The Golden Sparrow on Saturday 31/01/2015

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PUNE, JANUARY 31, 2015 | www.thegoldensparrow.com

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The magnificent machines and their proud owners

CITY

SPORTS

Kalmadi’s presence rejuvenates city Congress P3

Mathemagic How to help children overcome the fear of maths?

See spotlight on p8 & 9

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% Poor Bengali girls flooding Pune’s sex market?

Minors from Bangladesh, West Bengal forced into prostitution say social workers, city police

BY GITESH SHELKE @gitesh_shelke

Young girls and minors forced into prostitution from West Bengal are among those found in large numbers in the prostitution rackets in Pune. The police have also reported minors and young women from Bangladeshi forced into the flesh trade.

This has come to light after the social security cell (SSC) of the city crime branch rescued 123 minors and young women forced into prostitution by pimps and agents during 2014. Of these, 45 girls belonged to West Bengal alone.

According to the Pune Police, these girls from extremely poor families hailed from North or South 24 Paraganas districts. Many were lured to Pune, Mumbai or Delhi, with the promise of jobs and marriage. In a majority of the cases, the girls were taken to Pune with the promise of being employed as domestic helps in households.

Over the last one year a team headed

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

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Answering to the call of the mountains P 16

by Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Prasad Hasabnis and Police Inspector Sanjay Nikam of SSC had conducted continuous raids and rescue operations on city brothels.

Speaking to The Golden Sparrow on Saturday, Tejaswi Sevekari, director of the NGO Saheli Sangh which works for the sex workers forced into the flesh trade in the Budhwar Peth red light area, said there has been an increase in the number of girls and young women from West Bengal. This was because of the closure of brothels in three lanes of Kamathipura in Mumbai.

“Now girls are being brought to Pune instead of Mumbai. They cannot speak Hindi, English or Marathi and

thus there is a huge communication gap which hinders the rescue and relief work. We provide all sort of assistance to these victims,” she said.

Vasant Kamble, social activist and president of the Bal Shivaji Ganesh Mandal, said, “It is difficult to make out whether these girls are from West Bengal or Bangladesh.

It is believed that there are over 200 girls from Bangladesh forced into prostitution in Pune’s red light area.” He said that some of these women and girls were sold by human traffickers to brothel keepers for `40,000 - `50,000.

(With inputs from Ashok Bhat) gitesh.shelke@goldensparrow.com

Closure of brothels in Kamathipura in Mumbai has led to increase in the number of girls from WB to Pune

SWACCH BHARAT: A PRETTY PICTURE PICS: ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR & RAHUL RAUT

The management of Reliance Fresh on Aundh Road opposite Ganpati temple undertook a much-needed cleanliness drive after The Golden Sparrow on Saturday highlighted the ugly eyesore in its January 24 issue

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JANUARY 31, 2015

PUNE

“One of the biggest problems with relocating tigers and starting new populations is where you take the tiger from and where you send it.”

— Valmik Thapar, Tiger expert

Integrated water management systems key to a water secure future P7

Wet garbage problem? Buy this bag P4

Visual impairment has not stopped Rahul Deshmukh from running computer training centre and hostel for the blind

BY YASH DAIV @yash009

blind students in choosing the right place to get remedial help for academics. Once again, he found Visual impairment did not stop himself under the judgemental scrutiny 36-year-old Rahul Deshmukh from when people asked him to concentrate being a visionary. A meritorious on his studies. Despite all these odds, student at school and college and a Deshmukh ranked 13 in the HSC social worker, he makes life easier for Board exams. those blind students who come to Pune His educational accomplishments for higher education. He established are truly meritorious. He graduated a computer training centre for the from SP College, Pune and ranked physically handicapped and a hostel for fourth in Savitribai Phule Pune the blind. He believes that technology University (SPPU). He has done can bring the visually impaired their his post graduation in sociology and true independence. political science from SPPU, where Deshmukh migrated to Pune in he stood fi rst and fi fth, respectively.

1997 from a village He also has a degree named Panchrukhiya in in social work. He also Ahmednagar district. completed BEd and Unable to find accomMPhil from the SPPU. modation, he slept on While completing his railway platforms only courses at the University, to be hounded by judgeit struck him that besides mental passers-by. “The accommodation, the lack police would chase me of computer education is away, thinking that I was another problem for the a thief or miscreant,” he visually impaired. said recalling his years “While I was in of struggle. The struggle college, the world around continued as he attended me was talking about - Rahul Deshmukh junior college. “I realised computers. I realised that these troubles were that blind students could not mine alone. Thus, I started ‘Sneachieve real independence if there was hankit’ in 1999, for the welfare of the a computer centre for them,” he said. visually impaired,” he said.

Establishing such a centre required Th rough Snehankit, he guided a lot of money, which could only

“The government has supported our cause whole heartedly.”

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

Blindness has not blocked his vision

Rahul Deshmukh (in white shirt) with the visually impaired students at the hostel he runs specially for them

come through charity. It was a major challenge for Deshmukh. He procured two scrapped computers and assembled them. “Students would come to the centre and touch the computer, that’s how they got acquainted with the parts,” he said.

MIRACLES DO HAPPEN People would appreciate his initiatives but hesitated while donating.

Th is situation turned overnight when an anonymous donation came in and the centre started running in full swing.

In 2008, he set up National Association for the Welfare of Physically Challenged (NAWPC), on the campus of Annabhau Sathe School, Kumthekar Road. It is a technologically-advanced centre with innovative projects for mental stimulation. “The facilities that I

installed resulted out of the things that I had struggled personally with,” he said. There is a digital library which gives access to any book, without being dependant on the reader to read them out. There are computer courses in MS-Office and MS-CIT. Deshmukh personally trains those students who clear competitive exams and are selected for interviews. There is a recreation centre for intellectual stimulation and

special scholarship programmes for those who have financial difficulties.

RESIDENTIAL FACILITY “A student annually incurs an expenditure of `60,000 in Pune. The scholarship and the hostel aid such needy students who may not be able to afford the expenses but have the desire to study,” he said. The hostel which came up in 2014, is centrally located, thus is the trademark of NAWPC. Earlier, the students had to travel from Wagholi, Kasarwadi or Pimpri which would consume four to fi ve hours on a daily basis. “Students have utilised this time in different activities and I have observed the difference. Their desire is unbeatable.

They have become hardworking and headstrong,” he said.

The hostel incurs `50,000 monthly on food. The donations from private companies are not coming in as they should have. “The government has supported our cause wholeheartedly.

Retired IAS officer Srinivas Patil has a huge role in the making of the hostel,” he said.

In the future, Deshmukh plans to open a hostel for blind girls in the city.

“It will require charity and manpower as security will be the top priority at this hostel,” he said. yashdaiv@gmail.com FOR DONATIONS, CONTACT: 020-24479900 or 9822595757 Visit: www.napwc.org

‘Pedestrians need to be assertive’ Prashant Inamdar started the NGO Pedestrians FIRST to reclaim citizens’ right to safe walking in the city

BY MANASI SARAF JOSHI @GargiManasi

Members of LIFE distributing warm clothes to the needy at Circus Ground, Deccan. (From-R) Onkar Kondhalkar, Pravin Wagh, Ravindra Sambare, Sameer Indalkar, Prajwal Kondhare, Vishwas Jadhav and Aditya Joshi

Donating notebooks, stationery to poor rural students LIFE is a group of college students from Sinhgad Institute working for the welfare of poor students and the needy

BY ARCHANA DAHIWAL @ArchanaDahiwal

“We focus on youth’s empowerment through education.”

donated to physically challenged students of rural areas, orphanages and schools at Wadgaon, Chikhalwade, Karnjwadi, Parwadi, Purandar and villages of Bhor taluka,” said Aditya Joshi, another member of LIFE. Besides Kondhalkar and Joshi, the group includes Sameer Indalkar, Samruddhi Marne, Prajwal Kondhare, Mansi Divekar, Akshata Kolte, Gayatri Patil, Rajshri Pawale, Somnath Chenshetty, Sumit Diwate, Nikhil Sonawane, Tejas Khairnar and Gaurav Shah. They have also conducted blood donation camps and distributed sweaters to poor people.

The group distributed warm clothes to poor and needy people at Deccan, Z-bridge and at Swayamprerit Samajik Vikas Sanstha at Sangamner, Ahmednagar.

LIFE members believe that youth are the power of the nation. It is important to channelise their energy in a proper way to make them the real change-makers. archana.dahiwal@goldensparrow.com TO DONATE NOTEBOOKS, CONTACT: +91 9765744747 or +91 8381018018

What was the inspiration behind starting this movement in a city like Pune?

Traffic in Pune is fast becoming a daily nightmare for one and all. One of the main reasons for this situation is the astronomical increase in the number of private vehicles. Today, everyone views the traffic problem in relation to only vehicular traffic. Th is has led to a lopsided development of road infrastructure, with a total neglect of pedestrians, who are the most vulnerable on road. In fact, measures are being taken for the benefit of vehicles, which are having an adverse, life-threatening impact on pedestrians. Senior citizens, women and children are the worst hit. The fate of the handicapped and disabled citizens is sealed. Considering this, a need was felt for a movement dedicated to the cause of pedestrians, to demand that their right to safe walking in the city be restored to them. Hence ‘Pedestrians FIRST’ was launched in January 2008 with a mission statement “Let us reclaim our right to walk!”

What has been the response so far from the administration?

We believe that focusing only on pedestrians will not give sustainable results and there has to be a holistic approach with due consideration to all road users, including vehicular traffic. Hence, we have widened our scope to cover traffic movement and road safety as a

“Motorists should respect the rights of pedestrians.”

RAHUL RAUT

and empower the youth.”

LIFE’s volunteers observed that though rural students get free textbooks, While many spend their money and they cannot afford notebooks and pencils time on their own pleasures, Sinhgad or pens. Orphanages and schools for Institute student Onkar Kondhalkar and physically challenged or balashrams his friends believe in putting their money are unable to provide school material/ and time to better use, by undertaking stationery to students. LIFE provides social causes. They formed ‘Likeminded notebooks to such children. Under their Initiatives For ‘Wahi apli, bhavishya Empowerment’ tyanche’ (Our (LIFE), a group that notebook for their helps the needy and future) campaign, underprivileged. they aim to distribute Around 50 youth 25,000 notebooks of twelve different by May-end to colleges formed LIFE students in remote eight months ago. villages. The mission Majority of them was started on the are from Sinhgad birth anniversary Technical Educational of Savitribai Phule, - Kondhalkar Society’s Sou Venutai a social reformer.

Chavan Polytechnic They have appealed College, pursuing to students, schools their second year of polytechnic. and colleges to support this initiative.

Kondhalkar said, “We started LIFE, Anyone can donate notebooks for this to build a better future for India. No city mission. in the world is perfect, but with some The Polytechnic College has donated effort, we can make it perfect. We focus 500 notebooks. New English Society, on youth empowerment and education Ramanbag is also supporting them. as the best way to achieve this. We aim In just 15 days, they collected 2,000 to resolve the many issues in our country notebooks. “The notebooks will be

Pune has always been known for its novel and people-centric movements.

Prashant Inamdar launched ‘Pedestrians FIRST’ in January 2008, with the aim to ‘reclaim the right to walk’! In an interview to The Golden Sparrow on Saturday, Inamdar spoke about the need for such movements and channelising people to reclaim their rights on roads.

Many pedestrians, who are also whole with special focus on the needs vehicle users, prefer to have road side of pedestrians. The administration space allotted for parking, rather believes that roads are meant for than walking. Thus the vehicles. The entire focus mindset of citizens is of traffic planning and also largely in favour of road design has always priority for vehicles. been dedicated towards motorised vehicles, What could be the for ensuring a smooth golden median for this and speedy passage for problem? them. It is probably felt The primary that pedestrians need requirement today is of very little space to walk; an attitudinal change they can manage on - Prashant Inamdar in the administration’s their own and nothing thinking and policies. special needs to be The administration should consider done for them. In fact, pedestrians pedestrian safety and convenience as are not considered as legitimate road an essential factor during every stage users, for whom an adequate portion of traffic planning and engineering as of the road space should be reserved as well as road design and construction. their basic right.

There is also a need to sensitise the What have been the reactions officials, enforcement agencies, from pedestrians? road contractors and all concerned Pedestrians also seem to have authorities about the basic needs of conditioned themselves to think that pedestrians. Simple, low cost and easy they are inferior beings on the road. to implement measures, modifications, They accept the situation meekly relocations can bring about significant without a murmur of protest, leave changes. Motorists should respect aside assertion of their right to walk! the rights of pedestrians. Pedestrians themselves should also take adequate care of their own safety and avoid confl ict with vehicles.

We believe that what is needed is a holistic approach. For example, the foot over bridges (FOBs) and subways provided are hardly used by pedestrians as they are not user-friendly and have several issues. Hence, prior studies should be conducted and public consultations should be made to get a clear picture of pedestrian needs and behavioural patterns.

Also, an appropriate and generous provision for pedestrians must be made in every annual budget of the PMC. Timely and necessary funds must be Prashant allocated for a time-bound Inamdar action plan. manasisaraf@ gmail.com

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JANUARY 31, 2015

Higher education system needs serious reforms: former UGC chairman Prof Nigavekar P6

Fond memories of RK Laxman P5

The meteorological data collected by the observatories throughout the country are permanently archived at the National Data Centre, Pune.

—India, Facts and Figures

Kalmadi’s presence rejuvenates city Congress

Expelled Congressman Suresh Kalmadi’s charismatic presence stole the show at Congress Bhavan’s 75th anniv

Ex MP Suresh Kalmadi made his presence felt at the Congress Bhavan’s Platinum Jubilee get-together.

(From L) Congress state president Manikrao Thakare, former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, former minister Patangrao Kadam and All India Congress Committee secretary Shyoraj Valmiki

BY ASHOK BHAT @ashok_bhat Expelled Congressman and former MP, Suresh Kalmadi’s presence at the Congress Bhavan’s platinum jubilee get-together on January 26, brought plenty of smiles on the faces of party workers.

His presence at Congress Bhavan triggered speculation among those present about his return to the party fold. A large number of Congressmen present said they missed a leader like “Sureshbhai” and hoped that he would lead them in the Pune Municipal elections in February 2017. It was three years

TGS Quiz Contest

A

No. 33

nswers to the following 10 questions are embedded in the stories featured in this edition. Send us the correct answers at contest. tgs@gmail.com and be one of the two lucky winners to receive gift coupons.

1. Who is the founder of math academy ‘SPARK’?

2. What is the name of Rahul Deshmukh’s organisation?

3. Who helps couple Rajendra and Madhuri Ladkat prepare the wet garbage management bags in bulk?

4. What was Kalyani Forge earlier known as?

5. Where in Pune will Sameer Gadhia of Young The Giant perform?

6. Where does singer Natalie hail from?

7. Which is Amulya Dahanukar’s favourite vintage car?

8. For how many months did Priya Mahtani train her chefs at The Asian Box? 9. Which event did author Salil Desai attend in Delhi?

10. Which car does Prasad Jawade own?

Contest # 32

winners

1. Akansha Gund 2. Sanjeev Gupta

ago that Kalmadi was expelled from the party for six years on charges of corruption in the Commonwealth Games. Since his expulsion, Kalmadi had kept away from the party, cadre and active politics.

He remained aloof from the Lok Sabha elections, the assembly polls and the Cantonment elections. Given his strong network among party workers, loyalty and organisational skills, his absence from the party’s electoral machinery had an adverse impact on the party’s performance in these elections. Kalmadi’s confidence, body language and popularity with workers became the talking point at the plat-

inum jubilee celebrations. He was surrounded by large crowds of Congressmen as compared to the other big leaders present such as Congress state president Manikrao Thakare, former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, former minister Patangrao Kadam and Vishwajeet Kadam. Others who were present included city Congress president Abhay Chhajed, MLC Sharad Ranpise, MLC Dipti Chaudhari, MLC Anant Gadgil, former minister Chandrakant Chhajed and Balasaheb Shivarkar, Mohan Joshi, all office bearers and number of party workers were present there with new exuberance and forgetting the three defeats in consecutive elections. On the occasion of the platinum jubilee, a photo exhibition, prabhat feri, health check-up camps and many programmes were arranged by the city Congress and one of it was reception at the Congress Bhavan.

Kalmadi made his entry midway through the programme and his presence at the historic event shocked one and all. While none of the office-bearers reached out to receive him, Congress Bhavan secretary Uttam Bhumkar welcomed Kalmadi and took him to the photo exhibition. After this, he was greeted by many party workers and within a few minutes Kalmadi was surrounded by old and new supporters, party workers. He met former CM Chavan and state president Thakare and had a ‘coffee pe charcha’ with them.

After a chit-chat with leaders, Kalmadi exchanged pleasantries with top party workers who were visibly happy at his presence. Party workers said that Kalmadi had led the party in Pune since 1990 and under his leadership none had lost a single seat in the Cantonment polls. ashok.bhat21@gmail.com

Many realty projects launched in east Pune Aundh registers highest rise in property prices in last 12 months

BY BARNALEE HANDIQUE @barnalee The city’s real estate scenario is looking forward to a positive change in 2015 and is all set to witness growth in next few months. The growth was relatively sluggish in the fi rst quarter of 2014.

Pune’ residential market saw a drop in the demand of residential properties in 2014 as the absorption was less than 10 per cent, while new launches dropped by 26 per cent.

So far, the builders and land developers have decided to wait and watch. The unsold residential units constructed in last couple of years will be sold at fi rst and then new projects will be undertaken. In the coming months, expectations are high that the price may shoot-up owing to the recent cut in policy rate by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). It is anticipated that the further cut in the policy rate may boost the sales.

The west Pune is the best performing market in the city with areas like Aundh, Baner, Hinjewadi and Waked are in demand. Aundh has witnessed the highest price rise in the last twelve months i.e. 18 per cent.

Factors such as presence of excellent physical and social infrastructure, good connectivity with the city centre, IT hub, and a higher penetration of modern retail has helped this location emerge as the most preferred location in the western region of the city.

Also, the upcoming markets of Vimannagar, Kharadi, Wagholi, Hadapsar and Dhanori, in the east Pune saw increase in launch of new projects. The central locations of Koregaon Park and Boat Club Road continue to remain the most premium locations in the city, and this has contributed towards the unabated price rise in these locations over the last 12 months.

South Pune has the maximum number of under-construction units as of December 2014. People prefer this strategic location due to its connectivity to the old and new Pune as well as to the Hinjewadi IT park. barnalee.handique@goldensparrow.com

‘We are trying to eradicate illiteracy by 2020’ TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly Vivek Aranha, district governor, Rotary International District has a huge list of achievements to his credit. Under his leadership, Rotary InternaVivek Aranha tional District 3131 opened seven diagnostics clinics, three mammography vans which provide free check-up for women and 500 WASH (Water and Sanitation, Hygiene) pro-

PUNE

jects. They also installed toilet blocks for girls in schools.

“We are also looking at providing 1,000 e-learning distance centres to schools so that they can open themselves to the world,” says Aranha.

Elaborating on Rotary South Asia Literacy Summit 2015, to be held on February 13, Aranha said, “Rotary is trying to eradicate illiteracy till 2020.

Seven countries and 1,200 people will be participating in this event.”

Vivek Aranha, Chairman of Rosary Education Group Pune, is the head of the second generation Aranha family. The family is in the field of education for the past 58 years. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

Revisiting Pune’s heritage Beginning Feb 6, the fourth edition of Virasat Pune Heritage Fest will comprehensively cover the city’s heritage sites through tours & lectures

BY PRACHI BARI @prachibari The fourth annual ‘Virasat Pune Heritage Festival’ will have an eclectic mix of 48 events including exhibitions, film screenings, heritage walks, cultural programmes, campus tours, workshops, cycle ride, bus tours, lecture series and more. It will be organised by Janwani in collaboration with 34 organisations from the city like, Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal, National Film Archive of India (NFAI), Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCCA),

Virasat Pune Heritage Festival will also cover Lal Mahal, one of the city’s heritage sites

Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad, Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth among the few. The festival will take place from February 6 to 15.

“The Heritage Festival earlier known as ‘Heritage Week’ was initiated in 2012 to commemorate the World Heritage Day on the April 18. People have enthusiastically participated in the Heritage Week ever since,” said Prajakta Panshikar, deputy director, Heritage Conservation and Management, Janwani. The events will include tours, lecture, bird spotting and several other innovative programmes.

“The idea is to create awareness of our heritage and to make it more interesting by holding such events. This time the institutes have employed their student resources to design campus tours at their institutes,” said Manjiri Bhalerao, assistant professor, Indology, Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeth, who initially began the heritage lecture series four years ago.

Deccan Gymkhana Parisar Samiti and Pimpri Chinchwad Citizen’s Forum will participate to highlight the heritage in their neighbourhood. Deccan Area Heritage Quiz, Tree Walks introducing Green Lane Volunteer Programme, Chinchwad Heritage Walk are some of the key events of the festival. ‘Conservation of Natural Heritage’ is a segment that deals with understanding of Pune’s nature. It includes activities like making artificial bird nests, mapping tree routes in your neighbourhood, understanding the life of insects and bat spotting.

A special ‘Pune Darshan’ tour has been arranged to give a glimpse of Warkari tradition of Maharashtra along with bus tours to Karle and Bhaje caves. During the Heritage Festival, series of lectures on topics ranging from heritage sites in Bangladesh to importance of classical Sanskrit and vedic literature too will interest people. A tour to Museum of Vedic Rituals and Utensils and campus tours of educational institutions of heritage value too are planned. prachibari@gmail.com

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JANUARY 31, 2015

PUNE

“Pune is known for music and theatre, but there is a slight blind spot for visual art and public interaction around it.”

—Abir Patwardhan, sculptor and artist

Dance performance on January 31 “Yatra” a dance performance based on the four basic ends (purusharthas) of human life, Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha will take place at Gyan Adab, Kalyani Nagar on January 31. It is a fast-paced and lively ballet based on the various stages of the protagonist’s life as he searches for the true meaning of his existence. A variety of dance styles have been thus explored; Bharatnatyam, Odissi, Kalaripayattu and Western Contemporary. These dance sequences are interwoven with a brilliantly written script (prose and poetry) by Ravindra Matthadhikari in Hindi

Six child labourers rescued The workers of Action for the Rights of the Child rescued six child labourers last week, from different hotels, where they were employed. Mayuri Joshi, convener of Bal Hakka Kruti Samiti, said that one of the rescued boys Raju (name changed) is an orphan and disturbed. He is a resident of Hyderabad. His mother committed suicide after the demise of his father. He had come down to stay with his aunt in Pune. However, instead of admitting him to a school, she forced him to work in a hotel.

All these boys were working in different hotels located in the areas of Yerwada and Warje. The boys have been admitted to the boys’ observation home.

Cleanliness drive in 35 villages City-based members of Art of Living conducted cleanliness drive in 35 villages of Khed Taluka of Pune district, last week. The drive was a part of the prime minister’s calls for Swachh Bharat. The members covered villages of Shikrapur, Shelgaon, Pimple Jagtap, Bahul, Koyali, Pimpalgaon Tarfkhed, Bhose, Magarse, Medankarwadi, Kharabwadi, Khantubar and others.

The members also explained importance of hygienic life to the villagers. The programme was initiated by the Art of Living organisation’s trainer Jayanti Bhole.

Science circus at Karve Nagar Vidnyan Ashram has organised a science circus at Saraswati Vidya Mandir, Karve Nagar on January 31 and February 1, from 10 am to 7 pm.

Yogesh Kulkarni, director, Vidnyan Ashram said that the aim of such an event is to teach science through toys and games. It will have over 50 games, which will help better understanding of concepts of physics, chemistry and other branches of science.

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A legal battle over missing artworks

P11

P13

Convert kitchen waste into compost Developed by husband-wife duo Rajendra and Madhuri Ladkat, this bag converts wet garbage into compost by the use of earthworms

BY ISHANI BOSE @ishani_bose Rising concern over the increasing rate of garbage dump in the city has led the civic administration and other institutes to take proactive steps. Wet garbage management bag is claimed to be an effective answer for all residential wet garbage problems.

THE BRAINCHILD Invented by husband-wife duo, Rajendra and Madhuri Ladkat of citybased Sanjeevani Disaster Research and Development Center, this bag converts all the wet garbage into compost by the use of earthworms. The bag is fi rm and has a reticulation that divides the bag into two compartments, allowing the separation of vermicompost and compost tea.

“Th is bag takes care of common problems faced in vermicomposting namely bad odour, moisture, insects and pests and worms escaping. It is low cost (available for only `888), durable (for two years or more, depending on the usage), resistant to fungus, low maintenance, easy to remove compost tea and vermicompost, light weight, movable, attractive, user friendly and helps the municipal corporation in wet garbage management,” said Madhuri.

THE DESIGN The rectangular bag made of non woven porous spun bond polypropylene material has a long handle with which the bag can easily be hung. The upper compartment of

Instructions to be followed

RAHUL RAUT

Signposts

Dr Mrinal Supriya talks about head and neck cancer

Bag must be protected from sunlight and rain. It must be preferably kept in the balcony or shade The bag has a capacity of decomposing up to 1 kg of wet garbage daily. However, at times when the load of 3 kg or so is put in one go, the bag should not be filled for an entire week.

Water, either dechlorinated or stale, has to be poured daily, in the half-filled bag. The approximate amounts are: during monsoon: half a cup; during winter: one cup; and during summer: one cup The wet garbage to be put in the bag can include regular kitchen wet garbage such as vegetable stem, fruits peels, onions, garlic, potatoes and the like.

Egg shells can be put but they take six months to decompose.

How to get the bag

Madhuri Ladkat demonstrates the working of the wet garbage management bag

the bag consists of a zip and fastener, through which the wet garbage is put.

The upper compartment also holds the earthworms on the mesh. The shape of the bag is maintained by the tubular plastic framework. The lower compartment also has a zip and fastener through which the plastic tray is inserted to collect the compost tea. A cup of water has to be poured into the bag every day to maintain humid and wet conditions that help in escalating the earthworms’ activity.

‘Provide 30 acre land for bus parking’ PMPML asks PCMC to provide more land for the parking of buses

BY ARCHANA DAHIWAL @ArchanaDahiwal Chairman and managing director of Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) Dr Shrikar Pardeshi has asked the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) to make a `98 crore budgetary provision in the fiscal year of 2015-16 for PMPML, and hand over 32 acres of land for the parking of buses.

Pardeshi was speaking at the meeting organised at Auto Cluster, Chinchwad.

PCMC commissioner Rajiv Jadhav, mayor Shakuntala Dharade, ruling party leader Mangala Kadam, opposition party leader Vinod Nadhe, MP Mahesh Landge and corporators were present at the meeting. The corporators presented their suggestions for improving the public transport system and demanded more buses on the internal roads.

Addressing the meeting, Pardeshi said, “PMPML needs a total of 62 acres of land for the parking of buses. PCMC

Cost of the bag: `888 Contact Rajendra Ladkat: 9226759450 Address: Sairaj, S No 92/20, Shrikrishna Society, Pune-Mundhwa Road, near Kacharavasti bus stop

has to provide 45 acres of land, out of which 13.5 acres of land has already been handed over to the PMPML. It should provide the remaining 32 acres of land to the PMPML as soon as possible.”

Mayor Dharade said, “The PMPML should submit a detailed audit report on the utilisation of funds provided by the municipal body, and should take strict action against those who have misused the funds.” Mahesh Landge said, “The PMPML should revise the transport plan as per the geographical status and bus rapid transport system (BRTS) routes.” Mangala Kadam said, “The corporators are already facing problems in carrying out work in their respective wards, so how can the PCMC provide such a huge amount of funds to the PMPML? There is a need to prevent corruption in the PMPML.” PCMC chief Jadhav said, “There is a need for proper planning for constructing the 133 bus stops in the twin town. There is also a need for separate divisional office of PMPML and the PCMC will provide the land for this office.” Corporator Seema Savale demanded a separate evening bus service for working women. archana.dahiwal@goldensparrow.com

The material of the bag allows proper air circulation helping the earthworms to thrive comfortably and preventing garbage to rot and stink. A few inches above the bottom of the bag, a nylon mesh is stitched so as to fi lter the vermicompost collected in the lower most part of the bag. A zip has been fit in the lower most part of the bag too to regularly collect vermicompost.

The closed bag protects the earthworms from fl ies, birds, ants, rats and other rodents.

THE EXPERIMENT “We distributed the bags to about 100 households and requested for an honest feedback. The users complained of the metallic zips rusting, thereby causing a problem in opening and closing the lower-most part of the bag.

The earlier bag did not have the tubular plastic framework to give it a proper shape,” said Madhuri, adding that they replaced the bags with upgraded ones.

The bags are prepared in bulk by the young women from Shasikiya Mahila

Modi is an engaging leader and this is where we have to interact. We need to do our job and he will do his. India needs a convergence of governance and citizenship to break free from its self imposed shackles.

—Chirukandan PKV

India needs vision, clean governance Your children should get the same chances, opportunities as my children get, whether he/she is son/daughter of a construction worker or of a software engineer. The oldest democracy and the largest democracy have commonality in the Constitution, such as dignity, equality and so on. In US, the enforcement of laws are to the letter and spirit and also justice is quick and fair. US also has its share of problems, as president Obama said. In India when we

THE FUTURE The couple has patented the technology and is planning to sell the upgraded bags for `888 to about 1,000 households and get their feedback. “Our aim is to work on the technical aspect of the product for improvement. Any agency or institution is open to learn the technology from us. The PMC can also support us in this initiative on a larger scale,” she said. ishani.bose@goldensparrow.com

PCMC introduces garbage segregation system

Segregated waste will be collected by 368 garbage-collecting ‘hopper rickshaws’ - vehicles with separate compartments for biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste

BY ARCHANA DAHIWAL @ArchanaDahiwal The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has introduced a new system of garbage segregation/ collection, at Kasarwadi locality, from January 26, under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission’s solid waste management project. With the new system in place, the residents will have to segregate their domestic waste into wet and dry garbage. The PCMC will implement the new system in the twin township soon.

The new system was launched with the distribution of separate bins for wet and dry garbage, at Goyal residency in Kasarwadi, by Pimpri Chinchwad mayor Shakuntala Dharade and commissioner Rajiv Jadhav. On the occasion, Dharade said, “PimpriChinchwad is facing an issue of garbage collection and its proper disposal. The fast growing industrial hub will face the problem more acutely in future. So the municipal corporation has launched an initiative, where biodegradable and non-

PCMC officials distributing separate bins for wet and dry garbage in Kasarwadi.

(From-R) PCMC Additional Commissioner Tanaji Shinde, commissioner Rajiv Jadhav; deputy mayor Prabhakar Waghere; corporator Kiran Mote; mayor Shankutala Dharade; Sonali Jam, and corporator Asha Shendge

biodegradable waste can be segregated.”

She appealed to citizens to segregate garbage before handing it to the doorto-door garbage collectors.

Jadhav said, “Segregation of garbage is necessary for the preservation of our environment. It is important that people are aware of this.” The PCMC officials are determined to resolve the garbage problem, which is set to grow with the expansion of the city and its rising population. The civic officials said that the administration

PM alone cannot transform India

Being prime minister of India is not easy. Modi knows this fact. He will do his best and this is what is important.

Citizens have to adapt themselves and change from within. It is not just about the PM running the country but about citizens running along with him. The best part of Modi is that he is honest and honesty can be mixed. Pain will be there but this is no reason to misjudge and be biased. The media has to be matured and try and avoid being judgemental.

100 days of Modi was analysed which was certainly not required. Change is a progress set in motion, but we cannot be in a hurry. Politics is about continuity and not about what is done in 100 days.

Mr Modi has ushered in a freshness that India lacked and he means business.

His detractors may find faults but that is human nature. Being the PM of a democracy is never easy. The opposition needs to be appreciative when needed and a witchhunt is meaningless. Mr

Rajagruha, an NGO in Mundhwa.

look back for the last 67 years, there has been a progress. Have we got value for money? We have schemes and projects, funded by International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, but we all know the results and their social impact. Crony capitalism and rampant corruption, not just financial corruption but intellectual and mental corruption has made this country more vulnerable and we have created more undue burden on our children. Every child born (including ourselves) has a debt of `50,000 per head , there is no clean air, water, or pure milk.

This doesn’t need rocket science nor huge investments, what it needs is clear vision, clean governance, and speedy justice.

—Vinod Desai

Gandhi is even more relevant today

‘A bullet can silence a voice but not its universal views,’ prophetically opined

Dr Martin Luther King Jr. on his visit to Rajghat in 1959, knowingly that one day, his voice would also be silenced by a fanatic. Gandhi, the apostle of peace, was assassinated by Nathuram Godse on January 30, 1948. But could the assassin’s bullet muzzle the perennial universal views propounded

by Gandhi? I often wonder when this internet generation with very little knowledge of all things under the sky, question the relevance of Gandhi and his ideology in this age. The relevance of Gandhi has increased all the more in this world, ravaged by violence,

will distribute garbage bins to over 4.65 lakh households. The corporation has procured over 9.3 lakh 7-litre bins.

Two bins, one green and one white, will be distributed. The segregated waste will be collected by 368 garbagecollecting ‘hopper rickshaws’ - vehicles with separate compartments for biodegradable (wet) waste and nonbiodegradable (dry) waste. While the wet waste will be processed into organic manure, the dry waste will be recycled. archana.dahiwal@goldensparrow.com

sectarianism, bloodshed and bigotry.

Hardly a few individuals in the recorded history of mankind have left indelible footprints on the sands of time. Gandhi is one of them.

—Sumit Paul

Write to Us Letters to the Editor may be emailed to editor_tgs@goldensparrow. com or mailed to Golden Sparrow Publishing Pvt Ltd, 1641 Madhav Heritage, Tilak Road, Pune-411030.

The Best Letter of the Week will receive a special gift from Venus Traders, Pune’s finest stationery departmental.

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JANUARY 31, 2015

N-deal: India-US on same page P 12

The average literacy rate of Pune in 2011 was 86.15 compared to 80.45 of 2001.

— www.census2011.co.in

PUNE

Leena Shrivastava’s lecture on Energy and resources and India’s Future P 6

Fond memories of RK Laxman The legendary cartoonist’s sketches aptly captured the reality of Indian political and social life

sleeved shirt and black trousers. He seemed to have walked out for nothing in particular and in that great expansive hall, there were just the two of us, face to face. It took just a moment to guess that this was none other than RK Laxman and a quick self-introduction followed. I said I was not sure whether it was a holiday because Ashok Jain had died and Laxman was blank about the holiday part. Laxman was kind and courteous and chatted a bit before heading back into his room.

It was rather striking that he was the only person who was already at work (As Dina Vakil said in her recent piece on Laxman, he would come in daily at 8.30 am). Dina Vakil came in a little later and was trying to figure out some protocol issues as the patriarch was no more.

The visit to The Times on that day was among the most memorable one over the 14 years that I worked at the newspaper in three stints.

Years later, when I worked as The Times’ Washington correspondent, I had the honour of RK Laxman making some sketches to go with my dispatches. That itself was a matter of great joy.

— Abhay Vaidya, Editor, TGS

Loved sweets a lot

RK Laxman

I vividly remember the fi rst time I met the legendary RK Laxman because of two reasons.

Firstly because it was an accidental one-on-one interaction with Laxman right outside his office in the majestic Times of India building at Fort, Mumbai. And second, because it was just a day after the newspaper’s patriarch Ashok Jain had died on February 4, 1999.

I was then working in The Times of India’s Pune bureau and was headed to the Mumbai office for a meeting with the then resident editor, Dina Vakil. Arriving by a morning train from Pune, it was around 11 am when I had walked across the road from Victoria Terminus (now, CST, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus) and headed straight for the editorial department. A Linotype typesetting machine outside the door to the massive editorial floor always brought forth a smile. Dina’s cabin was at the far end of the hall and there was not a soul in the office as it was around 11 am.

As I got closer, out walked a man from the cabin next to hers - bespectacled, white, half-

IN THE NEWS

“I was his support 24/7 and knew his likes and dislikes. Amma always used to push him to draw; sometimes he would refuse but then give in and try to draw with his shaky hands. He also loved to eat sweets a lot. He would happily skip a meal but not sweets. His weakness was vanilla ice cream and chocolate in any form. He also loved going for walks around Aundh and loved visiting Ganapati temples. He would sit in the car for hours and look at the idol inside.

He was a simple man with simple tastes and needs.”

— Selvaraj Naidu, domestic help for last 13 years

Extremely supportive “It was a lifetime experience to work with Laxman. When I was invited for an interview

by SB Majumdar, I had no idea that I will be meeting RK Laxman.

During the interview Sir asked me how do I go about creating a statue of a vice chancellor. I replied by looking at photographs from various angles and then making a model. Then he bowled me by saying there are no photos but will sketches do?

I was overwhlemed when he opened a brown paper package fi lled with the skteches of the Common Man in different angles. “Th is is the vice chancellor that you have to create in

The Hindu cartoonist Surendra offers his tribute to RK Laxman. Courtesy The Hindu

bronze,” explained Laxman.

I began on a one foot model fi rst and what an amazing man RK was that though I had got it wrong, he only praised me and began suggesting changes from the shoes up to the hair. Seven models were made till the final one was approved. The statue of the Common Man has no lips, huge round eyes and big ears hidden under the tuft of hair. He lives with what he hears and sees and has nothing to say in the world he lives in.

—Vivek Khatavkar, sculptor of the 9-ft tall Common Man statue installed at the Symbiosis Vishwa Bhavan campus on Senapati Bapat Road

He was progressive Srninivas Laxman, the only child of RK and Kamala Laxman, says he was born in a very progressive, non traditonal and forward thinking family. His earliest memories of his father are of him dropping him to school, where upon he would describe the street scenes.

He recalled working with his father in the same office at The Times of India, sometimes an unpleasant experience. “It is a great thing to have your father working with you but not always,” he said. “When I was a trainee reporter, sometimes he would walk up and down the corridor and ask me if I had fi led anything or

was I sitting idle. He was always interested in the stories I was doing.”

—Srinivas Laxman, son & former journalist, The Times of India

Loved Maharashtrian food Laxman loved Maharashtrian food and he would often make requests. He, in fact, drew a Ganapati for my son which is now a family treasure.

— Meenakshi Dusane, neighbour and employee, Bank of Maharashtra

Made a crow sketch for me “RK Laxman works in that corner office.

Beware don’t go in there OK.” Th is was the fi rst thing that all interns were told on their fi rst day on the third floor in the Times of India headquarters at Mumbai.

The fi rst thing that a senior reporter would do is to take you on a tour of the floor and introduce you to everyone. I waited with bated breath to meet RK Laxman. A formidable black wooden door with the nameplate in polished

Catch up with developments in Pune as the week comes to a close

Model public lavatory completes one year The public lavatory at Nal Stop Karve Road, adopted and maintained by realtor and social activist Sanjay Deshpande, completed one year recently. MP Vandana Chavan, MLA Medha Kulkarni, mayor Datta Dhankawade, deputy commissioner Suresh Jagtap and corporators Sahastrabudhe Sandeep Khardekar and Vikrant Vartak attended the function organised on January 28.

The toilet was smelly and dirty and neighbourhood residents had requested the Pune Municipal Corporation to demolish it before Deshpande adopted it.

Parents release poems of departed son Dr Savita and Nitin Rajurkar, the parents of Jaydeep who died at the age of 16 on December 17, 2014, have paid The cover of the a touching poem collection of tribute by Jaydeep Rajurkar publishing the poems penned by their son. Eminent historian Babasaheb Purandare released the poetry collection ‘It’s My Life’ at Guardian Sky Lounge in Kothrud on January 27. Senior author Meena Prabhu, Swami Pradnyapad of Art of Living Foundation, poet

finds himself in a life-threatening situation during his encounter with the malicious Magarwasi tribe.

Free Yoga classes on February 1

City builder and social activist Sanjay Deshpande (with cap) was felicitated by Pune mayor Datta Dhankawade, for his initiative in adopting and maintaining a public lavatory at Nal Stop Karve Road, that completed a year on January 28.(From left) MLA Medha Kulkarni, Dhankawade, Deshpande, BJP leader Sandeep Khardekar and MP Vandana Chavan attended the function.

Sandeep Khare, music composer Salil Kulkarni, poetess Sanjivani Bokil, Kothrud MLA Medha Kulkarni, Rohan Champanerkar of Rohan Prakashan, Karnatak High School (KHS) director Malati Kalmadi, KHS principal Kamini Saxena and Guardian Group managing director Manish Sabde were present.

Rambo Circus shows to begin in city The exciting shows of legendary Rambo Circus will commence on the ground near BN Bhide Bridge, Deccan Gymkhana at 4 pm on February 1. The event will see Deval Circus’s Ashish Deval perform Malkhamb along with death defying stunts from artistes from Russia, UK, Columbia and Nepal. It will also have a laser and

light show as one of its attractions.

The shows will go on for 45 days.

The ticket prices range from Rs 100 to Rs 400. It will remain open from 9 am to 6 pm.

Short film ‘Magarwasi’ bags three awards Magarwasi, an animated short fi lm created by four students — Varun Nair, Kartik Gupta, Bhanu Khandelwal and Eshana Multani — from the Rubika Supinfocom School at DSK International Campus, won three awards recently.

The awards include the best animation award at the Mumbai Short International Film Festival 2015, an award in the ‘animated shorts’ category at the Pune International Film Festival 2015 and the ‘dc6 Asia Silver (innovative technique) award at Digicon 6 in Japan. The fi lm is based on the story of a police inspector who

Yoga guru Dimple Soman will be conducting free yoga sessions, yoga flash mob and yoga studio walks at the Param Yoga Centre at Dhole Patil Road on January 31 from 8 am to 8 pm. The sessions will commence with ‘mindful breathing’ which will help overcome depression and exercises on alignments for painfree living. Contact 41207050 / 9923158200 for free registration.

RTI activist honoured Sajag Nagrik Manch will felicitate Right to Information (RTI) activist Q a n e e z Sukhrani for this year’s ‘Sajag Nagrik Qaneez Sukhrani M a h i t i Adhikar P u r a s k a r ’.

Sukhrani has used the Act to halt the civic body’s plans to start the bus rapid transit system (BRTS) services in an incomplete stage and highlighted the civic body’s issue of unnecessary expenditure. She will be felicitated at IMDR College’s Hall, BMCC Road, at 5 pm on February 1.

— Compiled by Ishani Bose

brass shining in the afternoon light.

When I finally met him in a narrow passage in the office, I was simply dumbstruck. A slight smile and a nod and the man went straight into his room. He surfaced after some hours and walked out again at the end of the day.

Towards the end of my internship, I received a small drawing of a crow kept propped for me.

“Sir left this for you. He overheard you speaking the other day about the crow story that you were telling in the office,” someone said.

When I showed it to my parents, my father was thrilled with the small momento from RK Laxman.Years later, I met Laxman Sir and his wife Kamala at their Pune residence. I felt sad when I saw him in a wheelchair but as the hours of chatting with his wife went by, it was as if we were all connected with the stories of TOI. Kamala recalled the good old days of living in South Mumbai and of being a member of the Mahalaxmi Club, a women’s recreational hub.

Laxman Sir would signal when he wanted us to listen to him. His speech was inaudible but still one could make out what he wanted to say.

He would wave his hands, stare at you and listen to you. I spent many such occasions sitting with the family disucssing newspapers and Sir loved listening to such debates between his wife and his relatives.

—Prachi Bari, journalist and writer, TGS

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JANUARY 31, 2015

ED UCATION

PUNE

“Through meditation this country’s (India) young generation is capable of leading the world.”

— Dalai Lama, Tibetan spiritual leader

CARE ER

Kejriwal may get a landslide victory in Delhi P 10

Ram Vilas Paswan on tackling false advts P 14

‘Higher education

RAHUL RAUT

system needs serious reforms’ Former UGC chairman Prof Arun Nigavekar says present govt is doing more than paying lip service

BY MANASI SARAF JOSHI @GargiManasi Called the ‘father of quality education in India’ by former president APJ Abdul Kalam, Prof Arun Nigavekar, former University Grants Commission (UGC) chairman and former vice chancellor of Savitribai Phule University of Pune (formerly the University of Pune), spoke to The Golden Sparrow on Saturday, about the reforms needed in higher education and the policy decisions to be taken to achieve it.

What are the biggest challenges facing higher education in India?

We need to have quality, intelligence, world and human education. And adopting and adapting to change is the key to achieve the goal. The process has to be in sync with world education vis-a-vis a system that would ensure skilled workforce besides quality.

Unfortunately, no political party has come up with a policy on futuristic view of education.

The present government is reviewing what the Vajpayee government had done in 2000, and is taking proactive steps. The previous government failed to check the rampant commercialisation of education.

Did the steps taken by the Vajpayee government improve education?

The Vajpayee government talked of connectivity among universities, colleges, skill development and use of information technology (IT) in higher education. The UPA government failed to take it forward.

The Modi government is issuing many government resolutions (GRs) for better education.

Your take on higher education in India?

Today, higher education in India is compartmentalised into seven layers — central universities, big national institutions like Bhabha Atomic Research Centre or Indian Space Research Organisation, deemed

SCHOOL & COLLEGE

UPDATE

to be universities, foreign universities, private universities and other public universities.

With so many avoidable ‘shells’, the rate of student pursuing higher education stands at a poor 15 per cent.

What about the future of education in India?

The extensive implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 (RTE) will lead to around five crore students pursuing higher education by 2025. Even as this positive figure is 50 per cent of my estimate, the number could exceed. But are we capable of accomodating many more students in our seven layers of higher education? Knowledge linked economies are the driving force of a nation based on the capacity to convert it (knowledge) into funds.

What needs to be changed?

There has to be an inter-disciplinary knowledge for every student. An engineer, who wants to start a business, should have the basic knowledge and economics to run an enterprise. Knowing the culture of a place is important because a popular product in one market would be rejected by another market. A student shouldn’t be bound in one subject or faculty and should overcome these boundaries.

How should we incorporate the changes happening in world education?

We should adopt the model of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCS), a digital platform that allows individuals from across the world to take academic courses online.

Educational institutes should fine tune their e-learning and classroom technology.

When it comes to education, geog raph ica l boundaries have no meaning.

So we need

to adopt the latest technology for learning and teaching processes. We need to do away with annual/semester learning and follow creditbased module.

What are its shortcomings?

We need terabyte connectivity to excel in education. The government has issued guidelines regarding credit base, which is a welcome move. But implementation is a major challenge. A strategy has to be developed which can suit village, town, city, big city and metros. The education has to be useful, credible and skill-based.

How to improve the teaching quality and attract teachers?

Besides giving impetus to research, a person has to have a liking towards teaching.

A system has to be evolved where a person’s ability as a teacher can be judged. Clearing NET/SET or PhD should not be the only parameter to select a candidate. manasisaraf@ gmail.com

Energy and resources hold key to India’s future

A weekly update of events & activities in city schools and colleges

American pre-educator school comes to Pune Sesame Street, America’s largest preschool educator, opened up their first Sesame Street Preschool in Wakad recently. Sesame Street Preschools are early childhood education centres that were set up by Sesame Workshop in India in 2012. The preschools offer innovative programmes for children aged 1-6 years to engage and learn.

“Our curriculum is based on over 40 years of insight into how children learn best and spans across six key areas of early childhood development — cognition, language, social, emotional, physical and cultural diversity. We are also in line with India’s National Curriculum Framework,” said Sashwati Banerjee, director, Sesame Street Preschool.

Sesame Workshop is the non-profit educational organisation behind Sesame Street, the television

programme that reaches millions of children every day in more than 150 countries.

New snack centre at SM Joshi College, Hadapsar

From left: Rayat Education Society’s secretary Ganesh Thakur, principal Arvind Bungurle, chairman late Raosaheb Shinde, ex-corporator Dilip Tupe and ex-joint secretary Nanasaheb Gaikwad at the foundation stone laying ceremony of snack centre at SM Joshi College

Rayat Education Society’s SM Joshi College, Hadapsar, started a mess for tea-breakfast and conducted a tree-plantation drive in the campus on January 24. Rayat Education Society’s chairman Raosaheb Shinde, secretary Ganesh Thakur, joint secretary DD Patil and ex-joint secretary Nanasaheb Gaikwad were present on the occasion.

High school and junior college teachers were present during the activity.

Pursuing My Career

‘Creativity is not a pre-requisite’

Aman Yajurvedi says his career as a game designer has been a perfect avenue to explore his unorthodox self

BY AMAN YAJURVEDI Becoming a game designer was not a pre-planned career move. When I fi nished my standard XII in 2008, all I wanted to do was something different and creative. I chose science in plus two because I wanted to join the Indian Air Force and become a fighter pilot like my dad. But that didn’t work out and things reached a point where my parents asked me, “What’s next?”

I found myself thinking of my interests and although I enjoy cooking I didn’t want to take it up as a career.

Animation was an option that I was interested in and I joined a course,

but soon realised it wasn’t for me. I liked drawing aliens but I wasn’t good at it.

Then I came across game design as a course being offered by DSK Supinfocom and it sounded cool and unconventional, like my personality. I joined the four-year course in 2008. Th is was DSK’s fi rst batch of game design and we were just 10 kids in the course!

I learned a lot in those four years.

I had never been a hardcore gamer, never owned a Nintendo or console, so adjusting to the brilliant gaming industry was quite challenging. But it opened up a world of possibilities.

Currently I work in a company that makes mobile

games. Today a mobile phone has enormous reach and we provide users enough content to enjoy their experience.

Making games is a science. What you create needs to appeal to the target player. It involves understanding the psychology of a gamer, like their behavioural practices. In gaming, being complicated is easy, but being simple is the trick. The best way to learn to become a game designer is to begin by ‘gamifying’ household chores. Start thinking of all your day-to-day activities as a game.

To become a game designer, creativity is a plus but not a pre-requisite. I enjoy my work a lot but like any profession, at some point it does start to feel like a ‘ job’.

My parents are supportive although they fi nd the entire gaming industry to be quite bizarre. To me, it has been the perfect avenue to explore my unorthodox self.

(As told to Ritu Goyal Harish)

TERI University vice chancellor Leena Shrivastava talks on resource conservation and economic growth

BY YASH DAIV @yash009 “We tend to judge our ancestors and seniors too harshly. Their predictions are the consequences we face today,” said Leena Shrivastava, vice chancellor, TERI University, New Delhi.

Addressing an attentive audience at the Gokhale Institute of Economics and Politics on January 16, she underlined energy conservation and efficient management of resources as the key factors for rapid economic growth.

“One of the reasons why economic growth falters is due to the nonutilisation of energy,” she said.

The Information Technology Commodity Council (ITCC) reports state that large population will be vulnerable if a sustainable growth does not occupy primary position on developmental agendas of the country. Shrivastava made this point with reference to India being the third largest coal exporter in the world, making it a large contributor to the revenue and a consequential global warming potential.

“All energy forms have certain contained energy.

Oil has twice the amount of energy that is actually utilised, if you want to bring about interventions of change from the consumption point of view,” she said.

Energy security c o n c e r n s stem from the increasing energy import vulnerabilities or

the ‘rising imports’.

The imploding utilisation of resources is directly proportional to the increasing number of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

“Presently there are 26 million MSMEs. Transport and electricity consumption needs to be scrutinised in these sectors,” she said.

The major challenge is to optimise the use of resources that are yet inaccessible.

Strengthening the institutional framework is the solution to proper allocation of resources.

Government must limit itself to policy making and leave service provisions and regulatory aspects to respective authorities. There must be full autonomy and powers to function as a corporate organisation to the public sector.

Any obligation to the public sector to shoulder social responsibility must be transparent. yashdaiv@gmail.com

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JANUARY 31, 2015

“The strongest thing you can cultivate as an entrepreneur is to not rely on luck but cultivating an ability to recognise fortunate situations when they are occurring.”

— Jack Dorsey, co-founder, Twitter

IIT-Mumbai ‘startup’ fair on Feb 1 IIT Mumbai’s students’ media body surveyed 220 respondents from 2011 to 2013 and found that 40 per cent of the alumni surveyed from 2011-2013, moved from a job to a different field within three years. Some even quit within a year. Apart from setting up their own ventures, some have been pursuing higher studies.

Considering the trend of students choosing to launch their own ventures, the institute’s placement and entrepreneurship cells will hold a its first start-up fair on February 1. It will allow students to intern at startups of their choice and if both parties so wish, also join them as co-founders.

TiE workshop on networking issues

START-UP MENTOR

On January 31, The Indus Enterpreneurs (TiE), Pune Chapter will organise a workshop, at the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Senapati Bapat Road, from 9am to 5pm. This workshop has been designed in three parts to enable participants to recognise their personal networking challenge and ways of overcoming it. The discussion leader will help participants to recognise networking goal for themselves and/or their organisation and create a strategy around it. In a pair of two, each person would introduce himself in a rotation, which is a much faster way to network.

Vishwas Mahajan

Business need to go beyond the interests of their companies, to the communities they serve.

— Ratan Tata, chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons

Integrated water management systems key to a water secure future

Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) is one solution to the water crisis the city witnesses every summer. But integrated water management is the only long term and sustainable solution say, entrepreneurs Swapnil Potdar and Udyam Gokhale

BY RITU GOYAL HARISH @ritugh Twenty-six year olds and engineers Swapnil Potdar and Udyam Gokhale love crunching numbers.

When the two schoolmates from Nashik wanted to do something to contribute to nation building, they created a list. “The idea was to make India a better place” said Gokhale. Water management figured on top of the list they made. “India receives five times the water that it needs annually through rain but it is mismanaged and badly distributed , so the need for India is better water management,” he said.

Eventually the young men realised that their endeavour would be to bring sustainable and integrated water management solutions to Pune, and in 2012, three years after they first conceived the project, Ira Sustainable Water Solutions was established. While the core competency of Ira lies in rainwater harvesting (RWH), both emphasise that RWH was not the starting point of this journey, water management was.

The research the duo conducted on the need for water management was exhaustive. They wanted to create a model that would become a benchmark of similar models followed by western countries that have highly efficient distribution networks, decentralised, and leak detection techniques. But the roadblocks were too many. “Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) doesn’t have a map to show where the water is going.

So while they claim transmission and distribution losses of 40 per cent to 50 per cent they don’t know how to resolve it because they have no mapping of the city, ” Gokhale pointed out.

Most of all, the ignorance that prevails among the users of water led Gokhale and Potdar to rethink their strategy. “People are unaware of where their water

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

Signposts

PUNE

distribution of water is not the solution for now.

Decentralised approach to water management is the solution. Each entity like a housing complex, company, industry or commercial establishment needs to look at its own sources of water, have its own quality treatment and its own recycling and has to stop blaming the government” said Potdar.

Udyam Gokhale and Swapnil Potdar

comes from and where it goes. If one family consumes 500 litres of water per day, how much do they actually ‘consume’ – may be just 10 litres. The other 490 litres just changes form. It either becomes sewage or silage and becomes laden with detergent.” Potdar said.

They also found that the inefficient sewage system of the PMC results in the dumping of untreated waste in the rivers of Pune that causes pollution downstream as well.

“We came to the conclusion that centralised

Starting a biz tends to be a rollercoaster and has many ups and downs

This feature is a collaboration between The Golden Sparrow on Saturday and The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), the world’s largest non-profit network of entrepreneurs. For additional questions about your entrepreneurial challenges, write to mentoring@pune.tie.org

I am planning to leave my job of 12 years and become an entrepreneur by starting my dream venture – something that I have been thinking of doing for a long time. Should I take on a co-founder / partner or should I go solo?

— Shailendra Jahagirdar Dear Shailendra First of all, congratulations on your decision to follow your passion and leave a well-paid job to become an entrepreneur.

You have surely thought through your decision and the area your venture will be involved in.

Now to address your question, there are pros and cons for both – going solo or having a co-founding team depends on the kind of business you are planning to get into. Let me present to you my thoughts.

Presumably, your business plans is to be big and you are going to need a highly motivated team to grow and run your business. It makes sense to project into the future and see what kind of team it will be when the business grows.

Now, plot your own strengths and preferences and see if there are any gaps in the top management team of your business when it grows. These are the areas, where you will need close team members to help.

It may be a good idea to find a co-founder with complementary skills so that the management team of your venture is holistic. So if you are a sales and marketing guy, look for a techie to complement you and manage the development and delivery. This is what we did in our venture, Compulink.

If your venture plans is to attract more team members laterally or outside investors to provide you capital, having a co-

Economic impact Water forms an integral part of the economic process; and therefore water management has huge repercussions. Discussing the water crisis our country is facing, the duo said, “If integrated water management is implemented in urban and rural areas the agricultural output will go up since cities will draw less water from the dams and more water will be available to farmers. They can perhaps increase their output—two to three crops a year, which will decrease inflation. Most of all, people will stop migrating to the cities and burden on the cities will be reduced.” According to the duo, an integrated water management project will include rainwater harvesting, a water treatment plant, filtration plant, and a sewage treatment plant.

founder team is likely to be a big plus. It is also a test to check if your vision is sufficiently persuasive for your likely co-founders.

If they get excited and buy into it, there is a better chance that your customers or investors will. Having a founding team is also likely to create a better governance structure and transparency.

Co-founders also provide continuity. When one of you has personal emergencies or compulsions that will keep you from focussing on business, the co-founder can step in; when there are special projects, like raising funding, you can divide the responsibilities so there is least disruption.

Entrepreneurship tends to be a rollercoaster ride and it has so many ups and downs. It can also be a lonely journey and a co-founder, whom you can confide in and can share these highs and lows with is a great addition. Maybe I am biased, but think about it.

It goes without saying that you will need to share equity with your co-founder team. But it’s better to have a smaller share of a bigger pie than bigger share of a small pie, right? A word of caution, it is vital that your cofounding team is completely ‘in sync’ with the vision and with each other because discords among founders is one big reason for failure of ventures.

I have discussed here the pros and cons of having a cofounder (and not of going solo). Having said that, remember that this is but one aspect of your venture that we are iscussing and there are several more that will go into the eventual success of your venture. But that’s for another time.

All the very best for your venture (Vishwas Mahajan is president and lead volunteer, TiE Pune Chapter)

The journey “From being an employee to employing has been a wonderful journey,” said Potdar, adding that they get their motivation from the fact that with every success they save more water. “We wake up in the morning with the aim to conserve water,” said Gokhale. The company wants to conserve 5,000 litres of water in the next 5 years. “Our long term vision is to develop a sustainable model for cities, taking care of piped and clean water for everybody and cleaner, fuller rivers” he said. ritugoyalharish@gmail.com

Change Pune’s water model The surface area of the dams that supply water to Pune is 1,000 square km. The size of the city is roughly 9,000 square km. Relying on 1,000 km catchment area located 50 km away to fulfil the needs of 9,000 square km(40 lacs population) is a very inefficient model, according to Swapnil Potdar and Udyam Gokhale.

If 9,000 square kmbecomes a catchment area for rain, Pune’s water woes will be taken care of.

Top 3 challenges • People think of RWH when it rains but January – June are the months to undertake RWH • People don’t want to spend on water • RWH is a seasonal activity. December – March is a lean period

Investment Investment – `30 lakh In 2 years, their turnover has gone up by 100 times.

30 completed projects. 10 in the pipeline.

What does RWH cost?

For a 100-apartment society – `5-6 lakh(including RCC work) from design, to execution and handover. Maintenance of the system is approximately 2-5 per cent of project cost. It is easier to install a RWH system in under-construction stage.

‘We encourage taking calculated risks’ Rohini and Viraj Kalyani share details on the spirit of entrepreneurship across the organisation at Kalyani Forge

BY ANJALI SHETTY @shetty_anjali Thirty-five years ago, Kalyani Group companies decided to have a separate unit and that is how Kalyani Forge was incorporated, then known as Ellora Engineering Co Ltd. The management team and the chairman, NA Kalyani, were already in the forging field so it was not a case of jumping into some unknown field. Viraj Kalyani, executive director, Kalyani Forge said, “The type of forgings the company would make, is something which was very clear as a concept. Hence the challenges were known and surmountable. But Kalyani Forge has gone through a few rounds of renewal. First in the early 1990s, we started internationalising our business with exports to Europe. In the early 2000s we went through enhancing our technological expertise in design and machining.” The company started supplying ready to assemble connecting rods as a result of this phase. In 2010, it started building expertise in cold forging, which are bearing fruit today. “We have weathered two economic downturns back to back in the past five years.

That has definitely been challenging but it brought out our true strengths and weaknesses.”

Today they are on another journey of renewal, and are expanding the spirit of entrepreneurship across the organisation, rewiring its systems to make them customer friendly and reaching out to new markets. When we asked Viraj about the initial investment and on ways it was raised, he said, “Initially, KFL had a small forge shop and catered mainly to the two wheeler business. Then we developed businesses in different sectors and geographical regions for which we brought new machinery. We did revamping of our Tool Room and Engineering setup with state-of-the-art technology. We invested in the greenfield of PAD (Precision Auto components Division ). This required huge CAPEX (Capital Expenditure), all of which was managed through the internal accruals by plough back of profits and provisional bank finance.”

Entrepreneurship is one of their core values. For them, everyone in the organisation is an entrepreneur, each of them has personal dreams which are aligned to collective dream and goals. “We encourage taking calculated risks and look at failure as a tremendous learning opportunity. My father in law Dr NA “Every top brand truck in India has our connecting rods in their engines. The same applies to our driveline and chassis products in cars in India, Europe and the US. We take on projects for our customers which are too challenging in terms of design and manufacturing for most other suppliers. I think it’s good to appreciate the strengths of different competitors but blatantly straddling on a competitor’s strategy can be quite detrimental in the long run,”--Viraj Kalyani

Kalyani and my mentor Lila Poonawala were instrumental to getting me to join the business. At the time I took the decision of joining, company had achieved a brand name in the field of auto components, enquiries from very renowned companies were flowing in and generally the OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) were looking to the company as a potential supplier of their needs of components. ,” said Rohini, vice chairperson and managing director.

A number of clients who have been with them for years or even decades, have appreciated the fact that they not only keep up with the times, but also go ahead and set new standards in terms of what they can offer to them. “We learn a lot from our clients and particularly value their constructive criticism. We have a variety of programmes to train our staff both in class rooms and at the workplace. Our management teams spend a lot of time coaching staff one-on-one and hosting training sessions themselves. We are expanding in several sectors like industrial goods, construction, railways, power generation and marine. Along with our automotive business, we expect to grow each of these businesses substantially in the next few years.” anjali.shetty@goldensparrow.com

Viraj and Rohini Kalyani

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JANUARY 31, 2015

PUNE

‘The bottom line is that the lesson should not be monotonous’ Anjali Singh, maths teacher at Mercedes International School, Pune, talks about different ways of making the subject, which is otherwise dreaded, interesting

PIXABAY

BY ISHANI BOSE @ishani_bose

How to help children overcome the fear of maths

JANUARY 31, 2015

Serum Institute of India’s general manager Harish Radhakrishnan speaks on why the subject has to be relatable and brought down to the student’s level. He relives his memories of the Late Professor HR Moogat, his maths teacher from college

International curriculum requires students to understand Mathematics compared to memorising methods that most students and teachers adopt in national curriculum stressed for students to be able to understand it,” she said.

When Singh teaches her students, she develops activities, which get students interested in learning maths. Some of the methods that she employs is that of using bingo cards or crosswords to get her students interested in a new topic. She makes use of appropriate YouTube videos in the beginning or at the end of the lesson to explain the topic in a better way to the students, with the help of visual aid.

“Various websites are also available which encourage better understanding of maths through games, quizzes, puzzles, maths hangman and we try to use these games and activities in classroom teaching as well. The bottom line is that the lesson should not be monotonous. Everybody should be involved in the lesson. Small achievements matter a lot

in Mathematics which gives confidence to the students,” she said.

Singh said that the activities are helpful even to the older students. “I started vectors in my class by asking students to make paper planes and flying them from one corner of the class to the other — in groups, and through this they realised that in order to get the plane to reach its destination, it needs to have direction as well as magnitude. Then the topic was developed further,” she said.

Singh agreed that a good maths teacher plays an instrumental role in a student’s life.

“Though I have been a very analytical minded person since childhood which helped in developing my mathematical skills, I was also lucky to have very encouraging Mathematics teachers, who made the subject very interesting for us and never led us to hate the subject,” she said. ishani.bose@goldensparrow.com

The ‘object’ive of math Kinesthetic learning involves usage of solid objects to understand math concepts.

Educationist Sherley Paul has used this technique along with abacus for 12 years and has seen good results

BY YASH DAIV @yash009 “Kinesthetic learning is the best way to learn Mathematics,” said Sherley Paul, founder of Sherley Paul’s Academy for Radiant Kids (SPARK), a math-learning institution. For 12 years, the students of her academy have had a theoretical understanding and concepts of the subject through abacus. She believes abacus is a potential arithmetic instrument which can cut across the fear of math.

Paul started SPARK on Salunkhe Vihar Road in 2002 after shifting to Pune. Earlier in Chennai, she enrolled her son Reuben with an academy that taught mathematics through abacus. On noticing his improving calculus abilities she was keen on continuing the abacus

Students and parents should not think of math as a subject that requires maximum attention.

It is like any other subject where the concept needs to be understood before execution ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

Students and parents should not think of math as a subject that requires maximum attention. It is like any other subject where the concept needs to be understood before execution. Thus, she has employed abacus for efficient and faster calculations along with kinesthetic learning.

“Students need to know the logic behind formulas. For instance if they are formulating an expression as simple as (a+b)2, they need to understand its expansion. Kinesthetic learning involves logical explanations by using geometrical shapes and various other shapes,” she said.

Kinesthetic learning involves usage of abacus, puzzles, wooden numbers and letters, blocks and cubes and felt boards.

As students perform the math formulae with these objects, they discover the meanings by themselves. And with abacus the arithmetic calculations facilitate faster solutions.

“There is maximum retention when students learn by themselves. It is certain that they will be able to implement the formulas to any mathematical expression and get the desired result out of their self-induced knowledge,” she said.

Benjamin Franklin yashdaiv@gmail.com

“Tell me

BY ANJALI SHETTY @shetty_anjali Harish Radhakrishnan, general manager, Serum Institute of India, was always inclined towards Maths because his father taught the Army personnel the subject.

“The ones on the job needed to be propped up in the subject and my childhood was fi lled with experiences of my dad trying to do the same,” said Harish who is grateful to his

On speaking with most teachers and students, we realised that the best way to

I like maths because it is fun. It is a game played with only nine numbers, zero to nine. There is no ambiguity, every thing is concrete, logical, accurate and precise. Once the concept is clear there is no need to repeat the same question. In maths tests, every time there are new questions, I love them. This thing is missing in other subjects as there is a repetition of the same questions.

There is less writing and more thinking in maths.

Teach me

and I remember.

Aryan Dahiwal

Involve me and I learn.”

Kinesthetic Learning was popularised by New Zealand professor Neil Fleming. It takes place by carrying out a physical activity, rather than listening to a lecture or watching a demonstration. It is applicable to all the subjects but is very beneficial to a subject like Mathematics. It is important to use kinesthetic learning activities to make its ideas and principles concrete.

Employing toys or tools, which students can see, touch and arrange, can be used to illustrate counting and mathematical functions like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Students can discuss mathematical concepts to physically experience the relationships between numbers.

combat this constant feeling of anxiety, with respect to maths is by adopting humorous methods to teach the subject, which is otherwise considered to be dry and serious. Young children enjoy cartoons and jokes. Cartoons may be used to introduce a concept or for class discussion. Most students also agreed to the fact that they would readily study and grasp mathematical concepts and skills if they would be presented with the aid of pictures, symbols or anything they like as that would ease the stress and automatically help in better understanding of the concept. One professor even made songs out of formulas which helped students remember them better. By using manipulatives, pictures and symbols to model or represent abstract ideas, young students will be able to understand the hypothesis of the math problem better, which they would otherwise struggle to discern.

IMATHS

and I forget.

KINESTHETIC LEARNING AND MATHEMATICS classes for her son. However, Pune did not have such a classroom then. She is credited by Universal Concepts of Mental Arithmetic Systems (UCMAS) for having founded the first ever academy that purported Mathematics through abacus and kinesthetic learning.

“In schools, the classroom teaching is imparted on the same level without any regard for students’ grasping capacity. It is quite possible that most of the class may not be able to understand the mathematical concept within the first explanation,” she said. The reason for why a child may start fearing math is because he or she lags behind in the classroom. The teacher can go about explaining the concept at his or her pace, sometimes without making sure whether the student has understood it. The fear manifests from this point.

“Then they are faced with the stereotypes and myths associated with the subject. Students start thinking that they are ‘not cut out for arithmetic’ or ‘not that intelligent’. The inferiority complex takes a toll on their confidence,” she said.

HD Moogat

American author, webmaster and advertising copywriter, best known for his trenchant satirical lexicon, ‘The Cynic’s Dictionary’, had once said, “ Math anxiety is an intense lifelong fear of two trains approaching each other at the speed of 60 and 80 MPH.” Although that was quite an exaggerated way of putting it, the basic premise of the quote holds true for most children rather people since time immemorial.

Mathematics anxiety has been defined as feelings of stress that intervene with the manipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical problems, often leading one to avoid the subject and losing confidence in oneself and the subject.

Marilyn Curtain Phillips, a US-based maths teacher, who uses visual aids and games to make the arduous task of learning mathematics easy for her students, wrote in an article titled, ‘The Causes and Prevention of Math Anxiety’, “Much of this anxiety happens in the classroom due to lack of consideration of different learning styles of students. Mathematics must be looked upon in a positive light to reduce math anxiety, for the skills acquired at an early age will be greatly beneficial throughout their adult working life.Therefore, teachers must re-examine traditional teaching methods which often do not match students’ learning styles and skills needed in society.”

(standard III, City Pride School, Nigdi-Pradhikaran)

Maths is all about understanding concepts and relating to the formulas. I understand it well and credit the same to my mother. She taught me an easy way to multiply, divide, add and substract at a very young age. I had learned to multiply at the age of five and have been enjoying the subject since then. My advice to children who fear the subject would be that they should take keen interest in understanding the subject only then will they enjoy it.

Students enjoy the change from the atypical ‘lecture and book’ format of schools and enjoy being a part of co-operative groups that provide students a chance to exchange ideas, ask questions freely, explain the complicated concepts to one another, clarify ideas in a meaningful way and show signs of wanting to learn.

A new concept in maths must be presented in ways that interest the student.

Innovative ways such as play acting, cooperative groups, visual aids, hands on activities and technology should be used to present lessons, especially the difficult ones in a variety of ways. Consequently, once young children see math as fun, they will enjoy it, and, the joy of Mathematics could remain with them throughout the rest of their lives. ishani.bose@goldensparrow.com

Being a civil engineer, I know the importance of the subject.

My focus remains on creating an interest in the subject.

Children learn only when they find it interesting and novel. Many kids lose the interest in maths while learning numbers from one to hundred. We avoid to teach the sequential numbers repeatedly. Most of the concepts of the subject and its application should be taught while playing indoor or outdoor games at a very early age like ‘This is ten coins, two eyes and things like that’. We equally stress on mathematical language. When my son started walking, we always took him to the grocery shop, veggie markets and showed him the measurement units or scales. We made requests to the shop owners to allow him to handle scale or give freedom to put the grocery items in scales. It helped in understanding the basic mathematical concepts of units. Tables is a very boring activity but we made a habit of reciting tables while he used to take bath. These are very small but important methods of teaching the subject.

Sarang Dahiwal, parent

Pravya, 8 years, Kendriya Vidyalay, Camp

Fear of maths is pretty common and unfortunately there are lots of reasons for this. Our education system doesn’t take the child through a process where maths can be seen as practicable. Maths is seen as abstract and not visualisable....concept understanding and tables learning is not focused in our system which emphasises rote learning, unfortunately extends to mugging up arithmetic definitions too without focusing on how to derive. Parental anxiety of maths can also be intergenerationally transmitted.

Dr Jyoti Shetty, psychiatrist

Maths is a very clear ‘black and white’ science. It is either right or wrong, you cannot be anywhere in between.

There are no halfway marks or good attempts like in languages. Also, in a culture where mistakes are seen as a bad thing, students start dreading maths.

You cannot read maths, you have to sit up and do or solve it. Also, you cannot lie down and read chapters on maths. You have to be alert and solve problems.

Also, the way maths is taught in schools is very bad.

The two-dimensional method does not present the subject well to the students. It should be converted into experiments or easy to understand games. The subject is difficult to follow if just explained on a blackboard. If parents themselves are bad at the subject they should not attempt to teach their kids. They should seek help.

Dr Bhooshan Shukla, child psychologist

PUNE

‘The kind of teacher you meet defines your education’

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

Anjali Singh has over 23 years of experience teaching Mathematics in various educational institutes. She began her teaching career by tutoring students pursuing engineering and diploma courses, who, she says, were more focused in learning maths. However, if there is one thing that Singh has noticed, it is that most students develop a fear or a mental block when it comes to maths. And if this phenomenon is not paid attention to at the right age, it could only worsen with time, leading the person in question to dislike the subject for life.

“Compared to other subjects, Mathematics is an abstract subject where one cannot find proofs in daily life. Mathematics has originated from the imagination of the human mind, which enables one to correlate the subject with the nature around us. However, until we don’t practice the concepts regularly, we cannot remember them. For instance, if we learn addition or subtraction in first or second standard, we use the methods till we pass school and in the process, it helps us retain the concept for life, only due to the continuous practice we have had to do over a span of ten years,” she said.

She added that students with good analytical mind find Mathematics very interesting, while those with a higher language aptitude find the subject difficult to follow.

Singh currently teaches maths in Mercedes International School, Pune, where she realised that most students fear the subject due to an initial inhibition, lack of consistent practice in the former years and most importantly, the role that teachers play in getting the children to like or dislike a particular subject, especially maths.

“International curriculum requires students to understand Mathematics compared to memorising methods that most students and teachers adopt in national curriculum. To me the best way to understand any concept is to be able to communicate it effectively.

Mathematical communication needs to be more

Mathemagic

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY

Professor HR Moogat, Nowrosjee Wadia College, for teaching him principles and techniques to fall in love with maths.

“My maths teacher in St Joseph’s School was a strict one who would pinch us and we did develop a fear complex right up to standard tenth. I never got pinched but I am a fi rm believer that the kind of teacher you meet defines your graduation and education. The two backbones in Wadia college were Professor Rao and Professor HR Moogat. Moogat coached very seriously and he believed that standard XI and XII were the base to a child’s education future.

He used different techniques to ease the subject dilemma. He would dance and sing in the class to make it simple. He taught the subject in a very casual way. He would form a song and dance sequence to explain a formula,” said Harish.

Room number four in Wadia College during Professor Moogat’s lecture would have students sitting on the floor, near the window and even on his table. “His lecture was not restricted to Wadia students only. Students from different colleges across the city would travel to attend his lecture. He was a gem of a person, so I took it up as a challenge to teach students in my neighbour who failed miserably,” he said.

Harish uses the principles and techniques of his favourite professor even today for the lectures he conducts at Mahratta Chamber

HARISH RADHAKRISHNAN

Room number four in Wadia College during Professor Moogat’s lecture would have students sitting on the floor, near the window and even on his table of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA).

“The subject is a little complicated as children find it difficult to understand the need to study formulas and subjects like trigonometry. They wonder as to where will we use these theories? So, we need to give them visuals and emphasise on pictorials.

For example, Pythagoras theorem is easily understood as it is explained with relatable examples like climbing stairs. You have to bring it down to a level that they understand,” he said. anjali.shetty@goldensparrow.com

Dinasim Learning introduces online interactive math workshops This coaching institute’s founder-director Divesh Bathija says his objective is achieved when a child wishes to open his book by himself especially math

BY ANJALI SHETTY @shetty_anjali Dinasim learning aims at changing the approach of every child and parent towards the subject, by using games such as Soccer, Angry birds, Temple run and Subway surfers. These games excite children and all the questions revolve around the game but gently slip into the subject of math, where the child realises that math is present everywhere and not just in textbooks. Divesh Bathija, Founder Director – Dinasim Learning, aims to make every child’s tuition free and independent. He believes when a child wishes to open his book by himself especially math, Dinasim Learning has achieved its most important objective.

How would you describe the programme?

The programme’s main objective is to generate interest towards the subject.

And I personally believe that while playing games if children can learn, their grasping power is beyond imagination.

Talk about the game angle in the programme Games such as Angry Birds are used to introduce decimals, metric conversions, where each child is made to play in the class and they are introduced to various concepts which can make them realise that math is just not a part of their curriculum, but also a part of day-to-day games and real life situations.

How did you come up with the idea?

While completing my post-graduation in England, I realised how our Indian education is so marks oriented, which inspired me to come back to India and change the way students and parents look at the subject of Mathematics.

DIVESH BATHIJA

Did you have trouble with the subject while growing up?

I had a strong inclination towards the subject right from my childhood. I was disappointed the way it was expressed to us.

How effective do you think will an online tool be as compared to practicing on paper everyday?

An online tool cannot substitute a pen and paper. Practice on paper is essential, even though an online tool can add value to the existing process and make the subject more interesting.

6. What is the USP of this programme?

Our both online and offline tools don’t support use of monotonous textbooks.

We use games and real life examples, including watching favourite TV shows and sporting events to learn Mathematics.

The testimonials of students about their love for maths after attending the workshops on Dinasim learning

HOW TO CRACK THE SUBJECT

1 2 3 4

Every student that enrolls shall get one worksheet every week for a span of three months Topics shall be chosen as per the grade and board of the student Each topic shall engage the student for an hour on weekly basis

The activity could be watching a soccer match/ visiting a nearby store/ playing an online game and many more. (All activities shall be designed as per the interests and hobbies of the student - details of which shall be taken in the enrollment form)

5

All worksheets will have to be solved in one sheet along with calculations and will have to be scanned and emailed to Dinasim Learning

6 7

Dinasim team intends to cover, on an average, six to eight key topics in three months

Detailed analysis of every worksheet shall be emailed to the parent on a monthly basis summarising the student’s progress in the thought process and overall development

http://www.dinasimlearning.com/our-services/online-program/

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JANUARY 31, 2015

PUNE

“It was a peoples’ movement to eradicate corruption...this is the need of the hour. Individuals may come and go, but the people and issues remain, and the movement will not be stopped.”

— Anna Hazare

North Korea’s forbidden love? Smuggled, illegal soap operas P 13

Moody’s says food subsidy reforms will reduce inflation

AAP may be headed for a landslide victory in Delhi Barring an unforeseen miraculous shift in fortunes, Kejriwal’s tenacity could have scored over Amit Shah’s blunders

by R Jagannathan The tide of political fortune seldom flows unidirectionally for too long.

The tide that brought Narendra Modi to power in May 2014 and seemed to overwhelm every party standing in its path is now hitting the rocks in Delhi.

Arvind Kejriwal, who seemed to get nothing right in the first half of last year has now reversed his slide, aided by the complete misreading of his challenge in Delhi by the BJP. The latest ABP News-Nielsen opinion poll shows a 50-41 split favouring Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) against the BJP, a sharp rise from a fortnight ago when the BJP was a nose ahead. If this poll has got it right, AAP is not only going to get a majority, but a landslide win. A rising near 10 percentage points difference in a largely two-horse race is unlikely to be reversed in the course of a week.

A HT-Cfore survey published on January 29 shows AAP and BJP tied with 38 per cent of the vote each.

While this means all is not lost for the BJP and a fight will go down to the wire, the momentum seems to be in AAP’s direction taking all polls since December into account. So, unless something dramatic alters voters’ minds over the next week before polling on February 7, Kejriwal is still the man on the inside track.

So it is more than likely that on February 10 we will wake up to cries of “Paanch Saal Kejriwal”.

Barring an unforeseen miraculous shift in fortunes, Kejriwal’s tenacity would have scored over Amit Shah’s blunders. Shah, the man who had made winning a habit, may get his comeuppance this time.

What is going right for AAP and wrong for BJP all of a sudden?

In the main, it is obvious that Kejriwal made the right calls after his party’s ignominious defeat in the Lok Sabha polls and ill-advised challenges to Modi from Gujarat to Varanasi.

The first call he made was to keep AAP away from all assembly contests and focussing exclusively on Delhi.

This was shrewd for several reasons.

A party that just lost almost everywhere needed to concentrate its efforts and limited resources in the one place it had the maximum chances of winning.

Kejriwal rightly calculated that losing once more in a state (Haryana)

three huge strategic errors that are simply unforgiveable.

First, it ignored the mess and infighting in the Delhi BJP till the end. With hindsight we can say that a rudderless state party should have been fixed first before if the idea was to delay the polls till after the other four assembly elections had been completed.

Second, the induction of Kiran Bedi into the party at the last minute now appears to have been a huge mistake.

Not because she is a liability, but simply because there was too little time for the party to adjust to her and her to the party.

Moreover, she appears inexperienced in electoral wordplay and seems a novice before the battle-tested Kejriwal. Kejriwal has spent two years in the trenches mixing with voters; Bedi has spent these two years in TV studios and in splendid isolation. She needed time to be coached on what to say and what not to, and also to acclimatise herself to the party she was joining. This lack of time and experience is costing her and the party.

I don’t believe she is a misfit in politics; in fact, she is the right fit in the new politics of citizen involvement

The induction of Bedi into the party at the last minute now appears to have been a huge mistake

According to the rating agency, greater transparency and efficiency will lead to both demand and supply responding more quickly to price signals, diminishing the distortions that have kept food price inflation higher in India than globally.

Food accounts for about 50 per cent of the average household consumption basket, lower food inflation will dampen wage inflation, improve the interest rate environment and increase the economy’s competitiveness.

India’s general government fiscal deficit ratio of 7.2 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) for the fiscal year ended March 2014.

Annual spending on food subsidies grew by 20 per cent on average over the past eight years, compared with 16 per cent overall expenditure growth during the same period, the rating agency said.

According to Moody’s, the exact reduction in subsidy costs will depend on the measures that the government eventually adopts.

A reduction in food subsidy coverage is politically sensitive in India, where annual per capita income was $1,509 in fiscal 2014.

Therefore, it will be difficult to obtain parliamentary approval to amend the National Food Security Act and reduce the percentage of the population eligible for food subsidies.

But many of the panel’s other recommendations were made in consultation with state governments, suggesting a political and policy consensus that could smooth their implementation, Moody’s said.

IANS

A reduction in food subsidy coverage is politically sensitive in India

The first call Arvind Kejriwal made was to keep AAP away from all assembly contests and focus exclusively on Delhi

where the party was ill-prepared was not a risk worth taking. He calculated - correctly - that the BJP would be trying to win the bigger states. He concentrated his resources fully in the place the BJP had ignored till last month. He hit the enemy in his weakest spot, and he has gained as a result.

That he was helped by the BJP’s strange mix of hubris and reluctance to give battle does not take anything away from what appears to be Kejriwal’s likely win on February 10. He would have earned this victory, assuming it happens as the polls predict.

The BJP developed an inexplicable ambivalence in Delhi despite winning 60 out of 70 assembly segments in the Lok Sabha elections. Logically, it should have administered the coup de grace by holding the Delhi assembly polls in June 2014 when AAP was staggering under defeat and demoralisation. The BJP’s complete inability to grasp the chance must go down in history as possibly one of history’s best examples of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Apart from the blunder of delay, which is likely to blot Amit Shah’s all-win copybook so far, the BJP made

Global credit rating agency Moody’s Investor Service on Thursday said the recommended reforms in food subsidy and distribution will reduce India’s inflationary pressures and fiscal deficit.

On January 21, a government panel had recommended reforms in the food subsidy and distribution system.

In an article in the latest issue of Moody’s credit outlook Moody’s associate analyst-Sovereign Risk Group said: “We expect the recommendations to prompt policies that will improve the efficiency of India’s food supply chain, a credit positive because it will reduce inflationary pressures and the government’s fiscal deficit, two key constraints on the sovereign’s credit quality.”

The reforms include decentralising grain procurement, a process for disposing of excess food grains, delivering food and fertiliser subsidies via direct cash transfers, and reducing food subsidy coverage as mandated by the National Food Security Act to 40 per cent of the population from 67 per cent.

According to Moody’s, India’s consumer price index (CPI) inflation has averaged 9 per cent over the past five years, driven largely by food inflation.

India’s current food subsidy and distribution system support demand for food by lowering its costs to targeted consumers, suppresses the price signals that would prompt a supply response to India’s growing food demand.

Furthermore, the loss of grain stocks through inefficiency or corruption has raised costs and lowered the socio-economic benefits of the system, Moody’s said.

and improved governance. It is the old BJP which is in a time warp and needs change. Hopefully, the BJP will learn the right lessons the next time.

This writer also completely misread the impact of Kiran Bedi’s entry and jumped to conclusion that she was a game-changer. But, as explained above, it may already have been too late.

Third, Amit Shah is now belatedly pulling out all the stops by pushing central ministers and state leaders to stem the tide in Delhi by campaigning in the segments they may have influence over. While I give him full marks for trying to make a real fight of it, the chances are this will be seen as a panic move. Such last-minute manoeuvres are seldom enough to pull back for a douubledigit vote difference. Delhi also is not the sum of people from various states.

At best, Shah can hope to prevent a Kejriwal landslide. But its like putting your finger in the dyke when the dam is about to burst.

I may be jumping the gun by prematurely declaring victory for Kejriwal, and may have egg on my face on February 10, but analysis with hindsight is no analysis at all.

Karl Marx was brilliant in explaining history and poor in predicting its future course. I hope I am not Karl Marx. I believe this is a fight Kejriwal deserves to win and one that BJP deserves to lose.

By special arrangement with Firstpost.com

According to the credit rating agency, the loss of grain stocks through inefficiency or corruption has raised costs and lowered the socio-economic benefits of the system

The politics behind Jaishankar’s appointment as foreign secy

by FP Staff Three days before he was scheduled to retire and a day after the diplomatic success of US President Barack Obama’s visit for Republic Day, India’s envoy to the US, Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, got a call from the Modi government to take over as a the nation’s next foreign secretary.

But the move may have been in offing for long given that prime minister Narendra Modi has reportedly been keen on shunting Sujatha Singh out at the earliest.

The government was characteristically tight-lipped about the change of post and in its release only said that Singh’s tenure that was due to end in eight months was ‘curtailed’ with immediate effect.

Singh took charge in August 2013, and was only the third woman to hold the post. While some reports indicated she could take charge of a diplomatic

mission abroad, no posting have been assigned as of now.

However, a report in the Hindu quoted government sources as saying that Singh had sought voluntary retirement and it is unclear whether her removal will spark tension with other bureaucrats in the ministry. The last time such a major change occured when Rajiv Gandhi sacked his foreign secretary AP Venkateswaran leading to a huge controversy and stiff protest by the Foreign Service.

The Congress has questioned the reason for her removal with spokesperson Manish Tewari tweeting that it was late retribution for the stand taken on the row with the US over the arrest of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade in 2013.

However, Singh may have been in the crosshairs of the government for some time now.

According to a Times of India report, the prime minister had wanted

IANS

The 1997-batch IFS officer is also said to be former PM Manmohan Singh’s first choice for the post

Union minister of external affairs Sushma Swaraj welcome Subrahmanyam Jaishankar as he took charge as the new foreign secretary on January 29

her removed from the post and it was only the intervention of foreign affairs minister Sushma Swaraj that had stalled the action so far. The impasse had also meant that the government had refused to clear

any ambassadorial appointments for the last six months and is now expected to follow up with a slew of appointments.

Officials also reportedly said that Modi had kept Singh out of crucial

decision making like the cancellation of foreign secretary talks with Pakistan and the Obama visit to India.

Jaishankar was reportedly a front runner to be the foreign secretary when the Manmohan Singh government was in power but Singh was reportedly picked over him because of her seniority. However, other reports suggest that her appointment was also influenced by the fact that prime minister Manmohan Singh may have been overruled by his party on the decision to appoint Jaishankar as the foreign secretary. The UPA government’s decision at the time may have been influenced by the fact that Singh’s father was former IB chief and ex-UP governor TV Rajeshwar, who is seen as a Congress loyalist.

Former PM Manmohan Singh was reportedly keen on appointing Jaishankar as the foreign secretary for his work done during the Indo-US civil nuclear deal while he was joint secretary in charge of the Americas between 2004 and 2007. The diplomat, who is the son of defence strategist K

Subrahmanyam, also happens to be the longest serving ambassador to China.

Jaishankar was India’s ambassador to the US at the time the relationship between India and US soured over the arrest of Khobragade, but has since been credited with turning things around. After the success of Modi’s trip to the US, Jaishankar was credited with getting Obama to attend Republic Day celebrations.

A 1977-batch IFS officer, Jaishankar had only days to go for his retirement. He took charge as the foreign secretary on Thursday morning.

While Jaishankar refused to take any questions on his appointment this morning, he did say he was ‘honoured’ to be entrusted with the responsibility.

“Government’s responsibilities are my responsibilities,” he added.

Modi government had reportedly waited for the US president’s trip to end before making the announcement.

It will now be hoping that Jaishankar can re-create the success of the last few months many times over in his twoyear tenure.

Firstpost.com

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JANUARY 31, 2015

“The diverse gut bacteria can impact normal brain activity, affect sleep and stress responses, and be modified through diet for therapeutic use.”

— Sampath Parthasarathy, Florida Hospital Chair in Cardiovascular Sciences, Orlando

“At present two lakh children die of diarrhoea and three lakh due to pneumonia every year, which is not acceptable to the medical profession. No child should die of diarrhoea and pneumonia.”

— KK Aggrawal, IMA secretary general

‘Lack of awareness about cancer is the main problem’ says Dr Mrinal Supriya, head and neck cancer specialist and surgeon/ENT consultant at Ruby Hall Clinic and Sahyadri Hospital in Pune, about Head and Neck Cancer, ahead of World Cancer Day on February 4

RAHUL RAUT

Dr Mrinal Supriya

BY ISHANI BOSE @ishani_bose According to the 2002 World Health Organisation (WHO) data, one out of three cancer patients have head and neck cancer. The WHO report also states that one out of 57 men, and one out of 95 women are likely to suffer from head and neck cancer. The number of deaths due to head and neck cancer will increase by 75 per cent by 2020.

This data was given to TGS News Service by Dr Mrinal Supriya, head and neck cancer specialist and surgeon/ ENT consultant at Ruby Hall Clinic and Sahyadri Hospital in Pune.

He, however, lamented the lack of a proper data collection system, owing to which it is impossible to arrive at accurate statistics about how many people are afflicted by head and neck cancer in India.

• Doctors and the public should be made aware of the symptoms of the disease, as an early diagnosis improves the chances of survival significantly.

SURGERY

CHEMOTHERAPY

“All the data collection done here the consumption of paan masala, gutka, in India is based on eleven cancer tobacco, smoking and drinking. registries and that is with respect to “Cancer in the mouth, voice box the entire country. And if you compare and throat are mainly due to tobacco it to a country like Switzerland they consumption, be it smoking or have 10 registries for such a small eating gutka. Alcohol is also equally population. This means that their one responsible. The problem with alcohol cancer registrar covers 0.7 million is that if you mix it with tobacco, it people. In India, one cancer registrar doesn’t add but multiplies. So if you covers 100 million people. So you can are smoking regularly, you will have see the difference. five times more the C on s e q u e nt l y, risk of falling prey the data is very WORLD CANCER DAY to mouth cancer. inaccurate and a If you are drinking FEBRUARY 4 proper analysis is regularly, you will almost impossible. have three times How can you more the chances, compute 100 million database entries, and if you are doing both then you most of which are incomplete?” he said. have more than 15 times the chance of Going by the WHO estimates, the having mouth and throat cancer. That’s number of people suffering from head the main cause of the disease in India,” and neck cancer could have doubled, he said. since 2002. “This means that one out of The number of people suffering 30-40 men and one out of every 50 to 55 from head and neck cancer in foreign women in Pune is going to develop head countries, is far lower. “In foreign and neck cancer. But this is guesswork countries, out of 100 patients, just 3-4 and I can’t tell you the exact number,” per cent have mouth and throat cancer. he said.

In India, out of 100 patients, about 30-35 per cent have mouth and throat TOBACCO, THE MAIN cancer,” he said.

CULPRIT Dr Mrinal, who studied medicine According to Dr Mrinal, the at the Armed Forces Medical maximum cases of cancer that are being College, Pune, has worked at reputed registered these days in the hospitals hospitals in the US, United Kingdom are that of mouth cancer, caused due to and Australia.

How vegans can get calcium

tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

IANS

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

born with, in which the rectum is malformed. Th is was hampering his digestive functions and Chavan could not retain his food intake and vomit up everything. Th is put him in danger of damage to his intestines.

Chavan underwent surgery at a government hospital in Solapur, but the botched surgery, instead of curing him, left him in an even worse situation, with no control over his bowels.

He even stopped going to school.

He and his family members visited many doctors and finally approached Poona Hospital.

He underwent eight-hour long bowel reconstruction surgery four months ago, after which he has been leading a normal life.

LONDON: If you are a vegan and can’t include milk in your diet, then calcium is one nutrient your body will miss. Try orange or soy milk for a healthy calcium supply.

Calcium keeps bones and teeth healthy and strong, and around 1,000 mg of calcium per day is advisable for those aged between 19 and 50. It’s the equivalent of about three glasses of milk, but for vegans, there can be more options.

There are few food items that can help calcium supply for the body: Oranges: Just one orange has 60 mg of calcium so snacking on this citrus fruit through the day will get you close to your target. Or why not enjoy a glass of fortified orange juice in the morning?

Soy Milk: It’s a dairy free alternative that contains 300 mg of calcium, just like a normal glass of milk.

Oatmeal: It’s full of fibre, fi lling, and helps keep your heart healthy.

Just one packet of this has 105 mg of calcium. Just watch out as porridge is not suitable for those who are lactose intolerant or vegans. Thus choose wisely.

Soy Beans: One cup of Soy milk contains 261 mg of calcium.

Almonds: It helps in encouraging weight loss and reduce cholesterol.

White Beans: Only half a cup of white beans have 100 mg of calcium and they look like they do too!

Figs: These are high in fibre and iron but also give you 55 mg of calcium in just two figs.

Broccoli: Th is green vegetable has 180 mg of calcium in only one cup so when you were told to eat your greens as a child, your mother was actually thinking about your teeth and bones.

The team of doctors with the recovered patient, Bharat Chavan. (From L) Dr Bharat Dixit, Dr Jaideep Date, Dr Vinay Thorat and Dr Mahesh Thombare

TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly Four doctors from the city performed a critical surgery on a 26-year-old youth from Solapur and cleared his bowel obstruction.

A team of surgeons Dr Vinay Thorat, Dr Mahesh Thombre, Dr Jaideep Date and Dr Bharat Dixit of Poona Hospital performed a critical bowel construction surgery on Bharat Chavan of Bhoire Village in Solapur district. Chavan is a poor farmer and did not have money for the surgery.

Chavan was suffering from ‘imperforate anus’, a defect he was

RADIOTHERAPY

• In early stages of the disease, radio therapy or surgery is prescribed, depending on the condition of the patient • In advanced stages of the cancer, radiotherapy, surgery and chemotherapy are all prescribed

City docs perform critical surgery

Poona Hospital surgeons relieve Solapur youth of defect he was born with

WHAT MEASURES MUST BE TAKEN, ESPECIALLY IN PUNE?

Basically for head and neck cancer, we talk about three kind of treatments

PUNE

• One or two protocol dedicated head and neck units are needed in Pune. Each unit must have a dedicated radiation oncologist, a medical oncologist, and a plastic surgeon for facial reconstruction surgery.

• The head and neck region is responsible for the critical functions of chewing, swallowing, breathing and speaking. Post surgery, any or all of these critical functions can be affected and reconstruction is then necessary.

• A support team of speech and language therapists, prosthesis for the mouth and physiotherapists is needed.

He said, “There is an alarming lack of awareness among doctors and patients alike, in India. Very few hospitals have a dedicated head and neck cancer unit.

People who seek medical attention are usually in an advanced stage of the disease. Our aim is to spread more awareness regarding the disease so that we can save maximum lives. I am planning to update courses for general practitioners, so that they can recognise the symptoms at once and refer such patients to oncologists and cancer specialists,” he said.

The government must also take the initiative, in deterring people from the use of gutka and tobacco, through cautioning against their consumption, by mandatory warnings on cigarette and gutka packets, and banners and posters at gutka and tobacco vendors’ shops. ishani.bose @goldensparrow.com

The Way Forward With Compassion & Hope

Make a friend a day to keep boredom away

BY C RAVINDRANATH

W

hat is our general approach to life? Do we exude good-will and compassion to others or do we treat them with indifference? How do we relate to strangers? Are we unconcerned, scornful, suspicious or are we friendly and take the initiative to reach out to them? Is it really as actress Shirley Maclaine said, that fear makes strangers of people who would be friends?

There are myriads of strangers around us – on streets, in shopping malls, in buses and trains, in queues and restaurants, movie houses and everywhere else. How do we see them, or do we see them at all? How often do we smile at a person we have never met or initiate a pleasant conversation with them? How many strangers have we converted into friends? Has it not been said that strangers are just friends waiting to happen?

I have a friend who has a passion for making new friends. He says he makes at least one new friend every day. I asked him how many he retained as friends he promptly said, “All.” He smiled at the incredulous expression on my face. “Some of them, or even most of them fade away with time but they were friends for the time we shared together. They are all a part of my life and I’m grateful that they gave me a few moments of pleasure.” I’m sure each of his friends would have said the same words.

The other day, I was outside the passport office, waiting for my wife who had gone to renew her passport.

I had forgotten to carry a book to while away my time but decided I would spend my time observing people, listen to their conversations and imagine the kind of lives they led.

Soon, I joined conversations and in the two hours plus that it took for my wife to return, I had made friends with a group of drivers, a Gujarati girl who like me was waiting while her mother had gone to get her passport done, a young lady selling tea at a small stall near-by, a hand-cart puller selling odds and ends from pen knives and scissors to diaries and torches and a couple of uniformed waiters from a near-by beer joint who had come for a tea and cigarette break.

Each one had a story to tell, a joke to share, a complaint to air and a question to ask. They were all live, interesting individuals, each fascinating in his or her own way, each a novel unread – all I could glimpse in the time I spent in their company was the blurb on the back cover of the book of their lives. I did not get bored one single moment in all the time I waited.

I could have sat somewhere and read a book or played games on my cell phone. I could have cursed the government, the red-tape and delay.

I could have become irritated at the seemingly interminable wait. However, I felt I had not wasted my time. In fact, I thought I had spent my time usefully, gaining a bit of insight into people’s lives, lending them an ear that I felt they were looking for and in the process, creating a win-win situation.

I had reached out to people. I had recognised them as individuals, treated them with dignity and received dignity and trust in return. I had definitely benefited from my interaction with these strangers, who I may never come across again in my life.

I had touched their lives, albeit lightly and had been touched. Would you too do so?

(The writer is a multi-faceted personality who believes in responding with compassion and hope to the difficult situations in life.)

Is a problem bothering you endlessly? Write in to us at wayforward@goldensparrow.com for advice and suggestions from C Ravindranath

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JANUARY 31, 2015

PUNE

TH E EDIT PAGE

Unless Indian liberals, however small they are as a minority, are drawn from all communities and join forces on a regular basis, even the Hindu liberal minority will eventually lose its battle with communalists and revivalist Hindus.

Editor’s pick

—Hamid Dalwai

Liberals of India, don’t suppress your voice The gum-chewing US President Barack Obama may have heaped praise on prime minister Narendra Modi and made all the right noises during his recent visit to India. But Obama did not depart without leaving behind a sage piece of advice for Modi and for India. He cautioned that this country would succeed only if it was able to uphold a culture of tolerance and carry along people of all religions.

Obama reminded us that like the First Amendment to the American Constitution, Article 25 in the Indian Constitution guaranteed the freedom to practice and propagate religion. He cited the illustrious examples of Mary Kom, Milkha Singh and Shah Rukh Khan as people from the minority communities who achieved spectacular success in India.

“Your Article 25 says that all people ‘are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice and propagate religion’,” the US President said in his public speech on January 27.

The import of Obama’s speech needs to be underscored by prime minister Modi, the RSS and the entire flank of Hindu revivalists which includes regional parties like the Shiv Sena, VHP, Bajrang Dal and the like.

More significantly, the spirit of equality of all religions in an intrinsically tolerant and pluralistic society like ours needs to be repeatedly emphasised by the people of India and especially the liberals.

Barely a day after Obama left the country, the Shiv Sena called for deletion of the words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ from the Constitution’s Preamble. Senior BJP leader and Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the

matter should be put to a debate.

The fact is that a Modi-led BJP is experiencing its sweetest success since the formation of the party and this moment is being relished by all those who see an opportunity for the dominance of Hindu ideology and culture, rather than a flourishing multi-cultural environment.

The country does not belong exclusively to the politicians who hog the headlines with their incendiary, divisive remarks; but belongs also to the silent majority who would prefer to live in peace and harmony. It is therefore the duty of liberals from all communities to consciously promote religious tolerance in their circle of influence.

The great liberal Hamid Dalwai had warned almost four to five decades ago that even the Hindu liberal minority would eventually lose its battle against communalists and revivalist Hindus “unless Indian liberals, howsoever small they are as a minority, are drawn from all communities and join forces on a secular basis”.

Dalwai said that a precondition for a secular and cohesive India was the presence of a class of Muslim liberals, who along with Hindu liberals and others “would continuously assail communalist dogmas and tendencies” and help establish a class of modern Indian liberals.

Th is is all the more important today when Hindu revivalists have become over-zealous and enthusiastic in competing with one another to make sensational statements one after the other. @TGSWeekly editor_tgs@goldensparrow.com

Traffic planners, give pedestrians their due

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) in consultation with the Pune Police has constructed some excellent pedestrian crossings with or without pedestrian signals on some of the busiest roads in the city.

One such elevated pedestrian crossing is located opposite Central Mall on Ganeshkhind Road (also known as University Road); there’s another on Jungli Maharaj Road and yet another sits pretty on Fergusson College Road opposite The Times of India building.

The entire effort of planning and constructing these pedestrian crossings, at substantial cost to the public exchequer, is a waste because pedestrians are unable to use them effectively. On Ganeshkhind Road, for example, motorists don’t respect the pedestrian signal even when it is red.

Like elsewhere in the city, even here pedestrians have to cross the road at considerable risk to their lives in fast moving traffic. Given the abysmal state of traffic sense and traffic discipline in Pune, it is important that traffic policemen are stationed at these signals to ensure that they are respected by motorists.

The presence of a traffic policeman and the threat of a fine are enough

deterrence to get the people of Pune to show respect for the rules.

Apart from various classes of vehicles ranging from bullock carts to trucks, roads are meant for pedestrians too. Since every Puneite is also a pedestrian - irrespective of whether he rides a bicycle or drives an Audi - the traffic planners must make our roads adequately comfortable for pedestrians.

Th is would primarily mean providing good footpaths and safe pedestrian crossings for the people of Pune. To be fair to the PMC and its officials, a number of streets of Pune now feature good footpaths. While this good work must continue with greater sincerity and commitment, the civic authorities and the traffic police need to start paying attention to pedestrian crossings.

It is not fair on the part of senior IPS officers of Pune to leave this task to the humble traffic constable. The Pune Police Commissioner Satish Mathur and in particular DCP (Traffic) Sarang Awad need to show greater responsibility in ensuring that pedestrian crossings are respected in the city. @TGSWeekly

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Editor: Abhay Vaidya (Responsible for the selection of news under the PRB Act, 1867)

Cartoon by: Sorit; Courtesy: Down To Earth

N-deal: India-US on same page

BY C UDAY BHASKAR

The much awaited and long-delayed modus-vivendi between India and the US over the finalisation of the civilian nuclear cooperation agreement that began in July 2005 has finally been achieved on Sunday (January 25) on the fi rst day of US President Barack Obama’s visit to India.

The major obstacles were the nature of the liability clauses in the event of any nuclear accident or incident which India wanted and the nuclear-reactor inspection rights that the US had sought. India had introduced a nuclear liability law in 2010 — as it happens, at the behest of the BJP which was then in the opposition — that placed the liability on the supplier in the event of a nuclear accident. This is at variance with the global norm which places the liability in such exigencies on the operator. However, this stipulation was not acceptable to the US. The US, in turn, sought to impose ‘flag rights in perpetuity’, meaning that in the event India acquired a US nuclear reactor, the US would retain the right in perpetuity to inspect any material or equipment that was being used in or as-

sociated with the said reactor. India saw this as an infringement of its nuclear sovereignty and resisted such a clause.

Consequently, the much anticipated civilian nuclear cooperation commerce between the US and India remained a non-starter and the issue continued to fester from late 2008 when the (George W) Bush administration had gone the extra mile to tweak its domestic legislation to accord India an exceptional status in the global nuclear domain.

The BJP-led NDA government, which assumed office in May 2014, had prioritised the nuclear issue and prime minister Narendra Modi indicated that this matter would receive the highest political attention when he visited the US in September 2014 for his first meeting with President Obama. However, despite a series of meetings between the

officials on both sides over the last few months, it appeared that a compromise on the nuclear issue remained elusive.

The dramatic ‘breakthrough’ - as Obama himself described it - announced Sunday is to be welcomed and is indicative of the joint political resolve that the Modi-Obama combine has been able to demonst rate to redress a long festering issue that has prevented the India-US bilateral relationship from realising the potential benefits embedded in the radical breakthrough of July 2005 that had ended India’s nuclear isolation in the global comity.

It may be recalled that even in July 2005, when then prime minister Manmohan Singh had met with then US president George W Bush in Washington, the radical civilian nuclear cooperation agreement needed the last minute

Cloud Computing & reincarnation

BY ANIL RAJVANSHI

Since the memories can be accessed from KS, an individual also has the Through ages mankind has been ability to change them. This could be the intrigued by reincarnation. Various basis of ancient philosophy of Patanjali theories have been provided in our who says that with Yoga and Sanyam a ancient scriptures but most have been yogi develops powers so that past birth silent on what passes from body to sanskars can be modified or destroyed body during reincarnation. Modern to achieve liberation. This capability of technology of Cloud Computing might changing deep memories in KS only help. exists with human brain because Just like Cloud Computing of its size. If the soul reincarnates where most of the information into an animal body then those for personal usage is stored in memories remain dormant till cyberspace and accessed by will one again finds a human body with a combination of unique user and changes them. id and password, it is possible that Energy wise the transfer of most of the deep memories of an only user name and password individual, both good and bad, from one body to another makes exist in knowledge space (KS) THINK more sense since a ‘switch’ is and can be accessed by an avatar. easier to transfer than memories KS is where very concentrated of a whole lifetime. Cloud memories in thoughts, strong emotions, etc are stored KS may have some subtle effect on the as memories. A very powerful emotion actions of the person possessing them. or deep thought is a very stable structure This may be the basis why almost all and hence can stay for a long time as a religions have stressed on doing good so memory in KS. Thus KS is just like a that past actions do not come to haunt virtual server of cyberspace. you. It is almost like whatever you write It is possible that what transfers on Facebook or other social network during the time of death is only the sites, always comes to haunt you. user name and password! If somebody This also means that these memories wishes and has the ability then he/she are cumulative ie they accumulate can access those memories from KS. through various births! However not This is the basis of reincarnation. The all memories exist in KS but only very transfer of unique ID from one body to deep emotional ones do. Since the user another is by pure chance unless willed name and password is an important by near and loved ones. Nevertheless part of reincarnation this could be great yogis who have left the body by the basis of ancient tradition of child will have used the conjunction of planets naming ceremony practiced in almost to probably go to different worlds. For all religions. others this earth remains the abode for How can we access our memories all incarnates. of past births? Only very advanced yogis

with practice of Sanyam have the ability to find about their own or others’ past births. Thus in a celebrated example Shri Ramkrishna found out about past reincarnation of Swami Vivekananda by touching him on his chest.

Similarly Vivekananda once described how by touching the hand of a disciple he saw all the disciple’s past memories as written in black with sky as the blackboard. This is just like the Cloud Computing where one can access the relevant information from the servers.

Nevertheless quite a number of children have been able to recollect their past births. Their unfettered but powerful mind with correct user name and password somehow has this ability. As they grow older their present personality and identity overshadows the older one and they loose this ability.

Just as through our writings, chats and e-mails we create a profile on social networks and cyberspace, with our deep thoughts and strong emotions we can create a profile in knowledge space.

The more powerful a person’s mind is, the bigger is his signature in the KS. This signature is further strengthened by people thinking about that person and hence a virtual temple for him is created in KS. This could be the basis of invocation of gods and deities practiced by mankind throughout the ages.

KS also has memories of advanced galactic civilizations and powerful minds and can help in producing new discoveries and inventions. © Anil K Rajvanshi anilrajvanshi@gmail.com

high level political nudge to reconcile the differences between the two sides.

History may have been repeated this time in Delhi.

The impact of this Delhi breakthrough on the nuclear issue will re-energise and reset the moribund India-US bilateral relationship and this will in all likelihood have a beneficial ripple effect on all the other issues that are awaiting traction during the current Obama visit.

Hopefully, India will be able to overcome some of its earlier inhibitions regarding the foundational agreements as regards the defence and military sector and this, in turn, will allow Delhi to begin actively reviewing the high technology possibilities that were first mooted in July 2005 and then signed October 2008.

This has been a long wait but the Modi-Obama ‘chai pe charcha’ (conversation over tea) has cleared the logjam. The eagle and the elephant may still tango!

(C Uday Bhaskar is Director, Society for Policy Studies. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at cudaybhaskar@spsindia.in)

Limericks of the week

BY C RAVINDRANATH

Among his ilk, he stood tall His wit and art did enthral Liked and lauded Often applauded Laxman will be missed by all.

Despite security trepidations It has improved relations The President’s visit Was indeed a hit Raising new expectations.

Arvind wants Kiran out Karuna hates Amma’s clout Men have their say On women’s R-Day Now Arnab has more to shout!

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JANUARY 31, 2015

With selections from The New York Times

PUNE

“The British Government worked hard to have the ban (on the import of mangoes from India) lifted. This is great news for the UK-India and EU-India trade relationship and especially for Indian exporters and UK consumers.”

—James Bevan , British High Commissioner in India

The Australian Open is much more than fourth Grand Slam P 15

Planet Ex: Closer looks at Pluto and Ceres There are plenty of good things for scientists to figure out like how many moons circle Pluto? Could it have rings like Saturn?

Speeding Toward a Clearer View of Dwarf Planets

NASA’s Dawn and New Horizons spacecraft are nearing their destinations after years of travel. Both missions should return images of solar system objects on the edge of planethood.

BY KENNETH CHANG It is small. It is round. It was once a planet but is now cast off as too diminutive. In March, a NASA spacecraft will arrive there to begin the first close-up examination of a dwarf planet. It is not Pluto. It is instead Ceres, 966 kilometres wide, the largest of the asteroids between Mars and Jupiter.

“We’re going to reveal the fascinating details of a giant world of rock and ice,” said Marc Rayman, the chief engineer for NASA’s Dawn spacecraft.

“It’s not like we’re just going out to visit a chunk of rock the size of one of those mountains,” he said, pointing to the San Gabriel Mountains outside the windows at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

“Ceres has 38 per cent of the area of the continental United States. It’s actually the largest body between the sun and Pluto that a spacecraft has not yet visited.”

A year ago, the Herschel Space Observatory discovered water vapour rising off two spots on Ceres, possibly a sign of ice volcanism. “Ceres may have subsurface ponds or lakes or even oceans of water,” Rayman said.

Later in the year, the bigger and much more famous dwarf planet Pluto will have its close-up when NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft zips past.

These missions, years in the works, are expected to let loose a flood of data that will help paint clearer pictures of Ceres and Pluto and uncover clues on the origins of our solar system. They will also rekindle the debate over what constitutes a planet.

The encounter phase of the New Horizons mission officially began in January, 180 days before the spacecraft’s closest approach July 14. New Horizons, launched in 2006 on a 4.8-billionkilometre trip to Pluto, came out of hibernation in December and is still 217 million kilometres away, closing in at a speed of more than 48,000 kph. It will start photographing Pluto, and by May,

CERES, THE LARGEST ASTEROID

The best images of Ceres from the Hubble Space Telescope, left, show a Texas-size ball of rock and ice.

Dawn made a long spiral through the inner solar system to match speed and direction with Ceres, and along the way spent 14 months studying the protoplanet Vesta. Dawn is on course to rendezvous with Ceres in March and will spend more than a year orbiting the dwarf planet, right.

Saturn

those photographs will be sharper than the sharpest taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. “From there on in, it gets dramatically better, week by week,” said S Alan Stern, the principal investigator for New Horizons. At closest approach, 12,553 kilometres above the surface, the images will have a resolution of about 70 metres per pixel.

Relative sizes 2,000 MILES

Ceres

Pluto and Charon, its largest moon

THE DWARF PLANETS Pluto’s demotion from planethood in 2006 left fuzzy notions of what a planet is and is not. The International Astronomical Union, the organisation in charge of astronomy nomenclature and names, invented a new category, dwarf planets, to place Pluto and Eris, an object discovered a decade ago that is

around its orbit,” while a dwarf planet needs only to be large enough that its gravity has pulled it into a roundish shape, what physicists call hydrostatic equilibrium. “It’s trying to be right, but it’s written terribly,” said Michael E Brown, the California Institute of Technology astronomer who found Eris, setting off the events culminating in Pluto’s demotion. Brown is not shy about expressing his opinions, either.

His 2010 book is titled “How I Killed Pluto, and Why It Had It Coming.”

Conversely, Stern and Christopher T Russell, a planetary scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who is the principal investigator for the Dawn mission, focus more on the intrinsic properties rather than gravitational interactions with other bodies. Once a body is large enough to become round, heavier elements like iron sink to the core. Vesta, which Dawn studied before heading to Ceres, has some planetlike features, although it is more potato than sphere in shape.

“If all of the scientific community starts referring to Vesta and Ceres and Pluto as planets, then eventually MYSTERY OF CERES everyone will come When Ceres was along,” Russell said. discovered, in 1801, it “We’re going to let was added to the roster of the bodies speak for planets. Within six years, themselves.” A simple - Marc Rayman three more objects were change advocated spotted in the region by many Pluto fans Pallas, Juno and Vesta - bringing the would be to eliminate the “cleared number of planets to 11. (In the outer the neighborhood” requirement. That solar system, Neptune and Pluto had not would add not only Pluto and Ceres, yet been discovered.) But as astronomers but also two other icy worlds discovered found more and more asteroids, they beyond Neptune by Brown - Haumea thought it was ridiculous for every and Makemake - that are large enough little rock between Mars and Jupiter to to be roundish. Stern goes further. be called a planet. The rocks became If a planet is defined by its physical asteroids, not planets. Ceres lingered for properties, not its dynamical ones, decades on some drawings of the solar then anything round. but not a star, is system, but it was eventually forgotten, a planet regardless of where it is. “Some even by most astronomers. Almost no of them orbit other planets,” he said. one cared much that Ceres was round “Get over it.” Astronomers there could and not a planet until round Pluto propose a new definition, but Thierry suddenly became a nonplanet, too.

Montmerle, the general secretary of the The International Astronomical organisation, said, “The vast majority of Union attempted to codify the “big” the international planetary community aspect by stating that a full-fledged has clearly accepted this definition.” planet “has cleared the neighborhood © 2015 New York Times News Service

“It’s not like we’re just going out to visit a chunk of rock the size of one of those mountains.”

PLUTO, ONCE A PLANET

New Horizons was launched in early 2006, seven months before Pluto was reclassified a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union. Hubble images of Pluto, right, suggest a mottled surface of bright and dark patches that are changing over time. New Horizons will pass in July, left, and might add to Pluto’s tally of five moons, the last of which was discovered in 2012.

Marc W Buie, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, and a member of the New Horizons team, agrees with Stern but wishes the issue would go away.

Years ago, people would be fascinated to hear the scientific puzzles about Pluto.

Now, conversations usually start with “Is Pluto a planet?” “It’s a very annoying, distracting issue,” Buie said.

There are plenty of good things for scientists to figure out. Why did Pluto, which had had a consistent reddish hue since Clyde Tombaugh spotted it in 1930, suddenly turn redder from 2000 to 2002? It has stayed the redder colour since then. Why, as Pluto moves away from the sun, has the atmosphere not frozen and fallen to the ground as many scientists thought it might?

How many moons circle Pluto?

Could it have rings like Saturn? For decades, astronomers knew of only one moon, Charon, but Hubble has spied four more: Hydra, Nix, Styx and Kerberos. “It’s all going to be fantastic,” Buie said.

“I’m interested in seeing every single result, every measurement, every byte of information that’s going to come out of that spacecraft.”

Earth’s moon and the U.S.

a virtual twin of Pluto in size.

More controversially and confusingly, the group decreed that dwarf planets - Ceres was promoted from asteroid at the same time - were not planets. Stern is not shy about calling the current definition stupid, saying the “I” in “IAU” actually stands for “irrelevant.”

“They got it really wrong,” Stern said.

Few people outside North Korea think the TV adventures of the lust-driven and lovelorn could lead to the overthrow of the Kim family dynasty

Disinherited daughters of Julio Muñoz Ramonet, a Catalan industrialist, battle their father’s city over missing artworks

BY CHOE SANG-HUN SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA: As a math professor in North Korea, Jang Se Yul was among the nation’s relatively privileged classes; he got to sit in special seats in restaurants and on crowded trains, and more important in a country where many go hungry, was given priority for government food rations. Then he risked it all, for a soap opera from South Korea.

The temptation in this case was “Scent of a Man,” an 18-episode drama about the forbidden love between an ex-convict and his stepsister. A graduate student had offered him the bundle of banned CDs smuggled into the North and, too curious to resist, Jang and five other professors huddled in one of their homes binge watching until dawn. They were careful to pull the curtains to escape the prying eyes of neighbours taught to turn in their fellow citizens for seditious activities. But they were caught anyway and demoted to manual labour at a power plant. Jang said they most likely escaped prison only because they paid bribes, but facing a lifetime of social stigma and having had a glimpse of the comforts of South Korea in “Scent of a Man”, he decided to defect. He now leads a defectors’ group that sends soap operas and other entertainment to the North to try to empower people to demand an end to authoritarian rule. “I am sure these soaps have an impact on North Koreans, and I am the proof,” he said.

The decidedly lowbrow dramas - with

Jang Se-yul, who defected from North Korea after viewing a South Korean dramas, sends DVDs of soap operas back to the North, in Seoul, South Korea

names like “Bad Housewife” and “Red Bean Bread” have, in fact, become something of a cultural Trojan horse, sneaking visions of the bustling South into the tightly controlled, impoverished North alongside the usual sudsy fare of betrayals, bouts of ill-timed amnesia and, at least once, a love affair with an alien.

North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, has issued increasingly pointed warnings to his subjects about the “poisonous elements of capitalism”.

Few people outside North Korea think the TV adventures of the lust-driven and lovelorn could lead to the overthrow of the Kim family dynasty, which has survived for decades despite international isolation and sanctions. Since he came to power in 2011, Kim has struggled to open the North just enough to keep his top loyalists happy, plying them with imported goods, while maintaining control in a country where government-installed intercoms in every home still blare reminders of required

ideological education classes. He allowed an estimated 2 million people to own cellphones, but ensured they could not call abroad. And, despite a crackdown, the country has seemed unwilling, or unable, to fully dismantle the smuggling networks that bring in soap operas, movies and K-pop videos.

For some North Koreans, the emotional tug of the soaps was enough to change their lives, forever. Kim Seung Hee, 24, is one.

She watched her first drama, “Stairway to Heaven,” courtesy of soldiers who asked to use her home for safe watching, and was hooked immediately, drawn not only to South Korea’s freedoms, but also to the promise of love in a more open society. “South Korean men in the films had such good manners toward women, unlike North Korean men who like to order us around,” she said. “It made me yearn for South Korea, dreaming of meeting such a man.” © 2015 New York Times News Service

BY RAPHAEL MINDER BARCELONA, SPAIN: Núria Rivero, an art historian, gave a tour one recent day of a sumptuous mansion from Barcelona’s own bygone gilded age, a mansion now owned by the city. But to her frustration, much of the tour was about what was not on the walls, instead of what was. All of it, she believes, the telltale signs of where paintings once hung.

And not just any paintings.

Some of them were probably masterpieces by Rembrandt, El Greco and Goya, she and the city claim, as well as Flemish tapestries and other objects - as many as 658 in all. “The real problem is not repairing some stitching,” said Rivero as she examined a Flemish tapestry from the 16th century in the entrance hall, “but the fact that we’ve only found seven of the 14 tapestries that should be here.”

The missing 352 paintings and drawings, together with tapestries and other works, constitute an art heist on a grand scale. It is alleging theft and fraud in a criminal case against the four daughters of Julio Muñoz Ramonet, a Catalan industrialist who bequeathed

SAMUEL ARANDA/THE NEW YORK TIMES

A legal battle over missing artworks JEAN CHUNG/THE NEW YORK TIMES

North Korea’s forbidden love?

Smuggled, illegal soap operas

Statues are wrapped in plastic on the grounds of a mansion bequeathed to the city by Julio Munoz Ramonet, in Barcelona, Spain

the property to his native city of Barcelona when he died in 1991.

After 17 years of legal battles over whether Muñoz Ramonet’s will was valid, the Spanish Supreme Court ruled in favour of Barcelona in 2012. The city is now accusing the daughters of surreptitiously removing much of their father’s art collection from his mansion before being forced to hand over the keys to the property a year after that ruling.

“We’re talking about a quantity and a quality of missing works of art that could probably fill a firstclass museum,” said Marc Molins, criminal lawyer representing the city. He added that he expected a judge to summon the indicted daughters to court in February.

The criminal trial is the latest installment of what has already been an epic court battle, waged by the city to recover the property and its belongings. The daughters deny theft or any other wrongdoing.

Their spokesman, Sergio Azcona, said Barcelona received all the works attached to the property, in line with a 1998 inventory that was reviewed by the city at the time.

Any art possessed by the daughters, Azcona said, came instead from other companies owned by their father or through other family connections. Still, the city insists that the property was somehow emptied of the major art collection that it once contained.

Barcelona is also counting on the testimony of the associate provost for arts at Harvard, Lori Gross, who examined and estimated the collection on behalf of daughters after their father’s death. Azcona said that Muñoz Ramonet’s mansion may contain fewer works than in its first inventory, but that did not constitute evidence of theft by the daughters. © 2015 New York Times News Service

MONEY MATT ER S

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JANUARY 31, 2015

PUNE

“Customers prefer buying two-wheelers on their credit cards.

But since the ticket size is small, consumers prefer to take financing for other big ticket items like homes.”

-YS Guleria, VP sales & marketing, Honda Motorcycle

Signpost Sensex down 60 points A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Thursday traded 61 points or 0.21 percent down, as investor sentiments were subdued after the US Fed assessed a strong economic recovery in the US. On Thursday, the Sensex was subdued in the mid-afternoon trade session after the US Feb said that the US economic is recovering fuelled by rising employment and declining inflation. The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 29,516.49 points, was trading at 29,498.33 points (at 1.40 p.m.), down 60.85 points or 0.21 percent from the previous day’s close at 29,559.18 points.The Sensex has touched a high of 29,539.41 points and a low of 29,378.30 points in the trade so far.

Indian investors look at US Indian investments in manufacturing and technology deals in the US are will be fast-tracked but investors have evinced interest in the “Select USA” initiative. “In the last two years, USA’s share in India ODI (overseas direct investment) has gone from 5.5 per cent to 7.8 per cent,” said Ajay Kumar, partner - tax and regulatory services, EY.

Indian luxury to achieve pinnacle The Indian luxury market is expanding fast and would reach $18 billion mark by 2017 from its existing level of $14 billion. According to an Assocham and Yes Bank’s market study, increasing brand awareness along with the purchasing power of the upper class in tier II and III cities, consumer expenditure is expected to touch $4.2 trillion. Fashion, fine dining and automobiles are the key areas.

“The four-day bank strike put on hold as Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) has assured to expedite talks and resolve the wage increase issue by February.”

- CH Venkatachalam, general secretary, AIBEA

Convert physical shares into demat Some people are holding shares not transferred in their name and don’t know how to go about the transfer. Here is the procedure Several people are still left with shares in physical format. If these are transferred in their name, they can continue to hold them and get them dematerialised anytime they want to. What about those who are holding shares not yet transferred in their names? One cannot sell these shares in physical forms through stock exchanges, unless it is dematerialized.

Several readers of Moneylife, said they wanted to transfer physical shares jointly held. But they don’t know the way out.

Asking National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) is of no help.

You will get a standard reply like this: “Shareholders can dematerialise physical shares in their own name.

As such, transfers of physical shares are outside the purview of depository system. There is also no trading in physical shares on the stock exchanges and hence they can only be transferred in private deals. The recommended course of action for investors holding physical shares is to dematerialise them. Transfer of demat shares is also exempt from stamp duty.”

Here is the procedure to transfer shares in physical form...

1. Send the share certificates along with the Share Transfer Deed (Form 7-B available with stock exchange and brokers) duly fi lled in, executed and affi xed with appropriate share transfer stamps (available with authorised stamp vendors) at 0.25per cent of the market value (of the scrip) on the date of execution of the transfer deed. Self certified copy of the PAN Card of the transferee(s) needs to be submitted along with the instrument(s) of transfer and Stamp duty has to be affi xed.

Since July 1, 2002, Maharashtra government has banned sale and use of share transfer stamps and mandated franking for such deeds. Th is facility was available at Bank of India branch in BSE building. However, since December 2014, this facility has been closed. Franking now happens at Town Hall General Stamp office only or other central offices of collectorate of

stamp fees within Maharashtra State, through online registration or without online registration. The process can be found at https://gras.mahakosh.gov.in. a. For paying the stamp duty without registration, you can use your online bank account. Here are the steps involved in the process...

I. II.

Select Pay without registration Select Department as Inspector General of registration III. In payment type, select Non Judicial Stamps IV. Select the appropriate location in District V. In office name, select General Stamp Office Mumbai VI. In Scheme Name, select ‘Purchase of franking code SOS Mumbai only’ VII. Select year as 2014 - 2015 VIII. In Article Code, select One time Adhoc IX. Fill in the Amount X. Give Payee details XI. Select e-payment/Bank XII. Fill in image text XIII. Click on Submit XIV. Print GRN MTR6 Challan Take this printout with your share transfer form to the office to get your stamp fee franked. i. If you do not have an online account, then I. Print the GRN MTR6 Challan II. Fill in your details and make the payment at your concerned bank’s branch where they accept payment for general stamp office with pay in slip etc.

III. Take the Form and the paid amount along with your transfer for franking.

One can submit the letter, form and receipt to the General Stamp Office between a specific time period. The franked documents can be collected between a specific period the next day.

Here is the checklist for getting your deed franked

C o v e r i n g letter to the Additional Collector Stamps. Two copies, one to submit and second for receipt of the office and collection next day.

MTR 6 Challan with the GRN No if you have done e payment Share transfer form Every share transfer form that has to be franked requires the above process.

After getting the deed franked, the investor can send the share certificates (physical shares) and the share transfer deed (in form 7B) duly fi lled in and signed to the company or registrar.

It takes about 10 to 21 days to process the transfer.

The statutory time limit fi xed for completing a transfer is one month under the Listing Agreement and two months under the Companies Act, 1956.

Tackle misleading advertisements

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs has started public forums seeking inputs from public on various consumer related issues, including action to be taken against misleading advertisement

Here is how you can convert your physical shares into demat...

• Open a Beneficiary Account with a DP registered with SEBI and with any one of the depositories, NSDL or CDSL. • Submit the dematerialization request form (DRF) (in triplicate) to your DP duly fi lled in and signed by all the shareholders, along with share certificate(s) and necessary documents. Ensure that the names and order of names as per certificate(s) matches with the names and order of the names as per the DP account.

• Obtain an acknowledgement from the DP.

Important points to note 1) Validity of the executed instrument of transfer: for shares: - 60 days from the date of execution. for debentures: - for an indefinite period 2) SEBI has notified vide its Circular No. MRD/DoP/Cir-05/2009 dated May 20, 2009, that it is mandatory for all transactions in the securities market including transfer of shares in physical form of listed Companies to be accompanied with copies of PAN card/s of all the transferees.

Therefore attach self-certified copies of PAN card/s of all the transferees along with the instrument of transfer 3) Keep photocopies of certificates, instrument(s) of transfer and other documents sent by post. In case of a loss in transit, they come handy.

4) Always include your complete address along with pin code while fi lling in the instrument of transfer/ opening an account with a depository participant.

5) Do not send share certificates / DRF documents to the Company / Registrars directly. @moneylife.in

Book Review of ‘The Small Big’ One more in the global glut of books on how to influence people

MONEYLIFE DIGITAL TEAM In what is possibly the fi rst ever exercise by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs to actually involve consumers to voice their opinions and suggestions, a public forum has been opened seeking inputs on various issues, including those related to actions against misleading advertisements. These forums were created in December 2014.

Misleading advertisements include exaggerated and overstated effects or attributes of a product without substantiating evidence, citing fake licenses or warranties and use of misleading graphics among other things.

Many of the concerns and suggestions that have been raised in these forums include issues related to advertisements in the healthcare category (hospitals and medicines) and the need for a central authority that is responsible for monitoring advertisements in the media that is accessible to the public.

Th is brings to light that there is little awareness amongst the common people regarding ASCI, the Advertising Standards Council of India, a self-regulatory organisation that regulates advertising content and provides guidelines and a code of conduct to be adhered to by all advertisements. It is accessible to all consumers as well as advertisers. Anyone can fi le a complaint with the ASCI against advertisements they fi nd misleading, harmful or unethical. ASCI have been very active in monitoring and taking prompt and strict action against advertisements that do not meet the prescribed codes and guidelines. In December 2014 alone, ASCI upheld 113 out of the 144 complaints registered.

Some of the complaints upheld by the Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) of the ASCI include those against advertisements for Good Knight (Godrej Consumer Products Ltd), which showed a child standing too close to the vaporising machine, Livon Hair Gain

How to convert shares into demat form?

Dematerialisation (demat in short form) signifies conversion of a share certificate from its present physical form to electronic form for the same number of holding. Demat is optional and an investor can still hold shares in physical form.

However, she has to demat the shares if she wishes to sell the same through the stock exchanges. Similarly, if an investor purchases shares, she will get delivery of the shares in demat form.

There are two depositories, NSDL and Central Depository Services Ltd (CDSL), which hold securities of an investor in electronic form, through depository participants (DPs). DPs provide the link between an investor and company through the Depository.

• On receipt of DRF, the DP will generate a dematerialization request number (DRN), which is electronically transmitted to the Company or STA through the concerned Depository.

• Simultaneously, the DP will send the physical certificate(s) with the original DRF to the Company or STA for verification and confi rmation.

• The Company or STA, on receipt of DRF and share certificate(s) will process the request. If the DRF is found to be in order, i.e. verified signature and certificate(s), then it will electronically confi rm the request.

• The DP on receipt of such confi rmation, will credit the account with the shares dematerialized.

• The DP will hold the shares in the dematerialised form thereafter on the shareholders behalf and she will become beneficial owner of these dematerialised shares.

DIVYA MALCOLM

Food supplies and civil minister Ram Vilas Paswan in a review meeting of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) on January 19 said that government has set up a committee to scrutinise the advertisements

(Marico Ltd) that claims to stop hair fall within 90 days. Maruti Swift (Maruti Suzuki India Ltd), which shows the driver performing dangerous stunts, while a child is inside the car, several educational institutes that claim to offer 100% placements and many “miracle” drugs, tonics and treatments that boast of being able to cure ailments and diseases like cancer, infertility, diabetes and hair fall were also banned. The ASCI Code also dictates guidelines for use of results from ‘independent research’ to promote products, depiction of women and advertisements for discounts or sale offers in advertisements.

A large number of the complaints fi led under ASCI as well as in the abovementioned public forums created by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs are related to advertisements in the healthcare category – these include concerns regarding aggressive marketing strategies employed by hospitals and other healthcare units and false claims made in advertisements for various drugs and

cosmetic products.

There are several legislations in place that deal with these issues – specifically, the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1955 and the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, both under the Department of Health and Family Welfare.

However, considering the large number of misleading and even outrageous advertisements for “miracle” drugs and low cost treatments that one comes across, it is clear that there is a lot to be done to ensure implementation of these legislations.

It is imperative that efforts are taken to keep in check the authenticity and the ethical standards of advertisements. Encouraging consumer participation is a step forward in this direction. Increasing awareness about organisations such as ASCI as well as relevant legislatures and stringent norms to ensure credibility of the claims made by advertisements are also important. @moneylife.in

Steve Martin, Noah Goldstein and Robert Cialdini—the co-authors of The Small Big-Small Changes that Spark Big Influence—have more than 50 tips on how to convince others. The highly anecdotal, smartly written 260 pages of the book are divided into 53 readable chapters, one pointer per chapter.

Hoteliers, doctors, sales-persons, managers, policy-makers, charities, retailers, teachers, parents—just about everyone stands to benefit from the book. The threesome has managed to tell us what to do and, more importantly, how to do it without being didactic.

How to get citizens to pay taxes, patients to keep their appointments, find the right pricing, or clinch that dream job? Well, the solution can be as simple as addressing mails that seek to extract a commitment or making a presentation that highlights your future potential and not just past achievements.

If ever that `1,999.99 price tag has bothered you, you know where to look for the answer. And it seems Ron Johnson, a former senior vice-president at Apple, got himself fi red as the CEO of JC Penny by rounding off those .99 price tags for whole integers.

To set apart these titbits that can get you to influence others, experiments in behavioural science, economics and social psychology have been pressed in evidence. Yet, the trio has steered clear from being pedagogic. Instances from everyday life, longest running television shows, advertisements that tanked, sermons that worked miracles in shoring up donations, bids that were laughably pricey, make for an easy

and useful reading.

The easy listening show sounds jarring (page 125) with the words “In this informationsaturated world where so many claim to be an expert, how do we know who to follow?”

Perhaps, the use of ‘who’ instead of whom is an error. If not, then, like so many other rules, thanks to our American friends.

Thus, we find out that astroturfing (practice of masking the sponsors of a message or organization), besides being fake grass used in sports, is the practice of launching fictitious reviews as part of a grassroots campaign. We also discover that, in some countries, such conduct is punishable. The example is from Taiwan and extracted from the book: “In October 2013, the Fair Trade Commission of Taiwan fined the Samsung Corporation 10 million New Taiwan dollars (around US$ 350,000) for allegedly paying people to post review and comments on social media and websites attacking the products of Samsung’s long time rival HTC and at the same time praising its own.”

Your product may have 10 different and highly laudable attributes; but, in your advertisements, you are well advised to limit yourself to the best three; mentioning anything more may distract rather than attract readers. My husband’s generation used to call it the ‘KISS RULE’: ‘Keep it simple, stupid!’

For a brief moment, the book does appear to be old wise men’s tales, dovetailed American style. In case you are at the airport on your way to negotiate a deal, now, you know which book to buy. Seal the deal, at `399, not `400! @moneylife.in

SPORTS

Figo to fight Blatter for FIFA presidency Lisbon: Portuguese great Luis Figo became the latest shock candidate for the role of FIFA president. The former Sporting Lisbon, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter Milan forward joins former French star David Ginola in the race to replace Sepp Blatter as boss of world football’s governing body, reports bbc.com. “Football has given me so much during my life and I want to give something back to the game.

I look at the reputation of FIFA right now and I don’t like it. Football deserves better,” Figo, who represented Portugal in 127 matches, said.

Ronaldo suspended for two matches Madrid: Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo was handed a two-game suspension Wednesday following his red card in the 2-1 win over Cordoba CF at the La Liga weekend. The prolific striker lost his temper in the closing stages of the game after failing to make an impact, kicking out and raising a hand to strike Cordoba defender Edimar in the face, leaving referee Alejandro Hernandez no other choice but to dismiss him, reports goal.com.

New league and ranking in boxing New Delhi: Boxing India (BI) Wednesday launched the Indian Series of Boxing (ISB) and introduced a national ranking system following the conclusion of its second Executive Committee Meeting (ECM). The ISB the new national league - is a platform for grooming pugilists and popularising the sport in India. Male boxers, across weight categories, will participate and have a chance to win prize money besides their regular salaries.

JANUARY 31, 2015

PUNE

“If you take me back to 1995, when doping was completely pervasive, I would probably do it again. But in 2015, I wouldn’t do it again because I don’t think you have to.”

— Cyclist Lance Armstrong

“It is the referee’s responsibility to protect players on the pitch, particularly when they are targeted by hard challenges. Hard tackles must be punished.”

— Brazilian and Barcelona forward Neymar

Signposts

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY

The Australian Open is much more than fourth Grand Slam The event has always struggled globally because of time difference from the northern hemisphere

by Tristan Lavalette The Australian Open has traditionally been derided as the least important of tennis’ grand slams. Before the event moved to Melbourne Park in 1988, it was played on grass courts at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club.

Unfortunately, the courts looked like a dilapidated version of Wimbledon’s pristine setting. Kooyong was perceived as dated and provincial.

Even up until about 20 years ago, some of the world’s best players skipped the tournament, notably Andre Agassi, who would later regretted sabotaging his chances of winning more grand slams. The event has always struggled globally because of Australia’s crazy time difference from the northern hemisphere. In the United States, sports fans are also too busy following the final stages of the NFL season at this time of year. Prominent ESPN columnist Bill Simmons believes the Australian Open is the equivalent of the US PGA Championship in golf, which is known as the fourth major.

But these archaic perceptions are countered by the Australian Open’s unpredictability, which makes particularly compelling. As this year’s tournament enters its second week, it is a timely reminder that the Australian Open is quite possibly the most fascinating event of the four majors and the hardest to forecast.

The French Open is reserved for

player’s corner

It is arguably tennis’ most intoxicating and beguiling Grand Slam tournament

clay court specialists and has been Rafael Nadal’s personal playground this decade - he has won nine of the last 10 tournaments. Compounding the event’s predictability, the slowness of the surface can make matches stretch to interminable lengths.

Wimbledon prestige and history propel make it the most cherished tennis tournament in the world. But much like the French Open, only a select few are genuine championship contenders. Only the big four in the men’s – Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have won

Atharva Godbole

By Ashish Phadnis @phadnis_ashish PUNE: Atharva Godbole features regularly on the Pune chess circuit. The 17-year-old has put in impressive performances in both the national and international tournaments he has taken part in, though this has not translated into norms or headlinegrabbing glory.

Godbole however, claimed his maiden junior state title (U-19). Obviously thrilled about this breakthrough, he said, “I had won a few district-level tournaments and a number of titles in my age-group, but this is special because it is my first state title. It was a good tournament for me. I was seeded second and was in a joint leading with top seed Anish Gandhi of Kolhapur Anish drew his match in the fourth round, which enabled me to take the lead, which I was able to maintain till the end,” he said.

He added, “In my eighth round match, I offered my opponent a draw, which he refused. I eventually won that game, which brought the title closer within my reach. All I needed in the last round was half a point, and I settled for a draw, which gave me the title.”

About his overall performance in 2014, Godbole said, “It was a great year for me. I played consistently and fulfilled my goal of improving my rating. I took part in the Chennai Open Grand Master tournament, followed by the Delhi International tournament. I was very keen on the World Junior tournament, in December at Pune. However, I was 80 points short of getting the 2000 rating for qualification. So I took a break from studies and my XII board exams, to focus on my game. I played a few tournaments and thus was able to qualify for the elite event.”

Though Godbole did not steal the limelight,

playing at the lower boards, he gained invaluable experience and rating points at the World Juniors.

About his game, Godbole says, “My strong point is my opening. I play a variety of open variations and tactical positions. The Sunday Rapid Chess Tournament gives me all the practice I need.

The time format is different, but I get to try out a wide variety of openings and improve my tactics. It has really helped me when I play the big tournaments.”

Currently studying at the Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce (BMCC), Godbole gravitated to chess by accident. “My father Niranjan was a cricket player, while my mother Saee was a kabaddi player. But I wasn’t inclined towards physical sport so I took up chess instead. When my parents realised that I had a flair for chess, they supported me whole-heartedly.”

Godbole trained with renowned coach Jayant Gokhale initially, and he is now guided by GM Abhijeet Kunte.

“He (Kunte) is familiar with my game and observes my match performances keenly. He has advised me to work on my middle game and strategy,” Godbole said.

About the future, he said, “I have some national level tournaments lined up.

Then I will play the Calcutta Open in March, followed by Mumbai and Bhubaneshwar.

My aim is a 2200 rating and an International Master norm by the end of the year.

I am confident that I can become an IM in the next two years,” Godbole said. ashish.phadnis@ Atharva with his father Niranjan, mother Saee and brother Abhishek goldensparrow.com

the event since 2003. Between 1993 and 2000, Pete Sampras won seven of eight Wimbledons.

It is the hard court events in New York and Melbourne that offer hope to more players in the draw, particularly in an era where slugging from the baseline is in vogue. But the Australian event is tougher to win than its American counterpart. The surface is slower than the courts at Flushing Meadows, providing a healthy medium between the big hitters and those with a penchant for the slowness of clay, making it a more level playing field for

the 132 competitors.

In the women’s draw, during the past 15 years the Australian Open has been dominated by contrasting skillsets, including finesse type players - Martina Hingis and Justine Henin - juxtaposed with those possessing power - Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka. The Australian Open can also catch out players who are not physically or mentally prepared for the nominal start of a new season. Some players are still recovering from sore bodies and find it difficult to transition back into the grind of grand slam tennis

– and the best of five sets for the men.

Others are determined to start the year positively and preparation can often make the difference. Agassi exploited this gap to win four Australian Opens in the second half of his career.

Melbourne’s schizophrenic climate adds another intriguing element. During late January, Melbourne is essentially a sauna. Temperatures often exceed 40 degrees. The city becomes akin to the inside of a car that has been left out in the sun all day. Extreme weather conditions test the resolve and fortitude of the players like no other. In 2014, Canadian qualifier Frank Dancevic fainted on court as the heat reached ridiculous levels, forcing the tournament had to adjust its Extreme Heat Policy this year. All these factors have thrown up an eclectic bunch of finalists this century. Stanislas Wawrinka, Arnaud Clement, Rainer Schuttler, Marcos Baghdatis, Fernando Gonzalez and JoWilifred Tsonga all made a mockery of expectations to make the final. In the era of the Big Four, no other grand slam has thrown up so many surprising results. The Australian Open also has a knack of conjuring some cracking tennis matches: Jennifer Capriati v Martina Hingis in ’02, Marat Safin v Federer in ’05, Nadal v Federer in ’09, and the epic Djokovic v Nadal final in 2012 that finished after 1.30am local time.

It is lazy to dismiss the Australian Open as the weak link of the grand slams. It is arguably tennis’ most intoxicating and beguiling tournament.

Just as Roger Federer, who lost in the third round to Andreas Seppi, a player he had beaten ten straight times previously.

(With Special arrangement with Firstpost)

India’s Shikhar Dhawan problem is proving hard to solve

India can risk an underperforming player because the tournament will heat up at the quarters

by Chetan Narula Remember the summer of 2013? India travelled to England for the Champions Trophy under an IPL spot-fixing cloud.

The team wasn’t expected to compete but Shikhar Dhawan had other ideas. He smacked a fluent 114 against South Africa and then followed it up with 102* against West Indies.

That was followed by 48 against Pakistan and 68 versus Sri Lanka. Dhawan ended the tournament with 363 runs from five matches at an average of 90.75. India won the title and Dhawan was named manof-the-tournament.

It looked like India had found a swashbuckling, free-hitting opener who could set-up and win games in foreign conditions. That now seems like a lifetime ago. Statistically, Dhawan’s figures still look good. Over his last ten ODI innings, he has one hundred and four fifties and averages 57.55 - higher than his careeraverage of 43.59. But read beneath the toplayer of these figures and you will find a story dictated by conditions.

In six innings at home, Dhawan has scored 387 runs at 64.50, with a hundred and three fifties. In four innings overseas, he has scored 131 runs and at an average of 32.75, with 97 coming in a single knock at Birmingham.

Dhawan’s career displays a similar trend. He averages 55.33 at home from 16 ODIs since his debut in 2010. Outside the subcontinent though, Dhawan averages 36.67 from 31 ODIs. Leaving out the tour of Zimbabwe in 2013, Dhawan has scored just 386 runs at an average of 24.12 from 17 ODI innings in the West Indies, South Africa, New Zealand, England and Australia, He has managed only two halfcenturies against those teams, the one in Birmingham and against West Indies at Port of Spain in July 2013.

“Off-late Shikhar has been a bit patchy, and that is perhaps to do with doubts about where his off-stump is,” former Australia

India had found a new swashbuckling, opener who could set-up and win games. It now seems like a lifetime ago

all rounder Tom Moody said. “In overseas conditions you need to be very sure of that.

But despite this, he is someone to be persisted with. He is someone who can take the game away from the opposition very quickly and you need such players in Australia and New Zealand. It is important that he shouldn’t lose his free-style hitting approach.”

This faith shown in him by Moody, who is also his SunRisers Hyderabad coach, finds strong resonance within the Indian team management. Over roughly the last 13 months, Dhawan’s place as opener has been unchallenged in ODIs while Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane are still battling it out to be his partner.

The worry for India is with the World Cup squad set in stone, they don’t have a replacement. Dhawan doesn’t bat anywhere else in the order. The only possible alternative is for Rahane and Rohit to open, with Ambati Rayudu batting in the middle-order.

There is still time for Dhawan to find form though. India has two matches remaining in the Tri-series, and potentially one more if they make the final. Then there are two warm-up games before the World Cup and seven Pool B matches in which India can risk carrying an underperforming player because the tournament will only heat up at the quarter-final stage. That is a total of 11 innings for Dhawan to pay back the faith shown in him by MS Dhoni, Ravi Shastri and Duncan Fletcher.

“Sometimes when you are not scoring runs, the best thing to do is just go out and express yourself,” Dhoni said after Dhawan scored one in India’s nine-wicket loss to England in Brisbane. “That’s what Adam Gilchrist used to do very well. When he was slightly out of form, he used to play his shots. But when he was totally out of form, he would play his shots from the very first ball. It often helps, not thinking too much, just watching the ball and playing your shots,” (With special arrangement with Firstpost)

SPORTS

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY PUNE

““I can’t imagine myself at Manchester United. I’m really happy at Real Madrid. I’ve got several years left on my contract. I’m enjoying, we’re winning trophies and I want to keep doing that here.”

— Real Madrid winger Gareth Bale

Signposts Under-14 AITA talent series from today

“ I would say that losing the 1983 World Cup final was the biggest disappointment in terms of my cricket career.

I had stopped talking to my teammates for a long time.”

— Former West Indies fast bowler Joel Garner

Mountaineering school at your doorsteps Giripremi to provide professional training to mountaineers in Mulshi

Pune Metropolitan District Tennis Association (PMDTA) will conduct a PMDTA Trophy U-14 AITA Talent Series Ranking tennis tournament at MSLTA School of Tennis in Balewadi from today. Every participant will receive participation certificates and winner and runner up will receive trophy. For more details contact Pravin Zhite on 9922819876.

Bharat FC go down to Royal Wahingdoh Bharat FC endured an agonizing defeat against promoted side Royal Wahingdoh SC during their I-League round 3 encounter. Bharat FC took the lead in the first half, managed to hold their lead going into the halftime break but were then undone by two goals in the space of five minutes in the second half. Kris Bright’s 16th minute goal was Bharat FC’s first ever goal in the I-League.

Haokip tricks for Pune FC Striker Thongkhosiem Haokip’s 15-minute hat trick powered Pune FC to a stunning 5-2 win over Shillong Lajong FC in an I-League Round-3 encounter. Playing at home after sixteen away games, Pune FC scored through a quick fire hat-trick by Haokip (3rd, 13th and 15th) and goals Ryuji Sueoka (43rd) and Darko Nikac (45th). Visitors reduced the margin through Durga Boro (36th) and Cornell Glen (75th).

By Ashok Bhat @ashokbhat21 PUNE: Maharashtra is home to a large number of mountaineers, thanks to the state being home to the Sahyadri mountain range. However, mountaineering or scaling mountain peaks is not a hobby or interest that is much encouraged, given the risks and hazards involved in such adventure sport.

But Giripremi is a reputed trekking and mountaineering organisation, that has taken up the gauntlet to change people’s perceptions. A thorough knowledge of and appropriate training are enough to make mountaineering

a hobby that any one can take to, they believe. Giripremi, in collaboration with Guardian Group, has set up Guardian Giripremi Institute of Mountaineering (GGIM), at Valne, on a 3.5-acre plot on Mulshi-Lonavala Road. The Rs 15 crore establishment has been conceptualised and designed by architect Suresh Takale.

The GGIM was inaugurated by Asian boxing champion Sarita Devi, in the presence of 93-year-old mountaineer NK Mahajan, Suresh Haware, who completed an Everest base camp trek at the age of 60, Giripremi former president Ushaprabha Page, current president Anand Palande, chairman and managing director Manish Sabade

and project co-ordinator Umesh Zirpe.

Zirpe said, “This facility is for all age groups, though our focus is on the 10 to 16 age group. Middle-aged and senior citizens will also be catered to. A syllabus is being prepared in consultation with experts, for 3- to 14day courses.”

“A Giripremi teams scaled Mount Everest in 2012, and also Macalu and Lhoste. Pune did not have a proper mountaineering institute and GGIM will now be able to provide basic and advanced training to trekkers and mountaineers.” Sabade said, “Mountaineering is an adventure sport that can inculcate strong human qualities such as a team spirit and

Mentor and Advisory board President, Indian Mountaineering foundation, Principal, Himalayan Mountaineering institute, Darjeeling, Director, Atal Bihari Vajpayee institute of Mountaineering and allide sports, Manali, Brig. Ashok Abbye, High altitude Warfare school, J and K, Sports psychologist Bhishmaraj Bam, N. K. Mahajan, Wongchu Sherpa of Peak promotion, Nepal, Khemraj Thakur, Manali.

VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

HE A R D .

Help restore Pune’s Zero Stone

@TGSWeekly | PAGES: 16+16 (TGS LIFE) | PRICE: `5

PUNE, NOVEMBER 8, 2014 | www.goldensparrow.com

Given its significance, this valuable part of the city’s heritage ought to be restored, fenced and beautified ABHAY VAIDYA @vaidya_abhay

EDIT PAGE

Guide for Dummies: It’s easy to grab headlines in India P 12

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City players put up a good show P 16

Born to be a fashionista P9

NAGPUR

BUDAPEST

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WIKI COMMONS

Pune’s water situation improves

WIKI COMMONS

ashish.phadnis@goldensparrow.com

THE SAD STATE OF PUNE’S ‘ZERO STONE’

WIKI COMMONS

Vinson Massif base camp

What is your next target?

Next target is to get better. This climb was very hard and got some injuries. It will take some time to recover and then I will plan the next adventure. I will keep doing mountains till I have energy.

Fighting Parkinson’s with dance P2 ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

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PUNE’S PEOPLE WITH A PURPOSE

China connection P 16

China Calling P8

WIKI COMMONS

Ameet Singh at the summit

SPORTS

EDUCATION & CAREER

City dams need additional 10 TMC water to tide over crisis

BY ASHOK BHAT @ashok_bhat

`2,200 cr project for water augmentation

The Zero Stone monument in Nagpur and other parts of the world

Rainfall in July has brought some reThe PMC’s Water Supply lief to the citizens of Pune and the civic Department has proposed a administration. However, to be able to `2,200 crore project to replace ensure regular water supply without the network of old, leaking and cuts in the coming weeks and months, and drainage Modiwater tweets the dams supplying water to Pune willPMdamaged

BY GITESH SHELKE lines. A Draft Project Report (DPR) need to build up an additional 10 TMCin Japanese @gitesh_shelke is scheduled to be placed before (thousand million cubic feet of water) the City Improvement Committee storage.

Primenext minister Narendra With 28-years-old Asif Shaikh as its week, BJP’s groupModi leaderon While the Khadakwasla dam hasThursday putGanesh out a series of told tweets in head, the Shri Shivram Tarun Mandal in PMC, Bidkar TGS. reached its storage capacity of 1.98Japanese and said that be as his friends Trust on MG Road is truly an inspiring project would financed TMC, the situation in the Panshet,from The Japan had him to talk to icon of communal harmony, as it through theasked Jawaharlal Nehru Varasgaon and Temghar dams wouldthe people of Urban JapanRenewal directly, Mission. he had prepares for Ganeshotsav with a range be crucial not just for Pune city butdoneNational so.

Modi is scheduled to visit Jaof charitable activities every year.

The project will drastically curtail also for smaller towns downstream likepan from 30 to September 3.

Describing their youth group as “a waterAugust wastage.

Daund and Indapur, which depend onIn a tweet in Japanese, he said he was truly cosmopolitan mandal”, Shaikh these dams for their water supply. Tovery “excited” about the visit that will and the mandal’s secretary Sheldon fulfi l this demand, a total of 20 TMCstrengthen the relationship between Fernandes spoke of water will be required, of which storagethe ministration tookIna another review oftweet the rain-what Ganeshotsav two countries. of 10 TMC has been achieved. fall andtowater storage status at thecelebrations mean addressed his Japanese counterThis was underlined by the officialspartKhadakwasla, Panshet, Shinzo Abe, Modi said Varasgaon he deeply andto them every year. of the Irrigation Department duringrespected Temghar dams which supply water to Abe’s leadership.

First and a meeting convened at the civic headthe city. foremost, the trust quarters by mayor Chanchala Kodre The Khadakwasla dam has waterinvolves everyone on Thursday. Those present at this storage to itsHerald full capacity of 1.98 TMC.from the locality in case: meeting included municipal commis-National The irrigation department thereforethe festivities. sioner Vilas Deshmukh, city engineerCourt hearing decideddefers to release some water from this The mandal Prashant Waghmare, water supply dam into the Mutha river. The PMCcollects vargani chief V. G. Kulkarni, standing comalso decided to withdraw the alternate( v o l u n t a r y on Thursday fixed December mittee chairman Bapusaheb Karne andA court day water supply plan and release water contribution) from 9 as the next date of hearing in a case top party representatives. once a day from this dam. the neighbourhood and During the meeting the civic ad-against Congress chief Sonia Gandhi Contd on p 10but does not spend her son and party vice president Rahul it entirely on decorations and the Gandhi and others over acquisition of immersion procession. “Instead, we the National Herald newspaper. provide meals to the poor for 10 days Metropolitan Magistrate Gomati and also undertake other charitable Manocha deferred the hearing after it activities,” Shaikh said. was apprised that the Delhi High Court This includes the distribution

Signposts

APSHINGE:

The great village of brave soldiers Two days from today, July 28, 2014, will mark the centenary of the First World War, also known as the Great War, that ushered in a new epoch in world politics. The history of that war is intertwined with a small, remote village in Satara district. TGS Special Report p13 This medallion was presented by the Queen of England after the First World War to the next of kin of all British and Empire service personnel who were killed in the war. Sepoy Khashaba Powar’s medallion has been placed by his family at their place of worship

Signposts India to have 4 new central universities NEW DELHI:: The government has decided to set up four new central universities in the country, parliament was told early this week.

“The ministry of human resource development (HRD) has decided to set up four new central universities, viz. one Central Tribal University each in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, one central university in Andhra Pradesh and Mahatma Gandhi Central University in Bihar,” HRD Minister Smriti Irani said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

At present, there are 40 central universities under the purview of the ministry.

Army chief pays tributes to Kargil War martyrs SRINAGAR: Indian Army chief after the wreath laying ceremony at the General Bikram Singh on Friday paid Kargil War Memorial in Drass town of tributes to the martyrs of 1999 Kargil Kargil district.

War in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ladakh The chief of the Indian Army said region on the occasion of 15th Vijay ceasefire violations by Pakistan have Diwas. been taking place regularly on the He said the army is alert and Line of Control (LoC) in the state, but has been deployed effectively on the assured that the army has been effectively borders to defend the integrity and the responding to those violations. sovereignty of the country.

“They violate the ceasefire every “Let me assure you, the army is week and every month, but the army has deployed on the borders to defend the been taking effective steps to respond to PUNE, AUGUST 30, 2014 www.goldensparrow.com integrity and the sovereignty of the those,” he said. country,” General Singh told reporters Contd on p 10 I've always been a movie guy, movies have been my thing.

I love movies, all kinds of movies.

— Christopher Nolan

Boston Globe reported.

$250,000 fine.

Shah was the president and CEO of SOHM and Costas, both based out of California. He was accused of paying kickbacks to an investment fund representative in exchange for buying stock in the two companies.

The fund representative was, in fact, an undercover FBI agent working on an investigation into fraud in the market for penny stocks, the report said. Penny stocks are less heavily regulated than stocks that trade on major exchanges such as the Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange.

students- to prepare for the winter.

The mandal also runs a small library for the neighbourhood residents and children, says Shaikh, explaining that a lot of money can be saved if spent prudently on just decorations, sound systems and other such expenses.

As a part of its activities, the mandal has rented out some space to a tea vendor and the rent is used for the Ganeshotsav celebrations.

Ni ne te enyears-old Sheldon, a BBA student, helping others and doing something constructive for society brings lot of joy to everyone involved in the celebrations.

Associated with this youth group since childhood, he says his fellow members hail from different castes, creed and religion.

The Ashok Chakra Mitra Mandal close to Shivaji Market, Camp, is celebrating its golden jubilee this year and has a number of Muslims as its members, said Faiyaz Khan, one of Headed by Raghuvir Vanal, this

(IIM)-Shillong to emerge as creative leaders to bring about the required change in the country.

“I want to see all of you as creative leaders to bring about the required change,” Kalam said, while delivering a lecture “Dimensions of National Development” at the prestigious B-school on Thursday.

The “missile man”, as Kalam is also known due to his background in aerospace engineering and his role in India’s

indigenous missile development, is one of the visiting faculty members in IIMShillong.

Kalam spoke about the challenges that India and the world were facing and emphasised the role of leadership to tackle these issues and develop possible solutions to ensure socio-economic development.

He said the key requirement for achieving a distinctive profi le for the nation was by creating sustainable enterprise-driven models at the rural level. Kalam urged the students to emulate a development model to bring

TGS LIFE

Pune brands go pan India

PUNE’S PEOPLE PURPOSE

BY PRIYANKA NEW DELHI: India not only has the dubious distinction of having one of the worst road accident records in the world, but these are taking more and more young lives, particularly of school children.

Road accidents have left nearly 70 children dead and many injured since the start of 2013, a NGO has said.

dents were killed and some 20 injured when their school bus was rammed by a speeding train at an unmanned rail-road crossing in Telangana Thursday. The dead included the school bus driver.

Although the number of school children is a minuscule part of the total number of Indians dying daily on the roads, activists say most accidents are avoidable.

I dislike about Will’s school?

Are my and my efforts in both on an excursion in these Maharashtra on Piyush Tewari, founder and presistandards really too high or are people crafts are unfolding.

December 7, 2013. dent of Save Life Foundation, said —Priyanka working in Chopra the education field really In an accident in Tamil Nadu’s holding an adult “accountable for safetyjust that ignorant.” The next morning, Pudukottai district in June 2013, a of children while on the move” andshe received a call asking her to meet mini van collided with a bus, killing having child safety laws would act as the principal when she dropped off seven school children. deterrents. her son at Sonshine Christian AcadAnother seven children died when Two accidents this year injured 12emy, a private religious school, in Flortheir bus fell into a gorge in Jammu and school students. The first took placeida. To her shock, the school decided Kashmir’s Anantnag district in April May 12 in Greater Noida in Uttarto expel her son.

2013. In July last year, 11 students were Pradesh, injuring two students. Ten killed and 20 injured when their bus hit students were injured in adjoining Noia truck in Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh da April 29 when their school bus was district. hit by a state-run bus.

Contd on p 10 Three children died when their

‘Chayan’ promises to offer shelter, legal support and counselling to couples in case of outburst from families

BY YASH DAIV @yash009

RAHUL RAUT

&DESERTED

DEAD

“Providing Urban amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) is one such system which I suggest will help in providing opportunities through cooperative working of resource and social entrepreneur in the rural areas,” he said.

“PURA is the creation of physical, electronic, knowledge connectivities leading to electronic connectivity of rural regions. With this combined and planned intervention of infrastructure, digital technology, information and enterprise, we can select a cluster of about 20 to 50 villages, which share core

“We collect money and support poor patients in the hospitals.

Our members also support orphans in different orphanages in the city,”

from 20 last year and 23 the year Central minister with regards to this before, according to the list published project soon,” Bidkar said, adding that in the web edition of Forbes Asia. an announcement on the forthcoming China’s tech companies made a state assembly polls is expected in PUNE, OCTOBER 11, 2014 www.goldensparrow.com strong showing, with Tencent the most a week or two and the BJP is keen valuable, having a market cap of $155.6 to push the Pune Metro project to a billion, nearly twice that of runner-up decisive stage before the Model Code India’s Tata Consultancy Services. of Conduct comes into force,” he said.

Lenovo is the biggest in terms of annual revenue of $38.7 billion, Continued on p 10

Pune’s hottest start-up, 2014 get top prize today

Muslims and Christians and they are steadfast about the spirit of unity in diversity and respect for all religions that defines the nation, said Khan.

mouth

you take care of your supporting this event and includes the roster in 2005. family.

Association of Software and Other notable National companies from —Julia Roberts Service Companies (NASSCOM), India include HCL Technologies, Indus (Tie, Pune), which makes the listTh fore the fifthEntrepreneurs time, SoftwareIndustries, Technologies Parks of and Sun Pharmaceutical (STPI), Mahratta Chamber Of which appears on theIndia list for the third consecutive time. Commerce Industries & Agriculture (MCCIA), PuneTech, iSpirit, IIM Mahindra & Mahindra also rejoins Ahmedabad’s the list after a two-year absence. Centre for Innovation Incubation IANS and Entrepreneurship, SME Joinup, Hinjewadi Industries Association (HIA), IACC, and Pune Open Coffee Club.

The four finalists for the top prize are: Scandid- a shopping technology start-up that enables shoppers to compare prices by scanning the product barcodes with one’s mobile phones; Framebench- a cloud based online collaboration, communication and feedback platform; Ecozen Solutions, started in September 2009 to promote awareness against poor energy management practices and elevate the Indian industry to the standards and expectations of a developed nation, and The Green Raddiwala which focuses on providing door-to-door services in collecting raddi or recyclable waste such as plastic, newspapers and the like.

Founded by Sushil Chaudhari and Madhur Khandelwal in 2012, Scandid also helps consumers find latest online and offline deals. The company previously won the regional round of the Seedstars World- a global start-up competition.

3 ECOZEN SOLUTIONS Framebench, founded by Rohit Agarwal, is a cloud-based online collaboration, communication and feedback platform. Framebench is a central workplace where one can store and share one’s creative assets. The company can help remote teams and

THE GREEN RADDIWALA clients to review, mark changes required on the assets and even host discussions on them in real time, which automatically gets documented for viewing later. This visual communication workflow allows for crisp & quick feedback.

Ecozen Solutions run by Devendra

Gupta, Prateek Singhal and Vivek Pande was started in 2009 to promote awareness against poor energy management practices and elevate the Indian industry to the standards and expectations of a developed nation.

It is with this view that this designed a pioneering and innovative micro Cold Storage- a solar powered cold storage system, which was primarily designed for the rural segment to serve their needs ideally. This innovative product can be suitably adapted for local conditions Great across thethings world. can happen when have the The you fourth finalist, The Green courage to yourself.

Raddiwala hasbebeen established by Michael Sam Nikhil Pagare—and Saurav Pasalkar to provide door-to-door services in collecting raddi or recyclable waste such as plastic, newspapers and the like.

Green Raddiwala purchases the recyclable waste from households at market rates and sells it directly to recycling industries. This drastically reduces environmental pollution. ishani.bose@goldensparrow.com

(Left to right) MANS state secretary Milind Deshmukh, president Deepak Girme and Dhanak secretary Asif Iqbal at SM Joshi Hall in Navi Peth on November 4

After several brainstorming sessions that probed into legal, religious and humanitarian aspects of marriage, the group devised the concept of Chayan (choice). These organisations aspire to make Chayan a national movement.

The conference began with an “oath of humanity” to promote the principle of non-discrimination based on caste, religion, language or gender.

Madhav Bhavge, secretary, MANS said Chayan is the need of the hour. “It could be a national level movement which would give shape to the ideas and suggestions that we have

“People blindly follow the vedic rituals. A person should be able to justify all his or her activities rather than following a tradition. If we are able to instil this attitude in the masses we will be able to eradicate class politics and in turn the problems of mixed marriages,” he said. Subhash Bhave, secretary, SM Joshi Socialist Foundation emphasised on the need for mass awareness. “People have a tendency to hide their marriages until the legal documents are ready. This attitude must be changed,” he said.

It was suggested during the deliberations that there should be a group of five to ten people in every district who will promote and provide assistance if required, for inter-caste and inter-religious marriages. yashdaiv@gmail.com

City takes lead over Delhi, Mumbai in the journey of product start-ups TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeeKLY Pune has emerged as the nation’s second-fastest product start-up hub in the country. A close second to Bangalore, Pune has taken a lead over mega-metros like Delhi and Mumbai.

This has been stated in the latest report by iSPIRIT, (Indian Software Product Industry Roundtable), a company mainly focussed towards the product industry.

“Pune is significantly ahead of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad,” the report said while

noting the product start-ups activity in Bangalore at 33% of India, Pune (21 %), Delhi and Mumbai (about 1112% each) and Hyderabad at 9%.

“Pune is definitely No. 2, which is excellent,” said Amit Paranjape, co-founder of Pune-Tech, an online tech portal for the tech and startup community in Pune.

Addressing a recent press conference Paranjape spoke about Pune’s viable ecosystem, which has been developing tremendously to enable entrepreneurs to launch an enterprise.

Others who shared this thought were Gaurav Mehra, past president SEAP and managing director, Saba Softwares; Maneesh Bhandari, director, Pune Division, Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) at IIM Ahmedabad; Ashutosh Parasnis, president of SEAP and managing director of Qlogic; Ramaswamy Narayanan, vice president, SEAP; Vishwas Mahajan, president of TIEPune chapter and Navin Kabra, cofounder of Pune Tech. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

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Ever wondered where thoroughbreds go after retirement? Or why jockeys are weighed before and after a race? Barnalee Handique has the answers

the Special Marriage Act, 1954, which is complicated, different in every state and plagued with controversies. “A platform like Chayan can help modify such a law,” he said.

Iqbal suggested that under the national platform one can create a secure place for couples who have mixed marriages. “We can offer them shelter, legal procedures and counselling in case there is an outburst from the families,” he said.

Chayan would ensure the smooth functioning of the legal structure pertaining to marriage.

Deepak Girme, president, MANS said society’s mindset have deep religious roots. Having worked with the late anti-superstition crusader Narendra Dabolkar for 25 years, he said any religious text should be questioned.

Asif Shaikh (left) and Sheldon Fernandes (right) of Shri Shivram Tarun Mandal Trust preparing the decorations for Ganeshotsav

mandal runs a social organisation called Anzuman Faizane Raza and the members celebrate other prominent festivals and occasions such as Eid, Independence Day and Republic Day with equal fervor.

competencies and empower those using local enterprise. This would enable our country to grow by shared efforts and overcome the challenges faced by the society,” he said.

Charting out a link between creative leadership and economic development, the former president emphasised the importance of the role that change in leadership would play for ensuring success.

He also accentuated on the role of integrity among leaders for sustained success and development of the society. (IANS)

Horse,s

Prominent social workers from different parts of the country who promote intercaste and inter-religious marriages have decided to establish a national movement called Chayan (Choice).

This was decided at a meeting in the city on November 4-5 during a conference on ‘Right to Choice of Partner in Inter-caste and Interreligious Marriages’.

Activists from the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), SM Joshi Socialist Foundation, Rashtriya Seva Dal and Muslim Satyashodhak Mandal along with the voluntary organisation, Dhanak from Delhi, were present at this meet.

Six out of eight subways in the city are in a sad state of neglect and are closed to the public. Some are used as convenient urinating spots or as gambling dens. They are dirty, poorly lit and unsafe. Why can’t city subways be restored and made user-friendly for pedestrians? Also related is the complete avoidance of foot over-bridges by pedestrians. Why waste public exchequer and construct them if they are so very unpopular with the public? See Spotlight on p8-9

THE FINALISTS ARE...

the BJP’s newly elected city MP Anil Shirole, was to closely follow-up on the mass transportation project. Shirole focused on updating himself on the project and seeking clarifications on the project as proposed by the Congress-NCP government.

Pune FC enter Durand Cup final P 16

Nat’l movement to promote marriages of choice gets going

2FRAMEBENCH

a bid to counter the ruling CongressNCP government in the forthcoming polls, the BJP is chalking out its strategy to gain maximum advantage by announcing critical steps on the Metro project.

Speaking to this newspaper, BJP’s leader in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Ganesh Bidkar said that one of the top priorities for

SPORTS

WITH A

Carrying the torch in the battle against cancer P2

City subways are

Emerge as creative leaders: Kalam to IIM students SHILLONG: Former president APJ Abdul Kalam has urged students of the Indian Institute of Management

country as special markings for a survey by the British. India’s Zero Stone stands proudly in Nagpur, denoting the centre of the country.

The oldest and most famous of such milestones is located in Rome, the Milliarium Aureum (“Golden Milestone”) of the Roman Empire. The maxim “all roads lead to Rome” is believed to have originated from this monument.

A number of prominent cities in the world have their own “zero stones” and are proud of it, including Washington DC, Tokyo, Berlin, Buenos Aires...

The citizens of Pune and publicspirited organisations such as the MCCIA’s Janwani, INTACH, Pune International Centre and the National Society for Clean Cities, to name a few, need to lobby with the Pune Municipal Corporation’s Heritage Cell to do what is needed.

The Golden Sparrow on Saturday pledges its fullest support to such an effort. Get in touch with us at: editor_tgs@goldensparrow.com www.goldensparrow.com or Tweet us: @TGSWeekly

Telangana school bus accident resulting in the death of 19 students is part of a larger tragedy that demands immediate attention

convicted in stock scheme WASHINGTON

On Wednesday, when this newspaper took a review of Pune’s Zero Stone on the footpath outside the General Post Office (GPO), the sight was pathetic to say the least.

With white paint spilled over it, there was a sweeper’s broom lying next to it and rubbish all around. A tea vendor was stationed with his cart next to the stone.

In 2006, when this journalist fi rst reported on this small, yet valuable piece of Pune’s heritage, there was a watermelon seller sitting on the stone, using it as a convenient stool.

The Zero Stone is a very special milestone as it signifies the geographic location of a city and the point from where distances are established between towns and cities. As such, it ought to be restored, fenced and beautified so that the children of this city, other citizens and tourists can go back to the time when Pune was taking shape under the British, bit by bit.

There are just 80 of such special milestones that were installed in the

Generosity & communal harmony define these mandals

What is going wrong with road safety in India?

Chief of Army Staff General Bikram Singh paying homage to martyrs at the Infantry War Memorial during his farewell visit to the Infantry School, Mhow in Indore recently

What motivated you to climb the peak, rather than going to Mt Everest?

Climbing Vinson Massif is quite a costly affair, probably more than climbing Mt Everest. But, for me Mt Everest is a finished story. It’s over crowded, the route has become simpler and there is hardly an challenge left, especially if you are climbing from the south side.

Of course, I might give it a try to climb it from the north side. Interestingly, after Surendra Chavan, nobody had attempted to climb Mt Everest from that side, which is much more challenging than the ‘highway’ route.

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PUNE, AUGUST 30, 2014 | www.goldensparrow.com

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

“Giripremi is doing good work. They have taken mountaineering within everybody’s reach.”

mountaineering institutes in Manali, Delhi, Gulmarg (J&K), Himachal, Darjeeling and Nepal and seeking support from international institutes and the National Disaster and Rescue Force (NDRF). ashokbhat21@gmail.com

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case of emergency. It doesn’t happen anywhere in the world.

How was your experience of climbing the peak?

Unlike Himalayas, you don’t get Sherpas or Yaks to carry your load.

And it takes nine days to return to base camp. So we had to carry all luggage on our own. We had around 45kgs carried on a sledge while going to higher camps, we were required to carry a load of 35kgs, which was a huge task. At one stage, when weather was not particularly good, we decided to call it for a day and spent entire day in our tents. Fortunately, next day we were blessed with the nice weather and managed to climb the peak. We experienced few injuries. It was quite painful but we had a lot of fun too.

From the peak you can see the ice plateau melting into the horizon. It’s the most beautiful scene and you can’t get this view from any mountain in the world.

leadership. The unique GGIM disaster management course is for all age groups. Ours will be the first civilian institute covering all aspects of mountaineering in western and southern India. To ensure the best training, we have tied up with

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RAHUL RAUT

reach civilization within two or three days. But that doesn’t happen here.

The only transport available here is jet planes which require blue ice runway.

So there is no evacuation plan in the

Blueprint of the Institute

`5

IANS

How different was climbing Vinson Massif than Dablam?

It’s totally different. For climbing the Vinson Massif, you don’t experience great technical difficulties, but the extremes of the Antarctic environment require different qualities.

The temperature there goes down from minus 15 to minus 80 degrees and in the bad weather it makes life more difficult. You can’t expose your skin even for a second or else can suffer from skin burning or frost bite.

Secondly in Himalayas, one can

Courses offered • Adventure course for school kids • Sahyadri Rock climbing Course (Basic and Advance) • Camping and Backpacking • Search and rescue • Disaster management • Sports Climbing • Environmental Ethics • Corporate Adventure and Leadership Training

Invitation Price

Pune’s Ameet Singh becomes second Maharashtrian to climb Antarctica’s Vinson Massif peak

PUNE: Pune-based Ameet Singh started mountaineering quite late (in his late 30s), but his sheer dedication and courage helped him to become the first Indian to climb the world’s toughest mountain Mt Ama Dablam in Himayalas in 2011. Since then there was no turning back for him, as he underwent several other adventurous expeditions around the world.

Recently, he successfully climbed Vinson Massif (4897m) the highest peak on the Antarctic continent.

In the process, he became second Maharashtrian, after Krishna Patil to do so. In a candid interview, Singh spoke about various topics. Excerpts.

Training Facilities Bouldering and rock climbing area, exercise ground, obstacle course, highwire rope course, artificial climbing wall, gymnasium, auditorium, library, medical facilities, residential facilities for students and corporates.

An artist’s impression of the upcoming Giripremi Institute of Mountaineering at Mulshi

Answering to the call of the mountains

By Ashish Phadnis @phadnis.ashish

Highlights of GGIM • Core training areas • Mountaineering skills and techniques • Leadership development • Disaster management training • Wilderness education

ILLUSTRATION BY GAURI BARVE KALE

JANUARY 31, 2015

A Woman Of Substance

DEEPIKA PADUKONE

Talented, hard-working and a big league movie star, They are independent and opinionated and Deepika Padukone can also these 20-year-olds are going it solo when everyone around them is getting hitched. take a tough stand when Ishani Bose tells us more push comes to shove.

Anjali Shetty gauges public opinion See P10-11

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