from the city said, " The different melas organised in every part of Punjab at different time of the year portray Punjabi ethos, but over the years they have lost substance due to organisational set up."

He also said it was necessary to rope in some veteran professionals from the field of art and culture, who could "selflessly" contribute in making such contemporary efforts a permanent success.

Terming the "Virasati Mela Dhiyan Da" as a unique and first venture, Hira Singh Gabria, Jail, Tourism and Cultural Affairs Minister, Punjab, said the Punjab Government would organise five melas in Punjab to highlight the heritage and rich Punjabi culture.

Gabria in his address said the main objective behind this mela was to prevent female foeticide and dowry system which was deep seeded in the society.

He appealed to the social, religious and educational organisations and other NGOs to launch a mass drive against the menace of female foeticide so as to completely oust it from the society before it caused a serious imbalance in the society in the coming years.

Ludhiana, August 30
Designer Abdul Halder made the “King of Pop”, Michael Jackson, dress in a whole range of Indian Maharajas’ traditional outfits in his album “Ghost”.

He is the lone designer from the country, who boasts of designing for Michael Jackson. Abdul was recently in the city to be part of an exhibition.

Sharing his experience, he said it was a unique experience to design the traditional Indian range for the pop king. “I had designed several outfits from the whole range of the Maharajas, from which he selected one. It was a one of its kind experience,” he added.

This talented “son of the soil” proved his brilliance once again when he was the only designer in the world to showcase in the United Nations Headquarters, New York, in July, 2008.

Discussing about the wedding season trends, he said this year the collection would center around scintillating “lehengas” and “cholies”, short tunics, chic kurtas and elegant pre-stitched saris. The list goes on, which also includes bridal “sherwanis” with either “churidars” or Aligarh pants for men in dazzling colours such as purple, aquamarine, red, turquoise, orange, brown, rust, green and shocking pink.

He mostly makes use of luxuriant fabrics, which include velvet, chiffon and silk. The dresses which he included in the exhibition were embellished with embroidery in gold, silver and “gotta” work was a prominent feature, adding that extra touch of magic.

Abdul's colour combinations widely represent the Indian culture. Using emerald with shocking pink for a tunic teamed with knit churidars was truly an exquisite sight.

Ludhiana, August 30
Private bus operators are daily putting lives of commuters at risk by overloading their buses and allowing passengers to travel atop even as authorities concerned look the other way. The overloaded buses mostly ply on rural routes in the district and are a common sight in different parts of the city as most of them start from the local bus stand.

Despite numerous tragedies, the bus operators continue to do so and the commuters keep climbing atop the buses. Neither the traffic police nor the transport office seem to have any problems with this practice that goes on unabated.

Two days ago, a 24-year-old youth died of head injuries after he fell from roof of a bus while on his way to Nanaksar village. He was carried away by strong wind and died on the spot after a fatal fall.

But such incidents do not deter the passengers who risk their lives to save a few minutes wait for the next bus. The private bus operators don’t object for a few bucks and put valuable human lives in danger.

The bus operators said it was due to competition posed by illegal bus operators that they were forced to carry double the capacity.

JS Grewal, president, mini buses operators’ union, said they were forced to overload, as they had to reduce the fares in line with illegal bus operators who carried passengers at half the rate.

‘‘So we have to carry 64 passengers if our bus has a capacity of 32. We cannot help it. If the transport department is ready to stop illegal operators, I will myself help them to challan overloaded buses. What should we do? Even the passengers force us to do so. Otherwise we don’t earn any money, ’’ added Grewal. 

Ludhiana, August 30
The security of private and nationalised banks situated on the Mall Road, Feroze Gandhi Market and surrounding areas is at risk due to the non- functional hotline service.

The telecom authorities, however, claimed that the hotline facility was functional in all the banks. They further said the problem would be fixed in a given timeframe if the service was not working in any bank.

According to the police, a month had passed since the Divison No. 5 police station had shifted to Mata Rani Mandir Chowk near Jagraon bridge, but the hotline service of a majority of the banks falling under this division had not been restored. The absence of service is posing a grave threat to these banks in the wake of rising cases of bank robberies in the city.

The bank authorities, on condition of anonymity, said, “We are in a vulnerable situation as lakhs of rupees are circulated everyday and in the absence of hotline service, we can be an easy prey for the robbers”.

The SHO, Division No. 5, said he had sent repeated reminders to the telecom department about the urgent restoration of the service in banks but the employees were not paying any heed. “We are not linemen and do not have knowledge of restoring the hotline service. We are concerned about the safety of the banks, and that is the reason why we have sent so many reminders to the service providers,” said SHO.

Mohan Lal, DGM, BSNL, Bharat Nagar Chowk, claimed that the hotline of the respective banks was fully functional and in case the service of any bank was not working, they could contact the BSNL authorities.

Ludhiana, August 30
The police has arrested the sarpanch of Amaltas Enclave, Nirbhai Singh Lahoria, for allegedly thrashing Naranjan Singh Bittu, panch of the same village, following a heated argument at a function in Bhattiya village late last evening.

According to the police, both were attending a party at the house of one Joginder Singh, when Loharia and Bittu started hurling abuses at each other and exchanged blows.

It is learnt that both had been at loggerheads for a long time and were looking to settle score with each other.

Later Lahoria, along with his accomplice, attacked Bittu with sticks and rods. Bittu was rushed to Civil Hospital with multiple fractures on his right leg.

Ludhiana, August 30
Sore over the power crises in Punjab, the Federation of Associations of Small Industries in India (FASSI), Punjab Chapter, has alleged that to hide the bankrupt condition of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), the government was doing false propaganda of power shortage in state whereas there was no scarcity in other parts of the country.

Chairman of the state unit of FASSI Badish K Jindal told The Tribune that power was available with other states and with private companies but due to the financial crunch, the PSEB was not in a position to pay in cash for buying power at higher prices.

The total deficit of the board had reached to about Rs 11,500 crore. Thus, it was neither in a position to set up its own power project nor it could purchase the same at higher rates. Moreover, the free power to agriculture and delay in its payment by the state government was further adding to the miseries.

He further added that the board had signed a long term power purchase agreement (for 30 years) with a private company at much lower rates than agreements signed with other two players for Rajpura Thermal Plant and Banawali Thermal Power Project at Mansa.

The board will start getting 300 MW of electricity from October 2010 and 150 MW by March 2011 at a price of Rs 2.14 per unit.

“Talwandi Sabo Thermal Power Plant and Mansa Power Plant have been allotted to a private players at Rs 2.86 and Rs 3.38 per unit besides other facilities like land acquisition and tax relief. When the long-term contracts at Rs 2.14 were easily available then contracts to other players at higher rates by state government needs reconsidering. There are chances of major corruption in these contracts”, added Jindal.

The association further claimed that many companies were setting up new thermal power plants in Jharkhand and they were looking for the state electricity boards for long-term agreements.

These companies were setting up thermal plants near the coalmines where transportation of power was more convenient and cheaper. Besides, the land price was cheap and its acquisition process was much easier in Jharkhand than in Punjab.

The association has asked the Chief Minister to look into all these details to improve power situation in Punjab as due to erratic power supply in the state, the industries were shifting to other states. “Instead of setting up plants in Punjab, PSEB could have long term contracts with the power supply companies in Jharkhand”, added Jindal.

Ludhiana, August 30
With three compulsory weekly offs to tide over the power crisis in Punjab, the industrial wheel has come to a halt. Resultantly, the industrial production has come down to less than fifty per cent.

The industry has been facing regular power cuts for the past two months due to the failure of the monsoon. Moreover, it has been subjected to three weekly compulsory offs. This step has been taken to provide power supply to tubewells to save paddy crop, claim the PSEB authorities.

These power cuts have also resulted in loss of jobs to a large number of industrial labour.

Enquiries reveal that Ludhiana’s engineering industry produces goods worth Rs 500 crore daily. Besides, the textile and hosiery sectors produce goods worth Rs 1,000 crore on a daily basis.

The engineering-sector production has been hit hard and it has come down to about 40 per cent, says Avtar Singh, general secretary, Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings.

The state government would realise the gravity of the situation only after two months when there would be fall in the collection of the state taxes, including VAT. “If the production has fallen to 40 per cent, naturally the tax collections would also come down,” he said.

He said the state government had yet to take any steps to help the industry. Although there was no demand for steel in view of the recession and power cuts, major steel producers were raising the prices of steel.

“The steel producers have enhanced the prices of HR coil by Rs 3,000 per metric tonne during the past three months since they have the monopoly. HR Coil is now being sold for Rs 32,500 per metric tonne,” he said.

Similarly, banks were also charging heavy interest on the advances extended to the industry. The banks are not concerned whether we are having full production or lower production, he said.

Normal life in the towns has come to a standstill as the power supply is switched off between 5.30 and 6 a.m, besides many other unscheduled cuts. There are no fixed timings and the power supply is switched off anytime.

The water supply gets suspended as soon as the power supply is switched off and the MC authorities make no alternative arrangements to run the tubewells. Even drinking water is not provided to the public by it, he said.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, August 30
The public works department has started the work of recarpeting of roads leading to Guga Mari, where the CM, besides other SAD and BJP leaders, is expected to address a conference during Chhapar Mela.

The recarpeting started after residents of the area complained about the apathy of the authorities towards the poor condition of the roads.

The Ludhiana Tribune had carried a series of stories on the pitiable condition of the roads connecting the local town with Ludhiana, Malerkotla and surrounding villages.

Workers of the public works department converged on the mela site to repair the roads.

The work was focused on stretches from where the CM’s cavalcade and other leaders were expected to pass.

Special attention was paid to the portion, which joined the SAD conference site with the area shortlisted for a helipad for the CM’s helicopter.

Investigations revealed that the condition of almost all roads connecting the local town with surrounding localities had been pitiable for the last many years.

The successive governments had been ignoring the demand to reconstruct the roads.

It is only during Chhapar Mela days that the authorities undertake the work of recarpeting of these roads.

The residents demand that all roads should be repaired according to the laid down norms.

Ludhiana, August 30
To experience the authentic flavour and culture of Thailand, cultural troupe and master chefs have especially flown into the city's Majestic Park Plaza. Artistes presented a Thai cultural dance to open the fest.

The 10-day food festival "Authentic Thai" was launched by Saggar World Holidays. Two renowned Thai chefs, Boontham Nonthibut and to assist him Chef Thanong Khamkodkaew, will prepare the authentic Thai delicacies for the Ludhianvis.

These chefs are masters in carving the fruits. On this occasion, organiser of the food festival Rupjeet Saggar said, "Thailand is a fascinating and exotic destination to explore. This is an attempt to present the culture and tradition of Thailand in front of the people of Ludhiana."

Specialities in food of any nation or place are a reflection of richness and diversified culture of the same, hence nothing could be a better way than the food festival to present the heritage of the particular place, he added.

Pinky Arora of the Thai Tourism Authority said as wedding season were on, they were also presenting Thailand as a wedding destination. She also mentioned that Thailand was a cheaper destination as compared to any other Indian destination for marriages. She also mentioned that traditional Hindu marriages were very easy to be performed in Thailand.

The cultural performance is the part of this delightful evening. "The Radiance of Suwannaphum" is specially created for this event. Suwannaphum is synonymous with world-renowned Thai cuisine and charming cultures, she added.

Ludhiana, August 30
Finally, after waiting for several years, the work on much-awaited Lakkar Bridge has been started as the Public Works Department has initiated working on the project by collecting soil samples.

According to information, the PWD has hired services from Guru Nanak Engineering College to do soil testing for the construction of bridge and the work is already underway.

Talking to The Tribune, road inspector Gyan Chand said, "I, along with the team of GNE officials, have been collecting soil samples from various areas since yesterday. These soil samples are being collected to have an idea about what should be the strength of the bridge."

The work of soil testing has been initiated after the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation deposited Rs 1 crore to the PWD.

The railway overbridge, initiated in 1997, has been stalled all these years due to various reasons, including fund crunch. The project cost has already been jacked up from Rs 13 crore to Rs 58 crore.

The project has been finally kicked off after a high-level meeting held in Chandigarh last week by the PWD principal secretary where it was decided that the MC would pay Rs 1 crore to the PWD within a week.

Apart from it, during the meeting it was also decided that the Ludhiana Improvement Trust would pay Rs 24 crore for the project to the Municipal Corporation in four quarterly instalments of Rs 6 crore each.

The new deadline for the project has been set as 18 months and tenders for the work are expected to be called soon.

Hailing the work on the project, Congress councillor Parminder Mehta said, "The old city markets in my ward were completely ignored after the construction of flyover joining Jagraon Bridge. The completion of this bridge is good news for the residents of the ward as well as others as traffic jams will be solved." However, he asserted that adherence to the time limit should be followed at any cost.

Ludhiana, August 30
The International Industrial Expo and Conference, 2009, being organised by the Paramount Exhibitors in collaboration with the International Trade Promotion Council (ITPC) here has already witnessed business enquiries worth over Rs 200 crore.

In addition, visitors from all over the country, especially from Gujarat, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu thronged the venue since morning, despite torrential rain.

A delegation of over 20 members from the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh Industrial Association also visited the venue.

Delegates from famous companies like Ashok Leyland and 3M India Ltd also visited the venue in addition to the visitors from Easun Reyrolle Relays & Devices, Electromech Industries, Bharat Auto Electric Components, SMD Pumps, etc.

Over 80 companies are taking part in the conference. The visitors showed keen interest in the companies from Mumbai, Chennai and Chandigarh dealing in welding equipment, power tools, pneumatics, soluble cutting oils, electricals, pump sets, etc.

The International Industrial Expo and Conferences is also holding concurrent conferences at the venue.

At these conferences, issues like innovative, integrated approaches along with the best practices and strategic partnership of the stakeholders are being deliberated. The Paramount Exhibitors recently concluded its International Health Expo and Conferences, 2009, at Ludhiana, which was a stupendous success.

Over 15,000 visitors had attended the four-day show, which had programmes like conferences, meet the experts, healthy baby show and a blood donation camp.

Mandi Gobindgarh, August 30
Activists of the Anti-Terrorist Front (ATF) of Northern India and Congress workers under the leadership of Kulwinder Singh Ambeymajra organised a march from Mandi Gobindgarh to Ambey Majra village, a few kilometer stretch, to observe the death anniversary of former Chief Minister Beant Singh.

Later, a state-level function was held at Ambey Majra village which was presided over by former minister Dr. Harbans Lal and MLA Tej Parkash Singh Kotli, son of the late Beant Singh, was the chief guest.

As many as 300 needy families were given rice and flour. Six artists and Congress workers were honoured.

Dr Harbans Lal said the late Beant Singh would be remembered by the coming generations for his contribution to bring peace in the state and accord the status of district to Fatehgarh Sahib.

The rally was addressed by district Youth Congress chief Sandeep Verma, Pardesh Congress secretary Dr Joginder Singh Maini, Harinder Singh Bhambri, Gursatinder Singh Jallah, Om Parkash Tangri and former municipal council chief Jagmeet Singh Sahota. 

Ludhiana, August 30
The melodic beats of nagara, khartal, khanjari, jhanj and been by the famous Nagara Group of Brij Bamrasia Banchari from Palwal district in Haryana became the showstopper on the inaugural day of the two-day “Punjabi Virasat Mela Dhiyan Da”.

The 250-year-old traditional music, once played in the courts of kings, mesmerised one and all present at the mela.

Headed by Amar Singh, the group of 12 members is elemental in keeping alive the folk music of Haryana, which they feel is a close kin of the Punjabi folk music.

Attired in white salwar suits and colourful headgears, the artistes varying from the age of nine years to 65 years shared equal enthusiasm for the folk music and dance.

Despite being a family of farmers with minimum of 20 acres of landholdings, each and every male member of the Bamrasia clan is involved in taking the instrumental folk music to new heights.

“Nagara music is a part of Brij Bamrasia Banchari family from 15 generations and we have done our best to keep the convention alive by passing it on to the younger generations,” added Amar Singh.

Devinder (jhanj player), a son of Bamrasia family, is studying in BA II along with his job as an LIC agent, but his undying passion for the traditional Nagara music has taken him to Dubai and every part of India.

Voicing aloud his fondness for the instrument, “I am playing jhanj from the age of five and it is an inseparable part of me. Now I am waiting for my performance at a festival in France, scheduled later this year.”

Tej Singh, another graduate in the family who holds almost 20 acres of land, takes pride in travelling with his troupe members from a small village function to the international festivals held overseas.

Ludhiana, August 30
A heavy cover of clouds engulfed the city here through the day, with liberal showers bringing down the day as well as night temperatures and also, providing the much-needed relief from the hot and humid conditions.

The rains, which have been lashing the region on and off continually over the past few days, are beneficial for kharif crops, which have already been reeling under the heat wave due to deficit rainfall in some parts of the state.

Weather experts of PAU, Ludhiana, are of the opinion that the rainfall would not only rejuvenate the crops but also meet the water deficit that the crops had been facing.

Dr K.K. Gill, assistant agrometeorologist, department of agrometeorology, PAU, informed that the rain showers are part of monsoons and would continue till mid-September. "However, the rainfall has not been well distributed over Punjab this year and the situation will remain the same with breaks in the showers."

"The rainfall brings down the temperatures but only temporarily. It will not affect in the water table of the state," Dr Gill remarked.

She added that the showers would cover at least 5-10 per cent of water deficit of the crops.

While many parts of the state have not received adequate rainfall, Ludhiana has been fortunate to have witnessed rainfall above normal this monsoon, said Dr Gill. Dr Gill further said cloudy conditions and showers would continue over the next two-three days with possibility of good rainfall in the city over the next 24 hours.

Ludhiana, August 30
When Reena’s husband committed suicide eight years ago, leaving her in a mire of debt, she had no idea that destiny had more blows for her over the years.

Struggling to put two square meals on the table, she took to working as a daily wage labourer at a local weaving factory.

She had pinning her hopes for survival on her 25-year-old son, but she was in for a rude shock when one day he eloped with his girlfriend on the pretext of travelling to a distant city in search of greener pastures.

The situation took an even more unfortunate turn last month when Reena developed high fever.

She was subsequently diagnosed with severe urinary infection. Considering her appalling condition, her two uncles supported her financially.

Over the past one month, she has been to various hospitals in the city, knocking from pillar to post, seeking treatment for life-threatening infection of kidneys.

She is now admitted to the Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) here under the department of urology, battling for life.

Her own financial resources, as well as those of her relatives, have exhausted and her only hope for survival is financial assistance from philanthropists.

The donations can be sent through cheque or draft with “Help for Reena” written at the backside of the bank instruments or on covering letter.

The office of medical superintendent at the CMCH may be contacted for this purpose.

Ludhiana, August 30
Keeping in view the affects of the excessive use of pesticides, PAU experts have devised eco-friendly technologies for the management of crop pests and diseases. The experts have laid emphasis on the minimum use of harmful pesticides and to protect the environment.

Dr A.K. Dhawan, head, department of entomology, said PAU had standardised modules for integrated pest management (IPM) in cotton that had been demonstrated in the cotton belt of Punjab through technically trained scouts.

"These efforts have led to lesser use of pesticides, enhancing profitability through increased production and curtailing the pesticide load in the environment by around 40 per cent," said Dr Dhawan.

4Dr Dhawan said the pest laid eggs in clusters on the leaves that should be destroyed. He suggested that the economic threshold level for different pests of cotton should be followed.

He also said in American cotton, sprays should be started against green aphid when leaves of 50 per cent plants showed yellowness from the margin. "For white fly, the threshold level is six flies per leaf or presence of honey due (insect excreta) on 50 per cent leaves, for thrips the ETL is presence of honey due in 50 per cent leaves," says the PAU expert.

For mealy bugs, the sprays should start when the pest appears on the plants. Dr Dhawan said sprays against bollworms should be initiated when 5 per cent of the dropped flower buds were pest affected.

"In the case of desi cotton, the sprays should start when 25 per cent flower buds are formed," said Dr Dhawan. He suggested farmers to consult the PAU experts in the department of entomology at Ludhiana or the nearby regional station/Krishi Vigyan Kendra for seeking technical guidance about pest management in cotton.

Ludhiana, August 30
During the annual scholarship distribution function for the year 2009-2010 of Bharat Vikas Parishad Shivaji Shakha, Ludhiana distributed Rs 1.5 lakh to 100 needy girl students of various schools and colleges of Ludhiana here today at D D Jain Memorial College for Women.

They also honoured 20 girls, who secured more than 80 per cent marks in their annual exams held in 2008-2009 and honoured 27 children of BVP (Shivaji) members, who are meritorious students.

Kidar Nath Jain, secretary management, DD Jain College, was the chief guest. Darshan Tripathi, state executive member of the BVPC Pb-North was the chief speaker.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, August 30
Terming deteriorating standard of sports in schools, as a major reason for poor show in competitions at an international level, office-bearers of sports and educational organisations have urged the government to focus on improving the standard of sports at the school level.

All educational institutes, irrespective of their affiliation and recognition should be directed to devote at least one period for games for all classes, demanded sports lovers.

The concern was showed on the occasion of the National Sports Day.

Observations by the Ludhiana Tribune revealed that a majority of the sports lovers opined that the alleged ignorance of the sports at the school level was one of the major reasons behind the poor show at the international level during the past years.

Non-availability of proper playgrounds and infrastructure required for practice of various sports and athletics events were also cited as a hindrance in the development of the interest in sports among school students.

“Unfortunately, authorities in the education department and the school boards have been granting affiliations in gross violation of the rules regarding availability of the playgrounds. Only a fraction of schools affiliated with the state education board has standard grounds in their institutes,” rued Baljit Singh, an office-bearer of a local sports club.

District kabbadi coach Budh Singh Ghungrana urged the heads of the educational institutes to value the importance of games for the students.

Over 270,000 books are available for Amazon Kindle-Amazon’s new wireless reading device, which is making waves in the US and Europe. It has been described as an alpenhorn blast of post-Gutenbergian revalorisation. 

In the Wall Street Journal, the cultural critic Steven Johnson wrote that he’d been alone one day in a restaurant in Austin, Texas, when he was seized by the urge to read a novel. Within minutes, thanks to Kindle’s free 3G hookup with Sprint wireless-they call it Whispernet, he satisfied his craving.

Writing and publishing, he believed, would never be the same. Are printed books, the most important artifacts of human civilization are on the road of obsolescence.

“It has reinvigorated my interest in reading,” another reviewer said. “I am hooked,” another said. And the Kindle 2 is selling: in April, tech blogs reported that 3,00,000 Kindle 2s had shipped since it was released on February 24.

Another commentator said he enjoyed reading outdoors, where he had, he confided, a “wonderful back yard, nice pool, and all that.” He was pleased to discover, while Kindling poolside, that the wind didn’t make the book’s pages flutter. “There’s just the one page,” he explained.

Sure, the Kindle is expensive, but the expense is a way of buying into the total commitment. This could forever change the way some people read. A satisfied user writes, “I’ve never been a fast reader. I’m fickle; I don’t finish books I start; I put a book aside for five, ten years and then take it up again.

With the help of this wireless Kindle 2 I have been pulled into a world of compulsive, demonic book consumption.”

Lying face up in a white-lined casket is the device itself. It is pale, about the size of a hardcover novel, but much thinner and it had a smallish screen and a keyboard at the bottom made of tiny round pleasure-dot keys that resisted pressing. It has a greenish, sickly gray screen which is eye-soothing. You can also change the type size as per your taste.

The New Yorker comments “There’s no clutter, no pile of paperbacks next to the couch. A Kindle book arrives wirelessly: It’s untouchable; it exists on a higher, purer plane. It’s earth-friendly, too, supposedly. 

Yes, it’s made of exotic materials that are shipped all over the world’s oceans; yes, it requires electricity to operate and air-conditioned server farms to feed it; yes, it’s fragile and it duplicates what other machines do; yes, it’s difficult to recycle; yes, it will probably take a last boat ride to a Nigerian landfill in five years. But no tree farms are harvested to make a Kindle book; no ten-ton presses turn, no ink is spilled.”

Instead of ink on paper, there’s something called Vizplex. Vizplex is the trade name of the layered substance that makes up the Kindle’s display-i.e. the six-inch-diagonal rectangle that you read from. The prospect of Vizplex first arose in the mind of a scientist, Joseph Jacobson, who now works at MIT’s Media Lab. 

Sometime in the mid-nineties, according to a colleague, Jacobson was sitting on a beach reading. He finished his book. What next? He didn’t want to walk off the beach to get another book, and he didn’t want to lie on the beach and dig moist holes with his feet, thinking about the algorithmic beauty of seaweeds. 

What he wanted was to push a little button that would swap the words in the book he held for the words in some other book somewhere else. He wanted the book he held to be infinitely rewriteable-to be, in fact, the very last book he would ever have to own. He called it “The Last Book.” To make the Last Book, he would have to invent a new kind of paper: RadioPaper.

E Ink’s first big, visible customer was Sony. Sony bought a lot of Vizplex display screens for its Reader, the PRS-500. Sony set up an online bookstorefor selling its machines. Sony is, of course, a deft hand at handheld design.

Its reader was very good, given the Etch-a-Sketch limitations of the Vizplex medium, but it lacked wirelessness-you had to USB-cable it to a computer in order to load a book onto it-and Sony had no gift for retail bookselling. Hundreds of thousands of Sony readers have sold and one can now read 5,00,000 public-domain Google Books on it in ePub format-but, oddly, people ignore it.

Along with Sony several other companies rushed to develop Vizplex-based devices. Amazon was one of them. But the Kindle 1 wasn’t an improvement. Page turning was slow and was accompanied by a distracting flash of black, as the microspheres dived down into their oil-filled nodules before forming new text. Its screen wasn’t like reading actual paper.

It was not as bright and there was glare if the light was too direct. It had several other problems.

Undeterred, the folks at Amazon gave the Kindle 1 a hose blast of marketing late in 2007. To counter the threat, Sony boosted its advertising for the PRS-500, but it couldn’t compete.

Amazon’s product engineers soldiered on, readying the revised version-smoothing the edges and fixing the most obvious physical flaws. They made page turning faster, so that the black flash was less distracting, and they got the screen to display sixteen shades of gray, not four, a refinement that helped somewhat 
with photographs.

There was another problem with the revised Kindle-fading. Some owners found that when they read in the sun the letters began to disappear. Readers had to press Alt-G repeatedly to bring them back. Amazon remains fully committed to electrophoresis.

Heartened by the Kindle 2’s success, Amazon introduced recently a bigger machine-the thumb-cramping, TV-dinner-size Kindle DX. The DX can auto-flip its image when you turn it sideways, like the iPod Touch and on it you can view-but not zoom on or pan across-unconverted PDF files.

The Kindle DX’s potential is considered a replacement for textbooks and paper printouts of courseware. The Princeton programme in this regard is underway in the US.

If you want to read electronic books there’s another way to go. Here’s what you do. Buy an iPod Touch or buy an iPhone, and load the free “Kindle for iPod” application onto it.

It’s completely silent. Hold it a few inches from your face, with the words enlarged and the screen’s brightness slider bar slid to its lowest setting, and read for ten or fifteen minutes.

Each time you need to turn the page, just move your thumb over it, as if you were getting ready to deal a card; when you do, the page will slide out of the way, and a new one will appear.

One cannot read books on Kindle 2 in India in the absence of a link such as Whispernet, a 3G hookup with Sprint wireless in the US, but days are not far off when this sensational development will be available to the eager Indian 
bibliophiles.

The writer is an editor with Instablogs.com (anilm@instablogs.com)

Jagraon, August 30
A quack, who had not even done his matric, identified as Sikander Verma, was yesterday booked for practicing medicines at the Sidhwan Bet town near here.

Acting on the complaint filed by a fellow villager, SMO Sidhwan Bet, Dr Daljit Singh, had raided Amit Clinic here on July 15 and found him sitting on the chair of the doctor and conducting medical check up of patients.

The raiding team also found slips with medicines prescribed by him with the regular patients. Dr Daljit Singh made a detailed report regarding this and handed it over to SSP Jagraon, Gurpreet Singh Bhuller for further action.

The SSP Jagraon after due consultation, instructed for a case to be registered against the accused.

The Sidhwan Bet police following the instructions booked the accused under Sections 419 and 420 of the IPC and 15 IMC, 1956.

No arrest has been made so far.

Interestingly, the board of the clinic bears the name of a qualified BAMS doctor, who visits the clinic occasionally.

However, investigation by The Tribune revealed that in the Sidhwan Bet block alone, nearly 90 per cent of the doctors practicing medicines and chemists dispensing medicines were without licences.

On the condition of anonymity, an employee of the civil hospital, Sidhwan Bet, said more than 150 un-educated doctors (quacks) were practicing medicines.

Ludhiana, August 30
Fine batting display by Sunjeet Singh (29), Amritpal Singh (24), Harmanjot Singh (23) and an equally valuable contribution with the ball by Tanvir (five for 19) enabled the Tarn Taran zone to overpower the Sangrur zone by five wickets and emerged as champions in the Big Ben Inter-Zone Twenty20 Cricket Tournament organised by the sports wing of Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle at Punjab Agricultural University ground here today.

The Tarn Taran zone won the toss and invited the Sangrur zone to bat and their decision yielded the desired results, as the latter's innings folded at 103 runs in 19.3 overs.

The main contributors were Navroz and Mandeep Singh, who scored 44 and 13 runs, respectively.

For the Tarn Taran zone, Tanvir was the most successful bowler, who grabbed five wickets for 19 runs. Amritpal Singh captured two wickets after conceding 22 runs.

Chasing the modest total, the Tarn Taran zone scored 104 runs in 18.3 overs after losing five wickets. Their innings revolved around Sunjeet Singh, Amritpal Singh and Harmanjot Singh, who chipped in with 29, 24 and 23 runs, respectively.

For the losers, Mandeep Singh captured three wickets for 21 runs.

Harshdeep Singh of the Tarn Taran zone was adjudged the best player of the tournament, while Navroz and Mandeep Singh, both of the Sangrur zone, were declared the best batsman and the best bowler, respectively. Cash prizes were given to the players.

Inderpal Singh, chief secretary, Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle, and Ram Singh, chief organiser of the tournament honoured Dronacharya awardee (cricket) Gurcharan Singh from New Delhi.

Tejwinder Singh, managing director of Big Ben, was the chief guest at the prize distribution function.

Jagraon, August 30
The Sher-e-Punjab Sports Academy of Chakar village celebrated the National Sports Day by conducting friendly boxing matches in collaboration with Government Senior Secondary School of the village yesterday.

The final match was played between the host academy team and Harman Memorial Sports Academy team, Bahona, Moga, in which boxers displayed their excellent boxing skills.

The academy along with many other academies throughout the country celebrated the National Sports Day to commemorate the birthday of Hockey Olympian, popularly known as magician in hockey, Dhayan Chand.

Advocate Raghubir Singh, president of Jagraon Bar Association, was the chief guest of the programme largely attended by students, teachers of various schools, besides villagers and panches/sarpanches of the surrounding villages.

After the programme, the Sher-e-Punjab Sports Academy with the help of villagers and NRIs distributed sports kits to nearly 150 players of boxing and football.

The initiatives of Prof Balwant Singh of the village and the managing committee members of the Sher-e-Punjab Sports Academy were appreciated for their involvement in the promotion of sports among the rural students, who are otherwise less privileged, as compared to their counterparts.

Mohammad Jamil, SHO Hathoor, Piara Singh and panches and sarpanches were among others who had visited the village to encourage the Sher-e-Punjab Sports Academy for their selfless effort in popularising sports free of cost among the village youth.