The Electric Picture Palace during the British era.

A pageant that used to be held in the 1970s.

Palika President OP Uniyal meets traders and hoteliers to discuss Christmas and New Year celebrations in Mussoorie on Saturday.

Palika President OP Uniyal agreed that Mussoorie needed a festival in winters. “This year the autumn festival was cancelled due to natural calamities that had occurred in the state,” he said.

Traders, hoteliers call on MC chief

Traders and hoteliers, understanding the seriousness of the matter, met MC President OP Uniyal to discuss the preparations for Christmas and New Year in Mussoorie today.

The traders suggested that the whole town should have a festive look and for that the MC should decorate the market with ornamental lights from December 24.

Hotelier Ram Kumar suggested that a letter should be sent to State Tourism Minister Madan Kaushik to request him to decrease the bar licence fee from the existing one.

Rajat Agarwal also suggested that prizes should also be awarded to the traders who excel in decorating their shops for the holiday season.

Uniyal consenting with the suggestion said the barriers at both ends of the mall would be closed from December 28 till January 1 to avoid traffic congestion and ornamental lights would be installed in the town. Uniyal also said the demand for the decrease in bar licence was justified and he would also talk to the state minister in this regard.

The Mussoorie Hotel Association also agreed to install a welcome board at Kolhukhet and provide them with the information brochures about the town. He was also of the view that Mussoorie needed a festival in winters, but as this year they had cancelled the autumn festival due to the natural calamities that occurred in the state.

He, however, said hotels could organise their in-house festivals and palika would support them wholeheartedly. Ward members Virendar Rawat, Kedar Singh Chauhan, Jasbir Kaur, Kanta Bisht, Jai Kumar Gupta, Sushil Kumar, Javed Khan and others were present on the occasion.

Dehradun December 18
Dr Harinder Singh Bedi has made his name inscribed twice in the Limca Book of Records for inventing beating heart surgery method in 2000 and recorded as world record first minimally invasive heart surgery using a cath lab in OT in 2008.

His method has got recognition worldwide as former US President Bill Clinton and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh underwent same method of heart surgery in the previous year.

Dr Bedi is head of cardiovascular, thoracic and endovascular surgery at the Christian Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana. He is a former student of St Joseph Academy, Dehradun, passed out in 1974. He was here to attend the alumni meeting of his school.

“I did active cardiovascular practice post-super specialisation for over 18 years. I was former senior consultant at Escorts Heart Institute, New Delhi, from its inception and started a cardiac surgery programme at the Fortis Heart Institute, Mohali,” asserted Dr Bedi.

Talking to The Tribune, Dr Bedi said, “I passed out from St Joseph Academy and wanted to make contribution to Dehradun, as I had spent nine years of my life here. In fact, my decision to become a doctor happened after I got a severe injury in a major accident on the way to Chakrata, where my Army officer paratrooper father was posted,” said Dr Harinder, observer in Robotic Heart Surgery in Columbus University, Ohio, USA.

Dr Harinder said, “I find there are few hospitals in Dehradun that provide proper treatment to patients suffering from heart disease. It is seen that every time heart patients are either taken to the Himalayan Institute of Hospital Trust (HIHT), Jollygrant, or referred to Delhi. I am heading towards starting a facility of beating heart surgery in Dehradun itself to help denizens with the advanced facility”.

Mussoorie, December 18
Mussoorie has a number of places to attract tourists, but their trip is not complete till they have savoured the goodies of Lovely Omelette Centre at Kulri Bazar. The shop is a major instant-food joint for schoolchildren, medical representatives and IAS probationers visiting the mall.

Regular consumers vouch that the special cheese omelette there is different from that at any other place.

Kelden, a tourist from Bhutan, was of the view that the omelette had a different, but satisfying taste and the cheese, as an additional ingredient, enhanced the taste.

Rajesh, a regular visitor to Mussoorie, said the lingering taste of cheese made his day.

Official trainees from the LBSNAA academy, who are regular visitors to the shop, are of the view that the preparation of the omelette is different from other places.

According to the owner Khursheed, they came into the business in 1918. At first, their father used to supply only eggs, but 40 years ago, they decided to switch to making omelettes.

Despite ever-present inflation, the centre’s omelette continues to be the cheapest in Mussoorie.

Students on an outing make it point to savour the special cheese omelette at the shop.

About the preparation, Khursheed says as both brothers take care of the shop themselves, they are very particular about cleanliness and hygiene.

They take immense care in beating the egg properly and then mix a little turmeric to it. If demanded, cheese slices are also inserted in a particular way. The two brothers - Khursheed and Rashid - have made their name by selling these omelettes. Even foreign students studying Hindi at Landour Language School have blogged the Lovely Omelette Centre extensively on the Net.

The shop has its own fan club and there is a Facebook page dedicated to it describing it as the “best omelette in the country”.

Khursheed and Rashid have appeared in many electronic channels and travelogues and even in the Lonely Planet guide for foreigners.

Khursheed has never thought of leaving for better pastures and is happy in Mussoorie. Khursheed firmly states that “there is no point in leaving Mussoorie as peace is a commodity which even money cannot buy”.

With this statement, he reassures his fans that he will be in town to serve them his internationally famous cheese omelette for a long while.

Dehradun, December 18
Aayushi Joshi of Guru Ram Rai Public School, Bindal, won the speech competition held by the Uttaranchal Mahila Association (UMA) here today. Swati of Aarsh Kanya Gurukul, Kishanpur, and Gulista of Guru Ram Rai Public School, Bindal, together stood second, followed by Tanushri Khatri of Doon International, who was declared third.

The association has organised the competition on the topic, “How important is technical education in the development of women”. Girls of classes IX, X, XI and XII presented their views on the topic.

Other than this, a poster competition on the topic “Female foeticide a curse” was organised for members of UMA. It was jointly won by Menka Behl and Sashi Sharma. Prabha Saluja and Manju Sharma stood second, while Vibha Acharya and Yama stood third.

The programme commenced with the lighting of the lamp by Women Empowerment and Child Development Minister Vijya Barthwal who was the chief guest on the occasion, along with Sushila Baluni, President, State Women Commission, and Sadhna Sharma, president, UMA.

Talking to the media, Sushila said women empowerment was very necessary for the country, otherwise cases like Anupama’s murder etc would keep on increasing day by day.

The competition was judged by Dr Sangeeta Khare and Neeru Dutt.

Haridwar, December 18
After several rounds of cricket selection trials in which probable players were evaluated for various positions such as opening batsman, middle-order batsman, all-rounder, fast bowler, spinner and wicket keeper, finally the 14-member team to represent Haridwar district has been finalised.

Conducted under the watchful eyes of veteran coaches, the selected team underwent a camp at the Jagjeetpur-situated Shiv Dale School’s sports facility ground wherein technical flaws of the budding cricketers were sorted out.

“We are working hard, practicing both in the morning and evening and particularly concentrating on our specialised position as well as chalking-out strategies in view of the tough competition that lies ahead as we will be playing a state-level competition,” said team players Nikhil and Sameer while practicing at the facility ground.

The squad: Devansh, Bishwas, Nikhil, Neeraj, Sagar, Vishal, Himanshu, Shubham, Shivam, Ashish, Aditya, Ankit, Mohit and Kumar Sameer.

The selected players were blessed by school founder Swami Sharad Puri who urged them to practice yoga and meditation which would help immensely in their overall fitness and performance level.

Dehradun, December 18
The skiing practice camp for the South Asian Federation (SAF) Winter Games at Auli didn’t start even today as the compressor which makes artificial snow is yet to be made functional.

A few days ago, the compressor went out of order and the organisers had claimed that the problem will be set in a day or two.

As per the organising committee, even a small problem in a hilly area like Auli becomes very difficult to solve. Members of the committee said that officials had been sent and soon, the camp will kick off.

The practice camp was scheduled to be held in Auli from December 13 to 23. After the camp, an open skiing championship is also to be organised in Auli. The Indian team will be selected from this competition.

This championship is being seen as a test event before the SAF Winter Games.

But as the test seems to be in danger, the organising committee will have to keep its fingers crossed before the mega event.

The SAF Winter Games are to be held in two phases. In the first phase, skiing events are scheduled to be organised at Auli in Chamoli district from January 7 to 10. In the second phase, ice-skating events are to be played at Dehradun from January 14 to 17.

Dehradun, December 18
It was a day of fun and frolic at Doon International School as students celebrated its founder’s day in the form of an art and craft exhibition here today. A large number of students displayed their skills through their projects and models at the exhibition with great gusto and fervour.

The day began with a parents-teachers-meeting in the morning where an interactive session with parents was held. Following it was the commencement of the art and craft exhibition of junior and senior students based on their subjects- French, physics, chemistry, biology, environmental education, home science, physical education, geography, history and computers.

The chief guest of the exhibition was MK Mann, Education Director of the school, who appreciated the diligent efforts of the students as well as their teachers.

At yesterday’s founder’s day celebrations, Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Harish Rawat inaugurated the event.

The highlight of the function was “fillip to morale”, during which meritorious students were awarded.

Students from middle and senior sections showcased their talent by putting up cultural performances on the stage.

Dehradun, December 18
Deepak scalped five wickets to lead Tata Docomo to a two-wicket victory over Max Junior during the Beehive Challenger’s Trophy Inter-District T20 Cricket Tournament being played at Matawala Bagh, Saharanpur Road, on Saturday.

Max Junior gave a dismal performance as the whole squad was packed off for just 87 in 18.3 overs. Ankit (19) and Sumit (11) were the main scorers. Deepak of Tata was the wrecker-in-chief with five wickets. Ritesh and Vishal took two wickets each.

Batting second, Tata scored 88 runs for eight in 13.3 overs. Vishal (14) and Abhinav (12) were the principal scorers. Ankit and Priyank of Max got three wickets each for their side.

In another match played today, Jammu and Kashmir XI defeated Max XI by five wickets. Max set a target of 138 runs in 20 overs and the winning team with the help of Adil (57) scored 141 runs in 19.1 overs.

Dehradun, December 18
Strikers Sports Academy, Dehradun, will hold a three-week winter practice camp at Banu School, Race Course. Training of cricket, football, badminton, dance, karate, spoken English and personality development will be given during the camp which begins on December 22.

Registration forms for the camp can be collected from “Uniyal Bakers” Arhaghar till 10 am on December 22. During the camp, children in the age group of 5 to 15 years will be trained and after the training, a practice certificate will also be given.

Dehradun, December 18
In a well-fought match, City Young edged past Willis Youth Football Club 4-2 in the tie-breaker during the Shivalik Football Cup Tournament held here today at Survey of India.

The keenly contested fixture saw a goalless first half despite good attempts by the two sides to score goals. Arpan (50th) of City Young opened the account in the match. However, Rakesh (65th) scored the equaliser to take the match into the tie-breaker.

Rakesh, Manish and Bhupender of City Young scored a goal each. On the other hand, Shyam of Willis was their only scorer. Vicky, Deepak and Arpan missed their chance.

In another fixture, Gypsy Club beat Khukhri 2-0. Ankit Negi (30th) and Sourav Pal (63rd) scored in the win.