City Cheers April09

LEAD STORIESThe Big Story:The IPL Potpourri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6Vaastu Corner:Harmonious Interiors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17Word Power:Strokes for Success by Graphologist Chandraprabha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18M.S. Dhoni’s Signature Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19Fleet Street:Pristine White . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Green Turf:Q & A by Satish Mathur . . . . . . . . . . . .22

Kith-n-Kin:It’s School Time! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26Contours:Is Your Child Hyperactive?

ADHD/Hyperkinetic disorder inKids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

Life Medicine Free -“No More Depression”by Dr. SaraswatiDwivedi . . . . . . . . . .30

Publisher & EditorMonika Gupta

AdvisorAnuj Gupta

ColumnistsMr. Satish Mathur

Vinay SarupDr. Sanjeev Kalra

Golden ReejsinghaniChandraprabha

Dr. ShashankDr. Sarswati Dwivedi

Shalini Gugnani

Special FeatureBhawna Tuteja

CorrespondentJaya Shukla

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Talk Of The Town:News Line ..............................34Product Line ..........................35Happening India:News to Share ........................38Just Food:Cafe Style: Taste & Glamour .40Chill Breaks: Drinks for

Summer.......................42Exclusive:Out of Sight!

Association for Cricketfor the Blind in India .......44

Travelogue:“Lake District of Uttarakhand” by Mr. Vinay Sarup .....48Remembrance:A Legendary Director: B.R. Chopra .............................56Red Carpet:The Guru of Hindi Broadcasting: Jasdev Singh ...........60Astro Palmistry:Secrets of Long Life by Dr. Shashank ..........................64

OTHERS:Mission Everest ..............................................................14Hamara Mukteshwar......................................................24Events .............................................................................36Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week 2009 .....................37Answer to Win! ..............................................................47CC Dairy ........................................................................54Films on the Floor ..........................................................58Book Shelf......................................................................59

3April 2009 � City Cheers

Refer to CS “Star Wives” (CCMarch 2009). The most rightdecision on marriage front is to havespouse from the same profession orlike-minded than best of maritalharmony is possible-as like-mindedpeople get together for life longrelations. When there is sameprofession-the spouse understandswell the problems of the professionand can well appreciate the same–as otherwise most of the time thereare more complains than love in amarried life of a couple if they arefrom two different professions or oneis only housewife-without professionalbackground. —Mahesh Kapasi

Refer to CS “Star Wives” (CCMarch 2009). This truly relates tothe famous saying that, “behindevery successful man there is awoman”. A woman if a homemakercan devote much time for the familyand kids. She is the backbone of themembers of the

family and can well form a happyliving. With nothing in return shetries to upscale her husbands futureprospects. The story was a nice readto know about three different facetsof a woman of three different agegroups. How all the three havehelped their hubbys to attain thestatus they are in, is remarkable.Hats off to all these ladies!!!—Samvidha Sikri

Refer to CS “Tree House” (CCMarch 2009). There are lot manycampaigns going on for Saving theMother Earth. Plastics have beenreduced in the capital. But the effortmade by Mr. K.P. Singh is praiseworthy. The house constructedwithout disturbing its features isawesome. Mr. K.P. Singh has done atruly commendable job!—Raman Arora

Refer to “Gold forever” (CC March2009). A woman would neveradmit that she has enoughjewellery. And a woman’sweaknesses are flowers especiallyroses, scent-perfumes andjewellery and appreciation. So,the best gift from a tour for afemale is a bottle ofperfume/scent! Alsoremember that the last butnot the least weakness ofwomen is a man!—M. Kumar

Refer to “I want drynights” by Dr. SanjeevKalra (CC March2009). Children whohave a habit ofbedwetting, go through

a very difficult phase. They aredepressed, slow developers. I justwant to ask whether it is really apsychiatric problem or onlypsychological. Does medication helpto cure this problem?—Madhumita Nagpal

Refer to CS “Travelogue: ASpiritual Yatra” (CC March2009). Its always a pleasure to readMr. Sarup’s writings. Golden Templeis one place which leaves you in acomplete peace of mind. The wholeaura takes you near to God.Chandigarh, the most planned city,has amazing places to visit. TheRock Garden shows the marvel of thearchitect. Jallianwala Bagh takesyou back into the era ofIndependence and one is forced tobelieve how ruthless the Britishsoldiers were! Every travel gives youa different experience and leaves youwith many interesting stories too!!—Brij Tiwari

Refer to “Word Power” byChandraprabha (CC March2009). Strokes reveal a personspersonality, inside out. The strengthsand weaknesses, positives andnegatives, can all be depicted bysimple signatures. Signatures varyfrom person to person as it speaksyour mind and heart. The analysiswritten by Chandraprabha, showshow well she understands the subject.—Manas Khattar

Refer to “Astro-Palmistry” (CCMarch 2009).This add on to themagazine has made it a completepublication. Hope to read the starsign predictions soon!—Raveena

4 City Cheers � April 2009

Dear Readers,

IPL 2, T20 has hit the popularity chart even before a singleball has been bowled. First there was the clash of tit ans between theIndian Political League and Indian PremierLeague. After much chaos and media hitting thebreaking news for more than a week, IPL lost tothe heavyweight politicians of the generalelections. However the reason evident was thedeploying of the army for security reasons whichwas booked for the general elections. As it was tohappen, considering safety of the high profilecricketers IPL crumbled to the pressure and wasforced to take its bag and baggage to a dif ferentvenue. The second round of combat was witnessedbetween England and South Africa as hosts.However, South Africa managed to win this nail bitingfinish. The game now begins from April 18th. But holdyour breath, some more thrilling moments,controversies, bollywood, cheerleaders are to arrivebefore that. Juhi Chawla, Shilpa Shetty would add theglamour quotient while Sourav and coach Buchanan would discuss the new fundament als offour captains theory. Cheer leaders would be selected through camp aigns while musiccomposers will try hands on creating musical mantras for IPL. No wonder IPL will hit thechartbusters and TRPs from next month. City Cheers has always tried to do stories which are meaningful and thought ful. Hence it went toAssociation for Cricket for Blind in India only to find that the Cricket is not so easy and conditionare pretty soggy to bowl. It lacks support and funds to manage it s existence. I hope people likeModi with sharp business acumen can someday pull his magic wand to create euphoricenvironment for this passionate game for the visually challenged. BCCI which has managed toamass huge funds from the game should also think on these lines. Even if they manage to t akeout half a percent from their kitty it will help the cause of this segment. And finally meet mostadorable Mr. Jasdev Singh the famous commentator and Guru of Hindi broadcasting in our RedCarpet section.Though India lost hosting the bang bang cricket but I am sure it won’t loose it s shine even if itbeing played in South Africa. All the best and cheers to all the eight p articipating teams.

Monika Gupta


The Big Story


Glitz, glamour, entertainment, sport…the Indian Premier League offers viewerseverything they could have asked for. While you have cricketers sweating it out tomark their victory, you get a slice of your favourite Bollywood celebs too cheering fortheir very own teams. The IPL includes every ingredient and spice of entertainmentneeded to serve a sumptuous delight to the audiences. Sweet and sour film stars,spicy controversies, the right dash of salt with cheerleading babes, and of course allthe money to add in the salt; the IPL does have the perfect mix of it all. With theentire ingredients well churned and mixed, the IPL potpourri is a treat that theaudiences are going to love to savour. Let us take a look at some of the spiciestconstituents of the IPL potpourri that make it such a delightful concoction.

q Bhawna Tuteja


THE STAKESThis big ticket event has even bigger stakes involved. Andthe amount of spending entailed in this crickettournament is much higher than you can think of. It is allthanks to the big bucks involved in this mega affair that itis already being considered as a big stimulus for a sluggisheconomy. Its been barely a quarter of 2009, and the yearhas already witnessed some of the biggest downfalls.With the moolah raked in the IPL, it is believed that theevent will overshadow some of the pitfalls of theeconomic downfall.

Advertising is perhaps one of the worst hit sectors byglobal recession. Of late even the biggest of brands likeCoke and Pepsi have stayed away from the usualextravagant ad campaigns. It is perhaps because of theplummeting finances that Pepsi had to give its kindambassador SRK a miss. But with IPL around thecorner, advertising agencies are planning to make up forthe losses. With Rs 600 crore set aside for thepromotional spree, it would not be untrue to say that atleast IPL is recession proof.

Last year we had seen some of the most aggressiveadvertising from franchise owners, most of whichsucceeded in making their team brand. Take for instanceShahrukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders that hadbecome a symbol of pride in West Bengal. And theteam’s promotional song “Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo Re…”

b e c a m equite ananthem forthe region.W h i l eSRK sungt h ep o p u l a ra n t h e mwith asword inhis hand,we alsos a wSreesanthd o i n gP u n j a b iB h a n g r afor hisKings XIin a fewads. Theadvertisingw a sspectacular

and extravagant, and this time around too we hope thesame.

With unique concepts and innovative ideas, the IPLadvertisements did give viewers some fabulous piece ofentertainment, even though if it was for a few seconds.While the audiences enjoyed, there were some mintingmoney with the explosion of the promotional bomb. SetMax, the official broadcaster of IPL who earned 350crore as the revenue only from advertising. This year toothe channel is expected to earn a similar amount fromadvertisements.

It is not just that advertising arena is going to gain fromIPL but electronic players too will have a share of theirown profits. In a country that eats, sleeps and drinkscricket, sale of television sets during such a mega cricketevent is bound to go up. During the last IPL season,Samsung alone witnessed a 30% increase in sale of flatTVs and 85% surge for LCD TVs.

Along with the advertising and the electronic sector, thehospitality industry too stands on the gaining edge of IPL.With so many players in the country, there has to beenough room for their accommodation in the budget.Airlines, catering services, hotels and tour operators areexpected to make a potential business of Rs 200 crorefrom IPL. Well, seems the money is going to be quite aboost for the hospitality industry that has not seen a goodtime since the kick off of the economic downfall.

While the money making is big in IPL, the spending toois no less. Franchise owners are spending big bucks ontheir teams. A whopping Rs 9.6 crore is estimated to bethe spending cap on the teams for 2009. The teams havealready started spilling the money on the players to grabtheir favourite ones. Liquor baron gave away a huge sumof $1.55 million to get the all rounder Pietersen in histeam. Andrew Flintoff too came under the hammer for asimilar amount. Wonder whether all the money beingspent is going to be worth it on the field or not?

The list of spending is a little longer for the franchiseowners than you may think. Other than spending on theirteams, the franchise owners are also expected to pay anannual franchise fee of $9 million or 45 crore.

With 8 teams battling it out in the IPL, the total figure ofthe annual franchise fee stands at a whooping Rs 360crore. No wonder BCCI is leaving no stone unturned tomake the tournament happen.

There are others apart from the franchise owners too,who have their money raked in one of the biggest cricket

events, the government included. The total amount puttogether by the local sponsors itself stands to be aphenomenal amount of Rs 160 crore. Had it not beenfor these sponsors, the franchise owners would literallyhave had a tough time pooling the funds. People may say they are investing in IPL for the love ofthe game, but at the end of the day it is pure business.And business means profits. So where the team ownersare spending big bucks, you definitely expect them toreap some revenues as well. The primary source ofrevenue for the team owners stands to be the gatereceipts. Each team owner is expected to earn a grand Rs 5 crore from each match from the event tickets.Considering all the huge figures being spent in IPL,terms like global meltdown andrecession seem absolutely null andvoid.

BOLLYWOD INFLUXLike it or not, IPL would not havebeen so big had it not been for theBollywood faces that became a partof the tournament in every sense ofthe word. Whether it was ShahrukhKhan waving and cheering away forhis team, or Priety Zinta queuing upher teammates for a jaadu ki jhappi ,it was indeed delightful viewing. It isperhaps that the Bollywood influxmade IPL a tournament to die for.Our film stars came down from thered carpets to the green lawns andset the entertainment quotient high.Though there were a number of

Bollywood hot shots who lent their starpower to the cricket tournament, but itwas King Khan who was the biggest ofthem all. Shahrukh proved his mettle onemore time, but this time not as an actorbut as a fine owner of a team. He went allout to promote his team in every way hecould. He sang his team’s anthem in apromotional video shot for the team. Andthat’s not just it. His enthusiasm was morethan just evident as he cheered for histeam in most of the matches.

As SRK rooted for his team, his friendstoo cheered standing in the VIP seatings.People in question include ArjunRampal, Juhi Chawla, Karan Johar andthe like. While Shahrukh’s presence atthe venue have may or may not helpedthe team, but it did help a great deal ingiving IPL and its stardust a flavour. And

not to forget it also helped the organizers sell off thetickets easily.

While SRK was the king of IPL, Ms. Zinta was thequeen. Preity Zinta, along with SRK essayed the role of afranchise owner perfectly. While SRK was abscondingfrom some of the matches played by his team, Preityensured she was present at every match. She cheeredloudly enough for her team, along with team co-ownerand boyfriend Ness Wadia. The lady’s jhappis for herteam players at the end of every match had becomesomething to watch out for. She even threw surprisebashes for the players to rejuvenate them off their hecticschedules.



SRK and Preity Zinta were supposed to be doing it all fortheir teams, after all they were the team owners. But whosays you need to be a team owner to add to the glamquotient? Franchise owners had an idea. If you yourselfcannot be a Bollywood celeb, hire one as your team’sambassador. While Akshay Kumar became the face ofthe Delhi Daredevils, Katrina Kaif was the brandambassador for Bangalore Royal Challengers. Ace

superstar Hrithik Roshan too was not left behind and wassigned by the Mumbai Indians team.

All the stars did everything they could do for the teamexcept bowling and batting of course. From starring in adcampaigns to attending press conferences meant for theteam and even attending a match or two, each of themgave IPL everything they had.

The latest from Bollywood to step into the IPL gates isthe curvaceous Shilpa Shetty. Shilpa along with boyfriendRaj Kundra, purchased last year’s winning teamRajasthan Royals. The Bollywood beauty has been ravingabout her venture into the field of cricket ever since. Shehas even shot a lavish promotional video for her team.The expected cost of the video is believed to be awhooping 4 crore. Where Shipa Shetty has stepped intothe IPL field by owning a team, Riya Sen too will bedoing her own bit by working as the ambassador for theIPL website.

With Shilpa’s addition to the IPL, the Bollywoodquotient of IPL just seems to get hotter. Must say it is agreat respite to see our film stars cheering and jeering allthe way than to keep on waving and blowing kisses at redcarpets. What say?

CONTROVERSY SPATEIt’s said that all publicity is good publicity and IPL seems

to have taken thatquite literally.Though the crickettournament has leftno stone unturned toput up the best ofpromotional andmarketing skills, ithas been in the newsfor the not-so-goodreasons as well. Eversince its start, IPL hasbeen surrounded bya spate ofcontroversies. Be itBollywood biggiesfighting it out at theIPL auctions to gettheir favorite players,or the playersthemselves engagingin a brawl, the seriesof controversies hasalways set the IPLpodium ablaze.


Its just been one season of the tournament, and there hasalready been much feed for the gossip mongers. Amidstseveral incidents, one of the most interesting and therather flared up occurrences was the Bhajji-Sree slapgate.Though both of them happen to be players of the Indiancricket team, the two were then playing against one other.While Bhajji battled for Mumbai Indians, Sreesanth wastoo oggling fire from Kings XI Punjab.

In a match that saw the two at opposing ends, MumbaiIndians lost to the Punjabi boys. It was in the same matchthat Sreesanth in a mode to sympathize or rather tomock at Bhajji said, “Hard luck Bhajji”. And the result

was something that even Sree would not have expected.A slap on the face was what Sree had to bear for his not-so-impressive remarks. As tears trickled downSreesanth’s eyes, team owner Preity Zinta was seenendowing her player with all the jhappis and pappis.

Of course there were endless meetings after the incident,and Bhajji was forced to apologize. Though the apologydid not work much, Harbhajan Singh was kicked offfrom the tournament. And yeah, to the yes of the publicthe twosome did ‘hug and makeup’ and Sree even taggedBhajji as his elder brother. All I can say is, all’s well thatends well (even if not, do we really care?).

It was not just Sreesanth and Bhaji who got engaged in aduel, there were other players too who entered in a tiff ortwo. The player in question here is Saurav dada. No hedid not let his hand lose on other players, he did enterinto a war of words with the then Rajasthan RoyalsCaptain Shane Warne. The fight stemmed from a catch,for which Ganguly demanded a third umpire decision.This eventually did not go down well with SharneWarne. Warne accused Ganguly of lacking sportsmanspirit and even indicted him for using ‘time wastingtactics’. The result? Both of them had their ten percentfees cut as penalized by the BCCI.

IPL Season 1, was no less than a fire explosion. Thesteams and pressures were soaring and they were enoughto agitate the otherwise calm Tendulkar. Sachin, who wasbatting for Mumbai Indians lost his cool in a matchbetween Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab. Theformer lost by one run at Mohali and accused umpireSuresh Shastri for playing an unfair game. An officialcomplaint was lodged against Shastri, the result forwhich, are still awaited.

If you think it was just the players who were giving in tothe mounting pressures, you are mistaken. Franchiseowners too lost their cool, encouraging controversies.Repated losses of team frustrated the liquor baron, VijayMallya, and he ultimately ended up with blowing all fireby sacking the team’s CEO Charu Sharma and callingDravid incompetent. Dravid, however, retained calmand did not give any eyebrow raising comments.

It was not just Mallya who was not happy with his team,things were not well with the Kolkata Knightriders too,owned by King Khan, Shahrukh. Owing to the ongoinglosses of the team, rumours of differences between SRKand Ganguly were rife. However, both SRK and Gangulydismissed those rumours. Later on, a message full of loveand aiming to boost the moral of team that was sent bySRK to his players was leaked to the press. We are still

wondering whether that was a PR stunt or a genuineoutburst of love. Then SRK was banished from thedugout and dressing room by the ICC.

Since IPL 2 is believed to be bigger and better, it seemsthat the controversy saga will just get bolder by the day.And if you are to go by the current series of happenings,that does not seem too difficult either. Look at it, IPL hasnot even started and there is already too much hooplasurrounding it. This year’s controversies started with anapparent tiff between Shilpa Shetty and Preity Zinta.

Shilpa Shetty is the latest entry to the Bollywood coach ofthe IPL bandwagon. This apparently irked Zinta, whowas till now the only female owner of an IPL team. Bothof them refused to comment on the issue. Maybe wecould catch some fireworks in the stadium.

The tiff between the Bollywood ladies is just a smallspark in a huge ball of fire. It is the security concernsconcerning the teams that have kept building on newsone after the other. With elections and IPL matchesclashing, there were constant concerns for security. Thevenues were being changed by the minute. IPL chief LalitModi too was fixed in a charge accusing him of amaligned venue change. Modi who had lost the RCAelections, had apparently refused Jaipur as the IPL venuestating that the State Government has refused to offersecurity. It was later on that the Rajasthan Governmentcame out with its own statement that it was ready to offersecurity. The truth is only for the two of them to know.With security issues still unresolved, the latest news has it

that this year India might not get its slice of IPL. Thevenue as of now is to go international and is proposed tobe South Africa.

STAR PLAYERSThe IPL, like any other event had its own share of hitsand misses. With 8 teams and number of players battingare ready to battle it out. Though all the players werethere in the field for the game, there were some thatgathered a little more than usual attention. Steps in thestar player category! And you need not really be puttingup a swell game to be falling in this category. Whether forthe good reason or the bad reasons, all the players whomanaged to etch a little bit of extra attention in andextravaganza of glitz, glamour and entertainment deservesome star status for sure.

The glitz and glamour prove to be of little or no value ifyou are not able to put up a good game. After all, cricketis a sport at the end of the day. Thus, performance mightget lost for a while but it does matter. One of the playersthat outclassed themselves with his performance wasBrendan McCullum of Knightriders team. No one elsecould have given the IPL a better kick off than this NewZealand player. He hit a blazing knock out of 158 not outoff 73 deliveries in the first match of IPL. With 13 sixesand 10 boundaries, McCullum put up a good game andthat too at the very commencement of the tournament.

Another player who was off to an impressive start wasLakshmipathy Balaji. The bowler who was forgotten forquite some time made a notable comeback with the IPL.


Playing forC h e n n a iSuperkings, heregistered the firsthat-trick of thetournament. Balajiclaimed aspectacular fivewickets in one ofthe matches againstKings XI Punjab.

One of the playersthat definitelygrabbed quite anumber of eyeballsand someheadlines too wasShoaib Akhtar. Nonot that he put upa splendid game inthe few matchesthat he played. Butit was the string ofc o n t r o v e r s i e sassociated withhim that made hima star in IPL.Akhtar who wasunder a five yearban imposed bythe PCB wasinvited by KolkataK n i g h t r i d e r sowner Shahrukh

Khan to be a part of the team.

Owing to SRK and Lalit Modi’s efforts, Akhtarwas given a month remittance and the ban waslifted for a month. While Akhtar’s presence didnot do much for the Knightriders, SRK’s effortsto get him on Indian soil did put him in the starbracket.

Yet another player who fell into the star categoryowing to the spate of controversies surroundinghim was Ganguly. Before IPL kicked off,Ganguly was in a fix of ‘to be or not to be’.There was a nationwide debate and a much-heated discussion on the form and performanceof the former Indian captain. And it had notbeen long before the infamous Greg Chappelland Ganguly’s war of words had come to an end.All the criticisms and brickbats did have onepositive aspect and i.e. they got Dada the extra

attention in the extravaganza of IPL.

This year’s IPL season has not even started and the IPL‘A’ listers are already there out in the open. This time itis Kelvin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff who have madeit to the star category even before the tournament hasbegun. It is all thanks to the big bucks riding on the backof these players that has made them the cynosure of alleyes even before delivering few dazzling performances.Both Pietersen and Flintoff have been roped in for awhooping $1.55 million. Both the players managed tofetch a phenomenal bid. While Pietersen was taken awayby the Bangalore Royal Challengers by replacing Dravid,Deccan Chargers has roped in Flintoff. Only time will tellwhether these players are worth the big bucks being spenton them. And meanwhile we can watch out for more starplayers in the coming IPL season.

CHEERING THE CHEERLEADERSOne of the notable aspect of last years’ IPL season wasthe cheerleaders. Sexy lasses in bright and smartly claduniforms were the center of attraction of the cricketingseason. But not to the cheer of these leaders, they werefaced with controversies and debates. All teams hadskimpily clad cheerleaders shaking their hips and jiving tothe music during the games. They were the darlings ofthe crowd, every time a four or a six was hit, or a wickettaken. Then the problems began. Few were the target oflewd comments from the crowd. Some politicians andgroups objected to their outfits.

The concept of cheerleaders was rather alien to a nationwhere the moral brigade has its ways on just abouteverything. The issue was out there in the open and the


conservative brigade was all out for it.Women organizations condemned theact of cheering saying it was ‘exploitationof women’. Franchise owners were giventwo options - either to take theircheerleader gang back or to dress themproperly. While the government hadtheir own issues. Mumbai police had atough time controlling crowds thatpassed on lewd remarks at thecheerleaders.

Following suit with the Government andthe Maharashtra police many teams evenchanged the way their cheerleadersdressed up. Take for instance, the Deccan Chargersteam. After the entire fuss about the flesh on show by thecheerleaders, the Deccan Chargers made its cheerleadersgang wear full-length tights instead of the short microminis and even shorter blouses.

It was not just the dress code that stirred the entirecontroversy about cheerleaders. The cheerleader brigadehad a racial furor added to it too. Two Britishcheerleaders named Ellesha Newton and SherinneAnderson, were apparently abandoned from performingbecause of their black colour. The girls, however, keptmum about the issue when in India and chose to spokeabout it only once they reached their nation.

The last season of IPL saw a great hue and cry over theentire cheerleaders issue. This year too we have muchthe same, but in a different way. Last year it was thepolice and the State Governments asking for the ban ofcheerleaders. But this season we have franchise ownerspromoting the cheerleader gang by cheerleader hunt.

A job that was previously not considered ethical and

moral by the conservatists, is now being put as ‘not justfun and play’ by the teamowners. And to prove theirpoint, the franchise owners have even launchednationwide cheerleader hunts on national television.Shahrukh’s Kolkata Knightriders has come up with ashow called ‘Knights and Angels’ that aims at finding outthe best cheer girls for the team.

And who better to judge the budding talent other thanthe Captain Saurav Ganguly. (I thought he was acricketer). To pep up the glam quotient there are youngbeauties who are invited on each episode. From MinishaLamba to Lara Dutta to Malaika Arora, quite a fewbeauties have graced the show. And if that does not seemsufficient for a cheerleader hunt, you even have acechoreographer Shaimak Dawar to train the selected ones.

And if Shaimak Dawar alone is not enough to pep upSRK’s angles, then we have the fashion czar ManishMalhotra to set the glam quotient high. Along with GauriKhan, Manish Malhotra has been roped in to restyleKolkata Knightrider’s cheerleaders. It just could not getbetter than this.

It is not just SRK who is all out to chase those Angeleyes for his team. Chennai Superkings too will beout on national television soon to get their cheergang. The team will be coming up with a show titled‘Chennai Superkings Cheerleaders’ that will be onair on Vijay TV. Perscussionist Sivamani willperform with the finalists of Chennai’s cheerleaderhunt. In addition, Chennai Superkings would becoming up with another talent show titled ChennaiSuper Kings Juniors.

While other teams stretched out their arms to findthe cheerleading talent, Preity Zinta restricted hertalent hunt to the field of cricketing itself. Shestarted a talent hunt for budding cricketers and isgoing to open a cricketing academy in Mohali soon.



Gaurav Sharma, analumnus of NIMUttarakashi & DMAS,Manali, is a well knownmountaineer &qualified instructor ofvarious adventuresports. He has manym o u n t a i n e e r i n gexpeditions to his credit.On March 15, 2009,he is going to climbEverest as a part of anI n t e r n a t i o n a lExpedition.

Mountaineer Gaurav’s dream to be onTop of the World is now turning into areality. The Son of Soil and resident ofdesert aims to climb Mt. Everest, as a

part of International Expedition. Heleft his home town, Churu

(Rajasthan), on 15 March 2009 totravel to the peak of Everest. Gaurav

Sharma, the first and the youngestcivilian climber, spoke at length to

City Cheers about his expedition andwishes his journey to be very fruitful.


The lure of Himalayas is irresistible, for its beauty,vastness, fascination and mystery and alwaysleaves an everlasting appeal for those who

venture in this region. Mountaineering for Gaurav is likeenhancing creativity to one’s ambition. To reach the peakof Mount Everest is a dream of every mountaineer. It’smany a times easier to climb Everest today than earlierdays, due to high-tech modern equipments andtechnologies. Still, it’s quite a hard task. Sherpa TenjingNorgay and Sir Edmund Hillary were the first whoclimbed Everest on 26 May 1853. They attempted toclimb it six times earlier.Everest, is also called “Yuva Parvat Shrinkhla”. First itwas named as Peak-15 and later on was renamed after SirGeorge Everest, who discovered it. It was first measuredby Radhanath Singh while doing research in Dehradun.Earlier the height of Everest was 8,848 but now its 8,850feet. It has two routes one is from Nepaland another oneis from Tibet (China).The Nepalese call it ‘Sagar Matha’and Tibetans call it as Choumolungma.

Since when were you planning to climb the Everest, andnow when you are actually going how does it feel?It is a dream of every Mountaineer & I have beendreaming of the same since 8 years. I have a mixedfeeling at present, both excitement and thrill, as thecharm of Everest beckons me. This feeling can’t be putin words as one can only experience it in the lap ofnature.How did you prepare yourself physically and mentally?Other preparations invovled before the climb.It is a lengthy process. One has to gain concentration, willpower and high physical fitness. But, Everest is a game ofmind and body coordination, and destiny as well.

W e a t h e rconditions tooplay a vital role.Faith and selfconfidence, arethe things whichearlier also havehelped me inachieving goals.Apart fromthese, I amcarrying a routemap, specialclimbing boots,coat, nutrientpowders andsome moderndevices.Did anyproblem of

funds come in your way?25 lakh rupees on a minimum are required to go on anEverest expedition, individually. It is almost impossibleto get entire funds by collecting donations. Sponsorshipsare of great help, as then climbers can only concentrateon their mission. Sponsors too get a mileage as they arepromoted throughout the world. Now a days, scope doesnot lie only for the climber but lends a wide scope forinternational business & advertisement. In India,mountaineering is not very much promoted. Hence, forme it was very difficult to arrange for finances.How did your well wishers respond to your decision?Was it easy to convince them about your mission?My family has always stood by my side in fulfilling mydreams. Every morning I am blessed by my mother whenshe says “Everest Vijayi Bhawa”. I am elated at being soclose to achieving my dream.What or who inspired you to go ahead with thisadventurous journey?Since childhood, Discovery & NGC Channels havefascinated me. I keep reading books on achievers.Perhaps these habits inspired me the most to find thetruth and adventure of nature.What was the CM, Mr. Ashok Gehlot’s reaction?Mr. Gehlot was too busy but he gave me time to flag-offthis great mission. I promised to speak to him via satellitephone, after reaching the summit. What is your route plan?I am taking the South Ridge. I plan to reach Kathmanduon 25th March and fly to Lukla, which is 9,000 feet, by ahelicopter. From Lukla, I will proceed towards the basecamp, then Camp 1, Camp 2, Camp 3, Camp 4 and thenfinally the summit.Any message to the youths.People must come out of indoor games so that they maysee the challenges and adventures in life. My motto is topromote the Youth Power, which says nothing isimpossible to achieve. Sky is the limit.

Mr. Ashok Gehlot, CM Rajasthan, flagging of Gaurav’s trip to Everest

Route Map of the Everest Climb

Homes are said to be harmonious if all the fiveelements as per Vaastu are balanced. Theinteriors of the house should be in such a

manner, that it allows positive energy to flow well fromone room to another and travel through the whole house.Here are some practical tips that will help createbalanced and harmonious energies where you like, sothat you are able to live a happier, richer, fuller, healthierlife and achieve your highest potential.To prevent the energy from being stagnant, a homeshould not have claustrophobic corners, like straight longcorridors or several doors in a straight line.However, the best thing about Vaastu is probably the factthat one can still extract the best out of available throughVaastu to have positive effects in the house even when itis not originally build according to Vaastu principles. Toattain these positive effects in our house, one can followcertain guidelines for betterment of your premises:The main door should not open into a narrow space.After opening the door one should get a feel of opennessand brightness. It should not face a pillar, a corner, astaircase, a window, a toilet or a mirror.Alcove and dead area can be broken up with theplacement of plants, large items of furniture or fish tank.

For powerful atmospherein the family, the diningand the lounge should belocated in the centre ofthe house.Changes in colourscheme can be made.Change in the furniturelayout.Change in sleeping,cooking or facingdirections.Vaastu enhancing toolsand devices can be used.So, by changing a little bithere and there inaccordance with Vaastuprinciples, we can create apositive environment inthe house.Remember, Vaastu isnothing but the maximumutilization of the availableresources.

Shalini Gugnani, Vaastu &Feng Shui expert, believesthat a person’s destiny canbe enhanced with aharmonious balance of theVaastu & Feng Shuielements in life. Practicingfor the last 5 years, she laysgreat importance onproviding optimal remedies.Heads and conducts classesat Vaastu Science ResearchFoundation, New Delhi.And also conduct variousseminars. Holistic Handsstarted by her in 2005,holds big corporates likeSingh Associate & Builders,Airtel, United Colors ofBenetton, Cable TelElectricals, schools, exporthouses, factories and manyother business andresidential properties, whohave gained vital benefitsfrom it.

Vaastu Corner



BRINGING MEANINGFUL DIFFERENCEAn Old Friend: Mrs. Radhika Iyer, one of my old friends, was trying toget in touch with me. She had left her top management position of anelite women’s magazine and joint as a Director of a specialized US firm,which was to build up the India operations. She had taken up thischallenge. Radhika wanted to meet for a handwriting analysis sessionsince she now had much more to shape up without missing the balance.I was delighted to see Radhika at my office for the analysis session. Herappearance hadn’t changed in the least over the past one year. Thirty-eight year old Radhika who came from a devout Brahmin South Indianfamily, had determination written all over her face. She is a woman whodoes whatever it takes, even if she has to be aggressive at times. Beforeworking for the magazine, she got divorced and went to US alongwithher son. In the US, she struggled against all odds and restarted hercareer successfully without the support of either relatives or friends.The Session Begins: Before I even started analyzing her handwriting, Iasked Radhika as to why she had made such a drastic change in hercareer. Knowing Radhika to be more practical than sentimental, Iexpected her career to play a huge role in the decision. Very surprisingly,the reason behind her major shift turned out to be her eight year-oldson, Siddharth! At her job in the magazine, Radhika felt she wasn’tgiving her son the time or attention he needed. Her new position wouldgive her enough space to interact with Siddharth. Radhika wasresponding very well to my observations, brilliantly evaluating andinterpreting everything I said.The Challenge: As I analyzed and spoke, I started probing and foundunusual guilt traits and deep-rooted hurt. Radhika was taken aback fora moment as I stated the problem straight in her face. I felt I hadverbalized it just too abruptly. However, she then began to tell me abouthow she felt guilty with regard to Siddharth. Ever since the divorce, hehad lost a father and since she spent hours working, Siddharth hardlysaw his mother. Her conscience pricked her and made her blame herself

for the divorce. What increasedher feeling of guilt was thatSiddharth was being very rationaland understanding about herdivorce. According to Radhika, thedivorce, the career changes andlong work hours had forcedSiddharth to mature way beyondhis age. She blames herself ofSiddharth losing out on hischildhood. Radhika sensed theincreasing disconnect with her sonand wanted to get closer to himsomehow. Rather anyhow!Graphological Redefining: Onanalyzing Radhika’s handwriting,I found there were two majorissues that affected her. One was self-deceit; being unable to accept theexistence of the problem, and the other was resentment. As I went onwith the analysis, I learnt that the resentment that showed in herhandwriting was not directed towards her husband as she claimed.Instead, the object of her bitterness was her late father! I mentioned toher that her father had perhaps not reciprocated much in their father-daughter relationship. Radhika, who upto this point had beenenthusiastically discussing the implications of my observations, suddenlykept quiet the moment I uttered these words. She didn’t speak for thenext five minutes. I too kept quiet, letting her take her time.In every counselling session, there comes such a moment where theperson involved breaks down or keeps quiet or goes through someextreme emotion. This is the turning point in the session. Everytherapeutic counsellor in the world knows that such a moment is themost defining one, the most delicate and also the toughest.

word power

CHANDRAPRABHA V.PUPALA, Founder and CEO ofChandraprabha GraphologySolutions (CGS) and anInternationally CertifiedHandwriting Analyst (USA)believes in unlimited potentialof people. Her mission is tohelp people understand anderadicate their performancebarriers. Amazed by the powerof simple strokes leading togreat successes, she took thisto the masses. She has beenstudying the complexities ofhuman mind and ways toempower inner strength ofhuman personality. Hasanalyzed more than 10,000individuals. Her secret sauce isto uncover behavioural traits ofpeople, teams, and corporatein a holistic manner, with just afew samples of handwriting.Email:[email protected]:www.chandraprabha.com

Slowly Radhika began to tell about her father. Her father was her rolemodel and she loved him from the bottom of her heart. But that wasn’tthe complete story. Radhika remembered a series of incidences in the pastsince when she had been holding a grudge against her dad. One of themwas the most devastating, where she simply lost faith in that relationship.She was over with her twelfth class prelims and was studying very hardfor her boards. Her dream was to pursue medicine. Her prelim resultsshowed how well prepared she was to be a doctor. Once while she wasstudying, she overheard her father conversing with her mum. “I don’tthink Radhika should do medicine. If she’s going to study medicine, howwill we afford her brother’s aviation training?” Radhika was shattered bythese words. She felt terribly betrayed by someone she believed socompletely. She felt as if something suddenly took away her support.Till date, for over twenty years, Radhika has been unable to trust anymale in her life, any person who appeared to be her source of support.She couldn’t trust her father or her brother. The list went on… Her malecolleagues, protective male friends, even her husband, which ultimatelyled to a divorce. Now she was entrusted with her son. She couldn’t hatehim since he was her own little helpless eight year-old, but she couldn’taccept him or love him unconditionally either. She tried everything she

could do to be a better parent but she couldn’t bear the truth.Due to her problem of self-deceit, Radhika who is usually a logical,evaluative and a composed lady believed that she loved and trusted hermale family members as she was unable to accept the truth that shedidn’t trust them.Sea Shift: Radhika then started the process of Grapho-therapy with us. Inthis process, we worked on the strokes of resentment in her handwritingand changed them. Slowly Radhika began forgiving her late father. Afterthe session of handwriting analysis, she realized how much those fewwords her father said had shaken her trust in him for so long. Now thatshe knew the cause of her distrust, Radhika was beginning to see thebetter side of the father she used to love so dearly. She realised why sheloved this man so much, why he was so important to her and why sheused to consider him her role model. The mental block in Radhika’s mindof distrusting males was slowly melting away. Thus, she could relatemuch better to her son Siddharth as she could now give him herunconditional love. Her relationship with her son was completelyredefined. She knew that forgiveness resulted in building a betterrelationship with her son. Radhika is still undergoing grapho-therapy.

CELEBRITY HANDWRITING ANALYSISMAHENDRA SINGH DHONIMahi as he signs his name; especially as autograph for his fans, reveals he is an enthusiastic, energetic &outgoing person. As seen by the large handwriting size, he comes across more group oriented person. Forsuch a large writer leadership qualities are more natural.As a Captain: What firstly comes across through Dhoni’s Signature is his great leadership skills. An amazingorator, Dhoni has the ability to touch people’s hearts and motivate them with the power of his words. Theright-side slant of his handwriting is a clear indication of his expressiveness & high emotional level. The peculiar ‘i’ dot shows Dhoni is also very particular about the minute details any task involves, giving themdue attention. The central part of M is not pointed but curved like ‘u’, which shows Dhoni is a natural consultant.He can instinctively advise friends and team members who come to him with various issues,although executing his own advice in his personal problems does not come as easily to him. Heconstantly strives to work on and improve any area that are lacking. The long loop in ‘h’ displays his high drive by abstract ideas and concepts, he can sometimes endup not planning practically for events at hand. His strong will power and strict self-disciplinemake M.S.Dhoni a very determined leader.As a Friend: Dhoni has a very outgoing, friendly nature. He can very naturally break the iceand begin spontaneous conversations with others. He can get on very well with mostpeople. A very impulsive and emotional person, Dhoni can get affected by his friends’problems to the extent that he would do anything in his power to help them out. This couldalso be a drawback for him if he places heart over head and misses out on the practicalities of thesituation. Dhoni is a real shoulder to cry on when in trouble; his amazing listeningskills combined with emotional nature makes him a very compassionate andempathizing individual.Some Concern Areas:He is an impulsive decision maker especially when he chooses things aboutrelatives or close relatives. He can feel touched by a drop of a hat. So manypeople try to convince him by giving sob story.

q Golden Reejsinghani

Since it is very hot you should play it real cool. Coolpristine white is the colour of summer this season.The colour white not only beats the heat but also

makes you look beautiful and poised. Dresses made ofsoft and wispy chiffons, cool and crisp cottons like organdiesand voiles are doing rounds. Of course the young and the fashion conscious are also going in for knitted andcrocheted clothes and also there are the embroidered white kurtas which arebeing worn over white straight pants or denim jeans for that perfect and elegantlook. Small white kurtis with embroidery done in bright summer colours withdifferent neckline variations are also being preferred by the hip and happeningyoung collegians and by the smart office goers. These kurtis are worn overwhite salwar with a white dupatta.Many youngsters today are moving towards International trends in fashion.Denim as always is still reigning supreme. Hot selling brands like Lee, Levis,Pepe, Wrangler, Carl Louis etc are the top choice. Jeans no longer come inbasic colours of black and blue, now they even come in all rainbow shades

Fleet Street


including white. White means not only plain ones butalso with stripes, prints, floral designs and checks onthem and they come in a variety of washes from stone toacid and crack. And what makes them alluring is thatthey are long lasting and can withstand the regular wearand tear easily. Be it white or of any other colour theyadd value for money.Rashi Sharma, an Executive in an MNC said, ‘Fromjeans the denim has moved onto jackets, tops and evenskirts. Skirts come in all shapes and sizes from long deepslits to the shrinking size to the knee length varieties.Denim being a hardy fabric is not only soft andcomfortable to wear but at the same time also easy towash and maintain. Therefore not only youngsters buteven the older people are hooked on to it.’Nita Sahai, Rashi’s sister, student of K.C. College whohad accompanied her to a mall, met me and put her viewpoints, “Jeans and white tops are really cool in thissizzling season. They are cool and comfortable and if thetops are made of an uncrushable material then you havea chilled out look. So jeans and white tops are alwaysconsidered fashionable for morning and evening wear.”If girls are into sporting trendy outfits during summers,the guys in college are not far behind. For afternoonoutings, the are decked in hip length collarless orChinese collared white t-shirts with long slits on the sideswith interesting looking buttons made of coloured beads.These are worn over off white pants or white denim jeansFor evening women usually go in for something moreelaborate. Chudidar and pajama sets, skirts and blouses,salwar kameez with beautiful embroidery and motifs on

them. Markets are flooded with sleeveless whitec o t t o n

kurtas invariousdesignsa n d

ending afew inchesabove the

ankles. As h o r t

singlet worn inside the kurta over loose white trousersand a white chiffon dupatta looks truly dazzling.For late night parties there is a lavish use of crystals,beads, diamonds, sequins, resham and zari. These lookalluring and lovely, embellished on white fabrics.White chiffon sari worn over a backless blouse orspaghetti top blouse embroidered in tiny delicate multi-coloured design looks very alluring and interesting.Provided you have the right body to carry it off. Chiffonlooks enticing only on women who have hourglassfigures, therefore always be careful when you are going infor body hugging fabrics. Same is the case with chiffontrousers. Only women having shapely legs should go infor them, otherwise they look very unelegant.Chiffon trousers with light beaded trimmings combinedwith waist length strappy white top inside a white chiffonshirt printed with tiny summer flowers. A white scarf totie the hair at the nape in a pig tail gives you a picture ofelegance and fetches you numerous complements.Rajesh Singh from Jaihind College who regularly opts forgoing to the beach in the heat said, “For the beach wearwhite shorts combined with white halters not only lookstrendy but is ideal for beating the red hot heat. Denimshorts with a white t-shirt also looks very cool, but someguys who are not into whites can also go in for soft shadeslike sky blue, peach, lemon etc. Colours like whitedeflect heat from the body and keep it cool andcomfortable. Besides this, white and soft shades keep acheck on perspiration and body odour and you feel niceand well turned out.”Current fascination all over the fashion capitals of theWorld is fascination with transparency, the sheer opaquefabrics that open windows on the body. Gleamingchiffons, translucent voiles, lacefabrics, cob web knittedtextiles, look like a peepshow, but are great tobeat the heat. Thewhole idea is tostay in fashionand yet lookcool!

My house is in north-east direction with low walls andmaximum sunlight during summer season. Whichflowers could grow well?We should avoid seasonal flowers. Plant few shrubs ofmedium height and growth, which may be evergreen andflowering such as Brunfelsia americana, also calledYesterday, Today and Tomorrow because of threecolours of flowers each day and has a soothing fragranceas well. Cestrum nocturnum (Rat ki Rani) a very popularshrub full of fragrance, Galphimea – a round the yearflowering shrub with tiny yellow flowers in profusion,Hamelia with scarlet orange flowers, Hibiscus of varieties

with many strikingcolourful and

inviting size off l o w e r s ,

M u r r a y a ,Ixora etc.

are alsog o o dp l a n t sm i x e dw i t hvarietieso f

Jasminum.They willhelp give you

extra privacy – green, colour and fragrance. There aremany more to choose from.

Please provide simple & effective way of preparing theproportion of soil and intervals at which manuring needsto be done.One of the basic requirement of soil is the organic matterin the form of well decomposed cow dung manure orvermicompost alongwith bone meal, neem cake powder(Neem ki khali), potash and superphosphate. Thenaddition of mixture of micronutrients available in themarket in directed proportion makes a perfect soilcomposition. Spring and monsoon are two importantseason to manure your plants. But addition to smallquantities in interval of once in three months makesplant grow with vigour.

As summer months are approaching, what should be thewatering techniques to the plant?Best is to water the plants in the evening and if required,early in the morning. Watering during the day should beavoided. Washing plants once a week makes them fresh.

Carpet grass of my garden dried up and now there arelittle visible green patches. How can I regain the samekind of grass, spread evenly? Either the sowing was done during winter, when newgrass does not take roots. Either you’ll have to plant it all

Mr. Satish Mathur, ex-Chief Horticulturist ofMughal Gardens, ispresently DirectorHorticulture, OberoiGroup of Hotels &Advisor to Chain of TajHotels. Has authoredmore than 600 articlesand columns in variousdailies, journals andmagazines. PatronAIKGA, Judge in manyflower shows, VicePresident of NoidaFloriculture Society andwinner of many citationsand awards.

Green Turf

At times there are areas of baldness and one wants to cancel it with acolourful display of flowers of pleasing mixture of greens. Convenience, joyand colour are the basic urge.Let us take some questions concerning our readers regards to their gardens.

afresh. If the place does not get sufficient sunlight duringwinters, then this situation will arise every year. Byforking the area for aeration, manuring it with organicmanure, sufficient watering in the morning and evening,and during summer months with sunlight, the grassshould grow.

What varieties of flowers & shrubs can be planted in thisseason?March issue of City Cheers has an article with headingGreen Turf, giving details of vibrant summer floweringplants and how to plant.

Kitchen waste in pots. Is it advisable?Fresh kitchen waste of any kind in the pot is not at alladvisable. You may make a small pit in the garden or putwaste in some plastic or any kind of container with lidand permit it to rot. In order to make it an effectiveorganic manure, keep adding neem cake powder (smallquantity) or cowdung manure to the kitchen waste. Onlyafter 30-40 days the manure is made, which can then beused in required proportion for plants – after it isdecomposed.

Watering of Xerophytic plants.Whenever you grow Xerophytic plants in pots or in agarden – they will need some quantity of water to reachtheir roots to retain moisture for its growth andabsorption of nutrients. A small quantity of water afterintervals of 15 days to 1 month depending on the seasonand variety is necessary to let it grow with ease. Butensure that there is no water stagnation or logging ofwater.

Fruit trees in pots are drying after having grown well forthree years. Leaves have suddenly dried. Can I regain theplants?There can be two basic reasons – one that drainagehole is blocked or the broken pot piece has moved givingway for complete water to drain out. In both cases, eitherthere is water stagnation or no water retention and underany of these conditions plant is likely to dry out.But this is a good time to repot your established fruitplant, but care to repot in the evening and also alongwithcomplete ball of earth, to ensure that roots are notdisturbed. You may prune all dry and dead shootsincluding few unwanted or overgrown shoots to avoidexcessive load and the revival is easier. In future, takecare that excessive watering is avoided.

Which plants can be kept indoors to give a greenerinterior look?There are selected plants which have a natural characterto be indoors for a long time and retain their fresh look.Few of them are Dracaena of varieties, Areca palm,

Money plant, Aglaonema, Boston Fern, Chamaedorapalm, Syngonium etc. You may find quite a few morewhen you visit nurseries. But may be after a fortnight orso, some of them may need being shifted out earlymorning for an hour or so in winter and left out duringthe night in the summer. Proper washing will help.

How can I have full grown fruits from Pomegranate tree?Anaar trees need to be fed with a mixture of compostmanure, superphosphate and potassium sulphate orready mix of N.P.K. available in garden stores – about150 gms to 200 gms per plant during monsoon or springand water profusely soon after fertilization. Addition ofNeem cake powder, about 200 gms will be an additionalbenefit. Remove all dry and dead shoots from the plant,since they may lead to infection and disease.A spray with Bavistin (one tablespoonful powder makeinto a paste) and about 40-50 drops of Malathion,combination of fungicide and insecticide dissolved inabout 4 litres of water will also be helpful, both as acurative factor or a preventive factor for likely infectionon a disease.This spray can be effective in almost all fruit treesespecially citrus varieties and even chikoo etc. as well.

These tips are for common usage and any specificproblems will need to be addressed separately.

Aburned face can be converted into new onethrough plastic surgery but with a cost of losing itsoriginal identity, which is not easy for anyone to

pay.Today we are changing the face of Mother Earth throughplastic, without her will and we are destroying her identity.Look around yourself, you will find bulks of plastic wastewhich we are converting into garbage, knowing that it’s notgoing to be decomposed in any way. The problem is notplastic, problem is our habits. If we are ready to change ourhabits of spreading dirt everywhere, then it is possible toprotect the natural beauty of Mother Earth.“HAMARA MUKTESHWAR” a movement by the localpeople from all streams of life to make Mukteshwar aplastic free zone, has been promoted by Dr. SatyendraSingh a teacher, surgeon, film maker from UK, who hadspent his childhood days in Mukteshwar. He shares fromhis golden memories a Mukteshwar full of flora and fauna,famed for its peace and spirituality. Anyone with a pureheart, who had ever spent any significant length of time inMukteshwar, would be able to feel the place withinthemselves. Today, tourists are reaching Mukteshwar in an everincreasing number. Though this has brought economicboom for some of the local people but for most ofMukteshwar it is a bane. Plastic bottles and bags are throwneverywhere without any concern, in the absence of any

garbage disposal system.A group of people who thought that ‘lets do it’, didn’t waitfor any help from outside. The motive was to cleanMukteshwar from plastic waste. Joining hands together forthe movement “HAMARA MUKTESHWAR” werepeople from all walks of life, right from a temple priest togovernment officials. SO Anil Manral had been alreadyleading the clean up campaign with a personal approachhelped by local community social workers Lata and DurgaDidi, local shopkeepers Lalit, Bohraji and Ginwalji, schoolteacher Anuradha and students. Support was also given byIVRI - Indian Veterinary Research Institute’s Station incharge Dr. Vanamayya. Scientist Dr. Hera Ram deliveredan informative talk and distributed literature on themenace of plastic waste. He related that a hundred cowsdie everyday in Uttar Pradesh alone after ingesting plasticrubbish. There was pin drop silence as he gave a graphicaccount of personally removing 45 kg of plastic from asingle cow during a postmortem. The theme of the program was however very light andhumorous designed to promote pride in the local area.Appropriately the host, Dr Singh was dressed in a kurtaand a borrowed local Kumaoni jacket and cap which couldonly be arranged after a prolonged hunt. A musical program was arranged by Mukesh and Rebeccahelped by local youths Niraj, Ravi and children from localschools. Slowly the crowd gathered in Mukteshwar’s only

Save Mother Earth,Save Life!

Save the Beauty of this Nature.

q Antony Gardia


market place - Mohan Bazaar for thecampaign. The priest from Mukteshwar’sancient temple led the way with shlokasending with Om Shanti Shanti . ‘Picnic inMukteshwar’, a drama performed byschool children, was full of humor but atthe same time had a message about socialresponsibility for locals and tourists. Asong inspired by and sung to the tune ‘weshall overcome...’ was about a ‘polythenemukt Mukteshwar’.Local community joined the children andtook oath with slogan ‘Ek sapna hai, kiplastic mukt ho Mukteshwar hamara.Lena hai sankalp, aao dhunde plastic kavikalp’ - that they are not going to useplastic bags. The finale was a fashionshow of local hand made cloth and jutebags modeled by local children. The bagswere awarded in Oscar style with the categories of ‘Sasta,Sunder and Tikaoo’ with the overall winner bagging thebest bag award as ‘Jhola No.1’ ! This award went to thelocal home science teacher and her jute bag which hadbeen made from a throw away gunny sack lined on theinside with cloth and embroidered beautifully on theoutside with left over wool pieces. Explaining her work,she offered sewing classes for local women. Encouragingthe women, judging and giving the awards was MrsVanmayya, wife of the IVRI station in charge.Asking for heroes and heroines, the host kept getting filmstar names. Slowly the audience could relate the real lifeheroes and heroines that were pointed out all aroundthem. Anil Manral, officer in charge of the local policestation, was awarded the ‘Hamara Mukteshwar HamaraGaurav’ for 2009 for his contribution to the local area andleading the clean up campaign. All participants joinedtogether to sing ‘Ham ko man ki shakti dena’ and theNational Anthem.A local samiti organized by Mr Girnawal was formed tocontinue the movement in a regular and sustainable way.15 cloth bags were sold in under an hour following the

campaign, which in this small place could be a record. Atleast one shopkeeper was proud to say, ‘No to plasticbags’, in his shop the next day with many others promisingto follow suit.Motive behind the whole concept was to boost the localpeople and appreciate their work so that this couldbecome part of their daily life to maintain theirsurrounding clean and to spread awareness against the useand effects of plastic.It’s not enough to address just one place or one city, thisis actually a global problem and each and everyone has toparticipate whole heartedly to save our Mother Earth fromplastic. People of Mukteshwar have taken one step toshare their part of responsibility towards the nature. Whatare you waiting for?

Dr Satyendra Singh, teacher, surgeon, filmmaker fromUK, has founded the Chintan International Trust(www.chintaninternational.org) a non-profit, non-religious humanitarian organization based in the UKworking in India in the fields of health, education andenvironment.

Working alone can be hard at the best oftimes, but even more so if you are trying toclean extensive paint vandalism off rocks. Dr Singh could relate how hard it was to workalone to get painted graffiti off a very specialrock formation in the area. But the effort wasmade worthwhile when three local youthsunknown to him joined in. Initially hesitantthey wanted to know why he was doing it. Heexplained this was the place that gave him somuch as a child and now he wanted to giveback. “‘Hamara’, is to call a place your own,and is a right you only have when you havegiven something back to it”, he gentlyexplained. He had three willing volunteers allof whom had grown up and finished school in Mukteshwar. After hard scrubbing in a cold evening,they could watch the sun go down and shout with a satisfaction “HAMARA MUKTESHWAR” !

Kith-n-Kin

q Jaya Shukla


Freshadmissions ofpreschoolers...

new hopes...newambitions...first day jitters...excitement...fear, all in one.It’s school time for kids as well as the testing period forparents. Though it’s an awaited time for parents ofstarters, the feeling of every individual differs, likewisethe kids. Some are very carefree, some quiet, some overenthusiastic. Every parent’s hope is high when their kidholds the bag for the first time. The sadness ofdeparting from their sweethearts, though for a littlewhile, is always there. The first step into school is thefirst step towards making them an individual. It’s thevery first step which starts inculcating in them valuesand responsibilities, to groom their overall personality.To get admitted one’s child in a reputed school is thefirst wish of every parent. And here starts the formationof expectations from the children and the competitiveattitute is also build up then on.All kids have a somewhat similar fear factors in school.The change in environment may be an enjoyment or ahazard, its up to the kids level of understanding. For thefirst time he’s asked to be alone, far from his nest.Mothers are not there to listen to their cries, or wipetheir sniffing nose or make them eat their lunches. Thisinsecurity, in a few, leads to a different attitude of thekids. For the kids its totally a new setup: teachers,friends, books, accessories and of course discipline. Butremember, these “new” worries only stick around for alittle while, till he is the new comer. After few days ofpractice he/she adapts himself with the schedule and the

environment. At such a tender age it is hard for kids tograsp any lesson/poem and these things are not at allexpected from them too. But it’s easy to teach themsome of the habits which may be of utmost helplifelong.

� Parents have a common dream that their kids shouldbe a genius in the class. It’s a genuine reason too inrespect to kid’s career. But the foundation of the sameshould be laid down at that early stage.

� Teach your kid some values how he/she shouldbehave at home, in the school and with otherclassmates, before sending him to school.

� Although kids do not understand the term mannersand mannerism, but parents can guide them easily.

� Kids need somebody who believes in them. Believe inyour child.

� Teach kids how they should respect their teachers.� Don’t ever try to install habits in him just by

comparing with others.

� Try to give him enough time to getinvolved in extra curricularactivities. It will help you in thefuture also to analyze his interests.

� Some kids have a habit of fightingand snatching things. Tell him/herfirmly of not to practice such badactivities.

� Tell him about how special hisfriends are and how special hehimself is.

� Let him acquire a habit of tellingcorrect facts and if mockingly he istelling a lie, help him in guiding ina correct way.

� Give him the freedom to choosebetween right and wrong, especiallyfriends, like, let him go and sit withhis friend in the bus.

� Ask him if he feels excited,anxious, or a little bit of both.

� Teach him the basics of disciplineand responsibilities. Where shouldhe place the bags? Where shouldhe keep his books, bottles etc?

� Give a hug, a kiss, and a warm butfirm goodbye.

� Help your kid in his/herhomework.

� Pack something familiar in yourchild’s backpack to make him feelmore comfortable, and somethingnew to make him feel special.

It’s the first day for Khushi, Shivi,Ankit, Nitin and their Parents. Let’sknow about their reactions when theycame to receive their kids.Khushi’s Mother, Anju said, “I wasvery much nervous in the afternoonhours while I was waiting forKhushi.” Her daughter was weepingin the morning while leaving forschool. Anju was unable to go backhome. Disturbed Anju, thought ofwaiting at her friend’s house. Anjurepeated, “this day is a very hard dayin my life”. Her face startedglooming and felt relieved as she sawher daughter’s gleeming face.The same condition was with Nitin’sfather too. Nitin’s mother was busy ina meeting hence his father had cometo receive him. Talking to him

Nitin’s father also said that he wasquite worried as it was Nitin’s firstday of school and moreover hewould have to have his lunch byhimself. Everyday he helped Nitinduring his meals. As the schooltimings of kids are normally 4-5hours. Still these hours are quitedifficult for parents initially.Shivi’s mother was a little bit relaxed;I was unable to hold myself. I askedher about Shivi’s behaviour in themorning. She smiled and explained,“Since six months Shivi was risingand sleeping with a dream of going toschool. As Shivi is very naughty, I amjust worried about her behaviour.Rest I am assured that she would bevery happy once she steps into theschool premises.”

Now comes the next set or reasonsfor teachers� Teachers are supposed to be their

parents in the school. Teacher isexpected to answer to all the wierdqueries of kids.

� Teachers should always givestudents a chance to tell somethingabout themselves, in front of thewhole class.

Parents should know the language oftheir kids. Every day is a new day foryour child. Always be open to talkabout their days of school. Kids lovetalking about their days, but need alistener more than anything else. Bethat listener and brighten the rest oftheir day. By just listening you mayanalyze your kid and come up withnew ideas. So make their school afun place.

What are prehistoric monsters called when they sleep?A dinosnore!

What is the fruitiest lesson?History, because it's full of dates!

What language do they speak in Cuba?Cubic!

What is a myth?A female moth!

How did your mum know you hadn't washed your face?I forgot to wet the soap!

Contours


About a third of children are described by theirparents as over-active, and 5-20 percent ofschool children are so described by their

teachers. These reports encompass behaviour varyingfrom normal high spirits to a severe and persistentdisorder. Here we discuss about attention-deficithyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and hyperkineticdisorder, the signs to look for and where to get help.

What are attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD) and hyperkinetic disorder?Kunal of 12 yrs. was brought to me by his parents fromMujaffarnagar, U.P, with complaints of in-attentiveness,extreme and persistent restlessness, prolonged motoractivity and learning difficulties. Many children, especially under-fives, are inattentive andrestless. This does not necessarily mean they aresuffering from ADHD or hyperkinetic disorder.The terms ‘attention deficit’, ‘attention-deficithyperactivity disorder’, ‘hyperkinetic disorder’ and‘hyperactivity’ are used by professionals to describe theproblems of children who are overactive and havedifficulty concentrating or manifests more or less markedcontinuous activity.In both instances, these children usually have problemswith attention control and over activity.

What are the signs?Children with ADHD/hyperkinetic disorder:

� are restless, fidgety and overactive � continuously chatter and interrupt people � are easily distracted and do not finish things � are inattentive and cannot concentrate on tasks � are impulsive, suddenly doing things without thinking � have difficulty waiting their turn in games, in

conversation or in a queue. This type of behaviour is common in most children. Itbecomes a problem when these characteristics areexaggerated, compared to other children of the same age,and when the behaviour affects the child’s social andschool life. Often the signs will have been obvious sincethe child was a toddler.

What causes ADHD/hyperkinetic disorder?We do not know exactly what causes these disorders, butgenetic factors seem to play a part. The disorders can runin families, with boys more often affected than girls.

Where can Kunal get help?There is no simple test for ADHD/hyperkinetic

Dr. Sanjeev Kalra, M.D (Doctor of Medicine)in Ayurvedic Psychiatry from S.D.M.C. ofAyurveda. Is also an M.B.A in HospitalManagement & Finance from TASMAC,Pune. Currently, a Consultant Psychiatristand Consultant Ayurvedic Physician at ‘THEMIND CLINIC’, Noida. Is a visiting Lecturer,DBA Med. College & Hospital, Punjab.


disorder. Making a full diagnosis requires an experienced specialistassessment, usually done by a child psychiatrist or specialistpaediatrician. The diagnosis is made by recognizing patterns ofbehaviour, observing the child and obtaining reports of theirbehaviour at home and at school.Your general practitioner will be able to offer you advice andsupport and will usually refer you to a specialist. A child andadolescent psychiatrist will undertake a thoroughassessment and offer treatment. Some clinicalpsychologists and paediatricians also have specialexperience and skills in managing this problem.Effective treatment will include advice and support forthe parents as well. The child’s teachers will need adviceabout management, which may include counteractiveteaching and behaviour modification. A Full Specialist Assessment:This will enable your child’s needs to be clearly identified.Psychological ManagementYou should expect: � a full explanation of the condition to you and your child; � advice about on how to manage difficult behaviour; � communication between the child’s specialist and teachers, who will offer

you advice on structured activities and reward systems for positive behaviourthat may help. Special support and teaching may also be needed;

� help for difficulties that have developed as a result of ADHD/hyperkineticdisorder, including low self-esteem, difficulty with friendships, tempertantrums and aggression.

Stimulant MedicationSome medications may reduce hyperactivity and improve concentration.Medication produces a short-lived improvement after each dose, but is not a permanentcure. It creates a period when the child can learn and practise new skills. Childrenoften say that medication helps them to get on with people, to think more clearly,to understand things better and to feel more in control of themselves. Not allaffected children need medication. Those who do always need psychological andeducational support as well.Changing Diet & Avoiding AdditivesThere is a small body of evidence about the effect of diet on some children. Afew may be sensitive to certain foods. If parents notice that specific foodsworsen hyperactivity, these may be avoided. It is best to discussthis with the specialist.

Do children grow out of it?Children who receive specialist treatment tailored totheir needs may benefit considerably. Someproblems with restlessness, attention and lack ofcontrol might continue into adult life. However, withhelp, most hyperactive children will have settleddown by the time they reach their mid-teens. They willhave been able to catch up with their learning, improvetheir school performance and make friends.


Depression is a very common term which weusually come across in seminars, talks ormeetings. What does it actually mean? The

word in itself states something in a sunken state. Butmedically, depression means pressing down i.e. thedecrease of vital functions such as cardiovascular,nervous, respiration, etc. in case of mental disordermarked by altered mood & behaviour. An estimated 5%-7% of the World’s population is affected by depression.During this state of mind, a mental state is characterizedby a pessimistic sense of inadequacy and a despondentlack of normal activity. There is a loss of interest in allpleasurable outlets, such as food, study, sports, sex,routine work, friends, family, hobbies, or entertainment,etc. In Ayurved, depression is called as “Awshad”.According to Charak, a well known ancient physician,the origin of “Awshad” lies in “Kafaj Unmad” in which aperson portrays symptoms like a pessimist and does nottake interest in any activities which work for a smoothsailing peaceful life. One occasionally has mood swings,but these are usually fluctuating and pass away within aweek or few days. When a person has a depressivedisorder, it interferes with the daily life, normal routine,and causes pain for both the person with the disorderand those who care about him or her. Depression is acommon illness. Mostly who experience it needtreatment. Medications, psychotherapies and other nonmedicinal treatments are available for cure.

Symptoms :Any type of depression may run in families, suggestingthat a biological vulnerability can be inherited.Depression can also occur in people who have no familyhistory of the condition. Additional factors, such asstresses at home, work, or school, may triggerdepression. People suffering from depressive disordersdo not express the same types of symptoms. Theseverity, frequency and duration of symptoms varydepending on the individual’s age, sex and otheratmospheric conditions, and his/her particular illness. Feelings of sadness, anxiety, hopelessness, pessimism,worthlessness, helplessness, irritability, restlessness, lossof interest in activities or hobbies including sex andsports. Fatigue and decreased energy, difficulty inconcentrating, remembering details & making decisions,lack of sleep, early-morning wakeups or excessivesleeping, overeating or loss of appetite, suicidal thoughtsand attempts, body aches, headaches, cramps ordigestive problems that do not ease even with treatment.Cause of Depression:There is no single known cause of depression. Rather, itlikely results from a combination of genetic,psychological factors, biochemical, environmental andalso lack of spiritual health.Diagnosis & Treatment Without treatment, symptoms can last for weeks,months, or years. Appropriate treatment, however, can

I am happy to promote my thoughts with City Cheers to its esteemed readers and help create an environmentwhich is Life Medicine Free. The fast paced urbanization in the country has increased the stress level at allquarters and its time we all get together to combat various diseases occurring due to modern lifestyle. Everyissue we would take up various problems and try finding solutions to them. If we are able to lead a life whichis medicine free, then probably our contribution to the society would be more impactful.

“NO MORE DEPRESSION”

Dr. SaraswatiPrasad DwivediConsultantAyurved physician& PsychologistFounder of“MEDICINEFREE LIFE”AwarenessMovement. He isrenowned specialistpractioner ofherbal medicine, yoga, meditation andpanchkarma therapy for holistic healing ofpeople suffering from psychosomatic andchronic disorders.Ph: 09335124181. email: [email protected]/[email protected]

help most people who suffer from depression. Peoplewith depression may not recognize that they have adisorder or they may be discouraged from seeking orstaying on treatment due to feelings of shame and theassociated stigma. Too often, untreated or inadequatelytreated depression is associated with suicide.It can be diagnosed by conducting a physicalexamination, interview and lab tests by doctors &psychologists. For treatment it is a must to visit a doctorto rule out any possibility of other diseases, like thyroid,chronic viral infections, because they refer to the samesign and symptoms which are similar in case ofdepression. Once diagnosed, a person with depressioncan be treated with a number of methods. Most commontreatments are medication and psychotherapy, which canbe followed by medicinal & non-medicinal approches. In Medicinal Approach:Use of Anti-depressant medicines under supervision ofan experienced Allopathic doctor. In my opinion,sometimes giving medicine is a must for acute cases ofdepression, where the patient needs to be hospitalizeddue to his/her symptoms. But, it is not useful orrecommended for long term treatment.In Non Medicinal Approach:If you feel overwhelmed by stress or are experiencingsymptoms of depression, see your healthcare providerfor a physical exam and mental health evaluation. Youmay be referred for further evaluation or counseling, ifappropriate. A variety of relaxation techniques can helpyou cope with stress, like meditation, deep breathing,progressive relaxation, aerobics, exercise, yoga, andbiofeedback. These techniques help you relax your mindmuscles. You can also reduce stress by getting adequatesleep, rest, and recreation. Even psychotherapy, life-stylecorrection, panchkarma therapy of Ayurved undersupervision of an Ayurvedic doctor are very useful for apermanent cure from depression. Usually, I am alwayson a look out for ways of better treatment all over theworld, as there are various causes of depression, but thecardinal sign and symptoms are same. Eat a healthy diet,that is low in fat, high in fiber, and rich in vitamins andminerals. Specific dietary factors, like B-complexvitamins (found in whole grains) and omega-3 fatty acids

(found in cold-water fish, fish oil, and flax seeds)arebeneficial in depression.For treatment of depression, it is necessary to know thebasic cause of an individual’s suffering from depression.The basic principle of treatment is to first stop causativefactors and then treat the remaining illness. Otherwiseone can be cured only of the symptoms and signs, andnot the disease actually. I have seen several cases ofdepression, where the patient is addicted to the medicinesince long and is not able to get away withthe habit. I findpatients who are treated by Non-Medicinal approach,such as psychotherapy, yoga, meditation, diet-routinecorrection and life-style management, better than thosewho are totally dependent on medicines. Medicine related to depression are loaded with side-effects. This is very strange in our country. The use ofanti-depressant drug is increased to about 5-8 times anddaily. Number of patients are gradually increasing, ifconsidered in Indian demographical conditions. The life-style & life-span of our ancestors was better,because of the growth of depression, has increased fromthe ancient to modern times and it is the most commonside effect of urbanization. I am trying to promote Non-Medicinal approach oftreatment everywhere. It isvery similar to the ancientlife- style, routine, thoughtsand behaviour. So is said inthe vedic text: “SantosamParam Sukham”. It is not averse. It is a holistic medicinewhich provides peace,healthy mind,and healthybody.

Readers maysend theirs p e c i f i cp r o b l e m sover emailor contact onmobile.

Q. I am 32 year old lady & suffering from Depression from last 4 years. I amtaking regular antidepressants. Advised me for natural remidies.A. Daily do Padmasan, Pranayam,15-30 minutes & 2-4 km daily morningwalk. Take 3-5 bananas per day & avoid taking fatty food items. Fix yourdaily routine of breakfast, lunch, dinner, sleep & other essential works. Take‘Saraswat churn’ (powder) one teaspoon full twice a day with cow milk.Along with teh above, continue with your medication till couple of weeks &then gradually withdraw them within next 30 days. Continue above tips forabout six months. Think positive.

Personal InformationFull Name: Mahendra Singh DhoniBorn: 7th July 1981(age 27)

Ranchi, Jharkhand, India.Nickname: MahiHeight: 5ft 11in (1.80m)Batting Style: Right-hand batsmanBowling Style: Right-hand mediumRole: Wicket Keeper, Captain

International InformationNational side: IndiaTest debut (cap 251) 2 December 2005 v Sri LankaLast Test 18 March 2009 v New ZealandODI debut (cap 157) 23 December 2004 v BangladeshLast ODI 14 March 2009 v New ZealandOdi Shirt no. 7

Domestic team InformationYears Team1999/00 - 2004/05 Bihar2004/05 Jharkhand2008 Chennai Super Kings

Career StatisticsTest ODI

Matches 36 135Runs scored 1,854 4,385Batting average 36.35 49.26100s/50s 1/14 4/30Top score 148 183*Catches/stumpings 85/18 132/41


ITC Maurya Wins‘Golden Peacock

Innovation ManagementAward-2008’

ITC Maurya is the proud recipient ofthe ‘Golden Peacock InnovationManagement Award -2008’ by theaward Jury, under the Chairmanshipof Justice P. N. Bhagwati, formerChief Justice of India and Member,UN Human Rights Commission. TheGolden Peacock Awards for Quality,Innovation Management &Innovative Product/Service, BusinessLeadership and Entrepreneurshipwas presented to ITC Maurya at aspecially organized Gala AwardNight in the presence of businessand political leaders.

Shrine EmpireShrine Empire provides expertservices for Private Clients lookingto start a collection or build on anexisting one. We identify andsource acquisition opportunitiesglobally. We have access to worksof art available on the openmarket, from private collectionsand corporations. Determine a client’s art requirement, and sourcing suitableartworks at a fair market value. A major part of our business lies in handlingof privately owned works offered for sale. Those who acquire art often tradeor sell it. There are many different avenues to sell art - public auction, onlinesales, private dealers, and galleries. Once we assess the market value, weadvise how best to sell it, whether by auction or private treaty. We provideappraisals for insurance. Collectors are given a fully illustrated and indexedinventory of their artwork. Client confidentiality is of utmost importance tous.We work with insurers, banks, and law firms who lay immense value onclient privacy and depend on us to preserve it.

Celebrating InternationalWomen’s Day!!!To mark International Women’s Day, an eveningof Indian Classical Music was organised bySamraat Club Delhi Central in association withSABA Communications at IHC, Delhi. Eveninghad a performance by Ishita Aniruddha Thatte

(Vocal) and Sitar recital by artist Supriya Shah Shankar. The musical eveningwas graced by Odissi dancer Sharon Lowen along with Dr. Ravi ShankarPrasad, Smt. Shobhana Shah Mittal & Rohit Suri. Many people from the worldof art and culture were also present. Ishita began with raag “Desh” andended with a song depicting “Holi”.

‘Folk Music Ensemble’ bySantoor Maestro Abhay Rustum Sopori

Abhay Rustum Sopori is the country’s youngest artist whohas established his versatility in the domain of music bothas a Santoor maestro & composer. Recently “Folk MusicEnsemble” was conducted and composed by Sapori ji. Though it was not new, but it was extremely rare. “Folk MusicEnsemble”, was introduced by Santoor Legend & Music Composer Pt. Bhajan Sopori in early 1970’s. The conceptwas to revive, preserve and promote folk musical culture, popularising instruments and folk melodies. Thepresentation had around 40 musicians playing various instruments like Rabab, Kashmiri Sarangi, Tumbaknari, Daher,Matka, Laddakhi Drums, Sur Santoor, Tabla, Percussions, Synthesizer, Guitars, Tenor, Mandolin, Violin, Flute andSantoor etc. The presentation left the audience mesmerized. Folk music ensemble for the first time was organized onsuch a grand scale. On this memorable evening Governor of J&K Sh. N.N. Vohra was the Chief Guest, while Pt.Bhajan Sopori, Aparna Sopori, Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan, and various other dignitaries were present.


Petsetgo tie-ups with Isle of DogsPetsetgo, India’s foremost pet care brand ties up with Isle of Dogs, USA.It has already tie ups with leading pet accessories and grooming brandsfrom across the world. Now it has a new range of shampoos,conditioners etc. from Isle of Dogs. Commenting Mr. Raghav Modi, MDPetsetgo said, “We are very happy to be associated. Petsetgo intends toprovide the very best in pet care accessories and grooming products tothe Indian market. This association reiterates our commitment.” Manyinternational celebrities use Isle of Dogs for their pets. With the additionof the all new range of Isle of Dogs, Petsetgo now offers the best productsfrom the world to the discerning dog lovers in India.

“We Are Poor But So Many”A book by Smt. Ela Bhatt

SEWA and IHC, presented a discussion by a panel of eminentpersons on Smt. Ela Bhatt’s book –“We Are Poor But So Many”on March 14, 2009. The discussion was followed by interactionwith the author. The event was Chaired by Smt Devaki Jain,Former Director, ISST. Devaki Jain is one of the founders of thefeminist movement in India and internationally. Ela R. Bhatt hasdedicated her life to improving thelives of India’s poorest and mostoppressed women workers, withGandhian thinking as her sourceof guidance. Her book is a first-hand account of the vision, rise,and success of SEWA, in India aswell as internationally. The bookbegins with early days of SEWAand follows with an account of thestruggles and challenges thatSEWA faced in its journey. Itexplores the freedom given bySEWA to its women by presentinginspirational stories.

Kobian introduces Laptop BagsKobian Ltd, manufacturer of motherboards, casings, TFTsand others, has announced the launch of IXA series oflaptop bags. Most laptops come with bags but, you canprefer to suit your needs. Kobian IXA series ofLaptop Bags are designed for personaland corporate users, which are stylish,practical, durable, good protector,tougher and lighter. It comes in threedifferent looks - ProIXA, StyleIXA &RugIXA. ProIXA: Protection, amplestorage, 15.4” & 17” size, shock aircells, trolley strap can be convertedinto back pack. StyleIXA: boldcolors, comes in 15.4” & 10.2”and its trolley strap has aircushion. RugIXA: 15.4” size, withanti shock air cells including cablepouch. Rs799-Rs 2499.

Spring-Summer bySaggar Mehra

Study by Janak introduces Saggar Mehra, a newface to the brand. Saggar’s debut is markedwith unveiling of Spring-Summer’09 collection.Other highlight was the launch of magnificentcoffee table book at their store in GK-1. Eventwas flagged off in atraditional way,followed by afashion show bySaggar Mehra, sonof designer SunilMehra. RussianModel Frenanda, &actor/model RahulDev walked theramp. Formals,casual linen jackets& trousers, summersherwanis & KurtaPajama were showcased in the show.

‘Sreeleathers’Canvas Collection

One of India’s largest footwear &accessories brand ‘Sreeleathers’

have introduced a stunning line ofCanvas casuals. The range of footwear

& funky new design detailed with velcro,laces, zips, zigzag, stitching on washed denims, denimswashed in metallic shades and on printed twill fabricsare the ultimate epitomes of style and sheer attitude.The designs transit easily from a college day wear to anevening party wear. For the generation next touristsfrom abroad, the new found comfort, style and thecombined value irresistible fit to be carried home.

DESIGNERSUITS NSAREESINAUGRALEXHIBITIONDate: 1 April,2009(Wednesday) Time: 11:00AM Venue: B-2/19, Ph-2,Ashok Vihar,Delhi.Ph:9811023800 Email:

[email protected] BENCHMARK SIX SIGMA BLACKBELT TRAINING (6DAYS) Date: 3 April, 2009 (Friday) 9:00AM - 5 April, 2009 (Sunday) 6:00PM Venue: Hotel Radisson, NH 8,Mahilpalpur, Delhi.Ph: 26779191/9810919501 Email:[email protected] IN FACILITATION(THEATRE FOR GROWN-UPS) Date: 03 April, 2009 (Friday)10:00 AM - 29 April, 2009(Wednesday) 1:00 PM Venue: C-701, Rudra Apartment,Sector -6 Dwarka, Delhi Ph: 9958881599 Email: [email protected] Age: for +18yrsDuration: 15 days session - 1.5 /2 hrsTRIBUTE TO USTAD BADEGHULAM ALI KHAN SAHIB-KUMAR MUKHERJEE Date: 3 April, 2009 (Friday) Time: 7:00 PM - 08:30 PM Venue: IHC, Lodhi Road, DelhiPh: 9830434008GO LIVE!!! CREATIVEFACILITATION OF UAS FORSCHOOL TEACHERS ANDPARENTS

Date: 5 April, 2009 (Sunday) Time: 10:00 AM - 06:00 PM Venue: C-701, Rudra ApartmentSector -6 Dwarka, New Delhi Ph: 9958881599 Email: [email protected] SHIELA SIDDHANTKARMEMORIAL AWARDPRESENTATION & RAG VIRAGANNUAL DAY Date: 9 April, 2009 (Thursday) Time: 5:30 AM Venue: Triveni Gallery, 205Tansen Marg, Mandi House, NewDelhiPh: 9818188965 Email:[email protected] SILVA ULTRAMIND ESP TRAINING- IMPROVE INTUITION -MEMORY AND QUICKRELAXATION Date: 11 April, 2009 (Saturday)09:00 AM - 12 April, 2009(Sunday) 05:30 PM Venue: IIC, Delhi Website:www.goldeninspiration.com Ph: 09871119075 Email:[email protected] RED CARPET-A CORPORATEPARTY Date: 18 April, 2009 (Saturday)07:00 PM - 19 April, 2009(Sunday) 12:30 AM Website: www.craftinimages.com Ph: 011-26674013 /09711968011 / 011-26674011 Email: [email protected] FAIR - SPRING2009Date: 25 April, 2009 (Saturday)11:00 AM - 26 April, 2009(Sunday) 06:00 PM Venue: Pragati MaidanWebsite:www.eduworldwideindia.com Ph: 9811663707 Email:[email protected] India's North East

Date: till 30/04/2009Venue: Akshara Theatre - Homefor the Mind of India,11-12 B, Baba Kharak SinghMarg, New DelhiPh:: 23742083, 23364326.email: [email protected]'S "MIDNIGHTSUMMER DREAMS"Directed By - Mr. Noushad M.Date: 2/04/2009 - 18:30 till5/04/2009 - 23:59Venue: Shri Ram Centre, MandiHouse, Delhi-12nd year acting course studentsare going to presentShakespeare's "Midnight summerdreams" in HindiPh: Anupam S. (9868929470)PFA NIGHT MARKET AT LEMERIDIEN HOTELDate: 1/04/2009 - 12/04/2009An evening of club and retromusic with a DJ & dance floor,drinks, dinner & shopping Parisian night marketDate: 11th April 2009.Time: 3-30 pm - 11-30pm.Venue: Allure bar and lounge, LeMeridien Hotel, New DelhiFunds collected go towardsrehabilitation of several injuredand stray animals..Ph: 32542477/ 9810190497Entry free.LODI – THE GARDENRESTAURANTSnacks & Drinks Special/Easter/Light Lunch/Organic Festival/Feastby NightDate: 3/04/2009 - 30/04/2009 Date: 3rd - 9th AprilTime:12:00 - 15:00 & 19:00 -23:00 TAROT: A BASIC COURSE FORBEGINNERS by Joy DevDate: Till 8/08/2009 Time:10:00Locality: NOIDA / DELHIFew seats availableVisit at celestialcorner.com,Ph: 9899693546-47

To be listed in these pages post to [email protected]



WIFW was hosted at the Intercontinental Eros, Nehru Place, New Delhi from the 18th - 23rd of March,2009. WIFW also began the hunt for the new faces going places – ramp scorchers, who may helpenhance and bring the vision of all WIFW participating designers to life. The Wills Lifestyle India

Fashion Week is known for being a hotbed of emerging and established design talent converting the runway andexhibition area into business destinations for Indian fashion designers. It offers a complete lifestyle wardrobe for the

premium, consumer incorporating the latest fashion trends for both men and women. Anationwide chain of exclusive specialty stores provides the Indian consumer a truly‘International Shopping Experience’. Currently there are 51 Wills Lifestyle stores in 30cities across the country, and the brand is making rapid strides in terms of expansion -

doubling the number of stores over the next three years. WIFWalso provides high level business mentoring to the up-and-coming designers. Support is given by an established teamof fashion industry experts and professionals in areas suchas business planning, marketing, sourcing, production,export and legal. By giving such in-depth advice where it

is most required, the aim is to help the designersconsolidate their businesses, growing them

internationally to the next level. WIFW’s the leadingbusiness of fashion event is designed to allowyounger, untried designers the chance for abreakthrough moment. Sunil Sethi, President,FDCI, said, “WIFW is a prestigious launch padfor the emerging designers to showcase the best ofIndian design talent globally.” Atul Chand,Divisional Chief Executive, ITC’s LifestyleRetailing, said, “The Wills Lifestyle IndiaFashion Week is the country’s biggest and most

prestigious lifestyle event. We received anoverwhelming response from the designerfraternity for the event.” To support the

emerging fashion design industry of India,WIFW had 18 designers who participated forthe very first time. Like every season FDCI gavean opportunity to aspiring and eminent designersto experience India’s only ‘Business of Fashion’event 2009. This list includes some of the well-known names like Adarsh Gill and SanchitaAjjampur who have showcased their collectionsin India and overseas. With 102 designers andaround 175 buyers, WIFW is India’s premier

fashion extravaganza, which brings together thebusiness of fashion and expert designers as well as

connoisseurs of lifestyle on a common platform

Autumn - Winter 2009

Happening India

ATM usage to be free of chargeBank customers can expect useof ATM free of charge. TheCentral Bank has rejected to capthe number of free cashwithdrawals every month, as itfelt was not desirable & practical.Other banks’ ATMs for balanceenquires will be free of charge. Use of other banks’ ATMs for cashwithdrawals will be free from April 1, 2009. The charge of Rs 20 willbe all inclusive, irrespective of the amount of withdrawal. The banksmay determine the service charges for cash withdrawal with the useof credit cards and cash withdrawal in an ATM located abroad.Further, RBI said that the customer is not aware before hand, of thecharges that will be levied for a particular ATM transaction, whileusing an ATM of another bank. And even, that in countries such asUK, Germany and France, bank customers have access to all ATMsin the country, free of charge. The Central Bank also noted that theideal situation is that a customer should be able to access any ATMinstalled in the country free of charge through an equitablecooperative initiative by banks.


Delhi to get a new flyoverThe foundation stone of a new flyover on NH10 was laid by CMSheila Dikshit at Nangloi. To be built at an estimated cost of Rs.78crore, the flyover would be commissioned by April. Ms. Dikshit saidthe transport scenario in Delhi would improve significantly with thecommissioning of 27 flyovers or underpasses and 31 foot over-bridges before the start of the Commonwealth Games in 2010. Apartfrom this, she said the Delhi Government had also decided to bringfast moving buses, including air-conditioned ones, for city transport.The CM also complimented thePWD for providing qualityinfrastructure. She said that thenew flyover would ensure asmooth flow of Inter-State trafficand reduce commuting timebetween Delhi and Rohtak.Incidentally, the 1,075-metre-long flyover would also facilitatevillage-bound traffic.

Deora promises new sources of gas supply from April 2009Union Petroleum Minister, Murli Deora has said that the supply ofnatural gas from KG D-6 field is likely to begin by this month. Deorasaid the first 40 Million MetricStandard Cubic Metre will besupplied per day of gas to meetshortfall in existing gas-basedurea plants, LPG plants andpower plants. Emphasisingly hesaid, “The decision would go along way to increase the supplyof fertilizers in the country, bringdown fertilizer subsidy, increaseproduction of power and LPG, reduce dependence on petroleumproducts and improve environmental standards.” Deora furtheradded that Government passed on the benefit of falling oil prices tothe common man by twice reducing the prices of petrol and diesel.

India to launch ‘Astrosat’ About a year after India’s first mission tothe moon, ‘Chandrayaan-1’, now IndianSpace Programme is ready for anotherIndia’s first dedicated astronomy satellite,‘Astrosat’, launched to the orbit in April.Prof Tandon said that satellite will carry X-ray telescope and UV telescope and it willbe placed at an altitude of 650 kms.Tandon is a part of the ‘Astrosat’ project.ISRO is making an antenna to get datafrom ‘Astrosat’ at Byalalu village nearBangalore. Lifespan of the satellite will benearly 5 years. Tandon is leading a team

of scientists who willdevelop a UVtelescope. There

are sixinstrumentsin the‘Astrosat’out ofw h i c ht h r e e

have beendeveloped by Tata

Institute of Fundamental Research.

Videocon to launchD2H services inApril 2009C o n s u m e rdurable makerVideocon plansto launch itsd i rec t- to -home(DTH) televisionservices venture in Aprilagainst its original target of September. Asof now five companies are offering DTHservices in the country including Dish TV,Tata Sky, Airtel, Big TV and Sun TV.Videocon Industries, the flagship groupcompany of the Dhoot family, would belaunching the DTH service through itssubsidiary Bharat Business. A seniorexecutive with the company added thatthe firm is looking to integrate the set-top-box with new television sets as a freshoffering to the consumer. As per estimatesof consultancy firm Ernst & Young, theDTH subscriber base could touch 19million in the next 2-3 years.


Just Food

For Noidaites, the main haunting place isC.S.M and Great India Place. Even theroadside quick bites are good to taste.

But with this transition season and the onset ofsummers, roadside eateries are not a healthyoption.Me, a part of Noida frolickers, I frequent thewell known Atta Market of Noida regularly.To subside my hunger pangs, my first choicewas always Mc Donald’s or Pizza Hut. But,now due to increasing graph of residents inNoida, both these places are usually packed.This time, I was on a look out for a spaciousjoint to have good food. As I strolled, a boardreading ‘Café Style’ grabbed my attention. Thename itself gave the assurity of good food witha cool ambience. But, my first step inside tookbe aback by its unique interiors and simpleatmosphere. I was sure that ‘it’ was the rightplace to be. I could see a little open spaceoutside the Restaurant, kept for coffee, juicesetc. The ground floor was exclusively reservedfor food and the first floor for party or a bigcrowd. What I judged was that the highlight ofthe restaurant was to have food in style. Toomuch of glamour quotient was involved in thetheme. Interesting bit was that their werefashion accessories which one could evenpurchase, like stole, mask, bike etc.If one wants to organize a party, the hall couldaccomodate countable people. The fashion

Located bang opposite the GreatKebab Factory and alongside ICICI

Bank, Cafe Style, is the latest entrantto Sector 18, having opened it’s

doors to the hep and stylishfrolickers of Noida.

q Jaya Shukla


Café StyleK 1, Dharam Palace

Opposite The Great Kabab Factory,Sector-18, NOIDA.Tel: 0120-4548472

photographs displayed on the walls indicated the mottoof the restaurant, i.e dine in style.The best part was that all the waiters are well dressed andhave pleasing and warm smile. As he approached me, Ienquired about their specialities. With a gentle tone heexplained about the two best options for breakfast. One,Obama Style Breakfast and the other, English StyleBreakfast.The Obama style meant a heavy breakfast includingchoice of omellette, croissant sausage, chicken, fruit juiceor coffee.There’s a choice of 18 flavours of coffee and manyvarieties of sandwiches.My friends who accompanied me, ordered a mix ofIndian as well as Continental cuisine. Though it was afternoon hours, still I chose to have theObama style breakfast. The quantity was quiet sufficientand was too filling that I was compelled to share it withothers. Every bite gave a different taste. Being a completemeal, still it was so light that one could have it on a dailylisting.Sandwiches and coffee were listed in variations. The whole area was quite living due to the music playedin the background, which lent a peaceful and calmmood.The Manager of Cafe Style, Mr. Nalin Kumar Saxena,looked very agile by his movements. Out of curiosity I

asked him the reason behind displaying so manyaccessories. With a nod he said, “A little bit of fun and alittle bit of masti with some unforgettable taste is whatCafé Style wants to give to the people.”Surprisingly one of my friends even purchased few items.All in all, if one wants to have food at an affordable place,Cafe Style is the best option.Mr. Chetan Malik, the owner, truly deserves to be thebrain behind the whole concept. Being a youngsterhimself, he knows what the generation of today reallywants. An early breakfast, a never to forget lunch or apeaceful dinner with your pal or family, whatever youwant to have choice is yours. Highlights:Timings of the restaurant are very comfortable. One canstart the day with a healthy breakfast.Choice of delicacies, fashion accessories with unlimitedspace.The cover is 80-90. But if one wants to organise a party,100-120 people could easily accomodate.Cocktails or Mocktails are not in their listing. Meal for two-Rs 800Timings from 8:00a.m to 11:30 p.m

Mocktails are always welcome because theybeat the red hot heat of summer. They not

only quench the thirst but also cool the bodyand are great energy boosters. Below are

some recipes of really cool mocktails whichare full of goodness of fruits. So try them

out this summer and see how they transportyou to snow clad mountain tops.

LEMON ECSTASYIngredientsJuice of 6 limes6 tbsp castor sugar3 bottles soda3 cups vanilla ice-creamFresh mint leavesMethodMix together lime juice and sugar. Addsoda and half of the ice-cream. Beat witha beater till the ice-cream is half melted.Put in a serving glass over the crushed ice.Pour the remaining ice-cream on top anddecorate with fresh mint leaves.

q Golden Reejsinghani

Lemon Ecstasy



ORANGE SODAIngredients2 cups chilled orange juice3 cups soda¼ cup lemon juice¼ cup milk3 sticks vanilla ice creamSugar to taste1 tbsp grated rind of orangeA drop of orange red colour <Optional>MethodMix together juices, milk, rind and sugar andstir until the sugar dissolves. Add 2 cups sodaand 2 sticks ice cream. Beat until ice cream isdissolved. Stir in the remaining soda. Serveimmediately with a tbsp of ice-cream floatingon top.

FRUIT MOCKTAILIngredients1 cup each of orange, pineapple and grapejuice¼ cup lemon juice½ cup apple cider3 cups iced waterSugar to tasteMint leavesMethodCombine all the juices with water and sugar.Stir until the sugar dissolves. Serve in tallglasses with mint leaves floating on top.

Orange Soda

Fruit Mocktail

q Jaya Shukla

As we interacted with Mr. GeorgeAbraham (Chairman) ACBI, we wereallured to question him further about the

initiation and the motto of this challenging sport.“I am a passionate Cricket lover since mychildhood days. I first picked up the bat at theage of 5 and then on dreamt to be a player. As achild, I always aimed to be a good fast bowler, asthere were very few fast bowlers in India thattime. But due to poor vision I was unable toparticipate. In 1989, during my visit to DehradunI found the visually challenged school boysplaying cricket. It made me feel that even blindpeople could also play cricket equally well. I wasa regular listener of Cricket Commentaries andenjoyed doing so.”

Not touching too much to his sensitive chords,my next question was, if being handicapped wasa negative factor in one’s life. With a deep pauseand thoughtful gesture he replied ,“Sports is avaluable, interesting and an engaging way todevelop thinking as well as psychological andleadership qualities among people. I thought itcould be a platform for the blind people to showtheir talent. And it indeed turned out to be agood platform to show ones passion and unity tothe world. Actually it was unbelievable to all thateven a visually challenged person could playcricket as a normal person does.”

This forced me to think as of how could he havebrought people together for such a challengingtask. As my mind was building up queries, hecontinued, “Gradually people became aware andthen they started participating from differentparts of the country. We held many activitieswhich are a wonderful way of providing exposureto the people. After my Dehradun visit I realizedthat this game should be promoted at variouslevels, even to a status of an International level.”

Cricket with blind people is awesome to watch.There are many interesting twists and turns in

Exclusive

Sports is an important part of education. For all cricket lovers it’s a die hardpassion and is usually seen during the pulsating hours of World Cupmatches. Here we are talking about cricket, which sounds interesting,amazing, different and exclusive. This is the cricket organized by ACBI(Association for Cricket for the Blind in India). Here the ball, boundaries aswell as the wickets are distinctive, which are ordered keeping in mind theease of the visually challenged players. The ball used is an audio ball andrules are also adapted. This game of cricket for the blind in India wasinitiated by the blind themselves. ACBI is a voluntary organizationpromoting cricket for the blind in India since 1990. It has always beenorganizing annual, state, zonal and national level tournaments whereinover 150 teams from across the country participate. A little bit of adventureand happiness in their life is the motto of ACBI.

between the matches. It is usually said that people withdisabilities have a sixth sense and are very sensitive in terms oftheir reaction and work. Sharing his experiences, Mr. Georgein a firm posture stated, “In 1990, First National Tournamentwas held in Delhi followed by Bangalore in 1991”. ThirdNational Tournament was held in 1993, in Ahmedabad. Ayear after that, in 1994, Zonal and National tournament washeld. An International conference on cricket for the blind washeld in New Delhi in 1996. Delegates from Australia, England,New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Indiaparticipated. An international set of rules and equipments weredrawn up. ACBI was established in the same year and WorldBlind Cricket Council was formed. India hosted the first twoWorld Cups in 1998 and 2002 in Delhi and Chennairespectively. In 2005, Pakistan came to India for about fivematch series. In 2006 in the 3rd World Cup organized inIslamabad, India lost to Pakistan in finals. And in 2007 again,India went to England for five matches.” “During the matches, curiosity level was instrumental inbringing the players closer to each other.They get so enthused,that every game turned out be a great competition. If you talkabout their senses, naturally speaking there are no such sensesat all. It’s just a form of adaptation. When one sense doesn’twork one must compel himself to be dependent on othersenses.”

As Mr. George spoke it seemed that the whole task was so easygoing for him. But as everyone knows the complete thingmight have taken days of planning and financial involvementtoo. Earlier the biggies who sponsored were Brooke Bond andCoca Cola. Taking the sponsorship subject further, heaffirmed,“Kanishka World Cup in Delhi was sponsored byKanishka Hotel supported by ITDC. It was the major sponsorin 1998. In 2002, the World Cup match in Chennai waspossible only due to the support given by PetroleumCompanies. Seven countries, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India,Australia, New Zealand, England and South Africa hadparticipated then. Petroleum and Kanishka World Cup werethe Government bodies from the Ministry of Petroleum andTourism.”

So much happening in this mode of cricket and many unawareabout it, is surprising. With the presence of so many SportsChannels, this game is doomed. The reason behind it being



infamous, Mr. George commented, “Earlier cricket wasfollowed only via radio commentary and thecommentators of those times were equally good. Blindpeople also listened to the radio with the same interestlevel. Today, the media and the T.V. are muchcommercialized. Due to lack of commercialization, thisgame has not come to its expectation. Media is drivencommercially. People assume that the TRPs would alsonot be very high, if they show the visually challengedplaying cricket. But AIR always covers our cricket.”

Apart from the game shouldn’t the players be promoted,was my query. “I am involved with ACBI since 18 years.People like to play and participate in these tournaments.There is now requirement to strengthen the organizationstructure or the game at National and Internationallevel.”

Knowing more about the quality of the players andthe high management levels in terms of players, Mr. George stated that, “A team has three categories.Four people in first level who are completely blind.Three people at the second level having 2 /60 vision.Remaining four are in between 2/60 and 6/60. It’svery challenging to prepare a team with all thesethree categories involved. But it all happens withease.”

Without the support of the Government no gamecan be promoted at an International level. In a lowand humble voice came the reply, “We did havesupport from the Government during the WorldCup. But, on a day to day basis we aren’t getting anysupport from anywhere.”

Elaborating more about ACBI, he said that,“ACBI istotally an Indian Organization. D. Ranganathan

(Secretary), Vikram Dalmia, Joseph de Mello,Mahantesh, Dr Panchal are the key people behindACBI.”

No game or venture is complete without an ambassadorsupporting the brand. “In 2005, V.V.S Laxman was theBrand Ambassador. Presently we are thinking ofintroducing some more Brand Ambassadors. But nonames can be declared right now.”

What are the future plans? He said, “Since last two yearsI am planning about restructuring the body. We need tohave people in the board who bring skill and money intoit in a more viable way. Our aim is to have anorganization to ensure blind people that they may playcricket regularly.”

Many other factors, like the criterion behind selection ofthe players and the coaches, fitness of the players and anyspecific facility was a big question .“Four players areselected from different parts of the country. Two extraplayers in each category are also required. 4, 3 and 4 arethe ratio plus two extras. In total there are 19 peoplefrom one side. One coach and a manager is alsoappointed. We select players through differenttournaments. Best 17 are chosen. Then they are sent fora complete eye checkup and medical checkup, to besuited to our eligibility criterion. After the selectionprocedure, we have a 15-20 days camp for fitness,sessions for warm-ups, push-ups & practicing cricket.There are physiotherapists to take care of our players.”

Nothing much to say and nothing more to know, heconcluded,“We hope the next World Cup will be eitherheld in 2010 or 2011, but not in the sub-continent.”

Coach Noor Mohammad:I am here since 15 years. ACBIis a government organization.It has a good scope but thebasic problem is the lack ofsupport towards visuallychallenged people and thefunds. People who are indifferent categories of B1, B2,

and B3 should be treated in a balanced way. Thereare two parts involved. The first one is the coachingwhere beginners are taught about batting, bowling,fielding and catching. And the second one is thetraining where players are trained for matches andtheir physical fitness. Here the training is againdifferent because only sound is used.

Captain Manvender Singh:I have captained the team since 2002.BCCI board organizes cricket atNational and International level. ACBI islacking its maintenance due to thefunds, as there are no suchorganizations which are looking after it.There is no upper body for support, fund

and recognition that makes tournaments and sponsors.ACBI will go in a dim light if not supported well. Ourcricket is different as here verbal instructions are given. Asit’s a totally sound based game we categorize batsman,bowler and wicket keeper as per their eye sight. A goodcaptain must posses many qualities like: he should be calmand cool minded in all circumstances, must have a goodsense of humour, must know each and every player andgive proper importance to all equally as well as he mustknow the combination well.

RULE

S FO

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high

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of u

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for m

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th ma

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gira

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have

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orn in

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iddle

and s

ome e

ven 5

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uflag

e.Gir

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thsa

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of gi

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an ex

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ood e

yesig

ht.Br

owsin

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Drin

king

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t sho

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lowers

, leav

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rk an

dfru

its an

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ll twi

gs of

even

at th

e top

of th

etre

e. Gir

affe’s

heigh

t and

long

neck

helps

it in

brows

ing. G

iraffe

s nev

er ea

t gras

s.Th

e heig

ht of

giraff

e cau

ses it

a p

roblem

indri

nking

. For

that,

it ha

s to

eithe

r ben

d its

knee

s or e

xtend

its fo

releg

s out

on ei

ther s

ide.

This

awkw

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ostur

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uces

its f

ield

ofvis

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d lea

ves i

t vuln

erable

to at

tack.

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r Fac

tsWh

ile w

alking

giraf

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ove t

heir t

wo le

gs of

one s

ide al

terna

tely.

While

runn

ing th

ey ca

nga

llop

along

fas

ter t

han

the s

peed

iest

raceh

orse.

A ba

by gi

raffe,

whe

n born

is ve

ry wo

bbly

onits

legs

and

so ca

nnot

stand

up fo

r at l

east

half a

n hou

r.The

lifesp

an of

a gir

affe i

s abo

ut25

years

.

Thin

k T

ank

ENTR

Y C

OU

PON

CIT

YC

HEE

RS C

ON

TEST

NO

.15

April

09

Nam

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It is not always necessary that an exotic place makesan exciting holiday spot. More often than not someof these places are over-hyped. However, an oft-

trodden run-of-the-mill location can sometimes becomea truly fabulous place to unwind, let down your hair andgenerally have a relaxing time. We re-discovered this lastmonth when my wife and I decided to visit Bhimtal andits environs for a short getaway. We had been to Nainitalbefore but during that trip had not taken in various placesof interest around this hill station.

We left Noida at 7 in the morning of a rather cold and

overcast February day. Although the weather was a bit ofa dampener (pun unintended) it had a positive side to it,in that there was hardly any traffic on the NH24. I myselfwas driving, and with Lata Mangeshkar’s old songs on thecar stereo to keep us company, we made good time up toa place called Chopala beyond Hapur. From there weturned right off the highway and after 6-7 kms reachedwhat is known as the Mud Fort at Kuchesar. Somepeople we know had talked about it and out of curiositywe also wanted to see the place. The unusual fort, madeof mud as its name suggests and built by Jat rulers morethan 2 centuries ago, has now been turned into a hotel.

Travelogue

Mud Fort at Kuchesar


We were shown round the property by an employee whonarrated the history of the fort and gave us a publicrelations tour of the hotel in its present avatar. Weassured him that we would come and spend a weekendthere next winter.From Kuchesar we drove back towards the highway andsoon reached Garh Mukteshwar, a holy town that is likelyto be developed into another Haridwar. We crossed theGanga and stopped to have our breakfast. My wife hadcarried sandwiches and a flask of hot coffee. I on my parthad put a rattan chattai in the car, which I spread on thegrass by the riverside for what turned out to be the first

picnic of our trip. It was simply beautiful -acres and acresof sugarcane, wheat and mustard fields behind us and theRiver Ganga flowing majestically in front of where we hadperched ourselves. There were no sounds at all exceptfor the twittering of birds, and the whole atmosphere wasso pristine that we were reminded of our days in the teagardens of Assam - unadulterated peace and solitude.After a refreshing break we were again on our way.

There is a fair amount of road-development workcurrently in progress on NH 24, with the result that incertain patches, lasting for several miles, the condition ofthe highway is absolutely pathetic. On the day of ourtravel the diversions were full of rainwater and we werealmost crawling along, with our average speed havingcome down to less than 20 kms per hour. We bypassedMoradabad, crept through the congested towns ofRampur and Bilaspur, finally reaching Rudrapur wherewe stopped for lunch. The last time we had visited thisDistrict Headquarters of the newly-created Udham SinghNagar district, it was just developing into an industrialtown. Within a short span of about 10 years, however,Rudrapur can now boast of a large number ofmanufacturing plants having been set up by prestigiouscompanies. Further up the road we passed the reputedGovind Ballabhbhai Pant Agricultural University atPantnagar (where till some years ago I was routinelyinvited as a guest faculty at the College of Agri-BusinessManagement to address MBA students). We also saw thenewly-established Tata Motors’ swanky plant from where

Garh Mukteshwar

the first Nano car is likely to roll out next month.

There was a sudden increase in vehicular traffic nearLalkua, mainly trucks and tractors. We saw scores oflorries laden with wooden logs and a large number oftractor-trolleys loaded with sugarcane, headed towardsaw-mills and sugar-mills respectively. On the sides of thehighway one can see poplar and eucalyptus plantations,both catering to the paper industry. It was the logs ofthese trees that were being carted by the trucks. With somany heavy vehicles on the road, driving had becomedifficult, especially since it had started raining again.Anyhow, we were soon clear of the traffic as we

approached Haldwani and a short distancelater Kathgodam, the last station on therailway line from Delhi. After that the roadbecame steep and we entered the KumaonHills of Uttaranchal Pradesh, or Uttarakhandas the locals prefer to call their state.

The drive from Kathgodam onwards toNainital and Almora is very picturesque. Therain had increased in intensity and soon wewere confronted with a hailstorm although thestones were not large. By now it had startedgetting dark and I was apprehensive thatshould our car have a breakdown we would bein serious trouble. But as they say, “fortunefavours the brave” and we weathered thestorm to reach the fork in the road fromwhere to go to Nainital one keeps goingstraight and to go to Bhimtal and Almora onehas to turn right. We were booked in a resortthat lies 3 kilometres from Bhimtal. Justbefore reaching the town, as we were drivingalong the lake, we had to take a sharp turn tothe left and drive up a pebbled kutcha road.The drive to our hotel that lies another 2kilometres from this point was very steep andcircuitous. I had to focus on keeping the carsafely on the narrow road whereas my wifewas deep in prayer invoking the gods to helpus reach our destination in one piece! Wefinally did so at 4 in the afternoon, her prayershaving gratefully been answered. It had takenus 9 hours of driving, the total distancecovered being just 302 kilometres.

At the resort we were allotted a gabled cottagecomprising a bedroom with an attachedbathroom, a living room, a small dining areaand a kitchenette - nothing ornate, butcomfortable and functional. After we hadunpacked we sat down to have tea. I switched

on the TV and while watching a news channel ourinterest was immediately drawn to an announcement thatsince that morning there had been very heavy snowfall inNainital during which 2 students had died, and the townwas cut off from all sides. No wonder it was so bitterlychilly where we were staying. While walking up to therestaurant in the main building for dinner later in theevening we were hit by the skin-piercing gusts of coldwinds. Our hotel was situated in an oak forest, so thechill factor must have been quite high.

When we got up the following morning we werepleasantly surprised to see the sun shining brightly in an

Bhimtal

Naukuchiatal


absolutely clear sky. There were no tell-tale signs of theprevious day’s inclement weather. As we drove down thekutcha road it did not seem ominous and threatening as ithad the day before. We went to the lake and like mosttourists decided to take a boat-ride. There is a small islandwith a restaurant in this beautiful lake which is larger thanthe lake in Nainital. After some time we left our car anddecided to walk to the town. Although it was sunny therewas a definite nip in the air and we enjoyed our stroll.Bhimtal, which lies at a height of 4500 feet above MSL,takes its name after Bheem, one of the Pandavas. Itssalubrious climate attracts tourists all the year round.There were no decent restaurants wherewe could sit down to have a bite, but as wewalked up the road leading to Nainital wecame across a beautiful resort by theroadside. We sauntered in, to be greetedby lovely gardens full of multi-colouredflowers of myriad species. The mainbuilding had an indoor swimming poolwith a restaurant adjacent to it. The lunchserved to us was simply delicious, with thehead chef having taken personal interest inensuring that the dishes we ordered wereperfectly prepared. After a thoroughlysatisfying meal we walked around the townand returned to collect our car parked bythe lake.

From Bhimtal we drove toward anotherlake - Naukuchiatal - some 4 kms away.This pretty lake, lying in a beautiful valley,has 9 corners. We had heard that there isparagliding facility nearby, so we drove upto the take-off point. Even if I had any pre-conceived plans of going paragliding theywere quickly dispelled when we saw adubious-looking ramshackle shanty thatpurported to be the “office” of theparagliding people. I can only presumetheir safety standards must be very highotherwise they would have been forced toclose down by now, but seeing the set-up Ido not think many persons would want torisk their lives jumping off a cliff with oneof their experts.

From Naukuchiatal we drove back toBhimtal and onwards to Bhowali. Thistown lies midway between Bhimtal andNainital and is situated at a height of about5700 feet. Because it is on the shelteredside of the mountain it gets snow whileBhimtal does not. As we drove into the

town we were elated to see thick sheets of snoweverywhere, from the roads to the rooftops to the trees inthe woods. It was a truly spectacular sight. We wereadvised by a policeman that the 2 other roads fromBhowali - one going to Nainital and the other toMukteshwar - were both closed on account of theprevious day’s heavy snowfall, but efforts were beingmade to clear them. Bhowali after all is a major centre forexport of fruits such as apples, plums, apricots and pears,and it is commercially undesirable to have the town cut offfrom the rest of the country for too long. By now it wasgetting dark so we decided to return to our hotel.

Nainital

The Mall Road

The following morning my wife prepared breakfast in thekitchenette using the groceries that we had picked up inBhowali the day earlier. For lunch we asked our hotel’schef to pack some sandwiches, cutlets and coffee for us,and soon we were off to Nainital 22 kms away, reachingthe city in less than an hour. Nainital owes its name toNaini Lake around which the town is situated at a heightof about 6500 feet. According to Hindu mythology theeyes of the goddess Sati (here known as Naina) fell here,hence the name. The town was discovered in 1841 andthe first Englishman to live there was one Mr P. Barrow,a sugar merchant from Shahjahanpur. There was a lot ofactivity in and around the lake, so unlike the Bhimtal and

Naukuchiatal lakes which were comparativelylifeless.

The Mall which runs along one side of the lakehas a promenade where one can take a leisurelywalk or sit down on a bench to savour the beautyof the lake with ducks and swans swimming in thecrystal clear water. The local administrationsome time back had installed an oxygenationplant in the lake to keep the water fresh, resultingin increased fish population. We found the watermuch cleaner than that of the other 2 lakes wehad visited. As we were walking down the Mallwe came across a restaurant with a rather unusualname. I immediately rang up our 8-year oldgrand-daughter to tell her that we had justpurchased a restaurant in Nainital and haddecided to call it after the way she addresses mywife and me. We told her that we had named it“Nanu Nani ka Vegetarian Restaurant” and hadtaken photographs of it to show her. She initiallybelieved us until our daughter told her that wewere just kidding her! By the way, a restaurant bythat name does actually exist on the Mall.

There is a ropeway from the Mall to a pointcalled Snow View which offers a spectacular viewof the Himalayas. If you are lucky you might ona clear day be able to see Nanda Devi, the secondhighest peak in India. We had taken the ropewayride during our earlier visit, so we decided to giveit a miss this time and instead drove upTonnochy Road towards a place called Kilburyabout 10 kms from the lake. The previous day’ssnow was all over the place - the road, coveredwith at least 1 foot of snow, had becomeunmotorable whereas the forest on the side hadabout 2-3 feet of snow. There were dozens ofcars and SUVs parked with well over a hundredmen, women and children frolicking in the snow.We too joined in the revelry and realised that we

were perhaps the oldest couple amongst all the peoplethere. An enterprising local teenager had set up amakeshift stall selling hot tea and coffee and also Magginoodles!

After a thoroughly enjoyable and rejuvenating one hourwe drove back towards the town and stopped a couple ofkilometres short near a clearing in the woods. We tookout the chattai and the basket and sat down for a picnic.From where we had set ourselves we were accorded abreathtaking view of the lake below us with the snow-cladmountains beyond. It was simply beautiful and heavenly.We returned to our hotel in time for evening tea. The

Snow view of the Himalayas

Sat Tal


Vinay Sarup is a retired Chief Executive (Farms Division)of a New Delhi based company with national presence.Earlier he had worked in other well-reputedorganisations, his total experience being over 35 years.He did the first half of his schooling at Modern School,New Delhi, and the latter part at a school in London. He

is an alumnus of IITKharagpur, 1970 batch. Oneof Mr Sarup's hobbies istravelling, and he has beendoing so within India andabroad for nearly 50 years!Among other things, he nowspends his time visiting newplaces and writing about hisvarious travels.

resort has a machan on a tree-top about 20 feet aboveground-level, with a couple of tables and accompanyingchairs set on the platform. Both my wife and I clamberedup the steep wooden ladders, albeit with difficulty, butthe effort was worth the trouble. A waiter served us teaand cookies. Below us in the tiled courtyard a game oftennis ball cricket was in progress, being played by someguests and employees of the hotel.

The next day we wanted to visit Mukteshwar, said to be avery pretty hill station at a height of about 7500 feet,which has the reputation of offering magnificent andincredible views of the Himalayas. The hotel Manager,however, informed us that Mukteshwar was still under athick blanket of snow and was unapproachable, so weshelved the idea of visiting the place. Instead we decidedto have another picnic, this time at Sat Tal. The chef wasrequested to pack a dry lunch along with coffee, and oncehe had done so we left for Sat Tal, reaching the place inabout 45 minutes. As the name suggests, Sat Tal is agroup of 7 small lakes called Garuda, Ram, Sita, Laxman,Hanuman, Bhiyun and Sukha lakes. These beautifulwater-bodies are surrounded by thickly forested hillscovered with oak, pine and various species ofrhododendron. The rhododendron flower is the StateFlower of Uttarakhand and because of its beauty is usedfor ornamental purposes. It is also processed into juiceand wine. Not far from the place where we had sat downfor our picnic was a shack, with the owner sellingrhododendron juice. We tried the magenta-colourednectar and found it absolutely delicious, a befittingaccompaniment to the very nice lunch that the hotel chefhad packed for us. The atmosphere was so serenelypeaceful that my wife and I just lay on the mat staring atthe clear blue sky, only to be awakenedout of our reverieabout an hour later by the warbling of ducks in the lake.Totally refreshed, we got up to return to our hotel.Incidentally, that particular day was the 14th of February,

and for us there couldn’t have been a more romanticsetting for celebrating Valentine’s Day.

We checked out the following morning after an earlybreakfast. On our way to Noida we stopped every now andthen for refreshments. Any return journey is always moreboring and unexciting than the onward one because thereis nothing to look forward to, more so if one is taking thesame route back. As they say, “all good things must cometo an end”, and so was the case with our trip. We had aperfectly enjoyable and relaxing holiday in the LakeDistrict of Uttarakhand, having gone there in the leanperiod. If one is looking for a peaceful break why go to aholiday destination during peak season? As such there isso much shor-sharaba in the cities where we live, so whygo at a time when the place is teeming with tourists? If onefeels more comfortable being amidst loads of people anda cacophony of all kinds of noises then one should insteadtry walking through the lanes of Sadar Bazaar or KotlaMubarakpur in Delhi!

Rhododendrons

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22nd April 1914 - 5 Nov 2008

Baldev Raj Chopra (B.R. Chopra) was an Indiandirector and producer of Bollywood movies andtelevision serials. Mostly known for Hindi social

films like Naya Daur (1957), Kanoon (1961), Gumrah(1963) and Humraz (1967), plus the mega TV Series,Mahabharat in the late 1980s. He was awarded thehighest award in Indian cinema, the Dadasaheb PhalkeAward in 1998.His brother Yash Chopra, son Ravi Chopra and nephewAditya Chopra are also directors in the Bollywoodindustry.Born in Ludhiana, Baldev Raj received an M.A. inEnglish literature from Lahore University. He started hiscareer in 1938 as a film journalist with Cine Herald , afilm-monthly published in Lahore. He later took overthe magazine and ran it until 1947. In the same year, helaunched a film with a story by I.S. Johar, Chandni

Chowk. Naeem Hashmi was the hero of this movie andErika (Rukhshi) was the heroine. Just as the productionof the film was to start, riots broke out in Lahore and heand his family had to flee from the city. After thepartition of India into India and Pakistan in 1947, hemoved to Delhi. He later moved to Bombay (Mumbai),where his first production Karwat, began in 1948, thoughit turned out to be a flop. His first film as a directorAfsana, was released in 1951 and featured Ashok Kumarin a double role. The story was about good and evilfeaturing twin brothers, both played by Ashok Kumar ina double role. ‘Afsana’ was a success and Chopra’snarrative cohesion was widely admired. The film was ahuge hit and he established his name in Bollywood.Chopra made Chandni Chowk, with Meena Kumari as alead, in 1954. In 1955, Baldev Raj formed his ownproduction house, B.R Films. His first movie for his

“Blessed was the day when he embracedthe silver screenBy portraying life which the humanrace always seenB.R.Chopra was the name of thatgentle soul Who helped many a star score millionsof goal!”

Remembrance


production house was the highly successful Naya Daur (1957) starringDilip Kumar and Vyjayantimala Bali. The film turned out to be agolden jubilee hit.Mr. Chopra was instrumental in developing the career of singerMahendra Kapoor, and employed Mahendra in most of his movies.Director-Producer Yash Chopra, a brother of Baldev Raj, castMahendra Kapoor’s son in Fasle.The legendary director’s foray into television led to Mahabharat, oneof the most successful TV serials in Indian television history.He died in Mumbai at the age of 94 on 5 November 2008, survivedby his son, Ravi Chopra, also a filmmaker and two daughters.Baldev Raj always felt that the rise of money and stardom have vitiatedthe image of Indian cinema. The eminent producer-director was of theview that a film is not just about jugglery with money. He believed thata film addresses itself to the society and it is the duty of filmmakers tomake healthy and wholesome films, preferably with good story andsocial significance. Chopra practised what he preached.

AWARDS1962: Filmfare Best DirectorAward for Kanoon1998: Dadasaheb Phalke Award2003: Filmfare LifetimeAchievement Award2008: Phalke Ratna Award by theDadasaheb Phalke AcademyACTORGhar (1978) STORY WRITERBaghban (2003) Babul (2006) DIRECTOR-PRODUCERNaya Daur (1957) Sadhana (1958) Kanoon (1961) Gumrah (1963) Humraz (1967) Dastan (1972) Dhund (1973) Karm (1977) Pati Patni Aur Woh (1980) Insaf KaTarazoo (1980) Nikah (1982)

Awam (1987) Kal Ki Awaz (1992) DIRECTORAfsana (1951) Chandni Chowk (1954) Ek Hi Rasta (1956) Tawaif (1985) PRODUCERDhool K Phool (1959) Dharm Putra (1962) Waqt (1965) Ittefaq (1969) Aadmi Aur Insaf (1970) Zameer (1975) Chhoti Si Baat (1976) The Burning Train (1980) Agnee Pareeksha (1982) Mazdoor (1983) Aaj Ki Awaz (1984) Kirayedar (1986) Dahleez (1986) Pratigyabadh (1991) Baghban (2003) Babul (2006)


Videsh: Heaven on EarthCast: Balinder Johal, Preity Zinta, Vansh Bharadwaj, Geetika Sharma, Gourrav Sihan, Rajinder Singh Cheema, Ramanjit Kaur, Yanna Mc Intosh.Director: Deepa MehtaChand, a young woman, leaves her home and loving family behind in India to build a new life in Canada. She moves to Brampton, Ontario and marriesRocky, a man she has never met. Rocky is overwhelmed by all the pressures that rest on his shoulders: dealing with his controlling mother and confused fatherand supporting his sister, her husband and two children who areall crowded into a small house in the suburbs. And all of this ona cab drivers salary. Educated and bright, Chand feels trapped ina world she cannot connect with. Estranged and mistreated by hernew family, she feels homesick and misses her family in India butcannot reach out to them. Chand becomes the brunt of all of hisfrustrations. While working in a factory cleaning and pressinghotel napkins, she meets Rosa who sees past the make-up thatcovers her badly bruised face. Streetwise yet mystical, Rosa givesChand a magical root that is supposed to bring out the love of therecipient. Chand begins to fantasize another version of her lifewhich interlaces an ancient Indian fable about a King Cobra.

Kal Kisne DekhaCast: Jacky Bhagnani, VaishaliDesai, Rishi Kapoor, ArchanaPuran Singh, Irrfan Khan,Javed Jaffrey. Director: Vivek Sharma Nihaal, from Chandigarhmakes different types ofgadgets whenever he is free.

He speaks a lot and is always laced with queries. A brilliant lad, his dream is to earna bright future for himself while studying in a prestigious college in Mumbai. Hedotes on his mother. Finally his dream is fulfilled. There nobody invites him or talksto him. He is ragged by his seniors. Soon he is considered as an insignificant studentby his counterparts in the college. Now everyone is impressed by him but there is onegirl called Meesha, who is not impressed by Nihaal. He loves her a lot. Meesha is aspoilt rich girl and does not like Nihaal. One day he dreams that she is in trouble andhe saves her life. But in the end, he gets caught in a different kind of web.

Tasveer 8 x 10 Cast: Akshay Kumar, AyeshaTakia, Sharmila Tagore, JavedJaffrey, Girish Karnad, AnantMahadevan.Director: Nagesh Kukunoor8x10, is a story of a young manwho has a supernatural power.Jai (Akshay Kumar) is a man inhis 30’s and he is powered with

supernatural powers. Jai can tell about the past of any person by just touching a thingthat belongs to the person. The supernatural power comes with responsibility andsometimes Jai himself doubts the credibility of the supernatural power. Jai can tellabout a dead man from his 8 x10 photograph. Jai’s soul rediscovers the past and Jaikeeps the secret about the lives of other people. Once an 8x10 photograph revealssecret related to Jai’s past and mysteries are perplexing. What next?

Siddharth ThePrisonerCast: RajatKapoor, SachinN a y a k ,Pradeep KabraDirector: PryasGuptaThe movier e v o l v e sa r o u n dSiddharth (Rajat) who is just released from prison, and was once afamous writer who completes a new manuscript. He re-engageswith the outside world, hoping that the new book will restore hisreputation and reconcile him with his estranged wife Maya.However, when his briefcase gets exchanged at a cyber café with asimilar one, Roy loses the only copy of his manuscript, while Mohan(Sachin), comes under to recover the lost money. The story unfoldsat a lethargic pace. Sadly, the end ruins just about everything.


BOLLYWOOD BABESBy Narinder DhamiThe Bindi girls are back: Geena, Amber and Jazz. Amber isstill anxious to further the romance between Auntie and MrArora, the handsome teacher at their school.When Auntie proposes a Bollywood Party as a part of afund-raising project, Amber has an idea. She hasdiscovered that a former Bollywood film star is livingnearby and the girls set off to enlist her support for theparty. They find her in mid-flight from her poverty-strickenflat, and have no option but to take this surly, bedraggled,grubby woman home with them. After a bath and a changeinto some of Auntie’s clothes, Molly Mahal emerges,dazzling and imperious. As the news breaks that MollyMahal is with the family, the neighbours surge in to gawp,but are gradually memserised by her - as is everyone,especially Dad and Mr Aurora.This book is fun to read and cleverly depicts the relationshipbetween the sisters, and Auntie’s outrage.

BPO SUTRABy SudhindraMokhasiBPO-Sutra bySudhindra Mokhasi isa collection of 150true stories fromIndian BPOs and callcentres. It replaces them u n d a n etechnicalities of thisworld with somerefreshing incidents.The individuals arenot seen as merecoughs in themachine rather, theyare brought forth as

living entities who have their subjective ups and downs. It is a tapestry of the‘true’ BPO life compiled through humorous anecdotes either by personalexperience or elicited through interviews with a wide spectrum of BPOpeople, in an attempt to humanise the industry. The book takes you throughthe various adventures that are so much a part of the lives of a BPOemployee — work, customer calls, home, travel, fun, parties, weekend,scams and more.

MY KIND OF GIRLby Buddhadeva Bose

Is the memory of happinessthat has passed, sad orhappy.Four middle aged men sittogether in a railway station,waiting for dawn to break. Topass their time, each tells astory of a woman they lovedsecretly in their youth…Romantic, elegant, suffusedwith melancholy, My Kind ofGirl is a classic love story fromone of Bengal’s great writers.


Red Carpet


q Monika Gupta

“MAIN JASDEV SINGH BOL RAHA HOON”A voice which starts as ‘Main Jasdev Singh bol raha hoon…’ brings the entire nation to a pindrop silence.For a person described by a European publication as one who “eats, drinks and sleeps commentary”, itcomes as a surprise that popular commentator Jasdev Singh was not quite proficient in the chosen languageof his calling till well into his teens. A man to whom the entire nation has lent its ears, we all know his voiceis his most potent magical charm.

Surprisingly, Jasdev Singh’s golden voice, was rejected by All India Radio in his audition as an announcer inearly 1950s. With his continued dedication and efforts he finally managed his grand entry into the Indianbroadcasting organization and was recruited for All India Radio Jaipur in 1955. Primarily educated in theUrdu medium, he decided to pursue his passion with Hindi commentary after hearing veteran radiopersonMelville De Mellow’s live commentary of Mahatma Gandhi’s last journey. His incisive, sometimes poetic,and always well-informed remarks formed the backdrop at nine Olympics, six Asian Games, eight HockeyWorld Cups and numerous other sporting events besides occasions such as the Republic Day Parade andIndependence Day. He has so far covered sports like hockey, cricket, football, volleyball, tennis and athleticsamong others. Conferred with the Padma Shree award in 1985, he is the first person in the World to havereceived the Olympic Order from International Olympic Committee in 1988 and in 2008 he was felicitatedwith Padma Bhushan. To his credit, he has nine Olympics starting from 1964 (Tokyo) till 2000 (Sydney)doing commentary on various sports and also the opening and closing ceremonies. He retired as DDG(Sports) from Doordarshan. He had been a regular columnist in various newspapers and magazines likeDharmayug. To add up, he has even authored his autobiography, “Main Jasdev Singh Bol Raha Hoon…”.

City Cheers in an exclusive interview spoke about his journey till now.

CC: Tell us something about your family, upbringing and career?JS: We belong to Gujranwala (now in Pakistan). I come from afamily of Civil Engineers. My father was an Engineer by profession.He was appointed an overseer in the erstwhile Jaipur state in a smalltown Bonli. I was born and brought up there in 1931. My earlyeducation was from Chaksu, about 25 miles away from Jaipur. I didmy education from Maharaja High School, located just oppositeHawa Mahal. It was a matter of great pride getting an educationthere. During those times the education was given so much ofimportance that the Maharaja encouraged a person who completedMasters by welcoming him on an Elephant.

CC: How did you develop this love for Urdu and Hindi Language? JS: In Chaksu there was one Vernacular School that time. We wereallowed to take English subject only after fifth class. But in thebeginning, we had an option of taking up either Hindi or Urdu. Itook up Urdu. Since at that time the official language of Jaipur Stateand Punjab was Urdu, I completed my Matriculation in Urdu alongwith English. I was totally unaware of Hindi writing but gradually Ilearned to read and write in Hindi as well. Today I can proudly saythat I have mastered the art of vocal and written Hindi.

CC: We heard and read about your involvement in scouting. Howdid it help you in your career? JS: During my school education, Scouting was one of the subjects.Scouting played a very vital role and helped me in learning themoral values of life. I opted Scouting out of interest too. I was luckyenough to have few teachers who played a very positive role ingrooming my overall personality .Our head master and teacherPandit Tara Chand Chaube was instrumental in moulding my visiontowards life. Scouting taught us to help others, speak the truth andmost importantly to be self reliant. These were the basic principlesand motto of Scouting. When I graduated to Maharaja Collegescouting was no more a subject but I took it up as a hobby.

CC: Your experience during freedom movement? JS: In the year, 1947 the Government decided to send four boys to‘World Scout Jamboree’ to be held near Paris in France. I toppedthe Competition and I was fortunate enough to tour France. Ourscout training during the school and college days helped usimmensely there. While we were living in camps we had to do allday to day works by ourselves. I was appointed as Patrol Leaderthere, which was the biggest training of my life. It was then that thecountry was going through the freedom struggle. But Jaipur was notmuch effected by the struggle movement due to the liberal attitudeof the Maharaja. The news of the Nation’s Independence poured inwhen we were in camps of France. We celebrated ourIndependence in the midst of jungle. When in 1944-45, the Great War was over, people of France didn’thave enough eatables to survive. Still, they just said that Jamboriwould be held. They took care of all our needs. This inculcated afeeling of National pride and patriotism within me. We learnt howpeople of a nation can sacrifice themselves for its name. It was for


the first time that we hoisted our National Flag.Scouting here taught me the importance of being a truecitizen of a Nation.

CC: As known to many that you were inspired by thecommentary of Melville de Mellow. How did ithappen?JS: On 30 January 1948, Mahatma Gandhi wasassassinated. When the news of Mahatma Gandhi’sassassination spread we were listening to a lectureaddressed by the then Indian High Commissioner inSri Lanka, Mr. Paranjpe. He broke the news ofGandhiji’s assassination. The whole Country was instate of shock and disbelief. Next day we listened to amore than seven hours commentary in the voice ofMelville de Mellow on radio.Though Melville de Mellow spoke in English whichwas not very well understood by me but it was ‘that’moment which inspired and guided me to take upcommentary in Hindi. I was deeply moved by the pitchand depth of his voice which later becamemy inspiration in this field. The kind ofhard work Melville de Mellow used to putwhile doing commentary greatly affected mein building up my career. I still can’t figureout how I decided to take this move asthere was no medium to master the arts ofspoken words. But it was my soledetermination and passion which helpedme to stand out against all odds. Then on, Istarted doing local commentary on publicaddress system like parades, sports,scouting functions and many more. Icandidly remember, that Prime MinisterNehruji came specially to Jaipur to presentthe Rajasthan Police Flag to the Statepolice. I did the local commentary onmicrophone for the people who hadassembled there. The then Chief Ministerof Rajasthan, Shri Jai Narayan Vyas,summoned me to do the honours of theproceedings. He said, “Us ladke ko bulaobahut achcha bolta hai.”

CC: Was your family supportive of you intaking up the commentary? JS: When I declared to my mother that Iwanted to take up commentary as a career,she didn’t respond. She always wanted meto follow the footsteps of my father and bean Engineer. Till today it hurts me that mymother, who passed away in 1960, couldn’tsee my flourishing career. But I feel that,

my mother’s blessings have helped me in reaching suchheights.My father always inspired me at every stage of my life.His help and guidance gave me a moral support ofdoing better and improving on my work. I feelcontented that I could give him a reason to be proud ofme whenever people acclaimed me of my works. Hewas like a pillar of strength throughout my life. I feelblessed to have Krishna as my wife who has stronglysupported me from the day one of our bonding. Therewas appreciation and pride in the eyes of all familymembers whenever I was recognized and honoured formy talent. Lastly, I owe everything to my parents andespecially to my listeners and countrymen.

CC: Your unforgettable moments in your career span?JS: If you ask me, there are uncountable moments inmy career span which are still fresh on my mind. Mycommentary was hugely appreciated, when in 1975,during the World Cup Hockey match people heard me


commentating India’s historic win. Secondly was anincident when Mujeeb returned to Dhaka. I have neverseen people gathering in such large numbers andexpressing their mixed emotions whole heartedly.I still remember, when unfortunately, I had to docommentary on Nehruji’s funeral. My words moved thelisteners so much that they were literally in tears. Till date I have spoken on 47 Republic Day Paradesand same number of Independence Days. Besides Ihave spoken on good number of sporting events andother national and international events.Receiving Padamshree in 1985, Olympic Order in 1988and Padma Bhushan in 2008 in the presence of otherdignitaries was a notable accomplishment of my career.I feel elated and honoured when people from differentregions of India recognize me just by my voice.

CC: What message would you like to give to today’scommentators?JS: Commentary has always been my first love. It comesfrom my heart. I am not the kind of commentator whocan sit in a claustrophobic room and comment on theproceedings being beamed on to a television set whilethe match is taking place a thousand miles away. I needto be present at the scene of action and ambience and

then convey it to my listeners. One should understandthe proceedings and have right words for it. Acommentator is an artist who transforms the words intomeaningful sentences to express the thoughts andfeelings of any proceedings. All I can say is commentaryis not an easy task, it’s an absolute hard work. It’s justlike sadhna or tapasya. Today it has become more of afashionable job. Judgement, analysis and research havetaken a back seat. In commentary one should have the ability to conveythe atmosphere and ongoing happenings to the listenerswell. It is an art where a commentator needs to act likea painter or a photographer. To end up, I just have tosay “Commentary ke samvaad mein nafasat honichahiye”.

CC: What are your future plans?JS: It pains me that organizations like Prasar Bharti(AIR) and Doordarshan have not given any importanceto the art of commentary. They don’t have any traininginstitute for the spoken words. Spoken words are veryimportant, be it T.V or Radio.To sum up, I want my voice to be utilized. If asked,even today I would love to do commentary and alsotrain people for the spoken words.

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City Cheers April09