Oasis in a jungle of concrete
By Varinder Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 10 — Twilight hours bring a breath taking and unusual scene for residents of Sector 21, who are amused to watch thousands of colourful birds, mainly rose ringed parrots, mainas, Indian robins descend on a number of trees in Chandigarh City Bird Sanctuary, perhaps the only and smallest of bird sanctuaries of its kind in the country.

The place, offering abode for a large number of birds, is spread over an area of 2.09 acres. It was formally declared a bird sanctuary by the Chandigarh Administration last year.

A large number of city residents are, however, oblivious to the existence of such a spot in the city. But for those who visit the place on a regular basis, it is an oasis in a jungle of concrete, where one could enjoy glimpses of nature in the shape of a variety of winged guests.

“It is really a nice place and I love to visit it along with my children, who are amused to see a variety of birds including koels, grey wagtail, bushchat, starling hooper, spotted owlet, flower pecker and purple sunbird, all of which can be seen together at the place,” said Ms Neeraj, a resident of the area.

She complained that the place was visited by a few people as many residents of the city do not know about the place due to lack of publicity. She suggested that it could become one of the beautiful wildlife spots in the city, if some attention was paid to it by the authorities concerned.

Evening is the best time to enjoy the sight and chirping of birds when bevies of winged creatures start hovering over ‘kikar’, ‘banayan’, ‘pipal’, ‘jamun’, ‘mango’, ‘mulberry’, trees. The birds, particularly, parrots start settling on to the trees at around 7 p.m.

The magic lasts for only a few hours during evening and early morning as birds leave for different destinations with the sunrise. “Except some small birds, you won’t be able to see a single parrot during the day,” said a retired teacher and a regular visitor to the place. He said he had been watching the birds for the past 25 years, during which their number had increased manifold. “Earlier, only parrots visited the area, but now a variety of birds are coming to the place”.

He, however, complained that what could disturb the winged visitors was kids from nearby houses playing cricket in an open space in the sanctuary. He demanded that steps should be taken to prevent such things in the sanctuary.

According to an estimate of the UT Wildlife Department, around 20,000 parakeets visit the place for roosting, particularly during night, for which it has provided artificial boxes inside the sanctuary.

“In order to avoid disturbance to the birds, we have deployed a watchman and the whole area has been fenced with a regulated entry from one side,” said Mr H.S. Sohal, UT Chief Wildlife Warden. He said to add to the green cover in the place, more trees would be planted in the sanctuary, which according to him had a peculiar feature of being the smallest and the one which is situated in the heart of the city.

Stressful life weighs heavy on heart
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 10 — There is a strong relationship between stressful events and their effect on heart. Negative stress or distress has the potential to do more damage. If that be so, why not take necessary steps either to cope with the problems or illness that follows or to bring about behavioural changes?

Stress and strain are now known to contribute significantly to coronary heart diseases, often dubbed as nation’s “number 1” killer, despite all advances in treatment. Besides myocardial infarction it is angina pectoris which is now a subject of study by cardiologists and psychologists in several institutions.

Angina pectoris, in simple words, means “severe chest pain signalling delivery of oxygenated blood to the affected area of the myocardium that is quantitatively insufficient for the current workload”.

Ms Gurminder Sokhey Chopra, a lecturer in department of psychology at Punjabi University, Patiala, along with her colleague, Kanwal Nalwa and a student, Bela Jain, have completed a sample study of “stressful life events, psychological distress and coping behaviour of angina patients and normal controls” to establish that those prone to angina had experienced more stressful life events. But when it came to coping behaviour, there was no significant difference between the patients and normal control sample. However, angina patients were found to avoid solving or facing a problem either in a positive or negative manner. Consequently they suffered more psychological stress or distress.

The sample size of the study was small — 75 : 45 patients and 35 normal. The study, therefore, does not make any “general” observations and the researchers are now into a bigger sample study.

Incidentally, this study itself was recently presented at the national conference on research in clinical psychology at the All-India Institute of Medical Science, New Delhi. It bagged national award for being the best paper, says Gurminder Sokhey Chopra.

The study lists the factors leading to coronary risks. These range from cynicism to negative emotions, anxiety, depression, neuroticism, somaticising and dissatisfaction with life. Often, it has been seen “avoiding” seeking social support and opting for high levels of “suppressed anger” get associated with the heart problems. No wonder stress itself is associated with many illnesses.

Since stress and coping with it are related to each other, this poses new complexities and challenges to individuals who should become capable of either adequately responding or not responding to it. Thus, certain feelings of “dissatisfaction, uneasiness, pain, acute conflicts and unresolved tensions” consequently result in heart-related disorders, says the study.

Effective coping can help in early recovery. One has to change behaviour and overcome psychological distress. The samples were drawn from clinics cardiologists and were in the age brackets of 35 to 60 and subjected to certain known “tests”. Nevertheless, it was found that angina patients and normal persons had significant difference on the magnitude of stress experienced during their life time. The angina patients found to experience much more psychological distress compared to normal persons. Both angina patients and others were found to seek support from “social network” which served as the moderator in the stress-illness process.

Overflowing sewage in village
Tribune News Service

PANCHKULA, May 10 — Every morning residents of Abheypur village, located in the Industrial estate here, are greeted by a nauseating smell. The stinking smell is not from some nearby industrial units but from the overflowing sewage in the village.

The residents are being forced to live amid unhygienic surroundings due to choked sewers. The problem is more severe for residents living behind a workshop of HUDA, adjoining the village. The overflowing sewage enters their houses forcing the residents to save their household goods from being drenched in the sewage.

The sarpanch of the village, Mr Jagdish Singh, said that though workers had earlier cleaned the sewerage but it again get blocked. The problem was due to the small diameter of the pipes used to lay the sewer. The problem cropped up as the network of the sewerage opened into a bigger pipe at one spot.

A blockade in the main pipe resulted in the overflowing of sewer in the village. The Sarpanch said the problem was at its peak during the morning and evening hours when the discharge swelled. Keeping in mind that the village had a population of over 8,000 a parallel sewerage connection to ease pressure on the existing line was required, he added.

This morning when the problem cropped up senior officials of the engineering cell of HUDA visited the site. Efforts were made to clear the sewer which had collected on the "lal dora" of the village.