Now
parenting fraught with doubt
Aditi Singh
 "It's about
giving your child physical, intellectual and emotional
wherewithal to cope with tomorrow's unknown world,"
continues the flummoxed mother, outlining the job
description. "Given today's circumstances, who
wouldn't be a paranoid parent? Security, media images,
education and values - everything seems to be topsy-turvy
and I have the mammoth task of making some sense of it
for my daughter," says Preeti Singh, a lecture in
Delhi University. No, it wasn't ever easy. But perhaps
parenting was never as hard an assignment as it is today.
Caught between two millennia, today's generation of
parents teeter perpetually on the edge of doubt and
dilemma like never before. The strain has begun to show.
Parenting has been made even more difficult by the
radical redefinition of the ground rules on bringing up
children: corporal punishment is out, shouting and
screaming are frowned on, 'understanding' and 'sharing'
are the new buzz-words and being a 'friend' is
imperative. All this in a dramatically altered living
environment - the emotional safety net of the joint
family no longer exists. In chaotic urban pathways, where
oppressive success ethics means everybody is looking
constantly over the shoulder, parent and child are both
lonely passengers.
And that's not all that has changed. Simple parental
aspirations like wanting one's child to grow into a
healthy, happy and relaxed adult seem as na‹ve as
wanting to change the world. Like wanting to turn the
current stressful, competitive order of things on its
head and create an artificial comfort zone for the child.
That age-old desire to see your offspring have a
'successful life' now requires a whole lot more than
simply helping . . . .....more
Multifaceted
film personalities
A.C. Tuli
 In the year of the
diamond jubilee of the ‘Talkies’ in India, it
would not be inapt to look back and talk of the
significant contribution made by some stalwarts to the
overall development and prosperity of the film industry.
Particularly those film personalities whose versatility
enabled them to serve the film industry in more than one
capacity.
Normally, a person who enters the film industry has just
one-dimensional ambition to make headway as an actor, or
as a music director, a lyricist, a singer, a scriptwriter
or choreographers and son on. But there have been quite a
few people in the industry who had the confidence to put
their fingers in a number of pies, so to speak, and
triumphantly making a success of it.
Going back to the first decade of the talkies, it was a
tall, imposing-looking Parsee named Sohrab Modi who first
ventured out to prove that his talent did not simply lie
in performing grandiloquent, larger-than-life roles in
films, but also in directing and producing those films.
Right from the inception of his banner Minerva Movietone
in the 30s, he went on to make a number of films in which
he had a pivotal role and which he also directed and
produced. Sohrab Modi’s forte, was making of
historical films, although he had once confessed that as
a student he had little interest in History. Some of
Sohrab Modi’s most successful films which he
produced, directed and also acted in are: ‘Khoon Ka
Khoon’ (1935), ‘Pukar’ (1939),
‘Sikandar’ (1941), ‘Prithvi Ballab’
(1943), ‘Jhansi Ki Rani’ (1953)
‘Kundan’ (1954), ‘Raj Hath’ (1956).
Sohrab Modi’s contemporary .....more
Return of
the laughter brigade
 Dr. Asthana is back
as Sardar Lucky Singh. In an animated conversation with
Vickey Lalwani, Boman Irani talks about 'Lage Raho
Munnabhai', a gangster meets Gandhi sequel to the
immensely popular Munnabhai MBBS. How do you rate the
sequel's chances? I think that the film will click. We
were always conscious of the fact that we have an added
responsibility- to deliver a good film which is as good
as Munnabhai MBBS. It would be great of course if the
audience enjoys it more.What do you play in the sequel?
I play Sardar Lucky Singh. He seeks Munna and Circuit's
help to sort out an issue regarding his daughters-in-law.
Somewhere along the way they differ widely.
You did a lot of homework on this role? That's correct. I
don't want to sound pompous but I really spent some time
with Sardars to give an authentic feel to thecharacter.
But why? That was because I didn't want the character to
look like a caricature. When one plays a character from a
certain community, one subconsciously tends to act
keeping certain aspects in mind. I didn't want the
character to look stereotyped (pauses)
Please continue. Lucky Singh is a sharp, intelligent and
jolly fellow who can outsmart anyone. But let me make one
thing clear. There is no lampooning of the Sardar
community. Enough of the Santa-Banta jokes. How often can
you show a Parsi stuffed in a car with 16 kids? Let's get
on with it. Let's get real. The character has shades of
grey, but whose point of view is as valid as Munna's.
What is the film actually all about? Sorry, I am not
giving away the story. In a nutshell, Munna and Circuit
are divine fools - they are actually supposed to be
goons, but end up doing good deeds. 'Lage Raho . . . ......more
Congress
Grass!
A growing green menace
S. Hardial Singh
 Congress Grass
(Parthenium Hysterophorus)
Congress grass (Parthenium hysterophorus) a herb
belonging to the family Asteraceae has attracted the
attention of people around the world as poisonous,
problematic, allergic weed apart from posing serious
human health hazards, causing allergic dermatitis and
respiratory ailments. It is accidentally introduced into
the country through wheat imports from the USA during
1950’s and since then spread phenomenally throughout
the length and breadth of the country. It was noticed
first in Pune (Maharashtra) during 1950’s as a stray
plant on the garbage. It has spread all over country
covering wastelands, railway yards marshy patches,
grasslands, roadsides, rail tract sides, along the canals
and rivers, vineyards and poorly managed arable field
causing yield reductions upto 40 percent in agricultural
crops and upto 90 percent in forage production. Producing
large number of seeds (10,000 - 15,000 per plant) small
and light in weight for easy and wide spread dispersal,
adaptability to adverse environmental conditions and
ability to suppress local flora by allelopathic (effect
of root exhudations) effect make this weed to flourish
and luxuriantly. What is more concerning with regard to
Parthenium is its effect on human and animal health. In a
sample survey conducted in Bangalore, it is recorded that
70 percent of the population suffered from allergic
inhinitis due to Parthenium pollen and 47 percent
suffered from nasobranchial allergies. unfortunately,
there is no effective treatment for the dermatitis other
than exclusion of the weed. Severe cases can lead to
infection, septicaemia and even death. The weed is also a
potential health hazard to the cattle causing several
medical complications, hereby reducing the mild yield.
Parthenium contains numerous chemicals like parthenin and
several phenolic, caffeic, vanillic, ferulic,
chlorogenic, anisic acids are among the inhibitors, which
has been identified recently. The principal culprit
parthenin has enhanced biological activity due to the
presence .. ........more
Digital
signatures A new technology
Vishal Gupta
 A signature is not
part of the substance of a transaction, but rather of its
representation or form. A signature must have the
following attributes: A signature should indicate who
signed a document, message or record, and should be
difficult for another person to produce without
authorization. A signature should identify what is
signed, making it impracticable to falsify or alter
either the signed matter or the signature without
detection.
The affixing of the signature should be an affirmative
act which serves the ceremonial and approval functions of
a signature and establishes the sense of having legally
consummated a transaction. Optimally, a signature and its
creation and verification processes should provide the
greatest possible assurance of both signer authenticity
and document authenticity, with the least possible
expenditure of resources. Digital Signature technology
generally surpasses paper technology in all these
attributes. Digital Signatures are created and verified
by cryptography, the branch of applied mathematics that
concerns itself with transforming messages into seemingly
unintelligible forms and back again. Digital signatures
use what is known as "public key cryptography"
which employs an algorithm using two different but
mathematically related "keys" one for creating
a digital signature or transforming data into a seemingly
unintelligible form, and another key for verifying a
digital signature or returning the message to its
original form. Computer equipment and software utilizing
two such keys are often collectively termed an
"asymmetric cryptosystem." The complementary
keys of an asymmetric cryptosystem for digital signatures
are arbitrarily termed as the private key, which is known
only to the signer and used to create the digital
signature, and the public key, which is ordinarily more
widely known and is used by a relying party to verify the
digital signature. If many people need to verify the
signer's digital signatures, the public key must be
available or distributed to all of them, perhaps by
publication in an on-line repository or directory where
it is easily accessible. Although the keys of the pair
are mathematically related, if the asymmetric
cryptosystem has been designed and implemented securely
it is computationally infeasible to derive the private
key from knowledge of the public key . ......more
''Accounts,
Accounting,
Audit under the Jammu and Kashmir VAT Act, 2005''
 The State of Jammu
& Kashmir has introduced the Jammu & Kashmir
Value Added Tax Act 2005. The said Act replaces the Jammu
& Kashmir Value Added Ordinance 2005. The
Ordinance/Act has been made applicable as from 1-4-2005.
This is a new law and requires detailed and proper
accounting. To meet this requirement a book has been
brought in the market. This is highly desirable and need
of the hour.
Ever since inception of VAT regime, dealers and
professionals alike were in a dilemma as regards the
procedure for accounting to be followed, manner of
treatment of input credit on opening stock, remission of
output credit in case of industry etc. according to CA.
Virender Kumar Kapurthis publication seeks to address the
general and specific queries of businessmen and
professionals alike regarding their various obligations
under the VAT act. The book ''Accounts, Accounting, Audit
under The Jammu and Kashmir Value Added Tax Act, 2005''
is a pioneering effort on behalf of the authors to
elucidate the procedural aspects under Value Added system
of Taxation relating to maintenance of accounts and audit
according to CA. Sudhir K Arora, due to lack of
conceptual and procedural clarity regarding VAT system of
taxation itself, there was an utter state of confusion
about the nature, manner and others obligations regarding
maintenance of accounts in the new regime. Despite more
than a year having passed under VAT, the business
community at large still remains unaware of its
obligation to get the accounts audited, .. ......more
Trika-shasta
An appraisal
Raj Kumar
The worship of Shiva and Shakti in Kashmir
has ancient origin, but one of the greatest philosophers
of Kashmir, Vasugupta, gave it a sound base in the 8th
century AD when he composed the Shiva-sutras under devine
revealation. Vasugupta, the percepter of Shiva-sutras is
regarded as the father of Kashmir Shivism. His pupil
Kallata Bhatt founded the spanda shastra branch. From
Kallata Bhatt this lore passed through a line of pupils
to Baskara of 11th century AD Somanda another pupil of
Vasugupta, is the founder of Pratyabijina branch, which
through another line of pupils passed to Abhinav Gupta of
11th century. The Shiva Sutras were interrepreted by
various scholars, but it was Abhinavgupta who showed the
practical way of realizing the devine powers.
Abhinavgupta worked on three systems known as the Krama,
the Trika and Kula which were evolved from the Shivagamas
and the Tankras. He was an original thinker and a great
philosopher, who is supposed to have defeated
Shankaracharya, another scholar of same name sake who
hailed from south India. It may be noted here that the
Shivism of Kashmir is a distinct philosophy in its own
right, which originated in Kashmir, though it may have
some conections with similar philosophies elsewhere.
Kashmir Shivism is also called Trika-Shastra or simply
Trika because it treats of the three entities
‘‘God’’, ‘‘soul’’
and ‘‘matter’’. Trika shastra
combines all the three elements in a plausibly rational
scheme, negating none yet not getting mired in the one or
the other philosophical dead ends.
Kashmiris developed philosophical literature of their own
on Shiva cult, and their original thoughts attracted many
scholars from other lands. The original philosophy, which
is generally called, the Trika, by the Kashmiris is of
devine origin and as such they refuse the authority of
the Vedanta philosophies. In this connection, they assign
superiority to the Paratyabhijina system which implies a
knowledge, a comprehension of the principles, a
realization of the truth. Pratyabhijina system according
to them, is the only perfect and correct system
transcending all other systems of philosophy. ......more
Pains and
physiotherapy
Dr Anita Gupta
 Health awareness
and physical fitness has now become the soul words in our
modern society and thus one fnds an increasing
consciousness about the role and importance of
physiotherapy. If a doctor provides the first hand
treatment by way of drugs or surgery, the physiotherapist
renders one step ahead by rehabilitating the patients
’ into their normal lifestyle by treating their body
and psyche as well. In brief, a physiotherapist treats
those having some bodily deformities, joint pains, joint
restrictions, cervical and lumbar spondylosis, cerebral
palsy, nerve injuries and burns, etc. Besides these,
disabilities due to arthritis, stroke, paraplegia,
hemiplegia, frozen shoulder and polio are also taken care
by a physiotherapist. To quote an example, after a simple
fracture of forearm; a plaster cast is given from palm to
above elbow for 5-6 weeks. During the period the
fractured bone(s) gets united, stiffness does develop at
elbow, wrist and forearm joints that limit the range of
movement. To recuperate from such restrictions the
patient needs physio-occupational therapy treatment like
wax bath and active passive exercises with CPM unit,
pulley, pronation-supination apparatus, modeling clay and
grip exerciser etc along with manual exercises. Dr Dave,
a renowned surgeon from AIIMS, Delhi once said ‘an
orthopaedic or a neurosurgeon should not pick up his
knife unless he has a good physiotherapist with
him’.
A lot of locomotor’s disability in our country is
due to polio, hemiplegia, paraplegia and cerebral palsy
etc. which need special guidance of an expert and well
trained physiotherapist from the very beginning. The
spastic child or a paralytic patient can recuperate from
its paralysis even to the extent of 80-90 percent but
only if it is treated at the very initial stage. Delay in
treatment definitely lessens the extent of recovery.
Likewise, a cerebral palsy child requires full
rehabilitation services by means of physiotherapy,
occupational and speech therapy according to his
handicaps. The treatment in case of rheumatoid arthritis
and osteo-arthritis is mainly directed . . . ...more
Cling to
dharma for peace
Lt Col R K Langar
Dharma is an all powerful word in Hinduism.
This multimeaningful word plays an extremely important
role in the Hindu ethics. Before the name Hinduism came
into existence, the Aryans called Hinduism as Sanatana
Dharma or the eternal religion. A religion to be eternal
has to be universal which underscores that Hinduism has a
universal appeal as it is based on eternal Truth. It is
said in Mahabharata that Dharma is the eternal law
govening upholding and supporting the entire creation.
One definition of Dharma states that whatever sustains is
Dharma. The Divine self is the very foundation of our
being and it is that which sustains us. Therefore the
highest meaning of Dharma is the Divine self in man, the
Atma. Dharma as per the Indian thought is a philosophy
though it is usually understood as Religion. Dharma is a
way of life, a code to be followed by all human beings.
When other religions came into being they were largely
called by the name of their founders to distinguish them
from one another. But Hinduism besides having no founder
is referred as Manava Dharma since it deals with eternal
truths which are meant for one and all and for the whole
of mankind. Dharma thus becomes a principle to govern the
world and maintan peace and all round wellness. Peace is
very important as no human achievement is possible
without peace thin and without. Our lives are dictated by
our wants, likes and dislikes and by our uncontrolled
desires due to which we do not know the way of right
living for our guidance. Here the word Dharma which has
many connotations provide the answer to us to follow the
right path. . . ...more
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