Chandigarh, August 26
The students of Ryan International School, Sector 49,Chandigarh were enlightened on conservation of Mother Earth during the “Cool Mother Earth Day” celebrations held at school premises on Sunday by Mr. Arun D Ahluwalia, FGS, Professor in Geology, PU, Chandigarh. The interactive session commenced with a multimedia presentation depicting massive destruction caused by rising level of sea and melting of ice caps due to global warming.

CLUB: The eco-club organised competitions to acquaint students of Government Model High School, Sector 43 about ozone layer. The students enacted a play, recited poems and sang songs, giving message of conservation of the environment on the occasion.

FUNCTION: Moti Ram Arya Senior Secondary School, Sector 27 bagged the running trophy during the 10 years’ celebration of Sri Hemraj K Talwar Memorial Charitable Trust held at its office in Sector 19 on Sunday. Akshay Goswami of St Joseph’s School, Sector 44 won the caption contest while the runner-up position was bagged by Bharat Nanda of Delhi Public School, Sector 40.

PLACEMENTS: Two years into training at the Chandigarh centre of Maya Academy of Advanced Cinamatics (MAAC) and 11 students, mostly from the rural backdrops of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh, are ready to step into a new world. Mrinal Agarwal, Ravinder Sharma and Jitender Singh Kaswan, who have managed a placement with the famous DQ entertainment house at Hyderabad. Others who have clinched job deals are Amitabh Sarkar, Anuj Kundra and Shivam Sood, who got placed with ANIRIGHTS Infomedia, Pune, one of the main animation studios handling foreign assignments. Urushottam Sarmal, Sharanpreet Singh, Raj Chauhan and Sonu Kumar have also got well placed.

Pinjore
ORIENTATION: A parents’ orientation programme was organised by St. Vivekanand Millennium School, HMT Township, Pinjore at BR Ambedkar Auditorium, here, on Sunday. The manager of the school flying officer, Piyush Punj, said the purpose of the programme was to educate the parents of students, especially studying in Classes IX to XII, about making their children academically strong without entailing any stress to them. The guest speakers on the occasion were Aditi Sinha, a clinical psychologist and school counsellor, Satish Sharma, consultant and motivator, PRAGYA, Panchkula.

Mohali
interaction: An interaction on human resources management issues and challenges involved therein marked the highlights of a seminar on Human Resources in 21st century organised at Gian Jyoti Institue of Management and Technology, Mohali here on Sunday. The seminar witnessed an intensely absorbing session with HR guru and Wipro Infotech's senior regional human resources manager, Debashish Chatterjee, delivering a special talk on HR issues pertaining modern day challenges before corporates in managing and developing there existing human resources bases.

LETTERS: The Swami Vivekanand Group has been issued two approval letters by AICTE for 60 seats in MBA in its new institution Swami Vivekanand Business School (SVBS) and 60 seats in MCA at the Swami Vivekanand Institute of Information and Technology (SVIIT). Both the institutes are located at Ramnagar, near Banur.

Chandigarh, August 26
Kerala Sastra Kala Manch, a voluntary organisation, working for the uplift of the downtrodden, today organised a special celebration of “Onam” for the inmates of Chandi Kusht Ashram, Sector 47. The festivities brought alive the joy of Onam, the traditional festival of Kerala. The idea was to reach out to those suffering from leprosy and involve them in festivity.

A variety cultural programme marked the celebrations that were hugely attended. Among the special presentations were musical scores by the students of Institute for the Blind, Sector 26. Renowned dancer, Suchitra Mitra, presented bharatnatyam recital on the occasion, which also saw a special dance presentations by children. The cultural bonanza was followed by a rich gourmet treat loaded with Onam specialties.

Later, the families of Kala Manch members had food with the Kusht ashram inmates on banana leaves. About 16 different delicacies, curries and payasaam (special kheer) were served on the occasion.

The cultural show was attended, among others, by prominent members of the community including A.J. Philip, senior associate editor of The Tribune, Dr John V George from Haryana police department and Dr Kumara Verma, famous theatre artiste.

The concluding part of the celebrations was marked by distribution of new dresses - traditionally called Onakkodi.

Chandigarh, August 26
Truth is the funniest thing, says stand-up comedian Vir Das, who was in the city yesterday to stage "Son of a Switch", his latest production which looks at battle of the sexes in a rather funny way.

Centred on the inherent comedies in relationships, the solo act was presented late last evening at Tagore Theatre, much to the pleasure of audiences who know Das as a man who makes news funny. Das is the writer-anchor of "News on the Loose", a spoof on weekly news telecast on a business channel. Very shortly, the comedian will have four more TV shows to anchor. He is also writing a funny play on the history of India. Never mind the irony of the statement.

Besides, he has a romantic lead to show in the forthcoming production of Vikram Bhatt. Titled, "Mumbai Salsa", the film features fresh cast and will be released later during the year. But till then, Das has his hands full with comedy -- to which, he says, India is finally waking up. "We are a people with a wonderful sense of humour. Our problem is we don’t realise it. I am trying to make people see their lighter side. As they say, comedian's job is tough as he is the only person in the room who can see the ghost," says Das, who trained as an actor in Chicago before fate put him in touch with his funnier side.

I was a broke actor, working at a comedy club in Chicago when I decided to take a chance. "For 15 consecutive weeks, I was booed down by the audience. But finally I realised the mistake. The next time I stepped on to the stage, I spoke the truth, yelled at them, told them they were wretched and they all laughed. I had found my calling," Das says, adding that's this is a wonderful time to be a comedian in India.

"The country is opening up to different genres of comedy. Slapstick is one of them and it's doing fairly well. I don't do it because I am not good at it. My kind of comedy is satire -- rooted in truth and outright funny. And then, let me add that my whole routine is about my lack of success," Das said, sharing his appreciation for comics like Johnny Lever who, he said, has the power to control the emotions of 10,000 people at a time. "They laugh and cry with him. I also love Anupam Kher's style," Das, admitting that it is easier to make women laugh.

I have done shows exclusively for women and believe me when they laugh, they touch a level men can't even dream of.