Last call of Hoopoe
Excessive use of pesticides is sounding the death knell for the hoopoe bird
Vikram Jit Singh

Ever wondered what happened to that graceful bird strutting about in the lawns and flowerbeds, easing out worms with a forceps-like beak? Or that soft, musical hoo-po-po call wafting through a winter afternoon? But the hoopoe is dying a slow death in some obscure corner of Chandigarh's gardens. The culprit: Slow poisoning by pesticides and weedicides.

It is another of the `perfect murders' that have come to afflict the avian world. An environment contaminated with killer toxins that silently finishes species, much like the ‘slow arsenic' poisoning of diabolical murder plots. Says leading ornithologist and Director, Bombay Natural History Society, Dr Asad Rahmani, "Insectivorous birds have been hit the hardest by pesticides. The Hoopoe is one of the birds feeding on insects. Since the bird does not die immediately, like when poachers deliberately poison foodgrains or hunters shooting down birds, the deaths go unnoticed. By eating pesticide-laden insects, the Hoopoe's reproductive capacity and hormonal balances are upset. It took years to discover that the veterinary drug Dicolfenac, was responsible for vanishing vultures, as these birds did not die quickly after ingesting the drug from cattle carcasses. Diclofenac has not been removed from the environment despite a ban on its veterinary use. Pesticides such as Furadon are killers, but are being promoted strongly by the government. Other poisonous chemicals banned abroad are being dumped in India and even manufactured domestically by foreign companies.''

City-based ornithologist and author, Lt Gen (retd) Baljit Singh, notes the hoopoe's presence sporadically in winter in his Sector 16 residence. The lawns that hoopoes love have not vanished. These have got only ‘greener'. The tree holes for nesting hoopoes are still available. "Most of the hoopoes were found in the northern sectors. However, the use of pesticides and chemicals by gardeners in these sectors, to maintain lawns, has contaminated the food of the Hoopoe. In the US, the contamination of the foodchain by the killer DDT resulted in the eggs of the bald eagle turning into putty," he says.

The hoopoe's dainty presence dots green pastures across continents. BirdLife International classifies the hoopoe on a global scale as one not facing the threat of extinction. Declared the National Bird of Israel in 2008, the hoopoe was once the State Bird of Punjab because it was seen as a ‘friend of the farmer' — feeding on grubs, insect larvae and worms, which benefits agriculture. With a handsome crest, erectile on demand, the Hoopoe has been described as the `poor man's peacock'. At the picturesque Shiwalik Golf Course (SGC), Chandimandir, bird-watchers can still get to see as many as 20 Hoopoes feeding placidly on the plateau fairways of the back-nine holes.

A bird also described as one ‘full of attitude', the Hoopoe put up a delighful Tom and Jerry show at the SGC. A hoopoe was stalked by a Jungle cat near the 9th hole green. Amused golfers watched the cat crouch to within yards of the seemingly unwary Hoopoe. However, all of a sudden and to the surprise of the golfers, the hoopoe whirled around and made a series of mock charges at the cat. The cat was aghast. Before the feline could gather its wits, the hoopoe flew off in its butterfly looping flight. The hoopoe returned to make a teasing diving charge at the predator before making off to safety on a nearby roof!

Male Hhoopoes fight a lot over pretty females! Males are known to even blind each other with their long beaks during such fights. The most interesting part of hoopoe behaviour is that they deliberately keep their nests in hollows of tree trunks very dirty and smelly, with faeces and glandular secretions to ward off predators.

Hoopoe chicks will squirt faeces at intruders like rascally schoolboys armed with water pistols! Often confused in popular consciousness as a `woodpecker', the hoopoe's Punjabi names are Chakkiraha or Bebedukh. The hoopoe's long, nail-shaped beak is attributed by Punjabi myth to the suffering of a wife, who has been killed by a cruel mother-in-law by driving a nail through her head.

"The hoopoe has references in the Bible and Quran. It was King Solomon's messenger as it was considered a very wise bird. The hoopoe is a prominent character in Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Egyptian hieroglyphics depict the Hoopoe as a notable bird. The Persian classic, Conference of the Birds, by Farid ud-din Attar, has the hoopoe leading the birds to enlightenment,'' notes Lt. Gen. Singh.

For arts’ sake
Ashima Sehajpal

A bit of yellow and two drops of orange, Som Dutt Sharma mixes the two colours well…till they change into crimson. Without taking note of us or the other two fellow artists, forming a semi-circle around him, he continues with his work and lends what we thought were final touches to the characters of his painting — Shakuntla and Dushyant.

Anticipating the confusion, the septuagenarian artist clears the air. "I am through with the characters only. The background of the scene is yet to be decided. I am still contemplating which part of Kalagram would look best as the backdrop." Centre to promote art and art to promote the centre!

At Kalagram, which comes under the North Zone Cultural Centre (NZCC), schedule of all art promotional activities is already in place till next year. "All I had to do is to ensure continuous art-related activities at Kalagram. The decades-old practice of 10-day workshops of painting and sculpture- making has been done with," informs Devinder Singh Saroya, director, NZCC. The initiative resulted in a new format that guarantees round the year activities.

During the workshop that lasts a fortnight, the deployed artist will create three works and the sculptor will make one creation. "The art activity at the Kalagram earlier was either about a ten-day workshop or crafts mela. In total, it didn't last for more than 20 days. There used to be no activity for rest of the 246 days," adds Saroya.

For the next two weeks, city-based artists Ram Pratap Verma and Jagdish Lal Ahuja will be working on their mediums. The artists aren't given any particular theme or subject. "That would have limited their creativity. They have the freedom to create anything using whichever material they wish to," chips in Shiv Singh, an eminent artist, who along with Saroya finalised the art schedule. The paintings will be put on display at the art gallery in Patiala.

Over 200 sculptures that are placed randomly on a raised platform will get a better treatment as well. Adds Singh, "These will be rearranged in accordance to the genre - real or abstract. Also facts about the artist and thought behind the artwork will be mentioned alongside. The idea is to develop interest of people, who don't have much understanding of art." On the cards is a museum at the Kalagram for the sculptures. "But that might take a little time," says Saroya.

Besides visual art, the centre is also committed to the cause of performing art. Every Friday,plays will be organised at open-air theatre and Saturdays will witness performances by singers. But what is must is information about various initiatives, paintings, sculptures and activities; otherwise, people would visit with a vague idea.

In the meanwhile, Som Dutt has decided what would be the backdrop of his painting. "I am not going to disclose it. See it yourself when the painting is complete." Another reason to be at the Kalagram once again!

ashima@tribunemail.com

Mel-function

Hollywood superstar Mel Gibson escaped without injuries after crashing his car while on a late night drive in Malibu.The Academy award-winning actor who is involved in a court battle with estranged girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva over domestic violence, crashed his $ 110,000 Maserati. Gibson lost control of his car on the rocky hillside of Malibu Canyon road on Sunday night, according to the California Highway Patrol (CHP).While the 54-year-old actor was not injured, the car had to be towed. Gibson was not driving drunk, according to the police. Gibson was arrested for drunk driving in July 2006, which sparked his infamous anti-Semitic rant.The CHP report states, "For unknown reasons, Mr Gibson steered his car to the right and struck the rock hillside. "

He stopped his car at the scene and was contacted by officers from the West Valley CHP Area."Gibson told officers in the field he did not know how the car drifted out of the lane and into the hillside. Officers asked Gibson if he was on a cell phone and he said no. When asked if he may have fallen asleep at the wheel, Gibson did not give a firm yes or no and kept repeating, 'I don't know ho w the car left the roadway'," said CHP Public Information Officer Leland Tang.Tang added that Gibson supplied all the pertinent information to the officers and no charges will be filed against the actor. — PTI

In the right company

Bollywood beauty Preity Zinta who rang the famed NASDAQ bell on Tuesday, now dreams of listing her own company at the world's biggest stock exchange.

The Kal Ho Naa Ho star is only the third Indian actor to ring the bell, with Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol being the first.

"Am invited 4 d opening bell ceremony at NASDAQ tue morning! Hope i can list 1 of my companies there sumday! Now i'm excited (sic)," tweeted Zinta who is the co-owner of the IPL team 'Kings XI Punjab'.

The 35-year-old actor had earlier played the Grand Marshal at New York City's 30th India Day Parade.

Wearing a pink anarkali suit designed by Manish Malhotra, she led thousands of cheering fans through Manhattan, as Bollywood hits played in the background. — PTI

Launch pad?

Tamil actor Surya Sivakumar, who is debuting in Hindi cinema with Rakta Charitra says even though the film is a perfect launch vehicle for him in Bollywood, he is not keen to go full throttle in B-town."I think Rakta Charitra is a perfect film for me in Hindi cinema. But I am not looking at making a full-fledged career in Bollywood...I am not shifting my base here," Suriya, who has acted in Tamil movies like Kaakha Kaakha and Ghajini, said.

The 34-year-old actor also ruled out quitting Southern films for Bollywood."I have never pushed myself for Hindi cinema. If I get to do different roles that excite me then I will surely love to do Hindi movies. But I will not stop doing films down South," he said. Rakta Charitra, slated for an October release, is said to depict the life of the slain political leader Paritala Ravindra played by Vivek Oberoi, with Surya enacting the role of Maddelacheruvu Suri and veteran actor Shatrughan Sinha playing NT Rama Rao.

It's made in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil languages.On working with RGV, Surya said, "Ramu Sir and I have been friends for four-five years now. I loved his Rangeela and Sarkar. When he narrated this script to me I could not say no. The character really excited me to go for the film. It is so very intense." — PTI

On a song

It is just the beginning of a long journey in showbiz for Indian Idol 5 winner Mynampati Sreeram Chandra and the budding singer says he would also love to venture into acting. "As of now I want to settle down in Bollywood as a singer, but I wouldn't mind taking up acting at some point in my career," Sreeram said.The 24-year-old singer took up music five years ago with the dreams of achieving international stardom one day."I want to make it big on a national stage and then represent my country on the international circuit. I want to achieve fame like Brian Adams, Beyonce Knowles, the Backstreet Boys and Westlife, who are internationally popular," said Sreeram. A native of Hyderabad, Sreeram has graduated in engineering and trained in classical Carnatic music. He intends to carry on learning music as well as establish himself as a playback singer in Bollywood.Sreeram has already recorded a duet with Shreya Ghosal for music composer duo Salim-Suleiman. "I am looking forward to the release of the song which I sung with Shreya Ghosal and also the album I will be recording with Sony," said Sreeram, who has also bagged a deal with Yashraj Films to sing in one of their forthcoming films as a part of his Indian Idol win. Sreeram has grown up listening to the likes of Kishore Kumar and AR Rahman and is heavily inspired by them.

"I listened to Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, Shankar Mahadevan, Rahman saab. I also am influenced by the west and love Michael Jackson and Bon Jovi," he said. Throughout his Indian Idol journey, not for once did Sreeram come into the bottom three or face the danger of getting voted out. Was he always confident about his win? "I was the only one who never came in to the danger zone and I am glad that people loved my singing so much. But I always tried to maintain a balance and keep myself prepared for the worst," said Sreeram, who got his Idol trophy from none other than Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan.Bachchan also took pity on a breathless Sreeram and helped him deliver his thank you speech, which is now a fond memory with the singer."It was the best moment of my life," he added. — PTI

The dragon girl

Little-known American actor Rooney Mara has clinched the coveted lead role in the The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, beating off competition from Hollywood biggies like Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman.

The 25-year-old brunette will play Lisbeth Salander, the pierced and tattooed lesbian hacker, opposite Bond star Daniel Craig, in the film adaptation of Stieg Larsson's best-selling trilogy.

Auditions for the role had been on for the past few months before Mara was chosen by director David Fincher.

Rooney Mara is the sister of actor Kate Mara and appeared in the 2010 remake of A Nightmare On Elm Street and had small parts in TV dramas ER and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

The blonde, blue-eyed Craig will play journalist and amateur sleuth Mikael Blomkvist in the movie, which starts shooting in Sweden next month.

Craig and Mara will also appear in the two other films in the trilogy, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

The Swedish versions of the three movies have already been released to critical acclaim and have raked in more than $ 157 million at box offices worldwide.

Directed by David Fincher, the movie slated for release in December 2011. — PTI

Knot now!

Hollywood superstar George Clooney's representative has shot down reports that he has proposed to his girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis after she was spotted wearing a sparkling ring on her finger.

The Ocean's Eleven star, who has been dating the Italian model and TV presenter since last summer, sparked rumours he was heading to the altar when Canalis was snapped in Italy, smiling while waving her left hand in the air to show off her new piece of jewellery.

But the 49-year-old actor's publicist has refuted the claims saying that the "jewellery" was simply a napkin ring Canalis had been playing around with. — PTI

Music to the ear
SD Sharma

While sharing his views on 'voice and vocal culture' at a school in the city last year, legendary ghazal singer Jagjit Singh said AIR, Chandigarh, broadcaster Vijay Vashishth was gifted with a voice richer in quality than his own! The comment surprised a few, but only those who had not heard that magical voice.

But instead of opting for a career in singing, Vashishth cultivated his voice to become an accomplished announcer at the AIR. "While doing Masters in English literature at the DAV College, Jalandhar, both Jagjit Singh and poet Sudershan Fakir made me to sing group songs for youth festivals, which helped me to overcome stammering," shares Vashishth.

He adds, "Radio announcers were hailed as stars during the sixties and I ventured to learn the finer nuances of the art by emulating acclaimed AIR anchor Moti Sood before working as casual announcer at AIR Jalandhar." And the results were rich, for he was selected from among 800 aspirants for the post of regular announcer at AIR Chandigarh in 1971.

"Serving for Vividh Bharti, a craze for radio listeners from 1973 to 1978, was the most satisfying and rejuvenating period of my life. It used to be a thrilling experience to interview Bollywood celebrities such as Dilip Kumar, Dharmendra and more in AIR studios," recalls Vashishth. "Presenting programmes like Chhaya Geet won me instant popularity and my fan mail increased," he adds. And he gives all credit to the guidance by famous broadcaster Ameen Sayani, with whom he worked in close association.

Vashishth recalls an incident when Jaya Bachchan, in the office of the chief producer, AIR, praised him by saying, "Aapki awaaz toh dilon per dastak deti rehti hai." "In reply when I said 'duniyan ki behtareen awaaz toh aapke ghar mein hai', she smiled and said voh toh ghar ki murgi hai," he recollects.

Back home, Vashishth has stamped his versatility as broadcaster in programmes such as Sheyer-O'Nagma, Aap ki farmaish and many more. He, however, laments the quality of anchoring now, which, according to him, lacks depth.

Back to back thrill

The members of 4x4 Off Roader Club (Regd.) returned from the Monsoon 4 Wheel Drive Challenge organised by North India Off road Club, New Delhi on August 14. The 20 member team returned from Gurgaon after driving through sandy, muddy, slushy and rocky terrains apart for few inclines and descents of various degrees. Sponsored by Michelin tyres, the event was flagged off by Sanjay Paharia, an Off Road enthusiast from Leisure Valley in Sector 29 Gurgaon.

The event saw the participation of more than 70 vehicles, a few precious vintage cars as well. The vehicles were divided into 7 groups of 10 each depending upon the category of 4 wheel drives and SUV's. Each group was lead by a marshal, who guided participants through the taxing terrains. Four different routes were selected on the basis of off roading competence of the vehicles and participants.

"The event was a great opportunity to interact with like minded and passionate off roaders from the North. We are glad that we got the opportunity to participate in the event, which has widened our horizon towards off road adventures," says Billy Gill, president, 4x4 Off Roaders Club, Chandigarh.

The entire trail of the event was about 36 kilometres including 15 kilometres off road driving through the Aravalies in Badshspur and Shikohpu village near Gurgaon.

The only family team from Chandigarh, Jaspal Tiwana along with his wife and daughter shared the thrilling experience. " We had never anticipated that an off road experience could also be so much fun for families. It gave us the opportunity to spend good time together and still push our selves to perform better in the thrill of an adventure.

The event concluded with lively performances of song and dance by the participants. The North Indian Off Road Club, Gurgaon, facilitated the out-station-participants. — TNS

Note it!

Routes 2 Roots in association with ICCR and Music Today brings in the singing sensation - Shafqat Amanat Ali for his musical concert covering four cities - Pune, Bengalaru, Delhi and Chandigarh to enchant the masses with his magical voice. Music Today has launched Shafqat's solo albums Tabeer and Kyun Dooriyan.

Shafqat Amanat Ali, the son of the legendary Pakistani singer Ustad Amanat Ali Khan, has been a student of the classical music tradition of India and Pakistan since four and has been honoured with many prestigious titles. Shafqat was the lead vocalist of the Pakistani band Fuzon who mesmerised his fans with songs like Ankhiya and Mora Saiyan classic numbers. From singing for Nagesh Kukunoor's Dor and lending his voice to King Khan for his hit number Mitwa, this singing sensation is going places with projects like I Hate Love Storys, My Name is Khan, Aashayein etc.

Rakesh Gupta of Routes 2 Roots quotes, "Routes 2 Roots is an endeavour to connect to our roots culturally which is now divided by man-made boundaries between the neighbouring nations. It is just an effort on our part to make people realise that we are still the same; we are brought up with same virtues and moral values. So, why should we let some parameters separate us. Routes 2 Roots tries to link people through music and art forms because it speaks only one language that is love. It unites people irrespective of being citizens of different nations. Shafqat Amanat Ali is not only adored in Pakistan but has been equally loved by Indian masses as well. He connects with people on both sides of border. Artists are accepted globally because they speak one language, which is understood by all. We are very hopeful about this four-city concert."

At Tagore Theatre on August 27

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Glazewear Dimensions lipstick is priced at Rs 375 — TNS

Heart-to-heart
Relationships in those young days; some last, others result in heartbreak. Here are a few suggestions on how to get over the dejection
Manpriya Khurana

So you've spent the times together, those stolen moments, stealing glances, holding hands, long drives, beautiful evenings, shared dreams, sweet nothings, early morning text messages or late night whispers over the phone…and suddenly a heartbreak followed by heartache. Those 'emotionally wounded' would agree there's a vacuum unexplainable, a void impossible to fill, a space that just has no substitute. Leaving the logic to the sane, 'getting over someone' isn't easy. In trickle some 'pearls of wisdom', some guy-to-guy talk, and some all girls advisory.

"First things first, after a heartbreak, immediately update your Facebook status," laughs Karan Chhabra, student, Rayat and Bahra group of Colleges. He adds, "On a serious note, the idea is to share it with as many friends as possible, eventually they are the ones who'll help you move on. It's important because in such a state of mind, you're likely to go into depression. But make sure it's only with friends who are sincere and 'there' for you." Getting busy, neck-deep into work, forms the other alternative.

There's an echo. "At this point one needs extreme emotional support; seek it from your best friend," shrugs Amarjot Kaur Virdi, from the School of Communication Studies, Panjab University. The girl has a string of psychological tips to share. "It's all in your mind. Liking a person, developing feelings for him is all in your mind. Your mind leads you to believe things that you want to. If only you keep telling yourself and keep repeating things like 'get over him, it's not worth it,' one can actually do wonders."

Get busy, or get social, or get going…those nursing broken feelings will nod; it's easier said than done. Enter the movies and music - A walk to remember, P.S. I Love you, Notting Hill, Sweet November…besides, any number of DVDs don't last beyond two-three hours. Sarcasms apart, at times, time is all it takes. Opines Amarjot, "How much time one takes to get over a person runs proportional to the time you've taken to fall in love with him and the emotional investment you've made."

Chips in Karan, "I have a lot of friends whom I helped during their emotional trauma. Although it completely depends on so many other factors, I would peg the time at around one month. A couple of fortnights and you start getting fine."

Then there's the other tangent, the extreme alternative. Party, get drunk, celebrate, get wild, welcome to singledom, and meet a lot of new people. "It may or may not work. I seriously did nothing special or extraordinary to get over someone special in my life," shares Nitin Jindal, former student, Department of Biotechnology. He adds, "Just go about your work as it is, continue with routine and within a fortnight the emotional pain becomes bearable."

The young and the restless spell out more rules and reasons. "There's no one you cannot get over, be it Gerard Butler or Brad Pitt or Penelope Cruz or Cameron Diaz." The suggestions continue…"Oh recall the negatives of the person, one person is not the end of the world, think of someone better out there waiting for you…" Didn't everyone chorus that? Like they say, life can be summed up in three words…it goes on.

manpriya@tribunemail.com

 

Reasons aplenty

At times, it's a sheer case of reverse psychology. Times, when it's not that you can't move on, just that you don't want to. That's when and where it hurts, that's when and where one needs help. Opines Harpreet Kawal Chhabra, chairperson, department of psychology, "What involves the pain is first the judgment error, the feeling that How could I be wrong about this person'.

Secondly, after two people have been really close to each other, there's a need that's no longer fulfilled." She adds, "Many a times people outgrow relationships and that does not entail rejection. So there should be no pain associated with rejection. Also, one needs to be proactive. Speaking from rehabilitation point of view, whenever one is in a relationship, one needs to be open to changes."

Rock ‘n’ roll
Manpriya Khurana

Research convention, online admission, graduation counselling, science congress, convocation…blah blah! But that's for the likes of those that are interested. A group of academic buildings and there are umpteen activities on. Picking on some interesting ones. A quick recee of the recent, more eventful, episodes around the campus… freshers' parties to be precise.

Cultural programme, singing, dancing, item songs, solos, duets, isn't it always the same each year, every year? For others that's where the appeal lies. "Our weekend freshers' party was great fun. There was singing, dancing, eating and everything else that a bunch of all girls gang does when they get together," Meenu, Department of Laws, speaks of the hostel number seven's weekend affair. She adds, "There was a cultural programme, which is always looked forward to as usual, while the last item was jaago. In keeping with our theme Phulkari, we were supposed to be dressed in either suits or sarees."

Elsewhere, it's a series of rounds, leading up to Ms Fresher, followed by music and merrymaking. "There was a modelling session comprising introductory round, talent round, questionnaire round…we did not exactly have theme but the title of the event was Booming Freshto," Tapish Malik, shares of what happened at Lakshmi Bai Hall. Nevertheless there's an observation, "Because it happened at weekend, some of the hostellers packed off to their homes. But it's a personal choice, though they did miss out on something."

A couple of lanes across, a couple of walls later and looks like the boys managed their share of the noise and revelry sans dress codes. "We have no themes or titles, not even dress codes. Only the anchors of the show are supposed to be in formals," says Jagdish of the Bhatnagar Hall. He adds, "It was a very regular affair, like that happens every year, a couple of students display their talents and so on." Think Michael Jackson moonwalk, Keats inspired poetry, singing the evergreen classics from Bryan Adams… and the likes!

At boys hostel number one, it was pretty much the similar if not the same affair. Shares Vaibhav Gupta, "Our farewell was rocking, this time the freshers had items like singing and dancing but the rain played spoilsport." In any case, looks like girls had all the fun!

Meanwhile, every other hall, every other hostel had pretty much the similar story, with the same echo. Welcome ritual doesn't get better than at hostels! Opines Tapish, "Freshers at hostels is much better because we are many more in number. For the organisation, there must be 30 committee members, so with more people it's always more fun."

Like we said, the rhyme and reasons run parallel. "Hostel parties are always better than the department functions because here we are all girls and the comfort levels are higher. That invariably translates into fun," chips in Meenu. Till the next bunch of newbies hit the hostel corridors.

Moving on, alone

No problem, according to a U.S. study that found growing up without siblings did not diminish teenagers' social skills. A study of more than 13,000 middle and high school students found that only children were selected as friends by schoolmates as often as youngsters with brothers and sisters.

"I don't think anyone has to be concerned that if you don't have siblings, you won't learn the social skills you need to get along with other students in high school," said researcher

Donna Bobbitt-Zeher of Ohio State University. Bobbitt-Zeher, who conducted the study with Douglas Downey, said a trend towards smaller families in industrialized nations had raised concerns in recent years that a lack of siblings might hurt children's social skills.

"The fear is that they may be losing something by not learning social skills through interacting with siblings," she said.

An earlier study by Downey showed that children without siblings showed poorer social skills in kindergarten compared with those who had at least one sibling. This new study, which was presented at the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association on Monday, was designed to see if that advantage to having siblings persisted as children become teens.

The study used data from the National Study of Adolescent Health, which interviewed students in grades 7 through 12 at more than 100 schools nationwide during the 1994-95 academic year. Each student asked to identify up to five male and five female friends at their school. Bobbitt-Zeher said this allowed the researchers to measure the popularity of students by counting how many times peers identified him or her as a friend.

On average students in the study were nominated by five other schoolmates as a friend with no significant differences between those who had siblings and those who did not. The researchers also looked at a variety of situations and still found no difference depending in the number of siblings, the gender of siblings or if they were half or adopted

siblings."In every combination we tested, siblings had no impact on how popular a student was among peers," she said.

Bobbitt-Zeher said she believed children learned a lot about getting along with others between kindergarten and high school. "Kids interact in school, they're participating in extracurricular activities, and they're socializing in and out of school," she said. "Anyone who didn't have that peer interaction at home with siblings gets a lot of opportunities to develop social skills as they go through school." — Reuters

Friendly touch

Warm friends' is quite a literal term, according to a new study, which says that being near a friend can make you feel as if you are inside a warm duvet. Scientists found people felt up to 2C (3.6F) warmer when standing 2ft away from someone they were emotionally close to, and colder when they were with a person who did not share the same interests.

Hans Ijzerman, from Amsterdam's VU University said that people put in a warmer room made them feel closer to the questioner - an opposite effect of the study. "The theory is that the way we perceive relationships is affected by very basic factors. For example, when a baby is touched by its mother that warmth is associated with comfort," a publication quoted Ijzerman as saying. "We are now looking at whether social and emotional closeness make a difference to body temperature," he added. — ANI

No role model these

The present day's masculine, hunky and stereotype superheroes are misleading for boys, researchers have said. Watching superheroes beat up villains may not be the best image for boys to see if the society wants to promote kinder, less stereotypical male behaviours, suggested psychologists "There is a big difference in the movie superhero of today and the comic book superhero of yesterday," said psychologist Sharon Lamb, professor of mental health at University of Massachusetts-Boston.

"Today's superhero is too much like an action hero who participates in non-stop violence; he's aggressive, sarcastic and rarely speaks to the virtue of doing good for humanity. When not in superhero costume, these men, like Ironman, exploit women, flaunt bling and convey their manhood with high-powered guns," she added.

Lamb said that the superheroes of the yesteryears did fight criminals, "But these were heroes boys could look up to and learn from because outside of their costumes, they were real people with real problems and many vulnerabilities," she further said.

She surveyed 674 boys age 4 to 18, walked through malls and talked to sales clerks and came to understand what boys were reading and watching on television and at the movies. She found that marketers take advantage of boys' need to forge their identity in adolescence and sell them a narrow version of masculinity. They can either be a player or a slacker, the guy who never even tries to save face.

"In today's media, superheroes and slackers are the only two options boys have. Boys are told, if you can't be a superhero, you can always be a slacker. Slackers are funny, but slackers are not what boys should strive to be; slackers don't like school and they shirk responsibility. We wonder if the messages boys get about saving face through glorified slacking could be affecting their performance in school," said Lamb. The findings suggest that being able to resist internalising these macho images, especially aggression and autonomy, declines as boys' transition into adolescence and this decline puts their mental health at risk. The study was presented at the 118th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association. — ANI




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