The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

EDUCATION

Students advised on admission in Ukraine
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 23
Dr Nikolay L. Aryayen, Head of the Paediatric Department of Odessa State Medical University (Ukraine), today advised Indian students, who are keen to seek admission to the MBBS course there, to get their names sponsored through the university’s authorised representative to avert any chances of being duped.

Speaking to mediapersons, he said the authorised representative in India for selecting candidates for the MBBS course was Dr Sudhir Dhakre, Medical Officer, RBS College at Agra, who would scrutinise their applications.

He said many persons were cheated recently in India. Unauthorised people conducted tests on behalf of Odessa State Medical University for admission to the MBBS course and assured them that they would be given scholarship. Unfortunately, students who appeared in the test and sought admission stood cheated.

Dr Aryayen said there were more than 16 medical institutions in Ukraine and only six were recognised by the Government of Ukraine. He took out a copy of the rules framed by the Medial Council of India and placed it before the mediapersons to show that the name of Odessa State Medical University was included in the list of recognised institutions.

He said foreign students were taught both in Russian and English languages. The institutions had more than 800 faculty members, including 18 academics, 105 professors and doctors of medical sciences and 407 associate professors.

Dr Aryayen, who is a renowned paediatrician, said the annual expenses of one student would be between Rs 1.85 lakh and Rs 2 lakh. A student had to study for six years at the university, before undergoing a one -year internship at any of the government and private medical colleges in India before getting the degree.

He clarified that the institution would admit only 100 students from India. “This is the quota we have fixed for Indian students,” he remarked while counselling students who had approached him at the hotel where he was staying.

Awareness campaigns by Brahmakumaris
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, October 23
As part of the celebrations of Women’s Empowerment Year Prajapita Brahmakumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya organised a women conference at the Tagore Theatre here today .

Different programmes to create awareness among women were also held by Brahmakumaris at Government College for Women in Sector 11, Central Club and Ajit Karam Singh School in Sector 41. The Brahmakumaris today came out with a seven-point agenda for the spiritual empowerment of Indian women.

The Director-General of Brahmakumaris in Russia National co-ordinator of the women’s wing of Rajyoga Education and Research Foundation, B.K. Chakradhari, said: “The women’s wing and the Brahmakumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya are of the view that families are breaking up and there is a sharp decline in moral values as far as the new generation is concerned.’’

The Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya, it may be recalled, has launched a women’s spiritual empowerment campaigns to emancipate them from their existing miserable state. Under the campaign 10 rallies are being organised to inspire women through lectures, exhibitions, camps, seminars and other programmes. The campaigns started from different places, including one from Kangra in Himachal Pradesh, which reached here and would culminate in Delhi on November 10.

The agenda for women’s spiritual empowerment includes awakening Indian women both morally and spiritually to enable them to realise their inner spiritual power. The agenda includes that attention of society would be drawn towards proper educational development of women, to explain the rules relating to health and hygiene to inspire women to adopt moral values and to enlighten them to establish peace in family, country and the world .

B.K. Chakradhari said: “The organisation with a network of 5000 branches of Rajyoga in India is earnestly working to create awareness among the fair sex to enhance their inner powers through inculcation of divine virtues , human and moral values, to promote harmony and peace in all segments of society at various levels and enable them to lead a stress and tension-free life with the application of Rajyoga.’’

She further added: ‘’To accomplish this noble cause the institution has organised 10 campaigns all over India in Bangalore, Nagpur, Mumbai, Behrampur, Mount Abu, Singrauli, Vaishno Devi, Allahabad, Kangra and Porbandar. These would cover thousands of kilometers on different routes in 15 states of Karnatka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir , Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Chhatisgarh and Union Territory of Chandigarh and Delhi.’’

Each campaign contains around 10 experienced members who are organising various programmes in villages, towns and cities in clubs, schools, colleges, universities and other institutions on their way. The topics being covered by them are “An ideal woman — nation builder”, “Role of women in character building”, “Freedom from stress and addictions and “Place of women in the 21st century” .

Brahmakumari Kiran, leader of the campaign, started a campaign from Kangra which arrived here today. She explained that during the past days they had covered about 400 km in the entire hilly area of Himachal Pradesh and organised about 70 programmes of lectures, seminars and exhibitions in and around Kangra, Palampur, Mandi, Sunder Nagar, Bilaspur, Shimla, Solan and Chandigarh.

Women in particular and public in general were educated by the campaign to eliminate tensions, fear, jealousy, addictions and other negative tendencies to make the family healthy, happy, united and strong. The campaign will further cover the areas of Mohali, Mandi Gobindgarh, Patiala, Ambala, Yamunanagar, Sharanpur, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind, Karnal, Panipat, Muzzafarnagar by organising about 180 more programmes and will reach Delhi on November 10.

A procession of the All India Women’s Spiritual Awakening Campaign-2001, being orgnaised by Prajaptia Brahmakumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyala and women’s wing of Rajyoga Education and Research Foundation will reach at the YPS roundabout here tomorrow.

The procession is expected to be received by various social and women’s organisation. Programmes on women empowerment have been planned at various schools, nursing college, Sohana, and NIIFT. In the evening a public function was being held at the Rajyoga Training Center, Sukh Shanti Bhavan, Phase VII here.

Villagers celebrate upgradation of school
Our Correspondent

Dera Bassi, October 23
An impressive cultural programme was organised by residents of Bhankharpur village on the upgradation of the village school, about 2 km from here, on yesterday.

The programme was organised by the village panchayat in collaboration with the Youth Welfare Sports Club in which a number of local artistes and residents of the village performed.

Prominent local Punjabi folk singers including Satwinder Bagga, Tania Gill, Sarabjit Sukhi, Prem Fauji and Lovepreet Kaur enthralled the massive audience. Besides the invited artistes, performance of bhangra by the village youths and giddha by the girl folk of the village were appreciated.

Earlier, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, Finance and Planning Minister, Punjab, announced the upgradation of the village school from middle to high school standard. While addressing the gathering minister said the children of the village would be provided education upto metric level in their own village and they have not to travel a long distance for classes IX and X classes in nearby schools.

He also inaugurated three dharmsalas for kahar, harijan and saini communities in the village.

Mr P.S. Johal, SDM, Mr J.S. Khaira, DSP, Mr Jagjit Singh Dalli, President, Municipal Council, Mr Bhupinder Saini, Chairman of Rotract Clubs, Mr Gurnam Singh, village sarpanch, Mr Jaspal Singh and Mr Narinder Sharma, former sarpanchs of Zirakpur and Lohgarh villages and other prominent persons were also present.

Durga pooja by children
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, October 23
Students of Blue Bird Model School, Sector 16, made the mythological figures come alive while celebrating Durga Pooja, Ramlila and Dasehra on the school premises here before going for a autumn break today.

Impersonating deities like Durga, Kartik, Ganesha and Asura, the children created the festive environment of West Bengal. They tried to lend authenticity to the entire function as the children dressed up as Bengali couples and danced to the beats of the drums in front of the deities.

Dasehra was also celebrated with equal farvour as kids dividing themselves into two camps, one having Ravana and his allies, including Kumbhkarana, Meghnada. and the other as the Ram darbar with Rama and Laksmana leading their troupe. The fight between the good and the evil was an interesting one which managed to absorb the attention of the bystanders.

The function concluded with the burning of the effigy of Ravana.

Little avatar of Dasehra
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 23
Tiny tots of the Sector 34 Evergreen Academy here celebrated Dasehra in their own way, dressing up as various characters from Ramayana. The Principal of the academy, Mr Kuljit Suri, said all of his students had participated in the Ramlila.

Ramlila was held in the school for 10 days. Hanumana and Ravana remained the most popular characters with children and students of every class participated in the fun.

They burned the effigy of Ravana today and enjoyed the thrill. The celebration ended with a party on the theme ‘Victory of Good Over Evil’.

School celebrates Dasehra
Tribune News Service

Panchkula, October 23
Woodlands House School, Sector 8, Panchkula, celebrated Dasehra with gusto on the school premises here. Excitement was in the air since morning as students, carrying bows and arrows, swords and maces and dressed up as Rama, Lakshamana, Sita, Hanuman and his army, enacted their roles skillfully. The students of Class II, III and IV enacted scenes from Sita Swayambar to the killing of Ravana by Rama.

Then the effigy of Ravana, filled with crackers, was set on fire with an arrow shot by the student who played Rama's role. Sweets were also distributed among the tiny tots. “This is the best way to educate the students about the victory of the truth over the evil”, said the school Principal.

COURTS

Bomb hoax at District Courts
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, October 23
Routine work at the district courts remained suspended for more than an hour due to bomb hoax this morning. This happened fourth time in this year and 20th time in the past five years.

It is learnt that about 8.30 a.m., the Sector 17 Police Station had received a anonymous call that a bomb had been planted in the district courts complex. A team of 40 police personnel, including a bomb disposal squad equipped with metal detector and sniffer dog, reached the spot at about 9 a.m.

The search operation continued for more than an hour and people were allowed to enter on the court premises after 10.45 a.m. The Deputy Superintendent of the police, Mr S.S Randhawa, also reached the spot and inspected the court premises.

The president of the District Bar Association, Mr H.S Hundal, said it was unfortunate that despite a number of hoax calls, the authorities were failed to arrest the culprits.

The vice-president of the District Bar Association, Mr Ashok Chauhan, said authorities have failed to provide a permanent solution.

CULTURE

Cooked dishes dominate fest
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 23
The party at the Government College for Girls, Sector 11, seems to get merrier by the day with the aroma of elaborately cooked dishes during the five-day Home Science Fest dominating the week.

Today, the department, in tune with the theme of "Cafeteria"’, laid out the table with mouth-watering snacks and sweets, each better than the other. The masala idli, pau bhaji, marble and walnut cake were the menu for the day.

Participating enthusiastically in all contests designed to test their culinary skills, the students of the department have been preparing dishes with great enthusiasm.

The Head of the Department, Dr Surjeet Patheja, said that the fest which began two days back aimed at keeping the spirit of the competition among the students alive as well as giving them an opportunity to give free play to their imagination, trying various permutations and combinations in an effort to give it their best shot.

Not focusing on eatables alone, the fest has an exhibition of art and craft items, open only to the college students. Ranging from glass painting to foil painting, there were cushions, murals, soft toys, tie-and-dye items on display.

During the five days, various contests of rangoli, embroidery, fresh flower arrangement, dry flower arrangement, mehandi and cookery were organised.

The results of the contests: cakes: Harnoor (1); puddings: Harnoor (2), Navneet and Dimpy (3), snacks: Shefali (1 and 2), Jolly (2); embroidery: Lalita (1), Saba (2), Sunita (3); Rangoli: Bharti and Isharpal (1), Ramanjit and Sona (2), Meenu and Vinita (3); Alpana: Gita (1), Sonia (2), Poonam (3); fresh flower arrangement: Jyoti (1), Mamta (2), Navneet (3); dry flower arrangement: Navneet (2); mehandi: Shikha and Gurpreet (1), Shveta and Anu (2), Parul (3).

Putting colour on bone china
Parbina Rashid

Chandigarh, October 23
A strong sense of colour co-ordination motivated Payal Jauhar to start painting on bone china and her creations in bright colours do not often follow the traditional norms.

The best part of Payal’s collection is that you have the liberty to choose any colour or pattern according to your fancy. “Except the dinner sets everything comes loose, so you can pick up any colour or pattern, according to the colour scheme of your house” says the artist.

“It is not important to have crockery in sets,” says Satish Bhalla who along with Payal has opened “Florelli”, for their hand-painted bone china creations. “If one knows how to co-ordinate different colours, one can have cups, saucers and plates of different colours and also make the setting appealing”, he added.

Payal, who has a passion for colour, started her career as a window displayer after taking a diploma in window display from the USA. “I have done some window displaying for clients in Delhi, Mumbai and also Chandigarh.” This Delhi-based artiste is a graduate from Lady Sriram College, New Delhi.

However, Payal discovered her true love only about two years ago when she started painting on bone china. The painting is simple, mostly floral patterns or fruits such as cherry or strawberry. But it is the colour scheme that makes her work unique.

“The Indian customer is more comfortable with floral patterns or something simple like a fruit, unlike the foreigners who equally favour animal or other unconventional patterns,” says the artist. “As for her colours, these are all imported from Germany and are free of lead and cadmium.

Her clients are mainly in the metros like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore and also the chains of restaurants. “We are open to suggestions and ideas given by our clients,” said Mr Bhalla.

Florelli held a two-day exhibition at Art Folio in Sector 9 where the artist exhibited dinner sets, Mexican cups, soup bowls, gravy bowls, snack and rice trays and items of decoration.